History of the Marvelous(by Mr. Figuier)
II *
Talking about Mr. Louis Figuier, in our first article we tried to verify,
before all, what his point of view was and the basis of his argumentation,
and we demonstrated that in his own words that he denies any force
of extra-corporeal origin.
His premises must indicate his conclusions. His fourth volume in
which he should discuss the subject of turning tables and the mediums
had not been published yet and we waited to see if he would give to
those matters a more satisfactory explanation than that of Mr. Jobert (de
Lamballe).
We read it carefully concluding that there is clear evidence that the
author dealt with a subject that he absolutely does not know. We don’t
need an additional proof of that other that the two initial lines written
in the following terms: “Before touching the history of the turning tables
and the mediums, whose manifestations are entirely modern, etc…”
How can the author ignore that Tertullian explicitly talks about
the turning and speaking tables? How can he ignore that the Chinese
knew this phenomenon since immemorial times; that it is practiced by
the Tartarus and Siberians; that there are mediums among the Tibetans;that there were mediums among the Assyrians, Greeks and Egyptians;
that every fundamental principle of Spiritism is present in the Sanskrit
philosophies?
Hence, it is false to say that these manifestations are “entirely modern”.
Modern people have invented nothing about it and spiritists are supported
by ancient knowledge and in the universality of their Doctrine,
which should be known by Mr. Figuier, before having the pretension of
creating an “ex profeso” (deliberate) treaty about it. This has not precluded
his work from receiving a distinction from the press that has promptly
paid tribute to this champion of materialistic ideas.
A reflection is in order here whose reach will escape nobody. It is
said that nothing is more brutal than a fact. Well, here is one that has
a lot of value: it is the incredible progress of the spiritist ideas, to which
certainly no press, large or small, has given their contribution. When
it decided to speak of those poor ignorant individuals who think to
have a soul that is still in some relationship with the living beings after
death, this is an outrage! An outrage against them and to those sent
to the asylums, a bleak perspective to the general public that ignores
the subject.
Spiritism has not played the trumpet of publicity; it has not filled
up the newspapers with expensive ads. How can it be then that without
noise, without shining, without the support of those who turn themselves
into judges of the general opinion, how can it infiltrate into the masses
and according to the graceful expression of a critic whose name we don’t
remember, saying: after having infested the educated classes it now penetrates
the working classes?
Tell us then how come, without employing the normal means of
propaganda, the second edition of The Spirits’ Book has sold out in four
months. They say that people are enthusiastic about the most ridiculous
of things. That may be but people are excited about entertaining things
like a story, a romantic novel. Well then, The Spirits’ Book has no intention
of being amusing. Wouldn’t that be because public opinion finds in those
beliefs something that challenges criticism?
Mr. Figuier found the solution to the problem: it is, he says, the love
for the marvelous. And he is right. Let us use the word “marvelous” with
the meaning he gives it and we will agree. In his opinion, since nature is
only material, every phenomenon that is supernatural is marvelous. There
is no salvation outside matter. Consequently, the soul and everything else
that is attributed to the soul, its state after death, all that is marvelous.
Like him, let us call it marvelous. The remaining question is to determine
if such marvelous exists or not.
Mr. Figuier, who does not like the marvelous and admits in the story
of Bluebeard, it does not exist. However, if Mr. Figuier does not wish to
outlive his body; if he neglects his soul and his future life, not everybody
shares his taste and he does not need to displease others because of that.
There are a lot of people to whom the perspective of nothing is not attractive,
and who expect to find up there or somewhere, their father, mother,
sons and friends. Mr. Figuier does not appreciate those things. It is a matter
of taste and it should not be questioned.
The human being is instinctively horrified by the idea of death, and
we must agree that the desire to live on forever is very natural. One can
even say that it is a general weakness. Well, how can we outlive the body
if we don’t have that marvelous called soul? If we do have a soul it must
have some properties, since without properties it would not be something.
To certain people, unfortunately, these are not chemical properties and
one cannot hold it in a flask to keep it in the museums of anatomy, like
it is done with a skull. The Great Creator made a real mistake here for
not having made it tangible. It is likely that he did not know Mr. Figuier.
Nevertheless, it must be one out of two possibilities: that the soul, if
the soul does exist, lives or does not live after the death of the body; it is
something or nothing; there is no midterm. Does it live forever or just
for some time? If it is supposed to disappear at some point, it is the same
as disappearing immediately; a little bit sooner or a little bit later, and
yet man would not have advanced more. If it lives, it does something or
nothing. But how can one admit an intelligent being that does nothing,
and for the whole eternity? Without any activity future life would be very boring. By not admitting that something accessible to the senses may produce
any effect, Mr. Figuier is led, due to his starting point, to this conclusion
that every effect must have a material cause. That is why he places
in the domain of the marvelous, or out of pure imagination, its properties,
its effects and its acts from beyond the grave. The simple minded ones
who are foolish enough to want to survive death are naturally inclined to
everything that may satisfy their desires, confirming their hopes. That is
why they love the marvelous. Up until now hearing satisfied them: “Not
everything dies with the body; rest assured; take our word for that.” This
would be undoubtedly comforting but a small proof would not do it any
harm.
Well then, Spiritism comes to give them that proof with its phenomena,
and they gladly accept it. That is the whole secret of its speedy propagation.
In reality, Spiritism pumps up a hope with reality: the hope of
living, or even more, the hope of living happier. Meanwhile, you Mr.
Figuier, you struggle to demonstrate to them that all that, is nothing more
than an illusion; Spiritism gives encouragement while you abate. Do you
still believe that there is any doubt about the choice to be made?
The human being’s desire to revive after death is then the source of
his love for the marvelous, that is, for everything that links him to life
beyond the grave. If some people are seduced by sophisms were capable of
doubting the future, don’t you think that they have given a lot of thought
to that? No, because such an idea horrifies them and it is with that horror
that they probe the depths of the emptiness.
Spiritism sooths their inquietudes and dissipates their doubts. What
was vague, indecisive, and uncertain, takes a form and becomes a consoling
reality. That is why in a few years it has gone around the world, for
everybody wants to live and every person will always prefer the doctrines
that comfort him or her to those that frighten them.
Let us return to Mr. Figuier’s work and say for starters that his fourth
volume, dedicated to the turning tables and to mediums, has three quarters
full of stories that have nothing to do with the subject, so that the
principal part becomes the accessory in that work. Cagliostro and the issue of the necklace are there for an unknown reason; the electrified girl
and the sympathetic snails, all these things occupy thirteen out of the
eighteen chapters. It is true that those stories are treated with profusion
of details and erudition, which will make them read with interest, leaving
aside any spiritist opinion.
As his objective is to demonstrate the passion of the human being
for the marvelous, he seeks every story that has already been given a fair
value over time, struggling to demonstrate their absurdities, and to what
nobody objects.
He then exclaims: “There you have Spiritism annihilated!” Hearing
this, it is possible to believe that Cagliostro’s prowess and the tales of
Hoffmann are articles of faith to the spiritists, and that the sympathetic
snails have all their sympathies.
Mr. Figuier does not reject all facts, far from that. Contrary to other
critics, who systematically deny everything, since it is easier to dismiss
any explanation, he totally admits the turning tables and mediumship but
with wide margin to deception. The Fox sisters, for example, are notable
conjurers because ungallant American journalists derided them. He even
admits magnetism as a material agent, let us have it well understood;
the fascinating power of the will, of the eyes, somnambulism, catalepsy,
hypnotism, and all other phenomena of Biology. Be aware! He is going to
be taken by someone illuminated to the eyes of his companions. But he
is consistent with himself since he wants to reduce everything to the laws
of Physics and Physiology. It is true that he cites some authentic witnesses
and of the greatest respectability that support the spiritist phenomena, but
expands with satisfaction about every contrary opinion, particularly of the
scholars like Mr. Chevreul and others who sought proofs of the subject.
He thinks highly of the theory of the cracking muscle from Mr. Jobert
and his accomplices. His theory, like the magical lantern in the fable, fails
in a capital point: it gets lost in a warren of explanations that need other
explanations to be understood. Another defect is that at each step it is
contradicted by facts that he cannot explain and which he remains silent,
for a very simple reason: he doesn’t know them. He saw nothing or saw very little on his own. In short, he did not deepen anything “de visu”, with
the sagacity, patience and the independence of ideas of a conscious observer.
He was satisfied with reports more or less fantastic found in books
that are not well known for impartiality. He does not take into account
the progress made lately by science, since he takes it from its beginning,
in a period where science was still trial and error; when each one used to
bring a premature and uncertain opinion, and that it was still far from
knowing all facts, as if he wanted to assess contemporary Chemistry based
on what it was over Nicolas Flamel’s time. In our opinion, Mr. Figuier,
however wise he may be, he lacks the first quality of a critic: that of having
an in-depth knowledge about the discussed subject, an even more necessary
condition when one wants to explain the subject.
We will not follow him in all his arguments. We prefer to recommend
his work that spiritists may read without any danger to their convictions.
We will only cite the passage in which he explains his theory for
the turning tables that more or less summarizes the theory of every other
phenomenon:
“Then comes the theory that explains the movement of the turning
tables by the spirits. If the table turns after a quarter of an hour of
reverence and attention from the part of the experimenters, it is because,
they say, the spirits, good or bad, angels or demons, have gotten inside
the table, making it oscillate. Does the reader expect us to discuss such
hypothesis? We don’t think so. If we decided to prove, with great effort
of logical arguments that the devil does not enter into the furniture to
make it dance, we would also have to demonstrate that it is not the spirits
that, inserted in our bodies, make us act, speak, feel, etc. ** All these facts
are of the same kind, and someone that admits the intervention of the
devil to make a table turn must resort to the same supernatural influence
to explain actions resulting from our will and with the support of our organs. Nobody has ever seriously wanted to attribute the effects of human
will upon our organs, however mysterious may be the essence of that
phenomenon, to the action of an angel or a demon. It is, however, to that
consequence that those who want to connect the rotation of the tables to
a superhuman cause arrive.”
“Let us say that, to cut this discussion short, reason forbids reaching
out to a supernatural cause whenever there is a sufficient natural cause.
Can a natural, normal and physiological cause be evoked to explain the
movement of the tables? That is the whole question.”
“Here we are then to lead and lay down the arguments that seem to
explain the phenomenon studied in the latter part of the book.”
“The explanation of the facts of the turning tables, considered in
its simplest form, seem to come from those phenomena whose name
has changed up until now, but whose bottom line nature is identical,
and hence successively called hypnotism by Dr. Braid; biologism by Mr.
Philips and suggestion by Mr. Carpenter. Let us keep in mind that as a
consequence of the strong cerebral stress, resulting from the long lasting
contemplation of a given object, the brain falls into a particular state
which has successively received the names magnetic state, nervous sleep
and biological state, different names which designate certain variations of
a generally identical state.”
“Once arrived at that state, through the passes of a magnetizer, as
it is done since Mesmer, or by the contemplation of a shiny object, as
operated by Braid, later imitated by Mr. Philips, and how it is still operated
by the Arabic and Egyptian sorcerers; or finally simply through a
strong moral contention that we have provided more than one example,
the individual falls into that automatic passivity that constitutes the
nervous sleep. He looses the strength to drive and control his own will
and remains in the domain of a foreign will. A glass of water is presented
and he is told that it is a delicious drink, and he drinks thinking that
it is wine, liquor or milk, according to the wishes of the one that has
strongly taken his being over. Thus, denied of his own judgment, the
individual remains almost foreign to his own actions, and returning to his natural state he loses the memory of his actions during that strange
and transient withdrawal of himself. He is under the influence of suggestion,
accepting a constant idea, imposed by a strange will, he then
acts and is forced to act unwillingly, and consequently unconscious.”
“This system raises a great question of Psychology, because the individual
loses free-will when influenced in such a manner and no longer has
responsibility for his actions. He acts under the influence of intruding images
that obsess his brain, analogous to those visions that Cuvier proposes
is permanent in the sensorial of bees that represent the forms and proportions
of the cell, driven to be built by the instinct. The principle of the
suggestion explains perfectly the phenomena, so varied and sometimes so
replete with terrible hallucinations, and at the same time shows the short
interval that separates the hallucinated from the monomaniac. It will not
come as a surprise if in a large number of table turners hallucination survived
the experiences but converted into definitive madness.”
“The principle of suggestion under the influence of the nervous sleep
seems to provide us with the explanation of the phenomenon of the rotation
of the tables, considered in its simplest form. Let us consider now
what happens in the case of a group of people gathered for that kind of
experience. Those persons are attentive, worried, strongly moved by the
expectation of the phenomenon that is about to be produced. A strong
concentration, a total spiritual reverence is recommended to them. As
the wait drags on and the moral contention retains for a long time, their
brains experience fatigue and the thoughts are slightest altered. When we
took part in the experiences of Mr. Philips in the winter 1860; when we
saw the ten or twelve person to whom he entrusted a metallic disc, with
the request that the person should have their eyes fixated on the disc,
placed on the palm of their hands for half-hour, we could not avoid seeing
in those activities everything that is needed for the manifestation of the
so called hypnotic state, the same image portrayed by those who form the
so called chain of thoughts in order to make the tables turn. In one as in
the other there is a strong concentration of the mind, a single idea that
is strongly sought for a considerable amount of time. The human brain cannot withstand the excessive pressure for a long period, producing an
abnormal accumulation of nerve impulses. From the ten or twelve people
dedicated to the experiment the majority gave up, forced to quit by their
nervous fatigue. It is only one or two that persevere, tied to the hypnotic
or biological state, then giving rise to the multiple phenomena that we
have discussed all along in this book when we discussed hypnotism and
the biological state.”
“In such a meeting when people remain focused for twenty or thirty
minutes, forming a chain, hands stretched out on the table, without the
freedom of getting distracted from the operation for any instant, the majority
does not feel any particular effect. However, it is very difficult that
at least one of them would not fall prey of a hypnotic or biological state
for some time. Such state does not need to last more than a second for the
expected phenomenon to take place. The element of the chain that falls
into that nervous half-sleep unconsciously produces the effect of turning
the furniture, without any other thought but the fixed idea of doing
it. A considerable muscular strength may develop at that point and the
table moves. Given such impulse realized by the unconscious act, there
is nothing left to be done. Hence, temporarily bio-energized, the individual
may return to his normal state because as soon as the mechanical
movement begins all components of the chain stand up and follow its
path, or on other words, make the table march, thinking that they just
follow it. As for the individual, involuntary and unconscious cause of the
phenomenon, since he keeps no memory of his actions carried out in that
nervous-sleep state, totally ignores his deeds and becomes outraged when
accused of having pushed the table. He even suspects that the other members
are kidding him, with a tasteless joke, given their accusation. Hence,
the occurrence of frequent discussions and even serious squabbles that
passes the time which the turning tables have caused.”
“This is the explanation that we consider appropriate for the
turning tables, in its simplest mode. As for the motion of the table
responding to questions, the feet, which lift up under command, responding
by the number of hits, the same system is applicable if we admit that among the members of the chain there is one that can keep
the nervous sleep for longer periods. Such individual, unwillingly hypnotized,
responds to questions and obeys orders addressed to him, inclining
the table or making it lift up and hit back the floor, according
to the request. Returning to the normal state it will all be forgotten
like any other hypnotized individual would lose memory of their actions
during that state. The person who is unconsciously taken to that
role is a kind of sleepy-awaken; is not absolutely sui compos (legally
competent state); it is in a mental state which is part of somnambulism
and fascination. The person does not sleep; they are enchanted or fascinated
given the imposed strong moral concentration: that person is a
medium. Since the latter is of superior order compared to the former, it
cannot be obtained in all groups. In order to have the table responding
to the framed questions by lifting one of its feet and hitting the floor,
it is necessary that the individuals who are used in the process have
practiced the phenomenon of the turning table a number of times, and
that there is one among them susceptible to fall onto that state, falling
faster with practice and may remain in that state longer: in short, an
experienced medium is required.”
“However, some will say that twenty minutes or half hour is not always
needed to obtain the phenomenon of rotation of a “guéridon” or a
regular table. Several times the table starts to turn after four or five minutes.
We respond to this observation by saying that when a magnetizer
works with his usual sensitive or with a professional somnambulist, he
leads the subject into the somnambulistic state in a couple of minutes,
without passes or devices and by a simple stare. Then, it is the habit that
makes the phenomenon easier and faster. Trained mediums can also
reach that nervous-half-sleep that induces the rotation of the table or
any other movement, according to the request.”
We don’t know how Mr. Figuier would apply his theory to the movements,
to the noises that are heard, to the motion of objects, without
any contact of the medium, without the participation of their will, even
against their will. But there are other things that he does not explain. As a
matter of fact, even accepting his theory we would have an extraordinary
physiological phenomenon, worthy of receiving the attention of the scholars.
Why have they neglected it then?
Mr. Figuier finishes his Dissertation of the Marvelous providing
short instructions about The Spirits’ Book. He judges it from his point of
view, naturally; “the philosophy, he said, is outdated and the moral part
is sleep-inducing.” I would undoubtedly rather have a mocking and lively
moral. What can one do? It is a moral to be used by the soul; as a matter
of fact, it would always have an advantage: make people sleep. It is a recipe
in case of insomnia.”
_____________________________________________
* See the September 1860 issue of The Review
** It is not the spirits that make us act and think but one single spirit that is our soul.
Denying the spirit is the same as denying the soul; denying the soul is the same as proclaiming
pure materialism. Mr. Figuier apparently thinks that everybody else thinks like him and
believes that they don’t have an immortal soul or he believes that he is everybody else.
