404 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE, 



Here is the conversation which followed, as extracted from 

 my notes, written on the day following the seance : 



Medium. " Oh, yes ; but I see light around all 

 bodies." 



Z " Even in perfect darkness ? " 



Medium. " Yes ; I see luminous atmospheres round all 

 people. The atmosphere which surrounds Mr. R. C. would 

 fill this room with light." 



I. " You are aware of the effects ascribed by Baron 

 Reichenbach to magnets ? " 



Medium. " Yes ; but a magnet makes me terribly ill." 



Z " Am I to understand that, if this room were per- 

 fectly dark, you could tell whether it contained a magnet, 

 without being informed of the fact ? " 



Medium. " I should know of its presence on entering 

 the room." 



Z "How?" 



Medium.'-'' I should be rendered instantly ill." 



Z " How do you feel to-day ? " 



Medium. " Particularly well ; I have not been so well 

 for months." 



Z " Then, may I ask you whether there is, at the 

 present moment, a magnet in my possession ? " 



The young lady looked at me, blushed, and stammered, 

 " No ; I am not en rapport with you." 



I sat at her right hand, and a left-hand pocket, within 

 six inches of her person, contained a magnet. 



Our host here deprecated discussion, as it " exhausted 

 the medium." The wonderful narratives were resumed ; 

 but I had narratives of my own quite as wonderful. These 

 spirits indeed, seemed clumsy creations, compared with 

 those with which my own researches had made me familiar. 

 I therefore began to match the wonders related to me by 

 other wonders. A lady present discoursed on spiritual 

 atmospheres, which she could see as beautiful colors when 



