620 A. The following historical résumé is derived from Mr. Andrew Lang's The Making of Religion (Chapter V (Hypnotism)., "Crystal Visions, Savage and Civilised," p. 90), and Miss A. Goodrich-Freer's "Recent Experiments in Crystal Vision " {Proceedings S.P.R., vol. v. p. 486), in both of which numerous references to the history of the subject and the facts here adduced are given. The crystal was only one of many objects used in a similar way as a means of obtaining supernormal knowledge through induced hallucinations; e.g., vessels containing liquid - usually water - water in springs, mirrors of polished steel, liquid poured into the palm of the hand, a drop of blood, or ink, and various objects having a reflecting surface, such as the beryl or other gems, the blade of a sword, a ball of polished stone, or the human finger-nail. Crystal-gazing in some such form has been practised for at least 3000 years and is practically of world-wide distribution, having been found among the customs of Assyria, Persia, Egypt ancient and modern - Greece, Rome, China, Japan and India, North American Indians, Africans of Fez, Zulus, Maoris. It was also practised by the Incas, and is still by Australian savages and Polynesians, the Shamans of Siberia and Eastern Russia, and in Madagascar. Usually a more or less elaborate ritual formed part of the procedure, and in all ages and many places the Seer - variously called Speculator, Scryer, Viewer, or Reader - was usually a child "who had not known sin".

Among the Greeks, several different methods were used, (1) Hydromancy, practised chiefly at the temple of Demeter in Patræ. Before the temple was a fountain, into which a mirror was let down by a small cord, so that its lower edge just touched the water. From the various figures and images seen in it, predictions were made as to the progress of diseases in the patients who came to consult the oracle. (2) Lecanomancy, divination by a bowl containing water, or oil and wine. (3) Catoptromancy, in which mirrors alone were used. (4) Gastromancy, in which glass vessels filled with water and surrounded by torches were used. A demon was invoked and a boy appointed to observe the appearance produced by the demon's action on the water. (5) Onychomancy, in which a boy's nails covered with oil and soot were turned to the sun, the reflection of whose rays produced images supposed to represent certain things. (6) Crystal-lomancy, where polished and enchanted crystals were used.

In India we find divination by mirrors and also a method in which the ashes of incense moistened with castor-oil are poured into the palm of the child seer. The Arabians also use a mirror in which they see visions after long fasting and prayers.

In Polynesia, Ellis relates that when any one has been robbed, the priest, after praying, has a hole dug in the floor of the house and filled with water. Then he gazes into the water, over which the god is supposed to place the spirit of the thief. The image of the thief is then supposed to be reflected in the water and perceived by the priest.

Among the Apaches also, one of the chief duties of the medicine-men was to find out the whereabouts of lost or stolen property, and for this purpose crystal-gazing was employed.

Other Red Indians make their patients gaze into the water, in which they see the pictures of what food or medicine will do them good.

The art, which was attributed in early times to divine power, came to be regarded in the Middle Ages by the Christian Church as the work of evil spirits, and the Specularii - as they were then called - were looked upon as heretics and treated accordingly. They continued, however, to flourish, and the art lingered on till the sixteenth century, when it received a new impetus and reached its highest development in the hands of the famous Dr. John Dee (1527-1608), whose "Shew-stone" is now to be seen in the British Museum. His seer - a man named Kelly - professed not only to see various spirits in the crystal, but also to hear them speak, and long conversations were carried on with them. Other sounds were also said to be heard in or near the stone, and occasionally apparitions were seen in its neighbourhood. Sometimes writing was seen in it instead of figures. The stone was generally set in a frame of gold on a table, and its use was prefaced with long prayers.

The practice was carried on both in England and on the Continent of Europe through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and has, in fact, never become extinct.