Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-07-03
THEHINDOOMYSTERY

THEHlNUOOM 1OIEk1
EXPLANATION OF THE MARVELLOUS
GROWTH OF A PLANT. 80.
Science Has ut Last Discovered tho Yogis'
secret-Formio Acid In tho soil-The
| M.eiciaus Use Diah From Ant uills--A
Snap Shot Investigation.
| Science is making plain, one after tho
other, all the mysteries, old and new, of
the world, while it is devising on its own
account feats more marvellous than leger-
demain or theosophic precipitation ever
thought of. The last mystery to be reveal.
ed and to have the cold light Of science
thrown upon 1t is the famous old trick, or
coniuring, of the Yogis, the ascetic
"adepts" Of India, of planting seed in a
DOT full of earth in plain sight of a curl
GUS audience and causing it to grow with
In an hour into florrishing plant, from
which tho blossoms could actually be
plucked Scores of people of veracity not
to be doubted have seen this feat perform
ed and have been baffled at its wonders.
Some have tried to explain the mystery by
claiming extraordinary sleight Of hand on
tho part of the Yogis, and others have IN
sisted that the "trick" was the perfection
of hypnotism. No one whoever witnessed
this seemingly marvellous growth could be
induced to believe that the plant they
| finally saw had actually grown within this
short time from the seed. 1t was either
that they had been hypnotized, bound by
the will of tho operator and had Imagined
that they had seen the plant grow from
moment to moment under tho thin cloth
thrown over it, or else that by some superb
skill Of lcgcrdcmain the pot containing
the seed had been spirited away before
their eyes and a new pot with blossom
! ing plant set down in its place at light
ming speed.
A clear headed cold bloodcd scientist,
| however, demolished these theories short
time ago, proving conclllsivcly that, what
ever else it might be, the plant growing
marvel was no fraud. At Il recent Yogis
seancc, to which he Went prepared, the
aged magician planted the seed and cover
ed the pot with its cloth, and the man
with Il turn for science ''snappcd' his de-
| tcctive camera at it. A moment or two
later he took another snap shot, ard others
at regular intervals of about three min
utcs each, until the Yogis showed the flow
ering plant. The shutter Of the camera,
set by clockwork, performed its duty faith
fully
With painstaking care he then devcl-
opcd each plate. In each the cloth cover
ing the pot was clearly visible. In Only
two, the first and the last, was there a sign
of any human figure These two plates
showed the planting of the seed ard the
| +J,o .lf,tJ, hn
already Powered plant On all the others
there was simply the image without a blur
of the covered pot Only showing amaz-
ingly that in some strange way the plant
had been really forced to grow, the cloth,
as it was seen on each succeeding negative,
was raised plainly little higher. In the
series of plates there was u constant rise.
Thus it was made evident to all OF Brit
| ish India that the 'plant trick was no dc
fusion, but some incomprchcnsble marvel
So far much was gained, but it remained
for /, clover French savant, M. Raggoccal,
| to dig out the secret and to discover pre-
ciscly the way it was done.
| The series of photographs convinced him
that there was no fraud AS a preliminary
to his study, he set about examining close
ly every detail Of this seeming miracle
! There must be some science about 1t II
there is no trickcry, he reasoned. Some
hidden principle of nature or some chem
lcal combination mixed with the earth nor
known to modern science as yet and locked
| in the breasts of these "adcpts' for CEN
turtles
| I[c observed, first of ALL that tho Yogis
never attempted the "trick' unless they
had brought along carefully guarded some
special earth or soil. At once it struck
him that the secret might lay in this pc
culiar earth. But the Yogis would not
tell him it's nature, much as he pleaded, or
divulgc to him where 1T came from. More
and more was he convinced that some
strange quality of this earth was WHIT
made the miracle possible. Finally, by a
system of bribery that looscned at last the
tongues of the corrupt Hindoo servants OF
| the Yogis he learned that the "masters'
obtained the earth from ant hills. Puzzled
more than ever, Raggoncau persistently
experimental with ant hill earth that he
collected at great trouble Ignorant of what
propa tics it might reveal, but sure that nc
was Oh the right track.
A chance That was tho result of careless
ness, pure ard simple, laid the whole mys-
terry bare to him. While experimenting he
got small quantity of the earth and sew
eral ants at the same time into his mouth
It was an unpleasant moment, but 1t gave
him the solution Of the problem. He de-
tectcd on the instant the presence of an
enormous quantity of fornic acid in this
earth, worked into it from the tiny bodies
of thousands of ants passing over and
through it. The soil was charged with
forlnic acid-in fact, direct from the ants
A few experiments showed him that this
| formic acid was the mysterious, subtle
power compelling the marvellous growths.
After a little he found himself perfectly
able to do the Hindoo trick. The entire
secret proved to be that formic acid quick
ly eats away the integunent surrounding
a seed. Then, coming into direct contact
with the germ itself, it stimulates beyond
all credence its growth, bringing about in
mere moments what unassisted nature
would require weeks for.-Exchange
Carlyle and Beggars.
Sir Henry Parkes and Thomas Carlyle,
as is we'll known, were intimate friends