From the Unconscious to the Conscious 



complete representations of an organ, such as a face, a 

 hand, or a finger. 



In the more complete cases the materialised organ 

 has all the appearance and biologic functions of a living 

 organ. I have seen admirably modelled fingers, with 

 their nails; I have seen complete hands with bones and 

 joints; I have seen a living head, whose bones I could 

 feel under a thick mass of hair. I have seen well- 

 formed living and human faces! 



On many occasions these representations have been 

 formed from beginning to end under my own eyes. 

 I have, for instance, seen the substance issue from the 

 hands of the medium and link them together ; then, 

 the medium separating her hands, the substance has 

 lengthened, forming thick cords, has spread, and formed 

 fringes like epiploic fringes. Lastly, in the midst of 

 these fringes, there has appeared by progressive repre- 

 sentation, perfectly organised fingers, a hand, or a face. 

 In other cases I have witnessed an analogous organisation 

 in substance issuing from the mouth. 



Here is one example taken from my notebook: 

 * From the mouth of Eva there descends to her knees a 

 cord of white substance of the thickness of two fingers ; 

 this ribbon takes under our eyes varying forms, that 

 of a large perforated membrane, with swellings and 

 vacant spaces; it gathers itself together, retracts, swells, 

 and narrows again. Here and there from the mass appear 

 temporary protrusions, and these for a few seconds 

 assume the form of fingers, the outline of hands, and 

 then re-enter the mass. Finally the cord retracts on 

 itself, lengthens to the knees, its end rises, detaches 

 itself from the medium, and moves towards me. I then 

 see the extremity thicken like a swelling, and this terminal 

 swelling expands into a perfectly modelled hand. I 

 touch it; it gives a normal sensation; I feel the bones, 

 and the fingers with their nails. Then the hand con- 

 tracts, diminishes, and disappears in the end of the 



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