The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-04-05

himself. until the profound, fastidious
wickedness of the whole performance drew
an involuntary exclamation from the OBJ
server: the lights went out; in the pitchy
darkness he felt himself seized and hurried
away, and by a fortunate accident he lived
t. tell the tale.
This, l say, is an excellent story; but it
might conceivably be true. The conjuring
up of spirits is an ancient practlce. Let a
number Of persons, animated by a con-
sensus of purpose int desire, met together,
arrange themselves in symbolic order and
attitude, and stimulate and intensity thelr
common object by h~arnonizing words n
psstures-and they will presently work
themselves and one another up to a pitch
upon their minds and senses it would not
be easy to exaggerate. The apparition
evoked by the young Parisians was nothing
less than the essence of their combined CON
ce, ton of the Eni Principle; The figure
resembled them much as the composite
prevailing traits of the contributing lndi-
viduals into a derivatiye of them all; it
would have been strange IT an objective re
suit had not been obtained. We may say.
of course, that the result, while seeming to
be objective, was III fact subjective; but
what. after all, Is a spirit!
Confident anticipation and concerted &C
ton are all that are necessary to raise the
devil, or any other spectre. To the same
order or phenoma belong the ''manipula-
ton of spiritualism. In spiritualistic
circles the table becomes the medium of
sympathy or magnetic communion between
the persons who Sit arouni it. | have been
amused by the efforts of the sceptical per-
Sons to prove that ''table-tipping' is the
result of prank or of unconscious muscular
action on the part of the %sitters. II be
lieve in God Almighty said one gentle
M RI NJ anita Rlr1nnGIv Sani knnU
He wouldn't come down here to work any
such nonsense" Neither. | suppose, would
He. tn, ough the medium of %ruf1ians, muir
der innocent people; or cause any other in
i~quitous or ridiculous act: nevertheless. the
world is full of folly and lnlquity. The
Rentleman's statement had no application
to the matter in hand. The table is moved
of course; but by the pushing or pulling
of hands and feet. The alternative
to physical hands and hands and feet is not,
however. necessarily spirits. For my
own part, though l have no particular OBJ
lection to the spirit theory, it seems to me
gratuitous. If the force must have a name
the old one of animal magnetism suits me
as we'll rs any. Idon't know what it means
but it seems to , oint to living human be,
ings as the source of the phenomena, ano
that is satisfactory as far as it goes.
Who the genius was who invented the
little table on wheels, with Il pencil on it.
have never heard. He deserves the thanks
of the many people who have been enter
tanned by the little instrument. A man o
an inventive turn might doubtless greatly
improve upon it. l first heard of plan
Ghetto about thirty years ago, but the frs
one / possessed WAS made by my own hant
out of a bit of Il cigar box in 1884. Sum.
ner visitors " re staying with us and there
were half a dozen children always on hand
expected to amuse them for an evening o
two, but the fun lasted three or fou
months. and was even renewed the follow
ing year.
The grand initial march is. that plan
Ghetto will move. When YOU first sit low
to it, the idea seems SO palpably absur,
that it is with difficulty you compel your
self to remain in position. After ten min
utes OF silence and immobility you art
tempted to give the thing II second jerk OF
your W account, and you are morbid,
suspicious of your partner in the transac
ton. All of a sudden, planchette, with
faint preliminary crash, starts off an,
makes a long, swinging ide-long movement
marked by the pencil with a straight dash
1t takes You by surprise and you know yo
are innocent Ill the matter: but you ar
convinced your partner Is guilty. He meet
your glance, and you see in his eyes his ow.
corresponding conviction regarding you
No; you are both alike blameless. But thef
what made planchette move?
l confess, this question interests nae mo.
than any ghost story | ever heard. A NOR
curious sensation than this movement b,
meath your hand of Il thing which is nc
alive, and which you are rot yourself pro
polling. is seldom experienced by mortt
man. We see iron filings move about til
poles of a magnet, or bits of paper flute
to a piece of rubbed sealing wax, but this
different, for planchette moves In no IKE
direction towards Il certain objective poin
but in all directions impaItiaiiy; and NOR,
over it moves intelligently. 1t write
draws and does other things which | sha
presently describe. Barring certain habi
that it falls into. its manifestation certain
ly contradict expectation; it does not .
what some think it is going to do. In val
you ask it a question which seems to nece
state . particular answer; planchette r.