it is
not always so, but I do say that you have as yet given not a particle of
proof that it is so, while scattered through your paper is plenty of
evidence which points to its being something quite different. Such are
the cases when people hold the rod for the first time and have never
seen a dowser work, yet the rod turns, over water, to their great
astonishment, etc. etc.

Your conclusion that it is "clairvoyance" is a good provisional
conclusion, but till we know what clairvoyance really is it explains
nothing, and is merely another way of stating the _fact_.

I believe all true clairvoyance to be spirit impression, and that all
true dowsing is the same--that is, when in either case it cannot be
thought-transference, but even this I believe to be also, for the most
part, if not wholly, spirit impression.--Believe me yours very truly,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

* * * * *

TO PROF. BARRETT

_Parkstone, Dorset. February 17, 1901._

My dear Barrett,--I am rather sorry you wrote to any one of the Society
for Psychical Research people about my being asked to be President,
because I should certainly feel compelled to decline it. I never go,
willingly, to London now, and should never attend meetings, so pray say
no more about it. Besides, I am so widely known as a "crank" and a
"faddist" that my being President would injure the Society, as much as
Lord Rayleigh would benefit it, so pray do not put any obstacle in _his_
way, though of course there is no necessity to beg him as a favour to
be the successor of Sidgwick, Crookes and Myers....

* * * * *

TO REV. J.B. HENDERSON

_Parkstone, Dorset. August 10, 1893._

Dear Sir,--Although I look upon Christianity as originating in an
unusual spiritual influx, I am not disposed to consider [it] as
_essentially_ different from those which originated other great
religious and philanthropic movements. It is probable that in _your_
sense of the word I am not a Christian.--Believe me yours very truly,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

* * * * *

TO MR. J.W. MARSHALL

_Parkstone, Dorset. March 6, 1894._

My dear Marshall,--We were very much grieved to hear of your sad loss in
a letter from Violet. Pray accept our sincere sympathy for Mrs. Marshall
and yourself.

Death makes us feel, in a way nothing else can do, the mystery of the
universe. Last autumn I lost my sister, and she was the