Preamble.

Persons who have only a superficial knowledge of Spiritism are naturally led to ask certain questions to which a complete study would no doubt give them the solution; but time, and often the will, is lacking for them to devote themselves to sustained observation. One would like, before undertaking this task, to know at least what it is about, and whether it is worth occupying oneself with. Consequently, it seemed to us useful to present, within a restricted framework, the answer to some of the fundamental questions that are daily addressed to us; it will be, for the reader, a first initiation, and, for us, time gained by being spared the constant repetition of the same thing. [See: VARIETIES in the Review of July 1859.] The form of an interview seemed to us more convenient, because it does not have the aridity of the merely dogmatic form. We end this introduction with a summary that will allow one to grasp, by a rapid reading, the whole of the fundamental principles of the science. Those who, after this brief presentation, believe that such a thing is worthy of their attention, will be able to deepen their knowledge of the cause. Objections generally arise from false ideas that one forms, a priori, about what one does not know; to rectify these ideas is to anticipate the objections: such is the aim we have set ourselves in publishing this little writing.

To answer, now, the question formulated in our title [What is Spiritism?], we will say that: Spiritism is the doctrine founded on the existence of Spirits, or incorporeal beings of the invisible world, and their relations with the corporeal world. One may also say that: Spiritism is the science of all that relates to the knowledge of the Spirits or of the invisible world.

[1] In this second version of this book, published in 1860, the author presents What is Spiritism from a new point of view.