The next account is from Mr. Charles A. W. Lett, of the Military and Royal Naval Club, Albemarle Street, W.

"December 3rd, 1885.

(331) "On the 5th April, 1873, my wife's father, Captain Towns, died at his residence, Cranbrook, Rose Bay, near Sydney, N. S. Wales. About 6 weeks after his death, my wife had occasion, one evening about 9 o'clock, to go to one of the bedroms in the house. She was accompanied by a young lady, Miss Berthon, and as they entered the room - the gas was burning all the time - they were amazed to see, reflected as it were on the polished surface of the wardrobe, the image of Captain Towns. It was barely half figure,1 the head, shoulders, and part of the arms only showing - in fact, it was like an ordinary medallion portrait, but life-size. The face appeared wan and pale, as it did before his death; and he wore a kind of grey flannel jacket, in which he had been accustomed to sleep. Surprised and half alarmed at what they saw, their first idea was that a portrait had been hung in the room, and that what they saw was its reflection - but there was no picture of the kind.

1 See p. 393, note.

"Whilst they were looking and wondering, my wife's sister, Miss Towns, came into the room, and before either of the others had time to speak she exclaimed, 'Good gracious! Do you see papa? ' One of the housemaids happened to be passing downstairs at the moment, and she was called in, and asked if she saw anything, and her reply was, ' Oh, miss! the master.' Graham - Captain Towns' old body servant - was then sent for, and he also immediately exclaimed, 'Oh, Lord save us! Mrs. Lett, it's the Captain!' The butler was called, and then Mrs. Crane, my wife's nurse, and they both said what they saw. Finally, Mrs. Towns was sent for, and, seeing the apparition, she advanced towards it with her arm extended as if to touch it, and as she passed her hand over the panel of the wardrobe the figure gradually faded away, and never again appeared, though the room was regularly occupied for a long time after.

"These are the simple facts of the case, and they admit of no doubt; no kind of intimation was given to any of the witnesses; the same question was put to each one as they came into the room, and the reply was given without hesitation by each. It was by the merest accident that I did not see the apparition. I was in the house at the time, but did not hear when I was called. "C. A. W. Lett".

"We, the undersigned, having read the above statement, certify that it is strictly accurate, as we both were witnesses of the apparition.

"Sara Lett.

"Sibbie Smyth (nee Towns)".

Mrs. Lett assures me that neither she nor her sister ever experienced a hallucination of the senses on any other occasion. She is positive that the recognition of the appearance on the part of each of the later witnesses was independent, and not due to any suggestion from the persons already in the room.

[We hope in time to receive the corroboration of Miss Berthon, and of Mrs. Crane, Mrs. Lett's nurse].

These last [330 and 331] are cases where the distinction to which I have called attention (pp. 479-81) must be specially borne in mind. My central object being to prove that ideas may be transferred from mind to mind without words or physical signs, I am presenting certain collective sensory experiences which I think may constitute one type of such transference. Now believers in communications with the departed will probably need so little convincing as to the general theory of the far less startling transferences between living persons, that on them I am not concerned to press the evidence of this particular type. But of the rest of my readers I would ask - supposing the above and similar occurrences to be truly described - on what hypothesis, other than that of the transferability of hallucinations as such, they would explain them.

I pass by some other examples of the same kind; as no insistence on my point of view in quoting them would prevent my seeming to some to be explaining away veritable manifestations as subjective delusions, and to others to be introducing "ghosts" by a side-wind. But I give the following as a further interesting case of impressions which, though probably simultaneous, were not similar. The narrative was originally printed in July, 1883, in an account of the Orphanage where it occurred, entitled The Orphanage and Home, Aberlour, Craigellachie, etc. (pp. 44-5). The narrator throughout is the Rev. C. Jupp, Warden of the Orphanage.

(332) "In 1875, a man died leaving a widow and six orphan children. The 3 eldest were admitted into the Orphanage. Three years afterwards the widow died, and friends succeeded in getting funds to send the rest here, the youngest being about 4 years of age. [Late one evening, about 6 months after the admission of the younger children, some visitors arrived unexpectedly; and] the Warden agreed to take a bed in the little ones' dormitory, which contained 10 beds, 9 occupied.

"In the morning, at breakfast, the Warden made the following statement: - 'As near as I can tell I fell asleep about 11 o'clock, and slept very soundly for some time. I suddenly woke without any apparent reason, and felt an impulse to turn round, my face being towards the wall, from the children. Before turning, I looked up and saw a soft light in the room. The gas was burning low in the hall, and the dormitory door being open, I thought it probable that the light came from that source. It was soon evident, however, that such was not the case. I turned round, and then a wonderful vision met my gaze. Over the second bed from mine, and on the same side of the room, there was floating a small cloud of light, forming a halo of the brightness of the moon on an ordinary moonlight night.

"' I sat upright in bed, looking at this strange appearance, took up my watch and found the hands pointing to 5 minutes to 1. Everything was quiet, and all the children sleeping soundly. In the bed, over which the light seemed to float, slept the youngest of the 6 children mentioned above.

'"I asked myself, "Am I dreaming?" No! I was wide awake. I was seized with a strong impulse to rise and touch the substance, or whatever it might be (for it was about 5 feet high), and was getting up when something seemed to hold me back. I am certain I heard nothing, yet I felt and perfectly understood the words - "No, lie down, it won't hurt you." I at once did what I felt I was told to do. I fell asleep shortly afterwards and rose at half-past 5, that being my usual time.

"' At 6 o'clock I began dressing the children, beginning at the bed furthest from the one in which I slept. Presently I came to the bed over which I had seen the light hovering. I took the little boy out, placed him on my knee, and put on some of his clothes. The child had been talking with the others; suddenly he was silent. And then, looking me hard in the face with an extraordinary expression, he said, "Oh, Mr. Jupp, my mother came to me last night. Did you see her? " For a moment I could not answer the child. I then thought it better to pass it off, and said, " Come, we must make haste, or we shall be late for breakfast." '

" The child never afterwards referred to the matter, we are told, nor has it since ever been mentioned to him. The Warden says it is a mystery to him; he simply states the fact and there leaves the matter, being perfectly satisfied that he was mistaken in no one particular".

In answer to inquiries, the Rev. C. Jupp writes to us: -

"The Orphanage and Convalescent Home, Aberlour, Craigellachie.

"November 13th, 1883.

"I fear anything the little boy might now say would be unreliable, or I would at once question him. Although the matter was fully discussed at the time; it was never mentioned in the hearing of the child; and yet, when at the request of friends, the account was published in our little magazine, and the child read it, his countenance changed, and, looking up, he said, 'Mr. Jupp, that is me.' I said, ' Yes, that is what we saw.' He said, 'Yes,' and then seemed to fall into deep thought, evidently with pleasant remembrances, for he smiled so sweetly to himself, and seemed to forget I was present.

"I much regret now that I did not learn something from the child at the time. "chas. Jupp".

In answer to inquiries, Mr. Jupp says that he has never had any other hallucination of the senses; and adds, "My wife was the only person of adult age to whom I mentioned the circumstance at the time. Shortly after, I mentioned it to our Bishop and Primus".

Mrs. Jupp writes, from the Orphanage, on June 23, 1886:-

" This is to certify that the account of the light seen by the Warden of this establishment is correct, and was mentioned to me at the time " - i.e., next morning.

It is possible that the child's experience here was a dream; if so, the case might be taken as a link between the two classes of phenomena - collective hallucinations and simultaneous dreams - which I have referred to as so closely related (p. 468).