The number of more or less convincing proofs which we have obtained is by this time very great. Some of them appeal more to one person, some to another; but taking them all together every possible ground of suspicion or doubt seems to the family to be now removed. And it is legitimate to say, further, that partly through Raymond's activity a certain amount of help of the same kind has been afforded to other families. Incidentally it has been difficult to avoid brief reference to a few early instances of this, in that part of the record now published. For the most part, however, these and a great number of other things are omitted; and I ought perhaps to apologise for the quantity which I have thought proper to include. Some home critics think that it would have been wiser to omit a great deal more, so as to lighten the book. But one can only act in accordance with one's own judgment; and the book, if it is to achieve what it aims at, cannot be a light one. So, instead of ending it here, I propose to add a quantity of more didactic material--expressing my own views on the subject of Life and Death--the result of many years of thought and many kinds of experience. Some people may prefer the details in Part II; but others who have not the patience to read Part II may tolerate the more general considerations adduced in Part III--the "Life and Death" portion--which can be read without any reference to Raymond or to Parts I and II. [Footnote 29: It is noteworthy, in connexion with these remarks, that Honor and Alec were sitting for a short time at Mariemont just about now.--O. J. L.] [Footnote 30: This is the first mention of a Ralph--presumably the one whose people, not known to us personally, had had excellent table sittings with Mrs. Leonard. See Chapter XII.--O. J. L.] [Footnote 31: This is too late to be of any use, but 'Yacht' appears to be the sort of answer they had wanted to 'Argonauts.'--O. J. L.] PART THREE: LIFE AND DEATH "Eternal form shall still divide The eternal soul from all beside; And I shall know him when we meet." Tennyson, _In Memoriam_. INTRODUCTION In this "Life and Death" portion a definite side is unobtrusively taken in connexion with two outstanding controversies; and though the treatment is purposely simple and uncontroversial, the author is under no delusion that every philosophical reader will agree with him. Explicit argumentation on either side is no novelty, but this is not the place for argument; moreover, the opposing views have already been presented with ample clearness by skilled disputants. Briefly then it may be said that Interactionism rather than Epiphenomenalism or Parallelism is the side taken in one controversy. And the non-material nature of life--the real existence of some kind of vital essence or vivifying principle as a controlling and guiding entity--is postulated in another: though the author never calls it a force or an energy.