elligence also; for instance, if the ouija encountered a rough or
uneven place in the paper on one occasion it would always avoid crossing
that spot in the future, and would go carefully round it, so as to avoid
catching its legs in the hole or rough place in the paper. Still more
striking was the manner in which the board pointed to certain letters on
occasion. Many times the board was unable to point to a certain letter
because the point of the ouija was in an awkward position, or on the
edge of the table, or for some other reason. On such occasions the board
backed one of its hind legs around until one of these legs pointed to
the desired letter! Those having their hands on the board had many a
hearty laugh over these antics, and particularly this one, which always
reminded them of a horse backing itself round in this ludicrous way. It
was always entirely unexpected, and was the source of great amusement.
But what was the intelligence guiding the board when the only person
having her hands upon it was not looking at its antics, or paying
attention to what it was spelling out? Was it a spirit? If so, how did
it manage to move the board? Did it act directly upon the matter of the
board, and push it with its hands, as a material being would push it,
or did it act in some more mysterious manner? Granting, for the sake of
argument, that a spirit of some sort was involved in the production of
the writing, how are we to assume its interaction with the matter of the
board and its movements?

Two theories will at once present themselves to the reader: (1) that the
spirit acts directly upon the matter of the ouija board, and pushes it
as any mortal would push it; and (2) that the spirit acts only through
the brain and nervous and muscular system of the person or persons
having their hands on the board. I leave these for the present, because
they have been discussed so often before. The following is _the ouija
board's own theory_ of such action--so we can at least listen to it with
interest. In the course of some writing obtained, the following
explanation of the action of the board was given by the "spirits"
controlling it. I quote from the record:

"... Two spirits can always, when it is in divine order, readily
communicate with each other, because they can always bring
themselves into direct _rapport_ at some one or more points. Though
matter is widely discreted from spirit, in that the one is dead and