Apparitions and thought-transference :
an examination of the evidence for telepathy /
by Frank Podmore.
Description
- Language(s)
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English
- Published
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London : Scott ; 1894.
- Summary
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The attention which, notwithstanding these drawbacks, that work excited on its first appearance, the friendly reception which it met with in many quarters, and the fact that a considerable edition has been disposed of, encouraged the hope that a book on somewhat similar lines, but on a smaller scale, might be of service to those--and their number has probably increased within the last few years--who take a genuine interest in this inquiry. Accordingly in the autumn of 1892 I obtained permission from the Council of the Society for Psychical Research to make full use, in the compilation of the present work, not merely of the evidence already published by us, but of the not inconsiderable mass of unpublished records in the possession of the Society. It will be seen that the present book has little claim to novelty of design; but it is not merely an abridged edition of the larger work referred to. On the one hand it has a somewhat wider scope, and includes accounts of telepathic clairvoyance and other phenomena which did not enter into the scheme of Mr. Gurney's book. On the other hand, the bulk of the illustrative cases here quoted have been taken from more recent records; and, in particular, certain branches of the experimental work have assumed a quite new importance within the last few years"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)-from electronic catalog record.
"The following pages aim at presenting in brief compass a selection of the evidence upon which the hypothesis of thought-transference, or telepathy, is based. It is now more than twelve years since the Society for Psychical Research was founded, and nearly eight since the publication of Phantasms of the Living. Both in the periodical Proceedings of the Society and in the pages of Edmund Gurney's book, a large mass of evidence has been laid before the public. But the papers included in the Proceedings are interspersed with other matter, some of it too technical for the taste of the general reader; whilst the two volumes of Phantasms of the Living, which have for some time been out of print, were too costly for the purse of some, and too bulky for the patience of others.
"Frank Podmore (1856-1910) was a paranormal researcher and socialist who co-founded the Fabian Society. He became interested in spiritualism while studying at Oxford and joined the Society for Psychical Research. Forced to leave his employment at the Post Office amid rumours of a homosexual scandal, Podmore was later found drowned in suspicious circumstances. This 1894 volume is a detailed and comprehensive study of a variety of unexplained phenomena. The author reviews numerous scientific tests of telepathic ability involving the transmission of thoughts, tastes and images (illustrated by reproduction of sketches purportedly sent between psychics). Also reported are researches into clairvoyance, automatic writing and even attempts to induce sleep using telepathy. The author explores a variety of rational explanations for the phenomena, including fraud and the influence of hypnosis and suggestibility. Diligent and carefully argued, Podmore's examination of the scientific study of the supernatural is also colourful and enthralling."--Www.bookdepository.com.
- Physical Description
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xiv, 401 p.
ill. ;
19 cm.
Viewability