O Livro dos Médiuns — Part II, ch. III — Intelligent manifestations

65In what we have seen, nothing assuredly reveals the intervention of an unknown power, and these effects could be perfectly explained by the action of a magnetic or electric current, or of some kind of fluid. Such was, in fact, the first solution given to these phenomena, and which might reasonably pass for logical. It would have prevailed without contradiction, if other facts had not come to demonstrate its insufficiency. These facts are the proofs of intelligence given; for as all intelligent effects must have an intelligent cause, it remained evident, that even admitting that electricity or some other fluid played a part in it, there was still some other cause. What was it? what was this intelligence? This is what the continuation of the observations brought to light.

66For a manifestation to be intelligent it is not necessary that it should be eloquent, witty, or learned; it is sufficient that it prove a free and voluntary act, expressing an intention, or answering to a thought. Assuredly, when we see a weathercock agitated by the wind, it is very certain it obeys only a mechanical impulse; but if we should recognize in its movements intentional signals, — should it turn to the right or to the left, rapidly or slowly, at command, — we should be forced to admit, not that the. weathercock is intelligent, but that it obeys an intelligence. This is what happened with the table.

67We have seen the table moved, raised, strike blows, under the influence of one or of several mediums. The first intelligent effect that was remarked was to see these movements obey the word of command; thus, without changing its place, the table would rise alternately on the designated foot, then, in coming down, strike a required number of blows, answering a question. At other times the table, without personal contact, would walk across the room, going to the right or to the left, forward or backward, executing divers movements, at the order of the assistants. It is very evident that we set aside all supposition of fraud, that we admit the perfect loyalty of the assistants, proved by their honor and perfect disinterestedness. We shall speak, by and by, of the frauds against which it is necessary to be guarded.

68By means of raps, and, above all, by the inner raps of which we have spoken, still more intelligent effects are produced, as the imitation of the beatings of a drum, a small war, with rank and platoon firing, cannonading; then the grinding of the saw, blows of a hammer, the rhythm of different airs, &c. It was, as may well be supposed, an immense field opened for exploration. It was said, since there is here an unknown intelligence, it should be able to answer questions; and, in fact, it did answer Yes, or No, by means of a given number of raps. These answers were very insignificant, which led to the idea of designating the letters of the alphabet, and thus composing words and phrases.

69These facts, renewed at will, by thousands of persons in all countries, could leave no doubt of the intelligent nature of these manifestations. Then arose a new system/according to which this intelligence was no other than that of the medium, the interrogator, or even of the assistants. The difficulty was, to explain how this intelligence could be reflected into the table, and translated by blows. As soon as it was proved that these blows were not struck by the medium, they were then by the thought; but thought striking blows was a still more prodigious phenomenon than the one they had already witnessed. Experience soon demonstrated the inadmissibility of this opinion. In fact, the answers were often found to be in complete opposition to the thought of the assistants, beyond the intellectual strength of the medium, and even in language of which he was ignorant, or relating to facts unknown to all. The examples are so numerous that it is almost impossible that any one, even slightly occupied with Spiritism, should not have been many times witness of it. We shall cite only one, brought to us by an eyewitness.

70On a vessel of the imperial French navy, stationed in the Chinese Seas, the whole crew, from the sailors up to the staff-major, were occupied in making tables talk. They hit upon the idea of invoking the spirit of a lieutenant of this same vessel, some two years dead. He came, and after various communications, which astonished every one, he said, by rapping, what follows: "I pray you instantly to pay the captain the sum of" (he mentioned the sum) "which I owe him, and which I regret not having been able to repay before my death." No one knew the fact; the captain himself had forgotten the debt, — a very small one, by the by, — but on looking over his accounts, he found there the lieutenant's debt, the sum indicated being perfectly correct. We ask, of whose thought could this be the reflection?

71The act of communicating by alphabetic raps was perfected, but the process was always very long; though by its means they obtained very interesting revelations from the world of spirits. These indicated other means, and to them we are indebted for written communications.
The first communications of this kind were by adjusting a pencil to the foot of a table, held lightly on a sheet of paper. The table, moved by the influence of a medium, began to trace characters, then words and phrases. This process was successively simplified, by using little tables, the size of the hand, made expressly, then baskets, card-baskets, and afterward simple planchettes. The writing was as flowing, rapid, and easy, as with the hand, but it was afterward found that these objects were really only appendices, pencilholders, with which they could dispense by themselves holding the pencil: the hand, carried along by an involuntary movement, wrote under the impulse given by the spirit, and without the concurrence of the will or thought of the medium. From henceforward, the communications from beyond the tomb had no more limits than correspondence between the living.
We shall return to these different processes, and will explain them in detail; having rapidly sketched them to show the succession of the facts, proving in these phenomena the intervention of unknown intelligences, otherwise spirits.
Movements and Levitations. — Noises. — Increase and Diminution of the Weight of Bodies.
J2. The existence of spirits being demonstrated byreasoning and by facts, as well as the possibility for them to act upon matter, it remains now to know how this action is performed, and how they manage to make tables and other inert bodies move. One' thought naturally presents itself, and that was our own: as it was contradicted by the spirits, who gave us quite a different explanation, one we were far from expecting, it is an evident proof that their theory was not our opinion. As to the first thought, every one, as well as ourselves, might be likely to have it; but as to the theory of the spirits, we believe it never has entered into any person's mind. It will easily be recognized as superior to ours, though less simple, because it gives the solution of a crowd of other facts which found no satisfactory explanation in our idea.