LIGHTENING THE VESSEL 49 
into account as wafting or blurring or making a vivid 
mental message from a distance. 
There was, and is, much more to say on this subject 
this new and strange problem in psychology, which 
is after all perhaps one of the oldest in human thought. 
Only just now, when it comes to us under a new 
name and increasing knowledge of its manifestation, 
it has acquired a peculiar interest, in some instances 
a personal one, but in all of us it sharply pricks 
curiosity. And the prick is all the sharper in my case 
since I seem at times to catch a glimpse of a con- 
nection between this and still other mysteries. At 
present want of time and space compels me to 
abandon it, to be picked up when the opportunity 
offers at another time, although (to take a hint from 
Sir Thomas Browne) that time may be when I am 
no longer here. I am finding it prudent on this 
voyage to relieve myself of a good deal of material 
many bales and crates of merchandise collected in 
many outlandish places; otherwise this slow ancient 
barque, with only the wind to keep her going, will 
never reach port. Nevertheless, before dropping it I 
should like to put down a few thoughts and sugges- 
tions to bring this chapter to a conclusion. 
It will be remembered that the only instances 
I have given of telepathy relate to but one aspect 
of the phenomenon of thought-transference, and this 
the most arresting, the most startling in its manifesta- 
tions, being that of apparitions or phantasms of the 
living, the message or shock invariably proceeding 
from a person in a moment of supreme agitation and, 
