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Libra Esoterica

Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism

by William Crookes

  • First published:
  • 19th century
  • Language: English
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Description

Description from OpenAlex (opens in a new tab)

Published in 1874, this collection of reports by the chemist and scientific journalist Sir William Crookes (1832–1919) describes his controversial research into psychic forces. In 1870, Crookes decided that science had a duty to study preternatural phenomena associated with spiritualism, and he spent the next four years carrying out experiments which tested famous mediums including D. D. Home, Kate Fox and Florence Cook. This fascinating work describes Crookes' witnessing of the movement of bodies at a distance, rappings, changes in the weights of bodies, levitation of individuals and automatic writing. Although he was strongly criticised by his contemporaries, Crookes would not be deterred from his psychical research, demonstrating that he thought all natural phenomena worthy of scientific investigation. A great experimentalist, Crookes refused to be bound by tradition and convention, and his story reveals one of the important episodes in the history of the spiritualist movement.

Provenance

Why this book is in the catalog

Included because retained bibliographic metadata links this work to Parapsychology and psychical research, Spiritualism, mediumship, and channeling, and Telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.

  • Spiritualism, mediumship, and channeling

    Controlled discovery queries from crossref, openalex, and wellcome matched “spiritualism”. Retained metadata contains “Spiritualism” in the title, “Automatic writing” in the description, “Mediums” in the description, and 3 additional metadata match(es).

    • “spiritualism”· via Crossref
    • “spiritualism”· via OpenAlex
    • “spiritualism”· via Wellcome Collection
    • “Spiritualism”· in title
    • “Automatic writing”· in description
    • “Mediums”· in description
  • Parapsychology and psychical research

    Controlled discovery queries from wellcome matched “psychical research”. Retained metadata contains “Psychical research” in the description and “Parapsychology” in the subject metadata.

    • “psychical research”· via Wellcome Collection
    • “Psychical research”· in description
    • “Parapsychology”· in subject
  • Telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition

    Retained metadata contains “Telepathy” in the subject metadata.

    • “Telepathy”· in subject

Membership records how this book met the catalog’s discovery criteria — relevance to a tradition, not a judgment of the book’s claims.

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Editions

2 editions cataloged here.

Crossref publisher-supplied book record

2012-03-08Cambridge University Press; Cambridge University Press eBooksEnglish
  • 9781108044134
  • 9781139176316
Unknown

Wellcome Collection bibliographic record

112 pages : illustrations, diagrams ; 23 cm

1874J. BurnsEnglish—Public digitized item

Subjects

23 subject headings

Identifiers & provenance

How this record was assembled, and the authority identifiers it carries.

Catalog id
crossref:10.1017/cbo9781139176316
Edition coverage
Multi source partial
Retrieved