Omaha daily bee., 1900-01-11

the telelectroscope and there is no reason
TO doubt that in the twentieth century IL
may be possible for millions Of spectators in
all quarters OF the civilized world to watch
over in their own homes the movements OF
armies on the field OF battle, the develop
ment cf the attack, to follow the fortunes
OF the defense, to see men drop from the
FIRE line and to hear the thunder OF artillery
or the crackle OF small arms.
II the telephone has removed the barriers
when renders It impossible for human be-
ings to be audible to each other. the %telelec-
t]rOscope makes this planet transparent as
a crystal. The possibility OF seeing through
things which our forefathers used TO be-
lieve was possessed only by supernatural
beings is now the possession Of every one
who Is capable Of using the Roentgen rays.
Wireless telegraphy and the Roentgen rays
have opened the windows OF a new world
for the ordinary man. He begins to per
ceive possibilities before undreamt Of, and
things which he would formerly have dis
missed as the fantasy Of a disordered tmagi-
nation, he now admits may quite possibly
be within the pale of practical achieve
ments. Hence 1t Is that | no longer feel
that speculations which have been familiar
to me fer years will be regarded as proof
Of i~ncipient lunacy, If they are set forth
in print.
Facts OF Thought Trnnsferencc.
therefore proceed to put forth briefly
a statement of what has already been
demonstrated as possible In a region Of
thought transference, and base upon that
a sentiment as to what | think may be re-
garded as lying well within the possibilities
of the future.
Thought transference or, as 1t is usually
called, telepathy, or the transmission of an
idea from one mind to another without
spoken word or language or sign of any
kind, has now taken its place as one OF
those facts the existence of which is denied
by no honest investigator.
No doubt the laws of telepathic transmits
sion of thought from mind to mind are very
obscure. The operation is little understood,
and even in the best subjects continually
occur strange lapses and mistakes difficult
to account for, perplexing and embarrassing,
but a thousand mistakes. a thousand mis-
| carriages do not count for anything COM
pared with one success, and in the case
of telepathy we have much more than the
one success.
The best way of illustrating this subject is
to imagine a modern city, evacuated by all
it's inhabitants, on the approach of an army
of men who have never heard of the tele-
phone. The invading force would find tele-
phones everywhere, and would naturally be
immensely puzzled to explain their meaning.
In the effort to understand the significance
OF the wires, many of them would be de-
stroyed. and multitudes of telephone boxes
would be battered to pieces in the vain
effort to make them yield up their secret.
But some day by the merest chance one
of the strangers might happen to talk into
a telephone that was switched on to some
one else whose ear was at the receiver at
the ether end. The chances against such
an occurrence would be a million to one;
more, it might happen. A thousand, a hun
dred thousand abortive experiments, with
other telephones which were not switched
on at the receiver, which was not held
to the ear Of anyone would prove nothing
as against the fact that on a certain oc-
casion two persons in their sane senses had
undoubtedly spoken and been heard by the
telephone.
1t is Just so with telepathy. We are like
those barbarians in the modern city. Our
telephone boxes are not visible to the eye
but they exist. A few have found out that
they can be used, and such communication
having once been established and repeat
| tNIg j W NtN -
tablish the fact of the existence OF telepathy
on a foundation which is not in the least
affected by the failure of any number OF
other 'eXperimenters or even of the same eX-
perimenters to reproduce the same success
The methods OF telepathy vary. The simp-
lest is that in which a thought in the mine
of one passes directly, without any inter
vening medium, unless 1t be that or the
ether upon which the mind wave travels t
the brain Of another PERSON, with whom 1
1t in a condition Of receptivity. In tina
case the receipt OF the telepathic message
is usually regarded merely as an impression
upon the mind. Every one is aware o
thoughts which seem suddenly to arise II
ones mind, without any apparent cause
IAN idea strikes me-" we say. There |
reason to believe that the idea strikes Il
l in a very real sense, that a brain wave sc
t up by the thought of some other persol
l has traversed the space between the tw
brains and impinged upon the brain OF tn
recipient, producing the impression whicl
we express by the words A idea strucI
r me-" In that way it is possible for a though
wave from the mind of another, without an
= previous INSTRUMENTATION between tn
e two, exactly as it is possible for you t
3 shout in the market place and for you
words to fall upon the ears Of total stran
gers, who do not even know OF your exist
ence, who are not in a position to knoI
q where you are standing and to whom 20
are a "vox ct praeterea nihil." So it is pos
sible for us to receive impressions and idea
: from those who are to us the generators c
q a thought wave ct praeterea nihil.
e Telepathy and Prayer.
e 1elepathy in this sense affords a workin
e hypothesis for explaining many of the mos
e familiar phenomena of answers to prayer
George Muller OF Bristol, who maintaine
d for years vast orphanages, maintained ther
by prayer. He received millions in tn
course of a long lifetime. He refused eve
to make any personal application to an
man for money. When he wanted funds h
prayed; and in the most extraordinary wa
money, in cash or in kind, came rolling in o
him from all parts of the world.
Those persons who sent money to Geore