An account

May 27th, 1884. I lived at Great Tew, in Oxfordshire, from March, 1851, to May, 1852. When there, the following circumstance occurred, but I am not able to fix the month, further than to say that I think it was in the late summer of 1851. (No. I am now convinced that it was in April, 1852.) I had been in the habit of mesmerising frequently Mr. Walter Francis Short, then an undergraduate scholar of New College, who was, without any single exception, the most ' sensitive ' person of either sex I have ever known. He usually became what is called clairvoyant, but this always tired him, and I seldom made protracted experiments in this direction. On several occasions I found that a community of taste was established between us, but only once made any experiment with more than one substance, such as a biscuit, or glass of water. At Great Tew, with his consent, my two sisters alone being present besides ourselves, I carried the matter further. We had dined in my only sitting-room, and the dessert was still on the table. (I think I am right, though my sister F. doubts.) I put Short to sleep in an arm-chair, which I turned with its back to the table, and Short's face to the wall. There was no mirror in the room. I asked Short, taking his hand, if he thought he could taste what I took in my mouth, and he said he thought that he could. I, still holding his hand, shut my own eyes, and my sisters put into my mouth various things which were on the table. I remember only raisins, but there were four or five various substances tasted. These were all quite correctly described, except that I think there was an uncertainty about the kind of wine. Short, however, had of course been aware of what was on the table, but he could not know, nor did I know, the order in which I was to be fed with these things. To carry the experiment further, one of my sisters left the room, bringing back various things wholly unknown to me, which she administered to me having my eyes shut. I remember spices, black pepper, salt, raw rice, and finally soap, all of which Short recognised, and the last of which he rejected with a splutter of great disgust. The experiment only ended when we could think of nothing more to taste. I had at that time already left Oxford ; Short did so soon after, and our various occupations seldom allowed our meeting. His conviction of my power over him was such that he begged that I would never attempt to place him under mesmeric influence when I was at a distance from him, on the ground that, as he was rowing in the Oxf