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 CHAPTER VIII SPIRITUALISM

NE of the chief objects which the Society for Psychical Research set before itself was the investigation of the physical phenomena of Spiritualism. The question seemed one of considerable importance, because from the belief in these phenomena as due to spiritual agency there had Sprung up a quasi-religious movement of an international character which claimed at one period to number its adherents by millions. Moreover, apart from the credulous and unthinking majority, there was a small body of men whose Opinions and testimony in any matter could not be lightly disregarded, who believed in and testified of their own experience to things which seemed, and perhaps still seem, inexplicable by any known cause. It was not easy to dismiss the whole subject as unworthy of investigation. The explanation of the facts recorded by Sir William Crookes and others does not lie on the surface. It may be that these facts will ultimately find their explanation in causes neither remote nor unfamiliar. But certainly no one at that time, and perhaps no one now, is in a position to affirm, with such certainty as we bring to the other affairs of 171