Mr. Poitevin, aeronaut.

Dead for about two months, of typhoid fever, contracted as a result of a forced descent into the open sea.

Session of the Parisian Society for Spiritist Studies – February 11, 1859.

Evocation.

Answer. – Here I am. Speak.

Do you miss earthly life?

Answer. – No.

Are you happier now than when alive?

Answer. – Much.

What was the reason that led you to the aeronautic experiments?

Answer. – Necessity.

Did you have any idea of serving Science?

Answer. – In no way.

Do you now see aeronautic science from a point of view different from the one you had in life?

Answer. – No; I saw it as I see it now, for I saw it well. I saw many improvements to be introduced, but I could not develop them for lack of knowledge. But wait. Men will come who will give it the prominence it deserves and will one day deserve.

Do you believe that aeronautic science will one day become an object of public utility?

Answer. – Yes, certainly.

The great preoccupation of those who occupy themselves with that science is the search for the means of steering the balloons. Do you think they will succeed?

Answer. – Yes, certainly.

In your opinion, what is the greatest difficulty presented by the steerability of balloons?

Answer. – The wind, the storms.

So it is not the difficulty of finding a point of support?

Answer. – If we steered the winds, we would steer the balloons.

Could you indicate the point toward which it would be advisable to direct the research in this regard?

Answer. – Let us set that aside.

When alive did you study the various proposed systems?

Answer. – No.

Could you give advice to those who occupy themselves with such research?

Answer. – Do you think they would follow your advice?

It would not be ours, but your advice.

Answer. – Do you want a treatise? I will have one made.

By whom?

Answer. – By the friends who have guided me.

Here are two distinguished inventors in the matter of aerostation, Mr. Sanson and Mr. Ducroz, who have obtained very honorable scientific benefits. Do you have any idea of their system?

Answer. – No. There is much to say. I do not know them.

Assuming the problem of steerability solved, do you believe in the possibility of an aerial navigation on a large scale, as upon the sea?

Answer. – No; never as by the telegraph.

I am not speaking of the rapidity of communications, which can never be compared to that of the telegraph, but of the transport of a great number of people and of material objects. What result can be expected in that respect? Answer. – Little speed.

When in imminent danger, did you think about what you would be after death?

Answer. – No; I was entirely turned toward my maneuvers.

What impression did the danger you ran cause you?

Answer. – Habit had made the fear weaker.

What sensation did you experience when you were lost in space?

Answer. – Disturbance, but happiness; my Spirit seemed to escape from your world. Nevertheless, the need to maneuver awakened me to reality and made me fall back into the cold and dangerous position in which I found myself.

Do you see with pleasure your wife pursue the same adventurous career?

Answer. – No.

What is your situation as a Spirit?

Answer. – I live as you do, that is, I can provide for my spiritual life as you provide for your material life.

Observation. – The curious experiments of Mr. Poitevin, his intrepidity, his remarkable skill in maneuvering balloons, made us expect from him greater elevation and grandeur of ideas. The result did not correspond to our expectation. For him, as we were able to see, aerostation was merely an industry, a way of living by a particular kind of spectacle; all his faculties were concentrated on the means of exciting public curiosity. Thus it is that, in these familiar conversations from beyond the grave, the predictions are often uncertain; sometimes they are surpassed, sometimes they fall short of what was expected, evident proof of the independence of the communications. In a private session, and through the same medium, Poitevin dictated the advice that follows, to fulfill the promise he had just made. Everyone will be able to appreciate its value; we give it as an object of study on the nature of the Spirits, and not for its scientific merit, which is more than questionable. “To steer a balloon filled with gas you will always meet with the greatest difficulties: the immense surface it offers as prey to the winds; the insignificance of the weight that the gas can support; the fragility of the envelope, required by that subtle air. All these causes will never permit giving the aerostatic system the great extension that you would wish to see it take. For the aerostat to have a real utility, it must be a system of powerful communication and endowed with a certain swiftness, but above all powerful. We said that it would hold the middle ground between electricity and steam; yes, and for two reasons: 1st It must transport passengers more rapidly than the railways and messages more slowly than the telegraph.

2nd It does not hold itself as a middle ground between those two systems because it partakes, at the same time, of the air and of the earth, both serving it as a path: it is between the sky and the world.

“You did not ask me whether, by this means, you would manage to visit the other planets. Nevertheless, such a thought has troubled many heads and its solution would fill your whole world with astonishment. No, you will not manage it. Imagine that, to cross those extraordinary spaces, of millions upon millions of leagues, light takes years. See, then, how much time would be necessary to reach them, even carried by steam or by the wind. “To return to the principal subject, I told you, at the beginning, that you would not need to expect much from your present system; but that you would obtain much more by acting upon the air through strong and extensive compression. The point of support that you seek is before you and surrounds you on all sides; with it you collide at each of your movements; daily it hinders your route and influences chiefly what you touch. Think well on this and draw from this revelation all that you can: its deductions are enormous. We cannot take you by the hand and lead you to forge the tools necessary for that work; we cannot give you an induction, word for word. It is necessary that your Spirit work and mature its projects; without this you would not understand what you were doing and would not know how to handle your instruments. We would be obliged to turn and to open your pistons: the unforeseen circumstances which, sooner or later, came to hinder your efforts, would throw you back into your primitive ignorance. “Work, then, and you will find what you have sought. Lead your Spirit toward the direction we indicate to you and learn through experience, for we do not lead you into error.”

Observation. – Although enclosing incontestable truths, these counsels nonetheless do not denote an enlightened Spirit, from certain points of view, since it appears to be ignorant of the true cause of the impossibility of reaching other planets. It is one more proof of the diversity of aptitudes and of lights found in the world of the Spirits, just as it occurs on Earth. It is through the multiplicity of observations that one comes to know, to understand and to judge. This is why we give models of all kinds of communications, taking care to bring out the strong and the weak. That of Poitevin ends with a very just consideration, which seems to us to have been prompted by a Spirit more philosophical than his own. Moreover, he had said that such counsels would be drawn up by his friends who, absolutely, teach nothing. Here we find one more proof that the men who had a specialty on Earth are not always the most suited to enlighten us as Spirits, above all if they are not elevated enough to detach themselves from earthly life. For the progress of aeronautics it is regrettable that the greater part of these intrepid men cannot place their experience at the service of Science, while the theorists, strangers to practice, resemble sailors who have never seen the sea. Incontestably, there will one day be engineers in aerostatics, as there are naval engineers, but only when they have directly seen and sounded the depths of the aerial ocean. How many ideas would not be given to them by the real contact of the elements, ideas that escape the people of the trade! Because, whatever their knowledge, they cannot, from the bottom of their heart, perceive all the reefs; nevertheless, if one day that science becomes a reality, it will be so only through their intermediary. In the eyes of many people this is still a chimera, which is why the inventors, who are generally not capitalists, do not find the necessary support or encouragement. When aerostation produces dividends, even in hopes, and can be admitted into the official transactions of the Stock Exchange, capital will not be lacking to it. Until then, it is necessary to count only on the devotion of those who see progress before speculation. As long as there is parsimony in the means of execution there will be defeats, through the impossibility of making trials on a large scale or under suitable conditions. We will be forced to proceed in a paltry manner and we will do it badly, in this as in all things. Success will be obtained only at the price of many sacrifices to enter the path of practice, which means sacrifice and exclusion of any idea of profit. Let us hope that the idea of endowing the world with the solution of a great problem, even if it were not from the point of view of Science, will inspire a generous disinterest. But the first thing to do would be to furnish the theorists with the means of acquiring experience of the air, even by means of the imperfect means we possess. If Poitevin had been a man of knowledge, and had invented a system of aerial locomotion, he would no doubt have inspired more confidence than those who have never left the Earth and, probably, would have found the resources that are refused to others. [1]

[On Jean Eugène et Rosalie Poitevin see: Le site des pionniers de l’aéronautique à Genève: http://www.pionnair-ge.com/spip1/spip.php?article376 and http://www.pionnair-ge.com/spip1/spip.php?article30.]