New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-11-23
MIND-REAUING.

| MIND-READiAG.
Mr. Irving Bishops performances at Boston,
| exe,oplfying what is called mind reading were
interesting but evidently did not explain any
thing. Mr. BishOp, 1t is understood, claims
that his power is simply the result of psychologist
education. If that were the case if, that, is,
| undertaking is a science which can be mastered
by any one, it must have laws which are of gen.
eral application, and when mastered its
phenomena must be at the command of tho
scientist. But it is to be observed that Mr..
Bishop has not such a mastery of his phenOm.
ena. On the contrary, they appear OCCASION
ally to get completely beyond his control. as
in one instance at Boston, when he failed to
follow the clews altogether and minated
vaguely that the person through whom he seemed
enable 20 work was kind of person he did not
like to have to operate with. This particular
failure indeed rather rrinforces the theory
of nind-readng, for the gentleman who
b fled Mr.. Bishop said afterward that
while he had endeavored to concen-
trate his mind upon the Object he had
also striven to command his facial muscles as
completely as possible. 1t is further noticeable
that tire Rev Minot j. Savage seems to have
afforded the best conditions fer Mr.. Bishop.
and il is to be rememb red that Mr. Savage is
n man of great sensitiveness himself, and has
the responsive and mobile face Of the orator.
The experiments at the Vendome Hotel were
prartically identical with those Mr. Bishop has
been pulling London withal. The mock
murder tests and TIE b mi. note tests certainly
are strongly suggestive of a real reading of
the mind. The muscle-reading theory, which is
to the effect that the mind translates thought
into muscular manifestations. and that these
latter are interpreted by the trained eve OF the
mind-rrader, Is ut frat sight no less incoIr pre-
hensbe than the hypothesis of direct mind
reading. There is also the strong objection tn it
that nobody who holds it has hitherto been able
to show how the muscle reading is or can be
dpne. 1t is perfectly trde that underwriting
presents equal obstacles To comprehension,
but WE have analOgies TO help lis 10 that cause.
Thus we know that an imperfect kind of APP
prehensDn of what is in the mind of another
often comes to certain people, and especially
To women. Sometimes this mysterious faculty
is called intuition, which only means that
conclusions are reached without visible or con-
scious processes of reasoning. The connection
established between friends and lovers.
between husband and wife, sometimes between
mother and child, not infrequently produces the
same mysterious effects. In the case OF
Zschokke, the Swiss philosopher. the gift was
still greater, for he was enabled. by putting
himself in rapport with any one, to know not
only tne character but the past life of that
person. That such a faculty exists appreciably
save in few a specially sensitive persons Is
improbable. 1t may, however, be latent in all,
like the machinery for pricking the ears and
it may be capable of development by steady
practice.
Mr. Bishops failures however, go far to
prove that no amount of training can enable the
mnd-reade to overcome deliberate volitiOnal
resistance Whether he derives sugg stions
from conscious or unconscious muscle read
ing or from direct mental contact, by methods
at present beyond our com ,rehension, the fact
remains that if he cannot put himself IN COM
munication with an harmonious intermediary
he is bafiled. THIS circumstances points to
unconscious rather than voluntary action on
the part of the mind-reader In the last test
Civ en- by Mr.. Bishop, the tracking of an object
through many streets and to its hiding place
IN distant house, the resemblance of the pro-
ceedngs to tho action of a dog in following
scent cannot be missed. That the mind reader
was here influenced 10y something more than
derived suggestions is indicated by the fact |
that he once drove past the house where tho |
object WAS hidden, without recognizing, though |
of course the house must have been instantly |
known by those who accompanied him, and |
from whose minds he Was to obtain his in for |
nation. Again, he declared that ne felt himself |
drawn by the object while yet he was at some |
distance from it. Now this feeling has closer
analogy with following a scent than with mind |
reading. But we need not shrink from av0wing |
the opacity of the whole subject. The Psychical |
Research Society in England has been able to |
III axe nothing of it after three years. study, |
aud all the explanations thus far advanced |
only serve to dirken counsel. AS Psychology
is science in which the Western World is
anything but proficient, the phenomena of
miud-reading are naturally relegated to ii.
Perhaps when tho nature of mind is better
as also its relations to body, we |
shall BIZ in a position to understand mind
reading more clearly.
THE CATHOLIC PASTORAL AND MR..
GEOREE