198. All these varieties of mediums present infinite degrees in their intensity : there are many which con- stitute but shades, properly speaking, but which are not the less effects of special aptitudes. It may easily be supposed that the faculty of a medium being rigor- ously circumscribed to one single kind is quite rare ; the same medium can,-doubtless, have several tenden- cies, but there is always a governing one, and to the cultivation of that one he should devote himself if it be useful.
It is a serious wrong to wish to press to the development a faculty one does not possess: all those whose germs are seen to be within us should be cultivated, but to pursue the others is, in the first place, to lose time, and, in the second place, to lose, perhaps, — weaken, certainly, — those with which we are en- dowed.
" When the principle, the germ of a faculty, exists, it is always shown by unequivocal signs. By adhering to his speciality the medium may excel, and obtain, grand and beautiful things ; in trying to do all, he will do nothing well. Be it remarked, in passing, that the desire to extend indefinitely the circle of his faculties is'a haughty presumption that the spirits never leave unpunished ; the good always abandon the presump- tuous, who thus become the sport of lying spirits.
" Unhappily, it is not rare to see mediums discontented with the gifts they have received, and aspire, from self-love or ambition, to possess exceptional faculties, that they may be noticed ; this presumption destroys their most precious quality — that of sure mediums. " SOCRATES."
