第章

andthespiritoftheMaster，Krishna，wasout。HavingspentthegreaterportionofmylifeontheHimalayas，myrighteyehasbecomeinjuredbythesnows。“Thenpointingtohisrighteye，headded，“Myrighteyehasadefectinitwhichyoucannotsee；butonaccountofthat，Icanonlyseeinthedarkwithit。I

immediatelyturnedmyrighteyedownwardandIlooked!I

distinctlysawalady’shandreachedouttowardmyrobeinthedarkness，andthishandtookholdofitandjerkeditlightlyjustlikethis。“The“ReverendSwami“hereillustrated，byslightlyjerkinghiscoatdownward。Itwasveryamusingtohearhim，ingreatseriousness，relatethisinhislowandmeasuredaccentstohisfaithfulfollowers。

Shortlyafterthis，whentheLosAngelesHeraldwasconductingacrusadeagainstthenumerousmediumsofthatcity，andwhenithadanexhibitinitswindowsoftheconfiscatedmaterialofsomeofthem，this“Buddhistpriest“wasarrestedandimprisonedforsomeofhispractices。

HerewardCarringtonMoreTricksof“Spiritualists“

Thereisoneveryclever“test“thatissometimesperformedwhichwouldseemtoshowthatsomethingofthissortISaccomplished。Itis，however，nothingmorethananingenioustrick，andthismightbeagoodtimetoexplainitsmodusoperandi。Thegeneraleffectoftheillusionisthis：Themediumrequestssomeonetoassisthiminanexperimentinwhichheisgoingtoattempttopass“matterthroughmatter。“Asthetestisoneinwhichaconfederatemighteasilybeemployed，heisverycarefultochoosesomepersonwhoiswellknown，orwhosecharacterisaboveallsuspicion。Ifthiswerenotso，theentireeffectofthetestwouldbelostupontheinvestigators。Havingsecuredhisassistant，hehandshim，forexamination，asolidsteelring，justlargeenoughtosliponandoffthehandandarmeasily。Theringisperfectlysolid，andmaybeexaminedbyanyonedesirousofdoingso。Whenthispartoftheperformanceisfinished，themediumandhissitterthenjoinorclasptheirrighthands(asinhandshaking)，andthesitterisinstructednottoreleasethehandforasingleinstant。To“makeassurancedoublysure，“however，thehandsarefastenedtogetherinanywaythesittersmaydesire；thehandsbeingtiedtogetherwithtape，e。g。，andtheendsofthistapetiedandtheknotssealed。

Thetapeconnectsthewristsandthehandsofthemediumandhissitter，andthistyingmaybemadeassecureaspossible。Apieceofthickclothisnowthrownoverthetwohandsandthelowerpartofthearms，concealingthemfromview。Withhisdisengagedhandthemediumnowtakestheironringandpassesitupunderthecloth，soastobringitincontactwithhisownarm。Heholdsitthereforsometime，butultimatelysnatchesoffthecoveringcloth，andrevealstotheeyesoftheastonishedaudiencethering——

nowencirclinghisownarm——inspiteofthefactthatthetiesarestillinstatuquo，andthesitterneverletgohisholdforaninstant。Thetiesandtheringmayagainbeexamined，ifdesired，beforethehandsareseparated。

Thisisanexceedinglyeffectivetest，andhaseveryappearanceofbeinggenuine——indeed，itishardtoseewheretrickerycancomein。Thetrickisoneofthesimplestimaginable，however，andisperformedinthefollowingmanner：

ThemediumhasprovidedhimselfwithTWOringsexactlyalike；oneofthesetheaudienceisfreetoexamine，theotherthemediumiswearingonhisrightarm，underhiscoat。Whenthetwohandsareclaspedtogether，therefore，itisasimplethingforthemedium，undercoveroftheenvelopingcloth，tosliptheduplicateringdownhissleeve，andontohisownhand，andthatpartofthe“miracle“isaccomplished!Itremainsonlytoexplainwhatbecomesofthefirstring。Thecloththrownoverthearmsisverythickandstiff，asstated，andtheinnersideofthiscontainsadoublepartition，orsortofbag，intowhichthemediumslipstheduplicatering。Theclothmaynowbeshownonbothsides，withoutdisclosingthering，andthemediummakesawaywithitassoonaspossible，inordertoavoiddetection。

Theobject[ofthispassage]istoenablethereadertosee，moreeasily，howitisthatthewatchfulobserverisdeceivedintobelievingthatathingisso，wheninrealityitisnot，andviceversa；andalsotogiveanideaofthevariousmethodsemployedbythemediuminordertoaccomplishhisresults。

Imustfirstofallcallthereader’sattentiontooneortworuleswhicheveryconjurerlearnsatthecommencementofhisstudy，andwhichhelearnstoapplysoconstantlythatitbecomessecondnaturetohim。Thefirstis：Neverlettheeyesrestonthehandthatisperformingthe“sleight，“butalwaysontheotherhand，oronsomeobjectonthetableorelsewhere，asthiswillhaveatendencytodrawtheeyesoftheaudiencetothatpointalso。Thesittersoraudiencewillalwayslookatthepointcloselywatchedbythemagician——theireyeshaveatendencytofollowhis，andwhe