Ɛpsilon

From Francis Galton   7 June 1872

42 Rutland Gate SW

June 7/72

My dear Darwin

I did not reply yesterday about the Spiritualists as I expected that day & this to have heard from Mr. Home & Crookes is out of town.1

It will give me great pleasure to do what I can, for Lord Sackville Cecil but rather doubt whether I shall have power to do much. I can’t myself get to these séances as often as I like— indeed I have had no opportunity for a long time past. The fact is, that first class mediums are very few in number & are always ailing— Also that Crookes & others are working their very best at the subject and entertain a full belief that they will be able to establish something important and lastly what, I see, is a real difficulty with them, the introduction of a stranger always disturbs the séances. I say all this to excuse me in your eyes, if I dont fulfil your wishes as you wd. like, but I will do my best & write—whenever I have anything to say, to Ld. S. Cecil as you propose.

The person most likely to help would, I think, be Lord Lindsay.2

I wonder if I have offended Home by my last letter to him— he has never replied & I hear incidentally there is to be an important seance this very night! Alas for me.

Ever yours sincerely | Francis Galton

1
CD had been asked to help arrange an invitation for Sackville Arthur Cecil to attend a séance with Galton and William Crookes; Crookes was investigating the claims of mediums, including those of Daniel Dunglas Home (see letter from Francis Galton, 26 May 1872 and nn. 2 and 3, and letter from M. C. Stanley, 4 June 1872). No letter from CD to Galton passing on the request has been found.
2
James Ludovic Lindsay had published the results of an experiment that suggested Home could detect magnetic force, and a description of an apparent instance of levitation (Lindsay 1871; see Noakes 2007, pp. 11–12).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8373,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8373