WCP5742

Letter (WCP5742.8393)

[1]1

Waldron Edge, Duppas Hill,

Croydon.

June 27th. 1878.

My dear Barrett

The receipt of a Brit[is]h. Ass[ociation]2. circular reminds me of your kind invitation to stay with you or your friend3 at Dublin4, and as you may be wishing soon to make your arrangements I write at once to let you know that, much to my regret, I shall not be able to come to Dublin this year[.] Since I met you at Mr. Huggins'5 I have done nothing myself in [2] Spiritual investigations, but have been exceedingly interesting [sic] [interested in] the knot-tying experiment of Prof. Zollner6 and the weight-varying experiments7 of the Spiritualists' Association8. I do not see what flaw can be found in either of them.

I hope you are still having some experiences in this matter, and that your long promised papers in the "Nineteenth Century"9 will soon appear.

With best wishes | Believe me | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Prof. W[illiam]. F[letcher]. Barrett Esq.

[3] I have just met Mr. Hare9 son of the late Prof. Hare9 of Philadelphia. He is a remarkable instance of the conversion of an extreme sceptic by irresistible facts, — for up to two years ago he was a sceptic, notwithstanding his father's wonderful experiments 25 years ago. He has now had (which hardly any one else has had) the appearance of a lady he had known all his life (his governess when a boy) perfect in face, figure, dress, voice, accent, and peculiarities if diction, conversing with him & giving him proofs of identity by character &c. Here is no intenseaffection to cause delusion, and the evidence of a sceptic of such long standing, a man in the prime of life, and a lawyer, may surely be accepted.

A.R.W. [signature]

1
An annotation in the upper left margin reads "(D)".
2
British Association for the Advancement of Science founded in 1831. See BSA. 2020. Our history. British Science Association. <https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/history> [accessed 19 August 2020].
3
Unidentified.
4
The 48th meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science took place 14 August 1878 in Dublin.
5
Huggins, William (1824-1910). British astronomer. President of the Royal Astronomical Society 1876-78; President of the Royal Society 1900-05.
6
Zöllner, Johann Karl Friedrich (1834-1882). German astronomer and pioneer of astrophysics. Zöllner conducted experiments with the American medium Henry Slade, seeking presence of the "forth dimension" which included the ability of the medium to untie closed knots. See Turner, J. C. and Griend, P. van de (Eds). 1996. History and Science of Knots. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing. [pp. 217-218].
7
The Association (see endnote 7 below) funded instruments designed in principle to register weight changes of a medium when materialising a spirit. See Noakes, R. 2002. 'Instruments to lay hold of spirits': Technologizing the bodies of Victorian spiritualism. In: Morus, I. R. (Ed.) Bodies/Machines. Oxford: Berg Publishers. [pp. 125-163].
8
The Spiritualist Association of Great Britain, a spiritualist organisation founded in 1872. See The Spiritualist Association of Great Britain. 2020. History. The Spiritualist Association of Great Britain <http://www.sagb.org.uk/history.htm> [accessed 19 January 2021].
9
Hare, John Innes Clark (1816-1906). American lawyer and judge.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP5742.8393)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Costa, Leslie [2021-01-29]

Published letter (WCP5742.6608)

[1] [p. 199]

TO PROF. BARRETT1

Waldron Edge, Duppas Hill, Croydon.2 June 27. 1878.

My dear Barrett, — The receipt of a British Association3 circular reminds me of your kind invitation to stay with you or your friend at Dublin, and as you may be wishing soon to make your arrangements I write at once to let you know that, much to my regret, I shall not be able to come to Dublin this year. Since I met you at Mr. Huggins's4 I have done nothing myself in Spiritual investigations, but have been exceedingly interested in the knot-tying experiment of Prof. Zöllner5 and the weight-varying experiments of the Spiritualists' Association.6 I do not see what flaw can be found in either of them… — Yours very faithfully, | ALFRED R. WALLACE.

1
Barrett, William Fletcher (1844-1925). British physicist and psychical investigator.
2
ARW rented Waldron Edge from March 1878 to March/June 1880. Beccaloni, G. W. 2008. Wallace timeline. The Alfred Russel Wallace Website. <http://wallacefund.info/wallace-timeline> [accessed 2 April 2019]
3
British National Association of Spiritualists, founded in 1873. Colville, D. 2011. British National Association of Spiritualists. UCL Bloomsbury project. <https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bloomsbury-project/institutions/british_national_spiritualists.htm> [accessed 29 March 2019]
4
Huggins, William (1824-1910). Spectroscopist.
5

Zöllner, Johann Karl Friedrich (1834-1882). German physicist and astronomer.

Zöllner conducted experiments with the medium Henry Slade, which included spirits tying knots on a string. Turner, J. C. and Griend, P. van de. (1996). History and Science of Knots. Singapore, New Jersey, London, Hong Kong: World Scientific Publishing. [pp. 217-218].

6
The Association paid for self-recording instruments to be built, designed to register the weight changess of a medium when materialising as a spirit. Noakes, R. 2002. 'Instruments to lay hold of spirits' : Technologizing the bodies of Victorian spiritualism. In Morus, I. R. (Ed.) 2002 Bodies/Machines. Oxford: Berg Publishers. [pp.125-163]

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP5742.6608)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Ghosh, Susan [2019-12-17]

Please cite as “WCP5742,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP5742