s. He called the same circle together for the 20th,
willing to try patiently for developments. All came but Lombardi, whose
place was taken by M. Jona, an engineer. The second sitting was a
wonder. Warned by his first experience, Bottazzi nailed or screwed every
movable thing fast to the walls of the cabinet. He was resolute to
force 'John,' the supposed 'guide,' to touch the electric button and
press the ball of India-rubber that connected with a mercury manometer.
He intended to teach the spirit hand to register its actions on a
revolving cylinder of smoked tin. He wanted graven records, so that no
wiseacre like Harris, here, could say: 'Oh, the thing never moved. You
were all hypnotized!' In effect, he said: 'They tell us that a cold wind
blows from the cabinet. I will put a self-registering thermometer in the
cabinet and see. They say tables weighing forty pounds have been lifted.
All I ask is that the bulb of a self-registering manometer be pressed.
They say a Morse telegraphic key has been sounded by spirit hands. Very
well; I will arrange a connection so that every pressure of the key will
be registered on a sheet of smoked paper, so that the fact of the sound
of the key shall be recorded by an infallible instrument.'"
"Did he get the records?" asked Harris.
"Wait and see!" commanded Cameron.
"These indicate the methods which Bottazzi and his assistants brought to
bear on the medium. No more worship here, no awe, no hesitation, no
superstition. Among other things, he put into the cabinet a small table
weighing about fifteen pounds, and on top of it arranged a hair-brush, a
hen's feather, a bottle full of water, and a very thick glass. These
articles and the table were the only objects that could be moved. His
aim was to limit the spirit hands to a few movables--to see whether they
could not be taught to do what was required of them. Well, _that little
table came out of the cabinet of its own accord in a light that made it
perfectly visible_, at the precise time when three of the inexorable
professors were rigidly clasping the psychic. But that is not the most
remarkable thing. The psychic's feet were held by the engineer, and he
observed that at _the exact moment when Paladino pushed against his knee
the table moved_. 'Each advance of the table corresponded,' says
Bottazzi, 'with the most perfect synchronism, to the push of Eusapia's
legs against Jona's knees'; in other words, she really executed
movements i
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