Crookes was born in London; he was the eldest of 16 children of the local tailor. From 1850 to 1854, Crookes worked as an assistant at the college. Over time, he began to develop his own direction; he was interested not in organic chemistry, in which his mentor August Wilhelm von Hofmann once excelled, but in fundamentally new alloys of selenium.
In 1851, Crookes published his first work on the subject.
In 1854, he received a position at the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford, and in 1855, a lectureship at a British college.
In 1856 Crookes married Ellen Humphrey; in this marriage he had three sons and a daughter. After the wedding, Crookes settled in London, where he continued to develop his own projects.
In 1859 William Crookes founded Science Magazine"Chemical News"; the scientist published for a long time in this journal and acted as one of its chief editors.
In 1861, Crookes discovered a new, previously unknown element, which gave a bright green color on the spectrogram; the new element was named "thallium". With experiments, Crookes was generally lucky; especially in his research, the method of spectral analysis proposed by Bunsen and Kirchhoff proved to be useful. It was this method that helped Crookes discover thallium; later he actively used this technique in experiments.
The discovery of thallium strengthened the already fairly strong reputation of William Crookes in scientific circles; in 1863 the scientist was admitted to the Royal Society (Royal Society). However, Crookes did not rest on his laurels - his experiments continued. During the study of cathode rays, William created the so-called "Crookes tubes". In the course of studying the conductivity of electricity in rarefied gases, Wijalm discovered that as the pressure decreases, the negative electrode (cathode) begins to emit rays. By investigating this phenomenon, Crookes, in fact, became one of the founders of work with vacuum tubes. In the future, it was Crookes - again, one of the first - who began to study plasma; in 1879 it was he who declared plasma the fourth state of matter.
Continued chemical experiments Crookes and beyond; they often led to truly incredible results - for example, in 1895, William Crookes was able to isolate helium in the laboratory for the first time. The merits of the scientist did not go unnoticed - he regularly received high scientific and public awards. In 1897 for his scientific achievements William Crookes was awarded a knighthood.
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In 1903, Crookes took up the study of a phenomenon that had been discovered to world science relatively recently - radioactivity. In the course of his experiments, William Crookes was able to separate uranium from the so-called "uranium-X" (later turned out to be protactinium). Before the eyes of Crookes, the selected element began to decay - and in parallel reproduced in the newly purified uranium. A parallel experiment helped Crookes to discover the so-called "p-particles" - released from radioactive substances and emitting light when colliding with zinc sulfide. This observation helped to discover one of the key techniques for studying radioactive elements known to modern science.
William Crooks died on April 4, 1919, having outlived his wife by two years. The scientist was buried in the London cemetery.
Secret Doctrine
“In my report at Birmingham, to which I have already referred, I asked my audience to imagine the action of two forces on the original Protyle: one, time, followed by a decrease in temperature; the other is motion which, swinging to and fro like a mighty pendulum, has periodic cycles of ebb and flow, rest and activity, and is intimately connected to the imponderable matter, essence, or source of energy we call electricity. Now, such a comparison achieves its purpose if it succeeds in impressing on the mind the particular fact which it wishes to emphasize, but it must not be expected to be necessarily in accordance with all the facts. In addition to the drop in temperature, with a periodic ebb and flow of electricity, positive or negative, necessary to impart to the newly born elements their special atomicity, it is obvious that a third factor must be taken into account. Nature does not operate on a flat surface; it requires space for its cosmogonic operations, and if we introduce space as a third factor, everything becomes clear. Instead of a pendulum, which, though a good illustration to some extent, is impossible in itself, let us try to find a more satisfactory picture of what I imagine might have happened. Suppose a zigzag diagram not drawn on a plane, but projected in a three-dimensional space. What figure can we choose so that it best meets all the conditions set? Many facts can be well explained by assuming that the zigzag curve of prof. Emerson Reynolds projected in space is a spiral. However, this figure is unacceptable, since the curve must pass through the neutral point with respect to electricity and chemical energy twice in each cycle. Therefore, we must accept another figure. The figure-eight (8) or lemniscate pattern can zigzag just as well as a spiral, and thus it satisfies all the conditions of the problem.”The lemniscate for the downward evolution from Spirit to Matter is perhaps another kind of spiral in her upward evolutionary path from Matter to Spirit; and inevitable, gradual and final absorption into the state Laya, what science in its own way calls "a point of neutrality with respect to electricity" or null dot. These are the occult facts and statements. With the greatest calmness and confidence, they can be left to science to be justified in time. Let us hear, however, something else about this original genetic type of the symbolic Caduceus:
“Such a figure will be the result of three very simple simultaneous movements. First, a simple wobble back and forth (suppose East and West); secondly, a simple oscillation at right angles to the previous one (suppose, to the North and to the South) in half the duration of the periodic time, i.e. twice as fast; and thirdly, a movement at right angles to these two (suppose downwards), which in its simplest form would be at an unchanging speed. If we project this figure into space, we will find on examination that the points of the curves where chlorine, bromine, and iodine are formed come close one under the other; the same happens with sulphur, village and tellurium; also with phosphorus, arsenic and antimony; and likewise with other series of analogous bodies. It may be asked - does this diagram explain how and why the elements appear in this order? Imagine a cyclic movement in space, each evolution witnessing the birth of a group of elements, which I previously imagined as being formed during one complete swing of the pendulum. Let us assume that one cycle is thus completed, and that the center, unknown creative power in his powerful passage through space, scattered along his path the original atoms - seeds, if I may use the expression - which must immediately combine and develop into groups now known as lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur and chlorine. What is the most likely form of the path currently being followed? If it were strictly limited to the same temperature and time plane, then the next elemental groups to appear would again be lithium groups, and the original cycle would continually repeat itself over and over again, manifesting the same 14 elements. However, the conditions are not quite the same. Space and electricity are the same, but the temperature has changed, and thus, instead of the atoms of lithium being supplemented by atoms in all respects analogous to themselves, those atomic groups that appear to life with the beginning of the second cycle do not form lithium, but its direct offspring - potassium. Therefore, suppose that vis generatrix moves back and forth cyclically along the lemniscate, as described above, while at the same time the temperature drops and time passes - changes that I tried to represent by dropping down - each ring of the lemniscate crosses the same vertical line all at lower and lower points . The curve projected in space will show a neutral, central line with respect to electricity and neutral with respect to chemical properties, with positive electricity in the North and negative in the South. The nature of the predominant atomicity depends on the distance to the East or West from the neutral center line, monatomic elements are at a distance of one line from it, two-atomic elements at a distance of two lines, etc. In each subsequent round, the same law operates.
And then, as if to prove the postulate of Occult Science and Hindu philosophy, indicating that in the hour of Pralaya, both aspects of the Unknowable Deity - the "Swan in the Darkness", Prakriti and Purusha, Nature or Matter, in all its forms, and Spirit, no longer exist. , but dissolve completely, we learn the final scientific opinion of the great chemist of England, who crowns his evidence by saying:
"We have now traced the formation chemical elements from knots and voids in the primary, formless fluid. We have shown the possibility, no, the probability, that atoms are not eternal in their existence, but share with all other created beings the properties of decay and death.”
Amen, Occultism answers this, for the "possibility" and "probability" of science for him are facts that do not need further proof, or in external physical indications. Nevertheless, Occultism repeats with the same certainty as ever: "MATTER IS ETERNAL and becomes atomic (its aspect) only periodically." This is just as true as the other assumption, accepted almost unanimously by astronomers and physicists - namely, that the wear and tear of the body of the Universe is steadily advancing, and that it will eventually lead to the extinction of the Solar Fires and the destruction of the Universe - is erroneous, at least as it is written by scientists. There will be, as there always have been, in time and eternity, periodic dissolutions of the manifested Universe, such as a partial Pralaya after each Day of Brahma; and Universal Pralaya - Maha-Pralaya - only after the expiration of each Age of Brahma. But the scientific reasons for such a dissolution, given by exact science, have nothing in common with the true reasons. However, be that as it may, Occultism is once again justified by science, for W. Crookes says:
“We have proved, on the basis of arguments borrowed from the chemical laboratory, that in the matter that answered all the tests, as an element, there are subtle shadows of difference that allow for the possibility of selection. We have seen that the old, time-honored distinction between elements and complex substances can no longer be brought into line with the development of chemistry, but must be somewhat modified to accommodate the vast number of bodies standing between them - "meta-elements". We have shown how Clark Maxwell's objections, despite their weight, can be challenged; and in conclusion, we have put forward grounds for believing that the original matter was formed by an act of a generative force, throwing out at certain intervals of time atoms endowed with a different number of primary forms of energy. If we dare to speak out about the source of energy contained in the chemical atom, we can, I think, assume that the thermal radiations propagating outwards through the ether from the weighty matter of the Universe, by means of some still unknown to us, process of nature, are transformed in the limits of the Universe into the primary, basic vibrations of chemical atoms, which, from the moment of their formation, begin to gravitate inward and, thus, restore in the Universe energy that would otherwise be lost to it through the radiation of heat. If this assumption has a solid foundation, then Sir William Thomson's startling prediction of the ultimate decrepitude of the universe, due to the squandering of its energy, falls by itself. It seems to me, gentlemen, that the question of the elements can thus be temporarily discussed. Our little knowledge of these primary mysteries is expanding steadily and firmly, though slowly.
By a strange and curious coincidence, even our Septenary Doctrine seems to direct the steps of science. If we understand correctly, chemistry speaks of fourteen groups of primary atoms - lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur and chlorine; and Crookes, speaking of the "predominant atomicities," enumerates seven groups of such, for he says:
“As the powerful focus of creative energy circles, we see how, in successive cycles, it sows, along one path of space, the seeds of lithium, potassium, rubidium, and cesium - along the other path, chlorine, bromine, and iodine; and in the third, sodium, copper, silver, and gold; on the fourth - sulfur, villages and tellurium; on the fifth - beryllium, calcium, strontium and barium; on the sixth - magnesium, zinc, cadmium and mercury; on the seventh, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth, (which makes seven groups on the one hand and then, showing) ... on other paths, other elements - namely aluminum, gallium, indium and thallium; silicon, germanium and tin; carbon, titanium and zirconium... (he adds) and, at the same time, found a natural position near the neutral axis for the three groups of elements placed by prof. Mendeleev into a kind of hospital for the incurable - his eighth family.
It would be interesting to compare these seven families and the eighth family of "incurables" with the allegories referring to the seven primeval sons of the "Mother-Infinite Space" or Aditi and the son she rejected. Many strange coincidences can thus be found between "these intermediate links"... called "meta-elements" or elementoids, and those which Occult Science calls their Numen, Conscious Intelligences and Rulers of these groups of Monads and Atoms. But that would take us too far. We are content to establish the recognition of the fact that
“This deviation from absolute homogeneity should mark the structure of these molecules or aggregates of matter, which we call elements and, perhaps, it will be clearer if we mentally transport ourselves to the earliest dawn of our material Universe and before the Face Great Mystery Let's try to consider the process of evolution of elements.
Thus, finally, science, in the person of its greatest representatives, in order to become more understood by the uninitiated, applies the phraseology of such ancient Adepts as Roger Bacon, and returns to the Protyle.
two great chemists, both of the most eminent in their country, namely Crookes and the late Prof. Butlerov: one who fully believes in abnormal phenomena, the other, the same ardent spiritualist as the great naturalist.
< ... >In his Birmingham chairman's speech, Crookes said:
“There is only one unknown - the ultimate substratum of the Spirit (Space). That which is not the Absolute and the One, by virtue of this very differentiation, and no matter how far it is from the physical senses, is always accessible to the spiritualized mind of a person, which is the brilliance of the undifferentiated Integral.
Two or three phrases at the very end of his lecture " about the Genesis of the Elements”, showed that the famous scientist is on the royal road leading to the greatest discoveries. For some time he studied the "Primary Protyle" and came to the conclusion that "he who masters the key will be able to open some of the deepest secrets of the universe." Protyle, as the great chemist explains:
“... there is a word similar to protoplasm to express the idea of primitive, primordial matter that exists before the development of chemical elements. The word which I have ventured to use for this purpose is composed of πρό (before) and ϋλη (substance from which things are made). This word cannot be considered as new, for 600 years ago Roger Bacon wrote in his “ Arte Chymiae". "The elements are created from ϋλη and each element is transformed into the nature of another element."
Knowledge Roger Bacon came to this marvelous old magician, not by revelation, but because he had studied the ancient works of magic and alchemy and held the key to the true meaning of their language. But let us see what Crookes has to say about Protyle, the nearest neighbor of the unconscious Mulaprakriti of the occultists:
“Let's start from the moment when the first element came into being. Until that time, matter as we know it did not exist. It is equally impossible to think of matter without energy as of energy without matter; from a certain point of view, both are mutually invertible terms. Before the birth of atoms, all these types of energy, which become apparent when matter acts on matter, could not exist - they were imprisoned in the Protyle, as only latent possibilities. Simultaneously with the creation of atoms, all those attributes and properties that are ways to distinguish one chemical element from another, come into existence fully endowed with energy.
With all due respect to the great knowledge of the lecturer, the occultist would have put it differently.
< ... >But notice how close Crookes comes to the "Unknown" and what potentialities there are in his discoveries for accepting Occult Truths. He continues, speaking of the evolution of the Atoms:
“Let us stop at the end of the first completed vibration and examine the result. We have already found the elements of water, ammonia, carbonic acid, atmosphere, plant and animal life, phosphorus for the brain, salt for the seas, clay for the solid earth... phosphates and silicic salt in sufficient quantities for the world and inhabitants, not so different from that what we have now. It is true that human inhabitants would have to live in more than Arcadian simplicity, and the absence of phosphate lime would be a hindrance, as far as the bones are concerned... At the lower end of our curve... we see a large gap... This the oasis, and the gaps that precede and follow it, may be more likely to be attributed to the peculiar manner in which our earth has evolved and become a member of our solar system. If so, then it may be that such gaps are found only on our Earth, and not in general in the entire Universe.
This confirms some of the statements in the Occult Works.
First, it cannot be said that the stars or the sun are composed of those terrestrial elements with which the chemist is familiar, although they are all found in the outer shells of the sun - as well as many other elements as yet unknown to science.
Secondly, that our planet has its own laboratory in the most remote regions of its atmosphere, through which every atom and every molecule is changed and differentiated from its original nature. And thirdly, that although no element found on our earth can be absent from the sun, there are many others in it that have either not yet reached us or have not yet been discovered on our earth.
"Some elements may be absent in certain stars and celestial bodies ah during the process of education; or else, although they are in them, these elements, by virtue of their present state, cannot be discovered by ordinary scientific research.
Crookes speaks of Helium, an element of even lower atomic weight than hydrogen, purely hypothetical element, as for our Earth, although it exists in abundance in the chromosphere of the Sun. Occult science adds that none of the elements considered as such by chemistry really deserve the name.
"Dr. Carnelly's weighty objection to the complex nature of the so-called elements, by virtue of their analogy with compound principles (radicals)."
Until now, only alchemy alone, within the historical period and in the so-called civilized countries, has succeeded in obtaining a real element or particle of homogeneous Matter, Mysterium Magnum Paracelsus. But that was before the days of Lord Bacon.
“... Let us now turn to the upper part of the topic. With the presence of hydrogen, which has an atomic weight = 1, there is little room for other elements, with the possible exception of a hypothetical Helium. But what if we penetrate "behind the mirror", behind visible phenomena, and cross the zero line in search of new beginnings - what will we find on the other side of zero? Dr. Carnelli is looking for an element of negative atomic weight; here there is full scope and enough space for a whole nebulous series of similar insubstantialities. Helmholtz says that electricity is probably as atomic as matter; Is not electricity one of the negative elements, and the luminous ether another? Matter as we now know it does not exist here; the types of energy that are manifest in the motions of matter are still only latent possibilities. Negative weight substance is not unthinkable. But can we form a clear representation of a body that is combined with other bodies in proportions expressed by negative qualities? . A genesis of elements such as sketched here would not be limited to our little solar system alone, but would probably go through the same general sequence of events in every center of energy now visible as a star. Before the birth of atoms gravitating one to another, no pressure could be produced; but on the outskirts of the fiery-foggy sphere, inside which everything is gone - on the shell of which the terrible forces involved in the birth of a chemical element exert full force- the terrible heat would be accompanied by gravity sufficient to keep the newly born elements from scattering into space. As temperature increases, expansion and molecular motion increase, molecules tend to fly apart, and their chemical affinity dies out; but the enormous pressure caused by the gravity of the mass of atomic matter beyond what I may for short call the sheath of birth would counterbalance the effect of the heat. Outside the shell of birth there would be a space in which no chemical reaction could take place, due to the fact that the temperature there is higher than what is called the dissociation point for compound bodies. In this space, the lion and the lamb would lie together; phosphorus and oxygen would mix without combining; hydrogen and chlorine would not show any desire for a closer bond; and even fluorine, that energetic gas, which has been isolated by chemists only in the last two months, would float freely and uncombined with anything. Outside this space of free, atomic matter, there would be another shell in which the formed chemical elements would cool to the point of connection, and the events so figuratively described Mattieu Williams V " The Fuel of the Sun"would now unfold in succession, ending with solid earth and the beginning of the geological period (p. 19)."
This is a strictly scientific and beautifully expressed description of the evolution of a differentiated Universe in the Secret Teachings. This scientist ends his lecture with words, each of which appears, like a flash of light, from behind the cover of dark materialism, hitherto thrown over the exact sciences, and is a step forward towards Holy of Holies Occultism. So he says:
“We saw the difficulty of defining an element; we also noticed the indignation of many eminent physicists and chemists against the usual understanding of the term element, we weighed the improbability of their eternal existence or their accidental origin. As a remaining alternative, we assumed that their beginning could be due to a process of evolution similar to the development of celestial bodies, according to Laplace, and the development of plants and animals on our planet, according to Lamarck, Darwin, and Wallace. IN general order elements known to us, we saw a striking resemblance to the structure of the organic world. In the absence of direct evidence of the decomposition of any element, we searched and found indirect evidence ... Then we cast a glance at the theory of the genesis of elements; and, finally, we have examined the scheme of their origin by the method of illustrating the periodic classification, introduced by Prof. Reynolds ... Summarizing all the above considerations, we truly cannot dare to affirm positively, that our so-called elements evolved from a single primary matter; but it seems to me that we can say that the scales of evidence are sufficiently inclined in favor of this assumption..»
We may take, as an example, Crookes' last discovery of what he called Protyle. IN " Notes on the Bhagavad Gita"one of the best metaphysicians and scientists of Vedanta in India, the lecturer, carefully touching the "occult subjects" in this great Hindu esoteric work, makes a remark that is as significant as it is correct. He says:
“It is useless for me to go into the details of the evolution of the solar system itself. You can get some idea about the way, whereby the various elements come into existence, arising from these three principles, into which Mulaprakriti (Pythagorean Triangle) differentiates, having seen a lecture recently delivered by Prof. Crookes, on the so-called elements of modern chemistry. This lecture will give you some idea of the way in which these so-called elements arise from Vishwanara, the most objective of these three principles, which seems to take the place protila mentioned in the lecture. With the exception of a few details, this lecture, as it were, outlines the theory of physical evolution on the plane of Vishwanar and is, as far as I know, the closest approach to the true occult theory that has been made on this subject by modern researchers.
These words will be repeated and approved by every Eastern occultist. Much of Crookes's lectures have already been quoted in Section XI. A second lecture, as excellent as the first, was delivered by him on the Genesis of the Elements, and so was the third. Here we have almost a confirmation of the teachings of the Esoteric Philosophy regarding the path of primary evolution. Indeed, this theory of the great scientist and chemist is the closest approximation to the Secret Doctrine that could be reached, without the application of Monads and Atoms to the dogmas of pure transcendental metaphysics and their connection and relation with "Gods and intelligent, conscious Monads."
But chemistry is now on its ascending plane, thanks to one of its greatest European exponents. It can no longer go back to the day when materialism regarded its sub-elements as absolutely simple and homogeneous bodies, which materialism in its blindness raised to the rank of elements. The mask had been torn off by a hand too skillful to fear a new disguise. And after long years of pseudology of illegitimate molecules parading under the names of elements, behind and beyond which nothing could exist but emptiness, the great professor of chemistry once again asks:
“What are these elements? Where do they come from, what is their significance?... These elements lead us into bewilderment in our research, confuse us in our reasoning and haunt us even in our dreams. They stretch before us like an unknown sea - mocking - seducing and whispering strange revelations and possibilities.
Those who are the heirs of the original revelations have taught these "opportunities" in every century, but have never met with open-minded acceptance. The truths invested in Kepler, Leibniz, Gassendi, Swedenborg, etc., have always carried an admixture of their own theories in one or another predetermined direction - therefore they have been distorted. But now one of the great mysteries has illuminated the eminent professor of precision modern science, and he fearlessly declares, as a fundamental axiom, that as yet science has not become familiar with the really simple elements. For Crookes says to his audience:
“If I venture to say that our generally accepted elements are neither simple nor original, and that they Not arose by chance or Not were created in a random and mechanical way, but evolved from simpler substances - or in fact, maybe from one kind of matter - I am only formulating an idea that, so to speak, has been floating in the "air" of science for some time now. Chemists, physicists, philosophers, of the greatest merit, firmly state their conviction that the seventy (or so) elements of our textbooks are not Pillars of Hercules through which we cannot hope to ever pass... Philosophers, in the present as in in the past - who, of course, did not work in laboratories - came to the same conclusions, but from the other side. Thus, Herbert Spencer expresses his belief that " chemical atoms come from true or physical atoms by a process of evolution under conditions that chemistry has not yet been able to reproduce ... And the poet was ahead of the philosopher. Milton (" Lost heaven", book. fifth) puts into the mouth of the Archangel Raphael words to Adam, prompted by evolutionary ideas that the Almighty created ... the Single Primary Matter, endowed with various forms, various degrees of Substance.
However, the idea would have remained crystallized "in the air of science" and would not have descended into dense atmosphere materialism and ignorant mortals, perhaps for many years, if Crookes had not fearlessly and courageously broken it down into its simple elements, thus forcing science to pay attention to it. Plutarch says:
“The idea is an incorporeal Being, having no existence in itself, but which gives the image and form to formless matter and becomes the cause of manifestation.”
The revolution brought about by Avogadro in the old chemistry was the front page of the New Chemistry. Crookes has now turned to the second page and boldly points to the one what could be the last. For if only Protyle is accepted and recognized - as the invisible ether was recognized, for both are logical and scientific necessity - chemistry will cease to exist in reality; she will appear in her reincarnation as "New Alchemy" or "Meta-Chemistry". The researcher who discovered radiant matter will eventually justify the archaic Aryan works on Occultism and even Veda And Puranas. For what is the manifested "Mother", "Father-Son-Husband" (Aditi and Daksha - the form of Brahma, as the Creators) and "Son" - the three "Firstborns" - if not just Hydrogen, Oxygen and that which is in its earthly manifestation is called Nitrogen. Even the exoteric descriptions of the "Firstborn" Triad give all the indications of these three "gases." Priestley discovered oxygen, or what was known in the greatest antiquity!
< ... >Because when Crookes states that:
"If we can show how the so-called chemical elements could have been generated, we can fill a terrifying gap in our knowledge of the universe."
The answer is ready. Theoretical knowledge lies in the esoteric sense of every Hindu cosmogony, in Puranas; practical proof this is in the hands of those who will not be recognized in this century, except by a very few. The scientific possibilities of the various discoveries which must rigorously lead exact science to the acceptance of the Oriental Occult views containing all the material required to fill these "gaps" are for the time being at the mercy of modern materialism. Only by working in the direction taken by Crookes can one hope for the recognition of some hitherto occult truths.
So far, everyone who is eager to get a hint at a practical diagram of the evolution of Primordial Matter - which, separating and differentiating under the impulse of the cyclic law, is divided in general into a septenary gradation Substances- couldn't do better than look at the tables attached to Crookes's lecture on " Genesis of the Elements” and think over some places of the text well. In one place he says:
“Our understanding of the chemical element has expanded. Until now, the molecule has been considered as an aggregate of two or more atoms, and the architectural pattern on the basis of which these atoms are connected has not been taken into account. We may consider that the structure of the chemical element is more complex than has hitherto been assumed. Among the molecules with which we are accustomed to deal in chemical reactions, and finite atoms, as primeval, there are smaller molecules or aggregates of physical atoms; these sub-molecules differ from each other according to their place in the structure of yttrium. Perhaps this hypothesis can be simplified if we imagine yttrium as a five shilling coin. By chemical crushing I divided it into five separate shillings and find that these shillings are not duplicates, but like carbon atoms in a benzene ring, bear the seals of their position 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 imprinted on them ... If I throw my shillings into a melting crucible, or I decompose them chemically, then the stamped mark disappears and they all turn into silver.
The same will happen to all Atoms and molecules, when they are separated from their complex forms and bodies - when Pralaya comes. Take the opposite case and imagine the dawn of the New Manvantara. The pure "silver" of the absorbed material will separate once more into SUBSTANCE, which will give birth to the "Divine Essences", "Principles", which are the primary elements, sub-elements, physical energies and subjective and objective matter; or, as they are called, GODS, MONADS, and ATOMS. If we leave for a moment the metaphysical or transcendental side of this question - excluding from the present consideration the supernatural and sentient Beings and Essences in which Kabbalists and Christians believe - we turn to the theory of atomic evolution, then, nevertheless, it turns out that the Occult Teachings are confirmed exact science and her confessions, at least as regards the alleged "mere elements," now suddenly relegated to the ranks of poor and distant relatives, not even second cousins of the latter. For as Crookes says:
“Until now, it was believed that if the atomic weight of a certain metal, established by different observers, in experiments with different compositions, always remains unchanged ... then such a metal, by right, should take its place among simple or elementary bodies. We will find out... that this is not the case from now on. Again we have here wheels within wheels. Gadolinium is not a simple element, but a complex one... We have proved that yttrium is a composition of five new parts or even more. And who dares to assert that each of these parts, if approached in any other way, and if the result is subjected to a more subtle and profound test and study than the test of radiant matter, will not be capable of further subdivision? Where then is the true final element? As we advance, it recedes like an enticing mirage of lakes and groves visible in the desert to weary and thirsty travelers. Will we also be deceived and discouraged in our search for truth? The very idea of the element, as something absolutely primary and final, seems to be becoming less and less definite.
IN " Unveiled Isis" we said:
“The mystery of the first creation, which has always been a subject of despair for science, is impenetrable unless we accept the doctrine of Hermes. If he (Darwin) could transfer his quest from visible world into invisible, he might be on the right track. But then he would have followed in the footsteps of the Hermetists.
Our prophecy is beginning to be confirmed. But between Hermes and Huxley there is a middle direction and point of view. Let scientists only halfway across the bridge and think seriously about the theories of Leibniz. We expressed our theories regarding the evolution of Atoms - their last formation into complex chemical molecules is done in our terrestrial workshops in the atmosphere of the Earth, and not elsewhere - these theories agree strangely with the evolution of Atoms shown on the Crookes tables. It has already been pointed out several times in this volume that Martanda, the Sun, has evolved and aggregated together with its smaller brothers from the Womb of its Mother Aditi, this Womb is Prima Mater'ia is the lecturer's primeval Protyle. Esoteric Doctrine teaches existence
"an antecedent form of energy having periodic cycles of ebb and flow, rest and activity".
And pay attention, the great scientist now demands recognition of this as one of his postulates! We revealed the "Mother" fiery and hot, gradually cooling down and becoming radiant, and this same scientist affirms his second postulate, as scientific necessity- apparently
"internal action, similar to cooling, operates slowly in Protil."
Occult science teaches that the "Mother" lies prostrate in Infinity during Pralaya, like the great Deep, "like dry the Waters of Space," according to an amusing expression in Catechism, and becomes wet only after separation and movement over its surface Narayana,
"The Spirit, which is an invisible Flame that does not burn, but ignites everything it touches, and gives it life and the power of generation."
And now science tells us that the primordial element ... most related to Protilus will be " hydrogen... which for some time must have been the only existing form of matter" in the universe. What does he say Ancient The science? She replies: Exactly so; but we would call hydrogen (and oxygen), which - in pre-geological and even pre-genetic ages - pours into the "Mother" through incubation the fire of life, spirit, noumenon what becomes in its grossest form oxygen and hydrogen and nitrogen on Earth - nitrogen has no divine origin, but is simply an earthly cement for connecting other gases and fluids and serves, like a sponge, to carry the Breath of Life, pure air. Before becoming what they are in our atmosphere, these gases and fluids were interplanetary Ether; even earlier and more deep plan - something else, and so on ad infinitum. Famous scientist professor I must forgive the occultist for such long excerpts from his writings, but such is the punishment of a member of Cor. Gen., approaching so close in the area of the innermost Adytum "a of the Occult Mysteries that he almost crossed the forbidden boundaries.
Footnotes
- Namely: "those forms of energy... that become apparent..." in the laboratory of a chemist and physicist; But there are other types of energy Related other kinds of matter that are supersensible, but nevertheless known to the Adepts.
- « Presidential Address”, page 16.
- Precisely, the existence of such worlds on other planes of consciousness is affirmed by the occultist. arcane science teaches that the primitive race had no backbone and that there are worlds invisible to us, inhabited, like our world, except population Dkhyan-Koganov.
- « Five Years of Theosophy”, page 258 et seq.
- In the same speech, Crookes says: “The first riddle that we meet in chemistry is the following: “what is an element?” Of all the attempts hitherto made to define or explain the element, none satisfies the demands of the human intellect. Textbooks tell us that an element is "a body that has not been decomposed"; that it is “something to which one can add, but from which nothing can be taken away” or “a body that increases in weight with each chemical change." Such definitions are doubly unsatisfactory; they are temporary, may not be applicable tomorrow to any given case. They are based not on any property of things to be defined, but on the limitation of human possibility. They are an admission of mental impotence.
- The lecturer quotes Sir George Airy who says [in " Faraday's Life and Letters”, Volume 2, p. 354]: “I can easily imagine that there are many bodies around us that are not subject to this interaction and therefore not subject to the law of gravity.”
- The philosophy of Vedanta imagines this; but this is not physics, but metaphysics, which Tyndall calls "poetry" and "fiction."
- In the form in which they are now, we think?
- And according to Kapila and Manu, especially and above all.
- This is scientific confirmation of the eternal law of correspondence and analogy.
- This method of illustrating the law of periodicity in the classification of elements is, according to Crookes, proposed by Prof. Emerson Reynolds of the University of Dublin, who ... "indicates that in every period general properties elements differ from each other with approximate regularity until we reach seventh member, which is a more or less striking contrast to the first element of the same period, as well as to the first of the following period. Thus chlorine, the seventh member of Mendeleev's third period, contrasts sharply with sodium, the first member of the same series, and with potassium, the first member of the next series; while, on the other hand, sodium and potassium are closely analogous. The six elements whose atomic weight falls between sodium and potassium differ in properties, step by step, until chlorine, the contrast of sodium, is reached. But from chlorine to potassium, the analogy of sodium, there is a change in the properties in leaps and bounds... If we thus recognize a contrast in properties - more or less definite - between the first and last members of each series, then we can hardly prevent the existence of a midpoint of change in each system. Usually fourth an element of each series has a property that we might expect to meet with a detectable transitional element ... So, for figurative transmission, prof. Reynolds thinks that the fourth term of the period - for example, silicon - can be placed at the top of the symmetrical curve, which will show for this special period the direction in which the properties of the series of elements change with increasing atomic weight. The author of this work humbly confesses his complete ignorance of modern chemistry and its mysteries. But she is quite knowledgeable with the Occult Doctrine as far as type matches and anti-types in nature and perfect analogy, which is the basic law in Occultism. Therefore, she ventures upon a remark to which every occultist will respond, although it may be ridiculed by orthodox science. This method of illustrating the law of periodicity in the behavior of the elements, whether or not it is a hypothesis in chemistry, there is a law in the occult sciences. Every well-read occultist knows that seventh And fourth a member in the septenary chain of worlds, in the septenary Hierarchy of Angels, or in the structure of man, animal, plant or mineral atom - seventh And fourth term, we say, in the geometrical and mathematical monotonous manifestation of the unchanging laws of Nature, always play a definite and special role in the septenary system. From the stars twinkling in the sky to the sparks flying from a primitive fire built by a savage in the forest; from the Hierarchies and basic structure of the Dhyan-Chohans, organized for more divine understandings and higher stages of perception that the greatest of Western physiologists ever dreamed of, to classification The nature of species among the humblest insects; and finally, from Worlds to Atoms, everything in the Universe, from great to small, advances in its spiritual and physical evolution, following a cyclic and septenary process in which its seventh and fourth members (the latter being the turning point) behave in the same way, as found in the law of periodicity of atoms. Nature never follows in leaps and bounds. Therefore, when Crookes remarks to this that “he does not wish to conclude that the gaps in the periodic table and in this figurative representation of it (the diagram showing the evolution of Atoms) mean that there are elements that actually exist to fill these gaps; these gaps can only mean that at the generation of the elements there was a slight potentiality for the formation of an element that would fill the place ”- the occultist would reverently object to him that the last hypothesis could be held only if the sevenfold order of Atoms was not thereby violated. It is single law and an infallible method, which must always lead to success for those who follow it.
- “Vishvanara is not just a manifested, objective world, but a single physical basis(horizontal line of the triangle) from which the entire objective world derives its existence. And this is the Cosmic Dyad, the Androgynous Substance. Just beyond that is the true Protyle.
- T. Subba Row. See " Theosophist”, February, 1887.
- Crookes Lecture, Ch. King. Common, read at the Royal Institution, London, Friday, February 18th, 1887.
- How true this is will only be fully proved when Crookes' discovery of radiant matter brings about further insight into the true source of Light, and thereby revolutionizes all real theories. Further familiarization with the Northern Lights may help in recognizing this truth.
- Which, if alchemically isolated, will yield the Spirit of Life and its Elixir.
Isis Unveiled
These representatives of modern science in both hemispheres never seem to have shown more contempt and bitterness for an insoluble mystery than since Mr. Crookes began to study phenomena in London. This brave gentleman was the first to introduce to the public one of those supposedly "materialized" sentries that guard the forbidden gates. Following him, several other members of the scientific corporation showed a rare honesty, coupled with considerable courage, which, in view of the unpopularity of the subject under study, can be considered heroic, and began to investigate phenomena.
But alas [ 78 , With. 25] although the spirit really wanted to, but the mortal flesh turned out to be weak. They could not bear the ridicule, and thus the heaviest burden fell on Mr. Crooks's shoulders. An account of the fruits which this gentleman reaped from his impartial investigations, and of the gratitude which he received for it from his fellow scientists, may be found in his three papers under the heading "An Inquiry into the Phenomena of Spiritualism."
After some time had elapsed, the members of the Committee of the Dialectical Society, and Mr. Crookes, who had applied to his mediums the most severe controls against deceit, were compelled, under the pressure of public impatience, to report in a few words what they had seen. But what could they say but the truth? Thus, they were forced to admit:
- That the phenomena, at least those they witnessed, were genuine, and that it was impossible to fake them; thus it was amply demonstrated that the manifestations of some unknown power could and had been produced.
- Whether these phenomena were produced by disembodied spirits or similar beings, they cannot say, but that these manifestations, which completely destroy many preconceived theories concerning natural laws, did take place, this was undeniable. Some of these phenomena happened in their own families.
- That despite their combined efforts, directed towards the opposite, apart from establishing the indisputable fact of the reality of phenomena and "glimpses from the processes of nature that have not yet fit into the law" [ 78 ], they, using the expression of the Comte de Gabalis, "cannot tell heads from tails in this matter." But this was exactly what the skeptical public did not expect and did not want.
Even before the conclusion of Crookes, Barley and the Dialectical Society were eagerly awaiting the defeat of the believers in Spiritualism. And now such recognition from their fellow scientists was too humiliating for the pride of even those who themselves timidly shied away from research. It was considered exceeding the limits of what was permitted, that such vulgar and disgusting manifestations of phenomena, which always, by common consent educated people, were considered grandmother's tales, fit only to amuse maids and bring income to professional somnambulists - that these manifestations, condemned to oblivion by the Paris Academy of Sciences, could so brazenly avoid exposure in the hands of experts in the physical sciences.
A storm of indignation followed the confession. Mr. Crooks describes this in his article on Psychic Energy. Very to the point he quotes from Galvani:
"I am attacked by two opposing sects - scientists and amateurs - and yet I know that I have discovered one of the greatest forces nature...” He then continues: “It was taken for granted that the results of my experiments would agree with their preconceived notions. What they really wanted from these experiences was not the truth, but only additional evidence in favor of their past conclusions. When they found that the facts established in my research could in no way be useful to support their goals, they decided that ... then so much the worse for the facts themselves. They tried to find a loophole from their self-recommended study, stating that "Mr. Home is such a clever magician that he fooled us all." "Mr. Crooks might as well investigate the performance of an Indian conjurer." "Mr. Crooks must get better witnesses before he is believed." "It is impossible and therefore cannot be"... (I did not say that it was impossible, I only said that it was true). “The observers must have all been hypnotized and imagined that they were seeing something that was not really there,” etc., etc. [ 79 ]
After spending his energy on such absurd theories as "unconscious brain activity", "involuntary muscle contractions" and one extremely funny theory of "crunchy joints" (le muscle craqueur); after every desperate effort to bring about its shameful failures due to the stubborn existence of the New Force, and finally, after the nullification, these filii diffidentiae– as St. Paul called their class – came to the decision to withdraw indignantly from the whole thing. Having sacrificed his bravely stubborn brethren, as a burnt offering on the altar public opinion They silently with dignity retired.
< ... >In "Studies in the Phenomena of Spiritualism" [ 77 ] Mr. Crooks presents the reader with eight theories "to explain the observed phenomena."
These theories are as follows:
"First theory“All phenomena are clever tricks, cunning mechanical contrivances or sleight of hand, mediums are impostors, deceivers, and the rest of the company are fools. Second theory“People participating in spiritualist séances are afflicted with a kind of mania or self-deception and imagine that phenomena are taking place that do not really, objectively exist. Third theory“All this is the result of conscious or unconscious brain activity. Fourth theory- This is the result of the spirit of the medium, perhaps in communion with the spirits of some or all of those present. Fifth theory“These are the works of evil spirits or devils, personifying whoever or whatever they please, to undermine Christianity and corrupt human souls. (This is the theory of our theologians). Sixth theory- These are the acts of beings of a special order, living on our earth, but invisible and intangible to us. However, they are still able to show their presence from time to time, known in almost all countries and in all ages under the guise of demons (not necessarily bad ones), gnomes, fairies, kobolds, elves, goblins, pak, etc. (One of the statements of the Kabbalists). Seventh theory“These are the deeds of dead human beings. (prevailing spiritualist theory). Eighth theory- (This is psychic energy) ... addition to the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh theories.The first of these theories, which turned out to be valid only in exceptional, although, unfortunately, still in all too frequent cases, should be excluded as having no essential relation to the phenomena themselves as such. theories second And third are the crumbling last stronghold of dug-in skeptics and materialists, and remain, as lawyers say, - Adhuc sub judice lis est". Thus, in this work we have to deal only with the remaining four, the eighth and last, according to Mr. Crookes, "is only a necessary addition" to the others.
How much even scientific thinking is subject to error, we will see if we only compare several articles on spiritualistic phenomena, which were cleverly written by a gentleman, published from 1870 to 1875. In one of his first articles we read:
"... extended application scientific methods will promote accuracy of observation and a greater love of truth among researchers, which will lead to the formation of a group of observers that will drive the cheap sediment of spiritualism into the obscurity of magic and necromancy.
And in 1875 we read, behind his own signature, the most detailed and very interesting descriptions the materialized spirit of Katie King!
It is hardly possible to believe that Mr. Crooks could have been electro-biologically influenced or hallucinated for two or three consecutive years. The "spirit" appeared in his own home, in his library, under the most stringent control conditions: he was seen, felt and heard by hundreds of people.
But Mr. Crooks denies that he ever mistook Katie King for a disembodied spirit. Who then was it? If it was not Miss Florence Cooke, and his word is a sufficient assurance for us of this, then it was either the spirit of someone who lived on earth, or one of the entities directly falling under the sixth theory of eight offered to the public to choose from by the eminent scientists. It must be one of the entities in those categories called fairies, kobolds, dwarves, elves, goblins, or pak.
Yes; Katie King should be a Titania fairy. For only to a fairy, truly, can the following poetic outpouring, which Mr. Crooks quotes, describing this wonderful spirit, be applied:
“She is surrounded by unearthly radiance, The air itself glows from her radiant eyes; Beautiful and gentle, they had everything in full, What you could see in pure dreams; And for the desire before her kneel, No one can accuse of sacrilege!”
So, after writing in 1870 a harsh sentence against Spiritualism and Magic, after saying that at that time he even thought that "on the whole Spiritualism or superstition, or at least an inexplicable trick, a deception of the senses" , - Mr. Crookes in 1875 ends his letter with the following memorable words:
“To imagine, I say, that Katie King of the past three years is the result of a fraudulent deception, is to inflict an even greater insult on human reason and common sense than to think that she really is who she claims to be” [ 77 , With. 45].
This last remark, moreover, conclusively proves that: 1. Notwithstanding Crookes' full conviction that this person called Katie King was neither a medium nor an accomplice in any deceit, but, on the contrary, an unknown force of nature, which, like love, “laughs at the master of locks”; 2. That this unidentified form of power, although it became for him “not a matter of opinion, but of absolute knowledge,” the eminent researcher still did not leave his skeptical attitude towards this issue. In short, he firmly believes in the authenticity of the phenomenon, but cannot come to terms with the idea that Katie King is the soul some deceased person.
It seems to us that, as far as prejudice is concerned, Mr. Crooks solves one riddle by creating another: obscurum per obscurius. In other words, rejecting "a cheap residue of spiritualism", the brave scientist now voluntarily throws himself into "the abyss of magic And necromancy!"
< ... >Up to the present time, even those who have pursued the study of phenomena as carefully and dispassionately as Mr. Crookes have set aside the cause of the phenomena as something that is now impossible to discover, if indeed it ever can be discovered. They worried about this no more than about the root cause of the cosmic phenomena of the correlation of energies, whose endless consequences they observe and classify with such zeal. The direction of their research is as unreasonable as the attempt of a man who tries to discover the source of a river by moving towards its mouth is unreasonable.
English physicist and chemist William Crookes was born in London on June 17, 1832. In 1848-1850. studied at the London College of Chemistry, after which from 1850 to 1854 he worked at the college as an assistant to A.V. Hoffmann. After a short stay at the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford, Crookes in 1855 took over as professor of chemistry at Chester. Since 1859, Crookes left teaching and devoted himself to scientific work in a laboratory equipped in London at his own expense.
All of Crookes's research work was distinguished by great originality of conception and scientific methods, and an extraordinary ability to circumvent experimental difficulties. Using spectral analysis, Crookes discovered the element thallium in May 1861, and isolated it in its pure form the following year. Choosing a name for the new element, Crookes showed himself to be a romantic: “I chose this name, because the green line corresponds to the spectrum and echoes the specific brightness of the fresh color of plants at the present time” (the name of thallium is derived from the Greek ??????? - green branch) .
In 1866, Crookes put forward the hypothesis that each natural chemical element is a certain mixture of substances that are identical in their properties, but have different atomic masses. Thus, he seemed to anticipate the discovery of isotopy, but at that time such an assumption had no experimental confirmation and therefore passed little notice.
In the early 1870s Crookes began studying the radiometric effect and created the radiometer (1873-1874). One of the first Crookes began a systematic study of the propagation of an electric discharge in glass tubes filled with rarefied gases. Such tubes, called Geissler tubes after the German glassblower G. Geissler (1815-1879), who was the first to manufacture them, emitted a bright glow when connected to the high-voltage winding of an induction coil. Crookes found that the nature of the discharge in a tube changes with pressure, and the discharge disappears completely at high vacuum. At the same time, he was the first to suggest the existence of a fourth state of aggregation of substances - plasma. In 1879, Crookes wrote: “Phenomena in evacuated tubes open up for physical science new world, in which matter can exist in the fourth state. Somewhat later, J. Perrin will show that the “cathode rays” that cause the glow are negatively charged particles that move in a straight line, but can be deflected magnetic field, and in 1897, J.J. Thomson and E. Wiechert will prove that these rays are a stream of electrons - particles that are 2000 times smaller than a hydrogen atom.
Crookes' book On the Origin of the Chemical Elements (1886), in which he suggested that all elements originated from protyl, which apparently is hydrogen, was widely known, "... by evolution, like the members of our solar system according to Laplace's theory, and how the plants and animals of our planet originated - according to Lamarck, Darwin and Wallace.
In 1904, Crookes invented the spinthariscope, a device for registering?-particles. He devoted a number of works to applied issues of chemistry (dyeing fabrics, beet sugar production, etc.), as well as metallurgy. Discovered the disinfecting effect of phenol (1866). Crookes was a staunch supporter of spiritualism; widely known were his articles and speeches in defense of the reality of spiritualistic phenomena. The great scientific authority of Crookes undoubtedly greatly contributed to the spread of spiritualistic views. Since 1863, Crookes was a member of the Royal Society of London, and in 1913-1915. was its president.
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Crookes William Shakespeare Crookes William TurnerJune 17, 1832(1832-06-17)
London, England
London, England
Great Britain
Chemistry
physics
Royal College of Chemistry
chemist who discovered thallium
Royal Medal (1875)
Medal of the French Academy of Sciences (1880)
Davy Medal (1888)
Albert Medal (Royal Society of Arts) (1899)
Copley Medal (1904)
Order of Merit (1910)
Elliot Cresson Medal (1912)
William Crookes(Eng. William Crookes; June 17, 1832, London - April 4, 1919, ibid) - English chemist and physicist, member (since 1863) and president (1913-15) of the Royal Society of London, from which he was in 1875 received the Royal gold medal. among his other awards are medals from the French Academy of Sciences (1880), Davy (1888) and the Copley medal (1904). In 1897, Queen Victoria granted him a knighthood. In 1910 he received the Order of Merit. Crookes went down in history as the man who discovered thallium and for the first time received helium in the laboratory.
- 1 Biography
- 2 Crookes and spiritualism
- 3 Memory
- 4 Links
- 5 Notes
Biography
William Crookes was born in London to Joseph Crookes, a tailor who came to the capital from the English north, and (his second wife) Mary Scott. Crookes went to school in Chippeham, Wiltshire, and began his scientific career at the age of 15, enrolling at the Royal College of Chemistry in London, Hanover Square, where (after graduation) he served as an assistant in 1850-1854. Crookes soon began independent research, but not in the field of organic chemistry - as one might assume, given that his teacher was August Wilhelm von Hoffmann (August Wilhelm von Hofmann): he began to investigate new compounds of selenium. These experiences formed the basis for his first scientific work published in 1851.
William Crooks. Drawing by Leslie Ward. 1902
After graduating from King's College, Crookes became manager of the meteorological department at the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford (1854), and in 1855 was invited to lecture on chemistry at Chester College. In 1856, Crookes married Ellen, daughter of William Humphrey of Darlington, by which he had three sons and a daughter. From that time he lived in London and worked research work, mostly on his own - at his house number 7 on Kensington Park Gardens (Kensington Park Gardens), in a private laboratory. Intensity scientific activity and a wide range of interests soon made Crookes a well-known person in society. In 1859, William Crooks founded the scientific journal Chemical News, becoming its first editor, and from 1864 edited the Quarterly Journal of Science. different years Crookes has served as president of the Chemical Society, the Institute of Electrical Engineers, the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Society for Psychical Research.
Crookes investigated electrical conductivity in gases at reduced pressure and cathode rays (in "Crookes tubes"), discovered the phenomenon of scintillation, invented a radiometer and a spinthariscope (a device that demonstrates the release of alpha rays under the influence of radium). Being primarily a practical researcher, Crookes enthusiastically adopted and adopted the method of spectral analysis discovered by Bunsen and Kirchhoff. In 1861, he discovered a previously unknown element (with a bright green color in the emission part of the spectrum) and named it thallium (from the Greek thallos, "green shoot"), and in 1895 he was the first to detect helium in the laboratory. Crookes is considered a pioneer in gas discharge tube research; his research served as the basis for all subsequent work on the study of plasma.
Crookes and Spiritualism
William Crookes at the Materialization of a FormIn 1869, Crookes became interested in the paranormal phenomena that occurred at the séances, and in 1870 began their practical research, promising himself and his colleagues to maintain complete impartiality and be guided exclusively by scientific interests. Before the mediums, he put forward harsh conditions: “Experiments must be carried out at my home, in the presence of witnesses invited by me and with full observance of all my requirements; I reserve the right to use any equipment as well,” he said in a statement. Among the mediums who agreed to take part in the experiments were Kate Fox, D. D. Hume, and Florence Cooke, with whom he was particularly interested in working. Crookes claimed that he personally observed the appearance of ghostly and tangible figures, the phenomena of levitation, heard mysterious voices, measured the loss of weight by the medium during the release of ectoplasm, recorded the appearance of inscriptions on slate boards without the participation of those present.
In 1874, he published a progress report in which he stated that the observed phenomena were definitely not the result of fraud or hallucinations, and called for further scientific research paranormal activity. The scandal surrounding Crookes's report took on such proportions that there were even proposals to expel him from the Royal Society. After this, Crookes became cautious and refrained from public statements on this subject until 1898, when he realized that his authority in the scientific world was unshakable and his position in the Royal Society could not be questioned. From this time until his death in 1919, Crookes openly declared that he was a convinced spiritualist.
Memory
In 1970 International astronomical union named after William Crookes a crater on the far side of the moon.
Links
- Khramov Yu. A. Crooks William // Physicists: A Biographical Guide / Ed. A. I. Akhiezer. - Ed. 2nd, rev. and additional - M.: Nauka, 1983. - S. 145. - 400 p. - 200,000 copies. (in trans.)
- Lehmann A. Modern spiritualism and occultism. Crookes' experiments
- W. Crooks. Gutenberg Project
- Sir William Crookes and the Ghost (Unavailable link from 10-05-2013 (831 days))
Notes
- 1 2 3 4 William Crooks. www.physchem.chimfak.rsu.ru. Retrieved 3 May
- 1 2 A. Conan Doyle. Experiments by William Crooks. rassvet2000.narod.ru. Retrieved May 3, 2010. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012.
| Spiritualism | |
|---|---|
| Founders | Emmanuel Swedenborg Allan Kardec Andrew Jackson Davis E. Harding-Britten William Stainton Moses Franz Mesmer Frederick W. Myers |
| Basic concepts | Mediumship Ectoplasm Spiritualism Materialization Levitation Automatic Writing Psychokinesis Fluid |
| Notable mediums | Daniel Dunglas Hume Florence Cooke The Fox Sisters Eusapia Palladino Helen Duncan Madame d'Esperance Leonora Piper |
| Related concepts | Occultism Theism Christianity Theosophy Parapsychology New Age |
| Phenomenon study | William Crookes Oliver Lodge William Barrett Charles Richet Arthur Conan Doyle Camille Flammarion Robert Owen A. N. Aksakov A. M. Butlerov N. P. Wagner Society for Psychical Research Nandor Fodor Colin Wilson Carl Jung |
| Other | The New Revelation The History of Spiritualism The Book of Mediums |
Crookes William Blake Crookes William Browder Crookes William Turner Crookes William Shakespeare
Sir William Crookes (physicist)
Research by Sir William Crookes, Nobel laureate in Physics and President of the Royal Society, occupy an important place in the history of psychic research. Some of the experiments that he and Sir Alfred Russel Wallace conducted were described in the fifth chapter. Crookes conducted many experiments with the medium Daniel Dunglas Home, who was never caught cheating.
For some experiments with Home, Crookes made special "scales". They consisted of a mahogany board (length 90 cm, width 24 cm, thickness 2.5 cm). At one end, the board rested on the edge of the table, settling down horizontally, as a continuation of the table. The free end of the board rested on spring scales, which, with the board lying horizontally, showed 1.5 kilograms. Home sat on a low chair, his fingertips resting on the end of the board that lay on the table, no more than 5 centimeters from its edge. Crookes noticed that the other end of the board began to wiggle up and down as he did so, and the balance needle also wobbled, noting the change in weight. To make sure Home wasn't pressing on the board, Crookes placed a matchbox between his fingers and the board. If Home had really pressed on the board, the box would have broken, but it remained intact. During these experiments, the balance registered an increase in load from 1.5 to 3 kilograms. One day, Crookes stood on the end of the board that was on the table, and the entire weight of his body increased the load by only 700-900 grams. Also involved was William Huggins, a noted physicist and astronomer who, like Crookes, was a Fellow of the Royal Society (Crookes. 1871a. Quoted in Medhurst, Goldney. 1972. Pp. 28-29). Crookes conducted a number of experiments that did not involve direct physical pressure on the board. The medium's fingers were dipped into a glass of water, which stood on a separate stand, which only slightly touched the board. The result was the same.
On June 15, 1871, Crookes sent a report of the experiments to the Royal Society and asked the secretaries of the Society, Professor Sharpay and Professor Stokes, to come and see the experiment with their own eyes. Sharpay refused, and Stokes said that he would come to look at the scales, but did not want to meet the medium and participate in the experiments. Crookes responded on June 20, and again invited Stokes to experiment. Crookes promised that the experiment would be carried out under the strictest control and that any results would be published.
Stokes never showed up, but asked a few questions about previous experiences. Crookes replied: “To obtain the result we observed, even with all your requirements, Mr. Home had to apply a force of 34 kilograms. And if you take into account the fact that he was sitting on a low chair and four people were closely watching him in order to make sure that he was not making any effort, but simply keeping his fingers on the board, it becomes obvious that there was no pressure on the board. (Crookes, 1871b. Quoted in Medhurst and Goldney, 1972, p. 45). Stokes suggested that the vibrations of the scales needle could be partly due to vibrations from carriages passing outside the window. Crookes replied: “The up and down movement of the arrow was very slow and smooth, taking several seconds to rise and fall. As for the vibrations from passing carriages, they could hardly have caused the arrow to move steadily from 1.5 to 3 kilograms in a few seconds” (Crookes. 1871b. Quoted from: Medhurst, Goldney. 1972. P. 46). In a letter to Stokes, Crookes also wrote: “So many scientists (including many members of the Society) are now studying these strange phenomena that it will not be even a few years before this subject will be presented to the scientific world in such a way that it will no longer be possible to brush it aside” (Crookes. 1871b Quoted in Medhurst and Goldney 1972, p. 46).
Home also knew how to play the accordion, holding it with one hand, on the other side of the keys. Skeptics will immediately object that this is a trick. To put that possibility aside, Crooks bought a new accordion, which Home had never seen or held in his hands. In addition, it could be assumed that Home somehow used his free hand to play. To eliminate this possibility, Crookes placed a cage specially made for this purpose under the table. The accordion was in a cage, and Home had to stick one hand in and take the instrument from the side where there were no keys. The accordion played as usual. Crookes wrote: “The accordion seemed to be in someone's hands, although now Home let go of it completely, put the hand that had previously held it on the table, and a person sitting next to it took it. Thus, both of his hands were visible to everyone present. Me and two others saw the instrument hovering in the cage for no apparent reason. This happened twice with a short break. Then Mr. Home again took the accordion with one hand, and it played first scales and chords, and then a well-known mournful melody, and the performance was very beautiful and irreproachable. While the accordion was playing, I took Mr. Home's arm just below the elbow and ran it down the arm to the accordion. Not a single muscle in his arm moved. The other hand was on the table and everyone could see it, and his legs were under the table next to the legs of a neighbor ”(Crookes. 1871a. Quoted from: Medhurst, Goldney. 1972. P. 27).
In another Houma session, Crookes observed how the messages themselves were written. The session took place in good light at Crookes's house, in the presence of his friends. Crookes expressed a desire to receive the message. This is how he describes what happened: “In the middle of the table lay a pencil and some sheets of paper; soon the pencil rose on its point, and, making several hesitant jerks towards the paper, fell. Then he got up again and fell down. After three unsuccessful attempts, a small wooden tablet, which lay nearby on the table, slid towards the pencil and rose a few inches above the table; the pencil rose again and, leaning on the planchette, tried to touch the paper with it. He fell, and after that, once again, a joint effort was made. After the third attempt, the tablet gave up and returned to its place; the pencil fell to the paper and remained there, and the message typed in alphabetical order told us: “We tried to do what you asked, but our strength is exhausted” (Crookes. 1874. P. 93).
At another session of Home on May 22, 1871, where Wallace was also present, Crookes observed the following: “This time the table soared several times into the air, and the participants in the session took a candle and, kneeling, carefully studied the location of Mr. Home's legs. As they did so, they noticed that all three legs of the table were completely off the floor. This was repeated until everyone was convinced that the levitation was not the result of mechanical movements on the part of the medium or anyone else present” (Crookes. 1889. Quoted in: Gauld. 1968. P. 214).
Home didn't just make things fly. He himself took to the air. Crookes observed this three times and heard and had hundreds of testimonies of Home's flights. About those cases of levitation that Crookes observed at home, he said the following: “Home stood in the free part of the room, stood quietly for a minute and said that he was taking off. I saw it slowly rise into the air, and stay 15 centimeters above the ground for a few seconds, and then slowly descend. None of those present at this time did not move. Another time I was invited to a session with Home, and when he rose half a meter from the floor, I ran my hands under his feet, around him and over his head ... Sometimes Home rose into the air along with the chair in which he sat at the table. He usually did this on purpose, placing his feet on a chair and holding out his arms for everyone to see. Once I sat down next to the chair and made sure that all his legs were off the floor, and Home's legs were raised. In rare cases, his strength was enough to lift the other participants in the session. Once he made my wife float in the air along with the chair” (Carrington, 1931, p. 158).
Such reliable and credible reports of Home's levitation bring to mind other, earlier, testimonies about the flights of Catholic saints. For example, several people saw Francis of Assisi (1181–1226) fly. Around 1261, St. Bonaventure wrote about how the radiant St. Francis sometimes rose above the ground during prayer (Thurston. 1952, p. 6). In The Little Flowers of St. Francis" says that Brother Leo, a member of the Franciscan order, more than once witnessed how St. Francis "in a state of spiritual ecstasy soared three or four cubits above the ground, and sometimes even to the height of a beech tree" (Thurston. 1952. P. 5). One cubit is approximately 45 centimeters.
