A Soance with Dr. Slade.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2984, 7 September 1878, Page 4

A Soance with Dr. Slade.

A correipondent of the Age of Tuesday, August; 2b,"iepOrts a seance^with Dr. Slad«|V fthe an^ged^pirit medium, iii Melbourne, whic¥appears to'have been highly successful. We omit the writer's introductory' order to get at' hia .facts;;wHe:wtl8 lintr'odubed to Dr Slade in . compSi^yi; Vltjil^'' ffiend whbm, he calls : Omegja/and 1 yrttOi like'-himself, ;was; jajsp ''■ an 'Jnguirerr:;( ;He*;iays i,~ "©r. Sladje ■ Bnd"{ f'f.^.,;;'^iry;!;.'*my'!(elf and .friend constituted the Circle tfC^r^who^t around ;r t^ei table,!;, in tbe . centre [of the <roflni f , jThe^re was, nqthjng'^n 'PP. 1? to, attract attention. No signs:,of con^. federacy, human or mechanical. The hour wag llin the morning. • The window was unshuttered,' and then the sun was shining brightly.;.: The : table; at which we sat was a new one, and as soon as we examined if, r Dr Slade took-his-seat at one side, facing the window, and. (ho rest of us occupied the other three-seats. ; . ]■. He first produced a slate .of the ordinary school size,' with a wet sponge, with which I wiped the B!ate. It was opaque, and had the grey colour' of a new article. A chip of pencil about the size of a grain of wheat was placed upon it on tbe table; we joined hands and immediately taps were heard about-the *■ table, and in answer to a question-— "Will you write ?" from Dr Slade, three raps were given,, and he. forth with took up the slate and the pencil laying on it, and held half of it under the table by his finger and thumb, which clasped the ■ corner of the half, that was outside the table, and was therefore easily seen,by all present. His left hand^remained near thb centre of the table, resting on the two sitters on either side. Several convulsive jerks of his arm were now given, .'theVa pause, and immediately the sound of writing was audible to every one, a scratching sound interrupted by the tap of the pencil, which indicatedi as we afterwards found, that tbe.t's were being crossed and the i's dotted. The slate was then exposed, and the words written were in answer to the question which had been put by Omega as to wliether lie had psychic power; or not. .'; " V •". .: In order to satisfy myi self that the; V. trick V was not done by means. of igympathetic writing; on the slate, I had ten minutes previously purchased a slate from a shop in Bourke street containing three leaves- arid shutting up.j; fbppk-fashion.. This, I. produced, and : Dr.. Slade 'readily repeated his^perfprmance with it. It was necessary to break the pencil down to a mere crumb, in order to insert it between the leaves of the slate. This done the phenomenon at once recurred, with this rather perplexing difference, that the slate, p instead of being put half under the tables, forced itself by a series of jerks on to my neck and reposed quietly under !my.' ear, in the eyes of everyone present. „The scratching then com- - mencedr; I heard the t's crossed and the i'g dotted by the moving, pencil, and at .the usual signal I opened the " slate and found ,an intelligible reply to , the question" put. On this occasion it will be seen the phenomenon occurred out of the usual course. The slate was on my, shoulder, nnd not half under the table, and Dr Slade's hand was easily watched holding the corner of it. , Immediately after,'the lame slate, by a similar

wave-like movement, passed across me and rested on the hand of Omega, the writing taking place as before, the slate being detiohed from Mr Slade's hand altogether. I subscribe the message, as given in a clear, legible hand-writing :-— " Investigate all subjects, and hold fast that which is good and true. The object of this is to give hope to those of no hope, by proving the soul can never die.'' The next manifestation was the leyitation of one..of the sitters in his chair about a clear foot from the ground, and the levitation of the table about two feefc. During the whole 1 of the seance there was a good deal.of by-play going on. Every one felt the touch of hands more or less, arid the sitters' chairs were twice wrenched from under them, or nearly so, but the psychic could-not possibly have done it.