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

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CHAPTER XVII.
ON MATERIALISATIONS AND APPARITIONS FORMED WITH THE MEDIUM
IN FULL VIEW.
1CATTERED through the records I have already dealt with are many allusions
to materialisation, or the presentation of portions or the whole of a human
figure apart from the medium. I now proceed to give (i) a few additional
testimonies for the phenomena of materialisation under ordinary conditions
and (2) evidence for the formation of these " apparitions " in the light in
full view of the witnesses, and while the medium is in their midst.
Before doing so, however, I desire to describe briefly the Chromo plates appearing in
this volume, as by so doing the reader will be in a better position to understand many of
the references in the narratives I shall shortly have to quote.
Mr. Keulemans, one of the most painstaking investigators in Spiritualism that I know, has
exercised his artistic gifts to depict a few of the phenomena incident to materialisation seances, and
he has kindly reproduced some of these for this work.
Description
of the Eight Chromo Plates.
These representations of spiritual phenomena will be readily recognised by those who
have personally investigated the subject. They are reproductions of original pencil sketches,
water-colour, and crayon drawings, prepared immediately after the seances, and the originals
are, in their turn, as nearly as possible, faithful representations of the phenomena ; Mr. Keulemans,
I may mention, being accustomed to sketching from life (moving life) and from memory. I
may now briefly describe the series of plates, and in doing so shall present, in abstract,
Mr. Keulemans' own already published description.
Fig. 1 (plate I) represents a light, or a substance radiating " light," a term used in
contradistinction to the cloudy luminosities frequently witnessed near the medium's person,
and which appear to be connected with, or to indicate the presence of, the «o;/-materialised
spirit. Fig. \a is the same luminous substance seen from the side. These two figures should
be compared with Figs. 2 and 2a. Fig. la is also a side view of Fig. 2, and represents the
same light under different conditions. The cause of these enormous variations in power of
luminosity is believed to be principally atmospheric. Fig. 2. This light varies from a bright
greenish blue to a pale greenish yellow, and is at times transparent like crystal, but more often