[Andrej]

pages 11-15

...to occur, except when the observer is new to the work.
While the patient is assuming the proper position, the observer takes the dark screen and peers through it at the light for half a minute or longer. This will influence his eyesight for a sufficiently long time, so that it will rarely be necessary to repeat the operation. However, repetition can be made as often as desired. He now darkens the room and regulates the light; and, standing with his back to the window and opposite the patient, looks at him through a pale screen, when he ought to perceive immediately or (if not accustomed to the work) after a few seconds a faint cloud enveloping the patient, which varies in health according to individual peculiarities. If the observer has already gained the ability of perceiving the Aura without the intervention of the screen, he will usually find it to have some shade of blue. It is certainly of assistance in determining the colour of the Aura, if the patient places his hands upon his hips and at the same time extends his elbows, when, in the spaces between the trunk and the arms, the Aura emanating from the body will be reinforced by that proceeding from the arms.
When commencing a systematic inspection it will be advisable for the patient first to face the observer and the light. The Aura round the head will be best seen while he stands or sits with his hands hanging by his sides. Its breadth may roughly be determined by noticing how far it extends beyond the shoulders, and this permits the two sides to be compared, because in some cases of disease the Aura will be wider or narrower on one side than on the other. At this stage attention ought to be paid to the general shape of the Aura while the arms are hanging down, as this often differs greatly from that seen when they are uplifted. For the greater part of the inspection it will be found advantageous for the patient to stand with his hands behind his neck, so that the Aura from the axilla down the trunk, thighs, and legs may be seen uninfluenced by the Aura proceeding from the arms. This is the time to determine the shape and size of the Aura, whether it follows the contour of the body or whether it is wider by the trunk than the lower limbs; and, if so, how far it descends before it finally narrows. It is not uncommon for some abnormality of texture to be visible, but this, as a rule, can be differentiated with greater accuracy by the employment of special screens.
Occasionally the Aura can be separated by its appearance into two or, very rarely, three distinct portions, but the verification of this division will be better made at a later stage of the examination. As soon as all the information as to the Aura at the sides has been gained, the patient must be turned sideways, so that the Aura at the front and back may be similarly examined. If any suspicion should arise as to the Aura being unequally illuminated, it must be (in addition to the foregoing inspection), viewed when the back is turned to the light, and again when turned sideways in the direction opposite to the one he previously assumed. By this simple means a number of errors are eliminated. The Aura envelops the whole of the human frame, but, on account of the fineness of its texture and its transparency, it is only visible in sections; consequently when the observer wishes to examine the Aura emanating from one particular spot, he will be obliged to turn the patient to a different angle, so that a silhouette of this spot may be made on the background. Generally, if the shape of the Aura is the only thing required, it can be ascertained by the patient first standing facing the observer, and then sideways without any other movement. Considerations of the other portions of the systematic inspection must be deferred for the present.
Examination of a number of people in good health shows not merely, as might be expected, individual differences, but also the existence of a corporate dissimilarity. Males, independent of age, possess the same characteristics of the Aura, after making allowance for individual peculiarities, as no two people are alike. Quite the opposite is the case in females, because their Auras undergo a great alteration of shape at certain periods of their lives. In childhood it coincides almost exactly with that of the male. In adults it is much more developed, while in adolescence - from twelve to thirteen until eighteen to twenty years - it slowly advances from the masculine type to that of adult womanhood.
Inspection of a man discloses the Aura enveloping the head fairly equally all round, it being about two inches broader than the width of the shoulders. When he stands facing the observer, with his arms raised and his hands at the back of his neck, the Aura will appear by the side of his trunk narrower than round his head, following closely the contour of the body. Here it does not usually exceed more than four or five inches in width, or, roughly speaking, one-fifteenth of his height. As soon as he has turned sideways, it will be seen down his back about as broad as by the sides of the trunk, but barely as wide as in front. In all these cases it is similarly continued down the lower limbs, only sometimes being a little narrower. Around the arms it corresponds with that encircling the legs, but is generally broader around the hands, and very frequently it projects a long distance from the tips of the fingers.
Before a girl has arrived at the age of twelve or thirteen the description of the Aura of the males will be equally applicable to her. Nevertheless, the texture of the Aura is usually finer...