WCP5290

[1]¹

Rosehill, Dorking.

Dec[embe]^r. 18th. 1876

My dear Mr. Barrett,

When I look at the date of your letter I am ashamed to find how long I have left it unanswered, but I have been more or less unwell ever since the Glasgow meeting, & so have put off writing from time to time. I must first thank you for your very kind invitation to Dublin. You will no doubt be surprised to hear that I have the greatest distaste for travelling, and I do not think it likely that anything will bring me to Ireland, till [2] the meeting of the Brit[ish]. Ass[ociation]. in Dublin, when as I have never seen the "Green Isle" I may make an effort to come.

In the meantime, I see you are to lecture at S[outh]. Kensington the end of this month (I think) and if you can spare time to come[?] down here, & stay a night or two we shall be much pleased to see you, & I should be greatly interested to have a talk on the subject of your paper, & hear what further evidence you have obtained. I want[?] particularly [3] to ask you to take advantage of any opportunity that you ^may have to test the power of sensitive’s to see the "flames" from magnets & crystals; & also to feel the influence from them. This is surely a matter easily tested & settled. I consider it has been tested & settled by Reichenbach,² but he is ignored, & a fresh proof of this one fact, by indisputable tests is much needed; and a paper describing such tests & proofs would I imagine be admitted into the Proceedings of any notable scientific society. [4]³

You will have heard no doubt of the Treasury having tak^ening up the prosecution of Slade⁴. Massey the Barrister, one of the most intelligent & able of the Spiritualists (whose accession to the cause is due I am glad to say to my article in the Fortnightly⁵) proposes a memorial & deputation to Government protesting against this prosecution by the Treasury on the grounds it implies that Slade is an habitual imposter & nothing else, & that in face of the body of evidence to the contrary, it is an uncalled for interference with the private right of investigation into these [5]⁶ subjects. On such general grounds as these I sincerely hope you will give your name to the memorial. ^{New Para7} Did a Mr Tweedie ^{at Glasgow} send you his paper on Mesmerism and its realities"?⁸ He is a medical man, and it is the record of a most remarkable case, in which phenomena appeared in some respects differing from any I have found elsewhere recorded, and showing the wonderful variety of these phenomena, & how impossible it is to reason[?] from one to all, in the absurd way [6] D^r. Carpenter⁹ & his school are accustomed to do.

It appears to me that enquiry into this subject may literally go on for ever & not make much advance (1) if all enquiries and experiments are ignored as soon as a few years have passed, and we are asked to prove everything afresh, and (2) if those who come across such facts do not make them known & keep them well before the public. It is therefore that I so much value your conduct in coming forward with your experiments. If every [7]¹⁰ one who has any scientific a[nd] literary a[nd] medical standing did the same, it would be impossible for men like Carpenter to come again & again before the public with the most gross misstatements, and the most convenient forgetfulness of all recorded facts against them. I believe if they were searched for & brought together, a small volume might be filled with the evidence of medical men alone, given in purely medical publications, sufficient to demonstrate clairvoyance and [8] most of the higher phenomena of mesmerism, — if not much of what pertains to spiritualism.

If you can come and see us drop a line to say when. There are convenient trains from Charing Cross, a[nd] from Victoria.

Believe me | Yours vey faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Prof[essor]. W.F. Barrett¹¹