be actualized, constant exercise and certain ill-defined environmental conditions.
Intellectual power is augmented by the habit of precise reasoning, the study of logic, the
use of mathematical language, mental discipline, and complete and deep observation of
things. On the contrary, incomplete and superficial observations, a rapid succession of
impressions, multiplicity of images, and lack of intellectual discipline hinder the
development of mind. We know how unintelligent the children are who live in a crowded
city, among multitudes of people and events, in
trains and automobiles, in the confusion
of the streets, among the absurdities of the cinemas, in schools where intellectual
concentration is not required. There are other factors capable of facilitating or hampering
the growth of intelligence. They consist of certain habits of living and of eating. But their
effect is not clearly known. It seems that overabundance of food and excess of athletics
prevent intellectual progress. Athletes are not, in general, very intelligent. In order to
reach its highest development the mind probably demands an ensemble of conditions,
which has occurred only at certain epochs and in certain countries. What were the mode
of
existence, the diet, and the education of the men of the great periods of the history of
civilization? We are almost totally ignorant of the genesis of intelligence. And we believe
that the mind of children can be developed by the mere training of their memory and by
the exercises practiced in modern schools!
Intelligence alone is not capable of engendering science. But it is an indispensable
factor in its creation. Science, in its turn, fortifies intelligence. It has brought to humanity
a new intellectual attitude, the certainty given by observation, experimentation, and
logical reasoning. Certainty derived from science is very different from that derived from
faith. The latter is more profound. It cannot be shaken by arguments. It resembles the
certainty given by clairvoyance. But, strange to say, it is not completely foreign to
science. Obviously, great discoveries are not the product of intelligence alone. Men of
genius, in addition to their powers of observation and comprehension, possess other
qualities, such as intuition and creative imagination. Through intuition they learn things
ignored by other men, they perceive relations between seemingly isolated phenomena,
they unconsciously feel the presence of the unknown treasure. All great men are endowed
with intuition. They know,
without analysis, without reasoning, what is important for
them to know. A true leader of men does not need psychological tests, or reference cards,
when choosing his subordinates. A good judge, without going into the details of legal
arguments, and even, according to Cardozo, starting from erroneous premises, is capable
of rendering a just sentence. A great scientist instinctively takes the path leading to a
discovery. This phenomenon, in former times, was called inspiration.
Men of science belong to two different types--the logical and the intuitive. Science
owes its progress to both forms of minds. Mathematics, although a purely logical
structure, nevertheless makes use of intuition. Among the mathematicians there are
intuitives and logicians, analysts and geometricians. Hermitte and Weierstrass were
intuitives. Riemann and Bertrand, logicians. The discoveries of intuition have always to
be developed by logic. In ordinary life, as in science, intuition is a powerful but
dangerous means of acquiring knowledge. Sometimes it can hardly be distinguished from
illusion. Those who rely upon it entirely are liable to mistakes. It is far from being always
trustworthy. But the great man, or
the simple whose heart is pure, can be led by it to the
summits of mental and spiritual life. It is a strange quality. To apprehend reality without
the help of intelligence appears inexplicable. One of the aspects of intuition resembles a
very rapid deduction from an instantaneous observation. The knowledge that great
physicians sometimes possess concerning the present and the future state of their patients
is of such a nature. A similar phenomenon occurs when one appraises in a flash a man's
value, or senses his virtues and his vices. But under another aspect, intuition takes place
quite independently of observation and reasoning. We may be led by it to our goal when
we do not know how to attain this goal and even where it is located. This mode of
knowledge is closely analogous to clairvoyance, to the sixth sense of Charles Richet.
Clairvoyance and telepathy are a primary datum of scientific observation.
1
Those
endowed with this power grasp the secret thoughts of other individuals without using
their sense organs. They also perceive events more or less remote in space and time. This
quality is exceptional. It develops in only a small number of human beings. But many
possess it in a rudimentary state. They use it without effort and in a spontaneous fashion.
Clairvoyance appears quite commonplace to those having it. It brings to them a
knowledge which is more certain than that gained through the sense organs. A
clairvoyant reads the thoughts of other people as easily as he examines the expressions of
their faces. But the words to see and to feel do not accurately express the phenomena
taking place in his consciousness. He does not observe, he does not think. He knows. The
reading of thoughts seems to be related simultaneously to scientific, esthetic, and
religious inspiration, and to telepathy. Telepathic communications occur frequently. In
many instances, at the time of death or of great danger, an individual is brought into a
certain kind of relation with another. The dying man,
or the victim of an accident, even
when such accident is not followed by death, appears to a friend in his usual aspect. The
phantom generally remains silent. Sometimes he speaks and announces his death. The
clairvoyant may also perceive at a great distance a scene, an individual, a landscape,
which he is capable of describing minutely and exactly. There are many forms of
telepathy. A number of persons, although not endowed with the gift of clairvoyance, have
received, once or twice in their lifetime, a telepathic communication.
1
The existence of telepathic phenomena, as well as other metapsychic phenomena, is not accepted by
most biologists and physicians. The attitude of these scientists should not be blamed. For these phenomena
are exceptional and elusive. They cannot be reproduced at will. Besides, they are hidden in the enormous
mass of the superstitions, lies, and illusions accumulated for centuries by mankind. Although they have
been mentioned in every country and at every epoch, they have not been investigated scientifically. It is,
nevertheless, a fact that they are a normal, although rare, activity of the human being.
The author began
their study when he was a young medical student. He was interested in this subject in the same manner as
in physiology, chemistry, and pathology. He realized long ago the deficiencies of the methods used by the
specialists of psychical research, of the seances where professional mediums often utilize the amateurism of
the experimenters. He has made his own observations and experiments. He has used in this chapter the
knowledge that he has acquired himself. And not the opinion of others. The study of metapsychics does not
differ from that of psychology and physiology. Scientists should not be alarmed by its unorthodox
appearance. Several attempts, as is well known, have already been made to apply scientific techniques to
clairvoyance and telepathy, and have met with moderate success. The Society for Psychical Research was
founded in London in 1882, under the presidency of Henry Sidgwick, Professor of Moral Philosophy at the
University of Cambridge. In 1919, an International Institute of Metapsychics was established in Paris with
the approval of the French Government, and under the auspices of the great physiologist, Richet, the
discoverer of anaphylaxis, and
of a learned physician, Joseph Teissier, Professor of Medicine at the
University of Lyons. Among the members of its Committee of Administration are a professor at the