WCP1580

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(1)

Parkstone, Dorset. Sept. 26th. 1894.

My dear Myers¹, In your last letter you told me you had been reading Bate-son’s² book, & been much struck by it — I suppose with admiration. I have now had the opportunity of reading it carefully — but, except as a curious collection of facts — have no admiration for it, as I consider [i]t that his theoretical views, on which he lays great stress, are absolute-ly e[r]roneous. In the February Fortnightly Review³, in an article on "The Method of Organic Evolution" I have discussed the subject at some length exposing what I conceive to be Bateson’s e[r]rors as well as those of a bigger man — Francis Galton⁴ — who seems equally unable to grasp the essential principles of Natural Selection, simple though they are. There is also in Oct. Nineteenth Century a paper of mine on Sabbath Keeping which ^it may amuse you to read. It has been in type for 18 months! Is not that a record for an editor’s treatment of an accepted article?

To come to another subject — your Appendix to the Hallucinations Report is extremely interesting & suggestive, but there are one or two points that seem to me to want further consideration. At p.418 you say that "we positively know that some hallucinations are not telepathetic because they are removed by bodily treatment". Surely this is not logical. How can we "positively know" that the abnormal conditions of a body, which may be removed by treatment, are not connected with the conditions which render the perception of the phantasms &c. possible. My own belief is that this is not only possible but is the actual fact! At all events the[r]e is no "impossibility" against its being so.

Then at p.419, in your suggestion about an invading presence, you do not refer to the possible hypothesis, which as you know I think the more probable, that the percipient sees a picture produced by a spirit, which is the "invading presence" acting on both parties. I was very glad to see a statement that you and Lodge have been to see the Italian physical medium. I hope the result was satisfactory. With very kind remembrances⁵ to Mrs Myers[.]

Believe me | Yours very sincerely | Alfred R. Wallace