“You can’t have less than nothing. They ignore them altogether. Some time ago I had a series of cases of telepathic _rapport_ which I wished to lay before the Royal Society. My colleague Wilson, the zoologist, also had a paper which he proposed to read. They went in together. His was accepted and mine rejected. The title of his paper was ‘The Reproductive System of the Dung-Beetle.’” There was a general laugh. “Quite right, too,” said Polter. “The humble dung-beetle was at least a fact. All this psychic stuff is not.” “No doubt you have good grounds for your views,” chirped the mischievous Millworthy, a mild youth with a velvety manner. “I have little time for solid reading, so I should like to ask you which of Dr. Crawford’s three books you consider the best?” “I never heard of the fellow.” Millworthy simulated intense surprise. “Good Heavens, man! Why, he is _the_ authority. If you want pure laboratory experiments those are the books. You might as well lay down the law about zoology and confess that you had never heard of Darwin.” “This is not science,” said Polter, emphatically. “What is really not science,” said Atkinson, with some heat, “is the laying down of the law on matters which you have not studied. It is talk of that sort which has brought me to the edge of Spiritualism, when I compare this dogmatic ignorance with the earnest search for truth conducted by the great Spiritualists. Many of them took twenty years of work before they formed their conclusions.” “But their conclusions are worthless because they are upholding a formed opinion.” “But each of them fought a long fight before he formed that opinion. I know a few of them, and there is not one who did not take a lot of convincing.” Polter shrugged his shoulders. “Well, they can have their spooks if it makes them happier, so long as they let me keep my feet firm on the ground.” “Or stuck in the mud,” said Atkinson. “I would rather be in the mud with sane people than in the air with lunatics,” said Polter. “I know some of these Spiritualist people and I believe that you can divide them equally into fools and rogues.” Malone had listened with interest and then with a growing indignation. Now he suddenly took fire. “Look here, Polter,” he said, turning his chair towards the company, “it is fools and dolts like you which are holding back the world’s progress. You admit that you have read nothing of this, and I’ll swear that you have seen nothing. Yet you use the position and the name which you have won in other matters in order to discredit a number of people who, whatever they may be, are certainly very earnest and very thoughtful.” “Oh,” said Polter, “I had no idea you had got so far. You don’t dare to say so in your articles. You _are_ a Spiritualist then. That rather discounts your views, does it not?”