O Livro dos Médiuns — Part II, ch. IV — Theory of physical manifestations

73From the moment in which the nature of the spirits is known, their human form, the semi-material properties of the p&risprit, the mechanical action they can have on matter, that among the facts of apparition, fluidic and even tangible hands have been seen to grasp objects and transport them, it was natural to believe that the spirit simply used his hands to make the table turn, and that he sustained it in the air by the strength of his arm. But, in that case, what necessity for a medium? Cannot the spirit act alone? for the medium, who most often rests his hands in a sense contrary to the movement, or even does not rest them at all, evidently cannot second the spirit by any muscular action whatever. Let us first allow the spirits whom we questioned on the subject to speak.

74The following answers were given to us by the spirit of St. Louis: they have since been confirmed by many others.
1. Is the universal fluid an emanation from the Divinity?
"No."
2. Is it a creation of the Divinity? "All is created, except God."
3. Is the universal fluid at the same time the universal element?
"Yes; it is the elementary principle of all things?"
4. Has it any relation to the electric fluid whose effects we know?
"It is its element."
5. What is the state in which the universal fluid is presented to us in its greatest purity?
"To find it in its absolute purity, you must mount to the pure spirits; in your world it is always more or less modified to form the compact matter that surrounds you; at the same time you may say that the state in which it approaches most nearly to purity, is that of the fluid you call animal magiietic fluid!'
6. It has been said that the universal fluid is the source of life; is it at the same time the source of intelligence?
"No; this fluid animates only matter."
7. Since it is this fluid which composes theperisprit, it appears to be there in a kind of condensed state, which approximates it, up to a certain point, to matter so called.
"Up to a certain point, as you say, for it has not all its properties: it is more or less condensed, according to the worlds."
8. What is the operation by which a spirit moves a solid body?
"He combines a portion of the universal fluid with the fluid exhaled from the medium suitable to this effect."
9. Do the spirits raise the table with the aid of their members in some degree solidified?
"This answer will not yet lead to what you desire. When a table is moved under your hands, the spirit evoked draws from the universal fluid what animates the table with a factitious life. The table thus prepared, the spirit attracts it and moves it under the influence of his own fluid thrown off by his will. When the mass he wishes to move is too heavy for him, he calls to his aid spirits who are in the same condition as himself. By reason of his ethereal nature, the spirit proper cannot act on gross matter without intermediary, that is to say, without the link that unites it to matter: this link, which you call perisprit, gives you the key to all material spirit phenomena. I believe I have expressed myself clearly enough for you to understand."
Remark. We call attention to this first phrase: this answer will not yet lead to what you desire. The spirit had perfectly understood that all.the preceding questions were asked only to arrive at this, and he alluded to our thought, which, in fact, expected quite a different answer, that is to say, the confirmation of our idea on the method by which the spirit makes the table move.
10. Are the spirits he calls to his aid inferior? are they under his orders?
"Equal, almost always; sometimes they come of themselves." ii. Are all spirits able to produce phenomena of this kind?
"The spirits who produce these effects are always inferior spirits, who are not entirely disengaged from all material influence."
12. We understand that the superior spirits are not occupied by things that are beneath them; but we ask if, by reason of their being more dematerialized, they would have the power if they had the will?
"They have the moral strength, as the others have the physical strength; when they require this strength, they make use of those who possess it. Have they not told you that they make use of inferior spirits as you do of porters?"
Remark. It has been said that the density of the perisprit, if one may so express it, varies according to the state of the worlds; it appears that it varies also in the same world according to individuals. Among the morally advanced spirits, it is more subtile, and approximates to that of the elevated spirits: among the inferior spirits, on the contrary, it approximates to matter, which is the reason these spirits of low state preserve so long the illusions of the terrestrial life; they think and act as if they were still living; they have the same desires, and we might almost say the same sensuality. This coarseness of the perisprit giving to it more affinity with matter, makes the inferior spirits more fitted for physical manifestations. It is for the same reason that a man of the world accustomed to the labor of intellect, whose body is frail and delicate, cannot carry a heavy burden like a porter. Matter, with him, is in a manner, as it were, less* compact, the organs less resistant; he has less nervous fluid. The perisprit being to the spirit what the body is to man, and its density being according to the degree of inferiority of the spirit, it takes the place of muscular force; that is to say, gives him, over the fluids necessary for manifestations, a greater power than those have whose nature is more ethereal. If an elevated spirit desires to produce such effects, he does what delicate people amongst us do; he has it done by a spirit of the trade.
13. If we have thoroughly understood what you have said, the vital principle resides in the universal fluid; the spirit draws in this fluid the semi-material envelope which constitutes his perisprit, and it is by means of this fluid that he acts on inert matter. Is it so?
"Yes; that is to say, he animates matter with a kind of factitious life; the matter is animated with animal life. The table that moves under your hands lives like the animal; it obeys the intelligent being. It is not he who pushes it as a man does a burden; when the table is raised, it is not the spirit who raises it by strength of arm, it is the animated table that obeys the impulse given by the spirit."
14. What is the part of a medium in this matter?
"I have said it; the fluid of the medium is combined with the universal fluid accumulated by the spirit: the union of these two fluids is necessary; that is to say, the animalized fluid with the universal fluid, to give life to the table. But remark that this life is only momentary; it is. extinguished with the action, and often before the end of the action, as soon as the quantity of fluid is insufficient to animate it."
15. Can the spirit act without the concurrence of a medium?
"It can act in spite of the medium; that is to say, that no doubt many persons serve as auxiliaries to the spirits for certain phenomena. The spirit draws from them, as from a source, the animalized fluid he needs; it is thus that the concurrence of the medium, as you understand it, is not always necessary; which is the case particularly in spontaneous phenomena."
16. Does the animated table act with intelligence? Does it think?
"It thinks no more than the stick with which you make an intelligent sign;. but the vitality with which it is animated permits it to obey the impulse of an intelligence. Understand that the table that moves does not become spirit, and that it has of itself neither thought nor will."
Remark. We often use an analogous expression in our usual language; we say of a wheel that turns quickly, that it is animated with a rapid movement.
17. Which is the preponderating cause in the production of this phenomena, the spirit or the fluid?
"The spirit is the cause, the fluid is the instrument; both are necessary."
18. What part does the will of the medium play in this case?
"To call the spirits, and to second them in the impulse given to^the fluid."
Is the action of the will always indispensable?
"It adds to the power, but is not always necessary, since the movement can take place against and in spite of that will; this is a proof that there is a cause independent of the medium."
Remark. The contact of the hands is not always necessary to make an object move. It is so more often to give the first impulse; but once the object is animated, it can obey the will without material contact; that depends either on the power of the medium or the nature of the spirit. A first contact even is not always indispensable; there is proof of it in the spontaneous movements and displacements which no one has dreamed of calling forth.
19. Why cannot every one produce the same effect? and why have not all mediums the same power?
"That depends on the organization, and the greater or less facility with which the combination of fluids can operate; then the spirit of the medium sympathizes more or less with the foreign spirits who find in him the necessary fluidic power. This power, like that of magnetizers, is greater or less. Under this relation there are persons who are altogether refractory; others with whom the combination operates only by an exertion of their will; others, finally, with whom it takes place so naturally and so easily, that they are not aware of it, and serve as instruments against their will, as we have already said." (See the next chapter, on Spontaneous Manifestations)
Remark. Magnetism is, doubtless, the principle of these phenomena, but not such as we usually understand it. The proof is, that there are very powerful magnetizers who could not move a stand, and persons who cannot magnetize, children even, to whom it suffices only to touch the fingers on. a heavy table to make it move; so, if the medianimic power is not by reason of the magnetic, it is that there is another cause.
20. Can persons called electric be considered as mediums?
"These persons draw from themselves the fluid necessary to the production of the phenomena, and can act without the help of foreign spirits. Thus they are not mediums in the sense attached to this word; but a spirit can assist them, and profit by their natural disposition."
Remark. There are persons, like somnambulists, who can act with or without the concurrence of a foreign spirit. (See, in chapter on Mediums, the article relative to Somnambulistic Mediums)
21. Is the spirit that acts on solid bodies in the substance of the bodies, or outside of it?
"Both; we have said that matter is no obstacle to spirits; they penetrate everything; a portion of the perisprit is identified, so to say, with the object it penetrates."
22. How does the spirit manage to strike? Does he make use of a material object?
"No more than of his arms to raise the table. You well know that he has no hammer at his disposal. His hammer is the combined fluid put in action to move or to strike. When he moves, the light brings you the sight of the movements; when he strikes, the air brings you the sound."
23. We can understand that when he strikes on a hard body; but how can he make us hear noises or articulate sounds in the air?
".Since he can act on matter, he can act on air as well as on the table. As to articulate sounds, he can imitate them, as he can all other noises."
24. You say that spirits do not use their hands to remove the table; yet, in certain visual manifestations, hands have been seen to appear whose fingers have wandered over the key-board of a piano, moved the keys, and caused sounds. Would it not seem that in this case the movement of the keys is produced by the pressure of the fingers? Is not this pressure as direct and real when it is felt on ourselves, when these hands leave imprints on the skin?
"You can understand the nature of spirits and their manner of acting only by comparisons, which give you an incomplete idea, and it is wrong to always wish to assimilate their processes to your own. Their processes must bear relation to their organization. Have I not told you that the fluid of the perisprit penetrates matter, and is identified with it, that it animates it with a factitious life? Well, when the spirit rests his fingers on the keys, he puts them there really, and even moves them; but it is not by muscular force that he presses the key: he animates it as he animated the table, and the key, which obeys his will, moves and strikes the chord. There is one thing you will have trouble in comprehending; it is Jthis: that some spirits are so little advanced, and so material in comparison to the elevated spirits, that they still have the illusions of the terrestrial life, and believe they act as when they had their body; they can no more give a reason of the true cause of the effects they produce, than a peasant can give a reason for the theory of the sounds he articulates; ask them how they play on the piano, they will tell you they strike on it with their fingers, because they believe they do strike it; the effect is produced instinctively with them, without their knowing how, and yet by their will. When they make you hear words, it is the same thing/'
Remark. It results, from these explanations, that spirits can produce all the effects that we produce ourselves, but by means appropriate to their organization: certain forces which are suited to them take the place of the muscles which are necessary to us to act; as gesture with the mute takes the place of speech, which he lacks.
25. Among the phenomena cited in proof of the action of an occult power, there are some evidently contrary to all the known laws of nature; does not doubt, then, seem to be permitted?
"It is because man is far from knowing all the laws of nature; if he knew them all he would be a superior spirit. Every day, however, gives the lie to those who, thinking they know everything, presume to set bounds to nature; and they are none the less haughty. In constantly unvailing new mysteries God warns men to doubt their own lights, for the day will come when the science of the most learned will be put to confusion. Have you not every day examples of bodies animated by a movement capable of overcoming the force of gravity? Does not the bullet, shot into the air, momentarily overcome this force? Poor men, who think yourselves so learned, and whose silly vanity is every instant disconcerted, know that you are still very small."

75These explanations are clear, categorical, and without ambiguity; from them results this capital point: that the universal fluid, in which dwells the principle of life, is the principal agent of the manifestations, and that this agent receives its impulse from the spirit, whether incarnated or wandering. This fluid condensed constitutes the perisprit, or semi-material envelope of the spirit. In the state of incarnation, the perisprit is united to the matter of the body; in the wandering state it is free. When the spirit is incarnate, the substance of the perisprit is more or less bound, more or less adherent, if we may so express it. With certain persons there is a kind of emanation of this fluid from their organization; and it is this, properly speaking, that constitutes mediums for physical manifestations. The emission of the animalized fluid may be more or less abundant, its combination more or less easy, from whence mediums more or less powerful; it is not permanent, which explains the intermittence of the power.

76Let us cite a comparison. When one has the will to act materially on a given point at a distance, it is the thought that wills; but the thought alone cannot go to strike the point; an intermediary is necessary, which it directs — a stick, a projectile, a current of air, &c. Remark, too, the thought does not act directly on the stick, for if it is not touched it will not act alone. The thought, which is but the incarnated spirit within us, is united to the body by the perisprit; but it can no more act on the body without the perisprit, than it can act on the stick without the body; it acts on the. perisprit because it is the substance with which it has the greatest affinity; the perisprit acts on the muscles, the muscles grasp the stick, and the stick strikes its aim. When the spirit is not incarnate, a foreign auxiliary is necessary; this auxiliary is the fluid by which he fits the object to follow the impulse of his will.
J*]. Thus, when an object is put in motion, raised or thrown into the air, the spirit does not grasp, push, or raise it, as we should, with the hand; he saturates it, so to say, with his fluid, combined with that of the medium, and the object, thus momentarily vivified, acts like a living being, with this difference, that, having no will of its own, it follows the impulse of the will of the spirit.
Since the vital fluid emitted in some way by the spirit, gives a factitious and momentary life to inert bodies; since \hc^erisprit is but this same vital fluid, it follows that when the spirit is incarnate, it is he who gives life to the body, by means of his perisprit; he remains united to it as long as the organization permits; when he withdraws, the body dies. Now, if, instead of a table, a statue of wood were made, and acted on as is the table, we will have a statue that will move, will strike, will answer by its movements and by its blows; in a word, we shall have a statue momentarily animated by an artificial life; we say talking tables, we could also say talking statues. What a light this theory throws on a crowd of phenomena hitherto without solution! How many allegories and mysterious effects does it not explain?

78But the incredulous object that the fact of raising tables without a support is impossible, because it is contrary to the law of gravity. We will answer them, firstly, that their denial is not a proof; secondly, that if the fact exists, it may well be contrary to all the known laws; that would prove one thing, that it must rest on unknown law, and that those who deny cannot pretend to know all the laws of nature. We have just explained this law, but it is no reason that it may be accepted by them, precisely because it is given by spirits, who have left their terrestrial clothing instead of being by spirits who still have it, and have seats in the Academy. In such a manner that if the spirit of Arago living had given this law, they, would have accepted it with their eyes shut; but given by the spirit of Arago dead, it is a Utopia; and why so? because they believe that, Arago being dead, everything in him is dead. We have not the pretension to dissuade them; yet, as this objection might embarrass some people, we shall try to answer it, putting ourselves at their stand-point, that is to say, by making abstract for an instant of the theory of factitious animation.

79When the space under the bell of the pneumatic machine is emptied, this bell adheres with such force that it is impossible to raise it, on account of the weight of the column of air that rests upon it. Let the air enter, and the bell rises with the utmost facility, because the air below counterbalances the air above; at the same time, left to itself, it will remain on the platform by virtue of the force of gravity. Now, let the air below be compressed till it have a density greater than that above, the bell will be raised in spite of gravity; if the current of air is rapid and violent it could be sustained in space without visible support, in the manner of those toys that are made to flutter in a waterfall. The universal fluid, then, which is the element of all matter, being accumulated around the table, why should it not have the property to diminish or increase its specific relative weight, as the air for the bell of the pneumatic machine, as hydrogen gas for balloons, without its being considered against the law of gravity? Do you know all the properties and all the power of this fluid? No: well, do not deny a fact because you cannot explain it.

80Let us return to the theory of the movement of the table. If, by the means indicated, the spirit can raise a table, he can raise anything else; an easychair, for instance. If he can raise an easy-chair, he can, with a sufficient force, raise at the same time a person seated on it. This is the explanation of this phenomenon, which Mr. Home has produced a hundred times, on himself and other persons; he renewed it during a voyage to London, and in order to prove that the spectators were not the sport of an optical illusion, he made a mark on the wall with a pencil, and persons passed beneath him. It is said Mr. Home is a powerful medium for physical effects; he was in this case the efficient cause and the object.
We spoke of the possible augmentation of weight j it is, in fact, a phenomenon sometimes produced, and which has nothing more anomalous than the prodigious resistance of the bell under the atmospheric column. Under the influence of some mediums, objects as light have been known to offer the same resistance, then suddenly yield to the slightest effort. In the experiment mentioned above, the bell in reality weighs neither more nor less by itself, but it appears heavier from the effect of the exterior cause that acts upon it; it is probably the same here. The table has always the same intrinsic weight, for the mass is not augmented, but a foreign force is opposed to its movement; and this cause may be in the ambient fluids that penetrate it, as that which augments or diminishes the apparent weight of the bell is in the air. Make the experiment of the pneumatic bell before an ignorant peasant; not understanding that it is the air he does not see that acts, it will not be difficult to persuade him it is the devil. It may be said, perhaps, that, this fluid being imponderable, its accumulation cannot augment the weight of an object. Agreed; but remark that if we used the word accumulation, it is by comparison, and not from absolute assimilation to the air. It is imponderable; so be it: at the same time nothing proves that it is so; its inmost nature is unknown to us, and we are far from being acquainted with all its properties.
Before having experimented on the weight of the air, no one suspected the effects of this same weight. Electricity is also ranked among the imponderable fluids; yet a body may be held back by an electric current, and offer a strong resistance to one who would raise it: it has in appearance increased in weight. It would be very illogical to conclude that no support exists, because we cannot see it. The spirit, then, may have levers that are unknown to us; Nature proves to us daily that her power does not stop at the evidence of our senses.
We can explain only by a similar cause the singular phenomenon, of which there have been several examples, of a young person, feeble and delicate, raising with two fingers, without effort and as a feather, a strong, robust man, with the chair on which he is seated. This proves a cause foreign to the person; it is an intermitting of the faculty.
Noises, Racket, and Disturbance. — Objects thrown, &c.