| + | The scientific Commission, formed to examine mediumistic phenomena, had the purpose – as one can judge from the report by Mr. Mendeleev, published in "Golos" (No. 137, 1875) – to "accurately examine" these phenomena and through this "render a considerable service to everyone". From the public lecture of Mr. Mendeleev we learned that the immediate subject of the Commission's research were the following mediumistic phenomena: movements of inanimate objects when touched and when not touched by hands; objects rising into the air; objects changing their weight; movements of objects and sounds in them having meaningfulness, having the character of conversations or answers, which the Commission called ''dialogic phenomena''; writing by inanimate objects or ''psychographic phenomena''; finally, formation and appearance of individual parts of the human body or even complete figures, which the Commission called ''mediumistic-plastic'' ''phenomena. ''The Commission promised to devote at least 40 sessions to the study of these phenomena. Now, in its report of March 21<sup>st</sup>, ("Golos" No. 85, 1876) the Commission announced that its investigation was completed and that "its aim was achieved" and that it unanimously came to the conclusion that "the spiritualistic phenomena originate from unconscious movements or from conscious deception, and the doctrine of Spiritism is a superstition”. Such is the verdict of the Commission – as can be seen from its report – after eight séances, of which during the first four no mediumistic phenomena occurred, and during the last four the Commission saw several movements of the table and heard several knocks. But where are the Commission's experiments with movements of objects without hands touching them, experiments with changes in the weight of objects, experiments with phenomena that are dialogic, psychographic, mediumistic-plastic? From that limited research program, which the Commission had set itself, it apparently did not fulfill even the fourth part, but it did touch, without any ground, the Spiritism "doctrine", which is the question that was not included in its program at all. We, the undersigned, consider it our duty to declare that through such a superficial and hasty attitude to the subject of its research the Commission has remained far from fulfilling the task that it assigned to itself. It evidently has not gathered sufficient data either to admit the existence of mediumistic phenomena or to reject them. Having limited its investigation to eight séances, the Commission had no valid grounds for declaring its investigation complete; it had even less right to pronounce a final verdict on the basis of these eight sessions. Having started the research in the name of interests of a certain part of society, the Commission has not satisfied these interests at all; it has left the society in its prior bewilderment concerning the mediumistic phenomena – phenomena which have been testified by so many reliable persons. We, the undersigned, consider ourselves, therefore, in a right to express the hope that the examination of mediumistic phenomena declared in the name of science will be completed, according to the dignity and requirements of science – if not by those who have already made their judgment, even about what they have not seen, then by others – after a longer and more detailed research. Only by such an investigation can "a considerable service to everyone" really be rendered. |
| + | The original is signed by: V. S. Avdakov, Prince Bagration, I. Balashov, A. Bardsky, V. Barteneva, A. Barykova, N. Bakhmetyev, R. Bashmakova, L. Bonve, M. Borisova, D. Bunyakovskaya, A. Vasilchikova, V. Vixenstein, Prince Ev. Wittgenstein, P. Weymarn, K. Witte, E. Vlasova, Princess Golitsina-Prozorovskaya, M. Gredyakina, N. Gredyakin, Yu. Gren, D. Grigorovich, L. Danilov, I. Danilov, Z. Durova, E. Evreinova, N. Zhoga, Baron A. Zhomini, A. Zinoviev, A. Zinovieva, D. Zinoviev, E. Zagrafo, E. Ivanova, G. Ignatyev, F. Kalinina, N. Kalinin, T. Kalinin, S. Kislinskaya, V. Kishkin, F. Klimov, Count Komarovsky, Count A. Komarovsky, E. Konstanten, V. Kresenko, V. Kruse, Prince A. Kurakin, Prince B. Kurakin, Prince M. Kurtsevich, E. Lavrova, E. Lancere, I. Lapshin, F. Levshin, N. Lvov, N. Leskov, A. Makarevsky, N. Makarevskaya, E. Malokhovets, F. Malokhovets, S. Manukhin, V. Markov, P. Marchenko, N. Matveev, P. May, Baron Meyendorf, H. Meyer, A. Miller, P.P. Miller, A.A. Moiseeva, N.A. Moiseev, G. Montandre, S. N. Moskalev, Ar. Ober, Princess N. Obolenskaya, Prince O. Obolensky, P. Orlov, Prince Paskevich, Princess Paskevich, T. Passek, P. Pelchov, I. K. Pelzer, K. F. Pirvits, F. F. Pirvits, E. A. Pirgov, A. V. Polovtsev, A. I. Polubinsky, J. B. Prezhentsov, V. Pribytkova, E. Pribytkova, V. Pribytkov, V. Rossolovsky, I. Ryumin, A. P. Salomon, V. I. Safronov, A. V. Semenova, K. A. Semenov, A. Serebryakov, N. Skorodumov, E. Skropotova, Yu. Smolenskaya, A. Starozhevsky, A. Stepanova, E. Stoletov, Countess Maria B. Stroganova, Count Grigory S. Stroganov, Prince A. Suvorov, Prince K. Suvorov, G. Tatishchev, I. Timashevsky, A. I. Tokmachev, Countess A. Tolstaya, F. Toman, S. Torneus, Prince A. Trubetskoy, A. Tutkovsky, E. Tyminskaya, Prince A. Urusov, E. Chelischeva, M. Chelischev, A. Chelovsky, Vladimir Chuyko, N. Chuyko, V. Shago, Prince A. Shakhovsky, I. O. Schmidt, Prince A. Scherbatov, N. Scherbachev, L. Junger. |