Note 47 — Chapter XIII · THE FEATS OF THE DAVENPORT BROTHERS.

The naïveté of the “flour test” is about on a par with that of the “water test” as applied to the “direct spirit voices.” The medium fills his mouth with water; the lights are turned down, and ghostly voices are heard. The lights being turned up again, the medium shows that his mouth is still full of water; ergo, he could not possibly have produced the uncanny sounds which have just been heard. The intellect of the average spiritualist seems to be incapable of conceiving that the medium may have swallowed the original water under cover of the darkness, and refilled his mouth from a pocket flask.—Ed.