6 2 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that lie had not only seen others magnetize crawfish, hut had himself 

 succeeded in the attempt. On heing asked for fuller particulars as to 

 what he meant, the gentleman told me that the whole thing was un- 

 commonly simple. 



You hold the crawfish firmly in one hand, and with the other make 

 magnetic strokes from the end of the animal toward the head. If, in the 

 mean while, when making these passes in the given direction, and care- 

 fully avoiding any other movement, the tips of the fingers are placed 

 at the animal's hack, it forms an arch as the hand is withdrawn. 

 Under this manipulation the crawfish, in a short time, hecomes quiet, 

 places itself on its head in a vertical position, using its feelers and the 

 two claws, which are pushed inward, as a support. In this peculiar 

 and unnatural position the animal remains motionless, until passes are 

 again made in the opposite direction, beginning at the head, at which 

 it hegins to move once more, tries to lose its equilibrium, at last falls, 

 and crawls away. 



As my informant was known to be an intelligent man, and of a 

 most credible, honorable character, of course I could entertain no 

 doubt respecting the veracity of this simple, clear, though remarkable 

 statement, and least of all could I have expressed such a doubt to 

 him ; but my knowledge of Nature led me to say to him that, although 

 I placed the utmost belief in his communication, I was of the opinion 

 that he had related to me an " event viewed unequally." 



Indeed, that the crawfish placed itself on its head, and remained 

 motionless in this position after having the passes made over it, was 

 certainly an actual circumstance, inasmuch as he testified to it ; but 

 that the so-called "magnetic" strokes with the finger-tips, and the 

 action of magnetizing, were the actual cause of the crawfish's condi- 

 tion, was, for me, in spite of his testimony, and without wishing to 

 presume upon him, no real incident, that I could accept on faith and 

 belief, or, above all, consider worthy of an earnest inspection ; because 

 this was in no way the object of his perception and examination. 



I desired him to show me the experiment not that T expected a 

 demonstration, nor that I doubted his facts but mainly because I had 

 nothing better to do, and I thought I would be able to promise him 

 on this occasion a clearer idea of moderate perceptions in Nature, as 

 a slight service on my part, and show him, with an example, what an 

 "event viewed unequally" was. No sooner said than done. The 

 order was given to procure crawfish from a neighboring brook, and we 

 soon had a basketful before us. 



What then happened I will illustrate to you in the same way that 

 we performed the experiment then, for I have here in this vessel a 

 number of crawfish all ready. My friendly companion, sure of the re- 

 sult of his experiment, seized one of the animals and began his " mag- 

 netic" strokes, from the end toward the head, exactly as I am doing 

 now. The crawfish, which at first resisted, gradually became calm ; 



