410 Physiology of Mind-Reading. [ July, 
cated from one to the other through the arms and hands. 
The “ double test” has been regarded by some as an argu- 
ment against the theory that this form of mind-reading was 
simply the utilising of unconscious muscular motion on the 
part of the person operated upon. 
This gentleman represents that the sensation of muscular 
thrill is very slight indeed, even with good subjects ; and, in 
order to detect it, he directs his own mind as closely as pos- 
sible to the hand of the subject. 
In all these experiments, with all mind-readers the 
requirement for the subject to concentrate the mind on the 
locality agreed upon is absolute ; if that condition is not 
fulfilled, nothing can be done, for the very excellent reason 
that, without such mental concentration, there will be no 
unconscious muscular tension or relaxation to guide the 
operator. 
I have seen a performer — far less skilful than many with 
whom I have experimented — take a hat from the head of a 
gentleman in a small private circle, and carry it across the 
room and put it on the head of another gentleman ; take a 
book or any other object from one person to another ; or go 
in succession to different pictures hanging on the wall, and 
perform other feats of a similar character, while simply 
taking hold of the wrist of the subject. In the experiment 
described by Mr. Grimes the subject placed three fingers of 
his right hand on the shoulder of the operator. Note the 
fact that in all these experiments direction and locality are 
all that the mind-reader finds ; the quality of the object 
found, or indeed whether it be a movable object at all, or 
merely a limited locality, as a figure in the carpet or on the 
wall, is not known to the mind-reader until he picks it up or 
handles it : then if it be a small object, as a hat, a book, a 
coin, or tidy, he very naturally takes it and moves off with 
it in the direction indicated by the unconscious muscular 
tension of the subject, and leaves it where he is ordered by 
unconscious muscular relaxation. In the great excitement 
that attends these novel and most remarkable experiments 
the entranced audience fail to notice that the operator really 
finds nothing but direction and locality. 
I have said that various errors of inference, as well as of 
observation, have been associated with these experiments. 
A young lady who had been quite successful as an amateur 
in this art was subjected by me to a critical analysis of her 
powers before a large private audience. She supposed that 
it was necessary for all the persons in the audience to con- 
centrate their minds on the object as well as those whose 
