The Book of Dreams and Ghosts | Page 3

sober and do not believe"--in a
hurry.

If there be truth in even one case of "telepathy," it will follow that the
human soul is a thing endowed with attributes not yet recognised by
science. It cannot be denied that this is a serious consideration, and that
very startling consequences might be deduced from it; such beliefs,
indeed, as were generally entertained in the ages of Christian darkness
which preceded the present era of enlightenment. But our business in
studies of any kind is, of course, with truth, as we are often told, not
with the consequences, however ruinous to our most settled convictions,
or however pernicious to society.
The very opposite objection comes from the side of religion. These
things we learn, are spiritual mysteries into which men must not inquire.
This is only a relic of the ancient opinion that he was an impious
character who first launched a boat, God having made man a terrestrial
animal. Assuredly God put us into a world of phenomena, and gave us
inquiring minds. We have as much right to explore the phenomena of
these minds as to explore the ocean. Again, if it be said that our
inquiries may lead to an undignified theory of the future life (so far
they have not led to any theory at all), that, also, is the position of the
Dreadful Consequences Argufier. Lastly, "the stories may frighten
children". For children the book is not written, any more than if it were
a treatise on comparative anatomy.
The author has frequently been asked, both publicly and privately: "Do
you believe in ghosts?" One can only answer: "How do you define a
ghost?" I do believe, with all students of human nature, in
hallucinations of one, or of several, or even of all the senses. But as to
whether such hallucinations, among the sane, are ever caused by
psychical influences from the minds of others, alive or dead, not
communicated through the ordinary channels of sense, my mind is in a
balance of doubt. It is a question of evidence.
In this collection many stories are given without the real names of the
witnesses. In most of the cases the real names, and their owners, are
well known to myself. In not publishing the names I only take the
common privilege of writers on medicine and psychology. In other
instances the names are known to the managers of the Society for

Psychical Research, who have kindly permitted me to borrow from
their collections.
While this book passed through the press, a long correspondence called
"On the Trail of a Ghost" appeared in The Times. It illustrated the
copious fallacies which haunt the human intellect. Thus it was
maintained by some persons, and denied by others, that sounds of
unknown origin were occasionally heard in a certain house. These, it
was suggested, might (if really heard) be caused by slight seismic
disturbances. Now many people argue, "Blunderstone House is not
haunted, for I passed a night there, and nothing unusual occurred".
Apply this to a house where noises are actually caused by young
earthquakes. Would anybody say: "There are no seismic disturbances
near Blunderstone House, for I passed a night there, and none
occurred"? Why should a noisy ghost (if there is such a thing) or a
hallucinatory sound (if there is such a thing), be expected to be more
punctual and pertinacious than a seismic disturbance? Again, the
gentleman who opened the correspondence with a long statement on
the negative side, cried out, like others, for scientific publicity, for
names of people and places. But neither he nor his allies gave their own
names. He did not precisely establish his claim to confidence by
publishing his version of private conversations. Yet he expected
science and the public to believe his anonymous account of a
conversation, with an unnamed person, at which he did not and could
not pretend to have been present. He had a theory of sounds heard by
himself which could have been proved, or disproved, in five minutes,
by a simple experiment. But that experiment he does not say that he
made.
This kind of evidence is thought good enough on the negative side. It
certainly would not be accepted by any sane person for the affirmative
side. If what is called psychical research has no other results, at least it
enables us to perceive the fallacies which can impose on the credulity
of common-sense.
In preparing this collection of tales, I owe much to Mr. W. A. Craigie,
who translated the stories from the Gaelic and the Icelandic; to Miss

Elspeth Campbell, who gives a version of the curious Argyll tradition
of Ticonderoga (rhymed by Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson, who put a
Cameron where a Campbell should be); to Miss Violet Simpson, who
found