868 A. From Proceedings S.P.R., vol. vi. pp. 355-5 7. For the following case also I am indebted to M. Aksakoff.

The Pereliguine Case

Document I. Copy Of Report Of Seance Held November 18th, 1887, In The House Of M. Nartzeff, At Tambof, Russia

Present: M. A. Nartzeff [landed proprietor, belonging to the Russian nobility, in the Government of Tambof]; Madame A. Slepzof [aunt of M.

Nartzeff]; Madame Ivanof [M. Nartzeff's housekeeper]; M. N. Touloucheff [official physician of the municipality of Tambof].

The sitting began at 10 p.m. at a table placed in the middle of the room, by the light of a night-light placed on the mantelpiece. All doors closed. The left hand of each was placed on the right hand of his neighbour, and each foot touched the neighbour's foot, so that during the whole of the sitting all hands and feet were under control. Sharp raps were heard in the floor, and afterwards in the wall and the ceiling, after which the blows sounded immediately in the middle of the table, as if some one had struck it from above with his fist; and with such violence, and so often, that the table trembled the whole time.

M. Nartzeff asked: "Can you answer rationally, giving three raps for yes, one for no?" "Yes." "Do you wish to answer by using the alphabet?" "Yes." "Spell your name." The alphabet was repeated, and the letters indicated by three raps - "Anastasie Pereliguine." "I beg you to say now why you have come and what you desire." "I am a wretched woman. Pray for me. Yesterday, during the day, I died at the hospital. The day before yesterday I poisoned myself with matches." "Give us some details about yourself. How old were you? Give a rap for each year." Seventeen raps. "Who were you?" "I was housemaid. I poisoned myself with matches." "Why did you poison yourself?" "I will not say. I will say nothing more".

After this a heavy table which was near the wall, outside the chain of hands, came up rapidly three times, towards the table round which the chain was made, and each time it was pushed backwards, no one knew by what means. Seven raps (the signal agreed upon for the close of the sitting) were now heard in the wall; and at 11.20 p.m. the seance came to an end.

(Signed) A. Slepzof, N. Touloucheff, A. Nartzeff, A. Ivanof.

I certify that this copy is in complete accordance with the original.

A. Nartzeff.

Document II. The Undersigned, Having Been Present At The Seance Of November 18th, 1887

The Undersigned, Having Been Present At The Seance Of November 18th, 1887, at the house of M. A. N. Nartzeff, hereby certify that they had no previous knowledge of the existence or the death of Anastasie Pere-liguine, and that they heard her name for the first time at the above-mentioned seance.

N. P. Touloucheff, Alexis Nartzeff, A. Slepzof, A. Ivanof. Tambof, April 6th, 1890.

Document III. Letter Of Dr. Touloucheff To M. A. Aksakoff

Tambof, rue du Seminaire, April 15th, 1890.

Sir, - At the sitting held at M. Nartzeff's house, November 18th, 1887, we received a communication from an intelligence giving the name of Anastasie Pereliguine. She asked us to pray for her; and said that she had poisoned herself with lucifer matches, and had died on the 17th of that month. At the first moment I did not believe this; for in my capacity as physician of the municipality I am at once informed by the police of all cases of suicide. But since Pereliguine had added that her death had taken place at the hospital; and since at Tambof we have only one hospital, that of the "Institutions de Bienfaisance," which is in no way within my official survey, and whose authorities, in such cases as this, themselves send for the police or the magistrate; -

I sent a letter to my colleague, Dr. Sundblatt, the head physician of this hospital. Without explaining my reason, I simply asked him to inform me whether there had been any recent case of suicide at the hospital, and, if so, to give me the name and particulars. I have already sent you a copy of his reply, certified by Dr. Sundblatt's own signature. The original is at M. Nartzeff's house, with the protocols of the seances.

N. TOULOUCHEFF.

Document IV. Copy Of Dr. Th. Sundblatt's Letter To Dr. Touloucheff

November 19th, 1887. My dear Colleague, - On the 16th of this month I was on duty; and on that day two patients were admitted. to the hospital, who had poisoned themselves with phosphorus. The first, Vera Kosovitch, aged thirty-eight, wife of a clerk in the public service . . . was taken in at 8 p.m.; the second, a servant in the insane ward [a part of the hospital], Anastasie Pereliguine, aged seventeen, was taken in at 10 p.m. This second patient had swallowed, besides an infusion of boxes of matches, a glass of kerosine, and at the time of her admission was already very ill. She died at 1 p.m. on the 17th, and the post-mortem examination has been made to-day. Kosovitch died yesterday, and the postmortem is fixed for to-morrow. Kosovitch said that she had taken the phosphorus in an excess of melancholy, but Pereliguine did not state her reason for poisoning herself. Th. Sundblatt.

Copy of letter certified by Th. Sundblatt and Alexis Nartzeff.

Document V. Letter Of M. A. Nartzeff To M. Aksakoff, May 16th, 1890

[M. Nartzeff writes a letter in English and one in French, which I abridge and combine].

In answer to your letter I inform you that my aunt's housekeeper is not a housekeeper strictly speaking, but rather a friend of the family, having been nearly fifteen years with us, and possessing our entire confidence. She could not have already learnt the fact of the suicide, as she has no relations or friends in Tambof, and never leaves the house.

The hospital in question is situated at the other end of the town, about five versts from my house. Dr. Sundblatt informs me, on the authority of the Proces verbal of the inquest, that Pereliguine was able to read and write. [This in answer to M. Aksakoff's inquiry whether the deceased could have understood alphabetic communication].

Sittings were held at Tambof, April 1885-October 1889, but in no other instance were irrefutable proofs obtained. Generally the manifestations were of a trivial character. Twice or thrice we received communications apparently serious, but on inquiry these were found to be untrue.

It is remarkable that this veridical message should have stood alone, but its correctness obviously was not due to chance.