WHAT SCIENTIFIC MEN SAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1908, 17 November 1913, Page 9

WHAT SCIENTIFIC MEN SAY.

' Sir;,—-) our columns oftoii give tho public something of tho doings and saj> nigs, of scientific men, and when referring to tho recent death of Hint distinguished author, scientist, and nsturAlist-,. Dr.. Alfred Russcl Wallace, yoti gnvo an interesting- froiii - Ilia book "Social .Environment, and.Modern Progress,Somo years since, Dr. Wallace published a book entitled ''Miracles and Modern Spiritualism/ 1 - and 111 view of what Sir Oliver Lodgo said nt the recent ..meeting, of tlio "British -Assocta r tipn for,.tlio Advancement of Scionco'" tho opinions of both gentlemen on the -subject of, spiritualism , aro of great interest. Dr., Wallaco .wrote-: "Sly position,, therefore, is. that tho phenomena, of Spiritualism, ill. their entirety, do not require further.confirmation. Tiioy aro proved quite as well as any facts aro oi.'ovod by iOther sciences. . . Up to tho time I (irst becanio acquainted with the facts of Spiritualist* I was a. confirmed .philosophical .sceptic, rejoicing in: tho works' of iVoltairo,. -Strauss; and:. Oarl Vogt, and an. ardent ndmircr-rfis .I am still—of Herbert -Sponsor. I Was so thorough and- confirmed a Materialist that I -could -not- at that time.- find a plnco in -my mind for the conception- of spiritual oxistoncoj or for any, other ligciicios in tho nniverso than matter and force. Facts, however, arn stubborn things. . . The facts beat mo. . They compelled ,1110 to accept- them as facts long before I could accept tho spiritual explanation of thorn: . . Thoso who believe as I do—that spiritual beings con and do (subject fo general laws and for certain purposes) communicate- with us -'•must see, in. the steady- advance -of inquiry,- i.lio assurance that,,so -far :as their beliefs arn logical .deductions from tlio ' phenomena they have witnessed, ilioso beliefs will at no distant date bo accepted by nil truth-seeking inquirfcrr." Sir Oliver Lodge, in his presidential address, said :- "Personality persists beyond bodily death. .'. Discarmito intclr iigenoo, under certain conditions, may interact with us on the natural sido,"

Sir William Crookes-, [mother eminent scientist, holds to the same opinion. Tf a silicic straw, shows which way the v.-iml blows, the haystack is coming all right.--! anii otc., . ■ . W. C. NATION, lievin, Xovember 11. ■