These forms were substantial, varying in height and shape, and distinct from each other. Most of them conversed freely, showing quite as much individuality and intelligence as some of my acquaintances to whom forms sometimes appear,--persons who think they are wise in treating these forms with coldness and distrust, all of which is reflected back to them. It is easy to understand why such persons are disappointed in what comes to them; but it is not easy to understand how any intelligent investigator, who has given the subject any considerable attention, should come to the conclusion that the forms are automatons, and that our friends from the other side never take possession, or control them, as they would a trance-medium; that they are merely effigies,[B] or lay figures, built up to mock us, and play with the most sacred feelings of our natures; and, what is more diabolical, that our spirit-friends are near by, enjoying the base deception! If this view is correct, what a fearful amount of lying there must be in every seance! Such a conclusion would be impossible from what passed before me at this sitting. [B] In an essay written by "Shadows," intended to enlighten the public on this subject, he puts forth the theory of effigies. In the same article he relates a seance with the Berry Sisters, in which he says that "a young female spirit came to him." The word spirit must have been a slip of the pen; he should have said, a young female effigy. It was possibly in anticipation of his theory that the young effigy called him "father!" As I gazed with delight upon this sudden and unexpected manifestation, bathed in a mellow light which made all the surroundings perfectly visible, I could not help feeling a regret that my Psychical friends had shut themselves out from such evidence by requiring arrangements to which no intelligent control would submit. Here, under strictly test conditions, which precluded any possible doubt, was crowded into a small space just the information which I am sure that some of them are honestly endeavoring to obtain. These things may be nothing but a mere phantasy of the mind; what is claimed as exact science, a humbug; and life itself only a delusion; but those whose lives are rounded into a full consciousness of an individual existence may prefer to consider them in a different light. The same perception which enables us to recognize one must be conceded to the other. If, in the search after facts relating to the more subtle forms of life, the testimonies of thousands of honest and intelligent persons are to be disregarded, we might as well abolish our courts. Judge, jury, and witness become nothing but ridiculous actors in a farce played in the name of Justice. CHAPTER VI. SEANCE WITH MRS. CARRIE M. SAWYER.