OoT. 31, 1884.] 



KNOWLEDGE . 



365 



counting tlie first trial only, there was 1 correct guess out 

 of every 5'17 instead of 1 out of every 52, as would be given 

 by chance alone. Of 260 numbers, 68 were guessed cor- 

 rectly the first time, and 35 the second time, or on the first 

 trial, 1 out of every 3 82; whereas from chance would have 

 given only 1 out of every 90. Where the trial is counted 

 as a failure, it frequently happened that the suit, or the 

 number of pips of the card, or one figure of the number, 

 was guessed correctly. The partial sucoes.^es, as in the 

 guesses for " pipe " and " tongs " given above, .strike us as 



Original. 



Reproduction (Three Attempts). 



even more remarkable, and more likely to throw light upon 

 the subject, than the complete ones. The children, when 

 questioned, agree in saying that two or three ideas of 

 similar objects come before their minds, and that, after a 

 moment's reflection, they select that which stands out with 

 the greatest vividness. Their power, instead of improving 

 with use, has been gradually diminishing. At first, espe- 

 cially when they were in good humour, and excited by the 

 wonderful nature of their guessing, they seldom made a 

 mistake. They have been known to name seventeen cards 

 right in succession.* Their gradual decline of power some- 

 what suggests the disappearance of a transitory pathological 

 condition. On the other hand, a larger number of good 

 subjects has been found than there was reason at first to 

 look for. 



Much more remarkable than experiments with cards or 

 numbers, where there is at least an appreciable chance of 

 getting right by accident, are those in which an impression 

 of a drawing is conveyed from one mind to another, without 

 contact or any conceivable use of the ordinary means of 

 communication. In these experiments, Mr. Blackburn, an 

 associate of the society, who is described as a very pains- 

 taking and accurate observer, is the operator ; and Mr. 



Original. 



Eeproduction. 



Original as Mr. Black- 

 burn remembered it. 



Smith, a young mesmerist of Brighton, is the subject. Mr. 

 Smith is seated, blindfolded, at a table in one of the rooms 

 of the society ; paper and pencil are within his reach, 

 and a member of the committee is seated by his side. 

 Another member of the committee leaves the rooat, and 

 outside the closed door draws some figure at random. 

 Mr. Blackburn is now called out, the door is closed, and 

 the drawing is held before his eyes for a few seconds. 

 Closing his eyes, Mr. Blackburn is led back into the 

 room, and placed, standing or sitting, Ijehind Mr. Smith, 

 at a distance of some tveo feet from him. After a 



* The chance of doing which, by accident, is as 1 to 52'', 



brief period of inten.se mental concentration on Mr. Black 

 burn's part," Mr. Smith takes up the pencil, and, amid 

 the absolute silence of all present, reproduces as nearly as 

 he can the impression he has received. Mr. Blackburn keeps 

 his eyes closed (sometimes they are bandaged as an aid to 

 concentration) ; and he has not touched Mr. Smith, and has 

 not gone in front of him, nor in any way within his possible 

 range of vision, since he re-entered the room. Sixty pages 

 of the drawings and reproductions are given — facsimiles of 

 the originals, from which they have been photographed od 

 the wood blocks. The reproductions are rude copies of the 



Original. Reproduction. 



Mr. Smith had no idea that the original was not a geometrical 

 diaTam. He added line b some time after he had drawn line te, 

 ' seeing a line parallel to another somewhere.' 



drawings such as a child might make, blindfold, of a picture 

 he had just seen ; but in every case the resemblance is 

 recognisable, and sometimes it is very exact. A particularly 

 good one was made, when, with a view of removing all 

 doubt as to possible auditory communication, Mr. Smith's 

 ears were stopped with putty, a bandage was tied round 

 his eyes and ears, a bolster-case was fastened over his head, 

 and over all was thrown a blanket, which enveloped his 

 entire head and trunk ; and ^Mr. Blackburn sat behind him 

 as still as it is possible for a human being to sit who is not 

 concentrating his attention on keeping motionless to the 

 exclusion of everything else. To profit by a code of signals 

 in this case, Mr. Smith would have had to extract the 

 putty from his ears, and still smothered in bolster case and 

 blanket to detect periodic variations in Mr. Blackburn's 

 breathing imperceptible to the committee, and to interpret 

 them into a description of a very irregular figure. This 

 hypothesis seems to the committee an extreme one, but 

 they intend to meet it by still further varying the con- 

 ditions of future experiments. 



Original. Reproduction. 



The record is given of another set of experiments made 

 upon two young ladies at Liverpool, under the strictest con- 

 ditions, by Mr. Guthrie and Mr. Birchall. The following 

 were among the guesses : — 



A gold cross : " It is yellow — it is a cross." 

 An egg : " Looks remarkably like an egg." 



A penholder, with thimble inverted on the end : " A column, with 

 something bell-shaped turned down on it." 

 Letter Q. : " Q." 



