This being so, I ask: why may it not be a good idea to administer a diluted mixture of this gas to the medium…
- Date of account
- Published 1921
- Source
- The Problems of Psychical Research Experiments and Theories in the Realm of the Supernormal
- Reference
- The Problems of Psychical Research Experiments and Theories in the Realm of the Supernormal · selected passage 89
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
This being so, I ask: why may it not be a good idea to administer a diluted mixture of this gas to the medium when she is in a trance state--and when a communicator is attempting to convey his thought to the sitter by means of automatic writing?
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyThis being so, I ask: why may it not be a good idea to administer a diluted mixture of this gas to the medium when she is in a trance state--and when a communicator is attempting to convey his thought to the sitter by means of automatic writing? Might not such an experiment be tried, since no _harm_ could come to the medium if the oxygen were diluted and only sufficiently strong to effect the desired results? And might not its administration tend to improve the tone of the nervous system _pro tem._, and render clearer the consciousness that is trying to use it and manifest through it--just as one's own consciousness might be rendered clearer by the same device? Of course such a process might have the effect (especially at first) of breaking the trance altogether, and of reviving the medium. But if the medium understood the experiment beforehand, and the process were also explained to the controls, it is reasonable to suppose that--after some trials at any rate--the trance would not be broken, and that better, clearer results would follow.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis comes from historical psychical research. Methods, witness handling and standards of evidence differ from present-day research and should be assessed from the cited passage and edition.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThe passage can support a history of claims and recurring descriptions. It does not establish a paranormal mechanism, and competing psychological, social and physical explanations remain relevant.
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