FORTUNE TELLING

Evening Star, Issue 21320, 26 January 1933, Page 16

FORTUNE TELLING

WHAT SCIENCE THINKS It is no matter for surprise that science which always “ wants to kno\v ” —should from time to time have investigated the various forms of for-tune-telling which interest so many people. Scientific men have not investigated such childish games as foretelling the future by playing cards or tea leaves. They have, however, probed such pseudo-occult forms of divination as palmistry or crystal-gaz-ing, or simple clairvoyance, and they have found a natural basis for all the customary phenomena. The learned men have not much to say for the popular pastime of palm-reading or cheiromancy. Professor Stirling, dean of the faculty of medicine and professor of physiology at Victoria University, Manchester, says that “ palmistry is an absolute absurdity. The whole thing is beneath contempt,” “ Look at your palms,” said Professor Stirling in an address at the Royal Institute, London, “ and you will find certain linos. These lines—the socalled lines of life, head, and heart, the girdle of Venus, and the bracelets of life around your wrists—what do you suppose they really are? They are nothing more nor less than creases or folds produced by the action of the muscles. The ‘ line of the heart,’ for instance, is the flexure of the_ four fingers, and the ‘ line of life ’ is the result of the action of the thumb. All these lines that have been given fancy names by the palmists are characteristic flexures. You will'find the same lines on the palms of the orang-outan.” By such commonplace and commonsense explanations does the scientific mind make palmistry look ridiculous. Scientists will not, however, convince the person who has been told “ wonderful things ” by the palmist. The palmist is generally a shrewd and quickwitted practitioner, and her “ reading ” is more of the face and the personality of her client than of the palm. In addition, scientists say there may bo a little telepathy. But whatever may bo the secret of cheiromancy—whether it bo telepathy or lucky guesswork—it seems scientifically clear that it has nothing to do with the lines implanted by Nature in the palms of our hands. CRYSTAL-GAZING. Professors have also gone deeply into the marvels of crystal-gazing. It is well known that before any images can be perceived in the crystal the gazer must look steadily at its bright surface, for a considerable time. The scientific explanation of what follows is that the optic nerve becomes so fatigued that it ceases to transmit to the sensorium the impressions received from without, and begins 1 to respond to the reflex action proceeding from the brain of the gazer. This explanation is supported by the fact that the crystal seems to dissolve and disappear in a cloud of mist. This is precisely what would happen when the optic nerve, in consequence of intense concentration, becomes over-tired. When the gazer “ secs ” forms and scenes in the crystal it is the subconscious intelligence that ig at work producing them, and no occult influence at all. The person who goes in for crystal-gazing is generally of a highlystrung typo and very susceptible. Moreover, the steady gazing at a bright surface is certain to produce a state of semi-hypnotic trance very favourable to the seeing of visions. An old philosopher says; “ The divinci's while in this state do not sec what is really to be seen; it is another kind of perception which is born in them.” In other words, it is the subconscious mind again! This theory is strongly supported by the case of a woman novelist. If she lost the thread of the story she was writing she would gaze .into her crystal, and all the difficulties .would bn solved. Intense concentration had stirred np the subconscious. Many people who profess to read the future stylo themselves clairvoyants. Opinions differ about them. A magistrate in London; in fining a clairvoyant £SO, with £lO IDs costs, for having professed to tell fortunes, said; “ You are a charlatan and a humbug. Pretending to bo something more than a human being, you take foolish peoplcs’s guineas and hand out to them in return a sort of unintelligible nonsense which has been disclosed in this court today.” On the other hand, some scientists believe, that there is such a. faculty as clairvoyance bestowed on certain peculiarly constituted beings. Most of the'professional scors, however, rely on information unconsciously passed on to them by those who arc consulting them. By couch their prophecies in vague and ambiguous wording they are certain to hit on something approaching the truth, and thus to obtain a reputation as px'oplxcts.