126 Unconscious Memory 



they steal away to outlying and solitary places. This is 

 why in cities we so rarely see the dead body or skeleton of 

 a cat. We can onl}' suppose that the unconscious clair- 

 voyance, which is of essentially the same kind whether 

 in man or beast, calls forth presentiments of different 

 degrees of definiteness, so that the cat is driven to with- 

 draw herself through a mere instinct without knowing 

 why she does so, while in man a definite perception is 

 awakened of the fact that he is about to die. Not only 

 do people have presentiments concerning their own death, 

 but there are many instances on record in which thej^ 

 have become aware of that of those near and dear to 

 them, the dying person having appeared in a dream to 

 friend or wife or husband. Stories to this effect prevail 

 among all nations, and unquestionabh^ contain much 

 truth. Closely connected with this is the power of second 

 sight, which existed formerly in Scotland, and still does 

 so in the Danish islands. This power enables certain people 

 without any ecstasy, but simply through their keener per- 

 ception, to foresee coming events, or to tell what is going 

 on in foreign countries on matters in which they are 

 deeply interested, such as deaths, battles, conflagrations 

 (Swedenborg foretold the burning of Stockholm), the 

 arrival or the doings of friends who are at a distance. 

 With many persons this clair^'oyance is confined to a 

 knowledge of the death of tlieir acquaintances or fellow- 

 townspeople. There ha\'e been a great many instances 

 of such death-prophetesses, and, w'hat is most important, 

 some cases have been verified in courts of law. I ma}' 

 sa}^ in passing, that this power of second sight is found 

 in persons who are in ecstatic states, in the spontaneous 

 or artificially induced somnambulism of the higher kinds 

 of waking dreams, as well as in lucid moments before death. 

 These prophetic glimpses, by which the clairvoj'ance of the 

 unconscious reveals itself to consciousness,^ are commonly 



* " Hiiufig sind die Ahnungen, in dencn das Ilellsehen dos 

 Uubcwussten sicli dem Bewusstsfin oflenbart, dunkel, uiiverstand- 



