something you can say or do which will prove to me that you are H. But I will give you a test." The spirit of C., through the automatic writing, then proceeded to detail an occurrence and conver, sation between himself and H. which happened during his life. At first H. said he did not remember the circumstance, but when the details were given perfect recollection of it came back to him. On another occasion this gentleman took upon his knee the little son of a friend, who could neither read nor write, and asked the boy if he could not write something on a slate which he held, at the same time placing a pencil in the boy's hand. The little fellow said he could not write, but consented to hold the pencil in his hand. Shortly afterward the hand began to move, making continuous lines of characters on the slate. When the influence ceased H. took the slate, but was unable to read the writing. He then said: "Will the intelligence which guided the hand of this boy mark with lines the separation of the words, so that I can read it if it is a message." He then placed the pencil in the boy's hand, and it was moved by the unseen power and intelligence to indicate by lines the separation of the words, as he had requested. It then became an intelligible message, signed by the name of his deceased wife.

It will be observed that in the case of the young lady referred to above, she was controlled without thought of her own, or the usual process of development, to perform music which she had never heard, and in a manner quite impossible to her while in normal condition. This demonstrates the fact that spirits retain the knowledge and skill acquired during life, so far as the soul faculties are concerned, and that whenever they can find an especially sensitive physical organism they use it as they used their own bodies during physical life.

The argument is sometimes put forward by those who hold the doctrine of reincarnation that it alone accounts for the wonderful genius which is occasionally manifested by men and women. If the facts and possibilities of prenatal influence did not fully account

for genius, as they do, spirit control, as exhibited through the young lady referred to above, would do so. For

it is quite as conceivable that a spirit might control the soul and the physical organism of a person from childhood, for a specific purpose or for all purposes, as that an incarnate soul can be controlled by both incarnate and decarnate souls for a brief period.

No man can always tell the sources of the impulses which sway him, the ideas which present themselves to him, or the specific skill and ability he may develop. Nor can any man say, and be certain he is right, that his soul is not influenced and guided by decarnate souls without the realization of his physical consciousness.

CHAPTER XX.

CONDITIONS Required for Spirit Manifestations—SPIRITUAL AND PHYSICAL LAWS MUST BE REGARDED-TRANCE MEDIUMSHIP-HOW TO FORM HOME CIRCLES-THERE MAY BE DECEPTIVE SPIRITS - EXPERIENCES WITH A CLAIRVOYANT MEDIUM.

LTHOUGH thousands of families have had proof

of spirit presence and the continuity of life brought to their notice spontaneously, during the last half of the nineteenth century, most people who desire opportunity for personal observation of spirit manifestations must seek it. Jesus Christ said, "Seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you." And so it must be with those who would hear from their friends on the spirit side of life. They are nearly always ready and anxious to communicate with friends incarnate, but they cannot maintain and operate both ends of the line which may be made to connect the two worlds.

The person who desires to send a telegram does not insist upon operating the key himself. He writes out his message and trusts to the operators to transmit the message and to receive the answer. Neither does he insist that there shall be no "conditions" in the method of transmission. He knows there must be an insulated wire, a battery, a circuitbreaker and a receiver, and that the operators must

understand the arbitrary code of dots and dashes, or long and short breaks, which has been adopted, and must comply with all the physical conditions which have been found necessary. When he steps into the telegraph office he does not say to the operator: “Unless you can transmit this message without battery or wire, or unless your can use a cotton string instead of a steel or copper wire, I shall believe you are a fraud, and that you do not send it at all, but only read it and make up an answer here.”

But that is just the way some people who make a pretense of investigating psychic and spirit phenomena, and imagine themselves very smart, proceed with such investigations. They ask why there should be "conditions," and because there are conditions, assume that all the phenomena are fraudulent. But does not an argument of that character exhibit both ignorance and stupidity? The physical eye of man, under ordinary circumstances, cannot see spiritual forms; the physical ear cannot hear spirit voices; the flesh cannot feel a spirit touch; and the soul cannot perform a physical act except by direct control of the physical organism. Is it then to be expected that without special conditions results impossible under ordinary conditions can be obtained? As well might it be demanded that the telephone should be operated without wire or insulation; that steam should be conveyed from the boiler to the engine without a pipe; that the photographer should develop his pictures in full sunlight; or that a seed should germinate as rapidly lying on the surface of the ground in winter, as buried in soil warmed by the summer's sun.

And why, say some, if decarnate souls can com

municate with souls incarnate, and can cause physical acts to be performed, have they not done it in all ages? Did not boiling water create steam when man first appeared upon earth? Did not the lightning flash and the thunder roll millions of years ago? Did not the rays of the sun paint the rainbow on the cloud when the earth first became a habitable globe? But how long is it since man learned to confine the steam and make it do his work? Or how long is it since Franklin proved that the force exhibited in lightning is the same as that shown when a piece of amber is rubbed with silk, or there is friction between silk and glass? Or how many years since Daguerre proved that the rays of the sun could be used to impress pictures upon sensitive substances with absolute fidelity?

Spirit manifestations have occurred in all ages, as the lightning has flashed in all ages; but men were unable to comprehend and regulate such manifestations because they were ignorant; for the reason that physical science had not been developed, and without an understanding of physical phenomena and laws the relations of natural to spiritual laws could not be understood. Nothing happens in either the physical or spiritual realms except as a result of natural laws, and obedience to such laws; and there can be no communication between the spiritual and the physical, nor can one influence the other in the slightest degree, except as the laws regulating their relationships are obeyed. Knowledge of the modern development of physical science has been carried into the spiritual realm by excarnate souls who obtained it while in physical life, and they have been able to make a beginning in the work of developing knowledge of the