450 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



was promptly drawn to the motion ; and a gentleman 

 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.' 6 So do I,' added, with heat, 

 the candid and warmhearted 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 presence. I could, how- 

 ever, notice that there were doubters 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. 

 Admonished 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 imme- 

 diately before the seance. The spelling, however, went 

 on, and sure enough I came out a poet. But matters 

 did not end here. Our host continued his repetition 

 of the alphabet, and the next letter of the name proved 

 to be ' 0.' Here was manifestly an unfinished word ; 



