The phrase "British scientists" has long been a symbol of an ambitious scientific work of dubious practical value. However, in the mid-1950s, a group of scientists from the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, a subdivision of the world famous Cambridge University, conducted a comic experiment, the results of which almost shook the established theories of serious academic science.
The scandal was quickly hushed up, and scientific reports on the results of the experiment were reliably hidden in the depths of university archives, so as not to embarrass eminent scientists, whose multivolume works convincingly proved the impossibility of the existence of what their young colleagues came to as a result of this experiment …
MEDICAL WASTE
The idea of the experiment was born completely spontaneously. Scientists received at their disposal 13 pairs of hands of people who bequeathed their bodies to the university for medical research after their death. The bodies of these noble people had already served science, and what was left of them had to be disposed of like any other medical waste.
It is not known what motivated the young doctor of medicine Robert Stapleton - the love of science or the usual thriftiness for British men, but Bob decided that it was extremely impractical to just take and throw away material that was very useful from his point of view. Therefore, he collected 26 hands numbered in ink in a bag and took them to his laboratory.
For several days the brushes lay uselessly in the refrigerator while Bob sought out a worthy use for them. The idea, brilliant in its unexpectedness, arose when his friend and colleague Adam Bradshaw looked into his laboratory. I must say that Adam, despite the degree of Doctor of Medicine, was a rather frivolous person for a learned husband and showed an unhealthy interest in various kinds of esoteric knowledge.
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Having made an obscene joke about the contents of his colleague's refrigerator, Adam laughed out loud, considering it a very successful one. However, already in the next instant, a thought, natural for any esotericist, visited his bright head: why not try to analyze these brushes using the methods of chirology? Moreover, the purity of the experiment was ensured by the absence of hand holders in this world, who could unwittingly influence the course of its conduct.
FUNNY CONCLUSIONS
Bob liked the idea and, after consulting, his colleagues decided to bring it to life. Gathering a working group of eight people, two of whom, not counting Adam, studied dermatoglyphics, the scientists began the experiment in their free time from the main work. Of course, most of the participants were rather skeptical about this work and perceived it as a game rather than as a serious scientific study.
Nevertheless, the work was carried out with true British scrupulousness and meticulousness. Each participant in the experiment filled out a table in which he carefully systematized all the information received.
After about a month, the scientists managed to draw up a psychological portrait, a complete medical record and basic biographical data of the owner of each of the pairs of hands presented for the experiment.
Only after that, having raised in the archives the documents of the thirteen deceased, whose hands they examined, the scientists were horrified to be convinced of the incredible accuracy of their conclusions, including the age of the deceased, the number of their marriages and children, education and profession, diseases suffered, cause of death, and the like.
No one expected such a convincing result, including the staunch mystic and esotericist Adam Bradshaw. 11 out of 13 reports repeated the medical histories and biographies of the subjects with remarkable accuracy. The other two reports contained errors that could well be attributed to the lack of practical experience in chirology among the vast majority of experimenters.
The Conspiracy of Silence
Then real miracles began, but not so much of an esoteric as of a bureaucratic nature. The management of the institute not only did not approve of the brilliant results of the scientific experiment, but also threatened the scientist with dismissal from his job for excessive initiative. The reports were seized and placed in the farthest corner of Cambridge University's bottomless archives.
Nevertheless, this did not stop the restless truth-teller Dr. Bradshaw, who wrote a monograph on the results of the experiment. However, all attempts to publish this work in scientific journals, including the highly respected and independent publication Science, invariably ran into a wall of silence and misunderstanding on the part of their editors. Colleagues who had nothing to do with the experiment began to openly laugh at Adam. The air smelled of conspiracy.
But she couldn't hide it in a sack, and information about the seditious experiment leaked to the ubiquitous journalists. The scandal reached the yellow press, aroused public opinion, and the leadership of the University of Cambridge had to grudgingly admit the fact of the experiment. However, with the proviso that the results need additional verification and are not yet ready for publication. In addition, such a publication may violate ethical principles, bringing out the details of the private life of the deceased without their consent.
It is difficult to disagree with the last statement, however, the value of the conducted research is certainly not diminished by this. In the modern scientific environment, it is considered a sign of bad taste to study any phenomena; related to what, by general agreement, is considered to be pseudosciences. And if some facts contradict the established scientific theory, then, as they say, so much the worse for the facts.
Today chirology is referred to as such pseudosciences, just as genetics and cybernetics were referred to them quite recently. But facts are stubborn, though not always desirable. How stubborn are the minds of desperate researchers who dare to challenge academic science again and again. Therefore, it remains only to wait until the number of convincing and irrefutable facts in this area of knowledge outweighs the inertia and sluggishness of the bureaucratic machine of the scientific community.
Oleg POLYAKOV