From Hensleigh Wedgwood to Emma Darwin   [1872–4?]

My dear Emma

I want Charles to look at the inclosed slates & see whether I have not excluded the possibility of writing being done by an inserted instrument of any kind   I think that that would be the case even without the paper gummed round the edges. It was in that state when I took it to Eglinton’s six weeks or two months ago. We failed however then to get anything written on it although we got writing on two of his slates which I tied up. As I was going to him last week again I gummed up the edges in order to make the impossibility of doing it by instrumental means complete   I unluckily dropped it on the flags which broke the paper at two of the corners & may possibly have cracked some of the covered seals, though I think not. I shewed him what I wanted & having looked at the slates for a moment he laid them down on the table without their ever passing out of my sight   I then placed my hands upon them & he his upon mine   There was light enough to see everything all over the room about enough to read large print   It appeared to be a great effort to him & his hands grew very hot. Presently I both heard and felt writing going on on the slates and I was given to understand that there were two messages one at least in a foreign language, probably Greek although I did not distinguish the different sound of the writing as I did when I got Greek writing with Slade. I asked them to write Done at last, but as it was