Jtilt 17, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



91 



and observant that their watchfulness pre- 

 cluded any such varieties of deceit appears 

 most feeble. When one considers the dif- 

 ficulty of describing in proper sequence and 

 with sufficient detail an ordinary procedure, 

 the impossibility of deciphering a performance 

 studiously devised to conceal every item of 

 its real purpose becomes glaringly evident. 



The largest amount of ingenuity seems to 

 have been expended in the devising of tricks 

 that shall reveal knowledge apparently out of 

 range of the performer's sphere of influence. 

 The reading of sealed billets is a favorite de- 

 vice and is endlessly variable in procedure, 

 running the gamut of manifolding paper, 

 chemically revealed impressions, the substitu- 

 tion of prepared messages, the intrusion of 

 confederates, concealed speaking tubes and 

 telephones, and codes of signals of some 

 measure of resourcefulness, to say nothing of 

 prepared " blue books " of gossipy information 

 for each town visited and the helpful esprit 

 de corps of the profession. At times there is 

 a skillful service of simple physical principles 

 with an appropriate translation into the mys- 

 tifying terminology. A clever device by which 

 any one of a series of pendulums will begin to 

 respond by taps against the sides of the glass 

 in which it is suspended, is managed by the 

 performer's giving an impact to the table upon 

 which the glasses stand and timing his gentle 

 pushes with the period of the pendulum 

 designated. The pendulums are all made of 

 slightly different lengths; and with a little 

 practise the right one is set going, to the per- 

 plexity of the sitters. Even an ordinary 

 magnet embedded in a plaster hand is suf- 

 ficient to serve as the medium of " thought 

 vibrations," while telescopic projecting rods 

 that disturb furniture ten feet off become the 

 proof for the moving of objects without con- 

 tact. Such are the things undreamt of in the 

 philosophy which our forefathers designated 

 " natural " and which in these practical gen- 

 erations ministers to the needs of so varied 

 interests as physics, parlor entertainments, 

 and a belief in the survival of materializing 

 and materialized spirits. 



Nothing less than a reading of the volume 

 will convey an adequate sense of the versatility 



of device, yet in individual cases of the poverty 

 of resource and obviousness of deception that 

 make up the professional equipment of the 

 medium. Such reading is eminently to be 

 recommended, and is nowhere to be found in 

 more convincing form than in Mr. Abbott's 

 narrative. The very directness and sim- 

 plicity of the story argues its singleness of 

 purpose ; which is the matter-of-fact enlighten- 

 ment of the modus operandi. This in turn 

 is doubly convincing by the fact that Mr. 

 Abbott himself has tried and tested that 

 whereof he speaks, has produced the effects 

 described, has gained the confidence of the 

 mediums, who have in some cases adopted the 

 devices of Mr. Abbott's performances (which 

 it is needless to state were given merely as 

 effects by natural means to be explained by 

 the sitters as their judgments dictated), and 

 has cultivated for years the field in which he 

 is expert. It is for these reasons that the 

 practical value of the book, both as a record, 

 and as a rationalizing instrument, is quite 

 sufficient to deserve a word of appreciation on 

 the part of those interested in spreading the 

 gospel of common sense and sound science. 



The psychological aspects of deception are 

 not specifically treated, but appear conspicu- 

 ously between the lines. The mental phys- 

 iognomy of the species " medium " stands re- 

 vealed in recognizable though variable fea- 

 tures. It presents usually a somewhat bour- 

 geois, coarse, temperament, attracted by the 

 ready gullibility of the clientele and the get- 

 rich-quick instincts of the adventurer, and 

 with this combines a variable stock in trade in 

 a commanding presence, an insinuating man- 

 ner, a shrewd observation, a bold finesse, or 

 a real even if somewhat criminal interest in 

 playing the game and winning. A medium 

 who actually bullied his sitters to provide the 

 proper moment for picking their pockets (to 

 extract a letter or other document to obtain 

 name and address) is thus described : " The 

 medium was a very large and powerful man 

 ... at one time he had been a pugilist. 

 After this he became a minister of the Gospel, 

 finally taking up the profession of a spirit 

 medium, as this was more lucrative for one of 

 his talents and personal appearance." In 



