Esprits et médiums: Mélanges de métapsychique et de psychologie

by Théodore Flournoy

Written by renowned Swiss physician and experimental psychologist Theodore Flournoy (1854 1920), this 1911 publication offers a scientific treatment of nineteenth-century spiritual interests and beliefs. Dedicating his work to the Swiss scientist and psychical researcher Marc Thury and to the American psychologist and philosopher William James, Flournoy approaches the subject of 'spiritism', or communication with the dead, with great caution, claiming that it had never been adequately proven and that such practices could most likely be explained as mental processes inherent in the mediums themselves. While recognising and offering validation of the existence of phenomena such as telekinesis, clairvoyance and telepathy, as well as the survival of the soul after death, in this book Flournoy casts doubt on the living human's ability to contact the spirits of the deceased."

576 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1911

About the author

Théodore Flournoy (15 August 1854 – 5 November 1920) was a professor of psychology at the University of Geneva and author of books on parapsychology and spiritism.

He is best known for his study of the medium Helen Smith (or Hélène Smith - a pseudonym for Catherine Muller) who relayed information about past lives through a trance state, entitled From India To The Planet Mars (1899). Flournoy described her outpourings as the products of cryptamnesia and as 'romances of the subliminal imagination,' - as evidence of the unconscious mind.

His book Spiritism and Psychology (1911) translated by Hereward Carrington claimed more broadly that mediumship could be explained by suggestion and telepathy from the medium's subconscious mind and that there was no evidence for the spirit hypothesis.