270 HAS SCIENCE DISCOVERED GOD? 



extent to which this is proper, the modification It should 

 effect In scientific method and conclusion, even the 

 question whether It does not wholly bar serious proof, 

 remain in open controversy. Decision whether and 

 when we should pass from mere accumulation of data 

 to attempts at judging the significance of the data 

 already accumulated is differently rendered according 

 to the attitude taken on matters of occurrence and of 

 proof. And when we do try to interpret the phe- 

 nomena, we find rival hypotheses In whose behalf there 

 exists the extreme of emotional partisanship. 



Yet these phenomena have always occurred and pre- 

 sumably always will. It Is by no means an unduly 

 anthropocentric viewpoint to say that no picture of 

 the universe which ignores them can be complete. De- 

 spite their present difficulties, we must do our best to 

 deal with them. 



This paper makes no attempt to deal with them in 

 any large or general way. I seek merely to clarify a 

 single important issue, out of the many to which the 

 field gives rise. In doing this, I confine myself to cer- 

 tain of the phenomena which possess a particular com- 

 mon denominator, and in large measure I confine my- 

 self to that denominator. I shall start by asking the 

 reader to accompany me into a typical seance-room; 

 and If what I say about the proceedings here overlaps 

 your previous knowledge, you will bear with me and 

 appreciate that precise formulation of known funda- 

 mentals Is often profitable. 



This is not a commercial seance that we are to at- 

 tend, though probably the medium Is a professional; 

 even a medium must eat! Every effort is made to 



