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Crookes proposed to resolve one of the main problems
with glass negatives. Glass easily picked up impurities
and photographers found it diffi cult to produce clean
negatives. Crookes advised coating glass with collodion
then using it as a basis for the albumen process, which
was already common knowledge. To aid photographers,
he invented a box of tinplate that light could not enter
and a bottle for pouring albumen free from froth. In
1858 he made a two-year commitment to supply articles
on photography to the Photographic News. Crookes
cemented his reputation as one of the leading scientists
of his day by discovering a new metallic element, thal-
lium, by means of spectrum analysis in 1861.
By the 1870s, Crookes’ interests changed and he
began to speculate about theoretical scientifi c mat-
ters, including spiritualism. Crookes’ beloved younger
brother Philip had died in 1867 and the scientist hoped
that spiritualism could provide a reunion. Although
warned of the risk of ridicule, Crookes announced his
intent to investigate mediums. In the nineteenth century,
mediums commonly communicated with the dead by
entering a trance while alone in a room. The manifes-
tation, which many observers noted looked exactly
like the medium, would then mingle with guests as
the medium purportedly remained behind in the other
room with her face hidden under a blanket. Although he
conducted inquiries about other spiritualists, Crookes
achieved lasting fame for his photographs of Florence
Cook, who summoned the manifestation “Katie King.”
To determine if the medium and the materialization
were indeed two separate beings, Crookes proposed a
series of séances to be held in his home. Convinced of
the existence of genuine mediums, Crookes ruled out
trickery as a possible explanation for the manifestations.
He planned to obtain photographs of the two women. He
took 44 photographs of King using fi ve cameras from
December 1873 to May 1874. Midway through the ex-
periment, on 30 March 1874, he announced that he had
obtained proof of Cook’s innocence and of the actuality,
paranormal nature, and separate existence of King. The
results of Crookes’ experiments were published in W. H.
Harrison’s paper The Spiritualist in the form of a series
of letters that were afterward republished as part of the
book Researches in the Phenomena. Nearly all of the
photographs and negatives were later destroyed but one
of published pictures depicts Crookes arm-in-arm with
King. Only one photo depicted both the materialization
and the medium, but unfortunately King sits in front
of Cook thereby concealing her head. No photograph
shows the faces of both women. Few scientists ac-
cepted Crookes’ proof, but the certifi cation of a noted
man of science signifi cantly bolstered Cook’s fame and
fi nancial situation as well as aiding the cause of spiri-
tualism. Charged with unscientifi c practice, Crookes
seriously damaged his professional reputation and gave
rise to speculation that he was protecting the medium
because of romantic involvement with her. He dropped
his spiritualist investigations in 1875 though his interest
remained strong. Crookes belonged to the Society for
Psychical Research from its 1883 founding and served
as its president from 1896 to 1899. In later years, he
served as president of the Royal Society (1913–1915)
having been made a fellow of it in 1863. Knighted in
1897, he remained active until his 1919 death.
Caryn E. NeumannBiography
Sir William Crookes was born at 143, Regent Street,
London, England on 17 June 1832 to Joseph Crookes,
a prosperous tailor, and his fi rst wife, Mary Scott. Dem-
onstrating an interest in photography while studying
chemistry at the Royal College of Chemistry (1848–
1854), Crookes and John Spiller co-wrote an article on
the collodion process for the May 1854 Philosophical
Magazine. In 1857, he produced a 60-page Handbook
to the Waxed-Paper Process in Photography. He edited
the Liverpool Photographic Journal (1856–1857) and
served as the secretary of the London Photographic So-
ciety and the editor of the fourth volume of its Journal
(1857–1858). While stressing photography as a means
of livelihood, Crookes expanded his knowledge with the
aim of qualifying as a consulting chemist. He studied a
wide range of subjects and conducted experiments on
a number of subjects. He also found time to marry El-
len Humphrey of Darlington on 10 April 1856 and the
couple eventually produced ten children. On vacating
the editorial chair of the Photographic Society’s Journal,
Crookes agreed to publish his photographic articles only
in the Photographic News until 1860. In 1859, Crookes
brought out a new chemical weekly, Chemical News,
using it to make him one of the most important people in
the English chemical world. Fascinated by spiritualism,
Crookes published four articles on the subject. The fi rst
of these, “Spiritualism Viewed by the Light of Modern
Science” appeared in July 1870 in the Quarterly Jour-
nal of Science. “Experimental Investigation of a New
Force” appeared in the same journal in July 1871 and
was reprinted in the Chemical News. “Some Further
Experiments on Psychic Force” (October 1871) with
a summary of Crookes’ spiritual investigations printed
in the January 1874 Quarterly Journal of Science. Re-
searches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism summarized
Crookes’ experiments with mediums. An exception-
ally prolifi c writer, Crookes’ more notable later works
include Select Methods in Chemical Analysis (1871),
which gave information on the methods of isolating rare
elements, and a paper read before the Royal Society on
11 December 1874 “Attraction and Repulsion Resulting
from Radiation” which introduced Crookes’ new inven-