4 Psychic Force and Modern Spiritualism, 
twenty years ago; I as a scientific investigator of a certain department of 
the subje@; here is a sketch of our interview, accurate in substance if not 
identical in language. 
“Ah! Mr. Crookes,” said he, ‘‘I am glad I have an opportunity of speaking 
to you about this Spiritualism you have been writing about. You are only 
wasting your time. I devoted a great deal of time many years ago to 
Mesmerism, Clairvoyance, Ele&ro-biology, Table-turning, Spirit-rapping, and 
all the rest of it, and I found there was nothing init. I explained it all in my 
article I wrote in the Quarterly Review. I think ita pity you have written 
anything on this subje@ before you made yourself intimately acquainted with 
my writings and my views on the subject. I have exhausted it.” 
‘‘ But, Sir,”’ interposed I, ‘‘ you will allow me to say you are mistaken, if-- ” 
‘““No, no!” interrupted he, ‘‘I am not mistaken. I know what you would 
say. But it is quite evident from what you have just remarked, that you 
allowed yourself to be taken in by these people when you knew nothing what- 
ever of the perseverance with which I and other competent men, eminently 
qualified to deal with the most difficult problems, had investigated these phe- 
nomena. You ought to have known that I explain everything you have seen 
by ‘unconscious cerebration’ and ‘unconscious muscular action ;’ and if 
you had only a clear idea in your mind of the exact meaning of these two 
phrases, you would see that they are sufficient to account for everything.” 
COB Ut ol —— 
“Yes, yes; my explanations would clear away all the difficulties you have 
met with. I saw a great many Mesmerists and Clairvoyants, and it was 
all done by ‘unconscious cerebration.’ Whilst as to Table-turning, everyone 
knows how Faraday put down that. It is a pity you were unacquainted with 
Faraday’s beautiful indicator; but, of course, a person who knew nothing 
of my writings would not have known how he showed that unconscious 
muscular action was sufficient to explain all these movements.” 
‘Pardon me,” I interrupted, ‘but Faraday himself showed——” But it 
was in vain, and on rolled the stream of unconscious egotism. 
“Yes, of course; that is what I said. If you had known of Faraday'’s indi- 
cator and used it with Mr. Home, he would not have been able to go through 
his performance.” 
‘But how,” I contrived to ask, ‘‘ could the indicator have served, seeing 
that neither Mr. Home nor anyone else touched the—”’ 
“That’s just it. You evidently know nothing of the indicator. You have 
not read my articles and explanations of all you saw, and you know nothing 
whatever of the previous history of the subje@. Don’t you think you have 
compromised the Royal Society ? It is a great pity that youshould be allowed 
there to revive subjects I put down ten years ago in my articles, and you 
ought not to be permitted to send papers in. However, we can deal with 
them.’ Here I was fain to keep silence. Meanwhile, my infallible interlo- 
cutor continued— 
‘Well, Mr. Crookes, I am very pleased I have had this opportunity of 
hearing these explanations from yourself. One learns so much in a conversa- 
tion like this, and what you say has confirmed me on several points I was 
doubtful about before. Now, after I have had the benefit of hearing all about 
it from your own lips, I am more satisfied than ever that I have been always 
