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

74 FOREIGN CORROBOIIATIVE EVIDENCE OF345. " Again we inquire of all serious minds, What is the faculty by whichwe predict, among other coming events, the turning of tables, which,nevertheless, do not turn till after the arrival of a ve.sar.l and a medium?However, silence becoming impossible, the French press has thought properto speak. On the 4th of May, the Journal of the Empire, Le Poy^^happened to inform us that ^ from the Baltic to the banks of the Danube,all Germany was in a fever.' It became then plainer and plainer thatwe were going to be infected, and from that time we hastened to prepareour batteries.846. '' It was high time, for about the end of April, the grand mysteriousarmy had this time decidedly crossed the Rhine, and in allthe large citiesof France— Strasbourg, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Toulouse, &c.— the turningepidemic broke out like a discharge of musketry ;and better to impressthe mind, it only at first attacked stands, tables, hats, seats, &c., for all theseparticipated in the demonstration.347. ^^ At Paris especially, in repeating the experiments, they were madea pastime for a soiree. Children were introduced into the circles, withoutconsidering whether correlative evil might not be coupled with thesemysterious amusements.348. ''It is true they would not allow the smallest Leyden jar to comenear them ; but what troubles might have resulted from the action of anelectricity that could raise tables of eighteen dishes like a feather ?349. "It is true, too, that M. Rouilly, maitre de pension at Orleans, undertookto give an answer. In the Moniteur due Loiretj he informs usthat ' at his house, even in the middle of the process, a large young manof twenty-six was seized with a violent trembling in allhis limbs, and thathis left forearm began suddenly to oscillate in a frightful manner, makingas many as a thousand movements in a minute ;being able, he said, toutter only broken syllables ;staggered like an intoxicated man ) it wasnecessary tocarry him to bed, and the next day he still felt some nervoustrembling.' M. Bouilly ended in saying ' that he felt it his duty toreport this fact for the benefit of those who may enter into these experimentswithout knowing their possible serious inconveniences.' Littleattention was paid to this, so much had fashion asserted empire, so muchwas this pleasure worth itscost.350. '' However, knowing long since all the particulars, we are disposedto ask ourselves. What is going to result from all this ?what will the savanssay ? Will they allow themselves to be carried away by electric appearances?will their philosophy allow them to seek independently of the fluids,which may be imagined to operate, the real agent of such a variety ofeffects ? No ) they well know, however, that in the sciences—medicine, forexample—every investigation that stops short of phenomena, is of verysecondary value; we may be satisfied, for want of better, but still we donot feel ourselves in possession of the truth; we still seek it. Why in