Sarae seealeces anes 
 . wo oe 
 
 caleal ghee ee ea hehe & 
 ee Ee 
 Wie et an Ct 
 bh ats bats 
 a te €* 
 + 
 ee) panera 
 sabe ee a Satan s 2 Z . 
 de epee) 
 = = * CH hk: 
 Pet ares wate. 
 PAPe-g POTN S PTT IOS STEEN AST BEEP E SOT VVSet 
 Bry gh eTsETye List Te PPPOE ee 
 At *EAghs SiS St. 
 
 ah atenseee 
 
 rama eetatan 
 oe Ue eee oe ee 
 BEE Soe AT 
 
 Rishi ised 
 
 betes Says eee 
 
 sr 
 
 wer 
 
 rez 
 188: 
 
 Bits 
 Hastie 
 
 tit 
 
 ern i 
 ot anh ee Seb pay gree vere e Lo 
 eae veratnhe fares OCrr has 
 $9 nee dw ey See te 
 valiahed Ie) omy 
 25% 
 
 Emre ctleas 
 : ~ 
 
 ee 
 
 eve ‘esr 
 
 Bovuraereset 
 
 TUTTE TES Te eT 
 
 ~ 
 
 bir tebe 
 
 a 
 
 tree 
 cute 
 
 or 
 
 J 
 
 a 
 
 f reyes 
 0 VEO, AE MELLO WE 
 
 Lae es et ino SUR 
 wee saeresey 
 
 $B ob cede 6d ee 
 
 SPADE FOP ANTE” 
 
 
 
KSDI 
 OCT 24 1994 
 
 
 
 
 <UL ogicnt EWS 
 
 
 

 

 
SOME NEW EVIDENCE 
 FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL 
 
 
 

 
nn 
 
 # 
 
 PQ ' wi § HINGED 
 Vv , by 
 
 
 
 
 OCT 924 
 
 
 
 
 SOME NEW EVIDBNGE,,.s 
 ROR yw 
 HUMAN SURVIVAL 
 by 
 
 The Rev. CHARLES DRAYTON ‘THOMAS 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 SIR WILLIAM F. BARRETT, F.R.S. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 E. P- DUTTON & COMPANY 
 
 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN 
 
ae 
 iphiee 
 Great 
 
 8 
 a! 
 
 a 
 
 Printedin 
 J at -* wa 
 ‘te MU 1 a 4" id 
 
 
 
AUTHOR’S NOTE 
 
 My thanks are due to many who have rendered 
 assistance in matters connected with this book. 
 Especially to Lady Glenconner for her permission 
 to include the incidents recorded in Chapter XII. 
 And to Sir William Barrett, not only for his 
 advice, and his guidance in the arrangement of 
 material, but also for his kindness in writing the 
 Introduction, 
 
\ f re ts a” » 
 PN Pee. ae A ary a ty 
 De Nag Lg Wh Ve 
 ied at Parkes So thay Ue 
 ah 
 ro 
 
 > 
 
 tA, i 
 Mg 
 
 i 
 
 ane 
 
 ARE ie et 
 v7 a 
 ie 
 
 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 INTRODUCTION BY SIR WILLIAM F. BARRETT, F.R.S. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII: 
 
 Vill. 
 
 IX. 
 
 PART I 
 
 Book ‘TEsTs 
 PAGE 
 AIM AND METHOD 3 
 
 BOOK TESTS DESCRIBED 12 
 BOOK TESTS WITH PERSONAL REFERENCES 19 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES OF BOOK TESTS 30 
 
 HOW FAR MAY CHANCE COINCIDENCE 
 ACCOUNT FOR THE FACTS? 42 
 
 CAN COLLUSION EXPLAIN? EXPERIMENT 
 WITH A SEALED BOOK 49 
 
 EXPERIMENT WITH AN UNSEEN BOOKSHELF 58 
 
 EXPERIMENT WITH AN UNOPENED PARCEL. 
 EXPERIMENT WITH AN IRON BOX. NOTE 
 ON THE ABOVE RESULTS 66 
 
 CAN BOOK TESTS BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE 
 MEDIUM’S SUPER-NORMAL POWERS? 175 
 
 INDICATIONS OF IDENTITY go 
 SUMMARY OF RESULTS 97 
 
 A FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF BOOK TESTS 106 
 vii 
 
CHAP. 
 XIII. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 XV. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 XX. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 XXII, 
 
 Contents 
 
 PAK Lat 
 
 NEWSPAPER TESTS 
 
 NEWSPAPER TESTS ILLUSTRATED 
 
 EXAMINATION OF THE TEST MESSAGES 
 FOR FEBRUARY I4TH, 1920 
 
 CHANCE COINCIDENCE FAILS TO 
 ACCOUNT FOR THE FACTS 
 
 TESTS RECEIVED FOR OTHERS AND 
 RELATING TO FACTS UNKNOWN TO 
 THE SITTER 
 
 TESTS GIVEN BEFORE THE TYPE IS IN 
 POSITION 
 
 EXAMPLES OF NEWSPAPER TESTS, IN- 
 CLUDING SOME OF THE EARLIEST 
 RECEIVED 
 
 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SUCCESSFUL TESTS 
 AND NOTE UPON PSYCHOMETRY 
 
 NEWSPAPER TESTS AS VIEWED FROM THE 
 OTHER SIDE 
 
 THE IDENTITY OF THE COMMUNICATOR 
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS UPON THE EVI- 
 DENCE AFFORDED BY NEWSPAPER 
 TESTS, AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE 
 
 APPENDIX A. REFERENCES PAST AND PRESENT 
 TO ALLIED PHENOMENA 
 
 APPENDIX B. TESTS FROM THE TITLES OF BOOKS 
 
 iets 
 
 PAGE 
 
 119 
 131 
 
 150 
 
 La 
 
 2.38 
 246 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 BY 
 
 sin W. F, Barrett, F.R.S. 
 
 In recent years readers have been inundated with 
 books on psychical research, and survival after 
 bodily death; but as the majority of these books 
 have little, if any, evidential value, a fresh book on 
 the subject is apt to be dismissed with scornful 
 impatience. The present volume is of a very 
 different character, and forms, in my opinion, one 
 of the most important contributions yet made 
 towards an experimental solution of the problem 
 of survival after our life on earth. 
 
 It is, of course, easy for the vociferous Sadducees 
 of to-day to shrug their shoulders and assert, that, 
 as no evidence can establish such an impossible 
 belief, they decline to waste their time in listening 
 to nonsense. ‘They waive the whole matter aside 
 with a superior gesture, confidently asserting that 
 what cannot be explained by fraud, delusion, or 
 subconscious memory is simply due to the ‘ will 
 to believe.’ But surely such agnostics might 
 remember the ancient proverb : ‘ He that answereth 
 a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and 
 shame unto him.’? 
 
 1 Proverbs xviii. 13. 
 iX 
 
Introduction 
 
 Let me therefore beg of them not to persist in the 
 ‘will to disbelieve’ until they have read the evidence 
 here set forth. They will, I expect, find their 
 ingenuity severely taxed in the attempt to explain 
 away the present addition to the growing mass 
 of experimental evidence on behalf of a spiritual 
 body which survives the frame-work of the 
 natural body. 
 
 Even that hard-worked hypothesis of telepathy 
 —though this discovery is not as yet accepted by 
 official science—is now appealed to by some 
 sceptics. ‘They forget the ferocious attacks made 
 upon the present writer forty-five years ago, for 
 bringing before the British Association the first 
 evidence on behalf of telepathy; and for daring to 
 ask that a Committee of scientific experts should 
 be appointed to inquire into the possibility of the 
 transmission of impressions and ideas from one 
 mind to another, independently of any known 
 sensory organ. 
 
 In view of the telepathic hypothesis, it is inter- 
 esting to record the fact, that, in 1876 the present 
 writer urged that before we could arrive at any 
 definite conclusion as to the origin of alleged 
 spiritualistic messages, we must first ascertain how 
 far they were explicable by some sranscendental 
 perceptive power on the part of the psychic or 
 medium—and hence it was necessary to ascertain 
 in limine, whether such powers as thought trans- 
 ference and clairvoyance really existed. I believe 
 that every serious student of psychical research 
 will agree that these super-normal faculties have 
 
 x 
 
 
 
Introduction 
 
 now been established, though additional evidence 
 is necessary before they can be generally accepted 
 by science, owing to their rare and fugitive nature. 
 For a similar reason, and the difficulty of adequate 
 explanation, certain physical phenomena, e.g. fire 
 balls, are not generally accepted by science, and a 
 century ago the existence of meteorites was denied. 
 
 The great merit of the present volume lies in 
 the fact that the author conclusively shows that 
 any explanation based on telepathy or clairvoyance 
 on the part of the medium, or other person on earth, 
 or any subliminal knowledge possessed by the 
 medium or sitter, fails to account for all the 
 facts he has recorded with such patient care and 
 examined with critical acumen. The hypothesis 
 of intentional or unintentional fraud by the medium 
 is obviously untenable; and there remains only, 
 as a last resort, the possibility of inaccurate recol- 
 lection and forced interpretation, and finally the 
 long arm of chance coincidence. But these 
 hypotheses Mr. Drayton Thomas has, I think, 
 successfully disposed of; in the first place, by 
 taking full notes at each sitting and sending dupli- 
 cate copies to other persons the same day, and, in 
 the second place, by examining numerous books 
 and papers, other than those indicated by the 
 unseen communicator, and proving that coincidence, 
 though it may account (as it always does) for a 
 few improbable events, fails to explain the great 
 bulk of the evidence. 
 
 This brings me to the nature of the evidence for 
 survival adduced in this volume. It may be divided 
 
 xi 
 
Introduction 
 
 into two parts: (1) the so-called * dook zests,’ which 
 had before occurred with other sitters, and have 
 been fully and critically discussed by Mrs. Henry 
 Sidgwick in Part 81 of the Proceedings of the Soctety 
 for Psychical Research, and (2) the so-called * news- 
 paper tests,’ which I believe Mr. Drayton Thomas 
 was the first to receive, and of which he has been 
 able to confirm the accuracy in very many cases. 
 In the do0k tests the exact position of some book 
 in the sitter’s or another person’s library is named, 
 the page given, and certain words, it 1s asserted, will 
 be found on that page applicable to the question 
 asked, or appropriate to the unseen communicator. 
 As these tests are generally found to be more or 
 less correct, we must assume, if we reject the spirit 
 hypothesis, some amazing super-normal faculty 
 and knowledge possessed by the medium, who 
 throughout was Mrs. Osborne Leonard. The 
 very cautious conclusion which Mrs. Henry Sidg- 
 wick arrives at regarding these book tests is that 
 ‘on the whole, I think, the evidence before us 
 does constitute a reasonable prima facie case for 
 belief ’—in telepathic clairvoyance, i.e. ‘the per- 
 ception of external things not known to any one 
 present, but known to some one somewhere.’! 
 If this means some one on earth, it will be found 
 that in many of Mr. Drayton ‘Thomas’s book tests 
 the evidence goes considerably beyond this and 
 involves a wider scope. However, to those who 
 are willing to admit a new and vast extension of 
 human faculty, and unwilling to admit the survival 
 
 + Proc. S.P.R., Part LXXXI., April, 1921, p. 377. 
 X11 
 
Introduction 
 
 and agency of disembodied friends, this may seem 
 a probable explanation. In any case we know 
 nothing of the modus operandi either of telepathy 
 or clairvoyance. Both may be due to a trans-cor- 
 poreal action of the soul, in which I for one believe; 
 but if there be an excursive power possessed by 
 the soul, if it can perceive and function indepen- 
 dently of the brain, the implication follows that 
 it is likely to survive the dissolution of body and 
 brain. 
 
 In some of these book tests, however, information 
 is given which appears inexplicable except on the 
 assumption that it was derived from the memory 
 of the unseen or deceased communicator. Take, for 
 example, some of the remarkable book tests given 
 through Mr. Drayton Thomas to Lady Glenconner, 
 and purporting to come from her gallant and 
 brilliant son, Edward Wyndham Tennant, who 
 was killed in the war. Moreover, one of the 
 most significant facts in the book tests, which 
 purported to come from Mr. Drayton ‘Thomas’s 
 father, who was also a Wesleyan minister, is that 
 recorded by the author in Chapter X, p. g1. 
 Out of 209 references to different books, no less 
 than 110 were to religious works, and only two 
 tests were from the numerous scientific volumes in 
 Mr. Drayton Thomas’s library: the father had 
 very slight interest in science, but deep interest 1n 
 and knowledge of theological literature. More 
 striking still is the fact, that, from the four volumes 
 of a religious work, well known to the last genera- 
 tion, and that had belonged to and doubtless been 
 
 Xill 
 
Tutroduction 
 
 carefully read by his father, fifteen tests were 
 selected, thirteen from one volume alone. Mr, 
 Drayton Thomas has an extensive library, and 
 from seven shelves of books he specially values and 
 frequently refers to, not a single test has been 
 taken. These books are on subjects which would 
 not have appealed to his father when on earth. 
 
 Now these facts are of great value as affording 
 a clue to the origin of these tests. It is not the 
 sitter’s or the medium’s conscious or subconscious 
 mind or memory that is concerned; it indicates the 
 mind or memory of the unseen person who purports 
 to be the communicator. Furthermore, it helps us 
 to glimpse the process at work in that mind; 
 familiar books are recalled, passages in those 
 books are more easily found than in strange, 
 unread books, and in some way a page is found 
 in one of those books and a sentence discerned 
 that conveys the requisite idea. It is useless in 
 our present state of ignorance speculating how 
 all this is done; or why, as it seems to us, a much 
 simpler and more direct mode of giving information 
 is not resorted to. Two thousand years ago the 
 jumping up and down of bits of straw beneath a 
 piece of rubbed amber seemed ridiculous, but it 
 was the first revelation of the wonderful and still 
 mysterious power of electricity. 
 
 Here let me give an illustration of a book test 
 that was given to me in a sitting with Mrs, 
 Leonard on August 5th, 1921. During her trance 
 Mr, Fred Myers purported to speak to me, 
 through the control Feda, and gave a ‘book 
 
 XiV 
 
Introduction 
 
 test.’ He said that there were some books on 
 the right-hand side of a room upstairs in our 
 house in Devonshire Place, which it is important 
 to note Mrs. Leonard has never visited. This 
 statement was quite correct, a bookcase filled with 
 books is on the right-hand side of the drawing- 
 room upstairs. The control continued that, on 
 the second shelf, four feet from the ground, in 
 the fourth book counting from the left, at the top 
 of page 78, are some words which he (Mr. Fred 
 Myers) wishes you to take as a direct answer from 
 himself to so much of the work you have been 
 doing since he passed over. Asked if the name of 
 the book could be given, the reply was ‘ No,’ but 
 that whilst feeling on the cover of the book he got 
 a sense of ‘ progression.’ The control continued: 
 ‘Two or three books from this test book are one 
 or two books on matters in which Sir William used 
 to be very interested, but of late years has not been 
 so interested. It is connected with studies of his 
 youth; and he will have particular memories of 
 it, as it will remind him of his younger days.’ | 
 had no idea what books were referred to, but on 
 returning home found that, in the exact position 
 indicated, the ‘test book’ was George Eliot’s 
 Middlemarch. ‘The cover of the book showed the 
 name conspicuously, the latter half, ‘ march,’ 
 indicating as the control said, ‘ progression.’ On 
 the first line at the top of page 78 are the words, 
 ‘ Ay, ay, I remember—you'll see I’ve remembered 
 ’em all,’ which quotation is singularly appropriate, 
 as much of my work since Mr. Myers passed over 
 XV 
 
Introduction 
 
 has been concerned with the question of survival 
 after death and whether the memories of friends 
 on earth continued with the discarnate. 
 
 But the most remarkable part of this book test 
 is contained in the sentence, ‘two or three books 
 from the book test,’ etc. In dusting these book- 
 shelves the maid-servant, unknown to us, had 
 replaced two of George Eliot’s novels by two 
 volumes of Dr. Tyndall’s books, viz., his Heat 
 and Sound, which, to my surprise, were found 
 exactly in the position indicated. In my youth I 
 was for some years assistant to Professor Tyndall, 
 and those books were written whilst I was with 
 him, and the investigations and experiments they 
 describe formed ‘the studies of my youth.’ A 
 careful investigation of all the other shelves and 
 books yielded nothing even remotely applicable 
 to the test given. Chance coincidence, therefore, 
 cannot account for this, nor can travelling clair- 
 voyance explain the matter, as Mrs. Leonard knows 
 nothing of our house, nor of my early life, with 
 which Mr. Myers was familiar. 
 
 We now come to the zewspaper tests. Here we 
 meet with a rare and unexpected phase of psychic 
 faculty. Not only is travelling and telepathic 
 clairvoyance displayed, but in many cases actual 
 prevision. ‘The tests refer to certain words that 
 will be found in a given column of the front page 
 of the Times or Daily Telegraph the next day. The 
 sitting usually lasted from 3 to 5 p.m., and as it 
 seemed doubtful if any part of the next day’s 
 paper would then be in type, I communicated 
 
 xvi 
 
Introduction 
 
 with the 7zmes publisher as to this, sending him 
 the hour and details of a test given a few months 
 before. The Times manager most kindly took up 
 the matter, and the correspondence reveals that 
 collusion was impossible, and that it was doubtful 
 if some of the words selected were even in type at 
 the time of the sitting with Mrs. Leonard. The 
 particulars of this case and the correspondence 
 with the Times will be found on pages 158-59, 
 168-70. ‘The important feature of these newspaper 
 tests is that the information conveyed, though pos- 
 sessed by the discarnate personality, was in many 
 cases utterly unknown to the sitter or the medium. 
 
 I will give an illustration of a newspaper test 
 from my own experience. In the sitting with Mrs, 
 Leonard on August 5th, 1921, already referred to, 
 I was told that in the Tzmes of the next day, half- 
 way down the second column, would be found the 
 name of a friend of mine, now passed over, whom 
 I knew a few years ago; ‘a friend Sir William 
 knew very well and liked greatly, whose books he 
 has, and of whom he was thinking quite lately.’ 
 The next morning, on opening the Times, exactly 
 half-way down the second column, in large type, 
 was the name Drummonp, MHenry Drummond, 
 whose books are widely known and are in my 
 library, was an old and beloved friend of mine, 
 Shortly before going to this sitting on August 5th, 
 I noticed he had written his name on his birthday, 
 August 17th, in my copy of George Macdonald’s 
 Diary of an Old Soul, so that I was thinking of 
 him lately. 
 
 E.H.S. XV1l B 
 
Tutroduction 
 
 Feda continued, ‘There is another name in the 
 first page of the Times to-morrow; a quarter of the 
 way down the second column is the name Taylor ; 
 this will remind Sir William of some one he knew 
 in connection with studies he made some years 
 ago, some one older than himself.’ In the next 
 morning’s Times, a quarter of the way down the 
 first (not the second) column, was the name 
 TayLor in capital letters. Colonel Taylor was 
 a friend, older than myself, who was on the 
 Council of the S.P.R. and well known both to 
 Mr. Myers and myself. As he lived in Chelten- 
 ham, he kindly wrote me a full report of some © 
 interesting experiments in dowsing which he 
 conducted at Cheltenham, and which will be 
 found on page 187 of my second report ‘On the 
 so-called Divining Rod,’ published in 1900.1 The 
 interesting point here is that the actual name, 
 Taylor, was given by the control ; its exact position 
 in the Zzmes was indicated, only in the first and 
 not the second column of the first page. Here 
 again chance coincidence affords no explanation, 
 as a reference to other copies of the T7zmes clearly 
 demonstrates. 
 
 Hitherto there has been little evidence showing 
 that a discarnate personality can exercise prevision, 
 or can find an appropriate pdssage on a certain 
 page in a particular book in a distant library. 
 And if these transcendental powers are possessed 
 by the discarnate, why should they resort to such 
 cryptic methods, such fragmentary hints, such 
 
 1See Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. XV. 
 XVul 
 
 
 
Introduction 
 
 shreds and patches of memory. The natural result 
 of this is to make one irritated that they do 
 not contrive some better and simpler means of 
 revealing themselves, their present condition and 
 mode of life, etc. Surely possessing such faculties 
 and intelligence as these tests indicate, they 
 might do more than give us puzzles to solve and 
 mosaics to piece together. 
 
 But it is of no use worrying over these anomalies, 
 we know little of the difficulties of communication, 
 and of translating the thoughts and ideas of the 
 discarnate into the symbols of human _ speech. 
 Imagine the difficulty of explaining any scientific 
 theory or abstruse phenomena to an ignorant though 
 intelligent person, or to one whose language we do 
 not understand, or conveying our ideas to a deaf 
 and blind friend. If such a friend believed we had 
 died, all our efforts would be directed to convince 
 him that he was mistaken, and that we were 
 really his old friend alive and well. Now this 
 attempt to prove identity—that those whom we 
 think dead are really alive and well, seems 
 to be the paramount object of these unseen 
 communicators.! 
 
 Psychical researchers are well aware of the 
 many plausible explanations that might be given 
 to evade the conclusion that messages purporting 
 
 1 The late Dr. Hyslop, whose experience of American mediumistic 
 phenomena was so wide and searching, arrived at the conclusion 
 that the usual mode of conveying information by the discarnate 
 was by impressing on the medium’s mind a picture of the scene or 
 of the ideas to be transmitted, the pictographic method Hyslop 
 called it. Certainly there appears great difficulty in conveying actual 
 words, and the roundabout ways seen in these tests may be the 
 effort to surmount this difficulty. 
 
 X1X 
 
Introduction 
 
 to be from deceased friends are really what they 
 profess to be. It is only since the passing over of 
 our friends Gurney, Myers, Sidgwick, etc., who 
 often discussed this matter, that new types of 
 evidence have been presented to us. More than 
 ten years ago I wrote: ‘ It is a significant fact that 
 evidence of this kind (é.e. inexplicable by any 
 subliminal knowledge of the sitter or of the medium, 
 or telepathy from the living), the desirability of 
 which had been pointed out by Frederic Myers in 
 his earthly life, has begun to appear since his 
 passing over, and not only so, but the initiation of 
 it apparently came from him.” The first attempt 
 at a new type of evidence was the so-called cross 
 correspondences, which seemed devised to exclude the 
 plausible objections referred to above; nevertheless, 
 in spite of this new evidence, on the next page of 
 my book on Psychical Research, | wrote : ‘ Conclusive 
 proof of the fact (of survival after death) in any 
 given instance, is made almost impossible, for the 
 present at least, when our ignorance can set no 
 limit to the scope of telepathic powers.’ This 
 objection seems to have been met by the next type 
 of evidence given to us, after the passing over of 
 that eminent Greek scholar and keen psychical 
 researcher, Prof. A. W. Verrall. The intricate 
 Greek mosaic and literary puzzle called the Ear 
 of Dionysius affords, in the opinion of the Right 
 Hon. Gerald Balfour, and other competent judges, 
 one of the most striking evidences of survival yet 
 obtained. It apparently demonstrated the combined 
 
 1 Psychical Research, p. 229, Home University Library. 
 XX 
 
 
 
Introduction 
 
 and continued vigorous mental activity of two 
 eminent classical scholars—the late Professors 
 Verrall and Butcher. 
 
 Whilst these two types of evidence afforded 
 satisfaction to the painstaking student and classical 
 scholar, they were beyond the grasp of, or too intri- 
 cate to appeal to, the wayfaring man. Hence our 
 friends in the unseen appear to have devised the 
 new and simpler types of evidence seen in these 
 book and newspaper tests. These obviously depend 
 upon extraordinary faculties, the possession of which 
 was not previously ascribed to the discarnate, and 
 may indeed be exceptional among them and 
 attained only after a time and by strenuous 
 effort. 
 
 It is interesting to note in this connection, that in 
 certain messages received by Mr. Drayton Thomas, 
 the unseen communicator, who purports to be his 
 father, states that he has been directed and helped 
 by others in the unseen who are in a higher state 
 of knowledge than he enjoys at present. Possibly 
 this may refer to the eminent psychical researchers 
 I have alluded to. 
 
 Incidentally, one value of these researches 1s 
 the training of the mind, both of the experimenter 
 and the reader, in the search for sruzh. Confronted 
 by the tremendous issues of the problem, ‘If a 
 man die shall he live again,’ the mind has to free 
 itself from all prepossession and traditional beliefs, 
 pursuing the quest in absolute honesty and sin- 
 cerity, with the exercise of unlimited patience and 
 courage. It seems strange that it should require 
 
 xxi 
 
Introduction 
 
 courage on the part of a clergyman to try and 
 establish experimentally an affirmative answer to 
 the above question. Yet, until quite recently, few 
 clergy or other public men dare risk their reputa- 
 tion by engaging in this quest. The more enlight- 
 ened clergy are no longer opponents of psychical 
 research; but this is not the case with the majority 
 of the religious laity, more especially among 
 Nonconformists. Hence Mr. Drayton Thomas is 
 to be congratulated on the courage, as well as the 
 zeal and scientific spirit, he has shown in con- 
 ducting for some years past the investigations he 
 has described in this volume. 
 
 Sceptics too often forget that mere negations 
 are of no value when confronted with the affirmative 
 evidence of trustworthy witnesses. What a man 
 denies 1s seldom worth attention, and adds nothing 
 to our knowledge; but what any one affirms as a 
 fact in his experience is always worth attention. 
 As Professor William James once said,— If you 
 wish to upset the law that all crows are black, you 
 mustn’t seek to show that no crows are; it is enough 
 if you prove one single crow to be white,’ and he 
 adds—* My own white crow is Mrs Piper. In 
 the trances of this medium I cannot resist the 
 conviction that knowledge appears which she has 
 never gained by the ordinary use of her eyes and 
 ears and wits.’? 
 
 Remarkable as are these book and newspaper 
 tests, they do not afford any evidence of human 
 
 1 Presidential Address S.P.R. January 31st, 1896. Proceedings 
 of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. XII, p. 5. 
 
 XXi1 
 
 
 
Introduction 
 
 survival when taken alone without collateral evi- 
 dence. They are evidence of the super-normal 
 faculties of clairvoyance and precognition, some- 
 times exhibited by certain persons in dream, or in 
 hypnotic trance, and often in crystal vision during 
 the sensitive’s normal waking state. How these 
 faculties are exercised we do not know; but they 
 do not, as already said, necessarily imply any 
 discarnate agency, beyond a possible excursive 
 action of the soul of the living sensitive. 
 
 It is only when these tests are taken in conjunc- 
 tion with the evidence they afford of knowledge 
 not possessed by the entranced medium, but 
 possessed by the deceased person who purports 
 to communicate through the control, that we are 
 justified in seeking their origin outside any super- 
 normal faculties enjoyed by the medium. Even 
 in that case we need to scrutinise the evidence 
 critically, and to eliminate information that might 
 possibly be derived telepathically from the sub- 
 conscious content of the minds of those present. 
 I do not attach so much importance to this 
 hypothesis as others have done; but it will be seen 
 that the author has discussed this question, and 
 that the cumulative effect of the evidence he gives 
 is strongly in favour of the survival of human 
 personality after the dissolution of body and 
 brain. 
 
 To my sceptical friends may I in conclusion 
 commend the following words of that able thinker, 
 Dr. F. C. S. Schiller: ‘A mind unwilling to believe 
 or even undesirous to be instructed, our weightiest 
 
 XX) 
 
Introduction 
 
 evidence must ever fail to impress. It will insist 
 on taking that evidence in bits and rejecting item 
 by item. As all the facts come singly, any one 
 who dismisses them one by one is destroying the 
 condition under which the conviction of new truth 
 could ever arise in the mind.’ 
 
 XXIV 
 
PART I 
 
st Rte os 
 
 Ph i \ + 
 
 1th Way 
 A 
 
 4 AC a) i) 
 Taran 
 
 Av Pity aX 
 OA 
 
 iy Hi 
 Su 
 
 y 
 
 Das 
 a d 
 1 
 cds 
 We 
 
 ee Td NN 
 ATs) Vat 
 
 ee ay 7) ead 
 i | ‘ 7 ai, ; 
 hg an hi) wm \ Nive Hy 
 iy aan, % ‘ 
 
 eh Ate 
 wd ‘hie 
 it da thet 
 wn hag) es 
 
 ae ae > Sa ee a 
 - . : an 
 eee : 
 nie R. ee 
 
 
 
CHAPTER I 
 AIM AND METHOD 
 
 Tuis book sets forth one class of evidence among 
 many pointing to the possibility of conversing with 
 friends who have passed through death. It is 
 written chiefly for the consideration of those who 
 desire evidence. Yet others who, on grounds of 
 religious belief, or of personal experience, are fully 
 assured concerning the reality of future existence, 
 may here find welcome supplementary proof. 
 
 Uncertainty on this supreme question has an 
 inevitable influence upon thought and character, an 
 influence unwholesome and frequently mischievous. 
 
 If any have closed their minds against the 
 reception of evidence, they are scarcely likely to 
 peruse these pages. Experience, whether in this 
 life or the next, will, I believe, lead them to realise 
 their mistake. 
 
 I write for those who permit the windows of 
 the mind to remain open; to such this book may 
 reveal the light of a day that shall never end in 
 night. 
 
 Early in 1917 it became possible to undertake 
 the systematic investigation of psychic phenomena 
 to which I had looked forward during many years 
 of reading. ‘To investigate personally is altogether 
 
 3 
 
Aim and Method 
 
 different from studying the opinions and experiences 
 of others ; indeed I am increasingly persuaded that 
 only by some amount of actual first-hand knowledge 
 can any one rightly appraise the full significance of 
 phenomena pointing to the survival of bodily 
 death. 
 
 Having no adequate psychic gifts of my own, 
 it was necessary to seek the assistance of others, 
 and for some months I studied with variously 
 gifted persons the phenomena of clairvoyance, 
 psychometric ability, trance, and the direct voice. 
 From each I was able to learn much, but finally 
 concluded that deep trance speaking was the method 
 by which the investigation could be best pursued. 
 
 Experiment with several persons who had de- 
 veloped their ability for trance speaking decided 
 me to arrange for a long series of studies with 
 Mrs. Osborne Leonard, my results with her seeming 
 to indicate possibilities of considerable improve- 
 ment. For five years I have followed up this line 
 of research, and have had over one hundred sittings 
 in which she passes into the trance state and 
 her mental and vocal organism is at the temporary 
 disposal of ‘ Feda.’ Feda is the name given to 
 Mrs. Leonard’s so-called ‘ control.’ 
 
 There has been discussion in learned circles 
 as to the real nature of a ‘control,’ and some 
 tendency to regard it as an instance of ‘ secondary 
 personality.” Looking at the considerable body of 
 evidence which has accumulated during my re- 
 searches, I see no logical alternative but to regard 
 Feda as an intelligent and kindly woman, who, 
 
 4 
 
Aim and Method 
 
 from spirit life, devotes a part of her time to 
 assisting, in the capacity of interpreter, intermediary, 
 or messenger, those less practised than herself, 
 who desire to make use of the medium’s trance 
 condition for communicating with their friends on 
 earth. 
 
 It would be beside the purpose of this book to 
 enter into a discussion of the evidence for Feda’s 
 actuality as a person distinct from Mrs. Leonard. 
 The facts to be related do not depend upon any 
 particular interpretation of the part taken by Feda 
 in the matter; and I shall therefore allude to her 
 as if she were, what she asserts herself to be, a 
 person who receives the ideas which one’s com- 
 municator wishes to transmit, and who then succeeds 
 in getting them voiced by the vocal organism of 
 the medium. 
 
 In view of prevalent misconception about the 
 nature of a trance sitting, it may be well to describe 
 in detail the procedure uniformly followed at my 
 interviews with this medium. 
 
 On arrival at the house I am greeted by either 
 Mr. Leonard or his wife, and pass at once into the 
 room where the sittings are held. Taking a seat 
 I arrange note-book and papers before me on a 
 table where stands a lighted lamp. The curtains 
 of the room are drawn so as to exclude the greater 
 part of the light, but there is always sufficient 
 illumination from windows and lamp to make 
 clearly visible everything within the room. Dark- 
 ness would appear to be essential for the production 
 of certain kinds of physical phenomena with which 
 
 7 
 
Aim and Method 
 
 we are not here in any way concerned; and this 
 shading of the room is to facilitate an easy and 
 rapid passing into the peculiar kind of sleep called 
 trance. Mrs. Leonard takes her seat, back towards 
 the light, at a distance of two or three feet from me. 
 During trance there is a tendency for the body to 
 lose warmth more rapidly than usual, and in cold 
 weather there is a good fire some nine feet behind 
 the medium. 
 
 The accompanying sketch-plan makes clear the 
 respective positions just described ; it relates to the 
 room at present used, but, except for the position 
 of the fireplace, would apply equally well to others. 
 
 When we are both seated there is a period of 
 silence lasting two or three minutes. During this 
 time there is a change in the medium’s breathing 
 and some of the usual indications of falling asleep. 
 Then there commences a faint whispering of which 
 I can sometimes catch fragments, such as: ‘ Yes 
 aa wWwalte ei Wes, oiMrs Tohn, Wihedas tn leitem 
 him, ye) Yes, Vall rightelc( 7/0) @ Maen. aimee 
 clear voice and with much animation, Feda greets 
 me and announces who are present, invariably one 
 whom she calls Mr. John, and sometimes others. 
 Feda’s voice and manner cannot for a moment 
 be confused with Mrs. Leonard’s. Occasionally 
 one may catch a fleeting reminder of the latter’s 
 intonation, but nothing more. ‘The voice and 
 vivacity suggest a particularly sprightly and men- 
 tally alert girl of, say, eighteen years of age. I 
 have made no attempt in recording conversations 
 transmitted through her to reproduce the clipping 
 
 
 
Aim and Method 
 
 of certain words and the frequent lapses from 
 grammar which characterise Feda’s speech. Feda 
 accounts for them by saying that when living on 
 earth she was not English. 
 
 For the first two years Feda simply interpreted, 
 receiving what purported to be the conversation 
 of my communicators and transmitting it sentence 
 by sentence through the medium’s lips. At the 
 end of that period I began to observe that for a 
 short period in the sitting there was a change, the 
 effect being exactly as if Feda had retired for the 
 time and another had taken her place. "This was 
 explained as an attempt on the part of a com- 
 municator to speak to me direct without Feda’s 
 mediation. At first these efforts were laboured, 
 but with practice the apparent difficulties were 
 overcome. 
 
 It now regularly happens that, when Feda has 
 been interpreting for an hour, she intimates that 
 one or other of my friends wishes to take her place. 
 She bids me farewell and silence supervenes. 
 Shortly whisperings are heard, which change almost 
 immediately into a clear voice, a voice entirely 
 different from Feda’s and equally distinct from that 
 of Mrs. Leonard. For the remainder of the sitting 
 I am conversing freely with the communicator. 
 He or she, as it may be (for two of them take 
 turns), cannot reproduce the tones with which I 
 was familiar during their life on earth, but they 
 do unquestionably preserve their own individual 
 characteristics ; each speaks 1n a voice and manner 
 uniformly consistent, never showing any tendency 
 
 7 
 
Aim and Method 
 
 to gravitate towards that of the other, of Feda, 
 or of the normal Mrs. Leonard. 
 
 The duration of the sitting varies from an hour 
 and three-quarters to two hours and a half, the 
 difference in length depending in some way, I 
 think, upon the mental and physical vigour of the 
 medium and sitter for the time being. If one is 
 weary in body or mind it seems to shorten the 
 period during which something they term ‘the 
 power’ will hold out. The diminishing of this 
 ‘power’ appears to make it difficult for the 
 speakers to express themselves as they desire, and 
 experience enables them to decide the precise 
 moment beyond which it is not well to continue. 
 
 Farewell having been said on both sides, there 
 is silence for one or two minutes, after which Mrs. 
 Leonard rises from the chair and, drawing back the 
 curtains, appears to be entirely her normal self 
 again, none the worse for the two hours’ sleep, but 
 quite fresh and alert. 
 
 Although not relevant to anything in this book, 
 it may be of interest to add that during the whole 
 of the sitting the medium’s eyes appear to be 
 closed; yet, notwithstanding this, Feda, or whoever 
 may be in control at the time, is able to ‘see’ me 
 and the objects in the room. Of this there is 
 sufficient evidence, but its significance need not 
 detain us. 
 
 For statements requiring great accuracy, as in 
 giving certain kinds of tests, it is found advisable, 
 in the opinion of my communicators, to remain 
 unencumbered by the care involved in taking 
 
 8 
 
Aim and Method 
 
 personal control. The literary allusions about to 
 be described were received by me from my chief 
 communicator through Feda. 
 
 I have used the term ‘my communicator,’ and 
 it may be well here, at the outset, to explain what 
 is in my mind when this word is used, as it must 
 be very frequently, throughout the book. 
 
 The complete story will be reserved for another 
 place; the following is its outline. My father, 
 the Rev. John D. Thomas, passed on in the year 
 1903, and during the fourteen years which had 
 elapsed between that and my first sitting I had 
 lost by death several friends. Some of these, I 
 imagined, would be more likely to respond to 
 my attempted communication than my father, 
 whose interest in the subject had never been 
 pronounced. It was therefore with some surprise 
 that, from the earliest sittings onward, I heard of 
 his presence and discovered that he was able and 
 wishful to communicate with me. Mrs. Leonard’s 
 control always alludes to him as ‘Mr. John.’ 
 
 His mind had always been logical, and these 
 first communications dealt skilfully with evidences 
 of his identity. He proved his identity. That 
 proof I reserve for description on some other 
 occasion; it is not required for my present purpose, 
 which is merely to present a particular line of 
 evidence given subsequently to the day when I 
 stated to him my entire satisfaction with those 
 proofs of identity which he had given. The reply 
 on that occasion was characteristic of my father 
 as I had known him in earthly life; it was to the 
 
 E.H.S. 9 C 
 
Aim and Method 
 
 effect that one could not have too much good 
 evidence, and that since my object was not personal 
 satisfaction, but the collection of information which 
 might benefit others, he would continue to lay a 
 strong and broad foundation of fact upon which 
 to subsequently build. 
 
 It was some weeks after this that there com- 
 menced the book test series, which was later followed 
 by newspaper tests; these two form the subject- 
 matter of the present book. It 1s a line of evidence 
 selected from among many, and convenient to treat 
 in isolation from the others. Should the attempt 
 to set forth my material in a lucid and compre- 
 hensible way be successful, this book will form yet 
 another contribution to the considerable accumu- 
 lation of evidential matter, which, during recent 
 years, has been gathered for the use of thoughtful 
 minds—minds desirous of certainty as to human 
 survival and the possibility of verbal communica- 
 tion with departed friends. 
 
 By stating my position thus early in the book, 
 I am absolved from the necessity of adding quali- 
 fying phrases when alluding to the communicator. 
 I may be permitted to write exactly what I think 
 and speak of him as ‘ my father,’ especially when, 
 after some of the earlier chapters, good cause 
 has been shown for my logical right so to do. 
 Yet, in deference to the more fastidious readers, I 
 shall restrain myself to some extent and retain 
 the term ‘communicator’ in many places where 
 ‘father’ would be more in consonance with my 
 habits of thought. 
 
 10 
 
 —— Ss 
 
 ry 
 
Aim and Method 
 
 Needless to say, reading and discussion have 
 frequently brought me into touch with persons 
 who assert that proof of any message having 
 originated in the spirit world is, together with 
 evidence for the identity of a supposed communi- 
 cator, absolutely unattainable. Should any holding 
 that opinion deign to read my book, I ask them to 
 consider the possibility of their having been mis- 
 taken, and would express the hope that they may 
 find it within their power to trace the steps of the 
 following argument with an open mind, honestly 
 weighing the evidence adduced and considering 
 whither it points. 
 
 : Small 
 Window / Fireplace \ Window 
 
 
 
 
 
 Window 
 0 
 c 3 
 Seated at Table (a = 
 M®S Leonard ond Nofemakin - 
 Seated wifh i se 
 Back fo Fire 
 Window 
 
 It 
 
CHAP CE Rae 
 BOOK TESTS DESCRIBED 
 
 ‘ During the last few years a special type of phenomenon 
 has developed with Mrs. Leonard, known under the 
 name of “ book tests,” the nature of which I will 
 briefly indicate. An attempt is first made to identify 
 a particular bookcase in the sitter’s house by mentioning 
 its position in regard to other features of the room in 
 which it stands—the door, for instance, or the windows ; 
 sometimes other articles of furniture are described in 
 some detail. In successful cases sitters are able to 
 assert that they know of one bookcase only to which 
 the description would apply. A shelf is next indicated 
 —for instance, the second from the top—and a par- 
 ticular book in the shelf, say, the fourth from the left. 
 The number of a page in the book is then given and, 
 usually, some indication as to the part of the page, 
 “near the top,” “ about half-way down,” and so 
 forth. The field having been thus narrowed down, 
 some statement follows as to what the sitter may expect 
 to find in the passage indicated.’ 
 
 Regarding these book tests Sir Oliver Lodge 
 says, ‘ The evident object is to send messages in such 
 form that they shall be unintelligible, not only to the 
 
 1Mrs. W. H. Salter, Hon. Editor to The Society for Psychical 
 Research. See article in The Psychic Research Quarterly for January, 
 Ig21, entitled, ‘ Two Noteworthy Book Tests.’ 
 
 IZ 
 
 I a ce art 
 
Book Tests Described 
 
 medium of communication and to the person receiving 
 them, but to everybody, until the clue is followed up 
 and the message decoded, when the meaning ought to 
 be unmistakable. If tests of this kind are successfully 
 accomplished, tt is plain that no simple kind of mina- 
 reading can be appealed to or regarded as a rational 
 explanation.’ » 
 
 Since the following pages contain numerous 
 references to volumes in my study, it may be well 
 at the outset to state that Mrs. Leonard has never 
 entered our house, nor has she been afforded any 
 opportunity whatsoever for ascertaining information 
 about the contents of our book-shelves. 
 
 My introduction to book tests was on June 
 14th, 1917, when I was informed that a band of 
 those on the other side had planned a long series 
 of them, that they were designed for a definite 
 purpose, and that they would be given to others 
 also. I was asked to keep careful notes of mine, 
 and this I have done. Examples in this book are 
 transcribed from those notes and the subsequent 
 verifications. The communicator purported to 
 be my father. One of the preliminary statements 
 is worthy of consideration in view of characteristics 
 marking the earlier tests. He said, ‘I “ sensed ”’ 
 the appropriate spirit of the passage rather than the 
 letters composing it.’ But after eighteen months 
 he appeared to acquire a power of occasionally 
 seeing the words by some sort of clairvoyance. 
 The gradual transition from ‘sensing’ to ‘ clair- 
 
 1See Prefatory Note by Sir Oliver Lodge to Lady Glenconner’s 
 book, The Earthen Vessel. Publisher, John Lane. 
 
 13 
 
Book Tests Described 
 
 voyance, with its successful culmination in 
 ‘newspaper tests’ giving exact names, is an 
 interesting study. 
 
 It has been objected that it is physically im- 
 possible to obtain correct information from the 
 pages of a closed book. Possibly so. But what 
 if we are here dealing with powers no longer 
 limited by physical conditions? The powers of 
 a freed spirit may far transcend ours. We can 
 but study the facts brought before our notice, 
 endeavouring to deduce the laws governing their 
 origin. 
 
 How is it that the exact page can be correctly 
 given? I was informed that this was one of the 
 greatest difficulties, as the ‘sensing’ method did 
 not enable a spirit operator to decipher the number 
 printed on the page, and so calculation was neces- 
 sary. he impression left on my mind by attempted 
 explanations of the method used was that, when a 
 page had been fixed upon as containing a thought 
 suitable for the test, the operator counted the pages 
 between that and the commencement, and that this 
 counting was done by a process similar to that 
 employed by us when we rapidly ‘skim’ a book. 
 The operator usually starts where the flow of 
 thought commences, and when it ceases and 
 recommences higher up he concludes that he has 
 passed from the bottom of one page to the top of 
 another. In this way, they say, it is found practicable 
 to compute the number of pages between the 
 commencement and the passage fixed upon for 
 the test. When verifying one usually counts from 
 
 14 
 
Book Tests Described 
 
 the commencement of the printed matter, dis- 
 regarding fly-leaves and the printer’s numbering. 
 
 The following examples illustrate the classes, 
 personal and general, into which book tests may 
 be divided. The first connects the test-passage 
 with a happening in our home, the others are 
 more general. 
 
 I 
 
 We had discussed the possibility of audible 
 sound being produced by my communicator to 
 attract our attention at home. He tried, but rarely 
 succeeded in making knocks which might not 
 be attributed to ordinary creakings in floor or 
 furniture. One night, however, I concluded that 
 a special effort had been made and that the result 
 was a definite success; for thrice I heard a loud 
 double knock. I noted the incident and added 
 it to a list of such items kept for reference. Three 
 days later, at an interview with Mrs. Leonard, Feda 
 greeted me with the assertion that she had succeeded 
 in coming to our house and giving taps there. 
 Owing to the fact that she could not hear her own 
 raps, she had to judge whether they were loud or 
 otherwise, but considered that she had given both 
 loud and soft, a loud rap being followed by slight 
 taps intended to spell out her name by the usual 
 alphabetical code. I told her that while clearly 
 hearing the loud raps, I had not heard the 
 softer ones. 
 
 15 
 
Book Tests Described 
 
 A few minutes later the following book test 
 was given :— 
 
 ‘He thinks you will be amused by the 
 following test. It is in a book behind your 
 study door, the second shelf from the ground, 
 and fifth book from the left end. Near the 
 top of page 17 you will see words which serve 
 to indicate what Feda was attempting to do 
 when knocking in your room. Now that you are 
 aware that it was Feda’s attempt you will 
 see the unmistakable bearing of these words 
 upon it.’ 
 
 On returning home I found this book to be a 
 volume of Shakespeare which commences with 
 King Henry VI., and the third line from the top of 
 the indicated page was number 69 of Scene 3 in 
 Act I. It reads, ‘I will not answer thee with 
 words, but blows.’ 
 
 The following are examples of the more general 
 type of book tests which have ranged variously 
 over description, humour, topics of the day, 
 
 philosophy, and religion. 
 
 II 
 
 “In your study close to the door, the lowest 
 shelf, take the sixth book from the left, and 
 page 149; three-quarters down is a ‘word 
 conveying the meaning of falling back or 
 stumbling.’ 
 
 Rather more than half-way down this page was 
 16 
 
 Se ee ee ee 
 
 a, ae 
 
Book Tests Described 
 
 the following sentence: “, . . to whom a crucified 
 Messiah was an insuperable stumbling-block.’ 
 
 Directions for finding the required book and page 
 will be usually omitted from this point onward, tt 
 being understood that these were in every instance 
 given with exact precision. 
 
 II] 
 
 “Very low on the page he seemed to get 
 something about great noise, not a sharp, 
 thin sound, but a heavy one, more of a roaring 
 noise.’ 
 
 Close to the bottom of this page was the 
 sentence: ‘I chanced to come that time along 
 the coast and heard the guns for two or three 
 days and nights successively.’ 
 
 IV 
 
 The exact position of the book having been 
 described, I was asked to turn to a given page 
 and there see stated, hal/f-way down, an argument 
 which I was likely to hear frequently from the lips 
 of incredulous critics of spirit communications; 
 and, also, immediately following that, a few words 
 which might be very properly quoted as an answer 
 to such adverse criticism. ‘ You would not,’ said 
 he, ‘employ those words verbatim, yet should 
 you do so they would be a correct reply.’ 
 
 17 
 
Book Tests Described 
 The dialogue found half-way down the page 
 
 designated ran as follows:— 
 Says No. 1—‘ I had an idea that I should meet 
 you here. The thought came to me.’ 
 No. 2 replies—‘ I expect that was transmission 
 of thought.’ 
 No. 1 answers— Yes, I know.’ | 
 How appropriate is this. Critics of spirit 
 communications say, ‘It is all telepathy, merely 
 an instance of transmission of thought.’ And our 
 reply is, ‘ Certainly that seems to be the method 
 employed. But by whom? You say from earthly 
 minds, we say it is from spirit friends. But it is 
 obviously transmission of thought in either case.’ 
 
 18 
 
 
 
CHAPTER III 
 BOOK TESTS WITH PERSONAL REFERENCES 
 
 TueE following exemplify the more personal type 
 of book tests, a large class in which. the passage 
 to be found is made to connect in some way with 
 my work, our home life, or, occasionally, with the 
 communicator. ‘These references to himself are 
 of special interest as contributions toward the 
 evidence of his identity. 
 
 The question of personal identity is crucial, and 
 will be dealt with more fully in chapters devoted 
 to newspaper tests. The book tests were given, so 
 it was claimed, not so much for proof of identity as 
 illustrating the ability of a spirit to obtain information 
 unknown to the sitter or the medium, and yet capable 
 of easy verification. 
 
 I shall refrain from giving many examples of 
 personal book tests, because they cannot have for 
 others anything of the intense interest and evidential 
 value which they had when received by me. 
 
 I 
 
 Two lady visitors had joined us one evening at 
 an experimental table sitting, and among the 
 messages spelled out by means of tiltings by the 
 table was one purporting to be given by Feda. 
 
 19 
 
Book Tests with Personal References 
 
 Both ladies were strongly mediumistic, and the 
 table moved with much vigour. My theory in 
 accounting for such movements was that, from the 
 sitters, there emanated a semi-material force or sub- 
 stance which was utilised by the communicating intelli- 
 gences to impart motion to the table, causing it to tilt 
 while we spelled out the alphabet, and stopping 
 it at the letter they required. I further supposed 
 that, at the close of such sittings, this semi-material 
 force was reabsorbed into the bodies from whence tt 
 had been drawn. Five days later, during a sitting 
 with Mrs. Leonard, came the following :— 
 
 ‘In your study, behind the door, third shelf 
 up, and third book from the right, look at 
 the top part of page 62. You will there find 
 a passage which will be quite striking if you 
 take it as referring to your table sitting with 
 two ladies recently, take it very literally and 
 it will make a clear allusion.’ 
 
 This is the passage commencing four lines from 
 the top of that page: ‘ The divine hero, however, 
 does not consent to suffer the substance which has 
 emanated from him, and which ts part of himself, to 
 perish. He seeks to disengage it by degrees, and 
 to reabsorb it in himself.’ 1 have italicised the more 
 specially relevant words. 
 
 II 
 
 Among the earlier book tests received in 1917 
 the following was of particular interest as evidencing 
 acquaintance with four facts which Mrs. Leonard 
 
 20 
 
Book Tests with Personal References 
 
 was not at all likely to know, viz.: my visit to a 
 psychometrist three years before, the deafness of 
 a near relation of my wife’s, the fact that we were 
 thinking of leaving our house, and the name of 
 my wife’s sister. The test commenced with a 
 very accurate description of a little room where 
 we had a hanging book-shelf. Not only was the 
 whereabouts of the book required given very 
 precisely, but I was asked to notice that on the 
 back of the adjoining volume there was a word 
 looking like ‘ A-sh-ill-ee.’ In saying this name 
 Feda warned me that she was giving the sound, 
 but not its correct spelling. I discovered on 
 returning home that the book standing next was 
 by Mrs. Ashley Carus-Wilson. A-sh-ill-ee is 
 phonetically quite good for Ashley. 
 
 Next I was told to turn to page 87 and less than 
 half-way down to ‘ see something about “endeavour”’ 
 again, but under different conditions and aspects 
 from the last time.’ The previous test had been 
 about spiritual endeavour, and this reference proved 
 to be part of a story in which a lady tried in vain 
 to make a very deaf woman understand her wishes, 
 and continued to try unsuccessfully. 
 
 Feda continued :— 
 
 ‘ There is a word commencing with “ M ” 
 which has an important place in it and a 
 bearing on the message, but this point is an 
 aside and unimportant.’ 
 
 The verb, ‘to make,’ is used several times— 
 ‘ make her understand.’ 
 2I 
 
Book Tests with Personal References 
 
 The test proceeded :— 
 
 ‘Do not take these tests too personally; 
 it might not be complimentary. But your 
 father says that he might make use of this 
 one if writing to you in a fatherly way ; for 
 it fits the conditions of your life three years 
 back, also it will bring in something which 
 connects with your wife.’ 
 
 Now three years previously I had my first sitting 
 with a psychometrist.!. I had offered my ring, and 
 from it had been ‘sensed’ curious information 
 which interested and puzzled me. ‘The psycho- 
 metrist then proceeded to give what purported to 
 be messages from the spirit world, but which I 
 did not find easy to understand, nor was there any 
 clue as to the person from whom they were supposed 
 to emanate. Being more interested in the psycho- 
 metry, I gave little attention to the messages. In 
 the light of this test and other more recently 
 acquired knowledge, I think that my father had 
 endeavoured on that occasion (the first opportunity 
 I had given him since his passing) to attract atten- 
 tion to his willingness to communicate with me, 
 but had failed to get his message intelligibly trans- 
 mitted. It was true, if I am correct in this supposi- 
 tion, that three years ago he ‘could not make 
 me hear’ what he wished to say. 
 
 But how did this incident about endeavour with 
 a deaf person make connection with my wife? 
 This was easy to understand; one of her near 
 
 1See note on psychometry, Chapter XIX: 
 22 
 
Book Tests with Personal References 
 
 relations is deaf and some effort is necessary if he 
 is to be made aware of what one is saying. At my 
 next interview with Mrs. Leonard I asked if the 
 above was what my communicator intended to 
 imply by his book test? Feda replied, ‘ Yes,’ 
 and then to my surprise added, ‘ but there is some- 
 thing more which you have not noticed; it brings 
 in some. one else, and there is a clue to it lower 
 down the page.’ Searching the page again with 
 this in mind, I found the clue in the words, ‘ It was 
 a nice place, and he never wished to leave it,’ and 
 on turning the leaf I found that the next chapter 
 had for heading, ‘ Lilian gives her advice.’ This 
 made things interesting; we had been thinking 
 of leaving our house, and Lilian is the name of my 
 wife’s sister, who had just previously arranged to 
 accompany us in viewing a locality where we hoped 
 to find another house, and to give us the benefit 
 of her advice in its selection. 
 
 When subsequently I congratulated my com- 
 municator upon his intimate knowledge of our 
 affairs, his comment was to the effect that they 
 notice much more about their friends on earth 
 than they used to do when living here. 
 
 III 
 
 From the same book as the above, a book which 
 I had never read or even glanced at, was given a 
 test which has an interesting bearing upon she 
 identity of the communicator. Feda said:— 
 23 
 
Book Tests with Personal References 
 
 ‘One of the opening scenes almost describes 
 a place where you and he have lived together; 
 it is near the start of a chapter and near the 
 beginning of the book.’ 
 
 On page seven was described the house of a 
 doctor facing a village green: ‘The little green 
 with its intersecting paths and seats was so quaintly 
 peaceful; and across it on the opposite side were a 
 few old houses, and the red-brick church and 
 schools and the vicarage... . It was rather an 
 old-world corner.’ 
 
 My father and I had lived together in but one 
 place boasting a green, and this was Toddington 
 in Bedfordshire. ‘There lived a doctor in an old- 
 looking house facing the green. There were paths 
 round and across this green. It was quaintly 
 peaceful, as we often remarked. Here and there 
 around it were ancient houses. The church was 
 at one corner (although not of red bricks), while 
 school and vicarage were a little way beyond the 
 green (though not facing it). Quite an ‘ old-world 
 corner,’ and this description is the more remark- 
 able as not a trace of it would apply to any other 
 of the many places in which my father and I had 
 lived together. 
 
 At the sitting next following there was a further 
 reference to this place, but taken from another 
 book :— 
 
 ‘About a third down the page there is a 
 description, contained in several lines, say four 
 to six for the gist of it, of a place where you 
 
 24 
 
Book Tests with Personal References 
 
 and he were together. In that place your 
 activities were merged into one, in a way that 
 was not always possible when he was on earth; 
 this refers to one of the times when this was 
 possible. You will recognise it by certain 
 circumstances attendant on the: time he 
 speaks of, these are literally referred to 
 here.’ 
 
 The following items are extracted from the 
 designated page, occurring more or less a third the 
 way down as stated. “One walked as it were a 
 little above the country ... wagons crawling 
 over the country roads; one could hear their axles 
 complaining a mile away, coming nearer . . . and 
 the people, little clumps . . . turning aside to go 
 to their own villages.’ 
 
 All this is perfectly accurate of Toddington as 
 we knew it in 1900-1. My father lived there with 
 me for six months and volunteered to take a con- 
 siderable share of my work, preaching in the villages, 
 attending meetings and helping in visiting. Only 
 once before had such a sharing of our work been 
 possible, but at Toddington it was much more 
 complete and for a longer period. The description 
 in the above extracts is very characteristic of the 
 neighbourhood. Many of our walks were on high 
 ground with far-reaching views; in the still air of. 
 the unfrequented locality carts could be heard, 
 especially towards evening, grinding along the 
 roads a mile or more away; there were one or two 
 villages quite near and a certain amount of coming 
 and going among the villagers. 
 
 E.H.S. 25 D 
 
Book Tests with Personal References 
 
 These two descriptions, so perfectly applicable to a 
 place where my father and I had worked together, 
 could only have been selected by one acquainted with our 
 location and work in those six months of 1900-1; for 
 at no other period of my life would there have been 
 any relevancy thereto. 
 
 The former book containing the reference to the 
 village green was ohne which I had never read; the 
 latter book I had read fifteen years previously, 
 but retained no conscious recollection of the descrip- 
 tion which proved to fit the Toddington neighbour- 
 hood. It is not a case of collusion; for no one living 
 in our house had ever been to Toddington or knew 
 about its Green, while no one outside our house 
 would be likely to know the position of these books 
 upon our shelves, even had they divined the relevancy 
 to Toddington of the two descriptions. It cannot 
 be an instance of telepathy from my subconscious 
 mind, since I had not read the book containing the 
 description of the Green. Nor does it look like 
 coincidence; for I have found no similar descrip- 
 tions elsewhere, although such may very well exist; 
 and the directions given for finding these were so 
 definite as to warrant some other explanation. 
 
 Grant that my father was communicating, and 
 that he recollected the place and the circumstances 
 of his work there, then all is explained save the 
 method by which the selected passages are observed 
 between the covers of closed books. 
 
 In support of the opinion that it was actually 
 my father himself who originated this test based 
 upon memories which we held in common, I here 
 
 20 
 
 
 
Book Tests with Personal References 
 
 introduce a further reference to Toddington, given 
 more than three years after the above. It was 
 spoken by way of parenthesis in the midst of tests 
 to be verified by reference to the Times of the 
 following day. The name ‘ Fowler’ was suddenly 
 introduced, and I was asked whether I remembered 
 a man of that name whom my father had also 
 known?’ I did, but was careful to give away 
 no information beyond this mere assent, and 
 the communication through Feda continued as 
 follows :— | 
 
 ‘Do you remember a place ‘‘ D ” connected 
 with him? Also a place ‘“‘M” in which he 
 was interested in another way, something 
 smaller like a street, house, or an address?’ 
 
 Feda hurried on without waiting or expecting a 
 reply; she has a habit of expressing things interro- 
 gatively when not quite clear as to the communi- 
 cator’s exact meaning, but never insists on replies. 
 
 ‘Mr. Fowler was a very useful man; your 
 father found him useful and so did most of 
 the people associated with him. He lived 
 near a green place, a green square. Your 
 father knew that green very well. Do you 
 also remember a funny little building, which 
 was not a church, nor a house, but with which 
 Mr. Fowler was connected? It seems to Feda 
 that this building is not high, and not quite 
 by itself, but as if built at the side of another 
 one. Mr, Fowler was rather particularly 
 linked with the lesser building.’ 
 
 27 
 
Book Tests with Personal References 
 
 All this is perfectly intelligible, as may be shown 
 by setting it out in sections with explanations 
 
 appended. 
 
 1. ‘Do you remember a place “ D”’ con- 
 nected with him ?’ 
 
 In addition to his place of business at Toddington 
 Mr. Fowler had a branch establishment in the 
 neighbouring town of Dunstable. 
 
 2. ‘Also a place “‘M” in which he was 
 interested in another way, something smaller 
 like a street, house, or an address ?’ 
 
 Being Circuit Steward at the time, Mr. Fowler 
 was responsible for the upkeep of the Manse in 
 which I lived. ‘M’ may very well stand for 
 Manse; note the increasing accuracy of approach, 
 ‘something smaller (than a town)—street—house 
 —address.’ A sufficient postal address would have 
 been—The Manse, Toddington, Beds. 
 
 Mr. Fowler’s interest in the Manse was certainly 
 ‘in another way’ from his interest in Dunstable, 
 where his business lay. 
 
 3. ‘Mr. Fowler was a very useful man; your 
 father found him useful and so did most of 
 the people associated with him.’ 
 
 He was the most prominent official in connection 
 with our Wesleyan Church while my father and 
 I were working together at Toddington in the 
 
 28 
 
 
 
Book Tests with Personal References 
 
 winter of 1900. He rendered much service in 
 various departments of Church work, was the one 
 who welcomed us on arrival, and proved himself a 
 good friend during the time of our residence. 
 
 4. ‘He lived near a green place, a green 
 square. Your father knew that green very 
 well.’ 
 
 This agrees with the green to which reference 
 has been made in the foregoing test. Mr. Fowler 
 lived scarcely a stone’s throw from this green, which 
 occupies the centre of the place, and is more or 
 less square in shape. 
 
 s. “Do you also remember a funny little 
 building, which was not a church, nor a house, 
 but with which Mr. Fowler was connected f 
 It seems to Feda that this building is not 
 high, and not quite by itself, but as if built 
 at the side of another one. Mr. Fowler was 
 rather particularly linked with the lesser 
 building.’ 
 
 This is perfectly accurate as applied to the class- 
 room which projected at right angles from the 
 rear of our Wesleyan Church. Mr. Fowler regularly 
 officiated at meetings held therein in connection 
 with the round of Church activities. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES OF BOOK TESTS 
 
 Upon first acquaintance with book tests certain 
 questions relating to the likelihood of coincidence, 
 or the possibility of collusion, spring almost inevi- 
 tably to the mind. These are noticed in the next 
 and following chapters, and it may be that some 
 readers will prefer to pass immediately to those 
 sections, feeling no inclination for further examples 
 until assured that book tests represent an unques- 
 tionably psychic phenomenon. 
 
 Yet in dealing with so considerable a collection 
 of disconnected items, it will be advantageous to 
 display in due order the material upon which final 
 conclusions must be based, more especially as some 
 of the book messages given in this chapter will be 
 referred to in our progressive argument. 
 
 In form, a book test may be either a single 
 statement, or one compounded of two or more items 
 from the same book. 
 
 The subject-matter may be either general or 
 personal; in the latter case it is connected in some 
 way with the life or surroundings of the person to 
 whom it is given, or to the alleged communicator. 
 
 Most interesting of all are those personal tests 
 which contain internal evidence of the identity 
 of the communicator; of such the Toddington 
 
 30 
 
 nn eS ane en eg Oe ee fe Re 
 
 
 
Further Examples of Book Tests 
 
 incident recorded in the previous chapter is an 
 example. 
 
 An exact description of the position of the book 
 and page was first given, and then the message 
 continued :— 
 
 ‘Near the top, say one-quarter down, you 
 will see reference to a religious change, and 
 almost underneath it are words expressing 
 what your father would have felt about such 
 a change.’ 
 
 The book was, Dr. McLaren of Manchester, 
 and one-quarter down this indicated page are 
 lines from an early letter by Dr. McLaren, 
 telling of his conversion. ‘The words lower down, 
 which are said to express what my father would 
 have felt about such a change are, ‘ This 
 letter . . . supplies the keynote to his whole 
 life.’ ‘They are absolutely the expression of my 
 father’s unvarying pronouncement upon the in- 
 fluence of conversion; to him it was indeed the 
 keynote to which the whole life harmonised. 
 
 This test continued :— 
 
 “On the same page, lower down, is reference 
 to a portrait, and something about it will 
 remind you of one in your possession. ‘This 
 has to do, not with a description in words, 
 
 31 
 
Further Examples of Book Tests 
 
 but refers to an actual portrait, and you have 
 > 
 
 one. 
 
 The letter quoted on this page ends with the 
 signature 4. McLaren, and it may be said that 
 this refers to a portrait; inasmuch as the first page 
 has a reproduction of a painting of McLaren, and 
 the book contains several photographs of him. 
 
 The message may have been rendered less clear — 
 by transmission through an interpreter who did 
 not quite grasp what was in the mind of the 
 communicator. 
 
 II 
 
 The exact whereabouts of a book (proving to be 
 The New Theology, by the Rev. R. J. Campbell) 
 having been described, there were given several 
 accurate descriptions of it, such as, ‘The book 
 refers to old time, hundreds of years ago.’ It is 
 based upon New Testament writings and The 
 Gospel Story. ‘Page 122 seems to be heavy and 
 serious and upon an abstruse subject.’ This chapter 
 discusses various theories of the Atonement. ‘ The 
 word Semitic is within a few pages of 122, and 
 also mention of ancient races.’ On page 129 
 appear ‘ Greek,’ ‘ Israel,’ ‘ Babylonians,’ ‘ Assyrians,’ 
 and ‘ Egypt,’ while the title of the chapter in which 
 this page falls is, ‘ Semitic Ideas of Atonement.’ 
 
 Having once or twice said ‘ Semitics,’ Feda 
 remarked, ‘ Your father is rubbing his head at 
 the mention of the Semitics. Feda thinks perhaps 
 
 32 
 
 
 
 
 
Further Examples of Book Tests 
 
 he does not like them much.’ This is rather 
 amusing, aS one may suppose the communicator 
 was vainly endeavouring to check Feda’s use of 
 the word ‘Semitics,’ and persuade her to substitute 
 “Semites.’ He tells me that he cannot always 
 notice when Feda makes a mistake, and so it goes 
 uncorrected, while at other times he suffers a mistake 
 to pass rather than create a confusion in her mind 
 which would spoil the whole message. It is par- 
 ticularly difficult to transmit to her a proper name 
 in which she derives little assistance from the 
 context. 
 
 I add yet one more of the many references given 
 from this book. It is not, perhaps, strongly eviden- 
 tial, but suggestive of the way in which certain 
 words present to the communicator feedings rather 
 than exact ideas. 
 
 'On page.121, there is a reference to 
 something bitter or caustic; he gets the spirit 
 of the word rather than the letters.’ 
 
 And there followed an effort to get the word 
 * guillotine,’ but Feda could do no better than 
 ‘Calethene.’ The reference to something caustic 
 proved to be the following : ‘ Napoleon was one 
 day driving through the streets of Paris amid 
 cheering crowds. One of his suite remarked to 
 him that it must be gratifying to see how his 
 subjects loved him. “ Bah!” said the Emperor. 
 “The same rabble would cheer me just as 
 madly if I were going to the guillotine.” ’ 
 
 33 
 
Further Examples of Book Tests 
 II 
 
 ‘In the book-case nearest the door in your 
 study, third shelf up, and sixth book from 
 left. Page 43 is full of matter that appeals 
 to your father, but he gets the idea from it of 
 discussion and controversy. There is a feeling 
 of Biblical subjects with this book, yet treated 
 of and viewed in a cool, cold way. Many 
 parts of it gave him the idea of a summing up, 
 and a good deal to do with Biblical subjects.’ 
 
 All these books had been changed about since 
 the previous sitting. ‘This was a volume of Gibbon’s 
 Roman Empire, and the page was concerned with 
 seventh century disputes about the person of 
 Christ—subject-matter which would certainly have 
 appealed to my father. Also, it is here treated wholly 
 as a description of the controversies of the Church 
 and the attitudes of contending sects. It is given 
 in Gibbon’s characteristically ‘cool, cold way,’ 
 and is inevitably a continual ‘summing up’ of 
 the views of the disputants. 
 
 Added to the above description was the 
 following :— 
 
 ‘ Near the top of this page is a reference to 
 the young man who came last time to speak 
 
 to you here. You will see the direct clue, 
 
 something very much connected with him.’ 
 
 It should be explained that at the previous 
 sitting there had been some evidential messages 
 34 
 
 at 
 He 
 i: 
 
 ur 
 
 %, 
 
 ; 
 
 
 
Further Examples of Book Tests 
 
 from a friend whose favourite subject was Greek. 
 Two years previously, on the occasion of my first 
 visit to Mr. Vout-Peters for a demonstration of 
 clairvoyance, this gentleman had been accurately 
 described and termed, ‘your Greek friend.’ In 
 the present sitting, when the giving of book tests 
 was finished, he spoke again through Feda, and, 
 among other things, reminded me of his devotion 
 to Greek studies. With this in mind I anticipated 
 that on this page there might be found some 
 reference to his favourite subject. There was. 
 The word ‘ Greek’ appeared in the sixth line in 
 the phrase, “The Greek Clergy.’ 
 
 I had not read this particular volume. It will 
 be noticed that every point given is correct, and 
 there are six in all, viz.: matter interesting to my 
 father; discussion and controversy; Biblical sub- 
 jects; treatment in ‘cool, cold way’; summing 
 up; reference to Greek near top of page. 
 
 IV 
 
 After indicating a certain book-shelf in my study 
 by reference to the pictures near it, all most 
 accurately described, Feda said:— 
 
 ‘Count from left to right, the third book, 
 and page 87. On this page, and on page 
 132 also, is something interesting to you and 
 to your father. Page 87 has to do with 
 “hearing,” not ordinary hearing with the ear, 
 but as from the spirit world. The words 
 
 oD 
 
Further Examples of Book Tests 
 
 refer to literal hearing; take them as a message 
 from him about your hearing him now. They 
 suggest communication.’ 
 
 The book was, The Early Story of Israel, by 
 E. L. Thomas, and page 87 contained the legend, 
 ‘As they stripped Aaron, a silvery veil of cloud 
 sank over him like a pall and covered him. Aaron 
 seemed to be asleep. Then Moses said, “ My 
 brother, what dost thou feel?”’ “I feel nothing 
 but the cloud that envelops me,’’ answered he. 
 After a little pause Moses said again, “* My brother, 
 what dost thou feel?” He answered feebly, “‘ The 
 cloud surrounds me and bereaves me of all joy.” 
 And the soul of Aaron was parted from his body. 
 As it went up, Moses cried once more, “ Alas, my 
 brother, what dost thou feel?’’ And the soul 
 replied, ‘“‘ I feel such joy that I would it had come 
 to me sooner.” ’ 
 
 Thus both the themes mentioned, literal hearing 
 and communication by the spirit, are found to be 
 present. 
 
 Feda continued :— 
 
 ‘ Page 132 1s a kind of continuation of the 
 above message. A reference to your medium- 
 
 ship, but slightly different from the “ hearing.””’ 
 
 It was a description of Gideon, when near the 
 enemy camp, overhearing the telling of a signifi- 
 cant dream. ‘Thus in this reference we have com- 
 munication by dream, and in the previous one 
 communication by voice. Both methods were of 
 
 30 
 
 
 
Further Examples of Book Tests 
 
 interest to my father and to me; for some months 
 he had been successful in communicating with me 
 in words through different mediums, and only 
 three nights previously I had three dreams, after 
 each of which I awoke conscious of something 
 unusual about them and the impression accom- 
 panying them. These dreams were alluded to and 
 explained at the conclusion of this book message. 
 Thus I had experienced communication by word 
 and by dream, and this book test clearly refers to 
 both methods. 
 The message continued :— 
 
 ‘This book is not like the last one, not so 
 dry. Although not tremendously interesting 
 it is more generally so, more popular.’ 
 
 ‘The letter ‘‘S” is on the title-page.’ 
 
 ‘A picture is near the beginning, not 
 coloured, but black and white.’ 
 
 “Page 3 refers to something which you 
 once studied and were interested in, but 
 afterwards your opinions about it underwent 
 a change.’ 
 
 All these descriptions proved to be accurate. 
 Here were six correct items from one book. 
 
 V 
 
 For some time I had been practising what is 
 known as ‘ Inspirational Writing,’ and my father 
 claimed that he was often able to ‘ lift me above 
 
 37 
 
Further Examples of Book Tests 
 
 myself’ and assist me to some extent, both during 
 such writing and when speaking in public. After 
 
 the usual explicit directions for finding the book, 
 Feda said:— | 
 
 “On page 14, and half-way down, there is 
 something you can take as a reference to the 
 fact of his trying to speak through you. Note 
 especially that it is to the fact of his trying, 
 because on page 66, near the top, is another > 
 reference which you can take as allusion, 
 not this time to the fact, but to she effect he 
 wishes to accomplish or lead towards by 
 speaking through you.’ 
 
 Half-way down the page first given were the 
 words, ‘ No uninspired writer,’ and this seemed to 
 sufficiently harmonise with the claim that my 
 writing and speech had been influenced by his 
 thought. One-third down the other designated 
 page were the words, ‘ God’s will is always done.’ 
 To assist in this result would unquestionably be my 
 father’s aim in all his work with me, whether in 
 speech or writing. | 
 
 VI 4 
 
 A few months after the commencement of book 
 tests one was prefaced by the remark, ‘“ These 
 tests will be subtle, and the more they are looked 
 at the more will they yield.’ The book indicated 
 by Feda on this occasion proved to be Kipling’s 
 
 38 
 
 
 
Further Examples of Book Tests 
 
 Kim, and the page to which the directions alluded 
 commenced a new chapter with the following 
 lines :-— 
 
 ‘Largesse! Largesse, O Fortune! 
 Give or hold at your will. 
 If I’ve no care for Fortune, 
 Fortune must follow me still!’ 
 
 To this the following assertions seemed pecu- 
 liarly applicable:— 
 
 ‘Rather near the top are important words. 
 They refer to something relating to your life 
 about two years before your first coming 
 here to talk with him through Feda. It 
 applies strongly to that period.’ 
 
 My first visit to Mrs. Leonard was on February 
 3rd, 1917, and two years previous to that date 
 would be February, 1915. We certainly received 
 ‘largesse’ in the financial sense owing to the 
 passing of a relation in that month, and, curiously 
 (whether intended as part of the test or not), the 
 latter two lines exactly hit off subsequent happenings. 
 
 Feda continued :— 
 
 ‘There is a further test very close; either 
 on the same page or on the next one you will 
 see what may be termed one of your names.’ 
 
 Upon the page preceding was a description of 
 the meeting after absence of an old man and his 
 son,— 
 
 39 
 
Further Examples of Book Tests 
 
 ‘The old man’s face lit with pride. ‘‘ My child,” 
 said he briefly. .. . 
 They embraced each other, as do father and son 
 in the East.’ 
 
 From the lips of my communicator, ‘ My child,’ 
 is, of course, ‘one of my names.’ 
 
 * He wants you to look farther on, page 99, 
 to find a message rather more than half-way 
 down the page, which refers more to himself 
 and will have a bearing upon his earth life, 
 especially the latter part. It is a direct refer- 
 ence to something which you will recognise as 
 pertaining to him. He sensed it by accident 
 while looking for the other; he sensed your 
 name there.’ 
 
 The bottom paragraph of this page reads: ‘“‘ A 
 blessing on thee.’’ The lama inclined his solemn 
 head. “I have known many men in my so long 
 life, and disciples not a few. But to none among 
 men ... has my heart gone out as it has to thee.” ’ 
 
 I was an only son. 
 
 VII 
 
 ‘The set of books near the door, right- 
 hand corner, bottom shelf, first book, page 2, 
 and about the middle, there find something 
 he wishes you to take as a personal message 
 from him to you.’ 
 
 40 
 
 
 
Further Examples of Book Tests 
 
 In the exact middle of this page was a line 
 beginning, ‘ Happy, happy, happy,’ and this agrees 
 with what my father has frequently described about 
 his present state and surroundings. The whole 
 paragraph reads, “ At the close of the year 1767 
 the Earl of Buchan died triumphing in the faith 
 of Christ. He had been in the habit of hearing 
 Whitfield, the Wesleys, and others, at Bath, and 
 had felt their ministry a blessing. His last words 
 were, “ Happy, happy, happy!” ’ The relevancy 
 of this is unmistakable. 
 
 E HLS. 4I E 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 HOW FAR MAY CHANCE COINCIDENCE ACCOUNT FOR 
 THE FACTS ? 
 
 In reconsidering book messages after the long 
 interval which has elapsed since they were first 
 verified, I am conscious of the lessened force with 
 which they must inevitably strike the reader who 
 knows at the outset that some sort of success is 
 about to be recorded. 
 
 My attitude of mind when receiving these earlier 
 tests, and returning home to search them out, was 
 far otherwise. It seemed so impossible that they 
 should come out right, so incredible that one should 
 have heard from the lips of a comparative stranger, 
 who had never been inside one’s house, minute 
 details about books which one could only verify 
 by returning home to search. And even. when 
 search had revealed the relevant passage, not only 
 upon the right page, but upon the designated part 
 of that page, it seemed at first too remarkable to 
 be more than a coincidence. 
 
 I recollect how, after verifying the first book 
 message received, I tried to find something equally 
 appropriate in the dozen books standing to right 
 and left. But their corresponding pages showed 
 nothing in any way relevant. The test had been 
 correct for the book indicated and for that one only. 
 
 42 
 
 
 
How far may Coincidence account for the Facts ? 
 
 Time after time, when returning home to search 
 for book messages newly given, it seemed as if past 
 successes must be an unaccountable phenomenon 
 which could not continue. Each time the success 
 was repeated the impression made on my mind 
 deepened. Notes were kept of the failures as 
 carefully as of the successes; both were counted 
 and weighed, and a judgment slowly formed upon 
 consideration of all the facts. ‘This and subsequent 
 chapters will record the method by which alterna- 
 tive explanations were gradually eliminated until 
 the spirit hypothesis alone remained. 
 
 It is, of course, impossible to pass on to others 
 the full force of a cumulative impression. Some 
 may airily assume that I was easily satisfied and 
 over willing to be convinced. The experiments, 
 of which the record may easily be read in two 
 hours, were in progress for as many years, during 
 which time each month added to my experience 
 and strengthened my conviction. The most that 
 personal investigators can do is to record their 
 final conclusions, and give some indication of the 
 successive steps by which these have been attained. 
 In seeking an explanation of book tests we shall 
 do well to consider both the normal and the super- 
 normal possibilities, but to try the former first, 
 considering whether familiar causes can satis- 
 factorily account for the facts. It is first of all 
 necessary to discuss the possibility of chance 
 coincidence having played its part, and to form 
 an approximate idea as to how great or how 
 small that part may be. For while the mind 
 
 43 
 
How far may Coincidence account for the Facts ? 
 
 holds a vague impression that ‘a good deal of it 
 is chance,’ the full import of book tests will 
 remain unperceived, and some may even argue 
 thus: ‘If part of it is coincidence, then probably 
 all is simply that and nothing more.’ 
 
 It is possible that chance may explain some of 
 these tests while failing to explain all. In several 
 instances there have been four or more tests 
 correctly verified from one book; if any one 
 supposes that this might be coincidence let him 
 make trial in his library. I have made experi- 
 ments establishing the result that, with single 
 words, a good hit may be occasionally obtained, 
 likewise single statements, if not too definite, 
 may be sometimes matched in pages chosen at 
 random; but, with linked statements, we seldom 
 get hits by coincidence, and where a number of 
 tests are to be looked for upon the same page, 
 or upon definitely related pages, the possibility of 
 such coincidence may be disregarded. 
 
 In book test No. 3, recorded in Chapter II, the 
 clue given, ‘a roaring noise,’ is of the kind easily 
 met by chance: had the majority of the tests received 
 been of this character the only safeguard against 
 their having been the result of coincidence would 
 be that their position upon the page was somewhat 
 precisely stated. And it is worthy of. note, how, in 
 the majority of instances, this position upon the 
 designated page was found to have been given 
 accurately. It is one thing to look for a reference 
 to a “heavy roaring noise’ upon a certain page, 
 but quite another, and far more difficult, to find 
 
 44 
 
 
 
How far may Coincidence account for the Facts ? 
 
 such reference haphazard very low on the page; 
 in looking for verifications with the latter 
 modification the likelihood of chance hits is pro- 
 portionately lessened. 
 
 SomME Fictitious Boox Tests 
 
 I have experimented to test the likelihood of 
 chance coincidences. Using the first forty tests 
 received, I tried for each with books selected at 
 random, looking for each verification upon ¢hree 
 or more pages. ‘The result was a decided failure; 
 the exceptions almost invariably relating to single 
 and somewhat vaguely described tests, such as ‘a 
 reference to effort,’ or ‘a reference to colour.’ But 
 where in the communicator’s tests such generalities 
 as these had been associated with further items, to 
 be found upon the same, or related pages, chance 
 rarely afforded any parallel to the success of the 
 original verification. 
 
 The following were among the best coincidences 
 in this experiment :— 
 
 Book test No. 2, recorded in Chapter III, 
 contains six items:— 
 
 ‘ A-sh-ill-ee’ . . . “something about en- 
 deavour’ . . . ‘a word commencing ““M” 
 prominent therein’ . . . ‘a reference to an 
 event in my life of three years before’... 
 ‘something relating to my wife’... 
 ‘description of the place where my father 
 and I had lived together.’ 
 
 45 
 
How far may Coincidence account for the Facts ? 
 
 Of these six points a book by Spiller entitled 
 The Meaning of Marriage yielded the following 
 three :— 
 
 ‘ A-sh-ill-ee.’” The name Spiller on the cover 
 gives the letters ‘ ille’ in correct order. 
 
 ‘A reference to endeavour, less than half-way 
 down page 87.’ Opening at random upon page 3, 
 there was the following passage near the bottom 
 of the page, ‘We may ungrudgingly pay a well- 
 deserved tribute to the mother cat whose tireless 
 devotion to her young is both touching and 
 heroic. Motherhood already, means much in the 
 animal world! Human parents have, however, 
 a far more arduous and time-devouring task to 
 accomplish.’ 
 
 All this might be taken as reference to ‘ effort.’ 
 
 ‘There is a word commencing with “MM” 
 which has an Hear at place in it and a bearing 
 upon this message.’ 
 
 This is fulfilled by ‘ Motherhood.’ Coincidence 
 thus scored three consecutive hits. But here it 
 ceased altogether. For with the remaining three 
 items of the test my dippings hither and thither 
 yielded no faintest trace of agreement. 
 
 Another rather good coincidence happened on 
 comparing book test No. 4, recorded in Chapter IV, 
 
 with Vol. II of Martineau’s Types of Ethical 
 
 Theory (3rd edition, Clarendon Press Series). 
 ‘Page 87 has to do with “ hearing,’’ 
 Failure. 
 
 ‘Page 132 is a kind of continuation of the 
 46 
 
 etc. 
 
 
 
How far may Coincidence account for the Facts ? 
 
 above; a reference to your mediumship, but slightly 
 different from “‘hearing.”’ Alighting by chance 
 upon page 393 I found a few lines about evolution 
 which seemed not wholly irrelevant. 
 
 ©The letter “S,”? 1s. jon. the title-page,”’.... The 
 word ‘Series’ was in the title. 
 
 ‘Page 3 refers to something which you 
 once studied and were interested in, but 
 afterwards your opinions about it underwent 
 a change.’ 
 
 On page 3 Martineau mentions Darwin’s Descent 
 of Man, which, curiously, bears upon the Genesis 
 story of Creation, and this was the theme that 
 verified the original test. 
 
 Here there were three coincidences, but no 
 more; the remaining three items of the test were 
 not matched by any correspondence whatever. 
 
 In this manner the likelihood of coincidence was 
 proved to be small; for out of the forty book tests in 
 which my father had been correct for thirty-five, 
 chance achieved only fourteen hits, although each 
 test was looked for on three different pages in order 
 to give wider scope for the operation of coincidence. 
 
 A further investigation upon similar lines showed 
 that where original book tests scored twenty-five 
 successes out of a possible thirty-two, chance 
 yielded but ten, and of these none were strikingly 
 good. 
 
 One book test given by my communicator 
 contained six items, four of which were found upon 
 two opposite pages. It is scarcely probable that 
 
 47 
 
How far may Coincidence account for the Facts ? 
 
 one could light upon any chance parallel to these 
 verifications ; in fact, I have searched twenty 
 casually opened pages without success. 
 
 Numerous comparisons of this nature might be 
 adduced indicating how, in gua/lity, even more 
 than in number, the tests as originally verified 
 proved superior to those found by chance. 
 
 The succession of verifications recorded in 
 Appendix B, where book and title tests are inter- 
 mingled, presents an instance which one would 
 despair of matching by chance. 
 
 But the most satisfactory method by which a 
 wavering judgment might be convinced would 
 probably be the attempt to match the standard 
 of results obtained in the tests recorded in 
 Chapter VIII. There is the evidence of my 
 friend Mr. Bird that notes of these were in his 
 possession before the books were allowed to see 
 the light of day, and he checked the verifications. 
 
 In these instances, therefore, the question of my 
 veracity or accuracy need not be considered. Were 
 these verifications attributable to coincidence it 
 should be possible to match them by inspection of 
 books taken haphazard. AQ trial on these lines 
 might effectively impress upon the unconvinced an 
 idea of the small likelihood of securing equally 
 accurate results by chance. 
 
 48 
 
 _ 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 CAN COLLUSION EXPLAIN? EXPERIMENT WITH 
 A SEALED BOOK 
 
 We now turn to the question of Trickery. This 
 may seem almost unnecessary in view of the 
 difficulties involved in any supposed attempt to 
 obtain information about my books by means of a 
 confederate in our house. But it is a question 
 occasionally asked, and must therefore be met. 
 Mrs. Leonard has never been in our house, and I 
 am convinced of the perfect fidelity of those living 
 with me, 
 
 The question which most interested me at this 
 stage of the experiments was whether, in some 
 inexplicable way, the results depended upon tele- 
 pathy from my own mind? 
 
 This chapter and the two following will record 
 experiments in which I was assisted by my friend, 
 Mr. G. F. Bird of 26 Westmoreland Road, Bromley, 
 Kent. While the primary object of these experi- 
 ments was to exclude any possibility of telepathy, 
 the conditions under which they were conducted 
 equally precluded collusion, or any kind of 
 trickery. 
 
 EXPERIMENT WITH A SEALED Boox 
 
 At the time of the experiment now to be described, 
 tests had been given from eight books in our house, 
 
 49 
 
Can Collusion Explain ? 
 
 three of which I had not read; but as these had 
 been read by others, it seemed desirable to test 
 with a book which none of us had seen. I there- 
 fore arranged with my friend that he should select 
 from his library a book unknown to me, wrap it 
 up and seal it, and allow it to be in my study for 
 a few weeks. This he did in a workman-like 
 manner, placing stout card around it so that it 
 would be impossible for any one to make a rubbing 
 through the paper for the purpose of ascertaining 
 the title, and finally sealing it with private seals. 
 This parcel was brought to me on December 2nd, 
 1917, and at the next sitting—to which my friend 
 did wot accompany me, indeed he has never seen 
 Mrs, Leonard—lI asked my communicator to select 
 tests from it. ‘Those given below were received 
 on December 13th and 20th. Having typed them 
 in duplicate I took the book to Mr. Bird and handed 
 him a copy of the tests; this he read through, and 
 then proceeded to open the packet and compare 
 the book with my notes. He found the seals and 
 wrappings intact. The book proved to be one 
 which I had read eight years previously, but it is 
 difficult to imagine that this could have influenced 
 the result of the experiment. Herewith are the 
 statements given at the two sittings, together with 
 our findings and my comments. 
 
 ‘Has not the book string around it? It 
 appears to have it double.’ 
 
 There was not only string around the outer 
 50 
 
 
 
Experiment with a Sealed Book 
 
 covering, but also a second string around an inner 
 wrapping. It was tied twice. Of course I had 
 seen the string outside, but knew nothing of the 
 further string and wrapper inside. 
 
 ‘The book seems to be tied peculiarly and 
 wrapped twice.’ 
 
 The ends of both lots of string were elaborately 
 sealed to the paper. There was an outer paper 
 tied and sealed, then an inner paper. similarly tied 
 and sealed. When this was removed it revealed 
 the cardboard surrounding the book. 
 
 ‘This book is about a subject which would 
 appeal to your father, but about which he 
 has to a certain extent altered his mind.’ 
 
 The book was The Supernatural? by L. A. 
 Weatherly, M.D., and J. N. Maskelyne, published 
 by Arrowsmith, preface dated 1891. The authors 
 very stoutly oppose the idea that departed spirits 
 communicate with human beings, and ridicule the 
 claim that such communications have actually 
 come by means of mediums. My father, who 
 passed on some fourteen years previously, was a 
 Wesleyan minister, and throughout his forty-five 
 years of preaching would have frequently turned 
 his thoughts to the spirit world. But the theological 
 atmosphere of his day would give him little con- 
 ception of the close relation possible between that 
 world and ours, and his reference to an alteration 
 
 51 
 
Can Collusion Explain ? 
 
 of mind after passing over, indicates his discovery 
 of the intimate relations existing between the two 
 worlds, and the possibility of communication. This 
 is again touched on later. 
 
 ‘Page 5 refers to something he liked doing 
 when on earth; it is about a third down the 
 
 page.’ 
 
 Line 12 speaks of putting a check to superstition, 
 and this is entirely in harmony with my father’s 
 character. But a reference so indefinite would have 
 little evidential value in isolation; it was linked 
 with another. 
 
 ‘Also soon after the above there is a 
 reference to a light or fire.’ 
 
 Near the bottom of the same page is mention of 
 the electric light being installed in the streets of 
 Calcutta. It will be noticed that there are two 
 references to this page, one indefinite and one 
 definite, and that they are found in the order he 
 stated. 
 
 Feda then continued,— 
 
 * You'll be amused when you see that book.’ 
 
 More than once Feda remarked that my father 
 was laughing because of this book and its bearing 
 upon himself. Mr. Bird, who knew my father 
 forty years ago, was impressed by this statement, 
 
 52 
 
Experiment with a Sealed Book 
 
 and before proceeding to undo the packet remarked 
 that, on the supposition of my father being able 
 to read the book, it would be quite characteristic 
 of him to be amused at the humour of the situation 
 resulting from selection of such a book for purpose 
 of this experiment. Here is a book holding up 
 to derision the assertion that a spirit can enter 
 into communication with earth through a medium. 
 It is from this very book that a spirit is selecting 
 references and transmitting them through a medium, 
 —and he does this for the express purpose of proving 
 that a spirit can communicate with men by this 
 method. It must have been a delightful situation, 
 and was evidently appreciated to the full; Feda 
 several times interrupted her remarks to say how 
 much amused he was. No such remarks had been 
 made during tests from the previous eight books 
 selected by him for experiment, and to none of 
 those would they have been in the least degree 
 applicable. 
 
 Feda continued,— 
 
 “It was a subject that interested him very 
 much, and one about which he changed his 
 Opinion when on earth and has changed it 
 again since passing on.’ 
 
 ‘At its very beginning this book has a 
 strange association for him upon matters that 
 concerned him about twenty years before he 
 passed on. You may have heard about it, 
 or if not, you can verify this by asking your 
 mother. ‘There is a link with that period of 
 nearly twenty years before.’ 
 
 23 
 
Can Collusion Explain ? 
 
 Eighteen years before his passing in 1903 my 
 father met a lady, a natural medium, whose life 
 had been crowded with remarkable phenomena. 
 She became a personal friend of my parents, and 
 her narrations greatly interested them and were a 
 frequent subject of conversation. At that period, 
 therefore, more than at any other time, matters 
 relating to the spirit world and psychic phenomena 
 were talked of in our family. My mother says 
 that my father must to some extent have changed 
 his opinions after meeting this lady, as they were 
 both convinced of the genuineness of her experiences. 
 The three states of mind alluded to may therefore 
 be termed: early indifference, aroused interest, and, 
 since his passing, realisation. Following up this 
 reference to ‘ the very beginning of the book,’ one 
 finds that its first words are the following quotation 
 from Maudsley, ‘If all visions, intuitions, and 
 other modes of communication with the super- 
 
 natural, accredited now or at any time, have been 
 
 no more than phenomena of psychology—instances, 
 that is, of sub-normal, super-normal, or abnormal 
 mental function—and if all existing supernatural 
 beliefs are survivals of a state of thought befitting 
 lower stages of human development, the continuance 
 of such beliefs cannot be helpful, it must be hurtful 
 to human progress.’ The first words of the con- 
 tents-table are—‘ Superstition, Witchcraft, Believers 
 in the Supernatural.’ Thus the subject-matter of 
 the book, as expressed at its beginning, took back 
 his thoughts to the time when he first seriously 
 faced the subject of communication with one’s 
 
 24 
 
 ee ee 
 Bin, fw Pc) 
 
 Ne ee 
 
 Paran oe 
 
 pie 5-2 
 
 
 
 
 
 ‘ cS 
 "en 
 
 _ 
 
 ee = al 
 
Experiment with a Sealed Book 
 
 departed friends. That it was a possibility he could 
 not but believe after making the acquaintance of 
 the lady above mentioned. He held an open mind, 
 but did not pursue the subject, and was inclined 
 to share the conventional opinion that the doings 
 of Spiritualism were either fraudulent or wrong. 
 At my first sitting with Mrs. Leonard he remarked, 
 through Feda, referring to the study of com- 
 munication with friends in the Beyond, that ‘ when 
 on earth he would have been very wary of it.’ 
 
 * This book has, near the beginning, a word 
 in handwriting. Either it is written or it is 
 a facsimile. ‘This is unmistakable. Such a 
 definite statement should be a striking bit of 
 proof.’ 
 
 In the top right-hand corner of the title-page 
 my friend’s signature was written in ink. It is 
 the only handwriting in the book. Not all books 
 have the owner’s name therein: nor had such an 
 item been mentioned in any previous test. 
 
 * There is a page with columns in it.’ 
 
 This perhaps refers to a picture which faces the 
 title-page. The picture represents a conservatory, 
 the roof of which is supported upon twenty slender 
 columns. 
 
 ‘One of the first pages has something in the 
 nature of a diagram; it is more diagram than 
 picture. To Feda it looks like dark lines.’ 
 
 he) 
 
Can Collusion Explain ? 
 
 This was correct. The diagram is upon page 
 13, which is ‘one of the first,’ as the book runs 
 on to page 273. It occupies a good half of the 
 page, and consists of four black lines uniting large 
 circles. 
 
 At my next sitting, a reference to the success 
 of this experiment led to a conversation upon the 
 subjects of spirit communication and of superstition. 
 Feda represented my father as strongly emphasising 
 the distinction between the two, and as having 
 become favourable to the former owing to his wider 
 experience since passing over. 
 
 Continuing to speak through Feda, he explained 
 at some length what he meant by superstition, and 
 urged that, just because so many people are merely 
 superstitious, and not scientifically or religiously 
 interested in discovering the real truth about 
 happenings seemingly super-normal, it is better 
 that the truth of spirit communication should not 
 be pressed upon those spiritually or mentally un- 
 prepared for it. 
 
 Feda added, ‘He has already warned you about 
 the danger of bringing this subject before undesir- 
 able people. ‘This book substantiates that. His 
 mind has changed about Spiritualism as a whole, 
 but upon the one point he is stronger than before. 
 It has been misused by some; not only by the 
 foolishly curious, but also by those who took it up 
 for bad ends—Black Magic. Some people have 
 undoubtedly used psychic powers for bad ends. It 
 is like playing with a sharp weapon; they cut them- 
 selves badly, but unfortunately they often hurt 
 
 50 
 
 
 
Experiment with a Sealed Book 
 
 others first. Such people give the whole subject 
 a bad reputation. But used wisely it is a great 
 power for good, as you yourself have already 
 experienced.’ 
 
 The foregoing remarks, purporting to come from 
 my father, struck me as strongly characteristic of 
 him. 
 
 E.H.S. 57 F 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 EXPERIMENT WITH AN UNSEEN BOOKSHELF 
 
 Durine a sitting with Mrs. Leonard on May 31st, 
 1918, my communicator suggested trying a test 
 with books entirely unknown to me and in some 
 room to which I had no access. At the next sitting, 
 June 21st, I said the plan was excellent, and that 
 I proposed to ask the friend who had previously 
 helped by arranging the ‘Sealed Book Test’ to 
 name some shelf in his house upon which the 
 experiment might be tried; and I inquired whether, 
 when the shelf had been decided upon, I might 
 mentally inform my father of its whereabouts? 
 The reply came, ‘ Try to do so; concentrate upon 
 the place agreed on.’ It was June 25th when 
 I discussed the matter with my friend, George 
 Frederick Bird, at his house. His study is upstairs, 
 a room I had not seen and of which I then knew 
 nothing. We agreed that he should select a 
 particular shelf in that room and fill it with books 
 which he had himself read; for at this time I con- 
 sidered that books which had been read were 
 easier for my communicator to operate upon. Mr. 
 Bird went to his study and on returning said he 
 had arranged for the test. He drew a sketch of 
 the room, indicating the shelf selected, and wrote 
 the following description to facilitate the attempt 
 58 
 
 
 
Experiment with an Unseen Booksheif 
 
 to inform my father of its position before next 
 visiting Mrs. Leonard. ‘ Fred Bird’s study imme- 
 diately opposite the top of the first flight of stairs 
 in his house. ‘The large bookcase on the right- 
 hand side as the door is opened. The fourth shelf 
 from the bottom—not including the two shelves 
 in the cupboard below. The right-hand section 
 of the fourth shelf.’ 
 
 Six days later I tried to give my father the where- 
 abouts of this shelf, and repeated the endeavour 
 night and morning during four days previously 
 to a sitting on July sth. Not once during that, or 
 the following sittings, did I say anything as to the 
 locality of the test books beyond the following 
 question: ‘Did my father get the message I tried 
 to give him about the position of a shelf we chose 
 for the book test in Fred Bird’s house?’ The 
 reply was, “He believed he did; he got it near 
 enough,’ and then immediately several statements 
 were made, of which the following are examples, 
 our subsequent verifications being appended to 
 each. 
 
 Feda’s words are placed within quotation marks, 
 and my comments follow. 
 
 ‘The shelf is not near the door, he had to 
 go straight in.’ 
 
 This is accurate; the door opens on the right, 
 and one is obliged to go straight into the room 
 before turning towards the right, the shelf is then 
 several paces away. 
 
 39 
 
Experiment with an Unseen Bookshelf 
 
 ‘It is in or near a recess; for he felt either 
 a recess or a projection.’ 
 
 This is true, but I could have guessed as much 
 (although as a matter of fact I gave it no thought) 
 from a study of the plan. The recess is formed 
 by an adjoining bookcase, which, coming at right 
 angles with the one in question, makes a recess 
 measuring 27 inches wide and 12 deep between 
 the two. 
 
 ‘ He feels there is something very hard and 
 shiny close to it, perhaps a sheet of something 
 very smooth and cold, and it seems to be on 
 the right side of it.’ 
 
 Standing on the floor only three inches from the 
 foot of the bookcase is the footplate of a weighing 
 machine. It is on the right-hand side and, being 
 of painted iron, is ‘very hard and shiny . . . very 
 smooth and cold.’ 
 
 * Take the third book from the left. At the 
 beginning of its reading matter, probably on 
 the first page, a bridge is spoken of, and it 
 goes on to allude to water. He is not sure 
 what water, whether sea or river, as he just 
 gets the impression of water.’ 
 
 “Not far from the reference to the bridge 
 is an important word commencing with “ S,” 
 rather long and peculiar, the name of a person 
 or a place.’ 
 
 This book proved to be Hudson’s Bay, by 
 Ballantyne. 
 60 
 
 
 
Experiment with an Unseen Bookshelf 
 
 Line 16 from the start of the preface reads, 
 . railway communication will doubtless ere 
 long connect it with Canada on the one hand and 
 the Pacific seaboard on the other. . . .?. The idea 
 expressed as a ‘bridge’ might perhaps be the 
 railway bridging the distance between the places 
 named, while ‘ Pacific seaboard’ sufficiently meets 
 the reference to water. 
 The above sentence in the book continues, 
 » while the presence of gold in the Saskat- 
 chewan .\. 2’ 
 
 $ 
 9 
 
 ‘There is a date at the beginning on the 
 first page or fly-leaf. A date that will have a 
 meaning for Fred.’ ‘On that date Fred did 
 something important, which made a change in 
 his earthly conditions.’ 
 
 On the fly-leaf was inscribed, ‘ George Frederick 
 Bird. Xmas, 1877.’ 
 
 Mr. Bird commenced the New Year by going 
 to his first school, having previously been taught 
 at home. 
 
 _ ‘He made a journey after or just before 
 which the change took place.’ 
 
 Quite true, he had been to Llandudno the 
 previous summer, his home at that time being in 
 Lincolnshire. 
 
 “On the title-page there is a name or word 
 connected with Fred.’ 
 61 
 
Experiment with an Unseen Bookshelf 
 
 Mr. Bird has made a special study of railway 
 engines, contributing many articles and drawings 
 to technical journals, besides publishing a book 
 upon the subject. We found on this title-page a 
 term often applied to the railway engine, viz., 
 * The Iron Horse.’ 
 
 _ * Another book close thereto suggests Fred’s 
 frame of mind respecting these book tests.’ 
 
 Close to the above stood The Supernatural ? by 
 Weatherly and Maskelyne, in which they combat 
 the claim that a spirit can communicate information 
 through a medium. This identical volume had 
 been the subject of the recent ‘Sealed Book Test.’ 
 My friend admitted the suitability and accuracy 
 of this allusion. I may here say that my chief 
 reason for asking his help in these experiments was 
 his keenly critical attitude towards the claims of 
 Psychic Research and Spiritualism. 
 
 ‘One of these books seems to have loose 
 pages, or else something in it which would 
 drop out if opened carelessly; one book.’ 
 
 The foregoing book had, slipped inside it, a 
 pamphlet and a folded newspaper cutting. It was 
 the only book on the shelf containing any loose 
 matter. 
 
 There now followed a description of the height 
 and position of the shelf, and this, upon subsequent 
 inspection, proved correct. 
 
 62 
 
 
 
Experiment with an Unseen Bookshelf 
 
 Holidays intervened, and it was not till October 
 8th and 18th that I had the next two sittings 
 which completed the experiment. Meanwhile I 
 had not entered Mr. Bird’s study, and he was careful 
 that the experiment-shelf remained untouched. 
 It was only after the whole list of test items had 
 been received, typed, and given to Mr. Bird that 
 I accompanied him to his study, where together 
 we compared the notes with books and room. The 
 following were the most striking results. 
 
 ‘Close to that shelf there is a thing with 
 numbers on it, it is on the wall; numbers like 
 I-2-3 on it.’ 
 
 Nine inches from the shelf there is upon the wall 
 a framed picture representing three locomotive 
 engines of different types. Two of them bear 
 figures, “No 1’ and ‘ No. 251.’ The picture was 
 drawn by Mr. Bird, who tells me that he always 
 thinks of these engines as ‘ Nos. 1, 2, and 3.’ At 
 the side of these are three perpendicular columns, 
 each containing fifteen lines of numerals. 
 
 ‘Something close to the books, to one side 
 of them, felt like a small wood shelf,’ 
 
 A little below the right corner of the shelf is 
 the top of a hanging cupboard upon which stands 
 a shallow box, 27 inches long, serving the purposes 
 of a shelf and with a variety of articles on it. This, 
 not being indicated in the sketch-plan, was unknown 
 to me. 
 
 63 
 
Experiment with an Unseen Bookshelf 
 
 ‘In the second book from the right, and 
 on page 2, is a reference to sea or ocean; he 
 is not sure which, because he gets only the 
 idea, and not the words.’ 
 
 Here we found the line, ‘ A first-rate seaman, 
 grown old between sky and ocean.’ It may have 
 been coincidence that doth sea and ocean were in 
 the text. 
 
 ‘Third book from the right, page 9, there 
 is a reference to journeying, travelling; it 
 seems to be about a third down.’ 
 
 This was quite correct. The test proceeded :— 
 
 ‘ Lower down still is a reference to changing 
 of colours.’ 
 
 Below the foregoing and about two-thirds down 
 the page is the following: ‘Along the northern 
 horizon the sky suddenly changes from light blue 
 to a dark lead colour.’ A test is the stronger when 
 a second reference is given from one page, as here. 
 
 There was a further reference to colour:— 
 
 ‘Something in the room close to the shelves 
 seems blue. ‘The eye gets the impression of 
 blue on looking there; it seems to him like 
 a big patch of blue close to the shelf.’ 
 
 On the next shelf but one below, there stood a 
 set of twenty tall volumes, extending thirty inches, 
 and bound in cloth of a strong mid-blue colour. 
 
 64 
 
 ny 
 f. 
 4 > 
 A 
 . 
 { i 
 a 
 ‘a 
 e 
 a 
 
 
 
Experiment with an Unseen Bookshelf 
 
 More striking, however, was the following :— 
 
 ‘One book on the shelf near the left end 
 has a map.’ 
 Fay 
 Among these thirty books there stood, sixth 
 from the left, Winston Churchill’s London to Lady- 
 smith via Pretoria, and this contains a large folding 
 map. There was no other map on the shelf. Mr. 
 Bird told me he had forgotten the existence of 
 this map until we happened upon it in our search. 
 To avoid wearying the reader several verifica- 
 tions, similar in character to the foregoing, are 
 omitted. 
 
 CoNCLUSION 
 
 This experiment indicated that the communi- 
 cator’s ability to perceive books and objects is 
 entirely independent of the sitter’s knowledge or ignorance 
 of the articles. 
 
 However, I wished to ascertain whether Mr. 
 Bird’s intimate acquaintance with his own study 
 and books might have been subliminally imparted 
 to me and thence to the medium ? 
 
 It is unprofitable to discuss the possibility or 
 impossibility of that which only experiment can 
 decide. We therefore devised and carried out the 
 experiments recorded in the following chapter. 
 
 05 
 
CHAPTER VIII y 
 EXPERIMENT WITH AN UNOPENED PARC®&L 
 
 ConseQuENT upon the experiment described, it 
 remained to be proved that books could be “ sensed ’ 
 under circumstances precluding possibility of any 
 human knowledge as to their contents. At the 
 request of my friend, an obliging bookseller gathered 
 together a dozen old volumes without looking at 
 the titles, sending them in a parcel which remained 
 unopened in Mr. Bird’s study. 1 received tests 
 therefrom at two sittings with Mrs. Leonard in 
 November and December, 1918. Notes were 
 typed and a copy handed to Mr. Bird before we 
 proceeded to open the parcel, now seen by me 
 for the first time. The following were the most 
 striking of the verifications :— 
 
 ‘One book, he did not locate it properly, 
 so cannot tell which, gave him a feeling of 
 many pictures or diagrams.’ 
 
 Only one book in all the dozen contained any 
 illustrations, and this one had six whole-page 
 pictures. 
 
 ‘ The first book from the left, page 66, near 
 the top, has words which you are to take as 
 from him, expressing what he thinks of the 
 
 
 

 
 Experiment with an Unopened Parcel 
 
 way you work in studying this subject; they 
 describe very well what you are doing.’ 
 
 This book was, The Heart of Humanity, by S. 
 Hallifax. The first two lines on page 66 read: 
 * Like the climbers of mountain peaks, as pilgrims 
 in the spiritual world... .’ My experiences 
 seemed faithfully mirrored in these similes. 
 
 “Near the bottom of page 2 there are one 
 or two words, a few, and possibly but one, 
 describing a form of psychic development 
 which he has been, and still is, working with 
 you to obtain.’ 
 
 In the eighth line from the bottom of the page 
 the word ‘inspiration’ occurs ¢wice. I could 
 scarcely fail to be impressed by the striking reference 
 to the actual word which had been frequently used 
 during previous months in connection with my 
 father’s attempts to influence me during writing 
 and speaking. At the very sitting where this test 
 was given I had a few minutes before been told, ‘ You 
 have felt yourself, when speaking, carried above 
 self-consciousness; it is when he is close to you. 
 Now you may find, that, from the start to the end, 
 you are inspired. He could give new interpreta- 
 tions such as he cannot give through Freda, things 
 known there, but not given to earth. So few can 
 be inspired.” I much regret the necessity for 
 personal references, but they are essential parts 
 of the experiment; indeed, their bearing upon my 
 recent endeavours was so cogent that, had there 
 
 07 
 
Experiment with an Unopened Parcel 
 
 been no further evidence, I should have been 
 inclined to suspect that my father had succeeded 
 in gaining access to this book. 
 
 ‘Page 4, and near the top, say about three 
 lines down, has a word giving exactly what 
 he hopes Fred (¢.e.. Mr. Bird) will gain from 
 his more or less persistent study of the 
 subject.’ 
 
 The fourth line down commenced with the 
 words, ‘evolution of spirit.’ There was also a 
 further reference to Fred’s state of mind; for the 
 67th page, ‘ near the top,’ was said to give ‘a very 
 good description of his curiosity about the subject.’ 
 Fred was then described as being ‘ curious, but in 
 a particular way.’ When I remarked at this point 
 that I thought his interest was aroused, Feda 
 replied, ‘Your father smiles, and says this page 
 puts it neatly.” The sentence commences at the 
 bottom of the previous page and completes at the 
 top of 67: ‘I could only smile, partly from a sense 
 of humour; for humour is not without its place 
 in spiritual things.’ Humorous curiosity summed 
 up F. B.’s attitude at that date. 
 
 A THREEFOLD DescrIPTION 
 
 Feda continued :— 
 
 ‘Referring to page 1, something there 
 seems as if about to turn out much more 
 68 
 
 
 
Experiment with an Unopened Parcel 
 
 interesting than it does. You will under- 
 stand when reading it. The scene at the 
 start seems to take you to one place, and, 
 nearly at the end, is seen to have returned to 
 the same scene again, and toa certain amount 
 also of the same condition. He felt the 
 similarity between the start and the end of 
 the book, while the middle sees other places 
 and conditions altogether.’ 
 
 Page 1 commences thus: ‘ The supreme personal 
 factor in the spiritual history of the world is Jesus 
 Christ... .’ The body of the book then deals 
 at large with the connection between Christianity 
 and theology, paganism, evolution, philosophy, 
 comparative religions, and biology. These subjects 
 correspond to Feda’s phrase, ‘ other places (subjects) 
 and conditions altogether.’ But the final para- 
 graph of the book most certainly returns to its 
 initial theme: ‘ We abandon ourselves to silent 
 communion with Immortal Love personified in 
 that lonely figure upon the Cross, the Cross which 
 was our starting-point and is still our goal... .’ 
 
 ‘At the end of the book he got a feeling 
 of great expansion, a broadening out of some- 
 thing; this was not the very end, but probably 
 in the part immediately preceding the end. 
 At the very end there was a curious mixture, 
 because, as well as the feeling of expansion 
 he got also a “ dropped feeling,” a “‘ let-down 
 feeling’; he got this almost simultaneously 
 with the previous sense of expansion; they 
 came nearly together, but seem so contra- 
 dictory.’ 
 
 69 
 
Experiment with an Unopened Parcel 
 
 This was correct. The concluding paragraphs 
 of the book strike a note of triumphant joy. But 
 this is immediately followed by a strong reference 
 to the world’s pain and heart-break. 
 
 The full relevancy of this threefold description 
 could be conveyed adequately only by longer 
 quotations. It is a correspondence unlikely to 
 happen by chance, inasmuch as it consists of three 
 closely related features. 
 
 Then came the following :— 
 
 ‘Is there a time-table among these books ? - 
 This is not an idle question. You will under- 
 stand that there is an object in asking it when 
 you see them.’ 
 
 There was a book of devotion containing a 
 separate page for each day in the year and also one 
 for each Saint’s Day. It is just possible the test 
 was intended to connect with this. 
 
 Several other references were accurate, although 
 scarcely worth presenting to the reader. They 
 add little to the general impression, yet increase 
 the proportion of moderate successes. 
 
 EXPERIMENT WITH AN [Ron Box 
 
 We now desired to vary the experiment. Mr. 
 Bird obtained another set of books as before, and 
 taking them into a dark room, removed the paper 
 
 70 
 
 
 
Experiment with an Unopened Parcel 
 
 wrappings and placed them in an iron deed-box, 
 which, after having fastened and sealed, he left in 
 my study. From this box tests were given at two 
 subsequent sittings. Among our verifications were 
 the following :— 
 
 ‘Under the title of the second book from 
 the left there seem to be several horizontal 
 lines, not one merely, but several.’ 
 
 This book was The Poetical Works of Crabbe. 
 While none of the others had more than four 
 horizontal lines beneath the title, this book had 
 nine separate lines and also a number of scrolls 
 making lines of sorts. Here was a definite state- 
 ment which proved entirely accurate. Again:— 
 
 ‘On one of the fly-leaves is a mark looking 
 like a little imperfection.’ 
 
 The above book had two fly-leaves, and on the 
 first of these was evidence of rough treatment, 
 two conspicuous creasings in the paper and some 
 dark crayon marks. None of the other books had 
 any imperfection on the fly-leaf. 
 
 ‘On title-page is a word suggesting wood 
 or boards.’ 
 
 This suggestion was not contained in a word, 
 but in a picture depicting a rough seat formed of 
 three boards fixed beneath a tree, while close by 
 
 7I 
 
Experiment with an Unopened Parcel 
 
 there lay a fallen tree. Both wood and boards 
 were therefore in some sense indicated on the 
 title-page. My communicator had more than once 
 remarked that he found it difficult to tell whether 
 his impressions came from words or pictures, as 
 both made much the same impression, unless he 
 were doing it clairvoyantly, a method which at 
 this stage seemed much more difficult and less 
 certain than “ sensing.’ 
 
 “At bottom of page 5 he thought he saw 
 a word like “‘ development.” ’ 
 
 Here was an attempt to employ the clairvoyant 
 method, which partially succeeded; for less than 
 two inches from the bottom was the word 
 
 * developed.’ 
 
 “Page 96, near the top, gave the feeling 
 of eating and drinking. ‘This was very strong, 
 and he would like in due course to hear if 
 he is correct in this.’ 
 
 He was quite correct. One inch from the top 
 of the ninety-sixth page the following passage 
 commenced :— 
 
 ‘These Roman souls, like Rome’s great sons, 
 are known 
 To live in cells on labours of their own. 
 Thus Milo, could we see the noble chief, 
 Feeds, for his country’s good, on legs of beef; 
 72 
 
 
 
 Ne ee 
 

 
 Experiment with an Unopened Parcel 
 
 Camillus copies deeds for sordid pay, 
 
 Yet fights the public battles twice a day. 
 
 Een now the godlike Brutus views his score 
 
 Scroll’d on the bar-board swinging by the door; 
 
 Where, tippling punch, grave Cato’s self you’ll 
 see, 
 
 And Amor Patrie vending smuggled tea.’ 
 
 It will be admitted that tippling punch and feed- 
 ing on beef sufficiently verifies the test. Here, then, 
 were five correspondences from one book. ‘This 
 cannot be explained by chance, for the proba- 
 bilities against such a series of coincidences are 
 enormous. 
 
 CoNCLUSION 
 
 Both this and the previous experiment were 
 designed to show whether or not information could 
 be obtained which was outside the knowledge of 
 any person, or persons, living on earth. These 
 books were lent by a stranger, who gathered them 
 haphazard from certain of his shelves without 
 glancing at their titles. They were not seen by us 
 until we met to compare them with the notes of 
 my sittings. The special interest in these two 
 experiments is that they indicate my communicator’s 
 success in obtaining and transmitting information 
 under circumstances leaving no room for telepathy 
 from the sitter, the friend who assisted me, the 
 bookseller who lent the books, or any other 
 person on earth. 
 
 E.HLS. 73 G 
 
Experiment with an Unopened Parcel 
 
 Note upon Chapters VI-VIII 
 
 There are points about the foregoing experiments 
 which should be noted. 
 
 1. They do not stand upon my single testimony; 
 I had the co-operation of a friend who was entirely 
 sceptical, and who was determined that there should 
 be no room for leakage of information through 
 normal channels. 
 
 Mr. G. F. Bird! will vouch for his success in this 
 precaution. 
 
 2. In not one of these four experiments was | 
 aware of the books chosen, while Mr. Bird was 
 equally unaware in the two latter experiments. 
 
 3. We believe that not even the bookseller, 
 who loaned the books in two instances, was aware 
 of their titles, much less of the precise order in 
 which they stood. | 
 
 4. In the first and last experiments the books 
 were placed in my study, while in the second and 
 third they remained in Mr. Bird’s study, to which 
 I had no access. | 
 
 These four experiments seemed sufficient demonstra- 
 tion that there was continued success even under 
 circumstances precluding possibility of trickery or collusion, 
 They also showed that telepathy from the sitter or his 
 friends could not be invoked as an explanation. | 
 
 1 Address given on page 49. 
 
 74 
 
 
 
CHAP TE Re UX hi 
 
 CAN BOOK TESTS BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE 
 MEDIUM’S SUPER-NORMAL POWERS? 
 
 Tue authorship of the book tests described in the 
 previous chapters has to be accounted for. It will 
 properly be asked whether there are any known 
 faculties of the human mind by which their produc- 
 tion might be explained ? 
 
 At this point it will be well to consider what 
 powers must necessarily have been employed in pro- 
 ducing the results described; readers may then 
 more easily estimate the probability, or otherwise, 
 of such powers having been possessed and exercised 
 by Mrs. Leonard. 
 
 We shall find that, for the correct giving of the 
 simpler book tests, three unusual, but not entirely 
 unknown, powers or faculties are requisite; while, 
 for the ‘personal’ book tests, two more would 
 seem to have been called into action, faculties which 
 in our present stage of knowledge it 1s difficult to 
 think of as existing in any human mind. 
 
 I 
 
 Such degree of clairvoyance as would permit the 
 making of minute observations in distant places and 
 retaining memory of things there seen. 
 
 79 
 
Can Book Tests be attributed 
 
 This is often termed ‘ Travelling Clairvoyance,’ 
 to distinguish it from the clairvoyance by which 
 is acquired a knowledge of things near the per- 
 cipient, but not observable by any of the five 
 senses. 
 
 Clairvoyance has been defined as, ‘ The trans- 
 cendental perception by certain individuals of an 
 object or writing which cannot be seen by, and is 
 unknown to, those present.’ Many instances are 
 recorded in a paper by Mrs. H. Sidgwick, entitled, 
 ‘The Evidence for Clairvoyance’ (Proceedings of the 
 Society for Psychical Research, Vol. VII, pp. 30-99; 
 356-69), and among them are two specially note- 
 worthy cases of ‘clairvoyant travel’ (pp. 49-52; 
 58-61). 
 
 Myers’s Human Personality and its Survival of 
 Bodily Death: contains references to this ‘travelling’: 
 
 (Vol. I., p. 232).—* As we proceed further, we 
 shall see, I think, in many ways how needful 
 is this excursive theory to explain many 
 telepathic and a// telesthetic experiences; 
 many, I mean, of the cases where two 
 minds are in communication, and a// the 
 cases where the percipient learns material 
 facts with which no other known mind is 
 concerned.’ 
 
 It seems clear from the last sentence quoted that, 
 had Myers been familiar with our phenomenon of 
 book test messages, he would have examined, as 
 we are now doing, the possibility of its being 
 
 1 Longmans, Green & Co., 1903. 
 
 76 
 
 
 
to the Medium’s Super-normal Powers ? 
 
 accounted for by the ‘travelling clairvoyance’ of 
 the medium through whom they are given. 
 He comments upon certain instances thus:— 
 
 (Vol. I., p. 279).—‘ In these experiments there 
 seems to be an independent power of 
 visiting almost any desired place, its position 
 having been perhaps first explained by 
 reference to some landmark already known. 
 The clairvoyante will frequently miss her 
 way, and describe houses and scenes ad- 
 jacent to those desired. ‘Then if she almost 
 literally gets on the scent—if she finds some 
 place which the man whom she 1s sent to 
 seek has some time traversed—she follows 
 up his track with greater ease, apparently 
 recognising past events in his life as well 
 aS present circumstances. The process 
 often reminds one of the dog who, if let 
 loose far from home, will find his way 
 homewards vaguely at first, and using we 
 do not quite know what instinct; then if 
 he once gets on the scent, will hold it easily 
 across much of confusion and obstacle.’ 
 
 Attention will have been arrested by the above 
 suggestion that in such ‘travels’ the clairvoyante 
 may be able to recognise past events as well as 
 present circumstances. To realise what was in 
 Mr, Myers’s thought when penning this sentence 
 one should read the several incidents to which he 
 is referring; it will then be understood that they 
 contain little or nothing of the range of survey over 
 
 77 
 
Can Book Tests be attributed 
 
 past events to which book tests have introduced us. 
 The most apposite of the instances related by Myers 
 concerns a missing sleeve-link, and the clairvoyante 
 appears to have described how a child had taken 
 it some days previously, and then to have followed 
 this child’s actions in removing it from one place 
 to another—events closely connected with the 
 object of the search and only a few days old. There 
 is nothing in this to parallel the references to 
 memories of many years ago such as have been 
 given with several book tests. 
 
 Mrs, Leonard has recounted one experience of 
 what seemed to be clairvoyant travel. It came 
 without being sought, was clearly remembered, and 
 proved to have been a glimpse of what was actually 
 taking place elsewhere. 
 
 With creditably attested instances of ‘ travelling 
 clairvoyance’ before us, and learning that Mrs, 
 Leonard has at least on one occasion had a similar 
 experience when she was apparently not in trance, 
 we are logically compelled to inquire whether it 
 might be possible for Mrs, Leonard to have visited 
 her sitters’ homes clairvoyantly and culled informa- 
 tion from their books. 
 
 The first difficulty in accepting this supposition 
 is not insurmountable; it relates to the fact that on 
 every occasion known to me the book tests have 
 been selected from closed volumes, and not from 
 books left open at the page from which tests were 
 chosen. Whoever searched for the appropriate 
 passages did so while the books were standing 
 in their shelves. Is it possible that these books 
 
 78 
 
 
 
to the Medium’s Super-normal Powers ? 
 | P 
 
 were read while closed and the page consequently 
 in darkness ? 
 
 2 AND 3 
 
 Ability to extract the general meaning from printed 
 pages in distant houses. 
 
 And to do this despite the fact that the books 
 concerned are not open at the time. 
 
 In Mrs. Sidgwick’s above-mentioned paper on 
 Clairvoyance (Proc. S.P.R., Vol. VII. pp. 366, 
 368-9), there is recorded an incident of peculiar 
 interest in this connection. The percipient during 
 “excursive clairvoyance’ was with some difficulty 
 successful in deciphering upon a corner house the 
 name of a street where was then happening an 
 event which he described. The locality ‘seen’ 
 was more than seventy miles distant, but the name 
 Skomagerstrede and other details were subse- 
 quently found to have been correct. As none of 
 this information was within reach of the auditors, 
 it looks like an instance of reading at a distance. 
 
 Sir William Barrett, F.R.S., in his book, Psychical 
 Research} entitles a chapter, ‘Super-normal Per- 
 ception; Seeing without Eyes,’ and concludes that 
 the reputed evidence on behalf of ‘travelling 
 clairvoyance’ is more widespread and more ancient 
 than that for telepathy. After discussing the 
 problem presented by the ‘ Divining—or Dowsing- 
 Rod,’ he says:— 
 
 1 Published by Williams & Norgate in the Home University 
 Library. 
 79 
 
Can Book Tests be attributed 
 
 (P. 184).—‘ There is, therefore, very strong 
 presumptive evidence that a good dowser is 
 one who possesses a super-normal perceptive 
 power, seeing, as it were, without eyes. 
 Like other super-normal faculties it resides 
 in the subliminal self, and usually reveals 
 itself through some involuntary muscular 
 action. Possibly a like faculty of discern- 
 ment beyond the power of vision may 
 exist in certain animals and birds, and 
 afford an explanation of the mystery of 
 many otherwise inexplicable cases of homing 
 and migratory instincts.’ 
 
 His comprehensive Report upon Dowsing (Proc. 
 S.P.R., Vol. XV.), concludes with the statement :— 
 
 (P. 314).—' This subconscious perceptive power, 
 commonly called ‘ clairvoyance,’ may pro- 
 visionally be taken as the explanation of 
 those successes of the dowser which are 
 inexplicable on any grounds at present 
 known to science.’ 
 
 . The Report has also an Appendix, entitled, 
 ‘Evidence of Clairvoyance in Dowsers,’ which is 
 pertinent to our inquiry. 
 
 From the early days of mesmeric and hypnotic 
 experiment it has been claimed that, under certain 
 conditions, reading is possible without the use of 
 eyes. Sir William Barrett, in the above, makes 
 the following reference to a Report published in 
 
 the year 1831:— 
 80 
 

 
 to the Medium’s Super-normal Powers ? 
 
 (P. 309).—* Those who on a priori grounds deny 
 the possibility of any such transcendental 
 perceptive power should read the conclu- 
 sions unanimously arrived at by the nine 
 distinguished members of the French Royal 
 Academy of Medicine, who were appointed 
 by the Academy to report on mesmeric 
 phenomena. After five years’ investigation 
 this Committee presented their lengthy 
 Report to the Academy in June, 1831. 
 They state they began the inquiry with 
 “inexperience, impatience, and distrust,” 
 which at first militated against them. Ulti- 
 mately, after the most rigorous tests, they 
 “conclude with certainty ” that the faculty 
 which has been designated clairvoyance 
 does really exist in certain subjects in the 
 mesmeric state.’ 
 
 The book referred to is Report of the Experiments 
 on Animal Magnetism made by a Committee of the 
 Medical Section of the French Royal Academy of 
 Sctences ; read at the meetings of 21st and 28th of 
 Fune, 18312 
 
 This Committee states (p. 198):— 
 
 ‘We have seen two somnambulists who dis- 
 tinguished, with their eyes closed, the 
 objects which were placed before them; 
 they mentioned the colour and the value 
 of cards, without touching them; they read 
 
 1 Translated by J. C. Colquhoun, Esq. Published by Robert 
 Cadell, Edinburgh, 1833. 
 
 81 
 
Can Book Tests be attributed 
 
 words traced with the hand, as also some 
 lines of books opened at random. ‘This 
 phenomenon took place even when the 
 eyelids were kept exactly closed with the 
 HTErs yt Ni, 
 
 ‘Signed by Bourdois de la Motte, President; 
 Fouquier, Gueneau de Mussy, Guersent, 
 Flussons (itary) eps [ey aerovy nye 
 Thillaye.’ 
 
 In the Appendix of the same book is an account 
 of experiments communicated originally by M. 
 Despine, then Principal Physician to the establish- 
 ment at Aix (p. 223-4):— 
 
 ‘Not only did our patient hear with the palm 
 of the hand, but we saw her read without 
 the assistance of the eyes, by means of the 
 extremities of the fingers alone, which she 
 moved with rapidity above the page she 
 wished to read, and without touching it, 
 as if to multiply the sentient surfaces;— 
 she read, I say, a whole page of Madame 
 Montolieu’s romance, entitled Les Chateaux 
 en Suisse. \n the page there were three 
 proper names, of which she probably had 
 never heard. . . . During all the experi- 
 ments, a screen of thick pasteboard inter- 
 cepted, in the strictest manner, every visual 
 ray which might otherwise have reached 
 her eyes.’ 
 
 Again from the same Appendix (p. 224):— 
 82 
 
to the Medium’s Super-normal Powers ? 
 
 “Doctor Delpit, in a curious memoir on two 
 nervous affections, inserted in the Szb/otheque 
 Medicale, has recorded a case very similar 
 to that observed by Dr. Despine. 
 
 ‘“ One of the patients read very distinctly 
 when her eyes were entirely closed to the 
 light, by conducting her fingers over the 
 letters. I made her read in this way, 
 whether by daylight or in the most pro- 
 found darkness, printed characters, by open- 
 ing the first book which came to my hand. 
 ... Was it the sense of touch which 
 supplied that of sight? I know not; but 
 I affirm that she read quite fluently by 
 conducting her fingers along the letters.” ’ 
 
 Other instances of seeing without eyes are found 
 in a well-attested book published in 1876, entitled, 
 X+Y=Z, which is favourably alluded to and 
 drawn upon for illustrations by both Myers and 
 Barrett (see Human Personality, Vol. I1., pp. 217, 
 562. Psychical Research, p. 161). 
 
 Turning to recent records we may note the 
 following :— 
 
 The Rector of the Dijon Academy, M. Emile 
 Boirac, in his book Psychic Science* (pp. 265-8), 
 describes how a man with whom he experimented 
 was able, when under hypnotism, to read correctly 
 by passing his finger tips over the paper while his 
 eyes remained securely bandaged. The impression 
 received by the hypnotised man was not at first 
 
 1 English translation. Published by Rider & Son, 1918. 
 83 
 
Can Book Tests be attributed 
 
 that of sight, but rather of finding in his mind the 
 impression that the words ought to be this or that. 
 Later, however, this impression passed into some- 
 thing closely analogous to sight, although the 
 subject asserted that he was neither reading nor 
 seeing, but somehow divining by a kind of mental 
 intuition, yet the result was exactly the same as if 
 he had seen with his eyes. 
 
 On page 272 M. Boirac describes a further 
 experiment, in which the subject succeeded in 
 reading in the dark some writing of which those 
 in the room were ignorant, and which, therefore, 
 could not have been passed into his mind tele- 
 pathically from those around him. 
 
 Pages 271-4'give an account of experiments with 
 the same person, which showed that he was not 
 dependent upon actual touch, but could read equally 
 well if M. Boirac’s fingers touched the page, while 
 he, z.e. the hypnotised man, grasped Boirac, whose 
 eyes remained closed meanwhile, by the elbow. 
 This was in some sense reading in the dark, and at 
 a short distance, but depended upon a line of 
 contact, which was in this case M. Boirac’s body. 
 
 Can we venture to suppose a great extension of 
 this faculty in Mrs. Leonard, and picture her as 
 able to travel clairvoyantly along a line of contact 
 provided by the sitter’s close connection with 
 the room in which his books are found? Can we 
 suppose that, in her case, the power of reading in 
 the dark, and at the other end of this hypothetical 
 line of contact, is sufficiently heightened to enable 
 her to peruse at will books standing in their shelves ? 
 
 84 
 
to the Medium’s Super-normal Powers ? 
 
 In the experiments of M. Boirac the book was 
 open; can closed books be read ? 
 
 Personally I have had no opportunity for 
 observing this type of clairvoyance, under either 
 normal or hypnotic conditions. But it is un- 
 necessary for the purposes of our argument that 
 we should register any opinion as to the accuracy 
 or otherwise of such records; it will suffice for the 
 moment that we imagine some such faculties to 
 exist, and then consider whether their possession 
 by Mrs, Leonard would account for the book test 
 phenomenon as we have seen it. 
 
 Before trying to meet this question, it is well 
 to realise that, in case we find that these powers 
 would sufficiently account for Mrs, Leonard’s 
 book tests, we do not thereby disprove the assertion 
 that they are the result of spirit agency. It would 
 be exceedingly difficult to disprove the presence and 
 assistance of spirit helpers in cases of so called 
 ‘reading clairvoyance.” And even were it possible 
 to prove that a sensitive had accomplished such 
 reading unaided, we may reasonably suppose that 
 a spirit operator would possess similar powers in 
 an even higher degree. Indeed there are cases 
 on record which seem to establish this, notably 
 those observed by Sir William Crookes and Stainton 
 Moses, which are recorded in Appendix A. 
 
 Thus, even should we decide that Mrs. Leonard 
 might possibly read the books, we have not proved 
 that a spirit did not actually do the reading. 
 
 Yet we should in some measure be advanced in 
 our inquiry could we ascertain that the feat was 
 
 85 
 
Can Book Tests be attributed 
 
 anywhere within human limits to accomplish. And 
 so we will assume for the moment that our medium 
 can not only travel clairvoyantly, but on arrival at 
 her destination can, like Boirac’s subject under 
 hypnotism, read in the dark, which of course it 
 would be necessary to do in order to get at the 
 sense of closed books. 
 
 At once we are brought up against the puzzling 
 fact that whereas Boirac’s subject and other clair- 
 voyants are said to have read verbatim, our book 
 messages give every sign of wot having been so 
 read. Could the page be clearly seen, one would 
 certainly expect its number to be given always as 
 printed, in which case we should often have been 
 saved the necessity of counting from the commence- 
 ment of the reading matter. Why should the 
 communicator laboriously estimate the number of 
 the page if it could be clearly read by clairvoyant — 
 vision ? 
 
 One of the complaints of critics has been that 
 only the gist of the passage is given, sometimes 
 only an allusive reference to its general tenour, 
 instead of straight forward quotation. It has been 
 rare indeed to receive the statement that a definite 
 and precise word would be found on the page 
 designated, and never, so far as I am aware, has au 
 exact quotation been given. We even seem to see in 
 this inability to read the actual words, of which the 
 general import is. however, discerned, an instance 
 in which a spirit communicator is at a disadvantage 
 as compared with a human clairvoyant reader. 
 
 A more serious objection appears when we ask 
 
to the Medium’s Super-normal Powers ? 
 
 whether the faculties which, for the sake of our 
 argument, we have supposed Mrs. Leonard to 
 possess, would suffice to account for the success 
 recorded in obtaining book tests from that room 
 in Mr. Bird’s house (see Chapter VII), which I 
 had never seen, and about the position of which, 
 as well as of the shelf selected by Mr. Bird for the 
 experiment, I had only verbal descriptions. In 
 trying to transmit these directions to the unseen 
 communicator, was I actually informing Mrs. 
 Leonard, either the normal or the subliminal 
 Mrs. Leonard, who was forty miles distant at the 
 time? ‘There was no apparent clue or connecting 
 link by which Mrs. Leonard’s clairvoyant vision 
 could have been guided to this particular room 
 and shelf. 
 
 Leaving unsolved these three inconsistences 
 with our suggested hypothesis, let us pass on to 
 the question of the ‘personal’ book messages, and 
 see if it is possible to conceive these being obtained 
 by Mrs. Leonard herself. Their unique feature 
 consists in a linking of the passages in the book 
 with some event, remote or recent, in the life of the 
 sitter or his home circle. 
 
 4 
 
 Ability to obtain knowledge of happenings in the 
 sitter’s home and private life relating both to the present 
 and to the distant past. 
 
 If these ‘personal’ book messages are com- 
 posed by Mrs, Leonard, we at once add to her 
 
 87 
 
Can Book Tests be attributed 
 
 already considerable list of assumed powers ; for 
 she must be able to obtain information from her 
 sitter’s house, and also from his memories of long 
 ago. 
 
 It may be granted that a clairvoyance which 
 enabled her to obtain passages from our books 
 would also enable her to notice happenings in our 
 house; but where events of distant date are men- 
 tioned in conjunction with book-passages, it seems — 
 necessary to suppose that she has explored our 
 memories to discover them. And if sor Well, 
 we are faced by the further necessity of supposing 
 in her the existence of something more, viz.:— 
 
 5 
 
 An Intelligence which knows how to select from 
 among our awe of memories the suitable items for 
 association with the book-passage, or conversely, of 
 finding a suitable passage for the particular memory 
 fished from the deeps of our mind. 
 
 The memories employed are in most instances 
 clear-cut and exact, and they are ingeniously 
 brought into association with the text. How? 
 
 If such a power of fishing in two unknown seas, 
 and being able to place the separate catches in 
 appropriate pairs—one from our mind with one 
 from our books—if such a power were proved to 
 exist in a medium, we might reasonably regard it 
 as an alternative explanation of the phenomena of 
 
 book tests. I say alternative, because as previously 
 88 
 
to the Medium’s Super-normal Powers ? 
 
 remarked, it must not be overlooked that evex were 
 human faculties found equal to the task, this would 
 not disprove the spirit origin of the messages. 
 At best we should have shown that, under favour- 
 able circumstances, a human being could do what, 
 presumably, was equally within the range of a 
 spirit to accomplish. But in that event the onus 
 of proof would obviously be thrown upon those 
 who asserted the spirit origin of these book tests, 
 and we should be obliged to offer other evidence 
 than book tests which, on our imaginary assumptions, 
 we are supposing might be accounted for by a rare 
 combination of human powers. 
 
 Such further evidence is already to hand in the 
 phenomena called ‘Newspaper tests,’ which have 
 appeared subsequently to the book tests, and of 
 which the latter portion of this volume treats. But 
 while reinforcement of proof is always desirable 
 for important truths, I venture to think that a 
 study of the above argument will make unavoidable 
 the conclusion that there is no justification for 
 suggesting that we have glimpsed any known human 
 powers whereby we may account for book tests 
 such as are here recorded. 
 
 E.H.S. 89 H 
 
CHAPTER Xs 
 INDICATIONS OF IDENTITY 
 
 Tue assurance that the communicator is my father 
 rests upon a mass of evidence to which book tests 
 have contributed but a minute proportion. Yet it 
 may be convenient to gather together in this chapter 
 such stray items as book tests afford. 
 
 Readers will have noticed the hints of identity 
 contained in the references to Toddington (see 
 Chapter ITI).’ 
 
 Such hints receive further support when we 
 consider the character of the tests purporting to be 
 given by my father. No fewer than twenty related 
 accurately to circumstances of my life. Others, to 
 the number of ten, related to matters in my father’s 
 life. One would have difficulty in imagining these 
 to have been the work of a stranger. 
 
 In many instances the tests reveal a_theo- 
 logical and religious bent of mind. This is not 
 ‘wholly explained by the fact that the books 
 operated upon were in the library of a minister; 
 for whereas in my study there are twenty-six 
 bookshelves, only eight of these contain Biblical, 
 religious, and sermonic literature, yet it is from 
 these shelves that the great majority of tests were 
 taken. } 
 
 Among books which came to me from my 
 
 go 
 
 
 
Indications of Identity 
 
 father’s library are four volumes of Pressensé’s 
 Early Years of Christianity; from these no fewer 
 than fifteen tests were given, thirteen of them being 
 from one volume. From no other book were so 
 many tests given. Including these, there were 
 altogether twenty-eight tests from books on reli- 
 gious history, and only nine from secular histories. 
 From Biblical Commentaries, ten; from books 
 on religious origins and sociology, fourteen; while 
 from books on Biblical studies, religious essays, 
 sermons and devotional literature there were no 
 fewer than fifty-eight, not including references to 
 titles. Thus out of a total of 209 references, not 
 including title tests or the experiments asked for 
 by us, no fewer than 110 were selected from 
 books dealing with some phase of religion. This 
 indication of my communicator’s trend of mind 
 is not without its significance. 
 
 From my numerous scientific volumes only two 
 tests were given; my father used to evince but 
 slight interest in such studies. I have seven shelves 
 containing books which I especially value, and to 
 which I frequently refer, yet never once has a test 
 been taken from these. And I incline to think 
 that a possible reason may be that these books are 
 upon subjects which did not appeal to my father 
 during his earth life. Nor did the removing of 
 theological books from one part of the room to 
 
 1Sir William Barrett asked me to see if this volume contained 
 signs that it had been read by my father. He rarely marked his 
 books, and there are no marks in this volume, but in one of the 
 four he wrote an INDEX, which proves that he used them for 
 reference, 
 gol 
 
Indications of Identity 
 
 another make any difference to my communicator; 
 he still selected from among them. 
 
 Once, upon returning from a holiday, during 
 which my study had been cleaned, the book test 
 was prefaced by this inquiry:— 
 
 ‘Has any one disturbed your study? He 
 thinks they have. ‘The books, although upon 
 the same shelves as before, are all in different 
 positions.’ 
 
 I found this to be correct. All had been taken 
 out for dusting, and although each shelf contained 
 the same books as before, their order was com- 
 pletely disarranged. On several other occasions 
 I have purposely mingled different sections of the 
 library, so that books upon various subjects stood 
 side by side. It made no apparent difference to 
 the accuracy of the tests, nor did it persuade my 
 communicator to relinquish his evident preference 
 for sermonic literature and theology. 
 
 I am a lover of poetry, and should have been 
 inclined to expect that such tests as these would 
 be best discovered among the poets; but my father 
 read little poetry, and always found it difficult to 
 commit passages to memory. Now it is notice- 
 able that he has consistently avoided my fifty-five 
 volumes of poetry, and, with the exception of one 
 slight reference to Milton, has given no tests from 
 them, save from three volumes of Dante, which 
 work he always treasured on account of its having 
 been translated by his father. From those volumes 
 
 Q2 
 
Indications of Identity 
 
 of Dante were given eight tests. On another 
 occasion he indicated the position of other of 
 his father’s writings which stood upon my 
 shelves. 
 
 Such facts tend towards indication of my com- 
 municator’s identity, a matter more particularly 
 discussed in the chapters on newspaper tests. 
 
 ConcLusions DRAWN FROM THE TESTS 
 
 It is clear that whoever obtained these tests did 
 not search the books in the normal manner; for 
 we should have quoted passages verbatim, and 
 our references would have been direct and exact. 
 Picture some one blindfolded, who feels a manu- 
 script for psychometric! readings. On placing it 
 to the forehead he might obtain ideas, even a crowd 
 of them, and would proceed to mention some of 
 the strongest. If his gift were of a clairvoyant 
 type, he might give correctly some names and 
 actual words, but for the most part would content 
 himself with mentioning ideas, without stating too 
 exactly how they appeared in the manuscript. On 
 a second trial he might name an entirely different 
 set of ideas without repeating any of the former. 
 For, unless his clairvoyant powers were unusually 
 acute, he could but give what came to him at 
 the moment, being unable to see all its parts at 
 will. 
 
 A study of numerous book tests leads to the 
 
 1 For note on Psychometry, see Chapter XIX (pp. 196-200). 
 93 
 
Indications of Identity 
 
 conclusion that they are based upon ideas per- 
 ceived, rather than on words visualised. 
 
 The account given by my communicator sup- 
 ports this conclusion. It may be summarised 
 thus,—At the date of these tests he was able to see 
 actual words now and again only, as if by a flash of 
 clairvoyant power in its initial stage. He noted 
 each idea which struck him strongly, and calculated 
 the number of the page from which it came. He 
 found that he could not with certainty extract 
 many ideas from any one page, but must be content 
 to take what came, using or discarding it as seemed 
 wisest. 
 
 My conclusion is that the book tests were obtained 
 by a spirit who gleaned impressions psychometrically 
 and obtained an exact glimpse now and again by 
 clairvoyance. ‘This seems to explain the indefinite 
 nature of the allusions. 
 
 But his way of dealing with the ideas obtained 
 offers a further subject for study; for where they 
 bring to him apposite recollections from his earth 
 life he expresses these in a manner giving a clue to 
 his identity. \t has been queried if book tests may 
 not be the result of a peculiar power of clairvoyance 
 in Mrs, Leonard. But assuming for a moment 
 an hypothesis so slender, although it might serve 
 to suggest how knowledge from books in distant 
 places had been obtained, we are still left with no 
 idea as to how such knowledge is given to sitters 
 in a form inextricably interwoven with memories 
 of their departed friends, the professed communi- 
 cators. In the reference to ‘twenty years before 
 
 94 
 
Indications of Identity 
 he passed on’ (see Chapter VI, p. 53), there was 
 
 no meaning for me until I had carefully calculated 
 the years, and thought over my father’s whereabouts 
 and surroundings at that period. Now this inter- 
 weaving of tests with my father’s memories 1s a 
 persistent feature of these communications, and has 
 long since satisfied me as to the identity of the 
 communicator with my father. Here, for example, 
 is a test received at 3.20 p.m. on January 16th, 
 1920, when I was asked to examine the Daily 
 Telegraph for the following day, and to notice on 
 the first page, near the top of the second column, 
 the name of the place where I was born. 
 
 ‘He is not sure if it is given as a place 
 name, but the name is there.’ 
 
 Next day, four lines from the top of that 
 column, was the following advertisement in which 
 ‘Victoria’ might be either a personal or a place 
 name. Victoria.—Send by return. Most anxious 
 second message. 1 had always thought of my 
 birthplace as Taunton, never as Victoria, but 
 recollected having heard the latter name used in 
 connection with Taunton. So I wrote to my mother 
 asking for particulars. She replied that at the time 
 of my birth they were living close by the Wesleyan 
 church of which father had charge in Taunton, 
 that it was always called Victoria, to distinguish it 
 from the larger church at the farther end of the 
 town; and she added finally that his church 
 was situated in Victoria Street, and that the house 
 
 95 
 
Indications of Identity 
 
 where I was born was in Victoria Terrace. Com- 
 paratively few persons now living would remember 
 that I was born at Taunton, fewer still would be 
 aware that I was born at Victoria. Yet this is just 
 the kind of fact which my father could not possibly 
 forget. I may add that this advertisement had not 
 appeared in the Te/egraph of the previous day. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 SUMMARY OF RESULTS 
 
 At this point it may be interesting to consider 
 figures relating to the book tests received during 
 two years, and to view the result as a whole. Those 
 satisfactorily verified are listed as ‘ Good,’ while a 
 considerable number, which were too vague to be 
 considered successful, yet too nearly approaching 
 accuracy to be listed as ‘ Failures,’ are termed 
 “Indefinite.” A distinction seems necessary be- 
 tween tests given spontaneously and those which 
 I asked for under special conditions of my own 
 devising. Also the date, January roth, 1919, 
 must be noted; as it was then, so it was claimed, 
 there commenced an attempt to obtain some of 
 the results by ‘a sort of clairvoyance for earthly 
 objects,’ instead of relying as previously upon 
 ‘sensing.’ Again, at a sitting a few weeks later, it 
 was remarked: ‘ In giving this book test, he wishes 
 to say that he is working on different lines now, 
 using new methods, and seeing what he can do.’ 
 It will be noted how inferior were the results 
 obtained by the clairvoyant method. From the 
 fact of its having been adopted and persisted in 
 one may suppose that the communicator considered 
 it was a method which, when perfected, would 
 enable him to give superior evidence. He made it 
 clear that this was an experiment on his part. 
 
 97 
 
Summary of Results 
 
 Therefore many of the mistakes in obtaining 
 information, subsequent to the use of this ‘ clair- 
 voyance,’ may be regarded in the light of blunders 
 made by a novice when beginning to exercise a 
 new faculty. My communicator may have con- 
 sidered that, by January, 1919, he had sufficiently 
 demonstrated his power of obtaining information 
 from books, whether these were upon my shelves 
 or elsewhere. The ‘ Newspaper tests,’ which com- 
 menced in the autumn of 1919, would seem to be 
 the justification of the clairvoyant method; for 
 in these he often specifically mentions having 
 ‘seen’ a word, although from the mingled success 
 and failure one may argue that this clairvoyance 
 was not yet sufficiently under control to ensure that 
 its results should be uniformly correct. 
 The following table summarises the results:— 
 
 First Period. Good. Indefinite. Failure. Total. 
 Book tests given 
 
 spontaneously eM woe U8) L647 LEG 
 
 1 Title tests 46 m O 49 
 Book test experi- 
 
 ments asked for PM AM 5 45 
 
 Second Period. 
 
 Book tests given 
 
 spontaneously 26 7 20 53 
 
 1 Title tests 15 I 5 21 
 Book test experi- 
 
 ments asked for 7 3 14 24 
 
 
 
 Totals forthetwoyears 242 46 60 348 
 1See Appendix B. 
 
 98 
 
Summary of Results 
 
 a 
 
 While, however, it is interesting to know the 
 proportion of success to failure, it is upon the 
 character of the successes that final opinion must be 
 based. For when sufficient evidence has been 
 given to demonstrate the action of something 
 beyond human powers, it is not vital to the investi- 
 gation to know whether this ability is infallible 
 in operation, nor even if it may be capable of 
 frequent exercise. Admitting that information 
 has, upon any single occasion, been obtained from 
 books by other means than those known to men, 
 we are faced by a fact which requires not only to 
 be explained, but also to be fitted into its place with 
 the other facts. 
 
 THe ARGUMENT SUMMARISED 
 
 Through the lips of a sensitive in trance have 
 been given such references to books as indicated 
 their having been scrutinised by an intelligence. 
 The primary purpose of these efforts was said to 
 be demonstration that spirit people were able to 
 do that for which telepathy from human minds 
 could not account, a demonstration calculated to 
 clarify the evidence already existing for the author- 
 ship of their communications. (See Chapters 
 I-IV.) 
 
 These book tests are a phenomenon the origin 
 of which demands explanation. What are the 
 
 1See the reference in Sir William Barrett’s Introduction to the 
 use, by Prof. Wm. James, of ‘the white crow’ argument. 
 
 99 
 
Summary of Results 
 
 possible alternatives to spirit action? They are 
 Chance Coincidence, Collusion and Trickery, Tele- 
 pathy, or Super-normal Faculties exerted by the 
 medium. : 
 
 In view of the number, quality, and ingenuity 
 of correct test-messages received during the space 
 of two years, Chance Coincidence would appear 
 highly improbable. Prolonged experimental com- 
 parison (such as is within the power of any one 
 having leisure and access to a library) yields 
 results so conspicuously inferior as to afford over- 
 whelming presumptive evidence against Chance 
 being responsible for more than a_ negligible 
 fraction of the tests described in this book. (See 
 Chapter V.) 
 
 The numerical preponderance of success over 
 failure also indicates a cause other than Chance. 
 
 Collusion and Trickery, or indeed any normal 
 means of acquiring the information, are shown 
 to have played no part in the special tests 
 obtained from the Sealed Packet. (See Chapter VI.) 
 
 They are again ruled out, together with Tele- 
 pathy, by the increasingly stringent tests imposed 
 in connection with the Unseen Bookshelf, the 
 batch of books chosen at random by a stranger, 
 and, finally, by the unseen volumes secured in a 
 Deed Box. The degree of success attained under 
 these conditions excludes Collusion, Trickery, and 
 Telepathy; clearly, then, book tests do not depend 
 upon these, either singly or in combination. (See 
 Chapters VII and VIII.) 
 
 There are no known human faculties, normal or 
 
 100 
 
Summary of Results 
 
 subliminal, by which the medium could herself 
 have achieved the results. Examination of this 
 alternative, in the light of knowledge available 
 up to date, offers no encouragement for supposing 
 it a possible solution of the problem. (See 
 Chapter IX.) 
 
 The preferences revealed in selection of material 
 for these messages show in what direction lay the 
 tastes of the originating intelligence, and this is 
 in harmony with other indications of his identity. 
 (See Chapter X.) 
 
 Since neither Collusion, Telepathy, Coincidence, 
 nor known human faculties suffice to account for 
 book tests, what alternative remains but to accept 
 the explanation of the messages themselves, and 
 conclude that the originating cause is a spirit? In 
 this conclusion we are in agreement with many 
 investigators in other departments of psychic 
 research who, commencing with doubts, passed 
 by logical compulsion to a belief in the reality of 
 spirit communication. 
 
 Attempts to discredit the bona fides of Mrs. 
 Leonard would leave the argument untouched, 
 since it stands unassailably upon the actual words 
 uttered by her and recorded by me at the time. 
 In weighing this class of evidence, it is obvious 
 that one has to consider what was spoken, itre- 
 spective of the speaker or of prejudices relating 
 to questions of mediumship and methods of 
 research. 
 
 It has occasionally happened, when I had out- 
 lined the evidence from book tests before persons 
 
 IOI 
 
Summary of Results 
 
 who were curious but unconvinced, that they have 
 replied in effect, ‘ Well, we cannot explain the 
 _ messages, but it seems to us that if a spirit could 
 speak he would not wish to trouble about such 
 trifles. Surely he would have greater things to 
 say. This is all too trivial to be what you 
 suppose.’ 
 
 Lest I should by omission have conveyed an 
 impression that the material displayed forms a 
 chief portion of my father’s conversation, I hasten 
 to correct the misapprehension. Evidences have 
 but a minor share in our talks, and we regard them 
 rather in the light of necessary business to which 
 we turn first after our greeting, and get it finished 
 as soon as is consistent with its effective discharge. 
 Yet it requires but small intelligence to perceive 
 what added value these tests contribute to the 
 residue of my communicator’s remarks; for he 
 touches upon many things which, in the nature of 
 the case, are far beyond my power to verify—occu- 
 pations in spirit life, its added powers of mind and 
 body, the nature of the new body itself, first impres- 
 sions on arrival, and the gradual enlargement of 
 experience, the old friends met in new surroundings, 
 their relation to the earth on the one hand and the 
 future prospect on the other, their more immediate 
 consciousness of God... . 
 
 Had an account of these matters been addressed 
 to me by an unknown intelligence, even though 
 claiming to come from spirit realms, I should have 
 been in grave uncertainty as to the value one 
 was justified in attaching to the statements. But 
 
 102 
 
 
 
Summary of Results 
 
 consider how different is the actual position. Each 
 interview affords a portion of evidential matter, 
 and when, subsequent to the sitting, this is 
 discovered to be for the more part accurate, one 
 may presume that the unverifiable portions of the 
 communications are, broadly speaking, accurate 
 also, since they obviously proceed from the same 
 mind. The contents of this book display but a 
 strand or two of the substantial line of evidence 
 which runs through all my father’s conversations. 
 He warns me, and indeed it is common knowledge, 
 that the mind of the medium must necessarily 
 exert some influence, adding, as it were, to the 
 general colour scheme a shade or two of its own, 
 as well as influencing the form of words in which 
 his thought finds expression. 
 
 It is a wonderful achievement when an ascended 
 spirit, one whose body we saw laid in the grave 
 long years ago, so far succeeds in overcoming 
 the ‘tenfold-complicated change’ of our respective 
 conditions as to engage in familiar converse. Can 
 we be surprised if limitations and imperfections 
 should appear in the performance? That it 
 should be done in any degree, however imperfectly, 
 is the surpassing wonder of all. That the difh- 
 culties and limitations of communication will be 
 yet further lessened by painstaking effort on both 
 sides is my hope and expectation; that they should 
 be wholly overcome I do not anticipate, at least 
 for so long as they may serve some providential 
 purpose. 
 
 The appended book test has been reserved for 
 
 103 
 
Summary of Results 
 
 this place where, before we turn to another phase 
 of the subject, it may serve to display in unison my 
 father’s views and mine. 
 
 Cocito Erco Sum 
 
 The exact section of my library having been 
 described, Feda proceeded :-— 
 
 ‘ The shelf below the top, ninth book from 
 the left; on page 24 and about half-way 
 down are a few words suggesting something your 
 father hopes you think about his talks with you 
 in these sittings.’ 
 
 This book proved to be Personality, by Prof. 
 Momerie, and page 24 introduces a new chapter 
 commencing half-way down. ‘The position of the 
 words was thus precisely indicated. The first 
 lines were, ‘ Cogito ergo sum,’ which the author 
 proceeds to translate freely as follows: ‘Jz is 
 necessary that I who think should be somewhat. In 
 other words, thought is inconceivable without a thinker; 
 the existence of my thought ts inconcetvable without the 
 existence of myself to think it.’ Nothing could more 
 aptly sum up my opinion. The conversations 
 through Feda exhibit thought based on my father’s 
 earth recollections interwoven with newly acquired 
 information in a manner evidencing present zuze//1- 
 gence. It is he himself; and suggestions that he 
 is being impersonated by Feda or by Mrs. Leonard 
 
 104 
 
 
 
Summary of Results 
 
 would fail to meet the facts which have to be accounted 
 for. 
 
 ‘Far off thou art, but ever nigh; 
 I have thee still, and I rejoice; 
 I prosper, circled with thy voice; 
 I shall not lose thee tho’ I die. 
 Trnnyson’s Jn Memoriam. 
 
 E.H.S. 105 1 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 A FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF BOOK TESTS 
 
 Being an account of a series of test-messages 
 relating to facts and places unknown to me. 
 Transmitted for the late Hon. Edward 
 Wyndham Tennant. 
 
 Tue incidents recorded in this chapter will be 
 already familiar to readers of The Earthen Vessel. 
 I avail myself of Lady Glenconner’s permission 
 to use them here, as they afford confirmation of 
 the foregoing conclusions—conclusions which were 
 based on other facts. In this series of messages 
 there was even less scope for telepathy from minds 
 on earth. 
 
 ‘Tue Ecctiestasticus Test 
 
 A few days before a sitting with Mrs, Leonard in 
 May, 1918, | had heard the Rev. F. Fielding-Ould 
 lecture at Lady Glenconner’s house upon ‘ The 
 Psychic Experiences of the Saints in the Christian 
 Church.’ Early in the sitting references were 
 made to this lecture, after which Feda proceeded 
 to say:— 
 
 106 
 
 
 
A Further Development of Book Tests 
 
 ‘In your study, close to the door and on 
 the lowest shelf behind the door, your books 
 have dark bindings. ‘Take the fourth from 
 the left and turn to page 21. There see what 
 the lecturer you heard recently touched upon. 
 It is near the top of the page.’ 
 
 I subsequently found that the upper part of the 
 indicated page contained references to the Immor- 
 tality of the Soul, and kindred doctrines which were 
 quite relevant to the lecture. The book was Vol. II 
 of Encyclopedia Biblica, the binding of which 1s 
 dark green. Both assertions were thus found to 
 be correct. The test continued :—- 
 
 ‘All around this page, before and after, 
 there is strong bearing upon certain conditions 
 of the house where you heard that lecture. 
 If you do not understand fully, it would be 
 worth while communicating with the people 
 there; this will be a double test, because 
 what he says now about the house and people 
 is distinct from the previous test. There is 
 something about the whole book connected 
 with them. ‘Tell them the title, the subject, 
 and date of publication. A strong connection 
 with them exists, a reason for linking it to 
 them.’ 
 
 The topic of this and several preceding pages 
 proved to be the Book of Ecclesiasticus. 
 
 From Lady Glenconner’s reply I learnt the 
 nature of the family interest in this book. From 
 it had already been selected the quotation which 
 was to close the Introduction to the Memoir of 
 
 107 
 
A Further Development of Book Tests 
 
 her son, a work upon which his mother was then 
 engaged, and this verse, so perfectly appropriate, 
 had been much in her mind :— 
 
 ‘ There be of them that have left a name behind them, 
 that their praise might be recorded.’—Kcclesiasticus 
 xliv, 8 
 
 In her recent book, The Earthen Vessel, Lady 
 Glenconner says that this verse and chapter were 
 well known to her son 1n his earth life, and that, 
 in a recent dream, she had conversed with him 
 and especially alluded to this text; thus the book 
 test message provided an endorsement of her 
 dream. 
 
 At a subsequent sitting I asked Feda if Mr, 
 Tennant, called Bim by his family, had arranged 
 this test? She said, “Bim chose the topic and 
 your father found it in the book.’ It is certainly 
 a remarkable fact that, among all the volumes in 
 our house, one of the very few which mention 
 Ecclesiasticus should have been singled out; and 
 further, that amidst its 700 pages there should 
 have been chosen, not merely one out of the 
 few dealing with this subject, but, among those 
 few, the particular page which best fulfilled the 
 test. The directions given had been so precise 
 as to include in their scope a paragraph mega 
 Chapter XLIV. 
 
 I was entirely unaware, until receiving Lady 
 Glenconner’s reply, that she had any interest in the 
 passage selected, and it is important to record here 
 that neither Lady Glenconner nor Mrs. Leonard 
 have ever been in our house. 
 
 108 
 
A Further Development of Book Tests 
 
 AT THE House IN SCOTLAND 
 
 On August 22nd, 1918, I was asked to transmit 
 the following :— 
 
 ‘Here is another message for them, and 
 this time the book is in Scotland. It will be 
 a good test, since neither you nor this medium 
 have been to the place; so it 1s evident that 
 anything in the nature of conniving, or aiding 
 and abetting, is out of the question! He 
 thought Scotland would be good because of 
 being at a greater distance. The room is 
 upon what one can only call the ground floor 
 of their Scottish house, a room on the right, 
 and not quite square. As you enter the room, 
 the books are on the wall to the right at a 
 height of three to three and a half feet from 
 the ground. 
 
 “Let them take the fourth volume on the 
 left and open it at page 74; on that page is 
 a passage Bim has chosen as his message.’ 
 
 For a full account of these verifications see 
 pp. 91-7 of The Earthen Vessel, but the following 
 items will give some idea of their cogency. 
 
 The above passage proved to contain allusion 
 to Winchester, where Bim had been at school. It 
 also introduced an unusual phrase, ‘ living furni- 
 ture,’ which was one of Bim’s well-recognised 
 terms, using the word ‘furniture’ as it is here 
 used, signifying ‘people.’ It also described a 
 return to haunts of youth and thoughts of bygone 
 
 109 
 
A Further Development af Book Tests 
 
 days, which would inevitably apply to Bim when 
 looking out this test in his old home. 
 
 * At the beginning of the book, on the first 
 page, there is a message for his mother.’ 
 
 The passage there found reads as follows: * It 
 was a work worthy undertaking, for betwixt the 
 two there was so mutual a knowledge and such 
 friendship, contracted in his youth, as nothing but 
 Death could force a separation; and though their 
 bodies were divided, their affections were not, for 
 Love followed the friend’s fame beyond Death, 
 and the forgetful grave. I have heard Divines 
 say that those virtues that were but sparks upon 
 Earth, become great and glorious flames in Heaven.’ 
 
 * Also within a span, there is a book which 
 —and not the title only, but the whole book 
 —How shall one express it to them? ‘The 
 anniversary of Bim’s death draws near, and 
 this is something to comfort them. The book 
 is a keynote to the life he gained by passing 
 over. The book is full of things that the boy 
 has attained to, realised, since passing over. 
 It is but two or three weeks to the anniversary 
 of his death; therefore this book is very 
 suitable as a whole and not only because of 
 its title.’ (Here I asked if this description 
 would be sufficiently clear.) ‘They will 
 have no difficulty in seeing what is meant.’ 
 
 The book proved to be Dante’s Paradiso. 
 
 Would it be possible to name another book so 
 IIo 
 
 
 
A Further Development of Book Tests 
 
 perfectly answering the description given in the 
 message? 
 
 I was also asked to send an assurance from Bim 
 to his brothers of his continued interest in all their 
 pursuits, and to ask that examination should be 
 made of the last book on the same shelf as the 
 foregoing; as he had noticed an apposite passage 
 on its eighth page. 
 
 The lines discovered on that page, as I subse- 
 quently learnt, were as follows:— 
 
 ‘They shall not say I went with heavy heart; 
 I love them all, but now I must depart 
 As one who goes to try a Mystery... .’ 
 
 “ And now tears are not mine; I have release 
 From all the former and the latter pain; 
 Like the mid-sea, I rock in boundless peace, 
 
 Soothed by the charity of the deep sea rain.’ 
 
 *O bronzen pines, evenings of gold and blue, 
 Steep mellow slope, brimmed twilit pools below, 
 Hushed trees, still vale dissolving in the dew... 
 
 ‘We have been happy... 
 Happy now, I go.’ 
 
 When asked if Bim were present and giving the 
 message himself, Feda replied,— 
 
 ‘Bim is not here now, but sends his very 
 best thanks, and says it has especially helped 
 his father.’ 
 
 III 
 
A Further Development of Book Tests 
 
 Not knowing the address of their home in Scot- 
 land, I sent a copy of the notes to Lady Glenconner 
 at her London house. Some days later I received 
 a telegram from Glen saying the book tests had 
 been satisfactorily verified. 
 
 AT THE Town HovuseE 
 
 Extract from a sitting with Mrs. Leonard, 
 January roth, 1919:— 
 
 “A book test from Bim for his mother. It 
 is in the drawing-room at No. 34. Books 
 behind the door, but not the side close to 
 the door. ‘Top shelf and eighth book from 
 the left, page 6. On the lower part of the 
 page find something which Bim has been 
 able to do for his mother lately. Your father 
 thinks the above will be good if verified; he 
 himself has not the faintest idea about the 
 actual facts, neither has this medium.’ 
 
 A second test was added, but owing to the family 
 being out of town at the time, the position of 
 several books was changed before this portion 
 could be verified. Lady Glenconner subsequently 
 wrote, ‘I hasten to say that one of the tests has 
 come rightly. It is the eighth book, counting from 
 the left, top shelf of room side of bookcase. Page 
 6, a page of contents, reads as follows :— 
 
 ‘ “Triumph. 
 
 ‘“ The Dead and Living meet. . . . The record 
 
 12 
 
 - 
 ee ae _ 
 
 iz a = > 
 
 ee Oe Te 
 
A Further Development of Book Tests 
 
 of one of the most wonderful and mysterious 
 experiences.” ’ 
 
 At Witsrorp Manor 
 
 While sitting with Mrs, Leonard on May 2nd, 
 1919, I was asked to pass on the following message 
 from Bim to his mother :— 
 
 ‘Bim has a book test from Wilsford. It 
 is not in Scotland this time, nor the town 
 house. ‘They are going to Wilsford to-day.’ 
 
 This was the first time I had heard of Wilsford, 
 and, not knowing the address, posted my letter 
 to the town house. 
 
 * Bim’s test is in the study at Wilsford, to 
 the right as one goes in. The shelf is about 
 three feet up. Within a span of the third 
 book from the left there is a title suggesting 
 “tumbling down.” ’ 
 
 This proved correct; close above the indicated 
 book is a copy of Milton’s Paradise Lost, containing 
 an illustration by Blake showing the ‘ Fall of 
 Lucifer.’ 
 
 ‘In the third book from the left, page 29, 
 
 there is a summary of events interesting to 
 Bim.’ 
 
 The book was found to be Vol. III of Shelley’s 
 113 
 
AA Further Development of Book Tests 
 
 Poetical Works, published by Chatto & Windus, 
 1888. Page 29 was headed, ‘The Triumph of 
 Life,’ and the applicable lines from this poem are 
 given here. ‘They are apposite and beautiful. 
 
 .; so on my sight 
 Burst a new vision, never seen before ; 
 
 And the fair shape waned in the coming light, 
 As veil by veil the silent splendour drops 
 From Lucifer, amid the chrysolite 
 
 Of Sun-rise, e’er it tinge the mountain tops. 
 And as the presence of that fairest planet ih 
 Although unseen, is felt by one who hopes - 
 
 That his day’s path may end as he began it 
 In that star’s smile, whose light is like the scent 
 Of a jonquil when evening breezes fan it, 
 
 So knew I, in that Light’s severe excess 
 The presence of that shape which on the stream 
 Moved, as I moved along the wilderness 
 
 Ne eee than a aay eben seat 
 A igh ie heaven. meee 
 The new Vision, Waa 
 
 . and the cold bright car 
 
 With solemn speed and stunning music crost 
 114 
 
 
 
A Further Development of Book Tesis 
 
 The-forest, . . . from some dread War 
 hr ataengeies returning. 
 
 Behold a wonder worthy of the are 
 Of one who from the lowest depths of hell, 
 Through every Paradise, and through all glory 
 
 Love led serene, azd who returned to tell 
 . the wondrous story, 
 How all things are transfigured except Love.’ 
 
 (In this quotation the words deemed specially 
 appropriate are italicised, and the omissions denoted 
 
 by dotted lines.) 
 
 The total number of references which I was 
 asked to pass on to Lady Glenconner was nineteen. 
 Few, if any, seem to have been entire failures, while 
 no less than fifteen were found by Bim’s parents to 
 be strikingly appropriate. 
 
 115 
 
PART II 
 NEWSPAPER TESTS 
 

 
CHAPTER XIII 
 NEWSPAPER TESTS ILLUSTRATED 
 
 WE now commence the study of something 
 entirely new among evidences for human survival. 
 As we proceed, it will be advisable to assure our- 
 selves that the facts are neither to be explained by 
 the reading-in of meanings not actually present, 
 nor by chance applicability, nor by opportunities 
 for trickery. Following a method similar to that 
 pursued in discussing book tests, we shall discover 
 indications of a clairvoyance and a prevision not 
 attributable to the medium. 
 
 On resuming sittings with Mrs. Leonard after a 
 holiday interval in the early autumn of 1919, I 
 was informed through Feda that a new type of 
 test-message was about to be attempted. Its object 
 was said to be the provision of evidence which 
 would render untenable the supposition that infor- 
 mation given at these sittings was limited to the 
 stores of subconscious knowledge possessed by the 
 medium or the sitter. 
 
 The following pages place the reader in possession 
 of material upon which to form an opinion as to 
 the success of this new evidence. 
 
 The idea is, in brief, to connect the communi- 
 cator’s past memories, or present knowledge, with 
 items which have not been made public, but which 
 
 IIg 
 
Newspaper Tests Illustrated 
 
 will be found in some publication almost imme- 
 diately to appear. Until verifying the message 
 by inspection of the paper designated the sitter 
 has usually no idea of the form the verification will 
 take. Two streams of knowledge are united in 
 the experiment in a way that excludes the familiar 
 suggestion of telepathic action between human 
 minds. 
 
 The name ‘Newspaper test’ has been chosen 
 because the majority of the references have related 
 to newspapers, although they have occasionally 
 been selected at my request from unpublished 
 magazines. ‘The greater number of those received 
 by me have been chosen from the Times. 
 
 On Friday, November 7th, 1919, I received for 
 the third time a series of references to items which 
 were to be looked for in the morrow’s Press. A 
 copy of these references was posted that evening 
 to the Hon. Secretary for Psychical Research. 
 Since that date I have unfailingly followed the same 
 procedure. These copies are retained by the 
 Society, and afford evidence that the information 
 they contain was given on the day previous to the 
 issue of the paper to which they severally refer. 
 
 We will first consider some comparatively simple 
 examples selected from a sitting of December 19th, 
 1919; these tests were written down by me at 
 3.10 p.m. and were to be verified in the Times 
 of the following day. 
 
 Having been directed to the first page and 
 “rather more than one-third down column three,’ 
 I was asked to look to the left where, almost in a 
 
 120 
 
 
 
Newspaper Tests IMustrated 
 
 line with that spot, would appear my name and a 
 little above it that of my wife. 
 
 On examining that part of the Times next day, 
 viz., December 20th, 1919, I saw our names 
 within one inch of each other, my wife’s in column 
 one, and my own name, Charles, in column two. 
 Both are to the left of the spot named as guiding 
 mark, but two inches below half-way down, which 
 is somewhat lower than indicated. My wife’s 
 name is represented in the paper by Clare, which 
 is what I habitually call her, it being my favourite 
 variant upon Clara, her true name. ‘ Clare’ appears 
 just a fraction higher than ‘ Charles,’ and this 
 agrees with the test description. 
 
 The next assertion was rather curious, and 
 indicated intimate knowledge:— 
 
 ‘Within an inch of those names you'll 
 see your wife’s age.’ 
 
 I discovered this just one inch and five-eighths 
 above our names. The figure appearing there is 
 s1, and would have been correct a fortnight earlier; 
 but a birthday intervening had meanwhile changed 
 the age to 52. 
 
 A further test followed :— 
 
 ‘Close to half-way down column one is 
 your father’s name, but as it is not uncommon, 
 and people may say it is likely to occur by 
 chance, he does not rest this test upon a single 
 name, two of his are mentioned.’ 
 
 E.H.S. 121 K 
 
Newspaper Tests IMustrated 
 
 Two of his names appear in one notice, first 
 Thomas, then two lines lower, John. ‘These are but 
 three inches below the middle of column one. 
 
 While the positions are not always given with 
 microscopic accuracy, the above were sufficiently 
 correct to enable the names to be easily identified. 
 The five items were found within a space of less 
 than three inches square, although in four different 
 notices. This clustering in groups is a frequent 
 feature of newspaper tests. 
 
 The following examples include another test- 
 cluster and an illustration of the intimate know- 
 ledge of our house possessed by the communicator. 
 The test-messages are placed between quotation 
 marks, and following each is its verification as 
 discovered in the Times for the next day. 
 
 Date of sitting, November 26th, 1920, at 6.15 
 pm. ‘The number of tests given for verification 
 from the first page of the morrow’s Times was 
 nine. Result: Correct 6; Inconclusive 1; Failure 2. 
 A selection only is here shown. 
 
 ‘In column two, a little lower than half- 
 way down, he thought he saw the name 
 Bernard.’ 
 
 It is lower than stated, and is the only appearance 
 
 of this name in the column. 
 
 “Very close thereto is his name John.’ 
 
 It is within two inches of ‘ Bernard’ in the 
 parallel column one. 
 I22 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 eS et oe ae 
 
 a ee Oe en” Oe oe ee 
 
 . ge a 
 5 Fatt Agi ie cat 
 
Newspaper Tests Illustrated 
 
 ‘Also an aunt on his side who is often 
 with him. All three names are close together.’ 
 
 Three lines above John is Marie; his sister was 
 Mary. 
 
 The above three names are all within a space 
 measuring two by three inches. Such references 
 to common names have slight evidential value in 
 isolation, but, linked together as above they gain 
 cumulative force. 
 
 ‘Near the top of column two is the name 
 of a man whose works in life your father 
 greatly admired. He was a writer, and you 
 have more than one reminder of him among 
 your books at home.’ 
 
 Two inches down column two 1s, the late Thomas. 
 The reference applies to my grandfather, whose 
 books in my study had been previously alluded to 
 in these tests. 
 
 ‘There was some uncertainty as to where 
 exactly the following was to be placed, but 
 you will find it somewhere in the top half 
 of column two. It is the name of a lady, a 
 relation, whose portrait you have at home in 
 a conspicuous position. This portrait is not 
 on a wall, but stands in its frame upon a 
 piece of furniture, which Feda feels is made 
 of very dark and highly polished wood, a 
 fine wood and not like oak. Feda thinks the 
 article it stands on is not close to the wall, 
 but is pulled out a little; there are some bars 
 upon it near the photograph, certainly two, 
 
 123 
 
Newspaper Tests Illustrated 
 
 and there may be more, but Feda is shown 
 two of them. Also quite close to the photo- 
 graph there is something white.’ 
 
 The name of a sister-in-law, Emily, appears in 
 the top half of column two. We keep her framed 
 photograph upon a secretary of highly polished and 
 very dark rosewood, having bars of the same material 
 standing in relief against a curtain of light silk. 
 Within three inches of this photograph I noticed 
 a calendar with figures on a white ground, also 
 within fifteen inches a letter-rack containing paper 
 and envelopes; these sufficiently accounted for 
 ‘something white’ close to it. Each item of the 
 test was correct, even to the position of the secretary, 
 which stood crossways in a corner, one side being 
 three, and the other fourteen, inches from the wall. 
 There was an unexpected sequel to this test at the 
 next sitting: Feda remarked that my father had 
 noticed, in a room we often used, the face of a cat 
 and ‘any one could pick it up’; also that he saw 
 in the same room ‘ something like a snake.’ She 
 added that this snake had to do with something 
 we could see, and that connected with it was ‘a 
 cover which could be lifted up.’ She was pro- 
 ceeding to say that cat and snake had something to 
 do with each other, when she was checked. and 
 correcting herself, added that she was told to say 
 that they were not connected, but were in the same 
 place. As it seemed doubtful if we could trace 
 these from the description, I inquired whether 
 they were in a book. The reply was given very 
 emphatically :— 
 
 124 
 
 
 
Newspaper Tests IMustrated 
 
 ‘No, not in a book, but wpow something. 
 They are in the same place, but not to do 
 with each other, and certainly not connected 
 with book tests.’ 
 
 On reaching home my wife, who had accompanied 
 me to the sitting, drew my attention to the secretary 
 above mentioned. There, almost touching the 
 framed portrait of her sister, stood a pictorial 
 calendar showing a cat prominent in the foreground, 
 while immediately in front of this was a Chinese 
 stamp-box, its lid ornamented with a snake-like 
 dragon in high relief. My wife had thought of 
 this snake on the box as ‘a cover which could be 
 lifted up,’ but had not recollected the cat until, 
 while verifying the snake, the picture arrested her 
 attention. ‘Any one could pick it up,’ as the 
 calendar simply rests against the bars of the 
 secretary. 
 
 One may suppose that these objects had been 
 noticed by our communicator while obtaining the 
 photograph test for the previous sitting, and then 
 either forgotten, or designedly held over for this 
 occasion. Mrs. Leonard has never visited our 
 house, and even had she done so it would remain 
 to be explained how it was possible for her to 
 connect this photograph with a name which was 
 to appear in a certain place in the Times on the 
 following day. 
 
 The next illustrates an intermingling of failure 
 and success. Date of sitting, May 7th, 1920, at 
 6.20 p.m. 
 
 This was one of several sittings specially arranged 
 
 125 
 
Newspaper Tests Illustrated 
 
 for a later hour than usual in order to discover if 
 the tests would attain greater accuracy as regards 
 position. We thought there would be less likeli- 
 hood of the columns being rearranged after this 
 hour, and the communicator said he would take a 
 last glance at them immediately before the sitting 
 
 began. 
 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 
 the first page of the morrow’s Times was seven. 
 Result: Correct 6; Failure +1. 
 
 ‘Look near the top of column two on the 
 front page for reference to a neighbour living 
 very close to you. Your father senses that 
 there are two names together which would 
 both refer to these neighbours. You will 
 understand.’ 
 
 Four inches from the top of column two appears 
 Birds. A few doors from us reside our friends Mr. 
 and Mrs. Bird. The name appears in conjunction 
 with others in a way which seems to have suggested 
 something which the communicator did not quite 
 succeed in clearly expressing, but at least he was 
 correct in saying there were two names together; 
 the relevant words ran thus: Wood of ‘ Birds- 
 grove.’ 
 
 ‘ Nearly half-way down column two is the 
 
 name of a man at your Mission. But it 
 struck your father that this name would also 
 apply to some one whom he knew on earth 
 years ago, although not to do with the same 
 family. It reminds him of it.’ 
 
 126 
 
 ST: ee eT Lee pee fe ee ae eee Ie 
 
 
 
 
 
Newspaper Tests Ilustrated 
 
 For some years I have been attached to the staff 
 of the Leysian Mission, City Road, London, 
 and among our oldest workers is a Mr. Mason, 
 formerly resident in the Mission Hostel, and still 
 closely identified with our Sunday School and 
 other activities. Within an inch of half-way down 
 the column appears the name Mason: the position 
 was thus foretold with absolute precision. My 
 father knew a minister of this name forty years 
 ago, and for some years we were on terms of 
 unusual intimacy with members of his family. 
 
 “In column, one and about a quarter down, 
 is your father’s name given in connection with 
 a place he knew very well about twenty years 
 ago.” 
 
 Between a quarter and half-way down is the name 
 John and one inch above it is Birkdale. My father’s 
 name was John, and Birkdale is the name of the 
 only house he ever owned, a house he bought 
 nearly twenty years before, ze. in 1901, when 
 retiring from active work, and in which he resided 
 until his death. None of our family have lived 
 there for many years past. 
 
 * Just underneath and very close is another 
 place he knew. He sensed it was in the 
 south of England, direct south, a good distance 
 from London. He only lived there a short 
 time; it was one of the places of his shortest 
 residence.’ 
 
 127 
 
Newspaper Tests Illustrated 
 
 One inch below the above was Southampton, and 
 as my father had lived at two places near that town 
 I supposed the indefinite description might be 
 intended to cover the locality. This being much 
 too vague for evidence, I inquired at my next 
 interview if he meant Southampton. The reply 
 was given without hesitation, “Southampton was 
 not right, Newport was what he intended.’ I 
 replied that Newport was not mentioned in the 
 paper, but on returning home discovered a quarter 
 of an inch below Birkdale the name Newbury. 
 May we suppose that there was, to clairvoyant 
 vision, sufficient similarity between ‘ Newbury ’ 
 and “ Newport, to give rise to a mistake? For 
 there followed an explanation of the difficulty of 
 seeing clearly the actual words. Passing this as 
 a failure, and taking no note of the subsequent 
 introduction of ‘ Newport,’ because this had been 
 mentioned at previous sittings, there yet remains 
 the assertion that one of my father’s briefest resi- 
 dences had been at Newport. This is quite correct, 
 as I found from letters and documents dating 
 before my birth; yet it is a fact of which few people 
 would now be aware, and a reference to available 
 records of our Church would give the impression 
 that he lived at Newport for a much longer period 
 than was actually the case. Such incidental remarks 
 are valuable clues to identity. 
 
 “Lower in the column he saw, or rather 
 sensed, a reference to Ramsgate or that 
 locality. But quite close, within an inch of 
 it, was the name of some people your mother 
 
 128 
 
Newspaper Tests Ilustrated 
 
 will remember well as having been at Rams- 
 gate. In fact she had a reminder of them 
 quite lately from some one she met.’ 
 
 These three statements proved correct. At the 
 bottom of the column was Herne Bay, which is 
 near Ramsgate, and where my father sometimes 
 visited when he had a church at the latter place. 
 In the same line and ‘ within an inch of it’ is seen 
 the name TFoseph, which at once suggested a 
 ministerial friend, Joseph Silcox, who, after leaving 
 Ramsgate, presently settled at Herne Bay and 
 died there. My mother has frequently met the 
 family since then, and tells me that twelve days 
 before this test was given she was hearing about 
 them from their minister. 
 
 “Another Ramsgate name is very close 
 also, but this is a name of one still at Ramsgate 
 and in whom your mother would be interested.’ 
 Here I inquired whether I knew this person. 
 The reply came, ‘Yes, your mother told you 
 about him.’ 
 
 On referring to the Times next day there was no 
 doubt as to this name, which is in the notice coming 
 fourth after the foregoing, although at the top 
 of the second column, May we suppose that it 
 was moved there owing to a few late insertions 
 after these tests were selected. This notice is 
 headed Preston. A gentleman of this name is still 
 prominent in Church and Temperance work at 
 Ramsgate, and was well known to my father. 
 
 120 
 
Newspaper Tests Illustrated 
 
 My mother had been speaking to me about him 
 exactly three weeks previously. It will be noted that 
 the wording of the tests implies knowledge that 
 while the ‘ Joseph’ family is no longer at Rams- 
 gate, Mr. Preston still resides there. 
 
 ‘Near the bottom of column one is your 
 Christian name and also the name Thomas 
 quite close.’ 
 
 It was so. Three-quarters down column one, 
 and within four lines of each other, appear Thomas 
 and The Rev. Charles. ‘The general accuracy of 
 position in the above tests deserves notice. 
 
 It will be inquired how much of the above was 
 knowledge possessed by Mrs. Leonard? She was 
 normally aware that we had lived at Ramsgate, 
 and that I worked at the Leysian Mission. And 
 during previous trances mention had been made 
 of the name Silcox (in connection with Ramsgate), 
 and Newport (as my mother’s old home), also of 
 Fred Bird (as an old friend residing near us at 
 Bromley). But even had Mrs, Leonard been 
 possessed normally of these items, it is not easy to 
 suggest how this could have made possible the 
 above varied assertions relating to the morrow’s 
 Press, and indicating familiarity with my father’s 
 earth memories. 
 
 130 
 
 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 EXAMINATION OF THE TEST MESSAGES FOR FEBRUARY 
 I4TH, 1920 
 
 Brrore presenting for consideration a somewhat 
 numerous selection of these newspaper tests, it 
 may be advisable to examine somewhat minutely, 
 and in their entirety, those given for a single date. 
 We shall thus gain some idea of the characteristics 
 generally observable in such tests. 
 
 Two sketch-plans are added which show at a 
 glance (a) the positions in which the names con- 
 cerned were subsequently found, and (4) the result 
 of an attempt to discover how far the forecast might 
 have been due to chance. 
 
 The Times Office in Queen Victoria Street, 
 London, preserves copies of every issue of the 
 paper, inspection of which is permitted on payment 
 of a small charge. 
 
 Tests given 3 p.m., February 13th, 1920, to be 
 verified from the Times of the day following. 
 The following is an extract from my notes of 
 a sitting on this date:— 
 
 ‘1. The first page of the paper, in column 
 two and near the top—(here Feda remarked 
 that she could not quite get my father’s 
 
 131 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 meaning, but after a pause continued)—the 
 name of a minister with whom your father 
 was friendly at Leek. 
 
 ‘2. Lower in this column, say one-quarter 
 down, appear his name, your own, your 
 mother’s, and that of an aunt; all four within 
 the space of two inches. 
 
 ‘3. Near these the word “ Grange.” 
 
 ‘4. In column one, not quite half-way 
 down, is your mother’s maiden name or one 
 very like it. 
 
 ‘ ¢. Somewhat above that is named a place 
 where your mother passed some years of her 
 girlhood. 
 
 ‘6. Close to the foregoing is a name which 
 suggests an: action which one might make 
 with the body in jumping. 
 
 “~. Towards the bottom of column one 
 is named a place where you went to school. 
 
 ‘8. In the vicinity is mentioned a—shall 
 I say a teacher, rather than a schoolmaster— 
 of yours whom you will remember well. 
 
 “9. There is a word close by which looks 
 to your father like “‘ Cheadle.” 
 
 ‘to. Higher in column one, say two-thirds 
 down, is a name suggesting ammunition. 
 
 “11. Between that and the teacher’s name 
 is a place-name, French, looking like three 
 words hyphened into one; the first rather 
 long, the last shorter, and one looking like 
 é¢ sur.’ 
 
 “12. About the middle of this page, the 
 middle both down and across, is a mistake in 
 print; it cannot be right, some wrong letters 
 inserted or something left out, some kind of 
 mistake just there.’ 
 
 132 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 It is important to realise that a copy of these 
 notes was made the same evening, and posted in 
 London so that it would be delivered early the 
 following morning. It was sent to the Secretary 
 of the Society for Psychical Research in accordance 
 with my invariable custom, a practice adopted 
 many months previously, when I realised that tests 
 from the papers of the day after the sitting were 
 becoming a regular feature of conversations with 
 
 my father through Mrs, Leonard and Feda. 
 
 We will now compare the above with the first 
 page of the 7imes for the day following the sitting, 
 viz., February 14th, 1920. The sketch-plan on 
 the adjoining page is made from the front page 
 of the Times for this date, and may assist those who 
 cannot conveniently refer to the newspaper itself, 
 in forming some idea of the general accuracy of the 
 tests as regards their position in the several columns. 
 
 I have numbered the tests for convenience in 
 studying their verification. 
 
 Item I:— 
 ‘The first page of the paper, in column 
 two and near the top, is the name of a minister 
 with whom your father was friendly at Leek.’ 
 
 On looking at this portion of the Times on the 
 morning of February 14th, I failed to find either 
 Holbrey or Pritchard, who were the only ministers 
 whom I remembered at Leek when we resided 
 there in my early boyhood. I therefore asked my 
 
 133 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 THE TIMES 
 
 Saturday, February 14, 1920 
 
 a a | a | | a | | ET SN 
 
 JOHN 
 Hants Cumnock 
 Emile 
 Sauret 
 Charles 
 
 Dorothea | WaTTS 
 
 ee a | a | | EE 
 
 Canon 
 Canon 
 
 Braine-le- 
 Chateau 
 
 a en re i ee 
 
 Joseph 
 Lincoln- 
 shire 
 
 ' 
 
 mother to read down this column and let me know 
 
 if she found there any familiar ministerial name. 
 
 She at once drew my attention to the name Perks, 
 
 appearing four inches from the top, informing me 
 
 that a minister of that name visited Leek on a 
 
 special occasion, and that my father had much 
 134 
 
 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 enjoyed his company. With this clue I looked 
 through my father’s scrupulously kept diaries and 
 found that in 1873 the Rev. George T. Perks, M.A., 
 then President of the Wesleyan Conference, visited 
 Leek as Foreign Missionary Deputation, and that 
 my father spent most of the day with him at the 
 house of a friend named Stephen Goodwin. An 
 incident of this sort was likely to remain prominent 
 in my father’s memory. 
 
 The test had proved successful, the name of a 
 minister with whom my father was friendly at 
 Leek appearing near the top of the second column 
 of the first page of the Times for the date specified. 
 
 One of necessity inquires whether this might: 
 not have been a mere coincidence? Either of the 
 three names, Holbrey, Pritchard, or Perks, would 
 have met the test; what then are the chances that 
 one or other of these might appear within a few 
 inches from the top of the second column of the 
 Times for any date taken at random? Collecting 
 ten copies of the paper for various dates, I made 
 search, but failed to find a single appearance of 
 either name, although going very carefully through 
 the top quarter of column two in each front page 
 _ of the whole ten. This negative result tells against 
 coincidence, but the argument against chance will 
 be strengthened as we proceed with the examination. 
 
 There arises next the very important question 
 of the medium’s knowledge. How much might 
 Mrs, Leonard (or Feda) know about Leek and my 
 father’s associations there? Looking up my notes 
 of a sitting three years before (one of my earliest 
 
 135 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 with Mrs. Leonard), I find the following references 
 to Leek. My father was telling me (through Feda) 
 about a minister he had known named Jones. 
 Remembering that he knew at least two of this 
 name, I asked, ‘Is it the one who followed us at 
 Leek, or do you allude to your old Chairman of 
 the District?’ My question seemed to interest 
 Feda, who found opportunity for remarking that 
 her medium (meaning Mrs, Leonard) had been 
 in Leek. When the sitting ended I verified this, 
 Mrs. Leonard telling me that she had visited 
 Leek in company with her husband some years 
 previously. 
 
 Would the incident of Mr, Perks’s visit to Leek, 
 at a date before her birth, have been likely to 
 attract the notice of Mrs, Leonard? And if so, 
 could she have been aware that my father spent 
 the day with him, or that he had regarded him as 
 a friend ? 
 
 I believe, however, that this earlier reference to 
 Leek in connection with my father was largely 
 responsible for the ease with which Feda, on the 
 later occasion, caught the name. Feda’s memory 
 is extraordinarily retentive, and I notice that any 
 name once coming into our conversation at a sitting 
 is more easily repeated by her subsequently, and is 
 usually given with more certainty than attends the 
 introduction of fresh names. In the latter case 
 there is nothing in the context to assist Feda, and 
 she is often inaccurate; items 3 and 9g of this 
 sitting, ‘Grange’ and ‘ Cheadle,’ may have been 
 imperfectly seen by the communicator, alternatively 
 
 136 
 
 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 they possibly illustrate Feda’s jumping to a con- 
 clusion and giving a word familiar to her instead 
 of one the communicator strove to transmit. Have 
 we not sometimes found it difficult to catch a strange 
 name spoken through the telephone, while familiarity 
 has aided us in correctly guessing other names 
 pronounced over the wire with equal indistinctness ? 
 I now continue the discussion. 
 
 Item 2 :— 
 ‘One-quarter down column two is his 
 name, your own, your mother’s, and that of 
 an aunt. All are within two inches.’ 
 
 Let us see what names are required to satisfy 
 this assertion. My father’s name was John 
 Drayton and mine is Charles Drayton; therefore 
 we must find either John and Charles, or one 
 of these together with Drayton. My mother is 
 Sarah Jane, so that one or other of these names 
 should appear in the paper. My various aunts 
 are named Emily, Frances Mary, Henrietta, 
 Margaret, Susie, Matilda, and Anne Wesley; 
 such a number certainly provides scope for the 
 chance appearance of a suitable name. 
 
 In the second column of the Times next morning, 
 and 14 inches below one quarter down, are the 
 names Yohn and Charles, which meet the first half 
 of the test. Then comes the name Emile Sauret, 
 which presumably suggested Emily and Sarah, 
 my aunt and mother. Most significant of all, 
 these four names fall within a space 1} by 14 inches. 
 
 As before remarked, so wide a choice of names 
 
 E.H.S. 137 L 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 provides room for coincidence, and yet my search 
 through ten numbers of the 7zmes for other dates 
 failed to find more than two of these names in a 
 similar position in any one paper. A glance at the 
 accompanying sketch-plan of tests for coincidence 
 (see page 147) will make this plain. It will there 
 be seen that, in three issues, the names John and 
 Mary were found together, and in three other 
 issues one of the required names appears in approxi- 
 mately the right place. But John and Charles did 
 not happen together once, nor was the name of 
 any aunt, save Mary, discoverable. This favours 
 the assumption that the finding of John, Charles, 
 and Emile Sauret in the place described on 
 the previous day, and within less than the 
 asserted distance of each other, was not a mere 
 coincidence. 
 
 Repetition of such tests-revealing a knowledge 
 of family names goes far towards proving the 
 identity of my communicator. A number of these 
 will be found in later pages. 
 
 Item 3:— 
 ‘Near these the word ‘“ Grange.” ’ 
 
 I can discover neither this name. nor another 
 sufficiently near it in appearance to account for 
 the idea. Whatever may be the methods used 
 by my communicator, they failed him at this point, 
 unless it was Feda who tripped over the name. 
 
 Item 4:— 
 ‘In column one, not quite half-way down, 
 138 
 
 
 
 b) 
 \ 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 is a name which is your mother’s maiden 
 name or one very like it.’ 
 
 My mother’s maiden name was Dore (without 
 the accent). In the Times next day I found, exactly 
 one inch short of half-way down the first column, 
 the name Dorothea. This is not Dore, yet the first 
 portion is ‘very like it,’ as the test claimed it 
 would be. 
 
 The presence of names commencing Dor 
 is frequent in these columns: I found no fewer 
 than six in the corresponding portion of the 
 Times when searching ten issues for coincidences. 
 The interest, therefore, of this test lies in the fact 
 that I was asked to look for a name something like 
 the one indirectly indicated (one which I, but not 
 Mrs. Leonard, knew to be Dore), and which was 
 found to commence Dor This test points 
 in the direction of my father’s recollection of an 
 unusual name which would be indelibly impressed 
 by happy associations upon his memory. This 
 name has been brought into one subsequent test 
 ‘in a connection which revealed a further knowledge 
 of family names such as my father would possess, 
 but of which Mrs. Leonard would know nothing. 
 This was on June 14th, 1920, at 5.40 p.m., when 
 the following was given among several items to 
 be verified from the first page of the next day’s 
 Times :— 
 
 
 
 
 
 “Near the top of column two is the name 
 of your mother’s mother. One of her other 
 
 139 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 names is held by another member in the 
 family.” 
 
 Wishing to avoid ambiguity, I asked if this 
 referred to my grandmother’s Christian name, 
 Ann? The reply given was:— 
 
 ‘No, that is the name in the paper; but one 
 of her other names is held by another in the 
 family, and makes a peculiar combination. 
 This other name, the married one, 1s to be 
 found a little lower. He does not know if it 
 is given there as a personal name.’ 
 
 This was correct, for in the Times for June 1 sth, 
 1920, the name Aun appeared two inches from 
 the top of the second column. Now it is 
 dificult to think that Mrs, Leonard could have — 
 been aware of this name, the owner of which passed 
 on some twenty-six years previously. The final 
 remark in the test message indicated knowledge 
 that the name in question, namely, Dore, was 
 capable of another use; it is pronounced exactly 
 like the noun ‘ door.’ 
 
 Coming now to the assertion that this name 
 occurred in peculiar combination in the names of 
 another member of the family, we find a further 
 evidence of intimate knowledge such as my father 
 would possess, and which the medium certainly 
 would not. My sister’s final names were Dore 
 Raw; the name Dore, never having been used save 
 in her legal signature, was little likely to have been 
 known anywhere outside the family circle. 
 
 140 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 Did this name Dore appear in the Times next 
 day ? No, but within two inches of the above 4uz, 
 and slightly’ lower in the adjoining column, I 
 found both Doris and Dorothy, which commence 
 with the syllable approximating in sound and 
 spelling to Dore. 
 
 From this digression we return to— 
 
 Item 5:— 
 “Somewhat above that is named a place 
 where your mother passed some years of her 
 
 girlhood.’ 
 
 This description would scarcely lead one to 
 expect Newport, I.0.W., which was her home, 
 and the only other place applicable would be 
 Shirley, near Southampton, where my mother was 
 at school for two or more years. On searching 
 the paper I found that, four inches above the pre- 
 ceding test-words, Doris and Dorothy, was Hanis. 
 This is literally correct, Shirley being in Hampshire. 
 ] have noticed that Feda almost invariably uses 
 the term ‘place’ instead of ‘country.’ Careful 
 scrutiny of ten other numbers of the Times failed 
 to show any mention of Hampshire in the corre- 
 sponding part of column one; thus again is support 
 lacking for the suggestion of coincidence. 
 
 Item 6:— 
 ‘Close to the foregoing is a name, which 
 suggests an action which one might make 
 with the body in jumping.’ 
 
 Within three inches of ‘ Hants,’ and on a level 
 with it in the adjoining column, is a place-name, 
 141 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 Cumnock, which seems to have suggested a pun, 
 which, however poor, provoked an involuntary 
 smile when I happened unexpectedly upon it. A 
 knock might come to one as a result of clumsy 
 leaping. How few names would meet the descrip- 
 tion. Search through the corresponding portions 
 of ten issues of the Times failed to reveal a single 
 one which, by any stretch of imagination, could be 
 considered apposite. 
 
 Item 7:— 
 ‘Towards the bottom of column one is 
 named a place where you went to school.’ 
 
 Owing to the frequent removals of our home 
 necessitated by the Wesleyan itinerant system, I 
 was at school in six different towns, and as these 
 were in five counties there are no less than eleven 
 names, any one of which would fulfil this test. 
 Coincidence is therefore probable here, and in my 
 search through ten issues of the Zzmes, two names 
 appeared in approximately the required position. 
 There is, therefore, nothing particularly striking 
 in the fact that in the next morning’s Times the 
 last line of column one contained Lincolnshire, in 
 which county I was at school for three years. As 
 intimated above, a county is alluded to by Feda as 
 “a place,’ : 
 
 Item 8 :— 
 ‘In the vicinity is mentioned a—shall I 
 say a teacher, rather than a schoolmaster— 
 of yours whom you will remember well.’ 
 
 142 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 This distinction between master.and teacher hits 
 off the position exactly. At the school I attended 
 before removing to Lincolnshire, the master was 
 named Watts, and his eldest son, Joseph, occasion- 
 ally helped his father by teaching the juniors. I 
 was a great admirer of Joseph, and those were 
 proud occasions when he came to tea with me. 
 Joseph was not a master, and yet he sometimes 
 taught me. On looking at the part of the column 
 indicated I found the name Foseph occurring in 
 the same advertisement with Lincolnshire; (but 
 more than this, the name Waits appears in the 
 next column, where it may have served, if noticed 
 by my communicator, to connect the name Joseph 
 with this friend of my boyhood). This was another 
 fact of the kind my parents would remember, as 
 my friendships were matter of much importance 
 in their eyes. I find that my mother has very 
 clear-cut recollections of Joseph and my admiration 
 for him. 
 
 The name Joseph is commonly found in these 
 columns, indeed it appears again some three inches 
 from the bottom of this column. 
 
 Item 9 :— 
 ‘There is a word close by which looks to 
 your father like Cheadle.’ 
 
 I can find nothing of the kind; it seems another 
 case of Feda’s difficulty in transmitting names 
 with which she is unfamiliar. 
 
 It will be asked why my communicator does not 
 
 143 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 correct Feda when she gives a wrong name? He 
 tells me that he is much engrossed preparing the 
 next sentence, and is not always aware how Feda 
 is interpreting his message; and even when con- 
 scious of a mistake, he may elect to let it pass, 
 rather than risk entire failure through Feda becoming 
 confused. I have known him take control towards 
 the close of a sitting and rectify a point which Feda 
 had failed in giving. Sometimes Feda announces 
 that the word given is not the right one, but the 
 nearest she can get. It will be noticed that this 
 failure is couched in words expressing uncertainty; 
 possibly the error may have been in the mind of 
 the communicator. 
 
 Item 1o:— 
 ‘Higher in column one, say two-thirds 
 down, is a name suggesting ammunition.’ 
 
 Just where described the ecclesiastical title 
 Canon appears twice. This would be well within 
 the range of coincidence, as it is not uncommon 
 in the marriage column. It was found three times 
 in this position during my search for coincidences 
 through ten issues of the paper. 
 
 Item 11:— 
 ‘Between that and the teacher’s name is a 
 place-name, French, looking like three words 
 hyphened into one.’ 
 
 This was a definite test, and proved successful; 
 for I found 1n the next morning’s paper, and between 
 14 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 the two ‘ Josephs’ and the two ‘ Canons,’ notice 
 of a marriage at the Belgian town of Braine-le- 
 Chateau. A supplementary attempt to describe 
 this name in greater detail failed. The presence 
 of three French words hyphened into one in a 
 part of the paper so definitely described as to limit 
 it to a space, say, of five inches at most, is rather 
 beyond the likelihood of coincidence. There 
 was no such instance in the ten copies searched. 
 
 Item 12:— 
 
 ‘ About the middle of this page, the middle 
 both down and across, is a mistake in print; 
 it cannot be right. Some wrong _ letters 
 inserted or something left out, some kind 
 of mistake just there.’ 
 
 Within three inches of the centre of this page, 
 slightly below half-way down column three, is a 
 short notice in italics of which the final words are, 
 ‘on the next page.’ The word ‘ page’ is imperfect, 
 the letter ‘ g’ being minus its tail and looking like 
 an awkward ‘a,’ thus—‘ paae.’ At least it so 
 appeared in my copy, and on inspection of a second 
 copy I notice the same defect. Misprints of this 
 sort must be rare in the Times, for I have failed to 
 discover another. 
 
 Having considered in detail the test messages 
 given at this sitting, we find that, out of twelve 
 items, only two entirely failed, the others agreeing 
 more or less exactly with the forecast given at 
 
 145 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 3 p-m. on the day previous to the publication of 
 the paper. Could this be coincidence? On the 
 adjacent page is tabulated the result of an attempt 
 to match these tests by chance. It will be seen 
 ‘that although ten issues of the paper were searched, 
 not one of them yielded more than three chance 
 verifications, and the average of success was below 
 two, common names accounting for most of these - 
 coincidences. 
 
 In order to avoid wearying readers who would 
 not be interested in a further consideration of 
 coincidence, the results of other experiments have 
 been grouped together in the next chapter, where 
 they may be: passed over or considered according 
 to choice. 
 
 ANOTHER REFERENCE TO LEEK 
 
 There has been a subsequent reference to Leek, 
 which seems to pass beyond any possibility of 
 coincidence or other normal explanation. 
 
 My notes, posted the same evening and now in 
 the possession of the Society for Psychical Research, 
 show that on February 18th, 1921, at 6.8 p.m, I 
 received the following test message, which was to 
 be verified from the Times next morning :— 
 
 ‘ About half-way down column one of the 
 first page is the name of one whom you and 
 your sister knew very well when quite young.’ 
 
 That would take us back more than forty years, 
 How many names would satisfy the conditions of 
 146 
 
of the Test Messages 
 
 . 
 
 xamination 
 
 E 
 
 
 
 zoded yore 
 IO¥ [e}OT 
 
 |) | | | eee ee eee Or” 
 
 yutidstur y | ZI 
 
 ee — ee — ee 7" 
 
 ‘ova nvozeYyD 
 -o]-oureig | II 
 
 a | ee Dd 
 
 woues) wours) uous | O1 
 
 | | |S se 
 
 erpeeyD |_© 
 
 ————. | So | | 
 
 ydesof | ydesof ydasof | 8 
 
 SS SS = SS SS SS Pe ae yo | 
 z JUSSI yodmaN ‘garysujooury | 2 
 
 ——$— | | —— ——— — | | | Of NCO SS fl 
 
 yoouumns 
 sqUeyy 
 Ayqjorogq |AqzO10q |. Ayzo10g | stiog |Ayyor10q |AyyoI0g 910d 
 SSS aes Se ee eee Se ae OsUueIL) 
 Arey AIeT “349 “TeIeS 
 uyof[ sopreyy | sopzeyo *ATTULA 
 uyof uyof | ‘sopieyy 
 BSS ree res Se ae Sep eee eee ‘ayof | z 
 “preqoyud 
 *AOIQIOH 
 ‘syIog | I 
 
 | | —_—————$<—<—— _ | — | — —_—— 
 S| —_- — | | 
 
 “u19qt Yyowa m9 13S uy px¢ puz ‘roded | ‘pormboey | on 
 
 10} sroded U10I1 
 OL 39 18905, 1} 4SI SOUTE NT tess 
 
 
 
 
 
 o) 
 € uoue) 
 fe) 
 
 
 
 lon Ke) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ‘TIOpULI 7 PopITIS sozep I9Y}0 oy 1oded oy} Jo sonsst u9} YIIM ‘Sutmoyjoy Aep oy} fo saw2zy 
 OY} Ul UOTZLOYIIOA IOF ‘oz6I ‘YZEI ArenIqay Jo Zul}}IS oY} Fe WATS sUID4T OATOM} OY} Jo UOsTIeduloo VW 
 
 “HONACIONIOZ) UO SLSAT sO LINASAY CGaALVTINaV T, 
 
 147 
 
 ie 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 this test ? Not many, owing to the fact that coupled 
 with the above came a second portion. Feda 
 prefaced it by remarking that, since many people 
 might say that the presence of the right name 
 there was a coincidence, he would add that— 
 
 ‘Close to it is a name indicating the place 
 where we used to see this person.’ 
 
 The chances are now narrowed; in a definite 
 spot has to appear to-morrow a name familiar to 
 my sister and me more than forty years ago, and 
 close to it, also, must be seen the name of the town 
 where such a person resided. 
 
 The friend at Leek, in whose house my father and 
 the Rev. George Perks had spent a day together, 
 was named Stephen Goodwin. He was one of the 
 chief supporters of our Church when my father 
 lived at Leek; I recollect him well, and my sister, 
 although too young at that time, made his acquaint- 
 ance some years afterwards during visits to that 
 town. On looking at the Times for the next day, 
 February 19th, 1921, I noticed the name Goodwin 
 in large type, and this was within two inches of 
 half-way down the first column, the exact position 
 described. It may have been a mere coincidence, 
 or it may have been noticed by the communica- 
 tor, but in a different notice on the line above, 
 and placed immediately over the name Goodwin, 
 was Stephen. ‘Thus the name (or names), as well 
 as the position in the column, fit exactly; but the 
 test is enormously strengthened and, as it seems to 
 me, placed beyond any suggestion of coincidence, 
 
 148 
 
Examination of the Test Messages 
 
 by the presence, only three inches distant, of the 
 name Leek. 
 
 In this instance it is difficult to imagine how 
 Mrs, Leonard’s knowledge of our connection with 
 Leek could play any part in devising such a test. 
 For even on the groundless supposition that she 
 could be aware of our interest in the name Goodwin, 
 can any one suggest any normal means whereby 
 she might know that the name Leek would appear 
 in close proximity with it? The problem is rendered 
 more complicated by the fact that Leek and Good- 
 win are in different columns, although so close 
 together. 
 
 It may be well to state here my opinion of these 
 two Leek tests, inasmuch as it will apply to the 
 whole series, amounting to several hundred, received 
 during the last two years. I see irrefutable evidence 
 of super-normal ability to ascertain knowledge of 
 names which are to appear in the morrow’s Press, 
 and, more difficult still, to forecast in what approxi- 
 mate position these names will be found. Were 
 this all, I might be left in some uncertainty as to 
 whether such results might not be accounted for 
 by some unusually high degree of clairvoyant 
 ability in Mrs, Leonard. But any such uncertainty 
 is removed by the consideration that numbers of 
 these tests (of which a selection will be given later) 
 reveal the intimate knowledge of olden happenings 
 which was possessed by my father, and which he 
 would be aware I should be able to verify, either by 
 my own recollections, my mother’s assistance, or 
 his private papers. 
 
 149 
 
CHAPTER XY 
 
 CHANCE COINCIDENCE FAILS TO ACCOUNT FOR 
 THE FACTS 
 
 Queries as to fraud or collusion would seem to be 
 out of place in an inquiry as to the originating 
 intelligence in newspaper tests. In view of the 
 hour at which the tests are given, and the nature 
 of the knowledge many of them display, we are 
 safe in assuming the inadequacy of this supposition. 
 
 It is otherwise with the question of coincidence. 
 Can chance explain? [ will indicate reasons for 
 my conviction that it does not. 
 
 It happens that most of the family names alluded 
 to in these tests are sufficiently common to be 
 assured of a place in every issue of the Times. 
 Unless their position be somewhat definitely stated 
 there will be ample room for coincidence. It will 
 have been observed that their position is usually 
 given within, at least, the margin of one quarter 
 of a column. But even so, with certain common 
 names, and even for the conjunction of two such, 
 there might easily be chance correspondence. 
 Possibly it is on account of this that the communi- 
 cator usually associates such names with other 
 items; for when three or more statements are linked 
 together, a coincidence, although still possible, is 
 unlikely. And when, over a long series of such 
 
 150 
 
Chance Coincidence fails to Account for the Facts 
 
 linked tests, verification continues to be steadily 
 maintained, we gradually perceive that the happen- 
 ings are not by chance. This perception is hastened 
 by the evidence that a considerable range of 
 familiarity with family relationships and events of 
 long ago is at the disposal of the communicator. 
 
 Readers can easily take a number of these tests 
 seriatim, and discover how far they will apply to 
 issues of the Times for other dates than those for 
 which originally given. The carrying out of such 
 a comparison will do more than argument to prove 
 how small a part is played by chance in producing 
 the results. 
 
 I have used the tests received in twelve sittings 
 —104 in number—and compared them with copies 
 of the Times taken at random, in order to see what 
 measure of success might be attained by chance. 
 Those are counted as ‘inconclusive’ which were 
 not failures and yet not wholly exact; sometimes 
 the name required was found too far away from 
 the place indicated, while, at other times, tests have 
 been expressed in a manner too vague to ensure 
 conviction that the word found was the one actually 
 intended by the communicator. Over these ‘ incon- 
 clusive’ verifications, whether of the original tests 
 or of the coincidences, scrutineers might differ, 
 some tending to the lenient and others to the severe 
 side. I have endeavoured to apply the same standard 
 both when verifying the original tests and when 
 searching in the Times of other dates for chance 
 hits. The results were as follows:— 
 
 In the original verification of 104 items,— 
 
 151 
 
Chance Coincidence Fails to Account for the Facts 
 
 Successes 73; Inconclusive 12; Failures 19. 
 In comparison for chance hits with the same 
 104 items,— 
 Successes 18; Inconclusive 10; Failures 76. 
 The best of the chance hits were obtained with 
 common names. 
 
 An extended account of the tests I recetved in 
 the above-mentioned twelve sittings is given in the 
 
 Journal of the Society for Psychical Research for May, 
 1921, where 53 out of 104 examples are fully 
 described. I there record in detail the result of 
 searching for each of these 53 items in six issues 
 of the Times selected at random. Considerable 
 latitude as regards position was allowed, yet in 
 no instance did a chance-chosen copy of the Times 
 yield as many successes as did the paper of the date 
 for which the tests were given. Indeed, by far the 
 greater portion of the chance hits related to common 
 names, and especially to such tests as might be 
 met by the presence of any one out of half a dozen 
 names; as when searching for, ‘ A relative of your 
 wife,’ or, ‘One in whom Alfred is interested.’ 
 These chance correspondences were frequently less 
 apt than had been the original verifications, and 
 about half of the successes related to one or other 
 of such names as Mary, Emily, John, William, 
 Thomas. It seems fairly evident that if tests are 
 selected which exclude all reference to such names, 
 and these tests alone are used for a comparison, 
 the result must be a reduction of chance successes 
 to near vanishing point. 
 
 152 
 
Chance Coincidence Fails to Account for the Facts 
 
 In the 53 items chosen for comparison there 
 were 51 successes. When each item of the 53 
 was looked for in six other issues of the paper, the 
 result showed a fraction under 13 as the average 
 success attained by chance, a result in harmony 
 with the preceding one. 
 
 CoMPARISON OF THE Iwo ExXpERIMENTS 
 
 My communicator gets 73 successes out of a 
 possible 104. 
 
 Chance trial gets 18 successes out of the possible 
 104. 
 
 My communicator gets §1 successes out of a 
 selected 53. 
 
 Chance trial averages 13 successes out of the 
 same 53. 
 
 Experiments, to be conclusive, need to be based 
 upon a considerable number of instances. Little 
 would be proved, for example, by comparing a 
 single test with a chance copy of the paper; for 
 should it happen to fit, we could say that the original 
 test was not sufficiently distinctive in character to 
 preclude the possibility of chance parallels; yet 
 this would be no reflection upon the accuracy of 
 the test, neither would it disprove its spirit origin. 
 But should experiments dealing with large numbers 
 of instances yield chance results approximating to 
 those of the sittings, we should then have evidence 
 tending to throw doubt upon the super-normal 
 
 E.H.S. 153 M 
 
Chance Coincidence Fails to Account for the Facts 
 
 origin of the tests. No such instances have come 
 under my notice, and readers have in this book 
 sufficient material for personal experiments. 
 
 Experimental testing for coincidences tends still 
 further to strengthen the conviction that the originating 
 intelligence in newspaper tests is a spirit able to use 
 superhuman abilities. 
 
 The intimate personal touches constantly appearing 
 serve similarly to deepen muy conviction that the com- 
 — municator is my father. 
 
 154 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 TESTS RECEIVED FOR OTHERS AND RELATING TO FACTS 
 UNKNOWN TO THE SITTER 
 
 Tue special interest of the tests now to be recorded 
 lies in the fact that they include information which 
 had never been in my possession. This information 
 was as unlooked for by me as by those for whom 
 it was given. It still further demonstrates that the 
 ‘reading of my thoughts’ is not the explanation of 
 these newspaper tests. 
 
 The first sitting commences in the usual manner 
 with tests for me, and then continues, as do the 
 two following, by giving tests for other persons 
 to whom I had to apply for the verifications, and 
 whose permission to have them included in this 
 book has been kindly granted. 
 
 Incidents such as these increase the difficulty of 
 supposing that our results can be attributed to 
 collusion or coincidence. 
 
 March 16th, 1920, at 2.48 p.m. 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 the first page of the morrow’s Times was nine. 
 Result: Correct 7; Inconclusive 1; Failure 1. 
 
 ‘A little more than half-way down column 
 one is March or Marsh, he cannot be certain 
 as to the one letter. He knew some one of 
 that name when on earth, and your mother 
 
 T55 
 
Tests Received for Others 
 
 will know in a moment who he means. She 
 would be interested not only in the man, but 
 also in one belonging to him. The name of 
 the latter is given a little lower. Send the 
 paper to your mother and she will remember.’ 
 
 Since this was the month of March the name 
 appeared many times, but the interest centres in 
 the latter statements. My parents had for many 
 years been friendly with a Mr, and Mrs, Marsh, 
 who were residing near them in two localities during 
 the last few years of my father’s earthly life. Three- 
 quarters down this column, which agrees with the 
 direction ‘a little lower,’ is the name of Mr, Marsh’s 
 wife. I had been unacquainted with her name, and 
 was obliged to make inquiries before this could 
 
 be verified. 
 
 ‘About one-third down column two, or a 
 trifle lower, is given a date which is a very 
 important one in your life [not in your father’s 
 nor your mother’s, but in yours] The month 
 is given and probably the day.’ [(Thinking 
 of my birthday in three days’ time, I remarked 
 that I could guess to what he referred.) ‘ He 
 is laughing and says, ‘‘ Better not guess.” 
 He knows of what you are thinking, some- 
 thing that happened about now, a very im- 
 portant date for the family, but that is not 
 what he means. ‘The date in the paper is 
 not the one of which you are thinking.]? 
 Clairvoyantly he saw Cambridge close to this 
 date.’ 
 
 1 The remarks within square brackets were omitted from my 
 notes sent that evening to the Society for Psychical Research. 
 2 [bid. 
 150 
 
and Relating to Facts Unknown to the Sitter 
 
 The name Cambridge appears exactly one-quarter 
 down column two, while less than an inch below it 
 is, the 15th of March. For some time | was at a 
 loss to recall any event connected with this date, 
 and therefore looked in my father’s diaries. There 
 I noticed many references to our Church Quarterly 
 Meeting falling about this date—say between the 
 12th and 20th of the month. This March meeting 
 is the most important of the year, and it 1s then 
 only that candidates can offer themselves for the 
 Wesleyan Ministry. Should they fail to pass, their 
 further progress is barred. It had been a satis- 
 faction to my father when I successfully passed 
 such a meeting in March, 1889. I cannot now 
 discover whether it was held on the 15th of the 
 month in that year, but it must necessarily have 
 been within a day or so of that date. My unspoken 
 conviction that he was alluding to my birthday 
 evidently amused my father, who pointed out that 
 the family shared in that interest in a way that did 
 not quite apply to the occasion he had in mind. 
 
 A verification so indefinite must be counted as 
 “inconclusive.” 
 
 ‘At the beginning of column one there 1s 
 a name usually associated with a very early 
 part of the Bible. His reason for giving it 1s 
 that you have noticed that name particularly 
 within the last few days.’ 
 
 The first name in the column is Adams. I had 
 certainly been thinking, during the previous day 
 or two, of a Mrs. Adams who was an old friend of 
 
 157 
 
Tests Received for Others 
 
 my parents, and whom I had recently met after an 
 interval of some years. 
 
 At this sitting I was accompanied by a clergyman 
 who was unknown to Mrs, Leonard and whose name 
 was not mentioned. He came with me because a 
 few weeks earlier I had received messages of a 
 fragmentary character purporting to come from 
 his wife, and it seemed possible that in his presence 
 something more might be forthcoming. The 
 following tests were for him, and were said to be 
 
 given by his wife. 
 
 ‘ Near the top of column two, first page of 
 to-morrow’s Times, is the Christian name of 
 the lady who comes with this gentleman.’ 
 
 Four inches from the top of the column was the 
 name Anne Maria. My friend told me during our 
 return journey, while we were discussing these 
 tests, that his wife’s name was Annie Maria. Mrs, 
 Leonard’s control has more than once remarked 
 upon the difficulty she experiences in distinguishing 
 between Ann, Anne, and Annie, as they sound 
 or seem to her so much alike. I have noticed this 
 difficulty with other mediums also. 
 
 To resume— 
 
 “Close to it is this gentleman’s Christian 
 name. These are close together, possibly 
 within half an inch.’ Here I asked my father, 
 ‘ How do you know these names? I do not 
 know them myself!’ Feda replied, ‘ He did 
 not know them, but this lady went with him 
 
 158 
 
and Relating to Facts Unknown to the Sitter 
 
 to look them out. If correct she will go again 
 and look out others. It makes a still better 
 test when you do not know the names.’ 
 
 Immediately following the above two names 
 came The Rev Frederick. My friend’s name 1s 
 Frederic (without the ‘k’). These names appeared 
 upon adjoining lines within half an inch as stated. 
 
 ‘ About one-third down column two is the 
 name of a place at which this lady lived and 
 which she liked.’ 
 
 Wishing to be in a position to examine these 
 tests next day, I asked during our return journey 
 what towns would fulfil this assertion. The Rev. 
 Frederic named two which would meet the test. 
 One was the home of her childhood and the other 
 Cambridge. He included the latter because, 
 although his wife had not actually resided there, 
 she had frequently stayed on long visits to her 
 uncle, a University Professor, and was greatly 
 attached to the place. One-quarter down this 
 column appears Cambridge. 
 
 These three tests, so confirmed, were accepted by 
 my friend as indications that his wife was in touch 
 with us. She had given her name and his in an 
 unmistakable way, and named the place which he 
 knew to be associated in her mind with most 
 pleasant recollections. Many other evidences of 
 her identity were given, both then and at a later 
 interview with Mrs, Leonard. ‘They are certainly 
 difficult to explain on any supposition other than 
 
 159 
 
Tests Received for Others 
 
 that of communication from the spirit side of 
 life. 
 
 The suggestion that these names had been 
 discovered by exploring my mind is out of the 
 question; nor can it be argued that they were 
 obtained from my friend’s mind, seeing that the 
 tests were given only a few minutes after he entered 
 a house where he was unknown. They must 
 necessarily have been looked out before Mrs. 
 Leonard saw him. 
 
 Would it not be entirely natural that his wife, 
 perceiving his intention to be present, should avail 
 herself of assistance in providing evidential matter 
 of this character as supplementary proof of her 
 identity 
 
 The explanation of the alleged communicators 
 is consistent and covers all the facts. Could any 
 alternative supposition sustain this claim on its 
 
 behalf ? 
 
 April 23rd, 1920, at 3 p.m. 
 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 the first page of the morrow’s Times was nine. 
 
 Result: Correct 7; Inconclusive 1; Failure 1. 
 
 I now proceed to an incident which still further 
 rules out the hypothesis of telepathy from minds 
 on earth. During a sitting on March 26th, 1920, 
 I explained that, owing to absence from home, it 
 would be impossible to keep my appointment for 
 that day fortnight, and that I would send a friend. 
 I gave not the slightest clue as to who it would be, 
 but had arranged to let a medical man have the 
 
 160 
 
and Relating to Facts Unknown to the Sitter 
 
 interview, hoping that he might get into com- 
 munication with his brother. I was not a little 
 surprised, therefore, when my father replied that he 
 would be present and bring my friend’s friend, with 
 whom he had already attended one sitting. 1 
 understood the reference; fifteen months previously 
 I had accompanied this doctor to a clairvoyante, 
 and although nothing of interest transpired there, 
 my father had alluded to the occasion when next 
 I spoke to him at Mrs, Leonard’s, saying that he 
 had been present and noticed my friend’s friend 
 trying unsuccessfully to impress the clairvoyante 
 with his thoughts. It would therefore seem that 
 my purpose to send this doctor was already known 
 to the communicator. By no normal means could 
 Mrs. Leonard have been aware of it, and the 
 telepathy theory can scarcely be invoked to explain 
 what follows. 
 
 PPT) ORT TO AO Mali 2m. 
 
 The first set of tests given me on this date 
 proved to be for my medical friend from his brother, 
 who had successfully communicated with him 
 through Mrs, Leonard since my previous visit. 
 
 ‘The first set of tests are for your friend 
 from his spirit communicator whose name 1s 
 about half-way down the first column of the 
 first page of the Times for to-morrow.’ 
 
 Exactly half-way down that column appears the 
 name Dyson, which is correct. 
 161 
 
Tests Received for Others 
 
 ‘Very close to it is your friend’s name or 
 one almost similar.’ 
 
 Two and a half inches below Dyson is the name 
 St Andrew's. Until receiving his comments upon 
 these tests I had been unaware that his second name 
 was Andrews. ‘ Almost similar,’ the apostrophe 
 makes the difference. 
 
 ‘A little below, say three-quarters down, 
 is the name of a place which they have visited 
 together and much enjoyed.’ 
 
 Dr. Dyson on inspecting the paper found in this 
 spot a mention of Filey, a place where he and his 
 
 brother had frequently spent holidays together. 
 
 ‘A little above 1s the name of a mutual 
 friend of theirs.’ 
 
 He writes that almost immediately above the 
 previous names appear ones and Davies, and that 
 either of these might be the mutual friend. 
 
 ‘Near the top of column one is the name 
 of a great friend who has passed on and is 
 with the spirit young man’ (Ze. with the 
 doctor’s brother). 
 
 His letter continues: ‘ The first notice at the 
 top of column one contains the name Yack. This 
 must be Jack Nancarrow; he is absolutely the only 
 ereat friend now passed over that I have. More- 
 over, in all the first half of column one, there is 
 
 162 
 
and Relating to Facts Unknown to the Sitter 
 
 no other name or surname whatever of any friend 
 of mine.’ 
 
 Of all the above information I knew nothing, 
 save the friendship with Nancarrow and the name 
 Dyson. Clearly, therefore, there had been no 
 reading of my mind. Nor is it easy to see how, 
 even had these facts been known to me, mind- 
 reading could account for such piecing together 
 and accurate selection from the Times as forms the 
 peculiar feature of these tests. ‘The information 
 given for my two friends, the clergyman and the 
 doctor, was as surprising to them as it was unex- 
 
 pected by me. 
 
 May 21st, 1920, at 3 p.m. 
 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 the front page of the morrow’s Times was six. 
 
 Result: Correct 3; Inconclusive 1; Failures 2. 
 
 At this sitting I was again accompanied by the 
 clergyman to whom reference has been made in 
 connection, with the tests of March 16th, 1920. 
 As on the former occasion, the communicator was 
 his wife, and the first test referred to his daughter 
 Margaret, who sat with us, and of whose name I 
 was, of course, aware. 
 
 ‘In column one, and a third down, is her 
 daughter’s name.’ 
 
 The name Margaret is within two inches of one- 
 third down column one. 
 
 ‘In column two, near the top, is named the 
 163 
 
Tests Received for Others 
 
 locality where her husband was born. ‘There 
 may be some reason for saying “ locality,” 
 so it had better be written down so.’ 
 
 Close to the top of this column appears Plymouth. 
 The place of his birth, as I afterwards learnt from 
 my friend, was a town within twelve miles of 
 
 Plymouth. 
 
 * Half-way down column two is a sentence, 
 not a name, which this lady would like applied 
 by her husband and daughter to herself. It 
 would be very appropriate; but she would 
 like one word of it changed, and they will 
 recognise at once which word she means.’ 
 
 Nearly half-way down column two was the 
 following :— 
 
 * At the going down of the sun, 
 And in the morning, 
 
 We will remember them,—Mother.’ 
 
 Evidently the word to be changed is ‘ them,’ 
 and in its place is required the word ‘her.’ 
 
 164 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 TESTS GIVEN BEFORE THE TYPE IS IN POSITION 
 
 In considering the significance of these newspaper 
 tests, it is above all important to realise the hour 
 at which they were given. The sitting of February 
 13th, 1920, at which were given the tests discussed 
 in Chapter XIV., exded at 5.15 p.m., and a copy 
 for these tests was posted in London at about six 
 o’clock that evening. 
 
 In order to weigh the relevancy of this fact, 
 taken in conjunction with the general accuracy of 
 the verifications on the day following, it will be 
 necessary to know the method and time of printing, 
 and particularly the hour at which type for the 
 front page is produced and placed in order. 
 
 The following is an account of a visit of inquiry 
 to the printing office of the Times. 
 
 INQUIRIES AS TO THE TIME WHEN Test-NoTICEs 
 ARE IN ‘LYPE 
 
 On Wednesday, February 2nd, 1921, I visited 
 the printing works of the Times, accompanied by a 
 friend who had obtained the necessary permits. 
 In response to my request for information about 
 preparations for the front page of the following 
 
 165 
 
Tests Given before the Type is in Position 
 
 day’s Times, we were conducted to a room in which 
 we saw column-long trays. Three of these trays 
 were pointed out as being the receptacles in which 
 would be arranged all material for the first three 
 columns of the morrow’s paper. 
 
 At that time, 4.30 p.m., these trays held but 
 little type, barely sufficient to print one-quarter of 
 a column. We inquired where at that moment 
 were the advertisements which these trays would 
 presently contain? For answer the guide conducted 
 us to a room in which numbers of linotype machines 
 were being worked, and explained that all adver- 
 tisements of ‘Births, Marriages, Deaths, In 
 Memoriam’ were divided among the operators of 
 these machines, who were reproducing them in 
 the form of type bars (the technical name of 
 which I forget), and that these bars of type would 
 be placed in the trays we had first seen. It thus 
 appears that after notices arrive on the premises 
 (and are presumably listed by clerks), they are 
 dispersed among many operators, and not again 
 collected into one place until reappearing as type 
 in the trays above mentioned. It seemed important 
 to learn at what time these trays would contain 
 their full complement of type, and we were assured 
 that this would not be until a late hour in the 
 evening. After a tour of the works we repassed 
 the trays at 5 p.m., and found the day-attendant 
 about to leave work. He said he would be unable 
 to state with any degree of certainty the final 
 position of any particular notice, and that the night 
 
 worker, then about to take his place, could not 
 166 
 
Tests Given before the Type is in Position 
 
 know until late in the evening, when the chief part of 
 the type should have arrived and been arranged. 
 
 Giving a last look before leaving, we saw the 
 several classes of notices lying all together in that 
 portion of the tray which corresponds with the 
 upper half of the first column of the paper. Looking 
 carefully at one particular advertisement, I noted 
 that its position was then four inches from the top, 
 but next morning in the paper it was found close 
 to the bottom of the column. 
 
 Thus it seems clear that even unimpeded access 
 to the works at 5 p.m. would not enable an inquirer 
 to learn the ultimate position of any one name, 
 nor even the contents of the majority of the adver- 
 tisements; for many of these would not yet be in 
 type, existing only on separate papers in the office 
 or the linotype department. A scrutiny of the 
 type-trays later in the evening would make possible 
 a more or less accurate idea of the position which 
 names might ultimately take. But at that time my 
 sitting is ended, and the notes have already been 
 posted to the Society for Psychical Research. 
 
 Any person permitted to collect tests from the 
 material at the printing works, previous to the 
 hour of my sittings, would have two alternatives. 
 He might scrutinise letters as‘they arrive, noting 
 the alphabetical order and total number of notices 
 destined for these first three columns, or, he might 
 later inspect the linotype machines and see what 
 was being typed by them. He might in either 
 case succeed in observing the total next day’s 
 contents of the columns in question, but would 
 
 167 
 
Tests Given before the Type is in Position 
 
 have to rely upon calculation for any estimate of the 
 probable position which particular names might 
 take in the morrow’s paper. 
 
 It becomes evident that even were one in tele- 
 phonic connection with the Tzmes office at the hour 
 of my sittings he would not be able to receive 
 information relevant to these tests, unless it related 
 to items for the ‘ Births Column’ having initial 
 letters early in the alphabet. For example, should 
 any one know that Adams or Brown was sending 
 in a birth notice, he might with some confidence 
 assume that this would appear close to the top of 
 column one. But inspection of tests received 
 shows how few instances of this kind appear; 
 indeed it looks as if my communicator designedly 
 avoided, as a general rule, the upper part of the 
 first column. There has been an evident preference 
 for tests lying in the upper-third section of column 
 two. 
 
 Mrs, Leonard has no telephone, nor has any 
 telegram been brought in after my arrival. 
 
 The following Editorial Note appears at the 
 close of my article upon Newspaper Tests in the 
 Fournal of the Society for Psychical Research for 
 May, 1921. 
 
 ‘Readers of Mr. Drayton Thomas’s paper may 
 ask what procedure is followed in regard to setting 
 up in type such advertisements in the Times as 
 are referred to in the ‘tests.’ Sir William Barrett, 
 F.R.S., has kindly forwarded to us two letters he 
 received from the manager of the Times which 
 
 168 
 
Tests Given before the Type is in Position 
 
 throw light upon this question. The first letter 
 is as follows :— 
 
 ‘Printinc House Square, E.C.a4, 
 * October 19th, 1920. 
 
 ‘The small advertisements in the Times (which 
 include Births, Deaths, and Marriages) arrive at 
 all hours of the day, and we commence setting them 
 at ¢ p.m. I should think that often quite half of 
 them are set before 8 p.m., and sometimes even a 
 larger proportion than this. Beyond this, you may 
 notice that many announcements are ordered to 
 appear for two or three insertions. Consequently, 
 some of them are in type for two days. 
 
 ‘ If you care to give me any particular instances, 
 
 I will gladly make an inquiry.’ 
 
 “Tn reply to the invitation contained in the last 
 sentence of the above letter, Sir William Barrett 
 wrote asking for particulars concerning the par- 
 ticular notice referred to above and given at a 
 sitting when Mr, Drayton Thomas was accom- 
 panied by a friend, the Rev. Frederic 
 
 “The reply from the manager of the Times ran 
 thus :— 
 
 
 
 * October 25th, 1920. 
 “In reply to your letter of even date, I had the 
 original copy of the announcement referred to by 
 the Rev. F. brought up to me, and find that 
 this was in the office by 9.27 a.m. of the morning 
 of the 16th March, and was inserted the following 
 day. By the time referred to—4 or § o’clock of 
 E.H.S. 169 N 
 
 
 
Tests Given before the Type is in Position 
 
 the 16th March—the copy had been set up for 
 some considerable time, and of course had been 
 seen by several members of our staff.’! 
 
 “Mr, Drayton Thomas’s sittings were held at 
 various times between about 11.45 a.m. to 6.30 
 p-m. So that it would appear from the statement 
 made in the first letter from the manager of the 
 
 Times that at the time of the sitting the particular 
 
 notices referred to in the tests might in some cases 
 be already set up in type; in other cases they were 
 probably not yet set up; in any case their ultimate 
 position on the page could not be normally known 
 until late in the afternoon. We may therefore 
 conclude that, quite apart from other evidence 
 we have of Mrs, Leonard’s honesty, the possibility 
 of collusion or fraud may be dismissed as inadequate 
 to explain the facts. As to what methods Mr, 
 Drayton Thomas’s ‘communicators’ may have 
 adopted to acquire the knowledge necessary for their 
 purpose, we are unfortunately quite in the dark. 
 These newspaper tests differ from book tests in 
 this respect, that for some days at least before a 
 book test was given, the books were all standing 
 ready in their shelves, and, assuming clairvoyance, 
 might at any moment be clairvoyantly perceived.” 
 
 1 For description of this test, see pages 158-9. 
 
 170 
 
 _— —_—— a = 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 EXAMPLES OF NEWSPAPER TESTS, INCLUDING SOME OF 
 THE EARLIEST RECEIVED 
 
 In this selection of tests a few of minor character have 
 been included on account of their being in some way 
 linked with their more interesting neighbours. 
 
 October 10th, 1919, at 3 p.m. 
 On this date I received my first tests from the 
 Public Press. ‘The majority were correctly verified 
 next morning, among them being the following :— 
 
 ‘Look inthe Times newspaper to-morrow, 
 and in the second column of the front page, 
 half-way down or nearly so, will be your 
 name and your father’s, your own coming 
 first.’ 
 
 On looking at the Times of next day, viz., October 
 11th, I found that exactly one-quarter down the 
 second column of the first page was a marriage 
 announcement containing the name Charles Fohn 
 Workman. Vhis met the test, my name being 
 Charles and my father’s John. I then looked at 
 the corresponding column of the paper for several 
 earlier days of that week, but these showed no other 
 such conjunction of our names. 
 
 171 
 
Examples of Newspaper Tests 
 
 ‘In the first column, and much in line with 
 the above, there is an address mentioned which 
 your father knows well; he knows the town 
 and locality.’ 
 
 I found in column one, exactly on a level with 
 our names appearing in column two, the address 
 Ventnor, IW. ‘This was the only address meeting 
 the description, and it answered the test to per- 
 fection; for my father had worked in the island, 
 and frequently visited Ventnor on professional duty. 
 
 * Now for an attempt at clairvoyance on the 
 physical: plane. He thinks that close by 
 there is a word looking like Loo or Loos.’ 
 (Thinking this too vague, I asked if the verb 
 ‘to lose,’ or the adjective “ loose,’ was meant ?) 
 ‘It is more like the name of a town or even 
 of a person.’ 
 
 I mentally concluded that if this word were 
 there it would prove to be the French Loos, of 
 which one had heard during the war. While 
 discussing the probability of this with a friend that 
 evening we concluded that, if such a name appeared 
 in that part of the paper next morning, it would be 
 a remarkably good item of evidence for super- 
 normal intelligence. To my considerable surprise, 
 I discovered, in a ‘Golden Wedding’ notice 
 following next upon our names ‘ Charles John’ in 
 column two, that some one living at Loose Court 
 had been married at the Church of 4// Saints, 
 Loose. This was my first acquaintance with the 
 
 172 
 
 
 
Including Some of the Earliest Received 
 
 fact that a Kentish village bears this name. One 
 can scarcely suppose that the appearance of such an 
 unusual name in an exact position described on 
 the previous day can be attributed to chance, 
 
 October 24th, 1919, at 3 p.m. 
 
 At this sitting I received eight tests for verifi- 
 cation from the morrow’s Times. Of these there 
 were five found to be correct, while two were 
 inconclusive, and one failed. 
 
 “In the Times for to-morrow, the first page, 
 column two, and nearer the top than one- 
 quarter down, is your Uncle Alfred’s name.’ 
 
 I asked if his three names would be there, and 
 was told to look for two of them. When inspecting 
 the Times next morning, I found that the name 
 Alfred was three inches from the top of column 
 two, and that the name William stood immediately 
 beneath it. Although I knew that Alfred’s second 
 name commenced with ‘ W,’ I do not think I ever 
 knew what it stood for, and had to refer to family 
 records before discovering that his full name was 
 Alfred William Thomas. It became evident that 
 my communicator knew more about Alfred than 
 I did, and it was equally clear that he had superior 
 knowledge about the contents of the next day’s 
 paper. Replying to my question as to the source 
 of his knowledge, he replied that he went to the 
 newspaper office and selected tests as best he could 
 from the incomplete preparations for the paper, and 
 
 173 
 
Examples of Newspaper Tests 
 
 ‘had just come from there now.’ The fact that he 
 claims to be Alfred’s brother has an interesting 
 bearing upon his knowledge of our family names. 
 
 ‘Almost as if in conjunction with the 
 foregoing is the name of a connection of ours 
 by marriage.’ 
 
 At first sight this seemed to offer a somewhat 
 wide range of choice, but search down the column 
 revealed only one name meeting the requirement 
 of the test, and this was but two inches from 
 ‘ Alfred.’ In none of the columns could another 
 be found; there was but one, and that one close 
 to “ Alfred,’ the name of a family with whom we are 
 connected through Alfred’s wife. 
 
 * As he looked there he saw one announce- 
 ment three or more times longer than the 
 average.’ 
 
 The average length of these announcements was 
 four or five lines, and it was true that within four 
 inches from ‘ Alfred,’ and only two inches from the 
 name of our family connection, was the longest of 
 all, no less than fifteen lines. 
 
 The above three tests lay close together, as though 
 a small portion of the paper had been taken and 
 search made for suitable tests within its narrow 
 limits. Prolonged experience of these tests shows 
 that this is frequently the case; sometimes the tests 
 are scattered, but usually there is a clump in one 
 spot. 
 
 174 
 
 
 
Including Some of the Earliest Received 
 
 I took the precaution of searching the Times 
 for the day before, but found that not a single 
 reference would then have been correct; they were 
 only right for the day stated. 
 
 The following test was given on the same 
 occasion, and is interesting for its sequel at a 
 subsequent sitting. 
 
 ‘Turn over two pages and look at the top 
 of the fifth, somewhere about the middle or 
 say between the third column and half-way 
 across. There at the top is mentioned some- 
 thing he would very much like to give you, 
 and you would find it acceptable.’ Here 
 Feda seemed to be confused about the word 
 ‘article.’ She mentioned it inquiringly, then 
 hesitated and said that he meant either a 
 newspaper article, or ‘a thing,’ but she was 
 not sure which. Finally giving it up, she 
 ejaculated the word ‘ financial,’ and concluded 
 her effort by the words, ‘ Financial, a sum of 
 money.’ 
 
 This left me in the dark as to what was intended, 
 until, on inspecting page five next morning, at the 
 top of the fourth column I saw a heading in bold 
 type which included the words, ‘ Investment 
 Buying.’ Having had a considerable sum of money 
 in the bank, waiting to be invested for a trust estate, 
 my mind had been much occupied about invest- 
 ments. I had visited my stockbroker but three 
 hours previously, while passing through London 
 on my way to Datchet, where this sitting took place. 
 One wonders whether Feda’s confusion over the 
 
 175 
 
Examples of Newspaper Tests 
 
 word ‘article’ arose from her imagining that it 
 was something suitable for a gift, while my father 
 was trying to inform her that he was thinking of 
 an article on finance ? 
 
 Tue SEQUEL To THE ABOVE 
 
 At the next sitting Feda reintroduced the subject 
 saying, ‘ He wishes to know about the tests of last 
 time. Did you find out about the present he would 
 like to have given you?’ ‘To this I replied, ‘ Yes, 
 it was something particularly appropriate just then.’ 
 Feda continued, ‘ What does he mean by saying, 
 “Calling for something”? It does not relate to 
 himself, it is not the test, but something happened 
 just then making a curious link. He says it was 
 most appropriate to that call on the way.’ The 
 last remark was significant; for I had given no 
 information on the subject, my only observation 
 having been the reply above recorded. I concluded 
 that, while my father and I understood the allusion, 
 Feda remained unaware of its meaning. That I 
 should have called on my stockbroker and made an 
 investment about noon, and then proceeded to 
 Datchet to be told, by means of this reference to the 
 morrow’s Times, that my father would have liked 
 to give me an investment, was rather too remarkable 
 for a coincidence. It may be worth adding that, 
 at the conclusion of business, I had spoken with 
 the stockbroker about his son, who had been killed 
 in the war, and made some reference to the possi- 
 bility of communication. Is it not possible that 
 
 176 
 
 os AP en 
 5 eee 
 
 Seated’ 
 
 ae nie > - 
 
Including Some of the Earliest Received 
 
 my strong current of thought, then turned for a 
 few minutes to experiences of communication with 
 my father, may have attracted his attention and 
 brought to him some knowledge of my whereabouts 
 and the business which took me to that office? 
 It would have left him some three hours in which 
 to search for an appropriate reference among the 
 preparations for the next day’s paper. ‘That there 
 could have been collusion between the stockbroker 
 and the medium is scarcely possible; the former 
 was emphatic in expressing his disbelief in the 
 possibility of communication, 
 
 Note on Newspaper Tests 
 OF OcTOBER IOTH AND 24TH, I9IQ 
 
 I had taken the precaution of calling upon a 
 sceptical friend, and giving him a copy of the tests 
 on my way home from these sittings, thus securing 
 evidence in case my accuracy as to dates and hours 
 was challenged. Realising by this time that these 
 tests were likely to be continued, I commenced, as 
 previously stated, to make duplicate copies, send- 
 ing the second by post the same evening to the 
 secretary of the Society for Psychical Research. 
 Thus two persons have copies of these tests before 
 the next morning’s papers are issued, and this 
 protects me against slips of memory or charges 
 of inaccuracy. 
 
 The notes sent to the Society for Psychical 
 Research, 20 Hanover Square, London, W.1., have 
 
 177 
 
Examples of Newspaper Tests 
 
 been preserved, and by courtesy of the secretary 
 may be inspected. 
 
 December 4th, 1919, at 12 noon 
 
 _ The number of tests given for verification from 
 the front page of the morrow’s Times was five. 
 
 Result: Correct 3; Inconclusive 2. 
 
 This sitting was earlier than most, and one of 
 the first remarks made respecting the tests was that 
 they had been selected when preparations for the 
 next day’s issue at the Times office had not pro- 
 gressed so far as usual. Recollecting this, the 
 difference in stated position of the following test- 
 name is specially interesting. | 
 
 ‘On page one and column one, about two 
 inches from the bottom, he thought he saw 
 clairvoyantly the name Hutchinson.’ 
 
 At first I had written this as Hutchison, but on 
 spelling it aloud was told to insert an ‘n’ after *1,’ 
 making it Hutchinson. Searching next morning 
 in the spot named, I failed to find it, but turning 
 from the bottom of the first to the top of the second 
 column, discovered it there in the corrected form, 
 Hutchinson. ‘The arrival of a few more birth and 
 marriage announcements would have been sufh- 
 cient to account for the changed position of this 
 
 notice. 
 178 
 
 Ss ay ee . 
 
 sat 
 
Including Some of the Earliest Received 
 
 September 3rd, 1920, at 3.45 p.m. 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 the first page of the morrow’s Times was six. 
 Result: Correct 4; Inconclusive 2. 
 
 ‘Nearly half-way up column one of the 
 first page there is a name—put it in another 
 way—he is strongly reminded of American 
 conditions. ‘There are two words on different 
 lines reminding him of America.’ 
 
 Within an inch of the top of the lower half of 
 column one there appears the name Hudson, and 
 it 1s repeated in the line following. Feda un- 
 questionably used the words ‘on different lines,’ 
 but in my copy of the notes sent that evening to 
 the Society for Psychical Research, I paraphrased 
 it into “in different ways,’ because this wis what I 
 supposed was meant by ‘ different lines.’ It was a 
 surprise next morning to discover that the * different 
 lines’ were lines of print. ‘This is one of many 
 incidents showing how entirely independent of 
 the sitter’s mind is the devising of these tests. 
 
 The following was from my sister, who, having 
 joined my father some months previously, had 
 already commenced attending these sittings with 
 him, and was taking an increasing part in the 
 experiments. 
 
 ‘ Your sister says that she thought she could 
 clairvoyantly see, some way down column 
 two, an address in Italy. She wishes to try 
 if she is really clairvoyant yet.’ 
 
 | 179 
 
Examples of Newspaper Tests 
 
 In the lower portion of the top half of column 
 two appears, La Mortola, Ventimiglia, Italy. 
 
 December oth, 1920, at 5.57 p.m. 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 the first page of the morrow’s Tzmes was ten. 
 Result: Correct 6; Inconclusive 2; Failures 2. 
 
 ‘In the Times for to-morrow, column two 
 of front page and close to the top, he thinks 
 within an inch, is the name of a friend, a man, 
 whom you were helping lately.’ 
 
 There exactly was Lesie. I had recently been 
 discussing books and other matters with Mr. Leslie 
 Curnow, and, only a week before, had spent an 
 evening at his rooms in order to study some psychic 
 problems about which he was good enough to 
 desire my opinion. 
 
 ‘Very close, almost 1n conjunction with it, 
 is another name which will be an additional 
 clue to him.’ 
 
 Perpendicularly above the name Leslie, and 
 separated only by a single line, was Queen Square. 
 As Mr. Curnow is on the staff of Light, the offices 
 of which are in Queen Square, this is conclusive; 
 especially as I have rarely met him anywhere else 
 than at this address. But since both the above 
 names were embodied in the section headed, ‘ In 
 Memoriam,’ it seemed necessary to discover whether 
 they had appeared there on the same date in the 
 
 180 
 
 a mal 
 
 SE EET: 
 
 lla 
 
 — 
 
 ea KP Se 
 
 ” 
 
 Mies 
 
 : " 
 
Including Some of the Earliest Received 
 
 previous year. I found that while Lesve had been 
 there twelve months before, Queen Square had not. 
 
 ‘About three-quarters down column one 
 are the names of two relations of your wife, 
 whom he often sees on the other side.’ 
 
 Just above three-quarters down this column 
 appear together the names Emilie Mary. My wife’s 
 sister was named Emily, and her mother Mary. 
 Both have frequently sent messages to her at these 
 sittings. 
 
 February 4th, 1921, at 6.20 p.m. 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 the first page of the morrow’s Times was ten. 
 Result: Correct 5; Inconclusive 4; Failure 1. 
 
 “In the Times for to-morrow, column two, 
 page I, and one-quarter down, there is a 
 saint’s name which belongs to a member of 
 my family, not John. Its owner is with me, 
 and I often see him.’ 
 
 One-quarter down is Fames, the name of my 
 father’s uncle, who died in 1879. I include this 
 little test because it served as landmark to the 
 next. 
 
 ‘Very close are two names strongly sug- 
 gesting Roman Catholicism.’ 
 
 Less than two inches above James appear the 
 181 
 
Examples of Newspaper Tests 
 
 names, Costa Ricci, and immediately over the Ricci 
 are the letters R.I.P. The name Ricci is closely 
 connected with the Jesuits, Lorenzo Ricci having 
 been General of the Society in 1759 and prominent 
 in activities which culminated in its expulsion from 
 France. Matteo Ricci, 1552-1610, was a prominent 
 Jesuit missionary to China, and there were others. 
 Costa was the celebrated Italian painter whose 
 picture of ‘The Madonna and Child Enthroned ’ 
 is in the National Gallery. The letters R.I.P. next 
 these two names complete the suggestiveness; 
 probably no one conversant with the history of 
 the Roman Church would fail to be reminded of 
 it by such a conjunction. My father had made a 
 careful study of the history of the Jesuits. 
 
 “In column one, and just above half-way 
 down is the name of one who wrote you lately; 
 he is not a relation, and your father did not 
 know him when on earth. He is interested 
 in psychic subjects. Your father feels that 
 this gentleman is going to write again very 
 shortly.’ 
 
 Just two inches short of half-way down column 
 one is the name Mania. It will be objected that 
 Manta is not Mann. I have, however, included 
 this test for its suggestiveness; because I havea 
 friend named Mann, whom the description accur- 
 ately fits. He had written several-times previously 
 about psychic questions, and only four days after 
 this sitting I received another letter from him. 
 
 On several occasions when the required word 
 
 182 
 
 a gt ee 
 
 *& 3 
 
 g 
 i; 
 
 = eee 
 
 gr Sng 
 agen e Eas 
 epee 
 
 — 
 
 gy Se i 
 
 
 
Including Some of the Earliest Received 
 
 was not present on the page, my communicator has 
 selected, as in the preceding instance, another 
 which approaches in sound or in spelling the one 
 he needs. 
 
 “At the bottom of column one is your 
 Uncle Alfred’s name, and close by are certain 
 words which would refer to his niece “ E,”’ 
 not a name, but words.’ 
 
 Four and a half inches from the bottom of this 
 column appear the names William Thomas, my 
 uncle’s full name being Alfred William Thomas. 
 One inch below this is notice of a death ‘ of heart 
 failure,’ which connects with the recent death of 
 his niece ‘ E’ by heart failure after an operation. 
 
 183 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SUCCESSFUL TESTS AND NOTE 
 UPON PSYCHOMETRY 
 
 Tue SIGNIFICANCE OF SUCCESSFUL TESTS 
 
 On a review of the test-messages presented for 
 consideration in the foregoing pages, it will probably 
 be agreed that no theories of collusion, nor of 
 coincidence, can suffice to explain the manner in 
 which they were verified by the Times. The 
 relevancy of the names found in the indicated portion 
 of that paper for the following day being clear and 
 precise for the more part, and requiring no ingenious 
 reading in of meanings which did not lie on the 
 surface. 
 
 The examples given are but a small fraction of 
 the number received during the last two years, 
 some of which have been taken from other papers 
 besides the Times, and some also from magazines 
 previous to the date of their publication. 
 
 This type of evidence is new, and represents a 
 desire on the part of its originators to produce 
 results even more arresting and conclusive than 
 the cross-correspondences and book tests which 
 for some years preceded it, results which cannot 
 
 184 
 
 
 
Note upon Psychometry 
 
 be attributed to the exercise of any known powers 
 of the human mind, whether subliminal or 
 otherwise. 
 
 Let us suppose that the medium has such develop- 
 ment of clairvoyant ability as would enable her to 
 wander at will, and in full consciousness, around 
 the offices and printing department of the Times. 
 In this way she might ascertain that certain names 
 were to appear in the morrow’s paper, but how 
 would this assist her in estimating the probable 
 position in which these names would appear? 
 True, if there were birth-notices from families 
 whose initial letters were A, B, or C, it would 
 be safe to surmise that these notices would be in 
 the top part of column one, where such are invariably 
 placed. But this supposition does not greatly assist 
 us, since my communicator has shown a preference 
 for the second column, and has given comparatively 
 few from the upper portion of the first. 
 
 Continuing our supposition, and assuming that 
 the medium observes that a certain advertisement 
 is already arranged for some definite position, how 
 are we to picture the process by which she discovers 
 that a name in this paragraph can be linked up with 
 an event in my father’s life ? 
 
 Having found out that the name Leek (see page 
 146) would appear in column two, by what method 
 are we to suppose the medium learnt that the name 
 Goodwin would be placed near it, although in the 
 first column? And, further, how did she know that 
 this name might be used to indicate one whom my 
 sister and I used to know more than forty years ago? 
 
 E.H.S. 185 0 
 
The Significance of Successful Tests and 
 
 If it be suggested that the relevancy of Leek and 
 Goodwin was to be extracted from my own mind, 
 it may be inquired in reply, ‘ Whose intelligence 
 was it that accomplished the feat?’ Nor would 
 this suggestion of the exploration of the sitter’s 
 memories account for occasions when the name 
 in the morrow’s paper has been linked with facts 
 unknown to the sitter, and only discovered by him 
 when making subsequent inquiries. 
 
 The outstanding fact is that names which are 
 being arranged for a place in the morrow’s Press 
 have been correctly indicated as to position, and then 
 linked with incidents which were sometimes known, 
 and sometimes unknown, to the sitter. It was 
 very intelligently done. Whose intelligence accom- 
 plished the feat? If selected from my own mind— 
 Who was it made the very judicious selection ? 
 If we say that it was done by the medium, we have 
 to assume abilities for which we have no evidence, 
 and pass into the region of pure guesswork. Con- 
 scious fraud is out of the question in these instances, 
 and of a sufficient subconscious intelligence we have 
 no evidence whatever. 
 
 A CoNSIDERATION OF THE Powers NECESSARY FOR 
 THE COMPOSITION OF SUCCESSFUL NEWSPAPER [TESTS 
 
 Difficult as it proved to imagine any extension 
 of known human faculties by which the medium 
 might herself have produced the book tests, it 
 becomes even more so when we try to suppose her 
 
 186 
 
 
 
Note upon Psychometry 
 
 the author of newspaper tests and, more especially, 
 of those containing internal evidence of my father’s 
 identity. 
 
 It will be recalled (see Chapter IX) that we 
 found the following abilities requisite to the pro- 
 duction of the book tests :— 
 
 1. Such degree of clairvoyance as would permit 
 the making of minute observations in distant 
 places and retaining memory of things there 
 seen. 
 
 2. Ability to extract the general meaning from 
 printed pages in distant houses. 
 
 3. And to do this despite the fact that the books 
 concerned are not open at the time. 
 
 To which, for production of private and personal 
 
 book messages, 1t was necessary to add:— 
 
 4. Ability to obtain knowledge of happenings in 
 the sitter’s home and private life relating 
 both to the present and to the distant past. 
 
 s. An intelligence which knows how to select 
 from among our hosts of memories the 
 suitable items for association with the book- 
 passage, or conversely, of finding a suitable 
 passage for the particular memory fished 
 from the deeps of our mind. 
 
 This is a formidable list of requirements, and 
 would appear ludicrous were it not compiled in 
 an attempt to explore the possibilities of an alter- 
 native explanation. The facts face us. They have 
 to be accounted for. They have been repeatedly 
 produced. By whom? Only by those possessing 
 and exercising the abilities listed above. The 
 
 187 
 
The Significance of Successful Tests and 
 
 suggestion of trickery or collusion has been dis- 
 missed from court; it is impossible. Did Mrs, 
 Leonard possess the requisite faculties? He 
 would be an imaginative and credulous person 
 who dare assert it ; no physical or mental powers 
 known to science could accomplish what has been 
 repeatedly done. The messages themselves often 
 assert, and invariably assume, that their author is 
 in spirit-life. 
 
 Tur AUTHORSHIP OF NEWSPAPER TESTS 
 
 Let us now venture upon an examination of the 
 supposition that newspaper tests are produced by 
 some elusive fragment of Mrs, Leonard’s personality. 
 
 Fraud and collusion are here even more absolutely 
 ruled out than before. Ifa spirit is not the author, 
 then Mrs, Leonard must be. In that case we must 
 further add to the hypothetical list of her abilities :— 
 
 6. Power to obtain information as to names 
 which are to appear in the morrow’s Press. 
 
 7. And a knowledge of their approximate 
 positions on the page. 
 
 8. Power to ascertain many details of my 
 father’s earth life, including some which 
 were unknown to me and only verifiable by 
 Inspecting his diaries, or by questioning 
 relations. 
 
 We must recollect that the newspaper is not in 
 
 type at the hour when these tests are given, and 
 that the names concerned are only to be seen upon 
 
 various slips of paper apportioned among operators 
 188 
 
 
 
Note upon Psychometry 
 
 in the printing rooms. How are these names 
 scrutinised, and how are their destined positions 
 estimated, positions which they will not assume 
 for some hours after the sitting ends? We are 
 entirely unaware of any human power, whether of 
 normal or hypnotised persons, by which this might 
 be accomplished. 
 
 But the climax of achievement relates to those 
 tests in which old memories relating to my father 
 are incorporated. Can we imagine any ability by 
 which Mrs. Leonard could effectively probe the 
 memories of my relations—several of whom are 
 persons she has never seen—and select appropriate 
 incidents therefrom? My father’s diaries, which 
 have always been securely under lock and key, 
 afford a few hints which have helped me to verify 
 tests; can we suppose that some fragment of Mrs, 
 Leonard’s personality has discovered their location, 
 and so read them as to realise the relevancy of their 
 _ allusions to matter which was subsequently con- 
 nected by intelligent and verifiable association with 
 names of persons and places appearing in the 
 Times and the Telegraph on the day following the 
 sittings ? 
 
 Such attempts take us into realms of imagination, 
 where we leave far behind us all proved facts and 
 experiences relating to human powers, whether 
 physical or mental. 
 
 The explanation given by my communicator 1s 
 simple and in agreement with all that has been 
 discovered as to the possible interaction of spirit 
 intelligence with mundane life, 
 
 189 
 
The Significance of Successful Tests and 
 
 Nor are book and newspaper tests the only proof 
 given. All my sittings abound in references to 
 such of my doings and surroundings as would be 
 unknowable to Mrs, Leonard normally, also with 
 references to my father’s earth life; besides which, 
 they include a wide range of elusive touches which 
 are unproducible in cold print, but in which I see my 
 father’s personality ringing true to that which I knew 
 so well during his life on earth. 
 
 Our search for alternative explanation fails, that 
 of spirit action remains alone upon the field. 
 
 Let us then pass to another phase of the inquiry, 
 and ask whether Feda, Mrs. Leonard’s control, 
 represents the intelligence by which these test- 
 messages are devised ? We have previously assumed, 
 for the sake of argument, that Mrs. Leonard’s 
 clairvoyant ability enables her to roam at will 
 where the preparations for the Times of the morrow 
 are in progress; but let us now suppose that Feda 
 can do this, and that she ascertains the probable 
 position of numerous names. This would account 
 for such a message as the appearance of the name 
 ‘ Loose’ in the designated column, although, upon 
 our supposition, one would expect Feda to do 
 more accurate work in the transmission of names 
 than she has usually accomplished; for, in this case, 
 there would not be that liability to error in the 
 transmitting of a name between the communicator 
 and Feda of which there is constant evidence. 
 Let us say that Feda sees the name, and resolves 
 to astonish the sitter by linking it with his own 
 reminiscences; her next task would be to explore 
 
 190 
 
 
 
Note upon Psychometry 
 
 his memory for suitable material. Can a control 
 do this ? i 
 
 An imperfect acquaintance with the power of 
 psychometry! is apt to bewilder the inexperienced 
 investigator. He finds that a psychometrist, by 
 holding in the hand some object from his wardrobe, 
 can tell him various matters relating to his past 
 doings. He has no means of perceiving the 
 point at which the psychometrising passes into 
 the reception of information from higher intelli- 
 gences, and he may easily fall into the error of 
 assuming that a good sensitive can, by contact with 
 his property or his person, as when holding his 
 hand, ‘tell him all things that ever he did.’ It 
 is not so, and the intelligent sensitive would be the 
 first to admit it. Certain fleeting impressions, many 
 of them curiously accurate, can be gained by 
 psychometric faculty; but this is not to be confused 
 with any such power as the exploring at will of 
 the sitter’s mind and memory. The psychometrist 
 takes what comes and is limited in his choice; 
 whether he could hold my hand and say to himself, 
 ‘I desire to know what connection this person may 
 have had with Leek,’ and then receive from my 
 memory the names of my old friends there, is a 
 question to which only prolonged experiment can 
 provide answer. I am unacquainted with any 
 such results. 
 
 But if a medium cou/d do this we would readily 
 assume that Feda might do it even more easily. 
 Up to the present all my experiments with Feda 
 
 1 See note on Psychometry at end of chapter. 
 Igl 
 
The Significance of Successful Tests and 
 
 have failed to find in her any trace of ability to 
 explore my thoughts or reproduce my memories; 
 the evidence all points the other way. I will restrict 
 myself to one illustrative incident. My friend, 
 Mr. G. F. Bird, knew my father intimately, and on 
 learning that I believed myself to be in communi- 
 cation with him through Mrs. Leonard, asked me 
 to try the following test. ‘I remember,’ said he, 
 ‘that Mr. Thomas once met a visitor at our house. 
 Years afterwards when we removed to London 
 your father came to see us, and looking through 
 our album came upon the photograph of the visitor 
 of whom I am thinking. He made a curious 
 remark, and it is possible that he would, if you 
 asked him, be able to recall something that was 
 unusual in this connection.’ I promised to repeat 
 this to my communicator and ask him what he 
 could recollect of the circumstance. 
 
 Now the whole point of this incident lies in the 
 following fact, about which I said nothing to Mr. 
 Bird until the experiment was completed. I clearly 
 remembered that, about the time first alluded to, 
 there was a coloured lady visiting Mr. and Mrs, 
 Bird, and as she was a friend of theirs it seemed 
 more than likely that in their album would be her 
 photograph. I fully expected that the remark which 
 it was expected my father might remember would 
 prove to relate to the lady’s colour, and when, 
 through Feda, I asked if he could revive this 
 memory of the album I fully expected to get the 
 answer, ‘She was black.’ Nothing of the sort 
 happened; the communicator knew many things 
 
 192 
 
 EE - 
 
Note upon Psychometry 
 
 about Mr. Bird and his old home, but failed to 
 recollect the trivial remark about the photograph 
 or even to distinguish the particular visitor inquired 
 about. Had Feda been ‘reading my mind,’ she 
 might have brought off a striking result, which, 
 however misleading to me as regards my father’s 
 presence and memory, would have shown ability 
 to seize the prominent thought in the sitter’s mind 
 at the moment, a thought which had also been 
 strongly with me for several preceding days. So 
 expectant was I that this experiment would yield 
 the word ‘ black,’ that I wrote out my anticipation 
 and the reason for it, and handed this in a sealed 
 envelope to Mr. Bird before going to the medium. 
 
 Feda has always similarly failed when trying to 
 get at my thought. In conversations with her 
 upon this point I gathered that, when first com- 
 mencing her work as control with Mrs. Leonard, 
 she would get some impressions from the sitter in 
 addition to messages from spirit communicators. 
 She was, however, soon instructed that it was the 
 duty of a good control to discriminate, and to refuse 
 steadily all impressions emanating from the sitter. 
 Thus one suspects that with an inferior quality of 
 mediumship, or when a control is not experienced 
 and careful, sitters may occasionally receive a 
 certain amount of supposed ‘ evidential matter ’ 
 which has its origin in themselves and not in the 
 mind of spirit friends. It is one of the complications 
 of our subject, and worthy of careful investigation. 
 I do not think it results in anything worse than a 
 partial misunderstanding on the part of inexperienced 
 
 193 
 
The Significance of Successful Tests and 
 
 sitters who, perhaps too easily, assume that all 
 ‘evidence’ is equally valuable, provided it can be 
 proved that the information received could not 
 have come normally before the notice of the sensi- 
 tive. For it would indeed be a poor sitting in 
 which such psychometrising, whether done by the 
 sensitive or the control, was not mingled with 
 messages emanating from higher sources. The 
 disentangling of the two streams of knowledge 
 provides wholesome work for that sane and balanced 
 judgment which should protect the inquirer on the 
 mental side, even as a pure heart and prayerful 
 aspiration protect him on the spiritual. 
 
 From the above digression we return to the 
 question of the origin of our Times messages. | 
 am satisfied that fraud, whether conscious or 
 unconscious, on the part of medium or control, 
 could not account for the facts; and that no assumed 
 extension of clairvoyance or other faculties in the 
 medium, nor of ‘fishing’ by the control in the 
 sitter’s mind, can assist us in solving the problem. 
 I have compared all suggested explanations, so 
 far as known to me, with my experience of newspaper 
 messages, extending over a period of two years, 
 and I know of none, save one, which covers. more 
 than the outer fringe of the evidence. That my 
 father links his former memories with matter discovered 
 in preparation for the morrow’s Press is the only 
 explanation logically fitting with the facts. 
 
 That cautious criticism should endeavour to 
 exhaust all possible avenues of explanation before 
 accepting this belief is no cause for complaint. 
 
 104 
 
 
 
Note upon Psychometry 
 
 It is right and wise, and one would wish to have 
 it so. But the evidence requires to be considered 
 in its entirety: so-called explanations which take 
 no account of the more difficult facts, or theories 
 depending for their cogency upon assumptions of 
 subconscious abilities for which we have no proof, 
 are only obstacles placed in the pathway of advancing 
 knowledge. When true inferences have been 
 drawn from facts, one is free to proceed, making 
 use of the knowledge won for solving further 
 problems, and thereby gaining yet clearer light 
 upon life’s meaning and the interaction of the 
 spirit realms and earth. 
 
 Those whose minds are, by constitution or 
 training, logical and cautious would, I am aware, 
 find it easier to share my conviction if they could 
 conceive the methods by which these newspaper 
 tests are accomplished. J am frequently asked if 
 the communicator does not explain how the thing 
 is doner My own curiosity suggested many 
 questions, and my father has never wearied in his 
 endeavours to elucidate, to the limited extent it 
 may be possible, his methods in obtaining the tests. 
 Fragments of these conversations are recorded in 
 the next chapter. He represents himself as an 
 experimenter, learning by experience how to carry 
 out successfully a scheme devised by a group of 
 older and more advanced minds for the benefit of 
 those on earth who are seriously striving to under- 
 stand. This group, realising how baffling to us 1s 
 our uncertainty as to the possible extension of 
 telepathic ability and the degree in which this 
 
 195 
 
The Significance of Successful Tests and 
 
 human power may be supposed to account for 
 many of the phenomena of mediumship, has devised 
 sundry methods of helping us by the elimination of 
 this element. Book tests were much more difficult 
 to explain by any imaginable extension of telepathy 
 than had been some of the phenomena preceding 
 them; and now newspaper messages have been 
 devised to carry this process of elimination a step 
 further. 
 
 Note upon PsycHOMETRY 
 
 Psychometry is described by Mr. J. Arthur Hill 
 as ‘ ‘The gathering of information about the history 
 of an object or its owner, by handling it.’ He 
 adds, * The thing is a fact, but how it comes about 
 is unknown, even to the psychometrist.’ 
 
 In Sie s Encyclopedia of Occultism it is define 
 as follows: ‘ The faculty of reading the characters, 
 surroundings, etc., of persons by holding in the 
 hand small objects which they have had in their 
 possession.’ 
 
 A brief description of my first experience of 
 this power may illuminate the theme. Having 
 been introduced to a lady who was said to give 
 information about people by handling their letters, 
 I asked permission to put this to the test. The 
 lady, who is the wife of the mayor of an important 
 provincial town, readily consented, and I handed 
 her a letter received some years previously from a 
 friend who had since died. ‘The letter which, I 
 need scarcely add, she did not attempt to read, 
 
 196 
 
 
 
Note upon Psychometry 
 
 made no reference to his health. I was given first 
 some apposite description of his personal character, 
 and then followed this sentence: ‘The writer 
 has a strong spirit in a frail body; indeed his hold 
 upon physical life is so slight that he should take 
 special care lest he should slip out of his bodily 
 sheath before the due time.’ This seemed sufh- 
 ciently accurate to justify a further experiment, 
 which I asked and received permission to make. 
 
 When next meeting this lady at the house of a 
 mutual friend, I came prepared with four letters 
 which had been placed in identical envelopes. 
 These were handed to an assistant, who was asked 
 to select one from the packet and pass it to the 
 psychometrist. The letter was not scrutinised 
 by the latter, but pressed against her forehead 
 during the giving of the description. Removing 
 to the far end of the room, I sat with my back 
 to the others and wrote down what was said. When 
 the first letter had been psychometrised it was 
 replaced in its envelope and a number pencilled 
 thereon corresponding to the number heading my 
 notes. This method avoided my knowing, during 
 progress of the experiment, which letter was being 
 psychometrised. The second and third were 
 treated similarly. Thus I obtained three psycho- 
 metric descriptions without knowing which letters 
 were being dealt with. Only at the close of the 
 experiment was it possible to pair the letters with 
 their descriptions. 
 
 The results, although not entirely correct, were 
 sufficiently striking :— 
 
 197 
 
The Significance of Successful Tests and 
 
 1. The writer of number one was said to be 
 artistic to an unusual degree. ‘This was true; she 
 is a professional singer and a remarkably gifted 
 amateur sketcher. 
 
 2. Number two was said to have been written 
 by one who was often in a beautiful garden con- 
 taining a large sheet of ornamental water. This 
 also was correct; its writer lived at that time in 
 a mansion standing in its park and having extensive 
 gardens of unusual variety and beauty, including a 
 boating lake. Only two of my friends had a lake 
 in their grounds, and this was one of them. 
 
 3. The third letter was said to have been written 
 by an excessively tired person. For a few moments 
 the psychometrist could give no more information, 
 and expressed the fear that the feeling of weariness 
 would prevent reception of further impressions. 
 However she presently added (and it sounded 
 illogical) that the writer appeared to be a boy at 
 school. I discovered, on comparing the letters, 
 that this came from a young nephew then at Dover 
 College, and I wondered if a chance glimpse of the 
 boyish handwriting might have suggested the idea 
 that the writer was a schoolboy; but there was 
 nothing to account for the reference to weariness, 
 which I concluded must be wrong. It was not 
 until recounting this experiment in his home that 
 I learnt its applicability. My nephew surprised 
 me by exclaiming, ‘That is perfectly true. I 
 always write my letters when too tired to do any- 
 thing else. I had come in from afternoon football, 
 and wrote to you before tea.’ 
 
 198 
 
 
 
Note upon Psychometry 
 
 I should not care to base an argument upon data 
 so meagre, but offer the above in illustration of the 
 definitions given of Psychometry. One of the 
 earliest and probably still one of the best books 
 upon the subject is that entitled, The Soul of Things, 
 written by Professor Denton in 1884} who, finding 
 that his wife and son possessed the power, made 
 prolonged experiment. It 1s to be desired that 
 others would conduct equally careful experiments 
 with this elusive faculty. 
 
 Mrs, Leonard has made few attempts in psycho- 
 metry, and those few have not given her encourage- 
 ment to pursue that for which she apparently has 
 no ability. 
 
 It seems safe to assume that no psychometric 
 power in Mrs, Leonard, even were she to hold one’s 
 hand, which she does not, could account for infor- 
 mation being given which was unknowable at 
 the time by the sitter and which subsequently 
 proves correct. 
 
 Besides which, it is difficult to see why, supposing 
 appropriate matter could be obtained by Mrs, 
 Leonard from my mind, or psychometrically from 
 my person, there is so often an insuperable difficulty 
 in giving names and other simple items which are 
 familiar to me. It is a curious experience, after 
 having received correct references to pages of books 
 scattered about one’s library, to hear the control 
 struggling to spell out a name which I know to 
 be the one inevitably required for completing some 
 explicit description. Such efforts usually fail to 
 
 1 Published by Denton Publishing Co., Wellesley, Mass. 
 199 
 
The Significance of Successful Tests 
 
 pass beyond the initial letter of the required name; 
 nor does my concentration upon that name appear 
 to make things one whit the easier. It has often 
 seemed, during such episodes, that things zot within 
 my knowledge are more easily transmitted than the 
 things which I know. This frequent failure to 
 obtain from the sitter well-known names and 
 information, would, on the psychometric hypo- 
 thesis of book tests, be a phenomenon requiring 
 explanation. 
 
 This slight note upon Psychometry may fittingly 
 close with the following extract from Sir William 
 Barrett’s book, Psychical Research, page 198 :— 
 
 ‘Certain sensitives are said to be able to detect, 
 or “psychometrise,”” as they call it, the influence 
 left on material objects worn by an absent or 
 deceased person. Whether this be the case or 
 not, there are some startling and well-attested 
 phenomena related by the elder mesmerists which 
 apparently indicate that some specific influence is 
 left on a material object by the passes of a 
 mesmerizer. ‘The scientific objections to a specific 
 effuence are perhaps not so formidable now that 
 we are acquainted with certain physical and 
 psychical facts that would have been deemed 
 utterly incredible a century ago.’ 
 
 . 
 Ail 
 
 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 NEWSPAPER TESTS AS VIEWED FROM THE OTHER SIDE 
 
 Ir was in October, 1919, that I first heard of news- 
 paper tests, one from the Morning Post being shown 
 to me by friends whom I had introduced to Mrs. 
 Leonard. At my next sitting Feda commenced to 
 speak about this, and stated that my father had 
 suggested it to their communicator, and had now 
 come prepared to give me one from the Times. 
 The accompanying remarks were, in substance, 
 as follows :— 
 
 ‘These tests have been devised by others 
 in a more advanced sphere than mine, and I 
 have caught their ideas. This may be done 
 even when we do not realise whence the 
 thought originates, much as when minds on 
 earth receive inspiration. We can visit these 
 higher helpers, and, even when away from 
 them, may be very conscious of their assistance. 
 I am not yet aware exactly how one obtains 
 these tests, and have wondered whether the 
 higher guides exert some influence whereby a 
 suitable advertisement comes into position on 
 the convenient date; I have thought of this, 
 but do not know. These tests will be better 
 than the book tests, because more definite, and 
 their object will be to prove that we can obtain 
 information from other quarters than the mind 
 E.H.S. 201 P 
 
Newspaper Tests as Viewed from the Other Side 
 
 or surroundings of the sitter; it will be useless 
 to invoke “‘ the subconscious mind” as an 
 explanation here. I was taken to the Times 
 office, and did not find the way there by myself; 
 helpers are plentiful when we are engaged on 
 work of this kind.’ 
 
 This first test from the Times was strikingly 
 successful, and I noticed that the test words chosen 
 lay in groups, several occurring close together. 
 Remarking upon this at the next sitting, I was told 
 that I might assume they would often be found 
 thus, as a small area was concentrated upon and 
 the other areas ignored, unless some chance word 
 there happened to catch the attention. When one 
 patch had been scrutinised another might be selected 
 if necessary. 
 
 While giving the third set of these messages, 
 my communicator remarked :— 
 
 ‘You will notice from the items selected 
 that there is both a personal and an impersonal 
 class. It is the personal interest that attracts 
 me and suggests a particular test, and it is 
 much easier to form a test when I can see a 
 personal association in it. ‘These will prove 
 to be the best in my selection.’ 
 
 A glance at the tests of this period shows how 
 strikingly true this was, family names and associa- 
 tions being the subject of nearly all the better 
 results. 
 
 I did not at this time realise that the three sets 
 
 202 
 
 
 
 j 
 7 
 : 
 4 
 
Newspaper Tests as Viewed from the Other Side 
 
 of newspaper tests already received were the pre- 
 cursors of a long series; but it became evident that 
 the communicator so regarded them, for he contrived 
 to combine a statement on this point with an 
 italicised remark in the Windsor Magazine for 
 December, 1919. I had requested that we might 
 have a change from the Times, lest there should be 
 given cause for the criticism that restriction to one 
 paper suggested some sort of collusion. I had 
 looked ahead, and found that I was due to sit with 
 Mrs. Leonard on a date some five days before the 
 Windsor Magazine would be published. I therefore 
 requested that tests might be selected from that 
 magazine. ‘The suggestion was accepted willingly, 
 and on November 21st, in addition to the Times 
 tests, came six from the Windsor, of which five 
 proved accurate. Among them was the following :— 
 
 ‘On page to, disregarding advertisements 
 and counting from the beginning of the 
 reading matter, there is a personal message 
 commencing about one-quarter down on the 
 left side. ‘Take it as a message particularly 
 applicable just now in view of the fact that 
 you are starting upon a most important part of 
 your psychic investigations.’ 
 
 One-quarter down this page was a short state- 
 ment set out by itself and printed in italics; it 
 commenced close to the left side with the words, 
 ‘ This story is the first of a series . . .2. Omitting 
 the word ‘story,’ and taking it as a personal message, 
 I gathered that it had been selected in order to 
 serve as a statement that these tests would form a 
 
 203 
 
Newspaper Tests as Viewed from the Other Side 
 
 series. As I have now been receiving them regularly 
 for two years, that promise has been abundantly 
 fulfilled. 
 
 It should be added that several days elapsed 
 after this sitting before I was able to obtain a copy 
 of the Windsor Magazine. 
 
 The year 1920 represents a second stage in the 
 experimenter’s endeavour to explain to me, and 
 apparently to understand more fully for himself, 
 the problem of these tests. During the early period 
 there had been little said to suggest that the method 
 used differed greatly from that pursued in obtaining 
 book tests. 
 
 But in January, 1920, the opinion was expressed 
 that sometimes when obtaining material for these 
 tests there was seen neither metal type nor printed 
 paragraph, but ‘ something different.’ ‘This ‘ some- 
 thing different’ the communicator did not at first 
 know how to designate, and it was termed ‘the 
 spirit, ghost, or etheric duplicate of the word,’ or 
 its ‘aura,’ and we finally agreed to employ the 
 term ‘ etheric duplicate.’ He expressed himself as 
 deeply interested in the problem, and desirous of 
 investigating it further. By the following November 
 his views had progressed, as will be observed from 
 the following notes of a conversation in that 
 month :— 
 
 ‘Sometimes in getting these tests I think 
 
 I am seeing, when really it is not something 
 
 seen, but the operation of a power of materiali- 
 
 sing the thought of it; I see, not the thing 
 
 itself, but something which I have created 
 204 
 
Newspaper Tests as Viewed from the Other Side 
 
 through sensing it. Perhaps photography 
 provides an apt illustration, when you can only 
 see the picture as you proceed to develop the 
 plate; I am now able to develop the idea 
 
 sensed until it becomes visible to me. But 
 
 more than this, I have glimpsed an idea which 
 I should much like to work out more fully, 
 namely, that I can in this way see things which 
 are shortly going to be. It is much as when 
 you realise the coming of a man whose shadow 
 you see approaching round a corner; since 
 the shadow suggests the man, you know that 
 a man will almost immediately appear. 
 seems to me that we on this side have a power, 
 capable of development, by which it 1s possible 
 to interpret the “‘shadows”’ of things to be, 
 but not actually existing at the moment. 
 
 have seen shadows, and thought them the 
 
 actual objects themselves. I fear you will 
 
 find it difficult to grasp this.’ 
 
 I ee — 
 
 ‘What produces this “shadow” of the 
 
 object ?’ 
 He replied :— 
 
 * That is exactly what I wish to discover. 
 suspect, but am not sure, that whatever 1s 
 
 about to materialise on earth has its spiritual 
 
 counterpart, which 1s reflected, say, on the 
 atmosphere or ether, but not visible to all. 
 Admitting that each object may have such 
 
 counterpart, you will ask how an event yet to 
 
 happen can have its spiritual counterpart? 
 205 
 
Newspaper Tests as Viewed from the Other Side 
 
 I think in the same way that an intention may 
 be sensed by a sensitive before it is put into 
 action by the sitter. Sometimes when a man 
 proposes to commit murder his intended victim 
 feels a sense of impending danger. Animals 
 feel this even more than do human beings, 
 sensing what is about to happen. Now the 
 things I see are frequently but the spiritual 
 counterparts of things which are about to 
 take form; some of my tests from the Times 
 might be called shadows of a substance. When 
 you see a shadow it is but an outline, and you 
 do not look for detail, and that explains the 
 difficulty of these tests; we cannot always 
 sufficiently observe detail.’ 
 
 Twelve months after the above conversation the 
 subject was again referred to on my asking how 
 the mistake could occur of saying that he saw the 
 word ‘rain’ in a particular position of the next 
 day’s paper: he had missed the two middle letters 
 of the word, which proved to be ‘raisin.’ The 
 remarks arising from my inquiry were, in substance, 
 as follows :— 
 
 “I cannot always see these words. Book 
 tests were easier to do, probably because the 
 books were always present; whereas it 1s 
 otherwise with newspaper tests, which must 
 therefore be obtained in another manner.’ 
 
 I asked :— 
 
 ‘Do you now understand what it actually is 
 that you operate upon at the Times office ? ’ 
 206 
 
 lS ee 
 
 
 
Newspaper Tests as Viewed from the Other Side 
 
 He replied :— 
 
 ‘It is still a puzzle. On one occasion | 
 thought I saw the complete page set up; it 
 certainly appeared to be so, and I noticed 
 certain items in it which I believe proved 
 correct. But on returning to the office a 
 little while after—for I frequently go twice 
 to make more sure of the tests—I found that 
 the page was not yet set up, and this astonished 
 me and was most perplexing.’ 
 
 I asked :— 
 
 “Do you understand it now ?’ 
 
 He replied :— 
 
 ‘No, not quite. You will recollect my once 
 remarking that I seemed sometimes to be 
 getting the shadow of what was going to be. 
 Now when in my own sphere it is easy to 
 distinguish between a thing and its thought- 
 form, but when I am working on your plane 
 it 1s not so easy to tell the difference. For 
 example, on getting a thought from your mind 
 I may be uncertain whether it relates to 
 something already done, or to something you 
 intend doing. I find myself helped or hindered 
 by conditions in obtaining these tests. Recol- 
 lect what was previously said about “the 
 coming event casting its shadow before,” and 
 also about the “etheric duplicate.” I will 
 investigate further.’ 
 
 The above was given through Feda, but later 
 207 
 
Newspaper Tests as Viewed from the Other Side 
 
 in the sitting, when my father was controlling, he 
 again alluded to the subject, and said:— 
 
 ‘When the test items are chosen they are 
 not yet existing in the form they will have 
 taken when the paper is published, and so 
 I have to put myself in a position to know 
 that which wi// be, rather than that which is. 
 You will naturally wish to learn how I can be 
 aware of the position these items will assume — 
 on the printed page? Of course my cal- 
 culations may be wrong or the positions may 
 be changed subsequently. I am able to sense 
 what appear to me to be sheets and slips of 
 paper with names and various information 
 upon them. I notice suitable items and, 
 afterwards, visualise a duplicate of the page 
 with these items falling into their places. At 
 first [ was unable to do this. It seems to me 
 that it 1s an ability which throws some light 
 upon foretelling, a visualising of what zs to be, 
 but based upon that which already is. Now 
 suppose I wished to give the name “‘ Thomas ” 
 as a test; unless it were already upon some 
 paper at the office I should not be able to 
 get it. But should I discover that it is among 
 the names received for insertion, I next attempt 
 to visualise it in the position which it is to take 
 upon the page in question.’ 
 
 I then asked :— 
 
 ‘How can you ascertain whether the name 
 has reached the office ?’ 
 
 He said:— 
 
 ‘I think I get it from the letters, for I 
 208 
 
Newspaper Tests as Viewed from the Other Side 
 
 certainly seem to see many pieces of paper 
 and to obtain many things from them. But 
 the important operation is the subsequent 
 visualising. Should this theory of mine be 
 right, I think it will presently be demonstrated 
 by examination of these tests; for it should 
 be possible to give items verifiable from the 
 paper for the next day but one.’ 
 
 I asked :-— 
 
 “Do you think that could be done with 
 
 advertisements which had not yet reached the 
 office ?’ 
 
 He replied :— 
 
 ‘It might be more difficult. But to return 
 to my method; I get information that certain 
 words will be used, for I sense them on the 
 premises. Frequently I have sensed a few 
 items from letters and then visualised the 
 paper, when they fell into position; and 
 sometimes I see further detail upon visualising 
 which I had not sensed from the letters. 
 These latter seem to come in as an afterthought, 
 but are usually connected with the primary 
 items. Suppose I got ‘“ Charles,” and then 
 visualised it as appearing at the top of column 
 two; I might also get a name “ D”’ close by 
 it, of which I had not been conscious previously, 
 but which appears to me now owing to its 
 being connected with the “ Charles” adver- 
 tisement. This is most difficult to explain.’ 
 
 In the early period it was supposed by both of 
 us that the later the hour of the sitting the more 
 209 
 
Newspaper Tests as Viewed from the Other Side 
 
 accurate would be the tests. Experience, however, 
 modified this view, and it became apparent that 
 there were other conditions of success far more 
 important than the time of day. In March, 1921, 
 my father said :— 
 
 ‘I think there 1s little difference whether 
 your sitting is in the afternoon or evening, 
 for my conclusion is that I do not obtain the 
 tests from the actual preparations for printing. 
 What I certainly know 1s, that, when I go to 
 the office, whether earlier or later, I can feel 
 that certain matter 1s there and that its position 
 in the paper will be so-and-so. Although I 
 use the word “ feel,’ yet it is also a ‘‘ seeing.” 
 Consider how with sensation on earth all is 
 feeling first, but if carried further, conscious- 
 ness reaches the stage of seeing and hearing. 
 Men say, “‘I see,’ when they grasp an idea. 
 They imply that they see with the mind’s eye. 
 I think that what I experience is an extension 
 of that. But remember it is imperative that 
 I have something upon which to work, for I 
 cannot see with my mind’s eye a condition 
 which is not present there. I can only see or 
 feel that for which there is a foundation.’ 
 
 During our last conversation, before the writing 
 of this chapter, the subject was further alluded to, 
 consequent upon my saying that curiosity had been 
 expressed as to how the Times tests were obtained. 
 
 My father replied :— 
 
 ‘I fear that nothing you may say will 
 enable a full comprehension; for they are 
 210 
 
Newspaper Tests as Viewed from the Other Side 
 
 done by a process not easy for those on earth 
 to follow, and which relates to “a near future 
 which is a present,” somewhat symbolised by 
 the shadow seen of a man round a corner. 
 I think there is an etheric foreshadowing—if 
 one may use the expression—of things about 
 to be done. Remember that, although the 
 words may not be yet in type, some one’s 
 thoughts are on them, some one has formulated 
 the wording of the notices sent to the office 
 for insertion. I used to remark, when giving 
 book tests, that it was easier to sense books 
 that had been read, for it seemed as though 
 the reader’s thought remained in the book, 
 possibly in some auric form; but should you 
 begin to explain shat to people generally, 
 they would not understand it. On the whole, 
 I think the method used for newspaper tests 
 may be said to depend upon “an ability to 
 psychometrise the ever-present NOW.” Not 
 every spirit could do this; it is a power which 
 has to be developed. 
 
 I inquired :-— 
 
 * How do you get the exact position of the 
 word you want ?’ 
 
 He replied :— 
 
 ‘ By a slight extension of what I have just 
 tried to describe. It would probably be 
 impossible to get anything very far ahead, 
 but only within a certain number of hours, 
 and I cannot say how many.’ 
 
 2zI 
 
Newspaper Tests as Viewed from the Other Side 
 I said :— 
 
 ‘Perhaps you can only obtain such infor- 
 mation as has already arrived at the office ?’ 
 
 He answered :-— 
 
 ‘Possibly something might be got from 
 an advertisement on its way to the office, if 
 the sender were thinking strongly of it at 
 the time when I was there selecting tests; for 
 like attracts like, and a certain degree of link 
 would have been formed for me by my con- 
 tact with the advertisements already at the 
 office. It is all very interesting. I scarcely 
 think it would be possible to get a test for the 
 day after the morrow, or, even if possible, 
 that it could result in more than a jumble of 
 the morrow’s with a few of the day following. 
 
 Upon my repeating a previously asked question 
 as to whether he felt the words and occasionally 
 also saw them, he replied that this was a sufficiently 
 correct description of what seemed to him to be a 
 crystallising or materialising of thought. 
 
 The above extracts and summaries may suffice 
 to indicate the trend of many conversations we have 
 had upon the subject. Students may complain 
 that too little information has been laid before 
 them, while others will doubtless have taken 
 advantage of their right to skip less interesting 
 portions. A third class of critic may be too polite 
 to express their opinion, but I naturally assume 
 that some will take the easy path by assuring 
 themselves that this chapter describes merely the 
 
 212 
 
Newspaper Tests as Viewed from the Other Side 
 
 manner in which I have been bluffed by the medium. 
 If these should be open to considerations of logic, 
 they are asked to recollect that, during two years, 
 I have held some twenty-four conversations with 
 my communicator upon this phase of the subject, 
 and in these talks I was not asking him to pro- 
 pound theories, but merely to explain accomplished 
 facts. 
 
 Certain information given the previous day was 
 found accurate in the Public Press next morning. 
 My notes were posted overnight and are retained 
 by the Society for Psychical Research. Those 
 notes may be compared with the issues of the Times 
 to which they refer by any who desire to make 
 the verification for themselves. The proportion of 
 success obtained presents a striking and inexplic- 
 able phenomenon, one that is, I think, unique in the 
 history of psychic studies, and one that challenges 
 inquiry as to how it was accomplished. No theories 
 of fraud or collusion can be maintained in face of the 
 hundreds of tests received during the years following 
 October, 1919, and a consideration of their relevancy 
 to things not within the medium’s knowledge. 
 They must be either ignored or considered in their 
 bearing upon extra-mundane agency. My com- 
 municator asserts that they were specially devised 
 to compel recognition of the latter. He is aware of 
 the argument that the medium may have developed 
 a faculty of seeing at a distance, and has therefore 
 taken pains to give sufficient tests of such a character 
 as to compel a different explanation, tests involving 
 his memory of days long past. Of these he says,— 
 
 213 
 
Newspaper Tests as Viewed from the Other Side 
 
 ‘I think they should impress people more 
 than book tests. If I came here and confined 
 myself to giving my recollections, it might be 
 put down to telepathy from your mind. But 
 since I refer you to the morrow’s paper for 
 items which accord with what is told you here, 
 it becomes clear that telepathy cannot explain; 
 you find in the paper that for which you seek, 
 but given in a form which you did not expect 
 and about which you could, in the nature of 
 the case, have known nothing. ‘Two sets of 
 memory are combined to produce them, my 
 memories of long ago, and my memory of 
 what I found this morning among preparations 
 for the Press.’ 
 
 214 
 
CHAPTER XXxXI 
 THE IDENTITY OF THE COMMUNICATOR 
 
 Tue transmission of names through Feda presents 
 considerable difficulty, for notwithstanding brilliant 
 successes in which a fresh name has been caught 
 correctly, she usually shows some hesitancy and 
 bewilderment, whether the name is being communi- 
 cated to her by sound or by its spelling; in fact, 
 we usually save time by taking the initial letter 
 and leaving it at that, trusting to time or the 
 context to throw further light. But by the news- 
 paper method it is not necessary for Feda to know 
 the name required; she transmits a description 
 showing where it can be found in the Times next 
 morning, together with such statements as define 
 the person with whom the name 1s linked for the 
 occasion. In this way we have in a large number 
 of instances been able quite easily to get the name 
 required. 
 
 During the two and a half years of investigation 
 which preceded the appearance of newspaper tests, 
 the communicator had abundantly proved to me that 
 I was really in communication with my father, and 
 that I was neither misled by an easy credulity nor 
 victimised by impersonation. With the advent 
 of this new type of evidence I quickly noticed how 
 skilfully it was used to give additional proof of 
 
 215 
 
The Identity of the Communicator 
 
 identity. The ‘ Leek tests’ will be remembered 
 in this connection; but even before the date of the 
 first of those references, in fact from the beginning 
 of the series, I had received messages involving 
 intimate knowledge of family names, present and 
 past, such as no stranger could easily obtain. 
 
 Many of these will have been noticed among 
 the instances previously given; their number is 
 considerable, and the following may suffice to 
 illustrate the general character of the whole. Brief 
 notes are appended showing the relevancy of each 
 test together with its verification. 
 
 There are retained, here and there, incidental 
 items which have little interest save their accurately 
 foretold position in relation to others which they 
 serve to link together. 
 
 October 10th, 1919, at 3 p.m. 
 This was the sitting at which the newspaper tests 
 commenced. ‘They were to be verified from the 
 first page of the Times for the following day. Among 
 
 them was the following :— 
 
 ‘He has the idea that soap is mentioned at 
 the top of the page.’ 
 
 As the word ‘soap’ did not appear upon this 
 page, I concluded that the test had failed. At the 
 next sitting I made some remarks about the general 
 success of the newspaper tests, but did not allude 
 to this particular one until Feda inquired if there 
 had not been an item described as near the top of 
 
 210 
 
The Identity of the Communicator 
 
 the page? I said, ‘Yes, a mention of soap, but 
 that one failed.’ 
 She continued :— 
 
 ‘ He says it was the name of a famous soap- 
 maker; he sensed it, and so did not know 
 whether soap was mentioned or some name 
 suggesting soap; he was just reminded of it.’ 
 
 Twenty years previously we had known a family, 
 some members of whom were engaged in the 
 manufacture of soap. We had been interested 
 in hearing details of the process, and in after years 
 any reference to that well-known firm brought to 
 mind our associations with this family. Looking 
 again at the paper, J discovered this family name 
 prominent among notices at the top of the first column. 
 May it not be an instance of mental association, 
 the familiar name bringing to my communicator 
 the idea of soap which was so strongly linked in 
 our minds with that family? At the next sitting 
 after this, I put a question :— 
 
 ‘There was a name in the paper which is 
 that of a soap-manufacturer, but can he say 
 anything more as to what he connects with 
 that name ?’ 
 
 Feda replied :— 
 
 “It does not suggest soap now, but in a 
 time gone by. Not some one’s soap, but 
 some one whom he knew when on earth and 
 knew well.’ 
 
 E.H.S. 217 Q 
 
The Identity of the Communicator 
 I asked :— 
 
 ‘Where and who?’ 
 The reply was:— 
 ‘Yes, he knows, but cannot get it through.’ 
 
 The interest of these answers centres around the 
 fact that a lady of this name, and related to the soap- 
 manufacturers, had been engaged to a member of 
 our family. We all knew her well during the years 
 1897 to 1900. Apart from this family, we had 
 known no one connected with soap manufacture. 
 
 At this sitting the number of tests given for 
 verification ‘from the morrow’s Times was six. Of 
 these four were found to be correct, one was 
 inconclusive, and one failed. 
 
 November 21st, 1919, at 3 p.m. 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 the front page of the morrow’s Times was thirteen. 
 Result: Correct 6; Inconclusive 1; Failure 6. 
 After allusion to something one-third down the 
 second column, the test continued :— 
 
 “ Also in the near vicinity is the name of a 
 place in which Mr. Hine resided.’ 
 
 We had been conversing at a previous sitting 
 about this gentleman who, forty years ago, was 
 the personal friend of my father, and a prominent 
 official in his church at Baldock in Hertfordshire. 
 As he had long aga removed to London, I was 
 
 218 
 
The Identity of the Communicator 
 
 uncertain which place might be intended, and was 
 interested next morning to find at the top of the 
 second column the old and familiar address, 
 
 Baldock, Herts. 
 
 February 27th, 1920, at 3.30 p.m. 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 the front page of the morrow’s Times was eleven. 
 Result: Correct 4; Inconclusive 6; Failure 1. 
 
 ‘About the middle of column one there is 
 named a place of which your mother was very 
 fond in her girlhood. She spent very happy 
 times there, and may remember two elderly 
 ladies there.’ 
 
 At the spot named occurs ‘J. of W.’ The Isle 
 of Wight was my mother’s native place: the two 
 elderly ladies were my mother’s mother and aunt. 
 
 ‘Quite close is a name suggesting music 
 to him.’ 
 
 Two inches below is the name Harper, which 
 may be thought of as one who plays upon the 
 harp. It served to link the previous test with the 
 following. 
 
 “Near this is his own name, and very close 
 indeed, probably in the same advertisement, is 
 the name of a near relative of your wife’s, 
 one who has passed over.’ 
 
 In the advertisement next above Harper is 
 219 
 
The Identity of the Communicator 
 
 Thomas, and also Frances. My wife has an aunt 
 Frances, now passed over. 
 
 ‘ Fold the page across so as to divide it into 
 equal halves right and left, and in the first 
 complete column beyond the crease, to the 
 right, and less than a quarter down, is a message 
 from him to your mother.’ (I asked, ‘ How 
 shall I be sure which it is?’) ‘ Close to it is 
 a name or initials which would fit very well.’ 
 
 Exactly where stated is an advertisement in 
 which occur the words, Portland . . . Anxious to 
 get in touch, and in the adjoining parallel advertise- 
 ment is the following line twice repeated: LW. 
 and D. and IW.T. All this fits peculiarly well. 
 One of my father’s early circuits was Portland; 
 we always think of it in connection with things 
 he told us about his residence there, and we have 
 no associations with it apart from him. ‘That he 
 is anxious to get in touch with my mother is clear 
 from his frequent allusions and messages to her 
 in these sittings. ‘The initials are applicable. His 
 name was Drayton, and when living in the Isle 
 of Wight he married, and my mother’s maiden 
 name was Dore. ‘Thus the initials may be 
 interpreted either as ‘ Isle of Wight and Drayton, 
 and Isle of Wight and Thomas,’ or, indicating 
 my mother’s change of name there, ‘ Isle of Wight 
 and Dore, and Isle of Wight and Thomas.’ So 
 it will be seen that the initials and the place-name 
 are equally suitable as the directions indicated they 
 would be. 
 
 220 
 
The Identity of the Communicator 
 
 August 13th, 1920, at 5.55 p.m. 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 the front page of the morrow’s Times was nine. 
 Result: Correct 5; Inconclusive 4. 
 Following a test to be found a little way down 
 column two:— 
 
 ‘A little lower is the name of one of the 
 first places where they lived after his marriage. 
 He likes these tests which go back some time 
 and require thinking out.’ 
 
 Three inches lower in the parallel column 1s 
 Victoria, the name of his first church and locality 
 after marriage. The name had appeared previously 
 in these tests (see page 95), where it was connected 
 with my birthplace. 
 
 August 20th, 1920, at 7.20 p.m. 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 the front page of the morrow’s Times was eight. 
 Result: Correct 6; Inconclusive 2. 
 
 ‘A little below half-way down column one 
 is the name of some people whom your mother 
 has lately seen. The word “seen” is not 
 quite appropriate, say “ been reminded of ”’ 
 or “been in contact with.” Your father 
 knew these people when on earth.’ 
 
 The name Georgina appears in the place desig- 
 nated. It is the name of a lady who is one of my 
 parents’ oldest friends, and she had been staying 
 with my mother a few weeks previously. The use 
 
 221 
 
The Identity of the Communicator 
 
 of the plural is appropriate, as the visit was arranged 
 by correspondence with the lady’s daughter, who 
 was also a friend of my father. As far back as I 
 can remember, we always alluded to this lady as 
 ‘ Georgie,’ short for Georgina, her proper name. 
 
 September 3rd, 1920, at 3.45 p.m. 
 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 the first page of the morrow’s Times was six. 
 
 Result: Correct 4; Inconclusive 2. 
 
 Before giving these tests there was an unsuccessful 
 effort to tell me the surname of a minister who had 
 worked with my father. The name was given as 
 the Rey. Benjamin B , but Feda could not 
 catch the final name in full. When I asked for 
 the locality in which they had worked together, I 
 was informed that this, and also the surname, were 
 to be made the subjects of tests. Towards the 
 close of the sitting my father, while controlling, 
 gave the name as ‘ Browne.” We remember the 
 Rev. Benjamin Browne, in conjunction with whom 
 my father carried through an important educational 
 enterprise about the year 1884. In our family, 
 when referring to this gentleman, it had been 
 our almost invariable custom to use both names, 
 Benjamin Browne. This test was phrased as 
 follows :— 
 
 
 
 “In column one and about one-third down 
 is the surname of the Reverend Benjamin.’ 
 
 It appears just below half-way down in the Rev. 
 Benson-Brown. 
 222 
 
The Identity of the Communicator 
 
 ‘He is not quite sure about the following, 
 as he did not see, but sensed it. Lower in 
 this column he thinks there is named the 
 place very near to which we knew the above. 
 It may even be the name of the very place, 
 but if not it is just as good, as it is so close; 
 yet he hopes it may prove to be the right 
 name.’ 
 
 Low in this column, less than an inch from the 
 bottom, appears Kent. We lived in Kent when 
 first knowing this minister, who then resided at 
 
 Margate. 
 
 October Ist, 1920, at 4.12 p.m. 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 the first page of the morrow’s Times was eleven. 
 Result: Correct 4; Inconclusive 3; Failure 4. 
 
 “About one-quarter down column two is 
 the name George.’ 
 
 This is correct. 
 
 “A name looking like Ratcliffe is close to 
 it. He knew one of that name.’ 
 
 In 1896-7 my father devoted considerable atten- 
 tion to matters of Connexional Law on behalf of 
 one of his church workers named Ratcliffe, con- 
 cerning whose status in the church there was an 
 acute controversy. He often alluded to the matter 
 in later years, as it was one of the outstanding 
 incidents in his ministerial career. ‘The name 
 
 223 
 
The Identity of the Communicator 
 
 appears one inch lower than ‘George’ in the 
 parallel column, viz., column one. 
 
 ‘A quarter down column three; near this 
 is reference to writing, either words or some- 
 thing amounting to the same thing.’ 
 
 Commencing one-quarter down column three 
 the word Write occurs five times within the space 
 of three inches. 
 
 At an early period of this sitting reference had 
 been made to a relation named Norah, and it. was 
 said that this name would be introduced among 
 the tests for the day. Only when typing out my 
 notes did [ realise that this test had been omitted. 
 At the next sitting, therefore, I mentioned the 
 omission, saying :— 
 
 ‘When I asked about Norah during our 
 previous sitting, you said that the name was 
 being introduced in that day’s tests; but it 
 was not mentioned.’ 
 
 The following reply was given without hesita- 
 tion :— 
 
 ‘There was a test in which Norah should 
 have figured. I had intended to give it. The 
 name came in the second column, and I think 
 it was nearly half-way down.’ 
 
 It is exactly 24 inches short of half-way down 
 column two. Here we have a hint that communi- 
 cators may forget to give some of the items with 
 which they come prepared. 
 
 224 
 
The Identity of the Communicator 
 
 January 7th, 1921, at 6.50 p.m. 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 the first page of the morrow’s Times was nine. 
 Result: Correct 7; Failure 2. 
 After a reference to something in the upper 
 part of column two, he added:— 
 
 * Quite close is my name and that of another 
 on my side the family.’ 
 
 Exactly an inch above a quarter down this 
 column, and in the same notice, appear the names 
 John (his own name) and Mary (his sister’s). 
 
 ‘In column one, three-quarters down, is 
 the name of a place in which we lived some 
 years ago; but given in connection with it 
 is the name of a friend who did not live in 
 that place, but in one where we had lived 
 previously.’ 
 
 Exactly where described appears Louisa, and, 
 immediately beneath it, Herts. We resided in 
 Hertfordshire in 1876-8, after leaving Leek, at 
 which latter place lived Louisa, my father’s mother. 
 The phrasing of this test again illustrates Feda’s 
 way of terming counties ‘ places,’ and relations 
 ‘friends,’ unless the communicator happens to 
 notice the slip and correct it. 
 
 After giving a test one-quarter down column 
 five, Feda continued :— 
 
 ‘Lower in that column there seemed to be 
 225 
 
The Identity of the Communicator 
 
 a reference to a place abroad, about which he 
 and your mother had conversed when he was 
 on earth.’ 
 
 This might seem a rather vague description, but 
 it was verified by the names Australia and Sydney 
 coming immediately beneath the preceding test- 
 words. ‘There had once been much discussion of 
 Sydney, Australia, when a family connection, who 
 lived there, visited England and spent a holiday 
 with us. He was our only link with the place. 
 
 January 20th, 1921, at 3.45 p.m. 
 The number of tests given for verification from 
 the first page of the morrow’s Times was nine. 
 Result: Correct 8; Inconclusive 1. 
 After an allusion to something three inches 
 down the third column of the usual front page of 
 the Times, he proceeded :— 
 
 “A little above is a name which was well 
 known in the family in former days, and just 
 about the same place is a name given in 
 abbreviated form, one well known in the 
 family too.’ 
 
 This is perfectly met by the name Benjamin, 
 which appears one inch from the top of column 
 three, and by the letter ‘C’ in the top line. It is 
 a capital ‘C’ standing by itself, and evidently 
 intended to represent a person’s name. We have 
 long used it thus: an allusion to ‘C’ would be 
 instantly understood in our family circle. 
 
 226 
 
The Identity of the Communicator 
 
 ‘In the upper part of column two is named 
 a place in which you lived when you were 
 connected with conditions in which Margaret 
 would be specially interested.’ 
 
 Two inches from the top is J. of W. When 
 living at Newport, I. of W., I was engaged in the 
 same kind of business as that pursued by my Aunt 
 Margaret’s father in his earlier life. There 1s 
 clear hint of identity here; for it was only by 
 referring to family letters that I discovered this 
 fact about my Aunt Margaret’s father, whereas 
 it would have been'well known to my father. 
 
 ‘Very close is named a second place, which 
 you knew well when living at the first place; 
 you would go to it, hear of it, and think of it.’ 
 
 The next word was Ventnor, and the statement 
 about it is correct. 
 
 I shall be reminded by the credulous and timid 
 that the parade of names culled from books of 
 reference, or collected by diligent inquiry, is a 
 favourite device of impostors and impersonators on 
 earth, and may be similarly used by such persons 
 when they pass into the next stage of existence 
 _and seek to enliven its hours by playing tricks 
 upon those who try to communicate with their 
 loved ones through mediums. These timid critics 
 usually know nothing by first-hand experience, 
 
 227 
 
The Identity of the Communicator 
 
 but belong to the ‘fearful and unbelieving’ class, 
 to whom discovery and advance in any department 
 of human activity owes little or nothing. Their 
 imagination pictures devils who would seem to be 
 exceedingly wise and capable, while ‘the spirits 
 of just men made perfect’ are made to appear 
 inactive or impotent. They grant too little scope 
 for the strength of healthy intelligence and personal 
 affection in the affairs of both worlds, putting a 
 trust which is almost pathetic in their own imagin- 
 ings and reserving too little for the Ruler of the 
 Universe, whose name is Love and who gives His 
 angels charge concerning us. ‘The incident con- 
 nected with our Lord’s transfiguration is not 
 allowed its due weight with them; they are upon 
 much more congenial ground with the text, ‘We 
 are not ignorant of his devices.’ 
 
 Neither in Scripture nor in experience is there 
 basis for supposing that agents of evil are omniscient. 
 Give them sufficient scope and they reveal them- 
 selves in due course; deceit cannot be kept up 
 indefinitely. 
 
 My communicator has consistently transmitted 
 messages (or spoken them himself when dispensing 
 with Feda’s aid) for more than five years, during 
 which time we have had one hundred conversa- 
 tions of about two hours each. I say ‘ consistently,’ 
 meaning that he has spoken as my father would 
 speak, whether referring to his days on earth, his 
 friends, my work and surroundings, or his own 
 aspirations. The personality rings true, and in 
 the many slight touches and turns of thought, 
 
 228 
 
The Identity of the Communicator 
 
 which cannot easily be reproduced in print, there 
 is nothing which jars upon the sensitive perception 
 of close relationship. 
 
 The additional evidence of identity afforded by 
 the advent of newspaper test-messages could easily 
 be displayed at such length as to weary all but the 
 most determined readers. Perhaps sufficient has 
 been given to explain the conviction that I am in 
 touch with my own father. As month followed 
 month, and scarcely a sitting passed without refer- 
 ences to names, correctly indicated, revealing a 
 knowledge of our friends such as I should expect 
 my father to retain, my impression steadily 
 strengthened that no one but he could have 
 devised these tests. 
 
 It is not the case that a number of names are 
 given on the chance that some of them may be 
 appropriate ; there is no ‘fishing’ for names, no 
 vague suggestions such as might be applicable to 
 almost any sitter; my communicator evidences an 
 intimate knowledge of our relations and friends, 
 and succeeds by means of this new type of test in 
 introducing numbers of names that had neither 
 been transmitted previously nor mentioned in the 
 hearing of the medium when awake. 
 
 The impression made upon me has been cumu- 
 lative and logically compelling. JI am convinced 
 that it is no other than my own father who has 
 repeatedly succeeded in giving proof positive of his 
 identity. 
 
 229 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS UPON THE EVIDENCE AFFORDED 
 BY NEWSPAPER TESTS, AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE 
 
 Ir will have been noticed that while some of these 
 tests are mere statements of what will be in the 
 morrow’s Press, others go beyond this and reveal 
 intimate acquaintance with our family, and recol- 
 lections of my father’s earthly life. TTelepathy-from- 
 the-living is a theory which breaks down in face of 
 these experiments. Could any such hypothesis 
 explain the method by which knowledge of our 
 relations, and recollections of long ago, became 
 interwoven with forecasts from the next day’s 
 newspaper ? 
 
 _ It is certain that many of these forecasts have 
 been correct, but whether they were obtained by 
 normal or super-normal means is not the chief 
 question; for a further line of information is 
 apparent, information upon matters which even 
 unimpeded access to the offices of the Times could 
 not give, and which the medium can scarcely be 
 supposed to possess. 
 
 The problem is this: How do these two streams 
 of knowledge become merged ? 
 
 There is cumulative evidence by which I am 
 logically compelled to the conclusion that the 
 intelligence, who communicates with me through 
 
 230 
 
Concluding Remarks upon the Evidence 
 
 Mrs. Leonard, succeeds in obtaining items from 
 the preparations for the next day’s paper, and, 
 already possessing full knowledge of our family 
 history, composes an amalgam of the two for the 
 very definite purpose of demonstrating his 
 identity. 
 
 It may also be said of these newspaper tests, as of 
 the book tests which preceded them, that they were 
 introduced by intelligence other than our own, and 
 neither asked for nor anticipated by us. They 
 reveal that complete remembrance of family and 
 other names which we should expect our friends to 
 retain, but which the limitations and confusions of 
 ordinary trance mediumship afford them but small 
 opportunity of demonstrating. 
 
 It is important to realise the relation between 
 these tests and other parts of the conversation taking 
 place during Mrs, Leonard’s trance. ‘These tests 
 occupy but a small fraction of the two hours’ talk, 
 yet they serve the important use of giving presump- 
 tive evidence that the unverifiable matters alluded 
 to so freely are not dream-utterances of Mrs, 
 Leonard’s mind. Since evidential matter proves 
 correct, one may presume that the unevidential 
 portions are, broadly, accurate also, since they 
 originate from the same source. 
 
 These intimate talks with my father afford 
 frequent evidence that he is in close touch with 
 my doings and thoughts, as well as with those of 
 his friends still on earth. They often yield fresh 
 proofs of his identity. They give him opportunity 
 to explain some of the difficulties which attend 
 
 231 
 
Concluding Remarks upon the Evidence 
 
 verbal communication between the two worlds, 
 and they consequently offer a hope of lessening 
 these, by facilitating a fuller understanding of the 
 laws by which such communication takes place. 
 Wise counsels, such as a father might be expected 
 to offer, in view of his wider survey of life and its 
 meaning, are given from time to time, together 
 with encouragement and suggestion in relation to 
 my work. He also attempts to describe the occu- 
 pations and felicity of his present state. Occasionally 
 he assists newly-arrived spirits to communicate with 
 their relations whom I may have taken with me for 
 that purpose; in this way we have been able to 
 bring consolation and happiness to sorrowing lives, 
 and incidentally to furnish additional proof of the 
 possibility of communicating with the departed. 
 On account of the intense interest of my con- 
 versations with those on life’s Other Side and its 
 reaction, wholly refreshing and uplifting, upon 
 everyday life, I often find myself wishing that these 
 experiences could be shared by others, and especially 
 by those who, like myself, are engaged in Christian 
 and philanthropic work. But, for the present, it 
 seems inevitable that the many who have no oppor- 
 tunities must be content to learn from the few who 
 enjoy facilities for this study. Into the causes 
 responsible for the scarcity of opportunity I need 
 not here enter; they are such as may in time be 
 remedied, and the spread of accurate knowledge 
 will be a step towards this achievement. 
 Meanwhile there come unsought, to one here and 
 there, experiences which are startling or puzzling, 
 232 
 
and its Significance 
 
 illuminating or terrifying, according to the indi- 
 viduality of the receiver. It may be suspected 
 that the psychic gifts in the observer, which make 
 these spontaneous phenomena possible, would facili- 
 tate direct communication with the next world, 
 were such communication desired and sought by 
 appropriate methods. 
 
 Others are naturally so endowed with psychic 
 gifts that they enjoy, throughout their lives, some 
 measure of visual, auditory, or impressional contact 
 with that spiritual environment to which the five 
 senses are unresponsive. Such people are usually 
 sufficiently discreet to speak little of these experi- 
 ences, and then only to understanding and sym- 
 pathetic friends, else would the world be astonished 
 to learn how much of communication comes direct 
 and even unsought. 
 
 There is yet one other class of persons who have 
 touch with the life above us, a touch which is wholly 
 spiritual and rarely, if ever, takes form in vision, 
 word, or other physical manifestation. I allude to 
 those enjoying a sense of communion with a Higher 
 Intelligence. Often it takes the form of guidance 
 when they are in perplexity; of uplift and comfort 
 in times of sorrow; or, best of all, the realisation 
 of peace and harmony in their relation to the Deity. 
 It is the experience desired for all Christian people 
 in the words of the Benediction: the fellowship of 
 the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore. Amen. 
 
 In this highest experience we have communion 
 rather than communication. It 1s certain that verbal 
 communication may be had with those spirits who 
 
 E HS. 233 R 
 
Concluding Remarks upon the Evidence 
 
 are our own friends ascended to the next stage of 
 life in the realms unseen by human eye; yet such 
 intercourse by words is only possible under circum- 
 stances, the laws of which are as yet too little 
 investigated and understood. But the wordless 
 communion which innumerable people experience, 
 whether with the Spirit of their Master, or with 
 ‘the spirits of just men made perfect,’ their arisen 
 friends and guardian angels, is, one believes, within 
 the reach of every man who humbly, and in prayerful 
 trust, seeks the experience. 
 
 Tennyson’s allusion to this communion with his 
 
 friend Arthur H. Hallam may be recalled:— 
 
 ‘I shall not see thee. Dare I say 
 No spirit ever brake the band 
 That stays him from the native land, 
 Where first he walk’d when claspt in clay ? 
 
 No visual shade of some one lost, 
 But he, the Spirit himself, may come 
 Where all the nerve of sense is numb; 
 Spirit to Spirit, Ghost to Ghost. 
 
 O, therefore from thy sightless range 
 With gods in unconjectured bliss, 
 O, from the distance of the abyss 
 Of tenfold-complicated change, 
 
 Descend, and touch, and enter; hear 
 The wish too strong for words to name; 
 That in this blindness of the frame 
 My Ghost may feel that thine is near.’ 
 234 
 
and its Significance 
 
 And in the stanza next following (xcmr Jz 
 Memoriam) is given sage counsel respecting the state 
 of mind and emotion essential for such communion :— 
 
 * How pure at heart and sound in head, 
 With what divine affections bold 
 Should be the man whose thought would 
 hold 
 
 An hour’s communion with the dead. 
 
 In vain shalt thou, or any, call 
 The spirits from their golden day, 
 Except, like them, thou too canst say, 
 My spirit is at peace with all. 
 
 They haunt the silence of the breast, 
 Imaginations calm and fair, 
 The memory like a cloudless air, 
 The conscience as a sea at rest: 
 
 But when the heart is full of din, 
 And doubt beside the portal waits, 
 They can but listen at the gates, 
 And hear the household jar within.’ 
 
 Wordless communion is for all, verbal communi- 
 cations are, at present, within the reach of few. 
 
 The peaceful mind, looking to heaven with 
 adoration and trust, and regarding earth with a 
 practical love that gives service, sympathy and 
 hope for all—such interior condition facilitates that 
 spiritual communion which is the highest and the 
 best, and which brings its own demonstration of 
 immortality to those experiencing its joy. 
 
 235 
 
Concluding Remarks upon the Evidence 
 
 The verbal communications treated of in this 
 book are another thing, doubtless a much lesser 
 thing, and yet of a value to life and religion all too 
 little realised by the Churches. I am well aware 
 that many Christians who read these pages will 
 think that my proofs are unnecessary to them; for 
 since they already possess something better, they 
 can take on trust all I set forth to prove. There 
 are, however, innumerable persons to whom the 
 experience of, or even the belief in, verbal communi- 
 cation with departed friends would bea step towards 
 the realisation of that higher communion of which 
 I have speken. Assurance of the possibility of 
 communication would remove mental uncertainties, 
 and afford a strong incentive to endeavours after 
 that communion which is found by those who seek 
 in sincerity, seeing that ‘ He is not far from each 
 one of us; for in Him we live, and move, and have 
 our being.’ 
 
 The fact of having spoken with friends who have 
 left earth refreshes and enlarges one’s conviction 
 of the possibilities of communion with the Master 
 who left earth some nineteen centuries ago, and 
 who encouraged His followers to keep in touch 
 with Him, promising that on His part He would 
 not fail to keep in touch with them. Faith in the 
 activity and interest of the One is revivified by 
 demonstrations of the activity and affectionate 
 interest of the many who have followed Him into 
 Realms Unseen. 
 
 It has been said by ignorant and timid people 
 that psychic studies are hurtful. The obvious 
 
 236 
 
and its Significance 
 
 reply is that the result depends upon the student’s 
 character. Nothing is so good that it may not be 
 put to evil uses; no environment so pure but an 
 evil mind may resist it. Judas had the companion- 
 ship of Jesus and listened to his incomparable 
 teaching, yet he came to harm even in his Master’s 
 presence. The pure in heart, while enlightened 
 by accurate knowledge, are safe anywhere; but 
 such as entertain evil thought and motive are safe 
 nowhere. Having obeyed the apostolic injunction 
 to ‘try the spirits,’ | humbly thank God for the 
 high result on my interior life, and here assert for 
 the encouragement of others that I have derived 
 nothing but benefit. Trust in God and goodwill 
 to men have not diminished, but increased. 
 
 In conclusion, it remains to be indicated in what 
 relation the subject-matter of this book stands to 
 the ever-increasing volume of evidence for spirit- 
 communion which has been contributed in recent 
 years from all parts of the civilised world, and in 
 the light of which many curious records in ancient 
 history may be more clearly understood. I regard 
 book and newspaper tests as a further addition to 
 the ‘signs and wonders’ by which many in the 
 next life are endeavouring to attract the attention 
 of mortals to the reality of their life and to the true 
 meaning of our temporary existence on earth. 
 Extended knowledge would surely transform the 
 conventional ideas about death, and inspire greater 
 desire to live in harmony with the wise purposes 
 of the Infinite One who, fatherlike, watches over 
 each and all in this world and the next. 
 
 237 
 
APPENDIX A 
 
 REFERENCES PAST AND PRESENT TO ALLIED 
 PHENOMENA 
 
 A.THoUGH the development of book tests is recent, 
 yet the underlying idea dates back at least as far 
 as the experiments of Sir William Crookes and of 
 the Rev. W. Stainton Moses. 
 
 The former, in his Notes of an Inquiry into the 
 Phenomena called Spiritual, wrote as follows :— 
 
 ‘A lady was writing automatically by means of 
 the planchette. I was trying to devise a means of 
 proving that what she wrote was not due to “ un- 
 conscious cerebration.” The planchette, as it 
 always does, insisted that, although it was moved 
 by the hand and arm of the lady, the zutelligence 
 was that of an invisible being who was playing on 
 her brain as on a musical instrument, and thus 
 moving her muscles. I therefore said to this 
 intelligence, “‘Can you see the contents of this 
 room f.’?)"" Yes,” wrote the), planchettesti0\ Gas 
 you see to read this newspaper ?”’ said I, putting 
 my finger on a copy of the Times, which was on a 
 table behind me, but without looking at it. “‘ Yes,” 
 was the reply of the planchette. ‘‘ Well,” I said, 
 ‘if you can see that, write the word which is now 
 covered by my finger, and I will believe you.” 
 The planchette commenced to move. Slowly 
 
 238 
 
Appendix 
 
 and with difficulty, the word “ however” was 
 written. I turned round and saw that the word 
 ‘ however” was covered by the tip of my finger. 
 I had purposely avoided looking at the newspaper 
 when I tried the experiment, and it was impossible 
 for the lady, had she tried, to have seen any of 
 the printed words, for she was sitting at one 
 table, and the paper was on another table behind, 
 my body intervening.’ This was first published 
 in the Quarterly Fournal of Science for January, 
 1874. 
 
 Spirit Teachings (Memorial Edition), published 
 by the London Spiritualist Alliance, Ltd., London, 
 pp. 31-3, records a book test given to Stainton 
 Moses through his own automatic writing in the 
 year 1873. he reference is as follows:— 
 
 ‘] inquired how it was possible to give informa- 
 tion so minute. It was said to be extremely difficult, 
 possible only when an extremely passive and 
 receptive state in the medium was secured. More- 
 over, spirits were said to have access to sources 
 of information, so that they could refresh their 
 imperfect recollection. 
 
 ‘I asked how? By reading; under certain 
 conditions, and with special end in view; or by 
 inquiry, as man does, only to spirits it would be 
 more difficult, though possible. 
 
 ‘Could my friend himself so acquire information ? 
 No; he had too long left the earth, but he mentioned 
 the names of two spirits accustomed occasionally 
 to write, who could perform this feat. I asked 
 
 239 
 
Appendix 
 
 that one of them should be brought. I was sitting 
 waiting for a pupil in a room, not my own, which 
 was used as a study, and the walls of which were 
 covered with bookshelves. 
 
 ‘The writing ceased, and after an interval of 
 some minutes another kind of writing appeared. 
 I inquired if the newly arrived spirit could demon- 
 strate to me the power alleged. 
 
 ‘Can you read? 
 
 ‘No, friend, I cannot, but Zachery Gray can, 
 and Rector. I am not able to materialise myself, 
 or to command the elements. 
 
 ‘ Are either of those spirits here ? 
 
 ‘] will bring one by-and-by. I will send... . 
 Rector is here. 
 
 ‘TI am told you can read. Is that sof Can you 
 read a book? 
 
 ‘(Spirit handwriting changed.) 
 
 ‘Yes, friend, with difficulty. 
 
 ‘Will you write for me the last line of the first 
 book of the AEneid ? 
 
 ‘ ‘Wait—Omnibus errantem terris et fluctibus aestas. 
 
 ‘(This was right.) 
 
 “Quite so. But I might have known it. Can 
 you go to the bookcase, take the last book but one 
 on the second shelf, and read me the last paragraph 
 on the ninety-fourth page? I have not seen it, 
 and do not even know its name. 
 
 ‘<Y will curtly prove, by a short historical narra- 
 tive, that popery is a novelty, and has gradually 
 arisen or grown up since the primitive and pure 
 time of Christianity, not only since the apostolic 
 
 240 
 
Appendix 
 
 age, but even since the lamentable union of kirk 
 and the state by Constantine.” 
 
 ‘(The book on examination then proved to be a 
 queer one called Rogers’ Antipopriestian, an attempt 
 to liberate and purify Christianity from Popery, Politi- 
 kirkality, and Priestrule. The extract given above 
 was accurate, but the word “ narrative’’ was 
 substituted for “ account.’’) 
 
 * How came I to pitch on so appropriate a sentence? 
 
 ‘I know not, my friend. It was by coincidence. 
 The word was changed by error. I knew it when 
 it was done, but would not change. 
 
 ‘How do you read? You wrote more slowly, 
 and by fits and starts. 
 
 ‘I wrote what I remembered, and then I went 
 for more. It is a special effort to read, and useful 
 only as a test. Your friend was right last night : 
 we can read, but only when conditions are very good. 
 We will read once again, and write, and then 
 impress you of the book: “‘ Pope is the last great 
 writer of that school of poetry, the poetry of the 
 intellect, or rather of the intellect mingled with 
 the fancy.” That is truly written. Go and take 
 the eleventh book on the same shelf. (I took a 
 book called Poetry, Romance, and Rhetoric.) It 
 will open at the page for you. ‘Take it and read, 
 and recognise our power, and the permission which 
 the great and good God gives us, to show you of 
 our power over matter. To Him be glory. Amen. 
 
 ‘(The book opened at page 145, and there was 
 the quotation perfectly true. I had not seen the 
 book before; certainly had no idea of its contents.) ’ 
 
 241 
 
Appendix 
 
 The Fournal of the American Society for Psychical 
 Research, Vol. VIII, 1914, page 413, contains the 
 translation of a paper read by Dr. Geley before 
 a meeting of the French Society for Psychical 
 Research, presided over at the time by Camille 
 Flammarion. The paper deals with the subject of 
 cross-correspondences, but the incident epitomised 
 below bears closely upon the problem of book tests. 
 Since the test sentences were not taken from a 
 book, but presumably improvised for the occasion 
 by the communicator, this avoided the preliminary 
 difficulty of extracting ideas from a printed page. 
 Nevertheless we find the usual problem of a message 
 which can’ only be understood in its full signi- 
 ficance by comparison with paragraphs to be found 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Mrs. T. sat in Paris with a friend who wrote 
 automatically. Another friend was _ visiting 
 Wimereux. Previous experiment had_ indicated 
 a close touch between her two friends, revealing 
 itself in knowledge of what was happening at some 
 particular moment in each other’s vicinity. In 
 one instance a message of some twenty-three words 
 had been written by each lady at the same hour, 
 and these were found to be identical when after- 
 wards compared. ‘The automatist who wrote in 
 Paris asserted that she was able clairvoyantly to 
 see, in the form of lights, the spirit operators 
 who were directing the experiment ; the chief of 
 these signed himself Roudo/phe. 
 
 On September 16th, 1913, the automatist sitting 
 at Paris announces that one of these lights is coming 
 
 242 
 
Appendix 
 
 and going rapidly. She then writes three sentences 
 which convey no meaning whatever to either Mrs, T. 
 or to herself. They were:— 
 * As well behaved as the pupils in a convent for 
 well-trained young ladies.’ 
 ‘Their large sweet eyes are used to watching 
 the passing.’ 
 “The modern lady of fashion whose eyes.’ 
 The following day there arrived by post a script 
 written the previous evening by the automatist at 
 Wimereux. After a short introduction, in which 
 Roudolphe explains the idea of his experiment, it 
 proceeds :— 
 
 ‘THE DEER IN THE BOIS.’ 
 
 * Have you sometimes met, dear friend, as you 
 walked in the thickets, the deer that live and 
 roam through the leafy branches, at times... 
 [here the automatist noted a pause in the writing] 
 at times like a flock, jumping and frightened, so 
 graceful and fascinating? Have you ever asked 
 yourself what those pretty animals were thinking, 
 and what they would become later? Far be it 
 from me to draw their horoscope (which would 
 after all be of no interest to them), but it seems to 
 me that their mentality must be very different 
 from that which animates the deer of the forest 
 
 another pause] strange vehicles running 
 without the aid of an animal’s legs, and in those 
 carriages or along the more or less frequented paths, 
 they have contemplated women with elongated 
 
 243 
 
Appendix 
 
 eyes like their own, delicate and stylish women. 
 Who can ever tell us if . .. [another pause] 
 become so unnaturally large under the dash of the 
 pencil is not a doe of the forest in the throes of 
 retrospective recollections? Dear friend, I have 
 had some trouble because Miss R. tried to under- 
 stand, but I trust I have succeeded with this childish 
 little story. Affectionate good-night, Roudolphe.’ 
 
 I now repeat this communication, inserting in 
 italics the above disconnected sentences in the gaps 
 represented by pauses. It will be found to make 
 a complete and intelligible whole. — 
 
 ‘Have you sometimes met, dear friend, as you 
 walked in ‘the thickets, the deer that live and 
 circulate through the leafy branches, at times as 
 well behaved as the pupils in a convent for well- 
 trained young ladies, at times like a flock, jumping 
 and frightened, so graceful and fascinating ? Have 
 you ever asked yourself of what those pretty animals 
 were thinking and what they would become later ? 
 Far be it from me to draw their horoscope (which 
 would after all be of no interest to them), but it 
 seems to me that their mentality must be very 
 different from that which animates the deer of the 
 forest. Their large sweet eyes are used to watching 
 the passing strange vehicles running without the 
 aid of an animal’s legs, and in these carriages or 
 along the more or less frequented paths, they have 
 contemplated women with elongated eyes like their 
 own, delicate and stylish women. Who can ever 
 tell us if the modern lady of fashion, whose eyes 
 become so unnaturally large under the dash of the 
 
 244 
 
Appendix 
 
 pencil, is not the doe of the forest in the throes 
 of retrospective recollections ?’ 
 
 In his comments upon this and preceding script 
 Dr, Geley remarks that both mediums were ignorant 
 of the meaning and intention of the sentences they 
 were writing. “They both acted as machines 
 worked by a single identical direction, and an 
 independent intelligence.’ 
 
 Examining the script for explanation of these 
 phenomena, we find that the operating spirits 
 claimed ability to travel rapidly to and fro between 
 the automatists, influencing their writings alter- 
 nately until the experiment was completed. This 
 brings to mind the reply given to Stainton Moses 
 when he remarked that his book test was written 
 slowly and by fits and starts, ‘I wrote what I 
 remembered, and then I went for more.’ 
 
 The Earthen Vessel, by Lady Glenconner, pub- 
 lished by John Lane, in 1921, contains numerous 
 examples of book tests, also an Introduction by 
 Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., upon the problem they 
 present, and their apparent relation to the cross- 
 correspondences and complex literary allusions 
 which, for some years past, have engaged the atten- 
 tion of the Society for Psychical Research. 
 
 A Report upon the subject of Book Tests 
 received by members of the Society for Psychical 
 Research has recently been written by Mrs, H. 
 Sidgwick (see Proc. S.P.R., Part LXXXI). 
 
 245 
 
APPENDIX B 
 
 TESTS FROM THE TITLES OF BOOKS 
 Titles appear with Book Tests. 
 
 Nine months after the first appearance of book 
 tests there began to be mingled with them references 
 to titles of books, one or more words in a title 
 being made the subject of a test. Instances of 
 this intermingling may be seen in the following 
 communication, copied from notes of April 30th, 
 1918, with verifications subjoined. It should be 
 kept in mind that Mrs, Leonard has never visited 
 our house. 
 
 “In your study there are books between 
 the window and the fireplace, and a sort of 
 inequality divides the shelves part of the way 
 up. They are a peculiar set of books, and 
 not every one would read them. | can feel 
 when books are of the popular sort, and those 
 are not.’ 
 
 I recognised this description as accurate in each 
 detail. 
 
 ‘The fourth book from the left on the 
 second shelf up is one that jumps about in 
 time, skipping from one century to another.’ 
 
 240 
 
Appendix 
 The second page of that book, part of table of 
 
 contents, refers nine times to different centuries 
 or periods of French literature; and 190 pages, 
 a substantial section of the volume, trace its history 
 from earliest days to the present time. 
 
 ‘A word like “ Interology ” has to do with 
 the subject of the book. The word “Inter y, 
 is right, and the remainder of it might be 
 summed up by the word ology,” 
 although that is not the word used. This 
 has to do with the whole book.’ 
 
 
 
 
 
 It was a French Reader published by the ‘ Inter- 
 national Correspondence Schools,’ which title appears 
 in full upon the back. Thus the first part, ‘ Inter— 
 was given with precision, while the second 
 portion was aptly designated by the comprehensive 
 term ‘—ology,’ covering the idea of teaching 
 languages by means of text-books and corre- 
 spondence. 
 
 “A proper name commencing with “P” 
 is prominent, and you will easily notice it.’ 
 
 This is certainly the fact, for one hundred pages 
 are devoted to Paris, and the name is repeated no 
 less than fifteen times in the contents table, where, 
 [ suppose, my communicator found it. 
 
 * Within a span of the last book is one with 
 title suggesting a subject over which much 
 time is wasted. In the spirit world there is 
 
 247 
 
Appendix 
 
 no need to discuss it! Neither would there 
 be on earth if people tried to realise it within 
 themselves, instead of discussing it so much.’ 
 
 Immediately above the preceding book stood 
 the Paradiso of Dante. ‘This left me in doubt as 
 to what had been meant by saying time was wasted 
 in discussing it; consequently at the next inter- 
 view I inquired, and was answered that time was 
 wasted when people expressed uncertainty about 
 the existence of Paradise and argued to disprove 
 its reality, when, by simply realising the Divine 
 within themselves, here and now, they might 
 become assured of the Paradise awaiting them 
 hereafter. This teaching I recognised as a familiar 
 thought in my father’s sermons, an exposition of 
 St. Paul’s belief that our experience of the Holy 
 Spirit within is ‘an earnest of our inheritance,’ a 
 personally satisfying assurance of the joys to come. 
 (Hoh i114 ao vCore yar rete) 
 
 John Wesley considered that it was an important 
 part of his mission to give prominence to this 
 doctrine. It has been strongly emphasised by the 
 Wesleyan Church, and it is not a little interesting 
 to find it thus reiterated by one who, after preaching 
 it on earth, has proved its truth elsewhere. 
 
 ‘Continuing on that shelf, take the sixth 
 book from the left, and on page 57 1s some- 
 thing applicable to the present war. The 
 passage is more than half-way down the page, 
 say five-eighths, and fits the state of the war 
 very well, a sort of statement, say a summing 
 up.’ 
 
 248 
 
Appendix 
 
 This book was Dante’s Juferno, and such a title 
 looked appropriate considering the then state of 
 the warring world. Half-way down the designated 
 page commences the passage:— 
 
 ‘ Crowds beneath the water there suspire, 
 And make those bubbles on the top appear, 
 Where’er thou turn’st thine eyes.’ 
 
 I took these lines as intended by my communi- 
 cator to be applicable to the ten thousand sailors 
 who, by that date, had lost their lives at sea; a 
 sort of summing up of naval casualties and losses 
 of life in merchant ships, hospital ships, mine 
 sweepers, and liners. But his actual meaning did 
 not occur to me. Contrary to my usual custom, 
 I read the passage at the next interview, and without 
 making any comment inquired whether these were 
 the lines intended ? The reply came instantly :— 
 
 ‘That is it. He thought it aptly applied 
 to the submarines and the agitation they 
 make beneath the water.’ 
 
 This was a new idea to me, and for the moment 
 I questioned its relevancy, saying that I had not 
 thought of it in that connection, but supposed he 
 had applied it to the numbers drowned, although 
 I had deemed the word ‘suspire’ somewhat 
 inapplicable. 
 
 ‘He did not know that the word was 
 “suspire,”’ exclaimed Feda, ‘but he was 
 E.H.S. 249 S 
 
Appendix 
 
 sure that it was a word implying a manifesta- 
 tion of life, in some way; it seemed to him to 
 suggest anything like snorting or sneezing, 
 some idea based upon the act of respiration, 
 and he considered this an apt reference to the 
 peculiar feature of this war, the U-boats.’} 
 
 These remarks about the passage, made a fort- 
 night after the test was verified, are interesting as 
 revealing the independent point of view taken by 
 the communicator, and the fact that I had not 
 perceived the full relevancy of the passage until it 
 was subsequently explained to me. It will be 
 observed from the remark upon the word ‘ suspire,’ 
 that the method used by the communicator at this 
 period enabled him to extract the general sense 
 without any certainty of discovering the actual 
 word or words as they appeared in print. As to 
 the relevancy of such reference to U-boats, one 
 has but to notice the date on which it was made in 
 order to realise its force. 
 
 The next statement was about this same book:— 
 
 “An important name commencing with 
 “C” occurs much in it.’ 
 
 The word CANTO in capital letters appears at 
 the top of no fewer than 252 pages; so that this 
 little test was verified. 
 
 I was further told that:— 
 
 * Either in the title or at the beginning of 
 
 1 The dictionary definition of the word Suspire is ‘to fetch a 
 deep breath, to sigh or breathe.’ 
 
 250 
 
Appendix 
 
 the book there is an important name com- 
 mencing with “ A.”’ 
 
 Turning to the preface Dante’s family name is 
 seen in the fifth line from the beginning, ‘ Alighieri.’ 
 
 ‘Within a span of the last, and possibly 
 the very next book, is a title giving in a word 
 the present state of the war.’ 
 
 The book standing next was Dante’s Purgatorio. 
 
 “Remember that the span may be in any 
 direction. Within that distance above the 
 last is a title describing what your father hopes 
 you may one day wear. It is not an ordinary 
 article like a hat.’ 
 
 When proceeding to verify this test I noticed 
 that, as the Purgatorio was on the top shelf, a 
 mistake had evidently been made in saying this title 
 stood above it. As search along surrounding titles 
 failed to reveal anything applicable, I wrote this down 
 as failure, and said so at the next interview. Upon 
 hearing this, Feda appeared to refer to the com- 
 municator, and then said that a mistake had been 
 made in describing the position; it was not above, 
 but below the previous book. 
 
 ‘He is inclined to think that what he 
 intended is contained in a sub-title or is on 
 the flyleaf. Look inside the books just below.’ 
 
 I returned home without much expectation of 
 251 
 
Appendix 
 
 success, but investigation six inches below the 
 Purgatorio revealed half a dozen numbers of 
 Bartholomew’s County Maps, which have upon 
 their covers a trade-mark consisting of a globe 
 surrounded by the publisher’s name and surmounted 
 by a crown. Besides which, and still within the 
 span distance, there were eleven numbers of a 
 small instruction book having a similar sort of 
 trade-mark embodied in the title and surmounted 
 by a crown. ‘There were thus no fewer than seven- 
 teen crowns within the stipulated distance. Such 
 symbolic reference to a crown was entirely appro- 
 priate to my father’s habit of expression in his 
 earthly days. Observe the obvious clue given, 
 ‘not an ordinary article like a hat.’ 
 
 ‘Somewhat to the left of that is a title in 
 which is mentioned something that should be 
 avoided. You might resent any one suggesting 
 that you need to avoid it. Remember it is 
 only given by way of a test.’ 
 
 A few inches to the left was a book by Anatole 
 France with the word ‘Crime’ prominent in its 
 title, Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard. At the next 
 interview I inquired if it had been observed that 
 this title was in French ? 
 
 ‘No, it would be all the same to him 
 whatever language it was written in. You 
 might try some day with a book in Chinese, 
 Japanese, or any out-of-the-way language. 
 Only be sure that it has first been read by 
 some one who thoroughly understood it.’ 
 
 252 
 
 goto — a 
 ey el a eee 
 
Appendix 
 
 This indication of limitation suggests that, at 
 this period, little reliance was placed upon clair- 
 voyance, and that the ‘sensing’ of titles was 
 accomplished by something akin to psychometry, a 
 perception of thoughts which had been evoked in 
 the minds of those who read them. 
 
 Titles used as Tests—IlMustrations 
 from many Sittings 
 
 In giving further examples of title tests, it 
 would be tedious to record with each the explicit 
 directions given for finding the title required. The 
 phrase most frequently used was, ‘ within a span,’ 
 and the span was to be measured from some book, 
 the position of which was exactly defined by 
 reference to room, position of shelves, number of 
 shelf, and number of book from right or left side 
 as stated. Nothing was left to chance save the 
 length of the span; my span is nine inches. The 
 following examples, with the single exception of 
 the first, were found within that distance from the 
 books given as measuring centres. It must not be 
 supposed that the hundreds of books on my shelves 
 remained in their accustomed places during these 
 experiments. They were purposely disarranged 
 repeatedly, numbers being removed at random 
 from one part of the room to another. The only 
 difference noticeable was my difficulty in finding 
 books required in the course of my usual studies. 
 Their constant displacement inconvenienced me, 
 
 293 
 
Appendix 
 
 but apparently made no difference to the accuracy 
 of my communicator in placing tests. 
 
 The agreement between statements received and 
 the presence of appropriate titles within the indicated 
 spaces, can scarcely strike the reader with the same 
 force I felt when first discovering it. As month 
 followed month, and the experiment continued to 
 be successful, the conviction became absolute that 
 the intelligence giving these messages through Mrs. 
 Leonard and her control had actually been in the 
 study taking note of the position of my books. 
 And this new proof was supplementary to a con- 
 siderable body of evidence pointing in the same 
 direction. 
 
 The following is of interest for the comment 
 attached :— 
 
 * Within a span seems to bea title suggesting 
 growth, and growth of the right kind too; in 
 connection with this book you will remember 
 B., a well-known man, who would heartily 
 agree with the ideal expressed by the title 
 and with the ideals of the whole book.’ 
 
 The title on this occasion proved to be rather 
 beyond the span, actually the distance was 124 
 inches, and was Aggressive Christianity, by Mrs. 
 Booth. That Christianity should grow in influence 
 by aggressive activities was, as the whole world 
 is aware, the firm conviction of the late General 
 Booth, who, with the help of the authoress, his 
 wife, founded the Salvation Army. 
 
 Into the interesting question why initials rather 
 
 254 
 
Appendix 
 
 than names are usually given, I must not here 
 enter. That the names are known is_ proved 
 by adequate evidence, but the exact nature of 
 the processes of communication must be studied 
 before one can fully appreciate the reason why 
 some facts can be given and others only obliquely 
 indicated. 
 
 ‘Almost next the last mentioned, next or 
 next but one, is a title expressing what all 
 should avoid, not merely students of the 
 occult, but all Christians also.’ 
 
 Next but one to the above book was Agnosticism. 
 
 “Above the fourteenth book, or nearly 
 above it, there is a title which will remind 
 you of your Uncle Alfred.’ 
 
 Fearing that this was insufficiently definite, I 
 inquired if it would remind me of his tastes or of 
 his name? It was answered that the connection 
 would strike me at once. Despite that assurance 
 I was prepared for failure, as I had never yet been 
 reminded of this uncle by anything on my shelves, 
 excepting by two volumes he had given me in my 
 student days and which were not likely to be in 
 this part of the room. But when, on returning 
 to my study, I looked with mild curiosity at the 
 row of books immediately above the fourteenth, 
 one of them by a double connection brought this 
 uncle to my mind. It was a book written by his 
 father, and on its back was the name which, saving 
 
 255 
 
Appendix 
 
 one initial, was identical with his. The uncle’s 
 name was A. W. Thomas, and on the title appeared 
 J. W. Thomas. This book stood perpendicularly 
 above number 14. 
 
 It had been a good year for fruit, and my father 
 made some references to the produce of our garden 
 and the preserve which he noticed was being made 
 in our house. He did not say “ preserve’ however, 
 but used the simpler term as he had invariably 
 done when on earth. Among the tests given was 
 the following, which was to be found within a 
 span of a certain book we had been discussing :— 
 
 * Something there reminds him of your jam.’ 
 
 I found it difficult to believe that any book of 
 mine could answer this description, whether by 
 title, publisher, or author’s name. It seemed 
 incredible. But inspection showed that, lying 
 upon the top of the others, and but two inches 
 away from the identical book which was to be my 
 guide to it, there was a small volume with the 
 simple title, Fames. I can confidently say that 
 never previously had I noticed the suggestiveness 
 of the first three letters of this common name. 
 
 Two references were greetings for the season. 
 ‘Within a span is a title expressing his 
 Christmas wish for you.’ 
 
 The title was Hearts Ease. This was given 
 250 
 
Appendix 
 
 before Christmas; during the first sitting in 
 January came another :— 
 
 ‘ Within a span is a title expressing a New 
 Year’s wish to you in particular; he would 
 like to include Clara (my wife’s name), but 
 is afraid he must leave her out of this. You 
 will see from the title what is meant; open on 
 the name or sub-title, and it will give you 
 the clue as to why he cannot include Clara 
 in this.’ 
 
 I found it impossible to conjecture any title 
 which, as a New Year’s wish, would not be equally 
 suitable for my wife as for myself. But my father 
 constantly exhibits a mental ingenuity which sur- 
 passes mine. Immediately beneath the book from 
 which the span was to be measured, I found 
 The Book of Enoch, edited by Professor Charles 
 and exhibiting the motto of the Oxford University 
 Press, Dominus Illuminatio Mea. No wish for the 
 New Year could be more gratifying than this 
 prayer for Divine enlightenment, while the fact 
 of its being coupled with the name Charles gives 
 an easy clue to the reason why it had been singled 
 out as personal to me. My name is Charles. 
 This prayer, together with the name Charles, is 
 found both upon the back of the book and on its 
 title-page. 
 
 ‘Within a span 1s a title taking one back 
 a very long time, a thousand years or more.’ 
 
 This was The Minor Prophets. 
 257 
 
Appendix 
 
 The following is an illustration of the way in 
 which the communicator is able to puzzle me, 
 even upon those rare occasions when I have a 
 fair idea of the books likely to be found in the 
 place from which he is selecting the test. 
 
 “Coming now to the lower shelf next the 
 door, there is a title close to the door suggesting 
 Greek or Grecian.’ 
 
 In this instance I was able to recollect that the 
 books nearest the door upon the bottom shelf had 
 been bought second-hand for purposes of reference. 
 I had not yet used the books, and thought of them 
 collectively as ‘Early Fathers of the Church.’ 
 That they would relate to Greek was certain, but 
 I anticipated some reference in the preface to 
 Greek writings, or possibly a Greek quotation on 
 the title-page. That there was nothing Greek or 
 Grecian on the titles proper I felt fairly certain. 
 What, then, was my astonishment to notice that 
 the second from the door included in its title the 
 name ‘ Athenagoras.” This is entirely Grecian 
 in its suggestion, and the book states that Athena- 
 goras was a philosopher of Athens. 
 
 The next illustration similarly turns upon an 
 author’s name. It was prefaced by the remark,— 
 
 ‘This is very interesting,’ and proceeded, 
 “Close to the last book named, he saw one 
 containing a name very closely connected 
 with this medium. Strictly speaking, it is the 
 
 258 
 
Appendix 
 
 title, but he is uncertain whether he obtained 
 the connection from the title or from the 
 title-page.’ 
 
 Exactly twelve inches from the book alluded to 
 was one which had the following upon both back 
 and title-page: With God in my Garden. Fifty-two 
 talks to Children. Leonard E. Dowsett. While the 
 name Leonard has more than one form of spelling, 
 it is here identical with the medium’s. Had I 
 been asked on my way to this sitting, and it was 
 my twentieth, if the name Leonard appeared upon 
 my shelves, I should have replied that, if it did so 
 appear, I certainly had not noticed the fact. 
 
 * Within a span is a title suggesting tarnished 
 metal; he does not think it intended that, 
 but it impressed him with that meaning.’ 
 
 Exactly a span’s length distant was A. C. Benson’s 
 book, The Thread of Gold. Gold thread will, in 
 process of time, become tarnished. It is curious 
 how in these tests a vague idea seems to have 
 been caught by my communicator which, while 
 almost always correct in a way, is often any- 
 thing but obvious or what the majority of people 
 would first think of on seeing such titles. Yet, 
 even with us, the laws of mental association produce 
 widely varying results, and will even do this with 
 the same person at different times and under 
 changed conditions. 
 
 ‘Within a span is a title which expresses 
 259 
 
Appendix 
 
 to him “ the eyes of youth,” or, as seen through 
 eyes of youth; it gave him the idea very 
 plainly. He thinks these words are not there, 
 but the title is only as seen through the eyes 
 of youth.’ 
 
 Close by stood Sulley’s book, Children’s Ways. 
 
 ‘Within a span is a title expressing an 
 adventure which would be very interesting 
 to you, a course of conduct, a condition gone 
 into, but by way of being an adventure. It 
 would appeal to you, but you would have to 
 be careful. He thinks and hopes you do not 
 wish to go into it. There are reasons why it 
 would not be advisable at present.’ 
 
 The book was Dean Plumtre’s The Spirits in 
 Prison, which deals with our Lord’s mission to the 
 unhappy souls of the lower spirit realm. Those 
 who have read the vivid narratives of the Rev. G. 
 Vale Owen will have little difficulty in perceiving 
 the relevance of this allusion. 
 
 ‘ Also within a span is a book with a word 
 on the outside, but not in the title proper, 
 signifying quite up to date. He thinks it is 
 not in the title, yet is on the outside of the 
 
 book.’ 
 
 It was, 4 Harmony of the Gospels in the Revised 
 Verston. 
 
 ‘Within a span is a title suggesting a 
 teaching which is much turned and twisted 
 to suit particular ideas by certain people, thus 
 causing much misconception.’ 
 
 200 
 
Appendix 
 
 This was The Indwelling Spirit. Here we have 
 one of the central facts of Christianity; in degree 
 as it is experimentally understood and enjoyed 
 we have illumination for the intellect, love for the 
 heart, strength and guidance for the life. ‘Jf any 
 man hath not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His.’— 
 Rom. viii. 9. Had this teaching been consistently 
 given the prominence it holds ‘in the New Testa- 
 ment, the history of Christianity would have been 
 spared its darker chapters. 
 
 * About three books distant is a very striking 
 title. It refers to that upon which we should 
 fix our mental vision and always strive more 
 quickly towards.’ 
 
 Here, as not infrequently, my father seizes upon 
 what serves his purpose and disregards the remainder. 
 Sometimes he fixes upon an author’s name, some- 
 times upon the full title, and at other times, as in 
 this instance, upon a few special words. He leaves 
 me to discover the exact turn of his thought, which 
 there is rarely any difficulty in doing. Books which 
 Influenced our Lord and His Apostles was the full 
 title of the book standing shird from the above 
 landmark. Knowing my father as I did, and 
 understanding the aspirations of his inner life, it 
 is easy to recognise the significance of his emphasis 
 upon the two central words, and with the deeper 
 reverence attained through these studies, which 
 have opened for me new heavens as well as a new 
 earth, I bow, as does my father, before this exalted 
 name, ‘OUR LORD.’ 
 
 261 
 

 

 

 
 ae 7 
 A — ia ’ f 
 J rs 
 ce _ 1 SER y J ‘ 
 + aes a 7 7 
 r - a % rs 4 d — 
 . 
 < v * 
 > CS ‘ - 
 eae \ ; 
 a - ’ 7 7 ~— Z, - : 
 : : « eae ae a | 
 ¢ 4 ‘ 
 x ~~ aft 
 EY, ¢ - x 
 
 
 

 
ww | 
 
 | 
 
 | 
 9 
 
 a —4 
 ——— 
 ——— 
 ———— 
 S— 
 
 i 
 
 2 0 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 4 
 
 I