THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DECEPTION. 155 



If, however, the spectator is once convinced that he has evi- 

 dence of the supernatural, he soon sees it in every accident and 

 incident of the performance. Not only that he overlooks natural 

 physical explanations, but he is led to create marvels by the very 

 ardor of his sincerity. At a materializing seance the believer 

 recognizes a dear friend in a carelessly arranged drapery seen in a 

 dim light. Conclusive evidence of the subjective character of 

 such perceptions is furnished by the fact that the same appear- 

 ance is frequently recognized by different sitters as the spiritual 

 counterpart of entirely different and totally dissimilar persons. 

 A " spirit-photograph " is declared to be the precise image of en- 

 tirely unlike individuals. Each one sees what he expects to see, 

 what appeals to his interests the most intensely. What the un- 

 prejudiced observer recognizes as the flimsy, disguised form of the 

 medium, the believer transforms into the object of his thoughts 

 and longings. Only let the form be vague enough, the light dim 

 enough, the emotions upon a sufficient strain, and that part of per- 

 ception in which the external image is deficient will be readily 

 supplied by the subjective tendencies of each individual. In the 

 presence of such a mental attitude the possibilities of deception 

 are endless ; the performer grows bolder as his victim dispenses 

 with tests, and we get scientific proofs of the fourth dimension 

 of space, the possibility of matter passing through matter, the 

 laws of gravity entirely set aside. And the identically same per- 

 formance that would convince Prof. Zoellner of the reality of 

 the fourth dimension of space, would show the spiritualist the 

 workings of his deceased friends, would convince the theosophist 

 of the spiritual flight of the performer's astral body, and (it may 

 not be irrelevant to add) it is the same type of performance that 

 served and yet serves to terrify the minds of uncultivated and 

 superstitious savages. All depend not upon what is done, but 

 upon the mind of the spectator. Little by little, through neglect, 

 through mal-observation and lapses of memory, through an un- 

 willingness to mistrust the reports of an excited consciousness, 

 caution is abandoned, credulity enters, until mediums are actually 

 seen flying out of one window and into another, until the wildest 

 and most far-fetched fantastic explanation is preferred above a 

 simple one ; until the bounds of the normal are passed, real hallu- 

 cinations set in, conduct becomes irrational, and a state not dis- 

 tinguishable from insanity ensues. If this seems improbable, turn 

 back to the records of witchcraft persecutions and read upon what 

 trifling and wholly imaginary evidence thousands of innocent 

 lives were sacrificed ; and this not by ignorant, bloodthirsty men, 

 but by earnest, by eminent, by religious leaders. A child is taken 

 sick, is remembered to have been fondled by an old woman ; 

 therefore the woman has put the child under a spell and must be 



