d has continued to write after the hands of all the sitters have
been removed from it. Now, if there be operative a force which has been
in some way generated during the sitting, it is quite possible, of
course, that this same force may be operative in those cases where
contact is allowed, only it is difficult to prove that fact.[47]
Personally I have no difficulty in conceiving such a force or power, at
least theoretically. This force may be the first glimmerings of the
force whose more powerful manifestations we see in the movements of
tables (witness Gasparin's experiments, e.g.), and ultimately in
telekinetic phenomena, as, for example, in the Palladino case. This
would seem to indicate that such forces and powers are possessed by
every one in a limited degree, but that it is only in certain
individuals that it becomes so marked and extraordinary that it produces
the phenomena spoken of above.

Granting, then, for the sake of argument, that the board is moved by the
sitter, either consciously or unconsciously; by unconscious muscular
action or by some "fluid" emanating from his fingers (and we must
remember that even were a spirit using the writer's organism to manifest
through, it must use the muscular and motor system), the great and vital
question still remains: What is the intelligence behind the board that
directs the phenomena? Who does the writing? What is the source of the
information so often given?

Let us first consider the theory held by a very large number of
persons--that the board is moved by some kind of "electricity." We must
suppose that the generally recognized electricity is meant, because, if
not, the motive force would be electricity _plus something_, and the
"something" would be the explanation. And yet, if the force moving the
board be "electricity," how comes it that this "electricity" can answer
back, and possess an individuality so independent from that of the
writer; capable, too, of giving a vast mass of information to the
sitters, on occasion, of which they knew nothing? Then, again, it must
be remembered that a ouija or planchette is almost universally made of
_wood_--not metal or any well-known good conductor of electricity, but
of wood--which is generally recognized to be an exceedingly bad
conductor. Obviously the theory is absurd. And when we come to remember
those cases in which the board gave information previously unknown to
the writer having his hands on the board at the time,