WCP5741

[1] [p. 198]

TO PROF. BARRETT¹

Rosehill, Dorking.² December 9, 1877.

My dear Barrett, — I am always glad when a man I like and respect treats me as a friend. I am advised by other friends also not to waste more time on Dr. C. [Carpenter],³ and I do not think I shall answer him again, except perhaps to keep him to certain points, as in my letter in the last Nature.⁴ In a proof of his new edition of "Lectures"⁵ I see he challenges me to produce a person who can detect by light or sensation when an electro-magnet is made and unmade. The Association of Spiritualists⁶ are going to experiment, as Dr. C. offers to pay £30 if it succeeds. Should you have an opportunity of trying with any persons, and can find one who sees or feels the influence strongly, it might be worth while to send him to London, as nothing would tend to lower Dr. C. in public estimation on this subject more than his being forced to acknowledge that what he has for more than thirty years declared to be purely subjective is after all an objective phenomenon.

I never had anything to do with showing or sending a medium to Huxley.⁷ He must refer to his séance a few months ago with Mrs. Kane⁸ and Mrs. Jencken⁹ (along with Carpenter and Tyndall),¹⁰ when... nothing but raps occurred … — Yours very faithfully, | ALFRED R. WALLACE.