The record-union., 1891-04-19
is ssMIND-READINGo A FRAUDg

IS ''MIND-READING'' A FRAUD?
Is so-called "mind- reading" fraud 2''
DR.. Charles Gatcheu takes the affirmative
of the question in an essay in the Forum
ers have witnessed the exhibitions of
Bishop, Foster, or of others less conspic-
uous. There is not need, therefore, to ex-
plain at any length what they do. In
brief, blindfolded, the mind-reader seiz-
ing his subject by the hand, leads him to
the place where he has secreted an object;
tor he takes the Committee in an open
carriage and blindfolded drives them
over q tortuous route to the place where
the object is concealed and find it. Or,
again, he reads names in folded slips of
paper that only the subject is supposed
TO know. Still again, in sort of trance
sor hypnotic state, he assumes to tell what
IS passing in ones mind, or to sing an air
one is thinking of, or to reply to mental
question" In some cases he reads a SEN
tence from a book one looks at, and
which the mind-reader cannot see.
Now, DR.. Gatchell, who has made
profound study of the whole subject,
affirms that all thesethings are but clever
tricks, that there is not of record single
uneXplainable case of "mind-reading;'
that so-called Thought transference' is a
myth, and that all claims to the contrary
are opposed to evolution, to all known
facts of physiology, and to the nature of
man as now constituted. 1t must be con-
fessed that reason denies the claims of
the mind-readers, and that if we are to
judge by results, their powers are not
worthy of respect, since in no instance
have they contributed to useful and
praiseworthy ends.
'Mind-reading," so-calIed. is not novel,
for as early as 1847 Didier, Partisan lad,
gave some wonderful examples of it, as,
for instance, describing the mansion and
grounds of Lord Normandy that he had
never seen. But he had confederate in
Marcellet. Vielet, the servant of Puyee-
CUR, in 1874 claimed similar powers when
"magnetized' by the latter, but the mas
ter in that case was the source of the
trickery. Cumberland was a noted ex-
pert in the business, and he confessed
that it was but muscle-reading Bjorn-
strom in his work tells of Liebault hyp-
nothing young man, and telling him
hon fI,o 0F1
what the company thought of. The COM
pany was told by one of its members to
think ofhis embracing his cousin, a young
lady. On recovery the young subject
blushed, laughed, and said he would not
dare do as he was impressed to act.
The claim is that in the hypnotic state
ones senses are amazingly acute, and he
appreciates things ordinarily not noticed.
He sees and interprets every motion and
look accurately, and sometimes divines.
but does not read the thought of another.
The same is true, says Gatchell, of one
under the influence of hasheesh. So it
was not wonderful that Liebaulrs sub
3ect, observing his cousin and the COM
pany, not all of whom could wholly con-
troll their countenances, OWNED the task
given him. Had the thought been re-
mote, or foreign to the surroundings, as
name the promoter of the Panama
Canal" Liebaults subject would have
EaiIed.
Washington Irving Bishop, Professor
Gatchell insists, was but an expert
muscle-reader, and a clever trickster. His
best feat was that of driving blindfolded
70 the place where an article had been
hidden. Professor GatchelI declares that
he has several times done the same trick.
The operator blindfolds himself. though
the committee is led to believe that it does
the work. By working the muscles of
the head and face the pads over the eyes
are lifted, and through the cleverly-con-
Structed hood drawn over his head, the
operator is enabled TO see. This hood is
of four thicknesses of cloth. The outer
is thin, the second and third have aper-
lures for the eyes; the inner has a seam
that the operator can open by simple
device, but which the committee cannot
detect. The committeeman who hid the
article is made to communicate to the
others of the body by finger-tracing on
the wall the route he pursued, all vocal
communication being forbidden, and by
this pantomime the reader" through his