-308 we General Notes. [ March, 
quarters and a library, and since it includes among its active or 
honorary members such names as Balfour Stewart, Lord Ray- 
leigh, Professor Bowditch, Mr. Crookes, and Mr. A. R. Wallace, 
Preyer thinks it worth while to examine their proceedings criti- 
cally, so as to caution his countrymen against these useless pro- 
ceedings, and prevent, if possible, the formation of a similar 
society in Germany. Preyer’s analyses of a number of the 600 
reported cases of telepathy are exceedingly ingenious and subtle. 
Though he concedes that the possibility of thought transference _ 
cannot be disproved, he makes out a good case that the experi- 
menters ignored sources of error which vitiate their conclusions. 
Especially ingenious is his explanation of the countless ways in 
which the two persons to be examined can communicate with 
each other, if in the same or adjoining rooms—as by means of 
different noises made in breathing through the mouth or nose, © 
movements with the foot, gnashing of the teeth, etc.; remember- 
ing at the same time that individuals, owing to great nervous sus- 
ceptibility or to training, are endowed with as abnormal acuteness 
of the senses as are hypnotized persons. In Liverpool, for exam- 
ple, two girls were examined who claimed that one could tell 
what the other ate, if the latter was allowed to put her hand on 
the former’s shoulder. Aside from the fact that there might have ‘ 
been a prearranged alphabet of signs through pressure on the 
shoulder, there was the probability that one of the girls hada 64 
‘very acute sense of smell. The result showed that in thirty-two 
ai a erate iat. pee ree al oe I gr E Re 
aree ES er We ENAT AE 
ae nies Sa pea pe Nature. The Intelligence of Animals, with EM 
_ anecdotes. From the French of Ernest Menault. Illustratéd. New York e 
_ Scribner’s Sons, 1885, 12mo. : ee es a 
