L'inconnu = The unknown / By Camille Flammarion.

  • Camille Flammarion
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: L'inconnu = The unknown / By Camille Flammarion. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    the doubles of some living persons ; apparitions and man- ifestations from the dead ; haunted houses ; movements of objects without these being touched ; sorcery, magic, etc., etc. From this time forth, setting aside superstitions, errors, hoaxes, and base deceptions, we must acknowledge that there remain psychic facts worthy of the attention of those who would examine them. We have entered into an in- vestigation of a world as ancient as the human race, but at present very new to experimental science, which has not until recently occupied men's minds, but has now created simultaneously an interest for itself in all countries. Such is my programme of study, and I should like to carry it out to the end, if the time indispensable to the work should be allowed me. But on the one hand it is prudent not to give one's self up exclusively to occult subjects, for one might soon lose the indeiDendence of mind necessary to form ' an im]3artial judgment. It is better to look upon such studies as not one's main object iîi life, but as recreation of a superior order, most curious and interesting. These are foods and drinks which it is most wholesome to take only in small quantities. On the other hand, our earth turns very fast, and days pass away like dreams. I hope, nevertheless, to give myself the scientific pleasure of studying a por- tion of these mysteries, and perhaps what one man can- not do may be done by others. Every one may bring his little stone to assist in the construction of a future pyr- amid. Every author is in charge of souls. We ought only to tell what we know. Perhaps we ought not always to tell all we do know ; but even in our every-day life we ought never to tell what we do not know. Then let us lay up knowledge, let us work and hope. This collection of psychic facts shows us that we live in the midst of an invincible world, in which forces are at work of whicli we know very little, and this agrees with what we know about the limitation of our earthly senses, and the phenom- ena of nature. It is precisely because of this state of things that I have given to this work its title, The Unknown.