ible communications coming through. If any one were to try
the simple subjective test of closing the eyes and attempting to
conceive his spirit controlling some _other_ person's organism, he
would very easily perceive the tremendous difficulties in the way
of controlling an organism other than his own!

"However, my object in writing this letter is not to point out
difficulties of this character, which are probably well understood
by the majority of the readers of the _Journal_. It is to draw
attention to another fact, and an analogy. Let us take a man in
good health, whose brain and mental functions are normal. Let this
man be all but killed in a railroad accident. In the jar and shock
of the collision this man was thrown (let us say) against an iron
post, and his head badly cut and bruised. He was knocked
insensible, and it was several hours before he returned to the
first dim consciousness of his surroundings. Gradually he would
revive. Objects would present themselves to his eyesight vaguely,
indistinctly; he would "see men as trees walking." Sounds would be
heard, but indistinctly; there would be a vague jumble of noises,
and no definite and articulate sounds would be recognized at first,
and until consciousness was more fully restored. Tactile
sensations, smell and touch, would probably come last, and be least
powerful of all; they would not be even distinguishable until
consciousness was almost completely normal. All intellectual
interests would be abolished, only the most loving and tender
thoughts would be entertained or tolerable, and these would be
swallowed up, very largely, in the great, central fact that the
body and head were in great pain; that the memory was impaired, and
that anything like normal thinking and a normal grasp of the
organism was impossible. Thoughts would be scattered, incoherent,
and only the strongest stimuli would focus the attention on any
definite object for longer than a few moments at a time, and
perhaps even these would fail. But if oxygen gas were administered
to such a person, in moderate doses, he would recover and rally
far more quickly and effectually than if no such stimulant were
employed. He would rally more quickly, and be enabled to think more
clearly and consistently--at least _pro tem._ In shocks