829. Now, as I have said, the great majority of the nunciative or message-bearing motor automatisms originate in the automatist's own mind, and do not involve the exercise of telepathy or telaesthesia, or any other supernormal faculty; but they illustrate in various ways the coexistence of the subliminal with the supraliminal self, its wider memory, and its independent intelligence.

I need not here multiply instances of the simpler and commoner forms of this type, and I will merely quote in illustration two short cases recounted by Mr. H. Arthur Smith (author of The Principles of Equity, and a member of the Council of the Society for Psychical Research) who has had the patience to analyse many communications through "Planchette".

(From Proceedings S.P.R., vol. ii. p. 233.) Mr. Smith and his nephew placed their hands on the Planchette, and a purely fantastic name was given as that of the communicating agency.

Q. "Where did you live?" A. "Wem." This name was quite unknown to any of us. I am sure it was to myself, and as sure of the word of the others as of that of any one I know.

Q. "Is it decided who is to be Archbishop of Canterbury?" A. "Yes".

Q. "Who?" A. "Durham." As none of us remembered his name, we asked.

"What is his name?" A. "Lightfoot." Of course, how far the main statement is correct, I don't know. The curiosity at the time rested in the fact that the name was given which none of us could recall, but was found to be right.

Now, this is just one of the cases which a less wary observer might have brought forward as evidence of spirit agency. An identity, it would be said, manifested itself, and gave an address which none present had ever heard. But I venture to say that there cannot be any real proof that an educated person has never heard of Wem. A permanent recorded fact, like the name of a town which is to be found (for instance) in Brad-shaw's Guide, may at any moment have been presented to Mr. Smith's eye, and have found a lodgment in his subliminal memory.

Similarly in the answers "Durham" and "Lightfoot" we are reminded of cases where in a dream we ask a question with vivid curiosity, and are astonished at the reply; which nevertheless proceeds from ourselves as undoubtedly as does the inquiry. The prediction in this case was wrong.

In the next case, although it is possible that the lady's mental action may have contributed, as Mr. Smith supposes, to the very result which she so little desired, the word written may have emanated from the subliminal self of the writer alone.

April 27th, 1883.

Present - H. A. Smith (A), R. A. H. Bickford-Smith (B), another gentleman (C), and two ladies (D and E).

R. A. H. B.-S. having, on previous occasions, exhibited considerable aptitude for automatic writing with a Planchette, it was designed to apply this instrument as a means of testing the transference of thoughts. No exact record having been made at the time of the whole of the results obtained, it would be of little service now to record isolated instances of success. Sometimes names thought of were correctly reproduced, sometimes not; but the proportion of successes to failures cannot now be accurately stated. The following incident, however, very much struck us at the time, and seems worthy of record.

Our method of procedure at the time was as follows:- C, sitting at one end of the room, wrote down a name of an author, showing it to no one in the room; B had his hands on the Planchette, no one else being in contact with him or it. C fixed his attention on the written name, and our design was to see whether that name would be written through the medium of the Planchette. The ladies were meanwhile sewing in silence, and taking no part in the experiments. It happened that one of the ladies had at the time, owing to some painful family circumstances, the name of a gentleman (not present) painfully impressed on her mind. The name was not a common one, and though all present knew something of the circumstances, they had not been mentioned during the evening, and no one had mentioned the name in question, which we will call "Bolton." C then wrote "Dickens" on his paper, and was "willing" B with all his might to write this, when, to the surprise of every one, Planchette rapidly wrote "Bolton." This was not only surprising to us, but painful; and no comments were made at the time, the subject being changed as rapidly as possible.

It would appear from this that the effect of C's volitional concentration was overmatched by the intensity of the lady's thought, though not directed to the same object.

H. Arthur Smith.