range? But spiritualistic phenomena were only the accidental modes in
which the other side of evolution struck in upon his vision. They set
him upon the other track and opened up to him the vaster kingdom of life
which is without beginning, limit or end; in which perchance the
sequence of life from the simple to the complex, from living germ to
living God, may also be the law of growth. It is in the light of this
ultimate end that we must judge the stumbling steps guided by raps and
visions which led him to the ladder set up to the stars by which
connection was established with the inner reality of being. That was the
distinctive contribution which he made to human beliefs over and above
his advocacy of pure Darwinism.

* * * * *

Reading almost everything he could obtain upon occult phenomena, Wallace
found that there was such a mass of testimony by men of the highest
character and ability in every department of human learning that he
thought it would be useful to bring this together in a connected sketch
of the whole subject. This he did, and sent it to a secularist magazine,
in which it appeared in 1866, under the title of "The Scientific Aspect
of the Supernatural." He sent a copy to Huxley.

* * * * *

TO T.H. HUXLEY

_9 St. Mark's Crescent, Regent's Park, N.W. November 22, 1866._

Dear Huxley,--I have been writing a little on a _new branch_ of
Anthropology, and as I have taken your name in vain on the title-page I
send you a copy. I fear you will be much shocked, but I can't help it;
and before finally deciding that we are all mad I hope you will come and
see some very curious phenomena which we can show you, _among friends
only_. We meet every Friday evening, and hope you will come sometimes,
as we wish for the fullest investigation, and shall be only too grateful
to you or anyone else who will show us how and where we are deceived.

* * * * *

T.H. HUXLEY TO A.R. WALLACE

[? _November, 1886._]

Dear Wallace,--I am neither shocked nor disposed to issue a Commission
of Lunacy against you. It may be all true, for anything I know to the
contrary, but really I cannot get up any interest in the subject. I
never cared for gossip in my life, and disembodied gossip, such as these
worthy ghosts supply their friends with, is not more interesting to me
than any other. As for investigating the matter, I have half-a-doz