856. In the next case the explanation suggested by Professor Alexander is probably the correct one.

(From the Journal S.P.R., vol. vi. pp. ll2-115.) The following account of some experiments in table-tilting was sent to us by Professor Alexander, of Rio de Janeiro, in March 1892. He writes:-

RIo de Janeiro, March 21st [1892]. Dr. Barcellos is a gentleman who resides at Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, where he not only has a considerable practice, but is also generally esteemed as an honourable and sensible man. Having studied hypnotism, he was desirous of witnessing some of the allied facts to be observed in psychical research. Towards the middle of last year we agreed to hold formal sittings at his house with the purpose of eliciting, if it were possible, physical phenomena. We devoted Monday evenings to our investigations, the circle being composed, with the exception of myself, of members of the doctor's own family. Donna Maria de Villas Boas Barcellos, a school teacher, who acted as medium, has, if table-tilting be no proof to the contrary, arrived at years of mature discretion. She is Dr. Barcellos' sister-in-law, and the mother of five children. The few sittings held began on the 31st of August 1891, and were discontinued about the end of October of the same year. They were subject to much interruption by children and visitors, and were finally stopped when Donna Maria was appointed to a school at a distance. With the exception of some slight crepitations, more felt than heard, the seances, so far as physical phenomena go, were a failure.

The lady, doubtless, moved the table herself, although she did not seem to be aware of it. As for the messages, they were nearly always of a trivial character, and occasionally they were false. There seems, however, to have been a noticeable percentage of verifiable truth in what came through Donna Maria's automatism. Before our sittings began, this lady was seated at the meza fallante (speaking-table) with members of her own family when the presence of her father, then deceased, was announced. He was asked to give the names of the people present. This he did, including that of a boy who was not in the room at the time, with the information that he had just fallen down in the mud. Immediately afterwards the little fellow came into the room crying and confirmed the statement made through the table. The sitters, who were only seeking for amusement, became frightened and abandoned all further experiments. At our own sittings, among much that was wearisome and unprofitable, a few encouraging incidents occurred. On one occasion (October 26th, 1891) Dr. Barcellos asked mentally about the state of a young lady patient who was ill of smallpox. The table replied that she would die on the following morning at eight o'clock. She did not die, but at the hour mentioned she became much worse.

On another occasion, after I had retired, details were given about the private life of an individual who lived in Vassouras, up country, which were by no means flattering to him. A Senhor Lozada, the doctor's brother-in-law, who was standing away from the table, was the only person present who had previously known of these particulars. He declared that the information thus obtained was exact.

So much for the general character of our sittings, of which I give an idea, so that the incident I am about to relate may not have more than its due importance.

On the 21st September 1891, I was seated at the table with Dr. Barcellos, his niece Sylvia, and Donna Maria Barcellos, when the words came, " The vase is broken." We asked what vase. "(The vase) at your house, the vase of phenic acid." I demanded the hour, and the reply was, "At eight o'clock." Of this an immediate note was taken at my request by one of the children seated at another table. I transferred this note to my pocket-book where it reads as follows:-

"21st of September, 1891. - O vaso se quebrou - De sua casa - O vaso de acido phenico - As 8 horas".

I at once looked at my watch. It wanted some four or five minutes to eight. I knew, however, that it was not going well at the time, and I forgot to compare it afterwards with the right time. When this message had been given Sylvia Barcellos rose from her place, and went into the dining-room, where she told the others what had happened. Some visitors who were there spoke of retiring; but they were urged to stay, as it was only eight o'clock - the hour then marked by the timepiece on the wall. Thus a lucky chance determined the time of the message, which my carelessness in neglecting to see how much I was out might have left in doubt.

I did not at first suppose that the above words had any more importance than other things that came through the table. It was, therefore, an agreeable surprise when on a subsequent occasion Dr. Barcellos told me that the message had been confirmed. I wrote down a resume of his statement, which I now copy from my note-book: -

"Donna M. on arriving home was being told of fright, when she interrupted them, telling them what had come through table. They had just remarked time (eight o'clock) and went to give food to sick child - when noise of breakage. They exclaimed, 'O vaso de acido phenico se quebrou.' In truth, the jug had been upset by the dog, and had fallen against the vase of phenic acid, making the noise".

Neither the vase in question, which was of porcelain, nor the water-jug was really broken. The cause of the accident was a dog that had got into the room where the sick child lay. The animal had, no doubt, endeavoured to drink out of the jug, which was standing on the floor near a chair.

The house where Donna Maria was then living is situated about a kilometre's distance from Dr. Barcellos' residence, so that the explanation by hyperesthesia of the hearing - in a person who could hardly be said to be out of her normal condition - seems to me to be absurd. Yet the lady was no clairvoyant, for the vase was not really broken. Even if her character were not above suspicion, she could not have arranged the incident beforehand, for a dog does not take part in a plot. The coincidence in time, and the exact mention of what was supposed to have occurred, renders mere chance an extremely unlikely element. We are therefore limited to one hypothesis - the emotional impression of the girls who exclaimed, "O vaso de acido phenico se quebrou," influenced their mother telepathically, and the table was the means of bringing to the surface the message which her subconsciousness had received.

Alfred Alexander.

The evidence of the other witnesses was given in Portuguese, of which we print English translations, kindly furnished by Professor Alexander.

It was a little past eight when the visitors who were with me in the dining-room in the evening of the 21st of September 1891 spoke of retiring.

Luiza Barcellos.

March 21st, 1892. On the 21st of September 1891, I witnessed a curious fact in telepathy. At that date, at eight o'clock in the evening, various persons in a house in the Rua de Donna Marianna heard a strange noise in the room of a smallpox patient, and ran into it, crying out that in all probability the vase of phenic acid had been broken. Donna Maria Barcellos, my sister-in-law, one of her daughters, Sylvia Barcellos, Senhor Alfredo Alexander, and I were at that hour seated at a small round table, when it was announced that in the above-mentioned house, in the Rua de Donna Marianna, a vase of phenic acid had been broken. Donna Maria Barcellos was much astonished when they told her on her going home to the Rua de Donna Marianna that they had had a great fright at eight o'clock in the evening. She replied that she was already aware that it was a vase of phenic acid which had been broken. Then they explained to her that such had been the general supposition in the house, that when they ran into the room they all exclaimed, "The vase of phenic acid has broken," and that on entering they discovered that a jug of water standing near a chair had fallen against the vase of phenic acid.

These facts passed in the presence of Professor Alexander, who was also at the table with my sister-in-law and Sylvia.

(Signed) Dr. Alfredo Barcellos.

Rio de Janeiro, September 22nd, 1891.

When Mariquinhas came home I said to her, "You cannot imagine what a fright we had to-day," to which she replied, "You need not tell me; I know all about it. It was the vase of phenic acid that broke." This reply caused us the greatest surprise, when she added that nobody had told her of it, but that she heard of it through the intermedium of the tilting table. Our astonishment was still greater when she said that the fact occurred at eight o'clock in the evening.

Indeed, at that hour, when we were in the back part of the house, we heard a loud noise like that of the fall of some vessel full (of liquid). The door of the bedroom where the child sick of smallpox lay was closed; but we heard her crying out, and ran to see what was the matter. At the same time the three girls exclaimed, "The vase of phenic acid has broken!" It was not, however, this vase that broke, but a jug of water which had fallen down.

N.B. - This fact happened yesterday, September 21st, 1891.

(Signed) Amelia A. Cardim. Maria Cardim. Paulina Barcellos. Maria Villas Boas. Carlota Cardim. Amelia Cardim.