similarly, if actuated at any set time and place, tend to bestir
themselves to the same effects as those to which they were first
moved by the conscious will and intention of the seer. Until the
clairvoyant faculty is fully assured and satisfactory results
obtained without any inconvenience to the seer, not more than
two persons should be present at the sittings. These should be in
close sympathy with the seer and with each other.

When the sitting is over it will be found useful to repair to
another place and fully discuss the results obtained, the
impressions and feelings of the seer during the seance, and
matters which appear to have a bearing on the facts observed.

A person should not be disheartened if at the first few sittings
nothing of any moment takes place, but should persevere with
patience and self-control. Indeed, if we consider the fact that for
hundreds of generations the psychic faculties latent in man have
lain in absolute neglect, that perhaps the faculty of clear vision
has not been brought into activity by any of our ancestors since
remote ages, it should not be thought remarkable that so few find
the faculty in them to be practically dormant. It should rather be a
matter of surprise that the faculty is still with us, that it is not
wholly irresponsive to the behests of the soul. While in the course
of physical evolution many important functions have undergone
remarkable changes, and organs, once active and useful, have
become stunted, impotent, and in some cases extinct, yet on the
other hand we see that seeds which have lain dormant in arid soil
for hundreds of years can spring into leaf and flower under the
influence of a suitable climate.

The vermiform appendix, so necessary to the bone eaters of a
carnivorous age, has no part in the physical economy of a later
and more highly-evolved generation. The pineal gland and the
pituitary body are adjuncts of the brain whose functions have
long been in latency. The _Anastatica hierochuntica_, commonly
called the Rose of Jericho, is a wonderful example of functional
latency. The plant will remain for ages rolled up like a ball of
sun-dried heather, but if placed in water it will immediately open
out and spread forth its nest of mossy green fronds, the transition
from seeming death to life taking place in a few minutes. The
hygrometric properties of the plant are certainly exceptional.
They illustrate the responsiveness of certain natures to a
parti