u8 



LECTURES AND ESS A YS 



curious things which he describes the 

 light emitted by crystals, for example ? 

 Here is the conversation which followed, 

 as extracted from my notes, written on 

 the day following the stance : 



Medium. " Oh, yes ; but I see light 

 around all bodies." 



/. " Even in perfect darkness ?" 



Medhim. "Yes; I see luminous atmo- 

 spheres round all people.' The atmo- 

 sphere which surrounds Mr. R. C. 

 would fill this room with light." 



/. "You are aware of the effects 

 ascribed by Baron Reichenbach to 

 magnets ?" 



Medium. " Yes ; but a magnet makes 

 me terribly ill." 



I. " Am I to understand that, if this 

 room were perfectly dark, you could tell 

 whether it contained a magnet, without 

 being informed of the fact ?" 



Medium. " I should know of its pre- 

 sence on entering the room." 



/. " How ?" 



Medium. "I should be rendered 

 instantly ill." 



7. " How do you feel to-day ?" 



Medium. " Particularly well ; I have 

 not been so well for months." 



/. "Then, may I ask you whether 

 there is, at the present moment, a 

 magnet in my possession ?" 



The young lady looked at me, blushed, 

 and stammered : 



" No ; I am not en rapport with you." 



I sat at her right hand, and a left- 

 hand pocket, within six inches of her 

 person, contained a magnet. 



Our host here deprecated discussion, 

 as it " exhausted the medium." The 

 wonderful narratives were resumed ; but 

 I had narratives of my own quite as 

 wonderful. These spirits, indeed, seemed 

 clumsy creations, compared with those 

 with which my own work had made me 

 familiar. I therefore began to match 

 the wonders related to me by other 

 wonders. A lady present discoursed on 

 spiritual atmospheres, which she could 

 see as beautiful colours when she closed 

 her eyes. I professed myself able to see 

 similar colours, and, more than that, to 



be able to see the interior of my own 

 eyes. The medium affirmed that she 

 could see actual waves of light coming 

 from the sun. I retorted that men of 

 science could tell the exact number of 

 waves emitted in a second, and also their 

 exact length. The medium spoke of 

 the performances of the spirits on 

 musical instruments. I said that such 

 performance was gross, in comparison 

 with a kind of music which had been 

 discovered some time previously by a 

 scientific man. Standing at a distance 

 of twenty feet from a jet of gas, he could 

 command the flame to emit a melodious 

 note ; it would obey, and continue its 

 song for hours. So loud was the music 

 emitted by the gas-flame that it might 

 be heard by an assembly of a thousand 

 people. These were acknowledged to 

 be as great marvels as any of those of 

 spiritdom. The spirits were then con- 

 sulted, and I was pronounced to be a 

 first-class medium. 



During this conversation a low knock- 

 ing was heard from time to time under 

 the table. These, I was told, were the 

 spirits' knocks. I was informed that one 

 knock, in answer to a question, meant 

 "No"; that two knocks meant "Not 

 yet "; and that three knocks meant 

 "Yes." In answer to a question whether 

 I was a medium, the response was three 

 brisk and vigorous knocks. I noticed 

 that the knocks issued from a particular 

 locality, and therefore requested the 

 spirits to be good enough to answer 

 from another comer of the table. They 

 did not comply ; but I was assured that 

 they would do it, and much more, by- 

 and-by. The knocks continuing, I 

 turned a wine-glass upside down, and 

 placed my ear upon it, as upon a stetho- 

 scope. The spirits seemed disconcerted 

 by the act; they lost their playfulness, 

 and did not recover it for a considerable 

 time. 



Somewhat weary of the proceedings, I 

 once threw myself back against my chair 

 and gazed listlessly out of the window. 

 While thus engaged, the table was rudely 

 pushed. Attention was drawn to the 



