SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF HUMAN TESTIMONY. 183 



agreeing in the same testimony, all equally informed of the facts, all showing 

 the same characters of credibility, and without the possibility of concert or con- 

 nivance, the evidence becomes not convincing only, but incontrovertible." 



Such are the principles of evidence that are taught in our colleges 

 and schools. It is no marvel that most of human philosophy is one 

 vast petitio principii. Men reason that if a large number of witnesses 

 agree in their testimony, if there is no possibility of deception (thus 

 begging the very question of questions), then such and such inferences 

 must follow. On this treacherous quicksand of uncertainty and posi- 

 tive untruth average human testimony the world has built, and con- 

 tinues to build, its lofty temples of philosophy, of faith, of history, and 

 of general literature ; no wonder that they so quickly crumble and fall, 

 and that the pathway of humanity is marked by their ruins ! Even 

 Germany, which in philosophy and science does the original thinking 

 for all nations, has not yet attempted to reduce human testimony to a 

 science ; and nowhere is the need for such study more frequently and 

 seriously impressed than in recent German controversial literature. 



In many experiments with large numbers of human beings in one 

 room, and operated on simultaneously by some performance that pow- 

 erfully excites the emotions of wonder, of awe, of reverence, and of ex- 

 pectation, I have proved that a subjective state can be induced in many, 

 if not the majority or all of them, wherein they concurrently see and 

 experience what has no existence ; and, after the performance is over, 

 they frequently and permanently persist in their delusions, although 

 they are opposed to the general experience of mankind and all the de- 

 ductions of science. Why, indeed, should they not do so? They are 

 taught to believe their eyes ; they have seen with their eyes such and 

 such phenomena ; they are logically compelled to accept the testimony 

 of their senses, even though they do not wish it to be true. I have 

 made these experiments, not only with the aid of profoundly imposing 

 pretensions, as of raising ghosts and the like, but with quite simple 

 methods and appliances, such as professing to magnetize the room by 

 the battery, or to throw a pretended magnetic fluid on the body, or to 

 rub away pain or disease. Not only are the symptoms of disease fre- 

 quently and simultaneously relieved in a number of persons in these 

 experiments, but trance, with many of its physical and psychical symp- 

 toms, such as convulsive movements, sighing respiration, quickened 

 pulse, with hallucinations of sight, of hearing, and other senses. 

 These results, which are of the highest scientific and practical interest, 

 and in various directions, are in the power of any cerebro-physiologist 

 to obtain who has sufficient experience in making experiments with 

 living human beings. A powerful and imposing physique, positiveness 

 and impressiveness of manner, and a reputation as a performer with 

 those on whom they experiment, are aids to these experiments, but are 

 not essential to them. 



