Miracles And Modern Spiritualism

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

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This Is A New Release Of The Original 1896 Edition.

The nineteenth-century British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace was a major influence on Darwin's theory of natural selection. He was later moved by a variety of personal experiences to examine the concept of spirituality, but his exploration into the potential for compatibility between spiritualism and natural selection alienated him from the scientific community. The three controversial essays in this 1875 book attempt to reinforce his beliefs and validate his claims. The first, written in 1871 and read before The Dialectic Society, reconsiders the credibility or incredibility of miracles. The second, 'The Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural', had been published in a secularist periodical several years earlier, and 'A Defence of Modern Spiritualism' appeared in the Fortnightly Review shortly before this book was published. Wallace's book takes the modern reader to the heart of the raging debates engendered by Darwin, many of which continue over a century later.

Excerpt from Miracles and Modern Spiritualism I am well aware that my scientific friends are some what puzzled to account for what they consider to be my delusion, and believe that it has injuriously affected what ever power I may have once possessed of dealing with the philosophy of Natural History. One of them - Mr. Anton Dohrn - has expressed this plainly. I am informed that, in an article entitled Englische Kritiker und Anti Kritiker des Darwinismus, published in 1861, he has put forth the opinion that Spiritualism and Natural Selection are incompatible, and that my divergence from the views of Mr. Darwin arises from my belief in Spiritualism. He also supposes that in accepting the spiritual doctrines I have been to some extent influenced by clerical and reli gions prejudice. As Mr. Dohrn's views may be those of other scientific friends, I may perhaps be excused for entering into some personal details in reply. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.