PLANCHETTE*
183
agency of an operator, or falling into the same state involunta¬
rily, have been known to see without the aid of the physical or
external organs of vision, and without the assistance of light.
Books are read as well in the darkness of night as in the full
glare of noonday. Objects and scenes, at great distances, far
beyond the reach of the external organs of vision, are seen and
described. The clear sight of the clairvoyant mind not only
penetrates through the most opaque and dense substances, but
also sees the thoughts that bud and blossom in the inmost re¬
cesses of the soul. The past is illuminated, and its most hidden
passages revealed ; and the future, hidden by an impenetrable
veil from the normal eye, prophetically presents its yet unrolled
panorama, and stamps upon the clairvoyant mind the impress
of its coming form. This is clairvoyance. Now let me ask thf
candid investigator zvhat it is that sees without the physical eye$
and 'without the assistance of light ?
It is evident that neither the optic nerves nor the crystal!in
lens are employed by those who read a book, amid the darkness
of midnight, unaided by a single ray of light. The answer to
this question is all-important; for therein, hidden, lies the golden
key which will unlock all the mysteries of Spiritualism. What
is normal sight? What is it that sees when the natural or
external eye, together with light, are the mediums of perception?
It is evident that the mere fluid called light cannot see, neither
can the lens or humors of the eye, nor the optic nerve, nor &
combination of these; for light and visual organs are only the,
media by which perception is conveyed to that mysterious;
something which lies hidden within.
In ordinary or normal sight, three things are employed : the
object, the eye, and the light which serves as the connecting link
or medium of contact between the eye and the object. The eye,
like a beautiful and delicate camera obscura, paints with fidelity
the picture of the exterior world upon the retina. It is the
immortal soul which stands behind the curtain, and gazes on the
sk if tin g panorama.
Let the soul be absent, and sight ceases, though the organ br