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MRS PIPER & THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
TRANSLATED & SLIGHTLY ABRIDGED
FROM THE FRENCH OF M. SAGE
BY NORALIE ROBERTSON WITH A
PREFACE BY SIR OLIVER LODGE
SCOTT-THAW CO.
NEW YORK
1904
PUBLISHER'S NOTE
It is obvious that such a body of men, pledged to impartial investigation, as the Society for Psychical Research could not officially stand sponsor to the speculative comments of M. Sage, however admittedly clear-sighted and philosophical that French critic may be.
But the publication of this translation has been actually desired and encouraged by many individuals in the Society, it has been revised throughout by a member of their Council, and it is introduced to the general reader by their President.
The Society, indeed, is prepared to accept M. Sage's volume as a faithful and convenient résumé of experiments conducted under its own auspices, and so far as it contains statements of fact, these statements are quoted from authoritative sources. For the comments, deductions or criticisms therein contained, the acute intellect of M. Sage is alone responsible.
It remains only to state in detail the principles on which the original text has been "slightly abridged" by the translator. No facts or comments have been left out that bear directly on the main subject of the book, the omissions are wholly of matters which might be regarded as superfluous for the understanding of the case of Mrs Piper. Occasionally paragraphs have been condensed, a tendency to vague theorising has been checked throughout, and certain irrelevant matter has been altogether omitted. Such omissions are confined, indeed, to single sentences or paragraphs, with only the exception of a somewhat technical discussion of the Cartesian philosophy in Chapter XVII. It had at first been intended to omit the whole of Chapter XI., as containing only fanciful and non-evidential matter; but statements of this kind form an integral part of the communications, and so, on the whole, it was thought fairer to retain M. Sage's chapter on the subject, especially as it may be found of popular interest.
The original appendix has been incorporated, after modifications, in Chapter XII., since the incident here discussed was in progress as M. Sage wrote and has since been closed. His conjectures as to its possible development are naturally omitted. Finally all references to the Proceedings (or printed reports) of the Society itself have been carefully verified. In every case the words of the reports themselves are given in preference to any re-rendering of M. Sage's translations.
CONTENTS
| Preface by Sir Oliver Lodge | [xi] |
| Objects of the Society | [xix] |
| Chapter I | [1] |
Mrs Piper's mediumship—Is mediumship aneurosis? | |
| Chapter II | [7] |
Dr Richard Hodgson—Description of the trance—MrsPiper not a good hypnotic subject. | |
| Chapter III | [13] |
Early trances—Careful first observations byProfessor William James of Harvard University,Massachusetts, U.S.A. | |
| Chapter IV | [20] |
The hypothesis of fraud—The hypothesis ofmuscle-reading—"Influence." | |
| Chapter V | [27] |
A sitting with Mrs Piper—The hypothesis ofthought-transference—Incidents. | |
| Chapter VI | [39] |
Phinuit—His probable origin—His character—Whathe says of himself—His French—Hismedical diagnosis—Is he merely a secondarypersonality of Mrs Piper? | |
| Chapter VII | [52] |
Miss Hannah Wild's letter—The first text givenby Phinuit—Mrs Blodgett's sitting—Thought-readingexplains the case. | |
| Chapter VIII | [65] |
Communications from persons having sufferedin their mental faculties—Unexpected communicationsfrom unknown persons—The respect dueto the communicators—Predictions—Communicationsfrom children. | |
| Chapter IX | [77] |
Further consideration of the difficulties of theproblem—George Pelham—Development of theautomatic writing. | |
| Chapter X | [87] |
How George Pelham has proved his identity—Herecognises his friends and alludes to their opinions—Herecognises objects which have belonged tohim—Asks that certain things should be done forhim—Very rarely makes an erroneous statement. | |
| Chapter XI | [99] |
George Pelham's philosophy—The nature of thesoul—The first moments after death—Life in thenext world—George Pelham contradicts StaintonMoses—Space and time in the next world—Howspirits see us—Means of communication. | |
| Chapter XII | [117] |
William Stainton Moses—What George Pelhamthinks of him—How Imperator and his assistantshave replaced Phinuit. | |
| Chapter XIII | [126] |
Professor Hyslop and the journalists—The so-called"confession" of Mrs Piper—Precautionstaken by Professor Hyslop during his experiments—Impressionsof the sittings. | |
| Chapter XIV | [134] |
The communications of Mr Robert Hyslop—Peculiarexpressions—Incidents. | |
| Chapter XV | [147] |
The "influence" again—Other incidents—Statistics. | |
| Chapter XVI | [154] |
Examination of the telepathic hypothesis—Somearguments which render its acceptance difficult. | |
| Chapter XVII | [161] |
Some considerations which strongly support thespiritualistic hypothesis—Consciousness andcharacter remain unchanged—Dramatic play—Errorsand confusions. | |
| Chapter XVIII | [169] |
Difficulties and objections—The identity of Imperator—Visionat a distance—Triviality of themessages—Spiritualist philosophy—Life in theother world. | |
| Chapter XIX | [176] |
The medium's return to normal life—Speechesmade while the medium seems to hover betweenthe two worlds. | |
| Chapter XX | [182] |
Encouraging results obtained—The problem mustbe solved. |
PREFACE
BY THE