Mr. Home.

— The phenomena produced by Mr. Home caused as great a sensation as they confirmed the marvelous accounts arriving from across the sea, to whose veracity a certain distrust had been attached. He showed us that, even allowing for the widest possible margin owing to exaggeration, there still remained quite enough to attest the reality of facts accomplished outside all known laws.

Mr. Home has been spoken of, and in various ways; we confess it would be asking too much for everyone to be sympathetic toward him, some out of a spirit of system, others out of ignorance. We are even willing to grant, in these latter, a conscientious opinion, since they were not able to verify the facts for themselves; but if, in such a case, doubt is permitted, a systematic and impassioned hostility is always improper. In every relation of cause, to judge what one does not know is a want of logic, and to defame without proof is to forget propriety. For a moment, let us set aside the intervention of Spirits and see, in the facts related, nothing but simple physical phenomena; the stranger they are, the more attention they deserve. Explain them as you will, but do not contest them a priori, unless you would have your judgment called into doubt. What ought to astonish, what seems to us even more abnormal than the phenomena in question themselves, is to see these very persons who incessantly rail against the opposition of certain academic circles, with respect to the new ideas continually flung in their faces — and that in scarcely measured terms — the troubles experienced by the authors of the most important discoveries, such as Fulton, Jenner, and Galileo, whom they cite at every moment, themselves fall into a similar error, they who say, and rightly, that until a few years ago anyone who had spoken of corresponding from one extremity of the Earth to the other in a few seconds would have passed for a madman. If they believe in the progress of which they call themselves the apostles, let them then be consistent with themselves and not draw upon themselves the reproach they direct at others, by denying what they do not understand. Let us return to Mr. Home. Having arrived in Paris in the month of October 1855, he found himself, from the outset, thrust into the most elevated world, a circumstance that ought to have imposed more circumspection in the judgment they pass upon him, because the more elevated and enlightened that world is, the less the suspicion of allowing oneself to be benevolently deceived by an adventurer. That very position gave rise to commentary. People ask who Mr. Home is. To live in this world, to make costly journeys, they say, one must have a fortune. If he has none, he must be supported by some powerful person. On this theme a countless number of suppositions arose, each more ridiculous than the last. What was not said about his sister, whom he went to fetch about a year ago! It was rumored that she was a more powerful medium than he; that the two of them were to perform prodigies that would make those of Moses pale. Several times questions on this subject were addressed to us; here is our answer.

In coming to France, Mr. Home did not address himself to the public; he neither likes nor seeks publicity. Had he come with speculative aims, he would have traveled through the country, calling propaganda to his aid; he would have sought out every occasion to promote himself, whereas he avoids them; he would have set a price on his manifestations, yet he asks nothing of anyone. Despite his reputation, Mr. Home is therefore in no way what may be called a man of the world; his private life belongs to him exclusively. Since he asks nothing, no one has the right to inquire how he lives without committing an indiscretion. Is he maintained by powerful persons? That is no concern of ours; all we can say is that, in this select society, he has won real friendships and made devoted friends, whereas with a conjurer one pays, one is amused, and that is the end of it. We see, then, in Mr. Home, but one thing: a man endowed with a remarkable faculty. The study of that faculty is all that interests us and all that ought to interest anyone not moved solely by curiosity. Upon him History has not yet opened the book of its secrets; until then he belongs to Science. As for his sister, here is the truth: she is a girl of eleven, whom he brought to Paris for her education, with which an illustrious person is charged. She knows only what her brother's faculty consists of. It is quite simple, as one sees, quite prosaic for lovers of the marvelous. Now, why should Mr. Home have come to France? Certainly it was not to seek a fortune, as we have just proved. To become acquainted with the country? But he does not travel through it; he goes out little and has absolutely no tourist habits. The patent motive is the advice of the physicians, who believe the air of Europe necessary to his health, but the most natural facts are sometimes providential. We think, then, that if he came here it is because he was meant to come. France, still in doubt regarding the Spiritist manifestations, needed a great blow to be dealt to it; it was Mr. Home who received that mission, and the higher the blow struck, the greater its repercussion. The position, the credit, the enlightenment of those who received him and who were convinced by the evidence of the facts shook the convictions of a multitude of people, even among those who could not be eyewitnesses. The presence of Mr. Home will therefore have been a powerful auxiliary to the propagation of the Spiritist ideas; if it did not convince everyone, it cast seeds that will bear fruit all the more as the mediums themselves multiply. As we have said elsewhere, this faculty does not constitute an exclusive privilege; it exists in a latent state and in various degrees among a great many people, awaiting only an occasion to develop itself; the principle is within us, by the very effect of our organization; it is in Nature; we all have the germ of it, and the day is not far off when we shall see mediums arise on all sides, in our midst, in our families, among the poor as among the rich, so that the truth may be known by all, for, according to what has been announced to us, it is a matter of a new era, of a new phase beginning for Humanity. The evidence and the popularization of the Spiritist phenomena will impart a new course to moral ideas, as steam did with respect to industry. If the private life of Mr. Home ought to be closed to the investigations of an indiscreet curiosity, there are certain details that may, with full reason, interest the public, and that are of use for the appreciation of the facts.

Mr. Daniel Dunglas Home was born near Edinburgh on March 15, 1833. He is therefore 24 years old today. He descends from the ancient and noble family of the Dunglas of Scotland, formerly sovereign. He is a young man of medium stature, fair-haired, whose melancholy physiognomy has nothing eccentric about it; he is of a very delicate constitution, of simple and gentle manners, of an affable and benevolent character, upon which contact with the powerful has cast neither arrogance nor ostentation. Endowed with excessive modesty, he never makes a display of his marvelous faculty, never speaks of himself, and if, in an outpouring of intimacy, he relates personal matters, it is with simplicity that he does so and never with the emphasis proper to the persons with whom malevolence seeks to compare him. Various intimate facts, of our personal knowledge, prove his noble sentiments and a great elevation of soul; we note it with all the more pleasure inasmuch as the influence of moral dispositions upon the nature of the manifestations is well known.

The phenomena of which Mr. Home is the involuntary instrument have sometimes been recounted by overly zealous friends with an exaggerated enthusiasm of which malevolence has taken hold. Such as they are, they need no amplification, which is more harmful than useful to the cause. Our aim being the serious study of all that is connected with the spiritist science, we shall confine ourselves to the strict reality of the facts verified by ourselves or by the most trustworthy eyewitnesses. We can thus comment upon them with the certainty of not reasoning about fantastic things.

Mr. Home is a medium of the kind that produces ostensible manifestations, without thereby excluding intelligent communications; nevertheless, his natural predispositions give him a more special aptitude for the former. Under his influence, the strangest noises are heard, the air stirs, solid bodies move, rise up, transport themselves from one place to another through space, musical instruments produce melodious sounds, beings of the extracorporeal world appear, speak, write, and frequently embrace you to the point of causing pain. In the presence of eyewitnesses, he himself has often been seen raised into the air, without any support and to a height of several meters.

From what has been taught to us regarding the class of Spirits that generally produce these kinds of manifestations, one must not conclude that Mr. Home is in contact only with the lowest class of the spirit world. His character, as well as the moral qualities that distinguish him, ought, on the contrary, to win him the sympathy of the superior Spirits; for these latter, he is but an instrument destined to open the eyes of the blind in an energetic manner, without, for that, being deprived of communications of a more elevated order. It is a mission he accepted, a mission that is not exempt from tribulations or from dangers, but which he fulfills with resignation and perseverance, under the aegis of the Spirit of his mother, his true guardian angel.

The cause of Mr. Home's manifestations is innate in him; his soul, which seems to be bound to the body only by weak ties, has more affinity with the world of Spirits than with the corporeal world; this is why it detaches itself without effort, entering more easily than others into communication with the invisible beings. This faculty revealed itself to him from the most tender infancy. At the age of six months, his cradle would rock by itself, in the absence of the wet-nurse, and would change place. In his first years he was so feeble that he could scarcely support himself; seated upon a carpet, the toys he could not reach would move of their own accord and come to place themselves within reach of his hands. At the age of three he had his first visions, without, however, retaining the memory of them. He was nine years old when his family settled in the United States; there, the same phenomena continued with increasing intensity as he advanced in age, although his reputation as a medium was not established until 1850, the period when the Spiritist manifestations began to become popular in that country. In 1854 he came to Italy, as we have said, for reasons of health; he astonished Florence and Rome with veritable prodigies. Converted to the Catholic faith in this latter city, he found himself obliged to break off relations with the world of Spirits. Indeed, for a year, his occult power seemed to have abandoned him; but, as that power is above his will, at the end of that time, as the Spirit of his mother had announced to him, the manifestations reappeared with new energy. His mission was traced out; he was to distinguish himself among those whom Providence has chosen to reveal to us, by means of patent signs, the power that dominates all human grandeurs. If Mr. Home, as certain persons who judge without having seen claim, were merely a skillful conjurer, he would no doubt always have at his disposal, in his bag, some pieces with which he could simulate his tricks, whereas he is not master of producing them at will. It would be impossible for him to give regular sessions, for very often, precisely at the moment when he would have need of his faculty, it would fail him. Sometimes the phenomena manifest themselves spontaneously, at the moment when they are least expected, while, at other times, he is incapable of provoking them, a circumstance scarcely favorable to one who would wish to give exhibitions at fixed hours. The following fact, taken among a thousand, is a proof of this. For more than a fortnight Mr. Home had obtained no manifestation, when, lunching at the home of one of his friends, with two or three other persons of his acquaintance, suddenly blows were heard on the walls, on the furniture, and on the ceiling. It seems they are coming back, he said. At that moment Mr. Home was seated on a sofa with a friend. A servant brought the tea tray and was preparing to set it on the table, situated in the middle of the drawing room; although quite heavy, the table suddenly rose, lifting off the floor to a height of 20 to 30 centimeters, as if it were drawn by the tray. Terrified, the servant let it slip from him, and the table, with a leap, hurled itself toward the sofa, coming to fall before Mr. Home and his friend, without anything that was upon it having been disarranged. This fact is by no means the most curious among those we have to relate, but it presents this particularity worthy of note: that of having occurred spontaneously, without provocation, in an intimate circle, none of whose attendees, a hundred times witnesses of similar facts, needed new proofs; and, surely, it was not a case for Mr. Home to display his skills, if skills there be. In the next article we shall cite other manifestations.

[Review of March 1858.]

HOME.

(Second article. — See the number of February 1858.)

— As we have said, Mr. Home is a medium of the kind under whose influence physical phenomena are produced more especially, without thereby excluding the intelligent manifestations. Every effect that reveals the action of a free will is, by that very fact, intelligent, that is to say, it is not purely mechanical, nor could it be attributed to an exclusively material agent; but from there to instructive communications of elevated moral and philosophical scope there is a very great distance, and it is not to our knowledge that Mr. Home obtains them of such a nature. Not being a writing medium, the greater part of the responses is given by raps, indicating the letters of the alphabet, a means always imperfect and rather slow, which scarcely lends itself to developments of a certain length. Nevertheless, he also obtains writing, but by another process of which we shall speak before long.

Let us say, first, as a general principle, that the ostensible manifestations, those that impress the senses, may be spontaneous or provoked. The former are independent of the will; sometimes they even occur against the will of the one who is their object and to whom they are not always agreeable. Facts of this kind are frequent and, without going back to the more or less authentic accounts of remote times, contemporary history offers numerous examples of them, whose cause, ignored in its principle, is today perfectly known: such are, for example, the unusual noises, the disordered movement of objects, the curtains drawn back, the covers pulled off, certain apparitions, etc. Some persons are endowed with a special faculty that gives them the power to provoke these phenomena, at least in part, so to speak, at will. This faculty is not very rare and, out of a hundred persons, at least fifty possess it in a greater or lesser degree. What distinguishes Mr. Home is that in him the faculty is developed, as among the mediums of his kind, in a manner one may well call exceptional. Some will obtain only light raps, or the insignificant displacement of a table, whereas, under the influence of Mr. Home, the most resounding noises are heard and all the furniture of a room may be overturned, the pieces of furniture heaping up one upon another. However strange these phenomena may be, the enthusiasm of certain overly zealous admirers has still found a way to amplify them by means of pure invention. On the other hand, the detractors have not remained idle; concerning him, they have recounted all sorts of anecdotes, which existed only in their imagination. Here is an example: The Marquis de…, one of the personages who showed the most interest in Mr. Home, and at whose residence the medium was received intimately, found himself one day at the opera with the latter. In the upper gallery was Mr. de P.., one of our subscribers, who knows them both personally. His neighbor strikes up a conversation with him; the subject is Mr. Home. "Do you believe," he said, "that that supposed sorcerer, that charlatan, found a way to introduce himself into the house of the Marquis de…? His artifices, however, were discovered, and he was thrown out into the street with kicks, like a vile schemer. — Are you quite sure of that? asks Mr. de P.. Do you know the Marquis de…? — Certainly, replies the interlocutor. — In that case, says Mr. de P.., look in that box; you will be able to see him in the company of Mr. Home himself, to whom he does not seem to wish to give kicks." At this, our melancholy chatterer, not judging it fitting to continue the conversation, took his hat and appeared no more. By this one may judge the worth of certain assertions. Surely, if certain facts spread by slander were true, they would have closed more than one door to him; but as the most respectable houses have always been open to him, one must conclude that always and everywhere he has conducted himself as a gentleman. It is enough, moreover, to have conversed a few times with Mr. Home to see that, with his timidity and his simplicity of character, he would be the most clumsy of all schemers; we insist on this point for the morality of the cause. Let us return to his manifestations. Our object being to make the truth known, in the interest of Science, all that we relate is gathered from sources so authentic that we can guarantee them the most scrupulous exactitude; we have eyewitnesses too serious, too enlightened, and too highly placed for their sincerity to be called into doubt. Were it said that these persons could, in good faith, have been the victims of an illusion, we would answer that there are circumstances that escape all supposition of this kind; moreover, such persons were too interested in knowing the truth not to guard themselves against every false appearance. Generally Mr. Home begins his sessions with the known facts: raps on a table or on any other part of the apartment, proceeding as we have already said elsewhere. There follows the movement of the table, which is effected, first, by the laying on of hands, his alone or those of several of the persons gathered, then, at a distance and without contact; it is a kind of trial. Very frequently he obtains nothing more: it will depend on the disposition in which he finds himself and sometimes also on that of the attendees; there are persons before whom he has never produced anything at all, even being his friends. We shall not dwell on these phenomena, today so well known, and which are distinguished only by their rapidity and energy. Often, after several oscillations and swayings, the table lifts off the floor, rises gradually, slowly, by little jolts, no longer only a few centimeters, but as far as the ceiling and beyond the reach of the hands. After remaining suspended in space for a few seconds, it descends as it had risen, slowly and gradually.

The suspension of an inert body, of a specific weight incomparably greater than that of air, being a known fact, one conceives that the same may occur with an animate body. It is not to our knowledge that Mr. Home had acted upon any person besides himself, and even so, the fact did not occur in Paris, but it was verified several times, both in Florence and in France, especially at Bordeaux, in the presence of the most respectable witnesses, whom we could cite if necessary. Like the table, he rose as far as the ceiling, descending in the same manner. What is bizarre in this phenomenon is that it is not produced by an act of his will, and he himself told us that he is not aware of it, believing himself always to be on the floor, unless he looks down; only the witnesses see him rise; as for him, he experiences at that moment the sensation produced by the rocking of a ship upon the waves. For the rest, the fact we relate is in no way peculiar to Mr. Home. History cites several authentic examples that we shall relate later.

Of all the manifestations produced by Mr. Home, the most extraordinary, no doubt, is that of the apparitions, which is why we shall dwell on them more, in view of the grave consequences arising therefrom and the light they cast upon a multitude of other facts. The same holds for the sounds produced in the air, musical instruments that play by themselves, etc. In the next number we shall examine these phenomena in detail.

Returning from a journey to Holland, where he produced a strong sensation at the court and in high society, Mr. Home has just left for Italy. His health, gravely altered, required a milder climate.

We confirm, with pleasure, what certain newspapers have reported, concerning a legacy of 6,000 francs of income that was made to him by an English lady, converted by him to the Spiritist Doctrine and in recognition of the satisfaction she experienced. In every respect, Mr. Home deserved this honorable testimony. This act, on the part of the donor, is a precedent that will have the applause of all who share our convictions; we hope that the Doctrine will one day have its Maecenas: posterity will inscribe his name among the benefactors of Humanity. Religion teaches us the existence of the soul and its immortality; Spiritism gives us the living and palpable proof of it, no longer by reasoning, but by facts. Materialism is one of the vices of present-day society, because it engenders selfishness. What is there, indeed, outside the self, for one who attaches everything to matter and to the present life? Intimately bound to religious ideas, enlightening us about our nature, the Spiritist Doctrine shows us happiness in the practice of the evangelical virtues; it reminds man of his duties toward God, society, and toward himself. To collaborate in its propagation is to deal a mortal blow to the wound of skepticism that invades us like a contagious malady; honor, then, to those who employ in this work the goods with which God has favored them on Earth! [Review of April 1858.]

HOME.

(Third article. — See the numbers of February and March 1858.)

— It is not to our knowledge that Mr. Home has caused to appear, at least visibly to all, other parts of the body besides the hands. Mention is made, however, of a general, killed in the Crimea, who is said to have appeared to his widow and visible only to her; but we could not verify the reality of the fact, especially with respect to the intervention of Mr. Home in such a circumstance. We shall confine ourselves only to what we can affirm. Why hands, in preference to feet or to a head? That is what we do not know and what he himself ignores. Interrogated on the matter, the Spirits answered that other mediums could cause the whole body to appear; moreover, that is not the most important point; if only the hands appear, the other parts of the body are no less evident, as will be seen before long.

The apparition of a hand generally manifests itself, in the first place, beneath the tablecloth, through undulations produced as it runs across its whole surface; then it shows itself at the edge of the cloth, which it lifts; sometimes it comes to place itself upon the cloth, right in the middle of the table; frequently, it takes an object and carries it beneath the cloth. This hand, visible to everyone, is neither vaporous nor translucent; it has the natural color and opacity; at the wrist, it ends in a vague, ill-defined manner; if it is touched with precaution, confidence, and without a hostile ulterior intention, it offers the resistance, the solidity, and the impression of a living hand; its warmth is soft, moist, and comparable to that of a dove dead for about half an hour. It is by no means inert, since it acts, lends itself to the movements imparted to it, or resists, caresses you or presses your hand. If, on the contrary, you wish to seize it abruptly and by surprise, you will find only emptiness. An eyewitness recounted to us the following fact that happened to him. He held between his fingers a table bell; a hand, at first invisible, shortly afterward perfectly visible, came to take it, making efforts to wrench it away; not having succeeded, it passed over it to make it slip off; the effort of traction was very perceptible, as if it were a human hand. Having wished to seize that hand violently, his own found only the air; the fingers having withdrawn, the bell remained suspended in space and came slowly to rest on the floor. Sometimes there are several hands. The same witness recounted to us the fact that follows. Several persons were gathered around one of those dining-room tables that separate into two. Blows are struck; the table stirs, opens of itself, and, through the cleft, three hands appear, one of natural size, another very large, and a third entirely shaggy; one touches them, one feels them, they press your hand, then they vanish. At the home of one of our friends, who had lost a child of tender age, it is the hand of a newborn that appears; everyone can see it and touch it; this child settles itself in the lap of the mother, who distinctly feels the impression of its whole body upon her knees.

Frequently, the hand comes to rest upon you. Then you see it or, if you do not succeed in this, you perceive the pressure of its fingers; sometimes it caresses you, at other times it pinches you to the point of causing pain. In the presence of several persons, Mr. Home felt his wrist being seized, and the attendees could see the skin pulled. An instant later he felt himself being bitten, and the mark of the impression of two teeth remained visibly imprinted for more than an hour.

The hand that appears can also write. Sometimes it places itself in the middle of the table, takes the pencil, and traces letters upon a paper placed especially for that purpose. Most often it carries the paper beneath the table and brings it back all written. If the hand remains invisible, the writing seems to be produced by itself. One obtains, by this means, answers to the various questions one wishes to put.

Another kind of manifestation, no less notable, but which is explained by what we have just said, is that of musical instruments that play by themselves. In general they are pianos or accordions. In these circumstances, one distinctly sees the keys stir and the bellows move. The hand that plays is now visible, now invisible; the air one hears may be known and performed at someone's request. If the invisible artist is left at liberty, he produces harmonious chords whose effect recalls the vague and soft melody of the Aeolian harp. At the residence of one of our subscribers, where such phenomena were produced many times, the Spirit who manifested himself in this way was that of a young man, deceased some time ago, a friend of the family who, when living, possessed a remarkable talent as a musician; the nature of the airs he preferred to play left no doubt as to his identity for the persons who had known him.

The most extraordinary fact of this kind of manifestation is not, in our opinion, that of the apparition. If it were always vaporous, it would agree with the etheric nature we attribute to the Spirits; now, nothing would be opposed to that etheric matter becoming perceptible to sight by a kind of condensation, without losing its vaporous property. What is most strange is the solidification of that same matter, sufficiently resistant to leave a visible impression upon our organs. We shall give, in our next number, the explanation of this singular phenomenon, according to the teaching of the Spirits themselves. [see Theory of physical manifestations.] We shall confine ourselves, today, to deducing from it a consequence relative to the spontaneous playing of musical instruments.

Indeed, since the temporary tangibility of that etherized matter is a verified fact; since, in that state, a hand, apparent or not, offers enough resistance to exert pressure upon solid bodies, there is nothing astonishing in its being able to exert sufficient pressure to move the keys of an instrument. On the other hand, facts no less positive attest that this hand belongs to an intelligence; nothing, then, to wonder at that such an intelligence manifests itself through musical sounds, as it can do through writing or through drawing. Once entered into this order of ideas, the raps, the movement of objects, and all the Spiritist phenomena of a material order are explained naturally. [see also:

Slanders against Mr. Home and, The false Home.]