In the opinion of Gasparin, these unexplained movements are produced by a _fluid_, emanating from us under the action of our will.
Professor Thury thinks that this fluid, which he calls _psychode_, is a substance which forms a link between the soul and the body; but there may also exist certain wills external to ourselves, and of unknown nature, working side by side with us.
The chemist Crookes attributes the phenomena to psychic force, this being the agent by which the phenomena are produced; but he adds that this force may well be, in certain cases, seized upon and directed by some other intelligence. "The difference between the partisans of psychic force and those of Spiritualism," he writes, "consists in this: we maintain that it is not yet _proved_ that there exists a directing agent other than the intelligence of the medium and that presence and actions of the spirits of the dead are felt in the phenomena, while, on the contrary, the Spiritualists accept as an article of faith, without demanding more proofs thereof, that these spirits are the sole agents in the production of the observed facts."
Albert de Rochas defines these phenomena as "_an externalization of motivity_," and considers them to be produced by the fluidic double, "the astral body" of the medium, a nerve-fluid able to act and perceive at a distance.
Lombroso declares that the explanation must be sought simply in the nervous system of the medium, and that we have in the phenomena _transformation of forces_.
Dr. Ochorowicz affirms that he has not found proofs in favor of the Spiritualistic hypothesis, any more than he has in favor of the intervention of external intelligences, and that the cause of the phenomena is a _fluidic double_ detaching itself from the organism of the medium.
The astronomer Porro is inclined to admit the possible action of unknown spirits, of living forms different from our own, not necessarily the souls of the dead, but psychical ent.i.ties to be studied. In a recent letter he wrote me that the theosophic doctrine appeared to him to approach the nearest to a solution.[82]
Prof. Charles Richet thinks that the Spiritualistic hypothesis is far from being demonstrated, that the observed facts relate to an entirely different order of causes, as yet very difficult to disentangle and that in the present state of our knowledge no final conclusion can be agreed on.
The naturalist Wallace, Professor Morgan, and the electrician Varley declare, on the other hand, that sufficient proof has been given them to warrant them in accepting without reserve the Spiritualistic doctrine of disembodied souls.
Prof. James H. Hyslop, of the University of Columbia, who has made a special study of these phenomena, in the Proceedings of the London Society for Psychical Research, and in his works _Science and a Future Life_ and _Enigmas of Psychical Research_, thinks that there are not yet enough severely critical verifications to warrant any theory.
Dr. Gra.s.set, a disciple of Pierre Janet, does not admit displacement of objects, or levitation, or the greater part of the facts described in this book as proved, and thinks what is called Spiritualism is a question of medical biology, of "the physiopathology of the nervous centres," in which a celebrated cerebral polygon with a musical conductor named O, plays an automatic role of a very curious description.
Dr. Maxwell concludes from his observations that the greater part of the phenomena, the reality of which cannot be doubted, are produced by a force existing in us, that this force is intelligent, and that the intelligence manifested comes from the experimenters. This would be a kind of collective consciousness.
M. Marcel Mangin does not adopt this "collective consciousness," and declares that it is certain that the being, in the seances, who a.s.serts that he is a manifestation is "the sub-consciousness of the medium."
The foregoing are some of the princ.i.p.al opinions. It would take a whole book to discuss in writing the proposed explanations, but that is not my object. My aim was to focus the question on what concerns THE ADMISSIBILITY OF THE PHENOMENA INTO THE SPHERE OF POSITIVE SCIENCE.
However, now that this is done, we cannot but ask ourselves, what conclusions may be drawn from all these observations.
If we wish to obtain, after this ma.s.s of verifications, a satisfactory rational explanation, it seems to me we must proceed gradually, cla.s.sify the facts, a.n.a.lyze them, and only admit them in proportion to their absolute and demonstrated certainty. We live in a very complex universe, and the most singular confusion has arisen among phenomena which are very distinct one from another.
As I said in 1869, at the tomb of Allan Kardec, "The causes in action are of several kinds, and are more numerous than one would suppose."
Can we explain the observed phenomena, or at least any portion of it? It is our duty to try. For this purpose I shall cla.s.sify them in the order of increasing difficulties. It is always advisable to begin with the beginning.
May I hope that the reader will have got a clear idea in his mind of the experiments and observations set forth in the previous pages of this work?
It would be a little insipid to refer every time to the pages where the phenomena have been described.
1. ROTATION OF THE TABLE, _with contact of the hands of a certain number of operators_.
This rotation can be explained by an unconscious impulse given to the table. All that is necessary is that each one push a little in the same way, and the movement will take place.
2. MOVEMENT OF THE TABLE, _the hands of the experimenters resting upon it_.
The operators push and the table is led along without their knowing it, each one acting in a greater or less degree. They think they are following it, but they are really leading it along. We have in this only the result of muscular efforts, generally of a rather slight nature.
3. LIFTING OF THE TABLE _on the side opposite to that upon which the hands of the princ.i.p.al actor are placed_.
Nothing is more simple. The pressure of the hands upon a centre-table with three legs suffices to produce the lifting of the leg the farthest removed, and thus to strike all the letters of the alphabet.
The movement is less easy in the case of a table with four legs; but it can also be obtained.
These three movements are the only ones, it seems to me, which can be explained without the least mystery. Still, the third is only explicable in case the table is not too heavy.
4. IMPARTING LIFE TO THE TABLE.
Several experimenters being seated around the table, and forming the chain with the desire of seeing it rise, the waves of a kind of vibrations (light at first) are perceived to be pa.s.sing through the wood. Then balancings are noticed, some of which may be due to muscular impulses. But already something more is now mingled in the process. The table seems to be set in motion of itself. Sometimes it rises, no longer as if moved by a lever, or by pressure on one side, but _under the hands_, as if it were sticking to them. This levitation is contrary to the law of gravitation. Hence we have here a discharge of force. This force emanates from our organism. There is no sufficient reason to seek for anything else. Nevertheless, what we have detected is a thing of prime importance.
5. ROTATION WITHOUT CONTACT.
The table being in rapid rotation, we can remove our hands from it, and see it continue the movement. The velocity or momentum acquired may explain the momentary continuation of this movement and the explanation given in the case of No. 1 may suffice. But there is more in it than this. Rotation is obtained by holding the hands at a distance of some inches above the table, without any contact. A light layer of flour dusted over the table is found to be untouched by a single finger. Hence the force emitted by the operators must penetrate the table.
The experiments prove that we have in us a force capable of acting at a distance upon matter, a natural force, generally latent, but developed in different degrees in different mediums. The action of the force is manifested under conditions as yet imperfectly determined.
(See pp. 81, 248 _et seq._) We can act upon brute matter, upon living matter, upon the brain and upon the mind. This action of the will is shown in telepathy. It is shown more simply still by means of a well-known experiment: at the theatre, in church, when hearing music, a man accustomed to the exercise of will-power, and sitting several rows of seats behind a woman, say, compels her to turn around in less than a minute. A force emanates from us, from our spirit, acting undoubtedly by means of etherwaves, the point of departure of which is a cerebral movement.
And there is nothing very mysterious in this. I bring my hand near a thermometer, and ascertain that something invisible is escaping from my hand, and, at a certain remove, making the column of mercury rise.
This something else is heat; that is to say, aerial waves in movement.
Then why might not other radiations emanate from our hands and from our whole being?
But, nevertheless, there is a very important scientific fact to be established.
This physical force is greater than that of the muscles, as I am going to prove.
6. LIFTING OF WEIGHTS.
A table is loaded with sacks of sand and with stones weighing altogether from 165 to 176 pounds. The table lifts each of its three legs several times in succession. But it succ.u.mbs under the load and is broken. The operators ascertain that their muscular force would not have sufficed to produce the observed movements. The will acts by a dynamic prolongation.
7. LIFTINGS WITHOUT CONTACT.
The hands forming the chain some inches above the side of the table which is to be lifted, and all wills being concentrated on the one idea, the lifting of each of the legs in succession takes place. The liftings are more readily obtained than rotations without contact. An energetic will seems to be indispensable. The unknown force pa.s.ses from the experimenters to the table without any contact. If the table is dusted over with flour, as I said, not the slightest finger-touch is seen to be imprinted on it.
The will of the sitters is in play. The table is ordered to make such and such a movement and it obeys. This will seems to be prolonged beyond the bodies of the operating experimenters in the shape of a force that is quite intense.
This power is developed by action. The balancings prepare for the rising and the latter for complete levitation.
8. REDUCING THE WEIGHT OF THE TABLE OR OTHER OBJECTS.
A quadrangular table is suspended by one of its sides to a dynamometer attached to a cord which is held above by some kind of a hook. The needle of the dynamometer, which, in a state of rest, indicates 35 kilograms, gradually descends to 3, 2, 1, 0 kilograms.
A mahogany board is placed horizontally, and hung by one end to a spring balance. This balance (or scales), has a point which touches a pane of gla.s.s blackened by smoke. When this pane of gla.s.s is put in movement, the needle traces a horizontal line. During the experiments, this line is no longer straight, but marks reductions and increments of weight, produced without any contact of hands. In the experiments of Crookes we saw that the weight of a board increased almost 1-1/4 pounds.
The medium places his hands _upon_ the back of a chair and lifts the chair.