III

Approaching the matter next from a descriptive point of view, it

becomes pertinent to inquire what are the actual interests which

give vitality to Psychical Research, which support the investigator

in his laborious and tedious collection and compilation of cases,

which provide the membership for the Society for Psychical Research,

and the still wider circle of interested readers, which induce so

many correspondents to record long and painstaking accounts of

their peculiar "psychical" experiences, which make the discussion

of these matters a favorite topic of conversation. That these

interests are diverse is obvious; yet they fall naturally into a

few groups or types, of which the occult interest is probably the

most widespread. This, in its pronounced form, proceeds upon a

suppressed or acknowledged conviction that the world which science

reveals is but a torso of reality; that its very head--that which

gives significance and expression to the whole--may be missing,

and can only be restored from isolated fragments, themselves to be

found by rare good fortune. The key to the riddle of existence is

to be sought in the personal significance of events; in moments of

great stress and strain, in critical emergencies when communication

between individuals deeply concerned must be established though the

heavens fall, it is claimed that the heavens _do_ occasionally

fall, that the laws of earth are transcended, and the phantasms of

the dying are telepathically wafted to the sentient consciousness

of the interested kinsman or friend. Apparitions and presentiments

are interpreted as mystic symbols of the order of events, which cast

their shadows before or coincidently with them. The intelligence of

the departed, likewise, is discerned in these manifestations; and

through haunted houses and séance chambers, through the inspired

utterances of entranced mediums, messages are revealed that indicate

conclusively the impossibility of their transmission through ordinary

channels, or, it may be, their unmistakable "spiritual" origin. The

supernormal, transcendent, undiscovered world of the occult shines

through, though fitfully and visible only to those who have eyes to

see, the commonplace, constrained phenomena of earth-bound reality.

Variable as may be the formulation and trend of this interest,

yet in some form this suspicion or quasi-belief (for which the

term "occult" seems appropriate) that there are things undreamt of

in our philosophy, that these residual phenomena are profoundly

significant and afford a glimpse of the great unknown, as well as of

the fallibility and the poverty of scientific conceptions, furnishes

a very considerable _clientèle_ of Psychical Research. The why

and wherefore of this inclination need not here be discussed; its

prevalence is unmistakable. And though it appears now in a crude

and superstitious guise, and again in a more refined and critical

attitude, and more rarely is unwillingly assumed as the only possible

alternative in the face of striking personal and other evidence, yet

there is a sufficient community of belief in these several positions

to warrant their inclusion in a common though variable type. As

applied to Psychical Research, it is important neither to generalize

from the worst nor from the best expressions of this occult interest,

but to appreciate its range of distribution amid the diversity of

temperament and endowment.

As the occult interest recedes to an obscure position in the

background, and as the foreground and middle distance come to be

suffused with the light of critical discernment and of the scientific

spirit of inquiry, the "psychical researcher" approximates to the

psychological point of view. This essentially psychological interest

is necessarily a strong one in some of the distinctive problems

of Psychical Research, and often mingles with other interests to

form a curious composite. It may be a morbid, an uninformed, a

misguided, a dilettante interest, but its psychological character

may be noted without implication of any further comment of

approval or disapproval. Favorably interpreted, this psychological

interest is an interest in the intrinsic nature and analysis of

mental processes,--an interest in tracing the various threads that

compose the twisted strands of consciousness, in following the

kaleidoscopic transformations wrought by attention and association,

in observing the play of habit, the subtle processes of illusion and

misinterpretation, the unexpected intrusion of the subconscious,

and likewise in the pursuit of these as exemplified in concrete

instances; among others, in such alleged phenomena as are commonly

described as "mesmeric, psychical, and Spiritualistic."

While this interest may be combined with the occult interest, the

two are not really congenial and are in essence antagonistic. We are

all rational only in spots; and many a "psychical researcher" pursues

some of his investigations under the guidance of a scientifically

psychological interest, while in other directions the occult interest

takes the helm. The analysis of the contrast between the two may be

helpful in realizing more fully the divergences of Psychology and

Psychical Research. The "psychical researcher" wishes to prove or

to disprove something; with regard to this or that phenomenon he

wishes to know "what there is in it," and is accordingly attracted to

phenomena which seem to have something mysterious in them. As soon as

he succeeds in finding a consistent and commonplace explanation for

a group of phenomena, his main curiosity is satisfied, and he takes

to pastures new. When once he has shown that theosophic marvels are

the result of trickery and collusion, then the physical appearances

of Theosophy have been _explained_. It has been demonstrated that

there is "nothing in them," that is, nothing transcendental. The

verdict is given, and the court passes on to the next case. But the

psychologist's interest in how Mme. Blavatsky performed her astral

manifestations was always a very subordinate and incidental one; the

logical scientist, whether he happened to be physicist or biologist

or psychologist, was quite convinced that Mme. Blavatsky had not

discovered the means of carrying ponderables by unseen agencies

from "China to Peru" (which, by the way, would, if possible, be a

matter for the physicist and not at all for the psychologist to

investigate), any more than she had been able to discover the secret

of immortality (which would in turn be a biological discovery), or

had been able to leave her body in New York, while her "astral" soul

inspected what was going on in India (which might indeed be regarded

as a psychological feat). The psychological problem of Theosophy, so

far as there is one, is of a different type; it takes up the inquiry

as to how such marvelous pretensions come to be believed, by what

influences conviction is formed and doctrines spread. It contributes

an incident or an apt illustration to the psychology of belief, or to

the social psychology of contagion. The psychologist is interested

in the illustration which such a movement affords of the action of

certain mental processes and influences; and his interest persists,

whether there is presumably "something in it," or not. The resulting

difference in attitude between the psychologist and the "psychical

researcher" is indeed fundamental, and even more so in principle than

in practical issue.

It is desirable but not easy to find parallel illustrations of this

difference in attitude in other than psychological discussions; but

perhaps the following may be pertinent. If the widespread interest in

the North Pole were merely that in the possibility of its furnishing

the key to the mystery of the northward-turning magnet, and were at

once to disappear upon the removal of the mystery, such an interest

would be quite parallel to that of the "psychic researcher;" but the

interest of the true physicist in any physical phenomenon which in

the future may be demonstrated to exist at the North Pole would be a

persistent one, and one depending for its value on the illustration

thus revealed, not of mystery but of recognized physical principles.

Furthermore, be it observed that however valuable may be the physical

facts obtainable by a polar expedition, there is no overwhelming

obligation resting upon every physicist to desert his laboratory and

embark for the farthest north; but that such expeditions are decided

by considerations of general interest, expediency, and importance.

There is no obligation resting upon the physicist any more than

upon the psychologist to make large sacrifices for the pursuit of

ill-defined residual phenomena, and certainly not for the refutal of

far-fetched theories and suggested supernatural notions. Physicist

and psychologist alike contribute most to the advancement of their

science by an open-minded but systematic pursuit of definite,

significant, and logically fashioned problems.

Let it not be inferred from the emphasis placed upon this contrast

that Psychical Research is in itself to be condemned or to be

regarded as useless. Not at all; only in many aspects it is not

psychological, and the psychologist is under no obligation to find an

interest in, nor to occupy himself with, this aspect of things, if

his general trend does not happen to point that way. The physicist

may be called upon with equal propriety to aid in many inquiries

which the Society for Psychical Research has undertaken. Among

the early records of the Society appears an account of a man who

presented himself with an iron ring on his arm, far too small to have

been slipped over his hand, and who seemed to imply that possibly the

spirits put it there, or that it came on through some supernatural

agency. This was regarded as a proper case for the Society for

Psychical Research to examine. If it could have been demonstrated

that the ring reached its position through the exercise of the will

of some living persons or spirits, the phenomenon, I suppose, would

in some sense be psychological; if it were demonstrated that it

came transported through the fourth dimension of space, it might be

termed physical. But in reality it was probably physiological, for

there was evidence that it was by the effects of etherization that

the hand was contracted and that the ring was forced over it. Surely

it is most absurd to designate such an inquiry, however interesting

and proper it may be regarded, Psychical Research. It certainly is

a highly commendable function for a society to take upon itself

the investigation of such claims as theosophy or spiritualism put

forward, whenever movements of this type are likely to develop into

psychic epidemics or to prove a social menace. Any authoritative body

that will exhibit the absurdity of such claims, and expose the true

_modus operandi_ of the manifestations, will perform an important

civic function. Such a function was performed by the Royal Commission

of 1784, in exposing the vain pretensions and the insidious dangers

of animal magnetism; Mr. Hodgson's investigations of theosophy, the

Seybert Commission's report on spiritualism, are both able and useful

contributions of the same type; and, at present, an authoritative

statement regarding the theoretical absurdity and the practical

dangers of Christian Science might prove efficacious. Such special

investigations represent the practical application of science to

concrete conditions and problems; they are woefully misnamed, and

their significance is likely to be misinterpreted, when they are

presented as Psychical Research, and are grouped along with other

problems of a totally different nature.

I shall next touch briefly upon other diverse yet allied interests

in Psychical Research, which may serve to illustrate further the

various avenues of approach to this heterogeneous group of problems.

I shall speak of these as the explanatory, the investigative, and

the anthropological interests. The first is satisfied with finding

out how alleged marvels are really performed; it takes up the

physical phenomena of spiritualism or theosophy; it investigates

conjuring tricks; it discovers the origin of noises in haunted

houses; it ferrets out the means whereby mediums obtain knowledge

of their sitters' private affairs. This is proper work for experts

in prestidigitation and for detectives,--not for all such, for to

be successful, the conjurer and the detective must have special

knowledge and fitness for this branch of the trade. While the

facts thus gathered may be useful as illustrative material to the

psychologist, they form no essential part of his profession; nor is

there any special reason why he should be best suited to determine

the technical _modus operandi_ of such manifestations. That some

psychologists with a strong interest in this type of phenomena might

properly coöperate in such an investigation, if they chose, is too

obvious to merit remark; but to trace out and expose trickery cannot

be imposed upon the burdensome duties of the psychologist.

With a certain type of "psychical researcher" this explanatory

interest is the dominant one; and by dispelling error and replacing

false notions by true ones he may perform a useful service to

the community. The explanatory interest is quite certain to be

supplemented by the investigative, and that because the latter soon

becomes necessary to the former. While the one is concerned with the

explanation and description of the actual marvels accomplished, the

other must consider also what is reported and what is believed to

have been accomplished. The mechanism of a trick, whether brought

forward as evidence of spiritualism or not, when clearly exhibited,

explains the trick; a loose board under the roof, or the reflection

from a lustrous surface, may at once reveal how mysterious noises

and lights were really produced. But one must go farther to account

for the recognition of relatives in the form of the medium covered

with flimsy drapery, for the automatic spelling out of messages,

or for the successes of guessing experiments. These two interests

thus proceed hand in hand and furnish valuable material which the

psychologist is ready to interpret and to utilize; for the study

of how false beliefs spread, of how deception proceeds, teems with

points of psychological significance. This, however, is by no means

a unique characteristic of Psychical Research; there are also

interesting psychological points in such diverse occupations as the

actor's profession, in juggling and tricks of skill, in advertising,

in religions revivals, etc. It is highly desirable that the materials

thus gathered should be psychologically utilized, and it is equally

desirable that such material should be collected. Many valuable

studies in Psychical Research, which owe their origin not to a

truly psychological interest but to this general explanatory and

investigative interest, have incidentally brought to light material

of great suggestiveness for the psychologist, and material which

quite possibly would not otherwise have been discovered. I am more

than willing to contribute whatever I can to the maintenance of a

Coöperative Psychological Investigation Society which shall stand

ready to take up the investigation of any phenomena which promise

to yield data of psychological interest; which shall, however, keep

far removed from any phase of the transcendental or the occult;

which shall not feel itself under any obligation to _disprove_

any improbable or absurd hypothesis which this or that seeker for

notoriety may choose to put forward; which shall not be dominated

merely by the spirit of finding out whether there is "anything in"

one movement or another, but will simply stand ready to supplement

the work of the academic laboratories by undertaking, in the same

spirit, a special form of investigation, which, under existing

circumstances, such laboratories or their individual directors cannot

expediently undertake.

The anthropological interest, above referred to, is to my mind a

most valid one, and is best represented in Mr. Andrew Lang's volume,

"Cock Lane and Common Sense." Mr. Lang there examines the stories

of ghosts and apparitions, and clairvoyance, and spiritual knocks

and raps, and strange influences, and haunted places, not at all

for determining how little or how much these things are true, but

how they come to be believed in. How is it that the same tale is

told, the same powers credited, the same manifestations produced,

in evidence of the supernatural? In savage as well as in ancient

magic, in the stories current in former centuries as well as in our

own day and generation, there is a pronounced generic similarity.

There is certainly as strong an interest in the investigation of the

growth and distribution of these beliefs as of the other clusters

of belief which anthropology and folk-lore consider. And, moreover,

recently acquired knowledge of hypnotic and automatic phenomena, of

hyperæsthesia and nervous disease, shed much light on the obscure

tales of the past, and assist the comprehension of how such beliefs

could have originated. In brief, Mr. Lang outlines the programme for

a "Comparative Psychical Research," and tells us that "we follow the

stream of fable, as we track a burn to its head, and it leads us

into shy and strange scenes of human life, haunted by very fearful

wild fowl, and rarely visited, save by the credulous. There may be

entertainment here, and, to the student of his species, there may

be instruction." Part of the instruction will consist in gaining an

increased familiarity with the psychological conditions which produce

and foster these narratives and beliefs, and with their social and

traditional significance; in concluding, with Mr. Lang, "that the

psychological conditions which begat the ancient narratives produce

the new legends."