i882.j Mind-Reading or Muscle-Reading* 59 
same experiments that Mr. Bishop showed, and by continued 
enquiry it may be that the mystery will be solved. 
“ I am, yours, &c., 
“ Henry Edmonds, B.Sc. (London).” 
We see that in these experiments physical connection 
was found needful. No one has, it would appear, in experi- 
ments of this class, ever professed to read the thoughts of 
another without direct or indirect bodily contaCt. Where 
there is no connection at all, or where operator and subject 
are linked together by an inroganic medium, as, e.g. y by a 
wire, the conditions of success are wanting. 
Mr. Edmonds, however, seems to have gone a stage be- 
yond what Dr. Beard pronounces possible : he distinguishes 
colour. This one faCt seems to us fatal to the theory of 
unconscious muscular aCtion. We may very easily compre- 
hend that the arm of the subject, especially if he is in a state 
of nervous excitement, — as will often be the case in such 
performances, — may give certain indications capable of 
serving as a clue to the direction and the locality of the 
hidden object, and even to pick it out from a number of 
other articles ; but we think it impossible that any muscular 
aCtion of the subject’s arm could suggest to Mr. Edmonds 
the notion of a cotton-reel at all, and still more of a black 
rather than of a grey, a white, or a blue reel. It is im- 
portant to know whether Mr. Edmonds at once, at this 
stage of the proceedings, announced the nature and colour 
of the article which had been hidden. The experiment with 
the plate, where the dark colour of the rim was recognised, 
tells equally against the “ muscle ” theory. It would seem, 
therefore, that there are persons who, when placed in aCtual 
bodily contaCt with others, can, to a certain limited extent, 
perceive what is passing in the mind of the latter. Nor is 
this power confined to the case of tangible, material .off- Cts,' 
as appears from the experiment of localising a pain. 
We quite agree with Mr. Edmonds that further experi- 
ment is here urgently needed. Those who possess the 
power should try if it be possible to recognise in this manner 
a past experience or a future expectation upon which the 
subject is concentrating his mind. The question further 
suggests itself whether any connection between the operator 
and the subject, save that effected by the living body, will 
answer the purpose. Dr. Beard’s experiments certainly show 
that a metallic medium like wire is useless, but we do not 
learn whether he has tried leather, wool, silk, or other life- 
less organic matter. 
F 2 , 
