662 B. From Phantasms of the Living, vol. ii. p. 31. The following case, though undoubtedly sensory, seems still to belong to a somewhat indescribable stage of visualisation. If interpreted as telepathic, it is further of interest as illustrating that rarer type where the phantasm is not merely representative of the agent, but visibly reproduces some actual percept or idea which is prominently present at the time to the agent's consciousness. The account is from Mr. F. Gottschalk, of 20 Adamson Road, Belsize Park, N.W., and is dated February 12, 1886.

[Mr. Gottschalk begins by describing a friendship which he formed with Mr. Courtenay Thorpe, at the rooms of Dr. Sylvain Mayer, on the evening of February 20th, 1885. On February 24th, being anxious to hear a particular recitation which Mr. Thorpe was shortly going to give, Mr. Gottschalk wrote to him, at the Princés Theatre, to ask what the hour of the recitation was to be.] In the evening I was going out to see some friends, when on the road there seemed suddenly to develop itself before me a disc of light, which appeared to be on a different plane to everything else in view. It was not possible for me to fix the distance at which it seemed to be from me.1 Examining the illumined space, I found that two hands were visible. They were engaged in drawing a letter from an envelope which I instinctively felt to be mine and, in consequence, thought immediately that the hands were those of Mr. Thorpe. I had not previously been thinking of him, but at the moment the conviction came to me with such intensity that it was irresistible. Not being in any way awe-struck by the extraordinary nature and novelty of this incident, but in a perfectly calm frame of mind, I examined the picture, and found that the hands were very white, and bared up to some distance above the wrist.

Each forearm terminated in a ruffle; beyond that nothing was to be seen. The vision lasted about a minute. After its disappearance I determined to find out what connection it may have had with Mr. Thorpés actual pursuit at the moment, and went to the nearest lamp-post and noted the time.

By the first post the next morning, I received an answer from Mr. Thorpe, which began in the following way: " Tell me, pray tell me, why did I, when I saw your letter in the rack at the Princés Theatre, know that it was from you?"

1cf. remark in M. Marillier's account of his interesting subjective experiences, referred to in [Phantasms of the Living] vol. i. p. 521: " Je ne pourrais indiquer ni la. place de l'image que j'ai objectivee, ni la distance à laquelle elle se trouve." The indescribableness of a certain sort of externalisation is well brought out in the same writer's description of his vision of parts of his body which could never actually be seen by him - eg. the back of his head.

[We have seen this letter, which is dated "Tuesday night"; and February 24th, 1885, fell on a Tuesday.] Mr. Thorpe had no expectation of receiving a letter from me, nor had he ever seen my writing. Even had he seen it, his knowledge of it would not affect the issue of the question, as he assured me that the impression arrived the moment he saw there was a letter under the "T clip," before any writing was visible. [Mr. Gottschalk explains that from the construction of the rack, which he has examined, the address on the envelope would be invisible].

On the evening of February 27th, by arrangement, I again met him at the rooms of Dr. Mayer, and there put questions to him with a view to eliciting some explanation. As near as possible, I give them as they were put at the time, and add the answers. It is necessary for me here to state that he and the Doctor were in complete ignorance of what had happened to me. Having first impressed upon him the necessity of answering in a categorical manner and with the greatest possible accuracy, I commenced: -

"When did you get my Tuesday's letter?" "At 7 in the evening, when I arrived at the theatre." "Then what happened?" "I read it, but, being very late, in such a hurry that when I had finished I was as ignorant of its contents as if I had never seen it." "Then? " "I dressed, went on the stage, played my part, and came off." "What was the time then?" "About 20 minutes past 8." "What happened then?" "I talked for a time with some of the company in my dressing-room." "For how long?" "Twenty minutes." "What did you then do?" "They having left me, my first thought was to find your letter. I looked everywhere for it, in vain. I turned out the pockets of my ordinary clothes, and searched among the many things that encumbered my dressing-table. I was annoyed at not finding it immediately, especially as I was anxious to know what it was about. Strangely enough I discovered it eventually in the coat which I had just worn in the piece 'School for Scandal.' I immediately read it again, was delighted to receive it, and decided to answer at once." "Now be very exact.

What was the time when you read it on the second occasion?" "As nearly as I can say, 10 minutes to 9".

Thereupon I drew from my pocket a little pocket-diary in which I had noted the time of my vision, and asked Dr. Mayer to read what was written under the date 24th February.

"Eight minutes to 9".

[Mr. Gottschalk has kindly allowed us to inspect his diary, which confirms all the dates given].

Having established in this way, without any assistance, the coincidence of time between his actually opening the envelope and my seeing him do so, I was satisfied as to the principal part, and proceeded to analyse the incident in detail. The whiteness of the hands was accounted for by the fact that actors invariably whiten their hands when playing a part like the one Mr. Thorpe was engaged in - "Snake" in the "School for Scandal." The ruffles also formed part of the dress in this piece. They were attached to the short sleeves of the shirt which Mr. Thorpe was actually wearing when he opened my letter.

This is the first hallucination I ever had. I have had one since of a similar nature, which I will recount separately. Ferdinand Gottschalk.

Dr. Mayer, of 42 Somerset Street, Portman Square, W., corroborates as follows: -

March 1st, 1886. I well remember having read something [i.e. in Mr. Gottschalk's diary] - the exact words memory will not allow me to give - which tallied almost exactly with the story told by Courtenay Thorpe; and can bear positive testimony of the above conversation having taken place. Sylvain Mayer.

We cannot lay any stress on Mr. Thorpés impression as to the letter and its writer, since that may easily have been accidental. But it is a point to be noticed that he read the letter with very decided pleasure, after a considerable hunt for it - in other words, that the reading of the letter stood out rather distinctly from the general run of such experiences. Though the incident is trivial, the close correspondence of time and detail is strongly suggestive of telepathic clairvoyance. In the second case mentioned, an illuminated disc was again seen, which "seemed not to belong to the surroundings"; but the details were not quite as distinctive as in the above instance.