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THE FALLACY OP CLAIRVOYANCE . ByGL H . Lewes . Believers in mesmerism , and its "higher phenomena , * ' claim our credence for the " facts * ' which they bringjfbrward , declaring themselves to be comparatively indifferent as to the explanations they or you may give of those facts . But every man who has made any scientific researches will know how excessively difficult it often is to recognise a fact—to know it for what it is . The facts of clairvoyance may seem simple and appreciable enough to persons who " believe their eyes , " as they sayj but scientific men know the truth of Dr . Cullen * s sarcasm , that people are never so little to be believed as when narrating what they have seen . Nevertheless , it must not be concealed that several scientific men have examined
clairvoyance , and recorded their belief in it j the testimonies are of such a character , and the " facts" so abundant , that no cautious mind will hastily dismiss them as unworthy of examination . I have already , on several occasions , expressed my opinions in this journal on mesmerism ; but it may be as well briefly to recapitulate them for the simplification of the present paper . For the leading facets of mesmerism , or coma , the evidence seems to me ample , convincing . For the facts of clairvoyance there seems to me no evidence at all . I throw no sort of doubt on the veracity of the narrators ; but in the authenticated cases that have come under my observation 1 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 Hornet— -when my friend C narrated the substance of those 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 proof , 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 present there , the ages , 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 'Gil tlllH—^—rfllfl \ f [ nxr l * knr 3 * Yi * Aiiaa 4-iAna l ** r 4 by * v « # « ii < i nvniuiciainvia \\ % r in + svna — tell him—told itbleading questionsb xi
ressionsbintonan , y , y anous exp , y tions , by the 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 remarks : " 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 somnambule to rest . It generalizes too much . Had he set about doing some particular thing at a given hour , and required that the clairvoyante should see what it was , I think there would have been better chance . I think it probable , that had Mr . Lawrence done anything remarkable in the course of the day the voyante would have seen it ; but all that she has
said Ac did is , as you will see , the general quiet Sunday-routine of most men ; and supposing that all she has said should be right , people would say it was guess work . I am anxious to know how far she has been right . " He was told that she had not been right . But let me give the clairvoyante ' s reply . It is her magnetizer who writes : — I placed themirror in Ws hands , willing her to see ' Mr . Lawrence / As usual in looking into it she went to sleep in a few minutes , and at the end
of about twenty or twenty-five minutes she said she saw Mr . Lawrence , and described him as follows : —• 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 mirror , 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 his 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 her 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 he 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 wag in bed before eleven o ' clock / Here she said she 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 . I had no visitor . I did not go to church . Instead of dining with two persons , I dined with ten j 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 magnetizer , as to my not having fixed an hour ; moreover , I felt that the use of a false signature might have misled
the clairvoyante , and certainly might be used as an argument to stultify the experiment . I therefore wrote a letter in my own name , and fixed the day and hour , asking what I did between the hours of half-past twelve and one % what kind of rooms I was in ; and what persons , if any , were in . those rooms . 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—at least , in the order of their performance . This was the reply :
My deae peieni > , —I write you here Y . ' s answers to the questions of your friend Mr . Lewes , which I thus put to her last night whilst in the magnetic sleep : — ' What has Mr . Lewes been doing in London on Friday lust , March 6 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 ?' Answer . * 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 j 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 ( beaucoup de papiers ) lying about . There was nobody 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 descr ibes them j 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 " , " 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 , . I .. ....: ¦ ¦ . ¦ ^ ; ' - ¦ ¦¦ - ¦¦ ; -.. — . ¦¦ -., - .... , .. ,, ; -c
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BUY BLAB . That Victor Hugo is a man of incontestable talent , I , for one , will not deny ; but that " he is a poet , with all his fine passages , or a dramatist , with all his splendid coups de tfttdtre , I cannot bring my self to admit ; and veiy queer is it always to me when I hear criticB scoffing at Itacine and applauding Victor Hug £ >—» queer as it would seem to a painter if Raphael were scorned for B . TB . Haydon !
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We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . —Gobthb .
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Miscellanies . By James Martineau . John Chapman . Battle of Waterloo : a Tragedy-. By E . H . Pearce . W . Horaell JAvessys Progressionist * . "W . Horaell . The Lily of St . Paul '* : a Romance of Old London , 3 volfl . Smith , Elder , and Co . The School for Fathers . By F . Gtojynne . Smith , Elder , and Co . The Vegetation of 'Europe ; its Conditions and Causes . ByA . Henfrey . John Van Voorst . JBobert Blake , Admiral and General at Sea . By Hepworth Dixon . Chapman and Hall .
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executed consistently with the hig hest authorities on the subject . It is the ambition of Mr . Connon that the student shall have nothing to unlearn when he has advanced to Zumpt or to Matthiaa among the Germans , or to Tooke , Crombie , Latham , and others , among ourselves , who have applied a knowledge of Saxon , as well as of philological criticism , to the systematization of the English tongue . What is to be learned of philology , and of the philosophy of language , irom Locke , Harris , Kamei ^ CampbellJames Mill , Whewell , Whately , John Stuart , Mill , and other writers , whose works . constitute the great fountains of grammar , the reader wilt here find put before him substantially in a course of study accordant with such eminent teaching . A work at moderate price , with these aims , and of intelligent execution , needs no other recommendation .
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Mabch 27 , g 852 . ] THE LEADER . 305
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Leader (1850-1860), March 27, 1852, page 305, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1928/page/21/
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