Page:The Naturalisation of the Supernatural.pdf/371

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On Clairvoyance and Prevision
351

was imminent risk of being drawn under the ship, and her life was for a few moments in great danger.

On another occasion Mrs. Verrall noted down the occurrence of the ticking, and subsequently found that the time coincided with the commencement of the serious illness of an intimate friend. On the only two other occasions on which Mrs. Verrall has heard the ticking, it seemed to have a premonitory significance.

It may be hoped that, as attention is increasingly called to the subject, careful records like that last quoted may be multiplied, so that it may ultimately be found possible to estimate the real significance of these omens.

There is another class of predictions, the existence of which seems to be well established. The early Magnetists have put on record that some of their somnambules could accurately foretell the approach of disease in their own persons; could forecast the course of the disease, predict the occurrence of crises, and indicate the date of recovery. More rarely this power of prediction extended to the ailments of others. Recent observations have confirmed the accuracy of these early reports in both respects. Several cases have been reported to us in which persons have predicted serious illness or death to themselves. For an instance, see the case recorded by the Rev. A. T. Fryer, in which a lady, the wife of a clergyman, had a warning in a dream of a serious illness and her eventual