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Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1867 > June
June
Women’s Emancipation in the United States“It is reported from New York that, among the petitions recently addressed to the President of the United States, there is one that has again raised the question of the eligibility of women for public employment. Ms. Françoise Lord, from New York, has requested to be sent abroad as consul. The President has taken her request into consideration, and she hopes the Senate will be favorable to her. Public sentiment is not as hostile to this innovation as might have been supposed, and several newspapers support Miss Lord's claim."
Siècle, April 5th, 1867
In the district commanded by General Sheridan, formed by the states of Louisiana and Texas, the electoral lists were opened, and the white and colored populations began to register without raising objections to the interference of the military authority in this whole affair. Despite the efforts of Washington lawmakers, the people of the North retain much of their prejudice against blacks. By a majority of 35 votes against, the New Jersey House of Representatives denied them the enjoyment of political rights, and the state senate joined in this vote, that is the subject of the most vigorous attacks in all the Republican press. In contrast, one of the western states, Wisconsin, gave the franchise to women over the age of twenty-one. This new principle is making its way in the United States, and there is no shortage of journalists approving the political courtesy of the Wisconsin senators. Alluding to a famous novel, a speaker at a meeting exclaimed: "How would we deny political capacity to Mrs. Beecher Stowe, when we recognize her in Uncle Tom?"
Grand Monitor, May 9th, 1867
The House of Commons in England also dealt with this question, in its meeting of May 20th, on the proposal by one of its members. We read in the Morning-Post report:
“On clause 4, Mr. Mill asks that we delete the word man and insert that of person.
“My goal is," he said, "to admit to electoral frankness a very large part of the population that is now excluded from the bosom of the constitution, meaning women. I do not see why unmarried, adult ladies and widows should not have a voice in the election of members of Parliament. It may be said that women already have enough power, but I maintain that if they obtained the civil rights that I propose we grant them, we would thereby raise their condition, and we would rid them of an obstacle that today prevents the expansion of their skills.
I admit that women already have great social power, but they don't have enough, and they are not spoiled children as is generally assumed. Besides, whatever their power, I want it to be responsible, and I will give them the of making their needs and their feelings known.”
Mr. Laing - The proposal is, according to him, untenable, and he is convinced that the great majority of women themselves would reject it.
Sir John Bowyer thinks differently. Women can now be superintendents of the poor, and he sees no reason why they should not vote for Members of Parliament. The Honorable Baronet cites the case of Ms. Burdetts Coutts to show that the property of women, though recognized like that of men, is not represented at all.
A vote was taken: the amendment was rejected by 196 votes to 73, and it was ordered that the word man will be part of the clause.”
The newspaper La Liberté, on May 24th, follows this report with the following sensible reflections:
Aren’t women already allowed to sit and vote in shareholders' meetings, just like men? If it is true, as the Honorable Mr. Laing has claimed, that women do not want the right that Mr. Stuart Mill proposes to be recognized to them, that would not be a reason not to attribute it to them, for it rightfully belongs to them. Those who would be reluctant to exercise it would be free not to vote, except later, the right to reconsider when the use would have made them change their minds.
The Laings, whose eyes are covered by the blindfold of routine, find it monstrous that women vote, and they find it quite natural and perfectly simple that a woman should rule!
O human inconsistency! O social contradiction!
A Fagnan”
We have addressed the issue of women's emancipation in the article entitled: Do Women Have a Soul? published in the Spiritist Review, January 1866, and to which we refer so as not to repeat ourselves here; the following considerations will serve to complement it.
There is no doubt that at a time when privileges, debris of another age and other customs, fall before the principle of the equal rights of all human beings, those of women cannot be late in coming to be recognized, and that, in the near future, the law will no longer treat her as a minor. Until now, the recognition of these rights is seen as a concession of power to weakness, and that is why it is negotiated with such parsimony. However, since everything that is granted voluntarily can be withdrawn, such recognition will only be final and imprescriptible when it is no longer subordinated to the whim of the strongest but based on a principle that no one can dispute.
The privileges of races have their origin in the abstraction that men generally make of the spiritual principle, in considering only the external material being. From constitutional strength or weakness in some, from a difference in color in others, from birth in opulence or misery, from noble or commoner consanguineous descent, they concluded by a natural superiority or inferiority; it is on this data that they have established their social laws and racial privileges. From this circumscribed point of view, they are consistent with themselves, since considering only material life, certain classes seem to belong and do indeed belong to different races.
But if we take his point of view of the spiritual being, of the essential and progressive being, of the Spirit in a word, preexisting and surviving everything, of which the body is only a temporary envelope, varying like the dress of form and color; if moreover, from the study of the spiritual beings emerges the proof that these beings are of an identical nature and origin, that their destiny is the same, that all start from the same point and tend to the same goal, that the corporeal life is only an incident, one of the phases of the life of the Spirit, necessary for its intellectual and moral advancement; that in view of this advancement, the Spirit can successively take on various envelopes, be born in different positions, we arrive at the fundamental consequence of the equality of nature, and from there to the equality of the social rights of all human beings, and the abolition of racial privileges. This is what Spiritism teaches.
You who deny the existence of the Spirit to consider only the corporeal man, the perpetuity of the intelligent being to consider only the present life, you repudiate the only principle on which the equality of rights is based. rights that you claim for yourselves and for your fellows.
Applying this principle to the social position of women, we will say that of all the philosophical and religious doctrines, Spiritism is the only one that establishes its rights over nature itself, by proving the identity of the spiritual being in both sexes. Since the woman does not belong to a distinct creation, that the Spirit can be born man or woman, at will, according to the kind of tests to which one undergoes for one’s advancement, that the difference is only in the external envelope that modifies its aptitudes, in the identity of the nature of the being, we must necessarily conclude that the rights are equal. This follows, not from a simple theory, but from the observation of the facts, and from the knowledge of the laws that govern the spiritual world. The rights of women finding in the Spiritist doctrine a blessing based on the laws of nature, it follows that the propagation of this doctrine will hasten her emancipation, giving her, in a stable way, the social position that belongs to her. If all women understood the consequences of Spiritism, they would all be Spiritists, for they would draw from it the most powerful argument they can invoke.
The thought of the emancipation of women is germinating in many brains at this time, because we are at a time when ideas of social renewal are fermenting, in which women, as well as men, are under the influence. of the progressive breath that agitates the world. After taking care of themselves a lot, men begin to understand that it would be right to do something for them, to loosen a little the bonds of the tutelage under which they hold them. We must congratulate the United States for the initiative taken on this subject, because they took it further, by conceding a legal position and of common right, to an entire race of humanity.
But from the equal rights it would be abusive to conclude that the attributions are equal. God has endowed each being with an organism appropriate to the role to be fulfilled in nature. That of the woman is outlined by her organization, and this is not the least important. There are, therefore, well-characterized attributions associated with each sex by nature itself, and these attributions imply special duties that the sexes cannot effectively fulfill departing from their role. It is the same in each sex, as from one sex to the other: the physical constitution determines special aptitudes; whatever their constitution, all men certainly have the same rights, but it is obvious, for example, that someone who is not organized for singing cannot make a singer. No one can take away from him the right to sing, but this right cannot give him the qualities he lacks. If nature has then given women weaker muscles than men, it is because she is not called to the same exercises; if her voice has another timbre, it is because it is not intended to produce the same impressions.
However, it is to be feared, and this is what will take place, that in the fever of emancipation that torments her, the woman does not believe herself capable of fulfilling all the attributions of the man and that, falling into a contrary excess, after having had too little, she does not want to have too much. This result is inevitable, but we should not be afraid of it; if women have incontestable rights, nature has its own, that are never lost; they will soon tire of roles that are not theirs; let them, therefore, recognize by experience their insufficiency in things to which the Providence has not called them; unsuccessful attempts will inevitably bring them back on the road that has been laid out for them, a road that can and must be widened, but from which it cannot be deviated, without prejudice to themselves, by undermining the very special influence they must exert. They will recognize that they can only lose in the exchange, because a woman with a too virile appearance will never have the grace and the charm that gives the power to the one who knows how to remain a woman. A woman who becomes a man abdicates her true royalty; she is looked at as a phenomenon.
Having the two articles above been read at the Parisian Society, the following question was proposed to the Spirits as a subject of study:
Which influence should Spiritism have on the condition of women?
Since all the obtained communications concluded in the same direction, we report only the following one, as it was the most developed.
(Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, May 10th, 1867; medium Mr. Morin, in spontaneous somnambulism; verbal dissertation)
“Men have always been proud; it is a constitutional vice, inherent to their nature. The man, I speak of sex, the strong man by the development of his muscles, by the somewhat bold conceptions of his thoughts, has not taken into account the weakness alluded to in the Holy Scriptures, weakness that brought misfortune to all his descendants. He believed himself strong, and used the woman, not as a companion, as a family: he used her from a purely bestial point of view; he made her a pleasant animal, and tried to keep her at a respectful distance from the master. But since God did not want one half of humanity to be dependent on the other, he did not make two distinct creations, one to be constantly at the service of the other; he wanted all his creatures to be able to participate in the banquet of life and infinity, in the same proportion.
In these brains that have been so long kept away from all science, unfit to receive the benefits of instruction, God has given birth, as a counterweight, to ruses that hold the strength of man in check. The woman is weak, the man is strong, he has learned; but the woman is astute, and science against cunning does not always have the upper hand. If it were real science, it would win; but it is a false and incomplete science, and the woman easily finds the weak spot. Provoked by the position that was given to her, the woman developed the germ that she felt in her; the need to come out of his belittlement gave her the desire to break her chains. Follow her path; take her since the Christian era and observe her: you will see her more and more dominating, but she has not expended all her strength; she has kept it for more opportune times, and the time is approaching when she will deploy it her way. Moreover, the rising generation carries in its flanks the change that has been announced to us for a long time, and the current woman wants to have a place equal to that of the man in society.
Observe well; look inside and see how much the woman tends to free herself from the yoke; she reigns supreme, sometimes a despot. You have held her bent for too long: she straightens up like a compressed spring stretching out, for she begins to realize that her time has come.
Poor men! if you only thought that the Spirits have no sex; that he who is a man today can be a woman tomorrow; that they choose indifferently, and sometimes preferably, the female sex, you should rather rejoice than grieve, at the emancipation of the woman, and admit her to the banquet of intelligence, by wide opening the doors of science, because she has finer, softer conceptions, more delicate touches than those of man. Why shouldn't the woman be a doctor? Isn’t she naturally called upon to care for the sick, and wouldn’t she take care of them with more intelligence if she had the necessary knowledge? Aren’t there cases where, when it comes to people of her gender, a female doctor would be preferable? Haven’t many women given proof of their aptitude for certain sciences, of the finesse of their sensitivity in business? Why then should men reserve a monopoly on them, if not for fear of seeing them take the lead? Without speaking of special professions, isn't a woman's first profession that of mother of a family? Now, the educated mother is better able to direct the instruction and education of her children; while she breastfeeds the body, she can develop the heart and the mind. The first childhood being necessarily entrusted to the care of a woman, if she is educated, social regeneration will have taken an immense step, and this is what will be done.
The equality of men and women would have yet another result. To be a master, to be strong, is very good; but it is also assuming a great responsibility; by sharing the burden of family affairs with a capable, enlightened companion, naturally devoted to the common interests, the man lightens his load and diminishes his responsibility, while the woman being under the guardianship, and therefore in a state of forced submission, has her voice in the chapter only when the man is willing to condescend to give it to her.
Women, they say, are too talkative and too frivolous; but whose fault is it, if not the men who do not allow them to think? Give them food for the spirit, and they will speak less; they will meditate and think. Are you accusing them of frivolity? But what do they have to do? I speak here especially of the woman of the world. Nothing, absolutely nothing. What can she do? If she reflects and transcribes her thoughts, she is ironically called a smart aleck. If she cultivates the sciences or the arts, her works are not taken into consideration, with very rare exceptions, and yet, like man, she needs incentive. Flattering an artist is to give them tone, courage; but for the woman, it is not worth it! Then they have the domain of frivolity in which they can incentivize one another.
Let man break down the barriers that his self-esteem opposes to the emancipation of women, and he will soon see her take off, to the great benefit of society. The woman, know it, has the divine spark just like you, for the woman is you, as you are the woman."
Siècle, April 5th, 1867
In the district commanded by General Sheridan, formed by the states of Louisiana and Texas, the electoral lists were opened, and the white and colored populations began to register without raising objections to the interference of the military authority in this whole affair. Despite the efforts of Washington lawmakers, the people of the North retain much of their prejudice against blacks. By a majority of 35 votes against, the New Jersey House of Representatives denied them the enjoyment of political rights, and the state senate joined in this vote, that is the subject of the most vigorous attacks in all the Republican press. In contrast, one of the western states, Wisconsin, gave the franchise to women over the age of twenty-one. This new principle is making its way in the United States, and there is no shortage of journalists approving the political courtesy of the Wisconsin senators. Alluding to a famous novel, a speaker at a meeting exclaimed: "How would we deny political capacity to Mrs. Beecher Stowe, when we recognize her in Uncle Tom?"
Grand Monitor, May 9th, 1867
The House of Commons in England also dealt with this question, in its meeting of May 20th, on the proposal by one of its members. We read in the Morning-Post report:
“On clause 4, Mr. Mill asks that we delete the word man and insert that of person.
“My goal is," he said, "to admit to electoral frankness a very large part of the population that is now excluded from the bosom of the constitution, meaning women. I do not see why unmarried, adult ladies and widows should not have a voice in the election of members of Parliament. It may be said that women already have enough power, but I maintain that if they obtained the civil rights that I propose we grant them, we would thereby raise their condition, and we would rid them of an obstacle that today prevents the expansion of their skills.
I admit that women already have great social power, but they don't have enough, and they are not spoiled children as is generally assumed. Besides, whatever their power, I want it to be responsible, and I will give them the of making their needs and their feelings known.”
Mr. Laing - The proposal is, according to him, untenable, and he is convinced that the great majority of women themselves would reject it.
Sir John Bowyer thinks differently. Women can now be superintendents of the poor, and he sees no reason why they should not vote for Members of Parliament. The Honorable Baronet cites the case of Ms. Burdetts Coutts to show that the property of women, though recognized like that of men, is not represented at all.
A vote was taken: the amendment was rejected by 196 votes to 73, and it was ordered that the word man will be part of the clause.”
The newspaper La Liberté, on May 24th, follows this report with the following sensible reflections:
Aren’t women already allowed to sit and vote in shareholders' meetings, just like men? If it is true, as the Honorable Mr. Laing has claimed, that women do not want the right that Mr. Stuart Mill proposes to be recognized to them, that would not be a reason not to attribute it to them, for it rightfully belongs to them. Those who would be reluctant to exercise it would be free not to vote, except later, the right to reconsider when the use would have made them change their minds.
The Laings, whose eyes are covered by the blindfold of routine, find it monstrous that women vote, and they find it quite natural and perfectly simple that a woman should rule!
O human inconsistency! O social contradiction!
A Fagnan”
We have addressed the issue of women's emancipation in the article entitled: Do Women Have a Soul? published in the Spiritist Review, January 1866, and to which we refer so as not to repeat ourselves here; the following considerations will serve to complement it.
There is no doubt that at a time when privileges, debris of another age and other customs, fall before the principle of the equal rights of all human beings, those of women cannot be late in coming to be recognized, and that, in the near future, the law will no longer treat her as a minor. Until now, the recognition of these rights is seen as a concession of power to weakness, and that is why it is negotiated with such parsimony. However, since everything that is granted voluntarily can be withdrawn, such recognition will only be final and imprescriptible when it is no longer subordinated to the whim of the strongest but based on a principle that no one can dispute.
The privileges of races have their origin in the abstraction that men generally make of the spiritual principle, in considering only the external material being. From constitutional strength or weakness in some, from a difference in color in others, from birth in opulence or misery, from noble or commoner consanguineous descent, they concluded by a natural superiority or inferiority; it is on this data that they have established their social laws and racial privileges. From this circumscribed point of view, they are consistent with themselves, since considering only material life, certain classes seem to belong and do indeed belong to different races.
But if we take his point of view of the spiritual being, of the essential and progressive being, of the Spirit in a word, preexisting and surviving everything, of which the body is only a temporary envelope, varying like the dress of form and color; if moreover, from the study of the spiritual beings emerges the proof that these beings are of an identical nature and origin, that their destiny is the same, that all start from the same point and tend to the same goal, that the corporeal life is only an incident, one of the phases of the life of the Spirit, necessary for its intellectual and moral advancement; that in view of this advancement, the Spirit can successively take on various envelopes, be born in different positions, we arrive at the fundamental consequence of the equality of nature, and from there to the equality of the social rights of all human beings, and the abolition of racial privileges. This is what Spiritism teaches.
You who deny the existence of the Spirit to consider only the corporeal man, the perpetuity of the intelligent being to consider only the present life, you repudiate the only principle on which the equality of rights is based. rights that you claim for yourselves and for your fellows.
Applying this principle to the social position of women, we will say that of all the philosophical and religious doctrines, Spiritism is the only one that establishes its rights over nature itself, by proving the identity of the spiritual being in both sexes. Since the woman does not belong to a distinct creation, that the Spirit can be born man or woman, at will, according to the kind of tests to which one undergoes for one’s advancement, that the difference is only in the external envelope that modifies its aptitudes, in the identity of the nature of the being, we must necessarily conclude that the rights are equal. This follows, not from a simple theory, but from the observation of the facts, and from the knowledge of the laws that govern the spiritual world. The rights of women finding in the Spiritist doctrine a blessing based on the laws of nature, it follows that the propagation of this doctrine will hasten her emancipation, giving her, in a stable way, the social position that belongs to her. If all women understood the consequences of Spiritism, they would all be Spiritists, for they would draw from it the most powerful argument they can invoke.
The thought of the emancipation of women is germinating in many brains at this time, because we are at a time when ideas of social renewal are fermenting, in which women, as well as men, are under the influence. of the progressive breath that agitates the world. After taking care of themselves a lot, men begin to understand that it would be right to do something for them, to loosen a little the bonds of the tutelage under which they hold them. We must congratulate the United States for the initiative taken on this subject, because they took it further, by conceding a legal position and of common right, to an entire race of humanity.
But from the equal rights it would be abusive to conclude that the attributions are equal. God has endowed each being with an organism appropriate to the role to be fulfilled in nature. That of the woman is outlined by her organization, and this is not the least important. There are, therefore, well-characterized attributions associated with each sex by nature itself, and these attributions imply special duties that the sexes cannot effectively fulfill departing from their role. It is the same in each sex, as from one sex to the other: the physical constitution determines special aptitudes; whatever their constitution, all men certainly have the same rights, but it is obvious, for example, that someone who is not organized for singing cannot make a singer. No one can take away from him the right to sing, but this right cannot give him the qualities he lacks. If nature has then given women weaker muscles than men, it is because she is not called to the same exercises; if her voice has another timbre, it is because it is not intended to produce the same impressions.
However, it is to be feared, and this is what will take place, that in the fever of emancipation that torments her, the woman does not believe herself capable of fulfilling all the attributions of the man and that, falling into a contrary excess, after having had too little, she does not want to have too much. This result is inevitable, but we should not be afraid of it; if women have incontestable rights, nature has its own, that are never lost; they will soon tire of roles that are not theirs; let them, therefore, recognize by experience their insufficiency in things to which the Providence has not called them; unsuccessful attempts will inevitably bring them back on the road that has been laid out for them, a road that can and must be widened, but from which it cannot be deviated, without prejudice to themselves, by undermining the very special influence they must exert. They will recognize that they can only lose in the exchange, because a woman with a too virile appearance will never have the grace and the charm that gives the power to the one who knows how to remain a woman. A woman who becomes a man abdicates her true royalty; she is looked at as a phenomenon.
Having the two articles above been read at the Parisian Society, the following question was proposed to the Spirits as a subject of study:
Which influence should Spiritism have on the condition of women?
Since all the obtained communications concluded in the same direction, we report only the following one, as it was the most developed.
(Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, May 10th, 1867; medium Mr. Morin, in spontaneous somnambulism; verbal dissertation)
“Men have always been proud; it is a constitutional vice, inherent to their nature. The man, I speak of sex, the strong man by the development of his muscles, by the somewhat bold conceptions of his thoughts, has not taken into account the weakness alluded to in the Holy Scriptures, weakness that brought misfortune to all his descendants. He believed himself strong, and used the woman, not as a companion, as a family: he used her from a purely bestial point of view; he made her a pleasant animal, and tried to keep her at a respectful distance from the master. But since God did not want one half of humanity to be dependent on the other, he did not make two distinct creations, one to be constantly at the service of the other; he wanted all his creatures to be able to participate in the banquet of life and infinity, in the same proportion.
In these brains that have been so long kept away from all science, unfit to receive the benefits of instruction, God has given birth, as a counterweight, to ruses that hold the strength of man in check. The woman is weak, the man is strong, he has learned; but the woman is astute, and science against cunning does not always have the upper hand. If it were real science, it would win; but it is a false and incomplete science, and the woman easily finds the weak spot. Provoked by the position that was given to her, the woman developed the germ that she felt in her; the need to come out of his belittlement gave her the desire to break her chains. Follow her path; take her since the Christian era and observe her: you will see her more and more dominating, but she has not expended all her strength; she has kept it for more opportune times, and the time is approaching when she will deploy it her way. Moreover, the rising generation carries in its flanks the change that has been announced to us for a long time, and the current woman wants to have a place equal to that of the man in society.
Observe well; look inside and see how much the woman tends to free herself from the yoke; she reigns supreme, sometimes a despot. You have held her bent for too long: she straightens up like a compressed spring stretching out, for she begins to realize that her time has come.
Poor men! if you only thought that the Spirits have no sex; that he who is a man today can be a woman tomorrow; that they choose indifferently, and sometimes preferably, the female sex, you should rather rejoice than grieve, at the emancipation of the woman, and admit her to the banquet of intelligence, by wide opening the doors of science, because she has finer, softer conceptions, more delicate touches than those of man. Why shouldn't the woman be a doctor? Isn’t she naturally called upon to care for the sick, and wouldn’t she take care of them with more intelligence if she had the necessary knowledge? Aren’t there cases where, when it comes to people of her gender, a female doctor would be preferable? Haven’t many women given proof of their aptitude for certain sciences, of the finesse of their sensitivity in business? Why then should men reserve a monopoly on them, if not for fear of seeing them take the lead? Without speaking of special professions, isn't a woman's first profession that of mother of a family? Now, the educated mother is better able to direct the instruction and education of her children; while she breastfeeds the body, she can develop the heart and the mind. The first childhood being necessarily entrusted to the care of a woman, if she is educated, social regeneration will have taken an immense step, and this is what will be done.
The equality of men and women would have yet another result. To be a master, to be strong, is very good; but it is also assuming a great responsibility; by sharing the burden of family affairs with a capable, enlightened companion, naturally devoted to the common interests, the man lightens his load and diminishes his responsibility, while the woman being under the guardianship, and therefore in a state of forced submission, has her voice in the chapter only when the man is willing to condescend to give it to her.
Women, they say, are too talkative and too frivolous; but whose fault is it, if not the men who do not allow them to think? Give them food for the spirit, and they will speak less; they will meditate and think. Are you accusing them of frivolity? But what do they have to do? I speak here especially of the woman of the world. Nothing, absolutely nothing. What can she do? If she reflects and transcribes her thoughts, she is ironically called a smart aleck. If she cultivates the sciences or the arts, her works are not taken into consideration, with very rare exceptions, and yet, like man, she needs incentive. Flattering an artist is to give them tone, courage; but for the woman, it is not worth it! Then they have the domain of frivolity in which they can incentivize one another.
Let man break down the barriers that his self-esteem opposes to the emancipation of women, and he will soon see her take off, to the great benefit of society. The woman, know it, has the divine spark just like you, for the woman is you, as you are the woman."
Homeopathy in the treatment of moral illnesses
(See the March 1867 issue)
The article that we published in the March issue, on the action of homeopathy in moral diseases, has given us, from one of the keenest supporters of this system, and at the same time one of the most avid followers of Spiritism, Doctor Charles Grégory, the following letter that is our duty to publish, given the light that the discussion can bring to the question.
“Dear and revered teacher,
I will try to explain to you how I understand the action of homeopathy, on the development of moral faculties.
You admit, like me, that every healthy man possesses the rudiments of all the faculties and all the cerebral organs necessary for their manifestation. You also admit that certain faculties are always developing, while others, those that are undoubtedly only rudimentary, after having hardly given a few glimmers, seem to be extinguished altogether. In the first case, according to you, the cerebral organs relating to the faculties in full development, would have their free manifestation, while those that are rudimentary, and most often also related to rudimentary abilities, would atrophy completely with the progress of age, for the lack of vital activity.
If, therefore, by means of appropriate medicines, I act on the imperfect organs, if I develop in them an additional vital activity, if I call for a more powerful nutrition, it is quite clear that, by increasing the volume, they will allow the rudimentary faculty to better manifest itself, and that, by the transmission of the ideas and feelings that they will have drawn, by the senses, in the external world, they will impart to the corresponding faculty a salutary influence, and therefore develop it, for everything is linked and held together in man; the soul influences the physical, as the body influences the soul. We have, consequently, observed the first influence of drugs by means of the enlargement of the organs, on the corresponding faculties of the soul; therefore, the possibility of man growing in potentialities and skills, by means of forces taken from the material world.
Now, it has not been proven to me at all that our small doses, that have reached a state of sublimation and subtlety that go beyond all limits, do not have something spiritual in them, in a way, that acts in its own right, on the Spirit. Our medicines, given the state of division that the art makes them undergo, are no longer material substances, but many forces must necessarily, in my opinion at least, act on the faculties of the soul, that are also forces.
And then, as I believe that the Spirit of man, before incarnating in humanity, climbs all the steps of the ladder and passes through the mineral, the plant and the animal, and in most types of each species, where he preludes to his full development as a human being, who tells me that by medically giving what is no longer either mineral, plant or animal, but what we could call their essence, and in a way their spirit, we do not act on the human soul, composed of the same elements? Because, say what they will, the Spirit is indeed something, and since it has developed and is constantly developing, it must have taken its elements from somewhere.
All I can say is that we are not acting on the soul materially, but virtually and sort of spiritually, with our 200th and 600thdilutions.
Now the facts are there, many facts, well observed, and that could well demonstrate that I am not entirely wrong. To quote myself, although I do not like personal questions very much, I would say that experimenting homeopathic remedies on me, for thirty years, I have in a way created in myself new faculties, rudimentary no doubt, but that in my most luxuriant youth, I had never known, for I did not know homeopathy, and that today, at the age of fifty two, I find well developed: the perception of color and shapes.
I will add further that under the influence of our means, I have seen characters change completely; lightheartedness was succeeded by reflection and the solidity of judgment; lubricity, by continence; wickedness, by benevolence; hatred, by kindness and forgiveness of insults. It is, obviously, not a matter of a few days; it takes a few years of care, but these fine results are obtained by such convenient means that there is no difficulty in deciding the clients who are devoted to you, and a physician always has them. I even noticed that the results obtained by our means were acquired forever, while those given by education, good advice, frequent exhortations, moral books, hardly stood before the possibility of satisfying an ardent passion, and the temptations related to our weaknesses, rather asleep and numb than healed. If successes were manifested in the latter case, it was not without fierce struggles, that was not good to prolong too long.
“These are, dear teacher, the observations I wanted to submit to you on this very serious question of the influence of homeopathy on human moral.
To conclude: whether it is through the brain that the drug acts on the faculties, or that it acts both on the cerebral fiber and on the corresponding faculty, it is nonetheless demonstrated to me, by hundreds of facts, that the subtle and profound action of our doses on human moral is very real. It is demonstrated to me, moreover, that homeopathy depresses certain faculties, certain feelings or certain passions that are too exalted, to activate others too weakened, and as if paralyzed, and by this very reason, leads to balance and to harmony, hence resulting in real improvement and progress of man in all his aptitudes, and ease in overcoming himself.
Do not think that this result eliminates human responsibility, and that this much desired progress is achieved without suffering and without struggles; it is not enough to take a medicine and say to yourself: "I am going to succeed over my inclination of anger, of jealousy, of lust. Oh! not! The appropriate remedy, once introduced into the organism, brings about a profound modification only at the cost of fierce moral and physical sufferings, and often of long, very long duration; sufferings that must be repeated several times, varying the drugs and the doses, and this for months, and sometimes years, if one wishes to arrive at conclusive results. This is the price that we must pay for moral improvement; this is the trial and the atonement by which everything is paid in this world, and I confess that it is not easy to correct oneself, even by homeopathy. I do not know if, by the internal anguish that one suffers, one does not pay more dearly for this progress than by the slower modification, it is true, but certainly softer and more bearable of the purely moral action of every day, through self-observation and the burning desire to overcome oneself.
I stop here; later, I will tell you several facts that may well convince you.
Receive, etc."
This letter in no way modifies the opinion we have expressed on the action of homeopathy, in the treatment of moral diseases, and which, on the contrary, confirms the very arguments of Dr. Grégory. We, therefore, persist in saying that: if homeopathic medicines can have an effect on morale, it is by acting on the organs of manifestations, that can be useful in certain cases, but not on the Spirit; that good or bad qualities and aptitudes are inherent to the degree of advancement or inferiority of the Spirit, and that it is not with any medicine that one can make them advance faster, nor give them the qualities they can only acquire successively and through work; that such a doctrine, making the moral dispositions dependent on the organism, removes all responsibility from man, whatever M. Grégory may say, and releases him from all work to improve himself, since one could make him good, without him knowing it, by administering such and such a remedy; that if, with the aid of material means, we can modify the organs of manifestations, which we admit perfectly, such means cannot change the instinctive tendencies of the Spirit, any more than by cutting the tongue of a talker don't take away the urge to speak. A usage from the East confirms our assertion by a well-known material fact.
The pathological state certainly has moral influences, in certain respects, but the dispositions that this source have are accidental, and do not constitute the basis of the character of the Spirit; these are the ones, above all, that an appropriate medication can modify. There are people that are benevolent only after having had a good dinner, and from whom nothing should be asked when they are fasting; Are we to conclude that a good dinner is a remedy for selfishness? No, for this benevolence, brought about by the plentifulness of sensual satisfaction, is an effect of selfishness itself; it is only an apparent benevolence, a product of this thought: "Now that I don't need anything else, I can take care of the others a little." In summary, we do not dispute that some medications, and homeopathy more than any other, produce some of the effects indicated, but we dispute more than ever the permanent results, and especially as universal as some claim. A case in which homeopathy, above all, would seem to us particularly applicable with success, is that of pathological madness, because here moral disorder is the consequence of physical disorder, and it is now observed by the observation of the Spiritist phenomena, that the Spirit is not mad; there is no need to modify it, but to give it back the means to manifest itself freely. The action of homeopathy can be more effective here, since it acts mainly, by the spiritualized nature of its medicines, on the perispirit that plays a preponderant role in this disease. We would have more than one objection to make to some of the proposals contained in this letter; but that would take us too far; we are therefore content to compare the two opinions. As in everything, the facts are more conclusive than the theories, and it is they, ultimately, that confirm or reverse the latter. We eagerly wish that Dr. Grégory publishes a special practical treatise on homeopathy applied to treatment of moral illnesses, so that the experiment may be generalized and decide the question. More than any other, he seems capable of doing this work by profession.
“Dear and revered teacher,
I will try to explain to you how I understand the action of homeopathy, on the development of moral faculties.
You admit, like me, that every healthy man possesses the rudiments of all the faculties and all the cerebral organs necessary for their manifestation. You also admit that certain faculties are always developing, while others, those that are undoubtedly only rudimentary, after having hardly given a few glimmers, seem to be extinguished altogether. In the first case, according to you, the cerebral organs relating to the faculties in full development, would have their free manifestation, while those that are rudimentary, and most often also related to rudimentary abilities, would atrophy completely with the progress of age, for the lack of vital activity.
If, therefore, by means of appropriate medicines, I act on the imperfect organs, if I develop in them an additional vital activity, if I call for a more powerful nutrition, it is quite clear that, by increasing the volume, they will allow the rudimentary faculty to better manifest itself, and that, by the transmission of the ideas and feelings that they will have drawn, by the senses, in the external world, they will impart to the corresponding faculty a salutary influence, and therefore develop it, for everything is linked and held together in man; the soul influences the physical, as the body influences the soul. We have, consequently, observed the first influence of drugs by means of the enlargement of the organs, on the corresponding faculties of the soul; therefore, the possibility of man growing in potentialities and skills, by means of forces taken from the material world.
Now, it has not been proven to me at all that our small doses, that have reached a state of sublimation and subtlety that go beyond all limits, do not have something spiritual in them, in a way, that acts in its own right, on the Spirit. Our medicines, given the state of division that the art makes them undergo, are no longer material substances, but many forces must necessarily, in my opinion at least, act on the faculties of the soul, that are also forces.
And then, as I believe that the Spirit of man, before incarnating in humanity, climbs all the steps of the ladder and passes through the mineral, the plant and the animal, and in most types of each species, where he preludes to his full development as a human being, who tells me that by medically giving what is no longer either mineral, plant or animal, but what we could call their essence, and in a way their spirit, we do not act on the human soul, composed of the same elements? Because, say what they will, the Spirit is indeed something, and since it has developed and is constantly developing, it must have taken its elements from somewhere.
All I can say is that we are not acting on the soul materially, but virtually and sort of spiritually, with our 200th and 600thdilutions.
Now the facts are there, many facts, well observed, and that could well demonstrate that I am not entirely wrong. To quote myself, although I do not like personal questions very much, I would say that experimenting homeopathic remedies on me, for thirty years, I have in a way created in myself new faculties, rudimentary no doubt, but that in my most luxuriant youth, I had never known, for I did not know homeopathy, and that today, at the age of fifty two, I find well developed: the perception of color and shapes.
I will add further that under the influence of our means, I have seen characters change completely; lightheartedness was succeeded by reflection and the solidity of judgment; lubricity, by continence; wickedness, by benevolence; hatred, by kindness and forgiveness of insults. It is, obviously, not a matter of a few days; it takes a few years of care, but these fine results are obtained by such convenient means that there is no difficulty in deciding the clients who are devoted to you, and a physician always has them. I even noticed that the results obtained by our means were acquired forever, while those given by education, good advice, frequent exhortations, moral books, hardly stood before the possibility of satisfying an ardent passion, and the temptations related to our weaknesses, rather asleep and numb than healed. If successes were manifested in the latter case, it was not without fierce struggles, that was not good to prolong too long.
“These are, dear teacher, the observations I wanted to submit to you on this very serious question of the influence of homeopathy on human moral.
To conclude: whether it is through the brain that the drug acts on the faculties, or that it acts both on the cerebral fiber and on the corresponding faculty, it is nonetheless demonstrated to me, by hundreds of facts, that the subtle and profound action of our doses on human moral is very real. It is demonstrated to me, moreover, that homeopathy depresses certain faculties, certain feelings or certain passions that are too exalted, to activate others too weakened, and as if paralyzed, and by this very reason, leads to balance and to harmony, hence resulting in real improvement and progress of man in all his aptitudes, and ease in overcoming himself.
Do not think that this result eliminates human responsibility, and that this much desired progress is achieved without suffering and without struggles; it is not enough to take a medicine and say to yourself: "I am going to succeed over my inclination of anger, of jealousy, of lust. Oh! not! The appropriate remedy, once introduced into the organism, brings about a profound modification only at the cost of fierce moral and physical sufferings, and often of long, very long duration; sufferings that must be repeated several times, varying the drugs and the doses, and this for months, and sometimes years, if one wishes to arrive at conclusive results. This is the price that we must pay for moral improvement; this is the trial and the atonement by which everything is paid in this world, and I confess that it is not easy to correct oneself, even by homeopathy. I do not know if, by the internal anguish that one suffers, one does not pay more dearly for this progress than by the slower modification, it is true, but certainly softer and more bearable of the purely moral action of every day, through self-observation and the burning desire to overcome oneself.
I stop here; later, I will tell you several facts that may well convince you.
Receive, etc."
This letter in no way modifies the opinion we have expressed on the action of homeopathy, in the treatment of moral diseases, and which, on the contrary, confirms the very arguments of Dr. Grégory. We, therefore, persist in saying that: if homeopathic medicines can have an effect on morale, it is by acting on the organs of manifestations, that can be useful in certain cases, but not on the Spirit; that good or bad qualities and aptitudes are inherent to the degree of advancement or inferiority of the Spirit, and that it is not with any medicine that one can make them advance faster, nor give them the qualities they can only acquire successively and through work; that such a doctrine, making the moral dispositions dependent on the organism, removes all responsibility from man, whatever M. Grégory may say, and releases him from all work to improve himself, since one could make him good, without him knowing it, by administering such and such a remedy; that if, with the aid of material means, we can modify the organs of manifestations, which we admit perfectly, such means cannot change the instinctive tendencies of the Spirit, any more than by cutting the tongue of a talker don't take away the urge to speak. A usage from the East confirms our assertion by a well-known material fact.
The pathological state certainly has moral influences, in certain respects, but the dispositions that this source have are accidental, and do not constitute the basis of the character of the Spirit; these are the ones, above all, that an appropriate medication can modify. There are people that are benevolent only after having had a good dinner, and from whom nothing should be asked when they are fasting; Are we to conclude that a good dinner is a remedy for selfishness? No, for this benevolence, brought about by the plentifulness of sensual satisfaction, is an effect of selfishness itself; it is only an apparent benevolence, a product of this thought: "Now that I don't need anything else, I can take care of the others a little." In summary, we do not dispute that some medications, and homeopathy more than any other, produce some of the effects indicated, but we dispute more than ever the permanent results, and especially as universal as some claim. A case in which homeopathy, above all, would seem to us particularly applicable with success, is that of pathological madness, because here moral disorder is the consequence of physical disorder, and it is now observed by the observation of the Spiritist phenomena, that the Spirit is not mad; there is no need to modify it, but to give it back the means to manifest itself freely. The action of homeopathy can be more effective here, since it acts mainly, by the spiritualized nature of its medicines, on the perispirit that plays a preponderant role in this disease. We would have more than one objection to make to some of the proposals contained in this letter; but that would take us too far; we are therefore content to compare the two opinions. As in everything, the facts are more conclusive than the theories, and it is they, ultimately, that confirm or reverse the latter. We eagerly wish that Dr. Grégory publishes a special practical treatise on homeopathy applied to treatment of moral illnesses, so that the experiment may be generalized and decide the question. More than any other, he seems capable of doing this work by profession.
Spiritual sense
A second letter from Doctor Grégory contains the following:
“Erastus, in a communication, stated an idea that struck me and made me think. Man, he says, has seven senses: the well-known senses of hearing, smell, sight, taste, touch, and in addition, the somnambulistic sense, and the mediumistic sense.
I add to these words that these last two senses exist only by exception, sufficiently developed in a few privileged natures, admitting that they exist in a rudimentary state in every man. Now, there is in me a conviction acquired by more than one observation, and by a fairly long experience of homeopathic powers, that our well-chosen medicines, taken for a long time, can develop these two admirable faculties."
In our opinion, it would be wrong to consider somnambulism and mediumship as the product of two different senses, since they are only two effects resulting from the same cause. This double faculty is one of the attributes of the soul, and its organ is the perispirit, whose radiance carries perception beyond the limits of the action of the material senses. It is, strictly speaking, the sixth sense that is referred to as the spiritual sense.
Somnambulism and mediumship are two varieties of the activity of this sense, that as we know, present innumerable nuances, and constitute special aptitudes. Apart from these two faculties, more noticeable because they are more apparent, it would be a mistake to believe that the spiritual sense only exists in a rudimentary state. Like the other senses, it is more or less developed, more or less subtle, depending on the individual, but everyone possesses it, and it is not the one that renders the least service, by the very special nature of the perceptions from which it is the source. Far from being the rule, its atrophy is the exception, and can be considered as an illness, like the absence of sight or hearing. It is through this sense that we receive the fluidic emanation of the Spirits, that we unsuspectingly take inspiration from their thoughts, that we are given the intimate warnings of consciousness, that we have a presentiment and intuition of future or absent things, whether there is fascination, unconscious and involuntary magnetic action, the penetration of thought, etc. These perceptions are given to man by the Providence, as are sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, for his own preservation; these are very vulgar phenomena that he hardly notices from his habit of experiencing them, and of which he has not realized until this day, owing to his ignorance of the laws of the spiritual principle, of the very denial, in some, of the existence of this principle; but whoever pays attention to the effects that we have just cited and to many others of similar nature, will recognize how frequent they are and that they are completely independent of the sensations perceived by the organs of the body.
Spiritual sight, commonly called double sight or second sight, is a less rare phenomenon than one might think; many people have this faculty without realizing it; only it is more or less emphasized, and it is easy to ascertain that it is foreign to the organs of vision, since it is exercised without the aid of these organs, that even the blind possess it. It exists in some people in the most perfect normal state, with no apparent trace of sleep or ecstatic state. We know a lady, in Paris, that has it permanently, and as natural as the ordinary sight; she sees, without effort and without concentration, the character, the habits, the antecedents of whoever approaches her; she describes illnesses and prescribes effective treatments with greater ease than many ordinary somnambulists; all you have to do is to think of an absent person for her to see them and point them out. We were at her house one day, and we saw someone passing in the street, with whom we have a relationship and whom she had never seen. Without being provoked by any question, she made the most exact moral portrait of him, and gave us very wise advices about him.
This lady is not, however, a somnambulist; she talks about what she sees, as she would talk about anything else, without deviating herself from her occupations. Is she a medium? She does not know anything about it herself, for not long ago she did not even know Spiritism by name. Therefore, this faculty with her is as natural and as spontaneous as possible. How does she perceive, if not through the spiritual sense?
We must add that this lady has faith in the signs of the hand; so, she examines it when she is questioned; she sees in it, she says, the evidence of diseases. As she sees correctly, and it is obvious that many of the things she says cannot have any physiological relationship with the hand, we are convinced that it is simply a way for her to relate, and to develop her sight, by fixating it on a determined point; the hand acts as a magic or psychic mirror; she sees in it as others see in a vase, in a flask or other object. Her ability has a lot to do with that of the Clairvoyant of Zimmerwald Forest, but it is superior to him in some ways. Moreover, since she does not derive any profit from it, this consideration eliminates any suspicion of charlatanism, and since she only uses it to render service, she must be assisted by good spirits. (See the Spiritist Review, October 1864: The Sixth Sense and Spiritual Sight; October 1865: New Studies on Psychic Mirrors. The Clairvoyant of the Zimmerwald Forest).
“Erastus, in a communication, stated an idea that struck me and made me think. Man, he says, has seven senses: the well-known senses of hearing, smell, sight, taste, touch, and in addition, the somnambulistic sense, and the mediumistic sense.
I add to these words that these last two senses exist only by exception, sufficiently developed in a few privileged natures, admitting that they exist in a rudimentary state in every man. Now, there is in me a conviction acquired by more than one observation, and by a fairly long experience of homeopathic powers, that our well-chosen medicines, taken for a long time, can develop these two admirable faculties."
In our opinion, it would be wrong to consider somnambulism and mediumship as the product of two different senses, since they are only two effects resulting from the same cause. This double faculty is one of the attributes of the soul, and its organ is the perispirit, whose radiance carries perception beyond the limits of the action of the material senses. It is, strictly speaking, the sixth sense that is referred to as the spiritual sense.
Somnambulism and mediumship are two varieties of the activity of this sense, that as we know, present innumerable nuances, and constitute special aptitudes. Apart from these two faculties, more noticeable because they are more apparent, it would be a mistake to believe that the spiritual sense only exists in a rudimentary state. Like the other senses, it is more or less developed, more or less subtle, depending on the individual, but everyone possesses it, and it is not the one that renders the least service, by the very special nature of the perceptions from which it is the source. Far from being the rule, its atrophy is the exception, and can be considered as an illness, like the absence of sight or hearing. It is through this sense that we receive the fluidic emanation of the Spirits, that we unsuspectingly take inspiration from their thoughts, that we are given the intimate warnings of consciousness, that we have a presentiment and intuition of future or absent things, whether there is fascination, unconscious and involuntary magnetic action, the penetration of thought, etc. These perceptions are given to man by the Providence, as are sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, for his own preservation; these are very vulgar phenomena that he hardly notices from his habit of experiencing them, and of which he has not realized until this day, owing to his ignorance of the laws of the spiritual principle, of the very denial, in some, of the existence of this principle; but whoever pays attention to the effects that we have just cited and to many others of similar nature, will recognize how frequent they are and that they are completely independent of the sensations perceived by the organs of the body.
Spiritual sight, commonly called double sight or second sight, is a less rare phenomenon than one might think; many people have this faculty without realizing it; only it is more or less emphasized, and it is easy to ascertain that it is foreign to the organs of vision, since it is exercised without the aid of these organs, that even the blind possess it. It exists in some people in the most perfect normal state, with no apparent trace of sleep or ecstatic state. We know a lady, in Paris, that has it permanently, and as natural as the ordinary sight; she sees, without effort and without concentration, the character, the habits, the antecedents of whoever approaches her; she describes illnesses and prescribes effective treatments with greater ease than many ordinary somnambulists; all you have to do is to think of an absent person for her to see them and point them out. We were at her house one day, and we saw someone passing in the street, with whom we have a relationship and whom she had never seen. Without being provoked by any question, she made the most exact moral portrait of him, and gave us very wise advices about him.
This lady is not, however, a somnambulist; she talks about what she sees, as she would talk about anything else, without deviating herself from her occupations. Is she a medium? She does not know anything about it herself, for not long ago she did not even know Spiritism by name. Therefore, this faculty with her is as natural and as spontaneous as possible. How does she perceive, if not through the spiritual sense?
We must add that this lady has faith in the signs of the hand; so, she examines it when she is questioned; she sees in it, she says, the evidence of diseases. As she sees correctly, and it is obvious that many of the things she says cannot have any physiological relationship with the hand, we are convinced that it is simply a way for her to relate, and to develop her sight, by fixating it on a determined point; the hand acts as a magic or psychic mirror; she sees in it as others see in a vase, in a flask or other object. Her ability has a lot to do with that of the Clairvoyant of Zimmerwald Forest, but it is superior to him in some ways. Moreover, since she does not derive any profit from it, this consideration eliminates any suspicion of charlatanism, and since she only uses it to render service, she must be assisted by good spirits. (See the Spiritist Review, October 1864: The Sixth Sense and Spiritual Sight; October 1865: New Studies on Psychic Mirrors. The Clairvoyant of the Zimmerwald Forest).
The healing group of Marmande
Intervention of relatives in the cures
“Marmande, May 12th, 1867
Dear Mr. Kardec,
It has been some time since I spoke to you about the result of our Spiritist work that we are pursuing with perseverance, and I am glad to say, with satisfactory success. The obsessed and the sick are always the object of our exclusive care. Moralization and fluids are the main means indicated by our guides.
Our good Spirits, who have dedicated themselves to the propagation of Spiritism, have also taken on the task of popularizing magnetism. In almost all the consultations, for the various cases of illnesses, they ask for the help of relatives: a father, a mother, a brother or a sister, a neighbor, a friend, are required to give passes. These good people are quite surprised to stop the crises, to calm the pains. It seems to me that this is an ingenious and sure means of making followers, so the confidence is spreading more every day in our region. The groups that deal with healings might do well in giving the same advice; the fortunate results obtained would clearly prove the truth of magnetism, and give the certainty that the faculty of healing or relieving a fellow person is not the exclusive privilege of a few persons; that all that is needed for that is good will and trust in God; I am not talking about good health, that is an essential condition, we understand that. By recognizing that we ourselves have this power, we acquire the certainty that there is no juggling, no spell, or pact with the devil. It is, therefore, a means of destroying superstitious ideas.
Here are some examples of obtained healings:
“A 6-7 year old girl was bedridden, having a continual headache, fever, frequent cough with mucus, sharp pain in her left flank; pain also in the eyes that, from time to time, got covered with a milky substance, forming a kind of nubecula.[1]Under the hair, the skin of the skull was covered with white films; thick, cloudy urine. The frail and dejected child neither ate nor slept. The doctor ended up suspending his visits. The poor mother, in the presence of her sick and abandoned child, came to find me. Our guides, once consulted, prescribed the laying on of hands and fluidic passes, on the part of the mother, as the only remedy, recommending me to go, for a few days, to show her how she should go about it. I started by raising the blisters and drying them out. After three days of passes and laying on of hands on the head, kidneys and chest, performed as lessons, but done with heart, the child asked to get up; the fever had yielded, and all the symptoms described above disappeared after ten days.
This healing, that the mother described as miraculous, made me call, two days later, another 3 or 4 years-old little girl that had a fever. After the passes and the laying on of hands, the fever ceased since the first day.
The cures of some obsessions do not give us less satisfaction and confidence. Marie B… a young woman of 21, from Samazan, near Marmande, would get naked like a worm, run in the fields, and go to lie down next to the dog, in a straw hole. The moralization of the obsessing Spirit, on our part, and the fluidic passes given by the husband, following our instructions, soon released her. The whole commune of Samazan witnessed the inability of medicine to cure her, and the effectiveness of the simple means employed to bring her back to her normal state.
Mrs. D… aged 22, from the commune of Sainte-Marthe, not far from Marmande, fell into extraordinary and violent crises; she roared, bit, rolled around, felt terrible blows in the stomach, fainted, and often remained unconscious for four or five hours; one time she remained eight days without regaining conscience. Doctor T ... treated her without success. The husband, after reaching out to professionals, priests from our regions, reputed to be healers and exorcisers, fortunetellers – he confessed to having consulted some – came to us to, asking us to please take care of his wife if, as he had heard, it was in our power to heal her. We promised to write to him, telling him what he should do.
Our guides were consulted, and told us: stop all the medical treatment: the remedies would be useless; that the husband raise his soul to God, that he lay his hands on his wife's forehead, and give her fluidic passes with love and confidence; that he punctually observe the recommendations that we are going to make to him, whatever the difficulties he may experience (followed by personal recommendations), and if he fully understands the idea that they are necessary, for the benefit of his poor patient, he will soon have his reward.
They also told us to call and moralize the obsessing Spirit, by the name Lucie Cédar. This Spirit revealed the cause that led her to torment Mrs. D… This cause was precisely linked to the recommendations made to the husband. The latter having complied with everything, had the satisfaction of seeing his wife completely released, in the space of ten days. He said to me: “Since the Spirits communicate with each other, I am not surprised that they told you what was known only to me, but I am much more astonished that no remedy could cure my wife; if I had spoken to you from the beginning, I would still have 150 francs in my pocket, that are no longer there, and that I spent on drugs.”
I cordially shake your hand,
Dombre”
These healing cases are nothing more extraordinary than those we have already cited from the same center; but they prove, by the persistence of success, for several years, what can be obtained with perseverance and devotion, so that the assistance of good spirits is never lacking. They only abandon those who leave the right path, that is easy to recognize in the decline of success, while they support until the last moment, even against the attacks of malice, those whose zeal, sincerity, self-sacrifice and humanity are tested by the vicissitudes of life. They elevate those that lower themselves, and they bring down those that elevate themselves. This applies to all kinds of mediumship.
Nothing discouraged Mr. Dombre; he fought strongly against all obstacles that were created for him, and he succeeded over them; he ignored the insults and threats of our common adversaries, and he forced them to silence by his firmness; he spared neither his time, nor his trouble, nor material sacrifices; he has never sought to take advantage of what he does to give himself relief or to make some stepping stone out of it; his moral selflessness equals his material self-sacrifice; if he is happy to succeed, it is because each success is one for the doctrine. These are the serious titles of recognition of all present and future Spiritists, titles to which we must associate the members of the group who support him, with as much zeal as self-sacrifice, and whose names we regret not being able to name.
The most characteristic fact pointed out in this letter is that of the intervention of the relatives and friends of the sick, in the healings. It is a new idea whose importance will escape no one, for its propagation cannot fail to have considerable results; it is the announced popularization of the healing mediumship. The Spiritists will notice how ingenious the Spirits are in the multiple means they employ to make the idea penetrate the masses. How could it not be achieved, if new channels are constantly being opened, and the means to knock on all doors are given?
This practice, therefore, cannot be encouraged enough; however, we must not lose sight of the fact that the results will be due to the good direction given to the thing, by the leaders of the healing groups, and the momentum they will know how to communicate by their energy, their devotion and their own example.
[1] A cloudy formation (as in urine) or speck (as in the eye) – merrian-webster.com/dictionary (T.N.)
It has been some time since I spoke to you about the result of our Spiritist work that we are pursuing with perseverance, and I am glad to say, with satisfactory success. The obsessed and the sick are always the object of our exclusive care. Moralization and fluids are the main means indicated by our guides.
Our good Spirits, who have dedicated themselves to the propagation of Spiritism, have also taken on the task of popularizing magnetism. In almost all the consultations, for the various cases of illnesses, they ask for the help of relatives: a father, a mother, a brother or a sister, a neighbor, a friend, are required to give passes. These good people are quite surprised to stop the crises, to calm the pains. It seems to me that this is an ingenious and sure means of making followers, so the confidence is spreading more every day in our region. The groups that deal with healings might do well in giving the same advice; the fortunate results obtained would clearly prove the truth of magnetism, and give the certainty that the faculty of healing or relieving a fellow person is not the exclusive privilege of a few persons; that all that is needed for that is good will and trust in God; I am not talking about good health, that is an essential condition, we understand that. By recognizing that we ourselves have this power, we acquire the certainty that there is no juggling, no spell, or pact with the devil. It is, therefore, a means of destroying superstitious ideas.
Here are some examples of obtained healings:
“A 6-7 year old girl was bedridden, having a continual headache, fever, frequent cough with mucus, sharp pain in her left flank; pain also in the eyes that, from time to time, got covered with a milky substance, forming a kind of nubecula.[1]Under the hair, the skin of the skull was covered with white films; thick, cloudy urine. The frail and dejected child neither ate nor slept. The doctor ended up suspending his visits. The poor mother, in the presence of her sick and abandoned child, came to find me. Our guides, once consulted, prescribed the laying on of hands and fluidic passes, on the part of the mother, as the only remedy, recommending me to go, for a few days, to show her how she should go about it. I started by raising the blisters and drying them out. After three days of passes and laying on of hands on the head, kidneys and chest, performed as lessons, but done with heart, the child asked to get up; the fever had yielded, and all the symptoms described above disappeared after ten days.
This healing, that the mother described as miraculous, made me call, two days later, another 3 or 4 years-old little girl that had a fever. After the passes and the laying on of hands, the fever ceased since the first day.
The cures of some obsessions do not give us less satisfaction and confidence. Marie B… a young woman of 21, from Samazan, near Marmande, would get naked like a worm, run in the fields, and go to lie down next to the dog, in a straw hole. The moralization of the obsessing Spirit, on our part, and the fluidic passes given by the husband, following our instructions, soon released her. The whole commune of Samazan witnessed the inability of medicine to cure her, and the effectiveness of the simple means employed to bring her back to her normal state.
Mrs. D… aged 22, from the commune of Sainte-Marthe, not far from Marmande, fell into extraordinary and violent crises; she roared, bit, rolled around, felt terrible blows in the stomach, fainted, and often remained unconscious for four or five hours; one time she remained eight days without regaining conscience. Doctor T ... treated her without success. The husband, after reaching out to professionals, priests from our regions, reputed to be healers and exorcisers, fortunetellers – he confessed to having consulted some – came to us to, asking us to please take care of his wife if, as he had heard, it was in our power to heal her. We promised to write to him, telling him what he should do.
Our guides were consulted, and told us: stop all the medical treatment: the remedies would be useless; that the husband raise his soul to God, that he lay his hands on his wife's forehead, and give her fluidic passes with love and confidence; that he punctually observe the recommendations that we are going to make to him, whatever the difficulties he may experience (followed by personal recommendations), and if he fully understands the idea that they are necessary, for the benefit of his poor patient, he will soon have his reward.
They also told us to call and moralize the obsessing Spirit, by the name Lucie Cédar. This Spirit revealed the cause that led her to torment Mrs. D… This cause was precisely linked to the recommendations made to the husband. The latter having complied with everything, had the satisfaction of seeing his wife completely released, in the space of ten days. He said to me: “Since the Spirits communicate with each other, I am not surprised that they told you what was known only to me, but I am much more astonished that no remedy could cure my wife; if I had spoken to you from the beginning, I would still have 150 francs in my pocket, that are no longer there, and that I spent on drugs.”
I cordially shake your hand,
Dombre”
These healing cases are nothing more extraordinary than those we have already cited from the same center; but they prove, by the persistence of success, for several years, what can be obtained with perseverance and devotion, so that the assistance of good spirits is never lacking. They only abandon those who leave the right path, that is easy to recognize in the decline of success, while they support until the last moment, even against the attacks of malice, those whose zeal, sincerity, self-sacrifice and humanity are tested by the vicissitudes of life. They elevate those that lower themselves, and they bring down those that elevate themselves. This applies to all kinds of mediumship.
Nothing discouraged Mr. Dombre; he fought strongly against all obstacles that were created for him, and he succeeded over them; he ignored the insults and threats of our common adversaries, and he forced them to silence by his firmness; he spared neither his time, nor his trouble, nor material sacrifices; he has never sought to take advantage of what he does to give himself relief or to make some stepping stone out of it; his moral selflessness equals his material self-sacrifice; if he is happy to succeed, it is because each success is one for the doctrine. These are the serious titles of recognition of all present and future Spiritists, titles to which we must associate the members of the group who support him, with as much zeal as self-sacrifice, and whose names we regret not being able to name.
The most characteristic fact pointed out in this letter is that of the intervention of the relatives and friends of the sick, in the healings. It is a new idea whose importance will escape no one, for its propagation cannot fail to have considerable results; it is the announced popularization of the healing mediumship. The Spiritists will notice how ingenious the Spirits are in the multiple means they employ to make the idea penetrate the masses. How could it not be achieved, if new channels are constantly being opened, and the means to knock on all doors are given?
This practice, therefore, cannot be encouraged enough; however, we must not lose sight of the fact that the results will be due to the good direction given to the thing, by the leaders of the healing groups, and the momentum they will know how to communicate by their energy, their devotion and their own example.
[1] A cloudy formation (as in urine) or speck (as in the eye) – merrian-webster.com/dictionary (T.N.)
New Spiritist Society of Bordeaux
Since June 1866, a new Spiritist Society, already large, has been formed in Bordeaux, on bases that attest to the zeal and goodwill of its members, and a perfect understanding of the true principles of the doctrine. We extract from the annual report, published by the President, some passages that will show its character.
After having spoken of the vicissitudes that Spiritism has experienced in that city, of the circumstances that brought about the formation of the new society and of its organization that "allows those of its members who feel the strength to do so, to develop through talks, at the beginning of each session, the great principles of the doctrine, principles that many only fight because they do not know them”, and he adds:
“It was these talks that have so far attracted many listeners from outside the Society. Certainly, I do not pretend to believe that all our listeners come to us to learn; many, no doubt, come here seeking to find our faults; it is their business. Ours is to spread Spiritism among the masses, and experience has shown us that the best way, after putting into practice the sublime morality that results from it, and the communications of Spirits, it is to do it by speaking.
Since we were formed, we have had two weekly sessions. This double task was imposed on us by the need to dedicate a particular session (on Thursdays) to obsessing Spirits and to the treatment of the diseases they cause, and to reserve another session (on Saturdays) to scientific studies. I would add, to justify our Thursday sessions, that we are fortunate to have a healing medium among us, with well-developed faculties, and known for his charity, his modesty and his selflessness; he is also known outside and within our society, so that he does not lack patients.
There are, moreover, in Bordeaux, many cases of obsessions, and one session per week, specially devoted to the evocation and moralization of obsessing Spirits, is far from sufficient, so that the healing medium, accompanied by a writing medium, of an evocator and often of some of our brothers, goes to the homes of the sick in order to make contact with the obsessing Spirit, and to come to terms more easily.
To the healing medium came to join one of our brothers, a magnetizer of great power and unfailing devotion who, also helped by the good Spirits, helps the first, so that we can say that the Society has two healing mediums, although in different degrees."
There follows the account of several healings, among which we will quote the following:
Ms. A…, twelve years old.
This orphan child, dependent on very poor relatives, was introduced to us in a deplorable state. Her whole body was seized with convulsive movements, her constantly contracted face made horrible grimaces; her arms and legs were constantly agitated, to the point of wearing down the sheets of her bed in the period of eight days. Her hands, that couldn't grasp any object, kept rotating around the wrists. Finally, because of her illness, her tongue had become extremely thick, leading to a complete muteness.
At first glance we understood that there was an obsession, and since our guides confirmed this opinion, we acted accordingly.
In the opinion of a doctor that was incognito in the patient's home, while we were giving her a fluidic treatment, the disease was to be translated, within three days, into a dance of St. Vitus and, given the state of weakness in which the patient was, to remove her mercilessly in no more than eight days.
I will not detail here the innumerable incidents to which this treatment gave rise. I will not speak of the obstacles of all kinds, piled up under our feet, by contrary influences and that we had to overcome. I will only say that, two months after our meeting with the doctor, the child spoke like you and me, used her hands, went to school, and was perfectly healed.
Here, adds Mr. Peyranne, the main lessons that we got from the sessions devoted to the obsessing Spirits:
To act effectively on an obsessing Spirit, those who moralize him and fight him with fluids must be better than him. This is better understood when we consider that the power of the fluids is directly related to the moral advancement of the one who emits them. An impure Spirit called into a meeting of moralized men is not at ease there; he understands his inferiority, and if he tries to defy the evoker, as it sometimes happens, be persuaded that he will quickly give up this role, especially if the people composing the group where he communicates join the evoker by the will and faith.
I believe that we do not yet fully understand all that we can about the impure Spirits, or rather, that we do not yet know how to use the treasures that God has placed in our hands.
We also know that a fluidic discharge made on an obsessed by several Spiritists, by means of the magnetic chain, can break the fluidic link that connects him to the obsessing Spirit, and turns into a very effective moral remedy to the latter, by proving his helplessness.
We also know that every incarnate, driven by the desire to relieve his fellow human being, acting with faith, can by means of fluidic passes, if not cure, at least appreciably relieve a patient.
I end with the Thursday sessions, noting that not one obsessing Spirit has remained rebellious. All those we have cared for have come to recognize their wrongs, abandon their victims, and have entered a better path."
Regarding the Saturday sessions he says:
“These sessions are open, as you know, with a talk given by a member of the Society on a Spiritist subject and end with a summary given by the President.
In the chat, all freedom of language is left to the speaker, provided however that they do not depart from the framework traced by our rules. They consider the various subjects from their personal point of view; they develop them as they see fit and draw from them the consequences that they consider appropriate; but with that they could never hold the Society responsible.
At the end of the session, the President sums up the work, and if he does not agree with the speaker, he objects to that, pointing out to the audience that, no more than the first, he engages no other responsibility than his own, leaving to each person the use of their free will and the care of judging and deciding, in their own conscience, on which side the truth is, or at least, which one is the closest, because for me, the truth is God. The closer we get to him (that we can only do by purifying ourselves and working for our progress) the closer we will be to the truth."
We again draw attention to the following paragraph:
“Although we have excellent instruments for our studies, we understood that the number had become insufficient, especially in the presence of the ever-increasing extension of the Society. The shortage of mediums has often come as an obstacle to the regular progress of our work, and we have understood that it was necessary, as much as possible, to develop the faculties that lie dormant in the organization of many of our brothers. That is why we have just decided that a special session of mediumistic experiments will take place on Sundays, at two o'clock in the afternoon, in our meeting room. I thought it to be my duty to invite not only our brothers in belief, but also strangers who would like to become useful. These sessions have already given results that have exceeded our expectations. There we do writing, typtology, and magnetism. Several very diverse faculties were discovered there, and there emerged two somnambulists who seem to be very lucid.”
We can only applaud the program of the Society of Bordeaux and congratulate it on its dedication and the intelligent direction of its work. One of our colleagues, passing through that city, recently attended some of its sessions and reported the most favorable impression. By persevering in this direction, it can only obtain more and more satisfactory results, and will never lack elements in its activity. The way it goes about on dealing with obsessions is both remarkable and instructive, and the best proof that this is a good way is that it is successful. We will come back to this later in a special article.
It would be superfluous to stress the usefulness of the verbal instructions that she designates by the simple name of talks. Besides the advantage of exercising the handling of speech, they have the no less great one of provoking a more complete and serious study of the principles of the doctrine, of facilitating their understanding, of bringing out their importance, and of shedding light on controversial points through discussion. It is the first step towards regular conferences that cannot fail to take place sooner or later, and which, while popularizing the doctrine, will contribute powerfully to change public opinion, distorted by malicious criticism, or ignorant of what it is.
Refuting objections, discussing divergent systems, are essential points that must not be overlooked, and that may furnish the material for useful instructions; it is not only a means of dissipating the errors that could be accredited, but it is also to strengthen oneself for the particular discussions that one may have to support. In these oral instructions, many will undoubtedly be assisted by the Spirits, and speaking mediums cannot fail to emerge from them. Those who would be held back by fear of speaking in front of an audience, should remember that Jesus said to his apostles: “Do not worry about what you say; the words will be inspired in you on time."
A provincial group, that can be classified among the most serious and best managed, has introduced this method in its meetings, that also take place twice a week. It is exclusively formed by officers of a regiment. But this is not an option left to each member; it is an obligation imposed on them by the regulations, that each one speaks on their turn. At each session the speaker designated for the next meeting should prepare to develop and comment on a chapter or point of doctrine. This results in a greater ability for them to propagate and advocate the cause when necessary.
After having spoken of the vicissitudes that Spiritism has experienced in that city, of the circumstances that brought about the formation of the new society and of its organization that "allows those of its members who feel the strength to do so, to develop through talks, at the beginning of each session, the great principles of the doctrine, principles that many only fight because they do not know them”, and he adds:
“It was these talks that have so far attracted many listeners from outside the Society. Certainly, I do not pretend to believe that all our listeners come to us to learn; many, no doubt, come here seeking to find our faults; it is their business. Ours is to spread Spiritism among the masses, and experience has shown us that the best way, after putting into practice the sublime morality that results from it, and the communications of Spirits, it is to do it by speaking.
Since we were formed, we have had two weekly sessions. This double task was imposed on us by the need to dedicate a particular session (on Thursdays) to obsessing Spirits and to the treatment of the diseases they cause, and to reserve another session (on Saturdays) to scientific studies. I would add, to justify our Thursday sessions, that we are fortunate to have a healing medium among us, with well-developed faculties, and known for his charity, his modesty and his selflessness; he is also known outside and within our society, so that he does not lack patients.
There are, moreover, in Bordeaux, many cases of obsessions, and one session per week, specially devoted to the evocation and moralization of obsessing Spirits, is far from sufficient, so that the healing medium, accompanied by a writing medium, of an evocator and often of some of our brothers, goes to the homes of the sick in order to make contact with the obsessing Spirit, and to come to terms more easily.
To the healing medium came to join one of our brothers, a magnetizer of great power and unfailing devotion who, also helped by the good Spirits, helps the first, so that we can say that the Society has two healing mediums, although in different degrees."
There follows the account of several healings, among which we will quote the following:
Ms. A…, twelve years old.
This orphan child, dependent on very poor relatives, was introduced to us in a deplorable state. Her whole body was seized with convulsive movements, her constantly contracted face made horrible grimaces; her arms and legs were constantly agitated, to the point of wearing down the sheets of her bed in the period of eight days. Her hands, that couldn't grasp any object, kept rotating around the wrists. Finally, because of her illness, her tongue had become extremely thick, leading to a complete muteness.
At first glance we understood that there was an obsession, and since our guides confirmed this opinion, we acted accordingly.
In the opinion of a doctor that was incognito in the patient's home, while we were giving her a fluidic treatment, the disease was to be translated, within three days, into a dance of St. Vitus and, given the state of weakness in which the patient was, to remove her mercilessly in no more than eight days.
I will not detail here the innumerable incidents to which this treatment gave rise. I will not speak of the obstacles of all kinds, piled up under our feet, by contrary influences and that we had to overcome. I will only say that, two months after our meeting with the doctor, the child spoke like you and me, used her hands, went to school, and was perfectly healed.
Here, adds Mr. Peyranne, the main lessons that we got from the sessions devoted to the obsessing Spirits:
To act effectively on an obsessing Spirit, those who moralize him and fight him with fluids must be better than him. This is better understood when we consider that the power of the fluids is directly related to the moral advancement of the one who emits them. An impure Spirit called into a meeting of moralized men is not at ease there; he understands his inferiority, and if he tries to defy the evoker, as it sometimes happens, be persuaded that he will quickly give up this role, especially if the people composing the group where he communicates join the evoker by the will and faith.
I believe that we do not yet fully understand all that we can about the impure Spirits, or rather, that we do not yet know how to use the treasures that God has placed in our hands.
We also know that a fluidic discharge made on an obsessed by several Spiritists, by means of the magnetic chain, can break the fluidic link that connects him to the obsessing Spirit, and turns into a very effective moral remedy to the latter, by proving his helplessness.
We also know that every incarnate, driven by the desire to relieve his fellow human being, acting with faith, can by means of fluidic passes, if not cure, at least appreciably relieve a patient.
I end with the Thursday sessions, noting that not one obsessing Spirit has remained rebellious. All those we have cared for have come to recognize their wrongs, abandon their victims, and have entered a better path."
Regarding the Saturday sessions he says:
“These sessions are open, as you know, with a talk given by a member of the Society on a Spiritist subject and end with a summary given by the President.
In the chat, all freedom of language is left to the speaker, provided however that they do not depart from the framework traced by our rules. They consider the various subjects from their personal point of view; they develop them as they see fit and draw from them the consequences that they consider appropriate; but with that they could never hold the Society responsible.
At the end of the session, the President sums up the work, and if he does not agree with the speaker, he objects to that, pointing out to the audience that, no more than the first, he engages no other responsibility than his own, leaving to each person the use of their free will and the care of judging and deciding, in their own conscience, on which side the truth is, or at least, which one is the closest, because for me, the truth is God. The closer we get to him (that we can only do by purifying ourselves and working for our progress) the closer we will be to the truth."
We again draw attention to the following paragraph:
“Although we have excellent instruments for our studies, we understood that the number had become insufficient, especially in the presence of the ever-increasing extension of the Society. The shortage of mediums has often come as an obstacle to the regular progress of our work, and we have understood that it was necessary, as much as possible, to develop the faculties that lie dormant in the organization of many of our brothers. That is why we have just decided that a special session of mediumistic experiments will take place on Sundays, at two o'clock in the afternoon, in our meeting room. I thought it to be my duty to invite not only our brothers in belief, but also strangers who would like to become useful. These sessions have already given results that have exceeded our expectations. There we do writing, typtology, and magnetism. Several very diverse faculties were discovered there, and there emerged two somnambulists who seem to be very lucid.”
We can only applaud the program of the Society of Bordeaux and congratulate it on its dedication and the intelligent direction of its work. One of our colleagues, passing through that city, recently attended some of its sessions and reported the most favorable impression. By persevering in this direction, it can only obtain more and more satisfactory results, and will never lack elements in its activity. The way it goes about on dealing with obsessions is both remarkable and instructive, and the best proof that this is a good way is that it is successful. We will come back to this later in a special article.
It would be superfluous to stress the usefulness of the verbal instructions that she designates by the simple name of talks. Besides the advantage of exercising the handling of speech, they have the no less great one of provoking a more complete and serious study of the principles of the doctrine, of facilitating their understanding, of bringing out their importance, and of shedding light on controversial points through discussion. It is the first step towards regular conferences that cannot fail to take place sooner or later, and which, while popularizing the doctrine, will contribute powerfully to change public opinion, distorted by malicious criticism, or ignorant of what it is.
Refuting objections, discussing divergent systems, are essential points that must not be overlooked, and that may furnish the material for useful instructions; it is not only a means of dissipating the errors that could be accredited, but it is also to strengthen oneself for the particular discussions that one may have to support. In these oral instructions, many will undoubtedly be assisted by the Spirits, and speaking mediums cannot fail to emerge from them. Those who would be held back by fear of speaking in front of an audience, should remember that Jesus said to his apostles: “Do not worry about what you say; the words will be inspired in you on time."
A provincial group, that can be classified among the most serious and best managed, has introduced this method in its meetings, that also take place twice a week. It is exclusively formed by officers of a regiment. But this is not an option left to each member; it is an obligation imposed on them by the regulations, that each one speaks on their turn. At each session the speaker designated for the next meeting should prepare to develop and comment on a chapter or point of doctrine. This results in a greater ability for them to propagate and advocate the cause when necessary.
Obituary
Mr. Quinemant, from Sétif
This was sent to us from Sétif (Algeria):
“I come to inform you of the death of an avid follower of Spiritism, Mr. Quinemant, who died on Holy Saturday, April 20th, 1867. He was the first to deal with it in Sétif, with me; he constantly defended it against its detractors, regardless of their attacks or ridicule. He was, at the same time, a very good magnetizer, and he rendered many services to people in suffering, through his selfless devotion.
He had been ill since November; he had a fever every other day, and when he didn't, he was constantly salivating. He ate and digested well, found everything he took to be good, and despite this, he was losing weight visibly; a man of quite a strong build, his limbs had reached the size of those of a child. He was slowly fading away and understood his position very well; he said he wanted to die on the day that Christ died. He retained all his lucidity of mind and chatted as if he had not been ill. He died, almost without suffering, with the tranquility and resignation of a Spiritist, telling his wife to console herself, that they would meet again in the world of the Spirits. However, at his last moments, he asked for the parish priest, although he did not like priests in general, and he had quite lively altercations with him regarding Spiritism.
You will do me a great favor by evoking him, if possible; I have no doubt that he will be happy to attend to your call, and as he was an enlightened and sensible man, I think he will be able to give us some useful advice. His opinion was that Spiritism would grow, despite all the obstacles placed before it. Please also ask him the cause of his illness, that nobody knew.
Dumas”
Mr. Quinemant, first evoked in particular, gave the following communication, and the next day he spontaneously gave to the Society the one we are publishing separately, with the title: Le Magnétisme et le Spiritisme (Magnetism and Spiritism).
(Paris, May 16, 1867. Medium, M. Desliens.)
I hasten to respond to your call, with great facility, for since the burial of my mortal remains, I have come to all your meetings. I had a great desire to judge the development of the doctrine in its natural center, and if I did not do so during the lifetime of my body, my material affairs were the only cause. I warmly thank my friend Dumas for the benevolent thought that led him to inform you of my departure and to ask you for my evocation; he could not give me a greater pleasure.
Although my return to the world of the Spirits is recent, I am sufficiently detached to communicate with ease; the ideas that I had about the invisible world, my belief in communications, and the reading of the Spiritist works had prepared me to see without astonishment, but not without infinite happiness, the spectacle that awaited me. I am happy for the confirmation of my innermost thoughts. I was convinced, by reasoning, of the further development, and of the importance to future generations, of the doctrine of the Spirits; but unfortunately I saw many obstacles, and I assigned an indefinitely distant epoch to the predominance of our ideas: the effect of my short sight and of the limits assigned by matter to my conception of the future. Today I have more than conviction, I have certainty. Not long ago I only saw effects that were too slow to suit my wishes; I see today, I touch the causes of these effects, and my feelings have changed. Yes, it will take a long time for our land to be a Spiritist land, in the full sense of the word; but it will take a relatively very short time to bring about a considerable change in the way of being of individuals and nationalities.
The teachings that I have gathered from you, the important development of certain faculties, the spiritual meetings that I have been allowed to attend since my arrival here, have convinced me that great events are near, and that in a short period of time, a number of latent forces would be put into activity, to help with the general renovation. The fire is smoldering everywhere under the ashes; let a spark fly, and it will fly, and the conflagration will become universal.
Current spiritual elements, crushed in the immense furnace of the physical and moral cataclysms that are preparing, some more refined follow the upward movement, the others, thrown out with the coarsest scoria, will have to undergo several more successive distillations, before joining their more advanced brothers. Ah! I understand, faced with the events that the future has in store for us, these words of the son of Mary: There will be tears and grinding of teeth. So, make sure my friends, that you are all invited to the banquet of intelligence and that you do not belong to those that will be cast into outer darkness.
Before dying, I gave in to one last weakness, I obeyed a prejudice, not that my belief had weakened in the face of fear of the unknown, but so as not to stand out. Hey! After all, the word of a man who speaks to you about the future is good to hear at the time of the great journey; this word is surrounded by old teachings, worn out practices, I agree, but it is nonetheless the word of hope and consolation.
Ah! I see with the eyes of the spirit, I see a time when the Spiritist, at his departure, will also be surrounded by brothers who will talk to him about the future, about the hope of happiness! My God, thank you, since you have allowed me to see the light of truth in my last moments; thank you, for this softening of my trials. If I have done any good, it is to this blessed belief that I owe it, it is what gave me the faith, the material vigor and the moral power necessary to heal; it was what kept my lucidity of mind until my last moments, that allowed me to endure without murmuring the cruel illness that took me away.
You ask what is this disease that took me down; o my God, it's very simple; the viscera in which the assimilation of new elements takes place, no longer having the necessary force to act, the molecules, worn out by the vital action, were eliminated without others coming to replace them. But what does it matter the disease from which one dies when death is freedom! Thank you again, dear friend, for the good thought that led you to ask for my evocation; tell my wife that I am happy, that she will always find the loving one again, and that while awaiting her return, I will not cease to surround her with my love and to help her with my advice.
Now a few words for you personally, my dear Dumas. You were among the first ones called to plant the flag of doctrine in this country, and quite naturally you encountered obstacles, difficulties; if your zeal has not been rewarded with as much success as you expected, and that the beginnings seemed to promise, it is because it takes time to uproot prejudices and routine in an environment completely given over to material life; one must be advanced already to quickly assimilate new ideas that change habits. Remember that the first pioneer that sows is very seldom the one that harvests; he prepares the ground for those who come after him. You were this pioneer: it was your mission; it was an honor and happiness that I could share a little, and that you will appreciate one day, as I can do today, because your efforts will be taken into account. But do not think that we have gone to unnecessary trouble; no, none of the seeds we have sown is lost; they will germinate and bear fruit when the time comes to sprout. The idea is launched, and it will gain ground; congratulate yourself on having been one of the workers chosen for this work. You have had setbacks and deceptions: it was the test of your faith and your perseverance, otherwise, where would be the merit of accomplishing a mission if all you could find were roses on your way?
So don't let disappointments take you down; above all, do not give in to discouragement and remember these words of Christ: "Blessed are those who persevere to the end" and this one: "Blessed are those who will suffer for my name.” So persevere dear friend, carry on with your work and remember that the fruits that are gathered in the world where I am now, are better than those that are harvested on Earth, where they are left when we depart.
Say, I beg you, to all those who have shown me affection and keep me a good place in their memory, that I do not forget them and that I am often among them; tell those who still reject our beliefs, that when they are where I am, they will recognize that it was the truth, and that they will bitterly regret having disregarded it, for they will have to restart painful trials; tell those who have hurt me that I forgive them and that I pray to God to forgive them.
"The one who will always be devoted to you,
E. Quinemant.”
This was sent to us from Sétif (Algeria):
“I come to inform you of the death of an avid follower of Spiritism, Mr. Quinemant, who died on Holy Saturday, April 20th, 1867. He was the first to deal with it in Sétif, with me; he constantly defended it against its detractors, regardless of their attacks or ridicule. He was, at the same time, a very good magnetizer, and he rendered many services to people in suffering, through his selfless devotion.
He had been ill since November; he had a fever every other day, and when he didn't, he was constantly salivating. He ate and digested well, found everything he took to be good, and despite this, he was losing weight visibly; a man of quite a strong build, his limbs had reached the size of those of a child. He was slowly fading away and understood his position very well; he said he wanted to die on the day that Christ died. He retained all his lucidity of mind and chatted as if he had not been ill. He died, almost without suffering, with the tranquility and resignation of a Spiritist, telling his wife to console herself, that they would meet again in the world of the Spirits. However, at his last moments, he asked for the parish priest, although he did not like priests in general, and he had quite lively altercations with him regarding Spiritism.
You will do me a great favor by evoking him, if possible; I have no doubt that he will be happy to attend to your call, and as he was an enlightened and sensible man, I think he will be able to give us some useful advice. His opinion was that Spiritism would grow, despite all the obstacles placed before it. Please also ask him the cause of his illness, that nobody knew.
Dumas”
Mr. Quinemant, first evoked in particular, gave the following communication, and the next day he spontaneously gave to the Society the one we are publishing separately, with the title: Le Magnétisme et le Spiritisme (Magnetism and Spiritism).
(Paris, May 16, 1867. Medium, M. Desliens.)
I hasten to respond to your call, with great facility, for since the burial of my mortal remains, I have come to all your meetings. I had a great desire to judge the development of the doctrine in its natural center, and if I did not do so during the lifetime of my body, my material affairs were the only cause. I warmly thank my friend Dumas for the benevolent thought that led him to inform you of my departure and to ask you for my evocation; he could not give me a greater pleasure.
Although my return to the world of the Spirits is recent, I am sufficiently detached to communicate with ease; the ideas that I had about the invisible world, my belief in communications, and the reading of the Spiritist works had prepared me to see without astonishment, but not without infinite happiness, the spectacle that awaited me. I am happy for the confirmation of my innermost thoughts. I was convinced, by reasoning, of the further development, and of the importance to future generations, of the doctrine of the Spirits; but unfortunately I saw many obstacles, and I assigned an indefinitely distant epoch to the predominance of our ideas: the effect of my short sight and of the limits assigned by matter to my conception of the future. Today I have more than conviction, I have certainty. Not long ago I only saw effects that were too slow to suit my wishes; I see today, I touch the causes of these effects, and my feelings have changed. Yes, it will take a long time for our land to be a Spiritist land, in the full sense of the word; but it will take a relatively very short time to bring about a considerable change in the way of being of individuals and nationalities.
The teachings that I have gathered from you, the important development of certain faculties, the spiritual meetings that I have been allowed to attend since my arrival here, have convinced me that great events are near, and that in a short period of time, a number of latent forces would be put into activity, to help with the general renovation. The fire is smoldering everywhere under the ashes; let a spark fly, and it will fly, and the conflagration will become universal.
Current spiritual elements, crushed in the immense furnace of the physical and moral cataclysms that are preparing, some more refined follow the upward movement, the others, thrown out with the coarsest scoria, will have to undergo several more successive distillations, before joining their more advanced brothers. Ah! I understand, faced with the events that the future has in store for us, these words of the son of Mary: There will be tears and grinding of teeth. So, make sure my friends, that you are all invited to the banquet of intelligence and that you do not belong to those that will be cast into outer darkness.
Before dying, I gave in to one last weakness, I obeyed a prejudice, not that my belief had weakened in the face of fear of the unknown, but so as not to stand out. Hey! After all, the word of a man who speaks to you about the future is good to hear at the time of the great journey; this word is surrounded by old teachings, worn out practices, I agree, but it is nonetheless the word of hope and consolation.
Ah! I see with the eyes of the spirit, I see a time when the Spiritist, at his departure, will also be surrounded by brothers who will talk to him about the future, about the hope of happiness! My God, thank you, since you have allowed me to see the light of truth in my last moments; thank you, for this softening of my trials. If I have done any good, it is to this blessed belief that I owe it, it is what gave me the faith, the material vigor and the moral power necessary to heal; it was what kept my lucidity of mind until my last moments, that allowed me to endure without murmuring the cruel illness that took me away.
You ask what is this disease that took me down; o my God, it's very simple; the viscera in which the assimilation of new elements takes place, no longer having the necessary force to act, the molecules, worn out by the vital action, were eliminated without others coming to replace them. But what does it matter the disease from which one dies when death is freedom! Thank you again, dear friend, for the good thought that led you to ask for my evocation; tell my wife that I am happy, that she will always find the loving one again, and that while awaiting her return, I will not cease to surround her with my love and to help her with my advice.
Now a few words for you personally, my dear Dumas. You were among the first ones called to plant the flag of doctrine in this country, and quite naturally you encountered obstacles, difficulties; if your zeal has not been rewarded with as much success as you expected, and that the beginnings seemed to promise, it is because it takes time to uproot prejudices and routine in an environment completely given over to material life; one must be advanced already to quickly assimilate new ideas that change habits. Remember that the first pioneer that sows is very seldom the one that harvests; he prepares the ground for those who come after him. You were this pioneer: it was your mission; it was an honor and happiness that I could share a little, and that you will appreciate one day, as I can do today, because your efforts will be taken into account. But do not think that we have gone to unnecessary trouble; no, none of the seeds we have sown is lost; they will germinate and bear fruit when the time comes to sprout. The idea is launched, and it will gain ground; congratulate yourself on having been one of the workers chosen for this work. You have had setbacks and deceptions: it was the test of your faith and your perseverance, otherwise, where would be the merit of accomplishing a mission if all you could find were roses on your way?
So don't let disappointments take you down; above all, do not give in to discouragement and remember these words of Christ: "Blessed are those who persevere to the end" and this one: "Blessed are those who will suffer for my name.” So persevere dear friend, carry on with your work and remember that the fruits that are gathered in the world where I am now, are better than those that are harvested on Earth, where they are left when we depart.
Say, I beg you, to all those who have shown me affection and keep me a good place in their memory, that I do not forget them and that I am often among them; tell those who still reject our beliefs, that when they are where I am, they will recognize that it was the truth, and that they will bitterly regret having disregarded it, for they will have to restart painful trials; tell those who have hurt me that I forgive them and that I pray to God to forgive them.
"The one who will always be devoted to you,
E. Quinemant.”
Count of Ourches
Mr. Count d'Ourches was one of the first to take care of Spiritist manifestations in Paris, from the moment when the accounts of those that took place in America arrived. By the credit given to him by his social position, his fortune, his family relations, and above all the loyalty and honor of his character, he greatly contributed to their popularization. At the time of the vogue of the turning tables, his name had acquired a great notoriety and a certain authority in the world of the followers; he, therefore, has his marked place in the annals of Spiritism. Passionate about physical manifestations, he dedicated them a naive confidence that was a little too blind, and which one sometimes took advantage of by the ease with which they lend themselves to imitation. Exclusively given to this kind of manifestations, solely from the point of view of the phenomenon, he did not follow Spiritism in its new scientific and philosophical phase, for which he had little sympathy, and he remained alien to the great movement that has emerged in the last ten years.
He died on May 5th, 1867 at the age of 80. The Belgian Independence published a very long and very interesting biographical article on him, signed by Henry de Pène, and reproduced in the Gazette des Etrangers de Paris (5, rue Scribe) on Thursday, Mary 23rd; there, full justice is made to his eminent qualities, and his belief in Spirits is judged with a moderation to which the first of these journals had not accustomed us. The article ends as follows:
“All of this, I know, will make a number of positive spirits shrug their shoulders and say, 'He's crazy! With all the intelligence that in some cases they do not have. It is easy to say that he is mad. The Earl of Ourches was a superior man who had set himself the goal of succeeding over his fellows by uniting the positive lights of science with the glimmers and visions of the supernatural."
He died on May 5th, 1867 at the age of 80. The Belgian Independence published a very long and very interesting biographical article on him, signed by Henry de Pène, and reproduced in the Gazette des Etrangers de Paris (5, rue Scribe) on Thursday, Mary 23rd; there, full justice is made to his eminent qualities, and his belief in Spirits is judged with a moderation to which the first of these journals had not accustomed us. The article ends as follows:
“All of this, I know, will make a number of positive spirits shrug their shoulders and say, 'He's crazy! With all the intelligence that in some cases they do not have. It is easy to say that he is mad. The Earl of Ourches was a superior man who had set himself the goal of succeeding over his fellows by uniting the positive lights of science with the glimmers and visions of the supernatural."
Spiritist Dissertations
Magnetism and Spiritism
Parisian Society, May 12th, 1867 – medium Mr. Desliens
“During my lifetime I was concerned with the practice of magnetism, from an exclusively material point of view; at least, I believed it so; I know today that the voluntary or involuntary elevation of the soul, willing to desire the cure of the patient, is a true spiritual magnetization.
Healing is due to many variable causes: A certain disease, treated in such a way, yields to the power of material action; another, which is identical, but less marked, does not undergo any kind of improvement, although the curative means employed are perhaps still more powerful. What are the reasons for these variations in influence? - To a cause ignored by most magnetizers, who attack only morbid material principles; they are the consequence of the moral situation of the individual.
Material illness is an effect; to destroy this effect, it is not enough to attack it, to take it hand-to-hand and annihilate it; the cause still existing, will reproduce new morbid effects when the curative action is removed.
The fluid, transmitting health in magnetism, is an intermediary between matter and the spiritual part of the being, and that one could compare to the perispirit. It unites two bodies to one another; it is a bridge over that passes the elements that are to bring healing to the diseased organs. Being an intermediary between Spirit and matter, by virtue of its molecular constitution, this fluid can transmit just as well a spiritual influence as a purely animal influence.
What is Spiritism in the end, or rather what is mediumship, this faculty hitherto misunderstood, and whose considerable extension has established on incontestable bases the fundamental principles of the new revelation? It is purely and simply a variety of the magnetic action exerted by one or more incorporeal magnetizers, on a human subject, acting in the waking state or in the ecstatic state, consciously or unconsciously.
What, on the other hand, is magnetism? A variety of Spiritism in which incarnate Spirits act on other incarnate Spirits.
Finally, there is a third variety of magnetism or Spiritism, depending on whether one takes, as a point of departure, the action of incarnates on incarnates, or that of relatively free Spirits on Spirits, imprisoned in a body; this third variety, that has for principle the action of the incarnates on the Spirits, is revealed in the treatment and the moralization of the obsessing Spirits.
Spiritism is, therefore, only spiritual magnetism, and magnetism is nothing other than human Spiritism.
Indeed, how does the magnetizer proceed when he wants to subject a somnambulist subject to his influence? He involves him in his fluid; he possesses him, to a certain extent, and notice, without ever succeeding in annihilating his free will, without being able to turn him into his thing, a purely passive instrument. Often the magnetized resists the influence of the magnetizer and he acts in one direction when the latter would like the action to be utterly opposed. Although generally the somnambulist is asleep, and his own Spirit acts while his body remains more or less inert, it also happens, but more rarely, that the subject, simply fascinated, enlightened, remains in the waking state, although with a greater tension of mind and an unusual exaltation of his faculties.
And now, how does the Spirit that wants to communicate, proceed? It enfolds the medium in its fluid; it possesses him to a certain extent, without ever succeeding in making it his own thing, a purely passive instrument. You may object to me that in cases of obsession, possession, the annihilation of free will appears to be complete. There would be a lot to say about this question, for the annihilating action bears more on the material vital forces than on the Spirit, that may find itself paralyzed, overwhelmed and powerless to resist, but whose thought is never wiped out, as has been observed on many occasions. Even in the case of obsession, I find a confirmation, a proof in support of my theory, by recalling that the obsession is also exerted from incarnate to incarnate, and that we have seen magnetizers taking advantage of the domination exerted on their somnambulists to lead them to commit blameworthy actions. Here, as always, the exception proves the rule.
Although generally the mediumistic subject is awake, in certain cases, that are becoming more and more frequent, spontaneous somnambulism occurs in the medium, and he speaks for himself or by suggestion, absolutely as the magnetic somnambulist behaves in the same circumstances.
Finally, how do you deal with obsessive or simply inferior Spirits that you want to moralize? You act on them by fluidic attraction; you magnetize them, unconsciously, most of the time, to keep them in your circle of action; consciously, sometimes, when you establish around them a fluidic sheet that they cannot penetrate without your permission, and you act on them by the moral power that is no other than a quintessential magnetic action.
As you have been told many times, there are no gaps in the work of nature, no sudden jumps, but insensitive transitions that make one move, little by little, from a state to another, without noticing the change other than through awareness of a better situation.
Magnetism is therefore a lower degree of Spiritism, and that imperceptibly merges with the latter by a series of varieties that differ little from one another, as the animal is a higher state of the plant, etc. In either case, they are two steps of the infinite ladder that connects all creations, from the tiny atom to the Creator God! Above you, the dazzling light that your weak eyes cannot yet bear; below, there is a deep darkness that your most powerful optical instruments have not yet been able to illuminate. Yesterday you didn't know anything; today you see the deep abyss in which your origin is lost. You have a presentiment of the infinitely perfect goal towards which all your aspirations tend; and to whom do you owe all this knowledge? To magnetism! To Spiritism! To all the revelations that result from a law of universal relation between all beings and their Creator! To a science hatched yesterday by your conception, but whose existence is lost in the mists of time, because it is one of the fundamental bases of creation.
From all this, I conclude that magnetism, developed by Spiritism, is the keystone of the moral and material health of future humanity.
E. Quineman”
Observation: The correctness of the assessments, and the depths of the new point of view contained in this communication will not escape anyone. Mr. Quinemant, although he had left for a very short time, revealed himself from start, and without the least hesitation, as a Spirit of incontestable superiority. Barely freed from matter, that seems to have left no trace on him, he deploys his faculties with a remarkable power, that promises one more good adviser to his brothers on Earth.
Those who claimed that Spiritism was dragging itself into the rut of commonplaces and banalities, can see, by the questions which it has been tackling for some time, if it remains stationary, and they will see it even better as it continues to develop its consequences. Strictly speaking, however, he does not teach anything new; if we carefully study its fundamental constitutive principles, we will see that they contain the seeds of everything; but these germs can only develop gradually; if all do not flourish at the same time, it is because the extension of the circle of its attributions does not depend on the will of men, but on that of the Spirits, who regulate the degree of their teaching according to the opportunity. It is in vain that men would like to anticipate time; they cannot constrain the will of the Spirits who act according to higher inspirations, and do not indulge the impatience of the incarnate; they know how to make this impatience sterile if necessary. Let us therefore let them act; let us strengthen ourselves in what they teach us and let us be sure that they will know how to make Spiritism give what it must give.
Parisian Society, May 12th, 1867 – medium Mr. Desliens
“During my lifetime I was concerned with the practice of magnetism, from an exclusively material point of view; at least, I believed it so; I know today that the voluntary or involuntary elevation of the soul, willing to desire the cure of the patient, is a true spiritual magnetization.
Healing is due to many variable causes: A certain disease, treated in such a way, yields to the power of material action; another, which is identical, but less marked, does not undergo any kind of improvement, although the curative means employed are perhaps still more powerful. What are the reasons for these variations in influence? - To a cause ignored by most magnetizers, who attack only morbid material principles; they are the consequence of the moral situation of the individual.
Material illness is an effect; to destroy this effect, it is not enough to attack it, to take it hand-to-hand and annihilate it; the cause still existing, will reproduce new morbid effects when the curative action is removed.
The fluid, transmitting health in magnetism, is an intermediary between matter and the spiritual part of the being, and that one could compare to the perispirit. It unites two bodies to one another; it is a bridge over that passes the elements that are to bring healing to the diseased organs. Being an intermediary between Spirit and matter, by virtue of its molecular constitution, this fluid can transmit just as well a spiritual influence as a purely animal influence.
What is Spiritism in the end, or rather what is mediumship, this faculty hitherto misunderstood, and whose considerable extension has established on incontestable bases the fundamental principles of the new revelation? It is purely and simply a variety of the magnetic action exerted by one or more incorporeal magnetizers, on a human subject, acting in the waking state or in the ecstatic state, consciously or unconsciously.
What, on the other hand, is magnetism? A variety of Spiritism in which incarnate Spirits act on other incarnate Spirits.
Finally, there is a third variety of magnetism or Spiritism, depending on whether one takes, as a point of departure, the action of incarnates on incarnates, or that of relatively free Spirits on Spirits, imprisoned in a body; this third variety, that has for principle the action of the incarnates on the Spirits, is revealed in the treatment and the moralization of the obsessing Spirits.
Spiritism is, therefore, only spiritual magnetism, and magnetism is nothing other than human Spiritism.
Indeed, how does the magnetizer proceed when he wants to subject a somnambulist subject to his influence? He involves him in his fluid; he possesses him, to a certain extent, and notice, without ever succeeding in annihilating his free will, without being able to turn him into his thing, a purely passive instrument. Often the magnetized resists the influence of the magnetizer and he acts in one direction when the latter would like the action to be utterly opposed. Although generally the somnambulist is asleep, and his own Spirit acts while his body remains more or less inert, it also happens, but more rarely, that the subject, simply fascinated, enlightened, remains in the waking state, although with a greater tension of mind and an unusual exaltation of his faculties.
And now, how does the Spirit that wants to communicate, proceed? It enfolds the medium in its fluid; it possesses him to a certain extent, without ever succeeding in making it his own thing, a purely passive instrument. You may object to me that in cases of obsession, possession, the annihilation of free will appears to be complete. There would be a lot to say about this question, for the annihilating action bears more on the material vital forces than on the Spirit, that may find itself paralyzed, overwhelmed and powerless to resist, but whose thought is never wiped out, as has been observed on many occasions. Even in the case of obsession, I find a confirmation, a proof in support of my theory, by recalling that the obsession is also exerted from incarnate to incarnate, and that we have seen magnetizers taking advantage of the domination exerted on their somnambulists to lead them to commit blameworthy actions. Here, as always, the exception proves the rule.
Although generally the mediumistic subject is awake, in certain cases, that are becoming more and more frequent, spontaneous somnambulism occurs in the medium, and he speaks for himself or by suggestion, absolutely as the magnetic somnambulist behaves in the same circumstances.
Finally, how do you deal with obsessive or simply inferior Spirits that you want to moralize? You act on them by fluidic attraction; you magnetize them, unconsciously, most of the time, to keep them in your circle of action; consciously, sometimes, when you establish around them a fluidic sheet that they cannot penetrate without your permission, and you act on them by the moral power that is no other than a quintessential magnetic action.
As you have been told many times, there are no gaps in the work of nature, no sudden jumps, but insensitive transitions that make one move, little by little, from a state to another, without noticing the change other than through awareness of a better situation.
Magnetism is therefore a lower degree of Spiritism, and that imperceptibly merges with the latter by a series of varieties that differ little from one another, as the animal is a higher state of the plant, etc. In either case, they are two steps of the infinite ladder that connects all creations, from the tiny atom to the Creator God! Above you, the dazzling light that your weak eyes cannot yet bear; below, there is a deep darkness that your most powerful optical instruments have not yet been able to illuminate. Yesterday you didn't know anything; today you see the deep abyss in which your origin is lost. You have a presentiment of the infinitely perfect goal towards which all your aspirations tend; and to whom do you owe all this knowledge? To magnetism! To Spiritism! To all the revelations that result from a law of universal relation between all beings and their Creator! To a science hatched yesterday by your conception, but whose existence is lost in the mists of time, because it is one of the fundamental bases of creation.
From all this, I conclude that magnetism, developed by Spiritism, is the keystone of the moral and material health of future humanity.
E. Quineman”
Observation: The correctness of the assessments, and the depths of the new point of view contained in this communication will not escape anyone. Mr. Quinemant, although he had left for a very short time, revealed himself from start, and without the least hesitation, as a Spirit of incontestable superiority. Barely freed from matter, that seems to have left no trace on him, he deploys his faculties with a remarkable power, that promises one more good adviser to his brothers on Earth.
Those who claimed that Spiritism was dragging itself into the rut of commonplaces and banalities, can see, by the questions which it has been tackling for some time, if it remains stationary, and they will see it even better as it continues to develop its consequences. Strictly speaking, however, he does not teach anything new; if we carefully study its fundamental constitutive principles, we will see that they contain the seeds of everything; but these germs can only develop gradually; if all do not flourish at the same time, it is because the extension of the circle of its attributions does not depend on the will of men, but on that of the Spirits, who regulate the degree of their teaching according to the opportunity. It is in vain that men would like to anticipate time; they cannot constrain the will of the Spirits who act according to higher inspirations, and do not indulge the impatience of the incarnate; they know how to make this impatience sterile if necessary. Let us therefore let them act; let us strengthen ourselves in what they teach us and let us be sure that they will know how to make Spiritism give what it must give.
Bibliography
Spiritist Union of BordeauxThe latest issue of the Union, that is now reaching us, and that ends its second year, contains the following notice:
Absorbed by the material work imposed on us by the need to provide for our needs and those of the family, that we have the task of raising, we have not been allowed to publish regularly the latest issues of the Spiritist Union. We will not hide it, in the presence of this task both so painful and so unappreciated that we have imposed on ourselves, we wondered if we should not stop and leave to others, more fortunate than us, the care to continue the work we have undertaken, with as much ardor as with conviction and faith. But, yielding to the urges of many of our readers, who think that the Spiritist Union not only has its reason for being, but has already done, and is called upon to do, perhaps in the very near future, a great service to Spiritism, we have resolved to walk still forward, and still face the difficulties of all kinds that are piling up under our feet. Only, to make such a task possible for us, and to avoid the irregularity that, unfortunately, until now we have been the victim so often, we have had to make major changes to our method of publication.
The Spiritist Union, that will begin its third year next June, will now appear once a month only, in 32-page notebooks, large in-8 °. The price of the subscription will be set at 10 francs per year.
We hope that our subscribers will be willing to accept these conditions that are, moreover, those of the Spiritist Review of Allan Kardec, and of almost all the publications or philosophical reviews of Paris, and that by sending us, as soon as possible, their membership, they will make it as easy as possible for us to accomplish the work to which, for more than four years, we have made such great sacrifices.
A Bez.”
We are among those who regard this journal as having its reason to be and its usefulness; by the spirit in which it is written, it can and must render incontestable services to the cause of Spiritism. We congratulate Mr. Bez on his perseverance, despite the material difficulties he encounters in his very position. He took, in our opinion, a very wise course in only publishing it once a month, while providing the same amount of material. One cannot imagine the time and expenses that entail the publications that appear several times a month, when one is obliged to suffice alone or almost alone; it is absolutely necessary to have nothing else to do, and to renounce any other occupation. By appearing on the 15th of each month, for example, it will alternate with our Spiritist Review; in this way, those who would like it to appear more often, that is impossible, will find in it the complement of what they want, and will not be deprived of reading the subjects in which they are interested for so long. We are asking for their assistance to support this publication.
Absorbed by the material work imposed on us by the need to provide for our needs and those of the family, that we have the task of raising, we have not been allowed to publish regularly the latest issues of the Spiritist Union. We will not hide it, in the presence of this task both so painful and so unappreciated that we have imposed on ourselves, we wondered if we should not stop and leave to others, more fortunate than us, the care to continue the work we have undertaken, with as much ardor as with conviction and faith. But, yielding to the urges of many of our readers, who think that the Spiritist Union not only has its reason for being, but has already done, and is called upon to do, perhaps in the very near future, a great service to Spiritism, we have resolved to walk still forward, and still face the difficulties of all kinds that are piling up under our feet. Only, to make such a task possible for us, and to avoid the irregularity that, unfortunately, until now we have been the victim so often, we have had to make major changes to our method of publication.
The Spiritist Union, that will begin its third year next June, will now appear once a month only, in 32-page notebooks, large in-8 °. The price of the subscription will be set at 10 francs per year.
We hope that our subscribers will be willing to accept these conditions that are, moreover, those of the Spiritist Review of Allan Kardec, and of almost all the publications or philosophical reviews of Paris, and that by sending us, as soon as possible, their membership, they will make it as easy as possible for us to accomplish the work to which, for more than four years, we have made such great sacrifices.
A Bez.”
We are among those who regard this journal as having its reason to be and its usefulness; by the spirit in which it is written, it can and must render incontestable services to the cause of Spiritism. We congratulate Mr. Bez on his perseverance, despite the material difficulties he encounters in his very position. He took, in our opinion, a very wise course in only publishing it once a month, while providing the same amount of material. One cannot imagine the time and expenses that entail the publications that appear several times a month, when one is obliged to suffice alone or almost alone; it is absolutely necessary to have nothing else to do, and to renounce any other occupation. By appearing on the 15th of each month, for example, it will alternate with our Spiritist Review; in this way, those who would like it to appear more often, that is impossible, will find in it the complement of what they want, and will not be deprived of reading the subjects in which they are interested for so long. We are asking for their assistance to support this publication.
Spiritualist Progress
New journal appearing twice a month, since April 15th, in the format of the old Avenir to which it announces to succeed. The Future had made itself the representative of ideas to which we could not give our support. This is not a reason why these ideas do not have their media, so that everyone is able to appreciate them, and that we can judge their value by the sympathy they find in the majority of Spiritists and their agreement with the teaching of the generality of the Spirits. Spiritism, adopting only the principles consecrated by the universality of teaching, sanctioned by reason and logic, has always worked, and will always work with the majority; that's what makes it strong. It, therefore, has nothing to fear from divergent ideas; if they are righteous, they will prevail, and they will be adopted; if they are wrong, they will fall.
We cannot yet appreciate the line that this journal will follow, in this respect; in any case, we make it our duty to point out its appearance to our readers, so that they can judge it for themselves. We will be happy to find in it a serious new champion of its doctrine, and in that case, we will wish it good luck.
Office: rue de la Victoire, n ° 34. - Price: 10 francs per year.
We cannot yet appreciate the line that this journal will follow, in this respect; in any case, we make it our duty to point out its appearance to our readers, so that they can judge it for themselves. We will be happy to find in it a serious new champion of its doctrine, and in that case, we will wish it good luck.
Office: rue de la Victoire, n ° 34. - Price: 10 francs per year.
Researches about the causes of Atheism
In response to Mgr. Dupanloup's brochure, by a Catholic.
Brochure in-8 °, at MM. Didier et Compagnie, 35, quai des Augustins, and at the Revue Spirite office. - Price: 1 franc, 25 cents; by post: 1 franc, 45 cents.
The author of this remarkable writing, although sincerely attached to Catholic beliefs, set out to demonstrate to Bishop Dupanloup what are the real causes of the plague of atheism, and of the incredulity that invades society; according to her, interpretations inadmissible today, and irreconcilable with the positive data of science. She proves that, in many points, the Church has deviated from the real meaning of the Scriptures, and the thought of the sacred writers; that religion can only gain from a more rational interpretation that, without touching the fundamental principles of dogmas, would be reconciled with reason; that Spiritism, founded on the very laws of nature, is the only possible key to a sound interpretation, and by that very fact, the most powerful remedy against atheism. All of this is said simply, coldly, without emphasis or exhilaration, and with strict logic. This writing is a complement to Faith and Reason, by M. J. B., and to the Dogmas of the Church of Christ explained according to Spiritism, by M. Bottinn.
Although a woman, the author shows great theological erudition; she quotes and comments with remarkable accuracy the sacred writers of all times, and with almost as much ease as Mr. Flammarion quotes scientific authors; we see that they are familiar to her, which leads us to say that she is probably not in her beginnings in these matters, and that she must have been some eminent theologian in her previous existence. Without sharing all her ideas, we say that from the point of view where she placed herself, she could not speak better in a different way, and that she did a useful thing for the time in which we are now.
Brochure in-8 °, at MM. Didier et Compagnie, 35, quai des Augustins, and at the Revue Spirite office. - Price: 1 franc, 25 cents; by post: 1 franc, 45 cents.
The author of this remarkable writing, although sincerely attached to Catholic beliefs, set out to demonstrate to Bishop Dupanloup what are the real causes of the plague of atheism, and of the incredulity that invades society; according to her, interpretations inadmissible today, and irreconcilable with the positive data of science. She proves that, in many points, the Church has deviated from the real meaning of the Scriptures, and the thought of the sacred writers; that religion can only gain from a more rational interpretation that, without touching the fundamental principles of dogmas, would be reconciled with reason; that Spiritism, founded on the very laws of nature, is the only possible key to a sound interpretation, and by that very fact, the most powerful remedy against atheism. All of this is said simply, coldly, without emphasis or exhilaration, and with strict logic. This writing is a complement to Faith and Reason, by M. J. B., and to the Dogmas of the Church of Christ explained according to Spiritism, by M. Bottinn.
Although a woman, the author shows great theological erudition; she quotes and comments with remarkable accuracy the sacred writers of all times, and with almost as much ease as Mr. Flammarion quotes scientific authors; we see that they are familiar to her, which leads us to say that she is probably not in her beginnings in these matters, and that she must have been some eminent theologian in her previous existence. Without sharing all her ideas, we say that from the point of view where she placed herself, she could not speak better in a different way, and that she did a useful thing for the time in which we are now.
The novel of the future
By E. Bonnemère
A volume in-12. International bookshop, 15 boulevard Montmartre. - Price: 3 francs; by post: 3 francs 30 cents.
The lack of space obliges us to hand over to the next issue the review of this important work, that we recommend to the attention of our readers, as very interesting for Spiritism.
A volume in-12. International bookshop, 15 boulevard Montmartre. - Price: 3 francs; by post: 3 francs 30 cents.
The lack of space obliges us to hand over to the next issue the review of this important work, that we recommend to the attention of our readers, as very interesting for Spiritism.