This is the expression we employ to designate a writing not produced by
any person present, and Mr. Crookes gives the following description of
this phenomenon:
“I have often received words and messages written on paper (on which I
had made private marks) under the most severe conditions of control;
and I have heard, in the dark, the noise of the pencil moving across
the paper. The precautions previously taken by me were so strict that
my mind is perfectly convinced, as if the characters of the writing
were formed under my own eyes.
“But, as space will not permit me to enter into complete details, I
shall simply choose two cases in which my eyes as well as my ears were
witnesses of the operation.
“The first case I shall cite took place, it is true, in _dark seance_,
but the result was none the less satisfactory.
“I was seated near the medium, Miss Fox, and there were only two
persons present, my wife and a relative of ours; I held both hands of
the medium in one of mine, while her feet were on top of my own. There
was paper before us on the table and my hand held the pencil.
“A luminous hand descended from above, and, after hovering near me for
a few seconds, took the pencil from my hand, writing rapidly on the
paper, threw the pencil over our heads and gradually faded in obscurity.
“The second case may be considered and registered as a discovery.
A good discovery is often more convincing than the most successful
experiment.
“This occurred in the light of my own room, in the presence of Mr. Home
and a few friends. Different circumstances, unnecessary to enumerate
here, had shown that evening that _the psychic power was very strong_.
I expressed the desire of witnessing the production of a real written
message, similar to that I had one of my friends mention a short
time before. At the instant this wish was uttered an alphabetical
communication was given which read, ‘_We will try_.’
“A pencil and some sheets of paper were placed on the center of the
table. Soon _the pencil stood on its point and advanced_, by jerks,
then fell over. It raised itself again and fell over; it tried a third
time but with no better result.
“After three fruitless attempts, a small piece of wood which laid near
on the table slid towards the pencil and raised itself some inches
above the table. The pencil now raised itself anew, supporting itself
against the wood, and the two made an effort to write on the paper;
this did not succeed and a new trial was made. On the third attempt the
wooden lath abandoned its efforts and fell back to its old position on
the table; the pencil remained in the position where it fell on the
paper, and an alphabetical message said to us, “_We have tried to do
what you have asked, but our power is exhausted_.” (Crookes.)
In India, the Fakirs easily obtain direct writing; they spread fine
sand on a table or other smooth surface and place on this sand a small
pointed stick made of wood. At a given moment this stick rises and
traces characters on the sand, which are responses to questions put by
the lookers on.[88]
In the experiments made with our friend Dr. Puel, we obtained writing
on over twenty slates. A bit of chalk was placed on a new slate and
this slate was placed on a table at some distance from the medium,
Madam L. B., the experiments being made with all the cautions possible.
A previous examination of both surfaces of the slate put away all
doubts as to any fraud in that respect. I, meantime, held the hands of
Madame L. B., the medium, who was always in a hypnotic condition during
such experiments, at which several persons usually assisted—persons who
were known to be capable of observing and recording facts with coolness
and deliberation.
All these communications have a signature, and many of them date
1900 as the epoch when _modern spiritualism_ shall be scientifically
recognized by the world.
Dr. Gibier, who made interesting experiments with Mr. Slade, like
us, obtained spontaneous writing on many slates, of which he gives
reproductions in his remarkable work, _a book that he had the courage
to write and to which his celebrated name is affixed_.[89]
We do not find in any Middle Age documents such spontaneously written
communications; at least Demonographers do not mention them in their
writings, for if they had it would have been a most striking proof of
the analogy of magic with modern spiritualism and Indian Fakirism,
which serves as an intermediary in the history of Occultism.