“Tuesday, 2nd February, 1869.”
Under date of December 22, 1869, Professor Tyndall wrote the following in response to his invitation to aid the Committee.
“Sir—You mention in your note to me three gentlemen, two of whom are personally known to me, and for both of whom I entertain a sincere esteem.
“The house of one of these, namely Mr. Wallace, I have already visited, and made there the acquaintance of the lady who was the reputed medium between Mr. Wallace and the supernatural.
“And if earnestly invited by Mr. Crookes, the editor of the ‘Chemical News,’ to witness phenomena which in his opinion ‘tend to demonstrate the existence of some power (magnetic or otherwise) which has not yet been recognized by men of science,’ I should pay due respect to his invitation.
“But understand my position: more than a year ago Mr. Cromwell Varley, who is, I believe, one of the greatest modern Spiritualists, did me the favor to pay me a visit, and he then employed a comparison which, though flattering to my spiritual strength, seems to mark me out as unfit for spiritual investigation. He said that my presence at a seance resembled that of a great magnet among a number of small ones. I throw all into confusion. Still he expressed a hope that arrangements might be made to show me the phenomena, and I expressed my willingness to witness such things as Mr. Varley might think worth showing to me. I have not since been favored by a visit from Mr. Varley.
“I am now perfectly willing to accept the personal invitation of Mr. Crookes, should he consider that he can show me phenomena of the character you describe.
“I am, sir, your obedient servant,
“John Tyndall.”
“G. W. Bennett, Esq.”
Unlike the Seybert Commission, which made a formal report to the University of Pennsylvania immediately on the completion of its work, the Committee of the Dialectical Society which was appointed in 1869 did not make any report until 1877 and then only what seems to be a garbled report of sub-committees. The Spiritual Magazine in 1870 commented on this lack of a report as follows: