第章

Intheremainingcasesthesubjectsareliabletowritetheselectednameanywhere，generallyfirstorlast。NowmyobjectistosomanipulatemysubjectsastocausethemtowritetheselectednamewhenIwantthemtodoso。Thisisdonebycontinuoustalking，anddistractingtheirattentionuntilthepropermoment。

Ichoosethethirdspace，sincethis，beingtheonetheyaremostliabletochooseoftheirownaccord，istheeasiesttoforce。

Justastheybegintowritethefirstname，beforetheymakeamark，Isaysuddenly，“NowbesureandselectnamesoflivingpersonsthatIcouldnotpossiblyknow。“Thisisalmostcertaintoinsureapause，andthenameofalivingpersontobewrittenfirst。Icontinuemytalkinginanaturalmanner，takingtheattentiontoagreatextentfromthewriting，andnearlyalwaysobservinganotherpausejustbeforewritingthesecondname。WhenthesecondnameisalmostfinishedIexclaimsuddenly，“Nowwriteasrapidlyaspossible!“Ifthesubjectshavebeenproperlyimpressedwiththeseriousnessoftheexperiment，theywillalmostinvariably，onfinishingthesecondname(inobediencetomycommand“tobeasrapidaspossible，“andintheirdesiretopleaseme)，hurryintothenamealreadyintheirminds，thuswritingtheselectednameinthethirdplace。Ifsuchisthecasetheywillnowmostsurelypausetothinkofafourthname。Ifso，IamcertainthatInowknowtheselectedname。However，iftheyshouldrapidlypassintothefourthname，itisthenuncertainwhethertheselectednameisinthethirdorfourthspace。This，however，seldomhappensifworkedinanexpertmanner。

Inrarecasesthesubjectcannotbemanipulatedbytheperformer，inwhichcaseitispurelyguesswork；eveninsuchcases，however，Istandonechanceinsixofsucceeding；andifImakeasecondtrialonfailing(notuncommonwithmediums)，Istandonechanceinthreeofsucceeding。

ItishardlyworthwhiletosaythatasIfoldthebillets，Ifoldthethirdoneslightlydifferentfromtherest，sothatwhileitwillnotattractattention，Icanseeataglancewhatitiswhenthrownonthetable。Imemorizethename；also，ifindoubt，I

foldasecondchoiceinastilldifferentmannerforasecondtrial。FrequentlyImemorizemoreofthenames，foldingsoIcanpickthemout。Then，aftergivingthedeadperson’snamewithpropereffect，Ipickuptheothers，holdthemtomyheadandcalloutthenames。Theeffectofthisonasubjectisveryimpressive。

Withalittlepracticetheabovetestcanbegivenwithverysmallchanceoffailure；andintheeventofmakingafailureitcanbeexplainedbythestatementthat“thereareopposingspiritspresent，“orsomesimilarexcuse。Ifonehasothertestsathiscommand，itiswell，intheeventoffailure，toannouncethathewilltrysomethingelse，andthengiveanothertest。Astheseexperimentsarealwaystriedalonewithoneor，atmost，twosubjects，afailureattractslittlenotice。

NowIcannotsaypositivelythatDr。Schlossengerperformedthisexperimentinexactlythissamemanner；butIdohavearecollectionofhishurryingmealonginmywritingatsomestageofitsprogress。IalsoknowthatIcansucceedasoftenashedid。IwilladdfurtherthatafewdayslaterIpreparedsixnamesinadvance，and，withmywife，hadasittingwiththemedium；thistime，althoughIpaidhim，hefailedutterly。Hetriedineverywayandhadmewriteadditionalnames。ThistimeIguardedthepointsintheaboveexplanation，yetnomatterhowhetried，hemadeanutterfailure。Alltricksrequirecertainconditions，andthisiswhyitisnotsafetorepeatthesametrickforthesameperson。Thereistoomuchdangerthatthesubjectmaynoticethesamenessofthemodusoperandi。

Referringtothesecondtestwhichwasgivenbythemediumtomyfather，Iwillstatethatwhenthesubjectsarewritingthecitiesanddiseases，theywillnaturallypauseafterwritingthecity，tothinkofadiseasetogowithit。Ofcourse，whenwritingthecorrectones，whicharealreadyinmind，nopausewillbenecessary。Alsoadvantagemaybetakenofthefactthatasmallpercentofpersonsdieofsmallpoxormeasles。Ifingivingthedirectionsonesays，“Writelikethis：’Philadelphiasmallpox，NewYorkmeasles，’“andthesubjectwritessmallpoxormeaslesinthelist，itissafetoeliminatethatfromthecase。Thisisespeciallytrueifwritteninconnectionwithsomelargecity，thenameofwhichoccursreadilytothemind。ItissafealsotoeliminatePhiladelphiaorNewYorkiftheseshouldbewritten，providingyoumentionedthesenamesinthedirections，andthatthetestisnotbeinggivenintheirsectionofthecountry。Asmallpercentofthepeopleofacountrydieinanytwoplacesofprominence。Yettheseplaceswillbewrittenreadilybymostsubjectsiftheyaresuggested，oratleastotherplacesofequalprominencewillbewritten。Ifanunusualplaceordiseaseshouldbewritten，itisalmo