The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-11-04
POLISH MARVEL IS TO VISIT AMERICA
Vienna Psychiatrist Relates Two Years Experiments
 With Rafael Schermann
By Dr. Oskar Fischer, Professor of Fsychiatry and Neurology, German University of Prague.
Copyright, 1923, U. S. and Canada, py
 Eugene S. Bagger)

Editors Note: The name of Rafael Schermann in Vienna and all central eo Eu, rope s widely known as the name sherlock Holmes is here. Until recent dis patches announced Schermanns coming 10 America early in November, lew here gre had heard of his amazing powers whlch are well recognized in Europe py sCien lists of established reputation. To think that any human being has so-called sec sec ond sight is repugnant to the intellect, bat the evidence presented in the 1ollow- ing article is worthy of serious consiuera, Polish citizen. in his adopted city Of Vienna have aroused the curiosity or During his stay in this country Schermann will give demonstrations before various scientific bodies and may be employed in connection with hitherto unsolved criml- nal mysteries
 VIENNA, Nov 3.-I have worked with Rafael Schermann for about two years conducting more than 200 experiments and tests. When I first met Schermann I was skeptfc. wanted to meet him partly because of the fun I hoped to get out of it, partly because I was bent on un- masking fraud After few hours estigation l changed my mind. realized that not only was Scher- mann absolutely genuine, but also that | was confronted with psychic phenomenon unmatched and unheard of. with one that came well within
  miraculous. This realization resulted in two years research of most ex- traordinarily interesting nature.
 As a scientist I cannot. of course. admit that there is anything in Schermann's performance that is su- perlfatural in the ordinary sense Of the word But there can be no doubt that his performance transcends the natural" again in the accepted sense-that it goes beyond rational exclamation. This, for a scie3,tist, can only mean that the range of the natural and rational must be ex- tended I do not hesitate to say that the case of Schermann necessitates a radical revision of what is considered scientifically possible in the field of psychic phenomena.
 The first question I put to myself vas this: How far is Sehermann' s performance based on sensual per eeption? My tests converged in the answer that his performance involves praeter-sensual, or ultra sensual perception.
 One shows Schermann piece of paper with q few lines written on it. The paper may be turned upside doWn-it makes no difference. Scher- mann does not examine 1t as the or Ginary graphologist would-he mere " glances at it for one or two sec
 
 he will tell you what the writer looks like. what diseases he had as q child what color his wife's hair is and how many children he has. lie can tell you where, under what com dition the lines were written. Once he said to me about sample writ ing: This was written by chronic drunkard in prison" So it was. Again, by way of experiment, l wrote a few lines while sitting in the bath tub. Schermann said;
 "This was written in bath tub. Not Usual Grapbology.
 These things are not in the hand writing This is not graphology, or the art of interpreting handwriting. Once he said, looking at few ir- relevant lines from letter:
 "This was written by a man who achieved social and professional sue cess by exploiting the beauty of his wife"
 It was true. But the handwriting could not possibly show it.
 Graphology in the ordinary sense can tell us. on the basis of examining script whether the writer is a strong -willed or weak man. whether a big, heavy man or small slim person-whether he is vain or careless of appearances man accustomed to success or one living in the shadow of failure-it moves in the framework of contrast ing generalities like these, approxi- mating the specific in a haphazard yet cautious way.
 Schermann, by glancing at script cannot only give a specific charac- terization of the writer-he can imi tate his characteristic gestures-how he ats, twirls his mustach, wipes brow, blows his nose. walks. He can diagnose diseases the very names of which he does not understand. on the whole, he frequently makes ac- curate statements the full purport of which is not clear to him, for he is not an educated man.
 The next question that presented { itself to me was this: Is Schermann' s gift d particularly acute form of teIepathy? Now, telepathy, in the ac- eepted sense involves the transfer cnde, without sensual communica- person to another. The emphasis is n the known. But Schermann will look at script sand say:
 This was written by lady who has very bad scar on her shoulder and always wears furs to conceal it"
 Now, when I showed him the script | did not know anything about this. I made inquiries afterward and found that what Schermann had said was trueAl In other words, his perform ance in this case-and there are many similar ones-is outside the domain of telepathy. He could not read thoughts which I did not think.
 Or Schermann will say. glancing at a script: e"This man will commit suicide" As d matter of fact, the man has already committed suicide. And perhaps l. at the moment of - mann, did not know about it. If Schermann practiced telepathy he would say, in case l knew about the mans fate.
 "This man has committed suicide.
 He would say nothing if I were ignorant myself.
 Uses Zigzag Writing
 Further proof that Schermann does not arrive at his results only by ex- amining handwriting is found in this test I drew zig-zag lines like those traced by school children when they begin to learn to write. Then I had some one else draw similar lines Schermann would know at once whether the lines shown were drawn by me or by some other person. The closest examination by others could not reveal any difference.
 Schermann always knew in what condition was when I drew the lines. He would say:
 "Ehese were drawn on an empty stomach" or, "These were drawn after a heavy dinner.
 There was no visible difference, yet his diagnosis never failed.
 Another experiment: l gave Scher- mann a bundle of assorted letters written by a number of persons and bearing not the slightest reference to one another. He singled out two letters, written at different times to different people, and said:
 "The man and the woman who SAYS DIABETES