spiritualism 



tying we could hear the whispering voice soothing her in 

 the kindest manner, and also heard kisses, and Miss C. 

 afterwards declared that she could feel hands and face 

 about her like those of a real person. 



During all the face exhibitions singing had to go on to 

 a rather painful extent/ 



A Dr. Purdon was present, an Army surgeon, who has 

 been much in India, and seems a very intelligent man. He 

 seemed very intimate with the family, and told us he had 

 studied them all, and had had Miss Cooke a month at a 

 time in his own house, studying these phenomena. He was 

 absolutely satisfied of their genuineness, and indeed no 

 opportunity for imposture seems to exist. 



The children of the house tell wonderful tales of how 

 they are lifted up and carried about by the spii'its. They 

 seem to enjoy it very much, and to look upon it all a« 

 just as real and natural as any other matters of their 

 daily life. 



Can such things be in this nineteenth century, and the 

 wise ones pass away in utter ignorance of their existence ? 

 —Yours very sincerely, Alfred R. Wallace. 



At the Glasgow Meeting of the British Association in 

 1876, Prof, (now Sir) W. F. Barrett read a paper ''On 

 some Phenomena associated with Abnormal Conditions of 

 Mind." Wallace was Chairman of the Section in which 

 the paper was read, and a vigorous controversy arose at 

 the close between Dr. Carpenter, who came in towards 

 the end of the paper, and the Chairman. The paper set 

 forth certain remarkable evidence which Prof, Barrett had 

 obtained from a subject in the mesmeric trance, giving 

 what appeared to be indubitable proof of some super- 

 normal mode of transmission of ideas from his mind to 

 that of the subject. The facts were so novel and startling 

 that Prof. Barrett asked for a committee of experts to 



^ This is a strange accompaniment of most advanced spiritual phenomena, 



195 



