and which took place in the rooms of the Society for Psychical Research, led to further experiments at a distance between Miss Telbin and myself.
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At 7 P.M. I drew the following diagram |
At 7 P.M. Miss Telbin's drawings |
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At 7:10 P.M. I fixed my attention on a flower |
At 7:10 P.M. Miss Telbin obtained several incorrect scrawls, but amongst them one under which she had written the words "First impression" |
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At 7:20 P.M. I looked at a pair of opera glasses, at which I gazed first lengthwise then sideways |
At 7:20 P.M. Miss Telbin's drawings were— First impression A series of crescents And this drawing Also four drawings |
It was arranged that we should sit on certain days in the week, and that at a fixed hour I should act as agent and transmit to her my thoughts, she being at the time in her residence in West Hampstead, and I in Kensington. The distance between these localities as the crow flies is four miles. The result of our first sitting, which took place on 20th May 1902, is shown on the preceding page.
There was no possibility that the agent or the percipient could have copied the drawings, as the letters embodying them that we wrote to each other were posted on the evening of the same day and received by the first post the following morning, having crossed in the post.
Telepathy was clearly indicated in this experiment.
We continued trying experiments for some months after, but did not get such good results as at the beginning. On one occasion, however, we obtained a successful negative result. I was not feeling well, and did not fix my attention on any object. On the following morning Miss Telbin's letter said, "I could get nothing from you last night." It was,
to say the least, curious that she should not have received an impression on the only night that I had not attempted to experiment.
On another occasion, when Miss Telbin was in London and I in Folkestone, I arranged to transmit to her the impression of a diagram on a certain day at 8 p.m. It chanced that on that evening there was a performance at the theatre, at which my wife wished to be present. I therefore decided to telegraph to Miss Telbin that I would be unable to try the experiment that night, but after a good deal of hesitation I changed my mind, and thought that I would endeavour to transmit the impression of the diagram on my way to the theatre. The letter that I received from Miss Telbin the next day was to this effect:—
"I got a good deal of writing last night which was illegible, but amongst it I read the words 'going out' and 'rain.'"