the cities of Scotland, some shrewd investigator divined that
he was able to nearly guess from the motion of the hand what questions
were written.

"Are you happy?" being a question commonly asked the "spirits," one of
these gentlemen varied it by asking:

"Are you hungry?"

The reply was, an emphatic affirmative.

They tricked the trickster in other ways; one of which was to write the
names of mortals instead of spirits. It made no difference, however, as
to getting a "communication."

To tip the table without apparent muscular exertion, this impostor
placed his hands on it in such a way that the "pisiform bone" (which may
be felt projecting at the lower corner of the palm, opposite the thumb)
pressed against the edge. By pushing, the table tipped from him, it
being prevented from sliding by little spikes in the legs of the side
opposite the operator.

There are other "ballot-test mediums," as they are called, who have a
somewhat different method of cheating. They, too, require investigators
to write the names--in full, however--of their spirit-friends; the slips
of paper containing the names, to be folded and placed on a table. The
medium then seizes one of the "ballots," and asks:

"Is the spirit present whose name is on this?"

Dropping that and taking another:

"On this?"

So he handles all the papers without getting a response. During this
time, however, he has dexterously "palmed" one of the ballots,
which--while telling the investigator to be patient, as the spirits
would doubtless soon come--he opens with his left hand, on his knee,
under the edge of the table.

A mere glance enables him to read the name. Refolding the paper, and
retaining it in his hand, he remarks:

"I will touch the ballots again, and perhaps one of them will be
designated this time."

Dropping among the rest the one he had "palmed," he soon picks it up
again, whereat three loud "raps" are heard.

"That paper," says he to the investigator, "probably contains the name
of the spirit who rapped; please hold it in your hand."

Then seizing a pencil, he writes a name, which the investigator finds to
be the one contained in the selected paper.

If the ballots are few in number, a blank is put with the pile, when the
medium "palms" one, else the latter might be missed.

It seems the spirits can never give their names without being reminded
of them by the investigator, and then they are so doubtful of their own
identity that