The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1863

In a second edition of his brochure^[2] about Morzine’s epidemic, Dr. Constant respond to Mr. Mirville where he criticized his skepticism about demons and for not having visited the places. “He did not go beyond Thonon, certainly not for fear of the devil but of the route and, despite that, he does not consider himself uninformed. He criticizes me, as with another doctor, for having left Paris with a preconceived idea. In good legal terms and, if he allows me, I can return the censorship: we shall then be ex aequo^[3] in that point.”

We don’t know if Mr. de Mirville did go there with a preconceived idea that there would not be any physical condition in the patients of Morzine but it is clearly evident that Dr. Constant went there with the intention of not seeing there any occult cause. Prejudice in any fashion and form is the worst asset of an investigator as everything is looked at and adjusted to his given point of view, neglecting anything that can oppose this point of view. This is certainly not the best way to get to the truth.

Mr. Constant’s well entrenched idea, with respect to the denial of any occult cause, results in his rejection of any conclusion and any observation that veers off from his point of view based on the reports that were published before his own.

Thus, while Mr. Constant vehemently insists on the fragile, lymphatic and skinny corporeal constitution of the inhabitants, as the insalubrity, poor quality and insufficient food intake of the region, Mr. Arthaud, chief doctor of Lyon’s mental patients and that was sent to Morzine, he says in his report that “the constitution of the inhabitants is good and that the scrofula are rare and that despite all of his research he found only one case of epilepsy and one of mental disorder.”

However, replies Mr. Constant, “Mr. Arthaud spent only a few days in the region. He could not have seen more than a tiny portion of the population and it is very difficult to obtain information about the families.”

Another report about the same subject says:

“We, the undersigned, declare that after having heard about the extraordinary cases taken by demoniac possessions in Morzine, traveled to that parish, where we arrived on September 30^th last, 1857 to witness the events, and examined everything with maturity and prudence. After this examination, we clarified to ourselves, through all possible means by our physical presence in the region, that we can produce a well informed opinion about the subject matter.

In due course, we will continue with this report. We only wanted to make it clear that not everyone saw things with the same dark colors as Mr. Constant, which presented the inhabitants as if in extreme misery, stubborn, and liars when, in fact, they are good, charitable and devout.

Well, who is right? Mr. Constant alone or several others no less honorable who certified having observed as well? From our perspective, there is no hesitation in taking sides with the latter ones considering what we observed ourselves and what we were told by several medical and administrative authorities from the region. This perspective also supports our opinion from preceding articles.

To us, the primary cause is not in the physical constitution or in the hygiene of the inhabitants as there are many neighboring regions, as we mentioned and starting from the Valais, in which the natural, moral and other conditions are infinitely less favorable and where that disease was not found.

We find it limited, not to the valley, but to the commune of Morzine. If, as indicated by Mr. Constant, the cause is inherent to the place, to the life style and moral inferiority of the inhabitants, we then ask why the effect is epidemic and not endemic, like the mumps and cretinism in the Valais. Why the epidemics of the same kind illustrated by history were produced in religious temples in the healthiest of conditions?

As a matter of fact, here is the picture painted by Mr. Constant about the character of the people of Morzine:

“A prolonged stay, successive and daily visits to all houses allowed me to get to other conclusions:

Morzine inhabitants are kind, honest and very altruist; it would perhaps be fair to say that they show great devotion. They are strong headed and hardly reject their own ideas and that, besides other inconveniences, it is only in very rare cases that the criminal justice finds any guilty person among them. They appear serious and judicious, apparently, a reflex of a rough nature around them. This situation gives them a certain privacy, as if member of a large religious community. In fact, their way of life does not differ much from a monastery.

They would be smart if their reasoning were not obscured by a number of absurd or exaggerated beliefs, by an irresistible attraction to the supernatural, inherited from the past centuries and from the current century which has not cured them. All of them like the stories about the impossible. Most are fundamentally honest but some lie with a seamless expression to sustain their reports, although I am certain they do lie in good faith for believing in their own stories and in the stories of others. To be fair, it must be said that the majority do not lie rather they just report what they saw inaccurately.”

For us, the causes are independent from the physical conditions of people and things. If we say so, it is not with the objective of seeing Spirits everywhere that nobody admits their presence with more restrictions than we do rather for the analogy that we observe among certain effects and those that are positively demonstrated as coming from a hidden source.

Nevertheless, how can one admit such a cause when the very existence of the Spirits is in doubt? How can one admit with Raspail the diseases caused by microscopic creatures when the existence of those animals is denied because they cannot be seen? Before the invention of the microscope, Raspail would be taken as a madman for seeing those little beings everywhere. Nowadays, when we are a bit more enlightened, the Spirits are not seen! For that, however, all we need is to wear glasses.

After Mr. Constant mentioned Mr. Mirville who, according to him, stopped in the middle, he adds:

“Mr. Allan Kardec covered the whole thing. In the December 1862 and January 1863 issues of his Spiritist Review he has already published two preliminary articles. The analysis of the facts will come in the February issue. While we wait, he warns us that the Morzine epidemic is like the one that took place in Judea at the time of Jesus Christ. It is very possible.

Although I take the risk of being criticized by some readers, who think that I would be better off by not mentioning the Spiritists, I advise those who may read this brochure to also read about the same subject in the aforementioned authors.

However, make no mistake about my invitation. The sooner that more serious readers get to know the books about Spiritism the sooner complete justice will be made about a belief, a science as they say, about which I could perhaps risk an opinion after having verified one its results so many times: the remarkable contingent of people that such believe provides annually to the population of mad people.”

From the above, one can imagine the preconceived ideas that took Mr. Constant to Morzine. We will certainly not try to convince him about our opinion. We will only tell him that, as a result of the reading of the Spiritist books, demonstrated by experience, it was totally the opposite to his expectations. Rather than doing was he said, it actually multiplies the number of followers by the thousands. Today there are five or six millions of them in the whole world of which ten percent are in France alone. If his rebuttal indicated that these are silly and ignorant people only, we then ask him why this doctrine counts on such a large number of medical doctors in every country. These doctors, in fact, are among its most eager followers, demonstrated by our correspondence, the number of doctors subscribing to the Spiritist Review, and among those presiding over or taking part in Spiritist groups and societies. There is also a large number of followers who enjoy social positions only achieved for their intelligence and education. That is a material fact that nobody can deny. Well, since every effect has a cause, the cause of this effect is that Spiritism does not seem as absurd as some people would like it to be!

There still remains the subject of madness, the bugaboo with which they try to terrify people who, in turn, are not scared as mentioned above. When this argument is over they will certainly invent another one. While we wait, we refer the reader to article published last February under the title: Spiritist insanity. The first symptoms of Morzine’s epidemic came out in March 1857 with two eleven-year-old girls. In the following November, the number of people taken by the disease counted twenty-seven then achieving a maximum of one hundred and twenty people in 1861.

The observations below were taken from the same report mentioned above:

“These young ladies speak French with a remarkable skill during the episodes, even those who only know a few words in their normal state. During the episodes, they lose any reservation of any kind and also completely lose their family affections. The answer is always so prompt and easy that seems to come before the question arises. The answer is always ad rem^[4] except when the person who speaks say silly things, insults or formally refuses to speak. During the episodes, the pulse remains calm and in moments of rage the person shows an air of domination as if commanding wrath, with no exaltation or physical changes. An incredible insolence is observed during the events in girls that out of that phenomenon are timid and kind. All girls show an incredible irreverence beyond any limit with anything that relates to God, the mysteries of religion, Mary, the saints, the sacraments, etc. The dominant characteristic at that moment is hatred towards God and towards anything related to God. We were able to verify well that those girls say things that go back a long way, facts from the past that they had no knowledge about. They also revealed the thoughts in the minds of several persons. Sometimes they announced the beginning, duration and end of the episodes, what they are going to do and what they are not going to do later. We know that they provided accurate answers to questions framed in unknown languages to them such as German, Latin, etc. During the episodes, the girls have a strength that is disproportionate to their age for during the exorcism three or four men are needed to restrain the ten-year-old girls. It is remarkable that the girls do not hurt themselves either by the contractions that seem to dislocate their limbs or by the falls or by the violent punches that they swing against themselves. In their answers, there is always, invariably, a distinction between several entities: the daughter and the devil. Away from the episodes the girls keep no memory of what they had done or said irrespective if the episodes took a whole day or realized assignments that were given in the episodic state.

As a conclusion:

We believe all that to be supernatural, in its cause and effects, according to the rules of a sound logic and according to the teachings of the whole theology, the ecclesiastic history and the Gospels. We declare that, in our opinion, there is a true possession by the devil.

Faithfully signed by…

Morzine, October 5^th, 1857”



Here is how Mr. Constant describes the patients’ episodes, according to his observations:

“Amidst the most complete quietness, rarely at night, suddenly, there is yawning, stretching of arms, trembling and little shakes of the arms; soon and gradually, as if from electrical discharges, such movements become faster, then simpler and after a short interval they seem like no more than exaggerations of some physiological movements; their pupils dilate and contract successively and the eyes take part in the general change. The patients whose initial aspect expressed terror enter now a state of ascending uproar as if their dominating thought produced two almost simultaneous effects: depression followed immediately by excitation. They then hit the furniture with strength and vivacity, start to speak, or even better, to vociferate; when they are not answering any question they simply repeat these words indefinitely: S… name! F… F… red! (They use the word red to refer to those whose goodness they don’t believe). Some add blasphemies. If there is no stranger near them or if no question had been asked they just repeat the same thing without adding anything else. On the contrary, if there is someone asking them questions they respond even to their thoughts but never leaving aside their dominating idea, relating everything to that! It is always like that: - Do you believe, you…. Unbeliever, that we are mad, that it is all madness! We are diabolic, f… We are devils from hell!

And since it is always a demon that speaks out of their mouth, the supposed devil sometimes says what he did when on Earth and what he does now in hell, etc.

When I was present they invariably said: It is not your f… doctors what will cure us! We know well your f… remedies! You can make the girls take them, they will take it and it will make them suffer but they will not reach us because we are devils! We need saint priests, bishops, etc.

That does not preclude them from insulting the bishops when they are not around under the pretext that they are not saint enough to have any effect upon the demons. It was always the same thing in the presence of the mayor or the magistrate.

While they speak, always with the same passion, they always show the same look: uproar. Their necks and faces sometimes swell; other times they go pale like normal people when they blush or become pale in moments of rage and according to their constitution. Their lips are always moist with saliva and that is what led people to say that they foamed.

Their movements are initially limited to the superior limbs, then gaining the trunk and inferior ones; they pant, become aggressive, move the furniture around, throw the chairs and stools away, everything that they can reach is thrown at the audience; they through themselves at people trying to hit them, relatives and strangers; thrown themselves on the ground, always with the same screams; roll over, hit the ground with their bare hands, or hit their own chests, their venter, their throats, always trying to remove something that seems to bother them. They jump and turn in the air. I saw two of them jumping backwards in the air, head and feet touching the ground at the same time. Such phenomenon lasts approximately ten, twenty minutes, half an hour, depending on what had provoked it. If that is the presence of a stranger, notably a priest, it is rare the case that it ends before that person leaves. In such a case, however, the movements are not so much continuous. After a violent beginning their intensity yields and go to a standstill before restarting immediately, as if the nervous power rested a little bit in order to recover.

During the episodes, the heart beat does not accelerate and more commonly it is the opposite: it weakens, become slower and the body extremities colder; despite the violence of the agitation and the fierce blows and swings in all directions, the hands become cold. Contrary to what is generally seen in similar cases there is no mixture of erotic with demoniac ideas. I was impressed myself by witnessing that not a single girl uses obscene gestures. They never uncover themselves in their most disorderly acts and when the dresses raise a bit rolling on the ground the recompose immediately. It does not seem to produce any lesion in their genital sensitivity; it has never been about incubus, succubus or any scene of the Sabbath. All patients belong to the second one of the four groups indicated by Mr. Macario. Some hear the voice of the demons; much more frequently, though, they speak through their mouths.

Their movements gradually become slower after the great mess; certain gases escape from their mouths and the episode is over. The patient looks around in awe, fixes the hair, grabs the hat and put it on, drinks some water and go back to normal work if doing something before the episode. Almost all of them report no tiredness or remember anything that they did or said.

This last statement is not always true. I surprised some of them remembering very well. They only added: - I know well that he (the devil) said or did this or that, but it was not me. If my mouth spoke, if my hands hit, it was him that made them speak and hit. I wanted to be left alone but he is stronger.

This is the description of the most common state but there are several degrees between the extremes, from the patient that only complains of intestinal pain to the one that gets to the highest degree of rage. Having said that among all patients that I visited I found no significant differences worth noting except in a few cases.

One of them called Jeanne Br… forty years old, single, hysterical for a long time, feels animals that are no more than demons running over hear face and biting her.

Mrs. Nicolas B…, thirty years old, ill for three years, barks during the episodes. She attributes her illness to a glass of wine that she one day had with one of those evil ones.

Jeanne G… thirty-seven years old, single, is the one that shows the most different features. She shows no clonic spasms of the others and almost never speaks. In her episodes, she sits down and rocks hear head forward and backward. The motion initially slow and not much pronounced accelerates to the point that the head forms circles wider and wider, with an incredible speed, until it reaches and alternates between her back and chest. The movement stops momentarily and the head is kept in the position that it had before the movement stopped in such a way that one cannot lift hear head or fold it even external force.

Victoire V… twenty years old, was of the first ones to fall ill at the age of sixteen. Here is how her father describes the events – She had never felt anything when one day she was taken by the illness at the church. During the first two or three days, she only jumped a little. One day she brought me dinner at the Curia where I worked and the Angelus was playing when she arrived. She immediately started jumping, threw herself on the ground screaming and gesticulating, saying blasphemies to the bell-ringer. The curia of Montriond was there by chance. She cursed him, calling him the f… of Montriond. The curia of Morzine came close to her as well, the episode stopped to restart immediately because he did the sign of the cross on hear forehead. They exorcized her several times and when we saw that nothing would help her I took her to Geneva to Mr. Lafontaine, the magnetizer. She stayed there for a month and was cured. She was okay for about three years.

She relapsed six weeks ago but the episodes were over. She did not want to see anyone and locked herself in the house. She only ate when I offered her something good. On other occasions, she could not swallow. She could not stand or move her arms. I tried to help her stand several times but she could not do it so that I had to hold her to avoid her fall. I decided to take her to Mr. Lafontaine again. I did not know how to take her. She said to me: - when I am at the commune of Montriond I will walk alright. A neighbor helped me to carry her over to Montriond. As soon as we crossed the bridge she walked on her own, just complaining of a horrible taste in her mouth. She improved with only two sessions with Mr. Lafontaine and she now works as a maid.

It has been generally observed, says Mr. Constant, that outside the commune the patients only rarely have episodes.

One day I was accompanied by the mayor who was violently attacked and hit with a stone on his face. About the same time another patient charged at him with a stick in hand trying to hit him. He saw that and showed her the armored tip of his waking stick, threatening her if she continued. She stopped, dropped the weapon and continue to curse him.

Despite the runs, jumps, violent and disorderly movements of the patients, their attacks, terrors and divagations, there has been no report of attempt suicide or serious incidents with any one of them. Hence they do not completely lose conscience and the instinct of conservation remains.

If, at the start of the episode, the woman has a child in her arms it happens that sometimes a not as bad devil as the one that is going to work her says: leave the child; he (the other devil) would harm her. The same happens when the woman has a knife or another potentially harmful instrument.

As with the women, men also suffered the influence that depresses everyone but in them the effects were smaller and very different. Some really feel the same pains as the women; they feel suffocation, a feeling of strangulation but none had convulsions and if some convulsive incident was reported they were almost always attributed to a different and prior morbid state. The only male representative that seemed to have had the same sensations as the women was the young T… The girls involved in the episodes are typically between fifteen and twenty-five years old. The males, on the contrary and with the exception of T… are only mature men that perhaps life’s hardships had brought back preexistent concerns or added to those caused by the disease.”

After having discussed the majority of the extraordinary events about the patients of Morzine and trying to demonstrate the state of physical and moral degradation of the inhabitants out of inheritance, Mr. Constant adds:

“Hence it is necessary to take into account that everything that has been said about Morzine must be considerably reduced when faced by the truth. Each one told their story and wanted it to be bigger than the other one. Such exaggerations are found in all reports of epidemics of that kind. Even if some events were authentic in every aspect and escaped any possible interpretation, would that be enough to give them any interpretation beyond the natural ones? It would be the same as saying that the agents whose modus operandi have not yet been discovered and escape our analysis are necessarily supernatural.

Everything that was witnessed in Morzine, particularly what is said, may well be positive signs of possession to certain people but it is also, with certainty, signs of that complex disease that was named hysterical-demon mania.

To summarize, we have just seen a region whose climate is tough and temperature shows large fluctuations, where hysteria has been considered epidemic at all times; a population whose food provisions are always the same to everybody, richer or poorer, always bad, composed of eventually altered produce that may provoke and do provoke alterations of functions of organs of the gastric system, and from there nervous diseases; a population of a weak and special constitution, frequently marked by genetic predispositions, ignorant and living in an almost complete isolation; a devoted population but a devotion that is more founded on fear than hope; very superstitious and whose superstition, that ulcer that St. Thomas called a vice opposed to excessive religion, has been more welcomed than fought against. Driven by stories of witchcraft that are the only entertainment outside the ceremonies of the Church, the only one that is not impeded by an exaggerated religious severity; a lively imagination, easily impressed, with the need of anything and that has nothing else but those very ceremonies.”

-o-

We need now to examine the relationships that may exist between the phenomena described above and those that take place in well verified cases of obsession and subjugation that everyone has undoubtedly noted; the effect of the curative means that were employed; the causes of the inefficacy of exorcism and the conditions in which they take place. That is what we are going to discuss in a next and final article.

Meanwhile we say with Mr. Constant that there is no need to seek an explanation to the unknown phenomena in the supernatural. We are in perfect agreement with him in that regard. To us, the Spiritist phenomena have nothing related to the supernatural. The reveal to us one of the forces of nature that we did not know and that produces unexplained effects up until now. Such law that blossoms out of facts and observations is it more unreasonable because its drivers are intelligent beings instead of animals or brute matter?

Will it be senseless to believe in active intelligences beyond the grave particularly when they manifest in such a tangible way? The knowledge of that law, by taking certain effects to their true cause, simple and natural, is the best antidote to superstition.

---

[1] See December 1862, January and February 1863 issues of the Spiritist Review


[2] Brochure Adrien Delahaye, School of Medicine Square, price 2 francs


[3] Latin expression meaning according to the right (TN)


[4] Latin expressions that means: directly referred to the thing… (Revising team)

Letters from Messrs. Michel, from Lyon, and D… from Albi



As a response to Mr. Constant’s opinion about the effect of reading the Spiritist books may have on people, we publish the two letters below among thousands of the same kind that are sent to us. As seen in the preceding article his opinion is that the effect must inevitable be a prompt justice to the Spiritist science and, it is for this reason, that he recommends the reading. Well, these books have been read for over six years now and, regrettably to his dismay, justice has not been made yet!

-o-

Albi, March 6^th, 1863

“Dear Mr. Allan Kardec,

… I know that I should not abuse your precious time. I also refrain from entertaining you for long. I must tell you that I bitterly regret the fact that I did not get to know your admirable doctrine earlier on for I feel that I would be a different person. However, I am not a medium and do not try to be one either due to serious issues that continuously obsess me. My past is of a deplorable negligence. I was forty-nine years old and did not know a single prayer. Since I read your books I pray every night, sometimes in the morning and in particular for my enemies. Your doctrine saved me from several things and helped me to support the hardships of life with resignation.

I shall always be thankful to your prayers for me Sir.

Sincerely, etc.

D…”



“Lyon, March 9^th 1863

My dear professor,

I must begin by asking you for double forgiveness, first for having delayed a duty of mine for too long; second for the liberty of writing to you without having met you and for dealing with you about matters that are somehow entirely personal to me. All that forces me to be as brief as possible and not abuse your kindness or to make you spend with me a time that could be better employed to the benefit of all.

After six months of a fortunate initiation in the Spiritist Doctrine, I see the birth of a vivid recognition in myself. As a matter of fact, such recognition is just a natural consequence of the belief in Spiritism. In my opinion it must be divided in three parts of which God is the first one to whom each Spiritist must thank every day for this new testimony of His infinite mercy; the second duly belongs to Spiritism itself to the good Spirits and their sublime teachings; finally, the third is the one that guides us in our journey and who we are glad to acknowledge as our great and venerable teacher.

Thus, understanding the Spiritist recognition, three distinct duties are imposed: towards God, the good Spirits and the promoter of their teachings. I am hopeful that God’s forgiveness to my past errors shall be granted to me for what I continue to pray daily. I will try to pay my debt to Spiritism by spreading around me as much as I can with my little strength that I have in order to carry out my duty with you and that I acknowledge to be doing at a late date. I then appeal to your charity and beg you to accept my sincere tribute of a bondless recognition.

I associate myself with those that have preceded to thank you for bringing upon us the ray of truth; thank you for showing us the means of reaching true happiness through the good deeds; thank you for fearlessly being the first one to enter the battlefield.

In times when selfishness and materialism seem to dominate a divided world the advent of Spiritism in the nineteenth century is a very important and extraordinary event to go unnoticed and to escape the surprise and admiration of serious people and observant minds. In fact, it is completely inexplicable to those who refuse to recognize a divine intervention in the march of the great events of life.

However, a not less surprising event is the finding of such a faithful and courageous believer in these days of disbelief, a man of the people that comes to announce a new doctrine, leaving the currents behind, a doctrine that would put him in disagreement with the majority since his objective is to fight and destroy prejudices, the abuse and wide-spread mistakes and finally preach faith to the materialist, charity to the egotist, moderation to the fanatics and truth to everyone.

That is a reality today and, as such, it was not impossible. To realize it, however, it was necessary the courage that can only come from faith. That is impressive. Such a devotion, my dear professor, could not remain fruitless. You can already begin to receive the reward of your work by contemplating the triumph of the doctrine that you taught us.

Unconcerned with the number and power of your adversaries, you stepped up alone into the arena and faced the attacks and injuries with an unalterable serenity and moderation. Thus, in a very short time Spiritism propagated to all parts of the world. The followers now count in the millions and what is even more pleasing is to find them recruited in all levels of the social echelon. Rich, poor, ignorant, educated, free thinkers and puritans, all responding to the calls of Spiritism and each class striving to provide its contingent in this great crusade of intelligence… Sublime struggle in which the defeated is proud to acknowledge defeat and even more proud to hold the winner’s flag.

Such a victory not only honors the one who conquered it but also justifies the fairness of the cause, that is, the superiority of the Spiritist Doctrine upon all the preceding ones and consequently it’s divine origin. To the eager follower the fact cannot be contested and Spiritism cannot be the works of a few mad minds as its detractors tried to demonstrate. It is impossible that Spiritism is the result of human work. It must be, as it is, a divine revelation. If that were not the case it would have already succumbed and become powerless before the indifference and materialism.

Every human science is systematic and for that very reason subject to error. That is why it can only be accepted by a small number of individuals that, out of ignorance or calculation propagate, erroneous beliefs fall after a certain trying time. Time and reason have always made justice to unfounded and abusive doctrines. No doctrine, no science can pretend stability if it does not have that pure and divine emanation as a whole and, within the minor details, an emanation that we call truth because only truth is immutable like its source, the Creator. We find a very reassuring example of that in the words of Jesus Christ that the sacred Gospel has transmitted to us, despite its long and adventurous journey, as pure as when they left the mouth of the divine Renovator. After eighteen centuries of life, the doctrine of Jesus Christ shines as brightly on us as when it was born. Despite false interpretations of some and the persecution of others and despite the fact that it is not much practiced in our days it is nevertheless much enrooted within people’s memories. Jesus’ doctrine is therefore indestructible and a shattering force against human passions. Like the powerless wave that breaks against the rocks the storms of sins exhaust themselves in their struggles against the light house of truth. Since Spiritism is the confirmation and the complement of that doctrine it is fair to say that it will become an indestructible monument because God is its principle and truth its foundation. As we rejoice by predicting its long destiny we gladly foresee the time when this belief shall become universal. Such a time will not be long because people will soon understand that down here there is no possible happiness without fraternity. People will also understand that the word virtue must not only be mumbled by the lips but truly felt by the hearts. Finally, people will understand that the one who takes on the burden of preaching moral will first and before anything else preach through the example.

I stop here, my dear Master, for the greatness of the subject takes me up to places where I cannot stand. More skilled hands than mine have already painted and with brighter colors the picture that my pen uselessly tries to sketch. Please forgive me for having taking so much of your time with my own feelings but I had an invincible desire to confide in the one who had brought peace to my soul by replacing the torturing doubt that has consumed me for fifteen years by a reassuring certainty! I have successively been a keen catholic, a fatalist, a materialist and a resigned philosopher. I thank God, however, for not have been an atheist. I cursed the Providence but I did not denied God. For me the flames of hell were extinct long ago but my soul was not at peace with the future. The celestial pleasures exhorted by the Church were not good enough to lead me to the virtues but my conscience rarely approved my actions. I lived continuously in doubt. Using the expression of a philosopher that ‘conscience was given to man to shame him’ I concluded that one must always avoid anything that can confuse one’s conscience. Hence I avoided crime because my conscience opposed to that; I practice some good deeds because that brought satisfaction to my conscience but I saw nothing beyond that. Nature had brought me up from the void, death should take be back to oblivion! Such thoughts sometimes took me to a profound state of sadness but however much I sought I found the key to the enigma nowhere. The social differences shocked me and I many times questioned why I had been born at the bottom of the stairwell. Since I found now answer I used to say: by chance!

I thought of another kind made me feel terrified by the oblivion! What was the point of education! To shine at the theaters? One needs fortune. To become a poet, a great writer? One does need a natural talent. For me, however, a simple artisan destined perhaps to expire on the working bench to which I was attached by the need of survival... what was the point? I know almost nothing and that is too much already for it does me no good in life and it will all end with death. I entertained that thought many times. I even cursed the instruction that is freely given to the children of a working-class family. Very limited that instruction seemed superfluous to me and not only harmful to my condition of poor but made me understand the significance of the problem without giving me the remedy to fix it. It is easy to explain the moral suffering of someone that feels a noble heart beating in the chest but forced to kneel before the will of an individual whose merit and knowledge come from a handful of coins sometimes badly earned. That is when philosophy is needed. Looking at the top of the stairs we say: Money does not make happy. Then, looking to the bottom we see someone even on an inferior position and say: Let us be patient since there are others in worse condition. If such philosophy, however, sometimes brings resignation it never produces happiness. I was in that situation when Spiritism came to rescue me from the marshes of trial and uncertainty in which I drowned more and more despite all my efforts to escape. For two years, I heard about Spiritism giving it no importance. Like its adversaries I thought it was foolish. Finally, tired of hearing about something that I hardly knew the name I decided to get to know it. I acquired The Spirits’ Book and The Mediums’ Book. I read them, or better saying, I devoured them with a satisfaction that is impossible to define. What a surprise when I detected that it was a moral and religious philosophy when I was expecting to find a treaty of black magic followed by fantastic stories! Surprise soon gave rise to conviction and acknowledgement. When I finished reading the books I noticed that I was a Spiritist for a long time. I thanked God for having given me such a merciful gift. From now on I pray without the fear that my prayers will be lost in space and shall gladly endure the tribulations of life of this short existence knowing that my current misery is no more than a just consequence of a guilty past or even a time of test to achieve a better future. There is no more doubt. Justice and logic unveil the truth. We happily welcome this doctrine benefactor of humanity. It is almost useless to tell you my dear master about my great desire to be a medium.

Hence I studied with treat perseverance. After a few days of exercise, I recognized that I was an intuitive medium. My wishes were accomplished half way for I wanted to be a mechanical medium. Intuitive mediumship leaves doubt in the medium’s soul for a long time. To eliminate doubt, I took part in some sessions of Spiritism to compare my mediumistic skills to those of other mediums. That was when I understood the appropriateness of your recommendation to read before seeing if one wants to be convinced. I can clearly state that for a unbeliever I saw nothing convincing. I would have given anything to have been placed by the providence under your direction, dear master, because I thought the tests would be more frequent and tangible at your society. Yet I did not stop there and invited some writing and drawing mediums to meet with me so that we could work together. That is when I was lucky enough to witness amazing events and to be given the most evident proofs of the goodness and virtues of Spiritism. I was convinced for the second time! I attach to this already long letter some of my communications. I would be thankful dear master if you could take a look and analyze its value. I consider them irreproachable from a moral stand point but from a literary point of view… I am not capable of passing judgment hence I abstain from any appreciation. If, against my own expectation, you find any passage that you consider worth publicizing please use them at your own discretion. It would be a motive of great happiness to me to have contributed with a little stone to the construction of the edifice. Any direct answer from you would be received with the highest regard, my dear master, but I dare not request it for I do know of your material impossibility in answering all letters addressed to you. I end by begging you to forgive this extreme liberty hoping that you may believe the sincerity of someone that is honored to be one of your most eager admirers and much humble servant.

Michel

Rue Bouteille, 25 – Lyon”

The following was sent to us from Chauny on March 7^th, 1863:

“Dear Sir,

I will try to pass to you my assessment of a sermon that was given to us yesterday by Father X…, a stranger in our parish. That preacher, by the way a good speaker, explained as much as he was able to the meaning of God and the Spirits. He should know that there was a large number of Spiritists in the auditorium for it gave us great satisfaction to hear him speaking about the Spirits and their relationships with the living. He said that the only way to understand miraculous facts, visions and presentiments was through contact with the loving ones who preceded us to the grave. In addition, if I were not afraid of raising the veil from upon something very mysterious or speaking about something that would not be understood by everybody else I would spend much more time on the subject. I feel inspired and listening to the voice of my conscience it would not be too much to recommend that you keep a good memory of my words: Believe in this God from whom all the Spirits come to whom we shall all reunite one day. That sermon, Sir, given with kindness, benevolence and conviction, touched the hearts much more than the frenzied speeches in which one hopelessly seeks Christ’s taught charity. The sermon reached every mind. Thus, everybody understood it and left reassured instead of sad and discouraged by the images of hell and the eternal penalties and so many other contradictory issues to their understanding.

Sincerely… V.”

-o-



Thank God this is not the only sermon of its kind. We hear about several other similar ones, more or less pronounced, preached in Paris and elsewhere in the departments. We also hear of this bizarre thing of completely opposing sermons preached on the same day, in the same town and almost at the same time. There is nothing surprising about it since we count on many enlightened clerics that understand the fact that religion can only loose authority by taking the wrong position against the march of things and that, like all institutions, it must follow the general progress or be prepared to later on receive the contradiction of verified facts.

As for Spiritism, it is impossible that many of those gentlemen have not convinced themselves about the reality of things. We personally know more than one in such a case. One of them told us the other day:

“They may prohibit me to speak about Spiritism, force me to go against my beliefs, and say that it is all the works of the devil when I have the material proof against it. That is what I will never do.”

A capital point stems out of that divergence of opinion: the exclusive doctrine of the devil is an individual opinion that will necessarily bend before experience and general opinion. It is possible that some persist in their own ideas in extremis but they shall pass and with them their words.

The keenness of the adversaries of Spiritism to collect and above all to tamper with the facts that they believe compromise the doctrine is really incredible. It came to a point that soon there will not be a single accident for which Spiritism will not be the guilty party.

An unfortunate situation that could not have gone unexploited by the critics happened recently in Tours where two people committed suicide and it was attributed to Spiritism: .

The Le Monde newspaper (formerly Univers Religieux), together with several other periodicals, published an article from where we extracted the following passages:

“An elderly couple Mr. and Mrs. F… still in good health and enjoying a good standard of living got involved with Spiritism about two years ago. A certain number of workers, men and women, and youngsters gathered at their house almost every evening when the Spiritists made their evocations or at least pretended to make them. We will not mention all kinds of questions whose answers were requested to the Spirits in that home. Those who knew the couple for a long time and were familiar with their feelings about religion were not surprised with the scenes. Foreign to any Christian idea they were given to sorcery being considered skillful and established masters.

… Both were convinced for some time that the Spirits clearly induced them to leave Earth so that they could enjoy a great deal in a supra terrestrial world. For not having any doubt about that they went on and carried out their suicide bringing a great scandal to Tours.

… Hence this is the suicide that we have today to attribute to Spiritism and its doctrine. Yesterday we had the cases of madness not to mention domestic violence and other misconducts so commonly provoked by Spiritism. Isn’t that enough for people to realize – those who don’t want to listen to religion – the dangers to which they are exposed when giving themselves to those terrible and stupid practices?”

-o-

Let us begin by noticing that if the two individuals pretended to make evocations, in fact, they did not do it, instead they abused others or fooled themselves. Hence if there was no real evocation it was a delusion and the Spirits could not have given them bad advices.



Were they Spiritists by heart or just by name? The article confirms that they were foreign to any Christian idea and even further that they were taken by skillful masters of sorcery. Now, it is well known that Spiritism is inseparable from religious ideas, particularly the Christian ones; that the denial of those ideas is the denial of Spiritism; that it condemns the practices of sorcery with which it has nothing in common; that it denounces the belief in the power of talismans, formulas, cabalistic signs and sacramental words as superstition. Therefore, those persons were not Spiritists since they were in contradiction with the principles of Spiritism. As a tribute to the truth we must say that those people were not involved with magic and that, no doubt, they wanted to use the opportunity to connect that name to Spiritism.

Furthermore, the article says that they used to frame questions of all sorts to the Spirits in their house. Spiritism clearly states that one must not ask the spirits all kinds of questions; that they come to instruct us and to make us better and not to get involved in material things; that it is a mistake to see the manifestations as a means to get to know the future or to discover treasures and inheritances, to make inventions or scientific discoveries so that one can become renowned or rich. In one word that the Spirits do not come to tell the ‘buena-dicha’. Therefore, by asking all sorts of questions to the Spirits those persons demonstrated their ignorance with respect to the objectives of Spiritism.

The article does not say that they made their living out of that. In fact, they did not. Otherwise we would remember what has been said hundreds of times about such exploitation and its consequences of which a serious Spiritism cannot take responsibility for, legal or not, as it does not take for the eccentricities of those that do not understand it. Spiritism does not defend the abuse that could have been perpetrated in its name by those who have used its form or name but without applying its principles.

Another proof that those individuals ignored, one of the most fundamental points of the Spiritist Doctrine, is that Spiritism demonstrates, not by a simple moral theory but by numerous and terrible examples that suicide is severely punished; that the one who believes to escape the miseries of life by a premature and voluntary death, anticipating God’s designs, falls into a much more unhappier state. The Spiritist knows well that through suicide one replaces a transient bad condition by another worse and lengthier situation. That is what those individuals would have known if they knew Spiritism. By stating that Spiritism leads to suicide the author of the article spoke of something that he himself ignores.

We were not surprised at all by the repercussion of this case. By presenting it as a consequence of the Spiritist Doctrine they raised people’s curiosity and each one wanted to learn by themselves, free to repel it if confirmed by the way it was presented. Now, they acknowledged that Spiritism is about the opposite of what they wanted people to believe. Spiritism then can only benefit from the fact that it becomes better known, something that our adversaries seem to be eager to realize and for which we are thankful, except with respect to their intentions though. If they produce a little and momentary disturbance with their diatribes it is soon followed by an increase in the number of followers. That is what we see everywhere.

We got this from Tours:

“If those individuals believe, however, that they should involve the Spirits in their deadly resolution and to have their eccentricities well-known it is evident that they understood nothing about Spiritism and that not a single conclusion can be reached from this about the Doctrine. Otherwise one would have to blame the more serious and sacred doctrines for the abuse and even crimes committed in their names by insensible or fanatic people. Mrs. F… pretended to be a medium but all those who heard her could never take her seriously.



The more of the same kind of ideas and the eccentricities of the couple, and in particular of the woman, had the doors of the Spiritist circle of Tours shut to them where they were not admitted to attend a single session.

The paper was precipitated and poorly informed about the causes of the suicide. We took it from authentic reports from the official scriber of Tours as well as from a letter about it sent to us by Mr. X…, a district attorney from that town.

“The F… couple, the wife sixty-two years of age and the husband eighty, far from being okay were led to suicide just by the unique perspective of misery. They had earned a small fortune in the fabric business of New Orleans but were bankrupted then coming to Nantes and later on Tours with the remains of their wreckage. Their only income of 480 francs stopped in 1856 due to another bankruptcy. They had attempted suicide three times before getting involved with Spiritism. Persecuted by former lenders they were lately ruined by an unfortunate law suit that washed away their courage and reason.”

The following letter written by Mrs. F… just before her death and that is found amongst the pieces of the referred process and signed by the president of the court reveals the true motive. We provide below the full transcription as in the original handwriting:

“Mr. and Mrs. B…, before going to heavens, I want to mend things with you once more, please accept my good bye – I look forward, however, to seeing you but since I leave before you I will keep your address so that when the moment is right I want to communicate our project; since our misunderstandings we have hurt ourselves and the pain persists and more than a hassle it becomes a weight, I always have this hard feeling in my heart and it is necessary that I say that for six years the business of the house does not end and we may have to spend another two thousand francs and since we cannot see a way out unless through great deprivation without a light at the end of the tunnel we must end all this and now we are old and the strength is no longer there, we lack courage and it is not the same to start again… we need to end this and decided to stop. Please accept our sincere wishes, Fe... and F…”

Today people in Tours know the true causes of the events and the noise provoked about it comes back in favor of Spiritism because, as our correspondent says, people talk about it everywhere wanting to know that it is in fact and since then the local bookstores have sold Spiritist books more than ever.

It is really interesting to see the regrettable tone of some, the unspeakable rage of others and amidst all that Spiritism following its ascending march like a soldier that seamlessly faces the assault of the riffle.

We saw the powerless mockery saying that it was all just wind now the adversaries say that it is a mad dog.

The March 23^rd, 1862 edition of the Siècle reads:

The couple C…, residing at Notre Dame de Nazareth Street had two children, a fifteen-month-old boy and a five-year-old girl who were never seen since nobody visited their home. She was seen only once, her underarms tied and hanging from a door; moaning were frequently heard coming from the apartment. The word around was that the girl was treated terribly. The chief police officer went to their place and had to force his way in. Those who were able to get into the house saw a horrific picture. The poor girl was almost naked, with just a little Indian like dress tremendously dirty. The sole of her shoes were like glued to her little feet. She was seating on a urinal leaning on a box that was tied by ropes. The report says that she had been left in that position for months and that had produced a rectum hernia; that her parents used to wake her up at night just to torment her; that she was spanked to wake up; the woman would do that with tongs and the handle of the duster and the husband with a rope. Following the questions by the police officer the husband responded: - Sir, I am really religious. My daughter did not say the prayers correctly that is why I wanted to correct her.

What would the author of the previous article, regarding the suicide of Tours, say about the barbarism of these people that name themselves very religious? The act of that mother who killed her five children to send them earlier to heaven? The case of the young made who took Jesus’ teaching literally when he says: Have your right hand cut if it is reason of shame, then axing her own hand? He would say that it is not enough to say that one is religious but to say that sensibly; that one must not generalize from an isolated fact. That is the opinion we would like him to have from us with respect to his accusations of Spiritism when analyzing those cases of people who only utilized the name of Spiritism.

Mr. Flammarion, author of the brochure about the “Plurality of the inhabited worlds” that we mentioned in our January issue, has just published a first and very interesting article in the February 1863 edition of the Revue Française whose initial part is given below. The work requested by the periodical is an important and widely spread literary summary of the principles of Spiritism. The extension of the work almost gives it the title of a special publication for it has nothing less than 23 large format pages (in-8). Up to a certain point the author thought adequate to abstract from his personal opinion about the subject and stay in a kind of neutral terrain, limiting himself to an impartial presentation of the facts thus giving the reader a total freedom of appreciation.

Here is how he begins:

“In a century where metaphysics has fallen from its pedestal; in which the religious idea wanted to stay away from any dogma and special cult; in which philosophy itself changed its way of thinking in order to connect to the positivism of experimental science, a spiritualist philosophy was offered to mankind who received it. That philosophy proposed a symbol of belief that was adopted by its people. It showed them a new avenue leading to unexplored regions and they followed it and there you have it a doctrine based on the manifestations of invisible creatures, standing from its birth above ordinary things, universally propagating amongst peoples of the new as well as the old world. What is then this powerful breath that has led so many thinking heads to gaze the same point in the skies? Simple utopia or a real science; fantastic deception or a profound truth fact is that it is before our eyes and it shows us the flag of Spiritism uniting a large number of champions around it, today counting on millions of followers. And that prodigious number was formed in the short span of ten years. The event is then before us: it is an undeniable fact. Now, whatever the frivolity or importance of this fact wouldn’t that be useful to study it on its own merit so that we can establish if it has the right to live among the children of progress; if its path is parallel to the movement of progressive ideas or if it would not tend, as some people pretend, to make us march backwards towards deprecated beliefs unworthy of consideration. And considering that in order to analyze any subject we must know it very well, before anything else, so that we do not expose ourselves to erroneous appreciations, we will gradually examine the points upon which Spiritism rests; about the basis that sustains the theory of its teachings and in short what this science is about.



Notice that we are talking about facts and not speculative systems and adventurous opinions for, irrespective of how wonderful the analyzed matter, Spiritism is purely and simply based on the observation of facts. If that were not the case, if it were only another religious sect, a new philosophical school, we are certain that the event would lose a lot of its importance that and that serious people of the present time, in its majority disciples of the “Baconian” method, would not have wasted their time examining a pure matter of theory.

Many utopias were written in the book of human weakness so that we no longer have to take into account the dreams daily proposed by exalted brains.

Let us now and without a hidden agenda discuss this doctrinaire science that a lot of good and bad things have been said about but without studying it sufficiently. In this current work, we begin by its modern history – since Spiritism has its old history – bringing about the successive phenomena that have definitely established the doctrine. Following the natural order of things, we will examine the effects before going back to the causes.”

It is then followed by the first manifestations in America, its introduction in Europe and its conversion to a philosophical doctrine.

Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, January 9^th, 1863

Medium Mr. D’Ambel



I come to pay you a fraternal visit and at the same time introduce you to an old friend from college that has just enriched our ethereal legions. Please accept him as a new and keen follower of the new truth. Although he had never openly proclaimed himself as a Spiritist we can, nonetheless, ensure that he never said a word against our beliefs. I even say that in his bottom line he saw our doctrine as the lifeline of all religions in the future. More than once in his life he was fortunate enough to feel the venture of inner illumination showing him the path of truth when his soul was about to be taken over by uncertainty. Thus, when we fraternally shook hands just a few hours ago he told me with a kind smile in his lips: - Friend, you were right!

If he did not help us in the development of our ideas, his mediumistic intuition indicated that time was not right and that he would have endangered himself amidst the serious complications of his ministry and with such a difficult flock to guide.

Today, free from the concerns of the earthly life, he is extremely happy for being able to attend one of your sessions, a desire that he had cherished since long ago. Several times he wished to visit your president that he had in high regard particularly, appreciating his books and teachings that if not inviting souls to the Church would at least lead people to believe and to respect God with the certainty of immortality. I must say that when I visited him and was received with the warmth of an old disciple he opposed the famous reasons of state to my perhaps exaggerated eagerness of converting him, before which I had to yield. Yet, he followed me and said these sympathetic words: - Si non è vero è bene trovato!^[1]

Not that he joined our phalanxes and is no longer constrained by the scruples he wishes for the success of our work and sees the future that it promises humanity with joy. He gladly envisages the Promised Land to the new generations, or even better, to the old generations that fought so much, foreseeing the blessed time that his successors will resolutely sustain the new flag of faith: Spiritism.



Regardless, my dear president and my dear comrades, I was honored to receive this venerable friend at the entrance door of life and I am honored to introduce him to you. He asks me to transmit to you his full sympathy and that he will follow your work and studies with great interest.

To the happiness of being his interpreter before you I add the congratulations from a legion of great Spirits that diligently attend your meetings. I then bring my own and their tribute of friendship wishing you all the success with the great cause.

Let us move on! Soon Earth shall no longer count but on a few rare “humanimals” among its inhabitants.

I shake hands with Allan Kardec in the name of all your friends from beyond the grave in whose number I beg you to count me as one of the most dedicated.

Jobard

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[1] It may not be true but it is well said (TN)

Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, January 9^th, 1863

Medium Mr. D’Ambel



This is the first time that I come to visit you my dear children. I wished I could have chosen another medium, more sympathetic to the feelings that I shared in my whole terrestrial life and more apt to help me with the religion but since St. Augustine had long ago taken over the medium whose brains would have been more useful to me and to whom I was attracted I address you through this one that served Mr. Jobard to introduce me to your philosophical society. Today it will then be very difficult to express what I want to say first given the difficulty in manipulating the mediumistic material first considering that I am not much used to that and second because I must have my ideas flowing through a mind that do not admit them. Having said that let us move on to the subject.

A witty hunchback from antiquity used to say that men of his time carried a two-face backpack; the rear part carried one’s defects and imperfections while the front received all the imperfections of others. That is what the Gospels would bring later on with the allegory of the “speck in the brother’s eye”. My God, my children, it is about that that the faces of the backpack change place. It is up to the sincere Spiritists to operate such a change bringing to the front the bag that contains their own imperfections so that by having them continuously before their eyes they can correct them and having those of others on their back they no longer show envy or malevolence.

Ah! How worthy you shall then be of the professed doctrine, the one that will regenerate humanity, when the sincere followers will act with charity and no longer worry about the “speck” that bothers the eye of the neighbor and, on the contrary, take care of the “beam” that blinds their own eyes.

Ah! My dear children, that “beam” is formed by the layers of your own egotistic tendencies, your bad inclinations and your cumulated faults with which you have so far and like everyone else had too much paternal tolerance whereas most of the time you only show intolerance and severity with your brothers’ weaknesses.




I wanted so much to see you all freed from this moral disease that affects everybody, oh my dear Spiritists, inviting you with all my strength to follow the path that I indicate to you. I know well that many of your bad tendencies have already been modified but I still see a lot of softness and indecision in you towards the absolute good, that the distance that keeps you apart from the sinners and materialists is not long enough to keep you away from the torrents that can still drag you back. Ah! You still have a tough phase to achieve the heights of the saint and reassuring doctrine that my brothers the Spirits have revealed to you for several years.

The militant life that I have just left, praise the Lord, I saw so many lies be taken as truth; so many vices be raised as virtues that I feel happy for having left behind an environment where sadness and moral miseries were almost always covered in the mantle of hypocrisy. I must congratulate you for not allowing the followers of that insidious hypocrisy to join your ranks.

My friends, never allow yourselves to be fooled by golden words. See and observe that actions before you open your doors to those who request such an honor because many false brothers will try to mingle with you so that they can bring disturbance and subtly spread division.

My conscience commands me to enlighten you and I do so with the sincerity of my heart not worrying about anyone else. You are warned. From now on you must act coherently.

To being as I started I beg you, my beloved children, to take care of yourselves seriously; to eliminate all impurities that must still be eating your hearts; to gradually reform yourself but without interruption and according to the sound Spiritist moral; finally, to be as strict with yourselves as you must be indulgent with the weaknesses of your brothers.

If this first homily lacks something regarding the form it is only due to my inexperience with mediumship. I will do better the next time I am allowed to communicate with you taking the opportunity to thank my friend Jobard for having sponsored me.

Good bye my children, I bless you.

François-Nicolas-Madeleine

Spiritist Society of Tours, December 24th, 1862

Medium Mr. N…



It is tonight that the Christian world celebrates the birth of the child Jesus. But you, brothers, you must also rejoice and celebrate the birth of the new Doctrine. You will see it grow like a child. Like him, it will enlighten mankind showing them the path to be traveled. You shall soon see the three kings asking this Doctrine for the help they did not find in the former ideas. They will not bring incense and myrrh but will kneel before the new ideas of Spiritism. Don’t you see the shiny star that must guide them? Hence, courage brothers! Courage! You will soon be able to, together with the whole world, celebrate the great party of regeneration of humanity.

The seed of this Doctrine has been entrenched in your heart for a long time brothers. Today, however, it blossoms up to the light with the help of a sturdily planted tutor that will not allow the feeble branches to bend over. It will grow daily with the help of this providential support and will become the tree of divine creation. You shall harvest the fruits of that tree as your brothers who are hungry and thirsty of the sacred faith. Oh! Show this fruit to them and scream from the bottom of your heart: “Come and share with us the fruit that feeds our spirit and alleviates our physical and moral pains.”

But do not forget, brothers, that God made you ferment the first seed; that the seed grew up and already became a tree capable of bearing fruit. There is still work for you to do: to transplant the branches. Before that make sure that the terrain to receive the seed is right, that it does not hide a layer with a rodent worm that could devour what has been entrusted to you by the Master.

St. Louis

Published amount according to the March issue: 2,722.05 francs.

Mr. V. Fourier (Versailles), 10 francs; Mr. Lux (Dole), 2.5 francs; Mrs. D…(Paris), 5 francs; Mr. C. L…(Paris), 30 francs; Mr. Blin, cap. (Marseille), 15 francs; Mr. Derivis, by the 2^nd Spiritist Group of Albi, 16 francs; Mr. Berger (Cahors), 2 francs; Mr. Cuvier (Ambroise), 14 francs; Mr. V…(Bayonne), 10 francs; Mr. L. D…(Versailles), 2 francs; Mrs. Borreau (Niort), 2 francs; Mr. D…(Paris), 2 francs.

Total: 111.50 francs.

For some time now circumstances have forced us to give more development to the articles of depth and to restrict Spiritist communications given the need for certain urgent refutations. We will soon be able to reestablish the balance. We will strive to provide as much variety as possible to our journal to satisfy all tastes and pretensions but there are things that have priority. We are happy to notice that generally speaking we are well understood and that people take into account the complications associated to the struggle that goes on and the constant growth of the Doctrine that is at the center reached by all ramifications and all wires of this bundle that today encompasses the whole world. Thank God our efforts are crowned by success and as a compensation for our fatigue, there is no lack of moral satisfaction.

Allan Kardec^[1]

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[1] Paris, Typography Cosson and Co., Rue de Four-Saint-Germain, 43