In this connection, before passing on to the consideration of other phases of psychic phenomena, I would say that one of the best mediums known to the modern Western world--a medium who has been consulted by eminent men, university professors, psychologists, and others--and whose revelations regarding past, present and future astounded careful and intelligent men of international reputation--this medium at the height of her professional success made a public announcement that she felt compelled, from conscientious motives, to assert that she had come to the conclusion that her message came not from departed "spirits" but rather from some unknown realm of being, brought hither by the exercise of some faculty inherent in her and developed to a high power in her for some reason, which power seem to manifest more effectively when she shut off her ordinary physical faculties and functioned on a plane higher than them. I think that the student of the present lessons will be able to point out the nature of the phenomena manifested by this medium, and also the source of her power. If not, I shall feel disappointed at my work of instruction. LESSON XVI. PSYCHIC INFLUENCE; ITS LAWS AND PRINCIPLES One of the phases of psychic phenomena that actively engage the attention of the student from the very beginning is that which may be called Psychic Influence. By this term is meant the influencing of one mind by another--the effect of one mind over another. There has been much written and said on this phase of the general subject in recent years, but few writers, however, have gone deeply into the matter. In the first place, most of the writers on the subject seek to explain the whole thing by means of ordinary telepathy. But this is merely a one-sided view of the truth of the matter. For, while ordinary telepathy plays an important part in the phenomena, still the higher form of telepathy, i.e., astral thought-transference, is frequently involved. The student who has followed me in the preceding lessons will understand readily what I mean when I say this, so there is no necessity for repetition on this point at this place.