THE UNKNOWN IN MAN
New Frontiers of the Mind. By J. B." Rhine. (Faber and Faber. 7s. 6d.) Man's Latent Powers. By Phoebe Payne. (Faber and Faber. 7s. 6d.)
I HAVE found this second report by Dr. Rhine on his experi- ments in what he himself named Extra Sensory Perception some three or four years ago absorbing. E.S.P., since Dr. Rhine's first book, has become a recognised symbol for this kind of paranormal power. No one who has given even superficial study to the subject doubts the existence of tele- pathy—a term coined by Frederic Myers—but no attempt has been systematically made to prove its existence by scientific methods. Dr. Rhine was inspired by a report he heard of the experiments with cards carried on by Miss Ina Jephson, a member of the English Society for Psychical Research, which seemed to him to demonstrate the existence of clairvoyance rather than telepathy, or in other words the recognition of an object without the help of the senses, rather than the recognition in the same way of a mental image. He and Dr. Zener, both members of the Psychological Staff under Dr. MacDougal of Duke University, California, prepared a set of five symbols on cards, and began to test the capacity of large numbers of people in naming the cards turned up by the experimenter out of sight and touch of the subject. It would be wearisome in this review to give an account of the various precautions against ordinary leakage, and the technique employed in the elimination of all sensory approach to the task. The result with some of the subjects tested for
telepathy were apparently spectacular : one man seated two rooms_ away from the sender who concentrated on the cards she turned up succeeded in getting a surprising number—far above chance—of correct calls. Tests were also made when the sender was unaware of what card was being turned up, and the results were also very interesting. Dr. Rhine claims to have discovered a close connexion between clairvoyance and telepithy, and though this can hardly, I think, be called his discovery, he has demonstrated it by laboratory tests. He concludes wisely : " We may still not have touched the peculiar character of a more elemental and basic process."
A short time ago I was listening to a paper read by Mr. Soal; the well-known worker in psychical research, who with wonderful industry in thousands of trials had been trying to reproduce Dr. Rhine's experiments. His results have been negative and he has not succeeded in finding anyone endowed with extra-sensory perception. He draws the conclusion that Dr. Rhine's precautions and conditions have not been suffi- ciently strict. Mr. G. M. N. Tyrrel has had considerable success with one subject, but Mr. Soal attributes this also to faulty conditions.
I picked up this book of Dr. Rhine's therefore with an uneasy suspicion of some laxity in the actual technique, but I did-not detect it. The criticism freely made, however, and with which I do agree, is the lack of sufficient independent control and witness of the experiments. I accept Dr. Rhine's word of course, but if the outside world is to be convinced special care should be taken to secure independent observers. Mr. Soal tested over a hundred subjects without finding one able to score above chance. Dr. Rhine concentrated on a very small number of promising subjects ; he states " What we were interested in was not finding whether everybody possesses extra-sensitive powers but first whether anybody does." And he continues " the cards did not develop a new faculty of the mind—they merely recorded an existing faculty." There have been other investigations in America, Germany and Latvia, which, so it is stated, confirm the Duke experiments. What is at issue here is of course not the existence of telepathy or clairvoyance but the possibility of its manifestation under laboratory conditions.
A greater contrast than exists between Miss Payne's book and that of Dr. Rhine's can hardly be imagined, and yet they both treat of the marginal regions of the mind. But whereas Dr. Rhine is trying to supply a scientific evaluation, Miss Payne quite simply states what she has herself learned by personal experience. This book differs entirely from all the others of its kind which from time to time I have ploughed through, and I should like to express my appreciation. The authoress is psychically gifted, she can see with her bodily eyes things like elementals, auras, and etheric bodies, hidden from most of us. Yet at the very start she says " psychism is one of the normal factors of human experience." From her earliest childhood she had seen a dual world, and she states quite simply " through- out my early years I was unaware that not everyone experienced such contacts." Between i8 and 24 " objective clairvoyance dropped into abeyance more or less," and she then describes a chance encounter with a medium which led her to a " search through the labyrinth of both inner and outer experience gained from every source I could discover." She had to see, and deal with her own and "other people's psychic confusion and this made it seem worth while to try and classify and fit such experiences into an ordered scheme of life.", Here is just where Miss Payne's book differs from others. Instead of informing us all about " controls " or " stunrnerlands " or " guides " who help, common enough trappings of the psychic, she has made a definite attempt to correlate her own psychi: experiences with the ordinary ones of consciousness.
The rest of the book is very interesting : the experience
retailed have often been written of before by those who hav,, experienced them, but so far as I know not combine,: with strong' critical and reasoning power. The description given of various psychical conditions are unexaggerated an correct, and no undue claim is made about their origin. Th, use of clairvoyance in the diagnosis of illness opens a vista f- useful progress if only the latent faculty in man can be safe; developed. The first step is investigation and experiment. '1 those who feel we are dimly witnessing a most important smg - in man's evolution, this book will make a strong appeal and I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in these matters.
EDITH LYTTE-LTON
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