iv MODERN E VOL UTION 135 



a definite, real, and practical conviction for a vague, 

 theoretical, and unsatisfying faith. It furnishes actual 

 knowledge on a matter of vital importance to all 

 men, and as to which the wisest men and most 

 advanced thinkers have held, and still hold, that 

 no knowledge was attainable.' 



This claim, this tremendous claim, on behalf of 

 the phenomena of spiritualism to supply an answer 

 to ' the question of questions ; the ascertainment of 

 man's relation to the universe of things ; whence our 

 race has come ; to what goal we are tending,' rests 

 on the assumption with which Mr. Wallace starts, 

 ' Spiritualism, if true? 



The essay from which the above passages are 

 quoted is preceded by references in detail to a con- 

 siderable number of cases of * the appearance of 

 preterhuman or spiritual beings,' the evidence of 

 which 'is as good and definite as it is possible for 

 any evidence of any fact to be/ These ghost-stories, 

 contrasted with the full-flavoured eerie tales of old, 

 are feebly monotonous. The apparatus of the medium 

 is limited : the phenomena are largely of the ' horse- 

 play ' order. Through the whole series we vainly 

 seek for some ennobling and exalting conception of 

 a life beyond, some glimpses * behind the veil,' 

 only to find that the shades are but diluted or 

 vulgarised parodies of ourselves ; or that * the filthy 

 are filthy still,' like the departed bargee whose 

 'communicating intelligence' (we quote from a 

 recent book on spiritualism entitled The Great 

 Secret) was as coarse-mouthed as when in the flesh. In 

 considering, if it be deemed worth while, the evidence 

 of genuineness of the occurrences, we are thrown, 



