Page:The Naturalisation of the Supernatural.pdf/362

342 female patient, I supposed, on hearing these words, that the reference must be to her, and I therefore said to G., 'Examine the dying woman. See what she is dying of'; to which the somnambule, after [another] effort of thought, replied, 'She has an obstruction in her chest on the left side; but it is not that that is killing her, doctor. What is killing her is her state of profound anaemia. It may be said that this woman's blood has been changed to water in her veins. She is dead!'"

In fact Donna X. had died, as stated, and a messenger had been dispatched to summon a doctor. Dr. Barcellos on his way to the house met Dr. Dias, who had just come from thence, and Dr. Dias testifies that Dr. Barcellos was able to tell him that Donna X. was already dead.

We find a few instances of "clairvoyance" of this kind recorded as occurring during severe illness. Dr. Sutphin, of Glasgow, Kentucky, has given an account of two cases occurring in his practice in which typhoid fever patients saw events taking place at a distance. The vision in one case represented a detailed picture of a distant scene and the actors in it.

It is perhaps hardly necessary to point out that the finding of lost objects through indications given in dreams, in the crystal, or though planchette cannot be attributed to clairvoyance. In most cases the revival of a lost memory on the part of the actual seer will explain the fact. More rarely, we have to assume that the seer is enabled to reach telepathically the subliminal memory of another.