Account of a remarkable case of Spectral Illusion. S21 



cannot altogether banish, had it not been for a third appari- 

 tion, at whose visit I myself assisted a few days afterwards, 

 and which I think is the key-stone of the case, rendering it as 

 complete as could be wished. 



"On the 4-th of this month (January 1830) five days after the 

 last apparition, at about ten o'clock at night, I was sitting in the 



drawing room with Mrs , and in the act of stirring the fire, 



when she exclaimed ' Why, there*'s the cat in the room.' I 

 asked * Where ? ' She replied 'There close to you.' ' Where ?' 

 I repeated. ' Why, on the rug to be sure, between your- 

 self and the coal-scuttle.' I had the poker in my hand and I 

 pushed it in the direction mentioned. ' Take care,' she cried 

 out, " take care, you are hitting her with the poker." I again 

 asked her to point out exactly where she saw the cat. She 

 repHed, ' Why, sitting up there close to your feet on the rug : — 

 she is looking at me. It is Kitty. Come here, Kitty.' There 

 are two cats in the house, one of which went by this name. 

 They were rarely, if ever, in the drawing room. At this time 



Mrs had certainly no idea that the sight of the cat 



was an illusion. I asked her to touch it. She got up for the 

 purpose, and seemed as if she was pursuing some thing which 

 moved away. She followed a few steps, and then said, ' It 

 has gone under that chair.' I told her it was an illusion. She 

 would not believe it. I lifted up the chair, there was nothing 

 there, nor did Mrs ■ see any thing more of it. I search- 

 ed the room all over, and found nothing. There was a dog 

 lying on the hearth who would have betrayed great uneasiness 

 had a cat been in the room. He was perfectly quiet. In 

 order to be quite certain, however, I rung the bell, and sent 

 for the two cats. They were both found in the housekeeper's 

 room. The most superstitious person could now doubt no 

 longer as to the real character of all these illusory appearances, 

 and the case is so complete that I hope there will be no re- 

 newal of them, symptomatic as they of course are of a disor- 

 dered state of body. I am sorry to say Mrs as well 



as myself, forgot to try in time the experimentum crucis on 

 the cat. 



" Mrs has naturally a morbidly sensitive imagina- 

 tion, so strongly affecting her corporeal impressions, that the 



XEW SETllES, VOL. II. NO. II. APRIL 1830. P 



