SCIENCE. 



'"3 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 

 Prog r ess. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



Published at 

 229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 

 P. O. Box 3838. 



SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 1881. 



NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. 



We consider it due to those subscribers who have favored 

 us with their subscriptions, previous to the publication of" 

 our club rates, that they should have the privileges of the 

 list. They can therefore send us subscriptions for any or 

 all of the publications named at the reduced double rates, 

 less $4, the subscription price of " Science." 



The lecture of Dr. George F. Beard on what he 

 prefers to call " Mesmeric Trance," delivered this week 

 before the New York Academy of Sciences, in the hal 

 of the New York Academy of Medicine, received the 

 close attention of an audience the majority of which, 

 apparently, witnessed the experiments for the first 

 time. 



Dr. Beard described, briefly, the various forms of 

 trance with which neurologists are familiar, and was 

 supported by eight trance subjects, who exhibited 

 manifestations of trance phenomena, to the equal sat- 

 isfaction of the lecturer and his appreciative audience. 



In regard to the genuineness of Dr. Beard's demon- 

 strations we have no doubt that, substantially, they 

 were bona fide, but it seemed apparent that the mis- 

 erable objects who did duty on the occasion over- 

 acted their parts, and it may be even now an open 

 question whether Dr. Beard or his audience was 

 more imposed upon. Without intending to assert 

 that an imposition was intended or practiced on the 

 occasion, it is not difficult to show,' probably, that 

 many of the experiments might have been illusions. 

 Two of the so-called patients were evidently trained 

 performers, if not professional actors ; if merely ama- 

 teurs they surely missed their vocation. One of these 

 patients could throw himself from an erect position 

 to the stage, on his face, with the ease of an acrobat ; 

 the other declaimed Shakespsare at short notice, with 

 the energy and persistence of a barrel organ. Other 

 experiments also developed phenomena, which were 

 not part of the programme. The boy who ate 



Cayenne pepper in a trance, believing it to be sugar, 

 appeared to be not inconvenienced in the least when 

 he returned to a normal condition. But still more re- 

 markable was the behavior of the patient who was 

 made " stone deaf." Dr. Beard shouted in vain to 

 this man, a tuning fork was sounded, a bell rung, and 

 even a pistol fired close to his devoted head, while the 

 patient remained eloquently silent and apparently 

 oblivious to all external sounds. 



To de-hypnotize the subject, Dr. Beard, unmindful 

 of the fact that he was supposed to be addressing a 

 deaf person, said, in an ordinary tone of voice : " It's 

 all right !" that being the usual phrase employed. To 

 the surprise of many present, the patient (perhaps not 

 desiring a contretemps to mar the performance) took 

 the cue and quietly resumed his seat. 



To a popular audience Dr. Beard's theories and ex- 

 periments might have partaken of the character of a 

 revelation, but we believe that nearly all our present 

 knowledge of the subject dates from Braid's book on 

 Hypnotism, published more than twenty years ago. 



The policy of such public exhibitions may be well 

 questioned ; in Vienna they have been prohibited, 

 and as no new truth can be gained or science ad- 

 vanced by repeating these experiments in such a man- 

 ner, why make them the subject for an evening's 

 amusement before a scientific society ? 



The patients selected perform their parts constantly, 

 and thus become finally, perhaps unconsciously, more 

 and more trained to elaborate their antics, so that, 

 even admitting the genuineness of the performance, 

 the experiments may be, at least so far, manufactured. 



The subjects of Dr. Beard are chiefly selected from 

 the nervous classes of our population, and although 

 they may be willing to air their peculiarities before a 

 fashionable audience, it would appear to be a charita- 

 ble course to keep them from such public exhibitions 

 which can result only in aggravating their morbid 

 tendencies. 



NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The Committee on Lectures announces that the re- 

 mainder of the course will embrace five lectures, to be 

 delivered at the new Hall of the Academy of Medicine, 

 No. 12 West Thirty-first street, New York City, on the 

 third Monday of each month. 



These lectures are free to the public, but admission is 

 strictly confined to those holding tickets, which may be 

 obtained of D. S. Martin, 236 West Fourth street ; W. P. 

 Trowbridge, School of Mines, East Forty-ninth street, 

 and Alex. A. Julien, School of Mines, East Forty-ninth 

 street. 



The programme includes the following lectures : Jan- 

 uary 17th, Respiration, by Dr. J. W. S. Arnold ; Febru- 

 ary 2 1st, The Reptilian Affinities of Birds, by Professor 

 Edward S. Morse; March 21, Sensation and Pain, by 

 Dr. Charles Fayette Taylor; April 18th, Temple Archi- 

 tecture of the Tenth to the Fifteenth Century, by Pro- 

 fes5or George W. Plympton ; May 10th, The Organic 

 Elements, by Professor Albert R. Leeds. 



