565 A. The following case of clairvoyance during spontaneous somnambulism was published by Dr. Dufay in a paper in the Revue Philosophique for February 1889, a translation of which appeared in Proceedings S.P.R., vol. vi. pp. 415-27. The writer of the account was M. Badaire, formerly director of the Ecole Normale at Guéret, the subject, Théophile Janicaud, having been one of his pupil-teachers. Jani-caud had been subject to frequent attacks of somnambulism from about the age of eight to ten; afterwards they ceased almost entirely till he was nineteen. M. Badaire writes: -

Gueret, February 5th, 1860.

... During the first year that he was at school we noticed nothing unusual in him; but during the excessive heat in the months of June and July 1859 the condition of young Janicaud completely changed, and attacks of somnambulism occurred every night, with a frequency which soon gave cause for anxiety as to his health. In a few weeks he was so much altered as to be hardly recognisable even to the members of his family. His eyes were sunken, tired, and haggard, and an extreme thinness took the place of robust health.

Every evening he got up, walked about the dormitory, descended to the study to work in the dark, or wandered about the gardens for hours at a time, after which he went back to bed....

One evening about 11 o'clock Janicaud, having escaped from the dormitory [in spite of all the precautions taken to avoid the risks of his nocturnal expeditions] knocked at the door of my bedroom.

"I have just arrived from Vendôme," he said, "and have come to give you the news of your family. M. and Mme. Arnault are well, and your little son has four teeth".

"As you have seen them at Vendome, could you go back again and tell me where they are at present?"

"Wait... I am there... They are sleeping in a room on the first floor; their bed is at the farther end of the room, to the left. The nursés bed is to the right, and Henry's cradle close to it".

The description of the room and the position of the beds were perfectly exact, and the following day I received a letter from my father-in-law telling me that my child had cut his fourth tooth.

A few days later Janicaud came to me at about the same time, telling me that he had again come from VendQme, and that an accident had happened to the child during the day. My wife, being much startled, anxiously inquired what the accident was.

"Oh! do not be frightened, Madame, reassure yourself, there will be no serious consequences, whatever the doctor, who is now with the child, may think. If I had known that I should have caused you so much alarm, I should not have spoken of it. It will be nothing".

The next morning I wrote to my father-in-law to tell him what Janicaud had said, and begged for news of the child by return of post. The answer was that he was perfectly well, and that no accident had taken place.

But in the month of September, when I went home for the holidays, I learnt the whole truth, which my father-in-law, on the advice of the doctor, had hidden from me. He told me that at the time when Janicaud came to tell me that an accident had happened, the doctor did not expect the child to live through the night. During the day the nurse, having got hold of the key of the cellar, had become completely intoxicated, and the child having been fed by her when in this condition, was seized with violent sickness, which endangered his life for several days.

One night Janicaud suddenly jumped up in bed, and turning to one of his companions, said -

"See, Roullet, how careless you are. I certainly told you to shut the door of the bookbinding workshop, but you did not do it, and a cat, in eating the paste, has just knocked over the dish, which is broken into five pieces".

Some one went down at once to the workshop, and it was found that what the somnambulist had said was perfectly correct.