Psychic Science 569 



mitting impressions, without attempting, or at least without suc- 

 ceeding, in explaining the transition from mechanical vibration 

 to sensation and emotion, or vice versa. 



But there are certain asserted facts, now receiving growing 

 attention, which on the surface suggest that mind may possibly 

 exist apart from matter; that, though its manifestations may be, 

 its activities are not, wholly limited to material organs ; that mind 

 and matter are in fact not inseparable, and that perhaps matter 

 may be replaced by an etherial vehicle, which would elude our 

 present senses. 



There may be some doubt as to what these asserted facts 

 precisely are; but, in so far as they represent reality, it becomes 

 necessary to examine their validity and relevancy, to determine 

 whether the suspicion of independent mental action is justified, 

 and generally to seek to evolve a theory of mental activities be- 

 yond those known and familiar. In this way investigators may 

 hope to ascertain whether the facts do really establish an inde- 

 pendent and persistent existence for mind apart from its tem- 

 porary bodily mechanism. So we may summarise and say that 

 to ascertain the real nature of the connection between mind and 

 matter, and the possibilities which underlie their connection 

 whether those possibilities are generally recognised or not, and 

 even if they lead us into strange and unusual regions of inquiry 

 is the object of Psychic Science. 



1 



Psychical Research 



The facts which need to be -examined have long been known 

 to groups of people here and there from the earliest times, but 

 only of late years say three-quarters of a century at most- 

 have they been taken seriously by more than one or two individ- 

 uals, and critically and responsibly and corporately examined, 

 without prejudice and without superstition. 



