"Ladies and gentlemen," he
said; "you all know that man is complex--that he is composed of mind
and matter, the material and immaterial. I now propose to give you a
physical demonstration of this fact. Will twelve of the audience
kindly come up on the stage and sit around me, so that you may feel
quite certain that I have here no mechanical devices to assist
me?" --And amongst other well-known people who responded to Mr.
Curtis's request, were Lord Bayle, Sir Charles Tenningham and the
Right Hon. John Blaine, M.P. Having arranged these twelve volunteers
in a semi-circle at the back of the stage, Mr. Curtis, standing in the
centre of the stage, again addressed his audience. "Ladies and
gentlemen," he said; "the secret of separating the mind--or what
Spiritualists, who love to bolster up their pretended knowledge of the
other world by the invention of pretentious nomenclature, call the
'ethical ego'--from the body, lies in intense concentration. If you
wish to acquire the power, practise concentration--concentrate on
being in a certain place. If nothing happens at first, don't be
discouraged, but keep on trying, and a time will come when you will
suddenly leave your body, in a form, which is the exact counterpart of
the body you have left. You will visit the place whereon you are
concentrating. Perhaps the best method of practising projection is to
put your forehead against a door or wall, and concentrate very hard on
being on the other side. It may take weeks before you get a result,
but if you persevere, you will eventually succeed in leaving your
physical form and passing through the door, or wall, into the space
beyond. Now watch me! I shall concentrate on projecting my immaterial
body, and of walking in it, three times round my material body." Mr. Curtis closed his eyes, and for some seconds appeared to be
thinking very hard. Then the audience witnessed a remarkable
phenomenon--a figure, the exact counterpart of Mr. Curtis, stepped
out, as it were, from his body, and slowly walking round it three
times, deliberately glided into it, and apparently amalgamated with
it. The twelve members from the audience who were within a few feet of
the alleged ethereal body, as it walked past them, declared they saw
it most vividly, and that feature for feature, detail for detail, it
was the exact counterpart of Mr. Curtis, whose material body remained
standing, upright and motionless, with its eyes tightly closed. Our
representative questioned several of these eye-witnesses very closely,
and they were all most emphatic in their belief that what they had
seen was a _bona-fide_ case of spiritual projection. At the request of
a large part of the audience, Mr. Curtis repeated his demonstration, a
further complement of men from the stalls joining those already on the
stage to witness the operation. Several tests were now applied to the ethereal body of Mr. Curtis, as
it walked round his material body. One man, clutching at its sleeve,
tried to detain it, but his hand passed through the sleeve, and
held--nothing. Another man put out an arm to act as a barrier, and the
projection, without swerving from its course, passed right through it;
and, on the completion of the third round, disappeared as before. In answer to inquiries, Mr. Curtis stated that the phenomenon might be
taken as a good illustration of projections; and that he was prepared
to project himself once again, in order to prove that it was erroneous
to suppose that phantasms could not do all manner of physical actions. A deal table (upon which stood a tumbler and jug of water), a
grandfather clock, and a piano were brought on to the stage, and Mr.
Curtis once again projected his spirit form. The latter at once walked
to the table, and, taking up the tumbler, filled it with water from
the jug; after which it wound up the clock, and, sitting down on a
seat in front of the piano, played "Killarney" and "The Star-spangled
Banner." And then, amidst the wildest applause--the first time
assuredly "a ghost" has ever received public plaudits in recognition
of its services--it modestly re-entered its physical home. Mr. Curtis then announced that not only could he project his ethereal
body from his material body in the manner he had already demonstrated,
but that with his ethereal body he could amalgamate with inorganic
matter. He bade those on the stage approach the table in convenient
numbers, _i.e._ two or three at a time, and listen attentively. He
then took his stand on one side of the stage, about fourteen feet from
the table; and the audience approaching the table and listening
attentively, first of all heard it pulsate as with the throbbings of a
heart, and then breathe with the deep and heavy respirations of some
one in a sound sleep. The table then raised itself some three or four
inches from the ground and moved round the stage; at the conclusion of
which feat Mr. Curtis informed the audience that "table-turning"--when
not accomplished through the trickery of one of the sitters--was
frequently performed by the work of some earth-bound spirit--usually
an Elemental--that could amalgamate with any piece of furniture, in
precisely the same way as his own projection had amalgamated with the
table in front of them. "Elementals," Mr. Curtis continued, "are
responsible for many of the foolish and purposeless tricks performed
at séances; and for the unintelligible and useless kind of answers the
table so often raps out. The best you can hope for, from an Elemental,
is amusement--it will never give you any reliable information; nor
will it ever do you any good." With these words Mr. Curtis's share in the entertainment concluded. He
retired to the wings, whilst Mr. Kelson stepping forward--begged those
several gentlemen who, on Mr. Curtis's exit, had reseated themselves
among the audience, once again to step up on to the stage. "Be good enough," he said addressing them in his most polite manner,
"to observe me very closely. I am about to give you a few further
examples of what intense mental concentration can do, thus proving to
you to what an unlimited extent mind can gain dominion over matter. You all know that will-power can overcome any of the internal physical
forces; for instance, when you have tooth or ear ache--you have only
to say to yourselves: 'I shan't suffer'--and the suffering ceases. But
what you may not know--what you may not have realized, is that
will-power can over-rule external forces and principles--as for
example--gravity. As a matter of fact, airships and aeroplanes are
absolutely superfluous--and the time, money and labour they involve is
a prodigious waste. Any man with strong mental capacity can fly
without the aid of mechanism. He has only to will himself to be in the
air--and he is there. Look!"