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EXPERIMENTAL SPIRITISM.
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$0flk 0tt fSrthtms;
OR,
GUIDE FOR MEDIUMS AND INVOCATORS:
CONTAINING
THE SPECIAL INSTRUCTION OF THE SPIRITS ON THE THEORY OF ALL KINDS OF MANIFESTATIONS; THE MEANS OF COMMUNICATING WITH THE INVISIBLE WORLD ; THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIUMSHIP ; THE DIFFI- CULTIES AND THE DANGERS THAT ARE TO BE ENCOUNTERED IN THE PRACTICE OF SPIRITISM.
BY
ALLAN KARDEC.
TRANSLATED BY EMMA A. WOOD.
BOSTON :
COLBY AND RICH, PUBLISHERS, * 9 Montgomery Place.
is74.
&
,#
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874,
By COLBY AND RICH,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
Stereotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry, No. l'J Spring .baue.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
In offering to the public a translation of a work of so celebrated an author as Allan Kardec, and one so much beloved among spiritists in foreign countries, not only for his scientific attainments i'n spirit studies, but for his purity of life and character, I feel my own incom- petency for the task — my own incompetency but for the assistance received from the Spirits who are inter- ested in my undertaking. I have endeavored to ren- der faithfully the exact meaning of the original, and I can truly say the work of translating has been a labor of love, to be fully repaid to me. by the good I am sure it will perform among our own people.
E. A. W.
CONTENTS
PAG8
INTRODUCTION . 7
PART FIRST.
PRELIMINARY IDEAS.
Chapter I. ARE THERE SPIRITS ? 13
Chapter II. THE MARVELLOUS AND SUPERNATURAL . . 21
Chapter III. METHOD 33
Manner of proceeding with Materialists. — Materialists from System, and Materialists from Want of something Better. — Skeptics from Ignorance, from Ill-will, from Interest and Insincerity, from Pusillanimity, from Religious Scruples, from Deceptions. — Three Classes of Spiritists : Experimental Spiritists, Imperfect Spiritists, Christian or True Spiritists. — Order in Spirit Studies.
Chapter IV. SYSTEMS 48
Different Modes of Viewing Spiritism. — Negative Systems: Charlatan- ism, Insanity, Hallucination, Muscle Cracking, Physical Causes, Reflex Action. — Affirmative Systems: System of the Co^ective Soul ; Somnambulic, Pessimist, Diabolic or Demoniac, Optionist, Unispirit or Monospirit, Mul- tispirit or Polyspirit Systems ; System of the Material Soul.
PART SECOND. SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS.
Chapter I. ACTION OF SPIRITS ON MATTER 69
Chapter II. PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS. — TURNING TA- BLES 76
3 '
4 CONTENTS.
Chapter J 1 1. INTELLIGENT MANIFESTATIONS 80
Chapter IV. THEORY OF PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS . . 84
Movements and Levitations. — Noises. — Increase and Diminution of the Weight of Bodies.
Chapter V. SPONTANEOUS PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS . 99
Noises, Racket, and Disturbances. — Objects thrown. — Phenomenon of Materialization. — Dissertation of a Spirit on Materialization.
Chapter VI. VISUAL MANIFESTATIONS 127
Questions on Apparitions. — Theoretic Essay on Apparitions. — Globular Spirits. — Theory ot Hallucination.
Chapter VII. BI-CORPOREITY AND TRANSFIGURATION . . 151
Apparitions of the Spirit of the Living. — Double Men. — St. Alphonse de Liguori and St. Antoine of Padua. — Vespasian. — Transfiguration. — In- visibility.
Chapter VIII. LABORATORY OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD . . 162
Clothing of Spirits. — Spontaneous Formation of Tangible Objects. — Modification of the Properties of Matter. — Magnetic Curative Action.
Chapter IX. HAUNTED PLACES 172
Chapter X. NATURE OF COMMUNICATIONS 178
Gross, Frivolous, Serious, or Instructive Communications.
Chapter XL SEMATOLOGY AND TYPTOLOGY 183
Language of Signs and Rappings. — Alphabetic Typtology.
Chapter XII.
PNEUMATOGRAPHY, OR DIRECT WRITING.— PNEUMATOPHONY 190
CONTENTS.
Chapter XIII. PSYCHOGRAPHY 196
Indirect Psychography : Baskets and Planchettcs. — Direct or Manual Psychography.
Chapter XIV. OF MEDIUMS 201
Mediums for Physical Effects. — Electrical Persons. — Sensitive or Im- pressible Mediums. — Auditive Mediums. — Speaking Mediums. — Seeing Mediums. — Somnambulic Mediums. — Healing Mediums. — Pneumato- graphic Mediums.
Chapter XV. WRITING OR PSYCHOGRAPHIC MEDIUMS . . 219
Mechanical ; Intuitive ; Semi-mechanical ; Inspired or Involuntary Me- diums, and Mediums for Presentiments.
Chapter XVI. SPECIAL MEDIUMS 225
Special Aptitudes of Mediums. — Synoptical List of the Different Varieties of Mediums.
Chapter XVII. FORMATION OF MEDIUMS 246
Development of Mediumship. — Change of Writing. — Loss and Suspen- sion of Mediumship.
Chapter XVIII.
INCONVENIENCES AND DANGERS OF MEDI- UMSHIP 265
Influence of the Exercise of Mediumship on the Health ; on the Brain ; on Children.
Chapter XIX.
ROLE OF THE MEDIUM IN SPIRIT COMMUNI- CATIONS 269
Influence of the Personal Spirit of the Medium. — System of Inert Me- diums. — Aptitude of some Mediums for Things they do not know : the Languages, Music, Drawing, &c. — Dissertation of a Spirit on the Role of Mediums.
Chapter XX. MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE MEDIUM ... 285
Various Questions. — Disscrtt.tu n of a Spirit on Moral Influence.
Chapter XXI. INFLUENCE OF THE SURROUNDINGS. . . . 296
6 CONTENTS.
Chapter XXII. OF MEDIUMSHIP IN ANIMALS 300
Chapter XXIII. OF OBSESSION 308
Simple Obsession. — Fascination. — Subjugation. — Causes of Obsession. — Means of combating it.
Chapter XXIV. IDENTITY OF SPIRITS 328
Possible Proofs of Identity. — Distinction of Good and Bad Spirits. — Questions on the Nature and Identity of Spirits.
Chapter XXV. ON INVOCATIONS 353
General Considerations. — Spirits who may be invoked. — Language to hold with Spirits. — Utility of Special Invocations. — Questions on Invoca- tions. — Invocations of Animals. — Invocations of Living Persons. — Human Telegraphy.
Chapter XXVI.
QUESTIONS THAT MAY BE ASKED OF THE SPIRITS 386
Preliminary Observations. — Questions Sympathetic or Antipathetic to Spirits. — Questions on the Future. — On Past and Future Existences. — On Moral and Material Interests. — On the Fate of Spirits. — On the Health. — On Inventions and Discoveries. — On Hidden Treasure. — On other Worlds.
Chapter XXVII. ON CONTRADICTIONS AND MYSTIFICATIONS 407
Chapter XXVIII. CHARLATANISM AND JUGGLERY 420
Interested Mediums. — Spiritist Frauds.
Chapter XXIX. REUNIONS AND SPIRITIST SOCIETIES . . .434
Of Reunions in General. — Of Societies so called. — Subjects of Study. — Rivalry among Societies.
NOTES 457
INTRODUCTION.
Daily experience confirms us in this opinion, that
the difficulties and disappointments met in the prac-
; tice of Spiritism have their source in ignorance of
the principles of that science ; and we are happy in
' bein£r able to state, that what we have written to
. . .
I caution believers against the dangers of a novitiate
has borne its fruits, and that many have owed their power to avoid them to the attentive perusal of this work.
A very natural desire with persons who engage in Spiritism is, to be able themselves to enter into com- munication with spirits. This work is intended to smooth their road, by allowing them to profit by our long and laborious studies ; for it would be a very 1 false idea to think that, in order to be expert in this i matter, it is only- necessary to know how to pose the j fingers on a table to make it turn, or to hold a pencil I to write.
One would be equally deceived expecting to find in | this work a universal and infallible recipe to form ; mediums. Although every one possesses within him-
7
8 INTRODUCTION.
self the germ of the qualities necessary to become a medium, these qualities exist in very different degrees, and their development is linked to causes which no one can command at will. The rules of poetry, paint- ing, and music make neither poets, painters, nor musicians of those who have not the genius. They guide in the employment of the natural faculties. It is the same with our work ; its object is to indicate the means of developing the mediumistic faculty, as far as each one's disposition permits, and, above all, to direct its employment in a useful manner, when the faculty exists. But that is not the only end we propose to ourselves.
Besides mediums proper, there is the daily increas- ing crowd of persons who interest themselves in spirit manifestations : to guide them in their observations, to point out to them the stumbling-blocks they will and must necessarily encounter in a new thing, to initiate them into the manner of conversing with spirits, to indicate to them the means of having good communications, — such is the circle we must embrace, under, penalty of making an incomplete work. Be not,, then, surprised to find in our book information which, at first sight, may appear foreign to it : experi- ence will show its utility. After having studied it with care, the effects that may be witnessed will be better understood ; the language of certain spirits will appear less strange. As practical instruction, it does not address itself exclusively to mediums, but to all those who desire to see and observe the spirit phe- nomena.
INTRODUCTION, 9
Some persons have desired that we should publish a very succinct practical manual, containing in few words the processes to follow in order to enter into communication with spirits. They think that a small book of this nature could, from the modesty of its price, be more extensively diffused, and would be a powerful means of propagandism in multiplying me- diums : for our own part, we should regard such a work as more hurtful than useful, at least for the present. v"The practice of Spiritism is surrounded by many difficulties, and is not always exempt from dan- gers, which a serious and complete study alone can prevent. It might, then, readily be feared, that a too succinct indication would induce only experiments made with levity, and which might be bitterly re- pented : these are things with which it is neither proper nor prudent to make sport, and we should con- sider ourselves as rendering an ill service in putting them at the disposal of the first giddy-pated mortal who might find it agreeable to talk with the dead. We address ourselves to those who see in Spiritism a serious end, who comprehend all its gravity, and do not make a sport of communications from the invisible world.
We had published a "Practical Instruction," to guide mediums ; this work is out of print, and though written with an eminently grave and serious design, we shall not reprint it, because we do not find it sufficiently complete to shed light on the difficulties that may be encountered. We have replaced it by this, in which
IO INTRODUCTION.
we have combined all the advantages that a long expe- rience and a conscientious study have enabled us to acquire. It will contribute — at least we hope so — to give to Spiritism the serious character which is its essence, and to prevent its being viewed as a subject of frivolous occupation and amusement.
To these considerations we will add one very im- portant ; this is the bad impression produced on nov- ices and ill-disposed persons by the sight of experi- ments made with levity and without any especial cause : they give a very false idea of the world of spirits, and open the way to raillery and to criticism often too well founded ; this is why skeptics are rarely convinced in those reunions, and are so little disposed to see anything serious in Spiritism. The ignorance and levity of some mediums have done more harm than they would believe.
Spiritism has made great progress within a few years, but far greater since it has entered the philo- sophic plane, because it has been appreciated by enlightened people. To-day it is no longer a specta- cle ; it is a doctrine at which those who made a jest of table-turning no longer laugh. In making our efforts to bring it on this ground, and maintain it there, we feel convinced that we shall conquer for it more useful partisans than were we to draw out at random manifestations that might be abused. We have the daily proof of this in the number of believ- ers which the mere perusal of the Book on Spirits has made.
INTRO D UCTION. 1 1
After having, in the Book on Spirits, exhibited the philosophical part of spirit science, we give in this work the practical part for the use of those who desire either to engage in manifestations themselves, or to take into consideration the phenomena they may- be called upon to witness. They will here see the dangers they must encounter, and will thus have a means of avoiding them. These two works, though forming a series, are, up to a certain point, independent of each other ; but to those who would seriously apply themselves to this matter, we will say, Read first the Book on Spirits, because it contains the fundamental principles without which certain parts of this would be difficult of comprehension.
Important alterations have been made in this sec- ond edition, much more complete than the first. It has been corrected with especial care by the spirits, who have added to it a very great number of remarks and instructions of the utmost interest. As they have reviewed it entirely, approved or modified it at their will, it may be said to be, in a great measure, their work ; for their intervention is not limited to some signed articles : we have indicated the names only when it has seemed necessary to characterize certain somewhat extended citations as coming from them word by word ; otherwise we must have quoted them on almost every page, especially in all the answers given to propounded questions, which seemed scarcely necessary. Names, as every one knows, are of small moment in such matters ; the essential thing
INTRODUCTION.
is, that the entire work shall answer to the proposed end. The welcome given to the first, though imper- fect edition, encourages us to hope that this will be received with no less favor.
As we have added to it many things, and several entire chapters, so we have suppressed some articles which made double work, among others the Spirit Scale, which had already been given in the Book on Spirits. We have also suppressed the Vocabulary, which did not specially come within the scope of this work, and which is usefully replaced by more practi- cal things. Besides, the Vocabulary was not suffi- ciently complete; we shall publish it separately by and by, in the form of a small dictionary of spiritual philosophy : we have retained here only the new words, or those specially relating to the object in which we are engaged.
EXPERIMENTAL SPIRITISM,
PART FIRST.
PRELIMINARY IDEAS.
Chapter I.
ARE THERE SPIRITS?
i. The doubt respecting the existence of spirits has for its first cause ignorance of their true nature. They are usually thought of as beings apart in the creation, and whose necessity is not demonstrated. Many know them only by the fantastic tales heard in their childhood, almost as one knows history by ro- mances : without seeking to find whether these tales, stripped of ridiculous accessories, rest on a foundation of truth, the absurd side alone strikes them : not taking the trouble to strip off the bitter bark to find the almond, they reject the whole ; as, in religion, some persons, shocked by certain abuses, confound all in the same reprobation.
Whatever may be one's idea of spirits, this belief is necessarily founded on the existence of an intelligent principle outside of matter : it is incompatible with the absolute negation of this principle. We take, then, our point of departure from the existence, the
13
14 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
survival, and the individuality of the soul, of which Spiritualism is the theoric and dogmatic demonstra- tion, and Spiritism the manifestation. Let us for a moment make an abstraction of the manifestations, properly so called, and, reasoning by induction, let us see to what consequences we shall arrive.
2. From the moment that the existence of the soul is admitted, and its individuality after death, it must also be admitted, first, that it is of a different nature from the body, since, once separated, it no longer has the properties of the latter : secondly, that it enjoys a consciousness of itself, since to it is attributed happi- ness or suffering ; otherwise it would be an inert being, and of no use for us to have one. This admit- ted, this soul goes somewhere. What becomes of it, and where does it go ? According to the common belief it goes to heaven or hell. But where are heaven and hell ? It was said, in other times, that heaven was above and hell below : but what is above and what is below in the universe since the roundness of the earth is known ; the movement of the stars, which makes what is above at one given moment become below in twelve hours ; the infinity of space, into which the eye plunges to immeasurable distances ? It is true that by low places we also understand the depths of the earth ; but what has become of those depths since they have been searched into by geology ? What, too, of those concentric spheres, called " heaven of fire," " heaven of stars " ? since it is known that the earth is not the center of the worlds, that our sun itself is only one of the millions of suns which shine in space, and of which each is the center of a plan- etary system. What becomes of the importance of the earth, lost in this immensity ? By what unjus-
ARE THERE SPIRITS t 15
tifiablc privilege should this imperceptible grain of sand, distinguished neither by its size, its position, nor any particular character, be alone peopled with reason- able beings ?
Reason refuses to admit this inutility of the infinite, and everything tells us that these worlds are inhab- ited. If they are peopled, then they furnish their pro- portion to the world of souls : but again, what becomes of these souls, since astronomy and geology have de- stroyed the dwellings that were assigned them ? and, above all, since the so rational theory of the plurality of worlds has multiplied them to infinity.
The doctrine of the localization of souls not a<rree- ing with the facts of science, another more logical doctrine assigns to them as domain/not a determined and circumscribed spot, but universal space : it is an entire invisible world, in the midst of which we live, which surrounds us, and is always in close contact .with us. Is there in that an impossibility — anything repugnant to reason ? Not at all ; on the contrary, everything tells us it can not be otherwise.
But, then, future pains and rewards, — what becomes of them, if you take away their special places ? Re- mark that incredulity as to the place of these pains and rewards is generally excited because they are pre- sented in inadmissible conditions : but say, instead, that the souls find their happiness or misery within themselves, that their lot is subordinated to their moral state ; that the reunion of good and sympa- thetic souls is a source of felicity ; that, according to the degree of their purification, they penetrate and see into things that vanish before gross souls, — and every one will understand it without trouble. Say, again, that souls reach the supreme degree only through the
I
1 6 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
efforts they make for self-improvement, and after a series of trials which serve for their purification ; that the angels are souls that have reached the highest degree, which all may attain by effort ; that the angels are God's messengers, charged to watch over the exe- cution of his designs throughout the universe ; that they are happy in these glorious missions, — and you give to their felicity a more useful and attractive object than that of a perpetual contemplation, which would be nothing more than a perpetual uselessness. Say, again, that demons are but the souls of the wick- ed, not yet purified, but which can be, like the others ; and that will appear more conformable to the justice and to the goodness of God than the doctrine of being created for evil, and perpetually devoted to evil. Still again, this is what the severest reason, the most exact logic, in a word, good sense, can admit.
But these souls that people space are precisely what are called spirits : spirits, then, are but the souls of. men stripped of their corporeal envelope. If spirits were beings apart, their existence would be more hy- pothetical ; but if we admit that there are souls, we must also admit spirits, who are naught else but souls : if we admit that souls are everywhere, we must equally admit that spirits are everywhere. The existence of spirits, then, cannot be denied without denying the existence of souls.
3. This, it is true, is only a theory, more rational than the other : but it is much to have a theory con- tradicted neither by reason nor science : still more, if it is corroborated by facts, it has for itself the sanction of reasoning and experience. We find these facts in the phenomena of spiritual manifestations, which thus are the proofs patent of the existence of the soul, and
ARE THERE SPIRITS? 1 7
its survival of the earthly body. But with many per- sons belief stops short at that point ; they fully admit the existence of souls, and, consequently, of spirits ; but they deny the possibility of communicating with them, for the reason, they say, that immaterial beings cannot act on matter. This doubt is founded on ignorance of the true nature of spirits, of which a very false idea is generally conceived ; for they are wrongly imagined to be abstract, vague, and indefinite beings, which they are not.
Lei us first speak of the spirit in its union with the body. The spirit is the principal being, since it is the being that thinks and survives ; the body is, then, only an accessory of the spirit — an envelope, a clothing, which it abandons when worn out. Besides this mate- rial envelope, the spirit has a second, semi-material, which' unites it to the first : at death, the spirit strips off the first, but not the second, to which we give the name of perisprit '. This semi-material envelope in the human form constitutes for the spirit a fluidic vapor- ous body, but which, invisible to us in its normal state, does not the less possess some of the properties of matter. The spirit, then, is not a point, an abstrac- tion, but a being, limited and circumscribed, to whom is wanting only the properties of being visible and palpable to resemble human beings. Why, then, can it not act upon matter ? Is it because its body is fluidic ? But is it not among the most rarefied of fluids, those even regarded as imponderable, — electricity, for in- stance, — that man finds his most powerful motors ? Does not imponderable light exercise a chemical ac- tion on ponderable matter ? We do not know the specific nature of the perisprit ; but let us suppose it formed of electrical matter, or some other equally sub- 2
1 8 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
tile, why should it not possess the same property when directed by a will ?
4. The existence of a soul, and that of God, — the consequence one of the other, — being the base of the whole superstructure, before entering into a spiritual discussion it is necessary to assure ourselves if the interlocutor admits this base.
If to these questions, —
Do you believe in God ?
Do you believe you have a soul ?
Do you believe in the survival of the soul after death ? — he answers negatively, or even if he simply says, "I dorit know ; I hope it may be so, but I am not sine" — the most frequent equivalent to a polite nega- tion, disguised under less offensive form to avoid shocking too abruptly what are called respectable prejudices, — it would be equally as useless to go fur- ther, as to undertake to demonstrate the properties of light to a blind man, who would not admit the exist- ence of light ; for, finally, spiritual manifestations are naught else but the effects of the properties of the soul : with such a person quite another order of ideas should be entered upon, if one would not lose one's time.
If the base is admitted, not as a probability, but as a positively declared, incontestable thing, the existence of spirits naturally flows from it.
5. There now remains the question to know if the spirit can communicate with man ; that is to say, if he can exchange ideas with man. And why not ? What is man, if not a spirit imprisoned in a body ? Why should not the free spirit communicate with the cap- tive spirit, as the free man with one who is enchained? While you admit the survival of the soul, is it rational
ARE THERE SPIRITS t IQ
not to admit the survival of the affections ? Since souls are everywhere, is it not natural to think that the soul of a being who has loved us during his life should come near to us, and should use for that pur- pose the means at his disposal ? During his life did he not act on the matter of his body ? Was it not he who directed its movements ? Why, then, after his death, being in accord with another spirit bound to a body, should he not borrow this body to manifest his thought, as a dumb person uses a speaker to make himself understood ?
6. Let us for a moment make an abstract of the facts which, for us, render the thing incontestable ; let us admit it in the shape of a simple hypothesis ; we ask that the skeptical prove to us, not by a simple negation, — for their personal opinion does not make a law, — but by peremptory reasons, that it cannot be.
We plant ourselves on their ground, and since they wish to appraise spiritual facts by the aid of material laws, let them draw from that arsenal some mathemat- ical, physical, chemical, mechanical, physiological dem- onstration, and prove by a plus b, always beginning from the principle of the existence and survival of the soul, —
First. That the being who thinks in us during life should think no longer after death.
Second. That if he thinks, he should not think of those he has loved.
Third. That if he thinks of those he has loved, he should not wish to communicate with them.
Fourth. That if he can be everywhere, he cannot be by our side.
Fifth. That if he is by our side, he cannot commu- nicate with us.
20 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
Sixth. That by his fluidic envelope he cannot act on inert matter.
Seventh. That if he can act on inert matter, he can- not act on an animated being.
Eighth. That if he can act on art animated being, he cannot direct his hand to make him write.
Ninth. That, being able to make him write, he can- not answer his questions, and transmit to him his thoughts.
When the adversaries of Spiritism shall have de- monstrated to us that this cannot be, by reasons as patent as those by which Galileo demonstrated that it is not the sun that turns around the earth, then we shall be able to say their doubts are well founded. Unhappily, up to this day all their arguments are com- prised in these words \" I do not believe it ; therefore it is impossible!* They will, doubtless, say that it is for us to prove the reality of the manifestations. We prove it to them by reasoning and by facts : if they admit neither one nor the other, if they deny even what they see, it is for them to prove that our reason- ing is false, and our facts impossible.
Chapter II.
THE MARVELOUS AND SUPERNATURAL.
7. If the belief in spirits and in their manifestations were an isolated conception, the product of a system, it could, with some appearance of reason, be suspected of illusion ; but we should like to be told why it is constantly found so strongly impressed among all people, ancient and modern, in holy books and in all known religions ? It is, say some critics, because man, in all times, has loved the marvelous. What, then, do you consider the marvelous ? Whatever is supernatural. What do you understand by supernat- ural ? Whatever is contrary to the laws of nature. You are, then, so thoroughly acquainted with these laws, that it is possible for you to assign a limit to the power of God ? Well, prove, then, that the existence of spirits and their manifestations are contrary to the laws of nature ; that it is not, and can not be, one of these laws. Follow the spirit doctrine, and see if it has not all the characteristics of an admirable law, which solves all that the laws of philosophy have, until now, been unable to solve.
Thought is one of the attributes of the spirit ; the possibility of acting on matter, of making an impres- sion on our senses, and, consequently, of transmitting his thought, -results, if we may so express ourselves, from his physiological constitution ; then there is nothing in this fact either supernatural or marvelous.
21
22 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
When a man dead, thoroughly dead, revives corpore- ally,— when his dispersed members re-unite to re-form his body, — that is something marvelous, supernatu- ral, fantastical ; that would be a veritabLe derogation, which God could accomplish only by a miracle ; but there is nothing of the kind in the spirit doctrine.
8. Nevertheless you admit, it will be said, that a spirit can raise a table, and maintain it in space with- out support ; is not this a derogation of the law of gravity? Yes, to the known law ; but has Nature said her last word ? Before the ascensional force of certain gases had been discovered, who would have said that a heavy machine, carrying several men, could triumph over the force of attraction ? Would not this seem to the eyes of the crowd marvelous, diabolical ? A hundred years ago, a person who should have pro- posed to transmit a despatch five hundred leagues and receive an answer in a few minutes, would have been called a fool : had he done it, it would have been thought he had the devil under his orders ; for at that time the devil alone was capable of traveling so rap- idly. Why, then, should not an unknown fluid have the property, under given circumstances, to counter- balance the effect of weight, as hydrogen counterbal- ances the weight of the balloon ?
This, let us remark, en passant, is a comparison, but not an assimilation, and simply to show, by analogy, that the fact is not physically impossible. Now, it is precisely when the learned, in the observation of these phenomena, have wished to proceed by assimilation that they have been led astray. As to the rest, the fact is there : all the denials can not make it not be ; for to deny is not to prove. For ourselves, there is in it nothing supernatural; that is all we can say at present.
77/ A" MARVELOUS AND SUPERNATURAL. 23
9. If the fact is verified, it may be said we accept it ; we accept even the cause you have assigned* — that of an unknown fluid, — but what proves the interven- tion of spirits ? There lies the marvelous, the super- natural.
An entire demonstration would be necessary here, which would not be in place, and besides, would make double work ; for it will be found throughout the other parts of the book. Only we will say, to sum it up in a few words, that it is founded, in theory, on this principle — all intelligent effect should have an intelli- gent cause ; in practice, on this observation — that the phenomena called spiritual, having given proofs of in- telligence, should have their cause outside of matter ; that this intelligence, not being that of the assistants, — this is a result of experience, — must be outside of them : since the acting being can not be seen, it musx be an invisible being. It is thus that, from observa' tion to observation, we have learned that this invisible being, to which we have given the name of spirit, is no other tharfthe soul of those who have lived corpo- really, and whom death has stripped of their gross, visible envelope, leaving them only an ethereal enve- lope, invisible in its normal state. Here, then, are the marvelous and the supernatural reduced to their sim- plest expression.
The existence of invisible beings once proved, their action on matter results from the nature of their fluidic envelope : this action is intelligent, because, in dying, they have lost only their body, but have retained intel- ligence, which is their essence ; that is the key to all the phenomena erroneously reported supernatural. The existence of spirits is not, then, a preconceived system, an imagined hypothesis to explain facts ; it
24 BOOK ON MEDIUMS,
is a result of observations, and the natural consequence of the existence of the soul : to deny this cause is to deny the soul and its attributes. Those who may think they can give a more rational solution of these intelligent effects, — above all, giving a reason for all the facts, — let them do so, and then the merits of each may be discussed.
io. To the eyes of those who regard matter as the sole power in nature, all that ca7i not be explained by the laws of matter is marvelous or supernatural, and for them, marvelous is synonymous with superstitious. To such persons, religion founded on the existence of an immaterial principle would be a tissue of super- stitions ; they dare not say it aloud, but say it softly, and think to save appearances by conceding that there needs a religion for the people and to make chil- dren good ; but one of two things, either the religious principle is true or it is false ; if true, it is so for all the world ; if false, it is no better for the ignorant than for the enlightened.
ii. Those who attack. Spiritism, under the name of the marvelous, generally rest on the materialistic principle ; since, in the very denying of all extra ma- terial effect, they deny the existence of the soul : go to the very bottom of their thought, scrutinize well the sense of their words, and you will almost always see this principle, if not categorically formulated, peep from under the pretended rational philosophy with which they cover it.
Thus, in rejecting, on the score of marvelous, all that flows from the existence of the soul, they are con- sistent with themselves ; not admitting the cause, they can not admit the effects : thence a preconceived opin- ion, that incapacitates them from judging soundly of
THE MARVELOUS AND SUPERNATURAL. 2$
Spiritism, because they start on a principle of nega- tion for all that is not material. As for us, while we admit all the effects which are the consequence of the existence of the soul, does it follow that we should accept all the facts called marvelous ? that we should be the champions of all dreamers, skilled in all Utopi- an projects/all systematic eccentricities ? One must know very little of Spiritism to think so ; but our adversaries do not look at it so closely ; the necessity of knowing what they talk of is the least of their care. According to them, the marvelous is absurd ; Spiritism rests on marvelous facts ; hence Spiritism is absurd: this is, for them, a judgment without appeal. They think to offer an unanswerable argument when, after having made erudite researches among the convulsionaries of St. Medard, the camisards of the caverns, the nuns of Loudun, they have discovered patent evidences of fraud, which no one denies ; but are these histories the evangel of Spiritism ? Have its partisans denied that charlatanism has used certain facts for its profit ? that the imagination has created, and fanaticism exaggerated much of it ? It i«s no more responsible for the extravagances committed in its name, than true science for the abuses of ignorance, and true religion for the excesses of fanaticism.
Many critics judge Spiritism only by fairy tales and popular legends, which are its fictions : as well judge history by historical romances or tragedies.
12. In elementary logic, to discuss a thing, one must know it ; for the opinion of a critic has a value only as he speaks in perfect knowledge of cause ; then, only, his opinion, were it erroneous, can be taken into consideration : but of what weight is it on a matter of which he knows nothing ? The true critic should
26 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
give proof, not only of erudition, but of profound knowledge of the parts of the subject-matter, of a sound judgment, and of impartiality in every trial ; otherwise any fiddler could arrogate to himself the right to judge of Rossini, and a dauber that of censur- ing Raphael.
13. Spiritism, then, does not accept all the facts re- puted marvelous or supernatural ; far from that, it demonstrates the impossibility of a great number, and the absurdity of certain beliefs which constitute, prop- erly speaking, superstition. It is true that in what it admits there are things that, for the skeptic, are of the purely marvelous, otherwise called superstition. So be it ; but at least discuss only those points, for on the others it has nothing to say, and you preach to the converted. In attacking what refutes itself, you prove your ignorance of the matter, and your arguments fall to the ground. But, it may be said, where does the belief of Spiritism stop ? Read, observe, and you will know. No science is acquired without time and study ; and Spiritism, which touches on the gravest questions of philosophy, on all the branches of social order, which embraces at the same time man physical and man moral, is itself an entire science, an entire philos- ophy, which can no more be learned in a few hours than any other science. There would be as much pue- rility in seeing the whole of Spiritism in table-turning as to see the whole of physics in certain toys. / For whoever would penetrate beyond the surface, there are not hours, but months and years, required to probe all its mysteries. Judge by that of the degree of knowl- edge, and of the value of the opinion of those who arrogate to themselves the right of judging, because they have witnessed one or two experiments, most
THE MARVELOUS AND SUPERNATURAL. 2J
often only by way of distraction or pastime. They will, doubtless, say they have not the leisure to give all the time necessary to this study. So be it ; noth- ing constrains them ; but, then, when they have not the time to learn a thing, let them not speak on it, still less judge it, if they would not be accused of fri- volity ; the more exalted a position one occupies in science, the less excusable is it to treat lightly a sub- ject one does not know.
14. We sum up in the following propositions : —
First. All the spiritual phenomena have for their principle the existence of the soul, its survival of the body, and its manifestations.
Second. These phenomena, being founded on a law of nature, have in them nothing marvelous or super- natural, in the ordinary acceptation of these words.
Third. Many facts are reputed supernatural only by reason of their cause not being known. Spiritism, in assigning their cause, brings them into the domain of natural phenomena.
Fourth. Among the facts called supernatural, there are many of which Spiritism demonstrates the impos- sibility, and which it places among superstitious beliefs.
Fifth. While Spiritism recognizes in many popular beliefs a foundation of truth, it refuses positively the responsibility of all the fantastic tales created by the imagination.
Sixth. To judge Spiritism by what it does not admit, is a proof of ignorance, and destroys all the value of a person's opinion.
Seventh. The explication of the facts admitted by Spiritism, their causes and moral consequences, con- stitute a whole science, a whole philosophy, which requires a serious, persevering, and searching study.
28 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
Eighth. Spiritism can regard as a serious critic only him who may have seen all, studied all, explored all, with the patience and perseverance of a conscientious observer ; who may know as much on this subject as the most enlightened believer ; who, consequently, will have drawn his knowledge from elsewhere than the romances of the science ; to whose attention no fact can be brought with which he is not acquainted, no argument that he has not studied ; let him refute, not by negations, but by other arguments more perempto- ry ; in a word, who can assign a more logical cause for the averred facts. Such a critic is yet to be found.
15. We mentioned the word mi7-acle : a short obser- vation on this subject will not be out of place in this chapter on the marvelous.
In its primitive acceptation, and by its etymology, the wrord miracle signifies extraordinary tiling ; thing admirable to see ; but this word, like many others, has wandered from its original sense, and now it is, accord- ing to the Academy, an act of the divine power coiitra- ry to the common laws of nature. Such is, in fact, its usual acceptation, and it is now only by comparison, and by metaphor, that it is applied to common things which surprise us, and whose cause is unknown. It enters not into our views to examine if God has judged it useful, under certain circumstances, to set aside the laws established by himself ; our aim is only to demon- strate that the spiritual phenomena, however extraor- dinary they may be, do not set aside these laws — have nothing of a miraculous character ; neither are they marvelous or supernatural. A miracle cannot be explained ; the spiritual phenomena, on the contrary, are explained in the most rational manner ; they are
THE MARVELOUS AND SUPERNATURAL. 29
not then miracles, but simple effects, which have their cause in general laws. A miracle has still another character ; it is that of being insulated and isolated. But from the moment a fact is reproduced, so to say, at will, and by different persons, it cannot be a miracle.
Science every day performs miracles in the eyes of the ignorant ; this is why, formerly, those who knew more than the common herd passed for sorcerers, and, as it was thought all super-human science came from the devil, they burned them. Now, when people are much more civilized, they content themselves with sending them to the mad-house.
That a man really dead, as we said in the beginning, should be recalled to life by divine intervention, — that is a real miracle, because it is contrary to the laws of nature. But if the man had only the appearance of death, if there remained in him some latent vitality, and science, or magnetic action, should succeed in re- animating him, this, in the eyes of enlightened persons, is a natural phenomenon ; but in the eyes of the igno- rant, the fact will pass for miraculous, and the author will be pursued with stones or venerated, according to the character of the individuals. In some countries, should a natural philosopher let fly an electrical paper kite, and cause the thunderbolt to strike a tree, this new Prometheus would be looked upon as armed with diabolic power ; and it may be said, in passing, Pro- metheus seems to us singularly to have forestalled Franklin ; but Joshua arresting the movement of the sun, or, rather, of the earth, — this is a real miracle ; for we know of no magnetizer endowed with sufficient power to perform such a prodigy. Of all the spiritual phenomena, one of the most extraordinary is, without contradiction, that of direct writing, and the one that
30 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
shows, in the most evident manner, the action of occult intelligences ; but, as the phenomenon is produced by invisible beings, it is no more miraculous than all the other phenomena due to invisible agents, because these occult beings, who people space, are one of the powers of nature — a power whose action is incessant on the material, as well as on the moral world. '
Spiritism, in shedding light on this power, gives us the key to a crowd of things unexplained and inexpli- cable by all other means, and which have, in times past, passed for prodigies : like magnetism, it reveals a law, if not unknown, at least scarcely comprehend- ed ; or, to better express it, the effects are known, for they have been produced through all time ; but the law was not known, and it is the ignorance of this law that has engendered superstition. The law known, the marvelous disappears, and the phenomena reenter the natural order of things. This is why spirits no more perform a miracle in turning a table, or in writ- ing, than the doctor in reviving a dying man, or the natural philosopher in causing the fall of the thunder- bolt. He who should pretend, by the aid of this sci- ence, to perform miracles, would be either ignorant of the thing or an impostor.
16. Before the causes were known, spiritual phe- nomena, as well as magnetic phenomena, might read- ily have passed for prodigies ; but as the skeptics, the free-thinkers, — that is, those who have the exclusive privilege of reason and good sense, — believe nothing possible which they cannot understand, all facts re- puted wonderful are the object of their ridicule, and as religion contains a great number of facts of this kind, they do not believe in religion ; and from thence
THE MARVELOUS AND SUTERNATLRAL. 3 1
to absolute skepticism is but a step. Spiritism, in ex- plaining- the greater part of these facts, assigns them a cause. It comes, then, to the aid of religion in demonstrating certain facts, which, though no longer possessing a miraculous character, are not the less extraordinary ; and God is no less grand, no less pow- erful, for not having set aside his laws. Of what jests have not the suspensions of St. Cupertin been the ob- ject ! But the ethereal suspension of heavy bodies is a fact explained by spirit law : we have been personally eye-witnesses, and Mr. Home, as well as other persons of our acquaintance, have, at various times, reproduced St. Cupertin's phenomenon. Thus this phenomenon enters into the order of natural things.
17. Among the number of facts of this kind, appa- ritions must be placed in the front rank, because they are most frequent. That of La Salette, about which even the clergy are divided, is not for us an isolated fact. Assuredly we cannot affirm that it took place, because we have no material proof of it ; but for us it is possible, insomuch as millions of recent analogous facts are known to us ; we believe in them, not only because their reality is proved to us, but because we know perfectly the manner in which they are pro- duced. Let any one look well into the theory we give, further on, of apparitions, and it will be seen that this phenomenon becomes as simple and as plausible as a host of physical phenomena which are wonderful only because the key to them is unknown. As to the per- son who presented himself at La Salette, that is anoth- er question ; his identity is not at all demonstrated : we simply state that an apparition could take place ; with the rest we have nothing to do. Every one, in this respect, may have his own convictions. Spiritism
32 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
is not obliged to meddle with them ; we say only that the facts produced by Spiritism reveal to us new laws, and give us the key to a host of things that appear supernatural : if some of those which pass for miracu- lous find here a logical explanation, it is one reason why we should not be in haste to deny what we do not understand.
Spiritual phenomena are contested by some persons precisely because they appear to be outside of the common law, and they cannot explain them to them- selves. Give them a rational basis, and the doubt ceases. Explanation in this age, when words do not satisfy, is, then, a powerful motive for conviction. Thus we see, every day, persons who have never witnessed a single act, have never seen a table turn, nor a medi- um write, and who are as convinced as ourselves, only because they have read and comprehended. If one should only believe what one has seen with the eyes, one's convictions would be reduced to very little.
Chapter III.
METHOD.
1 8. The very natural and praiseworthy desire of every believer — a desire that cannot be too much encouraged — is to make proselytes. It is with the view of facilitating their task that we propose to exam- ine here the surest way, according to our ideas, to attain this end, in order to spare them useless efforts.
We have said that Spiritism is an entire science, an entire philosophy : he who would seriously know it should, then, as a first condition, compel himself to a serious study, and persuade himself that no more than any other science can it be learned by sport. Spirit- ism, we have said, touches on all the questions that interest humanity ; its field is immense, and it is most especially in its consequences that we should view it. Belief in spirits, doubtless, forms its basis ; but that belief no more suffices to make an enlightened spirit- ist, than the belief in God suffices to make a theolo- gian. Let us see, then, what is the fittest mode of procedure, in these instructions, to lead most surely to conviction.
Let not believers be frightened by this word instruc- tion ; there is other teaching than that given from the pulpit or the tribunal ; there is also that of simple conversation. Every person who seeks to persuade another, whether by way of explanations or by experi- ments, instructs : what we desire is, that his trouble 3 33
BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
shall bear fruit, and it is for that purpose we give some advice, by which those who wish to instruct themselves may also profit ; they will here find the means of more certainly and quickly reaching their end.
19. It is generally believed that, in order to con- vince, it suffices to show facts. This seems, indeed, the most logical way, and yet experience shows that it is not always the better ; for we often see persons whom the most palpable facts can never convince. Why is this ? We shall try to demonstrate.
In Spiritism the question of spirits is secondary and consecutive ; it is not the point of departure ; and there, precisely, is the error into which we fall, and which causes us to fail with certain persons. Spirits being naught else but the souls of men, the true point of departure, then, is the existence of the soul. But how can a materialist admit that beings exist outside of the material world, when he believes himself to be but matter ? How can he believe in spirits outside of himself, when he does not believe he has one within ? In vain would you accumulate before his eyes the most palpable proofs ; he would question them all, be- cause he does not admit the principle. All methodical teaching should proceed from the known to the un- known : with the materialist the known is matter ; begin, then, with matter, and try, above all, in making him observe it, to convince him that there is within him something that escapes the laws of matter ; in a word, before making him a spiritist, try to make him a spiritualist. But for that an entirely different order of facts is requisite, a teaching wholly special, in which we must proceed by other means. To talk to him of spirits, before he is convinced of having a soul, is to begin at the end, for he cannot admit the conclu-
METHOD. 35
sion if he admit not the premises. Thus, before undertaking to convince the skeptic, even by facts, it is necessary to be assured of his opinion in regard to the soul ; that is, if he believe in its existence, its sur- vival of the body, its individuality after death ; if his answer is in the negative, it will be trouble wasted to talk to him of spirits. This is the rule : we do not say there is no exception, but then there are probably other causes which make him less refractory.
20. Among materialists are two classes. In the first we place those who are such from system ; with them it is not doubt, but absolute negation, reasoned after their own manner ; in their eyes man is a ma- chine, which goes as long as it is wound up, which gets out of order, and of which, after death, there re- mains but the carcass. Their number is, happily, very restricted, and nowhere constitutes a boldly-avowed school ; it is not necessary to insist on the deplorable results to social order from popularizing such a doc- trine ; we have said enough on that subject in the Book 011 Spirits (No. 147 and conclusion, § iii.).
When we say that doubt ceases with the skeptic in presence of a rational explanation, we must except pure materialists — those who deny all power and all intelligent principle outside of matter : the greater part confirm themselves in their opinion through pride, and consider their self-love engaged to persist in it. This they do in the face of and against all con- trary proofs, because they do not want to yield. With such people nothing can be done ; we must not even be taken by the false seeming of sincerity of those who say, Make me see, and I will believe. Some are more frank, and say plainly, I should like to see what I will not believe.
36 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
21. The second class of materialists, and by far the most numerous, — for a real materialism is an unnatu- ral sentiment, — comprises those who are such through indifference, and one might say, for want of better, they are not such from deliberate purpose, and ask nothing better than to believe, for uncertainty is a torment to them. There is within them a vague aspiration toward the future ; but this future has been present- ed to them under colors their reason cannot accept ; from thence doubt, and, as a consequence of doubt, skepticism. With them disbelief is not a system ; show -them something rational, and they accept it eagerly ; such persons can understand us, for they are nearer to us than they themselves suppose. With the former talk neither of revelation, nor angels, nor para- dise ; they would not comprehend you ; but place your- self on their ground, prove to them, first, that the laws of physiology are powerless to give a reason for every- thing ; the rest will follow. It is otherwise when skepticism is not confirmed, for then belief is not abso- lutely null-; it is a latent germ, filled with ill weeds, but which a spark can reanimate ; it is the blind to whom one can give sight, and who is joyful in once more seeing the light of day ; it is the shipwrecked to whom one may extend a plank of safety.
22. Besides materialists, properly so called, there is a third class of unbelievers, who, though spiritualists without the name, are not the less very refractory ; these are intentional disbelievers. They would be sorry to believe, because that would disturb their quiet in material enjoyments ; they fear to see the" con- demnation of their ambition, of their egotism, and of the human vanities that constitute their delights ; they
METHOD. 37
close their eyes that they may not see, their ears that they may not hear. One can only pity them.
23. We will speak only from memory of a fourth category, whom we shall call interested unbelievers, or those from insincerity. These very well understand Spiritism, but ostensibly they condemn from motives of .personal interest. Of them there is nothing to be said, as there is nothing to be done with them. If the real materialist deceive himself, there is at least the excuse of sincerity ; he can be redeemed by being shown his error : here it is a thing settled, against which all arguments come to naught ; time will open their eyes, and show them, perhaps to their cost, wherein their true interest consisted ; for not being able to hinder the spread of the truth, they will be carried away by the torrent, and with them the inter- ests they thought to save.
24. In addition to these various categories of oppo- nents there is an infinity of shades, among which may be reckoned the skeptical from pusillanimity ; cour- age will come to them when they see others are not burned; the skeptical from religious scruples ; an en- lightened study will teach them that Spiritism rests on the fundamental basis of religion, and that it re- spects all beliefs ; that one of its effects is to give religious sentiments to those who have them not, to fortify them with those who are wavering : then come the skeptical from pride, from the spirit of contradic- tion, from indifference, from frivolity, &c, &c.
25. We cannot omit a class which we shall call that of t lie skeptical from deception. It comprises persons who have passed from an exaggerated confidence to skepticism, because they have experienced disappoint- ments ; then, discouraged, they have abandoned all,
38 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
rejected all. They are in the position of him who denies all sincerity because he has been deceived. Again, it is the result of an incomplete study of Spir- itism, and of a defect of experience. He who is mys- tified by the spirits is, generally, he who asks of them what they ought not or cannot tell, or because he is not sufficiently clear on the subject to distinguish truth from imposture. Besides, many see in Spiritism only a new means of divination, and imagine that spir- its are made for fortune-tellers ; so light and mocking spirits are not to blame if they amuse themselves at their expense. In this way they predict husbands to young girls, honors, inheritances, hidden treasures, &c, to the ambitious ; from thence often arise disa- greeable deceptions, from which a serious and prudent man always knows how to preserve himself.
26. A very numerous class, the most numerous of all, indeed, but which cannot be placed among oppo- nents, is that of the uncertain ; they are usually spirit- ualists in principle ; with the most of them there is a vague intuition of the spirit idea, an aspiration toward something they cannot define ; it is only neces- sary that their thoughts should be regulated and for- mulated ; for them Spiritism is like a flash of light ; it is the daylight that disperses the fog ; thus they seize it eagerly, because it delivers them from the ago- nies of uncertainty.
27. If, now, we cast a glance on the various classes of believers, we shall find, first, the spiritists without knowing it : it is, properly speaking, a variety or a shade of the preceding class. Without ever having heard of the spirit doctrine, they have the innate sen- timent of the grand principles that flow from it, and this sentiment is reflected in certain passages of their
METHOD. 39
writings and discourses to such an extent, that, in lis- tening to them, one would suppose them thoroughly initiated. We find numerous examples of them in sacred and profane writers, in poets, orators, moralists, in ancient and modern philosophers.
28. Among those whom a direct study has con- vinced, we may distinguish, —
First. Those who believe purely and simply in the manifestations. Spiritism is for them a simple science of observation, a series of facts more or less curious : we shall call them experimental spiritists.
Second. Those who see in Spiritism something besides facts ; who comprehend its philosophy, admire the morality that flows from it, but do not practice it. Its influence on their character is insignificant or null ; they change nothing of their habits, neither deprive themselves of a single enjoyment ; the miser remains sordid, the proud full of himself, the envious and jeal- ous always hostile ; to them Christian charity is but a beautiful maxim : these are imperfect spiritists.
Third. Those who are not contented with admiring spirit morality, but who practice it and accept all its consequences. Convinced that the terrestrial exist- ence is a passing trial, they try to put to profit these short moments, to walk in the road of progress which alone can elevate them in the hierarchy of the world of spirits, forcing themselves to do good, and to repress their evil inclinations. What they relate is always true, for their convictions take from them all thought of evil. Charity is in all things the rule of their con- duct. These are the true spiritists, or, better still, Christian spiritists.
Fourth. Finally, there are exalted spiritists. The human species would be perfect, if it would take only
40
BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
the good side of things. Exaggeration in anything is injurious ; in Spiritism it gives too blind and childish a confidence in the things of the invisible world, and causes the too easy acceptation of what re- flection and examination show to be absurd or impos- sible ; but enthusiasm does not reflect — it dazzles. This kind is more injurious than useful to the cause of Spiritism ; they are the less easy to convince be- cause they doubt, and with reason, their own judg- ment ; they are very sincere dupes, whether it be of mystifying spirits, or of men who wish to play upon their credulity. If they alone were to suffer the con- sequences, the evil would be but half ; the worst is, that, without wishing it, they arm the skeptical, who are always seeking occasions to impute to all the folly of some. This is, doubtless, neither just nor rational ; but, it is well known, the adversaries of Spiritism rec- ognize only their own reason as being good gold, and to know thoroughly the subject on which they speak is the least of their cares.
29. The means of conviction vary exceedingly, ac- cording to individuals ; what persuades one is nothing to another ; some are convinced by certain material manifestations, others by intelligent communications ; the greater part by reasoning. We might even say that, for the greater part of those not prepared by reasoning, the material phenomena are of little weight. The more extraordinary these phenomena, and the fur- ther removed from known laws, the more opposition they meet, and for a very simple reason, — that one is naturally inclined to doubt a thing not having a ration- al sanction ; each sees it from his own stand-point, and explains it after his own fashion : the materialist sees in it a purely physical cause, or a superstition ;
METHOD. 41
the ignorant and the superstitious sec a diabolical or supernatural cause ; while a true explanation destroys these preconceived ideas, and shows, if not the reality, at least the possibility ; they understand before seeing it ; and from the moment its possibility is recognized, conviction is three quarters accomplished.
30. Is it worth while to try to convince an obstinate unbeliever ? We have said that it depends on the causes and nature of his disbelief; often the persistent efforts made to persuade one strengthen within him the idea of his personal importance, and become a rea- son for his increased obstinacy. If one is convinced neither by reasonings nor by facts, it shows that he must still suffer the trial of skepticism ; we must leave to Providence the care of bringing together circum- stances more favorable for him : there are plenty of people asking to receive the light ; it is. not worth while to waste time on those who reject \tJ Address yourselves, then, to the willing, whose number is great- er than is supposed ; and their example, being multi- plied, will overcome more resistance than words. The true spiritist will never lack good to do — afflicted hearts to soothe, consolations to give, despair to calm, moral reforms to effect : this is his mission ; here, also, he will find his true satisfaction. Spiritism is in the air ; it spreads by the law of events, and because it makes 'those happy who profess it. When its sys- tematic adversaries shall hear it resound about them, even among their friends, they will realize their own isolation, and will be forced to be silent, or yield assent.
31. To proceed: in the teaching of Spiritism, as in that of the ordinary sciences, the whole series of phe- nomena that can be produced should be passed in re-
42 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
view, beginning with the most simple, and reaching, by successive stages, the most complicated ; but this cannot be done, for it would be impossible to give a course of experimental Spiritism, as one would a course of physics or chemistry. In the natural sci- ences we operate on brute matter, manipulating it at will, and are nearly always sure of being able to regu- late the effects ; in Spiritism we have to do with intel- ligences that are free, and prove to us at every instant that they are not bound to obey our caprices ; we must then observe, await the results, seize them 'in passing : so we here announce that whoever would flatter himself to obtain them at will must be either an ignoramus or an impostor. This is why true Spir- itism never makes a spectacle of itself, and never mounts the rostrum. Besides, there is something illogical in supposing that spirits come to make a parade, and submit to investigation, as objects of curi- osity. The phenomena, therefore, may either fail alto- gether when we want them, or be presented in an entirely different order from what we desire. Add, again, that to obtain them we require persons en- dowed with special faculties, and that these faculties vary infinitely, according to the aptitude of individu- als ; and as it is extremely rare that one person should possess all the aptitudes, it is one difficulty the more, for we should need to have always at hand a veritable collection of mediums, which is scarcely possible.
The means of obviating this inconvenience is very simple, — it is to begin with the theory ; there all the phenomena are passed in review ; they are explained, can be accounted for, their possibility understood, the conditions under which they can be produced and the obstacles they may meet can be known ; then, what-
METHOD. 43
ever may be the order into which they may be led by circumstances, there will be nothing in them to create surprise. This method offers still another advantage — that of sparing the operator numberless disappoint- ments ; forewarned against the difficulties, he can be on his guard, and avoid acquiring experience at too great expense.
Since we have been engaged with Spiritism, it would be hard to tell the number of persons who have come to us, and among them how many we have seen re- main indifferent or skeptical, in presence of the most glaring facts, and who have afterward been convinced only by a reasonable explanation ; how many others who have been predisposed to conviction by reasoning ; how many, also, who have been persuaded without seeing, but simply because they understood. Thus we speak from experience, when we say that the better method of teaching Spiritism is to address the reason before addressing the eyes. It is the one we follow in our lessons, and we can only praise it.
32. The previous study of the theory has another advantage ; it shows at one view the grandeur of the end, and the sweep of the science. He who begins by seeing tables turned or rapped, is more disposed to ridicule, because he can scarcely imagine that out of a table can come a regenerating doctrine for humanity. We have always remarked that those who believe without having seen, but because they have read and understood, far from being superficial, are, on the con- trary, the ones who reflect the most ; resting more on the fundamental principles than on the form, to them the philosophical part is the principal, the phenomena but the accessories ; and they say to themselves that even did these phenomena not exist, there would not
44
BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
the less remain a philosophy that alone can solve prob- lems hitherto insoluble ; which alone gives the most rational theory of man's past and future ; they prefer a doctrine that explains, to one that explains not at all, or explains badly. A thoughtful person will readily comprehend that the manifestations might be wholly done away with, and the doctrine none the less remain ; the manifestations corroborate, confirm it, but are not its essential basis ; the serious observer does not re- ject them, on the contrary, but he awaits circum- stances favorable to his being a witness of them. The proof of what we advance is, that, before having heard of the manifestations, very many persons have had an intuition of this doctrine, which has but. given a body, a unity, to their ideas.
33. At the same time it would not be strictly true to say that those who begin with the theory lack sub- jects for practical observation ; on the contrary, they have plenty which should possess greater weight in their estimation, than those that might be produced before their eyes : these are the numerous facts of spontaneous manifestations, of which we shall speak in the following chapters.
There are few persons who have not some knowl- edge of them, if only by hearsay ; many have them- selves had experiences to which they have given but slight attention. The theory has this effect — it explains them ; and we say that these facts have great weight when they rest on invincible testimony, because then neither preparation nor connivance can be supposed. If the induced phenomena did not exist, the spontane- ous phenomena would none the less be present, and Spiritism, should it have no result but to give a ration- al solution of them, would be doing much. Thus, most
METHOD. 45
of those who read recall these facts, thereby confirm- ing the theory.
34. Our ideas would be strangely misunderstood, were it supposed that we advise a neglect* of facts ; it is by the facts that we have arrived at the theory ; it is true that assiduous labor for several years, and thou- sands of observations, have been necessary ; but since the facts have served us, and do serve us daily, we should be inconsistent to deny their importance, espe- cially as we are writing a book for. the purpose of making them known. We only say that, without reasoning, they would not suffice to produce con- viction ; that a previous explanation, by destroying prejudices, and showing that there is nothing in them contrary to reason, disposes one for their acceptance. This is so true that, of ten persons, complete novices, who may assist at an experimental seance, were it the most satisfying one to believers, nine would leave it unconvinced, some more incredulous than before, be- cause the experiments will not have answered their expectations. It would be quite otherwise with those who could understand them from a previous theoretic knowledge ; it is a means of criticising, but nothing surprises them, not even want of success, because they, know in what conditions the facts are produced, and that they must not ask what cannot be given. The previous knowledge of the facts thus enables them to judge of all anomalies, but, above all, permits them to catch a multitude of details, often of very delicate shades, which arc, for them, means of conviction, and which escape the ignorant observer. Such are the motives for admitting to our experimental seances only persons possessing preparatory notions enough to understand what is being done, persuaded that any
46 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
others wouLd lose their time, and cause us to lose ours.
35. To those who would desire to acquire the pre- liminary knowledge by reading our works, we would advise the following order: —
First. What is Spiritism ? This tract, of a hun- dred pages only, is a summary exposition of the prin- ciples of the spirit doctrine, a general glance, which permits us to embrace the whole in a brief outline. In a few words we see the end, and can judge of its range. Above all, here may be found answers to the principal questions, or objections, which novices are disposed to make.
This first, which calls for little time, is an introduc- tion which facilitates a more profound study.
Second. The Book 011 Spirits. It contains the doctrine complete, dictated by the spirits themselves, with all its philosophy, and all its moral consequences ; it is the destiny of man unvailed, the initiation into the nature of spirits, and into the mysteries of the life beyond the grave.- In reading this it will be seen that Spiritism has a serious aim, and is not a frivolous pastime.
Third. The Book on Mediums, intended to direct in the practice of manifestations, by the knowledge of the proper means of communicating with spirits ; it is a guide either for mediums or invocators, and is the complement of the Book on Spirits.
Fourth. The Spirit Reviewed. This is a varied col- lection of facts, of theoretic explanations and detached fragments, which complete what is said in the two preceding works, and of which it is in some sort the application. It may be read at the same time, but will be more profitable and more intelligible, particu-
METHOD. 47
larly after the Book on Spirits. This is all we can say. Those who desire to understand a science thor- oughly must, necessarily, read all that is written on the subject, or, at least, the principal things, and not limit themselves to a single author ; they should even read the for and against, the critics as well as the apologists, to know the different systems, to be able to judge by comparison. In this connection we neither extol nor criticise any work, desiring in noth- ing to influence the opinion that may be formed ; bringing our stone to the edifice, we place ourselves in the ranks : it does not pertain to us to be judge and client, and we make not the absurd pretension of being sole dispenser of the light ; it is for the reader to distinguish between the good and the bad, the true and the false.
Chapter IV. SYSTEM S.
36. When the strange phenomena of Spiritism began to be produced, or rather reproduced in these latter times, the first sentiment they excited was doubt even of their reality, and still greater of their cause. When they were proved by indubitable evi- dence, and by the experiments every one could make for himself, each one interpreted them after his own fashion, according to his personal ideas, beliefs, or pre- conceptions ; from thence have arisen several systems, which a more attentive observation must reduce to their just value.
The adversaries of Spiritism have thought to find an argument in this difference of opinion, saying that the spiritists do not agree among themselves. This is a very poor argument, when one reflects that the steps of all newly-born science are necessarily uncer- tain, until time is given to bring together and make co-ordinate the facts that may fix opinion : in propor- tion as the facts become complete, and are better observed, the premature ideas are effaced, and unity established, at least on the fundamental points, if not in all the details. This is what has taken place for Spiritism ; it could not escape the common law, and must, by its very nature, lend itself more than any other to diversity of interpretations. One might even say that in this respect it has advanced more rapidly
48
SYSTEMS. 49
than other sciences, its elders ; medicine, for instance, which still divides the most learned.
37. In methodical order, to follow the progressive march of ideas, we may place at the head of the list those that may be called systems of negation, those of the adversaries of Spiritism. We have refuted their objections in the introduction and in the conclusion of the Book on Spirits, also in the little work entitled
What is Spiritism ? It would be superfluous to enter into it again ; we will simply recall, in a few words, the bases on which they stand. Spirit phenomena are of two kinds, physical and intelligent effects. Not admitting the existence of spirits, for the reason that they admit nothing outside of matter, it may be readi- ly conceived that they deny the intelligent effects, they comment upon them from their own stand-point, and their arguments may be summed up in the following systems : —
38. System of Charlatanism. Among our antago- nists many attribute these effects to fraud, because some of them have been imitated. This supposition would transform all spiritists into dupes, all mediums into cheats? without regard to the position, thecharac- ter, knowledge, and reputation of the persons. If this deserved an answer, we might say that certain phe- nomena of physics have also been imitated by jugglers, and that it proves nothing against the real science. Besides, there are persons whose characters are beyond all suspicion of fraud, and one must be wanting in every vestige of good breeding and urbanity to dare to say to them that they are the accomplices of char- latanism. In a very respectable parlor, a gentleman, otherwise well bred, having permitted himself to make a reflection of this nature, the lady of the house said
4
50 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
to him, " Since you are not content, sir, your money will be returned to you at the door," and, with a ges- ture, made him understand what he would better do. Is that to say that there are no abuses in it? To think that we must admit men to be perfect.
Everything is abused, even the most sacred things ; why, then, should not Spiritism be abused ? But the bad use that may be made of a thing should cause no prejudice against the thing itself; the only way by which we can judge of men's sincerity is by the mo- tives from which they act. Where there is no specula- tion, charlatanism can find no place.
39. System of Insanity. Some persons condescend- ingly wish to do away with the suspicion of fraud, and pretend that those who do not make dupes are them- selves dupes ; which is as much as to say they are insane. When skeptics speak without ceremony, they say, " O, they are crazy ! " thus arrogating to them- selves alone the privilege of good sense. This is the great argument of those who have no good reason to bring forward. This mode of attack has so long served that it has become ridiculous, and does not deserve that time should be wasted in refuting it. Besides, spirit- ists scarcely trouble themselves about it ; they bravely take their stand and console themselves in the knowl- edge that they have, as companions in the misfortune, plenty of people whose merits cannot be disputed. It must be agreed that this insanity, if insanity it be, has a very singular character, which is that, by preference, it attacks the enlightened class, among whom Spirit- ism has hitherto reckoned the immense majority of its believers. If among the number we find some eccentric, it proves no more against the doctrine than the crazy religious prove against religion, the crazy
SYSTEAfS. 5 *
music-lovers against music, the crazy mathematicians against mathematics. All ideas have found exagger- ated fanatics, and one must be endowed with a very obtuse judgment to confound the exaggeration of a thing with the thing itself. We refer, for more en- larged explanation of this subject, to our tract, What is Spiritism ? to the Book oti Spirits (Introduction, par. XV.).
40. System of Hallucination. Another opinion, less offensive, inasmuch as it has a little scientific color, consists in placing all the phenomena to the account of illusion of the senses ; thus the observer is perfectly sincere, only he thinks he sees what he does not see. When he sees a table rise, and sustain itself in the air without support, the table has not really left its place ; he sees it in the air by a kind of mirage, or an effect of refraction, as one would see a star or an object in the water, out of its real place. That might possibly be, but those who have witnessed this phenomenon have verified the isolation by passing under the suspended table, which would seem to be difficult to do if it had not left the ground. On the other hand, it has many times happened that, in coming down, the table has broken : would this also be called an optical delusion ?
A well-known physiological cause can, without doubt, make one believe he sees a thing turn that does not stir, or make one think one's self turning. when one is not moving ; but when several persons around a table arc carried along by so rapid a movement, that they can scarcely follow it, that some are often thrown to the ground, will they say that all of them are taken with a kind of vertigo, like that of the drunkard, who thought he saw his house moving away from before him ?
52 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
41. System of Muscle-cracking. If it might be thus for the sight, it cannot be the same for the hearing, and when blows struck are heard by a whole assem- bly, they cannot reasonably be attributed to illusion. Understand, we set aside all idea of fraud, and sup- pose that attentive observation has proved that they are owing to no accidental or material change. It is true that a learned physician has given a positive explanation : he says (Note 1), "The cause of it is in the voluntary or involuntary contractions of the ten- don of the muscle of the ankle joint." In connection with this subject he enters into the most complete an- atomical details, to demonstrate by what mechanism this tendon can produce these sounds, imitate the beating of the drum, and even execute rhythmic airs ; from whence he concludes that those who think they hear blows struck in a table are dupes either of mysti- fication or illusion. The fact, in itself, is not new ; unhappily for the author of this pretended discovery, his theory does not hold in all cases. Let us first say that those who enjoy the singular faculty of making the ankle joint, or any other muscle, crack at will, or play tunes by this means, are exceptional subjects, while those who cause table rapping are very common, and that those who possess the last faculty scarcely ever enjoy the first. In the second place, this learned doctor has forgotten to explain how the muscular cracking of a person, immovable and isolated from the table, can produce therein vibrations sensible to the touch ; how this sound can be thrown, at the will of the assistants, into different parts of the table, into other furniture, against the walls, the ceiling, &c. ; how, finally, the action of this muscle can extend to a table that is not touched, and make it move. This explana-
SYSTEMS. 53
Hon, if indeed it were one, could only invalidate the phe- nomenon of the rapping, but does not concern all the other modes of communication. Let us conclude that he has judged without having seen, or, without having thoroughly or well seen. It is always to be regretted that scientific men should give a hasty opinion on what they do not understand, when the facts can give the lie to their explanations. Their knowledge, at least, should make them as much more circumspect in their judgments as it removes for them the limits of the unknown.
42. System of Physical Causes. Here we leave the system of absolute negation. The reality of the phe- nomena being proved, the first thought that naturally entered the minds of those who saw them was to attribute the movements to magnetism, to electricity, or to the action of some kind of fluid ; in a word, to a cause entirely physical and material. In this opinion there was nothing irrational, and it would have pre- vailed had the phenomena been limited to purely physical effects. One circumstance seemed to corrob- orate it ; in certain cases, the increase of the power according to the number of persons ; each one of them might thus be considered as one of the elements of a human electric pile. What characterizes a true theory, we have said, is the power of giving a reason for everything ; but if a single fact comes to contra- dict it, it must be false, incomplete, or too absolute. This has happened in this instance. These move- ments and these rappings have given signs of intelli- gence, in obeying the will and answering to the thought ; they must, then, have an intelligent cause. As soon as the effect ceases to be purely physical, the cause, for that very reason, must have another
54 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
source : thus the system of the exclusive action of a material agent was abandoned, and is only found among those who judge a priori, and without having seen. The main point, then, is to verify the intelli- gent action ; and of this any one, who will take the trouble to observe, may be convinced.
43. System of Reflex Action. Intelligentactionor.ee recognized, the source of this intelligence remained to be accounted for. It was thought it might be the medium or the assistants who were reflected like the light, or the rays of sound. That was possible ; ex- perience alone could decide. But, first, let us remark, that this system completely sets aside the purely ma- terialistic idea, for, in order that the intelligence of the assistants should be able to be reproduced in an indi- rect way, we must admit a principle within man beyond the organism. If the thought expressed had always been that of the assistants, the reflex theory might have been confirmed ; but was not the phenomenon, even reduced to that proportion, of the highest inter- est ? Thought being reflected into an inert body, and being translated by movement and sound, — was not this a very remarkable thing? Was there not in it something to pique the curiosity of the learned ? Why, then, did they disdain it, — they who exhaust themselves on the search of a nerve fiber ?
Experience alone, we say, could show the falsity or truth of this theory ; and experience has shown its fal- sity ; for it demonstrates, at every moment, and by the most positive facts, that the thought expressed can be not only foreign to that of the assistants, but often exactly contrary ; that it comes to contradict all pre- conceived ideas, baffle all foresight ; in fact, when I think white, and am answered black, it is difficult to
SYSTEMS. 55
make me believe that the answer comes from myself. The argument is founded on some cases of identity between the thought expressed and that of the assist- ants ; but what does that prove, except that the assist- ants may think the same as the intelligence that com- municates ? It has not been said that they must always be of the opposite opinion. When, in course of conversation, the interlocutor expresses a thought analogous to your own, will you, for that reason, say it comes from yourself? It is sufficient to have some contrary examples well verified, to prove that this theory cannot be absolute. Besides, how explain, by reflection of thought, the writing produced by persons who know not how to write ; the answers of the high- est philosophical bearing obtained through illiterate persons — answers that are given to mental questions, or in a language unknown to the medium, and thou- sands of other facts which can leave no doubt of the independence of the intelligence which is manifested ? The contrary opinion can be only the result of a defect of observation. If the presence of a foreign intelli- gence is morally proved by the nature of the answer, it is materially proved by the fact of direct writing ; that is, by writing spontaneously obtained, without pen or pencil, without contact, and in spite of all the pre- cautions taken as a guarantee against subterfuge. The intelligent character of the phenomenon cannot be doubted ; then there is something besides a fluidic action. Finally, the spontaneity of the thought ex- pressed without expectation, without proposed ques- tion, does not permit us to see in it a reflection of that of the assistants. The system of reflex action is suffi- ciently disobliging in some instances, when, in a re- union of well-bred persons, there comes inopportunely
56 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
one of those communications revolting for their gross- ness ; it would be a very poor compliment to the assist- ants to pretend it comes from one of them, and it is probable that each one would hasten to repudiate it. (See Book on Spirits, Introduction, par. XVI.)
44. System of the Collective Soul. This is a varia- tion of the preceding. According to this system, the soul alone of the medium is manifested ; but it is identified with that of several others living, either present or absent, and forms a collective whole, unit- ing the aptitude, intelligence, and knowledge of each. Though the tract in which this theory is put forth be entitled the light (?), it seems to us to be of a very obscure style. We confess to have hardly compre- hended it, and speak of it only from memory. It is, besides, like many others, an individual opinion, which has made few proselytes. The name Emah Tirpse is that taken by the author to designate the collective being he represents. He takes for motto, There is nothing hidden that shall not be known. This propo- sition is evidently false, for there are many things that man cannot and ought not to know : it would be very presumptuous in him to pretend to penetrate into the secrets of God.
45. Somnambulic System. This system has had more partisans, and even yet counts some. Like the preceding it admits that all the intelligent communica- tions have their source in the soul or spirit of the me- dium ; but_in order to explain his aptitude to treat of subjects beyond his knowledge, instead of supposing a multiple soul, it attributes his power to a temporary excitement of the mental faculties, to a kind of som- nambulistic or ecstatic state, which exalts and devel- ops his intelligence. It cannot be denied that some
SYSTEMS. 57
cases are influenced by this cause ; but after having seen a great number of mediums, any one will be con- vinced that it will not solve all the facts, and that it forms the exception, and not the rule. It might be thought so if the medium had always the air of an inspired or ecstatic person — an appearance that he certainly could always simulate, if he wished to act a part ; but how believe in inspiration, when the medium writes like a machine, without having the least con- sciousness of what he is writing, without the least emotion, without thinking of what he is doing, laugh- ing or talking of one thing and another. Excite- ment may be imagined in the case of ideas, but it is not easy to understand how it can make a person write who does not know how to write, and still less when the communications are transmitted by rappings, or. by the aid of a planchette or a basket. We shall see, at the end of this work, the part we must assign to the influence of the medium's ideas ; but the cases in which a foreign intelligence is revealed by incontesta- ble signs, are so numerous and so evident, that they can leave no doubt in this respect. The fault in most of the hashed-up systems of the origin of Spiritism, is having drawn general conclusions from a few isolated facts.
46. Pessimist, Diabolic, or Demoniac System. Here we enter another order of ideas. The intervention of a foreign intelligence being admitted, it was necessary to know the nature of this intelligence. Doubtless the most simple means was to ask it of itself; but some persons did not find that a sufficient guarantee, and saw in the manifestations only a diabolic work ; according" to their opinion, only the devil or demons can communicate. Although this system finds few
58 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
echoes nowadays, it at least enjoyed a momentary credit from the character of those who sought to make it prevail. We must always understand that the parti- sans of the demoniac system should not be considered among the adversaries of Spiritism ; quite the contrary. Let the beings who communicate be demons or angels, they are incorporeal : to admit the manifestation of demons is always to admit the possibility of communi- cating with the invisible world, the same as with a person in this world.
The belief in the exclusive communication of de- mons, however irrational it may be, could not seem impossible when spirits were looked upon as having been created outside of humanity ; but since we know that spirits are naught but the souls of those who have lived, it has lost all its prestige, and, one might say, all probability ; for it would follow that all these souls are demons, were they those of a father, a son, or a friend, and that we ourselves, in dying, would become demons, — a doctrine neither very flattering, nor consol- ing to most people. It will be difficult to persuade a mother that the cherished child she has lost, and which comes after its death to give her proofs of its affection and its identity, may be an agent of Satan. It is true that among the spirits are some very bad ones, worth not much more than those we call demons, for the very simple reason that there are very bad men, and death does not make them immediately better ; the question is, to know if these are the only ones that can com- municate. To those who think so we will address the following questions : —
First. Are there good and bad spirits ?
Second. Is God more powerful than the bad spirits, or than the demons, if you desire so to call them ?
SYSTEMS. 59
Third. To affirm that the bad alone communicate, is to say that the good cannot : if this be so, then one of two things : it takes place either by the will, or against the will, of God. If against His will, the bad spirits must be more powerful than He ; if by His will, why, in His loving kindness, would He not per- mit the good to counterbalance the influence of the others ?
Fourth. What proof can you give of the powerless- ness of good spirits to communicate ?
Fifth. When the knowledge displayed in some com- munications is cited against your theory, you answer that the demon assumes all masks, the better to betray. We know there are hypocritical spirits, who give to their language a false varnish of goodness ; but do you admit that ignorance can counterfeit true knowledge, and a bad nature counterfeit true virtue, so that noth- ing will be seen to disclose the fraud ?
Sixth. If the demon alone can communicate, as he is the enemy of God and of men, why does he recom- mend us to pray to God, to submit to His will, to endure the tribulations of life without a murmur, to desire neither honors nor riches, to practice charity, and all the maxims of the Christ ; in a word, to do all that is necessary to destroy his own empire ? If it be the demon who gives such advice, we must agree that, cunning as he is, he is very unskillful to furnish arms against himself. (3)
Seventh. As spirits communicate, it is because God permits them ; seeing the good and the bad commu- nications, is it not more logical to think that God permits the bad to try us, and the good to advise us ?
Eighth. WThat would you think of a father who would leave his child at the mercy of pernicious exam-
60 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
pies and advice, and who should take from him and forbid him to see those who could turn him from evil ? What a good father would not do, must we think that God, who is the perfection of goodness, would do ?
Ninth. The church recognizes as authentic certain manifestations of the Virgin and other saints, in appa- ritions,, visions, oral communications, &c. ; is not this belief at variance with the exclusive communication of demons ? We believe that some persons have sin- cerely professed this belief; but we also believe that many have pretended it, solely with a view to prevent people from occupying themselves with these things, because of the bad communications that they are liable to receive ; saying that the devil alone manifests, they would terrify them, as we tell a child, "Don't touch that ; it will burn." The intention may be praisewor- thy, but the end is lost ; for the prohibition excites curiosity, and the fear of the devil restrains very few ; they would like to see him, if only to see how he is made, and are very much astonished to find him not half so black as they thought.
Could we not also see another motive for this theory ?
There are persons who think every one in the wrong who is not of their opinion ; so are not those who pretend that all communications are the work of the demon, moved by the fear of not finding the spirits agree with them on all points — onthose that concern the interests of this world still more than those of the other ? Not being able to deny the facts, they desire to present them in a terrifying manner ; but this means has arrested it no more than the others. Where
SYSTEMS. 6 1
the fear of ridicule is powerless, we must be resigned to let matters take their course.
The Mussulman who should hear a spirit speak against the Koran, would assuredly think it a bad spirit ; it would be the same with a Jew as to what respects certain laws of Moses. As to the Catholics, we heard one affirm that the communicating spirit could only be the devil, because it disagreed with him as to the temporal power, though, at the same time, preached only charity, tolerance, love of the neighbor, and the abnegation of the things of this world — all maxims taught by the Christ.
Spirits being only the souls of men, and men not being perfect, it thence results that there are imperfect spirits, whose character is reflected in their communi- cations. It is an incontestable fact, that there are among them bad, crafty, and profoundly hypocritical spirits, and against these we must be on our guard ; but because we meet in the world with bad men, is it a reason for withdrawing ourselves from society ? God has given us reason and judgment to appreciate spirits as well as men. The better means to provide against the dangers which the practice of Spiritism may pre- sent, is not to forbid it, but to make it understood. An imaginary fear impresses but for a moment, and affects but few ; the reality, clearly demonstrated, is understood by all.
47. Optimist System. By the side of those who see in the phenomena only the action of demons, are oth- ers, who see in them only that of good spirits. They supposed, the soul being disengaged from matter, no vail existed for it ; that it must have sovereign science and sovereign wisdom. Their blind confidence in this absolute superiority of the beings of the invisible
62 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
world, has been a great source of many of the decep- tions ; they have learned, to their cost, to beware of certain spirits as well as of certain men.
48. Unisprit or Monosprit System. A variety of the optimist system consists in the belief that one single spirit communicates to men, and that this spirit is the Christ, who is the protector of the world. When we see communications of the most trifling kind, of a revolting grossness, full of malevolence and wicked- ness, it would be profanation and impiety to suppose they could emanate from the spirit of perfect good- ness. If those who believe it had never had any save irreproachable communications, one might conceive their illusion ; but most of them admit having had very bad ones, which they explain by saying that dic- tating to them absurd things is a trial the good spirit causes them to undergo : thus, while some attribute all communications to the devil, who may say good things to tempt them, others think Jesus alone is manifested, who may say bad things to try them. Between these two so opposite opinions, who will decide ? Good sense and experience. We say experience, because it is impossible that- those who express ideas so exclusive can have thoroughly viewed all sides.
When we bring forward the facts of identity, which show the presence of relations, friends, or acquaint- ances, by the manifestations, written, visual, or other- wise, they answer that it is always the same spirit, — the devil, according to some, the Christ, according to others, — who takes all forms; but they do not tell us why the other spirits cannot communicate — with what motive the Spirit of Truth should present him- self under false appearances, to deceive a poor mother, making her falsely believe it is the child she laments.
SYSTEMS. 63
Reason refuses to admit that the Holy Spirit should be degraded to play such a comedy. Besides, is it not taking from Spiritism its greatest charm, the consola- tion of the a^fflicted, to deny the possibility of all other communication ? Let us simply say that such a sys- tem is irrational, and cannot sustain a serious exami- nation.
49. Multisprit or Poly sprit System. All the sys- tems we have passed in review, without excepting those in the negative, rest on some observation, though incomplete and badly interpreted. If a house is red on one side and white on the other, they who have seen only one side will affirm that it is white or that it is red ; and they will be wrong and right : but he who has seen it on both sides will say it is red and white, and he alone will be right. The same in regard to the opinion formed of Spiritism ; it may be true in certain lights, and false if we generalize from partial knowledge — if we take for the rule what is only the exception, for the whole what is only a part. This is why we say that whoever would seriously study this science shouFd see much and for a long time : time alone will permit him to seize the details, to catch the delicate shades, to observe a multitude of characteris- tic facts, which will be as rays of light to him ; but if he stops at the surface, he may carry away a prema- ture, and, consequently, an erroneous judgment. Here are the general consequences deduced from a complete observation, and which now form the belief, we may say, of the majority of spiritists, for the restrictive systems are now but isolated opinions.
First. The spirit phenomena are produced by extra corporeal intelligences ; in other words, by spirits.
Second. Spirits constitute the invisible world ; they
64 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
are everywhere : space is peopled with them to infini- ty ; there are some always around us, with whom we are in contact.
Third. Spirits constantly react on the^>hysical and on the moral world, and are one of the powers of nature.
Fourth. Spirits are not beings apart in nature ; they are the souls of those who have lived on this earth, or in other worlds, and who have laid aside their corporeal envelop ; from whence it follows that the sjuIs of men are incarnated spirits, and that, in dying, we become spirits.
Fifth. There are spirits of all degrees of goodness and of malice, of knowledge and of ignorance.
Sixth. They are all subject to the law of progress, and can ail attain to perfection ; but, as they have their free will, the time is more or less long, according to their efforts or otherwise.
Seventh. They are happy or unhappy according to the good or evil they have done during this life, and the degree of advancement they have reached. Hap- piness, perfect and without alloy, is ttte lot of those spirits only who have reached the supreme degree of perfection.
Eighth. All spirits, under given circumstances, can manifest themselves to men : the number of those who can communicate is indefinite.
Ninth. Spirits communicate through the interven- tion of mediums, who serve them as instruments and interpreters.
Tenth. The superiority or inferiority of spirits is recognized by their language : the good counsel only good, and say only good things ; everything about
SYSTEMS. 65
them proves elevation ; the bad deceive, and all their words bear the marks of imperfection and ignorance.
The different degrees through which spirits pass are indicated in the Spirit Scale (Book on Spirits, Book 2, Chap. 1, No. 100). The study of this classification is indispensable to appreciate the nature of the spirits who manifest themselves, their good and bad qualities.
50. System of the Material Soul consists only in a peculiar opinion on the inmost nature of the soul. According to this opinion, the soul and the perisprit are not distinct things ; or, to speak more plainly, the perisfrit is only the soul itself gradually purified by various transmigrations, — as alcohol is purified by va- rious distillations, — while the spirit doctrine considers the perisprit only as the fluidic envelope of the soul or spirit. The perisprit being a matter, though very ethe- real, the soul would thus be of a material nature, more or less essential, according to the degree of its purifi- cation. This system invalidates none of the funda- mental principles of the spirit doctrine, for it changes in nothing the destiny of the soul : the conditions of its future happiness remain the same ; the soul and the perisprit forming a whole under the name of spirit, as the germ and perisperm form one under the name of fruit, the whole question being reduced to consider- ing the whole as homogeneous, instead of being found 'of two distinct parts. As may be seen, this is of little consequence, and we should not have mentioned it, had we not met persons disposed to see a new school in what is, definitively, but a simple interpretation of words. This opinion, a very restricted one; were it even more general, would no more constitute a schism between spiritists, than the two theories of the emission or the undulations of light make one among physicists.
66 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
Those who would form a separate party for so trifling a question, would prove by that alone that they attach more importance to the accessory than to the princi- pal, and that they are pressed to disunion by spirits who cannot be good ; for good spirits never breathe spite and dissension : this is why we entreat all true spiritists to guard against similar suggestions, and not to attach to certain minutiae more importance than they deserve ; the foundation is the essential point. Nevertheless, we will, in a few words, explain on what rests the opinion of those who consider the soul and the perisprit two distinct things. It is founded On the teachings of the spirits, who have never varied in that respect. We speak of enlightened spirits, for among them there are those who know no more about it than men, and some even less, while the contrary theory is a human conception. We have neither invented nor supposed the perisprit to explain the phenomena ; its existence was revealed to us by spirits, and observa- tion has confirmed us in it. (Book on Spirits, No. 93.) It rests also on the study of sensation among spirits (Book on Spirits, No. 257), and particularly on the phenomenon of tangible apparitions, which would in- volve, according to the other opinion, the solidification and the disintegration of the constituent parts of the soul, and, consequently, its disorganization. ■ It would, besides, be necessary to admit that this matter, which-" can come within reach of the senses, is itself the intel- ligent principle, which is no more rational than to con- found the body with the soul, or the clothing with the body. As to the innate nature of the soul, it is un- known to us. When we say it is immaterial, this must be understood in a relative and not an absolute sense, for absolute immateriality would be nothing ;
SYST&MS. • (>7
but the soul, or spirit, is something ; we would say that its essence is so superior, that it has no analogy with what we call matter, and that so, for us, it is im- material. (Book on Spirits, Nos. 23 and 82.)
51. Here is the answer given on this subject by a spirit.
" What some call perisprit is only what others call material fluidic envelope. I will say, to make myself understood in a more logical manner, that this fluid is the perfection of the senses — the extension of sight and ideas. 1 speak here of elevated spirits. As to the inferior spirits, the terrestrial fluids are still com- pletely inherent in them : so it is matter, as you see. From thence the sufferings from hunger, from cold, &c, sufferings which superior spirits do not endure, because the terrestrial fluids are purified around the thought ; that is to say, the soul. The soul, for its progress, always needs an agent ; the soul without an agent is nothing for you, or, rather, cannot be con- ceived by you. The perisprit is, for us wandering spirits, the agent by which we communicate with you, whether indirectly by your body or your perisprit, or directly to your soul ; from thence the infinite shades of mediums and communications. Now remains the scientific stand-point, that is, the very essence of the perisprit itself: this is another affair. Understand, first, morally, there remains only a discussion on the nature of fluids, which is inexplicable at present : sci- ence does not know it, but it will come to it if science will walk hand in hand with Spiritism. The perisprit may vary and change to infinity ; the soul is the thought ; it changes not its nature : in this go no fur- ther ; it is a point which cannot be explained. Think
68 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
you I do not search like you ? You seek the perisprit, we the soul. Wait then. Lamenais."
Thus spirits, who may be considered advanced, have not yet fathomed the nature of the soul : how can we do it ? It is, then, loss of time to attempt to investi- gate first principles, which, as it is said in the Book on Spirits (Nos. 17, 49), are God's secrets. To pretend, by the aid of Spiritism, to pry into what is not yet within the province of humanity, is to turn it from its true aim ; it is like the child who would know as much as an old man. Let man use Spiritism for his moral development : that is the essential point : anything more is only a sterile, and often vain curiosity, whose satisfaction would not gain him one step in advance ; the only way to advance is to become better. The spirits who dictated the book which bears their name, proved their wisdom, in keeping themselves, in all that concerns the rudiments of things, within the limits which God permits not to be crossed, leaving to sys- tematist and presumptuous spirits the responsibility of erroneous theories more seductive than solid, and which will some day fall before reason like so many others issued from human brains. They have said only exactly what was necessary to make man under- stand the future that awaits him, and by that to en- courage him to good. (See Part 2, Chap. 1, Action of Spirits on Matter)
PART SECOND.
OF SPIRIT MANIFESTATIONS.
Chapter I.
ACTION OF SPIRITS ON MATTER.
52. The materialistic opinion being withdrawn as condemned at once by reason and by facts, the whole question is to know if the soul, after death, can mani- fest itself to the living. The question, thus reduced to its simplest expression, is found to be singularly free. It might be asked, first, why intelligent beings, who live in some way in our very midst, though, by their very nature, invisible, should not attest their presence. Simple reason says there is nothing in it absolutely impossible, and this is something gained. Besides, this belief has the assent of all people, for we find it everywhere, and at all epochs : an intuition could not be so general nor survive time without resting on something. More, it is sanctioned by the testimony of sacred books and by the Fathers of the Church, and it has taken the skepticism and materialism of our age to consign it to superstition ; if we are in error, so are these authorities.
69
70 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
But these are only moral considerations. One cause, above all others, has helped to fortify doubt, in an epoch so positive as ours, where people believe in giving a reason for all, where they want to know the why and the how of everything ; it is ignorance of the nature of spirits, and of the means by which they can manifest themselves. This knowledge acquired, the fact of the manifestations is no longer surprising, and enters into the order of natural facts.
53. The idea formed of spirits renders, at first sight, the phenomena of the manifestations incomprehensi- ble. These manifestations can take place only by the action of the spirit on matter ; this is why those who believe that spirit is the absence of all matter ask, with some appearance of reason, how it can act materially. But there is the error, for spirit is not an abstraction ; it is a being defined, limited, and circum- scribed. The spirit incarnated in the body constitutes the soul ; when it leaves the body at death, it does not leave it entirely stripped of an envelope. All tell us they preserve the human form, and in fact, when they appear to us it is in the form in which we have known them.
Observe them attentively at the moment they leave this life ; they are in a troubled state, everything around them is confused ; they see their body, whole or mutilated, according to the kind of death : on the other hand, they see themselves and feel that they are living. Something tells them that body belongs to them, and they do not understand that they may be separated from it. They continue to see themselves under their primitive form, and this sight, with some, produces a singular illusion — that of believing them- selves still living ; experience of their new state is
ACTION OF SPIRITS ON MATTER. 7 1
necessary to convince them of the reality. This first troubled moment dissipated, the body becomes for them like an old garment, which they have stripped oft" and no longer regret ; they feel lighter, and as if disencumbered of a burden ; they no longer experi- ence physical pains, and are perfectly happy in the power of elevating themselves, traversing space, as tbey have a thousand times in their dreams while liv- ing. Fourth. In the mean time, spite of the absence of the body, they realize their personality ; they have a form, but a form that neither troubles nor embar- rasses them ; they have the consciousness of their me and of their individuality. What must we conclude ? That the soul does not leave all in the coffin, and that it carries something with it.
54. Numerous observations and incontestable facts, of which we will speak further on, have led to this conclusion — that there are in men three things : first, the soul or spirit, intelligent principle in which resides the moral sense ; second, the body, gross, material envelope with which it is temporarily clothed, for the accomplishment of certain providential views ; third, the perisprit, semi-material, fluidic envelope serving as a link between the soul and the body.
Death is the destruction, or rather the disintegration, of the grosser envelope — that which the soul aban- dons ; the other is disengaged, and follows the soul, which thus finds itself always in possession of an envelope ; this last, though fluidic, ethereal, vaporous, invisible to us in its normal state, is not the less matter, though we have not as yet been able to catch and subject it to analysis.
This second envelope of the soul — the perisprit — exists during the corporeal life ; it is the intermediary
72 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
of all the sensations perceived by the spirit, that by which the spirit transmits its will to the exterior, and acts upon the organs. To make use of a material comparison, it is the conductor, the electric thread, which serves for the reception and transmission of thought ; it is, lastly, that mysterious, unseizable agent, denominated nervous fluid, which plays so great a part in the economy, and of which too little is thought in physiological and pathological phenomena. Medicine, considering only the material, ponderable element, is deprived, in the appreciation of facts, of an incessant cause of action. But this is not the place to examine that question ; we would only remark that the knowledge of the perisprit is the key to a crowd of problems hitherto inexplicable.
The perisprit is not one of those hypotheses to which recourse is sometimes had in science for the explanation of a fact ; its existence is not revealed solely by the spirits ; it is a result of observations, as we shall have occasion to show. For the present, and not to anticipate facts we shall have to relate, we limit ourselves to say that, whether during its union with the body or after its separation, the soul is never separated from its perisprit.
55. It has been said that the spirit is a flame, a spark ; this should be understood of the spirit, so called, as intellectual and moral principle, and to which we know not how to attribute a determined form ; but in whatever degree it may be found, it is always clothed with an envelope or p&risprit, whose nature is ethere- alized to the same degree in which it is purified and elevated in the hierarchy ; in such a manner that the idea of form is inseparable from that of spirit, and that we cannot conceive the one without the other.
ACTION OF SPIRITS ON MATTER. 73
Thus the perisprit makes an integral part of the spirit, as the body makes an integral part of the man : but the perisprit alone is not the spirit any more than the body alone is the man, for the perisprit does not think ; it is to the spirit what the body is to the man ; it is the agent or instrument of his action.
56. The form of the perisprit is the human form, and when it appears to us it is usually that under which we have known the spirit during his life. It might be believed from this, that the perisprit, disen- gaged from all the parts of the body, is moulded on it in some sort, and so preserves its imprint ; but it does not appear to be so. The human form, with some shades of difference, and with the organic modifica- tions made necessary by the medium in which the being is called to live, is found among all the inhabit- ants of all the globe ; this, at least, is what the spirits say : it is equally the form of all non-incarnated spirits, who have only the perisprit ; it is that under which, from all time, angels and pure spirits have been represented : from whence we conclude that the human form is the type form of all human beings to whatever degree they may belong. But the subtile matter of the perisprit has neither the tenacity nor the rigidity of the compact matter of the body ; it is, if we may so express , ourselves, flexible and expansi- ble ; this is why the form it takes, though counter- drawn on that of the body, is not absolute ; it changes at the will of the spirit, who can give himself such or such an appearance at his will, while the solid envelope would offer an insurmountable resistance. Disencum- bered of these shackles that compressed it, the perisprit is elongated or contracted, transformed, in a word lends itself to all metamorphoses, according to the will
74 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
that acts on it. It is in consequence of this property of his fluidic envelope, that the spirit who wishes to be recognized can, when it is necessary, take the exact appearance he had when living, nay, even those of the corporeal accidents which may be signs of recognition. Spirits, then, as may be seen, are beings similar to ourselves, forming around us a whole population in- visible in the normal state, because, as we shall see, this invisibility is not absolute.
57. Let us return to the nature of the perisprit, for that is essential to the explanation we have to give. We have said that, though fluidic, it is not the less a kind of matter ; and this follows from the fact of the tangible apparitions to which we shall return. Under the influence of certain mediums, hands have appeared having all the properties of living hands, which have the heat, could be handled, offer the resistance of a solid body, which could grasp you, and which suddenly vanished like a shade. The intelligent action of these hands, which evidently obey a will in executing certain movements, in even playing airs on an instrument, proves that they are the visible part of an invisible being. Their tangibility, their temperature, in a word the impression they make on the senses, — for they have been known to leave impressions on the skin, give painful blows or caress gently, — prove that they are of some kind of matter : especially does their instantane- ous disappearance prove that this matter is eminent- ly subtile, and is like some substances that can pass alternately from the solid- to the fluid state, and vice versa.
58. The intimate nature of the spirit, properly so called, — that is to say, of the thinking being, — is entire- ly unknown to us : it is revealed to us only by its action,
ACTION OF SPIRITS ON MATTER. 75
and its actions can strike our material senses only by an intermediate material. It has for direct instrument its peris p rit, as a man has his body, and its perisprit is matter, as we shall see. It has, besides, for interme- diary agent, the universal fluid — a sort of vehicle on which it acts, as we act on the air to produce certain effects by the aid of dilatation, comprehension, pro- pulsion, or vibrations.
Seen by this light, the action of the spirit on matter may be easily conceived : we comprehend from this that all the effects that result from it enter into the order of natural facts, and have nothing of the marvel- ous in them. They appeared supernatural only when the cause was unknown ; the cause known, the marvel- ous disappeared ; and this cause lies entirely in the semi-material properties of the perisprit. It is a new order of facts which a new law comes to explain, and which, in a short time, will no more astonish any one than we are now astonished with correspondence at a distance in a few minutes by electricity.
59. It may perhaps be asked how the spirit, by the aid of a matter so subtile, can act on heavy and com- pact bodies, raise tables, &c. Assuredly it could not be a man of science who could make such objections ; for, without speaking of the unknown properties this new agent may possess, have we not under our eyes analogous examples ? Is it not in the most rarefied gas, in the most imponderable fluids, that industry finds its most powerful motors ? When we see the air overthrow edifices, steam carry enormous masses, gasified pow- der raise rocks, electricity break trees and pierce walls, what is there more strange in admitting that-the spirit, by the aid of his perisprit, can raise a table ? above all, when we know that this perisprit can become visible, tangible, and behave altogether like a solid body
Chapter II.
PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS. — TURNING TABLES.
60. The name Physical Manifestations has been given to those shown by sensible effects, such as noises, the movement and displacement of solid bodies. Some are spontaneous, that is, independent of all will; others are evoked.
We shall speak at present only of these last.
The simplest effect, and the one among the first observed, consists in the circular movement given to a table. This effect may be produced quite as well on other objects, but the table being that on which it was most frequently exercised, because it was most convenient, the name of turning tables prevailed as the designation of this kind of phenomenon.
When we say that this effect is one of the first that were observed, we mean in these latter times, for it is very certain that all kinds of manifestations were known from the most remote times, and it could not be otherwise ; since they are natural effects, they must have been produced in all ages. Tertullian speaks, in explicit terms, of tables turning and speaking.
This phenomenon for some time supplied food for the curiosity of the drawing-room ; then it was left for other amusements, for it was made but a subject of pastime. Two causes contributed to its abandonment — fashion for frivolous persons, who rarely consecrate
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ACTION OF SPIRITS ON MATTER. 77
two winters to the same amusement, and who — pro- digious for them ! — have given three or four to this. For grave and observant persons, something serious resulted and prevailed ; if they neglected the turning tables it is because they were occupied with conse- quences otherwise very important in their results ; they have left the alphabet for the science : there is the whole secret of the apparent abandonment on which our deriders place so much stress. However this may be, the turning tables are none the less the starting-point of the spirit doctrine ; and in this re- spect we owe them some developments, the better, also, that, presenting the phenomena in their greatest simplicity, the study of the causes will be easier, and the theory, once established, will give us the key to the most complicated effects.
61. For the production of the phenomena, the inter- vention of one or several persons, endowed with a special aptitude, and named mediums, is necessary. The number of cooperants is indifferent ; only it may be, in a number, some unknown mediums may be found. As to those whose mediumship is naught, their presence is without result, and even more injuri- ous than useful, from the disposition of mind they often bring with them.
Mediums often enjoy, in this relation, a power great- er or less, and, consequently, produce effects more or less decided : often one person, a powerful medium, will alone produce more than twenty others united ; it is enough for him to place his hands on the table to make it instantly move, stand up, be thrown over, turn somersaults, or turn round with violence.
62. There is no index to the medianimic faculty ; experience alone can show it to us. When, in a re-
78 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
union, a trial is desired, it is necessary simply to be seated around a table, and hold the hands flatly above it, without pressure or muscular intensity. In the beginning, being ignorant of the causes of the phe- nomenon, several precautions were indicated, since known to be absolutely useless ; such as, for instance, the alternation of the sexes, or the contact of the lit- tle fingers of the different persons, so as to form an uninterrupted chain. This last precaution appeared necessary while it was attributed to the action of a sort of electric current ; but experience has since demonstrated its inutility. The only prescription which should be rigorously obligatory, is concentra- tion of thought, absolute silence, and, above all, pa- tience, if the effect has to be awaited. It may be produced in a few minutes, or it may be a half hour, or an hour ; that depends on the medianimic power of the co-participants.
63. Let us say, still further, that the form of the table, the substance of which it is made, the presence of metals, of silk in the garments of the assistants, the days, the hours, obscurity or light, &c, are as in- different as rain or fair weather. The size alone of the table is of some consequence, but only when the medi- animic power may be insufficient to overcome the resistance ; in the contrary case, a single person, a child even, can make a table of a hundred kilometres rise ; though, under less favorable conditions, a dozen persons could not make the smallest stand move.
Things being in this state, when the effect begins to be manifested, there is usually heard some slight crack- ing of the table, which continues to be moved in vari- ous ways without contact.
Under some circumstances the table rises and
ACTION OF SPIRITS ON MATTER. 79
stands, sometimes on one foot, sometimes on another, then gently resumes its natural position. At other times it is balanced, imitating the movement of pitch- ing and rolling. At other times, again, — though this requires considerable medianimic power, — it is en- tirely detached from the floor, and maintained in equi- librium in space, without support ; sometimes rising to the ceiling, so that persons may pass under it, then descending slowly, balancing itself like a sheet of paper ; or it sometimes falls violently to the ground, and is broken, which proves very decisively that it is from no optical delusion.
64. Another phenomenon, very often produced, ac- cording to the nature of the medium, is that of raps in the very tissue of the wood, without movement of the table ; these raps, sometimes very weak, at other times very strong, are heard as well in the other furniture of the room, against the walls and the ceiling. We shall return to this presently. When they take place in the table, they produce in it a vibration very perceptible to the fingers, and very distinct when the ear is applied to it.
Chapter III.
INTELLIGENT MANIFESTATIONS.
65. In what we have seen, nothing assuredly reveals the intervention of an unknown power, and these effects could be perfectly explained by the action of a magnetic or electric current, or of some kind of fluid. Such was, in fact, the first solution given to these phe- nomena, and which might reasonably pass for logical. It would have prevailed without contradiction, if other facts had not come to demonstrate its insufficiency. These facts are the proofs of intelligence given ; for as all intelligent effects must have an intelligent cause, it remained evident, that even admitting that electricity or some other fluid played a part in it, there was still some other cause. What was it ? what was this intel- ligence ? This is what the continuation of the obser- vations brought to light.
66. For a manifestation to be intelligent it is not necessary that it should be eloquent, witty, or learned ; it is sufficient that it prove a free and voluntary act, expressing an intention, or answering to a thought. Assuredly, when we see a weathercock agitated by the wind, it is very certain it obeys only a mechanical im- pulse ; but if we should recognize in its movements intentional signals, — should it turn to the right or to the left, rapidly or slowly, at command, — we should be forced to admit, not that the. weathercock is intelligent,
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INTELLIGENT MANIFESTATIONS. 8 1
but that it obeys an intelligence. This is what hap- pened with the table.
67. We have seen the table moved, raised, strike blows, under the influence of one or of several medi- ums. The first intelligent effect that was remarked was to see these movements obey the word of com- mand ; thus, without changing its place, the table would rise alternately on the designated foot, then, in coming down, strike a required number of blows, an- swering a question. At other times the table, without personal contact, would walk across the room, going to the right or to the left, forward or backward, execut- ing divers movements, at the order of the assistants. It is very evident that we set aside all supposition of fraud, that we admit the perfect loyalty of the assist- ants, proved by their honor and perfect disinterested- ness. We shall speak, by and by, of the frauds against which it is necessary to be guarded.
68. By means of raps, and, above all, by the inner raps of which we have spoken, still more intelligent effects are produced, as the imitation of the beatings of a drum, a small war, with rank and platoon firing, cannonading ; then the grinding of the saw, blows of a hammer, the rhythm of different airs, &c. It was, as may well be supposed, an immense field opened for exploration. It was said, since there is here an un- known intelligence, it should be able to answer ques- tions ; and, in fact, it did answer Yes, or No, by means of a given number of raps. These answers were very insignificant, which led to the idea of designating the letters of the alphabet, and thus composing words and phrases.
69. These facts, renewed at will, by thousands of persons in all countries, could leave no doubt of the
82 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
intelligent nature of these manifestations. Then arose a new system/according to which this intelligence was no other than that of the medium, the interrogator, or even of the assistants. The difficulty was, to explain how this intelligence could be reflected into the table, and translated by blows. As soon as it was proved that these blows were not struck by the medium, they were then by the thought ; but thought striking blows was a still more prodigious phenomenon than the one they had already witnessed. Experience soon demon- strated the inadmissibility of this opinion. In fact, the answers were often found to be in complete opposition to the thought of the assistants, beyond the intellectu- al strength of the medium, and even in language of which he was ignorant, or relating to facts unknown to all. The examples are so numerous that it is almost impossible that any one, even slightly occupied with Spiritism, should not have been many times witness of it. We shall cite only one, brought to us by an eye- witness.
70. On a vessel of the imperial French navy, sta- tioned in the Chinese Seas, the whole crew, from the sailors up to the staff-major, were occupied in making tables talk. They hit upon the idea of invoking the spirit of a lieutenant of this same vessel, some two years dead. He came, and after various communica- tions, which astonished every one, he said, by rapping, what follows : " I pray you instantly to pay the captain the sum of " (he mentioned the sum) " which I owe him, and which I regret not having been able to repay before my death." No one knew the fact ; the captain himself had forgotten the debt, — a very small one, by the by, — but on looking over his accounts, he found there the lieutenant's debt, the sum indicated being
INTELLIGENT MANIFESTATIONS. 83
perfectly correct. We ask, of whose thought could this be the reflection ?
71. The act of communicating by alphabetic raps was perfected, but the process was always very long ; though by its means they obtained very interesting revelations from the world of spirits. These indicated other means, and to them we are indebted for written communications.
The first communications of this kind were by ad- justing a pencil to the foot of a table, held lightly on a sheet of paper. The table, moved by the influence of a medium, began to trace characters, then words and phrases. This process was successively simplified, by using little tables, the size of the hand, made express- ly, then baskets, card-baskets, and afterward simple planchettes. The writing was as flowing, rapid, and easy, as with the hand, but it was afterward found that these objects were really only appendices, pencil- holders, with which they could dispense by themselves holding the pencil : the hand, carried along by an involuntary movement, wrote under the impulse given by the spirit, and without the concurrence of the will or thought of the medium. From henceforward, the communications from beyond the tomb had no more limits than correspondence between the living.
We shall return to these different processes, and will explain them in detail ; having rapidly sketched them to show the succession of the facts, proving in these phenomena the intervention of unknown intelli- gences, otherwise spirits.
Chapter IV. THEORY OF PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS.
Movements and Levitations. — Noises. — Increase and Diminution of the Weight of Bodies.
J2. The existence of spirits being demonstrated by- reasoning and by facts, as well as the possibility for them to act upon matter, it remains now to know how this action is performed, and how they manage to make tables and other inert bodies move. One' thought naturally presents itself, and that was our own : as it was contradicted by the spirits, who gave us quite a different explanation, one we were far from expecting, it is an evident proof that their theory was not our opinion. As to the first thought, every one, as well as ourselves, might be likely to have it ; but as to the theory of the spirits, we believe it never has entered into any person's mind. It will easily be recognized as superior to ours, though less simple, because it gives the solution of a crowd of other facts which found no satisfactory explanation in our idea.
73. From the moment in which the nature of the spirits is known, their human form, the semi-material properties of the p&risprit, the mechanical action they can have on matter, that among the facts of apparition, fluidic and even tangible hands have been seen to grasp objects and transport them, it was natural to believe that the spirit simply used his hands to make
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THEORY OF PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS. 85
the table turn, and that he sustained it in the air by the strength of his arm. But, in that case, what necessity for a medium ? Cannot the spirit act alone ? for the medium, who most often rests his hands in a sense contrary to the movement, or even does not rest them at all, evidently cannot second the spirit by any muscular action whatever. Let us first allow the spirits whom we questioned on the subject to speak. 74. The following answers were given to us by the spirit of St. Louis : they have since been confirmed by many others.
1. Is the universal fluid an emanation from the Divinity ?
" No."
2. Is it a creation of the Divinity ? " All is created, except God."
3. Is the universal fluid at the same time the uni- versal element ?
" Yes ; it is the elementary principle of all things ? "
4. Has it any relation to the electric fluid whose effects we know ?
" It is its element."
5. What is the state in which the universal fluid is presented to us in its greatest purity ?
" To find it in its absolute purity, you must mount to the pure spirits ; in your world it is always more or less modified to form the compact matter that sur- rounds you ; at the same time you may say that the state in which it approaches most nearly to purity, is that of the fluid you call animal magiietic fluid!'
6. It has been said that the universal fluid is the source of life ; is it at the same time the source of intelligence ?
" No ; this fluid animates only matter."
86 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
7. Since it is this fluid which composes theperisprit, it appears to be there in a kind of condensed state, which approximates it, up to a certain point, to matter so called.
" Up to a certain point, as you say, for it has not all its properties : it is more or less condensed, according to the worlds."
8. What is the operation by which a spirit moves a solid body ?
" He combines a portion of the universal fluid with the fluid exhaled from the medium suitable to this effect."
9. Do the spirits raise the table with the aid of their members in some degree solidified ?
" This answer will not yet lead to what you desire. When a table is moved under your hands, the spirit evoked draws from the universal fluid what animates the table with a factitious life. The table thus prepared, the spirit attracts it and moves it under the influence of his own fluid thrown off by his will. When the mass he wishes to move is too heavy for him, he calls to his aid spirits who are in the same condition as himself. By reason of his ethereal nature, the spirit proper cannot act on gross matter without intermedia- ry, that is to say, without the link that unites it to matter : this link, which you call perisprit, gives you the key to all material spirit phenomena. I believe I have expressed myself clearly enough for you to under- stand."
Remark. We call attention to this first phrase : this answer will not yet lead to what you desire. The spirit had perfectly understood that all .the pre- ceding questions were asked only to arrive at this, and he alluded to our thought, which, in fact, expected
THEORY OF PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS. $7
quite a different answer, that is to say, the confirmation of our idea on the method by which the spirit makes the table move.
10. Are the spirits he calls to his aid inferior ? are they under his orders ?
" Equal, almost always ; sometimes they come of themselves."
ii. Are all spirits able to produce phenomena of this kind ?
" The spirits who produce these effects are always inferior spirits, who are not entirely disengaged from all material influence."
12. We understand that the superior spirits are not occupied by things that are beneath them ; but we ask if, by reason of their being more dematerialized, they would have the power if they had the will ?
" They have the moral strength, as the others have the physical strength ; when they require this strength, they make use of those who possess it. Have they not told you that they make use of inferior spirits as you do of porters ? "
Remark. It has been said that the density of the perisprit, if one may so express it, varies according to the state of the worlds ; it appears that it varies also in the same world according to individuals. Among the morally advanced spirits, it is more subtile, and approximates to that of the elevated spirits : among the inferior spirits, on the contrary, it approximates to matter, which is the reason these spirits of low state preserve so long the illusions of the terrestrial life ; they think and act as if they were still living ; they have the same desires, and we might almost say the same sensuality. This coarseness of the perisprit giving to it more affinity with matter, makes the
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inferior spirits more fitted for physical manifestations. It is for the same reason that a man of the world accustomed to the labor of intellect, whose body is frail and delicate, cannot carry a heavy burden like a porter. Matter, with him, is in a manner, as it were, less* compact, the organs less resistant ; he has less nervous fluid. The perisprit being to the spirit what the body is to man, and its density being accord- ing to the degree of inferiority of the spirit, it takes the place of muscular force ; that is to say, gives him, over the fluids necessary for manifestations, a greater power than those have whose nature is more ethereal. If an elevated spirit desires to produce such effects, he does what delicate people amongst us do ; he has it done by a spirit of the trade.
13. If we have thoroughly understood what you have said, the vital principle resides in the universal fluid ; the spirit draws in this fluid the semi-material envelope which constitutes his perisprit, and it is by means of this fluid that he acts on inert matter. Is it so ?
" Yes ; that is to say, he animates matter with a kind of factitious life ; the matter is animated with animal life. The table that moves under your hands lives like the animal ; it obeys the intelligent being. It is not he who pushes it as a man does a burden ; when the table is raised, it is not the spirit who raises it by strength of arm, it is the animated table that obeys the impulse given by the spirit."
14. What is the part of a medium in this matter ?
" I have said it ; the fluid of the medium is com- bined with the universal fluid accumulated by the spirit : the union of these two fluids is necessary ; that is to say, the animalized fluid with the universal
THEORY OF PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS. 89
fluid, to give life to the table. But remark that this life is only momentary; it is. extinguished with the action, and often before the end of the action, as soon as the quantity of fluid is insufficient to animate it."
15. Can the spirit act without the concurrence of a medium ?
" It can act in spite of the medium ; that is to say, that no doubt many persons serve as auxiliaries to the spirits for certain phenomena. The spirit draws from them, as from a source, the animalized fluid he needs ; it is thus that the concurrence of the medium, as you understand it, is not always necessary ; which is the case particularly in spontaneous phenomena."
16. Does the animated table act with intelligence ? Does it think ?
" It thinks no more than the stick with which you make an intelligent sign ;. but the vitality with which it is animated permits it to obey the impulse of an intel- ligence. Understand that the table that moves does not become spirit, and that it has of itself neither thought nor will."
Remark. We often use an analogous expression in our usual language ; we say of a wheel that turns quickly, that it is animated with a rapid movement.
17. Which is the preponderating cause in the pro- duction of this phenomena, the spirit or the fluid ?
" The spirit is the cause, the fluid is the instrument ; both are necessary."
18. What part does the will of the medium play in this case ?
" To call the spirits, and to second them in the im- pulse given to^the fluid."
Is the action of the will always indispensable ?
" It adds to the power, but is not always necessary,
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since the movement can take place against and in spite of that will ; this is a proof that there is a cause independent of the medium."
Remark. The contact of the hands is not always necessary to make an object move. It is so more often to give the first impulse ; but once the object is animated, it can obey the will without material con- tact ; that depends either on the power of the medi- um or the nature of the spirit. A first contact even is not always indispensable ; there is proof of it in the spontaneous movements and displacements which no one has dreamed of calling forth.
19. Why cannot every one produce the same effect ? and why have not all mediums the same power ?
" That depends on the organization, and the greater or less facility with which the combination of fluids can operate ; then the spirit of the medium sympa- thizes more or less with the foreign spirits who find in him the necessary fluidic power. This power, like that of magnetizers, is greater or less. Under this relation there are persons who are altogether refracto- ry ; others with whom the combination operates only by an exertion of their will ; others, finally, with whom it takes place so naturally and so easily, that they are not aware of it, and serve as instruments against their will, as we have already said." (See the next chapter, on Spontaneous Manifestations)
Remark. Magnetism is, doubtless, the principle of these phenomena, but not such as we usually under- stand it. The proof is, that there are very powerful magnetizers who could not move a stand, and persons who cannot magnetize, children even, to whom it suf- fices only to touch the fingers on. a heavy table to make it move ; so, if the medianimic power is not by
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reason of the magnetic, it is that there is another cause.
20. Can persons called electric be considered as mediums ?
" These persons draw from themselves the fluid necessary to the production of the phenomena, and can act without the help of foreign spirits. Thus they are not mediums in the sense attached to this word ; but a spirit can assist them, and profit by their natu- ral disposition."
Remark. There are persons, like somnambulists, who can act with or without the concurrence of a for- eign spirit. (See, in chapter on Mediums, the article relative to Somnambulistic Mediums)
21. Is the spirit that acts on solid bodies in the substance of the bodies, or outside of it ?
" Both ; we have said that matter is no obstacle to spirits ; they penetrate everything ; a portion of the perisprit is identified, so to say, with the object it pen- etrates."
22. How does the spirit manage to strike ? Does he make use of a material object ?
" No more than of his arms to raise the table. You well know that he has no hammer at his disposal. His hammer is the combined fluid put in action to move or to strike. When he moves, the light brings you the sight of the movements ; when he strikes, the air brings you the sound."
23. We can understand that when he strikes on a hard body ; but how can he make us hear noises or articulate sounds in the air ?
".Since he can act on matter, he can act on air as well as on the table. As to articulate sounds, he can imitate them, as he can all other noises."
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24. You say that spirits do not use their hands to remove the table ; yet, in certain visual manifestations, hands have been seen to appear whose fingers have wandered over the key-board of a piano, moved the keys, and caused sounds. Would it not seem that in this case the movement of the keys is produced by the pressure of the fingers ? Is not this pressure as direct and real when it is felt on ourselves, when these hands leave imprints on the skin ?
" You can understand the nature of spirits and their manner of acting only by comparisons, which give you an incomplete idea, and it is wrong to always wish to assimilate their processes to your own. Their pro- cesses must bear relation to their organization. Have I not told you that the fluid of the perisprit penetrates matter, and is identified with it, that it animates it with a factitious life ? Well, when the spirit rests his fingers on the keys, he puts them there really, and even moves them ; but it is not by muscular force that he presses the key : he animates it as he animated the table, and the key, which obeys his will, moves and strikes the chord. There is one thing you will have trouble in comprehending ; it is Jthis : that some spirits are so little advanced, and so material in comparison to the elevated spirits, that they still have the illusions of the terrestrial life, and believe they act as when they had their body ; they can no more give a reason of the true cause of the effects they produce, than a peasant can give a reason for the theory of the sounds he artic- ulates ; ask them how they play on the piano, they will tell you they strike on it with their fingers, because they believe they do strike it ; the effect is produced instinctively with them, without their knowing how,
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and yet by their will. When they make you hear words, it is the same thing/'
Remark. It results, from these explanations, that spirits can produce all the effects that we produce our- selves, but by means appropriate to their organization : certain forces which are suited to them take the place of the muscles which are necessary to us to act ; as gesture with the mute takes the place of speech, which he lacks.
25. Among the phenomena cited in proof of the action of an occult power, there are some evidently contrary to all the known laws of nature ; does not doubt, then, seem to be permitted ?
" It is because man is far from knowing all the laws of nature ; if he knew them all he would be a superior spirit. Every day, however, gives the lie to those who, thinking they know everything, presume to set bounds to nature ; and they are none the less haughty. In constantly unvailing new mysteries God warns men to doubt their own lights, for the day will come when the science of the most learned will be put to confu- sion. Have you not every day examples of bodies animated by a movement capable of overcoming the force of gravity ? Does not the bullet, shot into the air, momentarily overcome this force ? Poor men, who think yourselves so learned, and whose silly vanity is every instant disconcerted, know that you are still very small."
75. These explanations are clear, categorical, and without ambiguity ; from them results this capital point : that the universal fluid, in which dwells the principle of life, is the principal agent of the manifesta- tions, and that this agent receives its impulse from the spirit, whether incarnated or wandering. This fluid
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condensed constitutes the perisprit, or semi-material envelope of the spirit. In the state of incarnation, the perisprit is united to the matter of the body ; in the wandering state it is free. When the spirit is incar- nate, the substance of the perisprit is more or less bound, more or less adherent, if we may so express it. With certain persons there is a kind of emanation of this fluid from their organization ; and it is this, prop- erly speaking, that constitutes mediums for physical manifestations. The emission of the animalized fluid may be more or less abundant, its combination more or less easy, from whence mediums more or less pow- erful ; it is not permanent, which explains the inter- mittence of the power.
76. Let us cite a comparison. When one has the will to act materially on a given point at a distance, it is the thought that wills ; but the thought alone cannot go to strike the point ; an intermediary is necessary, which it directs — a stick, a projectile, a current of air, &c. Remark, too, the thought does not act directly on the stick, for if it is not touched it will not act alone. The thought, which is but the incarnated spirit within us, is united to the body by the perisprit ; but it can no more act on the body without the perisprit, than it can act on the stick without the body ; it acts on the. perisprit because it is the substance with which it has the greatest affinity ; the perisprit acts on the muscles, the muscles grasp the stick, and the stick strikes its aim. When the spirit is not incarnate, a foreign auxiliary is necessary ; this auxiliary is the fluid by which he fits the object to follow the impulse of his will.
J*]. Thus, when an object is put in motion, raised or thrown into the air, the spirit does not grasp, push, or
THEORY OF PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS. 95
raise it, as we should, with the hand ; he saturates it, so to say, with his fluid, combined with that of the medium, and the object, thus momentarily vivified, acts like a living being, with this difference, that, hav- ing no will of its own, it follows the impulse of the will of the spirit.
Since the vital fluid emitted in some way by the spirit, gives a factitious and momentary life to inert bodies ; since \hc^erisprit is but this same vital fluid, it follows that when the spirit is incarnate, it is he who gives life to the body, by means of his perisprit ; he remains united to it as long as the organization per- mits ; when he withdraws, the body dies. Now, if, instead of a table, a statue of wood were made, and acted on as is the table, we will have a statue that will move, will strike, will answer by its movements and by its blows ; in a word, we shall have a statue mo- mentarily animated by an artificial life ; we say talk- ing tables, we could also say talking statues. What a light this theory throws on a crowd of phenomena hitherto without solution ! How many allegories and mysterious effects does it not explain ?
78. But the incredulous object that the fact of rais- ing tables without a support is impossible, because it is contrary to the law of gravity. We will answer them, firstly, that their denial is not a proof; secondly, that if the fact exists, it may well be contrary to all the known laws ; that would prove one thing, that it must rest on unknown law, and that those who deny cannot pretend to know all the laws of nature. We have just explained this law, but it is no reason that it may be accepted by them, precisely because it is given by spirits, who have left their terrestrial clothing in- stead of being by spirits who still have it, and have
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seats in the Academy. In such a manner that if the spirit of Arago living had given this law, they, would have accepted it with their eyes shut ; but given by the spirit of Arago dead, it is a Utopia ; and why so ? because they believe that, Arago being dead, every- thing in him is dead. We have not the pretension to dissuade them ; yet, as this objection might embarrass some people, we shall try to answer it, putting our- selves at their stand-point, that is to say, by making abstract for an instant of the theory of factitious animation.
79. When the space under the bell of the pneumatic machine is emptied, this bell adheres with such force that it is impossible to raise it, on account of the weight of the column of air that rests upon it. Let the air enter, and the bell rises with the utmost facility, because the air below counterbalances the air above ; at the same time, left to itself, it will remain on the platform by virtue of the force of gravity. Now, let the air below be compressed till it have a density greater than that above, the bell will be raised in spite of gravity ; if the current of air is rapid and violent it could be sustained in space without visible support, in the manner of those toys that are made to flutter in a waterfall. The universal fluid, then, which is the ele- ment of all matter, being accumulated around the table, why should it not have the property to diminish or increase its specific relative weight, as the air for the bell of the pneumatic machine, as hydrogen gas for balloons, without its being considered against the law of gravity ? Do you know all the properties and all the power of this fluid ? No : well, do not deny a fact because you cannot explain it.
80. Let us return to the theory of the movement of
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the table. If, by the means indicated, the spirit can raise a table, he can raise anything else ; an easy- chair, for instance. If he can raise an easy-chair, he can, with a sufficient force, raise at the same time a person seated on it. This is the explanation of this phenomenon, which Mr. Home has produced a hun- dred times, on himself and other persons ; he renewed it during a voyage to London, and in order to prove that the spectators were not the sport of an optical illusion, he made a mark on the wall with a pencil, and persons passed beneath him. It is said Mr. Home is a powerful medium for physical effects ; he was in this case the efficient cause and the object.
We spoke of the possible augmentation of weight j it is, in fact, a phenomenon sometimes produced, and which has nothing more anomalous than the prodi- gious resistance of the bell under the atmospheric column. Under the influence of some mediums, ob- jects as light have been known to offer the same resistance, then suddenly yield to the slightest effort. In the experiment mentioned above, the bell in reality weighs neither more nor less by itself, but it appears heavier from the effect of the exterior cause that acts upon it ; it is probably the same here. The table has always the same intrinsic weight, for the mass is not augmented, but a foreign force is opposed to its move- ment ; and this cause may be in the ambient fluids that penetrate it, as that which augments or dimin- ishes the apparent weight of the bell is in the air. Make the experiment of the pneumatic bell before an ignorant peasant ; not understanding that it is the air he does not see that acts, it will not be difficult to per- suade him it is the devil. It may be said, perhaps, that, this fluid being imponderable, its accumulation 7
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cannot augment the weight of an object. Agreed ; but remark that if we used the word accumulation, it is by comparison, and not from absolute assimilation to the air. It is imponderable ; so be it : at the same time nothing proves that it is so ; its inmost nature is unknown to us, and we are far from being acquainted with all its properties.
Before having experimented on the weight of the air, no one suspected the effects of this same weight. Electricity is also ranked among the imponderable fluids ; yet a body may be held back by an electric current, and offer a strong resistance to one who would raise it : it has in appearance increased in weight. It would be very illogical to conclude that no support exists, because we cannot see it. The spirit, then, may have levers that are unknown to us ; Nature proves to us daily that her power does not stop at the evidence of our senses.
We can explain only by a similar cause the singular phenomenon, of which there have been several exam- ples, of a young person, feeble and delicate, raising with two fingers, without effort and as a feather, a strong, robust man, with the chair on which he is seated. This proves a cause foreign to the person ; it is an intermitting of the faculty.
Chapter V.
SPONTANEOUS PHYSICAL MANIFESTA- TIONS.
Noises, Racket, and Disturbance. — Objects thrown, &c.
82. The phenomena of which we have spoken are induced, but it sometimes happens that they take place spontaneously, without participation of the will ; far from it, since they often become very importunate. The thought that they may be an effect of the imagi- nation, over-excited by spirit ideas, is utterly excluded by the fact that they are produced among persons who never heard of spirit ideas, and at a moment they least expect them. These phenomena, which may be called practical natural Spiritism, are very important ; for they cannot be suspected of connivance ; this is why we ask persons who are engaged in spirit phenomena to gather all the facts of this nature which come to their knowledge, but, above all, to verify with care their reality, by a minute study of the circumstances, that they may be assured that they are not the sport of illusion or mystification.
83. Of all the spirit manifestations, the simplest and most frequent are sounds and rappings ; here, especial- ly, we must fear an illusion, for a crowd of natural causes might produce them — the wind whistling or moving an object, a body we ourselves move without perceiving it, an acoustic effect, a hidden animal, an
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insect, &c. ; nay, even the pranks of evil jesters. Spirit noises have always a peculiar character, an in- tensity of sound and very varied tone, which render them easily recognizable, and do not allow them to be confounded with the cracking of the wood, the snap- ping of the fire, or the monotonous tic-tac of the pen- dulum : they are dry blows, sometimes hollow, feeble, and light, sometimes clear, distinct, and noisy, which change from place to place, and are repeated with mechanical regularity. Of all the means for making sure, the most efficacious, that which leaves no doubt of their origin, is their obedience to the will. If the blows come from a designated place, if they answer to the thought by their number or intensity, an intelli- gent cause for them cannot be disavowed ; but the want of obedience in them is not always a contrary proof.
84. Let us admit, now, that, by a minute verifica- tion, the certainty is acquired that the noises or other effects are real manifestations ; is it rational to be afraid of them ? No, assuredly ; for in any case there could not be the least danger in them : persons who have been persuaded it is the devil, alone could be affected by them in a grievous manner, — as children are afraid of the loup-garou, man- wolf, or of Croque-mitaine.
It must be admitted that these manifestations ac- quire, under certain circumstances, a persistence and proportion very disagreeable, creating a very natural desire to be relieved of them. An explanation is unnecessary to this subject.
85. We have said that the physical manifestations have for their motive to call our attention to some- thing, and to convince us of the presence of a power superior to man. We have said, also, that the elevated
SPONTANEOUS PIIYS. MANIFESTATIONS. IOI
spirits are not engaged in these kinds of manifesta- tions ; they employ inferior spirits to produce them, as we employ servants for coarse work, and that with the motive we have indicated. This end once attained, the material manifestation ceases, because it is no longer necessary. One or two examples will make this thing better understood.
86. Several years ago, at the beginning of my studies on Spiritism, being one evening engaged in a work on that matter, rappings were heard around me for four consecutive hours ; it was the first time that a similar thing had happened to me. I satisfied myself that it was from no accidental cause, but, at the moment, knew nothing more. I had, at this time, occasion frequently to see an excellent writing medium. The next day I questioned the spirit, who communicated by this medi- um, as to the cause of the rappings. " It is," he an- swered, " your familiar spirit, who wants to speak to you." " And what does he want to say to me ? " " You may ask him yourself, for he is there."
Having then interrogated that spirit, he made him- self known under an allegorical name (I have since known, from other spirits, that he belongs to a very elevated order, and has played a very important part in the world) ; he pointed out errors in my work, indi- cating to me the lines where they would be found, gave me useful and wise advice, and would come at my call whenever I wished to interrogate him. Since then, in fact, this spirit has never left me. He has given me many proofs of great superiority, and his benevolent and efficacious intervention has been mani- fested for me in the affairs of material life, especially on those bearing on metaphysics. But from our first conversation, the rappings ceased. What did he desire
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to effect ? To enter into a regular communication with me ; for that he must warn me. The warning given, then explained, regular relations established, the rappings became useless : this is why they ceased. The drum is no longer beaten to awaken the soldiers when once they are up.
A fact almost similar happened to one of our friends. For some time his room resounded with various noises, which became very annoying. Occa- sions being presented of interrogating Ihe spirit of his father, by a writing medium, he ascertained what was wanted, did what he recommended, and after that nothing more was heard. It is to be remarked, that persons who have a regular and easy means of com- munication with the spirits are much more rarely subject to manifestations of this kind, which may be readily conceived.
87. Spontaneous manifestations are not always lim- ited to noises and rappings ; they sometimes degener- ate into real racket and disturbances ; furniture and various objects overthrown, projectiles of all kinds thrown from without, doors and windows opened and shut by invisible hands, tiles broken, — which cannot be placed to the account of illusion. The overthrow- ing is often very effective, but often there is only the appearance. An uproar is heard, a sound of some- thing falling and breaking with a crash, blocks of wood roll over the floor : running to the spot, every- thing is found tranquil and in order ; then scarcely outside, when the tumult recommences.
88. Manifestations of this kind are neither rare nor new ; scarcely any local chronicle that does not pos- sess some history of the kind. Fear has, doubtless, exaggerated the facts, which have been made to take
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proportions ridiculously gigantic, in passing from mouth to mouth ; superstition aiding, the houses where they have happened have been reputed as haunted by the devil, and hence all the marvelous or terrible stories of ghosts. On its part, knavery has not let slip so excellent an occasion for working upon credulity, and that often to the profit of its own personal interests. Besides, it may be readily imagined what impression facts of this kind, even reduced to the reality, might have on weak characters, predisposed by education to superstitious ideas. The surest means of remedying the possible inconveniences, since they cannot be pre- vented, is to make known the truth. The simplest things are terrifying when their cause is unknown. When people shall have become familiarized with spirits, and when those to whom they are manifested no longer believe they have a legion of demons at their heels, they will no longer fear. In the "Revue Spirit e" may be seen stated many authentic facts of this kind, among others, the history of the rapping spirit of Bergzabern, whose evil tricks lasted more than eight years (Nos. of May, June, and July, 1858) ; that of Dibbelsdorf (August, i860) ; that of Noyers Street, Paris (August, i860) ; that of the spirit of Castelrnau- dary, under the title of History of an Infernal (Febru- ary, i860) ; that of the manufacturer of St. Peters- burg (April, i860) ; and many others.
89. Transactions of this nature have often the char- acter of a real persecution. We know six sisters living together, who, for several years, found, every morning, their dresses dispersed, hidden under the roof, torn, and cut in pieces, whatever precautions they might take to put them under lock and key. It has 'often happened that persons in bed, and perfectly awake,
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have seen their curtains shaken, their coverings and pillows violently torn from them, have been raised up on their mattresses, and sometimes even thrown out of the bed. These doings are more frequent than is believed ; but the most of the time, those who are the victims dare not speak of them, for fear of ridicule. To our own knowledge, certain individuals have been subjected to treatment for insanity, in order to cure them of what they supposed to be hallucinations, and thus have been made really crazy. Medicine cannot comprehend these things, because it admits as cause only the material element ; from whence often result most fatal mistakes. History, some day, will tell of certain modes of treatment of the nineteenth century, as now it recounts certain processes of the middle ages. We entirely admit that some things are the work of malice or malevolence ; but if, after every investigation, it is proved that it is not the work of man, it must be conceded that it is, as some will say, of the devil ; we shall say, of spirits ; but of what spirits ?
90. Superior spirits no more amuse themselves with charivaris than grave and serious men do here. We have often made some of them come, that we might inquire into their motive in thus disturbing people. Most of them have had no other than amusement ; these are light rather than wicked spirits, who laugh at the fears they occasion, and the useless researches that are made to discover the cause of the tumult. Often they set upon an individual whom they are pleased to vex, and pursue him from dwelling to dwell- ing ; at other times they attach themselves to a local- ity, with no other motive than caprice. Sometimes, also, it is a vengeance they exercise, as we shall have
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occasion to show. In some cases their intention is more praiseworthy ; they wish to call attention and be put en rapport, either to give some warning useful to the person, or to ask something for themselves. We have often known some of them to ask prayers, others to solicit the accomplishment, in their name, of a vow they had not been able to fulfill, others wishing to re- pair an evil they had committed while in this life. In general it is wrong to be afraid ; their presence may be inopportune, but not dangerous. Of course there is a strong desire to be relieved from it, and usually what is done for that purpose has the directly con- trary effect. If they are spirits who are amusing them- selves, the more seriously the thing is taken, the more they persist in it, like mischievous children, who tor- ment the more those who they see are impatient, and like to make cowards afraid. If one would be wise enough to laugh at their ill turns, they would grow weary and leave. We know a person who, far from being irritated, excited them, defying them to do such and such a thing, so that, at the end of a few days, they came no more. But, as we have said, there are those whose motive is less frivolous. For this reason it is always useful to know what they want. If they ask something, it is certain their visits will cease as soon as their desire can be satisfied. The best means to be informed in this respect, is to invoke the spirit by the intermediary of a good writing medium ; by his answers we shall at once see with whom we have to do, and can act accordingly. If it be an unhappy spirit, charity will urge us to treat him with the respect he deserves ; if it be an idle jester, we can act toward him without ceremony ; if he is malevo- lent, we can pray God to make him better. In every
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case, prayer will always have a good result. But the gravity of the forms of exorcism make them laugh, and they care nothing about them. If we can enter into communication with them, we must distrust the bur- lesque or terrifying qualities they sometimes assume to play upon a person's credulity.
We shall return to treat this subject more in detail, and to speak of the causes that sometimes render prayer inefficacious, in the chapters on Haunted Places and Obsession.
91. These phenomena, though executed by inferior spirits, are often prompted by spirits of -a more elevated order, for the purpose of convincing people of the ex- istence of incorporeal beings of a power superior to man. The report that follows, even the terror it causes, call attention, and end by opening the eyes of the most skeptical. These find it easiest to place these phenomena to the score of imagination — a very con- venient explanation, and one that dispenses with the necessity of making others ; yet when objects are turned upside down, or thrown at your head, it re- quires a very complacent imagination to suppose such things are, when they are not. An effect of some kind is seen ; this effect has, necessarily, a cause : if a cool and calm observation shows us that this effect is independent of all human will and all material cause, — if, further, it gives us evident signs of intelligence and free will, which is the most characteristic sign, — we are forced to attribute it to an unknown intelligence. What are these mysterious beings ? This is what the spiritist studies teach us in the least contestable man- ner, by the means they give us to communicate with them. These studies teach us, above all, to separate what is real from the false or exaggerated in the phe-
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nomena we cannot explain. If an isolated effect be produced, — noise, movement, or apparition even, — the first thought should be that it is owing to an en- tirely natural cause, which is the most probable : then this cause must be sought for with the utmost care, and the intervention of spirits admitted only in good earnest : this is the way not to be deceived. For instance, he who, without any person being near him, receives a box on the ear, or blows of a stick on his back, as has been known, cannot doubt the presence of an invisible being.
One should guard not only against recitals that may be more or less exaggerated, but against his own im- pressions, and not attribute everything he cannot un- derstand to an occult origin. An infinity of very simple and very natural causes may produce effects strange at first sight, and it would be truly superstitious to fancy spirits always busy upsetting the furniture, breaking dishes, instigating the thousand and one household vexations, which it is most rational to place to the account of carelessness.
92. The explanations given of the movement of inert bodies naturally apply to all the spontaneous effects. The noises, though stronger than the table rappings, have the same cause ; objects are thrown or displaced by the same force that raises any object soever. A circumstance comes in here to the support of this theory. It might be asked, Where is the medi- um in 'this case ? The spirits have told us that, in such cases, there is always some one whose power is exercised against his will. Spontaneous manifesta- tions are very rarely produced in isolated places ; they almost always take place in inhabited houses, and through the presence of certain persons who exercise
108 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
an influence without desiring it ; these persons are real mediums, who themselves are ignorant of it, and whom, for that reason, we call natural mediums ; they are to other mediums what natural somnambulists are to magnetic somnambulists, and quite as curious to observe.
93. The voluntary or involuntary intervention of a person endowed with a special aptitude for the produc- tion of these phenomena, appears to be necessary in most cases, though there are cases in which the spirit appears to act alone ; but then it might be that he could draw the animalized fluid elsewhere, and not from a person present. This explains why spirits, who surround us constantly, do not every moment produce disturbances. It is first necessary that the spirit should desire it ; that he should have an end, a motive ; without that he does nothing. Then, too, he must often find, exactly in the place where he desires to act, a suitable person to second him — a rare coin- cidence. Such a person coming unexpectedly, he profits by it. Notwithstanding the meeting of all those favorable circumstances, he might be prevented by a superior will, which does not permit him to act as he pleases. He might be permitted to act only within certain limits, and in a case where these mani- festations would be considered useful, either as a means of conviction or trial, for the person who is the object of them.
94. On this subject we will cite only the conversa- tion in regard to the manifestations in June, i860, in Noyers Street, in Paris. The details may be found in the Revue Spirit e of August, 1 860.
1. To St. Louis. "Will you please tell us if the
SPONTANEOUS PI TVS. MANIFESTATIONS, rex)
incidents said to have occurred in Noyers Street are real ? As to the possibility, we do not doubt."
" Yes, these incidents are true ; only men's imagina- tions exaggerate them, either from fear or irony ; but, I repeat, they are true. These manifestations are brought about by a spirit who is amusing himself a little at the expense of those who live in the place."
2. " Is there any person in the house who may be the cause of these manifestations ? "
"They are always caused by the presence of the person whom they attack ; either- the attacking spirit has a grudge against the person living in the place where he is, and wants to play tricks on him, or, per- haps, even seeks to drive him away."
3. "We ask, if, among the persons in the house, there is one who may be the cause of these phenomena, by a spontaneous and involuntary medianimic influ- ence."
" It must be so ; without that the thing could not have occurred.
" A spirit lives in a place he likes ; he remains in- active so long as a suitable nature is not present in the place ; when the person comes, then he amuses himself as much as he can."
4. "Is the presence of the person in the very place indispensable ? "
" Ordinarily so, and it is in this instance ; that is why I said without that the incident could not have occurred"; but I did not mean to generalize ; there are cases in which immediate presence is not necessary."
5. " As these spirits are always of an inferior order, is it an unfavorable sign for the person that he is fit to serve them as an auxiliary ? Would it show a sympa- thy with beings of that nature ? "
HO BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
" No, not precisely ; for this suitability arises from a physical disposition ; at the same time, it very often shows a material tendency which it would be prefera- ble not to have ; for the higher one is morally, the more one attracts good spirits, who necessarily keep away bad ones."
6.." From whence does the spirit take the projectiles he uses ? "
" These things are most often taken on the place, or in the vicinity ; a force coming from a spirit projects them, and they fall in the spot designated by that spirit."
7. " Since spontaneous manifestations are often permitted, or even excited, for the purpose of convin- cing, it seems to us that if certain skeptical people were personally the object of them, they would be obliged to yield to such evidence. They sometimes complain that they never witness conclusive facts ; would it not depend on the spirits to give them some sensible proofs ? "
"Are not atheists and materialists every moment witnesses of the effects of the power of God and of thought ? That does not prevent them from denying God and the soul. Did the miracles of Jesus convert all his contemporaries ? Did not the Pharisees, who said to him, ' Master, show us a sign/ resemble those who, in our time, ask you to make them see manifesta- tions ? If they are not convinced by the wonders of creation, they would no more be convinced even if spirits should appear to them in the most unequivocal manner, because their pride makes them like restive horses. The occasions of seeing would not be want- ing if they should seek in sincerity. God does not see fit to do for them more than for those who sincere-
SPONTANEOUS PHYS. MANIFESTATIONS. Ill
ly seek instruction, for the reward is only to the will- ing. Their skepticism will not prevent the will of God from being accomplished ; you see plainly it has not hindered the spread of the doctrine.
" Cease to be disquieted by their opposition, which is to the doctrine what shade is to the picture ; it gives it a stronger light. What merit would they have in being convinced by force ? God will leave them to all the responsibility of their obstinacy, and that responsi- bility will be more terrible than you think. ' Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed,' as Jesus said, because they do not doubt God's power."
8. " Do you think it would be of use to invoke that spirit, to ask some explanations of him ? "
" Invoke him if you wish, but it is an inferior spirit, who will give you only very insignificant answers.
95. Co7iversation with the disturbing spirit of Noyers Street.
1. Invocation.
" Why have you called me ? Do you want to be struck with stones ? Then we should see a fine run away, in spite of your brave air."
2. " If you should bring stones here, it would not frighten us ; we actually ask if you can bring them here."
" Here I could not, perhaps ; you have a guardian who watches over you."
3. " In Noyers Street was there a person who served as your auxiliary to help in the malicious tricks you have played on the people in the house ? "
" Certainly ; I found a good instrument, and no learned, wise, and prudent spirit to hinder me. I am gay. I love to amuse myself."
112 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
4. " Who was the person who served as your instru- ment ? "
" A servant"
5 . " Was it against her will she served you ? "
" O, yes ; the poor girl ! she was the most fright- ened."
6. " Did you act in this way from a hostile motive ? " " I had no hostile motive ; but the men who seize
upon everything will make it turn to their advantage."
7. " What do you mean by that ? We don't under- stand you."
" I was trying to amuse myself ; but you will study the thing, and will have one more fact to show that we exist."
8. " You say you had no hostile motive, and yet you have broken all the windows in the house ; you have thus caused a real loss."
"That is but a detail."
9. " Where did you procure the objects you threw ? " "They are very common. I found them in the
court-yard, and in the next gardens."
10. "Did you find them all, or did you make some of them ? " (See Chapter VIII.)
" I made nothing, composed nothing."
11. " If you had not found them, could you have made them ? "
" It would have been more difficult ; but to tell the truth, matters can be mixed, and make something."
12. " Now tell us how you threw them."
" Ah, that is harder to tell. I was helped by the electrical nature of that girl, joined to mine, less material ; so between us we transported the different matters."
13. "You would like, I think, to tell us something
SPONTANEOUS PI I VS. MANIFESTATIONS. 1 13
about yourself. Tell us, then, if it is long since you died."
11 Long enough ; more than fifty years."
14. " What were you when you were living ? "
" Not much good ; I picked rags around here, and sometimes they scolded me because I loved Goodman Noe's red wine too much ; so I would have liked to drive them all away."
15. "Is it of yourself, and of your own free will, that you have answered our questions ? "
" I had an instructor."
16. " Who is your instructor ? " " Your good King Louis."
Remark. This question was propounded on account of certain answers which seemed beyond the capacity of this spirit, in the depth of the ideas, and even in the form of the language. It is not at all astonishing that he should have been aided by a more enlightened spirit, who desired to profit by this occasion to give us some instruction. This is a very ordinary occur- rence, but a remarkable particularity in this circum- stance is, that the influence of the other spirit made itself felt even in the writing ; that of the answers, when he intervened, is more regular, more flowing ; that of the rag-picker is angular, coarse, irregular, often scarcely legible, and bears an entirely different character.
17. " What do you do now; does the thought of your future occupy you ? "
"Not yet; I am wandering. They. think so little of me in the world, that nobody prays for me ; as I am not helped, I don't work."
Remark. We shall see, by and by, how much we 8
114 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
can contribute to the advancement and consolation of the inferior spirits by prayers and advice.
1 8. " What was your name when you were living ? " " Jeannet."
19. " Well, Jeannet, we will pray for you. Tell us if our invocation has given you pleasure, or annoyed you ? "
" Pleasure rather, -for you are good fellows ; gay livers, though a little severe ; all the same, you have listened to me. I am satisfied.
" Jeannet."
Phenomeno7i of Materialization.
96. This phenomenon differs from those of which we have spoken only in the kind intention of the spirit who is their author, in the nature of the objects, almost always of a gracious character, and by the sweet and almost delicate manner in which they are brought. It consists in the spontaneous bringing of objects which are not in the place where you are ; these are most, often flowers, sometimes fruits, confec- tionery, jewels, &c.
97. Let us first say that this phenomenon is one of those most easily imitated, and consequently of which we must be on our guard against imposture. We know how far sleight of hand can go in such matters ; but without having to do with a person of this pro- fession, we might easily be the dupe of a skillful maneuver. The best of all guarantees is in the diameter, tJie known honor, the absolute disinterested- ness of the person who obtains the effects ; in the second place, in the attentive examination of all the circumstances under which they are produced ; finally,
SPONTANEOUS PHYS. MANIFESTATIONS. 1 15
in the enlightened knowledge of Spiritism, which alone can enable us to discover what is to be suspected.
98. The theory of the phenomenon of materializa- tion, and of physical manifestations in general, is summed up in a remarkable manner in the following dissertation, by a spirit whose communications bear an incontestable seal of profundity and logic. Several of them will be found in the course of this work. He made himself known under the name of Erastus, a disciple of St. Paul, and as the spirit protector of the medium who served him as an interpreter.
" To obtain these phenomena, there must necessarily be mediums whom I will call sensitive ; that is to say, endowed in the highest degree with the medianimic faculties of expansion and penetrability ; because the easily excitable nervous system of some of these mediums permits them, by means of certain vibrations, to project round them with profusion their animalized fluid.
" Impressionable natures, persons whose natures vibrate to the least sentiment, to the smallest sensa- tion, whom moral or physical influence, internal or external, easily affects, are subjects very apt to become excellent mediums for the physical effects of tangibili- ty and materialization. In fact, their nervous system, almost entirely deprived of the refractory envelope which isolates this system among most incarnated beings, makes them suitable for the development of these various phenomena.
" Consequently, with subjects of this nature, whose other faculties are not adverse to medianimization, the phenomena of tangibility will be more easily obtained ; rappings in the walls and in the furniture, intclligciit
Il6 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
movements, and even the suspension in space of the heaviest, inert matter. A fortiori, these results will be obtained if, instead of one medium, there are at hand several, equally well endowed.
" But from the production of these phenomena to the obtaining of that of materializations, there is a whole world ; for, in this case, not only is the labor of the spirit more complex, more difficult, but, more than this, the spirit can operate only by means of one medium ; that is, several mediums could not simulta- neously concur in the production of the same phe- nomenon. On the contrary, it sometimes happens that the presence of persons antipathetic to the spirit who operates, radically fetters his operation. To these motives, which, as you see, do not lack importance, add that the materialization always necessitates a greater concentration, and, at the same time, a greater diffusion of certain fluids which can be obtained only from the best endowed mediums, those, in a word, whose electro-medianimic machinery is the best con- ditioned.
" In general, these effects are, and will remain, ex- ceedingly rare. I do not need to prove to you why they are, and will be, less frequent than the other tan- gible effects ; from what I have said, you will yourself make that deduction. Besides, these phenomena are of such a nature, that not only all mediums are not suitable, but even all spirits cannot produce them. In fact, there must exist between the spirit and the medium influenced a certain affinity, a certain analogy, in a word, a certain resemblance, which permits the expansible part of the perispritaltic (Note 5) fluid of the incarnated to be mingled, united, combined with that of the spirit who desires to produce the effect.
SPONTANEOUS PHYS. MANIFESTATIONS. 1 17
This fusion should be such that the resulting force becomes, so to say, one; as the electric current acting on the coal produces one flame, one single brightness. Do you say, Why this union ? why this fusion ? It is that for the production of these phenomena it is ne- cessary that the essential properties of the operating spirit be augmented by some of those of the medium- ized ; it is that the vital fluid, indispensable to the production of all the medianimic phenomena, is the exclusive appanage of the incarnated ; and that, con- sequently, the spirit operator is obliged to be impregnat- ed with it. It is thus only that he can, by means of certain properties of your ambient fluid, unknown to you, isolate, render invisible, and cause to move, cer- tain material objects, and even the incarnated them- selves.
" It is not permitted me, at this moment, to unvail to you these special laws that rule the gases and fluids that surround you ; but before many years shall have elapsed, before one generation of man be accomplished, the explanation of these laws and of these phenomena will be revealed to you, and you will see a new order of mediums arise, who will fall into a peculiar state as soon as they shall be medianimized.
" You see with how many difficulties the production of these phenomena is surrounded ; you can conclude from this, very logically, that phenomena of this kind are exceedingly rare, as I have said, and with still greater reason, that the spirits seldom lend them- selves to their production, because it requires on their part a quasi-material labor, which is for them an ennui and a fatigue. On the other hand there is this : it is that very often, in spite of their energy and will, the
u8
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state of the medium himself opposes an impassable barrier.
" It is thus evident, and doubtless your reasoning sanctions it, that the tangible facts of rappings, move- ments, suspensions, are simple phenomena, which are operated by the concentration and dilatation of cer- tain fluids, and which may be elicited and obtained by the will and the work of mediums who are suited thereto, when they are seconded by friendly and kind spirits ; while the facts of materialization are multiple, complex*, require a concourse of special circumstances, can be operated only by a single spirit and a single medium, and necessitate, over and above the wants of tangibility, a very especial combination of circum- stances to isolate and render invisible the object or objects subject to the materialization.
" All you spiritists comprehend my explanations, and you can perfectly understand the reason for this concentration of special fluids for the locomotion and tangibility of inert matter ; you believe in it as you believe in the phenomena of electricity and magnetism, with which the medianimic facts are full of analogy, and are, so to say, its consecration and development. As to the skeptics, — and the scientists, worse than the skeptics, — I have nothing to do with convincing them ; I do not trouble myself about them : they will, some day, be convinced by the force of evidence, for they must necessarily bow before the unanimous testi- mony of spiritist facts, as they have been forced to do before other facts they have at first rejected.
" To recapitulate : while the facts of tangibility are frequent, the facts of materialization are very rare, because their conditions are very. difficult ; consequent- ly no medium can say, " At such an hour, at such a
SPONTANEOUS PHYS. MANIFESTATIONS. 1 19
moment, I will obtain a materialization ; for often the spirit himself finds a hindrance to his work. I must add that these phenomena are doubly difficult in pub- lic, for there almost always are met energetically re- fractory elements, which paralyze the efforts of the spirit, and, with still greater reason, the action of the medium. On the contrary, be certain that these phe- nomena are almost always produced in private, spon- taneously, most often unknown to the mediums, and without premeditation, and very rarely when these have foretold them ; from whence you may conclude that there is a legitimate motive of suspicion whenever a medium flatters himself he can obtain them at will ; in other words, that he can command spirits as ser- vants, which is simply absurd. Again, take as a gen- eral rule, that these spirit phenomena are not given in the way of a show, and to amuse the curious. If some spirits lend themselves to such things, it can be only for simple phenomena, and not for those which, like materialization and others similar, exact exceptional conditions.
" Remember, spiritists, that if it is absurd to reject systematically all the phenomena from beyond the tomb, neither is it wise to accept them all blindly. When a phenomenon of tangibility, of apparition, of visibility, or of materialization is manifested spontane- ously, and, as it were, instantaneously, accept it : but I cannot repeat to you too often, accept nothing blindly ; let each action be subjected to an examination, minute, searching, severe ; for, believe me, Spiritism, so rich in sublime and grand phenomena, has nothing to gain from those small manifestations which skillful jugglers can imitate.
" I know very well what you will say to me, — that
120 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
these phenomena are useful to convince the skeptical ; but know this, that if you had no other means of con- viction, you would not have, to-day, the hundredth part of the spiritists that you have. Speak to the heart ; it is by that you will make the most serious con- versions. If, for certain persons, you consider it useful to act by' material facts, at least present them under such circumstances that there can be no false interpre- tation, and, above all, do not go aside from the normal condition of these facts ; for facts presented under bad conditions furnish arguments to the skeptical, instead of convincing them. Erastus."
99. This phenomenon offers a very striking pecu- liarity, which is, that certain mediums obtain it only in a somnambulic state. This is easily explained : there is with a somnambulist a natural disengagement, a kind of isolation of the spirit and of the perisprit, which must facilitate the combination of the necessary fluids. Such is the case with the materializations we have witnessed. The following questions were ad- dressed to the spirit who produced them, but his answers being unsatisfactory, we submitted them to the spirit Erastus, much more enlightened on the theory, and who completed them by very judicious remarks. One is the workman, the other the scientist ; and the comparison of these two intelligences is an instructive study, for it proves that simply b?ing a spirit is not sufficient to make one comprehend every- thing.
1. " Will you please tell us why the materializations you made were produced only during the magnetic sleep of the medium ? "
"That depends on the nature of the medium ; the
SPONTANEOUS PHYS. MANIFESTATIONS. 121
effects I produced with mine asleep, I could have pro- duced equally well with another medium in a waking state."
2. " Why did you make us wait so long ? and why excite the covetousness of the medium, irritating his desire to obtain the promised object ? "
" Time is necessary for me to prepare the fluids that serve for the materialization ; as to the excitation, it is often only to amuse those present, as well as the som- nambulist."
Remark by Erastus. " The spirit who answered knew no better ; he does not reason on the motive of this covetousness, which he instinctively incites without understanding its effect ; he thinks to amuse, while in reality he undoubtedly provokes a greater emission of fluid ; it is the consequence of the difficulty the phenomenon presents ; a difficulty always greater when it is not spontaneous, especially with certain mediums."
3. " Does the production of the phenomena pertain to the special nature of the medium ? and could it be produced with other mediums with more facility and promptitude ? "
"•The production pertains to the nature of the medi- um, and can be produced only with corresponding natures ; as to promptitude, our custom of correspond- ing often with the same medium is a great help to us."
4. " Does thf influence of the persons present count for anything ? "
" When there is skepticism, opposition, we can be greatly annoyed : we like better to give our proofs with believers, and persons versed in Spiritism ; but I do
122 BOOK ON MEDIUMS.
not mean by that to say that ill will could completely paralyze us."
5. " From whence did you take the flowers and bon- bons you brought ? "
" The flowers I took from the gardens, wherever it pleased me."
6. "And the bonbons ? Surely the confectioner would miss them."
" I took them from wherever it pleased me ; the merchant did not miss them at all, for I put others in their place."
Remark of Erastus. " I think this is explained in a very unsatisfactory manner, because of the incapa- city of the spirit who answered. Thus, he may have caused a real wrong ; but the spirit does not wish to pass for one who would wrong any person whatever. An object can be replaced only by an identical object of the same form, same value ; consequently, if a spirit had the faculty to substitute an object similar to that he takes, he would have no reason for taking it, and might give that which served him in replacing."
7. " Is it possible to bring flowers from another planet ? "
" No ; it is not possible to me." ( To Erastus) " Could other spirits have the power ? " " No ; that is not possible, on account of the differ- ence in the surrounding atmospheres."
8. " Could you bring flowers from another hemi- sphere, — the tropics, for instance ? " •
11 From any part of the earth I can."
9. " Could you make the objects you have brought disappear, and carry them back ? "
" Just as well as I made them come. I can take them as I will."
SPONTANEOUS P11YS. MANIFESTATIONS. 1 23
10. "Docs the production of this phenomenon cause you any trouble — any annoyance ? "
" It causes us no trouble, when we have permission ; it might cause us a great deal, if we wished to produce effects without being authorized to do so."
Remarks of Erastus. " He does not wish to ac- knowledge his trouble, though it may be very real, as he is obliged to effect what might be called a material operation."
11." What are the difficulties you encounter ? "
" No other than bad fluidic dispositions, which might oppose us."
12. " How do you bring the object ? Do you hold it in your hands ? "
" No ; we envelop it in ourselves."
Rema?'k of Erastus. " He does not clearly explain his operation, for he does not envelop the object with his own personality ; but as his personal fluid is dilata- ble, penetrable, and expansible, he combines a part of this fluid with a part of the animalized fluid of the me- dium, and it is in that combination that he hides and transports the object subject to the materialization. It is not, thus, right to say that he envelops it in himself."
13. "Could you, with the same facility, bring an object of considerable weight, of fifty kilometres, for instance?"
" Weight is nothing to us ; we bring flowers because that may be more agreeable than a great weight."
Remark of Erastus. " That^s true ; he could bring one or two hundred kilometres of objects ; for the weight that exists for you is annulled for him ; but here again he does not give the reason for what happens. The mass of the