CorrespondenceLetter from Mr.
Mathieu about the
Mediumship of Birds
“Paris, August 11th, 1861
Dear Sir,
It is me again writing to you with your permission to pay
another tribute to the truth.
It was only today that I read in the latest issue of your Review
your excellent observation about the alleged mediumship of birds
and I am fast to thank you for the service that you have done
to a cause defended by both of us. Several exhibitions of wonderful
birds have taken place over the last few years, and since I
knew the principal tricks employed to get the desired results out
of those flying creatures I was sad to hear certain spiritualists or
spiritists attributing those feats to a mediumistic action, certainly
provoking hidden smiles on the lips of the birds owners. There is
something, however, that those owners are in no hurry to belie
and I come to do so in their place since you give me the occasion;
I don’t do so to harm their business, I am not angry, but to prevent a deplorable confusion between the effects that ingenious
patience and some skilled hands, produced on these birds versus
the intervention produced by the spirits on us.
You are perfectly right when you say: ‘Those birds do things
that not even the most intelligent person, not even the most lucid somnambulist
could do, from what one must conclude that their intelligence
is superior to human’s, something that is contrary to the laws
of nature.’ Your consideration should have caught the attention
of some very enthusiastic persons who are not afraid of reaching
out to mediumship to explain things that they cannot explain at
first sight. However, judicious and coldblooded observers are still
very rare and among the honest people who follow our studies
there are those that cannot always defend themselves against the
overexcitement of imagination and the dangers of illusion. Well,
do you want me to tell you what I learned about those wonderful
birds that we had the occasion of observing together one evening,
if you remember?
One of my friends, attracted to any curiosity that shows up,
one day showed me a long wooden shelf where there were a large
number of small cards, placed side by side. The cards contained
words, numbers, images of card games, etc. He told me that he
had acquired them from a man that held shows with smart birds
which had also sold him their method of utilization. He then
showed me that certain cards had the superior and inferior borders
constructed differently, some solid and others formed by two
sheets, yielding an almost imperceptible slit between the two, invisible
at a distance. He then said that the cards should be placed
on the shelf sometimes with the slid pointing upwards, sometimes
downwards according to the desire to have them removed from
the shelf with their beaks or not touched by them at all. The bird
was previously taught to pull every card that had a slit showing
upwards. It seems that the preliminary lessons were given with
tiny grains of corn or any other treat placed inside the slit. The
bird ended up by learning that when there was a slit it should be
touched, even retrieved, walking backwards.
There you have, Sir, the ingenious trick that my friend taught
me. I am led to believe that a similar deception is used by all others
who exploit the business of smart birds. All they have to do is
to train the birds with a lot of patience and creating hunger on
the birds’ side of course. They must also learn to hide their tricks
with their accomplices or through skillful conjuring in handling
the cards and the accessories that are used in their experiments.
I am sorry to reveal the most important of their secrets.
Nonetheless, the public will not enjoy less the smart birds regardless
of the impossibility of the things they produce. On the other
hand, I could not let people accept the opinion that leads to not
less than the desecration of our studies. Given such a sacred interest
I believe that my silence would be an exaggerated scruple. In
case you agree Sir, please share this letter with your readers.
Yours sincerely, etc.
Mathieu”
There is no doubt that we agree with Mr. Mathieu and I am glad for
sharing the same ideas about this issue. We thank him for the details
that he kindly sent us and whose reading will certainly satisfy our readers.
Spiritism is very rich of remarkable and authentic facts, not admitting
those that touch the marvelous or impossible. It is only a very serious
and deep study of this Science that can put the most doubtful persons on
guard because that study gives them the key to the phenomena and shows
them the boundaries within which they can be produced.
We said that if the birds operated their prodigies with knowledge
and through their own intelligence then they would be doing what the
most intelligent person cannot do or the most lucid somnambulist. This
reminds us of the renowned Munito that we saw 25 or 30 years ago to
beat his card game partner, adding up his totals before we could start
the calculation. Without any vanity we have stronger skills in Arithmetic than that dog. They certainly used prepared cards in that game like in
the case of the birds. As for the somnambulists, there is no doubt that
some are lucid enough to produce effects as remarkable as those of the
animals, a fact that does not invalidate our proposition. It is well known
that lucid somnambulism, even the most developed, is essentially variable
and intermittent by default; that it is subordinated to a number of circumstances,
particularly the influence of the environment; that very rarely the
somnambulist can see instantaneously; that it is frequently the case when
the somnambulist does not see something at a given point in time, just to
see it an hour later or even a day later; that what the somnambulist sees
with one person is not seen with another. Supposing that the animals may
have an analogous faculty, we would be forced to admit that they are not
susceptible to be disturbed and that they may always utilize it and even
twenty times a day if needed, without any alteration. Here is where we
pointed out the fact that they could do things that even the most lucid
somnambulist could not and this is what characterizes the maneuvers of
conjuring like accuracy, punctuality, timeless, repeatability according to
the will, and all that are contrary to the purely psychological phenomena
of somnambulism and Spiritism, whose effects must always be patiently
waited and may only rarely be provoked.
Even if the effects of what we have just discussed were due to artificial
processes, that would not be strong enough to prove that there is no animal
mediumship in general. Hence one needs to establish if the animals
have the capability of serving as intermediaries between people and the
spirits. Well, the impossibility is confirmed in Erastus’ dissertation published
in our August issue and another from the same spirit about the role
of the mediums in the communications, published in July
Letter from Mr. Jobard
about the Spiritists of Metz
“Brussels, August 18th, 1861
My dear master,
I have just returned from visiting the spiritists in Metz, as you
did in Lyon last year. Instead of poor, simple and illiterate workers
I found Counts, Barons, Colonels, military engineers, former students
of the Polytechnic Institute and scholars renowned for their
great works. They also offered me a banquet but it was a pagan
banquet that had nothing in common with the modest feast of
the early Christians. The spirit of Lamennais also reprimanded
such arrogance in the following terms:
‘Poor humanity! Always picking up the debris from the environment
of which you live; you materialize everything, a proof that the
mud still stains your being. This is no criticism but a simple observation.
Since your objectives are covered in the ornament of excellent
intentions your chosen paths are not to be condemned. If you place
side by side with your almost animal satisfaction the firm desire to
sanctify and honor it, the purity of your pleasures will certainly multiply
that a hundred times. The good words will also strengthen your friendship; together with the memories of this great day thanks to
Spiritism which plays a great part,, do not leave the table without
a thought addressed to your teachers, the good spirits, who deserve
acknowledgement.’
May that serve as a lesson to those like Lucullus, to the
Parisian Trimalchios, that devours in a single dinner what could
feed a hundred families, pretending that it was God given pleasure
for their enjoyment. To enjoy, yes, but not to abuse to the
point of harming the health of one’s body and spirit. What are, I
ask you, the need of those double, triple and quadruple services;
that growing super fluidity of the most delicate wines from which
God seems to have removed the taste, by a reverse miracle at the
marriage of Cana, where it changes into poison for those who lose
their reasoning to the point of becoming impervious to the warnings
of their animal instincts? If Spiritism were spread among the
high social classes and had the only effect of stopping gluttonous
behaviors and the orgies on the tables of the riches, it would
have done a great service to society, a service that conventional
medicine itself could not do since the doctors themselves willingly
share in the excesses that only render more disease, more
stomachs to fix, more spleens to clear, more gout patients to console
because they do not know how to heal them.
I must say, dear Master, that I found houses of former nobility
in Metz that were very religious, who’s grandmothers, mothers,
daughters and grandchildren and even their church officials
obtained by a theological classification beautifully dictated, considering
that they are inferior to the wise mediums of the Society
that I am talking about. Having asked two spirits whether they
had read a certain book; one said that he had read it and thought
about it and spoke highly of the book. The other confessed not
having read it but had heard a lot about it; a good book but
offered some vagueness. Judged, exactly as among us here on
Earth.
Another provided us with an attractive theory of cosmology,
swearing it to be the purest truth, and since he went to the extent
of unveiling God’s secrets about the future I then asked him if he
was not God himself or if his theory was only hypothetical. He
mumbled a few words and acknowledged that he had gone too
far but that he was positive about these ideas. Thank goodness!
In a few days you will receive the first publication from the
Spiritists of Metz, they have kindly asked me to oversee it; you
will be happy, because it’s very good. You will find two dissertations
by Lamennais about prayer that were read by a Catholic
priest during the mass, declaring that it could only be the work of
one man. Mrs. de Girardin visits them and like you, will recognize
his spirit, feelings and style. (The male form of ‘his’ is used
here because Mrs. de Girardin went under the male pen name
of Vicomte Delaunay to compete with the male authors of her
time. - NT.)
The Society in Metz asked that I introduce them to the
Belgian Society that consists of only two mediums, one French
and one English. The Belgians are infinitely more reasonable.
They feel sorry from the bottom of their heart that someone with
as big a heart and intelligence as mine, covering all matters of
sciences and technologies, believes in a crazy thing such as the
existence and even immortality of the soul. They turned away
with pity, saying ‘What does that have to do with us!’ That’s what
happened to me last night when I was reading you’re the Spiritist
Review, thinking that it could be of their interest, but they took it
as a collection of false news for their own amusement.
Jobard”
OBSERVATION: We knew long ago that the city of Metz walks in
strides on the path of the spiritist progress and that its officials are
not the last ones to follow it. We are happy to have that confirmation from
our honorable colleague Mr. Jobard. Thus, we will gladly publicize the works of that center established on serious foundations. We are sure that
given the social position of their members, the works will certainly have a
great influence. We shall soon speak of those from Bordeaux, sponsored
by the Parisian Society, with already many members, elements and conditions
to soon place it among one of the centers in the forefront.. We know
Mr. Jobard’s principles well enough to be sure that he did not want to
make any offensive comparison between the spiritists of Metz, given their
titles and positions, and the modest workers of Lyon that we visited last
year. His only objective was to attest that Spiritism counts on followers in
all social classes. It is a well-known fact that the first ones to be recruited
were in the most enlightened ranks of society in order to prove to the adversaries
that it is not a privilege of fools and ignorant, and also to get to
the masses only after having cleaned and cleared every superstitious ideas.
It was only recently that it entered among the working class but it made
rapid progress there too because it brings supreme consolations to material
sufferings, teaching courage and resignation to endure the trials of life.
Mr. Jobard is mistaken if he thinks that we only find the working
class among the spiritists of Lyon. Their contingency also included those
from high level business, large commercial businesses, the arts and sciences..
It is true that the working class is the majority there and mostly
due to local circumstances. Those workers are poor, as Mr. Jobard said.
That is a reason to reach out to them. However, they have plenty of courage,
eagerness and devotion. If they have only a piece of bread they know
well how to share it with their brothers. They are also simple, that is true,
and they don’t bear the pride or the presumptuous of knowledge; they
are relatively illiterate, it is true, but not in the absolute sense. Although
they may lack science, they have a lot of reason and common sense to
evaluate what is fair, and to be able to distinguish between the rational
and the absurd in what they are taught. We were able to assess it ourselves.
That is why we take the opportunity to pay a fair tribute to them.
The letter below, inviting us to visit them again this year, reflects the
happy influence of spiritist ideas and the results we should expect when
they will be widespread.
“Lyon, August 20th 1861
My good Mr. Allan Kardec,
If it has been a long time since my last correspondence, please
do not take it as an air of indifference on my part. Knowing the
large amount of correspondence that you receive, I only write
when there is something important to tell you. I shall then tell
you, that we are counting on you to visit us again this year and
to kindly let us know the time and place of your arrival as precisely
as possible since this year the number of spiritist has grown
significantly, particularly in the working class. Everyone wants
to see and hear you and although they know that it is the spirits
that dictate the work they are eager to see the man chosen by
God for this great mission. They want to tell you about their
great happiness for being able to read your works and compliment
you for their own moral progress, thanks to your instructions,
they endeavor to become kind, patient and resigned in their own
miseries, of which there is so much in Lyon, particularly in the
silk weaving industry. Those who still moan and groan are the
beginners. The instructed ones tell them: Courage! Our penalties
and sufferings are trials or consequence of our previous lives; God
who is good and just will make us happier and will reward us in
new incarnations. Allan Kardec told us so and he demonstrates
that in his writings.
We chose a place that is more spacious than the previous time
considering that we shall have more than a hundred people. Our
meal will be modest, as there will be many with small purses; it
will be the pleasure of our reunion more than anything else. I will
make sure that there will be spiritists from all classes and all walks
of life so that everyone can understand that we are all brothers.
Mr. Déjou is in charge and highly dedicated to this matter. He
will bring his large group along.
Yours sincerely,
C. Rey
We were also honored by another invitation from Bordeaux, as follows:
“Bordeaux, August 7th, 1861
My dear Mr. Kardec,
Your latest The Spiritist Review announced that the Society
will be on vacation from August 15th to October 1st. Can the spiritists
of Bordeaux expect to be honored by your visit during that
break? That would make us very happy. The most enthusiastic
followers of the Doctrine, whose members’ increases daily, would
like to organize a society subordinated to that of Paris in terms of
the works. We have created rules and bylaws based on those of the
Parisian Society and would like to submit it to you. Besides the
main Society there will be groups of ten to twelve people in several
areas of town, particularly in the working class areas where
from time to time there will be members of the Society to give
advice as needed. All of our spiritual guides are in agreement that
Bordeaux must be a society of studies since this town will be the
center of propagation of the Doctrine in the South. We happily
await you with confidence that you will join us on the memorable
inauguration day and we hope you will be satisfied with our eagerness
and mode of operation. We are ready to submit ourselves
to the wise advice of your experience. Come then to see our work.
The server is known by his work.
Your dedicated servant,
A.
SABÔ
