DR. ASHBURNER'S TESTIMONY.
“5
on that little piece of paper, stands by your side, and desires me
to saj", that he often watches over you, and reads your thoughts,
which are always pure and good. He is delighted at the tender¬
ness and care which you exhibit in the education of your chil¬
dren,’ Then he turned towards me, and said, ‘Alice’s uncle is
smiling benignantly, as he is looking towards you. He says,
you and he were very intimate friends.’ I said, ‘ I should like
to know the name of my friend;’ and Mr. Foster instantly re¬
plied ‘ Gaven. His Christian name will appear on my right
arm.’
“The arm was bared ; and there appeared, in red letters, fully
one inch and a quarter long, the name William raised on the
skin of his arm. Certainly, William Gaven was m3" dear old
friend, and the uncle of the lady whose name is Alice. How,
without yielding to the truth of the assertion of Mr. Foster, that
he was a discerner of spirits, the fact could be known to a com¬
plete stranger, who bad all his life resided in America, and could
know nothing, even of the names of the ladies whom I had
brought into my dining-room from the street-door, where I
had accosted them, their names not having been known to my
servants, is a phenomenon well calculated to puzzle the intellect
of any one not having faith in Spiritualism. Mr. Foster’s arm
retained, on the surface of his skin, the raised, red letters for fully
five minutes. I applied a powerful magnifying lens over them,
and my two young friends and I watched them until they sub¬
sided and disappeared. It has been said that the skin was
scratched by a pointed lead-pencil, and I knew some persons
who wrote on their arms, and succeeded in raising red letters;
but the letters did not so quickly subside, and in some instances
left sore scratches, marks or tokens of the want of common
sense,
“ Mr. Foster next addressed himself to Lady C., whom he had
never seen before in his life, until he met her in my dining-room.
‘Your mother,’ said he, ‘the Marchioness of-, stands by
your side, and desires to give you her fond blessing and very
affectionate love.’ He added, ‘Lady C., you wrote on a piece