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Copyright 1913, by the Star Company. Great Britain Right* Reserved.
Exploits
great French society devoted to the study of
human magnetism and experimental psy
chism They are the equivalent of the Eng
lish and American psychical research stu
dents, but are receiving much more public
attention and credit.
This French society includes over one
hundred physicians in good standing, pro
lessors of the universities and well-known
men of sclenci I'hey are investigating every
form of ancient black magic, including the
production of ghosts, the forecasting of the
future, the transmutation of metals and the
use of the divining rod.
They aim to unveil the mysteries of life,
to harmonize the apparently supernatural
with scientific laws and furnish scientific ex
planations of all the remarkable things they
have accomplished. They point out that the
object which the ancient alchemists aimed at
has been accomplished by Sir William Ham-
say in transmuting radium into helium, and
they argue that It is reasonable to expect
that other marvels scoffed at by the very
sceptical, recent generation of science will
be proved possible.
They give much attention to the study of
the obscure radiations of the human body.
They" 1 find that these radiations can Impress
a photographic negative in the dark and
produce many other physical effects. They
have been observing one woman whose body
possesses powers similar to pure radium.
She is. consequently, able to cure many germ
diseases by mere contact with the sufferers,
according to these investigators.
Perhaps the most extraordinary experiment
of these sorcerers consisted in preserving,
or "tnumifying." a dead human hand by mak
ing magnetic passes over it. Or. Gaston Our-
vllle, who conducted the experiments, re
ports that they were amazingly successful,
and offers a series of photographs in sup
port of his statements, lie considers that
they prove that the human hands have great
bactericidal power in certain cases.
The hand experimented on was that of a
man accidentally suffocated by gas. It wa3
an exceptionally fat hand. It was received
by the investigators three weeks after its
owner’s death. All that time It had been
kept on ice, and was therefore in a condition
which is ordinarily followed by rapid
decomposition on exposure to the air.
Moreover, the bodies of suffocated
persons are exceptionally subject to
decomposition.
Dr. Durville and two other operators
took turns in treating or magnetiz
ing the hand. Oqe of the others was
Mine. Raynaud, who is credited with
many remarkable cures of disease by
the imposition of hands.
The dead hand was placed on a table ami
each of the three operators treuted it for
three-quarters of an hour daily. The process
consisted in simply making passes with the
living hands over the dead hand at a distance
of six inches with a slow movement from
the severed wrist to the tips of the fingers
The operator concentrated his mind on the
act.
They were surprised to find from the first
that no decomposition occurred, such as
would appear ordinarily.
'From the seventh day," writes Dr. Dur-
ville, "observing that the hand remained
■without odor, we began to feel confident con
cerning the outcome of the experiment, and
we diminished the time of the daily treat
ment. Front the tenth day we gave the hand
two daily seances of ten minutes each, mak
ing a total treatment of one hour.”
From the seventh day a shrinking, darken
ing and hardening of the hand jqcanto no-
The Dead Hand Mummified by Mag
netic Passes with the Living Hands.
A Remarkable Experiment by Dr.
Gaston Durville.
images Transmitted by Thought Transference at
a Distance. On the Left, the Object Thought
Of; on the Right, the One Reproduced.
the Gay Capital
Why Saying “I Should Worry”
Keeps You from Worrying
By Dr. L. K. Hirshberg, Johns Hopkins University.
Ot'TOR.” said a substan
tial business man to me a
week or so ago, “my busi
ness is a go. I lnive a lot of money,
my family is well, and yet because
my only son is about to get married
I simply cannot sleep at night. What
shall I do?”
How Mile. Tomczyk Raises Solid Objects by
Her Personal Magnetism Alone.
complished in ancient times by tile laying on
of hands.
Almost equally interesting were the ex
periments with divining rods. These were
undertaken as part of the proceedings of the
International Congress of Experimental Psy
chology, which has been going on in Paris.
The same sorcerers are interested in this
gathering,
Da> after day the psychists went forth
armed with little hazei twigs of various
shapes in search of hidden treasures and
other objects which they believed would be
revealed to them by the turning of the twigs.
One day the search was conducted in the
park of the Chateau of Mirabaud, near Paris.
The proprietor concealed beneath the soil
objects of iron, coins and a copper basin.
The sorcerers wandered through the park
with a fixed expression. From time to time
one of them would stop, tvhile his hazel twig
performed strange motions. A sceptical per
son might have said that the nervous excite
ment of the persons caused these move
ments, but they themselves were convinced
that they were due to hidden objects for
which tlie wood had a strange attraction.
There seems little doubt that many of them
were able to locate the hidden articles.
M. Pelaprat declared positively that his
twig indicated the presence of iron, and his
statement proved to be correct. Another
psychist declared in the same place that he
fell ttie presence of copper. Such minor
errors were common.
The Abbe Mermet, who took part in these
experiments, discovered the exact position
of a small sum of money hidden near the
gateway of the park. K. Padey located a
ferruginous and also a sulphurous spring
in the park.
On another day the investigators went over
the ground above an ancient stone quarry,
the hidden galleries of which were known
to only one of the party. Many of them
were able to locate accurately the presence
of the hollows and supporting pillars be
neath the soil.
The divining rods are said to be attr.cted
by running water and by minerals of all
kinds. Each material exercises a different
attraction upon the rod. and an expert diviner
undertakes to define the nature of what lies
hidden, its quantity and depth beneath the
soil.
Several of the members of the society
affirm most positively that the future can be
defined by an intelligent study of the stars,
and that astrology is not a mere ancient
superstition, but a science based on demon
strable facts.
One of those who supports this startling
A Critical Moment in the Search for Hidden Treasure with
Divining Rods Near Paris.
view is the eminent astronomer, Camille
Flammarion. In a communication to the
society, he says:
"Future events can be foreseen in advance
very exactly and incontestably. It is not by
metaphysical argument, but by the experi
mental method that I wish to see this grave
question elucidated."
Flammarion goes on to enumerate many
cases in which he has known the future to
be accurately foreseen in one way or another,
lie quotes a letter from the Princess Emma
Caroiath, who tells how she saw a vision of
a room, very curiously furnished, in which
there was a bed lying with red damask and
a picture of the Saviour crowned with roses.
Two years later she found this room in
Hungary, exactly as she had dreamed it.
Her husband died there.
M. Flammarion argues that as we can tell
the course of the stars in advance, so we
also can foretell the course of human events
when we have the right insight.
Many of the psychical experts believe that
various drugs increase the power of a per
son to define the future by heightening his
mental sensitiveness to an extraordinary de
gree. and making him oblivious to his sur-
. roundings.
“My dear sir," 1 said, "if i give
you a prescription absolutely cer
tain to cure you will you obey me?”
"Of course," he said.
“Then fifty times a day say to
yourself loudly and wilh conviction,
‘1 should worry!’’ Increase the
dose if it is necessary. You will
find, however, that vou can soon de
crease it.”
We had a long argument. Finally
he took my advice. And to-day
nothing worries him.
Now. what special virtue lies in
this especial slangy—some will say
flippant—-phrase to cure a case of
chronic worry? The answer lies in
psychology. Let me explain.
The very first threshold to be
crossed before you can cure yourseif
of the worry-bug is to read all of
the cartoons, humorous quif^ and
popular songs that “play-up'’ the
thought in that same phrase "1
should worry." This is no jest; it
is serious advice. I know of an in
lance. the caste of a prim, severe
young woman, who bad the unhappy
habit "f worrying lierself into a sick
headache over such absurd trifles s s
breaking a saucer, spilling her tea
or misplacing an ear-trumpet. A
little boy about six years old who
lived with her caught up the street
patois that ended with this now-
well-known pit rase. Whenever his
aunt thereafter assumed her melan
choly, depressed demeanor, the child
would at once recognize it and say:
Now x tay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
"I should worry.”
The mischievous lad kept this up
continually until the very insistence
of rhe repetition made a complete
change in the hitherto misanthropic
person. She has gone now to the
other extreme, and worries about
nothing.
Now, when you have typhoid fever
tlie malignant typhoid germs are
fought by dead germs In the form
of a vaccine. Diphtheria is caused
by the antitoxins of a horse which
has recovered from the toxin® oft
diphtheria germs. In smallpox we
vaccinate with modified smallpo*
germs, and Friedmann’s “cure” for
consumption is brought about by in
troducing modified consumption
germs into the body.
The phrase “I should worry” is
a mental vaccine. It means “I
ought to worry.” In the form it ap-
l*;ars it is like the non-virulent tu
berculosis germs or the modified
smallpox germs. It infiltrates into
the mind the idea “What on earth is
there anywhere for me to worry
about I should NOT worry.”
And there you are. This is what
happens. The repetition of tlie
phrase steadily fights in tlie worry
ing mind the active microbes of
worry. The insistent subconscious
impression that “i should no t
worry" grows bigger and bigger,
t-inally it kills off the worry bug and
tlie mind is once again care free.
The form of the phrase is nbso-
lutely psychologically jierfecl. Tlie
worrying mind pays no attention to
argument or reason. They arc
medicines that do not take. But "I
should worry" is done up In a form
that harmonizes with the dnmiiuml
Idea of that type of mind that it
really ought to worry. It slips in and
then the punch that is hidden in ii
gets in its work. It is the Rome old
principle of giving a bad child medi
cine disguised as candy.
Just a few words more. You must
know your own number. You should
be ever ready to put your finger ex
actly in the middle of the ego in
your own cosmos. Come down to
earth.
Learn the trade, then, or practice
the art of developing a good, tat,
healthy anti-ego. Vaccinate yourwlf
witli the anti-microbic medicine *f
"l should worry.”
Strange Semi-Scientific
Experiments with Dead Hands, Divining
Rods, Prophetic.
Trances and Human
Radiations Enthrall
ticeable. This increased slightly up
to tlie fifteenth day, when the hand
appeared to tiave reached a state of
permanent preservation and mum
mification. When not under treat
ment It was merely covered with a
metal screen to protect it from flies.
Dr. Durville remarks that this experiment .
would go far toward explaining the many
extraordinary cures said to have been ac-
I’aris, April 26.
HE modern “Sorcerers of Paris,” as
they are called, are now exciting in
tense interest in ibis gay city.
The sorcerers arc really members of the
“It is startling to see
smart Parisiennes and
fashionable physicians
making mysterious mag
netic passes over a dead
human hand.”
of Paris.