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* Always the symbol of high mystical insight and spiritual attainment—­
Biblically called “the Hill of the Lord” and “Mount of God. "  (Ed.)
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recommend a school in a certain convent as one suitable for my child.  There were, however, insuperable objections to the scheme.

—­Paris, Nov. 3, 1877

XI.  A Lion In the Way

Owing to the many and great difficulties thrown in my way, I had been seriously considering the advisability of withdrawing, if only for a time, from my course of medical study, when I received the following dream, which determined me to persevere:—­

I found myself on the same narrow, rugged, and precipitous path described in my last dream, and confronted by a lion.  Afraid to pass him I turned and fled.  On this the beast gave chase, when, finding escape by flight hopeless, I turned and boldly faced him.  Whereupon the lion at once stopped and slunk to the side of the path, and suffered me to pass unmolested, though I was so close to him that I could not avoid touching him with my garments in passing.

—­Paris, Nov. 15, 1877

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* The prognostic was fully justified by the event.—­(Ed.)
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XII.  A Dream of Disembodiment

I dreamt that I was dead, and wanted to take form and appear to C. in order to converse with him.  And it was suggested by those about me—­ spirits like myself I suppose—­that I might materialise myself through the medium of some man whom they indicated to me.  Coming to the place where he was, I was directed to throw myself out forward towards him by an intense concentration of will; which I accordingly tried to do, but without success, though the effort I made was enormous.  I can only compare it to the attempt made by a person unable to swim, to fling himself off a platform into deep water.  Do all I would, I could not gather myself up for it; and although encouraged and stimulated, and assured I had only to let myself go, my attempts were ineffectual.  Even when I had sufficiently collected and prepared myself in one part of my system, the other part failed me.

At length it was suggested to me that I should find it easier if I first took on me the form of the medium.  This I at length succeeded in doing, and, to my annoyance, so completely that I materialised myself into the shape not only of his features, but of his clothing also.  The effort requisite for this exhausted me to the utmost, so that I was unable to keep up the apparition for more than a few minutes, when I had no choice but to yield to the strain and let myself go again, only in the opposite way.  So I went out, and mounted like a sudden flame, and saw myself for a moment like a thin streak of white mist rising in the air; while the comfort and relief I experienced by regaining my light spirit-condition, were indescribable.  It was because I had, for want of skill, dematerialised myself without sufficient deliberation, that I had thus rapidly mounted in the air.