hand, many of the
likenesses, obtained under the same test conditions, are obviously
simulacra or pictures built up by some psychic force, not necessarily
by the individual spirits themselves, to represent the dead. In some
undoubtedly genuine cases it is an exact, or almost exact, reproduction
of an existing picture, as if the conscious intelligent force, whatever
it might be, had consulted it as to the former appearance of the
deceased, and had then built it up in exact accordance with the
original. In such cases the spirit face may show as a flat surface
instead of a contour. Rigid examination has shown that the existing
model was usually outside the ken of the photographer.

Two of the bravest champions whom Spiritualism has ever produced, the
late W. T. Stead and the late Archdeacon Colley--names which will bulk
large in days to come--attached great importance to spirit photography
as a final and incontestable proof of survival. In his recent work,
"Proofs of the Truth of Spiritualism" (Kegan Paul), the eminent
botanist, Professor Henslow, has given one case which would really
appear to be above criticism. He narrates how the inquirer subjected a
sealed packet of plates to the Crewe circle without exposure,
endeavoring to get a psychograph. Upon being asked on which plate he
desired it, he said "the fifth." Upon this plate being developed,
there was found on it a copy of a passage from the Codex Alexandrinus
of the New Testament in the British Museum. Reproductions, both of the
original and of the copy, will be found in Professor Henslow's book.

I have myself been to Crewe and have had results which would be amazing
were it not that familiarity blunts the mind to miracles. Three marked
plates brought by myself, and handled, developed and fixed by no hand
but mine, gave psychic extras. In each case I saw the extra in the
negative when it was still wet in the dark room. I reproduce in Plate
I a specimen of the results, which is enough in itself to prove the
whole case of survival to any reasonable mind. The three sitters are
Mr. Oaten, Mr. Walker, and myself, I being obscured by the psychic
cloud. In this cloud appears a message of welcome to me from the late
Archdeacon Colley. A specimen of the Archdeacon's own handwriting is
reproduced in Plate II for the purpose of comparison. Behind, there is
an attempt at materialisation obscured by the cloud. The mark on the
side of the plate is my identifica