The Elbert County tribune., 1908-01-16
MIND READING.

L pu-pOSe suOWluB tnat tnere lS Il
world of difference between mind
reading" and so-called "muscle-read-
ing" also purpose proving that there
! is in reality such a thing as true
mind reading" devoid of any trickery.
Also that mind reading" proper is
very limited in its scope and can sell
dom be relied upon under test condi-
tions; also that public mind readers"
as a rule, are takers.
True mind reading" is exactly what
the term signifies, viz, reading the
mind. This is limited to word or,
now and then, a scntence. To say
that a person can read another's mind
as they can read an open book is the
height of absurdity.
/ All professional mind (O readers
that depend, in the least, on physical
contact are, lacking a better term,
muscle readers" This does not
mean that they read the muscle but
that they are guided by the uncon-
scious muscular action in the interpre-
tation Of thought.
I will give. herewith, two illustra-
tions of genuine mind reading; not
/ genuine because they are from my
own experience but because they con-
/ form to the rule for the test. l do
not hesitate to say that l cannot al
ways command the necessary condi-
tions.
"a Twenty-six years ago during n
conversation on the wonderful possi-
| bilities of the human mind. l remarked
to a little group of interested friends
that, under certain conditions not nee
essarily abnormal, one could become
sufficiently passive to a positive mind
to read the unspoken word or words
without coming in physical contact
with the one concentrating the mind
/ thereon.
No sooner had 1 given utterance to
the thought than l was impressed to
make the experiment. Acting upon
the impulse, asked one of the group
to think intently on a word. She said,
81 have It," l Immediately answered
so have /.
Naming the word at once and cor
rectly, I was of course, informed that
1 had guessed 1t. / then requested the
young lady to think of another word
very difficult or unusual one She
said, 81 have it." / Immediately an
swered, $50 have 1. Not only the
one, but both of them. You chose
word, but changed your mind and took
another" | then gave the words.
She said that 1 was right, but while
still skeptical-as also were others
present-she could hardly attribute 1t
to guessing. Not stopping to investi-
gate the matter she said, 81 hardly
know what to think of 1t, but / know
what to think of him-he's a witch"
And out of my presence she darted.
Let us consider this a moment. Had
she given ne but one more test l
would have failed. Why? Because
I was aware that / had reached the
limit for that particular time; |. e., the
limit of passivity. / had ceased to re-
main sufficiently passive to receive the
impress of her thought. 1t will be re-
membered that the moment she decid-
ed upon the word / too had 1t. The
thought is almost IL not wholly stimuli
taneous; therefore 1t is not matter of
guessing, but of knowing. The mo-
;nent you have to stop to think 1t be-
comes guesswork.
] was TtdulHB, pure anu
simple. Yes. simple. for had an ef-
fort been made 1T could not have beer
done.
| When Victor Hugo was asked IL It
was not very difficult to write poetry,
he replied, mo, it is very easy or i'm
possible" So with mind reading
(2) A gentleman possessed of unusual
psychic power called one night on my
roommate and myself, saying, 81 have
something interesting yet quite sad
that want to tell you about. A friend
of mine, whom you both know, is in
trouble. His motive was not wrong.
but were his act to become known it
would result in landing him behind the
bars. I'll relate the incident, but will
not mention his name lest unintention-
ally or inadvertently you might speak
of it in connection with this incident
and thus get him in trouble"
l was quite desirous of knowing the
name of the young man. Please OBJ
serve that say desirous, not anxious.
Why? Because anxiety would defeat
the very end in view. Anxiety would
have aroused my objective mind to
such an extent as to produce positive
instead of negative condition. (You
can't make a mental impression upon
a positive mental condition; the mind
must be negative in order to receive
the impression.)
l, therefore, became passive, know
ing full well that I could get the name
as soon as he dwelt upon it again.
But few moments elapsed when
informed him that 1 could name the