The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-10-30

| and hate, and fear, which 1t conveyed was un-
mistalxable His feet were paralyzed likewise
| and twined outward.
0Tbe Zouave's father searched amongst the
sticks and crutches left in the corner for those
which belonged to the only cripple destined
| TO remain so, and as he touched each one look
| with inquiring glance towards the unhappy
wretch, who answered with an awkward Jerk
of his wry neck, until he seized upon sort
| of wooden shelf or gO-cart upon wheels
which the cripple had been used to push
before him. A boy came in to help him from
his seat, and as he disappeared, supported by
this aid, he uttered a poignant groan, which
rosounded through the place with the most
weird and terrible effect imaginable. Isubse-
quently inquired Of the Zouave by what i'm
preston he was made aware of his inability
to cure. He answered simply that in cases
Of this kind veil seemed to fall before his
eyes and impede his view of the patient"
We need not say we do not ask our readers
to believe one word of that most extraordinary
statement. We know nothing whatever of
the correspondent of the Birmingham Journal,
except that for years past he has been telling
stories in that paper better than almost any
one tells them; we do not know his name, and
are wholly unable to decide whether he saw all
this, or deliberately invented all this or as is
most probable, pieced together all this from
other mems stories, and then made himself
the hero of the narrative. That remark about
the veil looks decidedly like an invention, for
it is Scotch. Old Scotch was the mode
adopted fifty years ago by the "seers " of
Skye to describe the modS operandj of
their power of predicting death. Nor do we
care much to explain, or try to explain, the
impression the Zouave has unquestionably
produced in Paris.
Our own impression is, we confess, very
strong one, that he is not fanatic at all, but
| an impostor, who gets up this drama as an ad-
vertisement, with the view of creating an i'm
pression-highly profitable in Paris-that he
| can cure what quacks call nervous diseases"
| but that is only plausible guess. But the
story irresistibly suggests the old query, what
amount of evidence will Justify an intelligent
| human being in believing the facts related of
the Zouave! Clearly no statements from un-
known newspaper correspondents would JUS
tlfy him, because we have no sufficient proof
that they are certain to tell the truth, or intel
igent enough to detect falsehood. But how
much evidence would do Suppose instead of
an unknown gossip, known man, say Mr.. w.
Ii. Russell, had signed that wonderful tale,
would that have been sufficient No. for any
individual might have been the victim of an
illusion. Well, but suppose group of known
men, say, to make the supposition perfect, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Mr.. Maurice, Lord
Stanley, Mr.. Lewes, Professor Huxley, and Sir
Henry Thompson--the operator, we mean
had added their signatures to the tale, would
the educated men in England would say imme-
diately no, that no evidence whatever could
prove an occurrence, or rather a series of oc-
| currences, so nearly approaching the miracu-
lous. And yet, if the testimony of many men
morally incapable Of lying, intellectually more
competent to test deception than any average
doubter to test their statements, is not to be
accepted, why do we believe anything
Most of us have no better proof that the
Queen exists, for, after all, ones eyesght, if
fairly considered, is by no means so complete
a demonstration of any fact as the testimony
OF those six men would be. Their six eye
sights are worth more than our one on any
rule of evidence worth discussion. There is
no proof that we know of that the earth goes
round the sun, except the testimony of good
many competent and honest persons that they
have seen, or otherwise convinced themselves,
of certain phenomena which can be explained
only upon that theory. Jacob, as we say, seems
| to us vulgar impostor, who has taken in the
! clever racontetr whose account we have quoted
| but our contention is that if the six gentlemen
name had seen the same incidents, and tested
their reality, and signed the stOryteller's state
ment, we should either be bound to accept the
facts-their meaning is another matter-orto
state honestly that there are incidents so new,
| so unusual, and so unlike any previous eX-
! peTience, that evidence in regard to them has
no meaning or weight at ALL This is the
! point to which we want to bring our oppo-
nents on this subject, and never can bring
| them. Is there any occurrence not involving
directly or indirectly contradiction in terms
which they would, upon the testimony of
! these six men, when specially interested in
| investigation, refuse absolutely to believe
| And if so, upon what grounds do they accept
anything, or build any scheme of scientific,
antiquarian, or judicial research What is
the limit, short of statement which contra
diets itself, beyond which testimony has no
value Is there no amount of testimony which
| would proUe prove to a demonstration, that
the mere will of Zouave named Jacob could
enable a paralyzed person to walk like a
healthy man; and if so, how much or, if not,
what is our ground for believing a statement
of a gradual cure of similar disease in any
hospitalin Great Britain Upon the answer
to those questions, upon the establish
ment, if it be possible, of some dis
tinct canon as to the value of evidence, de-
pends the whole utility of inquiry into the
more recondite phenomena of nature, and half
the value at least of modern theologic discus
sion.
You are trying, we shall be told, to prove,
on scientific grounds, the scientific value of an
unscientfc credulity. Well, well, well
never mind about names. Call it credulity or
faith, superstition or conviction, the point
remains the same. Is there, or is there not,
possible amount of human testimony which
ought to produce certainty as to a particular
event in reasoning mind, which in truth, for
all purposes Of subsequent investigation or
theory building makes it fact as much to be
reckoned with as the appearance of an uueX-
pected comet in an astronomers calculations
We contend that there is, and must be, and
have as yet seen no answer from the