y
complex laws of which we are just now obtaining a precursory glimpse
and first faint intimation, can possibly be summarized in any single
expression. But the prime importance of telepathy lies in the fact
that here, at last, is an action of unseen, uncomprehended forces
which can be made the subject of actual experiment. Nay, more, the
very fact that in this special direction experiment turns out to be
possible, is in itself an augury that we are on a true scientific
track; for it involves a remarkable coincidence between a theoretical
conclusion and a practical discovery.

In the first place, let us try to realize theoretically what is
involved in the supposition that any sort of invisible intelligence
can become in any way known to us. I speak of the methods of
communication only, without reference to the nature of the supposed
intelligence, beyond the mere fact of its habitual invisibility. It is
plain, I think, that the said intelligence must either so act upon
visible matter as to affect our sense-organs in the ordinary way, or
else must convey messages to our minds by some director process, not
depending on the intervention of our organs of sense.

Now probably no one will assume that the first method will alone be
employed. Even those who insist, with Mr. Wallace, on the objectivity
of apparitions, do not, I think, maintain that it is _only_ by moving
material objects that unseen intelligences affect our minds. Few will
doubt that _if_ there be communication from unseen beings at all, it
will probably be at least partly in the second of the two modes
already specified, that is, that it will reach our minds in some way
more intimate and direct than by ordinary sense-perception. But if
this be so, then there must be in our minds a certain power of
reciprocity. We must be able to receive the message in the same
impalpable way in which the unseen intelligence communicates it.

But if we suppose that man possesses this power of receiving direct or
telepathic messages from unembodied or invisible intelligences, it is
natural to inquire whether he is capable of receiving similar messages
from embodied or visible intelligences. If we cannot find that he is
thus capable, our belief in the supposed messages from the unseen will
be doubly difficult; for we shall have to postulate both the new forms
of intelligence and the new mode of intercourse. But if, on the other
hand, we can show that the mode of intercourse here