6o Mind-Reading or Muscle-Reading . [February, 
As to the results of such experiments it is utterly idle to 
speculate prior to the adtual trial. But there is one consi- 
deration which here suggests itself that is not undeserving 
of examination. So-called “mind-reading,” though publicly 
exhibited in America by Brown as early as 1875, and though 
formally described and discussed by Dr. Beard in the 
“ Popular Science Monthly,” in February, 1877, has only 
been recently made known in this country by one who, we 
understand, assumes the part of an exposer of Spiritualism. 
We may therefore justly ask in how far will mind-reading, 
as already known, throw any light upon the so-called 
“ Spiritualistic ” manifestations ? The preliminary difficulty 
occurs that mind-reading is itself unexplained in its nature, 
and that consequently if we use it to explain Spiritualism 
we are merely putting one unknown quantity for another. 
But can the passage of thought from one person to another, 
supposing it fully demonstrated, account for any of the 
more important of the phenomena upon which Spiritualists 
build their system ? Let us turn to the recent remarkable 
work entitled “ Evenings at Home in Spiritual Seance.” * 
Here the authoress, Miss Houghton, describes the two tests 
which she accepted as sufficient evidence of the reality of 
Spiritualism. Miss Houghton, her cousin a Mrs. Pearson, 
a medium Mrs. Marshall, and the niece of the latter sat to- 
gether at a round table, and “ in a short time the raps came. 
My youngest sister, Zilla, who died in 1851, was again in 
conversation with me, and I asked whether anything still 
troubled her, to which she answered ‘ Yes,’ and on my en- 
quiring what it was, naturally concluding that it would refer 
to her husband or children, I was surprised by the word 
‘ Helen ’ being spelt out. Helen was another sister, three 
years older than herself, who had married a Catholic and 
had been led away to the same church. This had troubled 
Zilla on earth, and I felt it was still a grief to her. The 
name of Helen could never have been the coinage of Mrs. 
Marshall or her niece, nor was she at all in my thoughts.” 
We must here ask, Was Miss Houghton during this experi- 
ment in bodily contact with Mrs. Marshall and her niece ? 
P'urther, was the thought of her sister Helen unconsciously 
passing through her mind ? If these two questions are 
answered in the affirmative, it is at least possible that the 
idea may have passed from the mind of Miss Houghton to 
that of Mrs. Marshall, and the evidence of the presence of 
the spirit of Zilla is so far weakened. But in a further 
* See Journal of Science, Third Series, vol. iii. , p. 686. 
