336 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 
degree implicated. It is an abrupt stoppage of sensation, 
unaccompanied by a pang. 
CHAPTER XXII. 
SCIENCE AND THE "SPIRITS/* 
THEIR refusal to investigate "spiritual phenomena " ii 
often urged as a reproach against scientific men. I here 
propose to give a sketch of an attempt to apply to the 
"phenomena" those methods of inquiry which are found 
available in dealing with natural truth. 
Some years ago, when the spirits were particularly active 
in this country, Faraday was invited, or rather entreated, 
by one of his friends to meet and question them. He had, 
however, already made their acquaintance, and did not 
wish to renew it. I had not been so* privileged, and he 
therefore kindly arranged a transfer of the invitation to 
me. The spirits themselves named the time of meeting, 
and I was conducted to the place at the day and hour 
appointed. 
Absolute unbelief in the facts was by no means my con- 
dition of mind. On the contrary, I thought it probable 
that some physical principle, not evident to the spirit- 
ualists themselves, might underlie their manifestations. 
Extraordinary effects are produced by the accumulation of 
small impulses. Galileo set a heavy pendulum in motion 
by the well-timed puffs of his breath. Ellicotsetone clock 
going by the ticks of another, even when the two clocks 
were separated by a wall. Preconceived notions can, more- 
over, vitiate, to an extraordinary degree, the testimony of 
even veracious persons. Hence my desire to witness those 
extraordinary phenomena, the existence of which seemed 
placed beyond a doubt by the known veracity of those who 
had witnessed and described them. The meeting took 
place at a private residence in the neighborhood of London. 
My host, his intelligent wife, and a gentleman who may be 
called X., were in the house when I arrived. I "was 
informed that the " medium " had not yet made her appear- 
ance; that she was sensitive, and might resent suspicion. 
It was therefore requested that the tables and chairs should 
be examined before her arrival, in order to be assured, that 
