ESSAY-REVIEWS 143 



whole matter. There does seem to be evidence of something happening which is 

 not fully explained by our present knowledge of nature and the human mind. 

 But the more deeply one studies the subject, the more firmly one becomes con- 

 vinced that departed spirits have absolutely nothing to do with it. 

 Let us wind up with a couple of quotations : 



"A pencil and some pieces of paper were lying on the centre of the table ; 

 presently the pencil rose on its point, and after advancing by hesitating jerks to 

 the paper, fell down. It then rose and again fell. A third time it tried, but with 

 no better result. After this a small wooden lath, which was lying upon the table, 

 slid towards the pencil, and rose a few inches from the table ; the pencil rose 

 again, and propping itself against the lath, the two together made an effort to mark 

 the paper. It fell, and then a joint effort was again made. After a third trial, the 

 lath gave it up and moved back to its place, the pencil lay as it fell across the 

 paper, and an alphabetic message told us, ' We have tried to do as you asked, but 

 our power is exhausted.'" 



That is a report by Sir William Crookes of what happened in his own house, in 

 the light, with only a few private friends present, when he asked for a written 

 message. The other story is taken from Mr. W. W. Bagally's little book on 

 Telepathy, but is not given in his words : 



" Many people will remember the Zancigs, who gave a thought-reading per- 

 formance at the Alhambra some years ago : Zancig went about among the 

 audience, who showed him small articles, which Mme. Zancig on the stage then 

 described. On one occasion they were performing at Birmingham, and Sir Oliver 

 Lodge (who knew them personally) with some friends entered the gallery. At 

 that moment Zancig was in the gallery going among the seats. Just as he was 

 taking something from a lady, he raised his eyes, saw Sir Oliver Lodge, and 

 bowed to him ; then to his wife, ' What is this ? ' Instead of ' A silver pencil- 

 case,' she replied, 'An Oliver.'" 



A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, by Philip E. B. Jourdain, 

 M.A. : on The Book of the Opening of the Rice Institute : being an 

 Account in Three Volumes of an Academic Festival held in Celebration 

 of the formal Opening of the Rice Institute, a University of Liberal and 

 Technical Learning founded in the City of Houston, Texas, by William 

 Marsh Rice, and dedicated by him to the Advancement of Letters, 

 Science, and Art. [Vol. I. : Pp. xiv + 1-264, with 2 portraits and 

 various inserts. Vol. II. : Pp. x + 265-680, with 5 portraits. Vol. III. : 

 Pp. x + 681-1100, with 7 portraits and numerous diagrams.] (Houston, 

 Texas.) 



These magnificently produced volumes celebrate the opening of the latest 

 American University. The history of the growth of a noble idea and its materiali- 

 sation are well sketched by the first President of the Rice Institute, Mr. Edgar 

 Odell Lovett, in a paper in the first volume, and the various important inaugural 

 lectures, delivered by eminent men summoned from all parts of the world to 

 Houston, Texas, in October 1912, form the second and third volumes. To come 

 to details, the first volume also contains the usual preliminaries to an academical 

 festival : list of delegates, addresses of welcome and responses, programmes of 

 concerts, toasts and responses, and accounts of religious services given in the city 

 auditorium. Some of these accounts were reproduced in the Rice Institute 

 Pamphlet (191 5, 1, 1-132 ; 1916, 3, 231-310), and, in the case of the important 

 scientific and other lectures in the second and third volumes, we shall give refer- 



