The author of the book, himself an investigator in the field of psychic research and a believer in spontaneous manifestations of the spirits of the dead, condemns the practice of spiritualism, with its mediumistic invocations of spirits as a vice. Its dangers are many. From the point of view of orthodox Christianity it menaces faith and morality alike; from that of the medical profession it is injurious to health; from that of the greater number of most eminent scientists it is a sham; and from the point of view of common sense it is a hotch-potch of imbecility, gullibility, and roguery. Contents: Foreword by Father Bernard Vaughan; “Spiritualism”—what is it? How spiritualism tries to distort the Old Testament; Spiritualism and the New Testament; Spiritualism and the churches; The phenomenal side of spiritualism and its effect on the health; The danger of fraud of all kinds at séances.
“He delivers some shrewd blows, and in a popular manner sets forth a strong case against spiritualists and their operations.”
+ Ath p352 Mr 12 ’20 80w + Cath World 112:252 N ’20 40w N Y Times 25:19 Jl 4 ’20 160w
“Such protests are welcome, however much they fall short of the sanction of a high consistency; it is hardly to be expected that a critic of Mr O’Donnell’s electric temper will find favor with those who see in psychical research a far wider menace and a subtler attack upon the fundamentals of sound thinking. Yet to part of the composite clientèle from which latter-day recruits for the occult are gathered, this earnest word of warning may prove helpful.” Joseph Jastrow
+ − Review 3:41 Jl 14 ’20 250w Springf’d Republican p6 Je 1 ’20 400w The Times [London] Lit Sup p143 F 26 ’20 80w
O’DUFFY, EIMAR. Wasted island. *$2 (1c) Dodd
20–16927
A story of Ireland and the Irish movement culminating in the Easter rebellion. Bernard Lascelles, son of a successful Dublin doctor, is brought up in ignorance of his country’s history. In fact it is part of his father’s purpose to keep him in ignorance, fearing that the boy may take after his uncle Christopher Reilly, who died fighting England on the side of the Boers. Bernard is sent to an English school, but in spite of his father’s efforts is drawn into the Nationalist and later into the Sinn Fein movements, a letter left by his uncle Christopher to be read on his twenty-first birthday proving the turning point in his life. A very different bringing up is that of Stephen Ward, whose father, a discouraged Fenian, hopes that his son may never wreck his life in the hopeless cause but does not deny him knowledge. Both young men oppose the Easter uprising but both are involved in it. Bernard is wrecked by it but Stephen escapes. “‘And now,’ said Michael Ward to his son, ‘now that everything has turned out as I told you it would, what do you mean to do?’ ‘I suppose,’ replied Stephen, ‘we must begin all over again.’”