interesting. She says, "This is not what my sister wrote on her
deathbed, but it is perfectly true. It was the great grief of sister's
life."

How could Phinuit guess this by simply touching a lock of hair? Can it
be that our feelings, our sorrows and joys, leave a persistent vibration
on the objects we touch, which sensitives can perceive after even a long
interval? Numerous and well-observed facts would almost compel us to
believe so. It would seem as if the vibrations of the soul imprinted
themselves on matter as sound waves are recorded on the cylinder of a
phonograph. Certain subjects, in an abnormal state, would be able to
recover them. There is, after all, nothing in this repugnant to science.

This abnormal state, which allows sensitives to apprehend past
vibrations, is perhaps only a partial abandonment of the body by the
spirit. In that case it would be easier to understand that those who,
like Phinuit, have entirely quitted their bodies, those who are in
another world, can read these vibrations as easily as we can read a
book. But if this is so, why does not Phinuit own it? It would be marvel
enough to satisfy his vanity. It would not, in any event, prevent his
obtaining information directly from disincarnated beings. But he ought
to state precisely in each case from what source he derives his
knowledge. He does nothing of the kind, and thus renders it almost
impossible for us to believe in his individuality.

At this same sitting Phinuit asserted that he would give the letter word
for word if he had a longer lock of hair. So Mrs Blodgett sent a longer
lock, which was given to him on October 3, 1888. The text he gave was as
incorrect as the preceding ones. A last effort was made in 1889, again
without result. Miss Hannah Wild has not come back from the other world
to tell us what she wrote on her death-bed.

I will end with another example which demonstrates Phinuit's cleverness
in reading people's minds even at a distance. On June 3, 1891,[43] Mrs
Blodgett wrote a letter to Phinuit. Dr Hodgson read it to him at a
sitting on the 15th of the same month. This drew from Phinuit the
following statement, which had nothing to do with the contents of the
letter: "She's been reading a funny book--a life of somebody. She called
on an old friend of Hannah's--somebody I told her to go and see. Mrs
Blodgett has a friend named Severance." Mrs Blodgett writes on June 17,
"Really Phinuit is doing wonderfully well as far