s belief, he told Sidgwick, that if the teachings of the
Bible were true--if there existed a spiritual world which in days of old
had been manifest to mankind--then such a world should be manifest now.
And one beautiful, starlit evening, when they were strolling together
through the university grounds, he put to his old master the pointed
question:

"Do you think that, although tradition, intuition, metaphysics, have
failed to solve the riddle of the universe, there is still a chance of
solving it by drawing from actual observable phenomena--ghosts, spirits,
whatsoever it may be--valid knowledge as to a world unseen?"

Gazing gravely into the eager face of his companion, and weighing his
words with the caution that was characteristic of him, Sidgwick replied
that he had indeed entertained this thought; that, although not over
hopeful of the result, he believed such an inquiry should be undertaken,
notwithstanding the unpleasant notoriety it would entail on those
embarking in it. Would he, then, make the quest, and would he permit
Myers to pursue it by his side? Long and earnestly the two friends
talked together, and when their walk ended, that December night in 1869,
psychical research had at last come definitely into being.

In the beginning, however, progress was painfully slow and uncertain.
"Our methods," as Myers afterward explained, "were all to make. In those
early days we were more devoid of precedents, of guidance, even of
criticism that went beyond mere expressions of contempt, than is now
readily conceived."

It was realized that no mere analysis of alleged experiences in the past
would do; that what was needed was a rigid scrutiny of present-day
manifestations of a seemingly supernormal character, and the collection
of a mass of well authenticated evidence sufficient to justify
inferences and conclusions. Earnestly and bravely the friends went to
work, and before long had the satisfaction of finding an invaluable
assistant in the person of Edmund Gurney, another Cambridge man and an
enthusiast in all matters metaphysical.

At first, to be sure, Gurney entered into psychical research in a
half-hearted, quizzical way, expecting to be amused rather than
instructed. And he derived little encouragement from the investigations
carried on by Sidgwick, Myers, and himself in the field of spiritistic
mediumship. Fraud seemed always to be at the bottom of the phenomena
produced in the seance room. But his interest