Psychic Photography.—At a recent London and Provincial meeting, Mr. J. Traill Taylor showed some negatives of what are commonly called “spirit photographs,” which he had taken under test conditions. He had bought ordinary commercial plates from a well-known commercial dealer, and exposed them at a recent séance held in the north of London. He took his own stereoscopic camera, opened the original packets of plates and filled the slides himself in the presence of two gentlemen. He exposed them by magnesium light upon two sitters, one of whom was alleged to be a “medium,” and immediately developed them himself. On development some of them showed other figures (in addition to those of the sitters) which had not been visibly present when the exposure was made. The exposures were made in the afternoon in an ordinary drawing-room, when it was far from dark, and the magnesium light was supplementary to the daylight. Prints from the resulting negatives, viewed in the stereoscope, showed the sitters in relief, but the “ghosts” with the appearance of flatness. We are almost surprised at Mr. Taylor’s temerity in bringing forward such a subject before such an audience, when he knows full well the unreasoning prejudice with which the subject is met. Like the brothers of Dives, “they would not be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” We do not imagine that Mr. Taylor wished to convince his hearers of anything, but surely he was over-sanguine if he even expected fair investigation or criticism. Before he came forward in this matter, he would have been taken as a competent investigator—in fact, the meeting in question passed a resolution to the effect that he was a “reliable person, and a gentleman well qualified to conduct such an experiment as had been described.” Yet, when he states that fraud was impossible, he is at once condemned as either an incompetent or an impostor—preferably the former. A committee was appointed to investigate the matter. Will they be believed if they give a report similar to that of Mr. Taylor’s? Or will they only be believed if they give the report that is expected?
Referring to the unsuccessful attempt made in another photographic journal to throw doubt upon Mr. Taylor’s experiments by raising a cry of trickery, the Practical Photographer makes this sensible observation:—
“Surely this is a miserable evasion of the main point at issue, which is not whether the medium was capable of fraud if he got the chance, but whether Mr. Taylor is believable when he asserts that the chance for fraud was not given.”
In the May issue of the same journal there is the following:—
“Five correspondents write on this head; but they only bring forward experiences of many years ago, references to the News and Journal of old dates, and similar evidence. The letters are interesting, but we cannot find room for a correspondence on the subject. Of testimony there is more than enough. Those who can be convinced by testimony are probably convinced already, if they have examined the subject. If the matter is to be advanced further, it must be by careful experiments under test conditions, and such experiments will not satisfy the active objectors unless they can be repeated to order, and, so far as we know, no one has claimed to be able to do this. Only new tests, well authenticated, are of use in our columns at present. Any such we are prepared to publish, with reproduction of the alleged psychic photographs if desired.”
The Review of Reviews, April, 1893.
In the Review of Reviews[8] for April, there is a reproduction of one of the spirit photographs taken by Mr. Traill Taylor, and also of the portrait obtained by Mr. Glendinning and Mr. Duguid, without the use of a camera, and without exposing the prepared dry plate to light until after it was developed and fixed. Mr. Stead refers to Mr. Taylor as a well-known photographic journalist, of unquestionable good faith, and prints the details of the experiments as given in Mr. Taylor’s paper. Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, F.R.S., who has had much experience in this subject, and possesses a large collection of spirit photographs, thinks the most interesting results of the recent experiments are those in which the form of one of the sitters is blended with the form of the psychic portrait; but Mr. Stead thinks the portrait obtained without the camera the most interesting. He concludes his article thus:—
“Mr. Glendinning assures me most positively that the plate had not been tampered with. If so, it is to be hoped Mr. Duguid will repeat the last experiment under test conditions. It is much the most interesting of the lot.[9]
“The illustrations are badly developed, but they suffice to show that the plate was sensitive to the presence of entities invisible to the human eye. Everything, of course, depends upon the accuracy and honesty of the photographer; and the reputation of Mr. Taylor and Mr. Glendinning is above reproach.”