Medium.--'Yes; I see luminous atmospheres round all people. The
atmosphere which surrounds Mr. R. C. would fill this room with
light.'

I.--'You are aware of the effects ascribed by Baron Reichenbach to
magnets?'

Medium.--'Yes; but a magnet makes me terribly ill.'

I.--'Am I to understand that, if this room were perfectly dark, you
could tell whether it contained a magnet, without being informed of
the fact?'

Medium.--'I should know of its presence on entering the room.'

I.--'How?'

Medium.--'I should be rendered instantly ill.'

I.--'How do you feel to-day?'

Medium.--'Particularly well; I have not been so well for months.'

I.--'Then, may I ask you whether there is, at the present moment, a
magnet in my possession?'

The young lady looked at me, blushed, and stammered, 'No; I am not en
rapport with you.'

I sat at her right hand, and a left-hand pocket, within six inches of
her person, contained a magnet.

Our host here deprecated discussion, as it 'exhausted the medium.' The
wonderful narratives were resumed; but I had narratives of my own
quite as wonderful. These spirits, indeed, seemed clumsy creations,
compared with those with which my own work had made me familiar. I
therefore began to match the wonders related to me by other wonders. A
lady present discoursed on spiritual atmospheres, which she could see
as beautiful colours when she closed her eyes. I professed myself
able to see similar colours, and, more than that, to be able to see
the interior of my own eyes. The medium affirmed that she could see
actual waves of light coming from the sun. I retorted that men of
science could tell the exact number of waves emitted in a second, and
also their exact length. The medium spoke of the performances of the
spirits on musical instruments. I said that such performance was
gross, in comparison with a kind of music which had been discovered
some time previously by a scientific man. Standing at a distance of
twenty feet from a jet of gas, he could command the flame to emit a
melodious note; it would obey, and continue its song for hours. So
loud was the music emitted by the gas-flame, that it might be heard by
an assembly of a thousand people. These were acknowledged to be as
great marvels as any of those of spiritdom. The spirits were then
consulted, and I was pronounced to be a first-class medium.

During this conversation a low knocking was heard from time to time
under the table.