“For the last year or fifteen months I have been in the habit of mesmerizing a fellow-student of mine. The way I did it was by simply looking into his eyes as he lay in an easy position on a bed. This produced sleep. After a few times I found that this sleep was deepened by making long passes after the patient was off. Then comes the remarkable part of this sort of mesmerism.” (Mr. Sparks then describes his subject’s ability to see in his trance places in which he was interested if he resolved to see them before he was hypnotized.) “However, it has been during the last week or so I have been surprised and startled by an extraordinary affair. Last Friday evening (Jan. 15th, 1886), he (Cleave) expressed his wish to see a young lady living in Wandsworth, and he also said he would try to make himself seen by her. I accordingly mesmerized him and continued the long passes for about twenty minutes, concentrating my will on his idea. When he came round (after one hour and twenty minutes’ trance) he said he had seen her in the dining-room; and that after a time she grew restless; then suddenly she looked straight at him, and then covered her eyes with her hands; just then he came round. Last Monday evening (Jan. 18th) we did the same thing, and this time he said he thought he had frightened her, as after she had looked at him a few minutes she fell back in her chair in a sort of faint. Her little brother was in the room at the time. Of course after this he expected a letter if the vision was real; and on Wednesday morning he received a letter from the young lady, asking whether anything had happened to him, as on Friday evening she was startled by seeing him standing at the door of the room. After a minute he disappeared and she thought it might have been fancy; but on Monday evening she was still more startled by seeing him again, and this time much clearer, and it so frightened her that she nearly fainted.”
Mr. Cleave also writes a very interesting account of his experience in the matter, and two fellow-students who were in the room during the experiments also write corroborating the statements made.
The following is a copy of the letter in which the young lady, Miss A., describes her side of the affair. It is addressed, “Mr. A. H. W. Cleave, H. M. S. Marlborough, Portsmouth,” and is postmarked Wandsworth, Jan. 19th, 1886.
“Wandsworth,
“Tuesday morning.
“Dear Arthur,—Has anything happened to you? Please write and let me know at once, for I have been so frightened.
“Last Tuesday evening I was sitting in the dining-room reading, when I happened to look up, and could have declared I saw you standing at the door looking at me. I put my handkerchief to my eyes, and when I looked again you were gone.
“I thought it must have been only my fancy, but last night (Monday) while I was at supper I saw you again just as before, and was so frightened that I nearly fainted. Luckily only my brother was there or it would have attracted attention. Now do write at once and tell me how you are. I really cannot write any more now.”
Probably the young lady is in error regarding the date of the first experiment, which may be accounted for by her excited condition—the shock of the last experiment having proved decidedly serious, as was afterwards discovered, and she begged that the experiment might never be repeated.
Both young men mention Friday as the day of their first decided success, but they were experimenting on previous days, including Tuesday, when the young lady writes she first saw Cleave’s phantasm. Concerning the date of the last experiment there is no question.
Effects similar to those just related may also occur where the agent is in ordinary sleep, or at least when no hypnotizing process is made use of. The agent in this case first formulates the wish or strong resolution to be present and be seen at a certain place or by a certain person, and then goes to sleep, and generally remains unconscious of the result until learned from the percipient.