Photography of the Spirits.

The Courrier du Bas-Rhin of Saturday, January 3, 1863 (German section) contains the following article, under the title of Spectral Photography:

“The Americans, who precede us in many things, certainly surpass us in the art of photography and in the evocation of the Spirits. Today, in Boston, not only are the deceased evoked by the mediums, but they are also photographed. This marvelous discovery is owed to a certain William Mumler, of Boston. [see Ghost of Abraham Lincoln]

“Some time ago — it is he himself who tells it — I was testing in my laboratory a new photographic apparatus, taking my own photograph. Suddenly I felt a certain pressure being exerted upon my right arm and a general lassitude throughout my whole body. But who could describe my astonishment when I saw my portrait reproduced and, on the right, the image of a second person, which was none other than my deceased cousin? The resemblance of the portrait, in the words of those who knew that lady, leaves nothing to be desired. “In consequence, since that time Mr. Mumler gives his clients not only spiritualist sessions, but also takes photographs of the deceased who are evoked. They are ordinarily a little pale and blurred, and the features very difficult to recognize, which does not prevent the enlightened inhabitants of Boston from declaring them true and authentic. Who would pay attention to spectral images!” Such a discovery, were it real, would certainly have immense consequences and would be one of the most notable facts of manifestations. Nevertheless, we exhort that it be received with prudent reserve. The Americans who, in the words of the writer, surpass us in so many things, have taught that they have also outstripped us in the invention of lies. To anyone who knows the properties of the perispirit, at first sight the thing does not appear materially impossible. So many extraordinary things have arisen that we should be astonished at nothing. The Spirits announced manifestations of a new order, even more surprising than those already seen; the one with which we are concerned would, incontestably, be among this number. But, once again, until a more authentic verification than the account of a newspaper, it is prudent to remain in doubt. If the thing be true, it will be made widely known. Be that as it may, we must guard ourselves against giving credence to all the marvelous stories that the enemies of Spiritism take pleasure in spreading in order to render it ridiculous, as well as against those who accept them too readily. Moreover, one must think maturely before attributing to the Spirits all the unusual phenomena that cannot be explained. An attentive examination shows, most of the time, an entirely material cause that had not been perceived. It is an express recommendation that we make in The Mediums’ Book. In support of what we have just said and on the subject of Spiritist photography, we shall cite the following article, taken from the Patrie, of February 23, 1863. It puts us on guard against precipitate judgments.

“A young lord, bearer of one of the most ancient and most illustrious names of the upper chamber, whose passionate taste for photography brings great and happy successes to that art which, perhaps, is even more a science than an art, has just lost his sister, whom he loved with extreme tenderness. Wounded in the heart and cast into the deepest despondency that grief often produces, he left his photographic apparatuses and England, made a long journey through the continent, and only returned to his almost royal residence in Lancashire after an absence of nearly four years. “As generally happens, his despair had passed from the acute state to the chronic, that is, without having lost its intensity, it had lost its violence and little by little was transforming itself into somber resignation.

“When those who suffer seek consolation, they turn first to God, then to work. Thus, little by little the young lord took up again the path to his laboratory and returned to his photographic apparatuses.

“By a kind of transaction with his sorrow, the first image he thought of photographing was the interior of the chapel where the mortal remains of his sister reposed. Having obtained the negative, he entered the laboratory and, in order to obtain a proof, submitted the glass plate to the ordinary preparations and exposed the plate to the light.

“Casting his eyes upon the proof, he nearly fell down in a faint. The interior of the chapel appeared with great clarity, but the head of the young deceased woman appeared vaguely in the least illuminated part of the photograph. One could distinguish perfectly her soft and charming features and even the long undulations of her garment. Yet, through these, the least details of the chapel stood out clearly. “The lord’s first reaction was to believe in an apparition, but soon he smiled sadly, shaking his head. Indeed, he remembered that some years before, on that same glass plate, he had taken a photograph of his sister. Not having obtained a satisfactory result, he had erased the portrait and probably erased it badly, for its vague contours today blend with the new image impressed on the plate. “In England, some artists exploit this bizarre application of photography; they manufacture and sell double images, whose combinations produce strange or amusing effects. Among others they showed us a castle in ruins, beneath which appeared its park, its facades, and turrets, such as they must have existed before its destruction.

“They also make portraits of old people, through which their faces appear as in the most beautiful days of youth.”

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Translator’s note: Everything indicates that Allan Kardec did not give much credit to Spiritist photographs. Nevertheless, the Spiritist Review itself, five years after his disincarnation, published a posthumous photograph of the Codifier beside his wife, then incarnate. Gabriel Delanne, in a book edited by the FEB (Spiritism before Science), treats the subject with much aptness. See also the book Procès des Spirites [Marina P. G. Leymarie - 1875.] (Trial of the Spiritists), in French, also edited by the FEB.