In 1888, appeared an Italian medium, Eusapia Paladino, whose life was almost entirely devoted to scientific experimentation. All the scholars of Europe examined her, one by one, and all bore witness to the reality of the facts. This time stress was laid upon a multitude of objective proofs, obtained by means of registering apparatus, and photographic evidence. Thus we have permanent proofs, visible to all, of table-tipping or the lifting of objects, taken at the moment of their rising, and attesting that at this moment there was no contact.

In 1896, Colonel de Rochas wrote his fine book upon the outward manifestation of motivity, an indestructible monument which established the definite proof and gave the records of the different controls exerted upon Eusapia up to the year 1896.

In 1898, M. Guillaume de Fontenay wrote a book upon the same subject, relating only the seances at which he had been present with the Blech family and Camille Flammarion.1

1 A Propos Eusapia Paladino (concerning Eusapia Paladino), by Guillaume de Fontenay, Paris, 1898.

Flammarion himself organized in 1898, in his home on the Avenue de l'Observatoire, a series of seances, at which were present, among others, Arthur Levy, Victorien Sardou, Gustave le Bon, and M. and Mme. Ad. Brisson. At each seance, Eusapia was undressed and reclothed before two ladies appointed to ascertain that she concealed nothing beneath her garments. I shall not speak of the marvelous occurrences witnessed there, but shall concern myself solely with the fact of movement without contact. We have on this subject the confession of the scholarly astronomer who, after giving the events of these seances, wrote the following lines:

"The levitation of a table, for example, and its complete detachment from the floor under the action of an unknown force contrary to weight, is a fact which can no longer be reasonably contested."

As for the other far more remarkable phenomena, Camille Flammarion has seen them under conditions where verification was entirely possible. But, restrained by prudence, he is content to write: "To be sure of such enormities, we must be a hundred times sure, not having seen them once, but one hundred times, as, for example, levitations."

This then has been achieved. Levitation of tables without contact is henceforth beyond doubt, and should be affirmed without reserve. It has been witnessed, not once, but a hundred times: not by a few but by a great number.

Let us recall the principal witnesses by citing some extracts from their testimony:

William Crookes

"There are many examples of heavy bodies such as tables, chairs, sofas, etc., having been set in motion without the contact of the medium. I will mention briefly certain of the more striking instances. A chair in which I was seated partly described a circle while my feet were clear of the floor. On one occasion a chair moved slowly from a far corner of the room. This was visible to all those present. Another time an armchair came to the spot where we were seated and, at my request, returned slowly away to a distance of about three feet. During three consecutive evenings, a small table moved freely across the room, under conditions which I had expressly prepared beforehand, in order to brush aside all objections which might be raised to the genuineness of the occurrence. "On five different occasions, a heavy dining-room table rose from several inches to a foot and a half above the floor, under specially arranged conditions which rendered fraud impossible. At another time a heavy table rose above the floor in full light, while I held the hands and feet of the medium."

Sir Alfred Russel Wallace

"I was so complete and confirmed a materialist that at this time I could not find room in my thought for the conception of a spiritual existence, nor for the existence of any other function whatever in the universe, save matter and force. Facts, however, are stubborn things. My curiosity was first aroused by certain minor but inexplicable phenomena observed in the family of a friend, and my desire for knowledge and my love of truth stirred me to pursue the investigation. Facts became more and more manifest, more and more varied, and farther and farther from all the teachings of modern science and from all that contemporary philosophy discussed. They conquered me, they forced me to accept them as facts, long before I could admit the spiritualistic explanation. For there was then in my system of thought no place in which this could be entertained. By slow degrees a place was made."

The same author wrote in his notes:

"These experiments have persuaded me that there is an unknown power which emanates from the bodies of a group of persons placed in conjunction by their position about a round table with all their hands upon it."

Cesar Lombroso

"Until now (1890), I have been the most relentless foe of spiritism. To all who urged me to examine this order of phenomena, I replied: 'Merely to speak of a spirit that animates tables and chairs is simply ridiculous; the manifestation of forces without matter is quite as inconceivable as functional activity without organs. . . .' I acquired the conviction that spirit phenomena are explained for the greater part by forces inherent in the medium, and also, in part, by the intervention of super-terrestrial beings who possess powers of which the properties of radium may give an analogous idea. The solution of this problem will be one of the most far-reaching events of the New Century."

A. de Rochas. - "The refusal to believe in affirmations so numerous, unequivocal and precise, renders impossible the establishment of any physical science, for the student is not likely to have an opportunity to witness all the facts taught him, observation of which is often difficult."

Ochorowicz

"The hypothesis of a fluidic double (astral body) which, under certain conditions, detaches itself from the body of the medium, seems necessary for the explanation of the majority of phenomena. According to this conception, the movement of objects without contact would be produced by the fluidic members of the medium."