Or the
medium may retain consciousness, and with eyes and ears attuned
to a higher key than the normal man can attain, he may see
and hear what is beyond our senses. Or in writing mediumship, a
motor centre of the brain regulating the nerves and muscles of
the arm may be controlled while all else seems to be normal. Or
it may take the more material form of the exudation of a strange
white evanescent dough-like substance called the ectoplasm, which
has been frequently photographed by scientific enquirers in
different stages of its evolution, and which seems to possess an
inherent quality of shaping itself into parts or the whole of a
body, beginning in a putty-like mould and ending in a resemblance
to perfect human members. Or the ectoplasm, which seems to be an
emanation of the medium to the extent that whatever it may weigh
is so much subtracted from his substance, may be used as
projections or rods which can convey objects or lift weights. A
friend, in whose judgment and veracity I have absolute
confidence, was present at one of Dr. Crawford's experiments with
Kathleen Goligher, who is, it may be remarked, an unpaid medium.
My friend touched the column of force, and found it could be felt
by the hand though invisible to the eye. It is clear that we
are in touch with some entirely new form both of matter and of
energy. We know little of the properties of this extraordinary
substance save that in its materialising form it seems extremely
sensitive to the action of light.
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