Woman Miracle Worker.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 12 June 1914, Page 8

Woman Miracle Worker.

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. The following statement has just &een written by, Dr. Cecil Kent Austain concerning a phenomenon which has long been puzzling foreign scientists, Dr. Austin says :— Phenomena such as the one lam about to report are usually regarded with utter scepticism ; and that such should be the case can scarcely give rise to surprise, since in the end they are generally shown to depend on subterfuges of one sort 'or another. But this one has now been under observation i'or so long a time, succeeds so regularly, and has been so often tested by properly qualified men whose good faith cannot possibly be questioned, that it seems worth bringing before the notice of the medical world. The facts in brief are as follows : There lives in Bordeaux a lady who, during the past ten years, has succeeded, whenever requested to do so, in mummifying flowers, plants, fruit, molluscs, fish, and small birds ' and mammals' as well as the viscera of larger ones, simply by passing .her hands over them without actual contact for a quarter of an "hour once or twice a day during fe period of time varying from a jjfcw days to a few weeks, according j<%O.the nature and importance of the l"the same influence the acetic fer- ; mentation of wine can be prevented. \ She has never yet failed to mum- ; mify small, organic objects brought "to her by the series of men who ! have interested themselves in her uncanny power, and in many instances control-samples, set aside. have followed the usual laws of putrefaction, whereas those treated i underwent this f rial form of mummification ; and, what seems more peculiar still, objects brought to her already partially decomposed ; finally mummify also, the process j of putrefaction being brought to a j standstill by the emanations from this lady's hands. It should at once be mentioned that the person in question is not a medium, that neither she nor any of the physicians who have investi- I gated and reported on the case j have anything whatever to gain in ! the matter, directly or indirectly, and that although she obligingly • lends herself to any sort of test or experiment that may be desired of her, she insists on retaining her incognito and is known under the pseudonym of Mroe. X. She herself has undergone searching medical examination, and has been pronounced perfectly normal in mind and body. Although now 50 years of age, it was only ten years ago that she awoke quite .by chance to the fact that she possessed this strange power, by noticing .that some oranges and plants she had handled did not decompose or fall to pieces, but remained indefinitely in a sort of dried-up state. This occurrence aroused comment, and she was next asked by a friend to try her power on a pet bird that had died in its cage. Here, too, she proved successful, and since that time she has proceeded step by step, until there are now in existence hundreds of objects that have been mummified by her, the largest so far being a weazel, which has now remained in that condition for four years.

A peculiarity about this mummification process is that these objects retain their natural colours perfectly, flowers, plants, as well as animals, and- that the little stems continue to adhere firmly to the larger ones in plants, and the feathers or fur to the animals.

During these ten years Mme. X. lias been visited and tested by quite a number if investigators, no one of whom, however, had the courage to publish anything about this extraordinary phenomenon, so afraid were they of the ridicule that might ensue. But finallj'- two scientists of Bordeaux, Dr. Clarac, a leading practitioner who had known Mme. X. for four years and followed her career, and Dr. Llaguet, professor of chemistry at the Faculty of Bordeaux, published a note on the case in the " Annales dcs Sciences Psychiques" (Paris, Charles Rich et, professor of physiology at the Faculty of Medicine, director), whereupon Dr Geley, member of the Societe TJniverselle d'Etudes Psychiques was deputed to go down to Bordeaux and conduct a complete investigation on the spot. He remained there two weeks experimenting on the question in every conceivable manner, and then made his report to the society.

The articles to be treated were simply laid on a table in a laboratory ; Mme. X. then came and passed her hands over so as to influence both sides—whereupon they were wrapped up in paper and placed under lock and key for safety. A seance of fifteen minutes was held every day, in some cases twice a day—Mme. X. keeping up an ordinary conversation with the bystanders while treating the objects—until the desired result had been obtained.

Dr. Geley is of opinion that there are no grounds for entertaining- any doubts as to the bona fides of the entire affair ; but that as to attempting to account for Mrne. X.'s mysterious power—that is quite a different matter. WljoX seems to occur is that of the two parts of normal decomposition, dehydration and putrefaction fermentation, the latter is annulled altogether by the influence of Mine X.'s hands, so that the former runs its course unimpeded, the animal or plant simply drying u]>, instead of decomposing.

However profound may be one's incredulity in matters psychical, it would seem as though, from the duration of these experiments (ten years), the absolute disinterestedness of all the parties concerned in them, and the standing of the men public notice—this peculiar power of who have at last brought them to Mine. X. is deserving of attentive consideration. — " Popular Science Sil'tings."