1 88 1.] Physiology of Mind- Reading. 409 
verbal communication from the subject. Even though the 
article on which the subject concentrates his mind be very 
small, it can frequently be picked out from a large number, 
provided the subject be a good one, and the operator suffi- 
ciently skilful. The article is sometimes found at once, the 
operator going to it directly, without hesitation, and with a 
celerity and precision that, at first sight, and until the 
physiological explanation is understood, justly astonish even 
the most thoughtful and sceptical. These experiments, it 
should be added, are performed in public or private, and on 
subjects of unquestioned integrity, in the presence of experts, 
and under a combination of circumstances and conditions 
for the elimination of error that make it necessary to rule out 
at once the possibility of collusion. 
The alternative is, therefore, between the actual transfer 
of thought from subject to operator, as has been claimed, 
and the theory of unconscious muscular motion and relaxa- 
tion on the part of the subject, the truth of which I have 
demonstrated by numerous experiments. 
One of the gentlemen with whom I have experimented, 
Judge Blydenberg, who began to test his powers direCtly 
after I first called public attention to the subject in New 
Haven, claims to succeed, even with the most intellectual 
persons, provided they fully comply with the conditions, and 
honestly and persistently concentrate their minds. One faCt 
of interest is the exceeding minuteness of the objects that he 
finds. A large number of the audience empty their pockets 
on the table, until it is covered with a medley of keys, 
knives, trinkets, and miscellaneous small objects. Out of 
them the subject selects a small seed a little larger than a 
pea, and even this the operator, after some searching, hits 
precisely. 
One may take a large bunch of keys, throw them on the 
table, and he picks out the very one on which the subject 
concentrates his mind. 
Another fact of interest in his experiments is that, if the 
subject thinks over a number of articles in different parts of 
the room, and finally selects some one, the operator will lead 
him, sometimes successively, to the different objects on 
which he has thought, and will wind up with the one that 
he finally selected. He also performs what is known as the 
“ double test,” which consists in taking the hand of a third 
party, who knows nothing of the hidden object, but who is 
connected with another party who does know, and who con- 
centrates his mind upon it. The connection of these two 
persons is made at the wrist, and the motion is communi- 
VOL. III. (THIRD SERIES). 2 E 
