SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21148, 4 October 1930, Page 4

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.

ADVENTURES IN ALL SPHERES. " The Edge of the Unknown." By Arthur Conan Doyle. London: John Murray, (7s 6d net.) " Memories and Adventures.” By Arthur Conan Doyle. With a Portrait of the Author. Cheaper edition, London! John Murray. (7s 6d net.) Those who honestly feel that it was a pity that the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle should have become such a confirmed believer in phychic phenomena, will have some regrets that the last book he himself saw through the press deals with these matters; for though Sir Arthur is always worth reading, and infuses a great deal of lively interest into the essays in “The Edge of the Unknown,” he is not at his best in such studies. The author is entirely preeonvinced of the mystic nature of the incidents he describes. In other words, he is in a receptive frame of mind, and ready to se,z ® upon details that the non-spiritualist would find unconvincing, not to say fantastic, as corroboration of his thesis. The first article in the book, and the most interesting, concerns “ The Biddle of Houdini.’ Sir Arthur believes, and he has collected a great deal of debatable evidence in support of his belief, that Houdini was possessed of extraordinary psychic powers of which he may have been unaware. He makes no attempt to disguise the fact that Houdini was a bitter, even a fanatical, opponent of spiritualism, and for many years conducted a violent campaign in the United States agam-it acceptance pf _ psychic teachings. Houdini declared that everything he did, including apparently miaculons escapes from every form of fetters, sealed boxes, and the rest, woe - accomplished by material means, humanly possible, no matter how baffling it is to the layman." But Sir Arthur does not accept snob explanations, and, rather laboriously, seeks to prove that the “ escapologist's ” mysteriemergences intact from chains, cases, and prisons, were due to psychic powers. He attaches. great significance to a reJ )re ?. id j n 8 r ahbi at Houdini s burial: Houdini possessed a wondrous power that he never understood, and which he never revealed to anyone in life. Such an expression, uttered at such a time, may, as Sir Arthur thinks, show that his speculations are not fantastic or extravagant, or « may very reasonably be interpreted °P, the other hand as the sort of. graveside tribute that has no more significance than many other, remarks made in similar circumstances "He frequently said u . r T ork , would die with him, and he has left no legacy of it so far as can peen seen, though it would clearly be a » Ww“ Uab e a6Bet *" lI Si l Al> thur states. Cap co ? er these facts, save lif;liT ere was B ,°. me elem ent in his power winch was peculiar to himself, and that ■ “ nI J P. 01 “t to a psychic element—--10 word, that he was a medium? M When, however. Houdini’s attempts to must - the Cra j doQa , are described, one bir Arthur asserts, Houdini, wedged an (W a ni e m a bell who’se ringing was the first phenomenon to be tested. Suddenly the absent Walter, in a stream of violent language, drew attention to the fact: kip. • e £ ut something to stop the bell ringing, Houdini, you ” ha cried. «SfL Houdini, failing to take warning mat he was up against powers which wera to?, strong for him," had the medinrn Margery encased in a box secured by eight padlocks—“ The forces behind Margery showed what they thought of this contraption by bursting the whole trout open the moment Margery was fastened into it.” Sir Arthur goes on to suggest that Houdini’s death actually was due in some inexplicable manner to his antagonism to Spiritualism, but here we cannot follow him. The other chapters in _ this book are made up of the recapitulation of psychic experiences, same ot them personal to Sir Arthur, these tell ua little that is new, and are samples of the mass of testimony which is offered in rapport of spiritualism.

“Memories and Adventures" fa Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s own story of his iito, nrst published six years ago, and now produced in a cheap edition, with a further, account of his activities in jus , yeai ? 88 8 prophet of the occult, e v °luine we have a running account or the experiences of a remarkably versatile and gifted man- He says: X have had a life which, for variety and romance, could, I think, hardly be exceeded. I have known what it was to be a poor man, and I have known what it was to be fairly affluent. I have sampled every kind of human experience. I have known many of the most'remarkable men of my time. I have had a long literary career after a medical training which gave me the M.D. of Edinburgh. I have tried my hand at very many sports, including boxing, cricket, billiards, motoring, football, aeronautics, and eki-ing, having been the first to introduce the latter for long journeys into Switzerland. I have travelled as doctor to a whaler for seven months in the Arctic, and afterwards in the West Coast of Africa. I have seen something of three wars, the Soudanese, the South African, and the German. My life has been dotted with adventures of all kinds. Finally, I have been constrained to devote my latter years to telling the world the final result of thirty-six years’ study of the_ occult, and in endeavouring to make it realise the overwhelming importance of the question, Whether Sir Arthur Ls writing of notable people he has met, is recalling his essay into politics, as a result of which he was twice returned—to the bosom of his family—or is describing, hie experiences on the British, French, and Italian fronts, he is always very readable. This book will be welcomed in its present form by all ndmircraof the author of some of the most exciting and vivid stories of our time. A. L. P.