Voices

In reference to my husband's letter of April 20th, I have pleasure in testifying to the accuracy of his account, and of his drawing my attention to the fact at the time mentioned. Serena Stevenson. The remaining auditory specimen (266) is from Mrs. Robinson, residing at The Warren, Caversham, Reading, who has never experienced a hallucination on any other occasion. Some 14 years ago, she tells us, she was sitting at needlework in the evening, when she heard the voice of her son, Stansford Robinson — who was supposed to be abroad, but had not been heard of for some time — calling, Nar, Nar, Nar, the pet name of an old family nurse. The triple call was twice repeated. Mrs. Robinson opened the door, fully expecting to find her son in the hall, but no one was there. The son returned unexpectedly next day, very ill, and died soon after. ^ 1 It is perhaps worth while to point out the wide difference between such hallucinations of voices and one of the alleged phenomena sonaetimes included under the general name of second-sight — to wit, notice given of the approach of travellers, some time before their actual arrival, by a sound of horses' feet outside the house. _ (See, e.g., Jjescription of the Isle of Man, by George Waldron, 1744, p. 75.) It is obvious (1) how easily an auditory impression of that sort may be a mere illusion — just as the swirling of leaves is probably accountable for many of the tales of phantom carriages driving up to the door ; and (2) how certain it is that, among a population holding such a belief, the occasional coincidence, when the suggestive sound was heard and the guest arrived, would be noted as a marvel, and the sounds which no arrival followed would find no place in the reckoning. It would not occur to a Manx peasant to make capital out of even the failures — as I have actually seen done — by calling them inverted coincidences ! PERCIPIENT. § 1. In examining cases of auditory phantasms which have strikinglycorresponded with real events, we have two main points to look to. First, there is the phantasm regarded merely as a sensory phenomenon, on a par with the visual phantasms. This, of course, is the sound in itself ; which is occasionally of an inarticulate sort, a simple noise ; but which in the large majority of instances represents the tone of a human voice — the voice, like the visual phantasm, being either recognised or unrecognised. But, secondly, when the phantasm is a voice, there is a further element, which has as a rule no analogue in the visual class — namely, what