Accession No
2284
Brief Description
portable electrocardiograph (ECG), owned by the Society for Psychical Research (S.P.R) and probably used to test psychic medium Rudi Schneider, by Cambridge Instrument Company Ltd., English, 1933
Origin
England; Cambridge
Maker
Cambridge Instrument Company Ltd.
Class
medical; electrical
Earliest Date
1933
Latest Date
1933
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass, iron, at least 4 others); plastic (ebonite, bakelite, perspex, at least 2 others); cloth; glass; rubber
Dimensions
length 592mm; breadth 293mm; height 255mm; case length 612mm; breadth 290mm; height 300mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Transferred from Department of Colloid Science, University of Cambridge, 1976.
Inscription
‘Cambridge Instrument Co. Ltd., England’ (on camera)
‘CAMBRIDGE PORTABLE
ELECTROCARDIOGRAPH
[CIC logo]
THE PROPERTY OF
SOCIETY FOR PSYCHIC RESEARCH
LONDON’ (on case)
Description Notes
Portable electrocardiograph (ECG), by the Cambridge Instrument Company; c. 1933.
Black-painted iron base. Camera mounted at rear with horizontallly mounted film canister, brass shutter release. The shutter itself is in 3 sections, each moved by metal knob. Scale above shutter divided 40 - 0 - 40 numbered by 10 subdivided to 1. Front section of instrument carries dial for galvanometer divided 0 - 1 Volts numbered by 0.5. Front also carries adjustment knob for rheostat, switch which moves between ‘I.MV.’, ‘0’, ‘SHUNT’ and ‘SHORT’. One further knob of unknown purpose. Central section carries black-painted casing around lamp, galvanometer with sensitivity adjustment knob and focussing optics. The display is projected onto a mirror angled to bounce the image onto a mirror at the front of the instrument, which directs the light onto the shutter. Central section also carries stand for spare film canisters, under which is a compartment for storing canisters and electrodes. Black plastic case bound with white metal, with telescopic handles.
Incomplete (one film canister missing)
References
Events
Description
A Society for Psychical Research report suggests that this electrocardiograph was used in experiments with Austrian medium Rudi Schneider. Between October 1933 and March 1934, Theodore Besterman and Oliver Gatty used a "Cambridge Instrument Co. portable electrocardiograph Einthoven galvanometer having a 1400 ohms gilt glass fibre," and other equipment, to test Schneider's mediumship. They did not find any paranormal phenomena during the sittings.
23/11/2020
Created by: Morgan Bell on 23/11/2020
Description
Electrocardiographs are medical instruments that measure the rhythm of heart contractions and the relative strength of different parts of the heart muscle. This instrument had been the property of the Society for Psychical Research (S.P.R) and may have been used to record the physiology of psychic mediums or individuals in a hypnotic trance state. The S.P.R. was a Cambridge- and London-based group of scientists and intellectuals who were interested in studying the afterlife and paranormal phenomena. The first president of the Society, Henry Sidgwick (1838–1900), proved to be a controversial figure: he shaped the intellectual agenda of the S.P.R. in a direction different from those intended by the Spiritualist members that elected him leader. Sidgwick was Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and sought to investigate psychical phenomena as a state of the mind rather than as externalized apparitions. By tying psychical experience to the physiology of the mind, Sidgwick was able to provide empirical evidence about phenomena and construct a scientific approach to this research. Through Sidgwick’s scientific initiatives, research by the S.P.R was well regarded. By 1887 the S.P.R. membership included eight fellows of the Royal Society, former Prime Minister W. E. Gladstone and the upcoming candidate Arthur James Balfour. By 1900, the Society’s membership included over nine hundred individuals.
A significant portion of the S.P.R. archives is held at the Cambridge University Library.
06/11/2013
Created by: Allison Ksiazkiewicz on 06/11/2013
FM:44285
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