The next two cases resemble the last, in the point that the two percipients do not seem to have seen exactly the same thing. Surgeon-Major Samuel Smith, of Wyndham House, Kingsdown Parade, Bristol, sent the following account to the Western Daily Press (Nov. 30, 1881), and has since confirmed it to us.

(320) "I solemnly vouch for the truth of the statement made. I will add that I have been, although not a professed teetotaller, a total abstainer from stimulants for the past 10 years, and that I am not a believer in Spiritualism as it exists in the present day.

"About 20 minutes past 11 o'clock on the night of the 20th of April last, I was engaged with my wife's mother in playing a selection from ' La Figlia del Reggimento' for the flute and piano. We were seated in the drawing-room, which was brilliantly lighted by three large gaslights burning in globes which hung from the centre of the ceiling, the only other occupants of the room being my wife, who had fallen asleep upon the couch, and the baby asleep in the cradle. My wife's brother, who had been with us, left the room at 11 o'clock, and retired to rest. The room itself is spacious, lofty, and parallelogram-shaped, the piano occupying a position immediately opposite to the only door of entrance in the middle of the corresponding long side, so that in playing we sat with our backs to the door, which was closed.

"I was thoroughly intent upon the music, which was new to me, and difficult to read, so far as the flute was concerned, owing to the small size of the notes; when suddenly, in the midst of the performance, a strange feeling of mingled awe and fear came over me, and I distinctly felt the approach of someone, or rather of something, coming behind me, and this although I was so engrossed with playing; and in my mind I seemed to perceive the shape. As it. approached nearer, I turned my head to the right, and distinctly perceived a shade of a greyish colour standing by me upon my right hand, a little in advance of me. I did not see the whole figure, but what I saw was a part of a shadowy face, the outline of the forehead, nose, mouth, chin, and a part of the neck being visible. Strange to say, I do not remember seeing the eye, but the figure appeared to have a top-hat upon its head. As I gazed upon it, it vanished, and with it the feelings, to a great extent, to which it gave rise. Of the mingled feelings which its presence raised in my mind, I should say that awe predominated.

"I did not cease playing, and subsequently played other pieces by the old masters, sang some songs, and finally went to bed, and slept well. Nor did I mention the matter to my wife's mother that night, either at the time of the occurrence, or before retiring to rest. Now, however, comes the most remarkable part of the matter. At or about 11.30 a.m. on the following day, my wife's mother came into the private room, and suddenly said, ' Did you see something when you turned your head last night, when you were playing? ' I did not immediately reply, but the strange event of the preceding night flashed across my mind instantly. I was, indeed, too greatly surprised to reply at once, for I did not believe at the time that she had noticed the action upon my part; and, as I have already said, I had not mentioned the matter to her, or even hinted at it.

*

"' Why do you ask?' I replied.

"' Because I thought you did'.

"'Did you see anything?' I asked.

"' Yes, I believed that someone had come into the room, as I felt that someone had come in'.

"' Did you think it was a man or a woman? '

"'I felt that it was a man, and at first believed it to be James' (my wife's brother),' who had come down, and I wondered how he could come in without my hearing him.1

"' Did you see anything?' I asked.

" 'Yes, I saw the back and shoulders of the form of a man; it passed across like a shadow behind you, stood to your right hand, and then disappeared. I was not alarmed, but surprised'.

' So ends the narrative. In no way can I explain the cause, or sequence of events. As they occurred, so I present them".

Surgeon-Major Smith (January 15th, 1886), in sending his mother-in-law's confirmation, adds: -

" In speaking of the matter to-day she said she felt the presence of the visitor in her mind before she saw it; and this is my experience of it. I felt its presence before I saw it."1

"Wyndham House, Kingsdown, Bristol.

"January 15th, 1886.

"Agreeably to the request of Mr. Gurney, I write, but have nothing to add to the statement of my experience of the strange visitation described in the Western Daily Press in November, 1881; the facts being as therein stated. .. Hannah Robinson".

Mr. Smith has repeated the account to me on the spot; and it then became evident that Mrs. Robinson, turning her head the instant after he did the same, would have seen any flesh-and-blood figure rather more full-face than he did; instead of which she saw the back. The extremely distinct and startling character of the experience came out more impressively in conversation than in the written account. Neither percipient can recall having had anything like a hallucination on any other occasion.

[Case 321 is omitted.] In the next case the difference is still more marked' the percept being visual to one person and auditory to the other; while at the same time something of the same idea seems to have been suggested to both. For the purpose in view, the case (in spite of certain discrepancies in the two accounts) is, perhaps, stronger than it looks. For the fact that the visual and the auditory experience were both unshared, is a decided indication that they were neither of them due to a real external cause; and if they were hallucinations, then (since no words passed till after both had been experienced) it seems at any rate very possible that one of them produced the other by thought-transference. Lady C. writes, on Oct. 13, 1884: -

(322) " In October, 1879, I was staying at Bishopthorpe, near York, with the Archbishop of York. I was sleeping with Miss Z. T., when I suddenly saw a white figure fly through the room from the door to the window. It was only a shadowy form, and passed in a moment. I felt utterly terrified and called out at once, ' Did you see that? ' and at the same moment Miss Z. T. exclaimed, ' Did you hear that? ' Then I said, instantly,'I saw an angel fly through the room,' and she said,' I heard an angel singing,'

1 See pp. 308-9, and Chap. xii., § 2.

"We were both very much frightened for a little while, but said nothing about it to any one. "K. C".

Miss T. writes: -

"December 19th, 1884.

"Late one night, about October 17th, 1879, Lady C. (then Lady K. L.) and I were preparing to go to sleep, after talking some time, when I heard something like very faint music, and seemed to feel what people call ' a presence.' I put out my hand and touched Lady C., saying,' Did you hear that?' She said, ' Oh, don't! Just now I saw something going across the room I' We were both a good deal frightened, and tried to go to sleep as soon as we could. But I remember asking Lady C. exactly what she had seen, and she said, ' A sort of white shadow, like a spirit.' The above occurred at Bishopthorpe, York. "Z. J. T".