i88i/| 
The Transfer of Sensation. 
545 
have been illuminated, and which in consequence of their 
varied colouration have been differently affedled in different 
parts, retain for a longer or shorter time the power of acting 
upon a highly — we will say a morbid — sight organ ? Is 
phosphorescence possibly a general property of matter, 
provided we had a sufficiently delicate test for its recog- 
nition ? 
Our second suggestion is, Do the phenomena above de- 
tailed prove the transference of the sense of sight from the 
eye to the finger-tips, or rather the development in them of 
a new sense not dependent on light in the ordinary sense of 
the term ? The well-known experiment of Spallanzani on 
bats, which Dr. Davey quotes, as well as certain phenomena 
of inseCt life with which we have been much concerned, 
seem to favour this notion. The possibility of senses other 
than the five commonly recognised in man and the verte- 
brates generally cannot be rationally denied. Positive in- 
stances of their occurrence are still to seek. 
Whether either of these suppositions will explain all the 
phenomena here noted is, however, very doubtful. 
The author says, “ It should be stated that at my second 
interview with Mrs. Croad, and in the presence of Dr. 
Andrews and others, certain of my own personal and private 
convictions on a particular subject became, as it would seem, 
in a strange and exceptional manner, known to Mrs. Croad. 
She asked me if I would allow her to tell me a secret in my 
own life-history, and would I be offended if she wrote it on 
her slate ? I replied ‘ No.’ That written on the slate was 
and is a faCt, than which nothing could or can be more 
truthful and to the point. Dr. Andrews is prepared to verify 
this.” Here all explanation in the present state of our 
knowledge, is wanting. We fail to see how any known — it 
might almost be added any conceivable — sense could enable 
one person to perceive the past experience of another. 
Many readers will at once cut the knot by a simple denial. 
For our part we do not feel at liberty to escape from the 
difficulty in this manner. We are accustomed to accept the 
evidence of a gentleman and scientist unless we have already 
found him to be a defective observer and self-deceiver, or 
unless his statements are mutually contradictory or opposed 
not to imperfect and doubtful theories, but to established 
faCts. 
We read further : — “ It should be added, on the authority 
of Mr. Westlake, that Mrs. Croad asked his wife whether 
there was a room beyond (pointing where there was a 
passage). Being told ‘ Yes, two,’ she said ‘ What does the 
