General Notes. 
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
Ameeican Society for Psychical Research ; Boston, Dec. 
12, 1888.— Dr. J. W. Warren read the report of the Committee on 
Mediumistic Phenomena, of which the following is the substance: 
" Your committee desires to report a moderate progress in the investi- 
ork. DoriDg the year the committee, as siich, 
undertaken 
aided very materially by the gen- 
«ve have been able to 1 
erous co-operation of the medium. 
only light on 10 sittings, stenographically reported. The results thus c 
tained are not of such a character as to warrant any very decided judgmeni 
as to the nature of the phenomena under examination, but they throw some 
light on the qviestions involved. An extension of the investigation would 
be very desirable, provided a sufficient amount of money could be placed 
at our disposal. As to materializing or etherealizing mediums, it is learned 
that seven— nearly every one of whom had been highly recommended to 
our special attention— have come to grief here in Boston during the past 
two or three years. Still, we are ready to examine these phenomena on 
the receipt of tangible experiences on the part of trustworthy persons, 
provided we are permitted to impose such conditions as seem to us reasonable 
and necessary." 
Secretary Richard Hodgson read the report of the Committee on 
Thought Transference. In the experiments made by this committee, 
an attempt was was made to **will^' the subject to name a number 
selected by the other party to the experiment. By pure chance, one 
might be expected to guess 10 numbers out of 100 correctly, but 
the results varied in each series of 100 from 10 to 28. Out of 3000 
numbers selected, 584 were guessed correctly, instead of 300, which 
fact, the members of the committee think, points to some other in- 
fluence than chance. It was noticed that when the right guess was 
made in the first place, the subject displayed no desire to change it, 
and it was only in cases where the first guess was wrong that the 
subject showed any uncertainty in announcing it, or attempted to 
change it afterward. 
Prof. J. Royce read the report on phantasms and presentiments. 
He declared that, in his opinion, the methods of research adopted 
by the committee on phantasms and presentiments had been justi- 
fied by the results obtained. After he had stated the subdivisions 
he had made of his subject, he gave his special attention to what lie 
called *' pseudo-presentiments" and to coincidences that seem to 
have some bearing on telepathy. Under the head of pseudo-pre- 
sentiments he cited a number of cases where individuals, after events 
have happened, persuade themselves that they had presentiments 
of the events before they occurred. He also spoke of the feeling 
people often have, when visiting a strange place, of *' having been 
there before," These hallucinations, he said, were attributable to 
surprises which make so strong an impression upon a man's mind as 
