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John, Thank you for your generous proposal. Yes, I would like to receive the manuscript of your gr.gr.grandfather John Milne. I have a great respect for all these people of the victorian period who worked hard to leave the testimonies of their time. They were courageous and have stood strong for their discoveries and for sharing their perception of the Truth. Science of the Nature and its discoveries are endless… Nobody will never achieve the totallity of the knowledge of the Nature. About scepticism, I would like to quote Baron Von Reichenbach (in 1850) whose researches during many years in a new field of science, has also received hostile reception : « It was to be expected that a subject of so unusual and peculiar a kind as the present researches would meet with objections ; and I was aware beforehand that I should have to defend my experiments, and the deductions I had drawn from them, against ill-founded and groundless opposition. The new field of research which was laid open pushes its lines too near the bastions of established formulae, frequently involves, in too many convolutions, all that exists in the present doctrines of natural dynamics, for the necessary space to be freely allowed to it. Yet I thought only of reasonable criticism of my observations, perhaps of unsuccessful repetitions of my experiments, arising here and there from faulty arrangement ; that my conclusion is might be contested, or other views built upon the facts brought forward : but I was not prepared for an attack, which every true friend of science will unite with me in calling unprovoked, such as was made upon my work, and upon myself personally, by a Dr. Dubois-Reymond, in Kärsten's "Fortschritte der Physik im Jahre 1845." This naturalist does not find it at all necessary to go into my experiments, and the conclusions deduced from them, but briefly and superficially designates my book as an "absurd romance", the details of which " it would be fruitless and to him impossible to enter." I believe both of these assertions. Fruitless ; because he has not understood them, and an uncomprehended and incomprehensible criticism is fruitless. Impossible ; because he has not read them in connection ; and to enter into a matter of which one has acquired no knowledge, is impossible. … My works will be as little free from defects as those of much more exalted men than I ever could be, least of all in the natural sciences. No one can have felt this more strongly than myself. Every criticism expressed in a good spirit I shall receive with thanks, and try to improve my work accordingly. But imperious abuse, from one who is profoundly ignorant of the work he reviews, must be repelled, and the reviewer must be taught to know the limits of decency. It is the interest, not only of myself, but of all who work and write, that weeds of this kind should not be left to flourish, but be raked out and cleared away. … Natural science, and all its branches, have originally run through a period of obscurity and error : physics were preceded by magic; chemistry, by alchemy ; medicine, by the philosopher's stone ; astronomy, by astrology, etc. ; philosophy, theology, and jurisprudence, have passed through their phases of extravagance. Our first conceptions are always unclear, confused ; hence adapted to the wonderful, the mysterious, and so on to superstition and misuse. But it does not follow from this, that the enigmatic shell conceals no solid kernel. It is quite in character with the matter, and anything but unexpected, that the subject of sensitiveness, and the peculiar force on which it depends, should have to go through such a period of infancy in our notions ; and the more so in proportion as it shows itself, on the one hand, the less capable of limitation, and on the other, to have a deeper hold on the hidden sphere of the nerves. That these days of rudeness should have endured for seventy years, is really rather long in these enlightened times, but in great part owing to the almost criminal narrow-minded opposition of the gentlemen of the "exact sciences", who have turned to it, not only deaf ears, but even a kind of foolish hostility. … The reason why this has been so long delayed, why the groping round about has come to no end, lies moreover in the fact that people so often begin to build the pyramid at the point ; they would wish to do first what they should do last — undertake to cure diseases ! Before striving for the slightest knowledge of the inner nature of the hidden force, they made a trade of the matter ! Then somnambulists and clairvoyants were met with, everywhere manifestations of force at its maximum, and in complication with inexplicable exalted conditions of disease. While struck with the phenomena on a large scale, and feeling unable to find an explanation of them, people neglected to inquire after the small beginnings, on which alone the basis of a scientific structure could be raised. Not from the lightning and the thunder have we gathered the theories of electricity and of sound ; not from the eruption of volcanoes have we drawn our knowledge of the expansive force of steam ; but just as our forefathers fabled about these natural phenomena, because they did not understand them, even so have the modem savans of the category to which M. Dubois belongs, talked nonsense about the so-called animal magnetism, because they did not know it. I will not speak of medical men, but it is no better with the physicists and physiologists ; the majority of the former have rejected all cognizance of it, because they cannot understand the connection of cause and effect ; and of the latter because they will not. However, this is not the path of the investigation of Nature, and the offence against enlightenment is really greater in the latter than the former. It does not redound to the honour of our contemporaries to stand obstinately firm in that primitive condition of blind ignorance, and to refuse to see at all how monstrously they lay themselves open on this side. …. All that gossip about lies and deceit is in reality quite misplaced ; when we examine more closely, it lies essentially not in the sensitive (the medium), but, on the contrary, in the subjectiveness of the pre-occupied, or not unfrequently incompetent inquirer. One must understand how to investigate, one must know how to question nature, if one would obtain a clear and instructive answer ; but it is not every one who can do this, so far as we know. … When, however, the inquirer does not know how to put the questions, from want of skill how to manipulate with the apparatus, from ignorance of the conditions how to arrange the experiments, from want of tact to comprehend the answers, and from want of acuteness of understanding how to discover the relations of the observations to each other : then confusion and perplexity begin, misinterpreted results contradict each other ; and rather than look in the face his own weakness, and confess it to himself and others, he, a thousand times sooner, takes the dishonest subterfuge of accusing the observed person of deceit. But the betrayer of nature and science is no other than the man who, from incapacity, has the rashness and foolishness to desire to stamp the truth with the mark of a lie. … It is fashionable to sneer at isolated facts, and to withhold belief from any which appear extraordinary, and that can be accounted for only by the hypothesis of the existence of unknown or unexamined imponderable agencies… We are apt to be startled by relations of things that are new to us, and the repulsive agency of certain organs in the brain is, in some persons, called into operation. In standing on the defensive, it is sometimes a property of our structures that we should become offensive ; and in refusing belief to things thought to be unusual, our self-esteem, and love of opposition, and cunning, and jealousy, and envy, derived from love of possession, the true gluttony of selfishness, — our cultivated obstinate vanity, assuring us that in piggish scepticism resides the philosophy which really buds only from the highest and most delicate organization, not allowing us to perceive how frequently we become illogical, teaches us to reject truths presented to us by our fellows in the best faith of their sincere feelings. I could mention the names of men, having high reputations in the world, who either have forgotten that love of justice which belongs to conscientiousness, and that love of truth that belongs to high moral natures, or who have laboured under such obliquity of intellect as to have been unaware that, in some cases, the arriving hastily at disgusting conclusions is the characteristic of the narrow intellect of low-bred blackguards, and not of polite gentlemen. But the charity that springs from a conviction of man being the creature of his organization, and the circumstances which impel him to his actions, covers such beings with the pity that falls to their share. Why should the relation of an extraordinary fact like that stated by Mr. Henderson not be believed ? It could not have resulted from fancy, … » Maryse

I first became aware of The Twentieth Plane while reading an unpublished manuscript of my Great, Great Grandfather John Milne who at the age of 90 in 1928 had written about his 30 years experience with Spiritualism, a very insightful, well written and referenced book. It opened my eyes to this remarkable period from the 1840's onwards when Spiritualism was very much apart of general interest and scientific investigation. His references to Dr Watson's book took me to the U of T library were I found a copy and subsequently photo-copied it. It has become a great point of interest to me with a great deal of reading and research confirming many of the insights offered by my G. G. Grandfathers and Dr Watsons books. I found it interesting that Dr Watson became a member of the Baha'i Faith after publishing his first book and a description of this formative period of his seances has been published in the Book about the life of Laura Davis, one of the very early Baha'is in Canada who had attended his seances. I have had my G.G. Grandfathers manuscript transcribe on word and would be pleased to email it to any one interested. There is no doubt in my mind that much of what was revealed was indeed close to the reality of the life that awaits us all.

There is a decendant of Watson's here in Edmonton as well. I'd be happy to put you in touch with her if you'd like! Sincerly, Ehren Ackerman President/Founder of the Edmonton Paranormal Society

Greetings P. Wales. I find your great grandfather's works fascinating. Love to hear from you if possible. You can email me at .... wolfspirits@3web.com ... to discuss his writings more.

Verrry interesting! As a great grand-daughter of Watson, I have copies of his poetry books, but "The Twentieth Plane" was not a topic of family conversation, and therefore a puzzle. What struck me was how a very bright man of science (medical doctor, amateur astronomer, mathematician) and of literature fell under Benjamin's spell so completely. It must have been in the air of the time - after all, the world was being reinvented (or reinterpretted) by Science, and the old knowledge and wisdom ("old wives' tales!") was falling to pieces, a trend from which we have not yet entirely recovered. I doubt very much that Watson was mad, but I suppose he may have been a little unhinged. Perhaps he was backed into a corner by Benjamin and unable to admit he'd been made a fool. P. Wales