SOME RECENTLY OBSERVED PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA
_An account of some recently observed Psychical Phenomena produced
in the presence of Doctor Maxwell and Professor Charles
Richet. Arranged by the Translator from notes furnished by Dr.
Maxwell._[17]
[17] It is scarcely necessary for me to certify to the accuracy
of the phenomena mentioned in this chapter, especially when I
am spoken of as having been present.—MAXWELL.
During the last two years exceptional opportunities have been offered
Professor Richet and Dr. Maxwell of observing a medium—whom we will
call _Meurice_—who has furnished Dr. Maxwell with many of his most
important examples of psychical phenomena. I refer to phenomena spoken
of on pp. 74, 81-2, 101-3, 136-7, 152-5, 160-2, 195-9, 201-2, 250.
Dr. X.—a friend of Professor Richet—who does not wish his name to be
mentioned, having been present with Professor Richet and Dr. Maxwell at
some of their experiments, has sent Dr. Maxwell a few notes concerning
those seances at which he was present. Dr. Maxwell has authorised me
to put these notes in order, and to add to them a few extracts from
letters written by Dr. Maxwell to Professor Richet and myself.
These notes and letters were written either during or immediately
after the seances, if I may so call the impromptu occasions on which
the phenomena to be spoken of were obtained.
There is, in these notes, a miscellaneous stream of evidence, the
complexity and importance of which may be presumed, when it is pointed
out that a useful combination of two orders of research has been
at work therein. Dr. Maxwell was chiefly interested in the study
of the facts concomitant with the phenomena, whatever they might
be, whilst Professor Richet devoted himself to the analysis of the
personifications, and to the study of the manifestations from a purely
psychological point of view.
Evidence is the touchstone of truth, and though the reading of parts
of this chapter may sound more like pages out of a fantastic story
than the words of savants, yet the publication of these facts has been
judged necessary by Professor Richet and Dr. Maxwell, in their belief
that no one is justified in setting aside facts which have been well
attested. These facts have been observed—let it not be forgotten—in a
spirit of pure scientific curiosity.
It is, therefore, hoped that this chapter will receive the thoughtful
consideration of many; and that careful analysis will be especially
given to those very parts, the unreal-like romantic nature of which
seems to render them, at a random glance, unworthy of serious thought.
THE MEDIUM AND HIS PHENOMENA
An acute analysis of a medium is of primary importance in the
examination and appreciation of his phenomena, therefore we will first
of all dwell a little on the personality of M. Meurice, the medium in
question.
He is a friend of Dr. Maxwell’s—a friend of some years’ standing.
He is a slightly built man, the reverse of robust, but endowed with
remarkable vitality and recuperative powers. He is thirty-two years
of age; he is unmarried. He is highly sensitive and reserved in
disposition, and forms quick but lasting sympathies and antipathies. He
gives one the impression of being always in a state of hypertension;
his nervous system is most finely strung, and he appears to experience
an irresistible need of constant physical movement. He passes easily
from the extremes of joy to the extremes of sadness. Highly nervous
though he be, Dr. Maxwell has never observed any signs of hysteria,
or any symptoms of a lack of equilibrium in the medium’s mentality.
He is not amenable to the hypnotic sleep, but Dr. Maxwell says he has
sometimes thought that he might eventually succeed in inducing that
state. The few attempts so far made in this direction have given no
results; moreover, M. Meurice does not care to submit himself to this
kind of experimentation. His cutaneous and other sensibilities are
normal; his reflexes also are normal.
He suffers occasionally from violent headaches and neuralgia; and has
frequent gastric attacks, notably after the production of telekinetic
phenomena. Otherwise his health is good. During the production of
phenomena, M. Meurice often acknowledges to a sinking sensation in the
epigastric region, and says it is as though something material were
being drawn out of him at such moments.
He is well read in every branch of literature, and has a most retentive
memory. One has the notion that this medium, to a great extent,
has under his conscious control a large range of what is generally
submerged faculty.
Subliminal operation is, no doubt, constantly going on with us all,
but it is most apparent in M. Meurice. One feels with him that his
unconscious memory is always on the alert.
Amnesia appears to follow rapidly in the footsteps of his visions, but
several things seem to indicate that this amnesia is only apparent.[18]
[18] The amnesia, which appears to follow medianic phenomena,
bears a certain relation to the amnesia which follows dreams.
It is probably due to the weakness of the links between the
conscious personality and the forgotten images. The links
exist, but are not strong enough to bind those images to the
usual stream of personal consciousness. They serve as clues,
however, and the reappearance of the images at a given moment
is due to the working of the usual laws of association.—MAXWELL.
Dr. Maxwell says he always thought he had a psychic in his friend.
However, notwithstanding his medical studies, and wide range
of knowledge of things in general, M. Meurice was ignorant of
metapsychical phenomena, and averse to becoming acquainted with the
practices of spiritism or anything of that nature. Little by little Dr.
Maxwell induced his friend to take some interest in these phenomena,
and one day he persuaded him to put his hands on a table with a view
to seeing whether the two of them together could obtain any phenomena.
Raps were immediately forthcoming; they resounded on the floor. The
medium was startled by the unusual noise and quickly rose from the
table. Nothing more was received on that occasion or for some time
afterwards. Then, for two years, M. Meurice reluctantly and irregularly
yielded to Dr. Maxwell’s persuasions to develop his medianity.
For some time he could not be made to see the importance of his
phenomena, and Dr. Maxwell refused to give weight to his words by
appealing to technical literature. He was desirous of keeping his
friend in ignorance of current notions on these phenomena, thinking the
results would be of greater value if the soil they sprang from were
virgin.
M. Meurice has done all in his power to throw light upon his own
phenomena. His co-operation has been precious, for often his fine
intelligence and well-trained powers of observation have enabled him
to bring into the research valuable analyses of his sensations and
impressions. For this medium not only does not lose consciousness
during the production of his phenomena, he is often at such moments
more thoroughly ‘all there’—to use a Scotch expression—than in his
unproductive moments of abstraction. True, there have been a few
exceptions, but, _as a rule_, he is keenly alive to all that is going
on when phenomena is forthcoming.
The passages I have indicated in Dr. Maxwell’s work will acquaint
the reader with the order and degree of phenomena presented by M.
Meurice, when Professor Richet made his acquaintance. Dr. Maxwell
had studied, almost exclusively, the physical aspect of the facts he
received, and did not encourage phenomena of an intellectual order.
This scientific attitude, however, had not prevented the manifestation
of the phenomenon of personification; and the ‘raps’ speedily put forth
the claims common to spiritualistic beliefs—in spite of the medium’s
ignorance of them. When Professor Richet began to experiment with M.
Meurice, the ‘raps’ had already claimed to emanate from ‘John King,’
‘Chappe d’Auteroche,’ a group of four entities calling themselves the
‘good fairies,’ and, lastly, from two of Dr. Maxwell’s deceased friends.
As the capital interest of this chapter lies in the intelligent aspect
of the phenomena, there is a fact of paramount importance to be pointed
out with emphasis.
Our medium is very amenable to influence, and his phenomena constantly
show the effects of suggestion and influence. I do not, by any
means, wish to infer that M. Meurice is like wax in the hands of his
friends; on the contrary, if it were only a question of personal
consciousness, we might say he is almost impervious to the action
of extraneous influences. His ways of thinking and acting bear the
stamp of independence, and if he yields occasionally to the wishes
of his friends, it is out of pure friendship and with deliberation.
When, however, we are endeavouring to make a psychological study of
a medium, we strive to reach the lower strata at once; the surface
is of little interest when we know that the secret lies below.
Therefore, when I say that M. Meurice is most amenable to influence,
I am bearing in mind that profound region, his general consciousness.
The personal consciousness may be rebellious to influence, but the
subliminal is reached by subtler means than is its grosser envelope,
and is remarkably amenable to the charm of suggestion and the voice of
sympathy. In all probability the reader will find sufficient evidence
of the accuracy of my assertion in the phenomena to be spoken of in the
course of this chapter; therefore, I will not dwell any further upon
this point, although it be an important one.
When experimenting with Eusapia Paladino, Professor Richet had remarked
and called attention to the synchronism which existed between her
phenomena and her movements or muscular contractions. Dr. Maxwell, in
his turn, also remarked it, and forthwith bent his studies in that
direction. The conclusion appears to be evident that a profound and
far-reaching importance lies in the synchronism between the movements
of the experimenters and the phenomena. It was observed that Dr.
Maxwell was indeed able to produce phenomena of raps and telekinesis
[of very feeble intensity, it is true] by tapping the medium on his
hands or shoulder, by firmly squeezing the hands, joined in a circle
above the table, or by the simple contraction of his own muscles.
_En passant_, it may be useful to note that Dr. X. was opposed to
the idea that synchronism _always_ existed between the phenomena and
the movements of the experimenters, that is to say, that muscular
contraction was _alone_ responsible for the phenomena. Dr. X. was
so opposed to this notion, that his presence at seances where this
synchronism was being demonstrated, has often been observed to cause
all manifestations to cease—to nullify the results. If Dr. X. was able
to exercise this power over one centre, it is highly probable that his
presence would exercise a like inhibitory influence over other centres
of energy, where like experiments were being conducted.
Though Dr. Maxwell had obtained not a few phenomena showing
intelligence (_e.g._ raps claiming to emanate from various
personifications), yet, as he says in his book, pages 26, 28, and 83,
he did not feel drawn towards that order of research, and did his best
to keep the phenomena on physical lines. But since Professor Richet
has experimented with M. Meurice, the phenomena have developed rapidly
along the lines of intellectuality: a result which may, it is true, be
due to our medium’s good-nature in allowing his power to be used as was
desired, or which may be the effect of influence and suggestion. We
are inclined to think the latter is nearer the truth, an opinion which
is supported by the fact that when Dr. X. and Professor Richet were
present—that is to say, within a few days after Dr. X.’s appearance in
the circle—synchronous phenomena could rarely be obtained.[19]
[19] ‘Vous voyez, cher ami, que depuis que nous avons
expérimenté ensemble, votre influence persiste et nos
phénomènes physiques s’orientent vers les messages
intellectuels.’—Extract from a letter written by Dr. Maxwell
to Professor Richet six weeks after the first series of
experiments with Professor Richet were held.
Now, all unknown to Dr. Maxwell, Professor Richet had passed the
previous three years in the study of these same phenomena from a
psychological standpoint, and at the moment of his first visit to
Bordeaux, he was particularly absorbed in the research and analysis
of intelligent messages received by means of a physical phenomenon.
His desire, for the time being, was to receive messages—of identity or
otherwise—by means of _raps without contact_.
Already familiar with the fact of synchronism—which a little experience
suffices to show is not due to self-suggestion or endosomatic
activity—Professor Richet wished to get on to fresh ground; as before
said, he wanted intellectuality in a physical phenomenon, and it was
not long before he got what he wanted with the medium in question.
And, _à propos_, perhaps I may be allowed to briefly relate at
once the first phenomenon containing intelligence, which Professor
Richet obtained with M. Meurice. A short time after having made his
acquaintance, the professor and Dr. X. thought they would try to
obtain a ‘test.’ Supposing, for a moment, that an entity, who has
several times claimed to be communicating with Professor Richet, really
existed, they ‘evoked’ him, and asked him to give them a sign through
M. Meurice, which would denote that he had been listening to a certain
conversation held two hours previously. The medium and Dr. Maxwell were
unaware that this entity had a speciality of communicating in Latin
or Greek. A few hours afterwards, during dinner, raps were heard on
the table and other furniture in the vicinity of M. Meurice; when the
question was asked as to who was rapping, the Christian name of the
entity was given, followed by the word _Confide_. No word, it appears,
could have borne more directly upon the conversation in question. There
was difficulty in obtaining these two words, the raps—in such abundance
when not requested to ‘work’—came laboriously, as though some one were
picking his steps among brambles, so to speak. The medium himself spelt
out the alphabet on this occasion.
* * * * *
Dr. Maxwell has given an analysis of the raps obtained with M. Meurice,
and we especially refer the reader to pages 79-82 and 250.
When raps without contact delay in coming, M. Meurice takes a
lead-pencil, holds it in his hands, and presses one end against the
table or on an experimenter according to desire; the raps then resound
at the end touching the experimenter or the table.
Anæsthesia is observed only in the hand and arm holding the pencil.
“Once or twice,” says Dr. X., “I have observed something like cramp
seize the hand and arm, and extend along the shoulder blade, to the
nape of the neck. On these occasions, I saw the whole arm vibrate after
each rap, like the rebounding of an elastic band, and I have sometimes
thought it looked as though the ‘fluid’ passed down the nerves of the
arm into the pencil, as though it were flowing through a clear open
channel, until it reached the point of the pencil, when a jerk of some
kind appeared to force it out on to the wood; not that the pencil or
arm _moves_ when the rap resounds, but one has the impression of an
_interior_ jerk of some kind when, in moments of cramp, the rap is
heard; this rebounding movement appears to be almost simultaneous with
the rap. Though the medium keeps his personality alive, _as a rule_, it
seems to me,” continues Dr. X. (whose opinion is shared by Professor
Richet), “to undergo a diminution of some kind, on these occasions;
ideation appears to be slower and more difficult. But, because his arm
hurt him when this cramp came on, we have always begged him to cease;
therefore we cannot say whether, the experiment courageously continued,
complete anæsthesia would eventually set in, accompanied by psychical
phenomena.”
It is of importance to point out that both Professor Richet and Dr. X.
(though Dr. Maxwell does not altogether share their opinion on this
point) are inclined to believe that M. Meurice can tell _when_ raps
are going to be given, when phenomena will be forthcoming and when
they will not be forthcoming; a conclusion which is drawn from many
observations.
Some of the messages given in this chapter were obtained, when out
walking with the medium. On such occasions, M. Meurice would put his
hand on a walking-stick or on an umbrella; he preferred the latter.
“The raps on the open umbrella are extremely curious,” writes Dr. X.
“We have heard raps on the woodwork and on the silk at one and the same
time; it is easy to perceive that the shock actually occurs in the
wood—that the molecules of the latter are set in motion. The same thing
occurs with the silk; and here observation is even more interesting
still; each rap _looks_ like a drop of some invisible liquid falling on
the silk from a respectable height. The stretched silk of the umbrella
is quickly and slightly but surely dented in; sometimes the force with
which the raps are given is such as to shake the umbrella. Nothing is
more absorbing than the observation of an apparent conversation—by
means of the umbrella—between the medium’s personifications. Raps,
imitating a burst of laughter in response to the observer’s remarks,
resound on the silk like the rapid play of strong but tiny fingers.
When raps on the umbrella are forthcoming, M. Meurice either holds the
handle of the umbrella, or some one else does, whilst he simply touches
the handle very lightly with his open palm. He never touches the silk.
“Raps without contact appear to require more force, and are not so
frequently forthcoming, as raps with contact—which seem to be always
at the medium’s command; consequently—and particularly as the tenor
of the messages received constituted the chief interest for the time
being—the use of the pencil or umbrella has been encouraged.”
All the messages given in this chapter, except where the contrary
is expressly stated, have been received by contact with a pencil
or umbrella—with what Chappe, the chief personification, calls his
telephone.
A marked trait in the phenomena is their spontaneity. Months will
pass away without the production of a single phenomenon worth
mentioning—raps through the pencil can generally be obtained, however.
After the attraction of the fan (pages 357-8), nine months elapsed
before another telekinetic phenomenon occurred. At other times, the
energy is so abundant that while it lasts, that is to say for two
or three weeks, the medium may truly be said to live in a world of
phenomena in more senses than one; for, at such periods, phenomena are
constantly forthcoming. Regular seances are not of much avail with M.
Meurice; it is better not to seek, but to know how to receive, which
means to know how to wait patiently and attentively.
* * * * *
A brief analysis of the personifications is necessary before laying
bare their work. The first to manifest was ‘John King.’ Subliminal
labour is very transparent herein. M. Meurice had heard not a little
of Eusapia Paladino’s secondary personality, which calls itself ‘John
King.’
Then the raps announced the presence of a group of four entities
calling themselves the ‘fairies’—_les bonnes fées_. In fact, the
latter were the first to make their presence felt by M. Meurice, though
John King was the first to manipulate the raps. The fairies gave the
names of Miriam, Yolande, Liliane, and Brigitte; the latter remained
but a short time; she said she had to go away somewhere; she was
replaced by ‘Wicki,’ who claims to be an ancestor of Dr. Maxwell’s,
and to have lived in Ireland during the fifteenth century. The medium
associates the odour of jasmine with the fairies. Perhaps the following
may suggest a clue to the origin of these entities:—
Some years ago, before Dr. Maxwell had commenced experimenting with
his friend, he was in the habit of bidding him good-bye with the
words, ‘_Que les très bonnes vous protègent_.’ When the fairies—_les
bonnes fées_—appeared, they at once claimed to have been the means
of bringing about the meeting of Dr. Maxwell with M. Meurice, and of
having fostered their friendship. As for the odour of jasmine: on
one occasion, soon after experimentation had begun, the medium was
talking to the doctor about good influences; and he remarked that he
sometimes perceived the odour of jasmine without being able to explain
it normally. The next time the doctor saw his friend, the raps dictated
that the odour of jasmine was the signal of the presence of the good
fairies.
The next personification to manifest was said to be S., a very dear
friend of Dr. Maxwell’s (see pages 160-1). The genesis of this
personification is easy to follow. S. was one of the leading men
in Bordeaux, where he occupied a very prominent position; he was
extremely well known—though M. Meurice did not know him, and says he
never saw him. M. Meurice witnessed Dr. Maxwell’s grief when S. died,
and heard the former say that he had been very fond of S. I again
refer the reader to pages 160-1 for further consideration of the S.
personification.
For a few months, the phenomena claimed to emanate chiefly from the
fairies—John King gradually fading away. Then ‘Chappe d’Auteroche’
came on the scene, and has ever since kept the field pretty much to
himself,—though he permits of the presence of the personalities already
mentioned and a few others if _introduced_ by him. His first appearance
took the form of a vision in the crystal. The medium saw him in a
foreign land, amidst large red flowers, savage tribes and queer-looking
boats on canals; he gave his name, the exact day, month and year of
his death, and the cause of his death; he described what his work on
earth had been—all things which M. Meurice did not _consciously_ know.
Everything, which was verifiable, was found to be correct.
Some time after this, Chappe gave a long and coherent message by means
of tilts of a table without contact—in daylight; on this occasion, he
gave his Christian name as ‘Adhémar,’ which is, probably, an error, as
biographies do not mention it.
Chappe is, doubtless, a subliminal entity; but his evolution is more
difficult to explain than any of the medium’s other personifications.
Perhaps M. Meurice—an _avide_ reader—has come across some articles in
periodicals, concerning the measurements of the solar parallax, by
means of the crossing of the sun’s surface by the disc of the planet
Venus. Chappe was one of the best-known observers; he went to Siberia
in 1761, and to California in 1769, to observe those passages. His
name must certainly have been mentioned in the newspapers, when the
last crossings took place—that is in 1874 and 1882. But on these
occasions, M. Meurice was only three and eleven years old! Has he seen
the biographical notice of Chappe in Larousse’s dictionary? He has no
conscious recollection of having read this, nor does he remember ever
having heard of Chappe the astronomer. And there, for the present, the
matter must stand.
Another personification—H. B.—made its irruption towards the end
of 1903. M. Meurice was certainly aware of Dr. Maxwell’s profound
esteem and affection for H. B.; but for further consideration of this
personification, we refer the reader to Dr. Maxwell’s notes thereon,
pages 287 and following.
* * * * *
I perceive I am about to end these remarks on the medium and his
phenomena without having said a word upon a vital point, one which
many specialists would require to be satisfactorily settled before
consenting to listen to an account of the phenomena. I mean the
medium’s honesty. Professor Richet, Dr. Maxwell, and Dr. X. say that,
for diverse reasons, they cannot doubt this particular medium’s
honourability. As for raps and telekinetic phenomena, there can be no
shadow of doubt about their genuineness; the excellent conditions of
light, sight and touch which always prevail when his phenomena are
forthcoming, joined to the intelligent co-operation of M. Meurice, who
is as much interested in and capable of examining his own phenomena as
are the observers, put mystification out of the question.
Is there any evidence of identity, of survival, of intelligent forces
other than human, in this chapter? Each one will answer this question
after his own manner of thinking. Some will say ‘No.’ If we could
forget the extraordinary romance at the end of this chapter—Series
C—we too might answer categorically ‘No.’ Though we have given all
the leading details of the case, family reasons have necessitated
the omission of much valuable material in this ‘romance,’ and
perhaps readers will not see so much in it as those who watched
its development. But even as it stands, it presents some baffling
difficulties. It really seems to indicate that there is activity in
the metethereal environment, and that the spirit can act in that
environment. What matter, therefore, if it be the spirit of the living
or of the dead? If one can demonstrate its independence of the body,
why not the other?
_SERIES A_
VISIONS
It may be useful to give one or two of our medium’s visions. If these
simple phenomena—where so much of the personal consciousness seems
at play—be studied, some idea may be gained of how far, if at all,
the subliminal is responsible for the production of this particular
medium’s more intricate phenomena, such as intelligent messages given
by means of raps without contact.
* * * * *
M. Meurice was once visiting Paris. He dined at my house on the evening
of his arrival. This was the first time I met him. During dinner, an
hour or so after his arrival, the medium said he saw a vision near me,
and described a personage ‘dressed in white and gold-embroidered robes,
who looks like a priest of ancient times.’ The only interest in this is
that it corroborates what two other sensitives, unknown to our medium
and to each other, have on two different occasions told me.
M. Meurice also claimed to recognise in me and this bedecked personage,
two persons who figured in a dream-vision he had had, three years
previous to meeting me. We give this dream chiefly for the sake of its
rich symbolism.
The medium wrote an account of the dream at the time, at Dr. Maxwell’s
request, the latter being struck by its oddity. Here is the vision:—
“I dreamt I was sleeping in a bed, the framework of which nearly
touched the ground; the bed was raised on a kind of platform. I was in
a large hall, which looked like a church. Suddenly a tall, fair woman,
dressed in black, entered. A man wearing long, white, ancient-looking
garments, embroidered all over in gold, followed her. Then Dr. Maxwell
entered. The man in white read aloud out of the book, which the fair
woman held open before him. I was suddenly overcome with emotion. I
wept, and wept, and wept. My tears caused the flowers embroidered on
the counterpane to spring into life; they grew and multiplied with
amazing rapidity, completely covering the bed and, finally, burying
me beneath their abundance and weight. The fair woman then said: ‘We
must seek for him,’ and set to work to remove the flowers. During this
operation, Dr. Maxwell stepped on my body; I screamed with pain and
awoke.”
When M. Meurice awoke, he was suffering from colic; this fact may
explain parts of the vision.
* * * * *
One day in December 1903, at the close of a seance when some fine raps
at a distance had been obtained, M. Meurice wrote a few German words.
He does not know German. At the same time he saw, in the crystal, the
words: ‘Kolbe, chimiste, mort à Leipzig 1730.’ A few hours after this
seance, the medium had a vision of the personification Chappe, who
said, ‘Vous ne savez donc lire? C’est “mort à Leipzig le 25 Novembre
1884,” et pas “1730.”’
Kolbe the chemist died at Leipzig on the 25th of November 1884. This
information is to be found in Larousse’s dictionary.
* * * * *
The following is an experiment in the transmission of thought which Dr.
Maxwell tried with the medium:—
“I gave my hand to M. Meurice, to hold, and said to him—we had been
talking, in a vague, general manner of the plurality of existences—‘Try
and see how I died in my previous existence.’
“Unknown to the medium, I wrote down on paper the words:—_Fall from a
horse!_
“M. Meurice answered: ‘I see your life, then you fade away into
nothingness; you die from an accident; a carriage—no, a horse accident.
I see you wearing a shield. You fall from your horse, he crushes you to
death.’”
* * * * *
The medium very often sees the same vision repeat itself in the
crystal. This is the vision of a procession of individuals clothed in
flowing robes; they follow a long narrow path, which loses itself in a
tunnel, into which the procession passes. The vision never varies, save
that at times after the procession has disappeared into the tunnel, the
path seems to be strewn with the bones of skeletons.
This vision has also been seen, in the same crystal, by our medium’s
youngest sister, a girl of twenty, who is absolutely ignorant of
spiritistic phenomena. She attributed her vision to an optical illusion.
* * * * *
It has been observed with M. Meurice that the last vision sometimes
precedes veridical hallucinations.
This and other facts would lead one to think that very probably, for
a medium, there is no test which can discriminate between falsidical
and veridical hallucinations. The psychological process appears to be
the same, viz. dramatisation and concrete images, instead of abstract
concepts or ideas.
Mediums, as a rule, possess parasitic personalities which act in the
same way as the normal personality; this feature of hallucinatory
phenomena is difficult to analyse, and introduces into the problem a
number of unknown factors.
In the case of the medium in question, the secondary personalities are
weak. They are always felt and objectived by the normal personality,
which is never expelled from the scene—a circumstance which is precious
for the observer as the visions are sometimes vivid to a degree. With
M. Meurice the unknown factors, though existing, are reduced to a sort
of minimum, and the psychological analysis is perhaps less difficult
than in the generality of cases. In this fact lies the value of his
intellectual phenomena, though it is a drawback indeed from another
point of view, the persistency of the normal consciousness, of the
normal will, and even of the normal powers of attention, being probably
the cause of the impurities which so frequently stain his intellectual
phenomena.
NOTES ON THE PERSONIFICATION ‘H. B.’
_By Dr. Maxwell_
“H. B. died at a very advanced age. He was a man of great kindness of
heart, and of deep intelligence. He had received a solid, classical
education. He was born in a foreign country, went, when a young man,
to a North American state, where he lived for some time. He married,
and finally came to Bordeaux—a town to which his wife and all her
family belonged. H. B. lived for many years at Bordeaux; but during the
last six years of his life he was paralysed. He died at a time when
the medium was twenty years of age, and was pursuing his studies in a
hospital at Bordeaux. H. B. lived a very retired life, confined to the
house because of his infirmity.
“There is every probability that M. Meurice had never heard of H. B.
Although I had known my friend for some time before the irruption of
this personification, I had been extremely careful to avoid giving him
the slightest detail concerning H. B. He had, however, heard me say
that H. B. had been one of my dearest friends.
“I had been experimenting for about two years with M. Meurice, when
the personification H. B. first manifested. His emergence took place
on the 2nd October 1903, in the form of a vision, which my friend had
as he was going to bed. On the following day—during a dark seance we
were holding in the hopes of obtaining luminous phenomena—M. Meurice
described his vision of the previous night. His description vividly
recalled H. B. to my mind. I was careful to say nothing, however.
During the seance, the personification Chappe signified his presence
by means of abundant and loud raps; at the same time M. Meurice told
me he saw a face, and certain letters written above it; these letters
formed a name, which indicated to me the presence of H. B. Thereupon I
asked M. Meurice to give me the Christian and surnames of the vision he
claimed to be looking at; in reply, the surname was instantly spelt out
by raps without contact; the Christian name was given in French first
of all, then it was correctly given in H. B.’s maternal tongue.[20]
[20] H. B.’s Christian name finds its equivalent in French in
the name which had been ‘rapped out’ in the first instance. Dr.
Maxwell explained this fact to the rapping force, whereupon the
name was correctly given.
This detail of the Christian and surnames is not demonstrative
as identity, because (1) the remarks made by Dr. Maxwell were
sufficient to have ‘fixed’ any one who had the slightest
knowledge of the language in question; (2) because the
medium already knew the surname of Dr. Maxwell’s friend. We
must not forget, however, that the raps were given without
contact.—_Note by the Translator._
“H. B.’s first appearances occurred in M. Meurice’s bedroom. From the
indications given, I said I had quickly recognised H. B. Unfortunately,
under the necessity in which I find myself placed of not bringing
H. B.’s family into view, I am unable to mention the principal details.
May it suffice to say that I recognised H. B. I may also add that
the description of the hair, eyes, beard, stature were exactly and
unhesitatingly given.
“I may also mention one important detail: M. Meurice described the
vision he saw as being seated in an armchair with a blue plaid
shawl—with a long fringe—wrapped about his legs. I did not recognise
the chair—though I well remember the chair in which H. B. passed the
last six years of his life—but the shawl was absolutely correctly
described. This is a detail which, I affirm, M. Meurice could not
possibly have known; and I consider it highly improbable that fraud
could have found it out.
“So much for the first appearance of this personification.
“The visions continued. M. Meurice saw H. B. at different periods of
his existence, at times infirm, at other times younger and standing
upright. When he appeared young, he wore his beard in a certain
fashion; when he appeared aged, he wore his beard differently; these
details were correct.
“The vision at first did not speak, and simply looked kindly at him,
said M. Meurice.
“The hallucination used to build itself up in the following manner: the
medium saw a bluish cloud floating about near a particular armchair
in his bedroom; the cloud or shadow remained ill defined, ‘as though
several veils were being successively removed’; and only one feature at
a time—at a vision—seemed to be distinctly shown, _e.g._ at one time,
the eyes were well shown, the rest of the vision being very indistinct;
at another time, the nose was the prominent feature, or the mouth,
the hair or the beard, etc.; as though the personification wished to
impress one thing at a time upon the medium’s perception.
“Finally on the 6th October 1903, in a short journey which M. Meurice
made one day to Arcachon, H. B. appeared to him in broad daylight, in
an avenue of the forest through which the medium was driving.
“M. Meurice saw, on the roadway a short distance ahead, a person
walking very slowly and peculiarly: ‘he limped as though the right
leg was shorter than the left.’ He was a stout man with a round,
clean-shaven face. He had a peculiar mark near one of his eyes. He was
wearing a tall straw hat, a high collar, the ends rising and meeting
in points under the chin, a yellowish walking-stick, the handle of
which was made of ivory and fastened to the stick by a silver band; the
personage was reading a newspaper, the title of which was in Gothic
lettering ‘like the _Matin_.’ He was wearing a thick gold chain and
trinkets. M. Meurice thought he was looking upon a real individual, and
it was not until the carriage had driven past, and my friend saw the
supposed man suddenly disappear, leaving but a ‘whitish blur on the
ground,’ that he recognised H. B. and the hallucinatory character of
his perception.
“I saw M. Meurice about five hours after he had had this vision, when
he gave me the above details; I recognised the following as being
correct:—
“1. The walk.
“2. A peculiar mark near one of the eyes.
“3. The newspaper; H. B. took in the _Temps_, the title of which is in
Gothic lettering like the _Matin_.
“4. The walking-stick, every detail being exact.
“5. The description of the collar was correct.
“6. H. B. used to wear a straw hat.
“7. ‘A stout man with a round, clean-shaven face’ applies to H. B.
before his infirmity made an invalid of him.
“The watch-chain and trinkets were imaginary.
“A few remarks about details 1 and 2: H. B. had twice broken his right
leg; the right leg was, as a result of these two accidents, shorter
than the left leg. He had therefore a very peculiar and characteristic
walk. When M. Meurice was relating the above vision to me, he imitated
the walk to perfection. Let it be remembered that H. B. had not walked
a step for six years previous to his death; when he was attacked by
paralysis, M. Meurice was but fourteen years of age, and was not then
living in Bordeaux.
“2. H. B. had a small and peculiar skin mark near his left eye.
Now, when M. Meurice related his vision, I told him that he had not
localised this mark accurately enough. Thereupon, raps resounded
simultaneously on his chair, on the floor, and on a table standing a
foot away from M. Meurice and myself; while these raps were resounding
M. Meurice said he saw H. B., and remarked that he was pointing to the
sign in question. M. Meurice then correctly localised the mark.
“Further, I told M. Meurice that he had made a mistake when speaking
of a gold watch-chain and trinkets. The next vision my friend had of
H. B., the latter showed himself with a black silk ribbon attached to
his watch; this, I recognised as correct. H. B. always wore a black
silk ribbon for a watch-chain.[21]
[21] M. Meurice was aware of the fact that H. B. had bequeathed
many things to Dr. Maxwell. He knew, for example, that the
latter wears a watch which was given him by H. B. And as Dr.
Maxwell also wears, attached to his watch, a gold chain and
trinkets, normal mental activity might here have been at
work.—_Note by the Translator._
“In subsequent visions, H. B. showed the medium successively certain
correct details in his costume, notably:—
“1. Cravats, dark blue with white spots.
“2. Shoes of a peculiar make, without heels and with elastic sides.
“3. White stockings.
“M. Meurice tells me he feels that H. B. very often tries to make
himself visible to him; when he fails to do so, he hears him say
impatiently: ‘Thut! thut! thut!’—a curious coincidence, for this was a
most characteristic habit of H. B.’s when impatient.
“From that time the personification H. B. has continued to mingle
actively in our medium’s life. His intervention is manifested daily. It
would be impossible to give a full account of this personification’s
manifestations; I will simply confine myself to indicating the
principal. It is to be pointed out, first of all, that H. B. appears
literally to ‘haunt’ M. Meurice’s house, especially the room above the
latter’s bedroom.[22]
[22] M. Meurice’s house bore the reputation of being haunted
before he took it. He was unaware of this, until the neighbours
told him of it some months after he was settled in the
house.—_Note by the Translator._
“The phenomena are of several kinds:—
“_A._ Sonorous phenomena.
“1. Footsteps.
“(_a_) A loud, quick, decided footstep, which M. Meurice attributes
to the personification Chappe.
“(_b_) An unequal step, as though one leg rested more heavily than
the other; the imitation which M. Meurice made before me of
this step recalled to my mind H. B.’s step.
“(_c_) A slow step as of a person who dragged his feet along: a
movement attributed by M. Meurice to, and which I recognised
as characteristic of, one of my deceased friends.[23]
“(_d_) A quick, light step, like the step of a big bird.
[23] See page 160.
“These footsteps are heard in the corridor of the second story of the
house; a story which is not inhabited. Then the door of a bedroom,
immediately above M. Meurice’s bedroom, seems to open and the footsteps
resound in the room. M. Meurice has often got up—these noises occur at
about two o’clock in the early morning—but he has never seen anything
or any one.
“The same noises are also heard in M. Meurice’s own bedroom.
“2. The opening of doors and windows.
“Before hearing footsteps in the bedroom on the second floor, M.
Meurice hears the door of that room open. The noise of the opening of
the door is always preceded by a noise similar to that made by a hand
searching in the dark for the door handle.
“M. Meurice hears the same sounds on his bedroom door. There are three
doors to M. Meurice’s bedroom: one leads into a dressing-room, one
into a clothes-room, the third into a study; it is at this third door
that the above-mentioned phenomena occur.
“Sometimes M. Meurice hears the window of his own bedroom, as well as
that of the room upstairs, open and shut. He has got up repeatedly,
and gone upstairs to see what was happening, but has always found the
door closed, which he fancied he had heard being opened. Whenever, on
returning to his bedroom, he left the door of the room upstairs open,
the noise of footsteps would begin again as soon as he had left, but
without the sound of the opening and shutting of the bedroom door.
“3. Noises as of furniture being moved about. The medium hears the
chairs and tables of the room above him move about; his faculties of
observation are well developed, and he believes he recognises:—
“(_a_) Accompanying the noise of the displacement of chairs and
tables, Chappe’s footstep.
“(_b_) H. B.’s footsteps, on the contrary, are accompanied by the
noise a heavy person might make when sitting on a bed. The
medium hears the mattress creaking.
“(_c_) Lastly, he hears a noise similar to what would be produced
by a person lying back in an armchair.
“4. Noises of material objects other than furniture: these noises are
like:—
“(_a_) A bag of corn or nuts emptied on to the floor of the bedroom
upstairs.
“(_b_) Something hard striking the floor: these sounds are given
rhythmically upon request.
“(_c_) Wings beating the air. M. Meurice compares these sounds to
the flapping of the wings of a turkey.
“(_d_) The rubbing of paper.
“5. Diverse human noises:—
“(_a_) Sighs.
“(_b_) Heavy breathing.
“Are these sonorous phenomena subjective? I have never been in the
house at the hour, when these sounds are said to be heard; and the
noises I have heard from time to time are not sufficiently pronounced
for me to be able to form any conclusion. I have assured myself that
no water-pipes exist in the upper stories of the house; the latter is
isolated, but any loud noises made in a neighbouring house can be heard
in M. Meurice’s house.
“No one sleeps in the second story. A domestic, who occupies a room on
the same floor as M. Meurice, has heard the noise of footsteps, and has
often got up out of bed and gone upstairs to see who was moving about.
Never finding any one, the domestic attributes these sounds to rats: an
insufficient explanation. Moreover, a close examination of the house,
repeated on several occasions, has revealed to me no signs of rats.
“A sister of M. Meurice’s frequently pays him visits; she then occupies
a room on the same floor as her brother. On three different occasions
she has been awakened out of sleep by sounds of footsteps, and a
fumbling noise on the door of her room, as though some one were feeling
for the handle. She has got up, gone into her brother’s room, thinking
it was he, searched about the house, but has never seen anything which
could explain the noises, neither has she heard the noises while thus
moving about.[24]
[24] Among Dr. Maxwell’s notes is the following account,
written to Professor Richet, of a seance at which the doctor
was present; and of some subsequent phenomena which he did
not witness, but which the reader may consider interesting,
nevertheless:—
19th March 1904.—‘Yesterday afternoon I obtained some automatic
writing with our medium. Chappe and H. B. were said to be
communicating, and giving me their views about the war. We
then used the commodious Chappe telephone—my stylograph on
this occasion. The raps were excellent. The weather was good,
fairly cold, but dry. When the last word of a message was
being spelt out, Meurice suddenly threw away the pen and broke
up the seance, without going through the usual formalities
of good-bye. He rose up from his seat, complained of feeling
dizzy, and fainted. He quickly came to, however, and when I
left him he appeared quite well again. But soon after I had
left the house, he went into his sister’s room, and again
fainted.
‘Now, I had often told him not to break off the communications
so abruptly. I think the fatigue he sometimes experiences after
phenomena—fatigue often out of all proportion with them—is
due to his _brusquerie_. On this occasion I am sure there
was some link between him and the table on which the rapping
occurred. Unfortunately, friendship mastered science, and I
rose up instantly to look after my friend, without stopping to
ascertain if there were any trace of exteriorised sensibility
in the table. It is very probable that such was the case,
because I repeatedly assured myself, during the course of the
seance, that there was absolutely no sensibility whatever in
the hand which was holding the stylograph—the rapping implement.
‘During the seance Chappe had dictated that his medium was
going to give “displacements of objects,” and he bade him take
heed thereof. M. Meurice’s house is, this week, filled with
visitors—his sister and her children among others. For want of
room, he has taken his young nephew, a child of seven years
old, into his room to sleep with him. Now, last night he was
awakened towards midnight by his bed moving about. His sister,
sleeping in the next room, also heard these noises; thinking
her brother was ill, she got up and went into his room. She
saw a curious sight: the bed was gliding, of its own accord,
towards the window! She sat down on a sofa and watched; the
room was lighted up by the light of one candle. The bed moved
up to a table near the window, _i.e._ a distance of three feet;
the carpet was not disturbed. The bed returned slowly to its
former position. The child did not awaken. The sister is not
aware of her brother’s powers; if she were told, she would
probably be much distressed, as she puts all such phenomena _a
priori_ down to charlatanry or to superstition. She was alarmed
at the manifestation, ascribed the movements to “ghosts,” and
firmly believes that the house is haunted.’ (This sister does
not live in Bordeaux, and has never been told of the reputation
the house enjoyed before her brother took possession of it.)
“She has also heard the flapping of birds’ wings, in the daytime, in
different parts of the house.
“_B._ Phenomena of touch.
“M. Meurice sometimes feels a hand gently stroke him on the head. On
one occasion, when he was suffering from a violent headache, he felt a
hand move about on his head and forehead; the pain went away, and he
fell asleep.
“_C._ Visual phenomena.
“Sonorous and tactile phenomena nearly always precede an apparition,
which is generally that of H. B., either alone or with the Chappe
personification.
“The following are a few examples of the visions relating to H. B.:—
“1. On the 31st October 1903 M. Meurice returned home from a visit to
the neighbouring village—Arcachon, the same village, near which H. B.
had appeared to him (p. 290). When he entered his bedroom, he perceived
H. B. seated in a chair, holding on his arm a mortuary wreath made of
black beads.
“On the morrow—All Souls’ Day—M. Meurice related this vision to me. I
was surprised—but concealed my surprise; for, as a matter of fact, I
did not understand what a wreath of black beads could mean. At certain
epochs I am in the habit of laying a wreath on H. B.’s tomb, but it
is always composed of what were his favourite flowers. M. Meurice
began to write automatically; he wrote: ‘Bring me what you are in the
habit of bringing me; the other wreath was for T. Bring him one too,
for his family have almost forgotten him.’ (I understood T. to be the
initial letter of a great friend of H. B.’s.) My surprise did not
diminish, because I know for a fact that T.’s family cherish his memory
profoundly.
“However, following my usual custom, I treated the personification
H. B. as he desired to be treated and executed his commission. I then
made the following discovery: T. is buried in a vault over which lies
a sort of platform. The vault belongs to his own family and the family
of a near relation. There were fresh flowers on the side of the vault
belonging to his relations; there were none on the side reserved for
his family.
“I believe this circumstance, as well as the friendship which existed
between H. B. and T., was unknown to M. Meurice; but I am obliged to
admit that my belief rests upon no proof.
“Let me add, in order to finish at once with the T. incident, that, on
the eve of my visit to T.’s tomb, I had asked M. Meurice to give me the
Christian and surnames of the person about whom H. B. was supposed to
be talking. The surname was given; a curious mistake was made before
the Christian name was correctly given: the name of T.’s son was given,
and then came T.’s own name. These indications were obtained in broad
daylight, by means of raps without direct contact. The raps resounded
upon a table on which I had placed a shawl, one corner of which was
held by M. Meurice.
“2. A few days afterwards a seance was held in M. Meurice’s bedroom.
A portable cabinet had been used, which M. Meurice had not taken the
trouble to remove before going to bed. During the night he was awakened
by taps on the head; he heard diverse noises, and saw the door of the
cabinet open. H. B. appeared, leaning on two of the ‘fairies’; the two
other ‘fairies’ followed. These personages presented the appearance of
living people, said M. Meurice the next day when describing the vision
to me. They rolled an armchair into the middle of the room; H. B.
sat down in it; the _fairies_ placed a shawl over his knees, and two
of them sat down on the arms of his chair; the other two sat down on
chairs. H. B. spoke about my health, and then bade M. Meurice tell me
that I would be able to find all necessary documents on the history of
religions in my cousin Y.’s library. The Christian names were correctly
given, the surname approximately; but the approximation was such (the
initial letter of the name being the only incorrect one) that I had no
difficulty in recognising the name.
“It is exact that my cousin Y. possesses documents on the history of
religions. M. Meurice knew that the question interested me; but it is
extremely improbable, that he should have known of the existence of
my cousin Y., who lives in the strictest seclusion; it is still more
improbable, that he should have known the contents of his library. I
cannot, however, affirm these two points, but I can at least affirm
that M. Meurice does not know my cousin Y.
“The personification H. B. shows a spirit of fatherly protection
towards M. Meurice; for example:—
“The medium was once out driving; a rather serious accident happened,
in which his carriage was caught between a cart and a tram; the
coachman was thrown from his seat and wounded. As the tram struck the
carriage, M. Meurice felt himself seized by the arms, and carried out
of the carriage on to the footpath by H. B.[25]
[25] The reader may care to see Dr. Maxwell’s detailed report
to Professor Richet of the above incident:—
‘On Sunday morning Meurice was out driving. A short distance
from Bordeaux his carriage collided with a milk-cart; the
shafts of the latter crashed through one of the carriage
windows. At the same time an electric tram, unable to pull
up in time, struck the carriage in the rear. The coachman
was thrown from his seat on to the ground, where he lay
unconscious. He was wounded near the left eye, ... his face was
covered with blood.
‘At the moment the collision with the tram took place, Meurice
quickly opened the carriage door with the natural intention of
jumping out; but he felt himself suddenly lifted up and carried
on to the footpath, a distance of ten feet. He saw no one.
‘He probably jumped of his own accord, and the sensation he
experienced was but the symbolical expression of the solicitude
the personifications show for him. The protector was supposed
to be H. B.
‘Now, on Saturday afternoon, the eve of the day on which the
above accident occurred, I had a seance with my friend. We
tried for luminous phenomena, but the experiment was null.
Towards the close of the seance, Meurice said he saw the face
of a dead man, with a wound on the left temple, the face was
covered with blood. I asked who it was, and received by raps
without contact: “Suicide, victime d’amour, Gaston”; the raps
refused to give the surname. The aspect of the coachman’s face
after the accident the next morning somewhat recalls the aspect
of the vision; if we accept this, there is a curious mixture
of true and false, the false showing forth when our personal
activity intervenes in order to question: a fact which I have
often observed.
‘The accident occurred between ten and a quarter past ten
o’clock. My friend’s youngest sister—a young girl of twenty—is
paying him a visit this week. Now, this Sunday morning she
went into the kitchen at ten o’clock, looking very distressed,
and said to the servants that she felt sure an accident had
happened to her brother. The sister’s and servants’ versions
concorded absolutely when questioned a few hours later on this
coincidence.’
“The air of protection which this personification assumes is never
absent; it is difficult, M. Meurice says, to convey an idea of the
strange, fantastic impression which he feels, in presence of the
frequent intervention of H. B., and other personifications.
“This impression is the less easily understood, in so much as M.
Meurice is not a spiritualist, and has received a scientific education.
He refuses to accept the explanations which the personifications
offer of themselves: they claim to be human beings who have once
lived on earth. Up to the present they have never pretended to give
us any information touching the life beyond the tomb; the indications
they have given rather tend to direct our experiments, and to try to
formulate premonitions. H. B. seems to have given himself the task,
chiefly, of establishing his identity; this desire appears to be his
leading—I scarcely dare to say generating—idea. And we are obliged to
admit that from this point of view he has given some curious details.
These facts constitute the intellectual phenomena, which are the
dominant ones in the H. B. personification, although raps and movements
without contact are also said to emanate from him sometimes.
“I have given some examples of psycho-sensorial messages in the visions
which I have described. These are far from being the most interesting.
H. B. manifests also by automatic writing, and has given some messages
of a highly interesting character in this manner. I cite the following
as being the most characteristic:—
“On the 27th of November 1903, towards the close of a seance, I
_mentally_ asked H. B. where I happened to be, when he was laid up
with a certain serious illness. The medium wrote: ‘You were a young
magistrate at Blaye, near Bordeaux.’ M. Meurice knows what my career
has been, but it is extremely improbable, he should have known
about the illness—much less the time of the illness—of which I was
thinking. At all events, the reply given to my _mental_ question was
correct. Neither the conversation nor previous facts could have given
the slightest clue to my question. On another occasion, automatic
writing made an extremely characteristic allusion to one of H. B.’s
most inveterate habits: a glass of brandy and water every afternoon at
half-past five, punctually.[26]
[26] The following is Dr. Maxwell’s detailed report of this
incident as contained in a letter to Professor Richet:—
‘... There was nothing we might say but twaddle in the writing
which followed, _e.g._ expressions of pleasure on the part of
H. B. in that he was able to communicate with me, his long
efforts to reach me, etc., when suddenly, at 5.30, without any
rhyme or reason, so to say, our medium wrote (always under the
influence of the H. B. personification): “Offer me some brandy
and water....” Now, during fifty years H. B. had not been known
to miss taking a glass of brandy and water every afternoon
at half-past five. He was not in the habit of taking this
concoction at other hours of the day; so that the coincidence
is, to say the least, striking and curious....’
“Finally, on the occasion of the death of the last surviving member of
his family, H. B. on the 5th of October 1904 wrote: ‘Poor L., no one
is left now. It is a consolation for you to feel me near you.... Very
often those left behind cannot see us.’ (_Pauvre L., il ne reste plus
personne maintenant, c’est une consolation pour vous de me sentir près
de vous. Souvent les survivants ne peuvent pas nous voir._)
“This message was interesting because the last relative to die was not
L. but C. L. died before C.; but L. had been H. B.’s favourite brother.
It is quite correct that no one was left of H. B.’s generation after
C.’s death.[27]
[27] Neither L. nor C. have ever lived in Bordeaux. In fact
H. B. was the only member of his family to leave his native
land.
“At this same seance, H. B. mentioned a very private detail in
connection with L. This fact, which _raisons de convenance_ prevent me
from fully relating, defines the nature of the intercourse which had
existed between H. B. and his brother L. The circumstances which the
writing recalled were known only to H. B. and a few near relations.
“I am fully aware that the above details have no demonstrative value,
for I knew them all, and the hypothesis of thought transmission can
explain them quite as well as the spirit hypothesis. Here is, however,
a case which is less easily explained:—
“One of my friends is related to a lady, who lives with her husband in
Paris. My friend told me that this cousin of his had amused herself
one day with table-turning; and he added that the table had followed
her without any one touching it. I had spoken of this incident to
M. Meurice, but without mentioning names. The incident of the table
following the novice the first time she had tried table-turning was the
only thing mentioned.
“Quite recently, while pursuing my inquiry upon mediums’ eyes, H. B.,
through automatic writing, told me that the afore-mentioned friend
would be able to give me some information on the subject; the writing
then named his cousin, but called her by her _maiden_ name, giving the
name correctly.
“Now two or three days afterwards, M. Meurice had a vision or a
dream—often he cannot tell whether it be one or the other; he saw an
aged lady sitting before a large table, on the top of which a doll’s
table was standing; two younger women were with her; one of these
latter made the small doll’s table turn round three times without
touching it. The room in which these ladies were sitting was large,
and M. Meurice thought it was in a country-house. The curtains were of
rose-coloured velvet.
“The scene described was the one my friend had related to me, but
I pointed out to M. Meurice that one detail at least was certainly
incorrect: viz. the doll’s table. H. B. immediately wrote: ‘He has not
made a mistake, it was the small table which moved, and not the large
one.’ (_Il ne se trompe pas, c’est bien le mouvement d’une petite table
qui a eu lieu, et non celui d’une grande._) I saw my friend the next
day, and I related this incident to him. He assured me it was quite a
mistake, that it was a large table, and not a doll’s table, which had
moved. I saw him again a few days later, when he told me he had made
further inquiries about the table-turning incident, and had found out
that it was indeed a doll’s table placed upon the large table, which
had effected the movements in question.
“The vision was therefore exact on this point; it was also exact
concerning the number and age of the persons present, but the room in
which the seance took place was in Paris and not in the country; the
description of the room was incorrect.
“In this case, automatic writing confirmed the details seen
hallucinatorily, or in dream; these details were most certainly
unknown to M. Meurice as well as to myself. I will add that even had I
mentioned my friend’s name, which I can affirm I did not do, that name
would have been of no assistance to M. Meurice, inasmuch as he does not
know my friend, much less his cousin in Paris.
“This is the most precise case, in which M. Meurice has given me
correct details unknown to myself.
“If we examine in a general manner the character of the H. B.
personification, we are, perhaps, obliged to admit that it presents
a spiritistic appearance. This appearance is all the more singular,
in that it manifests in a centre where the spiritistic hypothesis
is looked upon with disfavour. I am well aware of the fact, that
tendencies opposed to those of the normal personality are often
observed in secondary personalities.
“Young girls of a most timid and reserved disposition, normally,
sometimes show obscene parasitic personalities, under the influence
of which they give utterance to the most filthy language, and perform
most indecent acts. The processes of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries are most instructive from this point of view, especially
those of Loudun and Louviers. It is not surprising, therefore, to see
personifications calling themselves spirits emerge in a non-spiritistic
centre; it is probably a phenomenon comparable to that of the secondary
personalities just spoken of. A different synthesis of psychological
elements is formed, which follows an opposite bent to the one normally
followed. It is as though the poles were changed, and a secondary
personality reveals itself as the very reverse of the first personality.
“The interesting point to seek for, however, is not the genesis of the
personification, for there are so many hypotheses which might explain
it, but to determine which explanation concerning the personification
best suits the particular circumstances.
“My observations upon the H. B. personification—the most thorough
I have so far been able to make—do not permit me to form a definite
conclusion; at the same time, they do not tend to make me look
favourably upon the spirit hypothesis. If we resume the details given
by H. B.:—
“_A._ About himself, his person, we find:
“1. 2. Two ways of wearing his beard.
“3. A peculiar mark near the eye.
“4. 5. A very peculiar walk: right leg shorter than the left.
“6. The hair was fairly well described.
“7. The eyes were not well described.
“_B._ Details about his clothes and habits:
“8. An unusual shape of slipper.
“9. The shape and colour of his cravats.
“10. His walking-stick.
“11. The manner in which he passed the last six years of his
life in an armchair.
“12. The shawl which habitually covered his legs.
“13. His habit of taking a glass of brandy and water every
afternoon at 5.30.
“14. His allusions to his brother L. and to his death.
“15. A gold chain and pendants which he never possessed:
followed, however, by the rectification of the error.
“16. The detail of the _Temps_.
“That is to say: two inexact, two doubtful, and twelve accurate details.
“It may be of interest to draw attention to the process employed
by this personification to prove his identity; it is worthy of some
attention, because it touches on precise details. Those particular
signs which are of capital importance in the identification of
persons, we find in details 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 13, 14, and it would be
most unjust to refuse to recognise in these indications at least an
appearance of volition and intelligence.
“The character of volition has been decidedly indicated. The H. B.
personification began to manifest itself by giving details concerning
his physical appearance and his habits. When M. Meurice saw H. B.,
he frequently perceived the apparition very indistinctly, with the
exception of the particular point which the personification appeared
to be desirous of impressing upon him; this occurred particularly with
details 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, and for the rectification of the watch-chain
incident—15.
“The character of intelligence has not been less marked than the
character of volition. The personification gives the impression of
having deliberately chosen the signs, by which he desired to prove his
identity. Everybody knows how difficult it is to recognise such or such
a person by the mere description of features; definite details and
peculiar marks are, on the contrary, of the greatest value for purposes
of identification: and these are precisely the details which H. B.
_seems_ to have chosen; these are the kind of details he _seems_ to
have shown with the greatest persistence.
“Such facts as these plead in favour of the spirit hypothesis; it would
be unfair to deny it.
“In the first place, there are some inaccuracies, _e.g._ 15. Can we
attribute this to the iconogenical activity of the medium? This is the
theory which Dr. Hodgson has so finely developed, and the arguments
he appeals to are very serious. The sensorial or motor message is due
either to the medium himself, or to an intelligence distinct from that
of the medium, or to the combined action of the two intelligences.
Notwithstanding Dr. Hodgson’s weighty arguments, this explanation
can only be considered, at present, as a working hypothesis. It is
rather difficult to understand why an extraneous intelligence could
give twelve accurate details, and make a mistake in two or three other
important details; it is still more difficult to understand, if the
identity in question be present, why he should commit such mistakes;
and it seems to me that the personal action of the medium explains
these errors even less satisfactorily.
“Nevertheless, we must admit that even if we accept the hypothesis of
the personal action of the medium troubling the extrinsical action of
a foreign intelligence, this simultaneous blending of true and false
details is little made to bring about a conviction of the intervention
of an active intelligence, other than that of the medium.
“Finally, even in admitting as proven the intervention of an
intelligence non-human, nothing permits us to affirm that it is really
the person in question who is manifesting and not an impersonation.
This distinction has been well put forward by theologians, though the
rules they give for the discernment of spirits appear to us to be most
puerile.
“To sum up, the case of H. B. has an appearance which is, frankly
speaking, spiritistic; but it is not possible to consider as certain,
or even as probable, the pretensions manifested by this interesting
personification.”
_SERIES B_
A. RAPS
I propose gathering together, for the first part of this series, a few
interesting things scattered here and there among the notes before me.
On one occasion Chappe dictated by means of raps without contact—in
broad daylight—that 760 copies of a work of Dr. Maxwell’s had been
sold. Four days later, in the same manner, he said that 958 copies of
the said work had been sold; incorrect information as the following
proves: the day after the seance in which Chappe had announced the sale
of 958 copies, Dr. Maxwell received a letter from the publisher of the
work in question telling him that 800 copies had left him, including
the press service.
* * * * *
“We had some good phenomena on Tuesday afternoon,” writes Dr. Maxwell.
“I was talking to M. Meurice about my bibliographical researches,
and of the best plan to adopt for the analytical indexes. A small
mahogany table was near us, one leg of the table was touching a rug on
which M. Meurice was sitting. Raps resounded on the table; Chappe’s
signal was given, followed by some advice concerning the subject of
our conversation. Telekinetic phenomena were also forthcoming—the
table gliding towards us and then away from us according to request,
travelling a distance of from three to five inches.
“Then I tried an experiment, one I have been wishing to try for some
time: I bade M. Meurice sit in an armchair and lie perfectly still.
I placed his arm at about one foot from the table, and told him to
_fancy_ he lifted his arm and struck the table, without, of course,
making the slightest movement.
“We obtained some excellent raps in this way. This is a fine
experiment, for it shows clearly the production of raps by the will—the
direct, conscious and personal will.
“We tried three series of experiments; six raps in each series were
willed; we received four raps in each, that is to say, 66 per cent. of
success. The raps were loud, one was double. The medium nearly fainted
after this experiment, but came round quickly, though he has not been
well since.
“His sensations were: (1) absence of sensation in the arm with which
we were experimenting; (2) a kind of breeze issuing from his shoulder.
After willing the raps he was never sure of success, he did not feel
the wood had been touched. Sensibility appeared to be exteriorised.”
* * * * *
In another of Dr. Maxwell’s letters we note the following:—
“For our seance yesterday we obtained, as usual, a quantity of raps
through the lead-pencil. I succeeded in provoking them upon myself.
Sensation produced: when M. Meurice put the pencil on bone I had a
sensation of a slight electric current; it produced no contractions
in the muscles traversed; the sensation was at its maximum on bone,
probably because of the greater conductibility offered by solids to
vibration.
“I have tried the raps upon several substances with the following
result:—
the finger: good.
wood: very good, maximum.
ivory: good.
iron: bad.
“Sensibility appears to be exteriorised during the production of raps
through a pencil. Yesterday there was sensibility at a distance of
four centimetres from the periphery of the hand, which was holding the
pencil, when the raps were forthcoming.
“I asked Chappe to indicate in one word why it was easier to obtain
raps with a lead-pencil. He dictated the answer, ‘_Localisent_.’
“Before we separated we received the following message by raps _without
contact: ‘Jeanne Bordes morte 7 octobre 1859 à St. Pierre Martinique,
demeurant 37 rue St. Jacques_.’ I do not know of any Jeanne Bordes,
though a family of that name lives at St. Pierre. I have questioned
some people who have lived in that town, but they do not recollect any
Jeanne Bordes....”
In another letter the doctor writes:—
“Towards four o’clock this afternoon, in broad daylight, some very
fine raps resounded on a table standing thirteen feet away from M.
Meurice and myself. It was said to be H. B. who was rapping. M. Meurice
became nervous, and the experiment only lasted for five minutes. It was
magnificent as an example of raps at a distance.”
* * * * *
The following extracts are taken from Dr. X.’s notes:—
“On one occasion Professor Richet and I were speaking about a relation
of the professor’s, A. R., who was supposed to have communicated
with him through M. Meurice. The latter could not have overheard our
conversation, for the simple reason that he was at least ten miles
away from where we happened to be at that moment. Five or six hours
afterwards, when Professor Richet was out walking with M. Meurice, raps
suddenly resounded on the latter’s walking-stick, and the following
words were dictated: ‘_Suis avec vous._’ (Who are you?) ‘_A. R. Je ne
vous ai jamais abandonné._’
“In the course of the morning’s conversation, the remark had been
passed that the persistency of this personification’s manifestations
would be looked upon by some as a sign of survival, and I had made use
of the words: ‘I wonder if he—A. R.—has been near you lately.’
* * * * *
“The medium was aware of certain experiments I had made with a
sensitive at Nancy. He often heard me discuss with Professor Richet and
Dr. Maxwell, the phenomena I witnessed there. One day, in presence of
Professor Richet and myself, Chappe dictated that he followed me about
sometimes, upon which I said: ‘Were you with me in Nancy?’ He replied
(by means of raps _without_ contact): ‘_Oui. D. s’attire des ennuis en
groupant autour de lui des influences inférieures. Défiez-vous de la
domestique. Fraude. Il y a eu autrefois un fort médium, Henri Dubuc, à
Nancy. S. n’est pas un médium à matérialisations._’
“This communication was given in broad daylight, by means of raps
without any contact whatsoever. The raps resounded on a table which
was standing near, but which was not touched, either directly or
indirectly, by the medium. From time to time Professor Richet and I
leant on the table, but not with a view to aiding the phenomena—I mean
to furnishing ‘force.’ Our touching the table or not seemed to make no
difference to the rapping intelligence. The message was dictated with
precision and rapidity.
“It is to be noted, that M. Meurice held a decided opinion concerning
the experiments at Nancy; he was not at all inclined to admit their
authenticity. The group, at whose seances I had been permitted to be
present, know of no Henry Dubuc.
“While the preceding communication was being given, one of the
observers made the remark, _sotto voce_, that he had a headache, and
wondered if Chappe could suggest a remedy: immediately the somewhat
laconic reply, ‘_Dormez_,’ was rapped out.”
* * * * *
The following message contains an incident of a certain interest, if
the reader will kindly compare it with the efforts, related in Series
C, page 359, to obtain a particular name.
“A letter had been received from Professor Richet, in which reference
had been made to a curious occurrence at Carqueiranne, very much like
an orthodox haunting. During lunch, I spoke about this to the medium.
As often happened when the conversation turned on these grounds,
raps mingled freely with our conversation. Thereupon I asked who
was rapping, and received the reply that C. R. (Professor Richet’s
grandfather) was present; whereupon the following conversation between
this personification and myself took place:—
“Question: Can you explain the haunting at Carqueiranne?
“C. R.: _Oui_.
“Question: Who is it who haunts the place?
“C. R.: _Mère_.
“Question: Whose mother?
“C. R.: Grandmother Jacques. _Mère_ Charles.
“(Jacques is the name of the boy to whom the incident in question
occurred.)
“Question: What is her name?
“C. R.: _Eugénie_.
“This name ‘Eugénie’ is the one we had tried in vain to obtain four
months previously.[28] It was now given without any hesitation
whatsoever, by raps without contact.
[28] See page 359.
“Following this word ‘Eugénie,’ the raps predicted the death of one
of my brothers in a month’s time from an automobile accident. The
prediction, happily, remains unfulfilled. When this message was
received, I did not know if my brother ever rode in motor cars; and,
for several reasons, I did not consider it at all likely; but three
weeks afterwards, I had a letter from him asking me to procure him
several catalogues, as he had the intention of buying a motor car.
My brother lives in California. The medium knew I had relations in
California, but did not know about my brother, much less his name.”
In the following messages, the raps were obtained with and without
contact.