The phenomena of table turning flourished during the 1850s, providing for many the context for belief in spirit action, and for the development of explanations such as unconscious muscular movements and the exteriorization of nervous forces from the sitters. This paper consists of the presentation of excerpts from the classic study of these phenomena by Agénor de Gasparin, who reported his work on the subject in his book Des Tables Tournantes (1854, 2 vols., translated to English in 1857). De Gasparin (...) believed that unconscious muscular action could not explain the movements of tables, and postulated the emission of a force from the sitters around the table to account for the movements. I present a long excerpt from de Gasparin’s book in which he described the phenomena he obtained, preceded by a short review of interest in table phenomena in the 1850s, and followed by critiques showing the general skepticism about these phenomena during and after de Gasparin’s lifetime. (shrink)

In the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries psychical research literature there were many speculations to explain physical mediumship consisting of the projection of nervous and vital forces from the body. The purpose of this paper is to present an example of these ideas consisting on a translation of part of an article published by Albert de Rochas in 1897 in the Annales des Sciences Psychiques. The article was devoted to séances with Eusapia Palladino and de Rochas suggested the projection of (...) forces to explain telekinesis and materializations, a concept also involving the idea of a fluidic double. The ideas are presented in the context of previous speculations, and of the life and work of its author. The point of the article is not to defend or criticize the validity of the concept, but to contribute to the history of these ideas by rescuing de Rochas from oblivion, which in turn shows as well French contributions to nineteenth Century psychical research. (shrink)

The psychical research literature has many examples of séance room materialization phenomena. This article consists of a reprint of, and commentary about, Eric J. Dingwall’s paper “The Plasma Theory”, published in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research in 1921. Dingwall discussed some of the previously published ideas on the topic, and emphasized those related to mediums Eva C. and Kathleen Goligher. The purpose of the current article is not to provide evidence for the phenomena, but to present (...) relevant contextual information relevant to the article, additional bibliography, and theoretical concepts, some of which are forgotten today. (shrink)

Ernesto Bozzano (1862-1943) was a luminary in psychical and spiritualistic studies in Italy, to which he contributed numerous publications which were also distributed abroad; he was a supporter of human survival. Forgotten for a long time despite the role he played until the 1940s, this article, after a brief look at the studies dedicated to him, furnishes a profile of the life and thinking of Bozzano, paying particular attention to the events that brought him to the eyes of the international (...) community of psychical researchers. (shrink)