One of the benefits to future science will be the explanation given to these phenomena now considered supernatural; things that our learned Academicians refuse to believe in, although not investigating, insisting that such phenomena are hallucinations, the mere assertions of writers and those who witness them; while these so-called savants, who laugh spiritualism to scorn, claiming it a fraud and imposture, are themselves afraid to be convinced by scientific experimentation.[85]
Class VII.—Movement of small objects without personal contact.
“Under this title I propose to describe certain particular phenomena of which I have been a witness.
“I shall content myself to here allude to some facts all the more surprising, since those who have witnessed them did so under circumstances that rendered all deception impossible; it would be foolish to attribute these results to fraud, for the phenomena were not observed in the house of a medium, but in my own home, where any previous preparation was out of the question.
“A medium was taken to my dressing room and seated in a certain portion of the chamber under the watchful eyes of a number of attentive witnesses, and played an accordion I held in my own hand with the keys upside down; this same accordion then floated in the air, playing as it remained suspended.
“This medium could not secretly introduce to my home a machine strong enough to rattle my windows and remove Venetian blinds to the distance of eight feet; to tie knots in my handkerchief and carry it to a far-off corner of a large room; to play notes on a piano at a distance; to make a plate float around the room; to raise a water carafe from a table; to make a coral necklace stand up on one of its limber extremities; to put a fan in the usual society motions; or to start the pendulum of a clock when the time piece was sealed in glass and screwed tightly to the wall.” (Crookes.)
These same phenomena are produced by Fakirs. A certain number of fig or other leaves are perforated by bamboo sticks stuck in the ground. The charmer extends his hands, the leaves move up along the long sticks on which they are strung.
Another experiment: a vase is filled with water and spontaneously moves over a table, leans, oscillates, is raised a perceptible height, without a drop of water being spilled.
Musical instruments render sounds, play melodious airs, under the eyes of the investigator, at some distance from the Fakir and without the latter making any apparent movement. Dr. Gibier cites these phenomena, witnessed by persons entitled to every confidence.
During seances at the home of my friend Dr. Fuel, with Madam L. B., we have witnessed similar phenomena. Several times my confrere and I have seen damask curtains at his office windows shake and open; have heard the sound of a small trumpet placed in the center of a table, in the dark, it is true, but we were holding each other’s hands in the circle and used all possible precautions not to be duped or humbugged.