The Wanderings of a Spiritualist

It was the week of weeks in Melbourne when we returned from Nerrin, and / everything connected with my mission was out of the question. When the / whole world is living vividly here and now there is no room for the / hereafter. Personally, I fear I was out of sympathy with it all, though / we went to the Derby, where the whole male and a good part of the female / population of Melbourne seemed to be assembled, reinforced by / contingents from every State in the Federation. A fine handsome body of / people they are when you see them _en masse_, strong, solid and capable, / if perhaps a little lacking in those finer and more spiritual graces / which come with a more matured society. The great supply of animal food / must have its effect upon the mind as well as the body of a nation. Lord / Forster appeared at the races, and probably, as an all round sportsman, / took a genuine interest, but the fate of the Governor who did not take / an interest would be a rather weary one -- like that kind-hearted Roman / Emperor, Claudius, if I remember right, who had to attend the / gladiatorial shows, but did his business there so as to distract his / attention from the arena. We managed to get out of attending the famous / Melbourne Cup, and thereby found the St. Kilda Beach deserted for once, / and I was able to spend a quiet day with my wife watching the children / bathe and preparing for the more strenuous times ahead.

One psychic subject which has puzzled me more than any other, is that of / magnetic healing. All my instincts as a doctor, and all the traditional / teaching of the profession, cry out against unexplained effects, and the / opening which their acceptance must give to the quack. The man who has / paid a thousand pounds for his special knowledge has a natural distaste / when he sees a man who does not know the subclavian artery from the / pineal gland, effecting or claiming to effect cures on some quite / unconventional line. And yet. and yet!