The Problems of Psychical Research Part 18

But we now know that most of these facts really indicated disease--mental and bodily--or the results of hysteria or trance, spontaneous or induced. Possibly there were also traces of hypnotism and telepathic influence, upon occasion. Of course, fraud pure and simple would account for many of the phenomena--the vomiting of pins and needles, for instance. But there remain certain facts which cannot be accounted for on any of these theories. Let us see, briefly, what these are.

First there are the "witches' marks." These were anaesthetic patches or zones on the body that were quite insensible to pain. They were searched for with the aid of sharp needles, and often found! It was thought that these were the spots which the devil had touched; this was his "trade-mark," so to speak, by which all witches were known. Now we know that just such anaesthetic patches occur in hysterical patients, and are not due to supernatural causes at all, but to pathological states.

Then, again, there is the possible occurrence of hallucinations. Edmund Gurney pointed this out in _Phantasms of the Living_, vol. i. p. 117, where he said:

"We know now that subjective hallucinations may possess the very fullest sensory character, and may be as real to the percipient as any object he ever beheld. I have myself heard an epileptic subject, who was perfectly sane and rational in his general conduct, describe a series of interviews that he had had with the devil with a precision and an absolute belief in the evidence of his senses equal to anything that I ever read in the records of the witches' compacts. And further, we know now that there is a condition, capable often of being induced in uneducated and simple persons with extreme ease, in which any idea that is suggested may at once take sensory form, and may be projected as an actual hallucination. To those who have seen robust young men, in an early stage of hypnotic trance, staring with horror at a figure which appears to them to be walking on the ceiling, or giving way to strange convulsions under the impression that they have been changed into birds or snakes, there will be nothing very surprising in the belief of hysterical girls that they were possessed by some alien influence, or that their distinct persecutor was actually present to their senses. It is true that in hypnotic experiments there is commonly some preliminary process by which the peculiar condition is induced, and that the idea which originates the delusion has then to be suggested _ab extra_. But with sensitive 'subjects' who have been much under any particular influence, a mere word will produce the effect; nor is there any feature in the evidence for witchcraft that more constantly recurs than the _touching_ of the victim by the witch. Moreover, no hard and fast lines exist between the delusions of induced hypnotism and those of spontaneous trance, or of the grave hystero-epileptic crises which mere terror is now known to develop."

Unquestionably, hypnotism and hallucination played their part; also perhaps telepathy; and, as Gurney points out elsewhere, "The imagination which may be unable to produce, even in feeble-minded persons, the belief that they _see_ things that are not there, may be quite able to produce the belief that they _have seen_ them, which is all, of course, that their testimony implies" (p. 118).

Doubtless a large part of witchcraft, particularly that portion of it which relates to the Sabbath and the scenes said to be enacted there, can be explained as being due to the morbid workings of the mind while in a trance state. It is a.s.serted on good authority that salves and ointments were rubbed into the pores of the skin all over the body; and that soon after this the witch would feel drowsy and lie down, and frequently remain in a semitrance state for several hours. During that time she would visit the Sabbath,--so it was said; but her body remained on the bed meanwhile, clearly showing that _it_ had not been there.[48]

One of the most curious beliefs prevalent at the time was the belief in _lycanthropy_, that is, that certain individuals can, under certain conditions, change their bodily shape, and appear _as animals_ to persons at a distance! Frequently this animal would be injured, in which case the person whom the animal represented would be found to be injured in the same way, and in exactly the same place. The witch in such cases would frequently be lying at home in bed in a trance state, while her "fluidic double," in the shape of the animal, would be roaming about "seeking whom he might devour." The following is a typical case, which I quote from Adolphe D'a.s.sier's _Posthumous Humanity_, p. 261:

"A miller, named Bigot, had some reputation for sorcery. One day, when his wife rose very early to go and wash some linen not very far from the house, he tried to dissuade her, repeating to her several times, 'Do not go there; you will be frightened.' 'Why should I be frightened?' answered she. 'I tell you you will be frightened.' She made nothing of these threats, and departed.

Hardly had she taken her place at the wash-tub before she saw an animal moving here and there about her. As it was not yet daylight she could not clearly make out its form, but she thought it was a kind of dog. Annoyed by these goings and comings, and not being able to scare it away, she threw at it her wooden clothes-beater, which struck it in the eye. The animal immediately disappeared. At the same moment the children of Bigot heard the latter utter a cry of pain from the bed, and add: 'Ah! the wretch! she has destroyed my eye.' From that day, in fact, he became one-eyed. Several persons told me this fact, and I have heard it from Bigot's children themselves."

How does our author attempt to account for such a fact as this? He says:

"It was certainly the double of the miller which projected itself while he was in bed and wandered about under an animal form. The wound which the animal received at once repercussed upon the eye of Bigot, just as we have seen the same thing happen in a.n.a.logous cases of the projection of the double by sorcerers."

Without endorsing such a view of the case, it may be said that recent experiments have shown it to be less incredible than might at first appear. Thus: We read further:

"Innumerable facts, observed from antiquity to our own day, demonstrate in our being the existence of an internal reality--the internal man. a.n.a.lysis of these different manifestations has permitted us to penetrate its nature. Externally it is the exact image of the person of whom it is the complement. Internally it reproduces the mould of all the organs which const.i.tute the framework of the human body. We see it, in short, move, speak, take nourishment; perform, in a word, all the great functions of animal life. The extreme tenuity of these const.i.tuent molecules, which represent the last term of inorganic matter, allows it to pa.s.s through the walls and part.i.tions of apartments. Hence the name of phantom, by which it is generally designated. Nevertheless, as it is united with the body from which it emanates by an invisible vascular plexus, it can, at will, draw to itself, by a sort of aspiration, the greater part of the living forces which animate the latter. One sees, then, by a singular inversion, life withdrawn from the body, which then exhibits a cadaverous rigidity, and transfers itself entirely to the phantom, which acquires consistency--sometimes even to the point of struggling with persons before whom it materializes. It is but exceptionally that it shows itself in connection with a living person. But as soon as death has snapped the bonds which attach it to our organism, it definitely separates itself from the human body and const.i.tutes the posthumous phantom."

This interpretation of the facts, it will be seen, forms a sort of connecting link between apparitions, ghosts, materializations, vampirism, and witchcraft; it is also in accord with the statements of the theosophists as to the astral body, conforms with certain statements made through Mrs. Piper and others as to the fluidic or ethereal body, and accounts for many of the phenomena of "collective hallucination" and haunted houses. I am far from saying that I think such a theory proved, but it is at least consistent and plausible; it is also in accord with many facts, and explains them as no other theory can or does.

Colonel A. de Rochas, in his article on "Regression of Memory" (_Annals of Psychical Science_, July 1905), claimed that he had experimentally produced one of these doubles in a mesmerised subject. After several seances, and while the subject was in a deep trance, the following occurred:

"The astral body is now complete. M. de R. tries to make it rise, to send it into another room. The body is stopped in its journey by the ceiling and the walls. M. de R. tells Mayo to stretch towards him the astral right hand, and he pinches it; Mayo feels the pinch."

Experiments such as these could be multiplied _ad infinitum_. There are cases on record in which the astral form has been p.r.i.c.ked with needles, while the "sensitive" felt the p.r.i.c.k, and so on. These experiments are suggestive, and if they should prove an etheric body, or anything corresponding to it, that would be at least one great step in advance in psychic research. It would also enable us to understand many of the phenomena of witchcraft, which are at present looked upon as mere superst.i.tions.

A word, finally, as to the phenomena of "exteriorization of sensibility," to which reference was made in the last paragraph. Many French observers have, apparently, obtained these phenomena; but there seems to be much scepticism regarding them in England and America, where they are generally considered to be due entirely to "suggestion." For my own part--while I do not uphold past experiments in this direction as being particularly convincing--I must confess that I see no inherent improbability in the facts themselves. If we have an etheric body, this is doubtless more or less detachable, at times--indeed, the ingenious author of _The Maniac_ suggests that the premature loosening of this body is the cause of much insanity. (See also my own remarks along the same general lines in the _Annals of Psychical Science_, October-December 1909, pp. 657-67; "Concerning Abnormal Mental Life.") This etheric body is doubtless highly sensitive to external forces and energies acting upon it, and would also feel physical pressure, etc., when applied. If this were true, we should have a ready explanation for these cases of exteriorized sensibility.

But it would not even be necessary for us to a.s.sume this! If the phenomena of exteriorization of _motivity_ be true (the phenomena produced by Eusapia Palladino, for example) then we have here nervous energy or "fluid" existing beyond the periphery of the body--that is, in s.p.a.ce, detached from the nerves. And if a motor current can exist and travel in this manner, why not a sensory current? It would only have to travel in the opposite direction. For these reasons, therefore, I am disposed to regard the phenomena of exteriorized sensibility as highly probable, if not actually proved.

FOOTNOTES:

[48] See the article on "Witches' Unguents" in the _Occult Review_, April 1912, pp. 275-77.

CHAPTER XII

SCIENTIFIC TRUTHS CONTAINED IN FAIRY STORIES

How many of us, re-reading the fairy stories of our childhood have for a moment believed that many of these tales might be based upon scientific truths? Of course it is probable that most of these stories have _no_ basis of fact behind them, but that they are merely the product of the story-teller's imagination--just as similar stories today are produced in this manner. But, on the other hand, it is quite conceivable that many of the seemingly fabulous accounts are in truth based upon realities; and that genuine occurrences may have happened, giving birth to these tales. We all know the general character of many of the legends. I may mention, as typical of the marvellous things done: becoming visible and invisible, as did "Jack the Giant Killer"; the existence of giants and dwarfs, as in _Little Tom Thumb_; incredibly rapid growth of vegetation, as in _Jack and the Beanstalk_; being suddenly transported without effort through immense distances and seeing at the other end of such a journey scenes and events actually transpiring at the time--as occurred in many of the _Arabian Nights_ stories; cases in which plates and dishes washed themselves, and many other household feats were performed, as in _Prince Hildebrand and Princess Ida_; cases of long sleep, such as the _Sleeping Beauty_; cases in which human beings have been transformed into animals, and vice versa, as in _Beauty and the Beast_; cases in which palaces have sprung up over night, existing on the desert plain, only to vanish the next night and leave it as barren as before--as so often happened in the _Arabian Nights_.

Let us first of all consider the cases in which persons have caused themselves to vanish and reappear at will. This power of becoming visible and invisible to others is not limited to mythical times, but may be reproduced today by artificial means. If a sensitive subject be hypnotized (and there is some a.n.a.logy to the hypnotic pa.s.s in the fact that the fairy invariably waved her wand before the eyes of the onlooker), hallucinations of various types may be induced. Thus, our subject may be persuaded to see, for instance, a dog walking across the carpet, whereas there is no dog there. He may be persuaded that there is a stream in front of him flowing through the drawing-room, and that it is necessary for him, in order to prevent his feet from becoming wet, to take off his shoes and socks, and turn up his trousers. Hypnotic suggestion will perform this, and it may be said that suggestion alone, even when the subject is not in the hypnotic state, may be employed to produce many of these hallucinatory pictures. On the contrary, it is possible to suggest to our subject that such and such an object is gradually diminishing in size, and finally that it disappears altogether. He sees and describes this diminution, and finally looks in vain for the object which, he a.s.serts, has vanished, but which, as a matter of fact, is perfectly visible to all others not under the influence of the suggestion. We frequently suffer from these "negative hallucinations," as they are called, in our ordinary daily life. We cannot find an object which is perfectly visible--resting in the very centre of the area over which we are searching diligently. Suddenly we discover it; it seems incredible to us that we have not seen it before; it seems to have sprung into being as though placed there by some invisible hand. Nevertheless it had remained throughout in the one position, and the only remarkable factor was our inability to see it.

Such cases are well known to psychologists (the power of suggestion in inducing both positive and negative hallucinations), and this--both in the normal and the hypnotic state--is well recognized.

Now it is only necessary for us to extend our conception somewhat in order to see the scientific truths contained in many fairy stories, in which one of the characters--hero, fairy, or what not--becomes visible and invisible at will. It is only necessary for us to conceive that some degree of mental influence had been brought to bear upon the minds of the onlookers, and that suggestion had been skilfully employed, in order to account for many of these stories. I know of a case in which the operator made his subject, who remained practically in a normal state throughout, see him floating about the room--whisking over chairs and tables, as though the law of gravity had no further influence upon him!

We might, perhaps, also account for "invisibility" in one or two other ways. Thus, the magician or fairy might possess the power of interposing some veil or screen between himself and the seer--etheric or physical--by some act of will. Or we could suppose that some chemical might be applied to the body, rendering its structure and tissues transparent. (One is here reminded of H. G. Wells' _Invisible Man_.) Or, we might a.s.sume that the magician possessed the power of neutralizing light-waves, reflected from his body, by some method of "interference"--thus rendering himself invisible. This might be due either to a greater understanding of the laws of physics--i.e., the ability to manipulate light-energy in this manner, or to some purely psychic power--volitional, etc. Precise instructions for doing this have indeed been published (_Equinox_, vol. iii.). Of course, all such speculations as these are purely fantastic, until some proof of their possibility be forthcoming.

It may be thought that this knowledge was not possessed by the ancients to the requisite extent; but there is abundant evidence to show that "mesmerism" has been practised from very ancient times. It is probable that the pa.s.sage in Exodus vii, 10, 11, 12, refers to this, when it says: "Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers: and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents; but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." It is interesting to note that Professor S. S. Baldwin, otherwise known as "The White Mahatma," recently saw a very similar feat performed in Egypt, and gives an account of it in his book, _The Secrets of Mahatma Land Explained_. Doubtless the effects in both cases were produced by suggestion, and a species of hypnotic influence. That the ancients were well versed in magic, and the power of suggestion and personal influence, is best ill.u.s.trated by an old Egyptian papyrus at present in the British Museum, which contains an account of a magical seance given by a certain Tchatcha-em-ankh before King Khufu, 3766 B. C. In this ma.n.u.script it is stated of the magician: "He knoweth how to bind on a head which hath been cut off; he knoweth how to make a lion follow him, as if led by a rope; and he knoweth the number of the stars of the house (constellation) of Thoth." The decapitation trick is thus no new thing, while the experiment performed with the lion, possibly a hypnotic feat, shows hypnotism to be old.

In the _Arabian Nights_, and in various other fairy tales, we also read of the sudden appearance and disappearance of palaces, castles, and other buildings of monumental character. This strange phenomenon has frequently been paralleled in recent times. It is a species of hallucination, induced by auto-suggestion or hetero-suggestion--that is, suggestion given to oneself, or suggestion from outsiders. Madame Blavatsky, in her _Nightmare Tales_, relates an interesting experience of this character:

"A curious optical effect then occurred. The room, which had been previously partially lighted by the sunbeam, grew darker and darker as the star increased in radiance, until we found ourselves in an Egyptian gloom. The star twinkled, trembled, and turned, at first with a slow, gyratory motion, then faster and faster, increasing its circ.u.mference at every rotation until it formed a brilliant disk, and we no longer saw the dwarf, who seemed absorbed in its light.... All being now ready, the dervish, without uttering a word, or removing his gaze from the disk, stretched out a hand, and taking hold of mine he drew me to his side, and pointed to the luminous shield. Looking at the place indicated, we saw large patches appear, like those of the moon. These gradually formed themselves into figures, that began moving themselves about in higher relief than their natural colours. They neither appeared like a photograph nor an engraving, still less like the reflection of images on a mirror, but as if the disk were a cameo, and they were raised above its surface--then endowed with life and motion.

To my astonishment and my friend's consternation, we recognized the bridge leading from Galata to Stamboul spanning the Golden Horn from the new to the old city. There were the people hurrying to and fro, steamers and caiques gliding on the blue Bosphorus, the many-coloured buildings, villas, palaces reflected in the water; and the whole picture illuminated by the noonday sun. It pa.s.sed like a panorama, but so vivid was the impression that we could not tell whether it or ourselves were in motion. All was bustle and life, but not a sound broke the oppressive stillness. It was noiseless as a dream. It was a phantom picture.... The scene faded away, and Miss H---- placed herself in turn by the side of the dervish."

We thus see that expectancy and suggestion alone may induce sufficiently abnormal mental states to ensure the occurrence of such images--especially in a mind previously wrought by imagination, superst.i.tion, love, or any emotion tending to bring about its temporary lack of balance. The visions induced would, of course, be mental, and not physical, in their character; they would nevertheless appear just as real to the onlooker.

Closely akin to these visions are those in which, it is reported, journeys have been made through s.p.a.ce on a magic carpet--as in the _Arabian Nights_--or merely at the wish or command of some fairy or magician. Frequently, in such cases, it is reported that a vision is seen at the other end of the journey, coinciding with reality. It may be that the princess is, at that moment, being captured by a hideous giant; or that her lover is in great danger of losing his life. These visions have stirred the recipient into action, the result being that he or she arrives in the nick of time to prevent some fearful catastrophe. Such visions, too, have foundation in fact. There are many cases in which distant scenes have been visited in sleep, and places accurately remembered--the seer never having visited that locality in his life.

Very much the same has happened in hypnotic trance, and even occasionally in the waking state, spontaneously. This is a species of clairvoyant vision; operative either during sleep, hypnotic trance, or daydream; and while it accurately represents scenes transpiring at a distance, here too, it will be noted, there is no corporeal transition--only mental adjustment from one scene of activity to another. Yet the subject remains under the distinct impression that he has been there in person, and actually visited the spot indicated.

The Sleeping Beauty is an example of a story, typical of many, which ill.u.s.trates the tradition that on certain occasions persons have pa.s.sed into a sleep-state in which they have remained for long periods of time without apparent injury. While we must a.s.sume that the periods over which this sleep-state extended have been greatly overdrawn, the reported cases of hypnotic trance, and of voluntary interment, among the Hindus and elsewhere, lend probability to these stories, because of the fact that long periods of trance have been undergone by various individuals--who awakened from these states in apparently perfect health, and none the worse for their remarkable experience. Several spontaneous cases have been reported quite recently, in which the subject has pa.s.sed several months, or even a year or more, in a sleep-state--awaking every few days or weeks, speaking a few words, taking perhaps a little nourishment, and then lapsing into oblivion! The older cases of extended sleep thus find a close parallel in the newer cases.

One of the chief const.i.tuents of every fairy story is the giant or dwarf, who occupies a central position. That giants and dwarfs exist today there can be no doubt. They are frequently to be seen in the side-shows, and even in public life. But it is now known that giants and dwarfs suffer from a certain disease, which renders them particularly short-lived; and they are, generally speaking, muscularly weak for their size. They are not the stalwart, fierce race of beings imagined in the fairy stories, and which popular belief still pictures them. For the fairy tale, the giant is always enormous and powerful, and generally cannibalistic in his habits! Have giants of this character existed?

Could such a race have existed? To this question it is almost certain that we must answer "No." M. Dastre, of the Sorbonne, Paris, has gone into this question at great length, and has given us the result of his researches in his essay on _The Stature of Man at Various Epochs_. Here he says:

"It is incontestable that beings of gigantic size do appear from time to time.... Giants are men whose development, instead of pursuing a normal course, has undergone a morbid deviation, and whose nutrition has become perverted. They are dystrophic. Their great stature shows that one part has gained at the loss of another. It is a symptom of their inferiority in the struggle for existence. Their condition is not only a variation from the ordinary conditions of development--that is to say, they are 'congenital monsters,' the study of which belongs to the science of teratology--but it is a variation also from a state of health, physically and normally sound. In other words, they are diseased, and fall within the domain of the pathologist. Here then, as Brissaud says, you have your giants despoiled of their ancient and favourite prestige. Mythology yields the place to pathology."

The _causes_ of gigantism and of dwarfs are now well known. In the brain there is a tiny gland known as the pituitary gland, weighing little more than half a gram, and divided into two portions--the "anterior" and the "posterior" lobes. Hypertrophy of the _anterior_ lobe causes gigantism.

The bones grow to an exaggerated length; the hands, feet, and bones of the face grow enormous. When, on the contrary, the secretions of the anterior lobe are insufficient, the body remains small, undergrown and delicate. The secretions of the _posterior_ lobe, on the other hand, insure the undue acc.u.mulation of fat, and disturb the functional activities. Other ductless glands in the body also affect the mental and physiological functions of the whole organism.

Nevertheless it is realized that beings have existed from time to time far larger and more powerful in every way than the ordinary human being, and the mythopoeic tendency of the human mind has doubtless supplied the rest, and accredited to them marvellous powers which they did not in reality possess.

In not a few fairy tales we read that the plates and dishes, which were upon the fairy's table, ran of their own accord to the kitchen, washed themselves, and came back to the table; that a cake was cut by a knife held by no visible hand; a decanter of water, of its own accord, moved about from place to place on the table, refilling the gla.s.ses of the guests; and in various other ways duties were performed which we are accustomed to consider as necessarily performed by ourselves. All this was accomplished by the objects without any external a.s.sistance, and of their own accord. Incredible as such accounts may appear, they are, nevertheless, not so extraordinary, viewed in the light of some newer researches--which in fact, if proved to be true, render phenomena of this sort quite credible. During seances held with Eusapia Palladino, objects were moved from place to place in the room without visible contact, and apparently of their own accord. They were also lifted from place to place and floated about in the air without visible support.

These phenomena have been observed for a number of years by scientific men on the Continent, and they are unanimous in a.s.serting that manifestations of this character do in fact take place, and that they are not due to any force or forces known to physical science. On one occasion, for example, a gla.s.s decanter was seen to be moved from the sideboard on which it stood on to the seance table, and thence rise and float around the room, no one touching it--there being no possibility of any connection between it and any object in the room. Finally, the gla.s.s bottle held itself, or was held by invisible hands, to Eusapia's mouth, and she thereupon drank some of the water it contained. The same thing happened to an investigator, another member of the circle. The gla.s.s decanter was then transported back to the sideboard, and a pile of dishes and other objects were moved on to the table.[49] Similar phenomena are said to have occurred in the presence, or through the mediumship, of D.D. Home. Sir William Crookes informs us that on several occasions a bunch of flowers was carried from one end of the table to the other, and then held to the noses of various investigators in turn, for them to smell. Some of those present at the seance saw a white hand, visible as far as the wrist, carrying the bouquet. Others saw merely a whitish cloud-like ma.s.s connected with the bunch of flowers. Still others saw nothing--save that the flowers themselves were transported through s.p.a.ce without visible means of support.

Here, then, we have phenomena, attested by scientific men, all happening within the past few years, rivalling any of a like nature that are reported to have occurred in fairy stories! If _invisible beings_, possessing intelligence, constantly move about us, and are capable, at times, of affecting the material world, surely there should be no objection to many of these fairy stories, since the difference in the facts is one merely of _degree_ and not of _kind_; and this would be true even were the phenomena proved to be due only to the action of some force or forces (under more or less intelligent control) within ourselves, producing the phenomena.

Other extraordinary narratives will doubtless occur to the mind. The bean-stalk which grew overnight, might be referred to; and it is possible to compare this with cases of electrically or artificially forced vegetation. But, of course, the majority of the wonders reported in fairy stories find their probable interpretation in those tricks of the imagination which have now been duplicated by artificial means, and which science is beginning to understand and interpret according to well-known psychological laws. Fairy stories may thus present (in many instances) the germ of a truth, which it has taken many centuries to elaborate and comprehend in detail.

FOOTNOTES:

[49] _Journal S.P.R._, vol. vi. p. 356. All this was observed by Sir Oliver Lodge, Prof. Ch. Richet, Mr. Myers, and Dr. Ochorowicz.