, 1874-12-06
MIND-READING,

UNDERTAKING..
| Ii Not Profs Seymour Som exyhut OF n
| 1nsan,buc1
It is rather annoying in Nature to environ all
her modcrn secrets with an atmosphere Of uncer-
tainty, such that nobody can tell whether OF nor
| they are actually revealed For instance, the
phenomena Of Spiritualism are all hedgod about
With an inaccessibility which dedes actual proof
Naturalization must evade our senses by taking
place in obscurity ; and the fragment Of pencil
will write message ouly out of sight aud to in
sure the best results the sense OF touch is can
| celed BY joining Of hands. It is not wonderful
| that mankind laughs der1sire1y at being request
cd to take 4 satisfying drausht OF such belief.
The mystery Of the hour is
! M1SD-READ1Na
so-called. The young man Brown developed +
| faculty for following the thoughts OF IN indi-
vidual, and transferring the sense OF locality
from the brain Of another to his own merely by
touch. We all love mystery, and Brown mysti-
fed all he saw. Tested by scientsts in New
Haven he has given some very unsatisfactory
exhibitions, failing seYea times in twelve to ac-
complish his feat. Now comes another psy-
chometrist who claims to perform miracles 10
successful in the city, and also very
unsuccessful. He claims to be superior to
| Brown, because he assumes nothing. He obess
ho says, an 1ndehnable impulse, and not definite,
sensible guide. Brown eees Tor processes to
seo) light before his eyes, which leads him.
ought to find. Common sense would receive
Browns theory less readily than Seymour's.
| What the latter Claims to do IL to receive the
impression OF any person upon any particular OBJ
! ject,
| SUBJECT TO CERTAIN CONDITIONS.
! For instance: Hide any object, ret your mind
intently upon it, and allow Seymour to hold your
| hand, and he will guide you to tue spot.
States and certain numbers thereon. Thiuk OF
| your native State and your age, and he will lead
| you to the chart and point GU. both. Think OF
an object in the room, and he will lead you to
it. AL this Seymour clairns. and yet.
Think OF name before his alphabet, ana he will
spell it out for you.
As an invitation was given to certain
gentlemen, including members Of the
press, to Investigate Sey1nour's mind-reading,
q he cobree Of Ss Psner
House last evening. Two neTspaper-men al
rived at the hour named, aud waltei alone for
! an hour before others came. When small
audience was assembled friend Of tue
psychometrist named certain conditions, and
Seymour left the room to bandage his eyes. 4
call was made for volunteer to try the first e1-
pertinent, and one journalist, rising, tossed his
glove to the other, who put it in his pockot.
The first then gave himself over to Seymour.
who
s8UFFIEp AND sHAMBLED ABOUT
for nearly ten minutes, investigating nearly
every Conceivable hiding place in the lower end
Of the room, inclndlng two bed5teads, and. final
II bringing up By the reporter in whose pocket
the glove was hidden. announced that it was
thereabouts. This test WAS unsatisfactory, for
this reason: The two newspaper-lnen were
sitting together when Seymour left the room
the glove was hidden i'll the presence OF all the
mour. and another gentleman sufficiently Ike
him to be his brother, were in the room. and,
though they percsptlbly said and did nothing to
guide hun, still thore was chauce OF their kind
cooperation.
THE SECOND TEST
was more thorough Capt. Houston whispered
to three Of his friends aed the nawspaper-meu
what he thought of It WAS the soap-dish at the
south end Of the room. OF course neither part
the secret. Capt. Houston WAS led round The
room. stumbling and shuf1ling against chairs and
tables 1t the north end. The two beds had
ereat attraction for the psychometrist., He
dived into them, and On them, and under them.
into Into tho upLolstering of Chairs aud
buried himself II the tete-a-tetcs; he
dashed wildly aud energetically toward ths win
dow, into the Laps of the visitors, bus did not
find the object He impored Capt. Houston to
keep his mind upon the object, then to be pas
si1e for an instant, then to resume his concen-
tratlon Of thought afl of Which, though perspir-
ing freely. Capt Houston did Then Sem
| resumed his intimacy With the bedding and.
! jumping into it, over it, and under it. finally
gave up the chase. Capt. Houston politely told
him what he had thought OF. and called on the
witnesses to substantiate the statement.
This test very unsatisfactory, it is needless
to remark. Theirs we're but few things in the
room, and Seymour tumb1ed into or against
nearly every article likely to be thought ot-the
door-handie, spittoon, bedstead, furniture, and
chart.
. THE NEXT PHENOMENON
was still LEGS satisfactory. The acknowledged
partner. tuning to tae (presumable) brother,
asked him to be the next student OF psYchometry.
With rare tnodesty, this gentleman declined un-
til others had tried. The hesitation aud general
unsa!isfactorness OF the first rwo trials had
discouraglDg effect all round. The partner,
q well-dressed, ectly-speaking. and uatty
man OF TWO or three aud thirty, said that both
the previous experimen:ers we're hard men
(which indeed they were>. and that the other re-
porter would doubtless prove very much more
tractable subject.
After SOME discussion. third and last trial
was made by the now sleptical newspaper man
Of the first experiment, and ho proved hlmself
ooncIusively a hard mau."
There vera two charts, containing the
names OF States, one at each end Of
the room. The pri1nalist named to Capt. Houa-
ton the otAte OF Ne" hampshire On tno EOuLN
Chart Seymour wrest!ed with him before the
north chart for fifteen minutes until the oper-
stor's patience gave ont and he politely declined
to continue his investigation. It need not be
said that this trial was very unsatisfactory.
Under the circumstances. the whole exhibition
was very discourag1ng. OF course the psycholo-
gists said thatit coincidence that two 1ecalci
trant subjects found succesaiveIy; that their
mind wandered from the object, and, in tie
language of the circle the conditions we're
unfavorable." It will appear to the merely COM
nonsense reader that this was pity. At the
same time the squirming and juggling and
plunging and diving and Jumping anu scratch
ing and pulling and pushing saror Of the saw
dust-r1ng too strongly for acceptance Why q
man endeavoring to read the secrets of another's
brain should benare like an eel ont OF water ia
more Of puzzle than his occasional SUCCESS. It
is too fsly.
THE WEATHER..
WASHINGTON, D. c., Dec. 5.-For the North
west. clear or clearing and cold weather, with
north or west winds, and high barometer For
the lake region, generally cloudy weather. with
1irht rain nr arny aagt of Michiran and Enutf.