that holds the slate; and secondly, by these repeated motions the pencil
(which, having been cut out from a slate pencil enclosed in wood, is
square, and does not roll about awkwardly), is moved by the successive
jerks toward the hand which holds the slate, and is gradually brought up
to within grasping distance. The forefinger is then passed over the
frame of the slate, and it and the thumb seize and hold the pencil, and
under cover of some violent convulsive spasms the slate is turned over
and the question read. At this point it is that the Medium shows his
nerve: it is the critical instant, the only one when his eyes are not
fastened on his visitors. On one occasion, when the question was written
somewhat illegibly in a back hand, with a very light stroke, and close
to the upper edge of the slate, the Medium had to look at it three
several times before he could make it out.

After reading the question, it may be noticed that Dr. Slade winks three
or four times rapidly; this may have been partly to veil from his
visitors the fact that he had been looking intently downward, and partly
through mental abstraction in devising an answer. He evidently breathes
freer when this crisis is past.

Convulsive spasms attend the reversing of the slate, which is then
generally held between his knees; only once did we note that he placed
it _on_ his knees, and once we believed that he supported it by pressing
it against the leg of the table. The answer is written without looking
at the slate, in a coarse, large, sprawling hand, at times scarcely
legible. While writing he keeps his eyes steadily fixed on his visitors,
and generally rests a minute or two after it is finished. Presently the
slate is held near the edge of the table and close up to it, and a
tremulous motion imparted to it suggests that Spiritual power is then at
work and that the writing is in progress.