§ 7. Lastly, we have a group where the two higher senses of sight and hearing were both concerned. The following account is from Miss Kate Jenour, of 23, Belsize Square, South Hampstead, N.W.

"November, 1884. (182) "On the 4th of May, 1883, when on board R.M.S. ' Spartan,' on my way to Capetown, I was awoke by hearing someone in my cabin, which I alone occupied, when to my surprise I saw the figure of a friend of mine standing by my berth. It then disappeared, and by the first mail after my arrival at Capetown, I received the news of my friend's death, which took place at 10.30 p.m. on that night. I told 2 or 3 passengers on board, who made a note of it".

In answer to inquiries, Miss Jenour says: -

"I was certainly awake; I had no sense of awaking afterwards, but the sense of waking before I saw the figure, my first impression having been that the steward had come in to shut the port-hole. I had a light burning in my cabin. The figure looked quite solid and natural, and was in day-dress. I knew the girl to be consumptive, but had not thought of her as likely to die, and indeed had not been thinking about her at all; she was an acquaintance and neighbour, but not an intimate friend.

" I think the vessel was about half-way to the Cape. Next day I described what I had seen to my cousin, Mr. Jenour, Captain Wait, Mr. Frames, who is now a lawyer in Grahamstown, and Mr. Hope Hall. I was so impressed that I could not help speaking of it, in spite of expecting to be laughed at: had it been a dream, I should have thought nothing of it.

"I am certain I mentioned the date of my vision in my first letter to my father, written when I got to the Cape, and before the news of the death reached me; and I am also certain that when I received the news of the death, I noted, and my cousin noted, that the dates were the same. I cannot now be sure of the exact day.

"I have had no other such waking vision except once, soon after, at Capetown; when I saw the figure of a dressmaker whom I knew in England, and who (as I learnt on my return to England) had died about the same time; but the date was not fixed. "K. J".

We find from the obituary in the Times that the death took place on May 2, 1883.

Miss Jenour's cousin is unfortunately at a distance, and his address cannot at present be ascertained. Captain Wait writes, in April, 1886, that he does not recall Miss Jenour's mention of the incident. The fact of the coincident death not being then known, such a narration might naturally make very little impression. I wrote to ask Mr. Frames if he remembered any singular announcement made by Miss Jenour during the voyage; but he replied in the negative.

Miss Jenour's father writes on November 1, 1885: -

"I can positively state that by the next mail to the Cape, after the death of a young friend of ours, I wrote to my daughter; but before my letter can have reached her, she, on arriving at Capetown, wrote to me to say that the lady in question had appeared to her in her cabin, at sea, between Madeira and the Cape, and that she mentioned the fact the following morning to her relatives and friends on board. On comparing dates, it was certain that the appearance was on the same day that the lady died. Since then my relatives have confirmed this in every particular.

"H. J. Jenour".

Mr. Jenour is certain that his daughter's letter contained the date of her vision, and he has kindly searched for the letter. He writes, on Dec. 1, 1885: -

"The letter I most wanted I cannot find, but have one dated June 5th, in which my daughter again refers to Miss B.'s death, and adds, ' On the 2nd of May,1 in the night, or rather morning,2 1 awoke up and saw Edith standing by my bed. I told about it at the time.' The lady died at half-past 10 o'clock at night".

Mr. Jenour tells me that it was the close coincidence of time that specially struck him, and he mentioned the circumstance to others. Miss Jenour is equally confident that the coincidence of time was noted in Capetown; though, as she has mentioned, her memory does not retain the exact date. We find from the Times that the 'Spartan' left Plymouth on the 20th of April, and arrived at Capetown on the 10th of May; therefore her recollection that "the vessel was about half-way " is not far wrong.

[In a reply to an article by Professor Peirce, published in the Proceedings of the American Society for Psychical Research in 1887 (vol. i., pp. 170-171) Mr. Gurney writes about this case.] ... I have now received the independent recollections of one of the persons told, to whom I was unable to apply last year, as he was travelling and his address could not be ascertained. He writes as follows: -

"June 1, 1887.

"It was some years [four] ago that the voyage referred to in your note took place; but I distinctly remember that one morning during that voyage, Miss K. J. told me that during the previous night she had dreamed that a lady friend of hers was dead, or (for I cannot now remember which) that this friend had appeared to her on that night and announced her death.3

1 The date of the dream in the first account, the 4th of May, was given from memory only, under the impression that the death had occurred on that day - not from any independent record.

2 The vision took place soon after midnight - which of course would make its actual date May 3.

3 The second of these alternatives is the right one, but it is not quite correct. The visual experience was certainly a waking impression, not a dream; but there was no impression of an announcement or of any words. This is a good instance of the way in which lapse of time affects memory as to details, without the evidence becoming in the least untrustworthy as to essentials.

"A short time after arriving at the Cape (about the time that would be required for the transmission of a letter), Miss J. informed me that she had heard that her friend had died on the identical night of the dream or supposed appearance".

In answer to the question whether he made a written note, he says: "It is possible I may have at the time noted the date and the supposed apparition in an ordinary pocket-book; but if I did so, this pocket-book is now lost. I have some recollection of having seen the letter announcing the death of the lady, but none of comparing the date with that in a pocket-book; it is possible, however, that I have forgotten this circumstance".

I regard it as not improbable that Miss J. is wrong in thinking that any of the persons to whom she mentioned her experience made a written note of it. This is just the sort of feature that is likely enough to creep into an account without warrant, owing to the tendency of the mind to round off and complete an interesting story. One might expect a priori that this would be so; and the fact is illustrated by the far greater commonness of written notes in second-hand than in first-hand accounts.