Next in order in the list of the phenomena of psychometry is that in which the psychometrist is able to describe a distant scene by means of a bit of mineral, plant, or similar object, once located at that place.  In such cases, the psychometrist gets en rapport with the distant scene by means of the connecting link mentioned.  Having obtained this, he is able to relate the events that are happening on that scene at that particular moment.  Some very interesting cases are mentioned in which the psychometrist has been able to “spy” in on a certain place, by means of some small article which has recently been located in that place.  For instance I once gave a young psychometrist a penholder from the office of a lawyer, a friend of mine, located about eight hundred miles from the psychometrist.  She gave a perfect picture of the interior of the office, the scene across the street visible from the office window, and certain events that were happening in the office at that moment, which were verified by careful inquiry as to persons and time.  Every occultist, or investigator of psychic phenomena has experienced many cases of this kind.

Another phase of psychometry is that in which the psychometer is able to sense the conditions existing underground, by means of a piece of mineral or metal which originally was located there.  Some wonderful instances of phychometric discernment of mines, etc., have been recorded.  In this phase of psychometry, all that is needed is a piece of the coal, mineral or metal which has come from the mine.  Following up this psychic “lead” the psychometrist is able to describe the veins or strata of the surrounding land, although they have not yet been uncovered or discovered.

Still another form of psychometric discernment is that in which the psychometrist gets en rapport with the past history of an object, or of its surroundings, by means of the object itself.  In this way, the psychometrist holding in his hand, or pressing to his head, a bullet from a battle field, is able to picture the battle itself.  Or, given a piece of ancient pottery or stone implement, the psychometrist is able to picture the time and peoples connected with the object in the past—­sometimes after many centuries are past.  I once handed a good psychometrist a bit of ornament taken from an Egyptian mummy over three thousand years old.  Though the psychometrist did not know what the object was, or from whence it had come, she was able to picture not only the scenes in which the Egyptian had lived, but also the scenes connected with the manufacture of the ornament, some three hundred years before that time—­for it turned out that the ornament itself was an antique when the Egyptian had acquired it.  In another case, I had the psychometrist describe in detail the animal life, and the physical phenomena, of the age in which a fossil had existed when alive—­many thousands of years ago.  In the proper place in this book, I will explain just how it is possible to penetrate the secrets of the past by psychometric vision—­that is to say, the psychic laws making the same possible.