Perhaps no other investigation of Spiritistic phenomena has exercised so
strong an influence upon the public mind in America, at least, as that
conducted by Professor J.C.F. Zoellner and his colleagues in Leipsic in
1877 and 1878. In November and December of the year 1877 and in May of
1878, Professor Zoellner had a number of séances with Dr. Henry Slade,
the American Medium, in Leipsic, the results of which he has narrated in
his "Scientific Treatises," and which he finds of special interest in
connection with certain physical speculations with which he was before
this time occupied. He declares himself specially authorized to mention
by name as present at some of his investigations his colleagues,
Professors Fechner and Scheibner, of the University of Leipsic, and
Professor Weber of Goettingen. These three, he states, were perfectly
convinced of the reality of the observed facts, and that they were not
to be attributed to imposture or prestidigitation. He also mentions the
presence of Professor Wundt at at least one of the sittings.
The phenomena narrated by Zoellner--the bursting of the wooden screen,
the passages of coins out of closed boxes, the abnormal actions of the
solid wooden rings, the tying of knots in the endless cord, the prints
made upon smoked paper by the feet of four-dimentional beings--all these
have become classic in Spiritistic literature, and the accounts may be
obtained in convenient form collected, arranged and translated into
English by Mr. C.C. Massey, of Lincoln's Inn, London.
Of these phenomena themselves, verification is, at this late date,
manifestly out of the question. The only published accounts are those
made by Zoellner, and in the absence of notes made at the time, all
descriptions of phenomena given now by the other persons present would
be valueless, except as indicating the impression made upon them at the
time by the occurrences.
But, though the phenomena themselves cannot be satisfactorily sifted,
the men who were engaged in the investigation are, with the exception of
Zoellner himself, still living, and it occurred to me when in Germany
during the past summer, that a conference with each of these men, and an
inquiry into their qualifications for making such an investigation into
the phenomena of Spiritism, might be of no small value. These men are:
_William Wundt_, Professor of Philosophy in the University of Leipsic;
_Gustav Theodore Fechner_, now Professor Emeritus of Physics in the
University of Leipsic; _W. Scheibner_, Professor of Mathematics in the
University of Leipsic; and _Wilhelm Weber_, Professor Emeritus of
Physics in the University of Goettingen--all of them men of eminence in
their respective lines of scholarship.
On Saturday, June 19th, I called upon Professor Wundt at his home in
Leipsic; with respect to the investigation of 1877-78 he gave me the
following information, which I noted down during my conversation with
him, asking him to repeat the points mentioned as I noted them, so as to
avoid any error or misunderstanding, and which I copied out, with merely
verbal changes, two days later.
Professor Wundt said:
1. That at the séances at which he himself was present (and he was
present at two or three of them) the conditions of observation were very
unsatisfactory. All hands had to be kept on the table, and no one was
allowed to look under it.
2. That all that he saw done looked as if it might have been done by
jugglery.
3. That the writing on slates was very suspicious--the German was bad,
just such German as Slade spoke.
4. That Professor Weber, who was present at the sittings, was a very old
man at the time, and presumably not an acute observer.
5. That Professor Fechner, another of those present, was afflicted with
an incipient cataract, and could see very little.
6. That Professor Zoellner himself was at the time decidedly not in his
right mind; his abnormal mental condition being clearly indicated in his
letters and in his intercourse with his family.
7. That he (Professor Wundt) had not a high respect for the scientific
judgment of Professor Ulrici, of Halle, who had been so much impressed
by the report made by Professor Zoellner; Professor Ulrici he thought
literary and poetical, but not scientific.
It will be seen that some of the points mentioned by Professor Wundt are
suggestive; but I will postpone an examination of his statements, as of
those of each of the others, until they have all been given and can be
compared.
On the same day (June 19th) I called upon Professor Fechner, also at his
home in Leipsic. Professor Fechner, who no longer lectures, being old
and feeble, and suffering from cataract of the eyes, made the following
statements, each of which I translated to him for his approval, after I
had set it down:
1. That he himself was present at but two sittings, and that these were
not very decisive.
2. That he did not look upon Slade as a juggler, but accepted the
objective reality of the facts; that he did this, however, not on the
strength of his own observations, for these were unsatisfactory, but
because he had faith in Professor Zoellner's powers of observation.