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

286 ADDITIONAL CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCEAdilc, told iiic she saw a o-cntlcinan, and by the description she gave ofthe stature, costume, character, the cause and place of the death of theperson appearing, I could not avoid recognising in the said person that ofmy brother Joseph.1445. " This apparition had such an effect on me, as to keep me awakethe whole night, seeking to explain the phenomenon. But becomingfatigued with researches, I thought, as a magnetizcr, to be able to explainthese apparitions by the same means as M. do Gasparin pretends to explainthem at the present time. I said to myself that clairvoyants saw theimage of things impressed on the memory of the persons with whom theywere in rapport; the image of my late brother being engraved on mymemory, it was enough for M. Cahagnet to put me, by an act of his will,in rapport with his clairvoyant, for the latter to have seen the image of mybrother on the tablets of my memory.1446. ''With this impression, I wrote to M. Cahagnet, saying to him,that in spite of my assurance yesterday of the reality ofthe apparition ofmy brother, my knowledge of magnetism had caused me to-day to thinkotherwise, and that further evidence would be necessary to convince me ofits reality. M. Cahagnet having complied, two spirits were evoked joneof my aforesaid brother Joseph, and the other of Antoinette Carre, thesister of my domestic ; apparitions reported in the second volume of theArcana, and the description given by the clairvoyant could not have beenmore correct. Eut as I still entertained the idea that these images couldnot be traced by the clairvoyant in my mind, this meeting produced noresults. Curious, however, to know whether other clairvoyants possessedthe same faculty as the clairvoyant of M. Cahagnet in regard to theseapparitions,in the sense I understand them, I begged M. Lecocq, clockmakerof the navy, living at Argenteuil, to try some experiments with hissister,a very lucid clairvoyant.1447. " Five apparitions appeared, of whom three were unknown tohim or his clairvoyant, knowing only their names ; and their identity wasdetermined by the assistance of other persons present who had knownthem, as reported from two sources, the letter written me by M. Lecocq,which M. de Gasparin can see, and the report made by the former to M.Cahagnet, which was published in the second volume of the Arcana, page244. In view of this fact, and others of the same nature come to myknowledge, my opinion as to the derivation of appearances and thoughtsfrom the mind of communicants through the clairvoyant begins to be modified.However, to be entirely convinced of the reality of these apparitions,I should require similar facts to be presented to my own eyes.1448. '' Animated by these sentiments, I requested a person in whomI reposed entire confidence, to give me the name of a defunct, entirelyunknown to me, and that of Joseph Moral was given. The young clairvoyantof thirteen years, whom I named at the beginning of this mono-