ut Joan of Arc. The last two are far the
best, Mrs. Oliphant's as a genuine sympathetic _history_, Lang's as a
fine realistic story ("A Monk of Fife"). Jeanne was really perhaps the
most beautiful character in authentic history, and the one that most
conclusively demonstrates spirit-guidance, and both Mrs. Oliphant and A.
Lang bring this out admirably.... --Yours very faithfully,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

* * * * *

TO MRS. FISHER

_Parkstone, Dorset. September 14, 1896._

My dear Mrs. Fisher,--I have much pleasure in signing your application
for the Psychical Research Society, though the majority of the active
members are so absurdly and illogically sceptical that you will not find
much instruction in their sayings. Mr. Podmore's report in the
last-issued _Proceedings_ is a good illustration....

We have all been in Switzerland this year. Violet, her mother, and five
lady friends all went together to a rather newly-discovered place,
Adelboden, a branch valley from that going up to the Gemmi Pass by
Kandersteg. I went first for a week to Davos, to give a lecture to Dr.
Lunn's party, and enjoyed myself much, chiefly owing to the company of
Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, one of the most witty, earnest, advanced, and
estimable men I have ever met. Dr. Lunn himself is very jolly, and we
had also Mr. Le Gallienne, the poet and critic, and between them we had
a very brilliant table-talk. Mr. Haweis was also there, and one
afternoon he and I talked for two hours about Spiritualism. He is a
thorough spiritualist, and preaches it....--Yours very sincerely,

ALFRED R. WALLACE. TO MRS. FISHER

_Parkstone, Dorset. April 9, 1897._

My dear Mrs. Fisher,--I have tried several Reincarnation and
Theosophical books, but _cannot_ read them or take any interest in them.
They are so purely imaginative, and do not seem to me rational. Many
people are captivated by it--I think most people who like a grand,
strange, complex theory of man and nature, given with authority--people
who if religious would be Roman Catholics. Crookes gave a suggestive and
interesting, but in some ways rather misleading address as President of
the Psychical Research Society. I liked Oliver Lodge's address to the
Spiritualists' Association better....--Yours very sincerely,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

* * * * *

In 1891, at the urgent request of Prof. H. Sidgwick, President of the
Society for Psychical Resea