Hypnotism is the key which will enable us to unlock most of these mysteries, and so far as hypnotism has spoken it does not tend to encourage the belief that the immaterial body has any substance other than the hallucination of the person who sees it. Various cases are reported by hypnotist practitioners2 which suggest that there is an almost illimitable capacity of the human mind to see visions and to hear voices. One very remarkable3 case was that of a girl who was told at midsummer by the hypnotist, when in the hypnotic state, that he would come to see her on New Year's Day. When she awoke from the trance she knew nothing about the conversation. One hundred and seventy-one days passed without any reference to it. But on the 172nd day, being New Year's Day, she positively4 declared that the doctor had entered her room, greeted her, and then departed. Curiously5 enough, as showing the purely6 subjective7 character of the vision, the doctor appeared to her in the depth of winter, wearing the light summer apparel he had on when he made the appointment in July. In this case there can be no question as to the apparition8 being purely subjective. The doctor did not make any attempt to visit her in his immaterial body, but she saw him and heard him as if he were there.
The late Mr. Gurney conducted some experiments with a hypnotic subject which seem to confirm the opinion that the phantasmal body is a merely subjective hallucination, although, of course, this would not explain how information had been actually imparted to the phantasmal visitant by the person who saw, or imagined they saw, his wraith10. Mr. Gurney's cases are, however, very interesting, if only as indicating the absolute certainty which a hypnotised patient can be made to feel as to the objectivity of sights and sounds:—
"S. hypnotised Zillah, and told her that she would see him standing11 in the room at three o'clock next afternoon, and that she would hear him call her twice by name. She was told that he would not stop many seconds. On waking she had no notion of the ideas impressed upon her.
"Next day, however, she came upstairs about five minutes past three, looking ghastly and startled. She said, 'I have seen a ghost.' I assumed intense amazement12, and she said she was in the kitchen cleaning some silver, and suddenly she heard her name called sharply twice over, 'Zillah!' in Mr. Smith's voice. She said, 'And I dropped the spoon I was rubbing, and turned and saw Mr. S., without his hat, standing at the foot of the kitchen stairs. I saw him as plain as I see you,' she said, and looked very wild and vacant.
"The next experiment took place on Wednesday evening, July 13th, 1887, when S., told her, when hypnotised, that the next afternoon, at three o'clock, she would see me (Mr. Gurney) come into the room to her. She was further told that I would keep my hat on and say, 'Good-morning,' and that I would remark, 'It is very warm,' and would then turn round and walk out.
"Next day this is what Zillah reported. She said, 'I was in the kitchen washing up, and had just looked at the clock, and was startled to see how late it was (five minutes to three) when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs—rather a quick, light step—and I thought it was Mr. Sleep' (the dentist whose rooms are in the house), 'but as I turned round, with a dish mop in one hand and a plate in the other, I saw some one with a hat on who had to stoop as he came down the last step, and there was Mr. Gurney. He was dressed just as I saw him last night, black coat and grey trousers, his hat on, and a roll of paper like manuscript in his hand, and he said, "Oh! good-afternoon;" and then he glanced all round the kitchen and he glanced at me with an awful look, as if he was going to murder me, and said, "Warm afternoon, isn't it?" and then "Good-afternoon," or "Good-day," I am not sure which, and then turned and went up the stairs again; and after standing thunderstruck a minute, I ran to the foot of the stairs and saw just like a boot disappearing on the top step.' She said, 'I think I must be going crazy. Why should I always see something at three o'clock each day after the seance?'" (Vol. V. pp. 11-13.)
Whatever hypothesis we select to explain these mysteries, they do not become less marvellous. Even if we grant that it is mere9 telepathy, or mind affecting mind at a distance without the use of the recognised organs of sense or of any of the ordinary conducting mediums, what an enormous extension it gives to the ordinary conception of the limits of the human mind! To be able instantaneously to paint upon the retina of a friend's eye the life-like image of ourselves, to make our voice sound in his ears at a distance of many miles, and to communicate to his mind information which he had never before heard of, all this is, it may be admitted, as tremendous a draft upon the credulity of mankind as the favourite Theosophical formula of the astral body. Yet who is there who, in face of the facts and experiences recorded above, will venture to deny that one or other of these hypotheses alone can account for the phenomena13 under consideration?
It is obvious that when once the possibility of the Double is admitted, many mysteries could be cleared up, although it is also true that a great many inconveniences would immediately follow; the establishment of the reality of the double would invalidate every plea of alibi14. If a man can really be in two places at one time, there is an end to the plea which is most frequently resorted to by the accused to prove their innocence15. There are other inconveniences, which are alluded16 to in the following letter from a lady correspondent, who believes that she has the faculty17 in frequent, although uncertain and unconscious, use:—
"'I saw you yesterday, and you cut me.' Such was the remark I frequently heard from my friends: in the broad daylight they saw me in street or tram, etc. Once a personal friend followed me into church on Christmas Day in a city at least 100 miles from where I really was. Another time I sat two pews in front of a friend at a cathedral service. When I denied having been there, she said, 'It's no good talking: I saw you, and you didn't want to wait for me.' 'But,' I said, 'you have my word that I was not there.' 'Yes,' she said, 'but I have my sight, and I saw you.' Of course, I naturally thought it was some one like me, and said, perhaps rather sarcastically18, 'Would it be very strange if any one else bore some resemblance to me?' 'No,' said my friend, 'it would not; but someone else doesn't wear your clothes.' On one occasion I remember three people saw me where I certainly was not physically19 present the same day; all knew me personally. I often bought books of a man who kept a second-hand20 bookstall. One day he told me that he had a somewhat rare edition of a book I wanted, but that it was at the shop. I said, 'I'll come across to-morrow for it if I make up my mind to give the price.' The next day I was prevented from going, and went the day after, to hear it was sold. 'Why didn't you keep it?' I asked. 'I thought you did not want it when you came yesterday and did not buy it.' 'But I didn't come yesterday.' 'Why, excuse me, you did, and took the book up and laid it down again while I was serving Mr. M., and you went away before I could ask you about it; Mr. M. remarked that it was strange you did not answer him when he spoke1.' When I asked the gentleman referred to, he confirmed the story. Mrs. B. also saw me lower down the same street that morning.
"Still it never struck me that it was anything strange; I was only rather curious to see the woman who was so like me. I saw her in an unexpected manner. Going into my room one night, I happened to glance down at my bed, and saw a form there. I thought it strange, yet was not startled. I bent21 over it, and recognised my own features distinctly. I was in perfect health at the time, and no disaster followed."
Queen Elizabeth's Double.
In a volume published by Macmillan & Co., entitled "Legendary22 Fictions of the Irish Celt," I find the following references to the Double:—
"If this phantom23 be seen in the morning it betokens24 good fortune and long life to its prototype; if in the evening a near death awaits him. This superstition25 was known and felt in England even in the reign26 of Elizabeth. We quote a passage from Miss Strickland's account of her last illness:—
"'As her mortal illness drew towards a close, the superstitious27 fears of her simple ladies were excited almost to mania28, even to conjuring29 up a spectral30 apparition of the Queen while she was yet alive. Lady Guildford, who was then in waiting on the Queen, leaving her in an almost breathless sleep in her privy31 chamber32, went out to take a little air, and met her Majesty33, as she thought, three or four chambers34 off. Alarmed at the thought of being discovered in the act of leaving the Royal patient alone, she hurried forward in some trepidation35 in order to excuse herself, when the apparition vanished away. She returned terrified to the chamber, but there lay the Queen still in the same lethargic36 slumber37 in which she left her.'"
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1
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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practitioners
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| n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师） | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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wraith
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| n.幽灵；骨瘦如柴的人 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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alibi
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| n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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sarcastically
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| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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second-hand
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| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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legendary
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| adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学） | |
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phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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betokens
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| v.预示，表示( betoken的第三人称单数 ) | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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conjuring
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| n.魔术 | |
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spectral
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| adj.幽灵的，鬼魂的 | |
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privy
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| adj.私用的；隐密的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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35
trepidation
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| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
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lethargic
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| adj.昏睡的，懒洋洋的 | |
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slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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