xxxv] MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 297 



the others, and I will therefore give it, in order that my 

 readers may not, through me, get a wrong idea of this 

 remarkably gifted though eccentric writer. 



■ 15, Clifford's Inn, E.C, May 27, 1859. 



"Dear Sir, 



■ Pray forgive me. I am sure I must have said 

 rather more than I ought. A friend was with me when your 

 letter came ; I read it to him, and he said, ' If you grant Mr. 

 Wallace's facts — and you do not deny them — he is perfectly 

 right, and your answer does not meet him at all. He tells 

 you that you are engaged on certain investigations in which 

 your opinions must be entirely altered if you accept his facts. 

 You admit this yourself — you do not deny his facts — and say 

 that you do not care, — that is childish.' 



" I admitted the truth of what he said ; and I feel 

 therefore that an apology is due to you, which pray under- 

 stand me as making without reserve. I have read the greater 

 part of the book you so kindly gave me, and shall read 

 every word of it. I admire the force and clearness with 

 which it is written, every word of it impressing me that it is 

 written by one who understands his own meaning, and wishes 

 others to understand it; but I cannot pretend that it has 

 kindled in me that inward motion to see and hear more, 

 without which you and I both know no good can come of 

 any investigation. 



"If there is that spiritual world independent of matter, 

 which you believe in, a day may come when something will 

 happen to me which will kindle in a moment the right 

 spirit of inquiry ; no one will follow it up more promptly 

 or persistently when it is aroused. If that time never comes, 

 it must be taken as a sign that I am not one of those from 

 whom that cause would gain. 



" Hoping you will forgive me for any rudeness that I fear 

 I have been guilty of, 



"Believe me, 



" Yours very truly, 



"S. Butler." 



