"A large part of the material used in this book was sent to the authors as representatives of the Society for Psychical Research; and the book is published with the sanction of the council of that Society ... Mr. Myers is solely responsible for the Introduction, and for the Note on a suggested mode of psychical interaction ... Mr. Gurney is solely responsible for the remainder of the book ... the collection, examination, and appraisal of the evidence--has been a joint labour, of which Mr. Podmore has borne ... a share ..."--Pref.

This book contains the first of two volumes of "Phantasms of the Living", an 1886 work on the subject of spiritualism by leading members of the Society for Psychical Research Edmund Gurney (1847 - 1888), Frederic W. H. Myers (1843 - 1901), and Frank Podmore (1856 - 1910). Within it, the authors have documented more than 700 cases of ghost sightings which they believe are in fact evidence of psychic ability. This volume contains an introduction by Myers as well as an outline of their analytical methods, while the rest is dedicated to telepathy, hallucinations, dreams, etc. "Phantasms of the Living" constitutes a pioneering study that provides a vivid insight into the Victorian fascination with the occult and the supernatural not to be missed by those with an interest in the subject. Contents include: "Preliminary Remarks: Grounds of Caution", "The Experimental Basis: Thought-Transference", "The Transition From Experimental to Spontaneous Telepathy", "General Criticism of the Evidence for Spontaneous Telepathy", "Note on Witchcraft", etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with the original text and artwork.

"A large part of the material used in this book was sent to the authors as representatives of the Society for Psychical Research; and the book is published with the sanction of the council of that Society ... Mr. Myers is solely responsible for the Introduction, and for the Note on a suggested mode of psychical interaction ... Mr. Gurney is solely responsible for the remainder of the book ... the collection, examination, and appraisal of the evidence--has been a joint labour, of which Mr. Podmore has borne ... a share ..."--Pref.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1886 edition. Excerpt: ... chapter vii. emotional and motor effects. 1. We come next to a class of cases which are characterised not so much by the distinctness of the idea as by the strength of the emotion produced in the percipient. In some of these the emotion has depended on a definite idea, and has been connected with a sense of calamity to a particular individual, or a particular household: in others it has not had reference to any definite idea, and has seemed at the time quite causeless and unreasonable. Sometimes, again, the analogy with experimental cases, in the direct reflection of experience from mind to mind, is distinctly retained,1 the experience of the percipient seeming actually to reproduce that of a relative or friend who is in some physical or mental crisis at a distance; while in other cases a peculiar distress on the one side is so strikingly contemporaneous with a unique condition on the other, that we cannot refuse to consider the hypothesis of a causal connection. From the point of view of evidence, this class of emotional impressions clearly requires the most careful treatment. There is all the difference between a sensory impression, and even between the more distinct" mental pictures " of the last chapter, and a mere mood. We have no grounds for assuming that the news (for instance) of a 1 The emotional class of impressions is, of course, a field peculiarly ill-adapted for deliberate experiment. Strong emotion cannot be summoned up at will by an experimenter even in his own mind; while, if it exists, it probably betrays itself in ways beyond his control. Cases are, indeed, alleged where a secret grief or anxiety on a meameriser's part has been reflected in the demeanour of his "subject." But this would not necessarily prove more...

This book contains the second of two volumes of “Phantasms of the Living”, an 1886 work on the subject of spiritualism by leading members of the Society for Psychical Research Edmund Gurney (1847 – 1888), Frederic W. H. Myers (1843 – 1901), and Frank Podmore (1856 – 1910).Within it, the authors have documented more than 700 cases of ghost sightings which they believe are evidence of psychic ability. This volume contains an introduction by Myers as well as an outline of their analytical methods, while the rest is dedicated to telepathy, hallucinations, dreams, etc. “Phantasms of the Living” constitutes a pioneering study that provides a vivid insight into the Victorian fascination with the occult and the supernatural, not to be missed by those with an interest in the subject. Contents include: “Preliminary Remarks: Grounds of Caution”, “The Experimental Basis: Thought-Transference”, “The Transition From Experimental to Spontaneous Telepathy”, “General Criticism of the Evidence for Spontaneous Telepathy”, “Note on Witchcraft”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with the original text and artwork.