This portion of the address was reprinted
in volume xiv. of the _Proceedings_ of the Society.

Considerations, which cannot be entered into here, compel me, however,
to be content with referring the reader to the publications mentioned,
a study of which will, I think, bring conviction that the scientific
evidence they contain would, even if it stood alone, be amply sufficient
to prove the reality of the alleged phenomena.[67]

* * * * *

We are now warranted in the assertion that we have arrived at this
position: That the careful reader is compelled to admit that the
evidence in favour of a variety of alleged physical phenomena being
undoubted facts, is too strong to be resisted. We are accustomed to say
in ordinary life, the proof of this or that is complete. The man of
science is accustomed to say in his own sphere of inquiry, the proof of
this or that is complete. Applying the same rules of evidence to
physical phenomena generally called spiritualistic, we are bound to
admit that in regard to many of them the proof of their reality is
complete. Yet these facts are not recognised by the world of science,
and are scarcely deemed worthy of any serious attention by the majority
of intelligent people.

It may be worth while to consider for a few moments the mode in which
new knowledge enters the mind. By new knowledge is meant not extension
of existing knowledge, but facts of a new order, such, for instance, as
the rising of a heavy dining table into the air without any recognised
physical cause being apparent. The difficulty of admitting new facts of
this kind to the mind is not confined to any one class of people.
Indeed the difficulty appears to be greater in the case of highly
educated people than among the comparatively uninformed. Sir Oliver
Lodge has recently said: "What does a 'proof' mean? A proof means
destroying the isolation of an observed fact or experience by linking it
on with all pre-existent knowledge; it means the bringing it into its
place in the system of knowledge; and it affords the same sort of
gratification as finding the right place for a queer-shaped piece in a
puzzle-map. Do not let these puzzle-maps go out of fashion; they afford
a most useful psychological illustration; the foundation of every
organised system of truth is bound up with them.... It is because a
number of phenomena, such as clairvoyance, physical movement without
contact, and other apparent abn