EPIDEMIC DELUSIONS. 33 



movements ; and I believe that that is really the clew to the interpre- 

 tation of the genuine phenomena. On the other hand, there are a great 

 many which we are assured of for instance, this descent of a lady 

 through the ceiling which are self-delusions, pure mental delusions, 

 resulting from the preconceived idea and the state of expectant atten- 

 tion in which these individuals are. Here are a dozen persons sitting 

 round a table in the dark, with the anticipation of some extraordinary 

 event happening. In another dark seance one young lady thought she 

 would like to have a live lobster brought in, and presently she began 

 to feel some uncomfortable sensations, which she attributed to the 

 presence of this live lobster ; and the fact is recorded that two live lob- 

 sters were brought in ; that is, they appeared in this dark seance 

 making their presence known, I suppose, by crawling over the persons 

 of the sitters. But that is all we know about it that they felt some- 

 thing they say they were two live lobsters, but what evidence is 

 there of that ? the seance was a dark one. We are merely told that 

 the young lady thought of a live lobster ; she said they had received 

 so many flowers and fruits that she was tired of them, and she thought 

 of two live lobsters ; and forthwith it was declared that the live lob- 

 sters were present. I certainly should be much more satisfied with 

 the narration, if we were told that they had made a supper off these 

 lobsters after the stance was ended. 



Now, it has been my business lately to go rather carefully into the 

 analysis of several of these cases, and to inquire into the mental con- 

 dition of some of the individuals who have reported the most remark- 

 able occurrences. I cannot it would not be fair say all I could say 

 with regard to that mental condition ; but I can only say this, that it 

 all fits in perfectly well with the result of my previous studies upon 

 the subject, viz., that there is nothing too strange to be believed by 

 those who have once surrendered their judgment to the extent of ac- 

 cepting as credible things which common-sense tells us are entirely 

 incredible. One gentleman says he glories in not having that scien- 

 tific incredulity which should lead him to reject any thing incredible 

 merely because it seems incredible. I can only say this, that we might 

 as well go back to the state of childhood at once, the state in which 

 we are utterly incapable of distinguishing the strange from the true. 

 That is a low and imperfect condition of mental development ; and all 

 that we call education tends to produce the habit of mind that shall 

 enable us to distinguish the true from the false actual facts from the 

 creations of our imagination. 1 do not say that we ought to reject 

 every thing that to us, in the first instance, may seem strange. I could 

 tell you of a number of such things in science within your own expe- 

 rience. How many things there are in the present day that we are 

 perfectly familiar with the electric telegraph, for instance which 

 fifty years ago would have been considered perfectly monstrous and 

 incredible. But there we have the rationale. Any person who chooses 

 VOL. 11. 3 



