The Reach of the Mind: By J. B. Rhine, Professor of Psychology, Duke University, U.S.A. (London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 1948. Pp. 188. Price 10 s. 6 d.)

The experimental investigation of 'psi phenomena' has now become a recognized branch of psychological research and this is due, to no small extent, to the work done since 1930 by Professor Rhine and his colleagues at Duke University, North Carolina. Although much of it deals with tests carried out there, the book is not merely a departmental report but a survey of the origins and growth of para-psychology in which due credit is given to other American and foreign pioneers, e.g. in this country, Dr. Soal and the late Whately Carington. The author regards 'psi phenomena' as a challenge to materialist conceptions and as demanding a return from 'cerebrocentric' to 'psychocentric' views of man and his relation to the Universe.

Psycho-analysts are so accustomed to thinking in terms of mental processes that they may feel the author is flogging a dead horse in his first chapter 'The Central Question About Man'. It should be borne in mind, however, that Watsonian Behaviourism achieved a far greater vogue and more influence in America than in this country, where, in the main, theories of psycho-physical interaction or parallelism have tended to prevail over epiphenomenalism in academic circles. While advocating a psychocentric view of man, the author's own philosophical leanings are towards neutral monism.

Professor Rhine presents his review in the form of eight steps in the provision of evidence for psychocentrism. Chapter II describes the early work on telepathy which, by 1930, had made it appear credible. Chapter III registers the second step taken by the establishment of extra-sensory perception (ESP, clairvoyance) through experiments with special cards (ESP cards). It was now realized that much of the earlier work on telepathy did not discriminate between clairvoyance and telepathy. Further tests led, by 1940, to 'the working hypothesis that there is but one ESP, of which clairvoyance and telepathy are different manifestations.'

Chapter IV, 'The Reach of the Mind in