235. Whatever there may be in the above experiments, the principal question remains none the less entire in another point of view; for even as the imita tion of somnambulism prevents not the existence of the faculty, so the imitation of mediums, by means of birds, proves nothing against the possibility of an analogous faculty in them and in other animals. The thing is, to know if animals are fit, like men, to serve as intermediaries to spirits, for intelligent communica tions. It even seems logical enough to suppose that a living creature, endowed with a certain degree of intelligence, should be more suitable to this effect than an inert body without vitality, like a table, for instance ; yet it is what does not happen.
