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Metaphysical Phenomena; methods and observations
Metaphysical Phenomena methods and observations Author:J. Maxwell, Charles Richet, L. I. Finch General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1905 Original Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Subjects: Parapsychology Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Mi... more »llion-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: PRELIMINARY REMARKS I Hesitated for a long time before deciding to publish the impressions which ten years of psychical research have left me. These impressions are so uncertain upon several points, that I wondered if it were worth while expressing in book form the few and sparse conclusions I am able to formulate. If, finally, I decide to publish my opinions, it is because it seems incumbent upon me to do so. I am not blind to the fact that my testimony is of very little importance ; but however modest it may be, it seems to me that it is my duty to offer this testimony, such as it is, to those who have undertaken to submit to scientific discipline the study of those phenomena which are, in appearance at least, so rebellious to such discipline. It might have been more convenient and advantageous for myself had I continued my researches in peace and quiet. I do not try to proselytise, and it is really a matter of indifference to me, whether my contemporaries share or do not share my views. But the sight of a few brave men fighting the battle alone is by no means a matter of indifference to me. There is a certain cowardliness in believing their teachings, whilst allowing them to bear all the brunt of the fray for upholding opinions, which require so much courage to champion. To these brave spirits I dedicate my book. I care naught for public opinion : not that I disdain it -- on the contrary, I have the greatest respect for its judgment -- but I am not addressing the public. The question I am studying is not ripe for the public ; or the ...« less