Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1892-02-02
TWAIN on TELEPATnY.
THE AUMoRtsT BELIEVES ~ TtiE To-
CoMoTIoN or IDEAS.

q
/ In an article in HdrpeI's, Marx Twain
treats seriously, and not humorously. on
/ "Telepathy.n or the communication by
means subtler than We can now imagine.
Of ideas belonging 20 bodies that may bs
separated by thousands OF miles-ln fact,
a mysterious mental telegnphy
The crossing Of letters is an old. old
story MIR Clemens has seen so much ot
I It that. when he wishes TO have certain
person write 10 him, he simply sits down.
ndites q letter to that person. tears up
tie missive. and waits for the cross let
4 ter which il has induced.
Much more striking than letter cross
/ Ing is the following incident. which We
/ reproduce in Mr.. Clemsns's words:
two or three years ago was living In
/ bed, idly musing, one morning--it was
/ the "a Of March-when suddenly red
/ hot new idea came whistling down into
my camp. and exploded with such com
/ prehensiye effectiveness as to sweep the
sicinity clear of rubbishy reflections. and
4 Gll the air with their dust and flying
I fragments. This idea, stated in simple
/ phrase, was that tile time was ripe and
The market ready for certain book
/ book which ought to be written at once.
a book which must command attention
and be OF q peculiar interest-to wit.
| took about the Nevada silver mines The
Great Bonsnzs was new wonder then.
and everybody was talking about it. II
seemed TO me that the person best quail
ied to write this book was Mr. William
/ Fl. Wright, journalist Of Virginia Ne
vada, by whose side had scrubbed many
months when | was reporter there 10 or
/ II years before. He might be alive still;
+ ne might be dead; could not tell; but
would write him, anyway.
81 began by merely and modestly sug.
costing that he make such book but
I my interest grew as went on, and |
gentured to map out what l thought
ought to be the plan Of the work he
being an old friend, and not given to
taking good intentions for ILL., even
dealt with details, and suggested the
order and sequence which they should
4 follow. / was about to put the manu-
script in an envelope, when the thought
/ occurred to me that If this book should
De written ut my suggestion, and then no
publisher happened to want it, should
4 feel uncomfortable; so l concluded TO
/ keep my letter back until should have
secured publisher. l pigeonholed my
/ document, and dropped note to my
own publisher, asking him to name
lay for business consultation. He was
out Of town on far journey. My note
remained unanswered. and at the end of
three or four days the whole matter had
passed out of my mind On ths 9th OF
/ March the postman brought three or
four letters, and among them thick one
whose superseripion was in a hand
which seemed dimly familiar to me. l
could not place it at first, but presently
( succeeded. Then l said to q visiting
relative who was present:
"'Now will do miracle. will tell
you everything this letter contains-date,
signature, and all-without breaking the
seal. 1t is from Mr.. Wright, Virginia,
Nevada, and is dated the "a Of .ia,c
seven days ago. Mr.. Wright proposes to
make q book about tie silver mines and
the Great Bonanza, and asks what ] as a
friend, think of the idea. He says his
subjects are to be SO and 50, their order
and sequences SO and so, and he will
close with a history Of the chief feature
Of the book, the Great Bonanza
opened the letter and showed that had
8 ated the date and the contents correctly.
Mr. Wright's letter simply contained
what my own letter, written on the same
date. contained, and mine still lay in its
pigeonhols, where it had been lying dur
ing the seven days since it was writ
ten"
Numerous accidents, Of which tho
above is an example, have persuaded Mr..
Clemens to become believer ia the eK.
lstence of mental telegraphy.
II could not doubt, says he. that
Mr. Wright'S mind and mine had been in
close and crystal clear communication
with each other across 300 miles Of mount
aims and desert on tbs morning Of the
2d Of March ! did not consider that
both minds originated that succession of
ideas but one mind originated them and
simply telegraphed them 10 the other
He calls to instance the many well known
cases Of inventions which occurred to diff
serent men in different parts Of the world
at almost the same nloment-the tele.
graph Originated" simultaneously by
Professor Henry in America. Wheststone
in England, Morse on the sea, aud Ger
man in Munich.
The quotation marks about origin
ated in the last sentence are used all
visedly; for when telepathy shall bo
proved an accomplished fact who will
lie able to say OF any ides, am the
author OF this?- By far the most cur
ious and most frequent cases " these
phenomena, accidents, or whatever they
be, occur in the literary world. Witness
the Darwin-wsIlace episode, and scores
Of less famous examples. When ths
courts shall take cognizance of such
science. Il will plainly be impossible &c
/ produce, in 4 given case. any tangible
evidence tracking the illusive idea TO It's
original lair