The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1876-10-20
SCIENTISTS ON SPIRITUALISM.
The Subject Discussed Before the British
Association.

| The Subject Discussed Before the British
Association.
At Glasgow, on the twelfth, in the
anthrOpOlogical section, Prof Barrett
read paper on some phenomena associ-
ated with the abnormal conditions of
mind. The subject was one, however, in
regard to which there had been a great
change of opinion and no better instance
could be given of this change of front
than that afforded by DR.. Carpenter
Prof. Barrett on one occasion took card
and put it in book, and gave the closed
volume to girl. She held it close to
her head a little behind the ear, and
then said, 81 see something inside the
book with red spots on it," He then
asked her to count the spots, and she re-
piled that there were five, which proved
to be quite correct, for the card was the
five of diamonds, and yet he was the only
person in the room who could possibly
have known what itwas. This appeared
to him to be clear case of clairvOyance,
and the important point was that every
care had been taken to prevent any un-
conscious muscular action giving any in
dicatiOn to the subject of what she was
there was a lady who was in the habit of
the hands had been turned about in all
sorts of directions. On one occasion
they found, as they thought, that she
was wrong. Returning the watch to her
they told her so. She persisted however,
that she was right, and on examining the
watch they found that such was really
the case, and it was they themselves who
had made mistake. In that case the
thoughts of the mesmerist were against
those of his subject. He had asked Mr..
Maskelyne, one of the cleverest coniu-
rOrs of the day, and gentleman who
was engaged in an attempt to disprove
the reality of spiritualism, to see some of
these phenomena with him, and he had
since received a letter from Mr.. Maske-
lines manager in which he said: "In
matters of this kind your best men of
science are more easily deceived than
the men of ordinary talent"
Mr.. CrOOkes, speaking as a spiritualist, |
contended against the theory that people |
were deluded into the belief that they /!
saw manifestations which never occurred. |
He maintained that a trained scientific |
inquirer was much more than a match |
for any conjuror, and that if it were
a mere matter of hallucination the |
trickeTy would have been found out long |
ago.
DR.. Carpenter said shat there were
some people who had curious power of |
thought reading. Detective policemen, |
he believed, had this power in wonder
full degree, and he referred to the Con- |
stance Kent case and Others to show that |
the officers hit upon the truth by intui- |
tion. As to DR.. Slade, he frankly con- !
fessed that that gentleman had done |
things which had astonished him, and |
just before leaving London he had chal- |
lenged him to repeat them in his own |
house, in the company of his own friends, |
and with nothing but his own furniture |
in the room. DIR. Slade had agreed to do |
50, and therefore he considered him on
his trial and refrained from saying more |
of him at present.
Mr.. Parke Harrison referred to an |
American case in which a woman had |
confessed that she had been paid to pre- |
tend that she was a medium.
TIE president said that this woman |
was afterwards proved to have been tell
ing falsehoods when she had made the |
pretended confession.
Prof Barrett, in replying on the dis |
cussion, charged DR.. Carpenter with |
changing his position.
DR.. Carpenter denied that he had |
done so, and in regard to what had |
beed said about clairvOyants referred |
to the instance in which Sir James |
Simpson had put $500 note in case,
and said he would give it to any one
who would tell its number, the result be-
ing that ii lay unclaimed for months.
During this exciting incident, Rev. |
Robt. Thompson was seen at the back of
the platform fourishing a bank note,
and apparently offering to submit it
to the test, but no attention vas paid to
lin