The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-01-24


scientists to accept certain unapproprlated phe-
nOmena which are probably OF hypnotic origin:
but utterly refuse to have shese counterfeit bts
passed or on me as genuine. / am sore that
Foster and Mansfield and Slade ave charlatans. 1
complain OF them for being bungers. They have
been at work anywhere from ten tOtwenty years.
they have each . very limited numSer OF tricks.
and yet, being something OF an adept In matters
OF Straightforward. caught them all at the Hrss
sednoe and confirmed my theory At the second.
There is a third class OF letters. however. which
demand attention. They have been written, nrst.
by those who believe ana who honestly feel that
my seances were entirely unlike what they have
had themselves; and second, by those who arc
IN doubt upon the whole subject, and want to DO
led neither by me, sceptic nor yet by any other
man, devotee, but who want to come at the
question fairly. To all such take my hat on. They
have my respect, and to them Will talk in q calm
and dispassionate manner. do not want to thrust
my own conclusions upon them but simply to take
down the bars and open new avenue OF investl-
CATION.
To all believers have this to say to them :-YOu
cannot always trust your senses, ana ii Is very
dangerous to believe all you see, or rather all you
think you see. slade, for instance, puts a slate
under the table. He generally does 1t after having
gone through certain muscular conrOrti0ns, during
which, to all appearance, he is trying to control
some mysterious spiritual force, while really he Is
writing on the under side Of the slate. You do NOT
see the slate Just previous to placing 1t under
the table, You would probably break or interfere
with the influence If you should demand It. You
thought you saw the whole but In reality a very
important part OF the performance you did not
see / say this knowingly, because can do ex-
acty what have described, and II can do II by
natural agencies. why Ay TO she supernatural to
aOlv a Of
his famous tricks, what you think you see is by no
means what really occurs. The whole science Of
sleignt-Ofhand consists In ability to persuade
you to fix your attention upon something which
you suppose is to be done, or on some method OF
doing it which you suppose will be pursued and
then doing something else. doing IL in differ
ent way. II you knew exactly how the trick was
to be performed it would cease to be trick, and
you could follow It IN all its stages OF progress.
The eye Is very dun sense, and can be easily
cheated. The ear also Is very deceptive,
and rap when your attention is d.
rected to the farther corner OF the table
IN expectancy, is very likely to appear to come
from that direction, when in reality 1t Is maze by
the operators loot Oh the leg of the table. II Mr..
Foster Will accord with my conditions l will
see to it that ne can't make q single rap on my
table. say on my table, because by three hours
work can put an undiscove rable apparatus into
any table which Will produce all the raps you
want, and l will defy detection. This l have
noticed as a popularity. that when man who Ia
not an expert visits these mediums the conditions
are generally favorable, but when a man who is
an expert visits them the conditions are either
un1avOrable or the medium is too nervous ana sick
TO produce the usual manifestations
IL Is not necessary or possible for me to answer
in detail all the letters received In answer to my
former communication. but i will give these words
OF advice to those who are ready to spend IS
more on each Of these gentlemen who knock at
the heavenly door and 1t is opened TO them
Though you may not be an expert II you make
fair test and then Insist that the conditions OF
such test be carried out, you will either detect the
the fraud. or the seaxce will be q failure
Fhst-Mansfeld This gentleman's mediumship
Is very limited. Indeed, you may have noticed
that the three great mediums OF the city do, each
one separate business They do not cross each
others paths or encroach on each others line OF
profit in any way. Dr.. Mansfield answers ques-
lions. Perhaps you have remarked that he sits
close to and facing a window. This Is very
favorable condition for his business. II he should
turn his back the otheDway and have a black sur
lace In front or him the spirits couldn't come.
ASK him some time to turn his table around and to
remove that quantity of white paper from beneath
his hand, which is very useful as background for
the question you have written aud you will prob
ably so seriously disturb the magnetism that you
can't get ANYTHING at all. Or take your own paper
good honest writing paper, and not such cheap.
thin material as he constantly uses-write your
question, fold 1t up then hold 1t up 10 the shiny
light thus making sure that nobody but the spirits
can read 1t, and then use some OF the DOCTORS mu-
cilage, bottle OF which he always has handy,
to insure against the possibility OF hts opening
II, and you will get no answer. This Is all the
Wi Dr
field. Surely, he can have no objection to such
reasonable conditions as these. All you ask Of
him is to turn his back to the window, to lay your
communication on black instead OF white
surface and allow you to paste the paper your
fairness OF all this. though the Doctor may be
puzzled. His trick IS the cheapest OF the lot.
How any one can be deceived by him is more than
I can understand. 1t is a little funny that he
finds 1t Impossible to answer my questions when
through three folds. and stin funnier that he can
answer every one when write them so That can
read them TS BY them up 70 ns
but II you want to catch him at It follow my
directions pledge you this for want to be ex,
think him an honest medium, and not charla-
tan and cheat. will, by appointment, 60 with
eyes. He does not know me, and will accord
with any conditions whichlany honest Spiritualisr
Secomd~Foster. Here you will need little
more care Stillit will not be dlnlcult TO discover
his also aen You 60 aes let s BE
vigorously that he does not put his fingers on your
papers, and especially that he does not go into
the other room for light for his cigar. His cigar
has a habit Of going out just at the wrong time.
and a very bad habit 1t is. Instead OF rolling
those papers up engthwlse roll them up tight into
a pellet, and Keep your eyes his fingers Tor he
can unrol them very deitly while you are point
| ing at the letters OF the alphabet. No matter
but keep his fingers In sight all the time.
| II he has Mt don't mind It; the
|
| room don't be distracted. In word.
DO not lose sight OF his fingers for an instant and
| DO not let him put his hands under the table.
| Poor fellow, you Will puzzle him sorely. and you
will be the hardest sitter ne has had ior month.
| One other caucion-Don't write questions TO
| which simple '.No" or Eyes" will be an answer;
il you do an this. You will have very unsatsiac.
tory seance.for him. he VIII probably presens
| the backs of his hands to you, while with hts
thumbs he uncOils the roll; but look out for him,