190 SIR WILLIAM CBOOKES OX PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 



some important laws of matter and energy of which I fear many of 

 mv fellow physicists still prefer to be uncognizant. It is this same 

 accessible temper of mind which leads me to follow the problems of 

 the Society for Psychical Kesearch with an interest which, if some- 

 what calmed by advancing years, and by a perception of the inevitable 

 slowness of discovery, is still as deep a feeling as any which life has 

 left me. And 1 shall try to utilize this temper of mind to-day by 

 clearing away, so far as 1 can. certain presuppositions, on one side or 

 on the other, which seem to me to depend upon a too hasty assumption 

 that we know more about the universe than as yet we really can know. 



I will take the most essential part tirst. and address myself to those 

 who believe with me in the sui-vival of man's individualitj- after death. 

 I will point out a curious, inveterate, and widespread illusion — the 

 illusion that our earthly bodies are a kind of norm of humanity, so 

 that ethereal bodies, if such there be. must correspond to them in shape 

 and size. 



"When we take a physical view of a human being in his highest form 

 of development, he is seen to consist essentially of a thinking brain, 

 the brain itself, among its manifold functions, being a transformer 

 whereby intelligent will power is enabled to react on matter. To com- 

 municate with the external world, the brain requires organs by which 

 it can be ti^ansported from place to place, and other organs by means 

 of which energy is supplied to replace that expended in the exercise 

 of its own special functions. Again, waste of tissue and reparation 

 have to be provided for: hence the necessity for organs of digestion, 

 assimilation, circulation, respiration, etc., to carry on these processes 

 effectually; and when we consider that this highly complex organ is 

 fitted to undergo active work for the best part of a century, we can 

 not but marvel that it can keep in time so long. The human creature 

 represents the most perfect thinking and acting machine yet evolved 

 on this earth, developing through countless ages in strict harmony 

 with the surrounding conditions of temperature, atmosphere, light, 

 and gravitation. The profound modifications in the human frame, 

 which any important alteration in either of these factors would occa- 

 sion, are strangely unconsidered. It is true there have been ques- 

 tionings as to the effects that might be occasioned by changes in 

 temperature and atmospheric composition, but possible variations in 

 gravitation seem almost to have escaped notice. The human body, 

 which long experience and habit have taught us to consider in its high- 

 est development as the perfection of beauty and grace— "formed in 

 the image of God" — is entirely conditioned by the strength of gravi- 

 tation on this globe. So far as has be^n possible to ascertain, the 

 intensity of gra^^ty has not varied appreciably within those geologic 

 ages covermg the existence of animated thinking beings. The human 



