THE KEY OF THE MYSTERIES
This is an assertion.
It remains to us to give an explanation and a demon-
stration.
That explanation and demonstration, in order to be com-
plete, demand a work sufficient to fill a book.
That book has been written, and we shall publish it shortly.
Here is the title:
The Reason of Miracles, or the Devil at the Tribunal of
Science.
“Why the devil?”
Because we have demonstrated by facts what Mr. de
Mirville had, before us, incompletely set forth.
We say “‘incompletely”; because the devil is, for Mr. de
Mirville, a fantastic personage, while for us, it is the misuse
of a natural force.
A medium once said: ‘“ Hell is not a place, it is a state.”
We shall be able to add: “ The devil is not a person or a
force; it is a vice, and in consequence, a weakness.”
Let us return for a moment to the study of phenomena!
Mediums are, in general, of poor health and narrow
limitations.
They can accomplish nothing extraordinary in the pres-
ence of calm and educated persons.
One must be accustomed to them before seeing or feeling
anything.
The phenomena are not identical for all present. For
example, where one will see a hand, another will perceive
nothing but a whitish smoke.
1 That was the title which we intended at that time to give to the book
which we now publish.—E. L.
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