D. D. Home: his Life and Mission. By Madame Dunglass
Home. (Triibner and Co.)—This is a book of wonders. People of credit (Lord Adair, Lord Lindsay, Mrs. S. C. Hall, for instance), testify to holding red-hot coals in their hands without harm, to seeing Mr. Home raised to the height of seventy feet, or himself sud- denly growing seven or eight inches longer or shorter. Mr. Crookes saw him raised from the ground, chair and all. Lord Lindsay saw him floating round a room, and pushing the pictures out of their places. Mr. Crookes and Dr. Huggins saw and heard him play an accordion without moving a muscle. Certainly there are wonders in plenty in this book ; but we cannot see that there are signs. It is impossible to discern any meaning in these marvels. Hence, we may say, though we hear a good deal of Mr. Home's "life" in this volume, we hear little or nothing of his "work." Curiously enough, the most notable things concerning him are the strange " adoption " by Mrs. Lyon, the consequent gifts, and the lawsuit which finished the whole business. He seems to have been hardly dealt with. But if he had devoted his powers, which were evidently considerable, to some practical human work, instead of to necromancy and thaiunaturgy, this trouble could scarcely have come in his way.
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