Various manifestations.

Our colleague, Mr. Delanne, writes to us under the date of April 2, 1865:

Most dear master, I have seen our brothers in Barcelona again. There, as in France, the doctrine spreads, the adherents are zealous and fervent. In a group I visited, I saw worthy rivals of that dear Mr. Dombre of Marmande. I witnessed the complete cure of a lady, afflicted by a terrible obsession that had lasted at least fifteen years, long before there was any talk of Spirits. Physicians, priests, exorcisms, all had been employed in vain. Today this mother of a family has returned to her own, who do not cease giving thanks to God for so miraculous a cure. Two months sufficed to obtain this result, as much through the evocation of the obsessor as through the influence of collective and sympathetic prayers. [See the articles: The Spirits in Spain and Cure of an obsession.]

In another session there was performed the evocation of the Spirit who, for eight years, had been obsessing a workman named Joseph, now on the way to being cured. Never had I been so painfully moved as when I witnessed the patient's sufferings at the moment of the evocation. Calm at first, he is suddenly seized by starts, by spasms, and by nervous trembling. Gripped by his invisible enemy, he writhes in horrible convulsions; his chest swells, the patient suffocates and then, recovering his breath, he twists like a serpent, rolls on the floor, springs up with a leap, and strikes himself on the head. He uttered only broken words, above all the word: No! no! The medium, who is a lady, was in prayer; she takes up the pen, and behold, the invisible one, leaving his prey for an instant, seizes her hand and would have ill-treated it had they let him. For a fortnight they have been evoking this Spirit of the worst kind; he had never been willing to say the motive of his vengeance. Pressed by me with questions, at last he confessed that this Joseph had stolen from him the one he loves. We made him understand that if he would no longer torment him and showed the least sign of repentance, God would permit him to see her again. — For her, said he, I will do anything. — Well then! say this: My God, forgive my faults. — After hesitating, he said to us: "I will try; but woe to him if you do not make me see her!" And he wrote: "My God, forgive my faults." The moment was critical; what was going to happen? Consulted, the guides said: You have done well to place all your trust in God and in us; you have the key to bring him to you. He will see later the one he loves; fear nothing. It is a promise of which you must take advantage, in order that he may be led back to the good. After this scene, Joseph, exhausted like a wrestler, worn out with fatigue, feels the effects of the terrible possession by his invisible enemy. Then Mr. B…, applying energetic magnetic passes, ends by calming him completely. May it please God that this cure be as resounding as the preceding one. This is what these dear brothers apply themselves to! How much energy, how much conviction, how much courage are needed to effect such cures! Faith, hope, and above all charity alone can overcome such great obstacles and confront with such temerity a band of so terrible adversaries. I came out of there exhausted!

A few days later I witnessed in Carcassonne emotions of another sort. I visited Mr. President Jaubert. He said to me: We have had numerous cases of transports for some time now. I am going to take you to the young lady who is the object of these manifestations. As if on purpose, the girl was indisposed; her stomach was swollen to the point that she could not fasten her dress. The guides being consulted, the session was postponed to the following day, at eight o'clock in the evening. Mr. C…, a retired captain, was so good as to place his drawing room at our disposal. It is a large empty room, merely carpeted. By way of all decoration, it has only a mirror over the fireplace, a chest of drawers, and chairs; nothing in the way of pictures, curtains, or paper lining on the walls: a true bachelor's apartment. We were nine persons in all, all convinced adherents. As soon as we entered, a shower of sweets fell with a crash in one corner of the room! It would be difficult to speak to you of my emotion, for the respectability of those present, that empty and chosen room, everything seemed prepared on purpose by the Spirits to remove all doubt, there being nothing that could give grounds to suspect a fraudulent maneuver. Despite this prodigy, I did not cease looking, scrutinizing the walls with my gaze and asking them whether they were not accomplices in some collusion.

The sick medium takes up her pencil and writes: "Tell Delanne to place his hand on the pit of your stomach and this inflammation will disappear. Pray first." Here we all are in prayer. I was at the far end of the room when, in the midst of the general recollection, a new shower of sweets occurred in the corner opposite to the one from which it had come the first time. Judge of our joy. I drew near the sick girl; the swelling was much greater than the day before. I laid on my hand and the edema disappeared as if by magic. I am cured, she said. Her dress, quite tight, became very loose. Everyone observed the fact. We united in thought to thank the good Spirits for so much kindness. Then there occurred a third shower of sweets. In my life I shall never forget these facts. Those gentlemen were delighted, more for me than for themselves, accustomed as they are to these forms of manifestations. Each of them possesses some objects brought by the Spirits. Mr. Jaubert affirmed that he had seen his table turn and rise several times without the assistance of hands; his hat carried from one corner of the room to the other. An analogous fact of instantaneous cure likewise occurred a few months ago, under the hand of Mr. Jaubert. The young lady medium is, moreover, a very lucid somnambulist; she being asleep, I said to her: "Will you accompany me to Paris? — Yes. — Have the goodness to go to my house. — I see your wife, she said; she pleases me; she is lying down and reading." She described the apartment with perfect exactness. Here is the conversation she had with my wife: "Madam, do you not know that your husband is with us? — No, but tell him to write to me. — Look! I had not seen your son; he is sweet. Your lady tells me she has another son, also very sweet. — Ask her to tell you his age. — He is nine months old. — Exactly."

As I knew there was a meeting at your house, I asked her to go and see you. She did not dare enter, so great was the quantity of people and of great Spirits. She described you very well, dear president, as well as several of our colleagues.

Observation. – First of all, let us pay a just tribute of praise to our brothers in Barcelona, for their zeal and devotion. As Mr. Delanne says, to accomplish such things one needs courage and perseverance, which only faith and charity can give. May they here receive the testimony of the fraternal sympathy of the Society of Paris.

The facts of Carcassonne will make the incredulous smile, who will not fail to say that it is the performance of a comedy; otherwise, they will say, they would be miracles, and the time of miracles has passed. We answer them that there is no miracle in this, but simple natural phenomena, whose theory they will understand when they are willing to take the trouble to study them [See: Phenomena of transport], which is why we make no effort to explain them to them. As for the comedy, one would need to know for whose benefit it was performed. Certainly sleight of hand can effect equally surprising things, even the cure of a swelling simulated by a full bladder. But, once again, for whose benefit? One is always strong when one can oppose to an accusation of charlatanism the most absolute disinterestedness; it would no longer be the same if the slightest suspicion of material interest were at stake. And, besides, who would perform this comedy? A young woman of good family, who does not display herself in spectacle, who neither gives sessions in her house nor in the city, and does not seek to speak of herself, which is not the case with charlatans; a vice-president of a Court; honorable merchants; commendable officers received in the best society; can such a suspicion reach them? They will say it is in the interest of the doctrine and to make adherents. But it is no less a fraud for that, unworthy of persons who respect themselves. Moreover, it would be a singular means to establish a doctrine upon the skill in deceiving, by means of honest people. But our contradictors do not look at this so closely, in matters of contradiction; logic is the least of their concerns. Nevertheless, there is an important observation to make here. Who was present at the session, of which Mr. Delanne gives an account? Were there incredulous persons whom they wished to convince? No, none. All were adherents who had already witnessed these facts several times. They would, then, have performed a sleight of hand for the pleasure of deceiving themselves. Say what you will, gentlemen, the Spirits employ so many different ways to attest their presence that, in the end, those who laugh will not be on our side. You may judge of it by the ever-growing number of their partisans. If you had found a single serious argument, you would not have omitted it; but you fall precisely upon the charlatans and the exploiters, whom Spiritism discredits and with whom it declares it has nothing in common; in this you second us, instead of harming us. Point out the fraud, wherever you find it: that is all we ask. You have never seen us take up their defense, nor sustain those who, by their own fault, had trouble with the law or transgressed it. Every sincere Spiritist, who keeps within the limits of the duties that the doctrine traces for him, gains consideration and respect, and has nothing to fear.