CLAIRVOYANCE AND . . ITS TESTS„ Agt,he.easuitantly witieniagboundary. of :human knowledge ever
stand objects which, in the distance areincredible though true,— incredible to our ignoranee, but tested truth to our experience. The railroad is a fable familiarized; the electric telegraph threatens to beat-Ariel, Whom it teak Terty minutes to "put a girdle round theilobe." That things are ;incredible does not prove them-un- true. Some of the phrenomena of mesmerism are incredible, but that is-not sufficient to.dispreVes.their truth. Clair:Voyeriee is un- believable ettougir-bgt-tiat`faCt 'ddelinat establish its falsehnod: That which casts the strongest doubt on its verity is the nature of the evidence advanced in its ; .often so equivocal and trivial as to suggest the natural question, why simpler and plainer evidence cannot be-advanced? • • Among those who bear testimony- to clairvoyance is Lord Ducie ; Nit his.account does not differ from the general run. As in oilier instances, the things stated are BO trivial that they afford considerable room for equivocation. Persons who profess to ex- hibit proofs of clairvoyance, so deliberately and flagrantly defy the laws of evidence as to excite the suspicion either of their sineerity or their capacity. 'For instance, they talk openly before patients in a "mesmeric sleep "; indicating the phvenomena to. be expected; thus begging the very question in issue, and asking the sceptic to take it for granted too. Yet no experiments can be worth a moment's attention in which strict precautions are not used to prevent the slightest doubt of collusion. •
There -is a process by, which you may extort from another the description to you of something Which you have not.seen, while
.seem to be giving an original and independent description. Us e very general terms as tentative or interrogatory feelers, and the-listener, who tills up your blank forms of expression with what he knows, will be-provoked by his impatience to supply the com- plement, and in confirming or correcting he will guide you on step by step. Post of our readers kaow the arithmetical trick by which you imam to tell a number that a person is "thinking of "-_ youreelf in fact-suggesting all'that you ,Pretend to discover. The descriptions given by clairvoyance are the converse of that arithme- tical trick. Ili many instances, the sort of description runs an equal chance of right or wrong: if right, the statement is deemed conclusive; if wrong, "allowances" are made. The clairvoYante whom Lord Duciemet at Bristol seems to have described probabili- ties which just fitted Lord Ducie's house; but we should be glad to tee all that he did for her in the way of filling in, hinting, and correcting. Bit why remain content with describing :trivial matters ? The utmost that can be claimed for clairvoyance is to let it bd tested by some practical use. Let a clairvoyant be engaged by the editors of fashionable newspapers to descry the movements of royalty and fashion with the intimacy of a Boy Jones. Let him tell us what is doing in Rome, or in Hungary. Or let him be placed en rapport with the Police, to aid the Detective Force • or with the culprit, to abridge the labours of prosecuting counsel at the trial.-- It-was au:nested that some clairvoyant should read the letters in the Indian mail lost oft the South-eastern coast of Africa.; but the opportunity was suffege4. to pass. Some avail- able test might now be furnished if we were told What had be- come of:Sir John Franklin and his companions ; care -beingliken that the statement should be duly and publicly recorded beyond recall.'
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