een a time
when he commenced to create. If at that time there was nothing in
existence but himself, how could he have exerted any force? Force
cannot be exerted except in opposition to force. If God was the
only existence, force could not have been exerted.

_Question_. But don't you think, Colonel, that the materialistic
philosophy, even in the light of your own interpretation, is
essentially pessimistic?

_Answer_. I do not consider it so. I believe that the pessimists
and the optimists are both right. This is the worst possible world,
and this is the best possible world--because it is as it must be.
The present is the child, and the necessary child, of all the past.

_Question_. What have you to say concerning the operations of the
Society for Psychical Research? Do not its facts and conclusions
prove, if not immortality, at least the continuity of life beyond
the grave? Are the millions of Spiritualists deluded?

_Answer_. Of course I have heard and read a great deal about the
doings of the Society; so, I have some knowledge as to what is
claimed by Spiritualists, by Theosophists, and by all other believers
in what are called "spiritual manifestations." Thousands of
wonderful tings have been established by what is called "evidence"
--the testimony of good men and women. I have seen things done
that I could not explain, both by mediums and magicians. I also
know that it is easy to deceive the senses, and that the old saying
"that seeing is believing" is subject to many exceptions. I am
perfectly satisfied that there is, and can be, no force without
matter; that everything that is--all phenomena--all actions and
thoughts, all exhibitions of force, have a material basis--that
nothing exists,--ever did, or ever will exist, apart from matter.
So I am satisfied that no matter ever existed, or ever will, apart
from force.

We think with the same force with which we walk. For every action
and for every thought, we draw upon the store of force that we have
gained from air and food. We create no force; we borrow it all.
As force cannot exist apart from matter, it must be used _with_
matter. It travels only on material roads. It is impossible to
convey a thought to another without the assistance of matter. No
one can conceive of the use of one of our senses without substance.
No one can conceive of a thought in the absence of the senses.
With these conclusions in my mind--in my brain--I have not the