31 MY LIFE 



a glass chandelier. Miss Nichol sal opposite mc, and my 

 friend, Mr. Smith, sal next her. We all held our neighbour's 

 hands, and Miss Nichol's hands wore both held by Mr. Smith, 

 a stranger to all but myself, and who had never mel Miss N. 

 before. When comfortably arranged in this manner the lights 

 w< re put out, one of the party holding a box of matches ready 

 to strike a light when asked. 



"After a few minutes 1 conversation, during a period of 

 nee. I heard the following sounds in rapid succession; 

 a slight rustle, as of a lady's dress; a little tap, such a< might 

 be made by setting down a wineglass on the table ; and a very 

 slight jingling of the drops of the glass chandelier. An instant 

 after Mr. Smith said, ' Miss Nichol is gone/ The match- 

 holder struck a light, and on the table (which had no cloth) 

 was Miss Nichol seated in her chair, her head just touching 

 the chandelier. 



" I had witnessed a similar phenomenon before, and was 

 able to observe coolly ; and the facts were noted down soon 

 afterwards. Mr. Smith assured me that Miss Nichol simply 

 glided out of his hands. No one else moved or quitted hold 

 of their neighbour's hands. There was not more noise than I 

 have described, and no motion or even tremor of the table, 

 although our hands were upon it. 



" You know Miss N.'s size and probable weight, and can 

 judge of the force and exertion required to lift her and her 

 chair on to the exact centre of a large pillar-table, as well 

 as the great surplus of force required to do it almost instan- 

 taneously and noiselessly, in the dark, and without pressure on 

 the side of the table which would have tilted it up. Will any 

 of the known laws of nature account for this? 



" Yours very faithfully, 



" Alfred R. Wallace/' 



Of course I did not expect Professor Tyndall to accept 

 such a fact on my testimony ; on the contrary, I described 

 it for the very purpose of arguing that, if he himself had 

 been present, he would probably not have been satisfied that 

 it was not a trick, unless he could have it repeated under 



