(by Edward Anton.)

THE LONDON TIMES, JANUARY 28, 1918.

Well-written biography is the cinematography of literature.  It is “real” life in letters, and hence it possesses an interest which is rarely exceeded by even the cleverest work of fiction—a fact to which the ablest writes of fiction have paid homage by grafting material from life upon the tissues of their own ingenious imaginings.

The interest in biography is doubtless due, in part, to a desire for amusement, but, in a far greater measure, it is due also to a desire for instructive information.  Not information for its own sake, but for purposes of guidance, of inspiration, and, very largely, of enabling us to appreciate the work of man—be he writer, man of action, or leader of current thought—in its true light.

It is indispensable that, in forming a just estimate of sincerity, the authority, and the underlying motives of a man, we should know something of his antecedents, his environment, and his life-struggles.

As with men, so with ideas.  We live in an age of ideas.  Some of them flash suddenly and brilliantly into the area of our consciousness; others, of slower growth, only succeed in compelling recognition and attention after a lengthy struggle, and having attained recognition, set us wondering as to the inception and growth of an idea.

But whether an idea be meteor-like in its progress or the reverse, it is well to know what we may of its birth and history, in order that our judgment may not suffer an aberration.

Particularly is this needful when confronted by a new idea which has achieved a sudden popularity.  “Popular” movements are notoriously infectious, even to the well-balanced mind.  One has little desire to be caught in the swirl of an passing “craze.”  Hence the basic idea of an extensive popular movement must be subjected to the closest scrutiny.  If it be intrinsically sound it will easily maintain itself against the most critical inquiry.

This, I am confident to affirm, is the case with that remarkable new movement, “Pelmanism,” which has been occupying so considerable a share of public attention these past months.  In a surprisingly brief space of time “Pelmanism” has become the focus of the hopes of all the more enterprising units of the community.

Every form of human ambition struggling to express itself effective action—from the clerk with his humble aspiration for higher wages up to the professional man or the public official keen to increase his efficiency or the educationist aiming at a greater measure of intellectuality—these in their thousands have sought and found in “Pelmanism” possibilities which are, apparently, only limited by the extent to which the system is applied.

It is the diversity, more than the mere number, of men and women who have adopted Pelmanism that arrests the attention.  I cannot recall any similar movement which has so successfully enlisted the sympathies and served the interests of such various sections of the community.

But much has been written around this attractive feature of “Pelmanism,” and I do not propose to enlarge upon it at this point.  My present purpose is to give some account of the birth and growth to maturity of this “idea”—mind-training—which is admittedly doing so much to widen the mental horizon and develop the potentialities of so many thousands of men and women in this country.

THE BIRTH-PLACE OF “PELMANISM.”

Disregarding the numerous legends which pretend to relate the history of the Pelman Institute, I sought my facts at the fountain-head—the founder of the Institute.

The Pelman Institute has long outgrown its quarters at 4, Bloomsbury Street, and several extensive suites of rooms have been acquired for the staff in neighbouring buildings, but the administrative offices of the Institute remain in the familiar old Georgian house in which Pelmanism may be said to be born.

Number Four Bloomsbury Street is an interesting “Adams” house, and contains 2 very fine ceilings by that master; and, I may add in passing, it is averred on the strength of tradition that a sister of Mogarth’s once occupied the house, which still retains its 18th century atmosphere.

Here, during recent months, have come many hundreds of notabilities in all spheres of life—men high in the Army and Navy, in political and social life, in Government circles, and in the professional, business, and educational worlds.

Visitors upon a recent morning included a Canon, a Physician, two Generals, a Doctor, a Civil Engineer, two captains, five or six naval and military lieutenants, a solicitor, and several business men and women, besides the Commandant of a Camp, who had come to arrange for the enrollment of nearly 200 men under his command.

The Governor of a Bank, a Marquis, and a Doctor of Philosophy were callers upon another occasion.  Number Four, Bloomsbury Street, could boast of its visitors if it could speak.  And these, of course, leave out of account the hundreds who enroll by post every day of every week.

I had these interesting facts communicated to me in the course of my communication with Mr. W. J. Ennever, the Founder and President of the Pelman Institute.

“But how and when,” I asked, “did this idea of a complete system of scientific mind-training first occur to you?”

“It would be difficult to say.  Pelmanism is not the result of a sudden inspiration, but rather the fruit of gradual evolution.  Nearly twenty-five years of slow and careful experimental work has gone in the upbuilding of the Pelman System.

“The idea, as it existed in my mind at the first, was in a more or less nebulous form.  When I started the Pelman ‘school” (as it was originally called) somewhere in the early nineties, I cannot say that I had definitely formulated the idea of Pelmanism as it exists to-day.  It would be manifestly absurd to do so, because the Pelman System represents the response to a demand of nature, an extent of which I only vaguely guessed the existence twenty-five years ago.

“Today we know that amongst the classes—from the University man down to the product of the elementary school—there exists a need for the mental equivalent of physical training.

“But the precise nature of that need was not seen then; neither had the public—speaking generally—that confidence in the possibilities of mental development by mental drill that it has to-day, for the reason that the overwhelming evidence which the Pelman Institute can now produce was not, then, forthcoming.

“So our probationary years were doubly handicapped.  We contented ourselves with accumulating knowledge and experience; for it was my desire to build solidly.

THEORY—AND PRACTICE.

“The science of mind-training is over-ridden by theories.  Almost every psychologist has his own theory, and most of them are exceedingly plausible.  But our work is essentially practical, and every theory has to be made the subject of careful experiment and test.

“We had to prepare ourselves to meet the everyday needs not only of an enormous number of men and women, but also a great diversity of people.  Vague generalities were useless; hard-and-fast rules were useless.

“We set ourselves to discover what I may term ‘bed-rock’ principles—principles which were common to every type of intellect, and which could be adapted to suit the case of any individual.  That is why, to-day, you find students of the Course writing to say, ‘This Course appears as though it had been written specifically for me.’  The remark—and it is often made—speaks volumes for the Pelman Course.

“I gradually drew together an able staff of psychologists and teachers.  Whenever I found a man—or a woman—with the true psychological mind, I enlisted his or her for the work.  At the present time we have over a score of highly-trained specialists upon out instructional staff, including graduates of all the principal Universities, and we are always adding to that staff.

“But to come back to the basic principles of the Course,” proceeded Mr. Ennever, “we culled freely from all sources.  Every psychologists of any standing has, in this way, contributed something to the Pelman System, and the whole is completed by the results of our own 25 years of practical experience of the needs and problems and capabilities and undeveloped powers of every class of men and women; experience which I am entitled to say is unique.”

It is a fine tribute to the soundness of the Pelman Course that even psychologists and those who have made a special study of psychology as a science can find something to learn from the Pelman System; whilst, on the other hand, thousands of people who would certainly never study psychology as a science have, through Pelmanism, been able to apply, with direct benefit, the practical findings of psychologists to their own everyday needs and problems.

THE BRITISH BRAIN.