Magic as an Experimental Natural Science

Original publication

Original title: Die Magie als experimentelle Naturwissenschaft
Author: Ludwig Staudenmaier
Publication year: 1922
Original language: German
Source file MD5: 55e3d8b6739787fe6c325f8d300fc5f0

Historical context. This is a faithful translation of a 1922 work. Its claims and terminology are presented as the author wrote them; publication here does not imply endorsement.

I. Preface
II. Introduction and a Brief History of Magic
III. General Course of My Experiments
IV. Magic of the Conscious Ego
V. Magic of the Unconscious or Subconscious
VI. Explanation of Some Magical Phenomena of Which I Have No Detailed Personal Experience
VII. Concluding Remarks
VIII. Reply to My Critics
IX. General Index

I. Preface

For the First Edition

Since an enormous amount is written in the field of magic by unqualified people without professional training, and the most superstitious tendencies often conceal themselves under the title of scientific respectability, when reading a relevant work I am interested first and foremost in what kind of scientific education the author in question has received and what tendency he pursues. In most cases, after a shorter or longer search, some naïve or mystical expression reveals with whom one is dealing. I therefore believe that I shall spare the reader unnecessary work if I immediately provide him with clarity in this respect, all the more so since otherwise my entire magical development is not sufficiently understandable .

In the year 1884 I graduated from a Bavarian humanistic Gymnasium and then attended a lyceum for four years^*. (A

^* The term “lyceum” plays a very important role in my biography.

This word, however, like academy, is used in different senses not only abroad but even within Germany itself. In Munich, after all, there is, besides an academy of sciences, also one for scientific tailoring, and in Prussia a lyceum for higher culinary art. I therefore note that, according to the definition of the Royal State Ministry, the Bavarian lyceums are specialized institutions of higher education for philosophical and Catholic theological study, and their primary purpose is to provide academic education for those students of theology who, for whatever reasons, do not wish to attend a university. Aspirants to other professions, however, may also, after completing nine years of Gymnasium study and before taking up their actual specialized studies, attend at a lyceum, instead of at a university, a prescribed number of philosophical disciplines required for their professional training. one year of philosophy and three years of theology.) After completing my theological studies and one year of practical service, I entered the University of Munich in 1889 and studied there (as well as temporarily at the technical university) exclusively the natural sciences, especially zoology, and later chemistry. After passing the two state examinations in the natural sciences for descriptive natural sciences and chemistry, as well as the chemical doctoral examination at the University of Munich, I was an assistant for 1 1/2; years at a natural-science university institute there, until in 1896 I was appointed Professor of Experimental Chemistry at the Royal Lyceum in Freising, where I have been active ever since.

Thus I received a peculiar and unusual kind of education and, in a sense, went to two different schools, which partly oppose each other: one working more according to medieval principles, and the other in the most modern direction; and even now, by virtue of my position here, I maintain constant relations with both. As for the significance of my theological studies for magic, they gave me, on the one hand, a closer insight into the mysticism and magical phenomena of former times, while, on the other hand, the exact training in the natural sciences provided me with the necessary sober judgment to preserve me from excessive credulity and superstitious aberrations, into which, as experience shows, one is particularly liable to fall in the practice of magic. How I myself came to magic, I have briefly explained in the third chapter.

My twofold education corresponds also to the nature and purpose of this work. On the one hand, I hope that it will interest theologians, spiritualists, occultists, theosophists, etc.; on the other hand, also natural scientists, experimental psychologists, physicians (especially physiologists and neurologists). The participation of the various readers will naturally differ for the same section, in accordance with their differing scientific tendencies. Theologians who are acquainted with the mysticism of former times will, for example, be especially interested in the concept of “personification,” for visionaries and ecstatics often interacted with individual personified centers of their subconscious as though with independent beings from the beyond. With theologians in mind, I have therefore treated it in particular detail, although an eminent psychiatrist explained to me that I should omit these personifications, in which no one was interested anyway, from my treatise.

On this occasion I should like to ask more sensitive theologians for consideration, should they take offense at my often “crude” natural-scientific conception of magical phenomena, which rejects every nimbus. In this book, I believe, on the basis of its title alone, that I have not merely the right but also the duty, in doubtful cases, to explain everything as naturally as possible and to push the boundary between the natural and the supernatural, between pathological and real devils, between magical art and miracle, as far as possible in favor of the natural sciences. For theologians are increasingly acknowledging that very many phenomena which until now have commonly been explained as supernatural are simple natural processes; that there are purely natural, pathological cases of possession and devils, whose treatment falls to the psychiatrist; and that not everything is a miracle which was formerly regarded as such^*.

On the other hand, historians are often anxious simply to dismiss as formations of legend phenomena which cannot be explained according to the scientific principles hitherto prevailing, but which are likewise not to be regarded as miracles.

As many a reader of this book will know, I published a short treatise on magic as early as 1910. This came about as follows: Since I knew very well what aversion and prejudices most modern scholars harbor against magic

^* Compare, for example, Prof. Dr. Ludwig : Legend and Mysticism. Theological Practical

Quarterly. Passau 1907, pp. 29 and 334, furthermore “New Investigations into Pöschlianism,” Regensburg, Pustet, 1906, as well as the same author’s article on stigmatisation in Buchberger’s ecclesiastical Hand Lexicon. Professor of Theology Dr. Walter at the University of Munich writes in his book: Superstition and Pastoral Care. Paderborn 1911. Ferd. Schoeningh. p. 296: “As Catholic scholars such as Stoehr and Schneider rightly observe, hundreds of cases of possession from earlier centuries can, on the basis of modern neuropathology, be cast into the lumber room of curiosities.”

See furthermore: The Modern Belief in Spirits by Schneider. 3rd ed., edited by Prof. Dr. Walter. Published by F. Schoeningh. Paderborn 1913. E.g., pp. 20/21.

Incidentally, Cardinal Bona already says: “The spirit of the devil is often credited with what is actually only an expression of corrupted and disturbed nature.” (De discret. spirit.) since such attitudes prevailed, after completing the treatise I fell into serious anxiety as to what reception it might find. The history of the natural sciences bears witness to how often important discoveries have already been laughed at and ridiculed. I therefore resolved, for the purpose of having my treatise examined, to approach a man whose name had already remained brilliantly memorable to me from chemistry and whose general and comprehensive scientific knowledge in the relevant borderlands had to offer me sufficient assurance as to whether I might dare take the step of publication, namely His Excellency Privy Councillor and former university professor of chemistry in Leipzig, Dr. Wilhelm Ostwald .

He immediately declared himself willing, in the most obliging manner, to inspect my manuscript in response to my inquiry, and just two days after it had been sent, on 6 March 1910, I received a postcard from him with the following contents: “Dear Sir! I have read through your manuscript at once with the liveliest interest and am pleased to be able to tell you that I have nothing to object to and shall be very glad to have it printed in the Annals …” The treatise subsequently appeared, without a word being altered, in W. Ostwald’s “Annals of the Philosophy of Nature”*. Thus the first step into the public arena had been taken. Permit me also at this point to express my heartfelt thanks to His Excellency Privy Councillor Dr. W. Ostwald for his exceedingly benevolent cooperation.

The treatise mentioned was composed as briefly and precisely as possible, and in it I initially wished merely to set down the essential points of my views. Immediately after sending it off, I therefore set about gradually enlarging it, in order to make it more intelligible also to a larger circle of readers less familiar with magical phenomena. Upon completing this work, I now recognize that, from this point of view, despite its more than fourfold extent, it is still too strictly scientific

^* Pp. 329-367. Leipzig 1910, Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft.

^** Some critics subsequently reproached me for according such recognition to the “President of the German Monist League,” although I am a theologian. But from the wording above it is evident to an unprejudiced reader that my esteem and my gratitude toward Privy Councillor Ostwald relate to a purely scientific and personal sphere, which has no connection whatsoever with a monistic worldview.

in conception and requires considerable enlargement. I hope to be able to make up for this in time, all the more since it will be the easier and more convenient task.

Freising April 1912. The Author.

For the First Anastatic (Unaltered) Reprint, 1918

The first edition found buyers with surprising speed, so that the necessity of a new edition could already be foreseen with certainty for 1915. The outbreak of the war then, however, immediately brought about a delay. For it was not until September 1917 that the publisher informed me that the book was out of print. In view of the unfavorable circumstances of the times, I wished to wait, but then, at the publisher’s request, one year later (September 1918) had a limited number of copies produced as an interim measure in a first chemical anastatic reprint. This too was soon out of print, despite the revolutionary period that followed shortly thereafter, which diverted people’s minds, if possible, even more toward other interests, so that, at the publisher’s urging, I granted permission for a II. Anastatic Reprint in the Year 1920 .

Preface to the Second Edition

The book’s favorable reception was all the more gratifying to me since, by its very nature, it for the time being possesses almost only “enthusiasts’ interest,” because its deeper substance is recognized by very few in view of the prevailing prejudice and the ignorance of most educated persons in this field. The difficulties standing in the way in this respect are already apparent from the fact that many, despite its unambiguous title, evidently do not quite know under what kind of literary production it is to be classified. In reviews, announcements, etc., it is accordingly listed under the most varied headings, such as philosophy, philosophy of nature, natural sciences, spiritism, occult sciences, Varia—Curiosa!

At numerous points I have inserted expansions, additions, and improvements, partly in order to make myself more intelligible to the reader, but partly also because, naturally, in the course of time my own knowledge and experiences increased. I myself am in a state of continual development (cf. in this connection the reply to my critics, Chap. VIII .) and accordingly so is this book, which is intended to give an account of that development. There is no doubt that it has become more mature in numerous passages, although, as I myself feel best, it is still far from having even emerged from its infancy. As a result of the many additions, I unfortunately could not avoid certain repetitions (even if in different words). The coherence and unity of the whole have also suffered somewhat thereby. My professional work, as well as my further experiments, left me no longer sufficient time to work through and summarize everything once more thoroughly and uniformly. For the most part, this will scarcely be of any particular disadvantage. Most readers bring with them only a small amount of prior knowledge, so that a repeated presentation from a different point of view or of a more summarizing kind can in some cases be useful to them.

In order to gain an exhaustive picture of my views concerning any particular concept treated in various places in the book, it is therefore advisable to consult the Register, which has been made as comprehensive as possible .

The book has to reckon with a twofold circle of readers. Many desire only a general, popular elucidation in this field, while others desire a strictly scientific treatment of the subject. In order to satisfy both requirements, I have endeavored to strike a middle course.

Scientific readers, theologians, psychologists, psychiatrists, I ask you above all to subject my fundamental views concerning hallucination, and furthermore concerning the influence of peripheral (and central) bodily conditions upon the psychic constitution, concerning self-observation, etc., to a thorough examination.

To the numerous more intimate friends and interested parties in my endeavors I also express my best thanks here. Especially at the beginning, I was greatly delighted when letters reached me not only from the most diverse parts of Germany, but also from other countries, and when, moreover, on the basis of a remark at the end of Chapter VII, a number of pupils offered themselves. Unfortunately, however, this joy was soon increasingly mixed with wormwood, as it became apparent that my correspondence—if I wished to answer everything in detail—would grow without limit. I have therefore modified the relevant passage at the end of Chapter VII and the accompanying note accordingly in this new edition. (See there.)

Freising near Munich, November 1921.

The Author.

II. Introduction and a Brief History of Magic

In the textbooks on the history of chemistry one frequently reads approximately the following: “Rarely, perhaps, has a branch of human knowledge undergone such transformations as chemistry. At one time it was revered as a kind of sacred art and even practised by priests, and its significance was, so to speak, exalted to heaven; at another it was despised and ridiculed, indeed a number of princes imposed severe penalties upon its practice. Only after millennia of complete confusion and often the wildest superstition did it become possible to gain a starting-point for its scientific practice and gradually to shape it into a science which today already occupies a position commanding respect and promises an even more brilliant development for the future.”

But I know an art and a field of knowledge which, in the course of the ages, has undergone still greater transformations, yet in which a scientific starting-point in the strict sense has not been gained even now in the 20. century, although its future appears to me even more promising than that of chemistry. It is magic .

Since ancient times, magic has been understood as the art of producing extraordinary and marvellous effects which cannot be achieved by means of the known forces of nature or through the known faculties residing in man. In order to produce magical phenomena, people therefore usually sought to establish contact with spirits—good or evil—which is why a white and a black magic^* were distinguished. The name

^* This distinction is also used in another sense, so that white magic is understood as the application of magic for the benefit of mankind, and black magic as its application for selfish purposes and to the disadvantage of others.

is derived from the Persian priests, the Magi. Indian and Mohammedan magicians are frequently designated by the Arabic word “Fakir.” In approximately the same sense, the German words “Zauberer,” “Hexenmeister,” and “Hexe” are also used.

In the history of all peoples and all ages, magic plays an important role. The present-day names hypnotism, somnambulism, animal magnetism, mysticism, occultism are merely new designations for ancient facts.

Thus Mesmer (1734 to 1815) is regarded as the founder of the doctrine of animal magnetism (Mesmerism). Yet Pliny already says: “There are people whose bodies possess medicinal powers,” and recommends magnetic breathing upon the forehead as a proven remedy. Likewise, touching, stroking with the hands, and laying on of hands were already frequently employed in antiquity in order to transfer vital energy to a sick person.

The discovery of hypnotism is attributed to the English physician Dr. James Braid , who began his work in this field in the year 1841. Yet unmethodical hypnotic experiments were already carried out in antiquity.

The so-called temple sleep is particularly well known in this connection.

Table-turning is ancient in its various forms. In China, for example, tables were used for magical purposes from the earliest times. There, a feather or a pencil was already attached to one of the legs for writing, comparable to the planchettes of present-day spiritualists. The sophist Philostratus (end of the 2nd century) reports that Apollonius of Tyana , who lived in the first century after Christ, saw among the Indians so-called talking tables, and that the art of using them had already existed for centuries. Tertullian spoke before the Roman Senate of the existence of divination by tables as of a universally known fact.

Later, table-turning fell into oblivion in Europe, since the Church vigorously persecuted it on account of its misuse for superstitious purposes, whereas, for example, in India and Tibet it continued uninterruptedly down to the present.

The saints and penitents of the most diverse religions had mystical visions, believed that they saw spirits and could communicate with spirits and the souls of the dead. The literature on this subject is immeasurably extensive, so that I should never come to an end if I wished to deal with it even only in general terms. Among the spirit-seers of modern times, Swedenborg stands out (born in 1688 in Stockholm, died in 1772 in London). A particularly well-known precursor of the modern spiritualist mediums is Friederike Hauffe , née Wanner (1801 to 1829), in whom all the phenomena characteristic of the later great spiritualist mediums were already established, such as the movement of objects without visible cause, sounds of unknown origin, and the appearance of phantoms. The physician Justinus Kerner of Weinsberg, who was able to observe the magical phenomena occurring in her over the course of two years, wrote the following book about her: “The Seeress of Prevorst^*.

Nevertheless, in modern times magic first again acquired greater significance among the Western civilized peoples in the year 1848, through the peculiar phenomena which occurred in the house of the Fox family in Hydesville near New York, under the name “ Spiritism .” In the presence of the young Kathie Fox, knocking sounds resounded on the walls, in the tables, etc., for which, despite every effort, initially on the part of the occupants of the house, no natural cause could be found. Gradually, however, an intellectual communication with the mysterious knocking spirit was achieved by associating the number of knocks with the letters of the alphabet. The same claimed to be the spirit of a peddler who had been murdered in the house and buried in the cellar. He also gave his name—Charles Raye—and indicated precisely the spot at which parts of a human skeleton were in fact found at a depth of six to seven feet. It was further established that such a peddler had formerly visited this house and had disappeared without a trace since that time.

The Fox case caused an enormous sensation, and numerous experiments were subsequently conducted, initially with Kathie Fox and her

^* Cheap reprint with a biographical introduction by du Prel from Ph.

Reclam jun., Leipzig.

^** I remark that, according to the nature and purpose of this purely scientific book, it cannot be my task to examine whether statements of this kind are unconditionally historically correct in all their details.

For me, the occurrence is credible and can easily and naturally be explained without the assistance of a spirit according to general scientific principles, specifically according to Chapter VI as a telepathic transmission from the subconscious of the murderer to that of Kathie Fox.

Sister Leah^* was engaged (the third sister, Margarethe, became a Catholic and did not take part in the spiritualist séances) in order to arrive at an understanding with the spirits of the deceased. The knocking was followed by spirit-writing and spirit-speaking, and finally by spirit apparitions.

(Materializations.) A few years sufficed to make the spiritualist experiments known and popular not only in America but also in Europe. Of course, a partial reaction soon naturally followed.

The Spiritists believe that, with the cooperation of the psychophysical powers of specially gifted personalities, the “mediums,” one can enter into communication with the spirits of the deceased and through them learn more about the hereafter, and in particular about the fate of man after death. They further believe that the phantoms appearing in their séances are the materialized forms of actual inhabitants of the hereafter and that, in this form, they can produce abnormal physical and chemical effects. In recent decades, Spiritism has developed more and more into a proper religious system, founding its teachings chiefly upon communication with the deceased. It has adherents throughout the entire earth, particularly in America, England, France, and Italy.

Nevertheless, upon closer examination, considerable differences appear within it. There are a great number of entirely naïve adherents, so-called “ Revelation Spiritists ,” who blindly attribute all magical phenomena to spirits, and whose leader, Hippolyt Rivail (1803 to 1869), under the pseudonym Allan Kardec, wrote various completely uncritical and superstitious works, which are still being repeatedly reprinted. The writings of the American seer J. Davis , who, incidentally, had already appeared in the year 1842 with a book allegedly inspired by spirits, also contributed especially to the dissemination of this, moreover, strongly pietistic tendency.

^* the detailed history of it is found in “The modern American Spiritualisme” by Emma Hardinge. New York 1870.

Naturally, Spiritists who thought in a scientific manner could not belong to such a tendency. In their view, the phenomena are partly supernatural in nature and partly to be explained as purely natural; that is, they either occur with the cooperation of the deceased or of other spirits (Spiritism), or they are to be attributed to as yet unknown psychic powers of the living human being (especially of the mediums) (Psychodynamism, Animism and Mediumism ). Earlier, too, Baron von Reichenbach (1788 to 1869) believed he had demonstrated that emanations could proceed from the human body, and thought that he had thereby discovered a new force of nature, which he designated by the name “ Od .”

A further splintering of Spiritism is currently threatened by Occultism *, particularly by its theosophical tendency, which frequently rejects communication with the deceased outright, because it is harmful to the health of the mediums and because the latter run the risk of falling into the power of inferior intelligences of the hereafter, of devils, furthermore of so-called “mocking spirits” (allegedly deceased persons who led a dissolute life in this world)—and “nature” or “elemental spirits” (invisible living beings supposedly belonging to a lower level than the human race) (possession). The Theosophists and the occultists generally further believe that contemporary science has not penetrated sufficiently deeply into knowledge of the laws of nature and has learned to know only the material aspect of nature, while standing in complete ignorance before its spiritual significance and the spiritual laws.

Modern Theosophy connects with the ancient Indian secret teachings and particularly defends the doctrine of reincarnation (re-embodiment).

This Indian doctrine, incidentally, was already introduced into Spiritism by Allan Kardec, who is therefore also regarded as the founder of so-called “ Reincarnation Spiritism ” The Theosophical Society was founded in the year 1875 in New York in association with the American Colonel Olcott

^* Strictly speaking, “occultism” is the broader term and includes Spiritism. The occultists, however, have increasingly developed into a certain opposition to the Spiritists.

^** There were Theosophists in earlier times as well. They all stood upon a mystical foundation. In antiquity, the principal representatives were the Neoplatonists.

by Madame Blavatzky (1832 to 1891), a Russian woman. Mme.

Blavatzky led a very eventful life^* and distinguished herself by unusual independence and enterprise. She had also previously played a significant role as a spiritualist medium.

The Theosophical Society has set itself three principal tasks: 1. The founding of a federation extending throughout the entire world without distinction of faith , race, or ancestry, whose members obligate themselves to strive for continual moral perfection and to provide vigorous spiritual advancement and, if possible, material assistance to their fellow men. 2. The dissemination of Oriental languages, sciences, and knowledge. 3. The investigation of the deeper spiritual laws of nature and the hidden psychic powers of man.

Numerous members of the Theosophical Society are strongly inclined toward Buddhism. Olcott himself later publicly converted to it and even composed a Buddhist catechism. The successor of Mme.

Blavatzky is Anny Besant (born 1847 in London), whom she converted to Theosophy and who likewise has a very eventful life behind her and had previously been a socialist and atheistic-materialist writer and speaker. She is ordinarily in India and there converted to Brahmanism.

Spiritism or occultism found recognition not only in England’s and Russia’s highest aristocratic circles, but also among numerous scientific authorities. I need mention only the English chemist Crookes , who studied the two famous mediums D. D. Home and Miss Florence Cook extensively according to strictly scientific methods; the Russian chemist Butlerow ; the zoologist Wallace ; the astronomer Schiaparelli ; Lombroso ; the English physicist Lodge ; and the American psychologist W. James . The Parisian astronomer Flammarion has already written a number of works on occultism. Further well-known defenders and adherents of Spiritism were the Russian Privy Councillor Aksákow and the Austrian Baron v. Hellenbach .

^* Compare, for example, H. P. Blavatzky. Her Life and Work Presented by W. P.

Schelichowskaja (her biological sister). Translated by A. v. Schaefer, Schweidnitz, 1905, published by Frönsdorf.

Although Spiritism and occultism, including the more recent Theosophy, are of great importance and widespread abroad, - the number of their public professors is nevertheless given as sixty million in a leaflet circulated by the publisher of the “Zeitschrift für Spiritismus” (Leipzig, Oswald Mutze), while the number of relevant works is estimated at more than 30 000 - they have comparatively few defenders and adherents among us in Germany .

The conversion of the astrophysicist Zöllner caused a great sensation at the time. He had had the opportunity to attend spiritualistic séances of the American medium Slade, and then attempted to explain the possibility of the intervention of a spirit world by means of his theory of a fourth dimension of space. An ardent defender of Spiritism was du Prel .

Only in more recent times has a stronger Theosophical movement become noticeable in Germany. One of its principal representatives is Dr. Rudolf Steiner . His endeavor^* is to combine the Christian teachings and the mysticism of the Occident with the Oriental wisdom of the previous Theosophy, and to give the entire Theosophical system of doctrine a firmer and more definite form. As a result, the establishment of a “University for Spiritual Science” is currently under way in Munich. In contrast to the ordinary scientific procedure, which relies principally upon the testimony of the external senses, Theosophy, according to him, concerns supersensible experiences. Man is supposed to be able to develop inner organs of sense - spiritual eyes and ears, as Goethe calls them - by means of which the psychic and spiritual world is perceived just as the physical world is perceived with the external senses. Accordingly, the Theosophist would stand in relation to the non-Theosophist with regard to spiritual vision much as the sighted person stands in relation to the blind.

According to him, it is the task of the man of the future to develop ever further such inner senses, which individual human beings already possess in the present.

My views on these “spiritual” organs of sense are set forth in particular in Chapter IV p. 43 ff. and V p. 143 note 1.

^* See, for example, Theosophy and Christianity by Max Seiling. Philos.-theos. Verlag, Berlin, as well as Steiner’s numerous writings.

Among the Theosophists, too, a division has once again occurred, in that Steiner formally separated himself with his followers from the Indian parent society in the year 1912 and founded a community of his own under the name “Anthroposophical Society.” On the other hand, they have acquired very adroit, experienced, and incisive opponents, such as Hans Freimark , who vigorously opposes them in various writings and treatises.

For the rest, the doctrines of Spiritism, Theosophy, and occultism as a whole, founded upon magical phenomena, and indeed the actuality of magical phenomena, have been and are for the most part categorically rejected by eminent authorities. Thus, for example, the well-known philosopher Wundt , who had likewise had the opportunity (but only in a single séance!) to observe Slade, writes in complete opposition to Zöllner^*: “I cannot find that any of the experiments I witnessed at Mr. Slade’s went beyond the capabilities of a good prestidigitator.”

What is interesting here is that a personality experienced in the field of prestidigitation, namely the court prestidigitator [sic] Bellachini in Berlin, gave the following testimony concerning Slade: “Herewith I declare that it is very presumptuous, after one séance held, to wish to deliver a final judgment on the objective performance of the American medium Mr. Henry Slade, even with the most exact observation possible.

After, at the request of several highly respected gentlemen of rank and position, as well as in my own interest, I had examined Mr. Slade’s physical mediumship in a series of séances, by daylight as well as in the evening in his bedroom, I must, in accordance with the truth, further certify that I examined Mr. Slade’s phenomenal performances with the sharpest possible observation and investigation of his surroundings, as well as the table, and I did not find in the slightest that any manipulation based upon prestidigitative or physical apparatus was involved; indeed, under the circumstances prevailing, it is absolutely impossible, with regard to prestidigitation, to provide an explanation of the experiments that took place. It must rather be left to such men of science as Crookes and Wallace

^* On the reasons why two such distinguished scholars arrived at completely opposite results despite observing one and the same medium, Slade, see my view in Chapter V, no. 3.

in London, Perty in Bern, and Buttlerow in Petersburg, as has occurred here, to seek an explanation of this phenomenal power and to establish Slade’s objectivity. I further declare that the explanations concerning the “how” handed over to the public by laymen are hasty and, in my view and experience, false and partisan.

This declaration of mine was signed and executed before a notary and witnesses.

Berlin, 6 December 1877.

Samuel Bellachini.”

A completely radical opponent of Spiritism is Ernst Haeckel . In his “Riddles of the Universe” he writes, among other things: “It is as astonishing as it is distressing a fact that even today millions of civilized people are completely dominated by this dark superstition … In Spiritist circles, appeal is often made to the fact that even respected natural scientists pay homage to this superstition. In Germany, Zöllner and Fechner in Leipzig are cited among others as examples, and in England Wallace and Crookes in London. The regrettable fact that even such eminent physicists and biologists have allowed themselves to be misled by it is explained partly by their excess of imagination and lack of criticism, partly by the powerful influence of rigid dogmas which religious miseducation impresses upon the childish brain already in earliest youth. Incidentally, it was precisely in the famous spiritualistic demonstrations in Leipzig, at which the physicists Zöllner, Fechner, and Wilhelm Weber were misled by the clever prestidigitator Slade, that the latter’s fraud subsequently came clearly to light. Slade himself was exposed and punished as a common swindler*” As early as the year 1869, the well-known English zoologist Huxley replied to an invitation from the dialectical society mentioned below to take part in an examination of the spiritualistic phenomena, among other things, as follows: “The only case of “Spiritualistic” phenomena which I have had the opportunity of investigating for myself was as gross a fraud as any that ever came under my observation. But even if I assume that the phenomena are genuine, they interest me

^* On the alleged exposure and punishment of Slade, see: “Professor Zöllner’s Experiments with Slade” by Moritz Wirth . Leipzig 1882. Oswald Mutze.

nevertheless not. If someone wished to endow me with the ability to eavesdrop on the chatter of old women and parsons in the nearest cathedral town, I should decline this privilege, since I have better things to do.”

The American psychologist Münsterberg reports how, at the beginning of the year 1910, he exposed the Italian medium Eusapia Palladino and likewise rejects all spiritualistic phenomena as fraud and deception.

Max Dessoir * is strongly sceptical toward spiritualism. He explains it for the most part as swindle and fraud, even in the case of private mediums who are not dependent upon money. Nevertheless, in his view the great spread of spiritualism already makes it incumbent upon us to examine it more closely, and he regrets that so little is being done in this respect in Germany. But this is forgivable, for there are countless scientific tasks of equal importance and of greater—cleanliness.

Dr. Baron von Schrenck-Notzing , who has been occupied with investigations in this field for many years, is of the opinion that a large part of the phenomena can already be satisfactorily explained by our previous scientific knowledge. In the case of more complicated instances he leaves the decision open and demands that they be subjected to further examination by experiment, but at the same time recommends strict control of the frequently fraudulent mediums and the ruthless combating of the superstition prevailing in this field and the luxuriantly proliferating dilettantism.

Other scholars likewise readily concede the reality of magical phenomena, but seek to explain them exclusively on the basis of our previous knowledge. W. Ostwald had never had the opportunity to attend a spiritualistic séance, but, in the course of reviewing an occultist work by Flammarion, he writes very aptly in his Annals of the Philosophy of Nature: “The reporter for his part has already

^* On this occasion I should like to draw the attention of interested readers to Max Dessoir’s work Beyond the Soul, the Secret Sciences in Critical Consideration” (published by Ferd. Enke, Stuttgart 1917), in which magical phenomena and teachings, especially those of the most recent period, are treated from a purely theoretical-philosophical standpoint, though with the result that actually nothing at all remains of magic as a whole.

^** 1910, Vol. IX. p. 212.

elsewhere pointed out in passing that an explanation remaining within the framework of present-day science is not excluded for many, and precisely the best-confirmed, forms of such occurrences. If one assumes, namely, that human beings (or certain human beings, the mediums) are capable of transforming a portion of the energy which they possess in their bodies in the form of chemical energy and can transform in the familiar manner through the muscles into mechanical energy, in such a way that it leaves the body and operates at other, arbitrarily selected places, then one has a theoretical hypothesis for explaining most phenomena of this kind.” On another occasion he expresses himself as follows^*: “In this sense it may be said that mediumistic manifestations can be summarized as follows: “Certain human beings are able to transform their physiological supply of energy (which is known to exist almost exclusively in the form of chemical energy) into other forms, which they can send through space and transform back at prescribed locations into one of the known forms of energy.”

Flournoy in Geneva arrived, on the basis of his several years’ observations of a medium whom he calls by the pseudonym Helene Smith , at the conviction that abnormal psychic abilities do exist, but that they are to be attributed exclusively to the so-called subconscious and that there is not the slightest evidence in their favour for spiritualism. In his latest fairly extensive work (551 octavo pages), “Esprits et Médiums,” he once again rejects spiritualism, yet acknowledges the reality of spiritualistic and mediumistic phenomena and reproaches modern science for having, under the pretext that everything was after all merely illusion and swindle, neglected for so long the investigation of the so-called metaphysical or supranormal phenomena and left this study to spiritualists, theosophists, magicians, and occultists of every kind.

Others again openly declare themselves entirely unable to provide a scientific explanation. The famous Parisian physiologist and psychologist Richet , the leading figure in this field in France, on the basis of experiments in thought-transference and observations of distinguished spiritualistic

^* The Demand of the Day. 1st ed. p. 418. Leipzig 1910. Academic Publishing Society.

mediums, firmly takes the side of the factual reality and natural character of magical phenomena, but expresses himself very reservedly and demands the establishment of further facts before a science could be founded upon them. Concerning the spiritualistic medium Eusapia Palladino he says, among other things: “The facts are true; Eusapia has supplied many absolutely authentic examples, beyond all doubt, and there are still a hundred others. As for the theory, one must have the courage to acknowledge that we understand nothing, nothing, nothing of it. For the time being we establish the facts; understanding will come later.”

The Italian psychiatrist Professor Morselli , who examined Eusapia Palladino in particular, says: “I am of the view that I can no longer deny the actual existence and authenticity of most of the phenomena, whereas formerly I regarded them as simple effects of the imagination.

By this I mean the palpable materializations and the apparitions. But neither can I claim that I have derived from them a hypothesis or theory which would completely satisfy me. I have repeatedly examined everything and repeatedly studied one phenomenon after another, yet everything seems to me incapable of explaining Eusapian phenomenology.”

It was not merely individual personalities who occupied themselves with the investigation of spiritualism; entire societies of learned men and other distinguished persons were also repeatedly formed, on the one hand to establish the reality of spiritualistic phenomena and on the other to study their nature. As early as the year 1851, such a society arose in New York under the leadership of the highly respected Judge Edmonds , whose members, although at first consisting for the most part of sceptics or opponents of spiritualism, nevertheless subsequently expressed the conviction that spiritualism rests upon inexplicable but incontrovertible facts.

Toward the end of the sixties Lubbock founded, for the philosophical investigation of important scientific questions of the most varied kinds, the dialectical society (Dialectical Society ) in London , which consisted almost entirely of advanced Liberals or freethinkers. It appointed a committee to examine spiritualism, which after two years likewise acknowledged the complete factual reality of spiritualistic phenomena, without finding an adequate explanation for their causes.

Of particular importance for the history of magic is the founding of the “Society for psychical Research” (Society for psychical Research ) in London in the year 1882, which still exists today and counts among its members a large number of distinguished men. As early as 1900, there were 1500. It set itself the task of investigating all processes of a physical, psychophysical, and psychic nature that deviate from the normal and go beyond it, which are not accorded serious consideration by the currently dominant scientific tendency, but are instead explained as superstition. It has thus set itself a broad programme and includes within the scope of its investigations not merely the phenomena of Spiritism, but also all other facts that are capable of shedding light on the riddle of man and his psychic life. In particular, it has carried out a series of experiments in so-called thought-transference and has furthermore collected and ascertained an extraordinarily large number of magical facts and events. Individual members are free to explain the established phenomena in purely scientific terms or also in spiritistic terms. The events are published in successive volumes, the “Proceedings of Society for psychical Research”.

Concerning the other societies currently in existence for the study of magical phenomena, the leaflet already mentioned on p. 14 writes: “There are more than a thousand associations for the study of Spiritism or of the newer (i. e. spiritistic-occultist) psychology; indeed, in all the larger cities of Germany one finds at least one, if not even two or three, such societies, apart from the countless quiet family and private circles.” Since the year 1912 I have no longer followed the further development of Spiritism, occultism, and related fields.

According to the foregoing, opinions in this field now evidently diverge completely. Insofar as observations of spiritistic mediums or independent experiments, e.g. with thought-transference, have taken place, noteworthy individual results were achieved here and there, but it is so far not possible to construct from them an actual science of magic even in its foundations.

With regard specifically to Spiritism, despite the large number of its adherents, sustained personal and strictly scientific experiments such as researchers otherwise carry out independently, professionally, and free from superstitious bias in every branch of natural science, seem in fact not to have been undertaken at all up to the present, or else, as I confidently suspect, they were not published because they led to no result. Naturally, in such a case the researcher himself would at first be his own experimental subject.

On this occasion, however, I should like to mention that the Russian Hofrat and professor emeritus Seiling , in his little work “My Experiences in the Field of Spiritism”*, which, although strongly inclined toward Spiritism, is otherwise excellent, describes with commendable candour the experiments conducted by his wife Helene with great zeal and perseverance over several years, although they produced no tangible result.

Many years ago I myself was led to this subject by chance. Given my interest in the mysterious and unexplored and my inclination to work precisely in completely unexplored fields, after overcoming my initial prejudices I was repeatedly impelled to experiment, and indeed, in order to make any deception by spiritistic mediums impossible from the outset, exclusively on myself . At that time, of course, I did not yet suspect what extraordinary difficulties would stand in the way; on the contrary, I said to myself that whatever such a stupid spiritistic mocking spirit could accomplish, I too ought to be able to accomplish.

^* Leipzig. Oswald Mutze.

III. General Course of My Experiments

In February 1901 - I was then just 36 years old^* a gentleman known to me asked whether the phosphorescent figures that occasionally appeared in spiritistic séances might not be explained, at least in part, physically or chemically. When I remarked that, to my knowledge, Spiritism was based entirely on fraud, the questioner was not satisfied, for he had previously had repeated opportunities to attend spiritistic séances and, from his own observation, was completely convinced of the reality of the phenomena.

In particular, he had also undertaken experiments, partly alone and partly together with his brother, and in the course of them had often heard knocking sounds, especially at night. Later, however, he gave up the experiments again because they made him very nervous and led to no result.

He had greater confidence in me as an experimental natural scientist and therefore advised me to make observations in this direction myself. He also showed me how Spiritists customarily begin with writing experiments. Although I objected, not only to him but also to myself, that involuntary muscular movements demonstrably occur in such experiments and that they therefore prove nothing, I yielded to his further insistence and sat down at the table for a while each day over the course of several days, with paper and pencil, waiting to see whether the hand might move and the pencil begin to write. Soon, however, I regretted the time spent on it and discontinued the experiments, since I had better things to do in chemistry.

^* Born on 14 February 1865.

^** He is now a doctor in a natural-scientific discipline, occupies a respected position in Munich, and a few years ago received a substantial monetary prize, open to international competition, for outstanding achievements in natural science.

The gentleman mentioned, however, came again and did not cease encouraging me to continue my efforts, and so I began anew. After only a few days I now felt a peculiar pull in my fingertips, which seemed intent on moving the pencil obliquely upward from left to right. In the period that followed, this became ever more distinct. Holding the pencil as lightly as possible and concentrating my thoughts upon it, I followed the pull and for my part also endeavoured to support and strengthen it. Over the next two weeks this process proceeded with increasing ease. Yet the pencil gradually sought to move in the most varied directions, and sometimes it described the strangest curves and flourishes. Although up to that point I had been unable to discover any rational meaning, I had already been won over to the matter, and my ardent wish from then on was that these attempts at writing and drawing might give rise to a systematic script or a drawing. Above all, however, I regarded an intellectual communication with the guides of the pencil, which was so to speak gradually becoming ever more lively, as something worth striving for.

At the same time, I also read, on the side, a few writings on Spiritism.

Unfortunately, owing to my inadequate knowledge of the literature, precisely those writings fell into my hands which fairly bristled with superstition. In one of them the names of various deceased spirits who had made themselves known during spiritualistic experiments were given, among them also “Julie Norne.”

When one evening I again held the pencil, it suddenly began to write, spelling out: “Julie Norne is here!” I asked in my thoughts whether a spirit was present. The written answer was affirmative. Various further questions and answers now followed, but only on matters which I myself already knew. At first I wanted to see whether I had a sufficiently intelligent “spirit” before me, and therefore tested “Julie” chiefly in - chemistry! Each time a letter was being written, the next one came quite distinctly into my mind, while I could also guess the following word, though less certainly. Since the spirit soon seemed to grow tired, the correspondence was conducted only for a short time.

The same being also made itself known in the following days, without anything new resulting from it. I therefore remained, especially but because I gradually knew in advance ever more easily for myself what was written by the “spirit,” and moreover felt that I too had to think along in its answers, in doubt as to whether it really was such a one.

Apart from this, I had the wholly definite impression that a being entirely foreign to me was involved.

As early as the second day it had seemed as though the spirit had somewhat altered its nature and its writing, and all the more so in the days and weeks that followed. In addition, other spirits gradually made themselves known. Once, in particularly sweeping and bombastic handwriting, came: “Werner is here.” On another occasion “Stafford is here,” etc. These again were names which I had previously read in the spiritualistic writing mentioned above. Whereas at first there had been scientific seriousness in the matter, the affair now threatened to become shallow, and the number of spirits making themselves known grew ever larger. Gradually, unmistakably, inferior, indeed even morally defective and malicious intelligences also appeared. Finally, sexual elements too seemed to want to enter into play.

From the inner foreknowledge of what was being written there developed, in time, an “inner,” or also an auditory foreknowledge located close to the ear, of the same thing. The significance of the pencil thereby receded further into the background. At this stage I moved it mechanically across the paper, often merely indicating the individual letters, since I heard ever more distinctly and certainly beforehand, in a very soft voice, what was to be written. Finally I dispensed with the pencil altogether and needed only, while listening attentively to the “inner voice,” to move the right hand, and especially the three fingers with which I had otherwise held the pencil, in a corresponding manner. In the end this too became superfluous, and since in the meantime I had also learned to speak “inwardly” myself, I could communicate at any time with the beings who made themselves known. Thus, instead of becoming a “writing medium,” as the Spiritists express it, I had become a “ hearing medium ” For days on end, entirely against my will, an unbearable and disgusting quarrelling continued. That was the first great disappointment I experienced in this field.

The statements of the beings who made themselves known also frequently proved directly to be lies. At that time a strange tenant family moved into the house opposite the one in which I lived. As a test, I asked my spirits what their name was. Without hesitation I received the answer: “Captain von Müller.” It subsequently turned out that the statement was completely incorrect. When, in such cases, I reproached them mildly, the answer often came with great ingenuousness.

“We simply cannot do otherwise; we have to lie, we are evil spirits; you must not take it so badly.” But when I became coarse, so did they.

“You can climb onto my back, you fool! You are constantly tormenting us!

Had you not called us! We must now remain with you!” As the escalation continued, it became like someone standing before a forest or a wall and railing against it. The more vehemently he argues, the more vehemently it comes back to him. At times, the slightest imprudent thought about my inner self was enough to condition an outburst of rage from the inner voice.

Since the gentleman mentioned at the outset had advised me, on the basis of the Spiritists’ experiences, to hold to a particular spirit, I repeatedly tried to return to the being that had originally made itself known, Julie Norne, or rather to its familiar inner voice, which had made a good impression the first time. But it was impossible.

If I had spoken with it for a long time, a sudden reversal would occur, and the answer would follow in the same or in another voice: “We only wanted to make a fool of you. We have lied,” etc.

The degeneration in the most varied directions continued ever further.

New spirits also made themselves known without end.

Besides these acoustic hallucinations, as the psychiatrist would call them, other, especially optical, ones also appeared. At first I often felt quite distinctly an influence upon my eyes, a pull toward them, comparable to that which had gone into the fingers when I was learning mediumistic writing. Thus, for example, it became darker before my eyes when evil spirits seemed to be present. Finally, however, I saw also actual forms. Particularly frequent were illusions, in which, as is well known, a genuinely existing object serves as the starting point for a sensory deception. From the branches of the trees, from passing clouds, etc., the most various ghostly or fanciful forms sought to take shape.

Among the optical hallucinations, the following is the most remarkable, because it afforded me, for the first time, an especially clear conception and immediate view of the nature of the spiritistic phantoms: On one occasion I had a pretty young lady visiting me for several days. She made a certain impression upon me, which, however, quickly disappeared after she had left. A few days later I was lying in bed at night, inclined toward the left side of my body and occasionally conversing with the inner voices that were making themselves heard. When I now turned to the other side, I saw, to my greatest surprise, the head of the girl in question protruding from the bed at my right, as though she were lying beside me. It was magically transfigured, of enchanting beauty, ethereally transparent, and, in the almost dark room—in the street, at some distance, an electric arc lamp was burning—gently luminous. At the first moment I was completely astonished by the miraculous apparition, but in the next it was already clear to me what it was, all the more since, at the same time, a harsh, uncanny voice inwardly whispered mockingly to me. I therefore turned away indignantly and, without paying any further attention to the phantom, turned back to the left side with a vigorous curse. Later a friendly inner voice said to me: “The young lady has already gone away again.” I looked, and when nothing more was present, I fell asleep. This apparition was chiefly what induced me finally to give Julie Norne, who had evidently brought about the danger of a sexual mediumship, her dismissal. I can affirm with the utmost certainty that I was completely awake at the time, and likewise that I had not previously been thinking of the person in question.

Other phenomena also occurred. Thus, for example, one evening I heard a gentle sound slowly moving around the room, as though the walls were being beaten with a feather duster, without being able to see anything and without myself being active in any way whatsoever . On another occasion, my mother, who happened to be present in my room at the time, perceived the same thing just as clearly for several minutes.

The following case is of particular interest. As I was observing a substance^* lying before me, which had a coarse-grained consistency, it suddenly began, to my greatest surprise and without my having had the slightest idea of it beforehand, slowly to shatter into a number of smaller particles, one grain after another being burst apart by a force apparently acting from within, so that the resulting particles were flung several decimeters apart.

After I had related the process to the gentleman mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, he came to me some time later to see whether something of the kind could be achieved once again. I spread the substance out on a sheet of paper and went several steps away, but now with the lively wish that the shattering might occur once more, whereupon the gentleman in question soon called out to me that it was already beginning again. After a few minutes the thought came to me that I ought to interrupt the experiment on account of the magical overexertion of my spirits, which, however, I did not perceive as such, and I therefore placed the substance, still in the presence of the gentleman mentioned, in a glass, which was sealed with a cork stopper. Even now the pulverization continued for some time. I had often manipulated the substance in question both before and afterward, but never otherwise did it display such behavior, so that the assumption of spontaneous shattering as a result of tensions is excluded.

Then there followed once more hostile demonstrations of the most varied kinds.

Sometimes all the devils seemed to have been let loose. I repeatedly saw devilish faces for prolonged periods with complete clarity and sharpness. Once, as I lay in bed, I had the quite distinct feeling that someone was winding a chain around my neck.

Immediately afterward I perceived a very foul smell of hydrogen sulfide, and an uncanny inner voice said to me: “Now you are my prisoner. I shall not let you go again. I am the devil.” The gravest threats were often uttered. I have experienced it myself: The tales of evil spirits that appear to modern man in many cases as medieval ghost stories, as well as the spiritistic accounts of mocking and poltergeists, are not inventions out of thin air!

^* I described it at the time in the “Reports of the German Chemical Society in Berlin,” vol. 1899, p. 2830, under the name

“Reduction Product of Pseudographitic Acid.”

Consequently, I gradually felt compelled to be more cautious toward this company.

I had conducted my experiments with all energy and under the greatest exertions and sacrifices, in the conviction that fundamental discoveries were to be made here. The progress I had made in the short period of a quarter of a year was astonishing. It seemed that I would soon have to become an excellent “medium,” for whom it would be an easy matter to convince the world of the reality of magical phenomena. I therefore did not consider it necessary to record the results objectively, for example photographically, so that this may now with a certain justification be held against me. Yet one must not forget that the phenomena occurred without my immediate intervention and could never be foreseen by me, and that an attempt to photograph them would in most cases have altered the entire nervous condition of the moment, upon which they depended.

On the other hand, why these abominable accompanying phenomena involving devils and mocking spirits?

In any event, I had approached almost every being that made itself heard with excessive candor and gullibility and had paid too little attention to threats, since the deeper inner conviction that real spirits, or even evil spirits, might visit me during my magical experiments never seriously took root within me. Furthermore, I had indeed often, as though driven by an evil spirit, continued my exertions in my very zeal to the point of the utmost frivolity, not merely for half but for entire nights. My health had consequently been gravely impaired, and my acquaintances believed that I would soon die.

I therefore resolved to change my entire way of life and my entire tactics, and, on the basis of the experience gained, attempted to recognize the laws according to which the phenomena took place and to carry out methodical, independent experiments, whereas previously I had often allowed myself to be led and misled by the beings that made themselves heard. I now believed that I need no longer heed the demand of my spirits that I should not think too much, because that disturbed the whole operation.

Closer consideration then also demonstrated to me conclusively that, in my case, at least in general,* it could not possibly be spirits. In the entire appearance and conduct of the beings who made themselves known there was undoubtedly a certain measure of intelligence, of independent intelligence, present; yet, on the other hand, their behavior was so peculiar, so one-sidedly prejudiced, their entire disposition toward me so frequently (but by no means always ) completely dependent upon my particular nervous state as I felt it at the time, that plainly the greater part of the causes of the magical phenomena must without further ado lie within myself.

With the change in my way of life, my mediumship also declined again and from that time onward never again reached the height it had attained then. The results now obtained were, rather, generally slight and fluctuating. If, for example, in order to gain an exact standard for the effects achieved at a distance, I placed myself before a very sensitive chemical balance[sic] and sought, by means of pressure at a distance, to cause one pan to descend and thereby also to produce a corresponding deflection of the pointer, the latter sometimes did indeed move quite distinctly in the direction I wanted, but frequently just as distinctly in the opposite direction, and remained in this position for a considerable time. When I then exerted myself all the more and finally, as was natural, became annoyed, the hallucination of a mocking figure with a long nose gradually appeared on the pointer of the balance and seemed to grin scornfully at me.

In order that I might recover from my nervousness, the physician, smiling at my experiments, advised me to “hang up” the whole of magic and to study as little as possible, but instead to take walks diligently and, in particular, also to go hunting. In the latter respect I complied with his wish. I went after nothing but vermin, to be sure. Yet I soon pursued these, in my own fashion, with a certain degree of passion. The hunting of magpies and crows in particular played a major role.

^* Since this passage was misinterpreted, I note that later, upon continuing my studies further , it became evident that never at all had spirits been involved in my case! The expression “in general” refers only to my understanding at that time.

^** Such balances are, as is well known, protected against disturbing air currents by a glass case.

But when I then wandered about alone in the Isar meadows at Freising with my rifle on my back, I too often fell to pondering and studying once again here about my spirits, devils, and magical phenomena in general, especially when no game showed itself, so that the recreation was often only a very doubtful one and illusions and hallucinations continually recurred. Instead of magpies, I frequently saw here and there, sitting in trees and shrubs in shadowy but perfectly distinct outlines, mocking figures, pot-bellied fellows with crooked, thin legs and long, thick noses, or long-trunked elephants staring at me. At times the ground seemed to swarm with lizards, frogs, and toads. Sometimes they were fantastically large. All possible animal forms and devilish figures surrounded me. Every shrub, every branch assumed adventurous forms that annoyed me.

At another time, a girl’s figure seemed to be sitting on every tree and every shrub, every reed seeming to wish to surround itself with such a figure. On the clouds drifting past I saw girls’ figures, smiling seductively or also mockingly, and when the wind moved the branches, girls’ figures waved to me. The rustling of the wind became their whispering. Whoever knows the history of the saints of the various religions knows that they suffered similar things.

Very often a peculiar mixed effect arose during the hunting of magpies. I frequently saw imaginary magpies sitting in the trees, in broad daylight, even when I watched them closely through the field glasses, but especially in the evening. In particular, I often shot at them in the evening, and when, naturally, only a few dry leaves then fell down, I was inwardly mocked in the most terrible manner. If I had actually shot a magpie, then, while searching in the undergrowth, I would temporarily see an imaginary magpie now here, now there, so that finding the real one in the evening was considerably more difficult for me.

Again and again my enemies would become furious for periods; they would often have preferred to kill me. For months on end, whenever I went home at night, such a fellow seemed to be sitting on the back of my neck. With every step I took, he nodded along, made mocking movements, and hummed. Then the inner voices tormented me so severely again that I sometimes had to conclude a formal truce. I treated the authors of these voices as independent beings, although I knew that they must belong to my own inner self. I could not do otherwise. Since the authors themselves also often seemed to be tormented by their appearance, it was, for example, firmly agreed that complete quiet must prevail until the end of the next 24 hours, that not a word should be spoken inwardly, and that I must not direct my attention inward. Thereupon, so to speak, the whole house seemed to be empty. Nothing stirred. But as soon as I merely made the slightest gesture toward thinking about the matter and observing myself again, a fellow was there in the next moment with the exclamation: “If you won’t keep quiet, then neither will I.” After the truce had ended, a kind of skirmishing, taunts, and so forth followed again, until the battle once more broke out in a fury.

In any event, one principal cause of these inner torments lay in the fact that I lived too isolated a life, thought too much, and observed myself. My spirits in particular often absolutely could not tolerate the latter, although, on the other hand, I did not wish to see that it was any concern of theirs.

At home, too, the hostilities naturally continued again. When I lay in my bed, the corners of the bed seemed to lengthen enormously on both sides and grin mockingly at me. Occasionally there was also a blow against the window, the floor, or the wall, a bang or a crash. Once, nearly a dozen violent blows fell rapidly one after another upon some books that were in my bedroom. On another occasion, half a bread roll lying on the table before me was, to my great astonishment, violently hurled down onto the floor. Black clouds that took the form of devilish figures sometimes rolled toward me at night, and only by bringing to bear all the psychological and physical forces available to me did I succeed in driving the hallucination out of the sphere of my imagination.

My spirits became especially embittered when I wanted to force them violently to obey me and to act according to my wishes. They then seemed to spit at me, threatened to slap me and beat me up. The more energetically and the longer I opposed them, the denser and more perceptible, so to speak more tangible, the figures became, whereas previously they had been only shadowy. Once, while in a state of intense agitation and pondering the nature of my devils in the garden standing beneath a small apple tree, an as yet not fully ripened, perfectly healthy apple, still connected with the corresponding leafy piece of branch, was knocked down in rapid succession at two places laterally separated from each other.

For me there could no longer be any doubt; in accordance with naïve medieval conceptions, I was possessed *. Added to this was the desperate alternative: either I am making fundamental discoveries capable of illuminating the riddle of humanity from entirely new points of view, or I am a fool who, in irresponsible obstinacy, is sacrificing years of his life, his health, and perhaps life itself, after I had already acquired through chemistry a pleasant and secure position in the state service, which afforded me sufficient free time to continue my scientific education in the field of chemistry and also to pursue independent scientific work. Then I read approximately the following in a newspaper: “the Italian pharmacist N. N. immersed himself so deeply in spiritualistic studies and experiments that he became insane. When taken to the hospital, he fell into a frenzy and had to be put into a straitjacket.”

Deep melancholy therefore often lay over me for weeks at a time, and I had to fear seriously that I, too, might suffer a similar fate.

But involuntarily I nevertheless allowed myself again and again to be guided and influenced by the mysterious beings that were making themselves felt, and also to be carried away into exaggerations. They consequently gained, in many respects, a quite considerable influence over my body. In discussing spiritualistic writing at the beginning of this chapter, I mentioned that I was gradually able to dispense with the pencil, and that it sufficed for communication if I moved my fingers or hand.

I felt distinctly, however, that I was not moving the hand entirely independently and by myself, but that another cause was also at work, so that there must accordingly be a combined effect. The beings had thus gained a perceptible influence over my right hand. Later the same was true of the left. In the subsequent period this influence extended to the most varied other parts of the body, particularly the legs. When I sat quietly at the table and read, or occupied myself with

^* Compare also Chapter VIII under “Possession.”

someone, I felt muscular contractions in them. They rose onto the tips of the toes or pressed convulsively against the floor and became numb. Very often I tolerated this until the utmost exertion and painfulness, so that at first, upon standing up, I could no longer walk.

Other organs, too, were at times strongly influenced, for example the heart and the lungs. Sometimes there was almost purely abdominal breathing; the thorax did not move perceptibly, whereas with every breath the abdominal wall bulged out strongly, and the diaphragm together with the lungs extended abnormally deeply down into the abdomen. Sometimes the opposite was the case. The expression of my face often became peculiar, and I no longer had the familiar and customary features, something that did not escape the notice of persons friendly to me either. In short, a striking alteration in the most varied organs and parts of the body.

I have no time now to describe in greater detail the further course of development during the following years, which brought still a number of serious events, and therefore can only select a few things especially important for an understanding of the scientific explanation of the phenomena given in Sections IV. and V.

Gradually individual hallucinations stood out ever more distinctly and definitely and recurred more frequently. Finally, actual personifications were formed, in that, for example, the more important visual images entered into regular connection with the corresponding auditory conceptions, so that the figures appearing began to speak with me, give me advice, criticize my actions, and so forth. A quite characteristic and general defect of these personifications, just as in hypnotized persons, is that they repeatedly take themselves really to be what they merely imagine or imitate, and accordingly also speak and act in earnest . For a long time I endeavored to develop a number of them further. Here are only a few examples: A few years ago, while observing military exercises, I had occasion repeatedly to see and hear a princely personage at close range. Some time later I once had the very distinct hallucination as though I heard the same personage speaking again. At first I paid no attention to the voice, which soon began to occur more frequently; it also disappeared again for a longer period. Finally, within me there developed but ever more frequently and distinctly also the feeling as though the personage in question were near me, and the visual conception likewise became clearer, without initially becoming a hallucination, in that, in connection with the inner voice, it so to speak forced itself upon me of its own accord. Later the personifications of other princely or ruling personages appeared in an analogous manner, particularly the personification of the German Emperor, and also the personifications of the deceased, for example Napoleon I. .

At the same time I was gradually seized by a peculiar, exalting feeling of being the ruler and master of a great people; my chest distinctly rose and expanded almost without any participation on my part, my entire bodily posture became strikingly erect and military—proof that the personification in question then acquired a considerable influence over me— , and I heard, for example, the inner voice speak with majestic exaltation: “ I am the German Emperor .” After some time I became tired; other conceptions forced themselves in violently, and the posture became increasingly careless. From the sum of the lofty personifications that appeared, the concept “ Highness ” gradually developed. My Highness has a great desire to be a distinguished, particularly princely and ruling personage, or at least—to the extent of my further enlightenment—to see and imitate such a person. Highness is very interested in military spectacles, distinguished living, distinguished bearing, distinguished and ample eating and drinking, order and elegance in my dwelling, noble clothing, a good erect, military posture, gymnastics, hunting, and other sports, and accordingly seeks to influence my way of life by advising, admonishing, commanding, and threatening. On the other hand, she is an enemy of children, of charming things, of jest and cheerfulness, evidently because she knows the princely personages almost solely from their dignified public bearing or from images. She is especially an enemy of humorous papers with caricature-like illustrations, of drinking water, and so forth. Besides, I myself am physically somewhat too small for her.

Another important role is played by the personification “ Child ”: “I am a child.

You are Papa. You must play with me.” Children’s poems are consequently hummed: “Round and round the little girl goes.” “A little bird comes flying.”

Wonderfully tender childishness and childlike-naïve behavior, such as even the most genuine child could not present so movingly and touchingly. When I am in a particularly good humor, I am called “Putzi” or it simply says, “My dear Zi.” When taking a walk in the city, I am supposed to stop at shop windows displaying children’s toys, examine them closely, buy children’s toys for myself, watch children playing, turn around in a childlike fashion—in short, behave in anything but a dignified manner. If, at the instigation of the “child” or the “children” (from time to time a splitting into several related personifications takes place), I occasionally look around in Munich in the children’s-toys department of a department store, this personification is quite beside itself with delight, and often the exclamation follows in a childlike voice: “Oh, how beautiful, this is heaven!” For later, the establishment of a “children’s room” is desired. When, in order to practice optical hallucinations, as I describe more closely in Section IV, I bought a very small child’s doll, only a few centimeters long, and then explained that with time, as practice increased, I would also use larger dolls, the delighted reply came: “This is the beginning of the children’s room. Finally, you must also take real children as models.

Then we shall show you what we are and what we can do.”

Another personification formed as follows: Once, in an inn, a merchant pressed upon my mother a practical joke made of rubber, a kind of rubber ball, representing the well-fed, roundish head of a student with a broad mouth. When squeezed, it stuck its tongue far out. She brought it home, and we occasionally played with it. Several years later, this head, but now of human size, seemed to be near me, while at the same time an inner voice corresponding to the figure said to me: “Today I am in a good mood. Do not be so boring. Think of me. I can do something, too. I enjoy amusing things.” When I paid attention, the head now seemed to be swimming in the waves of a river and to be rocked along by them evenly and comfortably, occasionally diving beneath the surface as well. Various facetious remarks and tricks followed. Suddenly he made his hair stand stiffly on end, pulled faces, stuck out his tongue, as did the rubber ball, and so forth. This “ round head ,” who occasionally made his presence felt, insisted on reading the “Munich Fliegende Blätter,” and humorous papers in general, looking closely at the illustrations in question, going into convivial company, drinking beer comfortably, and so forth. Once, when I saw sunflowers in a garden, he urged me to take one home with me, which I did. After I had placed it in a glass of water, in which it lasted for a considerable time, he occasionally asked: “Where is my sunflower?” When I then looked at it, he was very satisfied. Once it also seemed that he possessed a body corresponding to the head, and the idea formed in me that he wanted to put such a flower in the buttonhole of his coat. Soon, however, I heard other inner voices expressing annoyance at the “clumsy, tasteless, and peasant-like behavior” of this personification and quickly bringing it off the track, so that its cheerful features became distorted and the joke was over. I then heard inwardly: “One should not treat someone like that. I wanted to cheer you up.”

It follows from this that one can converse with such personifications, which sometimes represent geniuses in their own way, as with independent beings. Ordinarily, however, one must remain within the particular sphere they represent and keep everything foreign to it away, for as soon as one introduces other matters, especially diametrically opposed ones, the entire idyll is usually over at once.

Later, however, I also noticed some bad, in part even very bad, qualities in the “round head.” In certain respects he seemed to be completely neglected and to possess serious moral defects. I then forgot him again for a considerable time, until one day it struck me that a foreign power within me was endeavoring to move my tongue from side to side or also to stick it out. It turned out that the round head was practicing to make “his” tongue larger and more flexible and movable in every direction than had been the case with the rubber ball. Although I claimed the tongue as my own, from that time onward he repeatedly attempted to perform exercises with it. Fearing that this might cause “nervous” speech disorders to develop in me, I threw the rubber ball into the stove, which at that time was not heated, however. Several hours later the round head announced himself again and said inwardly to me: “Take me out again of there! I did not mean it so badly.”

Laughing, I complied with his wish.

But since, especially when I was in an irritated mood, he kept manipulating my tongue again and again, apparently with malicious intent, I tore up the rubber ball and disposed of it permanently.

In the meantime, the round head had once actually done some good. For when I was lying in bed at night in a highly agitated and irritated mood over other personifications, at the height of my anger, prompted by him, the optical hallucination of a rooster suddenly appeared in black outline, holding an olive branch of peace in its beak and immediately afterward laying an egg. I had to laugh, and the entire situation was now completely changed.

Two mostly horned, diabolical personifications, “Goat-foot” and “Horse-foot,” play a major role in my case; I must be very cautious with them, since they repeatedly threaten to develop in a dangerous manner, especially when I overexert myself too much.

A highly interesting and important counterpart [sic] to this is formed by a personification of the Divine and Sublime, representing a venerable old man with a full, powerful voice and flowing beard, who is a natural opponent of the diabolical personifications mentioned above and seeks to inspire me with enthusiasm for virtue and lofty aims.

The study of these three last-mentioned personifications in particular would be of the greatest possible significance for comparative religious studies . Yet, apart from a few occasional remarks in Chapter V, I shall be able to report anything more detailed about them only at a later time.

Since the further development of such personifications evidently entails, in many cases, entirely opposite demands, and I did not succeed in reconciling them with one another or at least in treating them as completely separate from one another, the agitation within me increased again; new personifications arose directly against my will, enemies among themselves and against me, and a confused tangle frequently took shape, similar to that in the first years of my magical experiments. There I was able to recognize with evidence that the human being, psychologically as well, represents anything but a pure unity. It must certainly not be forgotten, however, that this then concerned a directly ins It concerned a pathological state. But for the assessment of the human being’s psychic constitution, the possibility of such phenomena nevertheless remains of great importance, as will emerge from later discussions.

In this manner it continued for further years, as in a Circulus vitiosus, continually enticing, then again hopeless. Truly, it was probably rare for such tortuous and erroneous paths to be taken in a scientific discovery as by me! I had, almost without wishing or noticing it and without sufficient preliminary knowledge, entered a field that was entirely foreign to me. Through the numerous wanderings in the most varied directions, however, I gained an insight into the wide field of magic such as no one yet possesses. I therefore repeatedly drew new hope, for in chemistry I had already found that, when one works on the same subject for years, incubating it, so to speak, day and night, one almost necessarily acquires such familiarity with it that in the end one nevertheless feels out the right answer.

Besides this, I had gradually read some of the modern literature on hypnotism, somnambulism, animism, etc., and also on the localization of cerebral functions according to Fritsch and Hitzig, as well as according to Munk, on Flechsig’s association spheres, on the hallucinations of the mentally ill, etc.

I was then astonished that much of what I had laboriously wrung out of myself was already known, but that much also which, in the course of the years, had seemed self-evident to me and had become entirely familiar, was still completely unknown, such as, for example, the deeper nature of illusions and hallucinations, of the subconscious, etc. Thus, although through my inadequate connection with the science already established^* I may perhaps have performed some superfluous work and suffered some things unnecessarily, I must on the other hand also say to myself that I have thereby been spared some of the deeply rooted prejudices of contemporary science.

Thus it has gradually become possible for me to form fairly clear theoretical conceptions of the nature of the magical phenomena I experienced and to establish the principles of a science of magic, but above all also to discover general and

^* Specialists, such as physicians, psychologists, etc., will therefore probably find corresponding deficiencies in my book.

simple rules for the practical execution of magical experiments, on the basis of which, in my conviction, a beginner can train himself systematically in the new field of knowledge just as in any other experimental science.

For the science to be developed, after long deliberation I chose the name ” magic ” since it has been in use for the phenomena in question from time immemorial. To be sure, it has a mystical flavor, but the crudely coined name occultism, which, moreover, has already been appropriated in a somewhat different sense, certainly does not lack such a flavor either, and in comparison with the former has the disadvantage of possessing no historical justification whatsoever. Besides, there is still enough of the occult in every other science even today. Other names, such as metapsychics (analogous to Aristotle’s metaphysics), psychodynamics, etc., I likewise consider not much better suited. The former again has the disadvantage of being mystical and newly coined; the latter is inadequate, since my magic is concerned not merely with the unfolding of psychic and psychophysical forces, but especially also with the study of the nature and significance of the so-called subconscious in man. In other respects, I envisage magic as a regular exact and experimental natural science, as a kind of experimental magic.

Since the magician of the future will in many respects proceed according to principles different from those by which I was obliged to proceed, and since, furthermore, a deeper explanation of the foregoing phenomena cannot readily be given at the present low level of knowledge in this field, I will first, in the following IV. Section, present a description and explanation of simpler magical phenomena and then append a discussion of experiments which, in contrast to my experiments, the beginner in magic should initially perform and practise.

Only in the V. Section will I then give a scientific explanation of my own experiences, which, as is evident from the foregoing, were mostly of an entirely different kind and rested for the most part on a magic of the so-called subconscious. They will thereby be all the more easily understood.

IV. Magic of the Conscious Ego

According to my experiences, the key to understanding magical phenomena is supplied above all by knowledge of the two concepts ” hallucination ” and ” subconscious “. The former has long played an important role in psychiatry, but its deeper nature has not yet been elucidated. Regarding the latter, the most varied, often downright most fantastic views exist. I will first communicate a few things about hallucinations and discuss the subconscious only in the V. and VI. chapters.

1. Nature of Hallucinations

When I perceive or observe a light situated before me, such as that of a burning candle, the excitation travels from the retina through the diencephalon to the visual centers and the relevant association areas and finally to consciousness. The exact course in the cerebral cortex has not yet been satisfactorily elucidated, but knowledge of it is not necessary for the following discussions.

When I close my eyes and exert pressure upon them and thus simultaneously upon the retina, the excitation proceeds along the same pathways as before and I again see light. Thus, mere mechanical stimulation of the peripheral nervous region suffices to see light with complete vividness where in fact none is present, that is, to bring about the hallucination of light. In my view, one may already draw from this alone, with a certain justification, the conclusion that in a hallucination the excitation of peripheral organs plays an important role .

But if I now, in contrast to perceiving or observing an objective or subjective luminous phenomenon, conversely, imagine light, then initially and chiefly only the relevant areas of the cerebral cortex are thereby excited, but not the peripheral centres and organs. The ideas subsequently voluntarily called forth on the basis of memory are therefore, in general, not especially detailed, vivid, and distinct; for the purposes of ordinary thought, however, they are sufficient. But if I deliberately seek to imagine light with particular vividness and distinctness, so that the excitation of the previously mentioned cortical regions becomes unusually strong, then, according to my experience, after practice has been acquired, the same excitation can proceed from here downward with ever greater force, through the diencephalon, finally to the terminal expansion of the optic nerve, the retina, and one sees, as in the previously mentioned mechanical stimulation of the optic nerve, light with complete vividness, although no such light is present. One again has the hallucination of light. Here the excitation first passes through the optical system in exactly the reverse direction and then, on the other hand, by propagating itself backwards again to the cerebral cortex, acts upon consciousness like a real light situated outside. One thus, so to speak, stages the play and, on the other hand, again becomes the spectator. As the latter, one finds physiologically exactly the same conditions and the same state of excitation of the entire optical apparatus as when seeing, perceiving, or observing a real light of the external world, and consequently apparently (i.e. subjectively) sees real light.

Not merely hallucinations of the simplest kind can be produced in this way, but also more complicated ones, e.g. of human beings, animals, and flowers.

As became clear to me from many conversations with acquaintances, it is difficult for those who have never in their lives had a genuine hallucination to form an idea of its nature. I should recommend to such persons that they observe the so-called ” after-image ,” about which more detailed information is found in all textbooks of physiology: if one looks fixedly and attentively at a drawing, a figure, etc. for some time and then turns one’s gaze towards a light-coloured wall, after a few seconds one sees, with perfect, realistic distinctness, the same image upon the white surface, though in complementary colours and in a size proportional to the distance of the background . For this purpose I should recommend the artist postcards, issued, for example, by the Alfons Simon publishing house in Munich and by the Rhenish Art and Postcard Publishing House “Hepp” in Mannheim, executed in white and black, as negatives [sic] in postcard format (King Ludwig II, Emperor Wilhelm I and II, Emperor Franz Joseph, Andreas Hofer, Mona Lisa, a nd others). By this means one can gain within a minute a direct visual impression that it is possible to see an image, even a complicated one, before oneself with perfectly realistic distinctness, although such an image is no longer present.

To explain the after-image, it is assumed that when fixing one’s gaze upon an object the retina becomes fatigued with respect to the colours concerned, so that, when subsequently looking at a white surface, of all the colours now reaching the eye only the complementary colours of the previously fixated object produce a perceptible effect.

This explanation of the after-image likewise speaks directly in favour of the correctness of my assertion that, in order to see realistically even an object that is not present, excitation of the retina is necessary. The difference between the after-image and a hallucination practised according to my method, the production of which, however, is incomparably more difficult for most people, consists in the fact that in the former case an excitation of the retina caused from outside continues to make itself felt in its effects, whereas in a hallucination the excitation of the retina is caused from within , by the upper centres of the brain, and also in the fact that the object is seen at the same distance and in the correct (not complementary) colours.

Analogously to a hallucination of sight, one achieves one of hearing when one finally drives the excitation as far as the peripheral expansion of the auditory nerve in the cochlea and from there onward through peripheral auditory-nerve regions to the eardrum. Since this manner of producing auditory hallucinations is independent of the human speech organs, it is possible not only to imitate one’s own voice true to nature, but also that of other human beings, and further of animals, etc. Likewise, after the manner of the gramophone (the eardrum corresponds to its sound membrane), any other tones and noises, indeed the most beautiful music, can be conjured up with realistic deception.

But just as one can drive ” optical ” energy through the optical system so to speak and “acoustic” energy through the auditory system in the reverse direction, so in the olfactory system one can drive “odorative,” and in the sensory system “sensitive” energy, that is, generate energy characteristic and specific for each system and for each nerve and conduct it in the opposite direction from that corresponding to normal physiological function .

Accordingly, the most various specific hallucinations then arise.

Through the simultaneous combination of several of these, one can represent a person speaking, singing, walking, a flower emitting a scent, etc. In short, with appropriate practice and disposition, with closed eyes, in a darkened room, in the stillness of night, one can arbitrarily produce, by means of the “spiritual” eye, the “spiritual” ear, etc., a subjective world of phantasms modelled upon the external world or modified at will (visual, auditory, olfactory, sensory, kinaesthetic).

This is therefore evidently a fundamental law of magic, which I should like to designate as the ” law of the reversibility of the course of nerve excitations ,” or, more briefly, as the ” law of reversibility .”

Occasionally abnormally predisposed persons possessed the ability to induce hallucinations without first undertaking special exercises for this purpose or having any deeper insight into their nature.

Heveroch writes^*: “There was a schoolteacher under my treatment who, by voluntarily imagining them, saw violins before her eyes, heard a concert, experienced the taste of cherries or honey, felt a wet hand upon her bare back, etc.”

Among historical personalities I mention in this connection Cardanus, Goethe, Johannes Müller, and Naegeli. Cardanus writes: “I see what I wish, though not always entirely when I wish. Yet the things that are seen are continually moving.

Thus I see groves, animals,

^* On the Theory of Hallucinations. Archive for Psychiatry and Nervous Diseases.

Volume 47. orbs and whatever I desire. Goethe * says: “When I close my eyes and imagine a flower in the middle of the field of vision, it unfolds and from its interior new flowers again unfold, made of colored, and also green, leaves. They are not natural flowers but fantastical ones, yet regular, like the rosettes of sculpture. It is impossible to fix the burgeoning creation; yet it lasts as long as I please, neither becoming fainter nor stronger. I can produce the same thing when I imagine the ornamentation of a brightly painted disk, which likewise continually changes from the center toward the periphery, exactly like kaleidoscopes.” - The Austrian popular poet Ludwig Anzengruber , when asked about the manner in which he wrote his plays, expressed himself as follows: “When I write I see the people before me, I hear them speak, I move them about on the stage.” - It is reported of the painter Montana that, before he painted his pictures, he saw them so vividly before his eyes that he asked anyone who came between him and the hallucinated pictures to step aside.

An especially vivid power of imagination is, for obvious reasons, common among artists, painters, and so forth, but an intensification of it up to formal hallucinations must nevertheless be rare. There are, in fact, various intermediate stages possible up to the extreme.

As a result of the reversibility of the course of nervous excitations through an intensification of the activity of imagination, healing effects can also be achieved in the organism. For when one attends to the pleasant feelings that arise during healing and come from the periphery of the body, they are strengthened, and their specific energy, by reason of its return flow, benefits the diseased organ. Very many people, however, achieve the opposite through incorrect manipulation and aggravate the illness, because they pay too anxiously heed to the unpleasant feelings and pains instead of suppressing and ignoring them. Doctors therefore rightly warn the inexperienced against such overly frequent self-observation and “ autosuggestion ,” since even perfectly healthy people can make themselves ill through “ imagination ,” because they too, through exaggerated

^* In his Contributions to Morphology and Natural Science.

self-observation repeatedly discover that not every point in the body possesses pleasant feelings.

People who are left largely to themselves, eccentrics who seek solitude too assiduously, frequently achieve such retrograde intensifications of the excitations coming from various regions of the body unconsciously and involuntarily. They therefore tend toward hallucinations, conversations “with themselves,” imaginary illnesses, hysteria, and so forth.

Numerous other harmful feelings, such as anger, grief, anxiety, and hatred, can likewise be involuntarily intensified in this way.

This is no reason, however, to reject self-observation and autosuggestion entirely. On the contrary, I shall show later that years-long , systematic practice of an autosuggestion which attends only to the pleasant, useful, and better feelings, rationally directs and strengthens them, can be developed into an art such as present-day science does not yet know.

As is well known, the expression “ hallucination ” has hitherto been used only in medicine, and indeed exclusively in psychiatry, for sensory deception or also involuntary sensory perception in which no external source of stimulation is present, and the like. Hallucinations occur pathologically in various mental and nervous illnesses, furthermore in febrile conditions and in poisoning by opium, alcohol, and so forth. According to the foregoing, however, hallucinations can also be voluntarily and deliberately produced through practice, and it is therefore advisable to distinguish the two kinds by the expressions voluntary hallucinations and compulsive hallucinations. In doing so, I admittedly run the risk of coming into conflict with the philologists, for the literal meaning of “hallucinari” is: “to imagine, dream, speak, act thoughtlessly ,” as is indeed actually the case with the hallucinations of the insane, the nervous, the intoxicated, and so forth, so that in the case of the systematic , artfully practiced hallucinations the original meaning of the word no longer applies.

Optical hallucinations are also known, as is well known, as “ visions ,” and auditory ones as “ acousmata .”

Even the most vivid hallucination is initially something subjective . The question now arises whether it might not perhaps be carried so far that it also becomes objective and real and appears at a definite point in space. I affirm that it can, and for the following reasons: If, through vividly imagining, for example, an optical image or merely light in general, one excites the retina and sharply views and fixes the optical hallucination thereby produced as though it were a real object situated outside, one involuntarily and of itself comes to project it onto a definite point in space, because from our youth onward we have been accustomed to seeing all objects of the external world at a definite point in space. In order to project a hallucination onto a definite point in space, however, one must adjust the refracting media of the eye, especially the lens, and indeed the entire optical apparatus together with its auxiliary apparatus, particularly the eye muscles, exactly as when fixing an object situated outside. At the same time, it does not remain a mere excitation of the retina, for this excitation necessarily communicates itself also to the surrounding ether, so that it enters into corresponding oscillations. But these oscillations we call light . Thus actual light is also produced. This light produced by the excited retina passes through the refracting media of the eye in the opposite direction from that in which it does in seeing ; it therefore first passes through the vitreous body, then through the lens, pupils, and so forth, outward, and at the point at which one imagines light or an optical image, real light or a real image must appear, comparable to that produced by a convex lens or a projection apparatus (or also, insofar as the pure image, not the manner of its production, is concerned, by a concave mirror). I refer those who have not yet seen such real images, for example, to the optical department of the Deutsches Museum in Munich. Every larger optical firm, moreover, supplies lenses or concave mirrors for producing such (stationary) real optical images.

If, now, in the manner mentioned, one imagines persons or objects not at rest but in motion, then their images reaching outward will likewise not remain at rest but will execute movements comparable to those of a cinematograph . The latter, incidentally, are of a different kind. and only two-dimensional. By contrast, the figures in the Tanagra - Games ”, which I had the opportunity to see in Munich in November 1916, provide an excellent demonstration of spatially plastic and at the same time moving real optical images. These games (directed by Mr. and Mrs. Fürst) are based upon the following physical-optical principles: On the rear part of the stage, invisible to the audience, actors perform a play, speaking and acting in precisely the same manner as if they were standing immediately before the audience. The images of the persons acting fall upon a plane mirror rising from the floor at the front of the stage at an angle of 45 degrees; this mirror in turn throws them onto a second plane mirror situated above it and inclined at 90 degrees to it. In this second mirror they naturally appear reversed (that is, with their heads downward). From here they are finally thrown onto a mirror situated somewhat farther back (reckoned from the audience) and above, this time ground concave, which projects them as real images, 25-35 cm in size (naturally now once again in an upright position), before the stage and into the auditorium, so that charming ethereal miniature people perform their tricks for the audience.

An acoustic hallucination is now to be explained analogously to an optical one. The excitation travels from the cerebral cortex on both sides through peripheral regions as far as the eardrum.

The principle involved is, in essence, the conception that by means of every apparatus capable of receiving vibrations of the ether (light in our case), one can conversely also produce vibrations of the ether (light), or that with an apparatus sensitive to vibrations of the air (sounds), one can likewise bring about vibrations of the air (sounds) if one sends a current of energy through it in the opposite direction. For comparison, let us take the telephone in its original simple arrangement, as it was actually used formerly. If one speaks toward its membrane, it begins to vibrate (similarly to the eardrum). These vibrations produce induction currents in a copper wire wound around a magnet; these currents propagate further along the telephone wire to the telephone of the person with whom one wishes to begin a conversation, pass here through the otherwise entirely identical apparatus in precisely the opposite direction and sequence, and finally set the membrane vibrating and now the latter speaks , so to speak, whereas previously the membrane at the telephoning person’s end had heard.

Thus, analogously, one can “speak” by means of the eardrum and produce sounds in general, and by means of the eyes produce light.

To some it may seem strange that I claim that man is capable of producing light. The production of light by living beings, however, is not at all uncommon in nature. Consider, for example, the fireflies (St. John’s beetles, glowworms, Lampyris noctiluca), which flit back and forth like sparks of fire on mild summer nights because they produce light within their organisms (though, of course, not by means of their eyes). Certain bacteria, which not infrequently settle upon decaying flesh, cause it to glow in the dark. Numerous animals inhabiting the depths of the oceans, especially fish, possess luminous organs.

Various people have objected to me that it is probable that, when seeing, a chemical process takes place upon the retina through the action of light, and they do not wish to believe that it could be possible to reverse this process and produce light by chemical means through the retina. But who does not know that, apart from electric lighting, our ordinary methods of producing light are precisely chemical ones, and that light can in general be produced through countless other chemical processes?

Upon closer examination one finds that the magical reproduction of one’s own voice occurs through attempting to imagine it as vividly as possible and to hear its sound, so that the excitation travels downward from the upper centers in the brain into the auditory apparatus and finally to the eardrum .

In ordinary speech, by contrast, the excitation travels downward from the brain to the vocal cords, larynx, tongue, and so forth.

In acoustic respects, therefore (in contrast to the optical apparatus), two different pathways of peripheral conduction are possible: the normal one to the larynx and the abnormal (magical) one to the eardrum.

It is clear, however, that the unaccustomed conduction of the excitation in the direction of the eardrum, together with the simultaneous elimination of the ordinary pathway, presents difficulties and must be specially learned. There is therefore a tendency, particularly in reproducing one’s own voice, to work with parts of one’s ordinary speech apparatus instead of speaking magically, even when the mouth is completely motionless or even closed; and there is no doubt that such confusions repeatedly occurred in the magical experiments conducted hitherto. The beginner in particular must therefore, when speaking by means of the eardrum, repeatedly direct his attention sharply toward the region of the ear (at first, one ear) and imagine the voice to be reproduced in its immediate vicinity. One feels quite distinctly that a pressure arises there as a result of innervation and congestion of the blood, whereas during ordinary whispering a similar pressure can analogously be observed in the region of the larynx. In communicating with my personifications, I have very often employed the latter form of communication in more recent times. This (non-magical) speaking or whispering takes place, as indicated above, without movement of the lips and is therefore evidently related to ordinary ventriloquism . In earlier times ventriloquism was regarded as the devil’s work, and it was assumed that the artists in question were in communication with Satan. Now it is known to be an entirely natural process, even though it remains an art that must be learned. Let us hope that, in the age of the gramophone and the telephone, both of which speak by means of membranes and can produce sounds in general, even music, the moment is no longer far off when speaking, the production of sounds and music by means of the eardrums of the ears, will no longer be regarded as a ghostly deception, but as a natural art , which likewise must be learned.

The hallucinations projected outward by the mere power of imagination, although real, are evidently too weak to be perceived by other persons. Whether they could be demonstrated by especially exact physical or chemical means—for example, the optical ones by projection onto the highly sensitive photographic plate—I do not know.

There are, however, means of strengthening them.

2. Means of Intensifying Hallucinations

Our body, considered purely physically, presents an exceedingly complicated system of optical, acoustic, motor, and numerous other apparatuses. Although these are readily distinguishable individually and are independent of one another to a certain degree, they nevertheless ultimately constitute a connected whole, a unity, since all are finally connected with one another by nerve fibres and none is completely isolated. For this reason, excitations can also spread over from one region to another. Thus, for example, strong stimulation of the eyes by glaring light causes in some persons an urge to sneeze. It is furthermore known that pain is capable of arousing feelings of pleasure, that pain can, so to speak, be transformed into pleasure. This apparent paradox is explained in the simplest manner by the fact that the nervous excitation occurring during pain passes over to another organ, namely one sensitive to pleasure, and stimulates it, if one does not attend to the pain but to the feeling of pleasure. The ordinary reflexes also belong here. A visual or auditory perception can reflexively trigger a defensive movement or set the speech organs in motion. From this point of view, therefore, we may speak quite generally of a law of the transformation of nervous energy: When energy passes from one nerve region into another, it transforms itself into the form of energy characteristic of the region over which it spreads. In the normal state, however, a spreading over and thus a transformation of nervous energy usually occurs only in small quantities. If, for example, a visual perception reflexively triggers a defensive movement, then the small quantity of energy passing from the optical into the motor region does not itself actually cause the defensive movement, but serves only for the “triggering,” merely as an impulse, in order to convert the potential energy stored in the muscle region concerned into actual or kinetic energy^*. Yet according to

^* The process must not, however, be conceived in a purely mechanical and physical manner; above all, it must be interpreted physiologically, in the sense that the nerve cells of the other system, upon which the energy spreads, then proceed actively on their own part.

my experiences, this spreading over of nervous energy can occur in greater quantity in the case of abnormal predisposition, in pathological conditions, e.g. neurasthenia, but especially also through practice, and thereby become of extraordinary importance for magic, as follows: In our body we possess, in the form of potential chemical energy, a considerable reserve of energy, by means of which we can transport not only our own weight but also that of heavy loads, produce heat for the continuous keeping of the same warm even in the severest winter, etc., and which we make available and employ for our use particularly by means of the motor system through muscular contraction.

If I now brace myself with hands and feet or hold a heavy object fast, then the energy released by this performance of the muscular system passes entirely into heat. If, however, at the same time, while excluding all other ideas, I hold fast a single one—an optical one, for instance, such as that of a flower—as vividly and somewhat forcibly as possible, and try to see it as a real object situated before me, then through practice it gradually becomes possible to transfer an ever greater portion of the released energy from the muscular system into the optical region, to transform it here, in the sense indicated above, into optical energy, and to employ it to intensify the luminous effect of the optical hallucinations, so that a hallucination projected outward in the manner mentioned earlier must become visible to others as well, without special aids.

Thus, purely theoretically, but in practice in any case without a sharp boundary* hallucinations may also be divided into subjective and objective or real , of which the optical

^* As, according to my theory, the boundary between conception and (subjective) hallucination is likewise not a sharp one, and different people in fact possess very different intensities of conception. (In many people, vividly inward thinking likewise passes over, though more easily, into quiet whispering or even loud speech, as progressively more strongly peripheral regions of the body are again seized.)

For the sake of clarity, I should add here that, for the hallucinated person, the seeing or perceiving of an object corresponds as its exact counterpart to the subjective hallucination (and not the “conception”) of the same. ones are comparable to the little image of the sun which a convex lens produces according to known laws when exposed to sunlight, or altogether to the real image which a convex lens projects of an object situated behind it. Such an image is naturally not merely visible but also photographable.

According to what was communicated above, more intensive magical thinking and imagining involves a psychic activity with the simultaneous, methodical enlistment of the body, especially the muscles, whereas otherwise it is almost independent of the physical.

That it is precisely the development of muscular energy that plays a principal role I see demonstrated conclusively in myself, for during particularly vivid hallucinations I regularly and instinctively adopt strenuous bodily postures which, if maintained forcibly, may become exceedingly painful^*.

To a small degree, incidentally, the normal person too is physically influenced by vivid psychic activity. Vividly listening intently, for example, causes the breath to be held, certain muscles to be tensed. Joy, pain, and sorrow cause changes in the entire posture of the body and in facial expression.

Fright causes pallor, shame causes blushing.

In all magicians of antiquity, the law of the transformation of nervous energy plays an extraordinarily important role. Means of the most varied kinds, mostly unpleasant ones, such as fasting, freezing, keeping night watches, holding the breath, strenuous bodily postures, e.g. kneeling for hours at a time, and even physical maltreatment, are employed in order to gain nervous energy at any price. Nevertheless, we need not pity the Indian yogis, the Mohammedan penitents, etc., too greatly on account of their mortifications, since in general they probably feel more pleasure than pain, even though we must often designate their methods as perverse. A scientific magician will seek to obtain nervous energy chiefly from the source where it is available in the greatest quantity and most conveniently, i.e. from the muscles.

^* I must, incidentally, frequently use a large part of it also to push out other ideas that force themselves upon me.

3. Instructions for the Practical Performance of Magical Experiments by the Conscious Ego

For the beginner in magic, it is probably most natural to begin by practising optical and acoustic hallucinations, as well as by producing effects at a distance. In particular, I should like to emphasize that different people possess different aptitudes. Someone who is suited to optical experiments need not necessarily be suited to acoustic or motor ones as well. There is no general characteristic of “ magical aptitude ”, any more than there is one for “artistic disposition,” since every person must be examined individually to determine whether he is gifted in painting, drawing, or music, etc.

The view of Reichenbach, still widespread even now, that one need only test people in general for “ sensitivity ” or, expressed in my sense, “magical disposition,” is not correct.

a) Optical Hallucinations

One should observe an object placed at a comfortable viewing distance as attentively as possible, close one’s eyes, and now seek, without turning the head and without changing one’s bodily posture at all, to see it before oneself solely by means of the faculty of imagination, just as vividly and realistically and at the same distance as immediately before.

If its clear image gradually disappears, one should open one’s eyes again for a while in order to examine the object anew with precision.

Thus, to begin with, this is, so to speak, a purely hallucinatory copying of an optical model . With time, it will become possible to see a hallucination of the object in question quite clearly before oneself with closed eyes.

The chief point is to practise the unfamiliar excitation proceeding in the opposite direction within the optical apparatus, and to learn actually to see the image in one’s mind, i.e. to develop it into a hallucination. For most people, especially for those whose occupation requires few optical images, this probably requires much time and perseverance.

For such persons it is sufficient at first if they repeatedly examine the objects to be reproduced later, always accurately and with concentrated attention. Furthermore, especially in nervous individuals, considerable fluctuations in the success of the experiments are likely to occur, since the optical apparatus used for these magical experiments cannot be handled, like a purely physical apparatus, in a completely independent and mechanical manner, but its efficiency may, under certain circumstances, depend greatly upon the particular overall nervous condition of the person concerned. At first, overexertion occurs very easily. One should therefore practise only for short periods at a time, but repeat them throughout the day. Once the fundamental progress has been achieved—namely, the actual seeing of the optical image—it will soon become easy to immerse oneself entirely in the optical image floating before one and gradually to intensify it by expending muscular energy.

Particularly gifted individuals may then also bring about noticeable inhibitions of respiration and cardiac activity in order to obtain still greater quantities of energy; as is well known, these are frequently carried to an extreme by the great spiritualist mediums, by Indian yogis, etc.

If one wishes to photograph the hallucination or make it visible to other persons* , then, naturally, once it begins to become real, one must go into a darkened room and, of course, keep one’s eyes open, since otherwise light can no more emerge from them than it can enter them when the eyes are closed. As a darkroom, an ordinary cupboard located in the living room is sufficient, for example a clothes cupboard, whose joints have been sealed against light with strips of black felt or cloth, and which can quickly be made ready for use by removing its contents and putting in a chair.

To make the exercises more interesting and stimulating, one chooses objects of better, if possible artistic,

^* In response to possible objections, I emphasize that the magician does not see the real optical image produced by him in the ordinary sense , since, unlike the real images of the external world, no rays from it enter his eyes (rather, rays proceed from them). He merely perceives the excitation of his optical apparatus; he feels the adjustment of the eye muscles to the relevant distance, so that the effect is the same for him. A foreign observer, on the other hand, can perceive the image under the same conditions under which one perceives an image formed by an ordinary convex lens, i.e. within the cone of rays proceeding from it. The image (or likewise the phantom of the spiritualists) becomes perceptible from all sides only when, in a (spiritualist) circle, the participants project it outward all around, each from his own standpoint, in a unified sense (telepathically directed by the leading medium).

quality. However, these should, especially if one wishes to arrive as quickly as possible at photographable hallucinations, ordinarily not be too large (diameter 1 to 4 cm), so that a strong concentration of light takes place.

In all cases, moreover, simplicity of the drawing, form, and color, and indeed of the entire character, is an important condition, so that, for example, only a few postage stamps, postcards, etc. are suitable.

I have gradually assembled a veritable collection of the most varied objects suitable for optical reproduction—especially in order to stimulate my subconscious (see Chap. V) to participate. It contains: simple drawings of the most varied kinds, such as rings, crosses, letters, numerals of an intense color standing out sharply from the background, which I made on paper using white, red, green, blue, and black ink or colored pencil, in part with the aid of metal templates.

Cuttings of larger colored letters from printed matter.

Colored charts. “The Flags of All the States of the Earth” (Moritz Ruhl publishing house, Leipzig) and “World Flag Map” (Karl P. Geuter, Darmstadt and Leipzig).

Flags of the various states executed in brightly colored silk (available for purchase in department stores and toy shops). Particularly suitable among these, for example, is the Swiss flag (a white cross on a red ground); its counterpart, the sanitary flag (a red cross on a white ground); the Japanese merchant flag (a red circular field on a white ground), etc.

Round and square disks, rings, and balls of intense color, made of wood, ivory, or celluloid.

Artificial flowers.

Naturally, natural objects are also suitable, e.g. numerous flowers and leaves.

b) Acoustic Hallucinations

The practice of acoustic hallucinations proceeds analogously to that of optical ones. One should recite individual letters to oneself at intervals, e.g. the alphabet, while at the same time paying close attention to the sound of the voice and the impression which it on hearing and seek, by means of the power of imagination, to hear the fading real tone just as vividly and really still further as immediately before. Thus one should seek to intensify and support the acoustic “after-sound”—similarly to the optical one earlier—and repeatedly direct one’s attention to the region of the ear. If the clear idea gradually disappears, then one should once again pronounce the letter or the next one to oneself and proceed as before.

Naturally, here too one should alternate among various directions.

A faintly ticking clock is particularly suitable . One should hold it directly to the ear, listen closely, and, while at the same time continuing to seek to hear the ticking at the ear, quickly remove it again from the range of hearing. Particularly when reproducing one’s own voice, there is, as already mentioned on p. 49, a tendency to pass over into a kind of ventriloquial whispering. This danger of confusion is all the less, however, the more the matter concerns tones, noises, and more complicated sound-figures which are difficult or even impossible to imitate with the human voice and the ordinary organs of speech.

c) Hallucinations of Smell and Taste

When one practises an optical hallucination, other ideas which are ordinarily associated with the former almost spontaneously associate themselves with it in time. When practising the optical hallucination of a rose, a violet, or a lily of the valley, one very easily perceives the corresponding scent. If, however, one wishes to place the main emphasis on the scent , one should imagine the flower being held beneath the nose and endeavour to smell it.

One should therefore direct one’s chief attention to the endings of the olfactory nerves and seek to influence them through the corresponding olfactory idea. One should proceed analogously with objects of taste, e.g. fruits which one imagines being brought into the mouth.

An olfactory sensation is known to arise because material particles (molecules) from an odorous substance enter the nose and mechanically stimulate the endings of the olfactory nerves through their vibrations. I have now repeatedly been asked whether, conversely, a pure olfactory hallucination could be carried so far that an odorous substance would be produced (apparently corresponding to the production of light through a real optical hallucination). I must decisively deny this question, for that would be a complete materialisation, which certainly is not possible by means of the olfactory nerves alone. For the rest, in this certainly not urgent question, I refer to section f of this chapter, p. 59, “Materialisations.” If reports of olfactory sensations are found in the literature, e.g. at spiritualist séances, they would probably involve only telepathic transmissions of ideas on the part of the medium to the participants in the séance (cf. also p. 178 ff.).

d) Motor Hallucinations (Mechanical Action at a Distance)

Since motor energy can readily and normally be sent along the ordinary nerve pathways intended for this purpose as far as the periphery of the body, e.g. in moving the fingers, as far as their tips, the special practice of a centrifugal excitation is not required here. Nevertheless, there is something new to be learned. The task consists in separating the centrifugal excitation of the peripheral organs (hands, feet) from the act of movement, with which it is otherwise always associated; that is, to innervate the hands and feet motorically without actually moving them. One must therefore, for example, learn to imagine ever more vividly that one is setting an object placed on the table before one in motion with the hand, without actually moving it. One must, expressed physiologically and psychologically, develop the mere movement-idea (which otherwise chiefly excites only the motor regions of the cerebral cortex) into a subjective movement-hallucination (which also innervates the peripheral motor organs). Finally, one achieves a real hallucination when, in this way, one succeeds in driving greater quantities of energy into the hand and beyond it, so that the object situated in front of it begins to move without contact.

In practice, of course, one should use small, light objects such as balls and round pencils, which are situated in the immediate vicinity of the hand lying on the table (or slowly moved over it) . The supporting surface must be as smooth as possible, so that only slight friction has to be overcome when rolling.

An excellent means of practising and controlling weaker such effects at a distance is provided by the use of a sensitive scale, naturally protected from air currents by a glass casing, which still indicates fractions of a milligram [sic] . One sits before it, directs one’s attention to one of the pans, and seeks to press it down in thought.

One may perhaps declare it fantastic when I assert the possibility of influencing an object merely by means of radiated energy. But how astonished would we be at the performances of a magnet if they had not already been familiar to us from our youth! Are there not, moreover, attractive and repulsive electrical forces which act at a distance, as well as a gravitational attraction which acts not merely across terrestrial distances but into infinite spaces, and which connects the earth with the sun and the heavenly bodies with one another in general? Naturally, however, I intend thereby to leave entirely open the question concerning the inner nature of the form of energy active in the motor experiments mentioned.

Mr. A. H., a chemist in U. near Brussels, after reading the first edition of this book, sent me, on his own initiative, the following account of his experiences concerning effects at a distance in a letter dated 18 November 1912: “I, too, have conducted psychophysical experiments. First, phenomena of movement. All of these succeeded excellently for me three years ago, until about half a year ago—during a long and serious illness —enlargement of the heart—inflammation of the pericardium—arteriosclerosis, etc., when I devoted all the time of my convalescence to these interesting studies. The scale experiment [sic] on p. 25 of your work (II edition, p. 29) also often succeeded for me. Today any influence upon those paper apparatuses, etc., is impossible for me. 2 years ago I was able, at a distance of 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 metres, to set a small mill in motion solely by concentration of the will!

We often worked in pairs: We obtained addition and subtraction of the respective forces of will. Could the complete restoration of health be responsible for the loss of those psychokinetic powers?”

I answered the question in the affirmative and otherwise refer the reader to p. 101 of this book.

e) More Complex Hallucinations

Materialisations.

As already mentioned earlier, even entirely different Vorstellungen very readily associate with one another if they merely ordinarily occur together, so that one almost, without intending to do so, practises, for example, instead of the simpler hallucination of the smell of a rose, the composite one of a rose emitting fragrance. If one attempts magically to press down on the pan of a balance [sic] in order to cause it to tip, the optical Vorstellung of a hand very readily joins it, since one is accustomed to producing such a manipulation by means of the hand. There is also added the feeling that one is touching the pan; in short, optical and sensory Vorstellungen or hallucinations in particular become associated with the motor one.

Since in the real world surrounding us we have to do not merely with optical, acoustic, sensory perceptions, etc., but especially also with actual material formations, it becomes understandable that, in the magical reproduction of any object, there is an inclination not merely to reproduce it purely optically, acoustically, or sensibly, but also really materially . There is, so to speak, a natural tendency toward the complete materialisation of the object in question, even if at first one wishes to reproduce only one aspect of its sense-perception, e.g. the optical one.

In Chapter III I reported that my “spirits,” the more I quarrelled with them, seemed to become ever denser, more palpable, and more tangible. I could also often observe that an initially purely optical hallucination, the more deeply I immersed myself in it and the more energetically I held it fast, made an increasingly distinct impression of the material .

If, now, as has already been repeatedly explained, the art of the magician consists in making something real out of a mere “imagination,” and if, for example, by means of the optical apparatus possessed by our body, we are capable of magically producing actual light through mere “imagination,” then, without relying upon profound discussions concerning the nature of matter, we cannot declare it to be in principle impossible to produce matter again, conversely, by means of the organs that enable us to perceive matter. One need therefore not summarily dismiss and declare incorrect the reports that actual materialisations occur in spiritistic séances. It must, however, be noted that the hallucinations discussed so far—optical, acoustic, motor, sensory, etc.—are merely energy radiations . That matter is also nothing other than a particular form of energy (or a sum of such forms) cannot at present be proved experimentally, despite the great advances of physics and chemistry. From the purely experimental standpoint, therefore, caution is in any case called for with regard to the reports in the literature concerning materialisations, and one will probably be able, for the most part, to regard them simply as energy projections which deceptively reproduce matter in its external perceptible properties (optically, sensibly, etc.), without actually being such.

f) Thought-Transference to Other Persons

In the foregoing I have shown that it is possible to produce sensory Vorstellungen really outward from the depths of our inner being and also to make them perceptibly available to other persons. Numerous accidental observations since ancient times, and especially the exact and systematic experiments of the present day, further establish with certainty that it is possible to transfer Vorstellungen directly to other persons, without employing the external sense-organs—that is, from brain to brain —even over considerable distances. I refer in this regard to Section VI of this book.

The general rules given for learning the magic of the conscious ego are so simple that one might almost think that the matter involved a Columbus’s egg. Upon closer examination, however, the situation proves to be different. Apart from the fact that practising the unfamiliar physiological procedures presents certain difficulties, and that incorrect manipulation very readily gives rise to nervous overstimulation and, in particular, disturbances on the part of the “ subconscious ” to be discussed in the following section, various other obstacles arise.

Above all, there is great danger of fragmentation and exaggeration. My mind’s eye often revealed to me (with the cooperation of the subconscious) a wondrous art of detail. I perceived not merely individual flowers but entire bouquets of flowers, e.g. of lilies of the valley with a lovely fragrance, green meadows with brightly coloured flowers, persons with every detail of their clothing, their voice, and their other manner of expression and conduct. At times they even seemed to breathe and become palpable. I heard resounding music from an entire orchestra. This was a reproduction of phenomena far too complicated and demanded psychophysical exertions far too powerful for the beginner.

Hence also the often terrible counter-reactions on the part of the overstimulated nerve centres described in Section III, whereby my inner being was profoundly shaken.

I have already mentioned that Vorstellungen which ordinarily occur together also very readily associate magically. In some cases this is an advantage; on the other hand, it thereby creates a great danger of continually developing more and more different nerve pathways and centres, and of flattening out and fragmenting the entire process, so as ultimately to achieve nothing tangible. When the stronger excitation of a nerve centre affects one more closely associated with it, one involuntarily comes to direct one’s attention to the new phenomena arising in the process, especially when the former begins to relax again as a result of overexertion. In omnibus aliquid, in toto nihil is a particular danger for the beginner in magic.

Anyone interested in fragmentation on a purely spiritistic territory comparable to my own wanderings, I recommend reading Chapter III, “The Mediumship of My Wife,” in Seiling’s little work already mentioned repeatedly.

This fragmentation, almost unavoidable for the inexperienced, was probably a principal reason why not much systematic progress has hitherto been achieved in magic.

Viewed from the purely physical standpoint, the human organism is, in a certain sense, a universal apparatus by means of which one can, so to speak, magically reproduce the whole world. An infinite abundance of possible Vorstellungen is given, and in fact there is also a bewildering multiplicity of connections in the cerebral cortex, so that one must endeavour to form only particular pathways and prevent a radiation into other regions.

One must furthermore begin with small and simple things. Only after one has practised with children’s dolls a few centimeters in length should one take larger ones as models, and finally even a real child or an adult human being. In this way a methodical and graduated increase can be achieved up to the highest and most complicated accomplishment - in copying. An artistic genius in the field of magic will of course not stop there, but will then invent freely on his own.

The spiritists constantly make mistakes similar to those I made at first. They try as soon as possible to produce entire spirit-figures. There are references in the literature stating that the phantoms had tangible, warm hands and at the same time breathed, spoke, etc., like real human beings. In many cases the spiritists begin at once with table-turning and endeavor to move large and heavy tables; indeed, it has happened that entire bedsteads were lifted into the air or that a large, heavy chest came limping along like a monster! In this way the serious injuries which mediums frequently suffer become understandable.

Fascinated and blinded by the most remarkable and therefore also the most difficult to explain and imitate experiments of ingenious mediums, one overlooked the explanation and execution of the very simplest and most obvious .

If, now, larger quantities of nervous energy are sent to the various organs in the manner mentioned, they will naturally be more vigorously developed and formed. At the same time, a stronger flow of blood also takes place, and with it better nourishment of the organs, so that their capacity gradually increases more and more. On closer observation, one then usually feels at the beginning of an experiment not merely the entry of the stream of energy but also a swelling and even stiffening of the organ. This phenomenon is well known to all who have learned spiritistic writing, in the hand and fingers.

I should likewise like to designate this excitation of an organ, which in some respects seems to me comparable to the sexual erection that occurs, though only reflexively, as ” erection “. Upon such a voluntary or involuntary erection of the eyes, in my opinion, rests the so-called magical or ecstatic gaze , as well as the gaze of certain insane hallucinants, etc.

Since such development is possible in the most varied organs, one must not object to me that our nervous apparatus, our eye, our ear, etc., are far too delicate for us to produce any perceptible effects by means of them. On the other hand, it is not justified to explain all statements concerning abnormal physical and psychophysical phenomena among Indian yogis or Mohammedan fakirs—for example, concerning invulnerability or the rapid healing of self-inflicted injuries that are in themselves life-threatening—as fraud, even if much, and perhaps most, of it should be exaggerated or invented. Even the frequent and prolonged, almost complete cessation of breathing and inhibition of cardiac activity, as hitherto known pathologically only in apparent death, do not harm the health of the systematically trained practitioner. A lady (a physician) who spent several years in India informed me that the Indian yogis who perform such procedures are healthy and vigorous people.

On the basis of my own experience with myself, I can declare with the utmost certainty that the most varied parts of the body can, through long-continued practice, be made extraordinarily resistant and temporarily placed in a condition in which even significant abuse and injuries to them heal in a surprisingly short time, because energy is rapidly supplied to them, so to speak, from the entire body, and in which they seem to be less anatomical and physiological than tough, rubber-like—I should say energetic*—and perhaps also stone-hard structures, upon which even the crudest procedures can no longer have any effect.

It was not uncommon, for example, for me to take pleasure in working over my head with my fists. For 10-15 minutes, I struck it with ever-increasing force in a regular rhythm imposed upon me from within (subconscious), and in doing so felt entirely certain that it would not harm me. Privy Councillor von G., as well as occasionally other

^* Whether in this they approached a ” dematerialization ”, in the sense of the spiritistic literature, I do not know.

persons whom I wished to show the manipulation, requested me each time to stop quickly, since it filled them with horror. (Concerning a part of my further experiences in this field, see Section V.) - The deeper meaning and purpose of such procedures will become comprehensible only in connection with my principal aim, which I shall discuss on a later occasion.

In the Berlin illustrated journal “Die Woche”* I subsequently read, from the pen of Captain (ret.) Dannhauer, the following account concerning the Indian yogis, in his report on the German Crown Prince’s journey to India in the year 1911, which confirms my views: “For the most pious of the pious, the holy fakirs, a mere bath in the Ganges was not enough. They did much more that was pleasing to the deity. Clad only in a loincloth, their entire bodies filthy with grime and, together with their faces, smeared with ashes, they practised the most severe mortifications upon their own bodies amid the throngs of pilgrims who had streamed there. One of them had himself buried up to the neck. Only his head protruded above the ground. With his face turned heavenward and his eyes wide open, he stared motionless into the pitilessly blazing rays of the tropical sun, without even blinking his eyelashes. The most insane of these religious madmen was a fakir shown in the next photograph taken by our Crown Prince, p. 396.

Motionless, staring straight ahead in stoic calm, he squatted on a wooden bench studded with hundreds of sharp nails and seemed to be quite comfortable.”

In the year 1912, in Munich, I had the opportunity to attend a public performance by two Indian fakirs, a man and a woman, and to observe them from close at hand. They pierced their tongues, cheeks, and the musculature of the upper arm with long needles and left them inserted for 5-10 minutes, without bleeding occurring or scars remaining. The man pierced his entire neck transversely with a needle from the right to the left side below the region of the larynx and left it there for approximately a quarter of an hour. According to his assertion, the puncture passed through the windpipe, while the numerous physicians present, given the brevity of the time, could not establish with certainty whether the needle was in the windpipe or immediately behind it.

^* P. 391.

That some persons, without practice, merely as a result of an abnormal constitution, are able to pierce their musculature with needles without pain or bleeding is otherwise also known. A local gentleman (chemist) informed me that he had formerly often performed such a procedure, and that once in Freising, on the occasion of a carnival gathering in a small circle, he had presented himself in this respect as an “Indian fakir.” This was subsequently also confirmed to me by eyewitnesses.

One possible explanation of artificially produced “invulnerability” emerges from the following experiences of my own: My magical experiments often required sustained muscle contractions (see, for example, p. 51). This naturally caused congestions of blood in the organ concerned. I often further intensified these by various means, e.g. by tying off the organ, so that it became heavy and insensitive, similar to what occurs when the arms and legs “fall asleep.” Although this also caused pain for some time afterward, the organ nevertheless gradually became accustomed to the procedure and finally approached the stage of “invulnerability” in the sense that progressively less pain arose, not merely during this procedure but in general when it was damaged and injured, and in addition healing occurred rapidly. The principle was to achieve, by inhibiting the blood circulation and innervation and thus also sensitivity, an all the stronger flow of blood and energy afterward to the organ concerned . The previously mentioned insensitivity of the head I had, without intending it, in any case achieved by the fact that I was often impelled to bind my neck tightly with a cloth, whereby sometimes too much of a good thing was done, particularly when I carried out such a procedure in bed at night and then fell asleep.

Some readers will probably shake their heads at such manipulations on my part. I nevertheless refer to the work of Bier , “Hyperemia as a Remedy” (Leipzig, published by F. C. W. Vogel), which subsequently became known to me, is frequently cited in the literature, has already gone through a number of editions, and in which congestions, specifically also congestions of the head produced by tying off, are recommended as important remedies.

I do not doubt that the “invulnerability,” as well as the previously mentioned possibility of an abnormally intensive concentration of energy upon individual parts of the body, will one day become significant in medical respects. I also do not doubt that the human being of the future, in all apparently purely spiritual activities, will increasingly also call upon his body for assistance through tensing the musculature, holding his breath, etc., so that a greater unification and centralization of the entire operation must take place, as indeed already happens involuntarily, though to a slight degree, in the present-day human being when attention is most tensely concentrated and thought is most lively, and as the Indian founders of religions and religious fanatics carried out thousands of years ago for the enhancement of memory and the power of forming ideas and for the production of magical phenomena, though often in a senseless and barbarous manner.

V. Magic of the Unconscious or Subconscious

After the reader has gained, in the preceding section, an idea of the nature of the magic of the conscious ego, it will now be easier for him to understand my views concerning my personal experiences, described for the most part in Chapter III, which are based for the most part upon a magic of the subconscious . It will also emerge that, unfortunately, I began at that time with the more difficult and dangerous part of magic, and that the spiritists constantly make the same mistake.

1. Nature of the Subconscious

Knowledge of the subconscious is of fundamental importance not only for magic but also for various other sciences, e.g. psychology. Accordingly, the well-known Munich psychologist Lipps expresses himself on the subject as follows: “The question of the subconscious is less a psychological question than the question of psychology.” “To dispense with the unconscious in psychology means to dispense with psychology.” “The concept of the unconscious is neither hypothetical nor mystical but the expression of facts.” “The unconscious is not something occasionally added but the general basis of psychic life,” etc. Nevertheless, science possesses to this day no actual point of attack for studying it.

I conceive of the situation as follows: From the histological standpoint, the human body may be regarded as an aggregate of an enormous number of cells, in a sense of individual building blocks, which possess different structures and different degrees of development and formation. But they are not dead building blocks but living cells of the most varied kinds, and it is precisely the human organism that contains an immeasurable abundance of all possible forms of animal and higher psychic existence.

Accordingly, it is entirely incorrect when one understands the concepts “to perceive,” “to form ideas,” and “to think” either in a purely theoretical-philosophical manner or in an excessively materialistic one—in the latter case as merely the mechanical excitation of rows of cells in the cerebral cortex. The cells and cell complexes of the cerebral cortex excited during the formation of an idea and during reflection by the psychic activity of the conscious ego are rather likewise to be regarded as living beings, which can be psychically active with greater or lesser independence, stand alongside the conscious ego, so to speak, as co-workers and detailed advisers, and work together with it psychically. If, for example, I think of a ruler or of anything majestic, distinguished, noble, or in general something “better,” then those cells and centers which play the principal role in my personification “Majesty” become interested above all in this subject. They therefore immediately intervene actively in the train of thought themselves, further elaborate the agreeable idea suggested to them, and, as specialists in this field, provide advice and information, so that, as I continue thinking, something new in this field keeps occurring to me, until I cut it off again and think of something else with a different emotional nuance, which once again mainly occupies other psychic centers. Thus, although they have been developed for certain specific one-sided purposes and assigned once and for all to a particular place in the organism, they possess a certain separate existence and—because of their one-sided position and task—a certain separate memory, which is less readily accessible to the conscious ego.

Under certain circumstances they also pursue special interests, which by no means always need coincide with those of the conscious ego. They want, for example, to be Majesty, child, devil (but without hellish torments), but not “Staudenmaier” or to belong to him. Because they are capable of various affects, they often, particularly in nervous constitutions, acquire a considerable influence upon the moods and the entire manner of life and action of the human being.

Since they are capable of learning something, they can, as in my case, eventually develop into fully formed intelligent partial beings, with whom one must seriously reckon.

The psychic abilities and activities of these higher centres of the cerebral cortex, which in the hierarchy immediately follow the conscious ego (essentially, in all probability, Flechsig’s association centres), constitute the principal seat of the so-called unconscious or subconscious . They are the advisers of the conscious ego (silent in the normal human being). Yet I should like to remark here at once that no sharp boundary can be drawn either above or below. The more one-sided and subordinate the position of such centres, the lower is their psychic activity and the less, generally speaking, their psychic influence. (For further details see p. 90.)

That the “Majesty” can temporarily think entirely independently in my case is proved conclusively, for example, by the following fact: After I had visited a city repeatedly, I was asked by “Majesty” to visit it once again.

When I remarked that this was no longer necessary, since I had already seen the most important things, the question followed: “Are you really certain that there is nothing important left?” I reflected and replied: “No.” Now came the completely surprising but highly characteristic answer from “Majesty”: “the residence!” Shortly thereafter I complied with the wish and visited it.

How far the thinking capacity and psychic influence of some of my personifications often extend is also apparent from the fact that they not infrequently try secretly to question me and to impose their ideas upon me. They wish, for example, to know what all I intend to do on the following day; they desire that I take a longer walk or even an excursion, and at the same time take pains to influence me in accordance with their wishes. Suddenly I begin to reflect: “Tomorrow I must do this and that. Perhaps it would once again be advisable to take a longer walk. The weather will presumably be favourable, and besides, I have time for it.” Very often, without intending to do so and without paying closer attention to it, I simultaneously articulate the thought in a faint hallucinatory voice, so that they can hear it and know more certainly where they stand.

But when, in such a case, I too listen secretly, I frequently hear this or that familiar voice of some personification, which likewise cannot suppress faint hallucinatory speech, and I recognize that the entire train of ideas was suggested to me by it, and that to a considerable extent the whole reflection constituted a kind of silent dialogue and questioning back and forth between myself and it, as well as with other personifications and non-personified centres involuntarily drawn into the discussion.

I can also often observe quite clearly how two or more personifications work together to support me, or how they secretly seek to communicate with one another in order to combat and annoy (up to a certain degree me, the “ Old Man ”—that is the nickname which they have bestowed upon me and regularly use—as, in a complicated network of telegraph stations, two or more telegraphists can work together without the knowledge of the others), or else how they mutually combat and abuse one another.

In such cases, however, the personifications are quite incomplete.

For the most part I hear alternately * only two or more familiar voices, for example, a child’s voice and that of “Majesty,” while facial and other hallucinations recede, or I see a figure while hearing its voice inwardly, that is, not proceeding from the visual image, evidently because the cooperation of a larger number of lower centres and organs is necessary for a complete personification, but these happen to be occupied elsewhere at the very moment. Correspondingly, their intelligence also varies extraordinarily , since certain associations are temporarily rendered difficult or impossible for them, particularly when, in the course of lively reflection, I employ extensive regions of the brain for my own purposes. Even the conscious ego, after all, is not always equally capable of thinking.

The fact that the normal human being, in whom their influence and independence are admittedly not so great as in my case and in whom, in particular, they cannot speak hallucinatorily, ordinarily experiences nothing so evident—and I might almost say tangible—from the psychic activity of the centres of his subconscious, proves nothing against my assertions. If digestion, the distribution of the blood throughout the body—in short, if a number of lower functions, indeed even the artistic formation of the organs and of the entire bodily shape according to a unified

^* Never simultaneously!

plan, as well as their continued preservation in the face of external and internal influences and resistances, take place almost or entirely independently of the conscious ego’s knowledge and cooperation, why should not other psychophysical and finally even purely psychic functions of a simpler kind likewise take place without our knowledge?

Of course, among the millions the individual cell will play no special role. But even considered purely histologically and anatomically, not merely the body as a whole but also each part of it, specifically in our case the cerebral cortex, has a lawful structure. It is by no means a uniform, homogeneous aggregate of cells; rather, particular districts can be distinguished. The members of a district, which are customarily designated collectively as a “nerve centre” or also a “nerve field,” receive approximately similar impressions and consequently, through common sensing, feeling, and willing, play a greater specific role. Since, furthermore, in thinking we chiefly operate again and again with identical or related ideas, there is a possibility that the cells and cell complexes which become active in connection with a particular series of ideas gradually grow accustomed to working together, even when anatomically and histologically they have no immediate relation to one another. This cooperation is facilitated when the ideas in question are particularly pleasant or otherwise more deeply affecting. Just as the conscious ego repeatedly likes to think of a beloved person, a beautiful painting, a beautiful landscape, and so forth, so too do the centres of the subconscious. When I was once practising acute hearing, an inner voice said to me: “If you want to train your hearing, you must listen to music, otherwise it is too boring.”

If one now also takes into account that, as already stated on p. 33, even the particularly emancipated and developed centres of my subconscious generally do not possess the ability to distinguish reality (objective perception) from mere imagination, and consequently immediately consider themselves to be the person and seriously play that person’s role, upon whom I or they in fact merely happen to be thinking, it will become comprehensible that, in suitably disposed natures who love solitude, for example the great magicians of antiquity, furthermore in people with a one-sided pathological development, or also as a result of systematic Practice can develop individual “ideas” into formal “ personifications ,” or, when the ideas in question are, for instance, those of animals or plants, into “ individualizations .” In different people these are naturally different, depending upon disposition, practice, and degree of education, because in themselves an infinite abundance of ideas, and thus an unlimited choice, is possible. For just as I can take in the most diverse ideas from outside, just as I can, so to speak, project the infinite abundance of the external world into my inner self, so conversely—speaking purely theoretically—I can reproduce everything inwardly by means of the faculty of imagination and project it outward. Indeed, the inner world of ideas is even more manifold, since in it the most diverse combinations are possible which the external world does not offer.

But the greater the number of admitted ideas, the less becomes— in the ordinary person—the significance and influence of each individual one, and the greater becomes the flattening-out of the entire life of ideas. That is why a specialist in some specialized profession likewise works chiefly with a limited number of specifically one-sided ideas, whether he be a scholar, artist, musician, etc. As follows from what was previously indicated concerning my “Highness” and the “Child,” the deeper development of particular ideas into formal personifications also requires, in the magic of the subconscious, a limitation of their number because of the diversity of the demands made upon them.

In order to make my views concerning the deeper nature of the various personifications and of the subconscious still clearer, I wish to make the following observation: It is known that in the case of an “idea” a large number of brain cells are in any event involved, and that, even when it is apparently a purely optical one, for example that of a person, not merely those in the optical regions of the brain are involved, but also others in various other regions.

But when I imagine an emperor, a king, a princely personage, or indeed a powerful, distinguished person, further specific nervous regions are also excited in the process—in different people, admittedly, with varying degrees of ease according to their sensitivity— to a greater or lesser extent and in various nuances, namely those which are the seat of feelings of majesty and distinction. An emperor, a king is, after all, not merely a person.

I will now explain how I conceive, for instance, the magical personification of my “Highness” by means of an analogy from music: At the performance of a musical composition, different tones are produced simultaneously by different instruments. At one moment this complicated figure of sound rings out, at the next another. The picture thus changes constantly, but nevertheless the entire piece of music has a definite general character. Furthermore, individual musical instruments or individual tones, or even certain tones of individual musical instruments, may repeatedly play a particular role.

When I now imagine a particular emperor or king, and then imagine him continuing to speak and act as such, the most diverse nervous elements will indeed be excited, as it were, will resound, but above all the optical elements and those which convey the feeling of majesty will repeatedly be excited. In this case, therefore, certain brain cells play a particular role, and just as the visual sense is bound to a number of cells and complexes of cells, so too are feelings of majesty and distinction.

Since, however, the higher centers of the subconscious, as already mentioned on p. 67 ff., are not dead instruments that are played absolutely without will by the conscious ego “ played ,” but living beings and intelligences, they can, especially in people of particular disposition, to a certain extent also proceed actively, form for themselves ideas falling within their own sphere or ideas that interest them generally, and thereby influence the thoughts and ideas of the conscious ego, so that, as the expression goes, something suddenly “occurs” to it which it had not thought of before. The conscious ego usually does not notice this interference of the subconscious at all and in no way experiences it as coercion; rather, it frequently acts accordingly, just as it likewise experiences no coercion when the external world constantly thrusts itself upon it with its impressions and induces it to continue thinking and acting. Only when the activity of the subconscious becomes too lively and the influence of individual centers of it becomes too great and one-sided, so that they impose obsessive ideas or even obsessive hallucinations upon the conscious ego, or otherwise influence it forcibly , does the matter become unpleasant or directly pathological.

According to my experience, the centers of the subconscious are also capable of learning something that does not directly fall within their sphere and of taking an interest in other things, just as the conscious ego too can continue to develop and cultivate itself in various directions. For this reason, the localization of functions in the higher centers of the cerebral cortex cannot be clearly discerned, and is therefore—apparently unjustly—denied altogether by many physiologists.

In the case of my personification “Highness,” those cells and complexes of cells which are, first and foremost, the seat of feelings of majesty and distinction take over the leadership. They have gradually also acquired a greater influence over other parts of the brain and nervous system, and especially over the musculature, and can thereby assert themselves more effectively, whereas otherwise, in normal people, only the conscious ego is the apparently independent ruler. Analogously, other specific brain centers form the center and point of departure for other specific personifications.

But the boundaries are nevertheless drawn more narrowly for the centers of the subconscious than for the conscious ego. Their position in the brain is evidently not so comprehensive and dominant. With a lower string one can produce a higher tone only with a certain coercion and only up to a certain limit, by stretching it more tightly; or with a higher string one can produce a lower tone if one slackens it. That is why, in response to my question why the personification “Child” always spoke in a child’s voice, although it was not a child, the answer was often: “We must speak like a child; we cannot do otherwise.” With increasing intelligence, it was later said: “Speaking with another voice is not so beautiful. We do not like to take part in that so much. We would rather leave that to the others. We have to exert ourselves too much then. Besides, it is then no longer a child’s voice, so that you no longer recognize us when we take part in others.” In psychological respect it is the case… they are therefore, in the case of my personifications, in a certain sense partial beings which, not distinguishing between reality and imagination, are caught up in a certain suggestion, or at least move mainly and preferentially within a particular one-sided series of ideas and have a particular one-sided task to fulfil in the organism, in contrast to the conscious ego, which possesses the free overview and the supreme direction and exercises itself in every direction^*. Highness always prefers to think of lofty and noble things, seeks to influence and interpret all my actions and plans in a lofty sense, and to shape my entire way of life and manner of thinking in a noble fashion. And if she really cannot be Highness or ruler and feel herself as such in Ernste earnest, then she at least wishes to think as such and induce me to do likewise; and when I return to reality, I am at least to feel myself properly as a Professor professor, rejoice in the position I have attained, live, eat, and drink in accordance with my status, and not, like an old student, continue pondering and studying indefinitely, so as to miss entirely the enjoyment of life through sheer study. She wishes, so to speak, to derive a noble aspect from all things and views everything from the noble side, while overlooking the other points of view.

Since, therefore, my personifications, or indeed the psychical centres in general, evidently have specific tasks to fulfil, it becomes

^* Consequently, the centres of the subconscious are in general accustomed and prepared to let themselves be blindly guided by the conscious ego in matters that do not fall within their special field. This makes the nature of hypnotism , the behaviour of hypnotized persons, and especially also their great suggestibility—that is, their readiness to let themselves be guided by the hypnotist and, without closer examination, to take the suggestions and ideas emanating from him for reality and to act accordingly—

intelligible. In the hypnotized person, the hypnotist assumes the role of that person’s conscious ego, which itself withdraws more or less and becomes lethargic (wax suggestion), or falls completely asleep and is switched off (true hypnosis), while individual centres of the subconscious remain awake and are now influenced chiefly by the hypnotist.

Unfortunately, in public performances for the entertainment of the audience, the latter very frequently abuses his role and suggests to them all sorts of nonsense, to which they mostly also respond, since their ordinary guide—namely, their now sleeping upper consciousness—does not deal with them in this manner and they are consequently not trained to deal with such cases of abuse.

(Compare also p. 71.) it is understandable that in their special field they generally possess a greater degree of sensitivity, perceptiveness, and fidelity of memory than I myself do, and that I can learn much from the more intelligent among them, whereas, on the other hand, it is questionable to allow oneself, in the manner of mystics or spiritistic mediums, to be guided exclusively by a single personification, even if it claims to be a guardian spirit, an angel, or even a deity.

That the higher-ranking complexes, particularly when they attain greater independence, ultimately constitute genuine intelligences is proved by various other facts, for example, the often ingenious actions of the mentally ill; it is also frequently evident from dreams. It is known of outstanding poets, mathematicians, preachers, and speakers that they sometimes accomplished significant intellectual feats in dreams. In ordinary life too, performance in dreams occasionally surpasses that of the waking person. A gentleman known to me, an official of unquestionable credibility, told me that once, when he was studying at the Gymnasium, he was unable in the evening to solve a difficult mathematical problem that had been set for the class. Pondering over it, he went to bed and finally fell asleep. He then dreamed a solution to it. After waking, he still remembered it and wrote it down. Subsequent checking showed that it was in fact correct. A mathematics professor here also told me a very similar case from his own life.

It follows from this that even in normal normal people, individual parts of the brain may under certain circumstances remain awake and, in a specialized field, may be psychically active in a lively and even intelligent manner, while the remainder is asleep or in a state of lethargy or at least of limited capacity for association. In doing so, utterances hostile even to the normal waking consciousness may occur. A young lady of unquestionable credibility once told me that she often spoke aloud in her dreams at night. A sister who was in the same room would sometimes take advantage of the opportunity to initiate a conversation with her and question her with success success about personal secrets which she would not have revealed to her in the waking state. Up to a certain limit, this is, as is well known, also possible with some hypnotized persons.

But even in a completely waking state, the psychical activity of individual parts of the brain may become particularly noticeable without being describable as pathological; here too, once again, in contrast to the conscious ego.

It is well known that sometimes one cannot get a melody out of one’s head for days, that, even without wishing to, one repeatedly begins it again and sings it to oneself, indeed that it seems actually to ring in one’s ears, or that one repeatedly speaks the same words or thinks vividly of them as soon as one forgets oneself for a while and one’s attention slackens, until, upon becoming fully conscious again, one reimposes a restraint.

As already reported earlier concerning my personifications, the voice of my “Highness,” the “Child,” the “Goat’s-foot,” etc., is unmistakably different from the one I possess, if only because these personifications seek to imitate the voices of those persons and beings whom they wish to represent. Occasionally, individual centres, even in still fairly normal people, manage to speak something softly within. The inexperienced person is thereby unavoidably given the impression that a mysterious, invisible, and wholly foreign personality is involved. This “ inner voice ” was therefore regarded in antiquity, depending on its character, in many cases as being of divine or diabolical nature. I recall, for example, the Daimonion of Socrates.

It is of interest that already three and a half centuries ago Saint Theresia* recognized that it was not always of divine or diabolical nature, nor did it necessarily have to originate from spirits. After communicating something about the voice of God within, she writes concerning the deceptions that may occur here: “(One) must be very experienced in order to distinguish whether the words originate from the good or the evil spirit, and in order to recognize whether our spirit imagines them or speaks them to itself. Until now the latter was not entirely clear to me, but since today I think that it really can speak with itself.”

^* Life of St. Theresia , written by herself. Translated from the Spanish by Ida Countess Hahn-Hahn . Mainz 1867 (Kirchheim’s publishing house), p. 241.

The inner voice proceeding from centres of the subconscious, however, ordinarily appears, if at all, only when a person is strongly agitated in his mind, is faced with an important action, perhaps one decisive for his entire life, when he is about to perform a great deed or commit a disastrous crime, or when, as a result of illness, the relevant areas become strongly excited and then, generally only temporarily, force their way into the corresponding nerve apparatuses. Accordingly, the voice may be good or evil, friendly or hostile, approving or reproving, warning, commanding, threatening, etc. It may urge one to do good or also to do evil, depending, of course, on whether specific centres are excited in the aforesaid manner pleasantly or unpleasantly.

But they can cause not only auditory hallucinations, but also visual ones, especially in dreams. It is precisely here that the images are often particularly vivid and distinct, so true to nature and graphic as the conscious ego cannot produce them in the waking state because of the numerous extraneous impressions.

It follows from the foregoing, therefore, that even in apparently quite normal people and in a fully waking state, but especially in dreams and in mental illnesses, individual centres of the subconscious can emancipate themselves to a greater or lesser extent for a shorter or longer time, in which case it is naturally often difficult to distinguish whether, and to what extent, the conscious ego is still involved. There are indeed the most various intermediate stages from the complete autocratic psychic unity of the normal person to the formal pathological fragmentation and most extensive emancipation of individual parts of the brain.

It is of historical significance that numerous great men occasionally had hallucinations of the subconscious and allowed themselves to be guided in their actions by them. Attila is said to have been induced to turn back on his march against Rome by the apparition of an old priest who threatened him with death with a drawn sword. According to Thierry, Napoleon saw a shining star on important occasions, in which he placed his trust. Luther is famously said to have thrown an inkpot at the Devil. At night he not infrequently disputed with the Devil. The great founders of religions, such as Buddha and Mohammed, and numerous saints and ascetics of the most diverse religions had hallucinations of the subconscious, so that one may justly speak outright of the world-historical significance of hallucination According to what was communicated earlier, the frequently used expressions, “the subconscious” (“the unconscious”), are evidently not quite appropriate in my case.

Quite apart from the fact that a sharp demarcation is impossible altogether, in my case it is not a pure unity that could be set in opposition to the “upper consciousness” but the subconscious has to a certain degree split into a number of partial beings, each with a special memory and special strivings. For reasons already mentioned and others to be discussed later, there is, among the centres of the subconscious of every person, although no actual personifications arise, undoubtedly at least the tendency towards the formation of factions, personification, and individualization in general, inasmuch as the more intelligent or more highly developed or otherwise more favourably situated cells and cell complexes seek to gain the upper hand and, according to their physical and psychic mode of existence, according to their position in the system of the organism, to influence the others and also the conscious ego, indeed under certain circumstances even to tyrannize over them, and aim at the formation of independent beings. The normal person, who leads almost no inner life, naturally usually notices little of this, especially since, under his autocratic regime, he does not allow them to speak. The centres of the subconscious, however, evidently have sufficient free time, and even during the conscious ego’s reflection not all of them, and particularly not all to the same extent, are occupied, so that they can repeatedly devote themselves to their special ideas and special strivings, especially when one gives oneself unrestrainedly over to one’s thoughts and reveries. The situation is evidently similar to that of the purely physical functions which a person performs. Here too, only individual parts are always active, while the remaining organs rest or continue to work in their own manner until they are called upon again.

Since, in order to gain a deeper insight into the nature of magic and to obtain the long-sought scientific point of attack in this field, I for years practised less the magic of the conscious ego than, rather, allowed the subconscious itself to act and develop independently, so that formal personifications were formed in me, I must for the time being reckon with them as an established fact. To be sure, this entails various inconveniences, but on the other hand I have the advantage of being able to employ, in my own interest and that of the organism as a whole, the higher degree of insight and knowledge which they possess in their special field, as well as their greater power over individual parts of the body. With intelligent personifications that have learned to speak (inwardly), I can communicate better (because by means of language) than with a “subconscious” as such, as it exists in the normal person, who can establish contact with it only by means of indefinite feeling.

Moreover, the further development of such personifications offers additional particular advantages. Because the personification “Child” has acquired a greater influence in me, not only has my interest in naïve, childish behaviour, in children’s games, and even in children’s toys increased, but also my interest in childish cheerfulness and innocent joy of heart, which has a refreshing and rejuvenating effect upon the entire organism and enables one to rise above some of the cares of the ageing person who works increasingly with his intellect. A number of other personifications likewise have a beneficial effect upon me. Thus, for example, my interest in and understanding of art have undoubtedly increased considerably.

Particularly noteworthy and characteristic of the extensive division within me is the fact that, whereas my interest in art was formerly very slight, especially in that of antiquity and the Middle Ages, some of my personifications took a passionate interest precisely in the latter and repeatedly urged me to occupy myself with it.

Our present views of the subconscious are in many respects entirely inaccurate and too disparaging. It is generally known only from dreams, in which, as a matter of fact, all sorts of nonsense are usually produced, and which one subsequently attributes exclusively to the subconscious.

But the conscious ego was evidently just as helpless in dreams of this kind and clumsy as the subconscious, since for both of them a large part of associations was made impossible as a result of the sleep of more extensive regions of the brain. Perhaps it may be objected that dreams nevertheless offer a certain means for studying the subconscious, because it is particularly lively in its activity during dreams. In reality, however, despite my extraordinarily highly developed subconscious, I generally dream exactly the same nonsense as a normal person. When, in somnambulists or in outstanding spiritualist trance mediums, and furthermore in the cases mentioned on p. 76, it performs special achievements independently and without the knowledge of the conscious ego, these are exceptions in which logical and systematic associations are possible, but only in limited special fields, for individual centres that assume leadership in the process. The normal further development of the entire subconscious and its study must ordinarily proceed from the conscious ego of the person concerned himself, that is, it must take place in the waking state. Of course, I do not thereby intend in any way to deny the significance of the study of dream-life for psychology as a whole^*. since, for the reasons mentioned above, I learned to esteem my subconscious and many of my personifications highly, I generally intervene in their activity only when it becomes too lively and, for example, their ideas begin forcibly to impose themselves upon me and threaten to become obsessive ideas, or when immoral or generally dangerous tendencies arise that threaten the unity of my personality; for not only can the conscious human being undergo changes and finally degenerate and deteriorate, but extensive portions of the subconscious can do so as well, so that, as I believe, a psychology of individual brain centres and personifications could, upon thorough study, be placed alongside the individual psychology of man and the psychology of peoples, which are known to display various parallels.

Intervention is furthermore frequently necessary because numerous inferior organs and functional systems are found in our body, and the

^* A method of observing in the half-awake (sleepy, drowsy) state was given by Herbert Silberer. (Jahrb. f. psychoanalyt. u. psycho-pathol.

Forschungen 1909, vol. 1, p. 513 ff. and 1910, vol. 11, p. 541 ff.) the centres in the cerebral cortex that stand above or at least near them can likewise often become the starting-point of highly questionable personifications, so that genuine scamps and directly diabolical beings arise. One may say, as a counterpart to Goethe’s verses: “Were not the eye sunlike, the sun it could never behold.

Were not within us God’s own power, How could the divine delight us?”

“Were there not something diabolical in us, how could we perceive the diabolical and recoil in horror from it?” the corresponding personifications are likewise often entirely intelligent in their own manner and within their own field, but without deeper understanding and interest in the general welfare of the organism. They immediately seek to imitate everything bad that occurs to them or that they learn from outside, for example when I read a newspaper. They possess a particular sensitivity in the sphere of evil and, given their limited outlook, since their specific nerves are evidently thereby agreeably stimulated, they are only too easily afforded enjoyment and pleasure by acting to the detriment of the community. The fierce battles that the saints and penitents of all religions waged against devils and evil spirits are well known. I, too, could tell a long history of suffering concerning the wickedness, treachery, and arrogance of such cretinous partial beings. Not infrequently I felt almost as though I were a white man who, advancing incautiously too far, had fallen among the savages of Africa and was being threatened by them on every side. Very often then a familiar inner voice (Goat-foot) called out to me: “Torturing is pleasure!” Many a nervous disorder is undoubtedly to be attributed to such degenerate partial beings, and it is often difficult to get the better of them, since they can be highly cunning.

That nevertheless a personification, even if it acquired considerable influence over my body, particularly over the musculature, could not overgrow me, is understandable because in my case it did not arise as a result of mental illness, but as a result of years of physical and mental exercise and training, and even in the event of involuntary formation, in a sense only as a side effect of experimentation, so that I nevertheless already possessed the requisite general experience and resistance in dealing with it when it manifested itself in a generally dangerous manner. Moreover, as soon as a personification, as not infrequently happens, wishes, in a sense, to appear as a competing enterprise against me, it immediately has the entire remaining physical and mental constitution of my whole personality arrayed against it. Precisely during the fiercest struggle, therefore, the statement often suddenly followed: “You are right. I am not at all what I would like to be. I have deceived myself. You must keep reminding me of this,” whereas immediately beforehand I had been called out to, with nervous agitation, approximately as follows: “I am not you. You are my enemy. You hinder me at every step. You are always going somewhere else and doing something other than what I want.

You old idiot.”

How easily, moreover, even apparently quite harmless experiments with the subconscious can degenerate is demonstrated by numerous examples from spiritualism. In the work already repeatedly cited^* Seiling writes the following concerning his wife’s unpleasant experiences in this regard: “To this comedy, which has by now become a nuisance, I would add that H. (that is, Mrs. Helene Seiling) seems to be an exception among writing mediums insofar as she never sat down to write of her own accord, waiting for it, but always received an irresistible summons, which sometimes came upon her under very unpleasant and embarrassing circumstances.

The spirits entered into her and demanded that she write, whether she was occupied with urgent household work or absorbed in reading, whether she was visiting acquaintances or was in a public establishment (theatre, concert, restaurant); writing was also not infrequently done in bed in the early morning and late evening. At the very beginning of this period of writing, we found ourselves in great embarrassment in a coffee-house because H. suddenly struck the table violently three times, thereby attracting the attention of those around her, and particularly of the serving staff, to herself in an unusual manner. I had great difficulty calming the spirit by speaking to it and making it understand that it should wait with the writing until we were back home. That it finally understood me I could see from H.’s hand movements. Later H. never went out without paper and pencil again.”

At another point^* it says of evil spirits that appeared: “One of these rascals” (as a little spirit expressed itself) reported

^* My Experiences, pp. 42 and 43.

^* P. 40.

once during the night, whereupon H. attempted in no way to comply with him. For this purpose she lay on her stomach with her arms crossed over one another, in order to prevent the spirit from freeing her arms and carrying out the other violent movements. For more than two hours H., who was finally bathed in sweat, had to wage a veritable struggle with this spirit, which repeatedly attempted to free her arms.”

In strongly passionate natures, but especially in certain mental illnesses, a single centre or even a personification can dominate the conscious ego to a greater or lesser extent, rendering it more or less weak-willed and incapable of thought, by appropriating, as it were, the musculature and the associative pathways and centres required for thinking, and exploiting them in its one-sided sense.

When several centres of the subconscious gain an undue influence, a kind of fragmentation of the personality occurs, or the individual personifications may alternate with one another in their rule.

The “Psychische Studien” report on an interesting case of this kind, which the Boston physician Morton Prince described in his book “The Dissociation of a Personality”*. It concerns a student, Miss Christine L.

Beauchamp: in the spring of 1898 she came to him and complained of severe nervous symptoms. She had devoted herself to her studies with great zeal and had become completely estranged from life and shy of people. She suffered severely from headaches and insomnia and displayed the characteristics of inadequate nourishment and great fatigue, so that she avoided every movement in the open air and all physical activity. The physician gradually noticed that four different “personalities” successively took possession of the young lady’s body, thereby subjecting her to terrible mental tortures and completely confusing her in her ideas and perceptions. For when he hypnotized her, another being spoke from her mouth, tormented her, and expressed itself in an entirely different manner from that in which the student had previously spoken. In this hypnotic state, in April 1898, the signs multiplied,

^* 1910, p. 496. Leipzig, Oswald Mutze.

that a third being had also taken possession of the body. It called itself “Sally” and bore an extraordinary hatred toward the student, calling her a “stay-at-home,” who read in stupid old books, studied nonsensical material, and embittered her own life. It had yet another voice, was very uneducated, could not write orthographically, and mispronounced foreign words. It was an indefatigable walker. In the lucid intervals the student lamented that she was no longer mistress of her soul and often did not know for long periods what her body was doing. She would subsequently learn that during this time she had played all sorts of outrageous pranks, lied to her friends in the most shameless fashion, and squandered her money with both hands. Sometimes, when normal consciousness re-entered, she found herself completely exhausted, almost collapsing, from a long walk which “Sally” had taken, a lit cigarette in her hand, which “Sally” had lit, her purse completely empty, for whose contents “Sally” had eaten a sumptuous meal. When “Sally” had taken possession of her body, she wrote letters to the student, who then found them lying on the table in her conscious state. In them she was declared to be a fool and a prude, and the outrageous pranks which “Sally” had carried out were recounted in detail with malicious relish. She even put spiders into the timid and nervous student’s envelope and threatened her that she would frighten her with mice and snakes. In the year 1899 a fourth personality stirred, appearing in the form of a healthy, energetic, and vigorous woman, who was, however, very quarrelsome and bitterly hated “Sally.” The sick woman had terrible attacks during which the two opposing beings carried on terrible struggles in her soul, insulted one another, and greatly weakened the body. At this time the student, in her conscious state, displayed a strange religious fervour and wanted to enter a convent.

By means of suggestion the physician gradually achieved favourable results with the patient, so that since January 1905 she has again remained in uninterrupted possession of her consciousness, has no more hallucinations, and is in good physical and mental condition.

Thus, in addition to the conscious ego, three parts of the subconscious had become particularly active and influential in this student. In my opinion, however, the matter would not yet have come to a standstill had she not placed herself under medical treatment for the last-mentioned observation, that at the time when the fourth personality was developing the student displayed a strange religious fervour and wanted to enter a convent, proves that, with the stronger awakening of religious feelings, a fifth personality, namely a religious one, would have formed. One might now suppose that, by this route, a general fragmentation and degeneration would finally have to occur. This does not, however, necessarily follow. The third personality (Sally) and the fourth fought each other with the utmost bitterness. Although this was extremely taxing for the student, the effects of the two undoubtedly at least partly cancelled one another out. Furthermore, according to my own experience, personifications then gradually form which directly protect and defend the actual person, who in the end nevertheless has the entire physical and mental constitution, that is, reality, on her side, though in their one-sided manner. One approaches, as is presently the case with me, a condition that is admittedly not yet ideal, since it must be described as general nervousness, but which is no longer dangerous, since no centre of the subconscious possesses such power that it could seriously threaten the whole.

In the treatise just mentioned concerning the American student, the expression “personality” is chosen instead of my expression “personification.”

It is striking in this connection that the personifications, that is, for example, “Sally,” are regarded as equivalent to the actual and real personality, namely, the student. I cannot agree with this view.

In a normal and healthy human being, the concept of personality is perfectly clear. In such a person, the conscious ego possesses the most important physical and mental powers. But if, in the student’s case, with the appearance of “Sally,” not merely consciousness disappeared and the conscious ego ceased its activity, as in the normal sleep of a normal person, but “Sally” was even able to go for walks, read, write letters, eat an ample meal, and spend money on it, then this new being had evidently appropriated, as it were, a good part of the physical and mental powers, a good part of the most important associative pathways and centres, and it seems indeed that in this case one may with a certain justification speak of another “personality.” But that is not correct, although it is admittedly not entirely evident in the American student. It follows quite clearly, however, from my own observations of myself.

In my case, as already mentioned, the personification “Child” plays a major role.

If this personification, like “Sally” in the student, were now to gain an excessive influence and, in the state of my unconsciousness, so to speak take possession of my body and rule as a second personality, then this so-called second personality would be nothing but humbug, for the entire bodily form of a 56-year-old man, but especially my strongly graying hair, would ill become the “Child.” And what if the personification “Girl” were to appear in a similar manner! Even if, during my unconscious state, it were to take off my trousers and put on women’s clothing instead, and imitate women’s voices and manners in masterly fashion, I would nevertheless remain a man. When individual psychic centers overgrow into such apparent personalities, they finally encounter evidently insurmountable difficulties, so that the conscious ego keeps reasserting itself, unless other causes, e.g. actual mental illness, prevent this. The question of the second personality seems to me to be situated somewhat as follows: as though, in a battle between two opponents, one possessed a free position on a high hill and thus an overview of the entire real situation, while the other, from a side angle, controlled a number of streets to the detriment of the common good. In many cases, moreover, the personifications are merely concerned with the admittedly excessive exercise of simpler everyday functions, such as eating, drinking, and walking, in which, on account of the pleasant feelings associated with them, a large part of other centers are in any case interested, and which have already been learned from youth onward.

The student’s sufferings and the appearance of the personifications, and possibly the danger of mental illness, were caused not so much by the personifications that appeared as by an incorrect way of life and mental overexertion, although I do not wish to deny that the personifications further increased the mischief. Therefore, with the removal of the causes and the avoidance of overexertion, their consequences too gradually disappeared.

It is therefore evidently not permissible to assume two or more personalities in man. The formation of personifications is rather something pathological and unnatural. Man therefore naturally possesses only a single ” soul “.

Nevertheless, after the magic experiences I have had with myself, it is beyond doubt to me that will and consciousness, the entire activity of the mind, and human psychic life in general, do not by any means constitute such an ideal unity as is usually assumed. Incidentally, this can already be suspected from a comparison with the human body, which for this purpose may be regarded as the substrate and instrument of the various human psychic activities. In the final analysis, it too constitutes a strict unity. But its histological and anatomical study reveals a marvelous detailed organization and structure. The cerebral cortex alone contains billions of regularly arranged nerve cells and thousands of kilometers of artfully coursing nerve-conduction pathways. The muscles are regularly distributed and organized throughout the entire body, with centers (muscle centers) in the cerebral cortex. The peripheral organs of the sensory functions, such as sight and hearing, likewise have a purposeful position in the body and, so to speak, higher authorities in the cerebral cortex. (Visual centers, auditory centers.*) In short, everywhere plan, order, and law prevail; everywhere differentiation and elaboration are found; everywhere the principle of the division of labor applies.

How could one doubt, then, that the highest and most complicated, the purely mental functions, are likewise strictly organized, ordered, and localized, in the sense that in general they take place in different parts of the brain, so to speak government buildings, and that the centers concerned with specific psychic details have at their disposal particular peripheral nerve complexes and nerve-terminal ramifications, as well as other subordinate areas, located in this or that part of the body, so that also in the

^* According to the more recent researches of Exner, Kraepelin, Nissl, Otto Ranke, and others.

circumstances in the cerebral cortex are in many respects probably more complicated than was hitherto believed. But this does not alter the essence of my view, for these authors too assume that, e.g., the 1-motor cells of the cerebral cortex, even if they should not be strictly localized in the topographical sense (i.e. united into a sharply bounded “motor center,” but distributed among various parts of the cerebral cortex), nevertheless stand in closer relationship to one another through conducting pathways, as well as as a result of practice and habituation, than do brain elements serving specifically different functions, even if the latter are locally directly adjacent and interspersed among the former. the principle of the division of labor prevails in the purely psychic sphere ? the conscious ego therefore does not, for example, perform all the complicated psychic functions directly by itself when reflecting; rather, it frequently merely places itself under the influence of the stimuli and psychic effects of force proceeding from the various psychic centers set into activity by the subject, just as, in the apparently purely active observation of the external world, it too largely places itself under the influence of the excitations reaching it from the eyes or the visual centers, etc.

As a result of the extensive, often directly pathological influence of individual centers and personifications, I was repeatedly able to observe with certainty the tremendous efforts with which they fought, often by exerting muscular force, to drive out ideas and feelings unpleasant to them and to impose their wishes and pleasant ideas upon me, and in general to improve their position in the organism and make it more influential. A certain division is therefore undoubtedly possible, but this does not involve different independent souls and different personalities. The cells and centers for the feeling of sovereignty are not comparable, for instance, with the cell of a protozoon. The latter constitutes a unified and independent organism capable of existing by itself, and is also psychically a self-contained and rounded unity, whereas the psychic centers in the brain are from the outset something specifically one-sided in themselves, and, for example, those to which the feeling of sovereignty is bound are most comfortable when they can initially, without regard for the organism as a whole, act one-sidedly in a “sovereign” manner.

But precisely because of this one-sided development and the consequently all the stronger dependence upon the great whole in the final and highest conditions of existence, the ultimate and highest psychic unity is continually preserved, all the more so because the entire bodily structure, the mental disposition, education and prior training from early youth onward, social position and occupation, and the entire external world as such necessarily direct the will, consciousness, and power of thought of the individual again and again into definite, narrowly limited, so to speak self-evident channels, so that stronger psychic divisions—apart from systematic exercise, as I describe it under V,3—are in general only pathological in nature, and the normal human being is unaware of the complexity of the psychic as a rule, does not notice the mechanism within it at all, just as he ordinarily perceives nothing of the long-known and acknowledged complexity of the physical, chemical, and physiological processes in his body.

At the same time, it follows from this that the significance of the various centres for the psychic totality is extraordinarily different, and that it is precisely the conscious ego which above all determines the psychic qualities of the whole and the individuality of the personality.

Moreover, I believe that the view of the medieval philosophers that the seat of the soul^* is, although not with equal force and the same kind of activity, throughout the entire body (not merely in the cerebral cortex, to put it in modern terms), is justified. But the more the individual cells and centres are situated toward the periphery, the more one-sided their position in the total organism is, the more one-sided and inferior, the more mechanical and physical, machine-like and worker-like, in general are the functions assigned to them in the organism; the less possibility they have of higher intellectual activity and development, and the smaller their psychic influence —although in different people it is very different—upon the overall psychic condition. This conception of mine of the organism as a state of cells, as a complex of living beings (admittedly very unequally placed physically and psychically and quite one-sidedly developed), accords with the results of the more recent researches, particularly those of Verworn and his pupils, from which it follows that even the nerve fibres, which hitherto were regarded as mere conducting pathways, so to speak as simple telegraph wires, possess all the properties of life, inasmuch as they can become fatigued, suffocated, and narcotized, consume oxygen and produce carbon dioxide, and, after being severed, seek to grow together again.

2. Magical Accomplishments of the Subconscious, Especially Its Genius

In Section III I explained how I learned magical writing. In doing so, as any other scientific observer would initially also have had to do, I left open the question of whether or not spirits were involved.

^* Compare Gutberlet: The Struggle for the Soul. Lecture V: On the Seat of the Soul. Mainz. Kirchheim’s Verlag.

In purely spiritualistic writing, the difference consists in the fact that one begins entirely from the conviction that spirits will enter into play, and, excited, with the pencil in one’s hand and with the lively wish and thought that spirits might come and write, one involuntarily stimulates the centres and regions of the brain which convey the idea of spirits, until they succeed, more or less well, in making use of the hand and expressing themselves; thus, in the writing itself, one behaves more passively and expectantly, while the relevant parts of the subconscious gain greater independence. In this case too, when one pays closer attention, one feels quite distinctly how the current of energy gradually passes more and more strongly into the hand. Only this time the innervation is carried out by the “spirits .”

According to this principle one can naturally obtain not merely a “spirit script ” but also anything else one wishes, e.g. apparitions of spirits, rapping sounds, movement of objects . The visible and photographable phantoms of the spirits of spiritualists are therefore, in my view, nothing other than real hallucinations originating in the subconscious, and the rapping sounds and the movement of objects are produced by the subconscious through remote action (above all through the emission of motor energy), by means of the medium’s own hands (and possibly also those of the participants in the séance); and even when the phantoms speak, move, and become perceptible by touch, this is nothing other than an artfully, uniformly fashioned combination of real optical, acoustic, and other hallucinations, somewhat comparable to the combined performances of a cinematograph and gramophone .

By means of the latter combination, one can famously present a particular person optically and acoustically, that is, visibly moving, gesticulating, and acting, while at the same time speaking with his or her own characteristic voice. Only the ingeniously disposed spiritualistic mediums (or rather their subconscious), by means of the unified human universal apparatus, succeed in producing such a combination in an even more coherent, precise, and therefore all the more deceptive manner,* as the following phenomena reported by Crookes and Richet show:

^* In more recent times Edison famously constructed an apparatus, the “Kinetophon,” in which a strictly synchronized cooperation of cinematograph and gramophone takes place. If it were also possible to make the optical figures appear not upon the surface of a screen but on an open stage in three dimensions and in natural colours, then the problem of the apparition of spirits would have been solved almost precisely by purely physical means.

At the beginning of the seventies, Crookes had the opportunity for an extended period to experiment with the famous sixteen-year-old medium, Miss Florence Cook.

During the séances, a (photographable) phantom appeared which called itself Katie King, claimed to have been named Anni Morgan in life, and to have died at the age of 21 more than 200 years ago. The phantom was of wondrous beauty once it had overcome the initial phases of its formation. It spoke, joked, and laughed with those present, gesticulated with its right hand in the manner of Oriental women, and accompanied its words with graceful movements of the head.

In the year 1905, Richet attended many materialization séances of the medium Mlle. Marthe at the villa of General Noël in Algiers; she was the fiancée of the General’s son, who had died in Africa. The phantom called itself Bien Boa. The figure was tall and dressed entirely in white, with a kind of helmet on its head.

A dense black beard covered its mouth and the lower parts of its face.

Its body was solid and possessed a certain muscular strength, and had all the properties of life. The sound of its footsteps, its breathing, and its voice could be heard. Its hand was well formed, warm, and mobile.

The centres of the subconscious can therefore perform magic in a manner similar to that which I described in Section IV. of the conscious ego .

The conscious ego, even when it remains fully awake, ordinarily does not notice at all, especially in the case of lesser achievements, that use is being made of its body; on the contrary, here too, as with the previously mentioned “inner voice,” the inexperienced person usually gains the impression that entirely foreign beings are involved. It merely plays the part of spectator and observer of the play staged by the subconscious, in contrast to the hallucinations produced by itself according to p. 40 ff. In the case, for example, of the subjective acoustic hallucinations of the subconscious, the process is that the excitation of the peripheral acoustic regions, specifically of the eardrum, proceeds from centres of the subconscious (1st stage), but that, as it runs back, (cf. p. 40 ff.) is felt not merely by these, but also by the conscious ego (II. stage).

In the II. stage the conscious ego receives the acoustic excitation from the eardrum in exactly the same manner as when a real person situated outside were speaking to it. A mentally healthy and unprejudiced person will, however, upon closer examination, e.g. by means of the sense of sight, through touch, or also by means of rational reflection, easily convince himself that no one is standing beside him who could be speaking, and that therefore a hallucination is present. A spiritualist, however, who, while setting aside a supreme scientific principle—namely, that extraordinary means of explanation (in this case “spirits”) may be called upon only when the normal and natural ones do not suffice—is deprived for the most part of the ordinary means of control, because spirits in general are neither visible nor tangible.

After what has been said above, it will also be understandable that in cases of haunting (p. 103) the medium often does not recognize himself as such and must therefore first be identified, and furthermore that the mentally ill constantly confuse all manner of hallucinations proceeding from the subconscious with reality.

When, therefore, a well-known German scholar mockingly says of spiritualism: “Assuming that all this nonsense, and much else besides, were correct, then the world surrounding us would actually be composed of two entirely different worlds. The one is the world of a Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, a Leibniz and Kant, that universe of eternally immutable laws in which the smallest as well as the greatest harmoniously fits into the whole. Beside this world … . there would now, however, also be a small world, a world of hobgoblins and rapping spirits, of witches and magnetic mediums, and in this small world everything that happens in that great and sublime world would be turned upside down, all otherwise immutable laws occasionally suspended for the benefit of highly ordinary, mostly hysterical persons,” I reply to this: “there nevertheless is a small world of hobgoblins. This world obeys laws just as strict, although hitherto not more closely studied, as the great world, but the hobgoblins—why search afar for an explanation when what is good is so near—are our neighbors in our own brain .”

What has been communicated now evidently permits my theories of hallucinations and of the subconscious to conceive, from entirely uniform points of view, the ideas of the normal human being, the occasional hallucinations of the healthy, and the compulsive hallucinations of the mentally ill, as well as the spiritualist phantoms and apparitions of spirits.

My involuntary experiences described in Chapter III likewise explain themselves without further ado as products of the hallucinatory activity of particularly strongly excited centers of my subconscious.

The prerequisite for the occurrence of significant phenomena is, naturally, that one possess a special aptitude for this, that one be, as the spiritualists express it, a “medium,” for otherwise one will achieve little even with the greatest diligence, just as one becomes a true artist, for example in music, only if one is predisposed for it.

Once an inner voice demanded of me that it be permitted to use my hand in order to learn drawing. Nothing further was necessary than for me to take the pencil in my hand and let it be guided by the being that was making itself known. The artist was the being itself. It was a genius in this field. Anyone familiar with the spiritualist literature knows that such artists were indeed found among the “spirits.”

Particularly famous in this respect was the spirit-drawer Anderson in New York. He himself understood nothing about drawing, but was “inspired by the spirits of famous painters,” so that under their influence he produced artistic portraits within the shortest possible time. When Robert Dale Owen visited him in the year 1867, he brought him a large sheet of drawing paper. Owen tore irregular pieces from two corners, so that he would recognize the sheet again, whereupon Anderson withdrew into another room. Exactly 28 minutes later he returned with the sheet of drawing paper. On it there was now drawn a female head with bust in life size, generally similar in outline and expression to a young English lady who had been very dear to Owen, but had died as early as the beginning of the thirties and in the year 1856 had announced herself at Naples as his guardian spirit. To Owen’s astonishment, her favorite flower appeared as an adornment at the lower tip of the dress, which opened at the front. Owen, however, had not made the slightest allusion to this lady. When he showed the portrait to the artist Carpenter, the latter declared that a good draftsman would have needed one or two days, perhaps even longer, for this if restricted to his own resources.

Nevertheless, a purely natural explanation scarcely presents any difficulties: In our brain there are centers that have important optical tasks to fulfill and therefore, in their special field, far surpass the conscious ego in sensitivity.

They could therefore, in optical matters as such, in questions of the sense of form and color, and in optical artistic conceptions, accomplish far more than the conscious human being, but are ordinarily unable to express themselves and act independently. If this is made possible for them, genius of the subconscious arises, for example in drawing. Moreover, it is also conceivable that although the conscious ego, as a result of physical, psychophysical, or psychological obstacles, is unable to employ such artistic centers and abilities as are present in themselves, certain centers in the subconscious are nevertheless able to do so, since such obstacles do not exist for them in the person concerned. Then the conscious ego must take the magical detour through these centers if it wishes to make use of these abilities.

In the case of Anderson’s drawing just mentioned, the matter is complicated, however, by the fact that at the same time an effect proceeded from Owen’s subconscious to Anderson’s (specifically to the artistic centers in the latter’s subconscious), so that precisely the lady dear to Owen was depicted with her favorite flower. But this too is explained perfectly naturally by what was communicated about it in Section VI.

The circumstance, too, that the drawing was made with such extraordinary rapidity presents no serious difficulties. A genius simply works incomparably faster than even a good artist. A musical genius sometimes plays an unknown piece of music immediately straight from the sheet, whereas an ordinary musician may require a longer period to practice it.

At the same time, in Anderson we have an interesting example of a genius completely independent of the conscious ego .

Anderson, however, had learned spirit drawing in the following manner: As a young man he resolved at all costs to become a medium. For this purpose he shut himself in every day at the appointed hour, waited with paper and pencil in hand for whatever might come, and prayed for the desired influence by spirits. After 52 sittings of a full hour each, he finally felt a movement of the pencil, and gradually, in the dark^*, beautiful faces came into being, the eyes in particular being full of expression and revealing themselves as portraits of the dead.

I read of a ten-year-old Milanese schoolboy, Paul Schiapi, that he attracts attention through great skill in drawing and modelling. Without any instruction and without any aids, he forms, among other things, with his free hand, superbly characterized animal types from any arbitrary little piece of paper. He is the child of a poor working-class family and is endowed in an entirely one-sided manner with an astonishingly developed sense of form.

But what if such an ability, as in Anderson, lies wholly in the subconscious without being able to express itself? It will be said that, if the person in question receives instruction in drawing, this hidden quality must come to light. That may be so, but I am convinced that this is not true in many cases, that then the cooperation of the conscious ego rather has a disturbing effect, and that it would have been better if the person concerned, just like Anderson, had degraded himself to the status of a pencil-holder and waited until his artistic centres in the subconscious had begun to draw. A genius must, as is well known, not be patronized too much and, I would add, even if it lies entirely in the

^* The expression “in the dark” is in any case not to be understood here in the absolute sense. Spiritistic darkness is as a rule not complete.

Somnambulists and hypnotized persons frequently see excellently in very weak illumination. This is due to a dilation of the pupils of the eyes, allowing larger quantities of light to enter. I was often able to observe such a thing in myself, while on the other hand a wholly abnormal constriction not infrequently occurred. The great capacity for dilation in animals that live more by night, e.g. cats, owls, etc., is well known. But in complete darkness they cannot see either. lies in the subconscious . For this reason, in the case of many great spiritistic mediums, when particularly outstanding performances are to be offered, the transition into the state of unconsciousness, into the state of hypnosis or trance, in which the centres in question can operate as independently as possible, is precisely necessary^*.

In my case, there were doubtless numerous latent abilities that could have been developed, provided I myself remained as passive as possible, especially abilities in drawing. The figures that I often see (mostly in the form of illusions) are as a rule artistically beautiful, often wonderfully beautiful. They are vivid and interesting combinations and new creations, not merely purely stereotyped reproductions of something once seen, and on the other hand they are again artistically refined, mockingly grotesque and ugly, so that I, who have never learned to draw and possess no aptitude for it, could absolutely not produce them consciously. In my youth I did receive drawing lessons for some time, but achieved nothing at all, took no pleasure in it, and therefore gave it up again. If, however, with a sheet of paper on the table and a pencil in hand, I had waited in the spiritistic manner, repeatedly contemplating artistic drawings and pictures and immersing myself in them, while wishing to produce something similar, then perhaps my artistic “spirits” would have been carried away and spurred on to learn to govern the pencil, in order then, after overcoming the minor difficulties required by directing the hand and pencil, to produce artistic drawings relatively quickly.

What applies to drawing applies also to other abilities, especially artistic ones, e.g. music, poetry, dancing, etc.

At times, almost without any assistance on my part, my chest expanded and I began to sing with a voice that was considerably more beautiful, fuller, and stronger, and one that I had not possessed at all until then, so that my mother immediately noticed it. At the same time my accuracy of pitch increased quite unmistakably. Furthermore, I heard myself singing magically from time to time. I needed only to listen intently and keep all disturbing thoughts away.

I have never learned to dance and also understand nothing of its deeper nature. For some time, since, so to speak, all the depths of my inner being had been stirred up, unmistakable

^* Compare S. 116.

signs appeared that I possessed within me, in itself, the abilities of a “dance medium” after the manner of the well-known “dream dancer” Madeleine *. Near my former dwelling there was a summer tavern in which musical concerts were frequently held at night. When I was alone in the garden and listened to the music with the utmost concentration, almost completely forgetting myself in the process, my body then gradually began to turn, twist, and bend ever more artistically, while the hands performed harmonious gestures. My body seemed gradually to become a musical instrument and, corresponding to the various tonal figures of the music, to represent harmonious, plastic figures with the body. In particular, the play of facial expression was also significantly influenced. But not only dances: other musical pieces as well began to release specific artistic movements. At the same time, listening intently to the music afforded me pleasure, indeed I must say a delight such as I had not known on such an occasion until then.

I have read a good deal about the dream dancer Madeleine, and have also seen illustrations of her artistic performances, but I had no opportunity to observe her personally; instead, I observed another dancer who, although she was not a somnambulist, was nevertheless described approximately as follows in a newspaper review: “When she dances, one can see music. The spectator witnesses how the sensations awakened by tones assume noble form and are reflected in expressive movement. The artist showed how completely a sensitive soul can merge into music, and what beauty lies in the nobility of a perfected language of limbs and gestures. It was truly refreshing to see how the supple body followed every nuance of the music.” Admittedly, I was somewhat disappointed afterward, since her entire performance made much more the impression of something artificially rehearsed and theatrical than that of a “natural dancer” and waking somnambulist, as I had imagined her on the basis of the newspaper review and my own experiences in myself. It affected me very unpleasantly that she would frequently anticipate the music with her gestures, instead of the movements occurring as an immediate effect and an outflow of the music. Only in three numbers, which she evidently herself regarded as the best, and had

^* See Dr. Freiherr von Schrenck-Notzing, “The Dream Dancer Madeleine G.”

(Stuttgart 1904. Published by Ferd. Enke.) having therefore saved it for the time most favorable for an aftereffect upon the audience, it actually produced the impression I had expected. They were the concluding numbers of the first section and the two final numbers of the second (concluding) section.

Attempts at composing poetry were also repeatedly made by my artists in the subconscious, to my surprise. Once, for example, while standing in the garden at night and exerting the greatest physical effort—my leg muscles in particular were so tense that I seemed rooted to the ground—I slowly recited a poem, verse by verse, or rather, I should say, it was literally pressed out of me. In its entire content it could not have been a reproduction of a long-forgotten poem once read earlier. I was astonished at the unmistakable poetic taste it displayed, whereas I myself possess not the slightest aptitude for composing poetry. I had the distinct feeling that it was being composed only simultaneously with the slow recitation. It is especially noteworthy that in my case, apparently, when the poetic centers come into their own and are to exercise themselves freely in their particular manner, very considerable psychophysical obstacles must be overcome and strong physical efforts must be exerted, whereas, as is well known, many born geniuses sometimes have verses come to them without reflection and, naturally, without any psychophysical effort at all, quite as if of themselves. Evidently, in these cases too, it is more the unconscious than the conscious ego that is the actual poet.

Seiling^* rightly emphasizes that in Goethe the writing down of certain poems took place under circumstances reminiscent of writing mediumship.

After Goethe had remarked to Eckermann (March 1830) that he had had most of his ballads in his head for many years before finally committing them to paper at Schiller’s urging, he continued: At other times my poems came about in an entirely different manner. I had no impressions or premonition of them beforehand whatsoever; rather, they suddenly came over me and wanted to be made at once, so that I felt driven to write them down immediately, instinctively and in a dreamlike fashion. In such a somnambulistic state it often happened that I had a sheet of paper lying quite askew before me, and that I noticed this only when everything had been written or when I found no room to continue writing

^* Goethe and Occultism. p. 19. Leipzig, Oswald Mutze.

.” As early as the year 1778 Goethe wrote to Merk: “I also do some things in a state of dullness, which is often probably the best.” In 1814 he wrote of Knebel: “I am now reading Wilhelm Meister with Riemer, preparing a new edition. Since I wrote this little work, as well as my other things, as a sleepwalker … .”

The extent to which the singer and poet, in whom the subconscious, as in gifted people generally, frequently possesses greater independence, depends upon it, indeed even upon his particular mood at the time, Schiller expresses so aptly in his poem “The Count of Habsburg” in the following words: “I shall not command the singer, speaks the ruler with smiling lips; He stands in the service of the greater lord, He obeys the commanding hour.

As through the air the storm wind roars, No one knows from whence it comes and rages like the spring from hidden depths, So the singer’s song resounds from within!”

To be sure, the conscious and the subconscious generally become so accustomed to working together, and their activities merge with one another to such an extent, that the complexity of the process is no longer recognized, particularly in ordinary and everyday achievements.

In the extreme cases, however, the difference is perfectly clear, and it will, in my conviction, be an important task of the magic of the future, as with Anderson and spiritualist mediums generally, and furthermore with the dream-dancer Madeleine and others, to discover and develop, independently of spiritualism , completely latent and ordinarily dormant forms of genius (or at least talents) residing in the subconscious. I should like to designate the methods by which, similarly to the spiritualists, one begins not with the upper consciousness but immediately establishes contact with the subconscious and allows it to be master in its own domain, in general as the magical methods of learning , although naturally, according to the differing dispositions of human beings, there are all possible transitions between the ordinary methods of learning hitherto almost exclusively in use and the purely magical ones.

Other causes and means may likewise serve for the temporary intensification of nervous activity and of the genius of magical phenomena, for example hunger and thirst.

It is known that those suffering hunger and thirst in the desert—apart from a purely physical mirage explainable in the vicinity of an oasis—not infrequently have hallucinations of food and drink, of murmuring streams, and of landscapes rich in water. Here too the hallucinations are frequently artistically beautiful, or, respectively, refined in their pleasant taste and fragrance.

Even in illnesses, as a result of an over-radiation of nervous energy according to S.

50 genius may be temporarily intensified or even directly brought about.

In the case of a prolonged illness, it may persistently be pathological. Hence it was also occasionally conjectured, erroneously, that it was pathological altogether. I once read in a report on Schiller’s final period of life that one could not understand how a dying man had wrested from death, as it were, one of the greatest poetic works of all time, the Wallenstein trilogy, whereas in fact, in my view, the sufferings of the illness stimulated the poetic centers and thereby heightened his genius.

When stronger psychic, psychophysical, or physical upheavals take place in a human being, various centers of the subconscious are naturally often affected as well and develop especially vigorous activity. At the time of the onset of puberty, therefore, young persons, especially young girls, are well known frequently to be suitable as spiritualist mediums. Only a few experiments are then sufficient to produce astonishing performances. Indeed, in some such cases magical phenomena arise of themselves. A gentleman from this town, well known to me, told me that a young niece of his had only to place her hand upon a table, whereupon it followed her around the entire room without any further action on her part and without any further practice. The girl later lost this ability again. Spiritualists frequently placed great hopes in such mediums, expecting that, given their promising beginnings, they must be capable of being trained to achieve particular effectiveness. In most cases, understandably, the opposite occurred. Some spiritualists, completely misunderstanding the actual circumstances, occasionally also call such mediums ” missionary mediums ”, believing that they temporarily which would have the particular task of convincing humanity of the reality of a spirit world.

The apparitions that have been feared since ancient times are attributable to causes similar to those of the phenomena last mentioned, that is, to physical and psychological disturbances and tensions in human beings. Just a few examples^*: In the Augsburger Abendzeitung, the general practitioner Dr. Wolfram of Küps in Upper Franconia reports on mysterious occurrences that took place in January 1897 in the presence of the fourteen-year-old maidservant Barbara Röschlau, for the most part according to the statements of her employers—“quiet and respectable good people”—and to a lesser extent according to his own observations. Very heavy objects began to totter or fell over; light and medium-heavy objects flew after the girl. Thus, a full beer barrel containing 20 liters, which stood on the floor, began to totter, as did a full water tub, which would have fallen from the bench had not the other maid caught hold of it.

A large trough for pig feed, perhaps fifty kilograms in weight with its contents, fell over several times and was therefore finally nailed down. While Röschlau was cleaning the stone-paved entrance hall, a child’s sled, which stood behind the staircase, flew around it onto its back, etc.

In his work “Forerunners of Spiritism” the Russian State Councillor Aksákow records a number of poltergeist phenomena that occurred in Russia between the years 1840 and 1894. The events in the house of Captain Shandatschenko are described particularly fully (pp. 11 to 220).

These possess particular evidentiary force because, finally, as a result of a conflagration caused by magic, the court had to intervene and officially question a series of witnesses whose statements were recorded in the minutes. Another case (pp. 221 to 315) likewise concerns phenomena of a malicious nature that appeared in the country house of a certain Mr. Schtschapoff. The latter event is described by his wife as follows: “I had scarcely closed the door to the corridor when the entire ground suddenly began to tremble behind me, a din arose, and at that same moment a bluish spark came out of the floor with a peculiar crackling sound, just as we had previously seen them rise from beneath the washstand. I wanted to cry out in fright when I was already standing in flames and lost consciousness.” It is noteworthy, however, that she herself did not suffer the slightest burn, although she was almost completely covered by the fire and her very thin dress was burned up to the knees, while a man who rushed to her aid and tried to extinguish the flames with his hands burned them, so that he experienced considerable pain.

^* Compare also note 2 on p. 10.

^** Leipzig, Oswald Mutze.

with a peculiar crackling sound, a bluish spark came out, as we had already seen them rise from beneath the washstand. I wanted to cry out in fright when I was already standing in flames and lost consciousness.” It is noteworthy, however, that she herself did not suffer the slightest burn, although she was almost entirely covered by the fire and her very thin dress was burned up to the knees, while a man who rushed to her aid and attempted to extinguish it with his hands burned them, so that he experienced considerable pain.

From my own experiences I should add here that on several occasions a couple of personifications, amid heavy threats, attempted to cause my hunting cartridges, which were in a small box, to explode. I distinctly felt emanations of energy in the direction of the cartridge box; gradually a peculiar crackling sound also arose, so that, since persuasion and other means were of no avail, I thought it advisable to store the cartridges for a considerable time in a remote corner of the house. I have already reported in Chapter III on various other hostile demonstrations against me.

On pp.26,28 and likewise p.93 I stated that, in magic phenomena of the subconscious, the conscious ego or even other persons frequently do not notice or know at all from whom they originate. This explains why, in the case of poltergeist phenomena too, the medium often has to be determined^*, as, for example, in the following case, which proceeded harmlessly, in contrast to those mentioned earlier, although not precisely harmlessly as regards the medium’s health: On 1 January of the year 1852, the Sänger family in Bergzabern heard knocking and hammering in their house, which at first seemed to be very distant but later came nearer and became stronger and more violent. When the blows could be heard on each succeeding evening, it was gradually possible to determine that they must stand in some relationship to the sleeping eleven-year-old second child of the married couple. As the phenomena developed further, even military marches and dances were knocked out; the child now also began to speak in its sleep, loudly gave commands for the knocking

^* In the so-called “ poltergeist houses ” one must likewise assume an unknown medium living in the house concerned or in its vicinity, even if the phenomena continue for decades, since some persons can retain their mediumship for 30, 40 years.

^** Justinus Kerner. Magikon, V. Band, p. 274 ff. Stuttgart 1852.

and at the end commanded “Halt.” On 26 February, scratching also occurred in part instead of the knocking. Finally, the child began in its sleep to hold religious conversations and even formal religious lectures. Naturally, a larger, curious audience had gradually gathered around the child’s bed in the evening, especially on 6 March. On this evening there was not merely knocking and scratching; the bedstead even rose into the air. This was followed by a longer religious lecture from the child.

Since a larger crowd had already gathered on the evening of 25 January, the Royal Justice of the Peace, in conjunction with the district physician Dr. Beutner, investigated the matter more closely, and when it had been established that the knocking did not come from outside, proceeded to examine the girl. This revealed that she suffered from functional disturbances in the lower abdomen, general muscular weakness, and involuntary muscular movements, the latter being peculiar in that they ceased entirely during the day, appeared at the moment of falling asleep, and then continued for hours … At the same time, a dream life developed in which she ordinarily had to do with another person …

At the urging of the medical police, Dr. Beutner finally took the child into his own family on 1.

April. Her condition rapidly improved with a simple diet, exercise in the garden, and appropriate mental and physical occupation, and magic phenomena generally occurred only when emotional agitation had preceded them or when she had consumed something that caused indigestion.

The physician’s report concludes literally as follows: “People of a certain persuasion proceed from the view that a being from another world produces the knocking, and that a spirit, a religious mysticism, is at work. I believe that here we are dealing with a quite peculiar mysticism. Ph. Sänger is somatically ill: The somatic basis of the form of illness is the ganglionic sphere (Neurosis coeliaca)*, through which the peculiarity of the physiological enigma is conditioned, an enigma that falls within the domain of electromagnetism. Dr. Mari in Paris and Dr. Plath have published similar cases. Dr.

Beutner, district physician.”

^* This is connected, as I believe, with the fact that on 6 March and also on other occasions the girl conducted religious conversations. Compare my views on p. 125

and p. 140.

In strongly nervous people, even when they are not precisely magically predisposed, the centers are rarely all completely quiet. In their case, too, though less conspicuous, energy radiations of the most varied kinds occur at individual parts of the body or over the entire body. The Spiritists use the expression “Exteriorisation of the Od” for this. As mentioned on p. 12, Reichenbach had already endeavored, through numerous experiments, to establish that the human body is capable of radiating a fluid, which he designated by the name “Od.” Science did not recognize the existence of an Od, and Reichenbach reaped nothing but ridicule from it. According to the Spiritist and occultist doctrine,* man consists of the visible, coarse-material (material) body, furthermore of a very subtle-material, ordinarily invisible, ethereal body, the so-called “etheric body” or astral body” (Perisprit [sic] ), and finally of the soul, which represents the imperishable and immortal principle in man. When man dies, the soul, together with the astral body, leaves the coarse-material body, which then falls forever prey to decomposition. The soul, now clothed only with the astral body, is called “spirit.” In living man the astral body forms the link between the body and the soul, since the latter, by virtue of its purely immaterial nature, cannot act directly upon the gross-material body. The astral body is therefore, so to speak, the instrument by means of which the soul influences and works upon the body.

It must therefore, naturally, be modeled as exactly as possible upon the latter, and consequently, when separated from the body at the death of the person, it will ordinarily represent his likeness. According to the view of the Spiritists, however, such separations (together with the soul) may, under particular circumstances, e.g. in the higher stages of hypnosis, in somnambulism, and in highly advanced states of ecstasy, occur already in the living person. In popular belief this is designated as “self-duplication” or “double-walking” (“dedoubling”). Through particular influences the astral body can furthermore be extended, so that it projects beyond the boundary of the body everywhere or only at individual places as the so-called “aura.” This is also frequently designated by the expression already mentioned above as “Exteriorisation of the Od” The Od and the astral body of the mediums (the two terms

^* The doctrine and nomenclature in this field are not strictly uniform.

are moreover frequently used more or less identically) cooperate in Spiritist séances in the materializations and in the formation of the phantoms of the deceased. Therefore, according to du Prel, they ought in the first instance to resemble the medium, were it not that as a rule another formative principle proceeding from the deceased person making himself known intervenes and confers upon the phantoms the form and facial features of the deceased in question.

According to my observations, an aura and an astral body in the Spiritist-occultist sense do not exist in my case, and what is designated as a “double” is nothing other than a magical projection outward, proceeding from the subconscious, of the idea of the own body. Just as the conscious ego can project the idea of a flower, an animal, a human being, and naturally also of its own person, hallucinatorily outward so that it becomes visible (see p. 46), so too can the subconscious. Upon closer observation I feel that in my case, to express myself in Spiritist terms, the astral body almost invariably projects beyond my material body here or there, though generally not in the form of my own figure but in the form of Napoleon, the German Emperor, Bismarck, etc., or of animal forms and monsters. Very frequently, for example, my mouth seems magically to continue in the form of a lion’s jaw, a crocodile’s maw, etc., depending precisely on which different centers of the subconscious happen at the moment to be imagining and hallucinating. But nothing special is to be sought behind this. I do not thereby mean to deny that occasionally formless energy radiations may also occur over the entire body or at individual parts of it, resting upon purely physical, physiological, or especially pathological causes.

Incidentally, it is also easy to multiply the “astral body.” For example, at night, while walking up and down in the garden, I imagined as vividly as possible that besides myself there were three further identical figures. Gradually the corresponding feeling-hallucination formed. Three “Staudenmaiers,” dressed exactly like me, then seemed to walk before me at the same pace. They stopped when I stopped, stretched out their hands when I did so, etc., because that was precisely how I had trained them.

[This block contains the continuation of the preceding paragraph in the source.]

The situation naturally becomes more complicated when the number of figures is still greater, when each performs independent movements or wears different clothing. Johannes Müller describes a case belonging here: “A professor, fatigued by animated conversations and at the same time hungry, suddenly saw himself, on his way home, strolling quite comfortably about in a meadow in 12 to 15 copies, which were of different ages and wore the scholar’s long-forgotten clothes, but when his composure was collected, all disappeared.”

Here the multiplication evidently proceeded from the subconscious, and indeed simultaneously from various centers of it and in different senses.

Naturally, it is not only the conscious ego but also some center of the subconscious that can project the figures of other living persons outward, or a “duplication” of one’s own personality can occur by telepathic means, although in that case it is not the person himself but the telepathic recipient who perceives it.

Compare in this connection the case of Lisbeth and those following in Chapter VI, pp. 199 to 208. The Spiritists call this “ghosts (phantoms) of living persons.” An excellent illustration of them (on a reduced scale) is provided by the figures of the Tanagra games (mentioned on p.

47).

When finally the figures of deceased persons are magically produced, we have arrived at pure Spiritism. Thus nowhere is there a sharp boundary, and the ordinary Spiritist phenomena can all be explained quite naturally by the laws of natural science established thus far.

In order to make belief in the possibility of communication with the deceased acceptable to materialists, the Spiritists seek to furnish proof of a living principle independent of the body. That the “self-duplication” cited, among other things, for this purpose proves nothing is clear from the preceding discussions, for by the same reasoning one could claim that a principle independent of the visible, material apparatus, ordinarily invisible, exists in a cinematograph, because the optical figures projected onto the screen during a cinematographic showing appear outside the apparatus and can move and act.

“Professor Baraduc in Paris^* extended these experiments, which took place in the presence of various scholars, and in doing so made use of

^* Quoted according to an essay by Georg Korf in “Der Türmer,” XIVth year, 1911, p. 92. Published by Greiner and Pfeiffer in Stuttgart.

of two mediums. One hypnotized medium was to carry out the commands suggested by Baraduc; and a magnetized medium (somnambulist) served to control the partially invisible processes.

One evening, when Dr. Baraduc was alone with the hypnotic medium, he gave her the following suggestion: Next Monday, at ten o’clock in the evening, you will become tired, go to bed, and immediately fall asleep. Then you will leave your body and your apartment, come here (the apartment was half an hour from Dr. Baraduc’s experimental room), enter through that window, then sit down on this chair and thereafter go to the scale standing here [sic] and press down one of its pans so far that an attached electrical contact is thereby closed and you hear the bell!

On that particular Monday evening Baraduc invited several scholars and the somnambulist. He had previously covered the window of the experimental room with fabric prepared with calcium sulfide; the chair had likewise been prepared. The room was, of course, completely darkened. In its center stood a simple platform scale beneath a glass bell jar sealed fast to the table, so that no one could touch the scale either intentionally or inadvertently.

Shortly after ten o’clock the somnambulist reported: “I see a phantom climbing in through the window.” Immediately afterward all the participants saw the calcium-sulfide screen light up in the outline of a human figure.

Thereupon the somnambulist said: “Now the phantom is sitting down on the chair.”

Immediately a light was also seen there. “Now the phantom is going to the scale,” the somnambulist continued to report; and shortly afterward several bells installed in the house rang, their ringing also being heard by persons outside the experimental room; it therefore could not have been a hallucination on the part of the participants. When light was now made, the scale could still be seen swaying vigorously. After the seals had been ascertained to be intact, the glass bell jar was removed. One pan had to be loaded with 26 grams in order deliberately to establish contact in the bell circuit. Thus, with a force of 26 grams, the invisible phantom—the individuality whose consciousness was situated at a considerable distance from its body—had pressed down one arm of the scale.

This experiment was conducted in July 1909, according to a report in “Annales des Sciences Psych.” in Paris. German journals, too, which concern themselves with the phenomena of psychic life, continually report on such experiments. (“Psychische Studien,” Oswald Mutze, Leipzig.

“Mitteilungen der deutschen Ges. f. psych. Forschung,” Dr. Hugo Vollrath, Leipzig. “Neue Lotosblüten,” by Dr. Franz Hartmann, Jaegerscher Verlag, Leipzig, and others.)* Let us connect some considerations with the experiments described. What would have happened if the body of the hypnotized medium had been fatally injured during the absence of her “spirit,” while it was “working” in the experimental room, or if the “sleeping” personality had been murdered? Then the individuality “soul” or “spirit” could not have returned to the body! But since we have seen from the experiment that the conscious spiritual human being, in the subtle-material body—which we must provisionally presuppose here and which will be described further below— was able to act temporarily, separated and independently from the presence of its brain, we must not reject the supposition that such a thing might perhaps also be possible when a total separation of the etheric body from the physical body has taken place, when, in other words, the process has occurred that we call death. Is it not close at hand to believe that this invisible constitution of man, which was visible to the somnambulist, caused the calcium sulfide to light up and was finally able to perform a mechanical exertion of force, is the subtle-material soul that is capable of outlasting the earthly body?”

My conception of the entire experiment, however, is the following: Dr. Baraduc set the fox to guard the henhouse by employing a magically predisposed personality, a somnambulist, for control, for she had evidently learned telepathically (see Chap. VI) of the task which the hypnotized woman was to solve and then taken over the role herself.

She herself (or rather, her subconscious) projected the phantom of the hypnotized woman outward, caused the calcium sulfide to light up, and pressed down on the scale by action at a distance. I am very far from wishing to deprive anyone of belief in the immortality of the soul, but these are not scientific proofs of it.

If the subconscious is to accomplish greater psychophysical feats, then it must naturally also obtain a corresponding The reader here learns the names of several well-known spiritualist and occultist journals. influence over the musculature of the body; it must learn to work by exerting muscular force, similarly to what I explained in IV.2. concerning the conscious ego. Such muscular exertions are, in themselves, of course no more harmful to health than those which the conscious ego performs in producing the phenomena of magic; on the contrary, they may be beneficial to health and replace some of the muscular exertions necessary for the well-being of the organism as a whole. The matter is different, however, when individual centers of the subconscious emancipate themselves to such an extent that they proceed independently in this direction without any consent whatsoever on the part of the conscious ego. In such a case, for example, during sleep the body assumes a strenuous, unnatural position, so that one is more tired in the morning than on the preceding evening; sleep becomes restless and is full of dreams. But such strenuous bodily positions can arise automatically not only during sleep—occasionally they also occur here in normal people—but also in a completely wakeful state while reading, studying, or conversing with other people. As I already explained on p. 32 ff., individual centers not infrequently worked in this way within me, without being in the slightest spiritual connection with me, indeed without my knowing which ones were active at any given time or what they were actually doing.

In time I recognized that they could thereby become a dangerous power, in that, with ever greater violence and force, they imposed their notions, thoughts, and hallucinations upon the conscious ego, so that compulsive notions and compulsive thoughts (so-called “substituted or allogenic thoughts”) or also compulsive hallucinations arose for it, and the entire condition increasingly passed over into the pathological.

When the independent psychic activity of the centers of the subconscious, wholly independent of me—which, moreover, is generally much simpler and more uniform than that of the conscious ego—is not very strong and unusually lively, I generally do not perceive it; I pay no attention to it, much as someone occupied with other thoughts pays no attention to the images of the external world or its noise, or even to the violent jolting and rolling of a railway train, or as one ordinarily does not perceive internal processes that are perceptible in themselves, such as the movements of the chest during breathing, the sounds of respiration, the activity of the heart, and so forth. Only when the foreign impressions become stronger and my since my own psychic activity is thereby impeded, they impose themselves upon me without further ado. In many cases I must also quite literally search for the hallucinations of the subconscious when I wish to observe them. I see the most varied illusions particularly easily; although they evidently do not differ in principle from hallucinations, they are generally more readily perceptible because, owing to their formation upon a particular object in the external world, the eye can be sharply adjusted to the precisely given distance. I can study them at any time (even in broad daylight), especially when I lie down on the divan, with my legs on the backrest and my head downward, so that congestion of blood occurs in the head and various centres of the subconscious enter into more vigorous activity.

In such an illusion, two images naturally overlap upon the retina: the one produced by the subconscious through hallucinatory imagining, and the one caused by the object of the external world. If the conscious ego accepts the illusion, it can allow it to prevail permanently and contemplate it.

But if it sharply fixes its gaze upon the object situated outside, which serves the subconscious as the basis for the illusion, then the latter must disappear again. If the conscious ego is unable to make the illusion disappear even through intensive fixation, then the pathological element begins once more, because the subconscious now already possesses a greater influence over the optical domain than the conscious ego. — Temporary minor disturbances, however, do not cause any appreciable harm here either. It is well known, moreover, that entirely normal people sometimes perceive, for a moment, illusions and hallucinations (originating in the subconscious). A gentleman known to me more closely (a drawing teacher at an educational institution) can easily form, for example, fantastic illusions (combined products of the upper and subconscious) of gigantic animals, figures, buildings, etc., out of cloud formations.

Illusions and hallucinations, then, need by no means necessarily be something pathological. But how could that be possible when they are an everyday occurrence in dreaming! Only when they continually force themselves upon the person compulsively, and the hallucinated person no longer possesses sufficient means of distinguishing them from reality, so that grosser self-deceptions arise for him, may one speak here of actual mental illness^*.

^* Compare Goldstein: Die Halluzination usw. Wiesbaden, Bergmanns Verlag 1912. p. 70.

As follows from my course of development and from the experience of the Spiritists, when individual centres of the subconscious are developed further, matters generally do not remain merely at specifically one-sided hallucinations, e.g. purely optical ones; rather, the centres developing more strongly can gradually also gain influence over other organs and finally over a large part of the entire body, so that, similarly to the magical exercises of the conscious ego, an optical hallucination of the subconscious that has arisen can in time become joined with acoustic, motor, and other hallucinations of the same. The spirits whom the Spiritists evoke appear not merely (that is, they do not manifest themselves only optically), but under certain circumstances they can also speak or write or produce knocking sounds . Even musical, poetic, and other accomplishments are known to be performed by them. In short, with time there is clearly a tendency toward the development of a new, independent entity, uninfluenced by the conscious ego, which at first represents only a magical projection outward during the spiritistic sittings, but whose inner actor becomes ever more versatile and independent and frequently also makes itself perceptible gradually outside the sittings. Here too there is indeed a tendency toward personification, whose dangers and difficulties I have already described from my own experience, and whose harmful consequences to the health of mediums, alongside other causes, have in recent times driven the Spiritists ever more into the camp of the Theosophists and occultists, who reject intercourse with spirits.

In discussing the personification “Roundhead,” I formerly explained that personifications occasionally confuse their imagined body with the actual body of the person concerned. I reported that Roundhead performed exercises with my actual tongue instead of with his imagined tongue. It also frequently happened that my facial features changed noticeably. When the sovereign centres were particularly active in me, I found, merely by looking at my face in the mirror, that my entire facial expression had become Napoleon-like. I was often able to recognize, simply by looking in the mirror, which centres were playing the greater role at any given time, since they clearly impressed upon me the facial features of the figures and persons whom they were at that moment imagining with particular vividness^*. Indeed, when individual personifications

^* Compare also p. 130.

threatened to become dangerous to me, I frequently used the mirror precisely as a means of determining their appearance sufficiently early. It is well known, moreover, that such a change in the facial features already takes place to a greater or lesser degree in actors, mimics, and public speakers. It is reported of the actress Jenny Lind that during the performance she looked much more beautiful and younger than in her normal state. This is entirely credible.

It is simply an extreme case. In the examples first mentioned, the difference consists only in the fact that the influence upon the body proceeded from the centres of the subconscious, whereas in the latter it takes place chiefly from the conscious ego. That the centres of the subconscious, too, can accomplish such a thing is comprehensible, because they reside in the same body and in the same brain as the conscious ego. Only, the latter ordinarily permits them no such extensive influence.

The Spiritists are thoroughly familiar with such a transformation of a medium, which, incidentally, generally tends to extend only to the facial features, under the name “ Transfiguration ” Du Prel writes about it^*: “If the medium is not a sufficient source of od, or if the exteriorization of od encounters difficulties, so that the formation of a figure detached from the medium is not possible, then the medium itself, as a somnambulistic clothes-stand, frequently after its bonds have first been loosened, is led out of the cabinet, and the only task then remaining is the easier one of transforming or transfiguring the medium, giving it the facial features of a deceased person and enveloping it in clothing fabrics … .”

According to Spiritist reports, such a transfiguration in the sense of an exaltation, that is, a refinement and beautification of the facial features, frequently occurs when the medium is inspired by an especially high and exalted intelligence from the beyond.

3. Instructions for the Practical Performance of Magical Experiments by the Subconscious

Before beginning experiments of this kind, it is probably advisable in most cases first to practise only magic of the conscious ego for a longer period, until one has gained a clear insight into the nature of magical phenomena at all. Thereafter

^* Quoted according to Seiling , Meine Erfahrungen, p. 69.

^** That is, in my view, in scientific terminology, when the medium is not capable of radiating sufficient energy to form a phantom of its own.

namely the old superstition that only spirits could come, and to hold fast to the fact that it is merely a matter of developing individual centres of the subconscious to greater independence and temporarily—that is, during the exercises—granting them greater influence over the eyes, the ears, the hands, or other organs, so that they may express themselves in a specific manner by means of them.

In the domain of the subconscious, a far greater number of magical experiments can be carried out than in that of the conscious ego. Above all, automatic writing belongs here, as do the development of optical, acoustic, motor, and other hallucinations, and furthermore artistic exercises such as drawing, making music, composing poetry, etc. Once, through a number of such exercises, one has again acquired a sufficient general and immediate understanding of the nature and activity of the subconscious, one will usually also have recognized for which kinds of experiments one is best predisposed, and which ones one should therefore pursue further in the future.

As far as my previous experience with other persons goes, the learning of automatic writing usually presents the fewest difficulties. For this purpose, place a sheet of paper on a table, sit before it again and again, according to inclination and available time, always in writing posture with a soft pencil in hand, and wait until a foreign force appears in the fingers which endeavours to set the pencil in motion and write with it. Then follow the slightest impulse and otherwise remain as passive as possible. I have stated at the beginning of Chapter III how I myself learned automatic writing at the time.

Related to the writing experiments are the drawing experiments , although they will naturally seldom lead to truly outstanding achievements. When inspiration is lacking, one should seek to remedy this by occasionally viewing stimulating drawings and pictures, combined with the lively desire to be able to produce something similar.

Optical experiments of the subconscious are carried out in such a way that the practitioner, seated comfortably with closed eyes, and, if possible, in a dark room as well, looks straight ahead before him and pays attention to whether he perceives anything, just as he would on an open street in broad daylight.

At first, the field of vision generally becomes brighter. Later, genuine optical images of people, animals, flowers, fruits, drawings, figures, etc. gradually appear, the intensity of which increases with time^*.

Acoustic experiments : One should listen (preferably in solitude with closed eyes or in the dark) to see whether a familiar or unfamiliar voice makes itself heard, whether one hears no tone, singing, or music. In artistic experiments in this domain, one may, analogously to what was said earlier concerning drawing experiments, stimulate and heighten the specific mood by listening to singing or music in general. If familiar songs or pieces of music acoustically impose themselves, one may perhaps also cooperate. But as soon as one notices that the artist making himself heard is able to help himself, or even understands more, one must allow him the greatest possible freedom. One should perhaps also pay attention to whether a foreign endeavour manifests itself to speak or sing with the actual mouth (that is, not merely magically by means of the eardrum); compare pp. 136 and 112 in this connection.

Motor experiments are easily successful for many people. These include, in part, the previously mentioned writing-and-drawing experiments, but above all the production of the rapping sounds well known to Spiritists (which are probably generally more motor than purely acoustic in nature), furthermore the movement of light objects, influence upon the scales, etc., through action at a distance.

Depending upon the direction in which particular centres of the subconscious are to be awakened and further developed, the aspiring magician, taking into account what was stated earlier, especially under V.2. and IV.3., will not find it difficult to devise corresponding rules of conduct for himself.

The following is to be observed in all exercises: One should always remain in the specific mood. If it proves entirely impossible to maintain it, then postpone the experiment. — Playful experiments outside the actual practice period are absolutely to be avoided. — One should always be permeated by the wish that something

^* Expressed physiologically, in both cases this is a matter of observing the images, that is, the optical states of excitation of the retina. In the one case they are caused by the external world, in the other by the subconscious. A person who is not magically predisposed in this respect, in whom the subconscious cannot develop hallucinatory activity, will naturally perceive nothing.

serious and useful may come of it, always devote his entire attention to the matter, and ignore foreign disturbances, so that inferior intelligences which wish to lead him away from the main objective may be excluded as far as possible. Greater caution is particularly necessary in this respect at the beginning. Not to be confused with the interference of inferior centres are the first clumsy exercises of genuine artists, who must first learn to use the organ in question, that is, for example, the hand in drawing.

Incidentally, even these may subsequently lose patience again for a shorter or longer time, so that with the success of the first experiments the matter is by no means finally secured. Many a person has begun learning music or drawing, initially taking great pleasure in it and making rapid progress, but later losing interest and perseverance again. Why should this not also be possible with the centres of the subconscious, especially when one prolongs the experiments too much, so that overexertion sets in?

Over the course of time, the Spiritists have acquired, through countless experiments, a great practical experience in the practice of magic. But since my own years-long experiments have convinced me beyond doubt that the ordinary spiritistic phenomena represent nothing more than a specifically one-sided magic of the subconscious developed for religious purposes , one will be able, after removing this one-sided character, to transfer the experience of the Spiritists without further ado to the practice of a scientific magic.

As particularly conducive to mediumship, the Spiritists emphasize that the medium to be trained should first be placed in hypnotic or magnetic sleep and, during this sleep, asked in what direction his training ought to proceed. In the hypnotic state, certain more independent brain centres remain awake and, when questioned, provide the hypnotist with information as to the manner in which they wish to operate, so that one can establish closer contact with them and train them further. Once this has been achieved to a certain degree, it is advisable, as I believe, even in this case—with the exception of exclusive trance mediums—to accustom the subconscious gradually, subsequently, to perform its functions also in the waking state of the conscious ego. The scientific magician is to study the subconscious and the magical phenomena above all in himself personally and not in study foreign persons and therefore remain awake, since he then also directly perceives the finest physiological processes connected with the magical phenomena. Moreover, in view of the distrust of magic that still prevails at present, he has the invaluable advantage of being absolutely protected against fraud. In most cases he will actually succeed in allowing the relevant centres of the subconscious to work independently, almost as independent beings, without losing consciousness.

Since I always carried out the experiments on myself, I was of course compelled from the outset to dispense with hypnotic sleep. In this case, however, a strong “concentration of thought,” as the ancient Indians [sic] expressed it, that is, strained attention, is naturally necessary; this is not, incidentally, too difficult, because the activity of the subconscious helps to concentrate upon the particular object. For this reason various spiritualist mediums, even when producing more considerable feats, did not always sink into hypnotic sleep. Particularly distinguished in this respect was Frau d’Esperance , who was often able to speak with and observe the participants during the sittings^*. If the magician remains awake, he has, in particular, the further advantage that he can himself check at any time how long he may allow the subconscious to work without injury to his health and without excessive exertion.

In this respect the spiritualists often commit a grave error by overstraining the mediums, who ordinarily are more or less in a state of unconsciousness, in order to produce phenomena of as great an importance as possible. The centres of the subconscious active in the manifestations of spirits naturally generally take no account of the physical consequences of overexertion. It would therefore be urgently desirable that at least one physician should supervise the physical condition of the medium during hypnosis.

On the consequences of a particularly outstanding performance by the well-known medium Frau d’Esperance, Seiling reports: “The event had a very serious aftermath. With difficulty Frau d’E. was able to leave my apartment. When the sleigh had arrived before her lodgings, General T. lifted her out, being utterly astonished at her slight body weight. Frau d’E. informed him

^* Seiling , My Experiences, p. 6.

^** My Experiences, p. 19.

thereupon that after sittings her weight had often been found to be about five kilograms less than normal. This time, he thought, the difference must have been considerably greater. When she departed two days later, Frau d’E. looked so battered and exhausted that serious concern had to be felt about the course of the journey. It nevertheless passed without mishap; but once home, Frau d’E. felt herself becoming more debilitated and apathetic from day to day, and was afflicted by such an unusual craving for sleep that for this reason alone she could no longer hold her professional position. Her hair became visibly white, although she was not much over thirty years old. A detailed account requested by State Councillor Aksákow of what she had felt during and after this memorable sitting could be given only after a quarter of a year had elapsed, because until then even the recollection of this phenomenon, with all its frightening sensations, had been unbearable to her. A full year had to pass in costly journeys to southern spas before Frau d’E. was restored to some degree. During the last months her mediumistic gift had totally disappeared and then returned only very gradually; incidentally, even now (after almost five years) it has still by no means attained its full former strength.”

Of the Scottish medium Home , Crookes^* writes that he witnessed the distressing state of nervous and physical exhaustion in which some experiments left Mr. Home, and that he saw him lying on the floor in an almost fainting condition, pale and speechless.

It is therefore not surprising that the mediums are almost regularly neurasthenic or hysterical personalities, that the spiritualist experiments have in many cases fallen into serious disrepute, and that genuine Spiritism is increasingly being supplanted by the occultist and theosophical tendency hostile to experiments with spirits.

What one person cannot accomplish is often accomplished by several or many through their combined efforts. That matters are no different in magic has long been known to the spiritualists. They therefore usually unite in so-called “circles,” in which two or more persons work together. In my view, a kind of magical “force balancing,” that is, a state of energetic equilibrium, is formed in such spiritualist gatherings, so that

^* Spiritism and Science, p. 102. Leipzig 1898, Oswald Mutze.

greater feats can be accomplished without excessive overexertion on the part of the individual. Therefore, for the production of stronger magical phenomena, scientific magical circles should be formed for both the conscious ego and the subconscious, which, for the rest, work similarly to the spiritualist ones, so that in this respect I may refer to the relevant spiritualist literature. Naturally, for particularly significant feats, personalities well endowed in the same direction must come together. In addition, longer practice and mutual habituation are necessary for uniform cooperation. That a personality newly entering the circle has a disruptive effect is well known to the spiritualists.

Since, as has already been explained, in the magic of the subconscious greater power must be granted to individual centres over the body, it is clear that this is more difficult and more dangerous to handle than the magic of the conscious ego, particularly in view of our still inadequate knowledge of the subconscious. Yet the latter, too, especially at the beginning and in cases of exaggeration, can lead to disturbances in the nervous system generally and thus ultimately, through the involuntary overstimulation of individual centres of the subconscious, to an involuntary magic of the same. The spiritualists evidently avoid these dangers chiefly by not, as stated previously, ordinarily conducting the experiments alone, but by carrying them out jointly with several persons. In such cases the individual is, so to speak, excluded from the magical chain and free outside the established period of joint practice. Young and inexperienced persons should therefore work only in conjunction with others.

The exercises in which the subconscious plays a greater role are likely to require a great deal of patience and perseverance from most people, and considerable fluctuations will occur which may easily discourage the beginner. Here it is not merely a matter of one’s own good will; one is also simultaneously dependent upon the current mood of the subconscious. What Schiller says in verses quoted earlier about the divinely gifted singer—that one cannot command him, but must allow him to follow his inner urge at the proper time—applies, mutatis mutandis, also to the great spiritualist mediums. Their performances are subject to quite extraordinary fluctuations. Yet a time is simply fixed for the medium’s sitting, and it takes place whether whether he is disposed or not. How often is a great singer or actor “indisposed”! In this case the performance is cancelled. But now let us imagine a spiritistic medium who is usually nervous or hysterically disposed. How is he always to recognize whether his subconscious will function properly at the announced time? He has no deeper insight into the whole nature of the matter and is frequently only a helpless instrument of his subconscious. Is it surprising, then, that numerous professional mediums artificially lend a hand in order to preserve their reputation and are therefore not infrequently exposed as frauds?

Furthermore, it must also be taken into consideration that the mediums are often treated quite incorrectly by the examiners. One may not simply demand scientific demonstrations from a genius in the representation of spirit manifestations. Quite different centres and organs are developed in such a person, and it would be similar to suddenly demanding drawing skills from a musical genius. A typical example is provided by a séance which the famous Scottish medium D. D.

Home held in Petersburg in the presence of a number of scholars. It failed completely, evidently because the entire arrangement was far too scientific for the religiously and somewhat naively disposed medium, and especially because the clumsiness of one of those present repeatedly prevented the medium from entering into a proper “spirit mood.” How difficult it would be, for example, even for an ordinary speaker with a carefully rehearsed speech to get into a proper mood if the entire audience regarded him from the outset with mocking and hostile eyes and everything were calculated solely to expose him as a fraud.

In many spiritistic experiments, even with great mediums, those present must also cooperate consciously or unconsciously if anything significant is to be accomplished. They must therefore put themselves into an appropriate mood. Nevertheless, there are still sufficient means of controlling whether, as a result, mere sensory deceptions or real phenomena are involved—for example, photography, physical apparatus, etc., which objectively record the facts wholly independently of the observer’s state of mind and any possible prejudice and suggestion.

On this occasion I must incidentally remark that at present there prevails an outright ridiculous aversion to, and an incredible mistrust of, every subjective observation and especially self-observation in this field. Because the mentally ill, drunkards, morphinists, and hypnotized persons deprived of will confuse their compulsive ideas and hallucinations with reality, the experimenting natural scientist is also supposed not to be capable of observing and studying his voluntary, skilfully produced hallucinations and illusions, or the magical demonstrations of spiritistic mediums, systematically! Naturally, this does not preclude isolated errors and self-deceptions. But such things have occasionally happened even to the greatest investigators in other fields of natural science, such as physics, chemistry, astronomy, etc.

If the believing Spiritist is accused of prejudice and sensory deception, the matter may also be reversed. A scholar who from the outset regards all spiritistic phenomena as pure humbug and fraud, who possesses no deeper insight, understanding, or interest in them, is likewise not a suitable person to judge them, for conversely he can very easily find fraud and deception where none exists.

All the circumstances mentioned above make it understandable that different observers sometimes arrived at entirely different views and results concerning the performances of one and the same medium; it becomes understandable why Eusapia Palladino was recognized as an outstanding medium by a number of distinguished investigators, for example by Schiaparelli and Lombroso, while on the other hand she was repeatedly exposed as a fraud. Such an occasional exposure proves nothing, in my conviction, and in particular it is wholly impermissible to issue a definitive judgment on the basis of a single séance.

Of course, I do not in the least mean to deny by this that there have often been professional frauds who abused the credulity of men. Nevertheless, the magical phenomena possess a real foundation, which challenges scientific explanation. On every still obscure field of knowledge, superstition, fraud, and deception have repeatedly played a role. One need only think of astrology and alchemy.

Incidentally, the Spiritists rightly emphasize that various “exposures” which have become downright famous were in reality no such thing at all, but were based merely upon an incorrect interpretation of the spiritistic phenomena involved.

Particularly well known is the alleged exposure of the medium Bastian by Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria and Archduke Johann in Vienna. When the appearing “spirit” was seized, it emerged that the medium himself had assumed its role. Thus, naturally, Bastian and, of course, Spiritism as a whole appeared to have been branded. The only expert participant in this séance was the Baron von Hellenbach mentioned earlier, who, firmly convinced of the medium’s innocence, maintained that it had been a transfiguration of the medium. It thus also becomes intelligible that Bastian, so suddenly roused from trance, nobly refused the honorarium of 1000 gulden offered to him and withdrew from public life so as not to be “abused by the spirits” a second time. In addition, an “Odexteriorisation” had apparently taken place at the same time, as I already described in V. S. 105, since the “spirit’s” clothing had disappeared without a trace.

Du Prel therefore rightly continues, in his discussion of the exposures in the passage cited in V. S.

121: “At the beginning of the movement, the Spiritists for years did grave injustice to various mediums by attributing this fraud to the mediums themselves. For when the phantom was seized and the medium was inside it as the core of the whole matter, the exposure was complete. With time, however, people became more cautious; for it became evident that this occurrence itself takes place temporarily even with the best mediums … The concept of transfiguration was not invented in order to exonerate mediums; rather, it often occurs on its own in a very convincing manner and is limited to the face, without the medium walking about. A medium of this kind seems to have been Simon the Magician in apostolic times.”

Incidentally, transfigurations probably occur not merely for the reasons given on p. 113, that is, as a consequence of confusions, but, especially in cases of very great overexertion of the medium, direct intentional misdirection and hostile demonstrations on the part of “evil spirits” may occur, according to my own experiences of myself, so that Bastian was not unjustified in admitting an “abuse by spirits.”

It was occasionally asserted of the somnambulist Madeleine that she later at times lent a hand. Even that, I believe, need not be assumed, even if it should really have been the case, by no means to be regarded as actual fraud. In the exercise of her art she was in a light hypnosis. It is quite conceivable that this was not always sufficiently deep, but that the conscious ego could still be active and was involuntarily active, and that a mixed effect then arose between the dance art of the conscious ego and that of the subconscious. As I emphasized earlier, in the achievements of geniuses, but especially in the everyday activities of ordinary human beings, the activities of the conscious ego and the subconscious usually merge with one another, and a unified resultant arises in which it is scarcely possible any longer to state what is to be attributed to the one or the other.

Something similar also applies to purely magical phenomena. A mixed effect of this kind can be produced here, for example, in optical and acoustic hallucinations, when one places oneself and the relevant area of the subconscious in a specific state by looking at pictures and drawings, by picking flowers for a bouquet, or by listening to music of “mood” and then seeks without constraint , without forcibly holding on to a single one among the many related ideas that now arise, yet also without remaining completely passive—as opposed to the pure magic of the subconscious—to immerse oneself in one’s thoughts and reveries concerning what has been seen and heard, naturally, in contrast to the painter, musician, or artist in general, not setting the ultimate purpose in the cultivation of art or music, but rather in the endeavor to see and hear again what has been seen and heard, that is, to reproduce it hallucinatorily, optically and acoustically. Such a mixed effect was evidently present in the manner of learning magical writing described by me in Section III.

Both I and the relevant centers of the subconscious had the desire to learn magical writing, to communicate with and support one another, so that both worked together accordingly. Incidentally, a pure magic of the subconscious, once initially begun, not infrequently gradually passes over into a combined form.

4. Influence of Physical Condition on the Production of Magical Phenomena

In discussing the nature of the subconscious, I emphasized especially at the conclusion that the various psychic functions must be localized in the cerebral cortex. Why, then, do different centers of the cerebral cortex have different psychic functions?

This depends not merely upon their structure, upon their position in the cerebral cortex (we may disregard here the psychic activity of centers of lower standing), and upon their habituation, but also upon their relationships to peripheral organs. In the case of certain personifications, I can clearly perceive that they exert an extraordinarily great influence upon certain organs, especially also upon those withdrawn from my volition. In cases of degeneration, they can seriously abuse the same, and they often offer considerable resistance to my attempts to restrict its influence to a lesser degree.

The centers as well as the terminal nerves and terminal organs are already known for numerous sensations, feelings, and impulses. The latter are distributed throughout the body and are located, for example, in the eye for optical sensations, in the ear for acoustic sensations, in the sexual organs for sexual sensations, and in the mouth, pharynx, and stomach for feelings of thirst and hunger.

According to my experience, there are also various terminal organs for many other, more complicated and more intellectual feelings, especially in the region of the sympathetic nervous system. Thus, partly according to the personifications’ own statements, the peripheral, specific terminal and pleasure nerves for lofty and noble feelings lie chiefly in the pyloric region, those for religious and exalted feelings especially in the region of the upper small intestine (Plexus solaris coeliacus), etc.; those for diabolical, base, and inferior feelings and impulses lie partly in the region of the large intestine (goat-like forms) and the rectum (horse’s foot). The latter makes it intelligible that the stench of devils plays a role in magic and that my diabolical goat-foot personification is a master at producing hallucinations of the smell of intestinal gas.

When such personifications become too highly developed, unnatural, spasmodic constrictions and obstructions to the passage of intestinal contents therefore easily arise at corresponding points in the gastrointestinal tract, as it were territorial boundaries, which sometimes cause considerable inconveniences both to me and, especially, to them among themselves. Indeed, disputes may arise with the “man in front” over how much should still be allowed to pass at any given time. Of course, when the restoration of calm is not already achieved by other centers, I then seek in various ways to compel them to resolve such difficulties through simpler psychophysical or physical means instead of by way of diplomatic negotiations, for example by thinking intensely about other things, so that they are deprived of the possibility of carrying on more extensive intellectual activity, or by changing the entire situation through gymnastic exercises. That the centers standing in especially close relationship to the digestive tract are so highly developed in me will be understandable when I state that for four decades I have repeatedly suffered from nervous digestive disorders. For this reason, since that time I have also been compelled to observe and study myself in this direction, so that before the beginning of my actual magical experiments there lie, if one wishes, more than 20 years of involuntary preliminary work.

When food and drink are withheld for a prolonged period, thereby causing strong irritation of the specific nerves of the digestive tract, not merely the general feeling of hunger and thirst arises, but the specific ideas soon follow, and finally even the optical hallucinations of food and drink, that is, of things serving to satisfy and calm the irritated nerves. The emergence of such hallucinations is to be conceived as follows: the centers of the cerebral cortex standing in closer relation to the stomach and therefore initially affected, but subsequently also more remote centers, are seized by the feeling of hunger and thirst and imagine the relevant objects, and also induce the conscious ego to do so, until the ideas and, with them, the optical excitations, through the combined cooperation of more extensive portions of the cerebral cortex, are finally so strong that they also seize the peripheral optical regions and become hallucinations^*. In an analogous manner one gradually perceives quite distinctly the taste and smell of the food and drink in question, and finally one can literally eat and drink magically, as is reported of various saints and penitents and as I myself have also been able to observe on myself several times with sufficient clarity. Naturally, one will undertake the magical reproduction of food and drink only on an empty stomach, because the excitation of the specific terminal nerves and terminal organs already present then creates a general predisposition for the corresponding hallucinations.

^* In this way the hallucinations of hunger of Mikkelsen and Iversen mentioned in Chapter VIII are to be explained.

Other magical experiments, too, will generally be undertaken, as far as possible, under conditions conducive to their success. For this reason the Spiritists hold their séances in the evening and in a darkened room, since a “spirit atmosphere” is not so easily achieved in broad daylight and, moreover, optical hallucinations are naturally easier to see in the dark. They have, however, thereby fallen into disrepute, because under such conditions fraud is easily practised. The mediums themselves are as a rule in hypnotic sleep, here called “ trance ,” whereby the relevant centres of the subconscious are not disturbed by the ideas of the waking consciousness, which, when more intense, they experience as obsessive ideas. In especially favourably disposed individuals, however, as already mentioned on p. 117, sleep is not necessary; indeed, the phenomena may even occur in broad daylight.

The peripheral terminal organs for feelings of fear - and terror are known to lie partly in the skin (the breaking out of gooseflesh, similar to what happens when one is cold). It is therefore understandable that skin excitations of one kind are capable of favouring those of the other kind. When one is afraid, “a cold shiver runs down one’s spine,” as the saying goes. One also becomes cold more easily on that account. It is similar when one thinks of ghosts and spirits.

In this case, too, excitations of the peripheral cutaneous nerves play an important role. At séances, therefore, the participants regularly observe in themselves a striking feeling of cold. They cannot explain it. Indeed, a well-known Italian scholar says of it: “Perhaps symbolically it is the coldness of the graves which open to let the dead come out?

It is certain that it is perceptible and not imaginary.”

On the other hand, I observed in myself with certainty that intense cold favours feelings of fear and, with them, corresponding hallucinations. When, in winter, for purposes of examination, I remained for a long time outside the bed at night in the cold bedroom, clothed only in a shirt, devilish figures forced their way into the circle of my ideas with ever greater power^*). And when such ideas, as a result

^* Even now, although for years I have made no more deliberate experiments of this kind, I can easily recognise that horned, goat-footed figures and related forms of various kinds begin to stir within me as soon as, for example, in cold weather, I remain sitting quietly for a longer time (even in broad daylight) until the onset of a cold. The warm stove then quickly drives away this kind of devil.

of the entire preceding way of life had come to play a greater role at all, I sometimes did not dare leave the warm bed at night, because otherwise they began to become visibly hallucinatory and also affected the whole body in the most alarming manner.

In order especially to favour feelings of fear and terror in myself and to evoke corresponding hallucinations, after dusk had fallen I roamed on the hunt, in cold, windy, rainy weather, through the wooded, marshy floodplains of a larger, rushing river—the Isar—and deliberately thought of uncanny things, of stories about robbers and ghosts that I had previously read. Given my great sensitivity, after only a few attempts, although I carried the loaded gun on my back, I was seized by an abnormal feeling of fear such as I had never known before. Soon the corresponding ideas also appeared ever more vividly; finally illusions and hallucinations followed. When the wind moved the branches, murderous hands seemed to reach out for me; uncanny, terrifying figures with drawn knives seemed to threaten me; black, sinister fellows seemed to lie in wait for me; in short, the effect was such that I soon preferred not to develop this kind of mediumship any further. Moreover, I had sufficiently achieved my purpose of becoming somewhat more closely acquainted with and studying this field as well.

Here again one can see how a very far-reaching “splitting of consciousness” may occur, so that the hallucinations and personifications behave like the worst enemies toward one’s own person. The Spiritists often do not wish to believe this and regard hostile demonstrations in particular as proof of the presence of alien beings—in other words, of spirits—in this case of evil spirits. But this conclusion is by no means justified, for, as has already been emphasised, a very characteristic error of the personifications that appear consists in their actually taking themselves to be what they merely hallucinate, and in acting accordingly . Conversely, it is just as mistaken on the part of the Spiritists to place unconditional faith in a good spirit that appears, even if it declares itself to be that of the deceased father, mother, or spouse and also legitimises itself as such by its behaviour. In the event of a deception, one cannot reproach the “spirit” (i.e. the relevant part of the subconscious) for behaving unnaturally and mendaciously toward the conscious ego, because it itself does not know any better. The error is based precisely on mutual misunderstanding. The person who invokes the spirit is labouring under the error that the personifications appearing are spirits and treats them accordingly , while conversely the personifications really take themselves for spirits and act accordingly .

It follows from what was mentioned earlier that the stimulation of specific terminal nerves evokes or at least favours specific ideas: thus, stimulation of the pharyngeal and gastric nerves evokes ideas of food and drink, while stimulation of certain peripheral cutaneous nerves evokes ideas of spirits, ghosts, and so forth.

This also frequently underlies dreams. When the sexual system is strongly excited, for example by seminal pressure, sexual hallucinations and personifications appear in dreams. In cases of abnormal over-excitability they even occur in a state of complete wakefulness.

In an analogous manner, excitation of other terminal organs or even centres may ultimately give rise to the most varied other ideas, hallucinations, and dreams, so that evidently the physical exerts a mighty influence upon the psychical .

Finally, through the simultaneous excitation of various terminal nerves and terminal organs and of the higher centres belonging to them, the most varied combinations are possible, whereby the strangest and most adventurous forms often appear hallucinatorily, although they generally fail to assume any greater role.

Such beings can initially be accommodated neither among the customary conceptions of the spirits of the dead nor of devils, nor among those of human beings and animals. Upon closer examination, however, one finds that they are nothing more than fantastic distortions of familiar and normal forms, or combinations of parts of different ones, similar to the mythological figures that play a role among the most diverse peoples, poets, and artists. Incidentally, even the devilish goat-foot that repeatedly appears to me is essentially only the combination of a human figure with that of a nanny goat standing upright on its hind legs and having short horns. From this point, however, the most varied distortions and exaggerations of individual parts of the body take place, especially even if I or other centers vigorously oppose it, so that it does not attain its ideal.

When, in pathological cases, specific terminal organs (or centers as well) are permanently strongly excited, permanent obsessive ideas or even obsessive hallucinations may arise for the conscious ego. The various centers of the subconscious naturally choose, according to their psychophysical constitution, their inclinations and passions, and their degree of education, specifically different ideas. In my case, apart from members of the Bavarian royal house, the sovereign ones prefer the German Emperor, Napoleon I., Bismarck, Moltke, etc. When I question them, they explain, naturally once again confusing reality and idea and lacking a deeper understanding of the nature of the personalities appearing before their minds: “I can assume various forms; I need not be merely German Emperor; I can also be Napoleon or Bismarck, Moltke.” They thus proceed, in a certain sense, from the view that one can change one’s form as one changes one’s clothes. For the most part, however, of the various ideas sympathetic to them they prefer one particular form for a shorter or longer period, or even permanently. They then say: “That is my favorite form, which I have permanently chosen for myself and in which I feel most at ease.”

My colon centers cling particularly tenaciously to the aforementioned goat’s-foot form, although on occasion they were also enthusiastic about other figures, e.g. an African Barotse chief, whose picture I happened to see, or the black-haired gypsy boy in Murillo’s “Dice Players.”

Thus, when in my case the transverse colon, or the corresponding centers in the brain, are strongly excited, the hallucination of the diabolical goat’s foot ordinarily arises. At the same time, a considerable swelling of the colon occurs, and with it an erection of the same, which is equivalent to the erections of the organs that the conscious ego is able to produce.

But, as I have learned partly through my own observation and partly through communications from kindly disposed personifications, those centers which stand in a closer relationship to individual sections of the intestine achieve such an erection by pushing the contents together at particular places in the portions under their control and then firmly closing those places.

Through the distension, the adjacent peripheral nerves are irritated, and there arise for the corresponding centers of the cerebral cortex specific feelings of pleasure, which facilitate their holding fast to their specific favorite ideas and hallucinations.

Some personifications carry out such manipulation with great passion, so that I often have a difficult position. In this respect I especially fear the “goat’s and horse’s foot.” I must positively designate the corresponding centers as onanists, who hold fast to their mythological goat’s-foot and horse’s-foot figures with incredible tenacity and are moreover inclined toward sexual masturbation, cruelty, and other vices, corresponding to the constitution of their peripheral organs or their immediate vicinity.

The immorality and seductive arts of devils are, as is well known, of important significance in the history of magic.

It is well known that persons suffering from functional nerve disorders believe that they perceive displacements and movements of the intestines. According to my conviction, this is by no means always mere imagination. That I do not, for example, deceive myself in observing intestinal erections is shown by the fact that, with my usually very lean body, I can readily see the strong protrusion of the transverse colon as soon as the “goat’s foot” appears, or even merely the specifically inward voice or feeling that my legs are becoming goat-footed. My goat’s foot can furthermore bend and twist the colon in the most various ways and alter its position, particularly also in order to conceal its erection more effectively. It can perform various tricks with it, such as the conscious human being usually performs only with organs possessing striated musculature. When it becomes bored, for example, it twists, at a spot lying exactly in the middle of the transverse colon above the umbilical region, as I occasionally feel with great precision, small rounded excremental pellets in the form of those of a billy goat. The horse’s foot occasionally imitates such a trick, naturally in its own section of the intestine, and, since it is enamored of what is larger and more massive and since the horse is its archetype in various respects—though not in the best ones—on an enlarged scale.

When such phenomena occur in a person for pathological reasons and he therefore consults a physician, the latter frequently finds nothing of what the patient has reported to him. During a medical examination, such purely functional disturbances are particularly liable to disappear, if only because the patient’s attention is then especially strongly occupied and consequently the hallucinations of the subconscious and the erections of the peripheral organs are pushed back. In cases of particular sensitivity, an actual erection does not occur at all. A stronger peripheral nerve stimulus suffices to produce the same ideas and hallucinations.

As a kind of universal remedy, physicians advise such a patient to seek the greatest possible diversion. The principal matter here is to suppress, through the images of ideas aroused by the external world, the ideas and hallucinations caused from within, that is, by the subconscious, according to the familiar principle that at any given time only a single idea can be clearly present in consciousness. This remedy, however, does not suffice in all cases. When the matter concerns particularly pleasant ideas and especially simple feelings of pleasure or deeply rooted passions of the subconscious, then, with the erection and irritation of their peripheral organs, a larger number of centers, often under the leadership of individual ones—e.g. in my case, the goat’s foot—frequently combine with quite extraordinary tenacity and hold fast to them for a longer period despite the most violent and strongest counter-ideas, until the stimulus seizes still further centers that were initially uninvolved and finally corresponding compulsive feelings, - ideas, and -hallucinations arise even for the conscious ego. One need only consider what an irresistible and intolerable stimulus can arise through a slight illness or other excitation of even wholly inferior and subordinate organs—in coughing, sneezing, catarrh, diarrhea, hunger, thirst, etc.

(Compare in this connection, in Chapter VIII, Mikkelsen’s hallucinations of hunger.) In pathological cases, overexcitation of higher psychic terminal organs or centers unquestionably acts no less powerfully.

In addition to those mentioned thus far, I could cite any number of other examples from my own immediate experience. They show what overwhelming influence individual centers of the subconscious, whether personified or not, are capable of exerting, temporarily or even permanently, upon the physical and mental condition of man. They moreover prove the correctness of my assertion that these centers possess intellectual abilities and at the same time offer the key to a deeper understanding of neurasthenia and hysteria and, in general, of functional nervous and mental diseases, as well as numerous psychic abnormalities and perversions. Literature, too, provides examples in great number. Yet until now psychiatrists have not sufficiently understood them, owing to their inadequate knowledge concerning the nature of the subconscious. Here are only a few examples of both kinds: The Viennese physician Dr. Breuer reports the case of a hysterical girl: “It had been a period of intense heat in the summer, and the patient had suffered terribly from thirst; for, without being able to give any reason, she had suddenly become unable to drink. She took the desired glass of water in her hand, but as soon as it touched her lips, she pushed it away like a hydrophobic person.

At the same time, she was evidently in a state of absence for those few seconds. She lived only on fruit, melons, and the like, in order to alleviate the agonizing thirst. When this had lasted about six weeks, she once reasoned in hypnosis about her English companion, whom she did not love, and then recounted, with every sign of disgust, how she had gone into the latter’s room, and how her little dog, the disgusting animal, had drunk from a glass. She had said nothing because she wanted to be polite. After she had given vigorous expression to her pent-up annoyance, she asked for something to drink, drank a large quantity of water without restraint, and awoke from hypnosis with the glass at her lips. The disturbance had thereby disappeared forever.”

The reason for the tormenting aversion to water was therefore that individual centers of the subconscious had felt disgust at the dog’s drinking from the glass and from then on, in remembrance of it, forcibly prevented the conscious ego from drinking as well each time at the decisive moment. Their disgust evidently went deeper than their thirst. (Through my immediate observations of myself, I can repeatedly establish that even such “universally human” needs as eating and drinking are quite indifferent to individual centers of my subconscious —though, in contrast to many others, they are wholly indifferent to them; indeed, even when only moderately satiated, these centers themselves come directly to detest them. Compare also what is said further back under psychic differentiation and splitting.) In this case the hysterical and pathological element lay in the overwhelming influence of the subconscious, which was, however, entirely one-sided, since it related solely to drinking. The “imagination,” however, in such a “ imaginary illness ” was not on the side of the conscious ego, but of the subconscious.

A gentleman known to me, Dr. St., a chemist, informed me one evening that in the afternoon, without any discernible cause, he had suddenly been seized by a severe feeling of anxiety, which had held him captive for a considerable time.

Sudden attacks of anxiety and fear, outbursts of merriment and rage, hysterical fainting fits, etc., are, as is well known, not uncommon among nervous people. Nervous anxiety and fear, melancholy, intense agitation, paling, in general “ functional nervous disorders ” can be brought about in my case by various causes. If, for example, merely intestinal gases or other intestinal contents become lodged at some point as a result of my body’s continual unfavorable position or posture, perhaps during strenuous study, or if they are intentionally blocked by overpowering personifications in the peripheral areas under their control^*, the centers suffering under this condition, likewise under specific erection of their peripheral organs, often develop utterly incredible psychophysical powers, which can strongly influence my own emotional life—that is, that of my upper consciousness—even against my will and against my better knowledge, at least temporarily.

When the “horse’s foot” is in a bad mood, it tries to paw the ground with its feet, like a horse, but often confusing its imagined feet with my actual feet (compare in this connection what was reported on the tongue exercises of the round-head on p. 36), in that, whenever I set down one foot while walking, it seeks to drag that foot backward along the ground, so that several times it directly cost me an exertion to resist, in order not to attract attention in the street. Sometimes it tries to wink with my eyes.

Jean Paul relates that Cardinal Richelieu at times had the need to stamp about like a horse and paw the ground with his feet. Evidently he was then strongly influenced by a personification corresponding to my horse’s foot.

^* In this latter case, the purely psychic treatment mentioned on p. 135

could evidently, under certain circumstances, also lead to the elimination of the evil, since the centers in question possess intellectual abilities.

A Roman field commander is said, after returning from the campaign, to have had the need to play like a child, thus acting in accordance with the wishes of my personification “Child.” The deeper reason was certainly to eliminate, through activity in an entirely different, opposing direction, a disturbance in the psychophysical equilibrium of the various nerve centers, which had arisen as a result of the prolonged, one-sided exertion of their powers.

When in a bad mood, the “goat’s foot” endeavors to turn both eyes forcibly inward (i.e. toward the root of the nose), so that “nervous visual disorders,” particularly difficulties in precise fixation, arise, or to strike the heel of the shoe on my right foot against the left ankle in order to hurt me. It carries this out especially often when it becomes too warm during a walk, since it likes to be cool, or immediately cold. It expresses its displeasure in a similar way when the contents of the large intestine do not possess the quality and quantity agreeable to it. If necessary, it calls out to me beforehand: “You must not eat that anymore, otherwise I shall have too much work,” or “you must not drink that anymore, otherwise the intestinal contents will become too thin and purulent; that irritates me too much.” “I do not want to work all day.”

When a strenuous bicycle ride has gone on too long, I have already been thrown off the bicycle several times by personifications (horse, horse’s foot, etc.) that stand closer to certain muscle centers and therefore suffer more severely from the fatigue, in that they held one hand stiff, so that despite all resistance I was unable, for several seconds, to steer the handlebars adequately and was forced to head toward a rut in the road. At the same time I was mockingly derided with the cries: “I will not let myself be worked to death,” or “the fellow must get off,” etc. That they themselves would suffer most in the event of a broken leg or arm is either not sufficiently clear to them or is a matter of indifference to them in their agitation.

As soon as the “horse’s foot,” and with it the tendency to develop my (middle) foot into a horse’s foot, appears more strongly, the front and rear parts of the feet, especially the toes, become cold; the skin of the heels develops numerous cracks running confusedly in all directions, which rapidly grow deeper and would finally begin to hurt and in any case also to bleed if I did not take countermeasures.

The Dr. Breuer already cited further above reports the following: A 21-year-old girl had a stiff paralysis of the two right-side extremities and insensitivity in them, at times the same affections on the left side of the body, disturbances of the eyes, manifold impairment of vision, difficulties in holding the head, nervous coughing, states of absence, confusions and deliriums, alteration of the entire personality. The patient was cured through purely psychological influence.

In order to investigate such hysterical conversions (i.e. according to Freud, transformations of psychological states into bodily innervations) by psychological means at all, and to learn how to eliminate them, psychoanalysis was founded in the years 1880-82 by the aforementioned Dr. Breuer, and is being further developed by Freud and his pupils^*. For the present I cannot yet enter into the relationships between its results and my own experiments.

Since more and more personifications gradually appear in my case, one would have to expect that my condition must correspondingly grow constantly worse. As mentioned earlier, however, this is not the case, for on the one hand neighboring personifications necessarily interfere with one another when their erections become more extensive and thus keep one another in check; on the other hand, the peripheral organs, e.g. in the intestinal tract, are all the more induced by the irritation of the congestions associated with the erection to distribute the contents and thereby eliminate the erection. A greater danger is consequently repeatedly removed.

Nevertheless, especially at the beginning, I had continually to seek new means of combating the various personifications and the disturbances caused by them. Since the cerebral centers themselves cannot readily be reached directly, except perhaps by means of medications, I proceeded via their more accessible peripheral organs. But in order, when intervening against specific disturbances, so to speak to strike only the guilty authors of those disturbances and spare the organs of uninvolved centers—in other words, to be able to “aim magically”—it was of particular importance to me to know the exact location of the erect peripheral end-organs. This can, however, be found in various ways, e.g. by paying attention to the pleasant and unpleasant

^* See, for example, “On Psychoanalysis.” Five Lectures by Prof. Dr. Freud.

Leipzig and Vienna. Franz Deutike.

^** Here I am alluding to an expression of Ehrlich’s, who says that physicians must learn to “ aim chemically,” i.e. seek, with their medications, to strike as far as possible only the diseased and degenerated organs, without affecting others.

feelings that come from the various parts of the body, especially also by directing one’s attention to a suspicious part of the body and inwardly, so to speak, making inquiry regarding the physical or psychological condition of the associated personification. If, for example, I proceed in this way with the pyloric region, that is, the peripheral nerve areas of the “Highness,” I then hear, when listening, its voice apparently coming from there, but from the middle of the transverse colon that of the “Goat’s Foot,” etc.

This also explains why hallucinated persons often claim to hear voices coming from various parts of the body, or why their tormentor, the devil, or indeed their guardian spirit, etc., is seated in this or that part of the body (in which the peripheral end-organ of the personification in question is located).

As for the application of countermeasures, in the case of personifications whose terminal areas are located, for example, in the intestinal region, I achieve a very favorable effect—apart from purgatives and other means that prevent a persistent stiffening (erection) or a complete closure of their intestinal sections—when I perform movements of the trunk, or even, while lying down, repeatedly turn alternately from one side to the other. In this way the personifications concerned—as the “Goat’s Foot” once inadvertently revealed to me, much to my annoyance—are severely disturbed in their dreamings and hallucinations, because each time this produces a considerable change in the position of the loosely suspended viscera and consequently also of their peripheral pleasure nerves and erect end-organs, so that they generally prefer to yield rather than attempt to force a continuation.

Furthermore, bracing individual parts of the spinal column against a hard object, for example against the back of a chair while sitting, proved to be a specific remedy against numerous personifications. When the “Goat’s Foot” appears, I must specifically treat the spinous process of the 10th or 11th thoracic vertebra in this manner. This gradually causes the erection of the transverse colon (especially its middle portions) to subside, the goat’s-foot Vorstellungen disappear, and the passage for the intestinal contents becomes free there once more.

Later unpleasant and finally directly painful sensations follow. Then it is high time to stop, otherwise the harm is greater than the benefit. The process is in any case to be understood as follows: when the relevant part of the spinal column is pressed against and thereby bent inward, the ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system lying in front of it, which innervate the aforementioned section of intestine and are under the dominion of the Goat’s Foot, are gradually paralyzed as well.

But since the erections often showed no inclination to subside even after hours, I used the nighttime to combat them and, while lying in bed, placed a spherical bundle of cloth beneath the spinal column, specifically against the “Goat’s Foot,” naturally in the area mentioned earlier. In the case of more extensive erections extending over larger sections of the intestine, I bound my abdomen with a strap in order to leave the erect organs as little room for movement as possible. In the latter cases, however, especially “Goat’s Foot and Horse’s Foot” understood it in a highly ingenious fashion to push their intestinal section farther backward against the spinal column, that is, back into the depths of the abdominal cavity, so that I often had to carry the tightening to the utmost in order to get sufficiently at them as well.

Entirely without intending it, I thereby acquired, as I may mention in passing, great skill in this respect. In August 1915 the circumference of my naked body, compressed in this way between chest and pelvis, was 39 cm. A local physician, Dr. H., to whom I once demonstrated the procedure on the occasion of a chance meeting (thus without any special preparations on my part), can testify to a body circumference of 39½ cm. The stretching of the strap is taken into account. The relatively easy flexibility of my ribs and rib cartilages for my age at that time (51½ years), as well as the complete absence of any accumulation of fat in my body, naturally also played a role. (My body weight at the same time was 37½ kg (75 pounds). From then on it slowly began to rise again. Before the beginning of my magical experiments, from the 24th to the 36th year of my life, it fluctuated around 50 kg, with a height of 1,64 m.

Individual personifications, especially the “Goat’s Foot,” were, as already mentioned, not infrequently extraordinarily obstinate and, in their most extreme sensory frenzy, almost entirely insensitive to the stirrings and objections of other feelings and psychological centers. As a result, the latter were naturally themselves injured and irritated to the greatest degree, and corresponding counterreactions ensued. I myself was often swept along against my will and fell into a terrible rage, so that I struck with my fist and with things much cruder still at the otherwise very sensitive organs of my opponents. That did harm but in this state either not at all, or else they recovered again in an incredibly short time. In such cases I likewise felt no appreciable pain. (Cf. in this connection invulnerability.) I had, however, thereby fallen into another extreme and was, if one will, in the initial stage of a kind of “mania.”

Various countermeasures against these too emerged, in individual cases partly instinctively. To be sure, at first I again greatly exaggerated matters, often to the utmost. In any event, in my harsh and ruthless procedure against myself I was partly involuntarily influenced by the manipulations of the ascetics and visionaries of former times, which, in keeping with my upbringing and education, had been familiar to me from my youth; but I was also partly caught up in the generally widespread prejudice that magic makes quite exceptional demands upon human beings.

Since I cannot discuss my experiences in this regard here in any further detail, I should only emphasize that, according to the foregoing, a “ Self-abuse ” of the frenzied frequently possesses a sound inner basis. It is namely not self-abuse in the proper sense, at least not intentional self-abuse, although as a result of the unity of the human organism it ultimately does become such, but rather, following a prior psychic division, a struggle of psychic centers against one another and against the peripheral organs of the opponent. Such a thing naturally remains incomprehensible to present-day psychiatry, because it has not yet recognized the nature of psychic divisions.

Above I emphasized that one must learn to aim magically and seek to strike only the guilty (p. 135). But I very often failed to do so, especially at first. Other, previously quiet centers were therefore increasingly drawn into the disturbance, and then reacted according to their own nature, so that the agitation spread further and the nervousness became general. Moreover, as mentioned, I proceeded altogether far too harshly and with the utmost exertion of all physical and psychic powers.

Naturally, this was again followed by exhaustion lasting several days, persistent digestive disorders, melancholy, etc. Sometimes everything within me seemed to come alive. One hallucination violently displaced another in wild alternation. (Cf.

Chapter III.) Systems that in a normal person of my age had long since become rigid began to waver. My body often became extraordinarily elastic, pliable, and, I should say, plastic; my pelvis, through the procedures employed against “Bock and cloven hoof,” became strikingly small and narrow. The same thing happened with the thorax and other regions of the body. In the gymnastics class of the Freising men’s gymnastic society I temporarily managed, to the astonishment of my fellow gymnasts, to perform exercises that only very young persons are usually able to accomplish, specifically exercises in which the backward bulging of the pelvis, muscles, and fat padding presents difficulties. On the horizontal bar I was at times able to “stretch through” my arms, as I could scarcely manage to do as a young student, although I had always been a good gymnast (though by no means an artistic gymnast, because I had neither the time nor the opportunity for further training in this field). As a grammar-school student I could easily jump over the “horse” set up lengthwise, using the ordinary springboard, but at the age of 42 I once vaulted simultaneously over the “buck” and “horse,” which had both been arranged lengthwise one behind the other, merely grazing them very lightly at the end! During the run-up I kept my goal rigidly before my eyes; it seemed to exert a veritable magical attraction upon me, and my body flew toward it with a previously unknown lightness, as though it possessed less weight. To be sure, at that time I had felt compelled to spend a few hours resting in bed before gymnastics and to rest as much as possible, so that I could then bring my full bodily and mental powers to bear for this purpose.

The physicians will probably now accuse me of senseless exaggeration. In any event, not altogether without justification, for at times I myself felt almost like a prisoner of various psychic centers rapidly alternating in their dominance, and, not knowing how I should conduct myself toward the ever-new hallucinations and nervous excitations that repeatedly arose, I passed from one extreme to the other. Yet I would not, since I clearly recognized the importance of the problems at issue here, resolve at any price to adopt the obvious radical remedy of abandoning altogether the experiments with the spirits I had summoned. I therefore made a virtue of necessity and did not cease observing and studying the enigmatic processes and their causes. Indeed, by doing so I was gradually able not merely to make my condition more agreeable, but also to set myself a far greater and more desirable goal than magic, so that I now regard the study of magic almost solely as a kind of preliminary work and prerequisite for attaining this new goal.

In any event, it is now established beyond doubt from what has been reported, that there are numerous peripheral nerves, including in particular pleasure nerves, through whose increased excitation specific conceptions and hallucinations are favored (though by no means necessarily brought about), and this not only during sleep but also in the waking state. In normal human beings, many of these usually play no significant role, and for them there are in the human body no actual organs and apparatuses in the ordinary sense, such as exist, for example, for the vegetative functions in the form of the stomach, intestines, heart, liver, etc.; or for sensory perceptions in the form of the eye, ear, nose; or for sexual functions in the form of sexual organs. My personifications therefore continually endeavor to obtain, artificially, actual erectable organs for their purposes, by seeking, for example (as already stated on p.

129 ff.), to distend the section of intestine lying within their peripheral nerve territory by compressing the gases or other contents, and to close it off at both ends. They further endeavor to enlarge their sphere of territory and have often demanded of me that I recognize psychic provinces in which they would like to exercise supremacy, after the manner of the physical districts that, on the basis of bodily structure, exist in the organs and organ systems and which are directed by the higher vegetative centers of the cerebral cortex in the last instance. Naturally, this continually gives rise to conflicts both with me and among the various centers themselves.

It is noteworthy that religious penitents and hermits, who renounced the ordinary and normal pleasures found in eating, drinking, the satisfaction of the social instinct and the sexual instinct, the exercise of personal freedom and independence, etc., developed in compensation a number of unusual pleasures, almost unknown to normal human beings, frequently to the point of actual virtuosity.

5. Influence of Psychological Factors on the Production of Magical Phenomena: The Human Body as an Instrument of Psychological Function

In an optical hallucination, as previously reported, the entire optic nervous system, as well as other nerve complexes (e.g., according to p. 46 those of the eye musculature) is excited. Whoever, then, wishes to imagine the color “red” with realistic distinctness must drive the excitation as far as the retina and the retina from From within (from the brain downward) through the mere power of imagination into exactly the same state as that which arises in the case of actually seeing (perceiving) a red colour through the object of the external world from without . Correspondingly, certain peripheral motor nerves and muscles are innervated when one is capable of imagining a person kinaesthetically —hallucinatorily, that is, walking, acting, and so forth. Analogously, in the hallucinatory reproduction of a distinguished, exalted personality, the corresponding specifically majestic nerve complexes down to the peripheral terminal nerves in the pyloric region must at the same time also be brought into activity; otherwise one may indeed obtain the optical hallucination of the personality in question, but it lacks the specifically majestic and distinguished quality in realistic illusion .

Only then do lifelike heavenly, exalted, and religious hallucinations arise when not merely the entire optical system, etc., but also the specific nerve complexes for exalted and religious feelings, down to the peripheral terminal regions in the upper small-intestinal region, participate. In order to intensify the feelings in question and transport themselves into heavenly rapture, the ancient Indian Yogis, in obedience to the teaching of Yoga, already directed their entire attention to the navel region, crouched together and remaining motionless in the same position, so that as large a portion as possible of the muscular energy released by the strenuous bodily posture was directed thither and the specific feelings of pleasure were heightened to the utmost. In mystical literature there are countless statements that religious ecstatics not only saw the deity, but also felt its presence; indeed, the mystics frequently found their highest reward in not merely beholding the deity already in this world, but also enjoying it, and indulge in lavish descriptions of the heavenly delights that fell to their lot.

It goes without saying, however, that this must not be interpreted as though I wished to claim that religion, religious and exalted feelings, and the divine are altogether and in all cases something purely subjective^*; otherwise one could accuse me with equal justification

^* Presumably in the recognition that the personifications appearing in him were something subjective and more or less dependent upon him and his inner states, Buddha , generalizing his purely personal experiences too greatly, rejected the worship and acknowledgment of a supreme being altogether—a case which stands alone in the history of a founder of a religion.

of holding the external world to be something purely subjective as well, because I claim that it can be imitated in an entirely realistic manner with the aid of peripheral apparatuses^* present in our body (according to pp. 42 and 46).

The state of affairs in the case of an as realistic a hallucination as possible is evidently a very complicated one, because it involves the simultaneous setting in motion and co-operation of more extensive regions of the brain together with the subordinate centres and peripheral terminal branches. On the other hand, such an extreme enhancement of memory and the power of imagination is again favoured by the process itself. For the more nerve complexes participate, and the farther the excitation proceeds toward the periphery, and the more subordinate centres are drawn into it, the more lively and distinct does the memory and imagination become through their joint co-operation toward the same end; the more detailed and realistic does it become, because, on the one hand, perceptions of the external world are themselves always something very complicated, and, on the other hand, the real world acts first and foremost upon our peripheral organs—in seeing, hearing, feeling, etc.—and because, moreover, the specific agreeable stimulus that frequently arises in passing over to the peripheral terminal organs induces not only the corresponding centres, but also numerous more remotely situated centres of the cerebral cortex, to co-operate more intensively, facilitates the retention of the ideas, and prevents attention from deviating to other ideas with other specific centres and terminal organs, by, so to speak, drowning out the weaker stimuli emanating from them at the same time.

^* Incidentally, I should like to mention here that the age-old struggle between divine, heavenly, and religious personifications on the one hand and diabolical ones on the other, which plays a role in all religions, can in part be explained purely psychophysically . The peripheral terminal nerves of the former lie chiefly in the upper small-intestinal region, those of the latter in the transverse colon extending across above it, so that a stronger erection of one section almost necessarily leads to a functional disturbance in the other. I can observe the constant quarrel between the two parties for this reason alone almost daily in myself, although, naturally, above all their psychic tendencies stand diametrically opposed to one another.

Thus, the more deeply one is seized by a particular feeling, and the more strongly consequently the corresponding peripheral organs are affected by it, the more tangible and lifelike do the corresponding ideas and hallucinations become. The more deeply one is seized by divine, exalted, and religious feelings, the more distinctly one perceives divine, exalted, and heavenly forms^*, the more deeply one is seized by the supposed presence of spirits, the more distinctly, densely, and tangibly spirits appear, the more deeply one is seized by fear, the more distinctly figures of terror appear, the more strongly a bridegroom is in love, the more distinctly and perceptibly the image of his beloved hovers before him and—may I be forgiven this trivial juxtaposition, for from the purely psychophysical standpoint treated here it is justified—the more deeply the stomach is seized by hunger, the more distinctly one sees, tastes, and smells food. The more one is seized by thirst, the more distinctly one sees, smells, and tastes beverages.

I can therefore say, in contrast to the previous views of official science, with a certain justification: The seat of hallucinatory (visual-detail) memory and of the hallucinatory power of imagination is in the whole body , not merely in the cerebral cortex. The finer details in particular are chiefly stored in the peripheral nerve regions, and in order to awaken them (to remember something as precisely as possible), the conscious ego must turn directly, or through the mediation of the corresponding higher centres of the subconscious, to these nerve regions. From this point of view, detailed memory and the hallucinatory power of imagination may be compared approximately with a large library, in which the chief librarian (the conscious ego) possesses only a general, though always readily available, overview of the whole, but, when faced with questions of detail, must usually consult his subordinate officials or immediately conduct investigations in the individual library rooms and books

^* I therefore earnestly wish to warn Theosophists and, in general, mystically disposed personalities against placing too great a trust in “inner” experience, in “inner”

inspirations and voices, because in their case they are in any event usually only subjective utterances of their subconscious.

^** See also p. 125.

must. When earlier I speak of a certain special memory of the centers of the subconscious, this is to be understood as meaning that, for example, the sovereign centers are, through practice as specialists, better informed about matters falling within their domain and are furthermore able to employ (to consult, specifically stimulate) the associated subordinate and peripheral sovereign organs more easily and dexterously than the conscious ego, partly as a result of their closer kinship with them in structural (histological and anatomical) constitution, partly as a result of their better and more direct connections with them through conducting pathways.

That the conscious ego and, generally speaking, the highest brain centers may likewise have preserved a certain measure of detailed knowledge directly in their own ganglion cells, especially in the case of a particular “ central predisposition ” of the persons concerned, I of course do not mean to deny by this.

What an astonishing memory for detail (if I may use the expression, which is not very appropriate here) is possessed even by a single (fertilized) egg cell of a higher organism, specifically of man, since in it all the laws and, so to speak, the entire blueprint for the new formation of an extraordinarily complicated organism are inherited. With the increasing development of this organism and the consequent expansion of its physical tasks, as well as with the accumulation of acquired knowledge and life experiences, ever more specialists are required for matters of detail. The larger the library building and the number of books, and the greater accordingly the quantity of stored knowledge, the more numerous and better-trained sub-librarians and servants are required.

After all that has been said, but especially after p. 140 ff., numerous ganglionic complexes and terminal nerves distributed throughout the body, indeed even entire bodily organs, acquire alongside the higher and lower centers of the brain a certain psychic significance for memory, the power of forming ideas, affects, etc., in magic. Their cooperation is necessary for abnormal, magical, and in general particularly intensive psychic performances, and accordingly they are also called upon in such cases. The necessary consequence of this, however, is further that the physiological activity of the bodily organs in which they are located is thereby more or less strongly influenced and altered, indeed temporarily completely suspended. Thus we have the counterpart to the influence of physical states upon the emergence of magical phenomena discussed in V,4.

Although an organ in itself, for example the heart, thus initially and principally serves physiological functions, one is nevertheless greatly mistaken if, from a purely mechanical-materialistic standpoint, one regards it merely as a pumping apparatus for distributing the blood throughout the body and fails to take into account the important psychic significance of its nerves, or of some part of them, and consequently also that of the blood-vessel system as a whole, for various affects and feelings. To be sure, it will be objected that the normal, healthy person must be able to control his feelings to such an extent that the heart is not influenced by them. Certainly! In the normal state one must likewise be able to control one’s optical power of forming ideas to such an extent that the excitation does not immediately descend as far as the retina and optical hallucinations arise, or in the end even other nerves in or at the eye are excited. Nevertheless, optical ideas stand in closer relationships to the eyes, insofar as the optical system forms a coherent, more closely integrated whole whose parts constantly influence one another; and for precisely this reason various feelings also stand in closer relation to the heart and the blood-vessel system in general, because their peripheral terminal nerves are located there. Moreover, there are not only normal but also abnormal psychic states, for which the ordinary laws and rules are no longer sufficient, because in them the peripheral organs frequently play a principal role. In the case of my particularly sensitive gastro- intestinal system I can observe this constantly. For this reason I likewise believe, by analogy, that the old view that the heart is in a certain respect an “organ of feeling” (although by no means the only one in the body) and, for example, the seat of love, and furthermore that the expressions “hard-hearted,” “tender-hearted,” “heartless,” etc., are by no means entirely groundless, even though, on the other hand, they are no more applicable than any possible assertion that the retina or the eye is the seat of optical ideas.

Apart from this, different people are by nature already very unequal in this respect as well. Some may quite properly be described as peripherally predisposed , at least for a single domain, since in them excitation readily passes from the brain to the corresponding peripheral organs in that domain, because they possess few, or rather too few, “inhibitions.” In one person, for example, optical ideas thereby approach the character of optical hallucinations; in another, this or that affect is easily exaggerated to a considerable degree, so that, for example, love becomes “excessive,” hatred “deadly,” rage “insane,” the thirst for revenge “devilish,” agitation “senseless.” Everything belonging to the affect in question assumes a dramatic and realistic form in such a person, even when the object of the love, hatred, etc. is not present.

That, in the case of a central predisposition , the corresponding upper brain centers may likewise exert an influence beyond the ordinary measure upon the vividness and distinctness of an idea or an affect (analogously to the “central memory,” p. 144), I of course do not mean to deny by this.

There is no doubt, however, that there exists not only a physiological but also a psychological (psychic) and magical kinetics , even of the peripheral nerves and organs, for example of the heart, which can come into conflict with the physiological, since in states of stronger psychic excitation the heart is compelled to work otherwise than corresponds to normal physiological functioning.

As is well known, present-day psychiatry still stands almost entirely helpless before functional nervous and mental illnesses such as neurasthenia, hysteria, melancholia, and mania, although they occur very frequently in all degrees.

If one now compares the phenomena appearing in such illnesses, which consist in abnormal thinking, abnormal ideas, sensations, and actions, and in illusions and hallucinations of the most varied kinds, with those described in this book, particularly in the two preceding sections, it becomes evident that in their essence they do not differ in principle from the latter, and that they thus likewise involve magical phenomena. From the scientific magic I seek, in which the magician must be able to produce them skillfully and voluntarily, they do indeed differ in a serious manner in that, in patients, they occur compulsorily and cannot further be regulated by them, so that they are pathological phenomena. In a very large number of cases, in particular, what is involved is involuntary magic of the subconscious as a result of the overpowering influence of some of its centers.

In my constant, more intimate intercourse with a highly developed subconscious as well as As a result of particular sensitivity acquired through many years of professional self-observation and practice, I can observe this in myself at any time on a small and very small scale.

Here are only a few examples, some of which I have already mentioned elsewhere for other purposes. If I lower my head, so that an excess of blood develops in the brain, individual centres of my subconscious already begin to display lively psychic activity, and upon closer observation I can perceive their ideational images in the form of illusions and hallucinations (p. 111), which, as the cause increases, naturally also increase in intensity and might eventually lead to compulsive phenomena. In the latter case the situation is aggravated still further when a number of psychic centres of the subconscious cooperate in the same sense and, with their combined forces, impose their ideas and their will upon the upper consciousness (cf., for example, pp. 110 and 131). The cause of the psychic division and disturbance is here purely central . Moreover, the disturbance is purely functional , which, in contrast to an organic one (resulting from pathological alteration of the brain substance), generally disappears again immediately once the cause has been removed. Naturally, such a congestion of blood, or indeed an abnormal excitation of a central region of the brain and, in connection with it, a psychic disturbance, may arise from various other causes, without an anatomical alteration of the brain taking place in the sense hitherto accepted by psychiatry.

A second kind of functional mental disturbance arises because the excitation of central psychic regions (in the upper or subconscious) owing to insufficient inhibitions propagates itself too readily in a centrifugal direction to peripheral terminal nerve regions, thereby becoming (according to V,5) psychically more detailed, vivid, and realistic, and all the more easily captivating and holding the patient fast. The phenomena mentioned on p. 146 may, in extreme cases, degenerate into actual mental illnesses with characteristic hallucinations and actions.

A third source of functional psychic disturbances finally lies, conversely, in the fact that peripheral terminal organs in a pathological condition, owing to inadequate “inhibitions,” that is, here owing to inadequate resistance of the intermediate centres, excessively influence the psychic equilibrium. When, in my case, states of irritation arise in the stomach or intestine as a result of overfilling, congestion, or an abnormal nature of the contents, I can immediately also hear, when listening and making inquiries (according to p. 136), the well-known inner voice of the Majesty, the goat-foot, and various other brain centres that have more or less close relations with the bodily part in question.

Regarding the overpowering influence of a purely physical organ, namely the stomach, and of a purely physical condition, namely hunger, upon the entire thought and ideational life of man, I refer to Mikkelsen’s Hallucinations of Hunger (Chapter VIII. Compare also p. 125).

One may also think of the hallucinations of those dying of thirst in the desert. With the removal of the physical causes, with the appeasement of hunger and thirst, the psychic effects here too are eliminated, while conversely, if they continue and intensify for a longer period, sensitive persons may become directly insane.

Less serious physical disturbances produce no perceptible psychic reactions in the normal person while awake, owing to the predominance of impressions from the external world, but very frequently do so during sleep. It has long been known in this connection that dreaming—that is, according to my conception, the continued mental activity and hallucinating of individual centres of the subconscious during sleep—is often conditioned solely by bodily states. If, for example, one has eaten an indigestible food before going to bed, which gives the stomach too much work, or if, as a result of an unfavorable bodily position, etc., individual peripheral regions of the body are disadvantaged, the psychic centres of the cerebral cortex standing closer to them cannot come to rest, while others, and especially the upper consciousness, have not yet been seriously affected^*. As has already been stated earlier and repeatedly, such states of livelier activity of the subconscious occur in my case, particularly originating from the stomach and intestinal tract (compare p. 125), while I am fully awake. I can therefore observe and study the behavior of the subconscious in such cases exactly from beginning to end. In general, I can also usually easily eliminate the disturbance and the psychic phenomena connected with it. The stronger the disturbance, however, the more difficult this becomes. I therefore find it quite understandable that in extreme cases, in a patient, the pathologically

^* The occurrence of sexual hallucinations in dreams as a result of seminal pressure belongs here, for example.

excited subconscious gains the upper hand to a greater or lesser extent and, with its suggestions (that is, its inner voices, hallucinations, and motor impulses), finally almost completely drowns out impressions from the external world, so that the patient, like the centres of the subconscious, thinking and acting under a confusion of reality and ideation (p. 33), is in contradiction with the real external world.

In my view, there is a large number of peripherally caused nervous and mental illnesses. In many of them, it is merely more difficult to recognize the cause and the seat of the disturbance. Moreover, physicians still attach too little significance for the mental well-being of many people to such disturbances in often remote parts of the body, and do not sufficiently take into account that, especially in chronic cases and in an unfortunate constitution, they may have the gravest psychic consequences and may lead to entirely characteristic nervous and mental illnesses with particular and specifically one-sided ideas, hallucinations, actions, etc. resulting in such conditions.

All the conditions discussed above, as already mentioned, have nothing to do with an anatomical alteration of the brain. However greatly, therefore, the school founded by Nissl and Alzheimer may strive, with brilliant success, to trace nervous and mental illnesses solely to organic disease of the cerebral cortex and to establish a pathological anatomy and histology of mental illnesses, I nevertheless do not doubt that a number of purely functional disturbances in the sense indicated above will remain, to whose complete understanding magic in particular will make important contributions. - Since magic also undoubtedly offers important points of reference for elucidating the psychic condition of those who are anatomically mentally ill, from this point of view, without prejudice to its other scientific independence and distinctiveness, it appears at the same time to be in future an auxiliary science of psychiatry .

6. Psychological and Psychophysical Further Development of the Subconscious

As communicated earlier, my personifications are evidently partial beings which, although caught up in a characteristic error, nevertheless possess a certain—varying according to the degree of their development—measure of intelligence and a capable of further development. If they learn to speak, if they can often give me reasonable advice in their special fields, why should they not also make further progress? My conscious ego is relatively very far advanced, but nevertheless trained mainly only in certain fields; my personifications are likewise highly developed in their special fields, but are entirely one-sided and without understanding of the common good, without understanding of the external world, indeed often with quite silly and naïve habits to which they can cling with incredible tenacity, so that genius and idiocy can exist side by side in one and the same partial being. Development on both sides has for many years taken place too much in isolation, too independently of one another, without mutual understanding and instruction, as is ultimately the case with every human being, only with the difference that here the subconscious remains permanently in its subordinate position.

Of course, it cannot be my intention to develop the centers of the subconscious into genuine human intelligences, for I would thereby, so to speak, make myself superfluous. Besides, in view of everything communicated thus far, this is altogether impossible. The various centers are already, owing to their purely histological and anatomical constitution, further owing to the topographical position of their cerebral-cortex regions, and especially also because of their relations to particular peripheral terminal organs, in the physical impossibility of replacing the conscious ego; and the more, for whatever reason, individual ones of them nevertheless overgrow and dominate the conscious ego and deprive it of its free and independent position, the more one-sided, unnatural, and pathological the person concerned and his entire mental activity become. I emphasize this particularly and deliberately speak again and again of (sc. animate and psychically endowed) complexes of cells and centers, although this may seem empirically crude to many psychologists, because the same seem not yet sufficiently to appreciate the importance of histological, anatomical and physiological facts and foundations for pure psychology .

In attempting a further development of the subconscious, the previously mentioned circumstance must be taken into account, namely, that in hallucinations and personifications it is not merely particular groups of cells in the cerebral cortex that are involved, but also subordinate centers and organs located farther toward the periphery . Naturally, in the case of the latter there can be no question of intellectual development, and among the former only the highest-ranking and especially receptive ones are capable of it.

I envisage the further development of the psychical centers in this way : above all, I repeatedly explain to them their fundamental error of confusing the real external world with inner representation; however unpleasant it often is for them, I repeatedly tell them: “You are not a child, you are not a Highness, you are not a devil,” and I seek to make them understand that they belong to one great organism. Most of them take their personification so seriously that, if improperly guided or neglected, they threaten to endanger the unity of the whole. This danger is always present, in particular, because the appearance of the various hallucinations and personifications, as already mentioned, is associated with specific feelings of pleasure.

In connection with the aforementioned explanatory instruction, I shall further endeavor to reattach the psychical centers of the subconscious more intimately to the conscious ego and to teach them to think and feel more in common with it and in accord with the great aims of the organism as a whole. The personifications in the proper sense, in the sense of partial beings that strive to develop further without regard for the organism as a whole and the common good, that want to become in earnest and be what they can represent only as a kind of artist or actor , must disappear again. Instead of personifications, I shall then gradually have to reckon more and more with more intelligent brain centers.

It is clear, however, that, corresponding to their one-sided position in the organism, they will continue to pursue special interests and assert them more vigorously in my case than in the normal human being. I must therefore carry out the instruction with a certain caution, since otherwise I may readily find myself confronted by intelligences possessing particular sensitivities in their special fields, which immediately exercise one-sided criticism in all actions.

At times I was positively frightened when a number of apparently quite human intelligences appeared, which, from their specific standpoint, grumbled at and criticized my actions and undertakings with a certain passionateness. As a true professor, I had for many years been especially lavish with instruction toward every inner voice that made itself heard, only to find afterward that I had thereby sometimes created outright competitors for myself. To be sure, I could partly console myself with the fact that most of them quickly forget what does not fall within their special field, and that they therefore possess an astonishingly poor memory for things foreign to them. Even the conscious human being, as is well known, forgets indifferent things much more easily than those that interest him. For the centers of the subconscious, however, owing to their one-sided position, there is naturally much more that is indifferent.

A further kind of development consists in my endeavoring to practice magical arts with the personifications as more than psychophysical exercise or as an invigorating and entertaining game. Since, however, the experiments which I am now carrying out to an increased extent in order to attain my principal objective (see p.

139 and 229) absorb too many psychophysical forces, at present I get no further—apart from occasional, spontaneous objective manifestations of individual centers of the subconscious, which cannot be directed any further, concerning illusions and subjective hallucinations in general.

Finally, an excellent means of broadening the mental horizon of the psychical centers of the subconscious and freeing them from their one-sidedness is engagement with other useful things suited to arousing more general interest and also winning over those who stand farther removed, e.g. art, music, and absorbing reading of simpler content. In short, corresponding to the particularly pronounced psychical differentiation in my case, I must endeavor to make my psychical activity more versatile as well.

When I speak of psychophysical further development of the subconscious, one must of course not always conceive of it purely in the manner of instructing another human being, such as a real child. These are my neighbors or subordinates in the brain. Often the only task is to open up areas previously inaccessible or more difficult to access to them by better practicing unfamiliar and uncommon nerve pathways. If, for example, one observes a painting with particular attentiveness and intensity, the associated optical and other excitation will radiate farther through the brain, and centers will become which are ordinarily occupied elsewhere to be enabled, at least temporarily, or even compelled, to participate in seeing, in contemplating the work of art, in the enjoyment of art. More frequent practice naturally facilitates this process, and the psychic activity of various cell complexes thereby increases in variety. If, for example, when contemplating an object situated outside, the optical excitation proceeding from it must in fact pass through a number of ganglionic complexes before it reaches the conscious ego from the retina, why should it not, with greater effort on the part of the upper consciousness, also be able to extend to a greater number of centers in the domain of the subconscious, i.e. why should a greater number of these not then perceive the object situated outside than with less effort and lesser attention?

At most, one might object that perhaps the requisite conducting pathways are not present. This objection may be justified in some cases, but is certainly by no means always sound. The fact that my personifications can see and hear very well and can observe very keenly in general proves directly that they often reproduce persons or objects sympathetic to them, which “I” have seen only once, with such perfect fidelity to nature as I myself would not be capable of achieving.

Many may now have less time and strength available for their psychophysical task in the organism, but nevertheless I have no doubt that they are not interested in everything in the same way, just as even the conscious human being, for example, in the potpourri of images offered by the bustle of a great city, pays genuinely close attention to only a small number of them. My “Highness” has to make a considerable effort to look at a child or even a child’s toy, and if I forcibly and attentively contemplate such a thing, so that the perception acquires greater intensity and consequently presses itself more strongly upon her as well, she experiences it more as an unpleasant compulsory perception . A mediating course is at present offered by the fact that, at her request, I sometimes have noble and princely children reproduced, by taking, for example, the image of the youthful son of Charles I of England by van Dyck, contained in one of my albums of artists, as the starting point for a hallucination.

As a counterpart to my proposition advanced above, that, if, for example, I contemplate a painting with particular attention and intensity, centers which are ordinarily occupied elsewhere can at least temporarily be enabled by me to participate in seeing, I can observe daily in myself with the utmost evidence that my own visual power, my interest in a work of art, etc., increases at the very moment when a particularly influential personification “erects itself” and takes part in looking (or diminishes when it slackens or even works against it). Visual perception, for example, thus depends not merely upon the physical condition of the optical apparatus and upon the attention of the upper consciousness, but also upon whether a greater or lesser number of other psychic centers participate in seeing or not. I have to struggle with some of them, which in principle despise contemplation of the greater part of the external world and wish to live only upon their suggestions.

7. Summary of My Views on Psychological Differentiation and the Organization of Overall Psychological Governance in Man

In order to give the reader a clear conception of the psychic composition of man (as a counterpart to the anatomy and histology of the body) and of the complicated psychic mechanism within him (as a counterpart to the physiology of the body), I should now like to present my experiences concerning this in connected form, although I have already indicated them, at least in part, at various points earlier: At the head stands an uppermost nervous center, that is, a complex of living beings (of ganglion cells), which has to fulfill the highest psychic tasks. Its psychic activity comes to our immediate knowledge; it becomes conscious to us without further ado. Following the established usage of psychologists, but by no means accurately, I call it “the conscious ego” or “upper consciousness” (“self-consciousness”). Opposed to it are all the remaining nervous centers.

As complexes of living beings, these likewise lead a certain separate existence and exercise psychic activities more or less independently, which, however, do not come to the normal human being’s immediate awareness, or at least not clearly and distinctly; their existence can therefore ordinarily be inferred only from external signs, whereas through the “inner voices” and other hallucinations I have means of control that are just as simple as they are convenient. I group them all together under the unfortunately already much-used name, employed in very different meanings, of the “subconscious” or the “unconscious.” This juxtaposition of upper and subconscious, in the sense intended by me, may be compared approximately with the division of the government of a country into two parts: on the one hand, the president or ruler; on the other, all government officials and authorities, from the highest—the ministers—down to the lowest in the individual provinces and districts.

It follows directly from the foregoing that I assume, in itself and initially, a strict localization of all psychic functions, i.e. their being bound to particular nervous centers (cf. p. 88 note).

Conversely, I am also convinced that each higher physical nerve center of the cerebral cortex, according to its principal function, is initially a central station for a particular (and therefore initially one-sided) higher psychic activity . In the lower and lowest centers of the cerebral cortex and of other parts of the body, by contrast, psychic activity progressively recedes, while physiological and finally purely mechanical tasks play an increasingly greater role.

In the lowest centers, localization of functions is self-evident and is generally acknowledged. In the higher ones, for example the motor and sensory centers of the cerebral cortex, it was likewise established several decades ago, namely by Fritsch and Hitzig or Munk .

In the highest ones (the “psychic centers” in the proper sense), it is still generally denied even now, in any event mainly because it is much more difficult here to recognize and demonstrate. In them, namely, a significant complication of the circumstances, which are in themselves likewise simple, arises from the fact that they are capable of learning something even in matters that do not immediately fall within their domain and thereby subsequently and secondarily making their psychic activity more multifaceted (cf. p. 74). This is especially the case with the upper consciousness. The consequence is that the sharp boundaries of psychic localization shift and become blurred to a greater or lesser extent, both between upper consciousness and subconscious, and among the individual centers of the subconscious themselves. At the same time, this causes it is understandable that, in the event of injuries, diseases, or other physical defects of individual parts of the brain, other parts can enter to a certain degree vicariously, and that certain psychic defects do not at once emerge sharply. The highest functions of the subconscious are localized in the so-called association centres (also called association spheres or terminal fields). Viewed from the psychic standpoint, the latter appear, in a certain sense, as the highest councils of the conscious ego, or rather as its dwelling places. In order to permit the most rapid communication with the ruler over the shortest conducting paths, they are not situated at the periphery of the body, so to speak out in the provinces, but in the cerebral cortex, just as the residence of the upper consciousness itself is. They are connected with one another by tangentially running nerve pathways (association fibres), and the higher ones among them are generally coordinated with one another, but subordinated to the upper consciousness, since this alone, insofar as necessary, possesses a free overview of the inner and outer world and is therefore alone capable of and called upon to exercise supreme overall direction. The higher among the association centres—for the fact that considerable differences still exist among them too may already be inferred from the varying anatomical and histological constitution of the nerve regions in question, which is revealed by purely physical examination—are, in my view, the seat of the personifications described by me in this book: Hoheit, Bockfuß, Pferdefuß, Kind, etc. According to what was communicated earlier, they evidently serve very different psychic functions and, in a certain sense, represent different psychic departments.

More deeply penetrating special tasks and particular interests, psychophysical and psychic differences, furthermore become anatomically and histologically understandable in the individual psychic centres when one takes into account that, e.g., according to Flechsig and others, the various association centres are connected with lower centres by a, although smaller, number of radially running nerve pathways (projection fibres), which conduct in part centripetally and in part centrifugally, and from these centres onward are finally connected with peripheral regions of the body. The members of the central government (and such they are by virtue of their tangential connections) have, corresponding to their peripheral nerve connections, on the one hand the task of directing the bodily region subordinate to them in the interest of the common good and in the sense of the central government, and on the other hand of protecting it and representing its particular interests.

Sometimes, however, they pursue the latter too one-sidedly—comparable to the representatives of a district of the country in parliament, who, alongside the general welfare of the state, must also safeguard the particular interests of the province concerned, but occasionally place these, or even themselves, above the common good—so that serious differences can arise among the members of the central psychic government.

In the normal person this admittedly does not emerge clearly under ordinary conditions, because in his case the lower intermediary centres weaken or entirely suppress the stimuli coming from the periphery, so that the particular interests of the provinces do not assert themselves so strongly. It is otherwise, however, in nervous persons, neurasthenics, and hysterics, who possess too few “inhibitions” (hyperesthesia). Since, as I explain in my reply to my critics (Chap. VIII), the principal aim pursued by me continually causes a greater sensitivity and over-excitability of the entire nervous system, and in addition repeatedly causes minor pathological disturbances in the most varied regions of the body, I can constantly observe, on a small scale, the psychic differences among the various nerve centres, as well as the psychic disturbances associated with the abnormal bodily conditions.

When, for example, I undertake a somewhat longer walk and gradually become tired in the process, the following oppositions arise (“psychic splitting”): the inner voices of the personifications more closely related to the musculature (Pferd, Pferdefuß, Arbeiter, and various others) call out: “I am tired … .. go home!” Later the demands become more energetic and coarser. My own attempts at reassurance, as well as the advice and assistance from other centres, which rave about the beautiful countryside, fresh air, and sunshine, etc., do have a certain influence temporarily, but are finally rejected more or less brusquely.

Then it is time for me to go home, otherwise bitter, rowdy scenes may occur. “You want to play the gentlemen, and we are supposed to take you for a walk. We do the work while you idle, etc.” Attempts are made to trip over obstacles or uneven places in the path that I have not sufficiently noticed, to bring the walking stick between my legs in unguarded moments by turning the hand accordingly, so that I might fall to the ground (cf. p. 134), etc. A number of years ago I became interested in prehistoric research for a considerable period.

As a result, I often traversed the surroundings of Freising in the most varied directions, without path or track, in order to become acquainted with the barrows, funnel pits, and other prehistoric documents found there. When one evening, admittedly greatly fatigued but otherwise in a good general mood, I was on my way home, an inner voice suddenly called out to me, to my great surprise: “You prehistoric rascal!”

Even then I interpreted physical overexertion as the cause.

But it has long since become clear to me that this was a first “tangible” expression of centres more closely related to the musculature (the later personifications Pferdefuß, Arbeiter).

When I am hungry, most of the centres of the subconscious are in favour of my eating (but by no means all of them). Differences may then arise concerning the choice of foods. The individual personifications make very different demands in this respect. Heavier fare that is difficult for me to digest, in a certain sense “workers’ fare” (black bread, cheese, beer), is generally desired by those more closely related to the muscles: “Arbeiter, Pferdefuß.” “Better” (more genteel) fare: “Hoheit” (roast, wine). Sweet things (very sweetened coffee, confectionery, sweet wine): “Kind.” Cheap fare: “Bockfuß” etc.

Another question is then how much I ought to eat. Given the unreliability of my stomach, I generally may not eat according to appetite. For the rest, even in the case of a plentiful meal, the personifications more closely related to the stomach often take its side, for example Hoheit, because the pleasurable feelings arising during eating and through satiety are especially advantageous to them, while they forget that difficulties may subsequently arise for them. The personification “Arbeiter” and various others likewise display a greater appetite. In a characteristic yet readily understandable opposition to these centres, when there is excess, various personifications more closely related to the intestine take their stand, for example Bockfuß. The sense of their objections is approximately as follows: “You want to gorge yourselves and satisfy your pleasure; we must bear the consequences.”

The results I obtained by purely psychic and magical means thus evidently correspond admirably to the anatomical and histological findings of Flechsig mentioned earlier (p. 156). and of others, namely that the association centres—naturally, the individual ones differing—exhibit certain more intimate relationships with peripheral bodily regions through radially running nerve fibres.

In the normal condition of human beings, these central psychic agencies do not communicate with one another during consultations (during the “reflection” of the conscious ego) in the manner, for instance, of two or more people, that is, in articulated speech, but silently, by means of nerve excitations which propagate themselves along the various tangential association fibres. Such communication proceeds rapidly, because by the very nearest and shortest route, and, as a result of practice and habituation from youth onwards, is so familiar to everyone that, in the process, he does not recognize at all the complexity of the psychic mechanism.

It is often otherwise in my case. I (my upper consciousness), as well as numerous centres of my subconscious, are, as has already been repeatedly stated, capable of speaking subjectively in hallucinations (inner voice). Consequently, I can instruct, admonish, and reproach them in articulated speech, while conversely they can also do so to me—in their special fields. Furthermore, other, uninvolved centres, insofar as they are interested in it, can listen in on our conversation, since there is, after all, only the one pair of eardrums available for hearing to all of us together. Communication thereby becomes, so to speak, “public.”

It does, however, therefore require a certain degree of caution on my part, because some specialist of the subconscious very easily finds something to criticize in me.

But communication with the subconscious is much more precise than in the normal human being.

Apart from through the eardrum, various other, more precise but more cumbersome intellectual means of communication with the subconscious are also practicable. By means of optical excitations driven down as far as the retina, the upper consciousness and the centres of the subconscious can give sensory and vivid expression to their optical representations to one another. Written communication is also possible. In ordinary writing, as practised solely by the normal human being, the upper consciousness sends a current of energy into the hand and moves it to produce writing corresponding to its train of thought. If, now, in accordance with Chapter V,3, a centre of the subconscious is given the opportunity to learn writing independently, by placing the hand with the pencil at its disposal for this purpose, it too can put its thoughts on paper.

The spiritistic and, in general, “automatic” writing is based upon this principle.

Janet reports the following: “A twenty-year-old girl who, while in a hysterical— somnambulistic state, had undertaken several journeys lasting several days, was unable to give any reason for them. During a state of absent-mindedness, in which she was thinking of other things, Janet placed a pencil in her right hand, whereupon she automatically wrote a letter in which she set forth the reasons for her escapes and the manner in which she carried them out.” This case is of particular interest because it shows that individual centres of the subconscious may have advanced in very different ways in their capacities in different directions. Despite the temporarily overwhelming influence upon the human being as a whole, which manifested itself in the compulsion to wander, the centres in question were not capable of expressing themselves clearly by means of the inner voice or in any other psychic manner. On the other hand, they could write properly and intelligently when the upper consciousness, which in the normal state completely controls the hand, had its attention diverted and, at the same time, paper and pencil had been placed at the disposal of the subconscious. We thus have at the same time an instructive example of the autocratic suppression of the subconscious by the upper consciousness, as takes place quite generally in the normal human being, so that ordinarily he has not the slightest notion of the existence of a subconscious within him.

From what has been communicated above it follows that I also assume coordination and subordination for the highest psychic centres: coordination of the higher association centres with one another (at least in principle, even if by no means always according to their actual behaviour, developed in particular through habit) and their subordination to the upper consciousness. On the basis of anatomical and histological findings, however, it was thought that, in opposition to this, one could not assume the existence of an uppermost nerve centre (or an uppermost complex of centres), such as I assume as the seat of the upper consciousness. Thus, for example, the well-known psychologist Ebbinghaus^* writes as follows: “Through brain research it has been recognized that the assiduous search of several centuries for a so-called seat of the soul in the brain, that is, for as nearly point-like a location as possible, at which the

^* Outline of Psychology. 2nd ed. p. 19. Leipzig 1909.

soul enters into relation with the material organ, is pointless. There is no such seat in this sense. The brain is the embodiment of an absolute decentralization. So to speak, the soul receives the excitations conveyed to it from the external world at spatially far-separated points of the brain, differing according to the peripheral organs from which they come, and it intervenes in the material mechanism again from spatially far-separated points of the brain, differing according to the muscle groups which it has to address. All these various points are connected with one another, but nowhere does this occur through the mediation of a common, narrowly circumscribed centre.”

My views concerning the nature of the soul are indeed entirely different from those of Ebbinghaus. Nevertheless, according to all my previous discussions, there is apparently no “point-like” point of attack for the whole soul in my view either. But I must postulate such a point for the most important “part of the soul” (figuratively speaking), the “soul” in the narrower and customary sense of the word, namely the conscious ego (upper consciousness), that is, I assume—expressed in modern terms—a localization of the same in a particular region of the brain, just as well as for each of the various psychic agencies of the subconscious. The upper consciousness, however, usually does not itself carry out the lower psychic, psychophysical, and physical (physiological) functions directly and individually, but has them performed by subordinate centres. Indeed, many of these functions, such as, for example, cardiac and respiratory activity, digestion, and so forth, usually take place even without the knowledge and attention of the conscious ego, simply in accordance with inherited laws, so that in fact the most far-reaching decentralization prevails in various directions, though of a different kind from that intended by Ebbinghaus. Even the governmental acts, or indeed the actions vital to the state generally, of a country’s ruler or president are not ordinarily carried out directly by him personally, but by subordinate authorities and agencies, in accordance with his sense and will, as well as with the laws existing from ancient times or introduced only in the modern age. Indeed, these subordinate agencies frequently act in the name and spirit of the ruler without his knowing or perceiving anything about the individual matter at all.

The fact that the superior position of a nerve centre (or of a complex of such centres) as the seat of the upper consciousness has not hitherto been demonstrated anatomically and histologically proves nothing against my view. In seeking for the same, one has in any case frequently proceeded from erroneous assumptions. It need neither be the largest nor must it possess the greatest number of nerve-conduction pathways.

For anatomy and histology, therefore, new tasks arise on the basis of psychological, magical, and psychiatric observations: for example, to seek the seat of the upper consciousness as well as that of the various higher psychic centres of the subconscious, which in my case are particularly fond of personifying themselves and, as Majesty, Child, Devil, etc., would like to play an independent role; furthermore, to establish the position and manner of distribution of their peripheral terminal regions, which undoubtedly lie, for a considerable part, also in the area of the sympathetic nervous system. (In my particular case, the plexuses in the region of the pylorus—plexus coeliacus, solaris, mesentericus, etc.—are in any event especially readily excitable.) Conversely, the exact study of the results of the two sciences last mentioned, with regard to the structure of the various cerebral centres, the manner of their distribution in the brain, and the course of their nerve-conduction pathways—in other words, the more exact study of the entire lifeless organism as such, that is, of the material basis for psychic activities and the soul—will undoubtedly still provide the psychologist with very important clues concerning the nature of psychic functions and of the soul itself, much as the more exact study of a city abandoned by its inhabitants does concerning the mental constitution and activity of its former inhabitants. I am therefore of the opinion that psychology (and magic), on the one hand, and anatomy and histology, on the other, must come together much more closely than has hitherto been the case.

My views concerning psychic differentiation in man can also readily be made intelligible by comparison with his ontogeny. In the first stage of development, a single cell, namely the fertilized ovum, represents the entire human body. This one cell is thus of fundamental significance. Through the processes of cleavage and further development, two, four, eight, many, and finally billions of cells arise from it. These too, taken together, always form the one human body. It follows directly from this that, in general, with the increase in number, the physical significance of the individual cell always becomes less . Hand in hand with this multiplication of cells, a second process simultaneously takes place. The external form and internal structure of the cells become increasingly different from one another, according to the various mechanical and physiological tasks they have to fulfil. The individual cell becomes more one-sided, but for that very reason all the more capable within its special sphere of contributing to the great purposes of the total organism. There thus occurs a continual differentiation and division of labour, and physical variety increases ever more , in proportion as the organism becomes larger and more mature and as, correspondingly, it has to fulfil new and greater physical tasks.

The situation is similar in the psychic domain. The one fertilized ovum contains the whole human soul just as do the billions of cells of the developed human being taken together, since man possesses only one body and likewise only one soul. It follows that, with the increase in number, the psychic significance of the individual cell , so to speak, the share of the soul falling to it, always becomes less . With the development of the organism, however, entirely new psychic tasks also approach it in great abundance.

Accordingly, in the nervous regions in which psychic tasks principally take place, ever more far-reaching psychic differentiation and division of labour also occur. More or less in parallel with the physical, therefore, psychic variety also increases ever more .

This already answers, to a certain extent, the often-discussed question of how the child’s transition into the mature human being is to be explained psychically, psychophysically, and physically: the cells and centres to which what is specifically childlike is bound remain in existence, but they recede in significance and their task is modified. In their place, other nervous centres, which had initially lagged behind in the development, size, and number of their cells, gradually play a more important role and gain a greater influence upon the human being’s total psychic state. But that what is specifically childlike also remains, more or less distinctly preserved in the aging human being , even though the centres concerned, like the human being as a whole, eventually become less vigorous and capable, I can observe directly in my personification “Child” (p. 34 ff.).

“Papa, I would really most like to be a child. Or: I would at least so dearly like to live as a child, to play and enjoy myself as a child. I should like to see children. To take pleasure in small things altogether. I also love little birds. And when the young ones are sitting in the nest, how beautiful that is! I take pleasure in everything small, pretty, delicate, endearing, childlike.* When I see a small child toddling along the street, led by both its parents, the personification “Child” stirs mightily within me and sets me going to notice the specific childlike peculiarities and subtleties in its gait and bearing, in its speech and its entire demeanour. Undoubtedly, in the pleasures parents take in their children, their toys, etc., alongside other factors, the “childlike centres” in their own inner being also play a principal role. They are, in a certain sense, the psychic mediating organs for sensations and feelings of this kind. There is, of course, a significant difference between the “childlike” in the child and that in the parents, and it is precisely on such an occasion that this difference becomes particularly clear. Furthermore, in the adult human being these centres play a role in the apprehension and understanding of the fine and delicate attributes and peculiarities of objects belonging to the inner and outer world.

Trojan, who himself preserved a youthful nature into his advanced age, expresses this excellently, unconsciously in the sense of these centres: The best thing is the small That is why I am very much in favour of it.

The dainty and fine Above all pleases me.

Here too, as with regard to the diabolical and ultimately to all feelings and sensations, Goethe’s words already quoted on p. 82 can be applied in modified form: If there were nothing childlike in us, how could we perceive what is childlike and take pleasure in it? Undoubtedly, such centres also counteract the processes of aging in the adult human being. Thus, for example, when the personification Child appears more strongly, my appearance unmistakably becomes rejuvenated (compare also p. 112). The concept of such a personification, however, is by no means a simple one, and its representation requires the co-operation of a larger number of nerve centres

^* In the case of longer discussions of this kind, there is frequently a kind of combinatory effect in me. When a personification can no longer express itself sufficiently in words, I nevertheless usually still discern clearly what it would like to say. I then translate its thoughts into words and subsequently receive its approval.

and peripheral organs and a certain expenditure of psychophysical energy.

Everything indicates that the total psychic government in man constitutes something very complicated, and further that in the course of time it is subject to a continual slow change and further development, in the sense that certain psychic centers which initially played a greater role later recede in importance, while other, more important ones come increasingly to the fore, and that the activity of individual centers in their specialized domain, but especially that of the upper consciousness, becomes more versatile and mature.

Nevertheless, in the normal state man is, in the last analysis, a strict psychic unity, whose real complexity of composition is ordinarily not noticed at all. Under abnormal conditions, however, the same becomes more or less clearly apparent. This is the case in “ psychic splitting ” (schizophrenia)*. The latter is of great importance both for psychology and, in particular, for psychiatry.

Its nature, however, has not yet been sufficiently elucidated. It is first of all generally assumed, quite correctly, that through the process of splitting the psychic whole falls apart into units which already existed in some manner in the normal state of man. The individual Vorstellungen would appear, in the first instance, to be the lowest of these. But since people were reluctant to assume a special localization for each individual Vorstellung, they resorted to the assumption of higher psychic units. The view represented by Jung (Zurich), that there exist “complexes of Vorstellung”, which, when more independent, are called “autonomous complexes” or even “secondary souls,” has many adherents. But how is one realistically to conceive of such split-off complexes of Vorstellung in their mode of existence?!

How natural, self-evident, and immediately consequent upon the research findings of cerebral anatomy, by contrast, is my view that these complexes of Vorstellung represent nothing other than the products of the psychic activity of more or less emancipated cerebral regions (psychic centers of the subconscious). As has already been stated repeatedly, these cerebral regions necessarily work in a one-sided manner intellectually

^* See in this connection the lecture by Dr. v. Hattingberg at the psychiatrists’ meeting in Strasbourg. (Report in the “Allgemeine Zeitschrift für PsYchiatrie” 1914. p.

769.) and move chiefly only within a particular series of Vorstellungen, so that their psychic elaboration in fact frequently constitutes no more than, to a greater or lesser extent, a particular complex of Vorstellung in Jung’s sense. In normal man, to be sure, their psychic activity does not make itself particularly apparent in detail. In any case, they are also in him a kind of center for the arousal or regulation of higher psychic feelings and strivings, comparable with various long-known lower ones, e.g. with the respiratory center (regulation of respiratory movements), or with the cerebellum (fine regulation of complicated movements), or with the speech centers (regulation of speaking and of speech Vorstellungen). The nerve centers, for example, which play the principal role in my personification “Highness,” are evidently a psychic regulating authority for nobler feelings and sensations. As soon as inferior centers wish to suggest trivial thoughts and actions to me, my Highness, which is particularly sensitive in this sphere, immediately feels itself most keenly injured and accordingly seeks to counteract them in its own manner, somewhat as in a parliament, when the extreme Right is most greatly agitated and fights back in response to a particularly drastic utterance or demand by a member of the extreme Left. It is then the task of the moderate parties, here specifically above all that of the conscious ego, to strike the proper middle course and thereby create a certain balance. In addition, the cerebral region of my Highness appears to be a center both for the more or less independent production and processing from within of lofty Vorstellungen, sensations, and strivings, and for the reception of such from outside.

The fact that in the case of the “complexes of Vorstellung and autonomous complexes” we are dealing not merely with psychic products mechanically stored in the brain, but with the psychic activity of higher cerebral centers, would be better taken into account by the expression “secondary souls,” if that expression were not, in other respects, also inaccurate and even directly misleading. For in the case of my Highness, of the ram’s head and horse’s hoof, etc., we are not dealing with rounded, more or less independent souls, even if of a lower kind, but, figuratively speaking, merely with “parts of the soul” that have become emancipated to an excessive degree, which claim or wish to conquer a greater share in the total psychic operation than is allotted to them by virtue of their natural position and accords with the laws of reason (see in this connection pp. 87 and 89).

I mentioned earlier that people were reluctant to assume a localization of Vorstellungen in the brain. In any case, this is justified in the sense that not every individual Vorstellung as a psychic whole, with all its numerous details, is preserved in some part of the brain. On the other hand, one must assume a localization of another kind, rather as in a musical instrument for the various chords, sound figures, and melodies. In order, for example, to make the same chord sound on a piano, the musician must strike exactly the same keys each time and thereby set the same combination of strings into excitation (vibrations). In this sense, then, the chord is bound to particular keys and signs, hence localized. But it is not always present, does not always sound, but only when the relevant combination of strings is struck. This localization furthermore does not prevent a key or string of this chord from participating, in conjunction with other strings, in other chords. Analogously, in the changing Vorstellungen (or perceptions), the most diverse nerve cells and complexes of the brain are set into excitation, whether by the upper or by the subconscious (or by the external world). On the basis of my views thus far developed concerning the nature of psychic splitting, several kinds of it can now be distinguished, namely schizophrenia : 1. Artificially and intentionally brought about: a) In the magic of the subconscious, as I practice it for scientific purposes, e.g. for the study of the subconscious, according to Chap. V,3. The upper consciousness recedes, yet remains awake ,and acts as the silent observer, while individual centers of the subconscious play the actually active role.

I have already emphasized repeatedly that under these circumstances the psychic activity of the more intelligent centers of the subconscious is an entirely logical one. My “Highness,” for example, thinks and acts entirely in accordance with a high-ranking personality when I allow it room to operate. Only the foundation upon which it, as Highness, builds its intellectual conclusions is incorrect, and the standpoint on which it stands is one-sided and does not correspond to reality (more or less “deranged”). Its entire edifice of ideas collapses as soon as it emancipates itself too far and the control of the of upper consciousness collapses immediately into nothing when reality comes into question. The art of an actor who is supposed to play the role of a prince, king, or emperor as well as possible consists in disregarding reality, adopting a mad standpoint, and otherwise speaking and acting as true to nature as possible. In the case of an actor, then, it is an art to ignore reality; for my “Highness” on the contrary, it is conversely an art to take reality sufficiently into account and, for example, not to appear before me as a ruler in full earnest and treat me as a subordinate. The difficulty of distinguishing between reality and imagination, which exists for all the psychic centers of the subconscious, and, furthermore, the lesser extent of their psychic capacity in comparison with the upper consciousness are in any event based in part on physical causes, e.g. on the lesser sensitivity of their one-sidedly developed ganglion cells to most excitations from the external world (they are, as it were, calculated only for a particular kind of feeling-tone, attuned to a particular nuance of feeling, cf. p. 74), and on the lesser multiplicity of their nerve-conduction connections with other regions of the brain, but in part also on purely psychic causes, corresponding to their psychic position and task. They are evidently intended to make available to the conscious ego, upon inquiry (during reflection), ideas and notions as true to nature as possible (Highness, for example, “highness-like,” i.e. better, nobler, more distinguished ones, approximately as a counterweight to the trivial suggestions of a horse-foot and a goat-foot).

They fulfill this purpose best, however, when under normal conditions they make no fundamental distinction between reality and imagination (invention) and therefore (similarly to an actor mentioned earlier) play their role in a completely realistic manner. They have scarcely any reason to examine the difference between the two more closely, for that is taken care of by the upper consciousness. For the same reason, they likewise need not have the full overview of the entire inner and outer world that the latter has (cf. p. 75). For shorter or longer periods I can repeatedly instruct them, at least the more intelligent among them, even though for the time being they very easily fall back again into the old errors to which they have been accustomed for decades (cf. p. 198). b) In spiritism, but based on more or less unscientific and superstitious presuppositions. Individual centers of the subconscious play an active role (as spirits, the dead, demons, etc.). The upper consciousness recedes but for the most part remains awake. Only in the case of greater mediumistic performances does it cease its activity entirely (trance). c) In hypnosis. The upper consciousness is completely switched off (proper hypnosis), or at least partially so (waking suggestion). Individual centers of the subconscious remain awake and are active all the more vigorously. They now act, instead of according to the instructions of the upper consciousness as in the normal state, according to those of the hypnotist (cf. p. 75 note).

Unintentionally and involuntarily, but not actually pathologically: In most dreams. The upper consciousness as well as a large part of the subconscious is in a lethargic state. They therefore play no particular role, while individual centers of the subconscious remain awake and are mentally active. The causes of dreams are, as is well known, very diverse; they lie partly in the external world and partly within the human being himself. As regards the latter point, as already mentioned earlier, I regularly dream when I have eaten an indigestible food in the evening. The personifications and centers of the cerebral cortex standing in a closer relation to my weakest bodily part, the stomach, cannot fall asleep because of the difficulties present and therefore continue to fantasize in their own manner. When more strongly irritated, they frequently also draw those more remotely situated, e.g. the upper consciousness, into a certain degree of involvement. (In my view, the dream constitutes a kind of “nighttime disturbance of the peace” in the cellular state.) But even in this case their capacity for association, and consequently their capacity for thought in general, will be imperfect, because a large part of the psychic centers whose cooperation is required for orderly, particularly complicated, thinking activity nevertheless remains in a sluggish state and therefore is not available, or is available only imperfectly. The study of dream life therefore also cannot, in general, as already indicated on p. 81, provide a sufficiently accurate picture of the actual psychic capacity of the subconscious.

A heightened dream state, which, however, frequently already extends into the pathological, is somnambulism . In it, more complicated thought performances are found, though generally only in a very narrowly circumscribed special field, namely the motor field. Naturally, what is essentially involved here is the psychic and psychophysical activity of those association areas of the subconscious which stand closer to the muscle centers.

Pathological.

This type of schizophrenia consists in the fact that, to the detriment of the human being as a whole, individual centers of the subconscious emancipate themselves independently and accordingly dominate the upper consciousness to a greater or lesser extent (see the example on p. 74 ff.). Such a state can ultimately lead to a regular (functional ) mental illness. Naturally, a similar division of the psychic unity can also arise, for example, as a result of organic illness and the consequent weakening of those parts of the brain that are the seat of the upper consciousness.

As is well known, most psychologists regard it as established that systematic and experimental self-observation is impossible. Wundt even compares the situation of one observing himself with that of a Münchhausen who wishes to pull himself out of the swamp by his own pigtail.

Consequently, it has already been objected repeatedly that my experiments are not sufficiently reliable. This objection rests on the presupposition that under all circumstances the human being constitutes a strict psychic unity. According to what has just been said about schizophrenia, however, this is in fact not correct. When I study my personifications Highness, Child, Goat-foot, etc., or also other non-personified centers, insofar as they are already capable of speaking hallucinatorily or otherwise expressing themselves independently, then in reality I am not observing myself, but “I” (i.e. in this case the upper consciousness) observe and study the subconscious. A psychic division has therefore taken place beforehand. I now study the split-off part of my ego and can do so as long as the division persists. The concept of the ego is subject to extraordinarily great fluctuations and is used now in the broader and broadest sense, now in the narrower and narrowest sense.

When someone says, “I am in Freising” or “I am in Munich,” he understands by the “I” the whole soul and the whole body together. The concept of the ego is therefore understood here in its broadest sense. It immediately becomes narrower [sic] , however, when one says, for example: “I am of medium height” or “I am strong.” By this one evidently means only one’s body, or essentially only the body musculature. Precisely because of this possibility of distinction and division, I can observe “myself,” i.e. in this case my body or its parts, and, for example, examine how my heart, my lungs, and my body in general react to exertions and strains, and how my stomach reacts to various foods. But if I allow psychic division to occur, then I can evidently also observe the split-off psychic part, that is, the subconscious. Here too it is not a matter of “self-observation” in the ordinary sense of the psychologists (cf. p. 83 “I am not You”).

VI. Explanation of Some Magical Phenomena of Which I Have No Detailed Personal Experience

In Section III I reported on a part of my magical experiences, and in Sections IV and V I attempted to give a scientific explanation of these, as well as of a number of other, particularly spiritistic phenomena, which do not seem to me in principle to differ from those experienced by myself. Those to be discussed in what follows are now, for the most part, of a different kind, especially since they generally take place between two persons, whereas I always experimented with only one, namely, myself. Nevertheless, on the basis of my general magical experiences, I believe that I may also have a voice in such questions. Needless to say, completeness cannot be a matter of concern here. Here, too, following the principle of the ancient Roman poet Horace, “Nil admirari,” I shall be astonished at nothing and shall endeavor to explain everything as naturally as possible.

1. The Dowsing Rod

By a dowsing rod is meant a freshly cut forked branch of willow or hazel. Each branch of the fork is approximately 20 cm long and as thick as a finger.

It is handled in such a way that each hand grasps one branch of the fork and at the same time clenches itself into a fist. The palms are turned upward and the forearms held horizontally forward, while the elbows rest against the body. The entire posture thereby becomes convulsive, and the rod to a certain extent springs in the hands of its bearer.

While formerly, in a more or less superstitious conception of the instrument, one sought its efficacy in its richness of sap and, so to speak, in its freshness of youth, it was recognized in more recent times that older rods are useless only because they have lost their flexibility and elasticity through drying out. Accordingly, people turned to other means and now mostly use a thick metal wire, approximately one meter long, bent in the middle into a v-shaped or circular loop. Fishbone rods tied together are also serviceable. How sober our age has become in this respect is shown by the fact that a seasoned practitioner in this field uses a pair of old corset stays with equal success.

The dowsing rod is used, besides the discovery of underground deposits of metals, ores, and coal, chiefly for locating underground waters for the purpose of constructing wells and water conduits.

Its history reaches back at least to the 15th century, though perhaps already into antiquity, and a rich literature exists concerning it^*.

It was not until the year 1902 that it aroused general public interest in modern times, through the efforts of the Prussian district administrator von Bülow-Bothkamp, who was soon joined by Privy Councillor Franzius, harbor construction director in Kiel. At the command of the German Kaiser, in the years 1906-1908 the Prussian district administrator von Uslar conducted numerous experiments with the dowsing rod in Southwest Africa, the interpretation of which gave rise to heated controversies. While Uslar speaks of 80% successes, his opponents claim only 10%. From the lips of a man who at that time was a senior colonial official in Southwest Africa, I learned that purely geological investigation achieved much better results. At the instigation of the aforementioned Privy Councillor Franzius, an “Association for the Clarification of the Dowsing-Rod Question” was founded in the year 1911 to solve the riddle of the dowsing rod. In Munich, Dr. med. Eduard Aigner is currently particularly active in this matter.

In any event, everything makes it certain that the dowsing rod is not based on pure superstition, but that positive results can be achieved with it, even though much fraud and exaggeration

^* See Count Karl v. Klinkowström, “The Bibliography of the Dowsing Rod,” with a longer introduction by Dr. med. Ed. Aigner, published by A. Dultz and Co.

Munich, 1911; furthermore, Dr. Aigner, “The Dowsing Rod” (Journal of Balneology 1912/13), which I have largely followed here. may have occurred, and even though failure occasionally occurs as a result of the practitioner’s indisposition. Of the countless examples, I should like to cite only two more from recent times.

Dr. Aigner reports the following: “A Munich physician purchased a plot of land for the construction of a villa. The geological formation of the property was a moraine landscape.

When it became necessary to locate water for the construction of the house, the geologist refused to give an opinion on the basis of the nature of the soil, while the engineer experimentally undertook various excavations to depths of 20 and 12 m without finding water. The neighbor had happened to find an artesian well only after drilling to a depth of 72 m. When the attempt to connect to the neighboring municipality’s water line had also failed, my colleague asked me for a dowser. The first time he crossed the terrain, there was already a deflection which, upon closer examination, suggested an underground spring. Immediate excavation yielded abundant and constant water at a depth of 3 m, which also supplied the now-completed property sufficiently with drinking water during this year’s hot summer!”

The “Munich Latest News” wrote on 2 March 1912: “Some time ago, the Munich municipal water office drew the railway administration’s attention to the increased water consumption in the area of Starnberg Station and advised the purchase of larger water meters. The railway administration sought the reason for the high water consumption and had the taps of all terminal pipes shut off. Nevertheless, continuous water consumption was found at one pipe. A broken pipe was suspected, and on the advice of the installer Simmet, Schommerstraße 11, the municipal water office was approached for the loan of a dowser, in order to avoid unnecessary excavations. The pipe overseer Kurringer surveyed the area of the pipe network in question with the dowsing rod. At one spot, a distinct deflection of the rod appeared. The excavation immediately undertaken revealed a completely undamaged pipe; however, at the spot indicated by the dowser, a newly constructed line, not entered on the plans, branched off into the underground latrine of the tunnel leading to the Ministry of Transport. This line caused the high water consumption. Thus, within a few hours, the dowsing rod had uncovered the circumstances that had initially appeared inexplicable.”

The question now is: how is the effect of the dowsing rod to be explained?

As a result of the convulsive posture of the body and the somewhat unnatural, in a certain sense spring-like clasping of the rod, the latter is evidently in a state of unstable equilibrium, and the dowser is compelled to direct his entire attention solely to the rod, his hands, and his objective, so that he becomes particularly sensitive and the slightest cause produces a deflection, which under the given conditions can naturally occur only upward or downward. The dowsing rod is thus evidently, in the first instance, a means of increasing attention and sensitivity. The usual assumption hitherto was that underground radioactive emissions from the objects mentioned (water, metals, etc.) exert an unconscious stimulus upon certain persons, somewhat as atmospheric changes during a change in the weather—for example, changes in the moisture content, temperature, or pressure of the air—strongly affect some people, while most others perceive nothing of them. More recent investigations, however, have shown that water does not emit radioactive rays, but, on the contrary, absorbs them. The ground, on the other hand, does emit such rays. As soon, therefore, as the dowser steps upon ground beneath which water is located, he is no longer under the influence of these rays, and his particular sensitivity in this respect seems unconsciously to produce a change in the muscular tension of the body and thereby a deflection of the rod. Incidentally, with flowing water, ground vibrations may also play a part.

It is self-evident that the task now confronting the natural sciences is to replace the dowsing rod by suitable apparatus independent of the physiological fluctuations of the human organism. This also seems to have good prospects in the most recent period. Earlier experiments yielded, for example, the following: If apparatus for wireless telegraphy is installed underground, for example in two shafts of a mine, then the oscillations emitted by one (the so-called oscillator) are received by the other, the receiver (detector), since ordinary soil presents no substantial obstacle to their passage. If, however, a layer of water lies between the two, the oscillations are absorbed by it and thus can exert no effect upon the other apparatus.

(Absorption method.)

The other procedure is still better: if an oscillator is set up at a point on the earth’s surface, then, according to what has just been said, the waves emitted by it naturally also penetrate into the ground. If, however, a layer of water lies at a depth within it, they are again reflected, since water behaves toward these waves much as a mirror does toward rays of light. The waves reflected upward can then be located with the detector. By comparing the velocities of the rays proceeding directly to the other station with those of the reflected rays, the depth at which the water layer lies can be calculated.

Not only underground water, but also metals, ores, coal, and petroleum behave similarly. They can therefore be detected by purely physical means.

2. Mind-Reading and Thought-Transference

In this field, two fundamentally different cases must above all be distinguished:

a) Muscle Reading

The ordinary public demonstrations of this generally seek to create the impression that they involve genuine thought-transference. They are usually conducted approximately as follows: The experimenter asks the subject to think as vividly as possible of the object he is to discover, which may, for example, be located somewhere in the hall or in the pocket of one of those present. He then takes the subject by the hand and walks around the hall with him until he succeeds in solving his task.

The procedure rests essentially upon the facts already mentioned in IV p. 52, namely, that through vivid psychological activity a person is influenced in his body, so that another personality, particularly well trained in observing such matters, can draw conclusions about his thoughts from bodily changes and manifestations in the subject, for example from unconscious and involuntary muscle movements, changes in cardiac activity and consequently in the pulse, from the look in the eyes and play of facial expression, from involuntary whispering, etc.* As early as 1833, E. Chevreuil formulated a theory concerning this. As specifically concerns the involuntary

^* See, for example, Bumke: On the Bodily Accompanying Phenomena of Psychical Processes. Wiesbaden, Bergmann’s Verlag.

muscle movements of the hands, Dessoir^* expresses himself, for example, as follows: “The mind-readers in question concentrate their minds upon whether the hands of the thinker (which they are holding) are satisfied or dissatisfied. In fact, these hands have an entire language: If the mind-reader is to reach upward, they rise (in the thinker’s hands) just a tiny bit; if he is to bend down, they press downward; if he has not yet accomplished his task, they do not let him move from the spot; and when he has happily reached the end, they indicate their satisfaction to him by a gentle pressure.

A professional mind-reader of this kind incidentally informed me that in public demonstrations he draws his conclusions not merely from observing the subject, but from the entire audience present in general.

Although it is evidently interesting and not without scientific significance that such a procedure can be developed by gifted personalities into a refined art, nevertheless, now that these facts have long since been established, such experiments will generally scarcely be worth the effort expended upon them and will hardly rise above the level of a scientific amusement.

In conclusion, I should like to add here that several years ago a horse, “Clever Hans,” proved to be an exceptionally sensitive mind-reader of this kind.

The animal appeared capable of solving arithmetic problems, remembering and stating its own age, as well as that of its owner, a certain Herr von Osten, and many other things, answering questions by striking the ground with its hoof a corresponding number of times.

After various scientific observers had declared that there was no fraud on the part of the horse’s owner, the psychologists Stumpf and Pfungst succeeded in solving the riddle. The horse possessed a quite abnormal power of observation and recognized the unconscious and involuntary expressive movements that occurred in the questioner when the goal had been reached. If, for example, it was to

^* On the History of Mind-reading. Sphinx 1886.

^* A further kind of thought-transference consists in two persons cooperating in such a way that one establishes contact with the audience, while the other is informed by this person, through an agreed secret language, about the state of affairs. It is clear that this procedure is even more devoid of deeper significance and, in fact, bears its name entirely unjustly.

solve the arithmetical problem 2x8, and then stamped its foot until a slight movement of the head or a faint twitching of the eyelids occurred in the questioner—in this case after 16 stamps. As soon as the animal was prevented from seeing its questioner, for example by means of a folding screen, its skill failed. The correctness of this explanation was also demonstrated by the fact that Pfungst graphically recorded by objective methods the expressive movements which served the horse as points of reference, and furthermore by the fact that, through premature imitation of these movements, he could lead the horse astray and induce it to “calculate incorrectly” . In solving the aforementioned problem 2x8, for example, it stopped after only 14 hoofbeats when he allowed the relevant expressive movements to occur. Finally, Pfungst himself could, so to speak, take over the role of the horse and communicate the solution of an unknown problem set for him (e.g. a number thought of by the questioner) by stamping his foot, if he was permitted to observe him.

b) Genuine Thought-Transference (Telepathy), Including Clairvoyance with Respect to Space

By “telepathy” (telenergy) one understands the transmission of ideas, sensations, feelings (telaesthesia), etc., from one person to another with the exclusion of the ordinary means of mediation and sensory functions.

The experiments are conducted in such a manner that one person (the giver, agent) becomes absorbed in contemplating or imagining a drawing, a flower, etc., and seeks to communicate his conception to the other, while the latter (the mind-reader, recipient, percipient), remaining as passive as possible, endeavors to obtain a corresponding impression. Naturally, disturbing influences from the external world must be kept away from the recipient. In receiving visual ideas, it is therefore advisable to keep the eyes closed. The performance of such experiments requires much practice and in any case also a particular disposition. At the outset, direct contact between the two experimental subjects is advantageous, but gradually the distance between them may become ever greater, eventually extending over many kilometers.

^* Compare in this connection the monograph: Telepathy by Robert Sigerus.

Leipzig 1911. Published by Max Altmann.

As already mentioned in Section 11, the Society for Psychical Research has existed in England since the year 1882. Among other things, it set itself the task, on the one hand, of experimentally investigating the possibility of such a transmission over greater distances and, on the other, of collecting unimpeachable facts from earlier times which would prove thought-transference. Experiments in this direction were also undertaken by various observers in other countries. In Germany, for example, by du Prel and by Dr. Baron von Schrenck-Notzing, the latter of whom also translated into German a work by Richet on this subject^*.

Hennig cites the following case: “Personally, a physicist currently working at a German university, Professor D., has communicated to me observations of his own, for whose reliability I am willing to vouch without further ado, since the informant in question is known to me as an absolutely reliable and excellent observer, free from every prejudice and thoroughly familiar with all sources of error in experiments of this kind, so that he was able successfully to take precautions against them. What guided him in his experiment was solely scientific interest and strict love of truth. He also recorded the results, some of them extraordinarily astonishing, for himself, as the result of an exact physical experiment, and has never published them. They nevertheless appear to me so extraordinarily valuable that I should like to communicate a few of them.

The experiments were always conducted with one and the same lady. Professor D. devised some drawing, which he then fixed his attention upon intently, or commanded the lady in thought to perform some action. The lady then reproduced those images which appeared to her with white outlines on a dark background when her eyes were closed, or she performed the action which, after the experiment had continued for some time, appeared in her circle of ideas as the one commanded her. It will scarcely be possible to invoke involuntary whispering as an explanation for the success of the experiments when one learns that the thought-transference also succeeded when the two persons were in different rooms, separated from one another by a wall without a connecting door. Every error is excluded in this, since Professor D. did not think up the task to be set until both he and the lady had taken their places in the two rooms …”

^* Experimental Studies in the Field of Thought-Transference and So-Called Clairvoyance, 1907.

^** Wonders and Science, Hamburg, Gutenberg Publishing House, 1904, p. 157.

thought of it only after both he and the lady had taken their places in the two rooms …”

In the most recent period, the well-known English physicist Lodge conducted exact experiments with thought-transference and published a book on the subject.

The unequivocal result of all previous research in this field is that genuine thought-transference is indeed possible.

The English chemist Crookes, already mentioned, gave approximately the following scientific explanation of the phenomenon: When a musical string or a tuning fork is struck, it begins to vibrate. These vibrations communicate themselves to the surrounding air, propagate themselves through it, and cause another, similarly tuned musical string or tuning fork situated at some distance to vibrate sympathetically as well. If we now assume that, with a particular vivid conception, a particular cerebral ganglion, especially in particularly sensitive persons, enters into stronger excitation, and further that this excitation communicates itself to the surrounding ether, so that it likewise enters into a corresponding state of excitation, then these ether vibrations, quite analogously to the air vibrations mentioned above, may propagate themselves as far as the brain of another, possibly very distant, personality, which likewise possesses a particularly sensitive ganglion—but this time one for the reception of ether vibrations of the kind in question—and in it, conversely, evoke the corresponding conception.

Later he compared the entire process with wireless telegraphy and moreover expressed the view that all phenomena belonging here take place in a region for which our customary conception of space no longer possesses validity.

Although I do not approve of Crookes’s last-mentioned view concerning space, because it contains a mystical element, I nevertheless agree with his exposition insofar as I likewise hold the opinion that purely psychic processes can produce such an excitation of corresponding cerebral regions that it communicates itself to the surrounding ether and propagates itself through it over great distances. If, merely by means of the power of conception, one can drive specific energy in greater quantity beyond the peripheral terminal organs—the retina, the fingertips, etc.—as I explained in IV. 2, why should specific energy not likewise, by means of the same power, be driven from central cerebral regions be radiated out into space? And if light and heat vibrations propagate over great distances, why should ether vibrations emanating from the brain not likewise spread over greater distances? Many find something mysterious in the possibility that purely mental processes taking place within the human being, such as thoughts and ideas, should be transmitted over greater distances. In so doing, however, they evidently confuse the truly psychical aspect of ideas with the physical brain and ether excitations caused by them. The ether vibrations alone continue to propagate through space. Then, possibly reaching the brain of another sensitive human being, they produce there the same physical states, and only through their reinterpretation back into the psychical does the latter acquire the same ideas and thoughts as the sender. In telepathic thought-transference, therefore, there is absolutely no immediate mystical intercourse “from soul to soul,” but only one taking place by the very natural detour just mentioned. In this respect, therefore, it does not differ in principle from ordinary and normal thought-transference, such as occurs, for example, when speaking with another person. Here, according to one’s thoughts and ideas, one moves the speech organs and thereby produces air vibrations which, propagating through space, set the eardrum and from there the brain of the other person into excitation.

Through the psychical reinterpretation of these brain excitations, the other person then receives and recognizes the thoughts and ideas of the speaking person. The difference between ordinary thought-transference through speech and the magical (telepathic) kind consists essentially, therefore, in the fact that in the latter the peripheral organs are eliminated and, in addition, it is not air but ether that functions as the mediating medium.

There are, however, still various other kinds of thought-transference (in the wider sense of the word), e.g. by means of the telephone and telegraph, gramophone and cinematograph. Through the latter apparatuses, but especially by means of writing and pictures, thoughts can not only be transmitted but even preserved for any desired length of time, so to speak, for thousands of years.

How astonished I was, therefore, in the face of such facts, when a highly educated person explained to me that she did not believe in the possibility of telepathic thought-transference, since the psychical could never be adequately represented physically (i.e. here by means of ether vibrations), although, naturally, at that very moment, in this very discussion with me, she was conveying to me her thoughts and views on the matter—that is, her psychical elaboration—through quite ordinary air vibrations!— Again and again the same prejudice: What one regards as self-evident in other fields, one considers incomprehensible and incredible in the case of magic!

A particularly intimate comparison of telepathy with “wireless” telegraphy, as is usually preferred, is unnecessary. I can also call out “wirelessly” to a distant person, or wave to him “wirelessly.” In general, the exchange of thoughts and other communication between different persons normally takes place by wireless means, through air or ether vibrations.

Naturally, the telepathic radiation of energy from the giver is the stronger, the more vivid his ideas are. If their intensity is further increased by continued practice, thought-transference will naturally gradually succeed over greater distances as well.

I do not consider Crookes’s previously mentioned assumption—that two specifically different cerebral ganglia are involved, one for emitting the rays and the other for receiving them—necessary. Rather, the same brain centers may be involved both in the giver and in the recipient, for according to p. 46 an apparatus capable of producing specific ether vibrations is, conversely, also able to receive the ether vibrations emanating from another similarly constructed apparatus. Since, however, two diametrically opposed magical-physiological functions are involved here, each must be learned separately. In the former case one is active; in the latter one behaves passively.

The fact that more complicated thought-transferences also take place presents no particular difficulties for the explanation, if analogous conditions in music are brought into comparison. Not merely individual tones but also entire pieces of music can be transmitted if, instead of two identical tuning forks or strings, more complicated instruments—e.g. two similarly tuned pianos—are placed next to one another. If one plays a piece of music on one, the same piece sounds softly along on the other.

Instead of transmitting more complicated thoughts, however, one must initially restrict oneself to attempting it with simple, sensory ideas, for two individual tuning forks or strings are, after all, easier to tune alike and adjust to one another than two pianos. Since, moreover, there are, so to speak, instrumentally different kinds of ideas, namely optical, acoustic, etc., it will be well to make a further distinction. Thus, for example, one should initially learn to transmit or receive only simple optical ideas, or only acoustic ones, and choose especially typical and characteristic objects, such as I indicate in IV.3. a and b for related purposes.

The view is not uncommon that it is difficult to understand how, amid the multitude of telepathic vibrations constantly traversing the ether, the percipient can receive any definite impressions at all. As though a multitude of the most diverse optical and acoustic vibrations were not constantly traversing the ether or the air, without this making our optical and acoustic capacity for perception impossible!

Incidentally, stronger telepathic ether vibrations are generally not present at all, for the excitation of the brain arising in normal ideas is in any case so weak that it does not perceptibly affect the ether.

Stronger ether vibrations arise only when brain activity becomes unusually lively in exceptional cases (e.g. in abnormally constituted personalities,* in pathological natures, in the dying) or deliberately (after continued practice), similarly to how, according to Section IV, stronger ether excitations emanate from the retina only during a magical innervation of the optical apparatus. If I speak softly to myself, no one else hears it, even while listening with the greatest concentration. I must speak loudly if others are to hear, and all the more loudly the farther away they are. The same applies here by analogy. I must learn to think aloud if others are to perceive it. An abnormal excitation of the relevant regions of the brain is required if they are to produce stronger ether waves perceptible to other human beings as well. Thus, when the occultists assume that countless excitations of this kind are continually impinging upon human beings and that, as a result, they are constantly psychically

^* Comparable to geniuses in science, art, and music.

^** How naive views occasionally still prevail regarding telepathy is shown by the fact that an acknowledged scientific writer in this field asserts that practice has an adverse effect on the success of the experiments!

if they believe that they are influenced from outside without their knowledge, they are mistaken in this respect.

Moreover, a constant influence upon man by the external world takes place in any case through the ordinary channels, so that an additional telepathic influence would not substantially alter the situation.

Since, as stated earlier, ordinary thinking produces no more intensive brain and ether vibrations which propagate over greater distances, there is likewise no need to fear that one may be telepathically eavesdropped upon in one’s thoughts by another person.

The preceding discussions also make it understandable why accidental telepathic transmissions, such as are found, for example, in the “announcements” of the dying to be discussed below, are relatively rare.

That they moreover usually take place only between persons who, expressed mystically, stand in a certain “sympathetic” relationship, that is, in a closer familial or friendly relation to one another, is based chiefly upon the following reasons: In such a case the sender at least approximately knows the direction in which he must send his ideas or in which he must call magically, for he knows where his relatives and friends live. Conversely, the latter, that is, the recipients, know his voice. They are immediately affected by it more deeply and strongly than by any other, just as in the street the well-known voice of a friend, which another person does not notice, is immediately picked out. As far as I could see from my own, though hitherto wholly inadequate (see the heading of this VI. chapter), telepathic experiments, in attempting to establish telepathic contact from a distance with my mother, who was at home, I involuntarily directed my thoughts in the direction , in which my dwelling was situated. Even when listening intently in the ordinary way, one likewise directs one’s attention toward the side from which the sound comes or is supposed to come. - And even if man does not carry all this out consciously, it may, in special exceptional cases , occur without his knowledge and without his noticing it, on the part of individual centers of his subconscious which, according to Section V, have temporarily emancipated themselves in this respect. They can send out telepathic messages, but can also receive such messages which, if they are more important and more deeply penetrating, frequently advance to the conscious ego, but may also for a long time or permanently lie buried in the subconscious. This assumption explains in an entirely natural manner various mysterious cases otherwise interpretable only with the aid of spirits, such as, for example, the case cited below on p. 197 concerning the spiritualistic medium Mrs. ThomDson.

Incidentally, I would like to remark here that in the year 1911 three telepathic wonder-workers appeared in Munich (as also in numerous other cities), one after another within a short time. Regarding the interpretation of the performances of the first two, a lengthy newspaper polemic developed in the “Münchener Neuesten Nachrichten” between a number of theoretical-scientific specialists.

I myself had the opportunity to attend one public séance of each of these mind-readers. Since such demonstrations seem in recent times to be becoming fashionable and the public shows very lively interest in them, I may be permitted briefly to indicate my own view, insofar as I was able to form it on the basis of the three performances mentioned: In the case of all three artists, it is in general quite impossible for this to involve genuine Telepathy, for the simple reason that their entire behavior speaks against it. A genuine mind-reader will not run about the hall with the agent, but will stand or sit quietly beside him, or, with greater skill, at some distance from him, and pay close attention in order to receive and interpret the telepathic vibrations emanating from the agent’s brain, just as one first listens to an order or commission given in the ordinary voice in context and then carries it out alone , without continually dragging the person giving the order about by the hand. Moreover, according to what has preceded, it must be noted that the persons selected from the audience as agents are as a rule not capable at all of producing stronger telepathic vibrations, since they have in no way been trained for this. Thus such demonstrations can involve only the muscle-reading discussed earlier. I was repeatedly able to observe how incredibly easily the great public can be deceived by such “mind-readers.”

Only one example: A young lady was supposed to transmit the number 191 to one of the artists “telepathically.” To determine each individual digit, the latter each time slowly counted down the digits 0, 1, 2 through 9 in sequence. After various unsuccessful attempts, and after the lady had repeatedly been reproached for being unable to concentrate her thoughts sufficiently, the first two digits 1 and 9 had been established. To elicit the third one as well, he began the game anew. The lady, who had evidently grown increasingly nervous, now nodded her head quite distinctly when the digit 1 was mentioned, and at the end the artist named, this time naturally with great confidence, the digit 1 and thereupon, thus, the total number 191 as the correct one. The audience, which had evidently not noticed this clumsy form of thought-transference, then applauded most enthusiastically, in rapturous delight over such “phenomenal” achievements!

Nevertheless, I will not deny the possibility that some persons who professionally occupy themselves with muscle-reading may, as a result of their constant concentrated attention to the signals emanating from the agent, and given the appropriate disposition, become more or less receptive also to genuine Telepathy, while, on the other hand, in the case of an agent selected from the audience, the entire atmosphere prevailing during the experiments, or the influence of an especially energetically operating artist, may occasionally provoke a stronger telepathic excitation of the brain centers involved in thinking, so that genuine telepathic phenomena may exceptionally be combined with muscle-reading.

Telepathic perceptions are very easily confused with hallucinations and sense-deceptions originating from individual centers of the own personality’s subconscious. A well-known scholar cites the following from his own experience as proof that Telepathy does not exist: “At the time when, as a young man, I lived alone in a strange city, I often enough suddenly heard my name called by an unmistakable, dear voice, and then noted the moment of the hallucination in order to make anxious inquiries among those who had remained at home as to what had happened at that time. There was nothing.

In compensation for this, I later worked with my patients unmoved and unsuspecting while my child was in danger of succumbing to hemorrhage.” My explanation, however, is that the scholar in question did indeed have a vividly active subconscious, but no disposition for Telepathy. It would therefore be throwing out the wheat with the chaff if one wished to deny all telepathic phenomena because errors are possible, or because the phenomena do not occur precisely when it would be desirable.

With regard to the clarity of the perception , extraordinarily great differences are found among recipients. Sometimes only an indefinite presentiment arises, but sometimes it concerns a perfectly clear, wholly “realistic” viewing of distant events, almost equivalent to actual seeing and hearing, so that the recipient receives not merely optical and acoustic representations, but actually sees the transmitted image before him or truly hears the agent speaking, and thus receives optical and acoustic hallucinations. In the case of such impressions, the process is to be understood as follows: in the percipient, the excitation descends from the higher optical or acoustic centres of the cerebral cortex, which receive the telepathic vibrations, to the retina or the eardrum, similarly to what I explained in Section IV, p. 41 and then, conversely, propagates backwards again as far as consciousness. In all cases, however, we are dealing here once more with processes that can be explained in an entirely natural manner. There can be no question whatever of “suprasensible” thought-transference, i.e. of thought-transference with the sense organs excluded^*. And an assertion such as that made by a distinguished occultist: “A spirit can act upon another without the mediation of the senses,” is incorrect; on the contrary, it is precisely in the latter case of realistic thought-transference that the senses, including even the peripheral ones, are called upon and excited with particular intensity. I shall insert here a typical example of such realistic thought-transference, while farther on, p. 201 ff., I shall give a few others.

In the Central Journal for Occultism Wilh. Wrchovszky writes, among other things, the following about his telepathic experiments with a friend: “First experiment.

Experimental arrangement: The time of the experiment is from 8 o’clock to 8.10 in the evening; distance 2 km. Agent: A. (that is, his friend), percipient: W. W. (i.e. Wilh.

Wrchovszky). — As early as ½8 I withdraw into a quiet room isolated from the other rooms of the dwelling, in order to prepare myself for the message that is to arrive. I initiated the concentration by means of a few breathing exercises. Thereupon—it is already several minutes before eight—the consciousness of the external personality disappears for a fraction of a second, and I have the impression as though I had been transported into A.’s room: I “see,” but as if from an elevated

^* By “suprasensible” thought-transference, occultists ordinarily understand only thought-transference with the external sense organs excluded. The expression is, however, in any event easily misunderstood by someone standing outside the matter.

^* 1909, p. 28. Published by Max Altmann, Leipzig.

standpoint, how A., sitting at the table over a book, looks at the clock (I myself can establish 3 minutes to eight), then rises, goes to the fauteuil at the wall and, sitting down there, takes a framed little picture in his hand and is mentally intent upon letting me know of it, in short, upon transmitting the impression of the picture to me by mental means. I am impressed by all the details in so pictorial a manner. The whole process is over in one or two moments, and without consciousness being interrupted again (I must emphasize this, since it might seem that it had been a “dream”), I retain all the details in my memory. I was now certain that I had had an experience of a kind that occurs only under particular circumstances. I noted everything down exactly, and the check carried out the following day confirmed everything in detail: A. had been so absorbed in a book that he had almost forgotten the agreed time. Yet he “remembered” in time and saw that it was only three minutes to eight. Then the said picture caught his eye, and he decided this time to transmit this picture. With what success has just been demonstrated.”

I made inquiries of Mr. Wrchovszky, Vienna, Oriental Institute of the University, who had entered into communication with me on the occasion of the appearance of my first treatise on magic (in Ostwald’s Annals), concerning this occurrence, and he assured me in writing, and later once more orally, that he himself had experienced it with all its details.

Mr. Wrchovszky finally informed me that the experiments in question had been abandoned because they had unpleasant consequences insofar as, gradually and increasingly often, one person involuntarily became aware of the other’s respective actions and activities (In my view, the cause lay in the fact that the two experimental subjects later no longer adhered to a strict time for their experiments.) Since, during several hours of oral discussion, I came to know Mr. Wrehovszky as a man who was as educated as he was imbued with profound scientific interest, there can be no doubt for me regarding the correctness of his statements.

Such hallucinatory thought-transference may already be termed “clairvoyance” (with reference to space) . The possibility of such clairvoyance has been asserted since ancient times. The philosopher van Helmont (1577-1644), for example, says: “There exists an ecstatic power which, awakened or stimulated by an ardent desire or a very vivid representation, is capable of transporting the spirit to an absent, far-distant object.”

A further kind of hallucinatory thought-transference would finally consist in the percipient projecting outward a real and visible, possibly even photographable, image of the impressions obtained telepathically. The alleged phantoms of the spirits of such deceased persons as are known only to one or several participants in a séance, but not to the medium himself, belong here, for example. In this case, a transmission would have to be assumed from the upper or also the subconscious of the séance participants to that of the medium, who would then himself, still participating actively, project the figures outward as real images. Spiritualists consider such an apparition of spirits particularly compelling evidence for their cause. But evidently without justification.

3. Thought Photography

In this field, Dr. med. Baraduc in Paris († 1911) and Major Darget in Tours are particularly well known.

According to the latter, the procedure is as follows: “One should observe an object of simple form, such as a wine bottle, a walking stick, or the like, attentively for some time and concentrate one’s thoughts upon it as well as possible; then go into the photographic darkroom and hold a photographic plate before one’s forehead for a quarter of an hour, with the earnest wish that it might succeed in bringing forth upon the plate the image of the object.”

The chemist A. H., mentioned earlier (p. 58), wrote to me about this: “I saw, indeed studied, the results of Major Darget several times at the Brussels Exhibition. I regard them as self-deception and absolutely reject them as what they are supposed to be. They are flaws in the plates, errors in fixing, errors in developing. In the opinion of all those devoted to photography in Brussels, I may count myself among the connoisseurs of the fundamental elements of photography—I have also published various things about them. The production of these photographs is positively childish— and probably could not withstand serious discussion.”

For my part, I should like to propose the following procedure: In accordance with p. 46, let one transform the excitations that arise during a particularly vivid optical image in the upper centres of the brain takes place, by means of the lower centres and finally the retina, in the long-known and more closely studied ordinary light vibrations, and produces, similarly to the convex lens of the photographer’s camera obscura, by means of the refracting media of the eye, an ordinary real image. In the place where this image is located, let a photographic plate be placed. In other words: let the hallucination be projected onto a photographic plate, proceeding therefore in exactly the same way as the photographer, who likewise places his photographic plate at the spot where the convex lens of his camera projects the real image.

Naturally, one will choose for the hallucinatory reproduction objects of correspondingly small size, which at the same time are of a colour that acts with particular force upon the photographic plate.

With this procedure, the photographability of “thoughts” (in reality, however, what is involved here is only real optical hallucinations, real optical reproduction of objects of the external world) is self-evident. In addition, one should work with ordinary, long-explored optics and ordinary photographic methods. A magic of the peripheral organs , as I described it in Chapter IV, and built upon this “photography of thoughts” is thus closely connected with the sciences already in existence and with the study of the external world, for it is precisely the peripheral organs that in the normal human being exclusively and directly receive the influences and stimuli proceeding from the external world, and therefore stand in the closest relationship to it.

I do not consider it impossible that particularly vivid optical hallucinations of the mentally ill may also be photographable. As closer consideration shows, the procedure would here frequently have to be specially worked out and modified.

It would be more advisable, however, to detect and demonstrate the optical image directly on the retina , whether of a mentally ill hallucinating person or of a practised hallucinating magician. The chemist A. H., already repeatedly cited, informed me that he had carried out such experiments years ago, after discussing them with the director of the Université nouvelle de Bruxelles, but (in contrast to his excellent results in the motor field, p. 58 (without any success. “With the aid of a Voigtländer telephoto lens and the insertion of a water chamber before the eye, I obtained nothing. Later I observed the eyes of the subjects in the dark for a long time with the aid of an astronomical telescope (3½ inches) (1½ to 2 hours), but obtained no trace of an image. To make certain that I had my subject firmly in the telescope, I mounted above it a luminous Geissler tube containing hydrogen, the reflection of which in the eye I could see through the telescope. (The Geissler tube could be switched on and extinguished at will.) If, therefore, the slightest luminous image-effect or image-production on the retina had been visible, I should have had to see it! Since my telescope inverts—and the image on the retina would likewise have had to appear inverted—I should therefore have seen everything upright.”

The reason for the failure of these experiments lay, in my conviction, in any case in the fact that the hallucinations of the subjects were merely subjective and therefore not yet sufficiently vivid, for a noticeable excitation of the retina, that is, of the extreme periphery of the optical apparatus, and thus visibility of the image located upon it, may be expected only when the hallucinations have already crossed the boundary between the subjective and the objective. But this is certainly not generally the case when one sees them only in the dark or with closed eyes. If, therefore, a person is not endowed with an entirely abnormally favourable disposition, only systematic practice according to IV. A., combined with simultaneous control by one of the methods just mentioned, can lead to the goal. How long does it take in art, music, or science before one becomes capable of accomplishing better performances! Why should it be different in magic, and why should everything succeed as rapidly as possible and at the very first attempt precisely here? Once, when I was speaking on this subject with two gentlemen known to me (physicians), they immediately darkened the room in order to observe one another’s possible hallucinations on the retina. Naturally, without success. Since, however, they did not wish to know anything of the sustained practice that I proposed to them, in the end I had no alternative but to indicate to them, albeit in veiled form: “If the matter were so simple, someone else would long ago have made this discovery, and science would not have had to wait for it .”

The following procedure^*, given by an occultist, illustrates what incredible naivety and what an effort to introduce superstition and mysticism again and again still prevails in the field of thought-photography and magic in general: “One places the sensitized photographic plate in the (very slow-acting) developer, folds one’s hands, and holds the fingers approximately one centimetre above the developing fluid, without immersing them.

While doing this, one thinks constantly of the image of an object. The process lasts approximately a quarter of an hour. If one now closes one’s eyes, the image immediately appears, at first somewhat blurred, but nevertheless so distinctly within the visual field that one can describe it. With some exertion of will, the same image can be seen with open eyes against some background … The image is now thrown through the fingertips onto the sensitive plate and fixed there.” Instead of projecting the image, which has probably already become real and can already be photographed, directly onto the plate, it is supposed to be thrown onto it through the fingertips ! Truly, a peculiar way of photographing images! That is surely nothing less than stumbling over a scientific discovery!

4. Involuntary or Unconscious Thought-Transference; Announcements of the Dying, Premonitions, etc.

As I explained on p. 189, the experiments in thought-transference for the present still stand too isolated scientifically.

Moreover, they seem to me in many cases to have been improperly conducted. Nevertheless, they are of the greatest importance for a purely scientific explanation of a series of phenomena that have aroused human interest since ancient times and, because of the impossibility of a scientific interpretation, have generally been construed in a mystical and superstitious sense.

Just as in exceptional cases certain persons are readily suited to become spiritistic mediums without further ado and without having specially practised (mission mediums, p. 101), individual persons may become, permanently or temporarily (p. 184), spontaneous mediums of thought-transference.

^* Zentralblatt für Okkultismus. Published by Max Altmann, Leipzig 1911, IVth year, p. 386.

^** In contrast to conscious and systematically practised thought-transference, some authors reserve the expression “telepathy” for such cases of involuntary or unconscious thought-transference, thus understanding it in a narrower sense than it is used in this book.

Here only a few examples,* the explanation of which for the most part follows of itself from what was communicated on p. 178 ff.: On the occasion of discussing a book by Flammarion on occult phenomena, Wilhelm Ostwald expresses himself as follows: “With regard to the contents of this book, the reporter must confess himself to be a layman who has never yet had the opportunity of observing the phenomena of which it treats himself. Perhaps with the exception of one case, which consists in the following. He has a scientific and personal friend who belongs to another nation and leads an exceedingly active life, rich in fundamental works.

Thus it comes about that, under the pressure of daily work, the two friends do not maintain a regular correspondence, but from time to time feel the need to refresh their personal knowledge of one another by a letter, since otherwise, through the intervals, one runs the risk, to use Goethe’s expression, of pausing oneself over into eternal life. The letters which are written by both sides on such an occasion now tend to cross one another, i.e. the prompting feeling regularly arises simultaneously in both. How long the phenomenon has existed we have not investigated, but it has been noticeable to both of us for years and we know it, without its thereby having ceased to repeat itself .”

I was very surprised when, shortly thereafter, I read that the well-known psychologist Flournoy in Geneva also reported almost down to the details something similar about himself. In the work “Wonders and Science,” Hennig * writes: “It should nevertheless be mentioned at this point that one of our foremost living psychologists, who combines a thorough knowledge of occult and spiritistic phenomena with a marvelous sobriety of observation and an excellent clarity and certainty of judgment, Professor Flournoy in Geneva, personally related to me the following fact observed by himself: He has a friend who lives somewhere in southern France and with whom he corresponds from time to time, on average once every two or three months, although there is no regular cycle in the correspondence. For years now he has noted with astonishment that these letters from both sides crossed one another almost regularly, as though

^* Regarding various examples cited by me further below, which I was unable to check more closely, I refer skeptics to my note 2 S 7.

^** Ann. of Natural Philosophy, vol. IX, p. 212.

^*** P. 226.

both parties always happened upon the idea of writing to one another at the same time. The agreement was so striking that Flournoy finally proceeded experimentally, by sending a second letter several times out of sequence, about eight days after dispatching a letter. These attempts always failed; the letters crossed only when no experiments regarding their dispatch were intended.”

In his autobiography (Selbstschau I. 227), the well-known writer H. Zschokke relates: “It occasionally happened to me, when meeting an unknown person only once, while I listened silently to his conversation, that his life up to that point, with many small details in it, often merely this or that scene from it, passed before me in a dreamlike yet clear manner, quite involuntarily and within the space of a few minutes … . I long regarded such fleeting visions as playthings of the imagination. Merely to play a mischievous joke, I once related in the intimate family circle at Kirchberg the secret little stories of a seamstress who had just left the room and the house. I had never seen the person before; but people were astonished and laughed and would not be dissuaded from believing that I knew the circumstances of the woman in question, for what I had said was the complete truth. I was no less astonished, then, that something in reality corresponded to my dream-images. I became more attentive, and whenever propriety permitted, I related to those whose lives had passed before me the content of my dream-seeing, in order to learn whether it was refuted or confirmed. Yet each time confirmation followed … . . On a market day in the town of Waldshut, I returned there with two young forestry students (who are still alive), tired from an inspection of the forest, and in the evening entered the Rebstock inn. We had supper at the crowded inn table, where people were just making fun of all sorts of peculiarities and oddities of the Swiss, of Mesmer’s magnetism, Lavater’s physiognomy, etc. One of my companions, whose national pride was offended by the mockery, asked me to reply to it, particularly to a handsome young man sitting opposite us and making the most extravagant jokes. The life of this very man had just floated before me. I turned to him with the question whether he would answer honestly if I were to tell him the most secret thing from his life, while he knew me as little as I knew him. That would then be even more, I remarked, than Lavater’s physiognomy. He openly promised to admit it if I reported the truth. Thus I related what my dream-vision had revealed to me, and the entire company at table learned the story of a young merchant, his years of apprenticeship, his minor deviations, and finally also a small sin he had committed at his principal’s cash desk. In doing so I described to him the uninhabited room with whitewashed walls, where, to the right of the brown door, the black cashbox had stood on a table, etc. A deathly silence prevailed in the company during the narration, which I interrupted only occasionally with the question whether I was speaking the truth. The deeply affected man confirmed every circumstance; even, what I could not have expected, the last one. Then, moved by his sincerity, I cordially extended my hand to him across the table and concluded.”

Involuntary, or rather unconscious, thought-transference can also take place in sleep , when individual centers remain awake during it, that is, are in a dream state: The Prague newspaper Bohemia published the following notice on 3 January 1913, the accuracy of which I was unfortunately unable to check further: “ The Dream as Detective . The following is telegraphed from Kezdy-Vasarhely: A few weeks ago a burglary was committed at the photographer Franz Bogdan’s, without it being possible to apprehend the culprit. The day before yesterday the photographer dreamed that the baker’s apprentice Peter Ince appeared before him and confessed to the theft.

Bogdan reported the matter to the police, and the police questioned the baker’s apprentice. Ince confessed to having committed the burglary.”

The Münchener Neuesten Nachrichten reported on 30 October 1897^*: “On 1 August 1897, 120 marks were stolen from a chest of drawers belonging to a party residing in the summer resort of Josephsthal. Suspicion fell upon the landlady’s maid, but the investigation produced no result. After a few days, a Leipzig summer visitor, a lady, dreamed that the money was wrapped in a ball of wool. In fact, a 20-mark piece wrapped in paper was found in a ball of wool, and in a second one the

^* Quoted according to Du Prel . Magic as Natural Science, vol. II, pp. 264/65.

Hundred-mark note. The maidservant was sentenced by the Munich Regional Court to 5 months’ imprisonment.”

The following case is particularly compelling evidence for me, because it can be directly verified : A student of theology at the local Lyceum, who was at the same time a resident student at the archiepiscopal seminary for clerics, Mr. I. Sp., had, at the beginning of the Christmas vacation of the year 1912, asked the director of the seminary for permission to travel home on account of family matters. This was initially refused, however, and he therefore wrote to his parents that he definitely would not come. On one evening (27 December), however, he subsequently received this permission in an entirely unexpected manner and therefore, without allowing any further communication to reach home, set out on his journey to his native place early the next morning. During the intervening night (that is, from 27 to 28 December), the cook E. H., who was employed by the father of a friend of Mr. Sp., learned the entire situation in a dream and recounted it at once in the morning, still before his arrival , to his friend’s sister. — After Mr. Sp. had informed me of the circumstances on his own initiative, I induced him to ask the cook for a written account of the occurrence and also to set down the facts in writing himself. The cook’s written communication reads: “The night before your arrival I dreamed that you were assembled with several gentlemen. At this point the director remembered that you had applied for leave. He excused himself, saying that, because of so much work and agitation, he had completely forgotten about it. You had already decided not to make any further request. The director granted you four days’ leave, which you immediately proceeded to take. I myself was present in the dream. The director was a medium-sized, dark-complexioned gentleman.

On the Sunday before Christmas, that is, on 22 December, I had learned through your mother that you had indeed applied, but had not obtained leave.”

Candidate Sp. set down in writing essentially the following: “I confirm that the cook E. H. told me the dream in the manner in which it is reproduced in her letter. I expressly add that it agrees with the facts precisely in the most important points, namely in the following four: 1. I was together with several gentlemen at my desk when the director came.

The director excused himself for no longer having thought of my request for leave as a result of much work and agitation.
He gave me four^*) days’ leave.
He is a medium-sized, dark-complexioned gentleman.

For the rest, the course of events was as follows: On 28 December I went at approximately 10 o’clock in the morning to my friend, who was studying at another institution and had already returned home for the vacation several days earlier. As I entered the house, his sister came toward me and showed herself at first extremely astonished at my appearance, since I had written home that under no circumstances would I come. Immediately, however, she recovered herself at the thought of the cook’s dream, which she already knew, but to which she had initially attached no importance. She now reported it to me.

My astonishment at this grew ever greater. I now questioned the cook herself and let her first relate what she had dreamed, without previously telling her anything more specific. Only then did I expressly establish the complete agreement with the facts.”

A series of circumstances comes together here which evidently entirely excludes pure coincidence and permits only telepathy as a possible explanation. I would add that the distance between the two places in a straight line is approximately 60 kilometers, and further that the candidate of theology in question was personally known to me as a very modest and diligent young man, irreproachable in every respect. Unfortunately, he has since fallen in the war, in the year 1917.

Many a spiritualist bases his confidence in spiritism on the fact that the appearing “spirits” frequently revealed secrets to him which none of those present knew except him alone; indeed, more than one doubter was thereby directly converted to spiritism. Thus, for example, the Dutch physician Dr. van Eeden relates the following experience with the medium Mrs. Thompson : “I brought with me to her in London an article of clothing that had belonged to a young Dutchman who had committed suicide. No one in the world knew that I had kept it and taken it with me to England, and yet through the mouth of Mrs. Thompson I received an exact description of the young man, as well as the manner of his suicide. Finally

^* The day of the outward and return journey (28 December and 2 January) is not included here, since the lectures began again on 3 January.

his baptismal name was also given.” Dr. van Eeden adds approximately the following: “Eight months have already elapsed since my séance with Mrs. Thompson; although the first immediate impression has disappeared, I still cannot now escape the conviction that I was in fact — if only for a few minutes — witness to the voluntary manifestation of a deceased person.”

Apparently, however, here again there is only an involuntary thought-transference from the physician to the medium (see p. 184).

It is immaterial whether the person appearing as a “spirit” died years or even decades ago. In the memory and subconscious of the persons present, or even of only one of them, his memory may have been preserved down to the smallest detail, in order suddenly to awaken in a spiritistic séance and give rise to the formation of a corresponding phantom, or to express itself in some other way. The drawing by Anderson mentioned on p. 94 is to be interpreted analogously. The memory of the lady who had already died in the thirties continued to live in Owen’s subconscious. In 1856, in the manner of my personifications discussed in the third section, a personification took place as the deceased herself and as Owen’s guardian spirit. In 1867, finally, through unconscious thought-transference on Owen’s part, Anderson was able to draw not only her likeness but also her favorite flower, without Owen having previously made the slightest allusion to this lady.

That centers of the subconscious in fact sometimes stubbornly play the role of deceased persons is something I have very frequently been able to observe in myself in more recent times. A number of years ago, a gentleman known to me, Dr. von D., died.

While during his lifetime I had occasionally heard his voice inwardly, and indeed often on matters with which he himself most certainly would not have concerned himself, this increased still further after his death. A veritable personification again formed, which sometimes also appeared optically as a hallucination. As the intelligence of numerous centers of my subconscious increased, I was soon able to teach my inner Dr. von D. that the gentleman in question had already died and that he had nothing in common with him. This helped at first. Yet by no means permanently. The personification announces itself at shorter again and again, at shorter or longer intervals. When I reproach her for this, an apology and a marked blush of shame, together with a promise to improve, occasionally follow; sometimes, however, there is also the explanation that it is not readily possible for her to speak with another voice, that hers is in any case related to that of Dr. von D., and likewise, in various respects, her other character traits. Nor could she change so rapidly as a result of the long habit. She had already played this role in my inner life earlier, without my noticing it, because her thoughts had not yet become audible at that time.

I likewise regard as proving nothing a case reported in the Proc. of Soc. f. psych.

Research. Vol. XI, p. 82: In August 1874 the medium Reverend Stainton Moses was staying at Shanklin on the Isle of Wight with his friends Dr.

Speer and his wife. One evening they were sitting around a card table when it began to tip in a very violent manner. A communication was then obtained by spelling, in the spiritist manner, stating that the spirit making itself known was named Abraham Florentine and had died shortly beforehand, on 5 August, in Brooklyn. He had taken part in the war of 1812. Then the words followed: 83 years, 1 month, and 27 days. They now applied to the New York military authorities for information. These replied that an Abraham Florentine had in fact served in a New York regiment and had also taken part in the campaign of 1812. Further inquiries in Brooklyn led to his widow, who lived there. She confirmed the name and date of death, as well as his age, just as it had been given by the spirit making itself known through the card table.”

The following may serve as an explanation: As has already been mentioned several times, the inclinations of the various brain centres diverge. Even from the potpourri offered by a newspaper, each of the more intelligent and influential ones would like to learn what particularly interests it. A particularly powerful personification sometimes seeks, with a certain insistence, to turn my head, or at least my eyes, toward what it happens to wish to see. For this reason a certain oscillation also takes place in less pronounced cases. Moreover, the conscious ego often “forgets itself,” especially in personalities more strongly predisposed to magic, for a shorter or longer period, without this being felt as disturbing. In such a moment, in my view, individual centres of the subconscious, while the newspaper was being read, absorbed the news of Abraham Florentine’s death, his military career, and his age, committed the data to memory, and then, taking themselves for the deceased (compare, for example, pp. 33 and 167 ff.), subsequently reproduced them through the card table. A death notice with its black border and partly larger type is particularly conspicuous and striking.

Various inferior personifications in me are especially fond of turning to such things.

If one wishes to doubt that individual portions of the subconscious can occasionally read independently in a person himself, I ask that, for comparison, attention be paid to the fact that they are not infrequently also able to write . There are, namely, spiritist mediums who, while awake, “automatically” write down coherent (naturally, originating from the subconscious) “spirit communications,” without knowing anything of their content. Further, I should like to recall that hypnotized persons, or somnambulists as well, perform purposeful actions (of the subconscious) of which their conscious ego has no knowledge, because it is asleep.

A case belonging here, involving the independence of the subconscious while awake, from my own experiences: Several years ago, as so often before, I was slowly walking up a rise at the lower end of Freising, which affords a view of the course of a small river, the “Moosach.” All at once the thought arose in me with particular vividness: “What a pity that there is no bridge over the Moosach down there; otherwise you could now make a little round trip and would not have to return by the same route.” Such a thought had never occupied me previously and, on closer consideration, actually possessed little sense, because a short distance upstream there is indeed a bridge. After climbing the rise—perhaps a minute later—I stopped and let my gaze wander into the distance. There I saw, entirely according to my wish and to my great surprise, a bridge! Around it a number of supposed workers were busily occupied. In view of the latter circumstance, I turned back without using it. Later I learned that it had temporarily been built for practice purposes by pioneers from elsewhere. Apparently, individual centres of my subconscious had already discovered the bridge beforehand without my knowledge and, in conjunction with the fact that no such bridge had previously existed, had induced me to follow the above train of thought. (On the influence of the subconscious upon thoughts, see, for example, p. 73.)

A woman near Freising, whom I know to be entirely credible, informed me that years ago her niece had come down completely terrified from the hayloft, where she had been occupied throwing down hay, and exclaimed: “Just now my cousin died, I know it for certain, I have seen him die; he announced himself to me.” No one wanted to believe her, since he was supposed to be in Freising, about ten kilometres away, in perfect health. But she would not be dissuaded from her conviction. Later news arrived that he had in fact died suddenly of a heart attack at precisely the same time.

So-called “ announcement ” of a dying person. A simple, readily explicable telepathic phenomenon of the transmission of thoughts and Vorstellungen from the dying person to a “sympathetic” person (pp. 183 ff.).

At the meeting of the Psychological Society in Munich on 30 May 1899 the retired district court councillor Georg Friedrich reported the following: “My parents already had a domestic servant from a village on the Lahn named Lisbeth. After her death I had, as it were, taken her over as an item of inventory. She was upright, industrious, and faithful, and firmly devoted to our family. She had saved several hundred gulden, and I had gradually given her several hundred gulden as well, so that she could look forward to a carefree old age, even if she did not remain with me until her death, as I had intended. She had already become over 70 years old, was almost incapable of working, and was sickly. Among her relatives she still had a daughter of a half-sister, married in her native place and with a large family. This daughter often visited her, usually bringing with her a neatly dressed, pretty child whom Lisbeth had lifted from the baptismal font; she also never failed to bring some delicacy for the aunt, old Lisbeth, as she was generally called, and won her heart all the more because Lisbeth was greatly attached to the child.

Thus it could not surprise me that one day Lisbeth informed me of her decision to move in with the child’s mother and there her to spend the last years of her life. In vain I pointed out to her that she would probably be better off with me than she would be in her family, which lived in straitened circumstances. Lisbeth had been so won over by the persuasion and conduct of her niece that my dissuasion was of no avail. I therefore gave her a few more belongings and some money and dismissed her with the admonition to hold firmly to her property. I promised to write to her from time to time and also enjoined her to write to me occasionally, or have someone write to me, to tell me how she was faring.

The old woman found writing very difficult. — Several years passed. I had moved my residence to a considerable distance from Lisbeth’s birthplace. Every year on her birthday I had sent her my good wishes and each time enclosed a monetary gift, as I also did at Christmas, but had never received a letter from her. I believed that she was doing well.

It was now on a dark November night in the year 1877 that the following experience befell me. A violent wind had arisen and rain was falling.

At about four o’clock in the morning I started up from sleep in my bed. An undefined terror had seized me. I sat up in bed. A mysterious force compelled me to direct my eyes toward the open space in the room. I felt myself in a state of intense activity of all my mental faculties and yet again spellbound in a paralysis and rigidity, and compelled to submit to a foreign force, a foreign will.

I then saw, at a distance of about twenty paces, a river flowing past and knew that it was the Lahn. The water flowed between invisible banks and was wholly suffused with a yellowish-gray light. I was situated opposite approximately the middle of the river’s depth. There, however, the figure of the old Lisbeth, so well known to me, emerged. I saw her head perfectly clearly, around which her loosened gray hair hung down in a tangled, dripping mass, moving with the beat of the waves. I could also see her neck and shoulders and the upper part of her chest and arms. The lower part of her figure was indistinct, visible as though in mist. — She stared at me reproachfully with wild eyes filled with despair; and those eyes held me fettered by magic force. She and I did not speak; we read each other’s thoughts; but it was not merely a matter of reading, for I also felt an almost physical impression upon my hearing. Here is our conversation, as, for brevity’s sake and for lack of a better expression, I shall call the mutual exchange of thoughts, even though I am no longer able to reproduce it entirely word for word: “Sir,” she said, “Sir! Why have You abandoned me so completely? You were my only hope; it is Your fault that I must now die miserably!” — “Lisbeth,” I said, “you have property, and I have sent you money several times in my letters! If you were in need of something, why did you not write to me or come to me?” — “Ah, Sir!” said the figure, “now I know that You have not abandoned me! My relatives withheld Your letters and kept the money. They had flattered me until I gave them almost all my possessions; they did not allow me to write to You or come to You, and, when I had nothing more, they beat me, let me go hungry and cold, and made me sleep on a straw sack in the cowshed. Only yesterday evening my niece said: ‘See that you croak, you are no longer fit for anything better, you must leave the house tomorrow!’ — I could not sleep and knew of no way out. I thought of You and said: He no longer wants anything to do with you! And I heard a voice call: No one will help you, put an end to your misery! I ran to the river and jumped in. Sir, You are good!” — A blissful smile transfigured the old countenance, the eyes lost their rigidity and gazed gently and peacefully. But the entire apparition moved away, faded, and soon disappeared.

I could no longer sleep, although I tried; my pulses were beating violently. I resolved to write that very day to the pastor of the village on the Lahn to which Lisbeth had moved, but I was unable to carry out this decision, since unforeseen, important business occupied all my time, and, when I calmly reflected upon myself, I also smiled at having wanted to attach any weight to what was, even if a very vivid, dream.

On the following day, however, I read in the newspaper, dated the preceding day: “A sad event is reported from X: A person known by the name of The Old Lisbeth drowned herself in the Lahn this morning at four o’clock. The body has already been found. Lisbeth had long served as a maid in …, but had given the small fortune she had saved to her relatives, with whom she lived, and they had soon squandered the money. Lisbeth had now become a burden to them; they abused her, made her sleep in the cold stable, and neglected her in cleanliness and clothing. For the poor woman was seized by bitter despair and driven to suicide. God will be a merciful judge to her; sympathy is universal.”

I need not say how deeply this news shook me. Had it been a dream, or had I really seen Lisbeth? Even now I seem to see the figure struggling in the water. Since that night, however, I have considered it probable that the living human being, when, at the moment of the highest agitation, particularly at death, he directs his thoughts and his will toward a single object, is capable of acting at a distance!’

For an explanation of this “clairvoyance” and “clairaudience” with respect to space, compare p. 186 and the Wrchovszky case, p. 187. It should be noted that, in the scientific sense there can only be an announcement from dying persons , i.e. a thought-transference from persons who, although struggling with death, are still alive, but not from persons already deceased .

The great Swedish naturalist Linnè writes in his Nemesis divina: “At twelve o’clock at night between 12 and 13 July 1765, my wife hears someone walking up and down in my museum for a long time and with heavy footsteps, and wakes me. I hear it very clearly as well, although I knew that no one was there, the doors were locked, and the key was with me. After several days I receive notification that my particularly close and most trusted friend, Commissioner Karl Clerk, had died at the same time, and indeed, the tread was so like his that, had I heard it in Stockholm, I would have recognized Clerk by his gait.”

A lady known to me, the wife of the royal grammar-school gymnastics teacher B., assured me of the following: “My husband was staying during the holidays with his parents in the small town of K. (about 100 kilometers away in a straight line). Although I had also been there repeatedly, I did not know my parents-in-law’s present residence, since they had shortly before moved into a newly built villa. One evening, as I was carrying the lamp out into the bedroom before going to bed in order to extinguish it, I was suddenly so startled that I almost let it fall to the floor. For I saw my husband with swollen hands and pale, as though mortally ill, lying in bed. Suspecting nothing good, I immediately instructed the maid to pack my traveling case that very evening, so that, should unfavorable news arrive, I could depart on the next train. The following morning a letter arrived informing me that my husband had fallen ill. I at once traveled to K. and, upon entering his room, was extremely surprised to find him lying in bed exactly as I had seen him the evening before. The arrangement of the windows, the furniture, etc., in the room, as well as its other features, which (as stated above) I had never entered before, was the same. Fortunately, it turned out to be only an, though severe, attack of gout, which began to improve after several weeks.”

In his work “Goethe and Occultism,” Seiling^* cites two mystical experiences of Goethe’s, which Natalie von Eschstruth recounts in her book “Spooks” (Leipzig, Paul List). The authoress heard them from the lips of Privy Councillor K., who, as a student, often performed small services as an assistant in Goethe’s laboratory at Jena and, because the master had taken a liking to him, was permitted to accompany him on his walks. K. was a witness to the two incidents in question; that they were also known elsewhere was confirmed to N. von Eschstruth by another contemporary of Goethe’s, Court Councillor G. in Jena.

One case concerns a spook apparition on the battlefield of Jena; the other is presented by Privy Councillor K. as follows: “I received an invitation to Goethe’s in Weimar, to help him with a particularly arduous task in the laboratory. We had worked hard throughout the whole morning and afternoon, and although the weather was rainy, toward evening Goethe proposed a walk.

It was summer and the days were still long, and so we proceeded along the road back from Belvedere before the onset of dusk.

We did not converse particularly animatedly; Goethe seemed to have a need to enjoy repose in the intellectual sphere as well.

^* P. 12 or 15, Leipzig, Oswald Mutze.

Before us lay the open, deserted road. Suddenly my companion stopped, extended his head slightly forward in order to see better, and spoke in a tone of the greatest astonishment: “Impossible—could it really be he?”

I looked at the speaker in bewilderment: “Of whom are Your Excellency speaking?”

“Why, there, of the gentleman who is coming toward us. If I did not know with complete certainty that Friedrich is in Frankfurt, I would swear that it was he!”

Terribly frightened, I stared at the old gentleman. Had he suddenly gone mad?—He was speaking of a gentleman whom he saw, and yet the rain-flooded street was completely deserted and silent. Before I could answer, Goethe clasped his hands over his head and burst into jubilant laughter.

“Indeed, it is he! Friend Friedrich! Here in Weimar! But for God’s sake, man, what do you look like? In my dressing gown—in my morning slippers—you are walking here in the open street?!”

Horror seized me—my patron was speaking in madness. He was speaking with a man whom, for the life of me, I was unable to see.

“Your Excellency—” I stammered.— At the same time, however, Goethe staggered several steps forward with every sign of the utmost consternation, his arms outstretched, as though he wanted to seize someone.

“Friedrich—for God’s sake … where have you gone?! Dear K., did you not see where the gentleman went who was just coming toward us here?!”

“Cold sweat stood upon my brow. I have seen no one, Your Excellency; no one has been here.”

Then Goethe struck his hand against his forehead. He looked frightfully pale. “A vision! I clearly saw my friend—bodily and truly before me—dressed in my own dressing gown and slippers! What is this supposed to mean?—Surely nothing good! He has announced himself—he is dead!”

The old gentleman was so agitated and dismayed that I could scarcely manage to calm him to any extent.

“I am probably already expecting news of his death at home,” Goethe continued in nervous agitation. “And the fact that he was wearing my dressing gown … oh, without question this is a sign that I shall soon follow him!”

All my contradicting availed nothing. “Is the vision not in and of itself something inexplicable and supernatural?” he shook his head agitatedly. “And why do I see the figure of my distant friend dressed in my clothes? This is connected with some mysterious relationship, and that there are unfathomable things between heaven and earth, surely you, dear K., will be least of all willing to deny after our experience on the battlefield!”

What could I reply? An uneasy feeling also took possession of me, and not without concern I followed the old gentleman to his lodgings.— Goethe opened the door and hurried in ahead of me. Then a cry issued from his mouth, and as I, terrified, pressed after the man standing rigidly there with raised arms, I too saw the uncanny spook figure which once again horrified the master.

On the sofa sat a strange gentleman dressed in Goethe’s dressing gown and slippers; at the cry he hastily turned away from a book in which he had been reading, sprang up, and came toward us laughing loudly, his hands outstretched.

But Goethe staggered backward. “Away from me, spook! Begone!” he gasped.

“But Wolf! Dear, faithful soul—is this a reception for your most faithful friend?”

At the sound of the voice Goethe drew a deep breath—approached the stranger like a sleepwalker, groped for his hand, grasped it … felt it—and then half weeping, half laughing with joy, exclaimed: “No—this time it is no ghost—he is flesh and blood!”—A moment later the old friends lay in one another’s arms, and it seemed to me as though hundredweight loads had been rolled from my heart.

Naturally, over a glass of wine, the great poet’s strange vision was recounted. Friend Friedrich listened in astonishment, had the spot on the road where Goethe had seen him pointed out, and then told us the following: “I arrived here unexpectedly and was very dejected not to find you at home. I was told that you had gone for a walk to Belvedere. At first I wanted to follow you, but in view of the bad weather, which had just drenched me to the skin, I abandoned the plan. I had your dry clothes brought to me, since my luggage had not yet arrived, sat down on the sofa, and impatiently pictured your surprise when you came home you would. To my loving, yearning heart your delay seemed unbearably long, and since I know the way to Belvedere well enough, I accompanied your progress in thought, imagining: Now he must surely be there— now there— and while occupied with such thoughts I must have fallen asleep, for I dreamed extremely vividly that I was going to meet you and now also saw you at the place where I had appeared to you as a vision. I wanted to hurry toward you, when you called out to me: “In my dressing gown and slippers in the street?”

I looked down at myself, felt ashamed, and was so frightened by my impropriety that I awoke!”

Goethe and I looked at one another, startled. He had heard the words which Goethe, probably half an hour away from us, had called out to his apparition.

“This inexplicable experience was, of course, discussed by us with the greatest animation.”

The natural-scientific explanation follows directly once again from pp. 186 and 187.

It rests partly upon unintentional and partly upon intentional telepathy, of which Goethe says to Eckermann: “Among lovers the magnetic force is particularly strong and operates even over very great distances. In my youth I experienced enough cases in which, during solitary walks, a powerful longing for a beloved girl came over me, and I thought of her for so long that she actually came toward me.”— “It became restless for me in my little room,” she said, “I could not help myself; I had to come here.”

Not only important and profound events may be transmitted telepathically without consciousness, but also entirely indifferent occurrences. A K. Russian state councillor and consul communicated the following to me in a letter on his own initiative: A young man, really still a boy, of 14-15 years, lay ill. His father, who had been informed, approached him by train. After the train arrived, he went to his son’s sickbed. Then the latter said to him: “Papa, I saw you clearly yesterday evening. You were lying stretched out on the bench in the railway carriage and smoking one cigarette after another.” The boy died thereafter.

In response to a subsequent inquiry on my part, made for the purpose of obtaining better corroboration, I was written: “The case of clairvoyance between a father and his dying son occurred between a Prince Kildischew, at that time a major general in the Russian service (married to a cousin of mine), and his son, a pupil at a cadet corps in St. Petersburg.”

The dying son did not communicate here with the father’s subconscious, as one might expect, concerning the fatal illness or other matters that one would gladly wish to settle before death, but concerning a completely indifferent affair. Such a thing is very well suited to deprive telepathy of the nimbus with which one is fond of surrounding it, particularly in the case of the dying. For the rest, the process is readily comprehensible in terms of natural science, in the sense that in the seriously ill man even inferior psychic centres were excited, and consequently functioned in their own manner.

5. Clairvoyance with Respect to Time: Second Sight

In all the cases considered thus far, telepathy with regard to space is present. A different question is whether there is also clairvoyance^* and, in general, telepathy with regard to time.

It is asserted that it is possible to foresee future events without any natural preconditions permitting a prediction or calculation in advance by the conscious ego or its subconscious. In this connection I should first cite, from the unlimited multitude, several examples which may also be explained otherwise.

^* A third kind of clairvoyance, which Theosophists and Spiritists additionally assume, is said to consist in the ability of certain people to see the spirits of the dead and hear them speak, without other persons present at the same time perceiving anything of it.

A particularly well-known medium of this kind was Swedenborg. Here, however, we are concerned only with purely subjective optical and acoustic hallucinations of spirits, originating in the subconscious.

Finally, a fourth kind of clairvoyance is also mentioned in the literature, according to which individual people would be able to decipher the contents of sealed documents (letters, folded scraps of paper, etc. and the like). See, for example, v. Wasielewski in Ostwald’s Annalen 1913 vol. XII, p. 236 ff., Prof. Schottelius in Kosmos. Handbuch für Nature-Lovers. Frankh’sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1913 p. 473 and 1914 p. 303.

Prince Bismarck^* reports in a letter to the German Emperor Wilhelm I the following dream: “Your Majesty’s communication encourages me to relate a dream which I had in the spring of 1863, during the gravest days of conflict, from which no human eye could see any practicable way out. I dreamed—and related it immediately in the morning to my wife and other witnesses—that I was riding along a narrow Alpine path, precipice on the right, rocks on the left; the path became narrower, so that the horse refused to proceed, while turning back and dismounting were impossible for lack of room; then I struck with the switch in my left hand against the smooth rock wall and called upon God; the switch became infinitely long, the rock wall collapsed like a stage set and opened up a broad road with a view of hills and woodland, as in Bohemia, Prussian troops with banners, and within me, still in the dream, the thought of how I could report this to Your Majesty with all speed. This dream came true, and I awoke from it joyful and strengthened.”

Bismarck thus believed that he had perceived clairvoyantly, three years beforehand, that Prussia’s struggle with Austria for supremacy would take place in Bohemia. In my view, however, it is much more plausible to assume that he had already been occupied at that time with plans for an invasion of Bohemia, and then subsequently dreamed of it in his sleep. Great men are fond of being a little superstitious. One need only think of Napoleon I.

Cardanus once believed himself transported in a dream to a garden, where he saw a girl in white garments whom he embraced and kissed. A few days later he caught sight on the street of a girl exactly like her in face and clothing; he immediately felt a burning love for her, and she became his wife.

The case can be interpreted without assuming clairvoyance with regard to time, namely, that Cardanus had in fact already passed the girl earlier without noticing her, while individual centres of his subconscious noticed her and took an interest in her (compare in this connection the case on p. 200), so that they dreamed of her at night. When, a few days later, Cardanus (i.e. his conscious ego) actually saw the girl, his affection

^* Otto Fürst von Bismarck. Gedanken und Erinnerungen. 2nd vol. Stuttgart 1898, p.

in any event further intensified by the fact that he now regarded his preceding dream as a divine inspiration.

Goethe writes in his autobiography^*: “In such distress and confusion I nevertheless could not refrain from seeing Friederike once more. They were painful days, the memory of which has not remained with me. When I extended my hand to her once more from horseback, there were tears in her eyes, and I felt very ill at ease. Now I rode along the footpath toward Drusenheim, and there came over me one of the strangest premonitions: I saw, namely, not with the eyes of the body but of the spirit, myself coming toward me on horseback along the same road, and indeed in a garment such as I had not worn; it was pike-gray with some gold. As soon as I shook myself free of this dream, the figure had completely vanished. It is strange, however, that after eight years I found myself on the same road, in the garment that I had dreamed of and that I wore not by choice but by chance, in order to visit Friederike once more.”

Here one need only assume that Goethe was induced by the centers of his subconscious, from which the vision at that time had proceeded, to put on the garment in question upon his return. When he says that he wore the pike-gray garment not by choice but by chance, this need only be correct insofar as his conscious ego had not chosen it. On pp. 73 and 89 I communicated what considerable influence the centers of the subconscious can exert without one taking notice of it. Frequently, as I can recognize with certainty from the “inner voices,” the plans of the subconscious in my case are already fully worked out, and I comply with them unless special circumstances, which the centers in question had not taken into account in accordance with their one-sided position, necessitate a change. In indifferent matters, such as clothing, (by the conscious ego) one generally gives the matter no great consideration at all.

^* From My Life. Poetry and Truth. Toward the end of Book XI. Goethe later confessed to Eckermann that in the love story of Sesenheim there was not a line that he had not experienced, but also not one in the manner in which he had experienced it. For the rest, regarding this passage, which I cite solely because it is frequently quoted by occultists and naturally interpreted in their sense as temporal clairvoyance, I refer to part of my Note 2 on p. 10.

Sometimes a person anticipates his own imminent death, or that of a relative or friend (“premonition”), although the candidate for death appears to be in perfect health. This is usually interpreted mystically.

It must, however, be taken into consideration that various centers of the subconscious—namely, those charged with maintaining the body and monitoring and regulating the psychophysical equilibrium within it—possess a much better and deeper insight into the condition of the organism, or at least of individual parts thereof, and may perhaps already recognize the germ of death in it and accordingly make themselves noticeable to the upper consciousness through obscure feelings and forebodings, although the latter has immediately not yet sensed anything of its alarming condition.

If the day and hour of death are even prophesied, this proves all the less that temporal clairvoyance is involved, since the power of an assumed suggestion has long been established. Example: The Freisinger Tagblatt published the following notice from a neighboring place on 29 September 1911: “The woman M. T., widow of a brewer, who died here yesterday, had predicted for weeks beforehand that she would die at 1 o’clock in the morning on 28 September, because her husband, who had died 16 years ago, had also died on the same day and at the same hour. And indeed, when on the day named the tower clock of the nearby parish church struck 1 o’clock, she expired!”

An inquiry to the pastor of the place in question confirmed to me the correctness of this newspaper report.

A person of unimpeachable reliability informed me: “The wife of a private forester urgently warned her husband that morning not to go hunting, since she had dreamed with particular vividness during the preceding night that he would meet with an accident. He nevertheless could not be dissuaded and went into the forest with his assistant. A few hours later he was brought home shot dead. The hunting assistant claimed that the forester had accidentally become caught in the undergrowth with his gun, so that it discharged.”

At first this appears to be a case of clairvoyance with regard to time, since no premises existed that would have permitted the gun’s going off to be anticipated.

The hunting assistant, however, soon appeared suspect of having intentionally shot his forester in order to obtain his position, and was taken into judicial custody. Although the subsequent proceedings ended without result, because no eyewitness was present, the possibility of a murder therefore nevertheless remains, all the more so since my informant, who knew the overall situation sufficiently well in this respect, could not be dissuaded from that conviction. On this assumption, we would have to accept as a simple natural explanation of the dream an effect proceeding from the subconscious of the murderer, who had already devised his plan beforehand, upon the forester’s wife—thus an unconscious and involuntary thought-transference, and indeed during sleep, analogous to the cases described on pp. 195 ff.

If one does not wish to admit murder, there still remains the possibility of a chance coincidence between the dream and the event. That the dream on the preceding night was “particularly vivid” is indeed important, but not of fundamental significance. Surely everyone knows from his own experience how many a “particularly vivid” dream has likewise not come true for him. In such a case it is usually quickly forgotten again, whereas when it does come to pass, the matter is easily exaggerated excessively.

There is therefore certainly no compelling proof here of temporal clairvoyance, quite apart from the fact that, after the long series of years that had elapsed in the meantime, I could no longer carry out a completely reliable examination in this regard.

Particular caution is called for with regard to newspaper reports, as the following two cases prove: On 24 March 1909, the Freisinger Tagblatt contained a notice that, judging by its entire manner of presentation, appeared wholly credible, which I quote verbatim, omitting the proper names: “Dreams are froth—but sometimes they are not. This became evident in the recent fire disaster in A., in which the maidservant H. and the farmhand F. lost their lives. The border chief inspector L., who lived in the burned-down house, had a dream some time ago; he saw the maid standing in flames. He informed the girl of this remarkable dream, whereupon she expressed the intention of leaving her position. Subsequently, however, she was persuaded to remain. Now the dreadful dream has literally come true.”

Regarding this newspaper report, I turned to the pastor of the city in question with a request for more detailed information. The same was also readily granted to me. It stated that the report, which first appeared in the local newspaper of this city and from there passed into the other papers, was correct in every detail with the sole exception of the decisive point, namely, the dream that the girl was standing in flames. The border chief inspector had not previously had such a dream, and he had been exceedingly astonished at how such a report could have found its way into the newspapers.

Much attention was attracted at the time by an alleged prophecy of the earthquake of Messina, which, as is well known, occurred on 28 December 1908. Various journals published the following report concerning it. A quite astonishing case of foresight in a sick woman is at present occupying the medical world of Italy and arousing the amazement of the most eminent psychologists. A distinguished Roman clinician, Dr. med. Sarti (al. Santi), has just submitted the following highly extraordinary statement to the Academy: “A Roman lady, who has been suffering for several months from acute neurasthenia, or, more accurately, hysteria, has, since the past 2 December of the previous year, foretold the catastrophe that destroyed Messina and devastated Calabria. This lady, who belongs to an eminent aristocratic family, hastily sent for Dr. Sarti after having been tormented during the night by a terrible dream-vision which had left her in a state of agonizing agitation. In vain did the physician employ every means to calm the lady. He succeeded only when he promised her to deliver a letter written by her to the King.

In this letter His Majesty King Victor Emmanuel was asked to come to the aid of the city of Messina, which was threatened by a terrible earthquake. “I see,” the letter said, “land and sea joining together in order to swallow up the beautiful city. This appalling calamity will occur on the 8th, 18th, or 28th of the month.”

Convinced that he was dealing with a hallucinating woman, the physician put the letter in his portfolio, and when, on the following day, he pretended that he had had the message conveyed to the Sovereign, the patient became calmer and was willing to take some nourishment as well as the prescribed medicine. But on the night of 7–8 December she was seized by a violent hysterical crisis. She writhed, wept, screamed, and incessantly asked whether the King had ordered Messina to be evacuated. A further crisis during the night of 17 December likewise unfolded in a highly dramatic manner, and one on the 27th was so serious that those around the patient believed her last hour had come. She lamented and shook with fear until the evening of the 28th. Then she fell into a deep sleep… The catastrophe had taken place.

Dr. Sarti was profoundly affected by the correctness of his patient’s prophecy. The grisly brutality with which his patient’s foresight had been fulfilled stifled every doubt in him forever.

He is preparing a memorandum on this case for the Academy and intends to introduce his client to the Italian authorities in the field of psychology.

The letter in question was subsequently delivered to the King, who awaits with the greatest interest the investigations which the faculty will conduct with the prophetess.— This communication was first published in the “Gil Blas” on 20 January of this year.”

In the case of this prophecy, which, incidentally, once again makes an impression of credibility through its entire manner of presentation, it seemed dubious to me from the outset that it became known only after the earthquake, for prophecies concerning past events have little value. Moreover, it later struck me that no further report concerning it had appeared, although here in particular there would have been an evident and strictly probative example of genuine clairvoyance with regard to time.

It subsequently indeed emerged that the entire report was a pure invention.

On the other hand, it is nevertheless asserted that genuine foreboding and clairvoyance with regard to time are also possible. In this case our previous scientific means of explanation seem to fail completely, and likewise when, in thought-transference, the overcoming of extraordinarily great distances is involved. In both cases one speaks of a second sight and understands by it the alleged ability of a person to see events occurring at an “immense” distance or occurring only in the future.

Second sight is said to be found especially among persons who live in secluded regions and therefore have particularly easy and continual opportunities to commune with the depths of their inner being, chiefly in Scotland, on the Scottish islands of the Hebrides, in Norway, Denmark, in Germany on the Lüneburg Heath, etc.

For its explanation, the subconscious is once again generally invoked, though by different authors in very different ways. It is, for example, asserted that our ordinary consciousness (experiential or waking consciousness) is only a small excerpt from a much more comprehensive and much deeper consciousness. Accordingly, it is compared with an iceberg floating in the sea, of which, as is well known, only one eighth of the total volume is visible above the surface, while the remaining, by far larger part lies submerged in the water. Du Prel speaks of a second, transcendental subject within us. Through it, according to him, we project into a transcendental world and stand in connection with it in an entirely different manner than through the five senses. Through it we can directly receive impressions from the intelligible world. Finally, the subconscious is also frequently interpreted in a purely monistic and pantheistic sense. Through it we are supposedly connected with the All, with the Absolute and the Divine, and able to draw knowledge from the universal world-consciousness, “ whereby relations of space and time no longer apply .”

In any event, complete confusion still prevails in this field, together with the persistent inclination toward the fantastic and mystical.

As regards, first of all, clairvoyance over immense distances specifically in connection with second sight, it seems to me that, if it is factual—which I doubt—not every scientific treatment of the question is impossible. I shall merely indicate: Obviously, no sharp boundary can be drawn between thought-transference over short, medium, and “immense” distances. The first and perhaps also the second would now be purely natural processes, which, according to p. 178 ff., can be reproduced experimentally, whereas in the case of an “immense” distance, processes are suddenly supposed to be involved for which the science hitherto available is no longer sufficient. Already in the two previously mentioned cases of unconscious thought-transference in Ostwald and Flournoy (p. 193), quite considerable distances are involved. It is, however, clear that similarly as in calling, in the emission of light signals, in telegraphy, etc., so also in thought-transference ever more energy must be expended the greater the distance. For the transmission of wireless messages over very great distances, considerable power installations are, as is well known, required. Analogously, in a scientific explanation of thought-transference over enormous distances, we should then also have to postulate the development of corresponding quantities of energy in the person concerned. It does indeed follow from what was communicated on p. 50 that, in stronger magical performances, the energy is drawn from the whole body , but even for the weak human organism there must ultimately exist a limit. It cannot simply compete with a station for wireless telegraphy, with a large light-signal station, etc., for the normal physical and chemical processes taking place in its organism are evidently insufficient for this.

On the basis of the more recent discoveries, however, quite different energy sources of the most productive kind may be conceived : In the year 1896 the French physicist Becquerel found that the element uranium and its compounds constantly emit rays, that is, energy, without any deeper cause for this initially being ascertainable. In 1898 the two French chemists, Mr. and Mrs. Curie, then discovered the element radium, which possesses the same property to a considerably higher degree than uranium. Thus a number of further elements behaving similarly were discovered, and finally it emerged as the cause that these were in a constant. more or less slow process of transformation and decomposition, in that their atoms disintegrate and pass over into atoms of lesser weight. In this process utterly fabulous quantities of energy are released from a comparatively very small quantity of matter. Thus, for example, it was established that the disintegration of radium yields 2-3 hundred-thousand times as much energy as the most energetic purely chemical processes hitherto known with the same quantity by weight; furthermore, that, for example, one gram of radium can yield as much heat as approximately six hundredweight of coal during combustion. As a popular illustration of the significance of these discoveries, it was pointed out that a small number of kilograms of coal would suffice to transport a steamship from Europe to America, if it were possible to effect not merely, as hitherto in ordinary combustion, a purely chemical decomposition of it but an atomic disintegration in the sense just mentioned.

From this point of view, every human being would likewise have enormous quantities of energy stored up in his body, and we should then only have to assume that, exceptionally, in abnormal cases, corresponding quantities of it can be released through atomic pulverization, and thereby ether excitations can be produced over tremendous distances. The immediate vicinity of the emitter need not perceive this at all. An apparatus for wireless telegraphy, for example, likewise does not receive even the strongest oscillations of another if it is not “tuned” to the same frequency. Thus, even if a human being were capable of sending telepathic messages over abnormal distances, a prospect for a natural explanation of the process would already present itself.

As regards what still concerns the clairvoyance with respect to time in the second sight, I should like to make the following observation^*: Recently, under the presupposition of the so-called principle of relativity, attempts have been made to bring time into an inner connection with space and to speak of a space-time system, that is, of a fourth-dimensional world (not to be confused with Zöllner’s fourth-dimensional space ). This would cause the concept of “time” to lose much of its mysterious character, and such clairvoyance would no longer necessarily appear mystical. It would, however, evidently be premature to wish to reach a definite decision about this already now. I therefore need not enter more closely into this theory, all the less since I am not yet convinced of the factuality of clairvoyance with respect to time. There are indeed numerous insufficiently controlled accounts of it, but strictly exact proofs seem to me to be entirely lacking. For how long have fairy tales been propagated as incontrovertible facts in other fields of knowledge! How many centuries, for example, did the doctrine of the transmutability of metals exist in chemistry, and above all the doctrine of the possibility of the artificial production of gold!—Up to now I have never been able to find supernatural abilities in my own subconscious, although I have been studying it for a number of years, albeit not with regard to clairvoyance, since

^* I refer unbiased interested persons to the excellent essay by Hans Freimark “Prophecy and War” in Westermann’s Monthly Journals, p. 263/65. 1915.

(Published by George Westermann, Braunschweig, Berlin, Hamburg.) a number of years. In any case, in opposition to the view of Crookes cited on p. 180, I am firmly convinced, and with good reason, that there is no magic “in which the customary relations of space and time do not apply,” just as there is no such physics or astronomy. Rather, in temporal clairvoyance, as in spatial clairvoyance, the law would have to prevail that it requires an ever greater psychophysical expenditure of energy and is therefore ever more difficult, the greater the distance—that is, here, the more remote the times—to which it extends. In all other scientific fields, mutatis mutandis, something of this kind has long been regarded as self-evident.

A popular trick for increasing the credibility of prophecies consists in their predicting not merely what is future but at the same time what is past. Accordingly, their time of origin is simply antedated. The Lehnin prophecy concerning the Prussian rulers, for example, was composed toward the end of the 17th century. It deals, however, with the relevant Prussian history from the 12th to the 19th century. The statements concerning the period before 1700 are therefore naturally entirely accurate. A blind believer who lived around the year 1700, and who did not trouble to ascertain when it had originated, must therefore have placed great confidence in it, since everything supposedly predicted had so far come to pass exactly. What extends beyond the year 1700, however, is entirely incorrect.

The situation is similar with the so-called Malachian prophecy concerning the popes. This originated in the year 1590, but also contains “prophecies” for centuries already past. Everything lying before 1590 is naturally accurate once again; what comes later is not.

A rather inferior counterpart to this kind of prophecy from the very latest period: at the beginning of February 1915, an announcement concerning the end of the war circulated in Freising. Somewhat later, the Freising Tagblatt published an article about it on 26 February, the essential content of which is approximately as follows: “The housekeeper of a general asked him at the beginning of the summer of 1914 to take his leave earlier than usual, since a war would break out at the beginning of August. The general laughed at this assertion, but finally promised a reward of 50 marks if it proved correct. After the prophecy had come to pass, he asked his housekeeper whether she now perhaps also knew when the war would end, and offered her 100 marks. She then gave 24 May 1915 as the date and at the same time asked him whether he might give her his gift confirm in writing, for she herself would no longer live to see this day, but would already die in January. On the day she had foretold, she did in fact die.” I was astonished that even a number of educated people were not entirely disinclined to place a certain degree of confidence in this prophecy, since its first part had already proved correct. No one, however, could tell me the name of the general in question or of his housekeeper, nor could anyone produce evidence to refute my assertion that this prophecy, in order to make the statement concerning the time of the war’s end appear more credible, had first been fabricated at the beginning of February 1915.

Shortly after I had written the foregoing, I read, to my surprise, two variations of this prophecy in a spiritualist journal. One of them reads as follows: “An architect from Cologne amused himself in the summer of 1913, during his summer sojourn, by having a gypsy from a passing troop tell his fortune. The gypsy indicated to him that in the following summer of 1914 he would be unable to undertake a journey, because a war would prevent him from doing so. In addition to his fee, the gypsy was promised a reward of 50 marks for his ‘art’ if his prophecy came true.

The architect gave him his address, where he could be reached. The gentleman was not a little surprised when, in August 1914, the gypsy appeared at his home and collected his wages. The gypsy was asked to make another prophecy and now asserted that peace would come as soon as the cherries blossomed. A further reward of 100 marks was again held out to him. May God grant that he is right this time as well and can come to collect his prize.”

The other: “An old woman in Saxon Switzerland provided herself in June 1914 with flour and provisions in such quantities that the clergyman, with whom she was on very good terms, noticed it. When he asked why she was supplying herself so abundantly with provisions, she explained: We are heading toward very difficult times.

It will not be long before a war breaks out between France, Russia, and England on the one side, and Germany and Austria on the other. When the pastor asked her: But can you also tell me when the moment will come at which the war breaks out? she replied: On 2 August. — If that is true, you shall receive 50 marks from me. But can you also tell me, when this war will end?’ To which the prompt reply came: ‘Certainly! on 27 April 1915 peace will be concluded.’ The clergyman, taken aback, said: ‘If that is true, you shall receive 100 marks from me.’ The little old mother calmly replied: ‘You will have to pay me the 50 marks, as you shall see; but you will no longer be able to pay me the 100 marks, for on 9 January 1915 I shall die.’ — On 12 January 1915 she was in fact buried.”

Such and similar stories concerning the end of the war circulated during the war.

If I previously expressed the view that a prophecy ought to be more difficult the more distant the periods of time to which it extended, I must now say: It ought to be easier the nearer the future to which it relates lies, and, furthermore, the more far-reaching it is and the more people it affects. If clairvoyance with regard to time were really possible, it ought to have been expected precisely here, in the case of an event that kept hundreds of millions of human minds in agitation, indeed in many cases even stirred them up to their innermost psychic depths, and whose end lay in the near future. — What, then, are we to make of the prophecies of a Nostradarnus (1503-1566), which extend over centuries at once!?

As an excuse for so detailed a report of the above silly tales, I should like to mention that after the appearance of the first edition of this book, my skepticism regarding the possibility of temporal clairvoyance was made a particular reproach to me from various quarters.

Although I cannot ascribe supernatural and mystical abilities (in the sense of “drawing from the Absolute”) to the subconscious, on the other hand, as I have repeatedly emphasized, I by no means deny that individual centers of it may, in their specialized field, be far superior to the conscious ego. But it is not the one-sided specialists of the subconscious that provide the true, higher standpoint and the free scientific overview of the universe, but rather the conscious ego enthroned above it. It is the task of the latter to investigate the magical abilities that slumber in man and to make use of them as far as possible consciously . The conscious human being, incidentally, has numerous other means of entering into connection with the All, of coming to know and studying it. Even the peripheral organs, e.g. the eyes, and likewise the manifold artificial means, such as the telescope, microscope, etc., frequently provide him with more information about the nature of the world than a magic of the subconscious. It would therefore be entirely wrong, in this respect, to place exaggerated hopes in the subconscious and in magic generally. Our view of the world and of nature, already established in its principles by the other sciences, will indeed undergo considerable enrichment and expansion through them, but will not be overturned in principle; and the natural investigation of the All culminates, in my conviction, in a philosophy of nature in the broadest sense of the word, to which all human powers and abilities and all human sciences and arts must contribute, though in very different degrees.

VII. Concluding Remarks

From what has been communicated, it follows beyond doubt that magic is justified in being separated as a distinct science from experimental psychology, psychophysics, and physiology; for these are essentially concerned with the study of the normal psychic, psychophysical, and physiological processes in man, whereas magic is concerned with the study and systematic practice of psychic, psychophysical, and physiological processes which in normal human beings play either no role at all or only a quite incidental and more accidental one, and which in general are observed with greater clarity only in natures predisposed to abnormality or even pathology.

In relation to physiology, for example, the special position of magic follows quite evidently from the following: 1. In magical experiments it is frequently necessary to send the specific energy of the particular nervous region in the opposite direction from that corresponding to the normal course. In seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, etc., the specific excitation travels from the peripheral organs, from the eye, ear, etc., centripetally to the highest centers in the brain and finally to consciousness. To produce the corresponding hallucinations, by contrast, one must convey the energy from the highest centers in the brain in the reverse direction toward the periphery, that is, centrifugally .

It is frequently a matter of driving the specific energy beyond the fingertips, the hands, etc., whereas in the normal state of man it does not directly leave his body in this form.
According to the law of the transformation of nervous energy, one must often drive larger quantities of energy, especially such as that of the muscles, from one system into another and transform them there.

At the same time, muscular energy must thereby be transferred to the corresponding are conducted centripetally along the nerve pathways instead of centrifugally, as is customary.

In the case specifically of the magic of the subconscious, there remains also the task of further developing individual brain centres and making them more independent than is the case with the normal human being.

Despite everything, however, I must emphasize that the development of magical abilities must not be regarded as something pathological. It does indeed follow from what was communicated in Section III that, for the most part, I achieved the magical phenomena by pathological means. The same emerges from the study of the history of many religious fanatics and penitents of former times, as well as of numerous outstanding spiritist mediums. Yet the reason for the pathological nature of almost all magical phenomena hitherto is—to set aside purely personal circumstances, which in my case will become fully understandable only through an account of my entire life planned for a later time—to be sought solely in ignorance in this field and in the immoderate exaggeration of experiments harmless in themselves. How often do exercises that initially have a harmful effect become not merely harmless but even conducive to health! The beginner in gymnastics, for example, frequently develops, through the unaccustomed exercises, what is called “gymnastics fever,” which in some people recurs for a long time. Eventually, however, every normal person will presumably become accustomed to gymnastics and derive considerable health benefits from it. Practising optical hallucinations, for example, even if at first, particularly when pursued too energetically, it should prove somewhat strenuous and nerve-stimulating, acts extraordinarily beneficially upon the eyes through their stronger innervation and through an increased flow of blood. What considerable exertions are often demanded of the soldier in the military merely to steel his strength! When practised sensibly, magic likewise promotes health in many respects.

Especially gifted personalities can even, after prolonged practice and without any harm to their health, accomplish feats that would be dangerous or even fatal for other people. This is by no means surprising, and there are enough analogies in other fields. One need only think of the almost superhuman achievements of many sportsmen, variety artists, and so forth. One need only think of the fact that most people become so accustomed to poisons such as caffeine and nicotine, and some even to the strongest poisons, such as arsenic, that they can tolerate, without harm, several times the dose fatal to a normal person.

Why does one wish to explain magic in particular as something pathological, because it can cause harm to a person unhappily constituted when manipulated incorrectly? How extraordinarily harmful to health are numerous scientific and technical occupations! One need only think of chemistry with its noxious and directly poisonous gases! Given the same degree of excess, my body, which was not overly robust to begin with, would certainly have suffered no less harm from chemistry than from magic. To be sure, in chemistry, with which I was familiar, I would not have been carried away so far.

An unjustified importance is habitually attributed to the will in magical experiments. In attempting a scientific explanation of them, one generally names two factors: on the one hand, the will, and on the other, “psychic force”*, the latter of which one believes can be directed outward by means of a strong will. This gives the impression that only persons particularly strong-willed are suited to magic, and that its practice requires a special force fundamentally different from the physical, psychophysical, and psychic forces hitherto known. The incorrectness of such views is already demonstrated by the fact that spiritist mediums are frequently neurasthenic and hysterical natures, for whom weakness of will is generally characteristic. If one consciously moves a finger of one’s hand, that is, if one consciously sends nervous energy into the finger concerned, this is an act of will and requires the expenditure of “psychic force.” One must therefore not exaggerate the importance of the will’s participation in magic. Apart from personalities particularly predisposed, here too it is practice that makes the master, just as in any other art or skill, for example in drawing or in playing a musical instrument.

It is of particular importance for the beginner never to overdo the exertions and, in states of exhaustion, to allow the organs concerned to rest for a considerable time, but above all

^* Naturally, according to what was communicated on p. 43 and elsewhere, there are a number of different

“psychic” (i.e. psychophysical) forces, so that one cannot, as is usually done, speak simply of “a psychic force.” Similarly, the mystical expression “Od” is merely a collective name for a number of psychophysical forces.

^** They are, of course, then helpless instruments of their subconscious.

outside the actual practice period not to occupy oneself with the subconscious in general, and to ignore inner voices, optical hallucinations, and the like when they arise. They then usually disappear of their own accord, whereas in the other case they very easily degenerate, and failure to observe strict working hours, together with yielding to every small “spirit” that makes itself heard, leads to shallowness and to losing oneself in the bottomless, as was experienced by Frau Seiling^* in an altogether typical manner for so long a time—mutatis mutandis, exactly as by myself— experienced.

One should not regard magic as dilettantism but as a serious profession, in which, as in every other, one must endure various difficulties and unpleasantnesses. One should regard it in particular also as a scientific profession, which requires appropriate prior training. In contrast to the mostly uneducated spiritist mediums, the magician must possess a certain degree of general education, especially scientific education, and in particular knowledge of physics and chemistry, of the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the human being, of psychology, and of the history of the magic of former times.

Naturally, in this connection I dream of professorships of magic at the universities.

Magic will then undoubtedly gradually acquire great significance. It will be important for understanding numerous religions, which were for the most part founded by magicians. Thus, for example, Buddhism and its history, although it evidently represents a kind of experimental religion, has hitherto been studied, apart from theologians and philosophers, chiefly by philologists (Orientalists) and historians. This is similar to a philologist or historian writing a history of chemistry, whereas only a historian who is at the same time a specialist in chemistry possesses the qualifications to do so. That Spiritism and Theosophy, for whose scientific understanding magic provides the key, likewise constitute independent religions of their own with many millions of adherents, I have already mentioned in the Introduction.

The phenomena of dream life, somnambulism, hypnotism, animal magnetism, mysticism, Spiritism, and occultism, the nature of which, despite the mountains of literature existing about them, is in part still far too little known and in part still entirely unknown, will receive new illumination from magic. Can one

^* See the work by Seiling, Chapter III, already cited on p. 21.

to bring them about in themselves, more or less successfully, while in a completely wakeful state and one capable of self-observation.

Since the magician must artificially and deliberately produce psychic and psychophysical phenomena (e.g. hallucinations) which, in various nervous and mental illnesses, particularly insofar as they are purely functional in nature, such as neurasthenia and hysteria, in natural possession, etc., occur compulsorily and cannot be directed by the patient, he can study the nature of these illnesses to a certain extent directly in himself.

The important significance of magic for psychiatry follows directly from this.

Psychology and psychophysics, too, will receive considerable advancement, for numerous psychic and psychophysical processes which in the normal person proceed quietly and unnoticed, or in places that are little accessible, must be driven by the magician to the extreme, and in part even projected outward, so that they can be studied more easily. The complexity of psychic processes and their more intimate workings are first brought into the clear light by a magic of the subconscious.

Finally, magic permits interesting glimpses into the presumed development of the future human being. This will undoubtedly proceed in part along entirely different lines from those hitherto supposed. It will namely extend not merely to the further development of the upper consciousness and its faculties, but also to those of the lower-ranking psychic and psychophysical agencies of the subconscious. In a certain respect this is comparable with the further development of a civilized state, in which enlightenment and education penetrate into ever broader and deeper circles of the people. But since these, precisely for that reason, in contrast to the autocratic state, claim a greater influence upon the government as a whole and thereby necessitate a stronger decentralization , the subconscious will likewise play a greater role in the future human being. The future human being will therefore , viewed from this side, no longer represent so strict a psychic unity as the human being of the present . This is the counterpart to the temporarily stronger centralization mentioned at the conclusion of Chapter IV. when carrying out particularly intensive psychic and psychophysical processes.

There are now, in the history of magic, a great number of other phenomena of the most various kinds described, of which I have reported nothing in the foregoing, or concerning which I have as yet had no personal experience at all. Upon closer examination, however, it will usually turn out that they can already be explained in the simplest manner on the basis of the general points of view set forth in the present book, so that I need not go into them individually. For the rest, the principal concern is to gain a scientific point of attack in the field of magic and to carry out and explain only the simplest experiments. The more complicated must be postponed until later, as in every art and science. Perhaps, however, not everything can be imitated at all. The achievements of ingenious magicians may in fact often constitute uniques, just like those of ingenious poets, musicians, and artists. I therefore consider numerous accounts correct, even when upon superficial consideration they may appear marvelous and incredible. How often were facts of astronomy, physics, etc., now generally acknowledged, doubted and deemed impossible when they were discovered! But I also regard the most enigmatic magical phenomena as purely natural processes until irrefutable proof of the contrary has been furnished; for one must not forget that we still know extraordinarily little about the deeper nature of our organism and its faculties.

I should now once again most emphatically warn the inexperienced against engaging experimentally with magic, particularly with that of the subconscious, for it has its great dangers. One need only think of the sufferings I described of myself in Section III. One need only think of the possession so feared even in antiquity, of mocking and rapping spirits, of devils and evil spirits, of ghost stories of the most various kinds, which frequently find their purely natural explanation in a bungled or pathological magic of the subconscious. I am already at an age) at which body and mind are generally accustomed to have attained a considerable measure of stability, and nevertheless even now, after more than 20 years of practice and experience, as a result of the difficulty of maintaining a lasting understanding and agreement with my neighbors in the brain, I sometimes go below and above that level. — Of course, as a beginner in this so dark a field, I made great mistakes which I have had to pay for.

^* See Note 1, p. 22.

Let no one imagine that one is secured against devils by particular morality.

It is precisely saints who have fought most with devils. Let no one be misled by the outstanding achievements of certain abnormally constituted personalities, e.g. spiritist mediums, into the view that the production of significant magical phenomena offers no great difficulties. Even in purely physical respects they may represent an unusual exertion of strength for many people and bring harm to the inexperienced. I recall what was reported earlier concerning Frau d’Esperance and Home. When I, moreover still inexperienced, overdid magical experiments, I myself often had to remain sitting or lying down for extended periods, since I could scarcely move any longer and all my limbs ached. But they also make considerable demands in psychic respects, particularly since the beginner, when carrying out his experiments alone, is led, as scarcely in any other field, to overdo things and to observe no strict time limit for conducting his experiments, because he is repeatedly incited to do so by the personifications that appear, for whom, naturally, as hitherto subordinate brain centers, further development represents an advance. The number of those who, as victims of magical experiments, went into asylums is therefore frighteningly large, for it is extraordinarily difficult to rid oneself again of the spirits one has summoned.

In conclusion, I should once again mention that through constant self-observation and through years of intercourse with my subconscious, as previously indicated, such important new ideas gradually arose for me, particularly concerning the psychophysical further development of present-day man, who by no means represents a non plus ultra, that new experiments and studies now generally move in this direction, leaving me little time for the practical practice of magic, and that for precisely this reason, as already stated on p. 152, I am unable to present systematic magical experiments. The spiritists would now—though unjustly—describe me as a “spoiled” medium. On the other hand, I should have the most ardent desire to gain pupils and followers who, according to the principles^* set forth in this book, would learn and practise magic in practical terms

^* Adequate instruction by means of a book or otherwise in writing cannot, incidentally, generally be provided in magic any more than in any other experimental natural-scientific discipline, e.g. physics or chemistry. Moreover, training pupils by correspondence is quite impossible for me, if only because of lack of time (cf.

“Preface to the second edition” of this book. Final section, p. 7.) to wish. Yet the higher goal already mentioned on earlier pages—the prevention or reversal of the aging process—leaves me far too little time for training pupils.

Should I not succeed to the extent of convincing official science, by means of my explanations, of the correctness of my views—I myself am, in any case, alone at present unable to make sufficient headway against the opposing mass of errors and prejudices—I nevertheless do not doubt that, sooner or later, magic, as the last of the ancient arts, will be wrested from superstition on the one hand and contempt on the other, and will be recognized as a legitimate art and science. Have not its two sister fields long since reached this stage, in that astrology became astronomy and alchemy became chemistry?

VIII. Reply to My Critics

In the present second edition, as already stated in its preface, I endeavored, by numerous expansions and additions, to express my views more clearly and distinctly. My fundamental conceptions concerning hallucinations, the subconscious, psychic divisions, spiritism, etc., however, I have in no way altered, despite various objections from critics and reviewers of the first edition.

As was to be foreseen, it has received very different, indeed diametrically opposed, assessments, ranging from the highest praise to the most vulgar and incomprehending disparagement. Since in no case did I respond to anything, I shall now offer here a kind of general reply. Because of lack of space, however, it is not possible for me to discuss the reviews individually

^* Dr. Max Ettlinger (Munich) in the journal “Hochland.”

^** Dr. Baum (Freiburg in Switzerland) in the Kempten Literary Guide.

^*** I refer interested parties especially to the following journals and newspapers, namely:

Catholic theologians : to “Der Fels” (formerly Apologetische Rundschau pp. 7-15, 46-52, 66-73. 1913. (Frankfurt a. M., Niedenau 24); Catholic Church Newspaper for Germany pp. 246/47. 1914. (Munich II.

Truth Publishing House); Augsburg Post Newspaper. Literary Supplement of 22 November 1912.

Protestant theologians : Harnack’s Theological Literary Gazette of 30 August 1913 (Hinrich’sche Bookshop, Leipzig); Bücherwurm pp. 314/15 (Dachau 1912); “Die Christliche Welt,” edited by University Professor Rahde. p. 311.

(Marburg 1916.)

Spiritists and occultists : Psychische Studien pp. 588-91, 692-93. 1912 and pp. 107-112. 1915. (Oswald Mutze, Leipzig); Die übersinnliche Welt. pp. 88-95, 121-134. 1913. (Paul Eberhardt, Leipzig); Janus pp. 458-460 (Munich 1912); Communications of the Vienna Reading Club “Sphinx” (1913): Central Journal of Occultism pp. 561-570, 639-646. Vol. 1912 and repeatedly thereafter. (Max Altmann, Leipzig); Neue Lotosblüten and others.

Psychologists and psychoanalysts : Central Journal of Psychoanalysis by Dr.

Steckel pp. 253-55. 1913. (I. F. Bergmann, Wiesbaden); Imago 1913 (l. F.

Bergmann, Wiesbaden).

Psychiatrists : General Journal of Psychiatry 1914. p. 769.

Natural scientists : Journal of Public Chemistry p. 460. 1912.

(Commission Publishing House of Kells Bookshop, Plauen); Bavarian Journal for the Realschulwesen p. 77. 1913. (C. Koch, Nuremberg.) to discuss them. I shall therefore select only a few particularly important objections and deal with them from entirely general points of view: It has caused offense that hallucinations of the subconscious, as I explain in greater detail in Chapter III and partly also in Chapter V, have often forced themselves upon me in a positively violent manner, so that, for example, while hunting, especially at the onset of darkness, I shot at “phantasy magpies” (p. 30 of this book). Some people would consequently also like not really to believe in my objective (real) hallucinations, and, because of my pathological condition, to consider me altogether insufficiently capable of making exact observations and, for example, to regard the remote effects described on p. 29 merely as subjective optical sensory deceptions. In order from the outset to blunt the force of such objections, I have treated the section on hallucinations of the subconscious more fully in the present second edition and have particularly emphasized that a mentally healthy person, in contrast to an insane hallucinator, possesses sufficient means to recognize a sensory deception upon closer examination as such. As regards specifically the phantasy magpies that, at the onset of darkness, appeared to be lying shot on the ground in the bushes, I could, upon closer inspection, with better illumination from a match or a pocket electric lamp, readily and with complete certainty convince myself, by checking with senses that were not affected—by, for example, grasping with my hand—that only a sensory deception had been present. A purely optical phantasy magpie cannot, after all, be grasped with the hands. Naturally, the phantasy magpies that I saw on the trees during the day also dissolved into nothing, purely optically, when I approached them more closely.

The reviewers who doubt the reality of my hallucinations, which I declared to be objective, have furthermore failed to take into account that several of them were also perceived by other persons. Thus, in Chapter III (p. 27) I expressly state that the gentleman who induced me in the first place to undertake the experiments concerning spiritism (p. 22) was an eyewitness of my remote effect upon a chemical substance—the reduction product of pyrographic acid.

I can now add that, after the publication of the first edition, I presented him with a copy of my book and asked him whether he agreed with the wording of the account of the event in question, and that, after reading the relevant passages, he replied that everything had happened exactly as I described it. He has also authorized me to give his name and address^* to doubters.

In Chapter III (p. 31 ff.) I further mention that two apples were knocked down from a tree by remote effect. I picked them up immediately, showed them to my mother, then kept them for a few weeks, and finally ate them. Were these also phantasy apples, analogous to the phantasy magpies at which I shot? According to Chapter III (p. 27), my mother was also a witness on other occasions. I should add retrospectively that, like me, she heard dozens of times the most varied knocking sounds whenever she happened to be present in my room, and this without my having drawn her attention to them beforehand, so that it could not have been merely an unconscious suggestive influence on my part. My present housekeeper, too, is a witness for me to the reality of numerous characteristic knocking sounds. In Chapter V I reported, among other things, that the radical alteration of my entire facial expression was also noticed by other persons (p. 33). Witnesses to my abnormal gymnastic performances were the members of the Freising men’s gymnastics team at that time. As for the fact that I produced real effects and, in particular, also remote effects by magical means, no honest critic can evade it.

One would like to portray someone who “suffers” from hallucinations as mentally inferior. I do not deny that this is often justified. But did not men who played an especially prominent role in world history, science, or art also frequently have hallucinations? To leave no doubt, I expressly mention several such men in Chapters IV and V, such as Napoleon I, Luther, Goethe, Johannes Mueller, and Anzengruber. That even without the slightest mental illness purely physical causes can temporarily

^* Compare in this connection p. 22, note 2.

that can produce severe hallucinations is shown by an example from the very latest period. As is well known, the expedition of Captain Mikkelsen to Greenland met with disaster several years ago. He and his companion (Iversen) had to endure the severest hardships and privations in that inhospitable land. The consequence was that, during this period, both of them experienced very characteristic hallucinations of hunger. In the account of his journey, Mikkelsen writes the following verbatim^*: “Things are bad with the painful feet; but once we are in motion, they become tolerable. Worse is the hunger, which increases with every minute and causes physical pain. I can think only of food. At first my thoughts linger longingly on the memory of various dishes, but gradually the thought of sandwiches with butter drives them all away. Why it has to be sandwiches with butter today in particular, I do not know, for during the last few days it was above all an enormously large beefsteak that had hovered before my imagination as the epitome of all earthly happiness. Today, however, as I have said, it is sandwiches with butter that seem to me the most desirable thing on earth. I must think especially of the packages of food that I often saw beggars receive, and the thought of the contempt with which most of these worthy people regard such a gift, for the possession of which in my present condition I would give years of my life, fills me with genuine rage. I must also think of the beautiful little white breakfast packages that I know so well from my schooldays, and the thought of them so completely fills me that I forget where I am and finally imagine myself wandering about in Copenhagen and peering about for one of those packages, which in better days I sometimes saw lying in the street. And suddenly I behold what I am seeking—a little white package, lying somewhat to my right; it can evidently contain nothing other than sandwiches with butter! I hasten toward it and intend to pick it up before a competitor discovers it; but then my foot strikes a stone, which painfully reminds me that I am in Greenland and that Copenhagen and sandwiches with butter are infinitely far away. To Iversen’s great astonishment, I have turned to the right, and before me lies a small white stone, shining in the sunlight. — — — Oh no, this time it was nothing edible! I

^* Captain Mikkelsen . An Arctic Robinson. (F. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1913.

p. 291.) therefore tighten my strap and continue along the coast. Yet the enticing packages will not leave my mind! It is not long before I am once again off the path and catch myself straying from the course again in order to pursue a little white stone, in the blissful belief and firm conviction that this time I am not mistaken, but am actually seeing a package of foodstuffs. It is clear that Iversen is no better off than I am; for I notice that he frequently stops, and when I turn around to see what is in the way, I observe him subjecting a large stone to a thorough examination through the binoculars, only to lower them again immediately, shaking his head. I ask several times whether he sees anything of interest, and always receive the answer that he had thought he saw a provision chest, but upon closer examination it had turned out to be a large stone. Before long I stop asking, for it is altogether too embarrassing, and I know well enough what he imagines himself to see.”

Thus, according to the foregoing, Mikkelsen took stones for sandwiches with butter as a result of optical hallucinations (illusions). Did he therefore eat the stones? A madman would probably have done so. But Mikkelsen was precisely not that, and therefore still possessed in his other senses and in his sound common sense sufficient means of control to recognize the purely optical error. He also wrote a thick book about other experiences of his journey, about the regions through which he travelled, about the terrors of the polar night, etc. Is one also to doubt the credibility of these reports and explain them as mere hallucination-images of his agitated imagination, merely because he temporarily confused stones with sandwiches with butter?

Why should my statements concerning objective hallucinations not be sufficiently reliable because I also had subjective ones and, in the excitement of the hunt, for example, confused dry foliage on a tree, when viewed against the bright sky, or a dark piece of wood lying on white snow—in other words, corresponding mixtures of black and white—with a black-and-white magpie? Did I perhaps therefore never shoot any real magpies at all, or did I thereby altogether lack the ability to distinguish a real magpie from an imaginary magpie?

That the phenomena in my case were always hallucinations, and indeed much more varied and manifold ones than those of Mikkelsen, for instance, is explained above all by the fact that they constituted a principal subject of my studies and experiments. Through intentional practice, but also through overexertion and unintended side effects, I had furthermore set all possible centres of the subconscious into activity and agitation. These then continued to work and fantasize in their own manner, even when I no longer wished their activity, because they are living beings that do not always return rapidly to a state of rest like a purely physical or chemical apparatus when I no longer used them. Profound mathematicians frequently calculate, without intending to, in the street, while walking in the midst of a bustling city. Overzealous pianists again and again, and often on very inappropriate occasions, drum their fingers on the table, in the public house, in company, etc., because in them too, as in every person who has been more deeply affected, the subconscious has been more strongly implicated, so that it continues to work more or less independently.

Accordingly, I hallucinated under the most various conditions. But precisely as a result of the innumerable hallucinations (illusions) and the continual struggles with various centres of the subconscious, the nature of these phenomena and their physical and psychological peculiarities became clearer to me than to any specialist (psychiatrist) in this field who observes and studies them only in his patients and not in himself through immediate perception.

May one, considering my entire scientific past in chemistry, in which I also had to establish objective facts, in part with particularly great exactitude, and after years of studying subjective and objective hallucinations, regard me as incapable of distinguishing the two from one another?

In other respects, my hallucinations were harmless in the sense that neither my profession suffered through them nor was anyone harmed. Even if someone occasionally consumes too much alcohol, so that he confuses reality with a vivid conception, the matter is generally not altogether serious in his case either. It was even less so in my case when I shot at imaginary magpies, bent down in the dark after one that I believed I had shot, or for a time succumbed to other harmless deceptions, since the damage to my health occurred in the interests of a serious objective. Many have already studied themselves ill, damaging their health through excessive professional activity. The distinctive nature of the health impairments occurring in my case was before above all by the particular nature of the task set me and of the study pursued by me. A more intensive awakening and development of individual centres of the subconscious will, even at a later time, and even with entirely correct practice and much more advanced science in this field, expose the persons concerned far more readily to hallucinations and other unpleasantnesses proceeding from the subconscious than any other kind of profession.

Another question is whether my entire magic does not to a considerable extent represent a pathological achievement. I do not deny this. On the contrary, in this book I repeatedly state that I have suffered much, very much, voluntarily and involuntarily. Voluntarily, in that I often pursued the experiments to the point of extreme fatigue and painfulness; involuntarily, in that, as mentioned above, the centres of the subconscious, overexcited as a result of the excessive exertions, subsequently often reacted in the most violent manner and caused me the greatest struggles and difficulties. Who, however, would wish to deny that the pathological has played an important role not merely in the history of individual men, but also of entire peoples? What hardships have soldiers had to endure in war since time immemorial! Innumerable men sacrificed health, blood, and life! Furthermore, were the previously mentioned hallucinations of Mikkelsen perhaps not also pathological? What hardships, in general, did many other, precisely the most famous geographical explorers and discoverers endure down to the very latest period! I recall, for example, the Englishman Scott, who, after reaching his goal, the South Pole, as the second man, perished from cold, hunger, and exhaustion. If one wishes, one may explain the undertakings, hardships, and privations of Nansen and Johansen as the adventures of two fools, whereas in fact, upon their return, the educated world too hailed them as heroes. The perseverance of many explorers appears directly as something morbid.

That is why there is no need at all to pity the personalities in question in the manner which they seem to deserve. For various other pleasant and uplifting feelings and impulses prevail in them with abnormal strength, such as love of country, the impulse toward knowledge, the desire for great deeds, ambition, etc.; these make the threatening dangers forgotten and mitigate sufferings and unpleasantnesses that have arisen.

Everything is much more easily bearable for them than for others who work with normal motives and feelings and under normal conditions. Even a soldier, for example, mortally and in itself painfully wounded, frequently feels no pain during the battle. This of course does not exclude the possibility that subsequently, even in such people, if the hardships last too long, pains and sufferings may involuntarily arise as a result of exhaustion, similarly to the previously mentioned Mikkelsen. In their excessive zeal and enthusiasm they have often placed themselves in a predicament and then had to bear the consequences. Whoever has said A must also say B. This often happened to me as well. I shall incidentally show later that the principal goal pursued by me, which, as stated on p. 229 in the “Concluding Remarks” of this book, no longer represents pure magic, by its very nature entails a certain measure of pathology. I am striving toward, and in fact a certain upheaval is taking place throughout my entire physical and psychological constitution, which, owing to the complexity of the human organism and the novelty of the whole undertaking, cannot proceed entirely smoothly, but must cause temporary disturbances now here, now there; yet, as experience has shown me for many years, I have always been sufficiently equal to them that I do not actually become ill.

Some critics seem to take exception to the fact that, as a chemist, I have ventured into a field foreign to me, and evidently proceed from the view that, without special training in the relevant fields of psychology, psychiatry, spiritualism, etc., I am not entitled to have a say. Doubtless for this reason as well I have hitherto been ignored by many representatives of official science.

I should like to remark in this connection that every science ought to take the good from wherever it comes, without regard to the giver. But history of the sciences offers numerous examples showing that sometimes a “non-specialist,” in a field foreign to him in itself, can not merely accomplish something at all, but even have a truly pioneering effect. The cavalry officer Zeppelin was the inventor of the dirigible airship, whereas it was precisely an assembly of specialists (engineers and technicians) that still in the year 1900 declared his plans impracticable. Modern experimental psychology was founded by the physician (physiologist) Wundt, bacteriology by the chemist Pasteur, hygiene by the chemist Pettenkofer. The physician I. R. Mayer formulated the law of the conservation of energy, fundamental especially for physics, etc. Sometimes a field has already been worked over with the known and “tested” methods and exploited in certain directions to such an extent that no fundamental progress seems possible. Then it is beneficial when an outsider intrudes with other methods and conceptions. Psychology, for example, increasingly recognizes the extraordinarily important significance of the subconscious, but up to now possesses no more profound method for studying it more closely. Entirely new points of view and possibilities for research open up, however, when one does not merely regard man in his (apparent) psychological unity and simplicity as hitherto, but investigates, according to my methods, his psychological composition and complexity.

I assert flatly: present-day psychology is only half a psychology. It considers almost exclusively the one side of the human soul. But it lacks almost all closer knowledge of the phenomena which I discuss in Chapter V as “Magic of the subconscious.” It must therefore undergo an expansion and division into two: Psychology of psychological unity (hitherto existing psychology) and psychology of psychological composition (psychological activity of the individual higher nerve centres and their mental cooperation).

And how did I arrive at this insight? To a considerable extent by not experimenting with myself, as a sensitive psychologist would, but mostly as a “trained” chemist, as though with lifeless matter, crudely and ruthlessly, until, as a consequence, psychological divisions increasingly emerged and individual centres of the subconscious, which felt especially injured, protested ever more energetically against such treatment and showed me that I was not “One” in the strictest sense of the word, but had to reckon with still other powers within me. Finally, it further became evident of itself that this psychological complexity was connected with the complicated structure of the physical foundation, i.e. the human body.

Of course, it will still be a long time before I am sufficiently understood and people can enter into my conceptions. Yet in an extensive work by a well-known scholar one finds the following passage: “Through the theory of localization, will and consciousness not only localized, but also divided in accordance with the various centres. Such a division, however, contradicts the first psychological experience that we have of ourselves, the experience of the unity of our consciousness, of the unity of our will.”

Some theologians and adherents of medieval philosophy still cannot properly reconcile themselves with the modern natural sciences and have little confidence in the observational and experimental investigations of recent times, since, in their view, these do not go sufficiently deep and amount more to surface science. It is clear that such scholars will not expect very much from my magic either. But does not the history of the sciences teach us that it was precisely the natural-scientific mode of investigation that not infrequently demonstrated the purely theoretical-philosophical speculations—as to whose other value I of course do not thereby wish in any way to cast doubt—as erroneous? Has not measuring, observing, and calculating astronomy, in the course of time, made an essentially different conception of the world the common property of mankind? Is that to be regretted? Is the modern conception of the world not grander and more magnificent, and yet simpler, than the earlier one? How our views concerning the age of the earth and of the human race have changed with the development of the natural sciences! The theologians often resisted such natural-scientific discoveries for a long time, but in the end they were nevertheless able to come to terms with them without having to surrender the principles of their science. In the field of magic, too, exact natural-scientific research will in many respects arrive at results essentially different from the frequently superficial observations and superstitious interpretations of earlier times. Here, too, it will create clarity, system, and order. My own observations of myself show me with evidence that, by purely natural-scientific means, it is also possible to gain a certain insight— in some respects even a deeper one—into the nature of man and his physical and psychological faculties than has been possible by the methods hitherto employed; just as—however inappropriate the comparison may perhaps seem to some—purely physical and chemical means have enabled us to gain, in various directions, a deeper insight into the nature and properties of matter than through mere philosophical speculations. Nowadays no one still defends medieval zoology, astronomy, or alchemy. Why does one wish to maintain medieval magic and various medieval psychological conceptions, insofar as they are actually incorrect ? Who would wish to reproach me for publishing and interpreting my results to the best of my knowledge, even if some idyll into which a person has lived himself over the course of the years has thereby been destroyed? If I do not publish them, sooner or later someone else will necessarily arrive at the same results.

From private communications and inquiries, as well as from a public criticism* I gather that individual theologians and overzealous non-theologians fear that a natural science of magic constitutes a danger to their religious views and convictions, and believe that through it faith in the continuance of the soul after death, in miracles and prophecies, etc. might be undermined. I should like to make the following observation concerning this: I proceed from facts, namely, from facts that have presented themselves to me through many years of experiments and observations on myself, and on the basis of these I also wish to establish, in the field of magic, a purely natural observational and experiential science, such as already exists in physics, chemistry, astronomy, anthropology, experimental psychology, etc. There is therefore a sharp boundary between the magic that I seek, on the one hand, and Spiritism and the theological and religious questions mentioned above, on the other. That my magic constitutes no danger specifically to religious belief in the immortality of the soul, indeed that it has no immediate connection with it whatsoever, follows with complete evidence from the following example: In Chapter VI I explain the nature and possibility of thought-transference over a distance. In abnormally constituted people and in persons who find themselves under particular circumstances, such thought-transference may occur unconsciously and involuntarily. A completely abnormal condition for man, however, is evidently the time immediately preceding his death. Particularly in the case of certain illnesses, profound changes often take place within him at that time, which may lead to a strong excitation of individual areas of the nervous system. If, as a result of this, a

^* Passauer Theological-Practical Monthly, pp. 394-405. 1915.

dying person acquires the ability to make himself known to distant relatives or acquaintances “announce himself” (see under “Announcement by a Dying Person”), then that is evidently a completely natural process, which has nothing to do with the question of the continuance of the human soul after death, since the person announcing himself is not yet dead. The treatment of such a case therefore belongs to the experimental natural science of magic. Whether, however, ” deceased persons ” can already announce themselves, and to what extent ” communication with the deceased ” is possible, is a purely theological, or also Spiritist, question, the treatment of which does not belong in a natural-scientific textbook. The physicist or chemist does not investigate whether, besides through physical and chemical means, physical and chemical effects can also be produced by the spirits of the dead, by angels, devils, or other extra-natural and supernatural beings and forces. No textbook of psychiatry contains a discussion of diabolical possession, although the nervous and mentally ill often behave like those possessed by the devil. It is therefore also my task, in a natural-scientific textbook of magic, such as the present work is intended to be, to take account only of natural factors and to disregard entirely transcendental (in the theological sense of the word) questions. When, therefore, a Dutch scholar asked me whether I would not recognize it as a natural science if experimental communication with the deceased were possible, I wrote to him that I had not undertaken any more detailed investigations into whether, alongside my natural science of magic, some kind of natural-scientific experimental Spiritism might also be possible, and that I was therefore not competent to give an opinion on this question. But all the same, I had to say to myself that the unquestionably purely natural phenomena observed in me resemble those which popular Spiritism usually attributes to the spirits of the deceased—“damnably” closely.

On this occasion I cannot refrain from remarking: There was a time when a devil was suspected behind every printer and type case, in association with whom black magic was practised. There was a time when, everywhere—in physics and chemistry, in medicine and astronomy—people believed in the cooperation of good and evil spirits. As late as the year 1716, the physician Andreas Erdmann vehemently opposed his colleague Friedrich Hoffmann, because the latter attributed the illness or death of several people to poisoning by carbon monoxide gas, caused by in the glowing coals situated in the room, whereas he himself asserted that it was not carbon monoxide but the Devil who had been the cause^*. This piece of the Middle Ages, of an exaggerated belief in the Devil and spirits carried to the point of absurdity, has survived up to the present day solely and exclusively in magic.

From private communications I gather that various expressions in my book which may be used, on the one hand, in the theological sense, but on the other also in the common and figurative sense of ordinary life—such as Devil, saints, possession, spirits, mysticism, etc.—are sometimes interpreted incorrectly in my case, although a closer consideration of what was already said in the preface to the first edition ought to have excluded misunderstandings. I therefore repeat once more, briefly and plainly, and with reference to what has just been communicated, that, in accordance with the nature and purpose of this book, I wish all such expressions to be understood only in a purely natural and scientific sense.

As a result of the intermingling of the natural and the supernatural, which, in contrast to all other branches of knowledge, is still regarded as something self-evident precisely in the field of magic, there is in general a grievous confusion throughout the entire nomenclature. Let one look through the literature and compare how differently from the theologian the occultists, for example, apply the expressions “transcendental” and “supersensible” (see p. 187, note). Indeed, certain terms which are used by theologians in a noble and exalted sense have, in ordinary speech, not infrequently later acquired a directly contemptuous connotation, e.g. “mysticism” and “mystical” = secretiveness in matters in which everything proceeds naturally. In this sense, for example, I wish the word “mysticism” on p. 191 of this book to be understood. A particularly characteristic example of the transformation in the meaning of a word over the course of time is found in the field of chemistry. By “alchemy” one originally understood the same thing as by “chemistry,” whereas now the term is used contemptuously to mean chiefly the chemical bungling, imposture, and charlatanism of earlier times, which at that time made itself particularly conspicuous precisely here.

^* See Voigtlaender’s Source Books No. 14. Voigtlaender’s Publishing House, Leipzig.

For the rest, discerning theologians readily recognize the necessity of a scientific clarification of magical phenomena.

(Of course, insofar as they are purely natural in kind.) I refer skeptics to the reviews of my book by Catholic and Protestant theologians already mentioned at the beginning of this “Reply to my Critics,” but especially to the journal “Der Fels,” likewise cited there, in which an unimpeachable authority, namely Professor of Apologetics at the University of Munich, Dr. Anton Seitz, begins his full 22 pages of remarks with the following words: “Nothing stimulates the thirst for knowledge of modern civilized man so greatly as that book of nature, as it were sealed with seven seals, which is gathered together under the general name of “occultism,” i.e. the mysterious borderland between nature and spiritual life, and which, because of its manifold natural inexplicability, is all too easily relegated to the realm of the supernatural, of the miracle, although it does not go beyond the capacity of the energy of the nervous system, heightened to the utmost intensity in an extraordinary manner, namely through overstimulation … . . Not only purely natural human reason, but also the genuine faith in a supernatural experience of revelation resting upon this basis, has the most sacred interest in the ruthless destruction of that deceptive structure which still compels the enlightened man of the 20th century into its uncanny sphere of influence.

It is therefore positively an apologetic act, for the liberation of sound religious faith, powerfully developed from ancient times, from the suffocating parasitic growth of modern unbelief, when Dr. Ludwig Staudenmaier, Professor of Experimental Chemistry at the Freising College, has placed all his vitality in the service of the lofty task of cleansing that difficult-to-access field of the thorny undergrowth of superstition and purifying a path through to an experimental natural science of magic in our otherwise so advanced age … … No one has striven more honestly, in his person to fulfill the more remote and immediate preconditions in order, through sober investigation of reason without any degeneration of the imagination, to discover the truth lying in the middle.” Later he writes: “Staudenmaier has, through his tireless experiments, unveiled the Sphinx of occultism and peeled away its innermost core … .” Furthermore, “of the effects of natural forces or laws set forth by (i.e. by Staudenmaier), we need only make the application to the supposedly supernatural phenomena in spiritualism in order to expose the hollow magic” etc.

The study of this treatise by Prof. Dr. Seitz will, as I do not doubt, also dispel other theological reservations. In addition, I must emphasize that it is in general the task of apologetics to subject theological difficulties arising from the progress of the natural sciences to closer examination and discussion and to eliminate them. I shall therefore content myself with quoting only the words of another theologian who has for many years occupied himself with the study of magical phenomena from the theological standpoint. In the course of reviewing a book published about the well-known seeress of Schippach, University Professor Dr. Ludwig* expresses himself as follows: “The solution to the riddle lies in the psychological field, in the psychic division of consciousness, in the so-called personifications of the subconscious, concerning which Prof. Dr. Staudenmaier has provided such strikingly illuminating explanations in his ‘Magic as Experimental Natural Science,’ but which were already partly known to James (Psychology. Leipzig 1909) and Freimark (Mediumistic Art. Leipzig 1914). In a word: without an exact study of hypnotic, somnambulistic, and mediumistic phenomena, there is no solution to the Schippach problem. But people are afraid of the new, of the concept of the ‘subconscious,’ and already suspect a shaking of Christian revelation as such. To this it must be said that the future will demonstrate the legitimacy of the ‘new,’ that without assuming a subconscious, a double-sidedness of the human psyche, an understanding of hypnotic, somnambulistic, and mediumistic phenomena, as well as of the Schippach problem, is simply impossible. On the other hand, there is more than one criterion that clearly distinguishes the revelations of salvation from those so-called private revelations, and it is the task of modern Catholic apologetics to bring these distinguishing features into the clear light of day.”

^* Theological Review, October issue 1916.

^** The first edition of my book “Magic as Experimental Natural Science” appeared in 1912!; the first notes on my investigations in this field at all had already appeared in 1910 in Ostwald’s Annals of the Philosophy of Nature!

Various critics have now raised some further objections of another kind. I should like to mention them only in passing, since they are not to be taken seriously. Thus, for example, some reviewers of my book who put on a very self-confident front possess far too little expert knowledge of magic to be able to pass judgment upon it. Here everyone believes he has the right to join in with sovereign superiority if he has merely read some literature—and often what literature!—even if he himself has never experimented in this field. Would such a writer, however, dare to review, say, a treatise on physics without checking the experiments described in it, or even without ever having carried out experiments in physics himself? In any event, in such an attempt the specialists would make a mockery of him. A chemist begins his review of my book in the journal “Die Naturwissenschaften” as follows: “Staudenmaier has earned an esteemed name for himself as an experimentally working chemist, and therefore the reviewer took the author’s new work, which treats one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult, areas of scientific research, into his hands with great expectations … .” But then he launches into a rather sharp attack on my magic. — Why, then, this opposing assessment of my achievements in chemistry on the one hand and magic on the other? I maintain: As a chemist, the reviewer in question was able to judge me because he himself is a chemist; but as a magician he could not judge me because he is not an expert in magic and never practiced it practically. An Austrian Jesuit expressed himself to one of my acquaintances approximately as follows: “Whoever understands nothing of the matter will perhaps laugh at the book. But whoever understands something will take it very seriously.”

I have also often not been understood because people did not take the trouble to study my book more closely. It is not intended as pure entertainment reading. In many respects it has already been fashioned into a textbook of magic, and a textbook wants to be studied. A passage in the theological literature journal is very revealing: “Nevertheless, one cannot put aside this strange book, which appears abstruse when first leafed through, and reads it with interest to the end.” Thus, when first leafed through, the book appears abstruse; but if one devotes more time to it, then it becomes interesting. What if the reviewer in question had persevered still better and finally studied it more closely? Would his judgment then not perhaps have turned out even more favorably? They are not the worst books whose deeper content is recognized only after repeated reading and study.

Some critics, in completely misunderstanding the task set before me, have failed to take into account that in magic I could not work in such a systematic manner as in a science already complete in its essential outlines. My procedure is comparable to that of an explorer in a completely foreign land, or to that of a pathfinder in a primeval forest, which at first permits neither a clear outlook nor a comprehensive view. I first had to make magic into a science and establish its foundations and most general laws. Accordingly, the reviewer of the Augsburg Postzeitung (l. c.) writes: “This first application of scientific principles and methods of research to the field of occult phenomena is his chief merit, which can never be diminished. It thereby became possible for him to arrive at a strictly unified scientific conception and explanation of the entire field.” A psychiatrist writes to me in a private letter: “A great advance certainly consists in the fact that you have attempted to apply scientific thinking to magical processes.” My book must therefore be considered from a much more broad-minded standpoint.

Photographic and phonographic recordings, as some critics would have wished, and detail work in general, may now be supplied by those who, after gaining an overview of the whole of magic from my explanations, have chosen a particular specialized field for study, such as optical or acoustic hallucinations. Most readers have no idea how much head-scratching was required merely to decide whether I should use the proscribed name ” magic ” for the new science; they do not know what progress it represented for me to discover and make clear to myself, on the basis of arduous and strenuous experiments, only the supreme division into “magic of the conscious ego” and “magic of the subconscious.”

If someone even claims that I have presented too much theory without sufficient experimental underpinning, then he is indeed right insofar as Chapter III “My Personal Experiences in the Field of Magic” is very brief. But I can reveal to him,

^* See also p. 28.

that the two principal foundations of my science, i.e. the theories concerning the nature of hallucinations and of the subconscious, are supported by thousands of experiments and observations upon myself. Contrary to the practice of numerous researchers of the modern age, however, I have avoided describing my personal exertions and hardships in especially exhaustive detail.

For the rest, I expressly stated, and repeat once again now, that my experiments are by no means concluded. I have now been experimenting in the field of magic for 20 years. Give me another 20 years and provide me with a number of collaborators, and I shall once more be a significant step further ahead. The exact natural sciences are known to proceed inductively. One conducts a series of observations and experiments and derives the general laws and conclusions from them. In order, however, to draw the final and highest consequences in a purely scientific manner, preliminary work by a large number of specialists is necessary. Physics and chemistry, as sciences, may be credited with an age of more than three and two and a half centuries respectively. Since that time countless specialists have worked systematically and experimentally in these fields. Let us now ask various physicists and chemists about their deeper views concerning the nature of matter. How different the answers will be! Yet from my young science one is already frequently demanding explanations of the most profound questions of magic, e.g. concerning materialization, clairvoyance with regard to time, levitation, and other matters!

With this, I believe, I have refuted the most important objections. There is only one question I should like to address briefly here: Where is the boundary between magic on the one hand and normal psychology and physiology on the other? A reviewer of my book (Dr. W. H. in the Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse cited earlier) writes approximately as follows: “The magical begins only where generally ascertainable facts, generally perceptible phenomena, are present, which may perhaps even be recordable by instruments (photographically and gramophonically).” According to this, evidently the greater part of the phenomena I have described in this book would have to be assigned not to magic but to physiology and psychology. I myself have considered this question for years and reached clarity about it long ago.

Undoubtedly, the person in question The speaker is right in principle. Nevertheless, even after this suggestion, I did not wish to alter my manner of expression in the second edition either, and for the reason that various practical considerations and obstacles stand in the way. According to this demarcation, for example, one would have to designate subjective hallucination as something normal, while referring objective hallucination to magic. Likewise, a purely subjective intercourse with the subconscious, for example through the inner voice, would belong to normal psychology. From private conversations with numerous persons I have now recognized, however, that there are quite a number of people whose faculty of representation, as a result of “peripheral disposition,” is particularly vivid in at least one individual sphere, for example the visual, so that their representations easily approach subjective hallucinations and therefore could presumably, with little practice, be developed into such hallucinations; furthermore, combinations of subjective illusions of the conscious ego and of the subconscious are by no means exceedingly rare. But by far the greater part of people today undoubtedly lack such a vivid faculty of representation and any somewhat more intimate intercourse with individual centers of the subconscious. In addition, the prejudice of official science against every kind of hallucination and against the slightest stirrings of the subconscious is very great. Psychiatrists would probably, in most cases, explain them as something pathological, even when no recognizable disturbance of health is present, and would not acknowledge their general assignment to the domain of normal psychology and physiology.

Yet the question of demarcating magic from the other sciences is not urgent at present, because for contemporary science in general magic does not exist at all. Moreover, the boundary between subjective and real hallucination, as explained in this book, is not entirely definite for the hallucinating individual. In purely external and objective terms, it is indeed all the clearer and sharper. Precisely for that reason, however, because no fundamental difference exists for the hallucinating subject in this respect, I should like to advise young experimental psychologists and psychiatrists (possibly also theologians, insofar as they have much to do with nervous and mentally ill persons or wish to gain a direct personal understanding of the nature of spiritism) to practice simple subjective hallucinations from time to time according to the methods indicated in this book, or to awaken individual centers of the subconscious somewhat—in short, to practice magic at least on the smallest scale. This requires no great expenditure of time.

Moreover, educated men, especially psychologists and psychiatrists, will suffer no damage to their health if, when experimenting with the subconscious—for this purpose I consider writing experiments particularly suitable, p. 22 ff. or p. 114—they exercise the necessary caution. Nevertheless, in various respects, through direct self-observation, they will achieve more for the understanding of numerous psychic processes as well as nervous and mental illnesses, for example schizophrenia, than is possible through observation of abnormally predisposed persons or of patients. They will also, upon closer study of my book, find important indications for the further development of their sciences, which are still almost in their infancy.

IX. General Index

The page references below refer to the pagination of the original German edition. For general orientation, see the contents overview at the beginning of this book.

A–D

Affect (peripheral)       145, 146
Agent (telepathic)        178
Presentiment              192, 211, 212, 215
Aigner, Dr. Ed.           173
Akoasms                   45
Aksákov                   13, 102
Allan Kardec              11
Alzheimer                 149
Anderson                  94, 198
Animism                   12
Announcement of the dying 184, 192, 201
                          through 204, 242
Annals of
                        4
Natural Philosophy
(Ostwald's)
Anzengruber             44
Division of labor, principle
                        88
of
Workers
                        157, 158
(Personification)
Association centers      156, 159
Astral body              105, 106
Etheric body             105
Attila                    78
Aura                      105
Autosuggestion            44
Baraduc                   107, 189
Bastian (Medium)          122
Ventriloquism             49
Bellachini                15
Bergzabern (Haunting)     103
Besant Anny               13
Possession                3, 12, 32, 151, 242,
Fraud (of spirit
                          121
mediums)
Consciousness = I,     conscious I =
Superconsciousness
Bien Boa              92
Image (real)           46
Bismarck              210
Blavatzky             13
Gaze, ecstatic        63
Goat-foot
37, 82, 124, 128,
(Personification)
129, 130, 136-138, 158,
166,
168
Breuer                135
Buddha                141
Buddhism            226
Bülow-Bothkamp        173
Butlerov              13
Chevreuil             176
Cardanus              43, 210
Conversion
135
(hysterical)
Cooke Florence        13
Crookes               13, 91, 92, 180, 182
Darget                189
Dedoubling         195
Dematerialisation     63
Thinking                68-70, 179
Dessoir, Max          17, 177
Differentiation
132, 152,
(physical)
155
Differentiation
132, 152,
(psychical)
243                         155
Doppelgänger phenomena        105, 106

E–G

Ebbinghaus               160
Edison                   91
Ehrlich                  135
Imagination              44, 59, 132
Imaginary illness        44, 133
Elemental spirits        12
Recipient
                         178
(telepathic)
Exposure (of
                         121
mediums)
Erection                 62, 133, 136, 137
d'Espérance (Medium)     117, 118, 229
Exner                    88
Experimental magic       39
Experiments, magical,
 consequences of their
                         229
exaggeration
Exteriorization of the Od 105
Fakir                    63, 64
Remote action
                         26, 27, 29
(mechanical)
                         31, 57, 58, 233
Flammarion               13
Flechsig                 156, 158
Flournoy                 18, 193, 216
Fox                      10
Franzius                 173
Freimark                 15, 218
Freud                    135
Giver (telepathic)       178
Memory (see also
 special memory)         142, 143, 152,
Thought-reading          176
Thought-reader           176--178, 185, 186
Thought photography      54, 55, 189
Thought-transference     60, 176, 187
                         188, 189, 192 ff, 213,
                         215
Society,
15
Anthroposophical
Society,
19
Dialectical
Society for
Psychical
Research           20
Society,
13, 14
Theosophical
Sight, second          215, 216
Goethe                43, 99, 205 ff., 208, 211
Deity
37, 141 to
(Personification)
143
Gramophone            49
25, 41, 45, 50-53, 110,
Hallucination
111,
121, 123, 125, 126,
127, 129-131
140, 187, 188, 209,
224, 226, 233
Hallucination, theory
91
thereof
Hans, clever           177
Hauffe, Friederike     10
Hellenbach, Baron von 13, 122
178, 188, 208, 209,
Clairvoyance
212,
218 ff.
Henning               179, 193
Highness
34, 68-70, 73, 74,124,
(Personification)
136, 148, 151, 158,
162,
166-168
Home (Medium)         13, 118, 120, 229
Hyperesthesia         157
Hypnosis              105, 169
Hypnotism             9, 75, 116, 117, 226
131, 133, 135, 146,
Hysteria
157, 227
James, W.             13
Concept of the ego     170
Conscious ego =       Superconsciousness
Illusion              26, 111, 127
Individualization      72

G–M

Thoughts
(foisted,
 allogenic)               110
Feelings, religious       124
Mental illnesses          111, 131, 132,
                         146 ff, 149, 170
Spirit apparitions        91, 108, 114, 126,
                         127, 205 ff.
Spirit voices             91, 108, 120, 126,
                         127, 205 ff.
Spirit writing            91
                         90, 96 ff., 100, 101,
Genius
                         150, 183
Overall governance
                         153 ff.
(psychic)
Rapping phenomena,
 magical                 228, 233
Autonomous complex       165, 166
Kräpelin                 88
Force (psychic)          225
Crown Prince, German     64
Passion, peripheral      145, 146
Learning methods,
                        100
magical
Light, real              46
Linnè                    204
Lipps                    67
Lodge                    13, 180
Localization of
brain functions
  (or psychic            73, 74, 88, 124, 154 f
  functions)            166, 167
Lombroso                 13, 121
Ludwig, Dr., Professor   3, 245
Pleasure feelings,
                         140
unusual
Luther
                         78
(hallucinations)
Pleasure nerves          139, 140
Madeleine
                         98, 122
(dream dancer)
                         8 ff ., 39, 138, 222,
Magic
                         226-228
Jung (Zürich)          165
Emperor, German
(personifi-
cation)              34, 106, 129
Kerner, Justinus       10
Child (personification) 34, 70, 74, 80
87, 134, 151, 162-164
Cinematograph          46, 91
Kinetics, magical of
peri-
pheral nerves and
146
organs
Kinetophone             91
Klinkowstroem, Count
173
von
Mysticism, mystical
2, 9, 30, 37,
(saints
and penitents)             52, 77, 82, 105,
124, 140, 141, 143, 226
Afterimage               41,42
Reflection             69, 143, 144, 168
Naegeli                43
Napoleon I.            34, 78, 106, 129
Nature spirits          12
Natural philosophy       222
Nervous disorders,
130, 132,133,
functional
138 ff., 149, 170
Nervous disorders,
148, 149, 170
organic
Neurasthenia           131, 138, 146, 157, 170
f.,                      227
Nostradamus          221
Nissl                88, 149
Superconsciousness =
40 ff.,73, 74, 79,
conscious
ego                  86, 89, 92 ff.
Od                     12, 105, 122, 225
Occultism            12, 39, 105, 193
Olcott                 12, 13
223,
Ostwald, Wilhelm    4, 17, 193, 216

M–P

Magic, its
                          223
special position
Magic, its limits
against
  psychology              248 ff.
Magic, its relation
to
  theology                241 ff.
Magic of the peripheral
                          142 to 145
organs
                          190
                          9, 116, 117, 183, 184
Magicians
                          226-228
Magnetism,
                          226
animal
Mania                     128
Materialization           59, 106
                          11, 24, 61, 83, 91-94
Medium
                          99, 101, 113,
                          119-122, 192, 224, 22
                          229
Mediumship                12
Messina
(earthquake prophecy 214 ff.
)
Parapsychology        39
Mikkelsen
                      234
(Hallucinations)
Missionary medium         101
Montana (painter)         44
Morselli                  19
Müller, Johannes          43, 106
Münsterberg               17
Museum, German            46
Muscle reading            176, 177, 186
Prophecy =
Divination
  See also Hallucination
Psychoanalysis            135
Psychodynamics            39
Psychodynamicism          12
Psychology, its
promotion
  through magic           227
Owen, R. Dale             94, 198
Palladino, Eusapia        17, 19
Perispirit                105
Person, personality       86, 87
2, 33, 36, 37, 68-70, 72-
Personification
77,
79-87, 89, 112, 124,
127,128,
,                          130, 133-137, 140, 142,
149,
150-153, 156-158,163,
164,
166, 170
Percipient
178
(telepathic)
,
Horse (personification)   157
5, Horse's hoof               37, 124, 130, 133, 134,
(personification)          137,
138, 157, 158,
166, 168, 213
Pfungst                   177
Phantom (ghost-)          91, 92, 106f1., 189
Phantom (living
26, 107
persons)
Photography of
thoughts
and hallucinations       54, 189 ff.
Poltergeists              27, 83
du Prel                   14, 113, 179
Prestidigitation          15, 16
Prevost, seeress of       10
Splitting of
78, 79, 84 ff.,
consciousness
(of personality),        89, 127, 138,
psychic                  165, 167, 170
10, 12, 61, 62, 91, 101,
Spiritism
107,
112, 117, 118, 121,
127,
168,189, 192, 198, 209.
Mocking spirits           12, 27, 228

P–U

Psychology, classification
                        239
thereof
Psychology, boundary
against
  magic                 248 ff.
Radium                  217
Ranke, Otto             88
Reichenbach, Baron
                        12, 105
von
Reincarnation spiritis
                        12
m
Law of reversibility    43
Richet                  91, 92, 179
Röschlau, Barbara
                        102
(haunting)
Roundhead
                        35, 36, 112
(personification)
Singer (haunting)       103
Schiaparelli            13, 21
Schiapi, Paul
                        96
(sign genius)
Schippach               245
Schizophrenia =
psychic splitting
Schottelius             209
Writing
                        22 ff., 114
(automatic)
                        159
Writing medium          22 ff., 91, 99
Schrenk-Notzing,
                        17, 98, 179
Baron von
                        37, 38, 88, 109, 160,
Soul
                        161, 166, 227
Seiling, Max            14, 21, 61, 83, 226
Seitz, Dr., Prof.       244, 245
Secondary souls         165, 166
Self-observation        44, 45, 121, 170
Self-consciousness =
superconsciousness
Self-maltreatment       138
Self-duplication        105-107
Sensitivity (magical)   53
Speaking (magical) 47, 48, 56
Haunting phenomena       93, 102 ff.
Haunted houses           103
Steiner, Dr. Rudolf     14, 15
Inner voice             77, 78, 143, 211, 226
Stumpf, Dr. Prof.       177
Suggestibility         75
Suggestion              75
Swedenborg              10, 209
Tanagra games          47, 107
Telesthesia             178
Teleenergy              178
Telephone               47
Terminal fields         156
Devil, evil spirits    3, 27, 82, 83, 84
Devil (personification) 68, 151, 162
Theosophy              12, 13, 226
Theresia, St.           77
Table-turning             9, 62, 101
Trance                  81, 126, 169
Transfiguration         113, 122
80, 81, 195, 208, 210,
Dream
212, 213, 226
Dream dancer           98, 122
Transformation of
50
nerve energy
Unconscious =
subconsciousness
67-86, 90, 92-97, 100,
Subconsciousness
101,
107, 109, 110, 113,
114,
123, 144, 145, 155 ff.,
160,
211, 216, 218, 225, 226
Invulnerability        63 ff., 138, 144
Uslar, von, District Governor     173

S–Z

Silberer, Herbert      81
Slade (Medium)         15
Society for psych.
                     20, 179
Research
Socrates (Daimonion) 77
Somnambulism         9, 105, 169, 226
Special memory (See
also
Memory)          68, 143, 144
Vision               45, 207, 211
Premonition = presentiment
                     43, 44, 51, 68, 72, 166,
Idea
                     168
Complex of ideas 165, 166
Waking suggestion         75, 169
Wallace                13
Wasiliewski            209
Prophecy, see
Clairvoyance
Prophecy,
                       219
Lehnin
- Malachian       219
- concerning the
                       219 ff.
end of World War
Reincarnation     12
Will (in magical
                       225
experiments)
Disposition
53
(magical)
peripheral            145
central             144, 146
Deceased (communication
with
them)           12, 107, 242
Verworn, Dr., Prof.    90
Wirth, Moritz          16
Wrchovszky             187, 188
Divining rod           172 ff.
Wundt, Dr.             15, 170
Yogi                   53, 54, 63, 64
Zöllener               15, 16
Zschokke               194
Future human         66, 227, 229
Composition,
154
psychical
Compulsive hallucinations 45, 74, 110, 129, 131
Obsessive ideas    74, 129, 131

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Table of Contents

Magic as an Experimental Natural Science

Contents

I. Preface

For the First Edition

For the First Anastatic (Unaltered) Reprint, 1918

Preface to the Second Edition

II. Introduction and a Brief History of Magic

III. General Course of My Experiments

IV. Magic of the Conscious Ego

1. Nature of Hallucinations

2. Means of Intensifying Hallucinations

3. Instructions for the Practical Performance of Magical Experiments by the Conscious Ego

a) Optical Hallucinations

b) Acoustic Hallucinations

c) Hallucinations of Smell and Taste

d) Motor Hallucinations (Mechanical Action at a Distance)

e) More Complex Hallucinations

f) Thought-Transference to Other Persons

V. Magic of the Unconscious or Subconscious

1. Nature of the Subconscious

2. Magical Accomplishments of the Subconscious, Especially Its Genius

3. Instructions for the Practical Performance of Magical Experiments by the Subconscious

4. Influence of Physical Condition on the Production of Magical Phenomena

5. Influence of Psychological Factors on the Production of Magical Phenomena: The Human Body as an Instrument of Psychological Function

6. Psychological and Psychophysical Further Development of the Subconscious

7. Summary of My Views on Psychological Differentiation and the Organization of Overall Psychological Governance in Man

VI. Explanation of Some Magical Phenomena of Which I Have No Detailed Personal Experience

1. The Dowsing Rod

2. Mind-Reading and Thought-Transference

a) Muscle Reading

b) Genuine Thought-Transference (Telepathy), Including Clairvoyance with Respect to Space

3. Thought Photography

4. Involuntary or Unconscious Thought-Transference; Announcements of the Dying, Premonitions, etc.

5. Clairvoyance with Respect to Time: Second Sight

VII. Concluding Remarks

VIII. Reply to My Critics

IX. General Index

A–D

E–G

G–M

M–P

P–U

S–Z

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