Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-28
PROPHETIC MIRRORS.
Strange Sights Seen by Investigators
of the Magic Glass.
INSTANCES OF EVENTS FORET0LD.
The Explanation of Some of the Very Curl.
Gus Cases.
THEORIES REGARDING WHAT Is SEEN

granted that II was an instrument OF 1rau'
made possible by credullty and superstition
The Old Testament abounds with stories o
divination by means of rejecting surfaces
such as shining metal, crystals, water anC
glass. The high priests sometimes received
revelations from Jehovah in an ornament o
six bright and six dark stones. Divinatior
rings were also in use. The cup which
Joseph put in Benjamin's sack was the cul
from which he was wont to divine. Th'
thumb nail has also been used and ha
proved OF marvellous power and faithful
ness, While a favorite method in somt
places is to pour into the palm of the ben
hand, and in Its depths read the messages
from the unknown.
Mirror-gazing was always popular in the
Orient, and as superstitious practice still
prevails, says a writer in the st. Louis
Post Dispatch. In Egypt in 1884 magi
clan conjured up the figure of Lord Nelson,
which he described to the bystanders with
perfect fidelity. The most successful of al
these was DR.. Dee, who lived in the latter
part of the sixteenth century. He used q
crystal called the holy stone. which was
large and round.
Spiritualists Use the Glass.
The regency of the Duke of Orleans
through the death of the Prince was pre-
dicted by means of the mirror. This is the
last historical case of prophecy by this
means. American spiritualists have used
The mirror and pretend to have good results
and accurate information from it. 1t is i'm
possible to suppose that all the numerous
instances Of visions are wholly fraudulent.
Some flick of truth must be in them, for
there is too much unanimity of testimony
and close agreement In the evidence to per-
NIT the belief of pure superstition. Never
theless, no attempt was ever made, until the
past ten wears, to study the subject, and by
sensible people all the stories were rejected
as so many fables.
But few years ago a number of scientists
in Germany and England took up the SUBJ
ject and have gazed persistently into the
mirror and patiently waited for the sights
they hoped might reward them. They
maintained that the tales of magicians could
not all be sheer lies and even though no
prophecies were made on the strength of the
mirror something real must in some in
stances have appeared in the magic glass.
Only the old-time magicians probably erred
in attributing tine images to an external in
fuence. Whatever they saw in the mirror
was a projection from the unconscious
depths of the seer's own soul, not reflection
of any actual object present before the glass.
With this assumption they began their ex-
periments.
A Woman's Visions.
The Berlin Society of Experimental Psy-
chology laid in stock of mirrors, crystals
and other rejecting surfaces and the menl-
bers waited for developments. But after
series of experiments extending over several
years they had nothing to report. The mir
rors give forth no visions. In England,
however, better luck has attended the efforts
of the Society of Psychieal Research. A
lady reports to the society series of 20 ex-
periments OF which she made careful notes.
She is said to be clear headed and fully alive
TO the fact that whatever is seen is simply
subjective illusion as it is called. Colored
bright balls, the back of GOLD watch, mir
rors and rock crystal were all used, the last
mentioned producing the best results. The
simplest case reported is this:
81 find in the crystal bit of dark wall
covered with white jessamine and l ask N.Y.
self where have l walked to-day? | have
no recollection of such a sight, not a COM
mon one in the London streets, but to-mor-
row Will repeat nv walk of this morning
with a careful regard for creepeT- covered
walls. Tomorrow solves the mystery. L
find the very spot, and the sight brings with
II the further recollection that at the mo-
ment we passed this spot 1 was engaged in
absorbing conversation with my companion,
and nv voluntary attention was preoccu-
pied" This was a simple case OF double
consciousness. When the lady passed the
spot she did not know that fact had passed
into her consciousness and she would never
have known it had it not emerged and been
reflected from the crystal.
A Very Curious Case.
The next case is a curious one: 81 had
carelessly destroyed letter without preserv-
ing the address OF nv correspondent. l
knew the county, and, searching in a map,
recognized the name of the town, one un-
familiar to me, but which l was sure 1
should know when l saw it. But L had no
clew to the name of the house or street, till
at last it struck me to test the value OF the
crystal as 4 means Of recalling forgotten
knowledge. A very short inspection sup
piled me with 'Hibbs House in gray letters
on white ground, and having nothing
better to suggest from any other source, l
risked posting my letter to the address so
strangely supplied. A day or two brought
me an answer headed 'Hibbs House in gray
letters on a white ground" This was a
v.
sion "Hibbs House" imbedded in her con-
sciousuess and it is not mysterious that it
came forth when tempted by the magic
mirror, nut it Is mysterious that it should
appear in gray letters on white back
ground. That seems to be prophecy.
Here is a case of mere memory, but it is
marvellous and incredible: "On March 20
l happened to want the date of Ptolemy
Philadelphus, which 1 could not recall,
though feeling sure that knew it and that
associated it with some event of import
ance. When
Looking in the Crystal
some hours later 1 found q picture Of an old
man with long white hair and beard, dressed
like a Lyceum ShyIock, and busy writing
In a large book with furnished massive
clasps. / wondered much who he was and
what he could possibly be doing, and
thought it was good opportunity of carry
ing out suggestion which had been made
to me of examining objects in the crystal
with a magnifying glass. The glass re-
writing in Greek, though the lines
faded away as 1 looked, all but
the characters he had last traced,
the Latin numerals LXX. Then it
flashed into my mind that be was one of the
Hebrew elders at work on the Septuagent
and that its date, 277 B. c., would serve
equally well for Ptolemy Philadelphus. 1t
may be worth while to add that the fact was
not in my conscious memory at the moment,
that had once learnt chronology on a
system which substituted letters
for figures, and that the memoria technica
for this date was how Hebrew elders indite
a Greek copy" The use of the magniiying
glass in this experiment only adds to the
mirror The numerals Ink. were, of
cnrrse rnrniectinns nf the erneri fars, |