February 16, 1896.—“At the beginning of this seance, Hélène has a vision of Alexis Mirbel, who announces, by…
- Date of account
- English edition published 1900
- Source
- From India to the planet Mars: A study of a case of somnambulism with glossolalia
- Reference
- From India to the planet Mars: A study of a case of somnambulism with glossolalia · selected passage 138
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English translation from French
- Translation
- English translation of Théodore Flournoy
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
February 16, 1896.—“At the beginning of this seance, Hélène has a vision of Alexis Mirbel, who announces, by means of the table, that he has not forgotten his French, and that he will give a translation of the Martian words another day
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyFebruary 16, 1896.—“At the beginning of this seance, Hélène has a vision of Alexis Mirbel, who announces, by means of the table, that he has not forgotten his French, and that he will give a translation of the Martian words another day. But this prediction is not fulfilled. Whether Hélène, for the reason that she is not feeling well to-day, or that the presence of some one antipathetic to her has hindered the production of the phenomena, the Martian somnambulism, which seemed on the point of breaking forth, did not make its appearance. Hélène remains in a crepuscular state, in which the feeling of present reality and the Martian ideas on the level of consciousness interfere with and mutually obscure each other. She speaks in French with the sitters, but mingling with it here and there a strange word (such as =méche=, =chinit=, =chéque=, which, according to the context, seem to signify _pencil_, _ring_, _paper_), and appears far away from her actual surroundings. She is astonished, in particular, at the sight of M. R. occupied in taking notes by the _procès verbal_, and seems to find that manner of writing with a pen or pencil strange and absurd, but without explaining clearly how it was to be otherwise accomplished.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis comes from historical psychical research. Methods, witness handling and standards of evidence differ from present-day research and should be assessed from the cited passage and edition.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThe passage can support a history of claims and recurring descriptions. It does not establish a paranormal mechanism, and competing psychological, social and physical explanations remain relevant.
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