TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. The right-pointing finger symbol is denoted by ==>. Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. [Illustration: “The Spiritualistic Séance.”] SPIRIT SLATE WRITING AND KINDRED PHENOMENA BY WILLIAM E. ROBINSON Assistant to the late Herrmann _SIXTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS_ MUNN & COMPANY SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN OFFICE NEW YORK CITY 1898 COPYRIGHTED, 1898, BY MUNN & COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PREFACE. The author of the present volume is not an opponent of spiritualism--on the contrary, he was brought up from childhood in this belief; and though, at the present writing, he does not acknowledge the truth of its teachings, nevertheless he respects the feelings of those who are honest in their convictions. At the same time he confidently believes that all rational persons, spiritualists as well as others, will heartily indorse this endeavor to explain the methods of those who, under the mask of mediumship, and possessing all the artifices of the charlatan, victimize those seeking knowledge of their loved ones who have passed away. As a great New York lawyer once said, it was not spiritualism he was fighting, but fraud under the guise of spiritualism. Owing to the fact that the author has for many years been engaged in the practice of the profession of magic, both as a prestidigitateur and designer of stage illusions for the late Alexander Herrmann, and has also been associated with Prof. Kellar, he feels that he is fitted to treat of clever tricks used by mediums. He has attended hundreds of séances both at home and abroad, and the present volume is the fruit of his studies.