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Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1866 > December > Varieties > Ms. Dumesnil, attractive young girl
Ms. Dumesnil, attractive young girl
Several newspapers have talked about of a young girl endowed with the singular faculty of attracting furniture, and other objects placed within a certain distance from her, and of lifting, by the simple contact, a chair on which a person is seated. The Petit Journal of November 4th contained the following article on this subject:
“Dinan's white magpie is no more surprising, as a phenomenon, than the magnetic young woman indicated in the following correspondence.
“Sir,
I come to point out to you a fact that could be of great interest to your readers; if you wanted to take the burden of checking it, you would find ample material for many articles.
A young girl, Ms. Dumesnil, aged thirteen, possesses a fluid of extraordinary attractive force, that brings all wooden objects around her to her; thus, the chairs, the tables and all that is made of wood instantaneously come towards her; this faculty was revealed in this young girl about three weeks ago; until now this extraordinary phenomenon, and that we have not yet been able to explain, has only manifested itself to people around this young girl, the neighbors, etc., who have noticed the fact for some days; the surprising faculty of this young girl has spread and I was told that she is in the process of dealing with an entrepreneur that intends to show this phenomenon publicly.
As of yesterday, she contacted a great personage to whom she had been pointed out; publicity will soon take over this event, and I hasten to warn you so that you have the upper hand. This young girl works as a burnisher and lives with her parents, that are poor people.
In hopes that you will explain this inexplicable mystery to us, please receive my sincere greetings.
Brunet, employee, Christofle House, Rue de Bondy 56.”
“I do not know any more than you do, my dear correspondent, in matters of magnetic science, and I regard as a simple curiosity your charmer of oak, beech and mahogany, that I advise not to burn this winter in the fireplace ... only charcoal ... ".
This is certainly a strange phenomenon, well worthy of attention, and that must have a cause. If demonstrated that it is not the result of any trick, that is easy to verify, and if the known laws are powerless to explain it, it is obvious that it reveals the existence of a new force; the discovery of a new principle can lead to fruitful results. What is, at least as surprising as this phenomenon, is to see men of intelligence having only contemptuous indifference and bad taste mockery for such facts. However, there was no question of Spirits or Spiritism.
What belief can be expected from people that have none, who seek none and desire none? What serious study can we hope for? Isn't it a waste of time to try to convince them, to unnecessarily use the forces that one could better use with people of good will, who are not lacking? We have always said it: With biased people, who don't want to see or hear, the best thing to do is to leave them alone and prove to them that we have no need for them. If anything is to succeed over their disbelief, the Spirits will know how to find it, and employ it when the time is right.
Coming back to the young girl, her parents, who are in a precarious position, seeing the sensation she produced and the interest of notable people that she attracted, they said to themselves that there was in it, undoubtedly, a source of fortune for them. We should not blame them, because, ignoring even the name of Spiritism and mediums, they could not understand the consequences of an exploitation of such a kind. Their daughter was a phenomenon for them; they, therefore, resolved to release it on the boulevards, among the other phenomena. They did better; it was taken to the Grand-Hôtel, a more suitable place for the productive aristocracy. But, unfortunately, the golden dreams vanished soon!
The phenomena only occurred at rare intervals and in such an irregular manner that it was necessary to abandon the splendid production almost immediately and return to the studio. So, put on display such a capricious ability, that is lacking just when the spectators, who have paid for their seats, are gathered, and wait to be given for their money! As a matter of fact, it is better, for speculation, to have a child with two heads, because at least he is always there. What to do if they don't have strings to replace the invisible actors? The most honorable act is to retire. It appears, however, from a letter published in a newspaper, that the young girl has not entirely lost her power, but that it is subject to such intermittences that it becomes difficult to seize the favorable moment.
One of our friends, an enlightened Spiritist and a profound observer, was able to witness the phenomenon, and was poorly satisfied with the result. “I believe,” he told us, “in the sincerity of these people, but for unbelievers, the effect is not occurring, at this moment, in conditions that defy all suspicion. Knowing that the thing is possible, I do not deny; I attest my impressions. Since I caught the so-called physical effects mediums in the act of fraud, I realized the maneuvers by which one can simulate certain effects, and abuse people who do not know the conditions of the real effects, so that I only assert with good knowledge of cause, not trusting eyes. In the interest of Spiritism itself, my first care is to examine whether fraud is possible, helped by skills, or whether the effect may be due to a vulgar material cause. Besides, he added, one defends oneself here from being a Spiritist, to act by the Spirits and even to believe in them."
It should be noted that since the misadventure of the Davenport brothers, all exhibitors of extraordinary phenomena reject any participation of the Spirits in their affairs, and they are doing well; Spiritism can only gain by not being involved in these displays. It is one more service rendered by these gentlemen, because it is not by such means that Spiritism will recruit proselytes.
Another observation is that whenever it is a question of some spontaneous manifestation, or of some phenomenon attributed to an occult cause, they generally hire, as experts, people, sometimes scientists, that do not know the basics of what they must observe, and that come with a preconceived idea of denial. Who is in control of deciding whether there is intervention of the Spirits, or a spiritual cause?
Precisely people who deny spirituality, who don't believe in Spirits and don't want them to exist. Their answer is known a priori. They avoid taking the advice of anyone who is simply suspected of believing in Spiritism, because, first, that would be to accredit the thing, and second, that they would fear a solution contrary to the one they want. They do not think that an enlightened Spiritist alone is able to judge the circumstances in which Spiritist phenomena can occur, as a chemist alone is able to know the composition of a body, and that, in this respect, the Spiritists are more skeptic than a lot of people; that far from accrediting an apocryphal phenomenon, out of complacency, they have every interest in signaling it as such, and in unmasking the fraud.
However, a teaching emerges from this: the very irregularity of the events is a proof of sincerity; if they were the result of some artificial means, they would come at the right time. This is the reflection made by a journalist that was invited to go to the Grand-Hotel; there were a few other notable guests that day, and, despite the two hours of waiting, the young girl did not produce the slightest effect. “The poor girl,” said the journalist, “was sorry, and her face betrayed concern. Rest assured, he said, not only does this failure not discourage me, but it leads me to believe your sincere story. If there was any quackery or something in your case, you wouldn't have missed your point. I will come back tomorrow.
He returned, in fact, five times in a row without further results; the sixth time she had left the hotel. "From which I conclude," adds the journalist, "that poor Ms. Dumesnil, after having built beautiful castles at the expense of her electromagnetic virtues, had to resume her place in the polishing workshops of Mr. Ruolz.”
The facts having been established, it is certain that there was a special organic disposition in her, that lent itself to this kind of phenomenon; but, all subterfuge aside, it is certain that if her faculty had depended on her organism alone, she would have had it always at her disposal, as it happens to the electric fish. Since her will, her most ardent desire, were powerless to produce the phenomenon, there was, therefore, in this event, a cause which was foreign to her. What is this cause? Obviously, the one that governs all the mediumistic effects: the assistance of the Spirits, without whom the best endowed mediums obtain nothing. Ms. Dumesnil is an example that they are not at the orders of anyone. Ephemeral as her faculty may have been, she has done more for the conviction of certain people than if she had performed on days and times set at her command, before the public, like in conjuring tricks.
Nothing, it is true, ostensibly attests to the intervention of the Spirits in this circumstance, for there are no intelligent effects, if it is not the helplessness of this young girl to act at will. The faculty, as in all mediumistic effects, is inherent to her; the exercise of the faculty can depend on a foreign will. But, even admitting that the Spirits have nothing to do with that, it is, nonetheless, a phenomenon intended to draw attention to the fluidic forces that govern our organism, and that so many people persist in denying.
If this force were purely electric here, it would however denote an important modification in electricity since it acts on wood, to the exclusion of metals. That alone would be well worth studying.
“Dinan's white magpie is no more surprising, as a phenomenon, than the magnetic young woman indicated in the following correspondence.
“Sir,
I come to point out to you a fact that could be of great interest to your readers; if you wanted to take the burden of checking it, you would find ample material for many articles.
A young girl, Ms. Dumesnil, aged thirteen, possesses a fluid of extraordinary attractive force, that brings all wooden objects around her to her; thus, the chairs, the tables and all that is made of wood instantaneously come towards her; this faculty was revealed in this young girl about three weeks ago; until now this extraordinary phenomenon, and that we have not yet been able to explain, has only manifested itself to people around this young girl, the neighbors, etc., who have noticed the fact for some days; the surprising faculty of this young girl has spread and I was told that she is in the process of dealing with an entrepreneur that intends to show this phenomenon publicly.
As of yesterday, she contacted a great personage to whom she had been pointed out; publicity will soon take over this event, and I hasten to warn you so that you have the upper hand. This young girl works as a burnisher and lives with her parents, that are poor people.
In hopes that you will explain this inexplicable mystery to us, please receive my sincere greetings.
Brunet, employee, Christofle House, Rue de Bondy 56.”
“I do not know any more than you do, my dear correspondent, in matters of magnetic science, and I regard as a simple curiosity your charmer of oak, beech and mahogany, that I advise not to burn this winter in the fireplace ... only charcoal ... ".
This is certainly a strange phenomenon, well worthy of attention, and that must have a cause. If demonstrated that it is not the result of any trick, that is easy to verify, and if the known laws are powerless to explain it, it is obvious that it reveals the existence of a new force; the discovery of a new principle can lead to fruitful results. What is, at least as surprising as this phenomenon, is to see men of intelligence having only contemptuous indifference and bad taste mockery for such facts. However, there was no question of Spirits or Spiritism.
What belief can be expected from people that have none, who seek none and desire none? What serious study can we hope for? Isn't it a waste of time to try to convince them, to unnecessarily use the forces that one could better use with people of good will, who are not lacking? We have always said it: With biased people, who don't want to see or hear, the best thing to do is to leave them alone and prove to them that we have no need for them. If anything is to succeed over their disbelief, the Spirits will know how to find it, and employ it when the time is right.
Coming back to the young girl, her parents, who are in a precarious position, seeing the sensation she produced and the interest of notable people that she attracted, they said to themselves that there was in it, undoubtedly, a source of fortune for them. We should not blame them, because, ignoring even the name of Spiritism and mediums, they could not understand the consequences of an exploitation of such a kind. Their daughter was a phenomenon for them; they, therefore, resolved to release it on the boulevards, among the other phenomena. They did better; it was taken to the Grand-Hôtel, a more suitable place for the productive aristocracy. But, unfortunately, the golden dreams vanished soon!
The phenomena only occurred at rare intervals and in such an irregular manner that it was necessary to abandon the splendid production almost immediately and return to the studio. So, put on display such a capricious ability, that is lacking just when the spectators, who have paid for their seats, are gathered, and wait to be given for their money! As a matter of fact, it is better, for speculation, to have a child with two heads, because at least he is always there. What to do if they don't have strings to replace the invisible actors? The most honorable act is to retire. It appears, however, from a letter published in a newspaper, that the young girl has not entirely lost her power, but that it is subject to such intermittences that it becomes difficult to seize the favorable moment.
One of our friends, an enlightened Spiritist and a profound observer, was able to witness the phenomenon, and was poorly satisfied with the result. “I believe,” he told us, “in the sincerity of these people, but for unbelievers, the effect is not occurring, at this moment, in conditions that defy all suspicion. Knowing that the thing is possible, I do not deny; I attest my impressions. Since I caught the so-called physical effects mediums in the act of fraud, I realized the maneuvers by which one can simulate certain effects, and abuse people who do not know the conditions of the real effects, so that I only assert with good knowledge of cause, not trusting eyes. In the interest of Spiritism itself, my first care is to examine whether fraud is possible, helped by skills, or whether the effect may be due to a vulgar material cause. Besides, he added, one defends oneself here from being a Spiritist, to act by the Spirits and even to believe in them."
It should be noted that since the misadventure of the Davenport brothers, all exhibitors of extraordinary phenomena reject any participation of the Spirits in their affairs, and they are doing well; Spiritism can only gain by not being involved in these displays. It is one more service rendered by these gentlemen, because it is not by such means that Spiritism will recruit proselytes.
Another observation is that whenever it is a question of some spontaneous manifestation, or of some phenomenon attributed to an occult cause, they generally hire, as experts, people, sometimes scientists, that do not know the basics of what they must observe, and that come with a preconceived idea of denial. Who is in control of deciding whether there is intervention of the Spirits, or a spiritual cause?
Precisely people who deny spirituality, who don't believe in Spirits and don't want them to exist. Their answer is known a priori. They avoid taking the advice of anyone who is simply suspected of believing in Spiritism, because, first, that would be to accredit the thing, and second, that they would fear a solution contrary to the one they want. They do not think that an enlightened Spiritist alone is able to judge the circumstances in which Spiritist phenomena can occur, as a chemist alone is able to know the composition of a body, and that, in this respect, the Spiritists are more skeptic than a lot of people; that far from accrediting an apocryphal phenomenon, out of complacency, they have every interest in signaling it as such, and in unmasking the fraud.
However, a teaching emerges from this: the very irregularity of the events is a proof of sincerity; if they were the result of some artificial means, they would come at the right time. This is the reflection made by a journalist that was invited to go to the Grand-Hotel; there were a few other notable guests that day, and, despite the two hours of waiting, the young girl did not produce the slightest effect. “The poor girl,” said the journalist, “was sorry, and her face betrayed concern. Rest assured, he said, not only does this failure not discourage me, but it leads me to believe your sincere story. If there was any quackery or something in your case, you wouldn't have missed your point. I will come back tomorrow.
He returned, in fact, five times in a row without further results; the sixth time she had left the hotel. "From which I conclude," adds the journalist, "that poor Ms. Dumesnil, after having built beautiful castles at the expense of her electromagnetic virtues, had to resume her place in the polishing workshops of Mr. Ruolz.”
The facts having been established, it is certain that there was a special organic disposition in her, that lent itself to this kind of phenomenon; but, all subterfuge aside, it is certain that if her faculty had depended on her organism alone, she would have had it always at her disposal, as it happens to the electric fish. Since her will, her most ardent desire, were powerless to produce the phenomenon, there was, therefore, in this event, a cause which was foreign to her. What is this cause? Obviously, the one that governs all the mediumistic effects: the assistance of the Spirits, without whom the best endowed mediums obtain nothing. Ms. Dumesnil is an example that they are not at the orders of anyone. Ephemeral as her faculty may have been, she has done more for the conviction of certain people than if she had performed on days and times set at her command, before the public, like in conjuring tricks.
Nothing, it is true, ostensibly attests to the intervention of the Spirits in this circumstance, for there are no intelligent effects, if it is not the helplessness of this young girl to act at will. The faculty, as in all mediumistic effects, is inherent to her; the exercise of the faculty can depend on a foreign will. But, even admitting that the Spirits have nothing to do with that, it is, nonetheless, a phenomenon intended to draw attention to the fluidic forces that govern our organism, and that so many people persist in denying.
If this force were purely electric here, it would however denote an important modification in electricity since it acts on wood, to the exclusion of metals. That alone would be well worth studying.