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 certain date while travelling she would meet with an accident to the right leg. Previous to this, in October she would have a welcome surprise connected with papers and a contest in which her son was engaged.
Now here was a network of disaster for any would-be prophet who relied upon what is called the "lucky shot." If we enumerate the items of prediction, on any of which a fatal error could have been made, we shall find a very formidable list:--
A tropical country.
A birth.
A boy then unborn.
February, 1897.
A journey on a particular date.
The right leg.
The son.
October.
Papers.
At least nine points on which the faculty could have been wholly at fault. The fulfilment, however, came in due course. The lady heard that her sister, then vicereine of India, was about to have a child, and in February, 1897, a son was born to Lord Elgin. In October the lady referred to was agreeably surprised to learn that her son had passed his examination for the military college with honours. Further, while boarding a train at Victoria station she had the misfortune to slip between the platform and the footboard, so that the shin of the right leg was badly damaged and severe muscular strain was also suffered, in consequence of which she was laid up for several days.
Mrs. H. was consulted by an authoress, her profession being unknown to the scryer. She was told that she would go up a dingy staircase with a roll of papers under her arm; that she would see a dark man, thickset and of quiet demeanour. He would take the roll of papers and it would be a source of good fortune to her. The prediction was literally fulfilled.
The first case cited is an example of the positive and symbolic type of vision; the second being of the passive and direct type.
Mrs. A. was consulted by a lady of the writer's acquaintance and was told that she would not marry the man to whom she was then engaged as there was a certain other person, described, coming across the seas to claim her. She would meet him three years later in the month of January.
The event transpired exactly as stated, though nothing at that time appeared less probable, and indeed the lady was not a little irate at the allusion to the breaking off of the engagement and of marrying a man whom she had never seen and for whom she could have no sort of regard. In fact, the whole revelation was very revolting to one so wholly absorbed as was she at the time. It cannot be argued that this was a case of suggestion working itself out, for one cannot auto-suggest the arrival of a person of a particular description from a distant land to one's own drawing-room at any time, and there is here a prediction as to the date which was duly fulfilled. This was a case of direct vision.