The amount of nonsense that is talked, and apparently widely believed,
about telepathy, is almost enough to make one wish that the phenomenon
had not been discovered, or the word invented. Without any adequate
basis of real knowledge, the "man in the street" seems to be accepting
the idea of thought-transference as an incontrovertible fact, like
wireless telegraphy--which latter is responsible for a good deal of easy
credence accorded to the former, both seeming equally wonderful. But the
analogy is a false one. There is a great deal of difference between the
two. In wireless telegraphy we understand the process: it is a shaking
of the ether into pulses or waves, which act on the coherer in a
perfectly definite way and are measurable. But in spite of much loose
talk about "brain-waves", the fact is that we know of no such thing.
Indeed, there is reason to believe that telepathy, if it is a fact at
all--and I believe it is--may turn out to be a process of a different
kind, the nature of which is at present unknown. For one thing, it does
not seem to conform to physical laws. If it were an affair of ripples in
the ether--like wireless telegraphy--the strength of impact would vary
in inverse ratio with the square of the distance. The influence would
weaken at a known rate, as more and more distance intervened between
sender and recipient. And this, in many cases at least, is not found to
be so, consequently Mr Gerald Balfour and other leading members of
the Society for Psychical Research incline to the opinion that the
transmission is not a physical process, but takes place in the spiritual
world.
I have said that I believe in telepathy, yet I have deprecated too-ready
credence. What, then, are the facts?
The first attempt at serious investigation of alleged supernormal
phenomena by an organised body of qualified observers was made by the
London Society for Psychical Research, which was founded in 1882 by
Henry Sidgwick (Professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge), F. W. H.
Myers and Edmund Gurney (Fellows of Trinity), W. F. Barrett (Professor
of Experimental Physics at Dublin, and now Sir William), and a few
friends. The membership grew, and the list now includes the most famous
scientific names throughout the civilised world. In point of prestige,
the society is one of the strongest in existence.
The first important work undertaken was the collection of a large
number of cases of apparition, etc., in which there seemed to be some
supernormal agency at work, conveying knowledge; as in the case of
Lord Brougham, who saw an apparition of his friend at the moment of
the latter's death. The results of this investigation were embodied in
the two stout volumes called _Phantasms of the Living_ (now out of
print, but an abridged one-volume edition has recently been edited by
Mrs Sidgwick (Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., 1919), and in
Vol. x. of the _Proceedings_ of the Society. As the outcome of this
arduous investigation, involving the collection and consideration
of about 17,000 cases and extending over several years of time, the
committee made the cautious but memorable statement that "Between
deaths and apparitions of the dying person a connexion exists which is
not due to chance alone". This guarded statement was carefully worded
in order to avoid committing the society to any definite (_e.g._
spiritualistic) interpretation. Some of the apparitions occurred
within twelve hours before the death, some at the time of death, and
some a few hours afterwards. But these latter of course do not prove
"spirit-agency"--though indeed sometimes they seem to render it
probable--for the telepathic impulse or thought may have been sent
out by the dying person, remaining latent--so to speak--until the
percipient happened to be in a sufficiently passive and receptive
state to "take it in".
Definite experimentation was also made, of various kinds, _e.g._, one
person would be shown a card or diagram, and another (blindfolded) would
maintain a passive mind, saying aloud what ideas "came into his head".
Some of these experiments--which are still required and should be tried
by those interested in the subject--indicated that the concentration of
A's mind did indeed sometimes produce a reverberation in the mind of B.
In a series conducted by Sir Oliver Lodge, the odds against the
successes being due to chance can be mathematically shown to be ten
millions to one.
For this new fact or agency, Mr Myers invented the word "telepathy"
(Greek _tele_, at a distance, and _pathein_, to feel), and defined it
as "communication of impressions of any kind from one mind to another,
independently of the recognised channels of sense".
But I wish to say, and to emphasise the statement, that this
transmission, though regarded as highly probable by many acute minds,
cannot yet be regarded as unquestionably proved, still less as occurring
in a common or frequent way. We have all of us known somebody who
claimed to be able to make people turn round in church or in the street
by "willing" them, but usually these claims cannot be substantiated.
It is difficult to eliminate chance coincidence. And the folks who lay
claim to these powers are usually of a mystery-loving, inaccurate build
of mind, and therefore very unsafe guides. Moreover, how many times have
they "willed" without result?
One reason why I deprecate easy credence, leaning to the sceptical side
though believing that the thing sometimes happens, is, that there is
danger of a return to superstition, if belief outruns the evidence.
If the popular mind gets the notion that telepathy is more or less
a constant occurrence--that mind can influence mind whenever it
likes--there is a possibility of a return to the witchcraft belief which
resulted in so many poor old women being burnt at the stake in the
seventeenth century. I prefer excessive disbelief to excessive credulity
in these things; it at least does not burn old women because they have a
squint and a black cat and a grievance against someone who happens to
have fallen ill. Unbalanced minds are very ready to believe that someone
is influencing them. I have received quite a number of letters from
people (not spiritualists) who, knowing of my interest in these
matters, got it into their foolish heads that I was trying some sort of
telepathic black magic on them. I had not even been thinking about them.
It was entirely their own imagination. One of these people is now in an
asylum. I think she would probably have become insane in any case--if
not on this, then on some other subject--but these incidents almost make
me wish that we could confine the investigation and discussion of the
subject to our own circle or society until education has developed more
balanced judgment in the masses. But of course such a restriction is
impossible. The daily press and the sensational novelists have got hold
of the idea. We must counteract the sensational exaggerations, which
have such a bad effect on unbalanced minds, by stating the bare, hard
facts. Here, as elsewhere, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. It
is the half-informed people who are endangered. The remedy is more
knowledge. Let them learn that, though there is reason to believe that
under certain conditions telepathy is possible and real, there is
nevertheless no scientific evidence for anything in the nature of
"bewitching", or telepathy of maleficent kind. This cannot be too
strongly insisted on. Let us follow the facts with an open mind, but
let us be careful not to rush beyond them into superstition.