Dictionary of Psychology edited by Andrew Coleman, Oxford University Press,
£25, ISBN 0198662114
THE Victorian drawing room is darkened. A man and woman sit facing each other
with a vertical sheet of glass between them. Each is illuminated by a separate
oil lamp so that the reflection of the woman in the glass is as bright as the
man she sees through it. “Line up your eyes with his,” she is told. Seeing the
visual blend of her partner’s features with her own—known as Pepper’s
ghost— the lady swoons.
Why is this apparition lurking in a dictionary of psychology?…
