THE QAWN
v •
'
LIBRARY
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
SANTA BARBARA
PRESENTED BY
JOY MYERS
CONTEXTS.
Fn>ut ispicc< — Eugniving— Portrait of Mrs. Huchanan.
PREFACE.
PART I. — INTRODUCTORY AM> I IlSTOKK A I..
I'AOE
Introduction Ill
CIIAPTKU 1.
Original Sketch <if Psyehometry - - 1-J-CT
fHAPTKIl II.
Original Sketch — continued 07 124
( IIAPTKU III.
Later Developments - l •_'.">- IT.~>
rllAPTKU IV.
Tlirl'sycliic Faculties — their location, and iicculcntjil nianifentutiun, 170-212
PART IT. — PUACTICAI. 1'Tii.rriK.s.
CHAPTER \.
Psychonu'try in Self Ciiltun1, C'onjiij,ral JU-lations and Hiisiiu -s> - 1 10
CIIAPTKK VI.
INyclioinotry in Mcdirul Scicuct- and < liok-t- of Physicians - .; ; M;
( IIAPTKR VII.
Psychomctry in Politics ST lls
ClIAPTKlt VIII.
Psychomotry in Literature • li!» 141
<'IIAPTi:il IX.
Prophetic Intuition - • 1 ;•_' 104
PART III. — THK NI.W J'HII.OSOIMIV AM> PKI.H.ION
( IIAPTKIJ X.
Psychometry and Anthroiioloiry - - I :;i
CIIAPTKU XI.
Future Life and L< a<lers in Ki li.i<>n • :;j Tt
APPENDIX.
Prophecy of Cnzotte — Frequency of Prevision -- I>estiny of th.
Your.-' ;."»!«)
PREFACE.
This volume has been somewhat hastily prepared, to fulfil
the promise recently made to the public of a MANUAL OF PSY-
CHOMETHY — a work to introduce the subject to the general
reader — not an elaborate memoir for scientists, which need
not be offered until it is called for.
Public opinion on philosophic subjects is always shallow,
superficial, and erroneous, until the thought of the best
thinkers lias enlisted the co-operation of leading minds
In reference to Psychometry, the profound productions of
Prof. Denton have attracted far less attention than that
simple exhibition of Psychometry which is called " Mind
Reading," which I have never thought worthy of any special
cultivation, but which, as an exhibition, answers the purpose
of challenging skepticism, and giving to those who are pro-
foundly ignorant on this subject, facts which compel their
reluctant attention, and thus prepare them for scientific in-
novation.
When a full exposition shall be required, many volumes
will be necessary — one for the medical profession, one for
hygienists, one for geologists, one for astronomers, one for
ethnologists, one for physiologists, one for historians, one
for pneumatologists, one for the devotees of religion and
duty, and ten for the students of Anthropology — for all
these subjects are illuminated and developed by Psychometry.
1 cannot now promise that much of this will ever be writ-
ten by myself — as it might have been ere this — for my
life is too far advanced, and co-operation does not yet ap-
pear. Uut as Psychometry developes all these departments
of knowledge, these works must all be written.
As this volume contains the reports of many psychometric
experiments with Mrs. U., I would state in advance that all
such experiments which I report are as pure and true ait
illustration of Psychometry as possible — an accurate report
of mental impressions as they arose, recorded as they were
Preface.
spoken deliberately. The mind of the psychometer in my
experiments is always carefully guarded from all impressions
but those which come from an invisible source by contact,
without knowing what is the object or person to be described,
which must be carefully concealed to insure the purity of the
result. Questions are never of a leading character, being
only used to direct attention to the matters that need de-
scription. The reports are as careful and faithful as I
could possibly make them, but most of them are imperfect
illustrations of her psychometric intuition, given often when
fatigued by her daily duties.
The present volume is larger than I designed, but a great
deal of interesting and important matter has-been excluded
to keep it within the proposed limits. The investigations
of geology, paleontology, and astronomy have been omitted.
A second volume will be necessary to do justice to the in-
troduction of Psychometry — the introduction, merely, for I
have but lifted a corner of the veil that hides incalculable
wealth of knowledge and wisdom.
BOSTON, 29 FORT AVENUK, JUNE 1, 1885.
P. S. A special volume, devoted to Pneumatology and
Religion will be required to illustrate the comparative views
of the world's religions, and the view of Biblical history and
religion sanctioned by Psychometric exploration — a A'iew
which may dissipate much superstition, but will strengthen
our faiih in the past, while it refines and invigorates our
religious nature.
INTRODUCTION.
PSYCHOMETRY FROM 1842 TO 1885.
THE question, " WHAT is PSYCHOMETRY? " was
happily answered in a poem from the pen of the
celebrated philanthropist and poet, the Rev. JOHN
PIERPOXT, which was delivered in August, 1850, at
the grand anniversary of Yale College, and spoken
of in the Tribune as the " Gem of the occasion."
J. M. S., a correspondent of the Cleveland Plain
Dealer, speaks of the occasion and poem as follows :
" The occasion was the meeting of the Alumni of Old Yale — celebra-
ting her one hundred and fiftieth anniversary. By invitation from the
officers of the institution, he delivered a poem — the subject was Pr»-
ijress. After alluding to the various improvements of the day, light by
gas, printing, phonography, new modes of travel, telegraphs, daguerreo-
typing, etc., be touched upon this interesting subject — alike unknown to
the fjreat and lf(irne>l ones of Old Yale (in sorrow I say it), a< to your
honorable self. There were songs sung, and speeches made Jiy various
distinguished individuals, during a sitting of not less than eight Inur-.
There were present from twelve to fifteen hundred Alumni — reprrs- nt:i-
tives from classes which graduated in 1TTT to the year IsoO."
KXTRACT I-'KO.M IMKRI'ONTS 1'OKM.
•• But much, Daguerre, as has thy genius done
In educating thus Latona's son.
In thus educing, in the god of light
The power to paint so, at a single sight,
BtVHANAN has transcended thee, as far
2 Introduction.
As the sun's face outshines the polar star.
Thine art can catch and keep what meets the eye-
His science, subjects that far deeper lie.
Thy skill shows up the face, the outward whole —
His science measures and reveals the soul.
Thy subjects must be present — his may be
Sunk in the depths of the mysterious sea ;
Their bodies may have mouldered into dust.
Their spirits long have mingled with the just
Made perfect : Yet if one has left behind
A written page, whereon the living mind
Has been pour'd out, through pencil, paint or pen,
That written page shall summon back again
The writer's spirit ; pressed upon the brow,
Or by the hand of many, living now :
It shall the writer's character disclose,
His powers, his weaknesses, his joys, his woes.
The manly air, the sycophantic smile,
The patriot's valor, and the traitor's wile,
The fire that glowed beneath the snows of age
As in the " Hero of the Hermitage,"
When he exclaimed (methinks I hear him still),
" By the Eternal, I will not, or will ! "
All is revealed ! The prompting spirit threw
Itself upon the paper — and the few
" Spirits that are finely touched to issues fine "
Will move the hand, thus touch'd, along the line,
And catch the soul that issues from it yet,
(As fishes taken in an evil net),
And the detecting spirit shall declare
" The form and pressure "' of the soul that's there,
With greater truth than e'er a Sybil sung,
/// trodu ctio n . 3
And with as great as fell from prophet's tongue !
Mysterious science I that has now displayed
" How fearfully and wonderfully made "
Is man, that even his touch can catch the mind,
That long has left material things behind !
Fearful the thought, that when my clay is cold,
And the next Jubilee has o'er it rolled,
The very page, that I am tracing now,
With tardy lingers and a care-worn brow,
To other brows by other fingers prest,
Shall tell the world, not what I had been deem'd,
Nor what I passed for, nor what I had seem'd,
But what I -cas! Believe it, friends, or not,
To this high point of progress have we got,
We stamp ourselves on everv page we write !
Sen'd you a note to China or the pole —
Where'er the wind blows, or the waters roll —
That note conveys the measure of your soul !"
The word Psychometry, coined in 1842 to express
the character of a new science and art, is the most
pregnant and important word that has been added to
the English language.
Coined from the Greek (psvc/ic, soul and inctron*
measure) it literally signifies soul-incastiring* being
analogous to the words, thermometry, barometry,
electrometry, and similar terms, which signify spec-
ial measurements. The thermometer measure's caloric
(thcrmoi temperature). The barometer measures
the weight (baro* weight) of the atmosphere: tin-
electrometer measures electric conditions : the psy-
chometer measures the soul (psyche).
4 Introduction.
In the case of Psychometry, however, the measur-
ing assumes a new character, as the object measured
and the measuring instrument are the same psychic
element, and its measuring power is not limited to the
psychic as it was developed in the first experiments,
but has appeared by successive investigations to
manifest a wider and wider area of power, until it
became apparent that this psychic capacity was
really the measure of all things in the Universe.
Hence, Psychometry signifies not merely the measur-
ing of souls and soul capacities, or qualities by our
own psychic capacities, but the measurement and
judgment of all things conceivable by the human
mind ; and Psychometry means practically measur-
ing by the son/, or grasping and estimating all
things which are within the range of human intelli-
gence. Psychometry, therefore, is not merely an
instrumentality for measuring soul powers, but a
comprehensive agency like mathematics for the-
evolution of many departments of science.
As a science and philosophy, Psychometry shows
the nature, the scope, and the modus operand! of
those divine powers in man, and the anatomical
mechanism through which they are manifested ;
while as an art it shows the method of utilizing these
psychic faculties in the investigation of character,
disease, physiology, biography, history, paleon-
tology, philosophy, anthropology, medicine, geology,
astronomy, theology and supernal life and destiny.
Granting, as this volume will show, that Psychometry
gives us the command of all these sciences, it is
apparent that the introduction of Psychometry must
Introduction. 5
prove the dawn of a new era in science, philosophy
and social. progress, more important as to human en-
lightenment and elevation than all the arts and
sciences heretofore known to the skilful and learned :
for if all libraries, manufactories, and repositories of
the arts in the world at present were suddenly des-
troyed by tire, leaving only in human minds a full
knowledge of Psychometry, all might be restored in
one generation, and far nobler institutions of learning,
of practical art, of social order and of religion would
arise from the ashes, purified and relieved from a
vast amount of falsehood — an inheritance from ancient
ignorance.
I am perfectly aware that such assertions mav
appear extravagant, even to those who have some
knowledge of the ordinary applications and powers of
Psychometry, and will appear to many of the
educated, or rather miseducated classes as insane as
once did the doctrine of the rotundity of the earth and
the existence of men at the antipodes with heads
hanging downwards from us ; and according to the
usual policy of those who seek popularity and repu-
tation, such assertions should be reserved for the end
of the volume, to be read only after the scientific
methods and practical success of Psychometry have
been made familiar. I prefer however to state
at once frankly the true scope and power of Psy-
chometry. and if any reader be repelled by my
frankness it is well that he should be repelled, for he
who cannot tolerate a novelty in science cannot do it
justice, and I desire none but candid, truth-loving
readers.
6 Introduction.
Only to the patient students of Psychometry and
explorers of psychic mysteries will my statement
appear as it is — a too concise statement of the grand
results of psychic investigations, which not only make
scientific mysteries translucent, but change the mys-
tic dreamland between two worlds into a realm of
luminous reality for man, the influence of which will
work a far greater and speedier change in the des-
tiny of the human race than the discovery of Amer-
ica, or any revelation which science has hitherto
made.
I address these assertions to the most enlightened
of today, and to my friends of the twentieth century
who will know how to appreciate them ; for I cannot
expect to see Psychometry enthroned in the Univer-
sities until at least two generations shall have succes-
sively carried down to the tomb the falsities in which
they have been educated.
For more than forty years I have been before the
public as a teacher of new truths, and more than a
thousand pupils have entered the medical profession
under my professional teaching (many of whom, like
most of my cotem'poraries and colleagues, have passed
on to a higher life), and during all this time there lias
been no hostile verdict upon the sciences which I have
presented publicly, ever courting investigation by the
learned : on the contrary every report of investigating
committees has been a satisfactory endorsement of the
sciences presented, and the Science of Psychometry
has not only been endorsed by all who have become
familiar with it, but is widely established in practical
utility by psychometers who give descriptions of char-
Introduction. 7
acter, and by physicians in the diagnosis of disease
among present or absent patients.
Hence I can speak of Psychometry as an introduced
and established science. Establishment in the phil-
osophic sense does not consist in currency among the
multitude — it does not consist in a favorable verdict
from public opinion, which as Douglas Jerrold once
said, is but " the average stupidity of mankind," and
which is always steadily and persistently opposed to
great and revolutionary discoveries. Establishment
consists in the favorable verdict of the competent,
as ownership depends on the acknowledged deed from
the donor. The competent alone can establish, and
the court of the competent is so harmonious with
itself in science, that the verdict of the first score
whom we meet is virtually the verdict of the thousands
and the millions who succeed. The court of the com-
petent consists of those who honestly love the truth,
and who with earnest zeal either devote themselves to
its search or hold themselves ready to give it a wel-
come , and who with sound judgment make a fair and
full investigation ; all such in matters of demon-
strable science come to a substantial agreement, am*
their first verdict is as conclusive as the last. The
sagacious listen and respect it, but the multitude
(learned and unlearned alike) look not to the compe-
tency of the court but to its personal rank, social in-
fluence, and numerical strength.
To the suggestion that the court of the competent
is nearly unanimous in reference to demonstrable sci-
ence, I must add that Psychometry greatly enlarges
*> w O •>
the amount of the demonstrable by removing from the
8 Introduction .
sphere of speculation and debate many subjects here-
tofore beyond the reach of positive scientific methods.
It is over forty-two years since the discovery and
public demonstration of the science and art of Psy~
chometry. Todav it is widely known — the practice
of Psychometry is an honorable and useful profession.
Competent psychometers describe the mental and vital
peculiarities of those who visit or write to them, and
create astonishment and delight by the fidelity and
fullness of the descriptions which they send to persons
unknown, at vast distances. They give a minute
analysis of character and revelation of particulars
known only to the one described, pointing out with
parental delicacy and tenderness, the defects which
need correction, or in the perverse and depraved they
explain what egotism would deny, but what society
recognizes.
In physiology, pathology, and hygiene, Psychome-
try is as wise and parental as in matters of character
and ethics. A competent psychometer appreciates the
vital forces, the temperament, the peculiarities, and
every departure from the normal state, realizing the
diseased condition with an accuracy in which external
scientific diagnosis often fails. In fact the natural
psychometer is born with a genius for the healing art,
and if the practice of medicine were limited to those
who possess this power in an eminent degree, its pro-
gress would be rapid and its disgraceful failures and
blunders would no longer be heard of.
But while Psychometry is thus gradually winning
its place as our guide and leader in medicine, in
education and self-culture, and has excited so lively
Introduction. 9
an interest that a newspaper has been devoted to this
subject, no complete and systematic exposition of the
science is before the public. Its only exposition has
been by essays in the 'Journal of Alan thirty years
ago, by chapters in my System of Anthropology, of
which no new edition has been issued since 1854, anfl
by the "Soul of Things " in three volumes, from
Wm. Denton, the eminent geologist, a book of mar-
velous interest and originality, developing the highest
phases of Psychometry in the exploration of history,
paleontology and astronomy, far beyond the utter-
most limits of previous scientific investigation. His
able and interesting work has not had the circulation
it deserves, because it is too far in advance of the
age, presenting the grandest results of Psychometry
to a public not yet acquainted with the science.
The present work lias long been called for by those
who have learned of my discoveries, and if Psychom-
etry has even the tenth part of the scientific interest,
the practical value and the power of advancing
scientific civilization, and elevating the condition of
all humanity which is believed by those who are well
acquainted with it, it is the duty of every philan-
thropist to call attention to this work and promote its
diffusion.
But what is Psychometry (which means literally
soul - measuring), what the process, the modus
operand! and the results?
This question will be- fully answered by a sketch
of the investigations and experiments which have
developed the science, but it mav be briefly answered
now, that Psychometry is the development and
i o In tro du ctio n .
exercise of the divine faculties in man, a demon-
stration of the old conception of poetry and mystic
philosophy as to the Divine interior of the human
soul, and the marvelous approximation of man toward
omniscience. It is moreover a demonstration of the
normal dignity of human nature, showing in all
humanity neglected and often nearly extinct powers,
which have heretofore been deemed utterly incredi-
ble, or if credible at all, only as a miracle from
Heaven, or as rare, anomalous, mysterious and
inexplicable facts, belonging to some abnormal phase
of life, or else the hallucination of the visionary, if
not the illusion of the dupe.
The dark underworld of intellect in which we find
the responses of oracles, the revelations of magnetic
somnambules, the prophecies of the saints, the fore-
casts of the fortune teller, the mysterious presenti-
ments and sudden impressions by which many are
guided, the warnings of death, calamity or accident,
and the mysterious influences attached to places,
apartments, amulets and souvenirs, is illuminated by
the light of psychometric science, and its phenomena
made entirely intelligible ; for Psychometry demon-
strates in man, and explains the mechanism of those
transcendent powers which have heretofore defied
the comprehension of philosophy, and have been
regarded with defiant hostility by materialistic culti-
vators of mere physical science, while they have
been welcomed by poetry, religion and the deepest
emotions which ally man to heaven. In studying
Psychometry, mystery disappears, and the most
cautious inquirer in vital science will feel that he is
Introduction. n
treading on safe and solid ground. That he should
enjoy this feeling of certainty and security he should
be introduced to the science by the successive steps
of its original development, and therefore I would
take the reader back forty-three years to my first
experiments, showing how Psychometry was evolved
FORTY-THREE YEARS AGO.
The following sketch of Psychometry appeared in
BUCHANAN'S JOURNAL OF MAN (published at Cincin-
nati), in 1849. It is so fair and complete a presenta-
tion of the subject as then developed, that I prefer to
republish it without change and follow it by such
further discussions and expositions as are suggested
by more recent investigations.
CHAPTER I.
ORIGINAL SKETCH OF PSYCHOMETRY.
(From Buchanan's Journal of Man, Cincinnati.)
First discovery in New York — Introductory remarks — Such investiga-
tions must develop the wonderful — Sensibilities discovered in Bishop
Polk — Found tilso in others- — Testing through the lingers — Number
capable of such experiments — Electric transmission of influence —
Mode of experimenting on medicines — Experiments on medical class
and professors — • Influences felt from human beings — Influences
transmitted from the brain — First autographic experiment with In-
man — Its wonderful accuracy — Methods of beginning experiments —
Inferences from the experiments as to the laws of mind and matter —
Principles of psychological chemistry — Value of Psychometry — De-
scription of psychometric experiments — Experiments with Rev. Mr.
Kent — Description of Gen. Jackson — Appeal from the old to the
young — Difference of individuals as to psychometric impressions —
The achromatic mind not common — Illustrations of variety — Extreme
physical sympathy with the writer — Psychometric diagnosis of Dis-
ease— Six applications of Psychometry — Accuracy of psychometric
portraiture — Experiments of Chancellor Scott — Description of Lafay-
ette— Description of Webster — Of Miss Martineau.
IN the autumn of 1842, in the city of New York, I
had the pleasure of ascertaining and proving, by ex-
periment, the existence of a wonderful power in the
constitution of man, the discovery and use of which at
once opens before us a wide realm of knowledge. In
that single discovery lay the germ of a science of lofty
pretensions, and so wonderful in its facts as to be diffi-
cult of belief, if not utterly incredible, to the greater
portion of our scientific men. Yet, high as its preten-
sions are, they are demonstrable in the most rigid
Original Sketch. 13
manner, and, incredulous as the public may be, it
cannot be long ere the truth of my assertions shall be
familiarly known in Europe and America.
I have made but little effort to bring this matter be-
fore the public. Wonderful as it is, and well adapted
to exciting an intense interest, I have quietly prose-
cuted my experiments for the last six years without
endeavoring to arouse the public mind to a conscious-
ness of those sublime and beautiful truths which the
investigation of the human constitution has developed.
While thus feasting upon the richest intellectual ban-
quet which nature offers in any department of her vast
existence, I have naturally felt an earnest desire to
call in the wise and good, from every quarter, to par-
ticipate in the feast of knowledge. But, until the pres-
ent time, there lias been no suitable medium through
which to address the public. I could not expect, by
the mere weight of my own assertion, to make a deep
impression upon the public mind, and I had good rea-
son to suppose, that when my discovery of the im-
pressibility of the human brain had already marshalled
against me the universal spirit of skepticism, and was
but beginning to receive justice from a few, the pro-
mulgation of anv additional wonders, still more incred-
ible, would have done much to overshadow, with still
darker clouds of disbelief, tin- dawn of true neurologi-
cal science.
Unwilling, therefore, to tax too heavily the public
credulity at that time, I have waited for the gradual
establishment of my cardinal proposition, in reference
to the human brain, before presenting an essay upon
Psychomctry. The six years which have elapsed
14 Original Sketch.
since the discovery, have produced a marked change
in public opinion — a prevalence of more liberal views
— a willingness to receive from nature newer and pro-
founder truths, and a conviction that experiments
upon the human brain are not entirely deceptive or
fanciful.
In this more favorable condition of the public mind,
I would submit a frank and unreserved narrative of
my experimental inquiries. This may be done with
greater ease and pleasure, on account of the fact that
I am now addressing a circle of readers comprising
many of the most liberal and philosophical class, many
who appreciate justly the science of Anthropolgy, who
look with deep interest upon its recent developments,
and who wish to sustain a journal devoted to progress
in this most interesting of all sciences.
With this apologv for an apparently dilatory course,
I would proceed by asking for my narrative, a candid
and patient attention. It is not to announce a theory,
that I write, nor to dogmatize in reference to any mat-
ter of opinion — but to present the facts which I have
witnessed, and the inferences to which they most ob-
viously lead. If I be but recognized as a fair, candid
and careful reporter of the facts, I willingly yield to
every one the privilege of reasoning upon the facts
according to his own philosophy, and drawing the
inferences which they suggest to his own mind. I
would but ask that my personal testimony be allowed
its proper force as a sincere statement, and that the
questions involved be not slurred over in any indefi-
nite manner by the reader, but firmly and frankly met
and examined.
Original Sketch. 15
I think it but just to demand upon this subject a
more liberal and expansive mode of thought than is
usually demanded by the teacher of physical science.
The mind of man is so wonderful and mysterious in
its action and in its whole existence — is so widely
separated, in its nature and in its phenomena, from
the ponderable material world, that he who brings to
this subject the rigid material spirit of chemistry and
mechanical philosophy, will find himself unable either
to perceive its phenomena or to detect their causes.
Every moment of conscious thought presents a grandly
beautiful mystery, for the explanation of which we
must be utterly incompetent, unless we can rise to the
dignity of the subject and deal familiarly with facts and
laws as wonderful as the mystery which they solve.
He who expects to solve the mysteries of mind,
without encountering any unusual or extraordinary
facts — who thinks that psychology should present
nothing more profound or strange than material phil-
osophy, and who is determined to resist every fact or
principle which is essentiallv new and wonderful, may
be very respectable as a man of science and learning,
but he cannot possibly do much for the advancement
of psychology. We should bear in mind, that all the
co-operations and correlations of mind and matter,
are intrinsicallv wonderful, but are governed by defi-
nite laws, and that these laws, when discovered, must
seem, at first, no less wonderful and mysterious than
the nature of mind itself. If, then, any fact which I
may state should, at the first glance, appear incredi-
ble, the liberal reader will bear in mind, that a certain
wondrous strangeness is inherent in the very nature of
1 6 Original Sketch.
the subject, and that it cannot be possible to arrive at
any explanation of the relations between mind and
matter, which does not involve principles and facts
essentially new.
My investigations of the nervous system of man for
the last twelve years, have clearly shown that its
capacities are far more extensive, varied and interest-
ing, than physiologists or philosophers have been
willing to acknowledge. We find in the nervous
system the vast aggregate of powers which constitute
the vitality of man, existing in intimate connection
with the vast and wonderful powers of his mind.
Those faculties which, in an instant, grasp the re-
motest objects of landscape — which fly, in an instant,
to the remotest periods of time, and which are ever
reaching forth, as if seeking to become commensurate
with the universe — are still, with all their buoyancy
and power, bound to the fibres, tubes, and fluids of
the nervous system, by which the}' instantaneously
operate throughout the body. Is it rational to sup-
pose that this nervous matter, which is thus so
intimately correlated with mind, and upon which
mind depends for the manifestation of its powers,
should be entirely limited to the narrow sphere to
which it has been assigned bv physiologists? — that
it should be so intimately connected with the great
eternal miracle, our spiritual existence, and yet be
so incapable itself of rising above the humble grade
of the ordinary operations of vitalized matter?
In truth, if we glance at the subtle phenomena of
the nervous matter of our constitution, we must at
once perceive how inadequate are the common con-
Original Sketch. 17
ceptions of the nervous system. About nine years
since, in conversation with Bishop Polk,* of the
Episcopal Church, he informed me that his own
sensibility was so acute, that if he should, by accident,
touch a piece of brass, even in the night, when he
could not see what he touched, he immediately felt
the influence through his system, and could recognize
the offensive metallic taste. His cerebral conforma-
tion indicated uncommon acuteness of the external
senses ; and when I mentioned his peculiar develop-
ment, he gave the above statement as an illustration
of its truth.
The discovery of such sensibilities in one so
vigorous, both in mind and body, led me to suppose
that they might be found in many others. Accord-
ingly, in the neurological experiments which I soon
afterward commenced, I was accustomed to place
metals of different kinds in the hands of persons of
acute sensibility, for the purpose of ascertaining
whether they could feel any peculiar influence, recog-
nize any peculiar taste, or appreciate the difference of
metals, by any impression upon their own sensitive
nerves.
In these experiments it soon appeared that the
power was quite common, that there were manv who
could determine by touching a piece of metal, or by
holding it in their hands, what the metal was — as
they recognized a peculiar influence proceeding from
it, which in a few moments gave them a distinct
taste in the mouth. But this power was not confined
* Bishop I'olk afterwards Ix-cainc :i ircneral in I lie Conlrtlrratr army, am!
lost liis life in the war.
1 8 Original Sketch.
in its operation to metallic substances. Every sub-
stance possessing a decided taste appeared to be
capable of transmitting its influence into the system,
and of being recognized by its taste. Sugar, salt,
pepper, acids, and other substances of a decided
taste, made so distinct an impression that each
could be recognized and named by many of those
upon whom the experiment was performed. It did
not appear that the sense of taste was translated to
the fingers, or changed any of its known laws, but it
did appear that contact of the sapid substance with the
papillag of the tongue was by no means necessary.
The peculiar influence of the substance touched or
held in the hand by sensitive persons, appeared to
affect the hand locally, and thence to be transmitted
gradually along the arm, recognized by some
peculiar sensation as it passed, and producing no
other effects until it reached the chest or the head.
In the head it produced its impression upon the brain
and nerves-j and if possessed of sapid qualities, was
recognized by their characteristic impression upon
the tongue and fauces. The sweetness of sugar, the
pungency of pepper, and all' the peculiarities of other
tastes were recognized, as if the same substances,
instead of being held in the hands, had been gradually,
in small quantities, introduced into the mouth.
(It is perhaps necessary for me to state that
these experiments were entirely independent of any
mesmeric process, and consisted simply of what I
have stated. The public mind has been so accus-
tomed to the processes of mesmeric operators, that
unless a special disclaimer is made, it may be sup-
Original Sketch. 19
posed that such experiments were made upon mes-
meric or somnambulic patients, prepared by a
magnetizing process. )
The number of individuals who could exercise the
acute sensibility and taste which I have described,
appeared to be variable in different localities, being
greater in warm climates than in cold. In some
places one-fourth, or even one-half of the whole
population appeared to be capable of displaying this
new power of the nervous system. In other places
not more than one in ten or fifteen could display it
distinctly. Mental cultivation and refinement, acute
sensibility, delicacy of constitution, a nervo-san-
guineous temperament, and a general predominance
of the moral and intellectual organs, constituted the
most favorable conditions for its exercise.
I need not here discuss the rationale of these
phenomena. 4 It may be supposed that an impression
made upon the nerves of the hand, is propagated by
contiguous or continuous sympathy to the head, or
that some imponderable agent, proceeding from, or
through, the sapid substances, conveyed their in-
fluence into the body. In behalf of the latter su<r-
9f
gestion it may be remarked, that when I placed my
hand or lingers in contact with the substance, its in-
fluence appeared to pass more promptly and effec-
tually than when it was left to its own power. This
I attributed to the passage of nervous influence, or
nervaura, from my own constitution, through tin-
substance.
I have since proved, by experiment, that a gal-
vanic or electric current, passing through a medicinal
2O Original Sketch.
substance, will transmit its influence into the con-
stitution which receives the current.
Indeed, the influences which are transmitted by
mere contact, are not limited to an impression upon
the sense of taste, but convey the entire medicinal
power. In the first number of this Journal, the
reader will recollect that my experiments in New
York were reported by a scientific committee of dis-
tinguished gentlemen, and among those experiments
were several upon medicinal substances. These
substances manifested their full effects upon the
constitution of the lad}' upon whom the experiments
were tried, by holding them in her hand.
It would readily occur to the reader that in such
experiments, an excitable imagination might produce
important effects and materially modify the results.
The desire to guard against any such delusions led me
to adopt precautions to prevent the individuals experi-
mented upon from knowing the name or nature of the
medicine used. It was either concealed from their
sight or so enveloped in paper as to be invisible, and
thus the experiment was generally made in such a
manner, that any play of imagination would have been
immediately detected. Sometimes, as in the experi-
ments at New York, the medicine was unknown to all
present until the close of the experiment.
It was thus fully established that a large portion of
the human race may be affected by medicinal sub-
stances, even without immediate eontaet — a iact which
I now consider as well settled and familiar as any
other in medical science — so much so as to become a
necessary subject of medical instruction ; and in every
Original Sketch. 21
course of lectures which I deliver to the medical class
in the Institute, I state these principles and accompany
them by immediate demonstration upon the members
of the class. Medicinal substances, enveloped in paper,
are distributed among the members of the class, who
hold them in their hands, while sitting at ease, list-
ening to the lecture and waiting for the effect. It
frequently happens that when a vigorous emetic, ca-
thartic, or stimulant, is distributed in this manner, its
impression will be so distinctly recognized by some of
the members of the class, as to enable them to name-
it correctly, if they have ever before experienced its
operation as a medicine.
During the present session of the Institute the usual
experiment has been made, and the following mem-
bers, out of a class of about one hundred and thirty,
have experienced decided medicinal impressions by
holding in their hands different medicinal substances,
principally emetics and cathartics.
" CINCINNATI, January, 1849.
'k We, the undersigned, members of the medical
class of the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati,
have, at the suggestion of Prof. BUCHANAN, per-
formed the experime it of holding in our hands, lor
a short time (generally from live to twenty minutes),
various medicines, enveloped in paper, so as to be
unknown to ourselves, except bv their medicinal
effects ; and we are convinced that in these experi-
ments, distinct effects were produced upon us strictly
similar to those which would be produced by the
22 Original Sketch.
action of the same medicines administered in the
ordinary method.
Wm. Owens, Jason Holloway, Wm. W. Hadley,
J.Pitts, A.Bauer, J. S. M. Hawkins,
Jas. G. Hunt, Jas. Milot, Benj. F. Radcliff,
Edward Walker, Geo. Black, Wm. Webster,
N.L.Northington,Benj. F. White, A. Hildreth,
J.B. Allensworth,Thos. H.Walters, S. F. Conklin,
O. D. Brooks, W. J.-Wann, D. A. Austin,
D. Porter Wooster,C. W. Arnold, Wm. H. Jones,
Franklin Talbott, E. J. Martin, Thos. Robinson,
Alfred Shepherd, T. M. Cobb, E. McKenzie,
R. S. Finley, A. C. Overton, Jos. Short,
M. T. Perrine, D. A. McCord, H.M. Chatterton,
A. R. Brown, J. F. Baker, J. B. Jones,
Edwin A. Lodge, J. T. Hance, C. H. Spining,
W. H. Shepherd."
The distinct effects alluded to were such, that in
several instances, when an emetic (lobelia) was the
subject of the experiment, the individual was able to
avoid vomiting only by suspending the experiment.
The forty-three gentlemen who thus testify to the
effects of the experiments upon themselves, constitute
nearly one-half of all who actually tried the experi-
ment on this occasion. I have no doubt that if the
experiment had been carefully tried upon all of the
class, at least sixty-five would have felt its influence.
There are many physicians in our country who
possess this impressibility in a high degree, several
of whom are professors in medical colleges. Dr. B-
Original Sketch. 23
L. Hill, Professor of Anatomy and Operative Surgery
in the Institute, authorizes me to mention him as one
of those who have experienced the most distinct and
perfect impressions in this manner.*
There is an analogy to these experiments, in the
well known fact, that medicines placed in contact
with the skin, especially upon the epigastrium, are
capable of producing their usual influence upon the
individual. But it has always been supposed that
in these cases a partial absorption occurred, and the
medicine was thus brought into actual contact with
the nerves. Now, on the other hand, it is demon-
strated that no such absorption^or contact is necessary,
and that the interposition of paper between the
medicinal substance and the hand, or cuticle, does
not prevent the physiological impression.
It may, therefore, be recognized as a law of the
nervous system, that it is capable of being affected
by the subtle influences which emanate from adjacent
objects. Influenced bv this consideration, I supposed
it probable that those who possessed this acute sensi-
bility would be distinctly affected by contact with
living beings, and would be able thus to appreciate
the influence proceeding from the living nervous
action.
This conjecture was soon verified bv experiment.
I found that all persons of an impressible constitution
were sensibly affected by placing the hand in contact
* Tlio psychometric capacity was distinctly manifested by four other
medical professors of the Institute: I'rof. W. Sherwood. Prof. I>.
Vaiij.'h:m. I'rof. II. F. (iutchell. I'rof. John Kimr. all well known a> able
orient itic writers.
24 Original Sketch.
with the heads or bodies of other persons. The
effect might not be so prompt or forcible as to arrest
their attention under ordinary circumstances, yet, by
sitting still and concentrating their attention upon the
experiment for a few minutes, a decided effect was
experienced. In this manner, by placing the hand
upon the epigastrium of a patient laboring under any
disease, a morbid impression would be experienced,
corresponding to the character of his case. For the
last three or four years, I have myself become so
sensitive to morbific impressions, that I cannot be in
contact with a patient even for a few minutes, without
being injuriously affected.
When impressible persons thus come in contact
with those who are in sound health, by placing the
hand upon the different portions of the head or body,
they experience, at each point, a distinct effect cor-
responding to the peculiar vital functions of the part.
By holding the hand upon the forehead, the seat of
the intellectual organs, they experience an increased
mental activity. By holding the hand upon the
superior portion of the head, they experience a
pleasant and soothing influence, peculiar to the
moral organs. Upon each locality of the head, the
influence of the subjacent organ may be recognized
— and although the impression is generally of but
moderate force or distinctness, those who have a hi^h
~
degree of susceptibility may realize the exa6t charac-
ter of the organ touched, and describe not only its
general tendency, but its particular action and
strength in the individual who is examined.
In short, it may be stated, that any person of a
Original Sketch. 25
highlv impressible temperament, who will cultivate
his faculties for such investigations, may learn to
place his hands upon the different portions of the
head, to recognize and describe the action of the
various organs, and to estimate their relative strength
bv the impressions which he receives from contact.
Having thus ascertained that one of impressible
constitution could easily diagnosticate the action of
the living brain by means of contact, I found that
actual contact was not indispensable, but that holding
the hand in close proximity to the head, would
answer the same purpose, though in a far more
imperfect manner. By holding a metallic conductor
in contact with the different localities of the head,
the influence of each organ appeared to be transmit-
ted almost as well as by direct contact of the finger.
Thus I have employed impressible persons for several
hours, in investigating the action of the brain in dif-
ferent persons — ascertaining the positions of organs,
describing their functions, and estimating their com-
parative strength. A pencil-case, or any other
convenient metallic in.strument, would be applied to
the various points upon the surface of the head, and
thus a psychological survey would be accomplished,
of incredible minuteness and accuracy. After several
months had been occupied in this manner, ascertain-
ing the exact functions of the brain in its different
portions, I was tempted to take a step further in
advance.
It seemed probable that if the psychological influ-
ence of the brain could be transmitted through a
suitable conducting medium, it might also be impart-
26 Original Sketch.
ed to objects in proximity to it, and retained by
them, so as to be subsequently recognized by one of
impressible constitution. Without relating the expe-
riments which established this proposition, I would
proceed at once to the most wonderful experiment of
all.
To proceed with my narrative : It was in the latter
part of '42 that I made the experiment which I would
narrate now — not merely to appeal to the reader's
faith, but to give him an example for his own experi-
mental inquiries. I had clearly ascertained in a young
gentleman,* with whom I had made many experi-
ments, the existence of extraordinary acuteness of sen-
sibility. In a moment's contact with the head of any
individual he would discover his entire character by
the sympathetic impression. Reasoning, which I need
not now repeat, had convinced me that he possessed
the power of recognizing a mental influence in any
autograph that he might touch. I was sitting with my
young friend in an apartment in the Astor House,
when I resolved to test his powers. I proceeded to
my trunk and took forth four letters written by indi-
viduals of strongly marked and peculiar characters.
I placed them successively in his hands and requested
him to watch the mental impressions to which they
gave rise in his mind, and report his conceptions of
the characters of the writers. He did so, and his de-
scriptions surpassed my anticipations. He entered
into the spirit of each character as familiarly as if he
had been in contact with the individual, and described
not only his intellect and his principles of action, but
* C'liiirlcs Imiiaii.
Original Sketch. 27
even his personal appearance and physical constitu-
tion. He knew not of whom he was speaking — he
did not even know what letters I had placed in his
hands — yet I can say, without exaggeration, that his
description would not have been more correct if he
had described the individuals from familiar personal
knowledge !
Does this statement, kind reader, appear utterly in-
credible? I have repeated such experiments more
than a thousand times with similar results, and could
adduce the testimony of thousands who have been the
witnesses or the subjects of such experiments. If
human testimony can establish any proposition, it is
sufficiently strong upon this subject. But it is my
principal object to induce you to perform similar ex-
periments yourself, and thus remove every vestige of
doubt from your mind. My narrative ma}' be wonder-
ful, but you will soon find that you have yourself sim-
ilar wonders to relate, and will even arrive at some
results more wonderful than any communicated by
this essay, if you persevere in your experiments.
The description of the four individuals just men-
tioned, was given almost immediately on taking hold
of the letters. It was not (like a description based
upon physical clairvoyance) a sketch of their external
appearance, and an inference of their characters — it
was a sympathetic impression of their minds, describ-
ing them from the interior and proceeding forth from
their own consciousness to 'their external relations and
their physical development. So thoroughly did he
sympathize with their views and feelings, he not only
appreciated their position in relation to society, but
28 Original Sketch.
even discovered their sentiments in reference to each
other, and discovered that, between two of the individ-
uals especially, there was an irreconcilable antagon-
ism. So keenly did he feel their mutual hostility,
that, after a time, he requested the suspension of the
experiment, as it was disagreeable to him to enter into
their contentions and realize their unpleasant feelings.
As he recognized the feud, which really existed, so
correctly (for the gentlemen in question had been
once associated together, but were at that time in open
hostility), I asked him what would be the effect of
their collision, and which of the parties would be most
successful if any contest should occur between them ?
" This one," said he, holding the letter of the stronger
man, "would crush the other." Such was the fact.
They were distinguished medical men, and the one
whose superiority he had so emphatically recognized,
had, in fact, by superior talent and force of character,
defeated and crushed the other in a well known public
contest.*
Another of the letters he recognized as that of a
man of great mental and physical power. lie was
one whom I intimately knew — who was as eminent
in talent, eloquence and virtue, as in political rank.
To obtain the most critical test possible, I requested
mv friend to state what he thought would be the prob-
able result of a collision between these two eminent
gentlemen of different professions. This he declined
doing, saying that he did not believe any collision
* Procuring his removal from the chair of surgery. Dr. .). H. Flint \vai
the Hiirjfoon. Dr. Charles Caklwell the founder of the collesre (at Louisville)
his opponent.
Original Sketch. 29
would take place between them. I insisted that he
should give his opinion of the probable result of such
an event, if it should occur. He still objected, remark-
ing that they would both be very reluctant to come
into any collision with each other, and would maintain
dignified and courteous relations. This I knew to be
true, as I had been frequently struck with the grace,
the dignity and the courtesy, with which they met
each other on all occasions. But as I insisted upon a
description of the probable results of a collision be-
tween them, he at length pronounced the opinion, that
if any collision should occur, it would go no further
than this — that the eloquent statesman might give a
gentle rebuke, or check, to the other individual, by
which he might slightly wound or humble his pride.
This was a true statement of an occurrence which had
actually taken place ! And the only instance in which
any approach to a collision between these eminent
gentlemen had ever occurred. Delicacy forbids my
alluding to these personal matters in fuller detail. Suf-
fice it to say, that in this first psychometric experi-
ment of the kind, I was fully satisfied that, by this
process, we might obtain a mental dagncrrcotvpc ot
anv one whose autograph we obtain, as perfect as the
physical daguerreotype of the features, obtained by
the agency of solar light.
In the next number I shall proceed with the narra-
tive of my experiments upon autographs from the first
experimental trials to the recent investigation of the
characters of our presidential candidates, Gen. Tay-
lor, Gen. Cass, Martin Van Buren and Gerritt Smith.
Before that number is published I would earnestly
3O Original Sketch.
request that each reader of the Journal should make a
series of these experiments himself, that he may fully
realize their character and fairly appreciate their
value. To do this, select an impressible individual,
according to the method presented under the head of
" Interesting Experiments" (in the January number),
by ascertaining whether he is susceptible of attraction.
When you have found an individual who is evidently
attracted by placing your hand near his forehead
while he is standing erect, request him to take his
seat and bring his intellectual powers to bear upon a
new experiment. If you are not perfectly certain of
his possessing the highest degree of impressibility,
commence with an experiment upon medicinal sub-
stances. Select those of a marked character at first,
such as stimulants of capsicum, cloves, opium, &c. ;
emetics of ipecac, lobelia, tartarized antimony, &c. ;
cathartics of jalap, podophyllum, gamboge, &c. ; nar-
cotics of belladonna, stramonium, hyosciamus, &c.
Request him to sit still and hold any of these sub-
stances between his two hands (his muscles being
perfectly relaxed) : let the medicines be contained in
a piece of paper, if you wish to conceal from him their
nature, and let the quantity used be five or ten times
as much as would be required for an internal dose.
In looking for the results, bear in mind that each med-
icine produces numerous and complicated effects, and
that we should not expect its action to be merely
emetic, cathartic, stimulant, narcotic, &c., according
to its classification in the Materia Medica. If we sup-
pose that our patient or subject is deceiving us, merely
because his descriptions do not exactly coincide with
Original Sketch. 31
our imperfect conceptions, we will do him great injus-
tice. Nor will his experiments always coincide with
each other. The different amounts of the medicine,
and the different states of his constitution at different
times, will necessarily modify the result.
If, in this experiment, he shows impressibility, by
medicines in a high degree, it is extremely probable
that he will be impressible by autographs. To ascer-
tain this, select from your letters the one which was
written with the greatest intensity of feeling and force
of thought. If you have any written under deep
grief, violent anger, lively joy, or tender love, and
especially if you have such as are opposite to each
other in their character, select the most marked one
for experiment, and place it upon the center of his
forehead. Let him place himself at ease, and quietly
support the letter with one hand, resting the arm
upon some convenient support. Before his taking
the letter, it will generally be desirable to excite the
intellectual organs by gently touching the central
portion of the forehead (just above the root of the
nose) for a few moments. Request your subject,
while the letter is in contact with his forehead, to
yield passively to the impression, and follow the
natural current of his ideas or feelings. Let him
state frankly his thoughts and emotions while under-
going the experiment, and observe if they differ from
his previous train of mental operations. If they do,
then ask him to infer or conjecture from the impres-
sion made sympathetically upon his own mind, what
was the mental condition, or what were the mental
peculiarities, of the writer.
32 Original Sketch,
This he will probably be reluctant to do. He may
be conscious of a new and peculiar train of thought
or feeling, but he will suppose it accidental, or
attribute it to some trivial circumstance. He will
be quite reluctant to suppose that he is mentally
impressed by the letter. If he gratifies you by mak-
ing the conjecture, and stating that the letter may
have been written under feelings of sadness or grief,
and if, upon opening it, he discovers that his impres-
sion was true, he may be struck with the coincidence,
but he will probably think it accidental. The impres-
sions upon his mind were so vague and delicate, that
he can scarcely believe they were produced by the
letter. It is only after repeated success in such
experiments, that he acquires confidence in his own
impressions, and learns to speak out freely.
Sometimes you will find your subject capable of
determining correctly only the state of feeling in
which the letter was written. With higher powers,
he will enter more thoroughly into sympathy with
the writer, and appreciate the traits of his character,
the strength and peculiarities of his intellect, his
favorite pursuits, his usual relations to society, his
actual position, his rank or office, his reputation, his
general career in life, his age, state of health, per-
sonal appearance, and all other peculiarities of his
physical constitution. Much more than this is fre-
quently accomplished, but this much may easily be
verified by any one in the course of a few experiments.
And if we find these things true, to what do they
tend? Do they not tend to solve the problem of the
relations between MIND AND MATTER?
Original Sketch. 33
Does it not appear that something emitted from the
person or mind of the writer, has become attached
to, or connected with, the paper, as if the mental and
the physical were capable of entering into a psycho-
material combination? That some mysterious influ-
ence or mental snbstance is attached to the writing,
is proved by the experiment. We find that imme-
diate contact of the writing with the forehead, yields
an impression more promptly than contact of the
writing with the hands. When the letter is held
between the hands, the impression is at first local —
in the hand. Thence it gradually passes up the arm,
like the influence of a medicine, and reaches the
brain, where it affects the mental organs and gives
an impression of character. We find, too, that while
immediate contact of the writing with the forehead
imparts readily its mental influence, that influence
may be imparted even if the writing in question be
enveloped in a fold of blank paper ; but every addi-
tional fold of paper intervening between the head of
the subject and the writing investigated, will retard
the experiment, and increase the difficulty of arriving
at a correct decision. Thus it appears, that a psvcho-
Kigical influence, or power, has become attached to
the writing, and is capable of exerting its influence
with different degrees of intensity at difierenl dis-
tances.
This leads us, then, to the threshold of the science
which explain.1; the connection between mind and
matter. If such combinations or unions exist, they
constitute the subjects of a science which might be
analogically called Psychological Chemistry. The
34 Original Sketch.
combinations of mind and matter are continually
occurring in nature. The grains of corn which this
year are growing in open fields, unconnected with
animal life, are destined, next year, to yield their
particles to enter into combination with the active
minds of the present generation. The carbon,
oxygen and hydrogen of the corn, are capable 01
entering into this union by means of a well known
process. They do not change their nature, but con-
tinue still the very same carbon, oxygen and
hydrogen, with the same chemical powers and
properties. They merely change slightly their
molecular arrangement, enter the cavities of the
human body, and pass, in company with the vjta-
lized blood, throughout its channels of circulation,
and in contact with the various vital structures 01
the body. The elements of corn, after being suita-
bly dissolved, become vitalized simply b\ contact
'with the interior of the living organs of the bod\.
•s <J O „'
The most careful investigations of physiologists
have gone no further than this. They show that the
absorbed chyle from the digestive organs gradually
approximates the character of blood, as it moves
toward the lungs, and that after it has passed the
rounds of the circulation (modified as it goes In-
various secreting organs), it becomes fully vitalized
and ready to unite with the living organs. Then
where a demand exists for new materials in any of
the tissues, this well prepared substance takes its
place, and by means of contact or union with the
the vital tissues, becomes a part of that living, mind-
obeying machine, the human body. Previous to
Original Skc\ch, 35
this process, the vegetable carbon had no connection
with mind, but now it has become implicitly obedient
to the mind operating through the brain. Thus a
large number of the substances of the material world
are capable of becoming united with the human mind
as its obedient organs, by coming under the influence
of contact with the living body in its interior.
Contact and the nervous influences transmitted
by contact, are the efficient causes of the change
from dead to living substance, by which mind and
matter are brought into union. But if any change or
union is wrought by immediate contact* may not
phenomena of a similar character be produced at a
greater distance? May not the vitalizing and mcn-
talizing influence extend to substances exterior to our
bodies as well as to those in the interior?
That the vital influence may thus combine with
inanimate matter, is proved by the phenomena of
contagious and infectious diseases, by the experi-
ments of animal magnetism, and by these ex-
periments on letters. Whether these mental
influences proceed directly from the mental organs
to the paper, or are transmitted by the arm and
conducted by the pen, need not be discussed at
present. Suflice it to say, that any highlv impres-
sible individual may recognize, in any piece of
writing, the entire mental and physical influence
of the writer.
By appreciating this influence justly, he may
measure accurately the entire mental character.
There are other methods of arriving at a scientific
knowledge of character, or measuring the mind :
36 O "right al Sketch.
but the art of mind-measuring, or Psycho-metry. has
o
no method of investigation more perfect or delicate,
and universally applicable, than this, which is, pur
excellence, entitled to be called PSYCHOMETRY.
Will you not, kind reader, do yourself the justice
to institute these experiments which I have des-
cribed? I pledge myself, that if you persevere in
them, you will fully succeed. Until you have done
this, let me suspend my narrative. Meantime,
repeat the experiments as fully as possible which I
have described, and then, when we meet again, this
narrative will be continued, with all the advantages
of positive knowledge and mutual sympathy.
The sublime bearing of these discoveries upon the
question of the nature and immortality of the soul,
and their important practical application to the in-
vestigation of character in public and private life,
will readily occur to the reflecting mind. The
phrenologist will rejoice to recognize in this new
science, a method of ascertaining character far more
accurate and satisfactory than craniology, and the
speculative philosopher will perceive that we have
reached the commencement of a new era in science.
In the application of this discovery, a series of
researches may now be undertaken, which will not
only unfold the general laws of mind, but elucidate
the characters of living men and throw a novel light
upon the darker passages of history.
The course of experimental investigation is ex-
tremely simple. Any one who can obtain interesting
autographs, and who has a circle of intelligent ac-
quaintance, is fully prepared for a course of philo-
Original Sketch. 37
sophical experiments. I have usually selected for
my first experiments, letters written under intense
feelings. The best that I have used, is a letter
written by a gentlemen of strong character and ardent
emotions, immediately after the death of his wife.
The overwhelming grief and agonizing sense of
desolation, with which he narrated the death of his
beautiful and queenly bride, never failed to arouse
vivid feelings in those of high impressibility. In one
of my first experiments, that letter was placed in the
hands of a lady, the wife of Dr. C. of Boston, who,
as well as her husband, was entirely skeptical as to
such experiments. The first effect discovered was
visible in the tears which she could not restrain.
Several times, in other cases, I have simply placed
the letter upon the forehead, and left it to tell its own
tale of woe, in the sad countenance and tearful eyes
of the subject of the experiment. Where the svm-
pathy was thus complete, they were generally able,
upon composing themselves, to inform me that the
feeling aroused in their own minds, was that of grief
— such as would be caused by the loss of some very
near and dear friend or relative. Quite a number
have been able to state, from their impressions, that
the grief of the writer, was caused by the death of
his wife ; and some have even vaguely described her
appearance.
When the individual (subjected to the experiment)
was capable of strong emotions of grief, or had met
with similar misfortunes himself, he generally appre-
ciated better the feelings of the writer ; but, when
naturallv callous to such emotions, he would -recoil-
38 Original Sketch.
nize the intense and unpleasant excitement, without
appreciating its cause. But the characteristic effects
of the letter were (in proportion as manifested) alike
in all cases — an accelerated action of the heart, a
deeper respiration, a feeling of excitement and
anxiety gradually deepening into confirmed sadness,
an excitement and tension in the lateral and posterior
parts of the head, over the location of the organs most
excited : such were its usual effects. Some who could
not receive any impression from ordinary letters,
could perceive from this a feeling of excitement with
an increased pulsation and respiration. Others could
merely perceive that it produced a serious or grave
mental condition, bordering upon melancholy. Mrs.
G., a lady of vigorous mind, after holding the letter
upon her head a short time, decided that she felt no
impression ; but, as I perceived its effect upon her
countenance and voice, I asked, what had been the
direction of her thoughts? when she confessed, that
she had fallen into a melancholy vein, and was think-
ing sadly of the utter worthlessness of earthly pleas-
ures and objects of pursuit.
It is necessary that the inquirer should be prepared
to assist and encourage his subject, in their first expe-
riments, to give him the requisite confidence and in-
duce him to scrutinize and report the various mental
operations, which he might otherwise overlook, until
he has learned the nature of his task. It is an effort
of very delicate observation and self-conscious scru-
tiny, for which those will be best qualified whose
minds are well disciplined in meditation. It is not the
insignificant and entirely passive character, which will
Original Sketch. 39
excel in such experiments. Talent requires talent for
its appreciation, and the various emotions or passions
would be poorly conceived or described by those who
had nothing equivalent in themselves. The philoso-
pher, hero, orator and philanthropist, can be thor-
oughly and fully appreciated onlv by their peers ;
hence, it is important that the subjects of these experi-
ments should be themselves possessed of sufficient in-
tellectual power and fullness of character, to weigh
and estimate judiciously the intellect and character of
others.
Often have I found the experiment yielding an im-
perfect result on account of the incapacity of the sub-
ject to appreciate the writer, when the same individ-
ual could describe with fidelity others more nearly
akin to himself, with whom he could establish an inti-
mate sympathy.
The agonizing emotions of the letter of grief, above
mentioned, would upon some make no deep impres-
sion ; but, no sooner was it applied to the head of the
talented Bishop Otey, of Tennessee, than his warm
sympathies were elicited, and he felt, as he described
it, the same emotions which he experienced upon
hearing of the death of his friend — — , killed by
the explosion, on the steamboat Lucy Walker, and
thus snatched, in the prime of life, from a large circle
of friends.
We should be guarded against relying implicitly
upon opinions pronounced in this manner, in refer-
ence to character, even by those of much penetration,
for unless the judgment be sound and well balanced,
the emotions and passions fully developed, and all
40 Original Sketch,
the circumstances of the experiment fair and judicious,
it may evince material errors.
But, accuracy in determining character, should not
be regarded as our aim, or the object of the experi-
ment. Its true aim is, to establish the important
principle, that man possesses a psychometric sense,
or power of receiving delicate impressions from any
living organism, by means of some delicate, impon-
derable agency, not visible to the eye, nor known to
the researches of chemistry.
It is important to establish this proposition, because
in so doing, we lay the foundation for valuable
scientific knowledge. We verify an instrumentalitv,
by means of which, as by the galvanic battery, we
acquire new powers of investigation and analysis.
To verify this power, it is necessary merely to show
that the impression derived from autographs corres-
ponds to the character of the autograph. This may
easily be done by trying, successively, specimens in
which there is a marked difference.
The letter, expressing grief, I have usually followed
by one of a cheerful character — as a love-letter, or
one of lively spirit. Frequently the contrast between
the two would be so striking, as to produce a burst of
laughter, and to convince the subject, by the great
transition of his feelings, that it was produced by
something more than an accidental train of thought.
Yet, sometimes it has been necessary for them to try
the letters, alternately, more than once, to be fully
convinced that their feelings were controlled and
changed by the contact with the writing.
Of course any knowledge or anticipation of the
Original Sketch. 41
character of the documents used, might in some cases
have an influence upon the mind of the subject, and
should therefore be carefully kept from him. As the
experiment ha^ usually been tried, by placing the
letters upon the forehead, he has not even seen the
letter upon which the opinion is pronounced. Some-
times it has been placed between his hands and a
handkerchief laid over them, to prevent his seeing
anything. But, in truth, these precautions are neces-
sary, chiefly in reference to the spectators. The
subject himself, if he really receives an impression
from, the letter, will find that impression sufficiently
forcible and decisive to lead his mind, independent of
any other suggestion.
A judicious method of questioning, which imparts
no information by leading questions, but which con-
trols and directs the attention in a systematic manner,
will be important in the initiation of those whose
minds are not already well disciplined, or whose
prejudices prevent their co-operating heartily.
Among the most interesting of my experiments,
have been tho.se upon the autographs of our distin-
guished public men. A letter from Gen. Jackson,
written to my father-in-law. Judge Rowan (during
the political campaign before his election ) in a
spirited style, was the subject of many satisfactory
experiments. Among my first subjects of experi-
ment, at Boston, was the Rev. Mr. Kent, a gentle-
man of pure and pious character — of an active-
mind, with a feeble physical constitution. Spending
an evening, at his residence, in Roxbury, 1 made a
number of experiments, which proved him to possess
42 Original Sketch,
high impressibility, and then told him, I would
demonstrate, that he possessed powers in his own
constitution more incredible than anything he had
vet witnessed, bv making him reveal the character
of persons, whom he had never seen, by means of
contact with letters, which he had never read !
He expressed his incredulity and his willingness
to try whatever was proposed. I placed some letters
upon the table and requested him to place his hand
npon them, successively, watch his mental impres-
sions while in contact, and report the result.
His hand was placed, first, upon the letter of grief
— and he experienced the usual saddening influence.
It was then placed upon the letter of Gen. Jackson,
and he soon caught its fiery and resolute spirit ; he
rose from his seat, announced his impressions in a
bold, and correct manner, and manifested so much
excitement, that I deemed it necessary to interrupt
the experiment, by removing his hand, in order that
he might become sufficiently calm to estimate the
character and express himself correctly.
Mr. K. subsequently gave me his manuscript
journal, in which he recorded, at the time, his own
impressions of these occurrences, from which I now
take the liberty of making an extract :
" He then placed a folded letter with the sealed
side only seen, on the table, and requested me to
place my right hand upon it. The experiment
seemed to me preposterous; but I remarked, that
whatever, if any, sensation followed, I should truly
communicate it. I felt nothing in my frame at the
moment, but very soon an increasing, unusual heat
Original Sketch. 43
in the palm of my hand ; this was followed by a
prickling sensation, commencing in my fingers' ends
and passing gradually over the top of my hand, and
up the outside of my arm. I felt for nearly a minute
no change in my mental condition, and stated this.
I)r Buchanan had given no hint of the nature or
author of any letter he had with him — and I had no
bias or subject on my mind from the day's experience
to influence me. A rush of sadness, solemnity and
distress, suddenly came over me ; my thoughts were
confused and yet rapid — and I mentioned, there is
trouble and sorro\v here. There is, too, perplexity
in my feelings. My whole description, taken down
at the time, is in other hands. I could not have
remembered anything more than a general impression
of it after the letter was removed.
"Another letter was laid upon the table, under my
hand. My first sensations were sharper and stronger
than before, passing up in the same manner from my
ringers' ends. In less than a minute my whole arm
became violently agitated, and I yielded to an irresist-
ible impulse, to give utterance to my thoughts and
feelings. A determined, self-confident, daring and
triumphant feeling, suggested the language I used,
and it seemed to me, that I could have gone on
triumphantly to the accomplishment of any purpose,
however subtile or strong might be the opposition to
be overcome. My whole frame was shaken, my
strength wrought up to the highest tension, mv face
and arm burned, and, near the close of my descrip-
tion (which also was taken down and is in ot^er
hands), when I retouched the letter, after repeated
44 Original Sketch.
removals of my hand by Dr. B., in consequence of
my great excitement, it was like touching lire, which
ran to my very toes. Dr. B. afterward read the
letter and signature of Gen. Jackson."
The language of this letter is as forcible and con-
centrated as any that ever emanated from the pen of
the old Hero. He declined visiting Kentucky, lest
it should afford an opportunity to his political oppo-
nents to assail his motives and thus weaken the
confidence of the people, so " that the people,
shaken in their confidence and divided in their
action, shall lose both their advocates and their
cause. Thus the panders of power mocked the
efforts of the people in former times, because they
were blinded by their arts, or saw them too late to
counteract them. Their prominent friends and
advocates, too, contributing to the calamities by
attempting to fight them with their own weapons,
when it would take more than the strength of a
Hercules to grasp all the plans which these Pro-
tean monsters could devise."
When we imagine these and similar expressions in
the letter, backed by the flashing' and indignant eye
of the old Hero of the Hermitage, we can well
understand the spirit which was transfused into Mr.
K., and which seemed for the moment an excitement
too powerful for his delicate frame. Never did he
succeed more fully in infusing his spirit into his
subordinates, on the field of battle, than it was
infused, on this occasion, into the meek and spiritual
clergyman, at the distance of more than a thousand
miles, by the agency of that thrilling letter.
Original Sketch. 45
" Can r-iK-h tiling be
Ami overcome us like u summer's cloud,
Without our .-ju-i-ial wonder?"
Aye ! such Tacts may be taking place daily, all
over the \vorlcl — and may become familiar as the
changes of the seasons, to the intelligent and liberal
portions of society, before the official dignitaries
and wise men of our learned societies can become
aware of their existence. And why not? Who
would expect a society of learned men, the special
cultivators and guardians of science, as they claim to
be, to know as much of these wonderful sciences now
developing, as the common kind of people, who
have no artificial reputation to risk in expressing an
opinion — no false and inflated conceptions of dignity
and stability to hold them back, and who can march
right on, from truth to truth, as fast and far as experi-
mental demonstration can lead them ! If any of the
young men of the scientific world, unencumbered
with a heavy reputation, should display a similar
alacrity in the pursuit of truth, the phenomenon
might be intelligible ; but, when gentlemen of forty
or fifty years of age are appealed to, we cannot but
anticipate that they will be as backward now as they
were in the days of Harvey.
Fortunately, we are not dependent upon their slow
movements. The stream of human life is freshened
everv ten years, by substituting, for the older classes
* V »
of society, a generation of youth, who have just
entered upon the active duties of manhood, and who
possess the true spirit of the time. YOT.M; MKN ! it
is to you that I appeal. Each generation advances
46 Original Sketch,
beyond its predecessors, as each wave of the rising
tide flows further in upon the shore.
I appeal to all, who are unencumbered by prejudice
or by the inertia of old habits, to realize by experi-
ment, to verify and to know, the things which I have
here asserted.
In my experiment with Mr. K., I noted down at
the time, much of the language of his description,
when inspired by the influence of Gen. Jackson ; and,
however imperfect the report may be, I prefer to give
it as a fair illustration of such experiments. As soon
as the exciting influence had begun to counteract the
previous impression of sadness, he remarked, " I feel
anxious still, but I have strength enough to go through
with it.
' ' Let it come ! — Let it come ! — LET IT COME ! —
[His hand \vas removed from the letter]. It seemed
to me when my hand was on it, I could go through
everything — I had the feeling — / AM sufficient for
it.
" Every time I touch it, I feel more and more of
that resolution — come high or come low — I feel as
John Adams, when he exclaimed, ' Live or die — sur-
vive or perish, etc.' '
He was asked what was the impression it made
upon his mind — he replied :
" It teaches me that I must watch, watch, watch —
look at danger lurking evervwhere."
What kind of danger, he was asked —
" From those who attempt to cramp and do me
injustice — to put me down. But I am sure that if I
do watch, there is energy enough to earn- me for-
Original Skc ch. 47
ward. I am sure I shall carry my point. I should
know what I was about.''
He was asked, what such a man would be tit for —
he replied :
•• He is tit to stand where very few men will stand
tj
- where it is necessary to have determination and
quick decision — where a man must say, that what-
ever obstacles there are, must be overcome. When
I have any difficulties to overcome, I should like to
have this influence."
Question — What kind of pursuits is he adapted
to?
•• Not private. He is a man, among men — in the
world. He would forget the domestic relations — go
into the world and leave domestic affairs to a wife."
Question — What would be his leading motives?
•• Not personal ambition — but I feel that I can do
what other men cannot do — yet there is a good deal
of vain glory at the bottom. I do not think he can
have the sentiment of religion very strong. I should
feel like a kind father — indulgent."
Question — What sphere of life would he occupy?
•• The highest he could reach."
Question — I low high ?
••Very high — the very top round of the ladder.
He has not solid learning, lie has more of impulse
and self-will than of calm religious wisdom."
He was asked, how such a character would sym-
pathize with Milton, Shakspeare, Bonaparte, John
Quincy Adams and Washington.
With Milton, he thought he would not sympathize,
but he would with Shakspeare, especially in his bat-
48 Original Sketch.
tie scenes ; he would be totally different from John
Quincy Adams — as different from Washington as
passion from wisdom, but " hale fellow well met,'"
with Bonaparte.
Question — - To what class of men does he belong?
" To the race of Alexander ! What is it that com-
pels me to say these things ? "
He compared him in reply to several questions to
O'Connell and R. W. Emerson, from whom he dif-
fered widely — to Burr, who more nearly resembled
him — to Webster, who was merely a giant of intel-
lect, while this man was a giant with intellect enough
to guide him and help him to make himself " the ob-
served of all observers." " He is an ambitious, pub-
lic, popular man."
Finally, without any question to lead him to it, he
named the very author of the letter — remarking, " it
seems from some foreign, furious spirit, or from such a
man as Gen. 'Jackson.'"
He described him as a man of a strong, nervous,
excitable, passionate temperament, as "just the man
to be a Captain Miles Standish : he would take the
lead — he would fight honestly — he is proud and
happy in fighting for his country — he would die in
the last ditch before sacrificing his country's rights."
There was no little surprise when the letter was
read and proved to be from the pen of Gen. Jackson.
Still more was Bishop Otey astonished, when, upon
my first interview with him, after a lapse of ten years
(during which these discoveries had been made), I
placed upon his forehead this same letter of Gen.
Jackson, to test his impressibility, and, notwithstand-
Original Sketch. 49
ing his skepticism, gave him thus a vivid impression of
a heroic, violent character, whom he at first compared
'to Napoleon, and finally pronounced to "bejust snr/i a
man as Gen. Jackson: when he had reached this cli-
max of his discription, I showed him the letter in the
handwriting of Gen. Jackson himself! ! whom he was
thus so forcibly describing.
After my experiment with Mr. K., a gentleman
present produced a letter which he wished to make
the subject of a similar experiment. Fearing that it
might be from some one in a state of disease, or whose
mental influence would be pernicious, I required an
assurance, before trying the experiment, that it was
not calculated to produce any injury. The following
extract from Mr. K.'s journal describes the experi-
ment :
44 Mr. A. Putnam now mentioned that he had re-
centlv received a letter, which he should be gratified
•/ o
to submit to mv experiment, and after an assurance to
Dr. B., that it was from the hand of no one who
might impart an injurious physical or mental influence
to me, it was placed in mv hands. The same physi-
cal sensations were felt as before, though in a much
smaller degree. My mind soon took a decided tone
of sympathy. I felt irresistably drawn toward Mr.
P., and I leave others to speak of the result of the ex-
periment, which certainly was beyond my voluntary
control, charging myself to remember only the amaze-
ment I felt, at the truth of my description, when the
letter was read."
In the numerous experiments which I have made
upon this letter of Gen. Jackson, I have never seen a
50 Original Sketch.
more intense impression than this upon Mr. K., but
the varied results have been extremely instructive, in
showing how the fame impression is differently recog-
nized b\ different minds.
The minds of men are not perfectly transparent
crystals, through which the light may pass unchanged,
producing the same image in all. Each has its own
peculiar stratification, which in some way distorts the
fair image of truth, and each has its own peculiar
tinge to color the picture of the external world. In
our mental daguerreotypy, a perfectly transparent,
achromatic intellect, is one of the rarest endowments
among men — especially among those whose ambition
and selfish energies have given them a prominent
rank.
The autograph of Gen. Jackson, which always im-
parted a conception of energy and force of character,
produced a very different conception of his moral
worth, as the individual deciding was more or less in-
clined to admire his military career. Those who pos-
sessed a similar spirit would use the language of eulo-
gium, while those whose sympathies and opinions led
them to act with the Whig party, in opposition to the
General, were disposed to condemn some traits of his
character, even when thuy deciding by mental impres-
sions, unconscious of their source.
The opinions pronounced were not always in ac-
cordance with the previous opinions entertained by
the individual (especially when such opinions were
based upon any erroneous information), but were
formed in accordance with his general habits of
thought, and the standard of character, which he re-
Original Sketch. ^i
cognized as just. Hence, a public man, overrated by
common fame, would sometimes be brought to his
true level in these Psychometric decisions, and others
less known to fame would receive liberal justice.
The opinion given, appeared to be generally a fail-
application of the principles and standard of character
in the mind of the subject, to the essential character
and spirit of the writer, uncloaked by any disguise,
and uninfluenced by public opinion, or even the pre-
vious opinions of the subject, concerning the same per-
son. Thus, when the Rev. Mr. K. was tested upon
the autograph of Mr. Jefferson, of whom he gave a
favorable description, he expressed much gratification
afterward, at having been thus enabled to obtain so
much higher a conception of the character of Mr.
Jefferson, than he had previously entertained, having
imbibed in early life some prejudice against that states-
man.
A lawyer of the democratic party, in Mississippi,
politically opposed to Mr. Clay, and, consequently,
viewing his character through the medium of party
spirit, was ascertained to be highly impressible. A
number of experiments convinced him of the veritv
of his psychometric power. A letter was subjected
to his investigation, to which he gave such a charac-
ter as has been given Mr. Clay by his ardent admir-
ers— and as he felt the impression vividly, he expressed
himself strongly. When he learned who was tin-
author of the letter, he at once frankly acknowledged
that he was convinced of the admirable qualities of
Mr. Clay's character, and would, henceforth, renounce
his prejudices against him ! Thus the letter was the
52 Original Sketch,
means of establishing a true mental contact between
Mr. Clav and Mr. W., by which the latter learned
his true character ; and I feel well' assured, from
their relative chara6ters, that if they had met in
unreserved social intercourse, Mr. W. would have
derived the same impression from personal associa-
tion.
In mv first experiments with Judge T. (of the
Supreme Court of Mississippi), a different result
occurred. The Judge, though a democrat in politics,
was a man of calm reflective character, and New
England education — one of the men in whom we
should not look for any mental affinity with the Hero
of New Orleans. In accordance with his usual
habits, he was slow to recognize the truth of Neurol-
ogy ; but, having seen a number of illustrative facts,
and observed its truth as applied to himself, he began
to pay some attention to the subject. I fancied that
he was impressible, and made the first trial with him
among the members of my class, by placing upon his
forehead the autograph of GEN. WASHINGTON. His
impressions were vivid and clear — he gave an opin-
ion in forcible and eloquent language, which intensely
interested all around, and was indeed one of the best
descriptions of Washington's character which I have
ever heard. Before gratifying his curiosity to know
of whom he had thus spoken, I requested him to pro-
nounce his impressions of another autograph, which
I next offered.
I placed upon his forehead the autograph of Gen.
Jackson. As soon as the spell of the influence of
Washington had subsided, he perceived a very differ-
Original Sketch. 53
ent character, and recoiled from it with an expression
of aversion, seemingly reluctant to express his opin-
ion. But upon reflection he renewed the experiment,
expressing the apprehension that he might do some
injustice by so hasty a conclusion. He then deliber-
ately proceeded to portray the character, not as it
would have been viewed by a political friend of the
General, but just as we might suppose it would have
been estimated by one of the previous education and
habits of Judge T. — in fact, it was just such a descrip-
tion as might have been heard from the political oppo-
nents of Gen. Jackson, when he was in the arena of
party politics. Thus, the opinions, in these cases,
proved to be just such decisions as might have been
expected from the true mental contact of the men
aside from all extrinsic influence.
The psychometric experiment, therefore, does not
infallibly develop a true estimate of men, but tries, or
estimates their true character, by the standard of jus-
tice and propriety in the mind of the subject. Its
advantage consists in the fact, that it is a fair trial of
the true man — the essential spirit of his character is
appreciated, stripped alike of the halo of reputation,
the mists of obscurity, and the mirage of prejudice.
The man is truthfully made known to those who
decide upon his merits : the spirit of the man is con-
veyed by his writings, and though silent, he is fully
heard and understood.
Yet it may happen that the writer is so very dissim-
ilar to the subject, that no proper sympathy can In-
established, nor any proper opinion obtained. Some-
times the subject will be able to decide with facility
54 Original Sketch.
and corre6tness upon one class of autographs, but will
be utterly disqualified for appreciating another class,
especially when he has strong prejudices, or carries
any of his opinions to a fanatical extravagance. I
was much amused with the influence of the autograph
of General Jackson, upon a lady, of strong prejudices,
quite zealous in behalf of anti-slavery, non-resistance,
and other moral doctrines and reforms — there was too
great a repugnance of sentiment, for her to appreci-
ate justly his character, but she was so thoroughly
under the influence of the letter (knowing nothing of
the name of the writer), as to get an idea of his per-
sonal appearance, to feel an intense excitement of the
region of Firmness in her own head (the usual effect
of the letter), and even to feel as if her face, which
was round and full, was distorted in resemblance to
the writer's. She complained of feeling, as though
her face was hard and elongated, her cheeks hollow,
and her whole temperament changed to the energetic
iron tone of General Jackson's. This physical change
attracted her attention even more than the traits of
the character, and so vivid were her sensations, that
it was only by feeling her own face with her hands,
and asking those present how it looked, that she could
escape the conviction, that her face had actually
changed its appearance. The idea of a change in
her face, was a spontaneous suggestion of her own,
and surprised me by the extent to which she carried
it. This physical sympathy regularly occurs in such
experiments, whether observed or not. Hence, the
precautions against using the manuscript of those in
bad health are often important.
Original Sketch. 55
A young lady, of Boston, of highly cultivated
mind, with a very delicate constitution, was tried, by
one of her friends, in an experiment upon the auto-
graph of an eminent divine. The experiment was
very satisfactory in the portraiture of his character
and emotions ; but, at its close, the young lady found
a great difficulty of locomotion, which was quite
inexplicable to them, until they recollected the lame-
ness of the writer, Rev. Mr. Gannett, to whose
influence she had been subjected. In subsequent
experiments, the same young lady found herself so
frequently injured by the morbid influence of auto-
graphs, injudiciously urged upon her for investigation
by friends, as to compel her to decline the experi-
ments, for self-preservation.
The extent to which this physical sympathy may
be carried, renders it practicable to describe the
physiological condition of the writer, as correctly
as the mental. Indeed, I have sometimes resorted
to this method, for the purpose of ascertaining the
condition of patients at a distance. The great value
of this method of diagnosis, however, is limited by
the fact, that such investigations may be quite
unpleasant and injurious to those who are employed
in sympathetically describing disease. A long con-
tinuance, or frequent repetition of such experiments,
would prove decidedly injurious to their health, but
a brief occasional examination, followed by manipu-
lations to disperse the morbid influence and restore a
healthy action, might be undertaken with impunitv.
The physiological and pathological influence, which
attaches to a letter, is not limited to that method of
56 Original Sketch.
transmission. It is true the mental influence is more
thoroughly imparted in the act of writing, in \vhich
the mind is vigorously engaged ; but, even in ordi-
nary contact, the influence of the whole constitution
may be imparted, sufficiently • for diagnosis, by the
highly susceptible. Thus, a lock of hair, or an
article of clothing, may be made the means of form-
ing a correct diagnosis. In this fact, the philosophic
mind sees but an extension of the law of contagion.
The clothing of the sick, or anything with which
they have been in contact, will, it is well known,
transmit to healthy constitutions their peculiar form
of disease. It is commonly supposed, that this law
of contagion is limited in its operation to certain
specific diseases ; but, in truth, there is no such
definite boundary between contagion and non-conta-
gion. All diseases partake in some degree of the
contagious character, and whenever the disease is
sufficiently intense, the number of sick sufficiently
accumulated, the constitutions of the attendants suf-
ficiently predisposed, or the contact with the sick
sufficiently frequent and intimate, diseases are trans-
mitted — not only cholera, yellow fever and typhoid
fever, but even diseases of a milder type, may be
thus imparted. And as there is an infinite gradation
and variety of sensibility in different constitutions,
even reasoning a priori should teach us, that there
may be individuals upon whom all diseases exert a
contagious influence, and that this contagion might
be transmitted according to the usual laws of conta-
gion or infection, by any substance which has been
in contact with the patient.
Original Sketch, 57
How absurd, then, is the conduct of those medical
men, who sneer at the pretensions of mesmerism, and
who refuse to believe in the sympathetic diagnosis of
disease, when it is strictly in accordance with the
history of epidemic diseases. If, kind reader, you
have ever indulged a hasty prejudice against mes-
meric subjects, who profess to diagnosticate disease
by contact with a lock of hair, or any article of cloth-
ing, will you not lay aside such feelings, and observe
how strictly such performances are in harmony with the
laws of the nervous system, and with our own experi-
ments upon medicines and upon letters. If you have
not yet learned that such things are possible, let me
request you, in your next experiment upon a letter, to
select one from an individual laboring under some
disease or pain, at the time of writing, and observe
whether the subject of your experiment does not
sympathize with the physical suffering of the writer.
Alter you have made a few such experiments, you
will agree with me, as to the value of this method of
diagnosis, and you will not doubt that physicians may
hereafter rely upon this method in the treatment of
patients at a distance.
To develop properly the subject of Psychometry,
in all its bearings, would require a large volume. In
this brief sketch I can but glance at its principal
relations :
1 . As a practical means of judging of the charac-
ters of men more accurately, than bv the aids of
phrenology and physiognomy.
2. As an assistance to the study of history and
biography.
58 Original Sketch.
3. As an assistance to the administration of jus-
tice, in determining questions of guilt or innocence,
sanity or insanity.
4. As assistant to self-cultivation, by the study of
our own character, and to the education of the voun<j,
* O
by showing their true mental and physical condition.
5. As an assistance to the practice of medicine,
by furnishing a convenient method of pathological
diagnosis.
6. As the means of investigating spiritual phil-
osophy— the existence and relations of the soul, and
the various relations of the living man to the spiritual
world.
As a method of determining the characters of the
living, Psychometry has an accuracy and delicacy
which phrenology and physiognomy cannot possibly
obtain. Phrenology, at best, but estimates the proba-
ble tendencies of the character, from the cranial
development. It determines nothing positively, for
it leaves to education and circumstances a controlling
influence. Psychometry determines the actual charac-
ter, as it was at the time of writing — tracing not
only the essential personal character, but the rela-
tions of the individual to those around him and his
entire social position. It enters into the analysis and
portraiture of his feelings, like an intimate friend
speaking from personal knowledge.
I have often tested its powers in relation to myself
and friends, as well as to many celebrated characters,
and thus have ascertained its adaptation to minute por-
traiture. Indeed the subject will frequently not only
describe the character of the writer, but speak of the
Original Sketch. 59
character of the letter, the principal ideas which it
conveys, and the motives of the writer in expressing
those ideas. Nay more, the conceptions which the
writer may entertain of the person, to whom or of
whom he is writing, will frequently be distinctly
described ; and, in some instances, where the person
addressed is one of greater weight of character than
the writer, the idea of him may even take precedence
of the conception of the writer himself.
The sketches of individual character, have often
been so striking, that the auditors could recognize the
individual by the description, while the subject, en-
grossed in the study of his mental impressions, would
be utterly unconscious of the accurate application of
his sketch to some well-known character. In other
cases, the subject would perceive its application to
some known individual and declare that he knew who
was the writer.
One of the best portrayers of character, whom I
have found, was a gentleman * of the legal profession
of Jackson, Mississippi, who approached the subject
with great skepticism and was very reluctant to be-
lieve in the verity of his impressions ; but, after becom-
ing convinced, would frequently try the experiment to
gratify his friends, who had heard of his remarkable
powers in these psychometric experiments. A few
weeks after I had introduced him to this class of ex-
periments, I learned that he had kept an account oi
his progress in that way, and that he had pronounced
upon one hundred and fifty autographs, without mak-
ing any very material errors in the whole of his opin-
* Charles Scott, subsequently Chancellor.
60 Original Sketch.
ions. His success induced efforts to hoax him, which
were baffled by the great accuracy of his perceptions.
A blank letter was given him to investigate, presum-
ing that he would indulge his imagination in giving it
a character, and thus afford a little sport. One of
less acuteness might well have been hoaxed, by de-
scribing his own frame of mind at the time, and sup-
posing it to be derived from the writer of the letter ;
but Mr. S., after holding it sometime upon his fore-
head, perceived that no new mental condition was
produced, and concluded, that as no mental impres-
sion arose, the pretended letter was void of writing.
Thus detecting the hoax, he turned the tables upon
the hoaxers, by remarking, that the letter was like its
author who presented it, a -perfect blank in society.
It is obvious, that such an experiment would form
no proper test of the verity of these perceptions ; for
most persons, in their first experiments, are by no
means certain whether their mental impressions arise
from their own spontaneous trains of thought, or from
the influence of the letter — hence they would not be
able to discriminate between a letter and a piece of
blank paper, until a sufficient amount of experience
had made them familiar with the various impressions,
and able to decide positively between the suggestions of
association and the influence of exterior impressions.
Frequently it happens, that the first impressions of
a letter will be vague and even incorrect — the mind
not being in the right mood to sympathize with it —
and the individual venturing to express an opinion,
before he has had time to perceive the whole charac-
ter, and weigh its different tendencies.
Original Sketch. 61
Thus, for example, Mr. S., on one occasion. fell
into an error, in the commencement of his description
of a difficult autograph, although he would usual Iv
describe the person with so much minuteness in all his
relations, as to tell the exact political office which he
occupied. When trying the autograph of Judge T..
above mentioned, he pronounced the writer to be a
lawyer, a jurist, and to be actually an occupant of the
Supreme Bench of the State, which was true. In
other cases he would say, this man has been President
of the United States (if trying the autograph of one
of the Presidents), or he aspires to that office, when
he examined the autographs of presidential candi-
dates.
It happened that while Mr. S. and several other
gentlemen were sitting with me, in my apartment at
the Hotel (in Jackson, Mississippi), I proposed a new
experiment, for the gratification of some who had
never witnessed his powers. I selected an autograph,
which, on previous occasions, I had avoided using, on
account of the peculiar difficulty of its investigation.
The difficulty in this case (which I will explain here-
after), made it necessary to employ one like Mr. S.,
acute in perception and clear in his judgment, to de-
cide correctly — but even he was at first a little at
tt
fault. The letter was from GENERAL L.VKAYKTTI:.
It was placed upon his forehead — no one in that re-
gion even suspected that I had any such document in
my possession, until after the experiment. After delib-
erating a few moment^ he remarked :
" Seems to be dead — no activity in the region of
the heart — great quietude in the physiological condi-
62 Original Sketch.
tion — DEAD decidedly. The impressions are less dis-
tinct than usual."
In a few moments he proceeded : "A character of
great benevolence — religion ; he is firm and decided
— his affections are strong ; he is philanthropic, a man
of excellent judgment, rather philosophic ; he would
think deeply, profoundly ; he was a man of consider-
able invention ; he made his own fortune — rose from
humble station. [Thus far, we perceive, he had
caught the character but not fully weighed it, the last
remark being a hasty inaccurate conclusion.] He is
well-known — he lives in history. His perceptive
organs are good, he has great observation, a great
admirer of the beauties of nature — there is more cool
deliberate thought here."
Question — At what period did he live — in what
kind of scenes did he figure?
4' He figured m the revolutionary war ! "
& v
Question — What part did he bear?
"He bore a distinguished part — was perhaps in
the Continental Congress.''
Question — Where do you locate him?
" Not in the United States — in France !
Question — Why do you say so ?
k' It rises up before me."
Question — To what pursuits is lie adapted ? What
kind of a lawyer would he make ?
" I do not think that that is his field."
Question — What would you think of him as a
statesman ?
" Very well — he is almost too conscientious for a
real politician."
Original Sketch. 6^
Question — What would you think of him as a mil-
itary man?
"First rate! calm, dignified, self-possessed, with
great promptness and decision, he would meet it
boldly. There is a great deal of philosophy in his
tone of thought and observation."
Question — What do you think of his principles?
"They are liberal, republican — he has confidence
in the doctrines of self-government by the people —
he has no doubt about the problem."
Qjiestion — What reputation does he bear?
"Very exalted — there is no difference of opinion
— posterity are grateful — they hold his memory
dear — they think him a patriotic, noble-hearted,
courageous man — one who had the interests of tho
world at heart — who wished to dispense light and
liberty to all the world : he would not be contented
with any small matter, nor on a small theatre."
Question — What of his ambition ?
" He has so many good qualities, I hardly know;
he would be governed more by high moral faculties
than by ambition."
" He has, been in battle ! He was in the battle of
Germantown ! That rises up before me ! He has
been wounded, has shed his blood ! He was wounded
in that battle ! "
As 'he had now evidently full possession of the
character, and the former and latter portions of his
description were rather inconsistent, I asked him to
review the matter and give me his final decision.
He remarked, that the latter portion of his opinion
was more correct than the former, and that, as to
64 Original Sketch.
invention, there was good inventive power, but it was
exercised in planning rather than invention — that he
was deeply interested in the American war, and if
not in the Congress, took a deep interest in that bodv.
In reply to questions, he remarked, that he had been
imprisoned and escaped — that he had enjoyed a
vigorous constitution — had died a natural death at
seventy-eight or eighty years of age, and had
probably deceased some eight or ten years since.
In the latter part of his description, I suppose he
must have discovered that he was describing
Lafayette ; but no allusion was made to the name
by him or myself, as such allusions are carefully
avoided in this class of experiments, for obvious rea-
sons. Hence, the habit is acquired of excluding
from the mind any thought of the name of the indi-
vidual, so as to preserve strict impartiality in follow-
ing the impressions.
Persons in whom the inferior and occipital organs
predominate, will be inclined to look on the unfavora-
ble side of every character, and will thus do injustice
in their psychometric decisions. But this is not often
the case among those who enjoy this faculty in a
high degree. Much more frequently do we find the
amiable faculties so largely predominating, as to lend
a roseate hue to every portrait and disqualify them
for any searching criticism. Such was the case in
the opinions of the Rev. Mr. K., who indulged
habitually in glowing language, when he found any-
thing to commend. Of this I might select, as an
example, his description of an autograph, which was
placed in his hands, at a private meeting of the mem-
Original Skc ch. 65
bers of a Neurological society, in Boston. Not
having been present myself, his language was
reported to me by a member of the society, as fol-
lows :
" I feel the influence of a great man. This man is
a giant, a man who looks broadly, deeply, clearly.
He is a man who holds, or has held, a high political
office — is one who, when he speaks, fixes every 'eye.
He is the glory of any age and of any land. As an
intellectual being, he is eloquent, thrilling, command-
ing, irresistable. This letter makes me feel as though
1 had an audience before me now to address. He is
still at this moment, but he is not dead. He is not
inattentive to what is going on in political affairs.
America is his glory. There is a good deal of the
same feeling that Napoleon had, he said ' I ask only
the glory of France, but I must give all — all to her.'
He is graceful as a speaker, and a torrent in power.
He is past the middle of life. He is a much better
man than his adversaries represent him. He has the
good of others at heart. He is not a vain man, but
he is proud. He is ambitious, in a good sense : he
feels that he has the power of doing great good, and
is therefore anxious to do it : I feel confident he is a
public man."
» Question — What kind, military or civil?
" Decidedly in civil life."
" He is not in favor of slavery, yet is not an aboli-
tionist. He would leave that for those to take care
of who know most about it."
Question — Are you sure it is written by a man ?
** I am very certain. He is sometimes as calm as
66 Original Sketch.
a child, and again as terrible as a tiger — he has the
sagacity of a Franklin, the penetration of a Mar-
shall."'
Question — Whom of all our public men is he
most like?
" I should say in answer to that, I think the letter
must be from DANIEL WEBSTER."
It ivas a letter written by Daniel Webster.
As a fair specimen of impartial description, I might
select the account of Miss HARRIET MARTINEU
(the authoress), given me by a lady, in the experi-
ment upon her autograph.
" I think it's a very intellectual person — she is not
wanting in courage at all. I feel that it is a lady.
She has a bold, daring spirit. I feel that I could
almost face the world. She would always express
her mind very freely. I think she is a public writer,
and a great talker too. She is of a very kind, affec-
tionate disposition, always interested in others' wel-
fare. You could not but like her, although she is so
self-satisfied. She is a lady of great refinement and
modesty, naturally — not modesty — that is not the
word, I do not know what word I want. She might
be very sarcastic. If she were going to write of any
people, she would cut them up as bad as Dickens.
She is very resolute. She reminds me some of
Madame de Stael, in her intellect and boldness."
[This lady had previously tried the autograph of
Madame de Stael.]
Question — Make the comparison between her and
Madame de Stael ?
" Her intellect is like. She is not as dictatorial. I
Original Sketch. 67
should give her a much higher moral character. She
is strictly a moral woman. She is determined to
accomplish whatever she undertakes, and therein she
is like Madame de Stael."
Question — How do you compare her with Bulwer?
'* I do not like to compare her with Bulwer, I think
her moral character is superior to his. There is not
so much romance about her as there is about Bulwer,
she is not a novelist. She is too intellectual for me,
it is overpowering. It gives me an unpleasant feel-
ing through my head and ears. My head feels so
tight. There is a ringing in the ears."
Question — How does it affect your eyesight?
" I do not notice any change."
Question — How does it affect your hearing?
"I am not deaf now, but I think I might be if
under this influence long. She is deaf — I know who
it is ! "
Question — Who?
"I think it is Miss Martineau, I do not know of
anybody else, that is such a woman, and deaf too."
CHAPTER II.
ORIGINAL SKETCH OF PSYCHOMETRY (CoxTixrED).
Varieties of psychometric experiments — Vast range of psychometric
power, historic, biographic, paleontological — Old manuscripts — Prac-
tical uses, arbitration, criminal investigations anil detection — Pene-
trating power — Liability to error — Unconscious modification by feel-
ings— General impartiality — Overpowering influence — Criticism of
self — Appreciation of the young — Various descriptions, John (Juincy
Adams, Henry Clay, Judge Rowan, Gen. Washington, W. E. Channin^,
Dr. Ilarney, Mad. de Stael, Mrs. L. 31. Child, Booth, Fulton— Demon-
strative character of experiments — Their dependence on the autograph
describing unknown autographs — Bulwer — Accurate description of
three autographs — Description of Southern orators.
IT is only those ot peculiarly line, sensitive and
intellectual endowments, who can grasp, at once, the
\vhole character, and speak of its details with the
familiarity of thorough acquaintance. Generally, the
opinion is formed, in a gradual manner, from a care-
ful study of the impressions, and the character is
opened up to the mind by a consecutive survey of its
different relations. Frequently the writer will appeal-
before the mind's eye of the psychometric explorer,
with a characteristic expression of countenance and
attitude illustrating some trait of his nature, or en-
gaged in some characteristic act ; and, after a time,
he will appear in some other scene, equally character-
istic, which has been actually a scene in his life, or
which is a legitimate illustration of his disposition.
Oftentimes the scenes which are thus presented will
68
Original Sketch. 69
be highly picturesque and poetical — happily illus-
trative of the true spirit of the man. In trying several
autographs upon the head of the Rev. Mr. G., I was
struck with several of his picturesque sketches. For
example, in portraying the Rev. Mr. Bascom, the
eloquent Methodist divine, who rose by his own ener-
gies from an humble position, he said, that the first
scene that rose to his mind was an humble forest resi-
dence— a small clearing in the woods — the kettles
hanging over the fire from forked sticks — a youth of
studious disposition, cultivating his mind : then vari-
ous transitions occurred — the country advanced in
cultivation — villages and cities sprang up — the youth
was observed in other scenes, and soon became a
powerful, eloquent, and universally admired orator of
the pulpit. In the autograph of the Rev. Alexander
Campbell (the religious reformer), he recognized the
spirit of a great leader, partaking somewhat of the
traits of Washington and Lafayette, speaking with a
different kind of eloquence, and amid scenes of sim-
plicity and solemnity. I placed my own autograph
upon his head, and it produced the scene of a leader
or adventurer, marching on toward a distant height,
while a multitude behind were looking upon his pro-
gress, and as he looked back he paused to wait until
the foremost could overtake him. He appeared to be
covered, as to his head, by a species of Roman hel-
met, which rendered him insensible to the missiles
and weapons which he expected to encounter. « As
this was a true statement of my position at that time,
I thought it a happy sketch ; for I had slackened my
scientific investigations, and was engaged in propa-
70 Original Sketch.
gating my neurological discoveries, hoping that public
sentiment might be gradually brought a little nearer
to my advanced position in science. But, in this case,
instead of locating the scene far off (in adjoining
States), as in the cases of Mr. Campbell and Mr.
Bascom, he said that all seemed to be located in Cin-
cinnati ; and the leader, with the helmet, appeared as
if standing about the summit of the first hill, in reced-
ing from the river. It also seemed to him, that this
personage had some connection with a locality on
Lower Market street. This singular remark reminded
me of the fact, that the locality of which he spoke,
near the Lower Market, \vas, in reality, the place of
my residence in childhood. The helmet, protecting
the head from attacks, was a good illustration of the
mental hardihood, which has made me ever indifferent
to the applause or disapprobation of mankind. I feel
that it is my natural place — my true vocation — to
advocate unpopular truths, and to brave the odium
which awaits those who ask the world to mend its
ways.
When the psychometric inquirer is less imaginative,
the scene which arises to the mind may be rather a
matter of fact than a fancy sketch ; and thus, in our
intuitive conceptions, we find the sympathetic percep-
tion of character blending with the phenomena of
simple clairvoyance. For example, I placed upon the
forehead of an attorney, in Mississippi, the letter of a
lady, addressed to her husband. He immediately fol-
lowed the leading impression, and traced it to her res-
idence on the Ohio river, where he observed the lady
and her children, whom he described correctly,
Original Skctcli. 71
excepting as to their sex. Sometimes the personal
appearance of the writer will be correctly described,
without reference to his situation. Frequently, the
most important scenes through which he has passed,
or which have been most vividly impressed upon his
mind — or those in the midst of which he wrote — will
rise distinctly in view. Thus the letter of Lafayette
recalled the battle of Germantown — the letter of
Washington Allston produced a beautiful painting,
characteristic of his style — a poem, written by Ralph
Waldo Emerson, produced a conception of the beau-
tiful scenery of summer, which the poetry described.
A DRAWING of a sea-shore scene produced the identi-
cal scene in the mind of the lady whose hand was in
contact with the drawing, unconscious that it was not
a piece of writing. She was transported mentally to
the scene, and fancied she could almost hear the hum-
ming of the insects in the air.
The material of the writing, or the method of con-
veying the idea, is unimportant. The poetry of
Emerson, and the drawing of the artist, equally con-
veyed the scenes which they depicted. It is neces-
sary only for the psychometer to come into contact
with something upon which the author has affixed the
stamp of his peculiar individuality. A drawing or
painting will convey, as effectually as a letter, tin-
conception of its author, and his mental efforts in its
production. In .thus exploring a portrait or a draw-
ing, the psychometer not only obtains an idea of the
artist, but also perceives the idea which the artist
entertained of his subject. Hence, by contact with a
portrait, he may describe both the artist and the sub-
72 Original Sketch.
ject of the picture. The same principle is equally
applicable to autographs. The letter which conveys
an idea of its writer, may also convey his idea of the
one to whom he is writing, or of the one concerning
whom he writes.
If then, man, in every act, leaves the impression,
or daguerreotype of his mental being upon the scenes
of his life and subjects of his action, we are by this
law furnished with a new clue to the history of our
race ; and I think it highly probable, that, by the
application of this principle, the chasms of history
may be supplied, and a glimpse may be obtained of
unrecorded ages and nations, whose early history is
lost in darkness. The ancient manuscripts, paintings,
and other works of art, which still exist — the cruci-
fixes, garments, armor, and other ancient relics, still
preserved — are doubtless still instinct with the spirit
that produced them, and capable of revealing to psy-
chometric exploration, the living realities with which
they were once connected. At present, these relics
are barren of significance. Their hidden meaning
lies waiting the future explorer, as the hieroglyphics
of Egypt awaited the arrival of Champollion to inter-
pret their significance. And why should not the
world be filled with the monuments and unwritten re-
cords of its past history? It would seem, to the super-
ficial thinker, that man was entirely limited to tradition
and written records for his knowledge of the past ;
but physical science proves, that the world possesses,
embodied in enduring monuments, the story of its pro-
gressive existence. The geologist finds, in the differ-
ent strata of the earth, in its curiously mingled and
Original Sketch. 73
irregular structure, and in the fossil remains which it
conceals in its bosom, the history of its various
changes of surface, and of the antediluvian races of
animals which have long been extinct. The huge
Saurian monsters, which he portrays from their fossil
relics, rise before the eye as incredible chimeras. And
over this fertile region, now occupied by prosperous
States, he revives, by the magic power of science, the
antediluvian seas and their strange inhabitants, un-
known to man.
The Past is entombed in the Present! The world is
its own enduring monument ; and that which is true
of its physical, is likewise true of its mental career.
The discoveries of Psychometry will enable us to ex-
plore the history of man, as those of geology enable
us to explore the history of the earth. There are
mental fossils for the psychologist, as well as mineral
fossils for the geologist ; and I believe that, hereafter,
the psychologist and the geologist will go hand in
hand — the one portraying the earth, its animals and
its vegetation, while the other portrays the human be-
ings who have roamed over its surface in the shadows
and darkness of primeval barbarism ! Aye, the men-
tal telescope is now discovered, which may pierce the
depths of the past and bring us in full view of all the
grand and tragic passages of ancient history ! I know
that, to many of my readers, unaccustomed to these
investigations, and unacquainted with the first experi-
mental facts of this great science, these anticipations
must seem a visionary hope — too grand, too roman-
tic, too transcendently beautiful, to be true. But
observe, that all is based upon familiar experiments.
74 Original Sketch.
and these results are but legitimate deductions from
familiar facts. As surely as the expansive power of
steam gives premonition of the ocean steamship, does
the power of Psychometry give promise of all the
glorious performance to which I have alluded. The
world, although well acquinted with the expansive
power of steam, laughed atRumsey, Fitch and Ful-
ton, when they were constructing steamboats : and
when they were careering proudly over our " inland
seas," the idea of crossing the ocean in a steamship
was pronounced impracticable, by men of science, up
to the very time of its consummation. How timidly
do we shrink from following an established principle
to its legitimate results !
Does not every psychometric experiment demon-
strate an indefinite range of the intuitive power? The
psychometer is not limited to a perception of the
thoughts of the writer at the moment, but appreciates
his entire being — enters into his emotions — his rela-
tions to society, and his past history. Aye, in many
instances, the whole career of the individual is opened
out before the observer, and he traces that career from
childhood to death. Let us apply this principle.
Could we obtain any authentic relics of Julius Caesar,
of Cicero, of Plutarch — of Pericles, Plato, or Solon
— of Alfred the Great, Confucius, or Mohammed —
the ancient writings of the Hindoos, or the hiero-
glyphics of Egypt — and could we from these evoke
the pictures of the past, as we do from an ordinary
manuscript, how thrilling would be the interest with
which we should listen to this resurrection of lost
history !
Original Sketch. 75
Why should this be impossible? Does the mental
impression attached to a manuscript ever evaporate, or
become effaced? Does the old manuscript cease to be
legible to psychometric power when a certain num-
ber of years have elapsed? It may be, that there are
certain limits to these experiments, or certain difficul-
ties in the way of their extension, but I have not yet
found any manuscript so old as to be beyond the
reach of this method of exploration. The autographs
of Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Burr, Knox,
Schuyler, and others of the Revolution, gave prompt
and distinct impressions. The oldest manuscript
which I have subjected to such investigations, was
that of a clenjvman of the Church of England, in
O» O
which the characters were so antiquated in style, as
to render it very difficult to decipher. This letter,
dated in 1637, appeared to be a solemn protest or re-
monstrance against some arbitrary exercise of power
by his Bishop, which he regarded as an encroach-
ment upon his religious principles and rights. When
this manuscript was placed upon the forehead of
Judge T., he perceived in it a deep feeling of gloom,
and described it as being such a feeling as might have
been entertained by a patriot, in the dark hours of
our Revolution — by a physician, during the preval-
ence of yellow fever in Philadelphia — or bv a protes-
tant, in the time of the persecution of the protestants
by Queen Mary. He described the writer as n man
of deep feelings and affections — of strong intellect
and of eloquence — inclined to meditate upon a future
life, and to adopt the pursuits of a clergyman — dis-
posed to resist injustice, but to curb himself by relig-
76 Original Sketch.
ious principles — as being a man about forty or lifty
years of age, and existing at some period not very
recent. The Judge possessed no decided capacity for
locating his impressions as to place or time. But
others, with a better development of Locality and
Time, have attained considerable precision. Major
P., who had been a great woodsman and traveler,
appeared to decide with but little difficulty, when ex-
ploring a letter, from what section of the country it
had been written.
Since, then, there is no limit to the accuracy or
extent of our preceptions, but that which arises from
the imperfect development of our faculties, it is
impossible to set any bounds to the future explora-
tions of gifted individuals. In these days, so rapidly
are our anticipations realized, and sanguine hopes
converted into accomplished facts, that I cannot
refrain from thus predicting the future range of
psychometric power, however extravagant the pre-
diction may seem to a portion of my readers. If
there are any who cannot at all digest these predic-
tions, let them lay aside, upon their shelves, Vol. I
of the Journal of Man, that it may improve like • a
bottle of wine, by age ; and when they have grown
old, with a mind expanded by a wider experience of
the progress of knowledge, let them re-peruse the
old volume and compare its prophecy with the living
verification.
But, it may be asked by the practical man, cannot
this power be applied to the daily purposes of life, as
well as to the exploration of history? Why should
it not assist our inquiries into the guilt or innocence
Original Sketch, 77
of those who are arraigned before our courts of law?
I know no reason why it should not. Indeed, I have
no doubt that, with the proper means and arrange-
ments for the investigation of character, a scientific
tribunal for the decision of all controversies between
man and man might be established, which would
come much nearer to exact justice than we can pos-
sibly reach, by our present cumbrous judicial system
and laws of evidence. To propose such a tribunal
would, at the present time, be premature ; but there
is no reason why the science should not contribute
its light to elucidate any obscure facts, or traits of
character, which may have a bearing on the case that
is tried. If the jury, and the public generally, were
aware of the power of Psychometry, the statement of
the results of a psychometric investigation, under
proper circumstances, would have a decisive influence
upon their opinion ; and such a statement, from com-
petent persons,, might be admitted upon the same
principle that the testimony of medical men is often
demanded, in cases of homicide, lunacy, etc., to
assist in determining the facts by means of the
resources of science. I have no doubt that this kind
of testimony will be introduced into courts, after the
principles of Psychometry have become generally
known and established. In the delicate class of
cases arising from the charge of lunacy, as well
as in those involving high crimes, there are no
methods of exploration which can compare with
Psychometry, as to the power of ascertaining the
truth or falsehood of the charges. I do not mean
that every psychometric experiment should be taken
78 Original Sketch.
as oracular, but that, when a sufficient amount of
intellect and caution are exercised in the investijm-
O
tion, the results are accurately true.
It the individual accused of crime, or lunacy, has
written a number of letters during the period
embraced bv the accusation, his mind may be
traced through all the phases of excitement to
which it was subjected, and the truth or falsehood
of the charge clearly ascertained.
A letter, written by a clergyman confined in the
penitentiary, was submitted to my investigation.
The various degrees of guilt, indiscretion, melan-
choly, contrition and anxiety which it revealed,
formed an interesting subject for study. Soon
afterward the man was pardoned. The discre-
tionary exercise of this pardoning power is a task
of no little delicacy and difficulty — liable to great
abuses — while the arbitrary periods of confinement,
fixed by law, have little reference to the proper
aim of punishment — the reformation of the crimi-
nal. If the term of confinement were made indefi-
nite, and determinable by the moral condition of
the prisoner, then the observation of his conduct,
and the psychometric scrutiny of his character, might
determine when, with safety to society, he could be
released from prison, or how much more he needed
of its reformatory influence.
As to the detection of crime by this means, there
have been some instances recently, in the United
States, of the detection of crime by means of clair-
voyance ; and about two hundred years ago, an
humble peasant, in France, exercised the same
Original Sketch. 79
power of \vhich I speak, and in the same manner.
He visited the spot where the murder had been com-
mitted, and when he came upon the ground, or
touched the instrument with which the deed had
been performed, he was greatly agitated by the
impression which was imparted. By means of this
impression, he acquired an idea of the murderers and
their movements, seized upon their trail and pursued
them from house to house, and from village to vil-
lage, until he actually found them. The wonderful
performances of this man were attested by magis-
trates and physicians, in a public manner, and were
matters of so much public notoriety at the time, as to
cause him to be presented at the court of Louis XIV.
The establishment and use of such powers, for the
discoverv of innocence and guilt, will have a most
saltitarv influence upon society. I do not mean to
suggest, that any testimony of this kind should be
introduced upon the same authoritative footing as the
oath of a citizen, in reference to any matter which he
has witnessed, but merely, that the indications and
authority of science should be appealed to upon this,
as upon any other subject. I do not propose any new
statute upon the subject, or any departure from our
present legal usages. I merely suggest, that when
Psychometrv shall take its place among established
sciences, it will, of course, be recognized with the
same degree of respect as other branches ot knowl-
edge which appertain to the medical profession : and,
as the physician is at present appealed to, in a case ot
homicide, to determine the probable cause of death,
and the possibility of its having been caused by acci-
80 Original Sketch.
dent, or by the violence of the prisoner — so, when
his range of professional knowledge is increased, he
will testify from the evidence, not only of surgery,
anatomy, chemistry and toxicology, but also from
Psychometry. At the present time, an intelligent
physician would seldom testify upon the subject of
insanity, without bringing into play the knowledge
derived from phrenological science, or any other
source which might be accessible. When I have been
called upon to testify upon the charge of insanity, in
court, my professional knowledge was appealed to,
without any reference to its source ; and I, of course,
testified upon the principles of neurological science,
which affords the only satisfactory explanation of
insanity that has ever yet been given.
Thus wrill Psychometry, or any other science which
may be capable of throwing light upon the matters
before the court, be brought to bear by men of
science, or other witnesses, whenever the soundness
and authenticity of such knowledge is generally
admitted. In the mean time, those who dread all
changes, need be under no apprehension, as the
change in question can only take place when it has
been sanctioned by the general sentiment of men of
science.
The knowledge of such an improvement, in our
methods of studying mankind, will have a powerful
influence in checking crime. The temptation to
crime arises from the hope of security and escape.
But when the criminal knows that the Argus-eyes of
his fellow-beings are capable of tracing him through
all the devious ways of his life — when he knows that
Original Sketch. Si
his secret acts, his criminal designs and attempts, all
lie bare before the spiritual eye of man — he will find
himself compelled to abandonTiis crimes. When thus
society, with all-seeing but benevolent eyes, superin-
tends his movements, and with its millions of strong
arms reaches forth to lead him back into paths of
peace and virtue, there will be an end of the high
crimes that now disgrace our people.
The recognition and general cultivation of Psy-
chometry, when nmong the millions of psychometric
seers there will be men of the highest order of genius,
talent and wisdom, will fully realize these hopes. The
introduction of this science will operate like the intro-
duction of brilliant gas lights into the dark and crime
haunted streets and alleys of a populous city. The
crimes which previously revelled in security, will be
compelled to retreat from the luminous thoroughfare.
Not only will the criminal be held in check, but all
of us will feel the monitory and restraining influence
of this knowledge. When we know that, in every
act of our lives, we are tracing a biography which
may be read by a thousand eyes — when we know
that it is utterly impossible to be selfish or vicious and
conceal the fact — when we know that it is utterly
impossible to gain credit for virtue, without having it
in our inmost nature — and that if we do cherish noble
sentiments, they will not be concealed from the eves
of those whom we respect — when we know, in short,
that we shall appear to others, in all things, as :<,r
really are — many will wake up from their hollow and
hypocritical life to the cultivation of real virtue : and
all will feel, in their private lives, the same restrain-
82 Original Sketch.
ing, yet elevating influence which is produced by the
presence of a good friend, before whom we are
ashamed to indulge any little exhibition of a selfish or
a petulant spirit.
It is true, the passion ot secretiveness may at lirst
rebel against such anticipations : but this passion, the
source of hypocrisy, lying, false modesty, jealous
reserve, deceit, moroseness and treachery, has too
long ruled and corrupted mankind. The truly frank
and virtuous man feels that there is not an act of his
life which he would fear to have exhibited in the eyes
of the universe ; and he who from a guilty shame
recoils, or, from the pure love of mystery, regards
concealment as one of his highest privileges, must be
expected to cherish the old system of mystery, and to
protest against phrenology, physiognomy, psychom-
etrv, and everv other road to the knowledge of human
v ' ~ O
nature. To such objectors I would simply rerhark,
that men will always be eager to form opinions of
their fellows ; and, whether right or wrong, these
opinions will be current in society, and will form the
basis of our action. The question, therefore, is,
whether we shall have vague notions, prejudices, slan-
ders, and idle gossip, or whether we shall have the
just, systematic, and charitable knowledge of our fel-
low-man, to which we are conducted by science.
Yet I would by no means sanction the idea, that
psychometric investigations will always lead to
accurate results, or may not be abused and per-
verted. As law, medicine, divinity, phrenology,
etc., have all their quackeries or perversions, so
will Psvehometrv, in the hands of the ignorant, the
Original Sketch. 83
unprincipled, the prejudiced, and the reckless. A
psvchornetric opinion may be as calm, dispassionate
and pure as the thoughts of an angel, or it may be
influenced by all the emotions of love or hate, of
reverence or scorn, which influence our ordinary
judgments. In pronouncing upon the characters of
our distinguished politicians, Mr. Clay, Mr. Cal-
houn, and Gen'l, Jackson, I have often found the
psychometer as decidedly biassed in favor of one,
or against another, as if he knew of whom he was
O
.-.peaking. Soon after the battles of Palo Alto and
Resaca de la Palma, I was traveling upon the Mis-
sissippi, and fell in company with an accomplished
lady, the wife of one of the officers, who had distin-
ruished himself in the service. We were trving
O *. c!»
several psychometric experiments, when one of her
friends privately handed me a letter, written bv her
husband from the camp, immediately after those
memorable battles. I had already observed, that
her impressions were unusually dependent upon her
feelings, and that she would, in all cases, as she
liked or disliked the character, elevate or condemn
it in her description. I placed her husband's letter
upon her forehead, and immediately she manifested
;i lively agitation of her feelings. Her bosom heaved
\\ith the intensitv of her emotions — tears came int;>
her eves — and she was herself ama/ed at the tumult
of feeling produced. Yet she declared the impres-
sions to be more delightful than any s'.ie had vet
experienced. She was peculiarlv charmed with the
character, and when, being a little moiv composed.
she was asked to give her opinion, she exclaimed,
84 Original Sketch.
"; O/i, he is the very soul of honor ! " She then went
on, in a very full description : stated that he was a
military man — that he was very fond of hunting -
that he was popular in his manners — a good writer
— occupying a rank below that of Colonel, etc., etc.,
— in short, gave a description, which, making some
slight allowance for a wife's partiality, was certainly
very correct.
The fact, that such emotions should have been
called forth as vividly as if she had been in actual
mental intercourse with her husband, when she was
utterly unconscious of their cause, demonstrates the
necessity of caution in all such investigations. But
it demonstrates something important, in reference to
the laws of mental association, \vhich may be illus-
trated also by another experiment. I placed in the
hands of an impressible lady, a letter from her father,
who was dead, and for whom her grief had not yet
been removed. In a few moments, as she com-
menced speaking of the character, a deep sadness
came upon her ; unconscious of its cause, her eyes
rilled with tears, and I removed the letter without
letting her know its source, although she continued
for some days exceedingly curious to know what
could possibly have called forth her emotions so
strongly while holding that letter.
Thus, it appears that there are deep currents of
feeling, which flow beneath the surface, without
entering into the da\1i<>'ht of consciousness. In these
o o */
subterranean streams of emotion (to borrow the
language of poets) heart speaks to heart ; and the
ma«jic ties which bind us together in love, are formed
Original Sketch. 85
in the darker chambers of the soul, where reason,
reflection and observation, have no place.
It is not true, therefore, that intellect is the sole
medium of association. Feelings are linked to feel-
ings, and one emotion arouses another, without our
consciousness or consent. It is not through the
understanding that the orator calls forth the passions
of his audience. Strong feeling magnetically rouses
and moves all within its sphere, whether there may
or may not be any sentence uttered, which is worthy
of being read.
This mental magnetism may exert its influence
upon psychometric investigations, but will be far less
delusive in them, than in the ordinary intercourse of
mankind. The character investigated becomes, in
such cases, a passive subject of scrutiny, and not an
active party to the process, and is thus disabled from
overawing or controlling the psychometer. An intel-
ligent and amiable lady of Boston, when scrutinizing
the autograph of a distinguished public man — a man
of science (no longer living), who enjoyed an exag-
gerated reputation during his life — described his
powers and his influence upon the public mind,
with great correctness, but perceived that there was
a certain lack of soundness in the character, and that
he would be apt to pass for a better man than he
really was. She remarked, that there was some-
thing imposing in his appearance and talents, and
that many would be imposed upon by his exterior,
so as to estimate him much higher than he deserved.
I asked her, how she supposed it would have been
with herself: whether, if she had seen him, she
86 Original Sketch.
would have discovered his true character, or have
been carried away, like the rest, by his exterior
appearances. After a little reflection, she replied,
that she would, probably, have been carried away,
like the rest, and joined in their admiration. 1 then
gave her the name, and she found that it was even
so ; it was the name of one whom she had been
accustomed to revere, and whose faults she had never
before suspected, although they were known to the
discerning few. Thus, the same individual mani-
fested, in a psychometric decision, a much greater
acumen and power of conceiving character, than in
her ordinary social observation. And, although the
partialities of friendship may occasionally interfere
with the correctness of the decision, I have often
found the psychometer capable of pronouncing, with
perfect impartiality, upon the characters of intimate
friends.
It is necessary, of course, that he should have a
predominance of the intellect over the feelings, and
should have sufficient self-control to resist the excit-
ing influence of the letter. A lady of vigorous and
well-cultivated intellect, but of very delicate physical
constitution, who had fine psychometric po\vers, was,
nevertheless, so sympathetic and excitable, as to be
sometimes completely carried away by the influence
of the character which she described, and lose all
self-control.
The autograph of Mr. Clay, especially, produced
this influence upon her. She soon became so pos-
sessed of its spirit, as to feel herself a distinguished
public character, engaged in matters of great
Original Sketch. 87
moment ; and, forgetting entirely the experiment,
she replied haughtily to the questions which I pro-
posed, as though she considered them quite imperti-
nent Or insulting.
When we are so fortunate as to meet with an indi-
vidual who is perfectly clear-sighted, impartial, self-
possessed, and accurate in judgment — and when we
have tested his powers in various investigations, it
will be interesting to submit our own manuscript to his
critical examination. It is so seldom that we iind even
a friend disposed to analyze our character, and set
forth, distinctly, our virtues and our faults, that it is no
mean luxury to be able to hear, from a good psycho-
meter, a full and free analysis of ourselves, without
fear, favor or prejudice ; and thus be assigned our
true place in the great scale of human character,
while he who decides upon our merits is utterly un-
conscious who may be the subject of his decision.
He who delights in the luxury of plain, unvarnished
truth, may thus be fully satisfied. He who is aiming
to perfect himself in every trait of character, will Iind,
in the searching yet genial criticism of Psychometry,
the assistance which he needs — the mirror in which
to scan his own countenance.
It is probable that no one has ever attained a high
perfection of character — has developed, properlv. the
strength and beauty ot his nature — without often
undergoing the searching scrutiny of his own con-
science, taste and judgment, to ascertain his delici-
ences, and learn what additional power was needed.
It is only by patient study, and unwearying attention
to details, that the artist is enabled to produce a
88 Original Sketch.
statue whjch may be admired. Equally careful and
minute is the critical examination which we must
give ourselves, if we would attain any high moral
excellence. In the rude block of marble, which rep-
resents the character of an uncultivated human
being, a beautiful statue lies concealed, which the
gifted and untiring artist will bring into view. But
the beautiful form of the noble character can be
brought out only by this critical process, and there
are no means within our reach more truly efficient in
criticism than Psychometry.
To form and reform the character — to build up the
strength of our moral and intellectual nature — and to
advance continually in all that is worthy of esteem,
are the noblest aims of life. He who has no such as-
pirations, has not the true spirit, either of philosophy
or of religion. Goodness and greatness are ever pro-
gressive qualities. Each act of kindness enlarges the
heart, confirms our virtue, and lends additional beauty
to the countenance — additional sweetness to the
voice. Each act of intellectual power adds to our
treasury of knowledge, and enlarges our range of
thought.
Moral and intellectual growth should be the great
aim of life; and, although the prevalent teachings of
the day are poorly adapted to urge and guide this
growth, he who has the assistance of Psychometry,
may find the means of discharging his first great duty
to himself.
From the extent of the subject, I must deal in hints,
rather than explanations — in sentences instead of
essavs. I must leave to the ingenious reader, who
Original Sketch. 89
engages in these experiments, to ascertain the best
methods of scrutinizing himself — noting his own de-
fects, and applying the appropriate correction indi-
cated by Neurology. I might narrate a portion of
my own experience in self-scrutiny, and in application
of science to personal improvement ; but, notwith-
standing the examples of Rousseau and Lamartine, I
should find it rather difficult to lay aside that feeling
of personal reserve, which is common wherever the
English language is spoken, and which induces us to
shrink from presenting, before the public, trivial de-
tails which relate merely to self. But, I can assure
the reader, this study of self is most intensely interest-
ing, since it is through self-consciousness that we
obtain the most thorough knowledge of mental phil-
osophy, and all our studies of this subject become
practical lessons in virtue and happiness.
Self-education, guided by self-study, is the great
duty of human life. For the young, who are not yet
competent to self-study and self-amendment, this duty
must be performed by others. To understand, prop-
erly, the immature characters of youth, and the suc-
cessive course of their development — to appreciate
their diversities, and estimate their latent powers —
require not merely craniology, physiognomy, and per-
sonal intercourse, but the sympathetic and delicate
powers of Psychometry. This enables us to under-
stand a character differing widely from our own, and
to appreciate the peculiarities of each, in reference to
an exact scientific standard. All who have assidu-
ously cultivated themselves, know how greatlv their
own characters and mental powers would have been
90 Original Sketch.
improved, if their early education had been guided by
persons who possessed this delicate appreciation of
character, and who could judiciously supply each
defect, until the whole was formed into symmetry.
A good psychometer possesses a sympathetic per-
ception, which enables him to conceive a character
very foreign to his own, and even to appreciate the
capacities and unfolding powers of a child. It is pos-
sible that, by the proper exercise of this power, the
whole career and probable vices, as well as physical
infirmities of the child, may be so fully anticipated as
to enable us effectually to prevent any serious evil
affecting the moral character or physical constitution.
But these diagnostic examinations will be practiced
principally by means of direct contact with the head,
learning from each organ its exact condition. This
method, which is similar in principle to the experi-
ments upon autographs, may be appropriately referred
to the essays upon Sympathetic Diagnosis and Ner-
vous Impressibility.
For the practical illustration of Psychometry, I
have selected, from the records of a number of
experiments, the following reports. The opinions
given were, in all cases, pronounced with impartiality
by an individual who had no knowledge whatever of
the manuscript from which he derived his impres-
sions. Great care was taken, in all cases, that the
psychometer should have no opportunity, by seeing
the manuscript or hearing any conversation about it,
of forming any idea that could bias his conclusions.
Equal care was taken not to propose any question
which, by its leading character, might modify his
Original Sketch. 91
opinions. He was thrown upon his own resources
and perceptions for the conclusions which lie should
express.
The reader will make due allowances for the
imperfection of an opinion formed and expressed in
the course of a few minutes, by means of an impres-
sion derived from a single autograph. The various
phases which anv character may present on different
occasions — the difficulty of appreciating any one so
fully as to describe his conduct under any emergency
— and the difficulty of perfectly portraying our con-
ception qf the character, even when rightly conceived
— should induce us to regard with great liberality
any attempt to describe a character by means of such
impressions.
It is necessary, too, that we bear in mind the dif-
ferent mental positions from which each surveys the
character, and the different degrees of facility with
which the same traits of character would be recog-
nized by different individuals. In the following
reports, the character of JOHN QUINCY ADAMS is
given bv a clergyman much disposed to admire such
a character, and to express himself in glowing lan-
guage. The opinions pronounced on Mr. Clay, by
three individuals, illustrate their differences of char-
acter. Mr. S., a well educated young gentleman
from the North, of mild, well balanced character,
gives a judicious, moderate statement; Mrs. R., a
lady of much ambition and force of character, with
a good deal of philanthropy and radicalism, gives a
bold, emphatic and critical sketch ; Mrs. \V.. a lady
of remarkable gentleness and amiability, accustomed
92 Original Sketch.
to think well of all, is quite enchanted with her
impressions of Mr. Clay, and finds him a much
better man than she had previously supposed from
the opinions which, as an abolitionist, she had
formed.
There is much more fullness and life in the por-
traits, when the psychometer has a proper sympathy
with the subject of his investigation. In the sketch
of Dr. Channing, by Miss P. — cf Dr. Ilarney, by
F. R., and of Miss Martineau, by Miss N., we per-
ceive this cordial appreciation.
The following reports are not presented as extra-
ordinary examples of accurate portraiture, or
remarkable success of experiments, but rather as
fair illustrations of what might be expected, under
ordinary circumstances, with intelligent persons.
They are given, not as decisions upon the char-
acters of the parties, but as specimens of the new
method of investigation — a method requiring repe-
tition and caution to conduct to accurate results.
The reports are given as accurately as possible in
the language of the speakers, as written down during
die experiments. Many of the reports, from the
freedom of their comments, or for other reasons, I
should not consider suitable for publication, however
interesting in private. Without pledging myself, or
urging my readers to any undue reliance upon any
single experiment, I would still attach much value to
Mich opinions, when all the circumstances are duly
weighed.
JOHN QJJINCV ADAMS — by Rev. Mr. K., 1844.
After describing the influence proceeding from the
Original Sketch, 9}
contact of the letter in his hands, iVir. K. continued :
" I find no disposition to mirthfulness. It is a serious
character. I should say, he is deeply absorbed in
great subjects, and very rarely has a smile upon his
face. It is one \vhose whole mental energy and
tenor of his thoughts are all given to the advance-
ment of the happiness, welfare, freedom and pros-
perity of his country. I use the word COUNTRY
emphatically, because such a mind cannot be
engrossed or much affected by trifling or personal
objects. It is a patriot, a statesman, a Christian, a
benefactor of man, and one who will leave a deep,
a very deep, impression on the human mind and
history. He is in public life, decidedly. He would
be a man others would call forth and confide in. He
would be true to everv trust. He has a religious
V
conscience. Decidedly he is not a political dema-
gogue. He is rather of a phlegmatic character —
has a solid intellect rather than showv. He is past
the middle of life : the whole influence is weaken-
ing."
44 His caution would produce suspicion of him.
He would be vigilant, decided, firm, prudent, not
passionate ; ready to listen to all objections, a very
keen observer of men, understands human nature
thoroughly, would not allow self-interest to influence
him, would be firm with opponents, sure that he was
right and would go straight forward. Do not think
he was eloquent, a man of few words and even-
word a bullet, to the point. He would not light a
duel."
44 lie has a good intellect, a well balanced char-
94 Original Sketch.
acter, is excitable and deeply moved by everything
which might ai.n a blow at free institutions, both
literary and political. I do not think he is a poet, he
is lacking in the spirit of poetry. He has literary
power ; every subject would be finely treated ; but
he would not show the rire of genius "
" He is against everything disorganizing. He
would harmonize and be drawn to men anxious for
the security and permanence of our whole country.
He is decidedly a whig. He is a perfect gentleman
of the old school."
"He has a great deal of the character of Jonx
QUINCY ADAMS, more of John Adams — do not
think hi: intellect equal to my conception of Webster.
Such men as he and Clay would be glad to counsel
together. He has the intellect of Calhoun ; he has
a broader reach of vision. He has such traits of
character as belong to John Qjiincy Adams, John
Adams, John Davis, Judge Marshall, Judge Parsons
and Judge -ahaw.
HENRY CLAY — by W. B. S., 1846.
(Q^ How does it affect you?) " It is very
agreeable, very bracing in its effects, makes me a
little dizzy."
" He is a man of very clear intellect, and rather a
commanding one, quite warm in his feelings, and
very earnest in whatever he undertakes to express.
I suppose he is a politician, it's natural he should be
one — not a minister — not a literary man by profes-
sion ; but has a good mind and likes to use it, to
keep it actively employed. I don't think he has a
gloomy character. He is rather pleasant in his dis-
Original Sketch. 95
position. His manners and personal appearance are
easy, polite and graceful, elegant in delivery, chooses
his language with taste, but is forcible — is a man of
fine feelings and sentiments, although not a member
of the church. lie would not be guilty of anything
low or base, he has a high sense of honor, is affable
to all, is an eloquent speaker, not the most profound,
an eloquent one, agreeable at least. In his domestic
relations, happy and pleasant under ordinary circum-
stances. His affections are strong, he is kind and
benevolent."
(What sphere of life does he occupy?) " I sup-
pose he occupies an elevated sphere, probably in
politic;;! life."
(What would his reputation be?) 'k He would be
a popular man ; lie might have enemies, but they
would recognize his good qualities. lie is a man of
passion and feeling ; it might have led him into some
excesses and youthful follies ; may have been wild ;
nothing low or mean."
O
(What is his greatest fault?) " His character is
generally good, seems to have great confidence in his
own opinion, but is onen to advice ; business qualities
not very great, acquisitiveness not large. (What
kind of business is he interested in?) In politics.
(Does he live in town or country?) There is an
impression that this letter is written by a prominent
political character — an image of a countrv house
arises."
HENRY CLAY — by Mrs. R., 1844. Impressions
derived from a letter addressed to a committee.
*' In person, he is above the common si/.e, and in
96 Original Sketch.
talents above mediocrity. He has a good moral
character, above mediocrity, being hopeful, conscien-
tious, patriotic, honorable and benevolent. I do not
mean that kind of benevolence which prompts per-
sons to give alms to the poor — it is a benevolent,
philanthropic feeling, shown in his desire to
ameliorate the condition of man. He has moral
ambition, but he has a good degree of love of
power, and secretiveness. He wrould be what I
would call a good wire-puller, and would make
others act for him. He has both kinds of ambition,
and wants to be very high. There is a great deal of
self-esteem in it. He wants to be considered not
only a great man, but a good man. I am under a
good deal of restraint, as to speaking of the plans —
take off a little secretiveness and I will talk to you."
I touched her head on the appropriate organs to re-
lieve her, when she continued : "You have relieved
me from a load. His ambition is to be the great man
of the nation. He carries it out in law-giving and
advice-giving — in speaking to people and telling
them what ousdit to be and what he would do for
O
them. lie is a great planner. j lie has a good deal
of perception and foresight. His private intercourse
is honorable ; he is agreeable in his circle. He exerts
a great deal of influence upon those with whom he
comes into contact, more in private circles than in pub-
lic. He is liable to misleading his friends, because
his judgment is not sound at all times, not being so
good as his off-hand perceptions."
" lie is well-fitted for a counsellor or governor of a
state or a large institution. lie is better fitted to direct
Original Sketch. 07
than to carry out. He would make a better general
than officer or soldier, and would exert a powerful in-
fluence over his men ; they would reverence him and
have great confidence in him. He would exert great
influence in the political world, and make others do the
work for him."
" His capacities would be great as a statesman, but
equally great as an orator, or as a jurist ; but the ca-
pacity of the orator is most developed. He has a
great flow of language, is pointed, uses a variety of
gestures and has a great deal of artificial or acquired
eloquence. Sometimes there is a great burst of feel-
ing, which carries his audience away. He is a great
observer of how his audience take his oratory, and
takes advantage of the impressions he creates in
speaking. His best field is before a mixed mass, a
very large audience ; a small circle is not enough for
his ambition, he has all the talent necessary to make
the mass consider him a great man. His ambition
finds more food on such occasions."
'•He is a man of ardent temperament and irritable
passions, but can control his temper. Naturally he is
verv passionate and irritable ; habitually, he can be
calm, placid and pleasing. In public speaking he has
both the passionate and the pleasing."
" lie has more fondness for high living than he
ought to have. I am sure he has never joined the
temperance society, and expect he never will. I It-
has religious feelings and yet he would be profane ;
he has a contradictory character. The worst that can
be said of him is that he is secretive, ambitious, pas-
sionate and intemperate. He takes a little too much
98 Original Sketch.
drink. ( Q^. Of what kind?) Not verv particular
as to kind or quality/'
" He is not selfish, beyond ambition and love of
power ; not selfish as to pecuniary affairs ; he would
not stoop to do a mean act for pecuniary advantage.
My head is tight here, as if the brain was about to
burst the skull."
*• lie has coarse and violent passions, but he has
well trained faculties to hide them. He is a coarse
man, with a very polished exterior — like a beautiful
painting on a coarse canvas. Yet he would be a good
husband, father or relation, and would be rather gen-
erous to servants, so they would even like him, but
would sometimes be passionate with them. He would
make them love him and fear him."
"The leading motives of his life are mixed: thev
O »
are ambition mixed with a good deal of patriotism and
philanthropy. The worst parts of his character would
be very little seen or known. Upon the whole the
influence ot his public life would be good : he would
be considered a great man. It seems to me he is alive
O
and somewhere about seventy years of age, or within
five years."
HENRY CLAY — by Mrs. W., 1844.
" It is a person I like — there is something verv
clear, bright. It's a person that thinks a great deal
— that I should have perfect confidence in; he is a
very happy person, it gives me a happy feeling."
(We wish to know his character?) " I should give
him a very high character indeed. It's a person of a
great deal of energy, of very cultivated mind, great
strength of character, firmness. Is n't he very
Original $k<tch. 99
straight, very upright? Jfc is upright! lie is a man
of a great deal of benevolence, upright in all his deal-
ings, fair ; he can face any one. I feel a stronger
impression from it than from any letter I ever took.
I have not language to express it. I seem to feel all
at once just what he is. He deserves to fill a very
high office, he is very clear, he resembles you in that
respect — he can decide anything very quickly, he is
a noble man. He has great power of expressing his
ideas. Is he a speaker — a public speaker? If he
is, he 's very eloquent. You have no idea what an
effect it has upon me, it gives me such a brightness.
I should think he would be a delightful companion, a
general favorite. If I am not reading him true, none
ol them can be true, for I feel this quicker altogether,
the whole character, right off. It is a good character
altogether, he is so noble in his nature. His princi-
ples are high; his standard, his aim, is high. lie
would be ready to answer anything, to decide any-
thing quickly. lie is so very clear, he would answer
readily. He is a person -that would do a great deal
of good in whatever situation. He is a person of ele-
gant, agreeable manners, pleasing to every one. I
should think he was, as I said before, a great favorite.
I am perfectly delighted with him. If it isn't some-
body that's splendid, I 'II be dreadfully disappointed."
" It vou '11 ask me some questions, I'll be readv to
answer them. His spirit is in me."
(What are his pursuits?) "He is a public charac-
ter. I should think a speaker or writer : at any rate,
something public. As far as I know what a preside-ill
ought to be, I think he's just the man. I would cer-
TOO Original Sketch.
tainly make him President, if I was the only person to
be consulted. I receive a decided impression from
this letter. I never felt it so very strong. If I only
had language, I couldn't stop talking — he must talk
a great deal."
(What kind of speaker is he?) kk There would be
perfect stillness when he is speaking. I Ve said be-
fore, that he is very eloquent. I think he 'd interest a
large public audience. I think he's a favorite speaker
-brilliant."
(What are his aims in life?) " His aims are high,
as I said before. I should think he 's a very witty
man — very lively in disposition. He 's very unsel-
fish ; he aims rather to do others good than himself."
(As to temper, what do you say?) "• I think he 's
irritable and quick, but he has an excellent disposi-
tion : he governs this temper very well, but he 's very
quick naturally ; he 's very excitable — very candid."
(Can you compare him with any other characters?)
" I Ve compared him with you in the clearness of his
ideas. He has this great strength of character and
energy ; he is not depressed in spirit, as most people
are, who have such an intellect as he has. He is
smiling : his feelings are ardent and lasting, true and
earnest — he do n't do any thing half-way. I have an
idea of his eloquence and intellect — his strength be-
ing like Daniel Webster — but Webster is not so smil-
ing and cheerful. I would like to feel always such
strength and energy as I have now."
(Is there no one else but Webster, whom you can
compare him to?) "There's a great deal of firm-
ness ; he 's a great thinker. I do n't think ; I can't
Original Sketch, 101
compare him, I have too poor a memory — can't call
up any body so as to compare him. lie's a great
man. 1 don't know any body that he's like, alto-
gether."
(I wish you to find some fault?) " What is that
[touching the region of affection] ? I feel a great
heat there. lie has great fondness for a country life
-for the beauties of nature. Who is this? The
faults do n't come to me ; he 's very quick tempered.'
(How would this person compare with Mr. Clay?)
" He's a better man than I thought Mr. Clay was. I
should n't think such a person would keep slaves.
This person seems more noble and elegant in his man-
ners than I supposed Mr. Clay to be."
JUDGE ROWAN, by G. C., Esq. Impressions de-
rived from a political manuscript.
" A sedate character, dignified, elevated — no taste
for levity. There is a love of investigation — a love
of order and arrangment in investigations, as well as
in other things. This person, as a lawyer or politi-
cian, would endeavor to convince by the most familiar
and plain arguments. lie would be powerful in de-
bate, cogent in argument, and plain in his inductions
and explanations. (What of his pursuits?) His
mind is accustomed to legal investigations, and
adapted to political. I think both, at times, had en-
gaged his serious attention. (What is his rank as a
lawyer?) Very high as a reasoner : he would stand
first as among the most talented. He is not withou*
very strong feelings, and has power to appeal to the
passions. Yet declamation was not his habit. But
he would arouse the feelings powerfully by the
IO2 Original Sketch,
strength of his perceptions and force of elucidation ;
the passions would follow the judgment, and both
would be aroused."
(What as a politician?) tk He would exert his rea-
soning faculties, and attain a very high rank. His
mind would be better adapted to the Senate than to
the House of Representatives. I should think he had
been in both, but preferred the Senate. (What of his
manners?) They are bland and dignified. (Domes-
tic character?) Very fine, kind, affable and digni-
fied, not harsh. (As to females?) Most refined and
elevated ; he would have friends among them ; they
would like, respect and venerate him. (Is he living,
or dead?) He is dead. (To whom would you com-
pare him?) I have an impression that his mind is of
the model of Judge Rowan's. (How is he as to par-
ties?) He would analyze their principles, and act
freely with that which he thought correct ; he would
not be led by either party into advocacy of principles
he did not believe correct. He is an honest politician.
He would not leave his party, but would not act with
the party when he thought them wrong. He would
be the peer of any man as a statesman or a lawyer."
Judge T., in giving his impressions from the auto-
graph of Judge Rowan, described him as, in per-
sonal appearance, somewhat such a man as Webster
— large, dignified, etc. ; a calm, deep-thinking, pure-
minded man, of far-reaching intellect, great pride,
honor and honesty — a democrat in politics, but not
carried away by party ; a man of great depth of
feeling, who would be "overwhelming" in elo-
quence when his feelings were aroused. In giving
Original Sketch. 103
this opinion, the Judge himself, a very calm, methodi-
cal man, recognized, readily, the legal ability and
moral elevation, but did not perceive the capacity as
a speaker, until alter some reflection. Not only the
character of the psychometer, but the character of
the autograph, is important as to the interest of
the opinion pronounced. The psychometer partakes
of the character of the writer, and modifies his style
accordingly. The most eloquent and beautiful
opinions which I have ever recorded, were pro-
nounced upon the autograph of Judge Rowan, by
a young lawyer of the South, and a lady, who made
their investigation in conjunction, and expressed
similar opinions in glowing language.
MILITARY HEROES — May, 1846. — A letter on
public business, relating to the war, written by a
distinguished old General, was placed upon the fore-
head of F. R., a young gentleman of education and
talent. His remarks were : <k I feel pleasant, self-
satisfied — it excites the occiput and crown of the
head — I could make a good fighting man now. I
would like to see it going on. I feel older than I
was just now, feel like an old man, in fact — yet
I feel tha same disposition to see fighting going on.
I know -who it is, from mv feelings — it is General
There is no use guessing any more
about it."
Having thus truly detected the authorship of the
letter, with so much certaintv, that he refused to sav
anything more, I next placed upon his fore-head an
autograph from GENERAL WASHINGTON, he imme-
diately proceeded, as follows :
1 04 Original Sketch.
" I feel a greater sensation in the perceptive organs
over the eyes, a swelling of the nostrils and a feeling
of defiance I should judge he was a man of intel-
lect. Certainly, when he took a course, he would
pursue it to the end. Nothing can alter his deter-
mination, neither persuasion nor force."
(Q^. What pursuits and sphere of life is he tit
for?)
" For a statesman — bold, independent and straight-
forward. He would make a good soldier, too, if he
had opportunity — a good commanding officer, who
could plan well and perce;ve advantages. (What of
his moral character?) He is a great man. He has
a great deal of what I call force. (How does he
compare with other men?) He has a great deal more
force — greatly excels them in power — he is still
planning, but on a larger scale — he thinks more
profoundly, acts from greater motives and on a large
scale. He is superior to the ordinary run of great
men — might be estimated among the first class — a
much greater man than Jackson, because he had
more intellect, but he would resemble him in lorce of
character. I feel the excitement extending back from
the perceptive over the moral organs and crown of
the head. I consider him a great patriot — a man
of great justice — let justice be done though the
heavens fall."
(What is his appearance?) " Tall, commanding,
he would look more like my idea of GEORGE WASH-
INGTON, than any one else."
REV. W. E. CHANNING — by Miss S. W.
" I feel perfectly calm. I have a burning heat in
my forehead, across the middle of it."
Original Sketch. 105
" I don't think the person is in perfect health, Ik-
is not very strong, physically — he had more strength
of mind than body. He understands himself very
well. lie would be a good abolitionist — he would
say : Freedom for all mankind. I think he's very
warm, generous-hearted. I think he is entirelv
interested in the welfare of others — he is self-sacri-
ficing — he would deny himself comforts for the
benefit of others. Isn't he engaged in the anti-
slavery cause? — it seems to me he is. He'll be a
true friend to the slave. It seems to me he is a
public lecturer, or something of that sort. It is
a person I should be willing to trust myself with.
I could rely upon his word ; he has good judgment
— he is not excitable — you would always know just
where to find him. There is a great deal of romance
about him. He is a great lover of nature — he would
be very fond of poetry. He might write it; he has
great strength of sentiment. I don't think he's known
as a poet, but I think he can write poetry, very sweet
and beautiful. He has beautiful ideas, and expresses
them beautifully. I think he must be subject to fits of
melancholy. I feel sad. He was a man of tender
feelings, easily wounded. I would like him right
well."
REV. W. E. CHAXXIXC; — by Miss P., Januarv.
1844.
" Another sadness affects me — but it is not a moral
sadness, but a holy, tender feeling. It deepens tin-
other, contrasting the two men — not much phvsical
force. I feel strength to bear the ills of life — not a
strength to fight the battles, but a soaring above them
106 Original Sketch.
— so high that they cannot reach me. This person
would be considered a sort of abstraction by many.
Some of his friends feel provoked that he does not
make more of a stir; they are ambitious for him, but
he knows best what is his soul's good. They are pro-
yoked at the very things for which they should re-
vere him. He is spiritual. His choice would be
private life ; but, circumstances would call him some-
what into public. I think he might be a clergyman
— he has moral courage. He would not be practical
enough to take an active part in the reforms of the
day, but he would aid them by writing. Those writ-
ing might not be sought after by the generality -
might be tedious to many. He writes deeply — a
merely receptive mind, without much activity, would
not profit much by them — must be in a similar state
to his to get at what he says. An appreciation of true
wit — a contempt for vain attempts — would have a
strange joy in what the unappreciating might call his
vagaries — ' He has meat to eat which they know not
of.' He is fitted for another sphere of existence — too
sublimated for this. I reverence him — should feel
his lighest \vord — it \vould dwell on my ear, and if I
did not then understand, the means would come when
I was prepared. The form of his sentences would be
peculiar. Appreciates the fine arts — loves poetry —
sonnets, perhaps. He loves philosophy. lie cares
for society differently from most. lie is an observer
- — a thinker. His internal activity is great. lie would
hear beautiful music — internal harmonies — lives an
inward life. lie would not seek the society of the
great, but of those who live more naturally. He is a
Original Sketch. 107
dark-haired person — is not selfish, but so lost in his
thought, as not to regard the comforts of others. Ili.s
mind wears out his body. Better for him if his
thoughts were less occupied — if he had to make more
physical exertion. lie makes me feel brighter, hap-
pier, stronger."
DR. J. M. HARNEY, of Kentucky, author of Chrys-
tallina, etc., was a man of decided poetical genius.
He was described as follows by F. R., 1846.
" I am impressed with the gorgeous beauties of na-
ture : lofty mountains — lovely landscapes — tumultu-
ous ocean. Nature appears in her most lovely pan-
oply ; my mind is on the mountain, the billowy
ocean the valley, the distant city. I 'm in the coun-
try. A feeling of the sublime impels me to contem-
plate Deity through his works. It is the sunshine of
poetic feeling — nothing morbid. No disposition to
speculate on man. I 'm far from the city, in the
country. I feel as Coleridge in the vale of Cham-
ouni. except that I see the ocean. I have the feelings
of Byron in the Alps, except that I see no thunder
and lightning."
"I think the writer has little of the epic — is not
like Pope ; he has the inspiration derived from the
beauties of nature. He has a vein of chaste and del-
icate sentiment. He resembles Byron : he lias more
of the fire of poetry than Goldsmith. He is very
much like Scott, but there is more softness. He has
less philosophy than Shellev. lie has a vein of sen-
timent : he is, perhaps, nearer to Bryant, than any I
can perceive. He has originality, but not much in-
vention, lie is evidently a literarv man, of taste for
elegant literature and history.
io8 Original Sketch.
MADAME DE STAEL — by Miss S. W.
(What do you think of this person?) kk I should
think it is a person of very high intellect, indeed.
(Male or female?) It does not seem to be a male;
but if it is a female, it is a very uncommon person.
If it 's a female, she is very masculine."
(Give me a positive answer. ) I think it 's a female ;
she 's a tremendous thinker. It is a very haughty
person — very dictatorial ; there is very great strength
of mind. She is \;ery fearless, indeed. She'd make
a good president, or a good queen : any one would
fear her, yet would respect her. Everything that she
said would be law. I wouldn't dare disobey."
(What are her chief aims?) "She's a great
writer — a very powerful woman."
(What of her moral character?) " I should think
more of her mind — her intellect — than of her morals.
She is a very hard person to understand. She
would n't condescend to notice common people. I
do n't think she's remarkably conscientious. I don't
think there 's any spirituality about her, at all. She
thinks too much of worldly things. Her mind is
wholly upon literary pursuits — nothing else. I think
she's sincere. She might be rather satirical. She'd
tell you just what she thought, whether you liked it
or not. She is dignified, retiring, cold, distant. I
never could get acquainted with her ; I never should
try to. Every body would respect her — every body
would want to know her — very few woidd take any
step toward intimacy with her. It seems as though
my head would burst with thinking. She would think
a great deal of having a high reputation ; she desires
fame : she's not very easily excited."
Original Sketch. 109
(What is her reputation?) " She is by no means a
rypher in the world's estimation. She has a high
reputation. She is deserving of it."
(Is she living, or dead?) i4 I can't tell. She never
thought of death. I can only think of her in the
world. I'm in doubt about it. (Why?) I don't
like to think of her as being dead. She would die
like a hero — she would n't be afraid to die."
(Can you say any thing more of her moral charac-
ter?) " There seems to be a vein of selfishness. She
would do good when it came in her wav, but would
O »
not put herself to any inconvenience. She would not
be self-sacrificing. I should not fancy her in the
domestic sphere. She might be harsh, jealous, iras-
cible."
(What sort of wife?) kk Not affectionate — deter-
mined to rule."
(Is she American or foreign?) " I think she is a
foreigner ; certainly a most manly personage."
(What is the stvle of her writings?) " There would
» O
be a great deal of vehemence and loftiness : noble,
rather pompous — no, not so much in writing as in
common conversation. Her thoughts are perfectly
natural ; she writes without restraint. I can see her
pen fly. I never knew such a woman : there's no-
body on earth I can think of, that seems like her."
(Can you compare her to any one?) •• Xo : I can
compare her to some I have read of in novels, to Ma
chere Mere, in • the Neighbors,' one of those mascu-
line women."
(You can't sav whether she's living or dead?) %¥ I
think she's dead. (Whv?) I do n't know : I don't
no Original Sketch,
like to think of her as dead. There 's nothing heav-
enly about her. She 's better fitted for this world,
than for that holier sphere. She 's not so moral as
she ought to be : she has some morality without any
religion."
(Have you heard of Madame de Stael? " Yes-
(How would the character suit her?) I think it is
her — yes, I know it is."
MRS. L. M. CHILD — by Bishop Otey.
"It seems to be sprightly, witty, humorous — a
laughing girl, full of social feeling. Her sprightli-
ness covers up a deep religious feeling. She would
like to make sport for her friends, but there is nothing
malicious about it. She has great philanthropy. She
would be deeply interested in the sublime objects of
Nature — has a great relish for such things. She
would be seriously interested in music and the line
arts. Her animal spirits are great, but she would
not jest upon sacred subjects — in such matters she
is very sincere. She possesses very superior powers
of mind, which would enable her to fill a wide space
in the public eye, but does not seem to have the
ambition for such distinction."
BOOTH, THE ACTOR — by Miss S. W., 1844.
" More excitement than Miss Martineau. It makes
me tremble. I don't think it's very intellectual. I
should think he might be rather wild — one of those
ranters. He's very active, very bold -- rather
haughty. Why, what is he ! He would like to
make a good appearance in the world — to be
admired. Flattery would hurt him — he can't bear
it — he has too much self-esteem."
Original Sketch. in
•• He's a public man of some sort, but I don't know
what to do with him. He can't be a lecturer. I
don't think he has mind enough to write much.
I must put him on the stage. That's the best place
tor him. It makes me tremble so. I can't think he's
a very respectable character. He might be a great
mimic — take any one off to perfection. Is he a
play-actor? I don't know what else to do with him.
I think he might be a good actor, but I don't think
he'd be much off the stage. I don't think he's a very
moral man. He's some great star. I thought, at
first, he was very comical, but I don't think he is
now. I think he'd take to tragedy. He has a good
memory. He's an actor — has a very high reputa-
tion — people would make a great rush to see
him."
(What do you say of the soundness of his mind?)
•• lie is not a man of great or expanded mind. He's
rather feeble-minded — he seems mysterious. (How
is he regarded as to this matter?) I don't think he
is perfectly sane. I -feel in doubt about it ; I can't
tell. (Is he living, or dead?) I think he must be.
living."
O
Ror.KRT FULTON — by Mrs. P.
•• I feel it up my arm — makes it ache — feeling of
stupor has gone off: feel very cheerful — like the
writer very well — pleasant, cheerful fellow — imagi-
native, kind - hearted : seems a young man. not
attained to what he might be — feels as if he had the
power to be anything he chose to be — lull of high
hopes of achieving fame in some way, bv doing
good to liis countrv. lie is full of patriotism — not
ii2 Original Sketch.
old enough yet to have lost his joyousness, and
become disappointed at all. Me will be successful.
" He is dead ! There is a feeling of indescribable
sadness, as if some one had been cut down in the
bloom of youth, with bright prospects before him.
He was full of noble feeling — had very line intellec-
tual capacity — full of beautv. I feel that he was
too young to have achieved much : he had a con-
sciousness of power, but was too young, or else had
been carried away, and not turned his powers to
account. I feel as if he had died before he accom-
plished anything. I feel as if he had difficulties, and
did not realize his dreams. He was rather a disap-
pointed man. He died, disappointed, in the midst of
his undertaking — disappointed in men, disappointed
in life. He has left some fame — not what he mi^ht
O
have left if he had lived and justice had been done
him. He was an American — a Northern man —
dead some twenty years — belongs rather to the past
than the present."
The letter upon which this opinion was pronounced,
reads as follows :
" NEW-YORK, May 18, 1812.
"Dear Law — Have you forgot the Ganges?
What active measures are you pursuing to carrv
your well-conceived and highly important plans into
effect, as soon as possible? Time, you know, is
precious. It is so important an object, that I am of
the opinion one of your sons should immediately
come here, and go from hence to England : and. if
encouraged there, to India. What are our friends,
Original Sketch. 11}
the friends to science and the arts, doing for tin-
patent law? Shall mind, \\hich governs matter,
have no protection, while a iield of potatoes, the
vulgar labor of mere vulgar hands, is barricaded in
protecting laws? Shall war stare us in the face, and
the laws give no inducement for genius to deal
destruction to our enemies? If every member of
Congress had the mind, the soul of a Lorenzo de
O
Medicis, would not the country, by encouragement,
exhibit works of genius which would give dignity to
our character, and make us respected? Write me
soon. Yours, etc.
•• ROM'T Fri/roN."1
The lady by whom the foregoing opinion was pro-
nounced, was remarkable rather for the delicacv and
strength of her emotions, than for the power of
investigating character. I give the experiment as
an example of psychometric portraiture, frequently
occuring, in which the leading impression or lunt
ensemble will be painted, rather than the specific
details of the character and life. The power of
describing the general impression and sentiment,
which is associated with the letter or the life of tin-
writer, is much more common than the power of dis-
covering the particular facts.
To a correct reasoner, these imperfect experiments
constitute a complete demonstration of the psvchome-
tric power. Indeed, the most meagre 01 our experi-
ments are sufficiently convincing, when impartially
examined: for, in describing any individual, each
trait or feature of his character would admit of at
114 Original Sketch,
least a hundred different descriptions, of which only
one would be true. The probabilities, therefore, are
\ hundred to one against the correctness of each
statement ; and the entire truth of the description, if
it were mere guess work, would be a coincidence
beyond the utmost range of probability. If an artist
should attempt to paint the portrait of an unknown
individual, without any hint by which to guide his
fancy, it is perfectly certain that his fancy-sketch
could not, by any admissible possibility, become a
true portrait. If the portrait should prove a faithful
one, it would be impossible to convince any one that
the artist had never seen his subject, and knew not
his name, country, age, sex or pursuits. So, when a
psychometric portrait proves correct, we are com-
pelled to believe that the psychometer has had some
means of satisfactory observation, and that a true
portrait has not been painted by accident.
The demonstration of a psychometric experiment
is so complete, that no objection can have any
material weight, excepting one which is based upon
its truth. It may be affirmed that the psychometer
derives his impressions, not from the letter, but from
the minds of those around him — that he has a
sympathy with them, which enables him to interpret
their views, independent of any impression from the
paper. To those who have witnessed many mes-
meric experiments, this suggestion has much plausi-
bility ; and I would not deny that, in some cases,
the sentiments of those about him may influence a
very sympathetic individual, and modify his conclu-
sions : but these extraneous influences are not the
Original Sketch. 115
source of his impressions. If he holds the letter in
his hands, he recognizes its impression as commenc-
ing at the point of contact, and traversing the arm
to the brain, giving him an idea of the character only
after the brain has been impressed. If it is held on
the forehead, he perceives the influence more readily,
which is diffused from the letter over his head, and
which affects distinctly the particular organs that are
most highly excited. He perceives that the letter is
the source of his impressions, and if it should be
enveloped in paper, each additional fold of paper
increases the difficulty of receiving the impression.
The immediate contact of the writing is the most
efficient means of communicating the impression, and
the different portions of the manuscript frequently
communicate different ideas, according to the tenor
of the writer's thoughts.
The same opinions will be given by the psychome-
ter in the presence of different persons, whether thev
have or have not any idea of the character of the
autograph. He can exercise the power as well
alone, as he can exercise any of his other senses.
lie can take a letter, the moment it has been received
from the post-office, and investigate its character
alone, before he has opened it to learn its source or
contents. The psychometric power is a power of
independent perception, not derived from the opinions
of those about us, but exerted like the sense of sight
or smell, bv our own independent action.
To demonstrate, more clearly, this independence of
the psychometer, I have frequently had opinions pro-
nounced upon autographs, without myself knowing
n6 Original Sketch.
the names until the close of the experiment. In such
cases, the opinions were as bold and as accurate as
when I knew the subject of the experiment. In 1844,
I selected the autographs of Dr. Spurzheim, Sir
Edward Lytton Bulwer, the novelist, and Ellen Tree,
the actress, and placing them upon the table, re-
quested Miss W. to examine and give her opinions of
the manuscripts before her. She proceeded to inves-
tigate them without my knowing which of the three
she had selected (herself totally ignorant of the nature
of the autographs). When they were examined, at
the conclusion of the experiment, I found that her
opinions had been given as correctly as in other cases,
having readily recognized one of the characters as a
female, and the others as males.
EDWARD L. BULWER — by Miss W. (After Spurz-
heim. )
(Is it like the other?) "He's a calmer sort of be-
ing. I think the person would rather sit down and
read and write, than any thing else. I think he 's
very serious, very thoughtful, very imaginative.
He's not a very active man. I think he's a public
man, but I do n't think he 's a professional man or a
politician. I guess he isn't very sociable ; he 's a soli-
tary sort of being — he likes to be by himself and not
be disturbed — he 's very intellectual. I think people
generally like him better than — — .
••I shouldn't altogether fancy him. (Why?) I
don't know what, but there's something about him
rather repulsive. He can be verv relinecl and pol-
ished, but he isn't always particular to be so; lie's
either a public speaker or writer. I Ye either heard
Original Sketch. 117
him or read his writings. I do n't think he improves
any by speaking or writing. I think he hurts himself
in some way- I think he's a great lover of nature;
he has a very fine way of describing it — would make
you realize it/'
" It 's no one that I know. I only know him from
something that I Ve heard or seen. He might preach
up good doctrines, but he would n't always practice
them. I think there's a great deal of romance about
him. I think he's a writer, but I don't think that
what he *d write would benefit society much ; he 's
more a writer of romance and fiction. It do n't seem
he *cl ever speak or write upon the reforms of the day.
I do n't think I 'd like him much ; he do n't seem to
take the right ground — he is n't refined enough."
, (What 's his domestic character?) " He 's a great
literary character. I can 't think of any thing else.
He 's kind-hearted, and disposed to treat people well.
I think he might be agreeable, but not very talkative."
( How toward his wife ? ) " He thinks more of his pen
than of his wife — might preach up good doctrine,
but would not practice it. He'd always be kind and
pleasant enough, but he 's more engaged in other
things/'
(What are his leading aims and tendencies?) •' I
think he wants to please the people, whether it is true
or not. I do n't think he's very conscientious. (lias
he any philanthropy?) Yes, I think he has, not to a
very great degree. (Is he republican, or aristo-
cratic?) Rather aristocratic — very stately and dig-
nified. ( How as to taste in writing?) One xvouhi lie
excited in reading his writings, but I do n't think they
would require a great deal of thought."
n8 Original Sketch.
ACCURATE DESCRIPTION FROM THREE AUTOGRAPHS.
A description from the autographs of Dr. Spurzheim,
Dr. Caldwell and Dr. Buchanan, given in 1852 by
two gentleman whose intelligence and superior capaci-
ties qualified them to give accurate opinions, was
published in the Journal of Man at the time as an
example of psychometric accuracy. Dr. Caldwell
was at that time living and quite old. He was a
gentleman of commanding stature, dignified, ener-
getic, imposing it appearance and manners — more so
than any member of the medical profession I have
ever known. He was bold and honest in the pursuit of
truth and a vigorous controversialist. Among learned
men he was the most distinguished champion of
Phrenology and also of Mesmerism, notwithstanding
the opposition of his colleagues. The force of his
character overcame opposition. Dr. C. had led a
distinguished career as a medical professor and
author from the time of Rush until 1850, in Phila-
delphia, Lexington and Louisville, and was the first
medical professor to do justice to my own experi-
ments and discoveries in 1841-42.
Dr. Spurzheim the associate of Gall, after a brilliant
career in Europe, was received with great honor in
Boston, where he died in 1833, before he had time to
extend his labors beyond the city. Pierpont said in
his ode to Spurzheim :
" Friend of man, of God the servant.
Advocate of truths divine,
Nature's priest, how pure and fervent
Was thy worship at her shrine."
Original Sketch. 119
When the descriptions were published Mr. Pier-
point, writing of this article, said : " The last number
of the yournal of Man has greatly interested me,
especially in the Psychometric Department, as I have
had the pleasure of a personal acquaintance, more or
less intimate with all the three distinguished philoso-
phers whose characters are psychometrically given -
Spurzheim, Caldwell and Buchanan. They are all
done admirably — yes, marvellously. I cannot con-
ceive how their respective characters could have been
more truly, more faithfully, or more discriminatingly
drawn."
These descriptions are condensed in the following
abridgments of the reports which give the salient
points.
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT.
SPURZHEIM. — (Mr. T.) I think this individual is
diseased. There is oppression of the lungs and
chest, with difficult, laborious, painful breathing ; a
good deal of prostration of the nervous energy.
(Mr. P.) My first impression is that he is not living.
His forehead was wide, high and prominent. His
constitution was strong, his head large, full and
predominant in front.
CALDWELL. — (Mr. 1*.) He has a large person,
full chested with vigorous lungs and circulation, and
I suppose a heavy beard.
BUCHANAN. — (Mr. P.) This person has a large
head, about six and a half inches by eight.* The
brain projects anteriorly, laterally and superiorly. I lis
* The «-xa»'t »!/<• \va.s six and four-truth* In ciirlit.
I2O Original Sketch.
head is very broad on the top, round and lull.
The individual is living, actively engaged and in
health. (What is the relative length of the three
heads?) The second is longest in proportion to its
breadth. The third is next longest in proportion to
its breadth. The first was nearly round. The second
is smaller as to cubic contents. The first and third
differ but little in cubic bulk. The third is rather the
longest antero-posteriorly, and is broadest at ideality
and cautiousness. This one has not so large a body
but has good vital stamina. His head is out of pro-
portion to his body. He is not so large as the first and
second, though he may be tall. He has less muscu-
lar development.
These descriptions are remarkably accurate. The
dimensions of the heads are precisely correct
GENERAL CHARACTER.
SPURZHEIM. — He is not developed in celestial
spirituality but much more in intellectuality — more
engaged in studying the externals of Nature, the
forms and relations of spiritual things than the
internal or celestial. In life he had a good deal of
intellectual power — the perceptive and reflective
were equally developed and exercised. He was a
hard student, a continuous thinker. There is consid-
erable firmness and decision with physical force and
energy. lie was a man of free thinking, liberal
mind. The mainspring of his action was a feeling
of trust, benevolence and philanthropy. lie had a
grave, reflective mind, but not a great deal of
vivacity. There was not much spirituality. He
Original Sketch. 121
would investigate thoroughly before expressing an
opinion. He had a steady self-reliance but no
egotism. He is governed by a steady purpose to
accomplish the great object of his life. It was not a
mind of spontaneous genius but of elaborate intellect.
As a speaker he was grave and impressive, not
sprightly but dignified. When excited he exhibited
power and made a deep, lasting impression. His
desire was to benefit the whole community, by
developing science, enlightening them, and enab-
ling them to understand the laws of nature under
which they live.
CALDWELL. — This individual is fully developed in
the intellectual region. He has considerable ideality
and imagination, is impulsive and excitable, reasons
from analog}' — is ardent, energetic, bold, fearless.
This one has more active conspicuous ambition con-
nected with personal notoriety. He has more egotism,
the former more modest dignity. He lives more in
the present — the former will live in the future'. The
former is more original — this seems too impulsive for
a very patient investigation. He is polite, graceful,
vain, showy and courtly in manner. In speaking he
is engaged in making active gestures. In controversy
he is disposed to be bitter and sarcastic. When
aroused he seems to have an inexhaustible fountain of
intellectual material. lie could attract moiv attention
personally and have an influence wherever he went.
The other would have a more creative mind producing
those things which would last forever, while this
o
would be more brilliant fora time. Hi- aims t<> be
conspicuous and lofty in the eyes of the world. lie
122 Original Sketch.
would be better fitted than the other tor political
and fashionable life.
3. BUCHANAN. — A very clear, bright intellect;
great natural capacity — free and spontaneous in its
action critical and philosophic. His mind is inclined to
scientific and philosophic investigation. He engages
in it with a good deal of energy. This mind to be
appreciated belongs to the future. He has self reli-
ance but no vanity. He has clearer and more accu-
rate perceptions than No. i and comes more directly
and correctly to conclusions. He belongs to a later
period in the progress of science and is more brilliant.
More philosophic and better balanced than No. 2, — a
more active temperament than the first.
He is investigating some philosophic scientific sub-
ject. It is the main object of his life to develop,
found and establish it. It is not in reference to him-
self but he seems inseparably connected with it. He
is not pursuing it for honor or personal fame, but for
the love of truth. He is willing to live only in the
future or be denounced in the present. It is one of
the most pleasant living autographs I have ever had
on my forehead. He is governed by caution in his
investigations, which are scientific rather than politi-
cal or literary. His labors have not been duly appre-
ciated. His ambition is intellectual — not with the
force and energy of the second. There is no activity
in acquisitiveness. He can grasp a great deal and
make it comprehended by others — everything is clear
— he is an architect of ideas. He will survive either
of the others in reputation as he has a greater capac-
itv for creation and draws ideas from sources the others
Original Sketch. 123
cannot reach. This one belongs to all future time —
not to the present ; the second belongs to the present.
The first will be enduring but being less creative will
not endure so long as this.
In the 'Journal of Man for July, 1851, was given a
description of six of the impassioned orators of the
South. Henry Clay and Judge Row an of Kentucky,
John Randolph of Virginia, S. S. Prentiss of Missis-
sippi, Col. Jos. H. Daviess of Kentucky and Gov.
McDuffie of South Carolina. The descriptions were
all faultlessly correct, and after all had been described
•/
the following summary and comparison was made by
the psychometer.
CLAY is the most intuitive and best adapted to a
popular audience. He could make the most friends,
but would have less logical power than either, except
Randolph or perhaps Daviess.
ROWAN is the most powerful as an impressive
speaker with most of the stern dignity that overawes.
[Judge Rowan on account of his commanding
bearing was commonly called " the Old Monarch/'
As a criminal advocate he very rarely failed to ac-
quit his client.]
PKKNTISS would have the most uniform mental
action of a calm, well-balanced character. He would
have the copiousness of Randolph with more origin-
ality and versatility.
RANDOLPH is the most sarcastic, with the least
courtesy and moral refinement. He has the best
memorv and the greatest exactness. Randolph lius
the most intense excitement. Clay the most sustained
action of the brain. Rowan has a full, well-sus-
124 Original Sketch,
tained mentality. McDuffie a more intense but less
uniform action.
DAVIESS would compare with Prentiss and Clay.
He would have more ideal pleasantness and enthu-
siasm, but less of oratorical power. (The early death
of Col. Daviess at the battle of Tippecanoe robbed
him of a brilliant career. His name was honored in
Illinois by the memento "Joe Daviess County.")
McDuffie would be distinguished by greater vehe-
mence and stubborn will.
CHAPTER HI.
I.ATKK DKVKI.oPM KNTS.
Poem — Universal neglect of psychometric discovci io.-. — Pearly experi-
niriits with Mr. Iiiinan — Delicacy of the psychometric faculty — Privacy
necessary to its best conditions — Lecture In-fore Women's Club — Kx-
periments in New York in 1STS — Psycliometric genius of Mr-. Dr.
Ilaydcn and Mrs. Decker — Previous life and remarkable experience!*
of Mrs. 1). — .Sensibilities developed in myself — Impressions in the
mind affecting particular organs — Probable contagion of mental con-
ditions, especially in warm climates — Vast extent of such influences —
Telepathic phenomena in India — Familiar experiments with Mrs. B.
— Personal experiences in Psychometry — Nominal Psvchoinetry —
Angelo Cardela described — Theory of Psychometry — Impression-
derived from blank paper — Description of Carlyle — Phenomena of
catalysis and contact images —Their relation to vital processes — Tin-
use of pictures — An index only needed — Wide range of psychometric
power — I'se of names and Investigation of questions — Independence of
contact — Examination of slates and sealed letters — Of minerals — I;-
tinancial importance — Impressions from the back of written paper —
Importance of religious questions in Psychometry — In vesiiga! ion of
the founder- of religion — Conclusions as to Christianity — Competence
of Psychometry to restore all the past, dispensing with records and
monuments— Psychometry based on IxrriTiox — The Divine element in
man — The basis of all human intelligence — Antagonized by false skep-
tical and metaphysical philosophizing — Science prepares for the tem-
ple of philosophy to be erected by psychometric |n>wcr — The worlds
progress depends on its most spiritual powers — Word-worth quoted —
Modern antagonism to the psychic — Testimony of Cabanis. Ksdaile. Mn-
reau de la Sarthe, and St. (in-gory — Hostility to the psychic element-
of Greek philosophy and of Christianity — Its cause nnimulisin and
false education -- Psychometry leads to a higher social condition
Power of the intuitional faculties in the past — Why has investigation
been neglected— Intuition illustrated by /chokke — The recent dark
ages— Intuition in religious history— Intution in Australia. Dr. Itohner.
I wandered with an earnest heart
Among the quarried depths of Thought
125
126 Later Developments.
And kindled by the poet's art,
I deftly wrought.
I wrought for Beauty ; and the world
Grew very green and smooth for me,
And blossom banners hung unfurled
On every tree.
Upon my heated forehead la}'
The cooling laurel, and my feet
Crushed buried fragrance out, the way
Had grown so sweet.
And Praise was servant of the ear
And Love dropt kisses on the cheek,
And smiled a passion-thought too dear
For tongue to speak.
But one day the ideal Good
Baptized me with immortal Youth
And in sublimity of mind, I WROUGHT FOR TRUTH,
Oh, then instead of laurel crown,
The world entwined a thorny band.
And on my forehead pressed it down
With heavy hand.
And looks that used to warm me, fro/.e.
I lost the cheer, the odor sweet
The path of velvet ; glaciers rose
Before my feet.
Later Developments. 127
Yet truth the more divinely shone,
As onward still I sought to press,
And gloriously proved her own
Almightiness. — Augusta Cooper Bristol.
o »~ -*
This beautiful poetical utterance embodies as much
of truth as beauty — as is well known to all loyal ad-
herents who stand in the body guard of Truth. The
psychometric discoveries which- should have flashed
around the world at least as speedily as the discovery
of a comet, a shell, a plant, or a new chemical com-
bination, were very unanimously ignored. No college
gave the subject a thought, no cyclopedia mentioned
it, until against the protest of the learned corps of
contributors, the publisher of Johnson's' Cyclopedia
introduced my statement of the principles of Psychom-
etrv. The science was heard of onlv through mv
„ •/ O *
own magazine and the liberal medical college, which
against a bitter opposition we had successfully estab-
lished in Cincinnati.
I place these facts on record as a warning to the
coming generation against such disloyalty to truth and
the spirit of honest investigation. Denton's marvel-
ous work in three volumes, »» Tin-: SOUL OF THINGS,"
was almost the only evidence that Truth had any
courageous and philosophic votaries in the sphere of
psychic science. In " Isis Unveiled." that vast,
learned and marvellous work of Madame Blavatsky.
there was a generous recognition, as its learned
authoress was familiar with the extraordinary realm <>t
science in which psychometry belongs — her lan-
guage was as follows (vol. i, p. 182 :)
128 Later Developments..
"This faculty is called by its discoverer, Prof. J.
R. Buchanan — Psychometry. To him the world is
indebted for this most important addition to psycholo-
gical sciences ; and to him, perhaps, when skepticism
is found felled to the ground by accumulation of facts,
posterity wrill have to erect a statue. The existence
of this faculty was first experimentally demonstrated
in 1841. It has since been verified by a thousand
psychometers in different parts of the world."
The experimental demonstration in 1841, was
merely the recognition of impressions from the living
brain. It was not until 1842 that I discovered the
power of estimating psychic existence far away from
the living person by the writing, and it was this fuller
development of the same faculty which compelled me
to coin the word Psychometry.
Let me now sketch the progress of the science from
its publication in the ^Journal of Man and in my
Anthropology, to the present publication, in 1885.
The first development of the psychometric power
which I found in 1842, was that of Charles Inman, (a
younger brother of the celebrated artist), with whom
I discovered the power of autographic Psychometry
at New York. Mr. Inman enabled me to make the
most minute surveys of the cephalic organs, lie
could define the functions not only by touching with
his fingers, but by using a pencil case or a small
metallic rod to touch the various parts of the cranial
surface. In doing this he caught impressions of the
most minute gradation and variation of functions, and
it seemed to me from his descriptions that he recognized
the boundaries between the convolutions where the
Later Development. 129
change was more marked than in passing along the
course ot" a convolution. I felt a strong desire to
take some bald head and map on its surface the
positions of each convolution by psychometric explo-
ration. Mr. I., however, was of too delicate and
anemic a temperament for a perfect exercise of
Psychometry. and sometimes gave negative state-
ments of functions which should have been described
in more active manifestation, so as to mislead me
somewhat in the nomenclature.
The sensitive delicacy what belongs to the
psychometric constitution is ill suited to public dis-
plays of the faculty. When the most delicate
psychic faculties are engaged in a profound and
difficult investigation, the presence of a large, expec-
tant company would be too great a disturbing power,
especially' when the company is in a state of intense
curiosity and skepticism. The psvchometer, like
all profound students, requires quiet and seclusion
lor his best efforts. I do not deny that persons
accustomed to public speaking, may, if psychometric,
exercise their powers on the platform, but I have
alwavs avoided such exhibitions. The nearest
approach I have made to it was in April, 1874,
when I addressed the New England Woman's Club
in Boston. The (rlobc report of this occasion stated
" There was a large assembly present to welcome
Dr. Buchanan, including many whose names are
prominent as writers and advocates of measures of
reform." After the lecture kk a psychometric circle
was formed from some of the ladies present, and slips
of paper containing the handwriting of a certaH
130 Later Developments.
individual to them unknown were given to each and
they were requested to press them against their fore-
heads until they experienced some : ensation and
then announce it." From those who proved most
.sensitive " Four persons were then selected and
letters given them, and the autographs of the writers
pressed against their foreheads. This was most suc-
cessful, the ladies all experiencing some definite
.sensations, and one lady declared that the writer was
a person of great firmness of character, another that
he had a hi<rh ideal, and still another that he was a
O
great reformer and benefactor of mankind. Mrs.
Moulton, who seemed to experience this influence
more strongly than the rest, said that, she thought
that he would stand about where Theodore Parker
did."
In fact, Mrs. Moulton gave a good description of
Theodore Parker, evincing fine psychometric capac-
ities. Mrs. L. C. Moulton is well known to the
literati, especially by her poetical writings. Under
proper circumstances Psychometry may be displayed
before a select company, but the vulgar atmosphere
and influence attending a public exhibition have pre-
vented me heretofore from adopting that method of
propagandism. In select companies, however, we
have had many delightful evenings. The superior
delicacy of the female constitution renders the
psychometric faculty a much more common endow-
ment of females than of males. It is well known
that color blindness is much less common amon^
c7
females, and some recent experiments at the Univer-
sity of Kansas have demonstrated that females have
Later Developments. 131
a more acute taste and could detect the presence of
foreign matter in water more readily. A large
majority of females between sixteen and twenty
years of age evince psychometric capacities.
After my removal to New York in 1877, I formed
a small psychometric society of ladies which held
many interesting meetings for the cultivation of their
powers. In the society, Mrs. Decker (now Mrs.
Buchanan), and Mrs. Dr. I lay den displayed a more
delicate, yet vigorous and brilliant capacity, than I
had previously been accustomed to.
MARIA B. HAYDEN, M. D., chiefly in conse-
quence of her psychometric genius, was one of the
most skilful and successful physicians I have ever
known. About thirty-five years a«jo she visited
» »
England with her husband. Dr. W. R. Ilayden, and
introduced spiritualism to a distinguished circle of
intelligent people. Though her agency, the venera-
ble Robert Owen was converted from his benevolent
agnosticism to a still more benevolent spiritualism,
and Bulwer was enlightened in reference to truths for
which he had no other use than to weave them into
tissues of romance. Contaminated bv his moral
unsoundness, the gold of sacred truth became the
pinch-beck of theatrical mystery. Returning to
America she graduated in medicine and conducted
for over fifteen years a medical practice so entirely
successful that her name was forgotten at the Board
O
of Health from not having for several years a single
death to report.
The psychometric talent of Mrs. Ilayden was very
successfully employed by the president of the Globe .
Later Developments.
Life Insurance Company in protecting the company
against losses in insurance on lives, until forbidden
by the bigoted stupidity of the board — • a folly
which contributed largely to the ultimate wreck of
the company.
Mrs. II. was greatly retarded from attaining her
proper professional rank by her sensitiveness and
modesty. When offered a medical professorship, for
which she was eminently qualified, she lirmly
retused it. The sphere of a medical college is
certainly not attractive to a woman of refined sensi-
bility.
MRS. CORNELIA II. DECKER was a lady of distin-
guished appearance with that remarkable delicacy
and spirituality of manner which is generally associ-
ated with psychometric genius. She had lived at
Hudson on the Hudson River during her married life
in circumstances of ease, exercising a kind hospital-
ity to persons of liberal minds, and to the conspicuous
representatives of spiritualism, in which she was much
interested.
Her graceful hospitality, her exquisite musical pow
ers and bright inspiration were highly appreciated.
She manifested the highest forms of the intuitional
power and coming events were sometimes depicted to
her vision with startling reality. A remarkable illus-
tration of this was her vision of the wreck of a steam-
boat opposite Hudson, and minute description of the
event nearly twenty-four hours before it occurred, in
1850.
She retired to rest as usual but in the night she had
a vision that seemed a reality, and greatly disturbed
Later Developments. \ ^3
her. She seemed to be standing on a hill overlook-
ing the river and saw a steamboat coming down the
river with the speed stimulated by racing competition
until it struck upon a projecting rock and was
wrecked. There was a light snow falling as it ap-
peared, and soon the bells of the city were ringing an
alarm. The boats appeared rescuing the people who
were struggling in the water, and carried them to the
village of Athens on the shore opposite Hudson.
The scene made so deep an impression that she
could sleep but little more, and the next day she nar-
rated the whole to her family and friends. In the
evening she was visiting*with some friends and when
the gentlemen of the family came home at night they
described the wreck which had occurred that evening
jus a she had seen it in every particular. The next
day walking out to view the wreck, she found herself
standing at the exact spot which she seemed to occupy
in her vision when she saw the boat wrecked.
In my first experiments with Mrs. D., I perceived
her great delicacy and accuracy of psychometric per-
ception. Intercourse with good psychometers ap-
peared to cultivate the germ of the psychometric
faculty in myself. My mind has always seemed
clearer and more delicate in conducting psychometric
experiments than at any other time.
I succeeded once when Mrs. I), was a few miles
north of my location in New York in getting a per-
ception of her mental condition at the time, and wheii
our intercourse developed a mutual esteem and affec-
tion, I found it practicable to make her aware of irn
sentiments and purposes in her absence without Ian
134 Later Developments.
guage or correspondence. I found too that when
attending patients with sympathetic interest their con-
dition would 'affect me so that I would be aware of
their suffering at the very moment it occurred. A re-
markable instance of this occurred when in 1879 I
was at the village of Owego, about two hundred
miles from New York. Between two and three
o' clock in the afternoon I felt an impression which
made me aware of the illness at that moment of Mrs.
Dr. Hayden of which I was so certain that I immedi-
ately wrote to her and ascertained that my impres-
sion was correct.
Since then I have become accustomed to such im-
pressions and feel sure that no one nearly connected
or associated with me could be in suffering without
my receiving an impression. Even a mental distur-
bance or alarm in Mrs. B. conveys to me an impres-
sion from which I can infer her condition. I have
once felt a similar impression from my daughter when
more than a thousand miles away.
The nature of such impressions is remarkable and
may be instructive to psychometers. My knowledge
of the various organs of the brain enables me to
O
watch their condition as they are affected by pleasant
and unpleasant excitements. I cannot say that there
is a feeling in the interior of the brain, but at the
surface the sensations are very distinct. The tension
and warmth over active organs, the void unconscious-
ness over the inactive, the weary aching over the
fatigued, and the sharp pricking or irritative condi-
tion, over those which feel adverse influences enable
me to understand the mental and cerebral condition
and their causes.
Later Development*.
The complete knowledge of the condition of the
brain which I derive from the local sensations has
enabled me to compare mental and cerebral conditions
and thus arrive by an entirely new method at a
knowledge of the functions of the brain, and verify
in the most positive manner, the discoveries which I
made in 1841 and 1842 and subsequently.
The very positive manner in which I speak of
cerebral functions which have been a mystery in all
past centuries is due to the four-fold certaintv which
I have derived from cranial observations on men and
animals, from experiments in stimulating the organs,
from psychometric exploration of the brain, and from
my personal consciousness of its action. There are
two additional confirmations derived from the mathe-
matical laws of Pathognomy (a sufficient basis alone
for cerebral science), and from the revelations of
Pathology which have been but slightly investigated
yet yield valuable confirmations. All this is
expressed in my system of Anthropologv.
I find that my brain may be affected, not only by
events or conditions with which I am acquainted, but
by those which occur without my knowledge. The
region of Love is especially liable to such influences.
Suffering or injury in the object of affection is pain-
ful to the loving sentiment and thereby affects the
locality of the cerebral organ. When a certain sen-
sation arises in the region of Love I know that the
loved object is suffering and when it ceases I believe
that relief has occurred. From the position of the
sensation I know with what feeling it is associated
and thus am enabled to infer whether it concerns one
136 Later Developments.
very intimately connected with me or associated only
by friendly compassion or respect. Hence I am
sometimes uncertain as to the persons but not as to
the relation they occupy toward myself.
While this work has been going though the press
I have vividly realized my sympathy with the con-
dition of my patients. I was attending a severe case
of dropsy affecting the heart about three miles from
my Boston residence which had reached a critical
stage before I saw it and had felt a considerable
degree of depression from the influence of my visits.
During the evening of the second day about eleven
hours after my visit, I was suddenly made aware that
he was suffering greatly by the sensation in the head
coming on suddenly, which gives me that informa-
tion. It occurred at five minutes past ten o'clock
and subsided within ten minutes, leaving a restless
feeling of depression. Again between four and five
in the morning I perceived a very restless, unpleasant
and exhausted condition, which induced me to rise
and take something for its relief. When I visited
him at ten o'clock I learned that his condition corres-
ponded exactly to what I felt at the time of the
evening and morning disturbances.
I have had other much more impressive illustra-
trations of my sympathetic impressibility in the last
thirty years. The most severe and protracted affec-
tion of the liver from which I have never entirely
recovered, was a transference to myself from a case
of bilious fever, which I attended in 1858, and my
most obstinate attack of bronchial irritation was a
transference from a patient who had been coughing
Later Developments. 137
for twenty years. My sympathetic impressions are
sometimes prompt enough to give me assistance
in diagnosis.
The acute sensibility of my head enables me to
realize all influences that affect the brain, and to
know at any time the condition of all the organs and
faculties by reference to the superficial sensations.
I believe from close observation of my experience
that events or conditions with which I am not
acquainted sometimes affect me in other organs
besides those of friendship and love, and when I feel
the sensations I generally know the cause.
It 'is therefore entirely credible to me that in a
warm climate where the entire community is much
more impressible than myself, the whole commu-
nity may be moved at once by any great psychic
influence, and a popular sentiment or passion affecting
a large number at once may sway everv individual
carrying all along in one great wave which is irresis-
table. and thus illustrating the solidarity of the
community. It seemed to at the approach of our
late civil war, such a wave of sympathetic and irre-
sistable excitement, was sweeping through society.
History abounds in illustrations of popular impulses
moving an entire community in a way that could not
be accounted for independent of such sympathy and
psychic contagion.
These contagious influences mv experiments show
have little to do with contact and are not dependent on
proximity, when the psychic powers are active. I
have no hesitation in saying that they mav reach
around the globe and even extend from planet to
138 Later Developments.
placet. It" there were many such psychometers as
Mrs. B. aware of these powers and trained to exer-
cise them together it would be quite practicable to
establish a mental telegraphy bringing us into com-
munication with all parts of the globe, conveying not
only the public facts which go to the telegraph at
present, but a great amount of subtle information as
to the condition of all parts of the world, derived from
regions to which the telegraphic wires do not extend.
The ?fcw York Tribune a paper remarkable for its
•conservative and illiberal character, contained (March
18, 1885) a remarkable article in reference to the
secret transmission of knowledge in India, headed as
follows :
THE " SECRET MAIL/'
Anglo-Indians, and all who have lived in Asiatic
countries, are aware that the natives have means of
conveying news which at important junctures enables
them to forestall the Government. Thus throughout
the Indian mutiny the intelligence of all the important
events, such as battles, captures ot cities, massacres
and investments, was in possession of the baxaars
usually hours and frequently days before it reached
the authorities, and this notwithstanding the fact that
the latter had often taken special measures to insure
the quickest transmission possible. And it is also
well-known that this " secret mail" is so trustworthy
that the natives invariably act upon it with implicit
confidence, speculating, for example, to the full exter.L
of their fortunes. How the news is sent, however,
has never been discovered, or at least no explanation
Later Dcveloptncnts. 139
comprehensible or credible by the average Western
mind has been reached. The London Spectator of a
recent date discusses this question at much length,
and suggests the employment by the Asiatics of care-
fully laid " dawks " or stages. This, no doubt has
the appearance of a common-sense explanation, but
the difficulty about it is that no European, during the
whole time Hindustan has been occupied, has ever
seen such a stage in operation or come across any of
its machinery.
Now it may be admitted that it is possible for Asi-
atics to arrange such stages or lines of communication
over hundreds or thousands of miles without bein<r
O
discovered ; but it is certainly extremely improbable
that they should have been able to do this on the con-
siderable scale it must have been done to account for
the facts without ever being discovered.
Attain, the circumstance that on one occasion, when
O
the Government had made special arrangements for
the swift despatch of news from a distant point, the
"secret mail" beat the Government coursers twelve
hours, appears to warrant the conclusion that some
means of communication more rapid than horses or
runners must be at the disposal of the natives. The
Spectator thinks it possible that they transmit news
bv signal : but while this mav be the case where com-
paratively short distances. are concerned, it is not appli-
cable to routes covering several hundreds of miles.
Anglo-Indians as a rule refuse to accept the native
explanation of the " secret mail." which involves be-
lief in what is just now being called telepathy. The
natives, when thev are willim*; to talk of the matter at
140 Later Developments.
all, which is very seldom to Western men, say that
neither horses nor men are employed, and that no
" dawk " is laid for the carrying of news, but that it
results from a system of thought transmission which is
as familiar to them as the electric telegraph is to us.
The interest of this subject consists in the facts ( i )
mat the "• secret mail " is an indubitable reality, and
(2) that no European or Western observer of any
kind has thus far succeeded in finding even a plausi-
ble solution of the mystery ; for with all its ingenuity,
the explanation offered by the writer in the Spectator
is not plausible."
It is certainly highly discreditable to Western intel-
ligence that its leaders are puzzled by such phenom-
ena while there are thousands who understand the
subject in our midst, and its illustrations have often
been given.
Even if our illustrations were limited to the per-
sonal experience of the dogmatic and skeptical med-
ical profession, there would be abundant illustrations
of telepathic sympathy if the facts could be brought
out. The late Dr. John F. Gray of New York, one
of the most eminent and skilful in the city, resided at
the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Having a patient in Jersey
City whom he wished to see to ascertain his condition
he turned aside from his company, and fixed his
mind intently upon the man. lie obtained an impres-
sion of his condition, and was satisfied that he was
improving. But something much more remarkable
followed. The man was still more susceptible, and
believed that he was visited by Dr. Gray in person at
that time. When he called on Dr. Grav after his re-
Later Developments, 141
coverv he affirmed that Dr. G. had visited him at the
hour of this psychometric observation, had looked at
him silently and withdrew without saying a word,
which he considered rather singular. Me could not
be convinced that he was mistaken by the positive
denial of the doctor. Dr. Gray, who stated these
facts to myself, had many similar experiences. On
one occasion while driving around the city profession-
ally, he had a sudden impression that he was needed
by a ladv patient. He impetuously ordered his driver
to turn round and drive at full speed to her residence.
When he arrived within a block of the house he saw
her husband hatless in the street, rushing after medi-
cal assistance. He arrived, leaped out, rushed up to
her room and was barely in time to save her from
dying of hemorrhage.
As to the subtle powers of Mrs. B. I have had daily
illustration for years. When I place anything in her
hands it is a common amusement to require her t >
describe it before seeing. I frequently hold a picture
over head, to demand her description by impression,
and sometimes place her hand on a book and demand
her opinion of its character which is sometimes more
just than a reviewer's estimate. I have even held her
own picture over her head and thus procured from
her a correct and judicious description of herself,
which she gave withoiu suspicion, as the psvchome-
ter is too closely engaged in observing the qualities
which he describes to enquire into the identity of the
party described. Bayard Taylor has mentioned a
similar incident in reference to a New York artist,
who possessed the psychometric power. One of his
142 I^atcr Developments.
friends placed his own letter in his hands and
obtained from him so searching and critical a
description of himself that he did not venture to let
him know that it was his own letter.
I have had every possible evidence of the con-
tinual presence in Mrs. B. of her high powers, even
when she has none of the conditions which sensitives
require for their best action. I have been accustomed
to approach her at any time when she is using the
needle or engaged in domestic cares and protesting
against being taxed when in an unintellectual mood,
yet never has she failed to show that the faculty is
inseparable from her nature.
Under these unfavorable circumstances she would
give me a just opinion of a picture held above her
head, and speak of its resemblance or difference from
the original whose appearance she would describe.
Mollie Fancher, the famous fasting ladv of Brooklyn,
exercises such powers, doing delicate work without
the use of her eyes and describing things about the
house while she is confined to her bed.
Mr. B. has frequently involuntary impressions as
to persons before she has met them. When sitting
in the upper part of the house she has had very
decided feelings in reference to persons who have
entered on the lower floor. An amusing illustration
c^
occurred once when the visitor was equallv impres-
Monal ; she felt uneasy at his presence and had a
strong desire that he should leave. He had never
seen her, but he fell that a lady wished to take him
by the arm and lead him out of the house. When
he stated this and described the appearance of the
Later Developments.
lady, correctly describing Mrs. B., I thought it an
amusing and remarkable incident.
In the daily presence of psychometric phenomena,
and with a strong desire to exercise the power, I have
had but glimmerings of the faculty.
The most distinct impression that I ever obtained
from manuscript was nearly forty years ago, when I
received an impression from the autograph of Gen.
Washington, the effect of which was so great that
I could perceive a marked difference in my manner
of lecturing in the evening following the experiment ;
I was disposed to speak in a calm and very syste-
matic manner quite different from my usual mode. I
have sometimes felt a faint influence from photographs
when I did not know whom they represented, and
once to test my capacities in 1878, I took a photo-
graph of Wordsworth and thought I felt a shadow to
his peculiar intellectuality. I tried the photograph of
Shakespeare and as I held it before mv forehead it
produced a distinct feeling of activity and a tension
over the occiput generally, indicating an active and
forcible temperament, and impressive character.
Twice I repeated the experiment at intervals, and
thus obtained three times a certainty that it conveyed
a strong psychic impression. My strongest impres-
sions, however, are those which I feel when a good
psychometer is giving a psychometric description of
a marked character. Mv sympathy is often so keen
that I acquire a positive conception of the leading
traits of character independent of any remarks by
the psychometer.
During the summer when I felt the inlluence of
144 Later Developments'.
Gen. Washington so distinctly I felt an equally posi-
tive influence from a letter of John C. Calhoun, the
statesman of South Carolina, which gave me a new
conception of his character. The influence seemed
not like that of a politician or a man for the multi-
tude, but rather that of a purely intellectual man, a
lucid thinker.
In 1878 Madame Blavatsky gave me some manu-
script from India to ascertain my impressions from
contact. The influence on my brain from the fore-
head was sufficient to induce me to describe the
writer as a bold philosophic and religious leader who
might in some repects compare with Luther. She
was pleased with my remarks and thought them
worth recording to send abroad.
Since then I have frequently used the photographs
and pictures of the departed, and felt that I obtained
an impression of their characters, and felt their influ-
ence so much as to give me a conception of the char-
acter of the individual sufficiently clear and positive to
guide my opinion. These psychometric impressions,
however, were clouded by the doubt whether the re-
sult was not partly or in some cases entirely due to
my knowledge of the name of the individual, and
although my impressions of Washington, Jackson,
Clay, Qjieen Elizabeth, Josephine, Joan of Arc,
Madame Roland, St. Peter, St. John, Patrick Henry,
and many others were distinct mental realities, I was
not sure that I could have attained such impressions
without knowing the name, until I made experiments
in the manner which satisfied me.
A photograph was given me (Oct. 10, iSSi ) which
Later Developments, 145
without seeing it gave me the impression of a young
man of good mind but of predominant activity in the
energetic and ambitious faculties, and engrossed in
business. The description was recognized as correct
bv one intimately acquainted with him. An hour later
Gen. B. handed a manuscript which I placed on mv
forehead which gave me a distinct conception of a
man about sixty years of age with a large brain and
body, of a solid, stable character and ample under-
standing and business capacity, not at all impulsive,
but cool, judicious and capable of understanding and
managing large affairs. This perception was quite
distinct, and Gen. B. said very correct.
I have often attempted to realize a character bv
concentrated attention without any physical connect-
ing link and sometimes have appeared to be quite suc-
cessful and even to have discovered the mood of the
individual at the time. I have had similar impressions
in reference to the departed, and sometimes had them
confirmed by good psychometers.
I have related this personal experience because it
mav be encouraging to the millions whose endow-
% DO
ments in this line are about equal to mv own. and who
would not suppose themselves to have any capability
without encouragement.
The power of understanding and describing any-
thing of which the name is placed in the hand is so
marvelous that I have been continually tempted to test
it in various wavs.
Seeing in a magazine a short description of an Ital-
ian in this country, Angelo Cardela of Nevada, speak-
ing of his physical exploits, and expressing the opin-
146 Later Developments.
ion that he was the strongest man in the world, I took
the first opportunity to place the name in her hand
and ask her to describe the person.
Her first remark was that it took her into antiquitv
(into the time of Claudius, the gladiator) and then
back to modern times. " There 's not much repose of
character — there's excitability and unrest — confu-
sion and unsettled condition — I feel entirely safe —
there is no feeling of fear but a sort of discontent."
Not knowing anything of his life I asked her to dis-
cribe his person. She said : " this is a large person
in physical development — a large person, of capa-
cious brain — a matured person, perhaps of sixty
years. He 'has a remarkably strong constitution — a
good deal of muscular strength, no nervous weakness
— is very solid and linn — can stand a good deal of
labor, mental and physical. He has broad shoulders,
^reat strength in arms and lower limbs, large thighs
-great endurance. He is remarkably cool, does
nothing rash — does many things others cannot —
feats of muscular strength. He could perform feats
of lifting. (How does he compare with other men?)
There is no comparison — where others could lift t\vo
hundred, he could lift eight hundred. He is very
muscular, his loins are strong — he could lift with his
teeth. lie has pride in his strength and lias great
will power too. I see great beams and timbers — it
carries me back to Sampson — I think he is as great
a miracle in modern, as Sampson in ancient times.
His movements too are graceful — he lilts without
appearing to make an effort. He could lift six men
or more if he could get hold of them. His strength
Later Developments. 147
is in his shoulders and hips. His bones arc- verv
large. lie is very good natured."
The account which I read, given by R. A. Proctor,
described him as a good natured Italian laborer with
'•• a noble development of chest and shoulders," and
spoke of his lifting a man of 200 pounds to the top of
a table bv putting the third finger under his foot
*' with scarcelv a perceptible effort." It also stated
that he was attacked by two powerful Irishmen, •• but
he seized one in each hand and beat them together,
till life was nearly hammered out of them." lie is.
however, of a quiet and peaceable disposition. Her
conjecture as to his age was about fifteen years too
much, but that was only an inference from his matu-
rity. She saw his broad, good-natured countenance
and staid manner, and conjectured his age from the
appearance and feeling. She is seldom accurate as
to age.
In the early years of Psychometrv, the dominant
idea was that of a direct emanative connection or rap-
port which enabled the psychometer to give descrip-
tions, as when holding a medicine in the hand or
describing a character from the impression given by
an autograph.
In these experiments, however, there wen- manifest
indications of a wider range of power than could In-
traced to any aura. Medicines yielded a full impres-
sion of their character when securely corked in vials,
showing that the impression imparted was due to no
appreciable material emanation. A blank sheet of
paper which had been lying in contact with an auto-
graph would sometimes give a distinct impression of
of the writer.
148 Later Developments.
The possibility of writing imparting a sufficient
psychic influence to blank paper lying in contact
with it to give an impression of the writer, required
decisive experiments for its demonstration ; of course
we should not expect as prompt, forcible and clear
an influence from that blank paper as from the auto-
graph.
About thirty years ago I obtained an autograph of
Carlyle — a letter written to an anti-corn law meet-
ing, or society, in which he expressed himself
vigorously against obstructive legislation. A small
portion of this autograph had been kept manv years,
wrapped in a piece of blank paper. I tore off a
piece of the blank paper which had been in contact
with the writing and placed it in her hands, recently,
for an opinion. The impressions were not quite as
distinct and accurate as those from his photograph —
especially in reference to time, but they were sub-
stantially the same in character, and correct as an
estimate of the man. They were as follows :
" This takes me back twenty-five or thirty years.
I should think the writing was by a male. It brings
me into rapport with a bright mind, a clear intellect
of a great deal of force.
" It seems to me like a business production, princi-
pally, but possibly some social question was con-
cerned. I think it has to do with political economy
— not a common friendly letter.
"It is a mind that would grasp themes of impor-
tance to the country and take a radical view in favor
of reform. It is a very vigorous mind, uncommonly
so. He would rouse the faculties of all who listen to
him.
Later Developments. 149
•• I think he is not living no\v — he passed away
many years ago — I think this was written forty odd
vears ago — I think he passed away twenty-live or
thirty years ago, perhaps.
•• I think he wrote a great deal on governmental
questions — he was a partisan. I think he might
have been a lawyer, or at least acquainted with
jurisprudence. He was certainly not a minister.
There was not much theology about him, though he
had some religion, yet he was not really settled in
his own mind. He wrote and addressed the public
- he wrote no trashy things ; he had a variety of
themes.
(What was his domestic life?) I think he had
a good wife. I do not think h-j was verv agreeable
O » O
in society — rather morose and terse. He was not a
genial and good-natured man in his family. He lived
more in the intellectual than the social. He was not
a jovial man — never laughed much — not given to
joking — but had a vein of sarcasm that he used as a
weapon.
(What capacities had he as a literary man?) I
can't see that he was a poet. He wrote generally on
solid matters, but not on medicine. He had an easy
flowing style, which made his articles attractive.
He was an educator of the people.
(What reputation did he attain?) Ik- had an
enviable name. He was an authority on many sub-
jects, lie overtaxed himself a great deal.
(How long did he live?) He was not sick long in
his last illness. I think he was about sixty, or at
least he did not do much work alter that ai^e, but he
O
lived longer than that in a more quiet wax.
150 Later Developments.
(YvrlKit country did he belong to?) He was either
French or English. He was familiar with both
languages. I think the English was his mother
tongue.
(Can you guess his name?) Not now.
In the foregoing opinion I think the date of the
letter was correctly given. The portion containing
the date has been mislaid, but it was written in the
midst of the anti-corn law agitation, which extended
from 1837 to 1846. The death of Carlyle was
located too far back, probably from the influence
of the old letter carrying the mind back. We
should not expect mathematical accuracy when there
was nothing to guide the impression but the influence
imparted by contact to blank paper. Such influences
are not imaginary, though they elude all other senses
but the psychometric.
All material substances are a fleeted by contact.
The presence of a third substance causes chemical
changes which will not take place without it. This.
which is called calalysis^ is one of the wonders of
chemistry. It shows that the chemical condition and
action of compound bodies is affected by whatever is
adjacent. Hence if there is anything in an autograph
which can affect the psychometer it must have an
influence on adjacent substances. We can make a
still more strong illustration of this law of contact
between dry substances in which no chemical change
that we can detect has occurred. If we lay a wafer
on a sheet of cold polished metal and breathe upon
it so that the moisture of the breathe shall be con-
densed on the metal, the metal retains the impressions
Later Developments. 151
thus made ; for, after removing the wafer, if we
breathe on the metal again, the moisture will appear
only on the part that was not covered by the wafer.
The drv space testifies to the lingering influences of
the wafer. Mr. G. II. Lewes says that he has even
"brushed the surface of the polished plate with a
camel's hair brush, and yet on breathing upon it, the
image of a coin previously laid upon it was distinctly
visible."
This seems to be a general law of nature ; metallic
plates or metallic bodies when in contact exert an
influence on each other which may be demonstrated,
and we are authorized by facts to make this general
statement — all bodies in proximity are subject to the
transmitted influence of their neighbors, probably
caused or increased by insensible electric currents,
from which no locality is exempt. We are induced
to ascribe much of the effect to electricity by the fact
so often demonstrated that a flash of lightning strik-
ing a tree and thence diverging to strike with fatal
effect some person near it, frequently impresses the
image of the tree on the skin, and it is found on the
corpse. The instantaneous result follows from the
powerful flash, but insensible currents operating a
longer time may produce a complete transference of
images. An amalgamated copper plajle has been
placed upon an iodized silver plate, between which
an engraving was placed with its lace downward
toward the silver plate. Fifteen hours afterwards the
impression of the engraving was found transferred
through the paper upwards to the upper plate. Xor
are the impressions thus produced entirely superficial.
152 Later Developments*
They penetrate the substance and photographers
know that it is difficult to remove from a plate the
impression once made by a picture.
It is upon these laws of catalysis and emanation
operating in contact or proximity, that all the phe-
nomena of animal life depend. It is thus that
foreign substance is continually imported into the
body and invested with vital powers by contact and
proximity with vitalized structures in which the soul
power is present. The transfer of influence from an
autograph to blank paper is no more remarkable than
its first transference from the writer to the autograph.
Influences are continually radiant from any part of
our surface. Cerebral organs approximated by a
small metallic rod touching the surface of the scalp,
give an accurate impression of the minute locality
touched.
The psychometer, in describing an autograph,
sometimes portrays not only the writer but the per-
son in his mind to whom he was writing, and even
a third party of whom he wras writing. A portrait
would convey an idea both of the person portrayed
and the artist, and a landscape would bring the
scene itself before the imagination.
Hence I began to experiment with photographs
and engravings, and discovered that every picture
gave a good impression of the original to the fingers
of the psychometer, or if held on the forehead, or
even near the head. The convenience of this method
made it a favorite, as it kept the psychometer entirely
unacquainted with what lie was describing, not know-
ing what the object was, that was held over his head.
Later Developments. 153
In many cases I have used this method very hap-
pily for therapeutic purposes, when the character was
one capable of benefiting the patient by its invigora-
ting or soothing power.
There was not in such cases any emanation from
the person described, and the picture was merely the
presentation of an idea to be grasped by the intuitive
perception, which is independent of vision. The
picture was not perceived by anything like a visual
power, but embodied a conception (in such a way as
to be grasped by the intuitive faculty) of the person
represented.
Hence it became apparent that the object for
Psychometry was in such cases simply an index-
leading the mind to the object represented, and need
not be a picture, a relic or anything associated in any
way with the person or thing to be explored. Acting
upon this view I wrote the name of a friend and
placed it in the hands of a good psychometer, who
had no difficulty, notwithstanding her doubts of so
novel a proceeding, in giving as good a description
of the character of Dr. N. as if she had made the
description from an autograph.
After that experiment, my operations were greatly
facilitated and extended. No picture, autograph 01
relic being needed. I was accustomed to extend my
inquiries to ancient and modern historical characters,
public men and every person in whose character I
was interested, as well as localities which I wished
to have described.
As the subject for psychometric experiments need
not be the person nor anything that has emanated
154 Later Developments.
from him, but simply the expression of his existence
bv a word or an index to direct the mind, it does not
appear that psychometric exploration is hindered by
distance and disconnection, and I could not affirm
that even the contact of the fingers with the index or
.starting point of the exploration is necessary to those
who are highlv endowed.
This enables us to present experiments in a very
convincing way. For example, having in my posses-
sion a number of very remarkable pictures, on slates,
made by spiritual power on the inside of a pair of
slates under my own supervision, I have had no
difficulty in having them described by placing the
slate on a table, face downward, and having the
psychometer place a hand on the vacant upper side
of the slate. The descriptions given in this manner
have been as remarkable as any I have ever had,
not differing in freedom and correctness from those
made by touching photographs.
September 10, 1884, to illustrate the power of
obtaining impressions from the back of the paper on
which a name is written, I wrote the names of the
presidential candidates, Cleveland, Blaine and But-
ler, on three small pieces of brown paper, and laid
them on the back of a book, with the blank side
uppermost, requesting her to touch each of them and
give her opinion of the parties as presidential candi-
dates. She did so, and gave her impressions readilv.
The first she promptly decided had very little
chance of election, and thought that if he was
elected he would be very democratic in his ways
and would not give general satisfaction, though fie
Later Developments. 155
would endeavor to do his duty; this was Gen. But-
ler. The second made an agreeable impression ;
seemed bright and able, and a great partisan ; this
was Blaine. The third, she thought, had the best
prospect of election, and would, if elected, perform
his duties faithfully, though not as attractive or able
as the second.
Still there is an impairment of the facility by every
step of separation. A photograph is not as facile as
a writing, — a word is not as satisfactory as an auto-
graph. But superior powers overcome all difficulties
and photographs or writings may be described with-
out touching them as they lie on the table before us.
Yet it is not judicious to tax the psychometric faculty
for such feats unnecessarily. Mrs. B. desires alwavs
•/ •/
to assist her perceptions by the touch of the object and
objects to sealed letters though she has often described
letters in envelopes. A letter sent to her carefully
sealed conveys at once the unpleasant impression of
the critical and suspicious feeling of the sender, and is
therefore a disturbing, irritating injluence. Hence
she declines receiving such communications which her
lingers cannot touch.
Some years ago she received a letter closed by live
seals for psychometric description and declined to try
it :• but subsequently, probably feeling the candid and
courteous spirit of the sender, she concluded to try,
notwithstanding her diffidence, and sent her opinion
with the sealed letter to the correspondent. In return
she received a letter of ten foolscap pages elaborately
illustrating the minute correctness of the description,
which was made still more remarkable bv the fact
156 Later Developments .
that instead of being one writing as she supposed, an-
other writing had been inserted written by a friend
and reputed medium, which led her to say : " I am
constantly taken to the sphere of another person, who
is interested in the writer ; there is such a blending I
am unable to feel clearly each distinct individuality."
This character she did not attempt to describe, not
knowing that the impression came from the enclosed
manuscript. Her correspondent thought this emi-
nently satisfactory. He made the experiment in that
way, expecting that it would produce confusion of
mind and give a more perfect test.
What wonderful exhibitions of psychic penetration
may occur hereafter cannot be predicted. Psychometry
is the earthly IRRADIATION OF OMNISCIENCE and it will
be known hereafter that it can penetrate all things. To
take in hand a mineral and describe the localitv
'from which it came, the surrounding country, climate,
people and animals, the subterranean strata and even
the past geological history of the locality is a perform-
ance in which Mrs. B. sometimes shows her powers,
though not fond of the more laborious effort which it
requires. The family of Prot. Denton have been es-
pecially distinguished by their remarkable success in
such explorations, and there is no lack of such power
among sensitives. I have the minutes of a mineral ex-
amination by Mrs. R. in which she was carried back
to the period in which a mastodon was mired to death
and went through the whole scene.
Does not such experience as this assure us that in
Psychometry we have the key to unlock the hidden
wealth of mineral strata? How great then must be
Later Developments. 157
its FINANCIAL IMPORTANCE The world's gold has
probably cost all that it is worth, in the labor of explo-
ration and mining, more than half the labor having
been abortive for war.t < f intuitive guidance.
Some enterprising genius will hereafter give practi-
cal demonstration to this. My own life is absorbed in
the financially unprofitable labors of the reformer.
As it became apparent that geographical and his-
torical questions were robbed of their difficulty and
mystery, I directed my attention to those in which I
felt an interest.
There is one theme cf transcendent interest to all
rational beings who feel at the same time a controlling
sense of duty, a reverence for the vast unknown
from which our own existence springs, a sense of our
own possibilitv of nobler things than life affords at
present, and a year might pass beyond the barriers
that limit human knowledge within the petty bounds
of recorded science and history.
Systems of religion come with lofty claims to our
faith, enforced too often by arbitrary power and
social proscription. But the systems of religion,
although they undertake to solve the mystery of the
Universe, and although they present ethical doctrines
which command our reverence, illustrated by many
roble lives, have never yet offered a system of doc-
trine or philosophy that would endure an hour's criti-
cal questioning by one who thinks with untrammelled
freedom. The independent thinker can neither reject
the virtuous elements of all religions, nor accept their
doctrinal perversions of truth.
Psychometry offered the faith method of determin-
I5& J ^atcr Developments.
ing whether the world's religions were ibunded in
truth and worthy of reverence, or founded in delusion
and fraud, and destined to oblivion as a relic of bar-
barism. The names of the founders and teachers of
all religions being accessible it was necessary only to
subject them to psychometric investigation to learn
their moral and intellectual worth, the true story of
their lives and the real foundation of their claims.
Upon this view I acted by obtaining a critical view
of Confucius, Buddha, Krishna, Laorze, Zoroaster,
Moses, Jesus, the twelve apostles and other represen-
tatives of the Christian movement, including more
modern lives, such as those of Joan of Arc. George
Fox and Swedenbor<>;.
O
This investigation carries us into the marvelous
and miraculous realm of inter-communication between
the visible and invisible worlds — into the question of"
the reality of the astounding events recorded in
religious history, and the comparative value or
truthfulness of religious systems. It opens up a
subject too large for presentation in this volume,
devoted to a statement of psychometric science ; but
I have no hesitation in saving that it has increased
my respect and love for the founders of the Chris-
tian system, and my respect for the historic value of
the Bible. The primitive Christian movement
appears to me the noblest impulse that lias ever
been given to humanitv. It's influence is felt to-
day, and Psychometry brings it very near. If all
scholarship were lost, and all historical records and
monuments destroyed, Psychometry alone could
revive and preserve all the important truth of
Later Developments. 159
sacred history. In a second volume this subject
will he fully presented, and I think it will IK- made
clear that Psychometry leads us out of all douht
and darkness into the final religion of enlightened
humanity.
After such investigations we are prepared to take
a more profound view of the philosophy of Psychome-
try than was indicated by our first experiments in
which emanations and influences were recognized.
In the higher class of phenomena there is no fuel-
ing or perception of a delicate emanation. The
picture or the word simply tells of the thing to lie
explored, and gives this information to an interior
faculty independent of vision. That interior faculty
grasps the idea in its essence, which we have offered,
and then grasps the object in its wide-reaching con-
sciousness. Whether it be a city in China or Africa,
a saint or leader whose name has almost disappeared
in the twilight of history, a pre-historic race on earth,
or a body in our planetary system, it is conceived,
understood and reported. The divine realm of uni-
versal consciousness or intellectual omniscience seems
to become occupied by man and either he comes into
rapport with that limitless sphere of intelligence, or
that intelligence is dormant within himself, and is
roused by an effort to assert its powers.
If that be the case then the exercise of Psychometry
is nothing less than a display of ivrrrnoN — tin-
manifestation of an interior power which is master of'
all truth.
This power is the divine element in num.
Unlimited knowledge not dependent upon any
160 Later Developments.
effort for its acquisition is our conception ot" a
divine attribute, and man enjoys this divine intel-
ligence just in proportion as he is capable of
manifesting this familiarity with all truth, as clear
and bright in those things which are beyond sense,
memory and education, as in those few things
which he has learned.
How ennobling, how God -like a conception of
humanity this gives — how grand the prospect of
future enlightenment, and how remarkable, how sad
indeed to think that for so man}' centuries this
faculty has lain almost dormant and unutilized,
nay, even scorned and trampled on, while it was
in reality the latent basis of all human intelligence,
which converts impressions on the senses into dis-
tinct knowledge of objects and events. It is the
latent basis of all human knowledge as latent
caloric and electricity are at the bases of all
material forms. Like the sun behind the clouds
it is the source of all light, though itself unseen.
It informs us of reality of truth. It leads us up
to the highest, grandest realms of truth, though
ever resisted by the stupid animality and skepticism,
which would hold us within the limits of sensation,
and in their most perfect embodiment in skeptical
metaphysics would make us unconscious of all
reality, denying causation, and denying all things
as having an reality beyond our own thought. Of
all forms of human opinion, transcendental meta-
physics or universal nescience is the minimum and
pcssimum ; and the modern materalistic doctrines
are a positive decadence of philosophy from the
Later Developments. 161
time when it recognized the higher powers of the
soul. These two forms of error are congenial
enough to run together.
Material science, however, is laying a very broad
and solid basis of physical knowledge for the Temple
of Philosophy which Psychometry is to build. When
its world-grasping power shall reveal all there is in
man, all in the strata and on the surface of the earth,
all in paleontology and geology, all in astronomy
that the telescope fails to give, and all that we can
grasp of the limitless world of psychic life — then,
indeed, shall we have philosophy.
It may not be by a sudden tiat or a sudden illumi-
nation, following the command : "• Let there be light : "
but the time really necessary to illuminate the most
enlightened and progressive minds of modern society
is so brief in comparison with historical epochs that
it may well be compared to the illumination of dawn
and sunrise.
The world's progress from the dull externality of
the senses, which relate to sunlight, to sound and to
phvsical force, into the realm of intuition and divine
wisdom depends upon the cultivation of the divine
faculties in man, which bring him into connection
with supernal wisdom and realize in this life the
wisdom of the angels.
Wisdom in thought and nobilitv in conduct are not
~ »
compatible with the vulgar mood of mind which gen-
erally prevails in the marts of commerce, in tin-
scenes of political strife, in the drudgery of labor or in
the places of amusement. We must withdraw from
such influences to something holier and purer that can
1 62 Later Developments.
give the soul development. If our religion be sincere
and fervent, or our love deep, tender and refined, the
integrity and nobility of the soul can be maintained,
in which the vision becomes clear and the truth be-
comes our companion. And when the head rests
upon the pillow, we reach the state described by
Wordsworth :
"• That serene and blessed state
In which the affections gently lead us on —
Until the breath of this corporeal form
And even the motion of our human blood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body and become a living soul,
While with an eye made quiet bv the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy
We see iu/o the life of things."
Why has there been so steady an opposition in
modern times to the recognition and culture of our
spiritual faculties when thev have been recognized and
* O
honored in the past at the fountain head of civilzation
in Egypt, India and Greece, — cherished and admired
until, within the last two centuries, the dawn of phys-
ical science and the rebellion against superstition has
carried society far away from the associations in which
spiritual knowledge was encircled. Yet even a hun-
dred years ago there was not such a hostility as today
against the belief in our psychic powers and their
occasional manifestation under nervous excitement.
Cabanis, notwithstanding his materialism, said in his
seventh memoir on the influence of diseases :
Later Developments. 163
•• I think it here necessary to refer particularly to
those singu)<|r acute maladies, in which intellectual
faculties suddenly become developed, that have not
previously existed. It is also observed, that in some
spasmodic and extatic diseases, the organs of sense
become susceptible of receiving impressions which
were not perceptible in a normal state, and which may
even be characterized as unnatural. I have frequently
noticed the most singular erlects arising from this sus-
ceptibility of sensation in women, who would doubt-
less have distinguished themselves as excellent Py-
thonesses.
"Some of these patients see the most microscopic
objects with the naked eye, others sec so clearly in the
dark as to move in perfect security. There are others
again who follow persons by their scent, like a dog,
and can distinguish such things as thev /tare used or
only touched.
" I have seen some whose taste has acquired a
peculiar delicacy, and who would demand or choose
aliments, and even remedies that icottld be really ser-
viceable to them, with a sagacity ordinarily observable
only in animals. Some have the power of looking
-.cithin themselves, during their paroxysms and an-
nouncing the approach of certain crises, the occurrence
of which soon proves the justness of their sensations ;
or they notice other organic modifications attested bv
the state of the pulse and other still more certain
signs/'
As every physician of extensive experience (espe-
cially those who practice in mild or warm climates)
must have had the same experience in some degree as
164 Later Developments..
Cabanis, or even a far more striking and marvelous
experience, as Dr. Esdaile had in India, rivalling all
that was developed by the followers of Mesmer in
France, why has this Meld been so signally neglected,
especially by medical colleges.
Dr. Moreau de la Sarthe reports in the Encyclopedie
Methodique the case of a child twelve or thirteen
years old attended by himself, " who although scarcely
acquainted with the first rudiments of Latin, was sud-
denly capable, during a raging fever, of speaking it
in the greatest purity. The same child expressed his
gratitude to those who attended him, in language
superior to his age and the supposed power of his
intellect " a few days before his death.
It is not only under the influence of fever, but in the
most perfect normal condition that exalted psychic
perceptions occur. In the year 400, St. Ambrose in
the church at Milan during mass fell asleep and dis-
covered the death of St. Martin at Tours which had
just occurred. When he awoke he said : k' It lias
been a great blessing to me to sleep, since God has
worked a great miracle ; know that my brother, St.
Martin, has just died." They noted the day and hour
and found that St. Martin had really died at that time.
St. Gregory of Tours, a historical writer, states these
facts.
Why is it that with so vast a magazine of instructive
materials under their observation, so little has been
reported, and so strenuous an effort been made to
maintain ignorance and skepticism in reference to the
extraordinary powers of the soul, not only in the med-
ical colleges of materialism, but even in the literary
Later Developments, 165
departments which have no sympathy with physical
science. In these departments the professors, with a
singular and absurd inconsistency, kneel at the shrine
of Greek philosophy, adore Plato and Aristotle and
yet ignore all the grand psychic powers and phenom-
ena which the Greeks recognized and honored with a
place in the temples of the Gods. Can they suppose
the old philosophers whom they honor, incapable of
testifying correctly as to facts?
With the same psychic incapacity, the professors
recognize in a perfunctory manner the miracles and
prophecies of the Bible ( with an evident desire
to set them aside as superfluous or unreliable) yet
carefully avoid any study of their philosophy, and any
recognition of the continuance of such phenomena
today as was predicted by Jesus. Evidently there is a
leaden weight of skepticism dragging down such
minds, paralyzing their power of reasoning upon
facts which would reveal the grandeur of the divine
laws of the Universe.
What is the nature of that all-pervading and stifling
power which during the last two centuries has been
at work to suppress the truth, to conceal interesting
and wonderful facts, and to crush the honest inquirers
who were not willing to be enslaved and silenced b\
the multitude.
It is not sufficient to refer to the power of dogmatism
in the colleges for that is but the proximate cause.
Whence came that dogmatism, and why did not the
haughty professors exercise their dogmatism /'or
rather than against the psychic elements of humanity.
The cause — the universal and dominating cause
1 66 Later Developments,
is obvious. The psychic elements are the antagonists
of the animal nature — and the animal nature rules
the world. Force and fraud, military autocracy,
priestcraft, money power and sensual selfishness,
have ruled all nations, and, in various degrees, all
churches and colleges. These elements of character
are antagonistic to the psychic, resist them, dislike
them, and cannot comprehend them. It is the same
antagonism which existed between Jesus and the mob
of Jerusalem — the antagonism between that which
leads to heaven and that which leads to the purgatory
of a selfish existence. The one is cultivated in the
noise, the whirl and the selfish struggles of competi-
tive life, the other in the solemnities of religion, in
the inspiration of song, in the soul growth of domes-
tic love, in meditation with the head on the pillow, in
the deep thought of .the student, in the admiration
of nature, and in the sacred meditations of solitude.
"• Thus deeply drinking1 in the soul of things.'*
The culture of Psychometry may, therefore, be
regarded as the intellectual precursor of a higher
social condition, and the reception of Psychometry
will be a test of the ethical elevation of society.
Bu. why should this science which opens our eyes
to the grandeur of the universe and gi\es us the KEY
TO UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM be for the
first time presented by myself before a phalanx of
universal opposition. Is it a reversal of any supposed
law of nature? Is it a revelation of something totally
unknown to all nations?
On the contrary it is the scientific development,
Later Developments. 167
demonstration and illustration of that which has
always been in the world, and in some of its aspects
has always been known and in its warning voice often
been heard, heeded and honored ; while in its
ethical dignity it has been the monitor of nations
and the prompter of religious movements which
have changed the destiny of races and the face of
the globe. It was the intuitional power which heard
the whisperings from a higher \vorld but did not
always understand them, and which led nations to
bow to unknown and invisible powers called divine,
as the animal kingdom turns to the Eastern sky
where the light of an unrisen sun is dispelling the
darkness.
Considering the vast numbers of those who in
every age have enjoyed and exercised the intuitional
faculties — why has no one endeavored to ascertain
their nature, seat and laws, their range of power,
their relation to philosophy and religion and their
importance to mankind? The Jews, the Egyptians,
and the Greeks largely exercised and recognized
these faculties, but had not the docile modesty and
the inductive scientific spirit which make systematic
investigation ; and the moderns who have made
immense progress by inductive science have lost
the spirituality and elevation of sentiment which
belonged to the ancients and thus lost the taste for
really philosophic studies above the realm of matter
without losing any of the ancient egotism which
deems itself a master of truth without investigation.
~
That the very same intuitional powers which are
illustrated in this volume, have always existed and
168 J^atcr Developments.
been in operation, may be illustrated sufficiently by
referring to a single example — the psychometric
genius of Zchokke, the famous author, as stated bv
himself, who, although he enjoyed so marvelous a
power, never realized its importance. Zchokke says
in his autobiography :
•'It is well known that the judgment we not sel-
dom form, at the first glance, of persons hitherto
unknown, is more correct than that which is the
result of longer acquaintance. The first impression,
that through some instinct of the soul attracts or
repels us with strangers, is afterwards weakened or
destroyed by custom, or by different appearances.
We speak in such cases of sympathy or antipathy,
and perceive these effects frequently amongst chil-
dren, to whom experience in human character is
wholly wanting. But now to my case.
" It has happened to me sometimes, on my first
meeting with strangers, as I listened silently to their
discourse, that their former life, with many trilling
circumstances therewith connected, or frequently
some particular scene in that life, has passed quite
involuntarily, and, as it were, dream-like, yet per-
fectly distinct before me. During this time I usually
feel so entirely absorbed in the contemplation of
the stranger's life, that at last I no longer see clearly
the face of the unknown wherein I undesignedly
look, nor distinctly hear the voices of the speakers,
which before served in some measure as a com-
mentary to the text of their features. For a long
time I held such visions as delusions of the fancy,
and the more so as they showed me even the dresj
Later Developments. 169
and motions of the actors, rooms, furniture and
other accessaries. By way of test, I once in a
familiar family circle at Kirchberg, related the
secret history of a seamstress who had just left
the room and the house. I had never seen her
before in my life. People were astonished, and
laughed, but were not to be persuaded that I did
not previously know the relations of which I spoke,
for what I had uttered was the literal truth. On
my part, I was no less astonished that my dream-
pictures were confirmed by the reality. I became
more attentive to the subject, and when propriety
admitted it, I would relate to those whose life thus
passed before me the subject of my vision, that I
might thereby obtain confirmation or refutation of it.
It was invariably ratified, not without consternation
on their part. 'What demon inspires you? Must
I again believe in possession' ' exclaimed the spiri-
tual Johann von Riga, when in the first hour of our
acquaintance 1 related his past life to him. We
speculated long on the enigma, but even his pene-
tration could not solve it.
•• I mvself had less confidence than any one in
this mental jugglery. As often as I revealed my
visionary gifts to anv new person, I regularlv
expected to hear the answer — * It was not so.' I
felt a secret shudder when my auditors' replied that
it was true, or when their astonishment betraved mv
accuracy before I spoke. Instead of many, I will
mention one example, which pre-eminently astounded
me. One fair day. in the city of Waldshut, I
entered the Vine Inn in companv with two voung
170 Later Developments.
student foresters. We were tired with rambling
through the woods. We supped with a numerous
company at the ' table d1 hotcj where the guests
were making very merry with the peculiarities and
eccentricities of the Swiss, with Mesmer's magne-
tism, Lavater's physiognomy, etc. One of my
companions, whose national pride was wounded
by their mockery, begged me to make some reply,
particularly, to a handsome young man who sate
opposite to me, and who allowed himself extraordi-
nary licence. This man's former life was at that
moment presented to my mind. I turned to him and
asked whether he would answer me candidly, if I
related to him some of the most secret passages of
his life, I knowing as little of him personally as he
did of me. That would be going a little further, I
thought, than Lavater did with his physiognomy.
He promised, if I were correct in my information, to
admit it frankly. I then related what my vision had
shown me, and the whole company were made
acquainted with the private history of the young
merchant — his school-years, his youthful errors,
and lastly, with a fault committed in reference to the
strong-box of his principal. I described to him the
uninhabited room, with whitened walls, where, to
the right of the brown door, on a table, stood a black
money-box, etc. A dead silence prevailed during
the whole narrative, which I alone occasionally inter-
rupted by inquiring whether I spoke the truth ? The
startled young man confirmed every particular, and
even what I had scarcely expected, the last men-
tioned. Touched by his candor, I shook hands with
Later Developments. 171
him over the table, and said no more. lie asked me
my name, which I gave him, and we remained
together talking till past midnight, lie is probably
still living ! "
Thousands have had experience like Zchokke's, and
even more marvelous. In the coming civilization
men will marvel that such things could ever have been
forgotten, ignored or denied. The last three centur-
ies will seem a very dark age, noth withstanding all
their vast but grovelling knowledge confined to the
earth and " earthy." The pall of materalism has cov-
ered these recent centuries so darkly as to shut out
the dawning light that once shone in Judea. Did not
Jesus look into men's souls and tell them of their
comihg deeds, did he not tell the woman of Samaria
of her five husbands? Did she not say : " Come and
see a man who told me all things that ever I did "
and did not Jesus promise that these very things and
greater things, too, should be done by his successors,
and were they -iot done by Zchokke and Cazotte as
an exercise of their familiar faculties — and by Joan
of Arc and George Fox and Swenbenborg, under the
inspiration whirh accompanies the true followers of
Jesus.
If I had time to ransack history and biography,
abundant illustrations might be found of the existence
and exercise of the powers which were exercised bjr
Zchokke and by Ca/:otte.
Even now while I have been writing, a capital illus-
tration comes from the antipodes, in the experience of
a gifted gentleman whose fine intuition has led him to
express the very views which are inculcated in this
volume.
172 Later Developments.
Placing his name unseen in the hands of Mrs. B.
O
for psychometric description, she revealed his capaci-
ties as follows :
"This is altogether a new character to me. He is
living, too. He is powerful in mentality — and edu-
cation. It takes me into a grand intellectual atmos-
phere. He is humanitarian — his work is mainly in
that direction — like one who has founded some
benevolent enterprise.
" He has an extraordinarily clear mind, thoroughly
original and independent. He has clairvoyant power
to a remarkable extent, and exercises it, too. He is
practical and brings what he knows into a practical
shape. His powers are so far reaching as almost to
annihilate space. He has an illuminated mind -»- this
is the most active power in his brain.
(Where is he?) "Not in this country — it takes
me off to a very distant land — a southern direction.
He is bold. He seems advanced in life. (Does he
understand public affairs?) Yes, he can sit in his
home aud compass almost the entire world. There
seems no limit to his soul power in that way. He is
not in a war-like spirit.
(What is his profession?) " He may be a physi-
cian. I think he is. He wrould not be a lawyer."
The gentleman thus described is C. W. Rohner, M.
D., of Tungamah, Australia, who presented in an
essay, dated February 12, 1885, published at Mel-
bourne, the following admirable suggestions and
statements :
" In defiance of all the high-wrought and elaborate
definitions of old-time Psychology, I venture to define
Later Developments. 173
intuition simply as direct spiritual insight, immediate
perception of both facts and truths without any prelim-
inary instruction or preparation for the reception of
the new truths and the new facts. Intuition, in my
opinion, is one of the grandest faculties of the human
mind, and although not so positive in its data as clair-
voyance, to which it is certainly and closely allied,
intuition is in manv respects far more valuable than
clairvoyance, because it is more comprehensive in its
scope, and more profound in the results of its opera-
tion.
" Without the natural <rift of intuition a man cannot
O
rise to any high altitude of mentality in this world, for
intuition is one of the most constant and reliable
teachers and tutors — a true mentor — of mankind.
lie who is gitted with this rare faculty has the key of
all knowledge in his possession.
•• Without a certain amount of intuition I hold it
absolutely impossible to become a Spiritualist, for in-
tuition is the first and handiest instrument to bring
man in contact with things invisible from a physical
point of view. Hence it is that men of magnificent
intellects and grand attainments — leading men of
science, leading theologians, leading politicians, etc.,
— are utterlv unable to attain to spiritual sight, or to
the understanding of things truly spiritual. They
really have eyes and see not. as a grandly intuitive
man said over 1800 years ago.
•• Somehow or other some people, and they are not
so inconsiderable in number, cannot understand any-
thing that is new : their minds run in such rigidly
r> ?™t
conservative grooves that thev cannot deviate from a
174 Later Developments.
certain path ; and such men it would take perhaps
half a life-time to realize so stupendous a fact as the
discovery of another hemisphere.
" Intuition is one of the most valuable gifts that
can be bestowed upon mortal, for by the aid of intuition
man may become master, not only of all knowledge,
but even of all secrets, down to the best kept State
secrets of the craftiest statesman — of a very Bis-
marck. To illustrate this fact, I have only to allude to
my own intuitional experience. Some ten months ago
— when nobody in Australia knew anything of the de-
signs of Bismarck on New Guinea, and moreover, of
his secret designs against England generally *
I wrote several plain leading articles on the subject,
asserting in unmistakable terms that Bismarck would
O
have New Guinea, and that the French would have
their New Hebrides. I was laughed at for my trouble
by almost everybody who knew my views. How
could that be? some asked. I could not tell them ; I
only knew that things had this tendency ; and often in
the morning I would awake as if I had come from the
secret council-chambers of European diplomatists,
where I had heard their plans discussed in order to
enable me to warn those against whom these designs
were forming.
" Now all these things have come to pass, people
cannot help believing them, however unable they may
still be to realize them. I could tell hosts of similar
and still more important State secrets which are going
to be carried out shortly, also against England : but
my past experience is not encouraging for me to do so
at present. If this article had not already spread itself
Later Developments. 175
out to an undue length, I could have furnished further
proofs of this my peculiar intuitional gift in connec-
tion with the perpetration of what was years ago
styled the " Bulgarian atrocities," which I saw per-
formed on victims as if I were standing alongside the
shambles on which they were cut up like so much
hu tcher's meat. These scenes I saw enacted regularly
two or three days before an account of them would
appear in the daily papers, and I was myself so as-
tonished at the coincidence of what I saw intuitively
(perhaps also clairvoyantly), that I took regular notes
of the proceedings as they happened."
CHAPTER IT.
THE PSYCHIC FACULTIES — THEIR LOCATION AND ACCI-
DENTAL MANIFESTATION.
Nature and location of the psychometric faculty of intuition — Its associa-
tion with sensibility — The recognition of this by writers on animal
magnetism — Necessary precaution in psychometric investigations —
The superior intellectual or spiritual method — Its connection with
feeling — Magnetic experience of Ilufeland, Gmelin and others — -The
loss of consciousness as to the body — Connection of the phenomena
with broad foreheads — Evils from sensitiveness — How avoided by
health and by pure psychic action — Somifnmbulism and trance con-
nected with the temples — Loss of bodily consciousness — Mcdiumship
— Manipulation to develope trance and Psychometry — Neglect of
physicians — Effect of the local excitement and heat in the temples —
Its illustration in Jane Rider — Perfect vision and remarkable intelli-
gence and energy with the eyes closed and bandaged— Pain in the
temples — Hints to physicians - - Blindfold experiments — "Wonderful
developments of clairvoyant intelligence — Their neglect by colleges —
The physical leads into darkness the spiritual into light — Spirituality
of the dying and of somnambulists — views of Andral and Virgil —
Vulgar errors, comparing Psychometry with mesmerism, diabolism,
spiritualism and thought reading — Explanation of Psychometry, an
independent mastery of knowledge — Corporeal location of the psychic
powers —The soul residing in the brain as its home — The body as the
garden of the mansion — Relation explained by the sensitive nerves —
Epigastric locality corresponding to the temples — Transference of
psychic action in sleep and dreams — Superabundant illustration in
natural somnambulism — Reports of Colquhoun — Explanation by
Anthropology — "Why the phenomena are forgotten — Phenomena of
artificial somnambulism well and widely known but ignored by col-
leges — Exaltation of the faculties in natural somnambulism — Vision
of the French ecclesiastic through paper — Perfect vision with closed
eyes — Reading with closed eyes and seeing through a plank reported
to a philosophical society — Suspension of sensation — Case reported
to medical society of IJreslau — Somnambulism in a young rope-maker
— Perfect vision with closed eyes, and complete bodily insensibility —
Perfect \ ision in a girl of thirteen with bandaged eyes — Similar case
in Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions -- Utilization of the psychic
176
Psychic Faculties. 177
powers in I'sychometry, which have been neglected by an intellectual
barbarism — Marvelous ease related by Dr. Abererombie — Wonderlul
imitation and intelligence in a girl of feeble mind — The true nature ot
the psychic faculties and their relation to the spirit world — Their
liability to delusion — Confusion of objective and subjective — Their
future emancipation of the world from superstition — Grandeur of
the twentieth century — The intuitional faculty associated with uncon-
sciousness and sleep — Sir Thomas Browne — Skill of somnambulists
— Danger of sudden awakening — Identity of the somnolent faculties
and our daily intuitions which bring success in life — development of
intuition thoroughout all ages and at present — Inspiration of Shakes-
peare and George Elliot.
The cavern's streams from darkness come — to darkness go-
Their source; unknown.
Wild storms come from transparent depths of upper air,
We know not why.
Comets from stellar depths, unknown, rush by,
A dazzling mystery.
Yet science shall reveal the whole, and trace the paths
By which they come.
Then shall its starry eye pierce farther, dimmer depths
Of human mystery —
The magic of the ancient sage - the Prophet's ken.
The priestly power
That awed the savage tribes and built the temples grand :
The wondrous tales
Of Angels dimly seen, and of Demoniac power:
The wild insanities
That come like storms to multitudes, and deeper mysteries
Of mad-house life:
Extatics, dreamers, floating forms, astounding miracles
At saintly tombs.
And the unconscious utterance of a wisdom rare
From feeble lips:
These shall be traced along the mystic lines of power
That reach afar
Toward that unseen and awful power that holds
The farthest stars,
And yet with swe.-t benevolence lifts up
I'oor, crrinir man.
When he aspires, into the realm of Heavenly lore.
What is the essential nature of the psychometric
facultv? In the ultimate analysis I have called it
178 Psychic Faculties,
INTUITION. But the intuitional faculty is connected
with the interior portion of the front lobe and that
portion is connected by the law of coincidence or
parallelism with the lateral portion of the front lobe,
which is behind the eyebrow, and runs into connex-
ion with the interior part of the middle lobe, in
which is located the organ of feeling or sensibility -
the aggregate of the sensitive faculties. Hence it is
that the somnambulic and psychometric conditions
may be brought on by gentle impressions on the
sense of feeling, especially by such impressions a;>
are made by the nervaura.
The acute perceptions of the region of intuition
and its coincident in somnolence, are thus associated
closely by the proximity of the organs with the
highest sensibilities that we possess and the exercise
of the intuitional faculty is accompanied by the
highest degree of sensibility, which needs to be
protected irom all harsh influences and even from
ordinary light. Hence in clairvoyant experiments
it is necessary to extinguish or lower the light or to
protect the eyes. The bandage placed over the eyes
is a real advantage t j the clairvoyant.
It follows then from the construction of the brain
that in all intuitional phenomena there will be great
exaltation and delicacy of the senses manifested
— that feeling, hearing, seeing and sympathetic im-
pression will act in unison to give the delicate and
profound knowledge which belongs to the intuitional
region.
In the language of Psychometry we find this blend-
ing. The psychometer recognizes all cognizable
Psychic Faculties. 17.9
properties, conditions and phenomena in the object of
his examination. The odors in the air, the tempera-
ture of the climate, its healthy or unhealthy influ-
ences, the qualities of food and medicine, the sensations
of the sick, the forms and colors of landscapes, flow-
ers, paintings, persons and imagery, the spiritual
character of society and the purposes that pervade
the people — in short, all that can be comprehended
by human intelligence is recognized, as if all senses
and sympathies were in the highest activity.
This combination <;f the faculties has lon<f been
n
recognized. " In the state of clairvoyance (says
Colquhoun) the magnetic patients may be said to fed
rather than to sec. Fisher's somnambulist assured
him that he saw his internal parts, but not as with the
eyes : he could not describe the manner in which he-
perceived them. Frederic Hufeland's patient said,
only in the highest degree of lucidity, •• I sec:" at
other times she generally used the expression, " I
feel " this or that part, this or that change, etc.
Gmelin's patient, too, said she did not sec but J'ecJ^
and with great delicacy, both internally and extern-
ally ; and Scherb's patient declared, that in the mag-
netic sleep, the sensations were rather those of feeling
than of sight^ and that the feeling during that state
was much more acute and delicate than when awake.
A corroboration of these views may also be derived
from the follow in <; curious declaration of Dr. Des-
O
pine's cataleptic patient. " You think," said she to
those who had placed themselves en rapport with her :
"that I don't .know what passes around me everv
evening : but vou are mistaken. I see nothing, but
i So Psychic Faculties.
I feel something which makes an impression upon
me, but which I cannot explain."
This sensitive, intuitional and sympathetic con-
sciousness is especially conspicuous in the somnambu-
lic state and in psychometers who have great breadth
of the anterior part of the head, and yield to their
sensations. The large development in the region of
somnolence and sensibility which gives this breadth,
causes them to fed all the conditions they describe,
and therefore, often makes them too sensitive or im-
pressible for the prolonged investigation of anything
unpleasant or morbid.
These evils avoided it the region of Heroism and
o
Health is well developed, or if the intuitional perception
is effected chiefly by the intuitional faculty connected
with the internal aspect of the front lobe, marked ex-
ternally above the root of the nose. This is the pure
spiritual intuition, in the exercise of which there is
less reaction upon the body — the conceptions being
more purely intellectual with less of sensitive sympa-
thy— in fact more like the clear conceptions of earth-
life being formed by spiritual beings.
It is this clear and purely intellectual exercise of
an interior powers which I recommend to psychome-
ters, as it imposes the least burden on the constitution.
When we go farther than this and concentrate the
soul power more completely in the form of pure intelli-
gence, we lose consciousness of the bod}', and in
various degrees the senses are closed ; the eye, the ear
and the skin become insensible and surgical opera-
tions may be performed in absolute unconsciousness as
though the soul had lor the time bein<j entirely with-
Psychic Faculties. 181
drawn from the body. In a similar condition of spir-
itual withdrawal by persons who are called mediums,
the body from which the controlling spirit has with-
drawn is taken possession of by a disembodied spirit,
whose acts and words during this temporary obses-
sion are unknown to the person when his own spirit
resumes its conscious sway.
The proper manipulation toward the temp'e or ap-
plication of the ringers may produce the conditions
favorable to psychometry and may be carried farther
to establish mesmeric somnambulism or the spiritual
trance which developes a brilliant intellectuality and
improvisation, or which may surrender the control of
the brain to an invading spirit.
As the excitement in the temples and forehead de-
velops the higher sensitive and psychic faculties it
follows that without any reference to the mesmeric
methods, the occurrence of feverish heat or excite-
ment in the temples or in the brow between the eyes
may develop these psychic phenomena.
Phvsicians have been very negligent in reporting
such facts, but there are probably none who have
had extensive practice in fevers and in nervous or hys-
terical affections who have not observed that this heat
in the temples just behind the eyes is frequently ac-
companied by the most exalted sensibilitv, bv spectral
or ocular illusions, by intolerance of light and sound.
and by wonderful acuteness of perception, running into
clairvoyance or something analogous.
A very famous case of this kind is that of Jane
Rider of Springfield, reported by Dr. Ilelden, in
1834, antl vt-'ry extensively published, in which the
182 Pzychic Facilities,
development of psychic powers was brought on by
an attack with a flushed face, pain in the left side of
the head which was hot, and an excited pulse. She
was relieved by the physician and next morning re-
called nothing of the attack. Another attack came
on in about a month and produced a fine specimen of
somnambulism. She rose and dressed herself with
her eyes closed, and went through the whole business
of preparing the table for breakfast, but next morning
thought it had been done by some one else. In her
numerous subsequent paroxysms with her eyes closed,
she manifested the most perfect vision, even in rooms
entirely dark, sewing and performing household duties
with entire ease and correctness and sometimes refused
to allow a lamp to be burned because she thought it
was daylight. These attacks were generally if not
always accompanied by pain in the temples on the
left side of the head, which produced severe suffering
and led her to say repeatedly, pointing to that spot,
" it ought to be cut open — it ought to be cut open.''
If the treatment had been directed to this spot as her
intuition dictated her attacks might have been con-
trolled and perhaps her high endowments perserved
in her normal condition.
In these attacks, her mental exaltation was often
shown by the impetuous rapidity of her action.
*' She moved with astonishing rapidity, and accom-
plished whatever she attempted with a celerity of
which she was utterly incapable in her natural state."
Sometimes she had her paroxysm in bed, " where
she sung, talked and repeated passages of poetry.
Once she imagined herself at Brattleborough, spoke
Psychic Faculties. 183
of scenes and persons with which she was acquainted
there, and described the characters of certain indi-
viduals with great accuracy and shrewdness, and
imitated their actions so exactly as to produce a most
comical effect." Although she sang with propriety
and correctness, she had never learned to sing, nor
been known to sing, when awake.
Hereafter, liberal physicians enlightened by An-
thropology will know that whenever an unusual
heat or excitement appears in the temples an inch
behind the brow, the sensibilities are exalted, deli-
cate medication is necessarv, infinitesimal doses will
be responded to, and delicate manipulations will be
so effective (guided by Sarcognomy) as often to
make medicine entirely unnecessary. Moreover in
such patients they will be prepared to expect unusual
psychic manifestations, and occasionally the develop-
ment of an intelligence which may comprehend their
own condition and make the most important sugges-
tion for their treatment (as was recognized by
Cabanis), or even obtain suggestions from their
attendant spiritual companionship.
In the case of Jane Rider the vision was during
her paroxysms entirely a spiritual phenomenon. It
made no difference whether her eyes were entirely
open or entirely closed or covered with bandages.
•• On the twentieth of November, the reporter
(Dr. Beldon ) took a large black silk handkerchief,
placed between the folds two pieces of cotton batting,
and applied it in such a way that the cotton came
directly over the eyes, and completely filled the
cavitv on each side of the nose, the silk was dis-
184 Psychic Faculties.
tinctly seen to be in close contact with the skin.
Various names* were then written on cards, both of
persons with whom she was acquainted, and of those
who were unknown to her, which she read as soon
as they were presented to her." To make the experi-
ment still more perfect he " took two large wads of
cotton and placed them directly on the closed eye-
lids and then bound them on with the handkerchief
before used. The cotton filled the cavity under the
eyebrow, came down to the middle of the cheek and
was in close contact with the nose. The former expe-
riments were then repeated without any difference in
the result." She also wrote with facility, and read
with facility, writing too fine to be distinguished at
the usual distance from the eye.
" She occasionally exhibited an extraordinary
power of imitation. This extended not only to the
manner, but to the language and sentiments of the
person whom she personified, and her performances
in this way were so striking, and her conceptions of
character so just, that nothing could be more comi-
cal. This, like her other extraordinary powers, was
confined to her somnambulist state — at other times,
she did not exhibit the slightest trace of it."
Another illustration of her abnormal intellectuality
was shown in learning to play backgammon. After
receiving two lessons she beat an experienced player,
but when awake she knew nothing about it.
I have dwelt upon the mental exaltation and the
spiritual vision in the case of Jane Rider because
the case is so authentic and so well known, and
because it illustrates so clearly the transcendent
Ps v chic faculties. 185
power of an interior region of the brain even in
morbid conditions, which, without the use of the
internal senses and external reason, the sole intel-
lectual guides recognized by the world's dominant
psychology and even by the Gallian Phrenology
attains all the results that are attained by the pro-
longed labors of observation and reasoning — attains
them without an effort, leaping at once into posses-
sion of the harvest of knowledge and wisdom as if
all had been garnered by some celestial power and
poured into the receptive soul.
The full extent of the power it is true is not shown
in the case of Jane Rider, but it is amply illustrated
in mesmeric somnambulists, in religious trances, in
the eloquent outpourings of entranced speakers in
their poetic improvisations, and their grand discus-
sions of themes with which they have had no
acquaintance previous to their inspired utterance,
in none more remarkably than in W. J. Colville,
who, when a half-educated youth, gave learned
disquisitions on philosophy. If there be such powers
in humanity — latent in many — but bursting spon-
taneously into expression from thousands without an
effort, and in spite of repression, why is Heaven's
richest intellectual gift to man ignored and defied by
colleges? Why, unless that the colleges are in
philosophy* the reservoir of accumulated ignorance,
and, therefore, the antagonist of inspiration, as dark-
ness is the antagonist of light, having followed the
drifting of the animal nature into the lower or
physical and verbal departments of knowledge, into
which they have so deeply burrowed as to have
1 86 Psychic Faculties.
lost sight of the world of life and light, so far above
their plane of thought, and so grossly miseducated
their pupils that apparently educated physicians will
deny clairvoyance, and insult or slander those in
whom it appears.
The farther we go in that direction the deeper the
spiritual darkness that enshrouds the world, for the
spiritual and physical are our opposite polarities. In
the former we find all light and freedom, all harmony
and love — in the latter, all darkness, tyranny and
crime. When the spirit has abandoned the body
forever, then only does it enjoy the perfection of its
capacities for wisdom and happiness — capacities
which it realizes in life most perfectly when the
body is in the most perfect repose, but which are
often lost in the tumult of passionate life — least
realized surely when we are dealing with physical
obstacles — when the soul energy is lost in the body,
as in excessive toil, and least realized in our intel-
lectual life when intelligence is exclusively occupied
with the physical forms and forces that resist our
muscular energy. Humanity is debased in propor-
tion as education is limited to the acquisition of
physical knowledge, and active life to the pursuit
of wealth and power.
How often does the soul of the dying invalid report
itself refreshed by a rich experience during the hours
of prostration and apparent death, or during similar
moments in somnambulism.
Prof. Andral, one of the most philosophic of his
French contemporaries, refers t« a case in which M.
Filazzi, an interne of the Hotel Dieu, totally skepti-
Psychic Faculties. 187
cal, attempted to amuse himself by magnetizing a
fellow-student. After twenty minutes he adds " what
was my horror when I saw his fingers turn blue, his
head fall powerless forward, when I heard his res-
piration rattling like a dying man's and felt his skin
as cold as death itself. I cannot find words to
describe my sufferings. I knew net what to do.
Meanwhile all these horrid phenomena increased in
intensity. I trembled at the recollection of what I
saw : there lay my friend, my victim, devoid of
the aspect of life, in a state of complete and terrible
collapse." "In a quarter of an hour he
recovered, and exclaiming that in the extacy he had
experienced sensations of extreme delight, begged
me to recommence the passes. I did so with less
apprehension, and again the somnolency proceeded.
The collapse, however, was less profound and ter-
rific, and in some minutes he suddenly awoke with
the exclamation : " What happiness is this."
It is a very old and familiar thought, vet one not
«" O 7 W
acted on by modern colleges, that the soul lias a
freedom and purity in itself which are hindered by
its residence in matter, and which it does not realize
until emancipated from its physical surroundings, or
relieved by an extatic condition from their immediate
pressure. Plato, and other spiritual philosophers of
antiquity, taught this distinctly, and Virgil expressed
it in the sixth book of the ^"Eneid, in the following
among other passages :
" Nor ran the «jrovHlin£ mind
In tlio dark dungeon of tin- limbs routined,
Assert tin- native skies, or own its heavenly kind ;
Nor death itself ean wholly wash the stains.
Hut long eontraeted tilth e'en in the .soul remain-."
1 88 Psychic Faculties.
The collegiate policy is to recognize only the action
of the soul as immersed in matter it studies its physi-
cal surroundings, while debased by selfish influences,
and to ignore as visionary and delusive all its trans-
cendent powers, and all who possess them or who
believe in their existence, unless they wrote tii'O
thousand years ago.
The reader is now prepared by the exposition of
psychometric phenomena and their connection with
the brain to correct certain vulgar errors on this sub-
ject among those who are unfamiliar with psychomet-
ric science.
As a matter of course those to whom new knowl-
edge is presented generally endeavor to avoid any
change in their old ideas, and either resist its recep-
tion or endeavor to diminish its novelty and identify it
with what they already know, or suppose they know.
Thus a clergyman familiar with certain notions of
the power of the Devil and his imps, and unfamiliar
with primitive Christianity, when he hears of strange
mental phenomena of mesmerism and spiritualism,
assumes that they are but another form of the diabol-
ism in which he believes.
The devotee of mesmerism, \vhen he hears of Psy-
chometry and spiritualism, assumes that they are the
same thing with which he is familiar as mesmerism.
The devotee of spiritualism hearing of Psychome-
try often assumes that it is merely an exhibition of
spiritualism or power of the spirits, and supposes that
supermundane beings are its source.
The amateur in thought-reading also is very confi-
dent that all extraordinary mental phenomena are but
Psychic Faculties. 189
various forms of thought-reading to which his experi-
ence is limited.
The powers displayed in psychometric experiments
are entirely distinct from the spiritual phenomena.
We are no more dependent on spiritual help to feel
the medical impression of a iluid extract in a vial,
than we are in smelling a rose or tasting a beefsteak.
We are equally independent in feeling the impression
of an autograph and tracing the character of the
writer, as we trace the character and tendency of a
remedy, just as much as we should be in feeling the
influence of smallpox in a piece of infected paper,
and there by contracting the disease. While in the
form, we have all the faculties that we shall have
when emancipated from the body ; and whatever
spirits can do in the way of intuitional perception,
we can do likewise with a freedom and success pro-
portional to our interior development. We depend
neither on the living friends around us nor on the
spirit friends who may be present.
But in proportion as our spiritual or intuitional fac-
ulties are developed, they have a wider range of more
delicate perceptions, and we may recognize or feel the
sentiments or thoughts of friends around us either in
the form or out, especially if they endeavor to com-
municate them. Hence the psychometer may perceive
that there are other opinions than his own about him.
and may pay them as much deference as he thinks
proper — may reject them if he does not approve, or
may avail himself of the clear ideas which are pre-
sented, if they are acceptable to his judgment. In
this he is as independent as in his associations in
society.
190 Psychic Faculties.
The state of mediumship is a very different affair
from psychometric investigation. The medium sur-
renders his brain to the control of some spirit, and has
no responsibility for what is uttered, nor, in general,
any knowledge of it. The spirit may be of high or
low grade ; and we are far from getting pure spiritual
intelligence in such cases. The spirit is using a brain
not his own, and never capable of using it as freely
and naturally as the owner. The spirit expression,
therefore, is very imperfect at best. But in a large
number of cases of mediumistic utterance there is very
little spiritual influence present. The utterance is
not by a real spiritual obsession, but more like the
entranced utterances of the mesmeric somnambules
modified slightly or not at all by a spiritual influence.
In normal Psychometry the individval has the per-
fect use of all his faculties in his highest intellectual
condition and also generally in his best moral condi-
tion, and is capable of enlarging the sphere of his cog-
nition by sympathy with either surrounding or super-
nal mind with which his powers may be reinforced.
Psychometry is a dignified, independent and normal
process, which tends if rightly practiced to the
strengthening and ennoblement of character and
mind.
The suggestion that psychometric revelations de-
pend upon thought-reading or borrowing thoughts
from some one present is as groundless as the spirit-
ual notion. It is much easier to take an impression
from an autograph or medicine held in the hands than
to extract the information from some adjacent brain,
even if the information existed there in an accessible
Psychic Faculties. 191
shape. The total ignorance of the surrounding circle
is not the slightest hindrance to the psychometer in
getting an autographic impression, and their entire
absence is equally a matter of indifference or rather
it is a positive advantage, for the less there is to attract
or disturb attention the better for the psychometer.
When Mrs. B. wishes to look into a difficult case for
diagnosis or morbid conditions, she sits alone with the
autograph, with her pen to record impressions as they
rise. If the thought-reading hypothesis is strained to
suppose that her mind must then reach out to the dis-
tant patient who may be at the antipodes, we cannot
but wonder at the credulity which supposes it easier
to perform such a difficult task than to feel the impres-
sion from something in the hands which is as clearly
recognizable, beginning at the hand, as a medical
influence from a drug held in the same manner, or the
caloric from a warm bod}'.
Indeed, such marvelous excursions in pursuit ot
knowledge (the elements of which are in the hand)
would, if they were practised often, be unsuccessful,
from the fact that the patient does not understand his
own case, and is writing for its explanation by the
psychometer, who sometimes contradicts his impres-
sions, or reveals what he did not suspect — or tells
him what he cannot at first believe. When Mrs. B.
wrote to a correspondent at Calcutta, India, that he
was coming to the United States within two years, he
replied that he did not see any possibility of it. But
her psychometric intuition was verified within the time
contrary to his anticipations. She frequently speaks
of erroneous opinions entertained by patients and by
192 Psychic Faculties.
their physicians. Indeed, the psychometric judgment
is as entirely self-reliant and independent as any other
method of arriving at conclusions, and Psychometry
gives us a new method of exploring all sciences, by
our own mental energy. If there were no other
minds on earth or in Heaven, the true psychometer
well endowed, could build up all knowledge and phil-
osophy in grandest amplitude far beyond his power to
carry it in his mind or record it by any graphic art.
The treasures of knowledge which in past ages
have been thus gathered have perished unrecorded —
the refined and sensitive minds of tropical regions
thinking no more of accumulating and recording
their too easily accessible knowledge, than of storing
up nature's wealth of aromas, fruits and flowers which
were ever within reach inviting enjoyment.
In my experiments with Mrs. B. and others, I
sometimes find them incapable of answering a ques-
tion, while the answer that should come, is in my
mind very distinct. Instead of giving my knowledge
and opinions, they frequently state that with which I
am not acquainted, and sometimes express opinions
different from mine.
THI-: LOCALITY OF TIIJ-: PSYCHIC rowicns.
While the great intuitional or psychometric centre
is unquestionably at the interior of the front lobes,
with an adjunct location in the temples, it must be
borne in mind that the science of Sarcognomy dis-
covers an outpost in the body for all the psychic
faculties. The entire brain corresponds with the
Psychic Faculties. 193
entire body, and whatever occurs in one has it.s echo
in the other.
As love is expressed or echoed in the bosom, tirna-
ness in the shoulder, and the violent passions in the
lower limbs, so have all the subtle spiritual faculties
their corporeal homes. The soul occupying the
brain as the master occupies the mansion, looks forth
upon the body, as the eye of the master rests upon
his garden, and as when invited by a congenial season
of pleasure, the master leaves the mansion for the
garden, he typifies the action of the soul in occupy-
ing, for a time, the body, to the apparent neglect of
the brain.
Even without this descent into the body, the tele-
graphic connexion of the brain with all parts, by
sensitive nerves establishes so intimate a sympathy,
that impressions on the body become almost the same
as impressions on the brain. Hence the medical
impression from medicines held in the hand is in the
very sensitive instantaneously recognized, though in
others it requires sometime to reach the brain and
become understood. Hence too, the psychometric
impression from an autograph held in the hand is in
the very sensitive, so promptlv recognized, that they
prefer to receive their impressions in that manner,
and, indeed, psychometric impressions of character,
like medical impressions mav be received in the
sensitive from any part of the surface of the bodv.
Manifestly, however, the most perfect reception
of psychic impressions may be expected at that part
of the body which most nearly corresponds with the
sensitive and somnolent region of the temples. Sarc-
1 94 Psvchic Faculties,
ognomy shows that there is such a locality adjacent
to the median line of the body, upon and below the
sternum, its chief location occupying a few inches
below the ensiform cartilage of the breast-bone. (The
accurate location of the psycho-physiological func-
tions in the body which constitutes the science of
Sarcognomy is one of the valuable applications of
Psychometry.)
At this location, somnolizing effects are produced
by the application of the hand or by passes toward
this spot, and thus all the phenomena of somnambu-
lism and somniloquence may be de\ eloped as effect-
ively as though the organ of somnolence, in the
temples, by which my pupils are accustomed to
produce the somnolent conditions.
Having thus cerebral and corporeal organs of the
highest sensibilities and intuitions in close correspon-
dence with each other, it follows that the most
intimate union and co-operation of the soul, the
brain and the body, must be possible, if any where
through this apparatus of intuition and sympathetic
sensibility, the two locations of which are always
in close rapport, each capable of responding to the
other.
The cerebrum has the controlling centre nearest
~
the soul, but when the cerebrum is in a quiescent
state as in sleep, some local excitement may well
attract the psychic action to this psychic region of
the body, and of this, nature and art have given us
ample illustration in spontaneous and induced som-
nambulism, in which the exercise of perceptive or
intuitive power from the sternal and epigastric region
Psychic Faculties. 195
has long been observed without comprehending its
philosophy, which has been given by Sarcognomy.
Colquhoun says: "I brought forward abundant
evidence with the view of demonstrating the extra-
ordinary fact of the occasional transference of the
faculties in certain states of the organism. While
engaged in collecting that evidence, I found no want,
but rather a redundance of materials ; I found myself
to be very much in the same situation with the inge-
nious Frenchman who complained of the cnibarras de
richcsscs; for this reason I conceived it sufficient to
adduce only the most striking and best authenticated
instances. * * Several years before, I had for a
totally different purpose, made a pretty ample col-
lection of the most interesting and best authenticated
instances of the natural somnambulism ; and it seemed
to me that it might be of use to search for, and
examine, this collection with a view to discover
whether it contained anything that could confer
additional strength upon the cogent evidence
already adduced. * I was a good deal sur-
prised, though pleased, to find that in almost every
one of these cases, the facts of the insensibility of
the corporeal organs, and of the transference of the
faculties, had been more or less distinctly observed.
I have since been enabled to add several very inter-
esting recent cases of a perfectly uniform character,
almost all of which have been reported with great
accuracy by professional men. The discoverv of the
manifestation of the remarkable phenomena in ques-
tion appears to have been almost always made In-
mere accident — they are seldom brought
196 Psychic Faculties.
prominently forward, and scarcely any attempt is
made to account for them, excepting upon the
strange and inadmissible hypothesis that the organ
of one sense supplies the place and' performs the
functions of others."
This mystery to Colquhoun disappears when we
recognize the existence of a higher and all compre-
hensive intuitional power, in which all intelligence is
concentrated, and which having a definite location in
the cerebrum, has also a corresponding location in the
body. In consequence of this structure, psvchomet-
ric or intuitional powers may be exercised either from
the central or the epigastric location, and the epi-
gastric location may become the chief seat of the
power or rather the manifestation, when consciousness
being suspended by sleep, the entire brain has lost its
excitability.
The entire philosophy of this subject can be apprec-
iated only after the study of organology and pa-
thognomy as presented in the volumes of Cerebral
Psychology and Pathognomy,* which explain the
relations of the interior and exterior surfaces of the
front lobe, and the action of the lateral occipital region,
in suspending consciousness (while reinforcing animal
life) and opening the brain to the influx of exterior
intelligence which controls all action without employ-
ing the consciousness of the subject bv which the
mental processes could be recognized and remem-
oered.
Hence the performances of somnambulists are like
* Those subjects 'will be concisely presented in a new edition of my
System of Athropology, which I hope to prepare in 1880.
Psychic Faculties. 197
those of spiritual mediums, unrecorded by memory
and unknown to the subject when he returns to his
normal state.
That artificial somnambulism is accompanied by the
power of seeing with the eyes bandaged and of trav-
elling in any direction, describing the regions visited
as if the clairvoyant were actually looking at them
has been so often verified in all civilized countries, in
private circles, before scientific committees, and before
public audiences that it is needless to relate instances.*
That natural somnambulism, too, is accompanied
by a wonderful exaltation of the perceptive powers
and by the perfect exercise of the senses when the
eyes are insensible, or when light is absent, has been
very often observed, but so limited has been the circu-
lation of th ' literature in which such facts are embod-
ied and illustrated that it is worth while to refer to a
few authentic examples of the exaltation of the senses
and their exercise in an unusual manner.
One of the most famous of these is the case in the
thirty-eighth volume of the French Encyclopedia, nar-
rated by the Archbishop of Bordeaux, in which a
young ecclesiastic was accustomed to get up at night
in a state of somnanbulism, compose and write ser-
* Thi> absolute stolidity of the colleges and a lanre portion of the edu-
cated classes on this subject shows that the world is not yet half civilized.
No matter how often the phenomena are demonstrated, nor how many
thousands are convinced, the colleges and their text books remain tin-
same, and the perennial crop of ignorance on thi* subject Nourishes with
unabated abundance. If the demonstrations were not continually renewed,
the colleges would entirely suppress the knowledge of such facts and sus-
pend the circulation of the literature in which they are made known. ( »ur
entire University and Collegiate system needs to be superseded by a
rational education.
198 Psychic Faculties.
mons. Alter writing a page he would read it aloud
and correct it with his pen. The Archbishop held a
piece of pasteboard under his chin to prevent his see-
ing the paper, but he wrote on as usual, not regarding
[he interruption. Yet when the paper he was writing
on was removed and another piece substituted, he
immediately perceived the change. Thus he showed
that he was able to perceive what he wished to see,
but that he did not depend upon the transmission of
light and was not hindered by an opaque substance.
In this somnambulic condition he wrote pieces of
music with his eyes closed, adjusting the notes and
words, and correcting errors as one would do with the
full use of the senses.
A case of natural somnambulism occurring in Switz-
erland was reported by a committee of the Philosoph-
ical Society of Lausanne, and an account of it appears
in the Encyclopedia Britannica. In this individual, a
boy named Devaud, thirteen years and six months of
age, vision was exercised in rooms perfectly dark, and
with his eyes fast closed ; he recognized objects as
well as if he had their use. Like the French ecclesi-
astic his vision was not hindered by opaque bodies.
The committee state that when he was writing down
what his master dictated " though we put a thick
piece of paper before his eyes, he continued to form
each character with the same distinctness as before.
The committee saw him with his eyes closed write and
correct his school exercises and " cipher and calcu-
late with great exactness." He read the titles of works
in rooms absolutely dark, and " even told the title of
a book, when there \vas a thick plank placed between
it and his eyes."
Psychic Faculties. 199
What is most extraordinary in the reports of natural
somnambulism is not only the possession of intuitional
power, but the suspension of ordinary sensation. One
of the best illustrations of this is a German case
reported in the Transactions of the Medical Society of
Breslau."
" A ropemaker, twenty-three years of age, was fre-
quently overtaken by sleep, even by daylight, and in
the midst of his usual occupation, whether sitting,
standing or walking. His eves ivere firmly closed, and
lie lost the use of all his external senses. While in this
state he sometimes recommenced doing all that he had
been engaged in during the previous part of the day,
from his morning devotions up to the commencement of
the paroxysms. At other times he would continue the
work in which he happened to be engaged at the
time, and finished his business with as great ease and
success as when awake. When the fit overtook him
in travelling, he did not stand still, but proceeded on
his journey, with the same facility and almost faster
than when awake, without missing the road or stum-
bling over anything. In this manner he repeatedly
went from Naumburgh to Weimar. Upon one of these
occasions, he came into a narrow lane, across which
there lay some timber. He passed over it regularly as
if awake without injury. With equal care and dex-
terity he avoided the horses and carriages which came
in his way. At another time he was overtaken by
yleep a short while before setting out for Weimar on
horseback. He rode through the river lime, allowed
his horse to drink, and drew up his legs to prevent
them from getting wet, then passed through several
2OO Psychic Faculties
streets, crossed the market-place which was then lull
of people, booths and carts, and arrived in safety at
the house where his business lay."
" During the continuance of the paroxysm he was
quite insensible, though pricked, pinched or struck,
he felt nothing. He could not see when his eyes
were thrust open. He could not smell even the
most volatile spirit, nor could he hear the report of
a pistol when rired close beside him."
Dr. Shultz, of Hamburgh, reported the case of a
girl of thirteen, of respectable family, who in a state
of somnambulism, while her eyes were shut, distin-
guished, without difficulty, all colors that were pre-
sented to her, and recognized the number of cards
and the stripes upon the painted cards. She described
the color of the binding of books. She wrote as well
as usual, and cut out figures in paper, as she was
accustomed to do for amusement in her waking state.
During all this time her eyes were closed, but in
order to be certain that upon these occasions she
made no use of her eyes, they were bandaged upon
the approach of the convulsions which preceded the
somnambulism . "
In a case of somnambulism described by Dr. Dvce,
of Aberdeen, in the Edinburgh Philosophical Transac-
tions, the patient was a servant girl, and it is stated
that " she became capable of following her usual
employments during the paroxysm ; at one time she
laid out the table correctly for breakfast, and repeat-
edly dressed herself and the children of the family,
her eyes remaining shut the ivhole time.
It is needless to give any further illustrations of the
Psvc/u'c Faculties. 201
independence of the soul power and its marvellous
perception and intuition which grasps the truth with-
out the agency of sense or reason. The power exists
- it comes out spontaneously and spasmodically in
spite of neglect and repression. But never has this
power been studied in a scientific spirit so as to com-
prehend its philosophy and to realize its illuminating
power, when rightly directed, for all science and
philosophy. Psychometry gives us a philosophic
and practical knowledge of the soul po\\er as the
illuminating endowment of all humanity, which pro-
tects us from falsehood, leads us to truth, and is
competent to give us a mastery of limitless realms in
the unknown.
There is no limit to what mav be achieved bv the
emancipation and cultivation of the soul powci in the
exploration of all realms of knowledge. Psychometry
appears like an entrance into celestial realms, where-
to will is to have, and where all knowledge is free to
its seeker. If this be true, and be sufficiently shown
in this volume, how can we who know these things
regard the world's intellectual history down to tin-
present time as anything but a grandly barbarian
record — a record of phvsical knowledge and physi-
cal triumphs, accompanied by calamitous ignorance
in reference to a1! except the mechanic arts that
would ameliorate human destiny. I have dwelt upon
the spontaneous, or accidental illustrations of the
occult powers of the soul which have appeared in
somnambulism. I could add an other illustration of
the same class of accidental developments which
shows what marvelous endowments mav conn- in
2O2 Psychic Faculties.
this spontaneous way, and how limitless are the
achievements to be expected when our occult powers
are fully utilized, instead of being ignored and
repressed. The case is one related by Dr. Aber-
crombie, as follows :
" A girl aged seven years, an orphan of the lowest
rank, residing in the house of a farmer by whom she
was employed in tending cattle, was accustomed to
sleep in an apartment separated by a very thin parti-
tion from one which was frequently occupied by an
itinerant fiddler. This person was a musician of
considerable skill, and often spent a part of the night
in performing pieces of a refined description, but his
performance was not taken notice of by the child
except as a disagreeable noise. After a residence of
six months in this family, she fell into bad health,
and was removed to the house of a benevolent lady,
where, on her recovery, after a protracted illness, she
was employed as a servant. Some years after she
came to reside with this lady, the most beautiful
music was often heard in the house during the night,
which excited no small interest and wonder in the
family, and many a waking hour was spent in
endeavors to discover the invisible minstrel. At
length the sound was traced to the sleeping room of
the girl, who was found fast asleep, but uttering from
her lips a sound exactly resembling the sweetest
sounds of a small violin. On further observation it
was found that after being about two hours in bed,
she became restless and began to mutter to herself;
she then uttered sounds precisely resembling the
tuning of a violin, and at length, after some prelude,
Psvc/u'c /^licit/lies. 203
clashed otT into elaborate pieces of music, which she
performed in a clear and accurate manner, and with
a sound exactly resembling the most delicate modula-
tions of that instrument. During the performance
she sometimes stopped, made the sound of retiming
her instrument, and then began exactly where she
had stopped in the most correct manner.
" After a year or two her music was not confined
to the imitation of the violin, but was often exchanged
for that of a piano of a verv old description, which
she was accustomed to hear in the house where she
now lives, and she then also began to sing, imitating
exactly the voices of several ladies of the family.
In another year from this time, she began to talk a
great deal in her sleep, in which she seemed to fancy
herself instructing a younger companion. She often
descanted with the utmost fluency and correctness on
a variety of topics, both political and religious, the
news of the dav, the historical parts of scripture,
public characters, and particularly the characters of
members of the family and their visitors. In these
discussions she showed the most wonderful discrimi-
nation, often combined with sarcasm, and astonishing
powers of mimicry. Her language through the whole
was fluent and correct, and her illustrations often for-
cible and even eloquent. She was fond of illustrat-
ing her subjects by what she called a fable, and in
these her imagery was both appropriate and elegant.
She was by no means, says mv informant, limit. vd in
her range. Bonaparte, Wellington, Blucher, and all
the kings of the earth, figured among the phantas-
magoria of her brain, and all were animadverted
204 Psychic Facilities.
upon with such freedom from restraint, as often made
me think poor Nancy had been transported into
Madame Genlis' Palace of Truth. The justness and
truth of her remarks on all subjects, excited the
utmost astonishment in those who were acquainted
with her limited means of acquiring information.
She has been known to conjugate correctly Latin
verbs which she had probably heard in the school
room of the family, and she was once heard to speak
several sentences very correctly in French — at the
same time stating that she heard them from a foreign
gentleman whom she had accidentally met in a shop.
Being questioned on this subject when awake, she
remembered having seen the gentleman, but could
not repeat a word of what he said. During her
paroxysms it was almost impossible to awake her,
and ^l'/^cu her eyelids ivcre raised, and a candle
brought near the eye, the -pupil scc:ncd insensible to
the light,
" For several years she was, during the paroxysms,
entirely unconscious of the presence of other persons,
but about the age of sixteen she began to observe
those who were in the apartment, and she could tell
correctly their numbers, though the utmost care was
taken to have the room darkened. She now also
became capable of answering the questions that were
put to her, and of noticing remarks made in her
presence, and with regard to both she showed aston-
ishing acuteness. Her observations, indeed, were
often of such a nature, and corresponded so accu-
rately with characters and events, that by the
country people she was believed to be endowed
with supernatural powers."
Psychic Faculties. 205
" During the whole period of this remarkable affec-
tion, which seems to have gone on for ten or eleven
years, she was when awake, a dull, awkward girl,
very slow in receiving any kind of instruction, though
much care was bestowed upon her, and in point of
intellect she was much inferior to the other servants
of the family. In particular she showed no kind of
turn for music. S:ie did not appear to nave any
recollection of what had passed during her sleep ; but
during her nocturnal ramblings she was more than
once heard to lament her infirmity of speaking in her
sleep, adding how fortunate it was that she did not
sleep among the other servants as they teased her
enough about it as it was."
In such cases as these, how do we account lor the
preternatural intelligence acquired by a dull, feeble-
minded girl when her ordinary life was suspended to
give place to this soul-life. As the laws of nature are
invariable and the elements of human nature are the
same for all human beings, it is manifest that there is
a psychic power in all human constitutions which is
the polar opposite of our phvsical life, and which in
its extreme operations withdraws all consciousness
trom the body and enjoys a realm of clearer percep-
tion, deeper wisdom and nobler impulses. That realm
is the realm of disembodied life which is called the
spirit world, and they who enjov this psychic exalta-
tion either spontaneously as bv disease or bv artificial
*
preparation, are m a spiritual condition approaching
closely to that of our future life, when the bodv has
been entirely cast otV. These powers are not confined
to the limited role in which they have been tested by
206 Psychic Faculties.
the puzzled observers of accidental somnambulism,
but extend to the exploration of psychic as well as
physical worlds ; and volumes might be compiled of
the reports which they have brought of the conditions
of the spirit world and the personal appearance and
post mortem life of those whose friends have enquired
about them, or of distinguished historical and relig-
ious characters.
In this, however, as in all matters of observation
reported by travellers, we are liable to receive no lit-
tle error and exaggeration, as the observer (often very
ignorant) may be controlled by dominant ideas and
prejudices. Such revelations coming through theo-
logical or sectarian minds are far from being reliable
for accuracv, because the conditions of the observation
*/
are so very different irom those of this life.
Here on the earth the objective and subjective art-
distinct and contrasted — yet even here we may have
delusions from subjective conditions, and on the dim
horizon we may see what we anticipated instead of
what exists. Such errors in microscopic observations
are not uncommon. But in spirit-life the distinction
of objective and subjective fades into such dimness,
that the distinction is often entirely lost, and our imag-
inations and emotions may make surroundings which
we fail to distinguish from the immaterial realities
which have not the impenetrability of matter.
If even so great and wise a seer as SVvedenborg was
not exempt from such delusions, we may expect to
find them abundant in the spiritual literature of all
ages.
Nevertheless it is by the wise culture and reinila-
Psychic Faculties. 207
tion of the psychic faculties that the world hereafter
is to achieve its highest civilization and the develop-
ment of limitless religious truth in place of the blun-
dering and superstitious theologies which have ruled
the barbarian age of the past and still hold in sub-
jection all but a few vigorous thinkers.
The coming century will be THE AGE OK PSY-
e'HOMETRY in which mankind no longer prone and
dreaming, passive before the masters of delusion,
will stand erect in the conscious maturity of manhood,
rejoicing in the comprehensive knowledge of WHAT
IS, WHAT HAS BEEN, and WHAT WILL BE.
Among the rive hundred millions which our Great
Republic may attain in that century, I shall not be an
enrolled citizen, but maybe remembered as the herald
who announced the coming illumination and shall
not be invisible to the intelligence of that centurv.
That a grancllv intuitional power resides in the
human constitution, that it occupies an interior latent
position, and comes into play best when the faculties
on which we commonly rely, are quiescent, ought to
have been realized by all intelligent thinkers. It is
shown in the familiar phenomena of somnambulism
which, when it arises spontaneously, usuallv begins
when the subject is in profound slumber, and thus
entirely unconscious of his surroundings. It often
arises, too, when disease has so lowered the energy
~ .
of the body as to diminish its influence upon the
mind, or when the bodily energv is still farther
lowered by the near approach of death.
Sir Thomas Browne remarks in his Kcligio Mcd'd :
" Thus it is observed that men sometimes upon the
208 Psychic Faculties. »
hour of their departure, do speak and reason above
themselves. For then, the soul being near freed
from the ligaments of the body, begins to reason like
herself, and to discourse in a strain above mortality."
In like manner the best development of the intui-
tional faculty for Psychometry requires that the mind
should be withdrawn from surrounding objects and
events concentred in the interior consciousness, and
freed from the disturbances of light and sound. In
fact the mind is in so peculiar a state of interior con-
centration in Psychometry that the psychometer is
apt to lose the memory of his statements as fast as
they are given.
" Somnambulists (says Colquhoun in his Rcvclata )
apparently in a state of profound sleep, rise from their
beds at night, traverse the most inaccessible places
without awaking, and successfully perform the most
delicate and difficult operations, whether intellectual
or mechanical, and all this in the dark, and frequently
with their eyes closed, as in the ordinary state of
sleep. It has been observed, also, that individuals
while in this state, occasionally manifest a superior
knowledge of subjects and of languages which they
had not previously studied, so as to remember them,
or with which they had been but imperfectly
acquainted. It is likewise a striking peculiarity of
this state of existence, that upon waking the indi-
vidual who had thus insensibily performed all these
operations, retains no recollection of anvthing that
passed while he was under the influence of somnam-
bulism.
" It is worth v of notice, too, that the acts of the
Psychic Faculties. 209
somnambulist are almost always performed with a
degree of freedom, boldness and precision, superior
to what he manifests when awake, and that he gen-
erally succeeds in accomplishing everything he
attempts. So far as I am aware there is no instance
of a somnambulist awaking spontaneously in the
midst of any operation he has once undertaken, nor
of his perishing amidst the dangers which he fre-
quently encounters. There are, it is true, many
instances of somnambulists who have perished in
consequence of having been suddenly awakened by
the imprudent alarm of the witnesses of those perils
to which they were apparently exposed, but the
general experience of all times seems to lead us to
the conclusion that the somnambulist is guided by
other senses or instincts — that he is protected from
injury by other means and guarantees of security
than those by which his conduct is regulated in his
ordinary waking state. So long as he is left undis-
turbed in his proceedings, he acts fearlessly, and is
safe — a sudden awakening alone, by restoring him
to his natural state, and depriving him of the protec-
tion of that instinct which governed his actions,
~
causes him to perish."
The wonderful intuitions of somnambulism having
been observed chiefly in this abnormal state, such
lacts have become isolated from normal experience
and psychic philosophy, and it is the duty of a true
Anthropology to show that there is no dividing line
between the wonderful intuitions of clairvoyance,
etc. .shown in the somnambulic state, and similar intu-
itions which make a portion of o::r ch'.ilv !:!r. a:u!
2io Psvchic faculties.
guide us to results which are supposed to be attained,
by luck.
The successful physician acts upon an intuitional
impression and makes a perfect diagnosis, or prognosis
to the salvation of his patients, while a more learned
competitor with no intuitional power becomes singu-
larly unsuccessful. The intuitional lawyer realizes
the mental status and attitude of a jury, and thus is
enabled to win them. The intuitional business man
knows how to speculate, and with whom to associate,
in business. The intuitional general is guided in
campaigns and battles by what passes for superior
skill and knowledge, but is really superior intuition.
Intuitional lovers often know each other's merits and
sentiments or designs, independently of language,
and intuitional musicians, such as Ole Bull, produce,
under inspiration, almost supernal music. Thus, in
every sphere of life, men are guided to success, if
thev have energy to perform their tasks by an interior
liirht which vivifies and perfects their intelligence, and
o I o
the possession of this interior light is revealed, or
tested, in every psychometric experiment.
The intuitional faculty not only mingles with and
illuminates our intellectual processes, in which intui-
tion is that interior light without which all would be
darkness, but is often so fully developed that psycho-
metric and clairvoyant faculties come forth to the as-
tonishment of their possessor, and the equal astonish-
ment of the cultured but miscducatcd classes, who have
been most carefully kept in ignorance of that which
was well-known to the ancients, which has been in
progress publicly and privatelv from a period anterior
Psychic Faculties. 211
to the records of history, but which when forced upon
their attention to-day is received with a profound arti-
ficial stupidity, which never investigates or reasons.
According to a late number of the London Illustrated
JWws, the marvel of the hour in Paris is a handsome
young lady in good society, of whom it says : ''All
secrets are apparently open to her ; she reads the past
like a book, and foretels the future with marvellous
exactitude ; and yet her only guides are the pins which
she scatters on the floor. She is, perhaps, most for-
tunate with perfect strangers. She professes complete
ignorance as to the origin of her strange powers, or
the mental process involved in their development."
There never was a time when such phenomena were
not in progress in many places ; but what avails the
sunshine when men shut their eyes? So long as col-
leges by false teaching perpetuate a stolid ignorance,
philosophy must be stagnant. But the colleges are
losing their power of repressing intelligence.
The highest success in all pursuits is attained when
we approach the most spiritual condition — that con-
dition in which our own spiritual energies seem eman-
cipated from the obstructions of matter, and carry us
onward in a way which is foreign to our daily life and
all commonplace experience. It mav be our own
emancipated self, or it mav be as we rise to the celes-
tial plane of consciousness, a higher nature in sym-
pathy with our own in that sphere where sympathy is
universal and help not hindrance is the law, unites
with our soaring spirit to carrv it beyond the power
of its own flight. In poetry, in romance, in music in
eloquence, in heroism, in religion, in love and even in
212 Psvchic Faculties,
painting, the entranced thought often leans on the
the supernal assistant.
Shakespeare is believed to have written with the
aid of inspiration, producing his plays with marvelous
rapidity, and George Eliot confessed her assistance.
Mr. Cross says : " she told me that in all she consid-
ered her best writing there was a * not herself which
took possession of her, and that she felt her own per-
sonality to be merely the instrument through which
this spirit, as it were, was acting. Particularly she
dwelt on this in regard to the scene in k Middlemarch,'
between Dorothea and Rosamond, saying that al-
though she always knew they had, sooner or later, to
come together, she kept the idea resolutely out of
her mind until Dorothea was in Rosamond's drawing-
room. Then, abandoning herself to the inspiration
of the moment, she wrote the whole scene exactly as
it stands, without alteration or erasure, in an intense
state of excitement and agitation, feeling herself en-
tirely possessed by the feelings of the two women."
He says, too, that she had " a limitless persistence of
application/'
" Continuous thought did not fatigue her. . She
could keep her mind on the stretch hour after hour :
the body might give way, but the brain remained
unwearied.*'
This sustained, unflagging power is characteristic of
spiritual assistance, as those to whom it is given, per-
form without fatigue what would otherwise be exhaust-
ing.
~
The psychometric power is that which reaches out
for inspiration and kindles in the glory of supernal
realms the- li^ht that illumes this lower life.
PART II.
USES AND APPLICATIONS.
CHAPTER V.
PRACTICAL UTILITIES — PSYCHOMETRY IX SELK-lTL-
TURE — COXJUGAL RELATIONS AND BUSIXESS.
SKLF-Cui.TURK. — Importance of Psychometry in self-study and culture
Why advice is not well received — Critical advice suppressed —
General insincerity — Admonition needed — Prayer unsound — The
Christian ministry inefficient — A confessional needed — Counsel
required by all — Follies and errors of the great — Guardianship
enjoyed by some — What success depends on, virtue and psychome-
tric power — Psychometry as a national guide — The divine in
Jesus — In Psychometry — Will men seek its assistance — Society
offers no revelation of self — Imperfections of Gallian Phrenology —
Correction by observation and experiment on the brain — Cranial
descriptions — Imperfections of Cranioscopy — Development does
not indicate conditions, culture, or soul power — Value of a true
psychological system — Criticism on the word phrenology — Value
of a true cranioscopy — Value of the cranium — Its modification In
the brain — Value of old crania for revelation — Objection to cre-
mation — Psychometry a mirror sometimes flattering and ideal —
Great artists psychometric — Different modes of viewing character.
CoNjrr.Al. RELATIONS. — Importance of the conjugal question — Tor
rible evils of mistakes and mistaken legislation — Kvils of excessive
propagation — Vast amount of deception and misfortune in mar-
riage— Evil marriage perpetuates national degradation — Inadequate
opportunities for true marriage — Disadvantage of women — Intuition
their reliance — Psychometric view of married parties — t'nt.irtu"
nate marriage of W. and M. — And of G. and C. — Happy marriage
i
2 Self -Culture.
of S. and A. — Continual mistakes in spite of intelligence — Conju-
gal unions as easily described before as after the event — Unfortu-
nate marriage of a worthy woman to a great author — Unfortunate
marriage to a brilliant author but bad husband — Marvellous power
of Psychometry — Stolidity of the aversion to truth — Another bril-
liant author unhappy in marriage.
LAW AND BUSINESS. — Inadequacy of law to execute justice — Supe-
rior power of Psychometry — Psychometric commissions and arbi-
tration — Restraining influence over crime — Legal aspect of the
Question — Decision on the guilt of the accused — Forgeries —
Expert testimony — Examination of counterfeits.
Counsellor, friend, and guide!
I place my hand in thine,
To lead me through E..rth's thorny paths,
In hours of darkness, danger, and despair,
When stars alone give light, and when
To souls illumined from within
All darkness disappears.
PSYCHOMETRY OUR MENTOR.
I KXOXV of nothing in our religious and intellectual
life more valuable and more needed at the present time
than the instruction that psychometry gives as to the
merit or demerit of our characters, whether innate or
acquired, and as to the culture and development that we
need.
The great majority of mankind go through life with-
out any serious or persistent effort for improvement.
Their habits are formed by education, association, and
the struggles or conflicts of life, and they yield to this
accidental destiny without a thought of controlling it
by any wise plan or principle.
When their habits, prejudices, and passions are thus
established they neither seek nor receive instruction as
to personal improvement. Advice on such subjects is
received with reluctance. Those who need it most
Self-Culture. 3
do not seek it, while those who desire and seek it for
moral improvement are generally the persons who need
it least. Advice seldom comes from those who are
competent to advise wisely, and the recipient of advice
is seldom qualified to profit by it, because the very trait
of character which needs to be subdued resents all in-
terference, and perverts the judgment.
The ill-tempered man believes that his ill-temper is
natural and proper, and becomes angry if admonished
on the subject. The vain man believes that he has a
just foundation for his vanity, and cannot realize that it
is either offensive or amusing. The selfish man feels
that his selfishness is right, and does not believe in hu-
man disinterestedness. The man of coarse and vulgar
manners is unconscious of the disgust which he inspires
in the refined. The man of feeble understanding and
little ability to reason, does not perceive the shallow-
ness or silliness of his own remarks.
Thus every defect of character conceals itself from
the one whom it degrades, by perverting his judgment
and his taste, and renders him not only unwilling to
improve, but unwilling to receive kindly or with ap-
preciation the efforts of his friends to enlighten him.
Having occasion once to give a gentleman the scientific
admonition that he was not disposed to pay due respect
to his superiors, he was surprised by such a suggestion,
and asked at once ivhowcrc his superiors, as if he had
never supposed that a superior existed.
Thus men go through life unconscious of their faults;
and their associates, who speak freely when they are
absent, condemning them severely, suppress all such
criticism in their presence. Even the parent, or the
4 Self -Culture.
conjugal companion, is restrained by the same polite-
ness and fear of giving offence. And generally, the
stronger or more passionate and energetic the charac-
ter, the more does it impose this restraint on the expres-
sions of friends, and the more intolerant the person be-
comes of all comment which is not complimentary. The
criticism that does express itself is generally prompted
by impatience and disgust, and hence only irritates.
It is not kings alone who are deceived by courtiers.
Insincerity is the fashion. Flattery is current coin
everywhere ; and as Bonaparte regarded lying as an
essential part of the art of war, deceit and flattery are
regarded by men of the world as the essential social arts
of peace, and the advice of Chesterfield on this subject is
generally accepted.
The monitor is universally needed. The kind admo-
nitions of the mother cease long before they become
unnecessary.
When earthly parents cease to warn and guide, it is
time to look to our heavenly father and the sacred
offices of religion. But prayer is not a searching pro-
cess, neither is it guided by a knowledge of what is
needed, for often it assumes the form of begging, of
self-righteousness, and of pragmatic disquisition — the
long prayers that Jesus condemned, but the clergy prac-
tice.
The Christian ministry should here come in with
searching and monitory power, but it does not. The
minister is restrained by the fear of offence, and by the
feeling that he has not a recognized authority as teacher
or counsellor. Even if this were not in the way, the
ethical education of ministers is too imperfect to make
Self -Culture. 5
them competent monitors and critics. Christianity has
never been so completely and vigorously interpreted as
to become a corrector of the most frequent social evils.
It may check the grosser crimes and vices, but the
offences which are not crimes flourish under the shadow
of the church, and in the midst of its membership.
Avarice, vanity, selfishness, ill-temper, moroseness,
peevishness, exaction, tyranny, stubbornness, sternness,
and hard-hearted coldness, are entirely permissible in
the church, and the man whose influence blights every-
thing around him, and carries him to the higher world
a pauperized soul, is neither controlled nor taught by
the influences of his church to rise out of his moral deg-
radation. A society composed of hungry, half-pauperized
toilers, and millionnaires with pauperized souls, who live
mainly for the indulgence of avarice and ostentation, is
not rebuked or elevated by the priesthood.
The confessional of the Catholic Church, if it could
be administered by a wise and enlightened priesthood,
on a philosophic plan would be just what Protestantism
deplorably needs — being one of the most powerful agen-
cies of moral progress. Sometime hereafter a confes-
sional in some form will be restored. We all need to lay
before friendly eyes, our thoughts, our purposes, and
our principles, that we may receive impartial suggestions
from those who have not the bias produced by our per-
sonal interests, our passions, and our prejudices, and
who can tell us how our purposes and actions look when
viewed by a standpoint different from our own.
We need especially the kind admonition of those who
can place themselves in harmony with the higher spheres
of being, and, while giving us the kindest and best ap-
6 Self-Culture.
preciation of what we are and what we do, point out
the improvements that are within our power.
It sometimes happens that this aid is given to men
by the sympathetic, devoted love of a gifted wife, whose
admonitions are never unpleasant.
Had Caesar obeyed the premonitions of his wife, he
might have lived through a career grand for himself and
his country. While the wife of Caesar divined his dan-
ger, the wife of Brutus felt her husband's deadly pur-
pose, and, by her fierce courage, induced him to confess
it, but being of the same stern nature herself, she let
him advance to his fate, and shared it by suicide. But
that is a rare incident : biography is filled with examples
of women who have warned, inspired, and sustained their
husbands.
None are so entirely wise, so prudent, and so far-see-
ing, as not to need on many occasions, an intelligence
distinct fiom their own, coming from some calm atmos-
phere beyond the reach of passion and self-interest.
Fortunate would it be if all could have with them con-
tinually the guardian spirit which attended Socrates, to
check when erring and encourage when right.
" For no eyes have there been ever without a weary tear,
And those lips cannot be human which never heaved a sigh ;
For without the dreary winter, there has never been a year,
And the tempests hide their terrors in the calmest summer sky.
So this dreary life is passing — and we move amidst its maze,
And we grope along together, half in darkness, half in light,
And our hearts are often hardened by the mysteries of our ways,
Which are never all in shadow, and never wholly bright,
And our dim eyes ask a beacon, and our weaty feet a guide.
And our hearts of all life's mysteries seek the meaning and the key."
— FATHKR RYAN.
Self-Culture. 7
How fortunate would it have been for the world if
Bonaparte could thus, like Socrates, have been admon-
ished and checked in his career of insatiable ambition.
How fortunate would it have been for Carlyle could he
have been made to understand himself and struggle
against that harshness and pessimism which vitiated
his judgment and embittered his life, How fortunate
both for him and Mrs. Carlyle, could he have been made
to understand what is now patent in their biography —
the wide departure of his own character from a normal
and amiable manhood.
All history and all biography teems with illustrations
of the folly, the error, and wrong doing of the great
recognized since by the world, but apparently not real-
ized by themselves. Society did not teach them,
and no tender voice from the upper world reached their
interior consciousness, as it reached the soul of Soc-
rates.
Yet there are many gifted mortals now-a-days who
have more than Socrates enjoyed. Who have the daily
presence of a ministering guardianship that warns of
all clangers and cheers and invigorates along the path
of duty.
Nor is this beyond the limits of legitimate aspiration
for all, for the more entirely we conquer the lower
selfish nature, the more loyally we tread with zeal and
courage in the path of duty, the nearer we come to the
angel sphere of truth and clear-seeing intuition, which
enables us to act wisely and well. The path of duty is,
in the Jiiglicst sense, the path of safety, honor, and
reward. It may lead through conflict and apparent
calamity, but it leads to final success.
8 Self-Culture.
The attainment of success depends on our own
interior development, which gives energy and wisdom,
and on the far-seeing capacity, which commands alike
the future and the environing present, which feels in
every direction the current of destiny, and the latent
forces that impel it.
This few are permitted to enjoy, and this is what
psychometry brings us — a sensitive faculty which, with
semi-omniscient power as far as it extends, changes the
dim obscurity of opinion and conjecture to the daylight
of knowledge.
How fortunate would it be for any one to be thus
guarded and guided through life. How fortunate for
nations if their rulers would listen to the calm monitions
and revelations of psychometry portraying the true
character and interior motives of all in high places,
revealing the drift of the future, and giving all the data
necessary for a wise and prosperous administration. I
hope it may not be long before nations shall thus be
led into the path of wisdom. May it not be reasonably
expected in the next century ?
If divine elements were incarnated in Jesus to show
the way to a higher life, which, nevertheless, has ever
been too far above the selfish plane of life to draw any
great number up to the life of real wisdom, is it not a
pleasing thought that the divine incarnation in another
form may lead us gently upward, by coming to us as
we are, and showing the successive steps that we must
take. For the psychometric guidance of humanity is
really the working of the divine element, not gathered
in the glowing lustre of one inspired soul, but diffused
abroad in the atmosphere of thought, in the light of
Self-Culture. 9
intelligence, revealing the truth, and showing the
attractiveness of wisdom, so as to lead men gently and
gradually into wiser action, and better methods of
living. The psychometric soul has the rare privilege
of approaching near the fountains of wisdom and holi-
ness, and bringing thence the lessons of life-conduct, so
clear, so beautiful, and so satisfactory, as to win us, in a
most pleasing manner, to a better life.
Whether the unbalanced and improper people, of
whom the world is full, could be induced to avail them-
selves of psychometry for personal improvement is a
matter of much doubt. Yet however unbalanced men
may be, the doubt must sometimes arise whether they
are what they should be ; whether there is not some
fault that hinders success or mars their happiness. The
unhappy and unsuccessful at least would be tempted to
seek psychometric assistance.
It is not merely exterior knowledge that we need,
but that knowledge of self, which, before the advent of
psychometry was unattainable. The advice of friends
has all the imperfection of their own idiosyncrasies,
aggravated by their inability to understand our nature
in proportion as it differs from their own, and the
advice of the priest has the same limitation, in addition
to the limitations of a professional training, which has
carried his mind away from the complex relations ami
ethical peculiarities of men and women in society.
In whatever direction we turn, we find the prayer of
Burns unanswered, and "kind heaven " has not enabled
us "to see ourselves as others see us."
The Gallian system of phrenology made an approxi-
mation to this, and has been beneficial to manv — but
io Self -Culture.
in the first twelve months of my attention to it, I found
errors enough in the locations, the functions, and the
modes of estimating the brain and the character to im-
pair very seriously its value, incomplete as its analysis
was at best.
I found great humor where the supposed organ of
Mirthfulness was deficient, great violence where the
supposed location of Destructiveness was small (as in-
deed it was in the Thugs of India) and great avarice
where the supposed organ of Acquisitiveness was defec-
tive, as well as great disregard <of money where the
organ was large — arrogant vanity where the organ of
Approbativeness was moderate, and other errors unnec-
essary to mention which it required several years for me
to correct by close observation of nature. • But the cor-
rections were made as far as possible by observation,
and in 1841 my discovery of the impressibility of the
brain and demonstration of its functions by experiment
(being able to excite anger, joy, religion, pride, love,
hate, avarice, hunger, despair, fear, or whatever I
desired by stimulating the proper organ) enabled me to
realize that I had a positive, accurate, and complete
science of human nature.
Since that discovery I have never described a charac-
ter craniologically without satisfying the individual that
I understood his nature well. In fact the parties were
generally more surprised, pleased, and satisfied than
myself. For though very positive as to the truth of all
I told them and scarcely ever contradicted, there was
much beyond, that they did not realize. I perceived
the limitation of cranioscopy, which though it might
satisfy the parties described did not satisfy myself.
Self-Culture. I i
There were intricacies of character which it could not
reach, and there were the ever present influences of ed-
ucation, association, health, heredity, etc., of which cra-
nioscopy gave no information.
With a perfectly normal and well cultured brain, its
decisions might be entirely correct, because the actual
character corresponded to the original nature shown in
the development, but morbid or educational deviations
could not be indicated by development. The arts and
skill, the tastes and habits that had been acquired were
not indicated. Nor ^ould the mere development indi-
cate the power, the quality, the improvement, o'r the
interior spiritual energy of the mind, no matter how ac-
quired. That spiritual power which gives brilliance to
a small brain, or by its absence leaves the large brain a
mass of dulness, was not a thing to be measured by cal-
lipers. Nor do practical phrenologists ever ascertain
this, except by observation of the appearance, voice, and
bearing, or by the exercise of their psychometric power
which many of them use freely, professing to have de-
rived their conclusions from cranioscopy.
However, with a true psychological system there is a
great deal of interest, pleasure, and benefit in the study
of character. I say a psychological rather than a. phren-
ological system because I prefer the term psychology
notwithstanding its misconception by metaphysicians to
the term phrenology introduced by Gall, because the
word phrcn or mind has a more limited sense than
Psyche.
The materialists who think nothing real but matter
use the word mind to signify mental phenomena merely,
in which sense it represents little but the intellectual
12 Self -Culture.
power of the soul, with perhaps a hint of volition. The
words mind and character represent distinct aspects of
the soul, but neither represents the soul in its entirety.
Phrenology therefore is an inadequate term. It was
used by Gall because he was a student of the phenom-
ena of living beings proceeding from the brain, and not
a student of the soul or cognizant of its relations to the
brain and its independent life, nor of the transcen-
dently psychic functions located in the brain. But mani-
festly in a true science of man we should recognize the
brain as the associate and instrument of the soul, but
the soul itself as the chief object of study, though
reached through its cephalic and corporeal environment.
Yet cranioscopy, as derived from the true crganology
of the brain, is a very interesting and important study,
the value of which I have no disposition to underrate.
It gives at a glance the anatomical basis of the charac-
ter, the congenital tendencies, and in connection with the
facial development of the region of expression (not known
in the Gallian system) it makes an approximation to the
actual acquired character, for the facial development in-
dicates the faculties most actively used or cultivated.
Cranioscopy enables us to comprehend and classify
people as we pass them, furnishing a basis for our psy-
chometric intuitions by which we complete our knowl-
edge. It makes a still more accurate revelation of
character when we have the skull in our possession, and
we can ascertain by its interior condition the growth of
the brain in one part and its inactivity in another part
plainly indicated by the condition of the internal lamina
of bone, and thus approximate a knowledge of the influ-
ences of education and habit. The deeply indented
Self-Culture. \ 3
digital impressions of the convolutions on the internal
plate of bone indicate the growth and acquired power
of the convolutions as positively as the flattened sur-
faces from osseous growth, the thickness and opacity of
the bones indicate the torpor and atrophy of the subja-
cent convolutions, which we commonly find at the upper
surface of the brain in criminal heads.
Crania, moreover, have an especial interest in the study
of historical characters, whose remains are preserved,
and of the ancient crania which tell the character of
prehistoric races. Touched by the psychometric hand,
these crania will recall not merely the character of each
individual, but his whole life history, — his muscular de-
velopment, his life in the cave or the forest, his battles
with wild animals or with his fellows, his development
in language, art, and manners, in tribal government, in
domestic life, and his environment of climate, forest,
mountain, morass, and natural convulsions. Even the
extinct animals and plants of the remotest periods will
rise up before the psychometric vision.
I trust that the fashion of cremation will not be al-
lowed to make indiscriminate destruction of these pre-
cious relics — " the dome of thought, the palace of the
soul " — but that all whose memory is worth preserva-
tion shall have an unimpaired memento in the cranial
form, which is the fitting monument, the historical rec-
ord of the earth-life.
It was deeply interesting to me to hold in my hands
the cranium of Dr. Spurzheim, which was preserved in
Boston, and mark the indentations of his active percep-
tive organs in the supraorbital plate of the frontal bone.
The study of our character by psychometry is like the
1 4 Self- Culture.
study of our features by a mirror or by a photograph.
It shows just how we appear in the image we project on
our surroundings ; and as Narcissus fell in love with his
own image in the water, sometimes the truly lovely and
modest are charmed in finding their virtues conspicuous
in the psychometric portrait.
There is, indeed, a tendency in psychometric portrait-
ure to a delicate flattery. As great artists are idealists
they give their own ideality to their pictures, investing
them with a delicacy and refinement from their own
minds, different from the hard realism of life. Even
the photograph has often a greater delicacy and refine-
ment than the original. The psychometer, too, is an
ideal artist, more ideal than a Reynolds or a Lawrence,
for the ideal faculties are the source of his power, and
these faculties are refined and delicate beyond all the
faculties employed in business or even in art. Raphael
and da Vinci had psychometric souls. I doubt not they
were actual psychometers, although their art was mate-
rial in form. The true psychometer is still more ideal,
and lives professionally in a delicate world of lights and
shadows, auras and influences, which are not material.
The psychometric power in the brain is closely associ-
ated with the most refined, sympathetic, and loving
emotions, and hence presents the most kind and sympa-
thetic view of character.
Yet, like other intellectual faculties, its operation is
guided by the elements of character, and it may be used
to look into the recesses of depravity. A hard and sel-
fish business man, if possessed of psychometric power,
would take more stern and critical views of character,
and one accustomed in legal pursuits to study the work-
Sclf-Cnlturc. 1 5
ing of the selfish nature would be more competent to its
psychometric description.
We shall probably have a great variety of psychome-
tric talent brought into use as skill is developed for dif-
ferent purposes. We shall need —
1. One for the profound and kindly analysis guided
by religious principle for our self-culture and improve-
ment. This is the highest and most pleasing form of
psychometry, and would also be applicable to the study
of conjugal adaptation and the development of children.
2. One for the study of men in business relations and
the psychometric judgment of business affairs.
3. One for investigation of diseases and remedies.
4. A group of different capacities for the investiga-
tion of the different sciences —
1. Geology, geography, and astronomy.
2. Anatomy, physiology, and zoology.
3. Anthropology, pneumatology, and religion.
4. Chemical and imponderable energies.
5. History, paleontology and evolution.
PSYCHOMETRY IN CONJUGAL RELATIONS.
Next to to the investigation of our own character,
with reference to its improvement, which is one of the
first necessities of practical ethics, and for which all the
progress of civilization and religion down to the present
time has failed to furnish an available method (which
we find in psychometry), comes the associate question,
on which the weal or woe of many a life has depended, —
Where shall we find our other self, the intimate com-
panion for life, whose character, continually acting on
our own, shall elevate or degrade us, shall kindle or
1 6 Psychoinetry in
extinguish the intellectual flame, shall make a happy
home, in which health and virtue are sustained, or dis-
mal discord, which makes lite not worth living, and
which an insane moralism would perpetuate to the
destruction of happiness, and the reproduction of a
demoralized and morally deformed posterity. The the-
ory of eternal conjugality is beautiful and true, when
matches are made in heaven ; but to perpetuate the
folly, the fraud, the madness, or the lust which causes
many a wretched union is to assist and perpetuate the
devil's most skilful work for the development of a pan-
demonium on earth. The record must be false or inter-
polated which ascribes such a doctrine to any wise and
holy source.
No one can observe widely the amount of domestic
unhappiness, and its blighting effect on posterity (of
which the large number of divorces is a poor exponent,
since the number who dare to seek divorce is but a
small portion of those who really need it), without feel-
ing that discordant marriage is the foundation from
which is ever flowing a debased humanity — a fountain
of bitter waters, which a delusive theology is determined
to perpetuate. Nor can we avoid the suspicion that a
large portion of the human race are quite unworthy ot
matrimonial union and perpetuation of their own moral
and physical deformities.
The urgent encouragement of marriage and child-
bearing, devoting to this noble office the most degraded
as well as the best portion of humanity, is about as wise
as the conduct of the gardener who is content that his
ground shall be covered with vegetation, without caring
whether it shall be flowers and fruits, or noxious weeds.
Conjugal Relations. \ 7
That some psychometric guidance is necessary in
this most important of all engagements is obvious,
when we reflect on the millions of failures to realize
domestic happiness, and the numerous obstacles in the
way of happy union, even in our own country, where
there is comparative freedom in the intercourse of the
sexes. The sexual passion in many is so strong and
delusive as to make them utterly blind to the incompat-
ibilities of character. When the fire of passion and the
glamour of imagination are at work, an imagination
greatly intensified by social restraint and artificial ignor-
ance promoted by the separation of the sexes, the judg-
ment has but little influence, and the parties do not
realize that they are deceiving each other, in their anx-
iety to please and win affection. The assumed amiabil-
ity vanishes, even during the honeymoon, and the sensi-
tive shed tears when they realize the prospect of a dis-
cordant life. How true was the language of Byron : —
" Ah, few or none
Find what they love or could have loved,
But accident, blind contact and the strong necessity of loving
May have suppressed antipathies
IJut to recur again more strong
Knvenomed by the mutual sense of wrong."
From such discordant unions come all the demoniac ele-
ments of human life. The love perishes, and the evil
passions only arc perpetuated. We see so much of this
in our own country in comparative freedom, we can
realize how much more debasing is the tendency in
other nations, where woman is practically a slave, an 1
has little or nothing to do in selecting for herself the
master of her domestic bondage. It is chieflv to this
1 8 Psychomctry in
cause that the relatively degraded condition of Asiatic
nations is due, and it contributes powerfully to perpetu-
ate the morally uncivilized condition of European
nations, which are but little less blood-thirsty now than
they were two thousand years ago.
Our social opportunities (especially for women) are
too limited to permit the general formation of happy
unions. Millions who were adapted to each other never
met. Marriage is a lottery of chance, directed by acci-
dental proximity, and the woman or man of really
marked and superior nature, for whom the true compan-
ion is as one in ten thousand, is almost sure to miss the
true counterpart that would have made a happy life.
Even with the most assiduous cultivation of society
by the young, the opportunities of knowing and under-
standing thoroughly those whom we meet are quite
inadequate, and a psychometric warning might prevent
many a disastrous union. Two cases occur to my mem-
ory now, in which misfortune was averted by psychom-
etric warning. A young lady of great merit was
warned against one who proved to be an unprincipled
impostor, and in the other case a gentleman was warned
against an unworthy union, which he was on the verge
of consummating.
In the following instances I have brought psychome-
try to the post-marital interpretation of the relations of
the parties. How fortunate would it have been for the
victims of the discordant unions if they could have had
an impartial and competent psychometric opinion before
making their fatal mistakes.
Lovers cannot always rely on their own psychometric
intuition, even when they arc well endowed in that way,
Conjugal Relations. 19
for lovers arc mutually deceptive, and love itself is
' deceptive in its optimism. Two of the unfortunates in
the following descriptions were highly psychometric,
but did not think to avail themselves of their protective
intuitions.
If these pages should adequately impress the young
with the importance of cultivating and heeding their
own psychometric intuition, or else seeking the psy-
chometric power of those who are competent to advise,
I shall feel that I have rendered an important service.
It does not indicate a weak or fanciful mind to pay
respect to its own intuitions, which are very different
from whims or fancies, and have guided the greatest
minds. Goethe says : —
" One soul may have a decided influence upon
another, merely by means of its silent presence, of
which I could relate many instances. It has often hap-
pened to me that when I have been walking with an
acquaintance, and have had a living image of something
in my mind, he has at once begun to speak of that very
thing. I have also known a man who, without saying a
word, could suddenly silence a party engaged in cheer-
ful conversation by the mere power of his mind. Nay,
he could also introduce a tone which would make every,
body feel uncomfortable. We have all something of
electric and magnetic force within us. ... It is possi-
ble, nay, even probable, that if a young girl were, with-
out knowing it, to find herself in a dark chamber with a
man who designed to murder her, she would have an
uneasy sense of his unknown presence, and that an
anguish would come over her which would drive her to
the family parlor."
2O Psychoinctry in
Men have generally an advantage in their greater
energy and force of character, which enables them to
impress and even delude their junior females, who amia-
bly yield to their fascination. Women with but limited
opportunities of studying the masculine character have
yet a valuable resource in their psychometric intuition,
if they will but firmly use it, and recoil from all
approaches in which they do not recognize moral worth
and sincere love. But unless they are firm and cool
they may still realize the fate of the bird, when the fas-
cinating eyes of the serpent deprive it of the power to
escape. What unhappy examples of this have I not
witnessed. I feel it my duty to urge upon all the culti-
vation of the inner light of the soul, and obedience to
its dictation in the conduct of life.
Alas ! that we so slowly learn to heed
The secret signs and omens of the breast !
An oracle speaks low within our hearts,
Low, still, yet clear, its prophet voice forewarns
What to pursue, what shun. — Hemans.
PSYCHOMETRIC VIEW OF MARRIED PARTIES.
No. I. W. and M. I placed in the hands of Mrs. B.
the names of W. and M. asking her to decide on the
conjugal adaptation of the parties ; she said :
" I think these parties arc married, but I don't think
they are adapted to each other. They 'had too much
individuality. There was more affection on the part of
the woman than the man. The woman has passed
over to the other world. She had pride of character
and was ambitious — paid great regard to public opin-
ion. She was a true woman and devoted mother. Her
Conjugal Relations. 2 1
relations to her husband were not entirely distasteful to
her, but there were points in their characters which
did not harmonize. It seems to me they lived apart.
There was not love enough to keep them together, and
to tolerate each others faults. A cold indifference
came on. He would rather be out of her society than
in it.
" He is not very constant, has not much affection -
would not treat any woman well. He was selfish and
crafty and had very limited ideas of any woman's needs.
He is a strong -intellectual man, ambitious in some
directions and very peculiar. He did not care so much
for public opinion, and might do things she could not
approve of. He was not liberal to his wife, would not
give more than the law required. I do not see any
open rupture with his wife though they lived apart.
He would be apt to go off.
(What offspring would they be likely to have ? )
" They would not be very exemplary or scrupulous."
This description I know to be entirely true. The
husband deserted his wife (a very superior woman) and
left her to struggle for the support of the family. I
know also that one of her children gave her a great
deal of trouble. Notwithstanding her ill treatment she
would not seek a divorce.
No. 2. G. and C. I gave her the names of G. and C.
to describe as being persons whose conjugal adaptation
I wished to ascertain. Of C. she said, "This is a
woman of good disposition and clear mind, possessing
a good deal of merit and energy — an intelligent woman.
She is somewhat domestic, but likes public life better
than the domestic circle. She is not very affectionate
22 Psychomctry in
and is rather selfish, but is a pleasing, attractive
woman, fond of the fine arts, especially music. She
is proud and does not sacrifice anything for others."
Of G. she said. " This is a very good man, a splendid
man — a little odd — has some eccentricities. He is a
good friend. He has fine intellectual powers.
(Would these parties be likely to marry ? ) I think
they are married. They agree in some things but alto-
gether their dispositions are not alike."
(What sort of domestic life would they have ? ) Not
smooth — it was not a happy union, but I see no impor-
tant causes of discord unless there was some outside
influence. There is no great discord between them.
They have love enough to do, but no ardent affection.
They do not seem to be together though they may be in
communication. I do not see any divorce. (This is all
true.)
(What offspring would they probably have ? ) " They
would be bright children but show marked differences.
The parental characters would not be blended in them."
No. 3. 5. and A. — I asked her to give the character
and conjugal adaptation of S. and A. Of A. she said,
"there is something in this woman to admire. She
has intelligence and gentleness — a good deal of love
and good womanly qualities. She would stick close to
her husband, bear a great deal for him, be very attentive
in sickness, suffering, and poverty, and devoted to her
children if she has any (Is she married ? ) I think she is.
Of S. I asked, "Is she married to this man ?" She
replied, " there is an adaptation, I should think this was
her husband. They lead a happy life, because they are
adapted to each other mentally and physically. < He is a
Conjugal Relations. 23
substantial man, of good executive ability. lie is per-
fectly satisfied with his wife and exerts himself to make
her happy. They are well adapted to each other — not
exacting over each other, but willing to accord mutual
rights. They will be apt to have good children that
will turn out well. They would make home attractive
to their children."
All of this description I know to be strictly true.
Their children bid fair to do them honor. A noble off-
spring might have been expected from the first parties,
W. and M. for both parents had superior abilities, but
there was neither adaptation nor love, and the children
were far below the parental standard, and the marriage
was altogether an unhappy one. Possibly the six
parties may be recognized, as I have given their true
initials.
The two unfortunate marriages were by persons of
high intelligence and intuitive quickness of perception.
A superior psychometric power could have told them
as well beforehand of the results and saved them from so
serious a mistake.
But the same sad domestic tragedy is going on daily
all over the world and will continue until psychometric
wisdom shall be invoked for guidance.
I have selected for illustration these accomplished
results, because no demonstration would be afforded at
present by a prediction which requires years for fulfil-
ment. The psychometer can describe with as much
ease a character not yet unfolded or tested, and a union
that is only proposed, as he can describe the men and
women whose careers are known. It is as easy to de-
scribe any celebrity at the beginning of his career when
24 Psychometry in
his abilities and true character are unknown, as after he
has made his fame. In either case the psychometer
has but the intuitions to guide him which arise from
touching a name, a picture or an autograph.
There are. characters well known to the public, whose
domestic life has become a familiar story. I submitted
the question of their lives to Mrs. B. by placing in her
hands a photograph, and after its description a name
written on a small slip. Without seeing either, (the
photograph and the writing being turned down), she
gave the following descriptions — first from the photo-
graph which gave her a great intellectual stimulus. I
too felt its intellectual brightness. My perceptions in
such cases begin as soon as she takes the subject and
sometimes before she has spoken The following is her
exact language :
No. 4. — "This is a brightening stimulating influence
— a very magnetic person. There's a great deal of
coolness and judgment here. I do not perceive readily
whether he is living — but I think it is a deceased
person.
" I am taken into very studious intellectual surround-
ings. It seems a man of a good deal of literary power.
Was he an editor, or lawyer, or professional character ?
His life seems devoted to intellectual pursuits. He was
stirring, having great executive powers, yet a good deal
of repose. He was dignified and methodical.
" He had great opportunities to display his abilities.
He was of humanitarian sentiments, and did much to
promote humanitarian principles. If he had wealth he
would do generous acts. I cannot see anything military
about him.
Conjugal Relations. 25
(What was he as a writer ?) " I don't know whom to
compare him to. He does not seem a poet, though he
could write blank verse — Miltonic. His prose writings,
though eccentric in style, would give him a high rank.
I should like to read his productions. I should think
he was more like Carlyle than any one else I can
think of.
(What was his domestic character?) " I don't admire
his domestic character. There is something about it
not attractive. To judge from his writings you would
not understand his disposition. He was not amiable or
tolerant. He had too much of the fault-finding bull-
dog disposition. He seems an Englishman, — certainly
not an American. He is moody. His life was not one
of pleasure, but devoted to one routine. He loved his
vocation if he loved anything. He did not spend much
of his time in a social way. He was not at home with
many people.
(Did he have a wife ?) " Yes he had a wife. He
would think a wife a necessity, — had a sort of owner-
ship of a wife. I don't admire his conjugal qualities
He impresses me as being overworked all the time.
"This man was a contradiction in himself. While he
wrote on great subjects and interested his readers, he
was personally the reverse. One would be struck with
the dissimilarity. You could not know him from his
writings. He had some good objects: was not alto-
gether morose ; had some moments when his bettor
feelings predominated, making him quite agreeable ; but
that was not his usual condition. I see things in him
that manv would not observe."
26 PsycJiomctry in
IMPRESSIONS FROM THE PENCILLED NAME.
"There is not as conspicuous intellectual brightness
as in the last. This person did not give out as much,
but there is a good deal of thought — it was an eloquent
person — very matured. It seems a strong woman
takes me into the sphere of woman with a good deal of
individuality. I think she has passed over — she is not
living. She was a woman of great forbearance, not
endowed with a retaliating spirit. She would rather
bear and suffer abuse than retaliate. She had most
excellent control over herself.
" I think she had authorship. She had the ability
certainly, and I think she exercised it — not to any
considerable extent, did not make it her aim She was
intellectual and proud of mingling with intellectual and
cultured people. She seems a prominent person of
some distinction."
(Was she married ?) " I think she was married, but
not happily. She did not have a happy domestic life.
Her husband was not satisfied. He was a restless>
ambitious man, not satisfied with her. He was not
calculated to make any woman happy — would rather
consider woman an appendage than a companion. I
think she had a great many melancholy seasons in her
life brought about by this unfortunate 'domestic state.
It reminds me of Josephine."
(Is there any connection between the two characters
you have just described?) After hesitation and careful
consideration she said, " I think they were connected
by marriage."
Conjugal Relations. 27
It only remains for me to add that the two parties
were THOMAS CARLYLE, the author, and his wife.
I then gave her another pencilled name and received
the following impression in answer to the question,
what do you say to this female ?
" There is a serenity of character but not a vigorous
mind, with amiable qualities and a desire of performing
benevolent acts, domestic and cheerful, a person that
would not be much disturbed or chafed by reverses, —
has equanimity and courage.
(Was she married ?) Yes. She would show obedience
to her husband, have great respect for him. He was
not morose or sullen, more convivial. She was some-
what comfortable but not happy in her marriage rela-
tion. There was a constrained feeling. Her husband
was likely to neglect the civilities that belonged to a wife.
He was absorbed in his own pursuits and might not
have intended to neglect her, but she seems very much
alone, isolated in her affections.
" She was well aware that she was not treated rightly,
but made great allowance for him. It seems to me she
was separated. He may have neglected her for others.
They had many wordy contests. He was an excitable
man and might have indulged in stimulus. She bore a
great deal uncomplaining before she made her troubles
known. She may have been induced finally to retaliate
by advice of her friends to vindicate herself."
(What of her husband, placing his name in her hand ?)
" This is a high spirited, arrogant, self-willed man, but a
brilliant man nevertheless. He had something to be
proud of. He could wield his pen on any subject in any
direction he chose, had an exceedingly prolific mind.
28 Psychometry in
But his affectional nature was stinted. He had a vivid
imagination and might dwell on romantic themes, but
had not a deep soul.
" He had a literary career. He was a favorite with
the public. His writings were sound and logical with a
vein of poetry. He had great ideality, and perhaps
sublimity, .had a fertile imagination and could write
upon a variety of subjects. He might write on govern-
mental subjects, might write with humor and sarcasm.
His forte was to write novels, romances. He had a
weird style, something like Bulwer's. It is more like
his writings so far as I know than any other."
(What was his domestic character?) He had a pecu-
liar interior life, sometimes that would come to the
surface and appear flat and insipid. It would not
appear to the public.
"It seems he was addicted to some sort of stimulus
that changed him at times, alternating between the
merry and the grand. Sometimes he would write little
unbecoming things. In his younger days he might
write boyish things to women.
" To his wife he would be at times over tender and
loving, and then in an hour's time find cause for dis-
turbance and be harsh if not abusive. lie had a strange
disposition. I think some stimulus was the cause.
"I think his conduct produced a separation — he be-
came intolerable and her feelings were injured too much
to bear it."
(Is he living?) "I think he is not living, but his
writings are, and she is either dead or in obscurity."
"These parties were SIR EDWARD BULWKX. LVTTOX
and his wire. I have brought forward the examination
Conjugal Relations. 29
of the Bulwcr and Carlyle families not to investigate
the genius of the authors, but to show the marvellous
power of psychometry to investigate any past or passing
or future life.
This intuitive power is to me a standing miracle, a
perpetual revelation of the divinity in man. The won-
derful power which only needs to touch a word as an
index to the subject for investigation and forthwith
assumes as thorough a knowledge of men's interior lives
as if their biographies had been studied, and takes in
a panoramic view of life from childhood to its present
status in the world above, is a miracle before which I
bow in reverence, and in which I see the noblest special
gift of God to man, which our poor half developed and
irreverent humanity has for ages ignored or despised-
VerP.y the pearls have been cast before swine !
Not quite so marvellous but still to me a wonder, is
the profound stolidity and intense aversion to truth
which in former times assumed a ferocious aspect, and
assailed such divine gifts and revelations of truth with
halter, dungeon, sword, and fire, and now when diab-
olism is superseded by the stolidity of selfishness,
permits such things to be in progress undisturbed by
the executioner, but neither honors nor seeks them,
and/Ar/irj to turn away and walk in the treadmill steps
of ancient ignorance. Coming generations will realize
the barbarism of society to-day, the enlightened realize
it now.
One more example of intellectual brilliance -and con-
jugal unhappiness, I have thought it interesting to
examine. The world attaches too much value to tin-
intellectual power:;, and, indeed, to any form < f powc",
30 Psycliomctry in
and too little to the other qualities of the soul which
alone can give happiness to the possessor and his asso-
ciates. Such a mistaken estimate is fatal to conjugal
happiness. When women learn to prefer soul to display
and wealth, their sentiments will have a powerful influ-
ence on society, but shallow souled women contribute
to the tide of social degeneracy.
No. 5. — (This is a male — give me his character.)
"There is something peculiar in this mind. I don't
get hold of him readily, but he impresses me with a
great deal of brightness and nervous energy and suscep-
tibility. He seems bright and vivid like a living person,
but I am not sure — I must wait.
"There is so much ambition and push to the character,
I cannot command the language for it. His faculties
are so concentrated in what he does — he does not plod
over his plans, but dashes right ahead without fear or
favor — a strong individuality unlike any one I have
ever described. It is vivid as a living person.
" He was over-reaching sometimes. It would be
better for him if he had had more coolness in his nature.
Was he not military ? I think he was. It carries me
into military operations. I scarcely know where to
place him his mind was so kaleidoscopic.
(Can you perceive his favorite pursuits or talents ?)
" He was politic in his relations to the public. He
was devoted to literature but did not write very exten-
sively. He had great descriptive powers and excelled
in description both in prose and poetry. He wrote
plays. He was restless, — a traveller in mind and
body.
(What was his reputation derived from ?)
Conjugal Relations. 3 1
" From his writings. The fertility of his mind was
so great that people who heard of him would want to see
him. In the variety of his mind and moods he was more
like Byron than any one else I can recall. His poetry
would compare closely with Byron's. It brings up my
old song " My soul is dark."
(What was his domestic and social life ?)
" His social position was high. He was a favorite
with the nobility, He had some title. His social life
was largely convivial. But he had moods, and at times
he was very depressed — very frequently — and at such
times he would write very grandly. He was not what
might be called a happy man. His disposition was not
adapted to happiness. Whether it was hereditary or
some other misfortune connected with his birth, I think
he was not a happy man and he had not good self-
control.
(Was he married?)
"He was married, but his conjugal life was not happy.
He was unfortunate in not selecting his proper adapta-
tion. He was not the man to make any woman happy.
He had love, but not the qualities that make conjugal
life happy. He expended his love on the creatures of
his imagination. There are many contradictions in his
character. He would not be constant to one woman in
attentions, and I think there was some jealousy in his
nature. He wanted more in a wife than it would be
possible for a woman to yield. It makes me restless to
talk about him.
" There was a separation from his wife and a great
deal of scandal, and even censure on both — each had
their friends. I will not say which was most to blame.
32 PsycJiomctry in
They never understood each other, and it would be im-
possible for any woman to be happy with him as a wife
from his temperament. He had a cross to bear all his
life — a skeleton that destroyed his happiness.
(Was his domestic unhappiness from selfishness ?)
No, he was not selfish or avaricious, but prodigal.
He was of a vacillating disposition towards women, and
they would not place much confidence in him.
(You spoke at first of a military life — what do you say
of that ?)
" I don't know exactly. There was something in his
life that partook of the military spirit.
"He is not living, but his writings are, and are
exceedingly prized. He had not a strong constitution.
He lived fast with gay companions and late hours, and
passed away too soon. He did not live long enough to
develope the possibilities that were in his nature. The
more I feel this character, the more it seems like
Byron."
It was a picture of Lord Byron, and the foregoing is
the concise statement of her impressions which she
usually gives. Fully impressed with the character, she
might have dictated pages, but she aims to be concise
and judicial, and I do not wish to impose on her the
fatigue of a longer description.
At the beginning of her description I caught a suffi-
ciently vivid impression to have given some of the salient
points of the character, in which I felt the strength of
the upper occipital region which gives intensity to the
mental action. The brain of Byron was not large. It
was lacking in superior breadth posteriorly, and this
was the deficiency that deprived him of proper self-con-
trol and harmony of nature.
Law and Business. 33
PSYCHOMETRY IN LAW AND BUSINESS.
Law has two purposes — the punishment of guilt and
the adjustment of contention, in both of which its ma-
chinery is inadequate, and in both of which psychome-
try is entirely competent.
Law is incompetent because of its inability, in many
cases, to reach the truth, to discover guilt by circum-
stantial evidence, or to ascertain what is just from con-
flicting or defective testimony. It is lame and inadequate,
also, from the prejudices of judges and the wrong-
headed ignorance of jurors. Every experienced lawyer
can narrate by the hour illustrations of these lamentable
conditions.
Psychometry has none of these wretched deficiencies.
The competent psychometer has no difficulty in deter-
mining guilt or innocence without a word of testimony,
and no difficulty in reaching the decision of equity and
justice in cases in which law, with ample testimony, is
still fallible in the administration of the best officers.
The decisions of perfect psychometry are an expression
of the Divine mind, through man, and approximate the
justice of heaven.
This being the case, human intelligence must advance
to its recognition, and there must be, in the progress of
enlightenment, psychometric commissions in each court
of justice for the ascertainment of truth, to which the
decisions of petit juries have not been competent. As
we employ coroners' inquests in cases of death, and as in
some States medical commissions are employed, and as
cases are handed over to referees, the same principle of
employing competent investigation will lead us to em-
34 Psychomctry in
ploy those for the ascertainment of truth who are most
competent, as we now employ experienced accountants
to determine on a man's conduct of his business.
A psychometric committee of two or three competent
psychometers should be employed to report upon the
facts in all cases of accusation of crime, and in all cases
of contention as to rights which are not mere matters
of law or calculation, and especially in all cases of do-
mestic infelicity and application for divorce.
We need not, however, wait for the tardy action of
courts and legislatures. When the entire community
shall have learned that the shortest and cheapest road
to justice, the least fallible and most accurate, is arbi-
tration by competent psychometers, they who love peace
and justice will resort to PSYCHOMETRIC ARBITRATION —
saving the vast expense of lawyers and courts, the loss
of time, the jealousy and hostility produced by a long
struggle, and the uncertainty of the result. Law will
be left as the costly resort of men of evil passions,
stubborn tempers, and dishonest, grasping natures, who
hope by litigation to get something more than simple
justice ; and the very fact of a resort to law would be
prinia facie evidence of wrong.
The friends of psychometry should in due time organ-
ize in every city psychometric tribunals of arbitration,
which, by their pre-eminent justice and promptness,
should satisfy and attract the business community, and
teach society that law is necessary only for the punish-
ment of criminals, and only reliable in that when aided
by psychometry.
The speedy access to perfect justice thus established
would enforce in all the channels of business, habits,
Law and Business. 35
and sentiments of rectitude now unknown. Dishonest
transactions would become rare, rogues would be known
and kept in their places. Defalcations and embezzle-
ments would cease, for every trusted financial agent
would know that he was under a sleepless inspection,
and that not even an overt act would be necessary to
insure his dismissal, for the selfishness and cunning in
which crimes are engendered would be recognized before
they had shown themselves in overt acts.
Lawlessness arises from impunity, and when impunity
is destroyed by vigilance, the lawless impulses are re-
strained by caution and cease to struggle against the
moral nature.
That psychometry must ultimately become the arbiter
to settle all contests between men seems clear to the
eye of reason — providing that the world shall ever be
governed by its best intellect.
The true method of settling all contests is PSYCHOME-
TRIC ARBITRATION ; but before that arrives there is no
good reason why psychometry should not come into our
courts of justice, point out the guilt or innocence of
prisoners, to assist the jury, determine the credibility of
witnesses, the bona fide, or selfish and malicious charac-
ter, of acts, the genuineness of documents, and the
reliability of trustees, guardians, commissioners, etc.
This is so obvious, that a talented member of the
New York bar, as soon as he was convinced of the
truth of psychometry, wrote an essay for the Albany
Law Journal (February 5, 1881), advocating the intro-
duction of psychometry in courts as competent evidence
in reference to guilt or innocence. The following quota-
tion shows his view of this matter : —
36 Psychometry in
" I refer to the employment of experts as witnesses
about the genuineness of signatures, or other writings.
Chirography is recognized by the courts as entitled to
experts. On what authority does this rule rest ? No
one will pretend it is legislation. Then we must get it
from elementary writers and judicial rulings. What is
the aim of all authors and jurists in establishing such
rules and rulings ? Certainty, of course. What aids
do they invoke ? Principally those of science Is one
science entitled to more consideration than another?
Certainly not. Is there, then, a science that can make
the conviction of a criminal guilty of perjury, and the
acquittal of those wrongfully suspected, always a cer-
tainty ? There certainly is. Its name is PSYCHOMETRV.
Its method, the discovery of a knowledge of his own
guilt or innocence in the prisoner's mind.
" Psychometry is a science from which no mortal
man can conceal his real thoughts. If he will dare to
write what he pretends are his convictions upon paper,
the moment he thus commits himself, the psychometric
expert can tell with an infallible certainty whether what
he said was true or false." "Psychometric experts ex-
press no opinions, but deal in facts, and facts about
which they all always agree. If then they can furnish
positive evidence that can defy doubt and disproof, must
it not be a higher order of evidence than conflicting
opinions unsusceptible of conviction of perjury. What,
then, is to be the first step taken. It is the recognition
by the courts of psychometry as a science. It asks only
a test of its integrity, and its friends are aware that it
will have to encounter the open and bitter enmity of
every hypocrite in the world."
Law and Business. 37
As the claim has thus been presented of psychometric
infallibility in questions of guilt or innocence (which I
could not affirm except of the best psychometric talent
cautiously employed), it is proper that I should explain
to the legal profession that although Psychometry has
not yet been introduced as legal evidence, it may be of
great value to the prosecuting attorney to determine in
his own mind the question of guilt or innocence. A
little experience with a good psychometer will enable
him to determine how much reliance should be placed
on his psychometric opinions. I have been accustomed
for some years when accused criminals were before the
public with different opinions upon their guilt to deter-
mine the matter for my own satisfaction by Mrs. Buchan-
an's psychometric power. Yet I have never indulged in
the sensationalism of publishing such opinions. When
a prisoner was arrested in London as a dynamite con-
spirator (Cunningham) I obtained from her a correct
description of the person, and an affirmation of his guilt,
which has since been sustained by his conviction and
sentence to imprisonment for life.
A conscientious lawyer must often be deeply inter-
ested in the question of guilt or innocence as to clients
and witnesses which psychometry could decide. And
not only lawyers, but many business men have fre-
quently great need to know the true character of men
with whom they are doing business, whom they have
had little opportunity of knowing. Aided by psychom-
etry one may carry on business all over the country with
as great security as in his own city. Mrs. K has been
accustomed to pronounce on the capacity, character, and
reliability of men placed in responsible situations.
38 Psychometry in
In questions of authenticity and forgery, a psychome-
tric expert who has proved his ability to detect a forgery
would, I presume, be as competent a witness in court as
one whose power was derived only from the study 6f the
visible appearance of the writing.
A psychometric expert who could take up an honest
production and describe its writer satisfactorily, and then
take up a forgery and describe the rogue with equal cor-
rectness, would thereby establish evidence which coun-
sel might introduce with great effect into an argument
as he would argue upon any scientific or expert testi-
mony.
In a murder trial at Cincinnati I was called in as an
expert witness by our late President, R. B. Hayes, in
reference to the responsibility of the culprit. In all
such cases the expert who is enlightened may be guided
in his opinions by psychometric investigation. The law
recognizes his testimony because he is considered an
expert, and a knowledge of psychometry is a part of his
expert qualification.
In all executive or administrative offices where appoint-
ments are made, psychometry should lend its aid to con-
trol, to correct, and to accelerate the performance of
such duties. From the village magistrate to the Presi-
dent, and to the chambers of royalty, psychometry
should be the ever-present monitor.
A very useful application of psychometry may be made
in the detection of any species of counterfeits. Not
only counterfeit checks and forged wills, but all current
moneys are subject to psychometric detection, and they
are the successful detectors who have the psychometric
faculty. Some few years ago a counterfeit coin was
Law and Business. 39
put in circulation which almost defied detection. It
seemed perfect in color, weight, and size, and under the
tests of acid and the file. But when it was cut open
the interior proved to be of base metal.
The only method by which such a counterfeit could
be detected was an electric test, by passing electric cur-
rents through the genuine and the suspected coin to see
if their conductivities were exactly equal.
This is one of the cases in which the psychometric
perception would penetrate all deception with a greater
delicacy than any other agency.
In the detection of counterfeit notes the psychome-
tric power will succeed when all other perception fails.
This is already verified at Washington. A dispatch
from Washington, dated February 28, says of the women
in the Treasury Department : "So superior is their skill
in handling paper money that they accomplish results
that would be utterly unattainable without them. It
has been found by long experience that a counterfeit
may go through half the banks in the country without
being detected, until it comes back, often torn and mu-
tilated, into the hands of the Treasury women. Then
it is certain of detection. They shut their eyes and feel
of a note if they suspect it. If it feels wrong, in half a
minute they point out the incongruities of the counter-
feit."
CHAPTER VI.
PSYCHOMETRY IN MEDICAL SCIENCE.
The medical profession ever incompetent to judge of important discov-
eries — Psychic discoveries have no tribunal — The medical profession
hostile — Offer to the Kentucky State Medical Society and its failure
— Correspondence with Prof. Gross — The discussion on homoeopa-
thy— Proof that medicines act without absorption and without con-
sumption of matter — Experiments on medicine in paper and in vials
— Objection to infinitesimals refuted — Effects from minute agencies
— Influence of handwriting, and of contact of writing — Emanation
of influence — Explanation of triturations — Sensibility of morbid
parts — Influence of contact in mineral waters — Influence of locali-
ties by emanation — Influence increased by electric currents — Doc-
trine of Sir James Murray — Medical influences carried by electric
currents — Interesting experiments reported by Mr. Howard showing
electric transference of disease — My own experiments on a narcotic
— Contact influence through the atmosphere — Sensitives affected by
proximity — Influence on national character — Vast range of influ-
ences around us — Psychic influences and the localities that favor
them — Influence of soils, saline evaporation from ocean — Contagion
— Psychometry explains it as dependent on the nervous system, vary-
ing with its development — Not entirely dependent on physical causes
— The Black Death — Contagion from touch — From the glance of
the eye — Its recognition by the ancients — Hygienic precautions —
Psychometry the absolute guide of diagnosis and therapeutics, and
therefore the consummation of medical science — All accurate diag-
nosis in obscure conditions is psychometric — Psychometry indicates
the relation of a remedy better than Homoeopathy — Failure of physi-
cians who lack in psychometric capacity — Psychometric success or
Dr. Swan — My own experience satisfactory.
Upon any .subject rcl tin£ to biological science the
superficial or ill-informed are disposed to refer to tin:
authority of the medical profession, because they do
Psychomctry in Medical Science. 41
not know that physicians have but little independence
of thought, and that the control of the profession by its
colleges and societies has insured the maximum degree
of conservative stolidity, as was virtually confessed by
Prof. Gross when he advised that my demonstrable dis-
coveries be submitted to some society not belonging to
the medical profession, rather than to the National Med-
ical Association.
When we look at the landmarks of this stolidity, we
see that the most rational and obvious suggestions of
progressive science have been received with scorn and
derision. The use of antimony was prohibited about
three centuries ago. Peruvian Bark was opposed with
fury because it was not introduced through colleges ;
all chemical remedies were once prohibited by the fac-
ulty of Paris. Jenner was once ridiculed and excluded
from the college of Physicians, and to-day the same
authority enforces Jenner's vaccination on a reluctant
people by fine and imprisonment. The discovery of
valves in the veins was denied and ridiculed as shame-
fully as Harvey's discovery of the circulation. Even so
simple a matter as the use of the stethoscope, intro-
duced by Laennec, which can hardly claim the dignity
of an invention or discovery, was received with the
same supercilious stupidity.
It is not because physicians differ from the rest of
mankind, for we can find the same record of stolidity in
every department of human knowledge and business
where individuals are hindered by colleges, corporations
or societies, and often where they are not, for there is //<>
system of education established anywhere that will make
its pupils faithful and efficient seekers of truth, an .1
42 PsycJiomctry in
until we have such a system the world must crawl along
slowly.
The publication in the Journal of Man in 1849 of my
sketches of the development of psychometry, did not
attract much attention from literati and scientists.
They reached only the few advanced minds that feel a
sympathy with discovery and progress — the only com-
petent class.
There was no public tribunal of competent investiga-
ting scientists, to whom an appeal could be made. The
common law right of trial by a jury of our peers is a
right of which the psychological scientist is deprived.
He has no peers, no companions, no fitting audience
among the leaders of society. There has been no ex-
tensive, proper, and systematic cultivation of psychic
sciences by the experimental methods which trace
effects to causes.
All tolerated and patronized science today is physical
and the great body of the medical profession which is
the most influential scientific body, is not only physical
or materialistic in its science and philosophy, but is so
intensely dogmatic and so fiercely intolerant in its ma-
terialism that the facts set forth in my experiments
instead of receiving respectful consideration in medical
colleges and medical journals if offered for their notice
would seldom receive any other response, if noticed at
all than the cynical sneer which reveals the low moral
status of the scoffer.
The facts in reference to experiments on medicines,
are so simple and so easily demonstrated even to the
most obtuse intellect that I departed from my usual
policy in 1877, and requested the appointment of an in-
Medical Science. 43
vestigating committee by the Kentucky State Medical
Society for the purpose of examining my discoveries in
relation to the action of medicines. As this was in my
native state, in which I had some reputation in politics
as well as in authorship, having received a nomination
by my friends for the gubernatorial office (which I
declined) and as I was well known by the leading mem-
bers of the society, my request was more courteously
received than it would have been' elsewhere, and a com-
mittee was appointed of eminent medical professors,
who might easily on the first day of their appointment
have performed their duty and ascertained beyond a
doubt the truth of a discovery which revolutionizes
medical theories. One of these gentlemen I think it
proper to mention, was my quondam friend DR. THEO-
DORE BELL, the learned and dogmatic professor of med-
ical practice in the flourishing Louisville school.
Near the end of the year 1877 the committee had
done nothing whatever in performance of their duty,
and I left the state for New York more fully satisfied
than ever that it was utterly useless to lay any psychic
facts before the dogmatic profession, or to invite them
to investigate anything beyond their narrow routine of
thought and action.*
• Knowing the orthodox medical journals to be absolutely controlled
by the bigoted policy of the National Medical Association, I did not dis-
play the verdant ignorance of attempting to reach the profession through
their pages. Hut when the National Scientific Association met in Cincin-
nati in 1850 I supposed it possible to obtain a hearing in that body, and
accordingly offered a paper on CKRKHRAI. F.MHRYOI.OC.V. Hut the same
Jesuitical influence from rival medical colleges was present and positive-
ly procured the suppression of my paper. The two actors in thi^
manoeuvre arc now in a world in which they arc made conscious of their
errors.
44 Psychoinctry in
Nevertheless I felt that intelligent and liberal minds
unacquainted with the dogmatism of medical colleges
would find it difficult to believe that scientific discov-
eries of such importance were absolutely barred out of
the fashionable medical colleges by the imperious
dogmatism of the Faculty, and would therefore suspect
that as my discoveries were not recognized and honored
like those of Claude Bernard and Brown Sequard they
might be lacking in scientific value.
Hence, I thought it desirable to have on record an
explicit refusal, which would show it was not due either
to sciolism in my experiments or to any avoidance of
scientific investigation, that I had not enjoyed the
recognition which is so freely given to those who like
Bernard and Majendie do not transcend the bounds of
the coarsest physical science.
Hence, when the National Medical Association met
in New York, knowing that it would be useless to
make any application to that body, I addressed its
leading representative with whom I had an old acquain-
tanceship, Prof. Samuel D. Gross, the most eminent sur-
geon and presiding officer of the national societies, and
received from him in very courteous terms the explicit
information that my discoveries could not possibly be
brought under the notice of the National Medical
Association or subjected to their investigation because
I was not a member of the dominant medical party
which is governed by a prescriptive code.
The reader will, therefore, see that I have ever sought
scientific investigation and criticism and that I stand
unimpeachcd and uncontradicted as the discoverer and
teacher of principles which I have been teaching and
Medical Science. 45
demonstrating so. many years to medical pupils, and
which are now acted upon by many physicians with
signal benefit and vast superiority in DIAGNOSIS which
is the basis of successful practice.
Marvellous facts which differ from the ordinary course
of events are like the upheaved rocks which reveal
deeply hidden strata. Stolid conservatism dislikes and
avoids such facts because they reveal new principles
and disturb old theories. In medical literature such
facts are generally suppressed ; in medical societies they
are met in a spirit of hostility and defiance. The facts
which reveal the higher capacities of the nervous system
have been carefully concealed from the present genera-
tion of physicians.
But notwithstanding this skeptical vigilance, one of
the class of facts to which I endeavored in vain to call
the attention of the old medical professors has somehow
found its way into the United States Dispensatory
(page 399, 1 4th edition), as follows :
" It is said that in Germany persons sleeping upon
grain containing much ergot have been attacked with
disease in consequence ; and the case is related of a
gentleman who, having gathered some fine specimens of
ergot fresh from the plant arid put them in his trowser's
pocket, found himself about half a day afterward incom-
moded by a terrible spasmodic pain on the skin on the
inside of the thigh, again?t which the pocket lay.
Ascribing this to a long walk, he did not think of the
real cause, until, the pain having returned on the follow-
ing day, and for several days afterwards, he at length
called to mind the forgotten ergot, and supposing that
this might be the cause of the inconvenience removed
46 Psychometry in
it. After a time he found much, though not entire
relief, and did not succeed in wholly removing his trouble
until he had caused the offending pocket to be washed,
after which the affection ceased. He afterward tried
the experiment with other specimens of ergot with the
same results. Perhaps it is only the fresh ergot, yet
moist, that is capable of producing this effect. The
skin was not reddened but covered with minute wrinkles
as in cholera patients."
The scientific presentation and explanation of such
facts would not be tolerated by the National Medical
Association (according to Prof. Gross) if presented by
any one not in sympathy with their prescriptive cod£,
yet such facts cannot always be concealed, and we may
expect them to be presented to the Association by some
of its members hereafter as an important discovery,
carefully concealing its origin.
Returning to the simple medical experiments in which
medicines held in the hands produce all their constitu-
tional effects — what is its bearing upon medical philos-
ophy and the controversies now in progress ?
The leading controversy — the most important which
ever agitated the colleges is that between the followers
of Hahnemann and those who dogmatically reject not
only his principles but all the vast accumulated experi-
ence of many thousand well-educated and reputable
physicians. Their rejection is justified only by the
dogmatic materialism which my experiments have over-
thrown.
Learned professors satisfy themselves and amuse the
ignorance of their pupils by proving that the extreme
attenuations or high potencies of infinitesimal medicines
Medical Science. 47
cannot possibly have an appreciable quantity of the
medicinal substance in the largest dose.
That the effect produced must be in proportion to
the quantity of medicine employed, and that the effects
must arise from internal contact — from touching senti-
ent surfaces in the alimentary canal, or circulating in
the blood, has been assumed as a self-evident axiomatic
truth upon which the whole fabric of their medical
practice rests : and thus it rests upon a falsehood, for I
have proved that medicine may operate from the exterior
without absorption, without entering the circulation
and without the slightest contact with the person.
Moreover, the notion that a certain amount of medi-
cine must be consumed to produce an effect, is simply
a piece of vulgar ignorance, embalmed in collegiate dog-
matism. No consumption of medicine is absolutely
necessary to produce medical effects. On the contrary
the medicines wrapped in papers remain after the
experiment, as if they had not been used. But (the
ultra materialist might say) those medicines in papers
have emanations, and their odors may have produced
the effects by passing through the paper. This is con-
ceding that imperceptible emanations have power, but
such a subterfuge is not available, as soli;! saline, me-
tallic, and crystalline substances, which have no odor
or perceptible emanation are effective when held in
papers.
To remove all possible doubt that medical potency is
an imponderable quality, and operates at a distance
from the substance, I have adopted the custom of pla-
cing the medicines in glass vials well corked — the vials
48 Psychometry in
being held in the hands for the experiments, and their
contents unknown to the subject.
In this method the experiments are as successful as
with the paper envelope, and my experience leads to
the conclusion that more than one-half of a miscellane-
ous company will feel the effects, and often three-
fourths. In a medical class of twenty at Boston there
were but two who were not impressible by this experi-
ment, and from my observation in the South I should
say that eighty or ninety per cent of the population in
the Gulf States would feel these medical influences
through glass with facility.
What then becomes of the materialistic theories ?
The same vial of medicine may be used successfully for
the medication of a thousand or of ten thousand
patients, and if well sealed it will have lost no portion
of the medical substance, so far as we can discover.
The materialistic thinker claims that the homoeopathic
attenuation can have no effect, because the amount of
substance present is so extremely small, but in my
experiment the patient receives no substance at all.
The effects are due to what the materialist considers a
nonenity. The dogmatic objection to homoeopathic
doses disappears entirely when we know that the
potency of medicines may be realized without swallow-
ing, inhaling, or touching a single particle.
The objection, however, still remains that the quantity
cf medicine in the vial that was touched was sufficient
to produce important effects, although its potency was
transferred through glass, but that homoeopathic dilu-
tions, attenuations, or globules, are too insignificant in
quantity to produce any considerable effect, for effects
Medical Science. 49
must be proportioned to causes, and it is reasonable to
believe that if a grain will produce a given effect, a
thousandth part of the grain will produce only the thou-
sandth part of the effect. How then can diseases be
successfully treated by millionths and decillionths of a
grain ?
There are several answers to this plausible statement.
If the agent employed merely starts a new process, a
portion of a grain may be as effective as the whole of it.
A smallpox scab, for example, may develop smallpox in
one who handles or tastes it, but smallpox may also be
developed by handling a bank note or letter received
from the patient. The visible substance produces no
more effect than the invisible contamination on the
paper.
There is no limit to the minuteness of the dose which
may affect the sensitive. As contact with a letter or a
lock of hair reproduces in the sensitive, not only the
traits of character, but the pathological symptoms of
vhe writer, it is apparent that physiological and patho-
logical effects may ccme from a cause in which we can
discover no vital or medical potentiality whatever. The
smallest homoeopathic dose must have more medical
potentiality than the sheet of paper which has been
merely discolored by pen or pencil.
The sensitive recognizes and describes the potential-
ity of infinitesimal dilutions, globules, or powders.
Soon after the announcement of my discovery in New
York one of my pupils, Dr. Harris, an experienced
homoeopathic physician, placed a number of globules
successively in the hands of my sensitive Mr. Inman,
who described their medical potency to his satisfaction.
53 Psychometry in
We cannot devise any subtlety of influence which
may not be f6llovved and detected by the exalted powers
of sensitives. The potentiality of handwriting as an
embodiment of psychic influence is difficult to conceive ;
but that potentiality may be imparted to a blank page
lying in contact with the writing and two letters or
pieces of manuscript kept in contact with each other
impart to each other their influences. An experimental
society in Boston in 1843, was quite puzzled by this
transference of character to a blank page. They were
experimenting on two letters and got a satisfactory
description of the two characters. One was the author
Charles Dickens, the other I have forgotten. But they
were startled on finding that the characters had been
exchanged, and that the character of Dickens was given
to the wrong letter. The letters had been in contact,
so that the writing of each had pressed the blank page
of the other which was touched by the psychometer.
The transmission of psychic influence by contact of
manuscript frequently receives accidental illustrations.
A piece of manuscript from lying in contact with another
absorbs an influence which mingles with or overpowers
its own character. Thus Mrs. B. was called upon in
New York by Dr. F., who gave her for a report a piece
of manuscript from which he expected something very
pleasing, as he considered it a fine specimen of spirit
writing. Instead of this she described it as very dis-
agreeable and irritating ; exciting an impulse to be
angry, quarrelsome, and very abusive. This astonished
him and led her to ask what the writing had been in
contact with. It then appeared that he had placed it in
his pocket pook in contact with a letter from one of his
Medical Science. 5 1
tenants, with whom he had a difference, which was of a
very angry, insolent, abusive character, the influence
of which entirely overpowered the writing of the
medium.
A good psychometer will frequently discover hetero-
geneous influences in a manuscript from persons who
have handled or carried it, and would therefore desire
that anything for examination should be kept free from
adventitious influences.
To test the facility of such transfer, I placed a piece
of blank letter paper for two or three hours within the
folds of a manuscript over forty years old, and then
asked what impressions she received from it. She
quickly decided that it was an impression from old writ-
ing, and even gave the name of the writer. As there
was a possibility of chance in guessing the name, I tried
another experiment by cutting out a piece of blank
paper from a letter written by the eloquent divine, Rev.
J. N. Maffitt, which had lain almost fifty years in con-
tact with the writing. It was a letter introducing myself
to President Dubisson, dated Natchez. Dec. 25, 1835.
Her impressions were given as follows : "This is not a
spiritual writing. It takes me in a westerly direction —
(north or south ?) — towards the south. It is a positive
character, a man. It was not written to you but relates
to you. The writer was older than you when it was
written. You were then quite a young man. It seems
like an introduction to some person of influence rather
than a business letter — to some person holding a prom-
inent intellectual position. The writer was a strong
intellectual man, one who could win the esteem of the
majority — a professional man but not a physician. He
52 Psychometry in
was a public character, stood very high before the public.
I see him speaking. He was an eloquent man. He
seemed at first like a statesman, now he seems a divine.
He interested the people : he was popular : he was very
eloquent: he was not profoundly orthodox." -The ex-
periment had been interrupted once, and at this point
was interrupted a second time by a visitor, and was not
resumed ; so the portrait is incomplete.
When the letter was written, I was just twenty-one
years of age and was engaged in the study and diffusion
of phrenological science, in which I had interested Mr.
Maffitt, who was in the zenith of his career as the most
brilliant man of the Methodist pulpit. As to the con-
cluding remark that he was not strictly orthodox, I
would say that Maffitt, like Whitfield, was more gifted
in the line of oratory and imagination than in the religi-
ous sentiments. Their heads were flat in the religious
region, and their lives were not according to the rever-
ential pattern of Orthodoxy.*
There is a perpetual emanation of influences by which
each substance affects its environment. The emanations
of influence from medicines pass through glass, or they
pass into the paper which contains them, and which
becomes a medical potency to a sensitive.
A medicine triturated with sugar, or simply brought
into contact with it, imparts to the sugar all its emanat-
ing influence, and thus we obtain in the sugar a refined
emanation combined with the saccharine qualities which
are pleasant and genial. A medicated sugar or highly
* Mr. Maffitt's cordial reception of my scientific suggestions at that
time assures me that if he were living to-day he would be a powerful
champion of scientific truth.
Medical Science. 5 3
saccharated medicine is a great improvement upon crude
medication, not only on account of the mollifying influ-
ence of the sugar, but on account of the superiority of
the emanation which combines with the sugar, to the
gross substance of the drug. And as this emanation
power seems to be practically unlimited (since the
same vial of medicine may act in perpetuity) there is
no reason why we might not, from a limited quantity of
medicine by proper management, obtain an unlimited
amount of saccharated potentiality more genial and ap-
propriate in therapeutics than the original body.
The objection however may be made that these ema-
nation saccharates (or we might call them spiritual sac-
charates as they do not appear to be strictly material
emanations) would 'not affect all patients since all man-
kind are not sensitives ; hence this infinitesimal or
spiritual method must frequently fail.
The objection is very plausible, but disease in general
is a state of heightened or morbid sensibility. It origi-
nates most readily in a morbid susceptibility — a pre-
dominance of sensibility over the vital force.* Hence
disease gives, at least to the morbid organ, a very acute
and delicate sensibility, which would not tolerate harsh
remedies, or even a slight touch. If then the remedy
has a specific action on the morbid part it ought cer-
tainly to be delicate in its action, since the exalted
sensibility makes the organ unusually impressible and
the remedy which would scarcely affect it at all in
health, is very potent in its morbid condition.
* Sensibility is the foundation of disease, and it is because the sensibil-
ity and nervous development of fishes are of so low a grade that they arc
not liable to inflammation.
54 Psyckomctry in
The law of emanation which thus explains the value
of infinitesimal doses has many other important applica-
tions.
It is well known that mineral waters coming through
strata of the earth have important healing powers which
are not accounted for by chemistry, and which are not
satisfactorily realized in artificial combinations however
skilfully made. Such is the general opinion of physi-
cians. It is probable that the waters are affected by
the subterranean strata through which they pass, the
influence of which is distinct as they are taken from
the spring. But they also have the virtue of saccharated
remedies, as every particle of the water is impressed by
the influence of all the mineral ingredients (which have
been many years in solution) like the sugar in tritura-
tions, and I believe that if the mineral elements could
be instantly removed from the water its virtue would
not be entirely lost. The agitation and motion of the
water in the subterranean channels has the same effect
as the percussions by which tinctures are potentized in
homoeopathic pharmacy. A practical inference would be
that in preparing aqueous or alcoholic solutions of med-
icines we should not only use agitation but allow them
to stand as long as possible to permeate the inert ele-
ments with the medicines, thus rendering their effects
milder and enabling us to succeed with a smaller quan-
tity.
All things have their sphere of emanation and every
locality on the face of the globe whether it offers gran-
ite, limestone, clay, sand, or humus, or is covered by
fresh or salt water, pure or impure, or any species of
vegetation, affects the constitution of the residents or
Medical Science. 5 5
travellers differently from other localities. Hence med-
ical men blindly recommend a "change of air" knowing
that there are important effects produced by change of
locality which they do not comprehend. The asthmatic
and the victims of hay fever find by experience the
locality that suits them best as every locality has its
own pathological tendency and its own peculiar influ-
ence over body and mind. Arenacious formations are
exempt from cholera, and when the principles which I
have enunciated are made the basis of scientific investi-
gations the exact influence of all mineral elements on
the constitution of man will be determined, and locali-
ties will be selected and prescribed for patients with as
much precision as medicines, and the physicians of each
locality will understand the pathological tendencies of
their residence and the modification of treatment re-
quired.
The power of each locality is greatly intensified by
electric currents, which, passing upward, bring the con-
stitution under the influence of the subjacent strata.
Sir James Murray of England, about half a century ago,
asserted very forcibly the importance of this electric
influence as a source of disease, and claimed to have
rendered unhealthy localities safer for residence by insu-
lating thoroughly the houses inhabited. The noncon
ducting or insulating materials used in their foundations
he considered a very important protection against dis
ease ; and I believe there is more in this than the mere
protection against dampness.
Sensitive persons, in walking, will find very decided
influences in different localities. In approaching certain
spots permanently damp, they will feel the rheumatic
50 PsycJiomctry in
or neuralgic influence of negative conditions, and will
find in drier localities, where there is less conductivity,
less evaporation, and a less negative state, a more com-
fortable condition.
The doctrine that we are affected by electric currents
and thereby made to feel the influence of our environ-
ment, and especially of the portion of the earth on which
we stand, is susceptible of demonstration. Practition-
ers of electricity have often maintained that patients
could feel the influetice of medicines through which
they received electric currents, but the medical pro-
fessjon has been disposed to ignore such facts because
not readily demonstrable with persons of moderate sen-
sibility; and the experimental facts which illustrate
transmission by electricity have seldom been reported,
partly because of the prejudice of observers, and partly
because the great majority are not accustomed to report
their experience for publication.
An interesting case, however, was reported by Mr. L.
Howard, F. R. S., as occurring in the experience of
Philip Smith, of Fordham, in curing agues by electricity,
who found that the disease was carried from the patient
to himself by the electric current. In order to test the
matter more decisively, he made an experiment to see
if the inflammation produced by vaccination could be
transferred as well as intermittent fever. He placed one
of his men on the insulating sheet who had been vacci-
nated seven days previously. A wire duly insulated
and four inches long, was made to connect the inocu-
lated spot, or pustule, on the man's arm, with a slight
incision made in the arm of a lad with a new lancet,
and the current of electricity applied for eight minutes.
Medical Science. 5 7
The boy was duly observed afterwards, and proved to
be as completely vaccinated by electricity as if it had
been done in the usual way. The boy's vaccination
was also transferred by electricity through wires to the
arms of two girls, and vaccine appearances produced,
but not so perfectly as on the boy. The effect, how-
ever, was such that when subsequently one of the girls
was vaccinated in four places, but slight effect was
produced.
It is very well known among electric practitioners
that it is very injurious to receive the electric current
in their own persons through the body of a patient.
The galvanic current accelerates the passage of fluids
in tubes or in blood vessels and may be used to trans-
fer medicinal substance into the body or to carry me-
tallic substance out of it. It is reasonable to suppose
that the imponderable elements may be carried by the
electric current as well as ponderable molecules. It
would seem a priori as probable that the electric current
would carry nervauric or medicinal emanations or accel-
erate their passage, as that a breeze should bring us
the odors of a tree in bloom, and the following experi-
ment illustrates the electric transference of medicinal
influences.
A metallic tube about eight inches long and an inch
in diameter was filled with paregoric and connected
with the positive pole of a galvanic circuit of twelve
zinc carbon plates by a wire which passed through the
centre of the tube inserted corks at each end, so that
the current could pass only through the paregoric to
the metal tube. This was placed in the right hand of
a very susceptible lady of fine physical development,
58 Psychomctry in
the left holding the negative electrode. She found the
o o
influence quite pleasant, nervine, soothing, stimulating
to the brain and developing a little perspiration, making
her realize that the medical influence was of the ner-
vine anodyne class. I then reversed the connections,
bringing the tube in contact with the negative pole and
her left hand into connection with the positive pole,
expecting thereby to prove the removal of the anodyne
impression. But the effect was more decisive than I
anticipated. She quickly pronounced the current too
exciting and unbearable, and even when I reduced it to
one-third the number of cells she insisted that it was
very objectionable, refused to go on and was astonished
at the strength of the battery. The anodyne influence,
which she felt so agreeable when the current was enter-
ing her hand through the paregoric, was almost instantly
destroyed when the current flowed in the opposite di-
rection.
The same experiment was tried in the psychometric
class on five ladies and two gentlemen, Dr. R., Mr. P.,
Mrs. D., Mrs. R., Mrs. H., Miss R., and Miss G., all of
whom agreed in pronouncing the current felt through
the tube (of the nature of which no hint had been given)
very soothing, nervine, and pleasant, but when the con-
nection was changed, the tube being connected with the
negative pole they found it not at all soothing, but stim-
ulating and exciting to a degree which soon became
unpleasant and injurious. Mr. P. being a stout gentle-
man, bore the non-medical current very well but decid-
edly preferred the other. Mrs. D. and Miss R., who
enjoyed the medical current found the other quite unen-
Medical Science. 59
durable. It was probably made more so by tlu contrast
with the pleasant influence of the medical current.
To test the transmission of medical influence by
contact alone, I placed a few spoonfuls of white granu-
lated sugar between pieces of paper which had several
weeks previously been moistened with tincture of cap-
sicum and thoroughly dried. It was left in this position
about an hour, then removed into a paper box for
experiment. Another portion of sugar was placed for
the same time between dry paper which had once been
wet with a fluid extract of belladonna and in like
manner removed into a paper box. A pinch of the
sugar, about a teaspoonf ul was placed in the palm of the
hand of each lady in a company of nine and in five
minutes was recognized by seven of the nine as a
warming stimulating influence. Of the other two one
felt t^e effect on the head and the other felt a chilly
influence.
The belladonna sugar was promptly recognized by all
in its soothing soporific influence and decided influence
upon the head, especially the frontal region the effect
being much greater than I expected. In these cases
the effect was due solely to the contact of the crystals
of sugar with the medicated paper.
As influences thus pass by contact independently of
electric currents, there is no reason why the influences
which pass from vials of medicine to the hands of the
sensitive should not pass into sugar or any other recep-
tive substance in contact with the vial to a sufficient
extent to be recognized. To test this I placed a
quantity of white granulated sugar in contact with a
vial of belladonna. When about two ounces of sugar
60 Psychometry in
was employed, Mrs. B. could not positively recognize
any influence distinct from the sugar, but thought there
might be a little that would be soothing to the nervous
system. When, however, I gave her the amount of
a grain of sugar which had been in immediate contact
with the vial, she distinctly recognized an influence on
the nervous system similar to that of belladonna, which
she thought might proceed from a very minute amount
of belladonna.
It is not merely contact with the soil that affects us,
but contact with the atmosphere affects a very sensitive
interior region in the chest. The air is in contact with
everything on the face of the earth, and not only does
it absorb the moisture of bodies of water, the hot
electric conditions of dry localities in the sunshine, and
the odorous emanations of vegetation and decomposi-
tion, but carries with it the potentialities of contact
which we experience in touching a medicine. It touches
ten thousand medicinal potencies in trees and plants as
well as minerals, and conveys their subtile emanations to
us. The sensitive feels in the forests, the meadows, and
the gardens a great variety of subtile influences which
are generally beneficial — far more so than the dirty
streets of cities in which stupid avarice neglects to place
the health-giving trees and allows foulness to accumu-
late in the soil.
In the great convulsions of nature and in epidemics,
the influence of electric currents and of atmospheric
changes is greatly intensified. In the great earthquake
of January, 1348, which shook nearly all the south of
Europe and continued for several days, when whole
villages were swallowed up and many entirely destroyed,
Medical Science. 6 1
many persons experienced a feeling of stupor and head-
ache and many fainted away. During a period of
twenty-six years, ending in 1360, earthquakes and
epidemics devastated Europe including Great Britian,
and it is estimated that twenty-five millions of lives
were lost by this terrible pestilence which has been
called the Black Death.
In modern epidemics there are changes in the atmos-
phere and great changes of electric conditions, which
affect magnets and telegraphic operations and even
modify chemical processes (as in making it difficult to
manufacture sulphuric acid) but scientists have done
very little to determine the nature of these epidemic
influences.
Not even an atmospheric carrier is needed by the
sensitive to impress them with local influences; approxi-
mation alone is sufficient to bring them in the sphere
of influence, and when the soul expands in rapt con-
templation of Nature all her influences are taken in as
if all surrounding objects were a constellation shining
into the soul. " High mountains are to me a feeling,"
was the expression of Byron. That chameleon power
by which the soul assimilates with its surroundings is
derived not merely from intellectual perception, but
from the power of emanation and of psychometric sym-
pathy— out of which come not merely physiological
and pathological results, but all the psychological con-
ditions of human development. All the elements of a
nation's home, in topography and climate are influential
upon national character, and every invalid will find that
all of his surroundings are important.
The influences of localities depend on the permanent
62 Psychometry in
elements of the land, and the transient or changeable
elements of the surface which are under our control, in
conjunction with atmospheric conditions, temperature,
electricity, moisture and winds.
The basis of the continent (granite and gneiss) is a
wholesome foundation. The three great elements, silex,
alumina and lime, from which, with a few additions,
the continents are built, are happily adapted to human
welfare. The more tonic and stimulating influence of
the silex in quartz, granite, sandstone, jasper, and the
sands of our soils is often reinforced with the still more
tonic influence of ferruginous elements in the soils and
rocks. Alumina in clay and aluminous rocks adds a
cool antiseptic influence which counteracts malarious
and feverish conditions, and when slightly impregnated
with tonic and antiseptic iron makes the best foundation
for health. Lime also imparts an antiseptic and whole-
some influence. The disintegration of these three ele-
ments from granite, limestone, shale and sandstone,
forms the mineral basis of soils congenial to health and
activity, upon which vegetation, forming carbonaceous
and nitrogenous compounds, easily decomposed, fur-
nishes the elements of malaria, which, if not destroyed
or buried in the soil, accumulate in lower localities, and
generate disease by decomposition.
When the septic elements of vegetable matter exposed
to warmth and moisture are not adequately controlled
by the aluminous and ferruginous elements of the soil,
disease must result, greatly increased by extreme heat
and cold and sudden changes, in temperature and elec-
tricity, which sometimes render the atmosphere ex-
tremely depressing to human life. Sensitive persons
Medical Science. 63
feel these changes keenly, and recognize the approach
of snow several hours in advance. Whatever is around
us in earth, sea or air has a diffusive influence, and
hence every locality has a different influence. Chemis-
try cannot detect the influence, but every sensitive
is powerfully affected by it. Salt is not recognized as
an evaporating substance, and yet it affects the atmos-
phere greatly. Cattle that require salt in the interior
of the country do not require it in seacoast locations,
and it is said not to be necessary in an island sur-
rounded like England by oceanic evaporation. That
there is an actual evaporation of the saline elements,
possibly decomposed, is shown by the fact that in such
locations tin cannot be used for roofing, on account of
its speedy oxydation, while in our country remote from
the ocean, tin roofs last well without painting, if not
exposed to coal smoke.
Our sensibilities reach out far beyond the sphere of
contact. Light and sound bring us in relation with
remote objects, and make them impressive. Odors,
auras, sounds and light come to us, but fall often on a
dulled sense. Thousands of odors and auras are unrec-
ognized by the average citizen. Sounds above and
below a certain range of pitch arc unheard. Few of
the colors and tints in nature are recognized by the
average masculine eye, and the actinic ray is not con-
sidered visual, nor are the emanations of magnets which
are visible to the sensitive. Beyond all these the psy-
chic light, by which spiritual objects are seen, is un-
known to the great majority, and even denied an exist-
ence by the physical scientist, who is unacquainted with
the human constitution.
64 Psycliomctry in
There is something more than the passive perception
ot these emanations and influences. The soul has an
active percipiency, and goes forth in the pursuit of
knowledge, in which it attains the sublimest achieve-
ments of psychometry.
This psychometric power is most highly developed
under favorable conditions. These conditions are found
in elevated positions with sunshine and pure air. The
light atmosphere of lofty localities developes the brain
and lungs, and therefore produces a nobler and more
spiritual type of humanity, with stronger religious aspi-
rations, more perfect health, and more delicate intuitions.
The world's history proves the mountaineers to be the
nobler portion of the race. The great cities in \vbich
populations become sodden in selfishness, corrupt in
morals, and victims of pestilence, are near the sea level.
The highest portion of the old world east of the Cas-
pian Sea was the seat of the noblest, the Caucassian
race, the dominant power over the whole earth — the
authors' of civilization and science. In the mountain
lands, the high plateaus and sunny climates of tropical
and southern, temperate regions, intuitive wisdom will
establish its empire.
CONTAGION.
The revelations of psychometry decisively settle the
questions between contagionists and non-contagionists
which have for ages been so blindly discussed by the
opponents of contagion, who look upon it merely as a
physical cause, of a certain exact amount of potentiality,
which should always manifest itself with the certainty
of gravitation, when, in fact, contagion is essentially
Medical Science. 65
dependent on a power of the nervous system, and there-
fore has no uniform rule of operation, but varies in its
manifestation with every individual, every locality, cli-
mate and season. To one person of high susceptibili-
ties, and moderate or reduced vital power, all diseases
without exception are contagious. He will contract
pain, discomfort, mental disturbance, confusion of mind,
headache, insanity, moral depravity, suicidal melancholy,
neuralgia, rheumatism, fever, and, in short, all unfortu-
nate conditions of body or mind, with certainty in pro-
portion to his exposure. Such persons are disqualified
from practising medicine, and cannot retain health, ex-
cept by the utmost possible precaution in the most
favorable locality and environment.
Others with great vital power and very limited sensi-
bility resist all contagions and exert great restorative
powers over the sick. They can encounter small pox
and contagious fevers with impunity.
As there are all possible intermediate grades of sensi-
bility to contagion, those who ignore the susceptibility
and variety of human constitutions and suppose conta-
gion to depend entirely on the quality of the disease,
must necessarily adopt a chaos of contradictory opinions,
as diseases continually vary (in their diffusiveness) ac-
cording to national or personal idiosyncrasy and climatic
conditions.
Psychometric science directs our attention away
from the contradictory records of the medical profession
which pronounce a disease contagious and with equal
positiveness pronounce it absolutely and universally
non-contagious, to the study of individual susceptibility,
66 Psychometry in
as it may be increased by debility and hot weather, or
diminished by vital energy and cooler temperatures.
Moreover the knowledge of the true causes of trans-
mission of diseases relieves us at once from the illusive
theories which require us to search in all cases for
a physical agency, for germs, vapors, or contaminated
substances, and which leads us to believe that we are
safe by certain physical precautions when we are really
in imminent danger. There are many who cannot ap-
proach for one minute a case of acute disease without
absorbing its influence by nervous and psychic sympa-
thy.
The true understanding of contagion enlarges greatly
our conception of the precautions necessary in a warm
climate and among sensitive people, and justifies the
precaution which in Italy destroys by fire all the furni-
ture of the apartment that has been occupied by a con-
sumptive patient. It explains also the deadly influence
of hospitals which have been occupied by severe forms
of disease for a long time, and which are become so pro-
foundly infected by influences which are invisible, and
incapable of chemical detection as to produce extreme
mortality in cases that recover well in open tents.
Chemical disinfection may destroy the offensive matters
which are most injurious to health, but I do not believe
it can entirely remove the morbid influences which are
left by diseased constitutions impregnating the solid
substance of an apartment.
In the black death of the I4th century Prof. Hecker
says, " Every spot which the sick had touched, their
breath, their clothes, spread the contagion ; and as in
all other places, the attendants and friends who were
Medical Science. 67
either blind to their danger or heroically despised it,
fell a sacrifice to their sympathy. Even the eyes of tlie
patient were considered as sources of contagion, which
had the power of acting at a distance." So in ancient
times, he says, " the sight was considered as the bearer
of a demoniacal enchantment." *
These were correct observations. An exchange of
glances for one minute with a fever patient by a perfect
sensitive is sufficient to transfer a disease which may
go on to the destruction of life in a feeble and predis-
posed constitution, or may be thrown off by one of
healthy vigor. Hence for many persons the only reli-
able protection is the absolute isolation of the sick from
the well, a principle long known, since physicians of the
second century recommended this as the proper pre-
caution against leprosy.
Our knowledge of the laws of contagion, however will
not lead to the selfish abandonment of the sick, but will
teach us to protect the delicate and sensitive from all
morbid exposure, and to entrust nursing cares to those
who can bear them. It will also teach us that great
*" Correct notions of contagion have descended from remote antiquity,
and were maintained unchanged in the I4th century. So far back as the
age of I'lato, a knowledge of the contagious power of malignant inflam-
mations of the eye, of which also no phvsician of the middle ages enter-
tained a doubt, was general among the people ; yet in modern times
surgeons have filled volumes with partial controversies on this subject.
The whole language of antiquity has adapted itself to the notions of the
people, respecting the contagion of pestilential diseases ; and their terms
were, beyond comparison, more expressive than those in use among the
moderns." HECKKR on the lilafk /><•<////.
The advantage of the ancients was due to the fact that they had not
fallen into the slough of materialism and did not ignore invisible influ-
ences.
6cJ Psycliomctry in
evils may be inflicted on the young by contagion when
there are no acute diseases in the case. The debility
of age, melancholy, feebleness, moroseness, and even
phlegmatic dulness may be inflicted by association on
the young to the permanent injury of their future life.
All association has a contagious power, and therefore
children often receive much more education or modifi-
cation of character from their school companions than
from their teacher.
Adults obey the same law of psychic contagion, and
he who would train himself for a higher life than belongs
to the social level around him must, to a great extent,
isolate himself from society, unless he possesses the
heroic constitution which overpowers everything around
it.
Contagion is continually in progress. Every apart-
ment that is occupied, and every chair that is sat upon
receives the physical and psychic impress of the occu-
pant, and acquires a beneficial or injurious influence for
his successor. Everything touched by the victims of
the Black Death became a source of contagion, and the
infection was so permanent that Hecker says that
"frightful ill-consequences followed for many years after
the first fury of the pestilence was past."
All objects therefore may become centres of moral
and physical contagion for a great length of time, and
he who has a sensitive under his care should be careful
into what society or apartments the sensitive is intro-
duced. While making psychometric experiments with
a lady recently, we were disturbed by the restlessness,
pain, and discomfort in the lower limbs which came
upon her, which we did not understand until we recol-
Medical Science. 69
lected that the easy chair she was sitting in had long
been occupied by an invalid of restless temperament
troubled with sciatica. The discomfort soon passed off
after taking another chair.
It is but a small part of the medical value of Psychom-
etry that it illustrates the philosophy and hygiene of
contagion, now resting on a false physical basis in the
mind of the profession, and settles the question between
gross and infinitesimal medication, by proving the value
and rationality of the latter and the fallacy of the
materialistic idea which lies at the basis of the old prac-
tice.
Its highest claims are as the ABSOLUTE GUIDE of DI-
AGNOSIS and THERAPEUTICS in which the general intro-
duction of psychometry and utilization of its benefits
will constitute the greatest and most beneficent addition
to the resources of the profession that has ever been
made, not excepting the therapeutic discoveries of
Hahnemann, for which I entertain the most profound
respect.
There is no extravagance in this claim if psychom-
etry gives the power of diagnosis and the power of
therapeutic selection. For the whole art of medical
practice consists in correct diagnosis and prognosis fol-
lowed by correct adaptation of remedies.
Success in the practice of medicine (not in acquiring
profit or fame, but in curative treatment) depends upon
two things, the perception of the disease and the percep-
tion of the remedy.
Both of these perceptions belong to the sphere of
intuition. No physician ever acquired an accurate
knowledge of the condition of a patient without the ex-
7O PsycJiomctry in
ercise of psychometric perception, though he might
otherwise learn the prominent symptoms. Nor can
there be a clear and comprehensive knowledge of the
relation of a remedy to the condition of a patient, with-
out the exercise of the same intuitive power. Homoe-
opathy has made a long stride toward the ascertainment
of this adaptation, but neither the totality of the symp-
toms nor the totality of the therapeutic power in any
remedy can be reached by the methods of science,
because the totality is too complex, too extensive, and
too delicate for any or all scientific methods.
Hence medical practice has ever been a succession of
blunders, intermingled with occasional approximations
to correct prescription by a careful study of drugs and
symptoms, and with true marvellous cures guided by un-
conscious psychometry.
Knowing nothing of psychometry and its possibilities,
medical colleges are continually turning out as accom-
plished physicians a heterogeneous multitude, of whom
some have the genius which masters diseases and
remedies, which leads them to success, however poor
their instruction, while others, constitutionally blind to
pathological and therapeutic indications, actually in-
crease the mortality of disease, while a still larger num-
ber have just enough psychometric perception, after
acquiring experience, to avoid gross errors.
The greatest possible step to elevate the medical
profession rapidly, would be a preliminary examination
which would reject from the profession every young man
not sufficiently endowed with psychometric power to
insure accuracy of diagnosis. But how is this possible
Medical Science. 7 1
when teaching is a business matter, dependent on the
revenue from students' fees.
In my professional instruction, thirty years ago, I en-
deavored to elicit the psychometric capacity of our
students, and in one of these, Dr. Grosvenor Swan, I
recognized excellent psychometric capacities which jus-
tified the expectation that he would excel as a practi-
tioner, and would be more accurate than physicians
generally in diagnosis. I might relate many instances
of his skill in this respect, but two or three will be suf-
ficient.
In 1869 an accident occurred in Jackson County,
Iowa, town of Andrew. A man had been thrown from
a sled on the hard ground with such force as to injure
his hip and disable the limb. The first doctor called
in pronounced it a fracture at the upper third of the
femur, and accordingly set it and placed the limb in a
box. The patient suffered so much that he feared some-
thing was wrong, and sent for another doctor, who was
considered the most eminent surgeon in that part of the
State. He claimed that the former physician was mis-
taken, and that the fracture was at the neck of the
femur, and on this theory put on on new dressing,
securing the limb very firmly in a box.
A great excitement was created in the neighborhood,
each doctor being confident that he was right, and an
opportunity was made for a meeting of doctors to settle
the matter. Dr. Swan (who resided ten miles away)
and six other physicians attended, and they were about
equally divided in opinion as to the location or the frac-
ture, which they all supposed to exist.
Dr. Swan, in sitting by the patient, got a sudden
72 PsycJionictry in
psychometric impression that there was no fracture at
all, and requested the box and the dressings to be re-
moved from the limb. Being asked for his opinion, he
advised that the splints and dressings should be removed
and replaced by hot fomentations of bitter herbs. They
asked, with surprise, if he would take the responsibility
of treating the case in that way, and the patient re-
plied that he would take the responsibility and follow
Dr. Swan's treatment, under which the man recovered
the use of the limb in a week, proving that the physi-
cians were all mistaken in reference to so simple and
palpable a condition as a fracture.
Dr. Swan's perception in this case was psychometric,
not being based on any physical examination and he
had had experience enough to rely upon it as many
other physicians might who possess this power, but not
being trained to exercise and rely upon it they fail to
do justice to themselves.
In another instance, in 1869, when Dr. Swan resided
at Watertown, N. Y., the case of a young lady in
Rodman embarrassed the physicians and surgeons of
that part of the State, and elicited a great deal of
discussion. The patient was said to be suffering from
a tumor in the right side, nearly opposite the umbilicus,
and several consultations had been held over the case
by the most eminent surgeons of that region. All
agreed that it was a tumor, but did not agree as to the
character of the formation and its attachments, and
hence there was a hesitation as to submitting the case
to an operation.
Dr. Swan being called in found an enlargement about
three inches in diameter, which had been blistered
Medical Science. 73
until the whole surface was raw, and did not admit of a
manual examination. However, his instantaneous psy-
chometric impression indicated that it was an abscess,
and he at once told them that it was an abscess con-
taining a pint of matter, which required to be opened.
Not having an instrument with him he returned to
Watertown and sent Dr. Trowbridge with a trocar to
perform the operation (who had believed it to be a
tumor). Dr. Trowbridge reported that the contents of
the abscess amounted fully to a pint as Dr. Swan had
stated.
Many might suppose that these were only illustrations
of the superior sagacity of an experienced physician.
But when a sudden impression leads one to an opinion
contradictory to the opinions of all who are guided by
external indications, such impressions are psychometric.
Moreover, Dr. Swan has often pronounced with equal
correctness upon patients at a distance.
In my own limited practice, which I have never
made a principal occupation, I have no hesitation in
relying upon a psychometric diagnosis by Mrs B.,
and directing the treatment of patients whom I had
never seen, but whose assurances of correct description
and satisfactory cures have been all that I could expect.
A surgeon of reputation in Colorado, wrote for a diag-
nosis of his own case which proved satisfactory to his
critical mind. A lady in New Hampshire wrote for a
diagnosis, and the description developed so large an
amount of chronic disease that I was almost afraid to
undertake the case, but relying implicitly on the diag-
nosis a cure was effected bv sending remedies. In no
74 Choice of Physicians.
case have patients failed to recognize the truth of the
diagnosis.
I could relate the history of physicians who by their
psychometric power, which I explained to them, sur-
passed all competitors in their therapeutic success, and
one especially, who without any previous preparation
entered the profession, conducting his studies in the
midst of an active business, and in four years rose to
the front rank of practitioners and accumulated a hand-
some estate.
A volume might be filled with the records of the
marvellous diagnosis and prognosis of intuition not only
by physicians, but by persons wholly uninstructed in
medicine who have corrected the errors of experienced
physicians, but this subject properly belongs to a work
for the medical profession before whom the subject
must be brought.
CHOICE OF PHYSICIANS.
In no profession is society so frequently and so
profoundly deceived as in the medical. Professional
success is achieved by force of character, by selfish
energy, by impressive manners, by social intrigue, by
elegant display and use of money, by literary culture, by
pedantic display of science in something irrelevant to
healing, by professional education which has far more
learning than utility, by fashionable associations and
family influence — in short, everything else but ability
to heal the sick. Without these adjuncts, the most
skilful in the healing art may creep through life in
comparative obscurity and witness the success of those
who accumulate wealth and acquire influence, while
Choice of Physicians. 75
their patients have tivicc the mortality that science
would recognize as legitimate. The majority of fash-
ionable and wealthy physicians are not successful practi
tioners. The qualities that make a true physician are
not the qualities that impress society. The modest
sensitiveness that sympathizes with the patient and
forms the basis of skilful intuition, the pure unselfish-
ness that delights in helping a sufferer and is loth to
deprive him of his toil-worn earnings, the patient
study that gives him a mastery of disease while his
rivals are seeking the mastery of society, — all these are
unfriendly to his success. There is many a modest
country doctor who barely obtains a modest subsistance
and gives his service for modest fees, when ostentatious
pretenders in the city gain wealth while consigning
hundreds to the undertakers whom many a modest
country doctor would have saved. The illiterate clair-
voyant and magnetic healers who have no social rank
nor intellectual accomplishments nor imposing manners,
may go on healing year after year the cases abandoned
as incurable by physicians well equipped with social
influence, but poorly equipped with therapeutic re-
sources, but society blindly follows fashion and ignores
humble merit. Many a physician lives and dies in
obscurity .while performing cures which in those of
more fortunite position would have been appreciated as
wonderful.
The most distinguished physician of his day, enjoying
the largest professional income, amounting at its
height to a hundred thousand dollars per annum, was,
although highly skilful in operative surgery, a medical
barbarian in practice. That physician, Sir ASTLEV
76 Choice of Physicians.
COOPER, was, according to authentic accounts utterly
unfit to practice medicine. For we are informed in his
biography by his nephew how wretchedly limited were
his resources. The statement is as follows : " So simple
were Mr Cooper's prescriptions, that he had five or six
formulae, which under ordinary circumstances consti-
tuted his complete pharmacopoeia, and such medicines
he kept constantly made up. . . . His remedies were
limited in number and but little varied in use, for he
never had any confidence in an extensive variety of
medicines. I have heard him say, ' give me quinine,
tartarized antimony, sulphate of magnesia, calomel and
bark, and I could ask for little else.' '
The wretched ignorance expressed in this confession
can be appreciated only by the well educated physician
who knows how deplorable must be the results of a
practice depending on such resources alone. Our
present materia medica contains over one thousand
remedies, and still is painfully inadequate, compelling a
search for better resources. Yet the colleges have so
much the spirit of Cooper that their instruction in
materia medica is wretchedly inadequate. As the con-
ditions of disease are infinitely diversified beyond the
power of the human mind to conceive and recollect
them or even to ascertain them without the aid of
intuition, and as every different condition demands a
different remedy, the attempt to practice the healing art
with five remedies would be regarded by all enlightened
physicians to-day as a very flagrant example of quackery.
Psychometry pierces at once through all the surround-
ing ostentation to the real basis of professional charac-
ter. To illustrate its power I submitted to Mrs. B. the
Choice of Physicians. 77
professional character of five whom I had well known
as distinguished physicians of very different capacities,
asking her to give their professional character as phy-
sicians.
No. i. The professor of practice to whose instructions
I listened as a student fifty years ago was described as
follows from an old letter.
" He is not living." (What sort of a physician was
he ?) " In his particular line of practice he was well
versed and might have been considered skilful. He
had a good deal of magnetism, was very earnest and
had great confidence in his doctrines, but I would not
employ him. (Why?) He may have understood
anatomy well, but he was not progressive — he never
cared to change or to follow others ; he felt that he was
always the best judge. He understood 'now to manage
difficult cases, was a man of decision and a medical
writer, but I would not like his drug practice — he gave
too large doses. He was considered an authority in the
profession but he did not apply progressive principles.
He was a sincere and conscientious man, and had pro-
fessional success and reputation, but was not generally
successful with his patients. He got no new ideas and
must have declined in his reputation. He was orthodox
in religion and very tenacious in all his principles."
This was Prof. John Ksten Cooke,of Transylvania Uni-
versity, an honest and earnest man, author of a system
of practice and of a v< lume on the " Invalidity of Pres-
byterian Ordination;" and one of the most perfect
representatives of the horrible system of practice that
prevailed in the Southwest half a century ago, when
the majority of the sick were salivated by mercurials.
78 CJioicc of PJiysicians.
He taught the heroic use of calomel as the leading
agent in practice, beginning with twenty grains and
doubling the dose on successive visits if necessary —
giving it in cholera in teaspoonful closes. To one of
the theological students, a brilliant young man, Mr.
Douglass, he gave altogether a pound and a half before
he died, as I was informed by his friend, Rev. Mr.
Brittan, who confessed to having taken three-fourths of
a pound himself from Dr. Cooke.
The drift of Dr. Cooke's instruction was no better
than the practice of Sir Astley Cooper. It conveyed
the impression that nearly all diseases needed nothing
but purgation by a pill compound of one grain each of
calomel aloes and rhubarb. He did as the opinion says,
"decline in reputation," for there was sufficient intelli-
gence in the profession to realize after a time that his
teaching was a medical barbarism, and his colleagues,
unable to get rid of him in any other way, paid him a
handsome bonus to procure his resignation.
He was inaccessible to a new idea, and when at the
residence of one of his friends, a trustee of the college,
I made some demonstrations of the impressibility of the
brain, the friend waited to hear his opinion of it after
the company left, as a matter of science, but received
only the remark, " i don't see how he can make any
money out of it" ! Nor would he engage in the inves-
tigation of the subject after being appointed on a
committee for that purpose by the Board of Trustees,
although the novel propositions which I presented were
the most important which have ever been presented in
the science of physiology, involving a complete demon-
stration of the functions of the brain.
Choice of Physicians. 79
No. 2 was described from an old letter as follows : —
"This is a man of intellect and appreciation, capable
of receiving new ideas and ready to acknowledge. He
was a hard student — loved to investigate and to prac-
tise what he knew — was never entirely satisfied with
his knowledge. He would fall in with your ideas. He
understood the use of medicines but did not give such
heroic doses. He was a good surgeon and would prefer
surgery to general practice, was skilful in that depart-
ment, could set bones with great facility, always suc-
cessful, made no mistakes. He had psychometric power.
He has passed away a good many years. He was good
in diagnosis, could feel the trouble in his patients, and
was sympathetic. I would not fear to trust my life
with him. He would be called in as counsel in difficult
cases."
(What system did he favor ?) " He was Eclectic or
progressive. He was very good in obstetrical cases but
was inclined to surgery."
(What was his constitution ?) " He was not robust
but slender, would be likely to contract pulmonic dis-
ease. He did not attain age, I don't think he was over
fifty when he passed away."
The entire description is very correct. The writer
was my colleague, Dr. BENJAMIN L. HILL, professor of
surgery in the Eclectic Medical Institute, a very
skilful physician and surgeon with psychometric powers,
great liberality and mental activity. He contributed
much to the progress of the liberal movement in
medicine, accepted any demonstrations of Anthropology,
and was the author of a system of surgery, one of the
most valuable contributions to professional literature
8o Choice of Physicians.
He accepted Homoeopathy after giving it a practical
trial. His constitution was delicate and he died of
pulmonary disease as she indicated, though I have not
the exact date.
No. 3 was described as follows, from the name : —
" I don't exactly fancy this man. He is rather selfish.
He could talk well and lecture well. I think he was a
professor and knew a great deal of anatomy, but did not
know as much about the brain as he might. He made
large pretensions to knowledge and speculated. He
would not accept your reformatory ideas ; he was a
narrow man. (What department of the profession was
he devoted to ?) He was good in obstetrics. He could
lecture on surgery and would pay special attention to
that, though he might have more attraction to other
parts of the profession. He was probably a better
operative surgeon than the last, was more dashing and
fearless, having great confidence in himself, but was not
as good a practitioner. He wrote well and had a very
good reputation. Having a good deal of push he would
rank among the first."
This was the late Prof. S. D. Gross, of Philadelphia,
eminent as a surgical professor and author. lie could
never be induced to pay any attention to my discov-
eries in the brain, and courteously informed me by letter
that it was impossible for my discoveries in reference to
the materia medica to be brought before the National
Medical Association because they were governed by the
code and I was not. Hence it would be impossible even
to have a committee of investigation appointed, and he
advised me to bring my medical discoveries before some
society not belonging to the medical profession, not
Clwicc of Physicians. 8 1
perceiving that in giving such a recommendation he
was uttering a satire upon himself and the Association
by confessing their aversion to scientific progress which
they could not control. A letter of Dr. Gross was one
of the first four described by Mr. Inman, and his
description was similar to the foregoing.
No. 4 was described as follows : —
"This man was loyal to his profession, and would
accept anything presented with good authority and
utilize it. He was fond of experimenting — had a good
deal of brain power. He had a noble purpose. He
guarded against imposition and fanciful ideas, and
sought to have good authority for what he adopted.
He was a well balanced man. It seems to me he
published. He liked to get his ideas before the people.
He was a very industrious man, not content to write
prescriptions but looked into cases thoroughly to under-
stand them. He accomplished much and attained some
fame. He exerted a good influence in bringing forward
new processes and diminishing drugging, but his views
were not generally received. The profession was not
prepared for such progress. His labors produced a
good effect, increasing toleration and introducing a new
system. He was profoundly eclectic. He discarded
bleeding and harsh measures. He was a successful
practitioner, very much like the second. I do not think
he is living."
This was a just and very accurate description of Dr.
WOOSTKK BKACH, the pioneer of the Eclectic reform in
medical practice, whose three volumes of practice and
surgery published more than sixty years ago, were at
that time verv far in advance of anvthin •• in medical
82 Choice of Physicians.
literature. He will rank high in history as a reformer
and benefactor to humanity.
No. 5 was described as follows : —
" He was an American and above the usual size of
Americans, had a large brain, a great deal of will power
and self-esteem. He was an independent thinker not
intimidated by opposition, somewhat pugnacious as
to doctrines and not sufficiently amiable to be generally
popular. He was quite verbose and would make a stir
in society. He had talent, was well read, and a good
lecturer, clear headed, and popular with students,
capable of lecturing on almost any medical subject,
and felt that he had few superiors. He was progressive
and somewhat original, would be apt to take hold of
new ideas, especially phrenology, and was favorable to
your ideas. He was in love with his profession, had
great penetration and looked forward to results. He
was fond of debating and wished to be regarded as
understanding every great theme before the public.
He was a very good lecturer, had a strong way of
speaking. He travelled a good deal and lectured much
more than he practiced. He could practice if required
by necessity, but he preferred literature and lecturing.
The leaders of the profession did not give him as much
credit as he deserved, but considered him visionary as
he was more progressive and independent."
This is a very remarkable description of Prof. CHARLES
CALDWELL, more vivid from impressions derived from
an old letter written under excitement from the machina-
tions of his colleagues. He was a man of commanding
appearance and energy, of great learning, fluency and
impressiveness. In his younger days he was a contem-
Choice of Physicians. 83
porary and competitor of Rush. In his latter days he
was a medical professor of Transylvania University,
where I had the pleasure of attending his lectures in
1834. He was famous for his ability, his copious
writings, his power as a lecturer, his self-esteem, and
his progressive liberal independent views. His moral
courage in sustaining Phrenology and Animal Magnet-
ism against the hostility of the profession deserves
great honor. Although the phrenology of Gall was an
imperfect science, it had a large amount of demonstrated
truth of which Prof. Caldwell became the American
champion. His independence was shown in his
cordiality toward my own discoveries, which he was
about to present to the National Medical Association
when his career was interrupted by death thirty-one
years ago. The fact brought out in the description that
he was a lecturer but not a practitioner was remarkable.
During my acquaintance of twenty years he was
not engaged in practice.
This minute portraiture and exact estimate of charac-
ter by psychometry is a transcendent marvel. In this
case the description not only portrays the man perfectly
but states exactly how he was regarded by the leaders
of the profession. A man of less force of character
would have been unable to sustain himself. I would
be tempted to suspect that it was assisted by thought
reading and owed its accuracy to my own knowledge of
the subject, did I not know that the opinions are equally
true when I have no knowledge of the subject ; and
when letters come from unknown persons at great
distances or specimens of writing arc sent, her answers
are as satisfactory to the correspondents as the above
84 CJioicc of Physicians.
descriptions are to myself. She is never confined to
my knowledge of the subject or to the particular aspect
it assumes in my mind. The next description I think
equally remarkable.
No. 6 was described as follows : —
" This is a physician of scientific mind, who has made
a great name, a very earnest student. It is not
Harvey, but he has made some reformatory discoveries,
He was not a brilliant man, but would attract attention
and respect. He had to wade through a great deal of
opposition before attaining his highest success. He
was educated in the old Allopathic system, and became
disgusted with it and made innovations. Before he
passed away he became a celebrity, and still he seems a
modest man. He had a very stormy career — there
was so much opposition and satire — all sorts of opposi-
tion. He put his practice into print and wrote books
3n his system. He introduced a system entirely and
"adically new, which brought down all possible violence
from the old practitioners, but he lived to see the
benefit of his system.
(What was he as a practitioner ?) " In the beginning
he felt unsatisfied with what he had been taught. He
would be successful in practice by his own system.
He was skilful in diagnosis and prescriptions. He
cared more for curing people than for the emoluments.
He was a true physician. I think he was the discoverer
of the infinitesimal doses."
This was Samuel Hahnemann, and in this description
we perceive an instantaneous grasp of the whole
character and status of the man. Sometimes, as in this
case, she seems to grasp the character instantaneously,
Choice of Physicians. 85
especially when it is congenial, but in others less con-
genial or easy to describe, she developes the character
piecemeal and acquires the summary estimate only
after studying its elements, so that the preliminary
portion of the description should be rejected as imper-
fect. The description of Hahnemann is so perfect and
concise that it is difficult for any one to realize that she
did not know of whom she was speaking. My first
experiments with Mr. Inman manifested as prompt
and sometimes as delicate perceptions, but I have found
no one with so complete and correct appreciation of
every character investigated, however peculiar. Hence,
I feel no doubt in relying upon her judgment of persons
whose character is somewhat equivocal, and of literary
or historical characters of whom I wish to speak ;
and I feel safe in accepting her judgment of the
founders of religions and the leaders in philosophy.
HIPPOCRATES (following HOMER.)
"This is not living. He is not as ancient as Homer
but is an ancient scholar and writer. I think he wrote
on medical subjects. He was very well versed in medical
science. lie was a man of extraodinary intellect —
mental force. He was a great student of Nature. I
think he knew something of hygiene, but not so much
as we know to-day. He was a great botanist and
understood the virtues of plants and trees. He wrote
upon such subjects. He spent his time in making
discoveries in the vegetable and mineral kingdoms.
" I think he founded a school. He understood the
human constitution — understood anatomy as well as it
was known then. He knew more than his cotempor-
86 CJioice of Physicians.
aries on such subjects. He had a strong muscular
constitution and great will-power.
(What do you think of him as a physician ?)
" I don't think he understood surgery. In many of
his remedies there was a want of adaptation to the
disease ; but he opened the way for others to follow.
He left it in a crude state. He was a practical man
guided by experience, mainly, but he had his theories.
(What of his moral nature ?)
"He was a man of good character — not a reckless
man — he had a religious nature. He left a good
reputation. He is referred to to-day.
(If he were here to-day what would be his medical
policy ?)
" He would adopt the eclectic practice."
, CHAPTER VII.
PSYCHOMETRY IN POLITICS.
Its importance in filling high offices — President Cleveland an example
— Prophetic view of the election as to the four candidates —
Description of Gov. St. John — Of Gen. Butler — Of Mr. Elaine,
coincident with the opinions of his opponents — Authority of Psy-
chometry as a tribunal — Description of Gov. Cleveland, of Gen.
Grant, of Samuel J. Tilden — Method of obtaining the descriptions —
Description of Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine — Of Bismarck —
Of \V. E. Gladstone— of D'Israeli— Of Gen. Grant in 1885.
If the claims of Psychometry as the interpreter of
character are well grounded, it is a far more reliable
guide than popular elections or the choice of electoral
colleges for filling high offices, and when the people of
the United States become sufficiently enlightened to be
guided by it, we shall have a political millennium — the
country being ruled by the wisest and best. Pope
says
" For forms of government let fools contest
That which is best administered is best."
But the United States having an admirable/*?/-;// of
government already, the able and wise administration
which Psychometry might select would be such an
improvement as to be properly called a political millen-
nium. We are at the present time enjoying a slight
intimation of what Psychometry might give us in Presi-
dent Cleveland, who was psychometrically indicated as
the proper man for the Presidency.
88 PsycliCMCtry in
During the late Presidential contest I sought the
counsel of psychometry several times to determine for
myself what was the comparative merit of the candidates
and what were their prospects of success. A full report
was made upon each of the candidates and1 this report I
read to a public audience in Boston at Berkeley Hall,
who received it with much apparent approbation. The
question as to the result of the election was happily
answered.
BLAIXE. — When Mr. Blaine was described my ques-
tion was, "What of his future?" The reply came,
" I think he will go on as he has. He has the greatest
struggle now that he has ever had. He has no doubt
of success. He thinks himself irresistible — but I
think he will fail, something will disappoint, but I can't
see what, I can't explain. I believe this must be
Blaine," which ended the description.
Gov. ST. JOHN'S concluded as follows : " I believe he
will establish a permanent and powerful party, and his
career for the rest of his life will be very successful, but
he will never be president."
GEN. BUTLER was described as " r.iming' for office
with a nomination for it, but I don't think he will
succeed. . . . He will live many years yet, and has a
good chance to hold some prominent office again, but
he will never be higher than governor."
Of Gov. CLEVELAND — after an accurate description
had been given, I asked " Is he a candidate ? " Reply,
" I think he is from the excitement connected with
him."
(If he is a candidate, what seems to be the probable
result — does he anticipate success?) "I think he
Politics. 89
does — he does not care a great deal about it, but for
the principles of his party. Unless some great wrong
is done, I think he may be elected really and honestly,
but how much fraud may come in I cannot see. There
will be a terrible time in this election. There is a
secret organization the people do not dream of for the
purpose of defeating this man. It will be the most
corrupt canvass ever known in this country. Still his
chances are good, but I cannot be certain. Is it Cleve-
land ?" (" It is.") " If the election is fair he will have
the majority, but there is an underground force against
him."
Thus the description was emphatically against the
success of each of the other three candidates when they
were investigated separately and emphatically in favor
of Cleveland's election if not interfered with by a
fraudulent conspiracy of which she psychometrically
recognized the existence, and of which the public saw
some indication in the animus of the contending par-
ties. She did not say that the conspiracy would be
successful, but expressed an apprehension what was cer-
tainly well founded. These impressions were confirmed
by other psychometers of less reputation.
As to the character and fitness of each of the candi-
dates I obtained an accurate report. The following is
the description of
GOV. ST. JOHN.
"This an entirely different characte- — nothing like
Blaine. It is a man of quiet unobtrusive nature com-
pared to Blaine — not pretentious or overbearing. He
is a man of good impulses and good principles, also
90 Psychometry in
good judgment. He is an intellectual man — a man of
sterling qualities.
" I would not call him a trimmer, but he has a good deal
of policy and approbativeness — would do some things
for effect. He is an aspirant for office. He has bright
dreams for the future. He seems to have a good deal
of repose of character. He is not a very magnetic man.
He could win friends more by his seeming generosity,
but he is not fond of display.
" He would like an office for its emoluments and
eclat, and he is a party man. He would work for his
party, but there is a principle in it. He thinks his
party is right and he would not work for a party that
was not right.
" There is a retirement in his nature. He does not
really desire to be forced into politics, but he is. Possi-
bly he is one of the candidates, I think he is. (For
what is he a candidate ?) It is not for governor, he is
one of the candidates for president. He has held some
office — possibly he has been governor.
" This man is not understood. He has better quali-
ties than he is reported to have by his opponents, but
he is not very sensitive to public opinion and can
defend himself when necessary. He would be a good
lawyer. He stirs up the thinking people, the judicious
people — not the rabble.
(Q. — What are his principles ?)
" He is humanitarian. If fortunate enough to become
President, he would make a good one. He would
astonish the nation and do away with a good deal of the
folly at Washington. He is not a showy man, does not
care for show. I mi<rht call him a democrat.
Politics. 9 1
(Q. — What are the most important principles he is
concerned in ?)
" He is an equal rights man and would give suffrage
to women. He is very much interested in the latter
question and in prohibition. I don't see what he thinks
of the tariff question.
" I believe he will establish a permanent party, and
his career for the rest of his life will be very success-
ful though he will never be president."
GEN. BUTLER was described as follows : —
" He is a person of research, who would have the
capacity of making great researches. He would have
succeeded well as an antiquarian.
" He seems a stout man, pretty well advanced in life,
older than he looks to be. He has a very brilliant
intellect and large brain. He has cultured his intellect
and exercised his mental powers greatly though he does
not seem a literary man. He has turned his mind
greatly to the accumulation of wealth.
" He would have succeeded in the clerical or medical
profession, and it would have suited his nature better,
but his inclination has been diverted and he has engaged
in politics and legal practice. He is successful as a
lawyer and has good practical ability. He possesses a
great deal of zeal and throws his whole soul into what-
ever he undertakes to do, and is a pugnacious man.
" He aims high, desires a high position and works
for it. He has very good oratorical powers, and is very
clear in statement and throws a good deal of magnetism
over his hearers. He has wit and sarcasm.
" This man is not really understood. It is hard to
make people understand him. His course excites preju-
92 Psychomctry in
dice and envy. He has many good impluses but is not
uniform in his purposes — does not always carry them
out systematically and in order. In the past there have
been breaks in his life work, some sort of change or
interruptions. He has lent himself to the influence of
party and mistakes in this way which have obscured
him for a time.
" He seems to have an independent set of principles
which belong to himself and seem original. He wants
to hold to his principles and yet hold onto the influence
of party and is something of a trimmer, but does not
lose sight of his principles.
" He seems destined to wield considerable power in
this country. He has already made himself a name in
some way. I think he has a war record. He would
* favor the people or the working classes. He seems
identified with them.
" He is deeply interested in the present canvass —
aiming for office with a nomination for it, but I don't
think he will succeed. He will not be a success in
what he is aiming at. Those whom he considers his
friends will not support him as he expects. For some
reason he will not be able to hold them. But he will
have a career. He will keep the people stirred up. He
will live many years yet, and has a good chance to hold
some prominent office but he will never be higher than
governor."
Of MR. BLAINE the description was powerful ami
graphic. It was admired as a descriptive sketch for its
close and unmistakable fidelity, but I have decided not
to insert it in this volume. I offered it to a Boston
editor after the election and he expressed unwillingness
Politics. 93
to publish anything which would revive the unpleasant
memories of the recent contest in which his friends
had been much divided. For a similar reason I shall
omit it, though I esteem it a splendid illustration of
psychometry. It embodied the same views of Mr.
Blaine which were expressed and illustrated by his
political opponents and the persons who had been
intimately acquainted with him but independent enough
to resist his influence. It was a thorough vindication 'of
the independent Republican movement prompted by his
moral obliquities which saved our country from a politi-
cal calamity. It was remarked by Senator Wadleigh
soon after the beginning of Cleveland's administration,
that he had found no one who regretted having voted
for Cleveland but many who regretted their vote for
Blaine. Psychometry expressed in this as in other
cases the verdict of the enlightened — the verdict of
public opinion after the excitement of the hour has
subsided — describing his remarkable abilities, his
magnetic control of men, his remarkable career, and his
final failure, with the opinion that "he would be a
dangerous man in power."
There is no better method than the psychometric of
settling the debated questions that disturb society, and
listening in advance to the voice of posterity. In the
realm of divine intuition time is no barrier — past and
future are comprehended in the eternal Now.
1 have not failed to appeal to this power in reference
to my own labors. Vanity and enthusiasm may
deceive us, but psychometry may be the telephone of
future ages, and fortified by their voice we can ignore
94 PsycJioinctry in
with equal ease the vulgar sentiment of the rabble and
the pedantic assumptions of collegiate ignorance.
I have weighed in the balance of Psychometry the
claims not only of our own public men, but of men of
other countries and times, whom I was interested to
understand, and believe that I see them clearly, unhin-
dered by the thick mists of history. In reference to
Mr. Blaine, I have submitted his character to some of.
my psychometric pupils hoping that its dark shades
might be softened by some one, but on the contrary
the darker aspects of his character were stated in still
more emphatic language.
GOV. CLEVELAND.
Of Gov. Cleveland the following description was given
and was confirmed by other psychometers.
"It seems a person in prominent position at the
present time. There is not much bluster about him,
not much self-conceit. I think he is modest.
" He has dignity of character, and seems to have an
inborn sensitiveness. I feel like going into his soul
nature. He is a thinking man. "He has a great deal
of nobility of character — is not at all selfish but is
sometimes imprudent in small things. (I do not mean
in business life.) In business he is a good man, wholly
reliible and trustworthy, and of exceedingly just princi-
ples. He seems to have a high sense of his moral
obligations. He is not ostentatious. He has a keen
sense of his own abilities, and would not undertake
anything unless he knew he could fill the requirements.
What he does he does well, no matter what it is. He
is not lax in doing things. He looks high but has not
Politics. 95
any particular aim as to his own aggrandizement — he is
not a vain man.
" He holds a high position now, possibly in the politi-
cal world."
(Q. — What of his past and future ?)
" I am looking at the man and am attracted to his
domestic nature. He has great filial love. There does
not seem to be much domesticity about him. He don't
seem to have had time to cultivate domestic life. His
life has been filled with work or duties that precluded
domestic life.
" He is a comfortable looking man, as if the affairs of
'the world did not trouble him much. He is conscien-
tious, very scrupulous and nice in his transactions.
" I do not see any generalship. He never had a
military career, he seems like a citizen. He has an
army of friends. He is a hard and close worker."
(Q. — What are his domestic relations ?)
" I don't see any domestic life around him. He has
appreciation of women, but I see no family around him.
His life in that respect is like the average of men. I
don't think his associations would lead him to
abandoned women. He is not a young man, and he
might have had some unpleasant relations with women
in early life like other men, but he is not a bad man in
any way.
" A great many people envy him, they don't wish to
do him any bodily injury ; but would like to defame him
if they could
" He would be a splendid manager. He has great
ability for managing large things — has great foresight,
96 Psychometry in
shrewdness and keen judgment. He seerns now like a
statesman but not a diplomatic man."
(Q. — How would you like to place him ?)
" He could conduct the affairs of a nation with a
good deal of system and do honor to the position. If
the people should nominate him and place him in the
White House, it would be the best thing for the country.
He seems much like President Buchanan as a dignified
gentleman. He would give dignity to the position
better than any one who has been there for years. I
begin to think this is Gov. Cleveland. He seems to
have some relation to the White House."
(Q. — Is he a candidate ?)
" I think he is from the excitement connected with
him."
(Q. — If he is a candidate what seems to be the
probable result — does he anticipate success ?)
"I think he does — he does not care a great deal
about it but for the principles of his party. Unless
some great wrong is done I think he will be elected
really and honestly, but how much fraud may come in I
cannot see. There will be a terrible time this election.
There is a secret organization, the people do not dream
of for the purpose of defeating this man. It will be the
most corrupt canvass ever known in this country. Still
his chances are good, but I cannot be certain. Is it
Cleveland ? "
(A. — It is.)
" If the election is fair he will have the majority, but
there is an underground force against him. I have not
said half I might say of his interior character."
Politics. 97
GEN. GRANT.
(After the description of Alexander of Russia, Dec.
26, 1879.)
" This character is more humane — not so tyrannical.
He trusts to his own judgment. He has greater ability
for conducting military campaigns, and would have more
humane feelings. He would surrender a claim sooner
than shed much blood. He does not love war, would
seek peace, but would not be considered a coward.
"He is a pillar of strength. He holds power individ-
ually — it is innate."
(What has been his career ?)
" He has advanced by degrees as stepping stones.
He is far-seeing, far-reaching, He has a great ambition,
likes to rule. His ambition has been gratified. He
has held a high position as a ruler, but is dethroned —
is not in power now. He would not be averse to
making his mark again in war. His ambition is not
dead. He aims at political power, seeks it by his
emissaries or friends who adhere to him. He could
command all the money he would need. He is not
making it manifest, but waiting developments, expecting
and prepared."
(Will his anticipations be fulfilled ?)
" I fear not to his entire satisfaction, that he will not
attain as much as he wishes. He feels sad. He would
like to be on the same pedestal as before, and promises
to himself to rule in a different way — more humanita-
rian, but he fears disappointment. I feel that it is
doubtful. If war takes place he would be brought
forward, but I think he will be disappointed in attaining
98 PsycJiomctry in
the position he had before. There will be rivalry.
Rivals will leave nothing undone to defeat him'."
(Look to the future for a few years ?)
" I see in the future pleasant surroundings, a charm-
ing landscape, happiness and content are there."
(What is the cause or the source of his power ?)
" I think he has inspiration. He has through his
lineage spirits that come and take possession of him —
old spirits — Jewish some of them."
(From which parent did he derive this ?)
" From his mother. He is clairvoyant but does not
know it. Ideas come to him that surprise him, he has
prophetic ideas. He does not show out as many do but
has an interior nature. He has great determination
and courage, does not krfow fear, has great hopes."
SAMUEL J. TILDEN (Sept. 4, 1 8/9).
" This is a male person, and one who figures or has
figured extensively and is well known. He might
possibly over-reach himself but he is cautious and
methodical. He adjusts things very nicely, he is quite
adroit.
" He does not seem to be one who has figured in the
literary world or as an author, but is intellectually great
and looked up to. He writes a great deal and has an
extensive correspondence.
" He occupies or has occupied a very high position in
life, and would make a great many firm friends and has
many enemies. His attributes of character do not
make men hate him, but he is bold and would make
enemies.
" He wields or has wielded power though not at all
Politics. 99
military, but is a man of the people — a politician and a
strong one. He does not mean to be a trickster, but
persons would sometimes construe him as one. He
acts from his best impulses and what seems to him
right. He's not absolutely selfish, but not a humanita-
rian, he never took part in any humanitarian movement,
but in case of suffering would give willingly. He
does not embrace advanced ideas, but is genial with his
friends.
" He would acquire wealth and has acquired it, but is
not a Vanderbilt or Stewart. I feel that he has held
high position in a political career. He aims at the
highest office that could be offered him, and likes popu-
larity for the sake of carrying his points. To some he
is agreeable, but to others he is cold and reserved, but
is popular with many friends. Yet there are many
who are adverse to him and do not wish to see him
elevated. They regard him with jealousy and fear.
They misconceive him and blame his acts which he
considers right.
" In political matters he would not be a philanthropist
but a politician, yet he would be strict and discreet and
disappoint his enemies at the same time sticking to his
principles. He would show more greatness if he had
the opportunity of the high office he desires, and would
disappoint his enemies.
" He is naturally selfish in business and would con-
sider self chiefly. He has great will-power and thinks
a great deal of himself but I don't think he is dishonest.
He could be trusted. He would not go to work to
carry on a fraud but would look sharply to advance his
own interests. He would oppose fraud and try to bring
TOO Psyclioinctry in
it to light for the public good, even if his friends were
in the fraud. He would dare to expose them, for he is
fearless and aims high, having great ambition. He is
cunning and adjusts his decisions and speeches to the
question of popularity.
" He has large hopes and is not to be disheartened,
and will work to carry his aim, having much power over
others, but there are too many obstacles for his political
success."
These portraitures of public men may be read by
many to whom Psychometry is unfamiliar, and who
would have great difficulty in realizing that any one can
give so accurate a description of a person of whom they
knew nothing before, and whom they describe merely
by listening to the inner voice of intuition, guided by
the impressions coming through the fingers without the
slightest intimation whom the person may be — whether
male or female, young or old, living or dead, honorable
or criminal, gifted or idiotic. Such persons must by
force of habit suspect that in some way the psychome-
ter received some hint or was guided by leading ques-
tions, or saw something to guide the mind in a picture
or autograph. I can only assure them that no such
hints or assistance have been tolerated, that the thing
described is always kept invisible, that leading questions
are carefully avoided, and that sometimes descriptions
are given without a single question being asked.
Knowing the reliability of psychometry I am very
careful to avoid anything which could influence the
imagination or make any impression on the mind, as
such impression might tend to impair the photographic
accuracy of psychometry. An opinion may be given of
Politics. i o i
one whom she knows, but the probability is that it
would not be as searching, accurate, and impartial as
if all knowledge had been excluded.
To very skeptical minds all evidence loses its value
when it concerns matters beyond the range of their
experience and contrary to their fixed opinions Such
persons can learn only by their personal experience,
and therefore when I assure them that we have in the
United States a hundred thousand persons in whom
psychometrical power can be developed, they may
realize that perhaps I am not indulging in delusions but
simply dispelling a vast amount of ignorance which
prevacles our literature, science, and collegiate instruc-
tion.
NAPOLEON nOXAPARTF. (Dec. 14,
" This is a spirit. There's more warmth in this
brain than in Swedenborg's. It gives me great fulness
of the whole forehead. He was full of intellect — his
brain was a great workshop.
" He was a self-made man — had no great advantages
in youth. It was not till he arrived at manhood that he
got into the sphere nature intended. He studied
very hard and came out a self-reliant man of genius.
Growing out of books he threw away authors and dis-
approved of others opinions generally.
"He seems to stand alone. He did not identify him-
self with any religious or political sect, but stood
isolated. lie felt like breaking up the old systems and
traditions. Nothing would suit him better than to rush
on and demolish the past. He did not believe in tradi-
tions or the Bible ; he was skeptical.
IO2 Psyclioinctry in
" He seems somewhat philanthropic for the public
good and philosophized in that direction. He was
industrious and energetic, singular in deportment,
careless in his habits. Society rather feared him. He
was not popular except with a few friends. He was
regardless as to people's opinions. He did not covet
riches, but loved fame, power and popularity. He
attained distinction. He could rouse great interest in
himself and obtain great applause. He could talk well.
" He never was quiet. He delighted to break up the
old order, though I would not call him a disorganizes
He was ambitious to be known as a leader in politics.
If he could get the supreme authority he would not
hesitate to do dark deeds. I don't know that he would
murder, but he would commit crimes."
(How does he compare with Caesar ?)
" I do not like him as well as Coesar. He has not the
same grandeur of character. His love of power would
lead him to do things Coesar would not have done. lie
would undermine friendships. He had great secretive-
ness and employed spies and did many things that were
not just. He would betray a trust. His love of fame
and power overpowered his better qualities.
" He had considerable love, but more of lust. He
loved women and they liked him. He had a command-
ing power over women — irresistable.
" In private life he might be truthful and honorable,
but in everything that concerned ambition he was
unscrupulous and not to be trusted. He was a skilful
liar.
" Aftg: all he had a love of flattery and did not try to
see through it. He was really great and grew in power
Politics. 103
naturally. He had military skill on sea and land. He
was not a mere general but a commander-in-chief of
armies. He cared not how anything was done if it was
done. He was very successful and a great conqueror,
but after all was not satisfied. His latter years was
passed in seclusion. He looked at his past as being all
vanity.
" He loved more than one. He had control of women
— mistresses. He loved his first wife and always
respected her more. There was one woman who was
equal to any emergency. She seemed to control him
or keep him in his place — a mistress perhaps. She
had a high temper.
" He was a benefit to the world, for he was a grand
mover, stimulated people, brought out their energies.
" His character is not to be admired. He has a
similar character in the spirit world, but he would be a
different man now, a powerful spirit. His grand work
now would be to apply his great ideas to philanthropy.
His first wife instructs him now.
JOSEPHINE (Oct. 19. 1880;.
"This is a woman — a character noted for gentleness
and humane qualities. Her deeds shone out in great
brightness, she was a humanitarian.
" She is not living now. Was she not the wife of a
king ? " (Yes.) " I ler subjects adored her for her many
grand qualities. She had a troubled life, not caused by
herself or her own acts. Had she not some trouble
with her husband ?" (Yes.) " I feel that he was tyran-
nical and cruel. He was not careful of her nature or
about wounding her feelings. He could not appreciate
IO4 Psycliomctry in
her love and tenderness. There is a warring element
here. She had some deep sorrow in her life. There
was a spirit of turbulence and jealousy about her — it
seemed like a conspiracy in which women were con-
•cerned and her husband's tyranny and jealousy.
" Her best talents from nature were never fully
developed in consequence of her marriage. It was not
a love marriage.
" She was religious and devotional. She had the
capacity in society to attract always distinguished
personages. She did not always seek them, but loved
the people and helped the unfortunate. She was noted
for her benevolent sympathetic nature.
" In her love she would compare with Cleopatra
trio ugh less voluptuous. She had great power of attrac-
tion for men of the highest rank and literary men. She
was fond of art. She would not rule with as much
force as Cleopatra ; her disposition was more amiable,
not so wilful."
(Was she an authoress ?)
" She could have been, she had the ability, but I don't
think she was.
"Her taking off was rather unnatural. Was not
ther-2 a separation from her husband ? She suffered
terribly from jealousy.
"Now she is all right — brilliant — her whole nature
free, and would seem changed but not so, only devel-
oped fully. She takes a great interest in social ques-
tions. She is not in the same work as her husband.
He is not her spirit mate unless he has changed greatly.
They come together because she is developing him but
they arc not spiritually mated. She is very fresh and
Politics. 105
youthful — very impulsive much like Serafina. She
has great dignity but simplicity. All her acts are cnar-
actcrized by gentleness and simplicity. She never
repelled any one. She seems like a Spanish or Greek or
Roman character."
•
BISMARCK (Jan. 3, 1880).
"This is a male. He desires to wield power — would
like to attain eminence without chicanery (this remark
was in contrast to a politician previously described) by
his ability. He don't want any bombast or false state-
ments.
" lie holds an office of some kind and of great power
— immense power, in state affairs. Her word is re-
spected. He is naturally authoritative and dogmatic
but modifies this appearance by his policy and by some
wit or humor."
(Q. What are his leading motives ? )
"His motives are selfish — self first — the public
next. He is not philanthropic but patriotic.
"He has a great brain — a remarkable insight into
governmental affairs, their rights and wrongs. lie is a
great statesman in high position. lie is jealous ot
Russian power and despotism. People from his country
are under Russian rule."
I'KINCF. BISMARCK OF CIF.KMANV.
The foregoing words unseen in the hands of the Mrs.
H, (April 29, 1885) elicited the following :
"This is a very bright active mind — seems to be
ever on the alert. There is a peculiar keenness about
this character. It is an exceedingly adroit mind — pen-
io6 Psychomctry in
etrating and far-seeing. It seems like something I
have read before (She had described Bismarck some
years previously).
" I think it is a man. There are many strides in his
life, or epochs. He has lulls and then goes on and
makes his mark. I cannot express all that I perceive.
This character does not require pushing. He has so
much spontaneity, he is ready and alert when called on.
I should not be surprised if he is a military man — he
understands military operations.
" He is a diplomatic man. I dont think he would
favor war, or willingly engage in it. He would not en-
gage in war on account of prestige, but would use a
different policy, and endeavor to settle difficulties, so
that the governments could feel that they had not
yielded or conceded. His policy has great ingenuity
and skill. Is he a general or something higher — he
seems something higher in command than a general.
He has a great deal of friendliness in his nature toward
his friends and honorable opponents."
(How does he exercise his power ? ")
" He is commanding — much depends upon his word.
He has a power like an emperor or president, but has
not as strong a control of the government as he would
like. His principles altogether are not just what you
would consider correct, but he is disposed to be benevo-
lent and not in any way revengeful or cruel. He has
good sympathies — is a sympathetic man when called
out and has some sentiments of devotion. He might be
called a religious man. He exercises his authority by
speech as much as any other way — he addresses his
people. His delivery is clear, deep and fervid — not
Politics. 1 07
boisterous or loud. If he engaged in war, it would be
more defensive than aggressive."
(What is his nationality?)
" He seems like a German. He is a great statesman.
He has great diplomacy. I am sure I know who it is."
(What are his views as to war between England and
Russia ?)
" He will make an effort to avert it though he looks
upon it as a foregone conclusion. He has been watch-
ing this thing a long time. In his real sentiments he
sympathizes with England, but it would not do to show
his feelings, as he wishes to avert it. It would give him
great pain to see these nations go into war. I must
tell you this is Bismarck. He is not indifferent as to
the war. Both nations have respect for him. He can-
not remain indifferent. I think even now he is maturing
some plans to secure peace. He feels that it is not al-
together under his control. I feel that he is not at rest
— he is using his pen at this time. [At that moment it
was about one o'clock p. m. at Berlin].
" He has had much controversy on this subject, as to
the plans of negotiation and the management of the
army — not with the emperor who favors peace, but
others. There is a class in Germany who would like to
see war — not a large element nor of the best classes."
(How does he compare with Gladstone ? )
" Gladstone is more cool and deliberate and more phil-
anthropic— I like him best. Bismarck is more diplo-
matic and authoritative."
W. E. GLADSTONE.
The first psychometric investigation of Mr. Gladstone
loS Psychometry in
by Mrs. B., at New York, Sept. 25, 1882, was published
as follows in a London journal, with the editorial re-
mark, '• Mrs. Buchanan's psychometry seems to be of
a wonderful character. There is an incisive grasp
about the delineation of Mr. Gladstone, which carries
conviction of truth with it."
DESCRIPTION.
" I feel so much power and activity of brain ! So very
clear and cautious ! It seems to me this is a man that
holds a great deal of power at this present time ; one
who is swaying the public mind.
"This man is remarkably far-sighted, shrewd, and ex-
ecutive— a tactician, or one who has great tact.
" I feel so much heat in the blood ! This man's brain
is so intense ; a man could not live with such intensity
rJl the time — but he is living, and will live.
"I feel that he is ruling — a great ruling power, like
generalship — not as a king, or emperor, but guiding
and directing. He is full of courage, but docs not aim
at the aggrandizement of personal ambition. He seems
like a man whose ambition would lead him to benevo-
lent designs — not benevolent exactly, but humane and
statesmanlike, for the general good. He seems to have
strategy, being far seeing ; strategy to counteract op-
posing forces or designs. I feel all filled with fire and
energy to accomplish a certain purpose. He does not
fail in any great purpose, or cause, he might be called to
defend. He is a valorous man — a man fearless in times
of great trouble, and very cool. He seems born for
what he is. Nature has endowed him with fine capa-
Politics. 109
bilities ; but he is highly cultured, has studied hard —
looked into causes.
" I think this is not an American ; though I think he
speaks the English language. He seems more like an
Englishman. Am I correct in that ? "
(Reporter : " Yes."
" He seems to me now like a person who would have
to rest. He needs rest at this present time — rest for
his brain — he's been so long in action. Oh, this is
terrible ! It gives me pain in the temples. [Pressing
her hands on her temples.] Oh, what a mental strain
he has had ! Such sleepless nights ! He 's been en-
gaged among some wonderful scenes, where responsi-
bility rested upon him, and he has not thought of
self. Oh, such terrible things he has passed through ;
he has been wonderfully tortured in mind. He is a
soldier — a wonderfully astute and clear-headed general
— he keeps his own counsel. He would not be afraid
to go into action — into active duty on the field of bat-
tle. I must hold my head and rest a little." [She
presses her hands upon her head.]
(Reporter: " What has he been attending to, or con-
ducting lately ? ")
" I feel that he has had to do with a turbulent condi-
tion— it seems like war. Yes, cannonading, all kinds
of missiles of warfare He has been directing it, as
some great director at the helm."
(Rej)orter : "Is there anything else that engages his
attention ? ")
" It is hard to get away from that I have been talking
about. I am waiting to see if he is a literary man. He
is very intellectual, and has talcni; for literature.
1 10 Psychometry in
" He has always occupied high places. I don't think
he can be ranked as a literary man, but he is fond of
literature. His mind would run more to State and
government than to literature.
"He's a man of great decision — would not change
his mind from sympathy with surroundings. He is not
easily turned, for he decides with great deliberation and
coolness. He is a man in whom the people have great
confidence. He shows the people that he is humane.
If he were a ruler, he would be compassionate and just
to his subjects — he seems almost in such a capacity.
He sways great power, and has to do with European
Powers — seems to be constantly dictating. He's a
strict adherent to the honor of his country — a true
Englishman in that respect.
" Oh, now, I begin to think this is the Queen's
Premier, Gladstone. He 's so grand — so thoroughly
English."
(Reporter : " You are right. Tell us his policy as to
Ireland and Egypt.")
" He is Ireland's best friend, and he will make them
see it yet. He will exercise a humane policy towards
Ireland, and they will give him praise for his acts to-
wards them.
" He don't concede very much — don't yield, but he
seems ever prompted by a spirit of justice. He is not
an intriguer. As to Egypt, his action will be concilia-
tory— he will be a great assistant. He will assist the
Khedive, and be an adviser and co-operate in the best
means to bring that country up to its proper standing
among other nations. He will encourage self-depen-
dence. He would desire to establish harmony of
Politics. 1 1 1
feeling with that country as an ally of Kngland, and
that will be the case. The better spirit of both coun-
tries will be brought out. He will avoid collision with
other countries if possible : when war can be averted
he will avert it, but when it is inevitable he will be
equal to the task."
Another investigation of Mr. Gladstone was made on
the 23d of April, 1885, when the war with Russia was
by many considered inevitable, and I felt curious to
know how the subject appeared in her mind. The im-
pression of Gladstone from his photograph followed
immediately that of Shakespeare before its influence
had subsided. The following was her expression : —
" This too seems a literary man — a man of genius.
<t O
But I feel very restless — something comes in as a shad-
ow over me. I feel a great deal of life in him — he is
living. He holds a high position, with a high standard
of intellect — people admire him — toady to him.
" It is an agreeable influence but restless. He has
something to do with government affairs — affairs of
the country. He is not hopeful and bright at this time.
Things he has most at heart are not successful or pro-
mising as he wishes. I think he feels as if a crisis is
coming on in his life that may turn out badly for his
plans — badly for the country — to its disadvantage.
Is it not Mr. Gladstone ? It is like him ; but I feel a
restlessness I did not feel from him formerly. I am
in too much sympathy with him to describe him well."
(It is Mr. Gladstone. What does he think on the
question of peace or war ?) " I think he feels hopeful
and still doubtful — though hopeful it may be averted.
He thinks there is a great deal of treachery on the part
1 1 2 Psychometry in
of his foreign opponents and some of his own country
too."
(Does he anticipate mediation ?) " Yes, he looks to
some power interfering and pacifying the Russian
government. His physical condition ij improved since
my last description."
As to the restlessness and the feeling of treachery at
home and abroad, Mr. Gladstone with his frmily and
guests had been interrupted at breakfast that morning
(April 230!) by the sound of the explosion at the
Admiralty office (suspected to be caused by Fenians).
In addition to the threatening position of Russia, France
was threatening Egypt on account of the suppression
of the Bosphore Egyptian newspaper in which England
was necessarily involved.
D'ISRAELI, THE STATESMAN AND AUTHOR.
"This is a mm. He does not seem living (You are
right). He seems to have left a record which has done
him justice. He is not a man to make many enemies.
He was a great thinker and hard student. He had a
philosophic mind, sound and clear. He was intellectual
and could write or talk on almost any theme with
fluency.
" He seems a literary man. He aimed at literary
notoriety. But he was placed in some prominent posi-
tion where he swayed a great deal of influence. He
acted in a satisfactory manner. His career was an
enviable one. He ranked among the higher powers.
If American, he would rank as high as President. He
was not despotic, but had a good deal of the American
spirit."
Politics. 1 1 3
(What was his language ?) " He understood several.
He was a scholar, a fine linguist, understood French
Latin, Greek, and Hebrew."
(What would be his policy in government ?) " Some-
what like Mr. Gladstone's, but a little more arbitrary.
He has a great deai of decision of character. He does
not decide hastily — gives a great deal of thought to a
subject. He has travelled and familiarized himself with
various affairs and seems almost to have lost his nation-
ality. It is difficult for me to decide on it.
" After deliberating, he would act with a great deal
of promptness. He would put down a rebellion with a
great deal of energy. He was judicious, but he would
never retract."
(What would be his policy as to peace or war?)
" He would take great pains to conciliate, but when
nations were aggressive, he would put them down with
a great deal of vigor."
(What do you think of him as a speaker ?)
"He was very forcible in language and manner.
His energy would be much like that of Jackson. There
was a great deal of magnetism in his voice. His points
in argument were very clear. He would bring down a
great deal of applause. He always made his speeches
tell. It feels to me as if he was a Member of Parlia-
ment. There was a great deal of the Parliamentary
about them. He observed Parliamentary rules and
etiquette."
" To compare him with our orators and statesmen,
he was more like Clay than any I can think of."
(What was he in society ?)
" I should think he was a srreat favorite with Oueen
1 14 Psychometry in
Victoria. His policy and character were such she would
look upon him with great favor. In social life he was
at home with ladies — a friend to women. In his do-
mestic life he was all right, had no discord, was har-
moniously situated."
(What was his literary life ?)
"The Hebrew language comes to my mind. It
seems to me he was a novelist (Like whom ?) More like
D'Israeli than any one I can think of."
(How does his public career compare with D'Israeli ?)
" I believe it is he. I am startled with the resem-
blance— it is so close a resemblance he must have the
same blood in his veins."
(You are right. How does he appear to compare
with Gladstone according to your impressions of each ?)
Holding the two pictures she replied : —
" He has more ingenuity and policy. His love of
approbation is greater. He would throw more energy
in his speeches, but Mr. Gladstone would be more im-
pressive. They would address different feelings. I
should prefer Mr. Gladstone's policy — he is more tole-
rant and would take more pacific measures in foreign
difficulties. Their dispositions are different, but they
are true to their positions, and viewed difficulties in the
same light, but would have different modes of settling
them."
(How would it be as to Ireland?)
" D'Israeli would consider them a difficult people to
deal with, and would employ very strict measures.
Gladstone would be more tolerant. He would employ
a firm, decided method, but would endeavor to make
them feel that their government was not oppressive."
Politics. 1 1 5
In the foregoing opinion, it is quite characteristic
that she should be puzzled as to the nationality of
D'Israeli. His Jewish extraction and peculiar character
would not suggest an Englishman. Of the character
and career of D'Israeli she knew very little, and the
impressions were quite new to her mind.
GEN. U. S. GRANT (May IO, 1885).
" This gives me a headache. I feel brain-weary, as if
overtaxed. I think it is a man who studies. He is
engaged in some mental work that calls for a great deal
of strength, and draws upon his memory of events. I
don 't know what it is ; he does not seem an ordinary
literary character — not like the old poets or historians.
I get a fresh feeling as if it were just now.
" What an eventful career ! It seems to me like a
person who had originated humbly — was in ordinary
life — with nothing in his early manhood that showed
any capacities beyond ordinary men.
"There was some occurrence, some universal agita-
tion, some sudden call for energy and activity, — what
can it be, — it seems like war I am all stirred up;
something has called him out, brought out his capacities
and ingenuity, and placed him in high position.
" It seems a person of no ordinary power. I feel as
if being braced up by the situation, physically and men-
tally. He is alive. Some overshadowing condition
brought out his shrewdness and executive ability, all
going in one direction, for one purpose. I don't yet
see what it is.
" Now I see it. He is a military man, a soldier. He
is not one who would give up a cause he had espoused.
1 1 6 Psychometry in
He seems almost like a tiger in his strength, he holds
on so to his will — his wonderful will-power and sagacity
in military tactics.
" I feel that this man is one of the great successful
generals in our late war ; not a Confederate, a Union
man : but what has that to do with the literary work
that I felt at first ?
" His popularity did net cease with the close of the
war. It was greater then than ever. He had none
before the war. This war brought out and developed
characteristics which he did not know existed. Had it
not been for the war, this man would have been a com-
mon citizen. He had not ambition to go in pursuit of
fame."
(What was the nature of his powers ?)
"He had an iron will. He was a bold man — had no
trepidation — though he did not court personal danger.
He was wise in laying his plans, and very adroit in his
movements. He has a great deal of intuitive power,
but it does not display itself in ordinary life. In mili-
tary affairs he took in the whole situation by intuition ;
he was intuitive in selecting officers, and in giving
orders.
" He is a politician, a radical politician. He would
stand by his party and his country. He loves power,
and his whole military career was a successful period —
everything tended to success. He carried the un-
bounded good wishes of the people with him."
(To what result ?)
"I see him holding a very prominent office ; I see him
travelling. The people had great confidence in him,
Politics. 117
and wished to give him a position to show their grati-
tude. They made him President.
" Now I think this is Gen. Grant. I see him as
President.
(Tell us of his present condition?)
"At first I felt the pressure on the intellectual facul-
ties from drawing too sharply on his memory. Now
that I know who it is, I don 't wish to speak of his con
dition, but he is not going to pass away soon. His
will-power will keep him alive, but I do not wish to
speak of it."
What but a marvellous intuition transcending all
conceivable laws of mind, could produce such a portrait
of Gen. Grant from impressions received only by the
touch of a picture unseen It gave her instantaneously
a sympathy with his condition at that moment weaned
by the work on his memoirs, and from that perfect
sympathy she evolved his whole life, and could, if ques-
tioned have given far more in detail. The remark that
he would have been but a common citizen if the war
had not called him out, and developed his powers, and
that his success was due to an iron will and an intuitive
comprehension of the military situation, a comprehen-
sion not shown in ordinary business, shows a thorough
understanding of the man.
General ISadeau says of Grant in a recent essay :
" Grant's genius was always ready ; it was always
brightest in an emergency. All his faculties were
sharpened in battle ; the man who to some seemed dull
or even slow, was then prompt and decided. When
the circumstances were once presented to him. he was
never long in determining. He sccincd to liarc <i faculty
1 1 8 Psychometry in Politics.
of penetrating at once to tJie heart of things. He saw
what was the point to strike, or the thing to do, and he
never wavered in his judgment afterward, unless of
course, under new contingencies. Then he had no
false pride of opinion, no hesitation in undoing what he
had ordered ; but if the circumstances remained the
same, he never doubted his own judgment."
The immediate sympathy of the psychometer with
Grant before describing his character or realizing it
was shown in feeling his physical condition — his brain
wearied with the tax on his memory. The experiment
was at four o'clock in the afternoon, and dispatches
published the next clay showed that he was at this time
engaged on his book, and had spent several hours upon
it the day before.
General Sherman said of Grant, according to a cor-
respondent of the Montreal Gazette, when asked why he
recognized Grant's superiority, " Because, while I could
map out a dozen plans for a campaign, every one of
which Sheridan would swear he could fight out to vic-
tory, neither he nor I could tell which of the plans was
the best one ; but Grant, who simply sat and listened
and looked, while we had been talking over the maps,
would at the end of our talking, tell us which was the
best plan, and in a dozen or two words the reason of
his decisions, and then it would all be so clear to us
that he was right, that Sheridan and I would look at
each other and wonder why we hadn't seen the advan-
tage of it ourselves."
CHAPTER VIII.
rsVCIIOMKTKV IN l.ITKRATUKK.
Value of Psychometry in furnishing correct and condensed views of his-
torical and literary characters and questions.
Psychometric descriptions of Lord Hacon, l?aron Humboldt, Dr. (iall,
Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Prof. Tyndall, Prof. Huxley, John
Stuart Mill, Shakespeare, Milton, Sir Walter Scott, Homer, Victor
Hugo.
Literature, history and biography furnish an immense
mass of material, the mastery of which would require a
much longer period than any human life even were it
not involved in the trouble and difficulties of controversy
and criticism. Yet every one who aspires to an honora-
ble rank in general intelligence desires to have a sum-
mary conception of whatever is most important in these
three fields of knowledge.
Psychometry renders such a periscope possible for
those who are not professional literati, and who hive no
time to burden themselves with useless knowledge. It
gives us a distinct and compact conception of all who
have figured in the past or are conspicuous to-day, and
saves us from the necessity of reviewing old discussions
and burdening the mind with a multitude of remote
incidents that have little or no bearing on present
affairs. It gives us correct estimates of the past with its
personalities and its important questions and throws a
light upon 'personal character which rend«*rs»our read-
ing far more satisfactory and instructive. Moreover, 1:
IK;
I2O Psychomctry in
pronounces the sentence of justice upon all that is past
as well as upon that which is contemporary.
From my portfolio of psychometric investigations I
have selected the following reports as specimens of the
application of Psychometry in the investigation of
literary character.
LORD BACON.
"This is a man — not a modern character — he
belongs to the past but is not one of the ancients. He
was a man of great ability and prominence, of marked
intellectuality and a great deal of mental power. It
stimulates me, I feel it in the region of firmness. He
had pride and ambition. He had a great deal of sway-
ing power. I think he is known and quoted now.
"I don't consider him an evenly balanced mind. He
was subject to moods, and was not always to be depended
upon. '
(What sort of a life did he lead ?)
" A life of excitability. He kept things stirring all
the while. He was in the political world. He was not
an amiable man. People served him more through fear
than love. He was an over-weening man. I don't
fancy his principles. He was revengeful and loved to
display his power. His integrity was not reliable. He
was traitorous, false to his friends. I should fear him
as an enemy. He had no conscientious scruples in
gaining his purposes. He would not treat women
properly as human beings but would only use them for
his purposes.
" He was eminently intellectual. He was a writer.
He wrote on deep subjects. I do not exactly see what
they were — they were deep and far-reaching. He was
too critical to give any one much credit. I think he
would wj-ite on philosophical subjects, embracing sci-
ence, religion, church and state.
"He was a very attractive author and attained a very
Literature. 121
•
high reputation. He has been much admired and much
criticised in later times. He was more distinguished in
literary than political life."
(With whom was he acquainted as his contempora-
ries ?)
[After a pause.] " It seems to me that it was under
the reign of Elizabeth. He held some appointment
under her. I think he knew Shakespeare. I feel that
he lived in a bloody period. His career was restless
and varied. He had periods of adversity and prosperity.
He left a high character among literati, but he lived in
a licentious age and he was a licentious man. His
character is not esteemed by those who know it."
Another very graphic description of Lord Bacon was
given psychometrically by Mrs. Haydcn as follows : —
"This is a different characteral together (referring to
Dr. Harvey whom she had just described). He is more
jocose, would not take things to heart too seriously.
He is a quick thinker, quick in speech and in action,
elevated, enjoying wealth, power, and luxury, not ab-
stemious. There's a jovial, rollicking, reckless spirit.
His moral character is far inferior to Harvey's,"
(What of his intellectual powers ?)
"They are very fine. It seems such a pity to see
such a noble intellect connected with such reckless
profligacy. Whatever came from his pen was brilliant
and grand. He might write his best after a debauch,
perhaps half drunk. He was a spendthrift regardless of
the future. He could get money easily, spend it, be
reduced to poverty and rise again. But he had a splen-
did intellect. What an abortion of a superior man!
He is indeed a remarkable character. He has been
dead a long time, I can't define it exactly."
(Were there any remarkable events in his life?)
" It was full of the most remarkable events, lie was
from the lowest stage to the highest, a life most event-
ful. I think he would do impudent daredevil things
122 Psychomctry in /
nobody else would dare to do. He had no special
moral nature but was at times scrupulously refined ;
at other times cared neither for women nor anything
else. I never felt so remarkable a character. He had
a nobleness and independence that was really grand.
Money was used only for his pleasure.
" He wrote and his writings were brilliant. He was
brilliant as a philosopher, with large causality, large
perceptions and intuition. He had a fine education and
a great command of language. All through his writings
were striking sentiments and expressions. He was
not scientifically profound like Harvey : he was more
brilliant than scientific ; he was more original than
Harvey. He detested plagiarism and borrowed from
nobody."
(Could he have written Shakespeare's plays ?)
" Yes, he could have written them. The passages of
doubtful chastity would have suited him. He certainly
wrote plays, and the language of his plays was charac-
teristic. There isagoo'd deal of similarity intellectually.
He was equal to Shakespeare if not superior, with a more
refined education. . . . But he did not seek fame though
he had it. He would as lief be regarded as a notorious
rone. He was sensual and shameless. He handled
money loosely and made it fly — not like Harvey who
handled his money carefully."
These two terse and emphatic descriptions make
quite a complete picture of Bacon. Either of the psy-
chometers could have told the whole story and eluci-
dated many other points in Bacon's character and his-
tory, if the examination had been more prolonged and I
had questioned them as witnesses to develop all they
could discover. But I had never adopted this method,
preferring a spontaneous description of the salient
points that impress themselves on the psychometer, and
not desiring to tax their mental energies by any fatigue-
in^ task.
Literature. 123
In this, as in all my reports of psychometric descrip-
tions, I perceive a remarkable clearness and comprehen-
siveness of statement such as might be made by one
entirely familiar with the life work of the subject. No
one fully acquainted with Bacon's career could have
spoken more clearly and comprehensively. His profli-
gacy, treachery, licentiousness, malignity, versatility,
restlessness, sudden reverses, intellectual brilliance,
famous authorship and even the modern criticism to
which he has been subjected were all stated, and his
career located under Queen Elizabeth. Pope did not
understand him any better when a century after Bacon's
tleath he called him " the wisest, brightest, meanest of
mankind."
BARON HUM BO LOT.
" This seems like a philosopher who has passed away,
he is not living. He was a scientist. He is a great
scholar and student, always engaged in the pursuit of
knowledge. I think him a great man. He was warm-
hearted, genial and temperate. He was fond of writing
upon deep questions. It seems as though he did every-
thing. He was a broad man in every sense of the
word, nothing narrow or stinted about him. He was
not an American, I think his nationality might be Ger-
man. His nation would be very proud of him. He did a
great ical for his country but not as a military man, yet
his opinions would be freely given on those subjects. He
was not a novelist, he did not write light literature.
He was engaged in discoveries, being very scientific.
He was esteemed very highly as an author. He was
very liberal in his religion but had not much of what
the church would call religion, possibly they might call
him an infidel.
" It gives me the feeling of plunging into nature, her
physical and occult forces."
124 Psychometr)1 in
(What sciences would it be ?)
" I don't know unless it is the science of the universe.
He would look into the origin of races and sociological
subjects. He was a fine linguist. There was no science
out of his reach. He is quoted as an authority. He
had a capacious brain and physical endurance to write
and give out his views. He attended to medical science
but it was not very prominent, and was interested in
chemistry. He was a very critical observer and criti-
cised sharply the productions of others who differed
with him. He was rather iconoclastic and keen in his
replies. He was not speculative but solid.
" I like him very much. I would have liked him as a
man. He had a genial happy temperament.
" He occupied a very high position ; he associated with
the highest classes, and royalty — they felt honored by
his presence but he was not strictly a society man. He
did not look down on the poor. He was widely known by
other nations than his own, almost universally — such
a man could not be hid. He had a good constitution and
attained old age, possibly over eighty, and enjoyed life."
Mrs. HAYDEN'S psychometric description was as
follows : —
"This is not so legible character as the one just
described (Compte). There is a vast difference. This
is a man, I am sure, but not so open and frank as
Compte. I can't describe him so well, can't approach
him so easily, but he is very clever and talented, has
great thoughts, large ideas. He has a great forehead,
has strong perceptive faculties, and intense thought.
There is too much of him to be analyzed easily. He
achieved a great name, he did a great work, and is
known round the globe. He was a scientist and a
leader : a very celebrated man. He could not be an
ordinary man with such a brain. lie could write well
on any subject. He was splendidly educated, and was
a splendid conversationalist. He drew around him the
highest classes and was much courted ; was elegant in
Literal. i iv. 125
manners and conversation, and was attractive to women.
He catered more to the religious idea than Compte, but
did not believe much. He had a high standard of
principle, and moved in high society. He was fond of
advancing the condition of mankind, chiefly by scientific
labor. He did much and was proud of it." (Q. — How
does he compare with Lord Bacon ?) " He was more
solid or talented, but had not so much genius. He
could write better than either Mill or Spencer. He was
a pleasing writer without any effort. His pen flew
rapidly. He is a great character, and I am not satisfied
that I can do him justice.'' (Q. — What was his nation-
ality ?) " He was not American. He was fluent in both
English and German. I think Germ.in was his mother
tongue. He has no Americanism." (Q. — How does he
compare with Huxley?) "Huxley is too coarse and
material in comparison. This man was refined and
dignified ; there is a sublimity in his career. In the
sciences he would be a Geologist and Mineralogist.
To-day he is making deep researches. He excelled in
Mineralogy and Geology."
The assertion that " to-day he is making deep re-
searches," may surprise those who do not know that the
most gifted psychometers always fallow a character into
the post-mortem as well as the ante-mortem life. Indeed,
some are so spiritual as to get the impression first of
the life in the higher spheres before the career on earth.
There is a vast wealth of philosophy attainable in this
direction. Hereafter we shall have psychometric minds
capable of communicating directly with Humboldt and
all others who in the clearer light of Heaven have been
looking deeply into philosophy and science. It is
practicable now, and it is for this t'irU I proposed to
establish the COLLKGI: OF T:IF. Son.. I trust there may
be sufficient enlightenment on the e.ivlli to-day to
co-operate in such a purpose.
126 Psychonictry in
DR. GALL : the Founder of Phrenology.
" This gives a great influence, that of a very powerful
person. It goes into the muscular system, fills my
body, feels like a large, strong man. This is one who
had uncommon ability to talk, and sway the people by
his intellectual power. I feel an enlargement of the
forehead and eyes. It inflates my whole body, even
the lungs. I feel a great desire to reason out things.
He must have been a powerful reasoner, and strong in
the intuitive powers. He would combat a doctrine with
great power. He has a strong will, and is exceedingly
zealous. His strong reasoning powers would overwhelm
common minds. I feel a power in the temples. He
was not nervous, would hardly know that he had nerves.
He seems muscular. He had a large heart, would go
into generous acts of philanthropy, and be interested in
any great Work for the benefit of mankind, but he does
not have in himself a great love of power or display -
he is modest. He would love like a torrent, yet is not
demonstrative. He is both passionate and sentimental.
In his domestic relations, he had not all he could wish.
His wife would oppose him in many things, and he
could not bear opposition from his inferiors. He could
meet the opposition of great thinkers, but the opposi-
tion of the petty would annoy him. He did not live
with his wife happily, or did not live with her at all.
She was inferior in many things, but she appeared
better when he chose her. Her ambitions did not run
in the same direction as his ; it was a vanity that did
not please him. His investigations were as to the
mind. He would pay attention to the possible powers
of the mind and the brain. He would study individuals
and history — the past, present, and future. He had a
great knowledge of the brain and body. He under-
stood the anatomy of the brain thoroughly, was thor-
oughly educated in anatomy. Destructiveness was
large in him. He would apply his knowledge of anat-
Literature. 127
omy in every pursuit. He understood the organic
functions of the brain I feel his life and warmth as if
he were present. He would not belong to a church.
He does not look^to God as a ruler, or an object of fear."
(Q. — What does he think of the discoveries and exper-
ments of pr. Buchanan ?) "He thinks they are grand.
He approves the groundwork, and the way he has
started. He says the structure he is building will leave
a monument to future generations."
AUGUSTK COMPTK.
(Founder of the 1'ositive Philosophy.)
" I seem to be taken into the ^ast, very far oack ; an
influence from the remote past attended this person.
There is a great deal of grandeur of thought, sublimity
of ideas. I first get the spiritual attendant of this per-
son. It is a woman. All thought this brain generates
seems well balanced, even, systematic. He was a phil-
anthropist and a discoverer. He would unfold or
enlarge discoveries originated in other minds, and make
them clear. There is a peculiar originality. He had
his own way of saying things. He never followed. He
would not say anything others had said before him,
unless in an entirely new dress. He theorized a great
deal, but did not reduce the theories lo practice. He-
was eccentric in religious opinions, yet believed in God
and a future state : no — he was not settled in his mind
as to the ultimate condition of man. His views would
change. His opinions were not popular, though he had
followers. He spoke out freely his changes of opinion.
He was not very poetical. He seems very eccentric,
but had many grand ideas. He was a great friend to
woman, would sacrifice a great deal for her elevation.
He would like to establish rules, making woman equal
to man. In religion he would be favorable to commu-
nities, and to a religion of good conduct. He would
teach morality. He was not an advocate of the marriage
relation, as it now exists There is a great deal in this
1 28 PsycJioinctry in
character that is hard to describe." (Q. — Was he ever
liable to insanity ?) " I think he was, from the confusion
and fickleness of ideas that I get. Insanity might come
from intense thought, and some trouble in his life that
preyed on his mind. He seemed to be moody and mis-
anthropic at times, but at his death he was in his right
mind." (Q. — What was his nationality ?) " He spoke
more than one language, but I think he was French.'
(Q. — What was his domestic life ?) " His domestic life
was not successful ; he did not marry the one he loved
best. He may have appeared cold, but he had strong
love, though he was exacting. There was a failure in
the fruition of his love. He was attended by the spirit
of the woman he loved, as well as by an ancient spirit."
The portrait of Compte is completed by adding the
psychometric description given by Mrs. Hayclen as
follows :
"This is a man, a positive influence, a man past mid-
dle age with rather a high head, a long, intelligent face,
somewhat narrowing to the chin. He is a man of fe\v
words, but of great powers of discrimination and expres-
sion, saying exactly what he wants to say. He is bold,
yet timid : a child could lead him, but when roused he
is like a lion. He has led an eventful life. He has an
analytical brain. His career was one that required
deep thought. He is set and mature in his ideas, rather
opinionated. I think he is not living. He is not an
American: His manners and looks are rather English.
His style of character rather German. He is so much
of a linguist I cannot tell which is his own language.
He knows French, German, and Greek. He is a
scholar. There is not much poetry about him. He is
a substantial prose writer — writes scientific books,
with something historical. He is more like Mill than
Spencer ; is fully equal to Mill. He is not egotistic. He
touches no subject without understanding it." (Q.—
What do you say as to his religion and morals ?) "I do
Literature. 129
not think he has much religion. He is moral and hon-
orable, but has no more God than Herbert Spencer.
He has no historic idea of Deity. He is very free and
liberal in many things. He has strict conscientious
scruples : he can be depended on." (Q. — What was his
relation to woman ?) " He respects woman very highly,
but -his domestic life was not harmonious ; it was full of
jar and distraction ; still, he thinks love is sacred, and
though his own life has been checkered it has not spoilt
him. His real love passed away, and left him sad ; he
spoke as if bereft. He has been careful about express-
ing his ideas fully. His marriage was very unhappy.
He was very original in all his writings. He was a
pleasing, interesting, vigorous writer. Hut he did not
realize his ambition, and was disappointed as to appre-
ciation. Yet he was regarded by his followers with
idolatry, and is still. He left a name that will not die.
Those who loved him were very devoted. He was a
self-sacrificing man, and devoted his life to humanity."
HERBERT SPENCER.
(The philosopher of evolution and sociology.)
After some deliberation : —
" This character is foreign to my nature and does not
stimulate as much as some others. His position gives
him influence among intellectual people. He seems to
be versed in literature and a writer. He does not seem
to be a philanthropist — what he does in that way is
more forinfluence and reputation, than from true benev-
olence. I do not perceive much soul in what he does,
but I think he is popular with the public, because he
advances humane ideas which have a good influence.
" He is a man of strong impulses, and sometimes led
by them too much. He might be considered true to
his principles which he considers right ; he is not a dis-
sembler. He looks upon what he does as a matter of
duty — that is the way I see him. He is a courteous
man.
130 Psychomctry in
" I think he has a fine intellect. The resources of his
mind are large and he labors to make his subjects ac-
ceptable — he works hard."
(To what subjects is he giving attention ?)
" He is doing something in political science. He is a
fresh writer, original, not dealing in anything stale.
'• His aim would be to improve the condition of the
poor and working classes He would write upon politi-
cal economy and kindred subjects He would improve
the social status. He would be interested in communi-
ties that have grievances. I feel that he is not an
American; I am sure of it — but he has great friendli-
ness for American systems of government.
" His policy would have a democratic tendency. It
is very cautious — he would not expend a great deal in
direct assistance but would give opportunities for pro-
gress and improvement. He seems to be English in
character."
(What of his moral and religious character ?)
"In religion he is heterodox and tolerant — does not
believe any religion taught in the churches — is skeptical
as to the Bible and would follow nature.
" His code of morals is good — he believes in mar-
riage, temperance, industry and similar virtues ; he is
a moral man. He may have a school of his own on
such subjects.
"His mind is skeptical and somewhat dogmatic but
disposed to give due credit to facts. He inclines more
to materialism than to spiritualism, and feels satisfied
with his present views, somewhat like Ingersoll's. But
he has a great spirit of investigation."
(What of his general career and success?)
" His life has been varied. He has kept himself
prominent and in good repute. He has an extensive
reputation — standing high with thinking people, and
the working classes consider him their friend.
" He has encountered some difficulties, but is success-
ful upon the whole. He is well received and carries
Literature. 131
considerable weight with the intellectual classes. He
has overtaxed and fatigued himself and impaired his
health."
(How does he compare with Humboldt, Compte, Mill,
Lord Bacon, Carlyle and Bulwer as they have impressed
you ?)
" He is not so theoretical as Compte, not so great as
Humboldt, not as great or brilliant as Bacon, though a.
far better man. He is more like Mill than any one I
can think of. He is more sound and practical than
Bulwer and Carlyle. "
A very similar opinion was pronounced some years
ago by Mrs. Hayden in more emphatic language, which
differed slightly in reference to the physical constitution
as it was given before the decided impairment of health
mentioned by Mrs. B.
PROFESSOR TVNDALL.
" This is a man. It inspires me with almost a complete
character, well developed, and refined. The region of
intellect was developed very early in life. He was born
for his position. There was an uninterrupted develop-
ment and education. He was not a self-made man.
He is an author. His writing is in prose. lie has
taken a decided stand in opinions. He is familiar with
matters concerning the health of nations. He is practi-
cal,— carries out his theories clearly, decidedly. He is
a very judicious man, seldom mistaken. He is popular
with many, — is above the grade of public intelligence,
having a very superior mind. His reputation is wide.
He has many warm admirers, devoted to him." (Q. —
How does he compare with Compte?) " He is equal to
Compte, but more advanced in his knowledge, and less
erratic. He does not fall into moods." (Q. — What is
he as a lecturer?) " As a lecturer he is ready, profound
and thorough ; he interests his hearers ; he is an ex-
132 Psycliomctry in
ceedingly pleasant speaker." (Q. — What as a writer ?)
"As a writer, he would rank among the first." (Q. —
What of his religious views?) "His religious ideas are
liberal. He is skeptical, and slow of belief. He is a
fearless and profound exponent of what he believes.
He is very scientific. His life has been devoted to
science and investigation."
PROFESSOR HUXLEY.
" This is a very strong character, with a stubborn will,
hard to convince, but when convinced immovable. He
has great firmness of purpose. He has more method,
he is more demonstrative and dogmatic, he has more
intolerance than No. I (Tyndall), but is fully equal in
ability. He would be disposed to run into the same
investigations, but takes a different method. Upon the
whole, they are about equal. This one has more poetry,
but less refinement ; he has more of the animal, more
inclination to license ; he has less appreciation of
woman, might be jealous of her intellectual merits.
He has great self-esteem, which carries him on." (Q.—
What is he as a lecturer ?) " As. a lecturer, he draws
large audiences. He could make a fine political speech.
His writings are popular. He is rather a disturber of
the old order of things." (Q. — What of his religion?)
" His religion is only Nature. He is not entirely skepti-
cal as to futurity, but does not tell his views freely."
JOHN STUART MILL.
"This seems different from Nos. I and 2 ; full of me-
thod, not so rapid, more deliberate, but, when fully pre-
pared, has great brilliancy and power. This is a prefera-
ble character to Nos. I and 2 (Tyndall and Huxley), one
whom women could love." (Q. — What, as a writer ?>
" He would write upon the establishment of new systems,
and renovating the old : is a philosopher and reformer.
He has a great de.siro not t > break up, but to adjust.
Literature. 133
governments and all political and religious affairs. He
shows great ability, and has been sharply criticised for
his ideas, but he does not fear it. He cares litcle for
public opinion. He is a well-adjusted man, of firm
brain, — not vain nor ostentatious. He stands high
among thinking men. His opinions would be quoted,
and he would rank as a great mind." (Q. — How does
he compare with others ?) " I feel that he has made
great discoveries. He is like Dr. Buchanan in many
things. I would estimate him upon the whole above
Nos. I and 2, not as enthusiastic in his opinions as
Compte, but a sounder mind ; not erratic. He is a
great philosopher and reformer, and has acquired a great
deal by hard study."
SIIAKESPKAKK.
April 23, 1885, I gave her an excellent photograph of
Shakespeare as a man to be described unseen. She
said : —
" I like the feeling of this ; it brings a genial glow, —
such a feeling as I have in thinking of some grand,
noble woman. This person has a wonderful, far-seeing
mind. He had psychometric power. I don't think he
is living.
" He does not seem a philanthropist, but fond of
influence and popularity. A strong willed man — of
strong determination. He was social and convivial —
knew he had something to give the world, and was
anxious to do it.
" I do not place him among the nobility, but lie was
not a commonplace man. He was a foreigner, a writer,
a literary man. It seems to me he was a writer of
plays. I find a poetical clement. He did not live long
enough to finish his career, but what he wrote was
accepted by the people of his own and other countries.
His reputation is high to-day — perhaps higher than
ever. His reputation has been gaining.
134 Psychomctry in
" He was something like Dickens in character. There
was a good deal of sadness in his interior life the
public did not sec. He had a deep nature and his writ-
ings were not always in the same vein. He seems like
one of the dramatists. He was an Englishman. He
would compare with Shakespeare and Bulwer. A flash
of impression now and then suggests Shakespeare.
He was keen and witty. His comparisons were adroitly
made. He had a wonderful individuality in his writing.
I think he was inspired. I think he wrote under inspi-
ration a great part of his time — psychometric inspira-
tion. His expresions had a prophetic character to a
careful reader — a prophetic wisdom. I feel now a
strong admiration for this character — there was no
one like him. He was the chief among all the dra-
matic writers. He fills my mind with tragic ideas.
Richard the Third and Othello come to my mind and
Midsummer Night's Dream. I think it is Shakespeare
as it brings up those plays."
In this case she felt the influence of the picture so
completely by touch as to induce her to say that she
believed the picture was in her hands upside down,
which was the fact. Her fingers recognized the head
as the lower part of the picture.
The psychometric description of Shakespeare by Mrs.
Hayden developed the same sympathy and admiration
as follows : —
"This feels good, genial, warm — like meeting a
friend. There is a warmth that can't be mistaken — a
great wealth of mind — rich with all that is delightful
and lovely. I can't talk — I can't express it fully -
can't do this individual justice. I'm delighted with it.
It is a beautiful face in outlines and symmetry. No sen-
suality here. It gives me the feeling of a reformer, a
frank freethinker He loves progress — has given up
Literature. 135
the spirit of the dark ages. Seems a statesman and a
poet — a controlling influence — a power that leads and
guides others with his councils. He is not in this
world, not on earth — gone sometime, but left a name-
that will never die. He had a versatility of power -
could catch up his pen and write — could direct and
instruct others — had great versatility of power. You
had but to know him to love him. He could not have
done a mean act." (What as a writer?) "Cue of great
power — very clear, of great descriptive power. He
brought the picture right before you — nothing prosy —
there was too much matter-of-fact for a mere poet — it
was not fiction, but he might have been a great drama-
tist. His description is unusually clear. There was a
moral in his writings." (Does he resemble Bulwcr?)
" No, he is very different. When I saw Bulwer at Kenil-
worth he impressed me very differently from this."
MILTON.
"This produces an easy, glowing, dreamy feeling —
takes me to a spiritual region. This feeling is exceed-
ingly luminous and highly intellectual. It produces a
different surrounding from anything I ever came in
contact with.
"There seems to be such an amount of power and
intensity of thought, taking such a wide range, I can
scarcely bring it to a point for anything specific.
"This person was thoroughly magnetic — had great
magnetic power — far-reaching. His mind would soar
above the ordinary minds it came in contact with. It
was a leader of exceedingly fine organization. He had
the love element, well-balanced, universal.
" He had great intellectual powers. Nature did
much, and education and surroundings added to his
powers to make him great. His writings would be
quoted and respected among all classes for their ability.
He loved humanity, he recognized God."
(Q. — Living or dead — male or female ?)
136 Psycliometry in
" A male and in the spirit world. It seems fresh —
seems near."
(What was the earthly career ?)
" One of great activity. He wrote a great deal of
prose I do not feel the poetical so much. He was familiar
with literature, science, and history, and used them. He
was radical — more democratic than monarchic — liberal
in his views, liking a government good for all classes.
He believed in divorce for causes such as incompati-
bility or physical discord. His own domestic life was
not as happy as he would wish, but not as bitter an
experience as Dr. Gall or Socrates. He had many
clouds to contend with. There seemed to be clouds as
if he was in darkness.
" He realized some reputation in life, but like many
superior men, his writings have lived beyond the tomb,
and he has more reputation now."
(Q. — If he wrote poetry, what would be its char-
acter ?)
" His poetry would partake of the grand and terrific.
It would not be of the sentimental, like Moore. Milton
comes into my mind His poetry would be decidedly
intellectual. It takes a scholar to appreciate it. It
was like Dante also. When he gave his friendship it
was lasting. You coulJ have no better friend "
SIR WALTER SCOTT.
"This has a comfortable, natural feeling — not an
excitable influence. There is a good deal of inspiration
about it. I should think this person was a writer. It
is a man. If I felt in a more intellectual mood I might
go into ecstasies over this author lie is not living —
he is one of the poets of the p.ist
" He had a very ardent nature, full of fire and earnest
ness. His poems were very descriptive Whatever
might be his themes they were very descriptive. There
seems to be a martial tone to his poetry. He is Scotch
Literature. 137
or Irish; but he docs not seem Irish — not like Moore,
more like Byron — he is a Scotch poet. Who is the
author of the " Lady of the Lake " ? 1 think he w;-.s
the author of it, but the name escapes me.
" He was a titled man — his life was literary."
(What else beside poetry did he write ?)
"I think his prose partook of the historical character.
I think he was a historian ; he may have written on
political and ecclesiastical subjects.
" He was musical, had fine sensibilities. He could
write on jurisprudence, I think. His inclination was to
poetry. He was a man of deep feelings, and could
express them better in poetry He could write plays
and fiction. Fiction was not his forte, but he could
succeed in it, because he wrote so vividly. He some-
times indulged in the humorous or amusing. It was
easy for him to go from the pathetic to the humorous.
It was his born in him. His novels would be founded
on facts, somewhat like Dickens, though he was a very
different writer. He was faithful to nature — he could
depict the elements with great descriptive power.
" He had ups, and downs, and perplexities in his life,
but always ranked high before the public. I think he
was contemporary with Moore. I think they were
friends. He lived to develop his genius, and make a
lasting name.
" He was highly prized in society, being genial ami
social in his nature, jovial with men, full of anecdote —
a good companion. I think he had a happy home. He-
was domestic in feeling, but monarchic in his theories,
as that seemed to him the best form of government.
He brings up Scotch poetry to my mind."
(What as to Spiritualism ? )
" He had some weird ideas, but could not be called a
Spiritualist. '
(What ^ai you say of his head ? )
'It was hi^h in the moral region."
i 38 Psychomctry in
I then showed her the picture, but she did not rec-
ognize it, and could not think of the name — her mem-
ory of names is very defective. The face of Scott is a
beautiful illustration of the true principles of Physiog-
nomy, and his head indicates a very strong and noble
character, being high an.l deep.
In MRS. HAYDEX'S description of Scott, she said he
was " very brilliant i:i conversation, witty, original, and
very pleasing. His company was sought. He had
great wealth of mind.- He was not very religious in
the sectarian way. He seems like a historian. If he
wrote fiction it would be peculiar — truth as the founda-
tion— not mere fiction, but historical. He is a man of
very sound judgment and deep ideas — perhaps a little
dry from his matter-of-fact way. I 'd like to hear him
talk rather than hear his writings. He has a fine face.
I like his influence. His integrity is marked. What-
ever he believed he had the courage to express. He
passed away before much was said about Spiritualism.
If he had been living he would have adopted it. He
was an irreparable loss to tlu society in which he
moved.
HOMER.
The school of German skeptics having thrown doubt
upon the very existence of Homer, as another class oi
skeptics doubt the existence of Biblical characters, this
gave me an additional interest in verifying his existence
and character. The following opinion was based on an
old (unseen) engraving of Homer's bust.
"This is an ancient character — very ancient. He
was very brilliant, and of a buoyant nature. He looked
upon the world with great satisfaction. He was a
Literature. 139
writer." (I asked for a more definite statement of his
chronology, but as Mrs. K is somewhat defective in
numbers or calculation she could not give any definite
reply.)
(What do you say of the people and climate of the
country where he lived ? )
" It was a very genial climate, and a genial good feel-
ing prevailed. It docs not seem a time of bloodshed.
It is a very congenial influence. It takes me to Greece.
I wonder if he was not a Greek. It brings a variety of
scenes, an age of unfoldment and athletic sports, sculp-
ture, grandeur, great processions.
" It seems as though he was a poet and wrote blank
verse. He wrote on solid subjects. Everything he
wrote has to be translated into our language. He was
one of the old Greek poets ; very inspirational, wise,
and scholarly ; not an orator, but a man of thought and
feeling. He is known to-day only from his writings."
(What of his personal life ? )
"His personal life was very harmonious — he enjoyed
life. If living to-day he would be called a medium.
He communed with the invisibles, felt their influence
and inspiration. He had a very harmonious, beautiful
nature, was very simple in his manner of living, did not
cater to his personal desires, was self-sacrificing, had
few desires for his personal comforts. I think he was
poor. I see no grandeur in his immediate surroundings.
He was modest, and did not care for it, but had enough
for his daily wants. If he did not he would not care
for it."
(What of his domestic life ?)
"He was married — and agreeably; there was no dis-
cord in his conjugal life.
(Was he ever poor enough to beg ? )
"He was very poor. He might beg if his bodily and
mental sufferings were great enough. His genius was
not appreciated as it is now. People were given more
140 Psychometry in
to the physical. They would think a poet of little value.
But he had a few choice appreciative friends."
(What of his religion ? )
•'He was a religious man, drawing his inspiration
from the universe. From his interior nature he could
write grand things. Me was a wonderful man. He is
better understood to-day than in his own age. His
writings are quoted to-day. He had a deep religious
nature. He was not acquainted with Christianity. He
looked to the grandeur and beauty of the universe and
supreme power. Perhaps he may have believed in dei-
ties of a lower grade, and in the elements. He saw
God in all. I admire his sentiments, but I have never
read any of his writings."
(Did he believe in communication with the spirit
world ? )
" He did ; ne had evidence in his own experience of
the power of the departed to commune with us. He
has exerted an influence himself as a spirit upon poets
of ancient and modern times. It brings up Mrs.
Memans; perhaps he inspired her. He inspired Milton
and Shakespeare. I think it is Homer.
As to his inspiring his admirers, I recollect a sugges
tion in Plato's writings — that an eloquent reader of
Homer's poems was actually inspired by the spirit of
Homer.
VICTOR HUCJO.
(By Mr. B., of the New York Bar, 1878.)
" A powerful man ; intellectual; an old man. He'll
never be any older. He's old in years, but fresh and
vigorous as a boy.
•' He's a creator. If an architect, he'd copy from no
o.ie ; if a painter, his style is his own : if a writer, he's
different from any one else. He's crisp, sharp, epigram-
matic. If he were here, in a few sentences he'd instantly
impress you as a remarkable mm.
Literature. 141
" He's a historian, — a historical writer, — or, if not, he
ought to be. It ought t > be his profession. He would
be unequalled. It might not all be true, but it would
be interesting.
" He isn't dead. He would be fairly disposed to inves-
tigate new truths. He does not believe in falsehood
because it is venerable. He's a sort of socialistic re-
former ; a man of the people ; most intense in feeling
and expression. He has an utter contempt for a rotten
government or a system of theology not well founded,
or anything else false. He is incapable of forgiving
wrong, injury, or insult.
" His style is too intense and wild, but it is attractive.
He is a positive thinker — not satisfied with less than
absolute proof. He enjoys life — loves good eating and
drinking and physical enjoyment "
As to Hugo's habits and character, there is a good
illustration of the foregoing description in the remarks
of H. H. Boycsen, since the death of Hugo, who says,
" In 1879 he looked wonderfully vigorous, and his gait
and voice, were those of a young man." " He rose at
five in the morning and worked till eight." "At dinner
he appeared to the best advantage, and his conversa-
tional powers were most brilliant. As Daudet once said,
he ate with " the magnificent insolence of a man who
always feels well, bathes in ice water, and works with his
windows open." "While the young authors and depu-
ties who sat at his table selected carefully the most
easily digestible dishes, the hearty octogenarian con-
sumed tarts, cucumbers, and lobster salads with superb
unconcern." "Victor Hugo's presence was most im-
pressive, his bearing courtly and erect, and his manner
never devoid of a certain ceremoniousness, which was a
fine mixture of courtliness and diirnitv."
CHAPTER IX.
PROPHETIC INTUITION.
Antagonism of the world's present condition to the higher faculties of
man — Foresight inseparable from intelligence — Prophecy belongs to
intuition — Evils of credulity — Recognition of the prophetic power
by St. Paul, by the ancients, by Machiavel, by many eminent men, by
Athenagoras, the Sybils, the Druids, Jamblicus, Maupertuis, Sir Henry
Halford, Areteus, Cicero, Dr. Hoffman, Ur. Sprengel, Dr. Georget,
the Committee of the Royal Academy of Medicine, M. Chardel, the
philosopher Schelling, Goethe, Swedenborg — Cazotte's prophecy —
Hoag's prophecy of our civil war — Prophecy of the downfall of the
Pope's temporal power, and reformation of the church — Modus ope-
rand i vi prophecy — Law of periodicity — Future fate of the United
States.
PROPHECY IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS. — Prophecy as to Ireland — Prophecy
in Egyptian affairs — Description of Arabi Pasha and his fate — Opin-
ion of Khedive Ismail — Investigation of El Mahcli in 1883 — The
progre«fc of affairs in Egypt and the Soudan illustrates the opinion —
Absurd and wicked management of the war — Vindication of El
Mahdi — Second description and its verification in 1884 — Third de-
scription in 1885 and prophecy of universal peace — Description by
pupils in Psychometry — Comments on the descriptions — Psycho-
metric report on El Mahdi's picture — His personal history — Descrip-
tion of Mohammed — Death of Alexander, D'Israeli, and Garibaldi
predicted — Description of the Czar Alexander — Psychometric view
of Russia and England — Foreign news in March, 1885 — Psychome-
tric opinion on the condition — The Czar and his purposes — Foreign
news in April indicating war — Prophecy repeated — Repeated again
— Censure of the church — France and China in April — Psychome-
tric description and prediction — Psychometric description of the
Emperor of China — Psychometric view of the Prince of Wales —
Poem addressed to Cornelia.
Quench not the spirit — despise not prophesyings. Thes. 5, 20.
" Follow after charity and spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may pro-
phesy. . . He that prophesieth spcaketh unto men to edification and ex-
i : ".
Prophetic I u tit id or. 143
hortation and comfort." " lit1 that prophesieth edificth the church." " I
would that ye all spake with tongues, hut rather that ye prophesied."
1 Tor. 11.
The higher any faculty rises in its character, the
nearer it approaches a spiritual and divine nature.
The more thoroughly the divine inspiration appears in
its manifestations, the more repugnant does it become
to the animal nature of man ; and there is no better evi-
dence of the extent to which a nation, a community, or
a class is sunk in selfishness and animalism than its
repugnance to understanding, appreciating, or even
tolerating the most sacred phenomena of life. How
can European nations be expected to make progress in
the sacred philosophy which comprehends the mysteries
of life when they are still in their national bearing as
morally barbarous as in the days of Crcsar, and face each
other, arms in hand, like kennels of wild beasts, waiting-
only for a convenient opportunity to devour each other
with the least difficulty and danger, without sufficient
moral sentiment anywhere to interpose between the
ferocious combatants, and command the peace. It is
due to the moral power of Gladstone alone that we are
not to-day looking on cannonade and slaughter.
In the midst of these ferocious powers and in full
sympathy with them, stands the church, — a participant
in all their feuds, not a soothing and restraining power,
but an accessary to their dark deeds. The college is
the same — it perpetuates the glory of criminal warriors
and sends forth no aspiration to a higher social condi-
tion.
Rsychometry therefore has no home in either .state,
church, or college, until a nobler century shall have
144 Prophetic Intuition.
arrived, when a genial and religious philosophy shall
comprehend man's highest nature. My modest presen-
tation of the science in the middle of this century seems
to have produced but little more effect than a whisper
addressed to a mob, and I might not have presented the
subject again, but for the fact that I have survived long
enough to reach a more progressive period, in which
the laws of Destiny assure me that the century will not
pass without an honorable recognition of the truth.
As a part of this great truth I present the prophetic
power of the divine element in man, so stolidly ignored
to-day. Forecast or prophesy is inseparable from intel-
ligence. If we were deprived of this power we would
be reduced to helpless idiocy, unable to do anything.
The perfect nescience of metaphysical speculation ap-
proximates this form of idiocy. Pyrrhonic skepticism
ignores the relation of cause and effect, and would pre-
vent one from knowing that he would be killed by
walking over a precipice. In that condition, destitute
of forecast, men would be like the brainless hens experi-
mented on by Flourens, incapable of acting from the
inability to have an idea of doing anything.
No one can deny the power of foreseeing many
events of which we comprehend the causes, and thus
making scientific prophecies. The range of astronom-
ical forecast is immense, and it is equally great along
any line of simple causation. It is only when the
number of conspiring causes which affect the event
become too great and conflicting for exact estimate,
that we feel our incompetence as to prediction, and yet
shrewd men are continually predicting with various
Prophetic Intuition. 145
degrees of success, the conduct of individuals, the
course of commerce, and the conduct of nations.
Whether complex affairs can be predictively compre-
hended and their possible result at a remote period
foreseen, is the question. It is obvious that this cannot
be done by the same mental processes by which we
construct a house, transact commercial business or
determine the construction of a road, for the compre-
hension of a remote event in human affairs involves
the appreciation of so many contributory causes, that
we may safely say no human intellect can grasp, even
if it could ascertain them, and therefore no human in-
tellect by any reasoning process can prophesy as to the
remote and complex.
Prophecy in the proper sense of the word is possible
only when there are intuitive faculties at work which
J
have a far wider range than the external intellect, and
which in a semi-omniscient correlation with the entire
sphere of complexity, feel its aggregate drift and re-
sults. The working of these divine powers has been
recognized by the enlightened in all ages. In present-
ing their claims to-day, I should very much regret their
credulous acceptance by persons who without carefully
ascertaining the existence of prophetic power, should
trust to the predictions of a class of psychometric and
medium istic persons who assume to speak of the future
without any real foresight. I refer to the warning ex-
ample of a gentleman of fine intelligence, integrity,
and moral worth, who has been reduced to abject pov-
erty, suffering and despair by trusting to prophetic inti-
mations of his own future in a visionary enterprise
commended by psychometcrs and mediums whom he
146 Prophetic Intuition.
supposed reliable in prediction, because they had other
capacities. No prudent individual would rely upon any
prediction without some positive knowledge of the pre-
dictive capacity, as tested by experience.
The prophetic power is recognized by St. Paul as :\
common endowment in the church, not a miraculous
and exceptional gift. It was rightly recognized by him
as one of the powers that should be developed in the
church ; for the religious and spiritual faculties are the
ones that nourish and sustain the prophetic power, and
where true religion exists, prophetic powers are as sure
to be developed as the spirit of love and the power of
healing. The general absence of all these in modern
o o
Protestant churches exhibits a declension which it
would not be unjust to call an apostacy.
The enlightened have ever reckoned propnccy a nor-
mal human faculty, but the superstitious have supposed
it a divine manifestation and proof that the prophet was
especially connected with the Deity. This superstition
was but a reverential exaggeration of the truth and
depreciation of humanity. Cicero and the Greek phil-
osophers did not deem prophecy above the normal
power of the soul. Lamprias wisely said, " It is not
probable that the soul gives a new power of prophecy
after separation from the body, and which it did not
before possess. We may rather conclude that it pos-
sessed all these powers during its union with the body,
although in lesser perfection."
I cannot give the reason (said Machiavel in a histori-
cal discourse), but it is an attested fact in all history,
both ancient and modern, that no great misfortune ever
happened to a city or province that was not predicted
Proplictic Intuition. 147
by some soothsayer, or announced by revelations, prodi-
gies or other celestial signs. It is very desirable that
the matter should be discussed by men learned in mat-
ters natural and supernatural, an advantage that I do
not possess. Be that as it may, the fact is undeniable."
" Were we to give the names of all the known charac-
ters holding a high position in science, (says Briere de
Boismont) with correct judgment and extensive knowl-
edge, who have had their warnings and presentiments,
we should find ample matter for reflection."
He then narrates a story coming from the secretary
of Talleyrand, of his escape from death by a sudden
intuition. "The prince remarked, "I can never forget
that I was once gifted for a moment with an extraordi-
nary and inexplicable prescience which was the means
of saving my life ; without that sudden and mysterious
inspiration, I should not be here to recount these
details."
Athcnagoras, a Greek philosopher of the second cen-
tury who embraced Christianity, speaks of the soul as
capable of predicting future events and curing diseases.
The application of the soul power of somnambulists
and others to diagnosis and healing, has been the cause
of that jealousy of the medical profession which has
obscured and discredited the psychic powers which have
been so long known.
The ancient Sybils predicted like modern somnambu-
lists and mediums, in a psychological state. St. Justin
says that after the afflatus was past, they had no recol-
lection of what they had said.
The Druid priests were prophets and physicians,
according to Cicero and Pliny. Cicero speaks espe-
14^ Prophetic Intuition.
dally of one of them residing in Gaul, named Divi-
tiacus.
Jamblicus, a leading philosopher of the fourth century,
in his treatise on the mysterious, recognizes prevision
as one of the powers of the Soul, which it exercises
more freely in the ecstatic state or in sleep, when it is
released from everything corporeal. Such were tho
common doctrines of Plato, Plotinus, Proclus and other
ancient philosophers. As far back as we can trace civili-
zation, prophecy was recognized as a power of the soul.
Maupertuis, a mathematician and early advocate of
Newtonian system at the beginning of the eighteenth
century, endeavored to explain philosophically the fac-
ulty of prevision as produced by the more exalted con-
dition of the soul.
Sir Henry Halford has some very judicious remarks on
this subject in reviewing the work of Aretacus on brain
fever, as follows :
" The author Aretaeus, states that the first effect of
the subsidence of the violent excitement is, that the
patient's mind becomes clear, that all his sensations are
exquisitely keen ; that he is the first person to discover
that he is about to die, and announce this to the attend-
ants ; that he seems to hold converse with the spirits of
those who have departed before him, as if they stood in
his presence ; and that his soul acquires a prophetic
power. The author with all the appearance of being
himself convinced that this power has really been ac-
quired by the patient in the last hour of his life, re-
marks that the bystanders fancy him to be rambling
and talking nonsense, but that they are afterwards as-
tounded at the coming to pass of the events which had
Prophetic Intuition. 149
been predicted. Indeed .he attempts to account for it
by supposing that the soul whilst, "shuffling off this
mortal coil " whilst disengaging itself from the incum-
brance of the body, becomes purer, more essential, en-
tirely spiritual, as if it had already commenced its new
existence."
" That a prophetic power did attend man's last
hour generally was a notion entertained of old, and has
been transmitted down to us from the earliest records
of mankind. We read in the Pentateuch, that, "when
Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he
drew up his feet into the bed and yielded up the ghost."
Noxv with these solemn injunctions were mixed up
much prophetic matter, many predictions of their future
fate and fortunes ; as for instance " the sceptre shall
not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet, until Shiloh come, and to him shall the gathering
of the people be."
Sir Henry continues, referring to the prophecies of
Isaiah and the Sibylline leaves — "What wonder then
if the philosophers, both Grecian and Roman, if the
poets, (who may be considered as historians of popular
notions) concurred in transmitting down this accredited
opinion ? Cicero, a most accomplished philosopher ;:s
well as orator, himself an augur too, and therefore prob-
ably well acquainted with the contents of the Sibylline-
leaves (for they were committed to the custody of the
College of Augurs) in his first work on Divination, gives
a story of the prediction of the death of Alexander the
(ireat, by an Indian about to die on the funeral pile."
The language of Cicero is as follows : " When the
mind is separated by sleep from the society and conta-
1 50 Prophetic Intuition.
gion of the body, it then remembers the past, perceives
the present, and foresees the future. For the body of a
sleeper lies like that of one dead, but the mind lives
and is vigorous. How much more so after death, when
it shall have altogether separated from the body ? For
this reason, upon the approach of death it becomes much
more capable of divination. And who has not observed
that sick persons, especially hysterical females, of whom
I have seen several, attacked with cataleptic and ecstatic
affections, either during or after the paroxysms, have
predicted future events, and have spoken in languages
which tJiey themselves Juid never learnt, although their
parents knew them."
Is it not remarkable that facts so familiar as these
from the earliest ages should have been expelled from
the colleges and from the entire republic of letters,
chiefly by the agency of the medical profession, the
works of enlightened authors who have honestly re-
corded such facts being kept from general circulation.
The learned Dr. Hoffman, physician to the king of
Prussia, was one ,of those who recognized the exalted
powers of the soul ; and Dr. Sprengel who had no supe-
rior in his day, in medical learning says in his Institutes
of Medicine published in 1810, speaking of the magnetic
somnambulists " that instinct revives, by means of
which the patient acquires a knowledge of his own
state of health, and of that of any other person who is
placed en rapport with him — and is also enabled to pre-
dict the duration of the crisis and its termination, and to
prescribe appropriate remedies. These remedies are
generally vulgar and domestic, when recommended by
the rustic, or officinal preparations, when prescribed by
Prophetic Intuition. \ 5 I
the better educated man. They are frequently such as
a plysician would scarcely think of prescribing — such
as culinary salt, a pepper bath, etc., — but in most
cases they do good, and Dr. Weinholt does not recollect
a single instance in which they were administered with-
out beneficial effects."
Dr. Sprengel further says : " The somnambulists pre-
dict the crisis of their complaints, and determine their
duration and end. I have myself seen a young man, a
relation of my own, who had never been treated in this
artificial manner, who in the very crises themselves,
predicted with the utmost certainty, the repetitions of
the accesses, prescribed the appropriate remedies, and
foretold the period when the disease should terminate."
The testimony of Dr. Sprengel is the more valuable
as he was originally an opponent of animal magnetism.
Dr. Brandis, physician to the King of Denmark, was
another of the sceptical class who honestly recognized
the phenomena that he witnessed. " The magnetized
person (said he) predicts most exactly the progress of
his disease, and especially the individual incidents :
attacks of convulsions, syncope, evacuations, etc., with
all their concomitant circumstances ; and with the
same precision points out the period of his cure. I
confess that the exactness with which all such predic-
tions of our clairvoyants, whom I myself have hitherto
had an opportunity of observing, were verified, greatly
astonished me."
Dr. Georget, one of the most gifted modern physiolo-
gists and physicians of France, goes so far as to say
" I believe that no perfect medicine can exist but
that of the somnambulists in evervthing which concerns
152 PropJictic Intuition.
themselves, and that it is possible to derive advantage
from their admirable instinct in the case of other
patients."
The Committee of the Royal Academy of Medicine
at Paris (1826), which reported the truth of clairvoy-
ance as seen in their experiments, stated also that they
recognized powers of prevision, as follows: "In two
somnambulists we recognized the faculty of foreseeing
the acts of the organism, more or less remote, more or
less complicated. One of them announced repeatedly,
several months previously, the day, the hour and the
minute of the access and return of epileptic fits. The
other announced the period of his cure. Their previs-
ions were realized with remarkable exactness." They
also state that they found a somnambulist "who pointed
out the symptoms of the diseases of three persons with
whom he was placed in magnetic connection."
It would be very unnecessary for me to quote authori-
ties to illustrate facts which are so numerous and well
known if it were not for the persistent suppression and
concealment of truth by medical colleges and other
institutions of learning, sending forth tr.eir pupils in
profound ignorance of some of the most important
truths in science ; and not only ignorant but bitterly
prejudiced.
M. Chardel, in an essay on Physiological Psychology
observes very justly that he could adduce hundreds of
examples of such phenomena as the foregoing, as they
occur in almost every magnetic treatment, but that it
seemed superfluous to illustrate thus facts so amply
established.
The German philosopher Schelling gives a very inter-
Prophetic Intuition. 1 5 3
esting narrative (in the JarbucJicr dcr Mcdiciii) of the
sudden discovery by a clairvoyant of a death in her
family at a distance of more than a hundred and fifty
leagues, stating at the same time that a letter convey-
ing the intelligence was then on its way, which in a few
days was verified.
Goethe says in his autobiography that his grand-
father had the power of prophecy, especially in matters
relating to himself, of which he gives some instances,
and also says that persons supposed to be destitute of
the power sometimes acquired it in the presence of his
grandfather, which reminds us of the modern method of
developing mediumship.
Swedenborg's clairvoyance, seeing and describing a
fire in Stockholm when he was in Germany, is a well-
known fact, and attested by Kant.
These are a few of the abundant illustrations of the
higher powers of the soul and their recognition by wise
men which modern materialism conceals and sup-
presses.
But opinions have little weight in comparison with
facts. Prophecy is to me a fact of almost daily occur-
rence, and there are many famous prophecies which
show the wondrous extent of this faculty — none per-
haps more remarkable than that of M. CAZOTTF., uttered
to a distinguished company in Paris just before the
breaking out of the French Revolution, in which he
predicted the deaths of many eminent persons, and the
very mode in which they would occur, which the reader
will find in the latter part of this volume — the Ap-
pendix.
It is well known that the civil war of secession was
1 54 Proplictic Intuition.
foreseen and predicted a quarter of a century in ad-
vance by the Quaker, Joseph Hoag, who saw it begin-
ning in religious schisms and going on to war.
The Pope's loss of temporal power was predicted in
1858. Miss Bremer was in Rome that year, residing a
few weeks in the Convent of the Sacred Heart, to wit-
ness their mode of life. She says in her " Switzer-
land and Italy," " Last evening the prophetic spirit fell
upon Sister Genevieve, under the influence of which,
drawing herself up to her full height, she, with upraised
arms, foretold the fall of the temporal power of the
Pope, war, bloodshed, and great revolutions, but out of
which the Catholic Church shall come forth renovated,
victorious, poor, but holy and powerful as in the earliest
times."
The prediction is already fulfilled as far as time per-
mits, and I believe that it will probably all be fulfilled,
for, although the Catholic Church as an ecclesiasticism
has been more barbarous and bloody than any tribe of
savages, it has always had a core of deep and fervent
self-sacrificing piety and spirituality, surpassing that of
the followers of Luther and Calvin. In the horror that
I have expressed for the past and present, tyrannical,
avaricious, warlike, bloody, and cruel condition of the
so-called Christian Church, the church of universal
apostacy, I do not for a moment forget that vital relig-
ion, inspiration, spirituality, devotion, fidelity, love and
self-sacrifice have come clown from the earliest periods
in the midst of all this conniption and cruelty. Hu-
manity is a marvellous jumble of celestial and infernal
elements, without the wisdom and firmness necessary
to bring order into this chaos of contradictions, in
Prophetic Intuition. \ 5 5
which he who looks for evil cairfincl all that is horrible,
and he who looks for good alone, can find a heavenly
radiance through all these dark ages, a continual succes-
sion of noble, heroic deeds, and a perpetual humanizing
influence for society. In these I rejoice, hoping and
believing they will ultimately prevail, but the candid
inquirer must recognize as much truth in the criticisms
of Voltaire and Ingersoll as in the more pleasing Gesta
Christi of Mr. Brace.
To return to these prophecies, their source and
methods. The mechanism or modus opcmndi of Omni-
science can never be compassed by man. Prophecy is
too divine to be entirely analyzed, but we can sec lines
of causation along which any mind may advance to the
future, and concerning which there is no dispute. The
range of astronomic foresight is incalculable. In hu-
man affairs prophecy runs on occult lines. One of these
occult lines I have discovered. It is the law of perio-
dicity, or at least one law ; I know not how may other
laws may exist. For thirty-five years I have been trac-
ing and testing that law which governs alike individuals,
nations, and all known phenomena. I have found no
important exception to its truth as it is verified in my
own life, in the progress of my discoveries, which are
passing from their recent Nadir to their Zenith, in the
lives of all whom I have investigated, and in the history
of nations. This law enabled me, in 1859, to predict
six years of calamity to the United States (in the Lou-
isville Journal}, and enables me now to predict an;l
fearlessly announce a period of calamity thirty years
hence, culminating to the worst in 1915. Our first
era of calamity was from 1812 to 1818, signalized by
156 Prophecy in
war and financial distress. The second was at its Nadir
in 1865, '66, — the utter prostration from war.' The
third will realize its worst in 1914 and 1915 — a period
I cannot expect to witness. What form will it assume ?
That I do not predict ; but, although there will probably
be social disturbances, it seems more probable that it will
be elemental convulsion on the Pacific side of the conti-
nent, and I would prefer not to reside in San Francisco
at that time.
By psychometric intuition and by scientific prophecy
based on universal laws and forces, connected with peri-
odicity, which is as apparent in a fever as in planetary
movements, nations, and individuals will hereafter be
taught (when true civilization begins) to advance in
their destiny with the same reliable prescience with
which the farmer now anticipates the seasons and his
crops.
PROPHECY IX PUBLIC AFFAIRS.
The prophetic power is quite necessary in the inves-
tigation and comprehension of public affairs. It is the
one indispensable faculty for philosophic and statesman-
like views. Knowing its high development in Mrs. K,
I have been accustomed to use her wonderful power to
elucidate current events in public life and their probable
issue.
When, about three years ago, Ireland, if we should
judge from the newspapers, appeared to be on the verge
of a bloody revolution, I directed her attention to the
condition of that country in the usual way, by a word
or a question in her hand, and was informed that there
would be no milicary outbreak — that the excitement
would subside and be quieted within two years, without
Public Affairs. 157
bloodshed. I watched for the fulfilment of her predic-
tion, and at the end of the two years the condition of
the country was so quiet and peaceable, that the magis-
trates commented on the fact that there were fewer
crimes than usual.
The trouble in Egypt early attracted my attention,
and the condition has been psychometrically inspected
down to the present time.
On the appearance of Arabi Pasha there was a great
difference of opinion as to his character and his future.
Many were hailing him as the Bolivar of Egypt, and even
so intelligent a gentleman as M. de Lesseps spoke of the
probability of a long, bloody, and doubtful war. " The
English" said de Lesseps at Paris, "will not have to
fight against a leader of insurgents, but against the
sovereign of an entire people, since the whole of Egypt
is with Arabi."
I procured an engraving of Arabi and placed it in the
hands of Mrs. B., who, without seeing it, gave the fol-
lowing impression from the picture of
A RAH I PASHA.
" I feel that this is a restless, great mind ; it 's a man,
a character that never seemed to be satisfied unless he
was accomplishing some great purpose. He seems a
great worker for some special cause. He has some great
cause — something to accomplish.
"To tell the truth, I don't like him ; he 's a partisan ;
he seems like some leader ; but I get a great deal of death
around him, a great many spirits. He don't seem sick,
but I 'd not be surprised if he 's a spirit himself before
long. Perhaps he will not live long. He brings me
restless, turbulent scenes. I don't feel happv. It's all
anxiety and conflict, as if I were going to be besieged.
158 Propliccy in
" I think the man is exceedingly shrewd, but at the
same time not diplomatic. He wants to arrive at some
great position, but mostly for self-aggrandizement.
" He is not near, not like one of us ; he seems distant.
His organism now is only acting out his true character.
It has been slumbering a long period, now he is acting
out the full measure of his designs ; I call them iniqui-
tous. I don't like the man. I thought at first he
was philanthropic, but he is not. He would lend him-
self to secret manoeuvres and intrigues. lie does not
value human life, he is despotic and cruel. Has he got
any negro blood in him ? he seems like Indian or negro;
he is not Anglo Saxon, he has a mingling of nationali-
ties. He has a taint of negro and Indian character ; he
is stealthy.
" He has a following, but those who follow him a,e
being misled. He has magnetic influence and tactics —
he buys them by promises. No intelligent, civilized
people would follow him. He would hold out promises
to his followers.
" He seems a military man His career is not for
a principle so much as policy and self-aggrandizement.
He is in a plot ; he seems the originator of some great
plot ; some of the important actors in it are not known.
It was for power — to subdue — for some secret purpose
or- some imaginary wrong that they feel.
"The great restlessness and turbulence of this man's
nature must come out. This affair is the outgrowth of
his character. He is warring and destroying. I get all
sorts of destruction, and missiles of every form, destroy-
ing life and property. I see ships. His career will end
in great disgrace if he does not lose his life. Those he
depends on most will turn against him and become his
enemies. I feel that decidedly. He is not a Napoleon
by any means. He is decidedly cruel and does not re-
gard human life ; yet I think he is cowardly as to his
own life — lie wants to live.
"He brings such an ar;ny of accusers from the spirit-
Public Affairs. 159
world — hordes of them. His career will not last km;;.
If he were killed, or should die, this work, this disturb-
ance would soon cease. There is no one to take his
place. He is despotic. It makes my head ache."
(O. — What is his personal appearance ?)
"It is hard to get his personal appearance. I think
he has broad shoulders, is not a slight man. His com-
plexion is dark. His ey£s have an unnatural expression
— all the fire of his nature is concentrated in the ex-
pression of his face. He has great determination — no
expression of repose — the expression of a tiger.*
" He don't seem to have any real love. He would as
soon war with his own father or brother, as anybody else.
The result of his turbulence and mischief will not be
advantageous in any way to his own country or to those
he endeavors to wrong. He is not going to escape —
he will be either captured or killed — his career is short
lived — the seen and unseen powers warring against him
forbid him to succeed.
" I wonder if these scenes are not in the Egyptian
war. I see the shattered walls standing, and great pil-
lars supporting buildings, lying in confusion and de-
struction."
(You are right. This is Arabi Pasha. What do you
say of his religious character?)
" He has nothing spiritual. He inherited this turbu-
lent nature, Which has long been lying dormant."
The truth of this description is apparent to all who
have watched the progress of events in Egypt. The
true character of Arabi was fully developed by the
former Khedive Ismail whose opinion was reported in
the London Times as follows :
* M. ilc Rossi wrote a Paris newspaper an account of an interview with
Aral)!, in which he say:;: "When he .spoke of the thousand of Marsala,
he grew exciter!, a:ul hio.cycs, which till then had lx'c;i soft as a woman's,
shot lire like those of a lio:i. lie gesticulated wildly, and once nearly
broke the apparatus with the weight of his list."
160 Prophecy in
" I do not for a moment believe either in the genuine-
ness, extent, or patriotism of the so-called National
feeling. The agitation, such as it is, is the natural re-
sult of the weakness of the Egyptian Government on
the one hand, and the success of the Turkish intrigues
on the other. Pan-Islamism is as old as my time, and
older, but I would never hear of it. Different counsels
have since prevailed ; and we are now face to face with
the consequences. I always managed by some means
or other to control and direct the religious fervor of my
subjects in Egypt, but when the control came from
Constantinople and not from Cairo, religious fervor
became religious fanaticism, and the existence, influence
and temporary success of an Arabi became a possi-
bility. I remember Arabi well. He became a lieu-
tenant-colonel when very young, and, in the second or
third year of my administration was tried by court-
martial for breach of trust. He should have been
broken, but one of my generals persuaded me to par-
don him, and I did so. He was then transferred to
the Commissariat, and only quite recently returned to
active service in the army. Arabi can be painted in a
word — he is what the French call a blageitr. He can
talk and do nothing else. He is the tool of Mahmoud
Fehmy and Toulba, about both of whom I have nothing-
good to say. Arabi is, and always was, an arrant cow-
ard. I always said he would run away, and he certainly
decamped very quickly at Tel-el-Kebir. The only brave
men in his party are Ah Fehmy and Abdelal ; they are
soldiers, but I would defy Arabi himself to define either
" patriotism" or " National feeling." He certainly has
neither one nor the other^ although half Europe seems
inclined to regard him as the would-be savior of his
country. The truth is that the Egyptian people must
lean on something and follow some one. The Egyptian
Government was hopelessly weak, and Arabi and his
friends knew it. He and his partisans achieved three
visible and striking successes, and the Egyptians saw
Public- Affairs. i6r
this, and saw, moreover, the representatives of great
Powers practically in treaty with him. Arabi pointed
triumphantly to these facts, and told the Egyptians he
could and would restore Egypt to the Egyptians ; and
it is not surprising in ihe circumstances that the Egyp-
tians clung to him as the stronger vessel. The move-
ment he headed was from the first actively encouraged
at Constantinople, hut it is very improbable that either
the Sultan himself or any of his responsible Ministers
were ever in direct communication either with him or
his associates. Direct communication is not a feature
of Turkish intrigue, as the desired effect can be pro-
duced without it. Arabi and his accomplices must be
severely punished. An example should certainly be
made of the leaders of the revolt, and half-measures
will only be a premium to future disturbances. They
may give to Egypt a succession of Arabis. Arabi him-
self should be treated as a vulgar mutineer and rebel-
lious soldier; to look on him as an Egyptian Garibaldi
is a capital mistake, and one which augers ill for the
future/'
The British government took this view, believing that
Arabi did not represent any genuine aspirations of the
Egyptians, but merely the purpose of military chiefs
and corrupt functionaries to attain power, and pillage
the tax payers. Acting on that belief they wisely sup-
pressed him.
When El Mahdi came forward apparantly in defence
of the liberty of his country, but denounced as the
false prophet, I felt a lively interest and procured a
psychometric opinion on the 26th of November, 1883,
(using only his name) as follows :
KL MAHDI. (NTOV. 26, 1883.)
" I think it is a living person, It produces a singular
1 62 Prophecy in
electric current in the fingers. I'll have to wait awhile
and collect myself.
"• It conies to me as a person of great intellectual
vigor — quite remarkable — thoroughly original and
practical. I'm trying to think what he does. It does
not seem military affairs, yet he seems a ruler of some
kind, some kind of a potentate.
" I think he is very scientific, interested in scientific
discoveries, has wonderful forethought — is systematic.
I don't see what he is doing now. He seldom does any-
thing of a personal character — always reaching out for
some grand or I might say humanitarian labor.
" He seems near 70, at least not a young man. I
can't locate him except in a foreign country."
(Q. — What kind of a climate has his country ?)
" It seems warmer than this — more genial."
(Q. — What kind of people are around him ?)
"He has a good many crude people with no ideas or
crude ideas."
(Q. — What is he doing with them ?)
" Instructing and developing them. He seems to
travel a great deal."
(Q. — How is he engaged at this time ?)
" He is in a perplexing condition ; in a tight place ;
environed by some difficulties. The conditions are not
friendly — like one who is combating and endeavoring to
extricate from his surrounding conditions.
" He seems fond of scientific illustrations. He is not
a great scientist, but has an intuitive understanding.
He has indomitable will and perseverance, throws a
great deal of energy and fire into what he does. I
wonder if he has not colonizing schemes for developing
countries and colonizing inhabitants — harmonizing
crude elements. He has a broad comprehensive mind
— great vigilance, is fearless, would expose himself to
danger without consideration. He has been in close
proximity to danger from assault and capture. He is in
that condition now- -with suspicious people not familiar
Public Aftaii-s. 163
with his methods. He is not really fond of military
operations, but is not afraid of them."
(Q. — Has he been in any military operations ?)
" He has but is not in love with it.
" I feel that he is a foreigner — not an American. I
get a foreign element, like Indians and Chinese —
a crude people. He seems alone, single-handed in his
work. He has great ambition; likes popularity — has a
great deal.
" He is very penetrative. He likes to develop the
resources of people and countries. He is a peace maker
— would like to work with government officials."
(Q. — Has he been engaged in war?)
"I seem to get surveying, engineering implements. I
perceive reconstruction, breaking up of old things, and
reconstructing new. His warring nature has been held
in abeyance, but he has been, or is, engaged with
antagonist forces like war, but I don't see fighting. He
is a good tactician, — in politics, a power behind the
throne."
(Q. — Has there been a battle ?)
"There has been a loss of life, by contending warring
forces, yet he does not appear as a military officer, but
as one who would take the weaker side and stimulate
thsm by his own courage rather than go into active war.
Vet if neccessary he would do it. The cause of contest
would be the claims to territory."
< Q, — Will he have success or failure ?)
" He will not be a failure — not as successful a., he
anticipates, but in spite of any reverses he will be an
ultimate success as a liberator of the oppressed."
(Q. — What of his religion ?)
"He has a humane religion, not cramped. He is
not a Catholic. He may be a Mahometan — more like
that than any thing else. He will be a -leader and exer-
cise a good deal of authority. He has great ambition
and will have honors conferred. He will make his name
and mark in history. He is capable of achieving exten-
164 Propliccy in
sivc influence and receiving progressive ideas ; possibly
Americanized before lie dies — accepting our methods.
He does not love war, and will not perpetuate it, though
he will protect his people and insist on justice to them.
But the war will not continue long. There is great
apprehension of continued losses, but it will not con-
tinue. England will be called in, but rather as an arbi-
ter than an ally."
(Q. — Has he any anticipation of great influence
among Mahometans ?)
" He is skilful in curing diseases, and is a seer of great
power, — equal to Swedenborg, though not in the same
direction. He is grandly prophetic, and people believe
in him. He is a medium, likely to be controlled and
influenced by Mahomet. He is a well-developed man,
but of a very dark complexion and a strong physique,
not injured by active life."
Since the examination I have several times submitted
the character of the Mahdi to the psychometric investi-
gation of my best pupils, and found a unanimous agree-
ment in the essential characteristics of the foregoing
description.
Let us observe how thoroughly it is sustained by all
that we have heard of El Mahdi through the press.
An Egyptian government, the most profligate and
infamous of all among civilized nations, becomes deeply
involved in debt to foreigners by its unprincipled rulers.
This government acknowledges itself subordinate to
Turkey, and also claims the control of a vast and
valuable territory in the Soudan, inhabited by high-
spirited Arabs a.nd harmless blacks, where its intolerable
despotism excites a revolt of which El Mahdi becomes
the leading figure.
In the helpless weakness of Egypt, foreign govern-
Public Affairs. 165
merits interfere with no other pretext than to secure the
payment of the Egyptian debt. Great Britain, as the
custodian of Egypt, assumes to- intervene for its protec-
tion against rebellion. For this they are detested by
the Egyptians, who are ready to revolt against the British
authority and their own cunning Khedive, allied with
foreigners. A military revolt under Arabi, is crushed by
British cannon at Cairo. The revolt in the Soudan to
throw off a foreign yoke is grappled in a most incompre-
hensible manner by the British government though con-
fessing in Parliament that El Mahdi is battling for liberty,
and that England will not undertake his subjugation, yet
a military force is sent to sustain the Egyptians, under
pretence of evacuating the Soudan and rescuing the
troops of Egypt. Yet why send troops for such a pur-
pose ? What difficulty would there be in the withdrawal
of troops if they surrendered all claim and proposed a
peaceful evacuation ? The difficulty lay solely in the
effort to maintain the shadowy and worthless claim of
Egypt and Turkey to the sovereignty of the Soudan. To
maintain this fictitious title England, professing to be
but an arbiter engages in an actual war on a small scale
against the people who are struggling only for liberty,
and whose struggle enlists the sympathy of the Irish,
and the sympathy of a large portion of the English
people.
Possibly there was another motive, in the purpose to
retain the friendship of Turkey and the fear that the
success of the Mahdi might unite the Mohammedan
population of India. Another latent influence was the
practical control of Egypt obtained in crushing Arabi,
and the desire of a strong party in England for the an-
i66 PropJiccy in
nexation of Egypt, which would have excited European
jealousy.
The impossibility of conquering and holding the Sou-
dan against its dangerous climate and the warlike
Arabs, under El Mahdi convinced both England and
Egypt that evacuation was the only safe course. January
8th 1884, the Khedive said to a correspondent that he
must abandon the Soudan and that if life was lost in try-
ing to defend Kartoum the responsibility for this loss of
life would rest on him. Nubar Pasha at the same time
spoke of the evacuation of the Soudan as inevitable.
Jan. 12, Col. Coetlogan commanding at Kartoum under
Egypt, requested orders for a retreat, the Mudir of
Kartoum urged the immediate withdrawal of the
Christian population and Nubar Pasha issued an order
to that effect. El Mahdi was said to be advancing with
a large force and the surrender of Kartoum was de-
manded. Gen. Baker urged the abandonment of Kar-
toum, the population of which sympathized with the
Mahdi and objected to resistance. The British govern-
ment thus far agreed with the Khedive in reference to
evacuation. The recent destruction of the army of
Gen. Hicks in his attempt at invasion, the de-
struction of a small Egyptian army near Suakim in
December, and the successful advance of El Mahdi's
army left no other course within the limits of common
sense but a speedy evacuation and friendly negotiation
with the Mahdi, or else the summoning of all the power
of England to defend some well defined territorial
boundary. Neither was done. There was no assertion
of a territorial boundary — no attempt to negotiate with
ffairs. 167
the Soudanese — no determination either to
the independence of the people or to conquer them.
The policy of peaceful withdrawal was partly rejected
and partly adopted, or professed. Military forces were
sent to co-operate with Egypt against the Soudanese and
a contradictory confused policy carried out — professing
peace yet practicing war — rejecting the idea of con-
quest, yet assisting the party that aimed at conquest —
a policy which nobody understood at home or abroad,
which provoked the severest denunciation in Parliament
and threats of resignation from the Egyptian ministry
in April 1884.
A cabinet council convened in March was said to be
unable to come to any conclusion, and it was said that
the foreign secretary Earl Granviile insisted upon the
recall of Gen. Gordon, doubting his sanity. The cam-
paign was regarded as a failure up to that time. Mr.
Stanley in the commons urged the witholding of sup-
plies until a full and explicit statement of the Egyptian
policy should be made. Sir Wilifred Lawson denounced
the battle of Teb as a massacre and the English policy
as hypocritical and wicked. Mr. Labouchere had pre-
viously (in February) asked the government to renounce
its blood-thirsty policy ; and in April 94 members of the
I louse of Commons lacking only ten of a majority, voted
that the loss of British and Arab life in the Soudan was
unnecessary. But the policy was pursued to still more
disastrous results.
The change from the avowed design of peaceful and
prompt withdrawal without the use of British troops
began apparently in January 1884, soon after the peace-
ful expressions of the Khedive, who said to a corres-
168 Profliccy in
pondent that he must abandon the Soudan, and that if
life was lost in defending Kartoum the responsibility
would rest on himself. This seemed to be the policy —
Col. Coetlogan commanding at Kartoum, requested
orders to withdraw from that city, and orders were sent
by Nubar Pasha for the withdrawal of the Christian
population as requested by the Mudir. Nubar expressed
his conviction of the necessity of giving up the Soudan.
The change of policy was initiated by the Egyptian
war minister, Abd el Kader, considered a man of mili-
tary ability, who, refusing to yield Kartoum, said the
Egyptian government had 21,000 men, sufficient to hold
the Soudan and that it would require seven months and
cost a million of pounds to evacuate.
So far as the telegraphic reports explained the situa-
tion, this appeared to be the beginning in conjunction
with the influence of Turkey of the cruel and disastrous
policy to which the British cabinet yielded, costing not
only a great loss of life but the sacrifice of more than
sixty millions of dollars — with more than the usual
amount of military blundering and commissariat villa-
nies. The only excuse publicly given was that England
must not go back on her assurances tp Egypt.
As late as January 2ist it was said that Kartoum
would be evacuated when the 2000 soldiers expected
from Sennaar arrived. The plan of the Egyptian minis-
try when they determined to hold on was to establish a
new kingdom of Kordofan and Darfoor with Kartoum
as the capital. It would be foreign to my purpose to
dwell on the twelve months of folly, in which a civilized
nation was occupied in upholding an odious despotism
against the ruler whom the people longed for. I speak
Public Affairs. \ *)
of these things in justice to El Mahdi whose noble
character and whose rights have been so shamefully
ignored. This cruel folly is nearing its end. The opin-
ion of those familiar with Egpyt is that England must
discontinue this course, which at present is interrupted
by the climate.
How much better would it have been to have carried
out the policy of January 1884 or to have acted on Gen-
eral Gordon's suggestion to recognize the independence
of the Soudan. Since this was written the Soudan has
been evacuated and a criminal folly ended, in which I
can but believe that Mr. Gladstone yielded against his
own judgment to a war party in England.
We can learn very little of El Mahdi — but the first
reports of atrocities proved to be entirely false. The
army of Gen. Hicks was entirely annihilated but many
prisoners have been retained, and so far as reports have
come, prisoners have been kindly treated. The Mahdi
is said to have invited the Frenchman Olivier Pain to
remain with him and see that his policy was not bar-
barous.
The course of events for the five months since the
foregoing psychometric description has been in accord-
ance with it. On the 2ist of January 1884 four ladies
were present in our parlor and to give them an illustra-
tion of psychometry, I placed in the hands of Mrs. B,
the words " El Mahdi the Prophet " asking her to tell
me the present condition of the party whose name I
had given her.
I recorded her impressions as follows :
" This is a great ways off — a very sensitive person. I
think he feels in good condition, as if successful. He is
170 Prophecy in
going on successfully. He has wonderful brain power,
activity, assurance. He seems like one who had the
good of a large class of people at heart, and is guided
and pushed on to do a great work. He has wonderful
powers. He is commanding forces — people."
(What will he accomplish in the next three months ?)
"He is going on to victory — I don't know where,
but he is going to achieve a most wonderful victory
over his enemies. He is an extraordinarily strong man.
What an immense force he has against him. People
stand aghast, afraid of him, but they ought not to be.
"This man acts from inspiration — a power behind
him. He has an indomitable spirit, and would die for a
principle. He is gathering new force all the time, cut-
ting off or thwarting the opposing forces, and gaining
power. He will spread himself to a great extent. It is
difficult to say how much power he will have. He is a
great ruler now and has a large following. This follow-
ing comes from some principle that is of a profound
nature."
(Is it political, religious or mercantile?)
"More religious than anything else. He does not
aim at self-aggrandizement. He is destined to a suc-
cessful career. His career will be one of achievement.
When he subsides it will be with a feeling of victory,
and having things much his own way. He will have a
bright future, with now and then clouds arising from
turbulence. He has to deal with sinister people, who
come to him with great claims of no real value.
"It seems like one I have described — that Prophet.
He is a good example of courage, and whacever may
happen, he will make a great inroad on professions of
religion. His religion is an old one, with many truths
not followed as they should be. lie is in a better con-
dition than when I saw him last."
(Is he about to capture a city ? )
" He is preparing for an attack, and will be repulsed ;
but if his people hold out as he expects, he will succeed ;
Public Affairs. 171
but he looks with distrust upon the forces and their
commanders. I never saw such unbounded faith as he
has in his undertaking."
This production was verified by the repulse of his
forces until his capture of Kartoum, January 27, 1885,
— a year from this examination.
I again directed her attention to El Mahdi, January
24, 1885, by placing in her hands the words, "El Mahdi,
what is his condition ? " In advancing mentally, she
first recognized a scene of flowers. Then : —
"My mind is now led to an individual — but I am a
little puzzled. There are elements of brightness, clear
and serene. This person is not surrounded with impos-
sibilities ; everything seems possible ; yet there's a great
deal of turbulence. There is something familiar about
it — a great deal of something that I have described
before. The scenes that present themselves are fluctu-
ating ; they bring hope and anxiety, yet nothing seems
impossible to his mind. I feel it is a male. I like him,
but there is so much anxiety ! Still there is a fearless-
ness that will not despair. I don't like the condition
that comes into his life — there is so much antagonism.
" He is excessively independent. I have never «een
this man, but I seem to be in sympathy with the ele-
ments that belong to his life, but not with that around
him — it is too treacherous.
"I feel myself in a very warm climate, far away; I
get the perfumes, the odors of the foliage ; it is a trop-
ical region, far away. I see gorges and deserts. I feel
like him, — as if a centre in a certain radius, — perfectly
collected and valiant. He is a religious man. He com-
mands a great deal of devotion from his subjects. lie-
is a sort of ruler.
" I wish you were here to see what is going on. They
are piling up breastworks for defence. There ! I see a
man just hurt badly. He fell, and a weapon stuck into
172 Prophecy in
his side — sonic kind of a spear. Many arc sitting
down, some arc lying down. I sec people that have
been wounded. There is going to be terrible bloodshed
— a terrible attack in connection with this scene and
this person — a fearful fight, and hundreds killed and
wounded — a savage fight — before March arrives. It
does not appear that anybody will have a victory. A
great many of these people will be killed. The enemy
will have to divide forces and go back where they came
from. These people will hold their position. The peo-
ple that attack them are English."
(What next ? )
" That will not be the end. There may be operations
through some other power. The people who are attack-
ing these people have not their hearts in it. It is more
for prestige. There will be no great victories. They
have gone too far to relinquish, but will resort to subter-
fuges to give good cause for settling the difficulty.
There is not spirit enough to make a great struggle.
The spirit is on the side of these people ; the others
only aim at a certain point in war tactics.
" I don't likfc to stay in this country. It seems barren
and listless. They are a superstitious people.
" The leader has no fear of outwitting or thwarting*
his opponents. The war will not continue in the
summer, it would be fatal to foreigners. The troops
will probably withdraw and turn their backs on the
people. I cannot see the result of the war because the
struggle seems so imminent.
"Where is Gen. Gordon, he is not in full vigor. He
is sick at present, but I don't think he will die. I must
leave this scene and go clown the Nile. It is too excit-
ing and dreadful. Now the scenery is beautiful. I see
the beautiful fish in the waters. Everything seems
quiet and beautiful.
" Now I see George Washington before me with the
most beautiful heavenly smile I ever saw. He reaches
out his arms and says, ' Peace shall reign over this
Public Affairs. 173
entire globe wit/tin Jive years — a thing that has not
been for many years in the past.'
" Xow he shows me a beautiful tableau, beautiful
beyond expression. The colors from every nation
standing behind him, and on his breast is the flag of his
own country."
The enquirer may ask, was this but a figurative or
emblematic embodiment of her prevoyant ideas, or was
it an actual communication from the spirit of Washing-
ton. It is not necessary to decide ; psychometric
impressions often embody themselves in metaphorical
forms as do the thoughts of poets, and it is difficult to
draw the line between the subjective and the objective,
between the things seen as past, present or future, and
the visions that embody or illustrate a truth.
Three days later I submitted the name El Mahdi to a
group of psychometrical pupils, ladies in my parlor, in
my usual mode of placing a small written slip in the
hand. The substance of their general impressions is
expressed as well as practicable in the following lan-
guage noted down at the time.
" It is elevating, a serious feeling, a congenial magnet-
ism, brightening the mind and the eyes, quiet and
soothing, but powerfully magnetic, disposed to think,
well balanced, elevated above all things, intellectual,
musical, an attractive person, not stout, symmetrical,
a foreigner who does not speak the English language.
He is not comfortably situated. He is active in war
or something of that kind, — in trouble, often on horse-
back or on some animal. He has quite a large army
— not English — they wear loose dress-capes. He has
great spirit power, is a powerful medium ; there is a
power from spirits surrounding him. He is fighting
for the right, the other army are invading him. He is
174 Prophecy in
defending his own country. The war will be disastrous
to him but he feels perfect assurance of final success.
He is obliged to do violent things which he would not
do if not thus attacked. He will hold his own. We
sympathize with him. He is fighting for a principle."
This group of psychometers perceived the character
and position of the man but not the exact events of the
moment.
In my report of January 24, three clays before the
capture of Kartoum, the military condition was correctly
given. She spoke of terrible battles and bloodshed
" before March arrives," great slaughter " of the people "
but no victory for any body, and the retreat of the
English with divided forces, going " back where they
came from," while "these people will hold their posi-
tion." "The war will not continue in summer, it
would be fatal to foreigners." The sanguinary battles
of January, February and March which were so bloody
to the Arabs and the practical cessation of active hostili-
ties in March verified the prediction. The ex-Khedive
Ismail Pasha explained to King Humbert, of Italy on
the fifth of April, the utter impossibility of conquering
the Soudan and said that England was temporizing with
a view of abandoning the Soudan " as soon as it
could be done without undignified haste." Pie thought
that England and El Mahdi would come to an agreement
next autumn.
In April '85 I procured for the first time a picture of
El Mahdi, purporting to be derived from a photograph,
and thinking that it might perhaps give a more vivid
impression than the name, I placed it in her hands the
Public Affairs. 175
face turned down, on which she gave the following
opinion.
" It seems the picture of a man, a prominent leader,
whether religious or political. It seems a strong man.
There is a great deal of ardor and excitability.
" He has one purpose at heart ; he is entirely suited
to it. He is a foreigner. It takes me off to the East
to the countries around the Mediterranean. He is sur-
rounded with a good deal of opposition to his work. I
feel a restive warlike element around him.
"There is no pretension about this man. He is sin-
cere and courageous, and I think him religious. It
would take a great amount of opposing power to make
him submit or change his policy. I feel as if in the
midst of contention and war, very much as I do when 1
take the character of El Mahdi. I feel almost that it
is he."
(In what condition is he at present?)
" He is in a hopeful condition as to the ultimate suc-
cess of his policy. Tell me if it is El Mahdi. I think
it is."
(You are right, it is El Mahdi.)
"I need not say any more."
(What is his present condition ?)
" I wish I had not discovered him so soon. I think
at the present time he feels that the prolonged delay is
somewhat disappointing. He thought that the culmi-
nation would be reached sooner. Hut he is gaining
prestige all the time, notwithstanding the circulation of
hostile rumors. His people arc getting weary, — they
want to see an end to this — but he is strong to-day,
strong in his cause. He looks to the spirit world for
aid with as strong faith that he will be carried through
by the aid of higher powers as any of the orthodox.
He has undoubted fidelity to his religion."
(What of the sanguinary proclamations attributed l*>
him ?)
176 Prophecy in
" That was probably to pacify the ignorant and fanati-
cal people around him. fie may have said something
like what was reported."
(How old do you think he is ?)
"Between forty and fifty."
This shows a prompt perception of his character and
a more accurate judgment of his age than was formed
from the name alone.
On the i /th of May, she announced that he had been
defeated, which corresponded to the telegraphic news*
but at the same time that he was not discouraged and
had received large reinforcements.
The Mahcli or Mahadi is a Mahometan Messiah, a
reincarnation of the old prophet Mohammed the I2th
Imam and I2th in descent from Ali, who is the original
prophet, who is believed to reincarnate to revive the
glory of Moslemism. The family name of the present
prophet is Mohammed Ahmed. He is a man of medium
size, very thin, of a light copper color, with a very
black beard. He was born at Dongolah ; his parents
were poor, but by the aid of his brothers who were car-
penters and boat builders he was kept at school near
Kartoum, and had completed the study of the Koran
at twelve. After completing his studies, he lived on
the island of Aba on the White river for about fifteen
years, and is said to have occupied a subterranean apart-
ment or cave. Here he began to assume the position
of the Mahdi and gained so many devotees that when
he was sent for to appear before the governor-general
at Kartoum and explain his purposes, he refused to go.
When two hundred soldiers were sent to capture him,
they were slain by his followers. Two months later in
Public Affairs. 177
1 88 1, five hundred soldiers sent for the same purpose,
were also destroyed. The rebellion developed ; the
garrisons of the Soudan, numbering seven thousand
men were concentrated at Gudir, and were attacked by
an immense army under the Mahdi. It is said that
only one hundred and twenty-four soldiers escaped
massacre. He led a conquering force sweeping down
everything before him, and laid siege to El Obeid with
a force reported at 192,000, but no doubt vastly exag-
gerated. The place was captured and severely pun-
ished, and his career of conquest continued, signalized
by the entire destruction of the army of Hicks Pasha.
Newspapers report the destruction of a hundred thou-
sand lives by his rebellion, but all intelligence from that
quarter has been unreliable. In his present position as
master of Kartoum with an unconquerable people be-
hind him, the prediction of his success is evidently des-
tined to fulfilment ; and the superficial sneers of the
London Times at the impostor will not be sustained by
history.
As El Mahdi is in spiritual affinity with Mahomet, I
would introduce here the impression of him given some
years since by Mrs. B. as follows : —
MAHOMET TIIK FOUNDKR OK 1SLAMISM.
" I feel a great illumination and development coming
like waves of inspiration. It brings a purple color with
it. It takes me back a great ways, is not modern, but
not as ancient as Crishna. It is nearer the period of
Christ.
" There seems to be a period when the world was
looking for development to take it out of gloom, a wait-
ing for something.
r/8 PropJiccy iu
" This was a regenerator. He took hold of people by
storm, almost by force. It brings great heat and fervor,
an imaginative mind that grasped great truths, great
ideas. There was great imagination and fulfilment, it
might be called prophesies fulfilled. There is a burst-
ing volcanic feeling.
" From birth he seemed born for his mission. He
was the founder of a doctrine approximating somewhat
the teaching of Christ, but not as his — nor idolatrous.
He would not teach the worship of idols, but led the
people out of it. It seems he took a step in advance
of his predecessors, paid more respect to woman in his
dispensation than in former ages.
"What troublous times he had — often in the deepest
troubles from antagonisms, there was so much jealousy
existing and so much animality. The people he dealt
with had very little spirituality. He talked with spirits
— claimed to do it and did. He lived simply and pre-
pared himself for the revealments through him.
" He succeeded in establishing his doctrines and had
his followers — has now. A great deal of force was
used — he had to fight his way. Great powers were
against him and treachery, but he never yielded his
faith.
" His doctrines were such as to impose great moral
responsibility on the person — not like the Old nor the
New Testament. He believed personal sacrifices neces-
sary to obtain happiness. He believed in another
existence. His heaven was not work, or praise and
song, but one of grandeur and rest.
" He hardly taught that we should have the same
pleasures and pursuits as here. He did not feel that
there was much atonement in heaven. The mind
would not take on the same conditions, but be trans-
formed.
"He did not diffuse knowledge to the masses — but
would rather teach this doctrine of inevitable fate.
" He was abstemious as to drink. If he saw the
Public Affairs. 1 79
demoralizing effect of wine, he would oppose it. He
had a liberal spirit in that, but would not tolerate de-
bauchery.
"As to women he would teach plurality of wives —
would not abuse women, but be kind to his favorites.
He was loving and voluptuous — would prefer to be
served by women, but perhaps not counsel much with
them, though he recognized their inspiration.
"He had inspiration from high sources — had visions
and prophecies, and felt that he had direct communica-
tion with the departed or angels. He was an inspired
leader, and left a better example than they had been
following — he advanced them.
" He had some opposition to Christianity, not viewing
Christ as we do.
"He had talents — was an orator and made powerful
addresses in a commanding voice of magnetic force —
he charmed his audiences. They sought him with
avidity.
" He had power to heal and did, somewhat after the
manner of Christ, even at a distance. His dress was
plain. He compared with Christ as a leader, and in
magnetic force, but was not so self-sacrificing. He had
more adherents from the opulent than Christ had. He
has dropped many of his ideas, and would harmonize
with your views of philanthropy."
ALEXANDER, u'lSRAELI, AND GARIBALDI DEATH PRE-
DICTED.
December 26, 187;. Mrs. B. gave a graphic descrip-
tion of Alexander, the Czar of Russia, ending with the
assertion "he will certainly be killed — assassinated,1'
and that " many of the great men of Europe will be lost
in the next two years — D'!SKAELI and GARIBALDI, and
Spain will also send her quota of prominent men to the
spirit world." These successful prophecies were the
I So PropJtccy in
more remarkable as they were spontaneous, and not at
all associated in any way with the fate of Alexander.
The description of Alexander in which these prophe-
cies occurred was as follows. She grasped the charac-
ter almost instantly and recognized it as living.
" I get a living influence. I feel a person endowed
with good share of common sense and great ability in
directing. He knows how to direct a body of men.
That is his forte. He is intellectual, and at home in
intellectual society. There is a flush of business about
him.
" He is not altogether popular. He is in a position of
directing by authority, and he is under direction by
others. He is engaged in publishing something —
something like journalism. He is easily read by those
who are near him. He lives in style, but the external
of the building is not so stylish as its interior."
(Why is he unpopular ?)
"• He is so self-willed and extreme. It is not a char-
acter that I would admire. He has an intense love of
self — is very opinionated. He is gifted — has learning,
and has looked into deep subjects. Does he not have
women under his control ? I see them. But he is not
popular with women, except so far as they desire to get
benefits from him. He is obeyed from fear of his
power."
(Is he interested in the public welfare ?)
" Yes, if he could have his own way. Pie does not
adopt other people's views."
(Has his unpopularity ever brought on any trouble ?)
"Yes, he has been in danger of personal violence
from his enemies. He is careless as to wounding
others — not at all sympathetic."
(What does he think of democratic institutions ?)
"He is rather favorable to them. That is one of his
extremes. He likes to see industry going on, and is
Public Affairs 181
industrious himself, but he likes to have his own system
in everything. He is bull-headed in many respects.
He cares more for the country's prosperity than for the
comfort of the people. He likes to take the reins over
everything and supervise it."
(VVhat is the climate of his country ?)
" Generally temperate, but in certain winter months,
very cold."
PSYCHOMETRIC VIEW OF RUSSIA AND ENGLAND.
March 26, 1885, our evening paper gave warlike news
which prompted me to learn from psychometry the
probable course of events. The foreign news was
headed: "War nearing. English and Russian stocks
falling. Great excitement in England. 25,000 militia
said to have been called out. Bombay troops to pre-
pare for service. Finishing steel vessels at Chatham.
Chicago canning beef for the English army. England
preparing, getting ready her big ships, calling in and
inspecting her rifles. The British reserves and militia
to be called into permanent service. Queen Victoria's
message. 15,000 troops for India. Horse artillery pro-
ceed at once. Burmah contributes 1,000 camels." It
was also stated that " 14,000 rifles will be forwarded to
India to-morrow," and that "Gen. Roberts' corps will
go to Bolan Pass," and " rumors are thick that Russia
has rejected the English proposals." At the same
time the conviction was expressed at the Department
of State, Washington, that war was inevitable.
Those and other warlike rumors implied a very strong
probability of war, and to test the prophetic power, I
placed in the hands of Mrs. B. the words, pencilled on
a very small slip of paper, " England and Russia ; will
1 82 Prophecy in
there be war ? " saying that it was a question concern-
ing persons, places, and events on which I wished her
opinion. I knew she had no opinion formed on the
subject, as she seldom looked at the foreign news, and
was not aware of the pending difficulties. Her impres-
sions were given deliberately, as follows : —
" It's all mixed up. It gets me excited. Is it El
Mahdi's war?"
(No ; it is something for you to determine as to the
future.)
" It stirs me up considerably, but I don't think it's a
very serious matter. There seems to be a great deal of
froth and swagger about it.
" I am carried away a great ways into a remote region.
I see Indians, or something that looks like uncivilized
people.
" It seems to me there are two forces in a menacing
attitude toward each other. This region seems a new
place I have never explored before. I don't know what
this disturbance is about — whether invasion of terri-
tory or subjugation. I think it is chiefly that. There
is some religious feeling or fancy about it.
" The people where this scene is located are not white,
— they seem copper colored or darker. There are
other parties concerned. It is not a home affair or up-
rising, but a foreign intervention. They are an unscru-
pulous people. They would like to exterminate the
natives if they could, and take their country. It is a
rich country with mineral wealth.
"They will not be able to do this, because these peo-
ple will have friendly power to assist them — European
power."
(In what direction do the invaders come ? )
" It is all east from here. The invaders are Europe-
ans ; they come from a northern direction. The natives
will have assistance from a southern direction. This
Public Affairs. 183
intervening element does riot wish to meddle for honor,
but to go in for principle. They are a mixed people,
copper colored and dark, with some whites, but so mixed
up I cannot speak clearly of the nationality."
(Will there be a collision ?)
" I think there will be hostilities, and the nefarious
designs against a defenceless people will be checked.
There may be some collision, but the intervention will
check the invasion, which is certainly wrong."
(What do you say of the invading party and their
government ? )
" They seem to rule by force and tyranny. I don't
like their principles and methods."
(Is it the fault of the nation or its government ?)
" It is the government. They are unfeeling, and
have no sympathy with any nation unless they can pro-
mote their own aggrandizement. It is an arbitrary
government."
(Will there be anything like war?)
" I don't think there is much collision yet, but there
is a very menacing, aggressive, tantalizing attitude.
There will be bloodshed, and a formidable attack, but it
wHl not last. The natives, though not well prepared,
will fight with desperation."
(How soon will it be settled ? )
" It will not take many months to establish peace."
This opinion was soon verified by Gen. Komaroffs
attack on the Afghans four days later, and their cour-
ageous resistance. The signs of war and the military
preparations were increasing until my next experiment.
April n, 1885, the imminent probability of a war
between England and Russia as generally believed and
the vast military preparations in progress induced me to
look again into the question by investigating the charac-
ter of the Czar upon whom it seemed to depend.
I placed in her hands " the Czar of Russia," saying
184 Prophecy in
there was a character for her to investigate. Her
impression was given as follows : —
" It seems like a public character. He has a great
deal of will-power — strong mentality. It is a man. I
don't think I have ever described him. He is an entire
stranger to me.
" He is one I don't take to. He seems an unfeeling
man. I may be wrong but he does not seem scrupu-
lous. He would go ahead without much sympathy for
others, he is sharp, cutting. He has a very active brain,
a good deal of engineering, has a far-reaching mind,
seeking self-aggrandizement and power. He has a great
deal of skill — I don't know whether military skill or
in general management. I feel that he is commanding
forces — a power.
" He is a repulsive man to me, makes me feel restless
and uncomfortable. His purposes are sinister. He
expects to make a great name. He cares nothing for
human suffering. His name would be offensive to
philanthropic minds ; but the people don't see him just
as I do. I cannot locate him.
" He is full of cupidity. He may be somewhat of a
success, but he will never be what the world will sanc-
tion as true greatness. He likes to go into large opera-
tions.
" People can't really tell where to find him, he is a
tactician with flank movements. I feel that he is
instigating trouble — war. He would like to stir up
and instigate war — bring up causes to provoke disturb-
ances. He is happy only in governing and command-
ing people — serfs. He is seeking conflict with people
who will give him more than he wants before he gets
through it. He seems an invader who would trample
on the rights of others."
(Will the people sustain him ?)
" He holds power and the people will sustain him,
but there will not be a ireneral feeling in his favor."
Public Affairs, 185
(Will there be a war ?)
" I think there will be a backing out. You can't tell
where to find him when it comes to the issue, He has
made some reputation he does not deserve by his
diplomacy."
(What 'will be his future ?)
" I think he is in the Russian trouble — in an exalted
position."
(Russian or English ?)
" He seems a Russian. Emperor of Russia. He will
not have a brilliant setting to his sun. He will go down
in a cloud. He will not have a long reign. It will be
a tortuous one. I would not be surprised if he was
deposed. It is possible — I don't say positively. I
don't believe he will be reformed, though he may yield
his principles to retain power. He is so unreliable I
cannot tell what he will do. Some of the people do
want to depose him. He is fond of power and of self,
and is so politic he might do a great deal to retain it.
He could find an excuse for making any surrender.
He is a very difficult man to read. He has made great
bluster and show of power, but "
(What as to war ?)
"He will make his demands less imperious, and
endeavor to conciliate or negotiate. His acquisitive-
ness is large."
(What is his domestic character?)
" He does not show his tyrannical nature at home,
though a little morose."
(Is there any probability of his being assassinated?)
" There may be attempts. There are evil eyes on
him with a menacing feeling. I do not think he will be
in a very great war. His people do not go to war
willingly."
April 23, 1885. — Everything in the news to-day at
Boston indicates the strong probability of war. The
Vienna dispatch of April 22 says : —
1 86 Prophecy in
" Information which has been received here from St.
Petersburg political circles creates a great sensation.
It is to the effect that the only condition on which
peace can be assured is that England shall ac-
knowledge the complete neutrality of Afghanistan and
the extinction of English influence upon the Ameer's
country. In this case only, it is said, is a peaceful
understanding between England and Russia possible.
This demand on the part of Russia has been communi-
cated as an ultimatum to London. The highest military
circles in Russia are bringing great pressure to bear on
the government to declare war. They say that the
chances of victory for Russia were never so favorable as
at the present time. Russia it is further said, is only
waiting the moment when the Volga shall be free of
ice, as this river is essential for the transportation of her
troops. As soon as the river is open, Russia will cast
aside further attempts at diplomatic negotiations."
The London despatch says : —
" The press association asserts that it is enabled to
state that further communications have been received
from St. Petersburg to the effect that the Russian
government has refused to hold a further inquiry in
regard to Gen. Komaroff's report of the engagement of
March 30. It is the opinion, therefore, in English and
Russian diplomatic circles that peace cannot be main-
tained.
"A later dispatch says: The Russian reply to the
communication sent to M. de Giers through Sir Edward
Thornton yesterday, after the receipt of Sir Peter
Lumsden's supplementary report of the battle of March
30, has just been received. M. de Giers replies that
Public Affairs. \ 87
Russia declined to enter upon any further discussion of
the Penjdeh incident."
The London News of same date says : —
" No disposition is shown by Russia to retreat from
the false position she has assumed. Forbearance has
been pushed to its limits and will bear little further
extension on the part of England."
Russia was also announced to be fortifying Batoum
and gathering a military force there in violation of its
treaty stipulations.
The latest despatch from London on the morning of
the 23d (5 A. M.), says " the Porte is to be neutral, and
peace, after Sir Peter Lumsden's papers is impossible.
The war preparations at Woolwich yesterday were im-
mense."
Fearing that there might be a failure after all in the
pacific prophecy, I again placed the name of the Czar in
her hand and asked her as to the mental condition and
designs of the man whose name I gave her. She
promptly said it was the Czar — that he was roused and
earnest, and endeavoring to inspire a warlike spirit in
the people, but that there would be no war, however
great the preparation, that there would be mediation,
and Germany would be the mediating party.
May S. — Throughout the month of April the war-cloud
was vast and dark, the military preparations went on.
The declaration that war must soon begin, coming from
diplomatic circles, from the press, from foreign specta-
tors, from correspondents in Russia, and other sources,
and the ardent desire of large parties in Russia and
England to bring on the conflict, the wide spread con-
viction that war was inevitable and that Mr. Gladstone
1 88 Prophecy in
was but timidly postponing the crash, gave me great
uneasiness, and, at each fresh alarm, I again appealed
to her psychometric judgment, only to be assured with
unhesitating positiveness that there ivonld be no iuar.
Her opinion was psychometric, she knew but little, and
thought less of the newspaper reports and could not be
induced to admit, either consciously or unconsciously,
as in my experiments, that war was possible, whether
speaking of England and Russia or interpreting an im-
pression from an unknown writing.
Now that peace is assured, we may reflect on the
greatness of the crisis and the moral grandeur of Glad-
stone in warding off unspeakable calamity and crime
from two of the greatest nations, unaided by those who
should have stood by him, and against all outside influ-
ence from other nations.
Oh that it were possible to consummate his grand
career by dis-establishing that fraud upon Christianity,
the Church of England.
It was well said by a Wesleyan clergyman in an
English journal : "The country has a special right to
complain of the establishment. We give these gentle-
men five million pounds a year, and a position of unique
authority and honor in order that they may teach us all
to be Christians. But if at a crisis like this, they have
either nothing to say to us, or worse still like the Canon
of Litchfield, preach the gospel of Moloch, — it will be
difficult to show cause why they should not be dis-estab-
lished at once, and dis-endowcd without a penny of com-
pensation.
Public Affairs. 1 89
FRANCE AND CHINA.
April 5, 1885. I placed in her hands the words,
" France and China — Peace or War ; " with the follow
ing result :
"It suggests disruption and confusion — I see lights
and shadows — kaleidoscopic — a great deal of uncer-
tainty and new developments, with antagonistic forces
at work.
" I don't know whether everybody is in earnest or
not. I don't see that anybody is in earnest. I go to
seek the causes. I don't see any real cause. It is like
something started in the minds of a few individuals for
notoriety, power, and self-aggrandizement.
" El Mahdi occurs to my mind, but not in connection
with this. It has something to do with Afghanistan, but
very remotely. It seems like an epidemic of warlike
distemper. Can there be an atmospheric or planetary
influence at work ?
" There is going to be a great deal of bloodshed, and
then they will stop. They are preparing to fight,
though they don't seem to have any heart, and it is not
to revenge any grievance, — a sort of warlike epidemic.
They are going through with it soon, probably within a
year."
(Is it possible it may be settled sooner ?)
" It is the desire of some of the parties to negotiate.
What are they fighting about? It is not a religious
war. I don't see the cause."
( Do you see the assailing party ?)
"They are a bloodthirsty set. I see brilliant colors,
— sails, — national colors. They look like Chinese
people."
(What are the other parties ?)
" They arc a better-looking people, of more distinct
features, — more like French than anything else."
(What is to be the result ?)
190 PropJiccy in
" Many are to be killed. The assailants have no
more humane feeling than if they were fighting with
animals. It looks as if there would be some interfer-
ence— some nation coming in as friends to the Chinese
advising, or assisting and promoting a settlement."
The settlement was effected through the friendly of-
fices of , an Englishman, very soon after this opinion,
the whole difficulty having occupied less than a year.
As the issue depended partly on the character of the
Emperor of China, I brought his character under the
psychometric investigation, with the following result, on
the i6th of February, 1885, using the words, "The Em-
peror of China."
THE EMPEROR OF CHINA.
" This is a live person, of active duties, — a mind of
many avenues. I don't see what direction it takes.
" It gives me a restless feeling, easily disturbed — not
apprehension or guilt — but this person seems in an
attitude of defence. I should judge it was a man of
rather vacillating mind. He dqn't really understand
himself — don't give himself credit for what he really
deserves in some things, and in others overrates him-
self.
" He is greatly swayed by public opinion and sur-
rounding influences — sycophants fawning on him.
" It is an interesting subject, but puzzling, like a
will of the wisp."
(Q. — What is his position ?) " A position of trust —
something important depending on him. He holds the
reigns of power — not here — far away. It takes me
away off to the East with Eastern nations.
" He is mixed up with strife and ruling. There is a
restless, uncertain feeling prevailing. I don't see much
success for this man."
(Q. — What will be the result ?) " No great harm to
him personally. An amicable feeling comes up as
though some of the troubles will be amicably settled.
Public Affairs. 191
I cannot get into full sympathy with him. There is
some invasion and litigation about territory. There
will be bloodshed and strife — it may last twelve
months."
(Q. — Is he fit for his position ?) "He will do for a
figure-head. If he has good advisers he may do well,
but he loves flattery."
(Q. — How does he regard women ?) " He likes
women for his pleasure and amusement — does not
respect them very highly — he believes in polygamy."
Wishing to look to the future of the English govern-
ment, I placed in her hands the words " The Prince of
Wales," which gave a pleasant impression and gradu-
ally developed the character. Her language was as
follows : —
"This is not so stimulating as Gen. Gordon. There
is a good deal of coolness and method in his character.
There is a great deal of adhesiveness — whatever he
takes a fancy to he adheres to. lie has a good deal of
ingenuity and astuteness. He occupies a political posi-
tion. He has a matured mind. I see something like
military display, in which he is interested in some way.
" lie is a keen observer — learns as much from obser-
vation as in any other way. He is a strong character —
very decided in his feelings, — but has a happy way of
concealing his weak points.
" He is in no way corrupt or disposed to wink at any-
thing wrong. He has had something to do with military
operations. I see him in military uniform. His social
position is high — among people of rank and distinction.
He aims to rank among the most distinguished of men.
He will go on ; he is now ascending ; he feels that he
is entitled to a very high rank ; he spreads out a great
deal.
"He will get a high rank, cither through merit or
accident. If he has controlling power he will use it
192 PropJiccy in
with a great deal of discretion and judgment. He feels
responsibilities crowded upon him, and dilemmas which
make it difficult to tell what to do.
" I perceive now that he is on the other side of the
ocean. He expects to sway a great deal of power — a
mighty power. He expects to rule by the expression of
his will rather than by any great exertion.
" I think he will be popular. Though a little arro-
gant, he will not be tyrannical over subordinates. He
has some reformatory principles, and will be more in-
clined to pacific measures than arbitrary. I rather like
him. He has no great passion for women."
(What country will he rule ? )
"His native country — wherever that is."
(What language is he acquainted with ? )
" He is acquainted with more than one. He seems of
a mixed nationality; he seems like a Celt, or among
the Celts." [He was at this time in Ireland.]
(What is his age ? )
" He has the maturity of fifty ; he may be younger."
(What does he think of the differences of England
and Russia ? )
"He is decidedly opposed to the Russians — thinks
they deserve punishment, but does not want war."
(What sort of an administration would he make ? )
"If he lives to hold the reins of government there
will be a new order of things — a great stride in advance
of the present — broadening out and developing the think-
ing element. I think his mother is living, but not his
father. It seems like the Prince of Wales, as it sug-
gests Queen Victoria. His administration will be a
good one."
In the foregoing practical illustrations of the pro-
phetic power of the human intellect candid readers will
find sufficient reason to believe that the ancients were
right in recognizing and relying upon the prophetic
faculty of the human mind, and that the religious world
Public Affairs. 193
has not been mistaken in recognizing extraordinary
prophecy as an evidence of inspiration, but an inspira-
tion which could not occur unless there were a prophetic
faculty to be inspired, The recognition of this power
in Mrs. B. was expressed by one of her admirers in a
poem published in 1 880, as follows : —
TO CORNELIA— THE PRIESTESS.
Above the mountain tops of snow !
Above the clouds and vales below !
The wild bird flieth wild and free
From Eastern shores to Western sea.
And the forest fades in the dim twilight,
As the stars come out in the sky of night;
And field and mountain, river and sen.
Are lost in a realm of mystery.
Then stars seem near in their mystic power,
And deep is the mystery of that hour
When viewless forces from stellar spheres
Are weaving the web of the coming years.
Like that wild bird thy spirit flics
Heyond the star-gemmed midnight skies
To realms of beauty, radiant, rare —
To realms of bliss beyond compare.
To deeper realms of mystic lore
Than ever sages pondered o'er.
And high in spheres of prophet souls
The scroll of Fate for thcc unroll.- ;
And whispers of divintst thought
In sacred spheres, to thcc are brought.
Dear Priestess of the sacred shrine
Where angels come from spheres divine,
No Delphic temple yet is thine:
But flowers shall yet thy path surround.
And Honor bring its glittering crown :
And grateful hearts shall turn to thce,
TNI Kkl'RK.TKK OK MYSTF.RY !
Fair herald for celestial spheres
Of joy and light in coming year- !
PSYCHE.
194 Postscript.
POSTSCRIPT.
An accident, at the last moment, gives me the
opportunity of referring to the continued fulfilment of
the prophetic anticipations concerning El Mahdi, who
no longer finds an English foe before him, and is said
to be massing his forces for more extensive conquest.
May I not ask, is the time far off, in which the ship
of state, sailing into the unexplored sea of futurity, full
of hidden dangers, shall have its pilot, its telescope,
and its electric light ? Does not the grandeur of the
responsibility, when nations of fifty or a hundred mil-
lions are drifting into collision in the dark, and when
the unknown dangers of immovable caste, upheaving
discontent, communism, nihilism, materialism, corrup-
tion, monopoly, selfishness, turbulence, ignorance and
pestilence are ever impending as storm-clouds, demand
adequate precautions. Has the Divine Benevolence,
left man as the helpless victim of unknown and un-
controllable misfortune, and ordained an endless
martyrdom for humanity, or has it not given to man
dominion over all things, in his over-mastering intelli-
gence, of which he is but beginning in this juvenile
age to be conscious.
I am firmly convinced there is a Divine intelligence
in the interior of humanity, which may solve all prob-
lems and guide all destinies. With a view to its evo-
lution I have proposed the COLLEGE OF THE SOUL,
which one-millionth part of the wealth now annually
worse than wasted, might establish as the guide of
nations in all things, and especially in the realm
belonging to that prophetic wisdom which I have
shown to be implanted in humanity.
PART III-THE NEW PHILOSOPHY AND
RELIGION,
CHAPTEE X.
PSYCIIOMKTUY AND ANTHROPOLOGY.
As a matter of scientific progress, the crowning
glory of Psychometry is its participation in the devel-
opment of Anthropology.
The masterpiece of creation, the human brain, the
organic structure which comes into conjugal union
with the divine element, the structure through which
Divinity is manifested, the organ most mysterious and
difficult of all in its anatomy — the centre alike of
psychological and physiological life, exercising in its
various organs all that belongs to the life of man and,
therefore, holding in itself all the secrets of human
existence, the source of all philosophy, all thought,
all action, all art, all passion, all movements of indi-
viduals and nations, and, therefore, the richest, grand-
est, sublimest and most complex of all subjects of
human study remained until the end of the last cen-
tury an inaccessible mystery, and still remains to-day
nothwithstanding the profound exposition of its anat-
omy, the greatest of all impregnable mysteries in the
schools of biological science.
2 Psychomctry and Anthropology.
And yet the knowledge locked up in this mysteri-
ous organ, beina" that which is nearest to ourselves
O O
and most important to our well-being is worth all other
knowledge, and, therefore, worthy of the concen-
trated labor of all scientific minds, since the full
development of this knowledge would be worth more
than all that has been hitherto done for human
enlightenment.
To perform this great neglected task — to open the
richest treasury, not only of knowledge but of wis-
dom, has been the aim of my life for fifty years, which
\vas crowned with success in 1841, by discovering the
impressibility of the brain and the ease with which its
functions may be demonstrated.
The rational and practical investigations of Gall, at
the close of the last century, gave the first clear
understanding of the anatomy of the brain, and the
first just conception of its functions — a grand work —
incomplete and inaccurate, but greater and more orig-
inal than any of the scientific achievements of past
ages.
To test its truth, to supply its deficiencies, correct its
errors and expand the phrenological doctrine into a
complete science of the brain, as the organ the soul
and the controlling region of the body, was the work
to which I gave seven years of gratifying, fascinating
and successful labor, crowned by the discovery of the
impressibility of the brain, which enabled me to stim-
ulate its various organs by the hand or by galvanism,
and make them reveal their functions as clearly as the
sensitive and molor nerves had been demonstrated by
Majendie.
Psychometry and Anthropology. 3
At this point Psychometry came in to reinforce the
demonstration, and carry my investigations farther in
the most delicate exploration of the cerebral organs.
Had I discovered first the psychometric process of
investigation, that would have been sufficient for the
entire task, and Psychometry would have had the
honor of the entire discovery, to which indeed it was
entirely competent, but in which it comes in as the
assistant, to perfect and complete the science of man
— a science the magnitude and value of which are
beyond all computation, and may not be realized by
man\- for half a century.
This science to which I have alluded, merely to show
the power and value of Psychometry, comprehends
alike the action of the brain as the organ of the soul,
which may be called Cerebral Psychology, and its
action as the commanding region of the bodv, in
Cerebral Physiologv. The Cerebral Psychology
includes not only normal Psychology, but all that is
abnormal and insane — while the Cerebral Physiology
includes the philosophy of disease as well as of
healthy action, and, therefore, establishes a medical
philosophy. In addition to these systems of science,
Anthropology shows that the entire body and entire
brain operate in close and systematic sympathy so
that whatever function may be operative in one has
a correspondent] function in the other. Hence the
body has in a different sphere, the same combination
of psychic and physiologial powers as the brain, and
the scientific map of these functions constitutes the
Science of SARCOGNOMY, which is the accurate basis of
electric and magnetic practice, as well as of the phil-
Psychomctry and Anthropology.
osophy of disease. In addition to these three sciences,
Cerebral Psychology, Cerebral Physiology and Sarc-
ognomy, Anthropology presents the fundamental
mathematical law of action for both brain and body
•/
which governs every gesture, every vital process or
movement, all expression of character, and in short
all relations of the psychic to the physical in nian and
also throughout the Universe.
The accompany engraving is an illustration of the
positive system of Psychology which I have thus
demonstrated, the outlines of which were given in
my System of Anthropology published in 1854, which
has been accepted as true by all who have become
acquainted with its
principles and their il-
lustrations.
The presentation of
the science at New
York in 1842, caused
the appointment of a
committee of investi-
gation whose report
was noticed in an in-
teresting article in the
Democratic Review of
January, 1843, of
which I reproduce a
portion to give the
reader a further illus-
tration of the science and its recognition by the
enlightened gentlemen who examined its claims at
New York.
Psychometry and Anthropology. 5
In the first presentation of my discoveries I used the
most comprehensive term possible, viz. NEUROLOGY —
which as the science of all nervous matter and its
functions includes all Biology or Physiology — all
forms of animal life that have ever existed. But as
the popular presentation of the subject relates chiefly
to man, I have since preferred the term Anthropology.
This explains the title adopted in the Review as
follows :
NEUROLOGY IN NEW YORK.*
IPSK VIPI.
In surveying the history of discoveries in natural
science, one of the most peculiar facts that strike the
view is the circumstance that for years, aye and even
ages, preceding the development of some important
principle, many of the leading phenomena had been
repeatedly observed ; and when the grand conclu-
sion deduced from these phenomena was once
announced to the world, the result excited less
astonishment than the circumstance of its having
been so long unperceived. Men of the most exal-
ted genius would seem often to stumble over these
facts, and even not unfrequently to pick them up
and handle them, and still fail to discover their most
obvious bearing. Hence it has always occurred that
attempts have been made to rob the discoverer of
his honors, however well merited, on the ground that
certain of the essential facts had been previously well
known. Thus has it been with the kindred subject
* From tlio Democratic Review — .Tanuarv. 1S43.
6 Psychometry and Anthropology.
of Phrenology, whose enemies, failing in the effort
to subvert its principles, endeavored to show that
what was true in it was not new, and what was new
was not true. And in illustration of the circumstance
just adverted to, that the tendency of natural phe-
nomena is often by no means appreciated even by
the most acute observers, it may be mentioned that
Gall himself once struck accidentally upon one of
the most important facts of " Neurology v without
discovering the general law to which it most obvi-
ously pointed. The same remark is applicable to
the experiments without number performed during
the last fifty years in France, Germany, England,
and the United States, upon subjects put into the
somnambulic state by means of the Mesmeric pro-
cess.
The earliest knowledge that we have of these
discoveries in " Neurology " on the part of Dr.
Buchanan, is, that in April, 1841, he was giving
public lectures and experiments on the subject at
Little Rock, Arkansas. We are the more particu-
lar in referring to this date, as an attempt has been
made in the city of New York to establish a priority
of claim, based upon experiments made in the latter
part of the same year. But by this time the
announcement of Dr. Buchanan's discoveries had
spread, by means of the journals of the day, over
the whole extent of our wide domain. " These
experiments," in the words of their author, "occu-
pied the whole ground of Phrenology ; more than
doubled the number of distinct organs ; and estab-
lished propositions in physiology and therapeutics,
Psychometry and Anthropology. 7
of much more importance than the Phrenological
doctrines which had thus been established." Instead
of hastening to our Atlantic cities, in the reasonable
hope that here a discovery of such magnitude would
be speedily and fully appreciated, Dr. Buchanan
remained in the far West, quietly prosecuting his
investigations to the end of perfecting his system
of Neurology. So far as regards cerebral excita-
bility, he could not but be aware that others would,
by this process, attract the public mind, and that it
would be caught up even for popular exhibitions ;
but justly considering this as entirely subordinate to
the science he aimed to establish by this means, he
directed his efforts solelv to the accomplishment of
the scientific end in view.
As these discoveries embrace, in their wide range,
not only the mental phvsiology of the brain, consti-
tuting Phrenology, but also the physiology of every
corporeal organ as dependent upon special portions
of the cerebral mass, it follows that it was necessary
to substitute a new term. Were the functions of
the brain exclusively mental, the term, Phrenology,
would be sufficiently comprehensive ; but as its con-
trol over the corporeal functions is not less decided
and important, the term ^Vcnrologv, or science of
the nervous substance, has been judiciously selected
as expressive of all the phenomena comprised within
its wide limits. These two classes of functions, Dr.
Buchanan distinguished by the terms psvchological
and physiological which are, indeed quite expres-
sive in their more popular acceptation ; but, as the
phenomena of the mind, in our present existence,
Psychomctry and Anthropology.
can be manifested only through the cerebral struc-
ture, we cannot see that this class of functions is less
physiological than the other. This double function
of the brain, as demonstrated by Dr. Buchanan, we
consider as its mental and corporeal physiology.
To Dr. Buchanan is due the distinguished honor of
being the first individual to excite the organs of the
brain by agencies applied externally directly over
them, before which the discoveries of Gall, Spurzheim,
or Sir Charles Bell — men who have been justly
regarded as benefactors of their race — dwindle into
comparative insignificance. This important discovery
has given us a key to man's nature — moral, intel-
lectual, and physical ; for, by this means, in
" impressible" subjects, have become discoverable
the various cerebral organs which are not only con-
nected with the phenomena of thought and feeling,
but control the corporeal functions. As man is per-
vaded by the imponderable and invisible fluids, which
radiate from him unceasingly, such as the electric,
galvanic, magnetic, and (according to Dr. Buchanan)
" nervauric," the laws of these iie would seem also
to have demonstrated. He has likewise clearly estab-
lished the general truths of Phrenology, corrected
many errors of detail, and developed the subject with
such a degree of minuteness, that it now may be
said to resemble the full-grown adult as compared
with the child.
" Neurology, " says Dr. Buchanan, " while it
incorporates the entire mass of Physiology with
Phrenology, makes a revolution in the latter science.
Although the greater portions of the organs discov-
Psvchomctry and Anthropology. 9
ered by Gall and Spurzheirn, have been, in the main,
correctly described, yet experiment has proved about
one-third of the number to have been incorrectly
understood. Nor does the catalogue of Gall, Spurz-
heim, Combe, or Vimont, embrace a sufficient num-
ber of functions to explain the diversified phenomena
of human character. * * * The number of indepen-
dent functions which may thus be demonstrated by
experiment \vith an adequately susceptible person,
amounts to one hundred and sixty-six ; but, for con-
venience of instruction, I demonstrate usually not
more than one hundred. With a subject of large
brain, \vell cultivated mind, and high susceptibility,
I have no doubt that even as many as two hundred
might be shown distinctly "
The agent employed most generally by Dr.
Buchanan to excite the various functions of the
nervous system, is the same as that used in the
operations termed Mesmerism or Animal Magne-
tism, viz. : the aura of the nevous system, which is
radiated and conducted freely from the human hand.
Instead, however, of putting the subject first into the
Mesmeric somnambulic condition, which renders the
phenomena that follow highly deceptive and inacu-
rate, Dr. Buchanan operates upon his subject in the
ivakiiig state, free from the mental delusions which
may be supposed to pertain to somnambulism. This
impressible class, which is a verv limited one, may
not only have a portion of the brain so energetically
stimulated, by the touch of another, as to manifest
its particular function predominantly : but the indi-
vidual becomes equally excited when he places his
io Psychometry and Anthropology.
fingers on the cranial regions of the cerebral organs
of another person.
These characteristic and leading principles of Dr.
Buchanan's system, are here adverted to merely in
a general way, as they will be again brought under
notice by us, both in a sketch of the principles of
Neurology by Dr. Buchanan himself, and in the
diversified experiments of a committee, appointed by
a public audience in the city of New York, for the
purpose of investigating the pretensions of Dr.
Buchanan to the claim of having enlarged the
boundaries of anthropological science.
These announcements are, indeed, of a startling
character, extraordinary to all, and to many wholly
beyond credence. Had Dr. Buchanan lived in an
earlier age of the world, when philosophy had not
yet asserted its noble prerogative of releasing the
mind from the bondage of superstition, instead of
being regarded as a bold and original thinker and an
untiring searcher after truth, he would have been
dreaded, or perhaps persecuted, as a necromancer
casting his magic spells over the body and soul of his
victim. But, notwithstanding the wise in all ages,
seeing the deceptions constantly practiced on man-
kind by the marvellous, have been very justly on their
guard against easy credulity, it does not become the
true philosopher of the nineteenth century to close the
organs of his five external senses against the intrusion
of any evidence which might possibly disturb some
favorite and long cherished system. It does not
become the philosophic enquirer to decide precipitately
that any phenomenon is too marvellous for belief.
Psychomctry and Anthropology. i:
Manv natural phenomena, which were formerly
regarded \vith superstitious awe, as, lor instance, the
Spectre of Bracken, which consisted of the gigantic
image of a man delineated on the sky — the fact of
troops performing their evolutions on the surface of a
lake, or on the face of an inaccessible precipice — or
the equally extraordinary phantasm of a ship's being
seen in the air, in the solitude of the ocean's waste,
notwithstanding no vessel was within reach of the
eye — are all now satisfactorily explained by the
unequal refractive powers of the atmosphere arising
from its variable temperature. "It is impossible,''
says Dr. Brewster, •• to study these phenomena with-
out being impressed with the conviction, that nature is
full of the marveDous, and that the progress of
science, and the diffusion of knowledge, are alone
capable of dispelling the fears which her wonders
must necessarily excite, even in enlightened minds.''
In like manner^ to those unaware that each mental
faculty has its distinct organ in the brain, the proposi-
tion that these emotions or faculties may be excited at
will, as when we call forth the different notes of a
musical instrument, is so startling as to be beyond
credibility ; but to the mind of the phrenologist, who
has been wont to contemplate the great truths of his
science, the announcement of such results oilers no
violence. This field of scientific research, which
offers a harvest rich in new and valuable facts, is open
to every laborer; and we find, accordingly, that it
has been already entered upon by many philosophical
enquirers. We, as well as may others, have wit-
nessed repeated experimental verifications of th<
12 Psychometry and Anthropology.
excitement of the separate organs of the brain, thus
calling forth, in an intense degree, their natural lan-
guage and action. Although the number of those
having brains thus excitable is comparatively small,
yet in every society of a few hundred individuals,
there will be found some subjects impressible in a
greater or less degree. To those in whom scepticism is
a predominant organ, we would seriously recommend
the perusal of the following lines written by Galileo
to Kepler, which are not the worse for having been
often quoted :
" Here, at Padua, is the principal professor of
philosophy, -^uhom 7 have repeatedly and urgently
requested to look at the moon and planets through m\
glasses, which he pertinaciously refuses to do."
We would now proceed to illustrate the general
subject of NEUROLOGY, by bringing before the reader
certain portions of a report on experimental inves-
tigations, published in the Evening Post of the 6th
December, entitled — "Minutes of the proceedings
of a Committee appointed by the public audience
attending the lectures of Dr. Buchanan, to superin-
tend experiments relating to ' Neurology,' and to pre-
pare experiments suitable for public exhibition/'
The committee met on the 4th and 5th of Novem-
ber, and spent several hours each day in the perfor-
mance of a variety of experiments ; but, as a general
impression prevailed that the results exhibited were
not, on the whole, of a character so marked and une-
quivocal as to be very satisfactory, Dr. Buchanan
stated that he had relied on the expectation that some
impressible subjects would be brought to the meeting
Psyckometry and Anthropology. 13
by members of the committee, but that there had not
been any of a character other than very imperfect and
doubtful. lie suggested that a sub-committee should
be appointed, who could witness experiments, in
greater privacy, upon some subjects who might be
found unwilling to appear before so large a number as
the general committee, and who would also be able to
bestow more time on the investigation of the subject
than could be done by the larger number. This sug-
gestion being adopted, the following gentlemen were
appointed as that sub-committee: — Rev. Henry W.
Bellows, Messrs. William C. Bryant and John L.
O'Sullivan, and Dr. Samuel Forry. The first named
of these gentlemen was prevented by absence from
the city from being present at the greater part of the
experiments made, and from participating in the
report.
We will present, in the first place, the conclusions
of this sub-committee :
" REPORT OF THE SUIJ-COMMITTEE.
" The sub-committee, appointed to witness private
experiments by Dr. Buchanan, beg leave to report, to
the committee from which their appointment emanated,
that they have held meetings, of which an account is
given in their minutes subjoined. Their object has
been to give the subject an attention, at the same
time cautious and candid, and to present a simple
statement of their observations, to serve as a basis for
the deductions of others, rather than of any positive
conclusions of their own, as to the correctness of
14 Psychonietry and Ant h?' op o logy.
those views and opinions to which Dr. Buchanan has
given the name of the science of " Neurology,' as
discovered and developed by him.
" For the sake of rendering more intelligible the
bearing of the facts and appearances observed, upon
those principles propounded by Dr. Buciianan, of
which they are presented as illustrations and evi-
dences, the sub-committee present also a brief and
general statement of the outlines of Dr. Buchanan's
system, as furnished by himself at their request.
" In justice to Dr. Buchanan, they at the same
time feel bound to declare the highly favorable man-
ner in which, throughout all the intercourse growing
out of this investigation, they have been impressed
by the evident intelligence, sincerity, and earnest-
ness of convictions, and truthfulness of conduct and
deportment, strongly characterizing that gentleman :
and that they are fully satisfied of the honorable
motives prompting his present devotion to these
investigations, in the sole spirit of a student of
science, a pursuer of truth, and a friend of his race.
They will also add that, feeling every reason to
believe in the good faith and veracity of the subjects
of these experiments — independent of those experi-
ments which were, in themselves, of a nature to
preclude deception — they deem it their duty, in view
of the extraordinary facts they have witnessed, to
say that, although they have obtained a very imper-
fect knowledge of the system of Dr. Buchanan, and
have been prevented by the pressure of their other
avocations from bestowing on the subject as much
lime as would have been desirable to themselves ;
Psychometry and Anthropology. 15
they have had sufficient evidence to satisfy them that
Dr. Buchanan's views have a rational experimental
foundation, and that the subject opens a field of
investigation second to no other in immediate interest,
and in promise of important future results to science
'i ml humanity.
" The different members of the sub-committee have
not all been present at all the meetings described in
their minutes. Some of them have, however, in
private, on other occasions than those here referred
to. witnessed other similar experiments, of the most
interesting and satisfactory character, which are not
here described, because not witnessed by them col-
lectively, in that capacity in which alone they have
to make the present report. The absence of Mr.
Bellows from the city, at the time of submitting this
report, renders it necessary to forego the advantage
of his participation in it. The minutes were pre-
pared bv Dr. Forry, from notes taken at the time
of the various experiments. The papers appended
to this report are a brief and general statement, by
Dr. Buchanan, of the outlines of his system or
science of ' Neurology,' and the minutes of the pro-
ceedings of the sub-committee.
" All of which is respectfully submitted.
" WM. C. BRYANT.
"J. L. O'SULLIYAN,
" SAMUEL FORKY, M. D."
Every reader must determine for himself the degree
of confidence to which the statements of this commit-
tee are entitled. The name of one of its members
16 Psychomctry and Anthropology,
is already classical in the English language ; Dr.
Ferry's recent excellent work on the Climate and
Endemic Influences of the United States has jjiven
~
him, though a young man, an honorable place among
the scientific observers and writers of the day ; while,
however otherwise obscure, the remaining name is
not unknown to the readers of the Review, through
which he has the honor, monthly, of coming into a
relation with them, grateful on the one side, and not
unfriendly, it is hoped, on the other.
The following outlines of the principles of Neuro-
logy, by Dr. Buchanan himself, will, in connection
with the remarks already made, afford the reader at
least some general idea of the subject :
" Gentlemen — As you desire from me a sketch of
the principles of Neurology, I submit the following
brief statement, hoping that its brevity will not render
it obscure :
" The word Neurology, as it relates to man, is but
another name for the great science of Anthropology,
because the science of the nervous substance neces-
sarily includes all the manifestations of mind and life
connected with or dependent upon that substance,
which we know is the seat of life and the organ of
the mind.
" Physiology, Pathology, Insanity, and what has
been called Animal Magnetism, Mental Philosophy
or Phrenology, Cranioscopy, Physiognomy, Educa-
tion, etc., are partial views of the phenomena and
systematic laws of the human constitution, which
constitute the science of Neurology.
"The characteristic feature of that svstem of Neu-
Psychomctry and Anthropology. 17
rology which I have brought before the public is,
that it has been established by means of cautious and
decisive experiments, and may easily be verified by
any individual who has the necessary patience to pur-
sue the investigation of the subject.
ik The experiments consist in exciting the various
functions of the nervous substance in the cranium or
the body by the application of the proper stimulating
agents. Every article of the materia medica pos-
sesses in some form, or to some extent, the power of
exciting and modifying the functions ; Galvanism,
Electricitv, Magnetism, and Caloric, possess efficient
exciting powers ; but no agent that I have used pos-
sesses so efficient, and at the same time, so congenial
an influence, as the aura of the nervous system.
" This Nervaura, which is the a<jent by which one
o •.
individual makes a physiological impression upon
another, when in contact, is radiated and conducted
freely from the human hand. The experiments which
I have made in your presence, consist in applying
this Nervaura to the various portions of the brain,
upon which it may make an impression through the
cranium and the face, which present no obstacles to
its transmission.
4i To develop important results from such experi-
ments, it is necessary that we should make them upon
persons whose cerebral action is easily excited, or
deranged by slight influences. It is necessary that
the portion of the brain which we excite should be
so energetically stimulated as to become predominant
over all the other portions, and to manifest its func-
tions in a pure and distinct form, unmingled with
i8 Psychoinctry and Anthropology.
any different or counteracting functions. It is also
extremely desirable that the experiments should be
made upon persons whose mental cultivation, sagac-
ity, and integrity, render their descriptions of their
own sensations cautious, exact, and worthy of implicit
confidence.
" As my experiments have been repeated by many
Phrenologists and others, and havj generally been
attempted by them during the state of somnambulism
superinduced by mesmeric operations, I would remark
that such experiments are often highly deceptive and
inaccurate. Experiments should be made in the nat-
ural condition of the subject, and free from the imag-
inative excitement which belongs to somnambulism.
As far as I have heard of the result of the somnam-
bulic experiments, I know of but few cases in which
the operator has not been misled by his imaginative
subject.
" An extensive course of experiments upon persons
of intelligence, in their natural state of mind, has
established and placed beyond a doubt, the fact that
the brain, as a psychological organ, manifests an
immense number of mental functions, and that there
are no phrenological divisions in the brain, other than
the anfractuosities of the convolutions, and that there
are no simple primitive cerebral organs manifesting a
pure special single function, unless we carry our sub-
divisions so far as to 'make a primitive organ of each
constituent fibre of a convolution.
"The number of cerebral organs which we may
recognize is, therefore, a matter of arbitrary arrange-
ment, as we mav divide the brain, for convenience,
Psychometry and Anthropology. 19
into three, four, or five regions, or with equal preci-
sion and functional accuracy, into three, four, or five
hundred. From fifty to a hundred subdivisions would
be as many as we can learn to locate correctly, and
is a sufficient number for practical purposes.
k' It is established with equal certainty, that the
brain is as much a physiological organ as a psychol-
ogical organ, and that it maintains its sympathies with
the body, and exercises its controlling power over it
by means of certain conductor organs at the base of
the encephalon, by which it radia'.es volitionary, cir-
culatory and secretory influences to the muscular sys~
tern and other tissues of the body. Each portion of
the brain has an intimate-relation or sympathy with its
particular region of the body, and exercises a modi-
fving influence upon the general circulation and inner-
vation of the system. It is through the conductor
organs that the special relations of the brain and the
body are established, and all the physiological e fleets
which may be produced by operating upon the brain,
mav be as easily, and, indeed, more promptlv evolved
by operating upon the corresponding conductors,
which transmit their influence directly.
''Thus do we explain the relations of the brain to
the body, and by carrying out the mathematical laws
of cerebral physiology, we show the influence of each
hemisphere of the brain upon the opposite hemis-
phere, and through that upon the correlative half of
the body.
" To explain the relations of the mind to the brain,
and the peculiar mode or laws of their connection,
would not be a more difficult ta.>k than to explain the
2O Psychomctry and Ant/tropology.
relation between the brain and the body — either of
which would seem to the novice a chimerical under-
taking.
• "This higher psychological philosophy, however,
constitutes no part of the psychologico-physiological
system to which I have called the attention of the
public, and which aims at extensive educational and
medical utility. Of this system, I have given you a
lew imperfect illustrations, and regret that I have not
had the opportunity of illustrating, in your presence,
the beneficial influence which may be exerted upon
the sick.
"The experiments with medicines applied to the
fingers, were designed to illustrate some important
principles in reference to human impressibility, and the
mode in which medicines produce their effects.
" The experiment of bringing an impressible per-
son into contact with the head of another, illustrates
tne laws of the transmission of the nervaura, and pre-
sents us a method of accomplishing a perfect diagno-
sis of disease, as well as of exploring the physiology
of the brain, and ascertaining the characters of differ-
ent individuals. This method, which I have been for
some time engaged in applying to practice, must ulti-
mately take the precedence of all other methods of
diagnosis and examination, either for character, for
disease, or for the establishment of scientific principles.
" In conclusion, permit me to remark, that the prin-
ciples of Neurology have been established by innum-
erable coincident harmonious facts, similar to those
which you have witnessed, and that unless the testi-
mony of our senses is utterly false, or unless a large
Psychometry and Anthropology. 21
number of intelligent observers have been suddenly
seized by an epidemic and methodic insanity, a new
class of facts has been devoloped, and a new science
exists, which imperiously demands the attention of all
lovers of truth or friends of man, and which, if even
half of its bright promise is realized, must originate a
great and happy era in the history of human progress.
"With high respect, enhanced by the cordiality,
courtesy and promptness with which you have
engaged in your recent duties, I remain,
" Your humble servant,
"Jos. R. BUCHANAN.
" Messrs. Bryant, Forry and O'Sullivan.*'
In view of the preceding observations, it may be
asked — Whither is this new science to lead us?
Are the old landmarks of knowledge to be set aside ;
and are we to pull down every system which has
been built up upon consciousness, or upon the tedious
gatherings of observation? Is this new system to
subvert all its predecessors, and then be overwhelmed
in turn by another theory — a still shorter royal road
to wisdom ?
We answer, No. Systems pass away, but truths
survive; and every new truth added to our stock of
knowledge, notwithstanding it may clcstrov som^
error, cannot crush or obscure a previously known
truth. The new demonstrative school of meta-
physics will, we are confident, develop and contirm
many of the principles which, heretofore, as no expe-
rimental mode of testing them was known, have been
sustained bv reason alone. We observe that memorv
22 Psychometry and Anthropology.
has been restored to its rightful place in the catalogue
of our faculties by the new system. Consciousness
and abstraction are also recognized as special facul-
ties, dependent upon special organs. We expect to
see many of the doctrines of Locke, Reid, Stewart
and Brown established experimentally on the new
physiological basis.
We expect to see a subtile and intricately arranged
philosophy spring up from these investigations, as
different from the crude system of Gall, as is the
bright face of Nature, with all her diversities of
mountain, plain, forest, field, river, and sea, from
the rudely sketched outline of a school-boy's map.
But to what else will it lead? If impressibility is
most frequently found among those of refined organi-
zation, why may it not be evinced by some man of
genius? If so, may not the intellectual organs be
stimulated to a higher degree of activity, than results
from ordinary influences? May not a cerebral power
be generated, bordering upon the supernatural energy
of insanity? And may not this intense intellectual
excitement be directed to useful purposes, in the
investigation or illustration of truth? May not the
student rouse his memory, when it fails to recall
the knowledge that it once possessed? May not the
naturalist and the artist have the external senses
rendered more acute? May not the faculties of sight,
touch, taste, and smell, be sharpened, for minute
investigation of physical science?
May we not, by various excitements, produce all
the diseases and all the conditions to which the
human mind and body are subject? May we not
Psychomeiry and Anthropology. 23
ascertain the condition of the mind and of the brain
in insanity, sleep, dreaming, trance, and the act of
dying? May \ve not determine the seat of life, and
discover in what portion of the brain the mental
action is last perceived — from what spot the soul
takes its final departure? May we not besiege and
torture Nature with ingenious and searching experi-
ments, until we compel her to confess her secrets?
We put these questions because they seem natur-
ally to arise from the establishment of the fact, that
we can compel the various fibres of the brain to
manifest their functions ; and thus we may interro-
gate Nature as it were, by the most rigid examina-
tions. We believe that all that we have hinted at,
and much more, is comprehended in the system of
Dr. Buchanan ; and that these various points have
been made the subject of experiment, we know. His
views have not yet been embodied in a volume, to
which we might refer for their nature and scope ; but
we know that he aspires to go as far as human intel-
lect can pierce the almost impenetrable mysteries of
life and mind. Should he ever present to the public
t'n at •• higher psychological system of philosophy,"
«>f which he speaks as distinct from Neurology, we
anticipate something of a still more strange and
startling character.
If all the elements of humanity can be summoned
up at the beck of the skillful experimentalist, we
cannot but believe that many a rare and strange fea-
ture of our common nature will be brought to light.
The elements of genius, of poetry, of love, and of
the mysterious sympathies of mind with mind, will
24 Psychomctry and Anthropology.
be brought forth, and subjected, like the gay orna-
ment of the skies — the rainbow — to philosophical
analysis. As the natural philosopher explains its beau-
tiful effect by the laws of that luminous medium, which,
by passing through the drops of water, presents to
the eye a brilliant spectrum ; so will he, perhaps,
explain how that higher medium — the Divine Aura
of life and thought — passing through the white and
gray matter of the cerebral convolutions, originates
the affections and all the poetry of life. Would it be
strange if he should discover through what medium
the soul acts upon its corporeal tenement, or that
there are media heretofore unknown, and of a nature
different from the galvanic and magnetic? Would it
be incredible that faculties should be discovered in
man, which have been sometimes supposed to exist
in the gifted few, but \vhich are entirely unknown
and unfelt by the multitude?
In the great ideal of Humanity, in which we
embody its digniy and its powers — worthy to be the
servant and the agent of Divinity - - we perceive that
which we realize in no individual. There are none
to be found who even approximate the great and per-
fect type of humanity. How far the noble nature of
man has been debased cannot be told, nor how many
of the world-knowing and world-conquering faculties,
bestowed by his Creator, have been enfeebled or
destroyed. There are continual aspirations to some-
thing greater and better, which are not gratified, and
which we cannot carry into execution ; but which
seem like vestiges to remind us of what we should
be, and what may once have been the nature of man.
Psychometry and Anthropology. 25
In the system of BUCHANAN, these vestiges are rec-
ognized ; a range of faculties has been discovered,
which are now dormant, and which have been, per-
haps, dormant for ages, in the greater portion of the
human race. These faculties, giving a stimulus to
the mind, and expanding greatly its range of knowl-
edge, may, hereafter, be developed as features of our
common nature, and be made the means of obtaining
a loftier species of knowledge than has ever yet been
obtained by human kind."
The present volume of Psychometry is an illustra-
tion of the concluding remarks of the Review as to
the possibility of developing dormant intellectual pow-
ers and attaining " a loftier species of knowledge than
has e~cer yet been obtained by hit man kind."1
That loftier knowledge is attained in the psychic
exploration of the spirit-world, in which are dwelling
now the millions of millions who have occupied this
earth since it has been habitable for man, and who, in
the world of emancipation from matter and of far
reaching intelligence have attained a profundity of
wisdom and holiness of nature which would be not
only inaccessible but unintelligible to the juvenile and
immature beings who occupy this nursery-ground of
Immortality.
The short-sighted beings who inhabit this earth,
and whose proudest representatives in governments,
colleges and churches live in the unconscious spiritual
blindness which turns away from truth and mistakes
darkness for light, are but embryonic men in intelli-
gence, compared to what thev will become when
26 Psychometry and Anthropology.
matured and developed in the Divine light of the nor-
mal life, they vindicate by their nobility the assertion
that man was made in the image of God — an asser-
tion which might seem blasphemous to those who
know nothing of man matured, developed and edu-
cated in the supernal sphere of wisdom.
It does not seem to have occurred to the philoso-
phers of the present century, that the realm of light
and life is not in matter but far away from its contract-
ing sphere, and that all attempts to penetrate the mys-
teries of life by delving deeper in the chemistry of
material atoms, but plunge the mind in the darkness
of the non-living basis of organization where every
path of inquiry ends in a ^foramen ccecwn."
The imbecility generated by the habit of confining
thought to the material and external has rendered it
possible for Christian nations to believe the world of
disembodied spirit to be in its highest sphere a realm
of monotonous and harmless imbecility, occupied like
an immense Kindergarden in twanging harps and
singing songs, with hysterical emphasis, while its
boundless depth and breadth is occupied by the
resounding cries of human agony.
Psychometry dismisses to oblivion these idiotic pue-
rilities, and assures us by direct perception of the
departed, that the law of progress lias no illustration
on earth comparable in any degree to the grand illus-
tration which we realize when man in becoming a
disembodied spirit begins to manifest the divinity of
his nature.
It tears away the veil which has hidden from our
vision the home ef light, of life and joy, and showing
Psychomctry and Anthropology 27
how earth and heaven may commune, assures us
thereby of the advent of a higher civilization in which
there shall be not only wisdom, but the nobler ele-
ment without which all is dross — the Divine element
of Love which exists in perfection in its supernal
home which Psychometry teaches us is accessible to
man and is the source of his inspiration.
The enlightened reader will perceive that in these
remarks it is implied that the world's religions are all to
be recast, reformed, elevated, purified, enlightened and
made worthy of our highest conceptions of the Divine.
If we have free access to the higher world and free
O
access to all the world's past history, the records,
monuments and traditions upon which religions are
based are no longer needed. Our sacred books mav
*•
still be held in esteem and love, although like the
lamps and lanterns that guide us in the night, they
cease to be necessary when daylight reveals all.
*- w O
Psychometry is, therefore, the herald of the Religion
of the Future — not the religion of the intellect
toward which many are drifting which is not religion
at all — but the true religion of Divine Love and
Divine Wisdom which shall terminate the war of
arms, the war of competitive commerce and industry,
and the war of the criminal classes, and shall embrace
to uplift all the unfortunate and degraded classes of
society.
Regarding this as the grandest and most beneficent
work of Psychometry, the uplifting of humanity into
the sphere of religious life, and religious wisdom. I
regard it as secondary matter that it extends our
knowledge through the vast realms of geology, pale-
28 Psychometry and Anthropology.
ontology and astronomy heretofore inaccessible to all
the methods and apparatus of science. Of this I have
given but a hint in this volume, and in reference to
this vast theme I would refer the reader to Prof.
Denton's three splendid and fascinating volumes
entitled " The Soul of Things," a rich repository of
the most marvelous knowledge to be found in any sci-
entific publication. The death of this gifted author
was a calamity to science.
My own studies have been concentrated upon that
which relates most nearly to man and his welfare.
Greatest among these themes is that which concerns
his religious and moral elevation.
The science of Cerebral Psychology illustrated by
the engraving on page 4, is not a mere matter of
intellectual speculation to suit the demands of those
who have been called metaphysicians and psycholo-
gists, but a profoundly practical view of human nature
which illustrates our duties, our social relations and
all the laws of culture and development — the practi-
cal application of which has been shown in my work
entitled " Moral Education " which shows how to lift
society above the level of pauperism, intemperance,
ignorance and crime.
This new Psychology embracing the animal king-
dom as wrell as man will require an extensive work
for its illustration and it is not probable that I shall be
able to do it full justice within the limits assigned me
by the tables of mortality.
THE SCIENCE OF SARCOGNOMY.
The <jfreat scientific and utilitarian work in which
Psychometry and Anthropology. 29
Psychometry has been my assistant, and lor which I
have received the grateful and enthusiastic expression
of the most enlightened physicians has been the solu-
tion of that greatest of mysteries the relation of soul,
brain and body — a mystery so vast and so enshrouded
in darkness that the boldest intelligence of all past
ages has shrunk from its exploration, and only GALL
and SWKDENBORO in modern times have invaded this
realm of mysterv in partial explorations.
The law of correspondence and association between
the brain and body is like that between the soul and
brain. Every function of the eternal or spiritual man,
whether intellectual, emotional or physiological has
its special apparatus in the nervous structure of the
brain, and cannot be manifested in any other way.
In like manner every function and organ of the brain
has a corporal correspondence or region of the body with
which it is in close sympathy. The science of this
correspondence and connexion is called SARCOGNOMY ;
and as it determines for every portion of the surface
of the body the exact physiological and psychic influ-
ence which belongs to it, it enables us to understand
why every disease has certain mental symptoms and
why each emotion has a special influence on the body
favorable or unfavorable to certain diseases.
JJy showing the seat of each vital energy and the
nature of the influx by which life is sustained it gives
us an intelligent mastery of the vital forces never
before possible.
The human body is analytically revealed before us
with all its capacities and powers scientifically located,
and the physician who would operate upon it is in the
30 Psychometry and Anthropology.
position of a musician standing by the piano and
knowing in what keys to find all its tones. If he
would apply heat or cold, stimulants, counter-irritants,
positive and negative poles of batteries or the power
of the human hand, he knows where to apply for the
desired effect.
Such knowledge as this must, therefore, be the
basis of a large amount of medical practice and my
recent wrork Therapeutic Sarcognomy — not a full
exposition of the science but an exposition of its
application to the healing art, was received with great
cordiality by enlightened physicians and the whole
edition sold out in four months. I present herewith a
miniature copy of the chart of Sarcognomy which is
now in use by many physicians as a guide in practice.
An important philosophic doctrine which Sarcog-
nomy has illustrated is the proposition which over-
turns the doctrines of the medical profession taught in
all colleges and textbooks that life is but the aggre-
gation of properties in the tissues as though man were
but a chemical compound and aggregation of organ-
ized substance. Therapeutic Sarcognomy demon-
strates that life is not in the tissues but is entirely and
absolutely an influx coming through the nervous sys-
tem aided by the lungs form a source of life which is
not material and thus leading us from matter which
o
has been vainly supposed to possess the potency of all
things in itself to the true source of all power which
is invisible and spiritual.
Sarcognomy has many interesting applications
beside those of the healing a/t. It interprets the
the human form to the sculptor and painter, and lies
Psychometry and Anthropology.
at the foundation of the laws of expression. It gives
to the hygienist and the educator the laws of devel-
opment and principles of culture for the human body
to attain the highest physical perfection in harmony
with the development of the virtues.
In short the science of Anthropology by its exposi-
tions ot Cerebral Psychology, Physiology and Sar-
cognomy becomes the monitor and guide for individuals
and nations in the culture of all that is desirable and
ennobling. The following sketch from the upper
portion of the chart of Sarcognomy will give the
reader some idea of its character.
The fundamental princi-
ple of Sarcognomy is that
everv facultv of the soul is
V *.
associated witli a special
portion of the brain, and
that everv organ of the
brain is in intimate sym-
pathy with a correspond-
ing portion of the bodv,
through which sympathies
the body and soul are
brought into close con-
nexion. The brain is the common centre, its action
downward, in the body being physiological, and its
action upward or distinct from the body being psychic.
The knowledge of these localities enables the phy-
sician to understand the philosophv of disease, and to
operate upon the mind through the body or upon the
body through the mind, thus giving an exact science
to guide electric and magnetic practice.
CHAPTER XI.
FUTURE LIFE AX1) LEADERS IX RELIGTOX.
Franklin and Ilemans — The gloomy view of agnosticism — The gloomy
influence of college and cloister — The honest inquirers driven into
agnosticism — Psychomctry restores their mastery of the truth and
buries obstructive rubbish — Education lias paralyzed reason — Psy-
chometry resisted, other discoveries withheld — Psychometry the
demonstration of immortality — Compared to a telescope — Even
agnostics may recognize the departed — They are not like hidden
stars, because they have been seen — Death like a passage over a bay
with a visible shore — Psychometric communication with the dead
and medical advice — Post mortem wisdom — Nearness of the departed
— Different impressions from the living and dead — Impressions from
the letter of Gen. Jackson — Life in the spirit world — Discovery of
life and death — Discrimination between the living and the dead —
Experimental test with eleven names — Psychometric description of
leaders in religion — Swedenborg — ]>uddha — Keslmb Chunder Sen —
Laoutze — Confucius — John Calvin— Michael Servetus — Mart in Luther
Albigeuses — "Waldenses — Henri Arnaud, the Christian Hero.
" Existence here on earth is hardly to be called
life. 'Tis rather an embryo state — a preparation for
living ; a man is not completely born until he is
dead. Why, then, should we grieve that a new
child is born among the immortals.'' (Dr. Benjamin
Franklin to Miss E> Hubbard, February 12, 1756.)
" O, thou rich world unseen !
That curtained realm of spirits! Thus my cry
Hath troubled :i:r and silence; dost thou lie
Spread all around, yet by some filmy screen
Shut from us ever?
32
Future Life, 33
" Cold, weak ami eolil
Is earth's vain language, piercing not one fold
Of our decu being! Oil, for gifts more high !
Foi u seer's glance to rend mortality ! " — [Mrs. I [emails.
Psychometry brings the " seer's glance" for which
so many millions have longed in vain, not because
God hath withholden this blessing, but because
human ignorance has neglected it, human bigotry
has crushed it out of sight, human arrogance and
vanitv have despised it, and human animality has
sunk below the level of refined intelligence, until vast
multitudes live and die in darkness, uncheered and
unsustained by the knowledge of the Infinite Benevo-
lence, and their own vast estate in realms of wealth,
to which earth has no parallel. Amaurotic in soul-
vision, they are honestly deluded bv the •• feeble
sense " which cannot see beyond life's dim horixoTi
of materiality, and think like the old Spanish poet :
Our lives like hasting streams mu>t be,
That into one piigulphing sea
Are doomed to fall —
The sea of death whose waves roll on
o'er king and kingdom, crown and throne
And swallow all.
Alike the river's lordly tide.
Alike the lumihlc rivulets glide,
To that sad wave.
Death levels poverty and pride,
Ami rich and poor sleep side by side
Within the trravc.
I. too, have known something of this ignorance
~ r^
and delusion before I had maturelv investijiated the
34 Future Life.
problem of life, and in the optimism of youth was
almost willing to surrender to an eternal sleep, but
all, how gloomy is the thought to those in whom hope
is dead, and who see in this life only the " martyr-
dom of man " the great army of the defeated and
unsuccessful for whom there is neither pleasure,
nor bodily comfort, nor love, nor friendship, nor
hope. For them I speak, to them I appeal, with the
scientific assurance that death does not end all. /
Could trumpet-tongued eloquence penetrate the
cold halls of collegiate pedantry and the dim clois-
ters of the church, to teach the human mind its
innate power and dignity, and sever with lightning
flash the bonds that bind men to the past, what a mar-
velous and sudden transformation society would show.
But it cannot be. Daylight dawns too slowly for
*> o «-
impatient watchers. The mass of mankind like half-
grown youth have depended on instruction from their
seniors or leaders, and adhered to traditions which
not only had the disadvantage of coming from an
earlier and consequently more ignorant period, but
were essentially changed by priestcraft and statecraft.
The ambitious speculation of the ancients, far outrun-
ning their knowledge, filled the world with visionary
systems of mythology, theology and metempsychosis
which were sufficiently delusive when not corrupted
by church and state influence.
The greatest energy exerted by inquiring minds was
shown in the study of ancient writings and monu-
ments— or in agnostic contention against the popular
faith at the risk of liberty and life. The religious
v O
impulse in enlightened minds as well as the ani-
Future Life. 35
mal impulse of the coarser class has ever rebelled
against the corrupt religion of churches, yet in aban-
doning traditional religion it could but wander in
darkness and uncertainty. Only for those gifted with
intuition could there be any clear conviction of the
future life, after renouncing the faith of their fore-
fathers. The incredible tales of the supernatural
circulated by the superstitious populace and the priest-
hood made all records of the supernal or spiritual
seem incredible, and when all facts of that class were
rejected as imposture, the honest inquirer was com-
pelled to settle down into an uncompromising material-
ism, which explained all the remaining phenomena,
after the rejection of spiritual facts as unsustained by
the character of the testimony.
Psychometry places the inulligent inquirer in a
different position. Guided by this science, he no
longer needs the aid of old traditions and monu-
ments, since Psychometry enables us to go to the ori-
gins of religions and determines the characters and
motives of their founders. The mind endowed with
psychometric intuition becomes independent of his-
tory, of exegesis and criticism. Nor does it need the
evidences afforded by modern spiritualism to settle
the question of human immortality since it has direct
evidence and personal perception.
When we think of the vast amount of ecclesiastic
and theological rubbish which Psychometry enables us
to consign to oblivion — the aggregation of nineteen
centuries of ignorance for the European race, filling
large libraries we realize what a burdensome, stilling
luad is taken oflT the back of struggling humanity.
36 Future Life.
It is these senseless dogmas which have been most
effectual in paralyzing reason and perpetuating stolid-
ity, for philosophy is a plant of tender growth, which
needs all fostering influences, and when its first ger-
mination is crushed as it has ever been in our systems
of education, — when the frank inquiries of childhood
are frowned upon or laughed at, and the adolescent
mind, deprived of its freedom, is forced into the tread-
mill of dogmatic teaching, less monotonous and stu-
pid than that of China, but sufficiently mechanical
and memorital to repress all originality and compel
the reception of self-evident and malignant absurdi-
ties (such as the infinite torture of nearly all mankind)
it is but a natural consequence that the aggregate
intelligence of humanity should become incapable of
dealing with the problems of human destiny and
incapable of recognizing the scientific demonstration
of the higher class of psychic phenomena. Every
demonstration of psychometric or of spiritual phenom-
ena has to overcome a stubborn resistance in the
majority of the spectators, until they are convinced
by their senses (not their reason) and to overcome
the still more stolid resistance of those who avoid all
investigation. Hence it is that Psychometry has not
been welcomed and other equally important truths
must be withheld to a later period of human progress.
The truth of immortality is fully established by
Psychometry, and no other evidence is necessary to a
logical mind. We begin by establishing the credibility
and power of Psychometry in reference to medicines
held in the hand. We soon find that its reports are
ample and accurate. We test it in reference to char-
Future Life. 37
acter and disease when the subject is present and we
know his condition. We lind it accurate, with a pen-
etrating power and truthfulness not approached either
by medical diagnosis or by craniology, which are
about equally reliable in their respective spheres.
We then test it upon the absent whose writing we
may have, and tind the report to be as accurate as if
the individual were present, with this difference, that
in certain cases the psychometer reviewing the whole
life, discovers the change called death, and yet speaks
of the post mortem life as freely and positively as of
the ante mortem. Surely if he is competent to speak
truthfully of the personal appearance and the life of
one whom we know, but whom he knows only by
impressions received from a piece of writing — if his
descriptions have that accuracy in a multitude of
details which we know by mathematical reasoning it
is utterly impossible could occur by chance — if he
has traced the life up to death and discovered that
change as an incident of continued life, why is not
the latter part of his statements in which he discovers
neither sleep nor any suspension of mental activity
but a brighter and happier mode of life and most nat-
ural reflections upon his past career, as credible as
any other portion of his statement.
If a telescope be trustworthy and accurate in all its
revelations of terrestial objects that we know, is its
accuracy and reliability at all impaired by being
directed to the stars which are beyond our reach and
beyond vision by the naked eye, concerning which
the telescope alone gives us information? Would not
the scientist be suspected of insanity who would
38 Future Life.
advocate such an opinion? Equally insane would it
be to suppose that a psychometric faculty upon which
we have found it safe to rely in reference to all the
phases of human life and in reference to historic
affairs shrouded in the obscurity of many centuries,
would suddenly fail and lose its reliability when it
speaks of the hidden life of the departed, which is
no more hidden from mortal eye than the secret pur-
poses and intentions which are often psychometrically
revealed.
This perception of the departed and their spirit
life is not due to any prior theory upon the subject
but arises clearly in the minds of those who were
previously agnostic. The lady upon whom the New
York committee experimented (Bryant their chair-
man) \vas distinguished as an agnostic and had
harangued many meetings against Christianity when
Ro D. Owen and Frances Wright were conducting
their agnostic agitation in New York. But she was
profoundly impressed and astonished when she first
psychometrically perceived the existence of the
deceased which she said she had been accustomed
to believe entirely impossible.
The report upon the departed is not properly com-
parable to a report upon hidden stars, but rather to
telescopic observations on those that we see, for the
departed are not entirely hidden from mortal view.
Thousands in all countries have seen them and even
heard them, and thus corroborate by countless wit-
nesses the testimony of Psychometry to their exis-
tence and mode of life.
It would be a parallel case when of the population
Future Life. 39
upon an island a number arc impelled to swim a wide
sound to the opposite mainland. The spectators see
them going until they are lost to view, and may infer
that they are clrowned until those of more acute
vision catch a glimpse of their forms and the lovely
scenery in which they dwell on the far shore. That
testimony the skeptical reject, because they, too, can-
not see the distant shore, but when the telescope is
brought which has been tested for its accuracy, and
tells the whole story, like a camera, doubt is no
longer rational — the photograph must be recognized
The emigrants are not only seen but signal back
messages in accordance with their characters and
through Psychometry we mav communicate with
•/ J -
them so as to profit by their knowledge and advice.
We may counsel with departed physicians as to the
treatment of disease, and however cramped or erro-
neous their views in earth life, their post mortem
suggestions never mislead. Such at least has been
my experience. / Jurcc never received a medical
suggestion from departed physicians ~i'hich icas not
truth fill * ~;'isc and successful in its application. We
may counsel with statesmen as to public policy and
its results and iind if we have, a competent channel
and genuine communication thev have a higher wis-
dom than they ever displayed in earth life and a
greater capacity for foreseeing the results of every
measure. We may counsel with eminent teachers of
religion and we find that those who were in the love
of good have dropped all their sectarian follies and
mutual antagonisms and advanced into the sphere of
love and wisdom, while the bigots are losing their
bigotry and becoming philosophic.
4° Future Life.
No one can give his attention to the higher phe-
nomena of Psychometry without realizing that the
world of disembodied mind is as positive a world of
life as that which is immersed in matter, and that
they who are " beyond the river," called death, are
no farther removed then they who have been trans-
ferred across the Atlantic ocean. The incident which
first most forcibly illustrated the effect of death on
the psychometric perception was an experiment on
the autograph of Gen. Jackson, a political letter of
very forcible expression, addressed in 1826 to my
father-in-law, Judge Rowan. The powerful and
thrilling effect which this letter produced upon the
Rev. Benj. Kent, at Boston, in 1843, has already
been stated. In the summer of 1846, being in Mis-
sissippi, I made an experiment with the same letter
upon W. B. S., (now a prominent and wealthy busi-
ness man in New York), then a young teacher, and
found the effect altogether of a calm and meditative
character, to which, indeed, his own temperament
inclined him. He approached the character from the
spiritual side.
It will frequently be the case with persons of a
calm temperament and feeble vitality that autographs
of the deceased will produce so sedative an effect as
to fail to rouse the full perception of the character,
and even to produce a depressing influence. As Mrs.
R. expressed it, they produce a coldness or inaction
at the heart.
One psychometer will take a letter of great energy,
enter into the spirit of the writer as he was in writing,
and after a time arrive at the perception of his death
Future Life. 41
and post mortem condition. Another more spiritu-
ally constituted will sympatnize at once with the post
mortem condition, while one more fully developed
will grasp the entire condition and describe with
equal ease the ante mortem and post mortem condi-
tions.
Men of energetic, active temperaments are more
apt to grasp the living conditions than the post mor-
tem, as in the psychometric descriptions of this letter
by Gen. Quitman, of Mississippi, and Bishop Otey,
of Tennessee. The description given by Gen. Qjiit-
man, in 1846, was as follows :
" He is brave, firm, decided, intellectual. It gives
an impression of gravity, of a high, elevated purpose
and determination to carry out and execute. There
is strength, energy and great gravity, and determina-
tion of purpose."
(What of his pursuits and sphere of life?) " Some
lofty pursuits — it would call into action energy -
nothing of a scientific character — the feeling is
rather that of firmness and determination."
(What were his pursuits?) " Several — especially
military — there is planning of any description and a
settled purpose — also political aims — he would soar
high.
(What is there in this letter?) "• Some determined
purpose — specifying manner and plan of execution
— determination — gravity — fearlessness — it might
be warlike — it might be a political measure.
(What of the moral character?) " Verv good,
brave, lofty, noble, perfectly honest — too generous
to be rich — patriotic and ambitious — ambitious for
42 Future Life-
wealth, power and fame, but more for reputation than
wealth.
(What is he fit for?) " For any great purpose —
particularly for the command of armies — he has been
tried."
Bishop OTEY, of Tennessee, had remarkably active
psychometric faculties, and in a few seconds after this
letter was placed on his forehead asserted that the
writer was one of the class of Alexander and Napo-
leon. He manifested the usual astonishment of a
novice when he learned that it was the letter of Gen.
Jackson.
A high psychometric power like that ot Mrs. B.
grasps the whole character at once with so thorough
an understanding as to be able to portray it concisely
in comprehensive language, recognizing at once the
existing as well as the post mortem condition of the
departed. The following is her impression of GEN-
ERAL ANDREW JACKSON.
" This is an illuminated mind — it is a spirit. This
brain had jets of fire and far reaching thought. He
was voluble and had no trouble in expression. He
had a great soul. He spoke out fearless and earnest
and still had a human side — the sentiment of love.
He loved (like every thing else) powerfully, with his
whole soul.
" He was called before the public — his business
was to guide and direct — he had quick far-seeing per-
ception. He was a politician, who occupied high
positions — as high as could be given.
" He would rule his friends and many times against
their judgment. He had the power of controlling
them. Even his opponents could not stand against
his power ; he had great power of persuasion and
Future Life. 43
force to carry his points. He could combat with
opponents, so they would be forced to yield.
" If called on to manage the country in the office
of president, he would leave the office with pride and
satisfaction — with fewer faults than most men.
" In some respects he was like Washington, in his
candor, his strong judgment and his devotion to duty
— though he was not entirely in the same mould ; his
brain \\as differently constructed. I do not think his
military ability equal to Washington's, for he was
not so cautious — was much more reckless and
impulsive."
" His course was not as commendable as Washing-
ton's. He was firm, brave and unflinching in carry-
ing a point ; he would never admit that he had made
a mistake. He was not as just and conciliatory to
opponents as Washington — had not as much benevo-
lence and spirituality.'
"People admired his boldness — even .his oppo-
nents admired it. He is often quoted. His character
will not die out, but lives in the minds of the people.
He wris a southern man of Democratic feelings.
" In spirit he has advanced rapidly. In ladies
society his language was fluent and very appropriate,
gallant and fascinating. In rough society he would
be apt to sweai vigorously."
In post mortem descriptions I generally enquire into
the present status of the spirit and his present senti-
ments and objects of interest • the answers to which
have been interesting and satisfactory. Some spirits
1 find actively engaged in philanthropic work on
earth, impressing the minds of the benevolent and
spiritual or watching over their surviving friends and
relations. Others are enjoying celestial associations,
or looking deeply into a philosophy and knowledge of
the Universe which were not accessible on earth.
44 Future Life,
The great founders of religion and philanthropy are
living in accordance with their exalted character, the
knowledge of which has been to me a profound
pleasure, as it relieves the dreariness of the moral land-
scapes on earth, to look aloft and find something we
can admire, revere and love.
The revelations of pneumatology and religion
which come through Psychometry will be given in a
second volume.
To perfect the argument for immortality derived
from Psychometry it is desirable to verify as thor-
oughly as possible the power of Psychometry to dis-
cover \vhether the writer is living in the body or not.
To make a satisfactory test of this matter which had
indeed been tested a hundred times before, I wrote
down eleven names of living and dead persons, and
placed them successively in the hands of Mrs. 13.
without any intimation whatever as to their personal-
ity. Within about fifteen minutes she gave her opin-
ion of all, as to life, with some remarks on their
character, without a single error or doubt.
In such experiments there are two sources of diffi-
culty. The recently dead, who passed from a life of
restless energy and activity carry with them so much
of that activitv as to make it difficult to distinguish
•/ O
them from the living. This was especially the case
with Gen. Gordon. On the other hand persons of a
very gentle spiritual temperament have so much of the
calmness of spirit-life as to make it sometimes doubt-
ful if they are living. But when vigorous persons in
active life are compared with those who have long
passed away the discrimination is not difficult.
future Life. 45
The power of determining in reference to any indi-
vidual whether he is living or dead, became a matter
of special interest at the time when contradictory
reports were received about the death of Gen. Gor-
don. To test the power of Mrs. B. I wrote upon
small slips of paper the names of living and dead
persons, viz. : Queen Elizabeth, Geo. Fox, Gen.
Garrield, Robert Ingersoll, Arabi Pasha, El Mahdi,
Gen. Gordon, Gladstone, Swedenborg, Joseph Rodes
Buchanan, Joan of Arc, and brought them to her
sitting room proposing to place a few names in her
hand and ask her if the parties were living or not
She was very reluctant and doubtful of her ability,
of which, however, I had very little doubt. Her
expressions were as follows, holding in her hands •
Qiiccn Elizabeth. — " I think it is a spirit j I think
a woman of a good deal of character/'
Gco. Fox. — " I believe this is a spirit — a peculiar
character — individualized." She also spoke of him
as religious, and having many friends.
Gen. Garficld. — " This comes like a man — as
much alive as dead — a wide awake man — seems
alive whether in or out of the body. If he has passed
over it is not long. I conclude he is dead, but not
long."
Robert Ingcrsoll. — ki First I thought he was dead,
then I saw so much brightness around him I think he
is alive. He has too much brain force and activity
for me. I think he is alive." She felt the influence
on her head as she did when she once described his
character.
Arabi Pasha. — " This is a less active brain — rs
46 Future Life.
good deal of physical force — hard to kill — he's
alive."
El Mahdi. — -" It seems this is a man. He's alive
- a man of intellectual capacity. He spreads him-
self over a good deal of territory — has a wide range,
but with good solid sense."
Gen. Gordon. — " How different they all feel. It
seems to me the man is dead — he has crossed a
bridge. His ruling desire was for power — for
aggrandizement — an ambitious character of high
aims. His purposes were good."
Gladstone. — " There's such a paleness about this
man. I feel the feebleness, but it is a man. If he is
not dead he is on the brink from great feebleness.
But he is alive. He has the feebleness of age — of
wasted vital force. He is a man of fine capacities,
fine managing abilities — understands finance and
government affairs — is diplomatic."
Su>edcnborg. — " There is more brightness here -
a permeating influence — magnetic. I judge this
man is in the other world. I think it is a man. He
brings a powerful spirit influence — very powerful.
He had great individuality of character. There was
no one like him."
"Joseph Rodcs Buchanan. — She laughs immod-
erately, and seems to have a mischievous, sportive
feeling. " The man 's alive and well. What makes
me laugh so?" (In what part of the world is he?)
*' Very near — here. It 's just like you."
Joan of Are. — " I don't think this person is living
— dead a long time. When this person died, the
died too. But now I see the blossoms coming
Future Life. 47
up. This life was not in vain. This person lives in
the hearts of many. I see a woman now. I might
think it a man from the strength of character, but it
is a woman dressed in a plain garb — no ornament—
a woman of medium height."
The whole experiment occupied not more than
fifteen or twenty minutes.
Psychometry is not confined to the mere perception
of continued life. It follows that life in supernal
worlds as clearly as here on earth. (That theme,
however, would be too much for this introductory
volume). It realizes the fruition of what millions
have sighed for in vain, and what thousands have in
all ages enjoyed — what Mrs. Hemans described
from her own experience.
•' He died — he died
On whom my lone devotedness was cast!
I might not keep one vigil by his side,
7. whose wrung heart watched with him to the last!
" Know'st thou what I sought ?
For what high boon my struggling spirit wrought ?
Communion with the dead! I sent a cry
Through the veiled empires of Eternity —
A voice to cleave them !
•• I sat beneath that planet — I had wept
My love to stillness, every night-wind slept;
A hush was on the hills; the very streams
Went by like clouds, or noiseless founts in dreams,
And the dark tree o'er shadowing me in that hour.
Stood motionless, even as the gray church tower,
Whereon I gazed, unconsciously. There came
A low sound like the tremor of a tlame,
Or like the light, quick shiver of a wing.
Flitting through twilight woods across the air;
And I looked up. Before me there
He, the departed, stood! Aye. face to face,
So near and yet how far. He spoke!
How shall 1 tell thee of the startling thrill
48 Leaders in Religion.
In that low voice, whose breezy tones would till
ily bosom's infinite ? O. friend, 1 woke
Thus — first to heavenly life.
I sought that lighted eye —
From its intense and searching purity
I drank in soul ! I questioned of the dead —
Of the hushed, starry shores their footsteps tread,
And I was answered. Full and high
Was that communion with eternity ;
Too rich for aught so fleeting ! Like; a knell
Swept o'er my sense its closing words : " Farewell
On earth we meet no more ! " — and all was gone.
SWEDENBORG.
The following psychometric description of Sweclen-
borg strikes me as very correct. I have never read
any of his works, and have avoided doing so, not
from any aversion or indifference, but because when I
first presented the doctrines of Anthropology develop-
ing the faculties of the soul, brain and body, and their
laws of connexion, correspondence and inter-action,
the devotees of Swedenborg would often say that my
doctrines were similar to his. As these doctrines had
been derived entirely from experimental investigation,
uninfluenced by the theories of my predecessors,
excepting only the discoveries of Gall, which I impar-
tially investigated to compare with cranial devel-
opments, pathology and experiments, I wished to
preserve my independence and isolation as a witness
of the truth, independent of any influence from previ-
ous suggestions. Hence I have postponed reading
Swedenborg's writings to the completion of my own
researches hereafter, but no one who mingles in soci-
ety or peruses current literature can avoid learning the
essentials of Swedenborg's doctrines — the system of
Leaders in Religion. 49
thought introduced by him, in which he assumed an
attitude of authority and imposed his theological spec-
ulations on his followers as a finality — discouraging
that further research, which has given us so mnch
more simple, accurate and satisfactory views. His
influence has tended to discourage free investigation
and has done more to develop a refined scholarly
intellectuality among his followers than to exalt or
intensify the religious sentiments.
SWEDENBORG.
" This is not very far back — not more than seventy
years — a character that made an impression on the
minds of the people. There were some who would
adhere to him, to any length, and others who would
not.
" He had a great amount of positiveness in his
character — too much — by which he lost sight of his
best impressions. I feel that very sensibly — he was
so strong willed. lie had a great deal of materiality
about him, yet he taught spiritual things. He
abounded in opinions or doctrines and was quite orig-
inal— an originator of new thoughts.
" He was calculated to dispel the ideas of modern
theology — was not a believer in the doctrines taught
in the churches. He was somewhat a martyr to his
opinions — not exactly a martyr — but he had great
opposition from priests and creedists — but he rather
courted opposition than otherwise. If he had had
more of the spirit of Christ he would have felt the
oppositton more sensitively.
" He was an author who published works. His
books met with considerable acceptance but called
down much criticism. Were any of his works sup-
pressed— I think some were not published. He was
50 Leaders in Religion.
very radical — I do not think he had much religious
fervor.
" He was plain and comprehensive in his writings
— more scientific and philosophic than religious. I
do not feel as much warmth as a religious teacher
• ...
requires. There is a cool, calculating spirit — a good
deal of the mathematical in his character. •
" I think he believed in inspiration but not to so
great an extent as ivc think — only to a few — himself
being inspired. He claimed to be an ambassador sent
for the purposes to which he devoted his life. He
felt a special divine favor bestowed -on him. I think
he claimed more for himself than was true. He was
guided by ancient savans but he thought a great deal
and followed his own speculations, mathematical and
physical. He had his theories about life and specu-
lated largely about physical life. I presume he
adopted a system of physical training for spiritual
development. He did not indulge in luxurv, but
lived rather abstemious and plain.
" His ideas were not altogether just as to getting
inspiration from God, but he was very easy in receiv-
ing impressions and would lose sight of their source.
He had a circle of profound logicians. lie had sea-
sons of great mental exaltation and was clairvoyant
and saw into the spirit-world and saw many things
correctly through the help of his guides, but lie had not
any such communications from the Most High as he
claimed. Spirit influences were so strong sometimes
he might seem strange or insane. He was sometimes
accessible to the lower order of spirits, but he would
soon throw them oft". He did not understand the laws
of spirit intercourse as fully as we do now.
"He had immense assumption — assumed much
more than was true — he would suppose something
given to him when it was the impression of his own
mind. He had psychological illusions which were
purely subjective.
Leaders in Religion. 51
" His intellect was of a higher and more spiritual
character than Arnold ;* he was more positive and
emphatic and had more intellectual spiritual associa-
tions, lie would give the sentiments of exalted
spirits.
(Q^ How is he now — how does he regard his
former teachings?) " I think he would alter his
teachings materially. He is not well satisfied with his
teachings. He knows his claims as to Divine com-
munication were not correct. lie is no nearer God
now than myriads of others.
SECOND DESCRIPTION from an engraving.
" I feel a great mental power. The front of my
brain and side of my forehead are very active -
largely developed in the perceptives. I feel that this
is a man, am I correct? (Yes.) A very original.
deep thinker. I think he was an author. I think
this person's writing was largely on theological sub-
jects. He had a great deal of method and accuracy
of judgment. His great power of reasoning always
carried him on and made him victorious in argument
when in controversy or propounding a subject.
" His work was intellectual. His subjects were
theological, but he was engaged in reconstructing
governmental affairs, but not military. He was verv
eloquent in his address. He knew his own power
but was not an opinionated man. lie gave much ol"
his attention to the literature of others — was a great
reader, but very select, seeming to be governed bv
some intuition in the pursuit of knowledge — never
given to anything trashy or superficial — a great
student.
" It seems to me he was of some Christian denomi-
nation in early life, but his own freedom of thought
carried him beyond any creed or sect ; he had great
love of independence.
* Arnold was a spiritual writer profc.«>iii£ to make very wonderful
revelations from the spirit world.
52 Leaders in Religion.
" I think he was once obscure, and accident had
something to do with bringing him forward. His
views were all reformatory, in government as well as
religion. He had broad, philanthropic views. I
think he is not alive.
" He had spiritual impressions that assured him of
immortality, but did not believe in spiritual matters
as we do. He conversed with spirits, saw spirits and
had visions of the other world. His belief was
very peculiar — it seems mythical to me; I cannot
describe it.
" He lived a religious life. His whole life was
governed by justice toward others. His teachings
were something like Swedenborgianism, so for as I
understand it.
" He seemed alone in a portion of his life. He had
a few followers and was obliged to devise methods to
get his doctrines established He lived to see his
teachings widespread. lie had many followers — he
has many now. His teachings were obscure and men
ridiculed them, but he gave such marvelous evidence
that he established men in his faith after a time. He
was a great humanitarian — had wonderful psycho-
metric power, though he did not give it that name.
*' Many times he was restless and uneasy, not
knowing what was the matter. Something in the air
told him things were not right.
" He had great determination — never faltered or
lost his balance. He did not fear death. lie knew
just when he was going. He carried with him the
same principles, and as a spirit he teaches the same
doctrines with very little change, though he may not
approve of all his writings. If he were to write now
he would not have so much mystery. He made his
writings rather obscure to the general reader -- now
he would be more plain and clear. lie was a frugal
man — had few wants — was temperate in all things.
" He is interested in systems of religion and <rov-
Leaders in Religion. 53
ernmental systems. He would regulate and arrange
all things that depress men. He is a hater of slavery
in any lorm. I have never known this man, but he
is not a stranger to Psychometry and to you. Many
of your ideas meet his approval, and he would give
you credit for knowing more than he did of the cere-
fc' O
bral faculties. He never knew from what source his
knowledge came. He never analyzed the brain cor-
rectly.
*/
" lie holds now a very high rank in spirit life —
has great veneration and religion. As to the doctrines
he taught, I should not approve them entirely, and
he now regards many of his doctrines as speculative,
and not really correct from his present standpoint.
If he were here he would reform his church — he must
have had some church organization.
When he passed away lie did not sutler — his life
passed out like a breath — it was like a translation.
He is as active as ever, and as readv to respond to
calls. He looks upon the believers in his doctrines
with a great deal of pride and satisfaction.
" He did not live in this country, but far away. I
believe I know who this is — it is Emanuel Sweden-
borg."
GAUTAMA nrnniiA.
" This is a man — he has passed awav. He seems
like a historical character, as though he had figured
in the world's historv.
" As I reach out into his character, it seems his
morals were elevated and pure. He was a verv good
man. [At this moment I caught an impression of an
elevated and very intellectual being.] His tenden-
cies were liberal and religious. His main purpose in
life was to perpetuate a religious system. He seems
like one bursting the shell of tvranny and old systems
- an undaunted spirit fearless in promulgating his
sentiments.
54 Leaders in Religion.
" He takes me away back among the martyrs, and
brings up those terrible scenes."
(What were his surroundings?)
" He was surrounded by those who might be called
idolaters, and started out almost single-handed and
alone to work out a better system. In early lite he
was bound to a system very distasteful to him and he
gradually outgrew it.
*' The climate was warm. In his early life the
country around him was not very populous — the
government was tyrannical ; had no mercy on any
form of crime. His own position was in the higher
ranks, and among the most intelligent. lie stood
very high, socially, and was greatly admired. He
did not aim at wealth."
(What was his career?) " He started out as a
reformer in religious and political conditions, for all
seemed wrong to him in government and church rule,
— he turned his back on it all. He was a great
educator. He spent years in meditation, and almost
solitary, before he made his purposes known, then
came out boldly and preached his views with great
success. He startled the people. There was a
general uprising against him as an innovator and
dangerous man by the priests. It caused a revolu-
tion. The authorities strove hard to suppress him -
he had great trouble and sometimes danger of his
life. He was unjustly accused. He was final! v suc-
cessful in establishing his doctrines and received the
acclamations of the intellectual and civilized. He
perpetuated his doctrines even to this day."
(Where did all this occur?) " In a warm country,
farther South than this — to the East very far ; I
cannot tell the distance ; it was in the old country.
I get more of his spirit and career than of any loca-
tion."
(What is the magnitude of his following to-day?)
" It ranks as high as any denomination, or higher."
Leaders in Religion. 55
(In what era was this?) "It was before the
Christian era, and yet he had many of the principles
of Christ — he was like Jesus — was prophetic.''
(How does he compare with Jesus?) " He was
very much like him. His birth might have been pre-
dicted like Jesus', and his character resembled.
"lie performed things considered miracles — he
healed the sick. He taught morality and a belief in
God, instead of idols, he taught love and faith, and
doing as we would be done by. He would prohibit
war and mal-treatment of animals."
(What of his system and his followers to-day?)
" They are a dark colored people, about as dark as
Arabs — not a large people. They are peaceable
and temperate in all things. They adhere to his
system — well grounded in their belief, which has
become traditional. It has some resemblance to the
Catholic, in forms. They consider their doctrine
older and better than Christianity. They seem to
be vegetarians averse to the use of ilesh."
O
(What do you think was the mode of his death?)
•• He was not crucified as Christ, but I think there
was some betrayal for there was always a rancor
between his followers and the priests. lie seems
betrayed in some way into the hands of his enemies,
and thereby he lost his life through treachery."
This opinion does not say much of the intellectual
character of Buddha and Buddhism — which 1 find
mentioned in a very good psychometric description
of Buddha some years since by Dr. P., substantially
like the foregoing. The following passage, however,
gives an additional illustration.
" He is not like the old Bible spirits — was not
among the followers of Christ — did not feel as the
Apostles did. His vein of thought is separated from
them, and like the Greek philosophers. It was a
religion of the intellect reasoned out. Miracles did
not have much place in it. His religious ideas were
56 Leaders in Religion.
founded on reason and naturalism, discarding mira-
cles — somewhat like the Unitarians. He believed
in a measure in the immortality of the soul, but
did not realize it like the Christians. It was not
as clearly well defined as we would like it. He
did not see the spiritual life clearly, though he had
considerable of the spiritual element."
KESHUB CHUNDER SEN — Before his Death.
" This is very different from El Mahdi. I like him
but do not get into him easilv.
"It is a good character, benevolent, active, very
astute, quick in seeing into things. He is a good
teacher — has great brain force, strong affectional
nature, industry and conscientiousness. He has had
to struggle with the ignoramuses like yourself — a
man of great genius and hopefulness. He does not
lose his balance. He has battled with reverses.
" He is truly religious, but not sanctimonious. He
has inspiration from the .spiritual faculties. He is
unlike others — has great independence. He is not
bombastic or overbearing. He is a good family man,
admirable at home — a favorite with many.
"He takes the unpopular side to some extent, but
his merits are appreciated by many. He is a diligent,
fluent writer and a public speaker. Every one that
knows him (except the envious) likes him. He is
always ahead of his hearers — far advanced beyond
the people — no common man.
(Q^ What people are around him?) "They are
civilized — that is about all. There are self-impor-
tant people whom he do n't like much. He does not
have battles but he do n't admire the elements around
him.
" He is too forgiving. He does not take to heart
the assaults of people or regard them — a high-
minded, whole-souled, grand man. It is not a rigid
Leaders in Religion. 57
climate but a genial one where he lives. He will
carry out much that he desires, but not accumulate
wealth — yet he is in easy circumstances.
"He will reform the religion. He will not be
orthodox. He does not cater to the .rich. lie has
important work in contemplation and begun. He
seems like an abolitionist in principle. His work is
symmetrical. He will live to see a good deal of suc-
cess. He is somewhat like John the Baptist — a great
religious teacher."
LAOU-TSZE — the Chinese Philosopher.
•• There is a great deal of spirituality and venera-
tion in this.
" It does not seem a Bible character, but a spirit
that existed long, long ages past, and has become
holy and god-like.
" This spirit once had great ambition and desire
for power, and attained it. lie seems to have lived
anterior to the Christian dispensation. When he lived
all religious teaching was crude. There was no stand-
ard by which the people could be led ; there was con-
fusion of thought. It seems there were wars and
disturbances and a reaching for power and aggrand-
izement at that time — a perpetual strife. No man or
woman was safe in their home.
" I seem in a city, in constant fear of invasion by
hostile forces. lie passed away before the accom-
plishment of his purposes, in the midst of strife — a
beautiful spirit. He had great moral elevation -
great spiritual elevation — he saw and felt the needs
of the people.
"He was an intuitive scientist — a geologist and
philosopher. He did not accept the current theories.
He had remarkably clear perception and clairvoyant
powers. But he had something intolerant in his char-
acter, lie was rather too positive fora great teacher.
His mode of expression was forcible and magnetic.
58 Leaders in Religion.
" He is a glorious spirit now. He would engage in
regulating governments if he could. He would favor
the teachings of Christ now."
(Q^ Whom is he most like?) "• I can't think of
any one. He has warmth, philanthropy, positiveness
and intolerance of opposition."
(Q^ How does he compare with Confucius?)
" More favorably than with Socrates. He does not
differ very widely. His teachings would be similar,
but he is clearer and presents his thought more clearly
than Confucius — more like the principles of Jesus.
He does not follow authority — he is original. He is
more independent than Confucius, and would not
adhere to the old books. He had more genius and
originality than Confucius, but there was considera-
ble resemblance."
Another psychometer said : " He differs from Con-
fucius in greater power to originate, construct and
carry out."
(Q^ How would Confucius have regarded him?)
" Confucius might not have regarded him as an
equal, but would regard him as a great thinker.
(Q^ Is he interested in the world here?) " He is
given to great devotion. He would exhort to patience
and devotion through mediums. He does not come
much to America — chiefly to the eastern continents.
He is more in harmony with Jesus than Confucius.
He wrote a great deal and spoke a great deal in life.
He was an authority — a founder of new thought in
philosophy and religion. I would have chosen him
before Confucius. He has followers still to the
present time."
CONFUCIUS.
" This is no common thing — a strong penetrating
influence. I feel a great power — the influence seems
male. There is intellectual brightness, vividness,
headers in Religion. 59
more than ordinary. It combines male and female-
influences. •
" There is such a breadth and scope to this mind.
and so much of the love element as to suggest the
female.
" It is a scholastic mind, given to great undertak-
ings, with strength of will to accomplish them. The
influence takes possession of me, and I feel like a
rock — solid and immovable.
4' J would want to write books and make a great
name for myself, being very ambitious to establish
forms and systems of government and religions. I'd
combine politics and religion and make them one.
I'd reform evervthin<r and let nothing remain as it is.
* " • . ®
I'd reform all laws and simplify everything.''
(Q^. What did he do?) "lie did many things.
He was endowed with uncommon faculties and intui-
tions — second to no man living. Me is a historical
character.
" His character was singularly divided. He had
two extremes. He could have been tyrannical and
oppressive if he had been in power in the remote
period when he lived, but he never swerved from his
purpose with all his opposition and seeming unpopu-
larity, lie had so much force of character and saw
the need of reformation, he would seem coercive to
some. But there is no military tyranny. He had no
military career.
'• He taught great humility. lie taught love and
philanthropy like Christ — had that fatherly pro-
tecting character as Jesus. It seems to me he was
before — some centuries before Jesus.
(Q^. What of his religion?) " He taught a
religion of morality -- lie had no antagonism to
liberal sentiments. He was not Orthodox, but a
reformer and innovator in religion and government.
He would put down war. He was not aggressive -
would sooner conquer bv love than by the sword.
60 Leaders in Religion.
He might perform something miraculous. He had
great controlling powers.
" His religion was not like that of Mahomet. He
walked with angels and was near our modern
Spiritualism. He believed in Deity and used sym-
bols in his teachings. He was devoted to the moral
but believed also in prayer — yet relied on works
and taught a practical religion.
" He compares favorably with Jesus. He was
more communicative — talked more with the people
and not so much in parables. His sayings were
better understood by the common people. lie was
a self-sacrificing man and cared little for his own
personal comforts.. He had not as much enthusiasm
as the Christian system. His teachings did not lead
the mind from the moral to the spiritual, but kept the
moral foremost.
(Q,. Was he conservative or progressive?) "It
seemed he was slow — did not lead the people on by
excitement but deliberately. His followers progressed,
but there was limit to their progression, and it ceased.
It was a step toward the Christian system. Fate
ordained that he should give the world a certain kind
of teaching, preparing it for the Christian era. He
\vas not an idolater. His teaching did not lead them
on as there were none of his followers to carry them
on. Some were more spiritual, but not more logical.
" He had more influence on women. They took
in his teachings more readily. He had a high idea
of women's nature, but his followers did not. lie did
not give much publicity to his sentiments, as woman
was not so important then as now. His followers are
not growing or spreading.
"It needed more of the true spirit — the Divine
spirit. It needed the Divine spirit to make it a suc-
cessful teaching — more faith. There was a lack
of the religious element. He regarded the higher
influences, but not with much of the devotional spirit.
Leaders in Religion. 61
( Q^. What is his present condition?) "In the
spirit world he has made great progress — what he
lacked here he has gained there. His influence on
the earth is powerful and effective. He is now in the
realm of Jesus, and would fall in with his doctrines.
(Qc What does he think now of woman?) k' He
desires that woman shall receive all the honors that
man can give her. He predicts that she will rise to
her proper status in all countries. The time will
come when there shall be no women slaves.
(Q^. How does he regard my labors?)
The answer was a cordial endorsement.
JOHN CALVIN — an Unfinished Sketch.
I placed the name of Calvin in her hands as that of
a man to be described, as I sometimes assist her pro-
gress by stating the sex which saves the trouble of
finding it for herself. My general method, however,
is to say nothing, leaving her to discover all. The sex
is not as conspicuous a fact to Psychometry as the
general character.
DESCRIPTION.
'• I feel that this is a person of great prominence —
great intellectual prominence. 1 don't think I know
anything of him. I feel a great working force in the
front brain. (She next described the cerebral action
as extending up from the outer part of the forehead
along the sidehead to the upper posterior region.)
"I feel that his mind took a wide scope. All his
faculties were brought into action in his life-work.
He is not alive. He had a stupendous intellect. He
aimed at power and attained it too. 1 do not admire
him. I think he was unscrupulous. His self-love
was very great. He was not a philanthropist — would
not sacrifice himself for anvthin<r.
62 Leaders in Religion.
" I think he had something to do with military
affairs and was at home in time of national distur-
bances. He had fine literary capacity and wrote
extensively. He had great originality of expression.
He is not like any one that I know. His mind was
versatile. He had a great repertoire of subjects. His
chief occupation was with the pen. He had much
scientific knowledge and an inventive mind."
(How was he regarded then and now?) " I could
tell more if I had his writing. His intellect was not
displayed in poetry."
(What were his religious ideas?) " He was an
innovator in religion — was iconoclastic. He had few
reformatory ideas such as Jesus taught. He had not
the spirit of Christianity. He was selfish. He would
not teach universal salvation. He had a peculiar doc-
trine of his own which he established. He believed
in a supreme being and a future life. He was not an
American. His ideas were not in harmony with ours.
He was a bigoted man. It is difficult for me to under-
stand him. His chief aim was to bring people to his
own way of thinking. If he had power he would
use unscrupulous measures to force people into his
views."
Thus far her answers came slowly and she seemed
so embarrassed and out of sympathy with the charac-
ter, in fact, feeling a positive disgust, that it was
necessary in justice to the occasion to discontinue the
investigation. As she said afterwards — it was like
pulling teeth to say any more about him. She has a
great aversion to describing evil characters and
though she does sometimes describe a wicked or
unprincipled character it is not her forte and she dis-
likes greatly such mental associations which leave an
unpleasant influence.
As far as she went, however, she struck Calvin's
Leaders in Religion. 63
true character. His grand, intellectual power and
literary ability are known to all. His selfish, unscrup-
ulous and tyrannical character, so widely different
from the character and teaching of Jesus, she correctly
stated, and in that we see why he was responsible for
the murder of Servetus by fire, and for the grand per-
version of Christianity from a system of love to one
of tyrannical cruelty.
SERVETUS, learned in law and physic, a fearless
champion of Unitarianism, and author of "Chris-
tianity Restored," incautiously trusted himself too near
the tiger, by stopping in Geneva on his way to Italy.
Calvin procured his arrest, trial and condemnation by
a Catholic tribunal to death by fire for heresy, which
was savagely carried out, October 27, 1553, with a
slow fire of green oakwood, on a hill near Geneva,
in full view of Nature's sublimities, before a large
throng of superstitious bigots.
•• That thrice accursed flame
Which Calvin kindled by Geneva's -lake."
MICHAEL SERVETUS — the Martyr.
4i This seems a person not living. There was a
good deal of ambition and will-power here, combined
with gentleness and forbearance. I get among the
manuscripts and books of a man. He has a taste for
literature and publication. lie takes me back far in
the past — yet he had many modern views upon sci-
ence and religion. He was a man of progressive ideas.
He had very strong prejudices. \Vlien he discovered
a truth he was independent and did not stop to think
whether it would meet the approbation of the public
— he challenged criticism. He seems an educator,
64 Leaders in RcJigion.
founding new doctrines. He was a religious man.
His views of the Deity were correct. He had no vin-
«/
dictiveness in himself, and could not find it in the
Deity. He was quite an innovator in the religion of
his time, though he may have had some remnants of
orthodoxy in his mind."
(What sort of a career did he have?)
"He had many storms to contend with — Intoler-
ance and bigotry reigned supreme, and he stood very
much alone. I consider him a great leader — he had
a small following. His ambition was to establish an
improved condition, but he lived in a period which had
not our facilities for improvement, and therefore had a
great deal of difficulty and anxiety. He did not live
to realize his hopes. He met opposition from the
church — the clergy were his greatest opposers — it
resulted unfavorably for him — he was arrested in his
career and imprisoned and condemned for heresies,
and he suffered — oh, how he suffered mentally and
physically ; but he never retracted his sentiments — he
suffered tortures of mind and body, and gave up his
life for his principle, like the old martyrs. Was this
Servetus? I feel that it was — T know his end — he
was burned."
(How did he regard Calvin?) " He considered
him a monster in his character, conduct and doctrines."
(You are right — it is Servetus.) " It is wonderful
-I only know that Servetus was a martyr, but not the
circumstances or its connexion with Calvin."
MARTIN LUTHER.
" This? seems a man — not living — it is very long
since he lived.
" It seems to me he was a leader of some kind —
there was a great deal of system in his work — lie
was a disciplinarian. His work was humanitarian
and reformatorv. It seems to me he was a spiritual-
Lenders in Religion. 65
ist, or believer in spiritual phenomena, though our
spiritualism did not exist then. lie was himself a
seer, for he saw enough to be able to prophesy. lie
had foreshadowings in his mind of things that took
place. I think he saw spirits and conversed with
them. (What kind of spirits?) Me saw both kinds,
but, I think, he saw especially spirits of the lower
and undeveloped class he might call them, in his
version, spirits of the damned, but I don't regard
them so. Thev were sensual, lustful and malicious
spirits. (Why did he have that class?) Because
his own mind dwelt on melancholy conditions. Some
might say they were fancies of his imagination, but
I think they were real spirits. When he felt in a
brighter condition he would commune with more
developed minds.
"He was taught by spiritual influences — gained
much instruction. He had great healing power. He
did a great deal for the spirits too, as well as mortals.
(What was the state of society in his day?) " It
was rather low as to morals and intellect — more
animal than spiritual. Their religion was of a low
character, no better than paganism — the kind of
religion that believes in offerings and sacriiices.
"He was a reformer — gave them more humane
doctrines — did away with their idolatries — labored
very hard, regardless of his own personal comforts,
lie succeeded in making himself understood, and
founded a new system of Christian religion. lie was
a follower of the doctrines of Jesus.
(What was his career and its results?)
•• He was denounced as an impostor by some, and
accepted by others. He suffered much, bodily ami
mentally, in his mission, but never swerved from his
principles. He taught the people more orally than
by his writings. He was a profound speaker — I
don't think very eloquent, but he had great physical
force and magnetism, that made his addresses tell.
66 Leaders in Religion.
He founded a system which has gone all over the
world, to some extent, and is among the leading
religions to-day.
" He suffered a good deal of persecution by mobs
and governmental power, which interfered very much
with his career. He wras not alone, he had friends
and adherents, men, too, who approximated to his
strength as teachers.
"He was educated as a Catholic, but he was a
Protestant."
(What did he think of the Devil?) " He believed
in a personal Devil and a Hell."
(How does he compare with Calvin?) " He was
a better man and would teach a more humane religion
- very different."
The life of Luther was full of spiritual experiences.
His healing power was shown in curing Melancthon
when he was apparently on his death-bed.
These psychometric studies are instructive.
Among the great nations of this century there is no
influential religious organization that really represents
the religion of Jesus, which was engulfed in the
paganism and political corruption of the Roman
Empire, losing all its essential characteristics, but
names, professions and historical memories. From
that deep immersion an attempt was made for its res-
cue by two great men, unfit except in their energy,
for such a task — one, a dark, malignant, capable of
the most horrid crimes — the other, a fanatical pessi-
mist to whom the ministry of angels seemed diaboli-
cal and modern astronomy a wicked falsehood.
When we look into these men psychometrically, we
understand why their revolution was not reformation
except so far as it shattered an ancient tyranny and
Leaders in Iteltgioii. 67
burned out an accumulated rottenness. Protestant
ecclesiasticism is but little nearer to Jesus than the
Roman. Everywhere it is identified \vith homicide
- it floats in the red tide of war, sanctifying it with
chaplains, with prayers for its success on both sides,
and with a preliminary sanction for the marshalling
of armies and declaration of war. We have just seen
two great nations on the brink of war, spending vast
sums for preparation, and not a remonstrance from the
church in either country or in any other country,
against the introduction of Pandemonium.
CAN WE CALL THIS CHRISTIANITY? This ecclesi-
asticism garlanded with bayonets and surrounded with
cannon ! Shall we call this organization Christian-
ity, the religion of Divine love (which would sutler
rather than inflict a wrong) because the innate virtues
of humanity gleam out through all forms of false-
hood, giving to all deadly ecclesiasticisms a beatitv
which is not their own.
No ! modern Christianity as an ecclesiasticism is a
dire apostacy, though it has not been able to destroy
that essential religion which is inseparable from human
destiny and which has found inspiration in the lan-
guage of the New Testament and lives of the found-
ers of Christianity.
How was it that the religion of Christ, St. John,
St. Peter and St. James became extinguished? To
answer this question I directed the psychometric power
to those who seemed to have resisted the bloody per-
version of Christianity which has ruled and still rules
the civilized nations. I directed the inquiry to the
Albigenses and Waldenses and obtained the following
O O
reports :
68 Leaders i)i Religion.
ALBIGENSES.
(This is not an individual nor a planetary body to
be explored, but relates to places and people.) " It
takes me a long distance over the sea. It is not in a
cold climate. The air seems balmy as I go. I go
into the interior of some foreign country. The peo-
ple are naturally peaceable, and don't care to affiliate
with other nations. If not disturbed they would
never go into wars. They have no warlike sur-
roundings. Their complexions are rather dark, I
do not know their origin. They have not much
domestic political rule among them, but may be sub-
ordinate to other powers.
" They may have had Christian missionaries, but
do not seem to understand Christianity. They believe
in a Deity. If they had opportunities they would fall
in with the Christian religion, but it has not been pre-
sented to them properly. They deal with each other
according to Christian principles and have no strife.
They are naturally humane. Originally they had
ideas foreign to Christianity, but as they advanced in
the centuries from their very ancient stock they par-
took of the teachings of Jesus rather than the forms of
Catholicism. They never were Catholics. They had
a good deal of fervor and adhesiveness to their doc-
trines and their people. Then there was a system of
coercion practiced by the Catholic dominion, which
unsettled them and broke up their organization, scat-
tered them and arrested their progress, but remnants
remained in their country and other countries."
(Was this in Europe, Asia or Africa ?) " I think in
Western Asia, Asia Minor, and South-Eastern Europe.''
WALDENSES.
" This seems to me the same class of people at a
later period more acquainted with Christian teachings
and obedient to the Christian system."
Leaders in Religion. 69
(Is there any connection between the two?)
" Yes, it seems the same party or sect; they might
be called descendants, both in doctrine and* blood
They do not seem different essentially. This people
are in such development they can receive advanced
teachings."
(What relation do they bear to the Catholics?)
" They respect the Catholic church to some extent,
but have Protestant principles.''
(How were they treated by the Catholics and
adjacent powers?)
" They were held in subjection by authorities who
thought they must be restrained. If they had been
let alone they would have been a peaceable and pro-
gressive people, I am sure of that. They were a
people to be led, not driven — they would yield to
persuasion. They feared the powers that controlled
them."
(How were they treated?) "They were easily
controlled by authoritv, but they were ill-treated."
(Here we were interrupted.)
(Resumed in the evening.) "They were ill-
treated by the religious powers — the Catholic
church, of which they were in fear. They were
under an oppressive hierarchy. A spirit of persecu-
tion was exercised — it might be called a traditional
persecution, which dispersed and drove them away.
They were robbed of their home, their people
dragged off to military service — a great deal of
misery was produced ; they were treated like slaves
or dogs. They resisted — the contest was not accord-
ing to the usages of war, but like butchery. Almost
the entire population was destroyed — many thou-
sands — and those that survived were enslaved."
" I feel that there was some interposition, but not
sufficient to protect them."
( Are there any remnants of them to-day ? ) " There
mav be a fewr — onlv a few.'
70 Leaders in Religion.
(What do you think of their system of religion if
it had been fairly developed.)
"It was humane and orderly — they remind me
of pilgrims seeking only to be at peace. They were
followers of Jesus, believed in immortality and return
of spirits or spiritual communion. They were a
finely organized people — intuitional, mediumistic.
They treated women well and recognized their
mf O
equality, being in advance of the present times."
(How do they compare with primitive Christianity
in its best form?)
" It was very like it. I see no real distinction.
Their most intelligent and intuitive people considered
themselves the lineal descendants of primitive Chris-
tianity. It gives me a lofty feeling when I study their
natures."
HENRI ARNAUD.
(How does this character impress you?)
" It gives me great stimulus in the intellectual pro-
phetic region of the brain. It is a far-seeing, far-
reaching mind — with the most humane principles,
without selfishness or ambition, except to do great
things for others. There is great strength and spiri-
tual power here."
(I felt this before she expressed it.)
kt I can't imagine what I am talking of but the
scenes come before me. He seems raised up for a
special purpose — a man who can sift the chaff from
the wheat. He was a protector to the weak and
unprotected, helpless and innocent. He did some-
thing for them. He gathered the remnants and took
them away by battle and strategy. He was a
religious teacher and humble, unselfish man — a
reformer, a true follower of Jesus."
Strictly true, and more might have been said.
HENRI ARNAUD was one of nature's nobility, worth
Leaders in Religion. 71
more than all the leaders of the Reformation. He
was the marvelously inspired and heroic man who
saved a remnant of the Waldenses, after they had
been persecuted and butchered with savage ferocity
from the bull of Innocent VIII., 1487, till their final
butchery in 1686, when a remnant of fourteen thou-
sand who could not escape, were captured and thrust
into cruel prisons from which only three thousand
issued alive.
The exploits of the Waldenses under their pastor.
ARNAUD, a man unacquainted with war, belong to
the loftiest realm of romance, and are more marvelous
than the deeds of the Spartans at Thermopylae. With
k* a handful of starving men," nine hundred in num-
ber, "few of whom had ever handled a musket,"
he " forced a passage of the bridge of Sababer-
tran against two thousand and rive hundred well
entrenched men, killing six hundred of them, and
losing only fourteen or fifteen." Less than four
hundred Waldenses made a long defence against
twenty-two thousand French and Piedmontese who
had come with ropes to hang them. It is said that
the Waldenses in nine clays fought eighteen battles
and destroyed ten thousand of their assailants with a
loss of only seventy men. The successful march of
Arnaud's band of nine hundred over the lake of
Geneva, and through mountains occupied by the
armies of French and Piedmontese, making prisoners
as he went and passing the bridge of Sababertran,
is unequalled in the annals of war. Their leaders
-ucre guided by intuition, and it was this intuition
which led Gen. Grant through his triumphant cam-
paigns.
72 Leaders in Religion.
The foregoing account of the Albigenses and Wal-
denses is, I have faith to believe, a true divination of
their origin and the fidelity with which they main-
tained the peaceful religion of Jesus, until battling
with martyr courage they were captured, butchered,
and exiled.
" O bloodiest picture in the book of Time! "
It is to be hoped that the feeble remnants of that
Christian people may prove the germs of a new
religious life for Italy and Switzerland.
The feeble efforts for their relief are mentioned in
the description. Among others, Cromwell and Mil-
ton endeavored to shield them. It was of them that
Milton wrote the immortal lines beginning :
" Avenge, O Lord, tliy slaughtered Saints whose bones
Lie bleaching on the Alpine mountains cold."
Let this volume of Psychometry give its feeble
assistance, not to avenge the victims, but to honor the
memory of the slaughtered followers of Jesus.
Still more eloquently might Milton have written
had he attempted to describe the prosperity and
refined civilization of the kingdom of the Incas in
South America, crushed into desolation by murder-
ous Spanish brigands in the name of a Christian
church. The hopeless ruin, the desolation, poverty,
and demoralization of Quito, and the surrounding
country, to-day controlled by priests, is an awful
illustration of the power of ecclesiasticism to con-
vert a divine religion into a desolating curse to
Leaders in Religion. 73
humanity. Against all such errors and crimes, Psy-
chometry pleads, trumpet-tongued. In this enlight-
ened age, and in our great republic, let us hope that
the doctrine and the life of divine love may reappear
with the firm and fervent love of the Jewish martyr-
prophets, combined with the ampler knowledge and
greater liberality of a more mature a^e.
cr* *- c*
When I reflect upon the power of Psychometry,
speaking as with a divine roice, calling up for inspec-
tion and judgment the world's religious bodies and
its numerous systems of religion — calling up for
judgment all who have aspired to lead mankind, and
passing in review the supernal life as well as the
earthly career, I am forcibly reminded of the
resemblance between this real judgment upon the
actual panorama of nations, and the juvenile fiction
cherished by theologians, of a boundless multitude
assembled on some future day to receive their indi-
vidual sentences of extreme bliss or extremes! misery
with nc intermediate fate. This imaginary tribunal,
if it gave but one minute to each mortal arraigned,
would require nearly three thousand years of un in-
termitting labor (twenty-four hours each day), fora
single generation such as we have on earth to-day.
The power of Psychometry on earth and in Heaven
- the universal perception of character in its naked
reality, is the real day of judgment, which all must
meet. It was well expressed by Mrs. F. O. Ilyzer
in her remarkable poem ou Psychometry.
" To thee tho sea shall yield its dead.
And to the housetop* ou« by olio
Tin1 secret deeds of man l>e led
74 Leaders in Religion.
"\Vitliin the closet done.
Thy records shall unquestioned lie
For none their truth will dare deny.
Nor to our planet's atmosphere
Is thy far-seeing power confined —
From world to world, from sphere to sphere
Of omnipotent mind,
Thy cables stretch and interwine
Charged with God's glowing fires divine.
The great negations of our race —
Hate, scorn, hypocrisy and lust,
Through thee shall sec God face to face,
And grovel in the dust,
Calling upon the mountains high
To hide them from His searching eve."
APPENDIX.
Til)-: FAMOUS PROPHECY OF CAZOTTK.
The belief in prophecy which has been entertained
by liberal-minded and religious persons from the most
ancient times, and which has been opposed chiefly by
modern animalism, is so well sustained by examples
of successful prophecy, that no well balanced and well
disciplined mind can reject it. Of course we cannot
recognize as well disciplined, the minds that yield
passively either to social vulgarism or to college dog-
matism.
The prediction of Monsieur Cazotte concerning the
events of the French Reign of Terror, recorded by
the celebrated writer, J. F. de La Harpe, the com-
panion of Voltaire, in his posthumous memoirs pub-
lished at Paris, 1806, is in several respects the most
satisfactory of modern prophecies. Prof. Gregory
^ays : " It was well known in all its details, both in
Paris and London, at times when everyone thought it
a mere dream. I have seen persons who heard of it
very soon after it was delivered, and who remembered
hearing it ridiculed in society as absurd. It is par-
ticularly worthy of notice that Cazotte, who was a man
of a very peculiar turn of mind, and much addicted to
the study of occult science, was also subject to fits of
abstraction, reverie or dreaming, in which lie seems
to have been clairvoyant, and that this was far from
71)
76 Appendix.
being the only occasion in which he uttered predic-
tions which were verified."
La Harpe says : "It appears to me but yesterday,
and yet it was early in 1788.* We were dining with
one of the members of our Academy, a man of rank
and talent. The guests were numerous, and of all
ranks ; courtiers, lawyers, writers, academicians, etc. ;
as usual, they had feasted. At desert, the wines of
Malvoisie and Constantia gave to the gayety of the
company that sort of license not always discreet ; they
had arrived at that pitch where anything was allow-
able to raise a laugh. Chamfort had read to us some
of his impious and libertine tales ; and the great ladies
had listened without having recourse to their fans.
Then arose a deluge of jokes on religion. One quoted
a tirade of La Pucelle, and then recollected these
philosophic verses by Diderot : —
" Et cles hoyruix du dernier p ret re
Serrer le eou du dernier roi,"
and applauded them. A third rose, and holding a
brimming glass said : ' Sirs, I am as sure that there
is no God, as I am that Homer is a fool ; ' and in fact
he was as sure of one as of the other.
" The conversation then became more serious ; they
were full of admiration at the revolution effected by
Voltaire, and agreed that he had thus won the high-
est title to glory. He had given the prevailing tone
to his age, and was equally read in the antechamber
and the drawing-room. One of the guests told us
with bursts of laughter that his hairdresser had said
to him : ' You see, sir, although I am no more than a
poor apprentice barber, I have no more religion than
the others.' It was agreed that the revolution would
soon be completed ; that superstition and fanaticism
* La ITarpo. who died in 1803, was forty-nine years of aj,'p, and :in
ardent Robeaplerrean republican when this prophecy was uttered. The
prophecy of Cazotte was attested not only by La Harpe, but by Madame
(.ienlis, The Countes.- Beauharnais, and others.
Appendix. 77
must absolutely give way to philosophy ; and we set
about calculating the probable time of its supremacy,
and who amon<£ them would witness the advent of the
O
age of reason. The aged lamented the improbability
of their beholding it, while the young rejoiced in the
hope of seeing it reach its meridian glory. The
Academy was above all congratulated on having pre-
pared the great work, and on having been the princi-
pal promoters of liberty of thought.
" One alone of the guests had not taken part in the
gaiety of the conversation, and had even passed a few
quiet jokes on our fine enthusiasm : it was Cazotte,
an amiable and original man, but unfortunately in-
fatuated with the reveries of the Illuminati. lie took
up the conversation, and in a serious tone said :
4 Gentlemen, be content ; you will all witness this
grand and sublime revolution that you so much desire.
You know I am a Itttle inclined to prophecy. I re-
peat, you will see it.' They replied by the well-
known line, ' No need to be a sorcerer to see that.'
* Be it so ; but perhaps a little of the prophetic spirit
is necessary to foresee what remains for me to tell
you. Do you know what will be the result of this
revolution — what will happen to you all? Do \;ou
know what will be the immediate practical effect, the
recognized consequence to all here present ! ' ' Ah,
tell us, 'said Condorcet, with his insolent and half sup-
pressed smile, * a philosopher is not sorry to encounter
a prophet.' ' For you, Monsieur de Condorcet, you
will die wretched on the floor of a dungeon ; you will
die of the poison that you will take in order to avoid
the block ; of the poison which the happiness of that
time will oblige you to carry about with you.'
"At first much surprise was exhibited, but tliev
presently recollected that the good Cazotte was sub-
ject to waking dreams, and they laughed heartily.
' Monsieror Cazotte, the tale that you have told is
not so agreeable as your Diablc Amourcitx " (a novel
of Cazotte's.)
78 Appendix.
" But what devil has put the dungeon and poison
and executioners into your head? What can that
have to do with philosophy and the reign of reason?"
" That is exactly what I am telling you ; it is in the
name of philosophy, of humanity and liberty, and
under the reign of reason that you will thus end your
career, and well may it be called the reign of reason,
for she will then occupy all the churches, and there
will not then be in all France any other temples than
those dedicated to the Goddess of Reason." " By
my faith (said Chamfort with a sarcastic laugh), you
will not be a priest in those temples." " I hope not,
but you, Monsieur de Chamfort, who will be one,
and a most worthy one, will open your veins with
twenty -two razor cuts, and yet you will not die for
some months afterwards." They looked at each
other and laughed again. " You, Monsieur Vicq
d'Azyr, will not open your own veins, but you will
have them opened six times in one day in an attack
of the gout, in order to be sure of your end, and you
will die in the night. You, Monsieur de Nicolai, will
die on the scaffold; you, Monsieur Bailly, on the
scaffold ; you, Monsieur de Malesherbes, on the scaf-
fold." "Ah, heaven be thanked (said Ruocher),
this gentleman, it seems, only wants the Academi-
cians, he has made a great slaughter ; and myself,
for mercy's sake?" "You? You also will die on
the scaffold." " Oh ! what a guesser ; he has sworn
to exterminate all of us." " No, it is not I who have
sworn." " But shall we then be conquered by Tar-
tars and Turks?" "No, not at all. I have already
told you, you will then be governed by philosophy
and reason alone. Those who will thus treat you
will all be philosophers ; will have at the time on
their tongues the same phrases that you have uttered
during the last hour ; will repeat all your maxims,
and, like you, will recite the verses of Diderot and
La Pucelle."
Appendix. 79
"Everybody was whispering, "you see he is
mad," for he was perfectly serious and solemn. " It
it easy to see that he is joking, and he always intro-
duces the marvelous into his jests." " Yes (replied
Chamfort), but his marvelousness is not gay; it
savors too much of the gibbet. But when is all this
to happen?" " Six years will not have passed before
all that I have said will be accomplished."
"You talk of miracles (and now it was I who
spoke), but you have not included me in your list."
" You will then be a miracle, no less wonderful, for
you will then be a Christian." At this there were
many exclamations of surprise "Ah, (said Cham-
fort), I am relieved. If we shall only perish when
La Harpe becomes a Christian we shall be immor-
tal." "As for us (then said Madame la Duchesse de
Grammont), women are very happy to rank for noth-
ing in revolutions. When I say for nothing, I do not
mean to say that we do not meddle a little, but our
sex is exempt." " Your sex, ladies, will not save
you this time ; you had better meddle with nothing,
for you will all be treated as men, without the least
difference.'' " But what do you mean, Monsieur
Cazotte? You are preaching to us the end of the
world." " I know nothing about that, but what I
do know is that you, Madame la Duchesse, will be
taken to the scaffold, you and many other ladies with
you, in the executioner's cart with your hands tied
behind your back." "Ah, I hope in that case I shall
at least have a carriage hunjr with black."
"No, madame ; ladies ol higher rank than your-
self will, like you, go in a cart with their hands
bound behind them." "Of higher rank! What!
Princesses of the blood ! " " Of still higher rank ! "
At this the company began to be agitated and tin-
brow of the host grew dark and lowering. All began
to feel that -the joke grew serious. In order to dispel
the cloud, Madame de (Jranr.ir>nt, instead of noticing
80 Appendix.
this reply, said in a lively tone: "You see he will
not even let me have a confessor." " No, Madame ;
neither you nor any one else will have one. The
last of the condemned who will have one, as a special
favor, will be - ' He hesitated. ' ' Well, who is the
happy mortal that will enjoy this prerogative? " "It
is the last that will remain to him — it will be the
kin<; of France."
o
"The master of the house hurriedly arose, and all
was confusion. Approaching M. Cazotte, he said to
him impressively: " My dear Monseiur Cazotte, we
have had enough of this mournful farce. You carry it
too far, and will not only compromise yourself, but
the whole company." Cazotte made no reply, but
preferred to depart. When Madame de Grammont,
who was always merry, turned towards him and said :
" Sir Prophet, you have told us all our good fortunes,
but you have said nothing of your own/' lie mused
for some time with his eyes cast down. " Madame,
have you read ' The Siege of Jerusalem in Jose-
phus?' "Oh, certainly, who has not? But tell
me as though I had not read it.'' " Well, Madame,
during the siege there was a man who, for seven days
and nights, walked the ramparts incessantly, in the
sight of besieged and besiegers, shouting in a sad
and loud voice : k Woe to Jerusalem ! ' and on the
seventh dav he cried : ' Woe to Jerusalem ! Woe to
«/ *J
myself! ' " at which moment an enormous stone cast
by the enemies' machines, struck him and crushed
him to death." On saying this, Cazotte bowed and
retired."
These predictions were wonderfully fulfilled. La
Ilarpe, from being a supporter of Robespierre,
became disgusted with the revolution and adopted
religious views. Bailly was executed in their usual
.savage style by the Jacobins, November, n, 1793.
His profound scientilic and historic writings, and his
Appendix. 8 1
eminent services as mayor of Paris, and as president
of the National Assembly, inspired no mercy in the
savages. The learned and exemplary Malesherbes
was arrested in December, 1793, and executed April
22, 1794. Thus both met their fate within the six
years allowed by Cazotte.
Of Chamfort, the brilliant wit and furious revolu-
tionist, Chambers' Cyclopedia says that he died in
1794 (within the six years of Cazotte). lie had
been once arrested for his reckless expressions, and
being threatened with a second arrest, he attempted
suicide with pistol and poignard, and, shockingly
hacked and shattered, dictated to those who came to
arrest him, the well known declaration: " I, Sebas-
tian Roch Nicholas Chamfort, declare that I would
soon suffer death as a freeman than be conducted as
a slave to prison." lie did not die immediately, but
lingered a while in the charge of a gen d'arme.
Roucher was put to death August 7, 1794, Cazotte
was executed September 25, 1792, and Vicq D'Azvr
died June 20, 1794.
Prof. Gregory says: '"When for the first time I
read this astonishing prediction, I thought that it was
only a fiction of La Ilarpe's, and that that celebrated
critic wished to depict the astonishment which would
have seized persons distinguished for their rank, tneir
talents, and their future, if several years before the
revolution, one could have brought before them the
causes which were preparing, and the frightiul con-
sequences which would follow. The enquiries which
I have since made and the information I have gained
have induced me to change my opinion. M. le
Comte, A. de Montesquieu, having assured me that
Madame de Genlis had repeatedly told him that she
had often heard this prediction related by M. de la
Ilarpe, 1 begged of him to have the goodness to
solicit from that lad}' more ample details. This is
her reply :
82 Appendix.
XoVE.MHEB, 1825.
" I think I have somewhere placed among my sou-
venirs, the anecdote of M. Cazotte, but I am not sure.
I have heard it related a hundred times by M. de La
Harpe, before the r -evolution , and always in the same
form as 1 have met with it in print, and as he, him-
self, has caused it to be printed. This is all that 1
can say or certify, or authenticate by my signature.
COUNTESS DE GENLIS.''
" I have also seen the son of M. Cazotte, who as-
sured me that his father was gifted in a most remark-
able manner with a faculty of prevision, of which he
had numberless proofs ; one of the most remarkable
of which was that on returning home, on the day on
which his daughter had succeeded in delivering him
from the hands of the wretches who were conducting
him to the scaffold, instead of partaking of the joy of
his surrounding family, he declared that in three days
he should be again arrested, and that he should then
undergo his fate ; and in truth he perished on the 25th
of September, 1792, at the age of seventy-two.
" In reference to the above narrative, M. Cazotte,
Jr. would not undertake to affirm that the relation ot
La Harpe was exact in all its expressions, but had not
the smallest doubt as to the reality of the_/fl?c/s.
" I ought to add that a friend of Vicq d' Azyr, an
inhabitant of Rennes, told me that that celebrated
physician, having travelled into Brittany some years
before the revolution, had related to him, before his
family, the prophecy of Cazotte. It seemed that not-
withstanding his skepticism, Vicq d' Azyr was uneasy
about this prediction.
A letter on this subject from Baron Delamothe
Langon, addressed to M. Mialle, gives additional con-
firmation as follows : —
" You inquire of me, my dear friend, what I know
concerning the famous prediction of Cazotte mentioned
Apjendix. 83
by La Ilarpe. I have heard Madame la Comtesse
de Beauharnais many times assert that she was pres-
ent at this very singular historical tact. She related
• •*•"*
it always in the same way, and with the accent ol
truth ; her evidence is fully corroborated by that of
La Harpe. She spoke thus, before all the persons
of the society in which she moved, many of whom
still live, and could equally attest this assertion. You
may make what use you please of this communication.
Adieu, my good old friend. I remain with inviolable
attachment. Yours,
BARON DKLAMOTHK LANGON.
To obtain the light of psychometry in understanding
the powers of Cazotte, I took down a report of Mrs.
B.'s impressions from the concealed words, " Monsieur
Cazotte at Paris, 1788," which were as follows: 'k I
feel an intellectual glow. It is a man of fine abilities
— of great individuality of character. I think he is
in the spirit world. He had remarkable powers —
powers of divination. It brings clearness and freshness
of thought. It seems like one before the public as a
leader or teacher. He seems of the past, sixty or
seventy years back or more. He lived in the last
century chiefly, very little in this. (lie died in 1792. )
"He had wonderful powers — he was so prophetic
and so sound. His powers were psychometric —
within himself — to make wise sayings. He felt
things that were to happen to people. He predicted
a great many things that occurred. He did not com-
prehend what gave him that power.
" He seems something like Swcdenborg. I don't
think he attributed his predictions to spirit power,
lie was not religious in the ordinary sense of the
word. lie had very peculiar views — he was rather
iconoclastic.
"He won many friends. lie was sought and re-
spected, lie was interested in governmental affairs.
84
but would be unpopular with the authorities. lie had
a careless way of expressing himself, and might pro-
voke the rabble, though he was rather a favorite with
the people. He was an aristocrat.
(What do you think of his prophetic power?) '*< I
think he seldom failed in his predictions. He was
very correct in giving the dates at which things would
occur. He would predict a person's death, and it
would occur as he predicted.
(How does he compare with other prophets ?) ' ' He
compares well with Daniel. lie was more correct,
and had a greater variety of power. He was ac-
quainted with astrology. He was very independent.
(What was the end of his life?) "• He was dealt
with harshly. He had persecution from priestly
sources. He was brought before some tribunal. The
priests considered him in league with the devil.
He was sought by societv, which created envy and
jealousy. Many went to him to know of the future.''
FREQUENCY OF 1'RE VISION".
I have not met with any examples of prevision quite
as remarkable in circumstance and dramatic force as
that of M. Cazotte, but I have had many illustrations
of a power equally distinct and satisfactory in its
predictions, in the experience of Mrs. 13., and of
others whom I have made acquainted with Psychome-
try. Mr. Charles Dawbarn, of New York, has been
especially successful in foreseeing future events and
conditions. He has made several predictions con-
cerning myself which have been accurately fulfilled :
one relating to my residence two years later, another
referring to the publication of this volume. About
six years since he was sitting with other guests in
the parlor of a Health Institute in Owego, New York,
Appendix. 85
when two ladies who had just arrived, were intro-
duced, being strangers to all but the hostess. Psv-
chometry soon became the subject of conversation,
when these ladies, mother and daughter, defied him
to look into their surroundings, Mr. D. turned to the
senior lady and said : "• Madam, in six months you
and your daughter will be working for a living. In
about eighteen months you will again be in comforta-
ble circumstances." Of course this wras deemed
incredible, but in due time it was fulfilled. Their
property had been in oil wells, which ceased to pro-
duce, and they had to open boarding houses to earn
their livelihood, but after eighteen months their prop-
erty became more valuable than ever, placing them
in independent circumstances. These details have
been verified by the ladies, whom I know to be intel-
ligent and reliable.
O
Early in 1882 Mr. Dawbarn fell in with an intelli-
gent ladv who was a student and candidate for gradu-
ation in a medical college, but depressed in spirits and
fearful of failure in her graduation. Mr. L). looked
into her future and assured her that she would pass a
creditable examination ; would then travel to the
West, make money rapidly and then send for her pre-
ceptor to associate with her in professional business.
This was all fulfilled ; I had the pleasure of signing
her diploma. She was financially successful, and has
associated with her preceptor in California.
Mr. Dawbarn 's descriptions of disease and of
character are as remarkable as his prevision. A gen-
tleman about a year ago asked his opinion of a
certain lady; Mr. 1). replied that she was a victim
of the opium habit. The gentleman was quite
shocked at this revelation, and made careful inquiries
of the lady and her friends, which satisfied him that
Mr. 1). was mistaken, but three weeks after telling
him that it was a mistake, he wrote to Mr. Dawbarn
from Saratoga that he had just ascertained that the
•' statement was a horrible truth."
86 Appendix.
About five years ago, a lady (the sister of a New
physician), living in an adjoining county, was quite
ill, and a consultation of physicians decided that they
could give her no relief. Her husband sent a lock of
her hair to her brother, the physician in New York,
for psychometric examination, who handed it to Mr.
Dawbarn. Mr. D. declared that the lady would give
birth to a monstrosity. The doctor considered this a
failure, but in six weeks from that time she was
relieved, by instruments, of a false conception, which
verified Mr. Dawbarn's prediction.
Mr. Dawbarn is sometimes bold and emphatic in
his opinions. When making New Year calls in 1880,
he was greeted in a New York mansion by a lady and
her daughter, who at that moment had no other call-
ers. The lady handed him a small note, an inch or
two square and asked him the character of the writer.
Mr. D. promptly pronounced the writer an unprinci-
pled scoundrel, who was paving his way to the state's
prison. The statement was very coldly received, and
Mr. D. quickly withdrew. The opinion he had given
led to a detective inquiry into the private life of the
man, who was beginning to pay attentions to the
young lady. It was discovered that he was leading
the life of a gross sensualist, and that under the guise
of respectable medical practice he was violating the
law in a manner which must result, sooner or later,
in criminal prosecution. Of course his further atten-
tions were declined.
Dr. S. J. Damon, of Massachusetts, whom I made
acquainted with Psychometry and Sarcognomy four
years since, has applied both sciences in his practice
with signal success, gaining for himself a very large
practice and an enviable reputation in diagnosis,
prognosis and cure — a success which he attributes
to his novel scientific instruction.
In the first week of May last, a lady called from a
distance with a lock of hair, to obtain his psychom-
Appendix. 87
etric opinion. He told her it \vas from a young lady
very low in consumption, and described her general
appearance — then announced that nothing could be
done for her, but to make her comfortable, as she
must die about the twenty-fifth. The lady who was
the mother, thought she would live much longer, and
in reply Dr. Damon said: "Your daughter will not
live until the twenty-fifth." Her brother called soon
after her death, and informed the doctor that she died
on the evening of the twenty-fourth at Wickford, R. I.
In another recent instance he was called upon by
Dr. G. with a letter from his wife. Dr. G. states the
result in his own language: "Dr. Damon began as
follows : ' I am taken away from here to a place,'
giving a full description of the house, color, sur-
roundings, etc., also the location of different objects
inside, together with a little lame boy crawling about
upon the floor. Finally he saw my wife. After
describing her accurately, he told me of all the
troubles of which she had complained. He also told
me I would move from there to a cottage, giving a
perfect description of the same, even to a description
of the men who were to move us, every part of which
was strictly true. This was some weeks before we
moved, and the place I had never seen before I
moved into it/'
A very large volume might be filled with such
illustrations of the intuitive perception, or spiritual
sight, and foresight of hundreds of psychometric
physicians and teachers in this country whose num-
bers will soon be increased to thousands, whose
instructive words will rouse the torpid intelligence
that has been paralyzed by the college and the
church — the reservoirs of ancient ignorance — in
whose malarious atmosphere no vigorous free thought
can flourish, and whose hostility against any new
truth is in proportion to its revolutionary and elevat-
ing power.
88 Appendix.
It would require an eloquent tongue, indeed, to
portray the consequences to humanity when the
divine element in man shall be recognized and
obeyed — when the unpardonable sin of striving to
repress the Holy Spirit shall cease to be repeated,
and nations shall yield to the guidance of the Divine
wisdom, incarnated in man, which comprehends the
future, and through which the noble words: " THY
KINGDOM COME," so often uttered, unmeaningly,
shall come to their fulfilment.
How magnificent the contrast between the vast
dark area of ancient history, in which we see nations
staggering along blindly into gulfs of destruction,
making all lands red with human blood, and all
private life a struggle and war between antagonistic
purposes, blindly pursued, and the enlightened ages
to come, in which the world shall be at peace, societv
in harmony, and all calamities averted by the far
seeing wisdom which comprehends this life and that
which is to come. That wisdom shall guide and
harmonize all things, and one of its most important
applications which I have not yet mentioned (this
little volume being inadequate to doing justice to my
themes), is the parental guidance of youth.
THE DESTINY OK Til]-: YOUNG
Is the most important thought that dwells in the
parental mind. For them we toil and to them we
leave our names and the external fruits of our life
work, as well as the interior powers of our souls.
We would fain know if their feet are to tread in paths
of honor or dishonor, of happiness or misery, and if
we can do aught to determine their fate with cer-
tainty.
Psychometry gives this far seeing comprehension,
and loving mothers by the million will hereafter seek
its guidance and consolation. The younger the child
Appendix. 89
the more uncertain its parents must be as to its char-
acter and destiny, and almost as uncertain concerning
the discipline and direction that should be adopted.
Having received the photograph of an interesting
child, whose future I wished to foresee, for the sake
of the parents, I placed the picture in the hands of
Mrs. B., who, in such cases, never sees the picture
but only touches it. The following is the impression
that she gave, and the subsequent life of the boy cor-
responds thus far with her opinions.
" I like this influence. It brings a pleasant impres-
sion. It seems youthful — not an advanced mind.
It seems a precocious mind of very strongly marked
traits of character, but the faculties are not unfolded.
It seems like a child.
" It has a maturity we do not often see It lias
the germ of a distinguished manhood. lie seems
well, but not of a robust organization. They will
nave to be. careful not to overcrowd him in his
studies, and to keep him back rather than push
ahead.
" There is great amiability of disposition, which
is natural to him. He is very sensitive and will sut-
ler a great deal from not being understood as he
grows up. He is not calculated for the rough and
tumble of life, but lives in the interior — in the spirit.
" If he lives and is not cramped or forced to an
unnatural position, he will unfold superior qualities
and be very independent. If lie has opportunities,
he will probably be a reformer in his views, and
philanthropic. He will be studious and desire a
profession rather than a business life.
" They must be careful of this child until he is
seven years old, for his organism is not strong, and
" . • ...
must not be taxed. His intellect is too active for his
body. He should be out of doors to play ball and
other games and sports — not shut up with a book.
He may take a fancy to some of the arts but I do not
think he would like it as a profession.
90 Appendix.
" He has u very spiritual development and religious
tendency, but is not likely to be a clergyman. If he
decides for himself, theology would not be his choice*
I would like to make a statesman of him. He will
be a good speaker, and would like to understand
governmental matters and look deeply into all sub-
jects.
" He is not in the least selfish, but is a self-reliant
character when left to act for himself — yet is liable
to yield too much to the wishes of his parents. He
should be thrown upon his own resources early in
life."
Such children will often be born when matrimonial
unions are guided by psychometric wisdom, and
when they are placed under the developing and
ennobling influences of truly intellectual, industrial
and love-inspiring schools, as illustrated in my work :
" MORAL EDUCATION," the world's redemption from
the ancient tyranny of poverty, pestilence,, crime and
war, will be accomplished. Science, wisdom and
love shall rule the world under a smiling Heaven.
Until that time arrives, let us pray by earnest labor
in diffusing truth,
"THY KINGDOM COME.
Announcements. 91
IMPORTANT WORKS
Published by Prof. Buchanan.
THERAPEUTIC SARCOGNOMY.
The American JIonifKopathist of December, 1884, gives the
following editorial notice of this volume : —
"Of the very highest importance in the healing art is a
work just issued by the venerable Professor Buchanan. We
have read the book from cover to cover with unabated
attention, and it is replete with ideas, suggestions, practical
hints, and conclusions of eminent value to every practitioner
who is himself enough of a natural physician to appreciate
and apply them. The word Sarcognomy was coined by
Prof. Buchanan, in 1842, to express in a word the recogni-
tion of the relations existing between the body and the
brain. He advances the idea that the whole body is expres-
sive ; that the entire form is an embodiment of character ;
that each part of the envolving surface not only possesses a
physiological characteristic but psychological powers ; that
each portion of this cutaneous surface exercises, through
the nervous system, a direct action upon some particular
part of the brain ; and that these facts, now for the first
time properly elucidated, may be advantageously used in
the treatment of disease. Having been cognizant of the
very valuable and original work accomplished by Professor
Buchanan in physiology, and having seen him demonstrate
many times on persons of all grades of intellectual and phy-
sical health the truths he here affirms, the subject has lost
the sense of novelty to us, and is accepted as undoubtedly
proven. But to the majority of physicians these views,
differing as they do radically from text-book knowledge and
college instruction, will seem at first imaginative and fanci-
ful. They will, however, stand the test of practical experi-
ence. They will repay study, and will add largely to the
successful performance of professional service. No physi-
cian can afford to ignore the help proffered by this new
philosophy. Upon the psychic function of the brain. Prof.
9 2 Announcements.
Buchanan is the highest living authority. The leading idea
of his philosophy is that life belongs to the soul, and not to
the body. This is antagonistic to the views of most scien-
tists of the day ; but it nevertheless deserves consideration,
and will ultimately find acceptance. We hope that this work
may have a wide sale among the medical profession, for
wherever it goes we may expect as a consequent, improved
methods in the art of healing."
THERAPEUTIC SARCOCNOMY met with an unexpectedly
favorable reception, and the whole edition was sold out in
four months, since which Dr. B. has purchased back a few
copies to supply his friends.
Parties who cannot be supplied at present will, if they
send their orders to the author this year (1885), be supplied
at $2.00 from the next edition, the regular price being 82.50.
THERAPEUTIC SARCOGNOMY furnishes the scientific guid-
ance necessary in magnetic and electric practice, to which it
is as necessary as anatomy is to surgery.
The Psycho-Physiological Chart of Therapeutic Sarcog-
nomy 21x31 inches is sold by the author at 81.00 and
sent by mail.
MORAL EDUCATION.
Two editions of this work have been sold. No work on
the subject of education has ever received more enthusiastic
commendation, of which the following expressions are an
illustration :
Rev. B. F. Barrett, OTIC of the most eminent writers of liis church, says :
" We are perfectly charmed^ witli your book. I regard it as by far the
most valuable work on education ever published. You have herein for-
mulated the very wisdom of heaven on the highest and most momentous
of all themes. Your work is destined, in my judgment, to inaugurate u
new era in popular education. It contains more and higher wisdom on
the subject of which it treats than all the other books ever written on
education."
" The originality of this work is remarkable. It is one of those works
which, like Bacon's ' Novum Organum,' or llahneman's ' Organon,' com-
pels us, if we accept it, to make a new departure from old methods and
principles." — Health Monthly.
"A copy of it should be in every household and on every teacher's
desk. The twelfth chapter relates to ' Ventilation and Health",' and con-
tains matters of such vital importance that, were it all tin book contained,
it would more than compensate the reader for any outlay of time or
money he may have made upon it — a needed book, whose teachings
would lift humanity out of darkness into light." — Newmarket Advertiser.
Copies may be obtained by remitting the price ($1.50) to
the author, 21) Fort Avenue, Boston.
Announcements. 93
ANTHROPOLOGY.
The edition of this work, published in 1854, was speedily
sold. The author hopes to issue a greatly improved and
enlarged edition in 188G. All who are interested in the
subject are requested to send their address in advance to the
ruithor, which will entitle them to receive the work when
issued, at a discount of twenty per cent, from the price.
The language of the press when this work was issued was
highly eulogistic. The North American Review, New York
Tribune, National Era, Cincinnati Times, Louisville Jour-
nal, the Scalpel, the Homoeopathic and Eclectic Medical Jour-
nals, and many other publications contained reviews of this
work, giving it a high rank for ability and originality.
The Cincinnati Daily Times said : " The author has long
been known as a distinguished professor of physiology,
whose name is identified with one of the most remarkable
discoveries of the age, the impressibility of the brain. We
are confident Buchanan's " Anthropology ' will soon suj e:--
sede the fragmentary systems of Gall and Spurzheim, the
metaphysicians and phrenologists."
"Beyond all doubt, it is a most extraordinary work, ex-
hibiting the working of a mind <.f no common stamp. Close
students and hard thinkers will find it a rich treat — a deep
and rich mine of thought." — Gosjtd Herald.
This work presents Dr. Buchanan's experimental dis-
covery and demonstration of the entire nature of man — all
the faculties of his soul, their location in the brain and sym-
pathetic relations to the body, constituting, 1. CKKEBKAL
PSYCHOLOGY (a higher development of phrenology), 2. CEU-
KP.KAL PHYSIOLOGY (relation of the brain to the physiological
functions in the body), 3. SARCOGXOMY (expression of psy-
chic life in the body), and 4. PATHOGNOMY, the fundamental
philosophy, and laws of the relations of the pyschic and
physical in the constitution of man and throughout the uni-
verse, which not only gives an exact philosophy to physiol-
ogy, but developes the laws of expression and oratory, of
physiognomy, and of all expression in art.
It is impossible in any brief statement to give a just con-
ception of the magnitude and grandeur of the new Anthro-
pology, which supersedes by positive science, all the specu-
lative philosophies of the universities, and of current
literature.
94 Announcements.
BUCHANAN'S JOURNAL OF MAN.
This unique magazine was published at Cincinnati for six
years, and received by the enlightened with enthusiastic ap-
probation. The language -of the press was highly lauda-
tory. It was devoted to human welfare and progress, and
the original views and discoveries of the editor — subjects
that interest most deeply every philanthropic and philo-
sophic mind. As soon as other engagements permit, its
publication will be resumed — a monthly, at $2 per annum.
The friends of progress are requested to send their address,
and will receive the prospectus when first issued.
LANGUAGE OF TIIK PRESS. — "In our humble opinion
there does not live in this country a more profound and
original thinker than Prof. Buchanan." {Memphis Express.)
" He has cast more light upon mental philosophy than all
the metaphysicians combined, fiom the days of Aristotle
down to Upham, of our time." (Plain Dealer, Iowa.) " It
is a rare thing to see as much really worthy of the name of
thought as is presented in each number of this monthly."
(llhiminati.) " This sterling publication is always welcome
to our table. Many of its articles evince marked ability
and striking originality." (National Em, Washington City.)
"After a thorough perusal of its pages, we unhesitatingly
pronounce it one of the ablest publications in America."
(Brandon Post.) "It is truly refreshing to take up this
monthly." (Capital City Fact.) "More of new, varied,
and useful information in relation to man's physical and
mental constitution can be obtained from this work than
from any with which we are acquainted." (Toledo Republi-
can.) "We rejoice that they are in the hands of one so
well qualified as the editor of this journal, to do them jus-
tice, both by his indomitable spirit of research, his cautious
analysis of facts, and his power of exact and vigorous ex-
pression." (New York Tribune.)
PSYCHOMPTTRIC INVESTIGATIONS.
Mrs. Cornelia II. Buchanan continues the practice of Psy-
chometry , at 21) Fort Avenue, Boston, with the uniform success
which has heretofore attended her labors. TKKMS, personal
interview — not exceeding an hour — $2. Written opinions
of one person or subject, 83. Elaborate opinions and coun-
sel, 85.
589
THE LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
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