A few weeks ago we alluded to a paragraph in the Chinese press which drew attention to a case of alleged spirit photography, the proof thereof being two pictures upon the same plate. Another instance of a similar kind has just been brought to notice, but in this case the matter is not nearly so simple, and the surrounding circumstances import an atmosphere of spirits. Two young Chinese boys, A and B, went to visit the grave of a ther in a local cemetery, and while B was standing close to the grave, 'A photographed him. Before the plate was developed, B also died, and it was then that the spirit picture was discovered. Over! three-quarters of the plate is a clear representation of B-alongside the grave, the picture showing no trace of anything else being superimposed upon it. Then comes a well defined line, and Yh the ¢c-maining quarter is the picture of a tall man. At first glance he seems to be standing upright, but a forther inspection shows that his legs are curled in beneath him, while he also appears to be holding a book in his hands. Now there are two points about this latter figure. The Chinese boy who took the graveside picture is positively certain that he took no other on the same plate, and furthermore it is impossible for him to recognize the tall figure a likeness to any one he has ever seen. Secondly, one Chinese superstition is that the devil never appears all at one time, that some part of him is invariably missing. In this case it is the lower part of the legs, and the circumstances, therefore, are to the amateur photographer's mind proof conclusive of spirit photography.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.