Mrs. Ogilvie of Drumquaigh had a poodle named Fanti. Her family, orat least those who lived with her, were her son, the laird, and threedaughters. Of these the two younger, at a certain recent date, werepaying a short visit to a neighbouring country house. Mrs. Ogilviewas accustomed to breakfast in her bedroom, not being in the best ofhealth. One morning Miss Ogilvie came down to breakfast and said toher brother, "I had an odd dream; I dreamed Fanti went mad"."Well, that _is_ odd," said her brother. "So did I. We had betternot tell mother; it might make her nervous."Miss Ogilvie went up after breakfast to see the elder lady, who said,"Do turn out Fanti; I dreamed last night that he went mad and bit".In the afternoon the two younger sisters came home."How did you enjoy yourselves?" one of the others asked."We didn't sleep well. I was dreaming that Fanti went mad when Marywakened me, and said she had dreamed Fanti went mad, and turned into acat, and we threw him into the fire."Thus, as several people may see the same ghost at once, several peoplemay dream the same dream at once. As a matter of fact, Fanti lived,sane and harmless, "all the length of all his years". {4}Now, this anecdote is credible, certainly is credible by people whoknow the dreaming family. It is nothing more than a curiosity ofcoincidences; and, as Fanti remained a sober, peaceful hound, in faceof five dreamers, the absence of fulfilment increases the readiness ofbelief. But compare the case of the Swithinbanks. Mr. Swithinbank,on 20th May, 1883, signed for publication a statement to this effect:--During the Peninsular war his father and his two brothers werequartered at Dover. Their family were at Bradford. The brothersslept in various quarters of Dover camp. One morning they met afterparade. "O William, I have had a queer dream," said Mr. Swithinbank'sfather. "So have I," replied the brother, when, to the astonishmentof both, the other brother, John, said, "I have had a queer dream aswell. I dreamt that mother was dead." "So did I," said each of theother brothers. And the mother had died on the night of thisdreaming. Mrs. Hudson, daughter of one of the brothers, heard thestory from all three. {5a}The distribution of the fulfilled is less than that of the unfulfilleddream by three to five. It has the extra coincidence of the death.But as it is very common to dream of deaths, some such dreams mustoccasionally hit the target.Other examples might be given of shared dreams: {5b} they are onlymentioned here to prove that all the _waking_ experiences of thingsghostly, such as visions of the absent and of the dead, and of thenon-existent, are familiar, and may even be common simultaneously toseveral persons, in _sleep_. That men may sleep without being awareof it, even while walking abroad; that we may drift, while we thinkourselves awake, into a semi-somnolent state for a period of timeperhaps almost imperceptible is certain enough. Now, the peculiarityof sleep is to expand or contract time, as we may choose to put thecase. Alfred Maury, the well-known writer on Greek religion, dreameda long, vivid dream of the Reign of Terror, of his own trial before aRevolutionary Tribunal, and of his execution, in the moment of timeduring which he was awakened by the accidental fall of a rod in thecanopy of his bed, which touched him on the neck. Thus even aprolonged interview with a ghost may _conceivably_ be, in real time, aless than momentary dream occupying an imperceptible tenth of a secondof somnolence, the sleeper not realising that he has been asleep.Mark Twain, who is seriously interested in these subjects, haspublished an experience illustrative of such possibilities. He tellshis tale at considerable length, but it amounts to this:--
