New studies on magic or psychic mirrors.

I.

Theoretical essays on magic mirrors. — II.

New studies on magic mirrors or psychic mirrors. — III. The patriarch Joseph and the seer of Zimmerwald.

— [Review of October 1865.]

II.

NEW STUDIES ON MAGIC OR PSYCHIC MIRRORS.

THE SEER OF THE FOREST OF ZIMMERWALD.

In the Spiritist Review of October 1864 we gave a meticulous account of the observations we had just made concerning a peasant of the canton of Bern, who possesses the faculty of seeing, in a drinking glass, things that are distant. New visits that we made to him this year allowed us to complete the observations and to rectify, on certain points, the theory we had given of the objects commonly designated under the name of magic mirrors, more exactly called psychic mirrors. As above all we seek the truth and have no pretension of being infallible, when it happens that we are mistaken we do not hesitate to acknowledge it. We know nothing more ridiculous than clinging to an erroneous opinion. For the understanding of what follows, and in order to avoid repetitions, we beg our readers to refer to the aforementioned article, which contains a detailed note about the seer in question and his manner of operating.

— We shall only recall that the name of magic mirrors is given to objects of various forms and natures, almost always of brilliant reflection, such as drinking glasses, bottles, panes of glass, metal plates, in which certain persons see absent things. Convinced by attentive observation that this faculty is nothing but double sight, that is to say, spiritual or psychic vision, independent of organic vision, and considering that this faculty exists without the aid of any object, we had concluded, in a very absolute manner, the uselessness of these objects, thinking that the habit of using them merely made them necessary, and that any individual who is a seer with their aid could see perfectly well without them, if he wished. Now, that is where the error lies, as we are going to demonstrate.

— We shall first give a succinct account of the new facts observed, because they serve as the basis for the instructions to which they gave rise.

Thus, having returned to that man's house, accompanied by Commander de W, who kindly served us as interpreter, he immediately concerned himself with our health; he described with ease and perfect exactness the seat, the cause, and the nature of the ailment, indicating the necessary remedies.

Next, without being prompted by any question, he spoke of our works, of their aim and their results, in the same sense as in the previous year, without, however, having retained any memory of what he had said; but he went much more deeply into the subject, whose scope he seemed to understand better. He entered into circumstantial details about the present and future march of the doctrine that occupies us, about the causes that must lead to this or that result, about the obstacles that will be raised against us and the means of overcoming them, about the persons who play or must play a part for or against it, those upon whose devotion and sincerity one can or cannot count, describing them physically and morally, in such a way as to prove that he saw them perfectly. In a word, he gave us an instruction at length developed and logically reasoned, all the more remarkable in that it confirms, on every point; and completes, in certain respects, those of our protecting Spirits. The parts whose exactness we were in a position to appreciate could leave no doubt as to his clairvoyance. Having had several interviews with him, each time he came back to the same subject, confirmed it or completed it, without ever contradicting himself, even on what he had said the previous year, of which the present interviews seemed to be the continuation. This instruction being absolutely personal and confidential, we refrain from reporting it in detail. We mention it because of the important fact that emerges from it and that we report below. No doubt it is of great interest to us, but our principal aim, in seeing this man again, was to make new studies on his faculty, in the interest of the Spiritist science.

— A fact that we ascertained is that his lucidity cannot be constrained; he sees what presents itself to him and describes it, but one cannot make him see at will what one desires, nor that of which one is thinking, although he reads thoughts. In the principal session that was devoted to us, we tried in vain to direct his attention to other subjects; despite his efforts, he declared he saw nothing in the glass.

When he deals with a subject, it is possible to put questions to him that concern it, but it is useless to interrogate him about the first thing that comes up. And yet it often happens that he passes abruptly from the subject occupying him to another completely unrelated one; then he returns to the first. When one asks him the reason, he answers that he says what he sees, and that this does not depend on him.

He spontaneously sees absent persons, when these are directly connected to that which is the object of his examination, but not otherwise. His point of departure is the questioner, his person, his residence; from there the consecutive facts unfold. It was also in vain that we attempted the following experiment. One of our friends in Paris, who had just written to us, wished us to consult him concerning the illness of his daughter. We handed him the letter, telling him to place it in the palm of his hand, beneath the bottom of the glass, thinking that the radiation of the fluid would facilitate the vision of the person. He did nothing of the sort: on the contrary, the white reflection of the paper bothered him; he said that the person was very far away, and yet, a few moments before, he had just described, with perfect exactness and minute details, an individual of whom we were absolutely not thinking, as well as the place where he lives, and this at a distance four times greater. But this person was involved in the matter that concerned us, whereas the other was completely unrelated to him. The succession of events led him to one, and not to the other. Consequently, his lucidity is neither flexible nor manageable, and absolutely does not lend itself to the whim of the questioner. He is therefore in no way fit to satisfy those who might come to him merely out of curiosity. Moreover, as he reads thought, his first care is to see the intention of the visitor, in case he does not know him; if the intention is not serious, if he perceives that the aim is neither moral nor useful, he refuses to speak and dismisses whoever comes to ask him to tell fortunes or to put futile or indiscreet questions. In a word, he is a serious seer, and not a fortune-teller. As we said last year, his clairvoyance applies principally to springs and underground watercourses. Only incidentally and out of compliance does he occupy himself with other things.

He is of an absolute ignorance, even concerning the most elementary principles of the sciences, but he has much natural good sense and, owing to his lucidity, he often supplies the lack of acquired knowledge. Here is an example.

One day, in our presence, someone was questioning him about the possibility of the existence of a mineral spring in a certain locality. There is none, he says, because the terrain is not suitable. We pointed out to him that the origin of springs is sometimes very far from the place where they appear, and that they seep through layers of the earth. That is true, he replied; but there are regions where the layers are horizontal and others where they are vertical. In the one of which this gentleman speaks, they are vertical, and there is the obstacle. Where did this idea of the direction of the earth's layers come to him from, to him precisely who has not the slightest notion of Geology?

— We observed him carefully throughout the whole course of his operations, and here is what we noted:

Once seated, he takes his glass, holds it as we described in our previous article, looks alternately at the bottom of the glass and at those present and, for about a quarter of an hour, speaks of unimportant things, after which he broaches the principal subject. At that moment his eyes, naturally lively and penetrating, become half-closed, grow dim and contract; the pupils disappear upward, leaving only the white visible. From time to time, when he fixes his gaze on someone, the pupils show themselves slightly in part, only to disappear again completely; and yet he always looks at the bottom of the glass or at the lines he traces with chalk. Now, it is quite evident that, in this state, it is not by the eyes that he sees. Apart from this particularity, there is nothing perceptibly abnormal about him; he speaks with simplicity, without emphasis, as in the ordinary state, and not like one who is inspired.

— On the evening when we had our principal session, we asked, through a writing medium, instructions of the good Spirits about the facts we had just witnessed.

Q. – What should one think of the spontaneous revelations that the seer of the forest made to us today?

Answer. – We wished to give you a proof of this man's faculty. We had prepared the subject he was to deal with; this is why he could not answer the other questions you put to him. What he told you was only our opinion. You were astonished at what he said to you; he spoke for us without knowing it and, at this moment, he no longer knows what he said, just as he no longer remembers what he spoke of last year, for his ray of intelligence does not reach that far. In speaking, he did not even understand the scope of what he was saying; he spoke better than the medium here present would have done, who was fearful of going too far. This is why we made use of him, as being a more docile instrument for the instructions we wished to give you. Q. – He spoke of an individual who, according to the physical and moral description he gave of him, and by his position, seemed to be such a personage. Could you say whether it is, in fact, the one he meant to designate?

Answer. – He said what you ought to know.

Observation. – It is therefore evident that to this man's natural faculty is allied mediumship, at least accidentally, if not in a permanent manner; that is to say, the lucidity is personal to him and not a matter of Spirits, but the Spirits can give to this lucidity the direction that suits them, in a given case, inspire in him what he must say and let him say only what is needed. He is therefore, according to the need, an unconscious medium.

The faculty of seeing at a distance and through opaque bodies seems to us extraordinary, incomprehensible, only because it constitutes a sense that we do not enjoy in the normal state. We are exactly like those born blind, who do not understand that one can know the existence, the form, and the properties of objects without touching them; they are unaware that the luminous fluid is the intermediary that puts us in relation with distant objects and brings us their image. Without the knowledge of the properties of the perispiritual fluid, we do not understand vision without the aid of the eyes; in this respect we are veritable blind men. Now, the faculty of seeing at a distance, with the aid of the perispiritual fluid, is no more marvelous and miraculous than that of seeing the heavenly bodies millions of leagues away, with the aid of the luminous fluid. n

Q. – Would you have the kindness to say whether the glass this man uses is truly useful to him? whether he could not equally see in another glass, in any object whatever, or even without an object, if he wished? whether the necessity or the specialness of the glass would not be an effect of habit, which makes him believe he cannot do without it? In short, if the presence of the glass is necessary, what action does such an object exert upon his lucidity? Answer. – His gaze being concentrated on the bottom of the glass, the brilliant reflection acts first upon the eyes, then upon the nervous system, provoking a kind of semi-somnambulism or, more exactly, of waking somnambulism, in which the Spirit, detached from matter, acquires clairvoyance, or vision of the soul, which you call second sight.

There exists a certain relation between the form of the bottom of the glass and the exterior form or the disposition of his eyes. This is why he does not easily find those that meet the necessary conditions. (See the article of the month of October 1864.) Although the glasses apparently seem alike to you, there are in the reflecting power and in the mode of radiation, according to the form, the thickness, and the quality, nuances that you cannot appreciate, and that are suited to his individual organism.

For him, therefore, the glass is a means of developing and of fixing his lucidity. It is really necessary to him, because, the state of lucidity not being permanent in him, it needs to be provoked; another object could not replace it, and that same glass, which produces this effect upon him, would produce nothing upon another person, even a seer. The means of provoking this lucidity vary according to individuals.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE PRECEDING EXPLANATION.

Here we are at the principal point we set ourselves. The preceding explanation seems to resolve the question with perfect clarity. Everything lies in these words: Lucidity is not permanent in this man. The glass is a means of provoking it, by the action of radiation upon the nervous system. But it is necessary that the mode of radiation be in relation with the organism. Hence the variety of objects that can produce such an effect, according to the individuals predisposed to undergo them. From this it results that: 1st – For those in whom psychic vision is spontaneous or permanent, the employment of artificial agents is useless; 2nd – these agents are necessary when the faculty nec Certain particularities of our seer find their explanation in this account.

The letter placed beneath the glass, instead of facilitating things for him, disturbed him, because it changed the nature of the reflection that is proper to him.

We said that he, on beginning, speaks of unimportant things, while he looks at the body. It is that the action is not instantaneous, and this preliminary conversation, without apparent aim, lasts the time necessary for the production of the effect.

Just as the lucid state does not develop except gradually, it does not cease suddenly. This is the reason why this man still continues to see for some moments after having ceased to look into his glass, which had led us to suppose that the object was useless. But since, in a certain manner, the lucid state is artificial, from time to time he has recourse to the glass to maintain it.

— Up to a certain point, the development of the faculty by a material means can be understood; but how can the image of a distant person present itself in a glass? Only Spiritism can resolve this problem, by the knowledge it gives of the nature of the soul, of its faculties, of the properties of its perispiritual envelope, of its radiation, of its emancipating power, and of its detachment from the corporeal covering. In the state of detachment, the soul enjoys perceptions proper to it, without the aid of the material organs; vision is an attribute of the spiritual being; it sees of itself, without the aid of the eyes, as it hears without the aid of the ear; if the organs of the senses were indispensable to the perceptions of the soul, it would follow that, after death, the soul no longer having these organs, it would be deaf and blind. The complete detachment, which occurs after death, is produced partially during life, and it is then that the phenomenon of spiritual vision is manifested, or, in other words, of double sight or second sight, or of psychic vision, whose power extends as far as the radiation of the soul. In the case in question, the image is not formed in the substance of the glass; it is the soul itself which, by its radiation, perceives the object in the place where it is found. But since, in this man, the glass is the agent that provokes the lucid state, the image appears to him very naturally in the direction of the glass. It is absolutely like the one who needs a spyglass to see far off what he cannot distinguish with the naked eye; the image of the object is not in the glasses of the telescope, but in the direction of the glasses, which allow him to see it. Take away the instrument from him and he will see nothing more. Pursuing the comparison, we shall say that, just as the one who has good sight does not need a telescope, he who naturally enjoys psychic vision does not need artificial means to provoke it.

— Some years ago, a physician discovered that, by placing between the eyes, at the base of the nose, a bottle cork, a ball of crystal or of shining metal, and making the visual rays converge upon this object for some time, the person entered into a kind of cataleptic state, during which some of the faculties that are noted in certain somnambulists were manifested, among others insensibility and vision at a distance, through opaque bodies, and that this state ceased little by little, after the removal of the object. Evidently it was a magnetic effect, produced by an inert body. What physiological role does the brilliant reflection play in this phenomenon? That is what is unknown. But, if this condition is necessary in the majority of cases, it has been ascertained that it is not always so, and that the same effect is produced in certain individuals with the aid of dull objects.

This phenomenon, to which the name of hypnotism was given, made a stir in scientific circles. They experimented. Some succeeded, others failed, as was bound to be, for not all the patients had the same aptitude.

Certainly it was worth the trouble of studying the thing, even were it exceptional; but – it is regrettable to say – once they perceived that it was a secret door through which magnetism and somnambulism were going to penetrate, under another form and another name, into the sanctuary of official science, no more was thought of hypnotism. (See the Spiritist Review of January 1860.)

Nevertheless, Nature never loses its rights. If its laws are unrecognized for some time, it often returns to the charge and presents them under forms so varied that, sooner or later, it compels men to open their eyes. Spiritism is proof of this; however much they deny it, denigrate it, repel it, it knocks at every door in a hundred different ways and, for better or for worse, penetrates into those very persons who do not wish to hear it spoken of.

Comparing this phenomenon with the one occupying us, and especially with the explanations given above, one notes, in the effects and in the causes, a surprising analogy, from which one may draw the following conclusion: the bodies commonly called magic mirrors are nothing but hypnotic agents, infinitely varied in their forms and in their effects, according to the nature and the degree of the aptitudes.

This being established, it would not be impossible that certain persons, endowed spontaneously and accidentally with this faculty, undergo, without knowing it, the magnetic influence of exterior objects, upon which they mechanically fix their eyes. Why should the reflection of water, of a lake, of a marsh, of a brook, even of a heavenly body, not produce the same effect as a glass or a bottle, upon certain organizations suitably predisposed? But this is no more than a hypothesis that needs the confirmation of experience. Moreover, this phenomenon is not a modern discovery. It is found, even in our own days, among the most backward peoples, so true is it that what is in Nature has the privilege of belonging to all times and places. At first they accept it as a fact: the explanation comes afterward, with progress, and in proportion as man advances in the knowledge of the laws that govern the world.

Such are the consequences that seem to follow logically from the facts observed.

— [Review of November 1865.]

III. THE PATRIARCH JOSEPH AND THE SEER OF ZIMMERWALD One of our subscribers in Paris writes the following:

"Reading the number of the Spiritist Review for the month of October, I referred to a passage of the Bible, which points out a fact analogous to the mediumship of the seer of the forest of Zimmerwald. Here it is:

"When Joseph's brothers had left the city, and as they had not yet walked far, Joseph called the steward of his house and said to him: Run after those people; stop them and say to them:

Why do you return evil for good? – The cup that you stole is the one in which my Lord drinks, and which he uses to divine. You have done a very wicked deed.

"When Joseph's brothers were brought into his presence, he said to them:

"Why have you acted thus toward me? Do you not know that 'no one equals me in the science of divining hidden things?' (Genesis XLIV vv. 4 to 15) n "The kind of mediumship that you point out existed, then, among the Egyptians and the Jews."

C.

Attorney.

In effect, nothing is more positive. Joseph possessed the art of divining, that is to say, of seeing hidden things, making use, for this, of a drinking cup, just as the seer of Zimmerwald makes use of his glass. If mediumship is a demoniacal faculty, here is one of the most venerated personages of sacred antiquity convicted of acting through the demon. If he acted through God, and our mediums through the demon, then the demon does the same as God and, consequently, equals him in power. One is astonished to see grave men sustain such a thesis, which annihilates their own doctrine.

— Spiritism, then, has neither discovered nor invented mediums, but it has discovered the laws of mediumship, and explains it. Thus, it is the true key to the understanding of the Old and the New Testaments, where facts of this kind abound. It was for want of this key that so many contradictory commentaries were made, which explain nothing. Incredulity went on incessantly increasing in the direction of these facts and was invading the Church itself. Henceforth they will be admitted as natural phenomena, since they are reproduced in our own days by known laws. We have, thus, reason to say that Spiritism is a positive science, which destroys the last vestiges of the marvelous. Let us suppose that the books of the Ancients had been lost, which explain to us the pagan or mythological theogony: would the meaning be understood today of the innumerable inscriptions that are discovered daily, and that refer more or less directly to those beliefs? Would the destination, the reasons for the structure of the majority of the monuments be understood, whose remains we contemplate? Would it be known what the greater part of the statues and bas-reliefs represent? No, certainly not. Without the knowledge of mythology, all these things would be a dead letter to us, like cuneiform writing and Egyptian hieroglyphics. Mythology is, then, the key with the help of which we shall reconstruct the history of the past, by means of a fragment of stone, as Cuvier, with a bone, reconstructed an antediluvian animal. Because we no longer believe in the fables of the pagan divinities, should we neglect or despise mythology? Whoever emitted such a thought would be treated as a barbarian. Well then! Spiritism, as belief in the existence and the manifestation of souls, and as a means of conversing with them; magnetism as a means of cure; and somnambulism, as well as double sight, were very widespread in antiquity and mingled with all the theogonies, even with the Judaic theogony, and later with the Christian; a number of monuments and inscriptions that remain to us allude to it. Embracing at the same time magnetism and somnambulism, Spiritism is a beacon for Archaeology and for the study of antiquity. We are even convinced that it is a fertile source for the understanding of hieroglyphics, because these beliefs were very widespread in Egypt, and their study formed part of the mysteries hidden from the common people. Here are some facts in support of this assertion. One of our friends, a learned archaeologist who resides in Africa, and who is, at the same time, an enlightened Spiritist, some years ago found in the environs of Sétif a funerary inscription, whose meaning was absolutely unintelligible without the knowledge of Spiritism.

We remember having seen at the Louvre, quite a long time ago, an Egyptian painting, representing an individual lying down and asleep, and another standing, with arms and fingers directed toward the first, upon whom he fixed his gaze, in the exact attitude of a man giving magnetic passes. One would say a drawing traced from the little vignette that Baron du Potet formerly placed on the frontispiece of his Journal du Magnétisme. n For any magnetizer, there was not the slightest ambiguity as to the theme of that picture; for whoever had not known magnetism, it made no sense. This fact alone would prove, were there not a number of others, that the ancient Egyptians knew how to magnetize, and that they devoted themselves to magnetism more or less as we do. Then this formed part of their customs, since it was found consecrated on a public monument. Without modern magnetism, which gives us the key to certain allegories, we would not know it. Another Egyptian painting, likewise at the Louvre, represented a mummy standing, wrapped in bandages; a body of the same form and size, but without wrappings, detached itself halfway, as if emerging from the mummy, and another individual, placed in front, seemed to draw it toward himself. At that time we did not know Spiritism and we asked ourselves what that could mean.

Today it is clear that this allegorical painting represents the soul separating itself from the body, preserving the human appearance, and whose detachment is facilitated by the action of another person, incarnate or disincarnate, exactly as Spiritism teaches us.

Do not believe in Spiritism, if it pleases you; admit that it is a chimera: no one imposes it upon you; study it as you study mythology, by way of simple instruction, even while laughing at human credulity, and you will see what horizons it will open to you, however little serious you may be.

[1]

At this moment the Siècle is publishing, under the title of Double Sight, a most interesting serial novel by Élie Berthet. [La double vue — Google Books.] At the present hour it comes apropos. About two years ago Mr. Xavier Saintine had published in the Constitutionnel, under the title of Second Sight, a series of facts based on the plurality of existences and on the spontaneous relations that are established between the living and the dead. It is thus that literature helps the popularization of new ideas. There only the word Spiritism is lacking.

[2]

Translator's note: Allan Kardec made use, in all his works, of the translation of Lemaitre de Sacy, still today the most important French version of the Bible and one of the most reliable on the planet. In Brazil, the more recent Protestant versions, above all the so-called "updated" ones of João Ferreira de Almeida, have not always remained faithful to the original passages, notably when they suppress, adapt, or modify words and expressions that may confirm the Spiritist teachings. The verse above, from the Genesis of Moses, received the following version from Almeida: "What is this that you have done?

Did you not know that I, such a man, am capable of divining?" Thus distorted, the verse loses much of its force. In this case, it is of mediumship that it treats. [See the true Almeida translation of the

edition, without the "updates"; see also the version of Isaac-Louis Le Maistre de Sacy.]

[3] [Journal du magnétisme — Google Books.]