Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-06-13

NOTHING BUT CLEVER TRlCKERY
OR MUSCLE READING

Scientific Exploration.
The credulity Of the American people
has often beer imposed upon. The
Locke Moon Hoax" and the Cardiff
giant have been followed by the modern
''mind reader" who claims for himself
powers Of divinatiou excelling anything
that has been known since the time Of
Christ Mind reading, in the sense IN
which the word is used by those who
pretend to possess the alleged power,
may be defined as the transference of a
thought-that is, a mental conception,
or an idea-from the mind Of one person
TO the mind Of another, without the use
OF the known mediums Of cCmtnunica-
ton, which consist Of the nerves Of gen
eral sensation and those Of special sens
Mind readers claim that this feat 10
possipie, In opposition to such claims,
| submit that profane history contains
no trustworthy account Of its accom-
plishlnent. II never VIII be brought
about 50 long as man remains constituted
as he is at present It is opposed % the
Winciples Of evolution and 10 all l,nowg
facts Of physiology. notwithstanding
all that may be adduced TO the contrary
many believe that mind reading is one Of
the possibilities, even IT II is not one Of
the actualities of life. But the belief,
In every instance, is founded either on
insufficient evidence or on faulty OBJ
sarvahon, or on a disposition to mistake
the marvellous for the miraculous.
Many accounts Of alleged mind read
ing are purely fictitious Others are ex-
aggerations Of trivial incidents or misin-
Expectations Of observed phenomena.
Others still are accounts of muscle read
tnR Those cases that do not belong to
the classes named are accomplished by
trickery.
NOT EVEN IN HYPNOTIsN.
II there were any conditions under
which Thought tyansfereuce ight occur
they would seem TO be supplied by hyp-
Rotism In the hypnotic state the mind
OF one person eyerts over the mind Of an
ether an influence that surpasses any
thing with which we are acquainted
under ordinary conditions But the inn
poss Die cannot be accomplished even by
the aid Of hypnotism.
IL must be born in mind that in the
hypnotic state ones senses are intensely
acute. That which ordinarily escapes
the attention Of the most careful observer
Ia quickly detected by the sharpened
senses OF the hypnotist, 1t is impossible
10 make motion that no does not see
and interr~ accurately. Thus. by virtue
of his shMpeuea faculties, the hypnotist
will sometimes Irvine, though he can
rot read the thought Of another.
Ofmod,rn mind readers the late Wash
ington Irving Bishop was the best known
In this country. Mr. Bishop was at the
same time an expert muscle reader and
clever trickstcr, His most famous feat,
the one from which he gained the great
est notoriety aud eclat, was that of driv-
hg a team Of horses, while he was os-
tensibly bhndfolded, at break neck speed
by circuitous route through crowded
streets and finding at a distant point an
object or a name In a book, previously
selected by a committee,
For the amusement of my friends 1
have several times performed this seem
iugly impossible feat, and in no instance
have my methods been detected ltss
cessful accomplishment depends upon
two things the fact chat one who is ap-
parenty blindtoldel can see distinctly
all the time and the fact that the mem
bers of his committee are betrayed into
becoming his unwilling accomplices,
HARDLY KNOW THEMSELVES.
The testimony of all muscle readers,
especially during their first attempts,
has been that they do not know what
their methods are EARLY success Is a
self surprise. 10 creates tho impression
that one is possessed OF % weird power,
This was my own experience, But, after
repeated experiment and close obserys-
ton, am convinced that the facts ad-
init of rational explanation
Primarily the results are All due 60 a
single cause. but several different con-
dihons enter into their execution. In
making his way 60 tine location Of hid
den object the subject usually does not
lead the muscle reader, but the muscle
reader leads the subject That is 10 say,
SO long as tine muscle reader moves in
the right direction the subject gives no
indication but pa-siyely moves with
him The muscle reader pcrceives moth
Ing unusual But the subjects mind
being inteuuy fixed ON a certain course,
the instant that the muscle reader de-
yi8tes FROM chat course there % slight.
involuntary trpuor, or muscular thrill
on the part OF the subject due 60 the sud
dem Intervention rts rraNIHnE state Df