An account

March 23rd. I felt inclined to smile at the idea that I could possibly be mistaken as to a date so memorable in my life's history, and immediately preceding my marriage. However, to render assurance doubly sure, I have referred to both my husband's diary and my own, in each of which my landing in India on the 5th of June has an important place. The entry made by my husband is as follows : ' 1ST.B. — 5th June, 1860 ;, a memorable day ! The ' Hardwicke' has arrived. What a quick voyage! Miss Wilson and mission party well.' [Mr. Macdonald tells us that he believes Mr. Drake had many such experiences, but that he found him so reticent that he despaired of getting an account of them from him. And Mr. Drake's death has now made the attempt impossible.] As regards the facts here, the narrative will probably be accepted as trustworthy. As regards the inference that may be drawn, the case is eminently of a sort where the character of the professing percipient (in other points than the mere desire to be truthful) ought to be taken into account. From a person given to little surprises, or who posed as a diviner if one out of a hundred guesses hit the mark, the evidence would deserve no attention ; from a person of grave and reticent character, it is at any rate worthy of careful record. In the last example, the idea apparently transferred was of a somewhat abstract kind — the impression of a mere event, without any o 194 SPECIMENS OF THE VARIOUS TYPES [chap. concrete imagery. But the ideal class includes many instances of a distinctly pictorial kind, where a scene is as clearly presented to the inward eye as the image of a card or diagram in some of our experimental cases.