On a Sat.u.r.day afternoon in September, 1756, Swedenborg arrived in Gottenburg from England. Gottenburg is three hundred miles from Stockholm, which was the home of Swedenborg. On the same evening he was the guest of Mr. William Castel, with fifteen other persons, who were invited to meet him, and who, on that account, may be supposed to have been of more than ordinary consequence and intelligence.

About six o'clock Swedenborg seemed preoccupied and restless. He went out into the street, but soon returned, anxious and disturbed. He said that at that moment a great fire was raging at Stockholm. He declared that the house of one of his friends was already destroyed, and that his own was in danger. At eight o'clock he announced that the fire was arrested only three doors from his own house.

The information, and the peculiar manner in which it was imparted, created a great sensation, not only in the company a.s.sembled at Mr. Castel's, but throughout the city. On Sunday morning the governor sent for Swedenborg, who gave him a detailed account of the conflagration and the course it had pursued. On Monday, the third day, a courier arrived from Stockholm, who also gave the governor a detailed account of the fire, which agreed in every respect with that already given by Swedenborg.

Nearly a century after Swedenborg, lived Mme. Hauffe, known as the seeress of Proverst. She died in 1829 at the age of twenty-eight years. As a child she exhibited peculiar psychical tendencies, but it was only during the last six years of her life, and after exhausting illnesses, that her peculiar clairvoyant powers were conspicuously developed.

Justinus Kerner, an eminent physician and man of letters, was her attending physician during the last three years of her life, and afterward became her biographer. She first came under his care at Weinsberg in 1826.

At that time her debility was excessive, and nearly every day she fell spontaneously into the somnambulic condition, became clairvoyant, and related her visions. On the day of her arrival at Weinsberg, having gone into this trance condition, she sent for Kerner but he refused to see her until she awoke. He then told her that he would never see her nor listen to her while she was in this abnormal state. I mention this simply to show that her physician was not then at all in sympathy with her regarding her peculiar psychological condition, though afterward he became thoroughly convinced of its genuineness and of her honesty. He relates the following incident, which, with many others, came under his own observation:--

Soon after her arrival at Weinsberg, and while still a perfect stranger to her surroundings, while in her somnambulic condition, she said that a man was near her and desired to speak with her, but that she could not understand what he wanted to say. She said he squinted terribly, and that his presence disturbed her, and she desired him to go away. On his second appearance, some weeks later, she said he brought with him a sheet of paper with figures upon it, and that he came up from a vault directly underneath her room.

As a matter of fact, the wine vaults of Mr. F., a wine merchant doing business the next door, extended under Mme. Hauffe's apartment, and Kerner, who was an old resident of the place, recognized from the seeress's description of her visitor a man who formerly was in Mr. F.'s employ as manager and bookkeeper. This man had died six years before, and had left something wrong with his accounts--in fact, there was a deficit of 1,000 florins, and the manager's private book was missing. The widow had been sued for the amount, and the matter was still unsettled. Again and again did this apparition come to Mme. Hauffe, bringing his paper and entreating her to interest herself in this affair. He declared that the necessary paper to clear up the whole matter was in a building sixty paces from her bed.

Mme. Hauffe said that in that building she saw a tall gentleman engaged in writing in a small room, which opened into a large one where there was a desk and chests; that one of the chests was open, and that on the desk was a pile of papers, among which she recognized the missing doc.u.ment.

The wine merchant, being present, recognized the office of the chief bailiff, who had the business in charge. Kerner went at once to the office and found everything as described, but, not finding the missing paper, concluded that her clairvoyance was at fault.

Mme. Hauffe, in her description of the paper said it had columns of figures upon it, and at the bottom was the number 80. Kerner prepared a paper corresponding to this description, and at the next seance presented it to her as the missing doc.u.ment. But she at once rejected it, saying the paper was still where she had before seen it.

On renewing the search the paper was found as described, and the bailiff was to bring it on the following day. He came accordingly. In her sleep, the seeress exclaimed:

"The paper is no longer in its place, but this is wonderful. The paper which the man always has in his hand lies open. Now I can read more: 'To be carried to my private book,' and that is what he always points to."

The bailiff was astonished, for instead of bringing the paper with him as Kerner had directed, he had left it lying open on his desk. All these things are attested by the bailiff, the wine merchant, Kerner, and others who witnessed them. Kerner himself visited the seeress more than a thousand times, and although during the first part of his observations he was skeptical, he was never able to detect her in the slightest attempt at deception. She was in no way elated over her peculiar power, on the contrary, she disliked to speak of it, and would gladly have been free from it altogether. Her clairvoyant powers were tested by hundreds of excellent observers during the last four years of her life.

The case of Alexis, the noted French somnambulist and clairvoyant, is worthy of notice here. I remember very well the account of a seance at a gathering of prominent Americans in Paris in 1853, of which the following is an abstract:--

Thick ma.s.ses of cotton were bound firmly over his eyes in such a manner as to render it impossible for him to see in the ordinary way, and in this condition he described pictures, read signatures of letters folded in several envelopes, played games of cards with almost uniform success, and, being asked to select the best pianist in the room from a number present, who simply presented their hands for his inspection, he quickly selected a young man not yet eighteen years old, who had won four first prizes at the Conservatoire, and was really the best pianist of his age in Europe.

In playing cards he picked up the trick with a rapidity and certainty which showed how clearly he knew the position of the cards upon the table.

Keeping those dealt to him in his left hand he held the card he intended to play in his right, and never once changed the card upon the play of his partner. He knew his adversary's hand as well as his own. The writer adds: "The cards used were bought by myself, half an hour before, so that any suspicion of prepared cards would be idle and absurd."

It remains to note some more recent instances reported by persons well known and specially qualified to judge of their truthfulness and value.

The first case which I will present is embodied in a report "On the Evidence of Clairvoyance," by Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, wife of Prof. Sidgwick, formerly president of the Society for Psychical Research. It was furnished by Dr. Elliott Coues of Washington, D. C., where the incident occurred, and was afterward investigated by Mr. F. W. H. Myers, secretary of the society. Both the persons partic.i.p.ating in the incident were well known to Prof. Coues, and were both persons of prominence, one, Mrs. C., being well known as a writer and lecturer, and the other, designated as Mrs. B., was well known for her rare psychic faculties and her absolute integrity.

The incidents of the case are simple and unimportant, but they have a special value on account of their clearness, freedom from the possibility of external suggestion, and the well known ability and integrity of the reporter. The following are the points in the case:--

In Washington, D. C., January 14, 1889, between 2 and 3 o'clock P. M., Mrs. C., having been engaged in writing in the Congressional Library, left the building at 2:40 o'clock, and one or two minutes later was at her residence, in Delaware Avenue, carrying her papers in her hand. In ascending the steps leading from the street to the front yard she stumbled and fell. She was not hurt, but "picked herself up" and went into the house.

About the same hour, certainly between 2 and 3 o'clock, Mrs. B., sitting sewing in her room a mile and a half away, sees the occurrence in all its details. The ladies are friends. They had met the day previous, but not since. The vision is wholly a surprise to Mrs. B. Nevertheless, it is so vivid that she at once sits down and writes to Mrs. C., describing minutely the occurrence, which letter Mrs. C. receives the next morning with much surprise. The following is an extract from the letter:--

"I was sitting in my room sewing this afternoon about 2 o'clock, when what should I see but your own dear self--but heavens! in what a position! You were falling up the front steps in the yard.

"You had on your black skirt and velvet waist, your little straw bonnet, and in your hand were some papers. When you fell, your hat went in one direction and your papers in another. You very quickly put on your bonnet, picked up your papers, and lost no time in getting into the house. You did not appear to be hurt, but looked somewhat mortified. It was all so plain to me that I had ten notions to one to dress myself and come over and see if it were true, but finally concluded that a sober, industrious woman like yourself would not be stumbling around at that rate, and thought I'd best not go on a wild-goose chase.

"Now, what do you think of such a vision as that? Is there any possible truth in it? I feel almost ready to scream with laughter whenever I think of it; you did look too funny spreading yourself out in the front yard.

'Great was the fall thereof.' I can distinctly call to mind the house in which you live, but for the life of me I cannot tell whether there are any steps from the sidewalk into the yard, as I saw them, or not."

In answer to Mr. Myers' letter of inquiry to Mrs. C., she says that the incident was described exactly--the dress as correctly as she could have described it herself. There were two steps from the sidewalk to the yard, and it was on the top one of these two steps that Mrs. C. stumbled. The manner of the fall, the behavior of the bonnet and papers, and her own sensations were all correctly described.

The next case--also embodied in the same report and examined in the same careful manner by Mr. Myers--was the exhibition of clairvoyant powers by a woman called Jane, the wife of a pitman in the County of Durham, in England. She received no fees and was averse to being experimented with for fear of being ridiculed or called a witch by her a.s.sociates.

She was a particularly refined woman for one of her cla.s.s, sweet, gentle, with delicately cut features, religious and conscientious to a remarkable degree. She was a marked example of those who, in the trance condition, could not be induced by suggestion to do a wrong or a mean act, or one which she would consider wrong in her normal state. In her sleep she was anaesthetic, felt herself quite on an equality with the operator, always spoke of herself as "we," and of her normal self as "that girl." The following instance of her clairvoyance was furnished by Dr. F., who knew her well for many years, and is from notes taken at the time:--

On the morning of the day fixed for the experiment the doctor arranged with a patient in a neighboring village that he should be in a particular room between the hours of 8 and 10 in the evening. The patient was just recovering from a severe illness and was weak and very thin and emaciated.

This gentleman and the doctor were the only persons who knew anything of the arrangement or the proposed experiment.

After having secured the proper somnambulic condition in the subject, Dr.

F. directed her attention to the house where his patient was supposed to be awaiting the experiment, as arranged. She entered the house, described correctly the rooms pa.s.sed through, in one of which she mentioned a lady with black hair lying on a sofa, but no gentleman. The doctor's report then goes on as follows:--

"After a little she described the door opening and asked with a tone of great surprise:

"'Is that a man?'

"I replied, 'Yes; is he thin or fat?'

"'Very fat,' she answered; 'but has the gentleman a cork leg?'

"I a.s.sured her that he had not, and tried to puzzle her still more about him. She, however, persisted in her statement that he was very fat, and said that he had a great 'corporation,' and asked me whether I did not think such a fat man must eat and drink a great deal to get such a corporation as that. She also described him as sitting by the table with papers beside him, and a gla.s.s of brandy and water.

"'Is it not wine?' I asked.

"'No,' she said, 'It's brandy.'

"'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 gla.s.s 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 _Societe 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 amus.e.m.e.nt 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 a.s.sistance.

"What is the matter, Marie?" said the doctor; "from what are you suffering?"

"Ah, sir!" said she; "ah, sir! how terrible! he is dead!"