894: Dynamic Theory. 



tinctly " Rosy, Rosy, Rosy ! " She supposed it was her uncle Done, who 

 had called her, as they two were the only occupants of the house that 

 night. ( Phantasms of the Living. ) 



This seems to be a proper place to observe, that in many cases of tel- 

 epathic transmission, there is much more in the vision, or hallucination 

 of the percipient, than could have been in the consciousness of the 

 agent. In the case of Mrs. Bettany, for example, it is quite unlikely 

 that the details of her mother's situation and surroundings in the 

 " white room" would all have been present to the mind of the mother, 

 and so become a part of the transmitted impression. In general, in 

 cases of vision, it is not possible that the agent is often thinking about 

 the clothes he has on, much less those he may have worn in former 

 years. Yet it is often in these latter that he appears to his percipient. 

 The fact is, the vision is made up oftentimes chiefly, or largely, of ele- 

 ments which were already in the mind of the percipient, and yet could 

 not have at the time been in the mind of the agent. It is inferred, 

 therefore, that the actual transmission may consist of a single one, or of 

 only a few vibrant elements, which serve to arouse in the brain of the 

 the percipient the disturbance of a mere point of cerebral substance. 

 From this point the disturbance spreads into the related memory organs, 

 and there is at once an image constructed on the same principle on 

 which dreams in common are formed. It is not often that the percipi- 

 ent sees the agent ( in imagination) as he really is at the moment. In 

 the case of the appearance of F. L. to N. J. S. , cited above, the spectre 

 appeared in his ' ' hat with a black band, his overcoat unbuttoned, and 

 a stick in his hand." The sick man was seen by his brother at about 

 8:40, within a few minutes of his death. He was then sitting in his 

 bedroom, where he had been for some time under treatment, and prob- 

 ably was not attired with hat, overcoat, and cane. 



These accessories were supplied from the memory organs of N. J. S. 

 The transmitted impression from the agent F. L. , amounted only to a 

 suggestion, and initiated the disturbance in the brain of N. J. S. , which, 

 overflowing to the related organs, aroused their action, and a new image 

 was constructed, embodying the instant impression with the former im- 

 pressions, and, as it were, redating the result of the latter. Immediately 

 after the vision, N. J. S. announced the same to his wife, and said 

 further, that F. L. was dead, for he had just seen him. The conviction 

 that he was dead, seems to have been the result of his own reasoning, 

 rather than a part of the original impression. It has happened so often 

 that visions of this sort have occurred at the time of the death of the 

 agent, that every one is familiar with such coincidence, and, immedi- 

 ately upon the occurrence of such vision, would be likely to infer a 

 death. The case related by Abercrombie, of the simultaneous dream of 



