398 E. GUBNEY :

I (i.e., not, as in experiments, deliberately sought) where the ' agent ' and ' percipient ' as a rule are far apart, and where an impression representative of the ' agent ' is made on one or more of the ' percipient's ' senses. These two sorts of occurrence seem, on the face of them, very different ; if they are fundamentally akin, they seem to need a connecting link ; and we can imagine various intermediate phenomena which would serve the purpose. The link might consist in experiments similar to the ordinary experiments in thought- transference, except in the point that the two persons concerned are far apart instead of near together. I have to admit the absence, and also the urgent need, of such experi- ments. They would, however, be difficult and tedious to carry out ; and a long series of results, such as would be required, could hardly be obtained except by the aid of telegraph or telephone. 1 Another sort of link would be if the * agent's ' conscious idea spontaneously reproduced itself (without the coincidence being fairly attributable to chance) in the mind of a distant percipient. Now of this Phantasms of the Living contains a good many well-attested specimens. It is true that the idea reproduced has not been exactly of the same order as those reproduced in thought-transference experiments ; that is, it has not been of anything quite so simple and unemotional as a card, number or diagram ; but 1 An excellent form of experiment for the purpose would be the guessing of numbers, in the way exemplified in Phantasms of the Living, vol. ii., pp. 653-4. If the two persons concerned in that series would try a similar series at a distance, the necessary information as to when each guess had been made and a fresh number might be taken being conveyed by tele- phone, and if successful results were obtained, the fact would be of the very highest interest and importance. " Why then," I may be asked, " do you not get the trial made ? " The reason is typical of difficulties which only those actively engaged in 'psychical research' can appreciate. Their material for study consists in human beings with occupations and wills of their own, and as a rule with no independent interest in the subject. Even supposing two quiet rooms connected by the necessary apparatus to be secured at the necessary hours, the plan proposed would demand a considerable amount of trouble, and perhaps in all (counting time for going and coming back) an hour and a half of time, on each of about 15 days. Now to any bond fide psychical researcher, this expenditure of time and trouble would of course seem the merest trifle. But I would ask each of my readers whether he feels able confidently to make such a demand of any couple, taken at random, among his female acquaintance, in the interest of an inquiry of which they do not understand the bearings, and of which their only idea is that it is bothersome and scientific. At present the persons who would be willing to take the trouble are probably nearly as rare as the persons sufficiently endowed with the necessary faculty to give the experiment a chance ; and assistants in whom both conditions are realised are clearly not likely to be found every day, or even every year. But of course the desirability of finding them will be steadily kept in view.