Page:The Naturalisation of the Supernatural.pdf/357

Rh eyes. A variation in the position frequently led to the failure of the experiment. Further the experiment would fail if the bandages were placed above the level of the eyebrows. Eventually, after repeated trials, Dr. Hodgson succeeded, under the same conditions of bandaging, in seeing, though fitfully and imperfectly, objects held in a corresponding position. The channel of vision was a small chink in the sticking-plaster on the line where it was fastened to the brow. Possibly with Dick vision under these conditions may have been rendered easier by some degree of visual hyperaesthesia. His trance seemed to be genuine. In short, until we can ﬁnd a subject who can see an object through an opaque screen or inside a closed box, we need not seriously consider this kind of clairvoyance.

But the suggested conditions are alleged to have been complied with in two well-known cases—those of Alexis Didier and of Major Buckley's subjects. And as both cases have been cited of recent years by distinguished writers as proofs of clairvoyance, it seems necessary to consider their claims. Notwithstanding the testimony of Robert Houdin, who witnessed the performance, and professed himself quite unable to discover any trickery, it seems unnecessary to consider that part of Alexis'