"FAKE DEMONSTRATIONS" EXPOSED.
In concluding this part of the book, we wish to warn our students against some of the so-called "Mind Readers" who are travelling around the country giving exhibitions of so-called Mind Reading which while interesting enough in themselves are nothing but cleverly devised devices intended to counterfeit the genuine phenomena. The majority of these performers have a series of cleverly arranged "signal-codes" by which the confederate conveys to the "Mind Reader" the name and description of the article handed to the former by some one of the audience. One of the principal performers in this line in this country had a signal-code of over five-thousand objects, which he and his confederate had carefully memorized. This code was worked by the plan of asking the blindfolded "Mind Reader" to name the object. You can see the possibilities of this when you remember the many different ways in which the same question may be asked, and when you remember that each word, and combination of words, conveys a distinct and separate meaning to the blindfolded one.
Others employ sleight-of-hand, and legerdemain, in order to produce the illusion. Prepared pads of paper upon which questions are written, and similar means, are commonly used in such exhibitions. We do not purpose going into this matter in detail, for such is not the purpose of this work. But we think it well to call the attention of our students to the same, in order that they may get a clue to some of the various counterfeit exhibitions of Mind Reading which are being advertised by some of the public performers. There are other public performers, however, who give fine exhibitions of the genuine phenomena. The student of this work should have acquired a sufficient knowledge of its underlying principles to enable him to distinguish between the genuine and the spurious when he sees an exhibition. If any wish to know more of the counterfeit, there are many good works published on "Legerdemain" which will satisfy his curiosity.
LESSON VIII.
HIGHER PHENOMENA.
In the demonstrations described and explained in the previous parts of this work, the mental impressions travel from one mind to another over the channels of the "telegraphic wires" of the nervous system of the Transmitter and Receiver. In other words the Mind Reading that is employed in the feats and demonstrations given, is akin to the ordinary "telegraphic current" travelling over the wires from sending station to receiving station—the nervous system of the two persons furnishing a very close counterpart to the telegraphic wire, etc. But there is a step beyond this—many steps in fact. While the "Contact Mind Reading" which we have described and explained is surely wonderful enough to attract the attention of all thinking minds, still when the advanced student passes on to the field of the Higher Phenomena he is destined to meet with marvelous results which in some cases almost surpass belief. This Higher Phenomena of Mind Reading, or "Telepathic Mind Reading," when compared to the Contact Mind Reading, is as the "wireless telegraph" when compared to the ordinary telegraph using wires.
In [Lesson I], of this book, we have given you the theories held by scientific men regarding the nature of the waves or currents that proceed from one mind to another, and the mechanism by which these waves are registered. We think it will be interesting to many of you to know that certain Occultists have their own theory regarding this matter, which while not widely known is still of the greatest interest to earnest students of the scientific side of the subject. We allude to what is known as "The Pineal Gland" theory.
The Pineal Gland is a small gland, cone-shaped, and of a reddish-gray color, situated in the brain about the middle of the skull, nearly above the top of the spinal column. It is a compact mass of nervous matter, containing a quantity of what has been called "brain-sand," which is composed of very small particles of gritty matter. The anatomists and physiologists confess their ignorance of the function and purpose of the Pineal Gland, and it remains for the Occultists to explain its real nature, which is the receiving and registering of the waves or currents, or vibrations of thought and Will received from another person. This Pineal Gland is, according to the Occultists, the receiving instrument for the "wireless Mind Reading," and in fact it resembles the actual receiver of the wireless telegraph in more than one respect.