rialise with him after death. * Another explanation may be, that even materialised apparitions may primarily have their origin in the mind of the spirit who is seen, but who cannot reproduce in this way all those accessories which abound in his unfettered thought. Perhaps "the gentleman in black" was most vividly in the mind of the deceased. Mr. Booty no doubt knew his own deserts, so what the witnesses saw, the dying old gentleman expected. Perhaps, therefore, the figures were physically present, but had their origin in Mr. Booty's thoughts. Moreover, another argument for the materiality of the apparition is, that it is a law in the ordinary manifestations of Spiritualism that the lower the spirit, the greater is its direct control over common matter, consequently high intellect and morality are rarely allied to strong physical phenomena, although they commonly appertain to those which are mental. So in this way, perhaps, the details fall within the domain of law; it was natural that Mr. Booty should have produced a physical manifestation. In the Weld case the conditions were different.

Lastly, did "the gentleman in black" consist of a strong shadow cast in the sunshine by Old Booty? Were the sailors so startled by the recognised apparition, that the natural tendency of the uneducated to exaggeration had full play in filling in the details, as was palpably the case in the transforming of Stromboli into Hell-gate?

Slight resemblances to the Weld case point feebly

* Those readers who may be unacquainted with the evidence for the relationship of spirits to mortals by the law of natural affinity, should read the general literature of Spiritualism, and the works of Sweden. borg.

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in the direction of Old Booty's having been an impressional apparition, but the next apparition, very similar to Old Booty's, appears to have been undoubtedly mesmerically seen. Because of its resemblance to Old Booty's I quote it, although names are not given, and it is objectionable that that important psychical phenomena, of value to the world, should not always be fully verified by the publication of names. Nevertheless, Mrs. Crowe, who gives the narrative in her Night Side of Nature (Newby, London; 1849), says that she received it first-hand from one of the actual witnesses :

In the year 1785, some cadets were ordered to proceed from Madras to join their regiments up the country. A considerable part of the journey was to be made in a barge, and they were under the conduct of a senior officer, Major R- In order to relieve the monotony of the voyage, this gentleman proposed one day that they should make a shooting excursion inland, and walk round to meet the boat at a point agreed on, which, owing to the windings of the river, it would not reach till evening. They accordingly took their guns, and as they had to cross a swamp, Major R, who was well acquainted with the country, put on a heavy pair of top-boots, which, together with an odd limp he had in his gait, rendered him distinguishable from the rest of the party at a considerable distance. When they reached the jungle, they found there was a wide ditch to leap, which all succeeded in doing except the Major, who being less young and active, jumped short of the requisite distance; and although he scrambled up unhurt he found his gun so crammed full of wet sand that it would be useless till thoroughly cleansed. He therefore bade them walk on, saying he would follow; and, taking off his hat, he sat down in the shade, where they left him. When they had been beating about for game for some time, they began to wonder the Major did not come on, and they

shouted to let him know whereabouts they were; but there was no answer, and hour after hour passed without his appearance, till at length they began to feel somewhat uneasy. Thus the day wore away, and they found themselves approaching the rendezvous; the boat was in sight, and they were walking down to it, wondering how their friend could have missed them, when suddenly, to their great joy, they saw him before them, making towards the barge. He was without his hat or gun, limping hastily along, in his top-boots, and did not appear to observe them. They shouted after him, but as he did not look round, they began to run, in order to overtake him; and, indeed, fast as he went, they did gain considerably upon him. Still he reached the boat first, crossing the plank which the boatmen had placed ready for the gentlemen they saw approaching. He ran down the companion stairs, and they after him; but inexpressible was their surprise when they could not find him below. They ascended again, and inquired of the boatmen what had become of him; but they declared he had not come on board, and that nobody had crossed the plank till the young men themselves had done so.

Confounded and amazed at what appeared so inexplicable, and doubly anxious about their friend, they immedi ately resolved to retrace their steps in search of him; and, accompanied by some Indians who knew the jungle, they made their way back to the spot where they had left him. From thence some footmarks enabled them to trace him, till, at a very short distance from the ditch, they found his hat and his gun. Just then the Indians called out to them to beware, for that there was a sunk well thereabouts, into which they might fall. An apprehension naturally seized them that this might have been the fate of their friend; and on examining its edge, they saw a mark as of a heel slipping up; upon this, one of the Indians consented to go down, having a rope, with which they had provided themselves, tied round his waist, for, aware of the existence of the wells, the natives suspected what had actually occurred, namely, that the unfortunate gentleman had slipped into one of these traps, which, being overgrown with brambles,

KEEPING THE RENDEZVOUS.

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where not discernible by the eye. With the assistance of the Indian, the body was brought up and carried back to the boat, amidst the deep regrets of the party, with whom he had been a great favourite. They proceeded with it to the next station, where an inquiry was instituted as to the manner of his death, but of course there was nothing more to be elicited.

I give this story as related by one of the persons present, and there is no doubt of its perfect authenticity. He says he can in no way account for the mystery-he can only relate the fact; and not one, but the whole five cadets, saw him as distinctly as they saw each other. It was evident, from the spot where the body was found, which was not many hundred yards from the ditch, that the accident must have occurred very shortly after they left him. When the young men reached the boat, Major R- must have been, for some seven or eight hours, a denizen of the other world, yet he kept the rendezvous !

At

Here, what an actual spirit thought, five persons in normally good health believed they saw as a reality in the material world, whilst the boatmen, free from the psychic influence, saw it not. least they did not see the apparition cross the plank. There is no record whether they did or did not see it previously. for the testimony of the boatmen this would have been classified with temporarily materialised apparitions, and the facts show that it is not always easy to decide what is seen by normal and what by spiritual vision.

But

H

Chapter Seventh.

DEATH INDICATIONS GIVEN OTHERWISE THAN BY APPARITION TO PERSONS AT A DISTANCE-NEWS OF DEATHS REVEALED IN DREAMS-FURTHER EXPERIMENTAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF MEANS WHEREBY DREAMS CAN BE SET UP IN THE BRAINS OF SLEEPING MORTALS MAJOR OWEN'S EXPERIMENTS-DR. ABERCROMBIE'S STATEMENTS-A DISTANT DEATH REVEALED ΤΟ BISHOP HALL AND HIS BROTHER BY A SYNCHRONOUS DREAM-DISTANT DEATHS REVEALED BY DREAM TO MRS. GILMOUR, MRS. MURRAY, BISHOP LEE'S SON, THE DUCHESS OF GUELDERLAND, THE COUNTESS OF CORK, BEN JONSON, AND ST. BASIL-NEWS OF DEATH GIVEN IN A SYNCHRONOUS DREAM TO TWO LADIES-SYMBOLICAL INDICATION OF DISTANT DEATHS GIVEN BY DREAM TO JAMES V. OF SCOTLAND, BISHOP JEWEL, AND SIR FRANCIS BACON— INDICATIONS OF A DISTANT DEATH GIVEN TO DR. GRATTAN IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE-A DEATH-SCENE AT OXFORD SEEN IN DETAIL IN A DREAMDEATH-BED INDICATION TO A DISTANT BLIND RELATIVE-PHYSICAL EFFECTS PRODUCED BY DEATH-BED APPARITIONS -SIR WALTER SCOTT'S NARRATIVE-THE TEMPERATURE OF TEMPORARILY MATERIALISED DEATH-BED APPARITIONS.

ILLUSTRATIONS have already been given proving that what one person wills or thinks a mesmeric sensitive, en rapport with him, sometimes sees, and I have brought forward evidence that when a man out of his earthly body wills in like manner, the effect on the sensitive in the body is the same also. Evidence will now be produced that experimentalists may implant dreams in the minds of their sleeping friends. Indeed, it would naturally be inferred that it would be easier to set up a dream in the brain of a negative and unresisting sleeper, than to give a man in the waking state a vision, as in some of the examples already brought forward.