urban house of a friend and neighbour of Professor
Barrett's. He was an Irish country gentleman who had an utter disbelief
in spiritualism. Professor Barrett was therefore not a little amused on
making Mr. C.'s acquaintance, to find that he had in his own family what
appeared to be spiritualistic phenomena then and there going on. Mr. C.
gave Professor Barrett every opportunity of close and frequent
investigation. The sittings extended through the months of August and
September 1875. There were present besides Professor Barrett, Mr. and
Mrs. C., and their young daughter Florrie, a bright, frank, intelligent
child, then about ten years old. They sat at a large dining-room table,
facing French windows, which let in a flood of sunlight. Shortly,
scraping sounds, raps, and noises resembling the hammering of small
nails, were heard. Florrie's hands and feet were closely watched, and
were observed to be absolutely motionless when the sounds were heard.
Besides knocks, there were occasional movements of the furniture. Seated
one day at a large dining-room table in full sunlight, Florrie, and Mr.
and Mrs. C., and Professor Barrett being the persons present, all their
fingers visibly resting on the surface of the table, three legs of the
table rose off the ground to a sufficient height to allow Professor
Barrett to put his foot easily beneath the castor nearest him. The
importance of the comparatively small amount of "movement" phenomena in
this case is increased by their association with "sound" phenomena of
great variety and frequency. These will be fully described in the next
chapter.

Another case which Professor Barrett cites in the same paper may be thus
summarised as far as phenomena of movement are concerned:[7]--

The sitters were Mr. L., a well-known photographer in Dublin, his niece,
Miss I., and Professor Barrett. While noticing the raps and knocks,
Professor Barrett observed a frequent uneasy movement of the entire
table, which was a moderately large and heavy one, four feet square. It
sidled about in a most surprising manner. Lifting their hands completely
off the table, the sitters placed themselves back in their chairs, with
their hands folded across their chests. Their feet were in full view.
Under these conditions, and in obedience to Professor Barrett's request,
the table raised the two legs nearest to him off the ground eight or ten
inches, and then suspended itself for a few moments. A similar act was
perfo