d objects of psychic
research. The papers that have already been published on the question of
hallucination in relation to the physical phenomena should do much to
clear away many of these misconceptions, for in them we find (i) a
willingness to treat the phenomena seriously; (ii) an admission that the
witnesses described what they thought they saw; and (iii) a certain
amount of evidence advanced to show that the alleged phenomena were in
reality hallucinatory in character, while appearing to be external
physical realities to the onlookers. Let us now examine the evidence
advanced, and see in how far it is conclusive of the theory
entertained--the hypothesis of hallucination.

As both Count Solovovo and Miss Johnson have concentrated their
attention upon the phenomena occurring in the presence of D. D. Home, I
shall do so likewise in the first part of this chapter. As briefly as
possible, I shall review their papers, before passing on to more general
remarks--remarks which it is the object of this paper to bring into
prominence.

Count Solovovo thinks that it is evidence in favour of the
hallucination theory that: "A flower or other small object is seen to
move; one person present will see a luminous cloud hovering over it,
another will detect a nebulous-looking hand, whilst others will see
nothing but the moving flower."[27]

Miss Johnson agrees with this, and in fact goes so far as to say: "If
these hands had been completely invisible to some person with normal
sight looking directly at them in a good light, we should then have good
evidence that they were hallucinatory."[28]

To this I cannot agree. I find myself completely differing from Miss
Johnson in my interpretation of such an incident as this. For, while
hallucination is one possible theory to account for the phenomena,
another equally plausible theory is that the hands were in fact
objective and real, but were only perceptible to various individuals in
varying degrees. This aspect of the problem is hardly touched upon by
Count Solovovo, but is discussed at some length by Miss Johnson. In this
connection she says:

"Here [in the hand, i.e.] is a kind of matter which is not only
temporary in character--a fact in itself extraordinary enough--but
exhibits another quite unprecedented characteristic in the
arbitrary selectiveness of its effects on other matter. In order to
be visible at all, it must reflect light. How does it manage t