SOMETHING CURIOUS.
“Ravalette continued: ‘Mesmerism’s day has gone by. Already it is found
to be impossible to produce the same effects with it as were produced a
few years ago, while the bastard thing that now goes by its name, is of
such a nature and character that it speedily either disgusts all
sensible people, or very soon lands its friends into a deep quagmire of
such alkaline properties, that all the little common sense they had at
starting gets thoroughly mixed therewith, and forms a compound which
they carry back, instead of what they brought; and when they get home
again, they peddle it out as “Divine Philosophy,” when in fact it is an
excellent article of soap--regular _savon extraordinaire_, warranted to
extract brains, decency, money, and everything else worth having, from
all who meddle with it--it _washes_ so very clean. If your railway does
not accomplish this, yet in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred of
journeys that terminate differently, it lands its passengers in the
populous Town of Fantasy, in the which all things look real, but are as
hollow and as substanceless as mere Forms can be, and that is next to
nothing. In fact, most of the popular clairvoyance may be said to
resemble an edifice having
“‘Rich windows that exclude the light,
And passages that lead to nothing.’
There are, of course, a few, very few exceptions to the rule, but the
rule obtains vastly.
“‘The sentimentalities of a puling, hysteric girl, half afflicted with
catochus, and the other half love-sick--as most modern clairvoyants
are--count small in the list of Fact-truths, and the mad ravings of
crack-brained somnambules of the other gender go for hardly as much, for
the first has at least a degree of poetry about her, but the latter none
at all. No, no, friend, do not place too great reliance on the ability
of Magnetism to aid your researches, for you will run a narrow chance of
disappointment, and regret when too late that from Nature’s stable you
selected the very worst animal of the lot; one that is ring-boned, lame,
spavined, and very baulky withal. Take my advice, and choose a better.’
“As the old gentleman finished what I at first regarded as a diatribe
against Animal Magnetism--a thing, by the way, that I always doted on--I
_felt_ silent, and was so for the space of a minute, during which time I
rapidly reviewed my entire experience in, and knowledge of, Mesmerism,
and the result of the inspection surprised me not a little, for on a
calm, disinterested view of the whole subject, I found it utterly
impossible to gainsay or invalidate his position and assertions. Yet it
was equally impossible to help feeling chagrined, and in no small
degree mortified to have my pet hobby thus mercilessly cut up and
dissected, laughed at, and thrown out as dog-feed. ’Twas very hard fare,
at least to me, and at first seemed unfair also. For a long time I had
almost worshipped it as a divine science; holding it to be the true
Spiritual Telegraph, by means of which we earthlings might flash
thought, not only to the bounds of the globe and the Present, but also
to the ends of Time and the Ages Past, or nerved by Hope and Curiosity,
dispatch a message to the Great Future and drag back the answer. It was
looked upon as the great Messenger of Light, through whom we might
easily read the records of a Past so distant that the coal-beds are but
yesterday’s creations in comparison. And here, at one fell stroke,
Ravalette had toppled the castle remorselessly about my ears. I bit my
lip with vexation, and for awhile was silent as, together, we walked up
and down a sort of natural esplanade on the sides of the hill next
Paris. Mechanically as we walked back and forth, I trod in the
footprints made while going, on each return, and just as mechanically
observed that Ravalette did the same. One thing struck me as curious,
even while my mind was profoundly engaged in the search for arguments
wherewith to confute and break down the old gentleman’s positions; and
that fact was this: The shoes worn by Ravalette were of a very singular
pattern, totally unlike any I had ever seen before. Upwardly, they were
decidedly triangular--almost perfectly so. Previously this fact had
escaped my notice; now, it struck me as being _very_ singular. But what
was equally surprising was, that instead of the ordinary heel and sole,
his feet-gear had four circular rims of brass, covered with rubber, and
the track he made on the yielding, but plastic ground was indeed
remarkable. The track and the shoe almost upset my cogitations. I looked
up and observed a smile on Ravalette’s face as he saw my surprise at
beholding the novelty of one cross, two crescents and two triangles, and
a solid bar (part of the cross), ornamenting the sole of a shoe, if shoe
it could be called.
“‘That,’ said he, divining my thought, ‘is and yet is not a mere fancy
of mine. I have a peculiar reverence for those figures, as you may
plainly see.’ And with this he drew my attention to an exquisite brooch
or pin in his bosom.
“This rare jewel, which I had previously seen but not noticed
particularly, consisted of a triangle formed of a crescent or quarter
circle and a compass, or, as the instrument is improperly called, a pair
of compasses. In the centre of this was a tiny cross formed of minute
stars, and just where the two bars met was a rose just blooming, and
colored with enamel to the life. Gazing still closer at this novel
breastpin, with the aid of a fine eye-glass, I discovered a legend
engraved in minute and strange characters upon the rim of the crescent;
upon the left quarter of this crescent was a pelican feeding her young
with her heart’s blood; midway was a tiny black rose, and on the right
corner was one of deep crimson.
“The workmanship was exquisite, indeed quite extraordinary, for the
entire jewel was not larger than a golden dollar. He also showed me a
large and massive seal, pendent from his watch, and on its face was
engraved a ladder of twelve steps, the first and fifth of which were
broken. The foot of this ladder rested upon a broken column, near which
lay a mason’s trowel, and its top leaned against the beam and ring of an
anchor, reversed, the lower part being lost in what represented a cloud.
After I had sufficiently admired the seal, he semi-playfully drew forth
his watch, to which it was attached by a fine gold ‘rope’-chain, and
observed: ‘I have more of the same kind,’ at the same time placing it in
my hand.
“The watch was an ordinary smooth-backed, hunting-cased gold
chronometer, worth perhaps fifty or sixty pounds sterling, the extra
value being acquired by an anchor fouled, done in diamond points upon
the internal face. The opposite side presented some excellent
enamel-work representing the cardinal points of the compass. Three stars
gave light from the West; a tomb, with its door partly open, stood in
the East; broken columns adorned the South; and a circle composed of
small triangles was in the North; in the centre of this circle was a
rose on the bars of a dotted cross; the whole executed in the same
exquisite style as that marking the seal and pin.
“To a question as to what it all meant, an evasive answer was returned.
Waiving all my solicitations to explain the emblematic devices, the old
gentleman resumed his remarks, by observing: ‘Never mind now what these
things mean; you will know one of these days. At present let us
continue our talk on other matters. A little while ago you observed
that Mesmerism was a force Spiritual; but I am not so sure that you are
correct. In my view it is a power Physical--ultra physical or material
it may be, but physical still.’
“‘What!’ said I, in amazement, ‘human magnetism, that mighty agent or
power, which effects such grand effects, and works such wonderful
effects, Physical? Impossible! The very idea, excuse me, is absurd; the
assertion is simply ridiculous!’
“‘So I once thought,’ rejoined Ravalette, ‘but think so no longer; and,
mark me, the time is not very distant when you will come to my side of
the question. I will endeavor to illustrate the point, one point of
many, that confirms my view. For instance, the serpent tribe. We know
that those reptiles charm birds and other animals, and that they exert
an influence upon their prey precisely like that exerted by the
magnetizer upon his subject, with this difference, that the human
subject exhibits none of that peculiar terror manifested by the lower
orders of being when under the spell of fascination, and this difference
arises from the fact that the animal has a clear instinct that the power
is exercised for its destruction, which the human subject is, of course,
entirely free from.
“‘We see the snake exert the same marvellous power that the human
magnetizer does, and observe effects resulting therefrom no less
remarkable, and yet no one for an instant supposes that serpents are
spiritual beings.’
“‘Now you are completely at my mercy,’ thought I, as I responded:
‘Certainly the snake is a spiritual being so long as he is alive, and
exerts volition. He is a spiritual thing just as much as you or I.’
“‘And dead?’ said Ravalette, inquiringly, ‘is a mere lump of
clay--nothing more.
“‘Then, Monsieur Beverly, the argument is against you, and is mine _par
un coup majestique_! for the snake charms just as powerfully when his
skin is stuffed with straw and cotton, as when with his own proper
flesh, blood, and bones. Innumerable experiments, instituted expressly
to test this question, have been made, and it has been over and over
again decided that the charming or fascinating power is just as strong
after as previous to death. This has been settled by the actions of
birds, who utter the same plaintive and pathetic cries, exhibit the same
terror and other phenomena, in presence of a stuffed as in that of a
living serpent. This is a strong point in my favor; but one that is
still stronger, indeed quite irrefutable, shall now be adduced. Persons
employed in the _Jardin des Plants_, and other zoological institutions,
find it dangerous work to clean out the dens of certain serpents, even
for weeks after the occupants have been removed, for the
effluvium--which, I take it, you will not claim to be other than
physical--which they have left behind, and which constantly exhales from
the floor and sides of the den, is found to be identical with that aura
or sphere which it is known they exhale when excited by the presence of
prey; and the affects of this emanation from the den are precisely
those that characterize the action of the living, present, excited
snake. Now, these facts had long been noticed, and the results
attributed to the fancy of the human subject, until, at length, an
unusual circumstance led to the institution of a course of experiments
to set the matter at rest forever.
“‘India is the paradise of _charming_ snakes, and a commission was sent
thither by the joint governments of England and France, to test this
matter thoroughly. This commission settled upon Candeish, a province of
the Decan, where serpents most abound, and the experiments were made
simultaneously in the towns of Nunderbar, Sindwa, Dowlea, Chapra,
Jamneer, Maligaum, Chundoor, Kurgoon, Chorwa, Bejagur, Hurdwa,
Asseergurh, Hashungabad, and Boorhumpore; and they were made with thirty
different species of serpents, on eleven hundred and fifty-three human
subjects, of twenty-three different nations, and all sorts of
temperaments. First, these persons were subjected--under proper
precautions, of course--to the mesmeric glance of hungry, quiet, and
enraged serpents. In all three cases the effects were bad, all the
subjects alike complaining of constriction of the chest, loss of memory,
and a very strange sort of vertigo. As soon as the last symptom
manifested itself, the curtain that separated the serpents from the men
was dropped, and proper baths and other restoratives resorted to.
Secondly--these same persons were all invited subsequently to a feast,
as a reward for their services. Serpents were securely fastened in
wooden boxes beneath the seats of three hundred and sixteen of them,
and of these two hundred and eighty-four manifested the same symptoms as
when under the direct gaze of the serpents. Two months afterwards
ninety-four of the same persons, unknown to themselves, were placed to
work in an apartment built of the boards that had composed the serpent
dens, and the effects, a third time, were absolutely identical! Now, in
this light, what becomes of your spiritual hypothesis! It is gone to the
four winds of earth. But to set the matter entirely at rest, and to give
your spiritual notion respecting Mesmerism its eternal quietus, let me
call your attention to the fact that if a man, any man, sits before a
swinging disk of black glass, and fixes his eye upon it, he will
eventually be as deeply magnetized and as lucidly clairvoyant, as he
would under the operation of the most powerful magnetizer on the globe!’
“I felt that the tables were turned, and that the old gentleman held me
at his mercy. However, he forbore to triumph, but went on, saying--
“‘I do not say that the soul of man is physical, but I know that his
spirit is so; for I proved that over sixty years ago, to my complete and
entire satisfaction. Do not, I beg you, consider me a Materialist, or
that I dispute the existence of spirit. Far from that! Your humble
servant is a firm believer, not only in spirit, but in a great Spiritual
Kingdom, more vast, varied, and beautiful than this Material one; and
believe me, _mon ami_, when I affirm that not more than one man in ten
thousand has any adequate idea of what he means when pronouncing the
word Spirit; not one man in thrice that number can properly define it.
“‘Furthermore, _as a prelude to what may yet befall you_, permit me to
say that, in the face of modern philosophy, and in direct contrariety to
popular belief, it is my opinion that spirit cannot produce on spirit
the singular movements and effects witnessed in mesmeric and analogous
phenomena; but I do not at all doubt the ability of matter to effect it
all. Yes, my friend, I believe that matter alone, without extrinsic aid,
is competent to the production of the magnetic wonders, and a hundred
others still more marvellous. For instance, I do not believe that any
merely mesmeric power whatever, much less the dream-force of ordinary
sleep, can, or, under any conceivable circumstances, could enable you to
correctly read the inscriptions on the tablets in the Louvre, or probe
the secrets of Karnak, Baalbec, Nineveh, or Ampyloe; but I can name
purely material agencies that are more than adequate to the
accomplishment of these, and infinitely greater things. I know a
material means that will enable the soul to lay bare before its gaze the
deepest mysteries of the highest antiquity, strip the Past of its mouldy
shroud, and triumphantly lift the veil that conceals the Future from our
view--or rather, your view.’
“The strange old man ceased, and, for a little time, my mind lingered on
his concluding words. It was plain and clear, so I thought, that he
alluded to certain medicaments which have long been used for the
production of a species of ecstatic dream, and so I replied--
“‘You are doubtless correct, and can, by physical agents, produce
strange psychical phenomena, and curious exhibitions of mental activity
and fantasy; but, beyond all question, you over-rate their importance
and power, for not one of them is adequate to the office of enabling a
clear, strong mind to move within the sphere of the Hidden, but the
Real.’
“‘To what do you allude particularly, _mon ami_?’
“‘I allude to various chemical and botanical compounds; for instance,
those plants which furnish a large per centage of the chemical
principles Narcotine, Morphia, and others of the same general
characteristics, as Opium, Beng, and Hemp, the preparations of the
delightful but dangerous ----, the equally fascinating decoctions of
----, not forgetting Hasheesh, that accursed drug, beneath whose sway
millions in the Orient have sunk into untimely but rainbow-tinted
graves, and which, in western lands, has made hundreds of howling
maniacs, and transformed scores of strong men into the most loathly,
drivelling idiots.’
“We lapsed into silence, which at length was broken by Ravalette, who
said, as he clasped my hand with fervor--
“‘My dear young friend, there is here, in Paris, a high and noble
society, whose chief I am. This society has many Rosicrucians among its
members. Like the society to which you belong, ours, also, has its
head-quarters in the Orient. Ever since I have known you, I have been
anxious to have you for a brother of our Order. Shall I direct your
initiation? Once with us, there is no branch of knowledge, mystic or
otherwise, that you will not be able to attain, and, compared to which,
that of even the third temple of Rosicrucia is but as the alphabet to an
encyclopædia.’
“Much more he said, but I had no desire to join his fraternity, and
firmly but respectfully told him so; whereupon he cut short our
conference by rising, as he did so, observing--
“‘You may regret it. I can tell you no more. The society exists; if you
need it, find it--it may be discovered. But see! my groom and horse have
arrived, and have long been waiting. I must, therefore, leave you. Take
this paper; open it when you see proper to do so. You will quit Paris
to-morrow, next day, or when you choose. You may turn your face
southward, instead of to the north as you proposed. Seek me not till in
your hour of greatest need. In the meantime, I counsel you to obey, to
the letter, your _highest_ intuitions. Adieu!’
“And so we parted. I loved Ravalette, but not his fraternity. This
conversation with Ravalette, and, indeed, my entire intercourse with
him, was invested with a peculiar halo of what I may justly call the
weird. It was evident that all his words and allusions contained a
deeper meaning than appeared upon the surface. His conversation had
filled my soul with new and strange ideas and emotions; and I felt that
he had left me at the inner door of a vast edifice, after skillfully
conducting me through the vestibule. What worlds of mystery and meaning
lay just beyond, was a theme of profound and uneasy conjecture. I felt
and knew that he was no common or ordinary man; and well and strangely
was this proved afterwards.
“I had solaced myself with the hope that, by deferring my contemplated
tour through Picardy and La Normandy, I should draw closer the bonds of
common sympathy between us, and be made wiser through the abrasion of
such an intellect as his. How suddenly and how rudely was this hope
shattered!
“When he dismissed me so abruptly, after baiting my soul with such a
splendid lure, I could but feel both astonished and aggrieved. Thousands
would have been too small a price to pay for even one day more of his
society; but, alas! thousands could not purchase it. Still, I learned a
lesson. There are things in this world more valuable than even boundless
material wealth--knowledges, that neither Peru’s treasures nor the mines
of Ind can buy; and that Ravalette possessed an abundant store of these
priceless riches, there was not a single lingering doubt.
“As his last words sounded the death-knell of all my fondly air-built
castles, I became apprised of a fact that had heretofore escaped my
notice; and this was, that, for the last ten minutes, a mounted groom,
having a led horse in hand, had stood patiently waiting under a large
tree at the south-eastern terminus of our promenade. As the old man
placed the sealed paper in my hand, this groom advanced and assisted his
master to mount, and, as soon as he was firmly seated in the saddle,
they both gave rein and spur, and, urging the steeds into a round
gallop, both horsemen were out of sight before I could recover from the
stupor of surprise into which the proceeding had thrown me.”