SCIENCE AND SPIRITS. 



THEIR refusal to investigate " spiritual phenomena " is 

 often urged as a reproach to scientific men. I here propose 

 to give a sketch of an attempt to apply to the " phenom- 

 ena " those methods of inquiry which are found available 

 in dealing with natural truth. 



Some time ago, when the spirits were particularly 

 active in this country, a celebrated philosopher was invited, 

 or rather entreated, by one of his friends to meet and ques- 

 tion them. He had, however, already made their acquaint- 

 ance, 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 spiritualists 

 themselves, might underlie their manifestations. Extraor- 

 dinary effects are produced by the accumulation of small 

 impulses. Galileo set a heavy pendulum in motion by the 

 well-timed puffs of his breath. Ellicot set one clock going 

 by the ticks of another, even when the two clocks were 

 separated by a wall. Preconceived notions can, moreover, 

 vitiate, to an extraordinary degree, the testimony of even 

 veracious persons. Hence my desire to witness those ex- 

 traordinary 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 



