We may doubt whether her visions were really so distinct as she makes out.

Because she either could not, or would not, she never gave her judges at Rouen any very clear or precise description of them.

The angel she described most in detail was the one which brought the crown, and which she afterwards confessed to have seen only in imagination.
At what age did she become subject to these trances?
We cannot say exactly.

But it was probably towards the end of her childhood, notwithstanding that according to Jean d'Aulon, childhood was a state out of which she never completely developed.[77] [Footnote 77: _Trial_, vol.iii, p.

19.] Although it is always hazardous to found a medical diagnosis on documents purely historical, several men of science have attempted to define the pathological conditions which rendered the young girl subject to false perceptions of sight and hearing.[78] Owing to the rapid strides made by psychiatry during recent years, I have consulted an eminent man of science, who is thoroughly conversant with the present stage attained by this branch of pathology, to which he has himself rendered important service.