185. Besides the varieties of medianimity already described, there is an infinite variety of shades, which may be considered as personal being determined by the particular aptitudes of the medium himself without reference to the qualities and enlightenment of the manifesting spirit.

The nature of a communication is always in keeping with the nature of the spirit by whom it is made, and bears the stamp of his elevation or inferiority, of his knowledge or ignorance; but, among spirits of equal advancement from the hierarchical point of view, there is an evident tendency in each spirit to occupy himself specially with one thing rather than with another. Rapping spirits, for example, rarely go beyond physical manifestations; and, among spirits who give intelligent communications, we find that some are poets, while others show themselves as musicians, draughts men, moralists, scientific searchers, physicians, &c. We are now speaking of the great mass of ordinary spirits; for, when spirits have reached a certain degree of elevation, their aptitudes are blended in the unity of perfection. But, besides the special aptitude of each spirit, there is that of the medium, who is, for the spirit, an instrument more or less responsive to his desire, more or less flexible, and in whom the spirit perceives peculiar qualities that are not always perceptible by us.

To employ an illustration - A skilful musician possesses several violins, all of which appear, to ordinary observers, to be good instruments, but which, for the artist himself, are very different, presenting varieties of tone, &c, that lead him to choose one in preference to another; varieties of quality that he distinguishes rather through a sort of intuition than by any definite rule. Thus it is with mediums among those who appear to us to be equal in point of medianimic power, a spirit will prefer one or other, according to the kind of communication which he desires to make. Thus, for instance, we find persons who, as mediums, write admirable poetry, although, in their ordinary state, they may never have made a couplet in their lives; and, on the contrary, we find poets, who, as mediums, can write nothing but prose, much as they desire to do otherwise. It is the same in regard to painting, drawing, music, etc. There are some who, though possessing, when left to themselves, no scientific knowledge, have a peculiar aptitude for receiving scientific communications; others have a similar aptitude for historical studies; others do best as interpreters of spirit-moralists. In a word, whatever the medium's flexibility to the will of the spirits who communicate through him, he generally receives, most easily, communications of some particular character. Some mediums keep to a special circle of ideas, beyond which they receive only brief, imperfect, or erroneous communications. And besides the question of medianimic aptitudes, there is that of the sympathies of the spirits themselves, which lead them to communicate more or less willingly with such and such a medium; so that, other things being equal, the same spirit will be much more explicit and successful with some mediums than with others, solely because they suit him better.

186. It would therefore be a mistake to suppose that, provided we have got hold of a good writing-medium, we are sure to obtain good communications of every sort. The first point is, undoubtedly, to assure ourselves of the source from whence the communications emanate, that is to say, of the qualities of the spirit who is communicating; but it is no less necessary to assure ourselves of the suitability of the instrument we furnish for the spirit's use; and we must therefore study the nature of the medium as carefully as that of the spirit, for their harmonious co-operation is essential to the obtaining of a satisfactory result. There is also a third element which plays a part equally important, viz., the intention and sentiments of the questioner. In short - Good communications can only be given by a good spirit, and, in order that a good spirit may be able to give them, he must have a good instrument, and must also be disposed to make use of it. As a spirit reads our thought, he judges whether the question put to him deserves a serious answer, and whether the questioner is worthy to receive it; when this is not the case, he does not waste time in sowing good seed in stony places, and it is then that mocking and deceptive spirits find their opportunity and are quick to take advantage of it, being usually as little scrupulous about ends as about means, and ready to amuse themselves at the expense of those who are open to their suggestions.

Let us now recapitulate the principal varieties of medianimity, in order to present a sort of tabular view of them; comprising in our table those described in the preceding chapters, with reference to the numbers under which each is therein treated of in detail.

We have grouped the different varieties of mediums according to similarity of causes and effects, but without offering this classification as in any way absolute. Some of them are frequently met with; others, on the contrary, are rare, and even exceptional, and we have been careful to mark them as such. The indications thus given have all been furnished by spirits, who, moreover, have reviewed and carefully revised our list and completed it by various observations, so that it may be said to be entirely their work. Whenever we have thought it desirable to give their observations textile, we have shown the fact by the employment of inverted commas; most of those thus quoted are given by the spirits who claim to have been Erastes and Socrates.