< A Permanent "Miracle" for Public Examination (continued from page 7-217) >
any trace of a joint, even as fine as a hair line, in either of the rings. The one ring was of finely polished natural ivory; the other a common wooden curtain ring, varnished, with the natural grain of the wood everywhere clearly visible. Mr. Gillis left the same afternoon for Leipzig with the rings, where the best thing which he could do with them would be to have a thin shaving taken off one side of each, all the way round, in the presence of all the Professors at the University, who could then submit to microscopic observation the two annular areas laid bare. No artificial joint could escape detection beneath such microscopic examination, and the continuity of the cellular fabric of both wood and ivory could be ocularly traced. But so far as critical observation with out the aid of a microscope can give information, there is no doubt that the two solid rings have been interlinked.
When Mr. Gillis left The Spiritualist office, he sent a telegram to Professor Zollner, of which the following is a translation:—
After getting in former sittings direct writing, and three knots like yours in an endless cord, I have just had my ivory ring interlinked in a wooden one. Julius Gillis from St. Petersburg. In the presence of the mediums Mr. Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Herne, and Mr. Rita, with the additional presence of Mr. Christian Reimers.
This is the second great new scientific phenomenon observed this year, which ought to have been first published in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, but which is missing from those pages in consequence of the neglect of public and scientific duty on the part of the Society in not investigating psychic phenomena, and in officially rejecting the paper once sent in to it by Mr. Crookes, containing some of the simpler and more elementary facts. The other great discovery of the year, missing from the pages of Philosophical Transactions, is that the body of an adult medium varies so in weight during strong physical manifestations that at times it amounts but to forty or fifty pounds, as indicated by automatic self-registering apparatus. Whatever theory anybody may apply to the phenomenon, the observed fact is of transcendent interest.
The circumstance is significant, and will long discredit English science, that when the rings were interlinked they were at once taken to the Professors at Leipzig, no representatives of any scientific body in London being now generally employed in the investigation of psychic phenomena.
Mr. Gillis and Herr Christian Reimers had the rings photographed, true size, before they were taken to Leipzig, and one of the prints can be seen at The Spiritualist Branch Office. Although the photographing is not of the worst quality, neither is it of the best, for at the top of the picture are faint line markings, due to the projecting edge of the “dipper” having caused the nitrate of silver solution to play in unequal streams against the collodion film when it was lowered into the bath.
The word “miracle” at the beginning of this article is not used in the sense that there is any infraction of law in the interlinked rings phenomenon. Natural laws, not yet understood, govern spiritual phenomena.
The Ring Test
In anticipation of a detailed report from Herr Gillis himself, after his return to St. Petersburg, I give an outline of a succession of splendid results, culminating in a demonstration which forms an “event” in the development of our science.
A few weeks ago I received a letter from Herr Gillis, then in Paris, requesting me, on the recommendation of Professor Zollner, of Leipzig, and Herr Wiese, of Wiesbaden, to aid him in the further investigation of Spiritualistic phenomena, some of which he already accepted as established facts, after several sittings with Dr. Slade at Professor Zollner’s. If these names alone had not inspired me to do all in my power, the spirit of the letter of Mr. Gillis laid the foundation of my confidence in his love of truth as his only motive. My hope for marked results in a given time was somewhat shaken when I learned that my friend desired a special phenomenon, and that one the interlinking of two solid unbroken rings of different materials, to form permanent and portable proof of the “new force.” Vain attempts of mine had been made for years in this direction in many powerful circles. I once had for months two rings cut out of different pieces of printed paper on my séance table. I urged Mr. Gillis to give up all hope, as the time for such immense tests seemed not ripe. To my surprise Herr Gillis informed me that an analogous result had already been obtained through Dr. Slade’s mediumship.
On Thursday, the 18th July, we went to Mr. Williams, at his semi-public evening seance, where the fine manifestations satisfied him of good results of some kind, even if the desired one should not be granted; and his cheerful resignation pleased me much, because mental conditions are such at seances, that eager and concentrated expectation towards one end has a deterrent effect. A sitting at Mr. and Mrs. Herne’s the next day was likewise highly interesting, and acquaintance made with u James Lombard.” Both mediums, Mr. Williams and Mr. Herne (with Mrs. Herne), were at once engaged for five private sittings, one every day, but the difficulty of finding suitable hours was readily met by the mediums agreeing to sit together. The first of the seances came off on Monday last week. I was present on all occasions except one, when Herr Gillis was quite alone with Mr. and Mrs. Herne, and obtained tremendous tests, surpassing all he had had before. At lunch in his hotel (the Royal Hotel, Blackfriars), where he took the mediums, a roll of paper was thrown at his feet from his locked portmanteau in his locked bed-room, and this was but one among other strong items.
On the Monday Herr Gillis brought to our seance a number of small rings of ivory, wood, and also of paper, and a piece of leather with strips cut within its margin, to receive knots like those already given to Professor Zollner in a common cord with sealed ends. “Peter” made us feel in the dark something like knots, but on examination they proved to be slip knots only, so strongly tied that it took some time to undo them, and then presented only a proof of clever fingerwork, with a touch of suspicion that he had been playing “a lark,” or did not clearly comprehend the nature of the original demand. Then the ends of a cord were sealed by Herr Gillis, and to his delight a knot was made in it, but so tightly drawn that it took a long time in plucking open to show a real knot, as obtained through Slade with Professor Zollner, and in London through Eglinton. A repetition of this resulted in three true knots on the same cord, and seemed to revive the hopes of Herr Gillis, and to inspire ours, although Peter, in a tone of despair, seemed not to believe in the possibility of his interlinking the rings. Beautiful materialisations of spirits, and other marvels, now and then diverted us. After vainly searching for my umbrella in Mr. Herne’s room, it suddenly dropped to my feet, Mr. Herne putting his finger to his mouth and crying: “It hurt me!” Herr Gillis felt something pushed gently into his inside breast pocket, and when a light was struck he discovered his note-book, which he positively declared to have left in his locked portmanteau at his hotel. We were not sitting for these phenomena, and the spirits were evidently keeping their thread of action in hand themselves, doing all things in their own way. It struck me, as I know not the nature of their intelligence, that Peter might not have perfectly under- <... continues on page 7-219 >
Editor's notes
Sources
London Spiritualist, No. 310, August 2, 1878, pp. 51-2