eBooks Base 2000

{91c} Now there is
nothing in savage philosophy to account for this opinion of the
Maoris. A man's "spirit" leaves his body in dreams, savages think,
and as dreaming is infinitely more common than death, the Maoris
should argue that the appearance is that of a man's spirit wandering
in his sleep. However, they, like many Europeans, associate a man's
apparition with his death. Not being derived from their philosophy,
this habit may be deduced from their experience.
As there are, undeniably, many examples of hallucinatory appearances
of persons in perfect health and ordinary circumstances, the question
has been asked whether there are _more_ cases of an apparition
coinciding with death than, according to the doctrine of chances,
there ought to be. Out of about 18,000 answers to questions on this
subject, has been deduced the conclusion that the deaths do coincide
with the apparitions to an extent beyond mere accident. Even if we
had an empty hallucination for every case coinciding with death, we
could not set the coincidences down to mere chance. As well might we
say that if "at the end of an hour's rifle practice at long-distance
range, the record shows that for every shot that has hit the bull's
eye, another has missed the target, therefore the shots that hit the
target did so by accident.


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