LONDON AND LEICESTER 235 



with the bust on my table behind him, I touched successively 

 several of the organs, the position of which it was easy to de- 

 termine. After a few seconds he would change his attitude 

 and the expression of his face in correspondence with the 

 organ excited. In most cases the effect was unmistakable, 

 and superior to that which the most finished actor could give 

 to a character exhibiting the same passion or emotion. 



At this very time the excitement caused by painless surgical 

 operations during the mesmeric trance was at its full height, 

 as I have described in my " Wonderful Century " (chapter 

 xxi.), and I had read a good deal about these, and also about 

 the supposed excitement of the phrenological organs, and the 

 theory that these latter were caused by mental suggestion 

 from the operator to the patient, or what is now termed telepa- 

 thy. But as the manifestations often occurred in a different 

 form from what I expected, I felt sure that this theory was not 

 correct. One day I intended to touch a particular organ, and 

 the effect on the patient was quite different from what I 

 expected, and looking at the bust while my finger was still on 

 the boy's head, I found that I was not touching the part I 

 supposed, but an adjacent part, and that the effect exactly 

 corresponded to the organ touched and not to the organ I 

 thought I had touched, completely disproving the theory of 

 suggestion. I then tried several experiments by looking away 

 from the boy's head while I put my finger on it at random, 

 when I always found that the effect produced corresponded to 

 that indicated by the bust. I thus established, to my own 

 satisfaction, the fact that a real effect was produced on the 

 actions and speech of a mesmeric patient by the operator 

 touching various parts of the head ; that the effect corresponded 

 with the natural expression of the emotion due to the phreno- 

 logical organ situated at that part — as combativeness, acquisi- 

 tiveness, fear, veneration, wonder, tune, and many others; 

 and that it was in no way caused by the will or suggestion of 

 the operator. 



As soon as I found that these experiments were successful 

 I informed Mr. Hill, who made no objection to my continuing 

 them, and several times came to see them. He was so much 



