284 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



that he would not believe it is very unphilosophical. Still, 

 he only says difficulty not impossible^ and here, again, I quite 

 agree with him. 



At this same period I had letters from other men of 

 various degrees of eminence of a much more satisfactory 

 nature. On receipt of a copy of my pamphlet, Professor 

 de Morgan wrote me as follows : — 



" I am much obliged to you for your little work, which 

 is well adapted to excite inquiry. But I doubt whether 

 inquiry by men of science would lead to any result. There 

 is much reason to think that the state of mind of the inquirer 

 has something — be it internal or external — to do with the 

 power of the phenomena to manifest themselves. This I 

 take to be one of the phenomena — to be associated with the 

 rest in inquiry into cause. It may be a consequence of action 

 of incredulous feeling on the nervous system of the recipient ; 

 or it may be that the volition — say the spirit, if you like- 

 finds difficulty in communicating with a repellent organization ; 

 or, maybe, is offignded. Be it which it may, there is the fact. 



Now the man of science comes to the subject in utter 

 incredulity of the phenomena, and a wish to justify it. 

 1 think it very possible that the phenomena may be with- 

 held. In some cases this has happened, as I have heard 

 from good sources. 



"I have had students^ — a couple of dozen in my life — 

 whose effort always was not to see it. As I, their informing 

 spirit, was under contract to make them see it if I could — 

 which the spirits we are speaking of are not — I generally 

 succeeded in convincing them. In their minds I have 

 studied — with power of experiment arranged by myself — the 

 character of the man of science. 



D'Alembert said, speaking of mathematics — of all things 

 — ^ En avant et la foi viendra' But I doubt if the man of 

 science of our day can persuade himself of a possibility 

 of his fifth attempt destroying the effect of the failure of the 

 first four. 



^ De Morgan was one of the greatest mathematicians of his time, and 

 Professor of Mathematics at University College. 



