PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 767 



II. REPLY.— By H. S. SHELTON, B.Sc. 



Mr. J. Arthur Hill, who has the opportunity to place before 

 the readers of Science Progress evidence concerning the 

 survival of human personality beyond the grave, would have 

 done better to have used the space at his disposal in presenting 

 his evidence, instead of paying so much attention to my few 

 cursory remarks published in the last issue. By so doing he 

 would have been able to give a clearer idea of what the evidence 

 is supposed to be, and he would not have given an entirely false 

 impression of the content of my article. Readers of Mr. Hill's 

 paper would imagine that I had written a paper in criticism 

 of psychical research, whereas my article was a criticism of 

 Sir Oliver Lodge's presidential address, concentrated mainly 

 on the scientific side, and the object of the paper was to show 

 that, on that side, there was a valuable contribution to the 

 philosophy of science which was liable to be forgotten because 

 criticism had been concentrated on the few remarks Sir Oliver 

 did make on survival after death and on other matters of 

 religion. The details of the evidence for psychical research 

 I did not attempt to discuss. Certainly I expressed the opinion 

 that the evidence did not convince me, but the point of my 

 remarks consisted, not in discussion of the evidence, but in 

 a statement of the methodological principles which would apply 

 to any attempt to prove anything of the kind from the scientific 

 standpoint. 



Concerning my remarks, and Mr. Hill's criticisms, the follow- 

 ing short explanation will suffice. The book of the late F. W. 

 H. Myers referred to was the original edition in two volumes. 

 The term monumental was intended to apply, not so much to 

 the length, as to mass of material contained therein, and to 

 the industry, ability, and research shown by the author. The 

 conjuror was Mr. Maskelyne, and the reference was to a 

 challenge by him to reproduce, under similar conditions, any 

 physical phenomena credited to "spirits" which he had the 

 opportunity of witnessing. I believe the challenge has not 

 been withdrawn, and Mr. Hill would do well to refer to Mr. 

 Maskelyne for further information. I seem to remember also 

 that Mr. Maskelyne was present on one occasion at a stance 

 with Eusapia Palladino. 



Whether Mr. Hill has said anything likely to carry con- 



