rmed on the other side. Then a very unexpected occurrence happened.
To quote Professor Barrett's own words:--

"Whilst absolutely free from the contact of any person, the table
wriggled itself backward and forward, advancing towards the armchair in
which I sat, and ultimately completely imprisoning me in my seat.
During its progress it was followed by Mr. L. and Miss I., but they were
at no time touching it, and occasionally were so distant that I could
perceive a free space all round the table whilst it was still in motion.
When thus under my very nose, the table rose repeatedly, and enabled me
to be perfectly sure, by the evidence of touch, that it was off the
ground, and further, that no human being, consciously or unconsciously,
had any part in this movement."

Professor Barrett, with his accustomed caution, comments thus:--

"The results, it is true, were very remarkable and unaccountable; but
though I had not the slightest doubt of the good faith of Mr. L. and
Miss I., yet I do not adduce this evidence as unexceptionable. I should
have preferred to have taken precautions which were not so easy to
impose on a lady, and I should also have preferred to have had the
seance at my own house."

This latter objection was met by Mr. L. and Miss I. going to Professor
Barrett's house shortly afterwards, no one else besides Professor
Barrett being present. Some remarkable sounds were again heard. Then,
this happened--again quoting Professor Barrett's own words:--

"Suddenly, only the tips of our fingers being on the table, the heavy
loo-table at which we were sitting made a series of very violent
prancing movements (which I could not imitate afterwards except by using
both hands and all my strength); the blows were so heavy that I
hurriedly stopped the performance, fearing for the safety of the gas
chandelier in the room below. Here, too, I cannot avoid the conclusion
that the phenomena described are inexplicable on any known hypothesis."

After discounting the "pious platitudes" spelt out by the tilts of the
table, and the possibility, and even probability, that "unintentional
muscular movements" were the cause of these, and after recognising the
impossibility of keeping up a continuous vigilant watch on the hands and
feet of any person, and after supposing that Miss I. had some ingenious
mechanism concealed about her person, whereby she could produce the
sounds that were heard, Professor Barrett says: "This would fail