SKETCHES IN THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 



329 



lation to a supernatural knowledge 

 of events. There is nothing incre- 

 dible in the statement of somnam- 

 bulists predicting the hour of their 

 sleeping or walking, nor in the 

 dying foretelling the precise time 

 of their decease. These are simply 

 cases in which the mind, under the 

 influence of a strong impression, 

 and acting upon a feeble physical 

 organization, has the power of ful- 

 filling its own prophecy. It is 

 otherwise with the prophecies re- 

 lating to persons or events over 

 which the somnambulist could have 

 no control, which for the most part 

 turn out unhappy guesses. Take, 

 for example, the prophecies, of which 

 there were several, from mesmeric 

 patients in the clairvoyant state, 

 that Sir John Franklin would return 

 home about the middle of Septem- 

 ber, last year. Had the event been 

 realized, the coincidence would not 

 have been extraordinary, as Sep- 

 tember was the most likely season 

 for him to be expected, and many 

 persons were then looking for him; 

 but its non-fulfilment, and the 

 vagueness of the description of the 

 circumstances of the position of Sir 

 John Fi'anklin and his companions, 

 clearly proved that the clairvoy- 

 autes had not a single idea on the 

 subject which had not been put into 

 their heads by the conjectural para- 

 graphs of newspapers, or by ques- 

 tions so framed as to suggest the 

 answer expected. Indeed, clair- 

 voyance, instead of 1 icing clear- 

 sightedness, is about the obscurest 

 kind of vision, and almost useless, 

 that a human being can possess; 

 for there is no well-authenticated 

 case of a person discovering by it 

 a single fact which it was of the 

 slightest importance for him to 

 know. A clairvoyaute will describe 

 a gentleman's country-scat, car- 

 riage-drive, lawn, trees, flowers, 

 conservatory ; but we never heard 

 of a person who could find the road 

 to it from such a description. A 



clairvoyante will talk generally of 

 the seat of a disease, but never so 

 as to guide an anatomist to the 

 precise nerve, muscle, ligament, or 

 bone affected. A clairvoyante will 

 make revelations, but, like those of 

 the American seer, revelations of 

 old discoveries, or of old specula- 

 tions, or of discoveries which cannot 

 be tested. A clairvoyante will pro- 

 fess to read a book through a deal 

 board, or a printed motto inclosed 

 in a nut shell, but cannot make out 

 the figures of a bank-note for XlOO, 

 folded in a letter, even when the- 

 note is offered (which has been 

 done), to any one who could declare 

 the number without breaking the. 

 seal. ^Westminster Review.) 



SKETCHES IN THE GREAT EXHIBI- 

 TION. 



A unit unperceived, I sink into- 

 the living stream again. Rich, 

 poor, gentle, simple, wise, foolish, 

 young, old, learned, ignorant, 

 thoughtful, thoughtless, haughty,, 

 humble, frivolous, profound, every 

 grade of intellect, every shade of 

 character ! Here is a voluble 

 smatterer, suddenly discomfited 

 by the chance question of a curi- 

 ous child ; and rather than own 

 ignorance, will tell him falsely. 

 There a bustling piece of earth, 

 earthy ; testing everything by 

 money value. Here comes one, 

 serenely unconscious that lie is a. 

 fool. There is one suddenly star- 

 tled by a suspicion that he knows 

 scarcely anything. Here is ono 

 listening with seeming lively in- 

 terest, and assenting gesture, to a 

 scientific explanation of \\liieh ho 

 comprehends nothing; but :i]>]iear- 

 anco must be kept up. There i 

 one falsely thinking himself tlu> 

 observed of all observers; tr\ 

 to look unconscious and distin- 

 guished. Here is one that will 

 not see a timid, poor relation, or 

 an humble friend, a.s fashionable 

 folk are near. Yonder is a states- 



