“For our seance yesterday we obtained, as usual, a quantity of raps through the lead-pencil. I succeeded in provoking them upon myself. Sensation produced: when M. Meurice put the pencil on bone I had a sensation of a slight electric current; it produced no contractions in the muscles traversed; the sensation was at its maximum on bone, probably because of the greater conductibility offered by solids to vibration.
“I have tried the raps upon several substances with the following result:—
- the finger: good.
- wood: very good, maximum.
- ivory: good.
- iron: bad.
“Sensibility appears to be exteriorised during the production of raps through a pencil. Yesterday there was sensibility at a distance of four centimetres from the periphery of the hand, which was holding the pencil, when the raps were forthcoming.
“I asked Chappe to indicate in one word why it was easier to obtain raps with a lead-pencil. He dictated the answer, ‘Localisent.’
“Before we separated we received the following message by raps without contact: ‘Jeanne Bordes morte 7 octobre 1859 à St. Pierre Martinique, demeurant 37 rue St. Jacques.’ I do not know of any Jeanne Bordes, though a family of that name lives at St. Pierre. I have questioned some people who have lived in that town, but they do not recollect any Jeanne Bordes....”
In another letter the doctor writes:—
“Towards four o’clock this afternoon, in broad daylight, some very fine raps resounded on a table standing thirteen feet away from M. Meurice and myself. It was said to be H. B. who was rapping. M. Meurice became nervous, and the experiment only lasted for five minutes. It was magnificent as an example of raps at a distance.”
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