A CASE OF AUTOMATIC DRAWING. 



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when it commenced, and often did 

 not know until finished. Sometimes 

 a design would be entirely changed. 

 Small pictures were frequently 

 produced by a few rapid movements 

 of the pencil from side to side, the 

 pencil apparently not being lifted, 

 yet the features of the face and gen- 

 eral contour of the subject in hand 

 would appear plainly. Voluntary 

 suggestion has little effect on the 

 drawings. After repeated sugges- 

 tions I have sometimes been able to 

 obtain an allegorical picture, as for 

 instance when I asked for a message 

 from my son, who resided at a dis- 

 tance, a carrier pigeon, having a 

 ribbon around its neck with a letter 

 attached, was produced. 



I have tried hard to account for 

 the power or directing mind that pro- 

 duces these pictures, but so far with 

 no satisfactory result. I must say, 

 however, that evidence to me is strong 

 that, in order that the unknown power 

 should have sway, the natural or 

 earthly mind must be for the time be- 

 ing set aside, either entirely, or (what 

 seems to me more reasonable) the 

 unknown power is for the time being 

 the dominant one, but acts in con- 

 junction with the earthly mind. Al- 

 though while drawing I feel more or 

 less drowsy, my senses seem in some 

 respects to be very keen. To my eyes 

 the pictures usually appear highly 



exaggerated in beauty as well as in dis- 

 tinctness. 



So much is this the case that on the 

 completion of a picture and having taken 

 it up to examine it, the distinctness and 

 beauty which were so apparent while draw- 

 ing, have departed. Frequently, while draw- 

 ing, the picture will be illuminated by 

 delicate colors; and a feeling of great disap- 

 pointment occurs when, on the completion of 

 the picture, I find that not only the colors 

 have disappeared, but the fine points of the 

 picture also. 



One strong feeling is left in my mind 

 that whatever directs the pencil is all-power- 

 ful, and that nothing is too difficult for its 

 performance if it only chooses to assert its 

 power. 







