To give a few more common examples which strike many of us as telepathic. I am seated at my desk, deeply engaged in my book. For no apparent reason I stop work to think of a friend who lives far away; almost simultaneously this friend's name is announced. Is it telepathy It is more logical to believe that, while occupied, my mind, the unconscious, was made aware of a certain walk, cough, conversation on the door-step, which was identified with my friend and which caused his name to be thrust into consciousness. Again, while walking down the street I say to my companion: "Wonder how So and So is getting along," and hear my companion exclaim: "Why! I was just going to say that." Before crediting telepathy, let us consider that both of us saw simultaneously in a window a cravat or other article like that the person mentioned wore, or we saw an automobile of the type he owned, or we noted a passer-by who resembled him, which caused thoughts of him to come to mind.

Errors of memory must also be taken into consider-ation. We have referred to the feeling which pervades many of us at times that what we experience for the first time seems to be an experience of old. And, to take dreams of death or premonition by way of illustration, may it not be quite logical that in a day-dream or night-dream we once thought of the incident which has actually occurred? Dreams of the death of relatives, or unhappy reveries of what might befall those near to us are not at all uncommon; moreover, such are forgotten if for no other reason than that we tend to forget or repress the unhappy. Yet, when we learn of the actual illness or death of one near to us, the information touches familiar ground; it sounds old; and by a memory error we believe we have dreamed it; our sense of time plays us false also, and we believe that we dreamed of the incident only recently. As we fill up the gaps existing between the various parts of ordinary dreams, so may we fill up the gaps in the dream we believe we have had, to adapt it to the information we have received; especially prone are we to do this if we are convinced of the reality of premonitions. This is somewhat similar to the failing of some persons who, having witnessed an hallucinatory, indistinct figure, quickly remove the indistinctness on learning of some evil befalling one near to them. These failings by no means indicate dishonesty; they are due solely to memory errors to which any one is liable.

The prevailing tendency among certain classes of connecting one incident with another must also be taken into account. For instance, the clock stops and it is found that a relative died near that hour; one sees a black cat, a shooting star, and many other things which have passed down through the ages as signs portending evil, and superstitiously associates them with some untoward event which happens later, believing that they are symbolic warnings sent by some agent, living or dead.

Today, unlike in the past, it is no sign of abnormality to confess an hallucination or illusion, inasmuch as these may occur in mentally normal persons. Should one of us experience an hallucination or illusion which corresponds with some unhappy incident we are likely to be much impressed. On the other hand, if nothing striking coincides we dismiss the matter from mind. Certainly, if we wrote down the various visions and premonitions, whether in dreams or when awake, that come to us we would find that few, if any, coincided with some definite crisis. Personally, when far away from home, I have heard my name called by some one near to me, as if in distress; but, though this has happened at least twice, it did not correspond with any untoward event. On the other hand, I have learned of illness without the least telepathic warning. Such experiences must be common; indeed, the writer could relate a number of dreams, apparently premonitory, which never proved true.

A point worthy of note is that many persons are firmly convinced of the reality of the supernormal because the belief is conducive to their happiness. A fond mother is visited in a dream by her dead babe; a loving wife has a vision of her departed husband, who, probably, whispers words of cheer to her. In the first case, the dream is comforting, more happy to believe than disbelieve; it promotes the thought that the babe still lives, that it will be seen again. In the second case, the words of cheer solace, aid the individual to face life's vicissitudes. Because the dreams are comforting, their apparent reality cannot be removed from their dreamers' minds. The wish to believe is very powerful, and it is often the sole source of belief. Where the wish is strong it will do away with details that are not in accord with the individual's desires, and will fabricate others more favourable to belief. This applies not only to "psychic" manifestations but to the ordinary affairs of daily life. For example, Charles Darwin says that for many years he made it a point to write down all unfavourable comment on his theories, since he found from experience that these views tended to disappear from his memory more quickly than favourable ones.

Every human being likes to attract attention, though the kind of attention desired may vary. When we are inclined to the mysterious, and desire to share in the glory following any specific incident apt to occasion notice, it is a human failing to distort a commonplace affair into a marvellous one; with time, the affair becomes more wonderful, even to ourselves. That our memories play us false is, or should be, every one's experience. If not, we can demonstrate it by writing down all that we remember of a recent occurrence, an accident let us say. Then let us rewrite it from memory a year or so later. A comparison of the first account with the second will show many discrepancies. For this reason, as well as for others, premonitions, etc., that occurred years ago are hardly of any value in proving the reality of the supernormal. Again, let a number of us write down what we think we saw take place during a collision, fire, accident. Hardly half of the accounts will be alike if they are written independently; if one individual allows the others to see his description before they write theirs, they are apt to agree with him. Therefore, many of the spirits and other things that witnesses declare, in writing, they actually saw may be subjected to this criticism. Moreover, if we desire the limelight, even though the flame shines in our own small circle of friends and acquaintances, we like to have a wonderful tale to tell. Sometimes we do all we can, if unknown to ourselves, to have a mysterious experience of our own; for example, if we attend a seance we drink in everything, and make it so very easy for the medium to resurrect departed spirits, and supply us with whatever of her stock we care to have. It is not even necessary that we have an experience of our own; by constantly thinking of somebody else's story, talking about it, etc., we may come, in time, to believe that we were actual participants in the event, or that it happened to us only.