APPENDIX K.

PENDULE EXPLORATEUR.

We are told by Ammianus Marcellinus (the last of the Roman Historians) that, in the reign of the Emperor Flavius Valens (4th century) a conspiracy was formed, including many persons of high rank, who devoted themselves to 'curious arts,' among them the celebrated Iamblicus, a mystic philosopher of the Alexandrian School; their objects being to learn who would be the successor of the reigning Emperor, which piece of curiosity was held to be a capital crime. Of the magical procedure they employed, of which a full description was given by one of them named Hilarius when put on his trial, the oscillations of a suspended ring, that pointed to one letter after another of an alphabet circularly disposed, constituted the essential part. The three letters OEO having been thus spelled-out, the conspirators made up their minds that Theodosius was indicated; and although the principal members of the conspiracy were afterwards put to death by the Emperor, the destiny of Theodosius was accomplished, for he ultimately became the successor of Valens.

APPENDIX L.

TABLE-TALKING AND PLANCHETTE-WRITING.

"Several years ago we were invited, with two medical friends, to a very select séance, to witness the performance of a lady, the Hon. Miss N- who was described to us as a peculiarly gifted 'medium;' not merely being the vehicle of 'spiritual' revelations of the most elevating character, but being able to convince incredulous philosophers

like ourselves of the reality of her spiritual' gifts, by 'physical' manifestations of the most unmistakable kind. Unfortunately, however, the Hon. Miss N-was not in great force on the occasion of our visit; and nothing would go right. It was suggested that she might be exhausted by a most successful performance which had taken place on the previous evening; and that the spirits' should be asked whether she stood in need of refreshment. The question was put by our host (a wine-merchant, be it observed), who repeated the alphabet rapidly until he came to N, and then went on slowly; the table tilted at P. The same process was repeated, until the letters successively indicated were P, O, R, T. But this was not enough. The spirits might prescribe either port or porter; and the alphabet was then repeated slowly from the beginning, a prolonged pause being made at E; as the table did not tilt, a bumper of port was administered as directed.' It did not, however, produce the expected effect.

"On another occasion, we happened to be on a visit at a house at which two ladies were staying, who worked the planchette on the original method (that of attaching to it a pointer, which indicated letters and figures on a card), and our long previous knowledge of whom placed them beyond all suspicion of anything but self-deception. One of them was a firm believer in the reality of her intercourse with the spirit-world; and her 'planchette' was continually at work beneath her hands, its index pointing to successive letters and figures on the card before it, just as if it had been that of a telegraph-dial acted on by galvanic communication. After having watched the operation for some time, and assured ourselves that the answers she obtained to the questions she put to her 'spiritual' visitants were just what her own simple and devout nature would suggest, we addressed her thus:- You believe that your replies are dic'tated to you by your "spiritual" friends, and that your hands

' are the passive vehicles of the "spiritual" agency by which 'the planchette is directed in spelling them out. We believe, ' on the other hand, that the answers are the products of your 'own Brain, and that the planchette is moved by your own 'Muscles. Now we can test, by a very simple experiment, ' whether your view or ours is the correct one. Will you be 'kind enough to shut your eyes when you ask your question, ' and to let us watch what the planchette spells out? If "the 'spirits "guide it, there is no reason why they should not do 'so as well when your eyes are shut, as when they are open. 'If the table is moved by your own hands, it will not give 'definite replies except under the guidance of your own 'vision.' To this appeal our friend replied that she could not think of making such an experiment, as 'it would show a want of faith;' and all our arguments and persuasions could only bring her to the point of asking the spirits whether she might comply with our request. The reply was, 'No.' She then, at our continued urgency, asked 'Why not?' The reply was, 'Want of faith.' Putting a still stronger pressure upon her, we induced her to ask, 'Faith in what?' The reply was, 'In God.'

"Of course, any further appeal in that quarter would have been useless; and we consequently addressed ourselves to our other fair friend, whose high culture and great general intelligence had prepared her for our own rationalistic explanation of marvels which had seriously perplexed her. For having been engaged a short time before in promoting a public movement, which had brought her into contact with a number of persons who had previously been strangers to her, she had asked questions respecting them, which elicited replies that were in many instances such as she declared to be quite unexpected by herself,-specially tending to inculpate some of her coadjutors as influenced by unworthy motives. After a little questioning, however, she admitted to us that she had previously entertained lurking

suspicions on this point, which she had scarcely even acknowledged to herself, far less made known to others; and was much relieved when we pointed out that the planchette merely revealed what was going on in the under-stratum of her own mind. Her conversion to our view was complete, when, on her trying the working of the planchette with her eyes shut, its pointer went astray altogether." (Quarterly Review, Oct. 1871, p. 315.)

It is often cited as a proof that the performers are not expressing by involuntary muscular actions what is passing. in their own minds, that the answers given by the tables are not known to any of themselves, though known to some other person in the room. Of this the following instance was recorded by Mr. Godfrey:

"I procured an alphabet on a board, such as is used in a National School; this board I laid down on the floor at some little distance from the table, and I lay down on the ground beside it. I then requested one of the three persons at the table to command it to spell the Christian names of Mr. L——, of B——, by lifting up the leg next him as I pointed to the letters of the alphabet in succession. He did so, and I began to point, keeping the pointer about three seconds on each letter in succession (I must say, that neither of the three persons at the table had ever heard of Mr. L—— ; and B- is 150 miles from this place). When I arrived at G, they said, that's it; the table is lifting its leg. When I came to E, it rose again; and in this way it spelt George Peter, which was perfectly correct." (Table-turning, the Devil's Modern Master-piece, p. 22.) Of course the person who influenced the movements of the table was guided by the indications afforded by Mr. Godfrey's own unconscious expression of his expectancy.

So, again, the late Dr. Hare, an American Chemist and Physicist of some reputation, thought that he had obtained a precise experimental proof of the immortality of the soul (!) by means of an apparatus by which the answers communi

cated through the 'medium' were spelled out by a hand pointing to an alphabet-dial which was hidden from her eyes. But it is clear from his narrative of the experiment, that her eyes were fixed upon the person to whom the expected answer was known, and that her movements were guided by the indications she received from his involuntary move

ments.

REPRODUCTION OF UNREMEMBERED IDEAS.

A 'planchette,' made in Bath, which had been on a visit in various families for several months, having been asked where it was made, replied 'Bath;' although the questioners all thought it came from London, and disbelieved its statement, which was afterwards verified. The rational explanation of this obviously is, that the writing was guided by the cerebral memory (so to speak), instead of by the conscious memory; just as in the case of the movements in acted dreams, by which articles long lost have been found again.

The Rev. Mr. Dibdin, M.A. (in his Lecture on TableTurning, published in 1853), states that he and a friend having directed the table to say, 'How many years is it since her Majesty came to the throne?' the table struck sixteen, though no one present knew the date of her accession; and having directed it to 'give the age of the Prince of Wales,' which was not known either to Mr. Dibdin or his friend, the table struck eleven, and then raised the foot a little way. On referring to an Almanack, both these numbers were found to be correct. Further, the question being put (in the house of a tailor), 'How many men are at work in the shop below?' the table replied by striking three, and giving two gentle rises; on which the employer, who was one of the party, said, 'There are four men and two boys, so three is a mistake;' but he afterwards remembered that one of the young men was out of town.

"An eminent literary man, in whose veracity we have had