This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1877 Excerpt: ...that the ridges of the eyebrows should not be covered, as it was there that Jack saw when 'lucid.' The results were truly surprising; there was no guessing, no need of prompting, no failure; 'Jack' read off, without the least hesitation, everything that was presented to him. The local newspapers were full of this new ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1877 Excerpt: ...that the ridges of the eyebrows should not be covered, as it was there that Jack saw when 'lucid.' The results were truly surprising; there was no guessing, no need of prompting, no failure; 'Jack' read off, without the least hesitation, everything that was presented to him. The local newspapers were full of this new wonder; and no documentary testimony in favour of clairvoyance could possibly be more conclusive. But, as usual, the marvel would not stand the test of close examination. A young Manchester surgeon, who had been experimenting upon himself, gave a public exhibition of his power of reading when his eyes had been ' made up ' in precisely the same manner as ' Jack's, ' and by the same gentlemen; the means he adopted being simply to work the muscles of his face, until he so far loosened the plasters as to obtain a crevice through which he could read by looking upwards. Mr. Hewes, who witnessed this performance, readily agreed that 'Jack ' should be further tested; and it was settled, en petite comite, that after protecting his eyelashes with narrow strips of plaster, his eyelids should be covered with a thick coating of shoemaker's wax, leaving the superciliary ridges free. When this was done (not without considerable resistance on the part of 'Jack, ' only kept under by the influence of his patron) the clairvoyant power was completely annihilated; but one thing 'Jack' plainly saw, even with his eyes shut--that 'his little game was up.' His patron, a gentleman of independent fortune, who had become an active propagandist of the belief he had honestly embraced, returned all the money which had been received for 'Jack's' performances, and 'Jack' withdrew into private life. 1 See Serjeant Cox's letter in the Spectator, Nov. 11, 1876. Now I readily conced...
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