-for the phenomena were seen by all in a
slightly varying degree. Yet there is no evidence that many of the
witnesses were suggestible at all: they did not see things Home
suggested they should see, while, on the other hand, they saw things
quite on their own account, when Home was busily engaged in conversation
with some one else. The whole case must be made to hang together, and if
"suggestion" be the key to the puzzle, it certainly fits the lock
remarkably ill.[34]

In summing-up his paper and the evidence contained therein, Count
Solovovo concludes:

"For my own part I lay it down as a general proposition ... that
the testimony of several sane, honest and intelligent eye-witnesses
is, broadly speaking, proof of the objectivity of any phenomenon.
If there are people who maintain an opposite view, let them make
experiments themselves" (p. 477).

That is precisely the position I should assume: I do not believe that
collective hallucinations of the kind supposed exist at spiritistic
seances, except perhaps very rarely, and to special gatherings of
individuals. Let me now adduce the evidence in favour of my position,
and the reasons for my taking this stand so strongly.

First, then, let us distinguish between _illusions_ and
_hallucinations_, as this is of the very greatest importance in a
discussion such as this. An illusion is a false sensory perception, the
basis of which is, nevertheless, real. Thus, if an old coat in a corner
of the room be mistaken for a dog, that would be an illusion. A _point
de repere_ is there--a peg, upon which the mind hangs its false
inferences or perceptions. An hallucination, on the other hand, is
entirely a creation of the mind, and there is, in this case, no _point
de repere_, which exists externally, and serves as the basis of the
hallucination. Roughly speaking, this may be said to be the difference
between the two. Now, let us apply this to Home's seances, and to
spiritistic seances in general.

During the course of my twenty years' constant investigation, I have had
many score seances with various mediums--slate-writing mediums,
materializing mediums, physical mediums, clairvoyant mediums, _et hoc
genus omne_. Speaking now of materialization seances only--of which I
have seen many--I may say that in all my investigations _I have never
seen one single instance of suggested or spontaneous hallucination_.
Plenty of _illusions_ were observed, but never the