ory of one grain of sand we would know the history of the
universe. I regard the universe as a unit. Everything that happens
is only a different aspect of that unit. There is no room for the
marvelous--there is no space in which it can operate--there is no
fulcrum for its lever. The universe is already occupied with the
natural. The ground is all taken.

It may be that all these people are perfectly honest, and imagine
that they have had wonderful experiences. I know but little of
the Theosophists--but little of the Spiritualists. It has always
seemed to me that the messages received by Spiritualists are
remarkably unimportant--that they tell us but little about the
other world, and just as little about this--that if all the messages
supposed to have come from angelic lips, or spiritual lips, were
destroyed, certainly the literature of the world would lose but
little. Some of these people are exceedingly intelligent, and
whenever they say any good thing, I imagine that it was produced
in their brain, and that it came from no other world. I have no
right to pass upon their honesty. Most of them may be sincere.
It may be that all the founders of religions have really supposed
themselves to be inspired--believed that they held conversations
with angels and Gods. It seems to be easy for some people to get
in such a frame of mind that their thoughts become realities, their
dreams substances, and their very hopes palpable.

Personally, I have no sort of confidence in these messages from
the other world. There may be mesmeric forces--there may be an
odic force. It may be that some people can tell of what another
is thinking. I have seen no such people--at least I am not acquainted
with them--and my own opinion is that no such persons exist.

_Question_. Do you believe the spirits of the dead come back to
earth?

_Answer_. I do not. I do not say that the spirits do not come
back. I simply say that I know nothing on the subject. I do not
believe in such spirits, simply for the reason that I have no
evidence upon which to base such a belief. I do not say there are
no such spirits, for the reason that my knowledge is limited, and
I know of no way of demonstrating the non-existence of spirits.

It may be that man lives forever, and it may be that what we call
life ends with what we call death. I have had no experience beyond
the grave, and very little back of birth. Consequently, I cannot
say that I hav