D UKE UNIVERSIT Y LIBRARY Gift of GdOKQ^ E. Hcuvtman Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/caseofpartialdem01aksa A Case of Partial Dematerialization A CASE OF Partial Dematerialization OF THE BODY OF A MEDIUM INVESTIGATION AND DISCUSSION BY MONS. A. AKSAKOF Scientist, Philosopher, and Literateur, Ex-Prime Minister of Russia. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY TRACY GOULD. LL.B. Counsellor at Law, Member of the New York Bar BOSTON BANNER OF LIGHT PUBLISHING CO. 9 BoswoRTH Street 1898 Copyright, 1897 By Tracy Gould S. J. PARKHILL 4. CO., BOSTON, U.S.A. PRINTERS ,^3/5 CONTENTS. Page Chapter I. Theoretical Speculations — Material- ization and Dematerialization .... 7 Chapter II. Account of a Seance given by Madam d'Esperance at Helsingfors, Finland, Dec. iith, 1893, at which the phenomenon of the Partial Dematerialization of the body of the iMedium was demonstrated to Sight and Touch . . 33 I. Testimony of Mile. Hjelt 35 A. Letter from Mile. Hjelt to ]SIons. Aksakof . . 35 B. Letter from ^Vlons. Aksakof to Mile. Hjelt . . 46 C. Reply of Mile. Hjelt to Mons. Aksakof . . 48 D. Supplementary Letter from ^Nllle. Hjelt . ' . 52 II. Testimony of Staff-Officer, Capt. Toppelius . . 55 III. Testimony of Prof. Selling ..... 56 A. Letter from Prof. Selling to Mons. Aksakof . 56 B. Letter from Mons. Aksakof to Prof. Selling . 58 C. Reply of Prof. Selling to Mons. Aksakof . . 60 D. Supplementary Report of Prof. Selling, (illus- trated,) ......... 63 E. Letter from Mons. Aksakof to Prof. Selling . 69 F. Reply of Prof. Selling ..... 70 IV. Testimony of Madam Helene Selling ... 72 A. Note from Mme. Selling 72 B. Remarks on the same, by ^lons. Aksakof . . 73 V. Testimony of ^Ille. Fanny Tavaststjerna • • • 73 A. Letter from Mile. Tavaststjerna to ]Mons. Aksakof 73 B. Supplement to the foregoing letter ... 77 VI. Testimony of General Toppelius .... 78 VII. Testimony of Dr. Hertzberg . . . . . 79 ii CONTENTS, VIII. Testimony of Mr. Schoult2, C.E 82 A. Letter from Mr. Schoultz to Mons. Aksakof . 82 B. Counter-Testimonj of Prof. Seiling ... 85 C. Counter-Testimony of Dr. Hertzberg . . 86 D. Counter-Testimony of Miles. Hjelt and Tavast- stjerna 87 IX. Testimony of General Sederholm .... 89 X. Testimony of Mr. J. Boldt ..... 91 XI. Testimony of General Galindo and Mr. Lonnbom . 91 XII. Personal Testimony of Madam d'Esperance, the Medium .......... 93 A. Account of the seance held at Prof. Selling's resi- dence at Helsingfors, by Madam d'Esperance . 93 B. Questions addressed to Madam d'Esperance by Mons. Aksakof ....... loi C. Supplementary Explanations, by Mme. d'Esper- ance 102 Chapter III. Personal Investigation by Mons. Ak- sakof ........ 107 Chapter IV. Letters from the Medium, concerning her condition after the seance at Helsingfors 144 Chapter V. Personal Statement of the Medium as to her condition during the Dematerializing Se- ance . . . . . . . .151 I. Qviestions by Mons. Aksakof and Replies of the Medium 154 II. Supplementary Remarks, by Mons. Aksakof . . 176 Chapter VI. Conclusions . o , « o 180 CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL SPECULATIONS MATERIALIZA- TION AND DEMATERIALIZATION. An extraordinary manifestation occurred at a seance given by Madam d'Esperance at Hel- singfors, Finland, in December, 1893 — a mani- festation which casts a bright light upon the mysterious phenomena of materialization, and confirms by the evidence of both sight and touch what had hitherto been but a theoretical postu- late, though a logically necessary one. Before entering on the discussion of the case it is best for me to give briefly an idea of the theory to which I refer, which applies to all cases of materialization and gives shape and fin- ish to those of which I am about to treat. Spiritualism has always recognized the fact that the phenomena of materialization are pro- duced at the expense of the medium's body, from which the required materials are taken; that is to sa}^ a certain degree of dematerialization of the body of the medium inevitably attends this phenomenon. But this hypothesis had never 8 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. been followed to its farthest limit; the final con- clusion which would absolutely and logically result from it, if true, had never yet been drawn. On the one hand, the rarity of materializations and the lack of direct observation sufficient to support the conclusion; on the other hand, the extraordinary admission of fact which it com- pelled (though that fact itself is no more won- derful than materialization, which is now becom- ing so familiar) explains why it has not yet been generally and expressly admitted. But now we have one case ' which gives us a right to speak out boldly and positively. It is this case of which I am about to treat. Analysis of mediumistic phenomena enables ^ us to distinguish three stages of materialization: I. The first stage is invisible materializa- tion. We must, a p7^iori, admit that there is such a thing, because we know of the move- ment of substantial articles, which can only be caused by some invisible human agency, as I have shown in a former work, entitled " Animisme et Spiritisme." We must admit it also because we have so often felt, as it were, touches in half- light seances, and have felt sure that they were those of hands, although the hands were invisible ' Italics are always those of the author unless otherwise noted. — Translator. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 9 ones. We are further assured in this belief by the evidence of spirit-photography in general/ and especially when the senses themselves lend their aid, and the sight and touch of spirit-forms is confirmed by the camera. Such, for example, are the photographs of Beattie; and also those of Mumier, the latter taken when Mrs. Conant, the famous American medium, saw an appari- tion touch her hand, and the photograph proved that it was really the hand of a figure invisible to the ordinary human eye ; or even that of Mr. Tinkham, on which appeared the hem of a gar- ment, held up by a hand which was invisible to the unaided eye. Spirit photography furnishes us with abundant ■ evidence of the ephemeral existence of real, ob- -Ua/ jective figures, which we can explain upon no I ^ other hypothesis than that of a materialization begun, but not perceptible to our eyes. The ■ necessary material is certainly taken from the medium, but its quantity is so inconsiderable J^^^^ that the partial dematerialization of the medium is not perceptible to our senses. ' i 2. In the second stage, we have the well- ^ known phenomenon of visible and taiigible ma- ' Mons. Aksakof has coined, and uses, the term transcendental ' photography ; but I have thought best to restore the familiar ex- pression in the text. — Translator. 10 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. terialization^ though partial and incomplete. Thus, the appearance of hands has been familiar at seances ever since the beginning of the spirit- ualistic movement. It occurs in full light, when the medium is surrounded by the witnesses. Then, later, came dark seances, at which hands were felt, though the medium's hands were held by the witnesses, at the time. Partial material- izations also took place at these seances; heads, busts, and figures, more or less vapory, were seen in semi-obscurity. AVhen, at length, the medium was isolated behind a curtain or in a dark cabi- net, apparitions of heads, busts, and hands were obtained that were much more substantial and which shone with a faint light. To conform to the theoretical principle, this phenomenon of partial materialization ought to be accompanied by -partial dematerializatio7i of the medium. That is to say, that, in order to furnish the ma- terial for materializations, there should be com- plete local dematerialization of the medium, or there should be a general dematerialization, more or less inappreciable to our senses. In those cases, no direct observation of physi- cal changes, accompanying the production of the phenomena, could be made upon the medium, who was always alone inside the cabinet. But in this last instance, in the seance with Madam A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION . 11 d'Esperance which we are now to treat in detail, full confirmation of our loc^ical conclusion was obtained; for while Madam d'Esperance sat in front of the curtain, by dim light, and while par- tial materializations (as, for instance, apparitions of heads and busts) were taking place behind the curtain, several persons proved, at least by sight and touch, the demi-dematerialization of her body — to wit, of her feet and lower limbs. 3. In the third stage we have full material' izatioii / that is, a complete human form, visible and tangible, which to the eye, in no way differs from a livins^ human beino^. This manifestation is the very highest development, the uon plus idtra^ of materialization, during which the me- dium is alone, in darkness, and orenerallv en- tranced. A long study of these phenomena compels the admission that when the complete materialization of a human form is obtained, that form indubitably resembles the medium in feat- ure. This fact has been the cause of much sus- picion and of many pretended exposures, etc. All attempts to see the medium and the fully materialized form at the same time (which at- tempts have unfortunately been made without any examination into the real condition of the two bodies — that of the medium and that of the apparition) have failed, with the rarest excep- 12 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. tions. When, by means of exceptional precau- tions — such as holding the medium's hair out- side the cabinet, or passing a galvanic current through the medium's very body — it was finally made sure that the medium could neither con- sciously nor unconsciously play the part of the spirit and yet the resemblance between form and medium was found to be perfect or almost per- fect, (as in the case of John King's resemblance to his medium, Williams, or of Katie King's resemblance to her medium. Miss Cook,) they were forced to recognize the fact that tlie double^ or duplication^ of the medium was the starting- point of all materialization. But this expression might lead to false conclusions, if we did not understand and realize that this double is but a part, or siniulacrej of the medium's real body, which still remains behind the curtain. In reality, however, it is neither a moiety nor a phantom of a body, but a veritable and com- plete body of flesh and bone, like unto that of the medium in ever}' way; in short, it is like enough to the body of the medium to deceive the medium himself. What, then, has become of the real body, for the time? One cannot, in reason, admit that the medium has, at one time, two complete bodies^ absolutely alike. We have already stated, in substance, that it is perfectly A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 13 logical to argue that the degree of materializa- tion of an apparition corresponds to the de- materialization of the medium; consequently, if the materialization of the apparitional human form is complete, the dematerialization of the medium's form should also be complete, or at least would be carried so far that the medium would be invisible to our eyes, if we should look for her during such manifestation. To sum up, bearing in mind the proposition that ever}^ materialization necessitates a corre- sponding dematerialization, the entire scale of materialization may be formulated as follows: 1. Primitive, invisible materialization corre- sponds to the least imperceptible dematerializa- tion of the medium, the latter remaining visible during the phenomenon. 2. Visible but partial materialization, incom- plete either as to form or necessary matter, cor- responds to an equally partial or incomplete dematerialization of the medium, who remains wholly or partly visible. 3. The visible and complete materialization of an entire human form corresponds to maxi- mum or complete dematerialization of the me- dium, and may be carried to such an extent that the medium, in turn, becomes invisible. If this be admitted as a g^eneral and losfical 14 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. theory and proposition, it, to a certain extent, explains and accounts for many cases of material- ization which have, without it, appeared doubt- ful, questionable, and even suspicious; but even this admission does not do away with all doubts and difficulties, for these sometimes depend upon the individual capacities of the different mediums; and, moreover, we never know just how far the materialization is limited by existing circum- stances. That point will be discussed in another chapter. The important question is this: Have we enough assured facts before us to justify propositions 2 and 3 of the foregoing general statement? We are now in a position to reply affirma- tively. I shall begin with a case within my own per- sonal experience, which I have long and carefully considered, and which, in my opinion, so strongly confirms the theory as to be almost equivalent to positive proof It refers to an incident in the classic materialization of Katie King, and T have already related it in " Animisme et Spiritisme," -but I reproduce it here in an abridged form. ' It took place in 1873. Professor Crookes had then published his articles on psychic force, but did not yet believe in materialization and said that he should not believe in it until he A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATIOX . 15 could see the materialized form and the medium, at the same time. As I was then in London, I very naturally desired to witness this phenome- non — always wonderful — with my own eyes. iVfter I had made the acquaintance of Mr. Cook's famil}', I was very cordially invited to be present at the seance arranged for October 2 2d. The circle was to be held in a small room, used as a dining-room. The medium, Miss Florence Cook, sat upon a chair, in a nook formed by the chimney and one side of the room, behind a cur- tain sliding on rings. ]Mr. Luxmore, who di- rected the seance, insisted that I should care- fully attest the manner and place in which he bound the medium, as he always considered that precaution necessary. He first attached to each of the medium's hands a strong band, secured by knots; then, joining the hands behind her back, he tied them with the ends of the same band and secured them with fresh knots; then they were still further tied to a long cord, which was passed outside the curtain through a sliding copper ring, carried to a table beside which ]\Ir. Lux- more sat, and finally made fast to the table. The whole was so arranged that the medium could not rise without pulling the cord. The room was lighted by a small lamp placed behind a book. In less than a quarter of an hour the 16 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERIALIZ ATION. curtain was drawn aside far enough to discover a human form standing inside, clothed in white, and bare-faced, but the hair was covered with a white veil. Hands and arms were bare. It was Katie King. All the time that the seance lasted, Katie talked with the members of the circle. Her voice was modulated to a murmur. She several times said, "Ask me questions- — sensible ques- tions." Thereupon, I asked, " Can you not show me your medium?" She answered, "Yes, come quick and look." In an instant I had drawn back the curtain, for I had but one pace to step, but the white figure had vanished. Before me, in the dark corner, was the shad- owy form of the medium, seated in her chair. She wore a black dress, and for that reason I could not see her very plainly. As soon as 1 had reached my place, Katie's white figure re- appeared at the curtain and asked, "Did you see her plainly?" I answered, "Not very well, for it is quite dark behind the curtain." " Then bring the light, and look quick," she commanded quite sharply. In a second I was behind the curtain with the lamp in my hand, but all trace of Katie was gone. There was absolutely nothing there but the medium, deeply entranced, seated as be- fore, with her hands tied behind her back. The light, falling upon her face, produced the custom- A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATE RI ALIZ ATTON . 17 ary effect: the medium began to shudder and to awake. An interesting conversation now took place behind the curtain, between the half-awak- ened medium and Katie, who tried to put her to sleep again. But she was forced to yield, said o^ood-bve. and silence followed. The seance was at an end. ^Ir. Luxmore requested me to make a careful examination of the cords, knots, and seals. All were intact, and when he asked me to cut the bands I could hardly introduce the scissors beneath them, so tightlv were the hands tied. iMv contidence in the o-enuineness of this man- ifestation is absolute. ^Moreover. I consider it of the very lirst importance in conrirmation of the principal theory with which we are dealing. How are we to understand the phenomenon, and what conclusions are we to draw trom itr Katie bore what is called a perfect resemblance to the medium. The likeness was such that it might have deceived the medium herself: not in illu- sory form only, but in liesh and bone, with a heart and with lungs, as Professor Crookes has demonstrated. Can it reasonably be admitted that the medium, at a given moment, can have fzi-o co]]ipJefe bodies, — one in the form of Katie King, outside the cabinet: the other, her own proper form, inside the cabinet? Evidentlv not. 18 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. The cords, remaining intact, prove that Katie King was not the medium in person, uncon- sciously playing the role of the spirit. The medium could not, in an instant, divest herself of her black dress, escape from her bonds, re- clothe herself, re-tie herself, etc., etc., even if it were physically possible for her to untie herself and to re-tie herself and replace the knots and seals, in a longer time. We may, therefore, safely presume that, if I could have passed Katie, or could have seen inside the cabinet while Katie was outside it, I should not even then have seen the medium^ — but should have seen her gar- ments, at most, and more likely, nothing at all. But how explain that change of form — as quick as lightning — to the medium, clothed and bound ? The garments and the cords should have fallen to the ground if the bod}^ was with- drawn from inside them. How, then, restore the position of these? The necessary supposi- tion is that the body is not entirely dematerial- ized, that a " substratum " — an astral body — re- mains to keep the position of the cords and gar- ments, in such a way that the borrowed matter can in an instant be withdrawn from the mate- rialized figure and reunite with that "substra- tum ; " thus restoring the medium to her former position and condition. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 19 We know that at seances in full light, mate- rialized hands appear with incredible rapidity, and disappear, (that is, are reabsorbed into the medium again,) with like rapidity. The phenomena are, then, the same. This hypothesis is supported by a fully authenticated fact, in the following incident which happened to Colonel H. S. Olcott in America, in 1874, with Mrs. E. J. Compton as medium. The Colonel thus relates the occurrence in his book "People from the Other World: " My first sitting with the medium occurred January 20th, 1874. The spectators, numbering twenty-four, were seated in chairs placed around the room at a distance of about eight feet from the cabinet; Mrs. Compton took her place on a chair inside it, the light was turned very low, and for a long time nothing of interest happened. At last the door of the cabinet opened and the figure of an Indian appeared on the threshold and questioned us. He greeted me cordially, but did not come out, stating that the medium was too weak and infirm to furnish the necessary power. "The next evening little Katie Brink appeared ^ Being unable to obtain a copy of this book, I have to re-translate the extract from Mons. Aksakof's version in French. — Trans- lator. 20 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. and went round the circle, touching several per- sons and patting their hands. Robed in floating drapery of white muslin-crepee, her head cov- ered by a bridal veil which fell to her knees, gliding on white slippers, and but half seen in the dim light, she reminded me of Goethe's Bride of Corinth. . ^ . " Passing from the other participants, she came to me where I sat, a little to one side, with one hand resting against the partition of the cabinet, and, passing her hand softly across my forehead, seated herself upon my knee, placed an arm around my neck and kissed my left cheek. Her hands appeared scarcely as large as those of an eight-year-old child; but I felt the firm flesh of her arm upon my shoulder, and the lips that kissed me were as natural as any living human being's. After we had chatted some time, I entered the cabinet, while the little one remained outside. / found no medium there^ though I closely examined the recess, and, the better to assure myself that I was not mistaken, I felt of the chair, the walls, and all around the enclos- ure. There was but one possible alternative: either the spirit was no spirit but the medium herself, or the medium had been transfigured after the manner of the Oriental thaumaturgists A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 21 (evoquers of the dead). I would solve the doubt before leaving the city. " On the evening of the next day, having ob- tained the kind consent of Mrs. Compton to sub- mit to my investigation, I took off her earrings, seated her in a chair in the cabinet, and secured her by passing a No. 50 thread through the holes pierced in her ears and sealing the ends of the thread tightly to the chair, with sealing wax and a private seal. . . . " When the light had been lowered, as is usual at such sittings, and the door of the cabinet closed, we sang for some minutes. Suddenly a pair of hands swept across the opening from right to left, and disappeared as suddenly. Then came another pair of larger hands, and then a voice spoke to me, (if it was not that of the deceased Daniel Webster, it was at least an exact reproduction in depth, sonority and tone, as nearly as I can remember it,) and dictated complete instructions and measures of caution as to the manner in which I should conduct my investigation. When I entered the cabinet while a spirit was outside, I might tap and feel all around, to convince myself that the medium was not there, but must be careful not actually to touch the chair. I might put my hands as close as I desired, but he begged me to avoid direct 22 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. contact with the frame of the chair. Then, I was to put a cover — no matter of what kind — over the plate of the scales, so that the spirit would not come in contact with either wood or metal. I promised to follow these instructions closely, and immediately had the satisfaction of seeing the little girl in white at the open door. She came forward, passed around the circle, touched several persons and went close up to others. I was sitting, ready to act, with one hand upon the weights and the other at the end of the lever, and took her weight without loss of a second, as soon as she mounted the scales. She immediately returned to the cabinet, while I read the figures by the light of a match. She weighed but 77 pounds, though her form did not look childish. "The spirit then came out again and I instantly entered the cabinet. I examined everything with the greatest care, but, as before, found no trace of the medium. The chair was there, but no body was now seated in it. I then asked the child-spirit to make herself lighter, if possible, and to remount the scales. I brought the lever to equilibrium as quickly as before, and when she had again retired, I read her weight at 59 pounds. She appeared once more; this time she went from one to another of the spectators, A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 23 touched the forehead of one and the hand of another, seated herself on Mr. Hardy's knee, placed her hand softly on my head, patted my cheek, and mounted the platform of the scales to give me a last test. She now weighed but 52 pounds, although from beginning to end no change, either in her garments or in her bodil}^ appearance, had been observed. . . . " The weighing ended, Katie appeared no more. After a few moments had elapsed, we were addressed in the deep and guttural base of the Indian chief, who appeared at the door. A conversation then followed between him and Mr. Hardy, who had lived for some years among the native Indians of the West, and who bore witness to the correctness of the language spoken by the spirit-chief. " I entered the cabinet with a light, and found the medium exactly as I had left her at the be- ginning of the seance, every thread and every seal intact. She sat with her head resting against the wall, her flesh pale and cold as marble, the pupils rolled up beneath the eyelids, her forehead covered with a kind of death-like moisture, without breath or pulse. When all had exam- ined the threads and seals, I cut the threads with scissors and carried the cataleptic w^oman into the fresh air of the room, lifting her chair by the 24 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. seat and back. She remained thus, lifeless, for eighteen minutes; life then returned to her body little by little, the pulse and the temperature of her flesh became normal once more. I placed her upon the scales and she weighed 121 pounds." As, according to this, the form of Katie Brink weighed 77 pounds, there remained but 44 pounds of the body of the medium in the cabi- net — a little more than one third of her normal weight — and even then the body, clothing and threads were all invisible to the human eye. We must, therefore, assume that there was some sort of body remaining, which served the pur- pose of the medium's body, and acted as an invisible support for her garments and the thread. But the form of Katie Brink, instead of resem- bling that of the medium, was more like that of an eight-years-old child. How, then, could any- thing whatever remain of the body of Miss Cook, when Katie King is reported by Prof. Crookes as being still larger than her medium? We have all the more right to argue that what remained was invisible, and that the re-absorp- tion of the materialized form into the astral body (which remained seated in the chair) was almost instantaneous. Those who have made any study of materialized hands know how rap- A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERIALIZATION. 25 idly those hands form and return into the body of the medium, and this should enable us to un- derstand the rapid disappearance of an entire figure. Mr. Crookes has repeatedly remarked that when he entered the cabinet with Katie, she in- stantly disappeared. As he persistently insisted upon seeing the materialized form and the me- dium together, he finally succeeded, but only once and in the dark; and then Katie could not even speak, as she was but half materialized. It is a pity that Katie King's form was not weighed, for it is probable that she appropriated nine tenths of the matter in the body of her medium. Here I will relate an experience of my own, which confirms the two preceding cases. In 1890, I went to Gottenburg expressly to hold a series of materializino^ seances with Mad- am d'Esperance. She had ofiered to submit to all test conditions which I might deem neces- sary to convince me of the genuineness of the phenomena — a privilege which she had not yet accorded to any one else. At the seance of June 5 th, I was seated, as is my custom, close to the corner of the cabinet, with Madam d'Esperance inside it and beside me. The curtain alone separated us, its lateral open- ing being close to m^y right shoulderj and I had 26 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. but to draw the curtain a little to see the medi- um. The materialized form known by the name of Yolande had already shown herself several times, and had made the tour of the circle lean- ing on my arm. A lamp, suspended from the ceiling and wrapped in several folds of red pa- per, shed a dim light, but when I was directly beneath the lamp with Yolande, the light was strong enough for me to positively recognize the features of the medium in her face. When we approached the cabinet, I resumed my seat, but Yolande remained standing at a short distance from me, in the opening at the center of the cur- tain. Then, without taking my eyes from her, I softly passed my right arm through the side opening in the drapery of the cabinet. I had only to reach a little way to make sure if the me- dium was in her place, and I did so. The medi- um had been seated on a low, upholstered fau- teuil. I raised my hand to the top of its back, and then let it slide along the back to the seat. The medium was not there. But at the very instant that my hand touched the seat, Yolande entered the cabinet and a hand fell upon mine and thrust it aside. Immediately afterwards the medium asked me for a drink, and I handed it to her through the same opening in the curtain. The medium was in her place, in A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX . 27 her red dress with tight sleeves. An instant before, YoLande was still there, in a white dress, with arms bare to the shoulders and bare feet, and with a white veil covering her head and bust; now she was nowhere to be seen; exactly as was the case with Katie King. This experience gave me much food for reflec- tion. How could Yolande, who was half without the cabinet, know of the movement of my hand ^vithin it ? It was absolutely impossible, because of the almost perfect darkness, for her to see me lower my arm along my chair, or insert it behind the curtain. It was still more impossible to see what I there did with it, or even where my hand was; nevertheless, the hand which grasped mine and thrust it away, moved as accurately and precisely as if mv hand was seen bv the light of day. If it was really the medium herself who, con- sciously or unconsciously, personated Yolande, and if the sofa was really empty, the medium could neither have seen nor have felt the groping of my hand, and would have kept on playing the role of spirit; she would have remained at her place, or might have entered the cabinet, or might even have entered and gone out again, as if nothing had occurred. 28 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. But there had been a derangement; Yolande appeared no more that night, and we were obliged to close the seance. As I heard it said the next day that something had frightened the medium, I questioned Madam d'Esperance without saying anything of what I knew. She answered that, towards the end of the seance, she had felt as if something was mov- ing over her from her head to her shoulders, and that this had so alarmed her that she had let fall the hand upon which she was resting her head; that her hand had encountered another hand, which frightened her very much more. This account of itself was very strange. Madame d'Esperance had felt exactly such impressions as she should have felt if she had retained her place all the time. But my hand had not come in contact with her form. What, then, had received those impressions? Was it not a necessary inference that some simulacre of her body had remained in the seat — a simulacre endowed with sensation and consciousness? Madame d'Esperance also possessed the gift of mediumistic writing; in this wa}^ outside her seances, she received communications in the name of a certain "Walter," who declared him- self the director of the materializing phenomena. I wished to try this resource also, and see what A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION . 29 explanation I could get in that way. The day after the seance, I asked Madam d'Esperance to hold a pencil, and the following conversation re- sulted between the spirit, Walter, and me: " Did you see what alarmed the medium ? " "Yes: a hand was placed first upon her face, then upon her knees, then upon her hand; that is all." "Whose hand?" for I still kept my secret. ^* I did not see, for my attention was wholly occupied with the fright of the medium." "My chief desire is to see Yolande and the medium at the same time. Is that possible? " "All depends upon how much remains [of the medium] ." "If I suddenly looked into the cabinet, should I find the medium gone from her place?" "Very likely. It depends upon where the matter is taken from to build up the form of Yolande. If there is a certain amount in the circle, so that we need not depend solel}- upon the medium, you could see her as well as at this moment." Some days later, when Yolande had several times been out of the cabinet, (while the medium was secured by a band of cloth, which I had my- self adjusted each time so that it encircled her waist and the ends were then passed through a 30 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. staple fixed in the floor and were finally fastened to my chair,) I asked Walter: " How much has remained of the medium re- cently, when Yolande came out?" " I don't believe much remains of the medium except her organs o f sense P " If, when the medium's body is almost en- tirely dematerialized, I put my hand softly on her chair, could it injure the medium?" " It might, if you pressed heavily. If the ma- terialized form was hurt in any way the medium would feel it instantly." " And if I passed my hand across the space occupied by what remains of the medium's de- materialized body, when she was herself invis- ible?" That would injure her very seriously if we were not on guard to prevent any such mis- chance. To attempt it would be a dangerous experiment." "Then if I should pull the band of cloth which encircles the medium's waist, I might cut her body in two ? " "Yes; but that would not happen unless all the substance of her body had been drawn away, which is very rarely the case, though fre- quently there is very little left." " Then the invisibility of the medium's body A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX. 31 to the e}'e of the spectator, is no proof that no body is there ? " ^' Certainly not: it onl\' shows that you have not eyes sensitive enough to see it. A clairvoy- ant could see it, though you could not." ^Nladam d'Esperance was astonished at these replies, made through her own hand. She re- peatedly exclaimed: This is all news to me: it is a revelation I I ahvays supposed that no change took place in my bod\"." " But it is impossible." I obiected. "that you should feel no alteration during such an extraor- dinary manifestation as materialization." " I lelt a change, it is true." was her replv. "but I was profoundh' convinced that it was only a deceptive sensation." "Can you describe the change for me?" I felt as i f I z: as ejiipty iiiside^^ said she. This is a very significant response, perfectly consonant with the facts as stated above, and with the theory deduced therefrom. Xor did ]\Iadam d'Esperance even yet believe that the feeling of einptijiess could be more than a sim- pl}' subjective sensation. In the sequel, the interesting details of a long examination to which I subjected ^ladam d'Es- perance, the notes of my visit to Gottenburg, 32 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERIALIZATION. and her impressions during the seances, will be found. These details are unique in kind, for she is a medium unique among mediums; she does not become entranced, and is conscious of all that transpires about her during the material- izing seances. The time has come to publish these, now that we have objective proof, visible and tangible, of the accuracy of her assertions. They can no longer be regarded as merely sub- jective. CHAPTER II. accouxt of a seaxce givex by madam d'esperaxce at helsixgfors. fixlaxd. december iith. 1s93. at which the phe- xo^rExox of partial de:\iaterializatiox OF THE body of THE MEDIU^I A\'AS DEMOX- strated by sight axd touch. ^Nladam d'Esperance was kind enough, after her visit to Helsingfors in November. 1893, to pass live davs at mv residence in St. Peters- burg, during which she gave ten seances in mv house, whicli were most satisfactory to all who took part.' On her return iourney to Sweden, she stopped two days at Helsingfors. whence I recei\-ed this letter, written the day after her arrival : Helsixgfor,s. December 12th. 1S93. My Dear Friend: We held another seance last even- ing, although I did not feel verv much inclined to do so ; but I preferred not to put it off till tomorrow, fearing all sorts of interferences. The sitting took place at the house of Mr. Selling, the engineer, and I think there were, in all. fourteen persons. The manifestations were of a verv extraordinarv character, and. as I thought a description of them would interest you. * See Psychische Studien. January and April numbers. 1S94. A. A. 34 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. I asked Mr. Seiling and General Toppelius to write an account and send it to you. The gentlemen readily prom- ised to do this. The notable feature of this seance was that half of my body disappeared, though I only happened to discover it by the merest chance. My head, or rather my neck, gave me much pain and I was supporting it with my hands crossed behind it, as that seemed to dimin- ish the suffering somewhat. My arms became tired in that position and, thinking to rest them on my knees, I discovered that there were no knees where mine should be and that my hands, instead of resting upon them, rested against the chair, itself. This frightened me a little and I wished to find out if it was true, or if I was dream- ing. The light was pretty good and I drew my neighbor's attention to the matter ; he examined the chair and so did four others, and all attested the fact that only the upper part of my body was tangible.^ The seat was empty except for my garments, but arms, shoulders and chest were in the ordinary place. I could speak, move my head and arms, drink water, and even feel sensations as if in knees and feet, though the latter were invisible. During this time, forms came and went, but only showed themselves ; hands of various shapes and sizes touched per- sons nearest the cabinet. I think fully an hour must have elapsed from the time when I discovered my peculiar condition ; plenty of time for proof, and more than enough for me, as I was anxious to know if I should ever recover possession of my limbs and be able to use them. I became very nervous over this uncertainty. ^ Literally " truly existed." — Translator. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERI ALIZATION . 35 This is a brief rhume of what occurred but I hope some one will send vou a circumstantial account. Cordially vours. etc.. E. d'Esperaxce. Knowing the writer of this letter to be a person of absolute veracity. I had not the slightest rea- son to doubt her statements, and readily recog- nized the great importance of the facts related in contirmation of the theory of all such phe- nomena. But the hrst essential was to tind out how accurately it had been observed by those present, and how far their testimony would pre- vail in establishing a truth almost as incredible as fable. It is easy to understand with what im- patience I awaited the particulars and with what pleasure I received the three narratives which General Toppelius was so kind as to send me. I give them here in the tirst place, together with the correspondence to which they led: I. Testoioxy of ]Mi5s Hjelt. — Full Account of the Seance. A. Lettei' from Miss Hjelt to Mons. Aksakof} [Orig"inal in Svredish.] Sir : In compliance with the request of ]Madam d"Espe- rance, I send you the particulars of the last seance she held here, December nth, 1893. ^ Miss Hjelt. besides being the founder and directress of a large school of sculpture and engraving on wood, at Helsingfors. has 36 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATlON. The seance took place at the house of Mr. Selling, an engineer. The arrangements were almost the same as those at preceding seances, with the sole difference that there was more light on this occasion. My observations were as follows : — Before the Seance. The medium entered the room in full light and took her seat in a large upholstered chair, with a stuffed back. The medium laid aside the little shawl which she generally wore about her shoulders at the previous sittings because the room that we then occupied was larger and colder. She afterwards offered it for our use in reducing the amount of light, and it was accepted for that purpose. She took off her gloves and put them in her pocket. Before the seance began, she put nothing else in her pocket, not even her handkerchief. I took partic- ular notice of these things because I had heard it suggested, after other seances, that this shawl might be used in the manifestations, just as the gloves might pass for hands, if displayed against a white back-ground, while the medium was walking about the room, in the character of a spirit. When the medium made the slightest motion, in conveying the gloves to her pocket, I heard a sound as of keys or money shaken in that pocket. I resolved to keep my senses on the alert to observe if, during the seance, this noise was repeated, some one in the circle having insinuated that the medium might easily have imposed upon us. It seemed impossible for her to move without making the same noise again ; and, for myself, I then and there concluded that nothing could be more rash than for anyone meditating an written the following brochures: — Uautorisation d" apprendre un metier dans les ecoles dites professiofinelies.'' — ''La fenime dans son champ d'activite pratique-' — " Methode de sculpture sur bois pour les enfants." — A. A. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATIOX. 37 imposition of the kind to carry such noisy articles in her pocket. In the entire course of the ensuing seance, how- ever, I detected no repetition of the sounds. Before the seance opened. I noticed that the medium crossed her hands behind her head and, with a movement of extreme weariness, stretched herself and leaned her neck against her hands. This gesture, made when the room was still quite well lighted, was perfectlv natural and made me think that she had slept ill in the cars when returning from St. Petersburg. • During the Seance, The sitting commenced. In a circle composed of fifteen persons, I was the third at the right of the medium. This position was very advantage- ous ; I had the medium in front of me, at an angle of forty- five degrees, and the whole upper part of her bodv was distinctlv defined in demi-prolile against a white window- shutter, lowered over one of the windows. I was so close to the medium that I could see her form, clothed in a light dress, her hands and her feet — the latter thrust a little to the front and crossed. I could, therefore, bv bending slightly forward, both see and hear her slightest movement. We had not long to wait. A hand and a fore-arm reached out from the cabinet, on the side opposite that on which I was sitting. On the white back-ground of the window-shutter I could distinctlv follow its movements and even those of the fingers. The wrist was slender and the hand appeared to be a woman's. From the arm hung a rather wide sleeve of transparent, gauze-like tissue ; through which, though imperfectly. I could discern the window-shutter. The material was somewhat darker than the shutter. The hand was repeatedly offered to those who sat nearest, and pressed their hands ; then it withdrew. A little later, a luminous form appeared at the same side 38 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERI ALIZ ATION. of the cabinet and extended its hand to those within reach/ One member of the circle, Mr. Seiling, handed a scissors to the spirit and asked it if it would ' kindly cut off a piece of its veil for him. The spirit took them into the cabinet, but a few minutes later it returned and handed the scissors back to Mr. Seiling. He expressed his disappointment at not receiving a portion of the material and asked per- mission to cut off a small piece, himself. This was granted and I distinctly heard the noise of the scissors as he cut it, and a moment after he remarked, " I have got a piece of the veil."^ While these things were happening, I distinctly saw the medium and her hands. Once, she leaned for- ward and turned her face to the spirit, as if she, too, wished ' to see it.^ j A luminous form now appeared between the folds of the ! curtain at the center of the cabinet ; I might say that an upright figure stood behind the medium's chair. The I medium sighed heavily, as she often does at these seances. The sigh seemed to indicate suffering. She then spoke these words : "Someone in the cabinet touched me from behind; I felt it very plainly.""* The figure thereupon disappeared. One of the gentlemen suggested that the medium should ^ See, later, the testimony of Mr. Seiling and of Miss Tavast- stjerna. — A. A. ^ See the account by Mr. Seiling further on. — A. A. ^ See Plate No. 2. Miss Hjelt sits in the place of the medium, and turns her head towards the apparition of a right hand. The profile of the head and bust of the medi im is shown against the shutter. On the right sit Mr. Boldt and Madam Seiling. See, further. Chapter III. — A. A. ^Miss Hjelt told me that she saw a bust behind the medium, at the middle opening; a hand was then lowered and touched the medium's shoulder. See Miss H.'s letter, later. — A. A. Plate Xo. I. Plate No. 2. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION . 41 hold a pencil and paper, to see if the spirits would dictate anv arrangements, or anything else of the kind The medium hardlv seemed disposed to comply. Perhaps it is not worth while to trouble them to write." said she ; " wait a while." But the recj[uest was repeated and some- one handed her paper and a pencil. She took them with the remark. O, well ! I will hold them and we will see if it does any good." At this time I plainly saw the medium holding the paper in one hand, with the other hand crossed over it. By my side, at the lateral opening of the cabinet, a hand, a fore- arm, and part of an arm, were repeatedly shown, and those who were near bv shook the hand. For myself. I onlv cared to catch a fold of the drapery as it hung down, and to feel of it carefully. It felt somewhat moist and was of verv fine texture. The hand seemed much larger than those I had seen before. Suddenly, there appeared in the same opening, on our side of the cabinet, a tail, luminous figure. It apparently started to leave the cabinet, took a step forward and then drew back.i Almost immediately afterwards, we saw an arm thrust out of the cabinet ; from very far up in the same lateral opening, it descended softlv towards the medium, shinincr brio^htlv the while.- The instant it reached the medium, it snatched the paper and pencil from her hands, with a movement as quick as lightning, and bore them into the cabinet. AVe distinctly heard the noise ^ At this time Miss Hjelt saw both the medium and the figure, whose head was outside the cabinet, very distinctly. It looked at the medium and at the paper she held in her hand. — A. A. ^ See Plate No. i. which is a reproduction of a photograph taken March 3d. 1894. for Mons. Aksakof, under conditions described in Chapter III., hereafter. — A. A. 42 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION . of rumpling paper and tearing it in two, after which the hand reached forth and gave the two rumpled pieces to Capt. Toppelius, who handed them to the medium. The medium held the paper between her hands — the pencil had not been returned — when the same luminous arm was again lowered, with the same extreme deliberation, and again snatched the paper and bore it into the cabinet. We at once heard the noise of a pencil writing rapidly and in another moment the hand brought back the paper. The nearest person, Mr. Toppelius took it and started again to hand it to the medium, wdien the hand, (the arm as well and part of a body becoming visible,) forbade him to do so by a gesture of command, seized the paper and returned it to Mr. Toppelius, placing it against his chest. We then comprehended that the words written thereon were ad- dressed to Capt. Toppelius. [After the seance, we were allowed to read them ; they were as foUow^s : — ''''Jag skal hjalpa dig! " — "I will aid thee." They were written in Swedish, in a very clear hand.] There was neither chair nor table in the cabinet, on which to write. All this oc- curred very quickly, but so openly that every detail could be seen by all. During all the time it was taking place, I saw the medium very plainly. She spoke at times. She told Mr. Toppelius to put the paper in his pocket and read it later, while the spirit was still visible. From all this, I was forced to draw the conclusion that, in the cabinet, two hands at least were working with psychic force and with definite purpose. These hands could not belong to the medium. They must belong to a figure which stood beside and behind the medium, who was seated^ whose hands and body I saw all the time, and whom I heard utter an exclamation of surprise — an " Oh ! " — when the paper was snatched. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION . 43 I afterwards made sure, by comparing notes with others, that, while waiting^ for fresh manifestations, which drao^ored a little, the medium joined both her hands behind her head, as she had done before the seance. While she was in this position, it struck me as unfortunate that she was overtired to such an extent from her journey and I ardently hoped that persons sitting further from her than I was would not misinterpret this putting of her hands behind her neck, and her movement in stretching her limbs. Lookinof from a distance, these motions mig^ht be mis- construed ; but near at hand, they could never be ! ^ After a little, she let her hands fall upon her knees. I then saw her pat her skirt, here and there, with her hands and observed that she became more and more agitated as she did so. This struck me as singular. I bent forward and tried mv best to see what had happened. The medium asrain sisfhed heavilv, and this made me think it was some- thing unpleasant. In a few moments she said to her near- est neighbor at the left, Mr. Selling, " Give me your hand." ]Mr. Selling rose and offered his hand to her. She then said "Feel here." Mr. Selling replied, "This is very strange. I see ]Mme. d'Esperance and hear her speak ; but on touching her chair, I find it empty. She is not there ; there is nothing but her dress." The touch seemed to give the medium acute pain, yet she asked several persons to come and feel of the chair. She took Capt. Toppelius' hands in her own and passed them along the upper part of her body until he suddenly touched the seat of the chair ; he sho^\^ed his consternation and aston- ishment by several expressive exclamations. ' -E-g-, by supposing that the medium had risen froni her seat. A.A. 44 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. The medium permitted five persons to test the verity of the phenomenon, and each time it seemed to cause her great distress. Siie asked for vv^ater twice, at least, and drank v^ith feverish avidity both times ; she was visibly alarmed and was nervously impatient while waiting for the water. Against f/ie white back-groimd of the zvindow-curtai?!^ I clearly ajid distinctly saw the upper part of the medium's body, each time that she leaned forward. Several times she had occasion to reach out to take one of the hands, to guide it in feeling of the chair and of her body. At such times, I not only saw the front of her w^aist, but also her back, which was defined against the v^hite curtain. The outline of her head vs^as thus so clearly shown that I could tell the style in which her hair was dressed. I cannot remember how much of her body remained, below the waist, but of one thing I am certain ; namely, that it did extend below the waist ; and it impressed me as important that I saw the medium, all the time, on a level with myself. Once she bent forward as one does when suffering sharp pain. Her body was then in the position of one who, while seated, crosses her hands upon her lap and leans far forward. At that time she was in front of the back of the chair. She could not have been behind it ; the back of the chair would have made it impossible for her to occupy the position I have described. The medium's skirts remained extended, as they had been during the entire se- ance, and sloped towards her feet. They seemed to lie more flat after they were pressed down by the spectators. Some one in the circle proposed that we should close the seance the moment that it proved trying to the strength of the medium, but she opposed this proposition and re- quested that the sitting should be continued until her A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX. 45 limbs were restored. We therefore went on with the seance and I kept my eyes intently fixed upon the lower part of the medium's body, in order to observe the restora- tion of her members.^ Without my having seen the least movement of her skirts. I heard the medium say : ''I am better, already," and a few moments later, she cried brightlv, " Here they are '. " As for the folds of her skirt. I saw them, so to speak, fill out; and. without my know- ing how, the tips of her feet re-appeared, crossed, as they had been before the manifestation.' While the manifestation lasted, the attention of all was attracted to the medium. Conversation was interrupted, as well with ]Madam d'Esperance as between the members of the circle. We moved about, changed places, and even walked around the room. etc. After the end of the phenomenon, the cabinet was moved from its place. The medium pushed her chair forward, fearing that the cabinet would fall upon her. While the medium was thus seated at a distance from it. and while I distinctly saw both her hands and her feet, the cabinet moved from its place several times. At one particular time, in order to assure myself that I was in mv ricrht senses while makin^ the obseiwations I have just given, I tried to withdraw my thoughts from what was taking place around me, and to fix them upon something indifferent, and disconnected with the seance. I wished to see if my thoughts would obev mv will.'^ In ^ During all this time. Miss Hjelt's face was but six fingers' lengths away from the medium's knees. — A. A. - Miss Hjelt had not remarked the time of their disappearance. A. A. ^ The writer seems to have been on her guard against any hyp- notic intluence. — Translator. 46 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. this I succeeded perfectly. Accordingly, I can confidently affirm that the manifestations — incredible as they appeared to my reason — actually took place, and that the medium did not make one motion to assist in the appearance or disappearance of the same. After the Seaftce. I had an opportunity to examine the piece of material which was cut from the veil. It was a texture as fine as gauze and put me in mind of a spider's web, but was more closely woven and stronger. It did not appear luminous in the dark. I conversed with the medium, who told me that what had occurred was an entirely new experience for her. It appears that, hitherto, she has hardly herself h^Qn able to observe or measure her dematerializations. She had there- fore been very much astonished when, in the attempt to rest her hands upon her lap, she had found the chair empty under her. She told me she had all the time felt as if her limbs were in the proper place, but her hands could not feel them. I have only to add that it was not the medium who in- formed the circle of the phenomenon. The announcement was made by Mr. Selling, w^hen he returned to his seat. Accept, etc. Helsingfors, December 15th, 1S93. Vera Hjei.t. B. Letter from Mons. Aksakof to Miss Hjelt. [Original in French.] St. Petersburg, December 3d-iith,^ 1894. Perstective Nevsky, 6. Madejnoiselle : It is with sentiments of profound satis- faction that I have read the account of the seance of ^ Where double dates are thus given, the first is that of the fulian A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 47 December nth, 1S93, with Madam d'Esperance, which you have been so kind as to send me through the agency of General Toppelius. You haye built a fine monument to the honor of ]\Iadam d'Esperance, attacked as it is by General Sederholm. I w^as struck with the precision and acuteness of your obser- vation. A rare thing, this, in spiritualism, even among men ; and when I reflect that you are inexperienced in such matters, I am the more surprised. Will you, then, accept the assurance of my lasting grati- tude, and if I have delayed its expression it is because I did not have your address and have just obtained it. A single detail is lacking in your account, namely, the amount of light in the room. You state only that it was lighter than at the preceding seances, and that you plainly distinguished the medium and her hands. That is good, and very important ; but to what extent could you so dis- tinguish her — in what details? For instance, could you make out the fingers, the face, the coiffure^ of the medium.^ And was not the degree of light varied during the seance.^ I pass, for the present, to some other particulars. You say : " Suddenly, there appeared in the opening of the curtain, a tall, luminous figure ;" and shortly after- wards, "then we saw an arm come out of the cabinet, from very far up." Am I to understand that the appari- tion (of the figure) and the arm appeared in the middle opening of the cabinet, over the. medium f This is a very important point and the information should be exact. Who were the five persons who examined the chair when the limbs wxre not there? How many times did calendar or year, still used in Russia and Greece, while the second is that of the Gregorian calendar or vear, now used in all other Christian countries. — Translator. 48 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERI ALIZATION. Madam d'Esperance ask for water while in that condition, and who handed it to her ? There is another essential point: you say, "The medi- um's skirts remained extended, as they had been during the entire seance, and sloped towards her feet." What do you mean by "sloped"? Further on, you say, "As for the folds of her skirt, I saw them, so to speak, yf// out.^^ Then the skirts could not have remained extended, as they had been during the entire seance, as you had said just be- fore ? This is either a contradiction or a faulty expression. And later, you say, "And, without my knowing how, the tips of her feet reappeared, crossed as they had been before the commencement of the seance." ^ You must refer to the shoes or slippers. But might it not be argued that the medium had merely drawn them back under her skirts and thrust them forward a little later? Why did the occurrence seem incomprehensible to you ? This is all that occurs to me at the moment. May I presume upon your kindness and hope that you will instruct me as to the particulars that I have pointed out? Accept, once more, the assurance of my deepest grati- tude and the expression of my most sincere regard. A. Aksakof. C. Miss HjeWs Reply to Hons. Aksakof. [Original in Swedish.] Helsingfors, January 2Sth, 1S94. Monsieur le Conseiller d'Etat : I beg you to accept my sincere thanks for your letter. I am happy to know that my account of the seance of December nth pleased you. * There is a slight misquotation of Miss Hjelt's words, but it proves of no consequence. — Translator, A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX. 49 I will give you the further information desired, at once. You ask me to define the amount of light in the room more exactly. To do so, I may state that I could see the entire form of the medium distinctly, as well as the outline of her hands, defined against her light-colored gown. As for the features of her face and her coiffure^ it was difficult for me to see them constantly, as the medium was seated before the cabinet and the drapery was very dark. But each time that she changed her position, her bust was brouo:ht somewhat forward and all the outlines of her figure were clearly shown against the white window-shut- ter which I have already spoken of. Every time that she extended her arm, I could see not onlv the motion of her fingers, but the fingers themselves, crushing the paper which she held in her hand. It gives me great pleasure to hear that you intend to visit Helsingfors. I hope that your coming will be of great benefit, for it will certainly be easy for you to unravel the confusion of ideas which this phenomenon of demate- rialization has produced in our minds. Should you so desire, I shall be very glad to act the part of the medium, temporarily, for you ; that is to say, I will sit in a gown of the same shade and color as that worn by Madam d' Esperance^ and reproduce^ in the same lights all her acts and gestures^ as I observed them at the seance referred to. I trust it will then be easy for you to demonstrate the in- justice of General Sederholm's suspicions. The position which I occupied at the seance was such that I think I can reproduce the occurrences in question, in all their details. I can also show you that my eyesight and that of my companion is excessively acute. I can as- I \ 50 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. sure you that it would have been impossible for the medium to attempt any imposition without my discovering it. You asked me for some particulars on the following points : " Suddenly, a tall, luminous figure appeared in the open- ing of the curtain, etc." Once, I saw a bicst in the middle openiiig of the cabinet. The form appeared to sta7id directly behind the medium's chair. It brushed the medium's shoulder with its luminous hand and Madam d'Esperance shuddered at the touch. ^ But the other luminous form, of which you ask a more exact description, appeared in the opening at the right of the drapery. Its motions seemed very strange ; at first, it seemed to push aside the piece of paper which the medium held in her hand, then it retreated to the cabinet and drew the curtain behind it ; at last, and suddenly, it thrust forth its arm and snatched the sheet. This incident I can reproduce so exactly that it will inevitably refresh the memories of the witnesses. The skeptic must remember that it would have been impossible for the medium to produce these appearances fraudulently, seated as she was and talking with us all the time. The five persons who felt of the chair while the medium's limbs were intangible are Mr. Seiling, Capt. Toppelius, Dr. Hertzberg, Engineer Schoultz, and Mr. Boldt. Madam d'Esperance asked for a drink at least twice dur- ing the manifestation. Water was given her by Mr. Seil- ing and Dr. Hertzberg. The expression "Madam d'Esperance's skirt sloped to- wards her feet " struck you as inexact. I mean by it that ^Miss Hjelt, afterwards, in reply to a question, told me that she plainly saw the fingers of this hand as it came down and touched the medium's shoulder. — A. A. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX . 51 the skirt, around the ankles, necessarily appeared more scant, so to speak, than it did higher up.^ As for the folds of her skirt. I saw them, so to speak, fill out." etc. "You will readily see that they could not have remained equally full all through the seance; for. during the exam- ination into the phenomenon, the hands of the witnesses must have flattened them out considerably in feeling of the chair-seat ; but thereafter, when the manifestation was over and the limbs restored, the skirts would fill out again. '•AVithout my knowing how. the feet reappeared." I should have said, the points of her slippers. You ask, ^Slight it not be argued that the medium had simplv drawn them back under her skirts:" Perhaps so ; but then there must have been some movement of her limbs and I should have seen it. because I fixed my eyes upon the place where the feet should reappear and never took them off it. on purpose to see how it happened and whether it was accompanied' bv anv motion of the bodv or not. I can also show you just how this occurred, when you are here, and vou can then judge whv it seemed incompre- hensible to me. A little earlier, (that is. before our atten- tion was called to the dematerialization." ) the medium stretched herself, thrusting out her feet in so doing. This, naturalh". made it impossible for her to draw back her feet without some movement of the limbs. At least. I have been unable to accomplish it. in spite of repeated experiments. ^ It is difficult to convey the writer's exact meaning by translation, and the verbal equivalents would not do it. The full sense is that the pressure of the gentlemen's hands, while the medium's limbs were dematerialized, flattened the skirt out. It therefore appeared more scant*' at the ankles, than higher up, where the body remained material, and therefore held it ••full.'" — Translator. 52 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. I have done my best to answer your questions, but if any- thing is still obscure, I shall be very happy to inform you further if you have the slightest desire that I should do so. In the meantime accept my assurances of the greatest re- spect and distinguished consideration. Vera Hjelt. D. Supple^nentary Letter from Miss Hjelt. Helsingfors, March 35th, 1894. Monsieur le Co7iseiller d' Etat: I have the honor of submitting what follows, relative to the subject of the questions which you have been kind enough to ask me, through Mr. Selling. First, as to my previous attitude towards spiritualism — I have known of the movement since 18S0, without ever un- derstanding anything about it, (except in the last two years,) but supposing that it dealt solely with the reality of ghosts. But for the past two years I have read, with vivid interest, books both in favor of and against spiritualism, and have taken part in the seances of family circles, here, and in those of the Society for Psychic Research of Stockholm. I was therefore perfectly familiar with the principles of spiritualism — at least with the most important ones. As for the purely psychic aspect of the question, I believed in the possibility of the phenomena, though I was not con- vinced of their actual occurrence. But 1 acquired that cer- tainty in the course of seances given by Madam d'Esperance, having frequently had an opportunity to test the genuine- ness of the phenomena. The last of these sittings was par- ticularly convincing to me. That which I saw and wit- nessed from my place is not, for me, a belief : it is a fact. At the same time, I have continued my investigations in A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATIOX . 53 spirituali>m with -till greater interest, without losing anv of the faculty, which is my special characteristic, for tak- ing a calmlv critical view of such manifestations. I mav be permitted to pass this judgment upon mvself . because the method by which a person is accustomed to weigh evidence exercises a certain influence upon her judgment and her power of observation. And since vou have been so kind as to attach some value to mv observa- tion during this seance. I wish to convince vou that I am not so credulous as to permit myself to be tricked or im- posed upon. Second. I have taken part in six seances held bv ]Madam d'Esperance. at Helsingfors. Third. At the last seance, the distance between the me- dium and myself was about three feet ; but when I leaned forward, as I constantly did, the better to obsenx, the distance was hardlv more than half a foot. Fourth. I Avas fully aware of the importance of exact observation, and of seeing the medium and the figure, both at the same time and apart from each other, because I had discussed that matter beforehand with persons who doubted the honesty of the medium. I particularly remember one conversation, held while the medium was visiting St. Petersburg, when her good faith and the possibility of the phenomena were daily discussed ; for this reason, I made a vow that if another seance was held I would secure a good place, close to the medium, and watch the manifestations closely enough to be able to swear to the accuracy of my observation. The two persons with whom I made this com^^act agreed to be governed bv mv judsTment. We for- mally decided that the investigation should be left to me. I have not asked those persons for permission to give their names in this letter, but I do not doubt thatthev would wish 54 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. me to do so. They were Dr. Hertzberg and his wife. I promised them not to allow myself to be frightened by the apparitions, lest, if flurried, I should forget to watch the medium. That is why the medium was the principal ob- ject of my attention at the last seance, though I could not prevent myself from seeing other things at the same time. Fifth, At the time of the dematerialization of the me- dium, I was naturally not in a position to give my atten- tion to the manner in which it happened. But the medium made no sort of movement with her feet, either forward or sideways. I could not have helped noticing it if she had done so, for I was but a few fingers' lengths away, and kept my eyes fixedly upon her feet. After the gentlemen had examined the chair and vouched for the dematerialization, I resolved to watch carefully how and whence the feet reappeared. I should state that I also watched for anything that might come from the cabinet, on either side of the chair on which the medium was seated. I do not know why I said that her feet reappeared with a somewhat violent motion,' perhaps I referred to some other movement of the medium. I was expecting it, and watched the medium very narrow- ly and carefully, that I might be able to form an opinion as to how it occurred. But I did not detect any motion of the low^er part of her body, and everything happened as I have related it. Sixth, The medium's garment was tight-fitting; a prin- cess robe, with a large Watteau fold down the back and a smaller one in front, as you have doubtless seen them. ^ Miss H. had iiot so stated in any of her former letters. Some expression of hers must have been mis-quoted to her. I have noted one unimportant instance of this on a previous page. Translator. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX . 55 The folds are fastened to an under-waist or Iniing of shirt- ing. Dresses of this pattern are often worn by ladies on formal occasions. My dressmaker tells me that the folds of such a dress will not fall gracefullv unless it is made in this way — in fact, she knows no other wav to make one. A gown of this kind is very difficult to put on. It is not upon my own observation alone that I depend for the cor- rectness of my description of this costume, but also upon several conversations with the ladies Toppelius. at whose house ]Madam d'Esperance staved. In view of the suspicion aroused bv General Sederholm, (of which he made mention even before his newspaper article.) we examined the gown and found that it differed in no way from what it siiould be. from a feminine point of view. In other words, ]\Iadam d'Esperance's gown gave no ground whatever for suspicion, and was correctly made. If I can be of any service in furnishing further explana- tions. I shall jdways consider it a favor on your part if you will put your c^uestions, and it ^vill give me great pleasure to answer them as far as I can. Very trul\ Vera Hjelt. II. Testimony of Staff-Officer Captaix Toppelius. [Original in Russian.] . . . After several persons had approached ]Madam d'Esperance"s chair. I mvself received permission to do so. INIadam d'Esperance took mv hands and passed them along her figure, from the shoulders downwards, on both sides : suddenly, instead of feeling any continuation of her 56 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. body, I came to an empty space. ^ Madam d' Esperance passed my hand along the seat to the very back, and I found nothing but her robe. The space between the medium and the seat of the chair was very small. I remember that, during all the time, the medium was very much agitated. I had not intended to make a more particular examination and therefore returned to my seat. GUSTAVE ToPPELIUS, Capitaiyie d'Etat- Major. Helsingfors, 3/15, December, 1893. III. Testimony of Prof. Seiling. A. Letter from Prof. Selling'^ to Mo?is. Aksakof. [Original'in German.] Sir: Though not personally acquainted with you, I send you the following account, because your friend Madam d' Esperance has expressed a desire that I should do so, as she thought that its contents would prove of great interest to you. The following manifestation, among others, occurred at a spiritual seance held at my residence on the nth of the current month, with Madam d'Esperance as medium. Towards the close of the seance, which had lasted nearly two hours and a half. Madam d'Esperance, at whose left I sat, then close to the cabinet, asked me to touch the seat of ^ Je rencontrai un vide.'' ^ Professor of mechanical technology in the Ecole Polytechnique at Helsingfors. — A. A. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATIOX . 57 her chair, but guided mv hand herself. To mv great as- tonishment, slie passed niy liand all over the seat Avithout my finding anything of the lower part of her body, while I could see and feel her dress, spread over the chair. Re- turning to mv place, I saw ]\Iadam d'Esperance for a full quarter of an hour, apparently sitting in her chair, with the lower part of her body all the time wanting, so that her dress huno- down at a risfht ano-le from the front edo^e of the chair. In order that another participant might better examine the phenomenon, I changed places with a person who was nearer the middle of the circle than I ; therefore I could not observe the outline of her body as clearly as those who were seated at one side, among whom was my wife, who informs me that she distinctly saw the lower part of the medium's body return to its normal conformation. It seems to me worthy of remark that, ivliile in that con- dition^ Madam d'Esperance twice drank water. The light was sufficient to enable the medium to be very plainly seen from five seats in the half -circle. Afterwards, when I asked Madam d'Esperance why she had guided mv hand, she answered that the thought alone of the chair being moved, bathed her in a sweat of agony, and that if such a thing had happened she would certainly have suffered intense pain. ]My general report of all the seances which have been held at Helsingfors will very probably be published in Die Ubersin n I ich e W dt} Accept, etc., . . . Max Seilixg. Helsingfors, December 4/16, 1893. ^ It appeared in the numbers for January and February, 1894. A. A. 58 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. B. Letter from Mo?is. Aksakof to Prof. Selling. St. Petersburg, December 10/23, 1893. Dear Sir: I am greatly indebted to you for your let- ter. The fact is that the subjective impressions of Ma- dam d'Esperance may readily differ from the reality, as it exists for us. This is why I have so impatiently waited for the confirmatory testimony of the other witnesses to the remarkable phenomenon of the disappearance of a part of the medium's body at a seance. For this phenomenon is of the very first importance to an understanding of the principles of materialization, and it is therefore incumbent on us to demonstrate the fact with the greatest possible plenitude of detail. As I am convinced that you share my interest in this aspect of the question, to the fullest extent, I take the lib- erty of addressing you, with the request that you will kindly reply to the following questions : I St. In what kind of a chair was Madam d'Esperance seated? Can you not give me a drawing of it? 2nd. Can you not also give me a profile sketch of the medium's figure as it appeared at the time, as well as of the position of her dress on the chair? 3rd. When Madam d'Esperance called you and asked for your hand, had she before that spoken of the disap- pearance of her limbs, or did she put your hand, directly, upon the chair without saying anything? (I ask this in view of a possible claim that it was a case of suggested hallucination.) 4th. When you passed your hands over the chair, did you plainly see the upper part of her body, the hands and the head, and did you talk with her? 5th. You say : " She passed my hand all over the chair." A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 59 This is a very important particular, for it might be said that Madam d'Esperance had disposed her limbs so clev- erly that her skirt would lie flat on one side of the chair, and hang verticidly. Therefore the whole question amounts to this : — Did you feel the entire seat^ even to the baek of the chair^ and did your hand penetrate beneath the upper part of the medium's body ? 6th. Who is the gentleman to whom you gave your seat that he might look in his turn ? Will he not be so good as to give me his evidence in regard to the matter? 7th. I beg that Madam Selling, too, will give me the benefit of her observation, as to the disappearance and re-appearance of the medium's limbs, as critically as pos- sible. 8th. Who are the persons who twice gave the medium water, and can they testify to the absence of her limbs at the time? For you say " While in that condition she tivice draiik water."" 9th. And finally, in view of the possible suggestion that Madam d'Esperance had adroitly slipped Ijehind a chair., covering it with the folds of her skirt, I would ask : (ya) Was the light, during all the seance, sufficient to see that the medium kept her seat, or were there moments when it was more dim and when Madam d'Esperance could have risen from her seat and entered the cabinet, without being observed ? {b) Was there an open space between her chair and the cabinet? (<:) Did any one touch the upper part of the medium's body and the chair, while her limbs and feet were intangi- ble ? I beg you to excuse me for this importunate inquiry, but I have felt that I must pursue it, both in the interest 60 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. of a cause which is dear to me and for the personal repu- tation of Madam d'Esperance. Kindly accept, etc., . . . A. Aksakof. C. Prof. Seiling's Reply to Mons. Aksakof. [Original in German.] Helsingfors, January 7th, 1894. Monsieur le Conseiller d'Etat : Fully realizing the importance of the reasons which prompted the circumstantial interrogatory to which you have submitted me, I shall, to the best of my ability, answer the questions asked in your letter of December ioth-22nd, 1893. § § I and 3. I have endeavored to answer these by the enclosed sketches. I attach the very greatest importance to questions of measure. As you will observe, the lower part of the back of the chair is open. The upper part of the medium's body was not always upright, as it is drawn, but was bent forward from time to time, especially during the examination of the back of the chair by those present. And just here I wish to note the fact that it would have been impossible for the upper part of her body, as it is drawn and as I carefully observed it, (both sideways and, later, from in front,) to have occupied the natural position of a seated person, if the low^er part of her body had been standing behind, or at the side of, the chair. § 3. My expectation was not aroused when Madam d'Esperance called me to her and said, "Mr. Selling, give me your hand and feel of the chair." It was not till after I had felt of it that I understood what the request referred to. ^ (61) 62 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. § 4. I involuntarily exclaimed, "Madam d'Esperance is not seated in the chair, but only her dress is spread upon it," expressly because I could feel nothing of her body at that point. I suppose it can hardly be necessary for me to state that I could distinctly see all the upper part of her body above the seat, as all could see that as well as I — at least, all those nearest her could. I talked with Madam d'Esperance, also. § 5. In Fig. 3, the zigzag line shows the part traversed by my hand in feeling of the seat, and shows how truly I can say that I felt all over it in the operation, even under the trunk of the medium's body. The hypothesis that she had drawn back her limbs is absolutely exploded. One thing struck me afterwards, when I had time to weigh all the circumstances, and that is that while ex- amining the seat I seemed to feel only the dress, which was of fine woollen cloth, without feeling any gainrient beneath it. In other words, if I am not mistaken, all the undergarments were dematerialized as well as her body. § 6. The person was Dr. Hertzberg. I have tried to see him and communicate your request, but have not yet succeeded. He knows all about it. § 7. My wife's account is enclosed herewith. § 8. Water was given to Madam d'Esperance, once by me and the other time by Dr. Hertzberg. When I ap- proached to give Madam d'Esperance the water, I had again the same view that I had when I examined her chair for the first time. § 9. General Sederholm must have imagined the facts of his narrative ; I say imagined, because, at that seance, he was seated too far away, and moreover his sight is too poor, for him to be able to make so exact an observa- tion. Miss Hjelt has, in her account, sufficiently explained A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX. 63 how he came to think that ]Madam d'Esperance partially arose. (^7) The light, once adjusted, remained the same. That, spite of all. ]Madam d'Esperance might have moved, is possible ; for no one anticipated the occurrence of any such phenomenon. But, if she had once attained a standing position behind the chair, it would have been utterly im- possible for her to regain her seat without being detected. (3) The chair was so close to the curtains of the cabi- net that there was no open space intervening, yet I could see that the chair did not actually touch the cabinet. The principal arguments against the supposition advanced are the natural position of the upper part of the body, as of one seated, and the ditHculty of regaining her seat, as pointed out in (^r) above. (V) As nearly as I can learn, Capt. Toppelius touched the upper part of the bodv. Xeither Dr. Hertzberg nor I did so. AVith every assurance of my distinguished consideration, etc., ]Max Seilixg. D. Siipplaiienta)')' Report of Prof . Selling. [Original in German.] Helsixgfors, January 15th. 1S94. Monsieur le Consciller d'Eiat : I hope I shall, to a degree, fulfil your Avishes,^ by the following complementarv report of the seance of the iith— 1 2th of December, 1S93. You will find in it the desired ^ I had written, asking that he would send me more particulars of the seance, the plan of tlie room, the light, the position of the participants, etc. — A. A. 64 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. plan, a description of the room, the light and the cabinet, as well as the names of and the positions occupied by the participants. EXPLANATION OF DIAGRAM. The room in which the seance of December nth took place is in the second storey. The entrance to the dining-room, used as the seance-room, is through the parlor. The two wings of the parlor door were open during the seance, but the kitchen door was closed and locked. Only a feeble light could have entered from the parlor, for it was not illuminated and its two windows were almost covered by heavy curtains. Before the windows of the dining-room were white tulle window-shades and sliding white shutters. The shutter was lowered over the right window, that nearest the parlor, only. The principal light came from the street, by the left window. There was also a small oil lamp, lighted and placed in a niche of the stove ; the doors of this niche were placed as shown in the diagram, the front opening was covered with red paper and the top of the niche was covered with the medium's shawl. I could plainly see the form of the medium's head and hands ; on the other hand, I could hardly see her coiffure^ because, from where I sat^ the background was dark. There was so much light from the street that when the shutters were raised, without any lamp burning in the room, one could easily be recognized at a distance of two metres.^ The cabinet was not placed directly against the wall, because there was a pier-glass behind it, mounted on a bracket. Nor was it placed in the center of the space between the two windows, but facing the three persons ^ A little more than two yards. — Translator. I ^ ^ Cfjs:., 1. Capt. Toppelius. 2. ]Madam Selling. 3. ]SIr. Lonnbom. 4. Aliss Hjelt. 5- Genl. Galindo. 6. Madam Toppelius. 7. Genl. Toppelius. 8. Mr. Boldt. 9- 10. II. iSIiss Toppelius. Genl. Sederholm. iSIiss C. Toppelius. 12. Dr. Hertzberg. (65) ^Iv. Schoultz. Miss Tavaststjerna. Prof. Seiling. Madam d'Esperance. 66 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERI ALIZATION. who occupied the middle of the circle, as shown in the diagram. The width, depth and height of the cabinet were, respectively, 120 centimeters, 60 and 180/ There was nothing inside it. Upon a small table beside me, were a carafe of water, a candle, (unlighted,) paper and pencils. For the first half hour, Capt. Toppelius took his father's place, so that the latter might examine the hands extended from the cabinet. All the dimensions of the room and furniture are drawn in exact proportion, upon the scale indicated. Report. The seance commenced at a quarter of eight and ended about a quarter after ten o'clock. A lighted lamp stood on the table near the stove ; it was extinguished after everybody, including the medium, was seated. The medium wore a princess gown of white woollen stuff, trimmed with lace at the top. Within the first quarter of an hour, the light was arranged, the shutter of the right window was drawn down, and the doors of the niche in the stove were adjusted as shown in the diagram. Two thirds of the time which the seance lasted was occupied in singing well-known airs. About ten minutes after the final adjustment of the light, the first manifestation occurred : A hand was shown in the opening of the curtain, at the right side of the cabinet and at the left of the medium. This hand came and went, disappeared and returned again and again. I took it^ and so did both my nearest 7ieighbors; it was of medium size, bare and warm, and was a right hajid. It was impossible, ^ Something more than 47 inches wide, 24 deep, and 69 high. Translator. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERI ALIZATIOX . 67 therefore, that it could be the medium's hand, for we could see her seated and motionless in her chair. After a while, I grasped a second hand, which appeared to me larger than the first ; at least, it was warmer and pressed mine more cordially. Later, an entire luminous form appeared in the same opening of the curtain, but was not recognized. I was permitted to cut off a piece of this spirit's veil. This incident has been exactly described to you by Miss Hjelt. The material is a white crepe, pure silk and of extreme fineness, as I have proved by microscopic and chemical ex- amination. I send a small scrap of it. herewith. Hands had already appeared at the other end of the cabinet, but after this episode of the veil they became still more numerous and clasped the hands of those nearest the cabinet. Several times, there were two, and even three, together. — At least, so I have been assured, for I did not see them myself : I St. Because I was too much occupied with what was happening at mv side of the cabinet. I was constantly expecting something. 2nd. Because the background was perfectlv dark. 3rd. Perhaps, also, because the body of the medium interposed. For this reason, I saw very little of the inci- dent of the paper and pencil, which Miss Hjelt has de- scribed in all its details. I saw only that the paper disap- peared suddenly from the medium's lap and how, after a little, it was returned from the top of the cabinet. [It was I who gave the paper and pencil to Madam d'Espe- rance.] On the other hand. I lieard the rustling of the paper, both within and without the cabinet, and the sound of writing that came from the cabinet. This " direct spirit writing" very greatly resembles the indirect ^w'xtiwg obtained 68 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERI ALIZ ATION. when Madam d'Esperance herself held the pencil, under other circumstances. I attach a specimen of one of these indirect writings, certain letters in which correspond exactly with the medium's hand. The words of this direct writing — " I will help you ! " — refer, in my opinion, to the medium ; but the paper was not handed to her, in order that we might be the more fully convinced that it was truly dii'ed writing. In the course of the afternoon. General Toppelius told Madam d'Esperance that at the preceding seance two gentlemen, having accidentally touched her chair, had found it empty. I could not credit this, for my part ; for, sitting in the second seat, counting from the cabinet, I had Madam d'Esperance constantly in view. This statement seemed perfectly incomprehensible to Madam d'Esperance and she was so much distressed by it, that it argued ill for the suc- cess of the last sitting. But it turned out far otherwise ; for by the partial dematerialization of the medium, it was shown that the seat of the chair might be empty without the medium's having left it. A dematerialization so com- plete would not have been necessary for any other purpose than that, for during the dematerialization not a spirit ap- peared, and there seemed to be very little going on in the cabinet. A considerable time before the phenomenon of dematerialization, 1 saw one form come 02tt of the cabinet, at the other end, but it only advanced one pace. Finally, it should also be remarked that, at the close of the seance, it was found that the position of the cabinet had been changed and that it had been moved to one side, very much as shown in the diagram. But I had already observed movements of the cabinet, on other occasions. Accept the expression of my highest consideration. Yours sincerely. Max Seiling. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION . 69 E. Lette7' from Mons. Aksakof to Prof. Seilhig. [Original in French.] St. Petersburg, January iith-23rd, 1S94. Dear Sir : There is, in your letter of January 15th, a detail of ^■ery great importance. While you sat at the left of the medium, a right hand was given you. This is a positive statement, but it is nec- essary to be more explicit. How did you knoiv that it was a right hand f By sight, or by feeling, or by both those senses at once? Was it a simiple meeting of the hands, (as is ordinarilv the case,) or a regular clasp? — Did you " shake hands'' as the English say? In other words, did you place your thumb betiL'cen the thumb and the back of that right hand, pressing the palms together with the other fingers, as is customary? Can you speak with abso- lute certainty as to these particulars ? For the evidence will then be decisive. And can your neighbors, ]Miss Tavaststjerna and ]Mr. Schoultz, also testify that it was indeed a right hand ? Then, a little further on. you say I took a second hand " without stating if this was another right hand. This is the first point : the second and last detail which I need is a description of the arrangement of the cabinet. How was it made? In the first number of the " Uber- sinnliche Welt," which I have just received, this informa- tion is wanting, and it is necessary, in order to understand the appearance of the hands. I hope that I shall soon have the pleasure of making your personal acquaintance, for I see that it is indispensa- ble for me to visit Helsingfors in order to definitely elucid- ate the important phenomena of this last seance and the diverse opinions relative to it. I have recently seen General 70 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. Galindo ; he says that it was so dark that he could see noth- ing, although he sat next Miss Hjelt. Then, it seems im- perative that all the conditions of illumination should be reproduced, so that I can judge of it with my own eyes. Will you be so kind as to give me an opportunity so to do, if I go to Helsingfors ? And besides, is it possible for us to reproduce it ; for instance, if the light which came from the street, by the window with its shutter up, was caused by the light of the moon and not by unvarying light of the street lamps ? Thanking you again for your courtesy, I have permitted myself to trouble you still further, as you see, and without ceremony, leaving the rest until our interview. Accept, etc., A. Aksakof. F. Reply of Prof . Seiling. [Original in German.] Helsingsfors, January 26th, 1894. Monsieur le Co7iseiller d' Etat : I am happy to be able to send you an early reply, as the opening of parliament has given me a day's liberty. I still owe you explanations upon two points. The first refers to the manner in which I took the hand. Both times, it was i?idubitably a right hand — I " shook hands," as you suggest in your letter ; and as this can only be done with two right hands, (or two left hands,) there can not be the slightest question upon this point. It is absolute deinon- stration^ as strong as you could wish it. Nevertheless, the manner of the two "hand-shakings" was ver}^ differ- ent. The first time, the grasp was like that of one who is A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX . 71 Utterly indifferent; the second time, it was emphaticallv cordial. The second hand was warmer than the first, too. ]Miss Tavaststjerna, on whom I called today, felt exactly the same thing and is ready to swear that it was a right hand. ^Ir. Schoultz. whom I have also seen, is not so positive about his experience, as only the tips of his fingers were pressed by the spirit's hand. For that matter, he did not exchange any real " hand-shake " and touched none but the first hand. The other point refers to the cabinet. This was impro- vised with a folding screen of iour plaques^ so disposed that it was twice as wide as it was deep. To give it rigidity, we attached it with cords to a broomstick, in front and at the top. A woollen cover was thrown over the whole, and ta^'o shawls closed the opening in front. There was, there- fore, one entrance in the center and one at each side. It was this side entrance that I called "the opening in the curtain"; it was thej'e that the hands appeared and they were quite high, as if those of a standing person. In the center, the two shawls lapped a little over each other — nearly fifteen centimetres.^ I hope to be able to reproduce the exact amount of light that was in the room when the seance took place. It is true that there is now no snow, whereas there was a great deal at the time, but \ve trust more will fall before your arrival. There was no moonlight, the moon beins: new. This must be taken into consideration at the time of your visit, for the room faces towards the south. You will meet all the persons present at the seance, ex- ^ About six inches. — Translator. 72 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. cept, perhaps, General Toppelius ; but he was in a very disadvantageous seat. Accept the assurance of my highest consideration. Sincerely yours, Max Seiling. IV. Testimony of Madam Helene Seiling. [Original in German.] A. Note from Madam Seiling. At the seance w^hich w^as held in our house on December iith, 1S93, could not, for want of space, obtain a seat in the circle, properly so called, and therefore took a seat behind the first and second chairs at the right of the me- dium. As I was not at all prepared for the partial dema- terialization of the medium, I did not observe the disap- pearance of her limbs. I only saw that she remained seated in her chair, all the time. But my attention being attracted to the matter, by my husband's exclamation when he examined the chair, I watched from that moment with the most rigorous attention and can testify that, for at least a quarter of an hour, nothing was to be seen of her limbs ; that her dress looked as if it rested directly against the chair, and that it fell to the floor at a right angle. Confining my attention strictly to the ulterior develop- ments of this remarkable phenomenon, I saw" the dress fill out, (so to speak,) little by little, and the outlines became more and more full, until her entire body had returned to its natural state. During all this time I could see the upper part of her form, which appeared as if she was seated, and from time to time she bent forward, away from the back A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 73 of the chair. I saw her take the glass and drink, and heard her speak. Helene Seiling. B. Re7narks by Mojis, Aksakof. At my request, as there was an apparent con- tradiction between the narratives of Miss Hjelt and Madam Seiling, Prof. Seiling gave me the following explanation: In order to explain the apparent contradiction between the accounts of Miss Hjelt and my wife, I called upon the former this morning. By comparing notes, we found that Miss Hjelt's testimony referred to the commencement of the phenomenon, while my wife's, (like my own,) refers to what occurred after I had examined the chair, in which process I had flattened out the medium's dress. The con- tour of the skirt had not been altered in the handling of the seat, at the time mentioned by Miss Hjelt, but hung full until after my first examination. V. Testimony of Miss Fanny Tavaststjerna. [Original in French.] A. Letter from Miss Tavaststjerna to Mons, Aksakof. Helsingfors, April 14th, 1S94. Monsieur le Coyiseiller d'Etat : At length I can send you the testimony which vou have so much desired, I greatly regret the long delay. I am 74 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. sure that you will excuse me when I state that it was due to my repeated illnesses since your departure. I pass, then, to the seance. For the external arrange- ments, I beg leave to refer you to the detailed description furnished by Miss Hjelt. Personally, I should state that at the last seance which Madam d'Esperance gave us at Helsingfors I had the good fortune to occupy one of the very best places for ivatchijig the medium. I had the sec- ond seat at her left, and the circle being very narrow, my knees were hardly thirty centimetres ^ from those of the medium. Thanks to this proximity and to the light, which was very good, (my neighbor on the right could read the time from his watch,) I could follow every movement of the medium. Furthermore, I did not lose sight of her for an instant, and I declare that it would have been impossi- ble for her to have risen from her seat w^ithout my remark- ing it. I should state that I am not one of the credulous, but am, on the contrary, very critical. With these few general observations, I pass to such manifestations as I plainly saw and felt, during the last seance. We had not been long seated before a hand appeared in the opening of the cabinet, on the side nearest me. My neighbor on the right, (Prof. Selling, who occupied the first seat to the left of the medium,) shook the hand, which instantly disappeared behind the drapery ; he then said, " There is a lady here who greatly desires to shake hands with you," when the hand reappeared. My neigh- bor quickly caught my hand and placed it in that which came from the cabinet. It was cool and moist, but pressed my hand kindly. ^ About one foot. — Translator. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX. 75 A little later, the curtains on our side again opened and I saw a tall, luminous figure standing motionless in the aperture. I offered my hand and it was clasped in a hand much larger than the one I had shaken before. The fin- gers seemed a little attenuated, something like those of a very aged person ; but when they grasped mine, their pres- sure was very firm and as cordial as any that I have ever felt. During all this time, I saw the medium quietly seated in her chair, within a foot of my own. I should also state that both the hands that I had clasped^ besides being on the left of the medium and quite high up between the curtains, were right hands. This absolutely proves that neither was the medium's hand. Mr. Sailing, the first person to the left of the cabinet, had a pair of scissors and asked the spirit if it would give him a piece of its veil. The form took the scissors and retired into the cabinet, whence I heard a slight noise, as if a person were cutting something. In a little while, it came back and returned the scissors to Prof. Selling. The latter was not satisfied, as he had not obtained what he wanted, and said to the spirit, '-But you have not given me a piece of your veil." The form then lifted a corner of the veil and held it towards Prof. Selling, who cut off a piece. After the seance, the material, which vras exceed- ingly fine and beautiful, excited the admiration of all. There were several materializations at the other side of the cabinet ; but not having seen them distinctlv. I am not qualified to speak of them. I therefore pass to the dema- terialization ; and I here repeat that, from where I sat, I could plainly see all that the medium did. I was intently watching the medium, when I heard her sigh profoundly and repeatedly, as if she was greatly dis' 76 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. turbed. Then I saw her raise both her hands, or wave them, several times, and I must confess that this aroused my suspicions. "We shall see," thought I, to myself; "perhaps she intends to out-do herself, or to palm off some deception upon us." In order to see better, I leaned forward and watched her thus, at close quarters. At this instant I heard her say to Prof. Selling, " Come and feel of my chair." He arose and I saw the medium take both his hands. Immediately afterwards he exclaimed, " This is marvellous ! I see Madam d'Esperance ; I hear her speak ; but there is nothing but her dress upon the chair." After an interval of a few moments, Madam d'Esperance permitted four other gentlemen to feel the chair. During the entire time, she appeared to suffer acutely. She sighed, and twice at least she asked nervously for a drink. I saw her take the glass of water, heard her swallow, and saw her return the glass. I saw that while the upper part of her body retained its ordinary outline, the lower part did not. The medium being seated, with her limbs extended a little ways in front of her, I could see the contour of her limbs and knees distinctly, during the early part of the seance ; but now, the skirt fell straight down in front of the chair, as if there was nothing inside it. This state of affairs lasted about five minutes, after which I suddenly noticed that the skirt was filled out again, though I can not say how the change took place, and I heard the medium exclaim, " Now I feel better;" and, later, I heard her say, " See, my limbs have been restored." Among the persons present at the seance but who were seated further from the cabinet, some claimed that, to produce this last marvel, the medium slipped behind the chair, or drew her limbs to its sides. But I can attest that A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 77 it was impossible for her to have accomplished either one or the other manceuvre ; because, as I have alread}^ said, the circle was so narrow that, in examining the cliair, the gentlemen would have tripped over the medium's limbs if she had placed them at the sides. On the other hand, as the light w^as very good and as I was seated close to the medium, who wore a dress that was almost white. I should have seen it if she had risen or had changed her place. If any assert that I was hypnotized, I reply that, if such was the case, not the slightest suspicion of it occurred to my mind during the seance. Accept the assurance of my highest consideration. Faxxy Tavaststjerxa. B. Supplement to the Foregoing Letter. In reply to a question of mine as to her previ- ous acquaintance with spiritualism, Miss Tavast- stjerna writes me as follows : Helsixgfors, April 20th. Monsieur : I have very little to say in reply to the ques- tion you ask me. I knew almost nothing of spiritualism, previous to the seances given by ]\Iadam d'Esperance. I had read very little, or almost nothing, of it, for I did not then know that spiritualism had a literature as complete as it is interesting. Such information as I possessed on the subject was given me by my sister, who is a member of the " Society for Psychical Research," of Stockholm, and by Miss Hjelt, who has attended meetings of that society for the past year. The subject interested me deeply and I had 78 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERI ALIZATION. an eager desire to learn more of it, and for this reason I was very glad of the opportunity to be present at the seances given by Madam d'Esperance. Accept, etc., Fanny Tavaststjerna. VI. Testimony of General Toppelius,' [Original in Russian.] When Madam d'Esperance returned from Petersburg, she stopped at my house, as formerly. When the question of another seance was discussed, I told her that it was absolutely necessary to have more light ; because after one of the seances that she had held here, before her departure for Petersburg, some persons suspected that she had risen from her seat, leaving only her dress on the chair, etc. I communicated this frankly to Madam d'Esperance ; the suspicion wounded her deeply, but she did not object to my proposal. The seance took place that same evening, December nth, at the house of Mr. Selling, by the light of a small lamp, which, though covered, enabled us to distinguish the out- lines of the spectators and the medium. As I was seated at the extremity of the circle, I could not see distinctly enough to testify positively as to all the extraordinary mani- festations which occurred at that seance. I have heard the others speak, in proportion to their opportunities for exact observation ; and from all the im- pressions that I have gathered, I consider that the account given by Miss Hjelt is in strict accordance with the truth. ^ At the date of my visit to Helsingfors, both the wife and daughter of General Toppelius were absent ; but the General told me that thej could testify to nothing positively, as thev were far from the medium : consequently, his testimony must count for theirs. — A. A. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZ ATION. 79 The sole detail lacking, in my opinion, is that, at the close of the seance, Madam d'Esperance was in a state of weak- ness and nervous depression such as I have never seen equalled. Her face and figure both manifested complete exhaustion, and the suffering visible in her features excited the most profound compassion. vShe seemed completely prostrated ; and I think if she iiad been placed upon scales, her weight would have shown a loss of ten kilogrammes,^ at least. The next morning, my daughter informed me that, on our return from the seance, ]Madam d'Esperance was so faint that she had gone directly to bed and that, in the morning, she was still too weak to attend to the packing of her baggage. As she had to set out that ver}' day, my daughter collected and packed her dresses and all her other belongings, and profited by the opportunity thus afforded, to examine them very carefully. But she found absolutely nothing suspicious — not a sign of a veil, masks, or gutta- percha hands, as some had been pleased to suspect. Accept, etc. G. Toppelius. Helsingfors, December 5th, 1S93. VII. Testimony of Dr. Raphael Hertzberg.^ [Original in German.] Helsingfors, April iSth, 1S94. Monsieur le Conseiller d'Etat: In reply to your letter. I have the honor of communi- cating what follows, relative to the " dematerialization ■ ' About twenty-two pounds. — Translator. ^Doctor of Philosophy and President of the "Men of Letters" Club, at Helsingfors. — A. A. 80 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERI ALIZATION. which occurred at one of the seances given by Madam d'Esperance. Before Madam d'Esperance called our atten- tion to the " dematerialization," my next neighbor and I saw her skirts swell out considerably, as it seemed to us. Miss Hjelt has told me that what appeared to me to be an enlargement of the medium's dress, was really a slight materialization, independent of the medium and floating, for an instant, in front of her like a cloud ; that not only did she touch it and find that lier hand seemed to be covered as if with a veil, but that she drew her neighbor towards it and made him feel of the nebulous shape, which thereupon passed away. The ' ' dematerialization " followed immediately. Madam d'Esperance called me to her, took my hands, and passed them all over the cushion of the chair, ^ which I patted and on which I found nothing but her dress spread out. I dis- tinctly saw the upper part of her body, as well as her hands ; but I was not thinking of the apparition and did not com- pare the proportions of the upper part of her body with hei surroundings.^ I was cut short by the importunate ap- proach of another impatient spectator, and returned to my place. A few moments later, at the request of Madam d'Espe- ^ When I met Dr. Hertzberg at Helsingfors, I expressed the great interest I felt in knowing exactly how he had examined the chair. He went to a chair, passed both his hands all over the seat and as far as the back. " How! " I exclaimed, " even to the back of the chair ! " " Yes," he replied, " even to the back, as I have just shown you." — A. A. ^ This is somewhat obscure, but seems to mean that he did not look to see if the upper part of her body appeared smaller than usual in anyway; as it possibly might in case iho. complete local dematerialization was accompanied by a greater or less degree of general dematerialization. — Translator. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX. 81 ranee. I took a seat close beside her. I saw the upper part of her body and her arms very phiinlv. as she leaned her left hand on the cushion of die chair. She asked for a glass of water and I gave her one. She seemed to lean heavilv upon her hand, for the arm trembled as if widi the effort. An instant later, she suddenly seized my hand with both hers. I had rested this hand upon the cushion of the chair, and I now felt the cushion moved as when one sits down heavily. Very soon afterwards, she told me to feel of the chair, and I found that her limbs were restored. Being very ill-informed as to spiritualistic phenomena. I was a mere spectator, and entirely passive. I did not ex- amine closely into the occurrences of this particular seance, and therefore can not speak of them more positively. The attempted explanations of the manifestations which Mr. Lonnbom has offered, are ridiculously childish. He sup- poses that ^ladam d'Esperance employed dolls and gutta- percha hands, yet declares that he saw nothing suspicious and that he could take his oath to that effect. BeofcrinsT vou to excuse me for this tardv response to vour esteemed favor, as well as for my imperfect knowledge of the German language. I am. with highest consideration, etc., Raphael Hertzberg. P.S. Madam d'Esperance says that she did not so seize any hand, at any time ; but she supposes that mine rested on the cushion, close to hers, all the time. After she took mv hand, (as it seemed to me.) without lifting it from the cushion, she held it a moment, pressing it nervously, as if she were in pain.' . ^ L'pon this point, see the testimony of Madam d'Esperance. A.A. This whole postscript is very obscure and indefinite*, and I have 82 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. VIII. Testimony of Mr. Schoultz, Civil Engineer. A. Letter from Mr. Schoultz to Mons. Aksakof. [Original in German.] Helsingfors, April 20th, 1S94. In compliance with your request, I send you the follow- ing report of observations which I made at a spiritualistic seance, given by Madam d'Esperance, at the house of Mr. Selling. After a small lamp, wrapped in red paper, had been placed in the niche of the stove, the room was so dark that I could not distinguish persons sitting opposite me, at a distance of from four to six feet ; but I could see the medium, who was dressed in a white muslin gown, very much like a loose lounging wrapper, with a Watteau fold down the back. The light was so dim that, though sitting in the third seat at the left of the medium, I could with the greatest difficulty make out her feet, which were ex- tended in front of her, and her arms, which from time to time she crossed above her head. After the participants had made a chain and sung for a few moments, I saw something white and faintly luminous, at the left side of the medium. They said that it was a hand, and some persons offered to take it. I extended my right hand, also, behind the curtain, [A^?. i.] * and it was had to do the best I could with it. It seems to mean that, while Dr. Hertzberg felt all that he describes, the medium was unconscious of playing any part in what he felt. It recalls the experience of the author's with Yolande, related in the first chapter, when his hand was thrust aside by another hand, which does not seem to have been either that of Yolande or that of the medium, but of one of those " on guard." — Translator. ^ Figures in brackets refer to explanations in the two letters fol- lowing. — A. A. A CASE or PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 83 quickly taken and warmly pressed, three times, by a woman's hand which was very soft and warm. After that, large and small shapes in white and luminous matter, were repeat- edly shown from the cabinet, both to the right and to the left of the medium ; but the matter did not assume human form. Once, it resembled a hand, wrapped in shining gauze, and seemed to wear a bracelet in the form of a narrow band. Signs were made by the hand. It appeared on the medium's right. During the seance, the medium asked for a drink of water and Prof. Seiling, who had the first seat at her left, immediately handed her some. She took the glass and Mr. Seiling returned to his place ; but an instant later, the medium asked, " When can I have the water " " But I gave it to you a moment ago," replied Mr. Seiling. [_JVo. 2.] " I did not receive it." General astonishment. After a little while, the m.edium said, "Now, someone hands me the glass from the cabinet ; see ! " I could not see how this occurred, on account of the dimness of the light. Before speaking of what happened later, I should refer to a matter which attracted my attention and caused me to watch more closely. I observed l^JVo. 3.] that the medium often passed her arms inside the curtain, in such a way that the dark drapery showed a pronounced line against her white garments, which was not the case when she held her arms in front of it. Furthermore, 1 should have stated that at such times her arm and shoulder looked as if an arm was extended out of the cabinet. I saw this at the same time that the shapes of luminous matter appeared at the right and left of the medium. Demate7'ialization of the Limbs. At the beginning, the medium sat with her limbs extended ; but she drew them back, little by little. \_No. 4.] I then saw her slowly raise 84 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. herself ; her skirts filled out, and the medium, letting herself down, appeared again of her usual height. While these movements \_No. 5.] were taking place, she was not visible to the persons facing me, for I heard them say that they did not see the medium. — The reason probably is that one half of the curtain partially concealed her from those on the side opposite mine. She sighed profoundly several times while this was taking place and Mr. Selling re- marked that she must be suffering. Suddenly, she cried, \_No. 6.] "Now, my limbs are gone; come and see!" I think I was the second person that approached and ex- amined the medium. She took both my hands in hers, placed them one above the other, and pressed them several times against the cushion of the chair, asking me what I felt. " Only a dress, upon the seat," I replied. After that, she pushed me aside, without allowing the least investigation, and someone else took my place. A moment later, I saw the medium move softly, although I can not affirm that she arose ; but I observed that she did something with her hands around her waist, as though she was arranging some part of her dress. After this, she said, " I have my limbs, again," and thereupon the seance ended. During the dematerialization of the medium, there were no materializations or spirit-forms. Thus ended this seance which, unhappily, proved so un- equal to my expectation. Ivan Schoultz. After receiving the testimony of Mr. Schoultz, Vk^hich seemed in conflict with the accounts of the other witnesses, I sent it to Prof. Selling, Dr. Hertzberg, Miss Hjelt and Tavaststjerna, A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 85 with the request that they would send me any remarks which they cared to make. They sent me the following letters: B. Counter -Testimo7iy of Prof. Seiling. [Original in German.] Helsingfors, April 22nd, 1894. Mo7isieur le Co7iseiller d'Etat : I do not attach any great weight to a narrative written so long after the event. For instance, that which Mr. Schoultz relates concerning the disappearance of a glass of water, etc., occurred at a preceding seance. Further on, he states that Madam d'Esperance told the audience of the disappearance of her limbs. This is absolutely false. It was I who announced it to the witnesses, after I had ex- amined the chair. Miss Hjelt so stated, in a report written within a few days of the seance. Mr. Schoultz claims that he recognized a left hand, after he had explained to me that he could not tell whether it was a right hand or a left one, because only the tips of his fingers were taken. If I rightly remember, Mr. Schoultz declared in your presence, the evening that we were to- gether at my house, that he did not observe whether his hand was taken by a right hand or a left hand.^ Sitting beside Madam d'Esperance, as I did, the move- ments related, \^Nos. 3 arid 4] could not have escaped me — especially the fact of her rising. \^No. 6.] I heard Capt. Toppelius alone say that he did not see the medium, and that was during the dematerialization, and not before it. With my best wishes, etc., M. Seiling. remember this, also. — A. A. 86 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERIALIZATION. C. Cou7iter - Testimony of Dr. Heidzberg . Helsingfors, April 28th, 1894. Monsieur le Co7iseiller d'Etat : Miss Hjelt has sent me Mr. Schoultz's letter, with a re- quest that I should give my opinion upon certain points ; which I willingly do. [^No. 2.] The incident of the glass of water took place at a previous seance, and occurred exactly as follows : Prof. Seiling gave the glass to the medium, who said, almost at the same time, " Why do you not give me some water?" — "But I just handed you some," replied Mr. Seiling. "No, I have not received the glass," said she. "That is very extraordinary, for the glass was certainly taken from my hand," responded Mr. Seiling in surprise, addressing his remark to the members of the circle. " Ah ! now I have the glass," cried Madam d'Esperance, who in fact now held the glass of water in her right hand. Having the first seat at the left of the medium, I had seen Mr. Seiling bring the glass ; then I did not see it, either in his hand or the medium's ; and afterwards, I saw it in her hand. But I can say neither how it disappeared nor how it reappeared. During the entire incident, Mr. Seiling stood immediately in front of the medium. Towards the end of the dematerialization, after I had changed places wdth Mr. Seiling, I heard Capt. Toppelius, who sat first at the medium's right, say that he could not see her, \_No. 5.] and I told him that we saw her very plainly. During the w4iole time that I occupied Prof. Selling's place, Madam d'Esperance leaned her right hand upon the cushion of the seat. It is therefore most unlikely that she made motions with both her hands around her waist. Mr. Schoultz perhaps misunderstood the movement, (the only A CASE OF PARTIAL DE:MATERI ALIZATIOX. 87 one she made.) to cover my hand, which I had pkiced against the chair, with both of hers. Accept, etc. Raphael Hertzberg. P.S. I may further add that, during the dematerializa- tion. Madam d'Esperance did not stand behind her chair, as General Sederhohn claims. D. Counter- Testini ony of M iss Hjel t and M iss Tavaststjejnia. [Original in French.] Helsixgfors. ^Slarch ist, 1S94. • Monsietir: In reply to your kind letter of April 23rd. asking for the comments of ]Miss Hjelt and myself on the testimony borne bv ]Mr. vSchoultz. we have the honor of submitting what follows. As for the left hand which ]\Ir. Schoultz claims to have shaken behind the curtain, we both remember that at the seance held ]March 4th, at Prof. Selling's house, at which ]Mr. Schoultz was also present. I told him that I had twice shaken a right hand. I asked him if he had remarked the same thing, and he replied that he had only been permitted to take the tips of the fingers, and that he could not tell whether it was a left hand or a right one. vSeveral persons heard him say so. The incident of the glass of water did not happen at the last seance. ]Mr. Schoultz has confused the occurrences, and has related them in a very different manner from that in which they were reported by others and observed bv ourselves. 88 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERIALIZATION. As we have already stated in our respective narratives, (therein contradicting Mr. Schoultz,) we observed that the medium remained quietly seated, during the entire seance. We affirm that she did not put her arms behind the curtain and that she did not rise from her chair. We were both nearer to the medium than Mr. Schoultz. To explain the inflation of the medium's skirts, (or what Mr. Schoultz supposed such,) Miss Hjelt has asked me to relate the following. The last manifestation which she remembers seeing, before the dematerialization, was a luminous mass, which glided from the medium's lap to the floor at the left side of Madam d'Esperance. Miss Hjelt supposes that Mr. Schoultz mistook this phenomenon for a puffing-out of the medium's dress. She says that it was perhaps her fault that this manifestation disappeared so quickly ; for, the better to convince her neighbor, ]VIr. Lonnbom, she took his hand and moved it towards the luminous ball, from the other side of the medium's lap, intending him to grasp it. At the approach of their hands, it moved off towards the cabinet. The medium then cried, "Do not touch it; let it alone." Mr. Lonnbom there- upon apologized, stating that Miss Hjelt had moved his hand. Among those seated opposite Mr. Schoultz, Capt. Toppelius is the only one whom we heard say that he could not see the medium. This is easily explained. While the seance was in progress, hands which came from the cabinet had several times touched him; and, in order to give more room for spirits that wished to come out, he had moved his chair a little backwards and to the right. This change of position made it impossible for him to see the medium. Miss Hjelt naturally declared that she could see the medium the whole time. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION . 89 The medium did not say, " Now my limbs are gone." She did not mention the phenomenon. It was Prof. vSeil- ing who first announced it to the company. Miss Hjelt declares that she very easily followed all the motions of the medium's hands. She absolutely denies that the medium busied her hands about her waist, as if arrang- ing her toilet. As for myself, I, too, devoted myself exclu- sively to watching the medium the whole time that the dema- terialization lasted, and I saw nothing of what Mr. Schoultz relates. Moreover, it appears that Mr. Schoultz, after declaring at the outset that he had seen nothing, so to speak, ends by seeing everything, down to the most minute details ! Accept, monsieur, the most respectful salutations on behalf of Miss Hjelt and myself. With the highest consideration, Fanny Tavaststjerna. IX. Testimony of General Sederhoem.' On the fourth of December, 1893, Madam d'Esperance set out for St. Petersburg, whence she returned to Helsing- fors on the eleventh of the same month. A seance was held the following evening.^ There were but sixteen per- sons present. Madam d'Esperance wore a light-colored, loose-fitting dress. The seat given me was far from the cabinet. On this occasion, I saw nothing of much moment — onlv a ^ Taken from the Helsingfors journal, " Nya Pressen," No. 343, December 17, 1S93. — A. A. -The evening of the same day. — Translator. 90 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. hand was repeatedly extended from the cabinet; it touched the shoulders and the heads of those nearest. The total width of the cabinet was not more than a metre and a half/ If placed in the center of the cabinet, there- fore, Madam d'Esperance coidd, by extending her arms behind the dark' curtain, have touched her nearest neigh- bor without showing the white of her arm. Later, Madam d'Esperance requested some of the par- ticipants to examine her chair. The chair was now occu- pied by a being with no lower limbs, which however pos- sessed a head that could talk, and hands. Those who examined the chair, found that it was empty, and that there was no body beneath the dress. How ex- plain this miracle of a human being, without body or limbs, floating, as it were, in the air; yet speaking and taking the hands of those who examined the chair? Very easily. If you, my reader, will put on a blouse and stand behind a chair, as Madam d'Esperance then did, covering its back with your dress and skirts, you will work the same miracle ; for those who examine the chair with their hands — in the dark, of course, — will find only your dress and skirts upon it. But where is your body? It has disap- peared; it is dematerialized. None of the believers in Madam d'Esperance would admit that she was standing behind the chair, for that would be to suspect her — to doubt her and her spiritualistic manifestations. I leave my readers to draw their own conclusions. I simply state the facts as I saw them." ^Not quite two yards. — Translator. ^ This is all that the old General has seen fit to say on the subject wliich is of any special interest to us. We need not attach much importance to this, for the General has not cited things which he A CASE OF PARTIAL DE:MATERIALIZATiON. 91 X. Testimony of Mr. Jeax Boldt.^ [Original in German.] Helsixgfors. May Sth-20th, 1S94. Monsieur le Conseiller d'Etat : I beg you to excuse me for not having replied more promptly, but the principal reason is that I had nothing in particular to communicate in regard to the so-called phe- nomenon of dematerialization. As I mentioned to you, I'h'a voct\ I was not permitted to examine the entire seat of the chair, on that occasion, so that my observations are of no real value. All that I can say is that the upper part of the medium's body was in its natural position. jSIost cordially, etc., Jeax Boldt. Address, Nikolaigatan, No. 23. XI. Testimoxy of Gexeral Galixdo axd ]\Ir. LOXXBOM. These two accounts have not reached me, up to the present time. I regret that I did not see Mr. Lonnbom during^ mv stav at Helsinrfors. All that I learned was saii'. but constructs his article solely of things ^vhich he did not see. Instead of facts, he gives suppositions, and ^ve have taken those into consideration. — A. A. How much more thoroughly Prof. A. has considered every possi- ble hypothesis and objection we leave the thoughtful reader to judge. The method and candor of the author make this book a model. Translator. ^Jiiriste et homme de lettres. — A. A. 92 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERIALIZATION. that he knew nothing of spiritualism, and that it was the first time that he had ever been present at a seance. As he sat very close to the medium, he could easily see every- thing^ and he was very much astonished ; but the next day he tried to explain the whole as done with dolls and gutta-percha hands, adroitly handled by the medium ; but at the same time he was unable to see how she did it. \_See the testimony of Dr. Hertzbeig^ No. VII. ~\ I addressed Mr. Lonnbom, how^ever, through the intermediation of Dr. Hertzberg and Prof. Selling, and asked him to give me his impressions of the seance, as w^ell as any explanation of the manifestations he saw fit, not hesitating to express himself freely; but I have heard nothing from him, up to the present time. As for General Galindo, whom I have known for many years, I saw him at Helsingfors. He is very skeptical, as well as very desirous to see and be convinced. I questioned him about the seance, but, to my great astonishment, he de- clared that he had seen nothing whatever of all that Miss Hjelt relates, because of the darkness of the room. As it seemed to me, also, that he cherished some doubts and sus- picions, I asked him to communicate them to me, in writ- ing, and without reserve, — as I had invited all the others to do ; but up to the present time I have received nothing from him, either. — A. A. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZ ATIOX . 93 XII. Personal Testimoxy of the ^Medium, ]\Iadam d'Esperaxce. A. Account of the Seance held at Helsingfors. December \ith^ 1S93, at the residence of Prof. Seiling. Xo. 45 WTadimirsgaten. u'ritten by Madam d' Esperance . [Origmal in English.] I arrived from St. PeterslDurg. very tired after the night- ride, with a severe lieadaclie and a sharp pain in the neck, which 1 was told was the commencement of an attack of influenza. I had tried to sleep during the day. but without suc- cess, and was inclined to postpone the seance ; but con- sidering that, if I was to have the influenza, I could not hope to be in anv better condition the next day. and that the second day was flxed for my return to my home at Gottenburg. postponement of the seance would make no improvement in the situation. It was rather late when I reached Prof. Selling's house and all the members of the circle were already in their places. The room was lighted bv a lamp placed upon a corner of the table, and the door of the seance-room was wide open. The piano in the parlor had been pushed close to the door and a lighted lamp hung from the parlor ceiling. General Toppelius was seated at the right extremity of the circle.^ clo-e to the cabinet, with ]Mr. Lonnbom next him ; behind, and about half-way between them, sat Prof. Selling. Upon entering. I spoke to very few of those present, and sat down at once in mv place before the cabinet, with- out even looking about me ; but in fact I never did that. ^ See diagram of the room, in Prof. Selling's report. — A. A. 94 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. I was in too much pain and too tired to enter into conver- sation. We had considerable difficulty with the light, which was arranged as follows : a lamp was placed, (as I sup- pose, for I did not see the lamp,) in the niche of the stove, and the opening of the latter was covered with red, or orange-colored, paper. The light fell directly on the cabi- net, and was a great inconvenience to those who sat facing it; but after they had tried several ways to soften it, I offered my shawl, which was of pale blue cashmere, which was hung before the opening and answered the purpose very well. When this was settled, Mr. Selling went to the piano and played one of Wagner's serenades, if I remember rightly. During his playing, all became quiet and he returned to his seat on my left. I heard movements in the cabinet and saw hands, which came from behind and above me. I think these hands touched those who sat nearest the cabinet on both sides of me. I saw the hands once or twice, when they came far enough forward, and at other times I knew they were present, by the remarks of the spectators. I was seated about a foot, or a little more, from the cur- tains of the cabinet ; the light was strong enough to enable me to recognize every person in the circle, and I observed that Capt. Toppelius was placed seventh or eighth on my left. This put me in mind of the fact that he had asked to be seated near me, and because of my promise, I asked General Toppelius if he would object to changing places with the Captain. He immediately consented to do so. Capt. Toppelius then seated himself close at my right hand — so close that I touched him whenever I moved. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX. 95 The manifestations were interrupted bv these changes and some one suggested that we should try to obtain writ- ten instructions as to the best way to proceed. A sheet of letter-paper and a pencil were handed to me, so that I might receive any communication, using my lap for a table. While I thus waited, a large hand and bare arm reached from the cabinet, over my head, into my lap, snatched the paper and pencil, and disappeared with them in the direc- tion of the cabinet. I heard the noise of rumpling and tearing paper and then that of a pencil, writing. Then the hand came from the curtains behind me, dropped a part of the paper and the pencil in my lap, handed the rest of the paper to Capt. Toppelius and disappeared again. The Captain after- wards found a communication in the Swedish lansfuag-e written on the paper. The hand and arm appeared far above both our heads, as if those of a very tall person. The curtains were frequently drawn apart and I saw that there were forms, more or less perfectly materialized, inside the cabinet. I do not think that any of them came further out than my chair, but I cannot be certain ; for the greater part of the time, unless I was touched or questioned, I sat with my eyes closed and my hands clasped behind my neck, as this position seemed to ease my headache. Capt. Toppelius spoke to me once or twice and I re- member that he made the remark that there w^as a strong smell of turpentine, or something like it, in the room. I detected it, also ; but, instead of paying any attention to it, I endeavored to see and hear nothing, so as not to interrupt the manifestations, which seemed to be feeble, at best. I felt miserably weak and frightfully nervous, all through the manifestations, but attributed it to the illness with which 96 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. I was threatened ; and I heartily wished that the seance could be soon finished, so that I could get some rest. Shortly after that, I relaxed my muscles and let my hands fall upon my lap, and I then found out that, instead of resting against my knees, they rested against the chair in which I was sitting. This discovery disturbed me greatly, and I wondered if I was dreaming. I patted my skirt carefully, all over, trying to locate my limbs and the lower half of my body, but found that although the upper part of it — arms, shoulders, chest, etc., — was in its natural state, all the lower part had entirely disappeared. I put my hand where my knees should have been, but nothing whatever was there but my dress and skirts. Nevertheless, I felt just as usual — better than usual, in fact ; so that, if my attention had not been attracted by accident, I should probably have known nothing of the occurrence. Leaning forward to see if my feet were in their proper place, I almost lost my balance. This frightened me very much, and I felt that it was absolutely necessary to assure myself whether I was dreaming, or the victim of an hal- lucination. To this end, I reached over and took Prof. Selling's hand, asking him to tell me if I was really seated in the chair. I awaited his answer in a perfect agony of suspense. I felt his hand, just as if it touched my knees ; but he said, "There is nothing there — nothing but your skirts ! " This gave me a still greater fright. I pressed my free hand against my breast and felt my heart beating wildly. I was almost fainting from terror and asked for a glass of water, which was given me. As soon as I drank the water, I broke into a profuse perspiration. Every moment A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATIOX . 97 added to mv fright, and I waited in terror to see what would happen to me next. I heard the other spectators ask what had happened and knew that ]Mr. SeiHng was telling them of the disappear- ance of part of my body. Several of them asked permis- sion to come closer, that they might see for themselves. I remembered that Dr. Hertzberg took an active interest in such matters and asked him to come forward. He changed places with Prof. Selling and I held his hand almost all the rest of the time. Some one afterwards asked, ''Can ]\Ir. Boldt go and see ? " — Can ]Mr. Schoultz approach ? " Thev came and touched me. They put their hands on the chair and passed them all along mv dress. INIv nervousness and fright aug- mented every moment, and I suffered extremely. Capt. Toppelius examined me and exclaimed, as if shocked — " Not even half of vour bodv is left ! " This information made me ill. I felt shaken, too ; and when still others seemed to wish to make a critical examination. I felt that I could stand no more and asked them to leave me alone a moment. Somebody suggested that we should terminate the seance, but I feared that something would happen to me if we did, and begged them to remain quietlv seated. Thev com- plied. I think Mr. Selling played an air softly on the piano, or some one may have sung ; I do not exactly know, for I was scarcely more than half conscious. Calm was restored and after a while I felt my limbs gradually restored and my skirts filled out. The great nervous fright which I had endured subsided little by little, and about half an hour from the time that the last person had touched me, as near as I can judge, I recovered my normal condition. The 98 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. reaction, after an experience so trying, will account for my uncertainty. I drank a cup of tea and I think I ate something, but I am not sure. At the end of half an hour more, I felt able to take leave of Mr. and Mrs. Selling and to return home with General and Madam Toppelius. Three months have passed since that incident ; but for only five days past have my nerves felt fully restored from the fatigue and the emotions that I then underwent. It is probable that dematerialization of the medium oc- curs at every seance, in a greater or less degree ; but on the occasion in question, it occurred in an exceptional way ; that is to say that one part of my body remained intact, while the other part, as far as I could tell, was completely dematerialized. I do not know whether this same thing has happened before, in the same manner, or not; and I can truly say that it is to chance rather than intention that I owe the dis- covery. While it lasted, my most marked sensations were great physical depression and a repugnance to speech or motion ; at the same time, I was very sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of those around me, and they affected me powerfully. The discovery of the partial dematerialization was a great shock to me, for I felt that I was among stran- gers, unfamiliar with any such phenomena ; and when I thought how necessary it is for the participants to re- main quiet and calm during the continuance of any such manifestation, I became agitated and nervous — doubtless to an absurd degree — the more so as the manifestation lasted so long. It seemed to me that it lasted fully an hour, although I could form no accurate conception of the actual time. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 99 I knew that the excitement of the spectators interfered with my restoration, or at least made it more difficult. Although this singular half-dematerialization was an en- tirely novel experience for me, the question just how far my form was dissolved, or in a fluid or half-fluid state, had often been raised at home, without our ever arriving at any conclusion ; for I always suffered mortal agony if any one touched me while materialized spirits were outside of the cabinet. When grasped, or even touched, during the ma- terializations, I felt such a shock that I was always more or less sick for several days after. When I first commenced to sit outside the cabinet, an event occurred which tended to show the spectators what I had already been able to demonstrate, in a different way. We all saw a cloudy stream, like mist or fog, spring from my chest and pour into my lap, where it assumed the form of a child. ^ AVhen this child's-form was touched, the fin- gers seemed to sink into it, and at the same time I felt as if fingers were being pressed against my own cheek. The infant was very vivacious, and squirmed in my lap in the most natural manner. This greatly amused Mr. Fidler's son, Hudson, and wishing to play with the baby's little feet, he put his hand on my lap for that purpose, but the hand sank through the baby's limbs and touched my dress. This frightened him and he quickly retired, partly because he was afraid and partly because I could not bear the pressure I felt, and asked him to withdraw his hand. On that occasion, it seemed as if my entire body was in a ^ A footnote inserted here in the original work, refers to an entirely different incident, which happened more than two rears after the text was written by ]Madam d'Esperance. To avoid con- fusion, I have inserted it at the end of this paragraph. — Trans- lator. 100 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. semi-fluid state. I could speak and gesticulate, but could not stand up. My limbs seemed to be too soft to bear me.^ Perhaps I may try, at some future time, to give you fur- ther evidence of these phenomena ; but up to the present time, I have not been able to devise any plan w^hich v^ill enable me to produce them and v^ill at the same time insure me against a recurrence of the unpleasant experi- ences of the last seance. E. d'Esperance. Gottenburg, March 14th, 1894.^ ^ About the end of July, 1896, Madam d'Esperance came to Paris for a brief visit. In the presence of five persons [Madam Aksakof, Madam Boutlerof, her friend the Baronne de Zeidlitz, Madam Cauvin and myself], she tried to see how much of her mediumistic power she had regained. She sat upon a sofa, we upon chairs ; the lights were extinguished and we waited in silence, without forming a chain. After a few moments we all saw a luminous ball in the direction of the medium, at about the height of her chest, as it seemed to us. The ball looked like mist, or a luminous fog. It spread out towards the floor, then contracted, assumed the most various shapes, and at times displayed verj brilliant points, like small stars. Finally, Madam Cauvin, who seemed to be entirely unfamiliar with such manifestations, thought she recognized the form of an infant. She became alarmed, wished to get away, cried out, and made so much trouble as to put an end to the manifesta- tions. The luminous vapor diminished in volume, and finally dis- appeared. This vapor doubtless resembled that which came from the me- dium Eglington, under like circumstances. He compared it to the smoke of a lighted cigarette. The artist, James Tissot, made use of a very original simile, likening it to " grated moon-light." To me, it appeared like the light of the milky way on a .clear night, when it is really of a milky whiteness. — A. de R. ^ I was unable to obtain this account any earlier, for to my request Madam d'Esperance replied that she was too weak to write it out, and that even the thought of that seance and of her frightful sensa- tions was still insupportable. — A. A. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZ ATIOX . 101 B. Questions addressed to MadaDi d' Esperaiice by Mons. Aksakof. Having received this most interesting account, but find- ing it imperfect in some respects. I begged Z^ladam d'Es- perance to inform me upon the following points : The principal reflection made upon vour conduct is that von held and guided the hands of those who examined the chair. For this reason I would ask you to explain : 1. AVhv vou did so and how the chair was examined. Was the seat inspected clear to the back .- And what and how did vou feel during die process : All this is of the utmost importance. 2. Your condition was so extraordinary that you prob- ablv tried to observe everv feature of it. Thus, for instance, did vou put ^'our own hands in to tlie space between the trunk of vour bodv and the chair: AVas there such a space between vour bodv and the seat, to vour knowledge? If this was so, (as several witnesses have assured me. ) your bust must have floated in the air, without any visible sup- port, so to speak ; did it not ? 3. Will you be so kind as to state exactly ho\v far Prof. Seilinof and Dr. Hertzberg; carried their examination of the chair ; for ]Mr. Boldt and ^Ir. Schoultz say that they were only permitted to make a partial examination r 4. I beg that vou will also state exactly whiit Capt. Toppelius did. He writes that you " placed his hands, or rather guided them, down along both sides of your body, as far as the seat of the chair. Consequentlv. he is the only one who is so fortunate as to be able to verify the actual presence of the upper part of vour body, in its natural place. I beg vou to give particular attention to this important point. As to this, you say, elsewhere, only that — Capt. Toppelius also examined me." Did he use 102 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION . both hands in so doing, or only one ? The slightest particu- lai^s in regard to this matter are of vast importance. 5. The following expression occnrs in your narrative : — " As soon as I drank the water, I broke into a profuse perspiration." I wish that you would clearly explain your sensations while drinking water, under such remarkable conditions. 6. There is one more detail, still to be desired — The state of your health, after what you had endured, should be minutely described ; and also, be it understood, your loss of mediumistic power. How did you discover and make sure of the loss.^ And when did the symptoms of its return occur to your notice C. Siipplevientajy Expla7iations by Madam d' Esperance. The following are Madam d'Esperance's an- swers : I. I guided the hand of the first person who examined the chair because I was averse to mentioning my own im- pression of what had taken place, not being sure that what I thought was true, and also to see if that person confirmed my discovery. I wished to do this without attracting the attention of the other persons present. We passed our hands quickly all over the seat of the chair, and when they struck the back of the chair, I felt a slight shock. Before the examination, I felt weak and distressed, with a peculiar numbness in my members ; but I suffered no actual pain except in the neck, up to the time that the chair and the place where my body should have been, were touched. Then the distress became intolerable, exactly as if my nerves had been touched to the quick. Dr. Hertzberg A CASE OF PARTIAL DEAIATERI ALIZATTON . 103 came, at my request. I think, and in like manner passed his hands over the seat, the back and where mv Hmbs should have iDeen. I do not think that I guided his hands, but I am not sure. He then took the seat which ^Ir. Seilincr had occuDied before. Messrs. Schoultz and Boldt then came together to make their examination, and by so doing, intercepted the light completelv. Thev used their hands awkwardlv and fright- ened me so that I grasped their hands, (or one hand of each.) rather to protect myself than for any other reason. I reallv do not believe that I thought what I was doing, at the time. Their motions were brusque, nervous and un- certain, and as they had their backs to the light. I was in their shadow. It is therefore very likely that they did not see me as plainly as the others. They were to blame for comino; too:ether. for thev interfered with each other's move- ments. 2. I do not knov" how much space there was between mv bodv and the chair. It seemed to vary. There was no apparent support except the garments which I wore. 3. I felt so sick and faint after being examined bv Messrs. Schoultz and Boldt. that I was very much afraid of swoonino;' and fallinof from the chair. The agitation of the witnesses had a peculiar effect upon me, and I was terribly afraid that something would happen, without knowing v.diat. I gi'asped Dr. Heitzberg's right hand with my left and held it against the seat of the chair, and it helped to keep me upright, as I felt myself falling forward. I sat thus some time, still holding Dr. Hertz- bero^'s hand, as it seemed to ^ive me strength. 4. Capt. Toppelius asked permission to draw near, and as soon as I had a little recovered from my fright and faint- ness. he came to me. I then took mv hand from that of 104 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. Dr. Hertzberg, and, grasping the Captain's hand in mine, guided it carefully, (because I was in great fear of pain,) from my shoulders, along the back of the chair and down to the place where my knees should have been, and then along to my feet. In so doing, I once more lost my balance. At the same instant, he seemed to feel a kind of shock and cried — ' ' Good God ! half your body is gone ; it makes me sick" — or something like it. His touch and his agita- tion caused a return of my weakness ; but I had noticed, in lowering my hands along my body, that part of it remained, below the waist. In fact, it did not seem to terminate ab- ruptly, for I felt no sudden break. Since then, I have had an impression that the dematerialization was more general than I had supposed upon my first discovery ; for I remem- ber that when I followed the outline of my body, guiding the Captain's hand, it struck me that I seemed thinner and that the flesh was more soft, than usual. But I made the deduction afterwards. Distress, agitation and fear pre- vented me from thinking of anything but my condition, at the time. 5. After Capt. Toppelius had returned to his seat, Mr. Selling insisted on the observance of calm and silence.^ I asked for water ; and, in the very act of drinking, I wondered how the water could be absorbed. I felt no distress what- ever after they ceased to touch me ; but I felt great weakness and bodily disquiet. I asked myself where the dissolved portion of my body could be and wondered if I should ever be whole again. From the moment of the first discovery, the nearest persons, and I myself, had an impression that there were one or more forms in the cabinet, behind me, but in my fright I forgot them. ^ He started a hymn, the others joined, and this helped to restore quiet. — E. d'Esperance. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX. 105 I felt that the water Avhich I drank was alisorbed in the pores of my skin, and I saw my skirts fill out. little bv little. There was no more pain, but I felt a tingling sen- sation, as if my feet were asleep. I watched the filling-out of mv skirts with great pleasure and noticed that every- thing in the cabinet grew quiet. 6. After the seance, I felt ver\- weak and tired, and could scarcely believe that all this had really happened. All that I had said or done, seemed to have been said or done bv another person. I returned to my home a few days later, but could not get rid of mv impressions. I felt no desire for anvthing — either amusement or occupation — and found it impossible to awaken any interest in anything of either sort. I was dull and lifeless. Any attempt to work or think, or even to write, seemed bevond my strength, and if I forced mvself to undertake any of these things, the effort brought on violent pains in the head ; my hair grew white, and when I had these headaches, it fell out in large quantities. And whereas I was naturally quiet. I was now always sleepv. and could hardly keep myself awake in the day- time. This continued for three months, but I grew better at the end of that period. At the request of friends. I held sev- eral trial-seances, to see if I could not obtain intelligent communications, in the hope that these might be of ser- vice, but all our efforts were unavailing. Later still, in ^larch. I took part in a circle held at the house of ^Ir. Karl Xordmark, where we got answers by raps and there was an attempt at materialization. A week later, we tried again but had no success. At the seance following, how- ever, we succeeded ; one spirit materialized and was recog- nized bv some of the sitters, and a second was so perfectly 106 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION . materialized that it went around the circle and was recog- nized by a young man as his mother. After that, I felt like myself again and although not yet perfectly well, I felt better than I did just before the re- markable seance at Helsingfors. E. d'Esperance. Partenkirchen, Haute-Bavarie, April 26th, 1894. CHAPTER III. PERSONAL IXVESTIGATIOX OF ?^IONS. AKSAKOF. I was absolutely compelled to rest content with the foregoing circumstantial accounts, and to undertake a journey to Helsingfors, myself ; for the case involved is so extraordinary, so in- credible, and at the same time so very important, that I considered it my duty to employ every means in my power to make the investigation as complete as possible. To this end, my journey to Helsingfors appeared to be necessary for the follov/ing reasons: — I. First of all, it was desirable that I should make the personal acquaintance of the witnesses of the phenomenon referred to, as upon their testimony depends the answer to the first great question to be decided; namely. Did this happen, or did it not.^ The value of evidence certainly depends in great part upon the moral and intellectual com- petence of those from whom it is received; it was therefore necessary to be assured of such competence on the part of the witnesses. In spiritualistic matters, it is incumbent upon us to be as careful as we are distrustful in this respect. 108 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. Long experience in this domain of inquiry has convinced me that the most cautious men, and even those trained to observation in the exact sciences, may see things awry, when spiritualism is concerned. The compelling desire to obtain certain phenomena, at any price, sometimes de- prives men of their critical faculty, and blinds them to everything that impeaches the reality of the expected manifestations. It was therefore incumbent on me to make sure that the witnesses in question were not mere enthusiasts, unworthy of credit. To each one of the witnesses, I ac- cordingly put a certain number of questions, in order to verify and complete that which they had certified in writing. 2. I considered it essential that I should see the very room in which the seance was held, with the same cabinet and with the same arrange- ment of chairs, etc.; for, frequently, the simplest things, omitted in descriptions, but which in- stantly strike the eye, are of the greatest weight in establishing a fact. 3. In order to form a perfectly accurate idea of the principal occurrences at that memorable seance, I intended, once on the spot, to bring about a repetition of it, — that is, to reproduce the seance, as well as possible, with the help of the actual witnesses. The reader has already learned, A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX . 109 from the preceding correspondence, that Prof. Selling, (at whose house the sitting was held,) had promised me his assistance in the under- taking, and that Miss Hjelt had been so kind as to offer to act the part of the medium, in a cos- tume of the same color as that worn by the latter. Taking advantage of this generous prop- osition, I asked her to order, at my expense, a gown of the very same pattern; for in such a matter the pattern of a dress plays a very im- portant part, as we shall see from the sequel. 4. Finally, I held it of the very lirst import- ance for me to get an exact idea of the amount of light in which the seance was held, and of the sources of that light. As for the windows of the room, we are told that the white shutter of the one was lowered, while that of the other was raised. This made it important that the kind and quantity of light which penetrated from without should be taken into consideration. The least moon- light would have greatly modihed the brilliancy of the illumination. But according to all the information obtainable, there was no moon at the time the seance took place. I must there- fore time m}' visit by that phase of the moon. I did so, and went to Helsingfors on the iSth of February, (]March 2d,) 1894, arriving the next morning, after a journey of fourteen hours. This 110 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. would have been nothing to speak of, if I had not, as inseparable travelling companions, a num- ber of bodily infirmities, which make all journeys extremely unpleasant for me. I went directly to Prof. Seiling's house and was immediately presented to his wife. She welcomed me with the utmost cordiality; we had exchanged so many letters that we met as old friends. Without loss of time, we went to the room in which the seance was held, where everything had already been put in position, as shown in the diagram. There was the same cabinet used before, made from a movable screen, also bor- rowed, (this time from General Toppelius,) cov- ered with shawls, hung in place of curtains. Before the cabinet was the very same chair on which Madam d'Esperance sat during the seance, the design of which is exactly shown in Prof. Selling's sketch. The chairs occupied by the witnesses were arranged at the sides. At the first glance I was struck with a fact which, in spite of the exact scale on which the diagram is drawn, had escaped my observation; and this proves that a diagram can never fully serve the purpose of an examination conducted on the spot. The first thing that struck me, then, was the narrowness of the space for the circle, into which the fifteen chairs of the witnesses A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. Ill could hardly be crowded, though touching each other; ' and especially the narroAvness of the space between the medium and her nearest neighbors. Their knees and feet must have filled the entire space, as Mr. and Mrs. Seiling assured me in reply to repeated questions, and even demon- strated for me on the spot. This is a fact of the very gravest import, for it instantly does away with the possibility of those manceuvers by which General Sederholm attempts to explain the mani- festations under consideration. Soon afterwards Miss Hjelt and her friend. Miss Tavaststjerna, joined us. First of all. Miss Hjelt changed her dress and ' The sole fault in Prof. Sailing's diagram of the seance-room is that he has used an arbitrary figure — namely, a cirele — for each chair, and has not drawn these circles to scale, as he did the rest of his figures. If, for each of these circles, the reader will substitute a rectangular figiire of the exact size of any ordinary chair drawn to scale, he will find that most of these rectangles touch each other, and that the witnesses must have been crowded as close to each other and to the medium as thej possibly could be. It will be seen that one metre of the scale on the diagram is equal to three times the diameter of the circles : hence, as the metre is hardly equal to three feet and three inches, English measure, he allows only 13 inches for the width of each chair; whereas any ordi- nary chair, even if not cushioned or upholstered, is at least 16 inches wide in the seat, if not more. To properly represent the closeness of the chairs to each other, we should therefore add nearly one quarter to the width of each of the 15 circles representing the seats of the participants, and still more to that which represents the me- dium's seat, which we know was an upholstered chair. Traxslator. 112 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. put on the white princess gown which she had ordered at my request. When so dressed, she initiated me into the secrets of such a costume, and showed me why the explanation advanced by General Sederholm was out of the question; because no one wearing it and standing behind the chair could have covered the chair with her skirts so as to keep up the impression that the medium was seated in the chair. The fact is that such a dress does not unbutton either in front or behind, but must be put on over the head, the only opening being in front and at the waist. Besides, a dress of this make requires a complete muslin lining or under-waist, to which it is tightly sewn; otherwise the delicate material will not stay in place. For all these reasons it was impossible for the medium to resort to the stratagems suggested, and this shows how apt explanations, invented at the objector's " own sweet will," (and not founded on a careful scru- tiny of the facts,) are to assist the conclusive demonstration of a proposition which at first seemed improbable. After this little le^on de toilette^ of a kind so new to me, we proceeded to re-enact the seance. Miss Hjelt took the place of the medium, and the other witnesses took their respective chairs. Mr. Selling sat at Miss Hjelt's left, Madam Sell- A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATIOX . 113 ing on her right, and Miss Tavaststjerna on the left of ]\Ir. Seiling — Captain Toppelius was ab- sent from Helsingfors at the time. I held the detailed account of the seance, written by ^Nliss Hjelt, in mv hand, and commenced to read it. As I read. I questioned the witnesses concerning the incidents of the seance, supplementing the account with a hgurative representation of the most remarkable and interesting episodes. Miss Hjelt's responses to my questions, both answers and actions, were given with such pre- cision and promptness that I could see that she had observed most closely. Xot once was her memory at fault. I found that her report of the seance was exact in every particular, and had only occasion to add some minor details which appear in my notes to her narrative. For instance, stepping behind the curtain and putting ]Madam Seiling in the medium's chair, she faithfully re-enacted the incident of the appearance of the hand and the snatching of the paper and the pencil from the lap of the medium. Several times. I put the question. Did vou plainly see the medium in her chair and holding the paper and pencil, at that time?" To this question, she alwavs re- plied by the most positive affirmation. This in- cident is of the first importance ; for, if we estab- 114 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. lish the marvelous and almost incredible fact of inaterializatio7i^ it implies the possibility of the equally marvelous and incredible fact — dema- terialization. When we came to this last-men- tioned manifestation, Miss Hjelt took the place that she actually occupied throughout the seance and showed me how, overcome by intense curi- osit}^, she moved so close to the medium that they were hardly half a foot apart; and how, even then, she bent forward, so as to look more closely, still. I was careful to ascertain just what difference Miss Hjelt saw in the medium's skirts, after the disappearance of her limbs, as Madam Selling had testified. Miss Hjelt saw the medium at a different angle from that of Madam Selling's line of vision, and naturally could not see the outline of the medium's dress, which stood out sharply when viewed from Madam Selling's seat; then, too, the light helped the latter, as it fell from one side, at a right angle. This was not so, as to Miss Hjelt, who faced the dark back-ground of the cabinet. Many other questions which I had asked Miss Hjelt were repeated and discussed anew. I interrogated each of the other three wit- nesses just as closely, as to the particulars which each could best observe; as, for instance. Prof. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEAJATERI ALIZATION . 115 Seiling and Miss Tavaststjeriia. as to the appari- tion of the hand upon their side of the cabinet — a right hand, though upon the medium's left, and at such a height that it could onlv belong to some human ibrm." standing up. behind the cur- tain. ]\Ir. Seiling Avas questioned as to the matter of the dematerialization. as he had an ex- ceptional opportunity to observe it closeh'. I asked him. using the same chair, to show me the exact way in which he had examined it at the re- quest of ^Nladam d'Esperance : and he showed me I'ust as it is represented in his drawing. ** In one particular." I said to Air. Seiling. "vour narrative is incomplete. Wh\' did vou not make sure that the medium was not behind the chair, when you even went so far as to place vour hand upon the chair-back.-^" "Such an idea never occurred to me." replied Air. Seiling." and why should I go behind the chair and look for Aladam d'Esperance. when I could see her plainly beibre me, seated in the chair." You must remember that, during that time. I gave Aladam d'Esperance a drink, at her request, and that this enabled me to satisfy myself, with still more certainty, that she was really in the chair."' For this argument. I had no reph'. ^ A hiimaii form, assumed by a spirit, in materializing. Translator. 1]G A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. Madam Seiling, in turn, was closely questioned as to the details of her valuable account, which she confirmed in all respects, and especially as to the fact that the medium's dress, (her skirt,) after hanging vertically from the edge of the seat, gradually filled out again to the dimensions and outlines corresponding to her feet and knees." In short, for four hours, those four persons had to put up with my reading, my questions, my objections; and I acquired a profound conviction that all had really occurred just as declared by the witnesses at the very outset. That my readers might the more readily pict- ure the seance for themselves, I requested these witnesses to come together once more after my departure, and reproduce and photograph its most prominent incidents, so as to furnish illus- trations for my work. Thanks to their kindness, I am able to insert the accompanying plates. Plate No. I gives a general idea of the room in which the seance was held; two windows are shown in the background, one with the shutter raised, the other with the shutter down; between the two windows is the cabinet. [The original cabinet, alone, was not used in the photographs, as the folding^ screen of which it was constructed was borrowed for the seance, and again for its reproduction when I was present, and had since A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATIOX. 117 been returned to the owner. But this is of no consequence, of course.] ]\Icidam Seiling, dressed in a gown exactly similar to the one worn by Madam d'Esperance, is seated in the same place that the medium occupied. The situation selected for reproduc- tion is when the medium held the paper and pencil, and a hand, thrust from high up behind the curtain of the cabinet, was lowered and seized them. At the right. ^Nlr. Seiling sits in the same place which he had during the demate- rialization; on the left is ]\Iiss Tavaststjerna, in ^liss Hjelt's original place, while the latter stands for the moment behind the curtain, to act the part of the materialized form. She shows how, and at what height, the hand appeared, which is another important fact. The defective drapery must be excused, as they had only a white sheet with which to imitate it. The pict- ure shows, at the same time, how close to the medium the witnesses were seated. / The photograph from which Plate Xo. 2 was made was taken for the express purpose of show- ing how clearly the head and bust of the medium stood out ao-ainst the white back-s^round of the window-shutter; thus enabling ^Nliss Hjelt con- stantly to scrutinize the position of the medium and her different motions, especially during the 118 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. dematerialization. The time selected for this picture is that at which a hand was shown on the left side of the cabinet, at the height indi- cated. It will be remembered that it was a 7'ight hand, as proved by the hand-shaking with Mr. Seiling and Miss Tavaststjerna, to which they have testified in their respective accounts. In this plate, Miss Hjelt takes the medium's place, with her head turned towards the mate- rialized hand and the curtain, as she had seen Madam d'Esperance turn her head, upon the oc- casion referred to; while Miss Tavaststjerna shows her hand. [The sleeve of the dress is a very natural accessory, as will be readily understood.] At the left of the cabinet, Mr. and Mrs. Seiling are seated. After the representation of the seance, it re- mained to reproduce the conditions of light in the room, so as to make sure that the several wit- nesses could really see all that they claimed to have observed. For this purpose, we came together at Prof. Selling's at eight o'clock that evening, and I then had the pleasure of meeting two more of the original witnesses, namely, General Toppelius and Engineer Schoultz. The task of reproducing the exact amount of light was not as easy as the work of morn- A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 119 ing. The same small lamp was placed in the same niche of the stove, just as it had been originally; but, unhappily, Mr. Seiling could not get the same kind of red paper which had been used to soften the light. Consequently, opin- ions differed, as the paper substituted some- times gave too much light, and sometimes too little. At last, however, we succeeded in adjusting the light so that all except Prof. Seiling agreed that it was the same as that in which they held the seance. Mr. Seiling, however, declared that there had been a little more light at the seance, because there was snow upon the roofs at that time, and that some reflection from it entered by the window with the raised shutter; and this in such streno^th that he could see to tell the time on his watch. This showed that there had been a fair amount of reflected light. Be that as it may, I made sure that, even with the light that we then had, Mr. Seiling could easily distinguish the medium, sitting in front of him and hardly a foot ofT, and I verified the fact by trying it, sitting in Mr. Selling's chair. Then, changing to the opposite side, where Miss Hjelt sat, I found that the outline of the medium would be plainly visible to her, (the medium sitting between her and the white window-shut- 120 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. ter,) and that she could follow every one of the medium's movements. It must be remembered that the faculty of vision in comparative darkness varies greatly, and often acquires remarkable strength. I have even knov^n a person whose sight was so acute that she could see a needle on the floor, in the dark. In the present instance, Miss Hjelt and Miss Tavaststjerna both claimed that they had very sharp sight. At that very moment, I hap- pened to recall what Miss Hjelt had said in her narrative as to seeing the tips of the me- dium's feet appear from under her skirts, and I asked her, — " How could you see the tips of the medium's black slippers, in the dark ? " " I can only say," answered Miss Hjelt, " that I did see them, quite plainly." " And can you now see the tips of your own shoes?" (for she was then seated both in the medium's position and in her chair.) " Certainly," she answered, " I can see them distinctly." As for myself I could not see them at all. I know from experience that at dark seances, one can only keep watch of all that happens if he is seated close to the medium. It is mani- festly owing to a slight difference in distance A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 121 alone that General Galindo, (who sat next at the right of Miss Hjelt,) and Mr. Schoultz, (who sat next at the left of Miss Tavaststjerna,) saw very little, and that even what little they saw struck them as suspicious. This is especially apparent in the narrative of the latter, who de- rived nothing but unfavorable impressions from the entire seance. As Mr. Schoultz was one of the five persons who had felt of the medium's chair, it was very desirable that I should obtain his viva voce tes- timony. I also asked him to both explain and show me how he had examined the chair. He sat down in the chair, moving a little to one side, and grasped one of his hands with the other, (as the medium had grasped it with hers,) and passed it about the uncovered part of the cushion. Such an examination proved abso- lutely nothing. So far, he was perfectly right. He stated that he had noticed several other things that he thought suspicious, and I therefore asked him to submit a statement in writing, without any restriction whatever. The reader has seen this statement, together with the criti- cisms of those to whom I thought it my duty to submit it. The imputations cast upon both the phenomenon and the medium in this narrative show that the very simplest things may arouse 122 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. suspicion, at a seance of this nature, if the light is dim or if one is not very near the cabinet. It is not to be expected that the medium shall sit motionless in an uncomfortable chair, through- out a seance lasting two or three hours; yet, if she changes her position, arranges her dress, or stretches her weary limbs — all these things awaken doubts against which she cannot defend herself. I have already stated that the value of evi- dejice depends greatly upon the personal char- acter of those by whom it is given; and, in this connection, I should state the very favorable opinion which I formed of the four witnesses who came forward to attest the truth of the re- markable fact with which we are dealing. In Mr. Seiling I recognized the man of exact science, ready to study any phenomenon of na- ture, without prejudice and without partizanship. In a preceding note, it is stated that he is a pro- fessor of mechanical technology, etc., at the Ecole Polyteclmique^ in Helsingfors. He is, therefore, a man accustomed by his profession to mathematical precision, to exact measures, and to the observation and study of natural phe- nomena, in the light of mechanics. But I was surprised to find a portrait of the philosopher Mainlander in his cabinet de travail, and told A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION . 123 Mr. Selling that I shared his admiration for the works of that scholar, of which I ha^'e made a special study, published under the title Ein neuer Messias^^' (Munich, 1888). Even so far as philosophy is concerned, therefore, the trend of Prof. Selling's ideas can not be regarded as favorable to spiritualism; for ^Nlainlander, a pan- theist and disciple of Schopenhauer, is directly opposed to all doctrines involving a belief in the persistence of the individual after death. Mr. Seiling's participation in a course of spiritualistic seances, for the first time in his life, was there- fore in no way due to any predisposition in favor of these doctrines or phenomena; his testimonv was uninfluenced by any interest for or against their reality. Madam Selling and Miss Tavaststjerna would also rank as excellent witnesses. Finely edu- cated, of positive and reflecting minds, quiet and serious in disposition, every one of their words inspires confidence. ■ They calmly related what they had seen and noted; and one felt that there was neither exaggeration, imagination, or pre- conceived opinion. As for Miss Hjelt, she merits a more extended introduction to my readers. I have already stated that I was strongly impressed by the precision with which she noted everything that happened 124 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. at the seance. Personal acquaintance only raised the high opinion that I had formed of her. In her, I had the pleasure of meeting a living incar- nation of the human intelligence — active, prac- tical and wholesome — and this estimate was fully confirmed by all the information I received about her. It was she who introduced the teach- ing of joiner's-work into Finland, and opened a new field of labor to women; namely, instruc- tion in carving on wood. In 1885, she founded a school for instruction in wood-carving, at Helsingfors, and admitted both children and adults of either sex, thereto, taken from all ranks of society. Last year, she founded a steam factory for cabinet work, at Aggeby, near Helsingfors, where furniture, apparatus for gym- nasiums, tool-handles, etc., are made. It is easy to see that Miss Hjelt is not one who would allow herself to be attracted to spiritual- ism unless upon the most uncontrovertible evi- dence. One fact that I consider very important is that these four witnesses had all been present at several of Madam d'Esperance's seances, before the one with which we are now concerned; for a person who is familiar with the kind and manner of manifestations produced, soon learns to study the weak and doubtful points, and to A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX. 125 concentrate all the attention upon them so as to arrive at a definite conclusion. The following day, I called upon General Top- pelius, to thank him for the kind attention shown in sendinof me the first account of the seance and to ask him some further questions about ^Nladam d'Esperance, who had visited at his house. I greatly regretted that ^Nladam Toppeiius, ^liss Toppelius and Capt. Toppelius, who had all been present at this particular seance, were ab- sent from Helsingfors at the time of my call; but I most regretted my inability to macet Capt. Toppelius, the General's son and one of the most important witnesses to the dematerialization, as shown b}' his testimony. Next, I called upon General Sederholm, with whom I had some previous acquaintance. Some years before, he had done me the honor to call upon me, on account of his admiration for the works of Andrew Jackson Davis, and to thank me for producing them in German. It is a peculiar coincidence that, in this very instance. Madam d'Esperance came to Helsingfors in com- pliance with his urgent and repeated requests. Indeed, the General went to Gottenburg in per- son, to urge her to come. But the prospect of giving seances before strangers, of difierent nationality and wholly unacquainted with spirit- 126 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. ualism, had little attraction for her. Besides, her absence from Gottenburg, which would be at least a month long, (to wit, the whole of October or November,) would be very detri- mental to certain business interests which had been confided to her hands. In short, Madam d'Esperance could not be persuaded to accept the invitation, until an event occurred which changed her resolution. She wrote me as fol- lows, on August 26th, 1893: — We had the pleasure of receiving a visit from General Sederholm, a short while ago. He proved very congenial and we enjoyed his stay very much, short as it was. He wished us to hold some seances, but they could not be arranged just then; for no one was at home but myself, and I was not very well. He has sent us some articles which he has published on spiritualism, and in the Swedish language. It was a great surprise to us to learn that he had pursued the study so far; and I was as sorry as I was annoyed that I had not accorded him my hearty cooperation in his researches, when he was here. I really regret it very much, and I shall try to make up for it as soon as I can." And a little later, on the 27th of September, Madam d'Esperance wrote me : " The date for my visit to Helsingfors is not A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATIOX. 127 yet set, as it is vGvy difficult for me to get away. However, I feel that I have no right to neglect such an opportunity to work for the cause; for I can not tell how lono- I shall be here, to labor in this held ; and I should be very unhappy if I had occasion to reproach myself that I had not done all that I could." And ao'ain, October nth: '* I wrote General Sederholm, one or two days aofo. and told him that I was verv sorrv that I had refused him my help, when he was here; but that I am now at his disposition. ^ly conscience is easy, at last." Thus it happened that ^Nladam d'Esperance came to Helsingfors and was repaid by an insult- ingly injurious article, contributed by General Sederholm to the most important newspaper of Helsingfors. in which he plainly insinuated that Madam d'Esperance herself played the part of the spirits. Love of truth blinded the General even so far that he forgot the fundamental rules of hospitality; so far that he hurled at this most distinguished lady a foul insult, repeated over his name in all the journals; — without considering that Madam d'Esperance is not a professional medium, and that she came to Helsingfors at his own solicitation, to give a few private sittings to certain persons interested in the subject. When 128 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. he made his request. General Sederhohn prob- ably expected something very different from seances. Fascinated by the accounts of the marvelous seances which Madam d'Esperance had given at Christiania, he hoped to obtain the same results, without taking into consideration all the careful preparation made by the Christi- ania Circle, in order to accomplish those results. No subject is more complex, less understood, or more liable to mistake, than this subject of materialization. Only by long experience, under exceptional conditions, have we been compelled to acknowledge the phenomena as genuine, au- thentic, real. We may, however, know the fact and yet be far from able to explain it. A much longer study and, (generally speaking,) a much more profound personal knowledge of spiritual- ism, is necessary, before it can be proved that fraud has attended us, step by step, from the first simple rap to the complex phenomena of ma- terialization. If delusion and mistake have been and still are the constant experience of human science in the study of the physical phenomena of nature, we should look for still more illusion in the domain of psychic research. For thousands of years we believed in the rising and the setting of the sun; but how long have we understood the fact, hidden beneath the appearance? The A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX . 129 same with spiritualism. We have seen its phe- nomena for half a century, and they will doubt- less be studied for future centuries ; but when shall they be fully understood? The more world-wise men are, the more sus- picious they become, as to the theory, and espe- cially as to the doctrine, of spiritualism. But the young, the simple-hearted, the disappointed, the afflicted and the suffering, — these welcome it with open arms. In this very way was Gen- eral Sederholm driven to attend these seances — he was heart-hungry, more than an\'thing else. He longed for consolation, but did not wish to make a personal investigation of the phenomena; therefore, his disappointment was intense. The w^orthy General expected his re- cently deceased daughter to appear at once; whereas he only saw the double of the medium, which borrowed the name of his eldest daughter. Written communications — things so common as to be of almost daily occurrence in spiritual- ism — furnish innumerable instances of just such personitications. The General had probably often received communications of that kind, but he had not thought it necessary to denounce the mediums by whom the}' were wa-itten, as frauds. A deceptive note, or a false appearance, is less upsetting than a fraud in human form! 130 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. It seems that the General was utterly unfa- miliar with what has been told and published by spirits, touching the philosophy of materializa- tions, which generally are the double of medium. The materialized form may exactly resemble the medium, yet this is not the slightest proof of fraud on the medium's part. The General did not even know this! Actuated by a pardonable motive, but with an acrimony which is inexcus- able when we consider that a seance should be a deliberate and dispassionate investigation, he hurriedly published his article, impeaching the honor of Madam d'Esperance. This article drew forth an indignant protest from those who had had an opportunity to observe the facts directly contradictory of the General's accusa- tions; but the protest was localized at Helsing- fors, while the calumny spread over the entire world without refutation. My conversation with the General satisfied me that he was utterly in- competent to judge of such matters. When I had, as briefly as possible, explained the theory of materialization, as it is outlined in Chapter First, and had told him of my experience with Katie King, it had the eifect of a revelation on him; and yet he said that he possessed my book, Animisme et Spiritisnie! I next called upon General Galindo, whom I A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION . 131 had known for many years. He had been my trayelling companion when I w^ent to Gotten- burg in 1890. He, too, was led to inyestigate spiritualism by heart-ache, loneliness, need of comfort and help, among the bitter experiences of life. He took part, at that time, in some of my seances with Madam d'Esperance, but did not obtain all that he longed for. As he was still interested in the subject, he naturally attended the seances at Helsingfors. Knowing that he was a skeptical obseryer, but that his was an honest skepticism, I asked him to keep me in- formed of all that occurred, and he did so; but he saw nothing decisiye, on account of the want of light, and eyen the absolute darkness which ]Madam d'Esperance w^as sometimes so foolishly good-natured as to permit at the request of those present, when they wanted to make the manifes- tations more intense by contrast — as if they w^ere not sufficiently prejudiced by the ineyitable in- harmony of a mixed assemblage of beginners! When I asked General Galindo about the seance, he said that it was so dark that he could not see anything. As he, too, expressed some doubt, I asked him to put his yersion of the affair in writing, without the slightest reserye; but he has not done so, as the reader already knows. To finish my inyestigation, nothing remained 132 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERIALIZATION. but to call on a few witnesses, especially the rest of the five persons who had examined the medium's chair. These were Dr. Hertzberg and Mr. Boldt. Thanks to the kind offices of Prof Selling, both these gentlemen called upon me at my hotel the same evening. Mr. and Mrs. Selling, Miss Hjelt and Miss Tavast- stjerna joined us there, and we, all together, dis- cussed the remarkable phenomenon, pi'o and con. In compliance with my request, Dr. Hertzberg showed me exactly how he had felt of the chair in which Madam d'Esperance was seated at the time of the dematerialization. He passed his hands all over the seat, clear to the back; and when, hardly believing my eyes, I repeated the question, "What! are you sure that you felt all over the seat with your hands?" he answered, " Yes, exactly as I have shown you." " And did you give Madam d'Esperance a drink while she was in that condition?" "Yes." "Did her head, arms and bust appear as they would if she were seated in the chair?" "Certainly; though, to tell the truth, I did not observe the fact with the critical attention that it merited. Remember that I did not, at the time, appreciate that the phenomenon was A CASE OF PARTIAL DE MATERI ALIZATION. 133 serious and veridical. You can easily under- stand my position." ''Did you not feel sure that, if you put your hand behind the chair, you would find nobody and nothing there ? *' ''I did. in fiict, think that I ought to put my hand behind it; but for the very reason I have cj^iven, I did not do so.'' In the long conversation vrhich ensued, Dr. Hertzberg gave me manv particulars of seances with ?vladam d'Esperance, at which he had been present. ^Nlanv of the manifestations were as convincing as they were wonderful, because he had positive proof of the simultaneous presence of the medium and the materialized form. As to some other matters, he appeared still doubt- ful. For instance, he had discovered that some- times the medium's bodv was not in the chair where they thought it was; but he added that reflection had obliged him to confess that this was no evidence of fraud on the medium's part. ^Ir. Boldt could give me no detinite informa- tion, for he had examined the chair very hastily and imperfectly. All that he could say was that there was nothing suspicious in the appearance of the medium, or that indicated that she had risen from her chair. I did not succeed in meeting ]\Ir. Lonnbom, 134 A CASE OF PARTIAL DExMATERlALIZATION. but I asked Dr. Hertzberg, who introduced him into the circle, to prevail upon him to give me a written account. As the reader knows, he did not succeed. The next day I returned to St. Petersburg, more than satisfied with the result of my inves- tigation, and congratulating myself that I had enjoyed a respite from illness, long enough to accomplish it. To what conclusion does the evidence then point? Before answering that question, let us sum up the arguments both for and against the authenticity of the phenomena: I. The first objection raised is that Madam d'Esperance herself guided the hands of those who examined the chair, and that therefore the investigation was restricted. No doubt this is a serious objection. But suppose we put ourselves for a moment in the place of Madam d'Esperance, and admit the o^enuineness of the manifestation. Would one be able to act coolly and judiciously, at such a time? Ihe unexpectedness and strangeness of the? experience, with its accompanying fear, would probably give rise to unspeakable fright and mental disturbance. It was a question of life or death. Can we form any idea of the nervous excitement and panic which Madam A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. 135 crEsperance endured? It was such that she " did not care very much what she did, at the time." And if, on the one hand, we consider the great distress which she felt at the least pressure on " what might }'et be in fact a part of her own body** — (a pain which she herself compares to that of a naked nerve, roughly touched;) — and, on the other hand, the delicate and difficult position of a lady permitting gentle- men to approach and establish the disappearance of her limbs and knees, it will seem only natural that Madam d'Esperance took their hands and guided them while they were examining the chair upon which she was seated. The real wonder is that she retained enough presence of mind to realize all the importance of the phe- nomenon and to provide us with such proof as was possible, under the circumstances. ^Moreover, this objection, such as it is, abso- lutely disappears before the positive affirmation of Prof. Seilino- and Dr. Hertzbero-: who, al- though their hands were guided, felt all over the surface of the seat, even to the back of the chair. 2. The second objection is that none of the witnesses made sure, by sight and feeling, that there was no one behind the medium's chair, during the disappearance of her limbs. This objection would be serious, if it were 136 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. not absolutely refuted by the concordant testi- mony of six persons; two of whom, (Prof. Sell- ing and Dr. Hertzberg,) declare that they saw Madam d'Esperance in the chair while they made their examination, and one of whom, (Capt. Toppelius,) asserts that not only did he see the entire upper part of the medium's body in the chair but also felt it, with both his hands, from the shoulders to the lowest point remain- ing, " down both sides." ' How could anything more plain be asked for? But we have the fur- ther evidence of three observers, (Madam Sell- ing, Miss Hjelt and Miss Tavaststjerna,) that they saw the medium in the chair during the entire seance, and especially during the dema- terialization; and among other things, they noticed that her dress hung vertically from the edge of the seat, and later, that it again filled out, without the medium's moving. The ac- counts of those who did not see any of these thinof-s could in no event detract from the weisfht of declarations so positive and explicit, by those who did see the occurrences. 3. The third objection is that such a disap- pearance of half of a living bod}^, involving the ' If the medium were sta^iding, (whether behind her chair or anywhere else,) how could any one " come to an empty space," in passing his hands down along the sides of her body? — Trans- lator. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 137 disappearance of flesh, bones and blood, for full fifteen minutes, is an impossibility, an anomaly, an absurdity. How could the other half of the body live, speak and drink water, in such a state, etc., etc., etc. ? I fully comprehend the force of this objection, and all that seems physiologically extravagant in the admission of such a possibility. But, in the light of ordinary experience, all the phe- nom.ena of spiritualism are impossibilities, and — as many are fond of reiterating — in direct opposition to the eternal laws of nature. Spon- taneous movements of material objects, the in- stantaneous apparition of perfectly plastic hands — all these are perfect absurdities, utter impossi- bilities. To this, spiritualism can answer nothing, unless it be that these facts are established by the testimony of thousands of persons, and that they should be calmly studied. As for the present case, the only objection of any weight is that this particular manifestation is unique. That is true, but it is to be hoped that we shall have frequent opportunities to study such phenomena, in the future. After these objections, which I consider suffi- ciently answered, it is but fair to claim a hear- ing for the following considerations, in support of the phenomenon. 138 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. 1. One fact which I deem very important is the concordance of this phenomenon with the general spiritualistic theory of materialization, and with the special facts and theories developed with Chapter First. If Madam d'Esperance had simply perpetrated a joke, we might expect to find it at variance with all previous observations and all spiritualistic doctrines. The miracle would have found no support, either in history or logic, and would have been simply ridicu- lous. If, on the other hand, the phenomenon is genuine, it should appear to be ''^ in the line of development'' of the principle, as Monsieur du Prel has expressed it; and so, in fact, it is. 2. In the case before us, the best evidence of the entire good faith of Madam d'Esperance lies in the fact that, doubting her own senses and suspicious of self-delusion, she made no an- nouncement of her strange discovery. It was not she w^ho cried, "My limbs are gone," as Mr. Schoultz claims, but she immediately called Mr. Selling, without saying one word as to what had happened, and asked him to examine the chair and say if she was really seated therein. It is another significant fact that, by thus making known to the others what had occurred — real and serious as it was for her, but which those others might think only a trick — and by invit- A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 139 ino' an examination on the instant, she put her- self at the mercy of those others and burned her bridgres behind her. For, certainly, if she wished to perpetrate a hoax; if she was expert enough to slip behind the chair without being seen, at a moment when no one's attention was upon her, (as General Sederholm declares,) she would know that after she had drawn the attention of the witnesses, and especially of those nearest her, upon herself, it would be impossible to recover her seat without exposure. If she had thought to excite the wonder of the company by any such trick, she would surely have betrayed herself. 3. My investigation, conducted on the spot, procured me among other things certain evidence which, though silent, is eloquent in denial of any such fraud. These are the purely physical conditions of the situation in which the trick must have been played. In fact, the sitters at her right and left were so very close to the me- dium that her passing to the rear of the chair without knocking against their feet Avas a physi- cal i nipossibility. Besides, the medium must have risen, to accomplish the change of position in question; and the witnesses are united upon the point that the medium never quitted the sit- ting posture, which she had taken at the open- 140 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. ing of the seance. Any such motion woulc have been readily noticed, because of the me- dium's white dress and the proximity of the sit- ters. 4. Nor can I suffer one of my personal obser- vations, to which I attach great weight, to pass unnoticed. Strange as it may seem, it is a fact that Madam d'Esperance never drinks water, either at or be- tween meals. She drinks it only at materializ- ing seances, but at these she drinks a great deal. I know this both from her own statements and from my own observations, when she has stayed at my house. Many know that a carafe of water is required at each of her seances. Many also know that just when the seances are at their best and when the materializations are most suc- cessful, she drinks most, and that she generally drinks after each appearance of an entire form; but few know that, except at these seances, she never drinks water. To me, the fact that she drank the water during the very quarter of an hour for which part of her body disappeared, is itself proof that a veritable dematerialization oc- curred simultaneously. For it is manifest that the materializations which occur at her seances are regularly accompanied by dematerialization of her body, but that she is seldom conscious of A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 141 it; and that this intense thirst, precisely concur- rent with the phenomenon, is caused by the enormous loss of vital fluids, which doubtless takes place in her body, at such times. 5. Finally, we must remember the nervous tension, as well as the fright and distress, which Madam d'Esperance suffered during those mani- festations, of which she herself tells us and as to which she is confirmed by those who watched her closely — as well as her extreme nervous depression, after the seance, with which even General Sederholm was struck. Was this, too, but a well-played comedy? And if so, for what purpose?^ Materializations are not, ordinarily, accompanied by suffering. I do not believe that any one can read the perfectly simple narrative of Madam d'Esperance, without being impressed w^ith her sincerity. And when she says, "My nervousness and fright augmented every minute, to such a degree that I became terribly ill," I believe it. During my stay in Gottenburg, I came to know Madam d'Esperance for a profoundly sincere ^ Remember, also, that when, after the seance, she -was found in a state of ahiiost nervous prostration, not a doubt of the genuineness of the dematerialization had been expressed by any one. She, therefore, had no anxiety on that score, to account for her nervous- ness. She did not know that any one was suspicious. — Trans- lator. 142 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. and truthful woman; nor have I the slightest reason to doubt anything that she says of this extraordinary case. Writing as I do, a whole year after the event, I cannot ignore the unfortunate results of that seance, upon her health in general and upon her mediumistic powers in particular. So serious were the consequences that she lost every trace of her mediumship, except simple writing. This lasted for three months, and she supposed that it was gone forever. The shock to her nerves was so great, that Madam d'Esperance could not, in all that time, take up the business affairs that she had laid aside to go to Helsingfors; the slightest mental labor exceeded her powers. Her visit to Bavaria seemed to do her good, but no sooner had she returned than she was prostrated again. This very real illness did not enter into the considerations of Messrs. Seder- holm & Company! Madam d'Esperance had come and orone. The dematerialization was nothing but a clever hoax, an amusing recollec- tion. But for Madam d'Esperance, the first- fruits of the so-called hoax were a long and painful reality. As for me, knowing of the tor- tures which she endured, I did not see how I could suffer them to pass in silence, and I saw in them the most convincing proof that the de- A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX. 143 materialization was something other than a pleasantry. And now, summing up the data, I am com- pelled to decide that the evidence in favor of the genuineness of the dematerialization outweighs the evidence against its genuineness, and that a veritable phenomenon was produced. I perfectly understand that the fact appears fabulous, incredible, even to ics^ spiritualists^ without speaking of those outsiders who take me for all manners of a fool ; but if we admit the phenomenon of materialization — and, to us it is an indisputable fact — the phenomenon of de- materialization is its undeniable logical conse- quence. My deductions in Chapter First, from the ma- terialization of Katie King, seem to me perfectly logical and justifiable, and strike the keynote of the logical possibility of the phenomenon dealt with herein. Why, then, are we so loth to ad- mit it? Simply because any extraordinary phe- nomenon is always more acceptable if presented as a logical demonstration than vrhen we see it with our own eyes and touch it with our own hands. CHAPTER IV. EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF THE MEDIUM, CON- CERNING HER CONDITION, AFTER THE SEANCE AT HELSINGFORS. I think it expedient to add to the force of what has gone before, by giving the following extracts from letters written to me by Madam d'Esperance. We here see, as in a mirror, an exact picture of her mental and physical condition, throughout the last year. GoTTENBURG, January 7th, 1894. The Christiania seances, of which I have told you, are not yet arranged, for I have not re- covered my mediumistic powers since the last seance in Finland. Many people, if in my place, would prefer not to have them return at all, for they certainly cause me much trouble and many indignities. That makes little difference to me, for no one is dependent upon me; but all this newspaper ^ A new series was to have commenced January 12th, 1894, in ac- cordance with an invitation which she had previously accepted. A.A. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 145 notoriety and the malevolent articles reflect even upon those who espouse my cause. Mr. Fidler and his family are included in the hostility and insults which seem fated to attend me. This not only pains them, but operates to their pecuniary injury as well, because many dislike to continue business relations with people so closely asso- ciated with an imposter, such as I. I have felt very well since my return from Finland; but a singular sense of loss, which I cannot shake off, disturbs and oppresses me. 1 do not know what I have lost, unless it is my mediumship, but the feeling is depressing and strange. I still think my power will return, but it makes very little difference whether I wish it or not! GoTTEXBURG, January 30th, 1894. My mediumship is not restored! I have tried several experiments for the purpose of finding out — more from a sense of duty than for any other reason ; for the possession brings no benefit to any one, in compensation for the trials which it causes everyone. Perhaps it is unfortunate that the Christiania * Mr. Fidler is the head of the great mercantile concern at Gotten- burg, in which Madam d'Esperance is employed, — A. A. 146 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. seances are spoiled* If I am ever in condition to do so, I shall keep the promise I made them; but perhaps they may be better off, as it is. I hope you will be able to obtain complete and satisfactory confirmation of the manifestations at the last Helsingfors seance; for it will be too bad if I have lost both my mediumship and my health, without any benefit. I believe that allow- ing so many people to examine me, disarranged my entire nervous system and caused all the damage. . . . I cannot say that I am exactly sick; but, on the other hand, I am far from well, and I suffer all imaginable pains when I make the slightest attempt at reasoning. I could remain for hours, doing absolutely nothing, if I were permitted to do so; but there is too much to be done to allow such idleness. . . . GoTTENBURG, February 6th, 1894. ... I hope you will be able to clear up the last seance, at least to a degree. I never ex- pected to expend so much energy and labor to obtain satisfactory confirmation of the truth of a phenomenon, as I have expended in this last case. And when I think how difficult it is to obtain positive proof of the most ordinary occur- A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. 147 rences, even when there is no real or serious doubt, I should be astonished if it was not very hard to prove our case. In any event, I shall always regret that this occurred before mere neophytes, such as those at Helsingfors. I see no signs of returning mediumship, 3^et. . . . GoTTENBURG, March 4, 1894. It will interest you to know that I held a seance, a week ago, at the house of Mr. Nordmark, pres- ident of the Psycho-Physical Society. There was ample proof that my mediumistic powers have, to a certain extent, returned. We received a communication by raps, which has since been confirmed; something like the Stromberg case.' GoTTENBURG, March 5th, 1894. . . . With the improvement in my health, my mediumship seems to be restored. A circle had been organized, to sit at Mr. Nordmark's house, at 10 o'clock, A.M. It was perfectly successful. Partenkirchen f Haute- Bavarie April 6th, 1894. . . . You will be surprised to receive a letter ^ See Psychische Studien, January number, 1894. — A. A. 148 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. from this strange corner of the world. One of my dearest friends, the Baronne de Z — , has long wanted me to make her a visit, but I was not well enough to attempt the journey. As soon as I was sufficiently recovered, she came for me, and — here we are ! . . . I have not given any one my address, for I wished to avoid applications for seances. For the nonce, I am nothing but a female artist; at least, until my strength is fully regained. And as I am now sure that my mediumship is not lost, I can afford to wait patiently and let it recover from the shock it has sustained. . . . Partenkirchen, April 26th, 1894. ... I feel quite well and quite strong again. Perhaps it was only the intense heat that made me feel so weak. ... GoTTENBURG, January 23rd, 1894. ... I returned a month since, to enable the cashier of the house to take her vacation. I am now feeling much more comfortable. My stay in Bavaria has produced the best results, although it seemed enervating, at first. . . . A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZ ATIOX . 149 GoTTEXBURG, October 20th. 1S94. . . . Since I wrote you that I was well again, it has proved that I did so prematurely; for I had scarce returned when I began to be sensible of the mistake I had made, in leaving the neighbor- hood of the Alps so soon. In fact, the moment that I attempted to take up my accustomed du- ties, I found that I was utterly unfit for work, and up to the present time, I have not been able to discharge them. I left my bed, today, for the first time since the beginning of September. ]My physician has told me. only today, that I must not remain in Sweden this winter, but that I must go south as quickly as possible. This is a great disappointment to me. I wanted to resume my work. . . . Villa Clarexzia, . Montreux, Switzerland, December 29th, 1894. . . . As you see, I am in Switzerland, in search of health. Not that I am very ill. but a mere nothing startles and completely unnerves me. . . . Yes, this is the consequence of that last seance, which has spoiled a w^hole year of mv life. My entire nervous system has sufi'ered. At the slightest chill, o^ if I do not follow the prescribed 150 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION . 7xgime^ serious illness follows. I felt so much better this summer, after my long absence, that I returned to my work; but after an experiment of a few days, I found myself as ill as before, and discovered that I could do nothing requiring thoughtful calculation. I was forced to lay my painting aside entirely. . . . Except for these things, I am pretty well. I have a fair appetite, and sleep well, and am able to be about. . . . My hair has not returned to its natural color.' In front, and at the top of the head, the hair is almost white, and the rest is black ; but I fancy that the new hair, that grows in as the old falls out, is darker. It grows white, however, as soon as I have headaches, and I have these upon the slightest occasion. . . . ' It had grown white after the seance at Helsingfors, Vide Psy. Stud., October number, 1894. — A. A. CHAPTER \ PERSONAL ACCOUXT. BY THE ATEDIUM. OF HER COXDITIOX DURIXG A AIATERIALIZATIOX-SE- AXCE. Madam d'Esperance is. so far as I know, the only medium who is not entranced during ma- terialization-seances. This is in accordance with an agreement made with the invisible powers, when her mediumistic ofifts for materialization were tirst discovered: which discovery happened, according to ^Nladam d'Esperance's own account, entirely by chance, and in the manner following: One day when she was visiting a friend. Miss Fairlamb, (now Mrs. ^lellon,) who was ah'eady known as a medium for materializations, she was detained longer than usual, because a cab could not be obtained. Madam d'Esperance did not then believe in materialization, though she had not the slightest doubt of her friend's good faith. To pass the time, and solely for their amuse- ment. Miss Fairlamb proposed that Aladam d'Esperance should enter the cabinet which was ^ At Newcastle. England, about 1S75. — A. A. 152 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZ ATION. kept for seances. Scarcely had Madam d'Espe- rance, laughingly, seated herself, when a form appeared. Naturally, they gave her no peace after that. But knowing how frequently mediums are accused of themselves playing the parts of the spirits, and to what disagreeable suspicions they are exposed, she refused to re-enter the cabinet except upon one condition y this was, that she should not be entranced, but should be suffered to retain her entire consciousness all the time, if ^^the spirits" could manifest under such conditions. They replied that it was possible, and promised that she should never be en- tranced. She thought herself thus assured that she should never, unconsciously, be made to act the part of a spirit. She was, therefore, morti- fied and alarmed that she had been, so to speak, the victim of an illusion, when she ascertained, later, that even when she knew that she was seated in the cabinet and had her full conscious- ness, her body could be projected out of the cabinet and made to play any part which the invisibles might impose upon it.^ This was a revelation to her; and, thereafter, she would hold no seances except upon condi- tion that she was permitted to sit in front of, and outside of, the cabinet. ' See the last pages of Chapter First. — A. A. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 153 But all this information was only a chance acquisition during my sta}^ at Helsingfors in 1890. What seemed of chief importance was to take advantage of that most rare opportunit}^ to question a medium as to her physical and men- tal condition during a materialization. Madam d'Esperance most amiably consented; I put the questions, and Mr. Fidler took down the re- sponses in shorthand. The result was the ques- tions and answers given below. The difficulty which I then felt in reconciling the exact duplication of the medium's body — this complete externalization, (to use the lan- guage of practical hypnotism,) — with the me- dium's certainty that she had not left her place in the cabinet, made me decide not to publish the interview. But now, since the occurrence of the phenomenon at Helsingfors — which may serve as a " demonstration ad oculos " of what is possible in this phase of mediumship if devel- oped to a higher degree — I feel justified in publishing the interview by a firm conviction that a time will come when these things will be estimated at their true value. 154 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERIALIZATION. I. Questions by Mons. Aksakof, and Re- plies OF THE Medium. Question i. What are your mental and physi- cal sensations, when 3^ou are seated in the dark- ness of the cabinet, when the manifestations commence ? Ansvjer. When I first sit down and the cur- tains are closed, I feel anxious to be sure that the spectators are seated in their right places. As long as I can see those who are present, I do not feel any attempt on the part of the spirits to manifest through me; when the curtains are drawn, my attention is usually fixed upon the members of the circle, trying to make sure that everything is as it should be. Generally, also, I feel somewhat worried, and feel that every preparation should be made before I enter the cabinet and take my seat, so that I need not be concerned about anything. The slightest confu- sion always disturbs me; so much so, that, if it is not immediately quieted, I become so agi- tated that no manifestations whatever can take place When all is quiet, I feel no sort of care, even for myself; and the longer the sitting lasts, the more tranquil I become. Sometimes, I make the remark, "There is some one in the cabinet." I do so because I think I should inform the circle A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 155 of the fact; not that it is of any interest what- ever to me. It seems that, if one of the sitters leaves the circle, the chain is broken and this stops the manifestations. At the last seance, I felt as if someone had done something out of the way; but I did not know what it was, nor by whom it was done. The first sensation that I am conscious of, when sittinof in the cabinet, if evervthing^ is as it should be, is this: I feel as if my face and hands were covered with cobwebs, and I hastily rub both face and hands. This sensa- tion passes away and then the air seems to be filled with particles of something, and it is difficult for me to breath. This, also, passes away and then I know that an apparition is tak- ing shape. The commencement of manifestations is an- nounced b}^ the feeling of cobwebs, but this does not recur unless the seance is interrupted. If a break occurs, it is repeated. When the seances are not successful, I feel the cobwebs, as it were, all the time; but at such times, there are really neither veils, nor forms, nor even webs. When a ray of light penetrates the cabinet, I can see a white and vaporous mass, floating like the smoke of a locomotive. I have often put my hand into 156 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. this mist, to feel it and examine it; but I can not say that it ever feels as if I touched anything. I do not see it frequently, and have very rarely felt any curiosity to examine the curling mist; not that it interested me particularl}^, even then; but because it might be interesting to others. After this mass of vapor has swayed and rolled, in every direction, for some time — sometimes, even as long as half an hour — it suddenly becomes stationary, and then I know that a living being is beside me. Sometimes, the form takes shape almost as soon as the mist appears. I always have a sensation of emptiness, which begins as soon as I feel the cobwebs. I have the latter feeling only at the commencement, and later am unconscious of anything like it; but the sensation of emptiness seems to persist. If I try to move, I have no sense of distance; nor can I say how far I move a finger; or, if I shake it, I can not say where it will stop; I can only compare it to our sense of movements under water. The law of gravity seems to be suspended. I know that, in some way, I always become more inert; and although the distance between me and the side of the cabinet is very short, it seems to have been increased, and now seems to be limitless. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 157 When Yolande appears, she seems to approach from a great distance.' ^uest. 2. Have you noticed which is materi- alized first, the form or the veils? Have you ever seen or thought that Yolande dressed her- self? Has she, to your knowledge, ever taken any of 3^our garments to clothe herself? Ans. When the mist is changed to a living body, I can never tell whether the form or the drapery is first shaped. The whole transforma- tion is so rapid, that it is difficult to say which appears first, the body, or its garments. Yolande almost always comes close up to me, as soon as she is materialized. When she appears, I always feel a certain interest in her, although I do not often have an opportunity to see her. It is, in one sense, a surprise when she comes, whether it is because I can discover no limit to the cabinet, or because her form seems to come from so great a distance; and that is why my interest is excited. I have put my hand upon her and have felt of her hair, but have never had the curiosity to examine her closely. On Monday last, she put her head upon my lap and I felt her hair against my hands; her shoulders and arms were bare. ^ Yolande is the name given to the materialized form which most frequently appears. — A. A. 158 A CASE OF PARTIAI. DEMATERI ALIZATION. So far as I know, she has never taken any of my garments to clothe herself. On one occasion, Madam Fidler made the remark that she wore a skirt trimmed almost exactly like mine; but the trimming was carefully examined and we found that it had been washed, folded and put away for a long time. Since that time, I have always made it a point to wear dark trimmings on my skirts when I hold a seance, because Yolande is always dressed in white. When Leila^ was photographed, I saw by the sudden magnesium flash, that she wore a shawl like one of mine, which was presented to my \father by Abdul Azziz, in recognition of his ser- vices in directing the blockade, in the Crimean War, I believe. Immediately after the seance, I took pains to find out where my shawl was, and I found it folded and stored away in its proper place. When Yolande is outside of the cabinet, I have forced her to return to me by will-power. This puts her in a very bad temper when she wishes to remain outside. ^uest. 3. Can you see Yolande distinctly when she appears between the curtains? What ^ The name of a materialized form which appeared at a course of seances held for Mr. Hedlund, by Madam d'Esperance, at Gotten- burg, in 1890. — A. A. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERIALIZATIOX. 159 do vou feel at such times, and why do you not answer questions? A/is. When Yolande stands in the opening of the curtains and I see her, I feel quite dreamy and indifferent to all that is taking place around me. The reason, doubtless, is that I am too weak and powerless to concern myself about anything. When questioned. I have to collect mv thoughts and strength, so to speak, before I can answer. ]My thoughts and feelings are as vague as if I was in a dream. I can think and feel, but can not move. It is as if I were para- lyzed. ^uest. 4. Do Yo'lande's movements of her body, hands and feet cause anv correspondent movement whatever of yours? Ans. Any rapid movement on Yolande's part makes me perspire freely. I do not know what movements she makes; I only know that she moves: for I now know, from experience, that any effort on her part fatigues me much more than if I made it myself. It often happens that I have to change all my garments after a seance, because I am in such a perspiration. In my ordinary condition, on the contrary, I may almost say that I never perspire. Even when taking Turkish baths, the most intense heat is necessary to excite perspiration in me. IGO A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERIALIZATION. ^uest, 5. When Yolande is entirely outside the cabinet, do you always know the fact? What do you feel, at such times? Is there any rapport — any sympathetic connection, between you and her? AVhen she touches a sitter, or is touched by one, are you conscious of it? Ans. Whenever Yolande is outside the cabi- net, I know it; but that may be only because I see her go out. AYhenever she is dematerialized outside, I feel m3^self grow stronger, and I con- clude from this that she is gone; but I can scarcely say that I know it, as a fact. When she is dematerialized outside, I do not know whether she has entirely disappeared, or has re- entered the cabinet without my seeing her. All that I feel, when she is outside, is a nervous anxiety as to what she may do; exactly as if she liad escaped from my control, and I fear that she may do something she should not do. I never think of myself, but only of her, precisely as if she were a child entrusted to my care. This is never the case with other spirits; I am indiffer- ent as to them, and do not seem to care. I am curious about them, but not concerned. Perhaps my anxiety as to Yolande is caused by the fact that she has several times gotten into difficulty, already. Thus, for example, when Mr. George Jackson, (of No. 100 High Street, A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATE RIALIZ ATIOX . 161 Birmingham,) was here, at the time of the tirst seance, he was involved in one of these difficul- ties. When Yolande threw off the veil which had covered her, he thought she meant to give it to him and attempted to put it in his pocket. In spite of his haste to do so, there seemed to be more and more of it. Yolande was not pleased with his appropriation of it. and began to show signs of anger. The other participants told ^Nlr. Jackson to release the veil, but he did not understand Swedish and continued to thrust it into his pocket. Yolande, apparentl}', lost her temper completely, at last, and commenced to stamp her toot. ]Mr. Jackson then understood that he had made a mistake and returned the veil. I saw her distinctly, at the entrance of the cabinet ; but could form no conjecture as to what had happened. I could onh' see her, pulling the veil and stamping. When Yolande is outside and touches, or is touched by, some one, I always feel it. I do not know when she touches an object, a book, or a table, for instance; yet if she grasps anything tio'htlv, I feel mv muscles contract, as if mv hand had grasped it. When she dipped her lingers in the melted wax, I felt a burnino- sensation.^ ^This occurred at one of my seances. I had prepared some melted wax and warm water, to try to obtain a cast of Yolande" s hand. A. A. 162 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. At the time of the circles held at Mr. Hecllund's house, I remember that, one evening, he opened the curtains at the center of the cabinet; it seems that, at that moment, Yolande stepped upon a thumb tack, for I instantly felt a sharp pain in my foot, but she felt nothing. The pain con- stantly came and went, 'from that time to the close of the seance. Several years ago, at Newcastle, she had a rose in her hand and one of the thorns pierced her finger. Simultaneously, I felt the prick, in mine. She first went to one of the sitters, to get him to remove the thorn; but as none of them understood her, she came to me and I pulled it out. Except this sensation of pain, (frequently felt by me when the injury really happens to Yolande,) I do not know that there is any con- nection ruhateverhQtwQtn us, as far as relates to my own innermost personality. I am perfectly sure that I lose nothing, unless it be some little physical sensitiveness; I am sure that I lose neither power of thought nor of judgment, when Yolande is present; for my reasoning power is then more acute than at other times. Although she may take parts of my body, I know that my intellect is not even temporarily impaired. ^uest. 6. Have you never been in a position A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 163 to observe Yolancle when she was out in the room, well away from the cabinet? Aus. I have seen her play an organ, outside the cabinet. She chanced to leave the curtains a little way open. I have seen her outside, on other occasions, also. During seances at ^Ir. Hedlund's, I often saw her experimenting with the light, to see if she could bear it; she had drawn the curtains together at the top, but in such a way that I could see her. I have also watched her when she was examining the room. But frequently, when I feel curious to observe her, (as I sometimes do,) I have not strength enough to open the curtains. I have seen Yolande outside of the cabinet about six times, in all. One day, at Newcastle, she came to me from the third compartment of the cabinet, across the room. I saw her come out, then I lost sight of her and knew nothing further of her movements until I saw her near me, but a few feet otf. Izcent roith her^ and she put her arm around me and helped me to walk to the organ. At other times, she has materialized at my side, outside the cabinet; then, I could see her as well as I could see the members of the circle. ^uest. 7. Do you notice any changes in your bodily or mental condition during seances, which correspond with the manifestations? 164 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. A71S. As the apparitions take shape, dissolve, or move about, I am conscious of physical sen- sations; as, for example, the feelings of empti- ness and paralysis; but these impressions pass away with the forms. But, on the other hand, it is exactly the reverse with my mental condi- tion; for my mental impressions are much more powerful during the manifestations than when I am in my normal state, and neither materializa- tions nor apparitions are present. I know and feel all that occurs, even outside the circle. I saw that you were absent;^ I know ^ This refers to the following incident : At one of the seances, when everything was in readiness, Madam d'Esperance in the cabinet, the curtains drawn, every one in his place, the half-light adjusted, but the door not yet locked, I slipped out of the room without mak- ing the slightest noise. As soon as I returned, they told me that Madam d'Esperance had exclaimed, "We cannot begin, for Mons. Medium's Feet. My Feet. Aksakof is not here." I must add that the medium was seated in the cabinet, and her chair was so placed that her back was turned towards my position. Only the curtain separated us, but my seat A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 165 when any one is stirring in another part of the house, and T hear them much more plainly than under ordinary circumstances. I heard the clock strike in the church tower; I could hear the whistling of the steamers in the harbor, and the noise of the incoming and outgoing trains, as I could not possibly do in my normal state. ^uest. 8. Do you hear what is said by the members of the circle, among themselves, and especially when they talk with Yolande? A?is. I hear the spectators, and even seem to know their thoughts. When any one speaks to Yolande, no matter in what language, I seem to know what they mean to say to her. I do not understand this from their speech but from their thoughts. ^uest. 9. If Yolande happens to touch you what kind of sensation do you feel? Ans. When I touch Yolande it seems as if I were touching myself ; but when I feel that there are four hands, I realize that they are not all mine. Saturday, when she took both my hands — one to hold the s^uitar and the other to strike the chords — it felt as if I were touching my own hands. Her hands were cooler than Avas at the left corner of the cabinet, somewhat behind the medium's chair; so that, e\'en it there had chanced to be a hole in the curtain, she could not have seen me. — A. A. 166 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. mine, but that was the only noticeable differ- ence. ^uest. lo. Do you touch Yolande when you wish to and as often as 3^ou wish to? I suppose you, naturally, wish to assure yourself that hers is a veritable body? Ans. I never try to touch Yolande unless she is very close to me, and unless she asks me to do something for her. I felt her Saturday [July 5th, 1890] when she was so frightened that she threw herself into my arms. I felt her whole body, the draught of her breath, and the beating, or I might rather say the throbbing, of her heart. I could not under- stand the cause of her alarm. Could the sound of the guitar alone have disturbed her to such a degree? Her fingers were moist, and it seemed as if some earth clung to them; I therefore in- ferred that she had been doing something with a plant'; I felt the sand. If I try to touch Yolande, it is always at the commencement of a seance: later I feel neither interest nor curiosity so to do. When I put out my hand and touch /z^r, / feel nothifig at all^ it feels as if there was nothing there. I see plainly that there is something or somebody there ' The seance of June 28, 1890, during which Yolande materialized a plant. See Psych. Stud., December, 1890. — A. A. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. 167 when the curtains are open, but later, by the time that she is better materialized, I lose all interest. Nevertheless, if she touches me, I can feel it. I do not remember to have ever taken Yolande upon m}^ knees; the greater part of the time she sits on the floor at my feet and rests her head in my lap; then she comes in front of me and seems to step between me and the curtains, and although the space is but three or four hands wide, she can pass without my feeling anything. She can stand upright, on my feet or on my knees, and yet / feel no weight whatever. Yet, on Saturday, July 5 th, I felt the full weight of her body, though usually she seems to have no weight at all. I do not know that Yolande has ever passed behind me, but Mina ^ very often does so. The latter, at such times, seems to bury herself partly in the wall of the cabinet, without the slightest inconvenience to herself. Yolande never does this. A living human being, of Yolande's figure, could never pass between me and the curtains, as she does, without crowding me. ^uest. II. Have you ever seen Yolande mate- ^ A littlegirl who materializes at Madam d'Esperance's seances. A.A. 168 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERIALIZATION. rialize or dematerialize in the opening of the curtains, (as we once saw her,) and what effect did it have on you? Ans. I have never seen Yolande dematerialize, but I infer that she has done so from the sense of returning strength. I remember very dis- tinctly that, when at Christiania, I felt a lack of respirable air in the room; and once or twice, when I breathed deeply^ I heard the participants exclaim, Now^ she^ \the materialized fornz^ is goneP'^ Once, I did this on purpose, and heard Madam Fidler say, " There! she is gone again! ^uest, 12. Toward the end of the seance, when Yolande is ready to leave, do you feel any particular bodil}' sensation? How do you feel before the seance, and how after it? Ans. At the end of a seance, I always feel that a good bath would be the best thing for me; for I do not feel very comfortable. I suppose the reason is that Yolande borrows a certain amount of matter, for her materializations, from the spec- tators, and that I absorb some of this and it makes me uncomfortable. Now, I always take a bath before each seance, but then I took it afterwards, and I do not think the absorption did me any harm; still, I am not sure. I always feel a tingling sensation, all over my body, before a seance — even eight or nine hours A CASE OF PARTIAL DE>xATERIALIZATION. 169 before. When I know that a sitting is to take place, I feel a pricking in my lingers, exactly as if I held the tubes of a galvanic battery ; I take no interest in anything, and it even prevents me from thinking. I even prefer not to know, be- forehand, when a sitting is arranged. After a seance, I generally have nausea, fol- lowed by vomiting, caused by the absorption of matter drawn from the members of the circle by Yolande, for her materialization.' Through- out the day, before a seance, I abstain from nour- ishment, as far as possible. ^uest. 13. Have you never tried to hold Yo- lande, or her veil, with your hands? It would seem but natural for you to wish to preserve a piece of the drapery. Ans. Onl\' the other day, I took the scissors and tried to cut off a lock t)f her hair, but I did not succeed in doing so; she was too strong for me. Except in that instance, I have never tried to hold her. I was more curious to test her strength than anything else, but she grasped my fingers so tightly that I could not move them. ^uest. 14. Have you ever seen Yolande. face to face ? ' Madam d'Esperance recently told me that she was surprised to feel no distress after the seances at Christiania, but that none of the sitters used either alcohol or tobacco. — A. A. 170 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. Ans. When she has been outside the cabinet with me, /^^r face has always bee7i veiled in such a way that I could not see it; but at New- castle, I saw her in the middle of the room, when the curtains were opened and the light fell full upon her. I then saw her arms and shoulders as plainly as I could see those of any other person. It was a seance in full light. / saw the French tvoman, and it was like looking at myself in a mi7'7'or^ so much did she resemble me. ^iiest. 15. Did you recognize this resem- blance in face or hands, or only in other bodily and mental characteristics? A71S. I have never seen an}^ resemblance to me in the features of Yolande's face; or, rather, 1 have never had an opportunity to compare them. ^uest, 16. Have you never felt as if you were in Yolande; as if your consciousness was trans- planted into her? Or do you always have a sense of separateness from her, and of always being yourself, in your place, inside the cabinet? Can you think, and understand all that takes place about you ? Ans. When she touches me, the sensation is exactly the same as if I touched myself. I do not feel as if I were a part of her; but, on the contrary, as if she were a part of me. Wherever Yolande may be, I always know A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION . 171 that I am truly myself, in my place in the cabi- net. That is plain and sure, and nobody in the world could weaken that conviction; for I am sure of it, and it is not a mere belief. I know that I, myself, am here, and that some part of myself, (which is exhaled from, and goes out of, me) has escaped from my control. It seems as if something- which appertained to me had come into the temporary control of another. I do not know exactly what I have lost; at all events, I have lost nothing essential to my being; and yet the materialized form has been made out of me. I consider Yolande a being distinct from me; I am absolutely certain that she has her own, separate individuality, her own sensations, her own consciousness, entirely apart from mine. ^uest, 17. Since you feel that Yolande is, in reality, either another personality, or entirely independent of you, can you not describe her moral and mental characteristics? — When you enter the cabinet, do you think of Yolande, or desire her to come? A71S. She is as willful and capricious as a child and, to me, seems as undeveloped as a girl of thirteen or fourteen years, without any remark- able intelligence, but simply inquisitive. She appears like a child transplanted to a more civil- 172 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. ized sphere of existence; she understands and learns quickly; but curiosity is the most distinc- tive quality of her character. When she first came among us, she did not seem to know what a chair was, and attempted to use one in all sorts of ways. She sat upon the back, and fell over. On the other hand, she appeared to be acquainted with the use of paper and pencils. She showed much curiosity as to everything that was brought to her notice; she understood the use of clothes and jewelry, and knew how to put them on properly. Yolande never shows affection for me, or for any one else; she plays freely with Mr. Fidler's children, because she is used to them, but not from any fondness for them. I suppose she finds pleasure in activity. If I happen to ask her for anything — flowers, for instance — she gives them to me, but poutingly, it seems. When any other person asks her to do anything she does it more willingly; but if it is I, not only is she unwilling, but she seems to look upon me with suspicion, as if I exercised a surveillance over her. Yolande appears to be influenced by a desire for praise and a wish to be thought intelligent. She must have progressed in the six years since A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX. 173 Walter' told us she had learned the lirst letters of the alphabet; but she has still much to learn. I never try to think of what may happen while I am in the cabinet, and I never desire that Yolande may come. I do not know that she will come, but I know that some one will gener- ally come. Of course, if nothing occurs. I am disappointed: and. for that reason alone. I might desire her to come. ^uesi. iS. When other spirits materialize, do vou teel as if they were a part of vourself. or as if thev were strangers and independent of vou r Alls. I do not feel, with other spirits, as T do with Yolande. I can tell, without look- ing, whether it is Yolande or another form. I do not know why this is ; I only feel the differ- ence. When the spirit called " Charles I " I was curi- ous to see who it was. without taking any further interest. I felt that Yolande was gone and that I was restored to my normal state; then, at that A'crv moment. I felt a change and the spirit called ** Charles " appeared. ^uest. 19. Has Yolande never manifested in any other wav than during a seance, with the materializing cabinet? * A spirit-guide who manifests by ^vriting. — A. A. 174 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. Ans. Yolande has never, to my knowledge, manifested otherwise than at seances, with the cabinet for materializations. The other spirits which manifest at the seances, have given proof of their existence, at other times. I remember that one evening, while I was still living in England, I had one of the little boys upon my lap, and as we sang together we heard a voice accompany us. The boys asked. Is that you, singing, Nina?" and she answered, "Yes." Thereupon, they mounted the stairs at a run and, not finding her there, they called out, "Are you down-stairs?" The voice again an- swered "Yes." They scampered all over, look- ing for her, until tired out. They heard the voice in all parts of the house. ^uest. 20. Please tell me how you were im- pressed by Walter's answer, on June i6th, 1890, which you said was entirely unexpected — "a revelation." I refer to your entire invisibility when I suddenly looked into the cabinet.' Ans. Prior to the i6th of June, 1890, I felt absolutely certain that no appreciable change took place in my body. I did, indeed, feel that a change took place at seances, but did not sup- pose that it was apparent to others. I always, so far as I know, could see, feel and hear; or, I ^ See Psych. Stud, for 1894, pp. 298, 299. — A. A. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION . 175 might rather say, that when I am in the cabinet my hearing is much more acute than at ordinary times, for I can then hear the ticking of a clock in an adjoining room, or even on a lower storey; I can hear all the sounds of the city, for in- stance, the striking of town and church clocks, and the ticking of the watches of the specta- tors. It is certain that my senses are sharper than usual. I can feel thoitghts^ but it seems more as if I heard them.' I have lately tried to fix the thoughts thus felt and heard, so as to be able to repeat them; but I have not suc- ceeded. If I had known that I should sometimes be transformed^ as Walter seems to believe, I should never have dared to hold seances for persons not perfectly familiar with matters of this kind. I frequently walk with Yolande, outside the cabinet, so as to enable the sitters to see us both, at the same time. On many occasions, I have seen Yolande be- fore me, or kneeling beside me, patting my dress, and sometimes she gives me a glass of water. I have talked to her, touched her, and have had opportunities to convince myself, in ^ These italics are the translator's. The translation is literal. Translator. 176 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. all sorts of ways, that we are two distinct per- sonalities. The first time that I remarked any very great change in myself, and actually com- prehended that it was a real change, was at the time of the Hedlund photographic seances, when a male spirit touched me. I was so frightened at it that I tried to rise and fly from the cabinet, but found that I had no power to move. The spectators saw the spirit referred to, and saw it dissolve, little by little. At the same time, I felt my strength and sensibility, return. II. Supplementary Remarks by Mons. Aksakof. I know no more appropriate way to close these interesting communications, than to refer my readers to the simple and vivid description which Madam d'Esperance has given of what she knows, thinks and feels during a materializ- ing seance, when sitting outside the cabinet^ in full view of the participants, as published by her in a series of articles in The Medium for 1892 and 1893, under the title " How a Medium Feels durinof Materializations." I cannot refrain from here reproducing one passage which directly and speciall}^ relates to the question treated in this work, and describes A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX. 177 another valuable case of that duplication which the medium experienced, while she remained conscious throughout it. ^Nladam d'Esperance herself speaks, herein; and it must be remem- bered that the account was written lono^ before the Helsingfors experience. "And now, another small and delicate form appears, with its little arms stretched out. Some one, at the far end of the circle, rises, approaches it, and they embrace. I hear inarticulate cries : ^Anna! O Anna! My child — my dear child!' Then another person rises and throws her arms around the spirit; whereupon, I hear sobs and exclamations, mingled with benedictions. I feel my body moved from side to side; everything grows dark before my eyes. I feel some one's arms around my shoulders; some one's heart beats against my bosom. I feel that something happens. No one is near me; no one pays the slightest attention to me. Every eye is fixed upon that little figure, white and slender, in the arms of the two women in mourning. "It must be my heart that I hear beating, so distinctly; yet, surely, some one's arms are around me; never have I felt an embrace more plainly. I begin to wonder. Who am I? Am I the apparition in white, or am I that which re- mains seated in the chair? Are those my arms, 178 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZ ATION . around the neck of the elder woman ? or are those mine which lie before me, in m}^ lap? Am I the phantom; and, if so, what shall I call the being in the chair? "Surely, my lips are kissed; my cheeks are moist with the tears so plentifully shed by the two women. But how can that be? This feelinof of doubt as to one's own identity is fearful. I wish to extend one of the hands lying in my lap. I can not do so. I wish to touch some one so as to make perfectly certain whether I am /, or only a dream; whether Anna is I, and if I am, in some sort, lost in her identity. " I feel the trembling arms of the elder woman, her kisses, her tears, the caresses of the sister, and I suffer mortal agony. How long will it last? How long will both of us remain? What will happen, in the end ? Shall I be Anna, or will Anna be me ? "Thereupon, I feel two little hands slipped into my paralyzed palms; this gives me a kind of support and an acute happiness. I know that I am still myself and that little Joute,' tired, doubt- less, of remaining forgotten behind the three fig- ures, and feeling lonesome, is looking for a play- mate. ^ The name of another child-spirit, who materializes at Madame d'Esperance's seances. — A. A. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. 179 How happy I am to feel the touch, even of a little child! My doubts — as to who and where I am — are gone. And while I am experiencing all this, the white form of Anna disappears in the cabinet and the two women return to their places, tearful, shaken with emotion, but intense- ly happy." {^The Medium^ 1893? P- 46-) CHAPTER VL Conclusions. At the commencement of this memorial, I stated that the manifestation, of which, in partic- ular, it treats, is destined to throw a bright light on certain questions, hitherto obscure and con- fused, relating to the phenomena of materializa- tion. I shall restrict myself to a statement of them, in the briefest manner possible, without entering into details. I. The frequently noted fact of the resem- blance of the materialized form to the medium, here finds its natural explanation. As that form is only a duplication of the medium, it is natural that it should have all her features. Ver}^ recently indeed, at the time of our Milan seances with Eusapia Paladino, I had an oppor- tunity to show a resemblance of hands; and I have mentioned, in my book, Animisme et Spir- it isme^ a case in which the resemblance of feet was shown by impressions in paraffine. As for features of the face, we have Prof. Crookes' pho- tographs, in which the resemblance between Katie King and her medium cannot be mistaken. Consequently — and this is a most important point A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION . 181 to remember, when experimenting, investigating or criticising — it is obvious that the most exact likeness is not any evidence of fraud, on the part of the medium. Thus General Sederholm was very easily misled to his conclusion that Madam d'Esperance played the part of the spirits, her- self 2. Furthermore, — One may seize the mate- rialized form, and hold it, and assure himself that he holds nothing except the medium herself, in flesh and bone; and it is not yet a proof of fraud on the medium's part. In fact, according to our hypothesis, what could happen if we detain the medium's double by force, when it is materialized to such a degree that nothing but an invisible simulacre of the medium remains in the seat, behind the curtain? It is obvious that the simu- lacre — that small portion, fluid and etherial — will be immediately absorbed into the already compactly materialized form, which lacks nothing [of being the medium] but that invisible re- mainder. It is nearly twenty years since Mr. Harrison, the editor of the London Spij^itualist^ wrote as follows concerning this process: " It is clear that the two forms must re-unite, and that the lesser portion should be absorbed into the greater." {^Spiritualist^ 1876, II, 256.) But I do not see 182 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. how this could be accomphshed, if the medium was well " secured " — if her hands and feet were securely bound. According to the theory, the bonds, with the knots, seals, etc., should remain intact, hanging from the chair of the medium. That would involve a pleasant experience! But I do not know of any such case; for, in experi- mental spiritualism, it has not been thought necessary to resort to physical restraint, when it is absolutely certain that all fraudulent con- duct, on the part of the medium, is out of the question.' 3. The hypothesis in question illustrates the difficulty, which has always existed, in seeing the perfectly materialized figure and the me- dium, at the same time; because, as I have already said, a perfect materialization, on the one hand, necessitates an equally complete de- materialization, on the other hand; this means that only an invisible simulacre is left, which, we suppose, remains in the place of the me- dium's body. The same principle applies to photographing the medium and the material- ized form, together; successful attempts are of legendary rarity. It seems that the difficult thing ' Nevertheless, for analogous cases, with Jean and Emile Schraps and Madam Demmler, as mediums, see Psych. Stud., June, 1889, p. 258; October, 1892, p. 433; September, 1892, p. 436. — A. A. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERIALIZATION. 183 to attain is, the knowledge or the ability to pre- serve the necessary equilibrium, when distribut- ing a given amount of matter into the two forms. 4. Experience proves that the process of de- materialization and rematerialization extends not only to organic bodies, but also to inorganic bodies. For this reason, the cords and seals with which the medium is secured, do not offer the slightest obstacle.* Just here, the following hy- pothesis is presented, as to the operation of these laws: "Either the bonds are dematerialized, or the medium, herself, is dematerialized." We have a striking illustration of this in the case of Mrs. Compton, which I cited in the first chapter. We have another analogous example, in the ex- perience of Prof Crookes, recounted by Mr. Blackburn. Miss Cook's neck, waist, hands, and arms, were tied with four bands of ribbon, by Prof. Crookes, to four points on a movable ladder, and the knots were sewn and sealed. Within five minutes, the medium stepped out of the cabinet, free from her bonds, which lay on the floor, intact. ( 77^^ Spiritualist^ 1874, II, p. 285.) I may also refer the reader to a personal experience of mine, with the medium Leon ^Then, why should there be any difficulty in the process of ab- sorption or combination, spoken of in the last paragraph of section 2, above? — Translator. 184 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. Montet, whom I tied with the greatest care and who was instantly freed from all the cords; yet not the smallest knot was fractured. {^Psych- i'sche Studie7t, ]din\\2ivy^ 1882, p. i.) 5. These facts being unquestionable, the same hypothesis also explains the penetration of matter by matter, and the apports^'' which are so well known in mediumship. They are, evidently, intimately associated with the phenomena here- inbefore dealt with. It is unnecessary to cite examples. I refer the reader to my book Aji- imisnie et Spiritisme and to my narrative of the iron ring which was put on the arm of the medium, Williams, as related in Psychische Studien^ (February, 1876). It rests upon the same hypothesis. Mr. Harrison enters into de- tails to explain the cases of apports and pene- tration of matter, in his article entitled "The- ory of the Explanation of certain Spiritual Manifestations," (^The Spiritualist^ 1876, I, p. 205,) in which he quotes my experience with Williams. 6. The solidarity of the medium and the ma- terialized form become manifest and perfectly comprehensible. It has often been noticed that physical impres- sions, made upon the materialized form, take effect upon the medium. We have the first, as A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. 185 well as the most common, examples of this, in cases where marks are put upon materialized hands. I have treated this subject in Animisme et S-piritisme and have therein given an interest- ing instance of a knife-wound upon a material- ized arm, the pain from which was felt by the medium. In like manner, it has often happened, at Madam d'Esperance's seances, that where a materialized hand was pricked, the puncture was felt by the medium. I was present, m3'Self, at a seance when the materialized spirit dipped her fingers in melted wax, and the medium instantly cried out that it burned her. In short, we have a case unique in the annals of spiritualism, attested by five witnesses, which explains this solidarity in the most unlooked for manner. At a seance given by Mr. Monck, a masculine form issued from the left side of the medium and took shape, under the very eyes of the witnesses. The medium was in plain sight all the time and the light was good. The form was completely materialized, and its face, hands and feet were examined by the full light of the gas; furthermore, it gave proof of its strength by lifting the members of the circle from their chairs, in rotation. It should be incidentally noted that this last case shows that the hypothesis of an almost 186 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. entire dematerialization of the medium, accom- panying the complete materiaHzation of a form as I have explained above, is subject to excep- tion, (as I have stated again and again) ; for, in this instance, the medium remained visible and tangible. I quote the following, verbatim: "They next proposed an unusual proceeding; namely that the form should drink a glass of water. The result was, that, while the material- ized spirit drank the water before our eyes, and in such a manner that we could see it drink and hear it swallow, a like quantity of water was instajitly ejected from the medium'' s mouth. This agrees with the oldest analogous evidence; that is to say, that sometimes, if not always, there is an intimate connection in taste and sen- sations, between psychic forms and the mediums from whom they spring." ( The Spii^itualist, 1877, II, p. 287.) There is a tradition that spirits dread a sword, and even in the most recent cases, we find facts confirmatory of that belief Thus, in Glanvil's narrative entitled the "Demon of Tedworth," (XVII Century) we read that a servant of Mons. Mompesson, (whose house the " demon " kept in an uproar,) being beset by the spectre at night, menaced it with his sword and thus put it to A CASE OF PARTIAL DEM ATERI ALIZATION. 187 flight. Once, the spectre attempted to get pos- session of the sword ' and a struggle ensued; but as soon as the servant became master of the weapon, the spectre vanished. "We noted that it always tried to avoid the sword." (S. Glan- vil, Saducismus Ti'iumphatiis^ Ed. of 1688, pp. 325-326.) The Marquis de Mirville, in his work, " Spirits and their Fluid Manifestations," quoting many incidents from the first manifestations at Cideville, which occurred in 1851, states, among other things, that the spectre always sought to avoid the point of a sword, directed toward the spot where it was supposed to be making the sound of blows. The marquis quotes many pas- sages from ancient writers, in confirmation of the tradition referred to. According to recent investigations in the un- familiar and mysterious domain of hypnotism, the sensibility of the surface of the skin may even be extended to a certain distance from the hypnotized person, so as to form a kind of sensi- tive cushion around him or her.^ The hypnotized person is then absolutely insensible of a prick applied directly upon her skin; but, if this air- ^Like the pencil which -was forcibly -wrenched from mv hand behind Eusapia's back, at one of the Milan seances. — A. A. ^ Much like the electric field, or the magnetic field. — Traxsla- TOR. 188 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. cushion is pricked, at a given distance from the body, this is felt at once. This phenomenon is now called exteriorization of sensibility^ What takes place in the phenomena of ma- terialization, as we have seen it, may be con- sidered the highest development of exteriori- zation." Thus, tradition and experiment join hands.^ 7. Finally, if we have not found a complete solution of the mystery of materialization, we have, at least, a kind of natural explanation of it. It is no longer a miracle — an instantaneous crea- tion of matter for organic human forms, drawn from nothing, so to speak. It is a transforma- tion — the transformation of one existing organic form, into another. It still remains wonderful, but it is no longer miraculous. This is all the better for the spiritualistic doctrine, because it tends to prove that the body is not merely the product of the play of chemical forces; but is the creation of an organizing, persistent force, which can shape matter at its will. The body with which we are familiar is shown to be a material vesture, but a temporary one, only. ^ See Les Etats profo7ids de Vhypnose, bj A. de Rochas d'Aiglun, Paris, 1892 ; La Force vital, noire corps vital Jlicidiqiie, by Dr. Baraduc, Paris, 1893, and Exteriorisation animiqiie complete du C07^ps vital psychique, by the same author. — A. A. ^ See Psych. Stud., July, 1893, p. 321. — A. A. A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX . 189 The supremacy of spirit over matter becomes manifest. In the case of simple duplication, when the medium is entranced, we have a phenomenon of equilibration — that is to say, a re-distribution of the organic matter belonging to one bodv. into tvjo bodies, — together with conservation of iden- tity of the form which is generated by the indi- vidual organizing principle. When such a man- ifestation occurs and the medium is not entranced, we have the proof that the possession of the sum- total of our psychic body is not necessary to our auto-consciousness; and also that the oro-anizine self can act, and even build up a body, entirely outside of and apart from the conscious self When the duplication occurs and the material- ized form, while conforming to the general tvpe of' the medium, still dilTers from it in some re- spects, (as in the case of Katie King, where the shape of the nails and ears, and the color of her hair, were entirely unlike her medium's,) we have a dazzling proof of the organizing power of the supreme self, which is not confined to the model of the familiar earthly body which it in- habits. This is the beginning of transformation.' The ancients were familiar with this kind of transformation, lamblichus says, in his work on the Egyptian Mysteries (Sec. III. Ch. 5) '-Corpus eoriim vel concrescere videtur in altum, vel ifi amplum, vel per aerem fenni videtur. — A. A. 190 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. When the materialized form is entirely different from the medium, (as in the case of Katie Brink and Mrs. Compton, referred to in Chapter First,) we have a complete transformation, or transfigur- ation. How, and by whom, is it accomplished ? That is the difficult and important question. It is hard to believe that it is the work of the individual and transcendent self. And if, critically speak- ing, this supposition fulfills all the requisites for establishing an individuality, (see Animisme et Spiritisme^ we have the best evidence that a transcendent, individual self, (which is not that of the medium,) simply seizes certain organic matter, to transform it at its pleasure. But if this is so, would it not be simpler for this supreme self to reproduce the very form and face of the medium, and then transform them at will, without resorting to the marvelous produc- tion of a form entirely different from that of the medium? If cases of this kind exist, it would be striking and ocular proof that materialization resolves itself into a phenomenon of transforma- tion. In truth, such cases do exist; but they are rare and infrequent amongst the enormous mass of materials for spiritualistic literature. I find two cases of this nature given in an ar- ticle by Miss Kislingbury, in The Spiritualist A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZ ATIOX . 191 of December 22nd, 1S76. in which she classities appai'itions as duplications, transligurations and transformations, and gives two examples of trans- figuration. Here is tlie first, taken from a letter from ]\Ir. Joy, an American, previously published in the same journal, September 17, 1875: ^']\Irs. Crocker, a verv estimable medium of Chicago, told me the tbllowing facts, some time ago. Under the direction of her spirit-guide, she some months since beo-an a series of seances for the development of a new phase of medium- ship. The sitters were her own family, only. One night when there was a bright fire in the room, besides some moonlight, she was trans- figured. Her face was entirely changed as to size, shape and expression, and a hea\'y black beard appeared on it. All those who were seated at the table saw it alike. Her son-in-law cried, as she turned her lace towards him. * O, this is m^' father I ' and afterwards declared that it was the exact image of his deceased parent. A moment later. 'Mrs. Crocker was transformed into an old lady, with white hair. These meta- morphoses occurred gradualh'. while none of the witnesses took their e}'es from her face. She retained complete consciousness, but telt a very livelv tino^lino- sensation all over her bodv. ex- 192 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. actly as if she held the poles of a strong galvanic battery." The other example is taken from the " Book of Mediums," by Allan Kardeck. The case occurred near St. Etienne, in 1858. "A young girl of some fifteen years, possessed the singular faculty of transfiguring herself; that is to say, of assuming the likenesses of certain deceased persons, at given times. The illusion was so complete that man}^ thought the person in question actually present, so exact was the likeness in feature, look, tone of voice, and even in verbal expression. This phenomenon was re- peated hundreds of times, without the girl being able to control it in any way. She often took the appearance of a brother who had been dead some years; and not only were his features re- produced, but his height and the proportions of his body. A neighboring doctor, having fre- quently witnessed these bizarre effects, and wishing to make sure that he was not the victim of some trick, tried the following experiment. We obtained the account from him, from the girl's father, and from several other honorable and reputable persons who were e3^e-witnesses. He adopted the plan of weighing the girl both in her natural state and when she was trans- figured and appeared like her brother, who was A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZA TIOX . 193 somethino: over twentv vears of aofe and who was much k^rger and stouter than she. He found that in the latter state her weight was almost doubled! The test was conclusive, as it was impossible to attribute such a result to a mere optical delusion.** Thouofh these cases are cited bv ^liss Kis- lingburv as examples of transfiguration, the production of the beard, the gray hair and the increased weight, are all phenomena which clearly indicate that a process of transformation had already taken place, always admitting the exactness of the facts related. Unfortunately, we have not details of the observation and direct testimony of the eye-witnesses, sufficient to jus- tify full credence of facts so very important, if authentic. One great point in their favor is. that they are not in conflict with the principle upon which all materialization is based ; and that they illustrate, in some sort, the transitory and initial stage in the transformation of one organic body into another, under the operation of an unknown oro^anizino: force. This is the proper place to mention another class of phenomena w^hich also weigh in favor of the theory of transformation; but which, un- fortunately, are as rare and as insufficiently de- scribed as the foregoing. 194 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATION. Thus, we find the following case reported by Mr. Simmons at one of the meetings of the National Association of Spiritualists, held at London, in December, 1876. " Dr. Newburgh had told him how, for that purpose, he had tied Mrs. Compton with waxed cord and nailed her black alpaca dress to the floor. After thus securing her, he returned to the circle outside and saw a form, smaller than Mrs. Compton and entirely robed in white, issue from the cabinet. He said it would require thirty or forty ells of material to make that robe. The doctor was invited to enter the cabinet, and found there nothing but the medium's empty chair. He came out and talked with the appari- tion and asked for a piece of its veil. The fig- ure answered, ^ If you cut this, it will make a hole in the medium's dress,' and added that, in that event, he would have to present her a new dress. He thereupon cut from the white veil a piece nearly as large as his hand. The form re-entered the cabinet. An instant later, he was invited to enter also, and he found the medium tied with the waxed cord, and her dress nailed to the floor, as at first: and, in her black dress^ he found a large hole^ which corresponded ex- actly to the white piece. Later, the doctor cut the surrounding piece from the black dress, to A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERIALIZATIOX. 195 show the others how exactly the white piece litted into the rent. Afterwards, he examined and analyzed the two materials, and found them exactly alike in all other respects, but of diiferent colors."' i^The Spiritualist^ 1876, 11, p. 257.) The same thing was very frequently observed at Madam d'Esperance's seances, where, when- ever one of the participants succeeded in clan- destinely cutting off a 'piece of the veil which enveloped a materialized form, it was found that a piece of the medium's dress or underskirt was missing. I can not, at present, refer to any ac- count of such occurrences, for I have long since had to give up keeping my register, because of failino^ evesig^ht. I onlv know that, in the case of INIadam d'Esperance, the instances did not occur in the course of experimentation, in the true sense of the word. It was always dis- covered by chance and always after the seance. At the time of my sittings at Gottenburg, I wished to arrange for an experiment of the kind, and to that end, I ordered a special robe for Madam d'Esperance; but I have had no opportunity to try the experiment, being too eager to accomplish the special object for which ^ A more extensive account of Mrs. Compton and of analogous manifestations will be found in Psych. Stud., January, 1S94. p. 291. A. A. 196 A CASE OF PARTIAL DEMATERI ALIZATION. I went to Gottenburg. It should be stated, how- ever, that when a cut is made by permission of a materialized form, as in the case quoted above, {Psych. Stud., 1893^ PP- 341-349?) Madam d'Es- perance is not surprised, and her dress remains uninjured. If we could establish one case of this kind, in such a way that it should be absolutely indis- putable, we should therein also have a phe- nomenon which would mark an epoch like that to which this little book is devoted; and more- over, in that case, the evidence would not be ephemeral and transitive, (as the evidence is when organic living bodies are materialized,) but the proof would be as enduring and perma- nent as are the knots in an endless cord, obtained by Prof. ZoUner. From the point of view of an impartial critic, I must admit that the phenomenon of the partial dematerialization of the body of the medium, of which I write, is still far from positively estab- lished. The principal defect, (which I can not ignore,) is that it is unique and was unexpected y the witnesses, not having foreseen any such man- ifestation, could not, while the phenomenon lasted, act with the calmness and prudence nec- essary to demonstrate a fact so extraordinary. But yet, as it is, I think it supported by evidence A CASE OF PARTIAT. DEMATERIALIZ ATION. 197 sufficient to justify me in making it the subject of this memoir. Now that the case is known, there remains but one thing to desire: its reproduction in all the thousand conditions possible for perfect, scien- tific, irreproachable observation; and above all, before a circle of persons perfectly conversant with the present state of the inquiry. To this end, we have an important help in the personal- ity of the medium, who desires nothing so much as serious investigation, and who affords excep- tional advantages in some respects, as she is not entranced during the sittings, as she is accessible to observation, and as she is herself an excellent observer. But in order to reproduce the phe- nomenon with Madam d'Esperance as medium, it is, first of all, necessary that her health be re- established; and that her mediumship, dissipated by the psychic and physical shock suffered as a result of what then occurred, should be restored anew. From last accounts, it appears that an im- provement in her health has at length taken place, and her mediumship is returning. Let us hope that she will no longer be a martyr to the cause which has hitherto borne her only mortifications, disappointments and bitter calumnies, in return for all the abnegation, generosity and devotion she has shown. Repiofka, Penza, July 11/23, 1895. I