FAITH-HEALING
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prominent lawyer of the city of New York, another a recent graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School, and the third the bookkeeper in a large establishment. Nothing was done by the experimenter during the interval after these persons closed their eyes and clasped their hands, save to wait in silence and require silence from spectators. Among those who witnessed and critically studied these phenomena with the writer were Professor Fuertes, Dean of the Department of Civil Engineering in Cornell University, whose letter, herewith printed,[1] explains itself; Mr. Henry R. Towne, before mentioned; the Rev. Dr.
- ↑ Dr. J. M. Buckley. Dear Sir: My recollection of the "séance" referred to in your letter of the 25th ult. is not as distinct in some points as in others you do not mention. The study of psychology is so important that it is necessary to be exact beyond measure in order not to mislead. An immense amount of rubbish has been piled upon slender foundations in the study of psycho-genesis, and no progress can be made so long as people assent easily to become witnesses with external aid to recollect facts which happened long ago. I am very positive as to the truth of the following facts: I belonged to a literary club, composed of the most cultivated people residing in Stamford in 1864-71. At one of our meetings, I was present when you performed some experiments upon ten or fifteen of its members by asking them to stand in a circle, with closed eyes, and holding their hands before their faces as in the conventional attitude for praying; the gas was partly turned down. Some of the members of this group laughed, and you peremptorily excluded them from the circle, as previously agreed upon. A short time afterward one of my neighbors began to breathe hard, and he was followed by several others, who gave indications, plainly visible, that something unusual was happening to them. If human testimony is to be depended upon at all, I am sure that the social position of the persons so affected, their high culture, refinement, and surroundings, entitled their actions to be believed, as representing truthfully the conditions causing their strange behavior, even if the following circumstances did not reinforce the necessity of believing their candid sincerity in this question. One of the first "subjects" was a young lady,
