41 8 THE BORDERLAND OF SCIENCE. 



before had been so completely deceived, rejected 

 completely the idea of resemblance. There was 

 nothing even in the arrangement of the folds of the 

 surplice to justify in the slightest degree an illusion 

 which, nevertheless, had been perfect while it lasted. 

 Only one feature of the apparition was accounted for. 

 I have said that the eyes shone with tears : the 

 explanation was rather commonplace ; over my surplice 

 I had hung a rowing belt, and the silvered buckles 

 (partly concealed by the folds of the surplice) shone in 

 the moonlight. 



The event here narrated suggests the explanation 

 of many ghost stories which have been related with 

 perfect good faith. I believe the imagination only 

 acts so as to deceive the mind completely when the 

 latter has been painfully affected and is in an unhealthy 

 condition. When this is the ease, and a vision of some 

 departed friend is conjured up out of realities indis- 

 tinctly seen, the effect on the mind will depend greatly 

 on the ideas entertained by the victim of the illusion 

 on the subject of ghosts and visions generally. A 

 believer in ghosts will be too startled to inquire further. 

 If (as happens in many instances of the kind) he can 

 retreat from the dread presence, he will commonly do 

 so, and remain satisfied ever after that he at least has 

 ' seen a ghost.' And in this way, I doubt little, many 

 veracious persona have been led to give their evidence 

 in favour of the common notions about ghosts and 

 visions. 



It is a singular circumstance, however, that some- 



