Michael Cremo - Human Devolution - A Vedic Alternative To Darwin's Theory

Acting upon the testimony of Professor Lombroso, a commission of scientists conducted seventeen séances with Eusapia in Milan. The group included the astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli (director of the Milan Observatory), the physicist Giuseppe Gerosa, and the nobel laureate physiologist dr. charles Richet of Paris. Lombroso was present for some of the experiments. The experimenters signed a report testifying to the reality of the phenomena (flammarion 1909, p. 151). complete levitations of a large table were observed several times. On these occassions, the medium was carefully controlled, her hands being held by the participants sitting next to her, who also kept her feet under theirs and their knees pressed against hers, so as to detect any movement. Here are observations of table levitations from the signed report: “At the end of several minutes the table makes a side movement, rises first to the right, then to the left, and finally mounts off of its four feet straight into the air, and lies there horizontally (as if it were floating on a liquid), ordinarily at a height of from 4 to 8 inches (in exceptional cases from 24 to 27 inches); then falls back and rests on its four feet. It frequently remains in the air for several seconds, and while there also makes undulatory motions, during which the position of the feet under the table can be thoroughly examined” (flammarion 1909, p. 154). The researchers concluded that the conditions they imposed ruled out various possible deceptions, for example hidden rods or supports that the medium might have introduced.

The joint report of the participants recorded several instances of the spontaneous movement of objects, without the touch of any person present. The report stated: “A remarkable instance occurred in the second séance, everything being all the time in full light . A heavy chair, weighing twenty-two pounds, which stood a yard from the table and behind the medium, came up to M. Schiaparelli, who was seated next to the medium. He rose to put it back in its place; but scarcely was he seated when the chair advanced a second time toward him” (flammarion 1909, p. 156). The researchers also noted the movement of objects through the air. To prevent the medium from surreptitiously using her hands, they were securely tied to the hands of her controllers (Flammarion 1909, pp. 157–159). On two occasions the medium herself levitated to the top of the table, seated on her chair while her hands were being held by her controllers. In the first case, the controllers were Richet and Lombroso, who according to the report “are sure they did not assist her in this ascension.” during the medium’s descent from the table, the controllers were finzi and Richet, who according to the report were “following her movements without at all assisting them” (flammarion

1909, pp. 159–160).

Charles Richet (Physiologist)

In 1913, charles Robert Richet, professor of physiology at the University of Paris, won the nobel Prize in medicine and physiology for his pioneering work in immunology. His interest in the occult began with hypnotism. After seeing a stage performance, he performed his own experiments. He then became interested in clairvoyance, and published an article on the statistical validity of extrasensory perception (Richet 1884). His studies involved people correctly naming playing cards turned over by another person beyond their sight. The results were beyond those that could be expected by chance. Richet persuaded his friend, Jean Meyer, a wealthy industrialist, to establish a society for the impartial scientific investigation of psychical phenomena. It was formed in 1919 as the Institut Métapsychique. Richet believed that just as chemistry had emerged from alchemy, a new science of the mind would emerge from metapsychology. Richet summarized the results of his studies in his book thirty Years of Psychical Research (1923).

According to Richet, there are two kinds of metapsychic phenomena—objective and subjective. The objective phenomena comprise physical objects moving under the influence of psychic forces. The subjective phenomena comprise purely mental manifestations, such as remote vision. Richet noted (1923, pp. 4–5): “The forces that govern presentiments, telepathy, movements of objects without contact, apparitions, and certain mechanical and luminous phenomena do not seem to be blind and unconscious forces . . . They have none of the fatality that attaches to the mechanical and chemical reactions of matter. They appear to have intellectuality, will, and intuition , which may not be human, but which resemble human will and intention. Intellectuality—the power of choice, intention, and decision conformably to a personal will—characterizes all metapsychic phenomena.”

Richet performed experiments in telekinesis with Eusapia Palladino. He attended over one hundred of her séances (Richet 1923, p. 412). Richet (1923, p. 413) noted: “All the men of science, without exception, who experimented with her were in the end convinced that she produced genuine phenomena.” He admitted that on occasion she would try to cheat, if allowed. But Richet regarded it as the responsibility of the investigators to insure that she did not cheat. In his own experiments, Richet did take such precautions. “At the moment in an experiment when a movement without contact was about to take place,” wrote Richet (1923, p. 413), “Eusapia gave warning that a phenomena was coming, so that these did not occur unexpectedly. The full attention of the observers was awakened and all possible precautions could be taken at the fateful moment that no trickery should be possible. Professors of legerdemain do the exact opposite, and endeavour to distract attention at the critical moment of their tricks.” Primarily, investigators took care to control Eusapia’s hands and feet, to make sure that she was not using them to produce the effects observed in her presence—usually the movement of objects in the room.

In 1893 and 1894, ethologist Henryk Siemiradzki (1843–1902) and philosopher Julian Ochorowicz (1850–1917) conducted experiments with Eusapia in Rome. Richet was present for these experiments. “While Eusapia’s hands were held, a hand-organ floated over the table, sounding all the while as if the handle were being turned,” wrote Richet (1923, p. 416). Ochorowicz made further investigations. While Eusapia’s hands and feet were carefully held and controlled, interesting psychokinetic effects were observed. Richet (1923, p. 416) wrote, “In light, dimmed, but still quite sufficient to enable the experimenters to distinguish forms, the table rose horizontally three times into the air.”

The most significant of Richet’s reports are about the sessions with Eusapia at his house at Ribaud Island. On this small island in the Mediterranean, Richet had a vacation home. The only other residents of the island were a lighthouse keeper and his wife. Richet invited Ochorowicz to join him. “for three months we experimented three times a week, and continually verified, fully, movements of objects without contact and other phenomena,” wrote Richet (1923, pp. 416–417).

Richet then invited frederick Myers and the physicist Oliver Lodge to join them. Richet (1923, p. 417) included in his book the following summary statement by Lodge: “A chair placed near the window, several feet distant from the medium, slid along, rose up, and struck the floor. The medium was held and no person was near the chair. I heard some notes on an accordion placed not far from us. A musical box was floated through the air and carried above our heads. The key was turned in the lock of the door, laid on the table, and again replaced in the lock; a heavy table (forty-eight pounds) was raised eight inches off the floor, the medium standing up and placing her hands lightly on one corner of the table.”