A believer who insisted on test conditions
the need for "scientific conditions" in connection with alleged spiritual phenomena
William Crookes provides a revealing contemporary counterexample to this dismissal. In Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism (1874; inspected in Esalen's digital transcription of that edition), he supported the investigation of apparently extraordinary phenomena while insisting on precautions against deception. The opening essay, pp. 4–7, treats safeguards and instruments as indispensable aids to observation, especially where excitement might disturb judgment. In his later report, ‘Notes of an Enquiry,’ pp. 84–86, Crookes says he generally chose the company and conditions himself, admitted unbelievers, and witnessed most events in light. He nevertheless allows that light might inhibit some manifestations. Crookes, opening essay and ‘Notes’.
This is a historical distinction, not an endorsement of Crookes's findings. His account shows that accommodating a phenomenon's alleged requirements and imposing controls were not necessarily rival programmes, even for an investigator persuaded that unusual events occurred. Chesterton's lovers analogy challenges conditions that would prevent the event being studied; it does not establish that every safeguard would have that effect. Crookes illustrates the alternative of trying to discover suitable conditions while retaining precautions.
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