subsequently verified. To the faculty supposed to be thus demonstrated the name of "travelling clairvoyance" was given by the English mesmerists, it being assumed that the spirit of the percipient left the body and was actually present in some fashion at the scene described. Even if we accept the facts, there is of course no need to adopt so fantastic an explanation. From our ignorance, however, of the attendant circumstances, and especially of the opportunities which may have offered for fraud, it is difficult to place much reliance on these older records. A few similar cases have, however, been recorded by competent observers in recent years: one or two examples are quoted in chapter xiv.
But outside of the hypnotic trance the most favourable conditions for clairvoyance of this kind appear to be found in crystal vision. It is not quite clear what part the crystal plays in facilitating the emergence of these dream-visions. The quietness and freedom from external distraction no doubt contribute to the result. But it seems probable that the mere act of fixing the gaze and the attention on a bright object is liable to induce slight dissociation of consciousness. Further it is likely that in some cases the crystal furnishes a point de repère —a nucleus of actual sensation—round which the imaginary scene is built up.
Mr. Andrew Lang has within the last few years collected amongst his acquaintances many instances of scrying or crystal vision, from which I select the following:
