Mr. Home III and Varieties

Mr. Home III

Mr. Home was always mentioned by Allan Kardec as a medium with special and surprising abilities, but nothing was imposed on him about apparition phenomena. In this Spiritist Magazine, Kardec tells us a little more about other faculties and the phenomena arising from it in other mediums. To conclude, we will still cite extra facts that he called varieties.

Kardec asks himself: why are hands and not other parts of the body materialized? However, there are reports of mediums who make the whole body appear.

The hands

In general, the appearance of the hand is manifested under the tablecloth, by ripples produced when covering the entire surface. Then he shows himself to the edges of the towel, which she lifts; sometimes he comes to stand on the tablecloth, right in the middle of the table; other times he takes an object and takes it under the towel. This hand, visible to all, is neither vaporous nor translucent: it has a natural color and opacity; on the wrist, it ends indefinitely. If someone touches it without hostile ulterior motives, it offers resistance, solidity and the impression of a living hand; its warmth is mild, somewhat damp. It is not absolutely inert, because it acts, lends itself to the movements that are imprinted on it, or resists, caresses us, or squeezes us. If, on the contrary, we want to catch it abruptly and by surprise, we will only find emptiness.

Cases that involve them

case 1

He held a table bell between his fingers; hand, invisible at first, and shortly afterwards perfectly visible, came to take it, making efforts to snatch it away; having failed to do so, he proceeded to pull it over, in order to make it slip. The pulling effort was as sensitive as any human hand would have been. Having tried to grip that hand violently, his only found air; having opened his fingers, the bell remained suspended in the air and came slowly to rest on the floor.

case 2

Several people were gathered around one of those dining-room tables that split in two. Beats are heard; the table shakes, opens by itself, and through the crack appear three hands: one normal-sized, one very large, and a third very hairy. They touch them, feel them, they shake hands with the bystanders and then dissolve.

case 3

At the home of one of the friends who had lost a child at an early age, what appears is the hand of a newborn. Everyone can see and touch it. This child sits on the mother's lap, who distinctly feels the impression of her whole body on her knees.

the hands that write

The hand that appears can also write. Sometimes she stops in the middle of the table, takes a pencil and traces the letters on prepared paper. Most of the time, though, he takes the paper under the table and returns it all written down. If the hand becomes invisible, the writing seems to produce itself. In this way, answers to the various questions that can be asked are obtained.

Hands that play instruments

Another genre of manifestations, no less remarkable, but which can be explained by what we have just said, is that of musical instruments that play alone. They are usually pianos or accordions. In such circumstances, the keys are distinctly seen to move, as well as the bellows. The hand that touches is sometimes visible, sometimes invisible. The aria that is heard can be known and played on request. If the invisible artist is left to his own devices, he produces harmonious chords, the effect of which is reminiscent of the vague, soft melody of the Aeolian harp.

In a subscriber's house, where such phenomena occurred many times, the spirit that manifested itself was that of a young man who had died some time ago, a friend of the family who, when alive, revealed remarkable musical talent. The nature of the arias he preferred to play left no doubt as to his identity to all who had known him.

Conclusion

The most extraordinary fact in this genre of manifestations is not, in Kardec's opinion, the appearance. If it were always aeriform, it would be compatible with the ethereal nature that we attribute to spirits. Now, there is nothing to oppose this etherealized matter becoming perceptible to the eye, by a kind of condensation, without losing its vaporous property. The strangest thing is the solidification of this same matter, resistant enough to leave a visible impression on our organs. In the next issue we will explain this singular phenomenon, according to the teaching of the Spirits themselves. On that date, they limited themselves to deducing a consequence related to the spontaneous playing of musical instruments. In fact, since the occasional tangibility of this etherealized matter is an established fact, and since in such a state the hand, apparent or not, offers sufficient resistance to exert pressure on solid bodies, it is not surprising that it can exert pressure on solid bodies. enough to move the keys on an instrument. On the other hand, no less positive facts proved that this hand belongs to an intelligent being. No wonder, then, that this intelligence manifested itself through musical sounds, since it could do so through writing and drawing.

Once entered into this order of ideas, the vibrating beats, the movement of objects and all spiritist phenomena of a material order are explained very naturally.

varieties

Let's go to the second part of this post. Kardec shows dissatisfaction with the criticisms attributed to Mr. Home in the following terms:

Malice against Mr. home

In certain individuals malevolence knows no bounds. Slander always has poison against everyone who rises above the crowd. The opponents of Mr. Home thought that ridicule is a very fragile weapon: it should dent itself against the respectable names that surround it with their protection. Since they could not laugh at his expense, they sought to denigrate him. They spread the rumor, with the objective that we well understand and the bad tongues repeat it that Mr. Home had not left for Italy, as had been announced, but that he was in the prison of Mazas, under the weight of serious accusations, which are told as anecdotes, of which the idle and the friends of scandal are always avid.

We can say that there is nothing true in all these infernal machinations. We have several letters from Mr. Home, dating from Pisa, Rome, and Naples, where it now stands. We are therefore in a position to prove what we assert.

The spirits are right to say that the true demons are among men.

Are the turning tables alienating people?

It was read in a newspaper: according to the Gazette des Hôpitaux (Gazette of Hospitals)), naquele momento, contavam-se no hospital de “alienados” de Zurique 25 pessoas que perderam a razão graças às mesas girantes e aos Espíritos batedores.

To begin with, they asked whether it was well established that these 25 alienated all the loss of reason to the Beating Spirits, which is debatable, at least until there are authentic proofs. Assuming that these strange phenomena could have had a harmful effect on certain weak characters, we would ask whether, on the other hand, the fear of the devil did not make more madmen than the belief in spirits. Now, since the spirits are not prevented from knocking, the danger lies in the belief that all those who manifest themselves are demons. Get away from this idea, by making the truth known, and there will be no more fear than of fireflies. The idea that one is harassed by the devil is tailor-made to disturb reason.

On the other hand, they had another piece of news, from another newspaper, which said: there is a curious statistical document of the disastrous consequences to which, among the English, the habit of intemperance and strong drinks dragged. Of every 100 individuals admitted to Hamwel's insane hospital, there were 72 whose mental alienation must be attributed to drunkenness.

They received from subscribers numerous reports of very interesting facts that we will hurry to publish in our next editions, since the lack of space did not allow them to do so in this one.