442 ELEMENTARY PHYSIOLOGY less. 



usually vivid auditory and ocular spectra. Thus on one 

 occasion she saw her husband standing before her and 

 looking fixedly at her with a serious expression, though 

 at the time he was at another place. On another occa- 

 sion she heard him repeatedly call her, though at the 

 time he was not anywhere near. On another occasion 

 she saw a cat in the room lying on the rug ; and so vivid 

 was the illusion that she had gieat difficulty in satisfying 

 herself that really there was no cat there. The whole 

 account is well worthy of perusal. 



It is obvious that nothing but the singular courage and 

 clear intellect of Mrs. A. prevented her from becoming a 

 mine of ghost stories of the most excellently authenti- 

 cated kind. And the particular value of her history lies 

 in its showing, that tlie clearest testimony of the most 

 unimpeachable witness may be quite inconclusive as to 

 the objective reality of something which the witness has 

 seen. 



Mrs. A. undoubtedly saw what she said she saw. The 

 evidence of her eyes as to the existence of the apparitions, 

 and of her ears to those of the voices, was, in itself, as 

 perfectly trustworthy as their evidence would have been 

 had the objects really existed. For there can be no doubt 

 that exactly those parts of her retina which would have 

 been affected by the image of a cat, and those parts of 

 her auditory organ which would have been set vibrating 

 by her husband's voice, or rather the portions of the 

 sensorium with which those organs of sense are connected, 

 were thrown into a corresponding state of activity by 

 some internal cause. 



What the senses testify is neither more nor less than the 

 fact of their own affection. As to the cause of that affec- 

 tion they really say nothing, but leave the mind to form 

 its own judgment on the matter. A hasty or superstitious 

 person in Mrs. A.'s place would have formed a wrong 

 judgment, and w'ovild have stood by it on the plea that 

 *' she must believe her senses." 



