American lady who first went into a spontaneous trance some time in 1884, at a consultation for medical purposes with a professional clairvoyant named Cocke. Her first control was an Indian girl named "Chlorine." Mrs. Piper from 1884 onward has habitually fallen into a trance state. From the end of 1885 until the present time she has been almost continuously under the observation of the S. P. R., and for many years all her'séances have been given under the guidance of Dr. Hodgson or other members of the Society, and the results carefully recorded.
Mr. Cocke himself, the clairvoyant referred to, was accustomed to rely in his medical practice upon the "spirit" of a French doctor named Finné. After several other "controls"— Mrs. Siddons, Longfellow, Commodore Vanderbilt, and John Sebastian Bach—had in turn usurped her organism, the chief control of Mrs. Piper's trance finally gave himself out as a French doctor named Phinuit—a name apparently suggested by that of Mr. Cocke's control.
Dr. Phinuit's own account of himself is that he is a French physician, who was born at Marseilles about 1790, and died about 1860. He has given various particulars about his birth, education, and life in Paris, but the enquiries which have been made have failed to reveal any trace of such a person as having lived and died as stated. Moreover, it appears that, though Phinuit is sometimes very felicitous in diagnosing the ailments of those who
