The comparative frequency of auditory hallucinations, and especially the ease with which auditory illusions can be built up on a basis of real sound, render coincidences of the kind, even the best attested, of less service to support, however valuable as illustrating, the theory of telepathy. Visual hallucinations, however, present us with a much rarer type of impression, and one in which explanation by illusion is comparatively seldom possible. Telepathic hallucinations, like ordinary non-coincidental hallucinations, may assume various forms, and instances of grotesque and partially developed visual impressions are not wanting. Thus we have a case in which the face of a dying relative was recognised in the middle of a large ball of light like a firework (Journal, October 1891); and Mr. Sherer, of Amble, Northumberland, tells us that he saw reflected in a ship's compass the face of a young lady to whom he was engaged, at about the time of her death. In the following case the hallucination, though still far from complete, appears to have been more realistic and more fully developed.
No. 70.—From COUNTESS EUGENIE KAPNIST.
[Writing on June 24th, 1891, the percipient explains that in February 1889 she and her sister made the acquaintance at Talta of a Mr. P., who was at that time in an advanced stage of consumption. On one occasion, in the course of conversation, Mr. P. promised Countess Ina Kapnist, in the presence of the narrator, that should he die before her he would endeavour to appear to her. The Countess and her sister met Mr. P. occasionally after this conversation, and frequently saw him walking about in a nut-brown overcoat, which caused them some amusement. They left Talta, however, in May 1889, and in the course of a few months had completely forgotten Mr. P. and his wife, whom they regarded merely in the light of ordinary acquaintances. On the 12th March 1890 the two ladies, on their way home from the theatre, drove to the railway station with a friend who was to return at 1 A.M. to Tsarskoé.]
"On leaving the station," the Countess writes, "our servant went on before to find the carriage, so that on reaching the steps we found it had driven up and was waiting for us. My sister was the first to take her seat; I kept her waiting, as I descended the steps more slowly; the servant held the door of the landau open. With one foot on the step I suddenly stood still, arrested in the act of entering the carriage, and stunned with surprise. It was dark inside the carriage, and nevertheless, facing my sister and looking at her, I saw in a faint grey light which seemed unnatural, and which was clearest at the point on which my eyes were fixed, a face in profile, not so much vague as soft and transparent. This vision only lasted an instant, during which, however, my eyes noted the smallest details of the face, which seemed familiar to me; the rather sharp features, the hair parted a little on one side, the prominent nose, the sharp chin with its sparse, light brown beard. What strikes me when I think of it now is the fact that I could distinguish the different colours, though the greyish light which scarcely revealed the stranger would have been insufficient to enable me to distinguish them in ordinary circumstances. He had no hat, but wore a top-coat, such as is worn in the South, in colour a rather light nut-brown. His whole person had an air of great weariness and emaciation. The servant, much surprised that I did not enter the carriage but remained petrified on the step, thought I had trodden on my gown, and helped me to seat myself, while I asked my sister, as I took my place beside her, if it was really our carriage, so much was I confused and stupefied by seeing a stranger seated opposite her. It had not occurred to me that if a real person had been sitting there, neither my sister nor the footman would have remained so quietly face to face with him. When I was seated I no longer saw anything, and I asked my sister, 'Did you see nothing opposite you?' 'Nothing whatever, and what possessed you to ask as you got in if it was really our carriage?' she answered laughing. Then I told her what I have related above, describing my vision minutely. 'That familiar face,' said she, 'the hair parted at the side, the nut-brown coat, where have we seen it? Certainly nothing here answers to your description,' and we racked our brains without finding any clue. After we got home we related the incident to our mother; my description made her also remember vaguely a similar face. The next evening (March 12th) a young man of our acquaintance, Mr. Solovovo, came to see us. I told him also what had just occurred. We discussed it at some length, but fruitlessly. I still could not find the right name for the man of my vision, though I remembered quite well having seen a face exactly similar among my numerous acquaintances, but when and where? I could remember nothing, with my bad memory, which often fails me in this fashion. Some days later we were calling on Mr. Solovovo's grandmother. 'Do you know,' she said, 'what sad news I have just received from Talta? Mr. P. has just died, but I have heard no details.' My sister and I looked at each other. At the mention of this name the pointed face and the nut-brown top-coat found their possessor. My sister recognised him at the same time as myself, thanks to my minute description. When Mr. Solovovo entered I begged him to find the exact date of the death in the newspapers. The date of the death was given as the 14th of March, that is to say two days after my vision. I wrote to Talta for information, and learned that Mr. P. was confined to bed from the 24th November, and that from that time he was in a very feeble state, but sleep never left him. He slept so long and so profoundly, even during the last night of his life, that hopes were entertained of his improvement.
"We were much astonished that it was I who saw Mr. P., although he had promised to appear to my sister; but here I ought to add that before the occurrence mentioned above I had been clairvoyante a certain number of times; but this vision is certainly the one in which I distinguished details most clearly, even down to the colours of the face and dress.
"COMTESSE EUGENIE KAPNIST.
COMTESSE INA KAPNIST."
The second signature is that of the sister who was present at the time. The account above given, it should be explained, is a translation from the original French.
Our friend, Mr. Petrovo-Solovovo, through whom we obtained the account, writes:—
"I have much pleasure in certifying that the fact of Countess Kapnist's vision was mentioned, among others, to myself before the news of Mr. P.'s death came to St. Petersburg. I well remember seeing an announcement of his demise in the papers."
The narrative presents several points of interest. The deferred recognition is by no means without parallel (see case 68 and cases 26, 191, etc., in Phantasms), but in this case the interval which elapsed before the identification of the phantasm was unusually prolonged. Of course the fact that the vision was not identified beforehand is an element of weakness in the case, but as the deep impression left on the percipient by her vision seems well established, we have some warrant for assuming that the details have been accurately remembered. And if we may accept these details the case throws light upon the genesis of such hallucinations. That a dying man, whilst failing to impress the idea of his own personality upon the mind of a distant acquaintance, should succeed in calling up the image—to himself of quite secondary importance—of the clothes which he habitually wore, would seem at first sight a paradox. But the difficulty disappears if we recognise that the telepathic impression in such cases is probably received and the hallucination elaborated by a subconscious stratum of the intelligence, and that the picture is in due time flashed up thence fully formed to the ordinary consciousness. The image of the clothes worn by the agent, trivial and unessential to himself, would not improbably bulk more largely in the conception formed of him by an acquaintance, and might even find an echo in the percipient's consciousness when the image of the man himself had been obliterated by more recent memories. It is possible that the arrested development of the hallucination may have some connection with the imperfect recognition.
In the following case also the hallucination, though recognised, appears to have fallen short of complete embodiment.