o be seen that there is a mistake. We
deceive ourselves without being aware of it. This frequently happened to
me during two years with this word Charles, which was the name of my
mother's brother, living in New Orleans. During those two years he told
me how he died; yet at that very time he was in the vigor of life. This
was in 1860 and 1861, and he did not pass away till 1864. We had,
therefore, been the dupes of an illusion.

Auto-suggestion, or self-suggestion, is also extremely frequent in these
experiments, as well as with writing mediums. I have before my eyes some
charming fables, published by Monsieur Jaubert, President of the Civil
Tribunal of Carcassonne, and some delicate poems, obtained through
planchette, by P. F. Mathieu,--besides some historic and philosophical
works,--all leading to the conclusion that these mediums have written
under their own influence; or, at best, affording no scientific proof of
a foreign influence.

There remain still unexplained the raps, and the motion of objects more
or less heavy. On this point I fully share the opinion of the great
chemist, Mr. Crookes, who says:

When manifestations of this kind are exhibited, this remark is
generally made: "Why do tables and chairs alone show these
effects? Why is this the peculiar property of furniture?"

I might reply that I am simply observing and reporting facts,
and that I need not enter into the _whys_ and _wherefores_.
Nevertheless it seems clear that if, in an ordinary dining-room,
any heavy inanimate body is to be lifted from the floor, it
cannot very well be anything except a table or a chair. I have
numerous proofs that this property does not appertain alone to
articles of furniture; but in this, as in other experimental
demonstrations, the intelligence or force--whichever it be that
produces these phenomena,--cannot choose but use objects
appropriate to its ends.

At different times during my researches I have heard delicate
raps, which sounded as if produced by a pin's point; a cascade
of piercing sounds, like those of a machine in full motion;
detonations in the air; light and acute metallic taps; cracking
noises, like those produced by a floor-polishing machine; sounds
which resembled scratching; warbling, like that of birds.

Each of these noises, which I have tested through different
mediums, had its special peculiarity. With Mr. Home