answer, though correct, was in words which the Professor was not expecting. The one experiment was purely negative and inconclusive, the other positive; and I cannot understand how so logical a mind as that of Mr. G. H. Lewes can put the two results even in the category, much less allow the negative evidence to prevail.-I am, Sir, &c., ALFRED R. WALLACE.

APPENDIX P.

"We were requested by a lady who had known Mr. Foster in America, to accompany her and her son-in-law (an eminent London Physician) on a visit to Mr. Foster, who had arrived in London only a few days previously. We were not introduced to him by name, and we do not think that he could have had any opportunity of knowing our person. Nevertheless, he not only answered, in a variety of modes, the questions we put to him respecting the time and cause of the death of several of our departed friends and relatives, whose names we had written down on slips of paper which had been folded-up and crumpled into pellets before being placed in his hands; but he brought out names and dates correctly, in large red letters, on his bare arm, the redness being produced by the turgescence of the minute vessels of the skin, and passing away after a few minutes, like a blush. We must own to have been strongly impressed at the time by this performance; but on subsequently thinking it over, we could see that Mr. Foster's divining power was probably derived from his having acquired the faculty of interpreting the movements of the top of a pen or pencil, though the point and what was written by it was hid from his sight, with the aid of an observing power sharpened by practice, which enabled him to guide his own movements

by the indications unconsciously given by ourselves of the answers we expected. For though we were fully armed with the knowledge which had been acquired of the source from which Mrs. Hayden drew her inspiration, and did our utmost to repress every sign of anticipation, we came, on reflection, to an assured conviction that Mr. Foster had been keen-sighted enough to detect such signs, notwithstanding our attempt to baffle him. For, having asked him the month of the death of a friend, whose name had previously appeared in red letters on his arm, and the year of whose death had also been correctly indicated in another way, he desired us to take up the alphabet-card and to point to the successive letters. This we did, as we believe, with pendulum-like regularity; nevertheless, distinct raps were heard at the letters J, U. When, however, on the next repetition, we came to L, M, N, Mr. Foster was obviously baffled. He directed us to try-back two or three times, and at last confessed that he could not certainly tell whether the month was June or July. The secret of this was, that we did not ourselves recollect.

66 Wishing to clear up the matter further, we called on Mr. Foster, revealed ourselves to him in propria personâ, and asked him if he would object to meet a few scientific investigators, who should be allowed to subject his powers to fair tests. As he professed his readiness to do so, we brought together such a meeting at our own house; and previously to Mr. Foster's arrival, we explained to our friends the arrangements we proposed. One of these was, that one of the party should sit outside the 'circle,' and should devote himself to observing and recording all that passed, without taking any part whatever in the performance. Another was, that instead of writing down names on slips of paper, whilst sitting at the table within Mr. Foster's view, we should write them at a side-table, with our backs turned to him. On explaining these arrangements to Mr. Foster, he

immediately said that the first could not be permitted, for that every person present must form part of the circle. To the second he made no objection. After handing him our slips of paper carefully folded-up, we took our seats at the table, and waited for the announcement of spiritual visitors. The only one, however, who presented himself during an hour's séance, was the spirit of our own old master, whose name Mr. Foster might very readily have learned previously, but about whom he could give no particulars whatever. Not one of the names written on the papers was revealed.

"The patience of our friends being exhausted, they took their leave; but as Mr. Foster's carriage had been ordered for a later hour, we requested him to sit down again with the members of our own family. 'Now,' we said, ' that these incredulous philosophers are gone, perhaps the spirits will favour us with a visit.' We purposely followed his lead, as on our first interview, and everything went on as successfully as on that occasion; until, whilst the name of a relative we had recently lost was being spelled out on our alphabet-card, the raps suddenly ceased on the interposition of a large musicbook, which was set-up at a preconcerted signal so as to hide the top as well as the bottom of our pointer from Mr. Foster's eyes. Nothing could more conclusively prove that Mr. Foster's knowledge was derived from observation of the movements of the pointer, although he could only see the portion of it not hidden by the card, which was so held as to conceal the lower part of it; and nothing could be a better illustration of the principle of unconscious ideomotor action,' then the fact, that whilst we were most carefully abstaining from any pause or look from which he might derive guidance, we had enabled him to divine the answer we expected. The trick by which the red letters were produced was discovered by the inquiries of our medical friends."(Quarterly Review, October 1871, p. 332.)

APPENDIX Q.

MR. BRAID ON THE INFLUENCE OF SUGGESTION AND
EXPECTANCY.

"The most curious and important fact of all, however, is this, that by engendering a state of mental concentration, by a simple act of sustained attention, fixed upon some unexciting and empty thing,- for poverty of object engenders abstraction,'-the faculties of the minds of some patients are thereby thrown out of gear, (i.e., their ordinary relations are changed,) so that the higher faculties-reason, comparison, and will, become dethroned from their supremacy, and give place and power to imagination, (which now careers in unbridled liberty,) easy credulity, and docility or passive obedience; so that, even whilst apparently wide awake, and conscious of all around, they become susceptible of being influenced and controlled entirely by the suggestions of others, upon whom their attention is fixed. In fact, such subjects, are in a sub-hypnotic condition,-in that intermediate state between sleeping and waking, when the mind becomes wavering, the attention off duty, or engrossed with a predominant idea, so that, in reality, the subjects are only half conscious of what is passing around; and their minds, therefore, become easily imposed upon by any suggestion, audibly expressed or visibly exhibited before them. Thus they may be made to perceive, and mistake for realities, whatever mental illusions or ideas are suggested to them. In common parlance they see and feel AS REAL, and they consider themselves irresistibly or involuntarily fixed, or spell-bound, or impelled to perform whatever may be said or signified by the other party upon whom their attention has become involuntarily and vividly riveted, until a new idea has been suggested, by which the spell is broken, and the subject is left in a condition again to be subjugated and controlled by other suggestions of his tem

porary fascinator. This is just similar to what we see occurring to anyone spontaneously engaged in deep abstraction, who is instantaneously aroused to consciousness of all around by a tap on the shoulder, or by a word sharply addressed to him.

"It requires considerable tact to manage this, adroitly and successfully, with some patients; for the will and belief of certain subjects can only be successfully subjugated and controlled by an earnest and energetic, and confident and authoritative manner, on the part of the operator; such as by his insisting that such and such MUST be the case, according to his audible suggestions, or visible manœuvres for influencing the subjects through the power of sympathy and imitation. I have had ample evidence to convince me of the fact, that, in cases where these waking illusions and delusions could not be excited by giving the suggestions in an apparently doubting tone of voice, or with a hesitating manner, they became quite efficient for the purpose, the instant I assumed a commanding and confident tone of voice and deportment. By these means the Reason and Will become temporarily paralysed; they lose their freedom of action, through the mind being so much engrossed by the suggested thought, as to allow every idea which has been vividly and energetically addressed to such individual, to assume all the force of present reality,-just as we know to occur spontaneously, in case of monomania and delirium tremens.” (See Braid On Magic, Witchcraft, Animal Magnetism, Hypnotism, and Electro-Biology, 1852, pp. 65-67.)