goblin damned, but it is simply the person himself,
containing all his strength and weakness, his
wisdom and his folly, exactly as he has retained his
personal appearance. We can well believe that the most
frivolous and foolish would be awed into decency by so
tremendous an experience, but impressions soon become
blunted, the old nature may soon reassert itself in new
surroundings, and the frivolous still survive, as our
seance rooms can testify.

And now, before entering upon his new life, the new
Spirit has a period of sleep which varies in its
length, sometimes hardly existing at all, at others
extending for weeks or months. Raymond said that his
lasted for six days. That was the period also in a
case of which I had some personal evidence. Mr. Myers,
on the other hand, said that he had a very prolonged
period of unconsciousness. I could imagine that the
length is regulated by the amount of trouble or mental
preoccupation of this life, the longer rest giving the
better means of wiping this out. Probably the little
child would need no such interval at all. This, of
course, is pure speculation, but there is a
considerable consensus of opinion as to the
existence of a period of oblivion after the first
impression of the new life and before entering upon its
duties.

Having wakened from this sleep, the spirit is weak,
as the child is weak after earth birth. Soon, however,