THE PSYCHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL SCIENCES. 725 



When Home was in England, and gentlemen of nnimpeachable ve- 

 racity and superior intelligence saw him lifted from the floor by an 

 entirely invisible power, why would not Dr. Carpenter witness such 

 an occurrence ? When Slade was in England, of whom gentlemen of 

 intelligence say that when a pencil was placed between two clean 

 slates fastened together, which were left in full view of spectators in 

 broad daylight lying on the table, messages were written on the in- 

 side of the slates, of a highly intelligent and appropriate character, 

 why did Dr. Carpenter, if he possessed the sentiments of honor and 

 love of truth which mankind generally recognize as commendable, 

 refuse to make the simple and brief investigation which would have 

 determined in an hour whether his theories and his stale calumnies 

 had any foundation or not ? 



The truth is, Dr. Carpenter and men of his character care mainly 

 for their own personal infallibility: they seek only the vindication of 

 their own theories, per fas et 7iefas, and do not approach an experi- 

 mental test unless they are permitted to interfere and dictate some 

 method of conducting experiments to hinder or delay their progress. 

 But when a simple experiment is proposed which cannot be intermed- 

 dled with, and which is completely and forever decisive, such as the 

 levitation of a table or a man to the ceiling, no one being in contact 

 with the lifted object, or the production of writing upon the interior 

 of two clean slates which the inquirer brings himself, firmly secured 

 together, the pretentious dogmatist is very careful to keep out of 

 reach, no matter how he may be importuned or challenged. He gen- 

 erally fortifies himself with a few contemptuous phrases and a deter- 

 mination to see nothing of the marvelous. 



The public that employs and patronizes men of science has a right 

 to expect from them fidelity to truth and vigilance in seeking it not 

 cunning in evading or skill in calumniating true discoveries, followed 

 by contemptuous neglect when their claims have been demonstrated. 

 Such is the course pursued by some toward all discoveries in which 

 psychic powers are invoh^ed. There is a fossilized materialism in 

 many minds, which has become a matter of blind feeling, utterly irre- 

 spective of facts or science, against which it is vain either to reason 

 or to offer facts. In the last resort the skeptic declares, " I wouldn't 

 believe it if I saw it myself." 



Of this vicious state of feeling, producing an incapacity to reason 

 correctly on certain subjects, we need no better example than Dr. 

 Carpenter himself, as exhibited in this brochure of one hundred and 

 fifty-eight pages, the substance of which may be condensed into four 

 propositions : 



1. History exhibits a great deal of folly, superstition, and igno- 

 rance, and a great many preposterous narratives of witchcraft and 

 silly miracles, attested by many witnesses : therefore^ in the present 

 enlightened age, human testimony is of no value when it affirms any- 



