Psychical Research

Abstract

THIS book ought to have been published long ago. In a way indeed it was, to wit in 1870, but only for private circulation, on account of the violent prejudices which its subject then excited both in religious and in scientific circles. It is a record of the marvels which seemed to those present to happen in connexion with D. D. Home, the most famous “medium “of modern times, and is composed mainly of reports, written by the present Earl of Dunraven, then Viscount Adare, to his father, on seventy-eight sittings with Home in the years 1867-69; but in ten cases the notes were taken by the late Earl, who also wrote an introduction. The present Earl has now re-printed the material and equipped it with a preface, and with a lucid and temperate introduction by Sir Oliver Lodge; but he has not attempted to fill in the gaps which were left in the evidence where matters were considered too intimate for publication. After a lapse of more than fifty years, most of these could surely?ave been filled in without offence, and thus have counteracted the attenuating effect which the mere iapse of time has on the scientific value of any historical narrative. Nor is the recording itself as full and expert as Crookes's account of his experiments with the same medium.

Experiences in Spiritualism with D. D. Home.

By the Earl of Dunraven. Pp. iv + 285. (London: Society for Psychical Research, 1924.) 7s. 6d.