Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-08-11
Tho Tesl,mony Of the ssnses.

From the New'York Po,t.l
The exposure of the tricks by which
which the medium Flint gained a liveli-
hood by imposing upon the credulity Of
I men and women who ought not to have
been credulons in such a case, suggests
anew the thought which every such ex.
posure ought to suggest, namely, that
the proverbially Trustworthy evidence
OF the senses may be and is often Who'll
ly untrustwortby. Persons see things
or think that they see them, hear things
or think they hear them, and to the
doubter they exclaim, Shall VIC not be-
lieve the evidence Of our sensesP' This
cry is commonly accepted as conclusive,
but it is nevertheless founded upon q
fallacious notion. Ordinarily the senses
are trustworthy guides, of course, and we
rightly accept their testimony "a conclu-
sive. The presence of q saccharine fla
vor in ones cup OF tea sufficiently proves
that the gentlewoman who presides at
the table has not forgotten to put in the
customary lump of sugar, We cross
Broadway confidently and safely when
our eyes tell rs that there is before us a
gap In the line Of vehicles. In the affairs
Of ordinary life we may safely trust our
senses; or rather We may trust our senses
precisely in proportion to the education
they have had, subject, however, to the
correction Of judgment. We see a fam.
ing sunset which makes the clouds seem
on fire, but we are not deceived. The
sense Of sight tells US that gre1t banks Of
fame are in the sky, but judgment i'm
medistely corrects the error. In precise
ly the same way we must constantly cor
rect the sense of sight by allowing for
distance in estimating the size of an OBJ.
ject seen. We trust the evidence of an
educated sense, in a word, but we reject
that of an unskilled one. We hold all
the testimony Of our senses subject to
revision at the bar OF judgment, and the
neglect to do this is the chief source Of
%spirituaiistic and other like decisions.
Mr.. Robert d. Ovens eyes told him that
the solid flesh and blood and garments
OF Katie King were evolved out of moth.
ing and that they vanished again into
thin air, and Mr. Owen was deceived
simply because he accepted the decision
of the lower court, sense, as final. II be
had appealed to reason, as he would
have done in looking ct a building in the
distance, he might have been perplexed,
but he could not been deceived. Wyman,
the Wizard, used To take o succession OF
trunks, each larger than the other, out Of
a small portmanteau, ending with one OF
those enormous things known upon the
railroads as a Saratoga which, when
opened, was found to be filled with a wo.
mans wardrobe. Nobody ever guessed
how he did it, but nobody was deceived,
because Wyman pretended to the posses.
sion of no occult powers, and gave warn
ing that he was only practising upon the
senses lack OF education.
The street vendors Of our cities furnish
daily q very singular illustration of the
of the unirustworthiuess OF uneducated
ungoverned sense. When they wish that
their cries shall be heard at a considera'
bic distance, they place their hands be
hind their ears as persons sometimes dc
when trying to catch distant sounds
The open hand act as q sort of sound
funnel or ear trumpet, and the street
vendors cry sounding louder to himself,
he is firmly convinced that it actually is
made louder by the application of his
hand to his ear, and this conviction is sc
firmly fixed in the minds Of tie hucksteri
that no argument can shake it in the
least. They trust to the evidence oitheil
|, senses, and are deceived, but they ar,
guiltless Of the folly which more intelli
! gent persons than they fall into wher
they permit themselves to be deceived b.
, the trickery Of mediums The hucksteri
do not refuse to hear the voice Of thei.