Synopses & Reviews
In this 1917 publication English physicist Sir William Fletcher Barrett (1844-1925) purports to rescue psychical research from the scorn of his colleagues and provide indisputable evidence for the existence of psychic phenomena. A successful scientist (he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society and was honoured with a knighthood), Barrett was better known for his psychical work and his attempts to reconcile it with his scientific pursuits. Certain that the human spirit could linger after bodily death, in this book Barrett examines a wide range of spiritualist practices including levitation, spirit photography, mediumship, automatic writing, the ouija board, clairvoyance, and telepathy, carefully considering the evidence for each phenomenon in the hope that they will in time be recognised as scientifically established facts. This book is a much-revised edition of Barrett's 1908 publication On the Threshold of a New World of Thought, republished to include more 'trustworthy' evidence.
Synopsis
First published in 1917, this book attempts to prove that many spiritualist activities should be regarded as scientifically respectable.
Synopsis
First published in 1917, this book contains a scientific investigation into psychical experiences including levitation, telepathy, automatic writing and clairvoyance. Determined to prove the existence of such phenomena, scientist Sir William Barrett (1844-1925) provides substantial evidence in the hope that spiritualist activities will become accepted by the scientific establishment.
Table of Contents
Preface; Part I: 1. Introduction; 2. Psychical research and public opinion; 3. Conflicting objections of science and religion; Part II: 4. Physical phenomena of spiritualism; 5. Ditto; 6. Levitation and immunity from fire; 7. On certain more disputable phenomena of spiritualism: ectoplasms, direct voice, materialization, spirit photography, the aura; Part III: 8. The canons of evidence in psychical research; 9. Theories; 10. The problem of mediumship; 11. Human personality; the subliminal self; Part IV: 12. Apparitions; 13. Automatic writing. The evidence for identity; 14. Proof of supernormal messages. The ouija board; 15. Further evidence of survival after death; 16. Evidence of identity in the discarnate; 17. Evidence from abroad of survival; Part V: 18. Clairvoyance, psychology of trance phenomena; 19. Difficulties and objections considered; 20. Cautions and suggestions; Part VI: 21. The lesson of philosophy in the interpretation of nature; 22. The mystery of human personality; 23. The divine ground of the soul, reincarnation; 24. Telepathy and its implications; Appendices; Index.