625 A. I quote next a record of crystal visions by Mrs. A. W. Verrall, a lecturer at Newnham College, and known to the classical world as the translator of Pausanias. Mrs. Verrall made the experiments simply at my request, without previous knowledge of the subject or interest in it. It will be seen that her crystal-visions do not involve any telepathy or clairvoyance. They present in somewhat developed form what appear to be usual early stages in this form of experiment. The numbers within brackets represent the chronological order of the experiments, all of which have been recorded without delay. (From Proceedings S.P.R., vol. viii. pp. 473-77. See also 610 A and 623 A).

... I have tried various objects in crystal-gazing, such as a cut crystal, a globular crystal, a glass paper-weight, and a glass full of water, and I find no difference in their efficacy. I have also tried under varying conditions of light, with the conclusion that a dim light is the most likely to result in the seeing of a picture. I have sometimes seen pictures in quite bright light, but never in absolute darkness. Often I see nothing at all but the bright points of light in the crystal, and often I see nothing in the crystal, but get a mental picture suggesting something I have forgotten to do. Indeed, I find crystal-gazing a very convenient way of recalling things forgotten, but in that case I see nothing in the crystal. The difference between a picture in the crystal and a mental picture is quite marked, but difficult to describe; it will perhaps help to show what I mean if I say that the recalled image of what I have seen in the crystal differs as much from the actual image as the mental image of a person differs from the actual person.

I believe that with me the crystal picture is built up from the bright points in the crystal, as they sometimes enter into it; but the picture, when once produced, has a reality which I have never been able to obtain when looking into the fire or trying to call up an imaginary scene with my eyes shut. It has occasionally happened that I have been able to see more on a closer investigation than on the first glance, but if I try to interpose a magnifying-glass between my eye and the crystal the picture instantly goes and only the recollection remains. The following case is almost the only one where I have seen a real person, and here the picture grew distinct as I looked.

I saw (27) a black object which defined itself into the head of a man; then I saw that it was my husband's head turned nearly in profile towards my left Behind it was a square-backed chair of brown leather. He was reading, his eyes being on a book, which I could not see. I tried to see the whole figure, in order to know what the book was, and shut my eyes. On opening them I saw the whole figure for a moment, but it was too small for me to distinguish anything. In a moment the head came back, and I had an impression that the book was red, though I could not see it.

As far as I could ascertain, this picture was not telepathic. This is not the only occasion on which I have had a distinct impression of colour coupled with a consciousness that I had not seen the colour. Once I saw a flower (20) which "I knew to be pink, though I saw no colour," and again (12) I once saw a "black cat with ribbon round neck which I knew to be red, though it had no colour." In these last two cases I spent some time trying to see the colour which I knew to be there, but I was not successful. In the greater number of cases the picture has been coloured, but sometimes I am (3, 32) only aware of luminosity and darkness, sometimes (23) of black and white as in a pen-and-ink sketch. I have not been able to find that the colour of the background for the crystal produces any effect on the colour of the picture. I have tried placing the crystal on white linen, dark-blue silk, bright-blue stuff and red leather, but have never been conscious of any suggestion of colour from the background, or able to trace any connection between the background and the vision....

The variety of pictures seen is considerable; I have classified as follows the thirty-three crystal-visions recorded, covering a period of twenty-one months. (a) Animals, 5; (b) Human figures, 7; (c) Common objects, 5 (such as clock, ring, melon, etc.); (d) Geometrical figure, I; (e) Written words, 2; (f) Scenes, 4; (g) Fanciful groups or scenes, 9.

With regard to the written words (e ), I may say that both instances occurred after a distinct suggestion from myself. On the first occasion I looked in the crystal immediately after writing to ask for an address which I had known, but forgotten. I saw a row of small letters, wondered if they represented the address required, then saw plainly 39 Onslow Square. It was only the number which I wanted, and I found that the number was not correct. On the second occasion (10) I had been trying to obtain automatic writing while looking in the crystal. I was also wondering who had put a pair of lost scissors in a very conspicuous place, where I had just found them. I saw a name written, and found that my right hand had written the same name; it was a name likely to occur to me....

I have taken considerable pains to endeavour to trace connections between the pictures in the crystal and ideas or objects lately present to my mind, but there are only nine cases out of the thirty-three where I have perceived any possible connection between my thoughts and my visions....

Two of these (4, 10) have already been mentioned; they are the cases where written words appeared. In the next case (5) I had been wondering what people we should meet at a luncheon party to which we were going, and I saw in the crystal a human figure, that of "an old lady in black, with a veil or hood on," not a very likely guest, perhaps. In the fourth case (24) after " endless fleeting pictures, single figures, groups, sense of rush, figure with arm out," suddenly the whole became clear " and I saw a man in uniform and cap, with gold or silver braid, holding out his arm to signal, and a train rushing on full speed, and I knew there was an accident, though I saw none." I had been to town and back on that day. The next two (29, 30) were seen in immediate succession; I saw first the letter A in small bright stars, with a comet overhead, and on looking again, a pyramid dark against a red sky. I find a note in the book that we had been " noticing the red glow of the sky, and a star," just before I looked in the crystal.

The last of these cases (32) is one already described; I need only add the suggested explanation, that I had been in the late afternoon at a lecture illustrated by lantern, and that this vision [a black revolving sphere, with outer fiery ring] occurred about an hour after my return from the lecture....