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Correspondence . 
[May, 
SPIRITUALISM AND THE ANTI-VIVISECTION 
MANIA. 
An exceedingly able contributor to “ Light ” (M. A. Oxon) takes 
exception to our remarks that the paper read by Mrs. A. Kings- 
ford, M.D., at a meeting of the British National Association of 
Spiritualists, and an essay in “ Light ” by Mr. Crosland, indicate 
a hostile feeling on the part of Spiritualists toward Biological 
Science. We fully admit the contention that a Society or Asso- 
ciation is not bound by the adts of a single member. But there 
is nevertheless a distinction to be drawn which so acute a thinker 
as “ M. A. Oxon” cannot fail to recognise. It is this: — Every 
Society has a certain range of subjects to which its attention as 
a Society is supposed to be limited. These subjects are not 
necessarily pointed out in the Laws or the Bye-laws of the 
Society, but the limitation is accepted both by members and by 
the outside public. So long as a member keeps within this pale 
the Society is not committed to his opinions, be they right or 
wrong ; but if a member is allowed to travel beyond the boundary, 
and to discuss subjects which lie outside, it seems to us that the 
Society becomes responsible. 
To take an instance : let us suppose that a violent attack upon 
Spiritualism were introduced at a meeting of the Institution of 
Civil Engineers; we feel certain that the speaker would be 
stopped, however hostile to Spiritualism the majority of those 
present might happen to be in their individual capacity. More- 
over, if the reading of such a paper were permitted, we think 
that Spiritualists would have every right to complain that the 
platform of a supposed and ostensibly neutral body had been 
used in a hostile manner. 
The case of Journals is substantially the same. We remember 
feeling exceedingly disgusted when the “ Inventor’s Record ” — a 
purely technological paper — took a position hostile to Spiritualism 
on occasion of the “ exposure ” of a medium by a certain Herr 
Carl von Buch. We considered that our contemporary was 
adting altogether ultra vires , quite irrespective of the validity of 
his arguments. 
It seems to us, in fine, that the British National Association, 
by allowing Dr. Anna Kingsford to read her paper, has adted like 
a State which in time of war allows its territory to be used by 
one of the belligerents as a “ basis of operations.” 
Candidly speaking, we regret not having called attention to 
Mr. Podmore’s reply to Mr. Crosland. 
The Editor of the Journal of Science. 
