berts experiences the
same paralyzing influence by the proximity of the harmless feline.
If, therefore, one can register the presence of a cat, and another
that of a dead body, I see no difficulty in others registering water
or any other antipathetic. All we have to remember is that these
things are psychic in their origin, and not ignorantly confound
sensation with consciousness, or hyperaesthesia with the various
psychopathic faculties we have been discussing. But it is
necessary to return to our main subject and consider where our
developed clairvoyant or second-sight faculty will lead us, and
what sort of experience we may expect to gain by its use. These
points may now be dealt with.

CHAPTER IX.

EXPERIENCE AND USE

First let us have the facts, we can then best see what use we can
make of them. This I think is the correct position in regard to any
abnormal claim that is made upon our attention. Everybody has
heard of the prophecies of the Brahmin seer, most people
have some acquaintance with the phenomena attending the
clairvoyance of the seeress of Prevorst, while the experiences of
Emanuel Swedenborg have been set forth in many biographies,
but in none more lucidly and dispassionately than that by William
White. Traditions have come to us concerning the clairvoyance of
the Greek exponent of the Pythagorean teachings, Apollonius of
Tyana, and the case of Cavotte, who predicted his own death and
that of Robespierre and others by the guillotine, is on record. The
illumination of Andrew Jackson Davis, the Poughkeepsie seer,
and that of Thomas Lake Harris of Fountain Grove, are modern
examples of abnormal faculty of a nature which places them
outside the field of direct evidence. A prophecy made from the
use of the super-sense which is followed by exact fulfilment
appears to be the best criterion, though it is a very imperfect
illustration of the scope of clairvoyance.

The following instances are within my personal experience, and
being already on record and well attested, will serve equally to
illustrate the fact of clairvoyance as would numerous others
within my knowledge.

In June, 1896, a lady visited me in Manchester Square and, being
anxious on several points, asked that I would scry for her. A blue
beryl was used as agent. She was told that she would have news
from a tropical country concerning the birth of a child, a boy,
who would arrive in the following year in the month of February.
That on a