450 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



cated to the floor, and thence to the chairs of all pres- 

 ent. I therefore intentionally promoted it. My atten- 

 tion was promptly drawn to the motion; and a gen- 

 tleman beside me, whose value as a witness I was 

 particularly desirous to test, expressed his belief that 

 it was out of the compass of human power to produce 

 so strange a tremor. * I believe/ he added, earnestly, 

 * that it is entirely the spirits' work.' ' So do I/ added, 

 with heat, the candid and warm-hearted old gentleman 

 A. ' Why, sir/ he continued, ' I feel them at this 

 moment shaking my chair.' I stopped the motion of 

 the leg. 'Now, sir/ A. exclaimed, 'they are gone.' 

 I began again, and A. once more affirmed their pres- 

 ence. I could, however, notice that there were doubt- 

 ers present, who did not quite know what to think of 

 the manifestations. I saw their perplexity; and, as 

 there was sufficient reason to believe that the disclosure 

 of the secret would simply provoke anger, I kept it to 

 myself. 



Again a period of conversation intervened, during 

 which the spirits became animated. The evening was 

 confessedly a dull one, but matters appeared to brighten 

 towards its close. The spirits were requested to spell 

 the name by which I was known in the heavenly world. 

 Our host commenced repeating the alphabet, and when 

 he reached the letter ' P ' a knock was heard. He 

 began again, and the spirits knocked at the letter ' 0.' 

 I was puzzled, but waited for the end. The next letter 

 knocked down was ' E/ I laughed, and remarked that 

 the spirits were going to make a poet of me. Ad- 

 monished for my levity, I was informed that the frame 

 of mind proper for the occasion ought to have been 

 superinduced by a perusal of the Bible immediately 

 before the seance. The spelling, however, went on, 

 and sure enough I came out a poet. But matters did 



