686 
Analyses of Books. 
[November, 
Evenings at Home in Spiritual Seance. Prefaced and Welded 
together by a Species of Autobiography. By Miss Hough- 
ton. First Series. London : Triibner and Co. 
Never in our experience have we met with a more perplexing 
book than the one before us. It would of course be exceedingly 
easy for some critics to turn the author and her narrative into 
ridicule, and to dismiss her as an impostor or a lunatic. Un- 
fortunately for ourselves we cannot dismiss difficult problems so 
lightly. Whoever reads these “ Evenings at Home ” in a candid 
spirit must at least admit that Miss Houghton writes in perfect 
faith, fully believing every statement which she has advanced. 
But are the sights, the sounds, which she has experienced and 
recorded, objective realities or merely illusions ? Here is the 
difficulty. Miss Houghton may be of an enthusiastic, imagina- 
tive temperament, and may possibly have mistaken subjective 
imagery for external objects. We do not say this dogmatically, 
but doubtingly, and well aware of the exceeding imperfection of 
human knowledge concerning all those phenomena which are 
classed as mental. Let us call attention to certain points : the 
lady in question is, if not an artist by profession, evidently an 
admirer of art, acquainted with living artists, and not unfamiliar 
with the names and the peculiarities of the great masters of the 
past. Accordingly she becomes a drawing medium ; she is 
brought into communication with the spirits of Sir Joshua Rey- 
nolds, Salvator Rosa, Claude Lorraine, Parmegiano, Vandyck, 
&c. Again : she is evidently a devout Christian, well read in 
religious literature in general, and especially in the Bible. We 
find her brought in communication with the archangels Gabriel 
and Michael, with the spirits of Abraham, Moses, Aaron, Luther, 
Elias, &c. We cannot help asking whether the same forms 
would have appeared to Miss Houghton had she been brought 
up among different surroundings and different traditions ? We 
know, of course, that to this objection a reply may be made. It 
may be said that artist-spirits were by a natural affinity attracted 
to the living artists, and saints and angels to the devout believer. 
Perhaps the most satisfactory proceeding will be to quote the 
author’s account of the evidence which originally made her a 
Spiritualist, so that our readers may judge for themselves con- 
cerning its validity. In the year 1859 she was told by her cousin, 
Mrs. Pearson, that there were means by which it was possible to 
communicate with the spirits of lost friends. The two ladies 
made, accordingly, a visit to Mrs. Marshall, who with her niece 
“ sat with us at a round table. In a short time the raps came.” 
. . . “ My youngest sister, Zilla,” who died in 1851,“ was again 
in conversation with me, and I asked whether anything still 
troubled her, to which she answered ‘ Yes,’ and on my enquiring 
what it was, naturally concluding that it would refer to her 
