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It was my good fortune, in the early weeks of 1923, to be put into touch with a young lady who was thought to possess psychic powers, but who had never been under experiment.  It had always been my ambition to secure a medium before the development of the psychic faculties had taken place, in order to watch the growth of the phenomena and to direct the psychic emanations into predetermined channels for experimental purposes.  I therefore looked forward to my sittings with Stella C, with the greatest of interest.

Stella is a normal, healthy girl, twenty-three years old, of a quiet and unassuming disposition.  She is reserved in her manner, pleasant in her speech, and very willing and tractable in her endeavor to help the investigators in every way.  She is of medium height, slim, and a typical specimen of the modern, well-educated English girl.

Previous to our first sitting, on March 22^nd, 1923, Stella knew nothing whatever about psychical research, and had never sat with a circle of investigators.  Her one and only experience in matters psychic occurred at a spiritualistic circle which she attended in her

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home town, from which she was removed for a fit of giggling: she was then eleven years old.  Since that immature age the subject of psychic science has not had the slightest interest for her, which is all the more remarkable because she herself is frequently the centre of psychic activity without being aware of its meaning or importance. 

Spontaneous telekinetic movements have occurred in her vicinity for some years past, though I have no knowledge that the phenomena were manifested at a very early period of her existence.  In any case, the phenomena were of rare occurrence – perhaps two or three a year, and they nearly always took the form of (a) strong breezes; (b) telekinetic movements of small objects: (c) raps; (d) an occasional light or flash.

Curiously enough, the “breezes” nearly always occurred when flowers were near her.  The fact that Stella is passionately fond of flowers may be an explanation.  Sometimes when she is writing or sitting quietly at a table upon which is a vase of flowers, a strong but gentle breeze will sweep across the room, taking in its path the flowers, which bend under the strain.

This has happened on a hot, still night, when not the slightest ripple in the atmosphere has been noticeable in the open air.  The same phenomenon has occurred in a closed room in the depth of winter, when every door and window has been tightly closed.  This association of flowers with “breezes” may well be as much due to psychological action as to psychical.  Some subconscious connection with flowers on the part of the medium may be the reason why these “psychic breezes” are induced when flowers are present.

Of spontaneous telekinetic phenomena, the sudden movement of a box of matches is the most curious.  Sometimes, when Stella is about to place her hand on the box, it will suddenly jerk itself away from her as if it had been flicked by the finger.

Raps have occurred on her bedstead, and in various parts of the room in which she was present.  The rarest of all spontaneous phenomena – which really happen very infrequently – are the “lights”.  Perhaps on two or three occasions she has been mildly startled by slight percussive sounds, accompanied by blue sparks, which have manifested in her vicinity.  From her description of these lights, and from those we have seen at the séances – assuming then to be of identical nature – they would seem strangely like the sparks produced by the electrical discharge across the points of a Ruhmkorff coil.

It might be asked: “What effect have these phenomena had upon the medium?”  The answer to that query is: “Apparently none.”  Stella thought them strange, of course; but beyond that, little concern

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was felt by her as to these curious occurrences, and she grew up in complete ignorance of their real significance.

The facts I have just related were brought to my notice early last year, and after some discussion, I induced Stella to allow me to make an extensive series of experiments covering a period of several months.  It has been stated that Stella received no payment for her services.  This is not strictly correct, but she was paid no more for her sittings than she would have received at her ordinary occupation, which was that of hospital nurse and dispenser.

Before I give the details of the séances, I will describe the simple arrangements made for the experiments.  In the first place, I installed a Nigretti and Zambra self-registering thermometer, which was fastened against an enclosed oak beam, high up, on the wall farthest away from the medium and not within reach of any member of the circle during the sittings.

The séance room was not heated before or during the sittings, and no sudden changes in the temperature were apparent except during the production of the phenomena.  Scrupulous care was taken in setting the thermometer and recording the readings.  Col. W.W. Hardwick (now Managing Editor of “Light”) checked the readings with me, and other sitters also noted the variations that had taken place during the sittings.  I believe I am right in stating that no other investigators have systematically recorded, by instrumental means, the thermal effect produced during a long series of sittings.

On most occasions, the indicator of the thermometer has shown a drop in the temperature during the sittings.  During the first few séances, when we were experimenting with various kinds of tables, and when telekinetic action was particularly strong, the mercury fell many degrees below that recorded at commencement of sittings.  During the later stages of our experiments, when we had succeeded in diverting the power to the production of other forms of phenomena, the thermometer did not show that marked drop in the temperature recorded in the earlier séances.

The low temperatures appear to synchronize with violent manifestations.  That this drop in temperature is a fact, and that the cool breezes experienced during sittings are a physical and not merely a psychological effect, I have conclusively proved by instrumental means.  There is no question of error in observation or fraud involved in these experiments.  As Sir Oliver Lodge (in a letter to me on this subject)

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rightly remarks: “It is easy for hocus-pocus to send a thermometer up; but it is by no means easy to send it down.”

For convenience of reference, I will here insert the table of temperatures, which (with the other tables published in this paper), was compiled by Mr. F. Bligh Bond, F.R.I.B.A., and is taken from “Psychic Science” for October, 1923:

It will be noticed from above table that in every case the reading of the thermometer at the close of the sittings is higher than at the commencement.  This is normal, and for two reasons: (a) Increase in average solar radiation towards midday; (b) Increase in warmth of room due to presence of sitters.  The “Scientific American” in the January (1924) number, in commenting upon these experiments, says:

“Other workers have been more fortunate, and in Great Britain the body of investigators working with the medium Stella C. has had the singular good fortune of being able to prove categorically the existence of a manifestation that has been freely disputed – the cooling influence of the mediumistic trance upon the immediate neighborhood. 

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Séances have been held in a locked room and sealed, sufficiently insulated against all influencing of the temperature from without.  Obviously, under the operation of known causes, the only thing that can happen to the room temperature is a slight rise, from the heat-radiation and combustion products of the numerous persons present.  Actually this did occur in the end; the temperature at the close would always be slightly higher than at the beginning.  But the verdict of the sitters’ senses, that the room was materially cooler during the mild portions of the séance, was checked by self-recording thermometers, and found to be in accordance with the facts.  This cooling was always appreciable; in two or three instances, the bottom of the temperature curve, corresponding with the climax of the trance and the other phenomena, was no less than twenty degrees Fahrenheit below the initial figure.  There seems no escaping the conclusion that we have here a genuine psychic phenomenon – that the medium in some way absorbs large quantities of energy from the surroundings, giving it back later on.  By no possibility can the conclusion be avoided that this iron-clad series of observations is the event of the year in Psychic Science.”

It will be seen from the following table that the temperature rapidly cooled when violent manifestations were taking place.  When the phenomena had been controlled somewhat, and the power diverted to other phases of telekinetic action, the fall of the mercury was not so great:

*N.B. - A brief expenditure of force with marked lowering of temperature would not affect the thermometer to any appreciable extent; whilst a long continued one, though possibly less in intensity, would of necessity influence the register.

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The pulse-rate of the medium was very carefully recorded, by means of a chronometer with split seconds, before and after each sitting.  Stella’s pulse was invariably much above the normal at commencement of sitting, and generally sub-normal at close.  The foregoing remarks apply to the medium when she is in good health.  On the one occasion when she was really unwell, and had just left a sick-bed to attend the sitting (No.11), her pulse-rate was quite normal and steady, which is extremely unusual.  It has been suggested that the high pulse-rate was due to excitement or agitation on the part pf the medium; but we have no proofs that such is the case.  Stella

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possesses a particularly equable nature, and is not easily excited or disturbed.  Her pulse-rate at normal times is high, and is usually only normal or sub-normal immediately after a sitting.  On the other hand, the diminution in rapidity of the pulse is always accompanied by a pronounced coldness in the medium’s extremities, especially when she is in the trance state.

For convenience of comparison, the chart of the medium’s pulse-rate has been made out in the same order as the table of thermometer differences:

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Unfortunately, the temperature of the medium was not taken during the earlier sittings.  However, this was remedied later, and the subjoined figures show that Stella’s temperature was always higher at the close of a sitting, though the medium herself always complained of feeling cold.

For the lighting of the séance room, an apartment next to the office of “Light”, which had been placed at my disposal, we employed a 60-watt lamp in an ordinary photographic ruby well-glass.  Sometimes this lamp was controlled by a rheostat.  By its light it was possible to see plainly the limbs and features of the sitters.  Occasionally, we had the added illumination from the Shadow Apparatus (vide infra) and red electric pocket torches were used for taking notes.

I have been criticised for not using a white light at the commencement of the sittings, but it must be remembered that I had been promised twelve sittings only, and I could not afford to run risks of wasting precious time under possibly non-productive conditions.  At my sittings with Willy Sch., at Munich, Baron von Schrenck-Notzing consistently employed a red illumination, with the happiest of results; and I was determined, if possible, to duplicate the conditions of the Baron’s séance room, where I had seen such magnificent phenomena.

I was also ridiculed for using incense at the sittings, but its use was probably advantageous not only as a harmonizing element (like music), but because Stella was particularly fond of its perfume and used to burn it in her own home.  I am not suggesting that the burning of incense at a sitting is helpful in the production of phenomena; but

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it pleased Stella, which was my constant aim.  It is possible, also, that the scent from the burning incense may have had the same effect upon Stella and her phenomena as the scent of the flowers, which undoubtedly were conducive to spontaneous telekinetic and other manifestations.

At our sittings with Willy at Munich, Baron von Schrenck-Notzing made almost constant use of a musical-box; so I followed this plan in my own sittings.

After our first sitting with Stella, I realized that we were getting important results, so I drew up a design for a chart and had a number of copies printed and numbered consecutively.  Each chart or report contains the following data, collected at the sitting it represents: Date; place; times of commencement and finish of sitting; temperature of séance room at start and finish of sitting, with minimum fall of mercury; the state of health of medium; the medium’s pulse-rate at start and finish of sitting; the medium’s temperature (taken in the mouth) at start and finish of sitting; the state of the weather; the nature of the experiments tried; nature of control; the nature and intensity of the illuminant employed; the times the medium entered and left the trance state; the names of the sitters, and the order in which they sat.  Though the barometric pressure was not recorded upon the charts, I studied it carefully at each sitting, but could draw no comparisons or conclusions.

The notes from which the data were compiled were taken by a sitter (usually Mr. H.W. Pugh), often outside the circle.  The notes were then assembled and drawn up by me into the Official Report, within two hours of the conclusion of the sitting.  The Report was then typed in triplicate on the printed charts.  The Official Report of a sitting was then presented to the sitters, who were requested to read it through and sign if correct.  Thus the report of every sitting was signed by each sitter taking part.  Visitors to the circle were requested either to sign the report of their sitting or send in independent reports.  Some members (e.g. Col. Hardwick and Mr. Pugh) of the circle also made out independent reports, copies of which they sent to me.

It will be gathered from the description of my method of recording the sittings, that the whole psychic history of Stella will be available as a continuous narrative.  For so long as I have any influence with this medium, every séance will be recorded in the manner I have described in whatever part of the globe she may happen to be giving sittings.

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The regular members of the circle comprised the following ladies and gentlemen: Miss Mercy Phillimore, General Secretary of the L.S.A.; Mrs. L.E. Pratt, who has had considerable experience in nursing; Mrs. E.J. Garrett; Miss Nellie Tom Gallon, the novelist; Lt.-Col. W.W. Hardwick, Managing Editor of “Light”; Mr. H.W. Pugh, a member of the S.P.R.; Mr. David Thomas, a retired barrister-at-law; and myself.

Visitors to the circle and others who had occasional sittings were: The Hon. Everard Feilding, Dr. V.J. Woolley, and Captain E.N.

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Bennett, M.A., all members of the Council of the S.P.R.; Mr. E.J. Dingwall, Research Officer of the S.P.R.; Mr. Hewat Mckenzie; Mr. G.E. Wright; Dr. M. Rust; Mr. J.F.R. Stainer, K.C., legal adviser to the Foreign Office; Mr. A. Findlay, and others.  All the sitters, including myself, were entire strangers to the medium previous to the commencement of the experiments.

It may be worthy of note that those sittings in which the more violent physical movements took place are those in which the masculine and feminine elements are either in balance numerically, or where the feminine is dominant in number.  In the fifth sitting, most remarkable of all in this display of energy, the numbers are balanced.

After various experiments in the placing of the sitters forming the permanent circle, it was arranged that Mrs. L.E. Pratt, on account of her experience in nursing, should be placed on the right of the medium, controlling her right hand and foot.  I took up a position on the left of the medium, controlling her left hand and foot.  The remaining sitters took up various positions, and at every sitting we linked hands and kept contact with our feet.  In the reports of the sittings, special controlling devices (such as nets, trellis barriers, etc.), will be described.  The door of the séance room was always locked, and the key removed.

Never was a medium easier to control than Stella.  She did exactly as she was requested, made no comments - in fact, she hardly spoke at all - and when entering the trance state (which was self-induced), she merely relapsed into unconsciousness, and gradually sank into the supporting arm of Mrs. Pratt.  The trance state was always accompanied by weak respiration, and her hands became icy cold.

I will now give the verbatim signed Official Reports of the thirteen sittings we have had with Stella.  For particulars of the variations in temperature, medium's pulse-rate, duration of sittings, etc., I must refer the reader to the tables.  The 60-watt red lamp was invariably employed, and where the light is lowered or turned out, mention of the fact is made in the report.  The health of the medium was consistently good with one exception which is mentioned.

The weather varied considerably at each sitting.  It was usually dull, but at the sixth sitting, when it was very hot and sunny, an alleged "apport" was produced, the only instance recorded.  Also, at

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this sitting, the thermometer rose considerably, which was unusual, and this séance was notable for many flashed of light.

Sitters have taken their places, musical-box was started.  Incense burning for first ten minutes.  General conversation ensued.  Twenty minutes from commencement, table gave violent dip, away from medium.  All hands in light contact with top of table.  (Weight of table, 431/2 lbs).  From this point continuous agitation of table.  Distinct vibrations felt through the woodwork of table by several sitters.  Miss Phillimore stated that her right hand became somewhat numb and cold.  Violent agitation of table; it reared on two legs, and rapidly moved across room.  The table then oscillated, and was apparently controlled by an intelligent entity, as it dipped repeatedly at questions put to medium's control.  More violent movements of the table, which appeared to be endeavouring to turn completely over.  requests were then made to medium's control to levitate table, and raise all four legs from floor.  Proofs of attempts were apparent, and it was thought that with less illumination, the "force" controlling the table would succeed.

The red lights were then switched off, the room being in darkness except for a little daylight through the chinks of the window screen.  The extra power was very marked, the manifestations including violent agitations of the table which was completely levitated from the floor three times, the sitters' hands being flat on the table all the time.  It was agreed that at the last levitation of the table, all four legs were raised at least two inches from the floor.  This concluded the sitting.

At one portion of the sitting, Mrs. Garrett stated that she saw a column of pale phosphorescent light just behind the medium.  A phenomenon worthy of note was the rapid fall of thermometer, the mercury dropping no fewer than eleven degrees.  The table used during this first sitting with Stella C. belonged formerly to Henry Slade, the medium, and will be called in future the "Slade table."  The medium was not entranced at any period of this sitting, but felt very tires a few hours after its conclusion.

Remarks

The "Slade" table used is a double flap Canterbury table employed by "Dr." Slade in his now classic experiments.  For many years it has been used as an ordinary writing table at the offices of the L.S.A.  The dimensions of table are: Top, 3 ft. 71/2 ins. x 3 ft. 23/4

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ins.  Thickness, 3/4 in.  Height of table, 2 ft. 43/8 ins.  Legs, four in number, turned and tapered.  Material, oak.  Weight, 431/2 lbs.  The two movable legs are held in place by struts, to support the flaps.

Very soon after the sitters had taken their places, and musical-box had been started, the "Slade table" gave several "shivers," the vibrations being felt by each sitter present.  During the whole of this sitting these vibrations were present, alternating with a peculiar pulsating or tremulous effect, as if the table were imbued with life - a very curious sensation.  It will save time in recording this séance if it is stated that the table was in a state of almost continuous motion during the whole of this sitting.  In the full strength of the red light (by the rays of which all the sitters' hands were plainly visible all the time), the table was completely levitated six times, probably eight times, the last twice being doubtful.  One levitation was especially good, the table, when in the air, moving laterally to the extent of about three feet.  It was not found necessary during this sitting to dim the light by means of the rheostat, and it was thought that the same phenomena would have been produced in a much brighter light. 

One phenomenon noticed and commented upon by every sitter was the dimming (as if a heavy shadow had fallen across it), of Mrs. Garrett's left hand.  All the sitters' hands were lightly placed flat on the table; all were visible; and all received the same amount of illumination.  Yet, Mrs. Garrett's left hand became gradually obscured by some substance (ectoplasm?), and just as gradually the shadow or "substance" passed away.  Very soon after this phenomenon Mrs. Garrett became highly nervous and susceptible to the influences at work in the circle; but she shortly became calmer and the phase passed away.  At 12:15 the medium became very sleepy and stated that her senses appeared to be "far away."  Miss Phillimore led her to a chair, where she recovered in fifteen minutes, after which she again took her place in the circle.  The sitters were standing when the above changes came over the medium.  Had the medium been sitting, it is highly probable she would have become entranced, as her condition at this juncture was highly suggestive of the entry into the trance state.  During the period the medium was resting, the "power" or "force" ay work almost entirely disappeared.

When the medium again took her place in the circle the power revived, and from this time (12:30), raps were of frequent occurrence. 

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Questions put to the medium's "control" were answered