SUPERNATURAL SCIENCE.
Fort many years we seem to have been on the verge of stu- pendous metaphysical discoveries and to have missed making them. Chemistry has been merging into physics, and physics into metaphysics and mathematics ; scientific hypotheses which had come to be regarded as rigid laws have been rele- gated to the scrap-heap of outworn ideas or modified out of all recognition. We believe to-day that space is limited, that time is relative, that the ultimate basis of all matter is identical. These things are the very substance of meta- physics ; and yet with regard to pure metaphysical knowledge we seem hardly to have advanced on the mediaeval schoolmen. Can it be that the mind of man, which is able to span, nay, to limit, the universe and to track down matter beyond the point where it exists as matter, has long ago touched the limit of its power of apprehending Ultimate Reality ? Or is it that our science is working up to some supreme new realization of absolute truth, the revelation of which will split the universe asunder and fulfil the apocalyptic prophecy. ? . Perhaps it ii in the science known as Psychical Research that this state of
affairs is best exemplified. During the last half-century much light has been cast on a tangled mass of bizarre phenomena by courageous and skilled investigators ; but the light has only served to emphasize the obscurity of further bewildering problems. But, at least, we now have at our disposal a mass of properly documented, reliable data. Weight of evidence now forces us to believe that mind can communicate with mind by means other than those which depend on the five known senses, that under certain circumstances there may issue from the human body plastic material which violates the laws of matter as at present understood ; and the reality of many other varieties of supernormal phenomena has been established. And yet no convincing interpretation of such phenomena is forthcoming. Spiritism, Theosophy, Anthro- posophy, the Demoniacal Hypothesis all offer explanations of the supernormal ; but none can show a sufficiency of cogent
reasons for their acceptance by the truly critical. Dr. Eugene Osty in his book, Supernormal Faculties in Man, offers us a
fresh dossier of extraordinary records. This book is a study
of man's powers of supernormal cognition, or metagnomy, which is the useful term borrowed by the author from Boirac.
There are very many forms of supernormal cognition de- scribed and classified in this book. An interesting form is autoscopy, which is a paraphysiological state in which persons are capable of " taking momentary cognizance of the exterior form of their body, as if they saw it before them (external autoscopy), and of the interior of their body as if they saw into it (internal autoscopy) " ; we are given several convincing examples of this strange phenomenon. As illustrative of another form of supernormal self-cognition many extraordi- nary examples of presentiments are given, presentiments of a most detailed and circumstantial kind, which subsequent events proved to have been exact precognition of the future. But the most baffling metagnomic phenomenon is that of cognition of the external—either of the immediate environ- ment, or of persons or events distant in time or space. Metag- nomic perception can penetrate time in both directions. Some of the given examples of this kind of supernormal cognition are absolutely convincing, others are less so. Consideration of the time-factor gives rise to immense issues. In seeking an interpretation of such a phenomenon as the delineation of a distant person's character or of the exact state of his health, from an inanimate object merely touched by that person, or of the phenomenon of " vision at a distance," one is brought up against metaphysical obstacles which are for- midable enough, but which seem insignificant compared with those which are encountered in connexion with the exact fulfilment of precognized events. One is faced with two alternative conclusions : either that the universe is governed in accordance with Strict Determinism, or else that the Past, the Present and the Future are in reality synchronous— different points on a one-dimensional time-curve, as it were. It would be desirable to quote examples at length from this extraordinary book, if we had the space ; short quotations divorced from their contexts are liable to misinterpretation and misrepresentation. However, we are certain that all those who take an interest in the subject will read Dr. Osty's book for themselves. Of course, we are entitled to ask our- selves the question, " Is metagnomy a reality or a myth ? " or, to put it bluntly, " Is Dr. Osty (and incidentally every other eminent scientist who has reported similar phenomena) a liar, a lunatic or an honest recorder of observed *facts ? " We will quote the last sentences of the author's preface which are a propos :- " The phenomenon of supernormal cognition is, as will be seen, reproducable at will, provided that its processes are known. It does not depend on any faith in the witnesses, nor on any beliefs, whether positive or negative, but on exact observations and on experiments that can be renewed at any time. It is not to be judged by any dicta such as I believe or I do not believe, but by precise verification of the facts. In publishing these results of personal research I take the whole responsibility of placing the scientific world in a position to reproduce the series of experiments from which I have received data on one of the most profoundly interesting problems presented to mankind. I hope that a com- mittee of unbiassed men of science only desirous of truth and holding such positions as will make their verdict decisive, may, after reading this book, verify experimentally the soundness of its conclusions. Such a confirmation of my observations would result in bringing into the realm of science phenomena which have hitherto, lain outside its purview because they bad been considered (without
examination) to be absurd. Treated as scientific data they should receive investigation at the hands of many competent experimenters and speedily lead to fruitful results."
E. B. STRAUSS.
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