'Twixt two worlds : a narrative of the life and work of William Eglinton

ut
Brought to Book." 151
The success of the last case, in which the writing was actually seen in course of execution,
induced Mr. Eglinton, who has always taken a lively interest in the development of his own
powers, to make practical experiments with a view to regularly obtaining similar results, and
he has always willingly co-operated with any earnest inquirer in furthering efforts to this end.
A case in point came to my notice while these sheets were passing through the press. Dr.
Herschell (M.D.,- Lond.), and an amateur conjurer of great ability, whose interest in Spiritualism
is of many years' standing, after some satisfactory seances held during the latter half of 1885,
specially designed a slate for the purpose of developing direct writing under conditions which
might possibly allow, in due course, of the writing being seen while being executed. Fig. 30
is a drawing of the slate, which measures nf inches by 9| inches. Over one surface a thin
board is screwed, to one end of which a frame is attached. In this frame, and covering a
portion of the surface of the slate not screened by the thin board, slides a piece of rubycoloured
glass. The space under the glass, as far as the observer is concerned, is absolutely
dark, and yet a piece of pencil, if dipped in luminous paint, is perfectly visible, and any
movements easily perceived.
An experiment was made with this, Dr. G. Wyld being the first to obtain successful
:— results. He sends me the following account of what took place " I took with me to Mr.
Eglinton's a friend, Mrs. M , who was anxious to obtain advice as to the condition and
treatment of a dear friend. She used her own slates, viz., thin metal book slates without
frames, so that when closed the leaves were in contact, and I used two of my own slates tied
so tightly together that I could not insert the thin blade of a penknife. Mrs. M having
placed a crumb of yellow chalk pencil between the leaves of her slate, they were pressed in
close contact to the under surface of the flap of the table, the near edge being visible to us.
We then, having all joined hands, heard the sounds of writing, and when we opened the leaves
of the slates found yellow chalk writing, not only at the end of the slate next Mr. Eglinton's
hand, but at the distant end and across the slate, and the writing contained apposite replies to
questions put by Mrs. M unknown to him. My two
,
closely tied slates were then
used. These we held above the table, in the air, and we heard the sounds of writing. On
examination, after cutting the string, we found both of the slates covered with writing from top
to bottom, and containing apposite replies to two questions put, one by myself, and the other by
Mrs. M . Our third experiment was one which, I believe, has seldom been successfully tried
before, and never with the slate used. We removed the glass of Dr. Herschell's slate, and saw
that there was no writing on the slate floor, and, having placed thereon a crumb of slate pencil,
and a question written on paper, placed face downwards, under the covered portion of the
slate, we reinserted the glass lid, and while we firmly pressed the framework of this apparatus
to the table, we looked through the glass lid. We heard writing going on, but we could not
see the movements of the pencil, as the glass was not sufficiently transparent ; but on
removing it we found a message pertinently replying to the question put by Mrs. M .
This was an interesting experiment, and seems to indicate that the day may not be far distant
when through a more transparent glass lid than that used, the writing may be watched as
it proceeds, and thus afford a crowning evidence of psychography."
Mr. Mair-Rolph, of Beaufield, Jersey, bears emphatic testimony to the identity of the
communicating intelligences in a long letter which he published in the columns of Light. He