Litchfield enquirer., 1879-07-03


 Among those who have given the subject any thought, the most erroneous impression pre- vails that it can be brought under the laws of pure mathematics. In the life of every active human being are frequent, almost daily occur ring, coincidences, which those who give any attention to them may, if they choose, make the basis of most absurd delusions. Usually we give no more attention to these occurrences than an exclamation of surprise, and then fer get all about them. We are talking of a per son whom, perhaps, we rarely meet, and have not see for long time; suddenly he appears. A thought-out of the ordinary course, 1t may be--enters our mlnd; we express it, when behold! the same thought had just been pass ing through the mind of our friend. We meet with certain experience, and then we remem- Der. or fancy we remember, that the same ex- perience has happened to us in dream. Of all these daily and hourly happening ceinci- dences, ,clairvoyants skillfully avail themselves, and in that direction they are aided by the ig- norance and eagerness of their victims.
 The trickery of clairvoYants consists mainly in the art of making their victims unconscious y reveal, by word or look, facts of personal hlsteiy, and then, at the proper time. in re- impstting the information to them. In this way.they gain the credit, even among persons of keen intellect, of being endowed with di- vine powers.
 In drawing out the facts of personal or fam ily.history, clairvoyants do not always ask di- rect questions, but rather make statements with an implied interrogation, to which the victim, oftentimes entirely unconsciously, responds by word or look or gesture, or perhaps by all three; and, at later stage of the interview, these secret facts are artfully given back to the victim, who has no recollection of having previously inparted them, and will not believe that he has done SO, but prefers to believe that he is in the presence of Divinity.
 It is not only possible but easy for practi- cal adept to draw out in this way minute and elaborate details of secret family history. 4 few years ago. while connected with one of the public institutions of this city, 1 made a number of experiments in this line. 1 told the patients afflicted with various forms of nervous and allied disorders, not to tell me their symptoms nor give me any facts in their cases, but-to let me tell them and then would proceed to indicate, after the manner of clairvoyant, the locality of their naladies, and the history of their troubles. In the ma jority of cases was successful, and made out the diagnosis to the satisfaction of those who sought my advice, and with good reason, for nothing that could do prevented them from telling me, although 1 asked them no ques- tions; unintentionally and unconsciously, they
 
 view By little practice any one could eas- 1y acquire this art; and long study. such as professional clalrvoyants bestow upon this subject, develops great skill In thus managing and deluding the Hnwary and non-eXpert.
 Another trick of clairvoyants is to find out facts in the lives of thelr victims before they consult them. In some cases this can be done without difficulty. One instance was brought to my notice, where travelling diviner aston ished an entire village by informing those who consulted him of certain mysterious occurren- ces that had taken place there long before, and of which in some way he had gained knowl- edge. Grave-yards, town lecords, photograph albums, family bibles, and all other sources of family history, are elaborately studied by clairvoyants and mediums.
 Yet another way of learning secrets is to employ confederate who converses with the victims in the waiting-room and learns from them the object of their visit, or listens to their conversation from safely secured clos et This form of trickery, however, is not usual, the first named being usually sufficient to deceive almost any noD-expert. This is similar to the well-knewn confidence game The old trick of opening sealed letters is very easy as dry heat or dry cold carefully applied will open almost any sealed letter without breaking the seal.
 The nndoubted success of clairvoyants in relieving and curing cases of obscure diseases is very easily explained. It has been shown in all ages and among all people, that the ac- tion of the mind upon the body IS one of the most potent means of relieving physical mala- dies, and, more or less, all successful physi- clans avail themselves consciously or uncon- sciously of this means of treatment. The con- fidence in clairvoyants, on the part of those wLo consult them, is the chief cause of their cures. In some cases tonic remedies are given that meet nearly all cases, and perhaps really help certain portion.
 In order to test clairvoyance it is necessary to use test cases, into which the element of error from chance or coincidence cannot enter In nearly all the cases of acute or chronic dis ease, at some one or all the stages there is pain in all the principal regions of the body, in the head, the chest. the stomach, the abdomen and in the limbs. Take the cases of disease as they run, and we find very few indeed whose subjects have any prominent region of the body into which pains or uneasy sensations have not entered. Notably is this the case in chronic nervous diseases, the class that are most frequently referred to clairvoyants. It is in the majority of cases impossible for a clairveyant to miss making satisfactory di- agnosis; so far, at least, as determining the locality of the pain is concerned, the difficulty of guessing wrong is greater than the difficulty of guessing right.
 When patient of this kind visits clair voyant, or sends friend to consult her, or in closes a lock of hair in letter. and intrusts it to the mail, the chances are ten to one that he will get an answer which, in general way, corresponds to his own idea and experience of the disease.
 Another way in which clairvoyants succeed is by cautious generalizations that are wide enough to include specific facts This state ment can be best made clear by illustration In guessing the value of lost property, ,tfor ex- ample, clairvoyants frequently say that it is jewelry. This revelation at once astonshes and delights the seeker for information, and he never stops to think that in nine cases out of ten stolen articles are some kind of jewelry. People very rarely consult clairvoyant for lost books or papers, or trifles of any kind, or indeed for any other but quite valuable articles, as gold, silver, diamonds, or precious stones. The clairvoyant, encouraged by the perhaps unconscious expressions of satisfaction on the part of her interlocutor, hazards guess, and states with great pomp and dignity that it is round. This announcement causes yet greater delight, for who, under such circumstances, overawed by converse with a superior being in direct communication with heaven, would stop to consider that almost all jewelry is round, D watches, rings, studs, lockets, buttons, pencils, pen-holders, plate of tableware, even of all kinds, as napkin rings, earrings, bracelets, and so on, through the entire catalogue of jewel- CTS establishment. Then she ventures the statement that it is of bright color, which is pretty generally true of any jewelry worth keeping. To all these statements the seeker for information uncensciously mods assent; so the clairvoyant is sure she is right so far as she has gone. Growing little more bold, the declaration is made that the article is small, ''she sees it." as though articles of jewelry were ever large Again the victim mods as- sent. ''It is worn about the person some- times, continues the mind-reader The speak ing eye of the victim tells her that thus far there:has been no mistake. '.It is not brace let ?" The expression, which she is intently watching by opening her eyes at each critical moment, tells her no. s.Nor a ring ?. It is larger than that" No sign of assent from the entranced dupe, but rather look of negation, which the operator quickly interprets. s.It's a watch9" IS the next venture. #
 That's so; but how could you find out ?" inquiries the astounded visitor.
 its just as mysterious to me as to you, '' replies the deceiver; ''but it exhausts me ter