The large slate is then placed at the right of the sitter and he is asked to place his right hand on it. The small slates are then evened up by the medium, secured by a heavy rubber band and then placed in the center of the table. The medium then takes a seat at the table opposite the sitter and they clasp hands at the sides of the slates. After a sufficient pause the slates are unbound by the sitter and on a slate near the center of the stack a message is found written in chalk or slate pencil and signed by a departed friend. The secret of this startling effect is extremely simple. Concealed beneath the big slate at the beginning of the seance is a smaller slate with the message already written on it. This is picked up with the larger one when the latter is placed on the stack for the sitter to write on it and dropped on the others, written side down. The extra slate is never noticed as the pile has not been counted and the business of passing the slate pencil occupies the sitter’s attention so that he does not realize that the large slate rests on the small ones before he examines it. The medium then takes about half the small slates, evens them up and lays them to one side and repeats with the remaining ones, laying them evenly on the others. This is a perfectly natural move as the whole stack makes more than a handful and by means of it the slate with the message is placed in the middle of the stack. The stack is then set on end, the rubber band placed around it, and it is then ready to be placed in the middle of the table for conclusion of the seance. Two methods of writing between locked or sealed double slates when only one or two words were needed puzzled the investigators for a long time. The first was worked with a strong magnet. The bit of slate pencil which was put between the slates was specially prepared with either powdered soapstone mixed with iron filings, water, and glue, or a small piece of iron was used covered with a paste of soapstone, water, and mucilage. By holding the magnet under the slates and tracing the words _backwards_ the prepared pencils would follow the magnet and write the words. The other method was worked with an electro magnet set in the table, the necessary wires running down one leg and making contact with a copper plate in the floor under the rug by means of a sharp metal point on the end of the leg. Since the introduction of “raps”[71] by the Fox Sisters various methods have been devised for producing them. One of the simplest expedients is for the medium to slightly moisten the fingers and slide them very gently on the top of the table. A little experimenting soon shows the amount of pressure necessary to produce the desired amount of sound and of course the medium is cautious to let the fingers move only the desired distance and that too when no one is looking.