Thought-reading

Thought-reading, or MIND-READING, a term which came up in 1881 to designate the act or art of discerning what is passing in another's mind by some direct and unexplained method, depending neither on gesture, facial expression, nor any articulate or other voluntary indication. Thus, if A has hid a penknife in some extremely unlikely place, B, it is alleged, may, if a susceptible person, be guided to the place so as to discover the object hid without any assistance from A other than being permitted to hold the back of his (B's) hand on A's forehead. The believing explanation is that thought-force, nervous energy, or the like passes in a perfectly natural but as yet unexplained manner through A's forehead into B's hand, and so to B's mind. The unbelieving theory is that A inevitably, but quite unconsciously, communicates a succession of slight but sufficient muscular indications to B, which B instinctively follows without being aware of them severally. Enthusiasts have sought to include thought-reading in the sphere of spiritualism; see the Proceedings of the Psychological Research Society.