The Naturalisation of the Supernatural. By Frank Podmore. (G. P.
Putnam's Sons. 7s. 6d. net.)—Mr. Podmore is so sincere and so level-headed an investigator of psychical phenomena that the appearance of a book from his pen dealing with such subjects is always welcome. The book before us is a collection of essays and reports selected from the publications of the Psychical Research Society. The various chapters of the work are occupied, among other things, with experimental thought transference, telepathic hallucinations, Poltergeists, phantasms of the dead, and messages received through trance and automatism. Though there is nothing very new or sensational in the volume, there is plenty of evidence of careful work, and of a refusal to rush_ into a spiritualistic explanation of unknown phenomena while any other explanation remains possible. Dealing with those who oppose psychical research on the ground that it involves a kind of impiety, Mr. Podmore quotes part of the delightful letter from the Turkish Governor published in Layard's " Nineveh and Babylon." Layard, it may be remembered, had been directed by the British Govern- ment to obtain certain statistical information in regard to trade in Baghdad. His friend the Governor, to whom he addressed his inquiries, replied as follows :—" God created the world, and shall we liken ourselves unto Him in seeking to penetrate the mysteries of His creation ? Shall we say, Behold this star spinneth round that star, and this other star with a tail goeth and cometh in so many years? Let it go ! He from whose hand it came will guide and direct it." Those who agree with the pious Turk will no doubt refuse to read Mr. Podmore's book. Others may read it with interest as an honest attempt to record, and in part explain, certain strange occurrences, and, as Mr. Balfour once described them, "odd" facts.
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