Research source

XII. Explanatory Hypotheses--Theories And Doctrines-- Conclusions Of The Author 406

Date of account: English edition published 1907
Source: Mysterious Psychic Forces An Account of the Author's Investigations in Psychical Research, Together with Those of Other European Savants
Reference: Mysterious Psychic Forces An Account of the Author's Investigations in Psychical Research, Together with Those of Other European Savants · selected passage 24
Rights: public_domain
Language: English translation from French
Translation: English translation from Camille Flammarion
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

So, then, all you have to do, gentlemen, is to forbid the light to blacken iodine, or order it to blacken lime, and condemn the photographer to develop his negative in full light

Published source text

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Source passage

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So, then, all you have to do, gentlemen, is to forbid the light to blacken iodine, or order it to blacken lime, and condemn the photographer to develop his negative in full light. Ask Electricity why it will pass instantaneously from one end to the other of an iron wire a thousand miles long and why it refuses to traverse a thread of glass half an inch long. Beg the night-blooming flowers to expand in the day, or those that only bloom in the light not to close at dusk. Give me the explanation of the respiration of plants, diurnal and nocturnal, and of the production of chlorophyll and how plants develop a green color in the light; why they breathe in oxygen and exhale carbonic acid gas during the night, and reverse the process during the day. Change the equivalents of simple substances in chemistry, and order combinations to be produced. Forbid azotic acid to boil at the freezing temperature, and command water to boil at zero.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This 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 only

The 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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