, 1890-07-24

"1fLND-READZNG."
The presence in this city Of King,
the mind-reader, suggests the
thought that the persistent re-
searches of psychological phlloso-
pliers have done little to clear away
tho mystery that has ever sur
rounded tho domain Of the mind.
1t ie not probable that the exposition
of featS like those performed by
Washington Irving Bishop, and
King, who seems to have followed
closely In his footsteps, will add
much positive knowledge TO the
great domain Of uncertainty and
speculation. They merely show MIR.
King to be man of highly wrought
nervous force, man capable o
merging his own individuality, and
permitting himself to be guided by
the will of the person whose mind
he IL fAllaciously supposed to be
In short, the telegraphy
between the mind and the body of
the person whose mind Mr.. King
assumes to read Is continued TO the
body Of the performer and in q modi-
fed degree guides him to the object
upon which the active mind Is Gen.
tered. In other words, the message
from the mind to the body leaps
from one body to another pretty
much as the electric current has
been made by Mr.. Edison to convey
a message from rapidly moving
train to the wires alongside the
tinck.
Two hundred years ago Berkely
advanced the startling theory that
In reality the universe contained
not single atom OF mntter, that the
material objects surrounding us are
the creation Of the Imagination.
Time has not disproved that theory,
but Instead has served to confirm 1t
In the belief of many of the most
famous explorers of the realm of
thought, and to-day thousands OF
the best thinkers, while not pre-
pared to accept the theory as n GER
tainty, frankly admit that 1t bears
many evidences of probability.
Berkcly claimed that the material
objects surrounding the mind were
ideas, that the human race, in the
wisdom of the Creator, had been en-.
dowed with common ideas about
matter so-called, and that when 0
man becomes insane his ideas are
abnormal, and therefore he looks al
objects through entirely different
glasses. Wrapped up in this theor,
we find no traces Of eternal death
AS O matter Of fact, Berkely ad
vanced 1t for the purpose Of com
batting skepticism about the immor
tality of the soul. 1t merely assert
that there is no matter, nothing bu
soul, and therefore there can b,
nothing but eternal life. Latel
Descartes adopted Berkely's reason
Ing and ampliiied his theory. HI
embodied his belief In the expires
sion, ~ think, therefore 1 exist"
When the Prince of Wales wa
In India, he and his retinue wer,
astounded at the performance Of al
Indian juggler. This performe
threw a long rope high in the air
and according to the reports o
those witnessing the miracle, for /
was nothing less, the rope seemed
to be caught by some force abov,
and to be drawn taut. A boy &C
companying the juggler ther
climbed the rope, hand over hand
until he vanished from sight Tn,
spectators were then horrified a
seeing the dismembered body o
the boy thrown down from above
and were even more surprised I,
see the old juggler pick up tn,
pieces and adjust them 30 that tn
boy returned to life apparently non,
the worse for his experience. Sine
this feat has been repeatedly wit
messed by reputable travellers, an,
is always performed in tn,
open air, there can be bu
ono explanation, and that tend
to support the Berkelyan theory
The juggler must have possessed tn
power Of convincing his beholder
that they saw something that neve
existed, save In the Imagination o
their abnormal minds. He mus
have possessed an influence simila
to that which leads the hypnotic {,
) believe that which his guide tell
him TO believe, with the exception
that the hypnotic is In a tranc
when his mind Is made abnormal
while the Indian juggler apparentl
possessed the power of changing tn
Imagination Of his observers wlthou
putting them TO sleep.
The subject Is one Of wonderful
fascination. The researches OF thos