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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



conduct in the matter as having given the final 

 death-blow to his belief that there might be 

 "something" in the face-manifestations ! 



It has been rumored that Mr. Crookes has pri- 

 vately admitted that some of his " mediums," 

 when they could not evoke the " manifestations " 

 by fair means, have done so by foul. Now that 

 he knows (if he did not know before) how his 

 name and reputation are being traded upon in 

 the United States, and that the Royal Society is 

 being trailed through the dirt by his instrumen- 

 tality, it may be hoped (if this rumor be true) 

 that he will honestly come forward, and, by public 

 admission that he has been even occasionally 

 duped, will do all he can to repair the mischief 

 he has done by his inconsiderate "indorsement ' 

 of one of the grossest impostures ever practised — 

 that of Eva Fay. 



" The Last New Thing " in Spiritualistic 

 Materializations. 



Everybody knows that Paris " sets the fash- 

 ions " in ladies' dress ; and, in like manner, Bos- 

 ton (United States) " sets the fashions " in spirit- 

 ualism. The latest " manifestation," which has 

 not yet (so far as I am aware) been imported into 

 England, is the production of likenesses of the 

 kernels of departed friends, "moulded" by "the 

 spirits " in paraffin. A " circle," including the 

 " medium," is constituted round a table, beneath 

 which is placed a bucket of hot water, wherein 

 some lumps of solid paraffin have been placed, so 

 as to form when melted a floating stratum two 

 or three inches thick. After a longer or shorter 

 interval, the " spirits " announce by raps that the 

 process is complete ; the table-cloth is lifted up, 

 and a hand moulded in solid paraffin is found on 

 the floor, or on the knees of the "medium," 

 which the " faithful " accept as their indubitable 

 production. Of course the hand is " demonstra- 

 bly not brought in by the medium;" for how 

 could such a brittle affair have been carried in 

 her pocket, or hid in the folds of her dress ? 

 Suspicious half-believers may observe shreds of 

 cotton-wool adherent to the hand ; or may notice 

 that the hand " produced " at one seance has a 

 very suspicious likeness in shape, or in some 

 little defect or fracture, to one they have pre- 

 viously seen. But, of course, the cotton-wool has 

 been brought by the " bad spirits ; " and, as even 

 " good spirits " sometimes bungle their work, 

 there is nothing extraordinary in the same de- 

 fect being repeated, when the same spirits are 

 the operators. Everything that can be thus 



readily explained away goes for nothing with 

 those who are predetermined to believe. 



But how about the following ? A set of trou- 

 blesome skeptics, Mr. Home tells us, bought a 

 proper quantity of paraffin-lumps, and had them 

 carefully weighed, and their weight recorded by 

 the dealer. After the conclusion of the seance, 

 when the water had cooled and the paraffin had 

 solidified again, the whole of it was collected ; 

 and, on being taken back to the same dealer, was 

 found to weigh exactly the same as it had weighed 

 before. Of course, the explanation is ready: 

 either the gentlemen who planned this test, and 

 the dealer on whose independent verdict the re- 

 sult depended, were leagued together to "manu- 

 facture evidence," or else the " spirits " could not 

 only mould the hand, but could supply the par- 

 affin. To doubt the "medium," in Mr. Wal- 

 lace's view, is to have "a reprehensible eagerness 

 to accept and retail whatever falsehoods may be 

 circulated to her disadvantage." To doubt the 

 honesty of the skeptics, on the other hand, is 

 perfectly legitimate. I cannot question that " the 

 spirits " could as easily have supplied paraffin as 

 mould it into a hand ; but then what was the 

 need of the bucket under the table? Messrs. 

 Crookes and Wallace, however, may say that it 

 is Mr. Home who has put together these "idle 

 tales," without either "time, place, or circum- 

 stance ; " and that his testimony, on account of 

 his obvious animus, ought not to be received. I 

 will give them, therefore, another case, the testi- 

 mony in regard to which, having been given on 

 oath by a gentleman whose high character and 

 social position are thoroughly vouched for, my 

 opponents are bound to admit until they can suc- 

 ceed in discrediting it. 



On Sunday evening, October 29, 1876, a se- 

 ance, convened by public advertisement in the 

 Boston Herald, was held, "for moulds and the 

 materialization of spirit-forms," by Mrs. Hardy, 

 residing at No. 4 Concord Street, Boston; de- 

 scribed in the Herald as a "substantial structure 

 in one of the most fashionable neighborhoods in 

 Boston." To this seance the Herald sent a re- 

 porter, who was accompanied by a " skeptical 

 expert " — no other than the troublesome Mr. W. 

 Irving Bishop. The usual bucket having been 

 brought in, and all who desired being allowed to 

 examine the pail and its contents — " some of 

 them, in the eagerness of their curiosity, even 

 dipping their fingers into the oleaginous liquid in 

 which angel-hands were soon to dabble " — the 

 IL redd representative followed their example ; 

 and, " while he plunged his finger into the trans- 



