{"product_id":"2940013612990","title":"OCCULTISM AND COMMON-SENSE","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eINTRODUCTION VII\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI. SCIENCE'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE \"SUPERNATURAL\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eII. THE HYPNOTIC STATE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIII. PHANTASMS OF THE LIVING\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIV. DREAMS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eV. HALLUCINATIONS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVI. PHANTASMS OF THE DEAD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVII. ON \"HAUNTINGS\" AND KINDRED PHENOMENA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVIII. THE DOWSING OR DIVINING ROD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIX. MEDIUMISTIC PHENOMENA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eX. MORE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eXI. THE MATERIALISATION OF \"GHOSTS\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eXII. SPIRIT-PHOTOGRAPHY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eXIII. CLAIRVOYANCE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eXIV. MRS PIPER'S TRANCE UTTERANCES\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAFTERWORD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNOTE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe following chapters, together with Professor Barrett's comment\u003cbr\u003ethereupon, which now figures as an Introduction, originally appeared in\u003cbr\u003ethe columns of _The Westminster Gazette_.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eINTRODUCTION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_By Professor W. F. Barrett, F.R.S._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_Those of us who took part in the foundation of the Society for\u003cbr\u003ePsychical Research were convinced from personal investigation and from\u003cbr\u003ethe testimony of competent witnesses that, amidst much illusion and\u003cbr\u003edeception, there existed an important body of facts, hitherto\u003cbr\u003eunrecognised by science, which, if incontestably established, would be\u003cbr\u003eof supreme interest and importance._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_It was hoped that by applying scientific methods to their systematic\u003cbr\u003einvestigation these obscure phenomena might eventually be rescued from\u003cbr\u003ethe disorderly mystery of ignorance; (but we recognised that this would\u003cbr\u003ebe a work, not of one generation but of many.) Hence to preserve\u003cbr\u003econtinuity of effort it was necessary to form a society, the aim of\u003cbr\u003ewhich should be, as we stated at the outset, to bring to bear on these\u003cbr\u003eobscure questions the same spirit of exact and unimpassioned inquiry\u003cbr\u003ewhich has enabled science to solve so many problems once not less\u003cbr\u003eobscure nor less hotly debated. And such success as the society has\u003cbr\u003eachieved is in no small measure due to the wise counsel and ungrudging\u003cbr\u003eexpenditure both of time and means which the late Professor Henry\u003cbr\u003eSidgwick gave, and which Mrs Sidgwick continues to give, to all the\u003cbr\u003edetails of its work._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_Turning now to the author of the following pages, everyone must\u003cbr\u003erecognise the industry he has shown and the fairness of spirit he has\u003cbr\u003eendeavoured to maintain. With different groups of phenomena, the\u003cbr\u003eevidential value varies enormously. The testimony of honest and even\u003cbr\u003ecareful witnesses requires to be received with caution, owing to the\u003cbr\u003eintrusion of two sources of error to which untrained observers are very\u003cbr\u003eliable. These are unconscious_ mal-observation _and unintentional_\u003cbr\u003emis-description. _I cannot here enter into the proof of this statement,\u003cbr\u003ebut it is fully established. Oddly enough, not only a credulous observer\u003cbr\u003ebut a cynical or ferocious sceptic is singularly prone to these errors\u003cbr\u003ewhen, for the first time, he is induced to investigate psychical\u003cbr\u003ephenomena which, in the pride of his superior intelligence, he has\u003cbr\u003ehitherto scorned. I could give some amusing illustrations of this within\u003cbr\u003emy own knowledge. For instance, a clever but critical friend who had\u003cbr\u003efrequently scoffed at the evidence for thought-transference published in\u003cbr\u003ethe \"Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research,\" one day\u003cbr\u003eseriously informed me he had been converted to a belief in\u003cbr\u003ethought-transference by some conclusive experiments he had witnessed.\u003cbr\u003eUpon inquiring where these experiments took place I found it was at a\u003cbr\u003epublic performance of a very inferior Zancig who was then touring\u003cbr\u003ethrough the provinces!_\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_Mr Beckles Willson frankly tells us that \"the light heart and open\u003cbr\u003emind\" with which he set forth on his inquiry deserted him before he drew\u003cbr\u003ehis labours to a close. For, entering upon the subject as a novice, he\u003cbr\u003efound himself unexpectedly confronted by the mass of evidence and the\u003cbr\u003enumerous and profoundly difficult problems which the Psychical Society\u003cbr\u003ehave had to face. His conclusions are derived from a study of the\u003cbr\u003eavailable evidence, and this study has convinced him--as it has\u003cbr\u003econvinced, so far as I know, every other painstaking and honest\u003cbr\u003einquirer--that no theories based on fraud, illusion, nor even on\u003cbr\u003etelepathy, are adequate to account for the whole of the phenomena he has\u003cbr\u003ereviewed. Contrary to his prepossessions, Mr Willson tells us that he\u003cbr\u003ehas been led to the conclusion that the only satisfactory explanation of\u003cbr\u003ethese phenomena is the action of discarnate human beings--that is to\u003cbr\u003esay, the Spiritualistic hypothesis._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e_I can hardly suppose he means to apply this statement to more than the\u003cbr\u003esmall residue of phenomena which he finds inexplicable on any other\u003cbr\u003ehypothesis. Assuming this restricted view to be meant, the question\u003cbr\u003earises,","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145822060784,"sku":"2940013612990","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013612990_p0.jpg?v=1763583468","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013612990","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}