1896.] Psychology. 511 



ter till his thirty-first year. At that time, as the result of some strange 

 experiences ending with the direct promptings of a hallucinatory (?) 

 voice, he gave up his trade, and spent some thirty years as an itinerant 

 preacher or " evangelist." At the time of his extraordinary seizure he 

 was about 61 years old, and, except for some mental disturbance caused 

 by the objection of his second wife to his work as an itinerant preacher, 

 he seems to have been in excellent health. 



On January 17, 1887, he went from his home in Coventry, Rhode 

 Island, to Providence, in order to draw money from the bank to pay 

 for a farm he had arranged to buy. He left his horse at Greene Sta- 

 tion in a stable, expecting to return that afternoon from the city. He 

 drew out of the kink >•">."> I, and paid several bills, after which he went 

 to his nephew's store, 121 Broad Street, and then started to go to his 

 sister's house. This was the last that was known of his doings at that 

 time. He did not appear at his sister's house, and did not return to 

 Greene, where his horse remained for about three weeks, till it was 

 taken away by Mrs. Bourne. 



On Thursday, Jan. 20, the following paragraph appeared in the 

 Bulletin, of Providence, R. L, the information having been given by 



" This morning, Mrs. Bourne, the wife of Ansel Bourne, of Greene 

 Station, called at police headquarters and reported that her husband 

 had been missing since Monday last. Rev. Mr. Bourne is quite widely 

 known as an evangelist, and during the p;i-r twenty-rive years he has 

 carried on his religious work in various parts of the United States. 

 For some years, it is said, he has been subject to attacks of a peculiar 

 kind, which rendered him temporarily insensible, and on some occa- 

 sions he has remained in an unconscious state for many hours 



Mr. Bourne was in Providence on Monday, but he did not return to 

 his home, and has not been heard of since." 



Notwithstanding the publicity given to the fact of his disappearance, 

 no tidings whatever were received of him till about March 14, eight 

 weeks later. The account of the n h furnished 



to Dr. Weir Mitchell (one of the many medical men interested in this 

 extraordinary case) by Surgeon-General L. H. Read, who was sum- 

 moned to examine Ansel Bourne on the morning of March 14, soon 

 after he regained his ordinary waking consciousness. 



It appears that Ansel Bourne arrived at Norristown, Pa., about 

 Feb. 1, 1887, i. e., two weeks after his disappearance from Providence, 

 R. I. Under the name of A. J. Brown he rented a store room at 252 



