with a medium of bad reputation. It is not sceptics alone who doubt the good faith of Mr. Slade; spiritualists themselves do so. M. Aksakoff, who is a high authority on such matters, has himself declared to me that he has caught him in trickery. You see, therefore, that Zöllner's theories thus lose their experimental support all of them, very beautiful, very ingenious, and very possible, resting thereon.

Yes, very possible, in spite of everything-in spite of the nonsuccess which I had when I tried, with Eusapia Paladino, to reproduce Zöllner's experiences. On the day when even one of these experiences can be honestly produced the question will have made great progress; from the hands of charlatans they will pass into the studies of physicists and physiologists.

Such is my confession of ignorance, and such are the reasons for that ignorance. I am, with the greatest respect,

Your devoted

J. V. SCHIAPARELLI.

I found his rea

This is what M. Schiaparelli wrote to me. soning without a flaw, and it was in an exactly similar mental condition that I arrived at Montfort-Lamaury.

Eusapia Paladino was introduced to me. She is a woman of quite ordinary appearance, dark, a trifle under middle height, forty years of age, not at all neuropathic; on the contrary, somewhat sluggish in body. She lived in Naples, engaged in some small business, but had been recently invited to Paris by one of my friends, though he had not forewarned me of the fact. She is illiterate, can neither read nor write, and understands but little French. I talked with her, and it speedily became apparent to me that she had no opinion regarding, and did not undertake to explain, the phenomena produced under her influence.

The room in which our investigations were made was on the ground floor, rectangular, measuring six metres, eightyfive centimetres [22 feet, 6 inches] long, by six metres [19 feet, 8 inches] wide; there were four windows, one outside door, and another door opening on the hall.

Before the séance began I satisfied myself that the principal door and the windows were hermetically closed on the outside by venetian blinds with hasps, and by heavy wooden shutters inside. The door leading to the hall was merely locked.

Across one corner of the room, to the left of the outside door, were hung two bright-colored curtains, which came together at the middle and thus formed a small triangular cabinet. In this cabinet was a sofa, against which a guitar was leaning; beside it was a chair, on which were placed a musical box and a bell. In the embrasure of the window which was within the cabinet was a music-rack, on which was a plate holding a cake of glazier's putty, well smoothed; below this, on the floor, was a large waiter, containing a big cake of the same putty, smoothed.

Why this cabinet? The medium declared that it was necessary to the production of the phenomena.

I should have preferred its absence, but it was necessary to accept the conditions- taking them fully into account, however. In view of what followed, my impression is that behind this curtain the light, being at a minimum, could not have been prejudicial. It is curious, strange, and infinitely regrettable that light should prevent certain effects. Assuredly, however, it would be neither philosophic nor scientific to object to this condition. It is possible that the radiations, the forces at work, are invisible rays. Anyone who attempts to produce a photograph without a dark chamber will "fog" the plate and obtain nothing. Recent progress in physics has shown us that the waves which affect the retina are only a minute fraction of the total number. We may well admit, then, the existence of forces which do not act in full light.

But, accepting the conditions, the main thing is, not to be made a dupe of. Before the séance began, therefore, I carefully examined the small corner of the room before which the curtain was hung, and I found nothing except the objects already enumerated. Nowhere in the room was there any trace of any arrangements whatsoever, such as electric wires or batteries, either in the floor or in the walls. Moreover, it was hardly permissible to suspect the good faith of the respectable Bleck family.

The séance began in full light. I have indeed invariably insisted on obtaining as many phenomena as possible in full light. It was only gradually, as "the spirit" requested it,

that the light was diminished. But I obtained the concession that the darkness should never be complete. At the extreme limit, when the lamp was extinguished, it was replaced by a red photographic lantern.

At first I placed myself on the left hand, afterwards on the right hand, of the medium. No manifestations were given except when I held both her hands under mine and both her feet under mine; or, again, unless I had one hand on her knees (in the case of the table-raisings, for instance), and the other hand holding both of hers; or, yet again, unless I held one of her hands, while another investiagor, M. de Fontenay, who throughout faced me on the other side of the medium, held her other hand and also her feet. I feel certain that throughout the exhibition Eusapia was not once able to effect any trickery. I should also state that she submitted to our precautions with the utmost good-will.

Here are the minutes of the séance.

Medium: Eusapia Paladino.

Investigators: MM. Flammarion, de Fontenay, Bleck; Mesdames Bleck, Zelma Bleck, Aimée Bleck, René Koechlin. The séance began at eight o'clock and ended at half-past eleven. Immediately preceding the séance, Mlle. Zelma Bleck attended during the toilet of Eusapia, who undressed and dressed again in her presence. She also examined the contents of Eusapia's trunk, which was, moreover, always open in her room.

The table around which we seated ourselves was a quadrangular one of deal, which had been brought in from the kitchen. The drawer had been taken out, and we satisfied ourselves that there was no possibility of any trickery about the table. It was, moreover, constructed simply of a board and four unpolished legs. It weighed seven kilogrammes, three hundred grammes [about sixteen pounds]; it could be placed anywhere, and its position was changed during the séance.

We took our places at the table, Eusapia at the very end, in front of the opening in the curtain; at her left M. Flammarion; at her right M. de Fontenay; beside M. Flamma

FROM SECOND FLASHLIGHT PHOTOGRAPH, WHEN THE TABLE WAS ON THE FLOOR (See p. 737).

[These two half-tones, from photographs taken by flashlight, show the visible facts in what was perhaps the most carefully conducted experiment thus far made in the way of testing scientifically the verity of the physical effects of psychic forces. This is, we believe, the first instance in which instantaneous photography has been applied as a test to this kind of occult phenomena. M. Flammarion's account of his investigation and of the precautions taken to eliminate the possibility of deception gives to these cuts a fascinating interest and a permanent value.-THE EDITOR.]