Edmund Gurney
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Edmund Gurney (23 March 184723 June 1888) was an English
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
and parapsychologist. At the time the term for research of paranormal activities was "psychical research".


Early life

Gurney was born at Hersham, near Walton-on-Thames. He was educated at
Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...
and at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1866, where he took fourth place in the classical tripos and obtained a fellowship in 1872. His work for the tripos was done, said his friend
F. W. H. Myers Frederic William Henry Myers (6 February 1843 – 17 January 1901) was a British poet, classicist, philologist, and a founder of the Society for Psychical Research. Myers' work on psychical research and his ideas about a "subliminal self" w ...
, in the intervals of his practice on the piano. Dissatisfied with his own executive skill as a musician, he wrote ''The Power of Sound'' (1880), an essay on the philosophy of music. He then studied medicine with no intention of practising, devoting himself to physics, chemistry and physiology. In 1880 he passed the second M.B. Cambridge (medical science). In 1881 he began the study of law at
Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...
. In relation to psychical research, he asked whether there is an unexplored region of human faculty transcending the normal limitations of sensible knowledge. Gurney's purpose was to approach the subject by observation and experiment, especially in the
hypnotism Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...
field. He wanted to investigate the persistence of the conscious human personality after the death of the body. Three of his sisters died when their barge overturned in the
Nile River The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...
during a tour of Egypt in 1875. Their passing profoundly affected him and his research was partially fueled by a desire to find some meaning to their deaths.


Experimental work

Gurney began at what he later saw was the wrong end by studying, with Myers, the séances of professed spiritualistic mediums (1874–1878). Little but detection of imposture came of this. In 1882 the Society for Psychical Research was founded. Paid mediums were discarded, at least for the time, and experiments were made in thought-transference and hypnotism. Personal evidence as to uninduced hallucinations was also collected. The first results are embodied in the volumes of ''
Phantasms of the Living Frederic William Henry Myers (6 February 1843 – 17 January 1901) was a British poet, classicist, philologist, and a founder of the Society for Psychical Research. Myers' work on psychical research and his ideas about a "subliminal self" w ...
'', a vast collection ( Frank Podmore, Myers and Gurney), and in Gurney's essay, ''Hallucinations''. Evidence for the process called telepathy was supposed to be established by the experiments chronicled in the ''Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research'', and it was argued that similar experiences occurred spontaneously, as, for example, in the many recorded instances of deathbed
wraith Wraith is one of several traditional terms for a ghost or spirit. Wraith, Wraiths, or The Wraith may also refer to: Fiction Characters * Wraith (G.I. Joe), a Cobra mercenary in ''G.I. Joe: America's Elite'' * Wraith (Image Comics), a comic book s ...
s. The dying man was supposed to convey the hallucination of his presence as one living person experimentally conveys his thought to another, by thought-transference. Gurney's hypnotic experiments were undertaken in the years 1885 to 1888. Their tendency was, in Myers's view, to prove that there is sometimes, in the induction of hypnotic phenomena, some agency at work which is neither ordinary nervous stimulation nor suggestion conveyed by any ordinary channel to the subject's mind. These results, if accepted, would corroborate the idea of
telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W ...
. Experiments by
Joseph Gibert Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
, Paul Janet, Charles Richet, Méricourt and others were cited as tending in the same direction. Other experiments dealt with the relation of the memory in the hypnotic state to the memory in another hypnotic state, and of both to the normal memory. Gurney's research into psychic matters was respected by contemporaries. However, it has since then been argued to be deeply flawed: Gurney trusted in the assistance of one
George Albert Smith George Albert Smith Sr. (April 4, 1870 – April 4, 1951) was an American religious leader who served as the eighth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Early life Born in Salt Lake City, Utah Territor ...
, a theatrical performer and producer. Smith was the one handling the actual experiments into telepathy, hypnotism, and the rest, and Gurney fully accepted his results. According to Trevor Hall in his study ''The Strange Case of Edmund Gurney'', in the spring of 1888 Gurney discovered that Smith had used his knowledge of theatrical trickery and stage illusion to fake tests and results; so that the value of the tests (with which Gurney was building up his reputation) were worthless.
Douglas Blackburn Douglas Blackburn (6 August 1857, Southwark – 28 March 1929, Tonbridge) was an English journalist and novelist, who worked in the Transvaal and Natal between 1892 and 1908. He has been called "the great chronicler of the last days of the Bo ...
, Smith's principal partner in the mentalist performances and experiments, publicly admitted fraud in 1908 and again in 1911, although Smith denied it.


Death

He died at
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
on 23 June 1888, from the effects of an overdose of
chloroform Chloroform, or trichloromethane, is an organic compound with chemical formula, formula Carbon, CHydrogen, HChlorine, Cl3 and a common organic solvent. It is a colorless, strong-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to ...
. At the inquest,
Arthur Thomas Myers Arthur Thomas Myers (16 April 1851 – 10 January 1894) was a British physician and sportsman. As a tennis player he participated in two Wimbledon Championships and also played first-class cricket. While studying at Trinity College, Cambridge, ...
, the brother of F.W.H. Myers, testified to having prescribed chloroform for neuralgia,Oppenheim (1985) p. 144 and a verdict of accidental death was recorded. It was widely thought at the time that Gurney might have committed suicide, and Alice James recorded this in her diary. Trevor Hall has argued the case that Gurney's death was suicide, resulting from disillusionment after discovering the frauds of Blackburn and Smith. Gordon Epperson argues against this hypothesis and
Janet Oppenheim Janet Oppenheim (1948–1994) was an American historian. Oppenheim was born in Manhattan. In 1975, she received her PhD in history from Columbia University. She worked as a professor of history at American University. She is most well known for ...
concludes that "the mystery is not likely to be resolved".Oppenheim (1985) p.145


Works

In addition to his work on music and his psychological writings, he was the author of ''Tertium Quid'' (1887), a collection of essays, the title a protest against one-sided ideas and methods of discussion.


Personal life

In 1877 Gurney married Kate Sara Sibley. They had one daughter, Helen, born in 1881. After Gurney's death, Kate married
Archibald Grove Thomas Newcomen Archibald Grove (1855 – 4 June 1920), commonly known as Archibald Grove, was a British magazine editor and Liberal Party politician. Early life He was the second son of Captain Edward Grove and Elizabeth née Watts, following ...
, a journalist and politician, in 1889.


See also

* Palm Sunday Case


References


Sources

* * * Attribution: *


Further reading

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gurney, Edmund 1847 births 1888 deaths People from Hersham People from Brighton Parapsychologists Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge