O Livro dos Médiuns — Part II, ch. VIII — Laboratory of the invisible world

126We have said that the spirits present themselves clothed in tunics, with draperies, or even with their, ordinary dress. Draperies appear to be a general costume in the spirit world; but it is asked, Where do they find the garments exactly like those they wore while living, with all the accessories of the toilet? It is very certain they did not carry these things with them, since the real objects are there under our very eyes; then whence come those they wear in the other world? This question has been often asked; but with many it is a simple affair of curiosity; nevertheless it confirmed a principle of great importance; for its solution has put us in the way of a general law, which finds its application in our corporeal world. Many facts have come to complicate it, and show the insufficiency of the theories that have been tried.
Up to a certain point, a reason could be given for the costume, because it might be considered as making, in some sort, a part of the individual"; it is not the same with the accessories, as for instance, the snuff-box of the sick lady of whom we spoke, No. 1 7. Let us remark on this subject that there is no question here of one dead, but of one living, and that this gentleman, when he came again in person, had a snuff-box perfectly similar. Where, then, did his spirit find the one he had at the foot of the sick lady's bed? We could cite a great many cases where the spirits of the dead or living have appeared with various objects, such as canes, arms, pipes, lanterns, books, &c.
There came to us a thought that inert bodies have their ethereal analogies in the invisible world; that the condensed matter that forms the objects might have a very refined part escaping our senses. This theory was not without probability, but it was powerless to give a reason for all the facts. It seemed as if it must baffle all interpretations. Up to this time there had been question only of images or appearances: we have seen that the perisprit can acquire the properties of matter and become tangible, but this tangibility is only momentary, and the solid body vanishes like a shade. This is a very extraordinary phenomenon, but far beyond it is to see solid, persistent matter produced, as numerous authentic facts prove, and notably that of direct writing, of which we shall speak in detail in a special chapter. Yet as this phenomenon is intimately connected with the subject before us, and is one of its most positive applications, we will anticipate the order in which it should come.

127Direct writing, or pneumatography, is that which is produced spontaneously without the help of a medium's hand or pencil. It is sufficient to take a sheet of white paper, which may be done with all necessary precautions, so as to feel assured of not being the dupe of treachery, fold and deposit it somewhere, in a drawer, or even on a table; and, if the conditions are favorable, at the end of a longer or shorter time there will be found, traced on the paper, characters, various signs, words, phrases, even discourses, most often with a gray substance of the appearance of lead, at other times with red pencil, ordinary ink, or even printing ink. There is the fact in all its simplicity; and though not very common, it is still not very rare, for there are persons who easily obtain it. If a pencil were put with the paper it might be supposed the spirit had used it to write; but when the paper is entirely alone, it is evident the writing is formed by a deposited matter; where does the spirit obtain this matter? Such is the question to whose solution we have been conducted by the snuff-box already mentioned.

128The spirit of St. Louis has given us the solution in the following answers: —
1. "We have cited the case of an apparition of a living person. This spirit had a snuff-box and took snuff. Did he experience the sensation of snuff-taking?"
"No."
2. '■ This snuff-box had the form that he ordinarily used, and which was at home. What was this one in his hands? "
"An appearance; it was in order that the circumstance should be remarked as it was, and that the apparition should not be taken for a hallucination produced by the person's state of health. The spirit desired that this lady should believe in the reality of his presence; he took all the appearances of reality."
3. "You say it is an appearance; but an appearance is not real; it is like an optical illusion: we should like to know if,this snuff-box was only an image without reality, or if it possessed something of material?"
"Certainly, it is by the aid of this material principle that the perisprit takes the appearance of clothes, like those the spirit wore while living."
Remark. It is evident that the word appearance must here be understood in the sense of aspect, imitation. The real snuff-box was not there; that which the spirit held was only its representation; it was thus an appearance compared to the original, though formed of a material principle.
Experience teaches us that we must not always take literally certain expressions employed by the spirits; in interpreting them, according to our ideas, we are exposed to great mistakes: this is why we must study deeply the sense of their words every time they present the least ambiguity; it is a recommendation constantly given to us by the spirits themselves. Without the explanation we have called forth, the word appearance, constantly reproduced in analogous cases, might lead to a false interpretation.
4. "Could inert matter be duplicated? Is there in the' invisible world an essential matter which could clothe the form of the objects we see? In a word, could these objects have their ethereal double in the invisible world, as men are represented there by spirits?"
"That is not the way of it: the spirit has over the elements, spread everywhere throughout your atmosphere, a power you are far from suspecting. He can, at will, concentrate these elements, and give them the apparent form proper to his designs."
Remark. This question, as may be seen, was the translation of our thought; that isx of the idea we had formed of the nature of these objects. If the answers were, as some pretend, the reflection of the thought, we should have obtained the confirmation of our theory, instead of a contrary one.
5. "I ask the question anew in a categorical manner, in order to avoid all equivocation: are the clothes with which the spirits are covered something?"
"It seems to me that my preceding answer solves that question. Do you not know that the perisprit itself is something?"
6. "It results from this explanation that spirits make ethereal matter undergo transformations at their will, and that thus, for instance, the spirit did not find the snuff-box ready made, but made it himself for the moment he had need of it, by an act of his will, and that he could unmake it: it must be the same with all the other objects, such as clothing, jewels, &c."
"Evidently so."
7. "The snuff-box was perfectly visible to this lady; could the spirit have made it tangible for her?"
"He could."
8. "The case so happening, could this lady have taken it into her hands, believing she held a real snuffbox?"
"Yes."
9. "If she had opened it, she would probably have found snuff in it; if she had taken this snuff, would it have made her sneeze?"
"Yes."
10. "The spirit, then, could give not only the form but the special properties?"
"If he wishes: it is only by virtue of this principle I have answered affirmatively the preceding questions. You will have proofs of the powerful action spirit exercises over matter, and which you are far from suspecting, as I told you."
11. "Suppose, then, that he had desired to make a venomous substance, and that a person had taken it; would he have been poisoned?"
"He could have done so, but he did not; that would not have been permitted."
12. "Would he have had the power to make a salutary substance, suitable to cure in case of sickness, and is it ever done?"
"Yes, very often."
13. "He could, then, as well make an alimentary substance: suppose he had made a fruit, a dish of any kind; could a person have eaten of it and had his hunger appeased?"
"Yes, yes; but do not seek so hard to find out what is so easy to" understand. Even a ray of the sun can render perceptible to your gross organs those material particles that fill the space ir^ the midst of which you live; do you not know that the air contains the vapors of water? Condense them, you restore them to the normal condition; deprive them of heat, and these impalpable and invisible molecules become a solid, a very solid body, and many other substances from which your chemists draw still more astonishing wonders, only the spirit possesses instruments more nearly perfect than yours — will and God's permission."
Remark. The question of satisfaction is here very important. How and in what way can a substance that has only temporary existence and properties satisfy hunger? This substance, by its contact with the stomach, produces the sensation of satisfaction, but not the satisfaction resulting from fullness. If such a substance can act on the economy and modify a morbid state, it can quite as well act on the stomach and produce the feeling of satisfaction. At the same time we beg the druggists and restaurateurs not to become jealous, nor believe that the spirits will destroy their trade: these cases are rare, exceptional, and never depend on the will; otherwise people could be nourished and cured too cheaply.
14. "Could objects, rendered tangible by the will of the spirit, have a character of permanence and stability, and become useful?"
"It could be, but it is not done; it is beyond the laws."
15. "Have all spirits the same degree of power to render objects tangible?"
"It is certain that the more elevated the spirit is, the more easily he obtains this result; but still that depends on circumstances; inferior spirits could have the power."
16. "Does the spirit «al ways know exactly how he produces his clothing, or other objects, whose appearance he gives?"
"No; he often assists in their formation by an instinctive act which he does not, himself, comprehend, if he be not sufficiently enlightened for it."
1 7. "If the spirit can draw from the universal element the materials to make all these things, to give to these things, with their properties, a temporary reality, he can as well draw from it what is necessary for writing; and consequently this would appear to give us the key to the phenomenon of direct writing."
"There you are at last!"
Remark. It was there, in fact, we wished to come by all our preliminary questions; the answer proves that the spirit read our thought.
18. "If the matter used by the spirit has no persistence, how does it happen that the traces of the writing do not disappear?
"Do not epiloguize the words. In the first place I did not say, never; there it was of a voluminous material object; here it is of signs traced which it is useful to have preserved, and they are preserved. I meant that the objects thus composed by the spirits could not become objects to use, for they do not, in reality, possess aggregation of matter like your solid bodies."

129The above theory may be thus summed up; the spirit acts on matter; he draws from the universal cosmic matter the elements necessary to form, at his will, objects having the appearance of various bodies which exist on the earth. He can equally well, by his will, effect on elementary matter an intimate transformation, which gives it certain properties. This faculty is inherent in the nature of the spirit, who often, when necessary, exercises it without thinking, as an instinctive act. The objects formed by the spirit have a temporary existence, subordinated to his will or to necessity; he can make and unmake them at will. These objects can, in some cases, have to the eyes of living persons all the appearances of reality, that is to say, become momentarily visible, and even tangible. There is formation, but not creation; the spirit can draw nothing from the void.

130The existence of one single elementary matter is now almost generally admitted by science, and confirmed, as we have seen, by the spirits. This matter gives birth to all the bodies of nature: by the transformations it undergoes, it produces also the various properties of these same bodies; it is in this way a salutary substance can become venomous by a simple modification; chemistry affords us numerous examples. Everybody knows that two innocent substances, combined in certain proportions, can produce a deleterious one. One part oxygen and two of hydrogen, both inoffensive, form water; add an atom of oxygen, and you have a corrosive liquid. Without changing the proportions, often a simple change in the method of molecular aggregation can change the properties; thus an opaque body can become transparent, and vice versa. Since the spirit has by his sole will so powerful an action on elementary matter, it may be conceived that he can not only form substances, but can denaturalize their properties, will having herein the effect of a reactive.

131This theory gives us the solution of a fact in magnetism, well known, but hitherto unexplained — that of the change of the properties of water by the will. The acting spirit is that of the magnetizer, most frequently assisted by a foreign spirit; he effects a transmutation by the aid of the magnetic fluid, which, as has been said, is the substance most nearly approaching cosmic matter, or the universal element. If he can effect a modification in the properties of water, he can as well produce an analogous phenomenon on the fluids of the organism, and from thence the curative effect of the magnetic action properly directed.
We know the great part played by the will in all the phenomena of magnetism; but how explain the material action of so subtile an agent? The will is not a being, a substance; it is not even a property of the most ethereal matter; the will is the essential attribute of the mind, that is to say, of the thinking being. By the aid of this lever he acts on elementary matter, and, by a consecutive action, he reacts on its compounds, whose intimate properties can thus be transformed.
Will is the attribute of the incarnate as well as of the wandering spirit; from thence the power of the magnetizer, a power which we know to be in proportion to the strength of the will. The incarnate spirit, being able to act on elementary matter, can, then, as well vary its properties in certain limits: here we have explained the faculty of curing by laying on of hands — a faculty possessed by some to a greater or less degree. (See chapter on Mediums, article relating to Healing Mediums. See also the Revue Spirit V, J uly, 1859, pages 184 and 189.)