The Days of a Man 1875 



"otic 

 force " 



the most patient investigation with scientific 

 methods can separate the realities from illusion and 

 fraud. 



In magicians and sleight-of-hand performances, 

 however, I have always taken a mild interest. 

 As a rule, also, the operations of acknowledged 

 illusionists are more bewildering and harder to ex- 

 plain than those of the mediums and "psychics" 

 I have myself happened to see. In 1875 a man 

 named Brown was attracting much attention in 

 Indianapolis as a "mind reader," his skill being 

 due to what he called "odic force." One evening 

 Copeland and I offered ourselves for public ex- 

 perimentation, and the former was given something 

 to hide in the audience room. Brown, being blind- 

 folded, put his hand on Copeland's shoulder and 

 speedily raced him to the hidden object. The feat 

 was cleverly done, but we interpreted it as "muscle 

 reading" rather than any mysterious divination of 

 the mind. 



Coming then to me, Brown said I was to con- 

 centrate my mind on some pain I might be feeling 

 at the time. It being a cold night, my feet were 

 chilled and I selected a slight discomfort in my 

 right great toe. Standing pat on this involved no 

 muscular movement; Brown found none and gave 

 it up. He next asked me to fancy an imaginary 

 pain; I therefore thought that a ring was pinching 

 me, but that also failed to stir any muscles, and he 

 gave it up again, accusing me of "failure to con- 

 centrate." Whenever movement was involved, he 

 showed considerable skill. His "odic force" lay 

 doubtless in a quick interpretation of involuntary 

 impulses controlling muscular action. 

 C 220 3 



