Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1865

Allan Kardec

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A new egg from Saumur


As it seems, Saumur is prodigal in oviparous wonders. You may remember that in September last a chicken born in that city residing at Rue de Visitation laid miraculous eggs on which shells one could see perfectly embossed drawings of sacred object and inscriptions. That brought a great commotion to certain environments and excited the teasing vein of the nonbelievers.

The Echo Saumurois made a lot of fun out of the fact. The place was visited by crowds; law enforcement was touched by that and suggested that a policeman should watch the chicken waiting for the event. We will not repeat the witty and not less judicious explanation given by the Sauveur des Peuples, in Bordeaux, September 18th, 1864 to which we refer the readers for detailed description of the case.

Not long ago one of our subscribers from Saumur sent us another phenomenal egg originated in that town, asking us to have the bizarre thing carefully examined although it had no drawings or inscriptions. It is not that he believed in a prodigy but on the contrary, he wanted our opinion so that he could it to oppose people that were too credulous in matters of miracles because, as it seems, this had also produced a certain uproar in the public, following the previous series of events. We don’t know if it is from the same chicken. Here is what it is about: the egg shows an alteration at one end in the shape of a thick string, twisted around itself, with the same material of the shell, glued to the shell along its full extension of about 6 to 7 centimeters.

One only needs to understand the formation of eggs to realize the phenomenon. It is a known fact that the egg is formed out of a single membrane similar to a bowl in which the yoke and the white, embryo and food to the future chick. Some are sometimes laid in that state. Before the laying the membrane is covered by a layer of calcium carbonate that forms the shell. In the present case considering that the content was not enough to fill out the vesicular membrane resulted that the empty space forming the bowl contracted and wound itself around the body of the egg. The whole limestone body was hardened later on giving rise to the abnormal formation. It the whole space had been fulfilled the egg would be monstrous for a chicken egg because it would measure about 10 centimeters in its larger diameter whilst in the present case it has a regular dimension.


Which relationship can all that have with Spiritism? Absolutely none. The reason why we talk about the subject is for the fact that people wanted to involve the name of Spiritism in the first case and we don’t know exactly on which premises unless it was a follow up on their habit of looking for any opportunity to ridicule Spiritism, even with the strangest things. We wanted to demonstrate once more that the Spiritists are not as much credulous as they say. If a rare event occurs they seek the explanation in the tangible word, before anything else, and do not mix the Spirits with everything that is extraordinary since they know the limits and the laws that govern their actions.

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