FOOTNOTES:
[1] I. e., Spirit-rapping—the faculty of obtaining responses by means of raps upon a table.
[2] Glossolalia signifies the “gift of tongues,” or the ability to speak foreign languages without having consciously acquired them.
[3] This term is used to designate the visions which manifest themselves at the moment of awakening from sleep immediately prior to complete awakening, and which form a pendant to the well-known, much more frequent hypnagogic hallucinations, arising in the intermediate state between sleep and waking.
[4] Vision relating to the Oriental cycle; the man was the Arab sheik, the father of Simandini.
[5] The following are some of these impromptu rhymes, surely up to the level of the circumstances which inspired them, but by which we ought not to judge the conscious poetic faculties of Mlle. Smith:
To a little girl proud of her new shoes:
“Marcelle est là, venez la voir,
Elle a ses petits souliers noirs.”
In a “culinary” discussion:
“Vous détestez les omelettes,
Autant que moi les côtelettes.”
To a person slightly vain:
“Vos richesses, ma chère amie,
Ne me font point du tout envie!”
[6] The confusion of sensations in the two sides of the body, as when a person locates in the right leg a touch upon the left leg.
[7] See, on allochiria, P. Janet, Stigmates mentaux des hysteriques, pp. 66-71; and Nevroses et idées fixes, vol. i. p. 234.
[8] See Lehmann’s Aberglaube und Zauberei, p. 217 et seq. Stuttgart, 1898.
[9] W. James, “Thought Tends to Personal Form.” Principles of Psychology, vol. i. p. 225 et seq. New York, 1890.
[10] Alexandre Dumas, père, Memoirs of a Physician, chap. xv.
[11] The one which is found, for example, at the beginning of the Vie de Joseph Balsamo, etc., translated from the Italian (3d edition, Paris, 1791), and which has been several times reproduced. Mlle. Smith has hanging over her fireplace a fine copy of this portrait.
[12] See, e.g., Ferrari, Hericourt, and Richet, “Personality and Handwriting,” Revue philosophique, vol. xxi. p. 414.
[13] C. Flammarion, La Planète Mars et ses conditions d’habitabilité, p. 3. Paris, 1892.
[14] Compare the case of Mlle. Anna O. Brener et Frend, Studien über Hysterie, p. 19. Vienna, 1895.
“Do not think that in loving you as a tender brother
I shall tell you all the profound mysteries of heaven;
I shall help you much, I shall open for you the way,
But it is for you to seize and seek with joy;
And when you shall see her released from here below,
When her mobile soul shall have taken flight
And shall soar over Mars with its brilliant tints;
If you would obtain from her some light,
Place your hand very gently on her pale forehead
And pronounce very softly the sweet name of Esenale!”
[16] Allusion to the seance of November 25, 1894, at M. Lemaître’s. See [p. 1146.]
[17] That is to say, he died on Mars, where he had been reincarnated.
[18] Allusion to seance of February 2, 1896. See [p. 154.]
[19] These are texts 16-20, 26, 28, 31, 34, 37-39. They are further distinguished by an asterisk.
[20] A literal English translation of each text will be found immediately beneath the French equivalents of the Martian words.
[21] If it is objected that the Martian lacks the essential character of a language—that is to say, a practical sanction by use; by the fact of its serving as a means of communication between living beings—I will not answer, like Mlle. Smith, that after all we know nothing about that, but will simply say that the social side of the question does not concern us here. Even if Volapük and Esperanto are not used, they are none the less languages, and the Martian has, in regard to its artificial construction, the psychological superiority of being a natural language, spontaneously created, without the conscious participation, reflective or willing, of a normal personality.
[22] De Marlès’ General History of India, Ancient and Modern, from the Year 2000 B. C. to our Own Times. Pp. 268-269. Paris, 1828.
[23] Robert Sewell. Lists of Antiquarian Remains in the Presidency of Madras. Vol i. p. 238 (1882.) Citation by M. Barth. I have not been able to consult this work.
[24] Buchanan. A Journey from Madras through the Countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, etc. 3 vols. 4to. London, 1807.
[25] James Rennell. Description Historique et Géographique de l’Indostan. Translated from the English. Paris, an. VIII. (1800). 3 vols., 8vo and atlas 4to.
[26] Dow. History of Hindustan. Translated from the Persian of Ferishta. London, 1803. M. Michel suggests Wilks’s Historical Sketches of the South of India (London, 1810) as having possibly served as a source of information for De Marlès. If some learned reader may discover any traces of Sivrouka antecedent to De Marlès, I shall be under great obligation to him if he will communicate the information to me.
[27] It will be readily understood that this vision represents Marie Antoinette with her three children and Madame Elizabeth.
[28] I have respected the orthography as well as the complete absence of punctuation of this bit of automatic writing, confining myself to marking by vertical bars its evident separation into verses of eight feet. It is written in the inclined and regular hand called that of Marie Antoinette (like that of [Fig. 40]), but with a pencil too pale to permit its reproduction.
[29] By this is meant the bringing or conveying of material objects into a closed space—the passage of one solid body through another.
[30] A small oil-portrait of my mother.