204 THE WONDERFUL CENTURY. CHAP. xvn. 



character have been published, two of which may be 

 here given. Sergeant Cox, in his " What Am I? " (vol. 

 ii. p. 176) describes a test by a party of experts, of whom 

 he was one. A word was written by a friend in a distant 

 town, and enclosed in an envelope, without any one of 

 the party knowing what the word was. This envelope 

 was enclosed successively in six others of thick brown 

 paper, each sealed. This packet was handed to Alexis, 

 who placed it on his forehead, and in three minutes and 

 a half wrote the contents correctly, imitating the very 

 handwriting. Let anyone compare Dr. Carpenter's ex- 

 planation of how he supposed such readings were done, 

 and he will see how completely inadequate it is as apply- 

 ing to tests such as that of Sergeant Cox and scores of 

 other inquirers. 



The next test is furnished by the experience of the 

 greatest of modern professional conjurers, Houdin, who, 

 at the request of the Marquis de Mirville, had two sit- 

 tings with Alexis. His account, as quoted by Dr. Lee, 

 is as follows. After describing what took place at the 

 first sitting, he says: " I cannot help declaring that the 

 facts here reported are perfectly exact, and that the 

 more I reflect upon them, the more impossible do I find 

 it to class them with those which constitute the object of 

 my art." (May 10, 1849.) 



" At the second seance I witnessed still more surpris- 

 ing events than at the first, and they no longer leave any 

 doubt in my mind respecting the clairvoyance of Alexis. 

 I tear off the envelope of a pack of cards I brought with 

 me. I shuffle and deal with every precaution, which, 

 however, is useless, for Alexis stopped me by naming a 

 card which I had just placed before him on the table. 



