My friend, Lord Kelvin, has often talked to me of the future of
science, and he has said words to me about the future of science which
are parallel with the words I have quoted to you about the future of
art, and with the hope which I have expressed to you with respect to
literature. He has told me that to the men of science of to-day it
appears as if we were trembling on the brink of some great scientific
discovery which should give to us a new view of the great forces of
Nature, among which and in the midst of which we move. If this prophecy
be right, and if the other forecasts to which I have alluded be right,
then indeed it is true that we live in an interesting age; then indeed
it is true that we may look forward to a time full of fruit for the
human race--to an age which cannot be sterilised or rendered barren even
by politics."

There are some advantages which the study of this subject possesses over
most branches of scientific inquiry. In its present early and incomplete
stage the most important thing is the accumulation of carefully observed
and recorded facts. Even as regards Thought-Transference, in which the
number of careful experiments that have been made is far greater than in
any other class of phenomena, it is still most important to multiply the
quantity of the evidence. In most of the branches of the subject no
expensive apparatus is required, and no special scientific or
intellectual training. Accurate observation and careful recording, at
the time, of all that occurs, without prejudice, and without
discouragement at apparent failure, are the chief requisites. Any
person, or small group of persons of ordinary intelligence, can train
themselves to be equal to this. A very simple instance occurred in the
earliest experiences of the writer. After three or four sittings round a
small table with two friends, at which there was meaningless tipping,
and nothing better than commonplace sentences, the following was tipped
out: "Try no more to move"--then this succession of letters--"a t a t
a." It seemed useless to go on with nonsense, but one of the party
suggested perseverance; when the following conclusion converted seeming
nonsense into sense: "b l e take a pencil and write." The result was
that one of the party rapidly developed into an interesting automatic
writer.

It is quite impossible to foretell the extent of the aid that may not be
given, in the explanation of some of these phenomena, by the pers