CHAPTER VII

THE CONNECTING LINK

In the foregoing chapters I have tried to show that there are, scattered here and there over the field of Psychic Research, sufficient indications to warrant our adopting, as a tentative working hypothesis, the idea that four-dimensional space is a reality and that the Individual consciousness is capable of functioning in a four-dimensional vehicle quite apart from the three-dimensional physical body.

I hope that I have made it quite clear that in my opinion the two vehicles are entirely separate and independent, and that I do not regard the three-dimensional body as being a mere section of a four-dimensional whole.

I propose in this chapter to consider in some detail the question of the nature of the connection which must perforce exist between the two vehicles.

We know that there must be some form of connection because impressions which are received by the three-dimensional sense organs are transmitted to the conscious Ego, which is, _ex hypothesi_, embodied in the four-dimensional vehicle.

Furthermore it is clear that the connection can be interrupted with comparative ease, since in sleep, anæsthesia, and analogous conditions, the conscious Ego does not receive these impressions although the sense organs may still be subject to stimuli to a greater or less degree.

We are not, of course, able to draw detailed conclusions as to the precise nature of this connection by the exercise of pure deductive reason.

But I think that my readers will agree with me that the first and most obvious place to look for it will be in the realm of the nervous system.

Further we may safely say that, assuming the hypothesis we are considering to be correct, the sense impression must, at some stage in its transmission, be deflected, so to speak, out of three space into four space.

In order for this to happen it is necessary that some part of the transmitting mechanism should be capable of producing this deflection and it is reasonable to suppose that a substance or mechanism specially differentiated for the purpose of deflecting impressions in this manner out of three space into four space, will be distinguished by an abnormal four-dimensional complexity as compared with ordinary matter, which, as we have already seen, probably possesses a very slight four-dimensional extension.

As a result of this abnormal four-dimensional complexity it is to be anticipated that the part of the transmitting mechanism concerned will possess characteristics sufficient to differentiate it from ordinary matter.

I submit, then, that we may reasonably deduce that if the four-dimensional hypothesis which I have outlined be correct, there should exist, either as an integral part of the nervous system or in close association with it, some constituent or substance which, in spite of having many of the properties of ordinary matter, will also possess characteristics peculiar to itself--as, for instance, susceptibility to four-dimensional forces imperceptible to us.

At this point I would recall to the reader's attention the remarks which I made in Chapter II regarding the processes of scientific thought and the sequence of operations whereby we attain to exact knowledge.

So far we have considered a number of observed facts and framed a working hypothesis which, I believe, explains some, and is not contradicted by any, of them.

In the immediately preceding paragraphs we have, by deductive reasoning, concluded that if this hypothesis be correct then something else must follow. There must, in fact, be some sort of connecting link whereby sense impressions are deflected out of three space into four space and are thus enabled to get through to the consciousness.

We have also concluded that this connecting link is likely to consist of matter in some curious condition such as to invest it with properties unlike those of ordinary matter. If on turning again to the realm of observation, we find that this deduction is substantiated in practice, we shall receive distinct confirmation of the correctness of our working hypothesis.

In the pages which follow I propose to show that there are a number of facts which strongly indicate, even if they cannot at present be held conclusively to demonstrate, the existence of some such connecting link.

I am well aware that there are numerous gaps in the body of evidence which I shall bring forward on this subject. To some of these I shall draw specific attention in the hope that by doing so I may induce some of my readers to experiment on the points in question. There is an enormous amount of research work to be done before we shall be able to have any considerable confidence in our speculations or to feel that we are working on anything like a firm foundation. Much of the evidence to which I shall refer in this chapter is in urgent need of confirmation and there is very little indeed which I should care to guarantee personally. Still the indications, slight though they are, do seem to point rather in the same direction and as my object is to stimulate investigation and, perhaps to indicate some of the lines on which it may profitably proceed rather than to lay down the law on obscure points, I have thought it worth while to deal with them fairly fully.

Historically the first relevant experiments were probably those of Reichenbach in the middle of last century. But so little was known in those days about a variety of factors which might have vitiated his results, and his work has been so strongly criticised by later authorities that I will not do more than mention him for the benefit of any reader who may have a fancy for probing into the historical origins of the subject. None the less great credit is due to Reichenbach for the thorough and painstaking character of his researches to which he brought immense industry and a truly scientific spirit which led him to fantastic and erroneous conclusions only because he had not our present knowledge to guard him from the many pitfalls which abound in these investigations.

The first phenomena to which I wish to call attention is that known as Exteriorisation of Sensibility.

This has been investigated by de Rochas and later by Joire and by Boirac, and I believe it is well established.

The gist of the phenomenon is that in certain hypnotic states the skin of the subject becomes insensitive to pain but the "sensibility" is transferred to a sensitive layer a few centimetres distant from the skin. Pinching or pricking the skin itself produces no effect but doing so in the region of the sensitive layer arouses the appropriate sensation in the subject. Furthermore, according to Joire, this sensibility can be localised and transferred to various objects--a fact which gives the investigator a most desirable power of experimental control.

Dr. Joire performed a number of experiments to determine whether the results could be attributed to auto-suggestion, to unconscious suggestion by the investigator or to unconscious connivance on the part of the subject, but concluded that they could not. Any reader who has doubts on the subject should read his book "Psychical and Supernormal Phenomena." Dr. Joire was unable to give any explanation of these phenomena, nor shall I attempt to do so at the moment beyond pointing out that on the face of it, it looks as if some definite substance of sensitive properties were exteriorised which, however, must be supposed to be to some extent under the control of the will, since it was found that the seat of sensibility could be shifted at the word of command.

Leaving this for a moment I would draw attention to the subject of the "aura." Certain persons claim to be able to see this normally as a regular thing and describe it as being a bluish-grey haze surrounding the body and at a little distance from it. Dr. Kilner in his book "The Human Atmosphere" describes how he found it possible to induce this power of vision in normal persons by causing them to gaze at the light through suitably coloured screens which seemed to affect the retina in such a way as to make it more sensitive to the particular wave length of light which emanates from, or is reflected by, the aura.

In the course of his investigations he found among other things that the aura was apparently under the control of the will since it could in certain cases be made to change colour or to extrude rays by mere volition.

Through the courtesy of Dr. Kilner I have myself been able to try the effect of the screens and I certainly saw, or thought I saw, an aura of the type which he describes.

At the same time I am not altogether prepared to swear that the appearance could not be some sort of optical illusion or "artifact" and I should accept the aura with less reserve if it could be recorded photographically.

On the other hand some of Dr. Kilner's experiments, notably as regards colour of the aura and its uses in diagnosis, are very remarkable and seem unlikely to be due to either of the above mentioned causes.

If we accept these experiments at their face value they certainly support the idea to which the phenomena of Exteriorisation of Sensibility faintly pointed, namely that there may be some exteriorisable _substance_ under the control of the Will.

There are other experiments which also point the same way. Consider for example those of MacDougal who weighed a number of patients at the moment of death and found in each case that this coincided with a _sudden_ loss of weight of about threequarters of an ounce, more than could be accounted for by loss from perspiration or from the emptying of the lungs. He claims that "We have experimental proof that a substance capable of being weighed does leave the body at death." It is of course most important that these experiments should be confirmed by independent investigators but there seems no reason to doubt the facts as stated, although I cannot agree with MacDougal's view that what leaves the body _is_ the "soul."

Dr. Baraduc, again, took photographs of his son and wife shortly after death and found that in each case a luminous, cloudlike mass or masses were visible over the bodies.

This case is of exceptional interest in that the observations were not personal but were photographic records. Unless the case is inaccurately reported it follows that there must have been some objective foundation for the results, and it would also seem that, since the object photographed affected the plate but was invisible to the eye, it must not only have been material or quasi-material in nature but also have emitted light of a frequency above the range of normal vision, _i.e._, "ultra-violet" light. Here again there is great need for confirmation but so far as it goes the evidence continues to point the same way.

Surely this concatenation of evidences from such different sources cannot be purely fortuitous?

The foregoing are the most important and representative experiments on these lines but the whole of the literature of Psychic Research abounds with minor pointers which all indicate the same sort of thing.

Let us turn again to the work of Crawford, to which I have already referred.

He started out to investigate the causes of telekinetic phenomena and had at the outset no sort of notion of what the explanation was likely to be and he found that his table is supported, during levitation without contact, by a rigid structure.

This structure is invisible to the eye and is practically impalpable. It appears to be composed of matter taken from the medium. The main conclusion is, I think, inevitable, but for the experiments and reasoning which have led to it the reader must consult Dr. Crawford's book.

Again we have this same curious substance exteriorised from the body.

But there are two points in particular which bring it closely into line with the phenomena which we have been considering.

The first is that although Dr. Crawford has not yet succeeded in photographing the structure _in situ_, he has obtained a photograph of what appears to be the same substance issuing out of the medium.

Furthermore, the existence of the structure has been confirmed by clairvoyants, and this fact, taken in conjunction with the photographic results and with what I said about "etheric" or "ultra-violet" clairvoyance in Chapter III, forces us once more to the conclusion that this elusive substance possesses the property of emitting or reflecting ultra-violet light.

The second point is that the extrusion of this substance from the medium results in superficial insensibility, although she is in full possession of all her normal faculties.

Dr. Crawford discusses this point at some length in an article which appeared in the _Psychic Gazette_ for September 1916. Into the minutiæ of the discussion I need not enter here. It is sufficient to say that the medium is to some extent insensitive and that in Dr. Crawford's opinion "It seems likely that the want of sensibility to heavy and varied reactions which undoubtedly occur upon the medium is due to some peculiar condition of her organism during the period of phenomena."

Now, these various experiments although they may be individually weak do seem rather to hang together. There is an appearance of possible connection between the experiments of Joire and recent views on the "aura"; and it is possible that what MacDougal weighed and Baraduc photographed are the same thing.

It is obvious that all these experiments ought to be checked and re-checked by independent investigators and further experiments undertaken to discover whether there is any real connection between them.

But for the present purpose I think it legitimate to extrapolate and to assume that they are reliable and connected in the way that I suspect.

The experiments of de Rochas, of Joire and of Kilner suggest that a temporary loss of sensibility is accompanied by the extrusion from the body of a sensitive substance of peculiar properties.

In the Baraduc and MacDougal experiments a total and permanent loss of sensibility seems to be accompanied by the extrusion of a substance of somewhat similar properties.

Finally in the case of Dr. Crawford's researches we find that the extrusion of an apparently very similar substance is again accompanied by a certain insensitivity.

Somewhat similar conditions are to be found in cases of "materialisation"--compare, for example, the work of Dr. Schrenk-Notzing and Mme. Bisson or Dr. Geley's paper in