1874.] Phenomena called Spiritual. 87 
Crass VIII. 
Luminous Appearances. 
These, being rather faint, generally require the room to be 
darkened. I need scarcely remind my readers again that, 
under these circumstances, I have taken proper precautions 
to avoid being imposed upon by phosphorised oil or other 
means. Moreover, many of these lights are such as I have 
tried to imitate artificially, but cannot. 
Under the strictest test conditions, I have seen a solid 
self-luminous body, the size and nearly the shape of a 
turkey’s egg, float noiselessly about the room, at one time 
higher than any one present could reach standing on 
tiptoe, and then gently descend to the floor. It was 
visible for more than ten minutes, and before it faded away 
it struck the table three times with a sound like that 
of a hard, solid body. During this time the medium 
was lying back, apparently insensible, in an easy chair. 
I have seen luminous points of light darting about and 
settling on the heads of different persons; I have had 
questions answered by the flashing of a bright light a 
desired number of times in front of my face. I have 
seen sparks of light rising from the table to the ceiling, and 
again falling upon the table, striking it with an audible 
sound.- I have had an alphabetic communication given by 
luminous flashes occurring before me in the air, whilst my 
hand was moving about amongst them. I have seen a lumi- 
nous cloud floating upwards to 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 the sprig to a lady; 
and on some occasions I have seen a similar luminous cloud 
visibly condense to the form of a hand and carry small 
objects about. These, however, more properly belong to the 
next class of phenomena. 
CLASS LX: 
The Appearance of Hands, either Self-Luminous or Visible by 
Ordinary Light. 
The forms of hands are frequently felt at dark séances, or 
under circumstances where they cannot be seen. More 
rarely I have seen the hands. I will here give no instances 
in which the phenomenon has occurred in darkness, but will 
