They Tried to Set Up a Halfway House Between Materialism and the Supernatural

In the nineteenth century there was  a huge abundance of inexplicable paranormal phenomena. Although many people have tried to make it sound like it all began with the Fox sisters in America, the truth is that inexplicable paranormal phenomena occurred throughout the nineteenth century. Early in the nineteenth century,   many paranormal phenomena were occurring in connection with what was once described as Mesmerism or animal magnetism or somnambulism, but which is now most commonly called hypnotism.  Such phenomena continued up to about the middle of the nineteenth century, when there then occurred the phenomena associated with spiritualism. Belong long countless people were reporting things such as inexplicable raps and  the mysterious movements or levitations of tables. Many serious observers reported events such as the levitation of a human being (Daniel Dunglas Home), and the appearance of full-body apparitions or materializations.  Such reports started to seem more credible after the leading  scientist Sir William Crookes began testifying that he had successfully verified the reality of very many such phenomena, and after the Dialectical Society of London (largely composed of skeptics) issued a long 1871 report that was dramatically in favor of paranormal phenomena. 

Edward Cox's 1872 book Spiritualism Answered by Science was a book that appeared the year after the Dialectical Society's 1871 report; and Cox was one of the investigators involved in that report.  Probably some people bought Cox's book hoping to read someone discredit reports of the paranormal that may have irritated them.  If someone bought the book hoping to see a wholesale debunking of the paranormal, they must have been sorely disappointed. Before  long the book's pages start telling us that some of the main types of paranormal phenomena are well-established observational facts.  On page 20 the author states this:

"Not only is the evidence by which the phenomena of Psychic Force are established stronger than any upon which the criminal courts daily convict and punish even with death ; it is at least equal to the evidence upon which most of the other sciences are founded. The experiments with Psychic Force are in all respects as perfect and trustworthy as those exhibited by Professor Tyndall at the Royal Institution. They are as plain to the eye, as palpable to the touch, as audible to the ear, as any witnessed in that famous lecture room. If the senses can deceive in the one, so are they equally liable to be deceived in the other, and the argument of imposture would be found equally applicable to both."

On page 29 the author describes being part of a group of investigators testing the hypothesis (suggested by Michael Faraday) that table turning (also called table tipping) was merely the result of involuntary muscular effort by the hands, and decisively debunking such a hypothesis:

"Such was the reasonable argument that led us to look to involuntary muscular action as the explanation of the motions and sounds that were continually being made. To ascertain if this hypothesis was correct, we devised a series of tests that should place the matter beyond all possible doubt. First, all hands were laid upon the table ; then one hand only of each person ; then the table was touched by the tips only of all the fingers ; then by the fingers of one hand alone ; then with one finger only. Still the motions and sounds continued with but slightly diminished force. If our theory of involuntary pressure was correct, the force should have diminished in precise proportion to the lessened points of contact. Moreover, it did not explain the fact, continually before our eyes, of the table being raised several inches from the floor on one side only, the muscular action of the fingers upon that side of the table being antagonistic and not contributory to such a motion ! We continued our experiments with lessened faith in our foregone conclusion. First, one person withdrew from all contact ; then a second, and a third, until one finger of one person only touched the table. Nevertheless it moved, the sounds continued to come from it, and a frequent motion was the lifting up of the table at the side on which the finger was pressing down, if exercising any pressure whatever. I should state that at all of these test experiments the tables employed were the large and heavy dining tables, some nine feet and some twelve feet long, with six legs, in common daily use in the dining-room of members of the committee, standing upon Turkey carpets, therefore not easily slid and difficult to move by the arm. 

We next tried a more decisive test. All hands were joined and held over the table at the height of three inches from it, no part of any hand touching it, the room being well lighted with gas and all eyes keeping careful watch over the lifted hands. The sounds were heard and the motions produced as before. It was suggested that possibly the feet might be at work ; so two of the members seated themselves under the table to observe. The motions and sounds continued, but not a foot stirred. Then all the persons present stood, so that no foot could touch the table unseen. Still it moved. Lastly we devised a test that conclusively settled the question as to the possible agency of muscular action, conscious or unconscious. It was contrived thus : All present turned the backs of their chairs to the table, and kneeling upon the chairs, placed their arms upon the backs of the chairs, their hands being extended above the table, but without possibility of contact with it. The chairs were first placed six inches from the table, with which, as the reader will readily understand, neither foot nor hand, nor any part of the person, of any of those present could possibly come into contact unseen. In this position the table moved eight inches over the carpet and tilted several times. The chairs were then withdrawn further from the table, on each trial to an increased distance, and with the same results. At the distance of two feet from it the motions were continued, with but slightly diminished power....These experiments of motion without contact were repeated many times at different meetings in different houses, and with the same results. Thus was our third and last explanatory conjecture, which we had eagerly accepted on the authority of Faraday, completely demolished by the facts, and we were compelled reluctantly to the conclusion that there is a Force apparently proceeding from the human organisation by which motion is produced in heavy substances without the employment of any muscular force, and without contact or material connection of any kind between such substances and the body of any person present."

On pages 39-40 Cox reports a paranormal phenomenon of the mysterious alteration in the weight of tables (something similar to what was reported by Sir William Crookes in very careful observations):

"Alterations in the weight of tables and other furniture have been frequently exhibited. Bidding the table to be light, a finger lifted it ; the next moment, bidding it to be heavy, the entire force of the body was required to raise it from the floor. It was, however, suggested by myself and others who were engaged in the scientific investigation of the phenomena of Psychic Force, that possibly this change in the weight of the subject of the Force might be merely in our own sensations, and not an actual change in the gravity of the wood or the operation of any pressure upon it. To test this, a weighing machine was constructed with a hook to fix to the table, the index accurately marking the weight of whatever was attached to it. Applying this machine to the table and other bodies, we found that the change was really in them, and not sensational merely, as we had suspected. This simple experiment was tried so often, and with, so many precautions, as to establish it beyond doubt. The weights varied at every trial, but all proved the reality of the Force that was operating. One instance will suffice. Weighed by the machine, the normal weight of a table, raised from the floor 18 in. on one side, was 8 lb. ; desired to be light, the index fell to 5 lb. ; desired to be heavy, it advanced to eighty-two pounds ; and these changes were instantaneous and repeated many times."

On page 45 Cox begins to speculate about the nature of the mysterious force he has observed, what he has called a Psychic Force.  Cox's speculations on this matter are not very believable.  He seems determined not to go all the way towards admitting the existence of a mysterious supernatural force from some external agency beyond living humans. He tried to inhabit some halfway house between materialism and the supernatural. 

Cox tries to suggest that the effects he has observed can be explained as some natural but poorly understood force coming from human beings, not from beyond them. He imagines a kind of unconscious telekinesis or subconscious psychokinesis "mind over matter" coming from psychics or mediums or even ordinary people. 

On page 49 Cox states his theory:

"There is a Force proceeding from, or directly associated with, the human organisation, which, in certain persons and under certain conditions, can cause motion in heavy bodies, and produce audible and palpable pounds in such bodies, without muscular contact or any material connection between any person present and the heavy body so moved or on which the sounds are produced. This Force appears to be frequently directed by some intelligence. For the reasons presently to be specified, we conclude that this Force is generated in certain persons of peculiar nervous organisation in sufficient power to operate beyond bodily contact." 

Since the nineteenth century we have learned much about the organization of human bodies. We have learned that human bodies are vastly more organized than any one in the nineteenth century had imagined. But nothing we have learned about the stratospheric levels of organization in human bodies supports the idea that the human organization could result in some power to mysteriously manipulate matter outside of the human body.  It could be that the human soul has some ability to manipulate matter outside of the body, through something like telekinesis or psychokinesis. But nothing we have learned about the physical body can explain such an effect it if exists. 

One problem with such a theory of subconscious telekinesis is that it can explain only a fraction of reports of paranormal phenomena, only physical effects. Such a theory of subconscious telekinesis cannot explain reports of inexplicable mental effects. Subconscious telekinesis cannot explain the very many well-documented accounts in the nineteenth century of dramatic clairvoyance of hypnotized subjects. Subconscious telekinesis cannot explain cases such as that of the medium Leonora Piper, who (while in trance) stated a great deal of correct information relating to deceased people who should have been unknown to her.  

A book similar to Cox's book is the 1905 book Metaphysical Phenomena: Methods and Observations by J. Maxwell, who was not only a doctor of medicine but also a deputy attorney general. Maxwell's book has dramatic first-hand testimony of many inexplicable paranormal events. But rather than believe that such things are evidence for the supernatural, Maxwell seems to support the same kind of far-fetched "subconscious telekinesis" explanation given by Cox. Early in the book on page 14 Maxwell states this:

"I believe in the reality of certain phenomena which I have been able to verify over and over again. I see no need to attribute these phenomena to any supernatural intervention. 1 am inclined to think that they are produced by some force existing within ourselves."

The reader's faith in such an explanation may be shaken by the observations Maxwell reports.  In Chapter 2 Maxwell reports at great length hearing many times inexplicable raps. For example, on page 73 Maxwell states this: "The raps I have heard — of course I am speaking only of genuine raps — have resounded near the medium, as a rule, either on the table, floor, walls, or furniture in close proximity to him."  On page 74-75 Maxwell states this:

"With certain mediums the energy liberated is great enough to act at a distance. I once heard raps upon a table which was nearly six feet away from the medium...In the case I am speaking of, the table on which the raps were heard was about six feet away from the medium and myself; it was daylight, towards five o'clock on a summer's afternoon ; the table had never been touched by the medium or the experimenters before the seance ; the raps were loud, and were heard for several minutes."

After discussing a wide variety of his observations of inexplicable raps, on page 90 Maxwell states, "I have no manner of doubt whatsoever upon the authenticity of raps, a phenomenon I have heard so frequently, and under such diverse and excellent conditions." On page 92 Maxwell states, "

"To sum up, I am certain — as far as it is reasonably possible to be certain of anything in such a matter — that knockings of variable rhythm and tonality are heard in the presence of certain persons — knockings or 'raps' which cannot be explained by any known process. They are heard at diverse distances ; they often seem to obey the expressed wishes of the sitters, and to manifest a certain independent intelligence."

On page 93 the author states that he has observed levitation. He states this: 

"Levitation is the raising of an object from the ground without that object resting on, or being in any contact whatsoever with, any normal support. I have frequently observed this phenomenon with Eusapia Paladino under satisfactory conditions of light and other tests. She has given me several unimpeachable examples of parakinetic levitation, and, I repeat, in full light."

Maxwell is only one of very many distinguished observers who reported objects levitating in the presence of Eusapia Paladino under conditions precluding any possibility of fraud. No one who has made a scholarly study of such phenomena should be surprised by the mention of such observations occurring in full light. Skeptics of the paranormal frequently suggest some meme of mediums doing tricky things in the dark, but the most dramatic physical phenomena around mediums (such as phenomena around Eusapia Paladino and Daniel Dunglas Home) were observed in full light. 

The report Maxwell makes on page 98 was also made by many other distinguished witnesses (such as Flammarion):

"I verified telekinetic phenomena with Eusapia Paladino first of all. When operating with this medium, the seance-table was often elevated without contact. As a rule, Eusapia formed the chain of hands around the table without touching it ; at the end of a few seconds, she would make some passes over the table with her right hand, retaining her hold of her right-hand neighbour's hand at the same time : the table would then leave the floor, and remain suspended in the air for several seconds. It fell to the ground heavily as a rule. This experiment was made several times in my presence under satisfactory conditions of light. It was not only the table which moved with Eusapia : the curtains of the cabinet were often thrown over the table, as if a strong wind had blown them out."

Mentioning a levitation of chairs on to the top of a table, on page 99 Maxwell states this:

"With Eusapia, the sitters' chairs were frequently displaced, shaken, raised, and even carried on to the table. I cannot conceive how Eusapia could have obtained such results normally, considering the strict test conditions exacted at l'Agnelas."

In a chapter entitled "Luminous Phenomena" Maxwell starts out by discussing some not-very-impressive light anomalies, but eventually comes to a discussion of a very impressive anomaly: the appearance of a floating head apparition.  We read this on pages 150-151:

"We all saw these forms, or rather the form ; for it was always the same form which was shown, the profile of a long bearded face with a strongly arched nose. This appearance is said to be the head of 'John,' Eusapia's habitual personification. ...The hypothesis of fraud is still less admissible. The head we perceived was of natural size, and measured about I foot 6 inches from the forehead to the extremity of the beard. If the phenomenon is to be attributed to fraud, we must explain how Eusapia hid the necessary mask on her person ; we must also explain how she could have drawn it out unknown to us, and further, how she manoeuvred it. Eusapia did not go into trance at our Bordeaux seances. She sometimes saw the profile in question, and manifested her satisfaction at being able to look on, for the first time I think, at the phenomena which was produced through her. The light from the window was sufficient to enable us to see Eusapia's hands. I have no need to say that her hands were carefully held by her right and left controllers. If this profile had been concealed on her person, it would have been absolutely impossible for her to maneuver it. The profile we observed appeared to form itself at the top of the cabinet, at a height of about 3 feet 9 inches above Eusapia's head ; it descended slowly and placed itself just above and in front of her ; at the end of a few seconds it dis- appeared only to reappear later on under the same conditions. We always carefully assured ourselves of the relative immobility of the medium's hands and arms ; and the strange phenomenon I relate is one of the most irreproachable I have ever verified, so utterly incompatible is the hypothesis of fraud with the conditions under which we observed it."

Maxwell describes here seeing another apparition:

"All at once, after the production of some very faint, flitting lights, I perceived the beautiful face of a woman, pale, the eyes up-raised as though in prayer. The eyes and hair were black ; the hair was parted in the centre and dressed in the style of fifty or sixty years ago. The face was draped in a white veil which also covered the head, forming a kind of frame for the face. The physiognomy was of the sweetest, and of rare beauty. The apparition appeared to be slightly luminous, of a whitish, milky hue. It showed itself to the left of the medium, but high above him, near the ceiling."

On page 151 Maxwell indicates that despite such wonders he is sticking to his idea of such effects being produced by mere subconscious mind-over-matter by the medium. But he indicates on what shaky ground he is on in maintaining such at thing. He states this:

"Evidently I have no explanation to offer. The apparition of these human forms raises a problem, which is far more complicated than the problem of raps and movements without contact, and I think the study of this problem cannot be profitably undertaken at present. Nothing authorises me to consider these curious phenomena as demonstrating the exactness of the spirit hypothesis ; I think their cause lies elsewhere than in the intervention of the spirit of a deceased person ; but I am not yet able to formulate any rational opinion on this subject."

It is easy to understand Maxwell's hestitancy. It is one thing to maintain that a human has the power to subconsciously produce raps or levitations through mind-over-matter. But if you start maintaining a human has the ability to subconsciously produce an apparition of a human form, then you seem to have stretched such a telekinesis explanation beyond its breaking point, and gone very deep down a rabbit hole.  You might as well believe that when you meet Dave's wife and shake her hand, you are just meeting a mind-over-matter projection of Dave's mind, rather than a real flesh-and-blood person.  

On page 168 Maxwell tries to give some speculative mumbo-jumbo to try to explain how the apparitions he has seen might be caused by a mind-over-matter effect coming from some medium:

"Lights and forms raise problems much more difficult of solution. They may be susceptible of the following explanation : we will suppose that particles of a very attenuated substance, e.g. the ether or any other kind of rarefied matter, existed capable of being acted upon by nerve force ; they would become charged, and dispersed, according to the lines of force, and these lines would be determined by the action of nerve centres, and would take form corresponding to those particular centres. They would have a certain plasticity, if I may thus express myself, and this plasticity would be in connection with those centres, possessing preponderating physiological activity. If this connection existed with the superior ideatlve centres, we would have intelligible, definite forms, such as faces of human beings, heads of animals, and objects ; should connection with the inferior centres be established, undefined forms only would be obtained. Their luminosity would depend upon the state of con- densation of this rarefied matter of which they are constituted. Those subject to lesser condensation would be the most luminous ; and it might happen, that a form of greater density would be surrounded by a luminous atmosphere of lesser density."

Nothing we have discovered since 1905 substantiates such an explanatory speculation. No one has discovered any "nerve force" originating in a human body and capable of projecting outward beyond the body. Nor has anyone discovered any "rarefied matter" existing in the ordinary air. All that exists in the air are oxygen and nitrogen molecules which move around in a very disorganized matter, like bees buzzing around in a big cage. The idea (popular around 1905) that empty space was filled with a "luminiferous ether" was abandoned by scientists in the early twentieth century. 

On page 169 Maxwell admits how tenuous his speculations are about this topic, stating this:

"I do not conceal from myself the fact that my ideas are far from being definite, and that the hypotheses I timidly express would fare badly under rigorous analysis. I have found no better, and I have the impression that they ought to contain a particle of truth."

On page 232 Maxwell quotes Charles Richet as saying a woman told him this: 

"I see a woman standing near me ; she has grey hair, she is about fifty years of age, but looks older than she really is. Her hair is quite grey. I believe it is Madame B... though I am not quite sure yet. I see the figure 7 with her, which probably means that she will die in seven months, or on the 7th of some near month... Madame B. is very ill ; she has some sort of chest complaint — perhaps tuberculosis — and she will die very soon indeed."

The Madame B. in question was slightly sick (unkown to the woman) at the time, and then did die within 7 weeks, from some chest infection resembling tuberculosis. She normally died her hair black, but in her last days her hair reverted to its grey color. 

In a chapter entitled "Recent Psychical Phenomena," Maxwell cites at length the case of a person named M. Meurice who seemed to be haunted for a long time by the spirit of a person with the initials H.B., a person known to Maxwell, but not known to M. Meurice.  Very many times the details coming in connection with this manifestation seemed to match the details of H. B. that Maxwell remembered. After many pages detailing the case, and after noting that M. Meurice did not even believe in spirit manifestations, Maxwell confesses this:

"If we examine in a general manner the character of the H. B. personification, we are, perhaps, obliged to admit that it presents a spiritistic appearance. This appearance is all the more singular, in that it manifests in a centre where the spiritistic hypothesis is looked upon with disfavour."

It is rather easy to explain why the "halfway house" position of Cox and Maxwell has been maintained by few writers.  The position involves attributing to the human mind powers of telekinesis (mind-over-matter) that are inexplicable and utterly unexpected if the mind is a mere product of a brain, but quite possible if humans have a soul (for if humans have a soul, it is very hard to specify limits to the powers of such a soul).  At the same time, their position involves non-belief of a survival of the human spirit or soul beyond death (or forbidding the idea of observational effects produced by such surviving souls or spirits). Such a position is fairly self-contradictory. If humans have powers of influencing matter beyond their touch (some mysterious power of telekinesis), that would indicate in the strongest way the existence of a mysterious human soul or spirit; and once such a soul or spirit is admitted, it would make no sense to deny survival of a soul after death, or the possibility of effects being produced by souls surviving death. 

In the past sixty years, professors have preferred a much different position: a most unscholarly "head in the sand" denial of all the very abundant evidence for the paranormal (accompanied by a refusal to seriously study such evidence), and a "shame the witnesses" denial of any spooky phenomena that scientists cannot explain. This unempirical approach has been facilitated by two things: (1) the censorship and exclusion of notable evidence such as that discussed by Myers, Crookes, Rhine, Flammarion, Cox and Maxwell from academic writings after 1950; (2) the gradual attrition in which old books on library book shelves are replaced by new books.  Around 1970 and 1980 such suppressive denialism was working rather well to prevent people from learning about paranormal phenomena.  During those decades the book shelves of universities had almost none of the old books giving first-hand reports of the paranormal; and such important reports had been senselessly excluded from the more recent books on university book shelves.  But there are two reasons why such a suppression approach may fail.  The first is that hundreds of books giving very good evidence for the paranormal have been digitized, and can be read for free at web sites such as www.archive.org and www.gutenberg.org.  The second is that humans continue to have diverse types of dramatic experiences of the paranormal such as near-death experiences.