Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1873-08-15
Animal Magnetism.

The dividing line between Nature and
the Supernatural is in some places very
obscure. A young gentleman of the name
of j. r. Brown, a resident of Red Oak,
Ia, aged twenty-one years, called at the
Tribune office, yesterday, in company with
ex-senator Woodland, of this city, and a
gentleman from Whiteside County. Mr..
Brown was introduced as one possessing
remarkable psychological powers, of
which the assembled editors were invited
to make test. We were informed that,
if any person would go to another part of
the building and deposit any article what
soever in secret place, Mr.. Brown, being
blindfolded, would take the person by the
hand and lead him directly to the place,
the only condition being that the person
depositing the article should keep his
mind intently fixed upon it. One of the
gentlemen of the Tribune thereupon went
into an adjoining room, closed the door,
and placed coin inside volume of the
Poland edit-Mobilier report, and cover
ed this volume with several other books
Returning, Mr. Brown, having a handker-
chief tightly bound over his eyes, took this
gentleman by the left hand, held the hand
for a moment against his own (Mr. B.'s)
head, and then walked against the door of
the adjoining room. The door being
opened, he marched against one of the
glass doors of a bookcase having dozen
or more similar openings. This door be-
ing opened, he placed the hand of the
gentleman, who had secreted the coin, on
the Poland Credit-Mobilier report, and
said, "There it is.' He did not claim to
know ao7i0t the thing was, but he knew
where the place was.
Several experiments similar to the fore
going were tried, with the invariable re-
suit that Mr.. Brown, by placing the hand
of the experimenter on his own forehead,
was enabled to walk directly to the place
where the object had been placed. 1t
was also ascertained that if a person
should merely fix his thoughts on any OBJ
iect in the building, Mr.. Brown would go
directly to it, having first placed the per-
sons hand on his own head The only
explanation Mr.. B. can give of his power,
is that when the hand is placed on
his head, he sees a light leading to
the object of which that person is
thinking. He does not pretend to read
anybody's thoughts in any other way than
this.
1t is fortunate that Mr. Brown was born
in the nineteenth century instead OF the
seventeenth, else he would have been burn
ed for witch AS it is probable that he
will give some public exhibition of his
powers, we turn him over to the "scien-
lists" That there is no humbug in his
case, we are fully persuaded. The exper-
iments to which he submitted in the
office of the Tribune, in the presence of
half dozen extremely skeptical expert
menters, seem to prove the existence of a
physico- psychologist force, to which the
name of "animal magnetism" is most CON-
monty applied: The existence of such a
force has long been suspected, but the
conditions of its operation are so rare, and
the means of verifying the testimony con-
cerning it are so unsystematized, that it has
no scientific basis or recognition what
ever. AS starting point for some we'll
authenticated information upon the sub
ject, we suggest that the medical profes-
sion of Chicago appoint a committee,
whose testimony would be universally ac-
cepted, to hold "seance" with Mr..
Brown, and report the facts.-ChjcagoZrS-
6une, august z.