We then pointed out how, in many cases, mesmerism seems only to determine with special certainty events which are found also capable of spontaneous occurrence-that the power seems to be that of directing and controlling nervous conditions previously observed, or, at any rate, previously existing. In the department of somnambulism the natural phenomena are as distinct as the induced, and have been as distinctly recorded; but, as regards the sanative influence of one organism on another, this, until specialised by mesmerism, was, by its very nature, so vague and diffusive that we can, perhaps, point to no more exact record of it than is contained in the widely-spread popular belief in physical sympathies and antipathies, and in the beneficial influence on the old of contact with the young. The notion of mesmerism as directing and concentrating influences which yet may assert themselves in its absence, was again strongly suggested in the obvious relationship which the domination of an absent person by the specific power bears t the experimental cases of thought-transference and "willing," and to the spontaneous cases of telepathic apparitions. And the same notion will find further confirmation in connection clairvoyance.

with the topic of

But our main object throughout has been to stimulate rather than to expound to suggest questions rather than to resolve them. The immediate need is a far larger body of contemporary evidence. The subject is, no doubt, one which, on its practical side, demands care and caution, but there is no reason why experiments should be confined to the hospital, or even to the "psycho-physical laboratory." Experiments, for instance, in "community of sensation" or in "silent willing depend, in no way, on the presence of morbid or hysterical subjects, and are well worth trying by any patient observer who can induce the necessary trance. Some experienced guidance is needed at the outset, and such guidance it is one of the objects of the Society for Psychical Research to afford. But it would be a grave retardation of science were it assumed that this strange metapsychosis was a medical curiosity alone. It is much more than this. It is the key which seems likeliest to unlock the mysteries of attention and memory; of sleep, dreams, and hallucination; of "double consciousness" and of religious ecstasy. It is by thus throwing the mental machinery slightly out of gear that we discern the secrets of its adjustment, or (to use a more fanciful metaphor)" the soul that rises in us, our life's star," acquires from this displacement a sensible parallax, and reveals laws of its motion which direct introspection could never discover. Those who engage in this as in other branches of psychical research must be prepared to face much wearisome failure, much deceptive ambiguity. Yet thus, perhaps, may they with most reason hope to lay the corner-stone of a valid experimental psychology, and to open up our deepest inlet into the inner man,

[Since the above paper was written, the views therein expressed concerning the existence, limits, and varieties of mesmerism, as a therapeutical agency, have received remarkable and unexpected corroboration from some results which had not been made public in England at the time that we wrote. The origin of the important hypnotic work at the town of Nancy, in France, dates from many years back, when Dr. Liébeault first established himself there in private practice. His labours have of late years received recognition from the authorities of the medical school; and in the Hôpital Civil, for the first time since the days of Elliotson and Esdaile, hypnotism is now being practised on a large scale by a physician of repute. Professor Bernheim is preparing a second edition of his book, "La Suggestion Hypnotique," in which his recent observations on the therapeutical aspect of the subject will be included. Through his kindness, and that of Dr. Liébeault, we have ourselves witnessed their methods; and, in company with Dr. A. T, Myers, have examined many of their patients. The conclusions to be drawn seem to be completely congruous with those which, in the foregoing article, we have derived from the earlier records. The success attained has, in the very large majority of instances, consisted in the relief of pain and the removal of functional disturbances-that is to say, in results which (as we have pointed out) afford little if any proof of a specific or "mesmeric" influence; and Dr. Liébeault's work, "Du Sommeil et des Etats Analogues," published in 1866, is in fact opposed to the "mesmeric" hypothesis. But further experiences, especially with very young children, have now convinced him that the hypothesis which we have advocated in respect of a certain residue of cases is fully justified, and that a specific influence is in some cases exercised; and this view he has with great candour expressed in a recent tractate, "Le Zoomagnétisme.'

In view of the Nancy record, it might seem that the prospects of this form of treatment were, after all, rather brighter than we have supposed. But we are bound to add that the remarks made above in relation to Esdaile's Hindoos, as to differences of susceptibility in different nations, appear to a very considerable extent to hold good of the French temperament, as compared with the English. A far larger proportion of patients are distinctly affected in the Nancy wards than our own English experience would have led us to anticipate. At the same time, what we saw there cannot but increase our desire to see the same line of experiment boldly entered upon, or at any rate fairly recognised, by English medical men. No patient has ever been the worse for it; and the alleviation in certain cases seems to be of a more pronounced kind than is safely attainable in any other way.]

PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL MEETING ON

July 10th, 1885.

The sixteenth General Meeting of the Society was held at the Rooms of the Society of British Artists, Suffolk Street, Pall Mall, on Friday, July 10th, 1885.

PROFESSOR BALFOUR STEWART, F.R.S., PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR.

Mr. Malcolm Guthrie read part of the following paper :

III.

FURTHER REPORT ON EXPERIMENTS IN THOUGHTTRANSFERENCE AT LIVERPOOL.

BY MALCOLM GUTHRIE, J.P.

In November, 1883, I read a paper before the Society for Psychical Research on some experiments in thought-transference carried on by Mr. James Birchall and myself, many of them in the presence of various members of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, who took an interest in the investigation. The experiments were resumed and carried on till Christmas, when I was obliged, by ill-health, to discontinue all further intellectual work.

However, as I had commenced the investigations, and as it appeared that the cases of the possession of the power were very few, I considered it my duty to pursue the inquiry in the interests of science; and my first endeavour was to secure the aid of some good scientific authorities, I first asked my cousin, Dr. Guthrie, Professor of Physics at South Kensington, to be present. He, however, was only able to attend one evening and part of another, and expressed no opinion. I therefore made it a rule that I would entrust the investigation to no one who would not promise to attend four evenings at least, as, moreover, I found the presence of strangers sometimes disconcerting. In the spring of 1884 I was fortunate enough to secure the assistance of Dr. Lodge, Professor of Physics, University College, Liverpool, whose report was presented to our Society and was published in Vol. II. of the Proceedings. This report vouched for the genuineness and accuracy of the experiments, and contained an account of some new arrange

ments. In the autumn I also had the company of Dr. Herdman, Professor of Biology at the same college. We were sufficiently successful under his observation, but not as much so as previously.

In the summer we lost the services of one of our percipients, Miss Edwards, who left to be married and was no longer available. Miss Relph, however, kindly continued to give her assistance at meetings during the autumn, which were attended by Dr. Herdman, Mr. R. C. Johnson, F.R.A.S., Mr. H. E. Rensburg, and others.

At Christmas there was an interregnum, owing to Miss R. suffering from a quinsey, and we did not resume work until the month of April. Dr. Herdman was not able to attend, on account of extra work connected with the new marine biology studies; but he recommended three medical men, of whom one only, Dr. Hyla Greves, was able to take up the inquiry. Dr. Hicks, President of the Microscopical Society of Liverpool, also joined in the inquiry; and these two gentlemen have both expressed themselves as perfectly satisfied with the fact of the mental transference of impressions without contact from one person to another, as exhibited by our varied experiments. Throughout the studies of the autumn and winter I have had the valuable assistance of Mr. R. C. Johnson, and of Mr. James Birchall, the hon. secretary of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool.

I have noticed a falling off in the facility and success of our experiments since our first great results were obtained. I do not know to what cause to attribute this declension. Personally, I find I am not equal to my former self in my power to give off impressions, and if I exert myself to do so I experience unpleasant effects in the head and nervous system. I therefore seldom join in the active experiments, but leave the thinking for the most part to others. Then we have lost one of our percipients; and as the novelty and vivacity of our séances has departed there is not the same geniality and freshness as at the outset. The thing has become monotonous, whereas it was formerly a succession of surprises. We have now nothing new to try. I do not know if there is loss of power on the part of the percipient; it is just as likely that the agents are in fault.

I have been, I need hardly say, very anxious to find additional cases of percipiency, and I have induced quite a number of people to make trials in this direction, but hitherto without any satisfactory result. I have, indeed, heard of several apparently genuine cases, but have never been able to get at them. There has always been a reticence which has caused me to meet with disappointment, when I have expressed a desire for a scientific investigation. Some cases reported to me turned out to be simply varieties of the willinggame done under contact, and evidently the result of unconscious muscular indications, One case I investigated, in which five or six

persons were supposed to possess the power, was evidently explainable by the limited number of objects experimented with, all known to the supposed percipients, and conjured up by them in the mind's eye. This was merely a case of guessing.

I have not much in the way of novelty to report beyond my previous range of experiments. These included the successful transfer, with and without contact, of (a) visual impressions, actual and imagined, extending up to complicated pictures; (b) impressions of pains under contact, and (c) impressions of tastes and smells under contact; (d) impressions of names and numbers, with and without contact; (e) willing without contact. Dr. Lodge tried the remarkable experiment of two independent visual impressions, transferred at the same time by two agents to the mind of one percipient, which resulted in a combined impression, in which the two originals were absolutely united. At the suggestion of Dr. Herdman, we tried pains without contact. The percipient, blindfolded and isolated, sat with her back towards the company, who simultaneously inflicted upon themselves a pain in a given spot, and this has been repeatedly indicated with great exactness by the percipient. Another novelty has been the transference of imagined tunes. This has not been done with

out contact, and naturally gave rise to the inquiry whether the notion of tune could have been transferred by muscular indications. We therefore tried to transfer tunes by muscular indications to all the persons present, but failed; and it seems not unreasonable to suppose that a person who is on his guard can prevent himself from conveying the sharply-defined rhythm of a tune by a series of pats or sudden pressures on another person's hand; and also that without consciousness of the rhythmic indications on the percipient's part, the tune could not be identified.

Some recent experiments in the presence of Dr. Greves have been a little remarkable as illustrating the phenomena of inversion and reminiscence. It has been observed that visual impressions are sometimes given right as left, and left as right In many cases lately pains have been correctly localised, but placed on the right side of the body instead of the left, and on the left side instead of the right. Then as to reminiscence-in some taste experiments recently, it happened three times running that the taste which the percipient described was not the one which the agent was at that moment tasting, but the one which he had been tasting in the preceding trial a minute before, none of the substances having been named during the course of the experiments. In looking back over the volumes of diagrams I possess, I find that a good many which I considered failures at the time are evidently due to reminiscence of the preceding diagram which had not, in the majority of instances, been shown to the percipient in the interval. My atten