Identifier: mysteriouspsychi00flam (find matches)
Title: Mysterious psychic forces; an account of the author's investigations in psychical research, together with those of other European savants
Year: 1907 (1900s)
Authors: Flammarion, Camille, 1842-1925
Subjects:
Publisher: Boston, Small, Maynard and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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d that he has felt somethinglike a desire to put an end to this waiting by himself givingthe extra twist or decisive touch.* Such experimenters can understand that if, in place ofbeing conscientious workers, always masters of themselves,incapable of deceiving, and engaged solely in the search forscientific truth, they were, on the contrary, somewhat dreamyand impulsive persons who were susceptible to suggestion andwhose amour propre was active, and in whose minds scientificprobity did not hold the first and pre-eminent place, theywould undoubtedly engage, more or less involuntarily, in theartificial production of phenomena which refused to takeplace in smooth and natural order. As to Eusapia, if she does sometimes counterfeit, she doesit only by eluding the watchful inspection of the experimen-ters and by escaping for a moment from their control; but * We have already noticed (see p. 149) the practical joke of Pro-fessor Bianchi in a meeting of the most serious investigators. Plate XI
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FKAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 207 she does it without any other artifice. Her experiments arenot planned, and, contrary to the hahit of prestidigitators,she does not carry any apparatus upon her person. It iseasy to assure ones self of this, for she is very willing tocompletely undress before a lady charged with keeping watchof her. Furthermore, she exhibits her powers ad libitum with thesame persons, and repeats indefinitely the same experimentsbefore them. Prestidigitators do not act in this way. It is infinitely to be regretted that we cannot trust theloyalty of the mediums. They almost all cheat. This isextremely discouraging to the investigator, and the constantperplexity of mind we feel during our investigations rendersthem altogether painful. When we have passed several daysin these inexplicable researches and then return to scientificwork,— to an observation or to an astromical calculation,for example, or to the examination of a problem in purescience,— we experience

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