No. 47.—From DR. G. DUPRÉ.
"REIMS, July 6th, 1891.
"One day in May 1890, I had just been visiting a patient, and was coming downstairs, when suddenly I had the impression that my little girl of four years old had fallen down the stone stairs of my house, and hurt herself."
"Then gradually after the first impression, as though a curtain which hid the sight from me were slowly drawn back, I saw my child lying at the foot of the stairs, with her chin bleeding, but I had no impression of hearing her cries.
"The vision was blotted out suddenly, but the memory of it remained with me. I took note of the hour—10.30 A.M.—and continued my professional rounds."
"When I got home I much astonished my family by giving a description of the accident, and naming the hour when it occurred."
"The circumstance made a great impression on me, and my memory of it is quite clear.
"Dr. G. DUPRÉ."
In a further letter Dr. Dupré adds:—
"REIMS, August 2nd, 1891.
"The account which I have given you is exact in every point. Madame Dupré remembers it perfectly. As I had a great many visits to pay that day I did not return home at once, but continued my rounds. I took particular note of the time, however, and it was found to be exact.
"This phenomenon of perception seemed to me so curious that I noted all the particulars, in order to analyse them at my leisure.
"When I got home my first words were these, addressed to my wife, 'Loulou is hurt. Is it serious?' Madame Dupré exclaimed, 'Who told you?' 'No one,' I replied; 'I saw her fall,' and then while examining my little girl I told my wife about the vision.
"I did not relate the circumstance to any one else but my father-in-law, Dr. Bracon, and he did not take it very seriously. Indeed, I was not inclined to lay much stress upon the matter either, as I did not wish to be considered visionary or credulous."
Madame Dupré writes:—
"25th September 1891.
"My husband's account of his telepathic experience is perfectly correct. For my own part I was extremely surprised at the circumstances, for till then my attitude towards all questions of clairvoyance had been one of almost complete incredulity. Let me add, however, that my husband is of an excessively nervous temperament, and was liable to somnambulism in his youth. It is seldom that a night passes in which he does not talk in his sleep. It would be quite possible to hold a conversation with him for a few minutes whilst he is in this condition." (Annales des Sciences Psychiques, vol. i. pp. 324, 325.)
It seems permissible to conjecture that in this case Madame Dupré, as in the previous case Professor Richet, was the agent.
Transference of Emotion.
Sometimes the telepathic impulse appears to express itself in a vague feeling of alarm or distress. Of course, impressions of this sort, with no definite content, and not recognised at the time as having reference to any particular person, can do little to strengthen the proof of telepathy. But when it has been shown, by the mention of the experience beforehand, or by any unusual action consequent on its occurrence, that the emotion was unique in the history of the percipient, and when the coincidence with a serious crisis is clearly established, the telepathic explanation may be admitted as at least plausible. These conditions appeared to be fulfilled in the following case, which is quoted from the Proceedings of the American S.P.R. (pp. 474, 475).
No. 48.—From MR. F. H. KREBS.