R. S. HYER-LAW OF HYPNOTISM. 
3 
whether a berry is ripe or green. Among the advocates of such views 
are to be found some eminent in the scientific world. Their a priori po¬ 
sition seems to be that man has reached that stage in his psychical evolu¬ 
tion where new powers are beginning to be developed. That which has 
been done they regard as but the grapes brought back by spies from a 
land of promise, a land that posterity is some day to possess in full. Nor 
is this faith without its prophet. Flammarion has turned his telescope 
upon our own earth as it shall be some thousand years hence, and has 
seen its inhabitants “emerge from the limits of animalism, with senses so 
refined that mind can act upon mind at any distance, recalling departed 
spirits by virtue of a transcendental magnetism of which children may 
avail themselves.” 
If it can be clearly shown that among the many reported instances of 
“ mind reading,” “ thought transference,” etc., there is a single genuine 
phenomenon of this nature, we must necessarily resort to the hypothesis 
of a “ hitherto undiscovered force in nature,” and declare that a new 
and most promising field has been opened up for scientific investigation. 
Have we any certain proof that there have been phenomena of this na¬ 
ture ? The experiments of Dr. Luys at the hospital of Nancy seemed to 
prove the certainty of their existence till Ernest Hart made the whole 
affair quite ludicrous by proving that Luys himself had been duped by 
clever subjects who had been making themselves “ interesting.” 
Lombi’oso reported that he had made a subject write music and speak 
German though he knew neither. Yet, according to Donato, this very 
subject has stated that he was quite familiar with both. Many like in¬ 
stances could be given of the errors into which men of high scientific 
attainments have been led. The Society for Psychical Research reports 
that instances of thought transference have been witnessed by its mem¬ 
bers in which all were agreed that there was no possibility of fraud. The 
value of this opinion must be determined in the light of the fact that for 
two years this society was chiefly occupied in studying thought transfer¬ 
ence as practiced by a set of girls, and for two years they were success¬ 
fully imposed upon. When at last the fraud was detected “certain 
members were disposed to regard this deceit as an afterthought that had 
engrafted itself upon a genuine phenomenon.” When two years are re¬ 
quired to detect one fraud, and its detection shows the lengths to which 
some are willing to go to sustain a preconceived opinion, we can but sus¬ 
pect that, after all, there may be some mistake in the announcement that 
other cases were genuine. 
It is well known that the feats of the professional “ mind reader” are 
usually only clever tricks of “ muscle reading” that almost any one may 
impose upon a marvel-loving public. The celebrated feats of Bishop and 
