But while the advance of psychical research on strictly scientific lines has to some extent fallen short of the hopes of our pioneers, an unprecedented development has taken place in the cruder and less critical forms of what is popularly known as “Spiritualism”. This increased interest in spiritualistic phenomena has been followed by a vast output of books devoted to the acceptance of the spiritist theory and generally characterized by the absence of scientific spirit or critical investigation. Thousands of persons who fully admit their acceptance of the “facts of spiritualism” and allege that they find in the teachings of the spiritualist creed guidance in life and consolation in death appear to be satisfied with a minimum of reason for the faith which is in them. Popular enthusiasm for occult experiences has produced no corresponding increase in the number of serious students. The valuable material accumulated with immense care in the _Proceedings_ of the Psychical Research Society is to a large extent unknown to and unexplored by the modern spiritualist, who professes to base his claims, if called upon to do so, on uncritical data derived from professional clairvoyants or his own automatic script. The result has been a veritable flood of alleged messages from another world which, in some cases, have been supplied to the Sunday newspapers by discarnate and obliging intelligences with the regularity of an editorial leader. The recognized spiritualist churches, “Lyceums” and similar organizations in Great Britain, 610 in number apart from independent societies and groups, possess a membership of at least 54,000; and, despite the honourable efforts of many educated and enlightened spiritualists who are determined enemies of mediumistic fraud, a steady increase has taken place in the ranks of those pseudo-mediums who trade on the credulity of the public.