iS8i.J 
Analyses of Books, 
687 
husband or children, I was surprised by the word ‘ Helen ’ being 
spelt out. Helen was another sister, three years older than her- 
self, who had married a Catholic, and had been led away to the 
same church. This had troubled Zilla on earth, and I felt it was 
still a grief to her.” Miss Houghton comments on this occur- 
rence as follows : — “ The name of Helen could never have been 
the coinage of Mrs. Marshall or her niece, nor was she at all in 
my thoughts, but I immediately understood what Zilla meant.” 
The question then naturally arises, How is this to be accounted 
for ? Supposing, for argument’s sake, that Mrs. Marshall and 
her niece were jugglers, what should lead them to conclude that 
Zilla would be thinking of a sister rather than of her husband 
and children ? It is not indeed expressly stated, but we should 
judge from the passage that Mrs. Marshall had no previous 
acquaintance with Miss Houghton and her family. We read 
further “ Later in the evening the planchette was brought for- 
ward, and on it were placed Mary Brodie’s hand (the niece of 
Mrs. Marshall) and my cousin’s (Mrs. Pearson). I then asked 
her how many years it was since the first brother I had lost had 
passed into spirit-life ? A3 was written, and my cousin (who 
was thinking of another brother) said, ‘ It is going to be 13.’ 
Instead of which another 3 was added, which was correct, for it 
was thirty-three years since I lost my dear brother Cecil Angelo.” 
These two tests were for Miss Houghton sufficient. But it is 
right to add that very singular, even startling, occurrences are 
narrated in the course of the book which are exceedingly difficult 
to explain on any other supposition than either wilful deceit or 
the intervention of intelligent beings other than men and women 
as we meet with them in life. Some of the cases are of such a 
nature that accidental coincidence is scarcely thinkable. We 
quote as a subject for reflection the following remark : — “ I think 
most of my readers will be able to remember some occasion when 
a thought will seem to have flashed into their minds without any 
connection with their then train of ideas, and they may feel 
assured that it has been thus deposited in their brain by some 
external agent, and probably for a specific purpose.” 
The author learnt from a Mr. Hyde that the celebrated Sir H. 
Bessemer in the early part of his career saw, in a dream, the way 
to overcome a practical difficulty in connection with a type- 
distributing-machine which he was then engaged with. She 
ascribes this to the intervention of spirits — an explanation which 
we do not think necessary. We have learnt, however, that a 
gentleman, who has made some signal improvements in connec- 
tion with the alkali manufacture, considers that he has been 
assisted by spiritual agency. 
The following is a curious statement : “ One Sunday in 1862, 
soon after the clergyman had gone into the pulpit, I saw him 
irradiated with a violet light like a globe of about 2 feet in 
diameter, the central point of which appeared to be placed at the 
