When the dead are alleged to exercise a
similar power, we have to suppose that some consciousness survives the
grave, and manifests itself by causing hallucinations among the
living. Instances of this have already been given in "The Ghost and
the Portrait," "The Bright Scar" and "Riding Home after Mess". These
were adduced as examples of _veracity_ in hallucinations. Each
appearance gave information to the seer which he did not previously
possess. In the first case, the lady who saw the soldier and the
suppliant did not know of their previous existence and melancholy
adventure. In the second, the brother did not know that his dead
sister's face had been scratched. In the third, the observer did not
know that Lieutenant B. had grown a beard and acquired a bay pony with
black mane and tail. But though the appearances were _veracious_,
they were _purposeless_, and again, as in each case the information
existed in living minds, it _may_ have been wired on from them.
Thus the doctrine of telepathy puts a ghost of the dead in a great
quandary. If he communicates no verifiable information, he may be
explained as a mere empty illusion.
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