Venetian Vorcm—Modern—Psychic Mysteries, Volume 2, by Gwendolyn k, (Rider & Ca. London, is a record of spiritualist seances held mainly in Venice at "which, it is claimed, direct communi with the spirit world is established trough the mediumship of George Valiantine. In particular, it describes an attempt to transmit a message, without apparatus, to this Venetian circle from Boston, where the famous Mrs. Margery Crandon is the guiding force, Mrs. Hack's thesis is sometimes still in note form and generally lacks fluency. The same evidence is repeated by different witnesses, and though this is meant to add conviction, it is none the less tiring. However, the book throws a welcome light on the proceedings of serious seances and on the constitution of the spirit world as revealed to the initiated.
The Venice meetings open with the Lord's Prayer, followed by several tunes on the gramophone. But before the voices can be heard, we are told, it is important that "the sitters' forces, or those of a sufficient number of them, must be uniform—their fluids should be homogeneous their psy) energies should vibrate in unison."
The voices may or may not require a trumpet to make themselves audible: such an instrument is left in the middle of the circle, should it be needed. The spirits which manifest themselves are a limited and eccentric group—Bert Everett, Count Bon's grandmother, an American Indian named Blackfoot, a little girl called Honey who behaves like Shirley Temple, and, above all, Cristo d'Angelo, a Sicilian peasant who sings with superhuman power and sustains his last notes indefinitely. These appear regularly, but distinguished visitors include Confucius, Rabelais and Sebastian Cabot.
Spirits Disappointing The spirits' remarks are disappointing; when pressed for enlightenment on future and supernatural existence, they become embarrassed and disappear, leaving ectoplasmic moisture in the trumpet Strangely enough, they flourish in an atmosphere st small talk and innocent fun, of which many examples could be given. "Bert Everett laughs at Blackfeet whom he calls the traffic cop'", "A trumpet hits one of us hard on the head," and so on.
The powers and limitations xf the spirits are nct clearly defined. Walter, the control' which manifests' to the Boston group, cannot unde stand Italian, yet he declares that his world thought transference overcomes all language bars. Confucius is reputed to recite in ancient Chi-rose, while Rabelais' French is per-leetly up-to-date. Walter, at least, requires nourishment, though he dislikes certain food intensely. Kisses are plentifully bestowed, yet in the life beyond there is no sexual passion: when one spirit, a veritable Casanova during his earthly life, is asked "And now, what dost thou do as to the young ladies?" he replies "Now it is another thing. Here it is all spiritualized."
The transmission of a message across the Atlantic, reported at great length, seems to be far less significant than what Marconi had achieved nearly 30 years before: two sets of three numbers are merely received, with no great assurance of accuracy. In fact, the general impression given by the account of this experiment, snd of the volume as a whole, is that however genuine these manifestations may be, they are so far too trifling and too meaningless to attract widespread attention.—&A.c.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.