However, there are still critics who, to-day, believe that Miss Cook concealed her sister in a satchel and brought her into the house, hid her for six months from all the household, gave her bed and board, and in the face of the great scholar who exercised the strictest surveillance, continued successfully a stupid comedy for six months. Such credulity is revolting.

This expose would not be complete if we did not give according to Crookes' own description the account of a seance. A resume follows:

1New Experiments upon Psychic Force.

"I pass now to the seance held yesterday evening at Hackney. Never has Katie appeared in such great perfection: for almost two hours she walked about the room in friendly conversation with those who were present. Several times she took my arm while walking, and the impression I received, that it was a living woman at my side and not a visitor from the other world, was so strong that the temptation to repeat a recent and curious experiment became almost irresistible. Realizing then, that if it were not a spirit beside me it was in any case, a lady, I asked her permission to take her in my arms in order to verify the interesting observations that a bold experimenter had recently made known. This permission was graciously given and I took advantage of it respectfully, as any gentleman would have done in the same circumstances. Mr. Volckman will be delighted to know that I can corroborate his assertion that the 'ghost,' which made no resistance, was a being as material as Miss Cook herself. But the sequel will show how wrong an experimenter may be, however careful his observations, in formulating an important conclusion when the proofs are not sufficient.

"Katie then declared that on this occasion she felt able to show herself at the same time as Miss Cook. I lowered the gas, and with my phosphorus lamp entered the room which served as a cabinet. But beforehand I had asked one of my friends, who is a rapid stenographer, to note down all observations I might make while in the cabinet. I know the importance of first impressions and did not wish to confide to my memory more than was necessary. His notes are before me at this moment.

"I entered the room with precaution. It was dark and I groped for Miss Cook, finding her crouched upon the floor. Kneeling down, I let the air enter my lamp and by its light saw the young woman dressed in black velvet, as she had been at the beginning of the seance, and appearing completely insensible. She did not stir when I took her hand and held the lamp near her face but she continued to breathe quietly. Raising my lamp, I looked around me and saw Katie, who was standing close behind Miss Cook. She was clad in floating white drapery, as we had already seen her during the seance. Holding one of Miss Cook's hands in mine, and still kneeling, I raised and lowered the lamp, as much to illumine the whole figure of Katie as to convince myself fully that I really saw the true Katie, whom I had held in my arms a few moments ago, and not the phantom of a disordered brain. She did not speak but nodded her head in recognition. Three different times I carefully examined Miss Cook, crouching before me, to assure myself that the hand I held was indeed that of a living woman, and thrice turned my lamp towards Katie to scrutinize her with sustained attention, until I had not the slightest doubt that she was really there before me. Finally Miss Cook made a slight movement, and at once Katie signed to me to go. I withdrew to another part of the cabinet and then lost sight of Katie, but I did not leave the room until Miss Cook was awakened and two of the assistants had entered with a light."

Let us now consider the medium's point of view. What does she feel? What are her intimate sensations? We possess a very valuable document, due to a society lady, Mme. d'Esperance, endowed with remarkable mediumistic powers. She has written a kind of autoscope, describing her physical and mental sensations during the production of materialization phenomena. It was in a most accidental manner that this lady discovered the power she possessed. In an intimate gathering, one evening when a persistent rain prevented her friends from returning home, someone proposed to pass the time by attempting to hold a seance. Several persons offered themselves for the experiment, entering the dark cabinet: one fell asleep, another became frightened, finally the turn of Madame d'Esperance came, and we will let her take up the story.1

"I do not like to confess it but at that moment I was seized with something very much like fear and felt a keen desire to run toward the light and rejoin the group of singers; however, I remained seated. I felt glued to my chair, fearing that this 'something' would touch me and convinced that if it did I should utter piercing cries. I became alternately burning hot and frozen and would have given much to be on the other side of the curtains. I knew I had only to stretch out my hand to push them aside but I was a prey to an indescribable sensation of solitude and isolation which seemed to place me at a vast distance from the others. This strange emotion almost overcame my desire to be brave and I was on the point of rushing from the cabinet when a hand, touching my shoulder, obliged me to reseat myself.

"Strangely enough this pressure, which in other circumstances would have overwhelmed me immeasurably, had the effect of calming my fever and fear."

1 In Shadow Land (Au pays de l'ombre by E. d'Esperance), pp. 188-189.

Numerous forms appeared about Madame d'Es-perance: many of them, had the physical appearance of persons known to the spectators, but had no resemblance to the medium. However, there were also forms in her exact likeness. Thus she recounts on page 238:

"I obtained permission to leave my seat in the cabinet and came slowly and with difficulty from behind the curtains, where a white figure was standing. To my infinite surprise I found myself face to face with - myself: at least, so it seemed to me.