< Form Manifestations (continued from page 10-122) >
It would seem, however, that hands are probably about twenty times as easy to form as the entire body, and hence the entire body is rarely completed.
I further believe in the materialisation of the entire body from the evidence of Mr. Crookes, Miss Kislingbury, Mr. Tapp, Mr. Stainton-Moses, and others; and I believe in the astounding appearance of Samuel Wheeler in the light, Monck being at t lie same time visible and in the light, on the testimony of Mr. Moses, Mrs. Going, and others; and, lastly, such productions are entirely in conformity with my spiritual philosophy.
I gladly accept every permission to attend seances for this object, and I do trust that 011c day I may be able to say, “I am as certain of the reality of these forms as 1 am absolutely convinced of the reality of slate-writing.”
These are profound subjects, and it behoves us to be as wise and truthful as possible in their investigation.
I never attended a seance for form manifestations when on the appearance of the white figure the audience has not said-—“It is impossible that can be the medium, for it is from six inches to a foot taller.”
In all these eases I bare carefully observed the height of the figure, and on afterwards comparing it with the medium I have found the height exactly the same, notwithstanding the power some mediums have had of elongation. It is the white dress which gives the optical delusion of greater height.
Nolan, a spirit who speaks through Mrs. Billing, says that “in many instances the supposed spirit is only the medium, covered with an outer garment produced by electric force, manufactured from the air. Spirits have thus the power to make female mediums appear even as men.”
If so, this may explain the almost instantaneous way in which the supposed spirit disappears and the medium is found alone and in her ordinary dress; although it does not explain how naked feet can be converted into booted feet. But docs this change ever take place instantaneously?
A Rejoinder
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"The Theosophist"
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Editor's notes