I asked
that the rod might be made to whirl in my hands in the manner which
has been described, but there was clearly some mistake in this whirl,
for Miss Lulu knew nothing on the subject.

Then we proceeded to the chair performance, which was repeated a
number of times. I noticed that although, at the beginning, the
sitter held his fingers between the chair and the fingers of the
performer, the chair would not move until Miss Lulu had the ball
of her hand firmly in connection with it. Even then it did not
actually lift the sitter from the ground, but was merely raised up
behind, the front legs resting on the ground, whereupon the sitter
was compelled to get out. This performance was repeated a number
of times without anything but what was commonplace.

In order to see whether, as claimed, no force was exerted on the
chair, the performer was invited to stand on the platform of the
scales while making the chair move. The weights had been so adjusted
as to balance a weight of forty pounds above her own. The result was
that after some general attempts to make the chair move the lever
clicked, showing that a lifting force exceeding forty pounds was
being exerted by the young woman on the platform. The click seemed
to demoralize the operator, who became unable to continue her efforts.

The experiment of raising a hat turned out equally simple, and the
result of all the trials was only to increase my skepticism as to the
whole doctrine of unknown forces and media of communication between
one mind and another. I am now likely to remain a skeptic as to
every branch of "occult science" until I find some manifestation of
its reality more conclusive than any I have yet been able to find.

[1] Prowe: Nicolaus Copernicus, Bd. ii. (Berlin, 1884), p. 33.

INDEX

Absence of mind, examples of, 73, 169.
Academy of Science, a would-be, 351.
Academy of Sciences, Paris, 327.
Adams, Prof. John C., 220; intellectual capacity, 282; politics, 283.
Agnesi, Donna Maria, 294.
Agassiz, Louis, discusses Origin of Species, 70.
Airy, Sir George B., Observations of Transit of Venus, 166;
hospitality, 285; poetic taste, 286; executive ability, 286;
methods of works, 289.
Alexander, Columbus, 368.
Anderson, Sir James, 300.
Angle, trisection of, 387.
Argelander, Prof., master of observational astronomy, 318, 319.
Atlantic Cable, the first, 300.
Auwers, the great astronomer, 306.

Bacon, Mr., teacher at Bedeque, 9.
Baill