SPIRITUALISM AS A SCIENTIFIC QUESTION. 579 



similar character, which have heretofore come to my knowledge, that 

 it not only describes certain especially striking instances of the phe- 

 nomena in question, but also considers the scientific and particularly 

 the philosophical consequences, which must be drawn from the same, 

 as soon as we should determine to acknowledge their reality. I re- 

 mark that here and in the following pages I use the word reality in 

 the sense which it has in your discussion, excluding from it only the 

 production of the phenomena in a fraudulent manner. For merely 

 subjective phantasms of the observers, these phenomena, as you justly 

 remark, can not be held ; their objectivity and reality in the ordinary 

 sense of the word will in fact be questioned by no man, who may even 

 have read only your short description. I must also agree with your 

 assertion that these facts in and for themselves, their reality presup- 

 posed, are of a subordinate importance, compared with the conse- 

 quences which follow them for our general view of the world. Wheth- 

 er, through conditions unknown to us, tables are occasionally lifted, 

 accordions played, and bed-screens torn, or ghostly hands and feet ap- 

 pear all this alone is quite indifferent, so long as things of the sort 

 appear in a harmless form, as we may expect from previous observa- 

 tions, a form which clearly gives no fear of deeper disturbance of 

 general natural laws. The more important, on the contrary, would be 

 the philosophical consequences to which the reality of the spiritualistic 

 phenomena would force us. I regard it, therefore, as a real service of 

 your essay, that it not only points out these consequences in general, 

 but that it also seeks to develop, by hints at least, the more particular 

 conceptions which have been suggested to you, concerning the con- 

 ditions of the phenomena in question, as well as their connection with 

 the general order of the world, and their ethical and religious signifi- 

 cance. You have thereby thrown light upon the subject from a side 

 which appears to me more than all others worthy of attention. 



Before entering more particularly upon this most original and 

 important part of your essay I am compelled to answer your ques- 

 tion concerning my own participation in spiritualistic observations and 

 in regard to the convictions I have gained from them. Permit me, at 

 the same time, by way of preface, a few remarks concerning my atti- 

 tude toward such phenomena as I have not myself observed, but know 

 only from the statements of others. 



You, respected sir, sustain precisely the same relation to all of the 

 so-called " manifestations" which I sustain to a great part of them : 

 your knowledge is based upon the reports of credible witnesses. There- 

 fore you found yourself until recently in the position of a distant, uncon- 

 cerned spectator. You have chosen to give up this character. You 

 have not only come forward with the greatest energy in favor of the 

 reality of the manifestations, but you also urge others, who would pre- 



