WCP5753

[1] [p. 210]

PROF. BARRETT TO A. R. WALLACE

6 De Vesci Terrace, Kingstown, Co. Dublin. November 3, 1905.

My dear Wallace, — Just now I am engaged in a correspondence with the Secretaries of the Society for Psychical Research on the question of the Presidency for [2] next year. I maintain that as a matter of duty to the Society you should be asked to accept the Presidency, though of course it would be impossible for you to be much more than an Honorary President, as we could not expect you often to come to London. I am anxious that in our records for future reference your Presidency should appear.... Podmore, who is proposed as President, represents the attitude of resolute incredulity, and I consider this line of action has been to some extent injurious to the S.P.R.. Crookes supported my proposal, and so did Lodge, and so would Myers if he had lived. All this is of course between ourselves…

I have a vast amount of material unpublished on "dowsing" and am convinced the explanation is subconscious clairvoyance… — Yours very sincerely, W. F. BARRETT.¹