One is immediately struck by the analogy between this case and that
of Professor Schillings. In both cases those immediately concerned
(the women in the one, Mr. von Osten in the other) believe that a
wrong answer is being given repeatedly. The cause of the error lies
in a person who seemingly is not concerned with the response. (The
Frenchman asked the question, but did not sit at the table.
Professor Schillings sounded the notes, but it was Mr. von Osten who
got the horse to tap.) In both instances the questioner asks one
thing, but had something else in mind. (With the Frenchman it was a
slip of the tongue; Mr. Schillings did it purposely.) And finally,
in both cases the response corresponds not to the question that has
been asked, but to that which has been thought, so that, though
seemingly wrong, the responses of both table and horse were really
correct. By way of explanation, Noizet believes that he has a case
of true thought-transference or "telepathy" (page 108). The
questioner watched with utmost attentiveness the rapping of the
table, and the women in turn regarded the man. And thus, Noizet
believes, the man's thought was transferred to the minds of the
others without the mediation of eye or ear, etc., and hence
unvitiated by the words that had been spoken. I myself prefer
another explanation. At that moment in which the rapping arrived at
the expected number, the Frenchman executed a movement
characteristic of release of tension and to this the women of the
circle reacted. It was not necessary that they should be able to
account for this afterward, (just as sometimes occurs in the case of
thought-readers[80]). It is very probable, too, that they were not
of a very reflective turn of mind anyway. We are warranted, I think,
in regarding the two cases as identical in kind.]
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