Proceedings (Volume 19) (Paperback)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1907. Excerpt: ... PROCEEDINGS OF GENERAL MEETING. The 125th General Meeting of the Society was held in the Hall at 20 Hanover Square, London, W., on Thursday, May 11th, 1905, at 4.15 p.m.; Sir Oliver Lodge in the chair. The President, Professor Charles Richet, read the substance of the paper which is printed below under the title of "Xenoglossie, 1'Ecriture automatique en langues e"trangeres: " I. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE WELSH REVIVAL: 1904-5. By The Rev. A. T. Fhyer. It is now twenty-three years since Edmund Gurney asked me to join in the work of the S.P.R. My answer to his request was that I would do so on one condition, viz., that the Society would not attempt to prove the supernatural, by which I meant that I was willing to assist in the examination and classification of physical and psychical phenomena connected with ghosts, dreams, etc., solely as terrestrial events, and without reference to the ends such things may subserve in the spiritual sphere or the life beyond the grave. I maintained then, as I do now with even greater conviction, that whatever use individual members might make of the results of our inquiries, whatever inferences persons might draw from the verified stories collected by the Society, our work as a Society would be accomplished by that verification and tabulation. Gurney entirely assented to this view of our work, and the history of the S.P.R. is sufficient evidence of the loyalty which has been observed towards its first principles. In dealing with the Welsh Revival in this paper, I desire to maintain exactly the same line, to relate events so far as one has been enabled to get at their truth, and to present the evidence in a more or less classified form. In this work two difficulties arise: (i.) the inability of most persons to observe accurately the things passing u...