506 



SCIIEN'CE. 



[Vol. VUI., No. 200 



MUSCLE-READING BY MR. BISHOP. 



Mr. W. I. Bishop, a young American, who has 

 given a number of exhibitions of muscle-reading 

 in Europe and this country, gave a private per- 

 formance recently in Boston. As considerable 

 discussion has ensued in the daily press as to what 

 the exhibiter did or did not do, and as the news- 

 paper reports have been misleading, we present 

 a brief account of the actual performances at 

 Boston. 



The principal feats were four in number : 

 1. The discovery of a knife hidden in an adjoining 

 room, and the re -enactment of a pretended murder 

 with the knife ; 2. Writing on a blackboard the 

 number of a bank-note ; 3. Finding an object 

 hidden at a distance from the hotel ; 4, Playing a 

 piece of music on the piano. Wliile doing these 

 feats, Mr. Bishop was blindfolded, and ascertained 

 what he was to do through unconscious com- 

 munications from a person who knew exactly 

 what was to be done. There is no reason to doubt 

 the fairness of the conditions, or to suspect 

 collusion. 



1. In the watched absence of Mr. Bishop, the 

 Eev. James Freeman Clarke took a knife and pre- 

 tended to stab Dr. C. C. Everett ; he then, accom- 

 panied by Dr. Minot J. Savage, hid the knife. 

 The performer returned and was blindfolded ; he 

 then placed Dr. Clarke's hand upon bis own, and 

 essayed unsuccessfully to find the knife. At the 

 performer's request, Dr. Savage took hold of Dr. 

 Clarke's vvrist of the same hand Mr. Bishop was 

 touching. With this double guidance, Mr. Bish- 

 op went quickly to the place where the knife was 

 hid. found it, returned, stopped in front of Dr. 

 Everett, and copied with his own hand but 

 imperfectly the stabbing done by Dr. Clarke. 

 During the whole time his hand was close to or 

 actually touching Dr. Clarke's. 



2. Dr. William James looked at the number on 

 a bank-bill which comprised three digits unknown 

 to Mr. Bishop. The latter drew some large squares 

 upon a blackboard, one for each digit. He was 

 again blindfolded, and, taking Dr. James's hand in 

 his, stood in front of the board, and, while his 

 guide fixed his attention upon the squares and the 

 digits, he drew the three digits in succession cor- 

 rectly. 



3. An open carriage seating four persons, with 

 two quiet horses, was brought to the door of the 

 Hotel Vendome, where the exhibition was given. 

 A party of three gentlemen, all well known, had 

 previously hid a scarf-pin in a private house a few 

 blocks off. The three gentlemen, accompanied 

 by Mr. Bishop, who was blindfolded and had a 

 black hood over his head, got into the carriage. 

 Each of the four had hold of the long piece of 



wire which Mr. Bishop had provided. Two of the 

 gentlemen placed their hands upon Mr. Bishop's 

 head. Mr. Bishop drove off, and, after a few 

 false turns, came to the right house, got out there, 

 and accompanied by his guides, and touched by at 

 least one of them, found the pin, and then re- 

 turned to the hotel. Two circumstances probably 

 facilitated this performance. First, when the 

 party returned, one of them touched Mr. Bishop, 

 who was blindfolded ; and the latter, while his 

 guide was looking at the large map of Boston 

 hanging on the wall, and thinking of the house 

 where the pin was, put his own finger upon the 

 right spot on the map. Mr. Bishop may have 

 thus gained some general knowledge as to where 

 the locality was. Second, the street on which he 

 started runs east and west ; there was a bright 

 afternoon sun ; it is probable that the light was 

 sufficient to inform him at least as to the points of 

 the compass. However, these sources of informa- 

 tion, though helpful, were insufficient to show 

 exactly where the pin was hid. 



4. Mr. Bishop asked Mr. Whitney to think of 

 some well-known melody, and suggested some- 

 thing from ' II Trovatore.' Mr. Whitney adopted 

 the suggestion, and informed the audience of his 

 selection. Mr. Bishop placed himself in front of 

 the piano, and, touching Mr. Whit;ney's hand, 

 proceeded to strike the right notes on the key- 

 board. His guide's attention was concentrated on 

 the melody, and on the movements of Mr. Bishop's 

 hand over the keys. 



Several other feats were attempted, but failed. 

 The failures were presumably due to the guides 

 not being good subjects. 



According to the unanimous opinion of the 

 most competent judges, the explanation of the 

 feats accomplished is simple and obvious, and has 

 already been given as regards Mr. Bishop per- 

 sonally by Professor Preyer. If the descriptions 

 given above are recalled, it will be noticed, 1°, 

 that nothing was done except when there was 

 contact between the performer and the guide ; and, 

 2°, that success required nothing but the execution 

 of some movement on Mr. Bishop's part. Thus, 

 in the first feat he had to go to a certain place, 

 take a knife, return with it and strike a blow ; in 

 the second, to make certain marks upon a black- 

 board ; in the thii'd, to move, in part by the guid- 

 ed power of horses, to a certain place, and there 

 move his hand to a particular spot and take hold 

 of an object ; in the fourth, merely to strike 

 certain piano-keys. In spite, therefore, of the 

 apparent diversity of things done, there was no 

 real variety, and there is only one thing to explain. 

 It is this : how did Mr. Bishop ascertain what 

 movements or motions he was to execute ? 



