161. involuntary or natural mediums are those in whom the influence is exercised without their will. they have no consciousness of their power, and often the abnormal occurrences around them seem to them nothing extraordinary; it is a part of themselves, absolutely like persons endowed with second sight, and who never suspect it. these subjects are very worthy of observation; and collecting and studying facts of this kind that may come to our knowledge
should not be neglected ; they show themselves at all
ages, even with very young children. (See, in Chap.
V., Spontaneous Manifestations?)
This faculty is not, by itself, the indication of a
pathological state, for it is not incompatible with perfect
health. If the one who possesses it is suffering, that
proceeds from a foreign cause; also therapeutic means
are powerless to end it. It may, in some cases, be
consecutive with a certain organic weakness, but it is
never the efficient cause. No inquietude, then, can be
reasonably felt in a hygienic point of view ; it could
produce inconvenience only if the subject, having
become an optional medium, should abuse its use,
because in that case there might be enfeebling of the
organs, from too abundant emission of the vital fluid.
