MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 295 



physical phenomena I have ever met with — Mrs. Marshall 

 and her daughter-in-law. We here made whatever investiga- 

 tions we pleased, and tried all kinds of tests. We always sat 

 in full daylight in a well-lighted room, and obtained a variety 

 of phenomena of a very startling kind, as narrated in the 

 book referred to. During the latter part of my residence in 

 London (1865-70) I had numerous opportunities of seeing 

 phenomena with other mediums in various private houses in 

 London. These were sometimes with private, sometimes with 

 paid mediums, but always under such conditions as to render 

 any kind of collusion or imposture altogether out of the 

 question. During this time I was in frequent communication 

 with Sir William Crookes, Mr. Cromwell Varley, Serjeant 

 Cox, Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood, Mr. E. T. Bennett, Mr. S. C. 

 Hall, Professor and Mrs. de Morgan, Mr. W. Volckman, Rev. 

 C. Maurice Davies, Dr. and Mrs. Edmunds, William Howitt, 

 Mrs. Catherine Berry, and many other friends, who were 

 either interested in or were actively investigating the subject; 

 and through the kindness of several of them I had many 

 opportunities of witnessing some of the more extraordinary 

 of the phenomena under the most favourable conditions. At 

 a much later period, when I visited America on a lecturing 

 tour, I made the acquaintance of some of the most eminent 

 spiritualists in Boston and Washington, and had many oppor- 

 tunities of seeing phenomena and obtaining tests of a different 

 kind from any that I had seen in England ; and some of these 

 I may refer to later on. What I propose to do now is to 

 give a consecutive outline 'of my correspondence with some 

 of my scientific and literary friends on this subject, which 

 will, I think, have some historical interest now that investiga- 

 tions into physical phenomena are not treated in the same 

 utterly contemptuous way they were in the early period of 

 my inquiries. 



When I had obtained in my own house the phenomena 

 described in my " Notes of Personal Evidence," I felt sure 

 that if any of my scientific friends could witness them they 

 w^uld be satisfied that they were not due to trickery, and 



