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Edmund Gurney
1847-1888
DISTINGUISHED BRITISH psychical researcher whose work was one of the
mainstays of the SPR. He was a classical scholar, a musician and a student
of medicine, but he did not definitely adopt any profession.
Between 1874 and 1878 he attended a great number of spiritualistic
"séances". He never made known to the world what he learned. When, in
1882, the SPR was founded he undertook the post of honorary secretary.
It was the discovery of thought-transference which aroused his enduring
interest in psychical research. According to Myers' appreciation: "He was
the first Englishman who studied with any kind of adequate skill the
psychological side of hypnotism in England." His treatise on the
telepathic induction of hallucination in Phantasms of the Living,
1886, was the first serious scientific attack on the problem. His
investigations were done in consultation with Myers and Podmore. The
actual writing of Phantasms of the Living was done by Gurney and
during the three years of the sifting of the evidence and hearing of
witnesses he performed an immense amount of work. He was also editor of
the SPR Proceedings to which he contributed many important papers.
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