might not know the difference between his own coin and Mr. Davey's. It is now plain that all the dexterity required in this experiment was a simple substitution.
But the greatest marvel of all remains to be recounted—the writing of a given line on a given page of a book selected from the bookcase by the sitter himself—an imitation of the trick already described as performed by Eglinton. Here is an account of one such experiment. The meeting was held in the library at Mr. Davey's own house, containing upwards of a thousand volumes. There were three sitters. One of these, Mr. Manville, describes this particular experiment as follows:
From Mr. E. Manville[1]
[The séance had taken place on the previous evening.]
(e) Mr. Davey now said he would endeavour to get a given line on a given page of a book written for us. Mr. Venner therefore looked over the titles of the books ranged on the shelves and selected one mentally, without touching it with his hands; at this moment I suggested it would be better if I were to select the book, as I did not know Mr. Davey at all, whilst Mr. Venner did. Mr. Davey acquiesced. I selected a title. In order to decide what line and page we should select, I took a pinch of crayons from a box, Mr. Pinnock doing the same. On counting, mine came to 6, Mr. Pinnock's to 11. Mr. Venner's came to 3. Mr. P. and I divided Mr. V.'s, making mine 8, and Mr. P.'s 12, so we decided that it should be p. 12, line 8.
[The first trial was a failure: the word "muddle" was written on the slate held under the table] and we apprehended it was on account of Mr. Venner and myself both- ↑ Proceedings, S. P. R., vol. iv., pp. 455–6.
