864 A. Experiments by Professor Rossi-Pagnoni. I give extracts from the report on these experiments by Mr. H. Babington Smith, C.S.I., - a member of the Council of the S.P.R. - published in Proceedings S.P.R., vol. v. pp. 549-65.

Professor Rossi-Pagnoni is Director of the Ginnasio or Public School at Pesaro, a small town on the east coast of Italy, a little to the north of Ancona. In the year 1871 he was led to take an interest in Spiritualism, and began daily to practise automatic writing under the advice and direction of a friend who had frequently obtained communications from spirits, as he believed, by that means. He held a lead pencil in his hand, allowing its point to rest on a sheet of paper, but not touching the table with his arm, and waited for results. For the first forty-three days the movements of the pencil were incoherent and unintelligible. On the forty-fourth a name was written; and from that time onwards the facility and distinctness of the writing increased, and communications of considerable length were often obtained.

These experiments, and also experiments in table-rapping, which had been tried by Professor Rossi and a small circle of friends, were discontinued in the year 1877, owing to the increased claims of scholastic duties upon the Professor's time. In 1886 he found leisure to resume them and was then joined by Dr. Moroni, Municipal doctor at Pesaro, who brought to the sittings a hypnotic subject of his, named Isabella Carzetti. The sittings gradually developed into spiritualistic seances, with Carzetti in the hypnotic state as speaking medium, purporting to be controlled by the spirits of deceased persons. Mr. Smith, however, after examining the evidence, concluded that the medium showed no proof of any supernormal powers.

In the year 1877 Professor Rossi published a pamphlet entitled, Intorno ai Fenomeni Spiritici, Lettera a//' Onorando Signor Conte Terenzio Mamiani. This contains, besides other matter, reports of the more striking results obtained in the earlier series of experiments, which were concerned chiefly with automatic writing.

In November, 1888, Mr. Smith paid a short visit to Pesaro and had the opportunity of seeing and making extracts from the records of the sittings and other documents. Among these were the original automatic manuscripts, which have been preserved from the beginning.

The following are some of the cases of automatic writing:-

In April 1872 a friend asked Rossi to evoke the spirit of a relation, formerly living near Modena, who had been dead about two years. "I had never known her," says Rossi, "and my friend told me what I was to ask her on his account. I did as I was asked, and after the answer was obtained, to my great astonishment (for a similar thing had never happened before) I felt my hand impelled to draw, one after the other, two flowers, with their little leaves. After this addio was written, and the movement ceased. The following day I took the answer to my friend and told him of the curious drawings. 'Do not be surprised,' said he. 'Know that she was very fond of drawing, and also every time that she writes by my hand, she makes me draw something.'"

This account is confirmed by a document dated December 28th, 1888, and signed by Cesare Perseguiti, barrister, who states that he is the friend mentioned by Rossi, and that the account of the incident is perfectly true in all particulars.

With regard to the character of the writing produced, Rossi says (Letter to Mamiani, p. 133):-

It is not necessary for me to say that my ordinary handwriting is ugly and always of one pattern. Nevertheless, when writing as a medium, I have had very various forms of caligraphy according as various beings made communication. When these beings presented themselves again, often unexpectedly and after a long interval, they reproduced their former handwriting. Moreover, in that uncomfortable position of hand and arm I have had cali-graphic forms so perfect that I could not reproduce them when writing at ease.

This statement by itself is too vague to be of much value as evidence; but the following documents confirm it, and give more precise information as to the persons whose writing was reproduced, and as to the degree of likeness obtained:-

Pesaro, January 1st, 1889.

I have a lively recollection of having come sometimes to your house in 1873, to take part in spiritualistic experiments with the table and with writing. One evening, after some experiments with the table, I asked you to summon my dear writing-master, Luigi Brunetti, to write. He had at that time been dead for some years. . . . You set yourself to try the experiment, the pencil resting vertically upon the paper, and your wrist and elbow raised. When the motion of the hand, which you assured us was spontaneous, began, there appeared, after the signature of Brunetti, some lines of writing of various sizes. The first was extremely small - so that a magnifying glass was necessary to read it and to see its great precision. The following lines were of middle size, and the last large. This, I recollect, was a beautiful verse. I remember that I immediately bore witness to those present - in accordance with the truth - that, specially in the larger character, the manner of writing and the hand of my dear master were clearly to be seen.

So much for the truth, which now, also, I willingly confirm.

(Signed) Cleto Masini,

Professor of Writing and Book-keeping at the Royal Technical School of Pesaro.

When Mr. Smith was at Pesaro he saw the original MS. here referred to, and states that the writing was pretty and regular, and entirely different from Professor Rossi's usual hand.

Pesaro, January 2nd, 1889.

I comply with your wish and willingly declare, as I have a lively recollection of the fact, that towards the end of 1873 1 had occasion to go to your house. . . . You showed me certain communications, written in pencil, which you said you had received from the spirit of the lamented Signor Alessandro Paterni, uncle of my wife. I said that the writing of the name and surname seemed to me very like the real signature of my deceased connection. You asserted that you had never seen his signature, and, in fact, it was very probable that it was entirely unknown to you.

Pietro Bonini, Captain.

In the following case a message, apparently telepathic, was received by means of raps and automatic writing.

(Letter to Mamiani, p. 143):-

On November 21st, 1873, about half-past ten in the evening, Rossi was in his study. He had been correcting proofs for more than an hour, and was tired and rather cold. In consequence he intended, when his work was finished, not to go to the cafe", as was then his custom almost every evening about eleven, but to warm himself a little with a walk through the streets. He then perceived two slight but very distinct raps close to him on a side door opening into an inner room in which there was no one. He paid no attention to these, trying to persuade himself that they were due to natural causes. Half-an-hour after-wards he had finished his work and was going out; but at the moment when he had his hand upon the door of his rooms, to shut it after him, he heard a loud knock upon it as if given with the fist. He had no doubt that this was spiritualistic in character, and returning at once to his room, sat down to write. He fully expected to receive a warning against going out that evening for fear of some dangerous encounter.

Instead, however, of any such warning the following message appeared: "My sincere friendship leads me to warn you that you are desired by S.1 (i.e. Stanislao Cecchi): go, therefore, to see him." This message was signed with the name of a dead person in whose name messages had been obtained on other occasions. Rossi considered it extremely improbable that Cecchi (an acquaintance with whom he was not then intimate) would wish to see him; but went at once to the cafe where he was generally to be found at that hour. As he approached, he saw Stanislao and some friends coming out of the cafe. "He had no sooner seen me," continues Rossi, "than he came to meet me, and said he had need of a certain favour from me. Knowing from some conversations which I had had with him that he was a disbeliever (in Spiritualism), I caught at the opportunity and answered that I would willingly do him the service, on condition that he would at once accompany me to my house. . . . We went to my house together, we entered into the room together, and I showed him on my table the message which had caused me to go in search of him. . . . He subsequently gave an account of the occurrence to some friends, though without adopting my explanation, and, so far as he was able, loyally bore witness to its truth".

Stanislao Cecchi is now dead, and therefore direct confirmation of this account cannot be obtained; but in a letter written in 1889, a friend of his - Carlo Cinelli - at Professor Rossi's request gives his recollections of what he had heard from Cecchi at the time, and these correspond with Professor Rossi's account.