To A. T. M.
Appearance
- "To A. T. M." in Lapsus Calami (1st edition, April 1891)
- "To A. T. M." in Lapsus Calami (4th edition, August 1891)
A parody of Frederic W. H. Myers, first published as "Telepathy" in The Reflector, 22 January 1888. Myers was a founder of the Society for Psychical Research and the coiner of the word telepathy. The reference here is to experiments in which a subject would undergo an experience to see whether a psychic in a neighbouring room could pick it up through some form of extrasensory perception. In this case taste is presumably being tested, and the subject (Arthur Thomas Myers, the poet’s younger brother and a well-known physician, known as "The K" to family and friends) sucks a peppermint to see whether a telepathist in another room could detect what he was tasting.