The Two Worlds for 1890

A weak year, but not without its moments of interest. Now available from the Archive.

• January: More On Colonel Olcott and Theosophy; what might be another piece of fiction from EHB, "The Mystery of the Postern Gate"; hypnotised shopkeepers; J. J. Morse gets the Rostrum for his "Notes form a Worker's Diary" and for his "Theosophy and Re-Incarnation Not Proven"; a lecture from Dr. Carl du Prel; a note from William Mumler; a criticism of "The Key To Theosophy"; the psychic effects of hashish; spiritualism is communism; theological war in the United States; "Astounding Revelations Concerning The Dens Where The Poor of Manchester Herd Together" (can you say odi profanum?
• February: Stanley and Spiritualism; raging against Hell; report of the annual meeting of the board of directors of The Two Worlds including an extended address delivered by EHB (a must-read); the cremation of Baron de Palm; "the public rostrum is designed to teach the religion, philosophy and ethics of spiritualism, and is not only lowered but absolutely disgraced by making it the scene of half-developed or wholly inefficient, mediumistic experiments"; Egyptian and Persian cartomancy
• March: modern fire worshippers; suffrage for all; Alfred Kitson gets the Rostrum; the Golden Verses of Pythagoras; Proposal For A National Organization Of British Spiritualists; EHB on "The Great Pyramid of Egypt - The First Lodge of Ancient Masonry"; Captain Pfoundes on Japanese Spiritualism; Sirius on Black and White Magic referring to "the Author of Art Magic" as though TAOAM was someone else
• April: Witchcraft; "Commonwealth as a Victory to Be Won"; vicarious atonement is a "horrible teaching"; Hudson Tuttle on thought transference
• May: Spurgeon and Talmadge take a beating at the editor's hands (again); William Britten goes after Annie Besant during a lecture; the editor, contra capital punishment; Carl du Prel gets the Rostrum to discuss "the state after death"; The Missionary Number "specially designed to deal with some of those questions propounded by persons unacquainted with the subject of spiritualism"; Sirius on Spiritualism In Relation To Science And Religion; a poem by EHB from 1869; JJ Morse on "Woman: The Problem Of The Future"; vivisection is "the shame of our modern civilization"; Richard Hodgson on ghosts
• June: Emma excerpts Lydia M Childs (as did TAOAM); the agenda for the meeting of the National Conference of Spiritualists, from the leadership cadre (Morse, EHB, Tetlow, and Wallis; publication of the Roman sentence of death passed on Jesus of Nazareth;
• July: EHB defends spirit photography; EHB on her "residence at Macon, Georgia"; EHB extracts an extended section of Judge Robert Hewitt Brown's Stellar Theology and Masonic Astronomy; report from the National Conference of British Spiritualists
• August: "Things a Boy Should Learn"; Faiths, Facts & Frauds is offered "for the cost of the binding" due to the generosity of an unnamed spiritualist; "Theosophical Definitions By An Avowed Theosophist"; EHB contra Theosophy (again); mental telegraphy; EHB on "bible infallibility"; the beginning of a series by Dr. Charles W. Hidden marks the beginning of EHB's association with The Progressive Thinker; more battering of the Salvation Army
• September: JM Peebles on "Spiritualism in All Ages"; a testimonial gift to Alfred Kitson; claiming William Blake for spiritualism; EHB rejects utterly the idea of a united front between Spiritualists and Theosophists and invokes the Coulomb scandal and the New York Sun "revelations"
• October: Wallis and Morse join forces as publishers; "Is Platform Clairvoyance Beneficial Or Hurtful To The Cause Of Spiritualism?"; the son of D. D. Home on "Some Russian Superstitions"; The Second Missionary Number; >B>Summary Of Spirit Communications Concerning Creation. Received During Thirty Years Of Direct Communication From And With Spirits, By Emma Hardinge Britten"; Peary Chand Mitra; Arthur Morrison makes his first appearances - is this the Martin Hewitt Arthur Morrison?
• November: J. B. Tetlow on "Variations In Mediumship"; William James excerpted; "private correspondence" (about EHB's published works) "is totally out of the question"; "William Tell's Arrow A Solar Weapon"; all the guns trained on the Salvation Army -- "Phonographic Dolls To Convert The Universe"
• December: J. J. Morse on "Do the Facts Of Spiritualism Support The Theories Of Theosophy"; the Christmas double number, with an EHB novelette; EHB's song of Charles Dickens, to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic; J. N. Maskelyne made to confess his belief in ghosts; EHB excerpts Mark Twain and implies acquaintance (she had it); Flammarion describes the Martian seas; mesmerizing insects; Sirius on Witchcraft In Ireland