LABORATORY OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD.

Clothing of the Spirits. — Direct writing, or pneumatography.

— Spontaneous formation of tangible objects.

— Modification of the properties of matter. Healing magnetic action.

Clothing of the Spirits.

We have said that the Spirits present themselves clad in tunics, wrapped in ample cloths, or even in the garments they wore in life.

The wrapping in cloths seems to be a general custom in the world of the Spirits.

But where will they seek garments resembling in every respect those they wore when alive, with all the accessories that completed them? It is beyond any doubt that they did not take those objects with them, for the real objects we still have before our eyes. Whence, then, come those they use in the other world? This question has always given much to think about.

For many persons, however, it was a mere matter of curiosity. The occurrence, nevertheless, confirmed a question of principle, of great importance, for its solution gave us a glimpse of a general law, which also finds application in our corporeal world. Numerous facts came to complicate it and to demonstrate the insufficiency of the theories with which they attempted to explain it.

Up to a certain point, one could understand the existence of the garment, since it is possible to regard it as, in some manner, forming part of the individual.

The same, however, does not hold with the accessory objects, such as, for example, the snuffbox of the visitor of the sick lady, of whom we spoke in No.

Let us note, on this subject, that there it was not a question of a dead person, but of a living one, and that this gentleman, when he came in person, carried in his hand a snuffbox resembling in every respect that of the apparition. Where had his Spirit found the one it had with it when it was seated beside the sick woman's bed?

We could cite a great number of cases in which Spirits, of the dead or of the living, appeared with diverse objects, such as canes, weapons, pipes, lanterns, books, etc.

There then came to us an idea: that, possibly, to the inert bodies of the earth there correspond others, analogous, but ethereal, in the invisible world; that the condensed matter that forms the objects may have a quintessential part, which escapes our senses.

This theory was not devoid of likelihood, but it proved powerless to explain all the facts.

There is one, above all, that seemed destined to frustrate all interpretations. Until then, it had been a question only of images, or appearances. We saw perfectly well that the perispirit can acquire the properties of matter and become tangible, but this tangibility is merely momentary and the solid body vanishes like a shadow. This is already a very extraordinary phenomenon; but what is even more so is the production of persistent solid matter, as numerous authentic facts prove, 11 notably that of direct writing, of which we shall speak in detail in a special chapter. However, as this phenomenon is intimately connected with the subject we are now treating, constituting one of its most positive applications, we shall anticipate, placing it before the place in which, by order, it ought to be explained. [Direct writing, or pneumatography.]

Direct writing, or pneumatography, is that which is produced spontaneously, without the help either of the medium's hand or of the pencil.

It suffices to take a sheet of white paper, which can be done with all necessary precautions, with certainty of the absence of any fraud, fold it and place it anywhere, in a drawer, or simply upon a piece of furniture. This done, if the person is in the proper conditions, at the end of a more or less long time there will be found, traced upon the paper, letters, diverse signs, words, sentences, and even dissertations, most often with a grayish substance, analogous to plumbago, at other times with red pencil, ordinary ink, and even printer's ink.

Such is the fact in all its simplicity, and its reproduction, though indeed not very common, is nevertheless not very rare, for there are persons who obtain it with great ease.

If to the paper a pencil were added, one might suppose that the Spirit had made use of it to write. But, since the paper is left entirely alone, it becomes evident that the writing was formed by means of a matter deposited upon it.

Whence did the Spirit draw that matter? Such is the problem, to whose solution we were led by the snuffbox to which we referred a little while ago. [No. 116.]

[Spontaneous formation of tangible objects.]

It was the Spirit Saint Louis who gave us this solution, by means of the following answers:

1st We cited a case of apparition of the Spirit of a living person. That Spirit had a snuffbox, from which it took pinches. Did it experience the sensation that an individual experiences who does the same?

“No.”

2nd That snuffbox had the form of the one he habitually used and which was kept at his house. What was the said box in the hands of the apparition?

“An appearance.

It was so that the circumstance might be noted, as it indeed was, and that the apparition might not be taken for a hallucination due to the state of health of the seer.

The Spirit wished the lady in question to believe in the reality of his presence and, for that, took on all the appearances of reality.” 3rd You say that it was an appearance; but an appearance has nothing of the real, it is like an optical illusion. We should like to know whether that snuffbox was merely an image without reality, or whether there was in it something material? “Certainly.

It is with the aid of this material principle that the perispirit takes on the appearance of garments similar to those the Spirit wore when alive.”

NOTE. It is evident that the word appearance must here be taken in the sense of aspect, imitation.

The real snuffbox was not there; the one the Spirit allowed to be seen was merely the representation of that one: it was, then, with respect to the original, a mere appearance, although formed of a material principle.

Experience teaches that one should not always give a literal meaning to certain expressions used by the Spirits. Interpreting them according to our own ideas, we expose ourselves to grave misunderstandings. Hence the necessity of going deeper into the meaning of their words, every time they present the least ambiguity. This is a recommendation that the Spirits themselves constantly make.

Without the explanation we elicited, the term appearance, which continually recurs in analogous cases, could lend itself to a false interpretation. 4th Does inert matter duplicate itself? Or is there in the invisible world an essential matter, capable of taking the form of the objects we see? In a word, do these have an ethereal double in the invisible world, as men are represented in it by the Spirits? “It is not thus that things take place.

Over the material elements disseminated throughout all points of space, in your atmosphere, the Spirits have a power that you are far from suspecting.

They can, then, concentrate these elements at their will and give them the apparent form that corresponds to that of material objects.”

NOTE. This question, as can be seen, was the translation of our thought, that is, of the idea we had formed of the nature of such objects. [See above the indicator 8, item 126.] If the answers, as some claim, were the reflection of the thought, we should have obtained the confirmation of our theory and not a contrary theory.

5th I formulate the question anew, in a categorical manner, in order to avoid any and all misunderstanding: Are the garments with which the Spirits cover themselves something?

“It seems to me that my preceding answer resolves the question.

Do you not know that the perispirit itself is something?”

6th It results, from this explanation, that the Spirits cause ethereal matter to pass through whatever transformations they wish and that, therefore, with respect to the snuffbox, the Spirit did not find it completely made, but made it himself, at the moment when he had need of it, by an act of his will. And, in the same way that he made it, he could unmake it. The same naturally holds with all the other objects, such as garments, jewels, etc. Is it so? “Why, evidently.”

7th The snuffbox became so visible to the lady in question that it produced in her the illusion of a material snuffbox. Could the Spirit have rendered it tangible for that same lady?

“He could.”

8th Could the lady have taken it in her hands, believing she was holding a real snuffbox?

“Yes.”

9th If she had opened it, would she have found snuff in it? And, if she had inhaled that snuff, would it have made her sneeze?

“Without doubt.”

[Modification of the properties of matter.]

10th Can the Spirit then give to an object, not only the form, but also special properties?

“If he wishes.

It was based on this principle that I answered the previous questions in the affirmative.

You will have proofs of the powerful action that the Spirits exert upon matter, an action you are far from suspecting, as I said a little while ago.” 11th Let us suppose, then, that he wished to make a poisonous substance. If a person ingested it, would she be poisoned?

“He could have done so, 2 but he would not, since that is not permitted to him.”

12th Could he make a salutary substance, suited to cure an infirmity? And has some such case already presented itself?

“Yes, many times.”

13th Then could he also make a nourishing substance? Let us suppose he has made a fruit, some delicacy: if someone could eat the fruit or the delicacy, would he be satisfied?

“He would, yes; 2 but do not search so far to find what is so easy to understand.

A ray of sunlight suffices to render perceptible to your coarse organs those material particles that fill the space where you live. Do you not know that the air contains water vapors? Condense them and you will make them return to the normal state. Deprive them of heat, and behold, those impalpable and invisible molecules will become a solid body, and a quite solid one, and thus, many other substances from which the chemists will draw still more astonishing marvels.

Simply, the Spirit disposes of more perfect instruments than yours: the will and the permission of God.”

OBSERVATION. The question of satiety is here very important. How can a substance whose existence and properties are merely temporary and, in a certain way, conventional produce satiety?

What happens is that this substance, through its contact with the stomach, produces the sensation of satiety, but not the satiety that results from fullness.

Since a substance of this nature can act upon the economy [the organism] and modify a morbid state, it can also, perfectly well, act upon the stomach and produce there the impression of satiety.

We beg, however, the gentlemen pharmacists and inventors of restoratives not to be filled with zeal, nor to believe that the Spirits will come to compete with them.

These cases are rare, exceptional, and never depend upon the will. Otherwise, everyone would feed and cure himself at a very cheap price. 14th The objects which, by the will of the Spirit, become tangible, could they remain with that character and come into use?

“That could happen, 2 but it is not done. It is outside the laws.”

15th Do all Spirits have, in the same degree, the power to produce tangible objects?

“It is beyond doubt that the more elevated the Spirit, the more easily he achieves it.

But, even here, all depends on the circumstances.

Of this power inferior Spirits can also dispose.”

16th Does the Spirit always have exact knowledge of the manner in which he composes his garments, or the objects whose appearance he makes visible?

“No; often he concurs in the formation of all these things, performing an instinctive act, which he himself does not understand, if he is not already sufficiently enlightened for that.”

17th Since the Spirit can extract from the universal element the materials necessary to him for the production of all these things and give them a temporary reality, with the properties peculiar to them, could he also draw from there what is needed to write, a possibility that would give us the explanation of the phenomenon of direct writing? “So that, at last, you have come to the point.”

NOTE. It was, indeed, there that we wished to arrive with all our preliminary questions. The answer proves that the Spirit had read our thought.

18th Since the matter of which the Spirit makes use lacks persistence, how is it that the traces of direct writing do not disappear?

“Do not play upon words. In the first place, I did not employ the term — never. [No. 14.]

There it was a question of a bulky material object, whereas here it is a question of signs which, it being useful to preserve them, are preserved.

What I meant to say was that the objects thus composed by the Spirits could not become objects of common use, because there is in them, really, no aggregation of matter, as in your solid bodies.”

The above theory can be summarized in this manner: the Spirit acts upon matter; 2 from the universal cosmic matter he draws the elements he needs to form, at his pleasure, objects that have the appearance of the diverse bodies existing on Earth.

He can equally, by the action of his will, operate in elementary matter an intimate transformation, which confers upon it determinate properties.

This faculty is inherent in the nature of the Spirit, who often exercises it in an instinctive manner, when necessary, without perceiving it.

The objects the Spirit forms have a temporary existence, subordinated to his will, or to a need he experiences.

He can make and unmake them freely.

In certain cases, these objects, in the eyes of living persons, can present all the appearances of reality, that is, become momentarily visible and even tangible.

There is formation; but not creation, seeing that out of “nothing” the Spirit can draw nothing.

The existence of a single elementary matter is today almost generally admitted by Science, 2 and the Spirits, as has just been seen, confirm it.

All the bodies of Nature are born of that matter which, through the transformations it undergoes, also produces the diverse properties of those same bodies.

Hence it comes that a salutary substance can, through the effect of a simple modification, become poisonous, a fact of which Chemistry offers us numerous examples.

Everyone knows that, combined in certain proportions, two innocent substances can give rise to one that is deleterious. One part of oxygen and two of hydrogen, both harmless, form water. Add an atom of oxygen and you will have a corrosive liquid.

Without any change of the proportions, sometimes the simple alteration in the mode of molecular aggregation suffices to change the properties. Thus it is that an opaque body can become transparent and vice versa.

Since so great an action upon elementary matter is possible to the Spirit, one conceives that it is given to him not only to form substances, but also to modify their properties, his will producing for this purpose the effect of a reagent.

This theory furnishes us the solution of a fact well known in magnetism, but unexplained until today: that of the change of the properties of water, by the work of the will.

The acting Spirit is that of the magnetizer, almost always assisted by another Spirit.

He operates a transmutation by means of the magnetic fluid which, as we said earlier, is the substance that most nearly approaches cosmic matter, or universal element.

Now, since he can operate a modification in the properties of water, he can also produce an analogous phenomenon with the fluids of the organism, whence the curative effect of magnetic action, suitably directed.

It is known what a capital role the will plays in all the phenomena of magnetism. But how is one to explain the material action of so subtle an agent?

The will is not a being, any kind of substance; it is not even a property of the most ethereal matter that exists. The will is an essential attribute of the Spirit, that is, of the thinking being.

With the aid of this lever, he acts upon elementary matter and, by a consecutive action, reacts upon its compounds, whose intimate properties thus come to be transformed.

As much as of the wandering Spirit, the will is equally an attribute of the incarnate Spirit; hence the power of the magnetizer, a power that is known to be in direct ratio to the force of will.

The incarnate Spirit being able to act upon elementary matter, he can in the same way change its properties, within certain limits.

Thus is explained the faculty of cure by contact and by the imposition of the hands, a faculty that some persons possess in a more or less elevated degree.

(See, in the chapter on the Mediums, the paragraph referring to the Healing Mediums. See also the Spiritist Review of July 1859, The Zouave of Magenta; An officer of the army of Italy.)