Ectoplasm

Ectoplasm issuing from the physical medium Minnie Harrison (Courtesy Tom Harrison)

A friend of mine asked me the following question which I think may be of general interest to the more scientifically minded amongst you. Lionel

Not having had any such experiences as you have been gifted to live, I ask for your leniency and patience to illustrate me about these questions. Accepting the traditional definition of Ectoplasm: ektos meaning, "outside," and plasma, something formed or molded. I am at a loss as to whether to place ectoplasm in the realm of matter at rest or in constant motion. Is it something with kinetic properties or just a snapshot of that presence?

I shall do my best to answer your questions.

The word Ectoplasm was coined by the French scientist Charles Richet but Harry Boddington in his book “The University of Spiritualism,” prefers the word ‘psychoplasm’ to describe the substance associated with physical mediumship in general and materialisation in particular. Psychoplasm was coined by one James Burns from psyche, soul and plasm: material out of which living tissues develop. Burns defined psychoplasm as follows:

“Nature around us is a condensation into palpable forms of previously aerial and inscrutable forms. Man, as an organised being, is composed of these things. He holds them in suspense in his nervous system. We are all materialised spirits. The solid food we eat is used to maintain the structure of the body, supply it with force and the mind with feeling, thought and expression. The fluid within man’s body is called ‘psychoplasm’ because it is so highly vitalised and the soul can mould it into organic form.”

The term therefore (Boddington again) means invisible elements which can be condensed and moulded and thus become visible and tangible by reason of the directive mind behind the manifestation. Aura is the term applied to this manifestation before it becomes visible but as spirit bodies also radiate it, I apply it to them when speaking of the radiation and psychoplasm to the material of which spirit bodies and materialisations are composed. It is susceptible to many subdivisions but these would confuse rather than help us to understand.

Materialised forms cannot be distinguished from living flesh and blood. To touch and sight they appear the same. They de-materialise so slowly that the apparently solid body is resolved into a nebulous mass before our eyes and finally disappears like cooling steam from a kettle. When forming garments the substance presents the soft feel of chiffon or the rough texture of coarser material. In Crawford’s experiments it exhibits the strength of a bone or steel bar. But no matter whether visible as psychoplasm or invisible as aura, one thing is certain: it is always a form of matter which manifests the attributes of the human body, including the conscious direction of its parts.

Despite Boddington’s urging, ‘ectoplasm’ is the word that has become more generally accepted and that is why I use it in my text. (This refers to my book "Please God Why?")