There are some advantages which the study of this subject possesses over most branches of scientific inquiry. In its present early and incomplete stage the most important thing is the accumulation of carefully observed and recorded facts. Even as regards Thought-Transference, in which the number of careful experiments that have been made is far greater than in any other class of phenomena, it is still most important to multiply the quantity of the evidence. In most of the branches of the subject no expensive apparatus is required, and no special scientific or intellectual training. Accurate observation and careful recording, at the time, of all that occurs, without prejudice, and without discouragement at apparent failure, are the chief requisites. Any person, or small group of persons of ordinary intelligence, can train themselves to be equal to this. A very simple instance occurred in the earliest experiences of the writer. After three or four sittings round a small table with two friends, at which there was meaningless tipping, and nothing better than commonplace sentences, the following was tipped out: "Try no more to move"--then this succession of letters--"a t a t a." It seemed useless to go on with nonsense, but one of the party suggested perseverance; when the following conclusion converted seeming nonsense into sense: "b l e take a pencil and write." The result was that one of the party rapidly developed into an interesting automatic writer. It is quite impossible to foretell the extent of the aid that may not be given, in the explanation of some of these phenomena, by the persevering 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.