7 68 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



viction, or to induce any one not at present interested to think 

 there is evidence worthy of investigation, is a question on which 

 I do not think it necessary to express an opinion. I am 

 perfectly well content to leave that matter, as Mr. Hill has 

 stated it, to the readers of Science Progress. 



The suggestion concerning the Roman Catholic Church is 

 emphatically not a joke. It is, perhaps, the most serious state- 

 ment in the preliminary remarks of my article, before I reached 

 the more strictly scientific side. The suggestion had reference 

 not only to survival after death. Sir Oliver Lodge made 

 remarks on survival after death, on Theism, and, if my memory 

 does not fail me, also on miracles. I strongly objected to the 

 introduction of such matters into a presidential address to the 

 British Association. I did so, in the first place, because I 

 thought that he would have done better to have concentrated 

 on the scientific side. I did so, in the second place, because I 

 thought that his patronising attitude towards the exponents 

 of orthodox Christianity was somewhat inconsistent with his 

 statement of belief in some of their most important fundamental 

 doctrines, as if the belief in them were a remarkable new 

 discovery of his own. He seemed entirely ignorant how power- 

 ful, and how logical, is the case for orthodox Christianity, and 

 particularly for Roman Catholicism, if once you admit the 

 premises. To those who have a strong interest in religion, 

 as Sir Oliver Lodge appears to have, and who are personally 

 convinced on the three dogmas of God, immortality, and 

 miracles, I repeat, the most logical course is to go and see 

 what Rome has to teach them. 



But all this is more or less a side-issue. I am not, and make 

 no pretence to be, an authority on ghosts, on religion, or even 

 on telepathy. Concerning the latter, it is sufficient for me 

 that Mr. Arthur Hill's " dead cert " has not convinced a 

 prominent member of his own Psychical Research Society. 

 And, moreover, if you succeed in proving it, as Mr. Hill has 

 admitted, a mechanical explanation is available. The subject 

 is of considerable scientific interest, but it lies within the sphere 

 of experimental psychology rather than within that of my 

 own subject — logic and methodology, and general philosophy. 

 Any one who wishes to continue the discussion concerning 

 ghosts, would do well, so far as they refer to me, to note 

 my statements concerning the methods of interpreting such 



