Despite his feelings of disbelief, Wallace suspended judgement. His experience with mesmerism had taught him that “there were mysteries connected with the human mind which modern science ignored because it could not explain” (Wallace 1896, p. 131). So when Wallace came back to England in 1862, he determined to look carefully into spiritualism.
First Spiritualistic experiences
Initially, Wallace contented himself with studying reports. But in the summer of 1865, he began to directly witness spiritualistic phenomena. His first experiences took place at the home of a friend, described by Wallace as “a sceptic, a man of science, and a lawyer” (Wallace 1896, p. 132). Wallace, along with his host and members of his host’s family, sat around a large, round table, upon which they placed their hands. Wallace observed inexplicable movements of the table and heard equally inexplicable sounds of rapping (Wallace 1896, pp. 132–133).
On a friend’s recommendation, Wallace then visited Mrs. Marshall, a medium who gave public demonstrations of phenomena stronger than those Wallace had yet seen. Wallace paid several visits to Mrs. Marshall in London, usually in the company of a skeptical friend with a scientific background. Among the numerous physical phenomena he witnessed were levitation of a small table one foot off the ground for a period of twenty seconds, strange movements of a guitar, inexplicable sliding movements of chairs across the floor, and levitation of a chair with a woman sitting upon it. Wallace noted: “There was no room for any possible trick or deception. In each case, before we began, we turned up the tables and chairs, and saw that there was no connection between them and the floor, and we placed them where we pleased before we sat down. Several of the phenomena occurred entirely under our own hands, and quite disconnected from the ‘medium’” (Wallace 1896, p. 136). At Mrs. Marshall’s, Wallace also saw writing mysteriously appear on pieces of paper placed under the table and heard the spelling out by raps of intelligible messages. These messages contained names and other facts of a personal nature, not likely to have been known by the medium (Wallace 1896, pp. 137–138). Wallace himself received a message that contained his dead brother’s name, the place where he died in Brazil, and the name of the last person to see him alive (Wallace 1896, p. 137).
As a result of such experiences, Wallace eventually became a convinced spiritualist. Critics suggested that Wallace was predisposed to spiritualism because of religious leanings (Wallace 1896, p. vi). But Wallace, describing his view of life at the time he encountered spiritualism, wrote: “I ought to state that for twenty-five years I had been an utter sceptic as to the existence of any preter-human or super-human intelligences, and that I never for a moment contemplated the possibility that the marvels related by Spiritualists could be literally true. If I have now changed my opinion, it is simply by the force of evidence. It is from no dread of annihilation that I have gone into this subject; it is from no inordinate longing for eternal existence that I have come to believe in facts which render this highly probable, if they do not actually prove it” (Wallace1896, p. 132).
“the Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural”
In 1866, Wallace published in a periodical an extended explanation of spiritualism called “The Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural.” The heart of the essay was a summary of scientifically documented evidence for psychical phenomena, such as spirit messages. Wallace later brought out the essay in booklet form, and sent it to many of his scientific friends and acquaintances.
Thomas Henry Huxley, who received a copy, replied: “I am neither shocked nor disposed to issue a Commission of Lunacy against you. It may all be 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, is not more interesting to me than any other. As for investigating the matter—I have half a dozen investigations of infinitely greater interest to me
—to which any spare time I may have will be devoted. I give it up for the same reason I abstain from chess—it’s too amusing to be fair work and too hard work to be amusing” (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 280).
Wallace did not object to Huxley spending his time on research of his own choice, but he did protest Huxley’s denigration of his work. “The objection as to ‘gossip’ was quite irrelevant as regards a book which had not one line of ‘gossip’ in it, but was wholly devoted to a summary of the evidence for facts—physical and mental—of a most extraordinary character, given on the testimony of twenty-two well-known men, mathematicians, astronomers, chemists, physiologists, lawyers, clergymen, and authors, many of world-wide reputation” (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 280). In his booklet, Wallace (1896, pp. 35–36) had listed them as: “Prof. A. De Morgan, mathematician and logician; Prof. Challis, astronomer; Prof. Wm. Gregory, M. D., chemist; Prof. Robert Hare, M. D., chemist; Prof. Herbert Mayo, M. D., F. R. S., physiologist; Mr. Rutter, chemist; Dr. Elliotson, physiologist; Dr. Haddock, physician; Dr. Gully, physician; Judge Edmonds, lawyer; Lord Lyndhurst, lawyer; Charles Bray, philosophical writer, Archbishop Whately, clergyman; Rev. W. Kerr, M. A., clergyman; Col. E. B. Wilbraham, military man; Sir Richard Burton, explorer, linguist, and author; Nassau E. Senior, political economist; W. M. Thackeray, author; T. A. Trollope, author; R. D. Owen, author and diplomatist; W. Howitt, author; S. C. Hall, author.”
In another exchange with Huxley, Wallace pointed out that most people who daily depart this world are addicted to gossip. One should not therefore expect that their communications with earthbound friends should provide examples of the most polished discourse (Wallace 1874; in Smith 1991, pp. 90–91).
Dr. John D. Tyndall wrote to Wallace about his spiritualist publication: “I see the usual keen powers of your mind displayed in the treatment of this question. But mental power may show itself, whether its material be facts or fictions. It is not lack of logic that I see in your book, but a willingness that I deplore to accept data which are unworthy of your attention. This is frank—is it not?” (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 281).
Another scientist who received Wallace’s pamphlet “The Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural” was A. De Morgan, professor of mathematics at University College. Already a spiritualist, De Morgan wrote a letter to Wallace, warning him to expect difficulties in demonstrating spiritualistic effects to scientists. “There is much reason to think,” wrote De Morgan “that the state of mind of the inquirer has something—be it internal or external—to do with the power of the phenomena to manifest themselves. . . . Now the man of science comes to the subject in utter incredulity of the phenomena, and a wish to justify it. I think it very possible that the phenomena may be withheld. In some cases this has happened, as I have heard from good sources” (Wallace 1905, v. 2, p. 284).
Wallace nevertheless invited leading scientists and other learned persons to witness spiritualist phenomena, advising them that several sittings would be required. This seems reasonable, because most experimental work in science does require repeated trials. Dr. W. B. Carpenter and Dr. John Tyndall came for one sitting each, during which only very mild, unimpressive phenomena occurred. They refused Wallace’s requests to attend more sittings (Wallace 1905, v. 2, pp. 278–279). Most scientists refused to come at all. G. H. Lewes, for example, was “too much occupied and too incredulous to give any time to the inquiry” (Wallace