Research source

Frazer, in his tractate, first deals with the question of fact, of the hallucinations called second sight:…

Date of account: Published 1894
Source: Cock Lane and Common-Sense
Reference: Cock Lane and Common-Sense · selected passage 204
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

Frazer, in his tractate, first deals with the question of fact, of the hallucinations called second sight: 'That such representations are made to the eyes of men and women, is to me out of all doubt, and that affects follow answerable thereto, as little questionable'

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

Mr. Frazer, in his tractate, first deals with the question of fact, of the hallucinations called second sight: 'That such representations are made to the eyes of men and women, is to me out of all doubt, and that affects follow answerable thereto, as little questionable'. But many doubt as to the question of fact, 'wherefore so little has been written about it'. Four or five instances, he thinks, will suffice, 1. A servant of his left a barn where he slept, 'because nightly he had seen a dead corps in his winding sheet, straighted beside him'. In about half a year a young man died _and was buried_ in the barn. 2. Mr. Frazer went to stay in Mull with Sir William Sacheverell, who wrote on second sight in the Isle of Man, and was then engaged in trying to recover treasures from the vessel of the Armada sunk in Tobermory Bay. The Duke of Argyll has a cannon taken from Francis I. at Pavia, which was raised from this vessel, and, lately, the fluke of a ship's anchor brought up a doubloon. But the treasure still lies in Tobermory Bay. Mr. Frazer's tale merely is that a woman told a sailor to bid him leave a certain boy behind.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This comes from historical psychical research. Methods, witness handling and standards of evidence differ from present-day research and should be assessed from the cited passage and edition.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

The passage can support a history of claims and recurring descriptions. It does not establish a paranormal mechanism, and competing psychological, social and physical explanations remain relevant.

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