"_Whispered suggestions_ are the devil's rôle,"
it was with a profound perception of the powerful influence they
exercise in the creation of delusions.
The throngs which crowd around the table of the "medium," go pregnant
with a desire to see a mystery, and filled with a vague fear of the
supernatural influences to which they may be subjected. This is
increased by the interval of from five minutes to half an hour which is
allowed to intervene between the commencement of the _séance_, and the
first "rap" from the spirits; and during this period the mind is kept to
the utmost tension by listening, or is well exercised by attending to
the anecdotes illustrative of the power of the spirits which are
detailed by the medium, and it is thus brought into the state that is
requisite for the perfection of the delusion. In the condition of the
mind thus induced, the medium has little difficulty in leading her
credulous hearer to whatever length it may be desired, and a careful
examination of the countenance and the hand will suffice for a correct
response to the majority of the questions which may be proposed.
The want of discrimination of the facts from the theories invented to
explain them, is another and great source of delusion; for the majority
it suffices that if the "raps" occur, or the table moves, it is
sufficiently demonstrative that it is by the influence of spirits; and
it is a much less difficult matter to them to believe that the phenomena
arises from supernatural than natural agency.
Certain luminous phenomena, phosphorescent flames, luminous clouds,
glistening stars, &c., have been observed when the spirit-manifestations
have occurred in profound darkness. These appearances were dependent upon
a disordered condition of the eye, which will be fully dwelt upon in a
subsequent part of this work.
The irregular and violent movements of the furniture which occurred when
the _séances_ were held in _darkened_ apartments, were the result of the
most palpable collusion. There were certain movements of the tables,
however, around which the experimenters sat when eliciting the
spirit-rappings, that could not be attributed to this source; and an
examination of these motions showed that if several persons arranged
themselves around a table, and rested their hands slightly upon it,
after a longer or shorter period motion would occur, which was to a
great extent under the control of the will, although the experimenters
were not aware that they exerted any force whatever upon the table; and
further, it was ascertained that a table thus set in motion would
respond by rapping with the legs, to questions propounded to it, and
that with a facility equal to the most perfect "medium."
This interesting phenomenon soon attracted considerable attention, for
it was certain that neither collusion nor wilful deception were
concerned in it; and it could be produced by persons who did not pretend
to the character of "mediums;" indeed, out of a company of several
individuals it was pretty certain that some could be found capable of
inducing the phenomenon.
The "Rappites" looked upon it simply as another and more general
manifestation of the spirit-world; others, imbued with the
pseudo-scientific dogmas of animal magnetism, odylism, &c., sought an
explanation in the principles of their respective theories; some
regarded it as the result of Satanic agency; and lastly, those best
capable of judging on the question, looked upon the motion as the result
of muscular force exerted unconsciously by the experimenters, and in
accordance with certain well-known laws of muscular and mental action.
The doctrine of Satanic agency has excited great attention in this
country, from the fact of its being propounded and advocated by certain
clergymen of our Established Church, who not content with regarding it
as one of those "great wonders" which are to prelude the reign of
Anti-christ, have even sought by this agency to verify the truths of the
immortality of the soul, eternity, the existence of a hell; thus seeking
a confirmation of the Scripture from the devil himself, and comically
identifying themselves with the principles so pithily expressed by
Ralpho:--
"Those principles I've quoted late,
Prove that the godly may allege
For anything their privilege,
And to the devil himself may go,
If they have motives thereunto:
For as there is a war between
The dev'l and them, it is no sin
If they, by subtle stratagem,
Make use of him, as he does them."[56]
The answer to this explication, as well as to those other explications
based on the doctrines of the "Rappites," and the principles of the
pseudo-sciences, is found in the simple fact, that if care be taken to
ascertain the sources of motion which arise from the experimenters
themselves, and to obviate their influence in the experiment, neither
movements nor responses occur; and by a careful examination of the
conditions requisite for the perfection of the experiment, and an
experimental illustration of them, we arrive at the conclusion that
"table-moving" and "table-talking" are the result solely of muscular
action exercised unconsciously under the influence of certain expectant
ideas.
If we proceed in the examination of this question as in that of every
other physical question, by seeking the conditions requisite for the
fulfilment of the experiment, and examining their nature, we observe
that the position of the persons who perform it is one that would give
rise to certain easily understood and comprehensible results. The hands
are placed upon the table in such a position that the experimenter
exercises the least degree of pressure of which he can be conscious, and
in this position they are kept for a longer or shorter period, but
generally averaging from twenty to thirty minutes. Whether the
individual be sitting or standing, the protracted exertion of the
muscles to keep the hand in so constrained a position, gives rise to
considerable fatigue, which is manifested by the usual painful
sensations in the over-exercised parts; and these sensations have been
sagely compared by the advocates of the pseudo-sciences to those
experienced by electric or electro-magnetic currents. As the muscular
fatigue and the painful state of tension into which the muscles are
thrown increase, the sensations by which we judge of the amount of
pressure exercised upon a given object diminishes, and unless the degree
of pressure exercised is checked by information derived through some
other sense, it goes on ever increasing in a direct ratio until the
whole weight of the hand, the arm, and even the shoulders of the person
so standing is unconsciously thrown upon the table, and a degree of
force exercised, which is sufficient to induce the movements we witness
in the table experimented on.
The inertia of the table is as thoroughly destroyed by the amount of
force thus brought to bear upon it, as if a more intense force had acted
momentarily. The period of suspense which occurs previous to the first
movement taking place, is that during which the force communicated by
the hand is equally diffused through the table, and the moment this
happens, as no body can be set in motion until the motion has been
imparted to every integral particle of that body, a slight additional
force will be sufficient to overcome the resistence of surrounding
media, and cause it to change its position. Hence a comparatively slight
force exercised over a long period will not unfrequently induce effects
equal to those caused by a greater degree of force exercised during a
short period of time.
We often witness the practical application of this principle. If we
observe two men endeavouring to move a railway carriage upon the line,
we shall notice that they do not at the first exert all their strength
in one powerful, and what would probably prove exhaustive and futile,
effort, but placing their backs against the carriage, they will push
with a continuous and gradually increasing effort for several seconds,
or even longer, when a slight movement will be perceived in the
carriage, and a slight additional exercise of force will set it in
motion. So also, as we have seen in quarries, when several men have
endeavoured to move a large mass of stone with a lever, they have not
used one long and powerful effort, but a succession of slighter ones,
until a tremulous motion has been seen in the mass, when by one exertion
of force they have hurled it from its place.
The degree of pressure exercised by any given persons will be in the
inverse ratio of the degree of control which they can exercise over the
muscular system, and over their ideas; hence the phenomena of
table-turning and table-talking are most fully developed by those who
are possessed of but a low degree of volitional power, and in whom the
passions and emotions are paramount, as in young females, boys, or those
who are influenced by certain dominant ideas: and as these conditions
vary in different persons to an almost endless extent, it would follow
that the power of exciting the movements of the table and responses, as
well as the nature and degree of the responses, would vary in a similar
degree, which is found to be the case; and the rule of response is, as
one of the supporters of the Satanic theory (the Rev. N. S. Godfrey)
very naïvely remarks, "whatever the investigator wishes it to be."
The directive force in the phenomena of table-moving is derived from
certain habitual actions of the muscles, as in the direction from right
to left, from the customary use of the right hand; and the influence
which our ideas exercise upon the muscular system, unwittingly and
involuntarily on our part.
This, as well as the preceding remarks, are all capable of being
experimentally illustrated and demonstrated; and Professor Faraday,[57]
by a rigorous series of experiments, has shown that it is upon these
principles that the phenomena depend.
By the use of a most ingenious and simple piece of mechanism connected
with an index, he showed the extent to which we exercise a certain
degree of force and directive power unconsciously, and the nature of
this directive power; and the result was:--
"That when the parties saw the index it remained very steady; when it
was hidden from them, or they looked away from it, it wavered about,
though they believed that they always pressed directly downwards; and
when the table did not move, there was still a resultant hand-force in
the direction in which it was wished the table should move, which,
however, was exercised quite unwittingly by the party operating. This
resultant it is which, in the course of the waiting-time, while the
fingers and hands become stiff, numb, and insensible by continued
pressure, grows up to an amount sufficient to move the table or the
substances pressed upon. But the most valuable effect of this
test-apparatus is the corrective power it possesses over the mind of the
table-turner. As soon as the index is placed before the most earnest,
and they perceive--as in my presence they have always done--that it
tells truly whether they are pressing downwards only or obliquely, then
all effects of table-turning cease, even though the parties persevere,
earnestly desiring motion, till they become weary and worn-out. No
prompting or checking of the hand is heeded; _the power is gone_; and
this only because the parties are made conscious of what they are really
doing mechanically, and so are unable unwittingly to deceive
themselves."
An experiment is familiar to many persons by which a ring, being
suspended by means of a piece of thread to one of the fingers, may be
caused to beat responses against a glass surface (as that of a tumbler),
in answer to certain queries put audibly; or, if the ring be held by the
questioner, it is requisite merely that the questions be conceived
mentally. This, to many, a puzzling phenomenon is dependent upon
precisely the same cause as "table-talking"--a movement caused by
muscular action developed unconsciously under the influence of certain
ideational states of the mind.
It is an interesting fact, that a species of divination is mentioned by
Ammianus Marcellinus, in which a ring, used after the above fashion, and
a table, consecrated by mystic rites, were used. We are indebted to the
Rev. J. W. Thomas, of Dewsbury, for the following quotation from the
works of this author, who lived about the middle of the fourth century.
The quotation is taken from the first chapter of the twenty-ninth book
("Construximus, magnifici judices, ad cortinæ similitudinem Delphicæ,"
&c.):--
"Noble judges, this unfortunate little table which you see, we
constructed of laurel-rods with fearful rites (or ill-omened signs),
after the likeness of the Delphic tripod; and (it having been) virtually
consecrated with imprecations of mystic incantations (secret hymns), and
many splendid and long-continued preparations, we at length used (_lit._
moved) it; and of using (moving) it, as often as it was consulted about
secret things, this was the method. It was placed in the middle of a
clean house, with a round plate made of divers metallic materials,
correctly (_lit._ purely) put upon it, on whose extreme circumference
the twenty-four letters of the alphabet were learnedly engraven,
separated by spaces accurately measured. A person [gifted] with
ceremonial science stood at it, clothed in linen garments, his feet in
linen socks, a wreath round his head, bearing branches of a lucky tree,
a fortunate omen having been obtained from the deity who is the author
of predictions, by hymns conceived (Apollo); weighing with scales a
pensile ring, formed (or furnished) with very fine Carpathian thread,
consecrated with mystic rites, which (or who) by distinct intervals
falling by leaps on every letter retained, makes heroic verses agreeing
with (or answering to) the interrogatories, to the completed numbers and
metres, such as the Delphic ones are read, or those given by the oracles
of the Branchidæ. Thus then to those who inquired of us who should
succeed to the present imperial government, for being swept in every
part [as] it has been mentioned, and the ring leaping touched (went
through) two syllables, ΘΕΟ; with the addition of the last
letter (last additional letter), one present cried out 'Theodorus!' (as
the name portended) by the decree of fate (by castal necessity)."
This paragraph embodies the defence of one Hilarius, who, together with
a certain Patricius, was charged with having spread abroad prophecies
adverse to the throne of the Emperor Valens.
A correspondent of "Notes and Queries" (Vol. IX., p. 201) quotes the
following interesting passage from the "Apologeticus" of Tertullian,
cap. xxiii.: ("Porro si et magi phantasmata," &c.):--
"Moreover, if magical professors also exhibit phantoms and defame the
souls of the departed; if they press oracles out of childrens' talk; if
they play many miracles with mountebank tricks, and if they send dreams,
having once the power assisting them, of inviting angels and demons, _by
whom_, and she-goats, _and tables, they were accustomed to divine_; how
much more, &c."
The correspondent remarks: "Here table-divination, by means of angels
and demons, seems distinctly alluded to. How like the modern system! The
context of this passage, as well as the extract itself, will suggest
singular coincidence between modern and ancient pretensions of this
class."
The sense of _touch_ rarely leads to illusions which are referred to the
supernatural, except under the influence of powerful superstitious
feelings, when it is generally connected with illusions of the other
senses.
The influence of fear in developing illusions of the senses of sight,
hearing, and touch, has been well pourtrayed in Beaumont and Fletcher's
comedy of "The Beggar's Bush" (Act V, Scene 1):
_Boor._ Mistress, it grows somewhat pretty and dark.
_Gertrude._ What then?
_Boor._ Nay, nothing. Do not think I am afraid,
Although, perhaps, you are.
_Ger._ I am not. Forward!
_Boor._ Sure but you are. Give me your hand; fear nothing.
There's one leg in the wood; do not fall backwards!
What a sweat one on's are in; you or I!
Pray God it do not prove the plague. Yet sure
It has infected me; for I sweat too:
It runs out at my knees. Feel, feel, I pray you!
_Ger._ What ails the fellow?
_Boor._ Hark! hark! I beseech you:
Do you hear nothing?
_Ger._ No.
_Boor._ List! a wild hog;
He grunts! now 'tis a bear; this wood is full of 'em!
And now a wolf, mistress; a wolf! a wolf!
It is the howling of a wolf.
_Ger._ The braying of an ass, is it not?
_Boor._ Oh, now one has me!
Oh my left ham! farewell!
_Ger._ Look to your shanks,
Your breech is safe enough; the wolf's a fern-brake.
_Boor._ But see, see, see! there is a serpent in it!
'T has eyes as broad as platters; it spits fire!
Now it creeps tow'rds us; help me and say my prayers!
'T hath swallowed me almost; my breath is stopt:
I cannot speak! Do I speak, mistress?--tell me.
_Ger._ Why thou strange timorous sot, canst thou perceive
Anything i' th' bush but a poor glowworm.
_Boor._ It may be 'tis but a glowworm now; but 'twill
Grow to a fire-drake presently.
_Ger._ Come then from it!
I have a precious guide of you, and courteous,
That gives me leave to lead myself the way thus. [_Holla._
_Boor._ It thunders; you hear that now?
_Ger._ I hear one holla.
_Boor._ 'Tis thunder! thunder! see a flash of lightning
Are you not blasted, mistress? Pull your mask off;
'T has play'd the barber with me here: I have lost
My beard, my beard! Pray God you be not shaven;
'T will spoil your marriage, mistress.
_Ger._ What strange wonders fear fancies in a coward!
_Boor._ Now the earth opens!
_Ger._ Prithee hold thy peace.
We have now glanced at the principal illusions to which the senses of
sight and hearing are liable, and the bearing which they have on the
subject of spectral apparitions and other phenomena which it has been
customary to regard as manifestations of the supernatural.
But a false appreciation of sensations excited by natural objects is not
the only mode in which we are liable to be deceived, for we are apt to
regard sensations excited by the action of the mind, or by a disordered
condition of the nervous system, or both combined--subjective
sensations--as sensations excited by natural objects--objective
sensations.
To the erroneous perceptions arising from this source the term
_hallucination_ has been given, and the phantasmata to which they give
rise are more important than those arising from illusions, since the
judgment is often unable to correct them, and they may impose equally on
the wisest and the most ignorant.
It is a law in physiology that a nerve of special sensation, (including
in that term its central as well as its peripheral terminations,) in
whatever manner it may be excited, can only produce that sensation to
which it is appointed. Thus the nerve of sight, whether it be excited by
natural or artificial light, or mechanical stimulus from without, or by
morbid changes within, can only give rise to the sensation of light; the
nerve of hearing, sound; the nerve of smell, odours; and so on.
If the ball of the eye is pressed upon (say by the finger at the inner
angle) when the eyelids are closed, or the light otherwise excluded,
certain luminous figures will be perceived. This arises from the
pressure exciting the inner coat of the eye (the _retina_), which is
formed principally by the expansion of the nerve of light (the _optic
nerve_), and is the tissue in which the changes necessary for the
production of the sensation of light are induced by the rays of light
from without.
The luminous figures caused by mechanical excitation of this, the
peripheral termination of the nerve of sight, vary in intensity in
different individuals and at different times. They are sometimes very
brilliant, and have been observed to be iridescent. In form they are
circular, radiating, or regularly divided into squares, which have been
compared by Purkinje to the figures produced by the vibrations
communicated to a fine powder scattered on a plate of glass, along one
edge of which a violin-bow is drawn; or to the rhomboidal figures formed
on the surface of water in a glass, thrown into vibration by the same
means.
A familiar illustration of the excitation of a sensation of light by
mechanical stimulus is the brilliant sparks of light, starlike figures,
&c., caused by a blow on the eye, or by a fall on the head.
A sensation of light may also be caused by the passage of a current of
electricity through the eyeball; by mental emotion, as grief, passion,
&c.; and by a morbid state of the brain or optic nerve. It is often also
induced by a disordered state of the health, and under this condition
the luminous appearance occasionally assumes a bluish, green, yellow, or
even red tint.
When an excess of blood is determined in the vessels of the eye, either
from position or other cause, a luminous arborescent figure is
occasionally observed in the field of vision on entering a dark
apartment. This, according to Purkinje, is due to pressure on the retina
by the distended blood-vessels. A luminous spot is also sometimes
observed isochronous with the pulse.
In ourselves, in ordinary health a lambent bluish coloured cloud of
light constantly floats before the eyes in a darkened apartment; and
there are probably few who would not perceive a greater or less
sensation of light on being shut up in profound darkness.
On the spontaneous appearance of light in the field of vision when it is
darkened, Müller, the distinguished Prussian physiologist, writes:--"If
we observe the field of vision, keeping the eyes closed, it occasionally
happens that we perceive not only a certain degree of luminousness, but
further, that we discover a more marked glimmering of light, affecting
even, in certain cases, the form of circular waves, which are developed
from the centre towards the periphery, where they disappear. Sometimes
the faint light resembles a nebulosity, spots, and more rarely, in
myself, it is reproduced with a certain rhythm. To this spontaneous
appearance of light in the eye, which is always very vague, are related
the more clearly delineated forms which show themselves at the moment we
are about to fall asleep, and which depend upon the influence of the
imagination isolating the nebulous glimmerings one from the other, and
clothing them with more distinct forms."[58]
The degree to which this sensation of light is produced in health, and
the power which the imagination has over it, vary greatly in different
individuals.