Wells Samuel Roberts - The Salem Witchcraft, the Planchette Mystery, and Modern Spiritualism стр 16.

But if this is wonderful, what shall we think of the achievements of this same electricity and magnetism in revealing facts of the second class facts which the questioner himself did not and does not now know were in his mind, but only supposes they must have been ? Think of a diffused element of nature, which, from the dawn of creation had been blind and dead, and only passively obedient to certain laws of equilibrium, suddenly assuming intelligence and volition, burrowing into a mans brains, rummaging among ten thousand thoughts, emotions, and experiences stored up in the archives of his memory, and finally coming to the mere fossil of a (supposed ) experience from which the last vestige of memory-life had departed, and seizing this incident, it moves the little board with an intelligent volition, and lo, the fact stands revealed.

And again, what of that spicy colloquy in which Planchette writes the words devil, devils brother, stir fires, broil you, etc.? Oh, Mr. H. tells us, That was owing to the irritation of the mediums, their horror and fright, their superstition, and their repugnance to the questions that were being asked. Curious, is it not? to see electricity seizing hold of this irritation, that horror, the other fright, and such and such a superstition, repugnance, and disgust, and, carefully arranging these mental emotions, building them up by a mysterious mason-work into a distinctly defined and sharply pronounced individuality, with a peculiar moral and intellectual character of its own, differing more from each and all of the parties present in the flesh than any one of the latter differed from another! And this individuality, too, putting forth a volition which was not their volition, moving the Planchette which they did not move, making and arranging letters which they did not make and arrange, writing intelligent words and sentences which they did not write, and then causing this creation to assume the name and character of a regularly built devil a character which appears to have been so far from these young persons minds that they were unwilling to look it in the face, and were sorely afraid of it! Surely, if electricity can do all this, then electricity itself is the devil, and the less mankind have to do with it the better.

But more wonderful still. It appears that electricity can give answers, of which not even the slightest elements previously existed in the mind of the questioner or any of the company, and which were even diametrically contrary to his mind; as in the answers of class No. 3. Here electricity swings loose, and, becoming completely independent, commences business on its own hook. Not only so, but it even goes so far beyond the sphere of Mr. H.s mind as to fib a little, giving at least two answers which this writer pronounced false, as noted in class No. 4 thus giving a still more signal display of its independent powers of invention naughty invention though it was.

Seriously, had not friend Headley better employ his fine talents in giving us another clever book or two about Washington and his Generals, and leave Mr. Planchette, and that more wonderful personage, Mr. Electricity, to take care of themselves? We are obliged here to part company with Mr. H., and pass on for

the purpose of having a few words under this same head with the reverend author of Planchette, or Spirit-Rapping Made Easy, in the Ladies Repository .

I find it difficult to get at the idea of this writer, if indeed he himself has any definite idea on the subject. By the title of his article, however, and several expressions that occur in the body of it, he seems to associate the performances of the Planchette with a somewhat extensive class of phenomena, in which spirit-rappings, table-tippings, etc., are included. He says:

Twelve years ago I took pains to study the matter, and at that time I came to conclusions that are every day being proved to be true. I was soon satisfied that as regarded trance mediums, the cause was due to one-third trickery, one-third partial insanity or monomania, and the remainder animal magnetism. I have since learned that opium and hashish (Indian hemp) played an important part. It was proved that young ladies purchased written speeches which they delivered under the influence of hashish.

The magnetizer of whom I spoke [an exposer of rappings] threw himself into magnetic connection with the table, and willed it to move hither and thither. The will in this case seemed to be a powerful battery, putting its subject into life. Now I suggest that this power be applied to machinery. We will get us a large propelling wheel, to which we will connect our machinery. We will then engage a company of mediums who shall get into rapport with one wheel, and stand willing the wheel on in its evolutions If a table may be made to spin around the room, why may not a wheel be made to turn as well?

The mysterious little creature is called Planchette, and is no humbug. And it conforms to all the customs of the old-time tipping-tables. The operator magnetizes Planchette, and by a mysterious will-power causes it to answer questions. Before giving illustrations, we may as well state the laws that seem to govern it. First. It will always answer correctly, if the operator knows the answer . Second. While it will answer other questions, in all the experiments I have ever engaged in, it has never answered correctly. Third. If a person standing by, who has strong magnetic powers, asks a question, Planchette will answer. But in all cases , in our experiments, some ruling mind must have knowledge of what the answer should be, if a correct answer is returned.