Your conclusion that it is "clairvoyance" is a good provisional conclusion, but till we know what clairvoyance really is it explains nothing, and is merely another way of stating the _fact_. I believe all true clairvoyance to be spirit impression, and that all true dowsing is the same--that is, when in either case it cannot be thought-transference, but even this I believe to be also, for the most part, if not wholly, spirit impression.--Believe me yours very truly, ALFRED R. WALLACE. * * * * * TO PROF. BARRETT _Parkstone, Dorset. February 17, 1901._ My dear Barrett,--I am rather sorry you wrote to any one of the Society for Psychical Research people about my being asked to be President, because I should certainly feel compelled to decline it. I never go, willingly, to London now, and should never attend meetings, so pray say no more about it. Besides, I am so widely known as a "crank" and a "faddist" that my being President would injure the Society, as much as Lord Rayleigh would benefit it, so pray do not put any obstacle in _his_ way, though of course there is no necessity to beg him as a favour to be the successor of Sidgwick, Crookes and Myers.... * * * * * TO REV. J.B. HENDERSON _Parkstone, Dorset. August 10, 1893._ Dear Sir,--Although I look upon Christianity as originating in an unusual spiritual influx, I am not disposed to consider [it] as _essentially_ different from those which originated other great religious and philanthropic movements. It is probable that in _your_ sense of the word I am not a Christian.--Believe me yours very truly, ALFRED R. WALLACE. * * * * * TO MR. J.W. MARSHALL _Parkstone, Dorset. March 6, 1894._ My dear Marshall,--We were very much grieved to hear of your sad loss in a letter from Violet. Pray accept our sincere sympathy for Mrs. Marshall and yourself. Death makes us feel, in a way nothing else can do, the mystery of the universe. Last autumn I lost my sister, and she was the only relative I have been with at the last. For the moment it seems unnatural and incredible that the living self with its special idiosyncrasies you have known so long can have left the body, still more unnatural that it should (as so many now believe) have utterly ceased to exist and become nothingness! With all my belief in, and knowledge of, Spiritualism, I have, however, occasional qualms of doubt, the remnants of my original deeply ingrained scepticism; but my reason goes to support the psychical and spiritualistic phenomena in telling me that there _must_ be a hereafter for us all....--Believe me yours very sincerely, ALFRED R. WALLACE. * * * * * TO DR. EDWIN SMITH _Parkstone, Dorset. October 19, 1899._