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

Private Stances and Spiritualism at Home 1%
"A se'ance was held on Thursday evening, March 2 1st. There were in all eleven persons
present, of whom eight were undergraduates. Mr. Eglinton was the medium. An electric
bell was fixed on the wall, a yard from the medium's seat, one wire being connected with the
bell; the other hung over a nail fixed in the wall within about a foot of the bell itself.
After sitting for half an hour or more, faint raps were heard on the floor, and places were
arranged by ' Joey,' the medium being tightly held by two undergraduates, one on either hand,
they also resting their knees against his. The light was then extinguished, and in about a
quarter of an hour the medium was controlled by ' Daisy,' who told us to be very careful
about conditions, especially the holding of hands, and presently 'Joey' greeted us in his
pleasant little voice. He then rang the electric bell violently, took it up and carried it about
for a few seconds in the air, ringing it at intervals, thus showing that he held bell and
connecting wire in his two hands. He then laid it on the table, tapped out a little tune
with it, still ringing the bell, and answered several questions upon it. Afterwards, he took
it off the table, and laid it on the mantelpiece, below the nail from which he had at first
taken it. A very heavy musical box was next wound up, and placed on the heads of several
sitters ; bells, tambourines, and tubes moved about freely, and spirit hands were felt by
'
Ernest '
several of the sitters,
'
'
Joey out of gratitude to the one who had brought the bell, patting
spoke to us
him on the head, hands, and knees, again and again. Both Joey ' ' and
several times. Then a heavy sofa-cushion was taken from the corner of the room behind
the medium, and laid across the table on the hands of those sitting opposite ; the fender was
taken out and placed against the table, between two of the sitters ;
the sofa was turned
over, four chairs were taken away, including the medium's, and one was laid on the top of
the sofa-cushion on the table. The sitting was most convincing and satisfactory to those
present. It ended shortly after ten, the actual manifestations having lasted under forty minutes."
The subjoined attestation accompanied this letter :— " We, the undersigned, do solemnly,
on our word of honour, declare that the hands of Mr. Eglinton were firmly held by us, and
that our knees rested against his during the whole of the seance held at 10, King's Parade,
on Thursday, March 21st, 1878.—A. Hunter, Jesus College; A. Keightley, Pembroke College."
On the night of April 7th, 1878, at the house of Dr. Nichols, 32, Fopstone Road, Earl's
Court, in the presence of six persons, Professor Zollner's experiment of tying knots in a cord,
the ends of which were tied and sealed together, was repeated. Dr. Nichols still possesses
the knotted cord, of which I give an illustration. What occurred is thus described by
Dr. Nichols :— " I then cut four yards of common brown twine, such as I use for large
book packets, from ^a fresh ball. I examined it carefully, tied the two ends together by a
single knot (which included both ends of the twine), then passed each end through a hole
in one of my visiting cards, tied another square knot, and firmly sealed this knot to the card.
I then asked a gentleman to seal it with his signet ring. On the card I also put my
signature and the date. Six persons sat round a small table (in the daylight) ; the sealed
card was placed upon the centre of the table, and the fingers of each person present placed
upon it, while the loop hung down upon the floor. This position was maintained for a minute,
when raps were heard, and I examined the string. The ends were firmly fastened, and
sealed as before, and five single knots were tied upon it about a foot apart—on the single
endless string, observe ! the perfect fastenings of which had never left my sight where they
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