Thought-Reading Feat.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXI, Issue VIII, 22 August 1903, Page 565

Thought-Reading Feat.

It takes ‘two persons, boys or girls, to perform this feat, which is very simple, but nevertheless mystifying to everyone who has not seen it. One of the performers leaves the room, and the door is closed so that he cannot hear what goes on. Then the company names some object that the absent player is to tell when he returns. When the object has been agreed upon

the absent one is recalled, and the first performer says:— “While you were out of -the room 1 told the boys and girls here that if they would name some object, no matter what, you would guess it the first trial on your return. Did you hear the object named? No. of course you didn't, for the door was closed, and the name was spoken in so low a tone that you could not have heard. Now. let me ask you: “Was it a book?'” "No.” "Was it a vase?” “No.” “Was it a ehande-

lier?” "No.’’ “Was it a chair?” “No.” “Was it a flower?” •’Yes.” Now. how did the player know that it was a “flower”? Simply because -the understanding between the two performers is that the first performer, in asking those questions, names some four-legged object just before he names the one that the company has agreed upon. When, therefore, he asked. “Was it a thair?” his confederate knew that he would name the real object next, because a chair has four legs.