bove
conclusion respecting the source of the sounds, _an instance has fallen
under our observation, which demonstrates the fact that noises precisely
identical with the spiritual 'rappings' may be produced in the
knee-joints_."

The doctors then describe how the sounds may be produced in certain
subjects by the partial dislocation of the knee joint; and they add:

"The visible vibrations of articles in the room, situated near the
operator, occur if the limb, or any portion of the body, is _in contact
with them_ at the time the sounds are produced. _The force of the
semi-dislocation of the bone is sufficient to occasion distinct jarring of
the doors, tables, etc., if in contact._ The intensity of the sound may be
varied in proportion to the force of the muscular contractions, and this
will render the apparent source of the 'rappings' more or less distinct."

I have italicized the portions of these extracts which apply in a measure
to the action of the toe-joints, as well as to that of the knee. No
especial comment upon them is needed. The reader may easily comprehend the
relation of these peculiar facts.

Knowing, from this brief of their supposed case, exactly what she had to
apprehend from them, and anxious to prove triumphantly that she and her
sisters did not make the "rappings" with their knees, Mrs. Fish rushed
into print, and challenged the doctors to a more public investigation, to
be made by three men and three women, the latter of whom were to disrobe
the "mediums," if they so desired. The doctors, of course, accepted.

In her account of this scene, Mrs. Fish speaks of herself and her sister
Maggie as "two young creatures thus baited as it were by cruel enemies."
It should be remembered at this point that her age at that time was about
thirty-four years, whilst that of Maggie was only eleven! So much for the
disingenuousness of the narrator.

She herself says that during the test, Maggie and she sat on a sofa
together a long time and no raps came. The watch was too close. Then a
zealous and indiscreet friend rapped on the back of her chair, and to
shield herself from seeming complicity, she rebuked him with great
ostentation. How kindly she felt toward fraud, however, is shown by the
excuses which she makes for his conduct.

"It was certainly a severe and cruel ordeal for us," she goes on, "as we
sat there under that accusation, surrounded by all these men, authorities,
some of them persecutors, _while t