No additional manifestations by writings were made at the first meeting.  During the sitting many raps were produced on the table through some invisible agency, and as these sounds, in some instances, were such as could be made by simple means and at the command of a person sitting at the table, a member of the Committee reproduced the sounds.  It was the conviction of the members of the Committee present that the sounds thus produced were similar to the sounds said to have been made by Spirits.  The Medium, however, professed his ability to distinguish between the two classes of sounds, and remarked that some of the sounds heard by him were such as would be made by a person touching the table and causing it to make the raps; that such sounds were not from the Spirits; that when the raps were genuine they caused a peculiar sensation, a sort of tremor, in his breast, and, therefore, he could tell when the raps were spurious.

(Mr. Sellers, aside):  In other words, that none were genuine but those made by himself.

(Resuming, from notes):  The Medium, in answer to inquiries, gave a detailed description of the remarkable phenomena said to have been produced in the presence of Professor Zoellner—­which, he said, were as unexpected to himself (Slade) as they were to any one; that they were beyond his control, and evidently the work of Spirits under very favorable conditions.

Mr. Sellers here read the minutes of the meeting of January 22d, 1885, as prepared by Professor Fullerton.

(The minutes are as follows): 

The Committee met on Thursday, January 22d, 1885, at 12 M., in the
Girard House, Philadelphia.

Present:  Messrs. Thompson, Furness, Fullerton and the Medium, Henry
Slade.

A table measuring five or four and a-half by three feet, was used by the Medium.  It was an oval table with two leaves.  The Medium sat at one side, with Mr. Furness at the end of the table to his left, Professor Thompson at the end to his right, and Mr. Fullerton opposite.  A circle was first formed by joining hands upon the table.

A slate was passed to Mr. Fullerton by the Medium, with the request that it be held by him under the table leaf to his (Mr. Fullerton’s) left.  The slate was held by Mr. Fullerton as requested, but at no time during the sitting was any writing produced on the slate.  Toward the close of the seance the slate was held for some time under the opposite table leaf by Messrs. Furness and Fullerton.

Dr. Slade, after cleaning a slate, held it under the table-leaf to his right, in the space between himself and Professor Thompson.  The slate was not held close to the table, but in a slanting position, so that a space of perhaps four or five inches was left between the edge of the slate farthest removed from the table and the table itself.  A piece of pencil, broken from a small pencil—­about 1-16th to 1-12th in. cross section, was laid on the slate.