380 Account of another Case of Spectral Illusion. 



nwake ; indeed her fingers were in active motion amongst the 

 papillotes, when she was suddenly startled by seeing in the 

 mirror the figure of « near relative, (at the time in Scotland,) 

 Qver her left shoulder j his eyes meeting her's in the glass. 

 The figure was enveloped in grave-clothes closely pinned, as 

 13 usual with corpses, round the head and under the chin. 

 Though the eyes were open, the features were solemn and ri- 

 gid. The dress was decidedly a shroud, as Mrs re- 

 marked even the punctured pattern usually worked in a pecu-. 

 liar manner round the edges of that garment. 



Mrs " describes herself as sensible of a feeling like 



what we conceive of fascination, compelling her for a time to 

 gaze on this melancholy apparition, which was as distinct and 

 vivid as any reflected reality could be ; the light of the candles 

 on the dressing-table appearing to shine fully upon it. After 

 a few minutes she turned round to look for the reality of the 

 form over her shoulder. It was not however visible; and 

 had also disappeared from the glass when she looked again in 

 that direction. 



Coupled with the previous illusions I related to you, this 

 last apparition becomes more interesting than it would be alone. 

 In the first place, its melancholy, and indeed horrible charac- 

 ter, distinguishes it from the others, but brings it still nearer to 

 the ordinary stories of supernatural visitation. At the same 

 time, the possible continuance of such spectral appearances is 

 highly disagreeable, however firm the lady''s nerves, and how- 

 ever sound her philosophy. 



2. The mind in this case seems not to have had the remotest 

 influence in raising or dissipating the illusion. 



Mrs is convinced there was no train of thought pre- 

 viously passing through her mind, likely to have the slightest 

 association with the idea of the relative whose form she sud- 

 denly saw with all the distinctness of reality. 



3. The former illusions might be supposed ideas of sensation, 

 sounds or pictures, reproduced with extraordinary vividness in 

 the same shape and character in which they had been perceived 

 by and stored up in the mind. But in this last case, there is 

 9 new combination of ideas, which never entered the mind in 

 connection. 



