w as little about themselves as we do, so that, if we are to
discover anything, we must make haste, before we become ghosts
ourselves.

Writers on Psychology sometimes make a push at a theory of haunted
houses. Mr. James Sully, for example, has done so in his book
styled Illusions. {153} Mr. Sully appears well pleased with his
hypothesis, and this, granting the accuracy of a tale for which he
is indebted to a gentleman who need not be cited here, argues an
easily contented disposition. Here is the statement:--

'A lady was staying at a country house. During the night and
immediately on waking up she had (sic) an apparition of a strange-
looking man in mediaeval costume, a figure by no means agreeable,
and which seemed altogether unfamiliar to her. The next morning, on
rising, she recognised the original of her hallucinatory image in a
portrait hanging on the wall of her bedroom, which must have
impressed itself on her brain before the occurrence of the
apparition, though she had not attended to it. Oddly enough, she
now learned for the first time that the house at which she was
staying had the reputation of being haunted, and by the very same
somewhat repulsive-looking mediaeval personage that had troubled her
inter-somnolent moments. The case seems to me to be typical with
respect to the genesis of ghosts, and of the reputation of haunted
houses.'

This anecdote affords much joy to the superstitious souls who deal
in Psychical Research, or Ghost Hunting. Mr. Sully's manner of
narrating it clearly proves the difference between Science and
Superstition. For a Ghost Hunter or Psychical Researcher would not
venture to publish a modern ghost story (except for mere amusement),
if he had it not at first hand, or at second hand with corroboration
at first hand. Science, however, can adduce a case without
indicating the evidence on which it rests, as whether Mr. Sully's
informant had the tale from the lady, or at third, fourth, fifth, or
a hundredth hand. So much for the matter of evidence. Next, Mr.
Sully does not tell us whether the lady 'had an apparition,' when
she supposed herself to be awake, or asleep, or 'betwixt and
between'. From the phrase 'inter-somnolent,' he appears to prefer
the intermediate condition. But he does not pretend to have
interrogated the lady, the 'percipient'. Again, the figure wore a
'mediaeval costume,' the portrait represented a 'mediaeval
personage'. Does Mr. Sully believe t