ormalities and unusualnesses, cannot at
present be linked on with the rest of knowledge in a coherent stream--it
is for that reason that they are not, as yet, generally recognised as
true; they stand at present outside the realms of science; they will be
presently incorporated into that kingdom, and annexed by the progress of
discovery."[68]

Mr. F. C. S. Schiller, in an article in the _Proceedings_ of the Society
for Psychical Research, expresses a similar thought in a different
manner. He says:--

"A mind unwilling to believe, or even undesirous to be instructed, our
weightiest evidence must ever fail to impress. It will insist on taking
that evidence in bits, and rejecting it item by item. The man therefore
who announces his intention of waiting until a single absolutely
conclusive bit of evidence turns up, is really a man _not_ open to
conviction, and if he is a logician, _he knows it_. For modern logic has
made it plain that single facts can never be 'proved,' except by their
coherence in a system. But as all the facts come singly, any one who
dismisses them one by one, is destroying the conditions under which the
conviction of new truth could arise in his mind."[69]

Mr. Myers, in summing up the evidence in the case of Mr. Stainton Moses,
dwells on the importance of simple repetition. This, though practically
effective, is scarcely a scientific consideration. A fact is none the
less a fact on account of the rarity of its occurrence, any more than
the existence of a rare animal or plant is rendered questionable by the
fewness of the number of specimens which have been found.

An interesting chapter might be written under the title of "The
History of the Growth in the Belief in Hypnotism during the last
Twenty-five Years." One episode that would be included in such a
history may be worth quoting here as illustrating the present subject.
As recently as 1891, the British Medical Association appointed a
Committee, consisting of eleven of its number, "to investigate the
nature of the phenomena of hypnotism, its value as a therapeutic
agent, and the propriety of using it." This Committee presented a
Report at the Annual Meeting in the following year. In the first
paragraph they solemnly stated that they "have satisfied themselves of
the genuineness of the hypnotic state" (!). They also expressed the
"opinion that as a therapeutic agent hypnotism is frequently effective
in relieving pain, procuring sleep, and alleviat