Research source

Having gladly accepted the invitation of my worthy colleague, I found the medium in question, whom I shall call…

Date of account: English edition published 1900
Source: From India to the planet Mars: A study of a case of somnambulism with glossolalia
Reference: From India to the planet Mars: A study of a case of somnambulism with glossolalia · selected passage 10
Rights: public_domain
Language: English translation from French
Translation: English translation of Théodore Flournoy
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

Having gladly accepted the invitation of my worthy colleague, I found the medium in question, whom I shall call Mlle

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

Having gladly accepted the invitation of my worthy colleague, I found the medium in question, whom I shall call Mlle. Hélène Smith, to be a beautiful woman about thirty years of age, tall, vigorous, of a fresh, healthy complexion, with hair and eyes almost black, of an open and intelligent countenance, which at once invoked sympathy. She evinced nothing of the emaciated or tragic aspect which one habitually ascribes to the sibyls of tradition, but wore an air of health, of physical and mental vigor, very pleasant to behold, and which, by-the-way, is not often encountered in those who are good mediums.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This comes from historical psychical research. Methods, witness handling and standards of evidence differ from present-day research and should be assessed from the cited passage and edition.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

The passage can support a history of claims and recurring descriptions. It does not establish a paranormal mechanism, and competing psychological, social and physical explanations remain relevant.

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