The Lock and Key Library: The Most Interesting Stories of All Nations: Real Life
Science
The Lock and Key Library: The Most Interesting Stories of All Nations: Real Life
Detective and mystery stories; Fiction; Parapsychology
This condition of things was brought about by powdering his arm
with pulverized luminous paint. If you are not told the method of
transforming the sticky paint to powder, you will not be able to do
it, and will conclude the writer was romancing in this case. The
most essential thing to you will be to know where you can procure
this paint. The writer has been unable to procure it anywhere,
except of Devoe & Co., of New York City. It is put up in a package
resembling six-ounce jelly glasses, and you will get six of them
for five dollars. In order to reduce it to powder, thin the
contents of one of the glasses with one pint of turpentine. When
it is thoroughly cut and incorporated into the turpentine, soak
strips of muslin in it and hang them out to dry. When thoroughly
dry you can shake the powder from the cloth. In order to powder
one of your arms, gather one of the cloths in your hands, and use
it as a powder puff on your arm. You will not be able to get all
the paint out, but the pieces will make luminous crowns, slippers,
stars, and luminous decorations for your robes. You will be under
the necessity of perfuming your robes each time they are used, for
the odor of the turpentine will always remain to a greater or less
degree. To illuminate a robe or costume (the mediums always say
"robe") you proceed the same as in the powdering process, except
that to the pint of paint you will add a wineglass full of Demar
varnish, which will prevent its falling or being shaken off as
powder. You are not to make the robe of muslin, but of white
netting. Every lady will know what netting is. It is the
lightest, thinnest material the writer ever saw sold in a dry goods
store. Ten yards of it can be put into the vest pocket. Do not
scrimp the material, but get as much of it into your robe as
possible.
When he of the luminous arm steps from the cabinet into the dark
room no part of him is visible save the arm. He picks the strings
of the instrument with the illuminated hand and fingers the
keyboard with the other. He makes a sound of writing on the tablet
and tears off a leaf which he conceals, and, drawing a long black
stocking over the luminous arm, places in the pocket of the sitter
a communication that has been written upstairs in a good light.
This accounts for the even, beautiful writing, supposed to have
been done in the dark. He covers the luminous arm so that anyone
so inclined could not locate it in order to "grab" when he is near
enough. By mounting the table, that luminous hand and arm can be
made to show as though it was floating about near the ceiling.
When four hands were visible there were two spooks at work with
both arms illuminated. . . . You can readily understand the forces
that floated the music box and table above the heads of the
sitters, and an explanation is useless.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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