The Spiritist review — Journal of psychological studies — 1858

A central point in the Spiritist Doctrine is the difference among the spirits, be it intellectual or moral. Their teachings never changed regarding this subject. Nevertheless, it is essential to know that they do not eternally belong to the same order and that, as a consequence, these orders do not constitute distinct species: they indicate different degrees of development. The spirits follow the progressive march of nature. Those of the inferior orders are still imperfects; later, after depuration, they reach the superior orders; they move along the hierarchy while acquiring qualities, experience and knowledge which they still lack. The breast feeding child is not similar to what it shall be at a mature age; however it is always the same being.

The classification of the spirits is based on their degree of progress, their acquired qualities and their imperfections that need to be stripped off. By the way, such classification has nothing of absolute. Each category only shows one key feature but from one degree to the next the transition is soft, the nuance fades away towards the extremes, like it does in nature, in the colors of the rainbow or in the several stages of human life. It is then possible to form a higher or lower number of classes, according to the point of view used to consider the subject. The same happens to all forms of scientific classification: they can be more or less complete, more or less rational, more or less accommodating to the intelligence but, whatever they may be, they can never change the fundamentals of the Science.

Once questioned about this subject the spirits may have given different answers with respect to the number of categories but this is not important. Critics take this apparent contradiction not considering that the spirits themselves do not give importance to what is purely conventional. To them, thought is everything. They leave to us the choice of format, expressions and classification – in one word, the systems.

We shall still add the following consideration: one should never forget that, among the spirits, as with human beings, there are those that are highly ignorant and we must resist our tendency to think that the spirits must all know everything just because they are spirits. Every classification requires method, analysis and profound knowledge of the subject. Well, in the spiritual world, those who have limited knowledge, like the ignorant among us, are incapable of an ample view of the broad picture and to establish a system; and those who are capable may vary in the details, according to their view point, especially when a division has nothing of absolute. Lineu, Jussieu and Tournefort have each followed a different method. Nonetheless, the Science of Botany has not changed. They have neither invented the plants nor their features. They observed the analogies and formed the groups or classes based on that.

That was how we proceeded. We did neither invent the spirits nor their characters. We saw and observed; we judged them based on their words and acts, then we classified them based on their similarities. This is what anybody else would have done in such a case.

However we cannot claim authorship of the whole work. If, on one hand, the classification given below was not entirely outlined by the spirits and if it is of our own initiative, on the other hand it contains all elements acquired from their teachings. The remaining work was to formulate a physical arrangement of the material.

The spirits generally admit three main categories or large divisions. At the end, on the bottom of the scale, lies the imperfect spirits, those who still need to go through all or almost all stages: these are categorized by the prevalence of matter over the spirit and by their inclination towards evil. Those at the second level are categorized by the prevalence of the spirit over matter and by the desire of good deeds: these are the good spirits. The first category thus comprehends the pure spirits, those who have reached the supreme degree of perfection.

Such a division seems perfectly rational to us and presents well defined characters. What was still missing to distinguish, in sufficient number, was the nuances of each group. This is what we did with the help of the spirits, whose benevolent instructions have never failed us.

With the support of that classification table it will be easy to determine the category and the degree of superiority or inferiority of the spirits with whom we may entertain ourselves and, as a consequence, the degree of confidence and regard they deserve. Besides this is of our personal interest as we ourselves, by our souls, belong to the spiritual world in which we shall enter as soon as we leave our mortal covering (wrapping), indicating to us what we need to do in order to achieve perfection and the supreme good.

Nevertheless, we will observe that the spirits do not always and exclusively belong to this or that class. Their progress only gradually takes place and many times more in one direction than in another, being thus able to have characters of several categories, which is easy to observe from their language and acts.

General characteristics: Prevalence of matter over the spirit. Have tendency towards evil. Show ignorance, arrogance, egotism and all their consequent passions.

Have the intuition of God but do not understand Him.

Not all of them are essentially bad; some show more levity, inconsequence and wickedness than evilness. Others neither practice good nor evil but by simply not being good they reveal inferiority. Others still rejoice with iniquity and are delighted by the very opportunity of practicing it. These can associate their intelligence to meanness or malevolence but whatever their intellectual development may be, their ideas are not much elevated and their feelings more or less abject.

Their comprehension about the spiritual world is limited and their little knowledge is mixed with their preconceived ideas from their corporeal life. They can only give us false and incomplete notions but the thoughtful observer many times discovers in their communications, though imperfect, the confirmation of the immense truths taught by the superior spirits.
Their character is revealed by their language. Every spirit who, in the communications, betrays one thought may be classified in the third order; thus every bad thought which is suggested to us comes from a spirit of that order.


They see the happiness of the good spirits and this is an inexorable distress to them, as they experience all anguishes produced by envy and jealousy.

These spirits keep the memory and perception of the sufferings of their corporeal life and those perceptions are sometimes harder than reality. They really suffer by the ill deeds they had to endure and by those they had imposed to others. As they suffer for a long time they judge their suffering as eternal. God allows them to think so in order to help them seek a better way.

These spirits may be divided in four main groups:

Ninth class: Impure Spirits

They are inclined towards evil, object of their concerns. As spirits their advices are perfidious, spread discord and mistrust and use all masks to better deceive others. They associate themselves to those persons of sufficiently weak character to give in to their suggestions in order to take them to perdition, happy if able to delay progress, leading others to succumb in their trials.

Their language can be recognized in the manifestations. The triviality and gross expressions, with the spirits as with men, are always indications of moral, if not intellectual inferiority. Their communications reveal the baseness of their tendencies. When trying to deceive, speaking in a sensible way, they soon reveal their origin as they cannot sustain such role for long.

Certain peoples made them malevolent divinities; others designated them by demons, genies or evil spirits.

When incarnated the bodies they animate are inclined to all kinds of vices as well as their consequent vile and degrading passions: sensuality, cruelty, forgery, hypocrisy, cupidity and sordid greed. They do evil things for the pleasure of it, most of the time without motive and, by their hatred of good, usually electing their victims among good people. They are a scourge to humanity, whatever the class they belong and the varnish of civilization does not spare them from the opprobrium and ignominy.

Eighth Class: Frivolous Spirits

These spirits are ignorant, malevolent, inconsequent and scorner. Get involved in all things, responding to anything with no regard whatsoever to the truth. As they enjoy provoking small upsets as well as little happiness, the spirits like to produce discord and maliciously induce error by mystifications and naughtiness. Spirits in this class are typically designated as elves, goblins, trasgos and gnomes. They depend on the superior spirits by whom they are frequently employed just as we do with our servants and workers.

They seem, more than the others, attached to matter, having an active role as agents of the vicissitude of global elements, living in the air, water, fire, in the solid bodies or even in the entrails of the earth. Several times they manifest their presence through sensitive effects such as raps, movements, abnormal displacements of solid bodies, air agitation, etc. which gave them the name “boisterous spirits”. It is acknowledged that those phenomena are not due to a fortuitous and natural cause when they present an intentional and intelligent character. All spirits can produce these effects but the superior spirits, generally, leave that to the inferior spirits, more apt to material than intelligent actions.

When communicating, their language sometimes shows wit and happiness but almost always without depth. Their sarcastic and satiric expressions contain caprices and ridicule. They sometimes assume fictitious names for malice rather than malevolence.

Seventh Class: Pseudo-wise Spirits

Having extensive knowledge, these spirits assume to know more than they actually do. They show some progress from several points of view. Their language has a serious character, which may lead to mistakes regarding their capacity and illumination, but, very frequently, it is simply a reaction of their prejudices and systematic ideas carried over from their earthly life. Their words are a mixture of some truths and some absurdities, which stem presumption, pride, envy and stubbornness that they have not yet stripped.

Sixth Class: Neutral Spirits

These are not good enough to do good deeds or bad enough to do evil ones. They incline towards one or the other and do not rise above the vulgar of humanity, with respect to morality as well as intelligence. These spirits attach themselves to earthly things whose gross pleasures they miss.

General characteristics: Prevalence of spirit over matter; desire of good. Their qualities and capacities for the practice of good are proportional to the level they have reached: some have science, others wisdom and goodness; the most advanced unite knowledge to moral qualities. As they are not completely dematerialized, they more or less maintain, according to their classes, traces of the corporeal existence, both in their language as well as in their habits, where we can even identify certain customs, without which they would be perfect spirits.


They understand God and the infinity and already enjoy the happiness of the good ones. They feel happy for the good they spread as well as the evil they avoid. Love is a bonding source of ineffable happiness, unaltered by envy, or sorrow, or remorse, or by any other bad passion which torment the imperfect spirits; nevertheless all still have to endure trials before reaching absolute perfection.


As spirits, they give rise to good thoughts deviating men from tortuous paths; during life they protect those who are worthy of their protection and neutralize the influence of the imperfect spirits over those who are not pleased to submit to them.

When incarnated, these are good and benevolent to all their neighbors. They are not moved by pride or selfishness, or even by ambition. Do not experiment hate, resentment, envy or jealousy and practice good for the good.

These are the commonly designated good geniuses or protector geniuses, spirits of good in the vulgar beliefs. Over the times of superstition and ignorance, they were transformed into beneficent divinities.

They can also be divided into four main groups:

Fifth Class: Benevolent Spirits

Goodness is their prevalent quality. Enjoy protecting and serving men but their knowledge is limited: they have progressed more in the moral than in the intellectual sense.

Fourth Class: Spirits of science

The extension of their knowledge is what distinguishes them. Less concerned with the moral questions than with the scientific ones, for which have more aptitude but only see science from its utility point of view, not blending that with any passion characteristic of the imperfect spirits.

Moral qualities of the highest order are what distinguish them. Their knowledge is not unlimited but they have such a high intellectual capability that it allows them to make a shrewd judgment of men and all things.

Second Class: Superior Spirits

Unite science, wisdom and benevolence. Their language, permanently dignified and elevated, breathes generosity and, sometimes, it is sublime. Their superiority enable them, more than the others, with the ability to give us the most rightful notions of the incorporeal world, within the limits allowed to men. Show good will in the communications with those who, in good faith, look for the truth and whose souls are released enough from the earthly harnesses to understand it, but stay away from those animated by curiosity or those deviated from the righteous path due to the influence of matter.

When exceptionally reincarnate on earth it is to accomplish a mission of progress. It is when they offer us the type of perfection that humanity may aspire in this world.

First Class: Pure Spirits

Have passed through all degrees of the scale and are cleansed from all impurities of matter. Having achieved supreme perfection attainable by the creature, they do not have to go through trials and expiations. No longer subjected to incarnation in perishable bodies, enjoy the eternal life by God’s side.

Live an unaltered happiness as they no longer are subjected to the needs and vicissitudes of the material life, but such a happy state is not a monotonous idleness in a perpetual state of contemplation. They are the messengers and ministers of God whose orders execute in order to maintain universal harmony. Command all spirits below them, attributing missions and helping in their progression. Show contentment in supporting man with their anguishes, stimulating them towards the practice of good, encouraging them with the expiation of their faults which keep them away from the supreme happiness. These are sometimes called angels, archangels or seraphim.

Man can communicate with them but anyone who intended to have them at their service would be presumptuous.

The errant spirits do not form a special category. It refers to one of the states in which they can be found.

The errant state, or erraticity, does not mean inferiority to the spirits, since they can be found in all degrees in such a state. Every spirit who is not incarnated is, as a consequence, errant, with the exception of the pure spirits who, for not having to go through other incarnations, are in a definitive state.

Since the incarnation is a transient state, erraticity is really the normal state of the spirits, and such a state is not forcibly expiation. In the state of erraticity they are happy or unfortunate, according to their degree of elevation, and the good or the evil that they might have practiced.

This story caused uproar in its time, by the position of the hero lady and by the large number of persons who witnessed it. Despite its singularity, it would have been probably forgotten had Mademoiselle Clairon not published it in her memoirs. This is where we extracted the report below. The analogy it has, with some of the current facts, gives it a natural place in this collection.

Mademoiselle Clairon was not only known for her beauty but also for her talent as a singer and actress in tragic roles. She had inspired a young Breton, Mr. S..., in one of these passions, understanding that he did not possess the necessary talents to fully succeed in his passion. Mademoiselle Clairon only corresponded with her friendship. Nevertheless Mr. S... presence had become such an annoyance that she decided to break up their relationship for good. Heartbroken he experienced a long lasting illness, which killed him in 1743. Here is how Mademoiselle Clairon described it.

“It was two and a half years since the day we met and the day he died. He sent for me, asking for my kind acceptance of seeing him over his last moments. My relationships did not allow me to do that. He did die having only servants around him and an old lady who was his only companion for a long time. He lived in Rempart, near Chaussée d’Antin, where they had started to build. I lived at Rue de Bussy, near the Rue du Seine and Saint-German Abbey. I was with my mother and several friends having just finished dinner. I had just sung beautiful pastoral songs which delighted my friends when, at eleven o’clock sharp, we heard a piercing scream. Its somber modulation and duration shocked everyone. I felt like passing out and indeed I was unconscious for about fifteen minutes.”

“My whole family, friends, neighbors, and the police would hear the same scream, always at the same time, coming from the bottom of my window as if it vaguely came through the air. I rarely had dinner in the city but during those days nothing would be heard and, many times, when asking my servants and my mother for any news, on returning to my room, the scream would blast right in the middle of the group.”

“On one occasion I had dinner with the president of B..., who wanted to kindly follow me home to ensure that I would be safe. When we got to the house, by the door, he was saying goodbye to me when the scream blew between the two of us. Just as the whole of Paris was aware, he knew about the screams but he still had to be helped to his carriage, looking more dead than alive.”

“Still on another occasion I asked my good friend Rosely to join me on a shopping tour to Rue Saint-Honore, looking for fabrics. The only subject of our conversation was my “phantom” as he was called. This very talented young man would not believe in any of those things but was impressed by my adventure. He requested that I should evoke the phantom, saying that he would then believe if the phantom responded. Be it by weakness or audacity I did what he asked me. The scream was heard three times, and it was horrifying for its loudness and speed. On returning home we needed the support of several people to remove us from the carriage, as both of us were unconscious. After this event I heard nothing for some months. I thought the situation was definitely over. What a mistake.”

“Every spectacle had been transferred to Versalhes for the wedding of Delfim. A room was organized for me at Saint-Cloud Avenue, which I shared with Mrs. Grandval. At 3 am I said to her: it is the end of the world; it would be really difficult that the scream would find us here. It then blasted! Mrs. Grandval thought that our room was in hell. Dressed in evening gown, she ran away from top to bottom of the stairs; nobody could sleep that night. At least it was the last time we heard it.”

“Seven or eight days later, on talking to people to whom I was acquainted, the eleven o’clock tick tock was followed by a musket gunshot, from one of my windows. We all heard the noise and saw the fire but the window was intact. We concluded that I was the missed target and that we should then take better precautions in the future. Mr. Marvillen, then a police commissioner, requested that all houses near the street from my own house should be searched. The street was full of all types of spies but, regardless of how much care was taken, for three consecutive months those shots were seen and heard, always at the same hour of the day, at the same spot of the window, without anybody being able to identify its real origin. The fact was duly registered by the police.”

“Once, already accustomed to my phantom, who I considered a poor devil limited to his own wickedness, I did not take notice of the time. As it was a hot day, I opened the deplorable window, talking to the officer at the balcony. At eleven o’clock sharp a gunshot was heard and both of us were thrown on the floor, in the middle of the room, where we fell like the dead. On recovering our senses we noticed that both of us had had the faces unbelievably slapped, him on the left face and me on the right one – we laughed like crazy.”

“Two days later I was invited by Mademoiselle Dumesnil to attend an evening party at her house; I took a carriage at eleven o’clock with my chambermaid. The moonlight was beautiful and we were taken through boulevards lined by houses. The maid said:

“Wasn’t it here that Mr. S... died?”

“According to the information I was given, yes it must have been here”, I answered, pointing towards one of the two houses across from where we were.”

“A gunshot was fired from one of the houses. It went through our carriage; the scared coachman drove fast ahead, thinking that some thieves were assaulting us.”

“We arrived at our destination just recovered from the incident as, I must confess, for a long time I had that look of horror in my face; however, that event was the last with a firearm.”

“Those explosions were followed by the clapping of hands, with certain rhythm and repetition. This noise, to which the kindness of my audiences had me accustomed to, went undetected for some time but my friends noticed them. They said: we have been watching. It is at eleven o’clock, near your door that it happens. We hear but do not see anybody. It can only be the continuation of those events. As the noise was not so bad, I did not keep track of its duration. I did not give attention either to the harmonious sounds that were heard later. It sounded like a celestial voice giving the accords of an aria, about to be sung. That voice would start at the Bussy quarters and stop at my door. As it happened before with all the other noises, it was heard but nothing could be seen. Just over two and a half years later everything stopped, at last.”

Sometime later Mademoiselle Clairon had, through the old lady who was the only companion of Mr. S... the following report about his last moments.

“He was counting the minutes, she said, when at about ten thirty the servant came to tell him that you would not come. After a moment of silence he took my hand, on a desperate impulse that scared me, and said: What a cruelty! She will not gain anything from that. I will hound her as much in death as in life! I tried to calm him down but he was already dead.”

In the edition we have in hand, the following note, without signature, precedes this story:

“This is a very singular anecdote which has provoked and will provoke the most diverse opinions. We love the marvelous even when we do not believe in it. Mademoiselle Clairon seems convinced of the facts that she describes. We shall satisfy ourselves with the observation that at the time she was or thought she was tormented by her phantom she was twenty two and a half to twenty five years old, which is the age of inspiration whose faculty she constantly exercised and exalted through her life style, in and out of the theatre. It is also necessary to remember that in the beginning of her memoirs she said that in her infancy she was entertained by adventures of apparitions and witches that, as she was told, were all real stories.”

We only know the facts from the descriptions of Mademoiselle Clairon. Thus we can only judge by induction. Well, this is our thought: Described by Mademoiselle Clairon herself the fact has more authenticity than if it were reported by others. Besides, when she wrote the letter where these facts are described she was sixty years old hence she was beyond the age of credulity mentioned by the author of the note. That author does not question the good faith of Mademoiselle Clairon with respect to her adventure: only admits that she might have been victim of an illusion. Had it had happened once there is nothing of extraordinary in it but as it happened for two and a half years then it seems more difficult to us. Even more difficult is to suppose that such an illusion might have been shared by so many people, audible and visual witnesses of the facts, including the police itself.

Knowing what can happen in spiritist manifestations, as we do, the adventure has nothing of surprising and we accept it as likely. With that hypothesis we do not hesitate to admit that the author of all those malevolent acts is nobody else but Mr. S..., particularly if we notice the coincidence of her words with the duration of the phenomena. He had said: “I will hound her as much in death as in life!” Well, his relationship with Mademoiselle Clairon had lasted two and a half years, which was the same time period of the produced manifestations.

Continuing with the nature of this spirit, he is not bad and it is with reason that Mademoiselle Clairon classifies him as a poor devil but one cannot classify him as the personified benevolence. The violent passion that he experienced as a man proves that the earthly ideas prevail on him. The profound traces of that passion, which survived the destruction of his body, prove that as spirit he was still under the influence of matter. His vengeance, as harmless at it appeared, denotes non- elevated feelings. If we then refer to our table of classification of the spirits, it will not be difficult to determine his class: the absence of real meanness separate him from the last class of the impure spirits but he evidently had much of the other classes of the same order as nothing in him could justify a superior position.

Noticeable is also the succession of modes through which he manifested his presence. On the very day and exact moment of his death he made himself heard for the first time, in the middle of a pleasent dinner. When alive, he used to see Mademoiselle Clairon with an imaginary aura involving the object of his keen passion. However, since the separation of his soul from the material covering, the illusion gave rise to reality. There he is, by her side, seeing her surrounded by friends, everything firing up his jealousy. Her singing and happiness sound like an insult to his desperation which is translated as a scream of hatred repeated every day at the same time, as if to blame her for having refused to bring him some consolation in his last moments. The screams are succeeded by the gunshots, certainly harmless, but not less capable of showing his powerless hate and desire to disturb her rest. Later his desperation takes a more tranquil format evolving, no doubt, to healthier ideas, seemingly having taken sides: what remains are his memories of the applause directed to her thus he repeats it. Even later he seems to say farewell when those harmonious sounds were like an echo of the melodious voice that had him so much enchanted.

The motion imposed by the will on inert bodies is so much known today that it would be almost puerile to report facts of such a kind. The same does not apply when the movement is followed by less obvious phenomena, for example, like its levitation into air. Although the Annals of Spiritism cite numerous examples, this phenomenon presents such an exception to the gravitational laws that the doubt on those who witness them is extremely natural. We confess ourselves that no matter how much familiar we are with the things of extraordinary nature, we are happy for being able to verify its reality.

The fact we are going to report repeated many times before our eyes in meetings held in the residence of Mr. B..., at Rue Lamartine and we know that they have also occurred many times in other places. Hence, we can attest it as a fact. Here is an example of such a case:

Eight or ten people, among them some bestowed by a special power, although they were not recognized as mediums, sat around a heavy and massive dinner table, with their hands at the edge, all united by intention and will. After a period of time, between ten or fifteen minutes, depending on the more or less favorable conditions of the ambient, the table would be moving, despite its one hundred kilograms of weight; it slid to the right or to the left on the floor; it would be directed to any designated part of the room; then it would stand sometimes on one foot, sometimes on the other, until it formed a 45° angle and rapidly swung imitating the pitch and roll of a ship. If in that position the audience doubled their will power, the table would completely rise from the floor, staying at about ten to twenty centimeters high, sustained in the air without any support for a few seconds, and then completely falling on its full weight.

The motion of the table, the lifting on one foot and the swing, occurred almost at will. It happened often and several times in the session and frequently without any hand contact; will power alone was enough for the table to move sideways, as indicated. The complete isolation was more difficult to obtain, but it was repeated often enough that it could not be considered as an exceptional event. Now this would not only happen in the presence of experts who could be too accessible to the illusion, but in front of twenty or thirty people, among them at times some very unsympathetic who would not fail to raise the hypothesis of secret preparation, without any consideration for the home owners, whose honest character should rule out any suspicion of fraud and to whom it would be a strange pleasure to spend some hours a week mystifying an assembly of people without any benefit.

We reported the fact in all its simplicity, without limitation or exaggeration. We do not say we saw the table flying through the air like a feather, but as it is, the fact is not a lesser demonstration of the possibility of isolation of heavy bodies without support, by means of a hitherto unknown power. We will not say either that it was sufficient to extend the hand or make any sign so that the table would move or rise as if magically.

We say, instead, to be faithful to the truth, that the first movements were always somewhat slow, and only gradually acquired its maximum intensity. The complete lifting would only take place after several preparatory attempts that worked as tests in a kind of throwing exercise. The effective power seemed to redouble their efforts by the encouragement of the spectators, as a man or a horse that carries a heavy burden, and who is excited by voices and gestures. Once the effect was produced everything would return to calm normality and for a few moments nothing else was obtained, as if that same power had to take a breather.

We shall often have the opportunity to cite such phenomena, either spontaneous or induced, and produced in quantities and under circumstances far more extraordinary. But having witnessed them, we shall always report in such a way to avoid any false or exaggerated interpretation. If to the description above we had been satisfied to say that we saw a table of 100 kilograms come off the ground by the touch of some hands, no doubt that many people would have figured out that the table went up to the ceiling with the speed of the blink of an eye. That is how by the proportions given by imagination the simplest things become prodigies. What shall it be when the facts have gone through the centuries and passed through the mouth of the poets! Had we said that superstition is the daughter of reality, the concept would be taken as a paradox. However, nothing is truer: there is no superstition that is not based on a somewhat real fact. The essential is to discern where one ends and the other begins. The best way to fight superstition is not by challenging it in absolute terms. In the minds of some people there are ideas that do not uproot easily, because there are always facts that can be mentioned to support their ideas. On the contrary it is necessary to reveal what is real. Then there still remains the ridiculous exaggeration to which common sense will do justice.

To get to the forest of Dodona we took Rue Lamartine and stopped for a moment at Mr. B... house where we saw a docile piece of furniture challenging us with a new problem of static. Assistants in numbers sat around the table in question, in any order, hence there was neither number nor cabalistic places; the hands resting on the edge of the table; mentally or in loud voice they appeal to the spirits who are used to attend to their invitation. Our opinion about this kind of spirits is well known which is why we treat them somewhat unceremoniously. Four or five minutes are hardly passed and a clear sound of knock-knock is heard at the table, often strong enough to be heard from the adjacent room, and repeats as long and as often as desired. The vibration is felt in the fingers, and when applying the ear against the table – which should not be forgotten – one unmistakably recognizes that the noise is originated from the very substance of the wood as the whole table vibrates, from the feet to the top.

What is causing this noise? Is it the wood that raps or is it, as they say, a spirit? Let us dismiss, to begin with, any idea of hoax as we are in the house of serious people, in good company, incapable of having fun at the expenses of those who, with good will, they admit to their homes. Indeed this house is not privileged. The same events occur in many others equally honorable. Allow us however a small digression before giving the answer.

A young bachelor’s degree student was in his room, busy studying for his examination when he hears a knock on his door. I do believe that everyone admits that it is possible to distinguish the nature of the noise, and especially with respect to its repetition, if it is caused by a crack in the wood, agitation of the wind or any other accidental cause, or if it is someone who is actually knocking, requesting entry. In the latter case the noise has an intentional character that cannot be misunderstood. That is what our student thinks. However, in order not to be unnecessarily disturbed, he wanted to make sure, by testing the visitor. If it's someone, he says, hit one, two, three, four, five, six times, hit the top, bottom, right, left, hit like the musical accord, play the military call, etc.., and to every one of these requests the noise obeys with the utmost accuracy. Surely, he thought, this may not be a burst in the wood, nor the wind, nor even a cat, however intelligent it may be. Here's a fact. Let us see where the syllogistic arguments take us to, as a consequence.

He then used the following train of thought: I hear noise thus there is something that produces it. That noise obeys my commands, so the cause that produces it understands me. Well, something that understands has intelligence thus the cause of the noise is intelligent. If the cause is intelligent then it is neither the wood nor the wind; if it is neither the wood nor the wind, so it's someone. He then opens the door. We see that it is not necessary to be a doctor to draw such a conclusion; and we trust that our future bachelor is sufficiently versed in his principles to achieve the following conclusions: Suppose that by opening the door he finds nobody, and that the noise continues exactly as before. He will continue his sorites: "I have just unarguably demonstrated to myself that the noise is produced by an intelligent being, since it responds to my thoughts. I always hear this sound before me, and it is certain that it is not I who knocks, thus it is someone else. Well, if I do not see it then it is invisible. Corporeal beings belonging to humanity are perfectly visible. Whoever knocks, being invisible, are not a corporeal human being. Indeed since we call spirits the incorporeal beings, the one who knocks, not being corporeal, is then a spirit."

We judge the conclusions of our student rigorously logical. What we had as an assumption is a fact, regarding the experiences that were taking place in Mr. B... house. We'll add that there was no need for the imposition of hands, all the phenomena occurring equally well while the table was free from any contact. Thus, according to the wish, the raps occurred in the table, on the wall, at the door, and any other verbally or mentally designated place. They indicated the time, the number of people present; the military rhythms, the harmony of a familiar tune, they imitated the sounds of a barrow worker, the grinding of the saw, echo, police patrol sirens or platoons and many other effects which would take us too long to describe. We were told that in some circles they heard the whistling wind, the rustling of leaves, the burst of thunder, the splashing of the waves, which is not surprising at all. The intelligence of the cause became obvious when, through those same raps, we got categorical answers to certain questions. In reality it is this intelligent cause that we called, or rather, which it has called itself spirit. When this spirit wanted to give a more developed communication, he indicated by any particular sign that he wanted to write; then the writing medium would take the pencil and transmit his thoughts in writing.

Among those present, not including those who were around the table, but everyone who filled the room, there were some authentic skeptical, half-believers and fervent followers, which form, as we all know, a truly unfavorable mix. We let the first group to be our guest, hoping that they would see the light. We respect all beliefs, even incredulity which is some sort of belief, when that is respectful enough not to shock any contrary opinion. Thus we do not consider their observations useless.

heir reasoning, much less prolonged than our student above, may be summarized as this: I do not believe in spirits hence it cannot be spirits and since it is not spirits than it is a trick. Such a supposition leads them to believe that the table would have some type of engine, much like Robert Houdin. Our answer to that is very simple: first, it would be necessary that all tables and all pieces of furniture had such mechanism, as none can be privileged; second, there isn’t any known mechanism sufficiently ingenious to produce all the effects we have just described, at will; third it would be necessary that Mrs. B... had prepared walls and doors of her apartment, on purpose, which is very unlikely; fourth, at last, it would have been still necessary to prepare the tables, doors and walls of all houses where similar events take place daily, which cannot be presumed either since the skillful constructor of such wonders would be known. The half-believers accept all phenomena, but they are undecided with respect to their causes. We refer to the arguments of our future Bachelor above. The believers have three well-defined nuances: those who see it nothing more than a fun game and a pastime in the experiments and those whose admiration can be translated by the expressions: It's amazing! This is strange! This is funny! But do not go beyond that. Then come the serious ones, the educated, the observers, the ones whom no detail escapes. Then comes, finally, the ultra-believers, if we may say so, or rather, the blind believers, those that can be criticized by an excess of credulity; since their faith is not enlightened enough, show such a confidence in the spirits that they admit their thorough knowledge and, above all, their prescience. Thus it is in good faith that they ask questions about every single subject, not thinking that they might have gotten the same answers had they have paid the first fortuneteller. For these, the “talking table” is not an object of study and observation; it is an oracle. Against this there is only the trivial form and its vulgar uses. If the wood that makes the table, instead of being cut for the domestic activities, were standing, we would have a “talking tree”; if it were carved as a statue, we would have an idol before which the credulous would prostrate.

Now we transpose the seas and twenty-five centuries and transport ourselves to the foothill of Mount Taurus in Epirus. There we will find the sacred forest whose oak trees provided oracles; add the prestige of worship and the splendor of religious ceremonies, and we easily have the explanation about the veneration of an ignorant and credulous people, unable to see reality through so many means of fascination.

Wood is not the only substance that can serve as a vehicle for the manifestation of the rapping spirits. We have seen them happen in a wall, thus in stone. We thus have the talking stones. If these stones represent a sacred figure, we have the statue of Memnon or that of Jupiter Ammon as oracles similar to the trees of Dodona.

It is true that history, indeed, does not tell us that these oracles were rendered by raps, as we see today. In the forest of Dodona, it was the wind whistling through the trees, the rustling leaves, or the murmur of the fountain that sprung at the foot of the sacred oak of Jupiter. The statue of Memnon issued, they say, melodic sounds, at the first rays of sunlight. But history also tells us, as we shall have the occasion to demonstrate, that the ancients knew perfectly well the phenomena attributed to the rapping spirits. Make no mistake that the very principle of their belief rests in the existence of animated beings on trees, rocks, water, etc... But since this kind of event was exploited, the raps were no longer enough; the visitors were too numerous to offer each person a particular session; by the way, it would have been very simple: it was necessary the prestige, and since they enriched the temple with their offerings, the costs would have been covered. The essential was to look to the object as sacred, inhabited by a divinity. Under those conditions it was possible to produce whatever they wanted and without the need for so many precautions.The priests of Memnon, they say, used trickeries: the statue was hollow, and the sounds she made were produced by acoustic processes. This is possible and even probable. The rapping spirits themselves, who generally are less scrupulous than others, are not always, as we have already said, at the service of the first to show up. They have their will, their occupations, their susceptibilities, and neither one nor the other likes to be exploited by greed. What a discredit to the high priests if their idol did not speak conveniently! It was necessary to make up for his silence and, if needed, to give a hand. It was in fact more comfortable to avoid much trouble by providing the answers according to the circumstances. What we see today proves that, despite all that, the old beliefs had the knowledge of the spiritist manifestations by principle, being this the reason we say that modern spiritualism is the revival of antiquity, but antiquity illuminated by the lights of civilization and reality.

Listen to me you. One day two children of the same father received a bushel8 of wheat each. The older brother locked his wheat in a remote place. The younger found a poor man in his way, begging for money; he swiftly gave him half of the wheat he received, pouring it on the man’s mantle. Then he moved on, sowing the remaining seeds about his father’s field.

Over that time there was a terrible hunger and the birds from the sky were found dead on the pathways. The older brother rushed to his hiding place only to find dust. The younger one was sadly contemplating his dry wheat when he noticed the poor man who he had once helped. Brother, said the beggar, I was dying and you helped me; now that hope has dried in your heart, follow me. Your half-bushel has yielded five times more in my hands. I will give you food and you will live in abundance.

Listen to me, you stingy! Do you know happiness? Yes, don’t you? Your eyes shine with dark reflections in the orbits deeply carved by greed; your lips clasp, your nostrils dilate and your ears are attentive. Yes, I hear: it is the jingle of gold that your hand caresses, by pouring in your box. You say: what a supreme ecstasy! Silence, someone is coming! Quickly shut it up! Oh! How pale you are! Your whole body shakes. Control yourself! The footsteps move away. Open it! Look once more, it is your gold. Open it! Do not be afraid. You are quite alone. Do you hear? It's nothing. It's the wind moaning through the cracks. Look! How much gold! Plunge your hands, sound the metal. You are happy.

Happy you! But you cannot rest at night and ghosts invade your sleep.

You are cold! Get closer to the fireplace. The fire that crackles so happily warms you up. Snow falls. The cold traveler involves himself in his coat; the poor is shivering under the rags. The flame of the fire diminishes; throw on more wood. No, stop! It's your gold blazing with that wood; it is your gold that you burn!

You are hungry! Look, take it, satisfy yourself. All this is yours. You paid with your gold. With your gold! This abundance disgusts you; will this superfluous be needed to maintain life? No, this piece of bread will be enough; too much, still. Your clothes fall in tatters; your house cracks and threatens to ruin; you will suffer cold and hunger, but who cares! You have gold!

Miserable! Death will separate you from this gold. You will leave it by the edge of your grave, as the dust shaken by the traveler at the door, where the loving family awaits to celebrate the expected return.

Your weakened blood, aged by your voluntary misery, has frozen in your veins. Eager heirs throw your body into a corner of the cemetery; behold you are now face to face with eternity. Miserable! What have you done to the gold that has been entrusted to you to relieve the poor? You hear these blasphemies? You see these tears? You see this blood? These are the blasphemies of the sufferings that you could have alleviated; these are the tears you caused, the blood you shed. You horrify yourself; you wish you could escape but you cannot. You suffer, desperately! Your suffering contorts you. Suffer! There will be no mercy for you! You had no compassion on your unhappy brother. Who would have for you? Suffer! Suffer always! Your punishment will never end. To punish you, God wants you to believe so.

OBSERVATION: Listening to the end of these eloquent and poetic words, we were surprised to hear St. Louis talking about the eternity of suffering, when all the superior spirits are in agreement to combat this belief, when the last words: “to punish you, God so wants you to believe so” explains it all. We reproduced them in the general characteristics of the spirits of the third order. Indeed, the more imperfect the spirits the more restricted and circumscribed their ideas. For them the future is vague, and they do not understand it. They suffer, their suffering is long, and for those who suffer for a long time, it is like suffering forever. This thought, alone, is a punishment.

In a next article we will cite facts of manifestations that might enlighten us regarding the nature of suffering beyond the grave.

NOTE: Ms. Clary D... was an interesting girl, who died in 1850 at age 13, who has since then become the genie of the family, where she is frequently evoked and where she gives a large number of communications of the highest interest. The conversation we reproduce below occurred between us on January 12th, 1857 through her brother, who is a medium.

The phenomena produced by Mr. Home caused so much sensation as it is certain that they confirm the wonderful reports from overseas, whose truthfulness comes attached to some distrust. He showed us that, letting aside the widest margin due to exaggeration, there was still enough to attest to the reality of the events which took place outside of all known laws.

Much was said and in multiple ways about Mr. Home, and we confess that he was far from captivating the sympathy of everybody, in some due to the spirit of system, in others to ignorance. For the last ones we want even to admit a conscientious opinion, if they could not verify the facts by themselves: but if in such a case there is space for doubt, a systematic and passionate hostility is always out of place. In every causal relationship, judgment without knowledge is lack of logic and slander without proof is the same as to forget good manners.

For a moment let us forget for a moment the intervention of spirits and do not see in the reported facts anything beyond physical phenomena. The stranger they seem the more attention they deserve. They may explain the phenomena as they will, but not with a preconceived idea, if they do not want such a judgment to be put in doubt. What seems astonishing, and even more abnormal than the phenomena in question, is to see those same people who incessantly rant against the opposition of certain scientific groups to the new ideas; that continually throw on their faces - and this with a less restrained language - the troubles experienced by the authors of the most important discoveries; who mention Fulton, Galileo and Jenner all the time, slipping themselves into similar error, which they say, and rightly so, that not long ago anyone who had talked about communication from one extreme to the other of our planet, in a few seconds, would have been considered foolish. If they do believe in progress to which they claim to be apostles, they should then be consistent with themselves, not enticing the reproach they throw onto others, by denying what they do not understand.

But let us go back to Mr. Home. Coming to Paris in October 1855, he was thrown, on his arrival, into the world of high society, a circumstance that should have imposed more discretion in the judgment made of him, as the higher and more educated that world is, the lesser suspicious it is of graciously falling in the hands of an adventurer, as a toy.

That same position has prompted comments. Who is Mr. Home, they ask! To live in this society and make expensive trips, they say, one needs fortune. If that is not the case then powerful people must support him. A thousand hypotheses were raised with that regard, each more ridiculous than the other. What was not said about his sister who he brought with him about a year ago! It was said that she was a medium even more powerful than him, that the two should perform wonders that would blanch those of Moses. Questions were addressed to us, more than once, with that respect. Here is our answer.

Coming to France, Mr. Home was not directed to the public. He does not like or seek publicity. Had he come with the purpose of speculation, he would have traveled the country making propaganda; he would have sought every opportunity for manifestation; however, he avoids them; he would have established a price for the events, but he asks nothing of anybody. Despite his reputation Mr. Home is not what one might call a public man. His private life belongs only to him. Since he asks for nothing, no one has the right to question how he makes his living, without committing an indiscretion. Is he maintained by powerful people? This is not of our concern. All we can say is that in this elitist society he has conquered sympathy and made devoted friends, whereas with a playful conjuror, we pay, have fun and that is all that is.

In Mr. Home, we see only a man with an outstanding faculty. The study of that ability is all that we are interested in and all that should interest those who are not only driven by curiosity. History has not yet opened the book of his secrets. Until then he belongs to science.

As for his sister, here is the truth. She is an eleven-year-old girl, brought to Paris for her education, assigned to an illustrious figure. She hardly knows about her brother’s faculty. Hence that is all too simplistic and prosaic to the lovers of wonders.

Now, why would Mr. Home have come to France? It was not to seek fortune, as we just demonstrated. Would that be to get to know the country? But he does not travel; he rarely goes out and has absolutely no touristic habits. The actual reason being his doctors’ advice, who considers the climate in Europe necessary for his health, but the natural facts are sometimes providential. We therefore think that if he has come it is because he should have done so.

France, still in doubt about the spiritual manifestations, needed a big blow; it was Mr. Home who had that mission; the bigger the blow, the greater its impact. The position, credit, the lights of those who welcomed him and were convinced by the evidence of the facts, shook the convictions of many people, even among those who were not eyewitnesses.

The presence of Mr. Home was thus a powerful aid in the propagation of the spiritist ideas. If it did not convince everyone, it threw the seeds that will be more fruitful as the number of mediums multiplies. That faculty, as we have said elsewhere, is not an exclusive privilege; it exists in a latent state and in various degrees in a lot of people, just waiting for the opportunity to develop. The principle lies within us, effect of our own organization. It is part of nature thus it is present in a germinal state in all of us. It is not far the day when we shall see mediums emerging from all sides, in our environment, our families, among the poor as well as the rich, so that truth may be known by all, because, as it has been announced, it is a new era, a new phase that begins for humanity. The evidence and the popularization of the spiritist phenomena will provide a new path to the moral ideas as steam has done to the industries.

If the private life of Mr. Home should be closed to the investigations of an indiscreet curiosity, there are certain details which, rightfully so, may be of interest to the public and the assessment of the facts, so that its knowledge may be even useful.

Mr. Daniel Dunglas Home was born on March 15th, 1833, near Edinburgh. He is now therefore 24 years old. He descends from the ancient and noble Scottish family of Dunglas, formerly sovereign. He is a blond young man of medium height, whose melancholic looks has nothing of eccentric; he has a very delicate body structure, showing kind and simple habits, amiable and benevolent character, from which his contact with wealth did not produce arrogance or ostentation. Gifted with excessive modesty, never shows off his wonderful faculty, never speaks of himself and, even if in an intimate expansion he tells personal stories, he does that with simplicity and never with the emphasis typical of the creatures with whom the malevolence seeks to compare him. Many intimate facts of our personal knowledge prove his noble feelings as well as the elevation of his soul. We attest with such more pleasure the more it is known about the influence of the moral dispositions over the nature of the manifestations.

Zealous friends with an exaggerated enthusiasm, conveniently used by malevolence, have sometimes told of the phenomena to which Mr. Home is an involuntary instrument. Being as they are, these do not require further amplification, which bring more harm than help to the cause. As our purpose is the serious study of everything related to the Spiritist Science, we will strictly attain to the reality of the facts attested by ourselves or by trustworthy eyewitnesses. We can therefore comment on them, knowing that we are not speculating about fantastic things.

Mr. Home is a kind of medium that produces ostensive manifestations, not excluding the intelligent communications, but his natural predispositions give him a special aptitude to the first ones. Under his influence the strangest sounds can be heard, the air agitates; solid bodies move, stand up, displace from one side to another in the air; musical instruments produce melodious sounds; beings from the extracorporeal world materialize, speak, write and sometimes embrace us, to the point of pain. Several times, in the presence of witnesses, he found himself lifted in the air, without support, several meters high.

From what we have been taught about the class of spirits who usually produce such manifestations, one should not conclude that Mr. Home has only been in contact with the lowest class of the spiritual world. His character and distinguished moral qualities, on the contrary, should attract the sympathies of superior spirits. For the inferior spirits, he is merely an instrument to energetically open the eyes of the blind, without subtracting him from communications of a higher order. It is a mission that he has accepted, mission not exempt of trials nor dangers, but which he performs with resignation and patience, under the aegis of the spirit of his mother, his genuine guardian angel.

The causes of Mr. Home’s manifestations are innate to him, his soul seems to hold to the body only by weak bonds; he has more affinity with the spiritual world than with the corporeal world. This is why he unties them so effortlessly, and more easily than others enters into communication with the invisible beings.

His faculty was revealed at an early age. He was six month old when his cradle rocked alone, in the absence of the nanny, and changed its place. In his early years he was still so fragile that he could barely stand; sitting on the carpet, his toys would come to him when he could not reach them. At the age of three he had his first visions whose memory he has not retained. He was nine years old when the family moved to the United States; there the phenomena proceeded with increasing intensity as the years passed, but his reputation as a medium was only established in 1855, at a time when the spiritist manifestations began to popularize in that country. In 1854 he came to Italy, as we said, for health reasons. He amazed Florence and Rome with his prodigies.

Converted to Catholicism in the latter city, he pledged to break relations with the world of spirits. Indeed, for a whole year he seemed to have been abandoned by his occult power, but as such power is beyond his will, at the end of that time, as announced by the spirit of his mother, the manifestations resurfaced with renewed strength. His mission was assigned; he should stand out among those who the Providence had chosen to reveal, though patent signs, the power that overshadows all human greatness. If Mr. Home were, as intended by those who judge without seeing, only a skilled conjurer, he would always have, no doubt, hidden tricks in his bag. However, he cannot produce them at will. It would be impossible to promote regular sessions since many times, just when he had necessity of his faculty that could fail him. Sometimes the phenomena manifest spontaneously, when they are least expected, while on other occasions they cannot be provoked, which is an unfavorable circumstance for those wanting to make scheduled exhibitions.

We have proof of the following fact, taken from hundreds of others. It was over fifteen days that Mr. Home was not having any manifestation when, having lunch at a friend's house with two or three acquaintances, they suddenly heard knocks on the walls, furniture and ceiling. It seems that they are back, he said. At this time Mr. Home was sitting on a sofa with a friend. A servant brought a tray of tea, getting ready to place it on the table in the middle of the room. Although heavy, the table suddenly rose from the floor, lifting to about 20 to 30 cm in the air, as if attracted by the tray. Terrified, the servant dropped the tray down. In one leap, the table moved towards the sofa, coming to a rest in front of Mr. Home and his friend, not disarranging anything that was on its top. Unquestionably, this fact is not the most curious of so many we have heard, but it has this peculiarity which is worth mentioning: it was spontaneously produced, without provocation, in an inner circle, where none of the assistants, having witnessed identical facts one hundred times, needed new evidences. It was certainly not the case for Mr. Home to show his skills, if skills do exist.

In a next article we will describe other events.

Mr. Paul Auguez is a sincere and informed follower of the Spiritist Doctrine. In his work, which we read with great interest, it is possible to recognize the elegant style of the author of “Elus de l'avenir”. It is a wise and logical demonstration of the doctrine’s fundamentals, which are the existence of spirits, their relationships with men, the immortality of the soul and its individuality after death. The article’s main purpose is to respond to the sarcastic aggressions from Mr. Viennet. He only covers the main points, with limited fatual evidence, using reasoning and respectable authorities, that this belief is not founded on systematic ideas or vulgar prejudices. On the contrary, it rests on solid foundations.

Mr. Viennet’s weapon is ridicule; Mr. Auguez’ is science. By numerous citations that demonstrate a serious study and profound knowledge, he proves that if today’s supporters, despite their ever- increasing number, and the enlightened people from all countries who join them, are physically unbalanced individuals, as claimed by the distinguished scholar, such disease is shared by them with most of the geniuses who honor humanity. In his rebuttals, Mr. Auguez always kept the dignity of language, whose merit will never be praised enough. In his rebuttal, those rude diatribes cannot be found anywhere, those arguments which became a common place of bad taste, proving nothing but a lack of urbanity. Everything that he says is grave, serious, and deep, even up to the wise man he addresses. Has he managed to convince him? We do not know; we frankly doubt it. But as his book is definitely written to all, the seeds it spreads will not be lost. More than once we shall have the occasion to quote passages from his book, in the course of this publication, whenever we are dragged by the nature of the subject. The theory developed by Mr. Auguez, except perhaps in some secondary points, is the same as we profess. Thus, we will not criticize his remarkable work, which will be read with benefit. We would wish for one thing only: a little bit more clarity in the demonstrations and method for sorting the matters. Mr. Auguez dealt with the subject scientifically; because he was addressing a wise man that can certainly understand more abstract things, but he should have known that he wrote less to a man than to an audience that always reads with more pleasure and more benefit what they can understand without much effort. ALLAN KARDEC

Many of our readers wanted to respond to the appeal we made in our first monthly issue regarding the information to be sent to us. A large collection of facts has been acknowledged, among which some of great importance, for which we are eternally grateful. We are no less grateful to the reflections that sometimes follow them, even when they reveal an incomplete understanding of the subject. These will allow clarifications about points that may not have been well understood. If we do not immediately acknowledge receiving the documents sent to us it does not mean that have gone unnoticed. We always take good care of them so that sooner or later they will be used.

Lack of space is not the only cause that may delay publication, but also the opportunity of the circumstances and the need to connect them to the articles so that they may serve as useful complements.

The multiplicity of our tasks, added to an extensive correspondence, leave us sometimes physically incapable of responding, as we would wish to do so and as it is our duty to do, to all of those who honor us with their letters. We thus beg you to please do not misinterpret our silence, independently of our wishes. We do hope that your motivation does not weaken and your correspondence continues. As such, we once again call your attention to the footnote at the end of the introduction of our first monthly issue, regarding the information we kindly ask you to provide, requesting that you do not forget to let us know when we can mention people and places without causing any issues.

The observations above are also equally applicable to the questions that are addressed to us, about the several points of the doctrine. When they need more extensive development it is even less possible to answer in writing since, many times, the same thing must be responded to many people. As our Review is destined to serve as a medium of correspondence, those responses will have a natural place here, whenever the discussed matters give us that opportunity. This will be a benefit and advantage to all as we will be able to provide a more complete answer.