o not tell anybody of your intentions; do not let it be
known; and you must do it in such a way as not to be suspected,
or people will think hard of you, and there may be trouble."

This was a touch of wisdom for which Johannes was not prepared;
so he snatched his hat and hastily left the sepulchral premises,
conscious of his inability to receive another such a "chunk"
without being completely floored.

He now expresses the opinion that Dr. Wilson wanted to get the
job of "pizoning" that first wife, and that he would have done it
with pleasure at less than the market price.

CHAPTER VIII.

Gives a history of how Mrs. Hayes, the Clairvoyant, of No. 176
Grand Street, does the Conjuring Trick.

CHAPTER VIII.

MRS. HAYES, A CLAIRVOYANT, No. 176 GRAND STREET.

There are a dozen or more of these "Clairvoyants" in the city who
profess to cure diseases, and to work other wonders by the aid of
their so-called wonderful power. As their mode of proceeding is
very much the same in all cases, a description of one or two will
give an idea of the whole. Their principal business is to
prescribe for bodily ills, and did they confine themselves to
this alone, they would not be legitimate subjects of mention in
this book. But in addition to their medical practice they also
tell about "absent friends;" tell whether projected business
undertakings will fall out well or ill; whether contemplated
marriages will be prosperous or otherwise: whether a person will
be "lucky" in life, whether his children will be happy, and, in
short, they do pretty much the regular fortune-telling routine,
whenever the questions of the customer lead that way.

The theory as given by them, of a Clairvoyant diagnosis of a
malady, is this: that the Clairvoyant, when thrown by mesmeric
influence into the "trance" state, is enabled to _see into the
body of the patient_ and discern what organs, if any, are
deranged, and in what manner; or to ascertain precisely the
nature of the morbific condition of the body, and having thus
discovered what part of the vital mechanism is out of order, they
are able, they argue, to prescribe the best means for restoring
the apparatus to a normal state.

There are many thousands of persons who believe this stuff, and
endanger their lives and health by trusting to these empirics.
Several of the most popular of them have as many patients as they
can attend to, and are rapidly amassing fortunes. Most of them
hav