licitly that I regard the whole matter as a
humbug of the most decided kind, but I have never asserted the
impossibility of the young lady's alleged performances. On the
contrary, I hold nothing to be absolutely impossible outside the
domain of mathematics. But possibilities and realities are very
different things, and I certainly will not accept as true any such
phenomena as those asserted to have been associated with Miss
Fancher unless they are proven.

I have already declared my readiness to investigate Miss Fancher,
and, a few days since, in the _Sun_, proposed a test which will be
perfectly satisfactory to me and many others who, at present, are in
accordance with me in my estimation of this young lady. Permit me
now to state it definitely, specifically, and once for all. I will
place a certified check for a sum of money exceeding $1,000 inside
of a single paper envelope. I will lay the package on a table in the
room in which she is. If she chooses she may take it in her hands
and place it in contact with any part of her body. I will allow her
half an hour to describe the check. If she reads it--number, date,
on whom drawn, amount, signature, etc.--accurately, she may have the
check as her own property, or I will give the amount expressed in
the check, in her name to any charitable institution she may
designate, or otherwise dispose of it in accordance with her
wishes.

The only conditions I exact are these:--

_First_--That the experiment be conducted in my presence and in that
of two other physicians, members of the New York Neurological
Society, whom I will bring with me as witness simply, and who will
not interfere in any way with the test.

_Second_--That the envelope shall at no time pass out of our sight.

If Miss Fancher succeeds in this test I will admit that heretofore
in my denunciations of such performances as hers I have been in
error, and that there is a force in nature which ought to be
investigated. I will pay the money not only without chagrin, but
with great satisfaction, and will consider that I have received full
value.

If she fails, as I am quite sure she will, I shall not hesitate to
continue to denounce her as an imposition in this as well as in her
assumed abstinence from food.

A word further in regard to this last matter. I know s