Extra-Sensory Perception

by Joseph Banks Rhine

Part I. General 1. Clarification of the ProblemChapter 2. Historical BackgroundAppendix to Chapter 2. Note on Mathematics of Probability Used in Evaluation of Results Part II.The Experimental 3. A General SurveyChapter 4. The Earlier and Minor ExperimentsChapter 5. A. J. LinzmayerChapter 6. Charles E. StuartChapter 7. Hubert E. Pearce, Jr.Chapter 8. Five Other Major Subjects Part III.Explanation and 9. Elimination of Negative HypothesesChapter 10. Physical Conditions in E.S.P. FunctioningChapter 11. Some Physiological Conditions Affecting E.S.PChapter 12. The Psychological Conditions and Bearings of the ResultsChapter 13. E.S.P. from the Viewpoint of General ParapsychologyChapter 14. Some General Biological Considerations.Chapter 15. Summary and Concluding RemarksAppendix to Chapter 15. Suggestions to Those Who Repeat These ExperimentsSecond Appendix. Higher Anti-Chance Values, with Table of Probability *** The momentous study here presented has what may be called, metaphorically, three dimensions. First, there is the unprecedently long period, about three years, during which experiments have been conducted until they reached a vast number. Secondly, we find that the co-operation, observation, and critical judgment of many persons both within and without the teaching staff of the psychological department of Duke University have been applied to the experiments at various stages. Thirdly, we note the waxing rigor of the main stream of the experimentation, and the diversity of methods employed not simply to pile up proof to astronomical proportions, but to isolate telepathy and clairvoyance, each from the other, to find out what measures enhanced and what detracted from results, and to acquire data to test this and that hypothesis of the processes involved. Many admirable series of experiments for extrasensory perception have been made by men of science and other men of university education and high mental endowment, especially since 1880, with some of earlier date. But in none of the particulars stated above can any of them compare with the great task accomplished at Duke University. To be sure, some of the series of trials reported in this book rest, prima facie, upon the good faith of unwitnessed experimenters. The author could well have afforded to omit all of these, for the host of experiments witnessed under rigid conditions are enormously sufficient to bring the odds against chance to tremendous figures. But he wished to tell the whole story. Pearce's 15,000 witnessed trials under diversified conditions alone would have been abundantly ample upon which to rest the case as regards proof. But it is certainly worth while to know if some subjects can get results better when alone and others can not and how the general progress under the two conditions compares. Besides, ourconfidence in the reported unwitnessed results in some cases is established by finding that their subjects did as well or better under inspection. And it is hard to discredit those persons whose unwitnessed results declined against natural wish or displayed under analysis, as will be shown, striking analogies, which could not have been foreseen by the subjects, with results received under inspection. But let the reader discard all these which he will, there remains a huge block of evidence against which it would appear that skepticism must batter in vain.

192 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 6, 2008

About the author

J. B. Rhine was an American botanist who founded scientific research in parapsychology as a branch of psychology, founding the parapsychology lab at Duke University, the Journal of Parapsychology, the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man, and the Parapsychological Association.