The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1859

Allan Kardec

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October

The Miracles

Mr. Mathieu, former Pharmacist working with the Army, has just published a list of several facts of direct writing that he witnessed, under the title A Miracle. The facts occurred under circumstances more or less similar to those reported in our August 1859 issue. They do not show anything more characteristic thus we will not reproduce them. They are only mentioned to demonstrate that the spiritist phenomena are not a privilege of anyone and we take the opportunity to congratulate Mr. Mathieu for his zeal in propagating those facts. Several other small brochures and articles, published in several journals, are a proof of that.

Mr. Mathieu is a man of Science who, as many others, including ourselves, walked the paths of incredulity. However, he gave in to the facts since before the facts one needs to lay down the weapons. We allow ourselves to uniquely criticize the title of his last publication, not for a question of wordplay but because we believe that it has some importance and deserves a serious exam.

In its primitive origin and etymology, the word miracle means an extraordinary thing, something remarkable. As many other words, however, it has moved away from its original meaning and, according to the Academy, today it refers to an act of the Divine power, contrary to the common laws of nature. That is, in fact, its usual meaning and it is only through comparisons and metaphors that it is applied to common things that surprise us and whose causes are unknown to us.
Has the phenomenon, reported by Mr. Mathieu characterizes a miracle, in the true meaning of the word? It certainly has not. A miracle, as we have already said, is an exception to the laws of nature.
We do not wish to examine if God has considered useful to create an exception to the laws established by Him, under certain circumstances. Our objective is exclusively to demonstrate that the phenomenon of direct writing, however extraordinary it may be, does not bear any miraculous character, since it does not absolutely create an exception to those laws. A miracle cannot be explained; the direct writing, on the contrary, is explained in the most rational way, as seen in our article about the subject. Thus, it is not a miracle but a simple phenomenon supported by the general laws. The miracle has still another character: of being uncommon, isolated. Well as long as a fact is repeated, say, at will and through the intermediary of people, it cannot be a miracle.
Science makes miracles every day to the eyes of the ignorant. That is why in the former times those who had more knowledge than the people were suspected of being witches. And, since it was believed that every scientific phenomenon would come from the devil, they were burned at the stake. Nowadays, considering that we are much more civilized, we are happy to send them to asylums. After having allowed the inventors left there to suffer, we erect statues and name them as benefactors of humanity.
Let us leave those sad pages of our history behind, and return to our subject.
If a truly dead man were called back to life by a divine intervention this would be a miracle since this is contrary to nature. However, if such a man only bears the appearance of death; if he still has latent vitality; if science or a simple magnetic action may reanimate him, to the educated people this will be a natural phenomenon but to the eyes of the ignorant the fact will be miraculous and the author may be stoned or venerated, according to the characters of the persons. If in certain fields a physicist flies an electrical kite, creating a lightning which discharges onto a tree, this new Prometheus will be certainly looked at as if endowed by a diabolic power; and one must say, in passing, that as it seems Prometheus was substantially ahead of Franklin.
The direct writing is one phenomenon that most patently demonstrates the action of the occult intelligences. The fact that it is produced by an occult power, however, does not mean that it is more miraculous than all other phenomena due to invisible agents, since these occult beings, which populate space, are one of the powers of nature, power that is constant over the material world, as well as over the moral world. Through the explanation about such a power, Spiritism gives us the key for the understanding of a number of phenomena, otherwise unexplained and which were considered prodigies in remote eras. As with magnetism, it reveals a law, if not unknown at least badly understood; or even better, the effects were known since produced at all times, but the law was unknown, and it was the ignorance of this law that produced the superstition. Once the law is known, the marvelous ceases and the phenomena enter the order of natural things.
That is why the spiritists do not make miracles when making a table turn or an incarnate person write, in the same way a doctor does not make it by reviving a moribund patient or the physicist when producing an electrical discharge.
That is why we repel with all our heart the qualification employed by Mr. Mathieu, although we are convinced that he did not intend to give that word any mystical meaning, but because the persons who do not investigate in depth – and those are the majority – could be mistaken and believe that some adepts of Spiritism attribute to themselves a supernatural power. Anyone who pretended to make miracles, supported by this Science, would be either ignorant of the subject or a mystifier. One should not give ammunition to those who laugh at everything, including what they ignore, because it would be the same as exposing oneself to ridicule, in good faith.
As with the magnetic phenomena, the spiritist phenomena could be considered prodigies before their causes were known. Well, like the skeptical, the strong spirits, that is, those who in their opinion have the exclusive privilege of reason and common sense, do not believe that something is possible if they cannot understand it. That is why every fact considered prodigious to them is just a matter for mockery. Since religion has a large number of facts of such a nature, they do not believe in religion. From that, absolute incredulity is just a step away.
Spiritism shows the reason for the occurrence of the majority of those facts. It then comes in support of religion, demonstrating the possibility of certain facts which no longer require the miraculous character, although not less extraordinary. God is not smaller or less powerful just because God did not break His own laws.
How many jokes were not told about the levitations of St. Cupertino? Well, the ethereal suspension of the solid bodies is a fact, demonstrated and explained by Spiritism. We ourselves witnessed the phenomenon and Mr. Home, as other persons of our circle, repeated the phenomenon produced by St. Cupertino many times. Thus, such phenomenon is part of the natural phenomena. Among the facts of such a kind the apparitions are in the frontline for being the most frequent ones. The apparition of La Salette, which divides the clergy, has nothing of remarkable. We certainly cannot affirm that the fact has occurred since we do not have the material proof, but the fact is possible to us once we know thousands of recent analogue facts. We believe in them not only because their reality is attested by us but above all because we know perfectly well how they are produced. Refer to the theory we gave about the apparitions and one will see that the phenomenon becomes so simple and plausible as a number of physical phenomena considered prodigious just because their key is missing.
As for the person who appeared in La Salette, it is another question. The identity is not demonstrated in any way. We only attested that there was an apparition. The rest is not up to us. Our objective is not to examine if God can break His own laws either, by making miracles, in the true meaning of the word. This is a point of theology that is not part of our cogitations.
Each person may then have one’s own convictions with that respect and Spiritism must not be involved with that. We only say that the facts produced by Spiritism reveal new laws and provide the key to several things that seemed supernatural. If some of those facts that seemed miraculous find a logical explanation here and a reason to occur, it is one more reason not to hastily deny what we do not understand.
Certain persons criticize us for exposing spiritist theories that they consider premature. They forget that many contest the facts of Spiritism precisely because they seem outside of the common law, and because they are not explained.
Give them a rational basis and the doubt will disappear. Let us simply tell a person that we will send a telegram from Paris to the US and receive the answer in a few minutes and the person will laugh at us. Explain the communication process and the person will believe, even without seeing the operation. In this century in which words are not spared, explanation is a powerful means of conviction. Thus, we daily see persons who have never witnessed any fact, who have not seen one single table turning or a medium writing, and who are as much convinced as we are, only because they learned and understood. If we were supposed to believe only in what we see with our own eyes, our convictions would be reduced to almost nothing.

Magnetism Recognized by the Judiciary

In the October 1858 issue of the Spiritist Review we published an article under the title Official Application of Animal Magnetism and Magnetism and also Somnambulism Taught by the Church. In the first we discussed the magnetic treatment prescribed to King Oscar of Sweden, by his own doctors; in the second we mentioned several questions and answers extracted from a book entitled Elementary Christian Course of Catechism for Christian Schools, published in 1853 by Abbot Marotte, general vicar of the dioceses of Verdun, in which magnetism and somnambulism are clearly defined and recognized. Now the justice system give them a reverberating sanction through the judgment passed by the Correctional Court of Douai, on August 27th last. Since all newspapers have covered that trial it would be useless to repeat it. We will summarize the events.

A young man who only knew magnetism by name and who had never practiced it, consequently ignoring the measures of prudence advised by experience, one day proposed to magnetize the nephew of a head waiter of the hotel where he used to dine. After a few passes the boy fell deep into a somnambulistic state but the improvised magnetizer did not know how to proceed to make the boy return to his normal state, fact followed by the boy’s persistent nervous breakdowns. Hence the boy’s uncle filed a court suit against the magnetizer. Two doctors were summoned as experts. Here is an extract of their affidavit, more or less identical, at least regarding the conclusions. After having described and attested the somnambulistic state of the boy, the first doctor says:

“I absolutely don’t believe in the existence of a new fluid, of a physical agent more or less similar to the Earth’s magnetism, developing in human beings under the influence of passes, touches, etc., which would sometimes produce miraculous effects on the influenced persons. The existence of such a fluid has never been scientifically demonstrated. Far from that, every time that members of the Academy of Science or well-known doctors, people who are hard to deceive, wanted to verify the alleged facts, the princes of magnetism retreated; shielded by very clear pretexts, subtracted themselves, so that neither the question of fact nor even less and with stronger reason the question of doctrine could be clarified. Then, to the whole scientific world, there is no animal magnetism. Nevertheless, it does follow that the practice of the magnetizers does not produce any effect, and if with good reason magnetism is denied, can’t magnetization be admitted?

“I am convinced that if susceptible and nervous imaginations are daily and strongly impressed by the aforementioned maneuvers, we must see the presented phenomena there and not in a kind of radiation from the experimenter. This explanation would be applicable to the Jourdain case, if the attacks that followed the first one, supposing that it had been produced by magnetization, would have been scarcer and weaker in intensity, once a single impulse must logically produce diminishing effects. Well, in the present case the opposite happens: as time goes by the events speed up and increase in intensity. This confuses me. There is evidently an undetermined influence at play. What would that be? I don’t have sufficient health and behavioral background information about Jourdain to attribute those things to his temperament. I must declare that I can’t establish the cause.”

At that point in time the boy has one of his attacks. Like his colleague, the witness attests general and intermittent muscular contractions; no sensitivity in the skin and eyes, which deviate under the action of light when the eyelids are opened; absence of mouth secretion and thumb flexion. No repetition of initial screams; besides, the crisis stops gradually, passing through the somnambulistic period. The doctors declared that the boy does not bear signs of epilepsy or catalepsy.

The witness was questioned about the word somnambulism, with the objective of establishing if the patient, considered somnambulist, would have had an event of that kind of illness on August 15th, responding: “to begin with, it has not been established that the boy was a somnambulist and besides, the referred phenomenon had occurred under entirely remarkable conditions; instead of occurring at night, during natural sleep, it had happened in day light, in the vigil state. The magnetic passes, as it seems to me, are the cause of the boy’s condition. I see no other cause.”

Here the second doctor’s statement:

“I saw the little patient on October 13th, 1858. He was in a somnambulistic state, enjoying voluntary motion. He would recite catechism. My son saw him in the evening of the 15th. He was in the same state, conjugating the verb can. It was only sometime later that I learned about his magnetization and that a visitor would have said: if he is not demagnetized he may stay like that for his whole life. I knew a student, in my youth, who was cured without medical support, becoming a distinguished man in his profession. The accidents experienced by the patient are nervous breakdowns only. There is no symptom of epilepsy or catalepsy.”

The court pronounced the following sentence:

“Considering that as a result of the debates, on August 15th, 1858 imprudently applying touches and approximations qualified as magnetic passes on the 13 year old Jourdain, and at least impressing the weak imagination of the boy by such unusual apparatus and maneuvers, the accused produced a super excitation on the patient, a nervous disorder, and finally a lesion or disease, whose events have since repeated at different intervals;

“Considering that the imprudent maneuvers which provoked the so called lesion or disease constitute crime as stated in Art. 320 of the Penal Code;”

“Considering that the referred fact caused losses to the plaintiff who must be repaired;”

“Considering that there exist attenuating circumstances;”

“The Tribunal condemns the accused to pay a fine of 25 francs; another 1,200 francs of losses and damages and to cover for the legal fees.” 

We have nothing to say about the trial itself. Was the court right or wrong to condemn the accused? Was the sentence too harsh or too weak? That is none of our business. Justice has been pronounced and we respect its decision, but we will examine the consequences of the trial, which has a fundamental reach. There was condemnation thus there was a crime. How was that crime carried out? The sentence says: by touches and approximations qualified as magnetic passes. Then the touches and magnetic passes have an action and are not simple gestures. These touches and passes differ somehow from the ordinary touches and gestures. But how can they be distinguished? This is an important difference for if there were no difference it would no longer be possible to touch anyone or make signals without the risk of committing a crime or being subjected to a fine.

It is not the Court that we have to teach and even less to say how the passes and touches, having a magnetic character, may produce any given effect. It attests the fact of an accident and its cause. It duty is to assess the damage and determine the compensation. However, the experts called in to clarify the Court will certainly teach us about the facts. Even not having a formal training about the subject they must substantiate their opinion, as in all cases of legal medicine, for this is the first condition to be fulfilled by an expert. Well, we were shocked by the opinion of those gentlemen. Their affidavit reveals a complete ignorance about what they must give their opinion. They not only ignore magnetism but also the facts of natural magnetism are unknown to them. That is why they think that – at least one of them – those phenomena can only be produced at night, during the natural sleep, a fact contradicted by experience.

However, that is not the most remarkable part of the statement, at least from the first witness. He says: “if with good reason magnetism is denied, can’t magnetization be admitted?” In reality I don’t know if it is a matter of logic, but I humbly confess that it goes beyond my intelligence and that many others are in the same situation as I am, since it would be the same as saying that it is possible to magnetize without magnetism, or that a man may be hit by a walking stick without the existence of the stick. Well, we firmly believe, as from an old saying and until proven otherwise, that to be hit by the walking-stick, the walking-stick is necessary, and by analogy in order to magnetize someone, magnetism is necessary in the same way that to purge something the purgative is necessary. Our intelligence cannot reach an effect without a cause.

You may say that I don’t deny the effect; on the contrary, I attest it; what I deny is the cause to which you attribute the effect. You say that between your fingers and the patient there is something invisible, which you call magnetic fluid. I say that there isn’t such a thing; that such a fluid does not exist. Now, what does exist is magnetism and your gestures are magnetization. Agree. You then admit that simple gestures without intermediaries may produce nervous crises, somnambulistic effects, cataleptics and others, exclusively because imagination was touched. Be it. I want a person impressed by such means to the point of sleeping in daylight, and against their will, which would already be a remarkable fact – as you should agree. Would that sleep be natural, as some say? In that case how can you explain the instantaneous sleep, produced in a few seconds? Why can’t you easily awake that person by just shaking her arm? Let us leave aside many other phenomena not much explained by your system, for obvious reasons. There is one, however, whose solution you can certainly provide, as I don’t believe that you have created a theory about such an important subject, not making sure that it resolves all cases, theory which must be so certain that you announce it to the tribunal. Hence you must be sure. Well then! For the benefit of general instruction and every person simple enough to believe in the existence of a magnetic fluid, kindly resolve the following two questions by your system:

1. If the effects attributed to the magnetic fluid are not but the simple result of an excited and strongly impressed imagination, how can they be produced by default when the person is magnetized during natural sleep or when she is in an adjacent compartment, not seeing the magnetizer and not knowing that she is magnetized?

2. If the touches or magnetic passes may produce nervous breakdowns and somnambulistic states, how can those same touches and passes produce the opposite effect; destroy what they did and calm down the most violent nervous crisis which they provoked; suddenly and like by magic, stop the somnambulistic state? Would that be an effect of imagination, considering that the person does not see or hear what happens around her? Or we do have to admit that it is possible to act upon imagination without imagination, what would be perfectly possible once it is possible to magnetize without magnetism? This reminds me of a little joke. A reckless person was manipulating a rifle. He shot and killed another person. An expert called in to examine the weapon declared that the person had been killed by a rifle shot, but the rifle was unloaded.

Isn’t that the case of our magnetizer, who harms through magnetization, but without magnetism? The Court of Douai, in its elevated wisdom, certainly did not mess up with all these contradictions, about which it did not have to pronounce. As we have seen, the Court only considered the effect that was produced and declared that it was produced by magnetic touches and passes. It was not up to the Court to decide if there is or there isn’t a magnetic fluid. The trial attests with authenticity that magnetism is a reality; otherwise the magnetizer would not have been condemned for the application of insignificant gestures. May this serve as a lesson to the reckless, those who play with what they ignore.

Those gentlemen did not notice that, through their issued assessment, the attained result was opposite to their objective; endowing the magnetizers with such a power which they are far from claiming. In fact, the magnetizers state that they can only act with the help of an intermediary; that their action is null when they lack such intermediary. They do not attribute to themselves the power of hitting someone without the walkingstick or killing with rifle shots of an unloaded rifle.

Very well! With their theory those gentlemen come to realize another prodigy, because they act empty handed and empty pocketed. There are things in fact which cannot be taken seriously. We apologize but it does not diminish their merit. They may be very skillful and very well prepared as physicians. That is why the Court consulted with them. We only take the liberty of criticizing them with respect to magnetism. We finish by an important observation.

If magnetism is a reality, why hasn’t the Academia officially recognized it? There would be a lot of things to say about it. We limit ourselves, however, to one consideration only, asking why the discoveries that are well accepted today haven’t been so much accepted in the beginning, by the scientific organizations? I leave the task of responding to others. The medical class is divided with respect to magnetism, as with homeopathy, allopathy, phrenology, the cholera treatment, the use of purgatives, bleeding and a number of other things. Thus, an opinion is always individual, not bearing the power of law. What is worth is the general opinion established about the facts, despite all opposition, exerting an irresistible pressure onto the recalcitrant. That is what happens to magnetism as well as to Spiritism, and it is not too much to say that half of the doctors today recognize and admit magnetism, and even that three quarters of the magnetizers are physicians.

The same happens to Spiritism, which counts on a number of doctors and people of science in its ranks. Why does it matter then those focused on process or opinion? Let time pass, sweeping away the hurt self-love and the petty concerns! Truth may be discussed but not destroyed and posterity will register the names of those who attacked or sustained it. Had magnetism been a utopia, it would be gone long ago whereas like its brother, Spiritism, it sows its roots everywhere. Fight, then, against the ideas that invade the whole world, from top to bottom of the social scale!


Inert Mediums

Among the important questions related to the Spiritist Science, the role of the mediums was a subject of many controversies. Mr. Brasseur, director of the Industrial Center, published his private ideas with respect to this in the Moniteur de la Toilette, * particularly in the month of August last, from which we extracted the texts transcribed below. He honors us by requesting our opinion. We will most sincerely give it, not pretending that our point of view becomes law. We let our readers and observers judge the question. As a matter of fact, it is enough to summarize what we have said about it in several occasions, when treating the subject with much more extension than we can do here, since it is not possible to repeat everything that can be found in our writings.
Here the main passages of one of Mr. Brasseur’s articles, followed by our answers:

“What is a medium? Is the medium active or passive? Such are the questions aiming at the clarification of a subject which concerns those willing to get educated about the matters from beyond the grave and, consequently, about their relationships with that world.”

“On May 18th last I sent a note to the President of the Spiritist Society entitled: The medium and the spirits. On July 15th Mr. Allan Kardec published a new book entitled: What is Spiritism? By reading it I supposed to have found a categorical answer but that was in vain. The author persists in his errors: the mediums, he says on page 75, are THE PERSONS capable of patently receiving the impression of the spirits, serving as intermediaries between the visible and the invisible worlds.”
The book mentioned above is not a course of Spiritism. It is a summary explanation of the principles of that Science, to be used by persons willing to acquire its first notions. The analysis of details about the issues as well as the multiple opinions cannot enter into such a restricted space that has a specific objective. As for the definition we gave about the mediums, it seems perfectly clear to us, and it is with that definition that we respond to Mr. Brasseur’s question: “What is a medium?” It is possible that it does not correspond to his personal opinion. As for ourselves, however, we have so far no reason to modify it.
“Mr. Allan Kardec does not acknowledge the inert medium. He speaks of boxes, cards or planchettes, but does not see in those things (page 62) but appendices of the hand, whose uselessness would have been recognized…”
“Let us be clear”.
“In your opinion the medium is an intermediary between the visible and invisible worlds. But is it absolutely necessary that such a medium be a person? Isn’t it enough that the invisible may have any instrument for their manifestation?”
No, we will respond to that. It is not sufficient that the invisible may have any instrument at their service in order to manifest, since the fluidic support of a person is missing and to us, that person is the true medium. If it were enough to the spirit the use of any given instrument, we would see planchettes and baskets writing on their own, fact that has never happened. The direct writing, apparently the most independent fact of any cooperation, can only be produced under the influence of mediums, endowed by special aptitudes. A powerful consideration comes to support this opinion. According to Mr. Brasseur, the instrument is the main thing; the person is an accessory. In our opinion, it is exactly the opposite. Otherwise why wouldn’t the planchettes move with nobody? If, then, to make them move it is necessary to be endowed by a special aptitude, then the role of the person is not simply passive. That is why such a person is to us the true medium. The instrument, we repeat, is no more than an appendix of the hand, which we can go without. This is so true that every person who writes through the planchette can also do it directly with the hand, without the planchette and even without the pencil, since the characters may be drawn with the finger, whereas the planchette does not write without a person. As a matter of fact, every variety of mediums, as for their active or passive role, is widely developed in our Practical Instructions about the Manifestations.
“Separated from matter by the dissolution of the body, the soul no longer has any physical element of humanity.”
And what happens to the perispirit? The perispirit is the link uniting body and soul, the semi-material wrapping of the soul when alive and that remains after death. It is through that envelope that the soul shows itself in the apparitions. That wrapping is also matter, which although etherealized, may acquire the properties of tangibility.
“It has been observed that the person, directly holding the pencil, mixes her feelings and ideas with the feelings and ideas of the invisible, so that in such a way only mixed communications are given, whereas by the use of boxes, cards and planchettes, under the hands of two persons together, those persons do not absolutely intervene with the manifestation, being given only by the invisible. Hence I declare this mode superior and preferable to that of the Spiritist Society.”
That opinion could be true if not contradicted by the thousands of observed facts, at the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies and elsewhere, which demonstrate with incontestable evidence that the inspired mediums, even intuitive, and even with stronger argument, the mechanical mediums, may be absolutely passive instruments and enjoy the most thorough independence of thoughts. With the mechanical medium the spirit acts upon the hand, which receives an entirely involuntary impulse, taking the role of what Mr. Brasseur called inert medium, be the hand alone or holding a pencil, or even resting on a mobile object which is holding a pencil.
With the intuitive medium the spirit acts upon the brain, transmitting the movement of the arm through the nervous system, and so forth. The mechanical medium writes without the slightest awareness about his production. The act precedes the thought. With the intuitive medium the thought follows the act, and sometimes precedes it. Hence it is the thought of the spirit which crosses the medium’s brain, and if sometimes they seem to blend together, their independence is not less patent when the medium writes, even out of intuition, things that he cannot know or which are entirely contrary to his own ideas, his way of seeing things, his own convictions. In one word, when he thinks white and writes black. Besides, there are so many spontaneous and unpredictable facts that the doubt is not possible on those who observe them.
The role of the medium, in that case, is of an interpreter that receives a strange thought; transmits it; must understand it in order to transmit but does not assimilate it. That is how things are with the speaking mediums, who receive an impulse onto the organs of the word, as others receive on the arm or hand, and also with the hearing mediums, who clearly hear a voice speaking with them, dictating what they must write. And what will you say about the clairvoyant mediums, to whom the spirits show up as they were when alive, mediums who see them circulating around us, coming and going like the crowd we see before our eyes? And how about the impressionable mediums who feel the occult touches, the impression of fingers and even nails which mark their skin, leaving a sign? And how about the mediums of double sight who clearly see in daylight and awake what happens far away? Isn’t that a faculty, a kind of mediumship? The mediumship is the faculty of the mediums. The mediums are persons accessible to the influence of the spirits, being able to serve as their intermediaries. That is the definition found in the small Abbreviated French Dictionary of the Dictionaries, by Napoleon Landais, and so far it seems to give us a very exact idea.
We do not deny the utility of the instruments designated as inert mediums by Mr. Brasseur, name that he has total freedom of choice if he considers it appropriate. From experience, the names incontestably have an advantage to individuals who have not seen anything. However, since the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies is formed by experienced persons, whose convictions are already formed, not carrying out any experience to satisfy public curiosity; it does not invite people to the meetings so as they are not perturbed in its researches and observations and those primitive means would teach the Society nothing. That is why the Society prefers others, more expedited, considering that it has a significant experience with the subject to perfectly distinguish the nature of the communications that are received.
We will not follow Mr. Brasseur in every argument which he bases his theory for we are afraid of weakening and truncating them. Given the impossibility of reproducing them all we prefer to refer the readers interested in knowing about it to the newspaper that he edits with incontestable talent, where there are also very well written articles from Mr. Jules de Neuville, having one problem only to our eyes: not been preceded by a sufficiently deep study of the subject, thus allowing for many superfluous questions.
In short, and in common agreement with the Spiritist Society, we persist in the consideration of persons as the true mediums, who can be passive or active, according to their nature and aptitudes. We may call the instruments by the name of inert mediums if you will. It is a distinction that may be useful. We would make a mistake, however, had we attributed them with the role and properties of the animated beings of the intelligent communications. Furthermore we say intelligent to make the necessary distinction from the spontaneous, purely physical manifestations. This is a subject widely discussed in the Review.

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* Journal of the Salons, fashion, literature and theater. Rue de l’Échiquier, 15

Bulletin of the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies

FRIDAY, JULY 29th 1859 (GENERAL SESSION)

Reading of the minutes and works of the previous session.

Communications:

Curious facts of death predictions and warnings from beyond the grave which took place one with Mr. Chamissot and Mr. de Brunoy, emigrants who resided in Koblenz in 1794; another with Countess C… (it will be published).

Microscopic and analytical observations of direct writing (see the August 1859 issue of the Review).

Reading of a letter in response to material sent regarding the evocation of Mr. J… (de La Sarthe), carried out on July 22nd. Studies:

Complementary questions regarding the spirits’ rest. The answers do not seem to correspond to the elevation of the evoked spirit since one cannot recognize the habitual clarity and precision. As they do not provide a satisfactory solution, the Society does not take them into account.

Questions addressed to François Arago with respect to the mistaken answers mentioned above. He says that the spirit who answered was not the evoked spirit. This spirit, he says, is not bad, but not very elevated and incapable of solving certain questions. We allowed him to answer to exercise your assessment and, at the same time, give him a lesson.

Questions addressed to the same spirit regarding the chemical analysis of the matter related to the direct writing.

Questions, still to the same spirit, about the storms and the role of the spirits in the natural phenomena (published in the September issue of the Review).

Second evocation of Mr. J… (de La Sarthe), after the letter mentioned above (published in the September issue, Death of a Spiritist).

Evocation of Jacques Arago (will be published).


FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2nd, 1859

(PRIVATE SESSION)

Reading of the minutes and works of previous session.

Administrative businesses:

Introduction and admission of two new regular members and a corresponding member from Madrid.

Communications:

Letter from Mr. D…, member of the Society, citing a remarkable passage extracted from the Tableau de Paris, from Mercier, 1788 edition, vol. 12, entitled Spiritualists. The text attests the existence of a Society in Paris, in those days, having the communication with spirits as its objective. It thus provides an additional proof that Spiritism is not a new creation and that it was accepted by the most distinguished people (to be published next).

With that respect Mr. S… observes that in those days a Mr. Martinez Pascalis had founded the Martinists sect, which also intended to enter into communication with the spirits through the initiated, who were supposed to keep it as a secret.

A letter from Mr. B…, from New York, thanking the Society for the title of corresponding member which was awarded to him, giving interesting details about the commercial exploitation of Spiritism in America.

Several letters from Mr. Dumas were read; active member of the Society in Sétif, Algeria, containing a large number of evocations, many of which of great interest from the point of view of the study. They inform about the development of several mediums in that country and that Spiritism is a matter of great concern. Among the cited facts the following one sticks out: an uneducated coalman tried to write as a medium, only producing some doodles in the beginning with which he filled out six pages. Then he had the idea of putting those pages side by side and had the impression that the traces combined, forming a whole picture. Later the same person wrote entire pages with great facility. However, the abundance, prolixity and nature of certain communications give reason to fear for an obsession.

Mr. Allan Kardec points out a fact of spontaneous manifestation, occurring during a session at his house, under remarkable circumstances. Princess S… was present, manifesting her interest in the evocation of Dr. Beaufils, her doctor, deceased around seven or eight months earlier. Three mediums, including the Princess’ daughter, who is also a very good medium, were taken by convulsive, violent jerky movements, breaking the pencil and tearing the paper. Summoned to let her identity to be known, the spirit ended up revealing his name, after some hesitation. Pressed by the questions he said that his name was known from the newspapers; that he was a miserable, who had murdered, and was a butcher’s assistant, assassin from the Rue de la Roquette, recently executed. He was questioned about the reason for his presence once he was not invited, then saying that he was sent by other spirits so as to convince that the mediums do not write from their own thoughts… He finishes by asking for prayers since he regrets his actions and suffers. He left after the promise that his desire would be granted and some advices were given to him.

Next came Dr. Beaufils who calmly and lucidly answered several questions that were addressed to him.

In fact that communication is absolute proof of the independence of the mediums, for every member of the gathering was concerned with the evocation of the doctor, and nobody thought of that man that came to surprise everybody, manifesting by identical signs through three different mediums, who did not have cards or planchettes.

Reading of a spontaneous communication obtained by Mr. R…, member of the Society, about the antique spiritist beliefs and their vestige left in all religions (to be published next).

Study:

Evocation of Privat d’Anglemont (will be published).

Evocation of the stingy millionaire from Lyon, known by the nickname Père Crépin (will be published).


FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9th 1859

(GENERAL SESSION)


Reading of the minutes and works of previous session.

Communications:

Reading of a spontaneous communication received by Viscount H…, recently developed medium, and transmitted by Mr. D…, member of the Society, who lives in Lille (it will be published).

Reading of a spontaneous communication of Lamennais, obtained by Mr. R…, member of the Society (it will be published).

Another spontaneous communication obtained by the same, from Dr. Olivier, who showed up without being invoked. This communication has the following notable aspect: shows that spirit in a situation identical to that of Voltaire, as described by the latter in his confessions, published in the September issue of the Review. He doubts everything, including God. He is errant, not finding anybody to help him, deepening him into an anxious state even more painful for the reason that he cannot see the end of it. The words of consolation addressed to him by the medium are a beam of light, giving him relief. It will be published.

Mr. Allan Kardec reports a remarkable fact of obsession by a brutal spirit, a former coachman, over the person of Mr. C…, an excellent medium. Besides, the fact confirms the possibility of haunted places by certain spirits. (It will be published).

About the noisy spirits of Madrid. Report of a fact published by a newspaper from Madrid, without comments, related to a house from that city, which was inhabitable, given the noise and nightly mess, having the police investigate and try to take measures that were ineffective.

Studies:

Questions about avarice, regarding the evocation of Père Crépin from Lyon (it will be published following the publication of that evocation).

Evocation of Privat d’Anglemont, second conversation (it will be published).

Evocation of Mr. Julien S…, carried out at the request of Mr. B… from Bouxhors.

Evocation of Mr. Adrien de S…, carried out by a visitor who was attending the session. This evocation, although of a purely personal interest, offers a characteristic trace with respect to the influence exerted by the errant spirits over the incarnate ones.

The tomb of Saint-Leu. Searching for the grave of the great chancellor Pasquier at the Church of Saint-Leu, in Paris, on July 27th 1859, the workers excavated a whole in one wall, finding below the church choir a five meters long by four meters high by two meters wide tomb, hermetically sealed by a slab. There were about fifteen to twenty skeletons in the tomb, without coffins and in different positions, indicating that they were not buried there. A sticky instrument was used to write the following names on the wall: Marvé, 1733; Chenest, 1733; Marx, altar boy, 1727; Charles Remy, 1721; Gabriel, 1727; Thiévan, 1723; Maupain, 1728 and several other illegible names.

The spirit of St. Louis was questioned about the possibility of the evocation of one of the spirits whose names were found in the tomb, in order to clarify that discovery. He answered: “I advise you to leave it aside. There are crimes in the case, too recent to exhume things with that respect.”

Verteuil, former drama author and actor from the la Cité Theater. He was an intelligent young man, handsome, and successful man. He soon lost all his assets in a bankruptcy, then his speaking, hearing and vision. He died in Bicêtre, where he lived deaf, dumb and blind for twenty years. He was only communicated with through characters drawn on the palm of his hand. He would then respond in writing. Such exceptional situation seemed to offer an interesting theme for a psychological study. Consulted about it St. Louis responded: “Do not evoke him, for his is incarnate”. Then he offered a number of information about the antecedents of that young man and the causes and circumstances of his illness. The details of this touching story may be read in the La Patrie of July 26th, 1859.

Evocation of the former coachman whose communications we have already mentioned. He manifests through signs of violence, breaking the pencil, forcing it on the paper; through a rough, irregular and not much legible writing. This evocation presents a remarkable trace, particularly with respect to the influence that man may exert on certain inferior spirits, through prayer and good advices (it will be published).


FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16th 1859

(PRIVATE SESSION)

Reading of the minutes and works of the previous session (September, 9th).

Communications:

Reading of an article from d’Illustration, 1853, sent by Mr. R…, under the title The Driving Tables. This article demonstrates, according to the Russian newspaper Sjevernava Plschela, from April 27th, 1853 and according to documents provided by Mr. Tscherepanoff, that the phenomenon of the turning tables is known and practiced in China, Siberia and among the Kalmoucks from meridional Russia, since immemorial times (published next).

Mr. Dorgeval sent a poem to the Society entitled Uranie, from Mr. de Porry of Marseille, in which the fundamental points of the Spiritist Doctrine are clearly enunciated, although at the time of its composition the author had no notion about this Science. Not less worthy of note is the fact that Mr. de Porry seems to have written his poem through some sort of mediumistic faculty. It is early evening, he feels sleepy, the verses are formed in his mind and he writes hem on waking up in the morning. Several fragments of the poem that will be published in this Review were read.

Letter from Mr. P… of Marseille, containing the communication of a spirit identifying himself by the name of Paul, remarkable by several answers of great profundity.

Reading about a spontaneous communication given to Mr. R…, member of the Society, by the murdered butcher from Rue de la Roquette, which we mentioned in our September 2nd session, and who came to a session held at Mr. Allan Kardec’s house. The spirit came to thank the prayers said in his favor, as he had requested. This communication is remarkable, given the good thoughts it contains, and sheds a new light on the assistance that can be given to the suffering spirits (it will be published).

Studies:

The spirit of St. Louis was asked if, irrespective of the subjects prepared in advance, the spirits could give us spontaneous communications about a theme of their choice. He answered positively and said that next time Cesar would write through Mr. R…, with the agreement of the latter.

Attending the session as an observer, Mr. C… asks if he is allowed to evoke his son, whose death is to his mother a cause of pain that nothing can attenuate. He would like to report to her on the very next day a conversation as an instrument of consolation. This evocation will not be published at it is personal in nature.

Exam of Mr. Brasseur’s theory about the mediums. He considers the boxes, planchettes and other instruments as the only true mediums, which he calls inert mediums, since, he says, in the animated mediums there always are a participation of personal opinions in a greater or lesser degree. Several members take part in the discussion and agree to combat Mr. Brasseur’s opinion, founded on an incomplete observation, as they say, for the absolute independence of the medium is demonstrated by undeniable facts. One of the arguments opposed to Mr. Brasseur’s opinion is that the cards and planchettes never speak on their own, but are only instruments or, as already said, dispensable appendices; they are the accessories rather than the main component. The planchette fitted with a pencil and influenced by the person is not any more a medium than the pencil directly in the hand of the person.

Mr. Sanson reads some verses he wrote as a tribute to St. Louis and as thanks to the cure to which he experienced. Since he does not consider himself a poet he asks who would be the spirit that inspired him. The answer was that it was his own spirit taken by the appreciation for what had alleviated his pains.

Evocation of Swedenborg. He responded to the evocation of Mr. Allan Kardec as:

• Speak my old friend.

• You honor me with the title of your old friend. However, we are far from being contemporary since I only know you from your writings.

• It is true but I do know you since long ago.

• We wish to make several questions about many points of your doctrine, but it is late now and our only objective is to ask you if we can frame these questions in our next session.

• With pleasure. Allow me already to make a correction in my writing that is important to me. When I wrote my doctrine I affirmed, under the inspiration of the heavenly counselors who dictated it to me, that each people were in a separated sphere in the heavens, and that the distinct character of each nation was preserved, not by individuals but in large families. Experience has convinced me that that is not the case.

• Aren’t other points subject to dispute?

• Yes, many others, but this is one of the most important.

• We have here several mediums. Do you have preference to communicate with us?

• No… or better, yes. I would choose a mechanical medium, as you call them, and fast as well.


FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23rd, 1859

(GENERAL SESSION)

Reading of the minutes of the previous session (September, 16th).

Introduction of four candidates to regular membership. Their admission to be discussed in the next private session on October 7th, when the acceptance will be pronounced, if that is the case.

Communications:

Reading of a letter from Rouen, reporting a fact that took place with the family of the person who writes the letter. It references the apparition of his grandmother at the time of her death.

Another recent fact of apparition and warning from beyond the grave. Mr. D…, from Paris, doctor in Medicine, had for some time treated a young lady that suffered from an incurable disease and who no longer lived in Paris. About 15 days ago Mr. D… was awakened by knocks on his bedroom door. He assumed that someone had been sent to him to help a patient, and then asked: “Who is that?” He immediately saw that lady standing before him, saying in a clear voice: “It is me, Mr. D… I come to tell you that I have died.” He was later informed that the lady had actually died on that very evening of the apparition.

A curious fact concerning temporary separation between the soul and the body that happened some days ago to a medium of the Society, Mr. C… (It will be published with the explanation given by the spirits).

Reading of a remarkable communication from the spirit of Privat d’Anglemont to Mr. C…, medium of the Society (it will be published together with other communications from the same spirit).

Studies:

Three spontaneous communications had been promised to this session: one from Cesar, one from Swedenborg and one from Privat d’Anglemont. They were written simultaneously, by three mediums, all mechanical.

Next, several questions were addressed to Swedenborg about some points of his doctrine, which he acknowledge were wrong. A previous reading of a biographic note about Swedenborg prepared by Mrs. P…, member of the Society, was carried out (it will be published).

Mr. D…, member of the Society, had prepared a series of very intelligent questions about Cesar but the spontaneous explanations given by the spirit made the majority of them superfluous. Yet, they will be examined and those considered convenient will be used in a future proposition.

Mr. Dumas, from Sétif, regular member of the Society, present at the session, requested that some spirits who have appeared to him be evoked, in order to have control over the communications from Algeria. The result of these evocations is identical and confirms the answers that were given to him earlier. When he wanted to know if he could efficiently cooperate with the propagation of Spiritism in Africa, he was not answered that he can but also that he should.


Spiritist Society in the XVIII century

TO MR. PRESIDENT OF THE PARISIAN SOCIETY OF SPIRITIST STUDIES

“Mr. President,
It is not since 1853, a period in which the spirits started to manifest through the motion of the tables and the knocks, that the renovation in these evocations is marked. In the history of Spiritism that we read in your publications, you don’t mention a Society that existed and, like ours and to my great surprise, was revealed to me by Mercier in his Tableau de Paris, 1788 edition, in the chapter entitled Spiritualists, volume 12. Here is what he says:

“Why do theology, philosophy and history mention several apparitions of spirits, genies or demons? The belief of part of the ancient times was that each person had two spirits, one good, inviting virtue, the other bad, inciting evil.”

“A new sect believes in the return of the spirits to this world. I heard several people really influenced that there are means of evoking these spirits. We are surrounded by a world that we don’t see. Around us there are beings that go completely unnoticed. Endowed by a superior intellectual nature, they see us. There is no emptiness in the Universe; this is what the followers of this new science affirm.”
“Thus, the return of the souls of the dead, accepted since the remotest antiquity, mocked by our philosophy, today is accepted by people who are neither ignorant nor superstitious. All these spirits, called princes of air in the scriptures, are always under the orders of the lord of nature. Aristotle says that the spirits always appear to human beings because ones need the others. I do nothing more here than reporting what the partisans of the existence of the genies say.”
“If we believe in the immortality of the soul we must admit that the crowd of spirits must manifest after death. Among the huge amount of prodigies reported in all countries on Earth, if only one has in fact occurred, then the incredulity is mistaken. I then believe that there would not be less risk in denying this than supporting the truthfulness of the apparitions. We are in an unknown world.”
Mercier will not be accused of incredulity and ignorance. In the preceding excerpt we see that he does not reject the spirits manifestations by default, although he did not have the opportunity of witnessing them. However, as a prudent man, he suspended his judgment up until the availability of better information. As for magnetism he had already said: “This is so mysterious, so profound and incredible that we must laugh or fall on our knees. I don’t do either one. I wait and observe.”
It would be interesting to know why these evocations, reestablished in 1788, were interrupted up until 1853. Would the members of the Society have perished during the revolution? It is unfortunate that Mercier had not mentioned the name of the president of that Society.
Sincerely, etc.
“Det…
A regular member of the Society.”
OBSERVATION: The fact reported by Mercier is very important and a reach that no one can deny. It proves that, since those days, people commendable by their intelligence seriously dealt with the Spiritist Science. As for the cause that determined the extinction of the Society, it is more likely that the disturbances that followed had a strong role on that. But it is not correct to say that the evocations were interrupted until 1853. It is true that the manifestations had a greater development around that time but it is demonstrated that they have never stopped. We had, in hand, a manuscript reporting that in 1818, in the Society of the Theosophists, existing in the beginning of this century, indicating that through worship and prayer it was possible to enter into communication with the spirits. It could perhaps be the continuation of the Society mentioned by Mercier. Since the year 1860 the celebrity Abbot Faria, according to a friend of his, former missionary in Paraguay, dealt with evocations and obtained written communications. We daily learn about persons that witnessed those manifestations well before it was cogitated in America.
Nevertheless, it is proper to clarify that before those days everyone who had such knowledge kept that in secrecy. It vulgarizes today, as public domain. That is the whole difference. And if it were an illusion it would not have implanted in all corners of the world in just a few years. Common sense would have made it justice, since everyone can see and understand. Certainly nobody will dispute the daily progress of these ideas, even in the most educated layers of society. Well, an idea that requires reasoning, that grows and gets illuminated by discussion and examination, does not bear the features of a utopia.

Family Conversations from Beyond the Grave

Father Crépin
PARISIAN SOCIETY, SEPTEMBER 2nd, 1859

The papers have recently announced the death of a man from Lyon, where he was known by the nickname Father Crépin. He was a multi-millionaire of an uncommon greed. Over the last years of his life he moved in with the Favre’s couple, under the obligation to feed him for only thirty cents per day, outside of an additional deduction of ten cents for tobacco. He owned nine houses, formerly living in one of them, in a kind of niche that he had built under the stairs. When it was time to collect rent he would pick up paper from the streets and use the material for the receipts. The local government decree to whitewash the houses caused him a great distress; he made useless attempts to get an exemption. He would scream that it was his ruin. If he had one house only he would accept but, he added, he had nine.

1. (Evocation) - I am here. What do you want from me? Oh! My gold! My gold! What was made of it?

2. Do you miss your life on Earth? - Oh! Yes!

3. Why do you miss it? - I can no longer touch my gold, count and keep it.

4. How do you spend your time? - I am still too bonded to Earth and it is difficult to regret.

5. Have you come many times to see again your dear treasure and your houses? - As many times as I can.

6. When you were alive, haven’t you given any thought to the fact that you would not take any of that with you to the other world? - No. My only thought was related to the treasure, aiming at its accumulation. I have never given any thought to the separation.

7. What was your objective by piling up that treasure that served nothing, not even yourself, since you were deprived of everything? - I experienced the ecstasy of touching it.

8. Where did you take such parsimonious behavior? - From the pleasure experienced by my spirit and my heart for having a lot of money. I had no other passion here on Earth.

9. Do you understand what the greed was? - Yes, I understand now that I was a miserable. However my heart is still too worldly and I still experience certain pleasure when I see my gold. But I cannot touch it and it is the beginning of a punishment in my current life.

10. You never had any pity towards the unfortunate ones who suffered in misery? Had you never had the idea of alleviating them? - Why didn’t they have any money? Too bad for them!

11. Do you have any memory of your existence prior to this one that you have just left? - Yes, I was a shepherd, physically very unhappy, but happy in my heart.

12. What were you first thoughts when you found yourself in the world of the spirits? - My first thought was to search for my treasure and, above all, my gold. When I saw nothing but space I felt very unhappy. My heart was shattered and remorse started to take me over. It seems that the more time goes by the more I will suffer from my worldly avarice.

13. What is now the consequence of your Earthly life? - Useless to my fellow human beings, useless before eternity, unfortunate to me before God.

14. Could you foresee a new corporeal existence? - I don’t know.

15. If you were to have a brief corporeal existence which one would you choose? - I would pick one through which I could be useful to my fellow human beings.

16. You had no friends when alive since a greedy person like yourself could not have them. Do you have them among the spirits? - I never prayed for anybody. My guardian angel, which I disregarded, is the only one that has pity on me.

17. Has anybody welcomed you when you entered the world of the spirits? - Yes, my mother.

18. Have you been already evoked by other people? - Once, by a person who I mistreated.

19. Haven’t you been in Africa, in a center where they deal with the spirits? - Yes, but those people had no pity on me. That is really sad. Here you have compassion.

20. Will our evocation be beneficial to you? - Very much.

21. How did you acquire fortune? - Some I honestly earned but I exploited a lot and stole some from my fellow citizens.

22. Can we be of any help to you? - Yes, have some pity on this suffering soul.

SOCIETY, SEPTEMBER 9th, 1859

QUESTIONS ADDRESSED TO ST. LOUIS REGARDING FATHER CRÉPIN

1. Father Crépin that we evoked lately is a rare kind of greedy individual. He could not give us information about the origin of his passion. Could you kindly enlighten us? He said he had been a shepherd, physically very unhappy, but happy in his heart. We see nothing there, which could produce such a sordid avarice. Could you tell us what triggered that? - He was ignorant and inexperienced. He asked for the wealth and it was conceded but as a punishment for his request. Be assured that he will no longer request that.

2. Father Crépin offers us the kind of ignoble greed but that passion has degrees. There are people who are greedy to the others only. Our question is which one is more culpable: the one who accumulates by the pleasure of it, depriving himself even from the necessary, or the other who deprives himself from nothing but greed when involving the least sacrifice towards his neighbor? - It is evident that the last one is more guilty since profoundly selfish. The first one is crazy.

3. Has the spirit to go through all sorts of temptations in the trials that it needs to endure reaches perfection? Could we say that the turn of greed came to Father Crépin through the treasures that were at his disposal and that he succumbed? - This is not a general rule but it is exact in his particular case. Know this that there are many who, since the beginning, take a path that exempt them from many trials.

Mrs. E. de Girardin, Medium
We extracted the following article from the chronicle of the ParisJournal, number 44. There is no need for comments. It shows that the apparent “experts” of Spiritism are misguided, as unkindly say those who unceremoniously assume the privilege of bearing common sense judgment. We, however, can find consolation and even feel honored to be consoled, following insight at the level of Mrs. de Girardin and so many others.

“The other day I promised you the story of Mrs. de Girardin and a famous doctor. I will do that today for I was granted permission to do so. It is a very curious story. We will remain in the supernatural with which we have been involved for a long time, we, who by duty, take Paris’ pulse and feel that it is in a fervor-like disposition. Human imagination definitely has the need of knowing the future and penetrating into the mysteries of nature. When we see intelligences like that of Delphine Gay given to practices which we consider puerile, we cannot deny them a certain importance, particularly when supported by irrefutable testimonies, such as this one that I will tell you and you will learn. I refer to the testimony and not to the doctor – be aware.”

“Mrs. de Girardin had a little planchette and a pencil. She consulted with that incessantly. She thus obtained conversations with many famous people throughout History, and even the devil who also were amongst those people. Once he came in one evening, revealing himself to an important person who was not afraid since his role was to expel the devil. The great Delphine did nothing before consulting with the planchette. She asked for literary advice that was not refused. It was even considered an academic severity to the illustrious poet. Thus it constantly reiterated the request to no longer write tragedies without considering the wonderful verses of her play Judith and Cleopatra. Who is going to watch the representation of a tragedy? People who are drama and poetry fanatics. What do they seek in a tragedy? The beautiful verses, which touch and move them as well as Judith and Cleopatra, have plenty of these woman’s thoughts, expressed by the heart of a woman of eminent spirit and heart, whose talent is contested by no one. In one word, the planchette wanted no more tragedies; it was obstinate with prose and comedy; cooperated with the scripts and corrected the prolixity.”

“Delphine not only entrusted it with her literary works but also her sufferings, asking for orientation regarding her health. Ah! Those orientations dictated by the ill imagination or by the devil contributed to keep her away from us. She took incredible medicines like slices of bread with butter and pepper, bell pepper and all creations harmful to an inflammable nature like hers. Proofs of that were found after her death, from which her friends and admirers will never find consolation.”

“Everybody knows Chasseriau, also disappeared in the prime of his age. He made a great portrait of the beautiful deceased from memory. A poster image of that was made and now it can be found everywhere. He took the portrait to the mentioned doctor and asked him if he was happy with that. The doctor made some repairs. The painter was about to agree with the modifications when both had the idea of addressing the model herself. They placed their hands onto the planchette and thus Mrs. de Girardin revealed herself almost immediately. One can only imagine their commotion. Questioned about the picture, she said that it was not perfect but they should not touch it as they would take the risk of spoiling it, and since total similarity is very difficult to capture when there is no other resource but memory. They asked her other questions. She refused to answer some but responded to others.”

“They asked about the place where she was.”
• “I don’t want to say, she replied.”
“Despite every request they could not obtain any answer about that.”
• “Are you happy?”
• “No”.
• “Why?”
• “Because I can no longer be useful to those who I love.

” She became adamantly mute while she was told about the other life and gave no explanation. She did not say either if she acted in such a manner for prohibition or her own will. After a long conversation, she left. The minutes of this session were registered. The two witnesses were so impressed that they no longer dealt with the case. The doctor now could evoke the one who helped him on that day and have these two spirits guiding his planchette. How things are in this world! And what teachings come out from these strange facts, if we consider them from the philosophical and religious point of view.”

The Flying Tables

We found an article with the title above in the Illustration, from 1853, preceded by the indispensable jokes that we offer to our readers.

“It is about the turning tables! There you have the flying tables! And the phenomenon is not new. It exists since long ago. Where, you ask? Give my word that it is a bit far away, in Siberia. A Russian newspaper Sjevernava Plschela, which means The Northern Bee, in its last April 27th number, containing an article by Mr. Tscherepanoff about the subject, who has traveled around the regions of the Kalmuks. Here is a passage:”

“It is well-known that the Lamas, Buddhist priests, a religion which counts on the adherence of all Mongolians and Russian Kalmuks25, similarly to the Egyptian priests, do not reveal the discovered secrets, using them however to increase the influence that they exert upon the naturally superstitious people. That is how they pretend to have the power of finding stolen objects, utilizing the flying tables. Those things happen in the following way:

“The victim of theft addresses the Lama, asking him to reveal the place where the objects are hidden. The Buddhist priest requests two or three days to get ready for that grave ceremony. When the time comes, he seats on the floor having a small squared table in front of him, rests his hand on the table and reads something obscure. It lasts about half an hour.
After mumbling the initial prayers he stands up, keeping the hands in the original position, and the table moves up in the air. The Lama straightens up and raises his hands above the head. The table moves up to the height of his hands. The Lama moves one step forward and the table follows the example. The Lama steps back and the table does the same. Finally, the table moves to several places before falling back on the floor. The searched object is in the main direction taken by the table. If we believe in what the inhabitants of the region say, there have been cases in which the table fell exactly on the place where the stolen object was hidden.”
“In the experience witnessed by Mr. Tscherepanoff the table flew over a distance of 15 fathoms. The stolen object was not immediately found but in the direction indicated by the object resided a Russian peasant who noticed the signal. He committed suicide on that very day. His sudden death raised suspicions. His home was searched and the stolen object was found.”
“The traveler saw three other unsuccessful experiences. The table did not want to move. As a matter of fact the Lamas had no difficulty in explaining such immobility. If the furniture did not move it meant that the objects could not be found.”
“Mr. Tscherepanoff witnessed that phenomenon in 1831 in the village of Jelany – I did not believe it with my own eyes, he says, but I was persuaded that there was some sort of fraud there and that my Lama was using a string, skillfully dissimulated or a wire to raise the table in the air. Looking closely, however, I was unable to detect any cord or wire. The table was a thin board of pine, not weighing more than a pound and a half. Today I am convinced that the phenomenon is produced by the same cause which produces the dancing tables.”

“Thus, the bosses of the sect of the Spiritist, who believed to have invented the turning tables, did nothing else but to spread the news of an invention known long ago by other peoples. Nihil sub sole novi, said Salomon. Who knows over the time of Salomon himself the way of making the tables turn wasn’t already known! What do I say? This was known well before the rightful son of David. Read the North China Herald, cited by the Gazette d’Ausbourg, from May 11th, and you will see that the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire have been having fun with this game since immemorial times.”
We have already said, hundreds of times, that Spiritism, belonging to nature, is one of its powers. The phenomena resulting from that must have happened at all times and among all peoples, interpreted, commented, and dressed according to the corresponding traditions and degrees of instruction. We have never intended that it is a modern invention. The more we advance the more we discover the traces it has been left everywhere and at all times. The contemporaries have no other merit but to have undressed it from mysticism, exaggeration and superstitious ideas from the time of ignorance. It is impressive that the majority of people that so frivolously speak about it have not taken the time to study it. Judge it from the first impression, most of the time by having heard, without knowledge of cause, and become surprised when on the bottom of all that we show them one of the principles related to the gravest interest of humanity. One should not think that we are talking about the interest regarding things of the other world only. Those who do not stop at the surface easily see that it is related to all vital questions of the present world. Who could have guessed that from a frog dancing on a plate, in contact with a silver spoon, would have born a means of communication from one extreme to the other of globe in a few seconds; of guiding the lightning; of producing a light similar to the Sun? Patience Mr. Mocker! From a turning table it can well derive a giant to put aside the scorners. Considering the way things are, this will not be long.

ALLAN KARDEC


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