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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Shadow World, by Hamlin Garland
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Shadow World
+
+
+Author: Hamlin Garland
+
+
+
+Release Date: September 13, 2007  [eBook #22593]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHADOW WORLD***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Bethanne M. Simms, Martin Pettit, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+oeTHE SHADOW WORLD
+
+by
+
+HAMLIN GARLAND
+
+Author of
+"The Captain of the Gray-Horse Troop"
+"Money Magic" etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York and London
+Harper & Brothers Publishers
+MCMVIII
+
+Copyright, 1908, by Hamlin Garland.
+Copyright, 1908, by the Ridgway Company.
+All rights reserved.
+
+Published September, 1908.
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD
+
+
+This book is a faithful record, so far as I can make it, of the most
+marvellous phenomena which have come under my observation during the
+last sixteen or seventeen years. I have used my notes (made immediately
+after the sittings) and also my reports to the American Psychical
+Society (of which I was at one time a director) as the basis of my
+story. For literary purposes I have substituted fictitious names for
+real names, and imaginary characters for the actual individuals
+concerned; but I have not allowed these necessary expedients to
+interfere with the precise truth of the account.
+
+For example, _Miller_, an imaginary chemist, has been put in the place
+of a scientist much older than thirty-five, in whose library the
+inexplicable "third sitting" took place. _Fowler_, also, is not intended
+to depict an individual. The man in whose shoes he stands is one of the
+most widely read and deeply experienced spiritists I have ever known,
+and I have sincerely tried to present through _Fowler_ the argument
+which his prototype might have used. _Mrs. Quigg_, _Miss Brush_,
+_Howard_, the _Camerons_, and most of the others, are purely imaginary.
+The places in which the sittings took place are not indicated, for the
+reason that I do not wish to involve any unwilling witnesses.
+
+In the case of the psychics, they are, of course, delineated exactly as
+they appeared to me, although I have concealed their real names and
+places of residence. _Mrs. Smiley_, whose admirable patience under
+investigation makes her an almost ideal subject, is the chief figure
+among my "mediums," and I have tried to give her attitude toward us and
+toward her faith as she expressed it in our sittings, although the
+conversation is necessarily a mixture of imagination and memory. _Mrs.
+Hartley_ is a very real and vigorous character--a professional psychic,
+it is true, but a woman of intelligence and power. Those in private life
+I have guarded with scrupulous care, and I am sure that none of them,
+either private or professional, will feel that I have wilfully
+misrepresented what took place. My aim throughout has been to deal
+directly and simply with the facts involved.
+
+I have not attempted to be profound or mystical or even scientific, but
+I have tried to present clearly, simply, and as nearly without bias as
+possible, an account of what I have seen and heard. The weight of
+evidence seems, at the moment, to be on the side of the biologists; but
+I am willing to reopen the case at any time, although I am, above all,
+a man of the open air, of the plains and the mountains, and do not
+intend to identify myself with any branch of metapsychical research. It
+is probable, therefore, that this is my one and final contribution to
+the study of _the shadow world_.
+
+                                                HAMLIN GARLAND.
+  CHICAGO, _July, 1908_.
+
+
+
+
+THE SHADOW WORLD
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+A hush fell over the dinner-table, and every ear was open and inclined
+as Cameron, the host, continued: "No, I wouldn't say that. There are
+some things that are pretty well established--telepathy, for instance."
+
+"I don't believe even in telepathy," asserted Mrs. Quigg, a very
+positive journalist who sat at his right. "I think even _that_ is mere
+coincidence."
+
+Several voices rose in a chorus of protest. "Oh no! Telepathy is real.
+Why, I've had experiences--"
+
+"There you go!" replied Mrs. Quigg, still in the heat of her opposition.
+"You will all tell the same story. Your friend was dying in Bombay or
+Vienna, and his spirit appeared to you, _a la Journal of Psychic
+Research_, with a message, at the exact hour, computing difference in
+time (which no one ever does), and so on. I know that kind of thing--but
+that isn't telepathy."
+
+"What is telepathy, then?" asked little Miss Brush, who paints
+miniatures.
+
+"I can't describe a thing that doesn't exist," replied Mrs. Quigg. "The
+word means feeling at a distance, does it not, professor?"
+
+Harris, a teacher of English, who seldom took a serious view of
+anything, answered, "I should call it a long-distance touch."
+
+"Do you believe in hypnotism, Dr. Miller?" asked Miss Brush, quietly
+addressing her neighbor, a young scientist whose specialty was
+chemistry.
+
+"No," replied he; "I don't believe in a single one of these supernatural
+forces."
+
+"You mean you don't believe in anything you have not seen yourself,"
+said I.
+
+To this Miller slowly replied: "I believe in Vienna, which I have never
+seen, but I don't believe in a Vienna doctor who claims to be able to
+hypnotize a man so that he can smile while his leg is being taken off."
+
+"Oh, that's a fact," stated Brierly, the portrait-painter; "that happens
+every day in our hospitals here in New York City."
+
+"Have you ever seen it done?" asked Miller, bristling with opposition.
+
+"No."
+
+"Well," asserted Miller, "I wouldn't believe it even if I saw the
+operation performed."
+
+"You don't believe in any mystery unless it is familiar," said I,
+warming to the contest.
+
+"I certainly do not believe in these childish mysteries," responded
+Miller, "and it is strange to me that men like Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir
+William Crookes should believe in slate-writing and levitation and all
+the rest of that hocus-pocus."
+
+"Nevertheless, hypnotism is a fact," insisted Brierly. "You must have
+some faith in the big books on the subject filled with proof. Think of
+the tests--"
+
+"I don't call it a test to stick pins into a person's tongue," said Mrs.
+Quigg. "We newspaper people all know that there are in the hypnotic
+business what they call 'horses'--that is to say, wretched men and boys,
+women sometimes, who have trained themselves so that they can hold hot
+pennies, eat red pepper, and do other 'stunts'--we've had their
+confessions times enough."
+
+"Yes, but their confessions are never quite complete," retorted young
+Howard. "When I was in college I had one of these 'horses' appeal to me
+for help. He was out of a job, and I told him I'd blow him to the supper
+of his life if he would render up the secrets of his trade. He took my
+offer, but jarred me by confessing that the professor really could
+hypnotize him. He had to make believe only part of the time. His
+'stunts' were mostly real."
+
+"It's the same way with mediums," said I. "I have had a good deal of
+experience with them, and I've come to the conclusion that they all,
+even the most untrustworthy of them, start with at least some small
+basis of abnormal power. Is it not rather suggestive that the number of
+practising mediums does not materially increase? If it were a mere
+matter of deception, would there not be thousands at the trade? As a
+matter of fact, there are not fifty advertising mediums in New York at
+this moment, though of course the number is kept down by the feeling
+that it is a bit disreputable to have these powers."
+
+"You're too easy on them," said Howard. "I never saw one that wasn't a
+cheap skate."
+
+Again I protested. "Don't be hasty. There are nice ones. My own mother
+had this power in her youth, so my father tells me. Her people were
+living in Wisconsin at the time when this psychic force developed in
+her, and the settlers from many miles around came to see her 'perform.'
+An uncle, when a boy of four, did automatic writing, and one of my aunts
+recently wrote to me, in relation to my book _The Tyranny of the Dark_,
+that for two years (beginning when she was about seventeen) these powers
+of darkness made her life a hell. It won't do to be hasty in condemning
+the mediums wholesale. There are many decent people who are possessed by
+strange forces, but are shy of confessing their abnormalities. Ask your
+family physician. He will tell you that he always has at least one
+patient who is troubled by occult powers."
+
+"Medical men call it 'hysteria,'" said Harris.
+
+"Which doesn't explain anything," I answered. "Many apparently healthy
+people possess the more elementary of these powers--often without
+knowing it."
+
+"We are all telepathic in some degree," declared Brierly.
+
+"Perhaps all the so-called messages from the dead come from living
+minds," I suggested--"I mean the minds of those about us. Dr. Reed, a
+friend of mine, once arranged to go with a patient to have a test
+sitting with a very celebrated psychic who claimed to be able to read
+sealed letters. Just before the appointed day, Reed's patient died
+suddenly of heart-disease, leaving a sealed letter on his desk. The
+doctor, fully alive to the singular opportunity, put the letter in his
+pocket and hastened to the medium. The magician took it in his hand and
+pondered. At last he said: 'This was written by a man now in the spirit
+world. I cannot sense it. There isn't a medium in the world who can read
+it, but if you will send it to any person anywhere on the planet and
+have it read and resealed, I will tell you what is in it. I cannot get
+the words unless some mind in the earth-plane has absorbed them.'"
+
+Harris spoke first. "That would seem to prove a sort of universal mind
+reservoir, wouldn't it?"
+
+"That is the way my friend figured it. But isn't that a staggering
+hypothesis? I have never had a sealed letter read, but the psychic
+research people seem to have absolutely proved psychometry to be a fact.
+After you read Myers you are ready to believe anything--or nothing."
+
+The hostess rose. "Suppose we go into the library and have more ghost
+stories. Come, Mr. Garland, we can't leave you men here to talk
+yourselves out on these interesting subjects. You must let us all hear
+what you have to say."
+
+In more or less jocose mood the company trooped out to the library,
+where a fire was glowing in the grate and easy-chairs abounded. The
+younger people, bringing cushions, placed themselves beside the hearth,
+while I took a seat near Mrs. Cameron and Harris.
+
+"There!" said Miss Brush, with a gurgle of delight. "This is more like
+the proper light and surroundings for creepy tales. Please go on, Mr.
+Garland. You said you'd had a good deal of experience--tell us all about
+it. I always think of you as a trailer, a man of the plains. How did you
+happen to get into this shadow world?"
+
+"It came about while I was living in Boston. It was in 1891, or
+possibly 1892. A friend, the editor of the _Arena_, asked me to become a
+member of the American Psychical Society, which he was helping to form.
+He wished me to go on the Board of Directors, because, as he said, I was
+'young, a keen observer, and without emotional bias'--by which he meant
+that I had not been bereaved."
+
+"Quite right; the loss of a child or a wife weakens even the best of us
+illogical," commented Harris. "No man who is mourning a relative has any
+business to be calling himself an investigator of spiritualism."
+
+"Well, the upshot was, I joined the society, became a member of the
+Executive Board, was made a special committee on 'physical
+phenomena'--that is to say, slate-writing, levitation, and the like--and
+set to work. It was like entering a new, vague, and mysterious world.
+The first case I investigated brought out one of the most fundamental of
+these facts, which is, that this shadow world lies very close to the
+sunny, so-called normal day. The secretary of the society had already
+begun to receive calls for help. A mechanic had written from South
+Boston asking us to see his wife's automatic writing, and a farmer had
+come down from Concord to tell us of a haunted house and the mysterious
+rappings on its walls. Almost in a day I was made aware of the illusory
+side of life."
+
+"Why illusory?" asked Brierly.
+
+"Let us call it that for the present," I answered. "Among those who
+wrote to us was a woman from Lowell whose daughter had developed strange
+powers. Her account, so straightforward and so precise, determined us to
+investigate the case. Therefore, our secretary (a young clergyman) and I
+took the train for Lowell one autumn afternoon. We found Mrs. Jones
+living in a small, old-fashioned frame house standing hard against the
+sidewalk, and through the parlor windows, while we awaited the psychic,
+I watched an endless line of derby hats as the town's mechanics plodded
+by--incessant reminders of the practical, hard-headed world that filled
+the street. This was, indeed, a typical case. In half an hour we were
+all sitting about the table in a dim light, while the sweet-voiced
+mother was talking with 'Charley,' her 'poltergeist'--"
+
+"What is that, please?" asked Mrs. Quigg.
+
+"The word means a rollicking spirit who throws things about. I did not
+value what happened at this sitting, for the conditions were all the
+psychic's own. By-the-way, she was a large, blond, strapping girl of
+twenty or so--one of the mill-hands--not in the least the sickly, morbid
+creature I had expected to see. As I say, the conditions were such as to
+make what took place of no scientific value, and I turned in no report
+upon it; but it was all very curious."
+
+"What happened? Don't skip," bade Mrs. Cameron.
+
+"Oh, the table rapped and heaved and slid about. A chair crawled to my
+lap and at last to the top of the table, apparently of its own motion. A
+little rocking-chair moved to and fro precisely as if some one were
+sitting in it, and so on. It was all unconvincing at the time, but as I
+look back upon it now, after years of experience, I am inclined to think
+part of it at least was genuine. And this brings me to say to Mrs.
+Quigg, and to any other doubter, that you have only to step aside into
+silence and shadow and wait for a moment--and the bewildering will
+happen, or you will imagine it to happen. I will agree to furnish from
+this company a medium that will astonish even our materialistic friend
+Miller."
+
+There was a loud outcry: "What do you mean? Explain yourself!"
+
+"I am perfectly certain that if this company will sit as I direct for
+twenty-one days at the same hour, in the same room, under the same
+conditions, phenomena will develop which will not merely amaze but scare
+some of you; and as for you, Mrs. Quigg, you who are so certain that
+nothing ever happens, you will be the first to turn pale with awe."
+
+"Try me! I am wild to be 'shown.'"
+
+Harris was not so boastful. "You mean, of course, that some of these
+highly cultured ladies would develop hysteria?"
+
+"I am not naming the condition; I only say that I have seen some very
+hard-headed and self-contained people cut strange capers. The trance and
+'impersonation' usually come first."
+
+"Let's do it!" cried out Miss Brush. "It would be such fun!"
+
+"You'd be the first to 'go off,'" said I, banteringly.
+
+Harris agreed. "She is neuropathic."
+
+"I propose we start a psychic society here and now," said Cameron. "I'll
+be president, Mrs. Quigg secretary, and Garland can be the director of
+the awful rites. Miss Brush, you shall be the 'mejum.'"
+
+"Oh no, no!" she cried, "please let some one else be it."
+
+This amused me, but I seized upon Cameron's notion. "I accept the
+arrangement provided you do not hold me responsible for any ill
+effects," I said. "It's ticklish business. There are many who hold the
+whole process diabolic."
+
+"Is the house ready for the question?" asked Cameron.
+
+"Ay, ay!" shouted every one present.
+
+"The society is formed," announced Cameron. "As president, I suggest a
+sitting right now. How about it, Garland?"
+
+"Certainly!" I answered, "for I have an itching in my thumbs that tells
+me something witching this way comes."
+
+The guests rose in a flutter of pleased excitement.
+
+"How do we go at it?" asked Mrs. Cameron.
+
+"The first requisite is a small table--"
+
+"Why a table?" asked Mrs. Quigg.
+
+"The theory is that it helps to concentrate the minds of the sitters,
+and it will also furnish a convenient place to rest our hands. Anyhow,
+all the great investigators began this way," I replied, pacifically. "We
+may also require a pencil and a pad."
+
+Miller was on his dignity. "I decline to sit at a table in that foolish
+way. I shall look on in lonely grandeur."
+
+The others were eager to "sit in," as young Howard called it, and soon
+nine of us were seated about an oblong mahogany table. Brierly was very
+serious, Miss Brush ecstatic, and Mrs. Harris rather nervous.
+
+I was careful to prepare them all for failure. "This is only a trial
+sitting, you know, merely to get our hands in," I warned.
+
+"Must we keep still?"
+
+"Oh no! You may talk, if you do so quietly. Please touch fingers, so as
+to make a complete circuit. I don't think it really necessary, but it
+sometimes helps to produce the proper mental state; singing softly also
+tends to harmonize the 'conditions,' as the professionals say. Don't
+argue and don't be too eager. Lean back and rest. Take a passive
+attitude toward the whole problem. I find the whole process very
+restful. Harris, will you turn down the lights before--"
+
+"There!" said Miller, "the hocus-pocus begins. Why not perform in the
+light?"
+
+"Subdued light will bring the proper negative and inward condition
+sooner," I replied, taking a malicious delight in his disgust. "Now will
+some one sing 'Annie Laurie,' or any other sweet, low song? Let us get
+into genial, receptive mood. Miller, you and your fellow-doubters please
+retire to the far end of the room."
+
+In a voice that trembled a little, Mrs. Harris started the dear old
+melody, and all joined in, producing a soft and lulling chorus.
+
+At the end of the song I asked, matter-of-factly: "Are the conditions
+right? Are we sitting right?"
+
+Mrs. Quigg sharply queried, "Whom are you talking to?"
+
+"The 'guides,'" I answered.
+
+"The 'guides'!" she exclaimed. "Do you believe in the guides?"
+
+"I believe in the _belief_ of the guides," was my cryptic rejoinder.
+"Sing again, please."
+
+I really had no faith in the conditions of the circle, but for the joke
+of it I kept my sitters in place for nearly an hour by dint of
+pretending to hear creakings and to feel throbbings, until at last
+little Miss Brush became very deeply concerned. "I feel them, too," she
+declared. "Did some one blow on my hands? I felt a cold wave."
+
+Harris got up abruptly. "I'll join the doubters," said he. "This
+tomfoolery is too idiotic for me."
+
+Cameron followed, and Mrs. Quigg also rose. "I'll go with you," she
+said, decidedly. I was willing to quit, too, but Mrs. Harris and Miss
+Brush pleaded with me to continue.
+
+"Close up the circle, then. Probably Harris was the hoodoo. Things will
+happen now," I said, briskly, though still without any faith in the
+experiment.
+
+Hardly had Harris left the table when a shudder passed over Mrs. Harris,
+her head lifted, and her eyes closed.
+
+"What's the matter, Dolly?" whispered Mrs. Cameron. "Do you feel faint?"
+
+"Don't be alarmed! Mrs. Harris is only passing into a sleep. Not a word,
+Harris!" I said, warningly. "Please move farther away."
+
+In the dusky light the faces of all the women looked suddenly blanched
+and strange as the entranced woman seized upon the table with her hands,
+shaking it hard from side to side. The table seemed to wake to diabolic
+energy under her palms. This was an unexpected development, and I was
+almost as much surprised as the others were.
+
+"Sing again," I commanded, softly.
+
+As they sang, Mrs. Harris withdrew her hands from the table and sat
+rigidly erect, yet with a peaceful look upon her face. "She does it
+well," I thought. "I didn't think it in the quiet little lady." At
+length one hand lifted and dropped limply upon the table. "It wants to
+write," said I. "Where is the pad? I have a pencil."
+
+As I put a pencil under the hand, it was seized in a very singular way,
+and almost instantly Mrs. Cameron gasped, "That's very strange!"
+
+"Hush!" said I. "Wait!"
+
+Holding the pencil clumsily as a crippled person might do, the hand
+crept over the paper, and at last, after writing several lines, stopped
+and lay laxly open. I passed the pad to Brierly. "Read it aloud," I
+said.
+
+He took it to the light and read:
+
+
+     "Sara, be not sceptical. Believe and you will be happier. Life is
+     only the minutest segment of the great circle.
+                                                       MARTIN."
+
+
+"My father!" exclaimed Mrs. Cameron. "Let me see the writing." Brierly
+handed the pad to her. She stared upon it in awe and wonder. "It is his
+exact signature--and Dolly held the pen just as he did--he was
+paralyzed toward the last--and could only write by holding his pen that
+way."
+
+"Look! it's moving again," I exclaimed.
+
+The hand caught up the pencil, and, holding it between the thumb and
+forefinger in a peculiar way, began moving it in the air. Brierly, who
+sat opposite, translated these movements. "She is drawing, free-hand, in
+the air. She is sketching the outline of a boat. See how she measures
+and plumbs her lines! Are you addressing me?" he asked of Mrs. Harris.
+
+The sleeper nodded.
+
+"Can't you write?" I asked. "Can't you speak?"
+
+A low gurgle in the throat was the only answer at the moment, but after
+a few trials a husky whisper began to be heard. "I will try," she said,
+and suddenly began to chuckle, rolling upon one hip and throwing one
+foot over the other like a man taking an easy attitude. She now held the
+pencil as if it were a cigarette, laughing again with such generous tone
+that the other women recoiled. Then she spoke, huskily. "You know--San
+Remo--Sands," came brokenly from her lips.
+
+"Sands?" queried the painter; "who is Sands?"
+
+"Sands--San Remo--boats."
+
+The painter was puzzled. "I don't remember any Sands at San Remo. It
+must be some student I knew in Paris. Is that what you mean?"
+
+Mrs. Harris violently nodded. As abruptly as it came, this action left
+her, and then slowly, imperceptibly, her expression changed, a look of
+ineffable maternal sweetness came into her face; she seemed to cradle a
+tiny babe upon her arm. At last she sighed, "Oh, the pity of it, the
+pity of it!"
+
+For a minute we sat in silence, so compelling were her gestures and her
+tone. At last I asked, "Has any one here lost a little child?"
+
+Mrs. Cameron spoke, hesitatingly, "Yes--I lost a little baby--years
+ago."
+
+"She is addressing you--perhaps."
+
+Mrs. Harris did not respond to this suggestion, but changed into an
+impersonation of a rollicking girl of rather common fibre. "Hello,
+Sally!" she cried out, and Mrs. Cameron stared at her in blank dismay as
+she asked, "Are you talking to me?"
+
+"You bet I am, you old bag o' wool. Remember Geny? Remember the night on
+the door-step? Ooo! but it was cold! _You_ were to blame."
+
+"What is she talking about?" I asked, seeing that Mrs. Cameron was
+reluctant to answer this challenge.
+
+"She seems to be impersonating an old class-mate of mine at college--"
+
+"That's what!" broke in the voice.
+
+Mrs. Cameron went on, "Her name was Eugenia Hull--"
+
+"Is yet," laughed the voice. "Same old sport. Couldn't find any man
+good enough. You didn't like me, but no matter; I want to tell you that
+you're in danger of fire. Don't play with fire. Be careful of fire--"
+
+Again a calm blankness fell upon the psychic's delicate and sensitive
+face, and the hand once more slowly closed upon the pencil.
+
+"My father again!" exclaimed Mrs. Cameron. "How could Dolly have known
+that he held his pen in just that way? She never saw him."
+
+"Do not place too much value on such performances," I cautioned. "She
+has probably heard you describe it. Or she might have taken it out of
+your subconscious mind."
+
+The pencil dropped. The hand lifted. The form of the sleeper expanded
+with power. Her face took on benignity and lofty serenity. She rose
+slowly, impressively, and with her hand upraised in a peculiar gesture,
+laid a blessing upon the head of her hostess. There was so much of
+sweetness and tolerance in her face, so much of dignity and power in
+every movement that I was moved to applaud the actress. As we all sat
+thus, deeply impressed by her towering attitude, Mrs. Cameron whispered:
+"Why, it is Bishop Blank! That is exactly the way he held his hand--his
+robe!"
+
+"Is it the bishop?" I asked.
+
+The psychic bowed and in solemn answer spoke. "Tell James all will yet
+be well," she said, and, making the sign of blessing once more, sank
+back into her chair.
+
+Meanwhile the irreverent ribalds in the far end of the room were
+disturbing the solemnity of all this communion with the shades, and at
+my suggestion we went up-stairs to Mrs. Cameron's own sitting-room,
+where we could be quiet. Seizing a moment when Mrs. Harris was free from
+the "influence," I woke her and told her what we were about to do. She
+followed Mrs. Cameron readily, although she seemed a little dazed, and
+five of us continued the sitting, with Mrs. Quigg and Cameron looking on
+with perfectly evident doubt of our psychic's sincerity. Harris was
+rigidly excluded.
+
+In the quiet of this room Mrs. Harris passed almost immediately into
+trance--or what seemed like a trance--and ran swiftly over all her
+former impersonations. Voice succeeded voice, almost without pause. The
+sweet mother with the child, the painter of San Remo, the jovial and
+slangy girl, the commanding and majestic figure of the bishop--all
+returned repeatedly, in bewildering mixture, dropping away, one after
+the other, with disappointing suddenness. And yet each time the messages
+grew a little more definite, a little more coherent, until at last they
+all cleared up, and this _in opposition to our thought, to our first
+interpretations_. It developed that the painter was not named "Sands,"
+but "Felipi," and that he was only trying to tell Brierly that to
+succeed he should paint rocks and sands and old boats at San Remo.
+"Pauline," the woman who had seemed to hold a babe, was a friend of Mrs.
+Cameron's who had died in childbirth. And then swiftly, unaccountably,
+all these gentle or genial influences were scattered as if by something
+hellish, something diabolic. The face of the sweet little woman became
+fiendish in line. Her lips snarled, her hands clawed like those of a
+cat, and out of her mouth came a hoarse imprecation. "I'll tear your
+heart out!" she snarled. "I'll kill you soul and body--I'll rip you limb
+from limb!" We all recoiled in amazement and wonder. It was as if our
+friend had suddenly gone insane.
+
+I confess to a feeling of profound astonishment. I had never met Mrs.
+Harris before, but as she was an intimate friend of Mrs. Cameron, and
+quite evidently a woman of culture, I could not think her so practised a
+joker as to be "putting all this on."
+
+While still we sat in silence, another voice uttered a wail of infinite
+terror and despair. "I didn't do it! _Don't_ kill me! It was not _my_
+work." And then, still more horrible to hear, a sound like the gurgling
+of blood came from the psychic's lips, mixed with babbled, frantic,
+incoherent words. I had a perfectly definite impression that she was
+impersonating some one with his throat cut. Her grimaces were disgusting
+and terrifying. The women shivered with horror. A few seconds later and
+her face changed; the hideous mask became white, expressing rigid,
+exalted terror. Her arms were drawn back as if tied at the elbow behind
+her back. Her head was uplifted, and in a low, monotonous, hushed voice
+she prayed: "Lord Jesus, receive--"
+
+A gasping, gurgling cry cut short her prayer, and, with tongue
+protruding from her mouth, she presented such a picture of a strangling
+woman that a sudden clear conception of what it all meant came to me.
+"She's impersonating a woman on the scaffold," I explained. "She has
+shown us a murder, and now she is depicting an execution. Is it Mrs. R.,
+of Vermont?" I asked.
+
+She nodded slowly. "Save me!" she whispered.
+
+"Waken her, please. Don't let her do that any more," pleaded Mrs.
+Cameron, in poignant distress.
+
+Thereupon I called out, sharply: "That is enough! Wake! _Wake!_"
+
+In answer to my command she ceased to groan; her face smoothed out, and
+with a bewildered smile she opened her eyes. "What are you saying? Have
+I been asleep?"
+
+"You have, indeed," I replied, "and you've disclosed a deal of dubious
+family history. How do you feel?"
+
+"I feel very funny around my neck," she answered, wonderingly. "What
+have you been doing to me?" She rubbed her throat. "My neck feels as if
+it had a band round it, and my tongue seems swollen. What have you been
+about?"
+
+I held up a warning hand to the others. "You went off into a quiet
+little trance, that's all. I was mistaken. Either you are a psychic or
+you should have been an actress."
+
+As we stood thus confronting one another, Mrs. Cameron came between us,
+saying, "Do you know, Pauline came and talked with me--"
+
+At the word _Pauline_ the spell seemed to fall again over the bright
+spirit of Mrs. Harris. Her eyelids drooped, her limbs lost their power,
+and she sank into her chair as before, a helpless victim, apparently, to
+the hidden forces. For a moment I was at a loss. I could not believe
+that she was deceiving us, but it was possible that she was deceiving
+herself. "In either case, she must be brought out of this," I decided,
+and, putting my hands on her shoulders, I said: "If there is any
+'control' here, let them stop this. We want no more of it. Stop it!"
+
+My command was again obeyed, and the psychic slowly came back to
+herself, and as she did so I said, warningly, to Mrs. Cameron: "Do not
+utter another word of this in Mrs. Harris's presence. She seems to be
+extremely sensitive to hypnotic influence, and I think she had better
+go out into the air at once."
+
+In rather subdued mood we went below to rejoin the frankly contemptuous
+members of the party.
+
+"Well, what luck?" cried Howard.
+
+"You all look rather solemn," said Harris. "What about it? Dolly, what
+have you been doing?"
+
+Mrs. Cameron described the sitting as wonderful, but Mrs. Harris only
+smiled vaguely, and I said: "Your wife seemed to go into a trance and
+impersonate a number of individuals. She shows all the signs of a real
+sensitive."
+
+Harris, who had been studying his wife with half-humorous intentness,
+now took command. "If you've been shamming, you need discipline; and if
+you haven't, you need a doctor. I think we'll go home and have it out,"
+he added, and shortly after led her away. "Some nice cool air is what we
+need," he said at the door.
+
+No sooner were the Harrises out of the door than the women of the party
+fell upon me.
+
+"What do you think of it, Mr. Garland?" asked Mrs. Cameron.
+
+"If Mrs. Harris were not your friend, and if I had not seen other
+performances of the same sort, I should instantly say that she was
+having her joke with us. But I have seen too much of this sort of thing
+to take it altogether lightly. That's the way this investigating goes.
+One thing corroborates another. 'Impersonation' in the case of a public
+medium may mean nothing--on the part of a psychic like your friend Mrs.
+Harris it means a very great deal. In support of this, let me tell you
+of a similar case. I have a friend, a perfectly trustworthy woman, and
+of keen intelligence, whose 'stunt,' as she laughingly calls it, is to
+impersonate nameless and suffering spirits who have been hurled into
+outer darkness by reason of their own misdeeds or by some singular
+chance of their taking off. My friend seems to be able in some way to
+free these poor 'earth-bound souls' and send them flying upward to some
+heaven. It's all very creepy," I added, warningly.
+
+"Oh, delightful! Let it be _very_ creepy," called Mrs. Quigg.
+
+"To begin with, my friend is as keen-eyed, as level-headed as any woman
+I know--the last person in the world to be taken for a 'sensitive.' I
+had never suspected it in her; but one night she laughingly admitted
+having been 'in the work' at one time, and I begged for a sitting. We
+were dining at her house--Jack Ross, a Miss Wilcox, and I, all intimate
+friends of hers, and she consented. After sitting a few minutes she
+turned to me and said: 'My "guide" is here. Be sure to keep near me;
+don't let me fall.' She still spoke smilingly, but I could see she was
+in earnest.
+
+"'You see,' she explained, 'I seem to leave the body and to withdraw a
+little distance above my chair. From this height I survey my material
+self, which seems to be animated by an entirely alien influence.
+Sometimes my body is moved by these forces to rise and walk about the
+room. In such cases it is necessary for some friend to follow close
+behind me, for between the going of "the spirit" and the return of my
+"astral self" there lies an appreciable interval when my body is as limp
+as an empty sack. I came very near having a bad fall once.'
+
+"'I understand,' said I. 'I'll keep an eye on you.'
+
+"In a few moments a change came over her face. She sank into a curious
+negative state between trance and reverie. Her lips parted, and a soft
+voice came from them. She spoke to Miss Wilcox, who sat opposite her:
+'Sister--I am very happy. I am surrounded by children. It is beautiful
+here in the happy valley--warm and golden--and oh, the merry children!'
+
+"Miss Wilcox was deeply moved by this message and for a moment could not
+reply. At length she recovered her voice and asked, 'Are you speaking to
+me?'
+
+"'Yes. I am worried about mother. She is sick. Go to her. She needs
+help. Good-bye!' The smile faded; my friend's face resumed its
+impersonal calm.
+
+"'Did you recognize the spirit?' I asked.
+
+"Miss Wilcox hesitated, but at last said: 'My sister was active in the
+work of caring for orphan children. But that proves nothing. Anna may
+have known it--there is no test in this. It may be only mind-reading.'
+
+"'You are quite right,' I replied. 'But the message concerning your
+mother can be tested, can it not?'
+
+"At this moment the face of the psychic squared, and a deep, slow voice
+came pulsing forth. 'Why do you wilfully blind your eyes? The truth will
+prevail. Mystery is all about you. Why doubt that which would comfort
+you?'
+
+"'Who are you?' I inquired.
+
+"'I am Theodore Parker, the psychic's control,' was the answer.
+
+"Soon after this my friend opened her eyes and smiled. 'Do you know what
+you've said?' I asked. 'Yes, I always have a dim notion of what is going
+on,' she answered, 'but why I am moved to speak and act as I do I don't
+know. It is just the same when I write automatically. I know when I do
+it, but I can't see the connection between my own mind and the writing.
+It is as if one lobe of my brain kept watch over the action of the
+other.'
+
+"She now passed into another period of immobility and so sat for a long
+time. Suddenly her face hardened, became coarse, common, vicious in
+line. Flinging out her hand, she struck me in the breast. 'What do you
+want of me?' she demanded, in the voice of a harridan. 'What are you all
+doing here? You're a nice lot of fools.'
+
+"'Who are you?' I asked.
+
+"'You know who I am,' she answered, with a hoarse laugh. 'A sweet bunch
+you are! Where's Jim?'
+
+"'Does any one recognize this "party"?' I asked. 'Ross, this must be one
+of your set.'
+
+"Ross laughed, and the 'influence,' thrusting her face close to his,
+blurted out, menacingly: 'Don't know me, hey? Well, here I am. I wanted
+a show, and they let me in. What you going to do about it?'
+
+"'I reckon you lit in the wrong door-yard,' I replied; 'nobody knows you
+here. Skiddoo!'
+
+"She made an ugly face at me, and struck at me with her claw-like hand.
+'I'd like to smash you!'
+
+"'Good-bye,' said I. 'Get out!' And she was gone.
+
+"Before a word could be spoken, a look of hopeless, heart-piercing woe
+came over my friend's face. She began to moan and wring her hands most
+piteously. 'Oh, where am I?' she wailed. 'It is so cold, so cold! So
+cold and dark! Won't somebody help me? Oh, help me!'
+
+"I gently asked: 'Who are you? Can't you tell us your name?'
+
+"'Oh, I don't know, I can't tell,' moaned the voice. 'It's all so dark
+and cold and lonely. Please tell me where I am. I've lost my name. All
+is so dark and cold. Oh, pity me! Let me come in. Let me feel your
+light. I'm freezing! Oh, pity me. I'm so lonely. It's so dark.'
+
+"'Come in,' I said. 'We will help you.'
+
+"The hands of the psychic crept timidly up my arm and touched my cheek.
+'Thank you! Thank you! Oh, the cheer! Oh, the light!' she cried,
+ecstatically. 'I see! I know! Good-bye!' And with a sigh of ecstasy the
+voice ceased.
+
+"I can hardly express to you the vivid and yet sombre impression this
+made upon me. It was as if a chilled and weary bird, having winged its
+way from the winter's midnight into a warm room, had been heartened and
+invigorated, had rushed away confident and swift to the sun-lands of the
+South.
+
+"One by one other 'earth-bound souls' who, from one cause or another,
+were 'unable to find their way upward,' came into our ken like chilled
+and desperate bats condemned to whirl in endless outer darkness and
+silence--poor, abortive, anomalous shadows, whose voices pleaded
+piteously for release. Nameless, agonized, bewildered, they clung like
+moths to the light of our psychic.
+
+"Some of them appeared to be suffering all the terrors of the damned,
+and as they moaned and pleaded for light, the lovely face of my friend
+was convulsed with agony and her hands fluttered about like wounded
+birds. Singular conception! Wonderful power of suggestion!
+
+"At length, with a glad cry, the last of these blind souls saw, sighed
+with happiness, and seemed to vanish upward, as if into some
+unfathomable, fourth-dimension heaven. Then the sweet first spirit, the
+woman with the glad children, returned to say to Miss Wilcox, 'Be
+happy--George _is_ coming back to you.'
+
+"After she passed, my friend opened her eyes as before, clearly,
+smilingly, and said, 'Have you had enough?'
+
+"'Plenty,' said I. 'You nearly took my eye out in your dramatic fervor.
+I must say your ghosts are most unhappy creatures.'
+
+"She became very serious. 'Please don't think that these spirits are my
+affinities. My work is purely philanthropic, so Theodore Parker used to
+tell mother. It was my duty, he said, to comfort the cheerless, to
+liberate the earth-bound, and so I had to have these poor creatures
+waiting around. That's why I gave it up. It got to be too dreadful. We
+never could tell what would come next. Murderers and barnburners and
+every other accursed spirit seemed to be privileged to come into my poor
+empty house and abuse it, although Parker and his band promised to
+protect me. I stopped it. I will not sit again,' she said, firmly. 'I
+don't like it. It would be bad enough to be dominated by one's dead
+friends, or the dead friends of one's friends, but to be helpless in the
+hands of all the demons and suicides and miscreants of the other world
+is intolerable. And if I am not dominated by dead people, I fear I am
+acting in response to the minds of vicious living people, and I don't
+like that. It's a dreadful feeling--can't you see it is?--this being
+open to every wandering gust of passion. I wouldn't let any one of my
+children be controlled for the world. Don't ask me to sit again, and
+please don't let my friends know of my "gift."'
+
+"Of course we promised, but the effect of that sitting I shall not soon
+forget. By-the-way, Miss Wilcox 'phoned and proved the truth of her
+message. Her mother really was ill and in need of her."
+
+As I closed this story, Cameron said: "Garland, you tell that as if you
+believed in it."
+
+"I certainly do believe in my friend. It's no joke with her. She is
+quite certain that she is controlled by those 'on the other side,' and
+that to submit is to lose so much of her own individuality. You may call
+it hysteria, somnambulism, hypnotism, anything you like, but that
+certain people are moved subconsciously to impersonate the dead I am
+quite ready to believe. However, 'impersonation' is the least convincing
+(from my point of view) of all the phases of mediumship. I have paid
+very little attention to it in the course of my investigation. It has no
+value as evidence. You are still in the tattered fringes of 'spiritism,'
+even when you have seen all that impersonation can show you."
+
+"Well, what do you suggest as the proper method for the society?"
+
+"As I told you at beginning, I have had a great deal of experience with
+these elusive 'facts,' and it chances that a practised though
+non-professional psychic with whom I have held many baffling sittings,
+is in the city. I may be able to induce her to sit for us."
+
+"Oh, do, do!" cried Mrs. Cameron and Miss Brush together.
+
+"Who is she?" asked Miller.
+
+"I'll tell you more about her--next time," I said, tantalizingly. "She
+is very puzzling, I assure you. When and where shall we meet?"
+
+"Here," said Cameron, promptly. "I'm getting interested. Bring on your
+marvels."
+
+"Yes," said Miller, and his mouth shut like a steel trap. "Bring on your
+faker. It won't take us long to expose her little game."
+
+"Bigger scientific bigots than you have been conquered," I retorted.
+"All right. I'll see what I can do. We'll meet one week from to-day."
+
+"Yes," said Cameron; "come for dinner."
+
+As I was going out, Mrs. Quigg detained me. "If it had been anybody but
+nice little Mrs. Harris, I should say that you had made this all up
+between you. As it is, I guess I'll have to admit that there is
+something in thought transference and hypnotism. _You were her
+control._"
+
+"That will serve for one evening," I retorted. "I'll make you doubt the
+existence of matter before we finish this series of sittings." And with
+this we parted.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+I was a little late at Cameron's dinner-party, and no sooner had I shown
+my face inside the door than a chorus of excited inquiry arose.
+
+"Where is the medium?" demanded Cameron.
+
+"Don't tell us you haven't got her!" exclaimed Mrs. Quigg.
+
+"I haven't her in my pocket, but she has promised to appear a little
+later," I replied, serenely.
+
+"Why didn't you bring her to dinner?" asked Mrs. Cameron.
+
+"Well, she seemed a little shy, and, besides, I was quite sure you would
+all want to discuss her, and so--"
+
+"Yes, do tell us about her. Who is she? Does she perform for a living?
+What kind of a person are we to expect?" volleyed Miss Brush.
+
+To this I replied: "She is a native of the Middle West--Ohio, I believe.
+No, she does not do this for a living; in fact, she makes no charge for
+her services. She is very gentle and lady-like, and much interested,
+naturally, in converting you to spiritualism; for, like most psychics,
+she believes in spirits. She says her 'controls' have especially urged
+her to give me sittings. I am highly flattered to think the spirit folk
+should consider me so particularly valuable to their cause. Seriously, I
+hope you will appreciate the wonderful concessions Mrs. Smiley is making
+in thus putting herself into our hands with the almost certain result of
+being discredited by some of us. I believe she really is doing it from a
+sense of duty, and is entitled to be treated fairly."
+
+"Has she been in the business long?" asked Mrs. Quigg, with lurking
+sarcasm.
+
+"Ever since she was about ten years old, I believe, but she sits only
+'to spread the glad tidings.'"
+
+"Is she married?"
+
+"Yes, and has a devoted husband, and a nice little American village
+home. I know, for she sent me a photograph of it. She has two children
+'in the other world.' Please don't think all mediums the ignorant and
+vicious harpies which the newspapers make them out to be. I know several
+who are very nice, serious-minded women."
+
+At this point dinner was announced, and the dining-room became the field
+of a hot verbal warfare. The members of the society were all present
+excepting Mrs. Harris, who had been greatly upset by her own
+performance. Bart Brierly, the painter, was there to defend the mystery
+of life against our scientific friend Miller, whose conception of the
+universe was very definite indeed. Mrs. Quigg supported Miller. Young
+Howard was everywhere in the lists, and his raillery afforded Cameron a
+great deal of amusement.
+
+I contented myself with listening for the first half-hour, but at last
+took occasion to say to Miller: "Like all violent opponents of the
+metapsychical, you know very little of the subject you are discussing.
+To sustain this contention, let me ask if you have ever read the account
+of Sir William Crookes's experiments with psychic force?"
+
+Miller confessed that he had not. "I have avoided doing so, for I
+respect Crookes as a chemist," he added.
+
+I continued: "Crookes began by pooh-poohing the whole subject of
+spiritualism, very much as you do, Miller; but after three years of
+rigid investigation, he was forced to announce himself convinced of the
+truth of many of the so-called spirit phenomena. It is instructive to
+recall that when he was willing to hazard his scientific reputation on a
+report of this character to the Royal Society, of which he was a member,
+his paper was thrown out. The secretary refused even to enter it upon
+the files of the institution."
+
+"I know about that," replied Miller, "and I consider the secretary
+justified. To his thinking, Crookes had lost his head."
+
+"No matter what he thought," I replied. "Any paper by a man of
+Crookes's standing, with his knowledge of chemistry and of life, and his
+long training in exact observation, should have been considered. The
+action of the secretary was due simply to prejudice, and many of those
+who voted to ignore that report are to-day more than half convinced that
+Sir William has been justified. Each of his experiments has been
+repeated and his findings verified by scientific men of Europe. It is a
+pleasure to add that our own Smithsonian Institution published two of
+his speculative papers some years ago. So it goes--the heresy of to-day
+is the orthodoxy of to-morrow."
+
+"Didn't Crookes afterward repudiate that early report?" asked Miller.
+
+"On the contrary, in 1898, upon being elected to the presidency of the
+British Association for the Advancement of Science, he said (I think I
+can recall almost his exact words): 'No incident in my scientific career
+is more widely known than the part I took in certain psychic researches.
+Thirty years have passed since I published an account of experiments
+tending to show that outside our scientific knowledge there exists a
+force exercised by intelligences differing from the ordinary
+intelligence common to mortals. This fact in my life is well understood
+by those who honored me with the invitation to become your president.
+Perhaps among my audience some may feel curious as to whether I shall
+speak out or be silent. I elect to speak, although briefly. I have
+nothing to retract. I adhere to my published statements. Indeed, I might
+add much thereto.' And when you realize that this includes his
+astounding experience with 'Katie King,' his words become tremendous in
+their significance."
+
+"What was the 'Katie King' experience?" asked Mrs. Cameron. "I never
+heard of it."
+
+"It is a long and very interesting story, but in substance it is this:
+While in a condition of contemptuous disbelief as to the alleged
+phenomena of spiritualism, Sir William chanced to witness a seance
+wherein a young girl named Florence Cook was the medium. Her doings so
+puzzled and interested him that he went again and again to see her.
+Dissatisfied with the conditions under which the wonders took place, he
+asked Miss Cook to come to his house and sit for him and his friends.
+This she did. She was a mere girl at the time, about seventeen years of
+age, and yet she baffled this great chemist and all his assistants. You
+sometimes hear people say, 'Yes, but he was in his dotage.' He was not.
+He was in his early prime. He brought to bear all his thirty years'
+training in exact observation, and all the mechanical and electrical
+appliances he could devise, without once detecting anything deceitful."
+
+"Even in the 'Katie King' episode?" asked Harris.
+
+"Even Katie stood the test. But before going into that, let me tell you
+some of his other experiments. He says (among other amazing things) that
+he has seen a chair move on its own account, without contact with a
+medium. He saw Daniel Home--another medium with whom he had
+sittings--raised by invisible power completely from the floor of the
+room. 'Under rigid test condition,' he writes, 'I have seen a solid,
+self-luminous body the size of an egg float noiselessly about the room!'
+But wait! I will quote from my notes his exact words." Here I produced
+my note-book, and read as follows: "'I have seen a luminous cloud
+floating upward toward a picture. Under the strictest test conditions, I
+have more than once had a solid, self-luminous, crystalline body placed
+in my hand by a hand which did not belong to any person in the room. _In
+the light_, I have seen a luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope on a
+side-table, break a sprig off, and carry it to a lady; and on some
+occasions I have seen a similar luminous cloud condense to the form of a
+hand and carry small objects about. During a seance in full light, a
+beautifully formed small hand rose up from an opening in a dining-table
+and gave me a flower. This occurred in the light in my own room, while I
+was holding the medium's hands and feet. I have retained one of these
+perfectly life-like and graceful (spirit) hands in my own, firmly
+resolved not to let it escape, but it gradually seemed to resolve
+itself into vapor, and faded in that manner from my grasp.'"
+
+"Oh, come now," shouted Howard, "you're joking! Crookes couldn't have
+written that."
+
+I continued to read: "'Under satisfactory test conditions, I have seen
+phantom forms and faces--a phantom form came from the corner of the
+room, took an accordion in its hand, and glided about the room playing
+the instrument.'"
+
+As I paused, Harris said: "Was all that in his report to the Royal
+Society?"
+
+"It was."
+
+"Well, I don't wonder they thought he was crazy. The whole statement is
+preposterous."
+
+"But that is not all," I hastened to say. "Under rigid conditions scales
+were depressed without contact, and a flower, separating itself from a
+bouquet, passed through a solid table."
+
+Miller made a gesture of angry disgust. "To save the reputation of a
+really great scientist, don't quote any more of that insane dreaming."
+
+"I didn't know any one but campers in 'Lily Dale' could be so
+bug-house," added Howard.
+
+I went on. "Crookes might have induced his brother scientists at least
+to listen to his report had he stopped with this. But he proceeded to
+say that he had witnessed the magic birth of a sentient, palpable,
+intelligent human being, who walked about in his household, conversing
+freely, while the medium, from whom the spirit form sprang, lay in the
+cabinet like one dead. It was his account of this 'spirit,' who called
+herself 'Katie King,' that caused the whole scientific world to jeer at
+the great chemist as a man gone mad."
+
+"We have a right to draw the line between Crookes the chemist and
+Crookes the befuddled dupe," insisted Miller.
+
+Mrs. Cameron drew a long breath. "Do you mean to say that this 'Katie
+King' phantom actually _talked_ with the people in the room? Does Sir
+William Crookes say that?"
+
+"Yes. Over and over again he declares that 'Katie King' appeared as real
+as any one else in his house. He becomes quite lyrical in description of
+her beauty. She was like a pearl in her purity. Her flesh seemed a
+sublimation of ordinary human flesh. And the grace of her manner was so
+extraordinary that Lady Crookes and all who saw her became deeply
+enamoured of her. She allowed some of them to kiss her, and Crookes
+himself was permitted to grasp her hand and walk up and down the room
+with her."
+
+"How was she dressed?" asked Mrs. Brush.
+
+"There! Now we are getting at the essentials," I exclaimed. "Usually in
+white with a turban."
+
+"Did she look like the medium?"
+
+"She was utterly unlike Miss Cook in several physical details. She was
+half a head taller, her face was broader, her ears had not been
+pierced, and she was free from certain facial scars that Miss Cook bore;
+and once when Miss Cook was suffering from a severe cold, Sir William
+tested 'Katie King's' lungs and found them in perfect health. On several
+occasions he and several of his friends, among them eminent scientists,
+saw 'Katie' and the medium together, and at last succeeded in
+photographing them both on the same plate, although never with Miss
+Cook's face exposed, because of the danger, to one in a trance, from the
+shock of a flash-light."
+
+"I don't take any stock in that excuse," said Howard. "But go on, I like
+this."
+
+"For months the great chemist brought all his skill to bear on Miss
+Cook's mediumship without detecting any fraud or finding any solution of
+the mystery. The sittings, which took place in his own library, were
+under his own conditions, and he had the assistance of several young and
+clever physicists, and yet he could not convict Miss Cook of
+double-dealing. The story of the final seance, when 'Katie King'
+announced her departure, is as affecting as a scene in a play. She had
+said that her real name was 'Annie Morgan,' but that in the spirit world
+she was known as 'Katie King.' She came, she said, to do a certain work,
+and now, after three years, that work was done, and she must return to
+the spirit world."
+
+"What was that work?"
+
+"To convince the world of the spirit life, I imagine. 'When the time
+came for "Katie" to take her farewell,' writes Crookes, 'I asked that
+she would let me see the last of her. Accordingly when she had called
+each of the company up to her and had spoken a few words in private, she
+gave some general directions for the future guidance and protection of
+Miss Cook. From these, which were taken down in shorthand, I quote the
+following: "Mr. Crookes has done very well throughout, and I leave
+Florrie [the medium], with the greatest confidence, in his hands."
+Having concluded her directions, "Katie" invited me into the cabinet
+with her, and allowed me to remain until the end.'"
+
+"Touching confidence!" interrupted Harris.
+
+"'After closing the curtain she conversed with me for some time, and
+then walked across to where Miss Cook was lying senseless on the floor.
+Stooping over her, "Katie" touched her and said: "Wake up, Florrie, wake
+up! I must leave you now."
+
+"'Miss Cook then woke, and tearfully entreated "Katie" to stay a little
+time longer.
+
+"'"My dear, I can't; my work is done. God bless you," "Katie" replied,
+and then continued speaking to Miss Cook for several minutes. For
+several minutes the two were conversing with each other, till at last
+Miss Cook's tears prevented her speaking. Following "Katie's"
+instructions, I then came forward to support Miss Cook, who was falling
+onto the floor, sobbing hysterically. I looked round, but the
+white-robed "Katie" had gone, never to return to the earth-plane.'"
+
+I glanced about the table at my silent listeners, and added: "Could
+anything be more dramatic than this sad farewell? Evidently the fourth
+dimension is both near and very far."
+
+All the women were deeply impressed with this story, but to Miller it
+was as idle as the blowing of the wind. "The man was duped. It is
+absolutely impossible to think that he was not grossly deceived."
+
+"Wait a moment," said I. "I defy you or any man to remain unchanged by
+it. The world is just catching up to this brave pioneer. At that time
+there were very few scientific men in the metapsychical field. Sir
+William stood almost alone. But public sentiment changed rapidly as the
+years passed. The English Society for Psychical Research was formed, and
+one by one Wallace, Lodge, and other scientific men were convinced of
+the truth of these phenomena. In Europe, as early as 1853, the work was
+taken up in the true scientific spirit, and Professor Marc Thury and the
+Count de Gasparin completely demonstrated the fact of telekinesis; and
+at about the same time that the Dialectical Society was getting into
+action, Flammarion, the astronomer, took up his study of the subject.
+But it was not until 1891 that anything like Crookes's searching
+analysis was made of a medium. This important sitting--a sitting which
+marks an epoch in science--took place in Milan, and was attended, among
+others, by Lombroso and Richet. For the first time, so far as is known,
+a flash-light photograph was taken of a table floating in the air."
+
+At this moment the bell rang, and Mrs. Cameron exclaimed: "There! that
+may be your wonder-worker."
+
+I looked at my watch. "I shouldn't wonder. She is a prompt little
+person."
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+We trooped into the sitting-room, where Mrs. Smiley, a plain little
+woman with a sweet mouth and bright black eyes, was awaiting us. She was
+perceptibly abashed by the keen glances that the men directed upon her,
+but her manners were those of one natively thoughtful and refined. She
+made an excellent impression on every one.
+
+"Did you bring your magic horn, Mrs. Smiley?" I asked, to relieve her
+embarrassment.
+
+"Oh yes!" she answered, brightly. "I carry that just as a fiddler
+carries his fiddle--ready for a tune at any moment."
+
+She brought a large package from the foot of the sofa and gave it to me.
+I took it, but turned it over to Miller. "Here, open this parcel
+yourself, Mr. Scientist. I want you to be satisfied as to its
+character."
+
+Miller undid the package as cautiously as if it were an infernal
+machine. As the paper opened and fell away, a short, truncated cone of
+tin was disclosed, with another smaller one loosely held within it. The
+two sections, when adjusted, made a plain megaphone, about twenty-four
+inches in length and some five inches in diameter at the larger end.
+
+"What do you do with that?" asked Mrs. Cameron.
+
+In a perfectly matter-of-fact way Mrs. Smiley replied: "Many of the
+spirit voices are very faint, and cannot be heard without this horn. I
+am what they call a 'trumpet medium,'" she added, in further
+explanation.
+
+"Do you mean to say spirits speak through that horn?"
+
+"Yes. That is my 'phone.'"
+
+The ladies looked at one another, and Harris said: "Isn't it rather
+absurd to expect an immaterial mouth to speak through a tin tube, like
+the grocer's boy?"
+
+She smiled composedly. "I suppose it seems so to you, but to me it just
+happens."
+
+I set briskly to work arranging the library for the circle. In the
+middle of the room I placed a plain oaken table, which had been procured
+specially for the sitting. On this I stood the tin horn, upright on its
+larger end; beside it I laid a pad, a pencil, and a small slate.
+
+"Mrs. Smiley, you are to sit here," I said, drawing an arm-chair to the
+end of the table nearest the wall. She took her seat submissively; and
+looking around upon my fellow-members with a full knowledge of what was
+in their minds, I remarked: "If all goes well to-night, this little
+woman, alone and unaided, except by this megaphone, will utterly
+confound you. We have had many sittings. We understand each other
+perfectly. I am going to treat her as if she were an unconscious
+trickster. I am going to use every effort to discover how she
+accomplishes these mysterious results, and Miller is to be notably
+remorseless. We are going to concede (for the present) the dim light
+required. I don't like this, but Mrs. Smiley is giving us every other
+condition, and as this is but a trial sitting, we grant it." I turned to
+Miller. "The theory is that light acts in direct opposition to the
+psychic force, weakening it unaccountably. Nevertheless, darkness is not
+absolutely essential. Maxwell secured many convincing movements in the
+light, and no doubt we shall be able to do so later."
+
+"Who is Maxwell?" asked Miss Brush.
+
+"Dr. Joseph Maxwell, Deputy Attorney-General of the Court of Appeals at
+Bordeaux and Doctor of Medicine. He is a noted experimenter with psychic
+forces. Indeed, he has the power himself. Now, Mrs. Smiley, I wish to
+begin my tests by tying your wrists to the arms of your chair. May I do
+so?"
+
+"Certainly," she cheerfully answered. "You may padlock me, or put me in
+an iron cage, if you please. I leave it all to you."
+
+"Well, there is a certain virtue in knotting a silk thread, for the
+reason that it is almost impossible to untie, even in the light, and to
+break it, we will agree, invalidates the sitting. For to-night we will
+use the thread. Miller, will you watch me?"
+
+"With the greatest pleasure in the world," he answered, "and as a
+scientist I am going to treat you as a possible confederate."
+
+"Very good. Let each watch the other."
+
+Beneath the gaze of the smiling company, I took from my pocket a spool
+of strong silk twist, and proceeded to fasten the psychic's wrists. Each
+arm was tied separately in such wise that she was unable to bring her
+hands together, and could not raise her wrists an inch from the chair.
+Next, with the aid of Mrs. Cameron, I looped a long piece of tape about
+Mrs. Smiley's ankles, knotted it to the rungs of the chair at the back,
+and nailed the loose ends to the floor. I then drew chalk marks on the
+floor about the chair legs, in order that any movement of the chair, no
+matter how slight, might show. Finally, I pushed the table about two
+feet away from the psychic's utmost reach.
+
+"With this arrangement we ought to be able to detect any considerable
+movement on your part," I said to my prisoner; "at any rate, I think we
+can keep you from jumping upon the table. Miller, you are to sit at her
+left; I will keep watch and ward at her right; the others of the society
+may take seats as they please--only the tradition is that the sexes
+should alternate. Cameron, please lock both doors and keep the keys in
+your pocket."
+
+As soon as we were all seated and Cameron had locked the doors, I asked
+him to turn down the light, which he did, grumbling: "I don't like this
+part of it."
+
+"Neither do I, but at a first sitting we must not expect too much. I am
+sure we shall be able to have more light later on. And now, while we are
+all getting into a harmonious frame of mind, suppose we ask Mrs. Smiley
+to tell us a little about herself. Where were you born, Mrs. Smiley?"
+
+She replied, very simply and candidly: "I was born near Cincinnati. My
+father was a spiritualist early in the 'craze,' as it was called, and I
+was about nine when I became a medium. At first we did not know that I
+was the psychic. Demons seemed to take possession of our house, and for
+a few weeks nothing movable was safe. After awhile my father became sure
+that I was the cause of these disturbances, because everywhere I went
+raps were heard: the movement of small objects near where I sat made me
+an object of aversion or of actual terror to my school-mates. So finally
+my father asked me to sit. I didn't want to do so at first, but he told
+me it was my duty. They used to tie me in every way and experiment with
+me. It was very wearisome to me, but I submitted, and I have been
+devoted to the work ever since. After my father and mother died I gave
+up all opposition to my gift, and now it is a great comfort to me; for
+now I get messages from my father and my little daughter almost every
+day."
+
+"Do they speak to you directly?" I asked.
+
+"Yes. Sometimes clairaudiently, but generally through this cone when I
+sit in the dark."
+
+"What do you mean by speaking?" asked Howard. "Do you mean they sound
+like actual people?"
+
+"Just as real as you or any one," she answered.
+
+I was waiting to say: "Don't be in haste; you will all know from actual
+experience what she means by voices."
+
+"Have you ever seen these forces at work?" asked Harris.
+
+"No; not the way you mean. I had a terrible shock once that cured me of
+being too curious. I was holding an accordion under a table by its
+bellows end, as Home used to do, and while the playing was going on I
+just believed if I looked under the table I could see something. So I
+lifted the cover and peeped under. I didn't know any more for a long
+time. When I came to my father was bathing my face and rubbing my hands.
+I never tried to 'peek' after that."
+
+"Do you mean that they did this to punish you for your peeping?"
+
+"Yes. They don't like to have you look directly at them when they are
+at work."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"I don't know. I never was punished again. I didn't need it."
+
+"Would 'they' bat me if I were to peek?" asked Howard.
+
+"They might not; but they refuse to 'work' while any one is looking."
+
+"All that is suspicious."
+
+"I know it is, but that is the way they act."
+
+"You believe 'they' are spirits?"
+
+"I _know_ they are," she repeated. "If I didn't, I would be desolate. I
+have been sitting now for over thirty years, and these friendly voices
+are a part of my life. They comfort me more than I can tell."
+
+She gave this account of herself with an air of quiet conviction that
+deeply impressed the circle, and at the end of her little speech I
+added: "She has agreed to put herself into our hands for a series of
+experiments, and if her health does not fail I think we shall be able to
+rival the doings of Florence Cook and Daniel Home, whose mediumships
+were the basis of Crookes's report. Now let each one of you spread his
+hands, or her hands, upon the table, just touching the little fingers,
+in order that a complete circuit may be established. Miller and I will
+make connection with our psychic."
+
+"It all seems childish folly, but we'll do it," said Harris.
+
+"What may we expect to happen first, Mrs. Smiley?" asked Mrs. Cameron,
+after we were in position.
+
+"I don't know," she answered, frankly. "I have very little control over
+these forces. Often, when I am most anxious, nothing happens. Please
+don't expect much of anything to-night: my first sittings in a new place
+are seldom very good, and so much depends upon those who make up the
+circle. I never sit without a fear that my power has gone never to come
+back."
+
+I helped her out in explanation: "The honest medium does not advertise
+to perform regularly, for the reason that this force, whatever it is,
+seems to lie almost wholly outside the will. Flammarion says 'it may be
+set down as a rule that all professional mediums cheat.' That is putting
+it pretty strong; but it seems true that the condition which leads to
+these phenomena is a very subtle physical and mental adjustment, and
+that the slightest distraction or mental unrest defeats everything. If
+the medium is paid for her work she is too eager to serve, and
+everything tempts her to deceive. Furthermore, it has been proved that
+the psychic is in the very nature of the case _extremely liable to
+suggestion_, and the combined wills of the sitters focussed on one
+desired phenomena becomes an almost irresistible force to certain
+psychics. On the other hand, the best observers say that the most
+striking proofs of spiritualism lies in the fact that the most amazing
+phenomena come in opposition to the will of both the psychic and the
+sitters. We may not secure a single movement to-night, and, indeed, we
+may have two or three barren sittings, but I am confident that in the
+end you will be satisfied. I am going to attempt to put Mrs. Smiley to
+sleep now, and when she is in her trance we can discuss her methods
+freely."
+
+I began to hum a low, monotonous tune, and one by one the others joined
+in the refrain; soon the psychic's breath became labored, and in the
+pauses of the song she moaned. At length she drew her hands as far away
+from Miller's and mine as the threads would permit, thus breaking the
+circuit.
+
+"She is in trance," I reported. "Now we have nothing to do but wait. You
+may say anything you please, or tell stories or sing songs, only don't
+argue. We will remain as we are for a while, and if the 'guides' are
+dissatisfied, they will order a change. Generally speaking, the
+'controls' are very notional, and when we get into full communication
+with 'them' the entire present arrangement may be broken up. The theory
+is that all success is due to the co-operation of those 'on the other
+side.'"
+
+"It looks to me like a plain case of hypnotism from this side,"
+remarked Harris.
+
+"Aren't there any fixed rules to the game?" asked Howard.
+
+"After many years' exhaustive study of these antic spirits (approaching
+them always from the naturalistic side), Maxwell deduces certain helpful
+rules: 'Use a small room,' he says, 'and have it warm. Medium and
+sitters must not have cold hands or feet.'"
+
+"I can understand the psychic having cold feet now and then,"
+interjected Harris.
+
+"Maxwell finds dry air and clear weather most favorable; rainy and windy
+weather often cause failures. There seems to be some connection with the
+electrical condition of the atmosphere. After proving that a white light
+deters phenomena, he uses green, violet, or yellow screens for his
+lamps. 'Any kind of a table will do for the raps, or for levitation,' he
+says, 'but one with a double top seems to give best results.' His
+sitters use wooden chairs with cane seats, and my own experience is that
+a bare floor helps. He especially directs that the guide be
+consulted--'let the phenomena come as spontaneously as possible,' he
+adds."
+
+"Does he find this sandwiching of the sexes helpful?"
+
+"Yes. He says six or eight people, men and women alternating, make the
+best circle. 'Take things seriously, but not solemnly,' he advises.
+'Don't argue; address the "control," and follow his advice. Avoid
+confusion by electing a director and asking for only one thing at a
+time. Keep the same people in the group for at least six sittings. Sit
+in a circle and touch hands. Be patient and good-tempered. A worried,
+irritated, sullen medium is a poor instrument. Finally'--and this is
+most important--'don't overwork the medium.' And with this important
+statement he ends: '_I am persuaded of the absolute harmlessness of
+these experiments, provided they are properly conducted._'"
+
+"I am glad to know that," said Mrs. Quigg. "After seeing Mrs. Harris's
+trance, I was in doubt."
+
+"Maxwell's hints are extremely valuable to me," I continued, "for they
+confirm my own methods, some of which I had to learn by tedious
+experience. If I had known, for instance, the folly of allowing
+everybody to quiz the psychic, I might have been spared many hours of
+tiresome sitting. Maxwell is, indeed, an ideal investigator--he has made
+a great advance in methods, and his conclusions, though tentative, are
+most suggestive. No unprejudiced reader can finish his book,
+_Metapsychical Phenomena_, without feeling that its author is a brave
+and fearless writer, as well as a cautious and sane reasoner. His
+published experience throws a flood of light on mediums and their
+puzzling peculiarities."
+
+"But it seems to me those rules give the medium and his 'guides' the
+free hand," said Miller, discontentedly.
+
+"By no means," I retorted. "Maxwell plainly says, 'Where the "control"
+is insisting upon something which I do not like, I politely resist, and
+end by getting my own way.' Note the 'politely.' In short, he recognizes
+that a genuine medium is a very precious instrument, and he does not
+begin by clubbing him--or her--into submission. For all their wondrous
+powers, the people who possess these powers are very weak. They are not
+allowed to make anything more than a living out of the practise of the
+magic, and they live under the threat of having the power withdrawn.
+They are helpless in the face of a challenge to produce the phenomena,
+and yet the hidden forces are themselves helpless without them--"
+
+"Is the table throbbing?" asked Brierly.
+
+"I don't feel it."
+
+"Have you ever had any convincing evidence of this psychic force--such
+as movement of objects without contact?" asked Harris.
+
+"Yes. I have had a table rise at least twenty inches from the floor in
+the full light, with no one present but the medium and myself, and while
+our finger-tips alone touched the top. It felt as if it were floating in
+a thick and resilient liquid, and when I pressed upon it, it oscillated,
+in a curious way, as if the power were applied from below and in the
+centre of the table. The psychic was a young girl, and I am certain
+played no trick. I could see her feet on the floor, and her finger-tips
+were, like mine, on the top of the table. This was the clearest test of
+levitation I ever had, but the lifting of a pencil in independent
+writing is the same thing in effect."
+
+"I see you have acquired all the 'patter,'" remarked Miller.
+
+"Oh, yes indeed; all the 'patter,' and some of the guile. For instance,
+when I want to use 'those who have passed on' I do so, and when I don't
+I invent means to deceive them."
+
+Mrs. Quigg caught me up on that. "Can you deceive 'them'?"
+
+"I don't know that I do, really; but, at any rate, 'they' are not always
+mind-readers--that I have proved very conclusively. In all my experience
+I have never had any satisfactory evidence of the clairvoyance of these
+manifesting intelligences."
+
+"I thought 'they' could read one's every thought."
+
+"I do not find that 'they' can read so much as _one_ of my thoughts, and
+I would not invest a dollar on their recommendations. Seldom does so
+much as a familiar name come up in my sittings, and no message of any
+intimate sort has ever come from the shadow world for me. The messages
+are intelligent, but below rather than above the average. 'They' always
+seem very fallible, very human to me, and nothing 'they' do startles me.
+I have no patience with those who make much of the morbid side of this
+business. To me it is neither 'theism' nor 'diabolism,' and is neither
+destruction of an old religion or the basis of a new one--But all this
+verges on the controversial, and is not good for our psychic. Let's sing
+some good old tune, like 'Suwanee River' or 'Lily Dale.' We must keep to
+the genial side of conversation. Spread your hands wide on the table and
+be as comfortable as you can. We may have to wait a long time now, all
+on Miller's account."
+
+"Because he is a sceptic?"
+
+"No; because he's belligerent," I answered. "It doesn't matter whether
+you believe or not if you do not stir up controversy. Miller's
+'suggestion' is adverse to the serenity of the psychic, that's all. The
+old-time sleepy back-parlor logic has no weight with me. Maxwell and
+Flammarion are my guides."
+
+_For four hours we sat thus, and nothing happened._ How I kept them at
+it I do not now understand, but they stayed. We sang, joked, told
+stories, gossiped in desperate effort to kill time, and not one rap,
+tap, or crackle came to guide us or to give indication of the presence
+of any unusual power. Part of the time Mrs. Smiley was awake and sorely
+grieved at her failure. She understood very well the position in which I
+seemed to stand. To Miller I was a dupe, the victim of a trickster. He
+himself afterward confessed that at the time he almost regretted his
+preternatural acuteness, and was ready to take himself away in order to
+let the show go on. But he didn't, and from time to time I encouraged
+our psychic by saying: "Never mind, Mrs. Smiley, there are other
+evenings to come. We will not despair."
+
+At last she sank into profound sleep, and at exactly twelve o'clock I
+heard a faint tapping on top of the piano, just behind Miller. "Hooray,
+here they are!" I exclaimed, with vast relief. "What is the matter?" I
+asked of "the presence." "Aren't we sitting right?"
+
+"_No_," was the answer, by means of one decided tap.
+
+"Am I right?"
+
+"_No_," answered the taps.
+
+I may explain at this point that in the accepted code of signals one tap
+means "_No_," three taps mean "_Yes_," and two taps, "_Don't know_,"
+"_Will try_," or any other doubtful state of mind. One has, of course,
+to guess at the precise meaning; but one may confirm one's
+interpretation by putting it in the form of a question that can be
+answered by "_Yes_" or "_No_."
+
+"Shall I change with Miller?" I asked.
+
+Three brisk taps made affirmative answer.
+
+I exchanged places with Miller, but did not again touch Mrs. Smiley's
+hand. Immediately thereafter the sound of soft drumming came from the
+piano at a point entirely out of reach of the psychic, and at my request
+the drummer kept time to my whistling. After some minutes of this
+foolery "the force" left the piano abruptly, as if with a leap, and
+dropped to the middle of the table. A light, fumbling noise followed,
+and I called out: "Is every hand in the circle accounted for?"
+
+While the members of the group were, in turn, assuring me of this, a
+small bell on the table was taken up and rung, and the table itself was
+shoved powerfully toward the circle and away from the psychic. I assure
+you, my sitters were profoundly interested now, and some of the women
+were startled. A sharp, pecking sound came upon the cone. I called
+attention to the fact that this took place at least six feet from the
+psychic, and a moment later, with intent to detect her in any movement,
+I leaned far forward so that my head came close to her breast. I could
+not discern the slightest motion; I could not even hear her breathe. All
+this, while very impressive to me, was referred by the others to
+trickery on Mrs. Smiley's part.
+
+At my request, the drumming on the cone kept time to "Dixey" and "Yankee
+Doodle," and at length I said to "the spirit": "You must have liked
+topical songs when you were on the earth-plane."
+
+Instantly _the cone was swept violently from the table, and a deep,
+jovial, strong whisper came from the horn to me_. "_I do now_," was the
+amazing answer.
+
+"Who are you?" I asked.
+
+"_Wilbur Thompson._"
+
+"Oh, it is you, is it? Well, I am glad you've found a voice; I felt
+rather helpless up to this moment. Are we sitting right?"
+
+"_All right._"
+
+"What are you going to do for us to-night? Can you raise the table?"
+
+"_I'll try_," he whispered again.
+
+"Are there other 'spirits' here?"
+
+"_Yes; many._"
+
+"Can't 'they' write their names on the pad?"
+
+There was a moment's silence, and then the sound of writing began in the
+middle of the table. When this had finished, I said, "Did you succeed?"
+
+Again the cone rose, and another whisper, a fainter voice, answered:
+"_Yes, but the writing is very miserable._"
+
+The rest of the sitters were silent with amazement till Miller said, in
+a tone of disgust: "That is of no value. It is so easy for Howard, or
+some one else, to break the circle and write or speak through the cone."
+
+"Yes, we'll have to trust one another for to-night," I admitted.
+
+The psychic now began to twist and moan and struggle, choking, gasping
+in such evident suffering that Mrs. Cameron cried out: "Mr. Garland,
+don't you hear? She is ill! Let me go to her!"
+
+"Don't be alarmed," I replied. "This struggle almost always precedes her
+strongest manifestations. It seems cruel to say so, but, remember, Mrs.
+Smiley has been through these paroxysms hundreds of times. It appears
+very painful and exhausting, but she has assured me that 'they' take
+care of her. She suffers almost no ill effects from her trance."
+
+Miller, living up to his character as remorseless scientist, remarked:
+"I'd like to control her hands. Shall I try?"
+
+"Not now, not till the 'guides' consent to it," I replied. "It is said
+to be dangerous to the psychic to touch her unexpectedly."
+
+"I can understand that it might be inconvenient," remarked Harris, with
+biting brevity.
+
+Again we sat in expectant silence until several of the group became
+restless. "What is she about now?" asked Cameron, wearily.
+
+"She is in dead trance, apparently. Please be patient a little while
+longer. Are you still with us, 'Wilbur'?"
+
+I was delighted to hear the three taps that answer "_Yes_."
+
+"Will you be able to do something more for us?"
+
+_Tap, tap, tap_--given apparently with the pencil.
+
+I observed: "From a strictly scientific standpoint, the movement of
+that pencil, provided it can be proved to have taken place without the
+agency of any known form of force, is as important as the fall of a
+mountain. It heralds a new day in science. Is every hand accounted for?"
+Each answered, "_Yes_." At this moment there was a rustling at the base
+of the cone. "Listen! 'they' are at work with the horn."
+
+The cone rocked slowly on its base, and at last leaped over the
+shoulders of the sitters and fell with a crash to the floor. "Mercy on
+us!" gasped Mrs. Cameron.
+
+"Don't touch it! Don't move!" I called out. "Everybody clasp hands now.
+Here is a chance for a fine test. 'Wilbur,' can you put the cone back on
+the table?"
+
+_Tap, tap_, answered "Wilbur." The two taps were given slowly, and I
+understood them to mean "_Don't know_" or "_Will try_."
+
+"Miller," I said, impressively, "unless some one of our circle is
+betraying us, we are having as good a demonstration as we could expect,
+barring the absence of light. Be watchful. 'Wilbur,' we're trusting to
+you now. Let's see what you can do."
+
+As I spoke, the horn, with a ringing scrape, left the carpet, and a
+moment later bumped down upon Mrs. Quigg's head. "Oh!" she shrieked, "it
+hit me!"
+
+Almost immediately a breathy chuckle came from the horn: "_Ha, ha! That
+shook you up a little, I reckon._"
+
+The other women were frozen with horror. "Don't let it touch me,"
+pleaded Miss Brush.
+
+And Mrs. Quigg, much shaken, called out: "Frank Howard, are you doing
+this?"
+
+He was highly indignant. "Certainly not. Are you not holding one hand
+and Miss Brush the other? I am in-no-cent; I swear it!"
+
+I commented on their dialogue severely. "See how you all treat an event
+that is wonderful enough to convulse the National Academy of Science. I
+do not believe the psychic's hands have moved an inch, and yet, unless
+some one of you is false to his trust, the miraculous has happened--Are
+you there, 'Wilbur?'" I queried of the mystic presence.
+
+The cone swung toward me, and "Wilbur" answered: "_I am, old horse._"
+
+"Well, Wilbur, there are two bigoted scientific people here to-night,
+and I want you to put them to everlasting rout."
+
+"_I'll do it, don't you worry_," replied the voice, and the cone dropped
+with a bang on the table, again making everybody jump.
+
+"_That brought the goose-flesh_!" remarked "Wilbur," with humorous
+satisfaction.
+
+I took a malicious delight in the mystification of my fellows. "Go down
+and shake up young Howard at the foot of the table," I suggested. "He
+is a little in the conjuring line himself."
+
+Almost instantly Howard cried out: "The blooming thing is touching me on
+the ear!"
+
+"Observe," called I, in the tone of a man exhibiting some kind of
+trained animal, "the cone is now at least six feet from the psychic's
+utmost reach. How do you account for that, Miller?"
+
+"The boy lied," said Miller, curtly.
+
+Howard was offended. "I'll take that out of you, old chap, when we meet
+in the street. I am telling the square-toed truth. I am not doing a
+thing but hold two very scared ladies' hands."
+
+"Oh, come now!" I interposed. "If we are to be so 'tarnal suspicious of
+one another, we might just as well give up the sitting. If each of us
+must be padlocked, proof of any phenomenon is impossible."
+
+A firmer hand now seemed to grasp the cone, and a deep whisper that was
+almost a tone came from it. "_You are right_," this new personality
+said, with measured and precise utterance. "_We come with the best tests
+of a supremely important revelation; we come as scientists from our side
+of the line; and you scoff, and take it all as a piece of folly, as an
+entertainment. Is this just? No, it is unworthy men of science._"
+
+"You are entirely justified in your indignation," I responded. "But who
+are you?"
+
+"_My name on the earth-plane was Mitchell._"
+
+"I am glad to make your acquaintance, 'Mr. Mitchell,' and your rebuke is
+deserved. I, for one, mean to proceed in this matter seriously. What can
+you do for us to-night?"
+
+"_Be very patient. Carry this investigation forward, and this psychic
+will astonish the world. Do not abuse her; do not tax her beyond her
+strength._" He spoke with the precise and rather pedantic accent of an
+old gentleman nurtured on the classics, and produced upon me a distinct
+impression of age and serious demeanor utterly different from the
+rollicking, not too refined "Wilbur."
+
+"I will see that she is treated fairly, 'Mr. Mitchell,' but of course
+this is not a rigid test. Will you be able to permit conditions more
+convincing?"
+
+"_Yes, very much more convincing_," he replied, slowly and ponderously,
+"_but do not worry the instrument to-night. Narrow your circle; be
+harmonious, and not too eager, and you will be abundantly rewarded_."
+
+"Won't you tell me who you were on the earth-plane?"
+
+"_I was a friend of the father of the instrument_," he answered.
+
+The horn returned to the table quietly, and young Howard was the first
+to speak. "That is a fine piece of ventriloquism, any way you look at
+it," said he. "It is a nice trick to give that peculiar tinny sound to a
+whisper."
+
+"So far as I can judge, so far as my sense of hearing goes (and I have
+kept my ear close to the psychic's face), Mrs. Smiley has not moved, nor
+uttered a sound. What is your verdict, Mr. Cocksure Scientist?"
+
+For the first time Miller's voice indicated some slight hesitation. "I
+haven't been able to _detect_ any movement on the part of the psychic,"
+he replied, "but of course I can't answer for the rest of the company.
+The performance has no scientific value. In the dark, deceit is easy.
+Harris may be the ventriloquist."
+
+"Why not accuse the arch-conspirator of us all, our director?" exclaimed
+Mrs. Quigg.
+
+"You flatter me," I responded. "If I could produce those voices I would
+go on the vaudeville stage to-morrow. I give you my word I am acting in
+entire good faith. I am quite as eager for the truth as any of
+you.--But, hark! the cone is on the wing again."
+
+The megaphone was indeed moving, as if a weak, unskilled hand were
+struggling with it, and at last it swung feebly into the air, and a
+whisper that was hardly more than a breath was directed toward Mrs.
+Quigg: "_Daughter!_"
+
+"Are you speaking to me?" she asked, in a voice that trembled a little.
+
+The answer was but a sibilant sigh: "_Yes._"
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"_Mother._"
+
+The answer was so faint that no one save Mrs. Quigg could distinguish
+the word. Almost at the same moment I caught the sound of other moving
+lips in the air just before me. "Who is it?" I asked. Like a little,
+hopeless sigh the answer came: "_Jessie._" This was the name of my
+younger sister. Then the cone dropped as though falling from exhausted
+hands, and I had no further message from this "spirit."
+
+As we waited breathlessly the clear, silver-sweet voice of a little girl
+was heard by every one at the table. "_Good-evening, everybody. I am
+Maud; I came with my mamma. I have come to ask you to be very kind to
+her._"
+
+"I am very glad to hear you, 'Maud,'" I answered. "Are there other
+spirits present?"
+
+"_Yes, many, many spirits. My grandpa is here; he is treating my mamma
+so that she will not be sick. Some one is here to see you, but is too
+weak to speak. My grandpa says 'we are trusting you.'_"
+
+With astonishing clearness this voice created in my mind (not as light
+would create it) the vision of a self-contained, womanly little girl,
+whose voice and accent formed a curious silvery replica of the
+psychic's, and yet I could not say that the psychic's vocal organs gave
+out these words. At last she said "_Good-bye_," and the cone was softly
+laid upon the table.
+
+All of this was performed in profound silence. There was no sound in the
+cone, except that of the voice, no rustle of garments, no grasp of
+fingers on the tin; and though I leaned far over, and once more placed
+my ear close to the psychic's lips, I could not trace the slightest
+movement connecting her with the movements on the table. I had the
+conviction at the moment that she sat in a death-like trance at my side.
+
+A few moments later the cone was jammed together and thrown upon the
+floor--a movement, I had learned to know, that announced that the
+sitting was ended.
+
+While the sitters still waited, I said: "Now, Cameron, you may turn on
+the gas, but do so very slowly. Mrs. Smiley seems in deep sleep, and we
+are warned not to startle her."
+
+When the light became strong enough to see a form, we found our psychic
+sitting limply, her head drooping sidewise, her eyes closed, her face
+white and calm. The cone was lying not far from her chair, separated
+into two parts. The threads that bound her to her seat were to all
+appearance precisely as at the beginning of the sitting, except that
+they were deeply sunk into the flesh of her wrists. Her chair had not
+moved a hair's-breadth from the chalk-marks on the floor.
+
+A moment later she opened her eyes, and, smiling rather wanly, asked of
+me: "Did anything happen?"
+
+"Oh yes, a great deal. 'Wilbur' came, and 'Maud,' and 'Mr. Mitchell.'"
+
+"I am very glad," she answered, with a faint, happy smile.
+
+Mrs. Cameron bent to her pityingly. "How do you feel?"
+
+"Very numb, but I'll be all right in a very short time. My wrists hurt;
+your thread is very tight. My arms always swell. Please give me a drink
+of water."
+
+As I held the glass to her lips I was conscience-smitten to think that
+for five hours she had been sitting in this constrained position--a
+martyr to science; but I deferred the moment of her release till Miller
+had examined every bond. I used a small pair of scissors to cut the
+thread out of the deep furrows in her wrist, and it took a quarter of an
+hour of chafing to restore her arms to their normal condition, all of
+which had a convincing effect upon the doubters.
+
+Miss Brush was indignant. "I think it is a shame the way you have
+treated your psychic."
+
+"Oh, this is nothing," responded Mrs. Smiley. "I'd be unhappy and uneasy
+if you didn't tie me. I'm like the old man's chickens (you've heard the
+story?): he had moved so much that the chickens, whenever they saw him
+put a cover on his wagon, would lie down and cross their feet to be
+tied."
+
+After Mrs. Cameron had taken Mrs. Smiley to the dining-room for a cup of
+tea, the rest of us remained staring at one another.
+
+"Now, which of us did that?" I asked.
+
+"So far as the psychic was concerned, I don't see how she could have had
+any hand in it," said Miller. "But, then, it was all in the dark."
+
+I had to admit that this diminished the value of the experiment. "But
+now listen," I said: "as we all seem to be suspicious of one another, I
+propose that we resort to a process of elimination. I shall take
+'Mitchell's' advice and narrow the circle. Howard, you are a suspect.
+You are ruled out of the next sitting."
+
+"Oh no," protested Howard. "That isn't fair. I did nothing, I swear!"
+
+"You admit being a prestidigitator?"
+
+"Yes, but I had nothing to do with this performance."
+
+"Nevertheless, so far as conclusive proof is concerned, your presence in
+the circle invalidates it. Now I propose that Mrs. Smiley go to Miller's
+house, with no one present but Mr. and Mrs. Cameron and Mr. and Mrs.
+Miller. If we secure these same phenomena under Miller's conditions, we
+will then readmit one by one the entire membership of the society."
+
+Mrs. Quigg resented being left out, and I pretended surprise.
+
+"I thought from what you had said that these 'dark shows' were of no
+value?"
+
+"The next one ought to have decided value if Professor Miller has any
+share in the test," she answered, quickly. "I believe in him."
+
+"And not in me? That's a nice thing to say."
+
+"I mean in his method. He is a cold, calm, merciless scientist. You're a
+man of imagination."
+
+"Thank you," said I. "My critics would take issue with you there.
+However, if we get anywhere in this campaign we must begin with the
+smallest possible circle and slowly enlarge it. We hope also to increase
+the amount of light."
+
+After some further argument, Cameron settled the matter by saying:
+"Garland is right; and, to show my own scientific temper, I rule Mrs.
+Cameron and myself out of the next sitting. That will put the whole
+problem up to Miller and Garland."
+
+Miller and I walked away to the club together, pondering deeply on the
+implications of the night's performance.
+
+"I don't see how it was done," Miller repeated. "Certainly she did not
+rise from her chair, not for an instant, and yet to believe that she did
+not have a hand in what took place is to admit the impossible. You have
+had other sittings with her, haven't you? You believe in her?"
+
+"Yes, I think she is sincere, but possibly self-deceived. The fact that
+she is willing to put herself into our hands in this way is most
+convincing."
+
+"There is nothing of the trickster about her appearance, and yet I wish
+she had permitted us to hold her hands to-night."
+
+"Miller," said I, earnestly, "if you'll go with me into this
+experimentation with an open mind, I'll convince you that Crookes and
+Flammarion are the true scientists. It is the fashion to smile at
+Flammarion as a romantic astronomer, but I can't see _now_ that he is
+lacking in patience and caution. For all his rather fervid utterances,
+he keeps his head and goes on patiently investigating. He has had more
+experience than even Crookes or Lombroso. For forty years he has been
+searching the dark for these strange forces, and yet he says: 'We create
+in these seances an imaginary being; we speak to it, and in its replies
+it almost always reflects the mentality of the experimenter. Spirits
+have taught us nothing. They have not led science forward a single
+step.... I must say that if there are spirits, or beings independent of
+us, in action, they know no more than we do about the other world's.'
+And yet as regards the physical facts of mediumship, he sustains all the
+investigators. 'These phenomena exist,' he says."
+
+"Candidly, Garland, what is your own belief?" asked Miller, a few
+moment's later.
+
+I evaded him. "I have seen enough to make me believe in Zoellner's
+fourth dimension, but I don't. My mind is so constructed that such
+wonders as we have seen to-night produce very little effect on me. They
+are as normal to me now as the popping of corn or the roasting of
+potatoes. As I say, I have demonstrated certain of these physical
+doings. But as for belief--well, that is not a matter of the will, but
+of evidence, and the evidence is not yet sufficient to bring me to any
+definite conclusion; in fact, in the broad day, and especially the
+second day after I have been through one of these astounding
+experiences, I begin to doubt my senses. Richet speaks of this curious
+recession of belief, and admits his own inability to retain the
+conviction that, at the moment of the phenomenon, was complete. 'No
+sooner is the sitting over than my doubts come swarming back upon me,'
+he says. 'The real world which surrounds us, with its prejudices, its
+schemes of habitual opinions, holds us in so strong a grasp that we can
+scarcely free ourselves completely. Certainty does not follow on
+demonstration, but on habit.' And in that saying you have my own mental
+limitations admirably put."
+
+Miller plodded along by my side in silence for a few minutes, and then
+asked, abruptly: "What is the real reason that you keep up the fiction
+of the 'guide' when you don't believe in him?"
+
+"For the reason that I think Mrs. Smiley honest in her faith, and that
+to be polite to the 'guides' is one of the first requisites of a
+successful sitting. Suppose the whole action to be terrestrial. Suppose
+each successful sitting to be, as Flammarion suggests, nothing but a
+subtle adjustment of our 'collective consciousness' to hers. Can't you
+see how necessary it is that we should proceed with her full consent?
+After an immense experience, following closely Crookes, de Rochas,
+Lodge, Richet, Duclaux, Lombroso, and Ochorowicz, Maxwell says: 'I
+believe in these phenomena, but I see no need to attribute them to any
+supernatural intervention. I am inclined to think they are produced by
+some force within ourselves--'"
+
+"Just what does he mean by that?"
+
+"I can't precisely explain. It's harder to understand than the spirit
+hypothesis. He himself admits this, and goes on to say that while he is
+certain that we are in the presence of an unknown force, he is convinced
+that the phenomena will ultimately be found orderly, like all other
+facts of nature. 'Therefore, in the critical state of research, the
+scientific problem, it seems to me, is not whether spiritism be true or
+false, but whether metapsychical phenomena are real or imaginary. Some
+future Newton will discover a more complete formula than ours,' he
+prophesies. 'Every natural fact should be studied, and if it be real,
+incorporated in the patrimony of knowledge.' He then adds, with the
+true scientist's humble acknowledgment of the infinite reach of the
+undiscovered universe: 'Our knowledge is very limited and our experience
+young.'"
+
+"That is good talk," said Miller in reply, "but the question is, Does he
+really experiment in that condition of mind? An astronomer with his eye
+to a telescope is a highly specialized and competent being. An
+astronomer listening to whispers in the dark may be as simple and
+credulous as a child."
+
+"I grant all that. But I see in it the greater reason why men like
+yourself should take up the investigation of these illusive and
+disturbing problems. These phenomena, as Flammarion says, introduce us
+into uncharted seas, and we need the most cautious and clearest-sighted
+scientists in this world as pilots. Will you be one of them?"
+
+"You flatter me. As a matter of fact, I'm a very poor sailor," he
+answered, with a smile.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+If there is any one thing true in these manifestations of "spirit
+power," it is that the psychic is the agent for their production.
+Actively or passively, consciously or unconsciously, she completes the
+formula--her "odic force" is the final chemical which permits
+precipitation. Sometimes her will to produce, her wish to serve, hinders
+rather than helps. Often when she is most persistent nothing happens.
+Sometimes an aching foot or a disturbing thought cuts off all phenomena.
+For the best results, apparently, the psychic should be confident, easy
+of mind, and not too anxious to please.
+
+I approached this sitting at Miller's house with some fear that it might
+end in disappointment to him and be a source of chagrin to Mrs. Smiley.
+The house was strange, our attitude intensely critical, and she was very
+anxious to succeed. It would be remarkable, indeed, if under these
+conditions she were able to meet us half-way. As we walked up the street
+together I did my best to reassure her.
+
+"You may trust me fully, Mrs. Smiley," said I; "and Miller, though an
+inexorable scientist, is a gentleman. I am sure he will not insist on
+any experiment which will injure your health or give you needless pain.
+This is but our second sitting, and I, for one, do not expect you to be
+at your best."
+
+"I _hope_ we will have good work," she replied, earnestly, "but it is
+always harder to sit for tests. Tell me about Mrs. Miller. Is she nice?
+Will I like her?"
+
+"She is very gentle and considerate; you will like her at once. I am
+sure she will be a help to you."
+
+Her voice was very sincere as she said: "You don't know how anxiously I
+watch the make-up of my circle. It isn't because I am afraid of
+sceptics; I have no fear of those who do not believe; but each person
+brings such diverse influences, and these influences conflict and worry
+me, and then nothing takes place. I don't want to disappoint you and
+your friends, and that may hinder me."
+
+The Millers occupied a modest little house far up-town, and were
+suburban, almost rural, in their manner of living. The chemist himself
+met us at the door, and, after greeting us cordially, ushered us into
+his library, which was a small room at the back of the hall. I observed
+that it had only one door and two windows, rather high up in the east
+wall--an excellent place for our sitting.
+
+"So this is the den of inquisition," I began; and turning to Mrs.
+Smiley, I added: "I hope you are not chilled by it."
+
+"Not a bit," she answered, cheerily.
+
+As Mrs. Miller, a quiet little woman (not so far removed from Mrs.
+Smiley's own type), entered the door and greeted us both, the psychic's
+face lighted up with pleasure. This argued well for our experiment.
+
+I could see that Miller had made careful preparation along the lines of
+my suggestion. A plain old table was standing lengthwise of the room,
+the windows were hung with shawls, and a worn hickory chair stood with
+arms wide-spread to seize its victim. After surveying the room, Mrs.
+Smiley turned to me with a note of satisfaction in her voice, and said:
+"I like this room and this furniture; I feel the right associations
+here. The air is full of spirit power."
+
+"I am glad your mind is at ease," said I, "for I am anxious for a very
+conclusive sitting. You tell 'Mitchell' that Miller is decidedly worth
+converting. I want 'Wilbur' to do his best, for I intend to tighten the
+bonds on you to-night."
+
+She fearlessly faced me. "I am in your hands, Mr. Garland; do as you
+like. Mr. Mitchell told me this morning that he would yet convince you
+of the reality of the spirit world. He is assembling all the forces at
+his command, and will certainly do everything in his power."
+
+"I am delighted to get that assurance," I responded.
+
+"You are to sit here," said Miller, indicating the hickory chair, which
+he had placed near the north wall.
+
+She took her seat meekly, placing her hands resignedly on the wings of
+the chair. "I like this chair," she said, with a smile; "it is so
+old-fashioned."
+
+"Now," said I, "I am going to ask Mrs. Miller to fasten this long tape
+about your ankles. We mean to take every precaution in order that you
+may not involuntarily or subconsciously move your limbs."
+
+Under close scrutiny, Mrs. Miller secured each foot in such wise that
+the knots came in the middle of the tape, and to make untying them
+absolutely impossible, I drew the two ends of the long ribbon back under
+the psychic's chair and tacked them securely to the shelf of a bookcase
+about two feet from the hind legs. To loosen them was entirely out of
+our victim's power.
+
+Miller then unreeled a spool of silk twist, and this I tied squarely to
+the arm of the chair at a point about six feet from the loose end which
+I intended to hold. I knotted the silk about the psychic's wrists,
+drawing it to a hard knot each time, and gave the spool to Miller, while
+retaining the loose end of the thread in my own hands. The psychic
+could neither touch the tips of her fingers together nor lift her arms
+an inch from the chair. She was as secure as if bound with a rope, but
+as an extra precaution I passed the thread beneath the chair-arm and
+pulled it taut. "This will enable us to feel the lightest movement of
+her hands," I said to Miller, who had copied my device. "Are you
+satisfied with the conditions?"
+
+He answered, with some reservation: "They will do. I would like to have
+light, but that I suppose is impossible."
+
+"No, not impossible," replied Mrs. Smiley, "but the work is always
+weaker in the light; the voices are stronger in the dark."
+
+Mrs. Miller took her seat exactly opposite Mrs. Smiley. I was at her
+right. Miller, after turning out the gas, sat opposite me and at the
+psychic's left.
+
+At first the room was black as ink, but by degrees I (from my position,
+opposite the window) was able to perceive a faint glow of light through
+the curtain. Mrs. Smiley's back was near a wall of books, and, the room
+being narrow, Miller's chair pretty well filled the space between the
+table and the window behind it. The action of a confederate was excluded
+by reason of the bolted door. To enter the room by the window was
+impossible, for the reason that the slightest noise could be heard and
+the least movement of the curtain would admit the light. Barring the
+darkness, conditions were all of our own making.
+
+However, we were hardly settled in place when Miller was moved to
+further precaution. "Mrs. Smiley, I would like to pin over your dress a
+newspaper, so that any slightest movement of your knees or feet could be
+heard. Do you object?"
+
+"Not at all," she instantly replied. "I am sure my guides will do
+anything they can to meet your wishes. You may nail my dress to the
+floor if you wish."
+
+Miller turned on the light, and together we pinned a large, crisp
+newspaper over her knees and tacked it securely to the floor in front of
+her feet. The corners where the pins were inserted were well out of the
+reach of her tethered hands.
+
+Again the lights were lowered, and at my direction Miller placed his
+right hand on the psychic's left and touched fingers with Mrs. Miller. I
+did the same, thus connecting the circle. In this way we sat quietly
+conversing for some time.
+
+"I want to make it quite plain to you," I said to them all, "that I am
+trying to follow Crookes's advice, which is to strip away all romance
+and all superstitious religious ideas from this subject. I am insisting
+on the normal character of these phenomena. Whatever happens to-night,
+Mrs. Miller, please do not be alarmed. There is nothing inherently
+uncanny or unwholesome in these phenomena. No one knows better than
+your husband the essential mystery of the simplest fact.
+Materialization, for example, is unusual; but if it happens it cannot be
+supernatural. Nothing is supernatural. Am I right, Miller?"
+
+"We explain each mystery by a deeper mystery," he replied.
+
+"All depends upon the point of view. I am interested in these obscure
+phases of human life. If they are real they are natural. To me the
+spiritistic 'demonstrations' are intensely human and absorbingly
+interesting as dramatic material, and yet I hope I am sufficiently the
+scientist to be alive to the significance of these telekinetic
+happenings, and enough of the realist to remain critical in the midst of
+the wildest carnival of the invisible forces."
+
+"Don't you believe in them?" asked Mrs. Miller, with a note of surprise
+in her voice.
+
+I replied, cautiously: "I am at this moment convinced of the reality of
+_some_ of these phenomena by reason of my own experiments; but leaving
+one side my personal investigation, I must believe that Crookes,
+Maxwell, and Flammarion are competent witnesses. As to
+spiritualism--well, that is another matter."
+
+"But where does all this lead to if not to spiritualism?" asked Mrs.
+Miller.
+
+"As to the exact country, no one knows," I answered; "but the best of
+our experimenters are agreed that the gate opens upon a new field of
+science. These powers seem to be in advance of us and not a survival,
+and they may prove of value in the evolution of the race. That is why I
+want to enlist men like your husband in the work. Mediumship needs just
+such critical attention as his. Nothing like Maxwell or Richet's
+thoroughness of method has ever been used by an American physicist, so
+far as I know. On the contrary, our leading scientific men seem to have
+let the subject severely alone."
+
+"Why?" asked Mrs. Smiley.
+
+"Partly because of inherited prejudice, and partly because of their
+allegiance to opposing theories; and finally, I suspect, because they
+are connected with institutions that would not sanction such work. You
+can imagine how the physical department of a denominational college
+would investigate spirit phenomena! It was much the same way in England
+during the early part of last century, but they are far in advance of us
+now. The first notable step in the right direction was taken--as perhaps
+you may know--in 1869, by the Dialectical Society of London, which
+appointed a committee to look into the subject of spiritualism, with the
+expectation, no doubt, of being able to stop the spread of the delusion.
+
+"The investigations which followed were under the especial charge of
+Alfred Russel Wallace; Cromwell Varley, chief of Electrical Engineers
+and Telegraphers; and Professor Morgan, president of the Mathematical
+Society. This committee, after careful investigation, reported
+voluminously to this effect: 'The phenomena exist.... There is a force
+capable of moving heavy bodies without material contact, which force is
+in some unknown way dependent upon the presence of human beings.'"
+
+"Which was a long way from saying that spiritism was true," remarked
+Miller.
+
+"It certainly was sufficiently vague, you would think, to be harmless;
+but several of the committee refused to join in even this cautious
+report, insisting that the conclusions ought to be verified by some
+other scientist. They suggested Sir William Crookes, who was at this
+time in the early prime of his life and a renowned chemist--just the man
+for the work. This suggestion was acted upon by Crookes a little later,
+and his report on this 'psychic force' had a good deal to do with the
+formation of the now famous Society for Psychical Research."
+
+"I'd hate to be held responsible for that," said Miller, with humorous
+intent--"of all the collections of 'hants' and witches."
+
+"On the Continent scientific observation had already begun. Count Agenor
+de Gasparin, of Valleyeres, was one of the first to take up this problem
+of telekinesis in the modern spirit. He made a long and complicated
+study of table-tipping in 1853, and published his conclusions in two
+large volumes in Paris a year later. His experiments were careful and
+searching, and drew the line squarely between the supernatural and the
+natural. He said, positively, 'The agency is not supernatural; it is
+physical, and determined by the will of the sitters,' and may be called
+the Charles Darwin of the subject. A year later Professor Marc Thury, of
+Geneva, added his testimony. He also said: 'The phenomena exist, and are
+mainly due to an unknown fluid, or force, which rushes from the organism
+of certain people.' To this force he gave the name 'psyscode.' The
+spirit hypothesis, he was inclined to think, was not impossible or even
+absurd. He used _absurd_ in the scientific sense, of course."
+
+"It is the most natural thing in the world to me," said Mrs. Smiley. "I
+would be desolate without it."
+
+"Some ten years later Flammarion, the renowned French astronomer, began
+his studies of these unknown forces, and for a long time fought the
+battle alone in France as Sir William Crookes endured the brunt of the
+assault in England."
+
+Miller here interposed with a covert sneer in his voice: "Yes, but
+Flammarion has always had the reputation of being more of the romancer
+than of the astronomer."
+
+"You scientists do him an injustice," I answered, with some heat, "just
+as you have all been ignorantly contemptuous of Crookes. I confess I
+used to share in some small degree your estimate of Flammarion; but if
+you will read his latest book with attention and with candor, you cannot
+but be impressed with his wide experience and his patient, persistent
+search for the truth. I am persuaded that he has been a genuine pioneer
+all along. I cannot see but that he has examined very critically the
+scores of psychics who have come under his observation, and his reports
+are painstaking and cautious. His work must be considered by every
+student of this subject. It won't do to neglect the words of a man who
+has seen so much.--But here we go along lines of controversy when we
+should be sitting in quiet harmony. Let us defer our discussion until
+after our seance. Have patience, and I believe we can duplicate, if not
+surpass, the marvellous doings of even Richet and Lombroso. We may be
+able some day to take flash-light photographs of the cone while it is
+floating in the air."
+
+"Has that ever been done?" asked Mrs. Miller.
+
+"Oh yes; Flammarion secured photos of a table floating in the air. These
+pictures show conclusively that the psychic had nothing to do with
+it--at least, not in any ordinary way. Richet succeeded in fixing the
+apparition of a helmeted soldier on several plates. Crookes photographed
+'Katie King' and her medium once or twice, and Fontenay has succeeded
+in getting clear-cut images of the 'spirit' hands which play round the
+head of Paladino. But it must be confessed that in Crookes's pictures
+there is a lack of finality in the negatives. He never succeeded in
+getting the faces of both 'Katie' and Miss Cook at the same time--and
+Richet's photographs have a made-up look."
+
+Passing abruptly to a low, humming song, I made the attempt to put our
+psychic to sleep. In a few minutes her hands became cold and began to
+flutter. At last she threw my fingers away as if she found them
+scorching hot. Miller's hand was similarly repulsed. She then seemed to
+pass into quiet sleep, and I said: "Withdraw a little, Miller, but keep
+your silk thread taut."
+
+Almost immediately faint raps came upon the table, and I asked: "Are you
+there, 'Mitchell'?"
+
+Tap, tap, tap--"_Yes._"
+
+"Are we sitting right?"
+
+Tap, tap, tap--"_Yes_," answered the force, in a grave and deliberate
+way.
+
+"As to these raps," I remarked, "they are easily simulated, but they
+have been absolutely proven by several of our best investigators. They
+have been obtained on a sheet of paper held in the air, on pencils, on a
+strip of cloth, on an open umbrella--under every possible condition.
+Maxwell secured them by pinching his own ear or by squeezing the arm of
+his neighbor. I have heard them on a man's shirt-front. They are the
+first manifestations of intelligent spirit power, and may be regarded in
+the light of established fact."
+
+"I wouldn't be hasty about admitting even that," remarked Miller. "In
+the dark--or in the light--these obscure sounds may seem very ghostly,
+and yet be due to purely physical causes."
+
+We sat in silence for a few moments, and at last I asked: "Is any spirit
+present?"
+
+Almost immediately a childish voice came from the direction of the
+psychic, apparently issuing from her lips. "_Mr. Mitchell would like to
+have you tie the threads to the legs of the table._"
+
+"Are you 'Maud?'" I asked.
+
+"_Yes, I am Maudie_," she answered. "_Mr. Mitchell wants to try some
+experiment. He wishes you to tie the threads to the legs of the table._"
+
+I confess I didn't like the looks of this, but as a compromise measure I
+was willing to grant it. "If you don't object, Miller, we will do as the
+guides desire."
+
+He hesitated. "It weakens our test. I don't understand the reason for
+the demand."
+
+"I suggest we yield the point for the present. Perhaps 'they' will
+permit us to resume the thread a little later. I have found that by
+apparently meeting the forces half-way at the beginning we often get
+concessions later which will be of greater value than the tests we have
+ourselves devised."
+
+Accordingly, I tied my end of the silk twist to the table leg at a
+distance of about twenty-six inches from the utmost reach of the
+psychic's hands. Miller did the same with his end. We then resumed our
+seats, and waited for over an hour.
+
+During this time the psychic was absolutely silent and apparently in
+deep trance, and I was beginning to feel both disappointed and
+chagrined. Miller's tone was a bit irritating. I knew exactly what was
+in his mind. "I've fixed her now," he was exultantly saying to himself.
+"She can't do a thing; even her request to have the threads tied to the
+table does not avail her. Accustomed to have everything her own way, she
+fails the first time any real restraint is applied to her."
+
+I was quite at the end of my confident expectancy, when the psychic
+began to stir uneasily and "Maudie" spoke complaining of the thread on
+her mother's right wrist. "_It's so tight it stops the blood_," she
+said. "_Please loosen the thread a little. You may turn up the light_,"
+added the little voice.
+
+While Miller gave me a light, I loosened the thread on her right wrist,
+which was very tight; but I tied a second thread about her arm in such
+wise that I would surely know at the end of the sitting if it had been
+disturbed. The table, I observed at the time, was more than two feet
+from her finger-tips. I called Miller's attention to this, and said:
+"She can't possibly untie these threads, and if she breaks them the
+sitting is invalidated."
+
+Soon after the light was turned out "Maudie" requested that we all move
+away from Mrs. Smiley, down to the lower end of the table; and although
+Miller thought this permitted too much liberty of action on the part of
+the medium, I urged consent. "There are other sittings coming," I
+repeated once more.
+
+Mrs. Smiley fell again into deep sleep, but nothing took place for a
+long time. During this period of waiting I told stories of my experience
+and the curious folk I had met in search for the true explanation of
+these singular phenomena.
+
+"Have you ever witnessed any materializations?" asked Mrs. Miller.
+
+"Yes; but none of it was of the sort that I could swear to. I mean that
+it seemed to me to be either downright trickery or subconscious actions
+on the part of the psychic, and yet I've seen some very puzzling
+phantoms. I am persuaded that a great deal of what is called 'fraud'
+arises from the suggestibility of the psychics. Lombroso speaks of this
+'fixed idea' of the mediums, and their persistent, almost insane,
+attempt to produce the phenomena desired by the circle. You can
+understand how this would be if there is anything at all in hypnotism.
+Sometimes it all seems to belong to the realm of hypnotic visions. One
+medium helps another to build up this unreal world. Early in my career
+as an investigator I went to Onset Bay, where in July of each year all
+the spiritualists and 'mejums' of New England used to gather (do yet, I
+believe), and I shall never forget the singular assemblage of
+'slate-writers,' 'spirit artists,' 'spirit photographers,' 'palmists,'
+and 'psychometrists' whose signs lined the street and pointed along the
+paths of the camp.
+
+"In its way it was as dramatic a contrast of light and shade, of the
+real and the unreal, as this otherwise prosaic republic can show. There
+under the vivid summer sun, beside the glittering sea, men and women met
+to commune on the incommunicable, to question the voiceless, and to
+embrace the intangible. It was, indeed, such a revelation of human
+credulity as might well have overpowered a young novelist. From the
+warm, pine-scented afternoon air I crept into one of these tiny cabins,
+and sat with my hands upon a closed slate in order to receive a message
+from Lincoln or Caesar; I slipped beneath the shelter of a tent to have a
+sealed letter read by a commonplace person with an Indian accent; and I
+sat at night in dark little parlors to watch weak men and weeping women
+embrace very badly designed effigies of their lost darlings."
+
+"Isn't it incredible? Can you imagine any reasonable person believing
+such things?" asked Miller.
+
+"Millions do," I replied.
+
+"Please go on," entreated Mrs. Miller. "What happened to you?"
+
+"Nothing really worth reporting upon. In that day of utter credulity no
+tests were possible, but immediately after my return to Boston I had my
+first entirely satisfactory test of the occult. I went with Mrs. Rose,
+one of our members, to sit for 'independent slate-writing'--that is to
+say, writing on the inner surfaces of closed slates. Up to this moment I
+was profoundly sceptical, but I could not doubt the reality of what
+happened. I took my own slates--the ordinary hinged school slates; but
+whether they were my own or not made no difference really, for the final
+test which I demanded was such that any prepared slates were useless.
+I'm not going into tiresome detail. I only say that while sitting at the
+table with both Mrs. Rose's hands and my own resting upon the slates _I
+dictated_ certain lines to be drawn upon the inside of the slates."
+
+Miller's voice expressed growing interest. "And this was done?"
+
+"It was done. I had in mind the test which Alfred Russel Wallace had
+used in a similar case. He dictated several words to be written while
+holding the slates securely in his own hands. In this instance I asked
+for the word 'Constantinople' to be written. The psychic smiled,
+shrugged her shoulders, and replied: 'I'll try, but I don't believe
+they can spell it.' 'Draw a straight line, then,' said I. 'I'll be
+content with a single line an inch long.' She laughingly retorted: 'It's
+hard to draw a straight line.' 'Very well, draw a crooked line. Draw a
+zigzag--like a stroke of lightning. Draw it in yellow. Draw a circle.'
+She said no more, but became silent, and we waited without change of
+position. Remember that I was holding the slate during all this talk. It
+did not leave my hands."
+
+"What were the conditions? Was it light?" asked Miller.
+
+"It was about two o'clock of an afternoon, and we sat in the bay-window
+of the parlor. It was perfectly light. No one moved. The psychic sat
+opposite us, leaning back in a thoughtful pose. Her hands lay in her
+lap, and she seemed to be merely waiting. At last a tapping came upon
+the slate, and she brightened up. 'It is done!' she called, exultingly.
+I opened the slates myself, and _there, drawn in yellow crayon, was a
+small circle with a zigzag yellow line crossing it exactly as I had
+dictated_, and under Mrs. Rose's hands in the corner of the slate was a
+gayly colored bunch of pansies. There were messages also, but I paid
+very little attention to them. The production of that circle under those
+conditions overshadowed everything else. It was a definite and complete
+answer to my doubt. It was, in fact, a 'miracle.' I recall going
+directly to a meeting of the society and reporting upon this sitting.
+You will find the bald statement of my experiment in the minutes of the
+secretary."
+
+Miller was silent for a moment, then asked: "You're sure it was done
+after you took the slates in hand?"
+
+"I am as certain of it as I am of anything."
+
+"How do you account for it? Of course it was a trick."
+
+"Trickery can't account for that yellow line. The messages could have
+been written beforehand, but no trick of prepared slates can account for
+my dictated design. I have had other cases of slate-writing which were
+almost as inexplicable, and Crookes and Wallace and Zoellner, as you
+remember, were quite convinced by evidence thus secured. Crookes _saw_
+the pencil at work. I have never witnessed the writing, but I have heard
+it at work under my hands and I have felt it under my feet. I have had
+writing on ten separate pages in a closed Manila-pad held between my
+hands."
+
+Miller seemed to be impressed by these statements. "I have always
+considered slate-writing a cheap trick, but I don't quite see how that
+was done--always providing your memory is not at fault."
+
+"I would not place much dependence on my present recollection," I
+frankly responded, "but I reported on the case at once while my mind
+was most accurate as to details. Speaking further of these tricks, if
+you choose to call them such, I have had several failures, where the
+failure meant as much as a success. I have held two slates with a
+psychic (while we were both standing) when the creaking and scratching
+and grinding went on between my hands. I give you my word I was
+convinced at the moment of holding between my palms a sentient force. I
+felt as Franklin must have felt when he played with the lightning in the
+bottle at the tail of his kite. Once I heard the writing going on in a
+half-opened slate, but I did not see the pencil in motion. Some of these
+cases of 'direct-writing' are the most convincing of all my experiences.
+People ask me why I didn't talk with the spirits about heaven and
+angels. I was not interested in their religious notions. I kept to this
+one line--I wanted to see a particle of matter move from A to B without
+a known push or pull. I paid very little attention to 'trance-mediums'
+like Mrs. Piper; and although I saw a great deal of what is called
+'mind-reading' and 'thought-transference,' I did not permit the cart to
+get before the horse. 'Independent slate-writing' interested me, for the
+reason that I could put the clamps on it. Materialization, on the
+contrary, is so staged and arranged for that to prove its genuineness
+seems impossible at present; but slate-writing under your hand is a
+different matter."
+
+"I'd like to have it under _my_ hand," said Miller, grimly.
+
+"You can have it if you'll go after it," I retorted, "and you can have
+it hard."
+
+Mrs. Miller was deeply interested. "Tell us more. Have you had other
+messages written in that wonderful way?"
+
+"Yes, many of them. One of the most curious examples of this kind I have
+ever seen came to me in Chicago. It was a 'new one,' as Howard would
+say. Old Mr. MacVicker told me one day that there was a woman on the
+West Side who had a trick of producing independent slate-writing beneath
+the stem of a goblet of water--"
+
+"Why under a goblet of water?" interrupted Miller.
+
+"As a test. You see, nearly every one who goes to a psychic wants first
+of all to witness a miracle. Each seeker demands that his particular
+message shall come hard--that is to say, under conditions impossible to
+the living. His reasoning is like this: 'The dead are free from the
+limitations of our life, therefore they should manifest themselves to us
+as befits their wider knowledge of the laws of the universe, and
+especially is it their business to outdo the most skilful conjurer!
+Hence each man insists on locked slates and sealed letters. These the
+poor psychics are forced to grant. To be just to them, I must say that I
+have found most mediums fairly willing to meet any reasonable test; in
+fact, many of them seem perfectly confident of the inscrutable, and
+venture upon what seems to be the impossible with amazing
+imperturbability. All they ask is to be treated like human beings. They
+are seldom afraid of results. Sometimes they bully the forces sadly, and
+make them work when they don't want to.
+
+"Well, this particular psychic ushered me into her back parlor (which
+was flooded with sunlight), and asked me to be seated at a small table
+covered with a strip of cloth. She was a comfortable, plump person,
+evidently from Kansas, in manner somewhat like the humorous wife of a
+prosperous village carpenter. I remember that we were rather sympathetic
+on various political questions. After some remarks on populism and other
+weighty matters, she filled a goblet with water, and, placing it upon a
+slate, passed it under the table with her right hand, asking me to put
+my hand beneath hers."
+
+"There it is!" said Miller, with infinite scorn. "Always in the dark or
+under the table. No wonder Emerson called it 'a rat-hole philosophy.'"
+
+"Suppose it's all the work of an 'astral' who can't abide the light?" I
+suggested.
+
+"I know the theory, but I can't allow it."
+
+"Why not? You permit the photographer his dark-room."
+
+Then, with malicious delight in his petulance, I calmly continued: "I
+put my left hand beneath hers and my right upon the table. I could see
+her left hand lying in her lap, and as she turned sidewise to the table
+I was able to keep in view both of her feet. We held the slate so that
+the top of the goblet lightly touched the under side of the stand. The
+psychic was all accounted for, except the hand which was resting
+outspread on the under side of the slate. We sat for several minutes in
+this way, while she explained that 'they' would probably take words out
+of our conversation as a test, if I desired it. 'I am here to be shown,'
+I replied. She laughed at me, and on two different occasions brought the
+slate from beneath the table with writing under the stem of the goblet.
+This was all very well, but I said: 'A better test would be to have them
+write words that I dictate.'
+
+"'I will ask them,' she said. She seemed to listen as if to voices
+inaudible to me, and at last said: 'They will try it.'
+
+"Again we placed the goblet of water on the clean slate under the table,
+and while holding it as before, I said: 'Now ask them to write the name
+"William Dean Howells."'
+
+"Almost immediately there was a decided movement of the slate--or so it
+seemed to me. A power seemed to wake on the slate, not through the
+psychic's hand, but independent of it. I heard plainly the scratching of
+a pencil, at the same time that the psychic's left hand and both of her
+feet were in full view, and at the same time that her hand was
+outspread, apparently motionless, upon the under side of the slate. In a
+few moments the scratching paused, and the psychic, with an embarrassed
+smile, said: 'They don't know how to spell the middle name.'"
+
+"That is to say, _she_ was the one who could not spell the name," said
+Miller.
+
+"That's what I thought at the time, but I helped her out, and a moment
+later a decided tapping on the top of the table announced the completion
+of the task.
+
+"As she slowly drew the slate out from under the table I was alert to
+see what had happened. The glass remained in the middle of the slate as
+before, with the water undiminished, and under the glass and confining
+itself to the circle of the stem were the words:
+
+                             WILLIAM
+                               DEAN
+                             HOWELLS
+
+written as though acknowledging the barrier of the glass where its edge
+rested upon the slate."
+
+"Wonderful!" exclaimed Mrs. Miller.
+
+"Are you sure the writing was there as she drew the slate out?" queried
+Miller.
+
+"Yes, I saw the writing as she was removing the goblet; and while with
+her left hand she drew a little circle around the outer edge of the stem
+I read the words. Now to say that the psychic wrote this with her
+finger-nail on the bottom of the slate and then turned the slate over is
+to me absurd. The glass of water prevented that. And yet she did it in
+some occult way. The transaction remains unexplained to me. I am
+perfectly sure she willed it, but _how_ she caused the writing--the
+physical change--is quite another problem. Zoellner (I believe it was)
+secured the print of feet on the inside of a closed slate, and reasoned
+that only on the theory of a fourth dimension could such phenomena be
+explained. That reminds me of a sitting I once had with a young man
+wherein, to utterly confound us, the invisible hands removed his
+undershirt while his coat-sleeves were nailed to the chair."
+
+"Oh, come now, you don't expect us to believe a miracle like that, even
+on your serious statement?" remarked Miller.
+
+"I certainly do not," I responded, readily. "I wouldn't believe it on
+any one's statement. That is the discouraging thing about this whole
+business; you can't convince any one by any amount of evidence. A man
+will stand out against Zoellner, Crookes, Lodge, and Myers, discounting
+all the rest of the great investigators, and then crumple up like a
+caterpillar at the first touch of The Invisible Hand when it comes to
+him directly. This same young man gave me the most convincing
+demonstrations of materialized forms I have ever seen. In his own little
+home, under the simplest conditions, he commanded forth from a little
+bedroom a figure which was unmistakably not a mechanism. A lamp was
+burning in the room, and the young fellow was perfectly visible at the
+same moment as the phantom which stood and bowed three times."
+
+"What did it look like?"
+
+"It looked like a man's figure swathed in some white drapery. I could
+not see the face, but it was certainly not a 'dummy.' But come, let us
+see what the forces can do for us here to-night. I think we will need
+'Annie Laurie' to clear the air of debate."
+
+Mrs. Miller began the song, and we all joined in softly.
+
+"Our newspaper is a trusty watch-dog," remarked Miller, significantly.
+
+As he spoke the psychic began to toss and writhe and moan pitifully. Her
+suffering mounted to a paroxysm at last; then silence fell for a minute
+or two--absolute stillness; and in this hush the table took life, rose,
+and slid away toward us as if shoved by a powerful hand.
+
+"So far as my hearing goes, the psychic does not move," I said. "Barring
+the light, this is a very good demonstration of movement without
+control. Every movement of the table our way removes it farther from the
+reach of the psychic."
+
+"I hear nothing from the paper," confessed Miller, "and yet the table is
+certainly moving."
+
+"I can believe this, because I have proved these movements without
+contact. In this case Mrs. Smiley cannot reach the table with her knees
+and her feet secured by tape nailed to the bookcase. You cannot believe
+she has gotten out of her skin. The newspaper is still on guard, and has
+uttered no alarm."
+
+"It is very perplexing," Miller admitted; "but anything can happen in
+the dark."
+
+"I admit it is very easy to deceive our senses, but the silk thread is
+not to be fooled."
+
+Three times the table was urged in the same direction, each paroxysm of
+suffering, of moaning, of struggle, on the part of the psychic, being
+followed a few seconds later by absolute silence. It was in these
+moments of profound sepulchral hush that the heavy table lurched along
+the floor. It was a strange and startling fact.
+
+"Why are you doing this?" I asked of the forces. "As a test?"
+
+"_Yes_," the raps replied.
+
+"How do you account for it, Miller?" I asked, with challenge in my
+voice. "My conviction is that we are confronting a case of
+telekinesis--not as convincing as Flammarion's, but still inexplicable.
+If that table has moved an inch, it is the same as if it had moved a
+foot. You should feel rewarded."
+
+Miller did not reply; and even as he pondered the megaphone, which had
+been standing on the top of the table, began to rock on its base, and a
+pencil which lay beside it was fumbled as if by a rat or a kitten. In
+our state of strained expectancy this sound was very startling indeed.
+
+"What about that, Miller?" I asked, in a tone of exultation. "Who's
+doing that? Last time you suspected Howard, now here you must suspect
+the psychic. The movement of that pencil is of enormous significance.
+How can she possibly reach and handle that cone?"
+
+"She can't, unless she has freed her hands," he admitted. "Let us touch
+hands." I gave him my left hand, and sitting thus, with all hands
+accounted for, we entered into communication with the "spirit" that was
+busy in the centre of the table.
+
+"Are you present, 'Wilbur'?"
+
+_Tap, tap, tap._
+
+"Are you moving the table?"
+
+_Tap, tap, tap._
+
+"To get it out of reach of the psychic?"
+
+_Tap, tap, tap._
+
+Suddenly, with a loud bang, something heavy fell upon the table.
+Releasing the hands of my fellow-investigators, I felt about for this
+object and found that a book had been brought and thrown upon the table.
+A shower of others followed, till twenty-four were piled about the cone.
+They came whizzing with power, yet with such precision that no head was
+touched and the cone remained undisturbed. It was as if some roguish
+poltergeist had suddenly developed in the room.
+
+"Miller, I find this exciting!" said I, after silver fell upon the
+table. "Suppose we ask 'Wilbur' to fetch some small object whose
+position you know."
+
+Mrs. Miller then said: "There is a box of candy on a shelf back of Mrs.
+Smiley. It is quite out of her reach. Can you bring that to me,
+'Wilbur'?"
+
+_Tap, tap, tap!_ was the decided answer, and almost immediately the box
+was placed on the top of the table and shoved along toward Mrs. Miller.
+
+"That's a good demonstration," I remarked, and 'Wilbur' drummed a sharp
+tattoo of satisfaction.
+
+At my request he then wrote his name on a pad while Miller waited and
+listened, his mind too busy with surmise to permit of speech. (He told
+me afterward that he was perfectly sure the psychic had wrenched free of
+her tacks and he was wondering how she would contrive to put herself
+back again.)
+
+Finally I asked: "Are you still with us, 'Wilbur'?"
+
+The force tapped smartly on the tin.
+
+"Now, just to show you that the psychic is not doing this, can't you
+hold up a book between me and the light? I want to see your hand."
+
+Instantly, and to my profound amazement, a book rose in the air, and I
+could see _two hands_ in silhouette plainly and vigorously thumbing the
+volume, which was held about three feet above the table, and to the
+psychic's left.
+
+"Miller," I said, excitedly, "I see hands!"
+
+"I do not," he answered; "but I hear a rustling."
+
+Swift on the trail, I called out: "Now, show me your empty hand,
+'Wilbur.' I want to see how big it is." A moment later I exclaimed, in
+profound excitement: "I can see a _large_ hand against the window, and,
+strangest part of all, the spread fingers are pointing _toward_ Mrs.
+Smiley, the wrist is nearest you and at least six feet from the psychic.
+It is a man's hand. You are not doing this, Miller?"
+
+"Certainly not!" he answered, curtly.
+
+"This is astonishing! It certainly is a hand and much larger than that
+of a woman, and _the wrist is toward you_. It is still at least four
+feet from the psychic. Oh, for a flash-light camera now! I was
+perfectly certain that this is not the psychic's hand, and yet to admit
+that it is not is to grant the whole theory of materialization."
+
+At last the shadow disappeared. The book fell. With a ringing scrape the
+cone rose in the air and the voice of "Wilbur" came from it
+life-like--almost full-toned, and with a note of humorous exultation
+running through it. "_I told you I'd astonish you!_" he said. "_Don't
+get in a hurry; there's more coming._"
+
+For nearly two hours thereafter this "spirit voice" kept us all
+interested and busy. He was very much alive, and we alternately laughed
+at his quaint conceits or pondered the implications of his casual
+remarks. It was precisely as if a rollicking Western, or, rather,
+Southern, man were speaking to us over the 'phone. I asked: "Who are
+you? Is 'Wilbur' your surname?"
+
+"_No; my middle name. My family name is Thompson._"
+
+His characterization was perfect. He responded to every question with
+readiness and perfect aplomb. At times he played jokes on us. He bumped
+Miller on the head, and touched him on the cheek farthest from the
+psychic. At my request he covered Mrs. Miller's ear with the large end
+of the horn, then reversed and nuzzled her temple with the small end.
+She said it felt like a caress, as if guided by a tender hand. She had
+become clairvoyant also, and saw many forms about the room. I could see
+nothing.
+
+"Tell us more about yourself, 'Wilbur'?" I asked. "Who are you? What did
+you do on the earth?"
+
+"_I was a soldier._"
+
+"In the Civil War?"
+
+"_Yes._"
+
+"On which side?"
+
+"_That's a leading question_," he answered, with some hesitation.
+
+"Oh, come now, the war is over!"
+
+"_I was on the Southern side. I am Jeff. W. Thompson. I was a
+brigadier-general._"
+
+"Where were you killed?"
+
+"_I was invalided home to Jefferson City, and passed out there._"
+
+"How do you happen to be 'guide' to this little woman?"
+
+He hesitated again. "_I was attracted to her_," he said, and gave no
+further explanation.
+
+"Mitchell" then came and said: "_We are deeply interested in your
+experiments, Mr. Garland, and will afford you all the aid in our power.
+It is hard to meet your tests--hard, I mean, for our medium, but we will
+assist her to fill the requirements._"
+
+"Thank you. I don't see how any psychic could be more submissive."
+
+Mrs. Miller, deeply impressed by all this, began to inquire concerning
+those of the invisible host whose names were familiar to her. It was
+evident that she, at least, was convinced of their reality.
+
+Meanwhile, the movement of the cone interested Miller more than the
+messages. "How does she do it?" he exclaimed several times. "To touch
+Mrs. Miller means that the psychic must not only have free use of her
+hands: she must rise from her chair and pass behind me and the wall."
+
+"The precision of the action is my amazement," I replied. "I've noticed
+this same thing many times. Apparently, darkness is no barrier to action
+on the part of these forces. That cone, you will observe, can touch you
+on the nose, eyelid, or ear, softly, without jar or jolt. It came to me
+just now like a sentient thing--like something human. Such unerring
+flight is uncanny. Could any trickster perform in the dark with such
+precision and gentleness? Of course this is not conclusive as argument,
+but at the same time it has weight. Whose is the eye that directs this
+instrument? Can you tell us, 'Wilbur'?"
+
+A chuckle came through the cone. "_I'm doing it._"
+
+"How can you see?"
+
+"_Day and night are all the same to me._"
+
+Miller held up his right hand. "Prove it; touch my knuckles!" he
+commanded.
+
+After a moment's silent soaring the cone struck his left hand, which was
+farthest from the psychic, and a voice followed it with laughter,
+asking: "_What made you jump?_"
+
+Before Miller had recovered from the surprise of this, the table seemed
+to be grasped and shaken as if by a man of giant strength--and yet the
+cone and the books did not shift position. Hands patted the pillows on a
+sofa at Miller's right, and one of these cushions was flung against his
+chair. The room seemed to swarm with tricksy Pucks. At last the cone
+took flight again, and moved about freely among the heap of books and
+over Miller's head, while a variety of voices came successively from it,
+some of them speaking to Mrs. Miller and some to me. Several of the
+names given were known to Mrs. Miller, and a few were recognizable by
+me. They all claimed to be spirits of the dead with messages of good
+cheer for friends on "the earth-plane," but they were all rather vague
+and stereotyped. Once I thought I could see the cone passing between me
+and the window, high above the table. It seemed to float horizontally as
+if in water. Some of the spirits were too weak to raise the cone--so
+"Wilbur" said; too weak, even, to whisper.
+
+During all this time the psychic remained in trance--deathly still; but
+"between the acts" her troubled breathing and low moans could be heard.
+So far as hearing could define, she was still at the end of the table,
+where she had been placed at the beginning of the sitting. None of
+these movements occasioned the slightest rustling of the newspaper.
+When the cone was moving no sound was heard. The floor was of hard-wood,
+and, as one's hearing becomes very acute in the darkness, I am certain
+the psychic did not rise from her chair. She was, for the most part,
+silent as a dead woman.
+
+The force expended on the table was very great, almost furious, and even
+if the psychic had been able to extend her foot or release a hand she
+could not have produced such movement, and if she had done so we could
+have detected it. Intelligent forces were plainly at work on the table,
+and writing was going on. So far as I was concerned, I was convinced
+that the psychic had externalized her power in some occult fashion, and
+that it was she who was speaking to us. It was as if she were able to
+_will_ the cone to rise and then to project her voice into it, all of
+which seems impossible the moment it is stated.
+
+At length "Wilbur" said: "Good-night." I rose, and Miller, eagerly,
+expectantly, turned the light slowly on. _Mrs. Smiley sat precisely as
+we had last seen her. Her eyes were closed, her head leaning against the
+back of her chair. Her hands were fastened exactly as we had left them,
+and, strangest thing of all, the table was pushed away from her so that
+the silk threads were tight._
+
+"Do you see that, Miller?" I exclaimed. "Will you tell me how that
+final movement was made? 'Wilbur' has given us an unexpected test. Even
+if she had freed her hands, she could not have tied the threads and
+returned to her bonds; and if she first returned to her bonds, how could
+she, then, have pushed the table away? The two things are mutually
+exclusive. Her feet are nailed to the floor, and the newspaper still on
+guard. Are we not forced to conclude that the table was moved by some
+supernormal expenditure of force? Her hands were here, the table there.
+Does it not seem to you a case of the 'psychic force,' such as Crookes
+and Richet describe?"
+
+Miller was confounded, but concealed it. "She may have shoved the table
+with her feet."
+
+"How? Your newspaper is unbroken. Not a tack is disturbed. But suppose
+she did! How about the books? Did she get the books with her feet? How
+about the broad hand which I saw? How about the candy-box which was
+moved from a point seven feet away? How could she slip from her bonds?
+See these threads, actually sunk into her wrists!" I continued. "No, my
+conviction is that she has not once moved."
+
+"I cannot admit that."
+
+"You mean you dare not!"
+
+Mrs. Miller was indignant at our delay. "The poor thing! It is a shame!
+Unfasten her at once! You are torturing her!"
+
+"Wait a few moments," said Miller, inexorably. "I want to make a few
+notes."
+
+Meanwhile I took the psychic's pulse. It was very slow, faint, and
+irregular. It was, indeed, only a faint, sluggish throb at long
+intervals, and each throb was followed only by a feeble fluttering. Her
+skin was cold, her arms perfectly inert and numb, and she came very
+slowly back to consciousness. I had a conviction at the moment that she
+had been out of her body.
+
+While I rubbed her hands and arms, Miller took notes and measurements.
+There were more than two dozen books on the table, and some of them had
+come from shelves three feet distant and a little above the psychic's
+shoulders. It was true she could have reached them with a free arm, but
+she had no free arm! The pad in the middle of the table was scrawled
+upon. "Wilbur" was written there, and short messages from "Mr. Mitchell"
+and other "ghosts." Therefore, it is of no value to say we were
+collectively hypnotized.
+
+As she came to life, Mrs. Smiley complained of being numb. "My arms are
+like logs," she said, "and so are my feet. My 'guides' say that if you
+will put one palm to my forehead and the tips of your fingers at the
+base of my brain it will help me to liven up."
+
+I did as she requested, and was at once conscious of great heat and
+turmoil in her head. It appeared to throb as if in receding excitement.
+I thought of Richet's observations (that in cases of materialization the
+psychic seemed shrunk and weakened), and narrowly scanned the helpless
+woman. She seemed at the moment small and bloodless.
+
+"Were you conscious of groaning and gasping?" I asked.
+
+"No, I have no recollection of anything. I am told I do make a great
+fuss, but I don't know it. Did anything happen?"
+
+"A very great deal happened," I answered.
+
+She smiled in quiet satisfaction.
+
+"I'm glad. Mr. Miller has been good and patient; it would have been a
+shame to disappoint him. If you will only keep from being too anxious
+you'll get anything you want."
+
+"That's what 'Mitchell' said."
+
+Mrs. Miller patted her hands. "You must be very tired, poor thing?"
+
+"I do feel weak, but that will soon pass away. What time is it?"
+
+Miller looked at his watch. "Great Scott! It's after one o'clock."
+
+"Absorbing business, isn't it?" said I.
+
+Mrs. Miller invited Mrs. Smiley to stay the remainder of the night and
+took her away to bed, leaving us to measure and weigh and surmise. It
+seemed absurd--like a dream; and yet there lay the visible, tangible
+proofs of the marvel.
+
+"Everything took place within her reach, provided she could have freed
+her hands," Miller repeated, as he sat in her chair and studied the
+books on the table.
+
+"Miller," said I, with conviction, "_that woman did not lift her wrists
+from that chair_!
+
+"I don't see how she did it; but to say she did not, is to admit the
+preposterous. I wish she had permitted us to hold her hands."
+
+"I don't know of another psychic in America who would have submitted to
+the test we put upon Mrs. Smiley to-night, but 'Mitchell' has assured me
+he will go further: he will let us hold her hands and turn on the light.
+I feel as if the great mystery were almost within our grasp. By the
+ghost of Euclid! I have the conviction at this moment that we are at the
+point of proving for ourselves the elongation of the psychic's limbs!
+Suppose Flammarion is right? Suppose that the psychic can extend her
+arms beyond their normal proportions? You should be ready to give a
+year, ten years, to demonstrating a single one of these physical
+effects. If I am any judge of character, this little woman is as honest
+and as wholesome as Mrs. Miller herself. It isn't this one performance
+alone which proves it. It is the implication of a dozen other sittings,
+almost as convincing as this, that gives me hope of proving something.
+Let us have our next sitting at Cameron's. It is only fair to readmit
+them, for we have proven that they had nothing to do with our
+performance that first night. Let us ask to be permitted to hold the
+hands and feet of the psychic, and also to take a flash-light picture of
+the floating cone. We may yet see these ghostly hands in the light of
+the lamp."
+
+Miller was shaken. I could see that. He sat like one who has been dealt
+a stunning blow.
+
+"I don't believe it--I can't believe it," he repeated.
+
+"Crookes got some photos of 'Katie King,' and I fully believe that Mrs.
+Smiley may be developed further. Anyhow, let's test her. Now for a word
+of theory. This is the way it all appears to me at this time. She seems
+to enter successively three stages of hypnotic sleep. In the first stage
+the 'spirits' speak through her own throat--or she impersonates, as Mrs.
+Harris did. Her second and deeper sleep permits of the movement of the
+cone--'telekinesis,' 'independent slate-writing,' etc. But in this final
+deathly trance she has the power of projecting her astral hands,
+whatever that may mean, and the production of spirit voices. Perhaps she
+has an astral head--"
+
+"I don't believe a word of it! It is all impossible, monstrous!"
+
+"Well, how will you explain this performance? What about the tacks, the
+threads, the tapes that bound her? She brought books, shook the table,
+touched us--How?"
+
+"I don't know; but there must be some perfectly natural way of
+explaining it. There is no place for the supernatural in my world. She
+seems a nice, simple little woman, and yet this very simplicity may be a
+means of throwing us off our guard. I will give a hundred dollars for
+permission to hold her hands while the cone is moving."
+
+"If you do not believe in tacks, will you believe in the touch of your
+fingers?"
+
+"If she permits me to hold her and the cone moves I will surrender."
+
+"No, you won't. You think you will, but you won't. Don't deceive
+yourself. I've been all through it. You _can't_ believe until some
+fundamental change takes place in your mind. You must struggle just as
+Richet did."
+
+"Anyhow, let's turn the screws tighter. Let's devise some other plan to
+make ourselves doubly certain of her part in the performance."
+
+With this understanding I said good-night, and took my lonely way to my
+apartment.
+
+It was deliciously fresh and weirdly still in the street, and as I
+looked up at the glowing stars and down the long, empty street my mind
+revolted. "Can it be that the good old theory of the permanence of
+matter is a gross and childish thing? Do the dead tell tales, after all?
+I wish I could believe it. Perhaps old Tontonava was right. Perhaps if
+we were all to pray for the happy hunting-grounds at the same moment
+and in perfect faith, the lost paradise would return builded by the
+simple power of our thought."
+
+Then Richet's moving confession came to me: "It took me twenty years of
+patient research to arrive at my present conviction. Nay (to make one
+last confession), I am not yet absolutely and irremediably convinced. In
+spite of the astounding phenomena which I have witnessed, I have still a
+trace of doubt--doubt which is weak, indeed, to-day, but which may,
+perchance, be stronger to-morrow. Yet such doubts, if they come, will
+not be due so much to any defect in the actual experiment as to the
+inexorable strength of prepossession which holds me back from adopting a
+conclusion which contravenes the habitual and almost unanimous opinion
+of mankind."
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+At this point the sittings, which had begun so interestingly, suddenly
+began to fail of results. The power unaccountably weakened. Miller and
+several others of the circle believed these failures to be due to the
+increased rigidity of the restraint we had imposed upon the medium. The
+next "session" was held in Fowler's down-town office, against the
+hesitating protest of the psychic, who said: "The atmosphere of the
+place is not good." By which she meant that the associations of the
+office, with the hurry and worry of business, were in opposition to the
+mood necessary for the production of the phenomena.
+
+"The real reason," declared Howard, "is this: we're now getting down to
+brass tacks in her business."
+
+This was literally true. At Miller's suggestion a strong tape, perhaps
+half an inch wide, had been passed about the psychic's wrist and tied in
+a close, square knot, and finally a long brass tack was driven down
+through both strands of the tape into the chair-arm. This was in reality
+as secure as a handcuff. Nothing happened this night beyond the
+movement of the table and some rather weak raps, and we all rose from
+our seats worn and disappointed.
+
+When we met the next night in the same place, and adjusted the
+ever-tightening bands upon the psychic, she sat helplessly for three
+hours. I began to lose confidence in her power to do anything beyond the
+ordinary. Howard, Mrs. Quigg, and Miss Brush dropped out before the
+sitting was over. Only Brierly and myself met the psychic at the
+Camerons' on the following Thursday. Again we sat patiently for long
+hours, with only the movement of the table and a drumming upon the top
+in response to our requests. Miller now said: "I would like to have one
+more sitting in my library, to see if we can duplicate the marvels of
+our previous seance."
+
+We did not. The table alone moved, but it did this under absolutely test
+conditions. Over each of the psychic's arms a lady's stocking was drawn,
+and pinned to her dress at the shoulder. On each hand a luminous
+pasteboard star was fastened, and her wrists were tied and tacked, as
+before. Again we nailed her dress to the floor and covered her knees
+with a newspaper, and Miller and I held threads which were knotted to
+her wrists. Nevertheless, under these conditions the table moved while
+no one touched it, but always in a line away from the psychic. At the
+moment of the sliding of the table I closely watched the luminous stars,
+and asserted to the others that her hands did not stir. So that this
+movement, though slight, was genuinely telekinetic.
+
+A very curious incident now cut short our sitting. Miller, who thought
+the left hand of the psychic was not in place, twitched the string which
+he held, and immediately Mrs. Smiley began to twist and sigh, and "Maud"
+complained that her mamma had been injured by the jerking of the thread
+by Professor Miller, and said that the sitting would have to stop. We
+lighted up and found the psychic apparently suffering keenly from a
+severe cramp all through her left side, and a good deal of rubbing was
+necessary to restore her to anything like a normal condition.
+
+It really seemed like failure for my psychic, and I began to wonder
+whether the books really did fly from Miller's shelves. I could not
+suspect the gentle little lady of _conscious_ deceit, but with a
+knowledge of the wonderful deceptions of somnambulists and hysterics, I
+began to doubt. I urged Miller to try one more sitting. He consented,
+and we met at Brierly's house. Nothing happened during the first two
+hours, and at ten o'clock, or thereabouts, Miller, Brierly, and Fowler
+withdrew, leaving me to untie and restore Mrs. Smiley, who was still
+apparently in deep sleep.
+
+It was evident that the guides had not released the psychic, and
+"Maudie" soon spoke, asking me to put her mamma into a wooden chair, and
+to take the cone apart and put the smaller end upon the table. I did as
+she requested, and drew the psychic's chair and table together. "Wilbur"
+insisted that I tie the psychic as before, but I replied, rather
+dejectedly: "Oh no; let things go on as they are."
+
+He insisted, and, with very little faith in the power of the psychic, I
+did as I was told. I tied her wrists separately and then together, and,
+drawing both ends of the tape into my left hand, I passed them under the
+tip of my forefinger in such wise that I could feel any slightest
+movement of the psychic's hands. The guides asked me to fasten her
+wrists to the chair, but I replied: "I am satisfied."
+
+Again I was brought face to face with the mystery of mediumship. Sitting
+thus, with no one present but Mrs. Brierly, a woman to be trusted, the
+cone was drummed upon and carried about as if by a human hand. It
+touched my cheek at a distance of two feet from Mrs. Smiley's hands, and
+"Wilbur's" voice--strong, vital, humorous--came to me, conversing as
+readily, as sensibly, as any living flesh-and-blood person, _and all the
+time I held to my tapes, carefully noting that no movement, beyond a
+slight tremor_, took place in the psychic's arms. Just _before_ each
+movement of the cone she shivered convulsively and sighed, but while
+the cone moved she was deathly still. Each time as the cone left the
+table it seemed to rock to and fro as though a hand were trying to grasp
+it, and a moment later it rose with a light spring. My impression
+was--my _belief_ at the moment was--that Mrs. Smiley had nothing to do
+in any ordinary way with the movement of the horn. If there is any
+virtue in a taut tape and my sense of touch, her arms lay like marble
+during the precise time the voice was speaking to me. I could detect no
+connection between herself and the voice.
+
+"Mitchell" assured me that he approved of every test we were putting
+upon "the instrument," and expressed confidence that she would triumph
+over Miller. "But the circles have been too often changed," he asserted,
+"and the places have not been well chosen. All must be unhurried and
+harmonious," he added, and I replied that I had been discouraged, but
+that this sitting had given me new interest. "I will be faithful to the
+end," I assured him.
+
+"Wilbur" and "Mitchell" were perfectly distinct personalities, and
+appeared to confer and act together. I had a sense of nearness to the
+solution of the mystery that thrilled me. Here in the circle of my
+out-stretched arms the incredible was happening. I held Mrs. Brierly's
+hands, and controlled (by means of my tightly stretched tape) the
+movements of the psychic, and yet the megaphone was lifted, handled,
+used as a mouthpiece by "spirits." I felt that if at the moment I had
+been able to turn on a clear light I could have seen _my_ ghostly
+visitors. This final hour's experience revived all my confidence in Mrs.
+Smiley, and not even another long series of absolute failures could
+destroy my faith in her honesty or my belief in her occult powers.
+
+My patience was sorely tried by twelve almost perfectly useless
+sittings, during which everybody dropped away but Mr. and Mrs. Fowler,
+Dr. Towne, Brierly, and myself. They were not utterly barren sittings,
+but the phenomena were repetitious or slight and fugitive.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Fowler were friends of Brierly, and, like him, avowed
+spiritists, but they both lent their best efforts to make the tests
+complete and convincing. After trying sittings here and there, we
+finally settled upon a series of afternoon sessions in Fowler's own
+house. This was the twenty-sixth sitting of the series, and Cameron's
+Amateur Psychical Society was practically a memory. I was now going
+ahead pretty much on my own lines, but with an eye to catching Miller
+and the Camerons at a successful seance before concluding my search.
+
+Mrs. Smiley was in great distress of mind over the failure of her
+powers. "I guess I'm no good any more," she said. "I never sit now
+without a feeling that perhaps my power is gone forever. This Eastern
+climate is so harsh for me, and I long for my own California. If you
+will not give up, I will keep trying as long as my guides advise it."
+
+"You have done your part," I said, with intent to console her.
+
+"Please don't give up," she pleaded.
+
+"I am not giving up--on the contrary, I am only beginning to fight," I
+assured her, paraphrasing General Grant, or some other obstinate person.
+"I recognize the truth of what you complain about, but I am sure that at
+Fowler's, in a small, warm, well-aired room, you will feel at home and
+be secure of interruption."
+
+Mrs. Fowler, a very sensitive, thoughtful, dark-eyed little lady,
+received us at the appointed hour with quiet cordiality, and suggested
+that her own room up-stairs would be a comfortable and retired place.
+
+To this I agreed, and we set to work to prepare it for the sitting.
+Fowler and I assumed control of the psychic, though Brierly insisted
+that, as the house belonged to Fowler, it would be more convincing if he
+were not connected with the preparation of the room. "I don't think we
+need to consider hair-drawn objections," I retorted.
+
+As before, we placed Mrs. Smiley in an arm-chair at one end of a small
+table; as before, we secured her ankles by looping a long tape about
+them and nailing the two ends to the floor behind her. Mrs. Fowler
+introduced an innovation by _sewing the tape to the sleeves of our
+psychic_. This made slipping out of the tape an impossibility, but, to
+push security still further, I drove a long brass tack down _through
+both tape and doubled sleeve_. Not content even with this, Fowler put a
+second tape about each wrist, to add further security and to take off
+the strain in case of any unconscious movement. Another tape was carried
+across Mrs. Smiley's dress about four inches below her knees, and pinned
+there. Next the ends were drawn tight and tied to the back rung of her
+chair. By this we intended to prevent any pushing action of the knees.
+As a final precaution, we nailed her dress to the floor in front with
+three tacks. The small end of the tin cone was then placed on the table
+(at the request of the psychic) and the large end deposited upright on
+the carpet near Fowler. Some sheets of paper and a pencil were laid upon
+the table. Everything movable was entirely out of the psychic's reach.
+
+It was about three o'clock of the afternoon when, after darkening the
+windows, we took our seats in a little circle about the table. As usual,
+I guarded the psychic's right hand, while Fowler sat at her left.
+Brierly and Mrs. Fowler were opposite Mrs. Smiley. The room was lighter
+than at any other of our sittings--both on account of the infiltering
+light of day, and also because an open grate fire in the north wall
+sent forth an occasional flicker of red flame.
+
+We sat for some time discussing Miller and Harris and their attitude
+toward the psychic. I remarked:
+
+"To me our failures, some of them at least, have been very instructive,
+but the gradual falling away of our members makes evident to me how
+unlikely it is that any official commission will ever settle the claims
+of spiritualism. As Maxwell has said: 'It is a slow process, and he who
+cannot bring himself to plod patiently and to wait uncomplainingly for
+hours at a time will not go far.' I confess that the half-heartedness of
+our members has disappointed me. I told them at the outset not to expect
+entertainment, but they did. It _is_ tiresome to sit night after night
+and get nothing for one's pains. It seems foolish and vain, but any real
+investigator accepts all these discomforts as part of the game. Failures
+are sure to come when the psychic is honest. Only the juggler can
+produce the same effects. A medium is not a Leyden-jar nor an Edison
+battery; materialization is not precisely a vaudeville 'stunt.'"
+
+"I don't call the last sitting a failure," said Fowler. "The conditions
+were strictly test conditions, and yet matter was moved without contact.
+Of course, the mere movement of a table, or even of the trumpet, seems
+rather tame, as compared with the doings of 'Katie King'; but, after
+all, a single genuine case of telekinesis should be of the greatest
+value to the physicist; and, as for the psychologist, the fact of your
+friend, Mrs. Thomas, becoming entranced by 'Wilbur' was startling
+enough, in all conscience."
+
+"I don't think Miller believed in her trance," said I.
+
+"What happened?" asked Brierly, who had not been present at this
+particular sitting.
+
+I answered: "Mrs. Thomas, a friend of mine, a very efficient,
+clear-brained person, whom, by-the-way, we had asked to come in order to
+fully preserve the proprieties, suddenly felt a twitching in her left
+hand, which was touching mine. This convulsive movement spread to her
+shoulder, until her whole arm began to thresh about like a flail in a
+most alarming way. The action became so violent at last that she called
+upon me for aid. I found it exceedingly difficult to subdue her
+agitation and silence her rebellious limb, but I did finally succeed.
+Nor was this all. A few moments later, while helping us in the singing,
+my friend suddenly stopped singing and began to laugh in a deep,
+guttural fashion, and presently a voice--the voice of a man,
+apparently--came from her throat: '_Haw! haw! I've got ye now! I've got
+ye now!_' It sounded like 'Wilbur.'"
+
+This seemed to amuse Mrs. Smiley. "It was 'Wilbur,'" she said. "He loves
+to jump in and seize upon some one's vocal chords that way. It's a
+favorite joke with him."
+
+"What horrible taste!" Mrs. Fowler shudderingly exclaimed.
+
+"Oh, I don't know," remarked Brierly. "It is actually no worse than
+having your hand controlled."
+
+"To have a spirit inside of one's throat is a little startling, even to
+me," I admitted, sympathetically. "But there was more of this business.
+Another member of the circle--a young man--became entranced, and
+proceeded to impersonate lost souls, 'earth-bound spirits,' in the
+manner of our friend Mrs. Harris, and wailed and wept and moaned in most
+grewsome fashion. However, I think Miller considered both of these
+performances merely cases of hysteria, induced by the darkness and the
+constraint of sitting about the table. And perhaps he was correct."
+
+"Anything a doctor doesn't understand he calls hysteria," put in
+Brierly. "I consider these specialists nuisances."
+
+"Well, anyhow, our 'Amateur Spook-spotter Association' seems to have
+come to an untimely end," said I, regretfully. "Of the original number,
+only Brierly remains. Wouldn't our deserters be chagrined if we should
+now proceed to enjoy a really startling session?"
+
+"We will," Mrs. Smiley responded. "I feel the power all about me."
+
+"Good!" cried Fowler. "That is the way you should feel. If you are at
+ease, the spirits will do the rest."
+
+"Sit back and rest," I said. "We have plenty of time. You've been too
+anxious. Don't worry."
+
+In the mean while, between the sitting at Miller's house and this
+present one, I had been reading much on the subject of the trance and of
+"the externalization of the fluidic double," of which the Continental
+philosophers have much to say. If not convinced, I was at least under
+conviction that the liberation of the astral self was possible (if at
+all) only in the deepest trance, and I now attempted to discover by
+interrogation of Mrs. Smiley precisely what her own conception of the
+process was.
+
+"You told me once that you are conscious of leaving your body when in
+trance," I said. "Do you always have that sensation?"
+
+"Yes, I almost always have a feeling of floating in the air," she
+answered. "It often seems as if I had risen a few feet above and a
+little to one side of my material self, to which I am somehow attached.
+I can see my body and what goes on around it, and yet, somehow, it all
+seems kind of dim, like a dream. It's hard to tell you just what I mean,
+but I seem to be in both places at once."
+
+"Do you ever have any perception of a physical connection between
+yourself and the sitters?"
+
+She seemed to me to answer this a bit reluctantly. "Yes, I sometimes
+feel as though little shining threads went out from me and those in the
+circle, and sometimes these threads meet and twine themselves around the
+cone or the pencil. This means that I draw power from all my sitters."
+
+This was in accord with the accounts of a "cobwebby feeling" which both
+Maxwell and Flammarion had drawn from their mediums. Maxwell makes much
+of this curious physical sensation which accompanied certain of M.
+Meurice's phenomena. Here also seemed to be an unconscious corroboration
+of Albert de Rochas's experiments in the "externalization of motivity,"
+as he calls it. The "cobwebby feeling" of the fingers might mean an
+actual raying-out of some subtle form of matter. Indeed, M. Meurice,
+Maxwell's medium, declared he could see "a sheath of filaments pass from
+his fingers to the objects of experimentation."
+
+"Tell us about your journeys into the spirit land," I suggested. "You
+sometimes seem to go far away, do you not?"
+
+Her voice became very wistful as she complied. "Yes, sometimes I seem to
+go to a far-off, bright world. I don't always want to come back, but
+there is a little shining white ribbon that unites my spirit with my
+body and holds me fast. Once when I had resolved never to return, that
+little band of light began to tug at me, and, although it broke my heart
+to leave my children, who were there with me, I yielded, and came back
+to life. It was very cheerful and lovely in that land, and I hated to
+come back to the cold and cruel earth-plane."
+
+"Can't you tell us about it more particularly?"
+
+"No; it is so different from this plane that I have no words in which to
+describe it. All I can say is that it seems glorious and happy and very
+light."
+
+Something in her gentle accent excited Fowler's sympathy. "Mrs. Smiley,
+you have the blood of the martyrs in you. It takes courage to put one's
+self into the hands of a cold-blooded scientist like Miller. Even
+Garland, here, has no pity. He's like a hound on the trail of a fawn.
+It's all 'material' for him. Now, I am nothing but a mild-mannered
+editor. I have all the facts I require concerning the spirit world. I am
+busied with trying to make people happy here on this earth. But these
+scientific 'sharps' are avid for any fact which sustains the particular
+theory they happen to hold. Not one in a hundred will go where the facts
+lead. Their investigation is all a process of self-glorification,
+wherein each one thinks he must prove all the others liars or
+weak-minded in order to exalt himself."
+
+To this I could only reply: "I'm not a scientist, though, I must say, I
+sympathize with the scientific method. And as for my treatment of Mrs.
+Smiley, I am following exactly the advice of her controls. They assure
+me that they will take care of her."
+
+"And so they will," responded the devoted little psychic.
+
+By the closest questioning I had never been able to change a single line
+of her simple faith. She was perfectly certain of the spirit world. She
+had daily messages from "Wilbur" and her spirit father, partly by
+voices, but mainly by intuition. Her children hovered over her while she
+slept. "Mitchell" healed her if she were ill. "Maudie" comforted her
+loneliest hours. These voices, these hands were an integral part of her
+world--as necessary and as dear to her as those of her friends in the
+flesh. As she talked on I experienced a keen pang of regret. "Why
+disturb her belief in the spirit world?" I asked myself. "Why attempt to
+reduce her manifestations to natural magic? To rob her of her conviction
+that 'Maudie' is able to come back to her would leave her poor indeed."
+
+However, as the scientist cannot permit pity to hinder his purpose, I
+was determined to disassociate the _facts_ of spiritualism from the
+_cult_ of spiritualism. I was not concerned with faith or consolation. I
+returned to a study of the facts as a part of nature. I was now
+observing closely the three levels of sleep into which Mrs. Smiley
+seemed to lower herself at will, or upon the suggestion of those in the
+circle. I had adopted the theory that in the lighter trance she spoke
+unconsciously and wrote automatically. In the second, and deeper,
+trance she became the somnambulist possessed of diabolic cleverness,
+when, with the higher senses in abeyance, she was able to deceive and to
+elude all detection. In the third, or death-like, trance, I was ready to
+admit, for the sake of argument, that she was able, as De Rochas and
+Maxwell seem to have demonstrated, to exert an unknown form of force
+beyond the periphery of the body--that is to say, to move objects at a
+distance and to produce voices from the horn.
+
+To prove that she actually left the body would do much to explain the
+phenomena, and I was very eager to push toward this demonstration. I had
+now been her chief inquisitor for nearly thirty sittings, and had
+developed (apparently) the power to throw her into trance almost
+instantly. A few moments of monotonous humming, intoned while my hand
+rested upon hers, generally sufficed to bring the first stage of her
+trance. As we had been sitting for half an hour, I now proceeded to
+chant my potent charm, with intent to liberate the "spirits" to their
+work.
+
+In a few moments she responded to my suggestion. A nervous tremor, now
+expected and now familiar, developed in her hands. This was followed by
+a slight, convulsive, straining movement of her arms. Her fingers grew
+hot, and seemed to quiver with electric energy. Ten minutes later all
+movement ceased. Her temperature abruptly fell. Her breath grew
+tranquil, and at last appeared to fail altogether. This was the first
+stage of her trance. "Take your hand away, Fowler," I said. "We have
+nothing to do now but wait. The psychic is now in the hands of
+'Mitchell.'"
+
+Fowler remarked, with some humor: "I can tell by your tone that you're
+still unconvinced."
+
+"I'm like the Scotchman--ready for convincement, but I'd like to see the
+man who could do it."
+
+After a few minutes' silence Mrs. Fowler asked: "What is the most
+conclusive phenomenon you have ever witnessed, Mr. Garland?"
+
+"That's a little difficult to answer," I replied, slowly, "but at the
+moment I think the playing of a closed piano, which I once heard, is the
+most inexplicable of all my experiments."
+
+"What do you mean by 'the playing of a closed piano'?" queried Brierly.
+
+"I'll tell you about it. It happened during the second sitting I ever
+had with Mrs. Smiley. I was lecturing in her home town at the time, and
+after the close of my address, and while we were talking together, some
+one who was aware of Mrs. Smiley's mediumship suggested: 'Let's go
+somewhere and have a sitting.' The plan pleased me, and, after some
+banter pro and con, we made up a party of six or eight people, and
+adjourned to the home of the chairman of the lecture committee, a
+certain Miss Halsey. I want to emphasize the high character of Miss
+Halsey, as well as the casual way in which we happened to go to her
+rooms, for it puts out of the way all question of collusion. There was
+no premeditation in the act, and Miss Halsey, who was the librarian of
+the city, and a pronounced disbeliever in spiritistic theories, had
+never met Mrs. Smiley before.
+
+"The circle was made up about equally of men and women, all of them
+well-known residents of the town. So far as most of the phenomena
+resulting from this sitting are concerned, they have very little value,
+for they took place in the dark and the medium was not closely guarded.
+It was only toward the end of the sitting, which, by-the-way, took place
+in Miss Halsey's library and music-room, that the unexpected suddenly
+happened, the inexplicable came to pass.
+
+"We were gathered about a long table, with Mrs. Smiley at one end
+sandwiched between the editor of the local paper and myself. Behind me,
+and just within reach of my hand, stood an upright piano, with its cover
+down, but not locked. We had heard drumming on the table for some time,
+and writing had apparently taken place on the pads in the middle of the
+table. But all this was inconclusive, for the reason that Mrs. Smiley
+was not fastened as she is now. I took it all with a pinch of salt. My
+mental reservations must have reached the minds of the 'guides,' for
+with startling suddenness they left the table and fell upon the top of
+the piano. After drumming for some time, the invisible fingers seemed to
+drop to the strings beneath, and a treble note was sounded as if plucked
+by a strong hand."
+
+"You are sure the piano was closed?"
+
+"I am coming to that. Highly delighted by this immediate response to my
+request, I said to the 'forces': 'Can't you demonstrate to us that these
+sounds are not accidental or caused by the jarring of cars in the
+street? Can't you pluck the bass strings?' Instantly, and with clangor,
+the lower strings replied. Thereupon I said: 'Can't you play a tune?' To
+this only a confused jangle made answer. I was unable to secure any
+orderly succession of notes. 'Can't you keep time while I whistle?' I
+insisted, with intent to show that intelligence guided these sounds. The
+'spirits' twanged three times in the affirmative, and when I began to
+whistle 'Yankee Doodle' the invisible musician kept perfect time,
+playing according to my request--now on the treble, now on the bass.
+Leaning far back in my chair, I placed my hand upon the lid of the
+closed piano, and called out to the others in the circle: 'The lid of
+the piano is closed. My hand is upon it. So far as the sense of touch
+and hearing are concerned, we have here an action absolutely unaccounted
+for by any scientific law.
+
+"This was at the moment absolutely convincing to me, as to the others,
+and I promptly reported the case to the American Psychical Society in
+Boston. Since then I may say I have had many experiments quite as
+convincing, but never a repetition of this peculiar phenomenon. It is
+useless to talk about secret wires, or a mouse running up and down the
+strings, or any other material explanation of this fact. It took place
+precisely as I relate it, and remains a mystery to this day."
+
+Fowler remained very calm. "Crookes saw in a full light an accordion
+playing beneath the touch of invisible fingers."
+
+"Yes," I retorted, in protest, "but this action of a closed piano
+happened in my presence, under my hand, and there is always so much more
+convincing quality in the miracle which happens in one's own house. But,
+seriously, that performance on the closed piano remains a profound
+mystification to me. If it had happened in the medium's house, or in the
+home of some one who knew her, I might have suspected fraud--but it did
+not! It happened in the study of one of the most respected women in the
+city, a student who did not believe in psychic phenomena. Furthermore,
+my own hand was on the lid of the piano. I was so convinced of Mrs.
+Smiley's possession of some occult force that I at once wrote to the
+society, telling them that a study of her phases would, in my judgment,
+be the most important work its directors could engage upon. This is one
+of my crack stories, and I wouldn't believe it as related by any one
+else. However, you may read my report, which I made at the time, if that
+will be of any satisfaction to you."
+
+"Oh, I don't need it," responded Mr. Fowler. "I was merely trying to
+find out what your best experiments had been. Have they all been on the
+physical plane?"
+
+"They are all on the physical plane--that is to say, on one plane for
+me. Any 'spirit manifestation,' so long as we are what we are, must be
+an agitation of what we call 'molecules of matter,' and is to that
+extent physical. I have no patience with those highfilutin teachers who
+speak of matter as though it were ignoble in some way. Matter to me is
+as mysterious as spirit."
+
+At this moment a slight movement of the psychic arrested me, and as we
+listened the silvery sweet voice of "Maudie" issued from the darkness,
+saying: "_Mr. Mitchell wants Mr. Garland to change places with Mr.
+Fowler. Be very careful as you move about. Don't joggle mama. It's very
+dangerous to her._"
+
+As I rose to comply, "Maude" called out: "_Mr. Mitchell wishes the
+threads fastened to mama's wrists. He wants you and Mr. Fowler to hold
+them the way you did at Mr. Miller's house._"
+
+Turning up the lights, we tied a strong silk thread to each wrist, and
+passed the ends under each arm of the chair. Fowler took one of these
+ends while I retained the other. I then called the attention of Brierly
+to the fact that the table was seventeen inches from the feet of the
+psychic, and that the fastenings were unchanged. When his examination
+was completed, the lights were again turned off, and the circuit of
+hands restored.
+
+"Maudie" then requested that the pieces of cone be put together and
+placed on the floor beside the table. Fowler did this, and drew a chalk
+mark about it, numbering it "Position No. 1." Immediately after his
+return to his seat the table was strongly pushed away from the psychic.
+It moved in impulses, an inch or two at a time, until it was certainly
+six or eight inches farther from the psychic.
+
+It is impossible to conceive how this movement without contact takes
+place; but, then, what do we know about the action of the magnet on a
+pile of iron filings? How can a thought in the brain of man contract a
+set of muscles and lift a cannon-ball? At bottom we do not know how the
+will, as we call it, crosses the chasm between mind and matter--we don't
+even know there is a chasm.
+
+"Do you feel any motion in your thread, Fowler?" I asked.
+
+"Nothing but a faint quiver," he replied.
+
+"Neither do I, and yet the table moved."
+
+"The table is crowding against me!" called Mrs. Fowler, in some
+excitement.
+
+The fact that the table moved toward us and directly away from the
+psychic was in itself suspicious; but, as a matter of fact, at other
+sittings we obtained sidewise movements of the table--generally to the
+left. The present experiment did not stand alone. You must remember also
+that the table was at this time more than two feet from Mrs. Smiley's
+toes, her dress was tacked to the floor, and her ankles controlled by a
+tape whose ends were nailed to the floor four feet behind her chair.
+
+"So far as matter can testify, Mrs. Smiley is not concerned in this
+movement of the table," I said. "The question is now up to us. Which of
+us is doing this?"
+
+"I am not," answered Brierly.
+
+"Nor I," declared Fowler.
+
+"Nor I," chimed in Mrs. Fowler.
+
+At this moment the psychic began to stir again. "Look out!" I called,
+warningly. "Let every hand be accounted for. Some new demonstration is
+preparing. These periods of suffering are strangely like the pangs of
+childbirth. I wonder if, after all, Archdeacon Colley was not in the
+right when he asserted that he had seen the miraculous issue of
+phantoms. I confess that when I read it first I smiled with the rest,
+for his description of the process was not very poetic. He declared that
+he saw a white vapor steam from the side of the psychic, like vapor from
+a kettle, forming a little cloud, and from this nebulous mass various
+phantasms appeared, ranging from a little child to a full-grown man. It
+is curious how exactly similar all the reports of this process are.
+Crookes speaks of a milky-white vapor which condensed to a form, and
+Richet and Maxwell describe it as a sort of condensing process. I have
+seen it myself, but could not believe in the evidence of my own eyes.
+One can see all kinds of things in the dark."
+
+Peace had again fallen upon our psychic--the peace of exhaustion; as if,
+her struggles being over, her flesh-free spirit were at large in the
+room. The silence was profound, yet somehow thrilling with potency.
+
+In this hush the megaphone was lifted slightly and dropped, making us
+all start. It was as if a feeble hand had tried to manipulate it without
+success. "Let us keep test conditions," I urged. "Please do not make a
+movement now without warning me of your intentions. Keep the circuit
+closed." Here I addressed "Wilbur": "Let's see if you can handle the
+cone under strictly test conditions. Come now, lift it! Lift it!" I
+repeated the command with intent to concentrate all will-power of both
+psychic and sitters upon the thing desired, as Maxwell was accustomed to
+do in his experiments with Meurice.
+
+Several times the forces strove to carry out my wishes, but could not.
+Twice the horn rose from the carpet, only to fall back helplessly.
+Fowler placed it in position each time, marking each new position,
+while I took note of the convulsive tremor which swept from time to time
+over the psychic. It was exactly as if she were a dynamo generating some
+unknown electrical energy, which, after accumulating for a time in her
+organism (as in a jar), was discharged along the direction of our will,
+and yet I could not detect any marked synchronism of movement between
+these impulses and the movement of the horn.
+
+After each fall of the cone she moaned and writhed, _but not till the
+hush of death came over her did the horn move_. So intense was the
+silence each time that we could hear the slightest breath, the minutest
+movement of the tin as it scraped along the rug.
+
+"It is useless to talk of a confederate," I remarked; "it is of no value
+to refer this action to the hands of the psychic. We must look to
+subtler causes for this phenomenon. Perhaps Maxwell's theory that some
+magnetic power is liberated by the contraction of the larger muscles
+will account for it, but in no other way."
+
+At last the megaphone soared into the air, passed over our heads, and
+dropped gently upon the table. It did not fall with a bang; on the
+contrary, it seemed to descend gently--_as if under perfect control of
+both hand and eye_. And yet I assert there was nothing to indicate that
+the psychic shared in these movements. She lay as still as a corpse.
+Nothing but a minute continuous tremor in the thread told that she was
+still alive. I was enormously impressed by the silence. The darkness
+seemed athrill with mystery--not the mystery of the discarnate soul, but
+the mystery of the X-ray. I felt that we were ourselves involved in a
+production of each and every one of these movements.
+
+"There is no use attempting to deny this fact," I insisted to the other
+sitters. "Either the psychic is able to control that cone by the
+exercise of her will over some unknown invisible force, or she has left
+her body and is now at work, a sentient entity in the air about us.
+There is the same precision in all this which Lombroso observed. It
+really seems that the medium has the faculty of using her senses at a
+distance. To say that she is handling that cone with her ordinary
+physical limbs is absurd. This single inexplicable moving of a mass of
+matter from A to B makes the experiments of Crookes and Maxwell very
+much more vital to me. I shall reread their books with new interest."
+
+This result should have awed me, but it did not. I felt a deep interest,
+of course, but no bewilderment. My mind was perfectly clear and my
+senses alert to every sound, every ray of light.
+
+At this moment the psychic again began to twist and turn as if in pain,
+and at last the little voice of "Maudie" anxiously asked: "_Is Mr.
+Garland going to take a train at seven o'clock?_"
+
+This query convinced me that deep in the subconscious mind of the
+psychic lay the knowledge that I had thought of catching this train, and
+that a sense of my plan was disturbing her and interfering with our
+experiment. To remove the uneasiness, I replied: "No, I am going to
+stay; for I think 'Mr. Mitchell' has something very special in store for
+me. Tell her not to think of it any more. I am in no hurry. I have no
+appointment elsewhere."
+
+To this "Maudie" replied: "_Mr. Mitchell says, 'Thank you'; he will do
+the best he can for you. He says go down-stairs now and get your supper.
+Leave mama just where she is. He will take care of her._"
+
+As we had been sitting for nearly three hours in a dark close room we
+welcomed this suggestion from our thoughtful guide, although it tended
+to make the sitting less conclusive. As I followed my hostess down the
+stairs I shared her remorseful pity of poor Mrs. Smiley, bound and
+helpless in her inquisitorial seat. "Mitchell" did not ask that she be
+fed, only that she be covered with a shawl to keep her warm.
+
+"If she is doing this for her own entertainment," I said, "she has
+singular tastes. If she is doing it to advance the cause of
+spiritualism, she is a noble creature--though a mistaken devotee, in the
+eyes of Miller."
+
+Our hostess's uneasiness concerning the psychic made the meal a hurried
+one. None of us felt very much like eating, and I could see that Fowler
+was disposed to cut corners. "Well, Garland, what do you intend to do
+with the facts obtained this afternoon? You have plenty of authority
+behind which to shelter yourself. Why not admit the truth? So far as I
+am concerned, I am willing to swear that Mrs. Smiley had no actual hand
+in the movement of the cone."
+
+To this I replied: "From one point of view, these phenomena are slight;
+but considered in the light of the manifestation of a totally new force,
+they are tremendous in their implication, and I must be absolutely sure
+of them before I assert their truth. The most impressive fact of all is
+that every phenomenon we obtain coheres with those obtained by Maxwell,
+Crookes, and Flammarion. It will not do to admit the spirit hypothesis,
+or grant the objectivity of phantasms, merely because we have proved the
+movements of a particle of matter from A to B without a known push or a
+pull, for such admission is far-reaching. If Maxwell is right, these
+phenomena--even the most complicated of them--are metapsychical, but
+perfectly normal. For example, he says: 'A movement without contact was
+forthcoming this afternoon. I placed a table upside down on a linen
+sheet. M. Meurice and I then put our hands on the sheet, some distance
+away from the table. The table turned completely over. The movement was
+performed slowly and gently. It was four o'clock in the afternoon, and
+the sunlight was streaming in through an open window.' Now here was a
+perfectly clear case of telekinesis, with no one present but Dr. Maxwell
+and his friend; but the turning over of the table does not imply the
+action of spirit hands."
+
+"I don't see why not," responded Mrs. Fowler, "if Dr. Maxwell had
+mediumistic power."
+
+"It was Meurice who had the power; but it was a physical power, which
+went out from his organism like heat. He was often ill after his
+experiments, and felt nausea and a disturbing weakness in the solar
+plexus, as though his bodily powers had been seriously drawn upon. I
+have felt this myself--or so it seemed; perhaps I imagined it."
+
+Fowler struck in: "But what will you do with materializations such as
+Dr. Richet studied at the Villa Carmen in Algiers? What will you do with
+the photographs of the spectre of the helmeted soldier which he obtained
+under what he declares were test conditions?"
+
+"But were they? That's the point."
+
+"I am willing to trust a man of Richet's wide knowledge and known skill
+in experimentation. When he says he saw, touched, and heard the
+apparition of a man, I am ready to believe that he had taken quite as
+many precautions as his newspaper critics would have done. He saw a
+helmeted soldier leave the seance cabinet and walk about. He clasped his
+hand, he affirmed, and found it warm and jointed (perfectly real), and
+he secured the breath of this phantom in a tube of baryta so
+unmistakably that the liquid was chemically changed in accordance with
+his test. There are thousands of other well-authenticated cases of
+materialization. I have seen scores of them myself. I am only quoting
+Richet because I know you believe in his methods."
+
+"I do, indeed; but he may have been deceived, all the same. The failure
+of all his experiments in Algiers lay in the fact that he was never able
+to nail his psychic down, as we have done. He was the on-looker, after
+all--not the experimenter he should have been and wished to be. Really
+his photographs of the spirit 'B. B.' have not the weight as evidence of
+the physical manifestation, as the phenomena which we have this evening
+secured."
+
+Fowler rose. "I have his report in my library. Let me get it."
+
+He returned in a few minutes with a small blue book in his hand, from
+which he began to read with gusto: "'I saw, as it were, a white luminous
+ball floating over the floor; then rising straight upward, very rapidly,
+as though issuing from a trap-door, appeared B. B., born, so to speak,
+out of the flooring outside the curtain, which had not stirred. He
+tries, as it seems to me, to come among us, but he has a limping,
+hesitating gait. At one moment he reels as if about to fall, limping on
+one leg; then he goes toward the opening of the curtains of the
+cabinet. Then, without (as I believe) opening the curtains, he sinks
+down, disappears into the floor.'"
+
+"What are you reading from?" I asked.
+
+"I am reading from the report which Richet made to the Annals of
+Psychical Science. He goes on to say: 'It appears to me that this
+experiment is decisive, for the formation of a luminous spot on the
+ground, which then changes into a living and walking being, cannot
+seemingly be produced by any trick. On the day after this experiment I
+minutely examined the flagstones [which made up the floor of the seance
+room], and also the coach-house and stable immediately under that part
+of the kiosque.' There was no trap-door, and the cobwebs on the roof of
+the stable were undisturbed. The photographs of the apparition were
+taken on five different plates simultaneously, and the figure is the
+same on each."
+
+"Yes; but those experiments were afterward made of no value by the
+confession of a coachman, who admitted his complicity in the fraud."
+
+"No; that story is not true. The experiments stand, and Richet still
+defends both himself and the circle against the charge of fraud."
+
+"But read on," I insisted. "Does he not say that, in spite of all his
+proof, he will not even hazard an affirmation of the phenomena?"
+
+"Yes, he does say that," admitted Fowler; "but he also says: 'I have
+thought it my duty to mention these facts in the same way as Sir William
+Crookes thought it his duty in more difficult times to report the
+history of "Katie King." I do not believe I have been deceived. I am
+convinced that I have been present at realities, not deceptions.
+Certainly I cannot say in what materialization consists. _I am only
+ready to maintain that there is something profoundly mysterious in it,
+which will change from top to bottom our ideas on nature and on life._'"
+
+"He apparently was profoundly affected by what he saw," I assented, "and
+I am perfectly willing to grant that the character of his friends in the
+circle add value to what he saw. But, after all, the fact of
+materialization is so tremendous in its implications that even to admit
+its possibility is to admit more than any man of our day, who has been
+trained in scientific ways, is willing to be answerable for. However,
+the most extraordinary story I have ever read is that of Archdeacon
+Colley, Rector of Stockton, Warwickshire, who declared in a public
+lecture--and many times since, over his signature--that he saw the
+miraculous issue of phantoms born directly from the side of a psychic.
+He declares he saw a winsome little girl emerge--a laughing,
+golden-haired creature, as alive as any one. I confess that this is too
+much for me, and yet if a Spanish soldier can be born from a spot of
+light, anything at all that anybody may imagine can happen.--But let us
+return to our own psychics."
+
+We found Mrs. Smiley sitting precisely as we left her, and, picking up
+our thread, Fowler and I located the table and the cone and reassumed
+our positions. The table, which was quite out of reach of Mrs. Smiley's
+hands, now stood with its end toward the three of us, sitting in a
+crescent shape opposite the psychic--a position which produced, so the
+guides said, one pole of a battery.
+
+Hardly were we seated in our places when the psychic suddenly awoke and
+spoke in her natural voice, and I for one felt that the sitting was
+over. I was perfectly certain that nothing could happen out of the
+ordinary unless the medium were in either one or the other of her states
+of trance.
+
+I was now both amazed and delighted to find that the cone could be
+drummed upon and voices delivered through it while Mrs. Smiley, mentally
+normal, took part in the conversation. My theories were upset. I was
+completely mystified, though I said nothing of this to Fowler.
+
+Once or twice Mrs. Fowler declared she heard the sound of lips, and at
+last a voice came to her speaking the name of her father. His voice
+answered some of her questions correctly, but could not utter the pet
+name which her father used to call her. This breakdown of the
+individuality of the phantom voices is very characteristic. This ended
+the sitting. The voices had not been as strong as we had hoped for, but
+as we threw on the light we found a number of messages written upon the
+sheets of paper which Fowler had put in the middle of the table. These
+messages were lying with the writing wrong side up, so far as the
+psychic was concerned. Altogether we felt that the results were both
+significant and encouraging, and we agreed to meet three days later in
+the same room and under the same conditions.
+
+"What I want to do now is to hold your arms while the horn is in the
+air, or while the writing is going on," I said to Mrs. Smiley.
+
+And to this she replied: "You may make any test you please. I feel that
+in this house my powers will return."
+
+"That is a real gain," I said, to encourage her.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+The next sitting was an almost exact duplication of the last so far as
+the binding (and nailing) of the psychic was concerned, except that we
+sewed _two_ bands of tape to her sleeves and _four_ tacks were used at
+each wrist. Her feet were tied separately in the middle of a long tape,
+and the ends brought together, carried back beneath her chair, and
+tacked to the floor. As before, we placed the large end of the cone on
+the floor, out of her reach, leaving the smaller end on the table, which
+we left just out of her utmost reach. On the table we placed some sheets
+of paper specially marked and dated, and took our seats as usual.
+
+No one was present at this sitting but Mr. and Mrs. Fowler and myself.
+Even the faithful Brierly had been unable to share in this, the
+twenty-ninth experiment. I was delighted to have the circle narrow down,
+for Fowler was a good investigator and a man of vast experience in
+psychic matters. Outside interference was absolutely excluded. "Whatever
+happens to-night, Fowler," I said, "you and I or the spirits must be
+responsible for it."
+
+We began, as usual, by putting Mrs. Smiley into hypnotic sleep. In a
+few moments the familiar shuddering action took place. Her palms grew
+moist. She said she found it difficult to submit to our touch. She asked
+us to put our fingers above hers, and soon after, in the midst of our
+singing, her voice ceased, her hands grew heavy as lead, and lay
+perfectly limp and dead in their bonds.
+
+Again following the guidance of the raps, Fowler and I moved back and
+sat opposite her, with Mrs. Fowler between us. "Maudie" then spoke from
+the psychic's lips, asking us to move the table farther away. This I
+did, leaving it at least twelve inches from the utmost tips of her
+fingers. "Maudie" then asked us to take up the larger half of the cone
+and unite it with the smaller part, and lay the entire cone flat across
+the table.
+
+We did so, marking its position by means of chalk. It was nearly three
+feet from the utmost extension of the psychic's hands, and yet, almost
+immediately, tapping came upon the cone keeping time to our singing.
+Later, sounds were produced like the beating of a kettle-drum. A
+hammering was then carried on as if within the cone, and "Maudie" spoke,
+telling us to go down and get supper, as before.
+
+I regretted this necessity very much, for up to this moment all had been
+clear sailing; the tapping on the cone was inexplicable on the basis of
+any normal action of the psychic; but to leave her alone, even while so
+well accounted for, weakened the test.
+
+I said as much to Fowler as we sat at the dinner-table. He admitted his
+own disappointment. "However," he added, philosophically, "we have to
+take these things as they offer. We can't construct them."
+
+We discussed the implications of the sittings we had already held. "It
+isn't one thing only," he reminded me; "it is because of the larger fact
+that one phenomenon supports another that one comes to believe. Thus far
+to-night we have _proved_ that Mrs. Smiley is not concerned with the
+drumming on the cone, haven't we?"
+
+"Yes; but I want to hold her hands while the drumming takes place. I
+want to hear her voice at the same time with 'Mitchell's.'"
+
+"We'll get it," he responded, confidently. And a little later we
+returned to the room where our psychic was sitting, still in deep
+trance.
+
+After some moments of waiting, "Maudie" said: "Mr. Mitchell says take
+the table away and put the cone in its place."
+
+We moved the table a short distance to the left, and I put the cone in
+the centre of the rug where the table had stood, and marked the position
+of the cone. The psychic then passed through a period of suffering, of
+effort, but nothing took place. Again "Maudie" spoke, asking us to
+restore the table and cone to their former positions. "Evidently the
+experiment designed by 'Mitchell' has failed," I said, "but these
+failures instruct us."
+
+A convulsive restlessness again seized upon the psychic, and "Maudie"
+asked us to sing. I hummed softly, in order to hear anything that might
+take place. A minute clicking sound at once developed, as though some
+one were lightly beating the cone with a key. These clicks answered our
+questions. It was "Wilbur" once more. I asked him if he were going to be
+able to speak to us, and he tapped "_Yes_." Soon after this the cone was
+swung into the air and "Wilbur's" throaty whisper was heard. I asked him
+if the psychic could not be awake and speak while he was present, and he
+answered: "_Yes; we have planned that._"
+
+Even as he spoke Mrs. Smiley passed into what seemed like a struggle for
+breath and awoke!
+
+"Are you with us, Mrs. Smiley?" asked Fowler.
+
+"Yes. What time is it?"
+
+"About half-past eight. How do you feel?"
+
+"Very numb and cold," she answered, plaintively.
+
+"I don't wonder at that," I remarked. "You've been sitting there for
+five hours."
+
+"Is anybody present?" she asked, anxiously.
+
+I knew what she meant, and answered: "Yes, 'Wilbur' is here--or was a
+few moments ago. Are you still with us, 'Wilbur'?"
+
+A rapping on the cone made vigorous answer, and a few seconds later the
+cone took flight and "Wilbur's" voice resumed general conversation with
+us. It was noticeable to me all through this sitting, as at others, that
+neither "Wilbur" nor "Mitchell" nor "Maud" ever addressed the psychic;
+_they spoke of her, but never to her_.
+
+I requested further tests. "'Wilbur,' I want the privilege of going to
+the psychic's side. I don't like this long-distance experiment. I want
+to get closer to these facts--if they are facts."
+
+"_You shall have the privilege_," was the reassuring answer.
+
+"Shall I go now?"
+
+There was no reply through the horn, but a tapping on the table gave a
+doubtful "_Yes_," and I crept slowly forward and took a seat at Mrs.
+Smiley's right hand. "I am very close to the ultimate mystery, Mrs.
+Smiley," I said, as I placed my hand upon her wrist. "Proceed, 'Wilbur.'
+Let me hear your voice now."
+
+With tense expectation, I put my ear close to the psychic's lips and
+listened breathlessly. The horn soared into the air and was drummed
+there, as if to show that it was out of the reach of the psychic, but no
+voice came from it! This was a disappointment to me, as well as to
+Fowler, and I banteringly said: "You know this failure is suspicious,
+Wilbur.' It seems to indicate that Mrs. Smiley is only a wonderful
+ventriloquist, after all. Can't you prove that she is independent of
+your voice? Can't you do something decisive at this moment?"
+
+No reply came to this; but while my hand was firmly pressed upon her
+wrist (both sleeves being nailed to the chair), the loose leaves of the
+paper in the centre of the table were whisked away to the left. I could
+follow their flight, and we all heard their deposition on a couch in a
+corner of the room.
+
+"Fowler," I said, "are you controlling your wife's hands?"
+
+"Yes; we had nothing to do with that noise."
+
+This was another tense moment, for the movement of those papers was very
+ghostly indeed. We had demonstrated clearly that their movement was
+supernormal.
+
+"May I come forward?" asked Fowler.
+
+Tap--"_No_," was the decided answer.
+
+I then asked: "'Wilbur,' do you want me to change with Fowler and
+control Mrs. Fowler's hands?"
+
+An emphatic "_Yes_" was rapped in reply.
+
+"They seem as anxious for a conclusive test as we are," remarked Fowler.
+"Did you mean you didn't want Mrs. Fowler unaccounted for?"
+
+A perfect fusillade of raps followed: "_Yes, yes, yes._"
+
+Fowler then came forward to Mrs. Smiley's left, while I returned to the
+table. Taking both of Mrs. Fowler's hands in mine, and setting the toes
+of my shoes upon hers, I awaited developments. At this moment, while
+Fowler was pressing the psychic's imprisoned wrists, the cone banged
+about most furiously, describing wide circles entirely out of Mrs.
+Smiley's reach. This action was another perfectly convincing test of the
+psychic's supernormal powers. As the same movement had taken place with
+_each_ of us in control of the psychic, each was absolved from any
+complicity in the matter; but I did not forget my further test. "Mrs.
+Smiley," I said, "I want Mr. Fowler to return to his seat, and I want to
+place my hand over your lips--or to muffle you in some way. _I must_
+prove that you have nothing to do with the production of those voices.
+Will you permit this test?"
+
+"Certainly," she answered, with patient sweetness. "You may gag me in
+any way you please. I am perfectly sure you can secure the proof you
+want." Upon this hint I acted. Taking a large kerchief from my pocket, I
+tied it tightly around her mouth, knotting it at the back, and then, in
+growing excitement, challenged the ghostly voice: "Now, 'Wilbur,' let's
+hear from you."
+
+A moment later the voice came from the cone, but apparently very much
+muffled and blurred. "You are not articulating well," I rather
+sarcastically observed.
+
+Instantly the voice came out clearly, more sharply than ever before.
+"_I was fooling you!_" jeered "Wilbur."
+
+We all applauded. "There, that's better," I said. "Your voice improved
+wonderfully."
+
+"Wilbur" chuckled with glee. "_I've taken a lozenge_," he whimsically
+retorted, expressing a very human delight in our mystification.
+
+Fowler then said: "Now let's consider this a moment, Garland. Suppose
+Mrs. Smiley has been able to loosen the gag. How does she handle the
+cone? We will suppose she is a marvellous ventriloquist. How does she
+write on the pads on the table, and how does she whisk them away? You
+see, it isn't the matter of one thing, but of all that has happened."
+
+"Yes, I admit that everything points to an exercise of supernormal
+force. It really looks, so far as anything in the dark can look, like
+spirits, but I prefer to think Mrs. Smiley has the power to project her
+will in some way."
+
+"I don't see how we are going to escape the spirit hypothesis," replied
+Fowler.
+
+"'Mitchell,'" I said, addressing the phantom, "I want to examine that
+gag, and I want to hold both hands of the psychic. Will you permit
+that?"
+
+There was no reply to this, and Fowler offered an explanation: "We had
+that test at a previous sitting."
+
+I explained to the invisible ones: "'Wilbur,' it is absolutely
+essential that you should prove to me that your voice is not dependent
+upon the vocal chords of the psychic. You see the importance of this, do
+you not, Mrs. Smiley?"
+
+"Indeed, I do," she earnestly answered, her voice sounding very faint
+and muffled through the kerchief. "I am anxious for the test."
+
+"Very well, then. Now I want you to sing a song, and while you are
+singing I am going to insist on 'Wilbur's' speaking. Will you do that,
+'Wilbur'?" The cone was drummed upon as if in vigorous promise of
+success.
+
+Mrs. Smiley sang, or rather hummed; but there was no response on the
+part of the ghostly voices, and a moment later she called, faintly: "The
+kerchief is slipping down, Mr. Garland."
+
+I rose and went to her side. As I untied the kerchief, she said,
+plaintively: "I am sorry we didn't get the voices. I am sure we can if
+we try again. Please try again." And a vigorous drumming on the cone
+seemed to second her plea.
+
+However, it was getting very late, and I said: "I think we will postpone
+further experiment to-night. What are your sensations now?"
+
+"I am almost paralyzed, and still deaf, too, but that often happens. My
+feet are as if they did not exist."
+
+"But your mind is perfectly normal?"
+
+"Yes, it seems to be."
+
+Soon after this I returned to my seat; the cone was lifted high into the
+air silently, broken apart, and then, with the small end jangling inside
+the larger one, was carried over the table and back to the floor. It
+fell with a bang that seemed final and decisive. "That is 'good-bye,'"
+said Mrs. Smiley.
+
+Upon lighting the gas we found our victim as before, sitting absolutely
+as we had left her. The table edge was twenty-four inches from her
+finger-tips. The place where the cone lay, which we had marked with
+chalk when it was first drummed upon, was thirty-six inches from one
+hand and forty inches from the other. But the most inexplicable of
+all--the tangible, permanent record--was the seven sheets of paper which
+were lying upon a couch six feet from Mrs. Smiley's left hand. _They
+were all written upon legibly, and pinned together with a black pin,
+which had been thrust through the writing._ "Wilbur" had scrawled his
+name, Mrs. Fowler's father's name was signed to a message, and there
+were other signatures unknown to any of us. The pencil was on the
+carpet, forty inches from Mrs. Smiley's hand. The leaves of paper, at
+the moment when they were grasped and lifted, were more than forty
+inches from her finger-tips. How this was done I do not know: but of
+this I am absolutely sure: the psychic did not remove them from the
+table by means of her ordinary, material limbs. Barring the failure to
+disassociate her voice from that of "Wilbur," she had met every demand
+upon her. Her powers were truly magical. I cannot say I _saw_ the cone
+move, but I have proven that the psychic did not surreptitiously touch
+it or fraudulently write upon the papers during this sitting. I cannot
+swear that Fowler was controlling his wife's hands while the cone was
+floating (and while I held the psychic's imprisoned hands), but I
+_believe_ he was. In short, barring the one sense of sight--an
+all-important one, I admit--these happenings were convincing and fitted
+in with phenomena which I had secured with other psychics.
+
+Nevertheless, I was not satisfied. I wanted Brierly, or some other fifth
+person, in the room, in order that _both_ of the psychic's hands could
+be controlled at the same time that Mrs. Fowler's were secured. So long
+as a single hand was left free, the doubter would be warranted in
+questioning our results.
+
+The next two or three sittings were partial failures--so much so that I
+made no record of them. Possibly, conditions were not strict enough. At
+any rate, the final and most conclusive sitting came three days later.
+It was held in Fowler's house. We followed the conditions of the
+previous sitting very closely--the same room, the same table, the same
+fastenings as before.
+
+There was present a friend of Fowler's, a young man who was possessed
+of some psychic power. We will call him Frank. Fowler and I took entire
+charge of the psychic, and her bonds were even more carefully nailed
+than before. We began the seance, as before, by putting her to sleep.
+
+Not long after "Maudie" spoke, saying: "_Mr. Mitchell wishes the thread
+fastened to mama's hands in the way Mr. Garland desires._"
+
+I fastened a strong thread to each wrist as I had done several times
+before, passing the ends under the chair-arm in such wise that any
+movement of the psychic would be plainly and instantly detected. We then
+returned to our seats, and, though conditions seemed favorable, no
+marked phenomena took place; the cone was lifted, it is true, but we
+were used to this now, and accepted it as quite commonplace.
+
+At six o'clock the voice of "Maudie" came: "_Please go down to supper.
+Mr. Mitchell says he will be able to give you what you ask for after you
+return._"
+
+I did not ask to what he referred, but I had in mind the test to prove
+the voices independent of the psychic's vocal organs, and at the dinner
+we discussed methods by which this could be made clear.
+
+"If they will let me put my hand over her mouth," I said to Fowler, "I
+will be satisfied."
+
+"Do you mean that you will believe in spirits?" he smilingly challenged
+me.
+
+"Oh, I won't go so far as to promise that, but I confess it would help
+to prove their existence."
+
+"We may be about to get something more conclusive than that."
+
+"Let us fix our minds on two things: first, to get the writing, or at
+least movement, with every hand controlled; and, second, the voices,
+while one of us covers Mrs. Smiley's mouth with a hand."
+
+"Very well," acquiesced Fowler. "But the unexpected is what usually
+happens in these performances."
+
+We were gone but twenty minutes, so eager were we for our demonstration.
+We found everything quite as when we left: the psychic was asleep, the
+fastenings undisturbed. Fowler and I regained our threads and resumed
+our places at the sides of the table, while Frank and Mrs. Fowler sat
+close together at the end opposite Mrs. Smiley. I ask the reader to
+recall that the psychic's ankles were encircled with tape which was
+nailed to the floor behind her chair. Two bands of tape, after being
+sewn to her cuffs, had been tacked solidly to the chair, three strong
+tacks were driven down through the hem of her dress, and, finally,
+Fowler and I were holding the threads which, after encircling the
+psychic's wrists, passed under the chair-arm.
+
+And yet, in spite of all these bonds and precautions, the cone was
+almost immediately lifted, and "Mitchell" spoke through it. In a deep,
+clear, well-delivered, and decidedly masculine whisper, and with
+stately periods, he promised the complete co-operation of the spirit
+world in the great work to which I was devoting myself. He directed his
+exhortation to me, as usual; and for the benefit of those who think the
+spirits are always trivial or foolish, I wish to say that "Mitchell's"
+remarks were dignified and very suggestive. He produced in my mind the
+distinct impression of a serious man of seventy, ornate of rhetoric, but
+never vague or wandering in his thought, and he never went outside the
+circle of Mrs. Smiley's mind.
+
+For fully a quarter of an hour he discussed with me the value of the
+investigation which we were pursuing. "_I and my band_," he assured me,
+"_are working as hard from our side as you are from yours, equally
+intent upon opening up channels of communication between the two
+worlds_." He solemnly urged me to proceed in this "_grand work_," and at
+last said, "_Good-bye for the present_," and fell silent.
+
+The cone was then deposited on the table, and "Maud" said: "_If Mr.
+Garland and Mr. Fowler will go quietly up to mama's side, holding all
+the time tightly to the threads, 'Mr. Mitchell' will do what Mr. Garland
+so much desires. Please be very careful not to touch mama until I tell
+you. Keep as far apart as you can as you go up to her. When you reach my
+mama's side, you may put one hand on her head and one on her wrist.
+'Mr. Mitchell' says please have Frank take Mrs. Fowler's hands, so that
+every hand in the circle is accounted for._"
+
+I was now very eager and very alert. I felt that at last, after many,
+many requests and many trials, I was about to secure a clear, complete,
+and satisfying demonstration. Surely no trickster would permit such
+rigorous control as that toward which we were now invited. I was sorry
+that Miller was not present to share with me the satisfaction of the
+moment. My admiration went out toward this heroic little woman, who was
+enduring so much pain and suspicion for the sake of science. "She
+believes in herself," I thought. "If she succeeds, all honor to her."
+
+Slowly we crept to her side, being careful to touch nothing until
+directed by the voice of "Maud." At last the childish voice said: "_Mr.
+Garland may put his right hand on top of mama's head and his left hand
+on her wrist. Mr. Fowler may place his left hand above Mr. Garland's and
+his right hand on mama's wrist. 'Mr. Mitchell' says he will then see if
+the voices will not come._"
+
+I then said aloud: "My right hand is on the psychic's head, my left is
+on her wrist."
+
+Fowler repeated: "My left hand is above Garland's right, which is on the
+psychic's head, and my own right hand is on the right wrist of the
+psychic. Now, 'Wilbur,' go ahead."
+
+Our challenge was almost instantly caught up. While thus
+double-safeguarding the psychic, the cone, which was resting on the
+table a full yard away, rose with a sharp, metallic, scraping sound, and
+remained in the air for fully half a minute, during which I called out,
+sharply: "We are absolutely controlling the psychic; her hands are
+motionless; Mrs. Fowler, be sure you are holding both of Frank's hands."
+
+"I have both his hands in mine," she answered.
+
+As the cone was gently returned to the carpet Fowler was moved to say:
+"Garland, that was a supreme test of the psychic. She was absolutely not
+concerned in any known way with that movement. Save for a curious
+throbbing, wave-like motion in her scalp, she did not move. If she
+lifted the horn, it was by the exercise of a force unrecognized by
+science."
+
+To this I was forced to agree. I here definitely declare that the
+psychic was not concerned with the flight of the cone in any way known
+to biology. If she produced the voices, they too must have been examples
+of supernormal ventriloquism, for they came through the megaphone. Of
+that I am as certain as one can be of an auditory impression.
+
+A few moments later we returned to our seats, while "Wilbur" and
+"Mitchell" and several other voices spoke to us. Fowler, now that I had
+admitted telekinesis, wanted me to go further. "Is the psychic speaking
+to us," he asked, "or are these voices independent of her?"
+
+"An investigator is never satisfied," I answered. "I must have the
+voices _through_ the cone while I am covering the psychic's mouth."
+
+To this "Mitchell" replied: "_We are doing all we can, and we will yet
+be able to meet every demand you make upon us._"
+
+"I am anxious for conviction," I said. "I want to secure the voice of
+the psychic and your voice at the same time, 'Mr. Mitchell.' Can you do
+that for me?"
+
+He seemed to hesitate, and at last said: "_We will try._" I perceived in
+his tone a certain doubt and indecision. Again we were permitted to hold
+the psychic's wrists, and, as before, the cone was lifted and drummed
+upon as if to show its position high in the air; but no voices came.
+Hidden forces seemed to be struggling for escape beneath our hands; the
+woman's brain seemed a powerful dynamo. I could not rid myself of a
+sense that there was an actual externalization of the psychic's nerve
+force, and with this conviction I could well understand why the command
+had so often been given not to touch her unbidden. Suppose the poor
+naked "astral body" were abroad and a strong light were suddenly turned
+upon it!
+
+Now came on a singularly engrossing game of "hide-and-seek." Convinced
+that Mrs. Smiley was innocent of any trick in the movement of the horn,
+I tried every expedient to satisfy myself that "Wilbur's" voice was
+independent of her own; but I did not succeed. Mrs. Smiley spoke
+_almost_ at the same moment but never precisely synchronous with
+Wilbur's whisper. She answered all my questions perfectly unconcerned
+and unexcited, lending herself to my experiments. All in vain. At no
+time did I succeed in getting "Wilbur's" voice at _precisely_ the same
+moment with her own, though the whisper, following swiftly on her
+speech, interjected remarks as if echoing her questions. There was
+always an approximate interval between her voice and the spirit whisper.
+
+This was to me very significant, and strengthened me in my belief that
+the entire process, while inexplicable, was, after all, not the work of
+spirits.
+
+When the gas was lighted we found the cone had been placed on the table,
+a distance of forty inches from the utmost reach of the psychic's hands.
+Her feet were twenty-three inches from the nearest leg of the table. We
+carefully examined the tapes which were sewed to her sleeves. They were
+tied, and the doubled ends tacked precisely as described so many times,
+and to remove the tacks we were forced to use a hammer. It is useless to
+talk of a possible release of her arms during the phenomena of the cone.
+
+As I was about to leave the house that night, Mrs. Smiley said: "I do
+not feel able to sit any more for the present, Mr. Garland. I feel
+myself growing weaker, and 'Mitchell' tells me I would better stop for
+the present. I feel that my power belongs to the world, and I want to do
+all I can to convince you of the truth of spiritualism, but I feel the
+strain very greatly."
+
+"I do not wonder at that," I responded, "and I cannot blame you for
+demanding a rest. No one could have endured more uncomplainingly. You
+have been a model subject, and we are deeply in your debt. I am sorry
+Miller was not with us to-night; he would have been convinced of your
+supernormal power at least. Have no fear of my report; for while I am
+not convinced of the spirit hypothesis, I have found you honest and
+patient and very brave. I thank you very sincerely for what you have
+done."
+
+And in this spirit we parted.[1]
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[1] Since these words were written I have _seen_ the cone move. In the
+presence of another medium, with no one in the room but myself, I held
+the psychic's hands what time the horn circled over my head. It shone
+like a golden rod as it moved. I could see the gleam of light along its
+entire side. At last it came softly down and laid itself across my
+shoulder. In order to satisfy myself of its presence, I bent and touched
+it with my forehead. The touch seemed to disturb conditions, to break
+the current, for it dropped instantly to the floor. Twice it answered to
+my request in this manner until my doubts were satisfied. It seemed to
+move with the swiftness of a dragonfly as silent and horizontal it hung
+in the air about my head.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+Cameron's Amateur Psychic Club, which had so nearly disintegrated by
+reason of the long series of barren sittings, was drawn together again
+by the news of my startling success at Fowler's house. Cameron at once
+decided that the members should hear my report, and I was notified to be
+ready to relate my experiences in full. We met, as before, at Cameron's
+table, and even before the soup-plates were removed the interrogation
+began, and by the time the company was in full possession of the facts
+the coffee and cigars had appeared.
+
+"Why didn't these wonders take place in our presence?" asked Mrs. Quigg,
+who had returned to something like her original truculence of doubt.
+"Why should you and Brierly be so favored?"
+
+"In this business everything comes to him who waits," I replied, a tinge
+of malice in my voice. "You obtained a few results, Miller a few more;
+but Fowler and I, for our pains, reaped the rich reward. By remaining
+long on the watch-tower we saw the armies pass. Harmony and patience
+are essentials in the production of these marvels. With people yawning
+or shuffling about uneasily, results are necessarily unimportant."
+
+Miller continued firm in his agnosticism. "Although puzzling, I cannot
+grant so much as even one of the phenomena. Belief in the smallest of
+those manifestations at my house would be uprooting to all established
+theories of matter--not to mention time and space."
+
+"Were not the notions of Galileo and Darwin also subverting?" asked
+Fowler. "Is there anything sacred in error? If we are wrong in our
+theories about the universe, let's correct them. You do not stand out
+against wireless telegraphy or the Roentgen ray?"
+
+Miller fired at this. "I'm not going to take instruction from a tipping
+table or a flying hair-brush!" he fiercely retorted.
+
+"I'll take illumination from any source whatsoever," responded Fowler.
+
+Here I interposed: "The only question that concerns me at this stage is:
+Does the table tip and the brush really fly? No physical fact is
+trivial, for it stands related to mountains and the clouds."
+
+Fowler's eyes gleamed with contempt. "That's the way of you so-called
+scientists: you narrow the mighty fund of occult phenomena down to a
+floating feather. As a matter of fact, there is a sea of evidence
+accumulated by the investigations of men quite as scientific as Miller,
+testimony that is neither petty nor ignoble. It is because you and your
+associates are so trifling in methods that the tables and the chair play
+leading parts in your drama."
+
+"Good for you!" cheered Brierly. "You're quite right. When these
+materialistic investigators get done with trying to prove that
+independent slate-writing exists, they'll begin to give some attention
+to the fundamental truths of the messages which the slates set forth.
+Going after small things, they get small things. If Miller and his like
+went forth seeking the essentials of the faith, they would find them
+instead of being amazed with foolish tricks of hand."
+
+"Essentials such as what?" interrupted Harris, with snappy suddenness.
+
+"Such as--as--direct spirit communication, a knowledge of the astral,
+the reincarnation of souls, and--and--faith in the upward progression of
+the self," stammered Brierly, much disturbed.
+
+Here again I interposed a quieting word: "I confess that it begins to
+look as though the theosophist's theory of the astral (at which some of
+us have smiled) were in a fair way to be scientifically demonstrated.
+Since our last meeting I have been studying the bound volumes of _The
+Annals of Psychic Science_, and I have found them full of comfort. They
+sustain Mrs. Smiley at every point. To my mind, the most important event
+in the history of spiritism is the entrance of Eusapia Paladino into the
+clinical laboratory of Cesare Lombroso. Nothing since Crookes's
+experiments has had such value for the scientist."
+
+"We have heard of Lombroso, but who is Paladino?" asked Mrs. Quigg. "Is
+she a psychic?"
+
+"She is the most renowned now living. Though only an illiterate peasant
+woman, she has been able for more than twenty years to baffle every
+scientist who has studied her. Her organism remains the most potent
+mystery on this earth."
+
+"Tell us about her! Who is she? Where does she live?"
+
+"She was born at Minerva-murge, a mountain village near Bari, in Italy.
+According to Lombroso's daughter, who has written a sketch of her, she
+is about fifty-three years of age. Her parents were peasants. She is
+quite uneducated, but is intelligent and rather good-looking. Her hands
+are pretty and her feet small--facts which are of value when studying
+her manifestations, as you will see later on. Her mother died while
+Eusapia was a babe, and her father 'passed over' when she was twelve,
+leaving her at large in the world 'like a wild animal,' as she herself
+says. A native family of her village took her to Naples, and her own
+story is that she was adopted soon after by some foreigners 'who wished
+to make me an educated and learned girl. They wanted me to take a bath
+every day and comb my hair every day,' she explains, with some humor.
+
+"She didn't like the life nor the people, and she soon ran away back to
+her friends, the Apulians, and it was while she was in their house and
+at the precise moment when they were planning to put her in a convent
+that her occult powers were discovered. Some friends came in to spend
+the evening, and, in default of anything better to do, formed a circle
+to make a table tip. No sooner were they all seated, as she herself
+relates, than 'the table began to rise, the chairs to dance, the
+curtains to swell, and the glasses and bottles to walk about, till
+everybody was scared.' After testing every other person present, the
+host came to the conclusion that the medium was his little ward,
+Eusapia. This put an end to her going into a convent. She was proclaimed
+a medium, much to her disgust, and made to sit whole evenings at the
+table. 'I only did it,' she says, 'because it was a way of recompensing
+my hosts, whose desire to keep me with them prevented their placing me
+in a convent. Finally I took up laundress work, thinking I might render
+myself independent and live as I liked without troubling about
+spiritualistic seances.'"
+
+"It is remarkable how many of these women psychics begin their career
+when they are ten or twelve years old," said Miller. "Mrs. Smiley was
+about that age, wasn't she?"
+
+"Yes, and so was Mrs. Hartley, another psychic of my acquaintance. Mrs.
+Smiley complained of the tedium of sitting. She tells me that her
+father kept her at it steadily, just as Eusapia was not permitted to
+escape her fate. One day an Englishwoman, wife of a certain Mr. Damiani,
+came to a seance, and was so impressed by what took place that she
+interested her husband in Eusapia's performances. Damiani then took up
+the young medium's development along the good old well-worn lines of
+American spiritualism, and she acquired all the tricks and all the
+'patter.' Among other notions, she picked up the idea of an English
+'control' known as 'John King,' who declared himself a brother of 'Kate
+King,' of Crookes fame, and from that day Eusapia has been a
+professional 'mejum.'"
+
+"What does she do?" asked Cameron. "What is her 'phase,' as you call
+it?"
+
+"It must be confessed that most of her phases are of the poltergeist
+variety, but they are astounding. She produces the movement of
+mandolins, chairs, sofas, and small tables without contact (at least,
+such is the consensus of opinion of nearly a score of the best-known
+scientists of France and Italy), and also materializes hands and arms.
+There is vastly more than the poltergeist in her, that is evident; for
+she has conquered every critic with her miracles. Take, for instance,
+Lombroso's conversion, a fairly typical case. He was not only sceptical
+of spirit phenomena, but up to 1888 was openly contemptuous of those
+who believed in them. However, in an article called 'The Influence of
+Civilization upon Genius,' published in 1888, he made this admission:
+'_Twenty or thirty years are enough to make the whole world admire a
+discovery which was treated as madness at the moment when it was
+made.... Who knows whether my friends and I who laugh at spiritualism
+are not in error, just like hypnotized persons, or like lunatics; being
+in the dark as regards the truth, we laugh at those who are not in the
+same condition._'"
+
+"True enough," said Fowler. "The man who has made no study of these
+phenomena is like one color-blind: he has never seen a landscape."
+
+"It was this candid statement by Lombroso that moved Professor Chiaia, a
+friend of Eusapia's, to write the great alienist a letter which was in
+effect a challenge. After recounting a score or two of the wonderful
+doings of Paladino, whom he had studied carefully, he ended in this
+amusing fashion: 'Now you see my challenge. If you have not written the
+paragraph cited above simply for the fun of writing it, if you have the
+true love for science, if you are without prejudices--you, the first
+alienist of Italy--please take the field. When you can afford a week's
+vacation, indicate a place where we can meet. Four gentlemen will be our
+seconds: you will choose two, and I will bring the other two.... If the
+experiment does not succeed, you will consider me but as a man suffering
+from hallucination, who longs to be cured of his extravagances.... If
+success crowns our efforts, your loyalty ... will attest the reality of
+these mysterious phenomena and promise to investigate their causes.'"
+
+"I hope Lombroso was man enough to accept the challenge," said Cameron.
+"Nothing could be fairer than the spook-man's offer."
+
+"He did not at once take up the gage. It was not, in fact, till
+February, 1891, that he was able to go to Naples to meet Eusapia, who
+had begun to interest some of his trusted scientific friends. He found
+the great psychic quite normal in appearance and rather attractive in
+manner. She was of medium size, with a broad and rather serious face lit
+with brilliant dark eyes. The most notable thing about her physical self
+was a depression in her skull caused by a fall in her infancy. This scar
+figures largely in nearly all the reports of her."
+
+"Why?" asked Harris.
+
+"Because they all agree that a singular sort of current of force, like a
+cool breeze, seems to come and go through this spot."
+
+Harris groaned, and Howard said: "Oh, rubbish!"
+
+"Rubbish or not, they all speak of this scar and its singular effects.
+At the time when Lombroso saw her first, Eusapia was just beginning to
+be known to scientists, but no one of special note had up to this time
+(1891) reported upon her. She was known as the wife of a small
+shop-keeper in Naples, and seemed a decent, matronly person, quite
+untouched by mysticism. Although not eager to sit for Lombroso and his
+party of scientists, she finally consented. Among those who took part in
+these celebrated experiments were Professor Tamburini, an eminent
+scientist; Dr. Bianchi, the superintendent of the Insane Asylum of
+Sales; and Dr. Penta, a young nephew of Lombroso, a resident of Naples.
+Lombroso had charge of the sittings, which were held in a room of his
+own choice and with the medium entirely under his control. He was
+astonished at the prompt response obtained. At the first sitting, while
+he and Professor Tamburini held the psychic's hands, a bell was carried
+tinkling through the air and a small table moved as if it were alive.
+Many other mysterious movements took place. Lombroso was very much
+disturbed by these inexplicable phenomena, and could not rest till he
+sat again. At the second seance spectral hands developed, profoundly
+mystifying every sitter, and Lombroso went away, promising to carry
+forward a study of spiritism. In a letter written the following June he
+manfully said: '_I am filled with confusion, and regret that I combated
+with so much persistence the possibilities of the facts called
+spiritualistic. I say facts, for I am opposed to the theory._'"
+
+"Did Lombroso say that?" asked Harris.
+
+"He wrote it, which is still more to the point, and it was his
+acceptance of the main _facts_ of Paladino's mediumship that led other
+groups of scientists to take up her case. Professor Schiaparelli,
+Director of the Observatory at Milan; Gerosa, Professor of Physics;
+Ermacora, Doctor of Natural Philosophy; Aksakof, Councilor of State to
+the Emperor of Russia; and Charles du Prel, Doctor of Philosophy in
+Munich, were in the next group, which met at Milan with intent to settle
+the claims of this bold charlatan.
+
+"The sittings took place in the apartment of Monsieur Finzi at Milan,
+and were more rigid and searching than any Paladino had ever passed
+through, but she was again triumphant. She bewildered them all. Lombroso
+himself was present during some of the sittings. The results of the
+series of experiments were very notable and very far-reaching. For the
+first time, so far as I know, a table was photographed while floating in
+the air--"
+
+"No!" shouted Howard.
+
+"Yes; and certain other telekinetic happenings were proved, to the
+stupefaction of most of those in the group. One special experiment, the
+success of which confounded the shrewdest, was the attempt to secure on
+a smoke-blackened paper the print of one of the spectral hands."
+
+"Did it succeed?"
+
+"Yes. The impression was made while Paladino's hands were imprisoned
+beyond all question, and, what was most singular of all, the hand _that
+made the print smudged the wrists of one of the experimenters, and yet
+not a particle of black appeared on the fingers of the psychic_."
+
+"That ought to have convinced them of her honesty," remarked Fowler,
+with a note of amusement in his voice, "but it didn't; these scientific
+folk are so difficult."
+
+"No," I replied, "it didn't convince them, but it jarred them not a
+little. In their report they admitted this much. They said, 'We do not
+believe we have the right to explain these things by the aid of
+insulting assumptions.' (By this they meant to acquit the psychic of
+fraud.) 'We think, on the contrary, that _these experiments have to do
+with phenomena of an unknown nature_, and we confess that we do not know
+what the conditions are that are required to produce them.'"
+
+"That seems to me like a very mild statement, but I suppose they
+considered it epoch-making," remarked Fowler.
+
+"From this time forward learned men in Russia, France, and Italy
+successively sought Paladino out and tried to expose her to the world.
+Professor Wagner, of the Department of Zoology at the University of St.
+Petersburg, made a study of her in 1893, and found her powers real. A
+year later M. Siemeradski, correspondent of the Institute, experimented
+with her in Rome, obtaining, among other miracles, the plucking of the
+strings of a closed piano under strictly test conditions."
+
+"You had that experience, did you not?" asked Mrs. Cameron.
+
+"Yes, I've had that."
+
+"How do you account for a thing of that sort?"
+
+"I don't account for it--or if I did give my theory, you would laugh at
+me. Wait till I tell you what these Italians are doing. Among the most
+eminent and persuasive of all Eusapia's investigators was Professor
+Charles Richet, the French physiologist and author. Eusapia came to
+revere and trust him, and gave him many sittings. He, too, was bowled
+over. He tells the story of his conversion very charmingly. 'In my
+servile respect for classic tradition,' he writes, 'I laughed at Crookes
+and his experiments; but it must be remembered in my excuse that as a
+professional physiologist I moved habitually along a road quite other
+than mystical.' His attention, he goes on to say, was first drawn to
+spiritist phenomena by the word of a friend who had discovered a power
+that caused a table to move intelligently. He was trying to explain this
+and one or two other little things like telepathy and prophetic vision
+by the word 'somnambulism,' when his friend Aksakof, a great psychical
+expert, reproached him for not interesting himself more keenly in
+experiments with mediums. 'Well,' said Richet, 'if I were sure that a
+single true medium existed, I would willingly go to the ends of the
+world to meet him.'"
+
+"That's the spirit!" exclaimed Fowler. "That is the way the scientist
+should feel. What then? Aksakof told him all he needed to do was to go
+round the corner, didn't he?"
+
+"Not exactly. Two years later Aksakof wrote to him: 'You needn't come to
+the end of the world; Milan will do.' So Richet went to Milan, and took
+part in those very celebrated seances with Eusapia. 'When I left Milan,'
+Richet says, 'I was convinced that all was true; but no sooner was I
+back in my accustomed channels of work than my doubts returned. I
+persuaded myself that all had been fraud or illusion.'"
+
+Here Harris interrupted: "Miller can testify to this inability to retain
+a conviction. He, too, has slumped into doubt. How about it, Miller?"
+
+"I never professed to believe," declared Miller.
+
+"You were pretty well convinced that night in your study, weren't you?"
+I asked.
+
+"I was puzzled," he replied, guardedly.
+
+There was a general smile of amusement at his manifest evasion, and I
+resumed: "Richet went to Rome, and together with Schrenk-Noetzing, the
+philosophic expert, and Siemeradski, the correspondent of the French
+Institute, made other and still more convincing experiments, and yet
+doubt persisted! 'I was not yet satisfied,' he says, further. '_I
+invited Eusapia to my house for three months. Alone with her and
+Ochorowicz, a man of penetrating perspicuity, I renewed my experiments
+in the best possible conditions of solitude and quiet reflection. We
+thus acquired a positive proof of the reality of the facts announced at
+Milan._'"
+
+"By George, that's going it strong!" said young Howard. "You've got to
+believe that a man like Richet has seen something after three months'
+experiment in his own house."
+
+Miller faced them all stubbornly: "And yet even Richet may have been
+deceived."
+
+"Are _you_ the only one competent to study these facts?" asked Brierly,
+hotly. "The egotism of you professional physicists is a kind of
+insanity. The moment a man like Richet or Lombroso admits a knowledge of
+one of these occult facts, you who have no experience in the same
+phenomena jump on him like so many wolves. Such bigotry is unworthy a
+scientist."
+
+"Would you have us accept the word of any one man when that word
+contradicts the experience of all mankind?" asked Miller.
+
+"Listen to what Richet says in confession of _his_ perplexity," I called
+out, soothingly. "He writes: 'It took me twenty years to arrive at my
+present conviction--nay! to make one last confession. _I am not yet
+absolutely and irremediably convinced._ In spite of the astounding
+phenomena which I have witnessed during my sixty experiments with
+Eusapia, I have still a trace of doubt. _Certainty does not follow on
+demonstration; it follows on habit._' So don't blame Miller or myself
+for inability to believe in these theories, for our minds are the kind
+that accept the mystical with sore struggle."
+
+"Go on with Eusapia's career," said Harris. "I am interested in her. I
+want the story of the investigations."
+
+"Her story broadens," I resumed. "Her fame spread throughout Europe, and
+squad after squad of militant scientists grappled with her, each one
+perfectly sure that he was the one to unmask her to the world. She was
+called before kings and emperors, and everywhere she triumphed--save in
+Cambridge, where she made a partial failure; but she redeemed herself
+later with both Lodge and Myers, so that it remains true to say that she
+has gone surely from one success to another and greater triumph."
+
+"But there have been other such careers--Slade's and Home's, for
+instance--which ended in disaster."
+
+"True, but nothing like her courage has ever been known. The crowning
+wonder of her career came when she consented to enter the special
+laboratories of the universities of Genoa and Naples. It is in the
+writings of Morselli, Professor of Psychology at Genoa, and in the
+reports of Bottazzi, head of the Department of Physics at Naples, that
+scepticism, such as my own, is met and conquered. I defy Miller or any
+man of open mind to read the detailed story of these marvellous
+experiments and deny the existence of the basic phenomena produced by
+Eusapia Paladino."
+
+"You speak with warmth," said Harris.
+
+"I do. I am at this moment fresh from a reading of the reports of
+Bottazzi's up-to-date experiments, and I am compelled to grant that he
+has not only sustained Crookes at every point, but has gone beyond him
+in his ingenuity of test and thoroughness of control. He adds the touch
+of certainty that we all needed to complete our own experience. He has
+given me courage to say what I believe Mrs. Smiley did for us."
+
+"Won't you tell us all about it?" pleaded Mrs. Cameron. "Please do."
+
+"It is too long and complicated. You must read it for yourself. It is
+too incredible to be told."
+
+"Never mind, Garland; we'll take it as part of your fiction. Go ahead."
+
+As I looked about me, I could detect in the faces of some of my friends
+an expression of apprehension. The coffee had grown cold. Our ice-cream
+had melted with neglect. Every eye was fixed upon me. It was plain that
+Harris and Miller considered me "on the high-road to spiritualism."
+Quite willing to gratify their wish to be startled, I proceeded:
+
+"You will find the latest word on all these matters in a small but
+valuable review, published simultaneously in London and in Paris,
+called _The Annals of Psychic Science_. It is edited by Cesar de Vesme
+in France, and by Laura I. Finch in England, and is a mine of reliable
+psychic science. Its directors are Dr. Dariex and Professor Charles
+Richet. Its 'committee' is made up of Sir William Crookes, Camille
+Flammarion, Professor Lombroso, Marcel Mangin, Dr. Joseph Maxwell,
+Professor Enrico Morselli, of Genoa; Dr. Julien Ochorowicz, head of the
+General Psychologic Institute of Paris; Professor Porro, the astronomer;
+Colonel Albert de Rochas, author of _The Externalization of Motivity_,
+and others of like character."
+
+"We don't want the review, we want your account," said Harris. "Don't
+spare us. Give us detail--lots of it."
+
+"Thank you; you shall have it hot-shot, but I'll have to generalize the
+story for you. The most decisive of all the tests have been made during
+the last eighteen months, and the final and most convincing of all
+within the year, under the direction of Lombroso, Morselli, and
+Bottazzi. It is safe to say that with these experiments (and the reports
+which accompany them) a new era has dawned in biology. The facts of
+mediumship are in process of being scientifically observed by a score of
+the best-qualified men in Europe, and at last we are about to study
+mediumship apart from any question of religious tenets."
+
+Fowler took issue with me here: "It is absurd to say that no one but
+these physicists has ever properly studied spiritualistic phenomena;
+spiritists themselves have put the screws on quite as effectively as
+ever Crookes or Richet has done. Some of the best investigators ever
+known have been spiritists."
+
+"Even if that were true, their testimony would lack the convincing power
+that flames from Morselli's book or Bottazzi's report. The essential
+weakness of the spiritist's testimony lies in the fact that for the most
+part he assumes that the facts of mediumship are somehow, and
+necessarily, in opposition to somebody's religion. He finds it sustained
+(or opposed) by the Bible, or he fancies it mixed with deviltry or the
+black art. He trembles for fear it will affect the scheme of redemption
+or assist some theosophical system. Whereas, a man like Bottazzi is
+engaged merely with the facts; he lets the inferences fall where they
+may. He is not concerned with whether Eusapia's manifestations oppose
+Christian theology or not; he wants the phenomena. He is alert to note
+their effect on biologic science, but he does not shrink from any report
+of them. So far as I am concerned, my lot is cast with these men who put
+the clamps on the fact and wait for larger knowledge before constructing
+a system of religion on the half-discovered."
+
+"I'm with you there," said Miller. "And if our university officials
+took the same view, we Americans would hold higher rank in the world's
+thought."
+
+"Bottazzi himself says, with reference to his experiments: 'In spite of
+all the hundreds of those who have observed Eusapia, it still remained
+true to say that hitherto she had been free to throw things about as she
+pleased.' But all this took a sharp turn when she came into Bottazzi's
+laboratory."
+
+"Just who is Bottazzi?" Harris asked.
+
+"He's the head of the Physiological Institute of the University of
+Naples; of his age and general character I am not precisely informed,
+but he writes delightfully of his experiments. Morselli, who preceded
+him in his study of Eusapia, is the Professor of Psychology in the
+University of Genoa. Foa and Herlitzka are of the same university.
+Within the last two years Eusapia has also been rigorously studied in
+Lombroso's clinical laboratory at Turin. All honor to her for breaking
+away from the traditions of mediumship!"
+
+Mrs. Quigg caught me up on this: "What do you mean by 'traditions of
+mediumship'?"
+
+"I mean that for the most part investigators have nearly always been
+kept at arm's-length by the fiction that the 'guide' should control
+everything, that the seance is a religious rite, that the medium must
+not be touched nor exposed to the light, and so on, till the scientist
+was reduced to the feeble rank of an on-looker in the dark, so that no
+real test was possible. These Italians did not grant any of these
+traditions. They were scientists, not devotees at a new shrine."
+
+"However, I am ready to grant that some of the good old rules were
+justified. As you have seen in my own experiments, I have proceeded
+cautiously, for if you suppose mediumship to be a psycho-dynamic
+adjustment of the organisms in the circle--a subtle physical
+relationship--there is all the more reason to be careful. I did not find
+it necessary to mistreat Mrs. Smiley in order to test her powers. But
+_Eusapia has set a new pace for mediums_. She has gone into the lion's
+den alone and unarmed--not once, but a hundred times. She entered
+Lombroso's study, a room previously unexplored by her, and there placed
+herself before a cabinet that she was not permitted to examine--a
+cabinet filled with machines for dividing the true from the false. In
+Morselli's presence she submitted to tests the like of which not even
+Crookes was permitted to apply, and all sacred rules and regulations,
+all ideas of religion or questions of morality, vanished when she
+entered the cold, clear air of Bottazzi's physiological laboratory."
+
+"This begins to sound like the grapple of a cuttlefish and a mermaid.
+Was the woman crushed?"
+
+"No; she more than sustained her great reputation. She conquered the
+remorseless scientist and performed the impossible."
+
+I had the strained attention of my audience now. Time was forgotten, and
+cries of "Tell us!" "Tell us all!" arose.
+
+"It is an exciting story, an incredible story--"
+
+"So much the better!" exclaimed Miss Brush.
+
+"I am full of enthusiasm for Bottazzi," I resumed. "His was the kind of
+investigation I should like to put through myself. It appeals to me as
+no spiritualistic performance has ever done. In a sense the facts he has
+demonstrated make all material tests inoperative. Matter is all we have
+to cling to when it comes to physical tests. A nail driven down through
+the sleeve of the medium's dress _seems_ to increase our control of her,
+and a metronome or a Morse telegraphic sounder does add value to our
+testimony, and yet Zoellner seems nearer right than Miller: matter seems
+only a condition of force, and subject to change at the will of the
+psychic.
+
+"Up to the beginning of last year Bottazzi confesses that he had read
+little or nothing on the subject, and, like our friend Miller here,
+considered it beneath the dignity of a scientist to be present at
+spiritualist circles. It is highly instructive to note that Paladino,
+the most renowned medium of her time, was in Naples at his very door;
+but that doesn't matter--a scientist is blind to what he does not wish
+to see. In this case Bottazzi's eyes were opened by a young friend,
+Professor Charles Foa, of Turin, who sent him an account of what he and
+Dr. Herlitzka had witnessed in Eusapia's presence."
+
+"They really seem to be taking the phenomena seriously over there," said
+Harris.
+
+"These particular sittings at Turin made a great sensation in Italy.
+They were under the direction of Drs. Herlitzka, Foa, and Aggazzotti,
+assistants to Professor Mosso, of the University of Turin. Dr. Pio Foa,
+Professor of Pathologic Anatomy, was also present during one seance. The
+conditions were all of the experimenters' own contriving. They were
+young men and had been companion workers in science for many years, and
+were accustomed to laboratory work. They all came to this experiment
+perfectly sure that no mediumistic phenomena could endure the light of
+science. At the end of their three sittings they manfully said: '_Now
+that we are persuaded of the authenticity of the phenomena_, we feel it
+our duty to state the fact publicly in our turn, and to proclaim that
+the few pioneers in this branch of biology (destined to become one of
+the most important) generally saw and observed correctly.... We hope
+that our words may serve to stimulate some of these colleagues to study
+personally and attentively this group of interesting and obscure
+phenomena.' You will note they relate their tests, not to theology, but
+to unexplored biology."
+
+"I like the ring of that declaration of theirs," said Harris. "Go on!
+Come to Hecuba!"
+
+"Bottazzi was enormously impressed by this account, which detailed
+coldly, critically, the most amazing experiments. With ingenuity that
+would have seemed satanic to Paladino (had she known of it), Foa and
+Aggazzotti had laid their pipes and provided for every trick. They were
+confident that nothing genuine could occur, but, as a matter of record,
+weird performances began at once. Bells were rung, tables shifted,
+columns of mercury lifted, mandolins played, and small objects were
+transported quite in the same fashion as the books were handled during
+our own sittings at your house, Miller--in fact, the doings were much
+the same in character. A small stand was broken to pieces under the very
+eyes of the learned doctors, _and hands hit and teeth bit those whom the
+medium did not like_. Each of the machines for registering movement,
+though utterly out of reach of Paladino, was operated, and some of these
+movements were systematically recorded.
+
+"It was this care, these scrupulous and cold-blooded tests, that so
+profoundly affected Bottazzi. These men were his friends. He knew their
+level-headed and remorseless accuracy. The fact that they considered the
+whole investigation biologic in character, and that the results of their
+experiments strengthened their theory of the physiological determinism
+of the phenomena, added to his eagerness to try for himself."
+
+"Wait a moment," said Cameron. "What do you mean by 'physiological
+determinism'?"
+
+"He means that the phenomena began and ended in the psychic's organism."
+
+"Do you intend to convey that they considered the medium dishonest?"
+
+"Oh no. Merely that they did not relate the phenomena to the
+intervention of the spirits of the dead."
+
+"Oh!" gasped Mrs. Cameron.
+
+"Merely!" exclaimed Harris. "'Merely' is good in that case."
+
+"'After reading these articles with avidity,' Bottazzi's report begins:
+'Professor Galeotti, my associate, and I looked at each other astounded,
+and the same thoughts in the same words came simultaneously to our lips:
+"We, too, must see, must touch with our hands--and at once--here in this
+laboratory where experiments of the phenomena of life are daily carried
+on, with the impartiality of men whose object is the discovery of
+scientific truth, here in this quiet place where sealed doors will be
+superfluous. Everything must be registered. Will the medium be able to
+impress a photographic plate? Will she be able to illuminate a screen
+treated with platino-cyanide of barium? Will she be able to discharge a
+gold-leaf electroscope without touching it?" And so we travelled on the
+wings of imagination, always having before us the plummet of the
+strictest scientific methods.'"
+
+"Now you're getting into my horizon," said Miller. "That is the way I
+wished to proceed in Mrs. Smiley's case. Did Bottazzi get these things
+done?"
+
+"You're as impatient as Miss Brush," I replied, highly amused at his
+eagerness. "First you must catch your medium. Bottazzi succeeded at last
+in getting Paladino's consent, but only through the good offices of
+Professor Richet, whom she deeply loves and reverences. Submissively she
+entered into this most crucial series of tests. She was no longer afraid
+of any scientist, but it was not precisely a joy to her. Bottazzi
+invited his friend Galeotti, Professor of General Pathology in the
+University of Naples; Dr. de Amicis, Professor of Dermatology; Dr. Oscar
+Scarpa, Professor of Electro-chemistry at the Polytechnic High School of
+Naples; Luigi Lombardi, Professor of Electro-technology at the same
+school; and Dr. Pansini, Professor Extraordinary of Medical Semiotics;
+and these gentlemen certainly made up a formidable platoon of
+investigation. The room in which the experiments took place was an
+isolated one, connected with the laboratory of experimental physiology,
+and belonged to that part of the university set aside for Bottazzi's
+exclusive use. Nothing could have been further from the ordinary stuffy
+back parlor of the 'materializing medium.' No women were present, and no
+outsider; as you see, conditions were as nearly perfect as the ingenuity
+of Bottazzi and his assistants could make them."
+
+The members present nestled into their chairs with looks of
+satisfaction, and Mrs. Cameron said: "Don't leave anything out. Tell it
+all."
+
+"It is hardly necessary to say that every precaution was taken.
+Photographs of the cabinet were made before the sittings and afterward,
+in order that all displacements might be recorded. Provision was made
+for registering the action of 'John King's' spectral hands. Some of
+these devices were concealed in an adjoining room and watched by other
+attendants. One little touch early in Bottazzi's account impressed me
+deeply. A little electric motor was used to furnish power for the lamps
+and other apparatus, and Bottazzi, in speaking of it, says: 'At the
+moment when the phenomena to be registered began to manifest, the
+circuit was closed, _and suddenly in the complete silence of the night
+the feeble murmur of the motor was heard_.' I thrill to the action of
+that faithful little material watch-dog. Ghosts and hobgoblins could not
+silence or affright it. After all, matter is both persistent and bold."
+
+"But not sovereign," defiantly called out Brierly; "the psychic
+dominates it."
+
+"We shall see. Bottazzi declares in italics that Paladino neither put
+her hand into the cabinet nor knew the contents of it. 'Rarely has she
+been surrounded by such an assembly of unprejudiced minds, by such
+strict and attentive intellects,' he declares. And when you consider the
+absence of women, the mystery of the machinery, together with the stern
+character of the sitters, the medium's courage becomes marvellous.
+Perfect honesty alone can sustain a medium in such an ordeal. I am ready
+to agree that a new era began for spiritism when Eusapia entered that
+room, April 17, 1907."
+
+"Poor Paladino!" sighed Mrs. Cameron. "I tremble for her."
+
+"Bottazzi grimly says: 'We began by restraining her inexhaustible
+mediumistic activity. We obliged her to do things she had never done
+before. We limited the field of her manifestations.... I was convinced
+that it was much easier for her to drag out of the cabinet a heavy table
+than to press an electric knob or displace the rod of a metronome.' And
+this theory he set himself to prove. It was beautiful to see the way he
+went about it."
+
+Howard was also impressed. "I see Eusapia's finish. She won't do a
+thing. The influences will criss-cross. Bottazzi's cabinet is her
+Waterloo."
+
+"Observe that Bottazzi was not perverse. He met the psychic half-way by
+forming the usual chain about the table, placing Eusapia before the
+curtains of the little cabinet, which was a recess in the wall.
+Bottazzi himself and his assistants had constructed this cabinet and
+placed everything in position before Eusapia entered the room at all,
+and throughout the sitting she was controlled by at least two of the
+investigators so that she could not so much as put a hand inside the
+curtains. She was very uneasy, as though finding the conditions hard.
+Nevertheless, _even at this first sitting, everything movable in the
+cabinet was thrown about_. The table was violently shaken and the
+metronome set going. Bottazzi ends his first report by saying: 'The
+seance yielded very small results, but this is always the case at first
+seances. Nevertheless, how many "_knowing_ people and _savans_" have
+formed a judgment on phenomena after seances such as this one?'"
+
+"That's a slant at you, Miller," remarked Harris.
+
+"Yes," I agreed, "it's a slant at all commissions and committees who
+think they can jump in and settle this spiritistic controversy in the
+course of half an hour. Bottazzi, like Lombroso and Richet, was aware
+that he had entered upon a long road. He knew that a tired or worried
+medium was helpless. He called the same circle together for the 20th,
+willing to try patiently for developments. All came but Lombardi, whose
+place was taken by M. Jona, an engineer. The second sitting was a
+wonder. Warned by his first experience, Bottazzi nailed or screwed every
+movable thing fast to the walls of the cabinet. He was resolute to
+force 'John,' the supposed 'guide,' to touch the electric button and
+press the ball of India-rubber that connected with a mercury manometer.
+He intended to teach the spirit hand to register its actions on a
+revolving cylinder of smoked tin. He wanted graven records, so that no
+wiseacre like Harris, here, could say: 'Oh, the thing never moved. You
+were all hypnotized!' In effect, he said: 'They tell us that a cold wind
+blows from the cabinet. I will put a self-registering thermometer in the
+cabinet and see. They say tables weighing forty pounds have been lifted.
+All I ask is that the bulb of a self-registering manometer be pressed.
+They say a Morse telegraphic key has been sounded by spirit hands. Very
+well; I will arrange a connection so that every pressure of the key will
+be registered on a sheet of smoked paper, so that the fact of the sound
+of the key shall be recorded by an infallible instrument.'"
+
+"Did he get the records?" asked Harris.
+
+"Wait and see!" commanded Cameron.
+
+"These indicate the methods which Bottazzi and his assistants brought to
+bear on the medium. No more worship here, no awe, no hesitation, no
+superstition. Among other things, he put into the cabinet a small table
+weighing about fifteen pounds, and on top of it arranged a hair-brush, a
+hen's feather, a bottle full of water, and a very thick glass. These
+articles and the table were the only objects that could be moved. His
+aim was to limit the spirit hands to a few movables--to see whether they
+could not be taught to do what was required of them. Well, _that little
+table came out of the cabinet of its own accord in a light that made it
+perfectly visible_, at the precise time when three of the inexorable
+professors were rigidly clasping the psychic. But that is not the most
+remarkable thing. The psychic's feet were held by the engineer, and he
+observed that at _the exact moment when Paladino pushed against his knee
+the table moved_. 'Each advance of the table corresponded,' says
+Bottazzi, 'with the most perfect synchronism, to the push of Eusapia's
+legs against Jona's knees'; in other words, she really executed
+movements identical with those that she would have made had she been
+pushing the table out of the cabinet with her _visible_ limbs."
+
+As I paused for effect, Fowler said: "You say that as if you considered
+it very significant."
+
+"I do. In my judgment, it is the most valuable fact developed by these
+most searching experiments. Flammarion noted this same significant
+relation between the movements of the psychic and the spirit hands, and
+so did Maxwell. Maxwell proved it by experiments on his own person, and
+now Bottazzi is proving it in a larger way. 'A few moments later,' he
+says, 'a glass was flung from the cabinet by these invisible agencies,
+and this fling coincided exactly with a kick which Paladino gave to
+Jona, as if the same will governed both movements.'"
+
+Miller was thinking very hard. "That certainly is very strange," he
+said, "but I observed nothing of it in Mrs. Smiley's case; on the
+contrary, it seemed to me that our strongest manifestations came when
+she was perfectly still."
+
+"Hasten!" urged Fowler. "Come to the phantoms. I perceive his theory,
+but it will all be upset later by the materialized forms."
+
+"On the contrary, Bottazzi declares the phantoms also conformed to this
+same law. He was determined upon educating 'John King,' and kept
+insisting that the invisible hands press the rubber ball, or lower the
+registry balance, or set the metronome going, and Eusapia repeatedly
+moaned: '_I can't find_,' '_I can't see_,' or '_I don't know how_.' Once
+she complained that the objects were _too far off--that she could not
+reach them!_--all of which sustained Bottazzi in his belief that these
+activities were absolutely under her psychic control, just as the
+synchronism of movements convinced him that she was 'the physiologic
+factor in the case.' All of this is very exciting to me, for I have had
+the same feeling with regard to the several mediums whose activities I
+have closely studied. Bottazzi says, with regard to the results of the
+first two sittings: 'These first seances show that Eusapia needed to
+learn how to make these movements with which her invisible hands were
+unfamiliar, just as she would have had to learn to make them with her
+visible hands. You will all observe that he did not permit awe or
+superstitious reverence for the medium or her phantoms to balk his
+experiments.' A convinced spiritist who attended one of the seances was
+scandalized by the tone and character of the tests. These professors
+were continually bobbing up to see what was going on, disturbing
+conditions, stirring things up as with a spoon to see how it was all
+going on. They broke the chain of hands whenever they wanted to see what
+'the spirits' were doing. In other words, these scientists were
+students, not devotees. They were experimenting, not communing with the
+dead."
+
+"Others have tried that," said Fowler. "But they succeeded in preventing
+any manifestations whatsoever."
+
+"It didn't work out so in this instance. Bottazzi says that during the
+first seance Professor Scarpa irritated Eusapia greatly by his
+impertinent curiosity, but Bottazzi himself quieted her by saying: 'You
+see, dear Eusapia, we are not here only to admire the marvellous
+phenomena you are able to produce, but also, and chiefly, to observe and
+verify and criticise. We do not doubt you or suspect any fraud, but we
+want to see clearly, and to follow the development of the phenomena.
+That is why M. Scarpa surveys the cabinet between the curtains,
+illuminating it occasionally with an electric pocket-lamp. Which do you
+prefer, passive admiration, of which you must have had more than enough
+already, or the calm affirmation of physicists who are accustomed to
+extort from Nature secrets which she hides from physical eyes? 'In this
+way,' adds the master, 'Eusapia's irritation was softened; she rebelled
+no further, but yielded with docility to the sharp, attentive scrutiny
+of the observer, who finally declared himself beaten, not having been
+able to discover at any point a shadow of fraud.'"
+
+"Hurrah for Eusapia!" shouted Howard. "She must be a wonder!"
+
+"A spiritist would say that her guides were insisting on the most rigid
+test. The account goes on to say that the psychic, when entranced, was
+not satisfied with the grasp of two of the spies; she frequently asked,
+in a faint voice, for a third or even a fourth hand in order that there
+could be no question of her freedom from connection with the phenomena.
+As in the case of our own psychic, Mrs. Smiley co-operated to the utmost
+with us. She never refused to permit any test."
+
+Miller here remarked: "I can't but think that our control of Mrs. Smiley
+was complete, and yet I could not (under the conditions) assert that she
+was not the author of the acts we witnessed in my library. I cannot
+bring myself to entertain, even for an instant, the spirit hypothesis,
+but in Bottazzi's theory I glimpse an alternative."
+
+"Yes, Bottazzi plainly hints at his conclusions by saying: '_The
+invisible limbs_ of the psychic explored the cabinet.' He repeats, 'I am
+convinced that these _"mediumistic limbs" are capable of being taught
+unfamiliar duties_, like pressing an electric button of squeezing a
+rubber ball,' and this he proceeded patiently to exemplify. At the third
+sitting Madame Bottazzi was present (Lombardi and Jona being absent),
+and the 'force' was much greater and more active than before, probably
+because of the psychic's growing confidence. A small table floated in
+the air '_while we watched it in amazement_,' he says. One levitation
+lasted long enough to count fifty. 'We all had time to observe that the
+piece of furniture was quite isolated,' he adds. Furthermore, a big
+black hand came from the curtain and touched Madame Bottazzi on the
+cheek, and frightened her from her place beside the medium."
+
+"I can understand that," said Mrs. Cameron. "Think of being touched by
+even one's own dead!"
+
+"Professor de Amicis was not only touched on the arm but forcibly
+pulled, as if by an invisible hand. The curtain of the cabinet then
+enveloped him as if to embrace him, and he felt the contact of another
+face against his, and a mouth kissing him--"
+
+The women cried out at the thought, but I hurried on to make Bottazzi's
+point: "_'At the same time Eusapia's lips moved as if to kiss, and she
+made the sound of kissing, which we all distinctly heard.'_ Here again,
+you see, is that astounding synchronism which Maxwell and Morselli
+observed between the movement of objects and the contraction of the
+muscles in the medium's arms and legs. Bottazzi pauses to generalize:
+'Whatever may be the mediumistic phenomena produced, there is almost
+always at the same time movement of one or several parts of the medium's
+body.'"
+
+"What does he mean? Does he mean that Eusapia performed all these
+movements with her 'astral hands'?" asked Mrs. Quigg.
+
+"That is precisely his inference. 'Mysterious hands,' Bottazzi calls
+them."
+
+"But how will he account for the difference in size between Eusapia's
+hands and the _large black hand_ that she saw and felt?" asked Fowler.
+
+"Bottazzi himself remarks upon this discrepancy. 'To whom does this hand
+belong?' he asked--'this hand, a half a yard away from the medium's
+head, seen while her visible hands are rigorously controlled by her two
+neighbors? Is it the hand of a monstrous long arm which liberates itself
+from the medium's body, then dissolves, to afterward "materialize"
+afresh? Is it something analogous to the pteropod of an amoeba, which
+projects itself from the body, then retreats into it only to reappear
+in another place? Mystery!' But this is not the most grewsome sight; one
+of the professors, stealing a glance behind the medium, saw remnants of
+legs and arms lying about the cabinet."
+
+"Horrible!" exclaimed Mrs. Cameron. "I'd rather believe in spirits. What
+does he mean to infer?"
+
+"Apparently he would have us believe that materialization is a process
+due to the medium--or at least dependent on her will--and that these
+partially completed forms represent fragmentary impulses. But I'm not so
+much concerned just now with that as with the course of schooling
+through which he drove Eusapia. He stuck to his plan. He put into his
+cabinet each time certain sounders, markers, and lamps, which could be
+moved, ticked, or lighted only by hands in the cabinet, and he kept the
+same rigid control of his medium _outside_ the cabinet. For the most
+part she was in the light. By means of a series of lamps the seance-room
+could be lighted dimly or brightly at a touch, and, while many of the
+phenomena in the cabinet were being performed by 'John,' Eusapia's hands
+could be plainly seen in the grasp of her inquisitors. After seeing a
+mandolin move and play of itself, after having the metronome set in
+motion, stopped, and set going again, after having the registrations he
+most desired, Bottazzi concludes his third sitting by saying: 'An
+invisible hand or foot _must_ therefore have forced down the disk,
+_must_ have leaned on the membrane of the receiving-drum of my
+apparatus, because I assured myself next day that to obtain the highest
+lines registered the disk had to be pressed to the extreme point. This
+was no ordinary case of pushing or pulling. The mysterious hand had to
+push the disk, and push it in a certain way. _In short, the "spirit
+hand" was becoming educated to its task._'"
+
+Miller asked: "Did these performances take place, as in the case of Mrs.
+Smiley, within the reach of her ordinary limbs?"
+
+"Yes, many of them took place within a yard of her head; but some of
+them, and the most marvellous of them, not merely took place out of her
+reach, but under conditions of unexampled rigor. 'Eusapia's mediumistic
+limbs penetrated into the cabinet,' says Bottazzi. 'I begged my friends
+not to distract the medium's attention by requests for touches,
+apparitions, etc., but to concentrate their desires and their wills on
+the things I asked for....' What he wanted her to do was very simple,
+but conclusive. He wished 'the spirit hand' to press an electric button
+and light a red lamp within the cabinet. The coil and the switch had
+been dragged out of the cabinet and thrown on the table. Bottazzi begged
+them all not to touch it. No one but Scarpa, Galeotti, and Bottazzi knew
+what it was for. 'At a certain moment Eusapia took hold of the first
+finger of my right hand and squeezed it with her fingers. A ray of light
+from the interior of the cabinet lit up the room'--she had pressed the
+contact-breaker with her invisible fingers at the precise time when she
+had squeezed with her visible hand the forefinger of Bottazzi. She
+repeatedly did this. 'If one of us, be it observed, had lit the lamp,
+she would have screamed with pain and indignation.'"
+
+"Was this the climax of his series? Is this _all_ he is willing to
+affirm?" queried Harris, with ironic inflection.
+
+"Oh no, indeed. The greatest is yet to come. At the fourth sitting a new
+person, Professor Cardarelli, was introduced, and this new sitter
+disturbed conditions. Nevertheless, the inexplicable took place. Small
+twirling violet flames were seen to drift across the cabinet curtains,
+and hands and closed fists appeared over Paladino's head. These have
+been photographed, by-the-way. Some of them were of ordinary size, and
+others at least three times larger than the psychic's hand and fist.
+These flames interest me very much, for I have seen them on several
+occasions, but could not believe in them, even though Crookes spoke of
+handling them. I must admit their objective reality now. It is absurd to
+suppose they were fraudulently produced in this laboratory.
+
+"A stethoscope was taken from Cardarelli's pocket and put together--a
+movement requiring the action of two hands. The noise of fingers running
+over the keys of a typewriter in the cabinet was plainly heard, although
+no writing came. At the fifth sitting the mandolin again moved as if
+alive (no one touching it), in a light that made all its movements
+observable; and as it did so _Eusapia's hand_ (tightly controlled by
+Bottazzi) _made little movements as if to help the instrument to move_.
+_Each movement, though it ended in the air, seemed to affect the
+mandolin._ Bottazzi says: 'It would be necessary to have Paladino's
+fingers in the palm of one's hand, as I had that evening, in order to be
+convinced that the evolutions, twangings of the strings, etc., all
+synchronized with the very delicate movements of her fingers.... I
+cannot describe the sensation one experiences when seeing an inanimate
+object moved, not for a moment merely, but for many minutes in
+succession, by a mysterious force.'"
+
+"We observed no such synchronism," repeated Fowler. "We not only
+controlled Mrs. Smiley's hands, but nailed her to her chair. In a way,
+our test was more rigid than those you are describing. Our results were
+not so dramatic, but they were produced under test conditions, and their
+significance is as great as that of Bottazzi's lamp-lighting."
+
+"But we did not have as much light on the medium, and, by-the-way,
+Miller, the spectral hands that I saw in your study, each larger than
+Mrs. Smiley's hands, were as real to me as those Scarpa studied, and the
+books deposited on your table form as good a record, in their way, as
+the marks on his smoked-glass cylinder."
+
+"Furthermore, we had writing," added Fowler. "All of which Bottazzi
+would explain by his theory of an 'astral arm.'"
+
+"Yes, but he secured something still more marvellous. He obtained the
+print of human hands in clay and also on smoked glass. He demonstrated
+that the invisible limbs of the psychic cannot only move objects at a
+distance, _but that they can feel at a distance_. 'Eusapia's attitude
+was that of a blindfolded person exploring space with her hands to find
+a lost object!' he exclaims, at one point. 'Eusapia opened my right
+hand, stretched out my three middle fingers, and, bending them on the
+table, tips downward, said, in a whisper: "How hard it is! What is it?"
+I did not understand,' says Bottazzi. 'She continued: "There, on the
+chair." "It is the clay," I said, quickly; "will you make the impression
+of a face?" "No," she replied, "it is too hard; take it away.'" Some one
+broke the chain to carry out her desire. He looked at the desk and saw
+the imprint of three fingers."
+
+"What I would like to know at this point," Harris quickly interposed,
+"is this: were the fingermarks lined like Bottazzi's or like the
+medium's?"
+
+"He does not say in this case, but, as I recall it, they found in other
+instances that the lines on the impressions made by Eusapia's invisible
+fingers were precisely like those of her material fingers, and yet no
+mark of flour or lamp-black remained attaching to her hands. In one case
+a perfumed clay was used, and, although the impressions secured
+'resembled Eusapia's face grown old,' no scent of the wax could be
+detected on her cheeks. Bottazzi gives much space to these 'mediumistic
+explorations of the cabinet.' He could follow these blind, mysterious
+gropings of the invisible Eusapia by closely controlling the real
+Eusapia. 'Presently she asked: "What is that round object? I feel
+something round."' This was, in fact, the rubber ball which connected
+with a tube--the tube, in its turn, passing through the wall into
+another room where it operated a manometer. She pressed this ball with
+her invisible limbs, and the column rose and registered the pressure.
+This was entirely satisfactory to Bottazzi, who then says: 'I desire
+again to affirm that with her invisible limbs Eusapia feels the forms of
+objects and their consistency, feels heat and cold, hardness and
+softness, dampness and dryness neither more nor less than if she were
+touching and feeling with the hands imprisoned in ours. She feels with
+other hands, but perceives with the same brain with which she uses to
+talk with us.'
+
+"The most astonishing physical phenomena came when the contact-breaker
+was thrown on the table, and Eusapia called out: 'See how it moves!'
+'_We all directed our gaze toward the small object_,' says Bottazzi,
+'_and we saw that it oscillated and vibrated at an elevation of an inch
+or two above the surface of the table, as if seized with internal
+shivering--Eusapia's hands, held by M. Galeotti and myself, being more
+than a foot from the contact-breaker_.'"
+
+My auditors were now in the thrall of Bottazzi's story, and the silence
+was eloquent. At last Cameron said: "It certainly seems like a clear
+case of 'astral.' I begin to believe in our first sitting with Mrs.
+Smiley. What do you want us to do--announce ourselves converted?"
+
+"Certainly not," I replied. "We must not relax our vigilance, even
+though Bottazzi, Morselli, and their fellows seem to have proved the
+genuineness of the phenomena. At the same time, I admit it is a source
+of satisfaction to me to know that these Italian scientists, with
+conditions all their own, are willing to affirm that Eusapia '_feels
+with her invisible limbs_,' and explores a cabinet while sitting under
+rigid control more than a yard away from the objects moved. My
+experiences point to this. How else could the cone be handled with such
+precision as was shown at your house, Miller? Lombroso observed that
+chairs and vases moved as if guided by hands and eyes, and that the
+psychic could see as well behind her as in front. Mrs. Smiley has always
+been able to direct me _exactly_ to the point where the cone or pencil
+had been flung. How can letters within closed slates be formed so
+beautifully and so precisely without some form of seeing?"
+
+Fowler was ready with an answer: "At the final analysis all perception
+is due to some form of vibration. To be clairaudient is simply to be
+able to lay hold upon a different set of pulsations in the ether, and to
+be clairvoyant is to perceive directly without the aid of the eye, which
+is only a little camera, after all."
+
+"All this is merely a kind of prelude," I resumed, "for Bottazzi
+apparently proved that the invisible hand of Eusapia's invisible arm
+could not penetrate a cage of wire mesh that covered the telegraphic key
+in the cabinet. 'How, then, can we consider it to be a spirit hand--an
+immaterial hand--when a wire-netting can stop it?' he very pertinently
+inquires."
+
+"That's what troubles me," said Miller. "If a phantom hand can bring a
+real book and thumb its leaves, or drum with a real pencil or write, why
+isn't it, for all practicable purposes, a real hand?"
+
+"What _is_ a real hand?" retorted Fowler. "Isn't the latest word of
+science to the effect that matter like the human body is only a
+temporary condition of force?"
+
+"Precisely so; and every advance along the line of these experiments
+goes to prove the power of mind to transform matter. It almost seems to
+me at times as though these psychic minds were able to reduce matter to
+its primal atom and reshape it. In Bottazzi's seventh sitting, under the
+same rigorous restraint of Eusapia, a vase of flowers was transported, a
+rose was set in a lady's hair, a small drum was seized and beaten
+rhythmically, an enormous black fist came out from behind the curtain,
+and an open hand seized Bottazzi gently by the neck. Now listen to his
+own words: 'Letting go my hold of Professor Poso's hand,' he says, 'I
+felt for this ghostly hand and clasped it. _It was a left hand, neither
+hot nor cold, with rough, bony fingers which dissolved under pressure.
+It did not retire by producing a sensation of withdrawal--it dissolved,
+"dematerialized," melted._'"
+
+I paused to say: "Remember, this is not the tale of a perfervid
+spiritist. On the contrary, it is the scientific account of a laboratory
+experiment by a physiologist of high rank. The incident is not a part of
+a seance in the home of a medium in a dark parlor full of side-doors and
+trick windows. It is a registered phenomenon in the physiological
+department of a great university, occurring under scientific test
+conditions. I confess it gives verity to many a doubtful thing I have
+myself seen."
+
+"It certainly staggers me," said Cameron. "How does the scientific
+gentleman explain it?"
+
+"He goes on to say: 'Another time, later on, the same hand was placed on
+my right forearm--I saw a human hand, of natural color, and I felt with
+mine the back of a lukewarm hand, rough and nervous. _The hand dissolved
+(I saw it with my own eyes) and retreated as if into Madame Paladino's
+body, describing a curve._ If all the observed phenomena of these seven
+seances were to disappear from my memory, this one I could never
+forget.'"
+
+Fowler was smiling with calm disdain. "Let him go on with his
+psycho-dynamic theories. He will be confounded yet. These are only the
+first stages of the game."
+
+"But all this happened while the hands of the psychic were merely held,"
+protested Miller. "He says he controlled her hands rigorously. Why
+didn't he handcuff her, or nail her down? The facts he claims to have
+established are too subversive to accept on his word alone."
+
+This amused me. "There you go again! Not satisfied with wonders, you
+want miracles. Happily, you may be satisfied. In the eighth sitting,
+which took place in the same room of the physiological laboratory, with
+Bottazzi, Madame Bottazzi, Professor Galeotti, Doctors Jappelli and
+d'Errico present, Eusapia submitted to the most rigorous restraint of
+her life. Two iron rings were fastened to the floor, and by means of
+strong cords, which were sealed with lead seals like those used in
+fastening a railway car, her wrists were rigidly confined. She was, in
+fact, bound like a criminal; and yet the spectral hands and fists came
+and went, jugs of water floated about, and as a final stupendous climax,
+while Galeotti was controlling Eusapia's right arm, which was also
+manacled, he _saw_ the duplications of her left arm. 'LOOK!' he
+exclaimed, 'I SEE TWO LEFT ARMS IDENTICAL IN APPEARANCE. ONE IS ON THE
+LITTLE TABLE. THE OTHER SEEMS TO COME OUT OF THE MEDIUM'S SHOULDER,
+TOUCH MADAME BOTTAZZI, AND THEN RETURN TO EUSAPIA'S BODY AGAIN. THIS IS
+NOT AN HALLUCINATION. I AM CONSCIOUS OF TWO SIMULTANEOUS VISUAL
+SENSATIONS WHEN MADAME BOTTAZZI SAYS SHE HAS BEEN TOUCHED.'"
+
+For a moment the entire company sat in silence, as though stunned by the
+force of my blow. Then all turned to Miller as though to ask: "What do
+you think of that?"
+
+He slowly replied: "To grant the possible putting forth of a
+supernumerary arm and hand would make physiological science foolish. It
+is easier to imagine these gentlemen suffering a collective
+hallucination."
+
+"Ah! Bottazzi provided against all that. He called in the aid of
+self-registering contrivances. It won't do, Miller--he proved the
+objective reality of 'spirit phenomena.' He lifted the whole performance
+to the plane of the test-tube, the electric light, and the barometer.
+His experiments, his deductions, came as a splendid sequence to an
+almost equally searching series by Crookes, Zoellner, Wallace, Thury,
+Flammarion, Maxwell, Lombroso, Richet, Foa, and Morselli. His laboratory
+was the crucible wherein came the final touch of heat which fuses all
+the discordant facts into a solid ingot of truth."
+
+"But, to me, he is misreading the facts," objected Fowler. "I maintain
+that he is as prejudiced in his way as the spiritist. He says: 'The
+mediumistic limbs explored the cabinet.' A spiritist would say: '_John
+King_ explored the cabinet.' The synchronism he speaks of might exist,
+and only be a proof of what the spiritist admits--that the presence and
+activity of the materializing spirit are closely circumscribed by the
+medium."
+
+"Bottazzi proved the relationship to be something more intimate than
+that. He demonstrated that the movement of the hands in the cabinet and
+of those outside had a common origin--namely, the will and brain of
+Eusapia. He proved that these invisible hands were, after all, material,
+and limited in their powers. He proved that the 'spirits' shared all
+Eusapia's likes and dislikes, and knew no more of chloride of iron or
+ferro-cyanide of potassium than she herself possessed--in short, while
+admitting the mystery of the process, he reduces all these phenomena to
+human, terrestrial level, and relates them wholly and simply to the
+brain and will of the psychic. Perhaps his state of mind is best
+expressed at the close of his statement concerning the registration of
+the movements of 'the spirit hand.' He says, in effect: 'These tracings
+demonstrate irrefutably that the keys were repeatedly pressed with
+perfect synchronism, the outside key with Eusapia's left hand, the one
+inside the cabinet by another, which a convinced spiritist would call
+that of a "materialized spirit," and which I believe to be neither the
+one nor the other, although I am not able to explain what it was.'"
+
+"Oh, lame and impotent conclusion!" exclaimed Brierly. "After that
+superb test, why didn't he frankly say the discarnate had been proved?"
+
+"Because his proof, his knowledge, was not yet sufficient. Besides, it
+requires heroic courage to admit our ignorance. 'I don't know,' he says,
+and that is the attitude of Morselli. Dr. Foa believes the phenomena to
+come within the domain of natural law, and to result from a
+transmutation of energy accumulated in the medium. He calls this 'vital
+energy' or 'psychic energy,' and adds: 'If these phenomena appear
+strange by virtue of their comparative rarity, they are not really more
+marvellous than the biological phenomena which we witness every day.'"
+
+"According to this theory, then," said Miller, "Mrs. Smiley has
+remained, as you believe, motionless in her chair, but has been able to
+'energize' at a distance."
+
+"More than that. She has been able to emit supernumerary etheric limbs,
+perhaps a complete material double of herself, which is able to move
+with lightning speed and perfect precision. It is this actual
+externalization of both matter and sense that makes darkness so
+essential to the medium. Vivid light forces this effluvia, this
+mysterious double, back into its originating body with disrupting haste.
+Witness the several times when Mrs. Smiley was convulsed merely by being
+touched at the wrong moment."
+
+"There is a different interpretation to be put upon the psychic's hatred
+of light," remarked Howard.
+
+"By-the-way, yet bearing on this very subject, I read in the _Annals of
+Psychic Science_ the account of a singular experiment in the matter of
+independent writing. A certain Dr. Encausse, in giving a lecture before
+the Society for Psychical Research at Nancy, said that in 1889, having
+heard that a professional magnetizer named Robert was able to put a
+subject into such a state of hypnosis that he could project lines of
+writing on paper without use of pen or pencil, he was curious to see the
+performance. Together with a colleague, Dr. Gibier, Encausse hastened
+to witness this marvel. One of the subjects was a girl of seventeen. The
+magnetizer put her to sleep, 'and during this seance,' says Dr.
+Encausse, 'we were able to obtain in full light on a sheet of paper
+signed by twenty witnesses, the precipitation of a whole page of written
+verses signed "Corneille." I examined under the microscope the substance
+that formed the writing, and I was led to the conclusion that it
+consisted of globules of human blood, some scattered as if calcined,
+others quite distinct. I thus verified the theory of the occultists of
+1850 that the nervous energy as well as the physical force of a medium,
+the material of which he is constituted, such as his blood, could
+exteriorize itself and reconstruct itself at a distance.'"
+
+"What a stunning experiment!" exclaimed Cameron.
+
+"Important, if true," sneered Harris.
+
+"What do you know about this learned doctor?" asked Miller.
+
+"Nothing; but you will see that these later experiments of the Italian
+scientists are sustaining De Rochas and Aksakof in their claim that the
+medium is in a sense dematerialized to build up the phantasms. Dr.
+Encausse goes on to say: '_Moreover, the medium who had produced this
+phenomenon was preparing for the stage and had been studying Corneille
+during the whole of the preceding day._ I was thus able to discover the
+origin of the substance of the materialization of the writing, and also
+its psychic origin.' In other words, he claims that the message was not
+from the shade of the great dramatist, but was a precipitation of the
+blood of the psychic and an exercise of her subconscious mind, all of
+which accords with Bottazzi's theory.
+
+"Now, then," said I, in the tone of one about to conclude, "in the light
+of these experiments, my own sitting at Miller's, and especially those
+that I held at Fowler's house, take on the greatest significance.
+Miller, Mrs. Smiley's _visible limbs_ did not handle the books--of that
+I am positive--and yet I am equally certain that she governed every
+movement."
+
+"But what about the voices?" asked Fowler. "Does this theory cover the
+whispering personalities we heard? What about 'Wilbur' and 'Maudie'?"
+
+"That's easy," retorted Howard. "Once you explain the manipulation of
+the cone, the rest is merely clever ventriloquism."
+
+"There is nothing 'easy' about any of these phenomena," I answered. "As
+Richet says, they are absurd, but they are observed facts. It would not
+be fair to the spiritists to end the account of these sittings without
+frankly stating that there were many other phenomena very difficult to
+explain by Bottazzi's theory. There came a time, as he admits, when 'a
+mysterious entity behind the curtain, among us, almost in contact with
+us, was felt all the time.' This entity was supposed to be 'John King,'
+the psychic's control. This being, invisible for the most part, gave
+roses to those he liked, conversed freely, and in one case threw a bunch
+of flowers in the face of one of the sitters to whom Eusapia had taken a
+dislike. A little later 'John' presented a small drum from behind the
+curtain, and, when Galeotti tried to take it, 'John' pulled it out of
+his hands. Again he offered it, and Galeotti seized it, and the two
+fought for its possession with such violence that the drum was nearly
+torn to pieces."
+
+"Where was Paladino meanwhile?" asked Miller.
+
+"Seated quietly in the grasp of Bottazzi and Madame Bottazzi. Galeotti
+then raised the drum in his hand, high above his head and against the
+curtain, and requested 'John' to beat it. 'John' pushed a hand against
+the drum and beat a muffled tattoo. All this was utterly out of the
+psychic's reach. The strife over the drum would seem to argue a complete
+and powerful figure behind the curtain."
+
+"In other words, a spirit," said Brierly.
+
+"Not so fast," put in Miller. "I am content to plod with these Italian
+scientists. Let us establish one supernormal fact and then reach for
+another. You fellows with your 'reincarnations,' and the spiritist with
+his foolish messages from Cleopatra, Raphael, and Shakespeare, have
+confused the situation. We must begin all over again. If all that
+Garland is detailing is true--I have not read these reports he speaks
+of--then it is our duty to take up the scrutiny of these facts as a part
+of biologic science."
+
+Fowler clapped his hands. "Bravo! that is all we ask of you. To study
+frogs and mosquitoes, to peer close into the constitution of the blood
+or the brain of man, is useful; but, to my mind, the questions raised by
+these Continental experimentalists are the most vital now clamoring for
+answer."
+
+"Bottazzi says, with regard to his eighth and final sitting: 'The
+results of this seance were very favorable, because they eliminated the
+slightest trace of suspicion or uncertainty relative to the genuineness
+of the phenomena. We obtained the same kind of assurance as that which
+we have concerning physical, chemical, or physiological phenomena.
+Henceforth sceptics can only deny the facts by accusing us of fraud and
+charlatanism. I should be very much surprised if any one were bold
+enough to bring the charge against us, but it would not disturb our
+minds in the least. From this time forward the medium who wishes to
+prove the truth of her phenomena will be obliged to permit the same
+kind of experimentation which Eusapia so adequately sustained.'"
+
+"Well, now," said Cameron, "the practical question is this: are we to go
+on with our investigation?"
+
+"I am ready," said Miller, promptly. "Garland, will you purvey another
+psychic and conduct the pursuit?"
+
+"Yes, provided you all come in with spirits attuned, ready to wait
+patiently and observe silently. The law of these materializations seems
+to be this: the forces of the psychic are proportional to the
+harmoniousness of the circle and in inverse proportion to the light.
+Accepting this law as proved by our illustrious fellow-experimenters
+abroad, are you ready to try again along the lines they have marked
+out?"
+
+As with one voice, all agreed.
+
+"Very well," said I; "I will see what I can do for you in the way of a
+new psychic and new phenomena. We will now experiment with design to
+prove the identity of the reappearing dead. Of this I am fully
+persuaded. Men will be discovering new laws of nature ten thousand years
+from now, just as they are to-day. It is inconceivable that the secrets
+of the universe should ever be entirely made plain. The world of mystery
+retires before the dawn. Nothing is really explained--what we call
+familiar facts are at bottom inexplicable mysteries, and must ever
+remain so."
+
+"Then why go on? Why not stop now and save ourselves the trouble of
+investigation?"
+
+"Because there is joy in the pursuit--because it is in the nature of man
+to pursue this quest. Who knows but the conclusions of Venzano and
+Morselli, of Bottazzi and Foa, have opened new vistas in human nature?
+These 'supernormal powers' may chance to be of immense value to the
+race, quite aside from their bearing upon the problem of death.
+Furthermore, these reports come at a time when a hard-and-fast
+literalism of interpretation is the fashion among scientists like
+Miller. Perhaps they and the art of the day will alike be offered new
+inspiration by these mystifying enlargements of human faculty. I for one
+feel profoundly indebted to these brave and clear-brained Italian
+scientists. I should like to see the physicists of our own universities
+busying themselves with this most absorbing and vital problem."
+
+"But they don't," retorted Fowler. "They will not even read Bottazzi's
+reports."
+
+And I fear he is justified in his belief.
+
+
+     [As I am reading proof on this page a fat letter from a friend in
+     Naples comes to my desk, filled with the several corroborative
+     accounts of a special sitting with Paladino which Professor
+     Bottazzi kindly arranged for them. My correspondent is a New York
+     editor, and in his party of six was the associate professor of
+     chemistry in a big Eastern college. After detailing the many
+     marvellous phenomena which took place in his presence, Professor
+     M---- says: "In view of the phenomena with which I am habitually
+     concerned, I did not _want_ to believe in Paladino's supernormal
+     powers, but I had to accept what I saw." These reports bring
+     Bottazzi's experiments closer to the dead. I hope they will bring
+     them a little nearer to my readers. "Bottazzi has no slightest
+     doubt of the phenomena," is the concluding line of my friend's
+     letter.]
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+
+Cameron's society never came together again in formal session, and I was
+not able to carry out my plan for developing a psychic along the line of
+proving the identity of the spirits manifesting. However, between the
+final sitting of the club and my next meeting with Fowler and Miller, I
+passed through a series of very interesting experiences more or less
+corroborative of the phenomena which the members had witnessed either
+individually or as a body. These additional experiments I proceeded at
+once to lay before my friends as we met at the club one quiet afternoon
+a couple of weeks later.
+
+"We haven't heard of any new psychic," Miller began at once, as we
+settled into easy-chairs in a retired corner.
+
+"No," I replied. "I've been unable to get the consent of any other
+psychic to undergo just the inquisition I know you'd like to give, but
+I've had some extremely suggestive sittings recently with a young
+professional man who does a little mediumistic 'work' on the side."
+
+"A male psychic? That's amusing. I thought they were all female."
+
+"No. There are men psychics," replied Fowler, "but they're scarce. One
+of the most wonderful I have ever known is a big, burly fellow of most
+aggressive manner. The reason why there are so few men in the business I
+take to be this: men are less subjective, less passive, than women, and
+the psychic's role seems to be a negative one. Men are aggressive and
+impatient, engaged in some kind of struggle with material things, or
+they are intolerant of the process of developing their psychic gifts. If
+Garland has found a male psychic, he is in luck."
+
+"So I thought. The young fellow, whom we will call Peters, is only about
+twenty-four, a boyish professional man of refined habits. He comes of
+good family, and, being ambitious in his profession, is careful not to
+permit a knowledge of his psychical powers to reach the ears of his
+employers. I heard of him through a friend who is deeply interested in
+these matters, and who procured for me an invitation to be present at a
+sitting in the home of a certain Dr. Towne, on the East Side.
+
+"We met at dinner, and during the meal Dr. Towne told us all he knew of
+Mr. Peters, which was little, and, turning to me, said: 'We expect you
+to take charge of the circle, Mr. Garland; it's all new to us.'
+
+"'The first thing to do,' I answered, 'is to put the young fellow at
+his ease. It is a mighty good sign when a medium is willing to come into
+a strange house to perform for a circle as critical and as unfriendly as
+this.' 'Oh, not unfriendly,' said Dr. Towne. 'Well,' I said, 'I wouldn't
+call three practising physicians, who have never seen a psychic at close
+range, a friendly group.'"
+
+"Were there three doctors present?" asked Fowler.
+
+"Yes, and my friend was a notably keen-eyed man himself. I really had no
+faith that the young fellow could do anything remarkable for us, but I
+didn't say so.
+
+"We were still at the table when our young psychic was announced, and,
+with a knowledge of how necessary it was that he should be in a
+comfortable frame of mind, I went out to the library to meet him and
+make his acquaintance. I wished to put him at his ease--so far as I was
+concerned, at least.
+
+"I found him to be but a pale stripling, with slender limbs and
+brilliant eyes. He was plainly nervous and a little dogmatic in manner.
+He told me that he was twenty-four years of age, but he did not look to
+be nineteen. He said he had been aware of his power about four years,
+and that his grandfather and a man named 'Evans' were those who most
+frequently spoke. 'I have no "guides,"' he said, rather contemptuously.
+
+"The place for the sitting was not especially favorable. It was a
+reception-room midway between the doctor's office and the dining-room,
+and was rather large and difficult to close off from the rest of the
+house. After the windows had been darkened in the usual manner, Peters
+arranged the chairs so that his seat came between Dr. Towne and Mrs.
+Towne. Dr. Merriam came next to Towne. This brought me two places away
+from Peters and next to a stout German woman whose name, as I understood
+it, was Mrs. Steinert. On Mrs. Towne's right sat Dr. Paul and Professor
+Franks, my friend. Within the circle Towne had set a small table, on
+which were placed pencils and paper. The chain was formed by locking our
+little fingers tightly. If we may depend on the word of those present,
+this chain of hands remained unbroken for two hours. The room at first
+was perfectly dark.
+
+"For half an hour we sat at ease, talking a little now and then, but
+leaving the direction of the whole affair to Peters. He hinted to
+us--and this I wish to particularly emphasize--that he went out of his
+body. He said: 'When I think toward any one or toward a thing, I am
+there. I am all around it. If I think toward a person, I am there--all
+around him--inside of him.' In pursuit of this idea, I then asked: 'Are
+you conscious of your body which you have left behind? Are you conscious
+of being in the upper part of the room, for instance, and do you see
+your body below you?'
+
+"'No,' said he; 'I am conscious of being in a certain place, but I am
+not conscious of being in two places at the same time.' He told us of
+his development, which came about through attendance on a circle with
+another psychic. He said he had been experimenting for about four years.
+I asked him if it had affected his health in any way, and he replied:
+'No, it does not weary me any more than prolonged study might do. I am
+very fond of playing chess, and I find that I do not play so well after
+a sitting--that's all.' He said the only sign of the special condition
+which produced these phenomena was a nervous tremor in his limbs.
+
+"The first evidence of 'the force' came in steady tappings upon Mrs.
+Towne's chair. The young man said: 'This is my friend "Evans,"' and
+thereupon I began to direct the sitting through 'Evans.' In answer to my
+questions, he said that he would do what he could do for us. I asked him
+if he would write, and he answered by tapping that he would try.
+
+"Shortly after this promise, sounds as of hands were heard about the
+table. Sheets of paper were plainly being written upon and torn off the
+pad. One of these was flourished in my face, while the linked fingers of
+the psychic were firmly held by Dr. Towne and his wife. All of those in
+the circle excepting Mrs. Steinert and myself were new to this
+business, and much impressed.
+
+"At the precise moment when these hands were at work writing, and a
+little later while they patted Mrs. Towne's cheek and tapped on the
+doctor's shirt-front, I asked: 'Are you controlling his hands?'
+
+"'Yes,' responded the doctor, who, by-the-way, is a vigorous young
+scientist and had never before experimented with these forces. His reply
+was echoed by Mrs. Towne, who remained perfectly calm and clear-headed
+throughout the entire sitting.
+
+"Thus far the phenomena were precisely similar to those we have had with
+Mrs. Smiley, but we were soon to have proofs of greater power. While the
+chain of hands continued unbroken, mysterious fingers clutched Dr.
+Towne's arm and drummed upon his shirt-front. At length the same mystic
+fingers began to take off his tie, and, while I warningly called out,
+'Be sure of your psychic's hands,' the doctor's collar was taken away
+and put around his wife's neck. His tie was then added to the collar.
+Mrs. Towne announced that, while holding firmly to the psychic, she felt
+the touch of _two_ hands about her face, and a few moments thereafter
+Dr. Merriam, seated next to Dr. Towne, said he felt a strong pressure
+upon his arm, as if some one were leaning upon it.
+
+"A little later these hands began to unbutton Dr. Towne's shirt-front,
+and several pencils were stuffed inside. Hands patted and touched those
+who sat within a radius of about a yard of the psychic; apparently the
+forces could not reach to where I sat. I complained of this, and almost
+immediately the psychic said there was some one for me, and in answer to
+my question, 'Is there some one present for me?' the pencil rapped three
+times upon the table in the affirmative. At my request this 'spirit'
+wrote his name upon a piece of paper, tore it off, and threw it in my
+lap. A moment later something hard and crackling came over the table.
+'My cuffs have been removed,' the psychic called out.
+
+"Having in mind one of the extraordinary experiments of Zoellner, I then
+asked 'Evans' to remove Dr. Towne's vest. I said: 'If we can get that,
+it will be in effect a confirmation of Zoellner's theory of the fourth
+dimension.'
+
+"For a few moments hands touched and patted Dr. Towne as if with intent
+to make this experiment but gave it up, and Peters announced that they
+were at work around him. It could not have been more than a minute later
+when I felt something soft thrown in my lap. I did not know what this
+was, and did not care to break the circle at the moment to find out, and
+the information was volunteered by the psychic that the 'spirits' had
+removed his vest, and this we afterward found to be the case, for at the
+close of the sitting his vest was lying at my feet."
+
+"Oh, come now," said Miller, "you don't intend to convey--"
+
+"I am telling exactly what took place," I replied.
+
+"Peters then said to Dr. Towne: 'Think of some signature, not your own,
+that you know very well, and I will reproduce it.' After a little
+silence the sound of writing could be heard, and the tap of a pencil
+announced that its task was done. The sheet of paper was then ripped
+from the pad, a very definite action, as you may believe, and the sound
+of the sheet being folded was plainly heard."
+
+"That would require a thumb and finger and afterward two hands,"
+remarked Miller.
+
+"Precisely; and they were there, notwithstanding the hands of the
+psychic could be felt (so Dr. Towne and Mrs. Towne both said) with no
+movement but a convulsive quivering.
+
+"I then asked 'Evans' if he could not lift the table for us, and he
+replied by tapping that he would try; and a few moments later the
+psychic, whose hands and feet began to pass through a period of tremor,
+warningly called out: 'Now please be very quiet, and don't break the
+circle.' I could hear him take a deep breath, and a moment later the
+table rose and passed over Mrs. Towne's head so closely that she was
+obliged to lean to the right to avoid it, and we all heard it gently
+deposited not far from the psychic's right hand. While this was done,
+both Dr. Towne and Mrs. Towne affirmed that their fingers were locked
+with those of the psychic.
+
+"Here, again, was a phenomenon, inconclusive in itself, from the fact
+that we could not see the table move, and yet which coheres with an
+immense body of inexplicable similar movements in the reports of
+Flammarion and Lombroso. It was impossible for the medium to lift this
+weight over Mrs. Towne's head, even if his right arm had been completely
+free, for the stand, though small, was heavy. I regarded this, at the
+moment, as an authentic case of telekinesis, and my further experience
+with this psychic has not weakened that conviction.
+
+"Shortly after this the psychic broke up the circle, saying that, as
+conditions were favorable, he would try to produce materialized forms.
+
+"Taking the chair which was occupied by Mrs. Steinert, he withdrew into
+the passage-way leading to the dining-room, requesting that the circle
+resolve itself into a half-circle facing the cabinet. You will remember
+that we were in a private house, and that all question of collusion is
+barred out. Shortly after he took his seat in this little recess, two or
+three brilliant lights, like the twisting flame of a small candle--a
+curious, glowing, yet not radiant violet flame--developed, high up on
+the outside of the portieres which formed the cabinet, and drifted
+across and up toward the ceiling, where they silently vanished. I think
+there must have been three of these, which were followed by a broad,
+glowing mass of what looked like white-hot metal--a singular light,
+unlike anything I had ever seen. It made me think of the substance
+described by Sir William Crookes and other experimenters abroad. At the
+moment this appeared--or possibly a little before it--a wild whoop was
+heard--very startling indeed, as if a door had suddenly been opened by a
+roguish boy and closed again. This practically ended the seance.
+
+"As we lighted up I had first interest for the object which had been
+thrown across to me. It proved to be a vest, which the psychic said was
+his. It was a soft gray vest, and matched his suit, and was without any
+trick seams--so far as I could see--being whole and uninjured. In the
+inside pocket a folded leaf of the paper from the pad was stuffed, and
+on this was the signature 'Alfred Towne,' which Dr. Towne said was an
+exact reproduction of his brother's autograph. On the sheet of paper
+which had been thrown to me was the simple word 'Taft.' This was taken
+by the circle to be a prophecy on the election, but, as my wife's family
+name is Taft, I put a different interpretation upon it. On the whole,
+the sitting made a profound impression upon me. It was not so much one
+thing as many things, all cohering with what I already knew of
+telekinetic phenomena. It was not a test sitting, as Peters
+acknowledged, but it was by no means easy to deceive under the control
+we exercised.
+
+"There were many things of interest aside from the physical happenings.
+The young man did not go into a trance, but remained perfectly normal.
+He took part in the conversation, answered all questions, and lent
+himself perfectly to the experiment. He said that if we would sit with
+him again he was sure we could have more light. 'I don't care to be
+known as a medium,' he declared. 'I like the study of law, and I want to
+be a lawyer--not a sensitive. In the first place, the law pays better,
+and, in the second place, it isn't considered a nice thing to be a
+medium. However, I will sit again for you, if you want me to, and I am
+sure you will get many other things in the light.' And he added to me
+later: 'We can get all these phenomena with no one present but
+ourselves. Come down to my home some evening and we will try again.'"
+
+"Did you accept his invitation?" asked Miller.
+
+"Yes; but before I did so we had another sitting at Dr. Towne's house,
+which gave me a closer view of all that went on, for I was permitted to
+sit at his left and grip his little finger. The circle was slightly
+changed the next time, and on his right sat a young lady whom we will
+call Miss Brown. She was a wide-awake and very unexcitable person, and I
+believe kept close hold on the psychic's right hand. In addition to our
+linked fingers, the psychic's hands were tied to ours with dental floss.
+
+"There was considerable light in the room this time, and as the nervous
+tremor developed in the psychic's hands and legs I imagined I could see
+a grayish vapor form just between and a little above our clasped hands.
+Suddenly I saw a shadowy arm dart forth from the cloud, and I felt the
+clasp of a firm hand on my wrist. It was a right hand. 'Are you
+controlling the psychic's hand?' I demanded of Miss Brown. 'Yes,' she
+replied, alertly. Even as I spoke I saw the mysterious limb dart out and
+seize upon a pencil which lay upon the table. Again and again I saw this
+'apparition' emerge from that vaporous cloud and handle the pad in the
+middle of the table. I could see three fingers on the under-side of the
+pad as it was held before the psychic's face, and these facts I
+announced to the other members of the circle, who could not see as
+plainly as I could. Sometimes the arm seemed white, sometimes black, and
+always it appeared to be a right hand."
+
+"That is to say, _your_ control was more vigorous than that of Miss
+Brown," remarked Miller.
+
+"A doubter might say so, and yet the thread which bound us had some
+value. One of the most extraordinary performances was the lifting of a
+glass of water which set in the centre of the table. I could see the
+glass plainly as it rose to the psychic's lips. It seemed to be
+sustained by a broad beam of vapor, or it may have been a slim arm
+clothed in white."
+
+"Probably the psychic's."
+
+"Possibly; but I don't see how it could have been. However, I do not
+place very much value upon it as standing alone, but considered in
+connection with the performances of Eusapia, it becomes a little more
+nearly credible."
+
+"But all this is very far from being an evidence of anything like
+intelligence," protested Fowler. "It seems very trivial to me."
+
+"It does not seem trivial to me," I answered; "but I will admit that is
+has nothing like the value of a series of sittings I held last spring
+with a psychic in a mid-Western city."
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+
+The reader will have observed that up to the present moment I have not
+emphasized in any way the question of the identity of the
+"intelligences" that have manifested themselves. The reason for this
+lies in the fact that I was still seeking evidence concerning the
+processes of mediumship. However, being convinced (by reason of my own
+experiments, supported by those of Lombroso, Morselli, and Bottazzi)
+that the facts of mediumship exist, it is my purpose to take up
+definitely the question of identity, which is the final and most elusive
+part of the problem--it may turn out to be the insoluble part of the
+problem.
+
+If you ask why it should be insoluble, I reply, because it concerns the
+mystery of death, and it may be that it is not well for us to penetrate
+the ultimate shadow. Among all the men of the highest rank who admit the
+reality of apparitions and voices, there are but few as yet who are
+willing to assert that the dead manifest themselves. By this I mean that
+though some of them, like Crookes, for example, believe in "the
+intervention of discarnate intelligences," they are not ready to grant
+that these intelligences are their grandfathers returning to the scene
+of their earthly labors.
+
+I said something like this to Miller and Fowler, when we met at the club
+one afternoon not long after the final meeting of Cameron's Amateur
+Psychical Society, and I added: "I must confess that most of the spirits
+I have met seem to me merely parasitic or secondary personalities (to
+use Maxwell's term), drawn from the psychic or from myself. Nearly every
+one of the mediums I have studied has had at least one guide, whose
+voice and habit of thought were perilously similar to her own. This, in
+some cases, has been laughable, as when 'Rolling Thunder,' a Sioux chief
+(Indians are all chiefs in the spirit world), appears and says: 'Goot
+efening, friends; id iss a nice night alretty.' And yet I have seen a
+whole roomful of people receive communications from a spirit of this
+kind with solemn awe. I burn with shame for the sitters and psychic when
+this kind of thing is going on."
+
+"You visit the wrong mediums," said Fowler. "Such psychics are on a low
+plane. I never go to those who associate with Indians."
+
+"But mediums are all alike in this respect. I don't suppose Mrs. Smiley
+realizes that 'Maudie' would be called by a doubter a falsetto disguise
+of her own voice, and 'Wilbur' a shrewd and humorous personification of
+her subconscious self; or, if she does, she probably ascribes it to the
+process of materialization which 'takes from' the medium. Never but once
+have I had the sensation of being in the presence of a real spirit
+personality, and that happened to me only a few days ago."
+
+"It must have been an extraordinary experience to have made so deep an
+impression upon you," said Fowler.
+
+"Yes, it was extraordinary. It had the personal element in it to a much
+greater degree than any case I had hitherto studied, and seemed a direct
+attempt at identification on the part of a powerful and original
+individuality but recently 'passed out.' It came about in this way:
+
+"I met, not long ago, at the home of a friend in a Western city, a woman
+who was said to be able to produce whispers independent of her own
+organs of speech. I was assured by those in whom I had confidence that
+these voices could be heard in the broad light of day, in the open air,
+anywhere the psychic happened to be, and that her 'work' was of an
+exceptionally high character. I was keenly interested, as you may
+imagine, and asked for a sitting. Mrs. Hartley, as we will call her,
+fixed a day and hour in her own house for the trial, and I went to the
+sitting a few days later with high expectations of her 'phase.' I found
+her living in a small frame house on a pleasant street, with nothing to
+indicate that it was a meeting-place of mortals and their 'spirit
+guides.'
+
+"Mrs. Hartley was quite evidently a woman of power and native
+intelligence. After a few minutes of general conversation she took me up
+to her study on the second floor, a sunny little den on the east side of
+the house, which was not in the least suggestive of hocus-pocus. A broad
+mission table, two bookcases, a few flowers, and a curious battered old
+black walnut table completed the furnishing of the room, which indicated
+something rather studious and thoughtful in the owner.
+
+"Mrs. Hartley asked me to be seated, and added, 'Please write on a sheet
+of paper the names of such friends as you would like to communicate
+with.' She then left the room on some household errand, and while she
+was gone I wrote the name of her guide, 'Dr. Cooke' (out of compliment),
+and added that of a musical friend whom I will call 'Ernest Alexander.'
+I also wrote the names 'Jessie' and 'David,' folded the sheet once, and
+retained it under my hand. Upon her return the psychic seated herself at
+the battered oval table, and, taking up a pair of hinged school slates,
+began to clean them with a cloth. I am not going to detail my
+precautions. You must take my detective work for granted. Moreover, in
+this case I was awaiting the voices; the slate-writing was gratuitous.
+She took the slates (between which I had dropped my slip of paper),
+and, putting them beneath the table, asked me to hold one corner."
+
+"I _wish_ they wouldn't do that," protested Fowler. "It isn't necessary.
+I've had messages on slates held in my own hands six feet from the
+psychic."
+
+"As we sat thus she told me that she had never been in a trance, and
+that she never permitted the dark. 'I force my guides to work in the
+light,' she said. She declared that the whispers which I was presently
+to hear came to her under all conditions, and that her spirit friends
+talked to her familiarly as she went about her household duties. She
+assured me that 'they' were a great help and comfort to her. 'Dr. Cooke'
+was her ever-present guide and counsellor, and her father and brother
+were always near.
+
+"It was plain that she did not stand in awe of them, for after half an
+hour's wait she grew impatient and called out in an imperious tone:
+'Come, dear, I want you. Come, anybody.' Two or three times she spoke
+loudly, clearly, as if calling to some one through a thick wall. This
+interested me exceedingly. Generally psychics are very humble and
+patient with their 'guides.' A few moments later the slates began to
+slam about so violently beneath the table that her arm was bruised, and
+she protested sharply: 'Don't do that. You will break the slates and the
+table both!' Thereupon the 'forces' quieted down till only a peculiar
+quiver remained in them. I could hear writing going on steadily.
+
+"At last a tap came to announce that the messages were written. The
+psychic withdrew the slates and handed them across the table to me. I
+opened them and took out my paper. On one slate was a message from 'Dr.
+Cooke,' the guide; on the other were these words, written in
+slate-pencil: '_I would that you could see me as I am now, still
+occupied, and happy to be busy._' This was followed by four lines and
+three little marks, evidently intended to symbolize a bar of music, and
+the whole was signed, 'E. Alexander.' The writing was firm and manly,
+but I did not recognize it as that of my friend.
+
+"The second trial resulted in this vague communication: '_My dear
+friend, don't overdo. Earth is but one life. Many I recall. I tried to
+give expression to my one talent._' This was signed 'Ernest Alexander.'
+Both these replies, as you see, were very general in phraseology, but
+the third message came closer to the individual: '_I was so tired and
+not myself. I am well and in the world of progress. Ernest Alexander._'
+The bar of music again appeared, this time much more 'developed.'"
+
+Miller stopped me here. "All this is quite simple. Mrs. Hartley opened
+and read your note and, following up the clew, simply did some neat
+trick-writing beneath the table."
+
+"It is not so simple as all that," I answered. "She was interrupted
+about this time by the doorbell, and while she was gone I wrote on
+another piece of paper: 'Ernest, give me a test of your identity. Write
+a bar from the "---- Sonata."' This note I folded close and put in an
+inside pocket.
+
+"In answer to this request, when the medium returned I got these
+pertinent words: '_I was not a disappointment to myself, but I was at a
+point where nerve force failed me._' This was signed '_Ernest_,' and was
+accompanied by another sketchy bar of music. It all looked like a real
+attempt to give me what I had asked for, and yet it was the kind of
+reply that might have been made by the medium had she known the history
+of my musical friend, or had she been able to take it out of my mind."
+
+"Even that is a violent assumption to me," remarked Miller.
+
+"So it is to me," I answered. "I can't really believe in thought
+transmission, and yet-- I then asked for the signature of the staff, and
+a small '_c_' was written in the bar above, and another bar was added.
+Now on the slates there came (with every evidence of eager haste)
+intimate questions concerning Alexander's family: '_Is my wife cared
+for?_' and the like. To these I replied orally. I must tell you that all
+along the whisper spoke of Alexander's wife as 'Mary,' which was wrong,
+although it was close to the actual name. Also, after I began to speak
+of him as 'E. A.' the messages were all signed in that manner, all of
+which would seem to argue a little confusion in the psychic's mind.
+
+"A little later, _while I held the slate myself_, the mysterious 'force'
+wrote, '_I thank you for what you have done. I have been told my mind is
+clear_,' which was particularly full of meaning to me, for the reason
+that my friend's mind was clouded toward the close of his life."
+
+"All of which proves nothing," insisted Miller. "Your friend, if I
+conjecture rightly, was a well-known man, and the psychic could have
+read, and probably did read, all about his illness in the public press."
+
+"It may be so. About this time I began to hear a faint whisper, which
+_seemed_ to come from a point a little to the right of and a foot or two
+above the psychic's lips. This, she informed me, was the voice of 'Dr.
+Cooke,' her guide. I could catch only a few of the whispered words, and
+Mrs. Hartley was forced to repeat them. 'Dr. Cooke,' thus interpreted,
+said: '_Your friend Alexander is present, and overjoyed to talk with
+you._' The conversation went on with both 'Dr. Cooke' and the psychic
+standing between the alleged spirit and myself; but even then I must
+admit that 'Alexander's' queries and answers were to the point.
+
+"Under what seemed like test conditions I got two more bars of music,
+both much more definitive in form than the others; and these, the
+whisper declared, were from the third movement of the '---- Sonata.'
+This message was accompanied by a curious little device like the letter
+_C_ with a line drawn through it, and I said to myself: 'If this should
+prove to be a mark which "Ernest" used in signing his manuscript,
+something like Whistler's butterfly, I shall have a fine test of thought
+transmission.'
+
+"I now secured under excellent tests the writing of a singular word,
+which was plainly spelled but meant nothing to me. It looked like
+'_Isinghere_.' In answer to oral questioning, the whisper said that
+these bars of music were part of an unpublished manuscript, a fragment,
+which the composer had meant to call 'Isinghere.'"
+
+"What about the process?" asked Miller. "Did the writing appear to be
+supernormal?"
+
+"Yes, and so did the whispering. I could detect no connection between
+the lips of the psychic and the voice. In one way or another I varied
+the conditions, so that I was at last quite convinced of the psychic's
+supernormal power; but that was not my quest. I was seeking proof of the
+identity of my friend 'E. A.'
+
+"Seeing that the chief means of identification might be in the music, I
+persuaded my friend Blake, who is a fairly competent musician, to sit
+with me and decipher the score which 'E. A.' persisted in setting down.
+I was now eager to secure a complete phrase of the music. I saw myself
+establishing, at the least, the most beautiful case of mind-tapping on
+record. 'If we can secure the score of an unpublished manuscript of
+Alexander's composition we shall have worked a miracle,' I said to
+Blake.
+
+"Our first sitting, which took place in the home of a common friend, was
+mixed as to results; but the second, which we held in Mrs. Hartley's
+study one bright morning, was very fruitful. The 'powers' started in at
+once as if to confound us both. Blake received a message written on a
+slate under his foot, and I got the name '_Jessie_,' with the word
+'_sister_' written beneath it; and then suddenly the whispers changed in
+character. The words became swift, impetuous, imperious. '_Line off all
+the leaves of a slate_,' the voice commanded. I understood at once, for
+in the previous sitting 'E. A.' had seemingly found it difficult to draw
+a long line.
+
+"We had brought some silicon slates of the book variety, and Blake now
+proceeded to rule one of them with the lines of a musical staff, and on
+these slates, held as before beneath the table, we began to get bars of
+music of a character quite outside the knowledge of the psychic and
+myself; and, more remarkable still, the whispers, so the psychic
+informed us, were no longer from 'Dr. Cooke'; 'E. A.,' she declared,
+was there in person and directing the work.
+
+"Furthermore, the requests that we now received were entirely different
+in character from 'Cooke's' impersonal remarks. The whispers were quick
+and masterful, wonderfully like 'Alexander' in content. 'He' was
+humorous; 'he' acknowledged mistakes in the score, calling them '_slips
+of the pen_.' 'He' became highly technical in his conversation with
+Blake, talking of musical matters that were Greek to me and, I venture
+to say, Coptic to the psychic. 'He' corrected the notations himself,
+sometimes when Blake held the slate, sometimes when I held it. Part of
+the time 'he' indicated the corrections orally. 'He' asked Blake to try
+the air.
+
+"At last 'he' broke off, and imperiously said: '_Take the table to the
+piano._' This seemed to surprise the psychic, but she acquiesced, and we
+moved the small stand and our slates down to the little parlor; and
+there, with Blake now holding the slate beneath the table and now
+playing the notes upon the piano, the score grew into a weird little
+melody with bass accompaniment, which seemed to me at the moment exactly
+like a message from my friend Alexander. The first bar went through me
+like the sound of his voice."
+
+"Now you are getting into the upper air of spiritualism," exulted
+Fowler. "You are now receiving a message that has dignity and meaning."
+
+"So it seemed at the moment, both to Blake and to myself. The music was
+manifestly not the kind of thing that Mrs. Hartley could conceive. It
+was absolutely _not_ commonplace. It was elliptical, touched with
+technical subtlety, although simple in appearance. At last a complete
+phrase was written out and partly harmonized. This, 'E. A.' said, was
+the beginning of a little piece that he had intended to call 'Unghere'
+or 'Hungarie.' Nothing in all my long experience with psychics ever
+moved me like the first phrase of that sweet, sad melody. It seemed like
+the touch of identification I had been seeking."
+
+"But your friend Blake was a musician," interrupted Miller. "And how
+about your own subconscious self? You are musical, and your mind is
+filled with your friend Alexander's music."
+
+"That is true, and I had that reservation all along. 'E. A.' may have
+been made up of our combined subconscious selves; I admit all that. But
+no matter; it was still very marvellous, even on its material side, for
+some of this music was written in while the slates were in Blake's
+entire control. At times he not merely inserted them himself but
+withdrew them--the psychic merely clutched one corner of them.
+Furthermore, throughout all this composition 'Ernest' was master of the
+situation. 'Dr. Cooke' was superseded. There was neither feebleness nor
+hesitation in the voice. I could now distinguish most of the words, and
+the dialogue went forward exactly as if a master musician were dictating
+to an intelligent amanuensis a new and subtle sketch."
+
+"Did the medium look at the music?" asked Miller.
+
+"Yes, now and then. However, most of the corrections were put in upside
+down, as regards her position, and during the last sitting she appeared
+to be no more than a mere on-looker. Once as we sat holding the slate
+'Ernest' whispered to me: '_Blake is a fine fellow. I met him twice._'"
+
+"'Can you tell me where?' asked Blake.
+
+"'_It was in New York City_,' was the reply; then, after a moment's
+hesitation: '_It was at dinner--both times!_' 'You are right,' said
+Blake, much impressed. 'Can you tell me the places?' '_Once was on Fifth
+Avenue. The other was--I can't tell the location exactly; but it was
+where we went down a short flight of steps._' 'That is correct also,'
+said Blake. 'How many persons were there?' '_Five._' 'Quite right. Can
+you tell me who they were?' '_Well, Mary was there, and you, of course;
+but I can't be sure of the others._'
+
+"Blake looked at me in astonishment, and our minds flashed along the
+same line. Suppose the whisper were only a bit of clever ventriloquism,
+how did the psychic secure the information conveyed in this dialogue? It
+was given as I write it, with only a bit of hesitation once or twice;
+and yet, it may have been merely thought transference."
+
+"_Merely_ thought transference!" exclaimed Miller. "I consider thought
+transference quite as absurd as slate-writing."
+
+Fowler interposed. "I consider this a simple case of spirit
+communication. You should be grateful for such a beautiful response."
+
+"This significant fact is not to be overlooked," I resumed: "the psychic
+secured almost nothing else that concerned either Blake's affairs or my
+own. Mainly the whispers had to do with 'E. A.,' which, of course, bears
+out Miller's notion that the psychic could deal only with what was
+public property, and yet this little colloquy about the dinners in New
+York is very convincing so far as mind-reading goes.
+
+"During the third sitting, Blake again being present, 'E. A.' took
+control, as before, from the start, and carried forward the recording of
+the musical fragment. '_I want you to fill in the treble, Blake_,' he
+said. '_It's nothing but the bare melody now._' Blake protested: 'I'm
+not up to this.' And the whisper came swiftly, '_You're too modest,
+Blake_'; and a moment later it said: '_I hope you're not bored,
+Garland._' If all this was a little play of the psychic's devising it
+was very clever, for after a few minutes of close attention to Blake,
+'E. A.' turned toward me and asked, with anxious haste: '_Where's
+Garland?_' 'I am here,' I answered. '_Don't go away_,' he entreated. It
+was as if for the moment he had lost sight of me by reason of fixing
+his attention upon Blake."
+
+"That is singular!" exclaimed Fowler. "Their field of vision is
+evidently much more restricted than we thought."
+
+"It must be very small indeed, for Blake and I sat touching elbows. Two
+or three times the whispering voice called, '_Is Garland here?_' and
+once it asked: '_What is Garland doing? I see his hand moving._' I
+explained that I was making notes. '_Don't do it!_' was the agitated
+request."
+
+"A very neat little touch," remarked Miller.
+
+"We worked for a long time over this music, directed by the voice, both
+in the notation and in the execution of it. The lines were drawn for
+both bass and treble lengthwise of the slate, and Blake found the little
+piece difficult to play, partly because the staves were on different
+leaves of the slate and partly because the notes, especially some of
+those put in at the beginning by the composer, were becoming blurred. It
+was marvellous to see how exactly these dim notes were touched up by the
+mysterious pencil beneath the table. But our progress was slow. 'E. A.'
+was very patient, though now and then he plumply opposed his will to
+Blake's. Once, especially, Blake exclaimed: 'That can't be right!'
+
+"'_Yes, it is right!_' insisted 'E. A.'
+
+"'But it is very unusual to construct a measure in that way.' For there
+was a seeming confusion of three-four time with six-eight time.
+
+"'_It is a liberty I permit myself_,' was the swift reply.
+
+"In the last bar, which did not appear to be filled satisfactorily, the
+composer directed the insertion of a figure 2. This meant, as became
+clear through a subsequent reference to his printed scores, the playing
+of two quarter-notes in the time of three eighth notes, but was not
+understood at the moment by Blake.
+
+"'_Never mind_,' said 'E. A.,' pleasantly, '_I will write it
+differently_.' The figure '2' was cancelled, and the measure was
+completed by a rest. This is only one of many astonishing passages in
+this dialogue.
+
+"In all this work 'E. A.' carried himself like the creative master. He
+held to a plane apparently far above the psychic's musical knowledge,
+and often above that of his amanuensis. He was highly technical
+throughout in both the composition and the playing, and Blake followed
+his will, for the most part, as if the whispers came from Alexander
+himself. And yet I repeat the music and all may have come from a union
+of Blake's mind with that of the psychic, with now and then a mixture of
+my own subconscious self."
+
+"What was the psychic doing all this time?" asked Miller.
+
+"She was listening to the voice and repeating the words which Blake
+could not hear. She seemed merely the somewhat bored interpreter of
+words which she did not fully understand. It was precisely as if she
+were catching by wireless telephone the whispered instructions of my
+friend 'E. A.' I can't believe she consciously deceived us, but it is
+possible that these ventriloquistic voices have become a subconscious
+habit.
+
+"One other very curious event I must note. Once, when Blake was asking
+for a correction, the whisper exclaimed: '_I can't see it, Blake!_'
+
+"'_Cover it with your hand_,' interjected the 'control.' Blake did so,
+and 'E. A.' spoke, gratefully: '_I see it now._"
+
+"Seeing cannot mean the same with them that it does with us," exclaimed
+Fowler. "You remember Crookes put his finger on the print of a newspaper
+behind his back, and the 'spirit' spoke the word that was under his
+finger-tip. They apprehend by means of some form of etheric vibration
+not known to us."
+
+I resumed: "Let me stop here for a moment to emphasize a very curious
+contradiction. Between my first seance with Mrs. Hartley and this, our
+third attempt to secure the music, I had held two sittings in the home
+of a friend. Mrs. Hartley had come to the house about ten o'clock in the
+morning, bringing nothing with her except a few tips of soft
+slate-pencil. During the sitting I had secured in the middle of a manila
+pad (a pad which the psychic had never seen and which I had taken from
+my friend's desk) these words: '_Have Schumann.--E. A._' This writing I
+had taken to mean that 'Ernest' wanted to hear some of Schumann's music,
+and in that understanding I had called Blake in to play. This had seemed
+at the moment perfectly conclusive and entirely satisfactory; yet now,
+in this final sitting, 'E. A.' suddenly reverted to this message, and
+whispered: '_Garland, there is a certain etude which I took to Schumann.
+I want you to regain it and take it to Smart. Mary will know about it. I
+meant to take it away, but did I? I was so badly off mentally that I
+don't know whether I did or not._' Whereupon Blake said: 'Do you mean
+Schumann the publisher?' '_Yes_,' 'E. A.' replied; and I said: 'And you
+want the manuscript recalled from Schumann and given to Smart?' '_Yes_,'
+was his very definite answer.
+
+"'Very well, I will attend to it,' I replied. 'What do you want done
+with this fragment, "Isinghere"?' I pursued. 'Shall I publish it?'
+'_That is what it is for_,' he answered, curtly.
+
+"'How many bars are in it?' asked Blake. 'Forty?' '_More_,' returned the
+whisper.
+
+"Blake made the mistake of again suggesting an answer. 'As many as
+sixty?'
+
+"'_Yes, sixty or seventy_,' was the answer, like an echo. Here Blake's
+thought governed, but it was evident that the psychic had no clear
+conception of what this reference to Schumann meant in the first
+instance, for 'E. A.' was unable to complete his sentence, which should
+have read: '_Have Schumann return a certain etude which I took.--E. A._'
+Furthermore, the psychic evidently believed in the truth of the message
+or she would not have gone into it with such particularity; she would
+have been lacking in caution to have given me such definite and detailed
+information, knowing that it was all false.
+
+"So far as my own mind is concerned, I had no knowledge of such a music
+publisher as Schumann. Smart I had met. Blake, however, knew of both
+firms. The entire message and the method of its communication were
+deeply exciting at the time, and completed what seemed like a highly
+intellectual test of identity, and we both left the house of the psychic
+with a feeling of having been very near to our dead friend.
+
+"'To identify one of these bars of music would be a good test,' said
+Blake, 'but to find that _etude_ at Schumann's would be a triumph.'
+
+"'To find the manuscript fragment would be still more convincing,' was
+my answer.
+
+"Imagine my disappointment when, in answer to my inquiry, Schumann
+replied that no such _etude_ had ever been in his hands, and Alexander's
+family reported that no fragment called 'Unghere' could be found among
+the composer's manuscripts."
+
+Fowler shared my regret. "What about the other messages? Were they all
+disappointing?"
+
+"No; some of them were not. The most intimate were true; and a signature
+which came on the slate under test conditions, and which I valued very
+little at the moment, turned out to be almost the exact duplicate of
+Alexander's signature as he used to write it when a youth twenty years
+ago. As a matter of fact, it closely resembled the signature appended to
+a framed letter which used to hang upon the wall of his study. But, even
+so, its reproduction under these conditions is sufficiently puzzling."
+
+"What was Blake's conclusion? Did he put the same value upon it all that
+you did?"
+
+"Yes, I think he was quite as deeply impressed as I. He said the music
+seemed like Alexander's music, somehow distorted by the medium through
+which it came. 'It was like seeing Alexander through a pane of crinkly
+glass,' he put it. And he added: 'I had the sense of being in
+long-distance contact with the composer himself.' He had no doubt of the
+supernormal means through which our writing came, but he remains
+doubtful of the value of the music as evidence of 'Ernest's' return from
+the world of shadows."
+
+"Have you tried to secure more of the music?" Fowler asked.
+
+"No, not specifically; but I've had one further inconclusive sitting
+since then with Mrs. Hartley. Almost immediately 'Ernest' whispered a
+greeting and said: '_I want to go on with that music, Garland. I want to
+put B and D and A into the first bar--it's only a bare sketch as it
+stands._'
+
+"To this I replied: 'I can't do it, 'Ernest.' It's beyond me. Wait till
+I can get Blake again.'
+
+"This ended his attempt, although he was 'terribly anxious,' so the
+psychic said. I am going to try for the completion of this score through
+another psychic. If I can get that eighth bar taken up and carried on by
+'Ernest' through another psychic the case will become complicated.
+
+"I have gone into detail in my account of this experiment, for the
+reason that it illustrates very aptly the inextricable tangle of truth
+and error which most 'spirit communications' present. It typifies in
+little the elusive problem of spirit identification which many a veteran
+investigator is still at work upon, after years of study. Maxwell gives
+a case of long-continued unintentional and unconscious deception of the
+general kind which went far to prevent his acceptance of the spirit
+hypothesis."
+
+"I don't think the failure to find the musical fragment invalidates this
+beautiful communication," declared Fowler. "You admit that many of the
+messages were to the point, and that some of them were very intimate and
+personal."
+
+"Yes, speaking generally, I would say that 'E. A.' might have uttered
+all the words and dictated all the messages except those that related to
+the publishing matter; but there is the final test. Schumann declares
+that no such manuscript has ever been in his hands."
+
+"He may be mistaken, or 'E. A.' may have misspoken himself--for, as
+William James infers, the spirits find themselves tremendously hampered
+in their attempts to manifest themselves. Furthermore, you say you could
+not hear all that 'E. A.' spoke--you or the psychic may have
+misunderstood him. In any case, it all seems to me a fine attempt at
+identification."
+
+"I wish I could put the same value on it now that I did when Blake
+played the first bar of that thrilling little melody; but I can't. As it
+recedes it loses its power over me."
+
+"What did Alexander's family think of the music?"
+
+"They thought it more like a Cheyenne or Omaha love-song than like a
+melody of 'Ernest's' own composition."
+
+"But that only adds to the mystery of the mental process," objected
+Miller. "That supposes it to have come out of your mind."
+
+"I can't believe that I had any hand in the musical part of it, and I
+can't persuade myself that my dead friend was present."
+
+"Suppose you had been able to find that musical fragment, would it have
+converted you?" This was Miller's challenge.
+
+"No, for even then some living person might have known of it--must have
+known of it; and if a knowledge of it lay in some other mind, no matter
+where and no matter how deeply buried in the subconscious, that
+knowledge, according to Myers and Hudson, would have been accessible to
+the supernormal perception of the psychic."
+
+Fowler interrogated me: "But suppose a phantom form resembling 'E. A.'
+had _spoken_ these things to you face to face--what then?"
+
+"I would not have believed, even then."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Well, for one reason, belief is not a matter of the will; it is not
+even dependent upon evidence."
+
+Miller interrupted me. "I am interested in the writing. How do you
+account for the writing? As I understand it, the psychic did not, in
+some instances, touch the slate while the writing was going on. Are you
+sure of Blake?"
+
+"Blake is as much to be trusted as I am. No, I am forced to a practical
+acceptance of the theory of the fluidic arm, and yet this is a most
+astounding admission. We must suppose that the psychic was able to read
+our minds and write down our mingled and confused musical conceptions by
+means of a supernumerary hand. It happens that I have since seen these
+etheric hands in action, which makes it easier for me to conceive of
+such a process. I have seen them dart forth from another medium
+precisely as described by Scarpa. I have seen them lift a glass of
+water, and I have had them touch my knees beneath a table while
+slate-writing was going on--so that, given the power to read my mind,
+there is nothing impossible (having regard to Bottazzi's definite
+experiments) in the idea of the etheric hand's setting down the music
+and reproducing the signature of 'E. A.' In fact, at a recent sitting in
+a private house with a young male psychic, we had this precise feat
+performed. Said the psychic to our host, Dr. Towne, 'Think hard of a
+signature that is very familiar to you,' and Dr. Towne fixed his mind
+upon the signature of his brother, and immediately, while the young
+man's material hands were controlled, his etheric hand seized a pencil
+in the middle of the table and reproduced the signature."
+
+"Could you see this hand?" Miller asked.
+
+"Not in this case; but at a sitting which followed this, during such
+time as I sat beside the psychic and controlled one hand, I plainly saw
+the supernumerary arm and hand dart forth and seize a pencil. I saw a
+hand very plainly cross my knee and grasp me by the forearm. All of this
+has its bearing upon this very curious phenomenon of the reproduction of
+'E. A's.' youthful signature, which remained very puzzling to us all."
+
+"But did you not say that 'E. A.' at times represented an opposing
+will?" questioned Fowler--"that he disputed certain passages with Blake,
+and that he finally carried his point in opposition to every mind in the
+circle?"
+
+"Yes, that happened several times, and was all very convincing at the
+time. And yet this opposition may have been more apparent than real. It
+may have concerned our conscious wills only; our subconscious selves may
+have been in accord, working together as one."
+
+Fowler was a bit irritated. "If you are disposed to make the
+subconscious will all-powerful and omniscient, nothing can be proved. It
+seems to me an evasion. However, let me ask how you would explain away a
+spirit form carrying the voice, the features, and the musical genius of
+'E. A.'?"
+
+"Well, there is the teleplastic theory of Albert de Rochas. He claims to
+have been able not merely to cause a hypnotized subject to exteriorize
+her astral self, but to mould this vapory substance as a sculptor models
+wax. So I can imagine that a momentary radiant apparition might have
+been created in the image of my sister or 'David' or 'E. A.'"
+
+"To my thinking, that is more complicated and incredible than the spirit
+hypothesis," objected Fowler.
+
+"Nothing can be more incredible to me than the spirit hypothesis," I
+replied. "But, then, everything is incredible in the last analysis. I
+am the more disposed to believe in the teleplastic theory, for the
+reason that I have recently had an opportunity to witness a particularly
+incredible thing: the materialization of a complete human form outside
+the cabinet and beside the psychic--a phenomenon which has a special
+bearing upon the matter of identity which we are discussing. The sitting
+took place in a small private house here in the city. The psychic in the
+case was a young business man who is careful not to advertise his power.
+For four years he has been holding secret developing circles whereto a
+few of his friends only are invited. I was present last Sunday, and
+shared in the marvels. The place of the seance was the parlor of his
+apartment, his young wife and little daughter being present. There was,
+in addition, an elderly lady, mother-in-law of the psychic, and a Polish
+student whom I will call Jacob. I am quite sure that no one else entered
+or left the room during the evening. Mrs. Pratt, the mother-in-law,
+occupied a seat between me and Jacob. The little girl sat at the window,
+and was under my eye all the time. The wife spent most of the evening at
+the piano on my right. The room was fairly dark, though the light of a
+far-away street lamp shone in at the window.
+
+"The psychic retired into a little alcove bedroom, which served as
+cabinet, and the curtain had hardly fallen between him and our group
+when the spirit voices began. The first one to speak was 'Evan,' the
+'guide,' and I remarked that his voice was precisely like a falsetto
+disguise of the psychic's own.
+
+"Soon 'Evan' and other spirits appeared at the opening of the curtain.
+The wife called them each by name, but I could see only certain curious
+fluctuating, cloud-like forms, like puffs of fire-lit steam. The effect
+was not that of illuminated gauze, but more like illuminated vapor. At
+length came one that spoke in a deep voice, using a foreign language.
+Jacob, the young Pole, sprang up in joyous excitement, saying that he
+had sat many times in this little circle, but that this was the first
+time a spirit had spoken to him in his own tongue. As they conversed
+together, I detected a close similarity of accent and of tone in their
+speech. It certainly sounded like the Polish language, but I could not
+rid myself of the impression that the Pole was talking to himself."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"I mean that the accent, inflection, and quality of the ghost's voice
+were identical with that of the living man, and this became still more
+striking when, a little later, Jacob returned to his seat, and the
+'Count,' his visitor, called for the Polish national hymn. Jacob then
+sang, and the phantom sang with him. Now this seemed like a clear case
+of identification, and was perfectly satisfactory to Jacob, but I had
+observed this fact: the Pole was an indifferent singer--having hard
+work to keep the key--and the 'Count' was troubled in the same way. His
+deep, almost toneless, singing struck me as a dead, flat, wooden echo of
+Jacob's voice. In short, it was as if the psychic had built up a
+personality partly out of himself, but mainly out of his Polish sitter,
+and as if this etheric duplication were singing in unison with its
+progenitor."
+
+"What nonsense!" exclaimed Fowler.
+
+"Did he manufacture a double out of you?" queried Miller.
+
+"No one spoke to me from the shadow, except the 'guide,' although I was
+hoping for some new word from 'Ernest,' and kept him uppermost in my
+mind. A form came out into the centre of the room, which the wife said
+was 'Evan,' and requested me to shake his hand. This I did. The hand
+felt as if it were covered with some gauzy veiling. My belief is that it
+was the psychic himself who stood before me, probably in trance. I could
+see nothing, however. I do not remember that I could detect any shadow
+even; but the hand was real, and the voice and manner of speech were
+precisely those of the psychic himself."
+
+"I repeat that this does not necessarily imply fraud, for the mind and
+vocal organs of the psychic are often used in that way," Fowler argued.
+
+"I grant that. Up to this point I had been able to see nothing but dim
+outlines. But toward the end of the evening the psychic advanced from
+the cabinet and in a dazed way ordered the lamp to be lit. This was
+done. He then asked that it be turned low. This was also done.
+Thereupon, directing his gaze toward the curtain, he called twice in a
+tone of command, '_Come out!_'
+
+"I could place every one in the room at the moment. I could see the
+psychic distinctly. I could discern the color of his coat and the
+expression of his face. He stood at least six feet from the opening in
+the curtain. At his second cry, in which I detected a note of entreaty,
+I saw a luminous form, taller than himself, suddenly appear before the
+curtain and stand bowing in silence. I could perceive neither face,
+eyes, nor feet, but I could make out the arms under the shining robe,
+the shape of the head and the shoulders, and as he bowed I could see the
+bending of his neck. It certainly was not a clothes-horse. The covering
+was not so much a robe as a swathing, and we had time to discuss it
+briefly.
+
+"However, my eyes were mainly busy with the psychic, whose actions
+impressed me deeply. He had the air of an anxious man undergoing a
+dangerous ordeal. His right hand was stretched stiffly toward the
+phantom, his left was held near his heart; his knees seemed to tremble,
+and his body appeared to be irresistibly drawn toward the cabinet.
+Slowly, watchfully, fearfully, he approached the phantom. The figure
+turned toward him, and a moment later they met--they clung together,
+they appeared to coalesce, and the psychic fell through the curtain to
+the floor of the cabinet, like a man smitten with death."
+
+"What do you wish to imply?" asked Miller. "Do you mean that the man and
+the ghost were united in some way?"
+
+"Precisely so. The 'spirit' seemed drawn by some magnetic force toward
+the psychic, and the psychic seemed under an immense strain to keep the
+apparition exterior to himself. When they met the spectre vanished, and
+the psychic's fall seemed inevitable--a collapse from utter exhaustion.
+I was at the moment convinced that I had seen a vaporous entity born of
+the medium. It seemed a clear case of projection of the astral body. In
+the pause which followed the psychic's fall the young wife turned to me
+and said: 'Sometimes, if my husband does not reach the spirit form in
+time, he falls _outside_ the curtain.' She did not seem especially
+alarmed.
+
+"The young psychic himself, however, told me afterward that he was
+undergoing a tremendous strain as he stood there commanding the spirit
+to appear. 'I had a fierce pain in the centre of my forehead,' he said.
+'I couldn't get my breath. I felt as if all my substance, my strength,
+was being drawn out of me. My legs seemed about to give way. It is
+always hard to produce a form so far away from me when I am on the
+outside of the cabinet in the light. The greater the distance, the
+greater the strain.' I asked him what happened when he and the form
+rushed together, and he answered: 'As soon as I touched it, it
+re-entered my body.'"[2]
+
+"I wonder why the spirits are always clothed in that luminous gauze?"
+queried Miller.
+
+"They are not," replied Fowler. "More often they come in the clothing
+which was their habitual wear."
+
+"I asked this young psychic if drapery were used out of respect to us
+mortals, and he replied: 'No; the forms are swathed not from sense of
+propriety so much as to protect the body, which is often incomplete at
+the extremities.' The wife and Jacob told me that at one of their
+meetings a naked Hercules suddenly appeared before the curtain. The Pole
+declared: 'He was of giant size and strength. I felt of his muscles (he
+was clothed only in a loincloth), and I closely studied his tremendous
+arms and shoulders. The medium, as you know, is a small, thin man. We
+called this figure "the man from Mars." He was at least six feet high,
+and strong as a lion. He rushed back into the cabinet, and came out
+holding the medium above his head on his upraised palms. It was very
+wonderful.'"
+
+"You didn't see anything like that, did you?" asked Miller.
+
+"No," I replied; "but I did see the development of a figure apparently
+from the floor between me and the curtain of the cabinet. My attention
+was called to something wavering, shimmering, and fluctuating about a
+foot above the carpet. It was neither steam nor flame. It seemed
+compounded of both luminous vapor and puffing clouds of drapery. It rose
+and fell in quivering impulses, expanding and contracting, but
+continuing to grow until at last it towered to the height of a tall man,
+and I could dimly discern, through dark draperies edged with light, a
+man's figure.
+
+"'This,' the young wife said, 'is Judge White, the grandfather of the
+psychic,' and she conversed with him, but only for a few moments. He
+soon dwindled and faded and melted away in the same fashion as he had
+come, recalling to my mind Richet's description of the birth and
+disappearance of 'B. B.,' in Algiers. I know this sounds like the
+veriest dreaming, but you must remember that materializations much more
+wonderful have been seen and analyzed in the clinical laboratories of
+Turin and Naples. Morselli, Bottazzi, Lombroso, Porro, and Foa have been
+confronted by similar apparitions. They saw 'sinister' faces, and were
+repelled by 'Satanic hands agile and prompt' in cabinets of their own
+construction, surrounded by their own registering machinery, and Richet
+photographed just such figures as this I have described.
+
+"The question with me is not, Do these forms exist? but, What produces
+them? I am describing this sitting to explain what I mean by the
+ideoplastic or teleplastic theory. If, for example, this psychic had
+known me well enough to have had a very definite picture of 'E. A.,' he
+might have been able to model from the mind-stuff that he or the circle
+had thrown off, a luminous image of my friend, and, aided by my
+subconscious self, might have united the presence and the musical
+thought of Ernest Alexander."
+
+"It won't do!" exclaimed Miller. "It's all too destructive, too
+preposterous!"
+
+"I insist that the spirit hypothesis is simpler," repeated Fowler.
+
+"It isn't a question of simplicity," I retorted. "It's a question of
+fact. If the observations of scientific experimentalists are of any
+value, the teleplastic theory is on the point of winning acceptance."
+
+"I will not admit that," rejoined Fowler. "For, even if you throw out
+all the enormous mass of evidence accumulated by spiritistic
+investigators, you still have the conversion of Wallace, Lodge, and
+Lombroso, not to speak of De Vesme, Venzano, and other well-known men of
+science, to account for. Even Crookes himself admits that nothing but
+some form of spirit hypothesis is capable of explaining _all_ the
+phenomena; and in a recent issue of the _Annals of Psychic Science_
+Lombroso writes a paper making several very strong points against the
+biologic theory. One of these is the simultaneous occurrence of
+phenomena. 'Can the subconscious self act in several places at once?' he
+asks. A second objection lies in the fact that movements occur in
+opposition to the will of the psychic--as, for example, when Eusapia was
+transported in her chair. 'Can a man lift himself by his boot-straps?'
+is the question. 'The centre of gravity of a body cannot be altered in
+space unless acted upon by an external force. Therefore, the phenomena
+of levitation cannot be considered to be produced by energy emanating
+from the medium.'"
+
+"I don't think that follows," I argued. "Force may be exerted
+unconsciously and invisibly. Because the psychic does not _consciously_
+will to do a certain thing is no proof that the action does not
+originate in the deeps of her personality. We know very little of this
+obscure region of our minds."
+
+Fowler was ready with his answer: "But let us take the case that
+Lombroso cites of the beautiful woman spirit whose hand twice dashed the
+photographic plates from the grasp of those who wished to secure her
+picture. Here was plainly an opposing will, for the psychic was lending
+herself to the experiment, and the spectators were eager for its
+success. Notwithstanding which co-operation this phantom bitterly
+opposed the wishes of every one present, and it was _afterward_ learned
+that there was a special reason why she did not wish to leave positive
+proofs of her identity. 'It is evident, therefore,' concludes Lombroso,
+'that a third will can intervene in spiritistic phenomena.'
+
+"Furthermore, Dr. Venzano, as well as De Vesme, have taken up the same
+body of facts upon which Foa and Morselli base their theory, and arrive
+at a totally different conclusion. They call attention to a dozen events
+that can be explained only on the theory of discarnate intelligences.
+Venzano observed that the forms occurred in several places at once, that
+they appeared in many shapes and many guises. Some were like children,
+some had curly hair, some had beards. In one case identification was
+made by introducing the finger of one of the sitters within the phantom
+mouth to prove the loss of a molar tooth. Sometimes the hair of these
+heads was plaited like that of a girl. Some of the hands were large and
+black, others fair and pink--like a child's. In short, he argues that
+the medium could not have determined the size, shape, or color of the
+phantoms."
+
+"All that does not really militate against the ideoplastic theory," I
+retorted. "It is as easy to produce a phantom with hair plaited as it is
+to produce one with hair in curls. If it is a case of the modelling of
+the etheric vapor by the mind of the psychic, these differences would be
+produced naturally enough. The forcible handling of the medium by the
+invisible ones is a much more difficult thing for me to explain, for to
+imagine the psychic emitting a form of force which afterward proceeds to
+raise the psychic herself against her will--as Mrs. Smiley testifies
+happened again and again in her youth--is to do violence to all that we
+know of natural law. And yet it may be that the etheric double is able
+to take on part of the forces resident in the circle of sitters, and so
+become immensely more potent than the psychic himself, as in the case of
+the 'Man from Mars'--the Hercules I have just been telling you about.
+Then, as to the content of these messages, they may be impulses, hints,
+fragments of sentences caught from the air as one wireless operator
+intercepts communications meant for other stations than his own. So that
+my interview with 'E. A.' may have been a compounding of the psychic,
+Blake, and myself, and fugitive natures afloat in the ether. In fact, I
+am not as near a belief in the return of the dead as I was when I began
+this last series of experiments. These Italian scientific observers, I
+confess, have profoundly affected my thought."
+
+"Your idea is, then," said Miller, "that these apparitions are
+emanations of the medium's physical substance, moulded by his will and
+colored by the minds of his sitters?"
+
+"That is the up-to-date theory, and everything that I have experienced
+seems capable of a biologic interpretation against it."
+
+Fowler hastened to weaken the force of this statement. "Spiritists all
+admit that the forms of spirits are made up--partly, at least--of the
+psychic's material self, but that does not prove that the mind of the
+ghost is not a separate entity from that of the psychic. I grant that
+the only difference between the psycho-dynamic theory and the
+spiritualistic theory lies in the question of the origin of the
+intelligences that direct the manifestation. Foa would say they spring
+from the subconscious self of the psychic. We say they come from the
+spirit world, and there we stand."
+
+Miller's words were keen and without emotion. "Until all phenomena are
+explained there will be obscure happenings and things to be explained by
+some one who can, but it is no final explanation to say 'a man did it'
+or 'an intelligence did it.' I have often been told that things cannot
+move in certain ways or certain things cannot be done except by
+intelligent action or guidance, but it may be remembered that Kepler
+thought guiding spirits were needful for making the planets move in
+their elliptical orbits."
+
+"Your scientists are feeding millions of people stones," exclaimed
+Fowler. "They ask for bread, and you give them slices of granite."
+
+"Better granite than slime," said Miller. "I am with the biologists in
+this campaign. Let us have the truth, no matter how unpalatable it may
+be. If these phenomena exist, they are in the domain of natural law and
+can be weighed and measured. If they are imaginary, they should be swept
+away, like other dreams of superstition and ignorance."
+
+Fowler was not to be silenced. "I predict that you and your like will
+yet be forced, like Lombroso, to take your place with Aksakof, Lodge,
+Wallace, Du Prel, and Crookes, who have come to admit the intervention
+of discarnate intelligences. Lombroso says, 'We find, as I already
+foresaw some years ago, that these materialized bodies belong to the
+radiant state of matter, which has now a sure foothold in science. This
+is the only hypothesis that can reconcile the ancient and universal
+belief in the persistence of some manifestation of life after death with
+the results of science.' He adds: 'These beings, or remnants of beings,
+would not be able to obtain complete consistency to incarnate
+themselves, if they did not temporarily borrow a part of the medium.
+_But to borrow force from the medium is not the same thing as to be
+identical with the medium._'"
+
+"Well," said I, "of this I am certain: we cannot afford to ignore such
+experiments as those of Morselli and Bottazzi. I am aware that many
+investigators discountenance such experiments, but I believe with
+Venzano that the physical phenomena of mediumship cannot be, and ought
+not to be, considered trivial. It was the spasmodic movement of a
+decapitated frog that resulted in the discovery of the Voltaic Pile.
+Furthermore, I intend to try every other conceivable hypothesis before
+accepting that of the spiritists."
+
+"What is your reason for that?" asked Fowler.
+
+"Because I am a scientist in my sympathies. I believe in the methods of
+the chemist and the electrician. I prefer the experimenter to the
+theorist. I like the calm, clear, concise statements of these European
+savans, who approach the subject, not as bereaved persons, but as
+biologists. I am ready to go wherever science leads, and I should be
+very glad to _know_ that our life here is but a link in the chain of
+existence. Others may have more convincing knowledge than I, but at this
+present moment the weight of evidence seems to me to be on the side of
+the theory that mediumship is, after all, a question of unexplored human
+biology."
+
+"I don't see it that way," rejoined Fowler, calmly. "Suppose your
+biologists prove that the psychic can put forth a supernumerary arm, or
+maintain, for a short time, a complete double of herself. Would that
+necessarily make the spiritist theory untenable? Is it not fair to
+conclude that if the soul or 'astral' or 'etheric double' can act
+outside the living body, it can live and think and manifest after the
+dissolution of its material shell? Does not the experimental work of
+Bottazzi, Morselli, and De Rochas all make for a spiritual
+interpretation of life rather than for the position of the materialist?
+I consider that they have strengthened rather than weakened the mystic
+side of the universe. They are bringing the wonder of the world back to
+the positivist. Let them go on. They will yet demonstrate, in spite of
+themselves, the immortality of the soul."
+
+"I hope they will," I replied. "It would be glorious at this time, when
+tradition begins to fail of power, to have a demonstration of
+immortality come through the methods of experimental science. Certainly
+I would welcome a physical proof that my mother still thinks and lives,
+and that Ernest and other of my dearest friends are at work on other
+planes and surrounded by other conditions, no matter how different from
+the conventional idea of paradise these environments might be; but the
+proof must be ample and very definite."
+
+Miller put in a last word of warning: "Because a phenomenon has not
+been explained, and no one knows how to explain it, is no reason for
+supposing there is anything extraphysical about it. No one has explained
+the first cause of the development of an embryo. No one knows what goes
+on in an active nerve, or why atoms are selective in their associates.
+Ignorance is not a proper basis for speculation, and if one must have a
+theory, let it be one having some obvious continuity with our best
+physical knowledge."
+
+And at that point our argument rested. We separated, and each went his
+way, to be met by questions of business and politics, and to be once
+more blended to the all-enveloping mystery of life.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[2] Since this conversation I have had a letter from another
+well-authenticated psychic, a man making his living by honest labor as a
+carpenter, who gives very definitely his experience on emitting an
+etheric double. He says: "One evening, while sitting at the table, I
+began to feel as if I were swelling up. My thumb felt as big as my arm,
+and my arm as big as my leg. While I was perfectly aware that I was at
+the dinner-table, I also felt myself in the hall trying to enter the
+dining-room. I found the knob, I opened the door. The others saw me
+traverse the room toward myself. My dual body came close beside me and
+vanished with a snap."
+
+
+
+
+ADDENDUM
+
+
+     A CORROBORATIVE AND TECHNICAL ACCOUNT OF PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA,
+     INVOLVING THE PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL SCORE ON A SLATE, SECURED BY
+     "BLAKE."[3]
+
+
+This record was secured during three sittings, which took place on the
+forenoon and afternoon of Friday, March 13th, and on the forenoon of
+Saturday, March 14, 1908. These sittings were held in a dwelling-house
+on a quiet street of ordinary character. They began in a second-story
+front room, and were transferred to a parlor just below, where there was
+a piano. The room, in either case, was fairly light; now and then the
+window-shades were lowered, but reading and writing were easy at all
+times. Three persons were present: the psychic, a robust, alert,
+intelligent woman of thirty-five; Hamlin Garland; and the writer, who
+combined the functions of amanuensis and editor.
+
+The psychic was not in a trance, and stated that she had never gone
+into one. She conversed throughout in ordinary voice and manner, save
+when, with a certain emphasis, she undertook to hasten the pace of her
+lagging "controls." The three sittings were attended by little noise,
+pounding, or violence; there was no breaking or crumpling up of slates,
+as had been the case during an earlier sitting on Thursday.
+
+The psychic's principal "control"--to be known here as "Dr.
+Cooke"--spoke in whispers, and his words were repeated aloud by the
+psychic herself. These whisperings were only occasionally audible to the
+writer, but they were plainly heard by Mr. Garland. It may be added that
+on at least two occasions, however, the writer heard and understood
+replies which the psychic declared had not been audible to her. During
+the latter portion of these sittings, especially that of Saturday, the
+"control" seemed to withdraw altogether, and for two or three hours the
+circle was in apparent communication--direct, rapid, uninterrupted--with
+an intelligence that may conveniently be termed the "Composer."
+
+The paraphernalia for these sittings comprised the following:
+
+1. A small, light, walnut centre-table, which Mr. Garland himself had
+assisted in repairing before the proceedings began.
+
+2. A silicon book-slate, eight inches by five inches. There were six
+pages--the insides of the covers and a double leaf. These leaves lay
+close and flat, like those of a book.
+
+3. A few bits of slate-pencil, from one-quarter of an inch to
+three-eighths of an inch in length; also a longer slate-pencil used by
+the writer.
+
+4. A small writing-pad and lead-pencil, for general memoranda and
+notations.
+
+5. Certain fruits and flowers, such as roses, sweet-peas, pineapples,
+and grape-fruit. These met the psychic's needs or fancies, and were
+brought into close relation with pad or slate when the "forces" seemed
+inclined to weaken.
+
+6. The piano.
+
+Shortly after the opening of the Friday-morning sitting the Composer
+requested that the whole slate be ruled with staves for writing music.
+Throughout the preceding Wednesday and Thursday attempts at the writing
+of music had been of constant occurrence; they had come on slates, on
+writing-pads, and on the leaves of closed books. These bits of musical
+notation had been very fragmentary and obscure; often they had consisted
+of less than half a dozen notes placed upon staves consisting of but
+three or four lines, instead of five. The most successful of these
+earlier efforts had been produced on a double school-slate, with a
+wooden, list-bound frame: two measures on a treble staff had been
+sprinkled with vague indications of musical script. No attempts had yet
+been made to bring even the best of these various writings to order and
+intelligibility. We were soon to learn that a scrap of music set down
+within three or four minutes was to require as many hours for revision,
+emendation, elucidation--for editing, in brief. It is but fair, however,
+to state that some of this time was taken up by the registering of
+irrelevant messages from other quarters and by digressions toward the
+Composer's own private concerns.
+
+The staff drawn on the wooden-framed slate had been ruled crosswise. The
+Composer now directed that the new staves to be drawn on the silicon
+slate should run lengthwise and should cover every page of it. This was
+done by the editor. Provision was asked for seven measures, to which an
+eighth was added later.
+
+During the three minutes or so required for writing on the six pages of
+the slate, the position of the slate, in reference to the editor, was as
+follows: After considerable moving about beneath the top of the table,
+during which time it was principally in the hands of the psychic, it
+approached the writer and remained with him. The under cover of the
+slate (with a bit of slate-pencil tightly enclosed) rested on his knee;
+the upper cover was pressed against the frame of the table. The editor's
+thumb rested rather lightly on the middle of the nearer half of the
+upper cover, and his fingers assisted in supporting the nearer half of
+the under cover. The psychic herself had surrendered the control of the
+slate to the editor, and could have had no contact with it beyond
+touching the edge farthest from him. On the second day, Saturday, during
+which the bass for the last four measures was produced, the slate was in
+the exclusive control of the editor, the psychic not touching it at all.
+The progress of the musical writing was both felt and heard; it was a
+combination of light and rapid scratching, pecking, and twitching, with
+an occasional slight waving motion up and down.
+
+The score, as first revealed, consisted of open-headed notes with curved
+stems. They gave no indications of varying values; it was impossible to
+distinguish quarter-notes from eighth-notes, sixteenth-notes, or
+grace-notes; and no rests were set down. The notes were placed but
+approximately as regarded lines and spaces. No stems, save in one or two
+instances, united the chords, the notes of which were written more or
+less above one another, yet detached. A few unsatisfactory attempts were
+made by the Composer to place the bars. These were mostly put in by the
+editor--sometimes by the direction or with the acquiescence of the
+Composer--and, when they were drawn in advance of the writing, their
+presence was always properly observed.
+
+As the revision became more close and careful, the Composer directed
+that the work be continued down-stairs beside the piano. Here every bar
+of the treble was played separately as soon as edited, to be pronounced
+satisfactory by the Composer, or to be modified under his direction. The
+treble, on its completion--eight measures--was then played over in its
+entirety and pronounced by the Composer to be correct. (He made one or
+two further emendations, however, on the following day.) The eight bars
+of the bass were gone over in the same fashion. The attempt to play the
+entire composition, treble and bass, was not satisfactory, partly owing
+to mechanical difficulties occasioned by the distribution of the matter
+on the slate and the multiplicity of corrections, and partly from lack
+of skill in the performer. However, two or three very brief passages
+were given by both hands and pronounced correct by the Composer, who
+showed surprise that anything so "_simple_"--as he characterized
+it--should give so much trouble. In one instance he noted that, while
+the two parts, treble and bass, were correct separately, they were not
+played in correct time together. The Composer, throughout, was most
+patient, persevering, courteous, and encouraging, though toward the
+end--in the closing measures of the bass--he showed some confusion and
+uncertainty. "_Wait a moment_," he would say; and once the whisper
+asked that, as an aid to sight, the editor's hand be spread over that
+leaf of the slate on which work was in progress. The Composer had
+thought, earlier--and so said--that a trained musician could easily
+supply the bass from the melody. His amanuensis was obliged to
+acknowledge frankly an inability to cope successfully with so
+complicated and unusual a matter. The psychic herself, though expressing
+a fondness for the opera, disclaimed any knowledge of musical notation,
+and added that never before had she performed such a function as at
+present.
+
+As the work of correction progressed, the Composer several times asked
+for opportunity to make the changes himself; whereupon the pencil-tip
+would be enclosed in the slate and satisfactory emendations be
+forthcoming. In cases where corrections were made by the writer, the
+Composer often watched the progress of the slate-pencil (a longer one
+than that which was used between the leaves) and gave directions: "_Not
+there_"; "_Yes, here_," and the like; and he would often acknowledge a
+correction with a "_Thank you_," or meet a suggestion with a "_Yes, if
+you please_." On these occasions the slate was some four feet distant
+from the psychic, and practically out of her sight.
+
+Repeated attempts were made on both sides to get down the name of the
+composition. Various related versions of the word appeared, none of them
+quite satisfactory. The Composer seemed to acquiesce in our attempts to
+relate his title to different Slavic and Italian words for "gypsy," but
+no importance can be attached, of course, to such a piece of direct
+suggestion.
+
+The final version of this brief but laborious score has been preserved,
+and all the stages in its progress have been abundantly annotated. To
+follow it through in detail, however, would be but weariness. All the
+salient points in its production fall under one of three heads. There
+are, first, the passages that seem to have been produced in co-operation
+with the sitters. There are, second, the passages that seem to have been
+produced in independence of the sitters. And there are, third, the
+passages that seem to have been produced in direct opposition to the
+sitters. Examples of all three classes follow; perhaps only those of the
+third and last class are really important.
+
+1. The Composer in Co-operation. The piece, in three sharps, opened on
+the tonic, yet the very first note in the bass was a G-sharp. The
+following colloquy ensued: Editor: "Does the piece begin with the tonic
+chord of A?" Composer: "_Yes._" Editor: "Is the G-sharp, then, to be
+regarded as a suspension?" Composer: "_Of course. That makes it right.
+How could it be correct otherwise?_"
+
+Another example. In the second bar a note which the editor had taken for
+an eighth-note was explained by the Composer as being a grace-note. The
+editor pointed out that this left only five eighth-notes to fill a
+six-eight measure. The Composer directed the insertion of an eighth-rest
+at the beginning of the bar.
+
+In the fourth bar there was a partial chord, E-B--a fifth. The
+Composer's attention was drawn to this blemish. He requested the
+insertion of a G-sharp between, thus completing his triad.
+
+But the above examples, and others which might be related, are not
+without resemblances to thought transference.
+
+2. The Composer in Independence. Under this head may be placed his
+various instructions relative to tempo, expression, and the like. The
+signature, three sharps, was set down by the editor, as the result of an
+answer to his inquiry. But the time--six-eight--was written in (on the
+editor's request) by the Composer himself. It was a distinct and
+separate effort, for which the pencil was put in the slate and the slate
+placed beneath the table. The time was set down before the notes
+themselves were secured. The six-eight sign was clearly and neatly
+written on the proper staff, in correct relation to the G-clef and to
+the signature; and the two figures were also in correct relation to each
+other. The word "Moderato" was written in by the Composer's direction,
+without any request from the editor. Later, the words "With feeling"
+and the mark of expression "pp," were obtained in the same way. Ties,
+grace-notes, and staccato-marks were insisted upon, here and there, with
+great vigor and earnestness.
+
+Two further examples of the Composer's independence will perhaps
+suffice. In the sixth measure there was a run of three eighth-notes in
+the treble, exactly above a corresponding run of three eighth-notes in
+the bass. In making his revision the Composer directed that each of
+these three pairs of notes should be joined by stems. This took the
+treble notes down to the bass, and left the last half of the treble bar
+empty--a fact unnoticed by the editor and beyond the purview of the
+psychic. The Composer, however, observed the hiatus, and directed the
+insertion of two rests.
+
+One other instance: The bar at the end of the first measure, as
+originally drawn by the Composer, cut off two notes on leger-lines and
+gave them to the succeeding measure. Another little colloquy: Editor:
+"Shall I draw the bar where it belongs?" Composer: "_Yes, if you
+please._" Editor: "Here?" Composer: "_No._" Editor: "There?" Composer:
+"_Yes. Thank you._"
+
+3. The Composer in Opposition. Numerous interesting cases of
+cross-purposes between the Composer and the circle developed during
+these two days. A number of salient examples follow:
+
+On the first opening of the slate, the seventh measure of the treble
+contained but two notes, which the Composer presently declared to be
+quarter-notes. This left the first third of the measure vacant; and the
+Composer, interrogated, directed the insertion of a quarter-rest. The
+editor objected that this gave the measure a three-quarter look, instead
+of the proper six-eighth look. "_That is a liberty I take_," came the
+answer, like a flash.
+
+At one stage the Composer requested that a certain note should have a
+"dot" added. The editor placed the dot to the right of the note, thus
+lengthening its value by one-half. "_No, no_," objected the Composer;
+"_put it on top, above the staff_." His intention had been, once more,
+to make a note "staccato," and he had been misunderstood.
+
+The editor, in setting down the signature of sharps on the second page
+of the slate, intentionally placed the last sharp a third below its
+proper position. He was at once brought to book by "Dr. Cooke," the
+"control." "_We are being fair by you, and you must be fair by us._"
+
+In the eighth and last measure, which did not appear to be
+satisfactorily completed, the Composer called for the insertion of a
+figure 2. This meant, as became clear enough through a subsequent
+reference to his published scores, that he wished two quarter-notes to
+receive the value of three eighth-notes, but was not understood at the
+time by his helper. "_Never mind_," said the Composer, graciously, "_I
+will write it differently_." He cancelled the figure 2, and completed
+the measure with a rest.
+
+A similar instance occurred in the fifth measure, where the Composer
+called insistently for a double sharp (x). The editor ventured to
+object, and the passage was tried on the piano, at the Composer's
+request. The double sharp was felt by him to be unsatisfactory, and was
+sacrificed. "_It won't make much difference, anyway_," was his whispered
+comment.
+
+A curious point, to finish with: On the first day the editor inquired
+about doubtful notes by name, as, A, C-sharp, and the like, while the
+Composer indicated their position by specifying lines and spaces--as,
+third space, second line, and so on. The next day, when the editor made
+his inquiries on the basis of lines and spaces, the Composer oftenest
+named the notes by letter.
+
+Toward the end of the last sitting, "Dr. Cooke" once again came to the
+fore and hinted that the result of our endeavors might perhaps be not a
+reproduction of one of the Composer's manuscripts, but of a mental
+picture in the Composer's mind. The "picture," as secured by us, was
+not, it must be admitted, without distortion. The Composer himself used
+the word "scattered" in such a way as to imply that he had sketched out
+his ideas in life on various detached bits of paper. He added that a
+certain member of his family "would know." The hopes raised by this
+declaration have not been realized.
+
+"_No more music to-day_," whispered "Dr. Cooke"; and the sitting--the
+sittings--ended.
+
+
+THE END
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[3] "Blake" is my friend Henry B. Fuller, who had never before sat for
+psychic phenomena, and to whom I turned for help in securing the musical
+notation.
+
+
+
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