I am still near, Watching the smiles I prized on earth, Your converse mild, your blameless mirth.[64
- Date of account
- Late nineteenth-century compilation
- Source
- The Ghost World
- Reference
- The Ghost World · selected passage 151
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
In defining 'second sight' as a singular faculty 'of seeing an otherwise invisible object without any previous means used by the person that beholds it for that end,' we are at once confronted with the well-known axiom that 'a man cannot be in two places at once,' a rule with which it is difficult to reconcile such sta…
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 onlyIn defining 'second sight' as a singular faculty 'of seeing an otherwise invisible object without any previous means used by the person that beholds it for that end,' we are at once confronted with the well-known axiom that 'a man cannot be in two places at once,' a rule with which it is difficult to reconcile such statements as those recorded by Pennant of a gentleman of the Hebrides said to have had the gift of foreseeing visitors in time to get ready for them, or the anecdote which tells how St. Ambrose fell into a comatose state while celebrating the mass at Milan, and on his recovery asserted that he had been present at St. Martin's funeral at Tours, where it was afterwards declared he had been seen. But it must be remembered that believers in 'second sight' base their faith not so much on metaphysical definitions as on the evidence of daily experience, it being of immaterial importance to them how impossible a certain doctrine may seem, provided it only has the testimony of actual witnesses in its favour.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.
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