“‘Is it not whisky or rum?’
“‘No, it is brandy,’ was the answer; ‘and now,’ she continued,‘the lady is going to get her supper, but the fat gentleman does not take any.’
“I requested her to tell me the color of his hair, but she only replied that the lady’s hair was dark. I then inquired if he had any brains in his head, but she seemed altogether puzzled about him, and only said she could not see any. I then asked her if she could see his name upon any of the papers lying about. She replied, ‘Yes;’ and upon my saying that the name began with E, she spelled each letter of the name, “Eglinton.”
“I was so convinced that I had at last detected her in a complete mistake that I arose and declined proceeding further in the experiment, stating that, although her description of the house and the name of the person was correct, in everything connected with the gentleman himself she had told the exact opposite of the truth.
“On the following morning Mr. E., my patient, asked me the result of the experiment. He had found himself unable to sit up so late, he said, but wishful fairly to test the powers of the clairvoyante, he had ordered his clothes to be stuffed into the form of a human figure, and, to make the contrast more striking, he had an extra pillow pushed into the clothes, so as to form a ‘corporation.’ This figure had been placed by the table in a sitting position and a glass of brandy and water and the newspapers placed beside it. The name, he said, was spelled correctly, though up to that time I had been in the habit of writing it ‘Eglington’ instead of ‘Eglinton.’”
Dr. Alfred Backman of Kolmar, Sweden, a corresponding member of the Society for Psychical Research and a good practical hypnotist has had unusually good fortune in finding clairvoyants among his own patients in that northern country. Two in particular, Anna Samuelson and Alma Redberg, gave most excellent examples of clairvoyant vision, describing rooms, surroundings, persons, and also events which were at the moment transpiring, though quite unknown and unsuspected by any one present at the experiment. Several of these cases are included in Mrs. Sidgwick’s report. Instead of these cases, however, I prefer to adduce an instance or two reported by Dr. Dufay, a reputable physician of Blois and subsequently a senator of France. The cases were first reported to the French Société de Psychologie Physiologique, which was presided over by Charcot, and published in the Revue Philosophique for September, 1888.
Dr. Gerault, a friend of Dr. Dufay, had a maid-servant named Marie, who was a natural somnambule, but who was also frequently hypnotized by Dr. Gerault. Dr. Dufay witnessed the following experiments:—
Being hypnotized, Marie was describing to a young lady soon to be married, some characteristics of her lover, much to the amusement of the lady, who was clapping her hands and laughing merrily. Suddenly, almost with the rapidity of lightning, the scene changed from gay to grave. The somnambulist panted for breath, tears flowed down her face, and perspiration bathed her brow. She seemed ready to fall, and called on Dr. Gerault for assistance.
“What is the matter, Marie?” said the doctor; “from what are you suffering?”
“Ah, sir!” said she; “ah, sir! how terrible! he is dead!”