VIII. 



DR. HAMMOND AND THE TABLE-TIPPERS. 1 



ON this most dismal of subjects Dr. Hammond has 

 given us a book that is both sensible and entertaining. 

 His survey of so-called " spiritualistic " phenomena 

 is extensive, and with a large and important part of 

 them his intimate acquaintance with abnormal states 

 of the nervous system has enabled him to deal very 

 successfully. The results of a physician's experience 

 are, moreover, very happily supplemented by histo- 

 rical research. One of the excellent points about 

 Dr. Hammond's book is its frequent comparison of 

 contemporary delusions with those of earlier times. 

 He makes such wholesome use of the annals of 

 witchcraft and the biographies of mediaeval saints, 

 mystics, and charlatans, as fairly entitles his book to 



1 Spiritualism and Allied Causes and Conditions of Nervous Derange- 

 ment. By W. A. Hammond, M.D. New York: G. B. Putman and 

 Sons. 1876. 



