In 1876, while in his prime as a medium, he was exposed in the materialization of an Arab. This Arab’s flowing beard and draperies were very familiar to English Spiritualists and as proof of the actual materialization sitters were permitted to cut fragments from the beard and robes. Archdeacon Colley, an interested member of a circle of sitters, suspecting fraud, secured some clippings and a few days later when opportunity offered “he _found_ in Eglinton’s portmanteau a false beard and a quantity of muslin to which the detached relics perfectly corresponded.” He was also exposed several other times but this did not prevent the Spiritualist paper, _Light_, from publishing in October, 1886, a mass of testimony given by more than a hundred observers, including persons of high culture and social standing, to show that the phenomena at his seances were not due to any deliberate action on the part of the medium but to “conclusively establish the existence of some objective, intelligent force, capable of acting externally to the medium and in contravention of the recognized laws of matter.” The publication of such statements inspired Professor H. Carvill Lewis[131] to visit Eglinton for the purpose of investigation and arrangements were made for him to have a first sitting in November just a month after the extravagant statement in _Light_. Aware of the frailty of memory Professor Lewis made notes during the seance and wrote out his deductions and conclusions immediately after. He discovered at an early stage that close scrutiny did not produce an atmosphere sufficiently wholesome for desired results. While his attention was concentrated on the medium the “_objective intelligent force_” seemed totally inoperative, but whenever he turned his attention from the medium and apparently became absorbed in making notes the “_intelligent force_” became active instanter. Under the observation of Professor Lewis, Eglinton failed utterly at times and at others simply _declined_ to work when conditions were against him. Professor Lewis quotes him as claiming that he had converted Kellar to Spiritualism but refutes such a claim in the following words: “So far is this from being the case that Mr. Kellar, whom I know personally, is nightly offering in America twenty pounds to anyone who will produce Spiritualistic phenomena that he cannot imitate by conjuring.”