The Brief Life of Psychic Force

In this chapter, I explore the influence of spiritualism upon scientific enquiry in the Victorian period. Spiritualist practice incorporated some of the elements of Mesmer’s work, including the idea of séance. Focusing on the career of the medium Daniel Dunglas Home, I trace the widespread interest in spiritualist phenomena and the attempts to put it to the test by the chemist William Crookes and others. These experiments divided the scientific community, as well as adding to the increasingly complex debates upon the nature of the human mind.