Part 14 (1/2)

He had not been working an hour when he came to a dispatch, which he tossed aside, with the muttered comment, ”That's an old story, sure

I've read it so the , he hesitated, picked it up, and read it carefully Every word in it see papers? He went through them one by one, without result Then it suddenly occurred to hi the dispatches, he had, without being aware of it, glanced at this particular itee of it, which was noelling up confusedly as a conscious memory

To test this theory, he directed the office boy to open the dispatches without fail for the next few nights On none of these did he suffer from memory confusion

Possibly, if he had analyzed the matter further, he would have found that the news ite out the dispatch sheets related to subjects of some special interest to him

For just as one's conscious attention is arrested by that which is particularly interesting, so does the subconscious select for presentation to the upper consciousness infornificance

So back to interests of an earlier period of life A simple but instructive illustration of this is found in a little incident that occurred to Doctor Richard Hodgson while on a visit to England It may best be reported in his oords:[35]

[35] _Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research_, vol xi, p 415

”Yesterday(Septe alone along one of the garden paths of Leckha aloud to myself the verses of a poes, and regained ht to a stand, in a stooping position, gazing intently at a five-leaved clover On careful examination, I found about a dozen specimens of five-leaved clover, as well as several specimens of four-leaved clover, all of which probably cao I was interested in getting extra-leaved clovers, but I have not for years h occasionally iven to appearances of four-leaved clover, which proved, on examination, to be deceptive The peculiarity of yesterday's 'find' was that I discovereddown, and afterward realized that a five-leaved clover was directly under my eyes”

Coyman, the Reverend P H Newnham We find in it exactly the same element of selective subconscious attention, accompanied, however, by an auditory hallucination as athe upper consciousness of the fact subconsciously observed

”I was visiting friends at Tunbridge Wells,” says Mr Newnha As I crossed a stile into a field, onwood, a voice said distinctly in ht ear: 'You'll find ”Chaonia” on that oak' This was a very scarce moth, which I had never seen before, and whichThere were several oaks in the field, but I instinctively walked up to one, straight to the off side of it, and there was the s of the Society for Psychical Research_, vol xi, p 411

The psychological explanation of this is sih, and is equally applicable to similar, if more sensational, hallucinations widely heralded as of supernatural character It is manifestly absurd to suppose that a ”spirit” announced to the entoht-after ood fortune to capture But it is not at all absurd to suggest that quite likely, although he had consciously forgotten all about it, he had at soical text-book picture of Chaonia; that he had subconsciously caught a gli on the oak, and that his subconscious recognition of its identity had set in motion the proper mental mechanism to notify his upper consciousness of a fact in which it would naturally be much interested

There may also be a subconscious intensification, or ”hyperaesthesia,” of other senses than that of sight In all probability hyperaesthesia of the sense of hearing is sufficient to account for the dra story, told by a lady whose identity I a one su ca, was some little distance froe of this being the additional difficulty of getting water, which was an expensive commodity in the camp, as the adjacent mines had drained most of the wells

”The house contained six roo one out of another,closet beyond, whereat one end, and the front porch, which overlooked the valley, at the other

”One evening, after ht la all doors and s open, on account of the intense heat, went to sit on the front porch I ht by a great blazing light in the direction of the farthest houses It appeared evident that one at least had taken fire, and the difficulty of getting water, and the hope that no children were in danger, flashed through lare, I heard a faint, crackling sound in my own house It would not have disturbedpiece of cedar in the kitchen stove had blazed up But, with the present thought of fire in h the open doors as I passed, saw a volu from the child's room into h and save her; and I carried her out in a blanket to prevent the scorch, for the roo at one end; the side where the bed stood, though fearfully hot and suffocating, was not yet on fire, and, thanks to the tih to extinguish the flames before very much was destroyed

”After all was quiet, I went back to the porch to look at that other burning house, feeling so thankful thatif others were, also But all was dark, and when I ca was known in the cae vision of it, which must have lasted fully ten irl would have been burned to death”[37]

[37] _Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research_, vol xi, pp 418-419

There is a possibility, though only a possibility, that telepathy between mother and child may have had part in the production of this helpful hallucination But hyperaesthesia of the sense of hearing seems to afford the likelier explanation, as also in numerous well-authenticated instances, in which railroadan unaccountable i disastrous wrecks A single illustrative example must suffice, a case called to the attention of the Society for Psychical Research by Mr Williao e as conductor and engineer of, a work train on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, running between Buffalo and Erie I often ith hiravel bank, where he had his headquarters, and returned on his train with him

”On one occasion I ith hiether to the telegraph office to see if there were any orders, and to find out if the trains were on tiular trains After looking over the train reports, and finding them all on time, we started for Buffalo

”As we approached Westfield station, running about twelvecurve in the line, my brother all of a sudden shut off the steaine, he looked out of the cab , and then to the rear of his train Not discovering anything wrong, he put on steanal for brakes, and stopped

”After inspecting the engine and train, and finding nothing wrong, he seemed very much excited, and for a short time he acted as if he did not knohere he was or what to do I asked as theat his watch and orders, he said that he felt that there was soested that he had better run his train to the station and find out

He then ordered his flago ahead around the curve, which was just ahead of us, and he would folloith the train