REVUE SPIRITE

1858

[Previously]

Like Germany, the foundation for Spiritualism in France began with the study of “animal magnetism” and the work of Dr. Franz Mesmer.[1] Among those who continued the study of “mesmerism” was one Baron Jules Dupotet, whose success in treating patients in London with mesmeric cures in 1838 did much to elevate the practice in public opinion.[2] It was said that “a murderer had been tracked, convicted, and executed solely on evidence supplied by one of Du Potet’s clairvoyantes.”[3] In 1845 he published the first issue of his magazine devoted to that study, Journal Du Magnétisme. Subjects of Dupotet’s magnetized treatments, “lucides,” became supernaturally endowed, demonstrating clairvoyance, trance-speaking, stigmata, somnambulistic levitation, and insensibility to fire, injury, or touch. Sometimes the lucides described scenes in the spirit world, recovered lost property, prophesied, and spoke in foreign languages. In what Dupotet styled as “séances” (French for “sittings,”) “magical apparitions presented themselves in crystals, water, mirrors, and often in forms, tangible alike to the sight and touch of all present.”

Baron Jules Dupotet (Source: Wiki)

Of all the pioneers to whom French Spiritualists were indebted, however, none stood “more prominent in truthfulness and worth” than Louis Alphonse Cahagnet, “an unlearned mechanic, a man of the people.” His auto-didactic experiments in mesmerism brought him into contact with “the world called dead.” His research was published in his 1848 work, The Celestial Telegraph.[4] Cahagnet became quite familiar with somnambulic revelations from the world of spirits through some of the most remarkable subjects of the age; one of the most startling communications from the dead that he received, however, Cahagnet had difficulty in accepting, and that was the doctrine of reincarnation:

The communicating spirits uniformly alleged that, when freed from the trammels of matter, they all remembered having lived in an anterior state of purity and innocence as spirits; that they perceived how truly and wisely their earthly lives were designed for probationary purposes, and meant to impart vigour and knowledge to the soul; but that once undergone, it was never again repeated, and the return of the soul to its former spiritual state was never interrupted by re-incarnations on earth. These spirits, too, alleged that the sphere of eternity afforded the souls of evil or unprogressed men all the opportunities necessary to purify them from sin and its effects, through innumerable stages of progress.[5]

 

In 1852 France became the Second French Empire, with the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon III, crowned Emperor. By that time Spiritualism in France gained a strong foothold. Among other innovations of Spiritualism in France at this time was the implementation of an instrument known as a planchette.[6] In a French séance, a circle would be formed around a table, and the entertainment would be opened first with a hymn, followed by a prayer. When all had taken their seats, one of the sitters would take out a little board with letters called a “tablet” and begin operations. The planchette, which means “small plank” in French, would hover over letters producing words. When this communication was over, the message was read aloud. “It becoming known to the Bishop of Paris that the mysterious little board was a thing of general use in the convents, and many of the higher circles of the community,” it was said, “he issued a pastoral letter forbidding its use henceforth.”[7]

Allan Kardec. (Source: Wiki)

When Blavatsky returned to Paris in 1857 a more mystical strand of Spiritualism had developed in France under Hippolyte Rivail who, under his more popular pseudonym, Allan Kardec, published The Spirits Book in 1857.[8] (In the following year he would begin publishing the journal Revue Spirite.)[9] It was now customary to differentiate between Spiritualism and French Spiritism, the latter including a cosmology that embraced the still novel concept of reincarnation. Though it shared fundamental elements with its American progenitor, Spiritism differed on key doctrinal points that made it more attractive to believers from Catholic and Eastern Orthodox backgrounds.^[10] Blavatsky, who was in Paris at the end of 1857 would state: “The Spiritistes have a slight tendency to ritualism and dogma, but this is but a slight shadow of their Catholic education, a habit innate in this people who jump so quickly from Popish slavery to materialism or spiritualism.”[11]

Daniel Dunglas Home. (Source: Wiki)

In the spring of 1857, the Scottish-American Spiritualist, Daniel Dunglas Home, was visiting Europe. Having immigrated to America as a child, he grew up in Connecticut where his abilities manifested early in life. He developed into a world-famous medium, attracting such names to his séances as William Cullen Bryant (editor of The New York Evening Post.)[12] The first issue of the Boston Spiritualist journal, The Banner Of Light, stated: “At an interview with the Emperor, it is said that ‘a religious fear pervaded the whole assembly at seeing matter made the intelligent agent of the will of Mr. Home, before whose miracle the dreams of an author’s imagination were as nothing.’”[13] It was in 1858, in Paris, where Blavatsky met Home.[14] It happened one night in a restaurant near the Palais Royal. Blavatsky.[15] “Home converted me to Spiritualism,” Blavatsky would say, evidently having seen Home perform his famous levitation and be “carried out of a four-story window, let down very gently to the ground, and put into his carriage.”[16] (This was several years before this feat was made known to the wider public.)[17]

1862 Oil Painting Of The Attentat d’Orsini. (Source: Wiki)

1858 began with the near assassination of Napoleon III. On the evening of January 14, the Emperor’s carriage winded through the ancient narrow Parisian streets. As the carriage approached the Salle Le Peletier Opera House, a terrorist named Felice Orsini launched a bomb at the imperial coterie.  Many were dead and wounded, but the emperor and empress escaped unharmed. The would-be assassin was quickly apprehended along with his co-conspirators. An Italian refugee, and “Good Cousin” of the Carbonari, Orsini was “one of the most desperate of Italian revolutionists.” He had already been implicated in a conspiracy in his youth, for which he was sentenced to life in prison, but the general amnesty granted by Pope Pius IX restored him to liberty. The Sardinian Government expelled him from Italy in 1853, after which he went to London. It was here that Orsini associated himself with Giuseppe Mazzini and the other leading European revolutionaries who took refuge in the city. Orsini came to believe that Napoleon III was the greatest obstacle to the success of revolutionary movements throughout Europe, so he went to Paris under a false name and resolved to assassinate the emperor. On March 13, Orsini was put to death.[18]

“Contemporary depiction of Our Lady’s 9th apparition at Lourdes on 25 February 1858. Painting made by Virgilio Tojett in 1877.” (Source: Wiki.)

Immediately after the failed assassination attempt, the most famous of the “epidemic of apparitions,” the appearance of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes took place.[19] The city planners of Paris, meanwhile, realizing that the constricted Parisian streets needed renovation (for the safety of the Emperor,) selected Georges Eugöne Haussmann to conduct a massive urban renewal program. Among other things, Haussmann would widen the boulevards and erect new theatres, such as the Garnier Opera House. When construction began on the new Opera House, it was discovered that the groundwater level of the site was too high, and a double foundation was built to protect the superstructure. Rumors quickly spread throughout Paris that the new opera house was built over a subterranean reservoir.^[20]

A few weeks after the bomb incident, D. D. Home left Paris for the Mediterranean on account of his health.[21] Reaching Rome in March, he refused nearly every invitation (as he desired quiet to regain his health.) While in Rome, a friend mentioned the name of a Russian family of distinction who was in the city on holiday and were anxious to meet Home.[22] They were the Countess Koucheleff-Bezborrodke (whom Blavatsky was intimate friends with in girlhood,) and her sister, Alexandria, a goddaughter of the Tsar.[23] After some initial hesitation, Home agreed to dine with them that evening.

“Mr. Home, you will be married before the year is ended,” said Alexandria, laughingly, at the dinner table that evening.

“Why?” asked Home.

“There is a superstition in Russia when a person is seated at a table between two sisters.”

Home made no reply. It was true, however. Twelve days later Home and Alexandria were engaged.

On the evening of their engagement, a small party was assembled. Home was seated by Alexandria when she turned to him abruptly.

“Do tell me all about spirit-rapping, for you know I don’t believe in it.”

“Mademoiselle,” Home replied, “I trust you will ever bear in mind that I have a mission entrusted to me. It is a great and holy one. I cannot speak with you about a thing which you have not seen, and therefore cannot understand. I can only say that it is a great truth.”

Tears came welling into Alexandria’s eyes. “If your mission can bring comfort to those less happy than ourselves,” said Alexandria, laying her hand in his, “or be in any way a consolation to mankind, you will ever find me ready and willing to do all I can to aid you in it.”

Twelve days later Home and Alexandria were engaged.

They left for Russia that June, accompanied by Alexandre Dumas, who officiated the wedding as godfather.[24] Blavatsky may have been a part of this wedding caravan.[25] While in St. Petersburg, Dumas experienced the famous “White Nights,” popularized in the titular story by Dostoevsky, “Belye Nochi,” a decade earlier. “Assuming that the Elysian Fields exist and are lit by a silver sun, this is the hue that the fair days of the dead must have,” said Dumas. “Transparent darkness, which is not night, only the absence of day […] To love during such nights would be to love twice.”[26]

Alexandre Dumas.(Source: Wiki.)

Dumas went to Russia again in 1859, during which time he visited the fire temple at Baku.[27] He also encountered some of the more extreme of Russian schismatics, the Skoptsy (“White Doves.”) Founded in the late 18th century by “false Christ,” Kondatry Selivanov, the Skoptsy went to the root of temptation, maintaining that “the surest way of attaining ecstasy and the gift of prophecy,” was to free themselves of bodily desire. They believed that to unite with God, they “must become similar to the angels, who are sexless.” As such, they castrated themselves, removing their genitalia (which was seen as the “ Mark of Cain.”)[28] This “mutilation,” as Dumas calls it, was only supposed to occur after a couple had their first child, however, he notes: “Many of those we saw were too young to have even fulfilled this first duty to their country.”[29]

SOURCES:

[1] Britten, Emma Hardinge. Nineteenth Century Miracles. Lovell & Co. New York, New York. (1884): [France]: 41-90.

[2] “Experiments On Animal Magnetism.” The Monthly Review. Vol. II, No. 3 (July 1833): 291-302; “Miscellaneous.” The American Journal Of The Medical Sciences. Vol. XXII, No. 44 (August 1838): 506-509.

[3] “Some twenty years ago I became acquainted with perhaps the most illustrious disciple of Mesmer, the aged Baron du Potet. Round this man’s therapeutic and mesmeric exploits raged, between 1830 and 1846, a bitter controversy throughout France. A murderer had been tracked, convicted, and executed solely on evidence supplied by one of Du Potet’s clairvoyantes. The Juge de Paix admitted thus much in open court. This was too much for even sceptical Paris, and the Academy determined to sit again and, if possible, crush out the superstition. They sat, but, strange to say, this time they were converted. Itard, Fouquier, Guersent, Bourdois de la Motte, the cream of the French faculty, pronounced the phenomena of mesmerism to be genuine—cures, trances, clairvoyance, thought-transference, even reading from closed books; and from that time an elaborate nomenclature was invented, blotting out as far as possible the detested names of the indefatigable men who had compelled the scientific assent, while enrolling the main facts vouched for by Mesmer, Du Potet, and Puysfegur among the undoubted phenomena to be accepted, on what­ ever theory, by medical science.” [Blavatsky, H. P. “Black Magic In Science.” Lucifer. Vol. VI, No. 34 (June 15, 1890): 265-275.]

[4] Cahagnet, Louis Alphonse. The Celestial Telegraph. Partridge And Brittan. New York, New York. (1855.)

[5] Britten, Emma Hardinge. Nineteenth Century Miracles. Lovell & Co. New York, New York. (1884): [France]: 44.

[6] A contemporary writes: “As everybody interested in this wonderful invention is anxious and curious to learn all that is known of its early history, I’ve extract, for further enlightenment, the following, from a letter written by Dr. H. F. Gardner to a Boston paper, dated London, May 5th, 1859, which solves the question of the origin of Planchette in [America]: ‘In Paris I witnessed a method of communication of which I had not heard in America. The instrument used by them they call a Planchette. The method of communication is by writing. In order to give you some idea of the interest taken in the investigation of the subject in Paris, it will only be necessary to state, that I called upon the manufacturer of the above mentioned instrument to purchase one to take home with me, and he informed Mr. Owen (Hon. Robert Dale Owen), who was with me, that he had made and sold several hundred in Paris alone. Not being able to speak the French language, I could not enjoy the society of the household of faith as I could have done under more favorable circumstances; yet, on visiting in a family where Planchette was used, there was no difficulty in writing in my own native tongue.’” [Cottrell, George W. Revelations Of The Great Modern Mystery Planchette. G. W. Cottrell. Boston, Massachusetts. (1868): 5.]

[7] Cottrell, George W. Revelations Of The Great Modern Mystery Planchette. G. W. Cottrell. Boston, Massachusetts. (1868): 4.

[8] Mannherz, Julia. Modern Occultism In Late Imperial Russia. Cornell University Press. Ithaca, New York. (2012): 21-47.

[9] Blavatsky writes: “[The Revue Spirite] is the best [journal] in France. It is highly moral and truthful and interesting. Of course, the direction of it is purely Kardec-like, for the book was the creation of the ‘Maitre’ himself, as French Spiritistes, the re-incarnationists, call Allan Kardec […] I find fault […] not with the Revue Spirite, but with the teaching itself, namely, that they are re-incarnationists and zealous missionaries for the same. [Corson, Eugene Rollin. Some Unpublished Letters Of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Rider & Co. London, England. (1922): 137-138.]

^[10] Sharp, Lynn L. Secular Spirituality: Reincarnation and Spiritism in Nineteenth-Century France. Lexington Books. Lanham, Maryland. (2006): 52; Monroe, John Warne. “The Invention And Development Of Spiritism, 1857-1869.” In Laboratories Of Faith: Mesmerism, Spiritism, And Occultism In Modern France. Cornell University Press. Ithaca, New York. (2008): 95-149; Monroe, John Warne. “Crossing Over: Allan Kardec And The Transnationalisation Of Modern Spiritualism.” In (ed.) Gutierrez, Cathy. Handbook Of Spiritualism And Channeling. Brill. Leiden, Netherlands. (2015): 248-93.

[11] [Corson, Eugene Rollin. Some Unpublished Letters Of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Rider & Co. London, England. (1922): 137-138.] Elsewhere Blavatsky states: “The works of Allan Kardec teach a system of ethics which merits the encomiums our correspondent gives it. In this code thousands of young persons are being educated, and beyond doubt they will derive from it great moral strength. Since, however, the doctrines of the Spiritist school are not altogether in harmony with those of Occultists, as regards the condition of man after death and the destiny of his monad, we personally have never been enlisted as a follower of the great French philosophy in question. The morality of a system does not prove its infallibility in respect to its dogmas and other teachings. Who inspired Allan Kardec we cannot tell. In some fundamental respects his doctrines are diametrically opposed to ours. With the Spiritists we believe—let us rather say we know—that man is born more than once as a human being; and this not merely upon this earth but upon seven earths in this planetary chain, to say nothing of any other. But as to the rapidity with which and the circumstances under which these reincarnations occur, our Spiritist friends and ourselves are at variance. And yet despite all differences of opinion, including the very great one about the agency of ‘departed spirits’ in controlling mediums and inspiring books, we have ever been on the friendliest terms with the Kardecists and had hoped always to remain so. Recent utterances by our friends—hasty, we think, and likely to be recalled upon reflection—have thrown some doubt over the situation: but this is neither here nor there as regards our correspondent’s query. The Occultists do not accept the doctrine of ‘guardian angels,’ for reasons heretofore fully explained, in these pages. They do, however, believe most firmly in the personal, divine spirit in man, the source of his inspiration and his all-sufficient ‘angel’ and ‘guardian.’ Only adepts can choose their reincarnations, and even they are strictly limited in their choice by their responsibility to the inexorable law of Karma. According to his Karma-phala, or the aggregate consequences of his actions, is every man’s rebirth and final escape, or emancipation, from the necessity for rebirth determined.” [Blavatsky, H.P. “The Teachings Of Allan Kardec.” The Theosophist. Vol. IV, No. 47 (August 1883): 281.

[12] Home, Daniel Dunglas. Incidents In My Life. Carleton. New York, New York. (1863): 46.

[13] “Mr. Home, an American, has created a great excitement in the higher classes of Paris, by his wonderful power. Mr. Home is a man of the world, occupying ail independent position, and admits only a few intimate friends to his exhibitions. At an interview with the Emperor, it is said that ‘a religious fear pervaded the whole assembly at seeing matter made the intelligent agent of the will of Mr. Home, before whose miracle the dreams of an author’s imagination were as nothing.’” [“Spiritualism In France.” The Banner Of Light. Vol. I. No. 1 (April 11, 1857): 5.]

[14] D. D. Home writes: “Excepting a singular impression I had the first time I saw a young gentleman, who has ever since been as a brother to me. He did not follow ray advice. He was at that time her lover, and it was most repulsive to me that in order to attract attention she pretended to be a medium. My friend still thinks she is mediumistic, but he is also just as fully convinced that she is a cheat.” [Lillie, Arthur. Madame Blavatsky And Her “Theosophy”: A Study. Swan Sonnenschein And Co. London, England. (1895): 226.]

[15] In Blavatsky’s Scrapbook (Vol. I, p. 6) she annotated a clipping of the article, “About Spiritualism,” in the November 13, 1874, Daily Graphic (New York) with the note: “My 2nd letter to N. Y. Graphic, November 14, 1874.” [Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna, (ed.) de Zirkoff, Boris. H.P. Blavatsky’s Collected Writings: Vol. I. (1874-1878.) Quest Books. Wheaton, Illinois. (1966): 36.] The first letter is likely the one found in the October 7, 1874, issue of The Daily Graphic. A letter directly beneath an epistle from Andrew Jackson Davis is signed “H.H.” This is very likely Helena Petrovna Blavatsky using the initials of her maiden name, “Helena Hahn.” The letter states: “I have read about the Eddy brothers, and I don’t believe in the job they put up, and I’ll tell you why. There is not one single trick they do that I can’t produce it, or a better, trick for trick. But I claim to be a great prestidigitateur and have no need of anything except my own skill and a competent assistant, I traveled all through Europe, and was in France at the very time when Home was consulted by the Emperor Louis III., and I met Home one night in a restaurant near the Palais Royal. We talked together, and—(I have come to know men in the business)—I saw that he understood the art and science of mystification completely and was an adept in legerdemain. He was playing a bigger line of business than I was, and of course I thought him clever and had no idea of interfering with him when he had his stake; but as to supernatural games, he knew as well as I that they were all humbug. There is another thing bearing on this point of which you may not be aware. The Arabs, who are very expert in legerdemain, nevertheless have some notion that they are aided in their work by spirits; I suppose this comes from their lack of knowledge in chemistry. It is an historical fact that Robert Houdin was employed by the French Government during some of the Algerian troubles to go to Algeria and inspire the natives with awe by means of his diablerie. He went there and so confounded the jugglers that all of them, and consequently, all the Arabs, became afraid of the superior power of the Franks. It seems to me absurd to see a lot of men who should be sensible taken in by such complete humbugs as the Eddys, whom I hereby challenge to a trial of skill. I have had occasion to think the whole thing over many and many a time, and I pledge you my word that if scientific people would only study how the senses may be deceived they would learn much more about the human mind then there is an likelihood of their doing so long as they work as they do now; this is of course only so far as I see, but as to the tricks of the Eddys, as I said before, I can beat them every time.” [“Spirits From The Vasty.” The Daily Graphic. (New York, New York) October 7, 1874.]  A month later Blavatsky would give an interview to The Daily Graphic in which she states: “In 1858 I returned to Paris, and made the acquaintance of Daniel Home, the Spiritualist […] Home converted me to Spiritualism […] I have seen Home carried out of a four-story window, let down very gently to the ground, and put into his carriage.” [“About Spiritualism: An Interview With Madame Blavatsky.” The Daily Graphic. (New York, New York) November 13, 1874.] Regarding Houdin, Blavatsky would state something similar about his activities in Isis Unveiled: “This is a very different affair from the dexterous trickery resorted to by Houdin in Algeria. He prepared balls himself of tallow, blackened with soot, and by sleight of hand exchanged them for the real bullets, which the Arab sheiks supposed they were placing in the pistols. The simple-minded natives, knowing nothing but real magic, which they had inherited from their ancestors, and which consists in each case of some one thing that they can do without knowing why or how, and seeing Houdin, as they thought, accomplish the same results in a more impressive manner, fancied that he was a greater magician than themselves.” [Blavatsky, H.P. Isis Unveiled: Vol. I.  J.W. Bouton. New York, New York. (1877): 379.]

[16] “About Spiritualism: An Interview With Madame Blavatsky.” The Daily Graphic. (New York, New York) November 13, 1874.

[17] In 1868 Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin (Viscount Adare) and his father, Edwin Richard Wyndham-Quin (Earl of Dunraven) witnessed Home levitating during a séance, writing: “Presently we all saw [Home] approaching, and evidently raised off the ground, for he floated by, in front of us at a height which carried him over the broken wall, which was about two feet high.” [Wyndham-Quin, Windham Thomas. Experiences In Spiritualism With Mr. D. D. Home. Thomas Scott. London, England. (1871): 114.] This was evidently a popular story when it was published in 1871. Olcott writes: “Much account has been made of the story told by Lord Dunraven and Lord Adair of Mr. Home’s having been ‘floated’ out of one third-story window at Ashley House and into another.” [Olcott, Henry Steel. “People From The Other World: Pt. II.” The Daily Graphic. (New York, New York) October 6, 1874.]

[18] [“Contemporary Events.” The Rambler. Vol. I, Pt. 2. (July 1859): 251-288; Abbott, John Stevens Cabot. The History Of Napoleon III, Emperor Of The French. B.B. Russell. Boston, Massachusetts. (1873): 565-567.] Orsini became a household name, not just in Europe, but in America as well. In the spring and early summer of 1858, the citizens of New York, Boston, Cincinnati, and Chicago took to the streets, articulating with physicality what their words could not express, and trying to define what Orsini’s actions meant for American society, and the Atlantic world more broadly. Native born democrats, and radical immigrants, found common-ground in what they believed was Orsini’s strike for universal liberty. They faced off against liberal and conservative commentators, who denounced Orsini as a criminal and murderer. One thing was clear, Orsini’s death was a galvanizing moment for a broad interethnic, interracial, and cosmopolitan coalition. It was a catalyst which saw the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison move from non-resistance to more dynamic measures. “I am not only an abolitionist for the chattelized slave,” said Garrison, “but an emancipationist for the whole human race.” [Honeck, Mischa. “‘Freemen of All Nations, Bestir Yourselves’: Felice Orsini’s Transnational Afterlife And The Radicalization Of America.” Journal Of The Early Republic. Vol. III, No. 4 (Winter 2010): 587-615.]

[19] Garrigou-Kempton, Emilie. “Hysteria In Lourdes And Miracles At The Salpêtrière: Making Sense Of The Inexplicable In Charcot’s La Foi Qui Guérit And In Zola’s Lourdes.” In Quand La Folie Parle: The Dialectic Effect of Madness in French Literature Since the Nineteenth Century. (eds.) Gillian Ni Cheallaigh, Laura Jackson, Siobhan McIlvanney. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England. (2014): 53-73.

^[20] Higgins, Shawn. “From The Seventh Arrondissement To The Seventh Ward: Blavatsky’s Arrival in America 1873.” Theosophical History: A Quarterly Journal of Research. Vol. XIX No. 4. (October 2018): 158-171.

[21] Home, Daniel Dunglas. Incidents In My Life. Carleton. New York, New York. (1863): 153.

[22] Home writes: A friend mentioned one afternoon, whilst we were walking together to the Pynchon, the name of a Russian family of distinction then in Rome, and added that they were anxious to make my acquaintance. I excused myself on the ground of my health. At this moment a carriage was passing us and stopped—and my friend, before I was aware of what he was doing, introduced me to the Countess de Koucheleff, who asked me to come and sup with them that evening, adding that they kept very late hours. [Home, Daniel Dunglas. Incidents In My Life. Carleton. New York, New York. (1863): 153.] It’s possible that this unnamed friend is Blavatsky, who states: “He had married the Countess Kroble, a sister of the Countess Koucheleff Bezborrodke, a lady with whom I had been very intimate in my girlhood.” [“About Spiritualism: An Interview With Madame Blavatsky.” The Daily Graphic. (New York, New York) November 13, 1874.]

[23] Mannherz, Julia. Modern Occultism In Late Imperial Russia. Cornell University Press. Ithaca, New York. (2012): 22.

[24] While in St. Petersburg, Dumas experienced the famous “White Nights,” popularized in the titular story by Dostoevsky, “Belye Nochi,” a decade earlier. “Assuming that the Elysian Fields exist and are lit by a silver sun, this is the hue that the fair days of the dead must have,” said Dumas. “Transparent darkness, which is not night, only the absence of day […] To love during such nights would be to love twice.” [Dumas, Alexandre. De Paris À Astrakan: Nouvelles Impressions De Voyage. Michel Lévy Frères. Paris, France. (1865): 317-318.]

[25] Blavatsky mentions another travelogue that Dumas wrote. In “Persian Zoroastrianism And Russian Vandalism,” she writes: “Alexandre Dumas (senior) is quoted, as mentioning in his work Travels In The Caucasus that during his visit to Attesh-Gag, he found in one of the cells of the Zoroastrian cloister “two Hindu idols”!! Without forgetting the charitable dictum: De mortuus nil nisi bonum, we cannot refrain from reminding the correspondent of our esteemed contemporary of a fact which no reader of the novels of the brilliant French writer ought to be ignorant of; namely, that for the variety and inexhaustible stock of historical facts, evolved out of the abysmal depths of his own consciousness, even the immortal Baron Münchausen was hardly his equal. The sensational narrative of his tiger-hunting in Mingrelia, where, since the days of Noah, there never was a tiger, is yet fresh in the memory of his readers.”  [Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. “Persian Zoroastrianism And Russian Vandalism.” The Theosophist. Vol. I, No. 1 (October 1879): 18-20.]

[26] Dumas, Alexandre. De Paris À Astrakan: Nouvelles Impressions De Voyage. Michel Lévy Frères. Paris, France. (1865): 317-318.

[27] [Dumas, Alexandre. Le Caucase, Nouvelle Impressions De Voyage: II. Alphonse Dürr. Leipzig, Germany. (1859): 20-36.] Blavatsky mentions the travelogue which Dumas wrote during this trip. In “Persian Zoroastrianism And Russian Vandalism,” she writes: “Alexandre Dumas (senior) is quoted, as mentioning in his work Travels In The Caucasus that during his visit to Attesh-Gag, he found in one of the cells of the Zoroastrian cloister “two Hindu idols”!! Without forgetting the charitable dictum: De mortuus nil nisi bonum, we cannot refrain from reminding the correspondent of our esteemed contemporary of a fact which no reader of the novels of the brilliant French writer ought to be ignorant of; namely, that for the variety and inexhaustible stock of historical facts, evolved out of the abysmal depths of his own consciousness, even the immortal Baron Münchausen was hardly his equal. The sensational narrative of his tiger-hunting in Mingrelia, where, since the days of Noah, there never was a tiger, is yet fresh in the memory of his readers.”  [Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. “Persian Zoroastrianism And Russian Vandalism.” The Theosophist. Vol. I, No. 1 (October 1879): 18-20.]

[28] Leroy-Beaulieu, Anatole. The Empire Of The Tsars And The Russians: Vol. III. G.P. Putnam’s Sons. New York, New York. (1896): 422-437; “The Skoptsy.” The Freethinker. Vol. XVI, No. 22 (May 31, 1896): 348.

[29] Dumas, Alexandre. Impressions De Voyage Le Caucase: III. Calmann Levy. Paris, France. (1884): 192-208.