It will not be out of place to describe a trick by which writing is produced upon an ordinary china plate by a somewhat similar means. The plate is examined and cleaned with a borrowed handkerchief, and then the performer requests the loan of a pinch of snuff, or uses a little sand or dust, which he places on the plate. He now commences to move the plate around in circles, and while doing so the snuff or sand is seen to gradually form itself into writing. The explanation is simple—whatever writing you desire to appear on the plate is placed beforehand on it. It is done with a camel’s hair brush dipped in the white of an egg and allowed to become dry before being handed around for inspection. As the performer cleans the plate he breathes on both sides of it, as if to give it moisture enough to help take off any dirt that might be thereon when rubbed with the handkerchief. In breathing on the front of the plate containing the writing done with the white of the egg, he moistens the writing enough to make the snuff or sand, as the case may be, adhere to it. Of course, in cleaning the front of the plate, care must be taken not to brush or disturb the invisible writing.
It may not be amiss to also mention another method of producing writing, employed by mediums to obtain a message on a blank piece of paper which has been placed between two slates, which are held by the medium in his hand, high above his head, and, on afterwards taking the slate apart, the paper is covered with writing. This again calls into use the extra or false flap. (Fig. 1.) A piece of paper with writing on it is placed face downward on one of the slates and covered with the false flap. It then looks like an ordinary slate. On this is placed the plain piece of paper, and over this is laid the second slate. The slates are now held up in plain view of the audience, and on being lowered to the table they are turned over, thus bringing the blank piece of paper under the false flap and the one with the writing on it on the top of the flap, which has fallen from the slate, which is now the top, but originally the bottom one, on or into the under one, and, of course, on the removal of the present top slate, the writing is found on what is supposed to be the original blank paper.
Fig. 4.—False Table for Developing Communications Written with Sympathetic Ink.
If the paper is to have a private mark put on it by an observer, so as to prove the writing really does appear on that identical piece of paper, the operation is varied as follows: The false flap is done away with, and the paper, which is furnished by the medium, has written on it the desired communication with ink, which is made visible and brought out black by means of heat. For the invisible ink you can use sulphuric acid, very much diluted, so as not to destroy the paper. The necessary heat is obtained in the following manner: The table (Fig. 4) on which the slates are resting is hollow, and has concealed in it a spirit lamp filled with alcohol. This lamp sits directly under a trap in the table top, which is covered underneath for safety with sheet iron, so it will not catch fire. When the slates are placed on the table they are laid over the little trap door, which, in conjuring parlance, is known as a “trap.” This is now opened, and the slates allowed to become well heated and the trap then closed, and the prepared paper, upon coming in contact with the hot slate, is thus covered with writing.
Fig. 5.—The Development
of Spirit Writing.
Another medium employed a somewhat similar method, only the paper in this case was placed in a glass vial (Fig. 5) which had been lying on the iron trap door. The medium’s hand covered the vial, which was corked and sealed, while the writing was making its appearance. You can also produce writing on the paper in the vial without resorting to the use of heat by using a vial that has been washed out with ammonia and kept well corked, and writing on the paper with a weak solution of copper sulphate, which is invisible until the paper is placed in the vial, when the two chemicals produce writing in blue. Still another message is produced as follows: The writing is done with iron sulphate on blank cards. Of course this is invisible. These cards are placed in envelopes and sealed up. Upon opening the envelopes shortly afterward the cards are covered with the writing which was before invisible, but is brought out by a solution of nut galls with which the inside of the envelopes had been slightly moistened.
The subject of sympathetic inks is such an interesting one that we give thirty-seven formulas, which include all those which are liable to be used by the medium.