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<center>ANOTHER DISGRACE FOR SCIENCE.—THE ST. PETERSBURG

<center>ANOTHER DISGRACE FOR SCIENCE.—THE ST. PETERSBURG

PROFESSORS IMITATE THOSE OF HARVARD AND LONDON. — A. N. AKSAKOFF’S NOBLE PROTEST.</center>

PROFESSORS IMITATE THOSE OF HARVARD AND LONDON. — A. N. AKSAKOFF’S NOBLE PROTEST.</center>

 

To the Editor of the Spiritual Scientist:

To the Editor of the Spiritual Scientist:

{{Style P-Signature|H. P. BLAVATSKY.

{{Style P-Signature|H. P. BLAVATSKY.

New York, April 19th, 1876.}}

New York, April 19th, 1876.}}

 

{{Page aside|205}}

{{Page aside|205}}

<center>THE COMMISSION APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES OF THE ST. PETERSBURG UNIVERSITY, FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF MEDIUMISTIC MANIFESTATIONS.</center>

<center>THE COMMISSION APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES OF THE ST. PETERSBURG UNIVERSITY, FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF MEDIUMISTIC MANIFESTATIONS.</center>

 

According to my promise to the Commission to help them in extending their invitations to mediums, I have neglected no effort to the accomplishment of the said purpose. Nevertheless but few mediums have shown any desire to come to Russia, and those who did were unsuitable for a preliminary examination, as their mediumistical powers were not of a nature to afford any chance to investigate physical phenomena. Finally, and for reasons previously detailed to the commission, I concluded to bring with me from England the two Petty boys. The mediumistic powers of these boys proved too weak, not only for them to be tested by a committee but even at private séances in my own house. Having obtained no manifestations worthy of any attention at all—as already published by me—at the committee’s investigation, after four séances I declined to waste any more of its time in investigating the Petty boys.

According to my promise to the Commission to help them in extending their invitations to mediums, I have neglected no effort to the accomplishment of the said purpose. Nevertheless but few mediums have shown any desire to come to Russia, and those who did were unsuitable for a preliminary examination, as their mediumistical powers were not of a nature to afford any chance to investigate physical phenomena. Finally, and for reasons previously detailed to the commission, I concluded to bring with me from England the two Petty boys. The mediumistic powers of these boys proved too weak, not only for them to be tested by a committee but even at private séances in my own house. Having obtained no manifestations worthy of any attention at all—as already published by me—at the committee’s investigation, after four séances I declined to waste any more of its time in investigating the Petty boys.

5. As to the reports for publication, the commission resolved neither to allow them to be carried to the private domiciles of the {{Page aside|207}} witnesses for signature, nor to furnish copies, nor to allow such to be taken by the witnesses who were present. Such an order of procedure compelled the witnesses who were appointed to watch the interests of the medium, to present their own private reports, and was as strange as it was embarrassing.

5. As to the reports for publication, the commission resolved neither to allow them to be carried to the private domiciles of the {{Page aside|207}} witnesses for signature, nor to furnish copies, nor to allow such to be taken by the witnesses who were present. Such an order of procedure compelled the witnesses who were appointed to watch the interests of the medium, to present their own private reports, and was as strange as it was embarrassing.

In view of such a state of affairs, in my report of February the 5th, I had the honor to explain to the commission that before we could proceed with the experiments at all, the witnesses for the medium must be permitted to acquaint themselves previously with the general reports, which had not been as vet presented to us for signature, as well as with the private reports of the outside members of the commission.

In view of such a state of affairs, in my report of February the 5th, I had the honor to explain to the commission that before we could proceed with the experiments at all, the witnesses for the medium must be permitted to acquaint themselves previously with the general reports, which had not been as vet presented to us for signature, as well as with the private reports of the outside members of the commission.

After that, on the 13th of February, I read in the rooms of the Physical Society the protocol (or report) of the third séance of January the 27th. As to the report of the fourth séance, I learned that it was not yet even filled up. Concerning the private reports, Mr. Mendeleyeff informed me that the committee had neither assigned any particular time nor order for their presentation. Thus, it remained for us witnesses to advance without knowing what lay in wait for us. At the same time the little of which we had assured ourselves was of a nature to make it very difficult for us to proceed. Of all the reports which had appeared, the most prominent were two extended ones by Mr. Mendeleyeff. They embodied a long series of undemonstrated affirmations which tended to convey to every reader the impression that all the manifestations mentioned in the reports were simply tricks consciously performed by the hands and feet of the medium. And in the report of Mr. Bobileff, who, as well as Mr. Mendeleyeff, attended but two séances, we see indicated a full conviction of the spuriousness of the phenomena, and that the medium produced them herself at will by muscular contraction. Moreover, the observations upon which both of these gentlemen try to base their conclusions as to what took place at the séances were not communicated by them to the other witnesses present, thus making it impossible for them to either verify or correct that which was suspicious. I am quite ready to admit that what took place was very far from being surrounded with such conditions as to warrant the commission after only four seances to come to a final conclusion favorable to the genuineness of mediumistic phenomena. If, after the forty séances agreed upon, an unfavorable report had been made upon the basis that the experiments had been unsatisfactory, then the decision might have been respected by every one. But in view of the methods to which the commission has now stooped, all further investigation, at least with the present medium, is impossible. I have no right to leave Mrs. C. in ignorance of what people write about her, and these writings consist of dishonorable attempts to prove that she is an impostor. Under {{Page aside|208}} the circumstances I do not feel myself warranted in any longer subjecting a private person, and especially a lady, to such uncalled-for accusations, which to anyone who feels himself to be innocent of intended fraud are highly insulting.

After that, on the 13th of February, I read in the rooms of the Physical Society the protocol (or report) of the third séance of January the 27th. As to the report of the fourth séance, I learned that it was not yet even filled up. Concerning the private reports, Mr. Mendeleyeff informed me that the committee had neither assigned any particular time nor order for their presentation. Thus, it remained for us witnesses to advance without knowing what lay in wait for us. At the same time the little of which we had assured ourselves was of a nature to make it very difficult for us to proceed. Of all the reports which had appeared, the most prominent were two extended ones by Mr. Mendeleyeff. They embodied a long series of undemonstrated affirmations which tended to convey to every reader the impression that all the manifestations mentioned in the reports were simply tricks consciously performed by the hands and feet of the medium. And in the report of Mr. Bobileff, who, as well as Mr. Mendeleyeff, attended but two séances, we see indicated a full conviction of the spuriousness of the phenomena, and that the medium produced them herself at will by muscular contraction. Moreover, the observations upon which both of these gentlemen try to base their conclusions as to what took place at the séances were not communicated by them to the other witnesses present, thus making it impossible for them to either verify or correct that which was suspicious. I am quite ready to admit that what took place was very far from being surrounded with such conditions as to warrant the commission after only four seances to come to a final conclusion favorable to the genuineness of mediumistic phenomena. If, after the forty séances agreed upon, an unfavorable report had been made upon the basis that the experiments had been unsatisfactory, then the decision might have been respected by every one. But in view of the methods to which the commission has now stooped, all further investigation, at least with the present medium, is impossible. I have no right to leave Mrs. C. in ignorance of what people write about her, and these writings consist of dishonorable attempts to prove that she is an impostor. Under {{Page aside|208}} the circumstances I do not feel myself warranted in any longer subjecting a private person, and especially a lady, to such uncalled-for accusations, which to anyone who feels himself to be innocent of intended fraud are highly insulting.

St. Petersburg, March 4th, 1876.}}

St. Petersburg, March 4th, 1876.}}

 

<center>Translated and prepared with the notes and explanations, for the Spiritual Scientist, by “BUDDHA.”</center>

Translated and prepared with the notes and explanations, for the Spiritual Scientist, by “BUDDHA.”