That the knowledge here discussed may be applied practically and that material substances may thus be rendered weightless and so removed from the influence of gravitation is not a mere theory. It is an actual fact: levitation occurs. What now remains to be done is to harness the acquired knowledge and experience into the service of aerial navigation. Certain Progressive Circles are at work. Whether success will be achieved first by Dr. Crawford in his Goligher laboratory, or by Mr. Edison in his “spook factory” where the workmen agree to become recluses for a period of many months, or by the capable director of the still more mysterious establishments in Florence where many a medium has been passed under review during the last two years, or by, haply, some other investigator of whom the present writer has not yet heard, is a matter that must for the time being be allowed to rest on the knees of the gods. What has already been accomplished in public and the remarkable advances now taking place privately are a sufficient answer to the question _Cui bono?_ Speaking with the dead is a practice that is proving of benefit to England and the world at large. SCIENS. HOW TO SPEAK WITH THE DEAD CHAPTER I DO THE DEAD STILL LIVE? If survival after what is called “death” be not a fact, the idea of communication with the dead becomes nonsensical. The first question, therefore, that has to be asked in any consideration of the subject is--Do the Dead still live? This enquiry may be addressed both to Religion and to Science; and in both cases it will be found that an affirmative reply is given. So far as Religion is concerned the case is simple enough. It is a matter of common knowledge that nearly all the inhabitants of the world, including a great majority of its scientific men, accept and profess some form of religion. It is also a matter of common knowledge that all religions teach the doctrine of survival; that is to say, they teach that in every individual human being there exists a soul which becomes separated from the body at death and continues to live on in some form of existence while the body decays. The belief, accordingly, of the great majority of mankind is now, and always has been in historical times, that the answer “Yes” must be given to the question--Do the Dead still live?