Reincarnation | Page 8

aged four, who
was trepanned as the result of fracture of the skull, and whilst in a stale
of coma. He never knew what happened. At the age of fifteen, during
an attack of fever, the higher consciousness impressed itself upon the
brain, and he remembered every detail of the accident; he described to
his mother where he had felt the pain, the operation, the people present,
their number, functions, the clothes they wore, the instruments used, etc.

(Kerner, Magikon, vol. 3, p. 364.)
The Soul, in the finer body, during somnambulism, is separated both
from the physical body and from normal consciousness, it calmly
foresees the illness or the death of the denser body on which it
sometimes imposes serious operations. Such facts were numerous in
the case of magnetisers in olden days.
Deleuze (Hist. crit. du magn. animal, vol. 2, p. 173) had a patient who,
in a state of somnambulism, held moral, philosophical, and religious
opinions quite contrary to those of his waking state.
Charpignon (Physiol., médecine et métaphys. du magnétisme, p. 341)
tells of a patient who, when awake, wished to go to the theatre, but
during somnambulism refused to do so, saying: "She wants to go, but I
don't want." On Charpignon recommending that she should try to turn
her aside from her purpose, she replied: "What can I do? She is mad!"
Deleuze (Inst. pratiq. s. le magét. anim., p. 121) says that many
somnambulists look into their body when the latter is ill; that they are
often indifferent to its sufferings, and sometimes are not even willing to
prescribe remedies to cure it.
Chardel (Esquisse de la nat. humaine expliq. p. le magn. anim., p. 282)
relates that many somnambulists are unwilling to be awakened so as
not to return to a body which is a hindrance to them.
There are many madmen who speak of their body in the third person.
(Ladame, La Névrose, p. 43). They function in the non-externalised
finer vehicle. Some explain their use of the third person as follows:--"It
is the body; it is I who am the spirit."
MANIFESTATION OF THE HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE
PHENOMENA OF POSSESSION AND MATERIALISATION.
In these strange phenomena, not only manifestations of the higher
consciousness, analogous with or similar to those just cited, have been
noted, but also a number of facts which prove, to some extent, the

casual presence in a normal human body or in materialised abnormal
forms, of beings other than that which constitutes the personality of the
one possessed, or of the medium who conditions these materialisations.
On this point, we would mention the well-known investigations of Sir
W. Crookes (Katie King), those of Colonel de Rochas (Vincent, Un cas
de changement de personnalité, Lotus Bleu 1896), and similar
experiments of other savants.
"Incarnation mediums" have often lent their physical bodies to
disincarnated human entities, whose account of what happened or
whose identity it has been possible to verify. Here I will mention only
one case amongst several others, I heard it from my friend, D. A.
Courmes, a retired naval captain, a man who is well-informed in these
matters, thoroughly sincere, and of unquestioned veracity.
In 1895, he happened to be off Algiers, on a training vessel. A boat had
sunk in the harbour, and a man was drowned. His body had not been
recovered. On the evening of the accident, my friend, accompanied by
a doctor, a professor, and the vice-president of the Court of Algiers,
attended a spiritualistic meeting in the town. One of these "incarnation
mediums" happened to be present. M. Courmes suggested that the
drowned man should be called up. The latter answered to the call,
entered the medium, whose voice and attitude immediately changed.
He gave the following account of what had taken place: "When the boat
sank, I was on the ladder. I was hurled down, my right leg passed
between two bars, occasioning fracture of the leg, and preventing me
from releasing myself. My body will be found caught in the ladder
when the boat is brought to the surface. It is useless to seek elsewhere."
This account was shortly afterwards confirmed.
These phenomena are more frequent than one would imagine; a
sufficient number might be given to show that, judging from the theory
of probabilities, serious consideration should be given to them.
MANIFESTATIONS OF THE HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS IN
APPARITIONS.

A final group of phenomena to which I wish to call attention is the one
which goes under the name of apparitions. A considerable number of
these are to be found; we will confine ourselves, however, to referring
the reader to a volume entitled Phantasms of the Living, due to the
patient investigations of a distinguished body of foreign savants. Here
we find, first of all, proof of the transmission of thought