sturbing problems, may
exist in some of us who least expect it.

The physical phenomena which occurred in the presence of Stainton Moses
were numerous and varied.

These phenomena cannot be due to the subconsciousness of Stainton Moses,
and they seem to point to external intervention more clearly than do the
communications he has left us. The best known of these communications is
entitled _Spirit Teachings_. It is a long dialogue between self-styled
disincarnated spirits and Stainton Moses. Stainton Moses also wrote
automatically without being entranced. _Spirit Teachings_, among other
things, was obtained in this way. The medium is still saturated with his
theological education; he discusses, he cavils, and his spirit-guides
show him the absurdity of a great part of his beliefs. We know that his
robust faith began to be shaken by doubt about the time when his
mediumship revealed itself. If we left the above-mentioned phenomena out
of consideration, we might not unreasonably be tempted to see in these
dialogues only a doubling of personality; on one hand the personality of
the clergyman defending his doctrines foot by foot, on the other hand
the personality of the reasoning man formulating his own objections to
them.

The self-styled spirit-guides of Stainton Moses formed a united group
obeying one chief, who called himself Imperator. Rector, Doctor,
Prudens, were his subordinates. Naturally, they asserted they were the
souls of men who had lived on earth; the above names were borrowed for
the circumstance; their real names were revealed to Stainton Moses, who
wrote them in one of his note-books, but always refused to publish them.
I beg the reader to observe this detail, which will become important
later.

Stainton Moses had the temperament of an apostle but not at all that of
a man of science. The contents of the messages interested him much more
than their origin. The former clergyman liked better to discuss a
doubtful text than patiently to accumulate facts while guarding himself
in all possible ways against fraud. Certainly he was scrupulously
honourable; no conscious falsehood ever passed his lips, but his
temperament makes his interpretations doubtful, and with reason. He was
one of the first members of the Society for Psychical Research, but the
methods which the Society adopted from the beginning were not of a kind
to please him; for his part, he believed that abundant proofs already
existed, and he saw no