476 On Mental Education. [1855. 



fact, namely, whether the effect was as reported ; but how 

 many were unable to do this? They were sure they could 

 keep their hands immoveable, were sure they could do so 

 whilst watching the result, were sure that accordance of 

 swing with an expected direction was not the result of their 

 desires or involuntary motions. How easily all these points 

 could be put to the proof by not looking at the objects, yet 

 how difficult for the experimenter to deny himself that pri- 

 vilege ! I have rarely found one who would freely permit the 

 substance experimented with to be screened from his sight, 

 and then have its position changed. 



"When engaged in the investigation of table-turning, I con- 

 structed a very simple apparatus*, serving as an index, to 

 show the unconscious motions of the hands upon the table. 

 The results were either that the index moved before the 

 table, or that neither index nor table moved ; and in numerous 

 cases all moving power was annihilated. A universal objection 

 was made to it by the table-turners ; it was said to paralyse 

 the powers of the mind. But the experimenters need not see 

 the index; they may leave their friends to watch that, and 

 their minds may revel in any power that their expectation 

 or their imagination can confer. So restrained, however, a 

 dislike to the trial arises ; but what is that except a proof, that 

 whilst they trust themselves they doubt themselves, and are 

 not willing to proceed to the decision, lest the trust which they 

 like should fail them, and the doubt which they dislike rise to 

 the authority of truth ? 



Again, in respect of the action of magnets on the body, it is 

 almost impossible for an uninstructed person to enter profitably 

 upon such an inquiry. He may observe any symptom which 

 his expectation has been accidentally directed to : yet be un- 

 conscious of any, if unaware of his subjection to the magnetic 

 force, or of the conditions and manner of its application. 



As a proof of the extent of this influence, even on the minds 

 of those well-aware of its power, and desirous under every 

 circumstance to escape from it, I will mention the practice of 

 the chemist; who, dealing with the balance, that impartial 

 decider which never fails in its indication, but offers its evi- 

 dence with all simplicity, durability, and truth, still remembers 

 * P. 387, or Athenaeum, July 2, 1853. 



