There is nothing inherently absurd or impossible, therefore, in these odd manifestations,--however bizarre and unusual they appear to us at first sight. An unusual combination of circumstances might bring them about. Stones do not ordinarily fall out of the air; yet at times they _do_ (meteors). Water does not usually rise above its own level, yet it can be made to do so. The curious freaks of lightning are well known. There is nothing inherently impossible, therefore, in supposing that a table can be "levitated" into the air, under unusual conditions; it is simply the manifestation of an unknown energy--of which, doubtless, there are many. We can manipulate and control the electric current; but we do not know yet precisely what it _is_. Similarly, we can study the effects of many of these curious biological forces, without understanding their true nature. Above all, it behooves us to keep an open mind, and not to cry "impossible," just because we have never seen such facts, or because they appear to us innately improbable. Here, as elsewhere, we depend upon hidden and unknown energies. Could we but find an _energy common to the two worlds_--the spiritual world and the material world--we should have here a means of direct communication, possibly by instrumental means. _Delicate physical and electrical apparatus may be the means, after all, by which such communication will ultimately be established!_ At all events, when subtle causes and forces are in operation (as they doubtless are during a seance) it is only natural to suppose that instruments, _far more delicate than our senses_, should be the logical method of detecting them, and, as yet, such experiments have rarely been attempted. When we take into consideration, finally, the electrical theory of the nature of matter; when we remember the many striking analogies between electricity and the life-force; when we remember that the science of electricity is yet in its infancy, it should hold out to us the hope that, _here_, we may find a solution of many of these obscure problems, and that further investigations in the field of electricity may serve to explain to us many of these unknown and mysterious secrets of our inner nature, and the still more mysterious secrets of the seance-room. No more interesting and profitable researches could be attempted than those which endeavour to establish a connection between known and unknown phenomena; between physical and electrical manifestations, on the one hand, and these curious "psychical" phenomena, on the other. The crying need of the day is a "Psychical Laboratory," wherein such experiments as these could be conducted. It is my sincere hope that, some day, I may assist in the foundation of such a laboratory. CHAPTER III LIFE: AND ITS INTERPRETATION (_In the Light of M. Bergson's Philosophy_)