Page:The Naturalisation of the Supernatural.pdf/111

Rh No. 25. From 11th Feb., 1904.

On the night of Friday, January 22nd, 1904, I had a vivid dream.

I saw my old friend, Dr. X., who left Cambridge about ten years ago, and I had not seen him since, sitting by my side. He took hold of my hand, saying, "Why have you not been to see me?" I said, "Oh! I 've been so busy that I 've not been able to get away. You are so altered since I saw you last." "Yes," he said, "but that is so long ago." He then disappeared. The dream so impressed me that I told it to my husband at breakfast the next morning, Saturday, 23rd, and also to a friend who knew the doctor, on the 25th.

On Saturday morning, the 30th, my husband at breakfast said he had received a memorial notice of Dr. X.'s death, which took place on the 23rd instant, the day after my dream.

Dr. Mann appends his signature to the account in corroboration. Mrs. Mann explained to Mrs. H. Sidgwick that Dr. X.'s hair and whiskers when she last saw him were iron grey, but that in her dream they appeared white. From Dr. X.'s son we learn that his whiskers were not quite white and his hair only tinged with white. In any case little weight could be attached to a correspondence of this kind.

Dr. X. died at 4.30 A.M. on the 23rd January, 1904, so that it is possible that the dream exactly coincided with the hour of the death.

The exact date of the dream is fixed by a note