The baker of Dieppe.

The phenomena by which Spirits can manifest their presence are of two natures, designated by the names of physical manifestations and intelligent manifestations. By the first, Spirits attest their action upon matter; by the second, they reveal a more or less elevated thought, according to their degree of purification. Both the one and the other may be spontaneous or provoked. They are provoked when solicited by desire and obtained with the help of persons endowed with a special aptitude, that is, of mediums. They are spontaneous when they occur naturally, without any participation of the will and, very often, in the absence of any Spiritist knowledge and even of any belief. It is to this order that certain phenomena belong which cannot be explained by ordinary physical causes. Nevertheless, we must not hasten, as we have already said, to attribute to Spirits everything that is unusual and not understood. We could never insist too much on this point, in order to guard ourselves against the effects of imagination and, very often, of fear. We repeat: When an extraordinary phenomenon occurs, the first thought should be that it has a natural cause, this being the most frequent and the most probable; such are, above all, noises and even certain movements of objects. What must be done, in such a case, is to seek the cause, it being probable that we shall find it very simple and very commonplace. We say further: The true and, so to speak, sole sign of the intervention of Spirits is the intentional and intelligent character of the effect produced, when the impossibility of a human intervention is perfectly demonstrated. Under these conditions, reasoning according to the axiom that every effect has a cause, and that every intelligent effect must have an intelligent cause, it becomes evident that, if the cause is not in the ordinary agents of material effects, it is outside those same agents; that if the intelligence which acts is not human, it must be found outside Humanity. Are there, then, extra-human intelligences? This seems probable. If certain things are not and cannot be the work of men, they must be the work of someone. Now, if that someone is not a man, it seems that, necessarily, he must be outside Humanity; if we do not see him he must be invisible. It is a reasoning as peremptory and as easy to understand as that of Monsieur de La Palisse. What, then, are these intelligences? Angels or demons? And in what manner can invisible intelligences act upon visible matter? – This is what those who have delved deeply into the Spiritist science know perfectly well, a science which, like the others, is not learned in the twinkling of an eye, nor can be summarized in a few lines. To those who ask such a question, we shall say only this: How does your thought, which is immaterial, move your body, which is material, at will? We believe that they will not be embarrassed in the solution of this problem, and that, if they reject the explanation given by Spiritism of this very commonplace phenomenon, it is because they have another much more logical one to oppose to it. But up to now we have not known it.

Let us come to the facts which prompted these observations. Several newspapers, among others the Opinion Nationale, of the 14th of last February, and the Journal de Rouen, of the 12th of the same month, relate the following fact, according to the Vigie de Dieppe. Here is the article from the Journal de Rouen:

“The Vigie de Dieppe publishes the following letter, from its correspondent at Grandes-Ventes. In our Friday issue we already noted a part of the facts related today in this newspaper; but the emotion provoked in the commune by these extraordinary events leads us to give new details, contained in this correspondence.

“Today we smile at the more or less fantastic stories of the old times that are gone, the pretended sorcerers of the present day not enjoying great veneration. They are no more believed in at Grandes-Ventes than elsewhere. Nevertheless, our old prejudices still have some adherents among the villagers, so that the truly extraordinary scene which we have just witnessed is well suited to strengthen their superstitious belief.

“Yesterday morning, Monsieur Goubert, one of the bakers of our village, his father, who serves him as a workman, and a young apprentice of sixteen to seventeen years, were about to begin the routine work, when they perceived that several objects spontaneously left their place to hurl themselves into the kneading trough. They thus had to discard successively the flour they were working, several pieces of coal, two weights of different sizes, a pipe, and a candle. Despite their extreme surprise, they continued the task and had managed to turn the bread, when, suddenly, a portion of dough of two kilograms, escaping from the hands of the young helper, was thrown several meters away. This was the prelude and, as it were, the signal for the strangest disorder. It was then about nine o’clock and, until noon, it was positively impossible to remain in the oven room and in the neighboring chamber. Everything was thrown into great disorder, overturned and broken. The loaves, hurled into the middle of the room with the boards which served as their base, amid remnants of all sorts, were completely lost. More than thirty bottles full of wine broke successively and, while the cistern’s winding-reel turned by itself with extreme speed, the embers, the shovels, the trestles, and the weights leaped into the air and performed the most diabolical evolutions. “Around noon the tumult ceased little by little and, a few hours later, when everything was set in order and the utensils put back in their places, the head of the house was able to resume the customary work.

“This bizarre event caused Monsieur Goubert a loss of at least 100 francs.”

To this same account the Opinion Nationale adds the following reflections:

“In reproducing this singular story, it would be an insult to our readers to forewarn them against the supernatural facts which it relates. We know perfectly well that it is not a story of our time and that it may scandalize some of the learned readers of the Vigie. Nevertheless, however improbable it may appear, it is no less true, and, if necessary, a hundred persons could certify its accuracy.”

We confess that we do not well understand the reflections of the journalist, who seems to contradict himself. On the one hand, he tells the readers to forewarn themselves against the supernatural facts which the letter relates, and he ends by saying that “however improbable it may appear, this story is no less true, and, if necessary, a hundred persons could certify its accuracy.” One of two things: either it is true, or it is false. If false, all is said; but if it is true, as the Opinion Nationale attests, the fact reveals something far too grave to be treated somewhat lightly. Let us set aside the question of Spirits and see in it nothing but a physical phenomenon. Is it not extraordinary enough to merit the attention of serious observers? Let the learned, then, set to work and, scrutinizing the archives of Science, give us a rational, irrefutable explanation, pointing out the reason of all the circumstances. If they cannot, we are obliged to admit that they do not know all the secrets of Nature. And if only the Spiritist science gives the solution, one must choose between the theory which explains and the one which explains nothing. When facts of this nature are related, our first care, even before inquiring into their reality, is to examine whether or not they are possible, according to what we know of the theory of Spiritist manifestations. We have cited some, demonstrating their absolute impossibility, notably the story which we narrated in the February 1859 issue, according to the Journal des Débats, under the title My friend Hermann, to which certain points of the Spiritist Doctrine might have given an appearance of probability. From this point of view, the phenomena which occurred with the baker of the environs of Dieppe have nothing more extraordinary than many others, perfectly verified, whose complete solution is given by the Spiritist science. In our eyes, therefore, even if the fact were not true, it would be possible. We asked one of our correspondents at Dieppe, in whom we have full confidence, to verify the reality of the fact. Here is what he answers us: “Today I can give you all the information you desire, for I have informed myself from a good source. The account of the Vigie is the exact truth; it is needless to relate all the facts. It seems that several men of science came from very far to take account of these extraordinary facts, which they will not be able to explain if they have no notion of the Spiritist science. As for our peasants, they are confused. Some say that they are sorcerers; others, that it is because the cemetery has changed location and that buildings have been erected on the old site; and the clever ones, who pass among their own as knowing everything, especially if they are soldiers, end by saying: ‘Word of honor! I do not know how this can happen.’ Needless to say that there is no lack of those who attribute a great part of all this to the devil. To make the common people understand all these phenomena, it would be necessary to initiate them into the true Spiritist science, the only means of uprooting from among them the belief in sorcerers and all the superstitious ideas, which for a long time yet will represent the greatest obstacle to their moralization.” We shall conclude with a final observation.

We have heard some persons say that they did not wish to occupy themselves with Spiritism, for fear of attracting Spirits and provoking manifestations of the kind we have just related.

We do not know the baker Goubert, but we believe we can affirm that neither he, nor his son, nor his helper ever occupied themselves with Spirits. It is even to be noted that spontaneous manifestations occur preferentially among persons who possess no idea of Spiritism, evident proof that Spirits come without being called. We say further: The enlightened knowledge of this science is the best means of preserving ourselves from importunate Spirits, because it indicates the only rational manner of keeping them away.

Our correspondent is perfectly right in saying that Spiritism is a remedy against superstition. Is it not, indeed, a superstitious idea, the belief that these strange phenomena are due to the displacement of the cemetery? Superstition does not consist in the belief in a fact, when it is verified, but in the irrational cause attributed to the fact. It lies, above all, in the belief in pretended means of divination, in the effect of certain practices, in the virtue of talismans, in cabalistic days and hours, etc., things whose absurdity and ridiculousness Spiritism demonstrates.