New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-04-09

pErrEXGLs PEEEEGT, F9PTyN ,3T TEbtEE Ri AHP
AND AMUSING CHARMS. i-mo. pp l3i DICK
~ Fitzgerald. New York. 1860 4oc net
I'm this latest addition to the Elite Library
series Mr. Pettengill has only fulfilled the
promise given in his earlier works. VIZ. The
Book Of Riddles and 500 Home Amusements'
and THE Fireside Magician, or The Ar. of
Natural Magic Made Easy" Here IS the
same easy style. and analytical mind with
perhaps more mature touch, which serves 10
lend authority to his exposition. For those to
whom mystery presents an ever-present fas-
cination. this book cannot fail to be other than
a delight
The tone of the book is frankly fatalistic,
almost depressingly so. and there runs through
il a note that is reminiscent of Freud in ITS
insistence on the significance Of dream stimuli.
In fact. i'm its first editions. Professor Petten-
gils work antedates that of Freud although
the latter has never made any public acknowl-
edgment of his Indebtedness.
The book opens with short sketch of for
tune telling by astrology which seems TO be
quite an old custom, to judge from the data
collected and submitted in good faith by the
author Especially significant to students In
this subject is the statement that fortune
telling has become so smplifed that any one
who chooses TO invest a few dimes in books
can make himself as expert as the most skill
ful seventh son Of seventh SON. 1t is only
in these days OF broadening educational in
nuerces that such statement could go unchal-
lenged
Follows then a chapter on PaImistry, with
a clever full page drawing Of hand. full face,
showing in relentless detail the past and flu
ture of its owner. Accompanying this is as
sharp a retort to scoffers as has appeared for
some time. Many people think" writes Mr..
Pettengill, that the predictions from lines in
the hand is all guesswork. but they mis-
taken" Simple rebutta, this. but it leaves no
loop-hole. Those who oppose palmistry in our
national councils will have to reckon with Mr..
Pettengill.
Following this argument is chapter on the
significance of such simple personal irroGu-
arites as spots on the finger nails, or wall
eyes, things to which one would not ordinarily
give a second thought. bringing home with
telling clarity facts which all thinking men
must face sooner or later. Among these. the
reader finds that if he has white pot in the
centre of his little finger nail. it means ma; he
is about TO receive a present. II ON ,ae ring
finger, he may kiss pretty girl Without max
ing her angry and if on the middle finger. he
will probably lose something. How much
longer one is inclined to ask, will the conspir.
acy Of silence among parents keep these facts
from their children? Also. to what extent does
Professor Pettengill assume liability in case
his assurance 70 men with white spots or their
ring fingers should not have been read by the
pretty girl?
But tho chief claim OF the Dream Book to
distinction comes, oddly enough, in its chapters
on the Interpretation Of dreams. which take up
n large part Of the volume In this section
the various subjects about which one may
dream arc tabulatcd. with an accompanies
paragraph Tor each telling JUS, what it may
or may not mean Here again the author
draws the nab of his argument from well
known authorities, starting his references with