The reliability1 of witnesses is a crucial question in the study of psychical2 phenomena3 and has for long been a bone of contention4 between spiritualists and their critics. If honesty, care, and intelligence alone sufficed to make a man’s testimony5 reliable the whole range of spiritualistic phenomena, including spirit photography, might long ago have been taken as proved beyond all possibility of doubt. But this is very far from being the case, and although it is never pleasant to express flat disbelief of the accuracy of people’s statements, the Psalmist’s dictum that “all men are liars” should be graven on the heart of every psychical researcher, especially in the case of those who attempt to investigate “physical” phenomena.[11]
[37]
I do not propose to repeat the obvious platitudes6 about the ease with which conjurers can deceive their audiences, but I should like to emphasise7 the fact that such differences as exist between the circumstances in which conjurers and mediums work are uniformly in favour of the latter as regards the minor8 manipulations necessary for the production of photographic phenomena. (One is not, of course, concerned with elaborate “stage effects,” but rather with small matters like the substitution of one plate for another or the distraction9 of the sitter’s attention while the required extra is impressed upon the plate.) The conjurer’s audience knows that it is a trick; the medium’s does not. Even the most hardened sceptic will probably have a lingering doubt in his mind as to whether there may not possibly be “something in it” after all. This is all to the medium’s advantage, and it must be remembered that not only does he work for much of his time under lighting10 conditions which are peculiarly favourable11 to fraudulent manipulation, but also that the great majority of his sitters start with a considerable prepossession to the effect that they are encountering something inexplicable12.
But these observations must, I suppose, have occurred to all who have considered such matters at all impartially13, and however relevant they may be they will never by themselves prevail against what we call “the evidence of our senses.” No amount of general considerations of this kind will deter14 the credulous15 from accepting the prima facie indications of a “successful” séance. The only hope of preserving the public from the depredations16 of these swindlers is to show that the “evidence of the senses” is not worth twopence unless backed by special knowledge of the relevant technique.
One would think that anyone who reads Mr. Patrick’s admirable account of fraudulent methods and of his experiments in their application will feel chary17 of claiming that he has wholly eliminated the possibility of fraud from any photographic séance which he has attended. But there may be some who will still say: “No doubt these fraudulent methods can be and have been employed, no doubt many people would allow a medium to substitute plates under their very noses, or to touch them. But when I went to such-and-such a medium I am certain that the plates were never out of my possession, that he never had a chance of touching18 them....” and so forth19.
Of course, some of the methods described by Mr. Patrick do not involve touching the plates at all. It would not be at all impossible for an artist in such work to allow a sitter to use his own plates, camera, slides, dishes, and chemicals in his own studio and dark-room, to load, unload, and develop the plates himself without their ever being touched by the “medium” and yet to produce a perfectly20 good extra.
But I will let that pass and confine myself to the question of whether the kind of positive statement outlined above is really worth anything
[38]
at all. This question was answered once and for all in the emphatic21 negative by the classical experiments of the late Mr. S. J. Davey in “Slate-writing,” which are fully22 described in the Proceedings23 of the Society for Psychical Research, vols. iv. and viii.
These experiments are not nearly so widely known as they deserve to be, but it is not too much to say that no one who has not read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested them is competent so much as to begin to talk about the genuineness of spirit photography; unless, of course, he happens to have acquired a knowledge of trick methods and the scope of deception24 by other means—such as Mr. Patrick adopted in his experimental work!
Very briefly25, the story was as follows: Mr. Davey was an amateur conjurer of some skill who set himself to imitate by trickery the performances of Slade, Eglington, and other exponents26 of “slate-writing” phenomena. In this he succeeded to admiration—so much so that certain spiritualists characteristically insisted that he must be a very powerful “medium”! He scrupulously27 denied himself the advantage of claiming his results as supernormal, but in spite of this found no difficulty in imposing28 on his sitters. The latter were encouraged to take every possible precaution against trickery and were instructed to write the most careful reports of what occurred.
A number of reports were thus obtained from men and women of unquestionable intelligence and acumen29 which, if they had been even approximately accurate, would have established the supernormality of Mr. Davey’s phenomena beyond any peradventure. But comparison of their reports with the known and recorded procedure which actually took place showed the most astonishing discrepancies30. Omissions31 and distortions of the first importance were abundant and the experiments proved to the hilt that, for phenomena of this kind, the reports of untrained witnesses are, in general, not worth the paper they are written on.
I wish that space permitted me to quote, in parallel columns, some of these Davey reports and some of those given by witnesses of photographic séances so that my readers could see how very similar the circumstances are.
But I must content myself with pointing out that whereas in the one case everything turned on whether the “medium” had any chance of substituting or tampering32 with slates33, so in the other it is a matter of whether there has been any chance of substituting or tampering with plates. The reports of intelligent witnesses proved worthless in the one case, and it seems reasonable to suppose that they are no more valuable in the other.
So, to anyone who thinks that in the mouth of two or three witnesses the genuineness of spirit photographs shall be established, I would say, “Go home and invest a few shillings in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research,
[39]
vols. iv. and viii.—it will be more profitable than the same amount laid out in photographic séances—and when you have carefully read their account of the Davey experiments in conjunction with Mr. Patrick’s paper, see whether your confidence in spirit photographs is as strong as ever!”
I have drawn34 attention to these experiments of Mr. Davey elsewhere and I am sorry to be obliged to insist on their importance again. But until people learn that the reports of uninstructed observers—however acute in other respects—are utterly35 unreliable, the fraudulent medium will flourish and the unsuspecting public will be robbed and deceived.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
reliability
|
|
| n.可靠性，确实性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
psychical
|
|
| adj.有关特异功能现象的；有关特异功能官能的；灵魂的；心灵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
phenomena
|
|
| n.现象 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
contention
|
|
| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
testimony
|
|
| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
platitudes
|
|
| n.平常的话，老生常谈，陈词滥调( platitude的名词复数 )；滥套子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
emphasise
|
|
| vt.加强...的语气，强调，着重 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
minor
|
|
| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
distraction
|
|
| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
lighting
|
|
| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
favourable
|
|
| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
inexplicable
|
|
| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
impartially
|
|
| adv.公平地，无私地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
deter
|
|
| vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
credulous
|
|
| adj.轻信的，易信的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
depredations
|
|
| n.劫掠，毁坏( depredation的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
chary
|
|
| adj.谨慎的，细心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
touching
|
|
| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
emphatic
|
|
| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
proceedings
|
|
| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
deception
|
|
| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
briefly
|
|
| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
exponents
|
|
| n.倡导者( exponent的名词复数 )；说明者；指数；能手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
scrupulously
|
|
| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
imposing
|
|
| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
acumen
|
|
| n.敏锐，聪明 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
discrepancies
|
|
| n.差异，不符合（之处），不一致（之处）( discrepancy的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
omissions
|
|
| n.省略( omission的名词复数 )；删节；遗漏；略去或漏掉的事（或人） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
tampering
|
|
| v.窜改( tamper的现在分词 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
slates
|
|
| （旧时学生用以写字的）石板( slate的名词复数 )； 板岩； 石板瓦； 石板色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |