Fontenelle and the rapping Spirits.

We owe to the kindness of Mr. Flammarion the communication of a letter addressed to him, which contains the following account:

You probably imagine yourself, dear sir, the first astronomer to have occupied himself with Spiritism. Be undeceived. A century and a half ago Fontenelle was practicing typtology with Miss Letard, a medium. Amusing myself this morning by leafing through an old epistolary manual, published fifty years ago by Philipon de la Madeleine, I find a letter from Miss Launai, who was later Madame de Staël, addressed on behalf of the Duchess du Maine to the secretary of the Academy of Sciences, concerning an adventure, of which here is the summary.

In 1713 a young woman named Letard claimed to maintain commerce with the Spirits, just as Socrates with his daemon. Mr. Fontenelle went to see the young woman and, because he let some doubts show concerning this kind of charlatanism, Madame de Maine, who did not doubt, charged Miss Launai with writing to him about it.

Philipon de la Madeleine.

Concerning the fact, the following note is found in an edition of the selected works of Fontenelle, published in London in 1761.

A young woman, named Miss Letard, at the beginning of the century excited the curiosity of the public by a supposed prodigy. Everyone sought her out, and Mr. Fontenelle, advised by the Duke of Orléans, also went to see the marvel. It was on this subject that Miss Launai had written to him. – Here is the letter:

“The adventure of Miss Letard makes less noise, sir, than the testimony you gave. People are astonished, and perhaps with some reason, that the destroyer of oracles, that he who overturned the tripod of the sibyls, should have knelt before Miss Letard. What! say the critics, this man who made quite evident the frauds committed a thousand leagues away and more than two thousand years before, was incapable of discovering a ruse contrived under his own eyes! The cunning ones maintain that, as a good Pyrrhonist and finding everything uncertain, you imagine that everything is possible. On the other hand, the devout seem much edified by the homage you paid to the devil; they hope that this may go further. As for me, sir, I suspend judgment until I am better enlightened.”

Reply of Mr. Fontenelle:

“I shall have the honor, mademoiselle, of replying the same thing that I replied to one of my friends, who wrote to me from Marly, the day after the one on which I was at the house of the Spirit. I told him that I had heard noises whose mechanism I was ignorant of, but that, to decide, a more exact examination than the one I had made would be necessary, and to repeat it. I have not changed my language; but, because I did not absolutely decide that it was a contrivance, they accused me of believing it to be a goblin; and as the public does not stop on the route of prudence, they said that I had said it. There is no great harm in that. If they did me harm by attributing to me a discourse I did not make, they did me the honor of drawing attention to me, and one hand washes the other. I did not judge that, by having discredited the old prophetesses of Delphi, I was inciting the destruction of a living young woman, of whom only good had been spoken. If, however, they think that I failed in my duty, another time I shall employ a more pitiless and more philosophical tone. They have long reproached my lack of severity. I must indeed be incorrigible, for age, experience, and the injustices of the world do nothing. Here, mademoiselle, is all that I can tell you about the Spirit, to whom I was drawn by a letter which, I suspect with much pleasure, was dictated by it, since, after all, I am not far from believing it. Thus, when a familiar demon comes to me, I shall tell you so with more grace and in a more ingenious tone, but not with more sincerity, that I am, etc.” Remark. – As one sees, Fontenelle pronounces himself neither for nor against, limiting himself to noting the fact. This was the prudence that is lacking in the majority of the deniers of our era, who give the last word on that which they have not even taken the trouble to observe, at the risk of receiving, later, the denial of experience. Nevertheless, it is evident that he inclines toward the affirmative, a thing remarkable for a man in his position and in this century of skepticism par excellence. Far from accusing Miss Letard of charlatanism, he recognizes that only good was spoken of her. It is even possible that he was more convinced than he let show and, were it not for the fear of ridicule, so powerful in that era, he might perhaps have kept no reserve. Nevertheless, he must have been very shaken not to say clearly that it was a trick. Now, on this point his opinion is important. The question of charlatanism set aside, it becomes evident that Miss Letard was a spontaneous medium of the kind of the Fox sisters.