Page:The Naturalisation of the Supernatural.pdf/196

176 as by the most scientific member of the Society for Psychical Research." 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. The slate is lifted up, and an answer to the question is found scrawled on its surface.

The witnesses of 1886 testified to writing on slates marked by the sitters; answers to questions written down and not shown to the medium; answers to mental questions; the receipt of long communications relevant to the conversation of the moment, and, occasionally, the reproduction of words from the given page of a book chosen by the sitter. The sittings took place in broad daylight; and many of the witnesses reported that they were permitted to bring their own slates, to mark the slates used, to tie or even lock the double slates, to hold them above the table, and to take other necessary precautions against fraud.

The present writer attended a séance with Slade