It is one of the things about which I feel as certain as I do, for instance, of the existence of the people of Tierra del Fuego; and while it is of no importance to me to know that Tierra del Fuego is inhabited, it is of vital importance to know that the spirits of the departed, and also of those still occupying for a time the moveable biped telephone which we call our body, can, and given the right conditions _do_, communicate with the physical unconsciousness of the man in the street.

It is a fact which properly apprehended would go far to remedy some of the worst evils from which we have to complain.

For our conception of life has got out of form, owing to our constant habit of mistaking a part for the whole, and everything looks awry." Estelle W.Stead Bank Buildings, Kingsway, London, W.C.2.
_Easter_, 1921.
A PREFATORY WORD.
Many people will object--some have already objected--to the subject of this book.

It is an offence to some to take a ghost too seriously; with others it is a still greater offence not to take ghosts seriously enough.

One set of objections can be paired off against the other; neither objection has very solid foundation.