LEVITATION.--The wonderful phenomenon of levitation must be included in the category of "movements without contact"! Some of Mr. Stainton Moses' experiences of this kind are much more explicitly and circumstantially described than those alleged to have occurred with D. D. Home. Mr. Stainton Moses gives the following account of his first personal experience of this nature:-- "My first personal experience of levitation was about five months after my introduction to spiritualism. Physical phenomena of a very powerful description had been developed with great rapidity. We were new to the subject, and the phenomena were most interesting.... One day (30th August 1872) ... I felt my chair drawn back from the table and turned into the corner near which I sat. It was so placed that my face was turned away from the circle to the angle made by the two walls. In this position the chair was raised from the floor to a distance of, I should judge, twelve or fourteen inches. My feet touched the top of the skirting-board, which would be about twelve inches in height. The chair remained suspended for a few moments, and I then felt myself going from it, higher and higher, with a very slow and easy movement. I had no sense of discomfort nor of apprehension. I was perfectly conscious of what was being done, and described the process to those who were sitting at the table. The movement was very steady, and occupied what seemed a long time before it was completed. I was close to the wall, so close that I was able to put a pencil firmly against my chest, and to mark the spot opposite to me on the wall-paper. That mark when measured afterwards was found to be rather more than six feet from the floor, and, from its position, it was clear that my head must have been in the very corner of the room, close to the ceiling. I do not think that I was in any way entranced. I was perfectly clear in my mind, quite alive to what was being done, and fully conscious of the curious phenomenon. I felt no pressure on any part of my body, only a sensation as of being in a lift, whilst objects seemed to be passing away from below me. I remember a slight difficulty in breathing, and a sensation of fulness in the chest, with a general feeling of being lighter than the atmosphere. I was lowered down quite gently, and placed in the chair, which had settled in its old position. The measurements and observations were taken immediately, and the marks which I had made with my pencil were noted. My voice was said at the time to sound as if from the corner of the room, close to the ceiling."[49]