Dr. A. Russel Wallace, F.R.S., L.L.D., D.C.L.

Photographs of Invisible Beings.

No name is better known amongst Britishers than that of Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, F.R.S., L.L.D., D.C.L., the foremost living European naturalist, who simultaneously with, and independent of, Darwin, worked out the theory of Evolution which is to-day accepted by all Scientific minds. It was as far back as 1851—at which time he was a Materialist—that he commenced his investigations into these remarkable phenomena, but it was not for some years afterwards that he became convinced of their Spiritual origin, and then only after having instituted the most conclusive tests and conducted the most exhaustive inquiries. His experiences were in many respects similar to those of Sir William Crookes, and therefore there is no necessity to go into details. I may mention, however, that he has several references in his book, "A Defence of Modern Spiritualism," to the arrival of flowers in his presence by what he declares to be the agency of invisible carriers, and one or two instances may be related as an addition to the variety of the phenomena already set forth.

Describing one of his experiences under strictly test conditions, he says that "upon a bare table, in a small closed room, a quantity of flowers appeared consisting of Anemones, Tulips, Chrysanthemums, Chinese Primroses, and several Ferns. They were as absolutely fresh as if gathered from a conservatory, and were covered with a fine, cold dew. Not a petal was crumpled or broken, not the most delicate point or pinnule of the ferns was out of place." Dr. Wallace dried and preserved the whole of them.

Similar phenomena have occurred hundreds of times, he says; sometimes the flowers have been in vast quantities heaped upon the table. Often flowers and fruit asked for are brought. "A friend of mine asked for a sunflower," he adds, "and one 6ft. high fell upon the table, having a large mass of earth about its roots." "Surely these are phenomena about which there can be no mistake," he exclaims. "What theories have ever been proposed by our Scientific teachers which even attempt to account for them? Delusion it cannot be, for the flowers are real and can be preserved and imposture under the conditions imposed is even less credible."

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He further tells us that he has carried out many tests in spirit photography, and avers that this has now been successfully done under such convincing conditions that "the evidence is of such a nature as to satisfy anyone who will take the trouble to examine it." He thereupon proceeds to lay this evidence before the reader, and avers that "clearly recognisable likenesses of deceased persons and friends have often been obtained." He cites these instances in detail and says he has himself gone secretly to a photographer and "obtained a most unmistakable likeness of a deceased relative." These results have been obtained both with professional and amateur photographers, and Dr. Wallace declares that "they establish as a Scientific fact the objective existence of invisible human forms and definite invisible actinic images."

He reviews with a masterly pen the vast mass of Scientific evidence in support of the theory that the invisible and visible worlds interblend, and in conclusion states—"My position, therefore, is that Spiritualistic phenomena in their entirety do not require further confirmation. They are proved quite as well as any facts are proved in other Sciences; and it is not denial or quibbling that can disprove any of them, but only fresh facts and accurate deductions from those facts. This being the state of the case as regards evidence and proof, we are fully justified in taking the facts (and with them the Spiritual theory as the only tenable one) as being fully established."