382 IMMORTALITY. 



that there was no connection at all between our 

 world and theirs. But if such intercourse is a fact, 

 it is also possible and natural, and the laws and 

 conditions thereof would be as capable of being 

 determined as anything else. And it would surely 

 be the most ridiculous of prejudices, or the most 

 indefensible of lingering superstitions, to refuse to 

 investigate scientifically so interesting a subject, on 

 the ground that the evidence did not accord with 

 our preconceptions as to what was appropriate and 

 permissible conduct for the departed. What shall 

 be said of the mental condition of those who assure 

 us with one breath that they do not believe in the 

 existence of spirits, but are quite sure that spiritism 

 is false because spirits would never behave in the 

 manner represented ? 



And yet this evidence, probably the vastest body 

 of unsystematized testimony in the world, varying 

 in value from the merest hearsay to the carefully 

 recorded experience of the ablest and most compe- 

 tent men, is persistently put beyond the pale of 

 science, and the isolated attempts to investigate it 

 systematically have met with nothing but discourage- 

 ment from the general public. The experience, e.g., 

 of the Society for Psychical Research would afford a 

 most curious commentary on the sincerity of men's 

 supposed interest in a future life. Surely, if men 

 had cared to have the question settled, they would 

 not have allowed these phenomena to remain in 

 doubt and perplexity from age to age, as a standing 

 challenge to science and a standing reflection upon 

 their desire for truth. We spend thousands of 

 pounds on discovering the colour of the mud at the 

 bottom of the sea, and do not grudge even the lives 

 of brave men in exploring the North Pole — although 



