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, 



D 



