The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1860

Friday, March 30th 1860
(Private Session)

ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES:

Mr. Ledoyen (treasury) presents the financial balance sheet of the Society for the second semester of the fiscal year, ending on March 30th, 1860. The balance sheet was approved.

MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:

1st – Mr. Chuard from Lyon pays tribute to the Society with two brochures, the first containing a sacred ode to the immortality of the soul, and the second a satire to societies in partnerships. The Society thanks the author and although one of the brochures in particular is strange to the objectives of its works, both shall be kept in the library.

2nd – Reading of three letters from Mr. Morhéry about the cures operated by Ms. Godu, healing medium who moved to his house and became sponsored by him. Mr. Morhéry, as a man of Science, observes the effects of the treatments practiced by that young lady in several patients under their responsibility. He records the results in a detailed chart as done in a regular clinical treatment room, having even attested prodigious results in a short time.

STUDIES:

MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:

We owe the news below to the kindness of one of our subscribers, taken from the chronicles of Froissard, demonstrating that the spirits are not a modern discovery. We ask our readers to allow us to report it in the style of those days (XIV century). It would lose originality if transcribed into our modern language.

The battle of Juberoth is a famous one among the chronicles of the old days. It happened during the war between John, king of Castela, and Diniz, king of Portugal, in the fight to conquer the latter’s kingdom. The Castelans and the Bearneses were broken into pieces. The fact reported by Froissard on that occasion is most interesting. One reads in the Chap. XVI, Book III of his chronicles, that on the very next day after the battle, Count Foix was informed about the event, a fact that was inconceivable those days, given the distances between the places. It is Count Foix’s squire that tells Froissard the fact in question:

“During the whole Sunday, and the whole Monday and Tuesday, Count Foix, in his Ortais castle, showed such a tough, hard expression on his face that nobody heard a word from him; during those three days he would not leave his quarters either, or even speak to his knight or his squire, however close they might be. Even those who did speak to him, he sent them away, not addressing them with even a single word in those three days. Tuesday evening he called his brother, Arnold-William, and told him in a low voice:

• Our people had a battle that made me mad because they were attacked on their journey, like I told them when they left.

Arnold-William, a very sensible man and shrewd knight, who knew his brother’s ways and condition, remained silent, and the Count who wanted to try his courage for he had put up with his boredom for a long time, spoke again and said in a louder voice than the first time:

• For God’s sake, Sir Arnold, that is how I tell you, and we shall soon have news, but the country of Béarn has never lost so much, since a hundred years up to now, as it has lost this time in Portugal.

The many knights and squires who were present and who saw and heard the Count, dared not to speak.

Then, ten days later, the truth was known through those who had been there at work and who were told first and then to everyone who wanted to listen, all things, in the shape and form as they had happened in Juberoth. That reinforced the Count’s and the country’s sorrow, for those who had already lost their brothers, fathers, sons and friends.

• Holy Mary! I said to the squire who told me that story, and how come Count Foix knew all that on the very next day, without presumption?

• By his faith, he said, he can feel things well, as he demonstrated.

• Then he is a fortuneteller, I said; or he has squires who ride the winds or he must have some sort of art.

The squire laughed and said:

• He needs to know it through some sort of necromancy. We know nothing in this land how he uses it, but through his imagination (by supposition).

• Then, I told the squire, the imagination that you mentioned, kindly let me know about it and I will be grateful to you. If it is something to go quiet about then I will shut up and nobody under any circumstance will ever hear that from me.

• I beg you, the squire said, since I would not want others to know that I told you.

• He then took me to a corner of the Ortais castle and started his report, by saying:

• Some twenty years back a Baron by the name Raymond reined over this country as the Lord of Corasse. Corasse, which is a town seven leagues away from this city of Ortais, as you know. The Lord of Corasse, in the days I refer to, had a lawsuit in Avignon, before the Pope, about the church’s tithe in his city, against a priest from Catalonia who was really wealthy and claimed to have rights over those tithes from Corasse, well worth an annual income of a hundred florins and the so called rights he proved and demonstrated. By a definite sentence, Pope Urban V condemned the baron in general council, passing judgment in favor of the priest. With the latest sentence of the Pope, the baron rode his horse for many days until he got to Bearn to show his seal and letters to take possession to his right to the tithe.

The Lord of Corasse came forward and told the vicar: Master Peter or Master Martin, such was his name, do you think that I must lose my inheritance because of your letters? I don’t see you so smart to take it or to take things which are mine because if you do so you risk your life. Go somewhere else to claim benefits because you shall have nothing from my inheritance. I forbid you once and for all. The priest suspected the baron who was cruel and no longer dared to persevere. Thus, he decided to return to Avignon as he did. However, when he was preparing to leave he came to the presence of the Lord of Corasse and said: Through your power and not rights, you subtract me from my church’s dues and knowingly you are making a huge mistake. I am not as strong in this country as you are but know this, before I go, I shall send you a measure that you shall fear more than me. The Lord of Corasse gave no importance to the threats and said: Go to God, go, do as you will; I have no fear, dead or alive; as from your words I shall not lose my inheritance. The priest then left and returned, God knows where to, Catalonia or Avignon, and did not forget what he had said to the Lord of Corasse when he was about to leave, because when the baron least expected, asleep in his bed with his wife in his castle, about three months later, invisible messengers came and started to scramble everything in their path and seemed that they would destroy everything hitting very hard and making so much noise in the Lord’s bedroom that his lady who was present was terrified. The baron heard all that very well but said nothing because he did not want to give away the courage of a scared man; thus, he was smart enough to face all events. The violent noise and turmoil in several parts of the castle lasted a long time, and then stopped. In the morning everybody came to the master when he woke up and asked: Sir, have you heard what we heard last night? The Lord of Corasse was touched by that but said no. What have you heard, he asked. Then they mentioned the violent turmoil in the castle that turned down and broke the china in the kitchen. He laughed and said that they were dreaming and what happened was caused by the wind. For God’s sake, the lady said, I also heard that very well. Then night came again and the violent turmoil was back and the noise was such and the knocks so hard on the walls and windows of the bedroom that it seemed that everything was about to be brought to the ground. The baron left his bed and could not find what he wanted. He then asked: Who is knocking like that on my bedroom’s door? He then got the answer: It is me. Who sent you, asked the night? It was the vicar of Catalonia, to whom you caused great harm because you subtracted him from his rights to your benefits. I shall not leave you in peace until you pay his dues and he is satisfied. The baron then asked: what is your name, since you are such a good messenger. My name is Orthon. The baron replied, Orthon, the service of a vicar does no good to you. He shall make you suffer. If you can believe me I beg you to leave me alone and do me service and I will be very grateful to you. Orthon responded promptly, approaching the baron and saying: Would you like that? Yes, replied the baron, but do no harm to anyone. Nobody, said Orthon, my only power is to wake you up and keep the others awake. Do as I say, said the baron, and we shall come to an agreement, and forget that naughty vicar, who bears no good, but pity on you; thus, be at my service. Since it is your wishes, said Orthon, it is also my wishes.

• My Lord, she said, I would see Orthon and I don’t want to see him, God willing.

• I want to see him, said the Lord. He then left his bed gracefully but saw nothing that would make him say: I saw Orthon. The day passed and the night came. When the Lord of Corasse was in bed again Orthon came and started speaking again, as usual.

• It was I, said Orthon; it was the form I took.

Report of a letter from Dr. Morhéry about several cures obtained by the medication prescribed by Ms. Désirée Godu.
Plessis-Boudet, near Loudéac, Côtes-du-Nord, April 25th, 1860

Dear Mr. Allan Kardec,

Today I want to do as I promised and report the cases of cured patients with the help of Ms. Godu. As you realize, I will not mention them all since it would take a long time. I made my choices not based on the seriousness but on the variety of their diseases. I avoided repeating cases or mentioning those of little importance. Please notice Sir that Ms. Godu has not wasted any time. Since her arrival in Plessis-Boudet we have visited more than 200 patients and have the satisfaction of curing almost all of those who were patient enough to follow the prescriptions. I don’t speak of the cancer patients since those are in good terms. I will wait for positive results before any pronunciation. We also have a large number of patients under treatment and gave preference to those considered incurable. Then, I expect to have new cure cases to report to you soon. It is particularly in the rheumatic affection cases, in the paralysis, sciatic, ulcers, bone deviations, and wounds of all kinds that her system of treatment seems to yield better results.

Yours sincerely,

Morhéry, doctor in medicine

Society, Paris, November 25th, 1859

The Journal de la Nievre reports: “A dismal accident occurred last Saturday at the train station. A sixty two year old man named Mr. Jardin was hit by the shafts of a carriage in the courtyard, as he was leaving the station. He exhaled his last breath a few hours later. That man’s death revealed one of the most extraordinary stories to which we would not have given any credit if were not supported by the trustworthy testimony of witnesses who attested to its authenticity. Here is what we were told:


Before his employment with the tobacco market in Nevers, Jardin lived in Cher, village of Saint-Germain-des-Bois, where he was a tailor. His wife had died in that village five years earlier, victimized by pneumonia. He then left the village of Saint-Germain and moved to Nevers eight years ago. A hard working and righteous man, Jardin was a devout Christian, strongly dedicated to religious practices; he had a kneeling bench in his bedroom that he used for his prayers. Friday night, alone with his daughter, he suddenly announced a secret premonition that his end was near.
• Listen, he told her, these are my last wishes: when I am dead you shall send the key to my kneeling bench to Mr. B… so that he can come and pick up whatever is inside and take to my coffin.


Surprised by this sudden recommendation, the daughter asked what could be found in the kneeling bench because she couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. He refused to respond in the beginning but as she insisted, he made the strange revelation that what was inside the kneeling bench was the remains of her late mother!


He told her that before leaving Saint-Germain-des-Bois he went to the cemetery at night. Everybody was asleep in the village; he was feeling really alone; he then went to the grave of his wife and with a shovel he excavated it until he found the remains of what had once been his companion. He would never be separated from her precious remains, thus he collected the bones and stored them in his kneeling bench.


The daughter, a little bit scared by the strange disclosure, but still suspicious that he could not be serious, she eventually promised to attend to his last wishes convinced that he wanted to make fun of her and that on the very next day he would give a logical explanation to his fantastic enigma. The following Saturday arrived and Jardin went to his office as usual. One hour later he was sent to the train station to pick up some bags of tobacco, destined to supply the market. He had just left the station when he was then hit straight in the chest, by the unnoticed shafts of a carriage that was parked among the heaps of other vehicles at the station parking area. He was knocked down by the violence of the impact and taken home unconscious. He recovered his senses after the application of some emergency care. The first responders wanted to remove his clothes to thoroughly examine the wounds but he strongly opposed; they insisted and he refused once again. Despite his refusal the responders decided to undress him when all at once, he suddenly subsided: he was dead.


The body was placed on a bed. What a surprise when those present removed his clothes to find a leather bag tied up around his chest, sitting on his heart. A doctor who was called in to attest the death cut the bag in two pieces, from which a dry hand fell!


Keeping in mind what her father had told her the day before, the daughter of Mr. Jardin advised Mr. B… and Mr. J… who were carpenters. The kneeling bench was opened and a schako (French military hat, round and tall) of the National Guard was found. On the bottom of the schako there was a dead person’s head, still with the hair in place; then they noticed the bones of a skeleton; it was the remains of Mrs. Jardin. Last Sunday Jardin’s body was taken to the grave. In order to attend the sexagenarian’s wishes, the remains of his wife were placed in his coffin and on top of his heart, the dry hand which had felt his heart beat for eight years, if we can say so.” 


1. Evocation – A. I am here.


2. Who has warned you that we wanted to talk to you? – A. I know nothing; I was attracted here.


3. Where were you when we called you? – A. Near a man that I like, accompanied by my wife.


4. How could you have had the premonition of your death? – A. I was warned by the one I missed so much. God had allowed it from her prayers.


5. Was your wife then was always near you? – A. She had never left.


6. Was the cause of her presence the remains preserved by you? – A. Not at all but I believed so.


7. Thus, had you not preserved her remains she would still be by your side? – A. Isn’t thought more powerful to attract the spirit than the remains which have no importance?


8. Have you immediately met your wife, at the time of your death? – A. It was her who came to receive me and to enlighten me.



9. Were you immediately aware of yourself? – A. In a short time, I had an intuitive faith in the immortality of the soul.


10. Your wife must have had other existences, prior to the last one. How could she have forgotten them to be entirely dedicated to you? – A. She stayed by my side as a guide in my corporeal existence, without the need to renounce her former affections. When we say that we never abandon an incarnated spirit you must understand that what we mean, is that we shall be closer to that spirit more frequently than the others. The speed of our movement allows for that as easily as a conversation that you may hold with several speakers.


11. Do you remember your previous existences? – A. Yes. In my last one I was a poor peasant, without education; prior to that, however, I was a sincere and devoted religious person.


12. Wouldn’t the extraordinary affection dedicated to your wife have its cause in former relationships of prior existences? – A. No.


13. Are you happy as a spirit? – A. One cannot be more, you must understand that.


14. Can you define your current happiness and tell us about its cause? – A. I should not have the need to tell you this: I loved and missed a dear spirit; I loved God; I was honest; I found what I missed. These are the elements of happiness to the spirit.


15. What do you do as a spirit? – A. When I was called here I told you that I was near a man that I liked. I was trying to inspire in him the desire for the good, as always do the spirits that God deems worthy. We also have other occupations that cannot be revealed yet.


16. We thank you for your kindness in attending our call. – A. I also thank you.

New York’s Library

The Courier from the United States reports: “A New York paper publishes a very curious fact already known by a certain number of people and about some very interesting comments that have been made for several days. The spiritualists see in that fact one more example of manifestations from the other world. Sensible people don’t go that far to find the explanation, and clearly acknowledge symptoms that characterize hallucination. That is also the opinion of Dr. Cogswell, hero of this adventure.


Dr. Cogswell is the chief librarian of the Astor Library. His dedication to the final stages of construction of a complete catalogue of the library has him using hours of work which should actually been dedicated to his sleep. That is how he has the occasion of visiting rooms alone where so many volumes sit on the shelves. About fifteen days ago, around eleven o’clock at night, he was passing by one side room full of books when he saw, with great surprise, a well-dressed man standing and apparently examining the titles of the books with great attention. In the beginning he thought it was a thief, he then backed up and carefully examined the intruder. His surprise became even livelier when he recognized the visitor as Dr. … who had lived near Lafayette-Place, who had died and was buried six months earlier. Dr. Cogswell does not believe much in apparitions and fears them even less. Nonetheless, he thought it to be appropriate to treat the ghost with consideration and raising his voice he said: - Doctor, how come you have perhaps never visited this library when alive and you come to visit it after your death? The ghost kindly looked at the librarian and disappeared without responding, leaving him still perplex in his contemplation.
• A singular hallucination, Dr. Cogswell said to himself. I might have eaten something spoiled over dinner.


He then returned to work and later went to bed and slept uneventfully. On the next day, at the same time, he felt like visiting the library again. He found the ghost at the same spot as the night before. He addressed him with the same words and got the same outcome.
• That is curious, he thought. I must come back tomorrow.


However, before returning, Dr. Cogswell examined the shelves that seemed to have the ghost’s attention and out of a singular coincidence he identified a large number of both old and new books about necromancy. Hence, the next day and a third time he meets the deceased doctor again, and now varying the question he said:
• It is the third time I meet you doctor. Tell me if any of these books trouble your resting so that I can have it removed from the collection.


The ghost did not respond as it had not on previous occasions but it disappeared definitely and the persistent librarian returned to the same place, at the same time on several occasions, not finding him ever again. Yet, advised by friends to whom he had told the story, as well as doctors who he had consulted with, he decided to take a break and travel to Charlestown where he spent a few weeks, before resuming the painstaking task that he had imposed upon himself and whose fatigue, no doubt, had caused the hallucination that we have just described.” 


Observation: A first observation about the article: the nonchalance with which the detractors of Spiritism attribute to themselves the monopoly of common sense. “The spiritualists, says the author, see in that fact one more example of manifestations from the other world. Sensible people don’t go that far to find the explanation, and clearly acknowledge symptoms which characterize hallucination.” Thus, according to this author, only people that think like him are sensible people; the others don’t have common sense, even if they are doctors, and Spiritism can count them to the thousands. Strange modesty, really, the one that uses the maxim: Nobody is right but only my friends and us.


We still wait for a clear and accurate definition, a physiological explanation of hallucination. However, in the absence of that, there is a meaning that is related to the word. In the mind of those who use that term it means illusion. Well, illusion means lack of reality. According to them it is a purely fantastic image produced by imagination, under some sort of overly excited cerebral. We don’t deny the fact that in certain cases it may well be so. What remains to be determined is if every event of that kind occurs under the same conditions. From the examination of the above case it seems that Dr. Cogswell was perfectly calm, as he declares himself, and that no moral or physiological cause had disturbed his mind. On another hand, and even admitting his temporary illusion, it is still necessary to explain how come such an illusion had lasted for so many days in a roll, at the same time of the day and in similar circumstances, since this is not the character of hallucination, per say. Had his brain been impressed by a given material cause on the first day, it is obvious that the cause had ceased after a few moments when the apparition vanished. How could such a material impression be identically reproduced over a period of three consecutive days, with 24-hour intervals? It is regrettable, the fact that the author disregarded this when providing explanations because, no doubt, he must have excellent reasons since he is part of the group of sensible people.


Nevertheless, we agree that in the case above there is no positive proof of reality and that, strictly speaking, we can admit that the same aberration of the senses could have repeated. However, would the same thing happen when the apparitions are followed by events of some sort of material nature? For example, when well alert people (and not in their dreams) see their absent relatives or friends, who they were not thinking of, coming to announce their passing to them, at the time of their death, can it be said to be a result of imagination?


If the fact of death was not real there would undeniably be an illusion; but when the event confirms the prediction, and that is very frequent, how is it possible that the only thing admitted is silly ghost stories? Besides, if it were an isolated or rare fact one could believe in a game of chance. However, as we have been saying, the examples are uncountable and perfectly confirmed. It is up to the “hallucinationists” to bring us an irrefutable explanation and we will then see if their reasons are more demonstrable than ours. In particular we would like to have them demonstrating to us, especially if they consider themselves the owners of common sense and do admit that we have a soul which outlives the body, we would like to have them demonstrating, we were saying, the material impossibility that the soul that must be somewhere, cannot be around us, seeing us, hearing and communicating with us.

Different Orders of Spirits
Private communication obtained by Mrs. D…, member of the Society, from her deceased husband.


Listen to me, dear friend, if you want me to tell you great things. Don’t you see the direction taken by certain events and the progress that the sacred works can achieve by that? Listen to the elevated spirits, but watch out and do not confuse them with those who try to impose themselves with a language that is more pretentious than profound. Do not mix your thoughts with theirs. Would it be admissible that the inhabitants of Earth could see things from the same standpoint as the spirits detached from matter and who are obedient to our Lord’s laws? Do not mix all spirits in the same group for they come from very different orders. The study of Spiritism teaches you, but on this side, how much you still have to learn! There is a multitude of individuals on Earth whose intelligences are not similar. Some among them are closer to the animals than to human beings, whereas there are others so much superior that one is tempted to say that they are closer to God, a kind of blasphemy which must be translated by the idea that they carry a spark from those celestial clarities, planted into their hearts by our Divine Master. Well then! Whatever is the diversity among all intelligences of the human race, be assured that such diversity is still infinitely greater among the spirits. There are spirits in such a level of inferiority that you cannot find any similar among people, however there are those sufficiently purified to get closer to God, contemplating God in all God’s glory. Submitted to God’s will, their only wish is to satisfy and please God. These are called upon to circulate around the globes or to stop over according to the conveniences for the execution of the great designs of the Creator, and to some God says: Go, reveal my power to these elemental beings whose intelligences can now understand it. To others God says: Travel around those worlds so that the superior beings that inhabit them, guided by your teachings, may add new greatness to the ones that have already been revealed to them. May all be instructed and learn since there will come a day when the clarities from above will no longer be shaded but will shine forever.
Your friend


The two messages below were obtained in a small and intimate circle in Luxemburg, sent to us by our colleague Mr. Solichon, who was present. We regret the fact that our activities have not allowed us yet to go to those meetings, to which we were kindly invited. We will be happy to be able to attend them since we know that they are presided by a feeling of true Christian charity and reciprocal benevolence.