Quotes:Aksakov, Alexander Nikolayevich

Zirkoff, Boris

Aksakov, Alexander Nikolayevich. Russian author, philosopher and prominent figure among writers on Spiritualism. He was born May 27/June 8, 1832, in the village of Repyevka, Gorodishchensky uyezd, Province of Penza, on the estate of his father, Nikolay Timofeyevich, brother of Serguey Timofeyevich, the author of the renowned Family Chronicle. His mother was Catherine Alexeyevna Panov, of an old aristocratic family of the Province of Simbirsk. He was educated in the Alexander Lyceum of St. Petersburg, and on graduation in 1851, entered service in the Ministry of the Interior. Appointed on a Statistical Expedition, he spent some time in the Provinces studying religious dissidents. In 1855-56 he attended courses at the Faculty of Medicine at Moscow University, but soon after resumed his service to the State in the Department of Governmental Properties. He retired from Government service in 1878 with the rank of Actual Civil Councillor.

From his early years, Aksakov was interested in problems of theology and philosophy, and, while still in the Lyceum, came in contact with the teachings of Swedenborg; this was his introduction to a philosophical outlook whereby he endeavored to establish an empirical basis for his belief in the spiritual destiny of mankind. As a result of his studies, he published the following works: 1) On Heaven, the World of Spirits, and Hell, as Seen and Heard by E. Swedenborg, Leipzig, 1863; 2) The Gospel according to Swedenborg, Leipzig, 1864; 3) The Rationalism of Swedenborg, etc., Leipzig, 1870.

This latter work led him to the sphere of Spiritualism which absorbed his interest in the second half of the sixties. It is in the writings of Andrew Jackson Davis that he found the clearest exposition of his own attitude, and so he proceeded to publish in Germany a series of German translations from Davis' works: Der Reformator, Leipzig, 1867; Der Zauberstab, ditto, 1868; Die Principien der Natur, ditto, 1869; Der Arzt, ditto, 1873. His special interest lay in the study of such psychic phenomena as would provide evidence for the existence of a spiritual Principle in man. In so doing, Aksakov found a most sympathetic interest in Professor Butlerov, the renowned Russian chemist, who openly declared his belief in the reality of mediumistic phenomena.

During this period of his life, Aksakov translated into Russian a large number of works, among which should be mentioned:

1) Manual of Magnetotherapy, of Count F. von Szapary. Trans. from the French, St. Petersburg, 1860.

2) Experimental investigation of Spiritualism, of R. Hare. Trans. from the English, Leipzig, 1866.

3) Spiritualism and Science. Investigations of Crookes' Psychic Force. St. Petersburg, 1872.

4) Outline of the History of the Committee on Mediumism of the Physical Society at the St. Petersburg University, St. Petersburg, 1883.

5) Monument to Scientific Prejudice. The conclusions of the committee on Mediumism, St. Petersburg, 1883.

He also wrote several monographs on Hellenbach and d'Assier and their works. He published in German several of the works mentioned above, adding to the list two works by A. R. Wallace. As far as is known, Aksakov himself paid all the expenses connected with this vast literary output.

In 1874, Aksakov founded at Leipzig a monthly called Psychische Studien dedicated to the investigation of little known psychic phenomena. This periodical continued to be published until 1934, having changed its name to Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie in 1925. A perusal of the contents of the early volumes of this publication shows it to have been by far one of the most outstanding periodicals on the subject published at the time.

Aksakov's personal views concerning Spiritualism are clearly outlined in his Preface to his first edition of Spiritualism and Science (St. Petersburg, 1872), from which it appears that he made a clear distinction between observed facts and the theories current at the time to account for them. The basis and chief purpose of his literary activity was to observe and to record facts of genuine mediumism, entirely devoid of any theory or hypothesis, or religious and sectarian bias. He contended that a scientific approach to this subject would require an array of scientifically established facts, and that in due course of time some plausible theory, or a series of them, would emerge to justify facts on some reasonable basis. These views are further outlined in the January, 1878, issue of his periodical. It is evident, therefore, that the views of Aksakov on this whole subject were very closely allied to H.P.B.'s attitude towards the known facts and genuine manifestations of the mediums of her time. She found in Aksakov a splendid ally, and they both aroused rabid enmity on the part of those whose minds had crystallized on mere theories, in the various factions of the Spiritualistic and Spiritistic movement.

At a later time, Aksakov published the following works:

1) Spiritism, by K. R. E. von Hartmann. Trans. by A. M. Butlerov, 1887.

2) A. M. Butlerov on Mediumism. With a portrait of the author and reminiscences of N. P. Wagner, 1889.

3) Forerunners of Spiritism for the last 250 Years [Russian text]. St. Petersburg: V. Demakov, 1895; 513 pp.

4) A Case of partial dematerialization of the body of a medium. Trans. from the French, Boston, 1898.

5) Animism and Spiritism [Russian text], 2nd ed., St. Petersburg: V. Demakov, 1901. 679 pp.; German tr., Leipzig, 1894; French tr., Paris, 1906.

Aksakov died in 1903, after a long and extremely useful life in the cause of scientific research on little known lines, and in a field suspect by official science. Most of his work along these lines had to be located in Germany, on account of the enmity existing then in Russia against anything pertaining to this field of research.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 1, p. 444-446

Aksakov, Alexander Nikolayevich (1832-1903). *Article in La Revue Magnétique, February, 1879. Vide for biogr. sketch Vol. I, pp. 444-46, of the present Series.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 2, p. 522