The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1862

Captain Nivrac, deceased on February 11^th, 1862

Evoked by request of his friend, Cap. Blou, member of the Society medium Mr. Leymarie

Mr. Nivrac was a man of broad, serious education and a remarkable intelligence. Captain Blou had briefly spoken to him about Spiritism and offered him the whole collection of books about the subject. He used to look at all these things as utopias and those who follow them as dreamers.


On February 1^st he was walking with one of his comrades discussing this subject as usual when walking by a shop window they saw the book Spiritism in its simplest expression.


Good inspiration, said Mr. Blou. He bought it. He would certainly not have bought it if I were with them.


From that day Mr. Nivrac read The Spirits’ Book, The Mediums’ Book and some issues of The Spiritist Review. He was touched in his heart and spirit. Far from attacking it, he now came to ask me questions and among the officers he became an eager advocate of Spiritism to the point that for eight days Spiritism was the only subject of his conversations. He really wanted to take part in one session when death surprised him without any apparent cause from a disease. On Tuesday, February 11^th, he was having a shower and ended up dying in the arms of a doctor.


“Isn’t that the hand of God”, asks Captain Blou, “…allowing my friend to have his eyes opened to the light before his death?”

OBSERVATION: The spirit advances the question that was going to be asked which was: “Although we do not have the pleasure of having met you, we asked you to come in the name of your friend and our colleague, Captain Blou, thus we would be delighted if you could speak with us in case you are okay with that.”

2. Are you happy…? (the spirit does not allow us to finish the question that would terminate like this: for having met Spiritism before your death?) – A. I am happy because I believed before I died. I remember the discussions I had with you, my friend, because I rejected every new idea. In reality I was shaken. I used to tell my wife, my daughter that it was madness to listen to that kind of stupidity and that I considered you to be disturbed. That is how I used to think but fortunately I was able to believe and wait. My position is happier because God allows me a much anticipated advancement.

3. How come a little brochure of only a few pages had more authority upon you than the words of your good friend that you must have trusted? – A. I was shaken because the idea of a better life is at the bottom line of every religion. I believed instinctively but the ideas of the soldier had modified my thoughts. That is all. When I read the brochure it touched me. I thought that those concepts revealed such a clear and concise doctrine is goodness. Future seemed less somber to me. I believed because I should and the brochure touched my heart.

4. What was the cause of your death? – A. I died of a stroke. Several reasons were given: it was an effusion of the brain. It was my time and I had to leave.

5. Could you describe your sensations at the time of death and later after your awakening?
– A. The transition from life to death is painful but quick. We have a presentment of everything that may happen. Your whole life shows up before you like in a mirage. We feel like recovering the past in order to clear up the bad days. Such thoughts follow us in the spontaneous transition from life to death and death is nothing more than another life. The light stuns you. I was confused with ideas. I was not a perfect spirit. Nonetheless I was able to recover awareness and I thank God for having enlightened me before I died.


OBSERVATION: Such an image of the passage from life to death has a shocking analogy with the one given by Mr. Sanson. Notice, however, that this is a different medium.

7. Is it useless to ask you if… (the spirit here does not allow the conclusion of the question which would be: visit your wife and daughter but you cannot be seen or heard. Would you like us to transmit any message to them?) – A. No doubt, I am always near them. I encourage them to be patient and say: Courage, my friend! Dry your tears out and smile to God who will give you the strength. Think that my existence is an advancement, a purification and that I need the support of your prayers. With all my heart I wish a new incarnation and despite the fact that the physical separation is painful remember that I love you and that you are alone and need good health and much resignation to keep up. However, I will be by your side to encourage you, bless and love you.

8. We are sure that your comrades from the regiment would also be happy to receive some words from you. I add another question to this one that perhaps you may include it in your answer. Up until now Spiritism has almost not propagated with the army with the exception of a few officers. Do you think it could also be useful among the soldiers? What would be the result? – A. It is necessary that the mind becomes serious so that the body may follow suit. I understand that the officers were the first to accept these philosophical and sensible solutions given in The Spirits’ Book. Through that reading the officer understands better his duty; becomes more serious and less prone to mock people’s families; he gets used to an internal order and eating and drinking are no long the main drivers of his life. The sub-officers will learn from them and propagate Spiritism. They will do it if they wish to do so. I tell them this: March on! Always forward! This is a new battlefield of humanity but without casualties, without the machine gun and with harmony, love and duty at all times. The soldier shall become a liberal person, in the good sense. There will be courage and good-will that make the worker a good citizen, a person of God. Therefore, follow the new route! Be apostles according to God and address seek the tireless propagator of Spiritism, the author of the little book that enlightened me.

OBSERVATION: On a different occasion the following communication was given with respect to the influence of Spiritism upon a soldier:

“A soldier that becomes a Spiritist is easier to be commanded, more obedient, more disciplined for obedience will be a duty with the sanction of reason whereas in the majority of cases it is no more than the result of embarrassment. They will no longer be given to the excesses that very frequently lead to sedition and disrespect to authority. The same happens to all those who are subordinate, regardless of their classes: workers, employees, and others. They will carry out their duties with more consciousness when they become aware of the causes that led them to that position on Earth and the rewards that wait for the humble ones on the next life.


Unfortunately only a few believe in the next life and that is why they do everything to the present one. If disbelief is a social ulcer that is even more so in the lower classes of society where there is no counter balance of education and respect to other’s opinion. When those who are invited to the exercise of authority, regardless of their title, understand it through the Spiritist ideas, they will make every effort to drive their subordination through the right path.


Be patient though! This will come.

Maximilian V…, a twelve year old child commits suicide for love

It was published in the Siècle on January 13^th, 1862:


“Maximilian V…, a twelve year old young man, lived with his parents at Rue des Cordiers and was employed as a upholsterer apprentice. He had the habit of reading series of novels. Every break in his job was utilized for his readings that super excited his imagination and inspired in him ideas beyond his age. That is how he imagined to have fallen in love with a young lady that he had the occasion of seeing from time to time and who had never thought that she could have inspired such a feeling in the young man. Hopeless to see the dreams produced by his readings come true, he then decided to kill himself. Yesterday a servant of the house where he was doing his training found him lifeless in a little room on the third floor where he was working alone. He had hung himself with a rope that he had tied on a beam with a huge nail.”


The circumstances of that death at such an early age made us think that the evocation of that boy could provide us with matter for a useful study. The evocation was carried out at the Society on January 24^th last through the medium Mr. E. Vézy.

There is a difficult moral problem in this case that is impossible to be solved by the arguments of common philosophy and even less so by a materialistic philosophy. They may say that everything can be explained by assuming that it was a premature child. But this explains nothing. It is absolutely the same as saying that the day breaks because the sun is up. Where does this early maturity come from? Why do certain children go beyond their normal age on the development of passions and intelligence? This is one of the difficulties that stop every philosophy because its solution always leaves an unsolved question and we can always ask why. Once the existence of the soul and its development before this existence is admitted and everything else is explained in the most natural way. With such principle we go back to the actual cause and the source of everything.

1. (To the spiritual guide of the medium) – Can you tell us if we are allowed to evoke the spirit of the young man that we have just mentioned? – A. Yes. I will guide him because he suffers. May this communication be a lesson and serve you as an example.

2. (To Maximilian) – Are you aware of your situation? – A. I do not know well where I am. There is something in front of me like a veil. I speak but I do not know how and how I am heard. But what was until recently obscure I can see now. I was suffering but at this moment I feel relieved.

3. Do you remember well the circumstances of your death? – A. It is all too vague to me. I know I was committing suicide without a reason. Nonetheless as a poet from another incarnation I had a kind of intuition of my previous life. I created dreams and chimeras. I was in love.

4. How could it be that you got to such an extreme? – A. I have just responded to that.

5. It is remarkable that a 12 year old boy could be led to suicide particularly for a reason like that one. – A. You are a strange people! Haven’t I said that I was a poet in another incarnation and that my faculties had become ampler and more developed than on others? Oh! In the darkness that surrounds me I see this sylph of my worldly dreams passing by and that is the punishment that God inflicts upon me; I see her going by, beautiful and frivolous as always and I, intoxicated by madness and love I want to throw myself… but ah! I feel like I am in chains… I call… but that is in vain. She does not even turn to look at me… Oh! I suffer so much!

6. Can you describe your sensation when you recognized yourself in the world of the Spirits? – A. Yes, now that I am in touch with you I can. My body was there, inert and cold and I was gliding around it. I cried warm tears. The tears of a soul must surprise you. Oh! They are scorching hot! Yes, I cried because I had just acknowledged the enormity of my mistake and the greatness of God! Nevertheless, I was not sure about my death and I thought that my eyes could open. Elvira! I called… supposing that I could see her… Ah! I love her since long ago. I will always love her! Who cares if I have to suffer forever if I can one day have her in other incarnations?

7. What are your sensations for being here? – A. It does me good and bad at the same time. It is good because I know you share my suffering. It is bad because despite my desire to please you accepting your prayers I cannot do that because I would be forced to follow a different route, different from that of my dreams.

8. What can we do to help you? – A. Pray because prayer is the divine drizzle that refreshes the heart of our poor souls in punishment and suffering. Pray. However, I feel like you remove my love from my heart, replacing it by God’s love… I do not know… I believe… Look! I cry now… Ah! Pray for me!

9. (To the guide of the medium) – What is the punishment of this spirit for having committed suicide? Given his age, is his action as liable as others who commit suicide? A. The punishment will be terrible because his is more liable then others. He already had great faculties; the power of loving God and doing good. If those who commit suicide suffer long punishments God punishes even more those who kill themselves with great ideas in their minds and hearts.

10.. You said that Maximilian’s punishment will be terrible. Can you tell us how it is going to be? It seems that it has already started. Will it be worse than his current sufferings? A. No doubt since he feels a devouring fire and it will only stop through the works of prayer and repentance.

OBSERVATION: He feels a devouring fire. Isn’t that the image of the flames of hell, presented as a material fire?

11. Is there a possibility of having his punishment alleviated? – A. Yes, by praying for him and particularly if Maximilian joins your prayers.

12. Does the object of his passion share his feelings? Are these two beings destined to unite one day? If so, what are the conditions of such a union and what are the obstacles that preclude it now? – A. Do the poets love women on Earth? They believe so for an hour or a day. What they really love is the ideal; a chimera created by their eager imagination, a love that cannot be satisfied but by God. When they meet a beautiful child who will never be theirs they say that reality has taken over the dream. If they get back to their senses, however, they fall from the ethereal regions of matter and since they no longer recognize the object of their dreams they then create other fantasies.

13. (To Maximilian) – We would still like to ask you a few other questions that might bring you some comfort. What was the time when you lived as a poet? Was your name well known? – A. During Louis XV kingdom. I was poor and unknown and loved a woman, an angel that I saw strolling at the park on a spring day. Since then I have only seen her in my dreams and my dreams promised me that she would be mine one day.

14. The name Elvira sounds very romantic to us leading us to think that it is a fictitious name. – A. Yes, it was a real woman. I know her name because a gentleman that passed by called her Elvira. Ah! She was exactly like the woman in my imagination. I still see her, always beautiful and astounding nice. She can make me forget God just to see and follow her.

15. You suffer and can still suffer for a long time. It is up to you to shorten your misery. – A. Who cares about my sufferings? You do not know what an unaccomplished desire is! Are my desires bodily like? Nevertheless they burn me just by the thought of her, even stronger than if I thought of God.

16. We are sincerely sorry for that. You must become useful and think more of God in order to work towards your own advancement. It is necessary that you request a reincarnation just to repair your mistakes and the uselessness of your last existences. We are not asking you to forget Elvira but that you think of her less exclusively and a little bit more of God who can abbreviate your torments if you do what it takes. We will support you in your endeavors through our prayers. – A. Thank you! Pray and try to remove Elvira from my heart. I will perhaps thank you one day.