date July 14, 1873, the death of Sarah N----,
housekeeper of B---- House (single), aged twenty-seven years, daughter
of John N----, farmer, and Helen R----. (In Scottish legal documents
married women are described by their maiden name.) It is said that her
last illness was very short, lasting only three days. Mrs. S---- had
the great charity to attend her on her deathbed. It is mentioned in
the register, that the official intimation of Sarah N----'s death was
given, not by her parents nor by Major S----, but by her uncle, Neil
N----.

Major S---- seems to have been somewhat eccentric, and was very fond
of dogs, of which he kept a considerable number. He had very strong
views upon psychical subjects. He was a believer in spirit-return, and
many witnesses have attested that he frequently spoke of his own
return after death. Among these psychic beliefs were two relating to
animals; and as they are of a kind not very commonly discussed even
among spiritualists, and enter, to some extent, into the following
narrative, it is convenient here to state them at length. It is very
commonly held that the soul or living personality of man, which will
survive the change called by us "death," is capable of entering living
bodies and making use of their organs. The form in which this belief
is most commonly met with, is that of the alleged inspiration of
trance mediums by the souls of the dead. Such a case is that of Mrs.
Piper, said to have been animated by the soul of Dr. Phinuit and other
personalities now disincarnated. It has naturally been argued that if
it is possible for the disembodied spirit to occupy and animate the
body of a human being, it would, _a fortiori_, be easy for it to do
the same with the body of a beast, where the resistance of will would
presumably be less.

This idea, coupled with the belief that the soul can be separated from
the body during life, so producing a kind of temporary death, while
leaving the body in such a state that it is capable of being again
inhabited and animated, lies at the bottom of the numerous statements
as to sorcerers and sorceresses changing themselves into hares,
wolves, or cats, which are to be found in the records of witch trials.

That this was possible, at least after death, was evidently a strong
belief upon the part of Major S----. We are informed that he
frequently intimated his intention of entering the body of a
particular black spaniel which he possessed, and so strong