substance
that formed the writing, and I was led to the conclusion that it
consisted of globules of human blood, some scattered as if calcined,
others quite distinct. I thus verified the theory of the occultists of
1850 that the nervous energy as well as the physical force of a medium,
the material of which he is constituted, such as his blood, could
exteriorize itself and reconstruct itself at a distance.'"

"What a stunning experiment!" exclaimed Cameron.

"Important, if true," sneered Harris.

"What do you know about this learned doctor?" asked Miller.

"Nothing; but you will see that these later experiments of the Italian
scientists are sustaining De Rochas and Aksakof in their claim that the
medium is in a sense dematerialized to build up the phantasms. Dr.
Encausse goes on to say: '_Moreover, the medium who had produced this
phenomenon was preparing for the stage and had been studying Corneille
during the whole of the preceding day._ I was thus able to discover the
origin of the substance of the materialization of the writing, and also
its psychic origin.' In other words, he claims that the message was not
from the shade of the great dramatist, but was a precipitation of the
blood of the psychic and an exercise of her subconscious mind, all of
which accords with Bottazzi's theory.

"Now, then," said I, in the tone of one about to conclude, "in the light
of these experiments, my own sitting at Miller's, and especially those
that I held at Fowler's house, take on the greatest significance.
Miller, Mrs. Smiley's _visible limbs_ did not handle the books--of that
I am positive--and yet I am equally certain that she governed every
movement."

"But what about the voices?" asked Fowler. "Does this theory cover the
whispering personalities we heard? What about 'Wilbur' and 'Maudie'?"

"That's easy," retorted Howard. "Once you explain the manipulation of
the cone, the rest is merely clever ventriloquism."

"There is nothing 'easy' about any of these phenomena," I answered. "As
Richet says, they are absurd, but they are observed facts. It would not
be fair to the spiritists to end the account of these sittings without
frankly stating that there were many other phenomena very difficult to
explain by Bottazzi's theory. There came a time, as he admits, when 'a
mysterious entity behind the curtain, among us, almost in contact with
us, was felt all the time.' This entity was supposed to be 'John King,'
the psychic's cont