or elements to
which it is temporarily related. But of itself it has no activity,
although in its still, well-like, and calm depths it holds the
potentiality of all magnetic forces. This Odyle, then, is particularly
potent in the quartz or beryl, when brought into activity by the
intention of the seer. It produces and retains more readily in that
form the various images communicated to it from the soul of man.
And the soul, in this connection, must be regarded as the
repository of all that complex mass of emotions, thoughts,
impressions, perceptions, feelings, etc., included in the inner life
of man; for the soul of man is not the less a scientific fact because
there are those who bandy words concerning its origin and nature.
Reichenbach has shown by a series of experiments upon sensitive
and hypnotised subjects that metals and other substances produce
very marked effects in contact with the human body. Those
experiments showed, too, that the same substance affected
different patients in diverse manner. The hypnotic experiments of
Dr. Charcot, the well-known French biologist, also demonstrate
the _rapport_ existing between the sensitive patient and foreign
bodies when in proximity or contact; as for example, when a bottle
containing a poison was taken at random from among a number of
others of exactly similar appearance, and applied to the back of the
patient's neck, the hypnotised subject would once develop all the
symptoms of poisoning by arsenic, strychnine, prussic acid, etc., it
being afterwards ascertained that the bottle thus applied actually
contained the toxine whose effects had been portrayed by the
subject.

It need not, then, be a matter of surprise to learn that the Crystal
exerts a very definite and sensible effect upon the nervous system
of a certain order of subjects. It does not affect all alike, nor act
in exactly the same way on those whom it does so affect. Where its
action is more or less rapid and remarkable, the quartz or beryl
Crystal may be taken as the most effective medium for producing
the vision. In other cases the concave mirror, either of polished
copper or black japan, will be found serviceable for inducing the
clairvoyant state. In some other cases, again, a bowl of water is
sufficient. The ecstatic vision was first induced in the case of
Jacob Boehme by the sun's rays falling upon a bowl of water
which caught and dazzled his eyes while he was engaged in the
humble task of cobbling a