DISCOVERY 



A MONTHLY POPULAR 

 JOURNAL OF KNOWLEDGE 



Vol. II, No. 18. JUNE 1921. 



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DISCOVERY. A Monthly Popular Journal of Know- have been more conveniently discussed in a smaller 



periodical devoted exclusively to it. 



***** 



In the .\pril number is a curious article by the 

 Rev. C. Drayton Thomas on Book and Newspaper 

 Tests. Tests of this kind are a comparatively recent 

 development in Psychical Research, and are con-" 

 sidered to be among the most interesting and im- 

 portant phenomena at present under investigation. 

 In a book-test the " spirit " through the medium sends 

 a message in which part of the message is connected 

 with a word or a sentence on a certain page of a book. 

 This stands in a certain part of the house, and was 

 known to the " spirit " when he was alive but is 

 unknown either to the medium or to the person for 

 whom the message is intended. For example, the mes- 

 sage which the medium receives from the " spirit " 

 deals with a great controversy in the Press, and gives a 

 reference to the middle of p. 54 of a certain book 

 standing, say, third from the left end in a certain book- 

 case in a certain room. Later, after the seance, in the 

 middle of p. 54 of the very work cited by the " spirit " 

 occurs the sentence— 



"... when the hour for combat strikes and the 

 decision . . ." 



And there you are : Strikes — Strike — Coal-strike — 

 Great Controversy in the Press ! 



ledge. 



Edited by A. S. Russell, M.C, D.Sc, 4 Moreton 

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Editorial Notes 



The Managing Committee of Discovery regret to 

 announce that, through the pressure of his work at 

 Oxford, Dr. A. S. Russell will be obliged to relinquish 

 the Editorship in the near future, though he has 

 kindly consented to continue to act as Scientific 

 Adviser. The Committee is well assured that it repre- 

 sents the feeling of many thousands of readers in 

 offering Dr. Russell its cordial thanks for the invaluable 

 service he has rendered to the journal in its first and 

 most critical year ; and in expressing great satisfaction 

 that he will continue his help in securing articles on 

 scientific subjects and advising the editor on any 

 questions connected with them. 



The April number of the Psychic Research Quarterly has 

 interested me very much, and makes me feel the sorrier 

 that it is shortly to be turned into a larger and more 

 ambitious periodical called Psyche, which intends to 

 review the whole field of psychological inquiry. Such 

 a periodical no doubt will meet a growing need.[but the 

 problems and difficulties of psychical research might 



In Mr. Thomas's experiments the information he re- 

 ceived periodically through the mouth of the medium 

 was verified (or he believed it to be verified) in The Times 

 of the day after the seance. On a first reading of his 

 article it all appeared to me to be rather wonderful, but 

 a rereading made me much less convinced. There 

 seems to be no reason to look for any abnormal explana- 

 tion for these phenomena. Gullibility, chance, coinci- 

 dence, an occasional good guess, the ability of a certain 

 type of mind to put two and two together and make it 

 (within limits) into almost any number, and a few 

 similar explanations, seem to me to account for them 

 all. Mr. Drayton Thomas very wisely always sent the 



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