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were specially fitted up as a floating conservatory. They could 
be at once identified by any naturalist, and would be, of course, 
incapable of being counterfeited by any juggler. 
Miss Houghton received at her exhibition, a visit from an 
Evolutionist whose theory “ bothered” her “ not for one moment 
as to the thought of accepting it, but as to how the specious 
arguments were to be met.” She “ appealed for counsel” to 
some spiritual being and received the following reply : “ Look 
at the rainbow. Where are the links in creation so close as 
the tints in its arching bow ? Who may say where one shades off 
into another ? Yet the blue remains blue, the red, red, and the 
yellow, yellow ; the several creations are distinct, however 
closely they may be allied, or however harmoniously they may 
be blended.” We doubt if a poorer argument in favour of 
mechanical creation was ever put forward. 
Amongst other strange phenomena we find an account of Mrs. 
Guppy’s being “ transported by spirits from her home at High- 
bury to Mr. Williams’s Seance in Lamb’s Conduit Street.” 
The strangest matter in these pages, however, is an extract 
from the “ South London Courier” of March 2nd, 1872. “ A 
few months ago, a couple about to be married took a house in 
Berkeley Square, and upon concluding the transfer they were 
solemnly warned by the agent that a certain room in the house 
was haunted by a ghost. The mother of the bride said she 
would have no fear to sleep in the haunted room, as she was in 
the house superintending the arrival of the furniture. The lady 
was not alone in the house at the time of her venture ; there 
were two or three servants also sleeping there. Nothing alarm- 
ing was heard by them during the night, but the next morning 
when they went to call up their mistress they found her dead in 
bed with open eyes staring wildly at the ceiling. A medical 
man who was called in could give no satisfactory cause of death, 
which seemed to have taken place through some violent shock to 
the brain and nerves. But the newly married couple, much 
shocked as they were at the untimely death of their relative, were 
quite incredulous as to its having been caused by any super- 
natural agency; the husband at length prevailed upon his wife 
to consent to his making trial of the powers of the ghost. The 
lady stipulated that she should sleep in an adjoining passage, and 
that she should have the protection of a fierce bulldog and a 
pair of pistols, while two policemen were to be within call in 
another room. The gentleman retired to rest without any 
anxiety, taking with him a pair of revolvers. He also agreed to 
ring a bell twice should the ghost appear. About half past 
twelve the anxious wife heard the bell ring, first rather rapidly 
and. then feebly. She flew into the haunted room and found her 
husband dead with his eyes fixedly gazing at the ceiling.” The 
editor of the “ South London Courier,” Mr. J. E. Muddock, of 
121, Fleet Street, in reply to inquiries wrote : — “ While not being 
