I874-] SPIRITUALISM. 365 



leigh Wedgwood held the medium's hands and feet on both 

 sides all the time. I found it so hot and tiring that I went 

 away before all these astounding miracles, or jugglery, took 

 place. How the man could possibly do what was done passes 

 my understanding. I came downstairs, and saw all the chairs, 

 &c, on the table, which had been lifted over the heads of 

 those sitting round it. 



The Lord have mercy on us all, if we have to believe 

 in such rubbish. F. Galton was there, and says it was a good 

 seance. . . ." 



The seance in question led to a smaller and more carefully 

 organised one being undertaken, at which Mr. Huxley was 

 present, and on which he reported to my father :] 



C. Darwin to Professor T. H. Huxley. 



Down, January 29 [1874]. 

 My dear Huxley, — It was very good of you to write so 

 long an account. Though the seance did tire you so much 

 it was, I think, really worth the exertion, as the same sort of 



things are done at all the seances, even at 's ; and now to 



my mind an enormous weight of evidence would be requisite 

 to make one believe in anything beyond mere trickery. . . . 

 I am pleased to think that I declared to all my family, the 

 day before yesterday, that the more I thought of all that I 

 had heard happened at Queen Anne St., the more convinced 

 I was it was all imposture .... my theory was that [the 

 medium] managed to get the two men on each side of him to 

 hold each other's hands, instead of his, and that he was thus 

 free to perform his antics. I am very glad that I issued my 

 ukase to you to attend. 



Yours affectionately, 



Ch. Darwin. 



[In the spring of this year (1874) he read a book which 

 gave him great pleasure and of which he often spoke with ad- 

 miration : — The * Naturalist in Nicaragua,' by the late Thomas 



