626 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



moved one can frequently perceive that the head of the hen, as though 

 held by an invisible hand, keeps its proper position, while the neck is 

 twisted. At the same time, the foot on the side which did not come 

 in contact with the floor when the animal was moved, is drawn up 

 with the claws cramped, while the foot on the other side is stretched 

 downward. So the hens remain, just as ours is here on the table, for a 

 long time, breathing heavily, but otherwise completely motionless on 

 their backs, until at last either by themselves or by some other means 

 they are aroused and fly away. 



My experience with simply holding down the necks and heads of 

 the hens on the ground did not prove efficacious with all hens, and 

 was more or less so with the same ones at different times and under 

 different circumstances. "Wild hens seem better for this experiment 

 than those which have already been used and which are accus- 

 tomed to be near people. Under all circumstances the success of my 

 simplified experiment proves that the tying of the hen's feet, and the 

 drawing of the chalk-line, as Kircher did, are entirely unnecessary. 

 The moment when the remarkable change takes place concerning the 

 capabilities of the hen's nervous system, appears to be at the stretch- 

 ing out of the head and neck, where possibly a slight mechanical ex- 

 tension of certain parts of the brain may take place, apart from the 

 fear which the animal experiences at being held forcibly. 



The chalk-line and the oppression of the tight band which are 

 actually quite dispensable, appear, on the other hand, open to pure 

 deception. I myself was deceived at first. We must only be care- 

 ful not to stand still at " an event viewed unequally," as the un- 

 learned do. For the complete dispensableness of the string and chalk- 

 line does not prove its absolute indifference and ineffectiveness ; and, 

 on the other hand, the gentle, mechanical extension of the brain and 

 spinal marrow, in consequence of the equalization of the curvature 

 which takes place in the vertebral column at the forcible stretching 

 out of the head and neck, is a very plausible thought, though not ex- 

 actly a thoroughly well-founded one. There is nothing else to be done. 

 We must patiently and circumspectly continue our investigation and 

 experiment, in order to find the actual connection of the phenomena. 



You see that firm, strict, natural investigation is no child's play. 

 It demands simple and proportionate incidents, an insight, a circum- 

 spection and criticism, which the people who proclaim and testify to 

 the reality of moving tables, flying guitars, self-playing pianos, rap- 

 pings, etc., as spiritual manifestations, do not possess. Yes, if it were 

 so easy and simple to discover new features of Nature, or only to find 

 out natural scientific incidents, certainly every one could be an " in- 

 vestigator." 



I might have occasion here to express the just indignation which 

 the unscientific and frivolous man infuses into the mind of an investi- 

 gator of Nature. But our limited time to-day has passed so quickly 



