CHAPTER IV
LUMINOUS PHENOMENA
The curious glimmering lights, which I am going to describe in this chapter, can only be obtained in total obscurity. They are generally feeble, and appear to be at the limit of visibility.
I will begin by describing a rather curious phenomenon, which is easily observable. I am not quite sure of its objective reality; nevertheless, I will point it out, and give my reasons for doing so.
Certain hand-movements are necessary to bring it into evidence; we must proceed in the following manner:—
1. Face the light.
2. Put a dark object with a mat surface between yourself and the light. Do not place the object so as to screen the light from the operators, simply place it between the experimenters and the light. An arm-chair covered with dark velvet will suit; place it so that its back is turned to the light.
3. Open the hands, put them against the dark background, palms turned towards the chest. Join the hands at the finger-tips; withdraw the hands very slowly, always keeping the fingers stretched out.
4. Place behind you the person with whom the experiment is to be made, his head on a level with the operator’s head, that is, in the centre of the plane occupied by the hands.
Under these conditions, when the fingers are drawn apart, seven or eight out of ten persons will see a sort of grey mist uniting the tips of the fingers. The person with whom we are experimenting must not be told what he is expected to see; the experiment would be vitiated by introducing therein a suggestive or imaginative element.
Three-fourths of those with whom I have experimented perceived a slight mist, passing from the tip of one finger to another or corresponding finger on the other hand. I myself perceive this mist very plainly: to me it resembles cigarette smoke; it has the same greyish colour, the same appearance, but much more tenuity. The majority of people see it in this way; but I have met with some, who fancied it a different colour. Those who see the effluvium as coloured are generally gifted with psychic faculties. I have not been able to come to any positive conclusions on this point; but I have some reasons for believing that the coloured perception of what I call, for want of a better term, ‘digital effluvium,’ indicates a highly psychical temperament. A young doctor, who has remarkable medianic powers, sees it as red. I also found two persons who saw it as yellow. I have many reasons for thinking that one of these two is a medium; but he refuses to experiment, and declares a priori that psychical phenomena are—to use his own familiar expression—all ‘humbug.’ The other person is an eminent magistrate. I have found some people to whom the digital effluvium appears as blue. On the whole, from the experiments I have made I reckon that out of 300 people of both sexes, 240 to 250 perceive the effluvium; 2 to 3 out of 100 see it as blue. I have found two who saw it as yellow; and one who saw it as red.