J 



06 MY LIFE 





immediately after the seance, both Lord Brougham and Sir 

 David had expressed their great astonishment, and that the 

 latter had exclaimed, " Sir, this upsets the philosophy of fifty 

 years." A friend of Mr. Cox and of Home — Mr. Coleman — 

 also wrote, reminding Sir David that very shortly afterwards 

 he and Mr. Cox had called upon him to talk over the subject, 

 and that Sir David declared that what he had seen was " quite 

 unaccountable." Mr. Coleman continues thus : — 



' I then asked him, ' Do you, Sir David, think these things 

 were produced by trick ? ' 



No, certainly not,' was his reply. 

 Is it a delusion, think you ? ' 

 No ; that is out of the question.' 



"'Then what is it?' 



" To which he replied, ' I don't know ; but spirit is the 

 last thing I give in to.' " 



To this Sir David replied by a very long letter, denying 

 some things and explaining others. The most important pas- 

 sages are the following: — 



" Mr. Home invited us to examine if there was any ma- 

 chinery about his person, an examination, however, which we 

 declined to make. When all our hands were upon the table 

 noises were heard — rappings in abundance ; and, finally, 

 when we rose up, the table actually rose, as appeared to 

 me, from the ground. This result I do not pretend to 

 explain. . . . 



" A small hand-bell, to be rung by the spirits, was placed 

 on the ground near my feet. I placed my feet round it in 

 the form of an angle, to catch any intrusive apparatus. The 

 bell did not ring; but when taken across to a place near Mr. 

 Home's feet, it speedily came across, and placed its handle in 

 my hand. This was amusing." 



There is also a long account of the phenomena he saw 

 at Ealing in a still more jocular vein, which called forth a 

 very scathing letter from Mr. T. Adolphus Trollope, who had 

 been present. These letters and some others can all be read 

 in full in an appendix to Home's " Incidents in my Life," 

 and as this appendix was drawn up by Dr. Robert Chambers 



