o the person that died. Here's another
interesting case.

PETER. This is better than "Puss in Boots," isn't it, Katie? More--er--
flibbertigibberty. Katie always loved fairy stories.

CATHERINE. [_Listening eagerly_.] Uncle, please.

DR. MACPHERSON. [_Ignoring_ PETER, _speaking directly to_ CATHERINE, _who
is all attention_.] An officer on the Polar vessel, the _Jeannette_, sent
to the Artic regions by the New York _Herald_, appeared at his wife's
bedside. _She_ was in Brooklyn--_he_ was on the Polar sea. He said to her,
"Count." She distinctly heard a ship's bell and the word "Count" again.
She had counted six when her husband's voice said, "Six bells--and the
_Jeanette_ is lost." The ship was really lost at the time she saw the
vision.

PETER. A bad dream. "Six bells and the"--Ha! Ha! Spirit messages! Suet
pudding has brought me messages from the North Pole, and I receive
messages from Kingdom Come after I've eaten a piece of mince pie.

DR. MACPHERSON. There have been seventeen thousand other cases found to be
worth investigation by the London Society of Psychical Research.

PETER. [_Changing_.] Supposing, Andrew, that I did "cross over"--I believe
that's what you call dying,--that I _did_ want to come back to see how you
and the little Katie and Frederik were getting on, how do you think I
could manage to do it?

DR. MACPHERSON. When we hypnotize subjects, Peter, our thoughts take
possession of them. As we enter their bodies, we take the place of a
something that leaves them--a shadow-self. This self can be sent out of
the room--even to a long distance. This self leaves us entirely after
death on the first, second or third day, or so I believe. This is the
force which you would employ to come back to earth--the astral envelope.

PETER. Yes, but what proof have you, Doctor, that I've got an--an astral
envelope.

DR. MACPHERSON. [_Easily_.] De Rochas has actually photographed it by
radio-photography.

PETER. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho!

DR. MACPHERSON. Mind you--they couldn't _see_ it when they photographed
it.

PETER. I imagine not. See it? Ho! Ho!

DR. MACPHERSON. It stood a few feet away from the sleeper, and was located
by striking at the air and watching for the corresponding portion of the
sleeper's body to recoil. By pricking a certain part of this shadow-self
with a pin, the cheek of the patient could be made to bleed. The camera
was focussed on this part of the shadow-self for fifteen minutes. The
re