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303
The Book of Dreams and Ghosts
·
Andrew Lang
107
APPEARANCES
OF
THE
DEAD
We
now
pass
beyond
the
utmost
limits
to
which
a
"scientific"
theory
of
things
ghostly
can
be
pushed.
Science
admits,
if
asked,
that
it
does
not
know
everything.
It
is
not
inconceivable
that
living
minds
may
communicate
by
some
other
channel
than
that
of
the
recognised
senses.
Science
now
admits
the
fact
of
hypnotic
influence,
though,
sixty
years
ago,
Braid
was
not
allowed
to
read
a
paper
on
it
before
the
British
Association.
Even
now
the
topic
is
not
welcome.
But
perhaps
only
one
eminent
man
of
science
declares
that
hypnotism
is
all
imposture
and
malobservation.
Thus
it
is
not
wholly
beyond
the
scope
of
fancy
to
imagine
that
some
day
official
science
may
glance
at
the
evidence
for
"telepathy".
But
the
stories
we
have
been
telling
deal
with
living
men
supposed
to
be
influencing
living
men.
When
the
dead
are
alleged
to
exercise
a
similar
power,
we
have
to
suppose
that
some
consciousness
survives
the
grave,
and
manifests
itself
by
causing
hallucinations
among
the
living.
Instances
of
this
have
already
been
given
in
"The
Ghost
and
the
Portrait,"
"The
Bright
Scar"
and
"Riding
Home
after
Mess".
These
were
adduced
as
examples
of
veracity
in
hallucinations.
Each
appearance
gave
information
to
the
seer
which
he
did
not
previously
possess.
In
the
first
case,
the
lady
who
saw
the
soldier
and
the
suppliant
did
not
know
of
their
previous
existence
and
melancholy
adventure.
In
the
second,
the
brother
did
not
know
that
his
dead
sister's
face
had
been
scratched.
In
the
third,
the
observer
did
not
know
that
Lieutenant
B.
had
grown
a
beard
and
acquired
a
bay
pony
with
black
mane
and
tail.
But
though
the
appearances
were
veracious,
they
were
purposeless,
and
again,
as
in
each
case
the
information
existed
in
living
minds,
it
may
have
been
wired
on
from
them.
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