The mediums judged.

The adversaries of the Spiritist Doctrine clung with zeal to an article published by the Scientific American of last July 11, under the title: The Mediums Judged. Several French newspapers reproduced it as an irrefutable argument. We ourselves reproduce it, following it with a few observations that will show you its value.

“Some time ago, through the Boston Courier, an offer of 500 dollars (2,500 francs) had been made to any person who, in the presence and to the satisfaction of a certain number of professors of the University of Cambridge, should reproduce some of those mysterious phenomena that the spiritualists frequently say are produced by means of agents called mediums.

“The challenge was accepted by Dr. Gardner and by several persons who boasted of being in communication with the Spirits. The competitors gathered at the Albion Buildings, in Boston, in the last week of June, ready to prove their supernatural power. Among them were noticed the Misses Fox, who had become so celebrated for their superiority in this genre. The commission, charged with examining the pretensions of the aspirants to the prize, was composed of professors Pierce, Agassiz, Gould, and Horsford, of Cambridge, all of them very distinguished scholars. The spiritualist trials lasted several days; never had the mediums found a finer occasion to put their talent or their inspiration in evidence; but, like the prophets of Baal in the time of Elijah, in vain did they invoke their divinities, as the following passage of the commission's report proves: “Considering that Dr. Gardner did not succeed in presenting an agent or medium who revealed the word confided to the Spirits in a neighboring room; who read the English word written inside a book or on a folded sheet of paper; who answered a question that only superior intelligences are capable of answering; who made a piano resound without touching it, or moved a one-legged table without the aid of the hands; who proved himself powerless to give the said commission the testimony of a phenomenon that, even with the most flexible interpretation and the greatest good will, could be considered as equivalent to the proposed proofs; of a phenomenon for whose production the intervention of a Spirit was required, supposing or, at least, implying that intervention; of a phenomenon hitherto unknown to science, or whose cause was not readily identifiable by the commission, clear enough for it, the said commission declares that Dr. Gardner has no right whatever to demand, from the Boston Courier, the payment of the proposed sum of 2,500 francs.”

The experiment made in the United States concerning the mediums recalls another, carried out ten years ago, in France, for or against the lucid somnambulists, that is, the magnetized. The Academy of Sciences received the mission of awarding a prize of 2,500 francs to the magnetic subject who should read with the eyes blindfolded. All the somnambulists willingly made this experiment, in the salons or in the fairground theaters; they read in closed books and deciphered an entire letter, sitting upon it or placing it well folded and closed upon the belly; but, before the Academy, they were not able to read anything at all, and the prize was won by no one.

This experiment proves, once more, on the part of our adversaries, the absolute ignorance of the principles upon which the phenomena of the Spiritist manifestations rest. Among them there is the fixed idea that such phenomena must obey the will and reproduce themselves with the precision of a machine. They completely forget or, better said, do not know that the cause of them is entirely moral and that the intelligences, which are their immediate agents, do not obey the caprice of anyone, be they mediums or other persons. The Spirits act when and in the presence of whom it pleases them; frequently, when one least expects it, it is then that the manifestations occur with the most vigor, and when we solicit them they do not take place. The Spirits have modes of being that are unknown to us; that which is outside of matter cannot be submitted to the crucible of matter. It is, then, to be mistaken to judge them from our point of view. If they find it useful to manifest themselves by particular signs, they will do so; but never at our will, nor to satisfy a vain curiosity. Moreover, one must take into account a well-known cause that drives the Spirits away: their antipathy for certain persons, principally for those who, asking questions about things that are known, wish to put their perspicacity to the test. When a thing exists, they think, the Spirits must know it; now, it is precisely because the thing is known to you, or because you have the means of verifying it, that they do not take the trouble to answer; this distrust irritates them and nothing satisfactory is obtained; it always drives away the serious Spirits, who ordinarily do not speak except to persons who address them with confidence and without preconceived thought. Among ourselves do we not have an example of this every day? Would superior men, conscious of their worth, rejoice to answer all the naive questions intended to submit them to an examination, as though they were schoolboys? What would they do if they were told: “But, if you do not answer, it is because you do not know?” They would turn their backs; it is what the Spirits do. If it is thus, you will say, by what means do we dispose to convince ourselves? In the very interest of the Doctrine of the Spirits, is it not desirable to make proselytes? We shall answer that he has a great deal of pride who judges himself indispensable to the success of a cause; now, the Spirits do not like the proud. They convince whom they wish; as for those who believe in their personal importance, they demonstrate the little account they make of it by not lending them their ears. Here, moreover, is the answer they gave to two questions on this subject:

May one ask the Spirits for material signs as proof of their existence and of their power? Answer. “One may, without doubt, provoke certain manifestations, but not all are apt for this and frequently you do not obtain what you ask; they do not submit to the caprices of men.”

But, when someone asks for these signs in order to convince himself, would there not be utility in satisfying him, since it would be one more adherent? Answer: “The Spirits do only what they wish, and what is permitted to them; in speaking and answering your questions, they attest their presence; this ought to suffice for the serious man who seeks the truth in the word.”

Scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus: Master, we should much like you to show us some prodigy. Jesus answered: “This evil and adulterous generation asks for a prodigy, but none shall be given to it save that of Jonah.” (Saint Matthew.)

We shall add further that he knows very little of the nature and the cause of the Spiritist manifestations who believes he can provoke them by any reward whatever. The Spirits despise cupidity, as much as pride and egoism. And that condition alone can be for them a motive to abstain from manifesting themselves. Know, then, that you will obtain a hundred times more from a disinterested medium than from one who is moved by the incentive of profit, and that a million would not make him accomplish what ought not to be done. If one thing surprises us, it is that there should be mediums capable of submitting to a test that had as its stake a sum of money.