WCP4340

[1]

Rosehill, Dorking

Dec[ember]. 28th. 1877

My dear Sir

I write a line to tell you that I have had a long conversation with Mr. F. Myers¹ the intermediate friend & associate of Mr. Sidgwick², & the one of the party who keeps the records. He showed me his book of notes & explained to me the nature of the tests, & he assures me that your impression of Mr. Sidgwicks position is not correct, but that Mr. S[idgwick]. is so cautious & is so apt to put forward all the more doubtful aspects of the matter that he is apt to be misunderstood. The tests they used were such that they cannot be explained away except in the suppositions [2] of skill, dexterity, & unlimited resources in the mediums as [1 word illegible crossed out] astounding as the phenomena themselves & which have never been proved possible even with professional conjurors. The undoubted fact that figures of various sizes & forms appeared over and over again, after every test the party could devise,— tangible, and force-exerting figures,— & that Mr. Sidgwick still believes in the integrity of the mediums while during the whole course of the experiments no imposture was once discovered, shows I think that the results were not so very microscopical[sic] as your informant's excitement of them would lead an outside to suppose. [3]

Of course this is in confidence Mr. S[idgwick]. & his friends are still experimenting, & Mr. S[idgwick]. promises to publish his results when he considers them in a fit state for publicity.

In the "Spiritualist"³ of last Dec[ember]. 14 is a most wonderful case of "materialisation", the most wonderful & most attested, (as far as I know) in the whole record of Spiritualism. I know three of the parties present.

Believe me | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R Wallace [signature]

Dr. C. M. Ingleby⁴