t's' own composition."

"But that only adds to the mystery of the mental process," objected
Miller. "That supposes it to have come out of your mind."

"I can't believe that I had any hand in the musical part of it, and I
can't persuade myself that my dead friend was present."

"Suppose you had been able to find that musical fragment, would it have
converted you?" This was Miller's challenge.

"No, for even then some living person might have known of it--must have
known of it; and if a knowledge of it lay in some other mind, no matter
where and no matter how deeply buried in the subconscious, that
knowledge, according to Myers and Hudson, would have been accessible to
the supernormal perception of the psychic."

Fowler interrogated me: "But suppose a phantom form resembling 'E. A.'
had _spoken_ these things to you face to face--what then?"

"I would not have believed, even then."

"Why?"

"Well, for one reason, belief is not a matter of the will; it is not
even dependent upon evidence."

Miller interrupted me. "I am interested in the writing. How do you
account for the writing? As I understand it, the psychic did not, in
some instances, touch the slate while the writing was going on. Are you
sure of Blake?"

"Blake is as much to be trusted as I am. No, I am forced to a practical
acceptance of the theory of the fluidic arm, and yet this is a most
astounding admission. We must suppose that the psychic was able to read
our minds and write down our mingled and confused musical conceptions by
means of a supernumerary hand. It happens that I have since seen these
etheric hands in action, which makes it easier for me to conceive of
such a process. I have seen them dart forth from another medium
precisely as described by Scarpa. I have seen them lift a glass of
water, and I have had them touch my knees beneath a table while
slate-writing was going on--so that, given the power to read my mind,
there is nothing impossible (having regard to Bottazzi's definite
experiments) in the idea of the etheric hand's setting down the music
and reproducing the signature of 'E. A.' In fact, at a recent sitting in
a private house with a young male psychic, we had this precise feat
performed. Said the psychic to our host, Dr. Towne, 'Think hard of a
signature that is very familiar to you,' and Dr. Towne fixed his mind
upon the signature of his brother, and immediately, while the young
man's material hands were controlled, his etheric