572 A. The following case is quoted from Mrs. Sidgwick's paper "On the Evidence for Clairvoyance " in Proceedings S.P.R., vol. vii. pp. 30-99. It is one of a group of four cases given by Mrs. Sidgwick, which were observed by Mr. A. W. Dobbie, of Gawler Place, Adelaide, South Australia, with various hypnotic subjects of his own. Mr. Dobbie had at that time practised hypnotism for ten or twelve years, chiefly with a view to alleviating suffering, and out of some five hundred subjects, had come across a few who seemed capable of clairvoyance. Mrs. Sidgwick made his acquaintance and talked over his cases with him during a visit of his to England in 1889. The account quoted here is a copy, Mr. Dobbie informed us, of the notes he "wrote down the moment the words were uttered".

July 4th, 1886.

Striking case of clairvoyance, which occurred May 28th, 1886, in the presence of the Hon. Dr. Campbell, M.L.C., Hon. David Murray, M.L.C., and Chief Secretary of South Australia, Mr. Lyall, and Mr. Fleming, solicitor: -

The circumstances are briefly as follows, viz.: Dr. Campbell, being present at one of my usual clairvoyant evenings, handed me a gold sleeve-link, at the same time telling me that he had lost the fellow one to it, but had no idea as to what had become of it; he asked me to give the remaining one to one of my clairvoyants, and see if they could find the missing one. I should state that neither of the clairvoyants had ever seen either of the rooms they referred to, nor did they know the names of the children, or anything in connection with this case, so that it is either a case of genuine clairvoyance or else a most remarkable case of thought-reading.

I first handed the sleeve-link to the younger of the two sisters [Misses Eliza and Martha Dixon], who is not so lucid as her sister (I was giving the elder one a rest, as she had been hard at work, clairvoyantly, for the past hour).

Miss Martha began by first accurately describing Dr. Campbell's features, then spoke of a little fair-haired boy who had a stud, or sleeve-link, in his hand, also of a lady calling him "Neil"; then said that this little boy had taken the link into a place like a nursery where there were some toys, especially a large toy elephant, and that he had dropped the link into this elephant through a hole which had been torn or knocked in the breast; also that he had taken it out again, and gave two or three other interesting particulars. We were reluctantly compelled to postpone further investigation until two or three evenings afterwards.

On the next occasion (in the interval, however, the missing sleeve-link had been found, but left untouched), I again placed the link in her hand, and the previous particulars were at once reproduced; but as she seemed to be getting on very slowly, it occurred to Dr. Campbell to suggest placing his hand on that of the clairvoyant, so I placed him en rapport and allowed him to do so, he simply touching the back of her hand with the points of his fingers. As she still seemed to have great difficulty (she is always much slower than her sister) in proceeding, it suddenly occurred to me that it would be an interesting experiment to place Miss Eliza Dixon en rapport with Miss Martha, so I simply joined their disengaged hands, and Miss Eliza immediately commenced as follows, viz.: -

"I'm in a house, upstairs, I was in a bathroom, then I went into another room nearly opposite, there is a large mirror just inside the door on the left hand, there is a double-sized dressing-table with drawers down each side of it, the sleeve-link is in the corner of the drawer nearest the door. When they found it they left it there. I know why they left it there, it was because they wanted to see if we would find it. I can see a nice easy chair there, it is an old one, I would like it when I am put to sleep, because it is nice and low. The bed has curtains, they are a sort of brownish net and have a fringe of darker brown. The wall paper is of a light blue colour. There is a cane lounge there and a pretty Japanese screen behind it, the screen folds up. There is a portrait of an old gentleman over the mantelpiece, he is dead, I knew him when he was alive, his name is the same as the gentleman who acts as Governor when the Governor is absent from the colony,1 I will tell you his name directly - it is the Rev. Mr. Way. It was a little boy who put the sleeve-link in that drawer, he is very fair, his hair is almost white, he is a pretty little boy, he has blue eyes, and about three years old.

The link had been left on that table, the little boy was in the nursery, and he went into the bedroom after the gentleman had left. I can see who the gentleman is, it is Dr. Campbell. Doesn't that little boy look a young Turk, the link is quite a handful for his little hand, he is running about with it very pleased; but he doesn't seem to know what to do with it." (A) [Dr. Campbell was not present from this point].

"Now I can hear some one calling up the stairs, a lady is calling two names, Colin is one and Neil is the other, the other boy is about five years old and is darker than the other. The eldest, Colin, is going downstairs now, he is gone into what looks like a dining-room, the lady says, ' Where is Neil ?' 'Upstairs, ma.' ' Go and tell him to come down at once.' The little fair-haired boy had put the link down; but when he heard his brother coming up he picked it up again. Colin says,' Neil, you are to come down at once.' 'I won't,' says Neil. ' You're a goose,' replies Colin, and he turned and went down without Neil. What a young monkey! now he has gone into the nursery and put the link into a large toy elephant, he put it through a hole in front, which is broken. He has gone downstairs now, I suppose he thinks it is safe there.

"Now that gentleman has come into the room again and he wants that link; he is looking all about for it, he thinks it might be knocked down; the lady is there now too, and they are both looking for it. The lady says, ' Are you sure you put it there?' The gentleman says, 'Yes'.

"Now it seems like next day, the servant is turning the carpet up and looking all about for it; but can't find it.

"The gentleman is asking that young Turk if he has seen it, he knows that he is fond of pretty things. The little boy says 'No.' He seems to think it is fine fun to serve his father like that.

1 Chief Justice Way is the gentleman who acts as Deputy for his Excellency when absent from the colony. - A. W. D.

"Now it seems to be another day, and the little boy is in the nursery again, he has taken the link out of the elephant, now he has dropped it into that drawer, that is all I have to tell you about it, I told you the rest before".

July 15th, 1886. Since writing the above pages I have handed them to Dr. Campbell for perusal, so that he might check the account and ratify it or otherwise, and after going carefully through it he has returned it to me, accompanied by a complete ratification in writing, which I herewith enclose. A. W. Dobbie.

Memo, by Dr. Campbell.

Adelaide, July 9th, 1886. At the point (A) the séance was discontinued till the next sitting, when I was absent. The conversation reported as passing between the children is correct. The description of the room is accurate in every point. The portrait is that of the late Rev. James Way. The description of the children and their names are true. The fact that the link was discovered in the drawer, in the interval between one sitting and the final one, and that the link was left there, pending the discovery of it by the clairvoyant, is also correct, as this was my suggestion to Mrs. Campbell when she showed it to me in the corner of the drawer. In fact, every circumstance reported is absolutely correct I know, further, that neither of the clairvoyants has ever been inside of my door. My children are utterly unknown to them, either in appearance or by name. I may say also that they had no knowledge of my intention to place the link in their possession, or even of my presence at the séance, as they were both on each occasion in the mesmeric sleep when I arrived.

Allan Campbell.

[In a later letter, dated December 16th, 1887, Dr. Campbell writes: - ]

Dear Mr. Dobbie, - Your London correspondent asks if I had any knowledge of the conversation that the clairvoyant stated had passed between the children. I had no knowledge whatever of this conversation, nor the circumstances attending it, until she repeated it. It was subsequently confirmed to me in part by Mrs. Campbell, such part as she herself is reported to have taken in the tableau.

With respect to the large toy elephant, I certainly knew of its existence, but was not thinking of it at the time the clairvoyant was speaking. I did not know even by suspicion that the elephant was so mutilated as to have a large opening in its chest, and on coming home had to examine the toy to see whether the statement was correct. I need hardly say that it was absolutely correct. - I am, yours sincerely, Allan Campbell.

[Mr. Dobbie tells us that "neither he nor his clairvoyants had any opportunity, directly or indirectly, of knowing any of the particulars brought out by the clairvoyant." He afterwards saw the room described, and says "the description is simply perfect in every particular".

On this narrative Mrs. Sidgwick comments as follows: - ]

There are several noteworthy points about this rather complicated case. In the first place, it will be noticed that the greater part of the information given by the clairvoyants might have been obtained by thought-transference from the mind of Dr. Campbell, who was present most of the time. It would then, at any rate, be a very remarkable and interesting case of thought-transference, but so far it would not be clairvoyance as we have defined it. Further, a large proportion of the statements made - all about the little boy taking, hiding, and restoring the sleeve-link - are unverifiable. But there is one important point unknown to Dr. Campbell (so far as his conscious memory, at least, was concerned) and afterwards proved true, and that is the existence of the hole in the front of the toy elephant. The introduction of this peculiar fact - which, if learnt by mind-reading, must, it would seem, have been learnt from the child or some other person quite unknown to the percipient - is so remarkable that it makes it seem more probable than not that the hiding of the sleeve-link there was also a fact.

If so, it is greatly to be regretted in the interests of science that the child ever took it out again! I attach less importance, as evidence of clairvoyance, to the knowledge of the conversation of the children than to that of the hole in the toy elephant, because it is more the kind of thing that might be guessed.

Another noticeable point in this case is that so far as the clairvoyants' remarks relate to the actions of those concerned - the children, Dr. and Mrs. Campbell, the servant - the descriptions are not of the present, but of the past.

Another case of Mr. Dobbiés relates to the tracing of a lost gold pencil-case through the same clairvoyant {op. cit., pp. 68 - 70).