f The Society for Psychical Research, and
FREDERICK MYERS' monumental work on _Human Personality and its Survival
of Bodily Death_, should be specially consulted. I have attempted a
brief discussion of modern spiritualism and psychical research in my
_Matter, Spirit, and the Cosmos_ (1910), chap. ii.

Another theory concerning talismans which commended itself to many of
the old occult philosophers, PARACELSUS for instance, is what may be
called the "occult force" theory. This theory assumes the existence of
an occult mental force, a force capable of being exerted by the human
will, apart from its usual mode of operation by means of the body. It
was believed to be possible to concentrate this mental energy and infuse
it into some suitable medium, with the production of a talisman, which
was thus regarded as a sort of accumulator for mental energy. The theory
seems a fantastic one to modern thought, though, in view of the many
startling phenomena brought to light by psychical research, it is not
advisable to be too positive regarding the limitations of the powers of
the human mind. However, I think we shall find the element of truth in
the otherwise absurd belief in talismans by means of what may be called,
not altogether fancifully perhaps, a transcendental interpretation of
this "occult force" theory. I suggest, that is, that when a believer
makes a talisman, the transference of the occult energy is ideal, not
actual; that the power, believed to reside in the talisman itself, is
the power due to the reflex action of the believer's mind. The power
of what transcendentalists call "the imagination" cannot be denied; for
example, no one can deny that a man with a firm conviction that such a
success will be achieved by him, or such a danger avoided, will be far
more likely to gain his desire, other conditions being equal, than one
of a pessimistic turn of mind. The mere conviction itself is a factor in
success, or a factor in failure, according to its nature; and it seems
likely that herein will be found a true explanation of the effects
believed to be due to the power of the talisman.

On the other hand, however, we must beware of the exaggerations into
which certain schools of thought have fallen in their estimates of the
powers of the imagination. These exaggerations are particularly
marked in the views which are held by many nowadays with regard to
"faith-healing," although the "Christian Scientists" get out of the
di