e idea that Mrs Piper could obtain the information she gives by
means of inquiries made abroad is _a priori_ absurd to anyone who has
studied the phenomena with any care. Her sitters, whom she received
under assumed names, to the number of several hundreds, came from all
points of the United States, from England, and even from other parts of
Europe. The greater number passed through the hands of Professor James
and Dr Hodgson, and all necessary precautions were taken that Mrs Piper
should see them for the first time only a few moments before the
commencement of the trance. Indeed, they were often only introduced
after the trance had begun. These precautions have never injured the
results. The sittings, at least those which were not spoilt by the
medium's state of health, have always been marked by a large number of
perfectly accurate details.

If Mrs Piper obtained the information through spies in her employment,
these spies would be obliged to send her private details about all the
families in the United States and Europe, since she hardly ever knows to
whom she will give a sitting the next day. Dr Hodgson arranges for her.
Formerly Professor James did this, at least in a large number of cases.
Now the scientific honesty of Dr Hodgson or Professor James (I mention
this only for foreign readers who may not be acquainted with the
reputation of these two gentlemen) can no more be suspected than that of
a Charcot, a Berthelot, or a Pasteur. Then, what interest could they
have in deceiving us? These experiments had cost them considerable sums,
not to speak of time and trouble; they have never profited by them.

Again, Mrs Piper is without fortune. She would not have the means to pay
such a police as she would need. She is paid for her sittings, it is
true; she gains about two hundred pounds a year, but such a police
service would cost her thousands. But there was an excellent way of
putting the hypothesis of fraud out of question; it was to take Mrs
Piper out of her habitual environment, to a country where she knew
nobody. This was done. Certain members of the Society for Psychical
Research invited her to England, to give sittings in their houses. She
consented without any difficulty. She arrived in England on 19th
November 1889, _on_ the Cunard Company's steamer _Scythia_. Frederic
Myers, whose recent loss is deplored by psychology, should have gone to
the docks and have taken her to his house at Cambridge. But at the last