(though by no means probable) that he habitually passes into
a state of _rapport_ with a genuine spirit, and, for the
time, is assimilated therewith, thinking (to a great extent
if not entirely) the thoughts that spirit would think,
writing in its handwriting, &c. But even so, Mr. Terry must
not fancy that that spirit is consciously communicating with
him, or knows in any way anything of him, or any other
person or thing on earth. It is simply that, the _rapport_
established, he, Mr. Terry, becomes for the nonce assimilated
with that other personality, and thinks, speaks, and writes
as it would have done on earth.... The molecules of his
astral nature may from time to time vibrate in perfect unison
with those of some spirit of such a person, now in Devachan,
and the result may be that he appears to be in communication
with that spirit, and to be advised, &c., by him, and
clairvoyants may see in the Astral Light a picture of the
earth-life form of that spirit.

IV. Communications other than those from disembodied Souls, passing
through normal _post mortem_ states.

(a) _From Shells._ These, while but the cast-off garment of the
liberated Soul, retain for some time the impress of their late
inhabitant, and reproduce automatically his habits of thought and
expression, just as a physical body will automatically repeat habitual
gestures. Reflex action is as possible to the desire body as to the
physical, but all reflex action is marked by its character of
repetition, and absence of all power to initiate movement. It answers
to a stimulus with an appearance of purposive action, but it initiates
nothing. When people "sit for development", or when at a _séance_ they