XXXVI] TWO INQUIRERS INTO SPIRITUALISM 315 



and raps by which messages had been spelt out — together 

 with the usual perplexities which beset the beginner ; the 

 messages being sometimes true and sometimes false, some- 

 times totally unexpected by any one present, at other times 

 seeming to be the reflex of their own thoughts. Yet he was 

 already absolutely convinced that the sounds and motions 

 — the physical part of the phenomena — were not caused in 

 any normal way by any of the persons present, and almost 

 equally convinced that the intelligence manifested was not 

 that of any of the circle. In some cases even his mental 

 questions were replied to. I gave him the best advice I 

 could, and for some years, being fully occupied with my 

 own domestic affairs and literary work, I saw or heard 

 nothing more of the subject he had been so intent upon. At 

 this I was not surprised, as he himself was writing a series of 

 works which gave him his scientific reputation, and I thought 

 it probable that, not getting the evidence he wanted, he had 

 given up the inquiry. 



But seven years later, when I was in Canada, I obtained 

 a knowledge of the correspondence between Romanes and 

 Darwin before my interview with the former, as already 

 narrated in Chapter XXX. This was, to me, of extreme 

 interest because it showed how reticent Romanes was, 

 and how little he told me of the evidence he had really 

 obtained some years before, and of the profound impres- 

 sion it had made upon him. The letters then shown me 

 were very long and full of curious details of evidence, 

 the more important of which I took notes of. Darwin's 

 reply was of the usual kind — suggestion of clever trickery ; 

 more investigation required ; had no time to go into it 

 himself, etc. Of course I had no intention of referring 

 to these letters in any way without Romanes' permission, 

 but I thought I might some day ask him why he had not 

 mentioned having written to Darwin when corresponding 

 with me and discussing this very subject. But a year or two 

 later I was surprised by something he wrote as to one of the 

 " thought readers " then exhibiting in London, in a way 

 which implied that all such phenomena were clever trickery 



