ourth wanderer in my text.
Mrs. Wedgwood, the daughter-in-law of Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood, the
well-known philologist, who was Charles Darwin's cousin, declares that
she had once a very extraordinary experience. She was lying on a couch
in an upper room one wintry morning at Shorncliffe, when she felt her
Thought Body leave her and, passing through the window, alight on the
snowy ground. She was distinctly conscious both in her material body and
in its immaterial counterpart. She lay on the couch watching the
movements of the second self, which at the same moment felt the snow
cold under its feet. The second self met a labourer and spoke to him. He
replied as if somewhat scared. The second self walked down the road and
entered an officer's hut, which was standing empty. She noted the number
of guns. There were a score or more of all kinds in all manner of
places; remarked upon the quaint looking-glass; took a mental inventory
of the furniture; and then, coming out as she went in, she regained her
material body, which all the while lay perfectly conscious on the couch.
Then, when the two selves were reunited, she went down to breakfast, and
described where she had been. "Bless me," said an officer, who was one
of the party, "if you have not been in Major ----'s hut. You have
described it exactly, especially the guns, which he has a perfect mania
for collecting."

Here the immaterial body was not only visible but audible, and that not
merely to the casual passer-by, but also to the material body which had
for the moment parted with one of its vital constituents without losing
consciousness.

It must, of course, be admitted that, with the exception of the
statement by my two friends as to the apparition of Mrs. M.'s immaterial
body, none of the other statements can pretend to the slightest
evidential value. They may be worth as much as the confessions of the
witches who swore they were dancing with Satan while their husbands held
their material bodies clasped in their arms; but any explanation of
subjective hallucination or of downright lying would be preferred by the
majority of people to the acceptance of the simple accuracy of these
statements. The phenomenon of the aerial flight is, however, not
unfamiliar to those who are interested in this subject.

_Mrs. Besant's Theory._

I asked Mrs. Besant whether she thought my hostess was romancing, and
whether my friend had not been the victim of some illusion. "Oh, no,"