INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I. Somnambulism and Psychic Phenomena.
CHAPTER II. Clairvoyance.
CHAPTER III. Clairvoyance Illustrated.
CHAPTER IV. Psychometry.
CHAPTER V. Thought-Transference and Telepathy.
CHAPTER VI. Thought-Reading Experiments.
CHAPTER VII. Spiritualism.
CHAPTER VIII. Spiritualism.—Continued.
INTRODUCTION.
The
first book of this series, “How to Mesmerise,” gave so much
satisfaction to the reading public, and having passed into several
editions, my publishers have asked me to write another work on
similar lines. This
brochure is my
response. Clairvoyance, Psychometry, and Thought
Transference—briefly
referred to in the former—are more fully gone into in this.
Consequently, I have little doubt “How to Thought-Read” will meet
with acceptance.Thought-reading
is duly considered and explained. A clear distinction is drawn
between Musculation, or Muscle and Mind-Reading; and although these
pages are not confined to Thought-Reading, as generally understood
by
the public, the subject itself, and as an entertainment, have been
pretty fully dealt with.During
the past decade, psychological subjects have, in a remarkable way,
arrested public attention. “New Mesmerism” and “New
Spiritualism” are popular subjects with editors and magazine
writers. Whatever the real causes—a greater influx of the spiritual
from “the state of the dead,” or from a reaction in the minds of
men against the purblind materialism of our scientific leaders—it
is hard to say. Possibly these and other causes have been at work.
One thing is certain, for good or ill, the majority of thinking men
and women of the age are not only interested in, but are actually
searching for evidence of “embodied spirit.” Hence we find men of
science, journalists, and even professed materialists and
secularists, who, a few years ago, could scarcely speak of these
subjects in the ordinarylanguageof
courtesy, confess now not only their belief, but are going to the
other extreme of advocating, what as yet, they have failed to fully
grasp.A
few years ago “The British Parliament of Science” was nothing if
not materialistic. The leading
savants of the day
declared “all was matter, no matter what.” Consequently, man was
the highest product of protoplasm, and his
only destiny the
grave. The change has been great indeed, when one of its most
brilliant members (Professor Oliver Lodge, D.Sc., F.R.S., British
Association at Cardiff, 1891) in his address said: “It is familiar
that a thought may be excited on the brain of another person,
transferred thither from our brain by pulling a suitable trigger;
by
liberating energy in the form of sound, for instance, or by the
mechanical act of writing, or in other ways. A pre-arranged code,
called language, and a material medium of communication, are
recognised methods. May there not, also, be an
immaterial (perhaps
an ethereal) medium of communication? Is it possible that an idea
can
be transferred from one person to another by a process such as we
have not yet grown accustomed to, and know practically nothing
about?
In this case I have evidence. I assert I have seen it done, and am
perfectly convinced of the fact; many others are satisfied of the
truth, too. It is,
perhaps, a natural consequence of the community of life or family
relationship running through all living beings. The transmission of
life may be likened in some ways to the transmission of magnetism,
and all magnets are sympathetically connected, so that, if suitably
suspended, a vibration from one disturbs others, even though they
be
distant 92,000,000 miles. It is sometimes objected that, granting
thought-transference or telepathy to be a fact, it belongs more
especially to lower forms of life, and that as the cerebral
hemispheres develop we become independent of it; thatwhat
we notice is the relic of a decaying faculty, not the germ of a new
and fruitful sense, and that progress is not to be made by studying
or alluding to it. As well might the objection be urged against a
study of embryology.
It may, on the other hand, be an indication of a higher mode of
communication, which shall survive our temporary connection with
ordinary matter.
The whole region is unexplored territory, and it is conceivable
that
matter may react on mind in a way we can at present only dimly
imagine.” The italics are mine.Thought-Transference
and Telepathy may, indeed, be an indication of a higher mode of
communication between human beings after we have severed our
temporary connection with matter. Whether or not, the hope should
repay our study. I have sought in the following pages to briefly
define and illustrate what these phases of communication
are.Double
and Psychic Consciousness, Clairvoyance, natural and induced;
Psychometry, its natural and leading features as a spiritual
faculty;
Thought-Transference, visions, dreams, and their
portents, are in
turn briefly dealt with, in order to extract therefrom some
evidence
of soul.Modern
Spiritualism is referred to, in so far as Thought-Reading is likely
to throw any light upon its psychological phases, as well as on its
physical phenomena.While
attempting to cover so much ground my difficulty was not what to
write, but what not to write, the materials at my disposal being so
abundant. Much has been cut down to get the whole within reasonable
compass. Nevertheless, I hope my readers will find “How to
Thought-Read” a readable contribution to the science of
soul.EXPERIMENT
IN PSYCHOMETRY.MR.
and MRS. COATES.
