The forest of Dodona and the statue of Memnon.

To reach the forest of Dodona we passed along the Rue Lamartine and stopped for a moment at the house of Mr. B***, where we saw a submissive piece of furniture propose to us a new problem of statics. [see Isolation of heavy bodies.]

The attendants, in any number whatsoever, place themselves around the table in question, in any order whatsoever, for there are there neither numbers nor cabalistic places; they rest their hands on the edge; mentally, or aloud, they appeal to the Spirits who are in the habit of taking their invitation into account. Our opinion concerning that sort of Spirits being known, we treat them somewhat without ceremony. Barely four or five minutes have elapsed when a clear noise of rap, rap makes itself heard in the table, sometimes strong enough to be perceived in the neighboring room, repeating itself as long and as many times as one wishes. The vibration is felt in the fingers and, on applying the ear to the table, one recognizes, without any mistake, that the noise originates in the very substance of the wood, since the entire table vibrates, from feet to top.

What is the cause of this noise? Is it the wood that operates or, as is customarily said, a Spirit? Let us first set aside any idea of fraud; we find ourselves in the house of very serious persons, and of too good company to amuse themselves at the expense of those they receive willingly; moreover, this house is by no means privileged; identical facts occur in a hundred others, equally distinguished. Let us be permitted a small digression, while we await the answer.

A young man preparing for his baccalaureate was in his room, occupied in reviewing his lessons in rhetoric; there is a knock at the door. I imagine one can distinguish the nature of the noise and, above all by its repetition, whether it is caused by a crackling of the wood, by the stirring of the wind, or by some other fortuitous cause whatsoever, or whether it is someone knocking, wishing to enter. In this last case the noise has an intentional character that cannot be cast into doubt; that is what our student thinks. However, so as not to disturb himself uselessly, he wished to assure himself of it, by putting the visitor to the test. If it is someone, he says, knock once, twice, three, four, five, six times; knock at the top, at the bottom, to the right, to the left; beat time, beat the military call to arms, etc.; and at each of these requests the noise obeys with the most perfect punctuality. Surely, he thinks, it cannot be the crackling of the wood, nor the wind, nor even a cat, however intelligent one may suppose it. Here is a fact; let us see to what consequences syllogistic arguments will lead us. He reasons, then, in the following manner: I hear a noise; therefore, it is something that produces it. This noise obeys my command; therefore, the cause that produces it understands me. Now, that which understands has intelligence, therefore the cause of this noise is intelligent. If it is intelligent, it is not the wood, nor the wind; if it is neither one nor the other, it is someone. Then he went to open the door. One sees that one need not be a doctor to arrive at this conclusion, and we judge our apprentice bachelor sufficiently attached to his principles to deduce the following: Let us suppose that, on opening the door, he finds no one and the noise continues in exactly the same manner. He will pursue his reasoning [fr. sorite n]: “I have just proved to myself, without contestation, that the noise is produced by an intelligent being, since it answers my thought. I always hear this noise before me and it is certain that it is not I who knock; it is, then, another; now, if I do not see this other, it is because it is invisible. The corporeal beings that belong to Humanity are perfectly visible; the one who knocks being invisible, it is not a human corporeal being. In view of this, since we call incorporeal beings Spirits, and the being that knocks not being corporeal, it must, then, be a Spirit.” We judge the conclusions of our student perfectly logical; only, that which we gave as a supposition is a reality, as concerns the experiments made in the house of Mr. B***. We shall add that the imposition of hands was unnecessary and that all the phenomena were produced equally well, even though the table was free of any contact. Thus, according to the expressed desire, the blows made themselves heard in the table, in the wall, in the door, and in other places, designated verbally or mentally; they indicated the hour, the number of persons present; they beat the advance, the military call to arms, the rhythm of a known air; they imitated the work of the cooper, the grinding of the saw, the echo, the volleys of isolated shots or of platoons, and many other effects that it would be wearisome to describe. We were told that they had heard imitated, in a certain circle, the whistling of the wind, the rustling of the leaves, the rumbling of the thunder, the lapping of the waves, which has nothing surprising about it. The intelligence of the cause became manifest when, by means of these blows, categorical answers were obtained to determined questions; now, it is this intelligent cause that we call or, better said, that called itself a Spirit. When this Spirit wished to give a more developed communication, it indicated, by means of a particular sign, that it desired to write; then the writing medium took the pencil and transmitted its thought in writing. Among the attendants, not speaking of those who were around the table, but of all the persons who filled the salon, there were authentic unbelievers, half-believers, and fervent adepts, a little favorable mixture as one knows. We shall leave the first at ease, hoping that the light may come to them. We respect all beliefs, even incredulity, which is also a kind of belief, when one esteems oneself enough not to shock contrary opinions. We shall not say, therefore, that they cannot favor us with useful observations. Their reasoning, much less prolix than that of our student, is generally summed up thus: I do not believe in Spirits, therefore, they cannot be Spirits. Since they are not Spirits, it must be a trick. This conclusion leads them naturally to suppose that the table would be endowed with some mechanism, after the manner of Robert Houdin. Our answer is very simple: first it would be necessary that all the tables and all the furniture be endowed with such a mechanism, since there are no privileged ones; second, we know of no contrivance ingenious enough to produce, at will, all the effects we have just described; third, it would be necessary that Mr. B*** equip the walls and doors of his apartment with the same mechanism, which is little probable; and in the fourth place, finally, it would have been necessary that the tables, the doors, and the walls of all the houses where such phenomena are produced daily be equally endowed with a similar mechanism, which also would not be presumable, because, then, the skillful builder of so many marvels would be known. The half-believers admit all the phenomena, but are undecided as to their cause. We send them back to the arguments of our future bachelor.

The believers present three quite characteristic shades: those who in the experiments see no more than a diversion and a pastime, and whose admiration translates itself by these words or their analogues: It is astonishing! It is singular! It is quite funny! But they go no further than this. Next come the serious persons, instructed, observers, from whom no detail escapes and for whom the smallest things constitute an object of study. Finally, come the ultra-believers, if we may so express ourselves, or, better said, the blind believers, those who may be reproached for the excess of credulity, whose faith, not sufficiently enlightened, gives them such a confidence in the Spirits to the point of lending them all knowledge, prescience above all. Thus, it is with the best good faith in the world that they ask questions on all subjects, without its passing through their minds that they would have obtained the same answers from a fortune-teller whom they paid a few coins. For them, the talking table is not a matter of study or of observation: it is an oracle. Against it there is only the trivial form and its very vulgar uses, but if the wood of which it is made, instead of being fashioned for domestic needs, were standing, you would have a talking tree; were a statue carved in it, you would have an idol, before which credulous persons would come to prostrate themselves. Now, let us cross the seas and twenty-five centuries back, and transport ourselves to the foot of Mount Taurus, in Epirus; there we shall find the sacred forest, whose oaks uttered oracles; add to that the prestige of the cult and the pomp of the religious ceremonies and one will easily explain the veneration of an ignorant and credulous people, incapable of perceiving reality through so many means of fascination.

Wood is not the only substance that can serve as a vehicle for the manifestation of the rapping Spirits. We have seen it produce itself in a wall and, consequently, in stone. We have, then, in this way, talking stones. Let these stones represent a sacred personage and we shall have the statue of Memnon or that of Jupiter Ammon, uttering oracles like the trees of Dodona.

It is true that history does not tell us that these oracles were uttered by raps, as we see in our days. In the forest of Dodona they resulted from the whistling of the wind through the trees, from the rustling of the leaves, or from the murmur of the spring that gushes at the foot of the oak consecrated to Jupiter. It is said that the statue of Memnon emitted melodious sounds at the first rays of the sun. But history also tells us, as we shall have occasion to demonstrate, that the Ancients perfectly knew the phenomena attributed to the rapping Spirits. No one doubts that on this rests the principle of their belief in the existence of animate beings in trees, in stones, in waters, etc. But, once such a kind of manifestation was exploited, the raps were no longer sufficient; the visitors were too numerous for a particular session to be offered to each one, which would have been, moreover, very simple; prestige was needed and, provided that they enriched the temple with their offerings, such expenses had to be provided for. The essential thing was that the object be looked upon as sacred and inhabited by a divinity; from then on, one could make it say whatever one wished, without needing to take so many precautions. It is said that the priests of Memnon made use of fraud; the statue was hollow and the sounds it emitted were produced by some acoustic process. This is possible and even probable. Even the rapping Spirits, who in general are less scrupulous than the others, are not always, as we were told, at the disposal of the first comer: they have their will, their occupations, their susceptibilities, and none likes to be exploited by cupidity. What discredit for the priests if they did not make their idol speak in a convincing manner! It would be necessary to supply for its silence and, if necessary, to force an assistance. Besides, it was much more convenient than to give oneself so much trouble, it being enough to formulate the answer according to the circumstances. What we see nowadays is no less evident a proof that, despite this, they had as a principle the knowledge of the spiritist manifestations, which is why we said that modern Spiritism is the awakening of Antiquity, but of an Antiquity enlightened by the lights of civilization and of reality. [1] Dodona: The sanctuary at Dodona was the greatest religious center of the Greek northwest in antiquity. According to the myth related by Herodotus, the sanctuary was founded by the indication of a dove (from the Greek peleiades, dove, signifying symbolically a priestess), which had departed from Thebes, in Egypt, and arrived at the place, alighting upon an oak, a tree dedicated to Zeus, and spoken in a human voice that there an oracle should be established.

[2]

Sorites, [gr. soreites] For further information consult the web.