Richard Cumberland wrote plays that involved a process called what?
Richard Cumberland (dramatist) Richard Cumberland (19 February 1731/2 – 7 May 1811) was an English dramatist and civil servant. In 1771 his hit play "The West Indian" was first staged. During the American War of Independence he acted as a secret negotiator with Spain in an effort to secure a peace agreement between the two nations. He also edited a short-lived critical journal called "The London Review" (1809). His plays are often remembered for their sympathetic depiction of colonial characters and others generally considered to be margins of society.
Muscle reading Muscle reading, also known as "Hellstromism", "Cumberlandism" or "contact mind reading", is a technique used by mentalists to determine the thoughts or knowledge of a subject, the effect of which tends to be perceived as a form of mind reading. The performer can determine many things about the mental state of a subject by observing subtle, involuntary responses to speech or any other stimuli. It is closely related to the ideomotor effect, whereby subtle movements made without conscious awareness reflect a physical movement, action or direction which the subject is thinking about. The term "muscle reading" was coined in the 1870s by American neurologist George M. Beard to describe the actions of mentalist J. Randall Brown, an early proponent of the art.