marked divergences of opinion. Wherever this divergence exists, I shall endeavour to sum up the evidence as fairly as I can: but it must be remembered that the conclusions set down are my own, for which my colleagues are in no way responsible.
Another misconception of the nature of our work should perhaps be referred to. It is objected, of recent years, by some scientific critics that the Society for Psychical Research has no justification for its existence. Some of the phenomena which it investigates, say these critics, are subject-matter for the psychologist or the physicist; the remainder can be left to the police court. The best justification for our work is that it is now possible for such a contention to be put forward. Twenty-five years ago the psychologist and the physicist showed no eagerness to come forward; and even the interference of the police court was intermittent, and frequently ill advised. The phenomena which we have investigated have proved no doubt to be heterogeneous, but until they were investigated their relations could not be discovered. It is obvious now that some of them can be subsumed under existing branches of science. But, to take an illustration, until some disposition is shown by medical men or professional psychologists to undertake the task of investigating the hallucinations of the sane, it is surely premature to brand the investigators of the Society for Psychical Research as usurpers. A brief survey, however, of what has
