THE MEDIUMS’ BOOK

"During the months passed by Vespasian in Alexandria, awaiting the periodical return of the summer winds and the season when the sea is smoothest, various prodigies took place, showing the favour of heaven, and the interest which the gods seemed to take in that prince.

"These prodigies increased Vespasian's desire to visit the sacred sojourn of the god, and to consult him concerning the empire. He gave orders that the temple should be kept closely shut, so that no one but himself might enter it, when, being entirely absorbed in anticipation of what the oracle was about to utter, he perceived behind him one of the principal Egyptians, named Basilides, whom he knew to be retained by illness at some distance from Alexandria. He questioned the priests, as to whether Basilides had been that day in the temple ; he inquired of the passers-by, whether they had seen him in the town ; at last he sent horsemen, and acquired through them the Certainty that, at the moment of the apparition, Basilides was eighty miles away. He then no longer doubted that the vision was supernatural; and the name of Basilides was accepted by him in lieu of the oracle." *


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* Tacitus, Histories (Burnouf’s Translation), Book IV., Chaps. 81, 82.



121. The individual who appears simultaneously in two different places has, then, two bodies; but, of these, one alone is real, the other is only an appearance : we may say that the first lives with the organic life, and the second, with that of the soul ; on awaking, the two bodies re-unite, and the life of the soul re-enters the material body. We have no reason to suppose that, in this state of partial separation, the two bodies can possess active and intelligent vitality, simultaneously, and in the same degree. It follows, moreover, from what we have just said, that the real body could not die, and the apparent body still remain visible the approach of death always recalling the spirit to the body, if only for an instant. It also follows that the apparent body could not be killed, because it is not organic, and is not formed of flesh and bone; it would instantly disappear, if any one tried to kill it.*


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* See the Revue Spirite, janvier, 1850; Le follet de Bayonne, 1859; Les Agénères; Mon ami Hermann; mai, 1859, Le Lien entre l’Esprit et le Corps; novembre 1859, l’Ame errante; janvier 1860, l’ Esprit d’un côte et le Corps de l’autre; mars 1860, Etudes sur l’esprit de personnes vivantes: Le docteur V. et mademoiselle I.; avril 1860, Le Fabricant de Saint-Petersbourg; Apparitions tangibles; novembre 1860, Histoire de Marie d’Agréda; juillet 1861, Une Apparition Providentielle.