MAKING SPIRITS BY X RAYS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 76, 1 April 1899, Page 1 (Supplement)

MAKING SPIRITS BY X RAYS.

SPOOKS—NOT THE OTHER' SORT

OF SPIRITS

A new and decidedly ingenious application of the famous discovery of Professor Rontgen—the X Hays—has been devised by a Frenchman with thoughts directed to the Spirit world.

So far, these almost magic rays have been vised almost exclusively in medicine and' surgery; but ■with the inevitable utilisation of every scientific discovery for the purposes of fraud, it is not a pessimistic view to expect that before long the idea will be aunounced by those unscrupulous individuals who prey upon the credulity of the weak-minded, but with no special power, and endeavour to impress them with the fact that they can not only 'call spirits from the vasty deep,' but make them come.,

At this Parisian spiritualistic seance all the regular manifestations of the more orthodox and avowed methods of spirit intercourse were observed. As soon as the guests had arrived, the lights were turned out, and the room presented the regular appearance of such occasions the only noticeable feature being a large number of vases and bits of artistic gLass. - In the corner, however, there was an apparatus about as large as a magic lantern, which was covered over with a black cloth.

As soon as the room was dark, a I hand of gigantic proportions andphos- j phoreseent colour passed over the j heads of the company. Naturally j it produced some consternation, but i the demonstrator of this modern mir- , •aele reassured his guests in a manner j directly opposed to the ordinary spi- j ritualistic-medium by the statemeßt~j thtat it was only the hand of a ghost, and that 'no spirits was about.' !

Immediately a number of luminous violins—for musical instruments seem insepei*able from spiritualistic seances —made their appearance, and flew about in all directions. As soon as they disappeared, a globe descended from the ceiling like a huge ball of phosphorus, and swayed silently from side to side like the pendulum of a clock.

Then a luminous bell appeared in front of the globe, and bowed regularly to it. Immediately all the glass which had been noticed seemed to be alive with flame, and the artistic glassware and cups on the tables became masses of light.

Indeed, the whole room, which a moment before had been dark, was ablaze on all sides with the soft, bluish, mysterious phosphorescent glow which is so uncanny when spirits are about.

The mysteries did not end" here, for gradually a human form appeared. At first it was vague and vapourous in its outlines but it 'gradusdly became firmer and more marked, until the form of a tail woman was manifest in the darkness. Her face was greenish in hue, and it became horrible by reason of the fact that where the ghost eyes should have gleamed there were only two black sightless holes! Her very hair seemed made of phosphorescent fire, and in the -long robes inwhieh the figure was enveloped, sparks, which shone lilce diamonds, gleamed and glistenefd. Presently the figure raised its right arm, and from her hand threw flames about.

The silence was broken by the beating of a gong, and at the'sound, which was indeed the signal for the turning up of the lights, and for the spirit to retire- to another world—probably its dressing-room—the seance closed. How was it done?

It is a well-known fact that the Itontgen rajs make fluorescent substances shine with a phosphorescent glow, especially anything covered with cyanide of platinum. It is also well-known that,according to the researches of a well-known maker of scientific apparatus, articles made of glass and crystal shine with remarkable brilliancy under the influence of the X rays, while everything else remains dark. The same phosphorescent effect is obtained by the X rays with diamonds porcelain, 'etc. By covering the machine producing the rays with black cloth, nobody sees it, and therefore nobody, suspects its presence; but the magic rays pass through the cloth, and light up the glass vessels and nothingelse; therefore a glass held in the hand and moved up and down or from side to isifle, can be distinctly seen while the hand remains invisible. The explanation of these tricks, with this knowledge, is now simple. The violins were made of glass, and so were the hand and bell. They therefore became visible in the X rays, while the assistants who moved them about remained as invisible as if they had indeed been spirits from another world. The ghostly woman was a most material lady of flesh and blood. She was concealed behind some drapery, and was enveloped in a veil, which was covered with a, fluorescent substance, while her face and hair were oM> '•overed with this material. When the X rays were turned on heiv they pierced the draperies, and lighted her1 up in-the strange manner in which she appeared to the eyes of the startled guests. As it was impossible topcoat her eyes as her face and her dresa

had been, they did not show up, but appeared merely as two great holes, and her awful appearance was thus obtained by the simplest and most absurdly easy method. — 'Pearson's Weekly.'