Telepathy, Genuine and Fraudulent

by W. W. Baggally

Besides the method used by Yoga Rama for producing his so-called thought transference, there are others resorted to by public entertainers. The one most in use is by means of a verbal code. The letters of the

alphabet are substituted and a word can be conveyed by the agent asking a series of questions, each question beginning with a substituted letter. The percipient has to remember what letters the substituted ones represent; he takes note of the first letter only of each question, puts them together in his mind, and thus gets the word that it is the intention of the agent to convey.

I have made a table (shown opposite) which shows one of these systems.

If the name "Alfred" is to be conveyed, it can be done by the following questions:—

Here is a name	= A
Can you see it?	= L
Endeavour to do so	= F
Mind what you are doing	= R
Go on	= D
The letter E is understood.

TABLE

SUBSTITUTED LETTERS TABLE A is H J is L S is N B " T K " Pray T " P C " S L " C V " Look D " G M " O W " R E " F N " D X " See this F " E O " V Y " Q G " A P " J Z " Hurry H " I Q " W I " B R " M

NUMBERS TABLE No. 1 is Say " 2 " Be " 3 " Can " 4 " Do " 5 " Will " 6 " What " 7 " Please " 8 " Are " 9 " Now " 10 " Tell

SETS Set A Set B Set C Set D What is this? What article is this? What is it made of? What colour? No. 1. Watch No. 1. Handkerchief No. 1. Gold No. 1. White " 2. Bracelet " 2. Necktie " 2. Silver " 2. Black " 3. Guard " 3. Bag " 3. Copper " 3. Blue " 4. Chain " 4. Glove " 4. Lead " 4. Brown " 5. Breastpin " 5. Purse " 5. Zinc " 5. Red " 6. Necklace " 6. Basket " 6. Wood " 6. Green " 7. Ring " 7. Book " 7. Brass " 7. Yellow " 8. Rosary " 8. Head-dress " 8. Paper " 8. Grey " 9. Cross " 9. Fan " 9. Silk " 9. Purple " 10. Charm " 10. Key " 10. Glass " 10. Violet

The transmission of the nature of an article is by dividing articles that would be likely to be brought to a public entertainment into sets of ten, each set being indicated by a different question. These sets have to be learned by heart by the agent and the percipient. I give in the table four sets to illustrate my meaning. After asking the question which conveys the set to which the article belongs, a second question is asked, beginning with the word corresponding to the number on the number table. This will indicate what number in the set the article corresponds to. As an example: when the question "What is this?" is asked, it means that the article corresponds to Set A. If the second question begins with "Do," such as "Do you know?", this question on referring to the number table would mean No. 4; therefore the article would be a chain. Now, if the question "What is it made of?" is asked, it would refer to Set C, and if this question is followed by "Can you tell me?", on referring to the number table it will be found to correspond to No. 3; therefore the article would be a chain made of copper. When an article is not in any one of the sets the substituted letter code is used. Of course public entertainers learn by heart a number of sets, not only four.