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From Gabriel Delanne - Materials for use in the Study of Reincarnation

Experiments in the International Metapsychological Institute

In 1920, a series of very successful experiments were held in the International Metapsychological Institute with Mr. Franek Kluski, a non-professional and completely disinterested medium.

Among the various demonstrations, there was a perfectly recognized materialization of the deceased sister of Count J. Potocki.

But the interest grows even more when the imprints of limbs are obtained under controlled conditions that exclude any possibility of fraud or deceit.

The experiments were carried out under the supervision of Prof. Ch. Richet, Prof. Grammont, a member of the Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Geley.

There was constant light throughout the sessions and the medium's hands were held without interruption, right and left, by controllers who constantly checked the position of the legs and feet.

The casts were of a varied kind. In addition, we got: an admirable imprint of a child's foot in its contours, going as far as the top of the torso; another from the lower region of an adult face in which we can distinguish the upper lip, the lower lip, the underlying fossa and the bearded chin; there is like a wart on the lower lip to the left.

To make sure that it was his own paraffin that the casts were produced, without everyone's notice, Dr. Geley had dissolved cholesterin in them; by taking some of this paraffin prepared in this way, which was taken from a mold, and dissolving it in chloroform, if sulfuric acid is added, a red precipitate occurs which ordinary paraffin does not produce. Moreover, as a precaution, the Doctor had coloured this paraffin blue again, and this is what happened:

The blue dye, having been put in excess and not being entirely dissolved, formed in the container, above the paraffin, scattered lumps here and there. However, in the cast of the foot, at the level of the third toe, one of these lumps is present, embedded into the paraffin that has solidified over it. It has the size of a large glass pin head and is dark blue. The lump is the same as the ones left in the container. It was therefore entrained by the ectoplasm stirring the paraffin and embedded into the cast.

This evidence, unexpected and unsolicited, is convincing. Finally, immediately after the session, I take small fragments from the edges of the foot cast. I place them in a test tube and dissolve them in chloroform. I add sulphuric acid: the red dye, typical of the presence of cholesterol, develops, increases and gradually darkens.

 A comparison test with pure paraffin is negative. The liquid remains white; the slightly yellowish tint of the sulphuric acid (yellowish by oxidation of the cork closing the vial) is not affected.

 Therefore, the proof is absolute: the casts were made in our paraffin and during the session.

 We can state this categorically by relying not only on the experimental procedures, the precautions and the testimonies of our senses, but also on the presence of the blue coloration, identical in the casts and the container, on the accidental incorporation of a blue lumps in the foot mold and finally on the reaction detecting the presence of cholesterin. The weighing is in agreement.

 Two more hand casts were obtained in the session on November 8, 1920 (1st session), two others in the session on November 11 (2nd session), one in the session on November 15 (5th session), two in the session on December 27 (10th session), two in the session on December 31 (11th and last session).

The casts could not have been produced fraudulently, either by using:

1° a flexible rubber glove filled with air because of the deformations it would create;

2° If the rubber was hard, it could not come out of the paraffin glove without breaking or deforming it, which did not happen.

3° An artificial hand copying a human limb made with a fusible material such as sugar, for example, could have left a paraffin mitt in the water; but then the total weight of the paraffin would have been higher than the original weight and the trick would have been discovered.

It is therefore well established that the materialization had to disappear in order to leave the mould intact.

Moreover, here is the report of experts, Misters Gabrielli (father and son), which proves the indisputable authenticity of the casts obtained at the Metapsychic Institute.

 Report by Mr. Gabrielli

I, Charles Gabrielli, expert mould-maker, 6, rue de Cheroy, certify that I have examined paraffin moulds filled with plaster that had been given to me for this purpose by Dr Geley, Director of the International Metapsychical Institute.

(Here description of the moulds.)

After a quick inspection in Dr. Geley's laboratory, we took these pieces to our workshop for a thorough study.

We were immediately struck by the following three observations:

1° The casting operation of the plaster in the paraffin moulds reveals technical faults which objectively prove, without any alternative consideration, the lack of competence of the technician, at the same time as his good will. For example, in document n°1, the fingertips remained air-filled, which is clearly visible by its transparency. The plaster could not reach these points. This defect, which an experienced moulder would have avoided very easily, is the formal proof that the plaster has been cast in the moulds and that the part is not a plaster mould that has been immersed in molten paraffin. Moreover, the plaster did not completely fill the moulds with paraffin. On the paraffin plots that overflow from the casts, there is the imprint of the anatomical details that we will discuss later.

So there is no doubt about how the documents submitted for our review were obtained; these are paraffin moulds that were filled with plaster.

2° The second remark we made is that of the extreme thinness of the paraffin layer constituting the moulds. The surfaces nowhere reach a millimetre. They have the thinness of a sheet of paper. This thinness is such that we see through the paraffin layer, on the underlying plaster, all the anatomical details, folds of the skin, furrows, lines, nails.

3° The third remark is that of the finesse and truth of the anatomical details. We can positively experience life underneath these strange and disappointing muscles. These casts were obviously made with living hands.

We find not only anatomical details, but also traces of muscle contractions that can only be explained by voluntary movements. There are skin wrinkles that leave no doubt about it.

After this first examination, we proceeded to demould using a steam jet which allowed us to remove the paraffin, flake by flake, without altering the underlying plaster. We found on the casts the details perceived through the paraffin layer.

From our careful and prolonged examination, we are able to conclude:

Such perfect casts, with such fine details, with signs of active muscle contractions and skin folds, could only be obtained from a living hand.

These are first-operation casts, originals and not overmouldings.

We then investigated how it would be possible to obtain, by the most diverse processes, the casts similar to those we had just examined.

We have looked specially at the two procedures indicated by Dr. Geley in the Metapsychological Review, n° 5.

1° The process of demoulding by section part of the paraffin moulds and fittings, after leaving the operating hand, was certainly not used in the parts we examined.

a) Indeed, we did not find any traces of welding, scratching or any of the inevitable deformations with this process. There are no connections in the gloves Dr. Geley gave us. There are here and there breaks or collapses, at places, of gloves, breaks and collapses that can be explained by the extreme fragility of these gloves, but there is nothing that looks like a fitting, that can be confused with a fitting.

(b) In any case, the demoulding operation of a living hand would not have been possible with such thin gloves. These gloves would have been unerringly broken at the slightest tendency to withdraw.

This is what everyone can easily ensure.

The removal from a living hand of a paraffin mold with a thickness of only one millimetre is not possible.

(c) Even with thick molds, it would not have been possible to remove some of the parts we examined with a living hand, even after sectioning at the base, as was the case with parts numbered 1, 4, 5, 6.

2° The other procedure indicated by Dr. Geley in the review consists of using a fusible and soluble hand (sugar, gelatin or other).

This hand would be immersed in a paraffin bath, then dissolved in a tub of cold water, which would produce a complete, seamless paraffin mold as thin as one would like. The process is very ingenious, but in our opinion it was not used in the documents submitted to us for the reason already explained above:

An overmoulding cannot offer the same finesse of detail as a first operation moulding. Delicate traces inevitably disappear in overmoulding. A specialist artist will never confuse a first operation casting with an overmolding. In our opinion, formally and without reservation, the pieces we have studied are, we repeat, casts of living hands.

We wondered whether the use of dead bodies' hands could, if anything, have been used. We concluded in the negative. The traces of muscle contractions prove that they were living hands. Moreover, it would have been impossible to remove the carcasses of moulds such as these from the hands, whatever the device used.

We have made many attempts to artificially produce gloves similar to those submitted to us by the most diverse means. They have completely failed.

We conclude that it is impossible for us to understand how Dr. Geley's paraffin molds were obtained. It is a mystery to us.

Signed: GABRIELLI (father),

GABRIELLI Victor (son).