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From the PREFACE.THERE are two or three points which I wish the reader to have clearly in mind before he begins my little book. So I will set them down here, even at the risk of repeating something which is already in the text. Some of these concern my own personal point of view. The only excuse for referring to these is that in treating of matters of this sort, one needs to take account of the personal equation. Very few persons are free from bias, and I wish the reader to take mine into consideration. First. I have never called myself a spiritualist. Those opposed to spiritualism have frequently charged me with being one; while, on the other hand, extreme believers have taken me to task for not assuming the name. My objection to this is not the unpopularity of the movement. If I have done nothing else in my life so far, I think I have proved that I am not afraid to express my opinions. The word spiritualist, as ordinarily used, covers a state of mind which misrepresents my true position. The popular movement called spiritualism has been marked by credulity, a readiness to cover up, if not to defend, fraud, and an enthusiasm far from critical. To call myself a spiritualist, then, would be to take a position in popular estimation which I do not really hold. Secondly. I frankly confess that I am strongly inclined to hold the belief in continued personal existence as capable of proof and in the possibility of at least occasional communication. I have been a student of these matters for twenty-eight years. I have believed that certain things were taking place which were worthy of the most serious study. But I hold that the scientific method is the only method of knowledge. So I have felt that I had no right to express a certainty in this direction until that certainty could be made good, after the most careful, painstaking, scientific investigation. I have never been able to understand how anyone should wish to believe that which is not true. I would much rather wait until the fact of death, and so find out as the result of personal experience, than to accept any hasty conclusions or be the means of misleading other people. The body of the book will make clear to the reader what my present attitude really is. But I consider myself bound, as an honest man, to hold my mind open and ready to accept any new conclusions which may come with adequate credentials....

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