328 MY LIFE 



people, and especially "by the ascertained facts of clair- 

 voyance and mesmerism." This letter was signed " M." 



In the next issue of Nature was a letter signed " F.R.S.," 

 objecting to " M." for speaking, in a scientific journal, of the 



facts of mesmerism and clairvoyance as being " ascertained," 

 adding, however, that they ought to be thoroughly investi- 

 gated, that he is prepared to do so if he can find suitable 

 material, and that he will give wide publicity to his results. 

 He then says, " If the phenomena should admit of repetition I 

 should have them witnessed and attested to by a selected 

 number of the leading scientific men of the day." He there- 

 fore begs for assistance in carrying out his experiments, letters 

 to be addressed c/o the Editor of Nature. 



To this request I replied, pointing out to him that many 

 scientific men, such as Dr. Elliotson, Dr. Gregory, and Dr. 

 Haddock had thoroughly examined and tested mesmerism 

 and clairvoyance, getting only abuse or ridicule, and that he 

 was rather sanguine in thinking that any experiments of his 

 would convince the scientific world, or that they would even 

 condescend to witness and test them, and referred to my 

 own experience with Tyndall and Carpenter, and those of 

 Crookes with the Royal Society. This brought me the fol- 

 lowing letters from Romanes, and I have now little doubt 

 that " M." of the first communication to Nature was my friend 

 Mivart, as I do not know any other man likely to have 

 written on such a subject, and to have spoken in such an 

 assured way of clairvoyance, which was, of course, a com- 

 paratively small matter after his experiences above related. 

 It is rather curious that these two men should have been 

 thus brought together without knowing it, and in relation 

 to a subject as to which neither of them made any public 

 acknowledgement of what he believed. The majority of 

 their readers, I have no doubt, look upon them as biolo- 

 gists, and have no idea that they were also inquirers into 

 spirituation. 



