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Supernormal faculties in Man- Dr Eugene Osty

On February 15th, 1909, I brought to Mme Auroux a metagnomic subject in the waking state, a little boy of four, Alfred B-, the son of my friend, Dr. B--.

Mme Auroux gave a very good description of the child's character. She did not know either the boy or his parents, and described the direction his mind would take, as follows: "This child will have very marked mathematical and mechanical talent. He will be an engineer."

 I will now extract from seances extending over ten years what has been said by different subjects on the child and his parents who have always allowed me to have delineations of their personalities.

March 8th, 1912. The child was seven years old. Mme Fraya said to his mother, whom she did not know, "Your eldest boy is very intelligent, you will be anxious for a long time about his studies, but in the end he will give you great satisfaction."

On December 17th (eight years) M. de Fleuriere, describing his father's life, said, "I see one of your children, the eldest, holding a post half intellectual, half material. He will be a certificated engineer, and, perhaps, engaged in manufacture."

December 18th, 1913. Mme de Berly also said to the father (no question at all having been put to her or to any other person), "You have an eldest boy, eight or nine years old, very intelligent and particularly well- endowed for mathematical and mechanical science. You must make him an engineer."

May 14th, 1915. (Ten years.) Mme Fraya said to Dr. B-, "One of your sons, the eldest, will have a real talent, a special faculty which will make him a remarkable man. His first school years will not be remarkable, and you will fear mere mediocrity. You will be uneasy for a long while and will wonder what you can do with him. . . At a certain age his intelligence will develop in an unexpected manner, and in a direction in which he will excel. You will be very proud of him."

November, 1919. (Fourteen years.) Mlle de Berly said to Dr. B- in course of a sitting, "Your eldest boy is idle, and you are uneasy about him. He cannot help it, but it is only for a time. His brain is, as it were, in a tangle, and will suddenly develop mathematical ability. You must make him an engineer . . ."

The boy's intellectual development.

From five to ten years of age Alfred B-- went through his primary school. He was hardly up to the average-idle, showing no inclination for any kind of study. From ten to fifteen at the secondary school it was much the same; he was idle and interested in nothing.

His parents were discouraged, and were thinking of withdrawing him from school and putting him into commerce. Only towards the end of his fifteenth year this distressing mediocrity came to an end, and he developed a taste for science which raised hopes.

The budding talent grew so fast that in a few months he became the most promising pupil in his class. When the test for his B.A. in Latin and science came, he was the only one out of thirty-six candidates who solved correctly the difficult problem in mathematics given in the examination that year. This caused him to be recognized in spite of a deplorably bad piece of Latin.

But his weakness in literary subjects led to failure three times in the oral examination, and decided him to try no more for his degree.

On this day in June, 1922 as I write these lines, Alfred B- is nearly seventeen. He is passionately devoted to science, especially to mathematics. The intellectual tendency noted by the metagnomic subjects has taken great development. After a single year in preparation for the Central School of Arts and Manufactures, his teachers consider that he has an excellent chance of getting in by open competition.

 In any case it is probable that he will be admitted in his eighteenth year. Hence I think it is allowable to conclude:

(1) that metagnomic subjects without any normal data and without knowing the boy, perceived an intellectual tendency twelve years before his-parents.

(2) That these intellectual tendencies are psychic potentialities that are released sometimes precociously, sometimes tardily; and that to select the quickest among young children with a view to directing their education accordingly would reject same that are remarkably endowed and deprive them of the opportunity of showing their talents.