WCP5745

Published letter (WCP5745.6611)

[1] [p. 204]

TO MRS. FISHER1

Parkstone. Dorset.2 September 14, 1896.

My dear Mrs. Fisher, — I have much pleasure in signing your application for the Psychical Research Society,3 though the majority of the active members are so absurdly and illogically sceptical that you will not find much instruction in their sayings. Mr. Podmore's report4,5 in the last-issued Proceedings is a good illustration…

We have all been in Switzerland this year. Violet,6 her mother,7 and five lady friends all went together to a rather newly-discovered place, Adelboden,8 a branch valley from that going up to the Gemmi Pass by Kandersteg.9 I went first for a week to Davos,10 to give a lecture to Dr. Lunn's11 party, and enjoyed myself much, chiefly owing to the company of Rev. Hugh Price Hughes,12 one of the most witty, earnest, advanced, and estimable men I have ever met. Dr. Lunn himself is very jolly, and we had also Mr. Le Gallienne,13 the poet and critic, and between them we had a very brilliant table-talk. Mr Haweis14 was also there, and one afternoon he and I talked for two hours about Spiritualism. He is a thorough spiritualist, and preaches it… — Yours very sincerely, | ALFRED R. WALLACE.

1
Fisher (née Buckley), Arabella Burton (1840-1929). British writer, science educator and spiritualist.
2
ARW lived at Corfe View, Parkstone, Dorset from 1889-1902, renting at first, then buying the house. Beccaloni, G. 2008. Wallace timeline. The Alfred Russel Wallace Website. <http://wallacefund.info/wallace-timeline> [accessed 9 April 2019]
3
The Society for Psychical Research was founded in 1882. Beccaloni, G. 2014. Spiritualism. The Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project. <http://wallaceletters.info/content/spiritualism> [accessed 10 April 2019]
4
Podmore, Frank (1856-1910). British writer on psychical research.
5
Podmore, F. 1896. Poltergeists. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 12. [pp. 45-115]
6
Wallace, Violet Isabel (1869-1945). Daughter of ARW. A teacher.
7
Wallace (née Mitten), Annie (1846-1914). Wife of ARW; daughter of William Mitten, chemist and authority on bryophytes.
8

Adelboden is a mountain village in the Swiss canton of Bern. In the late nineteenth century it became accessible by road and the area became a popular tourist destination. Dizionario Storico della Svizzera.

<http://www.hls-dhs-dss.ch/textes/i/I319.php> [accessed 10 April 2019]

9
The Gemmi Pass links Leukerbad to Kandersteg and is popular with hikers. Anon. 2019. Gemmi Pass. Wikipedia. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemmi_Pass> [accessed 10 April 2019]
10
Davos is a town in Switzerland. It was a popular health resort in the late nineteenth century. The Editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica 2013. Davos. Encyclopaedia Britannica. <https://www.britannica.com/place/Davos> [accessed 10 April 2019]
11
Lunn, Henry Simpson (1859-1939). British humanitarian, and founder of the Lunn Poly travel company. Violet had spent the summer of 1894 with his family. Raby, Peter 2002. Alfred Russel Wallace, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. [p. 263]
12
Hughes, Hugh Price (1847-1902). British Christian clergyman and religious reformer.
13
Le Gallienne, Richard Thomas (1866-1947). British poet and essayist.
14
Haweis, Hugh Reginald (1838-1901). British author and clergyman.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP5745.6611)]

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 “WCP5745,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP5745