The New York herald., 1922-07-23

button & Co.
TT is far cry from the rappings
and crude manifestations of the
Fox sisters at Hydesville. Wayne
county. New York. in 1s4s to the
clever manifestations of E;usapia Pal
1adino or the still more astonishing
phenomena furnished by the experts
of to-day who extrude ~ectoplasm"
for the edification of scientific inves-
tigators. like the famous EVA who
has just been subjected to tests by
the learned doctors of the Sorbonne.
There Is also a great progress from
the first emotional religious strings
among humble folk in Yorkshire, be-
rapidly throughout England and
America, to the gathering OF immense
eudiences in Carnegie Hall to listen
to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and to
the establishment of scores of well
supported spiritualist churches in
England. Yet the essential features
Of the thing remain practically un-
altered 1t still rests upon the me-
dunn as its central point: upon the
specially qualified or endowed "psy-
ohio" through whom the spirits are
still obliged to communicate with the
Diving. whether by tipping tables.
tinkling a tambourine or material
ling" a luminous hand. or by the
more subtle methods of modern in
Eenuity, and the adaptation of gen.
tzine psychic phenomena to the pur-
pose in hand.
The editors OF this facsimile reis-
e6e of a truly remarkable little book,
which first appeared anonymously
In 1891. have rendered valuable SER
vice to students of the movement
Their attitude is critically fair
minded Mr.. Price is a member of
the Society for Psychical Research
and Is also Honorary Librarian of
the Magieians Club OF London: Mr..
Dingwall belongs to the same society
and is also a member of the Inner
Magic Circle" of London They re-
mark in predatory note that: Many
alleged exposes of mediumistic tricks
have been published. but none with
the inside knowledge contained in
this remarkable book. which has the
ring of truth in every line" And
they aptly add a quotation from
Goethe, that sit does not follow that
what Is mysterious must necessarily
bs miraculous"
The book itself has curious his
tory Its authorship is not definitely
known. but the editors believe it to
BE- the work Of one Donovan 1t has
also been attributed to Mr. Charles
r. Pidgeon, with the assistance Of
~the notorious spirit photographer.
Frank ". Foster" 1t was printed at
B. Paul, Mimi. in 1891 by a firm
thai soon after went out of business
Nearly all the edition was bought up
By mediums and others interested in
suppressing Ii. and though 1t made
some noise at the time it speedily
became a very rare book. No second
edition can be traced. though certain
passages were reprinted in the Open
oo~rf in 1909. IL had become prac-
tically uilattainable. except in a few
q the Larger libraries
IL Is eminently worth reprinting.
not merely as a necessary document
IN the STORY OF Spirituafsm but for
its own sake. as a literary curiosity.
The author modestly begins by as
serting that he does not consider it a
rliterary GEM" but it Is just that.
hone the.less. by reason of its naive.
obviously frank disclosure of the
writer's own personality. it's caustic
but convincing portrayal Of his con-
fraternity OF mediums, and its own
grim humor. The thing is extremely
readable. although the writer's COM
mand of English is unsophisticated
and his dietion raw enough. 1t has
q tang. an attractiveness in its very
crudity He has a fine scorn, equally.
for the scientific investigator and the
reverend woutd-be exposers OF spir-
ituAi phenomena" He also despises
his fellow mediums. most OF whom
he considers a bad lot. although there
T.