took my place at Eusapia's side--when I was holding over against the
curtain the little white book which M. Flammarion had given me. This
book was seized by _two naked fingers_ (I say naked, because the folds
of the curtain did not cover them) and then disappeared. I did not see
these fingers: I touched them, or they touched me, if you will. My
son held out and handed over also a leather cigar-holder, which was
grabbed in the same way.
One of the persons present saw a rather heavy little music-box
disappear in the same way.
With hardly a moment's delay the box was removed from our side with
some violence; and I can speak with the more feeling of the force of
the projection and of the weight of the object, because it struck me
under the eye, and this morning I still have upon my face the only too
visible mark of it, and feel the pain of it. I don't understand how a
woman seated by my side could have the strength to throw with such
force a box which, so to speak, should have come from quite a
distance.
I observe, however, that all the phenomena are produced on the same
side of the curtain; namely, behind it, or through it, if you will. I
saw leafy branches fall upon the table, but they came from the side of
the said curtain. Some persons assert that they saw a green twig come
in through the open window which gives upon Cassini Street. But I did
not see that.
There was a little round table behind the curtain, very near me.
Eusapia takes my hand and places it, held in hers, upon the round
table. I feel this table shaking, moving. At a given moment I believe
that I perceive two hands near by and upon mine. I am not deceived;
but this second hand is that of M. Flammarion, who, on his side, is
holding the hand of the medium. The round table bestirs itself. It
leaves the floor, it rises. I have the feeling of this at once. Then,
the curtain having lifted and, as it were, spread itself over the
table, I can distinctly see what passes behind it. The round table
moves; it rises; it falls.
Suddenly tipping partly over, it rises and comes toward me, upon me.
It is no longer vertical, but is caught between the table and me in a
horizontal position. It comes with sufficient force to make me recoil,
draw in my shoulders, and try to push back my chair to let this moving
piece of furniture pass. It seems, like a living thing, to struggle
between the table and me. Or, again, it seems like an animated being
struggling against an obstacle, desiring to pass or move on and not
being able to do so, being stopped by the table or by myself. At a
given moment the round table is upon my knees, and it moves, it
struggles (I repeat the word), without my being able to explain to
myself what force is moving it.
This force is a formidable one. The little table literally pushes me
back, and in vain I throw myself backward to let it pass.
Some of those present, M. Baschet among others, have said to me that
at this moment it was upon two fingers. Two fingers of Eusapia push up
the round table![26]
But I, who had not lost my hold on her left hand nor her foot,--I, who
had by me the little round table (quite visible in the semi-obscurity
to which we had accustomed ourselves), saw nothing, nor did I perceive
any effort on the part of Eusapia.
I should like to have seen _luminous phenomena_ produced, visions of
brilliant lights, of sudden gleams of fire. M. Flammarion hoped that
we were going to see some of these. He asked for them. But Eusapia was
evidently fatigued by this long and very interesting seance. She asked
for "_un poco di luce_" ("a little light"). The lamps were relighted.
Everything was finished.
This morning I recall with a kind of anxious curiosity the least
details of this very fascinating soiree. When we had returned to the
observatory, on leaving our amiable hosts, I asked myself if I had
been in a dream. But I said to myself, "We were present at the skilful
performances of a woman prestidigitator; we witnessed only theatrical
tricks." My son recalled to me the prodigies of skill of the brothers
Isola. This morning, strange to say, reflection makes me at once more
perplexed and less incredulous. We perhaps witnessed (we undoubtedly
did witness) the manifestation of an unknown force which will
hereafter be studied and perhaps one day utilized. I should no longer
dare to deny the genuineness of Spiritualism. It isn't a question of
animal magnetism: it is something else, I know not what; a _quid
divinum_ (a divine something), although science will some day analyze
it and catalogue it. That which perhaps astonished me the most was
the curtain swelling out like a sail! Where did the puff of wind come
from? A regular breeze would have been needed to put such life into it
as that. However, I do not discuss: I give in my evidence. I have seen
these things, observed them carefully. I shall think of them for a
long time. I do not stop here. I shall seek an explanation. Possibly I
shall find one. But this much is certain, that we ought to be modest
in the presence of all that appears to us to be for the moment
inexplicable, and that, before affirming or denying, we ought to wait,
to reserve our judgment.
In the mean time, while feeling of my right maxillary tooth, which is
a little sore, I think of that line of Regnard and allow myself to
mangle it a little while recalling that hard music-box,--
"_Je vois que c'est un corps et non pas un esprit._"
(I see that it is a body and not a spirit.)
Report of Dr. Gustave Le Bon
(_Seance of November 28_)
(There were present at this seance, besides the hosts, M. and Mme.
Brisson, MM. Gustave Le Bon, Baschet, de Sergines, Louis Vignon,
Laurent, Ed. de Rothschild, Delanne, Bloch, Mathieu, Ephrussi, Mme. la
Comtesse de Chevigne, Mmes. Gagneur, Syamour, Fourton, Basilewska,
Bisschofsheim.)
Eusapia is undoubtedly a marvellous subject. It struck me as something
wonderful that, while I was holding her hand, she was playing on an
imaginary tambourine to which the sounds of the tambourine that was
behind the curtain accurately corresponded.
I do not see how any trick is possible in such a case, any more than
in the case of the table.
My cigarette-holder was grasped by a very strong hand, which wrenched
the object from me with a good deal of energy. I was on my guard and
asked to see the experiment again. The phenomenon was so singular and
so beyond all that we can comprehend that we must first try natural
explanations.
1. It is impossible that it could have been Eusapia. I was holding one
of her hands and _was looking at the other arm_, and I placed my
cigarette-holder in such a position that, _even with her two arms
free_, she would not have been able to accomplish such a marvellous
thing.
2. It is not probable that it could have been an accomplice; but is it
not possible that the unconscious mind of Eusapia suggested to the
unconscious mind of a person near the curtain to pass a hand behind it
and operate there? Everybody would be acting in good faith and would
have been deceived by the unconscious element. This important point
ought to be verified, for no experiment would be so valuable if it
were once _demonstrated_.
Could not Eusapia's departure be put off? We shall not have a similar
opportunity, and we surely ought to clear up that phenomenon of the
hand.
It is very evident that the table was lifted; but that is a material
phenomenon which one can readily grant. The hand which came to seize
my cigarette-holder performed an act of the will implying an
intelligence, but the other is nothing of the kind. Eusapia might lift
a table to the height of three feet without my scientific conception
of the world being changed by it; but to bring in the intervention of
a spirit, that would be to prove the existence of spirits, and you see
the consequences.
As for the hand which seized the cigarette-case, it is absolutely
certain that it was not that of Eusapia (you know that I am very
sceptical and that I was looking about me); but close to the curtain,
in the salon, there were a good many people, and several times you
heard me ask people to stand aside from the curtain. If we two had
been able to study Eusapia _absolutely alone_, in a room to which we
had the key, the problem would soon be solved.
I have not been able to make this verification, the sitting at which Dr.
Le Bon was present having been the last which Eusapia had consented to
give at my house. But his objection is of no value. I am absolutely
certain that nobody glided behind the curtain, neither in this particular
case nor in any other. My wife, also, particularly occupied herself in
observing what took place in that part of the room and never was able to
discover anything suspicious. There is only one hypothesis; that is, that
Eusapia herself handled the objects. Since Dr. Le Bon declares that the
thing was impossible, he himself personally inspecting it, we are
compelled to admit the existence of an unknown psychic force.[27]
Report of M. Armelin
(_Seance of November 21_)
(For this sitting I had asked three members of the Astronomical
Society of France to exercise the severest control possible; namely,
M. Antoniadi, my assistant astronomer at the observatory of Juvisy, M.
Mathieu, agricultural engineer at the same observatory, and M.
Armelin, secretary of the Astronomical Society. The last-named
gentleman sent me the following report. There were also present M. and
Mme. Brisson, M. Baschet, M. Jules Bois, Mme. Fourton, Mme. La
Comtesse de Labadye.)
At quarter of ten Eusapia takes her seat, her back to the place where
the two curtains meet, her hands resting upon the table. At the
invitation of M. Flammarion, M. Mathieu takes his seat at her right,
charged with the duty of keeping constant watch upon her left hand,
and M. Antoniadi is enjoined to do the same for her right hand. They
also make themselves sure of her feet. At the right of M. Mathieu
sits Mme. la Comtesse de Labadye; on the left of M. Antoniadi, Mme.
Fourton. Facing Eusapia, between Mmes. de Labadye and Fourton, MM.
Flammarion, Brisson, Baschet, and Jules Bois.
The gas chandelier is lighted and the full light turned on. This
chandelier is almost over the table. A little lamp with a shade is
placed on the floor behind an easy-chair, near the opposite side of
the room, in the direction of its greatest length, and to the left of
the fireplace.
At five minutes of ten the table is lifted from the side opposite to
the medium and falls back with a bang.
At ten o'clock it rises from the side of the medium, who withdraws her
hands, the other persons holding their hands lifted up. The same
effect is produced three times. The second time, while the table is in
the air, M. Antoniadi declares that he is leaning on it with all his
weight and is unable to lower it. The third time, M. Mathieu leans on
it in the same way and experiences the same resistance. During this
time, Eusapia holds her closed fist about four inches above the table,
looking as if she were strongly grasping something. The action lasts
several seconds. There is no doubt whatever about this levitation.
When the table falls back, Eusapia experiences something like a
relaxation after a great effort.
At 10.03 the table is lifted clean off its four feet at once, at first
on the side opposite to the medium, rising about eight inches; then it
falls abruptly back. _While it is in the air, Eusapia calls her two
neighbors to witness that they are closely holding her hands and her
feet, and that she is not in contact with the table._
Then light raps are heard in the table. Eusapia makes M. Antoniadi
lift his hand about eight inches above the table and taps three times
upon his hand with her fingers. The three taps are heard
simultaneously in the table.
To prove that she is not using either her hands or her feet, she sits
down sidewise upon her chair on the left, stretches out her legs, and
puts her feet on the edge of the chair of M. Antoniadi: she is in full
view and her hands are held. At once the curtain is shaken in the
direction of M. A.
From 10.10 to 10.15, several times in succession, five raps are heard
in the table. Each time the gas is turned down a little, and each time
the table moves without contact.
At 10.20 it balances itself, suspended in the air, and resting upon
the two legs of the longer side. Then _it rises off of its four feet
to a height of eight inches_.
10.25. The curtain moves, and M. Flammarion says that there is some
one behind it, that somebody is pressing his hand. He holds his hand
out toward the curtain, at a distance of about four inches. The
curtain is pushed out into something like a pocket made by a hand
which is drawing near. The medium with nervous laugh cries, "Take it,
take it." M. A. feels through the curtain the touch of a soft body,
like a cushion. But the hand of M. F. is not taken. Objects are heard
to move, including the bells of a tambourine.
All of a sudden the medium, leaving M. Mathieu, stretches her hand
above the table toward M. Jules Bois, who takes it. At this moment,
behind the curtain, an object falls to the floor with a great noise.
10.35. Eusapia, again freeing her right hand, lifts it up above her
left shoulder, the fingers forward, at a distance of several inches
from the curtain, and beats four or five strokes in the air which are
heard to sound in the tambourine. Several persons think they see a
will-o'-the-wisp through the gap between the curtains.
Up to that point the gas has been gradually lowered. After the lapse
of a full moment I find that I can no longer read, but I can
distinguish very clearly the horizontal lines of my writing. I can see
the hour perfectly by my watch, as well as the faces of those present,
(that of Eusapia especially) turned toward the light. The gas is now
completely extinguished.
At 10.40, the gas being out, I can still read my watch, but with
difficulty; I still see the lines of my writing, though without being
able to read.
Eusapia wants somebody to hold her head, which is done. Then she asks
somebody to hold her feet. M. Baschet gets down on his knees under the
table and holds them.
M. Antoniadi cries, "I am touched!" and says that he has felt a hand.
I have very distinctly seen the curtain puffing out. Mme. Flammarion,
whom I see silhouetted on the bright glass of the window, her head
leaning forward, goes behind the curtain in order to assure herself
that the medium is not doing anything suspicious in the way of
motions.
One of the persons present having changed places, Eusapia utters
complaints: "_La catena! la catena!_" ("The chain! the chain!") The
chain is re-established.
At 10.45 the curtain is inflated again. A bump is heard. The round
table touches the elbow of M. Antoniadi. Mme. Flammarion, who has kept
looking behind the curtain, says that she sees the round table turned
over. Its feet are in the air, and it is moving to and fro. She thinks
she sees glimmers of light near the floor.
M. Mathieu feels a hand and an arm pushing the curtain against him. M.
Antoniadi says that he is touched by a cushion; his chair is pulled
and turns under him as if on a pivot. He is touched again on the elbow
by some object.
It is ascertained that M. Jules Bois is holding Eusapia's right hand
above the table; M. Antoniadi assures us that he is holding her left
hand, and M. Mathieu her feet.
The curtain is again shaken twice; M. Antoniadi is hit in the back
very hard, he says, and a hand pulls his hair. The only light
remaining is the little lamp with a shade, behind an easy-chair at the
farther end of the salon. I continue to write, but my strokes take all
kinds of shapes.
Suddenly, M. Antoniadi exclaims that he is enveloped by the curtain,
which rests upon his shoulders. Eusapia cries, "What is this that is
passing over me?" The round table comes forth beneath the curtain.
Mme. Flammarion, who is standing opposite the window, and has kept
looking behind the curtain, says that she sees some very white object.
At the same moment M. Flammarion, Mme. Fourton, and M. Jules Bois
exclaim that they have just seen a white hand between the curtains,
above Eusapia's head; and, at the same moment, M. Mathieu says that
his hair is being pulled. The hand we saw seemed small, like that of a
woman or of a child.
"If there is a hand there," says M. Flammarion, "could it perhaps
grasp an object?" M. Jules Bois holds a book out toward the middle of
the right-hand curtain. The book is taken and held two seconds. Mme.
Flammarion, whom I see always silhouetted upon the bright glass of the
window, and who is looking behind the curtain, _cries that she has
seen the book pass through_.
M. F. proposes to light up and verify. But everybody agrees in
thinking that the curtain may have already changed its position. A
moment afterwards the curtain is again puffed out, and M. Antoniadi
says that he is hit four or five times on the shoulder. Eusapia has
asked him more than ten times whether he is quite "_seguro_" (sure)
that he has hold of her hand and her foot.
"Yes, yes," he replies, "_seguro, segurissimo_" ("sure, quite sure").
Mme. Fourton says that for the second time she has seen a hand
stretched out and that this time it touched the shoulder of M.
Antoniadi. M. Jules Bois says that for the second time he has seen a
hand stretched out at the end of a small arm, the fingers moving, the
palm forward. (It is impossible to decide whether these two visions
were simultaneous or not.)
We are getting accustomed to the almost complete darkness; I can still
read "11.15" by my watch. M. Antoniadi says his ear is pinched very
hard. M. Mathieu says he is touched. M. Antoniadi feels his chair
pulled: it falls to the floor. He lifts it again and seats himself on
it, and is again hit very hard on the shoulder.
About 11.20, at the request of Eusapia, M. Flammarion replaces M.
Mathieu. He holds her two feet and one hand; M. Antoniadi holds the
other hand. The lamp is lowered still more. The darkness is almost
complete. M. Flammarion, having remarked that an unknown physical
force is evidently present, but perhaps not an individual personality,
feels his hand seized all of a sudden by some one (or some thing), and
is interrupted. Then, a little after, he complains that his beard is
being pulled (on the side opposite the medium, where I am. I did not
perceive anything).
At 11.30 the lamp is turned up. It is comparatively bright in the
room. The curtain, after all these movements, is seen to be more and
more pushed aside, enveloping the head of Eusapia. Suddenly, above her
head, we all see the tambourine slowly appear and fall upon the table
with a noise like that of sheep-bells. It seems to me brighter than
the feeble glimmer of the concealed lamp would justify and as if
accompanied by white phosphorescent gleams; but they are perhaps
flashes of light from its gilded ornaments, which, however, ought to
appear yellower.
When the lamp is turned down, the noise of moving furniture is heard;
the round table is fetched clear up onto the top of the large table.
It is removed, and the tambourine executes a dance all alone with a
peculiar sound like the ringing of bells. Mme. Fourton says that she
has had her hand pressed and her fore-arm pinched.
At 11.45 the window curtain is closed in its turn; and, after a
moment, we all see in the direction in which the cleft in the corner
curtain ought to be, above Eusapia's head, a large white star of the
color of Vega, though larger and of a softer light, and which rests
motionless for some seconds, then is extinguished. Shortly after, a
zigzag glimmer of light, of the same white color, runs over the
right-hand curtain, tracing two or three upright lines of several
inches in length, like an N very much elongated.
In spite of the fact that night has fallen, there is still sufficient
light entering by the two uncurtained windows, and proceeding from the
vague glimmer of the lamp behind the easy-chair, to enable each one
of us to distinguish his neighbors. Our silhouettes are outlined in
the large mirror near us and above the sofa. The white collars of the
men are clearly seen, their faces a little less clearly. Yet on my
left I see very plainly M. Baschet, on my right Mme. Brisson, standing
and holding her hand up to her face to shield the eyes. I also
distinguish Mme. Flammarion, who has come and seated herself near her.
M. Flammarion feels an object gliding over his hair. He begs Mme. de
Labadye to take hold of it; and a music-box falls into his hands,
which, before the seance, was placed upon the ogee, in the corner
concealed by the curtain. M. Brisson has taken the place at the table
formerly occupied by M. Flammarion, facing Eusapia. A cushion hits him
full in the face. As I am approaching the mirror, I see the reflection
of this passing cushion by the comparatively bright light at the far
end of the room.
M. Baschet seizes the object and rests his elbow upon it. It is
snatched from him, flies over our heads, hits the mirror, falls upon
the sofa, and rolls upon my foot. All this without my being able to
perceive any movement on the part of the medium.
Midnight draws near. The seance is adjourned.
MM. Antoniadi and Mathieu then declare that the control with which
they were charged has not been successful, and that they are not sure
that they have always had hold of the medium's hands.
Report of M. Antoniadi
(_The Same Seance_)
I shall give you an exact account of the role I played, that I may
gratify your desire to know the truth.
I restricted myself to ascertaining whether there was _a single
phenomenon_ which could not be explained in the most simple manner,
and I arrived at the conclusion that there was not. I assure you, on
my word of honor, that my watchful, silent attitude _convinced me,
beyond all manner of doubt, that everything is fraudulent, from the
beginning to the end_; that there is no doubt that Eusapia shifts her
hands or her feet, and that the hand or the foot that one is thought
to control is never held tight or very strongly pressed at the moment
of the production of the phenomena. My certain conclusion is that
_nothing_ is produced without the substitution of hands. I ought to
add that, at first, I was very much astonished when I was hit hard in
the back, from behind the curtain, while I was very clearly holding
_two hands_ with my right hand. Happily, however, at this moment, Mme.
Flammarion having given us a little light, I saw that I held the
_right_ hand of Eusapia and--yours!
The substitution is made by Eusapia with extraordinary dexterity. In
order to ascertain it, I was obliged to concentrate my mind upon her
very slightest movements with the severest attention. But it is the
first step that costs; and, once familiarized with her artifices, I
predicted with decision _all_ the phenomena by the sensation of touch
alone.
Being a good observer, I am absolutely certain that I was not
deceived. I was neither hypnotized, nor was I at all frightened during
the "bringing in" of objects. And, as I am not a lunatic, I believe
that a certain weight should be given to my affirmations.
It is true that, during the seance, I was not sincere, disguising the
truth of the efficacy of my control. I did that with the sole purpose
of making Eusapia think that I was a convert to Spiritualism. I did
this to _avoid scandal_. But, once the sitting was over, the Truth
choked me, and I was most eager to communicate it to my great
benefactor and official superior.
It is not prudent to be too affirmative. It is for that reason that I
have always been reserved in my interpretation of natural phenomena.
Consequently, I am unable to be so terribly affirmative as to take
oath to the absolute charlatanism of the manifestations of Eusapia,
before, as Shakespeare says, I have "rendered assurance doubly sure."
I have no personal ambition in the spiritistic line, and all the
careful observations that I made during this seance of November 21 are
only one stone the more contributed to the edifice of Truth.
_It is not on account of prejudice_ that I do not believe in the
reality of the manifestations, and I can assure you, if I were able to
see _the least_ phenomenon that was really extraordinary or
inexplicable, I should be the first to confess my error.
The reading of several books has led me to admit the possible reality
of these manifestations, but direct experience has convinced me of the
contrary.
My frankness in this report unhappily borders upon indiscretion. But
frankness is here synonymous with devotion, for it would be to betray
you if I were false for an instant to the sacred cause of Truth.
Report of M. Mathieu.
(_Seance of November 25_)
The seance opens at 9.30. M. Brisson, controller on the left, puts his
feet on Eusapia's feet; M. Flammarion, controller on the right, holds
her knees. In a moment the table leans to the right, its two left feet
are lifted and then it falls back; then follows the lifting of the two
right feet, and finally the lifting of the whole table off of its four
feet to a height of about seven inches above the floor (contact of
feet certain and knees motionless). I take a photograph.
At 9.37 a slight lifting on the left; then a lifting on the right, and
a total levitation (photograph).
During the levitations of the table the salon is lighted by a strong
Auer burner. It is now extinguished and is replaced by a little lamp
which is placed behind a fire-screen at the farther end of the room.
Absolute control of the hands and of the feet made by MM. Brisson and
Flammarion.
M. Brisson is slightly touched on the right hip, and at this moment
the two hands of Eusapia are plainly seen.
At 9.48 the curtain shakes and then puffs out three times in
succession. M. Brisson is again touched on the right hip; the curtain
is drawn back as if by a curtain-band. M. Flammarion, who holds
Eusapia's hand, makes three gestures and to each of his gestures
corresponds a new divergence of the portiere. Eusapia recommends that
we "give attention to the temperature of the medium; it will be found
to be changed after each phenomenon."
At 9.57 the light is diminished and is henceforth very feeble. The
curtain bellies out, and at the same moment M. Brisson is touched;
then the curtain is flung forcefully over the table. At the request of
Eusapia, M. Delanne lightly touches her head behind, and the curtain
slightly trembles.
Eusapia asks that a window be partly opened, the one in the middle of
the salon, saying that we shall see something new. M. Flammarion holds
with his left hand the knees of the medium, and with his right hand
holds the wrist, the thumb, and the palm of her right hand before him
at the height of the eyes. M. Brisson holds the left hand. Eusapia
seems to call something from the direction of the window, making
gestures, and saying, "I will catch it." Then a little branch of
privet comes and touches M. Flammarion's hand, apparently arriving
from somewhere near the window. M. F. takes this branch. A moment
later two spindle-tree branches come from behind the curtain at the
height of M. Brisson's head and past the edge of the curtain, which is
pulled up and back. The branches fall on the table.
M. Brisson, all this time at Eusapia's left, is next touched on the
hip, _at a moment when the hand of the medium is at the height of M.
Flammarion's beard_. Then the chair of M. Brisson is pulled and pushed
about. We hear distinctly, behind the curtain, sounds from the shaking
of the round table, upon which is the tambourine. Certain vibrations
of the tambourine are produced, corresponding to the movements of the
round table. At this moment M. Brisson mentions the fact that he has
been out of touch with the foot of the medium for about half a second,
but he is then holding her two thumbs about ten inches apart, and M.
Flammarion has her right hand close to his breast. The right hand of
M. Brisson, holding the left of Eusapia, passes behind the curtain,
and M. Brisson says that he has the impression of something like a
dress-skirt puffed out against his ankle.
Thereupon ensues new jolting and bumping of the round table and the
tambourine, with displacement of the round table. (Undoubted control
by MM. Flammarion and Brisson.)
10.30. Clattering noises of the round table in the cabinet are heard.
M. Flammarion makes gestures with his hand, and synchronistic
movements of the table and of the tambourine take place in the dark
cabinet.
10.35. Eusapia asks for a few minutes' rest. The sitting is resumed at
10.43. The violin and the bell are hurled with force through the cleft
in the curtain (M. Brisson gives assurance that he holds Eusapia's
left hand by the thumb, upon her knees, and M. Flammarion the entire
right hand). At this moment a photograph is taken by flash-light.
Cries and groans from Eusapia, blinded by the light.
The sitting begins again some minutes afterward, and M. Jules
Claretie, sitting at the left of M. Brisson, has his fingers twice
touched by a hand. M. Baschet, who is standing away from the table,
holds out a violin to the curtain: the violin is seized and thrown
into the cabinet. He holds a book out to the curtain: this book is
seized, but falls to the floor, _before the curtain_.
M. Claretie presents a cigarette-holder and feels a hand which tries
to seize it, but he resists and will not let it go. M. Flammarion asks
him to let go of the object: the hand bears off the prize. A moment
after, this object is thrown from the cleft between the two curtains
against Mme. de Basilewska at the other end of the table. It had been
both presented and removed at the middle of the curtain.
At eleven o'clock Eusapia begs for a little more light. M. Claretie
has become controller of the left in place of M. Brisson. He is
touched on the left side. Then the round table is overturned while
advancing toward the main table. M. Claretie perceives that his chair
is moving backwards, as if pulled back; then he is hit on the shoulder
and experiences a strong pressure under the arm-pit. The curtain
suddenly approaches M. Claretie, brushes against him, and envelops
both himself and the medium. M. Claretie is then pinched in the cheek.
M. Flammarion presents to the curtain the hand of Mme. Fourton, and
the two hands are pinched through the curtain.
The music-box, which is in the dark cabinet, falls on the table; Mmes.
Gagneur and Flammarion at the same moment make mention of a hand. M.
Baschet presents the music-box to the curtain; a hand seizes it
through the curtain, he resists, the hand pushes him away; he presents
it again, the hand seizes it and throws it back, and the box thus
thrown wounds M. Claretie, who is struck beneath the left eye. The
tambourine is thrown forward upon the table after having remained
suspended a moment above the head of the medium.
At 11.15 a complete levitation of the table for seven or eight
seconds. Absolute control by MM. Flammarion and Claretie. M.
Flammarion has his knee pinched by a hand. Next the round table is
transferred to the knees of M. Claretie and is forced upon him in
spite of all his resistance. Levitations of the table take place in
full light. Verification of the feet. The feet of one of the
controllers are beneath, those of the other above, and those of the
medium between the two.
Report of M. Pallotti
(_Seance of November 14_)
(There are present at this seance, besides the hosts of the evening:
M. and Mme. Brisson, M. and Mme. Pallotti, M. le Bocain, M. Boutigny,
Mme. Fourton.)
At the commencement of the sitting several levitations of the table
took place, and, when I asked the spirit who was present if he could
let me see my daughter Rosalie, I obtained an affirmative reply. I
then made an agreement with the said spirit that a series of eight
regular raps would indicate to me the moment when my dear daughter
would be present. After some minutes of waiting, the number of raps
agreed on was heard in the table. These raps were vigorous and made at
fixed intervals.
I found, at this time, that I was placed opposite to the medium,--that
is to say, facing her,--at the other end of the table. When I asked
the spirit to embrace me and caress me, I immediately felt an icy
breath before my face, but yet without experiencing the least
sensation of contact.
When the medium announced the materialization of the spirit in these
words, "_E venuta, e venuta_" ("She is here, she is here"), I
distinguished over the middle of the table a spectral form, dim and
confused, but which, little by little, grew brighter, and took the
shape of the head of a young girl of the same stature as Rosalie.
When objects, such as the music-box, violin, or the like, were
unexpectedly brought before us, I saw very plainly the shape of a
little hand emerging from the curtain that hung close by me, and which
placed these different objects upon the table.
I ought to declare that, during these inexplicable phenomena, the
chain was not broken for a single moment: it would consequently have
been materially impossible for one of us to have made use of his
hands.
I will now describe the last phenomena in which I was for a little
while both actor and spectator. These events closed the seance.
One of the company, M. Boutigny, who was affianced to my daughter,
having left the table to give his place to one of the spectators, I
saw him approach the curtain of which I have spoken, which at once
gaped open by his side. I ascertained this fact very precisely.
M. Boutigny then announced to us aloud that he was being very
affectionately caressed. The medium, who was at this moment in an
extraordinary state of agitation, kept saying, "_Amore mio, amore
mio!_" ("My love, my love!"), and, addressing herself to me, called to
me several times in the following words, "_Adesso vieni tu! vieni
tu!_" ("Come at once, come!")
I hastened to take the place which M. Boutigny occupied near the
curtain, and I was scarcely there when I felt myself kissed several
times. I was able for an instant to touch the head which was kissing
me, which, however, drew back from the contact of my hands.
I ought to say that, while these events were taking place, my eyes
were carefully observing the medium as well as the persons who were by
my side. I can therefore, boldly certify that I was not the victim of
any illusion or subterfuge, and that the head which I touched was the
head of a real and unknown person. I felt myself afterwards gently
stroked several times, upon the face and head, the neck and the
breast, by a hand which came out from behind the curtain. At last I
saw the portiere move aside and a little hand, very moist, very soft,
stretched out and placed on my right hand. Quick as thought, I reached
my left hand to this place to seize it; but, after having held it
closely pressed in mine for several seconds, it seemed to melt away
between my fingers.
Before closing, let me say, by way of additional authentication, that
M. Flammarion had the extreme kindness to have this seance given for
my family and myself, and it therefore took on a very markedly private
character.
The seance having lasted from 9.20 to 11.45 P.M., we several times
asked the medium if she felt fatigued. Eusapia said no. It was only
when the last experiment took place, when we (myself and my family)
had been caressed and embraced, that the medium, feeling tired,
decided to end the sitting.
My wife is convinced, as I am, that she embraced her daughter,
recognizing her hair and the general appearance of her person.
Report of M. Le Bocain
(_The Same Seance_)
The following are some extraordinary phenomena which I observed during
the course of this seance and of which I believe I can give a report
as exact as it is impartial, having personally taken the most minute
precautions to assure myself of the perfect fairness of the conditions
under which these different wonders were produced.
I only speak, be it understood, of circumstances or actions with which
I myself was associated both as actor and as spectator.
1. At the opening of the sitting and _during the time_ that the table
was engaged in all sorts of noisy pranks, I clearly felt the pressure
of a hand clasping me in a friendly way upon the right shoulder. In
order to make the matters clear, I ought to depose that--
a) I sat at the left of the medium and held her hand; that,
furthermore, during the whole sitting her foot was placed on mine.
b) That, with Eusapia's hand always tightly pressed in mine, I proved,
by _suddenly_ placing it upon her knees, _at the very moment that the
table was rising from beside us_, that her lower limbs were in a
normal position and _absolutely motionless_.
c) For these different reasons, it seems to me, in fact, _impossible_
that Eusapia could have made any use whatever of these two limbs
(which happened to be placed by me) to execute a movement, even
unconscious, that could give rise to the least suspicion.
2. At a certain point in the proceedings I felt on my right cheek the
sensation of a fondling caress. I felt very distinctly that it was a
real hand which was touching my skin, and nothing else. The hand in
question seemed to me of small size, and the skin was soft and moist.
3. Towards the end of the seance I felt upon my back a gust of cold
air, and at the same time _I heard_ the curtain behind me slowly open.
Then, when I turned around, very much puzzled, I perceived standing at
the lower end of this kind of alcove a form,--indistinct, it is true,
but not so much so that I could not recognize the silhouette of a
young girl whose figure was slightly beneath the average. I ought to
say here that my sister Rosalie was also of short stature. The head of
this apparition was not very distinct. It seemed surrounded by a short
of shaded aureole. The whole form of the statue, if I may so express
myself, stood out very little from the dim obscurity from which it had
emerged; that is to say, it was not very luminous.
4. I addressed myself to the spirit in Arabic, in very nearly the
following terms:
"If it is really thou, Rosalie, who art in the midst of us, pull the
hair on the back of my head three times in succession."
About ten minutes later, and when I had almost completely forgotten
my request, I felt my hair pulled three separate times, just as I had
desired. I certify this fact, which, besides, formed for me a most
convincing truth of the presence of a familiar spirit close about us.
LE BOCAIN, _Illustrator_,
_Rire, Pele-Mele, Chronique Amusante, etc._
I have restricted myself to presenting here these different reports,[28]
in spite of certain contradictions, and even because of them. The reports
mutually supplement each other and form a complete whole, through the
entire independence of each observer.
You see how complex the subject is, and how difficult it is to form a
radical conviction, an absolute scientific judgment. Some phenomena are
incontestably true: there are others which are doubtful and which we may
attribute to fraud, conscious or unconscious, and sometimes also to
illusions of the observers. The levitation of the table, for example, its
complete detachment from the floor under the action of an unknown force
acting in opposition to the law of gravity, is a fact which cannot
reasonably be contested.
I may remark, in this connection, that the table almost always rises
hesitatingly, after balancings and oscillations, while, on the contrary,
when it falls back it goes straight down at one swoop, alighting squarely
on its four feet.[29]
On the other hand, since the medium constantly seeks to release one hand
(generally her left hand) from the control designed to hinder her from
doing so, a certain number of the touches felt and of the displacements of
objects may be due to a substitution of hands. This behavior of hers will
be the subject of a special examination in the following chapter.
But it would be impossible by the whole force of the hand to produce the
violent movement of the curtain, which seems to be inflated by a
tempestuous wind, and projected to the very centre of the table, forming a
great hood around the heads of the sitters. To fling out the curtain with
such force, it would be necessary for the medium to rise and push on it as
hard as she could with her extended arms--not once merely, but again and
again. But how can she do this when she is all the while seated tranquilly
in her chair?
These experiments place us in a special environment or atmosphere, on the
different physical and psychical characters of which it is difficult to
form an opinion.
At the time of the last seance, during which M. and Mme. Pallotti are sure
of having seen, touched, and embraced their daughter, I saw nothing, at
that moment, of this spectral form, although it was only a few yards from
me, and although I had perceived, some moments before, the head of a young
girl. It is true that, out of respect for their emotion, I did not
approach their group. But I kept careful watch, and I perceived no one but
the living.
At the seance of November 10 the noise of a sonorous object notified us of
a displacement, a movement. We seem to hear the violin strings lightly
touched. It is, in fact, the little violin on the round table, which is
lifted to a height somewhat above that of the head of the medium, passes
into the opening between the two curtains, and appears before us with the
neck forward. The idea comes into my head to grasp this instrument during
its slow passage through the air; but I hesitate, because I wish to see
what will become of it. It comes as far as the middle of the table,
descends, then falls, partly upon the table, partly upon the left hand of
M. Brisson and the right hand of Mme. Fourton.
That was one of the most accurate observations that I made at this seance.
I did not let go of Eusapia's right hand for a single instant, and M.
Brisson did not for a moment let go of her left hand.
But in the face of phenomena so incomprehensible we always revert to
scepticism. In the seance of November 19 we had thoroughly resolved this
time not to leave any loophole for doubt as to the hands, to hinder every
attempt at substitution, and to have the most complete control of each
hand, without having our attention withdrawn from this object for a single
moment. Eusapia has only two hands. She belongs to the same zoological
species that we do, and is neither trimanous nor quadrumanous.
It was enough, then, that there were two of us; that each one took a hand
of the medium and kept hold of it between the thumb and the forefinger,
that no possible doubt might arise, drew in the elbows, and held the said
hand as far removed as possible from the axis of the medium's body and
pressed against our own person, so as to remove the objection about the
substitution of hands.
That was the essential object of this seance, as far as concerned M.
Brisson and me. He had charge of the left hand. I had charge of the
right. I need not add that I am as sure of the loyalty of M. Brisson as he
is sure of mine, and that, forewarned as we were, and holding this seance
for the express purpose of this control, we could neither of us be the
dupes of any attempt at fraud, so far as regards that occasion, at least.
The famous medium, Home, had several times spoken to me of a curious
experiment that he and Crookes made with an accordion held in one of his
hands and playing all by itself, without the lower end being held by
another hand. Crookes has represented this experiment by a sketch in his
memoir upon this subject. The medium is seen holding the accordion with
one hand in a kind of open-work cage, and the accordion is playing by
itself. I shall give the details of this matter farther on.
I tried the experiment in another way, by holding the accordion myself,
and not letting it be touched by the medium. The feats which we had just
witnessed, and which were performed while Eusapia had her hands securely
held, gave me the hope of succeeding, so much the more because we believed
that we had seen fluid hands in action.
I, therefore, take a little new accordion, bought that evening in a
bazaar, and, approaching the table and remaining in a standing position, I
hold the accordion by one side, resting two fingers upon two keys, in such
a way as to permit the air to pass in case the instrument should begin to
play.
So held, it is vertically suspended by the stretching out of my right hand
to the height of my head, and above the head of the medium. We make sure
that her hands are all the time tightly held and that the chain is
unbroken. After a short wait of five or six seconds I feel the accordion
drawn by its free end, and the bellows is immediately pushed in several
times successively; and at the same time the music is heard. There is not
the least doubt that a hand, a pair of pincers, or what-not, has hold of
the lower end of the instrument. I perceive very well the resistance of
this prehensible organ. All possibility of fraud is eliminated; for the
instrument is well above Eusapia's head, her hands are firmly held, and I
distinctly see the distention of the curtain as far as the instrument. The
accordion continues to make itself heard, and is pulled on so strongly
that I say to the invisible power, "Well, since you have such a good hold
on it, keep it!" I withdraw my hand, and the instrument remains as if
glued to the curtain. It is no longer heard. What has become of it? I
propose to light a candle to hunt for it. But the general opinion is that,
since things are going so well, it is better to make no changes in the
environment. While we are talking, the accordion begins to play,--a slight
and rather insignificant air. In order to do that, it must be held by two
hands. At the end of fifteen or twenty seconds it is brought to the middle
of the table (playing all the while). The certainty that hands are playing
it is so complete that I say to the Unknown, "Since you hold the accordion
so well, you can doubtless take my hand itself." I reach out my arm at the
height of my head, rather a little higher. The curtain inflates, and
through the curtain I feel a hand (a pretty strong left hand); that is to
say, three fingers and the thumb, and these grasp the end of my right
hand.
Let us suppose for an instant that the accordion could have been pulled by
one of Eusapia's hands, which she had released, lifted up, and screened
behind the curtain. It is a very natural hypothesis. Let us say that the
two controllers on the right and on the left respectively were cheated by
the dexterity of the medium. That is not impossible. But, then, that the
instrument might play, our heroine would have had to release her two hands
and leave the two controllers at loggerheads with their own hands. It is
something not to be thought of.
Apropos of the existence of a third hand, a fluid hand, created on the
spur of the moment, with muscles and bones (an hypothesis so bold that one
hardly dares to express it), I relate here what we observed during the
sitting of November 19.
M. Guillaume de Fontenay, with whom the experiments at Montfort-l'Amaury
were made, in 1897, at the home of the Blech family, had come on purpose
from the centre of France, with a great profusion of apparatus and of new
processes, to try to get some photographs. The medium appeared to be
enchanted with them, and toward the middle of the soiree said to us, "You
are going to have, this evening, something that you did not expect,
something which has never been accomplished by any other medium, and which
can be photographed as an unimpeachable record." She then explains to us
that I am to lift my hand up, while firmly holding hers by the wrist; that
M. Sardou, while holding her left hand, will keep watch over it above the
table, and that then her third hand will appear in the photograph, her
fluidic hand, holding the violin near her head, at some distance from her
right hand, behind her, and against the curtain.
We wait pretty long before anything happens. At length, the medium
trembles, sighs, recommends that we breathe deeply and thus aid her, and
we feel, rather than see, the moving of the violin through the air, with a
slight vibrating noise of the strings. Eusapia cries, "It is time, take
the photograph, quick, don't wait, fire!" But the apparatus does not work:
the magnesium won't kindle. The medium grows impatient, still holds out,
but cries that she cannot hold out much longer. We all vehemently clamor
for the photograph. Nothing moves. In the darkness, which is needed in
order that the plate in the camera shall not have to be veiled, M. de
Fontenay does not succeed in lighting the magnesium, and the violin is
heard to fall to the floor.
The medium seems exhausted, groans, laments, and we all regret this check
to the proceedings; but Eusapia declares that she can begin again, and
asks us to get ready. In fact, at the end of five or six minutes the same
phenomena are produced. M. de Fontenay explodes a chlorate of potassium
pistol. The light is instantaneous, but feeble. It enables us to see
Eusapia's left hand being held upon the table by M. Sardou's right hand,
her right hand held in the air by my left hand, and at a distance of about
twelve inches in the rear, at the height of one's head, the violin,
resting vertically against the curtain. But the photograph gives no
picture.
Eusapia now asks for a little light ("_poco di luce_"). The small
hand-lamp is lighted again, and the illumination is sufficient for us to
see each other distinctly, including the arms, the head of the medium, the
curtain, etc. The chain is formed again. The curtain flares widely out,
and M. Sardou is several times touched by a hand which gives him a good
whack on the shoulder, making him bend his head forward toward the table.
In the presence of this manifestation and of these sensations we have
again the impression that there has been a hand there, a hand different
from those of the medium (which we continue carefully to hold),--and from
ours, because we are holding each other's hands in the chain. Moreover,
there is no one near the curtain, which is plainly visible. I thereupon
remark, "Since there is a hand there, let it take from me this violin, as
it did day before yesterday." I take the violin by the handle and hold it
out to the curtain. It is at once taken and lifted, then falls to the
floor. I do not for a moment let go the hand of the medium. Yet I grasp
this hand with my right hand, for a moment, in order to pick up with my
left the violin that has fallen near me. As I stoop down to the floor, I
feel an icy breath upon my hand, but nothing more. I take the violin and
put it on the table; then I take again with my left hand the hand of the
medium, and, seizing the violin with my right, I hold it out again to the
curtain. But Mme. Brisson, peculiarly incredulous, asks me to let her take
it herself. She does so, holds it out to the curtain, and the instrument
is snatched from her, in spite of all the efforts that she makes to retain
it. Everybody declares they saw very distinctly this time.
The hands of the medium have not been let go a single minute.
It seems as if this experiment, made under these conditions, in sufficient
light, ought to leave no doubt about the existence of a third hand of the
medium which acts in obedience to her will. And yet!--
During this same soiree of November 19 I ask that the violin, which has
fallen to the floor, be brought again upon the table. We keep holding
carefully the medium's hands, M. Sardou her left hand and I her right.
Eusapia, wishing to give still more security, more certainty, proposes
that I take her two hands, the right as I am holding it, and her left
wrist in my right hand, her left hand always being held by M.
Sardou,--_the whole show of hands taking place on the table_. A noise is
heard. The violin is brought on, passes above our hands, thus
criss-crossed, and is laid down, farther on, in the middle of the table. A
candle is lighted, and the position of our hands is ascertained. They have
not moved. Some time after this phenomena, in the dim light, we all saw
will-o'-the-wisps shining in the cabinet. They were visible through the
cleft in the curtains, which at that time was rather wide. For my part, I
saw three of them, the first very brilliant, the others less intense. They
were not tremulous, nor did they stir in the least, and remained in view
scarcely more than a second.
M. Antoniadi having remarked that he is not always sure of holding her
left hand, Eusapia says to me in a flush of passion, "Since he is not
sure, take my two hands yourself again." I already hold the right, and am
absolutely certain of it. I thereupon take her left wrist in my right
hand, M. A. declaring that he will take care of the fingers. In this
position, Eusapia's two hands being thus held above the table, a cushion,
which is at my right upon the table, having been forcibly thrown there
some moments before, is seized and thrown over the sofa, brushing my
forehead on the left. Those who sit at the table and form the chain affirm
that the hands of the chain have not lost touch with each other.
Here is another circumstance recorded in the notes of Mme. Flammarion:
We were almost in complete darkness,--the lamp, removed as far as
possible from Eusapia, having only the dim glow of a night-lamp.
Eusapia was seated at the experiment table,--between MM. Brisson and
Pallotti, who were holding her two hands,--and almost facing this
lamp.
Mme. Brisson and I were seated some yards distant from Eusapia, one of
us on the side and the other in the middle of the salon, Eusapia
facing us, while we had our backs turned to the light. This allowed us
to distinguish well enough everything that passed before us.
Up to the moment when the event that I am going to relate took place,
Mme. Brisson had remained almost as incredulous as I, apropos of the
phenomena, and she had just been expressing to me in a low tone her
regret at not having yet seen anything herself, when, all of a sudden,
the curtain behind Eusapia began to shake and move gracefully back, as
if lifted by an invisible curtain band,--and what do I see? The little
table on three feet, and leaping (apparently in high spirits) over the
floor, at the height of about eight inches, while the gilded
tambourine is in its turn leaping gayly at the same height above the
table, and noisily tinkling its bells.
Stupefied with wonder, quick as I can I pull Mme. Brisson to my side,
and, pointing with my finger at what is taking place, "Look!" said I.
And then the table and the tambourine begin their carpet-dance again
in perfect unison, one of them falling forcibly upon the floor and the
other upon the table. Mme. Brisson and I could not help bursting out
into laughter; for, indeed, it was too funny! A sylph could not have
been more amusing.
Eusapia had not turned around. She was seen seated; and her hands, placed
before her, were held by the two controllers. Even if she had been able to
free both her hands, she would not have been able to take hold of the
round table and tambourine, except by turning around; and the two ladies
saw them leaping about all alone.
I observe to Eusapia that she must be very tired, that the seance has
lasted over two hours and has yielded extraordinary results, and that it
is perhaps time to end it. She replies that she desires to continue still
a little longer, and that there will be new phenomena. We accept with
pleasure, and sit down and wait.
Then she lays her head on my shoulder, takes my entire right arm,
including the hand, and putting my leg between hers, and my feet between
her feet, she held me very tight. Then she begins to rub the carpet,
drawing my feet along with hers, and squeezing me tighter than before.
Then she cries, "_Spetta! spetta!_" ("Look! look!"); then, "_Vieni!
vieni!_" ("Come! come!") She invites M. Pallotti to take a place behind
his wife and see what will happen. I must add that both of them had been
earnestly asking, for some minutes, if they might see and embrace their
daughter, as they had done at Rome.
After a new nervous effort on the part of Eusapia, and a kind of
convulsion accompanied by groans, complaints, and cries, there was a great
movement of the curtain. Several times I see the head of a young girl
bowing before me, with high-arched forehead and with long hair.
She bows three times, and shows her dark profile against the window. A
moment after we hear sounds from M. and Mme. Pallotti. They are covering
with kisses the face of a being invisible to us, saying to her with
passionate affection, "Rosa, Rosa, my dear, my Rosalie," etc. They say
they felt between their hands the face and the hair of their daughter.
My impression was that there was really there a fluidic being. I did not
touch it. The grief of the parents, revived and consoled at the same time,
seemed to me so worthy of respect that I did not approach them. But, as to
the identity of the spectral being, I believed it to be a sentimental
illusion of theirs.
I come now to the strangest circumstances of all, the most
incomprehensible, the most incredible, of any that we experienced in our
seances.
On November 21 M. Jules Bois presents a book before the curtain at about
the height of a man standing upright. The salon is dimly lighted by a
little lamp with a shade, set pretty well to one side. Yet objects are
seen with distinctness.
An invisible hand behind the curtain seizes the book. Then all the
observers see it disappear as if it had passed through the curtain. It is
not seen to fall before the curtain. It is an octavo, rather slender,
bound in red, which I have just taken from my library.
Now Mme. Flammarion, almost as sceptical as M. Baschet about these
phenomena, had glided past the window to the rear of the curtain, in order
to observe carefully what was passing. She hoped to detect a movement of
the medium's arm, and to unmask her, in spite of the courtesy she owed her
as her hostess. She saw very plainly Eusapia's head, motionless before the
mirror which reflected the light.
Suddenly the book appears to her, it having passed through the
curtain,--upheld in the air, without hands or arms, for a space of one or
two seconds. Then she sees it fall down. She cries, "Oh! the book: it has
just passed through the curtain!" and, pale and stupefied with wonder, she
abruptly retires among the observers.
The entire hither side of the curtain was plainly visible, because the
left portion of the left-hand curtain had been loosened from its rod by
the weight of a person who had sat down on the sofa where the lower part
of the curtain had been accidentally placed; and because a large opening
had been made fronting the mirror which filled the entire wall of the
farther end of the salon,--a mirror that reflected the light of the little
lamp.
If such an event had really taken place, we should be forced to admit that
the book went through the curtain without any opening, for the tissue of
the fabric is wholly intact; and we cannot suppose for a single moment
that it passed through at the side, the book having been held out about
the middle,--that is to say, about twenty-four inches from each side of
the curtain, the breadth of which is four feet.
Nevertheless, this book was seen by Mme. Flammarion, who was looking
behind the curtain; and it disappeared from the eyes of the persons who
were in front, notably M. Baschet, M. Brisson, M. J. Bois, Mme. Fourton
and myself. We were not expecting this miracle in any way; we were
stupefied by it; we asked what had become of the book, and it seemed as if
it had fallen behind the curtain.
Collective hallucination? But we were all in cool blood, entirely
self-possessed.
If Eusapia had been able to adroitly slip her hand around and seize the
book through the portiere, the bare outline of the book would not have
been seen, but a protuberance of the portiere.
How great a value the sight of this thing passing through a portiere would
have as a scientific datum, if one were only sure of the absolute honesty
of the medium,--if, indeed, this medium were a man of science, a
physicist, a chemist, an astronomer, whose scientific integrity would be
above suspicion! The mere fact of the possibility of fraud takes away
ninety-nine one-hundredths of the worth of the observation, and makes it
necessary for us to see it a hundred times before being sure. The
conditions of certainty ought to be understood by all investigators, and
it is curious to hear intelligent persons express surprise at our doubts,
and at the strict scientific obligation we are under to lay down these
conditions. In order to be sure of abnormalities like these levitations,
for example, we must make sure of them a hundred times over; not see them
once, but a hundred times.
It seems to us impossible that matter could pass through matter. You place
for example a stone upon a napkin. If one should tell you that he has
found it under the napkin, without any break in the continuity of the
tissue, you would not believe him. However, I take a piece of ice,
weighing say two pounds, and place it upon a napkin; I place both upon a
strainer, in the oven; the piece of ice melts, passes through the napkin,
and falls drop by drop into a basin. I put the whole thing into a freezing
machine, the melted water congeals again; the piece of ice weighing two
pounds has passed through the napkin.
It is very simple, you think. Yes, it is simple because we understand it.
But, of course, this is not the same case as that of the book. Yet, after
all, it is matter passing through matter, after a transformation of its
physical condition.
We might seek explanations, invoke the hypotheses of the fourth dimension,
or discuss the non-Euclidian geometry. It seems to me more simple,
however, to think that, on the one hand, these experiments are not yet
sufficient for us to make an absolute affirmation, and that, on the other
hand, our ignorance of everything is formidable and forbids us to deny
anything.
The phenomena of which I am speaking are so extraordinary that one is led
to doubt them, even when one feels assured that he has seen them. Thus,
for example, I noticed that M. Rene Baschet--my learned friend, present
editor of _Illustration_--affirmed before us all, during the seance and
afterward, that he saw with his own eyes, under the table, a head like
that of a young girl of about twelve years of age, together with the bust.
This head sank down vertically while he was looking at it and disappeared.
He made the affirmation on the 21st, repeated it on the 22d at a theatre
where we met, and on the 25th again at his home. Some time after, M.
Baschet was convinced that he had been deceived, that he had been the dupe
of an illusion. That is also possible. I was looking at the same time, as
well as other persons, and we did not see anything.
It is then very human, when we are thinking, some days later, of these
curious things, for us to suspect ourselves.
But there are prejudices less explicable. Thus, for example, at the seance
of November 28 a distinguished engineer, M. L., absolutely refused to
admit the levitation of the table, in spite of the evidence. Of this my
readers may judge for themselves. Here is a note which I extract from my
reports:
M. L. tells me that the medium lifts the table _with her feet_, while
resting her hands upon it. I ask Eusapia to draw back her feet under
her chair. The table is lifted.
After this second levitation, M. L. declares that he is not satisfied
(although neither of the feet of the medium is under a foot of the
table), and that we must begin the experiment again, without having
_her legs_ touched at any point. The medium then proposes that her
legs be fastened to those of M. L. A third levitation takes place,
after the left leg (the incriminated one) of the medium has been bound
to the left leg of M. L.
This gentleman then declares that the hypotheses he has made, in order
to explain the phenomenon, are null and void, but that there must be,
all the same, a trick in the thing, because he does not believe in the
supernatural.
Neither do I believe in the supernatural. And yet there is no trick.
This manner of reasoning, rather common, does not seem to me scientific.
It is to claim that we know the limits of the possible and of the
impossible.
People who deny that the earth moves reason in just this way. That which
is contrary to common sense is not impossible. Common sense is the average
state of popular knowledge; that is to say, of general ignorance.
A man acquainted with the history of the sciences, and who reasons calmly,
cannot succeed in understanding the ostracism to which certain sceptics
subject unexplained phenomena. "It is impossible," they think. This famous
common sense on which they plume themselves is nothing after all, let me
say, but common opinion, which accepts habitual facts without
comprehending them, and which varies from time to time. What man of good
sense would formerly have admitted that we should one day be able to
photograph the skeleton of a living being, or store up the voice in a
phonograph, or determine the chemical composition of an inaccessible star?
What was science a hundred years ago, two hundred years, three hundred?
Look at astronomy five hundred years ago, and physiology, and medicine,
and natural philosophy, and chemistry. In five hundred years, in a
thousand years, in two thousand years, what will these sciences of ours
be? And in a hundred thousand years? Yes, in a hundred thousand years,
what will human intelligence be? Our actual condition will be to that what
the knowledge of a dog is to that of a cultivated man; that is to say,
there is no possible comparison.
We smile to-day at the science of learned men of the time of Copernicus or
Christopher Columbus or Ambroise Pare, and we forget that, in a few
centuries, savants will estimate us in the same fashion. There are
properties of matter which are completely hidden from us, and humanity is
endowed with faculties still unknown to us. We only advance very slowly in
the knowledge of things.
The critics do not always give proof that they possess a very compact
logical power. You speak to them of facts proved by centuries of
testimony. They challenge the value of popular testimony, and declare that
these uncultivated folks, these petty merchants, these manufacturers,
these laborers, these peasants, are incapable of observing with any
exactitude.
Some days after, you cite the savants, men whose competence has been
proved in the objective sciences of observation, which attest these very
facts, and you hear the sneerers answer that those savants are competent
witnesses in their special lines of study and work, but in nothing apart
from these.
So, after this fashion, all testimony is refused. They declare that the
thing, being impossible, cannot have been observed at all.
Of course there is room for a good deal of analysis in discussing the
claims of human testimony. But, if we suppress every piece of testimony,
what will there be left?--our native ignorance.
But, to tell the truth, there are some of these negative gentry who are
sure of everything, and who impose their aphorisms upon us with the
authority of a czar giving out his ukase or edict.
From these different experiments with Eusapia Paladino, including those
described in the first and second chapters, the impression is left that
the phenomena observed are, to a great extent, real and undeniable; that a
certain number may be produced by fraud; but that, in fact, the subject is
very complex. Again, certain movements simply belong to the material
order, while others belong at once to the physical order and the psychical
order. All this study is vastly more complicated than people in general
have any idea of. I am going to pass summarily in review other experiments
made by the same medium, and shall afterwards devote a special chapter to
the examination of frauds and mystifications.
Let us look, first, at other achievements of Eusapia, and select from them
whatever they also have to impart in the way of instruction or caution.