Mysterious Psychic Forces: An Account of the Author's Investigations in Psychical Research, Together with Those of Other European Savants
John Stuart Mill · en
Another instance. A lady was writing automatically by means of the
planchette. I was trying to devise a means of proving that what she
wrote was not due to "unconscious cerebration." The planchette, as it
always does, insisted that, although it was moved by the hand and the
arm of the lady, the _intelligence_ was that of an invisible being who
was playing on her brain as on a musical instrument, and thus moving
her muscles. I therefore said to this intelligence, "Can you see the
contents of this room?" "Yes," wrote the planchette. "Can you see to
read this newspaper?" said I, putting my finger on a copy of the
_Times_, which was on a table behind me, but without looking at it.
"Yes," was the reply of the planchette. "Well," I said, "if you can
see that, write the word which is now covered by my finger, and I
will believe you." The planchette commenced to move. Slowly and with
great difficulty the word "however" was written. I turned round and
saw that the word "however" was covered by the tip of my finger.
I had purposely avoided looking at the newspaper when I tried this
experiment, and it was impossible for the lady, had she tried, to have
seen any of the printed words, for she was sitting at one table, and
the paper was on another table behind, my body intervening.
THIRTEENTH CLASS: _Miscellaneous Occurrences of a Complex Character._
(Professor Crookes here cites two examples of the _transference of
matter through matter_,--a bell passing from neighboring room into
that in which the seance was being held, and a flower separating from
a bouquet and _passing through the table_.)
The spare at my disposal will not permit me to give more details here; but
all my readers must appreciate, as I do, the importance of these
experiments of the eminent chemist. I will especially call attention to
the proofs they afford of the presence of a mind or intelligence, other
than that of the experimenters; to the formation of hands and
spirit-forms; and to the passage of matter through matter.