The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-12-24
Mind Reading.
From the New York Tribune !

Many curious experiments have been
made in regard to the influence of the
mind over the body, and the question
whether the mind of one person can in
terpret the thoughts of another, under
certain circumstances, has been much
discussed recently by physicians in this
city,. j. II. Brown, who calls himself a
mind reader, and who claims to be able
to determine the train of thought in an
other, when brought especially in con-
tact, performed some experiments in this
city, and his methods were investigated
by many distinguished physicians and
scientists. Mr.. Brown afterward went
to New Haven and exhibited his powers
there before large audience. The COM
mittee who there investigated Mr..
Browns methods reported that they
"were not ready to assert that the claim
of mind reading had been clearly main
tained."
DIR. VIM. A. Hammond and several
other scientists attended several of Mr..
Browns seances, as lie called them, while
he was in this city. Mr.. Brown said he
could not operate through DIR. Ham
mond, but could not give any reason for
suCh u otdtcuLcut. w I'LL OtucI SeHtlc-
men Mr.. Brown performed various ex-
periments. One of the gentlemen hid
his door-key under mat in the hall.
Mr.. Brown, blindfolded, took one of the
gentleman's hands in his, and touched
the other, which was held against his
forehead. Mr.. Brown then charged the
gentleman to think of nothing but the
place where the object was hidden. Mr..
Brown then led the gentleman about the
room and out into the hall. When they
reached the mat, Mr.. Brown stopped and
said: "Here it is" Mr.. Brown had
also string of large letters of the al
phabet hung across the room, and upon
this he spelled out word thought of by
some gentleman. This was often done
correctly, though Mr.. Brown was secure
ly blindfolded all the time.
DIR. Hammond explains the process by
the theory that the person operated upon,
thinking intensely upon the subject,
gives some sign, invOluntarily, perhaps
when the place is. reached, or the object
attained that is being sought. Mr.. Brown,
by long practice, probably perceives an
indication that another might not no
tice. DIR. Hammond said that after a
little practice he had been able to per-
form some of Mr.. Browns experiments
with complete success. In one expert
ment DIR. Hammond wrote down q list
of names, and told person to think of
one of them. He then placed his fingers
upon the persons wrist, and said, "Now,
! will tell you the name of the person
you are thinking Of Read over the
list, and when you reach the right name
i shall know by your pulse which it is"
The person then began and read down
the list, and each time when the name
thought of was reached, by some means
it would be plainly indicated, 10 the
great astOnishment of the person expert
mented upon. "The whole is explained
to me-" added DIR. Hammond, "by the
influence of the mind over the body.
The majority of persons thinking stead
lily upon one subject do not fail to give
evidence when that subject is reached
which that person has been expecting
The reason why Mr.. Brown could not
operate upon me was, l would not allow
myself to give the slightest indication
that would enable him to detect my
thoughts. l found this a very difficult
thing to do, and after had tried it, /
did not wonder that many were unable
to exercise this control. l think that
when this theory of external indication
of thought suddenly touched upon is
followed up further, it will explain the
whole of Mr.. Browns mind reading.