In the next two examples (in which the figure was unrecognised) no difference seems to have been noted in the impressions of the two percipients. Mr. Bettany, of 2, Eckington Villas, Ashbourne Grove, Dulwich, S.E., writes: -

"November, 1884.

(323) " One night, early this year, I became conscious of a figure in my bedroom. It was a crouching figure of a woman, enveloped in a black cloak and hood. My impression was that the woman was old, but I did not see a face. This figure slowly and stealthily advanced from the bedroom door to a wardrobe on the same side of the room. It then suddenly and entirely disappeared, and, from the sudden shock, I gave a sharp loud cry. I never saw such an appearance before or since. I consider myself unusually unlikely to see apparitions. This figure and circumstance were like no dream, but were to me real and evident, and there appeared to be no transition between waking and sleeping. I was convinced that what I saw was a waking sight. I have no idea whom the figure represented. I had then occupied this house nearly three years, and I know nothing of former occupants.

"No light was carried nor was any light burning in the room. The figure was visible and the wardrobe was visible; but when the figure disappeared darkness was complete.1 The door was found locked.

"G. T. Bettany." Mrs. Bettany (the narrator of cases 20 and 309) writes: -

"On the night referred to, I woke suddenly, I know not from what cause. My husband was leaning on his elbow, looking intently at a strange woman whom I saw crouching by the wardrobe. I believed it to be a real person. It, however, suddenly disappeared. My husband then gave a cry as he describes. He then told me what he had seen. I tried the door and found it locked.

"The thought has occurred to me that I may have seen this by sympathetic transference from my husband; but, against this, I am much more likely to see something of this kind than he.

"Without having mentioned this apparition to my servants, the nurse- had woke her in the night, saying, without any fear in her voice, ' Clara, Clara, there is an old woman in the room.' The nurse herself saw nothing. I may add that my cook has on several occasions asked me if I had entered her room during the night, on occasions when I had certainly not done so. She appeared much mystified on learning this.

1 See p 359 maid told me, next day, that Muriel (a child of three years).

"Jeanie Gwynne Bettany".

[Case 324 is omitted, as also a curious unnumbered case. - Ed].

I now come to cases where the figure was recognised. The following transitional instance, of semi-recognition, is from Captain Cecil Norton, late of the 5th Lancers, who tells us that he has had no other hallucination of the senses.

"5, Queen's Gate, S.W.

"December 20th, 1885.

(325) "About Christmas time 1875 or 1876, being officer on duty, I was seated at the mess table of the 5th Lancers, in the West Cavalry Barracks, at Aldershot. There were 10 or 12 other officers present, and amongst them Mr. John Atkinson (now of Erchfont Manor, near Devizes, Wilts), the Surgeon-Major of the regiment, who sat on my right, but at the end of the table furthest from me and next to Mr. Russell. [Captain Norton was sitting at the end of the table and directly facing the window.] At about 8.45 p.m. Atkinson suddenly glared at the window to his right, thereby attracting the notice of Russell, who, seizing his arm, said, 'Good gracious, Doctor, what's the matter with you? ' This caused me to look in the direction in which I saw Atkinson looking, viz., at the window opposite, and I there saw (for the curtains were looped up, although the room was lighted by a powerful central gas light in the roof and by candles on the table) a young woman, in what appeared a soiled or somewhat worn bridal dress, walk or glide slowly past the window from east to west. She was about at the centre of the window when I observed her, and outside the window.

No person could have actually been in the position where she appeared, as the window in question is about 30 feet above the ground.

"The nearest buildings to the window referred to are the Infantry Barracks opposite, about 300 yards distant. Behind where I sat is a conservatory, which was examined by me, as well as the front window, immediately after the occurrence. There was no person in the conservatory. [It was unused in the winter.] The nearest buildings to it are the officers' stables, over which are the staff sergeants' quarters, about 50 yards distant.

"The occurrence made little if any impression upon me, though it impressed others who were in the room. All present had been drinking very little wine; and the dinner had been very quiet.

" It has just occurred to me that I may be wrong as to the time of year and that the occurrence may have taken place about 15th October or about 15th March. "Cecil Norton".

Mr. Atkinson writes: -

"Erchfont Manor, Devizes.

"August 31st, 1885.

' The appearance of a woman which I saw pass the mess-room window at Aldershot seemed to be outside, and it passed from east to west. The mess-room is on the first floor, so the woman would have been walking in the air. There has been a very nice story made out of it - like most other ghost-stories, founded on an optical illusion".

[Captain Norton's viva voce account made it tolerably clear, in my opinion, that the case was one of hallucination, not illusion. He further mentions that both Mr. Atkinson and he were " satisfied that the face and form of the woman seen were familiar," though they could not at the moment identify the person. Captain Norton afterwards felt sure that the likeness was to a photograph which he was in the habit of seeing in the room of the veterinary surgeon of the regiment, representing the surgeon's deceased wife in bridal dress. Oddly enough, this man was at the time, unknown to his friends, actually dying or within a day or two of death, in the same building. But Mr. Atkinson recalls nothing about the photograph; and the coincidence is not one to which we can attach weight].

[Cases 326, 327, and 328, all clearly "recognised," are here omitted].