Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

THE EXISTENCE OF SPIRITS, 77359. ^'Beware, however, of the first supernal inteUifjenrn! for weshall full back on our ancient and primitive criterion^ our uif;iHible touchstone.860. ''All dcpcntls on what it is going to give us; think well of it thistime ;an imprudent question might lose all.3G1. "And already, what signifies that last phrase of a serious articlewhich we find in the Courier du Nord? 'In another house the table,they say, obeyed the commands of one of the experimenters; took thedirection indicated, danced in measure to the sound of a piano, countedthe hours, and told the age of the assistants,'302. " What means that other letter from Bordeaux, in the Guyenne ? ' Ahat submitted to animal magnetism appeared more intelligent even thanthe table ; it indicated, they say, by little gambols, the age of persons, thenumber of pieces of money they had in&c.of ladies and gentlemen together in the room,' &c.their pockets, it told the amount303. "What follows is better still : see in the Journal le Pat/s, a letterof M., the Abbe of Moigno, according to which it follows that MM.Seguin and de Montgolfier, very distinguished engineers, ordered thetables to rest on this leg and then on the other, and made them beattime, &c.304. " We read in La Patrie—' Explanation given hy the savans.'Ah! let us see! this subject is becoming important. According to thisjournal the following is the hypothesis at which the savans have arrived'The table and hat turners act mostly in good faith, (quite a concession,)but they deceive themselves; they think they cause the motion of an inanimateobject by an act of volition, or an efi'usion of magnetic fluid fromtheir fingers ;while it is by muscular action, imperceptible to themselves,or others.' Ah ! take notice ! It is by a vibratory movement comingfrom thousands of small nervous branches. Add to this, lassitude, humidityof the hands, and you will have an explanation, if not entirely satisfactory,at least sufficiently plausible, of the phenomena which engage ourattention. M. Chevreul (of the Institute) has analyzed this physiologicalpredisposition, and has illustrated it by the fact familiar to the billiardpla3'er, who having struck the ball, follows it with his eyes, with hisshoulders, and with the whole body, and makes fantastic motions, as if toimpel it,though no longer subject to his direct action, &c.305. "It is well 31. Chevreul has used the phrase ^as if to impel it,for had he been so unfortunate as to say, and in fact he did impel it,we should have been lost. In truth we should have been silenced. Butthat lucky ^as ?*/*,' saves us from a very bad predicament; it brings backto our memory what we were about to forget ; that is to say, that in therelations of man and matter, never, up to the present time, has all themuscular effort of the world been able to influence, in the smallest desree,the direction of an object, not under its direct action. To the present