The Mysteries of Crystal Gazing.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 161, 4 February 1902, Page 3

The Mysteries of Crystal Gazing.

'« Crystal gazing, in ray «cperi-> ence, has yielded apparent traces of the existence of rmexplored re- ; gions of human faculty.” Such 1 is the opinion ©f Mr Andrew Lang, who deails with the subject in a very interesting article in tJbe December number of the Monthly Review. He sqows a chain of examples, from the Greece of >tbe fourth century 8.C., tolihe cases observed by Dr Mayo and Dr Gregory in the Middle of, the nineteenth century." Crystal; gazing he treats with all serious- 1 ness, frankly confessing himself: a convert to the belief in visions seen in a glass ball, a ring itone, a teaspoonful of ink, a glass jug of; water, or what not.” His own! experience, he admits, has not’ been illuminating. Staring into! a glass ball,’ Mr Lang and songe friends “saw reflections of their noset, and of other' adjacent objects,” but that was all. But one lady in the party, he States, was startled by seieipg pictures in; the ball—“ faces and places and scenes, as it were, oat of romantic, hovels, which she was apt uvr^i'-e. of having read.'" Since then Mr L ing has experimented among a large number of friends and', relations of “ undoubted vera-: oityi” and has collected a con-1 siderable amount of evidence!; which goes to show that the; mysterious faculty, or whatever it may be, is not at all uncommon. The crystal pictures are not con-, sciously selected, and created; mental pictures of a known object (except in certain cases). They come, and go, and change, like figures in a dream, to the surprise,' of the gazer, and without: conscious choice or effort on his part. Amongst other cases Mr; Lang mentions two maid-servants; who had never heard of crystal gazing-. “ ©no of them picked up a glass bail I, looked at it, and said*:, 4 That is a pretty picture of a ship.’ She then turned the ball round,; expecting to find that a picture was pasted on the back. The other girl was asked by a friend of mine to look at a glass ball. She did so, said that she saw a piece of paper covered with writing, and then laid' the ball down. .. • . But she ceroid

not see the writing again, though : she was able to describe the, characteristics of the hand.” In other cases the erystail gazer ( appeared-to see pictures of what was in the mind of another parson present, or.pictnres of real ; people and houses known to other persons, but not to him. The subjects of the experiments unsigned statements describing l what they saw, ami every care, was taken to avoid the possibility of collusion or deception. The^ vast majority of the successful | gazers, says Mr Lang, have had no ' other hallucinations of any kind. | Anyone can make the experiment by sitting down with the back tothe light, placing the glass ball at a just focus, in the lap on a dark .' dress, or a dark piece of cloth, and staring at *it for abeut five min-i ntes. If after two or three trials ; you see nothing in the way of ! pictures in the 'bail, you will; probably never sncceed.