The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-08-31

| vision noted assumes the character of the
supernormal. and as q phenomenon invites
serious and respectful investigation.
Anybody can make experiments OF this
kind for himself without any special train
ing. It IS merely necessary to concentrate
! ones thoughts as completely as possible
upon the crystal. placing the latter upon a
table OF holding IL in the hand and waiting
to see what will happen. If you are not a
born crystal gaZer nothing at all will hap
pen and the crystal will remain blank on
the other hand. II you are susceptible in
that kind OF way you are likely TO behold
more or less curious visions. which will be
interesting, though they may have no special
value.
Practice counts for a good deal in crystal
gazing. and after a while you are more
likely to see things than at the first at
tempt. A person who Is really susceptible
IN this way-and little children are often
very much so-will begin to behold pictures
Immediately on taking the crystal in hand.
Others will have to wait for a time before
the pictures appear. But 1t must not be ex-
pected that the pictures viii on every occa-
sion present what are properly to be called
visions. the fact being that most OF them
have no distinguishable meaning.
The PsyChical Research Society has got
together a great number of Instances. sew
eral hundred in all. where. according to well
authenticated accounts. crystals and other
clairvoyant visions of things happening at
great distances were afterwards proved to
have been correct. In some cases towns
houses, persons and things which the per
cipients have never beheld were accurately
described by them.
1t Is noticeable, however, mat all OF these
are instances merely of the supernatural &C
QUESTION of information as to things going
on at the time when the visions were seen
and have nothing to do with looking into
the future. That sort of clairvoyance which
pretends to power of prophecy. predicting
the price Of stocks, etc. is a fraud.
In more than one seemingly well anthem
ticated case a Simulacrum or spectre of the
percipient without the latter'S knowledge)
is said to have actually appeared to the
person or persons seen by the crystal gazer
at q distance at the very time OF the vision.
This IS what is technically known to pSychi-
cal eXperimenters as a "phantasm OF the
living. and the phenomenon neecs more
space for its discussion than IS here avail
able.
Other experiments in cIairvoyance are
made by sealing bits Of writing in envelopes
and asking the percipient to read them. or
the hands of a hunting case watch are
turned by the stem winder at random and
inquiry made as to the time indicated. In
this latter case nobody can possibly know
the time shown until the watch is opened,
and so the test Is a particularly good one.
Simpler than the writing test is one that is
made by putting a playing card into an en-
velope and demanding to know its suit and
denomination.
Some of the results obtained by the psy-
chial expeTimenters with the card test and
watch test have been quite extraordinary.
They are worth trying in my ompan be-
cause they will afford amusement, even
though nobody present shows signs of being
way It should be remembered that two or
three failures prove nothing.