A case of second sight.

EDITOR'S NOTE. — Undertaking researches among old documents that belonged to the Spiritist Society founded by Allan Kardec, we found this page, alluding to a case of second sight, a page written, from beginning to end, by the hands of the master. We hasten, therefore, to reproduce it.

IMITATION OF THE GOSPEL.

PHENOMENON OF CLAIRVOYANCE.

Paris, October 20, 1863.

Miss V…, a native of Lyon, is endowed with a remarkable second sight, succeeding not only in seeing the Spirits in the normal state, without being placed in a somnambulistic trance, but also in observing, with great precision, the facts that unfold at a distance.

Once in Paris, where she came to spend a few days, she resolved to visit me, on Rue Sainte-Anne, having found my wife, since—after my return from Sainte-Adresse—I had withdrawn to Ségur, in order, with more tranquility, to work on my work about the Gospel. Our meeting was impossible, in view of the fact that the young lady had undertaken the return journey that very afternoon. But, during the conversation with my wife, the latter said to her: — “Since you will not be able to meet with my husband, which he will greatly regret, could you not transport yourself in Spirit to where he is, and see him?”

For an instant, the young lady withdrew into herself, and said:

— “Yes, I see him; he is in a very bright room, on the ground floor; there are three windows there… Oh!… and how cheerful everything is! The house is surrounded by gardens… everywhere trees and flowers… Everything breathes calm and tranquility… He is seated, near a window, working… He is surrounded by a multitude of Spirits who maintain his good health… there are some who seem very elevated, and who inspire him; one of them especially seems to be superior to all the others, being an object of deference to them. Question. — Do you perchance perceive the nature of the work with which my husband occupies himself?

Answer. — One moment… I see a Spirit who holds a book of large proportions… he opens it and shows me what is written there… I read it: Gospel.

OBSERVATION — Indeed, I was working on my book about the Gospels, and whose title still constitutes a secret to all. Miss V… could not have known it. As for my wife, she was unaware whether, at that moment, I was occupying myself with that or with some other subject. Nothing, consequently, could influence the thought of the clairvoyant. The description of the nooks is, moreover, precise, it being noteworthy that she never saw those places. The room where I had installed myself is provided with exactly three windows, which is not common, and, on all sides, adjoins the gardens. My wife was unaware that I was in this room, which is the parlor. She might, with much greater probability, have supposed me to be in the study. All the circumstances concur in proving that, in reality, Miss V… was witnessing everything, not being the plaything of her own imagination. Such a fact constitutes, for me, a proof of the interest that the Spirits took in this work, as well as of the assistance that they grant to me and to my activities. Allan Kardec.

Following the transcription of the document in the Portuguese language, the Brazilian Spiritist Federation delivers to the Spiritists pages 661 and 662 of the “Revue Spirite” of 1904, containing, in full, the original French text of UN FAIT DE SECONDE VUE. (Page inédite d'Allan Kardec.)

[1] Note from the Directorate of the FEB — In the course of the research we have been carrying out concerning Allan Kardec, gathering data for a series of articles that we began to publish, in 1974, in the “Reformador,” we came upon the page, now transcribed, printed in the Revue Spirite of November 1, 1904, 47th year, until then unpublished. We suggest to our readers the examination, in connection with the subject with which the Codifier was occupying himself in Ségur — Imitation of the Gospel (later, as we know it today, “The Gospel According to Spiritism”). (Reformador magazine of 1975, pages 219 and 220.)