f Home's feats, his
levitations, elongations, and the like. For the rest, bearing in mind
the fate of other dealers in turning tables and dancing chairs, he may
fairly be regarded in the light Browning regarded him, that is to say as
an exceptionally able conjurer who enjoyed the singular good fortune of
never being found out.[N] It must be remembered that not once was there
applied to him the test which is now recognized as absolutely
indispensable in the investigation of mediums who, like Home, are
specialists in the production of "physical" phenomena. This test is the
demand that the phenomena in question be produced under conditions doing
away with the necessity for constant observation of the medium himself.

Even Sir William Crookes, who appreciated to the full the extreme
fallibility of the human eye and the ease with which the most careful
observer may be deceived by a clever prestidigitator, failed to apply
this test to Home; and by so failing laid himself open on the one hand
to deception and on the other to the flood of criticism let loose by his
scientific colleagues. Thus, the apparatus used in the experiment on
which he seems to have laid greatest stress, is described as follows:

"In another part of the room an apparatus was fitted up for
experimenting on the alterations in the weight of a body. It consisted
of a mahogany board thirty-six inches long by nine and one-half inches
wide and one inch thick. At each end a strip of mahogany one and
one-half inches wide was screwed on, forming feet. One end of the board
rested on a firm table, whilst the other end was supported by a spring
balance hanging from a substantial tripod stand. The balance was fitted
with a self-registering index, in such a manner that it would record the
maximum weight indicated by the pointer. The apparatus was adjusted so
that the mahogany board was horizontal, its foot resting flat on the
support. In this position its weight was three pounds, as marked by the
pointer of the balance. Before Mr. Home entered the room the apparatus
had been arranged in position, and he had not seen the object of some
parts explained before sitting down."

Now, to give this "test" evidential value, the disembodied spirit
supposed to be acting through Home should have caused the registering
index to record a change in weight without necessitating, on the
spectators' part, constant scrutiny of the medium's movements. But, in
point of fact, a change in w