< Mme Blavatsky (continued from page 3-88) >
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One of Buguet`s Pictures
New Orleans, July 27th, 1875.
To the Editor of the Spiritual Scientists:
Dear Sir:—I have seen in several recent publications, and that too with a flourish of trumpets, that Buguet, the spirit-photographer of Paris, is also a fraudulent dealer in human weakness, for one can scarcely call it any other name. Spiritualists need not care for this, if they will only see its cause. Every effort of priestcraft, and church-power is being used to bring discredit on a movement that will eventually cause the absurdity of their long rule of power, to become apparent. Religion I honor; true religion I strive to follow; Christianity, as I see it practiced, I despise. Truth, like the spear of Ithariel, will demolish it at last; and we will worship God, not men; the Creator, not the created expounder of dogma.
I have in my possession a photograph of a well-beloved friend, taken by Buguet while she was in Paris a year ago A spirit-figure, claiming to be her husband's life-long guide, stands behind her chair, the whole head and face, clearly defined. The likeness, of course, no one pretended to know; but die wonder lies not in the spirit-figure, but in the fact that my friend's face, arms and body are covered apparently by a transparent, filmy, lace veil. So thick is this drapery piled upon her lap, that the black silk dress she wears is scarcely seen through it This drapery flows down from the head of the spirit-form, and literally envelopes the sitter, whose face is as plainly seen, one-third covered by this veil, and the like ness is as fair for recognition as if it had been sought for that purpose alone. I showed this picture to an acquaintance who claims to have some sense, as well as confidence in human nature; telling her how it was obtained, and how honest and earnest a seeker for truth my then absent friend was. After looking at it for about a minute, she turned to me with a sneer of ineffable scorn, saying, “And do you tell me that you can possibly believe for a moment that that thing is a spirit?” I replied, “It is easier for me to believe that every spirit in the hosts of Almighty God has descended to earth, and walks among men, than to think the woman who sits there, would have lent herself to a deception so grossly mean and wicked; and that veil never could have covered her in that way, if placed there by the artist, without her knowledge and consent; thus I am compelled to believe that it is what the artist claims—the manifestation of a power exercised by some unseen force in Nature, that he believes is spiritual; but which, in any event, cannot be explained by any known law, unless the spiritual be accepted.” The woman who sat for this picture has a mind as keen and clear as an Arctic glow, free from prejudice, seeking alone for truth.
I write and make this statement for our Cause. Every honest Spiritualist will do well to rouse himself, and if he possesses a lance to hurl in defence of Truth and Science, free inquiry and honest mediumship,—the time has come for that lance to be set in rest, and with the famous war-cry, “God and my right,” each man do his devoir as of old, else every right, even that of thought, win at length be curtailed.
Editor's notes
Sources
Spiritual Scientist, v. 2, No. 23, August 12, 1875, p. 266