Mr. Newnham has further told us that coincidences of thought of a more or less

From Phantasms of the Living by Edmund Gurney, Frederic Myers, and Frank Podmore, Chapter V "Specimens of the Various Types of Spontaneous Telepathy."


Mr. Newnham has further told us that coincidences of thought of a more or less striking kind occur to himself and his wife as matters of daily experience.

"January 26th, 188.5.

"In March, 1861, I was living at Houghton, Hants. My wife was at the time confined to the house, by delicacy of the lungs. One day, walking through a lane, I found the first wild violets of the spring, and took them home to her.

"Early in April I was attacked with a dangerous illness; and in June left the place. I never told my wife exactly where I found the violets, nor, for the reasons explained, did I ever walk with her past the place where they grew, for many years.

"In November, 1873, we were staying with friends at Houghton; and myself and wife took a walk up the lane in question. As we passed by the place, the recollection of those early violets of 12 years ago flashed upon my mind. At the usual interval of some 20 or 30 seconds my wife remarked, 'It's very curious, but if it were not impossible, I should declare that I could smell violets in the hedge.?

"I had not spoken, or made any gesture or movement of any kind, to indicate what I was thinking of. Neither had my memory called up the perfume. All that I thought of was the exact locality on the hedge bank; my memory being exceedingly minute for locality."

Mr. Newnham's residence at Houghton lasted only a few months, and with the help of a diary he can account for nearly every day's walking and work. "My impression is," he says, "that this was the first and only time that I explored this particular 'drive' ; and I feel certain that Mrs. Newnham never saw the spot at all until November, 1873. The hedges had then been grubbed, and no violets grew there."