59. It may perhaps be asked, how it is that a spirit, by the aid of matter so subtle,
can act upon bodies which are both heavy and compact, raise tables, etc. But no
scientific man could make such an objection; for, without reference to any special
properties which this novel agent may possess and of which we are ignorant, have we
not, before our eyes, analogous examples? Is it not in the most rarefied gases, and in
imponderable fluids, that industry finds its most powerful motors? When we see the air
overthrowing edifices, vapour dragging enormous masses, powder, transformed into
gas, blowing up rocks, electricity splitting trees and piercing walls, why should it be
thought strange that a spirit, with the aid of his perispirit, should raise a table, especially
when we know that this very perispirit may also become visible and tangible, and
behave like a solid body?
