ABSTRACT
In the decade following his discovery of thallium Crookes’ life was a hectic round of business, literary and scientific activity. Any attempt to deal with the events of his life in a chronological fashion is made virtually impossible by the fact that in any one week or even any one day he could be found pursuing all of these activities. The biographer is therefore forced to make choices, the most satisfactory being to treat some of his actions topically while stressing that he was simultaneously engaged in other activities as well. In the present chapter Crookes’ further investigations are highlighted within the context of some of his business ventures and phenomenal literary activity. What the reader has to bear in mind though is that, while this was occurring, Crookes was also deeply involved in the exploration of spiritualism, the subject of three later chapters.
