PHYSIOLOGY OF MIND-READING. 459 



the gypsies, constantly on the fire, into which are thrown all contri- 

 butions in the way of edibles, which are thus stewed down together 

 into a thick rich soup. In the winter they move about on their snow- 

 shoes, in the management of which they are extremely adroit, shoot- 

 ins down the hills and in and out of the trees with immense swiftness 

 and precision. On these shoes they hunt down both wolves and bears 

 when these animals, which are now getting scarce, cross their path ; 

 they kill them with their spears and knives, getting a reward of 

 fifty kronor from the Government for each head killed. The sale of 

 spirits is strictly prohibited in Lapland, as some years ago their im- 

 moderate use was decimating the population ; but kegs of branvin are 

 still occasionally smuggled across the borders, and produced on the 

 occasion of fetes and holidays. The Lapps have shrewd, almost cun- 

 ning faces, and, though small in stature, possess great bodily strength 

 and endurance. Their habits are extremely dirty, and they appear 

 never to change their clothes till they fall to pieces. 



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PHYSIOLOGY OF MLTO-KEADING. 



By GEOEGE M. BEAED, M. D. 



IN the history of science, and notably in the history of physiology 

 and medicine, it has often happened that the ignorant and obscure 

 have stumbled upon facts and phenomena which, though wrongly 

 interpreted by themselves, yet, when investigated and explained, have 

 proved to be of the highest interest. The phenomena of the emo- 

 tional trance, for example, had been known for ages, but not until 

 Mesmer forced them on the scientific world, by his public exhibitions 

 and his ilbfounded theory of animal magnetism, did they receive any 

 serious and intelligent study. Similarly the general fact that mind 

 may so act on body as to produce involuntary and unconscious mus- 

 cular motion was by no means unrecognized by physiologists, and yet 

 not until the "mind-reading" excitement two" years ago was it 

 demonstrated that this principle could be utilized for the finding of 

 any object or limited locality on which a subject, with whom an oper- 

 ator is in physical connection, concentrates his mind. 



Although, as I have since ascertained, experiments of this kind 

 had been previously performed in a quiet, limited way in private 

 circles, and mostly by ladies, yet very few had heard of or witnessed 

 them; they were associated in the popular mind very naturally with 

 " mesmerism " or " animal magnetism, " and bv some were called 

 " mesmeric games." The physiological explanation had never been 

 even suggested; hence the first public exhibitions of Brown, with his 

 brilliantly successful demonstrations of his skill in this direction, were 



