he
English psychologists call an automatist, which is to say, a person who
appears at times to lend her organism to beings imperceptible to our
senses, in order to enable them to manifest themselves to us. I say that
it appears to be thus, not that it is so. It is difficult for many
reasons to admit the existence of these problematical beings. We shall
deny it or remain sceptical till the day comes when the evidence proves
too strong for us.

Mrs Piper's mediumship is one of the most perfect which has ever been
discovered. In any case, it is the one which has been the most
perseveringly, lengthily and carefully studied by highly competent men.
Members of the Society for Psychical Research have studied the phenomena
presented by Mrs Piper during fifteen consecutive years. They have
taken all the precautions necessitated by the strangeness of the case,
the circumstances, and the surrounding scepticism; they have faced and
minutely weighed all hypotheses. In future the most orthodox
psychologists will be unable to ignore these phenomena when constructing
their systems; they will be compelled to examine them and find an
explanation for them, which their preconceived ideas will sometimes
render it difficult to do.

Praise and warm gratitude are due to the men who have studied the case
of Mrs Piper. But we owe no less to Mrs Piper, who has lent herself to
the investigations with perfect good faith and pliability. None of those
who have had any continued intercourse with her have a shadow of doubt
of her sincerity. She has not taken the view that she was exercising a
new kind of priesthood; she has understood that she was an interesting
anomaly for science, and she has allowed science to study her. A vulgar
soul would not have done this. Her example, and also that of Mlle.
Smith, of whom Professor Flournoy has lately written,[3] deserve to be
followed. If the strange phenomena of mediumship have not yet been
sufficiently studied by as many persons as could be wished, scientific
men are chiefly to blame for the fact. Many of them regard with
disfavour facts which upset painfully-erected systems on which they have
relied for years. But the mediums are also to blame, for their vanity is
sometimes great, and their sincerity frequently doubtful.

Mrs Piper is American. Her husband is employed in a large shop in
Boston. Although of a home-loving disposition, Mrs Piper has travelled;
she has several times consented to leave her or