Apports
The name given to various objects, such as flowers, jewellery, and even live animals, materialised in the presence of a medium. The production of these apports have always been, and still are, one of the most prominent and effective features of spiritualistic séances. Sometimes they fly through the air and strike the faces of the sitters; sometimes they appear on the table, or in the laps of those present. A favourite form is the scattering of perfume on the company. Recent systematic experiments conducted in a purely scientific spirit have exposed fraud in numerous instances where ordinary precautions would not have sufficed for its detection. Frequently it has been found that the medium had skilfully concealed the apports in the room or about her person. Nevertheless, though the result is often produced by obviously unscrupulous means, it does not follow that all materialisations are performed with fraudulent intent. In cases where, so far as can be judged, the character of the medium is beyond reproach, as in the case of Helene Smith, the idea has been advanced that any preparations made beforehand, such as the secreting of flowers, etc., must result from a process of activity of the sublinimal consciousness. Other explanations are, that the apports are actually conveyed to the séance by spirits, or that they are drawn thither by magnetic power. Branches of trees, armfuls of fruit and flowers, money, jewels, and live lobsters are among the more extraordinary apports.