Xenoglossy
Sir: It is a sad thing to note that Brian Inglis believes in xenoglossy (18 July). It would be a sad thing to hear of any thinking person believing in so preposterous a notion, let alone a former editor of the Spectator.
It seems to me to be absolutely irrefutable that, though glossolalia undoubtedly occurs (in the form of mindless babbling, quite incapable of comprehension), xenoglossy never occurs. The wealth of evidence, going back to the Acts of the Apostles and St Paul, is in fact of very little real evidentiary value, except to establish what is never in doubt, that muddled thinking, pious credulity and a desire for a little more charisma than the next man are never far from the human scene.
I should be very happy to co-operate with Mr Inglis in whatever tests he thinks would demonstrate the objective reality of the phenomenon of xenoglossy, and to make a fair contribution to the cost of such a demonstration. Perhaps other readers would like to join in. Perhaps you, sir, might care to afford a venue and to see fair play.
J.L.A. Hartley Centenary House, 96-98 Camden High Street, London NW1
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