The Spiritist Review - JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES - 1861

Those who do not accept the incorporeal and invisible world believe to be able to explain everything by the word hallucination. The definition of the word is well known: error, illusion of a person that wrongly believes to have perceptions that are not there (Academic – from the Latin, hallucinari is the verb err, derivative of lucem). The scholars, as far as we know, have not given their definition yet. Optics and Physiology don’t seem to keep any secret from them. How is it that they have not yet explained the source of images that people see under certain conditions? Real or not, the hallucinated person sees something. Will they say that the hallucinated believes to be seeing something but in fact the person sees nothing? That is unlikely. You can say, if you wish, that it is a fantastic image. Be it as it may, but what is the source of that image? How does it form? How does it impress the brain? Nothing is said about that.

For sure when the person believes to be seeing the devil with its horns and claws, and the flames of hell and fantastic animals that do not exist, a struggle between the Moon and the Sun, it is obvious that there is no reality there. However, if the imagination is playing games how can that person describe those things as if they were present? That person sees an image, some sort of fantasy. Where would that image reflect, on which mirror? What is the cause of that image, its color and movement? That is what we have been unsuccessfully trying to find out in our sciences. Since scholars want to explain everything through matter and its laws, they must then provide a theory of hallucination using those laws. Good or bad it will always be an explanation.

The Oxford Chronicle dated June 1st, 1861 states the following:

“In 1828 a ship was traveling from Liverpool to New Brunswick with Mr. Robert Bruce as second in command. As they were approaching the banks of Newfoundland the Captain and his second in command were calculating a full day’s route, the first one in his cabin and the second in an adjacent chamber. The two rooms were designed so that they could see and talk to one another. Bruce was very absorbed in his work that he did not notice that the Captain had left his cabin and gone up to the bridge. Without looking he said: “I found a similar longitude, what did you get?” Since there was no answer he repeated the question and again with no answer. He walked to the Captain’s cabin and saw a man sitting in his chair, writing on his slate board. The individual then turned and stared at Bruce, who ran to the bridge horrified.

• Captain, he said as soon as he saw him, who is that person in your cabin?

• Nobody, I believe.

• I guarantee you that there is a stranger there.

• A stranger! You are daydreaming Bruce. Who would dare to be in my cabin, at my desk without my orders? You may have seen the boatswain or the steward.

• Sir, there is a man at your desk, writing on your slate board. He stared at me and I saw him more clearly than anyone I have ever seen before.

• He! Who?

• God knows, Sir! I saw a stranger that I had never seen before.

• I know, but I saw.

• Well then, go and see who that person is.

• Look now, you had a dream.

One of our subscribers sent us the following conversation, between him and one of his friends whose loss had been very difficult for him, received through an unknown medium, since he is not a medium himself. Besides the remarkable elevation of thought, we will see evidence that the bonds formed on earth, when they are sincere, are not broken by death.

First dialogue, December 28th, 1860

1. (Evocation) Appeal to the spirit of Jules P…, who was so dear to me, to kindly communicate with me. – A. Dear friend, I respond to your appeal; my willingness is as great as my surprise for I did not expect to be able to communicate with you but in a distant time, according to God’s will. How glad I am for seeing this time shortened by your will and for being able to tell you how much my earthly trial has served my progress! Although I still remain somewhat errant, I feel very happy and do not cherish any other thought but the appreciation for God’s works, allowing me to enjoy all the wonders that he sees useful to me, allowing me to expect a rebirth in a superior world, where I will then climb the fortunate ladder that will take me to supreme happiness. May you, dear friend, by listening to me, see in my words a presentiment of what awaits you! On the final day I will take your hand and show you the way that I have followed for some time now with so much joy. You will have a guide in me as you had a loyal friend in our earthly life.

Mexico, April 18th, 1861

“To Mr. Allan Kardec, in Paris,

Dear Sir:

My friend, Mr. Viseur, indicated in one of his previous letters that you would like to know the objective and tendencies of the Spiritist Society which I preside over in Mexico. I do that with the greatest satisfaction and the strongest sympathy for your profound knowledge about this subject, asking you to please take into account our little experience but also to count us among the most eager supporters. Although much later than you, Sir, we were fortunate to learn about this gentle truth that the spirits or souls of the dead can communicate with the living. Despite some publications that came from the North, our attention and curiosity was not yet awaken and we did not seek what was then called spiritual manifestations. It was only when you’re the Spirits’ Book fortunately arrived here that our eyes were opened, convincing us of the reality of the facts that take place all over the world, helping us to understand them. We then started our own research and experiments, that we then took on the task of preparing ourselves to receive manifestations, through a systematic work. The advice found in your excellent book led us to the great truth that the soul outlives death and that we can communicate with our loved ones after they leave our planet Earth. I would not tell you the truth if I said that we were the first ones around here to learn about the manifestations. Several people in our city were already involved with the subject, a fact that we learned later on. The principle of reincarnation was what mainly impressed us in the beginning, but our own communications with spirits of a superior order given their language, did not allow us to have any doubt about a belief that demonstrates that all these things belong to the natural order and according to the justice of our Almighty God. A proof that demonstrates the superiority of the spirits that guide us is the cure provided to the physical sufferings and the consolation and resignation given to those who suffer morally. Simple logic tells us that good can only come but from a good source. It would be a sign of arrogance, however, if we pretended to be the champions of knowledge about this sublime doctrine. It is up to you, Sir, to teach us as demonstrated by the work produced by your Society. Our Society is formed by experienced members in matters of spiritist belief, and we welcome all those who wish to learn. The fundamental laws that guide us are unity of principles, fraternity among the members and charity with all who suffer. That is how, Sir, the spiritist ideas spread in this region and we can even gladly say beyond our expectations. If you find it convenient to send us your good advice we will always receive it with the warmest regard and as a firm indication of your sympathy.

Yours sincerely, etc.

Ch. Gourgues”

A New Kind of Mediumship

Under this title The Herald of Progress, from New York, a journal dedicated to spiritualist matters and directed by Andrew Jackson Davies, published the article below:

“Last year on November 22nd Dr. Hallock was invited along with some others to the house of Mrs. French located at number 8, Fourth Avenue, to witness several spiritist manifestations and to observe the movements of a pencil. Around 8 pm Mrs. French left the living room where the group was gathering to sit on a couch in an adjacent bedroom. She remained there for the duration of the meeting. A few moments after she was seated she fell into some sort of ecstatic state, her eyes were static and delirious. She then asked Dr. Hallock and Prof. Britton to have the room examined. On the bed, across from the place where she was sitting, there was a briefcase tied up by a silk ribbon and also a bottle of wine to be used in the experiment. The paper that was supposed to be used for the drawings was inside the case. We were asked, said Dr. Hallock, not to touch the case or the bottle. Several pencils and two pieces of elastic gum were also on the bed but there was no drawing paper anywhere in the room.

North America claims, and rightly so, the honor of having been the first to reveal the manifestations from beyond the grave in our times; why must she also be the first to give examples of commerce and among these people, so advanced in so many ways and so worthy of our sympathy, why has the commercial instinct not stopped at the doorway of eternal life? Reading their newspapers we find ads like the ones below on every page:

“Mrs. S. E. Royers, somnambulist, medium-doctor, psychological cure through sorcery. Common treatment if required. Description of physiognomy, morality and the soul of people. From 10am to 12pm, Mon-Thu; from 7-10pm, except Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, unless previously arranged. Price: $1/hour.”

We believe that the sympathy of that medium by her patients seems to be in direct proportion to the amount of dollars paid. It seems unnecessary to provide the addresses.

“Mrs. E. C. Morris, writing medium; from 10am-12pm, and 7-9pm, Mon-Fri.”

“J.B. Conklin, medium. Welcomes guests to his salon every day and every evening. Attend at his home.”

The visions of Mr. O…

The following article was extracted from the Spiritual Review, London April 1861 issue:

“Mr. O… was a kind man from Gloucestershire who had never had any visions up until the day he moved to P…, on October 3rd, 1859. About fifteen days after his arrival he began to have the visions at night. It started just as rays of light that illuminated his bedroom, passing through the window. He did not bother with them, thinking that they were produced by the guard’s lantern or from lightning. One evening, he was staring at a wall when he saw the formation of a flower followed by several stars. On another evening, he saw two magnificent angels playing a trumpet in the mysterious light. On that night he had gone to bed earlier than usual since he was not feeling very well. As Mr. O lay in bed, he experienced a gentle sensation in the presence of the two angels, a feeling that persisted even after they had gone. The same light appeared the following week, but in the shape of a boy embracing a small cat. He also saw several other figures but they appeared too fuzzy to be distinguished. In March, he saw the profile of a lady surrounded by a radiant circle. He then recognized it was his mother and cried with joy: ‘Mom, my mother!’ but the vision soon vanished. In the same evening he saw a beautiful and welldressed lady wearing a hat. A couple of days later he saw a small dog and a boy. He then saw a light form that resembled a window and whose border was not well defined, and that repeated four times, the first 3 visions lasted about 30 seconds each. Mr. O… took this seriously and tried to decipher the meaning of the three visions pondering if it meant that he had only three years or three months to live. The light came back once more. He stood up and it then disappeared in about a minute or so. On April 3rd he saw a bright sign producing the effect of a luminous slit and inside the bedroom he saw the face of a man, from whom he could only distinguish the forehead, the eyes and the nose. The eyes were very big and salient, staring at him and then disappearing. He also had the following visions

December 12th – A bird feeding its chicks in its nest.

December 13th – Two leopard heads.

December 18th – A few faces and a couple of pigeons.

December 20th – Several faces of men, women and children.

January 3rd – A cherub and a child.

A serious grammatical error was found in The Spirits’ Book by a knowledgeable critic who sent us the following note:

“I read on page 384, § 911, line 23 in The Spirits’ Book: ‘There are many people who say: I want; but their wish only shows on their lips; they (masculine form in French-Ils) say they wish but they are very happy that it is otherwise.’ Had you written: ‘They (feminine form in French-Elles) want and are very happy that it is otherwise’, don’t you think that the French language would have benefited from that? I am led to believe that your writing spirit is a fraud, inducing language mistakes. Do promptly punish him and in particular correct him.”

We regret the fact that we cannot acknowledge the author of such observation. No doubt it is out of modesty and to avoid our recognition that he forgot to provide his name and address, just signing: A spirit, protector of the French language. Since it seems that this gentleman, or spirit, takes the time to read our work, we beg the good spirits to have him reading our response.

It is obvious that the gentleman knows that the noun person in French is feminine and that the adjective and pronouns agree in gender and number with the nouns to which they refer. Unfortunately one cannot learn everything in school, particularly referring to matters of the French language. If the gentleman who declares to be the protector of our language had transposed the limits of Lhomond’s Grammar he would know that we find the following in Regnard’s: ‘Although those three persons had very different interests they (masculine form in French) were tormented by the same passion, after all.’ He would also find this in Vaugelas: ‘Persons (feminine form in French) consumed by virtues have such a righteous spirit in all things and such a judicious attention that precludes them from being slanderous (masculine form in French).’ Therefore the rule found in the Grammaire Normale des Examens, by Mr. Lévi Alvarès and Mr. Rivail, Boniface edition, etc. ‘Sometimes one may employ the masculine pronoun ‘il’ (he in French) by syllepsis and thus replace it by the feminine noun personne (person). Such substitution may only occur when the thought involving the word ‘personne’ is not exclusively related to women, and also when the pronoun ‘il’ is so distant that it will not hurt the ears.’

‘... Sans peine, aux rimeurs hasardeux

L’usage encor, je-crois, laisse le choix des deux’

Regardless of the type of writing medium, mechanical, semi-mechanical or simply intuitive, in essence our methods of communication with them don’t vary much. In fact, our communication both with the incarnate and disincarnate spirits occurs through our thoughts. These thoughts don’t need to be coated by words to be understood by the spirits; they all perceive the thoughts that we want to communicate to them, as long as we address those thoughts to them, and because of their intellectual faculties; that is to say, that such thinking can be understood by this or that according to their development, while in others, these thoughts do not awaken by any memories or any knowledge in the depths of their hearts or brain, it is not perceptible for them. In this case, the incarnate spirit that serves as a medium to us is more adequate to transmit our thoughts to other incarnate spirits, although he might not understand them, than a not much advanced disincarnate spirit in case we needed his intervention, because the Earthly person serves us physically with his body as an instrument, something that a disincarnate and wandering spirit cannot do.


When we are able to find a medium that is well equipped with knowledge acquired in his present life and also with a wealth of knowledge acquired in previous existences in a latent state that facilitates our communications and we prefer that since our communication is much easier than using a medium whose intelligence is limited and of insufficient previous knowledge. We will clarify this through some precise and clear explanations.


Our spirit to spirit communication is instantaneous with a medium that has a current or previous intelligence well developed and the phenomenon happens by a skill that is in the very nature of the spirit. In that case we find the necessary conditions in the brain of the medium that allows us to cover our thoughts with words that are acknowledged by the medium, and that is in the case of intuitive, semi-mechanical and purely mechanical medium. That is why whatever the diversity of spirits that communicates through a given medium, the dictations thus obtained always have some personal contribution from that particular medium.


Yes, although the thought may be completely foreign to the medium; although the subject may be derived from the usual circumstances of the medium; and although what we want to say does not come from the medium absolutely; he still influences the communication by the skills and capabilities that are inherent to that person. It is the same as observing a scenery through different lenses and filters, say green, white and blue. Although the landscape or the observed objects are entirely independent from one another they still keep a common shade that comes from the lens filter.


Even better, the mediums may be compared to those glass bottles filled with colored and transparent liquids found in pharmacies. We, from our side, are like the rays of light that enlighten you about certain moral, philosophical and intimate points of view, through the blue, green or red mediums, so that our radiant rays of light are obliged to pass through the more or less transparent glasses, of better or inferior quality, that is, through more or less intelligent mediums, and those light beams cannot reach their objectives but by coloring with the shades or the specific forms and characteristics of those mediums.


Finally, and to end the comparison, we the spirits are like composers of our own music or a musician that wants to improvise an aria but has only a piano or a violin or flute or a bass or even a cheap whistle at hand. It is undisputable that the piece will be better understood by the audience with the piano, the flute or the violin. Although the sounds of the piano, the violin and the bass are essentially different, our composition will still be the same except for the nuances of the sound. However, if we only have a whistle at our disposal, with only two holes below for funneling the air; for us, there lies the difficulty.


In fact when we are obliged to use less advanced mediums, our work is more tedious, more painful, for we are forced to employ inadequate means and that is more complicated for us, because we are then forced to breakdown our thoughts and conduct, word for word, letter by letter, which is annoying and tiresome and real obstacle to the speed and development of our manifestations.


That is why we are so glad when we find suitable mediums, well equipped, endowed with the necessary materials to be promptly used, in a word, good instruments because then our perispirit acting upon the perispirit of that medium, only needs to give the first impulse to the serving hand that holds the pencil or the pen; while with the limited mediums we are obliged to do similar work as when we communicate by rapping, that is, pointing out, letter by letter, word by word, for each phrase that translates every thought that we wish to communicate.


These are the reasons that lead us preferably to the more educated and enlightened classes for the propagation of Spiritism and the development of mediumistic writing faculties, although it is exactly in that social class that we find the greatest numbers of doubters, rebellious and immoral individuals. But it is the same as we leave to you today, the less advanced spirits produce tangible communications; the raps and movements of objects, the same applies to those individuals among you who are less serious and prefer phenomenon that impresses their eyes or their ears to those that are purely spiritual and psychological.


When we wish to provide spontaneous dictations, we act with our minds upon the brain of the medium, assembling our material with the elements that we provide and all of it is unconsciously done to the medium. It happens as if we were to take all the money from your pocket and then arrange all the coins accordingly, to how we would feel the most useful.


When the medium wishes to question us directly it is advisable that he gives a lot of thought to that and proceeds in a methodical manner, thus facilitating our work in providing the answers. For as Erastus told you in the preceding instruction, your brain may often be in a state of inextricable disorder and that for us it is a hard and painful process to penetrate the labyrinth of your thoughts.


When the questions are to be asked by others, it is advisable and useful that they be read to the medium first, so that it can be identified with the evoked spirit, becoming permeated by it, so to speak; because that then makes it much easier for us to respond by the affinity which now exists between our perispirit and the medium that serves as our interpreter.


We can certainly talk about Math through a medium that knows nothing about it. However, the medium may often have that knowledge in a latent state, that is, characteristic of the invisible creature and not to the incarnated one, because his current body may be a rebellious instrument to that kind of knowledge. The same may be said of Astronomy, Poetry, Medicine and the multiple languages, as with everything else related to human knowledge. Finally there is the laborious work of putting together letters and words, like in typography, utilized with mediums that are completely unaware of the subject that is presented.


As we said before, the spirits don’t need to paint their thoughts. They detect and transmit their thoughts just by the simple fact that they have them. The corporeal beings, on the contrary, need the thoughts to be coated. While you need the letter, the word, the noun, the verb, and the full statement to understand something, even mentally, we do not need any visible or tangible form.


Erastus and Timothy, spiritual guides of the medium