him in his work, _Mes Morts; leurs Manifestations_, etc., later on in
the account.

[Illustration: "Psychic Photographs" (10, 11, 12)]

At a quarter-past nine, on a certain memorable day in April, 1907, died
Andre M. Joseph Baraduc, at the age of nineteen years. Throughout his
life there had been a close bond of affection between himself and his
father, and we are assured that during the lifetime of the son,
telepathic communication had been frequent between them. When he was but
nineteen it was discovered that Andre was suffering from that dread
disease, consumption; and henceforward he grew rapidly worse, dying
within the year. Toward the close of this year he made two visits to
Lourdes, without, however, receiving much benefit in either case, and
returning apparently without augmented faith in the cures brought about
at that centre. Andre was exceedingly religious in temperament, as was
his father, and both were given to experiments in psychic research. We
are informed that, during the lifetime of the son, his "astral" form had
been experimentally separated from his bodily frame on more than one
occasion. It was only natural to suppose, therefore, that, at the death
of this favourite son, the father's grief should be so intense that the
emotional reflex found expression in various visions and apparent
conversations with the dead boy. For within six hours after the death
of Andre, the son appeared to his father, and thenceforth many
apparitions were seen, and several long conversations were apparently
held between father and son. Of course, these in themselves would, under
the circumstances, have no evidential value, since it is only natural to
suppose that hallucinations, both of sight and hearing, would result in
a mind so wrought.

These subjective and apparently telepathic experiences of Dr. Baraduc
cannot, therefore, be considered of value; but the objective
experiences--that is to say, the experiments performed by him are of
great interest, since one can hardly suppose that the camera can be
hallucinated, because of the grief of the photographer! The impressions
left upon the plates, then, such as they are, have their evidential and
scientific value, and it is to a consideration of these photographs that
we now turn.

Nine hours after the death of Andre, Dr. Baraduc took the first
photograph of the coffin in which the body was deposited. When this
plate was developed, it was discovered that, emanating from