Short Fiction · Chapter
The Experiment explained
Dr.
What happens
Dr. Raymond conducts a neurosurgical experiment on Mary, a young woman he rescued from the streets, aiming to open her perception to the spirit world. Clarke, a reluctant witness, observes as Mary briefly sees something transcendent before collapsing into a state of hopeless idiocy. Raymond remains unrepentant, believing Mary has glimpsed the Great God Pan.
Themes in this chapter
Occult and Forbidden Knowledge
Raymond's experiment seeks to bridge the material and spirit worlds, a forbidden pursuit.
Madness and Psychological Horror
Mary's descent into idiocy after her vision exemplifies psychological horror.
Supernatural and the Divine
The experiment aims to contact a supernatural entity, the Great God Pan.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Clarke
Witness to the experiment; troubled by Mary's fate.
- Dr. Raymond
Conducts the experiment; claims Mary has seen the Great God Pan.
- Mary
Subject of the experiment; left a hopeless idiot after seeing the spirit world.
Key passages
“Three days later Raymond took Clarke to Mary’s bedside. She was lying wide-awake, rolling her head from side to side, and grinning vacantly. 'Yes,' said the doctor, still quite cool, 'it is a great pity; she is a hopeless idiot. However, it could not be helped; and, after all, she has seen the Great God Pan.'”
Three days after the experiment, Raymond brings Clarke to see Mary, who is now a vacant, grinning idiot. Raymond calmly remarks that while it's unfortunate, she has at least witnessed the Great God Pan.
Reveals the tragic outcome of the experiment and Raymond's detached rationalization.
“With a touch I can bring them into play, with a touch, I say, I can set free the current, with a touch I can complete the communication between this world of sense and—we shall be able to finish the sentence later on. Yes, the knife is necessary; but think what that knife will effect. It will level utterly the solid wall of sense, and probably, for the first time since man was made, a spirit will gaze on a spirit-world.”
Raymond claims he can activate dormant brain cells to bridge the material and spirit worlds, and that surgery is required to break down the barrier of the senses, allowing a spirit to see the spirit world for the first time.
Highlights Raymond's hubris and the forbidden nature of his knowledge.