Year: 1875

Some of our readers will no doubt re-.
member the visit to this city last winter Of
a certain Mr.. Brown, one of the class of
so-called mind-readers, whose perform
ances consist in discovering, while blind
folded, the whereabouts of articles which
have been hidden in any part of the room,
in picking out from an alphabet of large
letters, hanging at the back part of the
stage, those which spell word that some
person holds in his mind, and in similar
tricks. The naodus operandi of Mr.. Brown
consisted in walking, generally very rap
idly, about the room, or up and down In
front OF the alphabet, while against hi,
forehead was pressed the hand Of the per.
son with whom the experiment was con.
ducted 9ai.-lsI.


The latter individual was required to
think closely and exclusively of the article
hidden, or the word thought of, and was
not allowed to close his eyes. OF course
he undertook to restrain himself from Civ
ing any sign that could lead the expert
menter to the right spot, and in some
cases the known intelligence, honesty,
and power of self-control of those who
came forward from the audience made
the successful experiments, which were
numerous, appear truly remarkable-at
first sight, indeed, incomprehensible for
in all cases Brown seemed to lead, even
drag, his companion, rather than follow
him, sometimes plunging madly among
the occupants of crowded settee, to find
perhaps a visiting card hidden in the
pocket of one ofthem. Certainly no mus
cular hints were given which were visible
to the audience. or of which the subject
OF the experiment. in many cases It least,
was conscious. No doubt was entertained
however, by most of those who inye estiaa-
ted the matter, or reflected upon 1t, that
such hints were given and followed, and
that view is taken by DR.. G. NJ Beard, of
New York. in an interesting article pub
lished in the Archives of Neurology and
Electrology. s.rarm
The subject is referred to again at this
late day because it has recently come to
our notice that a gentleman who under-
took to exercise himself in the art, for his
own amusement, has been able to ACQUIRE
a skill quite equal to that of Brown himself
without calling clairvoyance to his aid
and this experience renders it probable
that the talent required to do the tricks is
| not of SO rare an order as has been sup
posed. Moreover the whole performance
seems to us to furnish good illustrations of
great physiological interest. Ofthese the
most important is one that finds at once
support and application in the modern
doctrines of the nature Of aphasia and kin
dred disorders; namely. that the thought,
the conscious mental conception, of sn act
differs from the voluntary impulse neces
sarv to the performance of that act only in
that it corresponds TO fainter excitation
OF nervous centres in the cortex cerebri,
which in both cases are anatomically iden-
teal.


Thus, in certain forms of aphasia the
power to think in words is lost at the same
time with the power of speech. Some
persons think definitely only when they
think aloud. and it would readily be be-
lieved in the case of children and educat-
ed persons that the ability TO read would
often be seriously interfered with if they
were not permitted to read aloud. Simi-
larily, half-premeditated act of any kind
slips often into performance before its au-
thor is aware of the fact. Further. there
is no reason to think. from the expert
ments OF Hitzig, that these same centres
may be excited by the stimulus of elec-
tricity so as to call out some of the simpler
co-ordinated movements of the muscles on
the opposite side of the body


Applying, now, this principle to the
case in hand, it will be evident that for the
person experimental with to avoid giving
muscular hints" of either positive or
a negative kind, would be nearly impossi.
Bile. The half.expectation on his part, es-
pecially after he has witnessed the success
OF one or two previous experiments, that
he also will be called upon perhaps to ar.
rest himself suddenly from rapid walk,
at some point which he can see in advance,
must not only cause him to prepare his
muscles for the required effort, but may be
said absolutely to continue the first stage
of the innervation by which the effort Is
to be made. 1nasmuch rs this expectation
is but vague, and the muscular prepara-
ton referred to is performed really invol-
UNFAIRLY and uncOnsciously, 1t plainly
could not be prevented from occurring,
except under an amount of introspection
and skill scarcely less than that possessed
by the experimenter himself. Even ii no
positive guiding motion is made, the ten
sion of the muscular system. which is
such as to resist indfferently pull in any
other direction, would offer relatively lit
tle resistance to e rGil in that direction,
and those who saw how often Brown went
to work. trying all the aisles in the hall.
for example, before settling on any one,
will be prepared to believe that he may
often have taken advantage of hints given
in this way.


1t is true that sometimes he started of
at once in the right direction, after simply
holding the hand of his companion for
moment; especially was this the case with
reference to the selection of the letters
from the alphabet. But with regard to
these cases, it must be remembered. as
the history of mesmerism and planchette
abundantly proves, that with many people
unaccustomed to self-control, the mind has
sometimes but little more connection with
the acts of the body than has that of
spectator, the so called unconscious cele-
bration being temporarily dominant; their
testimony as to the giving of hints Is there.
fore valueless. The rapid motions of the
operation may perhaps have served him a
useful purpose by rendering lateral pulls
more perceptibie, in accordance with we'll
known me chanicsl laws.-Bcs.oa Medical
and Surgical Journal. i3A