340 Experimental Investigation [July? 



Of all the persons endowed with a powerful development 

 of this Psychic Force, and who have been termed "mediums" 

 upon quite another theory of its origin, Mr. Daniel Dunglas 

 Home is the most remarkable, and it is mainly owing to 

 the many opportunities I have had of carrying on my 

 investigation in his presence that I am enabled to affirm 

 so conclusively the existence of this Force. The experi- 

 ments I have tried have been very numerous, but owing to 

 our imperfect knowledge of the conditions which favour or 

 oppose the manifestations of this force, to the apparently 

 capricious manner in which it is exerted, and to the fact 

 that Mr. Home himself is subject to unaccountable ebbs 

 and flows of the force, it has but seldom happened that a 

 result obtained on one occasion could be subsequently con- 

 firmed and tested with apparatus specially contrived for the 

 purpose. 



Among the remarkable phenomena which occur under 

 Mr. Home's influence, the most striking as well as the 

 most easily tested with scientific accuracy are — (i) the 

 alteration in the weight of bodies, and (2) the playing of 

 tunes upon musical instruments (generally an accordion, for 

 convenience of portability) without direct human intervention, 

 under conditions rendering contact or connection with the 

 keys impossible. Not until I had witnessed these facts some 

 half-dozen times, and scrutinised them with all the critical 

 acumen I possess, did I become convinced of their objective 

 reality. Still, desiring to place the matter beyond the shadow 

 of a doubt, I invited Mr. Home on several occasions to come 

 to my own house, where in the presence of a few scientific 

 enquirers, these phenomena could be submitted to crucial 

 experiments. 



The meetings took place in the evening, in a large room 

 lighted by gas. The apparatus prepared for the purpose of 

 testing the movements of the accordion, consisted of a 

 cage, formed of two wooden hoops, respectively 1 foot 

 10 inches and 2 feet diameter, connected together by 

 12 narrow laths, each 1 foot 10 inches long, so as to form a 

 drum-shaped frame, open at the top and bottom ; round this 

 50 yards of insulated copper wire were wound in 24 rounds, 

 each being rather less than an inch from its neighbour. 

 These horizontal strands of wire were then netted together 

 firmly with string, so as to form meshes rather less than 2 

 inches long by 1 inch high. The height of this cage 

 was such that it would just slip under my dining table, but 

 be too close to the top to allow of the hand being introduced 

 into the interior, or to admit of a foot being pushed under- 



