The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-04-13

90 nlFs this, B?" asked
n ~, tnats 'tlanchetter" ..NE |
songP' thought FAnchette was
"Have MT you seen itq n : s,rco. ro,, o,,r
came to-day. 'Pl mchet,e ia Al .ose D you oii
aTsiing' as explained the origin OF my biunder.
"Well, what Is it?"
"What YOU see"
"And its use?"
. WelI, IL Will write down the answer IN any crae
ton you like to ask it,"
"of course it viii, -eplied "as would any pencil
in your la. or mine "
$40. imean that, without any voluntary action |
any ones part it will write down 90 paper an
answer 10 any ques On-I don't say necessarily the
proper answer, hut an answer"
looked naturally ncIe dul0us and my 1iend then
proceedei to Tell me that IL was not only common,
nu was ey many implicitly believed an as something
No eanny, eh?'' remarked, as held t in my |
hand. why you have had this made specially for |
your WISH 70 Scotland for anticipating ia here Ii
would be called the nsl you have met the charge by
having It ma oak ;"
"Ah," said B., g you don't beleyeit.
"Beeve What? That it vii, write without the di-
recton o human hands? Certainly not
Nor did till had tried it. Now you give 1t |
fair trial have lefe one with friends here / |
ont think they quite like it, but 1t will white for
Miss A, and you try it with her Tomorrow"
examined the machine, as he explained the mode |
Its male of wood-oak, in this instance and is
shaped like heart
! OF an inch thick.
A the widest end are two pent1graph whees In the
Iusted to firm, 1t were the thru leg The ittle
plank on board" is hen placed upon shoe OF paper
common white cartridge paper is the best-and two
persons lay their their hanus very lightly on Ii,
not in any way influencing its motion. ihen OF
t1em or thru person, asks question, and The
wheels move. "Planchette" tIaverses the paper.
and the pencil, OF course, following the motion Oft
wheels, writes the reply.
"Do you mean, asked, " that IL always does so
with any one?"
No Il rarely writes, at frs for any one but ger
orally runs about the paper, round and round, or
end, ii the op rators perse, But for some peo-
pie 1t won't move at all. must say he continued,
that the answers are generally wrong and that Its
prophecies-its fond Of propbecy-are generally
auq" my % 81 AH'' maj ~ 'u0"'u "i''e AZ
Very" remarkddryIy
"Ah, you don't believe it, and don't WONDER
And then he told me his exl erences OF 1T, to
numerous 10 MENTION aud dwelt particularly on she
fist spscim IN he hal Of its powers.
1wo ladies" he said, chad their hands on ii and
was asked to question it. was lncre,lulous as
you are; SO l resolved to ask puzzler. had betp
10 hear Spu' geon preach shortly before leav Eng
| 1 distinctly remembered though l had foreolfeu
where they came from. So asked 'Pla nehette.' II
instantly wrote cd Cor. and mentioned chapter
| verse; We iookedi up, and it was right Now thar
| was extraordinary, was it not?" ------ sos .'
| 'NO. suppose you repeated the words of the
text. and The young ladies' recognized it, and wrote
"Not at all; I asked where the text came from
| witho 1t repeating it,
could not deny that the circumstances, as stated
| were extraordinary; bnt 1 contented myself viii
making the very original remark, 81 should like to
have witnessed vt iDysel."
He continued that it was not necessary to ask the
question aloud mel tai question was quite sutii-
ient; and that all languages were alike 10 it.
snow" he SAID, s'don't sappose / am such a too
as to believe that there is anything spi'iuap or
pernatuTal about t. mereiy tell you what hav,
seen, judge for yourself But it is getting into
| the small hours must go on packing'' EEb 81
'Planchette'' wa restored to its usual place-B.'s
| hat-boX-and went to bed,
IL was impossible ieel some interest IN this
| Curious and altogether II we subject. Here was
man whom had known intimately for nearly TWEEN
ty years.-a man of scrupl ous TRUTH Ibis perfect
straightforward truthfulness was proverbial anon
his friends; man Of great ability, but Without ont
paitlcie OF maginaion,-ln short The very last maj
| to take up question like this with enthusiasm OF
credulity What was to think? He gave me hi
| word, which knew could u SC, that there no
trick in lt,-that what he told me he had SEEM and
he challenged ne to give the matter fair rial nd
| judge Tor myself Now. there are hundreds of men,
1 and more hundreds OF women, from whom I'D
receive statement OF this with many grains OF
salt; not because they are unworthy OF credit but be-
| cause their temperament would incline them TO b.
lied captive by the wonderful and the my sterous-
| omRe tgnotum pro mdgaifco." But my f,ien as
have not one OF them one to be carried
| away by any speculative imaginative question.
He is essentially clear-headed and hardin aded anu
IL would be very poor compliment to his common
sense to suppose that he believed in the spirituality
Of "a little board" My curiosity was piqued-and
fell asleep.
Next morning at breakfast l referred to "Plan-
chette." Miss A. was evidently convert. Ny
host said nothing My hostess confessed she did not
"qute like it." Others ridculed it, and the su oject
dropped
Most of the guests LETT that day to make way for
anew batch; and when evening came Miss A and
| sat down to "Pianehette' with two, at least, o.
our lookers-on, who had never heard OF the ''erit
tur'' before
We placed our hands on ''Planchette," and ask d
some question. For WHILE it was stationary; then
it began to move under hands, and to run about
the paper, scoring lines up and down, sometimes
| last, sometimes slow; cur hands ;areely touched
it. sit is merely the eject of pulsation" l SAID
But we persevered, and presently it began to io N
| letters RI
Our first question was s'What letters are engray-
| ed in this locket?' The locket was NINE and L OF
course knew the letters, though had not opened
the locket Tor long Sime Miss A. was ignorant OF
them. There were four letters, of which X. and b.
were the last two. Planchette wrote ''K. B." OBJ
| served that the was lormed differently from the
manner in which write The letter, and asked
Miss A. to wri'e 1t in her ordinary way Sne did So
and this was unlike the X written by Planchette
and on examining the letter in the ocket, 1t exactly
| corresponr ed with it.
Now, as 1 knew the letters, and Miss A. di not,
the 1nf ence which produced them must, presume,
have besn mine, not hers. yet mine invountarily
for rertainl did not Consciously direct the pencil
indeed, he'd been dishonest and inlentiona ly in
fuenced it, 1 should, imagine, have written all
the letters and not two only.
Ig vemy hostess five letters, which had receiv-
ed that day, and begged her to select one without
nur knowledge. and question SIP anchetIe." She
did so, asking the Initials of the wriur The repl,
was not written by k B., ut by one Of our mos
distinguished general officers but it was placed IN
an Envelope tnot seen by us) directed by the owner
| That the aed of the pencil Is generally inhu
enced by those whose hands are on the board, l
| nave no doubt; out assuming these persons to be
honest and 10 abstain fr any voluntary move
ment it is equally beyond doubt that this influence
whatever 1t may be- is Involuntary. 1t 49, ct course
perfectly easy to make tie pencil write en- agraph-
wheels being as every one knows, mo sensitive.
Let us sarpo that A. and 3. intend to make it
must be confederate, and agree to write The same
word, or one must lie passive, and must alloao the
Assume, for the sake of argument this to be the
way Ia waleh answers are p uduced, how will the
following admit VI explanation?
One OF the guests, who had inst arrived on the &C.
cas- on referred TO, asked-"At what town did pur-
chase these sleeve links?" Neither Miss A. nor
knew. - :
.rlancheite' instantly, in great hurry, wrote
WroSg, exclaimed z. the inquirer, uiumpbantly
But wrong as the answer was, it was, in my judg
ment, an exceedingly curious answer, showing, as
TX, thai the influence Of those whose hands are
on the board is unconscious and Involuntary.
certa nly was nat thinking OF any pla in parieu-
Gentleman who put the question was an A6erdeen
shire man, and that he had just come from Inyer-
ness. Here, tnen, was congomeraton oftwo places
with which he was connected, and this, think
proves that Miss A. and were perfectly honest in
the matter. Had we either OF us intended to write
Aberdeen or Inverness, we should scarcely have
produced such quaint combination of The two.
We put many more questions that evening, the
answers to which were, some right and some wrong
bur am bound to say that all the answers were
wrong when the questions related to subjects un-
Known 10 us, and put by a third person. And in
almost all cases, this has been the result OF my ex-
perience; but not in all, as 1 will show Afterwards
was sufficiently interested in this curious little
| machine to make every kind OF experiment after
| wards, that could think OF, my friend b. having
| presented me with one
found most amusing in replying to answers re-
la ing to the future all the answers proving wroIg
OF course; but some were unexpeci ed and so alb
sdrd, that they caused the greatest possible fun 1t
replied equally willingly in French or Latin an in
Oriental languages. In all cases where the expert
ment was honestly made, the operators did not con-
| sciOusly influence the pencil. f.
The following is curious, and, supposng me to
Instance of this:-
bracelet was lying on the table, On the clasp
was a VOID in OrienGal characters; on the back Of
| the clasp were inI ias in English. i Lad nv hands
on "Planchetle,'' friend joining me- 1 knew The
language to which the word belonged; my friend
did not. The question was, "What are the English
| niuas on the back of the clasp?" ''Plancheite .
instead writipi the English letters at the back
write the initial letter, in the Oriental
the word on the trout OF the clap Now here was a
reply certainl contrary to any expectations which
mi hit have been supposed to have formed. knew
| what written on either side OF the clasp nv
friend did not. III had formed any expectation Il
| would have been that 8 Planchette" would have
| written what asked tcertainly should not had
| W shed to astonIsh my friend by making it appear
that ''Planchetfe" would answer the estions pnt
to l., have written reply so inappropriate hat
produced the answer? Al least there was no C lIu
sion.
Often Planehette" msspes. Once it insisted
on spelling commander" with one "m - again and
again we cished it TO ell it right but no. Wetried
it letter by ettGr lausi"g between each letter: bt