Here we achieved the core of the proposed discussion. The preceding explanation resolves the issue with perfect clarity. Everything is in contained in these words: lucidness is not permanent in that man. The glass is a means of provoking it by the action of radiation upon his nervous system, but it is necessary that the radiation be in accordance with his physical organization. Hence the variety of objects that may produce such effect, according to the individuals prone to receive them. It follows that:
Certain particularities of our clairvoyant find their reason in that explanation. The letter placed underneath the glass disturbed him instead of facilitating, because it modified the characteristics of the reflex that was specific to that glass.
As we said, in the beginning he talks about frivolous things while he stares at the glare. The reason being that the action is not instantaneous and that preliminary conversation, without an apparent objective, is necessary to give him time for the effect to be produced. As much as the lucidness state only develops gradually, it does stops suddenly either. That is why the man continues to see for a few moments, even after having stopped looking at the glass and that is the reason why we thought that the glass was useless. But since the lucidity is a kind of artificial state, from time to time he goes back to the glass to keep it.
The development of that faculty through a material means is understandable to a certain extent. However, how can the image of someone that is far away be presented in the glass? It is only Spiritism that can resolve this question by the explanation about the nature of the soul, its faculties, the properties of its spiritual envelope, its radiation, its power of emancipation and detachment from the body. In the emancipation state the soul enjoys perceptions that are proper, without the support of material organs; the vision is an attribute of the spiritual being; the soul sees by itself, without the need for the eyes, as it hears without the ears. If the organs of the human senses were indispensable to the perceptions of the soul it would follow that, after death, without such organs the soul would be blind and deaf. The complete separation that takes place after death occurs only partially during life and that is when the phenomenon of spiritual vision takes place or, put differently, the double sight, or second sight, or psychic vision, whose power reaches as far as the radiation of the soul.
In the case above the image is not formed in the body of the glass; it is the soul itself that perceives the object where it is, by its own radiation. However, considering that for that man the glass is the provoking agent of the lucid state, the image appears very naturally to him in the direction of the glass. It is absolutely like the one that requires glasses that see far away what cannot be seen with naked eyes. The image of the object is not in the lenses of the binoculars but in their direction. Once the instrument is removed, nothing can be seen. Still with the comparison, the one that enjoys good vision does not require glasses like the one that enjoys a good psychic vision does not require artificial means to have it provoked.
A few years back a doctor discovered that by placing a cap of a bottle or a crystal ball or a shiny metal at the root of the nose and converging light beams to that object for some time the person would fall into a cataleptic state in which some of the faculties that are observed in somnambulists would manifest like, among others, insensitivity and far sight through opaque bodies, and that such a state would gradually disappear after the object was removed. It was obviously a magnetic effect produced by an inert body. What is the physiologic role of the shiny object in that phenomenon? We do not know. But it was attested that such condition may be necessary in the majority of cases but not always and that the same effect is produced on certain individuals with soft objects.
The phenomenon that was named hypnotism caused uproar in the scientific world. There was experimentation. Some were successful, others were not, as it was meant to be since the aptitudes were not the same among all patients. If the object of study were exceptional it would certainly be worth the study. But, regrettably, once it was noticed that it was a secret door for the penetration of magnetism and somnambulism, with a different name in the sanctuary of the official science, hypnotism was no longer studied (see Spiritist Review, January 1860).
Nature, however, never loses its own rights. If the laws are unknown for some time they come back so many times, presenting themselves in so many ways that forces people to have their eyes open. Spiritism is a proof of that. It can be denied, mocked, repelled; it knocks on all doors in a hundred different ways and willing or not it reaches those who did not want to hear about it.
Comparing this to the phenomenon that we were discussing above we can observe a remarkable analogy in the causes and effects. From that we can conclude that the objects commonly called magic mirrors are not but hypnotic agents, infinitely varied in their form and effects, according to the nature and degree of the aptitudes.
Hence, it would be possible that certain persons spontaneously and accidentally gifted with those faculties would regardless suffer the magnetic influence of exterior objects at which they mechanically stare at. Why wouldn’t the reflex of water, a lake, a swamp, a creek or even a celestial body produce the same effect of a glass of water or a bottle upon certain physical organizations conveniently predisposed? But that is a hypothesis that requires confirmation by experience. Besides, that phenomenon is not a modern discovery. It is found, even in our times, amongst the most delayed peoples, with the confirmation that nature is the privilege of times and all places. In the beginning it is accepted as a fact; the explanation comes later, with the advancement of mankind and the understanding of the laws that govern the world.
These are the consequences that seem to logically follow the observed facts.
[1] As we speak the Siècle publishes an interesting romance by Élie Berthet with the title Double Vision. It is timely. About two years ago Mr. Xavier Saintine had published in the “Constitutionnel” a series of facts based on the plurality of existences and on the spontaneous relationships that are established between the living and the dead. That is how literature helps in the promotion of the new ideas. The only thing missing is the word “Spiritism”.
