evering
experiments of intelligent inquirers.

In the following chapters facts relating to several different kinds of
phenomena are put before the reader, as to which the guarantee of
authenticity and the quality of the evidence are both unimpeachable.

It is not proposed to travel all over the world in search of evidence;
the illustrations will be drawn almost entirely from home sources. With
all due respect to friends in distant parts, it will doubtless be a
satisfaction to some readers to know that in these pages they will not
meet with Mrs. Piper on the one hand, nor with Eusapia Paladino on the
other.

With these few introductory remarks a calm and dispassionate
consideration of the evidence presented is invited. First of all, three
classes of phenomena will be taken up in the following order:--

(1) The Movement of Objects without any apparent Physical Cause.

(2) The Production of Sound without any apparent Physical Cause.

(3) The Production of Light without any apparent Physical Cause.

Two chapters will then be devoted to a study of the phenomena exhibited
in the lives of two of the most noted "mediums" of modern times--Daniel
Dunglas Home and William Stainton Moses. Both present manifestations of
phenomena belonging to the three classes above-named, as well as
striking examples of other kinds. A chapter on the "Divining Rod" will
follow. Then a chapter on one of the forms of Thought-Transference, one
which allows of its being included among physical phenomena. Two brief
chapters will come next on "Spirit Photography" and on
"Materialisations." It is explained that these are included, not because
of any scientific evidence in their favour which can be quoted, but
because of the extreme interest and importance of the subjects
themselves, and also because the strong testimony and moral evidence in
support of their reality seem to promise a tempting field for the
scientific explorer, and to warrant a confident belief that the evidence
he desires will be forthcoming. In a final chapter an endeavour is made
to sum up results and conclusions.

CHAPTER II

THE MOVEMENT OF OBJECTS WITHOUT ANY APPARENT PHYSICAL CAUSE

THE COMMITTEE OF THE DIALECTICAL SOCIETY

So far as I am aware, the first systematic or scientific attempt to
investigate the alleged phenomenon of the movement of objects without
any apparent physical cause was made by the London Dialectical Society
in the year 1869. On the motion of