A Defense of Modern Spiritualism, by Alfred Rusell Wallace

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Is has been just some pages that I had read, but it seems to be a quite interesting book, considering who wrote it, I had been searching here about him, but had not find anything yet.

Went to find on wikipedia, it seems he was a naturalist, conceived also the theory of evolution and natural selection with its variants from Darwin, in wikipedia just mentions the controversy of his interest in spiritualism, and, does not mention about this book of spiritism, but god forbid!! it does mention that he dare to talk about it in the scientific comunity so he was pretty much exclude. He was also an advocate of the anti-vaccination campaign, in wikipedia is is mentioned as a some sort of apologetically excuse of the rudimentary way of doings. He was also involved in social activism.

It has been interesting to read about him -even though in wikipedia, I had found on the internet other literature about him and from him.

I one of those, the book: A Defence of Modern Spiritualism, by Alfred Rusell Wallace, is mentioned as the "most famous writing on spiritualism appeared in two parts in Volume 15 (n.s.) of the Fortnightly Review in 1874", the book I have in Spanish does not mentions which part it is, is old, but does not appear the year of printing either. Try to find something about the "Fortnightly Review" magazine here, on the forum, but did not found anything yet.

His definition of miracle caught mt attention and did some click while hearing later to the radio talk show about Information Theory.

Miracle: "whichever act or happening that implies necessarily the existence or intervention by an superhuman intelligence. We call superhuman intelligence to the souls or spirits of man, separately from the body." Just a little note, that definition was conceived around 1890.

Nowadays I just can afford cheap books, last Saturday I went to a second hand library to find a $1 (dollar) book, and decided for this one. I have been rediscovering with these old books how people use to think/do in the past, from what I was used to know, from what people had told me. Because I was with the assumption that books from the past were bored and difficult. I am of slowly learning. Its never too late, I suppose :P

It figures to me that the book would be interesting.

 

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Its curious, found the book in English but a different edition?, it differs from the Spanish one?, it lacks the first part that talks about scientific stances about miracles, objections, proofs, need of scientific testimony arguments, etc, at the beginning of the book, since this book came in two parts, every edition consider to insert the part they though would be best?...

Here is an extract, it had been interesting how he approximates this matter with a scientific point of view.

Hadn't reached this part in the spanish one, in this one (English edition), it appears at the beginning while in the Spanish version its at the middle.

Perhaps the most prominent recent attack on Spiritualism
was that in the Quarterly Review for October, 1871, which is
known to have been written by an eminent physiologist, and
did much to blind the public to the real nature of the move-
ment. This article, after giving a light sketch of the reported
phenomena, entered into some details as to planchette- writ-
ing and table-lifting — facts on which no Spiritualist depends
as evidence to a third party— and then proceeded to define its
standpoint as follows :

" Our position, then, is that the so-called spiritual communi-
cations come from within, not from without, the individuals
who suppose themselves to be the recipients of them ; that
they belong to the class termed * subjective ' by physiologists
and psychologists, and that the movements by which they are
expressed, whether the tilting of tables or the writing of
planchettes, are really produced by their own muscular action
exerted independently of their own wills and quite uncon-
sciously to themselves."

Several pages are then devoted to accounts of seances
which, like Lord Amberley's, were mostly failures ; and to the
experiences of a Bath clergyman who believed that the com-
munications came from devils ; and, generally, such weak
and inconclusive phenomena only are adduced as can be
easily explained by the well-worn forinulge of *' unconscious
cerebration," ^' expectant attention," and " unconscious mus-
cular action." A few of the more startling physical phe-
nomena are mentioned merely to be discredited and the judg-
ment of the witnesses impugned ; but no attempt is made to
place before the reader any information as to the amount or
the weight of the testimony to such phenomena, or to the long
series of diverse phenomena which lead up to and confirm
them. Some of the experiments of Prof. Hare and Mr.
Crookes are quoted and criticised in the spirit of assuming
that these experienced physicists were ignorant of the sim-
plest principles of mechanics, and failed to use the most or-
dinary precautions. Of the numerous and varied cases on
record, of heavy bodies being moved without direct or indi-
rect contact by any human being, no notice is taken, except
so far as quoting Mr. C. F. Yarley's statement, that he had
seen, in broad daylight, a small table moved ten feet, with
no one near it but himself, and not touched by him — " as an
example of the manner in which minds of this limited order
are apt to become the dupes of their own imaginings."

This article, like the others here referred to, shows in the
writer an utter forgetfulness of the maxim, that an argu-
ment is not answered till it is answered at its best. Amid
the vast mass of recorded facts now accumulated by Spiritu-
alists, there is, of course, much that is weak and inconclu-
sive, much that is of no value as evidence, except to those
who have independent reasons for faith in them. From this
undigested mass it is the easiest thing in the world to pick
out arguments that can be refuted and facts that can be ex-
plained away ; but what is that to the purpose ? It is not
these that have convinced any one ; but those weightier, oft-
repeated and oft-tested facts which the writers referred to in-
variably ignore.

Prof. Tyndall has also given the world (in his "Frag-
ments of Science," published in 1871) some account of his at-
tempt to investigate these phenomena. Again, we have a
minute record of a seance which was a failure, and in which
the Professor, like Lord Amberley, easily imposed on some
too credulous Spiritualists by improvising a few manifesta-
tions of his own. The article in question is dated as far back
as 1864. We may therefore conclude that the Professor has
not seen much of the subject ; nor can he have made himself
acquainted with what others have seen and carefully verified,
or he would hardly have thought his communication worthy
of the place it occupies among original researches and posi-
tive additions to human knowledge. Both its facts and its
reasonings have been well replied to by Mr. Patrick Eraser
Alexander, in his little work entitled " Spiritualism ; a Nar-
rative and a Discussion," which we recommend to those who
care to see how a very acute yet unprejudiced mind looks at
the phenomena, and how inconclusive, even from a scientific
standpoint, are tlie experiences adduced by Prof. Tyndall.

The discussion in the Pall Mall Gazette in 1868, and a con-
siderable private correspondence, indicates that scientific men
almost invariably assume that, in this inquiry, they should be
permitted, at the very outset, to impose conditions ; and if,
under such conditions, nothing happens, they consider it a
proof of imposture or delusion. But they well know that, in
all other branches of research, Nature, not they, determines
the essential conditions, without a compliance with which no
experiment will succeed. These conditions have to be learnt
by a patient questioning of Nature, and they are different for
each branch of science. How much more may they be ex-
pected to differ in an inquiry which deals with subtle forces
of the nature of which the physicist is wliolly and absolutely
ignorant ! To ask to be allowed to deal with these unknown
phenomena as he has hitherto dealt with known phenomena,
is practically to prejudge the question, since it assumes that
both are governed by the same laws.

From the sketch which has now been given of the recent
treatment of the subject by popular and scientific writers,
we can summarize pretty accurately their mental attitude in
regard to it. They have seen very little of the phenomena
themselves, and they cannot believe that others have seen
much more. They have encountered people who are easily
deceived by a little unexpected trickery, and they conclude
that the convictions of Spiritualists generally are founded on
phenomena produced, either consciously or unconsciously, in
a similar way. They are so firmly convinced, on a 'priori
grounds, that the more remarkable phenomena said to hap-
pen do not really happen, that they will back their convic-
tion against the direct testimony of any body of men, prefer-
ring to believe that they are all the victims of some mysteri-
ous delusion whenever im posture is out of the question. To
influence persons in this frame of mind, it is evident that
more personal testimony to isolated facts is utterly useless.
They have, to use the admirable expression of Dr. Carpenter,
" no place in the existing fabric of their thought into which
such facts can be fitted." It is necessary, therefore, to modi-
fy the " fabric of thought " itself ; and it appears to the pres-
ent writer that this can best be done by a general historic
sketch of the subject, and by showing, by separate lines of
inquiry, how wide and varied is the evidence, and how re-
markably these lines converge toward one uniform conclusion.
The endeavor will be made to indicate, by typical ex-
amples of each class of evidence and without unnecessary
detail, the cumulative force of the argument.