SCIENCE AND THE UNKNOWN 365 



which, as in the days of old, certain wizards claim to 

 foretell the weather of a year, as well as other events. 

 It is less surprising that these wizards should find 

 believers when one discovers that there are actually well- 

 to-do, " half-educated " people in England who believe 

 at this day that the delightful clever exhibitors of 

 mechanical tricks and sleight-of-hand are really (as 

 they usually are called) " conjurers '"' — that is to say, 

 that they conjure spirits and use the " black art." Not long 

 ago, having published my experience of the trickery of 

 " dowsers," and the illusion known as the "divining-rod," 

 I received a letter in which my correspondent related 

 that, being in the coffee-room of an hotel in a country 

 town, he was asked by a man who was there to stretch 

 out his hand. He did so, and the man placed four 

 coppers in a pile upon it. The man then took up an 

 empty matchbox which happened to be on the table, 

 and placed it over the coppers as they lay on my 

 correspondent's hand. After an interval of three or four 

 seconds the man lifted the matchbox, and the coppers 

 were gone ! This, which I need hardly say is one of 

 the most common " conjuring tricks " familiar to every 

 schoolboy, was, according to my correspondent, proof to 

 him that the man possessed powers " not dreamed of in 

 your philosophy," and that such powers and those of 

 discovery by use of the divining-rod and similar occult 

 arts are possessed by many gifted beings ! 



It is to be hoped that such credulity is not very 

 common — it is difficult to form an estimate as to its 

 prevalence, for it breaks out in different directions in 

 different individuals. The more impudent quack 

 remedies for various diseases have had believers amongst 

 all classes of society — and occasionally some enthusiast 

 bursts out with indignation in a letter to the papers, 



