Frank Podmore

“ Sometimes, as above indicated, the circumstances attaching to the feats are in themselves extremely suspicious. But if we can attach little weight to the records, it is impossible not to be impressed by the scientific standing and the obvious sincerity of the witnesses. Professor Richet, Dr. Maxwell, Professor Morselli, Professor Foa, and other Italian savants have no manner of doubt that they have witnessed in Eusapia's presence phenomena inexplicable by any known force. If they do not enable us to share their conviction, they at any rate compel us to hold our judgment in suspense. ”

“ But in dealing with the phenomena presented by Spiritualist mediums, even errors of perception are often of less importance than errors of memory. The record of any event, or series of events, preserved in our memory is in no case comparable to a photograph. It is more like a picture or even a map. It is a selection, a work of art; and unfortunately in the present case the principle of selection, the aesthetic guidance, are supplied by the medium. ”

“ The extraordinary growth of the movement, the number of its adherents, and their fidelity through evil and good report, made Spiritualism an important historical fact. If the beliefs and ideas of this large body of men and women were indeed based on fraud and delusion, it became a matter of some social importance to expose the deception. ”

“ Davey has by great perseverance and study cultivated his scientific secret to such an extent that were it magnetism, electricity, pneumatics, or anything else, it would baffle the most accomplished in any of those branches of science to form even an approximate idea of his modus operandi.
Mr. H. W. S. was probably at least as good an observer as the great majority of those who have testified to marvels performed by spirit mediums. And he had, as we have seen, a great advantage over the ordinary Spiritualist, inasmuch as he knew that there was nothing occult or inexplicable in the business. ”

“ In short, just when an organised and systematic investigation on a scale not inadequate to the importance of the subject was for the first time about to be made, the phenomena to be investigated diminished rapidly in frequency and importance, and the opportunities for investigation were further curtailed by the indifference or reluctance of the mediums to submit their claims to examination. The researches of the Society have not, however, been entirely fruitless. ”

“ In two of these cases at least the "medium" was a well-educated man, with no apparent motive for deception, and the deception itself was of a systematic kind, involving careful preparation. The proof that disinterested fraud of this kind may be practised by persons on whom the ordinary motives of pecuniary gain or notoriety can hardly be supposed to operate has been found of considerable value in interpreting some of the most puzzling problems of Spiritualism. ”

“ And it is difficult on reading the reports furnished by intelligent witnesses to avoid endorsing this statement. Briefly, the manifestation in its typical form is—or was a few years ago—as follows: Medium and sitter take their seats cornerwise at an ordinary wooden table without a cloth. A common school slate, with a fragment of slate-pencil on it, is held by one hand of each person, with the upper surface pressed close against the under surface of the table. The sitter, by direction of the medium, asks a question of the spirits. The sound of writing is heard. ”

“ But they seem inexplicable only because the account is highly condensed, and in the process of condensation the recorder has omitted—as Davey intended that he should omit—much that would have given a clue to the deception practised. Thus in his account of experiment (a) Mr. H. W. S. admits "the lapse of a few minutes" between his placing the key of the locked slate in his pocket and the sound of writing. He is even so a better recorder than many, who would have failed to record the interval at all. ”

“ No Spiritualist marvel, indeed, has seemed more inexplicable, and none, happily for our purpose, has been so freely and fully attested. Thus in the Spiritualist journal, Light, for October, 1886, the testimony of about a hundred observers, amongst them many persons of intellectual distinction, is quoted as endorsing the genuineness of the manifestation. ”

“ But no training in the laboratory will do much to make a man a better observer at a Spiritualist séance. What is required in such circumstances is a power of observation which is able to resist the artifices employed to distract it, and which, if not actually unremitting—since it would seem that nature itself forbids that,—is at least alive to its own lapses. ”

“ It is generally admitted, however, that Eusapia will use physical means when the conditions permit of her doing so; and that the phenomena recognised as genuine give little support to the hypothesis of spirit intervention. If not wholly due to fraud and illusion, they can best be attributed to the operation of some force emanating from the medium's organism. ”

“ We have not power to properly read the last word."
As a test experiment I think this may be regarded as a very successful and crucial one; for it is difficult to believe that Mr. Eglinton can have committed to memory the exact position of every word in every book on his bookshelves—containing some 200 books, or more. And it is easy for us to Say with confidence that all his movements were so carefully watched that the slightest attempt on his part to open the book, or even to touch it, would have been detected almost before the attempt was made ”

“ The medium exhibits a persistent aversion to the use of recording apparatus: she dislikes smoked paper (for taking impressions of finger prints, etc.) ; at one'séance it is recorded that she fought hard—and even bit—to prevent the use of a photographic plate. [11] Even more significant is her treatment of two tests recently devised by a circle of Italian medical men. At the first sitting a clockwork cylinder, covered with blackened paper, was placed inside a bell-glass, secured from interference by sealed tapes. The object of the test was to obtain a vertical mark on the cylinder ”

“ In view of these considerations the Society selected the manifestation of slate-writing, as presented by the medium Eglinton, for the purpose of a crucial investigation. At the instance of the Society, several witnesses went in couples to the performance and wrote independent accounts of what they saw. And, from a minute examination, the late Dr. Richard Hodgson was able to demonstrate frequent and, as he showed, significant discrepancies in these separate accounts. ”

“ On the one hand, some of us have had the opportunity of witnessing in private circles physical movements and other phenomena, claimed as due to occult forces, which on further examination have proved to be produced fraudulently. ”

“ But the greatest marvel of all remains to be recounted—the writing of a given line on a given page of a book selected from the bookcase by the sitter himself—an imitation of the trick already described as performed by Eglinton. Here is an account of one such experiment. The meeting was held in the library at Mr. Davey's own house, containing upwards of a thousand volumes. There were three sitters. One of these, Mr. Manville, describes this particular experiment as follows:
From Mr. E. Manville [7] ”

“ But this was partly due to the rival attractions of Theosophy and the thaumaturgic feats of Madame Blavatsky. Further, some of the most noted mediums of the earlier generation had withdrawn from the active pursuit of their profession. ”

“ Mr. Davey beforehand wrote the date of a shilling of his own in locked-slate A, placed this shilling in an envelope and sealed it up, and placed this envelope also in locked-slate A, which at the beginning of the experiment he had concealed about his person. He then requested the sitter to take a shilling from his pocket without looking at it, to place it in an envelope and seal it up, place it in the locked-slate B, etc. The sitting was at Mr. Davey's house, and Mr. Davey provided the envelope, from the same packet, of course, as the one already containing Mr. ”