Out of nothing I come, through a world populated by asses I pass, and into nothing I go. - Philip José Farmer

Many attributed this to a supernatural agency. Many more, among whom was Burton, did not think that there was any agency except an advanced science which accounted for this. There was no need to call in the supernatural. “No ghosts need apply,”—to quote the immortal Sherlock Holmes. Physical explanations sufficed.

Burton did not believe in miracles. Nothing happened that could not be explained by physical principles — if you knew all the facts.

Imagination was the great cozener of the past.