WCP2622

[1]^{1, 2, 3}

36 Wren St[reet].,

Coventry

Jan[uary]. 7th 1902

Dear Sir,

I beg to thank you for your kindness in replying to my letter of Jan[uary]. 2nd, and, without wishing to cause you any annoyance, I should like to say a few more words, as I think you are rather hard on Mr Maskelyne⁴. I can quite appreciate the difference between the imitation of a medium's manifestation done with carefully prepared apparatus on a public platform, and the same thing done in a private house without preparation; and I did not know that Mr Maskelyne had refused challenges to produce the same results as mediums had done under the latter conditions.

If Maskelyne's statements are either untrue or gross distortions of the facts it is a pity that someone has not dealt with them one by one, and shown them to be such. Some of his charges are definite enough to be refuted if untrue. For instance, I did not imagine that a man would say in cold print that the Davenport Brothers⁵ had publicly renounced Spiritualism and confessed that their performance was done by trickery and dexterity, unless they had actually done so. Nor did I think that he would write that Miss Kate Fox⁶ confessed the same thing to a Mrs. Norman Culver, on a certain specified date, without there was a foundation for this statement. Moreover, since receiving your letter I have become acquainted with a book "Fact and Fable of Psychology"⁷, by Joseph Jastrow⁸, professor of Psychology in the University of Wisconsin, and on page 138 I find the statement that "in 1888, Margaret Fox (Mrs Kane) and Katie Fox (Mrs Jencken) publicly confessed that the raps to which they as children gave rise were produced by dislocation of the toes; and one of them added to their confession a demonstration of how this was done." I can see no reason to regard Prof[essor]. Jastrow as a professional opponent of Spiritualism, and have no option but ^{to believe} that his statement is based on fact⁹.

The quotations from Mr Maskelyne included extracts from the Report of the Seybert Commission¹⁰, which Commission certainly condemned Mr Slade¹¹ as an imposter. Prof[essor]. Jastrow gives practically the same quotations as Mr Maskelyne, also the names of the members of the Commission:- Dr. W[illia]m. Pepper, Prof[essor]. R. E. Thompson, Dr. Joseph Leidy, Dr. G. S. Koenig, Prof[essor]. G. S. Fullerton, Dr. H. H. Furness, Mr. Coleman Seelers, Dr. J. W. White, Dr. C. B. Knerr, and Dr, S. Weir Mitchell. Again I have to confess that I can see no reason to doubt the honesty and impartiality of these gentlemen; and I respectfully submit that their judgment and on Slade and other mediums whom they tested carries weight. They have earnestly devoted themselves to a thorough examination of the facts and have denied their reality.

I hope you will acquit me of any prejudice against Spiritualism. I have an open mind on the subject; my desire is to accept the facts only when they are beyond doubt. I believe there is something in the phenomena of spiritualism that has not been explained by the theory of fraud or delusion. And I will take your good advice and investigate these phenomena for myself at the earliest opportunity.

Apologising for the trouble I have given you,

I remain, | Dear Sir, | Yours faithfully, Tom Hutt [signature]¹²

Alfred Russel Wallace Esq. D. C. L., F. R. S., &c.