Abstract
MAY I call attention to Prof. Lodge's method of “silencing” me in your issue of January 10. It bears very closely upon this question of the effect of psychical research upon the investigator's reasoning. He quotes the preface of Mr. Podmore's book to show that that gentleman is not a “bigoted upholder of the certainty of telepathy,” and the casual reader would scarcely guess that, in truth, I never asserted that he was. I complained of the very air of open-mindedness in that preface to which Prof. Lodge's quotation witnesses, and showed by an instance, that in the body of the book question-begging occurred which was all the more dangerous on account of the liberal tone of the opening portion. I made no objection to the individual prosecution of psychical research—only to its public recognition before it has produced more definite results than it has done so far. So much for the “silencing.” It shows either that Prof. Lodge has not read my review, or that he has misunderstood it; and in either case it enforces my contention that these investigators are over-hasty. The phrase “irresponsible detractor,” points in the same direction.
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WELLS, H. Peculiarities of Psychical Research. Nature 51, 274 (1895). https://doi.org/10.1038/051274a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/051274a0
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