NATURE STUDIES. 



suggest this, they usually take refuge in ' animal 

 magnetism,' a phrase so obviously ordained by Provi- 

 dence as a safe retreat, that it would be brutal to drive 

 them to bay on it." 



But there is room for scientific research into this 

 matter. Some of the experiments already made under 

 suitable test conditions have led to results so re- 

 markable, as to show that the subject is well worth 

 examining closely. Professor Barrett, Mr. Edmund 

 Gurney, and Mr. Frederic W. H. Myers have been at 

 some pains to collect evidence which is, indeed, as yet 

 incomplete, but still seems to indicate a real power o 

 mind on mind which, to say the least, has not yet been 

 explained. They attach somewhat more weight, 

 relatively, to the mind-reading side of the question 

 than I am disposed to do. It seems to me the real 

 point to be attended to is the power of mind in guid- 

 ing mind, not the aptitude of some minds to be guided 

 though, of course, both are parts of the same subject 

 of inquiry. There are cases in which mind-guiding 

 seems the prominent feature ; others, in which mind- 

 reading seems chiefly in question ; others, in which it 

 is doubtful whether one or the other has been 

 principally at work. 



Take, for instance, the following case described by 

 Dickens in a letter to Foster. Dickens is here speak- 

 ing of a professional conjuror, and therefore trickery 

 may have, or rather must have, the fullest possible in- 

 fluence assigned to it ; but trickery will not explain the 

 mental phenomena. Dickens speaks of the man as 



