“The last occasion on which the author, under strict test conditions saw Houdini demonstrate his powers of dematerialization, was before thousands, upon the public stage of the Grand Theatre, Islington, London. Here a small iron tank, filled with water, was deposited upon the stage, and in it Houdini was placed, the water completely covering his body. Over this was placed an iron lid with three hasps and staples, and these were securely locked. The body was then completely dematerialized within this tank within one and a half minutes, while the author stood immediately over it. Without disturbing any of the locks, Houdini was transferred from the tank direct to the back of the stage in a dematerialized state. He was there materialized, and returned to the stage front, dripping with water, and attired in the blue jersey suit in which he entered the tank. From the time that he entered it to his appearance on the stage only one and a half minutes had expired. While the author stood adjacent to the tank, during the dematerialization process, a great loss of physical energy was felt by him, such as is usually experienced by sitters in materializing seances, who have a good stock of vital energy, as in such phenomena, a large amount of energy is required. Dematerialization is performed by methods similar in operation to those in which the psycho-plastic essence is drawn from the medium. The body of the medium may be reduced to half its ordinary weight in the materializing room, but in the case of dematerialization the essence continues to be drawn until the whole physical body vanishes, and the substance composing it is held in suspension within the atmosphere, much in the same way as moisture is held by evaporation. While in this state, Houdini was transferred from the stage to the retiring room behind, and there almost instantaneously materialized. The speed with which this dematerialization was performed is much more rapid than is possible in the materializing seance room, where time is required for the essence to be crystallized into psycho-plastic matter. Not only was Houdini’s body dematerialized, but it was carried through the locked iron tank, thus demonstrating the passage of matter through matter. This startling manifestation of one of nature’s profoundest miracles was probably regarded by most of the audience as a very clever trick.” With the indulgence of the reader, I may be pardoned perhaps, if I insist that it is just what I claim it to be--_simply a superior trick_. The effect is original with me and was invented in the course of my professional career as a public entertainer, for the sole purpose of _entertaining_ audiences by mystifying them. My success seems to be attested by Mr. McKenzie in his acknowledgment that he was deceived into the belief as to my mediumistic powers; that I dematerialized my body and material substance, and materialized these things, so restoring them to a normal condition.