DR. MACPHERSON. And they can't tuck it all on telepathy. Telepathy cannot explain the case of a spirit-message giving the contents of a sealed letter known only to 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.