364 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Oct. 31, 1884. 



" Fisheries Exhibition." We had occasion at the time of 

 that display to accord them a favourable notice in these 

 pages ; but for the benefit of our readers we may briefly 

 allude once more to tlieir system : — 



It consists of the addition of their patented " A.B C 

 mixture to the sewage, with the result that all the offen- 

 sive products are precipitated and subside. The water 

 then is permitted to flow ofl", freed from smell and perfectly 

 innocuous. The precipitated products are next collected, 

 dried, and sold under the name of native guano. Of the 

 value of this last-named product, we can only speak from 

 ■what we have seen at the Exhibition, where a goodly 

 supply of vegetables, ike, grown on a soil manured with 

 the native guano, daily decorated the flanks of their stalls 

 We have no doubt that the company would be glad to 

 forward their large pamphletful of testimonials to any 

 anxious inquirer. So we find that there is a process of 

 considerable value open to the Board of Works in dealing 

 with the sewage question — a process which would not 

 involve any but initial expenses, and which, we are 

 assured, would ultimately be both valuable to the com- 

 munity at large, and become eventually eminently 

 lucrative. 



We hope in future to continue these articles in the form 

 of papers which shall deal with this and other unnoticed 

 departments of the Exhibition in detail, and which may be 

 of interest or value to our subscribers. 



consideration respectively of thought-reading, mesmerism- 

 Reichenbach's experiments in regard to a peculiar sensitive- 

 ness to electric currents, apparitions and haunted houses, 

 physical phenomena, and the collection and collation of 

 existing materials bearing on the history of these subjects. 

 Of their several reports, those of the committee on thought- 

 reading, or thought-transference, as they call it later, are 

 the most striking. The significance of the term " thought- 

 transference " is limited to the communication of a vivid 

 impression or a distinct idea from one mind to another, 

 without the intervening help of the recognised organs of 

 sensation. No account is taken, very naturally, of ex- 

 periments in which there is physical contact between the 

 persons concerned, or in which there is the slightest possi- 

 bility of conveying information by sight or hearing. The 

 extreme perfection to which a code of signals may be 

 brought leads the committee to distrust all observations 

 where two particular persons are necessary for the results 



THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL 

 RESEARCH.* 



THE four reports of the Society for Psychical Research 

 which have been issued at intervals during 1882 and 

 188.3 have now appeared in the form of a handsome volume, 

 and it cannot be denied that they constitute a formidable 

 body of evidence in favour of certain beliefs which have 

 hitherto been looked upon with peculiar suspicion and 

 distrust. A brief resume of the testimony does not do it 

 justice, for it derives its weight from the cumulative efl^ect 

 of its large amount. No one who is interested in brinsins 

 fresh regions of ignorance under the domain of scientific 

 investigation should fail to read the proceedings for himself. 

 The society was organised on Feb. 20, 1882, but several 

 of its members had been engaged in private research in the 

 SBme direction for some years before. Its object was stated 

 to be the investigation of an important body of remarkable 

 phenomena, resting upon the testimony of many competent 

 witnesses, Including observations recently made by scien- 

 tific men of eminence in various countries, and primd facie 

 inexplicable on any generally recognised hypothesis. The 

 distinction of its founders is such as to completely disso- 

 ciate it from the race of the long-haired, and to insure at 

 once respectful consideration for whatever facts it vouches 

 for. They include such names as Balfour Stewart, Arthur 

 Balfour, Professor Barrett, Edmund Gurney, F. W. H. 

 Myers, Archbishop French, and Professor Henry Sidgwick 

 (the president). The members are not committed to any 

 theory, and are not advocates of any cause. It is their in- 

 tention to remove, if possible, what they justly say is a great 

 scandal, the existing state of absolute doubt as to whether 

 phenomena testified to by a large number of generally credible 

 witnesses, and of great scientific importance if true, can be 

 properly authenticated or not Their experiments are con- 

 ducted with the most rigid precautious against deception 

 and mistake, and, what is equally important, recorded with 

 scientific precision. Six committees were formed for the 



* From the Scientific American Supplement. 



Original. Beprodnction. 



Inner circle begun at point marked + , and then carried roand in 

 one continuous line from left to right. 



obtained. Their most remarkable subjects for thought- 

 transference have been found in a family in Derbyshire, 

 that of Mr. Creery, a clergyman of high-character, whose 

 integrity has, as it happens, been exceptionally tested. 



He has five daughters, of ages between eleven andl 

 eighteen, all thoroughly healthy, and as free as possible 

 from morbid or hysterical symptoms. All these children, 

 except the youngest are able to designate correctly, without 

 contact or sign, an object fixed on in the child's absence — 

 not, indeed, every time, but far more frequently than pro- 

 bability would allow as the result of chance. The child, 

 ou returning to the room, stands close to the door, amid 

 absolute silence, with her eyes on the ground ; often she 

 does not return, but guesses from the adjoining room, with 

 the door closed. The children have been experimented 

 upon at their home by the committee, by Professor Barrett, 

 by Mr. and Mrs, Sidgwick, and by Professor Balfour 

 Stewart, as well as at the houses of difTerent members of 

 the committee at Cambridge and at Dublin. The objects 

 guessed have been chiefly cards from a full pack, and 

 numbers between ten and one hundred, but remarkable 

 success has been obtained, also, in guessing names chosen 

 at random, as in the following list : — 



William Stubbs : " William Stubbs." 



Sophia Shaw : " Sophia Shaw." 



Timothy Taylor: " Tom Taylor— Timothy Taylor." 



Isaac Harding: " Isaac Harding." 



Albert Snelgrove : " Albert Singrore — Albert Grover." 



Tom Thumb : " Tom Thumb." 



Cinderella : " Cinderella." 



Chester : " Manchester — Chester." 



Pipe: "Plate — paper— pipe." 



Cork: "Fork." 



Corkscrew : " Corkscrew." 



Tongs: "Fire-irons — poker." 



From the summary of results, it api>ears that, out of 

 every 610 trials with playing cards, there were 118 correct 

 guesses on the first trial, and 76 on the second; or that. 



