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CHAPTER XIII |
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Mesmerism
O
NE may pretend to have occult powers and claim that one can mesmerise any who are willing to yield to the influence.
When some "gullible" person is sufficiently impressed to wish to test the boast, or obliging enough to offer his services as a victim, ask that person to sit down, make passes before his eyes and about his person, then sit down and say: "You cannot get up alone now, try as you may." Then in stentorian tones, say: "Get up !" The person may have misgivings, but he gets up, and so do you, saying: "There! I told you you could not get up alone."
Tell your friends that, though not the seventh child of a seventh child, you are one of seven generations (who is not?), and that, therefore, you have powers that are not possessed by less fortunate ones. Offer to leave the room, and, after the company shall agree to choose some playing-card, you will return and find out what it is by feeling of the brain of each in turn.
After the company have made their selection of a card in your absence, return and touch the forehead and temples of those present, but among them a confederate will indicate the card by holding the back teeth very tightly together and then relaxing them, which moves a
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