My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 335myself, and we were able to test the facts so thoroughlyas to demonstrate that they were not produced by thephysical action of any one of us. Afterwards, in myown house, similar phenomena were obtained scoresof times, and I was able to apply tests which showedthat they were not caused by any one present. Afew years later I formed one of the committee of theDialectical Society, and again witnessed, under testconditions, similar phenomena in great variety, andin these three cases, it must be remembered, no paidmediums were present, and every means that couldbe suggested of excluding trickery or the directactions of any one present were resorted to.At a later period I paid frequent visits, alwayswith some one or more of my friends as sceptical andas earnest in search after fact as myself, to two of thebest public mediums for physical phenomena I haveever met with—Mrs,Marshall and her daughter-inlaw.We here made whatever investigations wepleased, and tried all kinds of tests. We always satin full daylight in a well-lighted room, and obtaineda variety of phenomena of a very startlingkind, asnarrated in the book referred to. During the latterpart of my residence in London (1865-70) I hadnumerous opportunities of seeing phenomena withother mediums in various private houses in London.These were sometimes with private, sometimes withpaid mediums, but always under such conditions asto render any kind of collusion or imposture altogetherout of the question. During this time I was in frequentcommunication with Sir William Crookes, Mr.Cromwell Varley, Serjeant Cox, Mr. HensleighWedgwood, and many other friends, who were eitherinterested in or were actively investigating the subject; and through the kindness of several of them I