Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-03-14
THE SCIENTIFIC TEST
TO THE PERFORMANCES
OF a MEDIUM.
Italian, French and German Scientists Are
Conused by an Ignorant Neapoiian
Woman.

I0nhlSeQ Uy an iNHOIaHA WcapViAoH
Woman.
At the earnest invitation Of Siguor
Chiaja. wealthy gentleman 0i Naples,
standing high in the favor of kiug Hum
bert, n number Of distinguished Italian,
German and French scientiAts consented
10 meet az Milan recently for the pur-
pose Of witnessing and testing tie eXhi.
bition of strange phenomena produced
by Eusapia Paladiuo, nn lDiterUtc Nea-
politan woman Of 80 years Of age, the
wife of n carpenter. IL is said OF her
that from her early youth she seemed TO
| possess some strange power. hut OWlns 10
the 0dium cast upowher manifestations OF
II she had abandoned for the past ten
years any exhibition Of them. 1t was
only through The instance of SignOr Chi
| ala TINT she consented 90 20 before the
scientists some seven in number, assem-
| hlCd ut Milan for the express purpose of
c1aminilg her alleged powers. Those
who had consented to make the inyestl-
| CATION were Giovanni Schiapurelli di-
rector Of the Astronomical observatory
| at Milan: Carl du Prcl, director of phi
losophy at Munich: Angelo BrOifc rio,
| professor VI ply sizes at the Royal school
/ of agriculture POruci; q. Il. ErmUCOra,
arid GeoreO Fiuzi doctors of physics
| 'Ihege eve pers0us attended regularly
/ the seventeen sittings held between .
| and II o'clock in the evening. aud their
/ names arr appended To the report IN the
| order given above. The report has since
| been published. Professor l.ombroso,
| the celebrated alienist, and Prof. Charles
| Rchet, editor OF the Revue SciCntinquo,
| also were present. but less regularly.
| The mayor of Milan was at one Of the
| situngs bus seemed 30 have been scared
| ON feeling, a. he said, IA large, damp.
hairy hand pass over his face which was
Il
| report drawn up by the investigators
Is remarkable for its fairness aud im-
| partialty. When they insisted that Eu.
| sapiA should carry out the program they
| had agreed upon among themselves, the
tests failed. The sittings were held in
the library Of private house with ip
one present but themselves. and they in
sst that the manifestations were ALSO
| lutely free from any possible collision.
| They say AT the beginning Of their re.
port that the results of the experiments
did not always correspond " their eI-
pectaticns, although they had In great
abundance facts which were apparently
VI really important aud marvellous. al
though they could not apply TO them
those rules Of experimental art which In
other fields Of research are considered
necessary for arriving nc inco1testublc
certainty rs In the scuuCes Of Amer
can mediums, they sat part OF tha
time around an obloug table holIir.
each others hands. the two persons ncai-
est the medium holding one of her hands
aud pressing her feet with their feet
lhe Manifestations sometimes occurred
In durllushs sometimes I'm half light, and
occasionally the full blaze of n magne-
stun light was thrown upon the scene
for the purpose Of phOtOgruphirg IT,
Many of the manifestations rescmkled
those of certain American mediums
which have always been ascribpd 10 col
| lrtipu A tho Milan
not appear 70 De any evidence Of collu-
sion al1d Il confirmation OF the thing
were observed by the professors was
mndc by one of the Milan clitors, who
meeting Eusapia In the street, induced
her TO enter his house and produce somf
members of his family What those
manifestations were are stated in the ia.
port az follows
l. Raps on the table much stronger
than those which we heard beneath OF
inside the table when Il was light
>. knocks and blows given TO tn,
chairs " those near the medium, y,
iorcible at times MS to turn the chnil
around. with the person seated in IL
Al TIMES, the person rising, the chaii
was taken entirely away.
3, Flying through the mir of different
objects. such as Instruments of music
percussion and sounding of the same.
T. Elevation upon the table OF the body
OF the medium, together with the chaiI
IN which she was seated
o, Apnaritou Of phosphorcsccnt torcLc
OF bret duration, o. fraction of a second
and Of sparks Of luminous disks. SOM
milmctros In diameter, which sometime
untOlded.
q. Tho sound Of two hands clapping to
gethor IN the air
T. Gusts Of air sensbly felt, like lgh
wind localized In Il small space
| s. 'DutupE of IA IuVatnr'ofa luuI n;tba
upon the portions of our body, whici
were covered. or on the uncovered Dor
lions such as the hands and face. 4
which case one experiences precisely th
sensation OF touch and warmth whicl
a human hand produces.
! D. Appearance of one and even tw
hands projected against piosphorescrn
background or upon u window slight
, | Illuminated,
10, Diverse things done by such hands
such as tho tying and untying Of knott
4 | pencil marks apparently left ly IN
same On sheets OF paper and IN otbr
1 places, and Impressions of such hands o
sheets Of blnckcncd paper
, IL. Contact of our hands with q mys
I terious face, which certainly was no
that of the medium
= Among the most important facts oil
served WAS the lifting OF the table 20
I height Of murc tban three feet, and il
remaining ia the air sufficiently long [
be photographed. Another fact mo
. which the report lays stress was ia
. lifting Of EusaWu in her chair bodil,
, placing her on the table and lifting h.
down again 70 her former place AT IN
table This occurred ON two separat
occasions. A vacant chair weighip
twenty-eight pounds three feet distnu
I from Professor Sehaparelli was move
! ! without hands directly up TO where h
was sitting lie rose and put IL bncl
! and he had scarcely resumed his son
when il glided back 20 him again. 4
, the opening of a curtain drawn across m
, room nc the back of the medium. hand
: appeared and human face with bristl
> hair and soft beard, and when sever.
! OF the professors rose TO look with
l they felt the Touch OF warm. damn in
I, gcrs. while Signor SchilpOr2i had hi
head drawn within the curtain ana Sa,
there the sparkle OF phoephorescent light
IL is impossible within the 8paca al on
command TO 50 over the numerous detail
, given In tho report The conclusion
MS follows: 1--WE are convinced:
That, In the circumstances given. none {
the manifestations obtained Ia a MOI
OF less intense light could have bee
produced by amy rtifice Whatever.
\ That the same conviction can be atirme
Z 10 regard 10 the greater number Of hi
I phenomena taking place Ia darkness
r Professor Schlaparelli being subsequent
asked If he believed Ia the phen0mnn,
Z said How can ! believe In a thin
{. I 4 =