The Washington times., 1926-02-09
fContinued from Flrst Page.l

have been some element of decep-
ton in some of these performances,
a. for wears some Of the firms that
specialize in nlagicians' tricks adj
vertised - mind reading trick.
Mind reading or mental teiep.
athy'' is popularity conceived to be
q most wondrous process by which.
I'm some mysterious manner. one
persons subconscious mind can gain
access to the memories of some
other persons mind and fitch there
hom such facts as it may wish.
How It is Done
If Smith learns some very private
incident in the life Of Jones. it Is
explained by telepathy. But II
Zines does not know the incident
hut it is known to Brown, who has
never met Smith. then it Is as
stImed that Jones got it from Brown
and Smiths ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS got 1t
from Jones. II Brown does not
krow the fact but it is well known
TO Black who has never met either
sIz1fth. Jones or Brown. then 1t is
assumed that some one who has
been in the presence OF Black and
gotten it from him subconsciously
has .afterward been long enough in
tie presence Of Smith, Jones or
Brown for them to get it subcon-
sciousIv from him.
And If it shall happen that facts
are supernormalIy learned by Smith
that were at sometime known to q
person living somewhere in the
world, then it is assumed that 1t
has been filched from mind to
c,,as4f1ec 11nfS.H 11x.H
an opportunity TO fitch it from
somebody's subconscious mind In
time for his needs. 1t is all very
simple; by assuming all the cir
cumstances required to fit any
particular occurrence 1t is easily
possible to prove anything by this
wondrous process of telepathy. 1t
seems never to occur to any Of
these well-meaning persons that the
assumed circumstances may not be
correct; science is not built on
assumptions but on facts and scien-
tific men will treat all such expla-
nations with the contempt they
90 well merit.
Beyond Realm. of Chance
In many experiments by mem
bers- Of the societies for psychical
research it has been found that a
person, known as the agent, by
concentrating his mind on some
simple design seems to be able to
cause a similar impression in the
mind of another person who s
known as the percipient. The sue
cesses obtained were much greater
than could be accounted for by
chance.
ALI the impressions were not al
ways clearly reproduced by the
percipient but many of them were
sufficiently clear to indicate the
design the agent had in mind. Dis
lance was a very important factor,
the best results being obtained when
the agent and percipient were close
together in the same room: the
greater the distance the fewer tho
successes.
The ability to send and to re-
ceive varied at different times with
the same agent and percipient; some
agents that were very successful
with some percipients got only
negative results with others. The
best results seem to be obtained
when there is a close emotional
relation between the agent and
percipient, such as relationship or
very intimate friendship.
These experiments showed, then,
that between the presens conscious
mental states of two persons there
is a coincidence that is not due to
chance. This is a descriptive of the
actual experiments but is not in
any way an explanation. AS a
matter of convenience the word
"telepathy" was coined as a con-
venient name for these condolences.
IT is a purely descriptive term and
is not and was never intended to be
explanatory.
Some Telepathy Spontaneous
There are also some cases of
spontaneous telepathy but these
almost invariably occur to persons
between whom there is a strong
emotional tie, as close relatives or
husband and wife. -
Some years ago. Prof. Coover, of
Stanford University. Cal, conducted
a long series of experiments with a
number of psychics, putting play.
ing cards behind a black curtain,
but only negative results We're OBJ
tanned. In all experiments in
teIepathy the simple designs n this
majority of cases were not repro
duced by the recipient in all of
their details, but in Prof. Cooyer's
enDeriments there could be no