" write, in the country," and I enclose my card
with my London address, and ask you for space to state that I am not the writer, and have not the pleasure of his acquaintance. I suc- ceeded the late Mr. Maule, Q.C. (the first who held the office of Director of Public Prosecutions), commonly known as Publio Prosecutor, and continued as such for ten years up to 1894, when I was retired under the- age-limit for the public service, and was succeeded by Lord Desert, the present holder. Jam, therefore, the only man living who will pro bably be identified by the general public as " having been a Public Prosecutor," and as a probable writer of the letter on the subject as dealt with in your columns ; and the more so as since my retire. ment I have been, and still am, a member of the Council of the Society for Psychical Research. It ma y, therefore, reasonably be expected that many readers of your paper, strangers to me, may attribute—as, in fact, some of my friends and my own relations have—the authorship of that letter and the opinions therein contained as mine. " A Public Prosecutor" writes :—" As to telepathy, the evidence as to which has fallen away miserably since Mr.
Gurney's time " Speaking for myself—not as " A Late Public Prosecutor," but with some knowledge of the cases which have been collected by our Society since the publication of "Phantasms of the Living" and Mr. Gurney's death, and during the last twenty years of the Society's existence—I assert that the evidence has, on the contrary, con- siderably increased (the Society has no collective or cor- porate opinion of its effect, but each one forms his own on its applicability to the circumstances of each particular case). To assert that such "evidence" has "fallen away miserably" must as an assertion rest on the authority of " A Public Prosecutor." I will not further trespass on your space by attempting to discuss the facts or the inferences to be drawn from Mr. Rider Haggard's letter. I, too, "write in the country," but I have reason to believe that a distinguished member of the Council is in communication with Mr. Rider Haggard, and that, in accordance with the latter's expressed desire, the whole subject will be " investigated by competent persons,"—far more competent than myself. As you have opened your columns on this, and as I remember on previous occasions the letters and criticisms on similar subjects dealt with by the Psychical Research Society, may I respectfully suggest that you might refer your correspondents to the secre- tary of the Society (its offices are at 20 Hanover Square, but are closed during August and up to the middle of September) ? In the meantime any communications on this or any kindred subject can be made to the honorary secretary, the Hon. Everard Fending, whose address is 5 John Street, Mayfair, London.—I am, Sir, &c.,
AUGUSTUS K. STEPHENSON,
P.S.—I observe a letter in your paper of July 30th, signed J. M. Cones, in which it is stated : "there is a previous authen- ticated instance of telepathy between a dog and his mistress occurring about the time of the dog's death." The writer has evidently some acquaintance with the cases on record in our Society. I have a distinct recollection of a case to which he probably refers, but I have not the books with me to verify the facts.
[Our correspondent has (doubtless by a slip of the memory) forgotten that though there is only one Public Prosecutor in England, this office has north of the Tweed a multiplex personality.—En. Spectator.] [To TRY EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."]
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