Dr. Xavier.

A physician of great talent, whom we shall designate by the name of Xavier, who died some months ago, and who occupied himself much with magnetism, had left a manuscript that he supposed would come to revolutionize Science. Before dying, he had read The Spirits' Book and had desired a contact with its author. The illness to which he succumbed left him no time for this. His evocation took place at the request of the family, and the answers it contains, eminently instructive, led us to insert them in this collection, suppressing, however, everything that was of particular interest.

Do you remember the manuscript you left?

Answer. – I attach little importance to it.

What is your present opinion of that manuscript?

Answer. – A vain work, of a being who was ignorant of himself.

You thought, however, that this work could make a revolution in Science?

Answer. – Now I see very clearly.

As a Spirit, could you correct and complete that manuscript?

Answer. – I started from a point that I knew poorly; perhaps it would be necessary to redo everything.

Are you happy or unhappy?

Answer. – I hope and I suffer.

What do you hope for?

Answer. – New trials.

What is the cause of your sufferings?

Answer. – The evil I did.

Yet you did not do the evil intentionally.

Answer. – Do you know well the heart of man?

Are you wandering or incarnate?

Answer. – Wandering.

When among us, what was your opinion of the Divinity?

Answer. – I did not believe in it.

And now?

Answer. – I do not believe enough.

You had a desire to enter into contact with me; do you remember?

Answer. – Yes.

Do you see me and recognize me as being the person with whom you wished to enter into relation?

Answer. – Yes.

What impression did The Spirits' Book leave on you?

Answer. – It overturned me.

What do you think of it now?

Answer. – It is a great work.

What do you think of the future of the Spiritist Doctrine?

Answer. – It is great, but certain disciples harm it.

Who are those who harm it?

Answer. – Those who attack what exists: the religions, the first and simplest beliefs of men.

As a physician, and by reason of the studies you made, you can no doubt answer the following questions: Can the body preserve organic life for a few instants after the separation of the soul? Answer. – Yes.

For how long?

Answer. – There is no time.

Make your answer precise, I beg you.

Answer. – This lasts only a few instants.

How is the separation between the soul and the body effected?

Answer. – Like a fluid that escapes from any vessel.

Is there a truly distinct line of demarcation between life and death?

Answer. – These two states touch and merge; thus, the Spirit detaches itself little by little from its bonds; it unties them, it does not break them.

Is this detachment of the soul effected more promptly in some than in others?

Answer. – Yes: in those who in life have already raised themselves above matter, because then their soul belongs more to the world of Spirits than to the terrestrial world.

At what moment is the union between the soul and the body effected in the child?

Answer. – When the child breathes; as if it received the soul with the outer air.

Observation. – This opinion is a consequence of the Catholic dogma. Indeed, the Church teaches that the soul cannot be saved except through baptism; now, since natural intrauterine death is very frequent, what would become of that soul, deprived, according to it, of that sole means of salvation, if it existed in the body before birth? To be consistent, it would be necessary that baptism be performed, if not in fact, at least in intention, from the moment of conception.

How, then, do you explain intrauterine life?

Answer. – It is that of the plant that vegetates. The child lives an animal life.

Is there a crime in depriving a child of life, before its birth, since, in that phase, having no soul, it would not yet be a human being? Answer. – The mother, or any other person who takes the life of a child before birth, will always commit a crime, inasmuch as he prevents the soul from undergoing the trials of which the body was to serve as the instrument.

The expiation that the soul prevented from incarnating was to undergo, will it nonetheless be able to take place?

Answer. – Yes, but God knew that the soul would not unite with that body; thus, no soul was to unite with that bodily envelope: it was a trial for the mother.

Given the case that the birth of the child put in peril the life of its mother, will there be a crime in sacrificing the former to save the latter? Answer. – No; it is preferable that the being which does not yet exist be sacrificed than that the one which already exists be sacrificed.

Is the union between the soul and the body effected instantaneously or gradually? That is, will an appreciable time be necessary for this union to be complete? Answer. – The Spirit does not enter abruptly into the body. To measure this time, imagine that the first breath the child receives is the soul entering the body: the time the chest rises and falls.

Is there predestination in the union of the soul with such or such a body, or is it only in the last hour that the choice of the body it will take is made? Answer. – God marked it; this question requires greater developments. The Spirit, having chosen the trial to which it wishes to submit, asks to incarnate. Now, God, who knows and sees everything, already knew and saw in advance that such a Spirit would unite with such a body. When the Spirit is born in the lower social strata, it knows that its life will be one of labor and suffering. The child that is to be born has an existence that results, up to a certain point, from the position of its parents.

Why do good and virtuous parents give birth to children of a perverse nature? In other words, why do the good qualities of parents not always attract, by sympathy, a good Spirit to animate their child? Answer. – A bad Spirit asks for good parents in the hope that their counsels will guide it along a better path.

Can parents, by their thoughts and their prayers, attract to the body of their child a good Spirit, instead of an inferior Spirit? Answer. – No; but they can improve the Spirit of the child to which they have given birth: it is their duty; bad children are a trial for the parents.

Maternal love is conceivable for the preservation of the life of the child, but, since this love is in Nature, why are there mothers who hate their children and, many times, from birth? Answer. – Bad Spirits, who seek to hinder the Spirit of the child, in order that it may succumb under the trial it desired.

We thank you for the explanations you have had the kindness to give us.

Answer. – I will do everything to instruct you.

Observation – The theory given by this Spirit on the instant of the union between the soul and the body is not absolutely exact.

The union begins from conception, that is, from the moment in which the Spirit, without being incarnate, binds itself to the body by a fluidic bond, which tightens more and more until the instant in which the child sees the light. Incarnation is only completed when the child breathes. (See The Spirits' Book, no. 344 and following.)

n [1] This section title, formerly named “Particular evocations,” was renamed by Allan Kardec “Conversations from Beyond the tomb,” and beginning with this number of the Spiritist Review received the title “Familiar conversations from Beyond the tomb.” [2] Translator's note: This item in parentheses did not appear in the original 1858 edition. It was probably inserted later in the reprint of this review.