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  | item = 1
  | item = 1
  | type = article
  | type = article
  | status = wanted
  | status = proofread
  | continues =
  | continues = 330
  | author = Wakefield, E.T.
  | author = Wakefield, E.T.
  | title = The Interlinked Ring Test
  | title = The Interlinked Rings Test
  | subtitle = The Relative Value of Rings of Ivory, wood, coral and other Substances
  | subtitle = The Relative Value of Rings of Ivory, wood, coral and other Substances
  | untitled =
  | untitled =
  | source title =
  | source title = London Spiritualist
  | source details = August 16, 1878
  | source details = No. 312, August 16, 1878, pp. 79-80
  | publication date = 1878-08-16
  | publication date = 1878-08-16
  | original date =
  | original date =
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{{Style S-Small capitals| We}} have received the following letter from Dr. Carter Blake about the interlinked rings manifestation recently obtained by Mr. Julius Gillis and Herr Christian Reimers:
 
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<center>''To the Editor of ''“''The Spiritualist.”''</center>
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{{Style S-Small capitals|Sir}}— Since my letter last week, I have had an opportunity through you kindness of carefully examining the photograph taken of the ivory and wooden rings on which so much discussion is likely to take place at Leipsic and elsewhere.
 
The fact appears clear to my senses that traces of the pattern, commonly called “engine-turned,” and which is especially distinctive of the ivory, either of the Asiatic or African species of elephant, is visible over nearly one-half the periphery of the ivory ring, such periphery being the one which the photographer has exposed to the light. This examination, therefore, places the fact beyond all doubt that the ring is really composed of elephantine ivory, cut at a transverse section to the axis of the tusk.
 
A careful examination of the wood ring, which cannot be made from the photograph alone, is now necessary; and it is to be hoped that it will not be long delayed by the German microscopical botanists.
 
{{Style P-Signature in capitals|C. CARTER BLAKE.}}
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The reason why the “engine-turned” markings of the ivory show so well in the photograph is, that a slight tinge of yellow effects the contrast in colour by which the markings on ivory are made visible. Strong yellow comes out black in a photograph, and feeble yellow produces a deeper tint in a photograph than in the original object. The natural interlaced lines on some specimens of ivory resemble the curved lines sometimes turned by machinery on the backs of watches, hence the expression v engine-turned.”
 
In the following letter Mr. Wakefield speaks of the permanency of the test:—
 
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<center>''To the Editor of ''“''The Spiritualist.”''</center>
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{{Style S-Small capitals|Sir}}, — As the correspondent who in your issue of the 19th April ventured to point out the great value of such a test experiment as the interlinking—passing through one another without fracture—of two rings, each of a different material, such as two woods like ebony and boxwood, a feat that has been now happily accomplished, allow me to make a few remarks on the practical value of such evidence.
 
It appears to me to be more valuable, viewed simply as a matter of evidence, than if one had been raised from the dead, for whereas the latter miracle must necessarily be wrought before a limited number of witnesses—the testimony to its truth would be greatly weakened by transmission—the miracle of the rings can be seen and handled by an unlimited number, and for any length of time. It is for all purposes of evidence as good ten years, a hundred, or a thousand years hence as it was the day and hour it was performed.
 
There is not an association, or public or private meeting in the world, to which it cannot be exhibited—not one doubting individual in whose hands it may not be placed to be seen and felt, thus appealing at once, and directly, to two of their most reliable senses.
 
It must always carry about with itself (as I observed in my letter) conclusive evidence of a miracle having been wrought. So that in this respect it stands quite alone.
 
The alleged miracle, repeated at intervals, of the melting of the blood of St. Janarius, is not to be compared with this as a question of vidence.
 
It is greatly to be regretted that the rings were so soon taken out of England, at least till they had been seen and testified to, after being subjected to careful microscopic and chemical examination. At all events, it is to be hoped they will be forthcoming at the meetings of the British Association in Dublin now approaching.
 
However, there can be little doubt that other equally zealous and truthful inquirers will attain equal if not greater results. It is within my experience (and I am glad to have a fitting opportunity of bearing witness to the fact) that the results of such inquiries bear striking proportion to the honesty and zeal of the minds who make them. As of this, I have been furnished from time to time with conclusive proof. To those who approach such inquiries in a different spirit, influenced by other considerations, such as a desire to find evidence in support of some preconceived theory, self-interest, curiosity, or with that large class so circumstanced as to fear they might be compromised by an open avowal of belief—a class much to be pitied—to all these the results will be always doubtful, often negative, and sometimes illusory. As to whether this ring “wonder,” if proved genuine, is to be regarded as a true miracle, it is a verbal question really not worth discussing, turning on the meaning to be attached to the word miracle. Stripping that word of its many theological accretions, and understanding it to mean simply an act contrary to, or beyond, the known laws of nature, these rings do present a miracle within this definition.
 
In my former letter I believe I stated I had other suggestions to make, but I think it better to reserve them till this miracle of the rings has brought about some of the effect it is calculated to produce.
 
{{Style P-Signature in capitals|E. T. WAKEFIELD.}}
 
{{Style P-No indent|Hanover Lodge, Harrow-on-the-Hill, 12th August, 1878.}}
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Is the test so very permanent? Specimens of ivory frequently crack with age, and a crack through the linked ivory ring would render it worthless thenceforth as evidence.
 
It occurred to us that a solid ring of natural coral, small {{Style S-HPB SB. Continues on|7-330}}




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<gallery widths=300px heights=300px>
london_spiritualist_n.312_1878-08-16.pdf|page=9|London Spiritualist, No. 312, August 16, 1878, pp. 79-80
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