Le Livre des Esprits

regard to a special power and who are designated by the name mediums, that is to say, "middle," or intermediaries between Spirits and humans. The conditions that provide this power stem from causes both physical and moral that are still imperfectly known, for one finds mediums of every age, both sexes, and in every degree of intellectual development. This faculty, moreover, develops through practice.

V

Later, it was recognized that the basket and the small board original: "planchette." A heart-shaped wooden device on wheels used in 19th-century séances to facilitate spirit writing. were in reality only an extension of the hand; the medium, taking up the pencil directly, began to write through an involuntary and almost feverish impulse. By this means, communications became faster, easier, and more complete; today, this is the most widespread method, especially since the number of people gifted with this aptitude is quite large and increases every day. Finally, experience revealed several other varieties of the mediating faculty, and it became known that communications could also take place through speech, hearing, sight, touch, etc., and even through the direct writing direct writing: also known as pneumatography, this refers to text appearing on paper without a human holding a pen of Spirits—that is, without the assistance of the medium’s hand or a pencil.

Once the fact was established, an essential point remained to be determined: the role of the medium in the answers, and the part they might take in them both mechanically and morally. Two capital circumstances, which could not escape an attentive observer, can resolve this question. The first is the way in which the basket moves under their influence, by the simple placement of fingers on its rim; an examination demonstrates the impossibility of any kind of direction. This impossibility becomes especially evident when two or three people place themselves at the same basket at the same time; it would require a truly phenomenal coordination of movement between them; moreover, it would require a coordination of thought so they could agree on the answer to be given to the question posed. Another no less singular fact adds to the difficulty: the radical change in handwriting depending on the Spirit who manifests; and every time the same Spirit returns, their handwriting is repro-