ttie llgaraetit was ftlwnys preserved itiiact. til the astute creature ' allowing the animal to freeze and open,' we will not attempt to ijuestlon tbat, It m«j occur to some readers tbat it would be rather nionotonouB tor the hungry rat to wait during the hot summer nights (even at 'the west and xinith'] for the stupid mussel to ' freeze and open.' Tliat, however, ia his busiDess, notours. W. II. Pra.tt. Dknnpon, lo., Jmn. Si.
��The people of the interior states are now being amused by an exhibition the success of wbicb offers a striking example of the unrelia- bility of human testimony respecting the phe- nomena of force and motion. Some months since, the writer received a polite invitation to witness the TConderful performances of Miss Liilii Hurst, the Georgia 'magnetic girl,' in causing objects to move as if acted on by pow- erful forces, without any muscular action on her part. Another engagement prevented his acceptance ; but, on the morning following, he received such a description of the phenomenon as to make liim regret that he had not sacri- ficed every thing to the opportunity of seeing it. It was substantially this ; —
A light rod was firmly held in the hands of the heaviest and most muscular of the select circle of spectators. Miss Lulu had only to touch the rod with her fingers, when it imme- diately began to go through the most estraor- dinary manoeuvres. It jerked the holder around the room with ti [K)wer which he was unable to resist, and finally threw him down into one corner completely discomfited. An- other spectator was then asked to take hold of the rod ; and Miss Luhi, extending her arms, touched each end with the tip of a finger. Immediately the rod began to whir! around on its own central line as an axis, with such rapidity and force that the skin was nearly taken off the holder's hands in his efforts to stop it. A heavy man being seated in a chair, man and chair were both lifted up by the fair performer pressing the palms of her hands against the sides of the back. To substanti- ate the claim that she herself exerted no force, the chair and man were lifted without her touching the chair at all. The sitter was asked to put his hands under the chair; the performer then put her two hands around and upon his in such a waj- that it was impos- sible for her to exert any force on the chair except through his h.tnds : yet the chair lifted
��him np without her exerting any pressure heavier than a mere touch upon his hands. Several men were then invited to hold the chair still. Tbe performer began to deftly touch it here and there with her fingers, when the chair again began to jump about in the most ex- traordinary manner, in epite of all the efforts of three or four strong men to keep it still or to hold it down. A hat being inverted upon a table, she held her extended hands over it. It was lifted up by what seemed an attractive force similar to that of a magnet upon an ar- mature, and was in danger of being torn to pieces in the effort to keep it down, though she could not jwasibly have had any hold upon tbe object,
This was the account of the performance given, not hy a gaping crowd nor by uncriti- cal spectators, but by a select circle of edu- cated men. To the reminder that no fotce could be exerted upon a body except by a re- action in the oi)posite direction upon some other body, and to the question u^wn what other body the reaction was exerted, the nar- rators expressed themselves unable to return an answer. All they could do was to describe things aa they had seen them. Of only one thing could they be confident : the reaction was not exerted through or against the body of the performer. Among the spectators were physicians and physiol<^sts who grasped MisB Lulu's arms while the extraordinary motions went on without finding anj' symptoms of strong muscular action, and who, feeling her pulse after the most violent motions, found that it remained in its normal state. Appar- ently the objects which she touched were en- dowed with a power of exerting force which ' was wholly new to science. Altogether, the weight of evidence seemed as strong as in the , best authenticated and most inexplicable cases , of ' spirit ' manifestation, while none of the obstacles to investigation connected with the latter were encountered.
Such was the case as it appeared on a first trial ; but the spectators were not men to bo satisfied without further investigation. Ac- cordingly, they had made arrangements with the managers to have another private exhibi- tion at the \'oUa laboratory two days later. They proposed also to have decisive teats to determine whether or not she exerted any force upon the objects which she moved.
The party duly appeared at the appointed ' time. At this point I think it 00I3' just to mention the perfect frankness with which the most thorough iuvestigatiou of the case v permitted by those having the exhibition ia
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