Shall through my lips proclaim the truth. Our dead
Do not depart—
To some far city, never to return.
They often come
To aid, to comfort us, till we too reach
That brighter home!”
The difficulties and discouragements which arise in trying to photograph unseen forms do not exist to the same extent in photographing what are called “materialised forms.” Some excellent results in the latter have been obtained by various persons. The most notable instances are those by Mr. Wm. Crookes, F.R.S., recorded in the last chapter of his valuable book, Phenomena of Spiritualism, on the photographing of the spirit, Katie King, by the electric light. At these experiments Mr. Crookes had five complete sets of photographic apparatus fitted up, all of which were used at the same time at each séance, and some excellent negatives were obtained. “But,” adds Mr. Crookes, “photography is as inadequate to depict the perfect beauty of Katie’s face as words are powerless to describe her charms of manner. Photography may, indeed, give a map of her countenance; but how can it reproduce the brilliant purity of her complexion, or the ever-varying expression of her most mobile features, now overshadowed with sadness when relating some of the bitter experiences of her past life, now smiling with all the innocence of happy girlhood when she had collected my children round her, and was amusing them by recounting anecdotes of her adventures in India?
‘Round her she made an atmosphere of life;
The very air seemed lighter from her eyes,