Noetic Magazine, The.
1867 Quarterly
Edinburgh, Scotland, Great Britain. Publisher: Noetic Society of Edinburgh; Powell & Ault.

1/1, n.s., July 1867-1/2, October 1867. 48 pp., 2s. 6d. a year, payable to Mr. Jno. F. Mills, Edinburgh. The journal was published irregularly in various forms (manuscript circulated by rotation, lithographed) and at different intervals (monthly, quarterly), beginning in 1851. In its early years it differed little from the magazines of other mutual improvement societies of the time, filled with the labored and somewhat florid contributions of its members. On its re-appearance in 1867 it began to add a feature article in each issue on spiritualism (by James Nicolson and Andrew Cross in these issues). A notice of the journal's appearance as a printed quarterly appeared in the August 1867 issue of Spiritual Magazine: "On the 1st of July the first volume of a new quarterly magazine was published in Edinburgh. It is called The Noetic Magazine, and is conducted by the Noetic Society of Edinburgh, a body that has been in existence under various forms for sixteen years, and will be supported by the co-operation of several kindred societies which exist in various parts of Scotland. The editor does not hold himself responsible for the opinions expressed in its pages, but he will welcome articles from all sources and upon all subjects which are likely to prove instructive and interesting. Spiritualism, I am told, will probably hold a prominent position in the pages of this new periodical, and one article at least, if not more upon this subject, will be found in each number. Under these circumstances, it will no doubt receive the support of Spiritualists generally, and of all who desire to know something of ‘Spiritualism: Its teachings and Tendencies,' which is the title of a very excellent paper in the current number by Mr. James Nicholson, of Glasgow." Nicholson was very active in Scottish spiritualist circles at the time, a vice-president of the Glasgow Association of Spiritualists, friend and booster of David Duguid, contributor to Human Nature, and a minor Scots dialect poet: "There is hardly a line in his books that does not teem with poetry. The Idylls o' Hame are just what their name implies, and as such are calculated to call forth some of the best and purest feelings of the heart. . . and when it is stated that James Nicholson in these delightful rhymes never loses sight of the fact that the poet should be a Reformer and strive to improve the society in which his lot is case, it will, we are sure, increase the estimation in which most of his readers will hold him." The reform side of Nicolson refers to his role as "temperance song-writer." Most notably, the journal carries a poem by Emma Hardinge, "Evermore." The president of the society was John L. Johnston, who may have edited the journal. The Scottish Notes and Queries opines from internal references that the journal had a connection with a United Presbyterian congregation. The handwritten notes and the clippings on the flyleaves of the journal refer to the heroic member of the Noetic Society who "fired the train that burst the Cashmere gate" at Delhi during the Mutiny of 1857. Edinburgh Central Library (4/23, December 1853).

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