Introduction.

Many people have asked us to indicate to them the conditions they must fulfill and the manner in which they should proceed in order to become mediums.

The solution to this question is more complicated than it appears at first sight, because it rests upon preliminary knowledge of a certain extent. To perform experiments in Physics and Chemistry, one must, first of all, know Physics and Chemistry. The answers we gave to these people could not include explanations incompatible with the limits of a correspondence; on the other hand, the material time would not have allowed us to satisfy all the requests. This is what led us to publish this instruction, which is necessarily more complete than anything we could have written directly. Whoever thought he would find in this work a universal and infallible recipe for forming mediums would be utterly mistaken. Although each person carries within himself the germ of the qualities necessary to become a medium, such qualities present themselves in very diverse degrees, their development depending on causes that no one can bring forth at will.

The rules of poetry, painting, and music do not transform into poets those who have no vocation for it; they guide the use of the natural faculties. The same is true of our work. Its aim is to indicate the means of developing the mediumistic faculty as much as each person's dispositions permit and, above all, to guide its use in a useful manner when the faculty exists.

This, however, is not the only goal we set for ourselves. Alongside the mediums properly so called, there is the multitude of those who occupy themselves with the spirit manifestations, and which grows daily. To guide these people in their observations, to point out to them the pitfalls that they can and must necessarily encounter in something so new; to initiate them into the manner of corresponding with the Spirits and to indicate to them the means of obtaining good communications, such is the circle we must encompass, on pain of producing an incomplete work. Let no one, therefore, be surprised if he finds in our work information that, at first sight, may seem foreign to its object, for experience will show its usefulness. After being studied with care, the facts witnessed will be better understood, and the language of certain Spirits will seem less strange to us. As a practical instruction, this book is not addressed exclusively to mediums, but to all those who are in a position to see and observe the spirit phenomena. The spirit science necessarily rests upon the existence of the Spirits and their intervention in the corporeal world. Today, this fact is admitted by so great a number of people that it would be superfluous to demonstrate it. Our object being to guide the people who wish to occupy themselves with the manifestations, we suppose them to be sufficiently informed on this point and on the fundamental truths that derive from it. It is therefore useless to enter into explanations in this regard, which is why we will not discuss them, we will not seek to establish controversy, nor will we refute the objections. We address ourselves only to people of good faith, convinced or predisposed to be convinced. As for those who still have everything to learn, they will certainly not find here the demonstrations they might perhaps desire, since we consider the starting point as demonstrated. To those who contest that point, we say: see and observe when the occasion presents itself. If, despite the facts and the reasoning, you persist in your incredulity, we will consider as lost the time we might spend in wishing to draw you out of an error in which, surely, you take pleasure. We respect your opinion; respect ours. That is all we ask of you. We will begin this instruction with the exposition of the general principles of the Doctrine. Although it may seem more rational to begin with practice, we believe this is not the case here; there is a moral conviction that only reasoning can give. Those, then, who have acquired the first notions, through the study of the theory, will better understand the necessity of certain precepts recommended in practice and will show more favorable dispositions. By leading the undecided onto the ground of reality, we hope to destroy the prejudices that may harm the result sought; to spare useless attempts, because they are misdirected or turned toward the impossible; and finally, to combat the superstitious ideas whose origin, almost always, lies in the false or incomplete notion of things. The spirit manifestations have their source in a multitude of new ideas that could not find representation in ordinary language. They have been expressed by analogy, as happens in the beginnings of every science. Hence the ambiguity of the terms, the source of interminable discussions. With clearly defined words and one word for each thing, we understand one another more easily; the discussion, if it occurs, is about the substance, and not about the form. It was with a view to attaining this goal and to ordering these ideas, still new and confused, that we resolved, first of all, to give fairly complete, though succinct, explanations of all the words that refer, directly or indirectly, to the Spiritist Doctrine, in order better to fix the ideas.

The spirit science must have its vocabulary, like all the other sciences. To understand a science, one must, above all, understand its language; it is the first thing we recommend to those who wish to make a serious study of Spiritism. Whatever their personal opinion may afterward be on the various points of the Doctrine, they will be able to discuss them with full knowledge of the matter. Moreover, the alphabetical form will make it easier to refer to the definitions and information that are the cornerstone of the edifice, and which will serve to refute, in a few words, certain criticisms and to avoid a flood of questions. The specialty of the goal we have set for ourselves indicates the natural limits of this work. Since the spirit science touches all the points of metaphysics and morality and, one may say, the greater part of human knowledge, it would not be within so restricted a framework that we could address all the questions or discuss all the objections.

For complementary studies, we refer the reader to The Spirits' Book and to the Spiritist Review. In the first he will find the complete and methodical exposition of the Doctrine, just as the Spirits themselves dictated it; in the second, besides the account and appreciation of the facts, a variety of subjects that only a periodical publication can accommodate. The collection of this Review will form the most complete repertory on the matter, under the threefold point of view: historical, dogmatic, and critical.