270 
may, according to this theory, be a 
delusion; ali that originated with 
the Medium (or blind Biological 
Force, possibly) being the idea put 
into your mind of having received a 
special message, the rest being left 
to a certain unconscious constructive 
power which the mind has, as we 
know from dreams,* &c. 
I can imagine that such an expla- 
nation may be to you and your fellow- 
investigators a distasteful one, though 
not, so far as I can see, altogether 
reasonably so; nor am I ignorant 
that some facts are conceivable which 
would make this theory untenable. 
But I do not think at present that 
these facts, if they exist, have been 
produced; and until they are pro- 
duced I feel sure that this is the 
explanation on which Science will 
ultimately rest,—being, indeed, the 
most reasonable from a purely scien- 
tific stand-point, though not on that 
account necessarily the true one. 
For Science, I hold, is not the same 
thing as Philosophy, and does not 
embrace the whole World-Theory of 
any man. The consideration of the 
* As, for instance, when we hear a noise in 
sleep we almost always make it fit in with 
our dreams. 
Correspondence. 
(April, 
subje@ from a philosophical stand- 
point would be somewhat different, 
and is not at present within my scope. 
The difference may, however, be 
hinted in the following way :—If the 
Electro-Biological Theory is true, it 
would seem very probable that these 
delusions are the result of certain un- 
discovered physical conditions of the 
mind, rather than the conscious action 
of one person’s will upon’ others. 
Now, suppose these conditions liable 
to affeé& all, so that—without any 
break in the continuity of our ideas— 
we were all liable, under certain cir- 
cumstances, to see bells pass through 
doors. What would be the difference 
in this case from the fact that bells 
could, under certain circumstances, 
pass through doors? An attentive 
consideration of this question will 
show us that if these ‘certain cir- 
cumstances’ were the same for all, 
there would be no difference. But 
that they are the same for all those 
who simultaneously are affected by 
the delusion our theory presupposes. 
If therefore the delusion became uni- 
versal, it would cease to be a delusion 
and become a fact.—I am, &c., 
CHARLES FRANCIS KEARY-~ 
British Museum. 
