SIR WILLIAM CROOKES ON PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 205 



nification — have spoken of guidance along ordered paths. It is wisdom 

 to be vag'ue here, for we absolutely can not sa}'^ whether, or when any 

 diversion may be introduced into the existing system of earthly forces 

 by an external power. We can no more be certain that this is not so 

 than I can be certain, in an express train, that no signalman has 

 pressed a handle to direct the train on to this or that line of rails. I 

 may compute exactly how much coal is used per mile, so as to be able 

 to say at any minute how many miles we have traveled, but, unless I 

 actuall}' see the points, I can not tell whether they are shifted before 

 the train passes. 



An omnipotent being could rule the course of this world in such a 

 way that none of us should discover the hidden springs of action. He 

 need not make the sun stand still upon Gibeon. He could do all that 

 he wanted by the expenditure of infinitesimal diverting force upon 

 ultramicroscopic modifications of the human germ. 



In this address 1 have not attempted to add any item to the sound 

 knowledge which I believe our society is gradually amassing. I shall 

 be content if I have helped to clear away some of those scientific 

 stumblingblocks, if I may so call them, which tend to prevent many 

 of our possible coadjutors from adventuring themselves on the new 

 illimitable road. 



I see no good reason why any man of scientific mind should shut his 

 e3'es to our work or deliberately stand aloof from it. Our Proceed- 

 ings are, of course, not exactly parallel to the Proceedings of a society 

 dealing with a long-established branch of science. In every form of 

 research there must be a beginning. We own to much that is tenta- 

 tive, much that mav turn out erroneous. But it is thus, and thus only, 

 that each science in turn takes its stand. I venture to assert that both 

 in actual careful record of new and important facts, and in suggestive- 

 ness, our society's work and publications will form no unworthy pref- 

 ace to a profounder science both of man, of nature, and of "worlds 

 not realized" than this planet has yet known. 



