lost, but found and kept, as distinct, forever. The very soul of comfort and assurance is in all he ever uttered. No prophet of despair or doubt was he. Of his history we make no record, saving that he began life as a Unitarian preacher, but on realizing that no little that was deemed prime among that sect had lost in emphasis to him, he modestly stepped aside from the pulpit, and passed up to the summit of the mount from which he could drop upon the ear of a listening world the old-new message and counsel of life and love. It was so evidently the hand of Wisdom that gently led her elect one from the pulpit to the throne that the intelligent world bows in recognition; and in all the higher ranges of literary criticism now, oracles are selecting their choicest words by which to render sincerest tribute to a man who has illustrated life as we may all have it immediately, if, like him, we take it as it is given, just for its own dear sake, and let it take us according to its own sweet will and way. One marked characteristic, uniform in all of Emerson's productions, is that we find recurring ever the one all-satisfying element of life as he realized it and relished it. He thrills us with the same that thrilled him. Не repeats himself in ever-varying accent, and presses down upon us after such a manner as to cause us to realize the best that is in us, thus at once acquainting us with him and ourselves. It is little matter what we read, his verse or his prose-whether we begin here or there; for it is like breathing the fresh air, whether at the door, or the window, or out on the porch. We need have no method of reading him, as he was above any method of writing or thinking.

"Pass in, pass in," the angels say,

"Into the upper doors,

Nor count compartments of the floors,
But mount to paradise

By the stair-way of surprise."

Bowling Green, Ky., June 26, 1882.

JOSEPH B. COTTRELL.

THOUGHT READING.

In the June number of the Nineteenth Century, Professor Barrett, Mr. Edmund Gurney, and Mr. Frederick Myers, give an interesting report of a series of joint experiments in "Thought-reading." The subjects were the children of a clergyman, "five girls and one boy, ranging now between the ages of ten and seventeen, all thoroughly healthy, as free as possible from morbid or hysterical symptoms, and in manner perfectly simple and child-like." The experiments were most carefully made, under conditions and with precautions that exclude all possibility of collusion or deception. The experimenters agreed upon some name, number, card, or other object, in the absence of the child. The child was then called in and asked to guess the word or object. The investigation extended over six days, and an outline of the results stands as follows:

Altogether 382 trials were made. In the case of letters of the alphabet, of cards,

and of numbers of two figures, the chances against success on a first trial would naturally be 25 to 1, 51 to 1, and 89 to 1, respectively; in the case of surnames they would of course be indefinitely greater. Cards were far most frequently employed, and the odds in their case may be taken as a fair medium sample; according to which, out of the whole series of 382 trials, the average number of successes at the first attempt by an ordinary guesser would be 73. Of our trials, 127 were successes on the first attempt, 56 on the second, 19 on the third, making 202 in all. On most of the occasions of failure, 180 in number, second trials were made; but in some cases the guesser professed inability, and declined to make more than one, and in others we allowed three; no trial beyond the third was ever allowed. During the last day or two of trial, after it had occurred to us to notice the point, we found that of the failures to guess a card at the first trial, those wrong both in suit and number were a small minority. Our most striking piece of success, when the thing selected was divulged to none of the family, was five cards running named correctly on a first trial; the odds against this happening once in our series were considerably over 1,000,000 to 1. We had altogether a good many similar batches, the two longest runs being 8 consecutive successes, once with cards and once with names; where the adverse odds in the former case were over 142,000,000 to 1, and in the latter something incalculably greater. If we add to these results others obtained on previous visits, it seems not too much to say that the hypothesis of mere coincidence is practically excluded. But common sense demands that every mode of explanation known to us should be exhausted before the possibility of an unknown mode is considered; and we may now inquire whether any other recognized cause will sufficiently account for the results.

EARLY LIFE OF DR. T. O. SUMMERS.

OUR friend George John Stevenson, of London, in a letter to the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, gives some interesting particulars of the early life of Dr. Summers. These facts he obtained from Dr. Summers himself by special request, some years ago:

Both his parents, James and Sarah Summers, died when he was quite young, and he was placed under the care of a grandaunt, Sarah Havilland, who was his foster-mother for some years. She lived at Corfe Castle, Dorset, where her ancestors, the Osmonds, had resided since the Norman conquest. One of the Osmonds was the founder of the Salisbury Cathedral, and there lived to the patriarchal age of one hundred and sixteen years, and was buried in St. Mary's Church-yard, at Corfe. The parents of Thomas were Independents; so were his guardians. Thomas was baptized by the Rev. Dr. Durant, pastor of the Independent Church at Poole, Dorset, the same Church in which John Wesley was pastor, father of the Rector of Epworth, and grandfather of the founder of Methodism. One of the guardians of Thomas was a deacon of that Church, and he was anxious the boy should be brought up to be an Independent minister; another guardian was desirous that he should enter commercial life; between them, his mind was saturated with details of the Calvinistic decrees, until, in his teens, he had almost a loathing of them. Providence opened an unexpected way of escape. A near relative died in Dorsetshire, who had a son in America: he visited England to settle his father's affairs, and when that was done, he took Thomas with him to America. He had not been there long before the unrest of his mind was made known to his new friends, to whom he said that his previous Calvinistic teaching had made him so skeptical that he was hasting into infidelity. One of his friends lent him Dr. Adam Clarke's Commentary on Romans to read. That he read with avidity; it exactly met his case, and proved to be to him the key to unlock the Calvinistic mysteries. He saw himself a poor fallen sinner, and under Methodist teaching soon became a convert and joined the M. E. Church. His after-life is so well known I need not here allude to it.

EDITORIAL SALUTATORY.

WE announce to the readers of this REVIEW, after this issue it will be under the editorial control of the first and former director. We resume the management with feeling akin to that with which we would take to our bosom a loved and lost child. The method of making a Review by a committee originated in a scheme proposed by us at the General Conference of 1878. At that period there seemed to be no other way pos sible, owing to the perilous condition of the Publishing House. The grand ship was heavily freighted, and could not bear another pound of cargo-the House then trembled on the verge of extinction. All that was proposed in the plan was not realized; still, enough was attained the first year to warrant hope of prosperity and permanence in the future. During the run of the first volume (1879) we continued to speak and write, having no fears of final success. Over a thousand letters were written to advance the enterprise; and twenty per cent. of the printed matter came from the editorial pen. By most persons it was deemed a forlorn hope, a scheme utterly chimerical. Time vindicated the conceptions which gave it birth, showing they were just and true, although the original intention was only very partially executed. Without a dollar, with no pledged contributors, we dared to issue the QUARTERLY; and we found readers and money enough to pay for each issue in advance; besides, we closed the year with a handsome surplus beyond printing expense.

The many never read Reviews; but the few who always do were many enough to afford a solid support. It was expected that each one of the Review Committee would be regular contributors, thus supplying matter of good quality, which, from our poverty, we were not able to buy. In this important point

expectation almost wholly failed. Some of the managers did not thus understand their relation and duty, and most of them neglected to write. It is to be conceded that some of them. aided me constantly and vigorously, furnishing copy at every call. But all of them aided in some way, and their names gave character and credit to the enterprise. In various degrees, certainly, but to all our colleagues, we owed thanks for assistance. Soon, however, we discovered that reliance for literary aid must be had beyond the managers. Here was the chief difficulty: how to obtain suitable articles of high order with no money to offer as an inducement for their production. It is needless to say that amateur, volunteer writers abound, but their contributions often fail as to time, and oftener as to quality. As in the past, and according to all experience in such matters, the supply was sometimes better suited to the grade of a Monthly than to a stately Quarterly. Yet, we venture to say, the matter furnished in the main was creditable-compared favorably with similar periodicals. That some articles were used at all was the demand of necessity-we had nothing bet ter to offer at the time. This much we write in retrospection. No Methodist print of similar grade was ever more cordially received and better sustained.

We have every reason to believe the lamented Dr. Summers, who succeeded us, experienced quite as much difficulty in the make-up of the volumes issued under his direction. Scant indeed must have been the supply of "copy" when he filled over half the pages with his own productions. Wherefore do we make these statements? To show what has been done was not an easy work. To prove that even the veteran Summers, with all his energy, and character, and capacity, found it a task hard to meet when he undertook to give the Church a first-class periodical. Knowing, however, that all obstacles yield to determination, and that all great things become great by growth and accretion, we have never despaired of success-have confidently believed in an increasing prosperity with an inverse ratio of diminishing obstructions. Every year the readers of the REVIEW will be increased, and writers not yet known to fame will honor its pages and be

honored in return. There is no lack of talent in our Connection-it needs only an opportunity for manifestation. Periodicals like this will develop a class of writers greatly neededat the present very scarce in number. And the existence of such a print will create a class of readers which hardly are known in our Church beyond a few of the ministry. Hence, by a reproductive force, the resources of the REVIEW will soon be equal to any demand of the age-equal to any of its competitors in merit and influence. Fully persuaded of the need for such an organ, we reënter upon its management with fondness, faith, and hope.

What is now imperatively needed is a large increase of subscribers, and for these we appeal to our educated men and women; especially do we rely on the aid of our preachers in obtaining patronage. Let them subscribe themselves, and by application and persuasion they can easily help us, themselves, and their people. There are preachers (traveling) enough to give it an ample support were they all to subscribe. At the lowest estimate we ought to enroll 5,000 names in six months. Past history forbids this expectation; yet, we indulge a hope that a prompt response to this appeal will place the REVIEW on firmer and higher ground than has hitherto been occupied. We expect to print a Quarterly of nearly 800 pages during the year, in the highest style of typography, for the very moderate sum of $3 per annum, payable in advance. Our readers must exercise some faith in our ability to keep our promises; and they themselves can reach the highest excellence in the literary matter by simply giving us their names and money. There will be no scarcity of finished articles when the revenues from subscribers shall enable the editor to pay the writers. In the meantime, we appeal for contributions from many gifted pens now rusting in idleness. We need not say the character of the REVIEW will be changed in some of its aspects, for minds so diversely constituted as our own and that of the lamented Summers could not, if they would, produce the same work. In every thing relating to typography and books, Dr. Summers was an expert: to him we readily yield with great deference. Our ideal of a Review, however, is quite different