EXHIBITION OF THE GHOSTS. 109 



some kind, and which he beat in the path of the beam of 

 light so as to make it very distinctly and beautifully visi- 

 ble. The professor then held mirrors and lenses of various 

 kinds in the path of the beam, so as to turn the light in va- 

 rious directions, and change the condition of it in various 

 ways, thus causing it sometimes to converge and come to 

 a point, and sometimes to diverge and diffuse itself, in 

 which case it made a very large and bright spot upon the 

 ceiling overhead, or upon any part of the wall on which he 

 caused it to fall. The assistant all the time continued to 

 puff the smoke or dust into the path of light, so as to make 

 its course distinctly visible. 



After some farther experiments and illustrations of this 

 kind, the time came for the ghosts. The curtain rose and 

 brought to view a small stage, like that of a theatre, only 

 the front of it was closed by an immense pane of plate- 

 glass, which must have been some ten feet square. This 

 glass was, however, not at all noticed by the audience, for 

 it was inclined forward at such an angle as to throw the 

 reflections of all the light that came from the side toward 

 the audience down toward the floor, and under the front 

 of the stage, so that none except those who were in the 

 secret had any idea that there was any glass there. The 

 edges of it, at the ends, were well concealed by curtains 

 coming up close to it. 



The spectators, therefore, did not see either the glass 

 itself, or any thing reflected in it. Their reflections were 

 all thrown downward. It is true that if there had been 

 any thing bright down beneath the front of the stage they 

 would have seen the reflection of it coming up to them ; 

 bnt good care had been taken to prevent that by making 

 it dark there. The ghost was there, or, rather, the person 

 who was to represent the ghost, but there was no light yet 

 shining upon him to be reflected by the glass toward the 



