Chapter III: My Experiments with Eusapia Paladino (2)

Already excited, Eusapia asks in a supplicating voice and broken words
that we lessen the lights. She cannot endure the dazzling glare in her
eyes. She affirms that she is tortured, wants us to hurry; "for," she
adds, "you shall see fine things." After one of us has placed the lamp
on the floor behind the piano, in the corner opposite the place where
we are (at a distance of about twenty-three feet), Eusapia no longer
sees the light and is satisfied; but we can distinguish faces and
hands. Let it not be forgotten that M. Mathieu and I each have a foot
of the medium on ours, and that we are holding her hands and knees,
that we are pressing against her shoulders.

The table is always shaking and makes sudden jolts. Eusapia calls to
us to look. Above her head appears a hand. It is a small hand, like
that of a little girl of fifteen years, the palm forward, the fingers
joined, the thumb projecting. The color of this hand is livid; its
form is not rigid, nor is it fluid; one would say rather that it is
the hand of a big doll stuffed with bran.

When the hand moves back from the brighter light, as it
disappears,--is it an optical illusion?--it seems to lose its shape,
as if the fingers were being broken, beginning with the thumb.

M. Mathieu is violently pushed by a force acting from behind the
curtain. A strong hand presses against him, he says. His chair is also
pushed. Something pulls his hair. While he is complaining of the
violence used upon him, we hear the sound of the tambourine, which is
then quickly thrown upon the table. Next the violin arrives in the
same manner, and we hear its strings sound. I seize the tambourine and
ask the Invisible if he wishes to take it. I feel a hand grasping the
instrument. I am not willing to let it go. A struggle now ensues
between myself and a force which I judge to be considerable. In the
tussle a violent effort pushes the tambourine into my hand, and the
cymbals penetrate the flesh. I feel a sharp pang, and a good deal of
blood flows. I let go of the handle. I just now ascertain, by the
light, that I have a deep gash under the right thumb nearly an inch
long. The table continues to shake, to strike the floor with redoubled
strokes, and the accordion is thrown upon the table. I seize it by
its lower half and ask the Invisible if he can pull it out by the
other end so as to make it play. The curtain comes forward, and the
bellows of the accordion is methodically moved back and forth, its
keys are touched, and several different notes are heard.

Eusapia utters repeated cries, a kind of rattling in the throat. She
writhes nervously, and, as if she were calling for help, cries, "_La
catena! la catena!_" ("The chain! the chain!"). We thereupon form the
chain by taking hold of hands. Then, just as if she was defying some
monster, she turns, with inflamed looks, toward an enormous divan,
which thereupon _marches up to us_. She looks at it with a satanic
smile. Finally she blows upon the divan, which goes immediately back
to its place.

Eusapia, faint and depressed, remains relatively calm. Yet she is
dejected; her breast heaves violently; she lays her head on my
shoulder.

M. Mathieu, tired of the blows which he is constantly receiving, asks
to change places with some one. I agree to this. He changes with Mme.
F., who then sits at the right of Eusapia, while I am at her left.
Mme. F. and I never cease to hold the feet, hands, and knees of the
medium. M. F. sets a water bottle and a glass in the middle of the
table. The latter's brisk, jolting movements overturn the water
bottle, and the water is spilled over its surface. The medium
imperatively requires that the liquid be wiped up; the water upon the
table blinds her, tortures, paralyzes her, she says. M. F. asks the
Invisible if he can pour water into the glass. After some moments the
curtain advances, the carafe is grasped, and the glass seems to be
half full. That takes place several different times.

Mme. F., being no longer able to endure the blows given her through
the curtain, exchanges seats with her husband.

I put my repeating watch upon the table. I ask the Invisible if he can
sound the alarm. (The mechanism of the alarm is very difficult to
understand, delicate to operate, even for me, doing it every day. It
is formed by a little tube cut in two, one half of which glides
smoothly over the other. In reality, there is only a projection of
one-fiftieth of an inch of thickness of tube, upon which it is
necessary to press with the finger-nail and give quite a push in order
to start up the alarm.) In a moment the watch is taken by the
"spirit." We hear the stem-winder turning. The watch comes back upon
the table without having been sounded.

Another request is made for the alarm to sound. The watch is again
taken; the case is heard to open and shut. (Now I cannot open this
case with my hands: I have to pry it open with a tool like a lever.)
The watch comes back once more without having sounded.

I confess that I experienced a disenchantment. I felt that I was going
to doubt the extent of the occult power, which had, nevertheless,
manifested itself very clearly. Why could it not sound the alarm of
this watch? In making my request, had I overstepped the limits of its
powers? Was I going to be the cause of all the well-proved phenomena
of which we have had testimony losing the half of their value? I said
aloud:

"Am I to show how the alarm is operated?"

"No, no!" Eusapia warmly replies, "it will do it."

I will note here that at the moment when I proposed to point out the
mechanism, there passed through my mind the method of pressing upon
the little tube. Immediately the watch was brought back to the table;
and, very distinctly, three separate times, we heard it sound a
quarter to eleven.

Eusapia was evidently very tired; her burning hands seemed to contract
or shrivel; she gasped aloud with heaving breast, her foot kept
quitting mine every moment, scraping the floor and tediously rubbing
along it back and forth. She uttered hoarse panting cries, shrugging
up her shoulders and sneering; the sofa came forward when she looked
at it, then recoiled before her breath; all the instruments were
thrown pell-mell upon the table; the tambourine rose almost to the
height of the ceiling; the cushions took part in the sport,
overturning everything on the table; M. M. was thrown from his chair.
This chair--a heavy dining-room chair of black walnut, with stuffed
seat--rose into the air, came up on the table with a great clatter,
then was pushed off.

Eusapia seems shrunken together and is very much affected. We pity
her. We ask her to stop. "No, no!" she cries. She rises, we with her;
the table leaves the floor, rises to a height of twenty-four inches,
then comes clattering down.

Eusapia sinks prostrated into a chair. We sit there troubled, amazed,
in consternation, with a tense and constricted feeling in the head, as
if the atmosphere were charged with electricity.

With many precautions, M. F. succeeds in calming the agitation of
Eusapia. After about a quarter of an hour she returns to herself. When
the lamps are again lighted, she is seen to be very much changed, her
eye dull, her face apparently diminished to half its usual size. In
her trembling hands she feels the pricking of needles which she asks
us to pull out. Little by little she completely recovers her senses.
She appears to remember nothing, not to comprehend at all our
expressions of wonder. All that is as foreign to her as if she had not
been present at the sitting. She isn't interested in it. So far as she
is concerned, it would seem as if we were speaking of things of which
she had not the faintest idea.

What have we seen? mystery of mysteries!

We took every precaution not to be the dupes of complicity, of fraud.
Superhuman forces acting near us, so near that we heard the very
breathing of a living being,--if living being it were,--such are the
things our eyes took cognizance of for two mortal hours.

And when, on looking back, doubts begin to creep into the mind, we
must conclude that, given the conditions in which we were, the
chicanery necessary to produce such effects would be at least as
phenomenal as the effects themselves.

How shall we name the mystery?

So much for the report of M. Arthur Levy. I have no commentary to make at present upon these reports of my fellow-experimenters. The essential thing, it seems to me, is to leave to every one his own exposition and his personal judgment. I shall proceed in the same way with the other reports which are to follow. I shall reproduce the principal ones. In spite of some inevitable repetitions, they will surely be read with extreme interest, especially when we take into consideration the high intellectual standing of the observers.

Report of M. Adolphe Brisson.

(_Seance of November 10_)

(There were present at this seance, besides the hosts of the occasion,
M. Prof. Richet, M. and Mme. Ad. Brisson, Mme. Fourton, M. Andre
Bloch, M. Georges Mathieu.)

The following are occurrences which I personally observed with the
greatest care. I did not once cease to hold in my right hand the left
hand of Eusapia or fail to feel that we were in contact. The contact
was only interrupted twice,--at the moment when Dr. Richet felt a
pricking in his arm. Eusapia's hand, making violent movements, escaped
from my grasp; but I seized it again after two or three seconds.

1. After this sitting had begun,--that is, at the end of about ten
minutes,--the table was lifted up away from Eusapia, two of its legs
leaving the floor simultaneously.

2. Five minutes later the curtain swelled out as if it had been
inflated by a strong breeze. My hand, never letting go of that of
Eusapia, pressed gently against the curtain, and I experienced a
resistance, just as if I had pressed against the sail of a ship
bellied out by the wind.

3. Not only was the curtain puffed out, forming a big pocket, but the
perpendicular edge of the curtain that touched the window moved
automatically aside and drew back as if it were pushed by an invisible
curtain holder, making nearly this kind of a movement.

4. The curtain, inflated anew, took the form of a nose or of an
eagle's beak, projecting above the table about eight or ten inches.
This shape was visible for several seconds.

5. We heard behind the curtain the noise of a chair rolling over the
floor; by a first push it arrived as far as I was; a second push
turned it upside down, its feet in the air, in the position shown. It
was a heavy stuffed chair. Succeeding pushes moved it again, lifted it
up, and made it turn somersaults; it finally came to a standstill
almost in the place where it had fallen over.

6. We heard the noise of two or three objects falling to the floor (I
mean objects behind the curtain upon the centre-table). The curtain
parted in the middle, and in the dim light the little violin appeared.
Sustained in the air by an invisible hand, it came gently forward
above our table, whence it settled down upon my hand and upon that of
my neighbor on the left.[25]

On two separate occasions the violin rose from the table and at once
fell back again, making a vigorous leap, like a fish flopping upon the
sand. Then it glided down to the floor, where it remained motionless
until the end of the sitting.

7. A new rolling noise was heard behind the curtain. This time it was
the centre-table. A preliminary effort, quite vigorous, enabled it to
rise half-way to the top of our table. By a second effort it got clear
on top and rested upon my fore-arm.

8. Several times I distinctly felt light blows upon my right side, as
if made with the point of a sharp instrument. But the truth compels me
to declare that these blows were no longer given after Eusapia's feet
were held under the table by M. Bloch. I note this correlation of
things without drawing from it any presumption against Eusapia's
loyalty. I have so much the less reason to suspect her in that her
left foot did not leave my right foot during the whole sitting.

Report of M. Victorien Sardou

(_Seance of November 19_)

(There were present at this seance, besides the hosts of the evening,
M. V. Sardou, M. and Mme. Brisson, M. A. de Rochas, M. Prof. Richet,
M. G. de Fontenay, M. Gaston Mery, Mme. Fourton, M. and Mlle. des
Varennes).

I shall only relate here phenomena controlled by myself personally in
the seance of last Saturday. Consequently, I say nothing of the
arrangement of the apartment, of the experimenters, nor of the events
which were first produced in the dark and which all the participants
were able to authenticate,--such as cracking sounds in the table,
levitations, displacements of the table, raps, etc., as well as the
blowing out of the curtain over the table, the bringing on of the
violin, of the tambourine, and so forth.

Eusapia having invited me to take the place at her side which had been
vacated by M. Brisson, I sat down on her left, while you preserved
your place on her right. I took her left hand in my right hand, while
my left hand placed upon the table was in contact with that of my
neighbor, the medium insisting on this several times in order that the
chain might not be broken. Her left foot rested upon my right foot.
All through the experiment I never let go her hand for a single
second. She grasped my hand with a strong pressure, and it followed
her through all her movements. In the same way her foot always kept in
contact with mine. My foot always kept touch with hers in all her foot
scrapings on the floor, her shiftings of place, shrinkings,
twitchings, etc., which never had anything suspicious in them, nor
were they of such a nature as to explain the events which took place
at my side, behind me, around me, and upon me.

In the first place, and in less than a minute after I had been placed
on the left of the medium, the curtain nearest to me was puffed out
and brushed against me, as if impelled by a gust of wind. Then three
times I felt upon my right side a pressure which lasted but for a
moment, yet was very marked. At that moment we were in a very dim
light, yet enough to make the faces and the hands of all who were
present distinctly visible. After Eusapia's violent nervous
contractions, struggles, and energetic pushes (precisely like those
which I had seen in similar cases elsewhere and which only astonish
those who have slightly studied these phenomena), suddenly the curtain
nearest to me was blown forward with an astonishing propulsive power
between Eusapia and me, in the direction of the table, entirely
concealing from me the face of the medium; and the violin, which, with
the tambourine, had, before my introduction, been replaced in the dark
chamber, was hurled to the middle of the table, as if by an invisible
arm. To accomplish this, the arm must have lifted the curtain and
drawn it along with it.

After this the curtain returned to its first position, but not
completely; for it still remained puffed out a little between Eusapia
and me, one of its folds remaining upon the edge of the table at my
side.

Then you took the violin and held it out at such a distance from the
two curtains that it was wholly visible to the company; and you
invited the occult agent to take it.

This was done, the mysterious agent taking it back with him into the
dark closet, with as much good will as he had shown in bringing it on.

The violin then fell upon the floor behind the curtains, or portieres.
One of these which was nearest to me resumed its vertical position,
and for a time I heard upon my right upon the floor behind the
curtains a kind of scrimmage between the violin and the tambourine,
which were displaced, pulled about, and lifted, clashing and
resounding at a great rate; and yet it was impossible to attribute any
of these manifestations to Eusapia, whose foot never moved, but
remained firmly pressed against my own.

A little after, I felt against my right leg, behind the curtain, the
rubbing of a hard body which was trying to climb upon me, and I
thought it was the violin. And so it was, in fact; and, after an
unsuccessful effort to climb higher than my knee, this apparently
living creature fell with a bang upon the floor.

Almost immediately I felt a new pressure upon my right hip, and
mentioned the circumstance. You disengaged your left hand from the
chain, and, turning toward me, twice made in the air the gesture of
the director of an orchestra moving his baton to and fro. And each
time, with perfect precision, I felt upon my side the repercussion of
a blow exactly tallying your gesture, which reached me after the delay
of a second more or less, and which seemed to me to correspond exactly
to the time necessary for the transference of a billiard ball or a
tennis ball from you to me.

Some one, Dr. Richet, I believe, having spoken at that time of strokes
upon the shoulders of the sitters in which the action and shape of a
human hand was very marked, I will mention as a proof of his remark
that I received in succession three blows upon the left shoulder (that
is to say, the one most distant from the curtain and from the medium),
more violent than the preceding ones; and this time the heavy pressure
of the five fingers was very evident. Then a last blow with the flat
of the hand, applied in the small of the back, without hurting me at
all, was strong enough to make me lean forward, in spite of myself,
toward the table.

Some moments after, my chair, moving under me, glided over the floor,
and was shifted in such a way as to leave my back turned a little in
the direction of the dark closet.

I leave to other witnesses the task of telling the results of their
personal observations,--how, for example, the violin, having been
picked up by you from the floor and replaced upon the table, was held
out by Mme. Brisson, as you had already done, and lifted up in the
same way in the sight of all, while I held the left hand of Eusapia,
you her right hand, and with the hand which remained free you pressed
the wrist of her left hand.

Nor do I say anything of a hand-pressure through the opening in the
curtain, having seen nothing of this myself.

But that which I did see very well indeed was the sudden appearance of
three very vivid little lights between my neighbor and myself. They
were promptly extinguished and seemed like a kind of will-o'-the-wisp,
similar to electric sparks coming and going with great rapidity.

In short, I can only repeat here what I have said during the course
of these experiments, "If I had not been convinced forty years ago, I
should be this evening."

Report of M. Jules Claretie.

(_Seance of November 25_)

(There were present at this sitting, in addition to the hosts of the
occasion, M. Jules Claretie and his son, M. Brisson, M. Louis Vignon,
Mme. Fourton, Mme. Gagneur, M. G. Delanne, M. Rene Baschet, M. and
Mme. Basilewska, M. Mairet, photographer.)

I note only the impressions I received after the moment when Eusapia,
who had taken my hand at the time when M. Brisson was still seated by
her, asked me to replace him. I am certain that I did not let go of
Eusapia's hand during all the experiments. Every moment I felt the
pressure of her foot upon mine, the heel being especially perceptible.
I do not believe that I relaxed my fingers for a moment, nor released
the hand that I held. I was struck with the throbbing of the arteries
at the end of Eusapia's fingers: the blood bounded feverishly through
them.

I sat next the curtain. It goes without saying that it was drawn from
right to left or from left to right just as it happened. That which I
can't understand is that it could swell out until it floated over the
table like a sail inflated by the wind.

I felt at first a little light blow on my right side. Then, _through
the curtain_, two fingers seized me and pinched my cheek. The pressure
of the two fingers was evident. A blow more violent than the first hit
me on the right shoulder, as if it came from a hard, square body. My
chair was twice moved and turned, first backward, then forward.

Those two fingers which pinched my cheek I had already felt--before I
took my place at Eusapia's side--when I was holding over against the
curtain the little white book which M. Flammarion had given me. This
book was seized by _two naked fingers_ (I say naked, because the folds
of the curtain did not cover them) and then disappeared. I did not see
these fingers: I touched them, or they touched me, if you will. My
son held out and handed over also a leather cigar-holder, which was
grabbed in the same way.

One of the persons present saw a rather heavy little music-box
disappear in the same way.

With hardly a moment's delay the box was removed from our side with
some violence; and I can speak with the more feeling of the force of
the projection and of the weight of the object, because it struck me
under the eye, and this morning I still have upon my face the only too
visible mark of it, and feel the pain of it. I don't understand how a
woman seated by my side could have the strength to throw with such
force a box which, so to speak, should have come from quite a
distance.

I observe, however, that all the phenomena are produced on the same
side of the curtain; namely, behind it, or through it, if you will. I
saw leafy branches fall upon the table, but they came from the side of
the said curtain. Some persons assert that they saw a green twig come
in through the open window which gives upon Cassini Street. But I did
not see that.

There was a little round table behind the curtain, very near me.
Eusapia takes my hand and places it, held in hers, upon the round
table. I feel this table shaking, moving. At a given moment I believe
that I perceive two hands near by and upon mine. I am not deceived;
but this second hand is that of M. Flammarion, who, on his side, is
holding the hand of the medium. The round table bestirs itself. It
leaves the floor, it rises. I have the feeling of this at once. Then,
the curtain having lifted and, as it were, spread itself over the
table, I can distinctly see what passes behind it. The round table
moves; it rises; it falls.

Suddenly tipping partly over, it rises and comes toward me, upon me.
It is no longer vertical, but is caught between the table and me in a
horizontal position. It comes with sufficient force to make me recoil,
draw in my shoulders, and try to push back my chair to let this moving
piece of furniture pass. It seems, like a living thing, to struggle
between the table and me. Or, again, it seems like an animated being
struggling against an obstacle, desiring to pass or move on and not
being able to do so, being stopped by the table or by myself. At a
given moment the round table is upon my knees, and it moves, it
struggles (I repeat the word), without my being able to explain to
myself what force is moving it.

This force is a formidable one. The little table literally pushes me
back, and in vain I throw myself backward to let it pass.

Some of those present, M. Baschet among others, have said to me that
at this moment it was upon two fingers. Two fingers of Eusapia push up
the round table![26]

But I, who had not lost my hold on her left hand nor her foot,--I, who
had by me the little round table (quite visible in the semi-obscurity
to which we had accustomed ourselves), saw nothing, nor did I perceive
any effort on the part of Eusapia.

I should like to have seen _luminous phenomena_ produced, visions of
brilliant lights, of sudden gleams of fire. M. Flammarion hoped that
we were going to see some of these. He asked for them. But Eusapia was
evidently fatigued by this long and very interesting seance. She asked
for "_un poco di luce_" ("a little light"). The lamps were relighted.
Everything was finished.

This morning I recall with a kind of anxious curiosity the least
details of this very fascinating soiree. When we had returned to the
observatory, on leaving our amiable hosts, I asked myself if I had
been in a dream. But I said to myself, "We were present at the skilful
performances of a woman prestidigitator; we witnessed only theatrical
tricks." My son recalled to me the prodigies of skill of the brothers
Isola. This morning, strange to say, reflection makes me at once more
perplexed and less incredulous. We perhaps witnessed (we undoubtedly
did witness) the manifestation of an unknown force which will
hereafter be studied and perhaps one day utilized. I should no longer
dare to deny the genuineness of Spiritualism. It isn't a question of
animal magnetism: it is something else, I know not what; a _quid
divinum_ (a divine something), although science will some day analyze
it and catalogue it. That which perhaps astonished me the most was
the curtain swelling out like a sail! Where did the puff of wind come
from? A regular breeze would have been needed to put such life into it
as that. However, I do not discuss: I give in my evidence. I have seen
these things, observed them carefully. I shall think of them for a
long time. I do not stop here. I shall seek an explanation. Possibly I
shall find one. But this much is certain, that we ought to be modest
in the presence of all that appears to us to be for the moment
inexplicable, and that, before affirming or denying, we ought to wait,
to reserve our judgment.

In the mean time, while feeling of my right maxillary tooth, which is
a little sore, I think of that line of Regnard and allow myself to
mangle it a little while recalling that hard music-box,--

"_Je vois que c'est un corps et non pas un esprit._"
(I see that it is a body and not a spirit.)

Report of Dr. Gustave Le Bon

(_Seance of November 28_)

(There were present at this seance, besides the hosts, M. and Mme.
Brisson, MM. Gustave Le Bon, Baschet, de Sergines, Louis Vignon,
Laurent, Ed. de Rothschild, Delanne, Bloch, Mathieu, Ephrussi, Mme. la
Comtesse de Chevigne, Mmes. Gagneur, Syamour, Fourton, Basilewska,
Bisschofsheim.)

Eusapia is undoubtedly a marvellous subject. It struck me as something
wonderful that, while I was holding her hand, she was playing on an
imaginary tambourine to which the sounds of the tambourine that was
behind the curtain accurately corresponded.

I do not see how any trick is possible in such a case, any more than
in the case of the table.

My cigarette-holder was grasped by a very strong hand, which wrenched
the object from me with a good deal of energy. I was on my guard and
asked to see the experiment again. The phenomenon was so singular and
so beyond all that we can comprehend that we must first try natural
explanations.

1. It is impossible that it could have been Eusapia. I was holding one
of her hands and _was looking at the other arm_, and I placed my
cigarette-holder in such a position that, _even with her two arms
free_, she would not have been able to accomplish such a marvellous
thing.

2. It is not probable that it could have been an accomplice; but is it
not possible that the unconscious mind of Eusapia suggested to the
unconscious mind of a person near the curtain to pass a hand behind it
and operate there? Everybody would be acting in good faith and would
have been deceived by the unconscious element. This important point
ought to be verified, for no experiment would be so valuable if it
were once _demonstrated_.

Could not Eusapia's departure be put off? We shall not have a similar
opportunity, and we surely ought to clear up that phenomenon of the
hand.

It is very evident that the table was lifted; but that is a material
phenomenon which one can readily grant. The hand which came to seize
my cigarette-holder performed an act of the will implying an
intelligence, but the other is nothing of the kind. Eusapia might lift
a table to the height of three feet without my scientific conception
of the world being changed by it; but to bring in the intervention of
a spirit, that would be to prove the existence of spirits, and you see
the consequences.

As for the hand which seized the cigarette-case, it is absolutely
certain that it was not that of Eusapia (you know that I am very
sceptical and that I was looking about me); but close to the curtain,
in the salon, there were a good many people, and several times you
heard me ask people to stand aside from the curtain. If we two had
been able to study Eusapia _absolutely alone_, in a room to which we
had the key, the problem would soon be solved.

I have not been able to make this verification, the sitting at which Dr. Le Bon was present having been the last which Eusapia had consented to give at my house. But his objection is of no value. I am absolutely certain that nobody glided behind the curtain, neither in this particular case nor in any other. My wife, also, particularly occupied herself in observing what took place in that part of the room and never was able to discover anything suspicious. There is only one hypothesis; that is, that Eusapia herself handled the objects. Since Dr. Le Bon declares that the thing was impossible, he himself personally inspecting it, we are compelled to admit the existence of an unknown psychic force.[27]

Report of M. Armelin

(_Seance of November 21_)

(For this sitting I had asked three members of the Astronomical
Society of France to exercise the severest control possible; namely,
M. Antoniadi, my assistant astronomer at the observatory of Juvisy, M.
Mathieu, agricultural engineer at the same observatory, and M.
Armelin, secretary of the Astronomical Society. The last-named
gentleman sent me the following report. There were also present M. and
Mme. Brisson, M. Baschet, M. Jules Bois, Mme. Fourton, Mme. La
Comtesse de Labadye.)

At quarter of ten Eusapia takes her seat, her back to the place where
the two curtains meet, her hands resting upon the table. At the
invitation of M. Flammarion, M. Mathieu takes his seat at her right,
charged with the duty of keeping constant watch upon her left hand,
and M. Antoniadi is enjoined to do the same for her right hand. They
also make themselves sure of her feet. At the right of M. Mathieu
sits Mme. la Comtesse de Labadye; on the left of M. Antoniadi, Mme.
Fourton. Facing Eusapia, between Mmes. de Labadye and Fourton, MM.
Flammarion, Brisson, Baschet, and Jules Bois.

The gas chandelier is lighted and the full light turned on. This
chandelier is almost over the table. A little lamp with a shade is
placed on the floor behind an easy-chair, near the opposite side of
the room, in the direction of its greatest length, and to the left of
the fireplace.

At five minutes of ten the table is lifted from the side opposite to
the medium and falls back with a bang.

At ten o'clock it rises from the side of the medium, who withdraws her
hands, the other persons holding their hands lifted up. The same
effect is produced three times. The second time, while the table is in
the air, M. Antoniadi declares that he is leaning on it with all his
weight and is unable to lower it. The third time, M. Mathieu leans on
it in the same way and experiences the same resistance. During this
time, Eusapia holds her closed fist about four inches above the table,
looking as if she were strongly grasping something. The action lasts
several seconds. There is no doubt whatever about this levitation.
When the table falls back, Eusapia experiences something like a
relaxation after a great effort.

At 10.03 the table is lifted clean off its four feet at once, at first
on the side opposite to the medium, rising about eight inches; then it
falls abruptly back. _While it is in the air, Eusapia calls her two
neighbors to witness that they are closely holding her hands and her
feet, and that she is not in contact with the table._

Then light raps are heard in the table. Eusapia makes M. Antoniadi
lift his hand about eight inches above the table and taps three times
upon his hand with her fingers. The three taps are heard
simultaneously in the table.

To prove that she is not using either her hands or her feet, she sits
down sidewise upon her chair on the left, stretches out her legs, and
puts her feet on the edge of the chair of M. Antoniadi: she is in full
view and her hands are held. At once the curtain is shaken in the
direction of M. A.

From 10.10 to 10.15, several times in succession, five raps are heard
in the table. Each time the gas is turned down a little, and each time
the table moves without contact.

At 10.20 it balances itself, suspended in the air, and resting upon
the two legs of the longer side. Then _it rises off of its four feet
to a height of eight inches_.

10.25. The curtain moves, and M. Flammarion says that there is some
one behind it, that somebody is pressing his hand. He holds his hand
out toward the curtain, at a distance of about four inches. The
curtain is pushed out into something like a pocket made by a hand
which is drawing near. The medium with nervous laugh cries, "Take it,
take it." M. A. feels through the curtain the touch of a soft body,
like a cushion. But the hand of M. F. is not taken. Objects are heard
to move, including the bells of a tambourine.

All of a sudden the medium, leaving M. Mathieu, stretches her hand
above the table toward M. Jules Bois, who takes it. At this moment,
behind the curtain, an object falls to the floor with a great noise.

10.35. Eusapia, again freeing her right hand, lifts it up above her
left shoulder, the fingers forward, at a distance of several inches
from the curtain, and beats four or five strokes in the air which are
heard to sound in the tambourine. Several persons think they see a
will-o'-the-wisp through the gap between the curtains.

Up to that point the gas has been gradually lowered. After the lapse
of a full moment I find that I can no longer read, but I can
distinguish very clearly the horizontal lines of my writing. I can see
the hour perfectly by my watch, as well as the faces of those present,
(that of Eusapia especially) turned toward the light. The gas is now
completely extinguished.

At 10.40, the gas being out, I can still read my watch, but with
difficulty; I still see the lines of my writing, though without being
able to read.

Eusapia wants somebody to hold her head, which is done. Then she asks
somebody to hold her feet. M. Baschet gets down on his knees under the
table and holds them.

M. Antoniadi cries, "I am touched!" and says that he has felt a hand.
I have very distinctly seen the curtain puffing out. Mme. Flammarion,
whom I see silhouetted on the bright glass of the window, her head
leaning forward, goes behind the curtain in order to assure herself
that the medium is not doing anything suspicious in the way of
motions.

One of the persons present having changed places, Eusapia utters
complaints: "_La catena! la catena!_" ("The chain! the chain!") The
chain is re-established.

At 10.45 the curtain is inflated again. A bump is heard. The round
table touches the elbow of M. Antoniadi. Mme. Flammarion, who has kept
looking behind the curtain, says that she sees the round table turned
over. Its feet are in the air, and it is moving to and fro. She thinks
she sees glimmers of light near the floor.

M. Mathieu feels a hand and an arm pushing the curtain against him. M.
Antoniadi says that he is touched by a cushion; his chair is pulled
and turns under him as if on a pivot. He is touched again on the elbow
by some object.

It is ascertained that M. Jules Bois is holding Eusapia's right hand
above the table; M. Antoniadi assures us that he is holding her left
hand, and M. Mathieu her feet.

The curtain is again shaken twice; M. Antoniadi is hit in the back
very hard, he says, and a hand pulls his hair. The only light
remaining is the little lamp with a shade, behind an easy-chair at the
farther end of the salon. I continue to write, but my strokes take all
kinds of shapes.

Suddenly, M. Antoniadi exclaims that he is enveloped by the curtain,
which rests upon his shoulders. Eusapia cries, "What is this that is
passing over me?" The round table comes forth beneath the curtain.
Mme. Flammarion, who is standing opposite the window, and has kept
looking behind the curtain, says that she sees some very white object.
At the same moment M. Flammarion, Mme. Fourton, and M. Jules Bois
exclaim that they have just seen a white hand between the curtains,
above Eusapia's head; and, at the same moment, M. Mathieu says that
his hair is being pulled. The hand we saw seemed small, like that of a
woman or of a child.

"If there is a hand there," says M. Flammarion, "could it perhaps
grasp an object?" M. Jules Bois holds a book out toward the middle of
the right-hand curtain. The book is taken and held two seconds. Mme.
Flammarion, whom I see always silhouetted upon the bright glass of the
window, and who is looking behind the curtain, _cries that she has
seen the book pass through_.

M. F. proposes to light up and verify. But everybody agrees in
thinking that the curtain may have already changed its position. A
moment afterwards the curtain is again puffed out, and M. Antoniadi
says that he is hit four or five times on the shoulder. Eusapia has
asked him more than ten times whether he is quite "_seguro_" (sure)
that he has hold of her hand and her foot.

"Yes, yes," he replies, "_seguro, segurissimo_" ("sure, quite sure").

Mme. Fourton says that for the second time she has seen a hand
stretched out and that this time it touched the shoulder of M.
Antoniadi. M. Jules Bois says that for the second time he has seen a
hand stretched out at the end of a small arm, the fingers moving, the
palm forward. (It is impossible to decide whether these two visions
were simultaneous or not.)

We are getting accustomed to the almost complete darkness; I can still
read "11.15" by my watch. M. Antoniadi says his ear is pinched very
hard. M. Mathieu says he is touched. M. Antoniadi feels his chair
pulled: it falls to the floor. He lifts it again and seats himself on
it, and is again hit very hard on the shoulder.

About 11.20, at the request of Eusapia, M. Flammarion replaces M.
Mathieu. He holds her two feet and one hand; M. Antoniadi holds the
other hand. The lamp is lowered still more. The darkness is almost
complete. M. Flammarion, having remarked that an unknown physical
force is evidently present, but perhaps not an individual personality,
feels his hand seized all of a sudden by some one (or some thing), and
is interrupted. Then, a little after, he complains that his beard is
being pulled (on the side opposite the medium, where I am. I did not
perceive anything).

At 11.30 the lamp is turned up. It is comparatively bright in the
room. The curtain, after all these movements, is seen to be more and
more pushed aside, enveloping the head of Eusapia. Suddenly, above her
head, we all see the tambourine slowly appear and fall upon the table
with a noise like that of sheep-bells. It seems to me brighter than
the feeble glimmer of the concealed lamp would justify and as if
accompanied by white phosphorescent gleams; but they are perhaps
flashes of light from its gilded ornaments, which, however, ought to
appear yellower.

When the lamp is turned down, the noise of moving furniture is heard;
the round table is fetched clear up onto the top of the large table.
It is removed, and the tambourine executes a dance all alone with a
peculiar sound like the ringing of bells. Mme. Fourton says that she
has had her hand pressed and her fore-arm pinched.

At 11.45 the window curtain is closed in its turn; and, after a
moment, we all see in the direction in which the cleft in the corner
curtain ought to be, above Eusapia's head, a large white star of the
color of Vega, though larger and of a softer light, and which rests
motionless for some seconds, then is extinguished. Shortly after, a
zigzag glimmer of light, of the same white color, runs over the
right-hand curtain, tracing two or three upright lines of several
inches in length, like an N very much elongated.

In spite of the fact that night has fallen, there is still sufficient
light entering by the two uncurtained windows, and proceeding from the
vague glimmer of the lamp behind the easy-chair, to enable each one
of us to distinguish his neighbors. Our silhouettes are outlined in
the large mirror near us and above the sofa. The white collars of the
men are clearly seen, their faces a little less clearly. Yet on my
left I see very plainly M. Baschet, on my right Mme. Brisson, standing
and holding her hand up to her face to shield the eyes. I also
distinguish Mme. Flammarion, who has come and seated herself near her.

M. Flammarion feels an object gliding over his hair. He begs Mme. de
Labadye to take hold of it; and a music-box falls into his hands,
which, before the seance, was placed upon the ogee, in the corner
concealed by the curtain. M. Brisson has taken the place at the table
formerly occupied by M. Flammarion, facing Eusapia. A cushion hits him
full in the face. As I am approaching the mirror, I see the reflection
of this passing cushion by the comparatively bright light at the far
end of the room.

M. Baschet seizes the object and rests his elbow upon it. It is
snatched from him, flies over our heads, hits the mirror, falls upon
the sofa, and rolls upon my foot. All this without my being able to
perceive any movement on the part of the medium.

Midnight draws near. The seance is adjourned.

MM. Antoniadi and Mathieu then declare that the control with which
they were charged has not been successful, and that they are not sure
that they have always had hold of the medium's hands.

Report of M. Antoniadi

(_The Same Seance_)

I shall give you an exact account of the role I played, that I may
gratify your desire to know the truth.

I restricted myself to ascertaining whether there was _a single
phenomenon_ which could not be explained in the most simple manner,
and I arrived at the conclusion that there was not. I assure you, on
my word of honor, that my watchful, silent attitude _convinced me,
beyond all manner of doubt, that everything is fraudulent, from the
beginning to the end_; that there is no doubt that Eusapia shifts her
hands or her feet, and that the hand or the foot that one is thought
to control is never held tight or very strongly pressed at the moment
of the production of the phenomena. My certain conclusion is that
_nothing_ is produced without the substitution of hands. I ought to
add that, at first, I was very much astonished when I was hit hard in
the back, from behind the curtain, while I was very clearly holding
_two hands_ with my right hand. Happily, however, at this moment, Mme.
Flammarion having given us a little light, I saw that I held the
_right_ hand of Eusapia and--yours!

The substitution is made by Eusapia with extraordinary dexterity. In
order to ascertain it, I was obliged to concentrate my mind upon her
very slightest movements with the severest attention. But it is the
first step that costs; and, once familiarized with her artifices, I
predicted with decision _all_ the phenomena by the sensation of touch
alone.

Being a good observer, I am absolutely certain that I was not
deceived. I was neither hypnotized, nor was I at all frightened during
the "bringing in" of objects. And, as I am not a lunatic, I believe
that a certain weight should be given to my affirmations.

It is true that, during the seance, I was not sincere, disguising the
truth of the efficacy of my control. I did that with the sole purpose
of making Eusapia think that I was a convert to Spiritualism. I did
this to _avoid scandal_. But, once the sitting was over, the Truth
choked me, and I was most eager to communicate it to my great
benefactor and official superior.

It is not prudent to be too affirmative. It is for that reason that I
have always been reserved in my interpretation of natural phenomena.
Consequently, I am unable to be so terribly affirmative as to take
oath to the absolute charlatanism of the manifestations of Eusapia,
before, as Shakespeare says, I have "rendered assurance doubly sure."

I have no personal ambition in the spiritistic line, and all the
careful observations that I made during this seance of November 21 are
only one stone the more contributed to the edifice of Truth.

_It is not on account of prejudice_ that I do not believe in the
reality of the manifestations, and I can assure you, if I were able to
see _the least_ phenomenon that was really extraordinary or
inexplicable, I should be the first to confess my error.

The reading of several books has led me to admit the possible reality
of these manifestations, but direct experience has convinced me of the
contrary.

My frankness in this report unhappily borders upon indiscretion. But
frankness is here synonymous with devotion, for it would be to betray
you if I were false for an instant to the sacred cause of Truth.

Report of M. Mathieu.

(_Seance of November 25_)

The seance opens at 9.30. M. Brisson, controller on the left, puts his
feet on Eusapia's feet; M. Flammarion, controller on the right, holds
her knees. In a moment the table leans to the right, its two left feet
are lifted and then it falls back; then follows the lifting of the two
right feet, and finally the lifting of the whole table off of its four
feet to a height of about seven inches above the floor (contact of
feet certain and knees motionless). I take a photograph.

At 9.37 a slight lifting on the left; then a lifting on the right, and
a total levitation (photograph).

During the levitations of the table the salon is lighted by a strong
Auer burner. It is now extinguished and is replaced by a little lamp
which is placed behind a fire-screen at the farther end of the room.
Absolute control of the hands and of the feet made by MM. Brisson and
Flammarion.

M. Brisson is slightly touched on the right hip, and at this moment
the two hands of Eusapia are plainly seen.

At 9.48 the curtain shakes and then puffs out three times in
succession. M. Brisson is again touched on the right hip; the curtain
is drawn back as if by a curtain-band. M. Flammarion, who holds
Eusapia's hand, makes three gestures and to each of his gestures
corresponds a new divergence of the portiere. Eusapia recommends that
we "give attention to the temperature of the medium; it will be found
to be changed after each phenomenon."

At 9.57 the light is diminished and is henceforth very feeble. The
curtain bellies out, and at the same moment M. Brisson is touched;
then the curtain is flung forcefully over the table. At the request of
Eusapia, M. Delanne lightly touches her head behind, and the curtain
slightly trembles.

Eusapia asks that a window be partly opened, the one in the middle of
the salon, saying that we shall see something new. M. Flammarion holds
with his left hand the knees of the medium, and with his right hand
holds the wrist, the thumb, and the palm of her right hand before him
at the height of the eyes. M. Brisson holds the left hand. Eusapia
seems to call something from the direction of the window, making
gestures, and saying, "I will catch it." Then a little branch of
privet comes and touches M. Flammarion's hand, apparently arriving
from somewhere near the window. M. F. takes this branch. A moment
later two spindle-tree branches come from behind the curtain at the
height of M. Brisson's head and past the edge of the curtain, which is
pulled up and back. The branches fall on the table.

M. Brisson, all this time at Eusapia's left, is next touched on the
hip, _at a moment when the hand of the medium is at the height of M.
Flammarion's beard_. Then the chair of M. Brisson is pulled and pushed
about. We hear distinctly, behind the curtain, sounds from the shaking
of the round table, upon which is the tambourine. Certain vibrations
of the tambourine are produced, corresponding to the movements of the
round table. At this moment M. Brisson mentions the fact that he has
been out of touch with the foot of the medium for about half a second,
but he is then holding her two thumbs about ten inches apart, and M.
Flammarion has her right hand close to his breast. The right hand of
M. Brisson, holding the left of Eusapia, passes behind the curtain,
and M. Brisson says that he has the impression of something like a
dress-skirt puffed out against his ankle.

Thereupon ensues new jolting and bumping of the round table and the
tambourine, with displacement of the round table. (Undoubted control
by MM. Flammarion and Brisson.)

10.30. Clattering noises of the round table in the cabinet are heard.
M. Flammarion makes gestures with his hand, and synchronistic
movements of the table and of the tambourine take place in the dark
cabinet.

10.35. Eusapia asks for a few minutes' rest. The sitting is resumed at
10.43. The violin and the bell are hurled with force through the cleft
in the curtain (M. Brisson gives assurance that he holds Eusapia's
left hand by the thumb, upon her knees, and M. Flammarion the entire
right hand). At this moment a photograph is taken by flash-light.
Cries and groans from Eusapia, blinded by the light.

The sitting begins again some minutes afterward, and M. Jules
Claretie, sitting at the left of M. Brisson, has his fingers twice
touched by a hand. M. Baschet, who is standing away from the table,
holds out a violin to the curtain: the violin is seized and thrown
into the cabinet. He holds a book out to the curtain: this book is
seized, but falls to the floor, _before the curtain_.