541 F. And now I pass on to a third concurrent line of inference, derived from a set of experiments which seem in a sense to stand midway between the two classes just mentioned, - the telepathic, namely, and the heteraesthetic. I speak of medical clairvoyance, or the power of diagnosing the present or past state of a living organism either from actual contact or even in the absence of the invalid, and from contact with some object which he has himself touched. If impressions of this type are actually conveyed from one organism to another, it can hardly be the case that mesmeric passes are altogether inert. If there is a diffused influence which reveals the state of a distant person by means of an object which he has touched, this specific influence is likely to be felt when he is in close proximity and is fixing his attention on its communication. And the apparent effects of mesmeric passes suggest the possible existence of a so-called "aura," or influence environing each human being, whose limits it is not easy to define.1

The early mesmerists, e.g. Puységur, Pététin, Despine, and Teste, all had the utmost faith in the faculty of their subjects to see their own disease and prescribe the right remedy. The same attitude of mind can be traced all through the Zoist. Fahnestock was perhaps the first to point out the ambiguity of this alleged introvision. " It is well known to me," he says, "that when a resolution is taken, a belief cherished, or a determination formed by persons while in the somnambulic state, that, when they awake, although they may know nothing about it or relative to it, they always do what has been so resolved or determined upon at the time appointed or specified" (Statuvo/ism, p. 203), and he quotes experiments to prove his point. With the knowledge we now possess of the extraordinary power of self-suggestion in producing all kinds of bodily symptoms, it is obvious that these cases cannot be adduced as evidence of anything more. A typical instance of one of these early observations is to be found in the Zoist, vol. x. p. 347. See also Puységur, Recherches sur l'Homme dans le Somnambulisme (Paris, 1811), pp. 140 etseq. and pp. 214 et seq.; Pétéin, Electricite' Animate (Paris, 1808); Despine, Observations de Médecine Pratique (1838) - " Estelle nous a indiqué tous les soirs, dans sa crise, ce qu'il y avait à faire pour le lendemain, tant pour le régime alimentaire que pour les moyens médicamentaires " (p. 38).

In addition to the belief that a mesmerised patient was his own best doctor, the mesmerists also held that somnambules were able clairvoyantly to obtain knowledge of the state of diseased organs in other persons. This clairvoyant diagnosis might be performed under a variety of conditions, none of which were really essential. There were somnambules who required contact with the patient; there were others who required mere proximity; others must handle some object which belonged to the sufferer. Finally, others could "travel," and diagnose the disease of an absent person who was merely named or merely described.

Puységur's subject, Agnes Burguet, is alleged by him to have been uniformly successful in prognosis as well as in diagnosis. He emphasises the necessity of the patient's faith in the clairvoyante, and it appears that the prophecies were announced by her to the patient, so that there is no difficulty in attributing their fulfilment, or the success of the remedies she prescribed, to suggestion. A number of instances are given in the works of Puysegur and Pététin mentioned above; also in Bertrand's Du Magné-tisme en France (Paris, 1826). See the Revue de l'Hypnotisme, September 1888, p. 81, for references to other sources.

1 See, however, my discussion of this subject above, in sections 569 and 570.

• A good case of what may have been clairvoyant diagnosis, in which many of the details mentioned were verified by a post-mortem examination, is given in the Zoist, vol. x. p. 307.

541 G. In an article by Professor Charles Richet, entitled "Relation de diverses Experiences sur la Transmission Mentale, la Lucidité, etc," in Proceedings S.P.R., vol. v. pp. 18-168, one section is devoted to the subject of clairvoyance of maladies. Professor Richet remarks that there are many mediums who habitually give medical consultations. Their usual custom is to go rapidly over the various organs which may be affected, and when they come to the one which actually is affected, the sitter is delighted, and believes in their success. The medium then arrives quickly at the general diagnosis of the case, and describes the illness according to a sort of scheme which is easily made with the help of medical books and the experience gained by practice. The clairvoyants with whom Professor Richet experimented were three subjects of his own, whom he calls Alice, Héléna, and Eugénie. Alice had never practised medical consultations, and had never been hypnotised by any one but Professor Richet. Helena had had a little previous experience of the kind, while Eugénie kept a cabinet de consultations, and was much accustomed to patients.

Fifty-three experiments were made, which are recorded in full, and a fair degree of success was attained. This can only be judged of from a study of the complete record, which I have not space here to quote; Professor Richet's general discussion (loc. cit., pp. 131 - 132) is also important as bearing on the proper interpretation of the phenomena.