investigation of Independent Slate Writing, and through his aid a séance
for this purpose was arranged with a noted Medium, Mrs. S.E. Patterson.

This mode of manifesting Spiritualistic power, as far as it has come
under our observation, is, concisely stated, the writing on the
concealed surface of a slate which is in contact with a Medium. In the
present instance, between two slates fastened together by a hinge on one
side and a screw on the other, there was placed a small fragment of
slate pencil; when this fragment is bitten off by the Medium, it
receives, so Mr. Hazard assured us, additional Spiritualistic power. As
soon as a Spirit has finished writing its communication with the pencil
on the inner surface of the slates, the completion of the task is made
known by the appearance of the slate pencil on the outside, upon the
slates. The slates are always held in concealment under the table, and
never has this remarkable passage of the pencil through the solid
substance of the slate been witnessed by any one, not even by the Medium
herself, in all the years during which this wonderful phenomenon has
been a matter of daily, almost hourly, experience.

Our first séance was held in the evening at the Medium's own home. The
slates were screwed together with the bit of slate pencil enclosed, and
held by the Medium between her open palms, in her lap, under the table.
After waiting an hour and a half without the least response on the
slates from the Spirits, the attempt was abandoned for that evening much
to the disappointment, not only of us all, but to the chagrin of Mr.
Hazard, who could not understand 'what the deuce was in it, seeing that
the Medium was one of the very best in the world, and on the preceding
evening, when he was all alone with her, the messages from the spirit of
Henry Seybert came thick and fast.'