Edmund Gurney
Gurney, Edmund (1847–1888) Nineteenth-century English psychologist Edmund Gurney is best known for his studies related to hypnosis, telepathy, and hallucinations, which he wrote about in such works as the two-volume Phantasms of the Living (1886). He was also one of a group of men who founded the Society for Psychical Research in 1882, an organization dedicated to the scientific study of psychic phenomena. Conducting his research in an era when serious scientists were attempting to confirm the existence of the subconscious mind, Gurney was interested in spiritualism because he suspected that the human subconscious survives death. To this end, he accompanied a noted researcher of psychic phenomena, Frederic W.H. Myers, to séances from 1874 to 1878, trying to determine whether mediums’ powers were genuine. Gurney’s research into hypnosis took place from 1885 to 1888, during which he hoped to discover some hidden aspect of the mind that might also be responsible for telepathic abilities. His research was cut short, however, by his death from a drug overdose in 1888.
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SOURCE:
The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Paranormal Phenomena – written by Patricia D. Netzley © 2006 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning