Evening star., 1895-09-14

Ter friend must have been suffering from
a spell of some sort. The former was not
a believer in appartions, SO continued to
gaze at the old man, who appeared to van
ish into space before her eyes.
She afterward observed that no one could
have possibly entered the church without
passing her and her friend. both of whom
stood in tine only aisle leading up from the
entrance. The cd man had stood in the
portion of the church furtheSt from the
door. at which end there was no opening
The church was undoubtedly empty when
they entered it. She carried a vivid men,
ory of the old mans face and dress, and
when she reached the house of her friend
she at once identified his photograph. which
the family had in their possession. The
cety has detailed evidence of the entire
occurrence.
Wonderful Mind Reading.
The sociatys attertion has lately been
called to oeses of thought reading by young
children whose ages would dispose of theo-
ries pointing to premeditated trickery. One
of the most interesting of these cases was
that Of a child who. when only five. prom
ised to rival the feats OF the most success
full mind readers on record So noteworthy
is his case that numerous foreign doctors
and specialists have examined him, devot-
ing reports to the phenomenon. The boy
has excellent health and his parents are
entirely free from nervous disorders of any
kind. When his mother began to teach
him the multiplication table she found that
he could say it as well she herself. al
though he had never looked at it before
He gave correct answers to the most COM
plfcated problems in mental arithmetic
without pause Some CT those who exam
ined him found that he could translate any
sentence in English. Spanish or Greek
merely on hearing it spoken, although he
had not hitherto studied those languages
After thorough examination however, it
was found that all of these featS were due
merely to mental telepathy. He generally
failed to give the proper answers unless his
questioners mind was fixed upon The same
answers before he gave them. 1t was quite
natural that they should do so, hence ne
unconsciously batiied every one for long
time: He also could repeat equally well
anything that his mother happened to be
thinking about. 1t was very difficult
matter to teach him to read. When his
mother looked upon the page ut the same
time. he pronounced the words IS they met
her eyes. not as he saw them himself
Upon the advice of the doctors the mother
has since striven to break him of these
mfnd-reading tendencies for fear that his
intellect might become permanently de-
pendent upon hers. From this case 1t
would appear that thought reading can be
innate in some persons and is not necessar-
lily cultivated. That the mother had the
most marked influence over the child's
mind would suggest that the teleoa:hic
affinity might be due to physiological
causes.
Prophetic Vision.
Another case of mind reading. or rather
prophetic vision, on the part of a child is
that of an English girl who on being taken
to strange place, or on seeing strange OBJ
Jects, frequently experienced the sensation
that she had seen them before The facuI-
ty was noticed by her parents in early
childhood. and during her attendance at
school. Recently. on leaving school, her
which she had never visited before. and
with which she was in no way indirectly
familiar. One day. while staying at re-
scrt on the Lake of Thourne. they heard
oil futr hill III,
unknown to them, they might enjoy a beau
tiful view of the surrounding landscape.
The walk to the hill top was by way of
narrow path. During the entire ascent the
young lady was struck with her apparent
familiarity with every tree or other object
passed. Finally she became positive
told her mother as means Of proof. that
on reaching the top they would pass a
tree bearing an odd notice printed on a
sheet of tin. On reaching the place spect-
fed, both the tree and notice We're found.
exactly as described. In addition to full
testimony from the young lady herself, the
society has that of her mother, who cor
roborates it in every detail. This case ap-
pears to be an excellent one for theoso-
phists to use evidence that persons
souls have previously inhabited the earth
in different bodies. sometimes those of the
lower animals.
An Explosion by Telepathy.
There are as many cases reported from
are not generally as striking as those con-
cerning foreign subjects. probably for the
reason that Americans as rule are not
generally visionary. One of the strangest
OF these apparitions was seen by man
living at Lima, Ind, who was large
stockhoIder in a bank at Coldwater, Mich.
In the middle of one night he was awaken
ed by supposed explosion, arose and
walked all through the city to locate it,
but found that he was mistaken. The next
day he heard that the hank at Coldwater,
in the other state. had been robbed at the
same hour of his dream, the safe being
blown open with dynamite. His money was
doubtless uDpermost in his thoughts going
to sleep, and hence the establishment of
telepathetic or telegraphic line between his
mind and the money vault.
From its branch in this country the So
ciety has also received testimony regard
ing the supposed medical value of hyp-
notiSm. This includes the case of a young
New York school teacher, who from wit
Messing an accident received a severe men,
tai shock resulting in paralysis of the
face and limbs. Ely making hypnotic pass
es over the afflicted parts physician made
it possible for her to walk about in less
recovered her senses and did not remem-
ber anything which had happened since
the day of her fright. which she calle1
yesterday" On her fun ther recovery the |
doctor found that she was what hypno-
fists call "a sensitive" She could feel
mis- presence when he was not visible and |
could distinguish OBJECTS held between her
hand and his by their tastes coming to her
mouth. Water over which hypnotic pass
es had previously been made tasted 10 her
like mineral water, and could be iistin- |
guished from other water not treated. |
Two Distinct Conscfousnesses.
A member of the Royal Chemical Society, |
London, has recently demonstrated to the |
Society for Psychical Research proof
that man possesses two distinct conscious |
nesses. This he explains by the fact that |
persons under the influence of anaest thet-
les, while not apparently conscious at the |
time Of operations, are sometimes able, |
after few days, to describe the exact de- |
tails of the operation instruments used, |
etc, although not informed to these |
before or since. What he calls the work |
a-day consciousness was absent at the !
time, but the "subiminal consciousness is |
that which was present during the opera |
ton. and which not only felt but what |
was going on. Hence, anaesthetics would |
seem to. postpone rather than destroy the !
functions of the latter kind of conscious |
ness. If some persons have two separate |
forms of consciousness why can't one form |
remain with the person while the other is
far away in distant corner of the earth? |
JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS. Jr.