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

THE EXISTENCE OF SPIRITS. 79mosj)hcrcs? Tlic nervous system of tables, rdisgucridons,) to use thelanguage of Reiehenbacli, must be very smsi/irr ; and in this new duncewithout nnifdcl—what becomes of the explanation by muscular vibration,and especially by tlie hinniditi/ of tlin luiruh?oTJ^. " AVe have some very important communications, on the 2od of^la}', from M. ]5onjean, member of the Royal Academy of Savoy, at Charabery,respecting several experiments made at the academy itself,and establishingthe iwrfcct infdligcnce of the agent in question. M. Bonjean,however, always refers this intelligence to one uniform process.'Theseresponses,' he says, ' are not, and cannot he hut the reflection of the thour/htsof the person who causes the phenomena, and the movables are only ahle tosatisfy those questions whose answers are known, without ever being ableto supply an answer that isnot known.'374. '' The idea that the furniture is unable to give satisfaction is charming! but up to this point it was not understood to be super-inteUigcnce.Patience, however, for it is bound to happen I37o. " Besides, M. Bonjean does full justice to the muscular movementsof M. Chevreul, by means of that single exception of the table of Strasbourgturning with all its operators, or certain tables at Lyons moved withoutimmediate contact. Next, he passes from the physical to the moralquestion, which, if to be believed, is certainly not very encouraging.'Fathers and mothers/ he exclaims, 'if you do not desire to developepremature feelings in your daughters, husbands who regard thepeace ofyour wives, he mistrustful of the magnetic chain in general, and of thedancing of tables in particular.'376. " It will be recollected that in the famous secret report of Bailly onmesmerism, in 1784, exactly the same thing was said. There is underall this, then, we have good reason to apprehend, a uniform unrepentedsin.377. " In a letter of May 24th from M. Seguin, one of our most distinguishedengineers, to the Abbe Moigno, who had very ably opposedtheseexperiments in Lc Pays, M. Seguin says, ' When I reason dispassionatelyon the real and very 2^ositive results which I have obtained, and seen obtainedby others before my eyes, I think myself under the- control of anhallucination which causes me to see things differently to what they are,so much does my reason refuse to admit them ; but when I repeat my experiments,I find it impossible any longer to resist the force of evidence,when indeed it confounds and upsets all my opinions.378. '' ^ Ifow can you expect me to accept your explanation, when atable touched very lightly by the ends of the fingers, presses against myhand and against my logs to such a degree as to repel me and almostbreak itself? How believe that the person whose hands touch it couldimpart to it a force equal to such efforts, and especially ichcn that 2^crsonis myself? Accept, then, freely and with courage, the facts as they are ,