taming of chance

The Society for Psychical research founded in London in 1882 p206 "Its members wanted to replace vulgar and popular enthusiasm for mediums by a scientific study; instead of communication from the dead at Seances, they supposed that there was a phenomenon of thought transference between living people. The first project of the society was to conduct a census of examples of telepathy, and then to engage in experiments. An American society for psychical research was founded in Boston in 1884, with the same ends. (Henry james The Bostonians)" C.S. Pierce and J. Jastrow "On Small Differences of Sensation," Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences 1884:73-83. Ian Hacking, "Telepathy, Origins of Randomization in Experimental Design," Isis 79(1988):427-51.