The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1859

The adversaries of Spiritism have just made a discovery that must upset the rapping spirits. To them it is like one of those blows from which they will never recover. In fact, what should those poor spirits be thinking after the terrible poking in the eye given by Mr. Schiff, then by Mr. Jobert (de Lamballe) and later by Mr. Velpeau? I can actually see the spirits very embarrassed, moaninsg and groaning something like this: “Well, my dear, we are in real trouble! We are done! We did not count on the discovery of how the anatomy interacts that has unveiled our tricks. Positively, we can- not live in a country in which there are people who can see so far ahead!”

Come on, gentlemen onlookers who simply have believed in all these old wives’ tales, impostors who have wanted to make us believe that there may be things that we do not see. Ignorant who believe that something can escape the scalpel, even your soul, and all of you, spiritist writers or spiritualists, more or less witty, curtsy and acknowledge that you were all fools, charlatans, and even rogues or imbeciles. Those gentlemen allow you the choice because here is the light, the pure truth:

“Science Academy, Session of April 18th, 1859 – About the rhyth- mic muscular involuntary contraction.”

“Mr. Jobert de Lamballe reports a curious fact about the involun- tary rhythmic contraction of the right hand side lateral peroneus brevis muscle, which confirms the opinion of Mr. Schiff with re- spect to the occult phenomenon of the rapping spirits.”

“Ms. X..., a 14 years old, strong, well-built young lady, is affected by regular involuntary movements of the right hand side lateral peroneus brevis muscle, since she was six, and also by knocks that can be heard from behind the external right malleolus, with the regularity of the pulse. These symptoms occurred for the first time at night, followed by great pain. Soon after the left hand side lateral peroneus brevis was affected by the same thing, although with lesser intensity.”

“The effect of such cracks is the production of pain, insecurity while walking and even falling down. The sick young lady in- formed that the extension of the foot and the compression exerted upon certain points of the foot and leg make them stop, although she might continue to feel pain and fatigue in that limb.”

“When this interesting child came to us, this is the state in which we found her. It was easy to verify, at the right external malleolus, on the superior portion of the tip of the bone, a regular knock, followed by a transient sagging and the lifting of the soft parts of the region, producing a dry noise after each muscular contraction. Such a noise was heard in her bed, near the bed, and even at a considerable distance from the place where the child was resting. Remarkable by the regularity and sharpness, the sound followed the girl everywhere. By auscultating the foot, the leg and the mal- leolus, one could notice an unpleasant shock going through the whole path of the muscle, such as a mechanical shock transmitted from end to end of a wooden beam. Sometimes the noise seemed like a squeak, a friction, when the contractions were less intense.

All that happened when the patient was standing, sitting or lying down, at any time of day and night when examining her.”

“If we study the mechanism of those knocks and if for a better clarity we decompose each nock into two periods of time, we will see that:

“In the first stage, the peroneus brevis tendon moves out of the gutter, necessarily raising the peroneus longus and the skin.”

“In the second period, the phenomenon of contraction is com- pleted; the tendon is released, moved back into the gutter, striking against it, thus producing the dry sound that we talked about.”

“It was renewed, so to speak, every second, and every time the little toe felt a jolt and the skin covering the fifth metatarsal was raised by the tendon. It stopped when the foot was greatly ex- tended. It stopped again when pressure was exerted on the muscle or the sheath of the peroneus.”

“In recent years, French and foreign newspapers talked a lot about hammering like noises, sometimes happening in regular succes- sion, sometimes following a particular rhythm, occurring with certain people lying in their beds.”

“Charlatans have taken over these strange phenomena whose real- ity, in fact, is also attested by credible witnesses. They have been trying to correlate these phenomena to the intervention of a su- pernatural cause, using it to exploit public credulity.”

“Observing Miss X... it shows how, under the influence of muscle contraction, the displaced tendons can, when fall back into their bone gutters, produce beats that for some people announce the presence of rapping spirits.”

“Through exercise, any person can acquire the ability of produc- ing similar movements of the tendons at will, resulting in the dry beats that are heard from a distance.”

“Repelling any idea of supernatural intervention, and noticing that such knocks and strange noises happened at the bedside of the individuals excited by the spirits, Mr. Schiff asked himself if the source of those noises would not be in the patients, and not outside. His knowledge of anatomy led him to believe that those things could happen in the leg, in the peroneus region where there is a bone surface, tendons and joints.”

“Since such a thought was very entrenched in his mind, he has been experimenting and testing himself, not allowing him to doubt that the noise would have its chamber behind the lateral malleolus and the groove of the peroneus tendon.”

“Mr. Schiff was soon able to perform voluntary noises, regular, harmonious, and before a large number of people (fifty witness- es), he could mimic the signs of the rapping spirits with or with- out shoes, standing or lying down.”

“Mr. Schiff states that all these noises are caused by the tendon of the peroneus longus, as it passes through the fibular groove, and he adds that they coexist with the thinning or absence of the common sheath of the peroneus longus and brevis.”

“As for us, first assuming that all those cracking sounds are produced by the motion of a peroneal tendon against the bone surface, we believe however that it is not necessary to have an anomaly of the sheath in order to have that sound produced. All it is needed is a muscle contraction, the movement of the tendon and its return to the gutter so that the noise is produced. In addition, the peroneus brevis is the only agent of the noise in question. In fact, it affects a more straight direction than the peroneus longus, which suffers several deviations in its path; it is located deep in the gutter; it entirely covers the bone gutter, from what is natural to conclude that the noise is produced by the shock of the tendon against the solid parts of the gutter. It presents muscle fibers up to the entrance of the tendon into the common gutter, while with the peroneus longus it is the opposite.”

“The noise is of variable intensity and several tones may be dis- tinguished. That is how we can find noises that vary from the reverberating sound heard from a distance to others like the rub- bing friction, the saw, etc.”

“We made successive incisions by the subcutaneous method, through the body of the right peroneus brevis and the body of the same muscle on the left side of our patient, using an apparatus to keep her limbs still. After the suture the functions of those two members were recovered without any trace of that rare and singular disease.”

“Mr. VELPEAU. The noises that Mr. Jobert has just reported in his interesting communication seem to be related to a broad question. These noises, in fact, are observed in a variety of re- gions. Hip, shoulder, as well as the inner side of the foot that often becomes their seats. I observed a lady, among others, who with the help of some rotational movements of the thigh produced a kind of music which could be heard clearly enough from one side to the other of the room. The tendon of the longer part of the biceps brachialis easily produces that sound, by leaving its sheath groove and when the naturally attaching fibrous branches loos- en or break. The same happens with the tibialis posterior or the flexor hallucis longus behind the medial malleolus. Such noises are explained, as well understood by MM. Schiff and Jobert, by the friction or tendon jerks in the grooves or against the edges of the synovial surfaces. They are, therefore, possible in countless ar- eas or near a large number of organs. Sometimes clear and vivid, other times deaf or obscure, sometimes wet, sometimes dry, those sounds vary extremely in intensity.”

“Hopefully the example given on this subject by MM. Schiff and Jobert will lead the physiologists to seriously investigate these noises, and one day they will provide a rational explanation to the misunderstood phenomena hitherto attributed to occult and supernatural causes.”

“Mr. Jules Cloquet, supporting the observations of Mr. Velpeau about the abnormal noises that can be produced by the tendons in various parts of the body, gives the example of a young girl between sixteen and eighteen years old, who was introduced to him at the St. Louis hospital, at a time when MM. Velpeau and Jobert were associated to the same institution. The girl’s father, who called himself the father of a phenomenon, a kind of showman, hoped to take advantage of his child in a public exhibition. He announced that his daughter had the movement of a pendulum in her belly. The girl was perfectly appeased. By a slight twisting motion in the lumbar region of the spine, she produced strong snapping sounds, more or less regular, follow- ing the rhythm of slight movements that she made at the lower region of her chest. Those abnormal noises could be distinctly heard more than twenty-five feet away, resembling the sound of an old rotisserie. The sounds were produced at the young lady’s will, and seemed to have their seats in the muscles of the lum- bodorsal region of the spine.”


This article from L’Abeille Médicale, whose full transcription seemed to be a duty for the enlightenment of our readers, then avoiding the accusation of running away from certain arguments, was reproduced in several news- papers with some variations, followed by the usual adjectives.

It is not our habit to reveal criticism. We got over that since our com- mon sense tells us that nothing is proved with silliness and harm, not matter how smart someone may be. Had the above article been limited to those trivialities which are not always followed by civism and education, we would not mention it. However, it faces the question from a scientific point of view. Let us see if we are really dead by decree from the Academy of Sciences or if we have any survival chance like the poor and crazy Fulton, whose system the Academy declared to be an empty and imprac- ticable dream, only denying France from the initiative of the steam boat. Who knows the consequences that such a power might have had in the hands of Napoleon I in the future events!

We will quickly address the qualification of charlatan attributed to the followers of the new ideas. It sounds somewhat audacious to us the application of this concept to millions of people that take no profit from such ideas, achieving the highest echelons of the social scale. They forget that Spiritism has made incredible progress in a very short time, in all corners of the globe; that it spreads not only among the ignorant but also among the educated; that it counts on doctors, magistrates, clergy- men, artists, writers and high profile public servants in its ranks – people to whom one would generally associate some light and common sense. Well, mixing them up in the same group and unceremoniously out cast- ing them out to the class is an act of great petulance.

They may still say: “You talk about people of good faith, victims of an illusion. We do not deny the effect; we dispute the cause that you attribute to those effects. Science has just discovered the true cause; makes that cause known and hence destroys all that mystic scaffolding of an invisible world that can seduce the exalted but sincere imaginations.”

We have no intention of being considered wise and even less so would we dare to position ourselves on the same level as our distinguished adversaries.

We will only say that our personal studies of Anatomy and Natural Sciences, that we had the honor of teaching, allow us to understand your theory and in no way we feel perturbed by that avalanche of technical vocabulary. The phenomena you describe are perfectly known to us. In our observations about the effects attributed to the invisible beings, we were careful enough by not neglecting a so patently negligible cause. When a fact is presented to us we are not satisfied with a single observation only. We want to see it in all angles, all faces and before accepting a theory we verify if that theory embraces all circumstances and if any unknown fact would be able to contradict it. In one word, if that theory resolves all questions. Such is the price of truth.

Gentlemen, you certainly admit that this procedure is absolutely logi- cal. Very well! Despite all respect owned to your knowledge, there are some difficulties in the application of your system to what is convention- ally called the rapping spirits.

First, one may consider at least singular the fact that such a faculty so far acknowledged as exceptional and considered as a pathological case, which Mr. Jobert de Lamballe classifies as a “rare and singular disease”, suddenly became so common. It is true that Mr. Jobert says that every- body may acquire it through exercise. But, as he also says that it is fol- lowed by pain and fatigue, which is perfectly natural, one must agree that it requires a very strong desire for mystification to make one’s muscle crack during a session of two or three uninterrupted hours, without any profit and with the only objective of entertaining a few people.

Let us now speak seriously. This is a more serious subject since it is related to science.

Those gentlemen who found such marvelous property of the peroneus longus did not imagine everything that those muscles can do. Well, here you have a nice problem to solve: The displaced tendons do not knock on the bone gutters only. Through a really singular effect they also knock on doors, on walls, on ceilings, and all that at will, exactly at points that are requested. Here there is something even stronger: Science was far from suspecting all virtues of that cracking muscle. It has the power of lifting a table without touching it; of making it knock with its feet, move around the room and stay in the air without a support; of making the table open and close! And imagine its power! It has the ability of breaking the table when falling.

Do you think that we talk about a fragile table, light as a feather, which we lift with a breath? What an illusion! We talk about solid and heavy tables, from 110 to 130 lb., which obey the little ladies and chil- dren. However, Mr. Schiff will say, I have never seen such prodigies. That is easy to understand. He only wanted to see legs.

Would Mr. Schiff have given the necessary independence to his ideas? Was he exempt from any prevention? We have the right of posing doubts to that and it is not us who say so. It is Mr. Jobert. According to him, Mr. Schiff, on talking about the mediums, asked himself if the seat of such noises wouldn’t be in the medium, instead of outside. His knowledge of anatomy led him to think that it could well be the leg. Since that thought was very entrenched in his mind, etc. Thus, according to the confession of Mr. Jobert, Mr. Schiff did not take the facts as a starting point but his own ideas, his preconceived and well-entrenched ideas. Hence the research in one exclusive direction, and consequently one exclusive theory, which perfectly explains the fact seen by him but does not explain the ones that he did not see.

And why hasn’t he seen them?

Because in his thoughts there was only one true starting point and only one true explanation. From that, everything else should be false and would not deserve examination. Hence, in the heat of striking the medi- ums, he missed the shot.

Gentlemen, you thought you knew all properties of the peroneus lon- gus just because you caught it playing guitar by the cover? Now, now! We have very different things to register in the archives of anatomy. You thought the brain was the seat of thought? Wrong! One can think through the ankle. The knocks give proof of intelligence. Thus, if those knocks come exclusively from the peroneus, from the longus according to Mr. Schiff, from the brevis, according to Mr. Jobert (fact that would require an agreement between them) then the peroneus is intelligent.

There is nothing remarkable about it. Making his muscle crack at will allows him to execute anything that he wants: he will imitate the saw, the hammer; he will play the military formation sounds, or even the rhythm of a music which will be requested by the audience. Be it, let us assume so, but when the noise responds to something that the medium completely ignores; when the noise reveals those secrets that only you know, those secrets that we would like to bury deeply, it is necessary to admit that the thought comes from a different part of the brain.

Where would that come from then? Well, then! It comes from the peroneus longus. And that is not all. The muscle is also a poet since that great peroneus creates charming poetry, even though a medium that had never done it in his life. The muscle is multilingual since it dictates very sensible things in languages completely unknown to the medium. The muscle is a musician, we know, since Mr. Schiff made it execute very harmonious sounds, with or without shoes, in the pres- ence of fifty people. Yes, but the muscle is also a composer. Well now Mr. Dorgeval, you that recently gave us the nice sonata, do you really believe that the spirit of Mozart dictated it? What a hope! It was your peroneus longus that played the piano. In reality, dear mediums, you did not suspect that there could be so much spirit in your ankles. Honor may be awarded to the authors of such discovery. May their names be inscribed with capital letters for the edification of posterity and honor of their memory!

Some may say that we are joking about serious things, and that jokes don’t entail reasoning. It is a fact. Not less rational than silliness and vulgar- ity. Confessing our ignorance before those gentlemen we accept their wise demonstration and take it very seriously. We thought that certain phenom- ena were produced by invisible beings, who called themselves spirits. It may well be that we were wrong. As we seek the truth, we do not have the silly intention of getting stuck in one idea that they so peremptorily demonstrate to be false. Since the moment when Mr. Jobert, through a subcutaneous in- cision, eliminated the spirits, there is no more spirits. Once all noises come from the peroneus, as he says, it is necessary to believe in that and accept all of its consequences. Thus, when the knocks take place on the wall or ceiling, either the peroneus does so or the wall has a peroneus. When the noise dictates a poem through a table that knocks with a foot, it is one out of two possibilities: either the table is a poet or it has a peroneus. That seems logical to us. We go even further. An officer of our acquaintance, while car- rying out spiritist experiments, one day was slapped twice in the face by an invisible hand. The slaps were so strong that he still felt the effect two hours later. How can one come to terms with that? Had it happened to Mr. Jobert he would remain impassive? He would simply say that he was slapped in the face by the peroneus longus.

Below is what we read about this subject in the La Mode newspa- per on May 1st, 1859:

“The Academy of Medicine continues its crusade of the posi- tivist spirits against all kinds of wonders. After having in fairness, but somewhat awkwardly, slain the famous black doctor, through the organ of Mr. Velpeau, it has now just heard Mr. Jobert (de Lamballe) that reveals in the Institute the secret of what he calls the great comedy of the rapping spirits, so successfully represent- ed in both hemispheres.”

“According to the distinct surgeon, every knock-knock, every pop-pop that gives the shivers to those who in good faith hear them; those singular noises, those dry hits, those successively vi- brating and kind of rhythmic sounds, precursors of the arrival and positive signs of the presence of the inhabitants of the other world, are simply the result of a motion imposed on a muscle, a nerve, a tendon! It is a kind of bizarre thing of nature, skillfully exploited so as to unnoticeably produce that mysterious music that enchanted and seduced so many.”

“The seat of the orchestra is in the leg; it is the tendon of the peroneus, playing on its cover, which produces all those noises that are heard under the tables or at a distance, controlled by the conjurer.”


“As from my side, I doubt very much that Mr. Jobert had touched, as he believes, the secret of what he himself called “a comedy” and the articles that were published in this newspaper by our comrade Mr. Escande, about the mysteries of the invisible world, seem to me to present the subject with an amplitude much more sincere and philosophical, in the true meaning of the word. “If, however, the charlatans of all kinds are unbearable with their playing skills, we have to appreciate that those wise men some- times are not less, with the eraser which they wish to apply over everything that shines outside the official chandeliers.”

“They don’t understand that the thirst for the marvelous that devours our time is caused exactly by the excess of positivism to where certain minds wanted to drag our society. The human soul needs to believe, admiring and contemplating the infinity. They worked to shut down the windows opened by Catholicism. The human soul looks through the skylights, whatever they may be.”

Henry de Pène

“We ask our distinct friend Mr. Henry de Pène to excuse us in order to make an observation. We don’t know when Mr. Jobert made that immortal discovery and what was the memorable day that he communicated it to the Institute. What we know is that the original explanation had already been given by others. In 1854 Dr. Rayer, distinguished clinician, who then did not give demonstration of great perspicacity, also presented to the Instituted a German patient whose ability, in his opinion, provided the key to every knocking and rapping of the two worlds. As with today’s report, it was related to the motion of one of the muscular tendons of the leg, called peroneus longus. The demonstration was made in one session and the Academy expressed their recognition for such an interesting communication. A few days later a substitute professor from the Faculty of Medicine consigned the fact in the Constitutionel, having had the courage of adding that “the scientists had finally voiced their opinion and the mystery was solved”. That did not preclude the mystery from persisting and increasing, despite science which, by refusing to carry out the experiments, is satisfied by attacking it with burlesque and ridiculous explanations, as the one we have just mentioned above.” “Out of the respect that Mr. Jobert (de Lamballe) deserves, we prefer to believe that the experience, which is absolutely not his, was attributed to him. Some newspaper, looking for novelties, would have found somewhere in their files the old communication from Mr. Rayer and resurrected it, then publishing it under their flagship, just for a change. Mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur. It is certainly unpleasant, but still better than if the paper had told the truth.”

Escande

The opposition from scientific community is one of the arguments in- cessantly used by the adversaries of Spiritism. Why haven’t they dealt with the phenomena of the “turning tables”? Had they seen anything seri- ous in them, they say, they would not be on guard against such extraor- dinary facts nor would they treat them with disdain, whereas now they are all against you. Aren’t the scientists the light of nations, and isn’t their duty to spread light? Why would you want to diminish that just when the occasion was so great for them to reveal a new force to the world?

It is a serious mistake to think that all scientists are against us, to begin with, since Spiritism propagates precisely within the educated class. The wise individuals are not exclusively in the official Science and offi- cial organizations. Can the issue be prejudged by the fact that Spiritism does not enjoy the status of citizenship with the official science? The circumspection of that official science with respect to new ideas is well known. If science had never been wrong then its opinion could weigh in. Unfortunately, experience shows the opposite.

Hasn’t science repealed as pure illusion a number of discoveries that have later distinguished the memories of their authors? Should we then say that the scholars are ignorant? Does it justify the trivial epithets used by some bad taste people to call them names? Certainly not! There isn’t any sensible person who wouldn’t make justice to the scientists, acknowl- edging though that they are not infallible and, for that very reason, their judgment is not the last resort. Their mistake is to resolve certain ques- tions a little lightheartedly, putting too much trust in their own lights, before the judgment of time, thus exposing them to the contradiction of experience.

Nobody is a good judge but on the subject of their expertise. Wanting to build a house should we look for a musician? If we were sick would we prefer to be treated by the architect? If we faced a lawsuit should we be advised by a dancer? Finally, if it is a question of theology should we seek the solution by a chemist or an astronomer? No. Each one will stick to one’s own profession. Traditional sciences cover the properties of matter that we can manipulate at will. The produced phenomena have material forces as their agents.

The phenomena produced in Spiritism have intelligences as their agents, intelligences that are independent, have free will, and in no way submit to our caprices. They therefore escape from our anatomic or labo- ratory methods, as well as from our calculations, hence they are not in the scope of science, per se. Thus, science was wrong by trying to experiment with the spirits like it does with an electric battery.

Science started from a single, restricted and preconceived idea, want- ing to forcibly associate to the new idea. It failed, as it should, since it used a nonexistent analogy from the beginning. Then, without investigating further, it concluded by the negative: weak judgment, daily repaired by time, as time has done to so many others, and those responsible will in turn be sentenced to the shame of having so hastily taken a false position against the infinite power of the Creator.

Thus, the scientific organizations should not, now and in the future, pronounce about the subject, considering that it is not more in their scope than it is the right of attesting God’s existence. It is then a mistake to take them by judges. However, who will be the judge? Do the spiritists boast about their rights of imposing their own ideas? No. The great judge, the sovereign judge is public opinion, and when that opinion is formed by the approval of the masses and the educated people, the official scientists will accept it as individuals, submitting to the force of the circumstances.


Let us allow a generation to pass and with that the obstinate prejudices of self-love. Then we will see what occurs to Spiritism in the same way to what has happened to so many others who fought against injustices. Today the believers are called crazy, tomorrow crazy will be those who do not believe, exactly like in the past those who believed that Earth turned were considered mad. But this believe did not preclude the Earth from turning.

Nevertheless, not all wise individuals thought in the same way. Some used the following train of thoughts:

There is no effect without a cause and the most vulgar effects may yield the greatest discoveries. Had Newton not paid any attention to the falling apple; had Galvani repelled the maid, calling her crazy and quix- otic, when she talked to him about the frogs dancing on the plate, maybe we might not have discovered the remarkable laws of gravitation or the fecund properties of the battery. The phenomenon designated by the bur- lesque name “dancing tables” is not more ridiculous than the dancing frogs, and may contain some secrets of nature that will revolutionize hu- manity, when we have their key.

They went further: since so many people are involved with those facts; since careful people have investigated them, there must be something. An illusion, madness, if you will, cannot have such a character of generality. It could seduce a circle, a group, but it could never take the world.

Here is in excerpt what a doctor in medicine used to tell me, then a non-believer, now a fervent expert:

“They say that the invisible beings communicate with us. Why not? Before the invention of the microscope did we suspect the existence of those thousands of microscopic animals that caused so much devastation to our economy? Where is the material impossibility of the existence of beings in space that escape our senses? Would we, by any means, have the ridiculous pretension of knowing everything, telling God that we have nothing else to learn from Him? If those invisible beings that surround us are intelligent, why wouldn’t they communicate with us? If they maintain a relationship with human beings it is because they must play a role in their destinies and events. Who knows they are not one of the powers of nature, one of those occult forces that we do not suspect? What new hori- zons are open to our thoughts! What a vast field of observation!

The discovery of the invisible world would be very different from that of the infinitely small. It would be more than a discovery: it would be a thorough revolution of ideas. How much light can shine from that! How many mysterious things would be explained! Those who believe in these things are ridiculed, but what does it demonstrate? Hasn’t the same happened to all discoveries? Wasn’t Christopher Columbus sent off, cov- ered in sadness and considered insensible? These ideas, he was told, are so strange that reason denies them. We would had laughed only half a century ago if we were told that we would communicate from one end to the other of the world in a few minutes; that we would travel across France in a few hours; that a ship would navigate against the winds driven by the steam of some boiling water; that the means of illumination and heating would come from water. If a man had proposed to illuminate the entire city of Paris with only one source of an invisible substance, he would have been taken to the hospital. Would it then be more prodigious if space were inhabited by intelligent beings that, after having lived on Earth, left their material envelope behind? Don’t we find in that fact the explanation to a number of beliefs that goes back to the remotest eras of antiquity? Isn’t that the confirmation of the existence of the soul, of its individuality after death? Isn’t that the proof of the very foundations of religion? However, religion only vaguely tells us what happens to the souls. Spiritism defines it. What can the materialists and atheist object to? It is worth investigat- ing these things further.”

Such were the reflections of a scientist but of an unpretentious sci- entist. These are also the thoughts of a large number of educated people, who have thought about it, who have seriously investigated it, without preconceived ideas, having had the modesty of not saying: I don’t under- stand it, thus it does not exist.

Their conviction came after observation and meditation. If these ideas were illusions, would it be possible that so many distinguished persons had embraced them? Would it be possible that they would have being victims of an illusion for such a long time? Hence, there is no material impossibility for the existence of beings who are invisible to us and that inhabit space. Such simple consideration should instigate more thoughts in some. Not long ago, who would have thought that a single drop of wa- ter could contain thousands of living creatures, of such a small size that defies imagination? Well then, the acknowledgement of such minuscule beings would be more difficult to be accepted by reason than those that we call spirits.

The adversaries of Spiritism ask why the spirits, who should be con- cerned about proselytizing, why wouldn’t they be more positively dedi- cated to the task of convincing certain persons whose opinion could have huge influence. They add that we accuse them for showing lack of faith, then responding, and rightly so, that faith cannot come in anticipation.

It is a mistake to think that faith is necessary; however, good faith is something else. There are skeptics that deny even the evidence and that even miracles would not convince them. There are even those who would be really upset if they were obliged to believe, since their self-love would suffer by confessing that they were wrong.

How do you respond to people that can only see illusion and charla- tanism everywhere? Say nothing. It is necessary to leave them alone, say- ing that they saw nothing, for however long they wish, and that we were unable to make them see anything. Side by side with these tough skeptics there are those who wish to see things their own way. Once they form an opinion, they want to submit everything to that belief, not recognizing that there are certain phenomena that are not submitted to their will.

They either know nothing or do not wish to bow before the necessary conditions. If the spirits do not seem as interested in convincing them through exceptions it is due to the fact that, at that point in time, there is little interest in convincing certain people, whose importance the spirits do not measure as these individuals measure themselves. It is really not very flattering, but we do not govern their opinion. The spirits have a way of assessing things that are not always in agreement with ours. They see, think and act based on other elements. While our life is constrained by matter, limited by the narrow circle in which we find ourselves, they see the whole picture. Time, that seems so lengthy to us, is an instant to them, and distance is only a step. Certain details that seem of extreme importance to us are nothing but childish things to them. On the other hand, they consider to be important certain things whose reach we hardly comprehend. In order to understand them it is necessary that we elevate our thoughts above our material and moral horizon so as to be positioned from their standpoint. It is not up to them to come down to ours. We are the ones who must elevate to them, achieving that by the study and observation. The spirits like the assiduous and conscientious observers to whom they multiply the sources of enlightenment.

It is not the doubt originated by ignorance that sends them away. It is the fatuity of the pretense observers who observe nothing, keeping them under pressure and wanting to maneuver with them as they do with puppets; it is the feelings of hostility and criticism that they bear in their minds, above all, or in their words, despite the protests against it. The spirits do nothing to these ones, showing little or no concern with respect to what they may think or do, for their time will come. That is why we say it is not faith that is needed, but good faith.

Well then, we question if our wise adversaries are always in such con- ditions. They want to control the phenomena but the spirits do not obey their orders. It is necessary to wait for their good will. It is not enough to say: show me a given fact and I will believe. It is necessary to persevere; allow the facts to be spontaneously produced, not willing to force or drive them. That very thing that you wish for is exactly what you will not ob- tain, but others will take place and maybe what you wanted will come when you expect the least.

The phenomena multiply to the eyes of the attentive and assiduous observer, reciprocally confirming one another, but the one who thinks that the only requirement is to move the lever to crank up the engine is completely wrong. What does the naturalist who wishes to study the habits of a given animal do? Does he command the animal to do this or that in order to have the opportunity to freely observe it, according to his conveniences? No. He knows perfectly well that the animal will not obey him. However, he watches the spontaneous manifestations of the animal’s instinct; he waits for them and observes as they happen.

The simple common sense shows, with more reason, that it is how it must be with the spirits, who are intelligences much more independent than that of the animals.

Deceased on May 6th, 1859; evoked at the Parisian Society of Spiritist th th Studies on the 13 and 20 of the same month.

To St. Louis: Could we call the spirit of Mr. Alexander Humboldt who has just died?

If you wish so my friend.

1. Evocation
- I am here. This is amazing.

2. Why are you amazed?
- I am far away from what I was just a few days ago.

3. If we could see you, how would we see you?

- As a man.

4. Does our call bother you?
- No, no.

5. Were you aware of your new condition just after death?
- I waited for that for a long time.


NOTE: People like Mr. Humboldt who die of natural causes, and by the gradual extinction of the vital forces, recognize themselves in spirit much more promptly than those whose life is abruptly interrupted by an accident or some sort of vio- lence, since there is already the initiation of the detachment before the organic life is over. The superiority of the spirit and the elevation of Mr. Humboldt thoughts eased the separa- tion, always slower and more painful in those whose lives are exclusively material.

6. Do you miss your Earthly life?
- No, absolutely not. I feel happy. I no longer feel in prison. My spirit is free... What a pleasure! And how nice the moment that brought me such a grace from God!


7. What is your opinion about the statue that will be erected to you in France, despite the fact that you are foreign?
- I am thankful to the honor addressed to me. What I do appreciate is the feeling of union and the desire to extinguish all hatred, through that fact.


8. Have your beliefs changed?
- Yes, a lot. However, I have not revised everything. Wait a little before you talk to me with more depth.



NOTE: This answer and the word “revise” are characteristic of the actual state of the spirit. Despite the quick separation of his spirit there still exists a certain confusion of ideas. Since he left his body only eight days ago, he did not have time yet to compare his worldly ideas with those that he may have now.

9. Are you happy with the way you lived your last existence?
- Yes. I have more or less accomplished the objective proposed by myself. I served humanity; that is why I am happy now.


10. When did you propose that objective?
- When I came to Earth.

NOTE: Since he proposed the objective when he came to Earth it means that he had achieved a prior progress and his soul was not born at the same time as the body. This sponta- neous answer couldn’t have been provoked by the nature of the question or by the thought of the interlocutor.

11. Have you chosen this worldly existence?
- There were many candidates for this mission. I begged the Being by Excellence to concede it to me and I got it.

12. Do you remember your existence prior to the one that you have just left?
- Yes. It happened far from Earth, in a world very different from yours.

13. Is that world equal, inferior or superior to Earth?
- I am sorry. It is superior.

14. We know that our world is far from perfection and hence we don’t feel humiliated by the fact that there are other worlds above us. However, how would you have come to a world inferior to yours? - One does not give to the rich. I wanted to give therefore I came to the poor’s shanty.


15. Could you give us a description of the living beings that inhabit the world where you lived?
- A little while ago I wanted to tell you that but then I un- derstood that I would have great difficulty in perfectly ex- plaining it to you. The beings are good, very good there. You already know that point, the basis of the whole moral sys- tem of those worlds. Nothing blocks the development of the good thoughts there; nothing stimulates the recollection of bad thoughts; it is complete happiness since everyone is con- tent with oneself and with those who surround them. With respect to the matter and to the senses any description would be useless. How much of a simplification in the engines of so- ciety! Now that I am capable of comparing the two; I am sur- prised by the distance. Do not think that I say so in order to discourage you. No. Much to the contrary. It is necessary that your spirit be very much convinced of the existence of those worlds. You will then feel an ardent desire to reach them and your work will pave the way.


16. Is that world part of our planetary system?
- Yes. It is very close to you. However, you cannot see it since it has no light of its own and does not receive nor reflects the light from other stars that surround it.

17. A short while ago you said that your prior existence was far away from us and now you say that world is very close. How can these two things be conciliated?
- It is far from you if you take into account your distances, the worldly measures. However, it is close if you use God’s ruler and if from a single gaze you try to embrace the whole creation.

NOTE: Evidently if we take by comparison the dimensions of our globe we can then consider it far away but it is close with respect to other globes that are located at unimaginable distances.

18. Can you be specific about the region in the sky where it is located?
- It would be useless. The astronomers will never find it.

19. Is the density of that planet the same as ours?
- The ratio is of a thousand to ten.

20. Is that planet of the same nature as the comets?
- No, absolutely.

21. If it hasn’t got its own light and if it does not reflect solar light then it is in eternal obscurity?
- The beings that inhabit it do not absolutely need light. There is no obscurity to them; they don’t understand it. Since you are blind you think that nobody else may have the sense of vision.


22. According to certain spirits, planet Jupiter is much superior to Earth. Is that true?
- Yes. Everything you were told is true.

23. Have you ever seen Arago again, after you returned to the spirits’ world?
- It was him who reached out to me when I left your world.

24. Have you known Spiritism during your life?
- Not Spiritism. Magnetism, yes.

25. What is your opinion about the future of Spiritism among the scientific organizations?
- Grandiose. But its path will be rough.

26. Do you think that the scientific institutes will one day accept it?
- Certainly. However, do you see that as indispensable? You must first endeavor to implant its principles in the hearts of the unfortunate ones that are plentiful in your world. It is the balsam that mitigates despair and gives hope.

NOTE: François Arago, evoked on May 27th, through another medium, gave the following answers to similar questions:

Q – When alive, what was your opinion about Spiritism?

A – I hardly knew it and thus did not give it much importance. You yourself can now judge if I have changed opinion.

Q – Do you think that it may one day be accepted and recognized by the scientific organizations, that is, by the official science, since many scholars do personally accept it?

A – I not only think but I am sure. It will follow the fate of all discoveries that are useful to humanity. Mocked in the beginning by the proud scholars and by the silly ignorant, it will be acknowledged by everyone in the end.

27. What is your opinion about the sun that illuminates us?
- I have not learned much here yet in the field of Science. However, I continue to think that the Sun is no more than a vast electrical center.


28. Is such opinion the result of the ideas you had as a man or is it your opinion as a spirit? - It is my opinion since I was alive, reinforced by what I feel now.

29. Considering that you came from a world superior to Earth, how come you did not acquire accurate knowledge about these things, before your last existence, which you could remember now?
- I certainly had them. Nevertheless, what you have just asked me has no relationship with all that I was able to learn in my existences prior to this one that I have just left, so different from the others. Astronomy, for example, was a completely new science to me.

30. Many spirits have told us that they inhabited or had inhabited other planets. None, however, said to have inhabited the Sun. Why?
- The Sun is an electrical center, not a world. It is an instrument, not a dwelling. - Then it has no inhabitants? - Permanent inhabitants, no. Visitors, yes.

31. Is it possible that after some time, when you have been able to carry out new observations, you may give us better information about the nature of the Sun?
- Yes, perhaps and with pleasure. However, do not count much on me since I will not remain roaming for long.

32. Where do you think you are going to when you leave your current state? - God allows me to rest for a while. I will take the opportunity to review very dear friends who wait for me. Then, I know nothing else.

33. With your permission, we would still like to ask you a few questions that your knowledge of Natural History will no doubt allow you to respond.
- The mimosa pudica (sensitive) and the Venus flytrap show movements that indicate a great sensitivity, and in certain cases a certain will, like in the last one whose leaves catch the insects that land on them, seeking their juice. It seems that the plant prepares a trap to later kill the insect. Our question is that if such plants are endowed by any ability to think; if they have a will; if they form an intermediary class between the vegetable and the animal state. In one word, do they represent a transition from one to the other? - Everything in nature is transition by the simple fact that nothing is the same, despite the fact that it is all interconnected. Those plants do not think and consequently do not have a will. The oyster that opens up as well as all zoophytes absolutely does not think. All they have is a natural instinct.


34. When the plant is hurt does it feel any pain?
- No.


NOTE: One member of the Society voices an opinion that the movements of the sensitive plants are similar to those produced by the digestive and circulatory systems of the animal organism that occur involuntarily. In fact, don’t we see the pylorus contracting in the presence of certain bodies, denying entry? The same must happen with the sensitive and the Venus flytrap plants in which the movements do not imply the need for a perception and even less the need for a will.


35. Are there fossils of humans?
- Time has gradually destroyed them.


36. Do you admit the fact that there were humans on Earth before the geological floodwaters?
- It would be better if you had clearer explanations about this subject before framing the question. There were humans on Earth before several floods.


37. Adam then was not the first man?
- Adam is a myth. Where do you place Adam?
38. Myth or non-myth I speak about the period that history assigns to him. - It is hard for you to assess. It is actually impossible for you to evaluate the number of years over which the first human being lived in a savage and animal state, which did not end but after a long time since their first appearance on Earth.

39. Will Geology one day find the material traces of the existence of humans on Earth before Adam’s times? - Not Geology, but common sense.

40. The evolution of the organic kingdom on Earth is marked by the successive appearance of the acotyledons, the monocotyledons, and the dicotyledons. Did human beings exist before the dicotyledons?
- No, their phase followed that.

41. We thank you for your kindness in attending our call, as well as the teachings.
- It was a pleasure. Good-bye. So long.

NOTE: This communication is distinguished by a general character of goodness, benevolence and great modesty, a sign of undeniable superiority of the spirit. There is not one single trace of vanity, swagger, desire to dominate, to impose, typically present in the answer of the pseudo-wise spirits, always driven by preconceived ideas and systems that they try to impose. Everything and even the most beautiful thoughts breathe simplicity and absence of pretension in the spirit of Mr. Humboldt.

1. Evocation
- I am with you.

2. What is your situation as a spirit: errant or reincarnate?
- Errant.

3. Are you happier than when you were alive?
- Yes, since I am separated from the dense body and I can now see what I could not before.

4. It seems to me that you were not in an unfortunate condition when alive. Where thus the superiority of your present situation?
- I have just said that. You, the followers of Spiritism, must understand such a situation.

5. What is your current opinion about the Faust? - It is a piece of work whose objective was to show the vanity and emptiness of human Science and, on another hand, exalt the feeling of love in its beauty and purity, condemning what it showed as immoral and evil.

6. Was it a kind of intuition of Spiritism that led you to describe the influence of the bad spirits over human beings? How could you have made such a description?
- I had an almost perfect memory of a world where I saw the spirits exercising their influence over the material beings.

7. Did you then have the recollection of a preceding existence?
- Yes, certainly.

8. Can you tell us if that existence was on Earth?
- No, since one cannot see the spirits in action here. It was really in another world.

9. However, since you could see the spirits in action it should be in a world superior to Earth. How come you ended up in an inferior planet? Have you fallen? Kindly explain.
- It was a superior world to a certain extent, but not as you understand it. Not all worlds have the same organization and yet there is no great superiority just because of that. Furthermore, you know that I had a mission among you that you cannot ignore, since you still play my works. There was no falling down considering that I served and still serve to help your moralization. I applied what I had of superior from that preceding world, in order to improve the passions of my heroes.

10. Yes, your work is still played. Just recently The Faust was adapted to an opera. Have you seen that?
- Yes.

11. Can you give us your opinion about the way Mr. Gounod interpreted your thoughts through music? - Gounod evoked me, without knowing it. He understood me very well. As a German musician I would not have done better. Perhaps he thinks as a French musician.

12. What do you think about the Werther?
- I now reproach the end part.


13. Wouldn’t such a work have caused a lot of harm, exalting passions?
- It did and caused disgraces.


14. It was the cause of many suicides. Would you be responsible for that?
- Since there was a wicked influence spread by me, it is exactly for what I suffer and regret.


15. It seems to me that when alive you showed great aversion towards the French. Do you still have it today?
- I am very patriotic.


16. Are you still more connected to a country than to the others?
- I love Germany for its thoughts and for its almost patriarchal tradition.


17. Do you want to give your opinion about Schiller?
- We are brothers in spirit and through our missions. Schiller had a great and noble soul, reflected in his works. He did less harm than I did. He is my superior for he was simpler and truer.


18. Could you give us your opinion about the French poets in general, comparing them to the German ones? This is not a vain feeling of curiosity but the search for our instruction. We consider your feelings really elevated thus needless to ask for your impartiality, leaving aside any national prejudice.
- You are curious but I want to satisfy this curiosity. The modern French frequently write beautiful poems but employ more nice words than good ideas. They should dedicate more to the feelings than to the minds. I speak in general but make exceptions to some: a great poor poet, among others.


19. A name was whispered in the audience. Is that the one you talk about?
- Poor or that simulates poverty.


20. We would like to obtain a dissertation from you about a subject of your choice, for our instruction. Could you kindly dictate something to us?
- I will do it later, through other mediums. Evoke me on another occasion.

From the Courrier de Paris, May... 185912


“Do you know that every somnambulist, all turning tables, all magnetized birds, every sympathetic pencil and fortunetell- ers have predicted the war long ago? Many prophecies have been made about it to several important people who pretending not to have taken such revelations into account, were not less evidently worried about them. As from our side, not resolving the issue in one direction or the other, and even thinking in what François Arago had doubts about, at least we are allowed not to mention them, limiting ourselves to the report of some facts which we witnessed, with no comments added.

“Eight days ago we were invited to a spiritist gathering in the residence of Baron G... All twelve guests were sitting around the table at precisely the scheduled time; ... a simple, miraculous ma- hogany table, where the tea and sandwiches were initially served. It is necessary to say that from those guests there was none who could for any reason be called charlatan. The owner of the house is a close relative of several ministers, belonging to an impor- tant foreign family. Two very distinct English officers, a French mariner, a well-known Russian prince, a renowned physician, a millionaire, a secretary of embassy and another two or three important people from the Saint-German area formed the faith- ful group. We were the only profane ones among the illustrious spiritists, but in the condition of a skeptical Parisian journalist by duty we could not be accused of an exaggerated credulity.

The meeting then could not be under the suspicion of repre- senting a comedy. And what a comedy! Would that be a useless and ridiculous comedy in which each person would have voluntarily played the role of mystifier and mystified? That is not acceptable. Besides, what would be the intention? What would be the interest? Wouldn’t that be the case to ask: “Who is being deceived here?”

No, there was no ill intention or madness there. If you wish we could agree that there was chance... It is all that our con- science may concede.

Here is what happened:


After the spirit was questioned about a number of things, he was asked if the hopes for peace – that seemed significant – were founded.

No, responded the spirit on two different occasions.

We will then have the war?
Certainly!
When?
In eight days.
However, the Congress will meet next month... this strongly indicates that hostilities will not start, eventually.
There will be no Congress!
Why?
Austria will refuse.
And what will be the winning cause?
Justice and righteousness... that of France.
And how will this war be?
Short and glorious.

That brings to memory another event of the same kind that also happened before our eyes some years ago.

Everyone remembers that during the Crimean war the Emperor Nicholas recalled all vassals that lived in France back to Russia, or otherwise in case of disobedience face confiscation of all their properties.

We were then in Leipzig, Saxony, where like everywhere else there was a vivid interest in all those events. One day the follow- ing message got into our hands:

“I am here for a few hours only. Come to see me at the Poland Hotel, # 13. Princess de Rebinine.”

Princess Sophie of Rebinine was a close acquaintance of ours, a charming and distinct lady, whose history is a whole romance (which we will write one day) who honored us by calling us a friend. We promptly attended her kind invitation since we were as pleasantly surprised as happy for her passage by Leipzig.

It was Sunday the 13th, and the weather was naturally grey and gloomy, as usual over that part of Saxony. We found the Princess in her quarters, more gracious and witty than never; just a bit pale and melancholic. We made that observation to her.

To begin with, she said, I left like a bomb. It had to be that way, since we are at war and I feel a little fatigued by the journey. Then, although we are enemies now, I don’t hide from you that I regret leaving Paris. It is some time now that I considered myself almost French and the Emperor’s orders made me break up with sweet and old habits.

Why haven’t you just stayed in your beautiful apartment of Rue Rumfort?

Because my budget would have been cut!
However, don’t you count on so many and good friends among us?
Yes... at least I believe so. But in my age a woman doesn’t like to mortgage herself... the interest sometimes is higher than the capital! Ah! If I were an old lady it would be different. But then nobody would give me a loan.
Then the Princess changed the subject.
You know I have a very demanding character... I know nobody here... Can I count on your company for the whole day?
Easy to guess our answer.
At one o’clock we heard the bells in the patio and went down- stairs for lunch. At that point everybody was talking about the war and the turning tables.
As for the war, the Princess was certain that the Anglo- French fleet would be destroyed in the Black Sea and she would courageously have set them on fire, if the Emperor Nicholas had assigned her with that delicate and dangerous mission. Regarding the turning tables, her faith was less solid, but she proposed to carry out some experiments with another friend that we introduced to her when we were having dessert.
We returned upstairs to her room. We had coffee served. Since it was raining, we spent the afternoon interrogating a trilegged table, like those that we still see around.


How about me, the Princess suddenly asked; you don’t have any- thing to say?
No.
Why.


The little table knocked thirteen times. Well, we must re- member that it was the 13th and that the Princess’s apartment number was also number.

Does it mean that the number 13 is fatal to me?
Yes! The table knocked.
Never mind! I am a female Bayard. You may speak freely, whatever you have to announce to me.

We interrogated the table that persisted, at first, in its prudent reservation. Finally, we were then able to get the following words:
... eight days...Paris, violent death!

The Princess was then very well. She had just left Paris and did not expect to return to France so soon... The table’s prophecy was at least absurd regarding the three initial points... As for the last one, it is unnecessary to say that we gave no attention to that.

The Princess was supposed to leave at 8 pm, taking the train from Dresden, in order to get to Warsaw two days later in the morning. She missed the train, though.

In reality, she said, I will leave my luggage here and will take the 4 am train.

You will then sleep over at the hotel?
I will go back to the hotel but will not sleep over. I will watch today’s ball from the foreigners’ balcony. Would you like to join me?

The Poland Hotel, whose magnificent and large ballrooms accommodate at least two thousand people, holds a great ball almost daily, in the summer as in the winter, organized by some society of town; the assistance from upstairs in a private gallery is reserved to the travelers who can appreciate the spectacle and listen to an excellent orchestra.

As a matter of fact, the foreigners are never forgotten in Germany, finding reserved balconies all over the place, explaining why the Germans on coming to Paris for the first time always ask for the foreigners’ balconies in theaters and concerts.

That evening’s ball was really brilliant and the Princess, de- spite being a simple observer, really enjoyed watching it. She had then forgotten the tri-legged table and its ominous prediction when a hotel waiter brought her a telegram which had just ar- rived. The message read:

“- To Madam Rebinine, Poland Hotel, Leipzig – Indispensable presence Paris – Serious interests – followed by the signature of the Princess’ attorney. A few hours later she took the route to Paris instead of Dresden. Eight days later we learned of her death!

Paulin Niboyet

We found the following report in a remarkable collection of authentic stories of apparitions and other spiritist phenomena, published in 1682, in London by Reverend J. Granville and by Dr. H. More. The title reads: “Apparition of Major Georges Sydenham’s Spirit to Captain V. Dyke”, extracted from a letter by Mr. Jacques Douche, from Monkton, to Mr. J. Granville.

“... soon after the death of major Georges, Dr. Th. Dyke who was a close relative to the captain, he was called to treat a sick child. The doctor and the captain lay down on the same bed. After a brief nap the captain asked the maid to bring him two lit candles, the biggest and thickest that could be found. The doctor asked him about the meaning of all that. The captain responded:

“You know about my discussions with the major, relatively to the ex- istence of God and the immortality of the soul. It was not possible for us to elucidate those points, although it has always been our wishes.”

“We agreed that the first to die would come back on the third evening after the funerals, between midnight and 1 am, to the gardens of this small house, clarifying the one that outlived about the subject.”

“Today is the very day when the captain should keep his promise.”

“Therefore he set the alarm clock by his bed and woke up at 11:30 pm; he then took a candle in each hand and left through the back door, spending the next two and a half hours in the garden. When he came back he declared to the doctor that he had not seen nor heard anything that was not very natural. However, he added, I know that the major would have come if he could.”

“Six weeks later the captain went to Eaton to take his son to college, and the doctor accompanied him again. They stayed for about two or three days in a lodge called San Christopher, but did not sleep together like in Dulverton. They occupied two different rooms.”

“One morning the captain remained in his room longer than usual, before calling the doctor. At last he came to the doctor’s room showing altered faces, bristly hair, eyes popped and his body shaken.”

“What happened, cousin captain? The doctor asked.”
“-I saw the major, responded the captain.”
“The doctor seemed to smile.”
“I am positive that I saw him today or I have never seen him in all

my life.”
“He then told me the following story:”
“At day break this morning someone came by my bed, removed the

sheets and screamed: Cap!”
“Cap was the word that the major normally used to call the captain.” “I responded: - Hi there, my major!”
“He continued: - I could not come the other day. Now however, I am here and will tell you this: There is a very just and terrible God! If you don’t change your skin you will see it when you arrive here.”

“A sword that the major had given me was resting on the table. He walked around the room a couple of times then he took the sword from the scabbard; since he did not find it as polished as it should be he said: - Cap, cap, when this sword was mine it was better conserved.”

“He then suddenly disappear ed after those words.”

The captain was not only persuaded about the reality of what he had seen and heard but since then he had become much more serious. His character, jovial and lighthearted, was remarkably modified. When he had his friends over, he treated them prodigally but always controlled. Those who knew him ensured that he believed to have heard the major’s words several times in his ears, during the two years that he outlived that adventure.



ALLAN KARDEC