1 87 1.] on Psychic Force. 481 



who has ventured to take such a course, than by any particular desire that they 

 should meet with immediate attention. I owe to the Society the first intima- 

 tion of important scientific results, and these I shall continue to send, ' pour 

 prendre date,'' if for no other reason." 



" The Spectator " of July 22nd contained an editorial 

 note, in which it is asserted that my paper was declined by 

 the committee : — 



" The Royal Society, they say, was quite open to communications advo- 

 cating the existence of a force in nature as yet unknown, if such commu- 

 nications contained scientific evidence adequate to establish its probability ; 

 but that, looking to the inherent improbability of the case as stated by Mr. 

 Crookes, and the entire want of scientific precision in the evidence adduced by 

 him, the paper was not regarded as one deserving the attention of the Royal 

 Society." 



This paragraph not only states that my papers were 

 declined, but proceeds to state the grounds of their rejec- 

 tion. The fact is, that a quorum of the committee of papers 

 not having been present, the question was deferred to the next 

 session in November, and on inquiry at Burlington House, 

 I am informed by the Assistant-Secretary of the Royal 

 Society that my papers, with others, are still awaiting the 

 decision of the committee. Consequently the statement of 

 a rejection was not only premature, but purely imaginary. 



It appears, however, that there were some grounds for 

 this statement, for in " The Spectator" of July 29th, 1871, 

 the editor replies as follows : — 



" Our note was not founded on any mere rumour. The words we used con- 

 tained an exacl: copy of the words conveyed to us as used, not, as we 

 inadvertently stated by the committee, but by one of the secretaries, Professor 

 Stokes, who in the absence of a quorum, exercised pro tempore the usual dis- 

 cretionary authority in regard to papers offered." 



I am unable to explain how it is that Professor Stokes's 

 statements to me and to the editor of " The Spectator " 

 bear so different an interpretation, or why a weekly news- 

 paper was chosen for first conveying to me a decision of the 

 committee of papers of the Royal Society. 



At the urgent request of gentlemen on the committee of 

 section A, I communicated a paper consisting of about 

 sixteen closely-written pages to the British Association, 

 in which I recounted some of the experiments described 

 in the present paper. Section A referred the paper to a 

 committee to decide whether it should be read. Professor 

 Stokes afterwards handed to me the following document : — 



"Report on Mr. Crookes' 's Paper. 



"August 7, 1871. 

 " The paper having been placed in my hands about ten o'clock, and a 

 decision wanted in writing by a quarter to eleven, I have been obliged to be 

 hasty. 



" The subject seems to be investigated in a philosophical spirit, and I do not 

 see the explanation of the result of the first class of experiments, while at 



