4 86 THE POPULAR SCIEXCE MONTHLY. 



tious, or else grossly exaggerated. The writer's experience in collect- 

 in^ evidence in the United States for the society has been that from 

 eighty-five to ninety per cent of all the stories received were not in 

 accordance with fact. Some appear to be absolute inventions, but the 

 vast majority arc made up of a halo thrown by vivid or excited im- 

 aginations around some very commonplace occurrence. In one case, 

 General O. O. Howard was given as authority for a very remarkable 

 case of apparition at the moment of death. Names and dates were 

 given with great exactness, and the story was followed up with inter- 

 est. The result proved that neither General O. O. Howard, nor any 

 one of several others of the same name, who were applied to under the 

 supposition that the initials were wrongly given, knew anything about 

 the alleged occurrence. 



This sifting process is in itself valuable, for it places in the realm 

 of fiction much of the current spiritualistic literature, and the atten- 

 tion of the society is concentrated on the residual and duly substan- 

 tiated phenomena. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that science 

 demands an answer to its questions, and has no regard for the charac- 

 ter of the answer. So an answer "No" to a scientific query is of quite 

 as much scientific value as an answer u Yes/' though it may fall far 

 below the latter in interest. A fact gained counts one, no matter 

 whether it is positive or negative. 



The second method pursued in these investigations has yielded 

 more exact and interesting conclusions than the one just mentioned. 

 The society has directly experimented with persons supposed to pos- 

 sess the power of thought-reading, mesmerizing, and hypnotizing, and 

 as a result has accumulated a great mass of very valuable information. 



The committee charged with the investigation of thought-reading, 

 or t/ioitpht-transftrence, as the society prefers to call it, has undoubt- 

 edly made the most progress up to this time. Phenomena falling 

 under this head were divided into four classes : (a) where some action 

 is performed, the hands of the operator being in gentle contact with 

 the subject of the experiment ; (5) where a similar result is obtained 

 with the hands not in contact ; (c) where a number, name, word, or 

 card has been guessed and expressed in speech or writing, without 

 contact, and apparently without the possibility of the transmission of 

 the idea by the ordinary channels of sensation ; (d) when similar 

 thoughts have simultaneously occurred, or impressions been made, in 

 minds far apart. Of these classes, (a) and (b) are set aside entirely, 

 for, as has been shown by Dr. Carpenter and others, unconscious mus- 

 cular actions and unconscious and almost imperceptible indications of 

 various kinds account for any results obtained in these ways. With 

 (c) it is very different. Here, to be sure, collusion and risk of error 

 are very difficult to guard against, and in a general company would 

 almost certainly be present. But it is otherwise if repeated experi- 

 ments be made bv a limited number of scientific men well known to 



