The creation of this new section of the Journal of Scientific Exploration (JSE) reflects the traditional view that one of the best ways to understand a discipline is through a study of its history. The historical perspective illuminates the intellectual and social factors leading to the development of science, including issues such as emphases on particular phenomena or topics, as well as methodology and theory. Study of the areas covered by JSE has much to gain from study of their past.

Near-death experiences (NDEs) constitute a particular type of experience that occurs in near-death states and is familiar to many. Yet, there are other kinds of lesser-known experiences reported from near-death states that appear to form an interconnected continuum with NDEs. Because the relations between these different experiences have not received much attention in the more recent literature, this paper presents an introductory overview on them. The topics discussed include cases of unexplained body changes during near-death states, reciprocally confirmed out-of-body experiences (...) and crisis apparitions, deathbed visions, (shared) NDEs and (shared) dreams, correspondences between the contents of NDEs, cases of the reincarnation type, and communications received via mediums; mists or shapes leaving the body of the dying, unexplained music heard at deathbeds, the re-emergence of mental clarity shortly before death in persons with mental disorders, and unusual memories of little children. Keywords: Near-death experiences (NDEs)—deathbed visions (DBVs)—cases of the reincarnation type (CORTs)—apparitions—terminal lucidity—mediumship. (shrink)

While there were several psychical research journals during the nineteenth century many interesting discussions about psychic phenomena took place as well in a variety of intellectual reviews and scholarly and scientific journals of various disciplines. One such example was the French journal Revue Philosophique de la France et de l’Étranger founded in 1876 by Théodule Ribot. Reflecting the various interests of psychologists during the nineteenth century many topics were discussed in the Revue, among them hypnotic phenomena, as well as mental (...) suggestion and mediumship. The journal provided an important forum for French discussions in psychology and in the social sciences in general that helped the development of those disciplines. The same may be said about psychic phenomena, which were discussed in the pages of the Revue by authors such as Émile Boirac, Victor Egger, Théodore Flournoy, Jules Héricourt, Pierre Janet, Léon Marillier, Julian Ochorowicz, Charles Richet, and Albert Ruault. We present summaries of some of these writings which we hope will bring some of this material to the attention of non-French readers. (shrink)

Composer and musicologist Nicolas Slonimsky published a fascinating and delightful book entitled Lexicon of Musical Invective: Critical Assaults on Composers Since Beethoven’s Time (Slonimsky 1965). The book is a collection of what Slonimsky called “biased, unfair, ill-tempered, and singularly unprophetic judgments” (p. 3) about famous composers and their works. We find, for example, the Gazette Musicale de Paris on August 1, 1847, saying of Verdi, “there has not yet been an Italian composer more incapable of producing what is commonly called (...) a melody.” And this publication stuck to its guns. On May 22, 1853, it said of Rigoletto that it “lacks melody. This opera has hardly any chance to be kept in the repertoire.” The May 1804 issue of Zeitung für die Elegente Welt proclaimed Beethoven’s Second Symphony is a crass monster, a hideously writhing wounded dragon, that refuses to expire, and though bleeding in the Finale, furiously beats about with its tail erect................ (shrink)

This paper is an overview of aspects of the French journal Annales des Sciences Psychiques (ASP, 1891-1919) with emphasis on nineteenth century developments. The ASP was founded by Charles Richet and Xavier Dariex. The development of the journal was assisted both by the prestige and influence of Richet as a scientist and of Félix Alcan as a publisher. For the nineteenth-century period the journal emphasized cases and experiments over theories. Much of this was about spontaneous telepathy and physical mediumship. Some (...) of the authors included in the pages of the ASP were Émile Boirac, Ernesto Bozzano, Albert de Rochas, Giovanni Battista Ermacora, Paul Joire, and Julian Ochorowicz. There were translations of the work of members of the Society for Psychical Research, such as Frederic W. H. Myers. In 1908 the ASP was affiliated with the Sociétè Universelle d’Études Psychiques, becoming its official publication. The ASP was important in establishing standards and in providing a forum for the development of psychical research in France. (shrink)