Thought reading is very easy if a person is visible, and rascals begin from a distance, and finally operate between hypnotics out of sight.
They seem in this first to catch a person when he passes a window. This shows that they are susceptible to the amount of light, as well as that a thick wall is a greater obstacle than a pane of glass. They thus too may partly distinguish environment, though this is perhaps learned by practice.
Ear and eye and muscular feeling are all weighed. A strong man much hypnotised in this way, will notice that a diminished light will relieve him, although previously he paid little attention to any glare, even up to the age of forty.
Residence changed from a ground floor to a lofty room would often cause unusual relief. On a church tower this would be felt even more.
The noise of London, and the fact that people hanging about are watched, are checks to the early operations of criminal hypnotists.
Music is probably an excellent antidote. A feeling of stupidity, given even for a second, would probably give a boy a wrong idea of himself, and even repeated successes would not quite efface this.
The Japanese system of wrestling lately introduced shows how powerful a touch on a nerve may be in weakening a man. Such a touch transferred or propelled, may for a long time aid hypnotisers from a distance, though it would be in time disregarded or little regarded.
Calculative work is better suited than imaginative work to free the brain. I would urge inquirers to ask themselves, whether Mrs. Piper's doings could be accounted for in any other way than that suggested.
Clairvoyance is seemingly mere guess-work, the imagination being heightened temporarily rather than depressed by the hypnotic pressure. Mr. Vincent's analysis of mental reactions is invaluable. A hypnotised person does not go on to the analogies, which may be quite obvious from a suggestive word.
This resembles the habit of some religious persons who build on one text of the Bible, completely neglecting the modifying and explanatory text that immediately follows. The subject is grossly credulous, and is deprived of much fruitful time for thinking.