Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1866

Allan Kardec

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The Misunderstandings



The avidity with which the detractors of Spiritism collect the least news that they believe to be unfavorable to the doctrine expose them to singular mistakes. Their rush in having them published is such that they have no time to verify their accuracy. As a matter of fact, what does it matter the effort! The truth of the matter is secondary; it is essential to exalt the ridicule. Such urgency, sometimes, has its drawbacks, and in any case, it attests a lightheartedness that is far from supporting the criticism.



Formerly, swindlers were called simply escamoteurs; this word fell in discredit and was replaced by conjurors, still reminded a lot the jugglers (glass jugglers). The famous Conte, as it seems, was the first to adorn himself with the title of physicist, obtaining the privilege, in the Restauration, to write in his announcements and on the façade of his theater: Physicist of the King. From there on every schemer would go around fairs giving themselves the title physicist, physics professor, etc., a way of throwing dust onto the eyes of a certain public that, by not knowing better, in good faith place them on the same level as physicists from the Faculty of Sciences.



The art of prestidigitation has made immense progress and one cannot contest the fact that some do practice it with skill, special knowledge, a real talent, and an honest character. But this never goes beyond the art of producing illusion with more or less dexterity, and it is not a serious science with a place at the Institute.[1]



Mr. Robin acquired, in that regard, a celebrity that had a lot of contribution from the Davenport brothers. Those gentlemen, with or without reason, used to say that they acted with the help of the Spirits. Would it be a new way of attracting curiosity, leaving behind worn out strategies? This is not the place to discuss the matter. In any case, for the simple fact that they pretended to be agents of the Spirits, those that do not admit them absolutely will shout: Wait! Mr. Robin, as a skillful man, quickly benefited from the opportunity. He declares to do the same effect by simple magic. By judging the Spirits dead, the critic boasts victory and proclaim him the winner.



But enthusiasm is blind and sometimes make strange mistakes. There are many Robins in the world, as there are many Martins. Lo and behold, a certain Mr. Robin, professor of physics, has just been elected a member of the Academy of Sciences. There could be no doubt, it must be Mr. Robin, the physicist from the boulevard du Temple, the rival of the Davenport brothers, that destroy the Spirits every night in his theater, and without much more information, a serious newspaper, The National Opinion, publishes the following on its Saturday, January 20th:



The events of the week must be wrong. There was, among them, some very curious ones. For example, the election of Charles Robin for the Academy of Sciences. We have defended his candidacy here for a long time, but there was a lot of outcry against it in several places. Fact is that this name, Robin, has something of diabolic. Remember Robin des Bois. Wasn’t Robin the name of the hero of Memories of the Devil? Mr. Robin is a physicist as wise as kind, who tied a sleigh bell onto the neck of the Davenports? The bell grew, grew and grew until it became larger than the large bell in Notre-Dame. The miserable swindlers, deaf by the noise that they produced, had to flee to America and America itself rejects them. Great victory of common sense; defeat of the supernatural! It counted on a vengeance against the Academy of Sciences and made tremendous efforts to exclude such enemy, this illustrious non-believer called Charles Robin. Lo and behold, the supernatural is again defeated at the heart of this thoughtful Academy. Mr. Robin will take a seat on the left side of Pasteur. And we are no longer in the times of sweet fables, in the happy and regretted time in which the shepherd’s crook imposed on Robin sheep!

Ed. About.”



To whom the mystification? We would be tempted to believe that some evil Spirit led the pen of the author of the article.



Here another misunderstanding that, despite being less funny, still demonstrates the lightheartedness with which the critic welcomes, without examination, everything that is believed to be contrary to Spiritism, and that despite everything that has been said, adamantly associates to the Davenport brothers, concluding that everything that is harmful to those gentlemen is also to the Doctrine, which in turn is not more supportive of those that take its name than true physics is not supportive of those that steal the title of physicist.



Several newspapers promptly reproduced the following article from the Franco-American Messenger. They should know, better than anybody else, that not everything that is printed is the word of the Gospel:



Those poor Davenport brothers could not escape the ridicule that awaits charlatans of all sorts. Believed and praised in the USA, where they have made money, then unveiled and mocked in the capital of France, less easy to endure the humbug, they had to receive, in the very room of their great exploits in New York, the last deserved denial. It has just been given to them, Saturday night, in the presence of a large audience, by their former accomplice, Mr. Fay, in a room of the Cooper Institute.



Mr. Fay revealed everything there, the secrets of the famous armoire, the secret of the ropes and knots and all trickeries successfully employed for so long. Human comedy! When we think that serious and educated people admired and defended the Davenport brothers, and that called Spiritism the falsehoods that might be acceptable during carnival!”



We do not have to defend the Davenports, whose exhibitions we have always condemned as contrary to the principles of the sound Spiritist Doctrine. But, irrespective of the opinion one may have about them, the truth of the matter is that we must say that it was a mistake to infer in that article that they were in NY where they were mocked.



We know from a worthy source that after they left Paris they went to England, where they remain now. Mr. Fay that would have unveiled their secrets is not their brother-in-law, William Fay, that follows them, but a H. Melville Fay, that used to produce similar tricks in America and that is mentioned in their biography, with the recommendation of not confounding them. There is nothing strange about the fact that that gentleman was competing with them and thought convenient to take advantage of their absence to prank and discredit them to his own benefit. Spiritism could not be seen in that fight for the phenomenon. This is what can be gathered from the end of the article, when it says: “When we think that serious and educated people admired and defended the Davenport brothers, and that called Spiritism the falsehoods that might be acceptable during carnival! This statement has an air of censorship addressed to those who confuse so disparate things.



The Davenport brothers offered the detractors of Spiritism occasion or pretext for a formidable upheaval, before which Spiritism stood up calm and impassive, continuing its journey unmoved by the noise around. Something worth noticing is the fact that its followers, far from being scared, unanimously considered such effervescence useful to the cause, certain that Spiritism can only gain from being known. The critic attacked the Davenports with all its weapons, believing that with them they would kill Spiritism. If Spiritism did not scream it is because it was not hurt. What the critic killed was exactly what Spiritism condemns and disapproves: exploitation, public exhibitions, charlatanism, fraudulent maneuvers, gross imitations of natural phenomena that are produced under much different conditions, the abuse of a name that represents a totally moral doctrine, of love and charity. After such a tough punishment we believe that any attempt to find fortune through similar means would be reckless.



It is true that this has led to some confusion in the mind of some persons, a kind of very natural hesitation on those that only heard the censorship with partiality, not separating the true from the false. But a greater good came out of that evil: the desire to get to know that can only be beneficial to the Doctrine.



Thanks to the critics, then, for having done, through the help of the powerful means that they have, what the Spiritists could not have done by themselves. It pushed the matter a few years ahead, and once more convinced its adversaries of their importance. As a matter of fact, the public has heard the name Davenport so much that this begins to be as boring as the scream of Lambert.



It is time for the chronicle to find a new subject to explore.





[1] That is how the French Academy of Sciences (Est. 1666) was referred to in those days (T.N.)




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