Observations placeholder

Flammarion, C., Carroll, L,
Death and its mystery: before death, proofs of the existence of the soul

In 1869 I was a, doctor, with the rank of major, in the Greek Army. By order of the minister of war I was attached to the garrison of the Isle of Zante. As I approached the island where I was to occupy my new post (I was about two hours from the coast) I heard an inner voice say unceasingly to me in Italian, “Go and see Volterra."

This phrase was repeated so often that I was stunned.  Although I was in good health at the time, I was alarmed by it, because I believed it an auditory hallucination. There was nothing to make me think of Monsieur Volterra, who lived in Zante and whom I did not even know, although l had seen him once ten years before. I tried to stop my ears, to talk with my fellow travellers, to no avail: the voice continued to make itself heard in the same manner.

Finally we made land. I went straight to the hotel and occupied myself with unpacking my trunks, but the voice did not cease to torment me. A little later a servant entered and told me that a gentleman was at the door and wished to speak with me at once.

"Who is it?" I asked. 'Monsieur Volterra," was the answer. He entered, all in tears, full of despair, and begged me to follow him, to see his son, who was very ill. I found the young man in a delirium of madness, naked, in an empty chamber, having been given up by all the doctors of Zante five years before.

His aspect was hideous and rendered more frightful by continual paroxysms, accompanied with whistlings, howlings, bayings, and other animal cries. Sometimes he twisted himself on his stomach like a serpent; at other times he fell on his knees in a state of ecstasy; at times he talked and quarrelled with imaginary beings. The violent periods were sometimes followed by prolonged and complete syncopes. When I opened the door of his room he flung himself upon me with fury, but I remained motionless and seized him by the arm while I looked at him fixedly. At the end of several seconds his glance lost its fierceness, he began to tremble and fell to the floor, his eyes shut.

I made some magnetic passes over him, and in less than half an hour he was in a hypnotic sleep. The treatment lasted two and a half months, during which I observed in him more than one interesting phenomenon. Since his cure, the patient has never had a relapse.

A letter from Monsieur Volterra to Count Gonemys, dated Zante, June 6, 1885, contains a complete affirmation of what has just been told concerning the Volterra family. The letter concludes as follows:

Before your arrival in Zante, I had no relations with you although I had passed, many years at Corfu as deputy of the legislative assembly. We had never spoken, and you had never said a word to my son. We had never thought of you or asked your help until I came to see you when you arrived at Zante as an army doctor, and begged you to save my son. We owe his life first to you, then to hypnotism.

I think it my duty to assure you of my sincere gratitude, and to sign myself

Your very affectionate and grateful

Demetrio Volterra,
Count Crissoplevri