at the present day, including, probably, the greater portion 
of men of Science. 
But Spiritualism, further, would have us believe that 
when a man is dead his spirit not merely continues to exist, 
but remains locally among us, and is able to interfere both 
with living beings and with lifeless matter. Certain pheno- 
mena are said to have been produced not referable to any 
known agency, nor, so far as could be detefted, due to 
jugglery, fraud, or collusion. It is further contended that 
these phenomena are produced not by any agency, as yet 
unknown, of the same order as light, heat, elearicity, or 
the like, but by agents, intelligent, personal, and possessing 
will. It is said, moreover, that “ the intelligence is not that 
of (living) persons present, but is different from and fre- 
quently surpasses it.” 
Very brief refleaion will suffice to convince us of the 
grave importance of this claim. We men of Science have 
hitherto recognised will and intelligence only of two kinds. 
Those of us who accept the theistic interpretation of the 
universe admit in consequence a Divine will, infinite and 
unchanging, and consider that the earth and the fulness 
thereof have been called into being and are still upheld by 
the adtion of this Will. Hence we regard it as a “ constant ” 
not merely compatible with but underlying the invariability 
of Nature, or the sequence of cause and effect. We may 
add that the Agnostic does not deny the possible existence 
of such a Will, though he finds no positive evidence in its 
favour. 
Besides this Infinite Will we have been accustomed to 
recognise will and intelligence in animals, and especially in 
man. We know that such will and intelligence often, or 
rather constantly, interfere with the “ order of Nature,” 
and we cannot regard them, like the Divine will and intelli- 
gence, as “ constants.” 
But we know when and where the will of man, or of other 
animals, is being exerted, and where it is not. We know, 
approximately at least, the limits of their power and the 
conditions under which it can be exerted. Hence neither 
the Divine nor the human will can interfere with our results 
and our theories. We have no evidence that God will alter 
the atomic weight or the specific gravity of any element. 
We know that man cannot. We have no reason to suspedt 
that God ever caused, or is likely to cause, light issuing 
from a given point to decrease in any other ratio than 
inversely as the square of the distance. We know that 
man cannot. We do not find God sometimes cancelling the 
