Out of the many examples which might here be adduced, allusion will be made to one only, because it originates from a man whose mode of thought would make everything said here about such things seem pure fancy.(5) Moriz Benedict, the distinguished criminal anthropologist and eminent investigator in many other realms of natural science, relates in his _Reminiscences_ an experience of his own,—to the effect that once, when on the point of drowning in a bath he had seen his whole life pass before his memory as though in a single picture. If other people describe differently the pictures seen by them under similar circumstances, and even in such a way that they seem to have little to do with the events of their past life, that does not contradict what has been said; for the pictures which arise in the quiet abnormal condition during the separation from the physical body are sometimes at first sight, unintelligible in their relation to life. Correct observation, however, would always recognize this relationship. Neither is it an objection if, for example, some one who was once on the point of drowning did not experience what has been described; for it must be borne in mind that this can happen only when the etheric body is really separated from the physical body,—when, moreover, the former is still united with the astral body. If, through the fright, a loosening of the etheric and astral bodies also takes place, the experience is not forthcoming, because then complete unconsciousness ensues, as in dreamless sleep.