Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1866

Spiritism has just lost one of its most fervent followers in the person of Mrs. Dozon, widow of Mr. Henri Dozon, author of several works on Spiritism, deceased on August 1^st, 1865. She died in Passy, on November 22^nd, 1866.

Mrs. Dozon, stricken with an incurable organic disease, had long been in a state of extreme weakening and suffering, and saw death approaching every day; she viewed it with the serenity of a pure soul, that is aware of having done only good, and deeply convinced that it was only the passage from a life of trials to a better life, at the doorstep of which she was going to be welcomed by her dear husband and those she had loved.

Her forecasts were not frustrated; the spiritual life, into which she was initiated, fulfilled all her hopes and beyond. She reaped the fruits of her faith, of her devotion, of her charity towards those that have harmed her, of her resignation in suffering, and of the courage with which she supported her beliefs against those who turned it into a crime. If her body was weakened, the Spirit had retained all its strength, all its lucidity until the last moment; she died with all her knowledge, like someone who goes on a journey, taking with her no trace of gall against those she had to complain about. Her release was rapid, and the disturbance of short duration; she was also able to manifest herself even before the burial. Her death and awakening were those of a Spiritist of heart, who endeavored to put into practice the precepts of the doctrine.

Her only apprehension was to be buried alive, and that thought followed her to the end. “It seems to me,” she said, “that I see myself in the pit, and that I am suffocating under the earth that I hear falling on me.” After her death, she explained this fear by saying that, in her previous existence, she had died like this, and that the terrible feeling that her Spirit had felt, had awakened at the moment of dying again.

No Spiritist prayer was said ostensibly on her tomb, so as not to offend certain susceptibilities, but the Spiritist Society of Paris, of which she had been a part, met at the place of its sessions, after the funeral ceremony, to renew the testimony of its sympathies.

Spiritism saw the departure of another of its representatives, in the person of Mr. Fornier-Duplan, a former merchant, who died in Rochefort-sur-Mer on October 22^nd, 1866. Mr. Fornier-Duplan had long been a sincere and devoted follower, understanding the true purpose of the doctrine, whose teachings he was striving to put into practice. He was a good man, loved and esteemed by all who knew him, one of those whom Spiritism is honored to have in its ranks; the unfortunate ones lose support in him. He had drawn, from his beliefs, the remedy against doubt about the future, courage in the trials of life, and the calm of his last moments. Like Madame Dozon and so many others, he left full of confidence in God, without the apprehension of the unknown, for he knew where he was going, and his conscience gave him the hopes of being greeted there with sympathy by the good Spirits. His hope did not fail him either and the communications he gave prove that he occupies the place reserved to good men.

A death that surprised us as much as we were saddened, was that of M. d'Ambel, former director of the newspaper l'Avenir, who died on November 17^th, 1866. His funeral took place at the Church of Notre-Dame de Lorette, his parish. The malevolence of the newspapers, that spoke about it, was revealed, in a regrettable manner, in this circumstance, by their affectation to bring out, to exaggerate, to poison, as if they took pleasure in turning the iron in the wound, all that this death could have of painful, without regard for the susceptibilities of family, forgetting even the respect that one owes to the dead, irrespective of their opinions or their beliefs when alive. These same newspapers would have cried scandal and profanation against anyone who spoke in this manner of one of theirs; but we have seen, by the quotation we made above, in connection with the death of Mr. Pagès, that the tomb itself is not respected by certain opponents of Spiritism.

Impartial men will, however, render the Spiritists justice by recognizing that they have never deviated from respect, decorum and the laws of charity, at the death of those who had been their greatest enemies, and who had attacked them without the least consideration; they just pray for them.

We saw, with pleasure, the newspaper Le Pays, of November 25^th, although in an article not very sympathetic to the doctrine, energetically pointing out at this lack of consideration of some of their colleagues, and criticizing, deservedly so, the interference of publicity in the intimate things of the family. The Siècle, of November 19^th, had also reported on the event with all desirable consideration. We will add that the deceased leaves no children, and that his widow has returned to her family.