Emile Boirac was the leader of an academy in France who tried without much luck to get the scientific world interested in very interesting effects he carefully observed in many experiments. On page 221 of his long and very interesting scholarly work Psychic Science: An introduction and Contribution to the Experimental Study of Psychical Phenomena, he describes one of these effects like this:
"When experimenting with them, I have always taken the precaution of bandaging the eyes hermetically, without saying a word or permitting any of the sitters to break the silence throughout the duration of the experiments. Further, in the majority of cases, I have allowed them to remain awake, doing nothing to modify the condition of their brain. I have simply said to them when they came to me : 'Will you kindly allow me to put on this bandage ; sit there, and when you think you feel anything, will you please tell me.' In these conditions I have obtained the most varied and precise effects in all parts of their bodies corresponding with the position and movements of my own right hand or left, placed opposite the various parts."
On page 174 he discusses experiments with a patient:
"I contrived to distract the attention of the subject in order to place my right hand, unknown to him, in front of one or other of his elbows, knees, feet, etc., and always observed the same phenomenon: attraction of the limb thus covered which seemed to cease to belong to the subject and to fall under the dominion of my will, until the time when some sort of abrupt movement would inform the subject of these involuntary movements and he would withdraw himself from my influence."
On page 175 he describes a later experiment with the same patient, saying such results were replicated in ten different experiments:
"Then without saying anything to the subject as to the kind of experiments I was going to carry out, I ask him to let me put on this bandage and to remain perfectly motionless on his chair for a few moments. Then drawing close to him without any noise I placed my right hand about three or four inches away from his left hand, and presently, in less than half a minute, this was attracted. The same effect was produced on the other hand, the right and left elbows, the right and left knee, the right and left foot, etc. It goes without saying that I did not follow any order, but intermixed the actions in as many ways as possible, in order that the subject might not guess by any reasoning what part of the body I was covering. And yet there was always concordance between the direction of my hand and the movement obtained."
On page 187 Boirac noted that the same effect was noted by a more famous investigator, M. Pierre Janet ("the magnetiser" refers to the hypnotist):
In his ' Note on some Somnambulistic Phenomena,' M. Pierre Janet indicated in passing, and without appearing to attach any importance to it, the phenomenon of magnetic attraction, doubtless because in the conditions under which he observed it, he could only see in it the effect of hyperesthesia of touch. ' In order to provoke general contracture, it is sufficient for the magnetiser to place his open hand a short distance in front of the body. Certain tremblings are noticed first of all, then the body rises and follows the hand as though it were really attracted by it.' "
On page 190 Boirac dismisses this "hyperesthesia of touch" idea, noting that the subjects in which he observed the effect were usually not hypnotized, that they showed no other signs of being super-sensitive to touch, and that his hand was four inches from their skin, too far to be explained by such an idea.
Boirac tried to explain the strange effect by the idea that there is some unknown force which emanates from a person's body, a force that can have strange effects on other bodies. The often-claimed idea that humans have a mysterious energy aura is consistent with such a claim. The force may involve an interaction between one person's aura (extending a few inches beyond his body) and some other person's aura.
But without postulating such a force, we can postulate that most of the accounts Boirac gives us of the effect are mainly examples of extrasensory perception (ESP). There is a massive wealth of evidence ESP, such as the experiments of Joseph Rhine and the very well replicated ESP results in what are called ganzfeld sensory deprivation experiments. Boirac's results seem like some early evidence for ESP. Rather than some force emanating from his hand, the effect may have involved a mind-to-mind interaction, beginning with an experimenter who has in mind which way his hand is moving. The sensory deprivation usually involved when the effect was produced (with the subject being blindfolded) reminds me of the sensory deprivation going on in the very successful ganzfeld experiments, in which subjects have halves of ping pong balls taped over their eyes.
On pages 233-234 of Boirac's book we have a description of remote hypnosis, in which a subject who cannot see a hypnotist is put it into a hypnotic trance by the hypnotist. We read this:
"Dockmann was sitting in the garden with a friend who was reading a newspaper; his back was almost turned to me and he began to roll a cigarette. I do not know how, but the idea came to me to try the experiment here described. and with all the force of my will, I immediately put it into execution. Concentrating my mind entirely on this one thought, I looked stedfastly in Dockmann's direction, and commanded him to stop all movements and go to sleep. Dockmann did not appear to perceive that I was looking at him, but his actions quickly slackened, and his eyes became fixed. The unfinished cigarette remained in his hands, he suddenly dropped his eyelids, and became motionless as a statue. His friend raised his head, perceived his condition, questioned him, but obtained no response. A singer seated at a neighbouring table became frightened and screamed aloud. I hastened and went down, and in a few moments, by breathing quickly on his eyes, awoke my improvised subject, who did not even seem to know what had happened to him."
Boirac reports successfully repeating the same experiment:
"I reached the Casino about half -past one. On this occasion Dockmann was sitting on the terrace by himself at a table writing a letter, bent nearly double, his nose almost resting on the blotting-pad. My table was five or six yards away; between us was a party of four, playing cards. I again concentrated myself with a nervous tension, which caused me to vibrate from head to foot, and, while looking quietly at Dockmann, I commanded him with all my power to cease writing and go to sleep. The action was slower than the night before. It might be said that the subject struggled against my will. After one or two minutes he gave visible signs of a thrilling sensation ; his pen remained suspended, as if he sought in vain for words ; he made a gesture with his hand as if throwing off some obsessing influence ; then he tore up the letter he had commenced and began to write another but his pen soon remained fixed on the paper and he went to sleep in that position. I went close up to him, with several others who had stopped their games; his whole body was contracted and hard as a piece of wood; we tried unsuccessfully to bend one of his arms ; the stiffness was only removed by 'means of passes ; the waking was accomplished by blowing on his eyes. When he had recovered the use of his senses, he begged me not to repeat these experiments ; he complained of having been much fatigued by the former one. He stated, moreover, that he had gone to sleep on these two occasions without having had the slightest suspicion that the sleep had been caused by me or by any one else."
Such a claim might seem unbelievable except for the fact that numerous similar claims were made in the late twentienth century. On page 104 of the book "Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain" by Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder, we read a chapter discussing many examples of so-called "telepathic knockouts." During such events it would appear that a person was put into a state of deep sleep or unconsciousness solely because of the mental suggestion of some other person. We read, "The ability to put people to sleep and wake them up telepathically from a distance of a few yards to over a thousand miles became the most thoroughly tested and perfected contribution of the Soviets to international parapsychology." After reading of countless successful experiments of such an effect, we read of such a test being successful at a distance of a thousand miles. At a scheduled time, one scientist mentally commanded a subject a thousand miles away to fall asleep. We are told, "A thousand miles away Ivanova lost consciousness on schedule as she talked to Dr. Doubrovsky." Since electromagnetic waves diminish with distance, the test seemed to prove that ESP does not work by some transmission of electromagnetic waves.
On pages 234-235 of his book, Boirac states this:
"I had the opportunity of witnessing, as often as I wished and in very varied conditions, the phenomenon of sleep and awaking provoked at a distance by a simple mental action. This phenomenon became as familiar to me and almost as easy to produce as sleep by suggestion, gaze or passes; it is impossible for me to relate here all the cases in which I have produced it."
In the next twenty pages of the book, Boirac does describe in great detail producing such a "telepathic knockout" effect with many varied subjects, quite a few of whom could not see him. On page 262 the author gives an account of a strange phenomenon widely reported in the literature of the paranormal: an ability for a person to read even when securely double-blindfolded, by passing his fingers over text or placing the text to his forehead or stomach. The term "transposition of the senses" is sometimes used to describe this type of effect. Boirac describes this event, using the term "put to sleep" to mean "put in a hypnotic trance.":
"First of all, the subject was put to sleep, preferably by prolonged gaze. We then brought some gummed paper of which bands were made, which we moistened and pasted over the eyes in such a way as to secure the eyelids. This done we placed over all a thick bandage firmly tied behind the head, and the spectators were asked to pass to the subject all the written and printed papers they desired her to read. At the beginning the subject asked preferably to be given large print to read such as the titles of newspapers. She then passed her fingers over the papers, sometimes brought them up to her forehead or placed them on the epigastrium, and generally read unhesitatingly, without mistake, and with very fair ease. Sometimes, however, the subject declared herself unable to see anything; she then asked to be awakened and put to sleep again, and nearly always on the resumption, the experiment succeeded. Once fairly started, Mm. . V. deciphered as though making light of it, not only visiting cards and printed lines, but also letters, notes writ in ink or pencil, in very fine characters often almost imperceptible. She even saw and described photographs. Finally if we placed a watch in her hands, whatever the time indicated, she saw and divined by passing her fingers over the glass, but she took the precaution to envelop the case in a handkerchief, because, she said, the gold would cause her to feel a burning sensation."
On page 273 Boirac discusses an experiment with another subject who had his eyes bandaged:
"I began by placing two seats, one in front of the other, in the same direction, in such a way that the person seated on the first had his back turned to the person seated on the other. Then the subject being sent to sleep, his eyes bandaged, was seated on the second seat, I myself on the first. Then bringing my right elbow backward, I said to S. : 'Extend your right arm. take my elbow, press it tightly.' That being done 1 took at haphazard a newspaper from the table, unfolded : my knees, and slowly passing my fingers over the title. I said to S. : 'Read!' I felt the subject's fingers cling convulsively to my elbow, and as my fingers passed over a character, S. spelt it out loud.... I again passed my fingers over the paper, but more rapidly, and he read without difficulty : ' L Independent des Pyrenees-Orientales.' The phenomenon was so strange, so incredible, that in spite of myself, I suspected a transmission of thought. Suddenly turning over the newspaper and closing my eyes, I ran my fingers over the upper part of the fourth page. He then read : ' Mineral waters,' but I had had time to see this advertisement. At that moment I passed my fingers underneath and from the side. The subject read : ' Automobile carriages.' I opened my eyes and found this was printed there, unknown to myself, and that my hand had passed over it. A third person having come in, I asked him to place and direct my fingers over various advertisements taken at random on the fourth page, whilst I kept my eyes closed. S. read correctly each time. Since then, I have several times renewed this experiment of reading through the elbow."
The ability of a securely blindfolded person to read by passing his fingers over text was very abundantly documented by the Soviets and the Chinese, as I discussed in my posts here and here. The same phenomenon was reported decades earlier in France, by Jules Romains in his book Eyeless Sight (discussed here). A 19th-century work states this: " Although blind, this girl can read by passing her fingers over the printed or written page, and can describe persons whose pictures were handed to her." A long article in the June 12, 1964 Life magazine was entitled "Seeing Color With the Fingers." It reported a great number of observations very similar to those reported by Romains. You can read the article here, by scrolling down to page 102. In 1964 Life magazine was as mainstream and respectable as the New York Times, and had been a trusted mainstream source for decades
An edition of the EdgeScience magazine (#47) published by the Society for Scientific Exploration has an article "Seeing Without Eyes" (page 9) which discusses evidence for clairvoyance like that gathered by Romains. It mentions work by Carol Ann Liaros in the 1970's, saying, "Liaros discovered that blind people could see the images on black-and-white photos (and could see the photos when they were turned over, face-down, and even their reallife colors)." We read about many other examples of ESP and clairvoyance similar to that reported by Romains, most occurring in recent decades.
Yesterday the Science News site had an article entitled "Here are the top 10 times scientific imagination failed." Some of the biggest historical failures of scientific imagination are omitted, such as the failure to conceive that the main cause of mental phenomena could be something other than the brain (despite very abundant evidence suggesting such a thing), and the failure to take seriously centuries of extremely abundant observational reports of paranormal phenomena discussed in these 100+ posts, often documented extremely carefully and at the greatest length and detail by very careful and competent scientific observers, and sometimes well-documented photographically (such as here and here). The Science News article conveniently sticks to "back in the days" failures of scientific imagination that occurred long ago, rather than looking at the extremely severe ongoing failures of scientific imagination that continue in the present day.
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