Stead's Method And Results

W. T. Stead, the eminent English investigator, said: "I hold my pen in

the ordinary way, but when the writing is beginning I do not rest my

wrist or arm upon the paper, so as to avoid the friction, and to give

the influence, whatever it may be, more complete control of the pen. At

first, the pen is apt to wander into mere scrawling, but after a time it

writes legibly. Unlike many automatic writers who write as well

bli dfolded as when they read what they write as they are writing it, I

can never write so well as when I see the words as they come. There is

danger in this, which is most clearly illustrated When my hand writes

verse--especially rhymed verse--for the last word in each line suggests

to my conscious mind a possible rhyme for the ending of the following

line; this rouses up my mind, my own ideas get mixed with those of the

communicating intelligence, and confusion is the result." The above

statement of Mr. Stead becomes doubly interesting and valuable when we

remember that through his hand, controlled by a spirit intelligence,

came that wonderful series of messages afterward published under the

title of "Letters from Julia," which book excited the attention and

interest of the civilized world at the time of its publication, and even

to this day enjoys a great popularity.