Eschenmayer writes thus of her in his “Mysteries.”

“Her natural state was a mild, friendly earnestness, always disposed to prayer and devotion; her eye had a highly spiritual expression, and remained, notwithstanding her great sufferings, always bright and clear.  Her look was penetrating, would quickly change in the conversation, seem to give forth sparks, and remain fixed on some one place,—­this was a token that some strange apparition fettered it,—­then would she resume the conversation.  When I first saw her, she was in a situation which showed that her bodily life could not long endure, and that recovery to the common natural state was quite impossible.  Without visible derangement of the functions, her life seemed only a wick glimmering in the socket.  She was, as Kerner truly describes her, like one arrested in the act of dying and detained in the body by magnetic influences.  Spirit and soul seemed often divided, and the spirit to have taken up its abode in other regions, while the soul was yet bound to the body.”

I have given these extracts as being happily expressive of the relation between the physician and the clairvoyant, also of her character.

It seems to have been one of singular gentleness, and grateful piety, simple and pure, but not at all one from which we should expect extraordinary development of brain in any way; yet the excitement of her temperament from climate, scenery, the influence of traditions which evidently flowed round her, and a great constitutional impressibility did develop in her brain the germs both of poetic creation and science.

I say poetic creation, for, to my mind, the ghosts she saw were projections of herself into objective reality.  The Hades she imagines is based in fact, for it is one of souls, who, having neglected their opportunities for better life, find themselves left forlorn, helpless, seeking aid from beings still ignorant and prejudiced, perhaps much below themselves in natural powers.  Having forfeited their chance of direct access to God, they seek mediation from the prayers of men.  But in the coloring and dress[3] of these ghosts, as also in their manner and mode of speech, there is a great deal which seems merely fanciful—­local and peculiar.

[Footnote 3:  The women ghosts all wear veils, put on the way admired
by the Italian poets, of whom, however, she could know
nothing.]

To me, these interviews represent only prophecies of her mind; yet, considered in this way, they are, if not ghostly, spiritual facts of high beauty, and which cast light on the state of the soul after its separation from the body.  Her gentle patience with them, her steady reference to a higher cause, her pure joy, when they became white in the light of happiness obtained through aspiration, are worthy of a more than half enfranchised angel.

As to the stories of mental correspondence and visits to those still engaged in this world, such as are told of her presentiment of her father’s death, and connexion with him in the last moments, these are probably pure facts.  Those who have sufficient strength of affection to be easily disengaged from external impressions and habits, and who dare trust their mental impulses are familiar with such.