47 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



be considered that the excitement and eclat of the occasion contribute 

 not a little to the success of the operator; the subjects grow enthusias- 

 tic are partly entranced, it may be become partners in the cause of 

 the performer and unconsciously aid him far more than they would do 

 in a similar entertainment that was purely private. In a private enter- 

 tainment of muscle-reading at which I was present, one of the sub- 

 jects, while standing still, with his hands on the operator, actually 

 took a step forward toward the locality on which his mind wa*s con- 

 centrated, thus illustrating in a visible manner the process by which 

 muscle-reading is made possible. 



The subject under discussion, it will be observed, is to be studied 

 both inductively and deductively. The general claim of mind or 

 thought reading is disproved not by any such experiments as are here 

 detailed, no matter how accurate or numerous they may be, but by 

 reasoning deductively from the broad principle of physiology, that no 

 human being has or can have any qualities different in kind from those 

 that belong to the race in general. The advantage which one human 

 being has over another not excepting the greatest geniuses and the 

 greatest monsters is, and must be, of degree only. Mind-reading, in 

 the usual meaning of the term, is a faculty that in any degree does 

 not belong indeed, it is never claimed that it belongs to the human 

 race ; it cannot, therefore, belong to any individual. For one person 

 to read the thoughts of another would be as much a violation or 

 apparent violation of the laws of Nature as the demonstration of per- 

 petual motion, the turning of iron into gold, or the rising of the sun 

 in the west. Experiments such as here recorded, if made for the pur- 

 pose of ascertaining whether certain persons have the power of read- 

 ing thoughts, would be more than unnecessary; they would be exceed- 

 ingly unscientific. Reasoning deductively also from the known laws 

 of the involuntary life, the power to read muscles, in the method here 

 described, is not only possible and probable, but inevitable. Every- 

 body is a muscle-reader, although all are not capable of attaining the 

 highest degrees of skill in the art. 1 



The one fact, the only fact brought out by these experiments that 

 could not be predicted from known laws of physiology, is the exceed- 

 ing refinement to which muscle-reading can be carried, the minute- 

 ness of the localities that are found, and the rapidity with which, 

 oftentimes, the results are obtained. This fact is of permanent value 

 to science, a new and positive addition to the physiology of the invol- 

 untary life, and of vast suggestion in relation to the general subject 

 of the interactions of mind and body in health and in disease. 



An incidental fact impressed on my mind during these researches 



1 Every horse that is good for anything is a muscle-reader; he reads the mind of his 

 driver through the pressure on the bit, and by detecting tension and relaxation knows 

 when to go ahead, when to stop, and when and which way to turn, though not a word 

 of command is uttered. 



