T3 
by a simple experiment, how it was possible for the medium to 
get one or even both of his hands free to do certain acts which 
were afterwards ascribed to the spirits. That was, he said, almost 
the entire secret of the early séances. If the students on either 
side of the medium were too sharp for him to get his hands free 
he had other methods. Most mediums were very “handy” with 
their feet, and, failing them, they had a mouth full of teeth with 
which they could do certain things to mystify their inquirers. 
The first lesson learnt by an investigator was that no experiment 
made at a dark séance had any value whatever. The lecturer 
then described a “ miracle” which took place in a photographer’s 
studio. Two ordinary photographer’s cards were shown by the 
medium, so that those present could see that there was nothing 
on them. The medium then tore two corners off the cards, and 
handed the corners to the lecturer, who placed them in his pocket. 
They then sat down in the dark for the experiment, and in a short 
time the “spirits”’ were supposed to work, and the cards were 
subsequently found to have small artistic paintings upon them. 
Those paintings were too good to have been done in the dark 
in a few moments, and what happened was that the medium 
substituted two other cards which had been painted on before. 
The secret of the “ miracles” of knot-tying in endless cords was 
also to be found in similar substitution. The slate-writing trick 
was also easily explained, and he was astonished at the wholesale 
way in which people were deceived by it. But the slate-writing 
medium was very seldom found out. Unlike the ordinary conjuror, 
he could always decline to act if the conditions were not favourable 
or if he thought there was a likelihood of being found out. It 
was no discredit to a spirit medium if the “spirits” declined to 
act. He then illustrated the simple way in which the slate trick 
was performed, and said that the secret of all such tricks was 
in knowing how best to distract the visitor’s attention, and in 
the medium knowing how far he could go. He then spoke on 
the subject of the experiment which took piace in the laboratory 
of Sir William Crookes, in the presence of Sir William and others. 
A spring balance was placed in such a position that no amount 
of pressure at the end of the board at which the medium sat could 
depress the balance at the other end. The hands and feet of 
the medium were tied, and, notwithstanding this, the balance 
_ showed a pressure at the end away from him of from three to 
six pounds. First of all, he said, Sir William Crookes was not 
a conjuror ; he was an honest man and no match for a practised 
conjuror. In the second place, the conditions of the experiment 
were dictated by the medium. In writing his account of the 
, 
4 > 
x 
ae + — 
a 
