1874.] Phenomena called Spiritual. 83 
These sounds are noticed with almost every medium, 
each having a special peculiarity; they are more varied 
with Mr. Home, but for power and certainty I have met 
with no one who at all approached Miss Kate Fox. For 
several months I enjoyed almost unlimited opportunity 
of testing the various phenomena occurring in the presence 
of this lady, and I especially examined the phenomena of 
these sounds. With mediums, generally, it is necessary to 
sit for a formal séance before anything is heard; but ,in 
the case of Miss Fox it seems only necessary for her to 
place her hand on any substance for loud thuds to be heard 
in it, like a triple pulsation, sometimes loud enough to be 
heard several rooms off. In this manner I have heard 
them in a living tree—on a sheet of glass—on a stretched 
iron wire—on a stretched membrane—a tambourine—on the 
roof of a cab—and on the floor of a theatre. Moreover, 
actual contact is not always necessary; I have had these 
sounds proceeding from the floor, walls, &c., when the 
medium’s hands and feet were held—when she was standing 
on a chair—when she was suspended in a swing from the 
ceiling—when she was enclosed in a wire cage—and when 
she had fallen fainting on a sofa. I have heard them ona 
glass harmonicon—I have felt them on my own shoulder 
and under my own hands. I have heard them on a sheet of 
paper, held between the fingers by a piece of thread passed 
through one corner. With a full knowledge of the numerous 
theories which have been started, chiefly in America, to 
explain these sounds, I have tested them in every way that 
I could devise, until there has been no escape from the 
conviction that they were true objective occurrences not 
produced by trickery or mechanical means. 
An important question here forces itself upon the attention. 
Are the movements and sounds governed by intelligence? Ata 
very early stage of the enquiry, it was seen that the power 
producing the phenomena was not merely a blind force, but 
was associated with or governed by intelligence: thus the 
sounds to which I have just alluded will be repeated a 
definite number of times, they will come loud or faint, and 
in different places at request; and by a pre-arranged code 
of signals, questions are answered, and messages given with 
more or less accuracy. 
The intelligence governing the phenomena is sometimes 
manifestly below that of the medium. It is frequently in 
direct opposition to the wishes of the medium: when a 
determination has been expressed to do something which 
might not be considered quite right, I have known urgent 
