XXXVII] SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIENCES 349 



so rapidly that the siance occupied less than an hour, and 

 with such simple and complete openness, under the eyes 

 of four observers, as to constitute absolutely test conditions, 

 although without any of the usual paraphernalia of tests 

 which were here quite unnecessary. A statement to this 

 effect was published, with an account of the stance, signed by 

 all present. 



During the last fifteen years I have not seen much of 

 spiritualistic phenomena ; but those who have read the account 

 of my early investigations in my book on the subject, and 

 add to them all that I have indicated here, will see that 

 I have reached my present standpoint by a long series of 

 experiences under such varied and peculiar conditions as to 

 render unbelief impossible. As Dr. W. B. Carpenter well 

 remarked many years ago, people can only believe new and 

 extraordinary facts if there is a place for them in their exist- 

 ing " fabric of thought." The majority of people to-day have 

 been brought up in the belief that miracles, ghosts, and the 

 whole series of strange phenomena here described cannot 

 exist ; that they are contrary to the laws of nature ; that they 

 are the superstitions of a bygone age ; and that therefore 

 they are necessarily either impostures or delusions. There is 

 no place in the fabric of their thought into which such facts 

 can be fitted. When I first began this inquiry it was the 

 same with myself. The facts did not fit into my then 

 existing fabric of thought. All my preconceptions, all my 

 knowledge, all my belief in the supremacy of science and of 

 natural law were against the possibility of such phenomena. 

 And even when, one by one, the facts were forced upon me 

 without possibility of escape from them, still, as Sir David 

 Brewster declared after being at first astounded by the pheno- 

 mena he saw with Mr. Home, " spirit was the last thing I 

 could give in to." Every other possible solution was tried and 

 rejected. Unknown laws of nature were found to be of no 

 avail when there was always an unknown intelligence behind 

 the phenomena — an intelligence that showed ahuman character 

 and individuality, and an individuality which almost invariably 



