PSYCHIC FORCE AND PSYCHIC MEDIA. 
41 
remarkable. There is yet another side to this question. We 
could not have believed it possible that any scientific man, 
much less one of Mr. Crookes’ reputation, would have ventured 
to give to the world, under the title of “ experimental investi- 
gations of a new force,” the description of phenomena, which 
he did not himself observe. If he chooses thus to make ship- 
wreck of his status in the scientific world, we are sorry for it, 
but that is his affair; we are, however, entitled to protest 
against a method of procedure which imposes upon the public 
his formulated credulity in the place of scientific facts. We 
sincerely hope in the future that, should he continue his ex- 
periments, he will give us his own observations, and not be 
satisfied with recounting those of other people. 
Leaving now the detailed criticism of these experiments, we 
would in conclusion deal with the whole subject in a more or less 
general manner. We have been blamed in many quarters for 
what has been called an undue hostility, which verged on 
personality, towards Mr. Crookes. We would emphatically 
deny any such assertion, for whilst we have not the pleasure of 
Mr. Crookes’ acquaintance, we have heard nothing which 
should bias our mind either one way or the other. The person- 
alities contained in the last number of the u Quarterly Eeview ” 
are as objectionable to us as they can be to anyone, and we 
express our regret if our first remarks on this subject should 
have caused anyone to think that we had had recourse to 
personality and invective instead of argument. But as Mr. 
Crookes stands so prominently forward and has made himself, 
so to speak, the champion of this new theory, we were of neces- 
sity obliged, in criticising these experiments, to constantly 
refer to him. And whilst we have endeavoured to show the 
fallacy of the experiments themselves, so, too, we have thought 
we were not exceeding our duty when we proceeded to discuss 
the numerous points on which he has neglected obvious pre- 
cautions, and failed to eliminate obvious causes of error. For 
it must be remembered that much was talked at the time 
about the scientific accuracy of Mr. Crookes’ investigations and 
his position in the world of science, causing more than usual 
attention to be paid to what he wrote. We cannot but admire 
to a certain degree the courage which, induced by his firm 
belief in his own powers of investigation, has caused him to 
become the propagator and defender of what he really believed 
he had discovered ;"for, with all his failings, his veracity and 
thorough belief in what he has written are unimpugnable. 
We could have wished it had been possible for us to have 
discussed the experiments per se , without any reference to 
their author, but it was not so. In such investigations as these, 
which border on the domain of pure physiology, the importance 
