Richard Noakes, the author of the seminal Physics and Psychics (Cambridge, 2019) has generously donated these beauties from his library as prizes for the next Patreon draw, which ends on 19 July, 7pm (for your chance to win one of these books, see below):
Psychical and Supernormal Phenomena (London, 1916) is an overview of predominantly French, Italian and British research into hypnosis, spiritualism, telepathy, clairvoyance, hauntings and poltergeists, automatic writing, crystal-gazing, levitations, materializations, and other occult phenomena. Originally written in French by physician Paul Joire in 1909, this is the English edition of Joire’s popular (and not always critical) treatise on psychical research.
In contrast, Albert Moll’s classic Hypnotism (4th enlarged English edition, London, 1909) maintains a programmatically hostile position on all things occult. Both Joire and Moll were well-known figures in turn-of-the-century medical hypnotism. Unlike Joire in France, however, the German physician Moll was a rather aggressive debunker of the occult. While the focus of Moll’s book is on medical and psychological aspects of hypnosis, it is shot through with attacks on both popular occultism and open-minded scientific investigators of “psychic” phenomena. Its concluding chapter in particular cements Moll’s position as a self-appointed (and increasingly fanatical) border-guard of “naturalistic” medical hypnotism and scientific orthodoxy.
Finally, William F. Barrett’s Psychical Research (London, 1911), represents the middle ground in early-twentieth century debates over “psychic” phenomena. A former assistant of famed Victorian physicist and popularizer of scientific naturalism John Tyndall, in 1882 Barrett became a founder of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in England. Barrett’s popular summary of research into occult phenomena is strongly focused on the open-minded yet methodologically rigorous work of the early SPR. Covering similar ground as Joire’s book, Barrett is far more concise and critical than Joire, and Psychical Research includes a chapter on one of Barrett’s own research specialities, i.e. experiments with the “divining rod”.
How to Enter the DraW
All current Patreon supporters will be entered automatically.
If you haven’t joined the ranks of patrons but would like to keep Forbidden Histories alive and be eligible to win one of these books, simply make a pledge at the “Galileo” level or above by Monday, 19 July, 7pm (EST), by clicking here or the Patreon banner below.
In the meantime, a reminder that Richard Noakes’s Physics and Psychics, an important reconstruction of hidden but significant continuities of occult interests by British elite scientists, is now available in hard- and paperback.
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I have Moll’s 1902 text “Gesundbeten: Medezin & Okkultismus” in which he debunks Christian Science. Notably Moll also worked with Bloch & Hirschfeld to found the modern discipline of sexology.
Yes, Moll wrote many books and pamphlets in his war on the occult. Another pioneering sexologist and former colleague of Moll’s was the famous “ghost baron” Albert von Schrenck-Notzing, who quickly became one of Moll’s prime targets. I published an article on Moll and Schrenck-Notzing ages ago in Medical History, which can be downloaded free of charge at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3381523/pdf/S0025727311000366a.pdf in case you’re curious.