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We should do our utmost to encbttrage th...
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TffE FALLACY Of CLAIRVOYANCE. : \ ' ;; "...
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BUY BLAS. That Victor Hugo is a man of i...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Books On Our Table. Iafe In Bombayrand T...
- ? -. ¦ •' -: :. : ; . '• ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦' : ; .. - ¦ : ; - .:::: r-:- >;?^? . . .:, . : ¦ , ¦ - ¦ . ... , ¦ ¦¦ ^ . - . - .:. ¦ - -- , v- : . .. . ¦ ¦¦ . ¦¦ ¦ . ¦ . ¦ •¦ v ¦ , •; ¦>; , ¦ ¦ iecuted consistently with the highest authorities on the subject . It is theambifcionof Mr . Cbnnbn that the student shall have nothing to unlearn when he has advanced to Zumpt or to Matthice among the Germans , or to Tooke , Grombie » Latham * aiid dtherd , among burselyeB , who have applied a knowledge of Saxon , as well asof philological criticism , to the syatematization of the English tongue . What is to be learned of philology , and of the philosdDjjycrf Harr is * Katnes , Campbett » rJ ' ames JdLilV Whew . elV Stuart , Mill , arid other writers , whosia / works constitute the great fountains of grammar , the reader will here find put ^ fore him substaiitiaily in a course of study accordant with such eminent teaching . A work ; at moderate price , with these aims , and of intelliff ** ' ^ execution , needs no other recommendation . Miscellanies . By James Martineau . - Jolm Chapman . Battle of Waterloo : a Tragedy . ByF . H . Pearce . W- g orsell . tSs » JProgressionisis . W . Horsell . We I % lv of St . Paul ' s : altoiiianeeofOldl . ondon . 3 vols . Smith , Elder , and Co . I & e School for Fathers . ByP . © Wynne . Smith , Elder , and Co . The Ve qetation ofBwrope ; its Conditions arid Catifes . By A . Henfrey . John Van "Voorst . Robert Slake , Admral and : Genera } at Sea . By Hepworth Dixon . Chapman and Hall .
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We should do our utmost to encbttrage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages .. ' ¦ ¦ .. ¦ ¦' ¦ ¦ itself . —Goethe . ' ,
Tffe Fallacy Of Clairvoyance. : \ ' ;; "...
TffE FALLACY Of CLAIRVOYANCE . : \ ' ;; "¦ ¦ : ' . ' u ; : } s . " , . ' ¦ . . ByG . % Lew-es . \ ; ;; .. .,. ' . ' \ '"' ' . ' " , Believers in mesmerism , and its "higher phenpniena , " claim our credence for 0 e "i & cts" wliidb they bring forward , declaring themselves ^ to be com ~ paratively indifferent as idtheexplanations they or you may give of those facts / But every ^ man ' who ; has made any ; scientific researches will know hoveexcessively difficult it often - is to recognise a fact—to know it for ^ at ! i ^ ts . T ^ simple and appreciable enough tj > persons who believe their eyes , " as they say ; but scientific menknowthetruth of Dr . Cullen * s sarcasm , tnat people are never so little to be beUered as wheji ' na ^ at ing seen . Nevertheless , it must not be cbncealeii ^ at severid . scientific inen hav e e xammed clair * voyance > andl recorded the . fr belief in it j the testimiontes are of such a character , andth < 3 ' : facts * so abinidant , titat no cautious / n ^ md- will hastily dismiss ^ e n ^ ai / irawor # iy of exam inatioin . ' " : ' ;' . \ - - " , I h ^ ialre ^ dyi on several ! occasions , e ^ r ^^ l-i ^ r eunions in rtiaft journal pn ; mesmerismi , but it jnaay he -as w < 4 k « 4 § $ ^ for the simplification <) £ ¦ tl ^ . pre & e ' flfc . vptf ^^ mesmerism , ofeoma ^ the evidence seeiMBJto ine ample ; convincing . / y-JPoi ; th £ facts of clairyojriiBMje ' there seems to me no evidence at all . I thr & wjae-SOrir ofr . doubt pa tl » e veracity of the narrators ; bait in the authenticated cases thalfhave > come under my bbseivatioii I . miss the requisite elimination of all sources of error- —I see no crucial instance to force my conviction . To
go no farther than the letters which have recently appeared in these columns , under the title of Magnetic Evenings at Home — when . my friend C . narrated the substance of tho * e letters to me , I at once offered them publicity , though expressing to him my complete suspension of opinion with regard to the facts related . C , known to the public as a distinguished writer , and known to me as a man of unimpeachable veracity , was certainly entitled to a most respectful hearing , even of marvels . But the facts did not carry the least persuasion to my mind . I am ready to believe , and publicly to avow , my belief the instant a crucial instance has been obtained ; and not being in any way committed to anti-clairvoyance , I have sought on all sides for this prodf , but sought in vain . If Dr . Haddock of Leeds , whose " Emma" has made such revelations , will
undertake to assist me to this proof , I hereby undertake to publish the result in these columns . The challenge is made in an earnest desire to get at the truth , and I hope will be accepted in that spirit . But to my present object . C . narrates how a card given to the clairvoyante . was sufficient for her to tell when the card was given , where it was given , at what kind of entertainment , the persons prese . nt there , the agea , sex , and social position 'of the persons , and their respective seats at the table . That was astounding ; but convincing ? Not to me . I believed then
, and I believe still , that , in point of fact , the gentleman from whom the card was received told the clairvoyante all that was necessary for her to tell him— -told it , by leading questions , by anxious expressions , by intonations , by tile , hundred suggestions of voice and manner . He would not accept this explanation , and declared he had been wholly passive . I resolved to try a crucial instance . I resolved to test the clairvoyante when she knew nothing , when her operator knew nothing , when no other human being but myself knew what the real case was . If she succeeded m that , my doubts would end .
Accordingly , I wrote a letter , requesting to be told what I had done on the Sunday when that letter was written . To render even a proximate answer more difficult I signed the letter S . Lawrence , The magnetizer , in transmitting her ; reply rornarks : , ' " The selection of your friend " for an experiment in clairvoyance is not advantageous . It does not bear upon any particular thing upon which one could direct the attention of the somn ambule to rest . It generalises too much . Hud he set about doing somei particular thing at a giveri hour , and requirpd that the clairvoyante should see what it was , I think there would have been better chance . I « unk it probable , that ) iad Mr . Lawrence done anytifyng remarkable in tho course of the day the voyante would have seen it ; ' but all that she has '
s £ id he $ kd is * as ^ you wiU see , the general quiet Sunday-routine of mo » c men ; arid siipposing that all she has said should be right , people would say it was gue ^ s work . I am anxious to know how far she has been righfe "' Be was toldthat she had not been right . But let me give the clairvoyariiteV reply , It is her magnetizer who writes : — - / " ; '' ] I placed the miiror in V . * s hands , willing her to seeMlltr . Lawrencq . * u >• As usual in-iofiking into it she went to sleep in a few minutes , and lit the enfy of about twentor twenty-five minutes she said she saw Mr . Lawrenceaqd den
y , scribed him as foUrtws :- ^ ' He has the face of a young man about thirty years of age . He is standing before me , looking at me . He looks serious , that is to say , he does not laugh nor even smile . I see him in the nureor , but in the distance , as when one looks through the wrong end of an opera-glass . He is rather tall ; his ; face rather long , and Iris eyes are grey ; he has dark complexion and hair ; a nose rather long and thin— -when I say thin I mean not large—and an ordinary mouth . It seems that he has a dark-coloured pantaloon , and nothing particular ; in his general dress /
Thus far with the mirror . I then put Mr . Lawrence ' s letter into V . ' s hands , willing hex to see what Mr . Lawrence did on Sunday , 22 nd inst . Her answers follow : — - * He went out in the morning after 10 o ' clock , and in the morning also ha went to church . Besides the letter , he wrote other things . He went to visit some one , a lady , at her own house ; . A man went also to see him and found him at home . He ( Mr . Lawrence ) had been also doing something which he was looking at very intently , but I do not know what it was . He has read a good deal . He dined in company with two other persons ; he went out in the evening , and was in bed before eleven o ' clock . ' , Here she said sle could see no more , and consequently I awoke her .
Those who know me will judge of the portrait . As to the details of what I did , they are almost all incorrect . E had no visitor . I did not go t < S church . Instead of dining with two persons , I dined with tenj and when I add that Dejazet was one of the party , I say enough to indicate that the dinner was not one of ^ ordinary Sunday routine . " Finally , I did not go out in the evening , nor did I go to bed before eleven , Although this experiment failed , I was willing to make every allowance to the objection raised by the magnetker , as to my not having fixed an hour : rnoreover , I felt that the use of a false signature mig ht have misled
the clairvoyante , and certainly might be used as an argument to stultify the experimenti I therefore wrote a letter in my own name , and fixed the ctay and hour , asking what I did between ttie hours of half-past twelve and t > ne : ; what kind of rooms I was in ; and what persons / if any , were in those Tooms . At last a crucial instance was obtained ... The hour was fixed , no one was informed of what I had done , and I awaited the result with curiosity , for ; the series of things done by me at the hour named were such as . defied all guessing—^ least , in the order of-their performance , This was ihe l'eply :- ^—
Mx deab pbieio >>—hI write you here V . ' s answers to the questions- of your friend Mr . Xewes , which I thus put to her last night whilst in the magnetic Bleep *?* - ' What has Mr . Lewes been doing in London on Friday List , March 5 th , between the hours of half-past twelve and one o ' clock of the noon ? what sort of room he was in , what he did there , and whom did he see in it , if anybody ?' Anstoer . ' Mr . Lewes , he does himself magnetize , and he was , in fact , at that time , viz ., between the hours of half-past twelve and one o ' clock of the noon , magnetizing somebody—a man , whom he did not put to sleep . The room in which he was magnetizing is large ; it has two windows , and one door ; there is not much furniture in it ; it was not furnished like a drawing-room , and there were quantities of written papers ( beaucowp de papiers ) lying about . There was nohody in the room besides Mr . Lewes himself and the person he was magnetizing / Here she
said she saw nothing else . I will first remark on the perfect good faith of the gentleman in question , and his readiness to have the experiment fairly tried . Had he had the slightest misgiving of the truth of clairvoyance , he might easily have evaded my test ; but he met it in the frankest spirit of truth-seeking , such as inclines me to believe that there must be something in the facts which a man like this believes . I say so after the entire failure of both my experiments . The reply just quoted , is , in no one particular , correct . But although these have failed , I am open to conviction yet . Let me place the conditions , and I will abide the result .
In conclusion , let me say that the fallacy of clairvoyance is , I take it , the interpretation of a dreaming power as a seeing power . The clairvoyante ( when not a charlatan ) sees the objects of her dreams , and describes them , ; what those objects are depend mainly upon the suggestion of external stimulus , in the shape of words , tones , hesitations , & c . If she sees that a man ' s hair is black , and you tell her " no , " she corrects herself , and will , in course of time , correct herself till she calls it red , if you make her . Once , when I " travelled" with a clairvoyante , i . e ., when she accompanied me in thought all over my house , I found that by simple assent to what was wrong , and by feigning an anxious surprise , I could make her say just whatever I anticipated she would say . If she were not duping every one , she was dreaming , and her dreams were swayed by what I said .
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Buy Blas. That Victor Hugo Is A Man Of I...
BUY BLAS . That Victor Hugo is a man of inoonteBtable talent , I , for one , will nc £ deny ; but that ho is a poet , with ajl his fine passages , or a dramatist , wtfh all his ! splendid cotipit de tMdtre , I cannot bring my 3 olft 6 admit ; and yqTJ queer ia it always to me when I h , ear critics . sooning at I ^ aoine and applauflin # Yiotor HutfO ^ -as queor as it w oul d sdem to a painter if Rnpnaojl ^ fre soornod for 11 . 13 . Hayclon !
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 27, 1852, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27031852/page/21/
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