106 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. V., No. 105. 



ment, it was a matter of common observation with 

 us that such an instance was absolutely never met 

 with. Among thousands, and hundreds of thousands, 

 the ligament was always preserved intact. 4°. As 

 to the astute creature ' allowing the animal to freeze 

 and open,' we will not attempt to question that. It 

 may occur to some readers that it would be rather 

 monotonous for the hungry rat to wait during the 

 hot summer nights (even at 'the west and south') 

 for the stupid mussel to 'freeze and open.' That, 

 however, is his business, not ours. W. H. Pbatt. 

 Davenport, lo., Jan. 28. 



THE GEORGIA WONDER-GIRL AND HER 

 LESSONS. 



The people of the interior states are now 

 being amused 03- an exhibition the success of 

 which offers a striking example of the unrelia- 

 bility of human testirnoiry respecting the phe- 

 nomena of force and motion. Some months 

 since, the writer received a polite invitation to 

 witness the wonderful performances of Miss 

 Lulu Hurst, the Georgia ' magnetic girl,' in 

 causing objects to move as if acted on by pow- 

 erful forces, without any muscular action on 

 her part. Another engagement prevented his 

 acceptance ; but, on the morning following, he 

 received such a description of the phenomenon 

 as to make him regret that he had not sacri- 

 ficed every thing to the opportunity of seeing 

 it. It was substantially this : — 



A light rod was firmly held in the hands of 

 the heaviest and most muscular of the select 

 circle of spectators. Miss Lulu had onlj T to 

 touch the rod with her fingers, when it imme- 

 diately began to go through the most extraor- 

 dinary manoeuvres. It jerked the holder 

 around the room with a power which he was 

 unable to resist, and finally threw him down 

 into one corner completely discomfited. An- 

 other spectator was then asked to take hold 

 of the rod ; and Miss Lulu, extending her arms, 

 touched each end with the tip of a finger. 

 Immediately the rod began ■ to whirl around 

 on its own central line as an axis, with such 

 rapidity and force that the skin was nearly 

 taken off the holder's hands in his efforts to 

 stop it. A heav} T man being seated in a chair, 

 man and chair were both lifted up by the fair 

 performer pressing the palms of her hands 

 against the sides of the back. To substanti- 

 ate the claim that she herself exerted no force, 

 the chair and man were lifted without her 

 touching the chair at all. The sitter was 

 asked to put his hands under the chair : the 

 performer then put her two hands around and 

 upon his in such a way that it was impos- 

 sible for her to exert any force on the chair 

 except through his hands ; yet the chair lifted 



him up without her exerting any pressure 

 heavier than a mere touch upon his hands. 

 Several men were then invited to hold the chair 

 still. The performer began to deftly touch it 

 here and there with her fingers, when the chair 

 again began to jump about in the most ex- 

 traordinar}- manner, in spite of all the efforts 

 of three or four strong men to keep it still or 

 to hold it down. A hat being inverted upon a 

 table, she held her extended hands over it. 

 It was lifted up by what seemed an attractive 

 force similar to that of a magnet upon an ar- 

 mature, and was in danger of being torn to 

 pieces in the effort to keep it down, though 

 she could not possibly have had any hold upon 

 the object. 



This was the account of the performance 

 given, not b}^ a gaping crowd nor by uncriti- 

 cal spectators, but by a select circle of edu- 

 cated men. To the reminder that no force 

 could be exerted upon a body except by a re- 

 action in the opposite direction upon some 

 other body, and to the question upon what 

 other body the reaction was exerted, the nar- 

 rators expressed themselves unable to return 

 an answer. All they could do was to describe 

 things as they had seen them. Of only one 

 thing could they be confident : the reaction 

 was not exerted through or against the body 

 of the performer. Among the spectators were 

 physicians and physiologists who grasped Miss 

 Lulu's arms while the extraordinary motions 

 went on without finding airy S3 T mptoms of 

 strong muscular action, and who, feeling her 

 pulse after the most violent motions, found 

 that it remained in its normal state. Appar- 

 ently the objects which she touched were en- 

 dowed with a power of exerting force which 

 was wholly new to science. Altogether, the 

 w r eight of evidence seemed as strong as in the 

 best authenticated and most inexplicable cases 

 of ' spirit ' manifestation, while none of the 

 obstacles to investigation connected with the 

 latter were encountered. 



Such was the case as it appeared on a first 

 trial ; but the spectators were not men to be 

 satisfied without further investigation. Ac- 

 cordingly, they had made arrangements with 

 the managers to have another private exhibi- 

 tion at the Volta laboratory two days later. 

 They proposed also to have decisive tests to 

 determine whether or not she exerted any 

 force upon the objects which she moved. 



The part} r duly appeared at the appointed 

 time. At this point I think it only just to 

 mention the perfect frankness with which the 

 most thorough investigation of the case was 

 permitted by those having the exhibition in 



