i88i.] 
“Jumpers” of Maine. 
89 
took one of these men to my room and quietly conversed with 
him, and made the same experiments with him as with the other 
case. I found him much less irritable than the other, and he 
needed usually stronger excitation to produce the phenomena. 
I experimented with him in the phenomenon of repeating 
language that was addressed to him. When the command 
was uttered in a quick, loud voice, he repeated the order as 
he heard it, at the same time that he executed it. When 
told to strike, he said “ Strike” at the same time that he 
struck ; when told to throw it, he said “ Throw it” at the same 
time that he threw whatever was in his hand. It made no 
difference what language was used. I tried him with the first 
part of the first line of Homer’s “ Iliad,” and with the first 
part of Virgil’s “ 5Eneid,” languages, of course, of which he 
knew nothing, and he repeated quickly, almost violently, 
the sound as it was uttered — “ Menin Aida,” the first part of 
the first line of the “Iliad,” and “ Arma-vi,” the first part of 
the first line of Virgil. In order to have it repeated, it was 
necessary that the command should be very short, as well 
as quickly and strongly uttered. He would not repeat a 
whole line, or even half a line, but simply a word or two. 
In these, as in the mind-reading experiments, I was able to 
establish my conclusions by exclusion — that is, by proving 
that only the involuntary action of mind on body could 
produce the phenomena. 
These experiments were repeated again and again, under 
various conditions at different times, in such a way as to 
satisfy myself, absolutely, that the six elements of error that 
apply to all experiments with living human beings were all 
eliminated, and that the fadts obtained were the solid re- 
siduum of an exadt scientific investigation.* 
Many strange things are done by these Jumpers. One of 
those with whom I experimented came very near cutting his 
throat the day before I reached the lake. He was shaving, 
and the door slammed suddenly behind him ; he jumped, 
and had the razor been held in a different way, he might 
have inflicted a severe wound. One of these Jumpers being 
surprised by an order to “ strike,” while standing before a 
* The six sources of error in experimenting with living human beings are — 
1. Unconscious deception on the part of the subjedl experimented on; 2. In« 
tentional deception on the part of the subjedl experimented on ; 3. Intentional 
collusion of other parties; 4. Unintentional collusion of other parties; 5. 
Chances and coincidences ; 6. Phenomena of the involuntary life. In experi- 
menting with the Jumpers the nature of the phenomena made it easy to 
eliminate the main element of error, intentional deception on the part of the 
subjedl — since, unless the subjedl is deceived or at least surprised, the phe* 
nomena do not appear. 
VOL. III. (THIRD SERIES) H 
