There is another abnormal mental condition, the existence of which is unquestionable, and which has a close connection with the present question, namely, the ecstatic state. The forms in which this has manifested itself have been extremely various, and it is impossible for any one to assert that our mental philosophy has fully fathomed them, and has succeeded in assigning them to forces originating within the mind itself. On the contrary it is not too much to affirm that it has as yet wholly failed to analyze its nature, or to account for the abnormal powers displayed by the mind when in this condition. In the ancient world this state of mind was closely connected with the manifestations of the prophetic power, the reality of which was recognized by many of its philosophers. It will of course be observed that I am not speaking of this power as it existed in the Jewish church, but of its supposed manifestations in the heathen world. Similar ecstatic states have frequently displayed themselves in modern times. When in this condition the mind is especially liable to be acted on by external influences. Is it possible, I ask, in the present state of our mental philosophy, to assert that we know their nature, or the forces which produce them? The ecstatic in union with a phrenzied state of the mind was apparently the condition of the Delphian priestess when she delivered oracles to those who consulted her. According to all the accounts that we possess, she presented the appearance of being subject to an overpowering external influence. Every other description which we possess of the manifestation of this prophetic power, (and we have several) describes it as presenting phenomena closely allied to raving madness, an influence of some kind apparently overpowering the prophet’s personality. Until the forces which produced these phenomena in the ancient world, and the somewhat similar ones which have been manifested in modern times, can be shown to owe their origin to forces originating in the mind itself, and to nothing else, it is absurd to affirm that such a phenomenon as possession is in contradiction to our scientific knowledge of the human mind.