From the Unconscious to the Conscious 



sometimes as a fine tissue of ill-defined and irregular 

 shape. The most curious form of all is that of a wide- 

 spread membrane with swellings, and fringes, whose 

 general appearance is remarkably like that of the 

 epiploon (caul). In fine, the substance is essentially 

 amorphous, or rather, polymorphous. 



The quantity of the substance exteriorised is very 

 variable; sometimes there is extremely little, sometimes 

 it is abundant, with all intermediate degrees. In certain 

 cases it covers the medium completely, like a cloak. 

 It may show three different colours: white, black, or 

 gray. The white seems the more frequent form, perhaps 

 because it is the easiest to observe. The three colours 

 are sometimes seen simultaneously. The visibility of 

 this substance is also very variable. Its visibility may 

 wax and wane slowly and repeatedly. To the touch it 

 gives very different sensations, usually having some 

 relation to the form of the moment; it seems soft and 

 somewhat elastic while spreading; hard, knotty, or 

 fibrous when it forms cords. 



Sometimes it feels like a spider's web touching the 

 hand of the observer. The threads of the substance 

 are both stiff and elastic. It is mobile. Sometimes it 

 is slowly evolved, rises and falls, and moves over the 

 medium's shoulders, her breast, or her lap with a crawling, 

 reptilian movement; sometimes its motion is abrupt and 

 rapid, it appears and disappears like a flash. 



It is extremely sensitive, and its sensitiveness is 

 closely connected with that of hyperaesthetised medium; 

 and touch reacts painfully on the latter. If the touch 

 should be at all rough or prolonged the medium 

 shows pain which she compares to a touch on raw 

 flesh. 



The substance is sensitive even to light-rays; a 

 light, especially if sudden and unexpected, produces a 

 painful start in the medium. However, nothing is more 

 variable than the light-effects ; in some cases the substance 



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