EATER OF POISONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 289, 7 December 1931, Page 2

EATER OF POISONS.

INDIAN'S AMAZING FEAT. PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM. POSSIBILITY OF TRICKERY. •'T have seen so very many inexplicable and almost unbelievable things in humaa nature that I would not de' finitely state that a thing i s Dot sible," declared Dr. C. E. Beeby. lecturer in philosophy at Canterbury College, in commenting on the cable message from Calcutta that a Madrassi yogi named' Narasingha Swanii had drunk or eaten every available known deadly poison without harm. "At the same time," continued Dr Beety, "I have seen so much of human credulity that I would demand definite evidence before I would consider a serious investigation wjrth while, I know of no psychological principles that, would explain the occurrence, but some come so close to it as to make the cas e worth investigation." Dealing with suspended animation, of which tbe yogi declared he was a student, Dr. Beeby stated that the phenomena of suspended animation were approached in a study of hypnosis, as! in hypnosis one obtained something that approached to suspended animation, which was an almost complete lack of consciousness and the definite slowin" down of bodily professes. Sir C, V Raman, who was an authority on physics, was not on tiiat account particularly equipped for *tudy of the case." as it did not necessarily moan that lie was an authority on human deceit, nor versed in the province of spiritualism. Effects of Hypnosis. The actual psychological reasons for the sinking into a trance were known more or less. Verification of the facts stated to surround the case would he necessary before the speaker would Care to make a definite statement. In hypnosis one obtained wonderful reactions. It was possible by it to alter the whole circulation of the human body. The blood circulation in the hand, for instance, could be stopped by the suggestion that no more.blood would run there, and it was possible that portions of the stomach could be isolated from the effects of poison. When a person turned pale through shock it was a mental change, and the same might be made to apply to the stomach. However, there would still be the effect of the poison* on the local tissues. A person could he made to stay for hours in such a hypnotic state. The Arsenic Eaters. That the capacity to swallow poisons without harm appeared to be psychological was the opinion cf Mr. F. J. T. Grigg, Government analyst at Christchurch. He said that in certain parts of Southern Europe persons known as arsenic eaters took regular doses of arsenic as a drug like tobacco. The arsenic was eaten in very small quantities, but in the case of a limited Lumber of poisons, such as arsenic and the poison from bee-stings, it was possible to accustom the system to them, and'to increase the dose gradually without apparent harm to the individual. That, however, was not possible in all cases. There was a possibility of trickery in the performance by the Indian, as was the case with what was known as the Indian rope trick, stated Mr. Grigg. He had never heard of a man having survived the taking of so many poisons, though to a limited extent it was possible for one poison to neutralise the effect of another. It was impossible, from the ordinary point of view, for a sequence of poisons to have no effect on the human system.