Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1908-04-16

Arts of this city Is Il large crystal ball
with Oriental settings. the largest
mirror OF the subconsclous world, II
Is said on the planet, says a Boston
dispatch IN the New York Herald. Ac-
quired for the Ames collection from
an East Indian source and loaued for
an Indefinite period TO the museum IN
iCopley square, II perpetually invites
10 the exercise of the now fashionable
rad of crystal gazing. You look into
H. or into any one of n large group
of similar but smaller globes, under
! certain favorable conditions and, II
your temperament is right. you may
zee visions projected from out your
subliminal life.
Seeing things is very popular just
now. A play, for example, in which
so well known n thosplan us Miss
Ethel Barrymore is starring this sea
son presents crystal gazing scene
This is II time, too. when along with
the general revival OF interest In all
topics pertaining to psychical ro-
search. more people, probably, than
ever before In the history of the world
are looking into crystals, glasses OF
water, polished stone or wood or 9th
er surfaces capable of rejecting light.
with the expectation that appnritlons
Tor Authorizations may float before
their eyes.
Many Possess Power.
| "Spooks" seen In glass seem from
IAN accounts to be among the easiest
to conjure up. Whatever the cause of
these apparitions, the fact remains
that from very early times peculiarly.
constituted persons-about one indi-
vidunl in seven-have appeared TO
possess the power OF producing hullu-
cinatlons of certain kind in them
selves by gazing intently into n crys-
ltal. In recent years, and especially
| since the formation of societies for
scientific study OF psychical research
| In this country and abroad. interest
in such phenomena has been very
keen and n considerable body OF facts,
apparently well authenticated. has
been collected.
Professor James II. Hyslop, presi-
dent OF the new American Society OF
Psychical Research, has been study
| ing the psychological considerations
involved in this cult OF crystal gazing
and I'm his book "Enigmas OF PSYCHE
cal Research" as well as In other
| popular expositions OF metapsychical
subjects, has given in detail the rec
ord sof strange sights from the un-
seen realm. He cautiously claims
nothing from which an argument can
be drawn ~ TO such communications
| from the eternal depths as Sir Oliver
Dodge asserts he has had. He finds,
however n great mass of data that
| faScinate5 the student of the little
understood activities OF the sublIminal
mind.
The marvels Of crystal glazing come
right down to homcly experience. IT,,
for instance, you looked into glass
ball and there came before your eyes
n sharp. distinct picture OF your old
minister whom you had not seen Tor
fifteen years. and then just as You ev-
claimed, why, Mr.. 1.-THE face van
ished and there appeared slight pic
tnre Of cemetery. would You mt
think there was occasion for appre-
henslon? Later the woman who saw
the sight In the glass brightly Is w.
ported TO have gone 10 the city 20
which the clergyman had moved
found the man himself dying and re-
cognized the very cemetery which she
had seen while looking into the crys-
| tai.
This notion OF seeing the unsecabla
at times when the gaze Is fixed upon
n rejecting surface whose high lights
are eliminated as far ms possible Is
nnthing new in history. AS Professor
| Hyslop discloses in his book on the
metapsychical enigmas, this form ~
ldivination was known among the
Greeks. who polished and enchanted
crystals in which future events were
signified. He has also found tracts
of the practices of crystal gazing in
Assyrla. Greece. Rome. China, Japin
India and possibly in some OF the
South Sea islands. The use of a mir
ror or crystal ball has been MOTEL
among the Apaches OF the Western
plains they employ crystal to dis
cover stolen property. Other tribes
of Indians make their patients gcZe
Into water, in which they see pict irrs
of the food and medicine good for
them. In Polynesia hole Is dug in
the ground, and az It fills with water
the priest peers in TO discover ths au-
thor of thefts In India castor oil is
held in the hand OF child and in
tho mirror thus formed float weird
pictures of spirits and demons.
Most of the stories of wonders ac-.
complished by means Of crystal eaz-
ing have come down on the basis CT
such testimony that they are regarded
| by the scientists rs interesting but
unreliable. Nor are the modern man
ifestations held TO belong necessarily
to the realm of the queer. The point
of view of modern psychical research
is that strange things actually do
come before the mind at times. There
Is no need of calling them snparna-
tural; they are simply supernormal
Arouse Old Memories.