WCP6524

[1]¹

Holly House, Barking, E.

June 7^th. 1871

Dear Madam

It would occupy far too much space to give you any tolerably full account of the long series of phenomena ^experiences which have led to my belief in the reality of the phenomena of so-called spiritualism. My belief that "spiritualism" is the reasonable explanation of these phenomena is a matter that cannot be fairly entered into till the question of the genuineness & reality of the [2] phenomena themselves in all their variety of phase and character is first settled.

I should be most happy to call & converse with you on the subject but am at

present much occupied & am seldom in London.

I think however that Mr. W^m. Crookes² F.R.S. and Editor of the Chemical News & Quarterly Journal of Science, who is quite as much a [3] Spiritualist as I am myself, would probably be a better guide. I have little doubt that if you were to apply to him for information he would give it you, and as he is very intimate with Mr. Home³ the celebrated Medium, he could probably introduce you to him & enable you to witness some of those strange phenomena without a practical acquaintance with which all discussion of [4] the subject is useless.

You have probably seen D^r. Day's⁴ paper in "Macmillans" for April, on the Case of Stigmata,⁵ in which the genuineness of phenomena quite analogous to many others occurring to mediums is admitted to be well established.

I remain | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

D^r. Eliz[abeth]. Blackwell