57. Let us return to our consideration of the nature of the perispirit, essential to
the explanation we are about to give. We have said that, although fluidic, it is none the
less a species of matter, as is proved by the fact of tangible apparitions, to which we
have now to recur. Through the influence of certain mediums, we have seen hands
appear, with all the properties of living hands; hands that were warm, that we could
touch, that offered the resistance of a solid body, that could grasp ours, and then
suddenly vanish, like a shadow. The intelligent action of these hands, which, evidently,
by their execution of Certain movements, obey a will, playing airs on an instrument,
etc.-proves that they are visible portions of an invisible, intelligent being. Their
tangibleness, their temperature, in a word, the impression they make on our senses (for
we have seen them leave marks on the skin, deal painful blows, or give the gentlest.
caresses), all prove that they consist of some sort of matter. Their instantaneous
disappearance proves, still further, that this matter is eminently subtle, and that it has
the property (like that of certain substances already known to us) of passing alternately
from a solid to a fluidic state, and vice- versa.
