e up the pencil for automatic writing, or to sit at a table for
communications at any free moment, without rhyme or reason, for disorder
in experiment is one of the first and most serious dangers to be
avoided. An absolutely strict rule should be made not to attempt the
effort more than once every other day." Another writer says: "The
communications that are received by the various forms of passive,
impressional, automatic, and inspirational writing must not be regarded
as valuable merely because of the conditions under which they were
obtained, nor because of their spirit origin, real or supposed. Under
all circumstances receive with the utmost reserve and caution
long-winded communications from notable characters who claim to be
'Napoleon Bonaparte,' 'Lord Bacon,' 'Socrates,' or other great
personages; for in the majority of cases, the value of the communication
is exactly the reverse of the importance of the name attached. This
applies to automatic writings quite as much as to spoken messages. Judge
the statement made by the ordinary standards, apart from their claimed
exalted origin. If rational, beautiful, and spiritually helpful and
enlightening, they are worth having on their own merits; but if they
are unreasonable, wild or dogmatic, or pretentious and flattering, they
should be discarded; and, unless you change their character after
repeated experiments, your attention should be turned in some other
direction."

Drawing Mediumship.

What is known as "drawing mediumship" is but a variation of writing
mediumship, at least so far as is concerned the nature of the
manifestation. In both cases the spirit control moves the hand of the
medium, in one case forming letters and words, and in the other case
forming figures, designs, etc. In some rare instances, the spirit
control operating through the hand of the medium has produced crayon
drawings, water color sketches, and even oil paintings, although the
medium himself or herself, was unable to even draw a straight line, much
less to execute a finished drawing or painting. The principle governing
such mediumship, and the development, thereof, is precisely the same as
that governing the phase of writing mediumship previously described.

The Planchette.

From time to time, during the past fifty years, there have been invented
or arranged various forms of mechanical contrivances designed to assist
in the development of writing mediumship. The most popular of these