Page:The Naturalisation of the Supernatural.pdf/235

Rh Mr. F. M. Peebles, son of the percipient, writes:

[, January 2nd, 1894.]

I was away from home on that evening of December 16th, and was told of the death of the child, which formed the subject of my mother's dream. I think this was about eight or nine o'clock in the evening, but I did not return home until after midnight, and did not speak to my mother about what I had heard until near noon the next day. 1em

Here it will be seen the dream was concerned with the domestic cares consequent on the death, rather than with the death itself. It would seem therefore most probable that the dream originated in the mind of the dreamer's son or daughter who were acquainted with the facts. In any case, we should hardly be justified, in default of any analogous instance, in invoking the agency of the dead infant.

A similar explanation is indicated in the following case. Mr. Russell, member of a church choir in San Francisco, died quite suddenly at 11 A.M. At 1.30 P.M. the same day a friend went to the house of the choirmaster. Whilst he was telling the news to the ladies of the household, the choir-master himself, who was at the time occupied up-stairs, saw an apparition of the deceased. Here the vision coincided, not with the death, but with the recital of it to the relatives of the percipient. Again, in each of the five cases which follow the percipient's impression occurred some time after