“Very especially the second series is commended to the student of Home, because in it will be found all the papers dealing with the Home-Lyon lawsuit showing conclusively how honorable was the action of Home.” Does he wish us to infer that it was Home who brought the suit against Mrs. Lyon, rather than the opposite? Does he wish it understood that he is _sincere_ in his commendation of a charlatan? Throughout the introduction he defends Home and seems to deliberately twist the history of the man. [41] It is interesting to note that Sir William Crookes, the eminent scientist, who must have known of the history and character of Home as unveiled at the Lyon trial, should have permitted himself to fall within the mesh of D. D. Home. [42] Taking for granted that the committee in the room was not able to see or permitted to leave the table the method Home could have used with the greatest ease was: first actually get out of the window, or pretend to; then, go back and noiselessly crawl on all fours through the door into the next room and shake the window; and lastly, boldly return to the first room, closing the door with a bang. There is a possibility that a man of Home’s audacity with levitation feats might have resorted to swinging from one window to another, which means nothing to any acrobat with a wire properly placed in readiness. The idea of Home losing his physical weight and floating out of the window head first is merely a suggestion of his, a ruse which is still being used by mediums. [43] See Appendix C for Lord Adare’s story. [44] There are numerous versions of the cause of his death. Mme. Blavatsky, who made a special investigation of the deaths of prominent mediums, wrote: “This Calvin of Spiritualism suffered for years from a terrible spinal disease, brought on through his intercourse with the ‘Spirits,’ and died a perfect wreck.”--“Key to Theosophy,” 1890. [45] Table lifting was a strong card with her. [46] “She was taken in a menial position into a family given to Spiritualistic practices. Being called one day to make up the circle at a seance, certain new and surprising manifestations took place, and she was pronounced to be a medium. So it appears that the Spiritualists actually pushed her into the matter, and she immediately took advantage of the opportunity.”--Proceedings, Society for Psychical Research, November, 1909, pp. 311, 312. [47] Robert Owen, Prof. Hare, Prof. Challis, Prof. Zollner, Prof. Weber, and Lombroso were all near the end of their lives when they embraced Spiritualism.--See “Spiritualism,” by Joseph McCabe, page 207.