The Spiritualist newspaper > No.318, September 27th 1878

Sept. 27, 1878.
149
tHE SPIRlTtJAlIST.
needles, and to turn the compass-needle. The magnetised
end was a south pole. The needle is in Professor Zollner’s
possession, and can he seen and tested by any one de¬
siring it.
The next experiment was with ajar of flour, in which the
impression of a hand was found, with all the marks of the
cuti cle distinctly discernible. At the same time a portion of
the flour, also bearing the marks of a large, powerful hand,
was left on Mr. Zollner’s trousers at the knee, where he
had a minute before felt the grasp. Slade’s hands were on
the table throughout, and on examination were found to
have no trace of flour upon them. The impression was,
besides, that of a larger hand than Slade’s. The jar of
flour is preserved by Mr. Zollner, though, as he says, the
skin-marks are becoming gradually obliterated by the falling
together of the particles of meal.
Later on they obtained a more permanent impression with
paper blackened over a petroleum lamp, and fastened on to
a board. On this the mark of a bare left foot appeared. In
obedience to the request of the Professor, Slade rose imme¬
diately afterwards from his chair, showed both his feet, and
took off his shoes, but no trace of lamp-black was visible.
His foot was then measured, and a difference of four centi¬
metres in size was found to exist between it and the
impression on the paper. A similar experiment was related
by Mr. H. D. Jencken, in this journal last week. Slade
and Zollner afterwards repeated the experiment, using a
slate in place of the board, and the impression thus received
was afterwards photographed, and is reproduced among the
plates appended to Zdllner’s second volume. The Professor
calls attention to the fact that the impression is evidently
that of a foot which has been compressed by tight-fitting
boots, one toe being so completely covered by the other as
not to be visible at all, as is shown in the photograph. He
also enters in detail into the reasons why this impression
could not have been produced by Slade’s foot, even on the
theory of certain “ men of science ” in Leipzig, that Slade
had pieces cut out of the soles of his stockings for this
express purpose.
Some experiments concerning the inter-action of acids
and polarised light, also with the relation of Slade’s clair¬
voyant sight to prisms, by which Professor Zollner sets
great store, will have an especial interest for those versed in
chemistry and optics, but are somewhat too technical for
ordinary readers. Professor Zollner is, however, not the
first who has experimented in this direction, Dr. J. Purdon
having for some years past made observations on the pecu¬
liarities of vision in mediums, which he hopes some day to
give to the world.
A further attempt to get footmarks met with the most
successful results. In Slade’s absence Mr. Zollner pasted
two sheets of paper, prepared with lamp-black, to the
inner sides of a folding slate. He remarked to Slade that,
if his theory of the existence of four-dimensional beings
were correct, such beings must be able to produce footmarks
in a closed slate as well as on an open one. Slade said he
thought it was impossible, but he consented to try, and
even allowed Mr. Zollner to have the slate on his lap during
the experiment, in order that he might keep it fully in view.
After sitting about five minutes in a well-lighted room, all
hands being on the table, Mr. Zollner remarked that he
had twice felt a pressure on the slate in his lap, but that he
had seen nothing. Three raps on the table announced that
all was finished; on opening the slate, two impressions
were found—one of a right, the other of a left foot—on the
prepared paper on either side of the slate.
Professor Zollner says : “ My readers may judge for them¬
selves how far it is possible for me, after witnessing these
facts, to consider Slade either an impostor or a conjuror.
Slade’s own astonishment at this last result was even greater
than my own. Whatever may be thought of the correctness
of my theory with regard to the existence of intelligent
beings in four-dimensional space, at all events it cannot be
said to be useless as a clue to research in the mazes of
Spiritualistic phenomena.”
Passing over the Professor’s strictures on the position of
such'men of science as Helmholtz and Virchow towards
these phenomena, we will proceed to the experiments related
in the third volume of the Abhandlungen, which took place
during a subsequent visit of Slade to Leipzig, in May, 1878.
We quote from the text:—
u The experiments formerly described (17th Dec.*) with
the knotted cord suggests two explanations, according as
one supposes a space of three or of four dimensions. In the
first case, there must have been a so-called passage of matter
through matter; or, in other words, the molecules of which
the cord consists must have been separated in certain places,
and then, after the other portion of cord had been passed
through, again united in the same position as at first. In
the second case, the manipulation of the flexible cord being,
according to my theory, subject to the laws of a four¬
dimensional region of space, such a separation and re-union
of molecules would not be necessary. The cord would,
however, certainly undergo during the process an amount of
twisting which would be discernible after the knots were
tied. I had not paid attention to this circumstance in
December last year, and had not examined the cords with
regard to the size and direction of the twist. The following
experiment, however, which took place on the 8th May this
year, in a sitting of a quarter of an hour’s duration, with
Mr. Slade in a well-lighted room, furnishes an answer to
the above question in favour of the four-dimensional theory
without separation of material particles.
The experiment was as follows:—“ I took two bands cut out
of soft leather, 44 centimetres long, and from 5 to 10 milli¬
metres broad, and fastened the end of each together, as
formerly described with the cords, and sealed them with my
own seal. The two leather bands were laid separately on
the card table at which we sat; the seats were placed opposite
to one another, and I held my hands over the bands. Slade
sat at my left side, and placed his right hand gently over
mine, I being able to feel the leather underneath all the
time. Slade asserted that he saw lights emanating from my
hands, and could feel a cool wind over them. I felt the
latter, but could not see the lights. Presently, while I still
distinctly felt the cool breeze, and Slade’s hands were not
touching mine, but were removed from them about two or
three decimetres, I felt a movement of the leather bands
under my hands. Then came three raps in the table, and
on removing my hands the two leather bands were knotted
together. The twisting of the leather is distinctly seen in
the photographic illustration at the end of Vol. III. The
time that the bands were under my hands was at most three
minutes.”
Several instances are related of apports, or of objects being
brought in an abnormal manner to those sitting with the
medium. Pieces of wood and coal were observed to descend
from the ceiling, and on one occasion a book was removed
from its position on a slate held under the flap of the table,
and about five minutes afterwards was seen to fall from the
ceiling in a slanting direction on to the table.
The most striking case of this kind was that in which a
small round table, which stood beyond that at which Slade
and Zollner were sitting, one day moved gradually towards
them, and laid itself sideways on the floor at their feet. It
then vanished, and a few minutes later descended from the
ceiling on to the larger table at which they sat. For a full
account of this remarkable phenomenon, we refer our readers
to the Wiss. Abh., Vol. III., p. 917, while we hasten to
relate the last crowning event of Zollner’s experiences with
Slade.
The Professor procured two wooden rings, one of oak, the
other of alder, each turned in one entire piece. The outer
diameter of the rings was 105 millimetres, the inner 74
millimetres. He further procured a long strip of bladder,
cut in one entire piece without break or join, forming a kind
of endless cord or band.
Professor Zollner says : On the 9th May, at seven o’clock
in the evening, I was alone with Slade in our usual sitting-
room. A fresh wind having blown all the afternoon, the
sky was remarkably clear, and the room, which has a
westerly aspect, was brilliantly lighted by the setting sun.
The two wooden rings and the above-mentioned entire
bladder band were strung on to a piece of catgut one milli¬
metre in thickness, and 1*05 metre in length. The two ends
of the cat-gut were tied together by myself in a knot, and
* See Tht Spiritualist for February 15th, 1878, p. 78.