The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1862

If the devil’s horns were hopelessly used to disrupt Spiritism, here is reinforcement to the adversaries: Dr. Trousseau comes to give the final blow on the Spirits. Mr. Trousseau unfortunately does not believe in the Spirits but he does not believe in the devil either. You should disregard the partner if he can defeat the enemy. There is no doubt that this new champion will say the last word of science about Spiritism. That is the least expected from someone so highly placed for his knowledge. By attacking the new ideas he would not like to leave a single argument without replica. He would not like to be accused of talking about something that he doesn’t know. He will undoubtedly take on every phenomenon and research them, analyze, comment, explain and destroy them, demonstrating in detail why they are all illusions.

Ah! Spiritists! We must brace ourselves! If Mr. Trousseau were not a wise man and if he were just a quasi-wise man he could well forget something. But a true wise man would not like to leave the work incomplete. He would like to see full victory. Let us listen and tremble!

After a comment about people who are led by banners, here is what he says:

“In reality people who are capable of assessing things in general are not the majority. Mr. Sartines wanted to have a charlatan arrested for selling his drugs at the New Bridge and selling them well. He had him brought over for questioning and asked him:

“The charlatan was very modest and Mr. Sartines too harsh with the population of Paris. There is no doubt that more than a hundred smart people crossed the New Bridge of Paris and the most intelligent might have stopped by the charlatan’s stand with the same confidence as the crowd because, ladies and gentlemen, I would say that the higher classes suffer more from the influence of charlatanism.”

“I would mention the Institute among our scientific societies. Take the Academy of Sciences that certainly counts on the elite of our country’s scientists. Among those there are about twenty who look for charlatans.”

This indicates the depth of trust that they have on their comrades as they would rather seek the charlatans.

“These are people of great merit. It is true that they are good mathematicians, chemists or renowned naturalists but they conclude that they are also good doctors and believe to be perfectly capable of judging things that they know nothing about.”

This is a proof of his knowledge and not of his modesty and opinion. Many jokes have been produced about the wise men of the Institute. I do not know a single one more sarcastic than this. It is then likely that the Professor is only talking about of what he knows.

“We, who are just doctors, sometimes remain modest so that, if we were to present on the great theorems of Math and Physics, we expose our ignorance and incompetence. But true wise men never deny their competence about anything, particularly with respect to medicine.”

Since the doctors declare ignorance about things that they do not know, we have here a guarantee that Mr. Trousseau will not discuss matters of Psychology, particularly in a public lecture as that he is not exactly an expert in those matters. Such knowledge will certainly give him irrefutable elements to support his arguments.

“It is sad to say that pretenders always have access to intelligent people. I had the honor of being a close friend of the illustrious Béranger. In 1948 he had a small eye ailment to which Mr. Bretonneau had advised the use of a certain eye drop. Although the disease was initially cured, it returned. Mr. Béranger was found to have a disposition for viral infections. As a result, Mr. Béranger then sought a Polish priest who healed eyes issues with a secret medication. In those days at the faculty, I was the president of the committee who did the assessment of health agents. Since the priest had matters to handle with the police for having damaged a few eyes, the priest wanted to get certified. He then looked for support from. Mr. Béranger to become officially recognized as a health agent. This would allow the priest to freely treat his customers’ eyes.”

Since Mr. Béranger had been cured by Mr. Bretonneau, why would he look for someone else? It is natural to have more confidence in someone that has cured us and that has experience in leading with us than in a stranger. In reality the diploma is a safe-conduct that not only allows the health agents to remove the eyes of their customers but also the doctors to kill them without remorse or responsibility. That is certainly the cause that leads the wise comrades, as confessed by Mr. Trousseau, to seek pretenders and charlatans.

“Béranger came to me and said:

It is really difficult to be less demanding to give this poor man the right of legally perforating someone’s eyes. However, it seems that he did not operate – although he could be led to that – and who only had a medication to cure ophthalmic diseases whose absolutely empirical application does not require special know-how. For that reason, it is not exactly the art of the ophthalmologist. In our opinion the most important thing was to make sure that the medication was harmless. He had cured Mr. Béranger and that was a positive indication. It could be useful to allow its use for the general interest. The man could have the knowledge of anatomy good enough to obtain the diploma but that alone would not make the medication good, in case it were bad. However, thanks to the diploma he could prescribe it freely regardless of how dangerous it was.

Jesus Christ, who cured the blind, the deaf and handicapped probably did not know more anatomy than that man and Mr. Trousseau would undoubtedly have denied his right of making miracles. How many fines he would have to pay today if he did not have the right to cure without a diploma! None of that has any relationship to the Spirits but these are the premises of the argumentation that he is going to use against his adversaries.

Far from excusing charlatans and sellers of panaceas all we want to say is that it is possible that efficient formulas may exist outside the existing structure; that the uneducated who has infallible secrets to treat snake bites know nothing about the circulation of the blood or the difference between venous and arterial blood. We would like to see Mr. Trousseau refusing their help after being bitten by a serpent or a coral snake just because they do not hold a diploma. In a next article we will talk about healing mediums that seems to multiple for some time now.

It seems that Béranger was not convinced about the infallibility of the certified doctors and he could repeat the refrain: Ah! Wise people are so silly!

“As you see ladies and gentlemen, intelligent people are the ones who fall first. Remember what happened towards the end of last century. A German experimentalist used electricity, still not very well known in those days. He subjects some women to the action of that fluid and some nervous accidents are observed. He attributed to the propagation of a fluid from his own body. He then establishes a bizarre theory then called Mesmerism. He then moves to the center of the great Paris, at Vendôme Square. It is the place where the wealthy and the aristocracy of the capital gather around the little wand of Mesmer who in fact is the inventor and the importer of that wonder called somnambulism that is one of the greatest shames of empiricism.”


“In fact what can one say about somnambulism? Hysterical generally lost young ladies join forces with any charlatan on duty and simulate ecstasy, catalepsy, sleep and there you are with a show of well-paid and well accepted tricks, believed with such a faith that is more robust than the advices of the most enlightened doctor.”

What is the point in being smart if they are the first ones to be tricked? What is it that one needs to avoid to be tricked? To be a wise man?

There is no doubt that Mr. Trousseau has the right to his opinion; he can believe or not believe in somnambulism but isn’t he crossing the line when he says that every somnambulist is a lost young lady associated to a charlatan?

It is inevitable that there will be abuse in this as with everything else from which even the official medicine does not escape. There is no doubt that there might be simulation of somnambulism but for the fact that there are false believers should we conclude that true belief does not exist?

Mr. Trousseau ignores the fact that there are respectable and married ladies among professional somnambulists; that the number of the low profile ones is much larger; that they may be found in the heart of the most respectable and wealthy families; that many duly certified and renowned doctors are now true champions of magnetism applied to a number of cases that do not respond to common medicine.

It is not our intention to make Mr. Trousseau change his opinion by proving the existence of magnetism and somnambulism since it could well be a waste of time. As a matter of fact, this would veer us off from our objective. We only say that if attacks and sarcasm are shameful weapons of science it is even more disgraceful to stain the name of a science that is now accepted all over the world, recognized and practiced by the most renowned persons, throwing the lowest insults at those who profess it. All we can do is to feel sorry for such banal and harmful expressions thrown at the cathedrals of knowledge.

You are surprised by the fact that such tricks, as you call them, are more believed with more faith than that on the advices of the most enlightened doctor. The reason for that is given the large amount of mistakes made by those very doctors, from which we will mention two examples.

A lady of our acquaintance had a four to five year old son with a tumor of the knee as a result of a fall. The situation became so serious that she thought appropriate to consult with a renowned medical doctor who then declared that an amputation was not only necessary but also urgent in order to save the child’s life. The mother was somnambulist. Finding herself unable to make any decision about the case whose success was doubtful she decided to treat the boy herself. After one month the cure was complete. A year later the child was healthy and strong. She went back to the doctor and said: “Here is the boy you said was going to die if his leg was not amputated. “What is it that you want? Nature has unforeseeable resources.”

The other case is personal. Twelve years ago I was almost blind to the point that I could not read or write and even recognize the persons with whom I shook hands. I consulted with the top notch doctors among which Dr. L…, professor of clinic of eyes diseases. After a very careful and attentive examination he declared that I suffered of an amaurosis and that I should resign to the fact. I then saw a somnambulist who said that it was not an amaurosis but an apoplexy of the eyes that could degenerate into an amaurosis if not taken care properly. She said she would take care of that. You shall feel slightly better in fifteen days, she said; in about a month you will begin the see again and in two or three months there will be nothing left. It all happened as she said and today my vision is completely reestablished.

“- Still in our days there is an American person that evokes the Spirits giving voice to Socrates, Voltaire, Rousseau, Jesus Christ, you name it! And where does it take place? At the shanty houses of a few drunks?”

“No, he makes them speak in palaces, at the senate, in the most aristocratic theaters of Paris. And there are decent people who say: “Yes, I saw it and I felt an invisible hand touching me; the table moved up to the ceiling!” They say and repeat themselves. During seven or eight months the knocking Spirits amazed men and women who threw nervous fit. Such a nameless stupidity; such stupidity that even the most uncivilized person would be ashamed of acknowledging was accepted by enlightened people, even more so, by people from the highest social echelons of Paris.”

Mr. Trousseau could have added: and all over the world. It seems that he ignores the fact that such a nameless stupidity did not last only seven or eight months but persists still and propagates everywhere; that the evocation of the Spirits is not a privilege of an American but of thousands of people of both sexes, of all ages and in all countries.

Up until now and following a good logic the adherence of the masses and particularly of educated people had been considered as having some value. It seems, however, that it does not hold any value and that the only sensible opinion is that of Mr. Trousseau and of those who share his ideas.

With respect to the others, regardless of their social position and education, regardless if they live in palaces or occupy the highest positions of state, they are below the most uncivilized man because such a man would be ashamed of accepting those ideas.

Whenever an idea is so much spread as Spiritism is; when instead of fading away it progresses rapid and prodigiously, when it is accepted by the elite of society, if such idea is false and dangerous it is necessary to combat it with a full reservoir; it is necessary to fight it with contrary arguments.