be called a spiritual vampire, or as he has been dubbed a “psychic sponge.” Such types are by no means uncommon. Sensitive people will aften complain of weariness and loss of spirits when they have been for long in the company of certain others, and Laurence Oliphant in his Scientific Religion has said: “Many persons are so constituted that they have, unconsciously to themselves, an extraordinary faculty for sucking the life-principle from others, who are constitutionally incapable of retaining their vitality.” Breeders tell us that young animals should not be herded with old ones; Doctors forbid young children being put to sleep with aged individuals. It will be remembered that when King David was old and ailing his forces were recruited by having a young maiden brought into closest contact with him, although he was no longer able to copulate. Et rex Dauid senuerat, habebatque aetatis plurimos dies: cumque operiretur uestibus, non calefiebat. Dixerunt ergo ei serui sui: Quaeremus domino nostro regi adolescentulam uirginem, et stet coram rege, et foueat eam, dormiatque in sinu suo, et calefaciat dominum nostrum regem. Quaesierunt igitur adolescentulam speciosam in omnibus finibus Israel, et inuenerunt Abisag Sunamitidem, et adduxerunt eam ad regem. Erat autem puella pulchra nimis, dormiebatque cum rege, et ministrabat ei, rex uero non cognouit eam. III Kings (A.V. I Kings) I, 1–4. (Now King David was old, and advanced in years; and when he was covered with clothes he was not warm. His servants therefore said to him: “Let us seek for our lord the king, a young virgin, and let her stand before the king, and cherish him, and sleep in his bosom, and warm our lord the king.” So they sought a beautiful young woman in all the coasts of Israel, and they found Abisag, a Sunamitess, and brought her to the king. And the damsel was exceeding beautiful, and she slept with the king; and served him, but the king did not know her.) The vitality of the young and lovely maiden served to re-energize the old Monarch, who thus drew upon her freshness and youth, although there was no coitus.
In an article on Vampires, Borderland, Vol. III, No. 3, July, 1896, pp. 353–358, Dr. Franz Hartmann, mentions the “psychic sponge” or mental vampire. He says: “They unconsciously vampirize every sensitive person with whom
