All his powers M. Flournoy bent to elucidate the mystery. He made up his
mind that Hélène must somewhere have come across one of the works
containing Flammarion's speculations concerning Mars. The landscapes
were suggested by Japanese lacquer and Nankin dishes. As for the
language, it is just such a work of art as one might form by
substituting for each word in the French dictionary an arbitrary
collocation of letters, and for each letter a new and arbitrary symbol.
The vowel and consonant signs are the same as in French; so are the
inflections, the grammar, the construction. (Take, for example, the
negative ke ani=ne pas, the employment of the same word zi to express
both la "the" and là "there.") If it is childish as a work of art, it is
miraculous enough as a feat of memory. But the reader has not forgotten
what the subliminal self is capable of achieving as regards time
appreciation mentioned in an early chapter. When, however, it comes to
Hélène's telepathic and clairvoyant powers, M. Flournoy, in spite of his
long investigation, can find no explanation of the supernormal to fit
the case. Her mediumship since 1892 included manifestations of all
kinds. They began with physical phenomena, but they soon ceased. Her
clairvoyant messages during trance are certainly of a remarkable
character. Her reception of distant scenes and persons, of which she was
apparently unacquainted, has been carefully investigated and
authenticated by numerous persons of reputation. It is this aspect of
spiritualism which has of recent years commanded most attention from
trained observers. The trance utterances of such well-known clairvoyants
as the late Stainton Moses, Mrs Thompson, and Mrs Piper have been
subjected to rigid and precise inquiry, and on the whole it is on this
type of evidence that the strongest arguments of the genuineness of
spiritualism really rests. It is at once the most impressive, the most
interesting, and the most voluminous.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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