or the very good reason that they are small details.
We will learn them all soon for ourselves, and it is only vain
curiosity which leads us to ask for them now. One thing is clear:
there are higher intelligences over yonder to whom synthetic chemistry,
which not only makes the substance but moulds the form, is a matter of
absolute ease. We see them at work in the coarser media, perceptible
to our material senses, in the seance room. If they can build up
simulacra in the seance room, how much may we expect them to do when
they are working upon ethereal objects in that ether which is their own
medium. It may be said generally that they can make something which is
analogous to anything which exists upon earth. How they do it may well
be a matter of guess and speculation among the less advanced spirits,
as the phenomena of modern science are a matter of guess and
speculation to us. If one of us were suddenly called up by the denizen
of some sub-human world, and were asked to explain exactly what gravity
is, or what magnetism is, how helpless we should be! We may put
ourselves in the position, then, of a young engineer soldier like
Raymond Lodge, who tries to give some theory of matter in the beyond--a
theory which is very likely contradicted by some other spirit who is
also guessing at things above him. He may be right, or he may be
wrong, but he is doing his best to say what he thinks, as we should do
in similar case. He believes that his transcendental chemists can make
anything, and that even such unspiritual matter as alcohol or tobacco
could come within their powers and could still be craved for by
unregenerate spirits. This has tickled the critics to such an extent
that one would really think to read the comments that it was the only
statement in a book which contains 400 closely-printed pages. Raymond
may be right or wrong, but the only thing which the incident proves to
me is the unflinching courage and honesty of the man who chronicled it,
knowing well the handle that he was giving to his enemies.

There are many who protest that this world which is described to us is
too material for their liking. It is not as they would desire it.
Well, there are many things in this world which seem different from
what we desire, but they exist none the less. But when we come to
examine this charge of materialism and try to construct some sort of
system which would satisfy the idealists, it becomes a very difficult
t