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Copyright. 1013, by thf» Star Company Great Britain Rights Reserved.
Exploits of the Up-to-Date Sorcerers of Paris.
Paris, April 26.
«-v- up; modem "Sorcerers of Paris," as
' they are called, are now exciting in-
tense interest in this gay city.
The sorcerers are really members of the
great French society devoted to the study of
human magnetism and experimental psy-
ciiis. i They are the equivalent oi the Eng
lish end American psychical research stu
dents. but arc receiving much more public
alt nlion and credit. <
This French society includes over one
hundred physicians in gdod standing, pro
lessors of the universities and well-known
men ot science. They are investigating every
form of ancient black* magic, including the
production of ghosts, the forecasting of the
future, tile Iransmutatton of metals and the
use of the divining rod.
They aim lo 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
lias been accomplished by Sir William Kara-
say in transmuting radium into helium, and
they argue thut il is reasonable lo expect
that other marvels scoffed at by the very
sceptical, recent generation of science will
he proved possible.
They give much attention to the stud) of
the obscure radiations of the human body.
They find that these radiations can impress
a photographic negative in the dark and
produce man) 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 "mumifying,” a dead human hand by mak
ing magnetic passes over it. Dr. Gaston Dur-
villc, 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 was
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 lo
decomposition.
Dr. Durvi'.le and two other operators
took turns in ireating or magnetic
ing tiie hand. One of the others was
Mme. Raynaud, who is credited with
many remarkable cures of disease b>
the imposition of hands.
Tiie dead hand was placed on a table and
each of the three operators treated 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 tiie 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 ot the daily treat
ment. From 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 became no-
slightly up
the hand
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-
■
' o
N . ! £
ISli
Why Saying I Should Worry”
Keeps You from Worrying
By Dr. L. K. Hirshberg, Johns Hopkins University.
D '
Of TOR." said .1 substan
tial business man to me a
week or so ago. "my busi
ness is a go. I have a lot of money,
my family is well, and yol because
my only son is about to get married
I simply cannot sleep at night What
shall I do?"
The Dead Hand Mummified by Mag
netic Passes with the Liv ing Hands.
A Remarkable Experiment by Dr.
Gaston Durville.
How Mlie. Tomczyk Raises Solid Objects by
Her Personal Magnetism Alone.
complislied in ancient times by the 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.
Day after day the psycliists went forth
armed with little hazel twigs of various
shapes in search of hidden treasures and
other objects which they believed would he
revealed to them by the turning of the-twigs.
One day the search was conducted in tiie
park of the Chateau of Mirabaud, near Paris.
The proprietor concealed beneath tiie soil
objects of iron, coins and a copper basin.
The sorcerers wandered through the park
with a fixc/l expression. From time to time
one of them would stop, while his hazei twig
performed si. ngo motions. A sceptical per
son might have said that the nervous excite
ment of Hi ■ persons caused these move
ments, but they themselves were convinced
that they were due to hidden objects for
which the 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 he correct. Another
psychist declared in the same place that he
felt the presence of copper. Such minor
errors were common.
The Abbe Mermet, who look part in these
experiments, discovered the exact position
of a small sum of money hidden near the
gateway of the park. V. Padey located a
ferruginous and also a sulphurous spring
in the park.
On another «'.a> the investigators went over
the ground above an ancient stone quarry,
the hidden galleries of which were known
to only one of tiie party Many of them
were able to locate accurately tiie presence
of the hollows and supporting pillars be
neath the 'soil.
The divining rods are said to be attracted
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 he
defined by an intelligent study of the stars,
nd that astrology is not a mere ancient
A Critical Moment in the Search for Hidden Treasure with
Divining Rods Near Paris.
images Transmitted by Thought Transference at
a Distance. On the Left, the Object Thought
Of; on the Right, the One Reproduced.
superstition, but
strable facts.
One of those who
cience based on demon
supports this startling
1
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, hut 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.
He quotes a letter from the Princess Emma
Carolath, who tells how she saw a vision of
a room, very curiously furnished, in which
there was a bed hung 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-
/fve. and making him oblivious to his sur
roundings.
mid. “if 1 give
absolutely oer
obey me?"
"3-1)- dear sir," I
you a prescription
lain to cure-jam will you
"Of course,” lie said.
"Then fifty times a day say to
yourself loudly and wiih conviction.
‘I .should, worry!’' Increase the
close if il is necessary. You will
find, however, that vou can soon de
crease it."
We had a long argument. Finally
lie took my advice. And today
nothing worries him;
Now. wind special virtue lies in
this especial slangy—some will say
flippant—-phrase lo 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 yourself
of the worry hug is to road all of
Hie ' art"ohs. humorous qui|tk and
popular -ongs thai “plav-up" the
thought in that same phrase “I
should worry." Phis is no jest; it
is serious advi'e. I know of an in
tune, the case o a prim, severe
soiiug woman, who liail the unhappy
habit of worrying herself into a sick
headache over such absurd trifles £ s
breaking a saucer, spilling her tea
or misplacing an ear-trumpet. A
little hoy about, six years old who
lived with her caught up the street
patois that ended with this now-
well-known phrase. Whenever his
aunt thereafter assumed her melan
choly, depressed demeanor, the child
would at once recognize it and say:
Now i lay me down to sleep,
1 pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before -T wake,
"1 should worry.”
The mischievous lad kepi this up
continually until the yery insistence
of i'he repetition made a . complete
change in I he hithfepto misanthropic
person. She has gone now to the
"flier extreme, and worries about'
nothing.
Now. when you have typhoid fever
•he malignant typhoid germs are
fought by dead gems in the form
"f a vaccine. Diphtheria is caused ,
by the antitoxins of n horse which
Has recovered from the toxins of,’
diphtheria germs. In smallpox we
vaccinate with modified smallpox
germs, and Friedmann’s “cure” for
consumption is brought about by in
troducing modified consumption
germs info the body.
The phrase “I should worry"
a mental vaccine. It means
might to worry.” In the form it
pears it is like the non-virulent
beroulosis germs or the modified
smallpox germs. It infiltrates into
the minfi the idea “Wliiii oy earth is
then- anywhere for me to worry
about [ should NOT worry."
And there you arc. This is wha:
happens. The repetition of the
phrase steadily lights in the worrv-
,' : 'ig mind the active microbes of
worry. The Insistent subconscious
impression Ilia! "I should nr>>
worry" grows bigger and bigger.
Finally it kills off the worry hug end
the mind is once again rare free.
Tin- form of the phrase is
lulely psychologically iierfert. 'I'he
worrying mind pays no attention to
argument or reason. They are
medicines that do not take. Rui
should worry” is done up in a form
that harmonizes with the dominanl
idea of that type of mind that it
really ought to worry. It slips in mid
then the punch that is hidden in il
gets in its work, it is the same old
principle of giving a had eld Id modi
cine disguised as candy.
Inst a few words more. Ymi nmsl
know your own number. You should
bo ever ready to put you;- linger ex
actly in the middle of the ego in
your own cosmos. Come down to.
earth.
Learn the trade, then, or practice
(lie art of developing a good. fat.
healthy anti-ego. Vaccinate yourself
with the anti-mierobic mediethe of
"l should worry.”
is
“ r c
ap-
tu-