656 A. This case is taken from the "Report on the Census of Hallucinations" in Proceedings S.P.R., vol. x. p. 308. The account was written in 1890 by one of the two percipients concerned, Miss A. E. R.

When out in camp in an Indian jungle, my sister and I were anxiously awaiting the return of her husband, who had left in the morning on a surveying expedition, promising to return early in the afternoon. Between six and seven p.m. we were very uneasy, and were watching the line of road, I should say, 200 yards distant from where we stood. Simultaneously we exclaimed, " There he is," and I distinctly saw him, sitting in his dog-cart driving his grey horse the syce occupying the seat behind. We at once returned to the tents - my sister ordering the bearer to get the Sahib's bath-water ready, and the butler to prepare dinner - I running to set my brother-in-law's mother's mind at rest as to the safety of her son. However, as time passed on, and he did not appear, our alarm returned, and was not allayed until he arrived in safety at eight o'clock. On interrogating him, we found he was just starting from the surveying ground, about eight miles distant, at the very time we had the above related experience.

I should add, we were both in good health and certainly wide awake at the time, and I have never before or since had any experience of the kind.

Miss R. was about ten years old at the time of this incident. Her sister, Mrs. H., writes: -

December 17 th, 1890. In answer to your request, I write to say that I fully endorse the statement made by my sister with reference to our experience in India. I was present at the time. Also I may state that there was no possibility of our mistaking any other person for my husband, as the road ended at our tents, and the figure we saw must necessarily have driven straight to us. I should also say we were in an isolated part of the country.

I called on Mrs. H. in December 1891, and she informed me that the incident took place "about 18 years ago," when her son, who was then twenty, was about two years old. She explained to me in conversation that a mistake of identity was impossible, both from the lonely nature of the country and from the great height of her husband, who is about 6 ft. 4 in. tall.

Mrs. H. added a further note to her sister's account, to the following effect: -

December 5th, 1891.

I fully endorse all the details of this account. I may add that the time I saw my husband was about the hour I expected him home. He had been detained later than he expected, and I know would be concerned as to my anxiety about him. I have never had any other similar experience.

In this case the proof that the figure was not real depends not so much on the recognition - for the distance was probably too great for certain recognition - as on the combination of that with the very great improbability that any human being whatever was driving a dog-cart in the place at that moment.

656 B. The following case is quoted from Over the Teacups, by Oliver Wendell Holmes (3rd ed. 1891, p. 12). We are told in the Introduction that the part of the book containing these cases was written in March 1888.

I relate a singular coincidence which very lately occurred in my experience. ... I will first copy the memorandum made at the time: -

"Remarkable coincidence. On Monday, April 18th, being at table from 630 p.m. to 7.30, with------and------[the two ladies of my household], I told them of the case of 'trial by battel' offered by Abraham Thornton in 1817. I mentioned his throwing down his glove, which was not taken up by the brother of his victim, and so he had to be let off, for the old law was still in force. I mentioned that Abraham Thornton was said to have come to this country, 'and [I added] he may be living near us for aught that I know.' I rose from the table and found an English letter waiting for me, left while I sat at dinner. I copy the first portion of this letter: -

' 20 Alfred Place West (near Museum), South Kensington, London, S.W., April 7th, 1887.

'Dr. O. W. Holmes, - Dear Sir, - In travelling the other day I met with a reprint of the very interesting case of Thornton for murder, 1817. The prisoner pleaded successfully the old Wager of Battel. I thought you would like to read the account, and send it with this... - Yours faithfully,

'Fred. Rathbone.' "

Mr. Rathbone is a well-known dealer in old Wedgwood and eighteenth-century art. As a friend of my hospitable entertainer, M. Willett, he had shown me many attentions in England, but I was not expecting any communication from him; and when, fresh from my conversation, I found this letter just arrived by mail and left while I was at table, and on breaking the seal read what I had a few moments before been telling, I was greatly surprised, and immediately made a note of the occurrence, as given above.

I had long been familiar with all the details of this celebrated case, but had not referred to it, so far as I can remember, for months or years. I know of no train of thought which led me to speak of it on that particular day. I had never alluded to it before in that company, nor had I ever spoken of it with Mr. Rathbone....

The case I have given is, I am confident, absolutely free from every source of error. I do not remember that Mr. Rathbone had communicated with me since he sent me a plentiful supply of mistletoe a year ago last Christmas. The account I received from him was cut out of The Sporting Times of March 5th, 1887. My own knowledge of the case came from Kirby's Wonderful Museum, a work presented to me at least thirty years ago. I had not looked at the account, spoken of it, nor thought of it for a long time, when it came to me by a kind of spontaneous generation, as it seemed, having no connection with any previous train of thought that I was aware of. I consider the evidence of entire independence, apart from possible " telepathic" causation, completely waterproof, airtight, incombustible, and unassailable.