stances of the case. She was already known to the Professor of
Psychology at Harvard and to some other American savants, but she was
brought to the notice of the leaders of the English Society by Dr
Richard Hodgson, who has been for some years, and is still, acting as
its representative in America, and Secretary of its American Branch. A
complete record of the whole investigation has not yet been published,
but large portions of it have appeared from time to time in the
Proceedings of the Society._

_It is not to be supposed that the case is unique by any means; on the
contrary, it may in some senses be regarded as typical, but its features
are exceptionally well-marked, and the record has been more carefully
and continuously kept than that of any other case. Accordingly, some
emphasis has been given to it, and a general vague notion concerning the
case has diffused itself among educated persons beyond the limits of the
Society._

_And indeed it is one of really general interest, since the hypothesis
of fraud is entirely inapplicable to it, and in the opinion of the most
sceptical critics who have made an adequate study of the case, no
explanation more commonplace than that of telepathy will bear
examination. Other critics--and these are they who have gone into the
matter most thoroughly--find the hypothesis of telepathy to be
insufficient, and hold that some further explanation is necessary.
Opinions differ as to what that further explanation may be, and so far
as I know it has not been scientifically formulated as yet. To me it
appears probable that no one explanation will fit all the facts, and
that the subject is not yet ripe for theory. Working hypotheses must be
made, must be tested, and in all probability must be rejected, but our
main duty at the present stage is the careful examination and record of
facts. The working hypothesis most widely prevalent among the general
public, whether for the purpose of scoffing or for a foundation of
belief, is some crude form of the idea that the persistent intelligence
of persons who have severed their connection with matter is willing, and
occasionally even anxious, to take up temporarily the broken thread, and
so to operate as to transmit, through any channel which may be open, to
us who are still associated with planetary matter, messages which shall
serve as a sign of their continued existence and affection; and that the
biological organism or part of an organism of a li