1885.J Spiritualism and Science. 405 
in what manner — the dodtrine of the conservation of energy 
can be saved or not, and if not, what then ? That this last 
question touches practice no less than theory does not need 
to be demonstrated. To establish a harmony between 
Spiritualism and Science it will be necessary, I submit, to 
show the origin of the energy which is at the disposal of 
spirits. 
I do not see clearly whether or no Spiritualists claim the 
creation of matter as one of the prerogatives of spirits, and 
hence on this point I can say nothing. 
The great fundamental law of Evolution is accepted by 
Mr. Wallace in the paper before me, and indeed nothing 
else could be supposed. Possibly — though I speak with 
great diffidence — the biologist may find fewer and slighter 
difficulties in accepting the teachings of Spiritualism than 
do the physicist and the chemist. 
I have still to ask how the principle of continuity fares at 
the hands of Spiritualism ? It seems to me that between 
man and spirits, of whatever grade, there is a gap not 
bridged over. The difficulty is greatest if we admit with 
the Occultists (?), and I believe with some of the Spiritual- 
ists, that there exist spirits inferior to man. Whether these 
are the disembodied spirits of some of the lower animals it 
does not appear, though I may remark that— both in 
“ Light ” and in the “ Psychological Review ” — I have met 
with cases of the reappearance of certain domestic animals. 
For the return of these beings to earth-life the evidence 
seems of the same kind as that in case of departed human 
beings. 
Mr. Wallace continues : — 
“ We who have satisfied ourselves of the reality of the 
phenomena of modern Spiritualism, in all their wide- 
reaching extent and endless variety, are enabled to look upon 
the records of the past with new interest and fuller appre- 
ciation. It is surely something to be relieved from the 
necessity of classing Socrates and St. Augustine, Luther 
and Swedenborg, as the credulous victims of delusion or 
imposture. The so-called miracles and supernatural events 
which pervade the sacred books and historical records of 
all nations find their place among natural phenomena, and 
need no longer be laboriously explained away. The witch- 
craft mania of Europe and America affords the materials for 
an important study, since we are now able to detedt the basis 
of fadt on which it rested, and to separate from it the Satanic 
interpretation which invested it with horror, and appeared 
