EZ Psychic Force and Modern Spiritualism, 
The third charge in which the reviewer speaks ‘“ advisedly”” runs thus :— 
“For this discovery [Thallium] he was rewarded by the Fellowship of 
the Royal Society; but we speak advisedly when we say that this 
distinction was conferred on him with considerable hesitation.” 
In January, 1863, whilst the interest attaching to the discovery of the 
element Thallium was fresh in the minds of scientific men, I was both 
surprised and gratified at receiving the following rote from Professor 
Williamson :— 
“University of London, 
Burlington House, W., 
16th Jan., 1863. 
‘* My dear Sir,—I should be glad to see your name on the list of Fellows 
of the Royal Society, and if you have no objection to my doing so, 
would do myself the henour of proposing you for election into the 
Society. Could you spare a quarter of an hour on Monday afternoon 
to talk the matter over with me at University College, and oblige 
* Yours very truly, 
‘* ALEX. W. WILLIAMSON.” 
This kindness being entirely unsought was the more pleasing to me. At the 
interview, my certificate was partially filled up and left in Professor Williamson’s 
hands for the purpose of obtaining the necessary signatures. After this 
meeting with Professor Williamson I took no further steps in the matter, and 
spoke to no one on the subject ; but in due time Professor Williamson wrote that 
my certificate was duly received at the Royal Society and read at the meeting, 
adding— 
“There is on the part of the chemists now on the Council a sincere 
appreciation of your high claims.” 
Subsequently, the same kind friend wrote— 
‘*T have much pleasure in congratulating you and ourselves on your being 
one of the fifteen selected by the Council of the Royal Society for 
election.” 
I was formally elected on the 4th of June, 1863. 
That discussion ensued when my name was brought before the Council 
follows as a matter of course. When fifteen only are to be elected from 
about fifty candidates, it is to be expected that the claims of each should 
be rigidly scrutinised; but whatever my anonymous reviewer may say 
“‘ advisedly” on the subject, the fact remains that I was elected on the first 
application, an almost unheard-of honour for so young a man. Considering 
the large majority of eminent candidates whose election is postponed from 
year to year (sometimes even to ten years), there is no reason why my 
election should not have been postponed for at least one year, had there been 
truth in the statement that ‘considerable hesitation”? was evinced in confer- 
ring this distinction upon me. 
The grossness of the imputation, that the Royal Society admitted me 
although my investigations had only a merit purely technical, is astounding 
when the merits of the members generally are considered. I should consider 
them nearly all as purely technical workers in science, when they have done 
any work at all; but the curiosity is great when we find that the inquiry in 
question is purely technical. Professedly, it is a question of apparatus, 
