ECTOPLASM

Ectoplasm

Ectoplasm (from the Greek ektos and plasma; exteriorised substance). The word "ectoplasm" was originated by Professor Charles Richet, a french physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in 1913 for his discovery of anaphylaxis. Professor Richet also investigated a wide range of phenomena such as telepathy, hypnosis, psychokinesis and of course ectoplasm, which he whole-heartedly accepted as real. A man who was one of Spiritualism's greatest advisories.



But what is ectoplasm? Well , we know it is definitely matter, invisible and intangible in its primary state, but it does assume sometimes, a liquid state, often a vaporous, and solid state during various stages of condensation. It emits a smell which smells like ozone, which can be quite unpleasant. So it is a subtle living matter which is drawn from the the body of a medium, and is capable of assuming various semi and solid states, which can and have been felt and photographed. Ectoplasm though primarily drawn from the medium, it is, to a lesser degree, also drawn from non-mediums, ie, sitters within the physical circle, and used to 'clothe' deceased, etheric persons.



In a paper read before the Metapsychic Congress in Copenhagen in 1921 Dr Galey says:



"The ectoplasmic phenomenon is a physical extension of the medium. During Trance a portion of their organism is exteriorised. This portion is sometimes small, sometimes considerable. It is first observed as an amorous substance which may be solid or vaporous; it then takes organic form (usually very quickly) and there appear form which, when the phenomenon is complete, may have all the anatomical and physiological characteristics of living organs. The ectoplasm has become a being, or fraction of a being, but always in close dependance of the medium, of which it is a kind of prolongation and into which is is absorbed at the end of the experiment".



Dr Galey went on to say;



"This fact has been established by flashlight photographs of materialised forms, impressions of them in clay, putty or lampblackened paper and hollow casts of them in paraffin wax. The ectoplasmic phenomena are the same in all countries, whoever the medium and the observers might be. Sir William Crooks, Sir Oliver Lodge, Professor Charles Richet, Dr Schrenk-Notzing, Professor Morselli, Dr Crawford and others have all given rigorously concordant descriptions".



Ectoplasm can also be seen as a fog, and sometimes a slightly phosphorescent mist.