THIRTY YEARS OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, Charles Richet 1st/1st 1923 Metaphysics

  THIRTY YEARS OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH: A TREATISE ON METAPHYSICS by Dr. Charles Richet — 1st Edition / 1st Printing (English Version), 1923 — Occult Esoteric Psychic Research

 Publisher: The MacMillan Company, New York (1923)

First (English) edition from 1923 in excellent condition; the boards and binding are solid and tight with minimal shelf-wear. The pages are crisp and clean with no interior writing. Very small Brentano's bookstore label on interior back board. 646 pages; illustrated. Please see below for more information on THIRTY YEARS OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH and its author, Dr. Charles Richet.

Description and Biography 

 Charles Robert Richet (25 August 1850 – 4 December 1935) was a French physiologist at the Collčge de France known for his pioneering work in immunology. In 1913, he won the Nobel Prize "in recognition of his work on anaphylaxis". Richet devoted many years to the study of paranormal and spiritualist phenomena, coining the term "ectoplasm". Richet held a deep interest in extrasensory perception and hypnosis.

In 1884, Alexandr Aksakov interested him in the medium of Eusapia Palladino. In 1891, Richet founded the Annales des sciences psychiques. He kept in touch with renowned occultists and spiritualists of his time such as Albert von Schrenck-Notzing, Frederic William Henry Myers and Gabriel Delanne./Richet was positive about a physical explanation for paranormal phenomena. He wrote:

 "It has been shown that as regards subjective metapsychics the simplest and most rational explanation is to suppose the existence of a faculty of supernormal cognition ... setting in motion the human intelligence by certain vibrations that do not move the normal senses."

In 1894, Richet coined the term ectoplasm. Richet believed that some mediumship could be explained physically due to the external projection of a material substance (ectoplasm) from the body of the medium, but denied this substance had anything to do with spirits. He rejected the spirit hypothesis of mediumship as unscientific, instead supporting the sixth sense hypothesis.

He hypothesized a “sixth sense", an ability to perceive hypothetical vibrations, which he discussed in his 1928 book Our Sixth Sense. Although he believed in extrasensory perception, Richet did not believe in life after death or spiritsHe investigated and studied various mediums such as Eva Carričre, William Eglinton, Pascal Forthuny, Stefan Ossowiecki, Leonora Piper and Raphael Schermann.