We thank Mr. Flammarion’s kindness for providing us with the information about a letter that was addressed to him with the following passage:
“You probably think dear Sir that you are the first astronomer to deal with Spiritism. You are wrong. About a century and a half ago Fontenelle employed tiptology with the medium Ms. Letard. I was enjoying myself this morning browsing a manual published fifty years ago by Philipon de la Madeleine and found a letter from Ms. Launai, that later became Madam Stael, sent by the Duchess of Maine to the secretary of the Academy of Sciences relatively to an adventure summarized below:
In 1713 a young lady by the mane Letard pretended that she communicated with the Spirits such as Socrates as her demon. Mr. Fontenelle went to see the girl and since in the conversation he showed some doubts about that kind of charlatanism the Lady of Maine that had no doubt about it had Ms. de Launai assigned to write about the fact.”
Philipon de la Madeleine
The following note is found in one edition of the selected works of Fontenelle, published in London 1761:
A young lady by the name Ms. Letard excited the public’s curiosity by a supposed gift in the beginning of the century. Everybody went to see that as did Mr. Fontenelle, advised by the Duke of Orleans. Such was the content of the letter sent by Ms. de Lunai to him, as below:
Ms. Letard’s adventure Sir makes less noisy than your testimony. People are surprised, and perhaps rightly so, that the destructor of the oracles; that the one that took the tripod of the Sybil down was now kneeling before Ms. Letard. Wow! The critics say. The man that was able to clearly unveil the frauds done a thousand miles away and more than two thousand years before his time could not dismiss a trick done before his eyes!
"The adventure of Mademoiselle Letard makes less noise, sir, than the testimony you have given." It is astonishing, and perhaps with some reason, that the destroyer of the oracles, who has overturned the tripod of the sibyls, knelt down before Mademoiselle Letard. What! "Cried the critics," this man who has put on such a fine day tricks made a thousand miles away, and more than two thousand years before him, has not been able to discover a trick that has been hatched before his eyes! The refined pretend that in good Pyrrhonian, finding everything uncertain, you find everything possible. On the other hand, devotees seem very impressed by the homage which you have paid to the devil; they hope that it will go further. From my side, sir, I suspend my judgment until I am better informed."
Reply from Mr. de Fontenelle:
"I shall have the honor, mademoiselle, of replying to you the same as I answered a friend of mine who wrote to me from Marly the day after I had been with the Spirit. I informed him that I had heard sounds of which I did not know the mechanics; to be certain about that it would require a more accurate examination than the one I did and repeat it. I have not changed my language; but because I did not absolutely decide that it was a ploy, I was accused of believing that he was an elf; and since the public does not stop in such a nice way, I was accused of having said what I did not. There is nothing wrong with that. If they have mistakenly attributed to me a speech which I have not given, they have done me the honor of paying attention to me, and one compensates the other. I did not believe that for having discredited the old prophetesses of Delphi it was a commitment to destroy a young and living girl and from whom only good things were heard. If, however, they think that I have failed my duty, on another occasion I shall adopt a more pitiless and more philosophical tone. I have been reproached for my lack of severity for a long time. I must be incorrigible, since the age, experience and injustice of the world do nothing. That, mademoiselle, is all that I can tell you about the Spirit, which has attracted me with a letter which I readily suspected of having been dictated, since I am not far from believing in that. Thus when a familiar demon comes to me, I will tell you with more grace and in a more ingenious tone, but not with more honesty, etc.”
Note:
Note: Fontenelle, as we see, does not pronounce either for or against, and confines himself to ascertaining the fact; it was caution, which most of the deniers of our time are wanting to do, who have to decide what they have not even bothered to observe, at the risk of later receiving the refutation of experience. However, it is evident that he inclines towards the affirmation, something remarkable for a man in his position and in a century of skepticism for excellence. Far from accusing Mademoiselle Letard of charlatanism, he admits that they only talked good about her. Perhaps he was even more convinced than he wished to appear, and was restrained only by the fear of ridicule, so powerful at the time. It was necessary, however, that he should be shaken, not to say frankly, that it was a trick; his opinion on this point is important. The question of charlatanism being excluded, it remains evident that Mademoiselle Letard was a spontaneous medium in the style of the Fox sisters.
