WILL POWER.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2170, 17 December 1875, Page 4

WILL POWER.

That there is such a thing as magnetic force nobody who has given the, matter the least thought will deny. There is hardly a day passes but we sec evidence of its working, especially in our family relations/where there is- full symathy between ourselves and those with whom we come in contact. How often it happens: a party are sitting round the table in perfect silence when suddenly- two members speak out simultaneydsly upon some subject not likely to have been suggested by anything about them. How often we attract a person's attention in church or elsewhere by looking steadily at him and thinking earnestly of him. How often "When some person is approaching us and we are ignorant of the tact, we are led by some unexplainable impulse to speak of him, so that it has passed into a proverb, " Speak of the evil one and he'll appear to you"; or this for those whom we love: " Speak of an angel and you'll hear the rustle of its wings." These are all only slight indications of magnetic power. It would be an easy undertaking to go on and mention scores of cases wherein mental influence is directly traceable in the ordinary affairs of life, but it is the purpose of this article to call attention to a series of interesting experiments which have been carried on in Paris, and to which the writer has been a witness—in which he has indeed been a participator. To test the absolute force of willpower among persons who do not profess to be mesmerists or " magnetisers " was the purpose of a little group gathered at a well-known pension in the Rxxe Balzac. To begin with, there was not ■. a single believer in the doctrines of spiritualism in the party, rot one "medium," not one person who had developed any special willpower in himself. There were ladies and gentlemen, artistes, and literary men. A young lady was sent out of the room, and during her absence it was agreed by the party that on her entrance they should all will her to take a certain book from a table, carry it to another part of the room, and put it down in a designated place and position. The subject was led in blindfold, that she might not see the expression on the faces of the group, and was simply guarded by two of the ladies, who walked beside her to prevent her running into the chairs and tables. Without a moment's, or only a moments, hesitation, she did exactly the thing that had been designated. The same experiment was tried, with different members of the party, both ladies and gentlemen, varying the requirement each time, and was successful in nine cases out of ten. The second experiment was still more satisfactory than the first. While one of the party was out of the room, a certain number was agreed upon, and to this number all tbe company were to turn their thoughts when the subject returned. On his return —blindfolded always—one of the party held up his fingers, a different number each time, and each time calling cut, "Is it that?" In every instance but one, out of a great number of repetitions of this experiment, the subject called out" Yes " at the right number.

The third experiment, made by another group quite as miscellaneous as the first, ■was quite as remarkable as anything the professed mediums do. Ten names were written, on slips of paper, each enclosed in an envelope and sealed up. A subject •was then chosen by lot out of the party, who went out of the room, while one of the names was fixed upon by the remaining members of the party. To this name, on the subject's return, they fixedly bent thoughts. He went to the table-where the envelopes. Jay in a a pile, instantly took up one of them, broke the seal, and there, written on the slip of paper, was the name "Agatha," the name fixed on by the party. Four times out of five this experiment was, successful—a proportion quite large enough to remove the result from the range of mere coincidence; Now these are all very simple experiments —experiments which may be tried by any one. They are quite important, too, as furnishing a clue to the mysteries of the so called " Spiritualists." They point clearly enough to the existence of a natural force quite independent of any interference of the dead.—English paper.