Bulletin

Note. – As we had announced, beginning today we shall start the publication of the Bulletin of the works of the Society. Each issue will contain the account of the sessions held in the preceding month. These Bulletins will give only the brief summary of the works and of the minutes of each session. As for the communications themselves obtained in them, as well as those from outside sources that are read there, we shall always publish them in full, whenever they offer a useful and instructive side. We shall continue to indicate, as we have done up to now, the date of the session in which they were given. The abundance of the materials and the necessities of classification will often oblige us to invert the order of certain documents, but this will represent no inconvenience, since, sooner or later, they will find their place.

FRIDAY JULY 1, 1859.

(Private Session.)

Administrative matters: — Admission of Mr. S…, corresponding member in Bordeaux.

Postponement, until fuller information, of the entry of two titular members presented on June 10 and 17.

Designation of three new commissioners for the general sessions.

Reading of the minutes and of the works of the last session.

Communications: — Mr. Allan Kardec announces that he met with Mr. W… the Son, of Boulogne-sur-Mer, cited in the Review of December 1858 with regard to an article on the phenomenon of bicorporeity, who confirmed to him the fact of his simultaneous presence in Boulogne and in London.

Letter from Mr. S…, correspondent in Bordeaux, containing minute details about interesting manifestations and apparitions of his personal acquaintance, on the part of a familiar Spirit. (Letter published in this issue, as well as the evocation made on the subject.) [A serviceable Spirit] Dr. Morhéry presents the Society with two cantatas, of whose lyrics he is the author, entitled Italy and Venetian. Although these two productions are completely foreign to the works of the Society, it accepts them with gratitude and thanks the author. Mr. Th… observes, with regard to the communication of Christopher Columbus, obtained in the last session, that the latter's answers, relative to his own mission and to the mission of Spirits in general, seem to consecrate the doctrine of fatality. Several members contested this consequence of Christopher Columbus's answers, considering that the mission does not remove the freedom to do or not to do. Man is not fatally impelled to do this or that thing. It may happen that, as a man, he behaves more or less blindly; as a Spirit, however, he always has the consciousness of what he does and remains always master of his actions. Supposing that the principle of fatality followed from Columbus's answers, it would not be the consecration of a principle which, in all times, has been combated by the Spirits. In any case, it would be merely an individual opinion. Now, the Society is far from accepting as irrefutable truth everything the Spirits say, because it knows that they can be mistaken. A Spirit might very well say that it is the Sun that revolves around the Earth, and not the contrary, which would not be any more true by the fact of proceeding from a Spirit. We take the answers for what they are worth. Our aim is to study individualities, whatever their degree of superiority or of inferiority, and thus we acquire knowledge of the moral state of the invisible world, lending our confidence to the doctrines of the Spirits only when they touch reason and good sense, and when we find in them the true light. When an answer contains evident errors, or is illogical, we simply conclude that the Spirit who gave it is still backward. As for Columbus's answers, they in no way imply fatality. Studies: — Questions on the causes of the prolongation of the disturbance of Dr. Glower, evoked on June 10.

Questions on the causes of the painful physical sensation produced upon Mr. W… the Son, of Boulogne, by the suffering Spirits.

Questions on the theory of the formation of material objects in the world of the Spirits, such as garments, jewels, etc.; on the transformation of elementary matter by the will of the Spirit. [Furnishings from Beyond the Tomb.] Explanation of the phenomenon of direct writing. (See our preceding article.)

Evocation of a superior officer who died at Magenta (2nd conversation). Questions on certain sensations from beyond the tomb.

Mr. S… proposes that Mr. M…, who disappeared a month ago, be evoked, in order to know whether he is alive or dead. Interrogated on the matter, Saint Louis says that such an evocation cannot be made; that the uncertainty reigning over the fate of this man has an aim of trial and that later it will be known, by ordinary means, what in fact happened. FRIDAY JULY 8.

(General Session.)

Reading of the minutes and of the works of the preceding session.

Communications:— Reading of two spontaneous communications obtained by Mr. R…, titular member, one being from Saint Louis, containing counsels to the Society on the manner of appraising the answers of the Spirits, and the other from Lamennais.

(They will be published in the next issue.)

Reading of a notice on the deacon Pâris and the convulsionaries of Saint-Médard, prepared by the committee of works to serve as an object of study.

Mr. Didier, titular member, gives an account of the curious experiments he made on direct writing and the remarkable results he obtained.

Studies: — Evocation of the guide or familiar Spirit of Mrs. Mally, of Bordeaux, with regard to the notice transmitted by Mr. S…, on the facts of manifestation produced in the house of this lady and read in the preceding session.

Evocation of Mr. K…, who died on June 15, 1859, in the Department of Sarthe. Mr. K…, a man of worth and very enlightened, was versed in Spiritist studies, and his evocation, carried out at the request of relatives and friends, confirmed the influence of such studies upon the state of detachment of the soul after death. Moreover, it spontaneously revealed the important fact of nocturnal Spiritist visits among the Spirits of living persons. From this fact follow grave consequences for the solution of certain moral and psychological problems. FRIDAY, JULY 15, 1859.

(Private Session.)

Reading of the minutes and of the works of the preceding session.

Administrative matters: — At the request of several members, and considering that many persons are absent in this season, the President proposes that, in accordance with the usage established in all Societies, a period of vacation be fixed.

The Society decides that it will suspend its sessions during the month of August and that it will resume them on Friday, September 2.

Mr. C…, assistant secretary, writes to request his replacement, motivated by new occupations which do not allow him to attend regularly the beginning of the sessions. His replacement will be arranged later. Communications: — Reading of a letter from Mr. Jobard, of Brussels, honorary president of the Society, giving an account of various facts relative to Spiritism and offering to the Society a song, entitled The Song of the Zouave, which was inspired in him by the evocation of the Zouave of Magenta, referred to in the Review of the month of July; it has already been sung in a theater in Brussels. The aim of this song, in which the spiritual verve of the author stands out, is to show that the Spiritist ideas have as their aim to destroy the apprehensions of death.

Mr. D… relates new facts of direct writing, obtained by him in the Louvre and in the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois. Reading of a letter addressed to Mr. President, with regard to the storm of Solferino. The author points out several other analogous facts and inquires whether there might not be something providential in this coincidence. This question has already been answered in the second conversation with the officer who died at Magenta; it will, moreover, be the object of more thorough examination. Letter from Mrs. L…, relating a mystification of which she was a victim, on the part of a malevolent Spirit, who claimed to be Saint Vincent de Paul and who deceived her through an apparently edifying language and through minute details that he revealed about her family, in order, afterward, to induce her to enter compromising paths. The Society recognizes, by means of the letter itself, that such a Spirit had revealed its nature by certain facts that would leave no room for any misunderstanding. Studies: — Moral problems and various questions: On the merit of good actions, in view of the future life; on the Spiritist missions;

on the influence of the fear or the desire of dying; on the intuitive mediums.

Questions on the Spiritist visits among living persons.

Evocation of the deacon Pâris.

Evocation of the false Saint Vincent de Paul, the mystifying Spirit of Mrs. L…

FRIDAY, JULY 22, 1859.

(General Session.)

Reading of the minutes and of the works of the last session.

Communications: — Reading of a private communication from Mr.

R…, titular member, on the theory of madness, of dreams, of hallucinations and of somnambulism, by the Spirits of François Arago and Saint Vincent de Paul. This theory is a rational and scientific development of the principles already set forth on this matter. (It will be published in the next issue.)

Mr. R… communicates a recent fact of apparition. On the 16th of July, Saturday, the day of the burial of Mr. Furne, the latter appeared during the night to the wife of the former with the aspect he had in life, seeking to approach her while another Spirit, whose countenance she could not distinguish, held him by the arm and sought to draw him away. Affected by this apparition, she tried to cover her eyes without, however, ceasing to see him as before. The following day this lady, who, like her husband, is a writing medium, set herself to trace convulsively irregular characters that seemed to form the name of Furne. Interrogated about the fact, another Spirit answered that, indeed, Mr. Furne wished to communicate with them, but, by reason of the state of disturbance in which he still found himself, scarcely recognizing himself, he added that it was necessary to wait about eight days before evoking him, so that he might be able to manifest himself freely. Dr. V… makes reference to a fact of Spiritist prevision, carried out in his presence, and all the more remarkable when we know that the prevision of dates is very rare on the part of the Spirits. About six weeks ago, a lady of his acquaintance, an excellent medium of psychography, received a communication from the Spirit of her father; suddenly and without provocation, the latter set himself to speak spontaneously of the war in Italy. With regard to this, they asked him whether it would soon be over. He answered: “On the 11th of July peace will be signed.” Without attaching greater importance to this prevision, Dr. V… kept the answer in a sealed envelope and sent it to a third person, with the recommendation to open it only after the 11th of July. It is known that the event came to pass as it had been announced. It is interesting to note that the Spirits, when they speak of future things, do so spontaneously, doubtless because they judge it of utility to do so. However, they never do so when they are impelled to it by a motive of curiosity. Studies: — Moral problems and various questions. Complementary questions on the merit of good actions; on the Spiritist visits; on direct writing.

Questions on the intervention of the Spirits in the phenomena of Nature, such as storms, and on the attributions of certain Spirits.

Complementary questions on the deacon Pâris and the convulsionaries of Saint-Médard. Evocation of General Hoche.