With Dr. Backman's permission we wrote to Miss ---- asking for her confirmation of these incidents, and she replied as follows, on March 8th, 1891:—
"I am very willing to give you a description of what I saw and heard at Dr. Backman's the day he has mentioned in his letter to you.
"When I came to him, he made a hypnotic experiment with Miss Olsen, who should endeavour to find some papers lying somewhere in Dr. Backman's apartment, and, to my great surprise, she succeeded in finding them. After her being awakened, Dr. Backman gave her a large glass button and asked her to look in it and see if she could find out what I had done the day before. She succeeded even in this to an astonishing degree."
No. 107.—From SIR JOSEPH BARNBY.
In the next case, however, the vision appears to have been as nearly as possible contemporaneous with the event. Miss A. is a lady who has had many telepathic experiments of a striking kind. She is extremely short-sighted and a bad visualist, but her crystal visions she describes as being clear and well defined, as if she were looking on a real scene through strong glasses. The following account of an incident in Miss A.'s experience is given by Sir Joseph Barnby, who was a witness before the verification. His account has been revised throughout by Lady Radnor, who has interpolated an explanatory note. Sir Joseph writes, in November 1892:—
"I was invited by Lord and Lady Radnor to the wedding of their daughter, Lady Wilma Bouverie, which took place August 15th, 1889.
"I was met at Salisbury by Lord and Lady Radnor and driven to Longford Castle. In the course of the drive, Lady Radnor said to me: 'We have a young lady staying with us in whom, I think, you will be much interested. She possesses the faculty of seeing visions, and is otherwise closely connected with the spiritual world. Only last night she was looking in her crystal and described a room which she saw therein, as a kind of London dining-room. [The room described was not in London but at L., and Miss A. particularly remarked that the floor was in large squares of black and white marble—as it is in the big hall at L., where family prayers are said.—H. M. RADNOR.] With a little laugh, she added, 'And the family are evidently at prayers, the servants are kneeling at the chairs round the room and the prayers are being read by a tall and distinguished-looking gentleman with a very handsome, long grey beard.' With another little laugh, she continued: 'A lady just behind him rises from her knees and speaks to him. He puts her aside with a wave of the hand, and continues his reading.' The young lady here gave a careful description of the lady who had risen from her knees.'
"Lady Radnor then said: 'From the description given, I cannot help thinking that the two principal personages described are Lord and Lady L., but I shall ask Lord L. this evening, as they are coming by a later train, and I should like you to be present when the answer is given.'
"The same evening, after dinner, I was talking to Lord L. when Lady Radnor came up to him and said: 'I want to ask you a question. I am afraid you will think it a very silly one, but in any case I hope you will not ask me why I have put the question?' To this Lord L. courteously assented. She then said: 'Were you at home last night?' He replied, 'Yes.' She said: 'Were you having family prayers at such a time last evening?' With a slight look of surprise he replied, 'Yes, we were.' She then said: 'During the course of the prayers did Lady L. rise from her knees and speak to you, and did you put her aside with a wave of the hand?' Much astonished, Lord L. answered: 'Yes, that was so, but may I inquire why you have asked this question?' To which Lady Radnor answered: 'You promised you wouldn't ask me that!'"
In commenting on the account, Mr. Myers adds:—
"This incident has been independently recounted to me both by Lady Radnor and by Miss A. herself. Another small point not given by Sir J. Barnby is that Miss A. did not at first understand that family prayers were going on, but exclaimed: 'Here are a number of people coming into the room. Why, they're smelling their chairs!' This scene may have been exactly contemporaneous." (Proc. S.P.R., vol. viii. pp. 502, 503.)
Spontaneous Clairvoyance.
This incident was unquestionably very odd, but its evidential value is not lessened by that fact. Instances of a similar detailed perception of events at a distance are occasionally found to occur spontaneously. Two or three cases coming under this category have indeed already been quoted in Chapters VII. and VIII. The type, however, is interesting and important, and it is perhaps worth while citing a few more illustrative cases. It should be noted, however, that whereas in the cases of induced clairvoyance so far considered there is little evidence of any active contribution on the part of other persons to the percipient's impression, in the majority of the spontaneous instances the central figure in the vision was undergoing, or had just emerged from, some unusual experience, and his condition appears to have contributed to bring about the result. In the case which follows the vision represented a dying man. It is noteworthy that, as in other cases already given (e.g., No. 46), the percipient's impression presented a substantially accurate picture of the scene of the drama, but of a scene which preceded its telepathic representation by some hours. It seems probable, therefore, that the vision was merely the reflection of the thoughts of one of the bystanders. And, indeed, in any case it would be difficult to attribute the impression to the mind of the dying man, who could scarcely be supposed to have a mental picture of himself in the act of falling overboard. In the present instance it does not appear that the percipient was personally acquainted with any of the witnesses of the scene, amongst whom, on this interpretation, the agent must be sought, and in this respect the case presents a parallel to Miss A.'s vision.
No. 108.—From MRS. PAQUET.