25O EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 



It is part of the same necromancy and incantation 

 that followed in the wake of a purer religion, and 

 against which even the Jews had constantly to be 

 guarded, and often without avail. A typical 

 parallel to Mr. D. Home s most inexplicable feat 

 of what we call &quot;self-elongation&quot; is thus given by 

 a Catholic missionary: 



Father Orinel, C.S.Sp., in Madagascar, happened to be pres 

 ent at one of the trombas (incantations) of the natives. A 

 girl acted as medium; two aged women were her controls, 

 or, as Spiritualists would say, sitters. Incense was being burnt 

 in pans, which the two aged women passed from time to time 

 in front of the girl s face. They then made a series of passes 

 with hazel wands over the girl, who became violently agitated. 

 Her bosom heaved, her eyes seemed as though imploring the 

 lookers-on, whilst the latter howled forth a menacing kind 

 of prayer. The girl bounded to her feet, saying, &quot;I am here,&quot; 

 which meant so the missionary says that the spirit had 

 descended upon her. An indescribable delirium took posses 

 sion of all present &quot;What was my astonishment,&quot; wrote 

 the missionary, &quot;to see the girl s features change as I looked; 

 it seemed to me that her limbs became larger, her height 

 much greater. I rubbed my eyes. No, I was not the victim 

 of an hallucination; the possessed girl had grown taller, until 

 she was fully a head over each of the two old women. The 

 girl then named the disease of each sufferer who passed in 

 front of her, though her eyes remained fixed, motionless, and 

 gazing into the distance. The aged women repeated the passes; 

 the figure of the young girl resumed its normal size, her fea 

 tures relaxed, her eyes recovered their natural expression, and 

 at last she said, T go/ The spirit was gone. The tromba 

 was finished.&quot; a 



For this there is no explanation except that 

 which the Scripture gives: the ancient Satanism. 



1 Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, Febr., 1918. 



