gn his name, he
signed Phinnuit, with two _n_'s. Dr Hodgson accuses himself of being the
originator of the orthographic variation. He carelessly took the habit
of writing Phinuit with one _n_, and gave this orthography to his
friends. Mrs Piper, in the normal state, often had occasion to see the
name thus written. And so, in the first half of 1888, Phinuit also began
to write his name with one _n_. Dr Hodgson only discovered the mistake
later on looking over his notes.

The reader will perhaps be astonished that I speak of the Phinuit
personality as if it were already established that the hypothetical
doctor were really a spirit; that is to say, a personality as distinct
from that of the medium as the reader and I are from one another. I must
hold this point in reserve. The investigators of the Piper case, finding
as decided a difference between the controls and the subject in a normal
state as exists between individuals of flesh and blood, have adopted the
language of these controls for convenience' sake, while warning us that,
in so doing, they have no intention of prejudging their nature. I do,
and shall continue to do, the same. There is no impropriety in this so
long as it is well understood.

To return to Phinuit's character. This doctor in the Beyond is not a bad
fellow; on the contrary, he is very obliging, and his chief desire is to
please everybody. He repeats all he is asked to repeat, makes all the
gestures suggested to him by the communicators in order that they may be
recognised; even those of a little child. In his rather deep voice he
sings to a weeping mother the nursery song or the lullaby which she sang
to her sick child, if the song will serve as a proof of identity. I find
at least one such case in Dr Hodgson's report. The couplet sung was
probably well-known to Mrs Piper; it is a common one. But as this song
had often been sung during her last illness by the child who was
communicating, and as it was the last she sang upon earth, the
coincidence is at least surprising. Probably Mrs Piper took the air and
the words from the source whence she takes so many other details--a
source unknown to us.

However, if Dr Phinuit is good-hearted, he is also occasionally
deplorably trivial. His language is rarely elevated, and his expressions
are almost always vulgar. On occasion he does not dislike a joke or a
touch of humour. Thus we have seen that he mischievously persisted in
addressing Professor Lodge as