The Planchette.--Modifications.--Easily operated.--Automatic Writing.--Governed by the Universal Law.--The Planchette without Spirits.--The Planchette and Telepathy.--Trance.--Ancient and Modern Superstitions relating to Trance.--Religious Systems founded on Trance.--Visions.--Swedenborg.--Oriental Philosophy.--Its Slow Growth and Stupendous Proportions.--Spiritistic Philosophy.--Its Evolution.--All founded on Trance Visions in Ignorance of the Law of Suggestion.--Cahagnet's Mesmeric Seers.--Their Revelations.--Objective and Subjective Visions.--Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy.--Visions of the Holy Virgin.--The Physical and Mental Attitude of Prayer.--The Prayer of Faith.--Obsession.--Possession.--Casting out Devils.--Devils out of Fashion.--The Influence of Suggestion.--The Element of Telepathy.--Dual Personality.--Loss of Identity.--Characteristics.--The Case of Ansel Bourne.--Possible Explanation.--A Proof of the Dual Hypothesis.--Multiple Personality. Another method of bringing the operations of the subjective mind above the threshold of consciousness is by means of an instrument called the planchette. It consists of a thin board about six inches square, resting upon two castors, the third leg consisting of a pencil, which passes through a hole in the board, its point resting upon the paper upon which the instrument is designed to write. The mode of operation consists in resting the hand lightly upon the board and allowing it to move over the paper without consciously aiding its progress. In the hands of a medium it will soon begin to write, apparently propelled by an unseen power. A modification of this apparatus is now on the market, which consists of a similar piece of thin board, approximately triangular in shape, with a plain wooden leg at each apex. Its feet, like the feet of the gods, are "shod with wool." Accompanying it is a board, say two feet square, on which the letters of the alphabet and the arabic numerals are painted. Its mode of operation is similar to that of the planchette, except that, instead of a pencil being used, one of the legs serves as a pointer, and the words are spelled out, letter by letter, as indicated by the pointer, which moves over the board in the same mysterious way as the planchette. Its advantage over the planchette consists in the fact that a greater number of persons can operate it satisfactorily. Otherwise, the planchette is preferable, inasmuch as it writes continuously, instead of spelling the words letter by letter. In almost every family some one will be found who can, with a little practice, obtain communications by this means from his own subjective mind. This is the simplest way by which so-called spirit communications can be obtained.