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BOOK III. THE MAGNETISERS

Some deemed them wondrous wise, and some believed them mad.
Beattie's Minstrel.

The wonderful influence of imagination in the cure of diseases is
well known. A motion of the hand, or a glance of the eye, will throw a
weak and credulous patient into a fit; and a pill made of bread, if
taken with sufficient faith, will operate a cure better than all the
drugs in the pharmacopoeia. The Prince of Orange, at the siege of
Breda, in 1625, cured all his soldiers who were dying of the scurvy,
by a philanthropic piece of quackery, which he played upon them with
the knowledge of the physicians, when all other means had failed. [See
Van der Mye's account of the siege of Breda. The garrison, being
afflicted with scurvy, the Prince of Orange sent the physicians two or
three small phials, containing a decoction of camomile, wormwood, and
camphor, telling them to pretend that it was a medicine of the
greatest value and extremest rarity, which had been procured with very
much danger and difficulty from the East; and so strong, that two or
three drops would impart a healing virtue to a gallon of water. The
soldiers had faith in their commander; they took the medicine with
cheerful faces, and grew well rapidly. They afterwards thronged about
the Prince in groups of twenty and thirty at a time, praising his
skill, and loading him with protestations of gratitude.] Many hundreds
of instances, of a similar kind, might be related, especially from the
history of witchcraft. The mummeries, strange gesticulations, and
barbarous jargon of witches and sorcerers, which frightened credulous
and nervous women, brought on all those symptoms of hysteria and other
similar diseases, so well understood now, but which were then supposed
to be the work of the devil, not only by the victims and the public in
general, but by the operators themselves.

In the age when alchymy began to fall into some disrepute, and
learning to lift up its voice against it, a new delusion, based upon
this power of imagination, suddenly arose, and found apostles among
all the alchymists. Numbers of them, forsaking their old pursuits,
made themselves magnetisers. It appeared first in the shape of
mineral, and afterwards of animal, magnetism, under which latter name
it survives to this day, and numbers its dupes by thousands.

The mineral magnetisers claim the first notice, as the worthy
predecessors of the quacks of the present day. The honour claimed for
Paracelsus of being the first of the Rosicrucians has been disputed;
but his claim to be considered the first of the magnetisers can
scarcely be challenged. It has been already mentioned of him, in the
part of this work which treats of alchymy, that, like nearly all the
distinguished adepts, he was a physician; and pretended, not only to
make gold and confer immortality, but to cure all diseases. He was the
first who, with the latter view, attributed occult and miraculous
powers to the magnet. Animated apparently by a sincere conviction that
the magnet was the philosopher's stone, which, if it could not
transmute metals, could soothe all human suffering and arrest the
progress of decay, he travelled for many years in Persia and Arabia,
in search of the mountain of adamant, so famed in oriental fables.
When he practised as a physician at Basle, he called one of his
nostrums by the name of azoth -- a stone or crystal, which, he said,
contained magnetic properties, and cured epilepsy, hysteria, and
spasmodic affections. He soon found imitators. His fame spread far and
near; and thus were sown the first seeds of that error which has since
taken root and flourished so widely. In spite of the denial of modern
practitioners, this must be considered the origin of magnetism; for we
find that, beginning with Paracelsus, there was a regular succession
of mineral magnetisers until Mesmer appeared, and gave a new feature
to the delusion.

Paracelsus boasted of being able to transplant diseases from the
human frame into the earth, by means of the magnet. He said there were
six ways by which this might be effected. One of them will be quite
sufficient, as a specimen. "If a person suffer from disease, either
local or general, let the following remedy be tried. Take a magnet,
impregnated with mummy [Mummies were of several kinds, and were all of
great use in magnetic medicines. Paracelsus enumerates six kinds of
mummies; the first four only differing in the composition used by
different people for preserving their dead, are the Egyptian, Arabian,
Pisasphaltos, and Lybian. The fifth mummy of peculiar power was made
from criminals that had been hanged; "for from such there is a gentle
siccation, that expungeth the watery humour, without destroying the
oil and spirituall, which is cherished by the heavenly luminaries, and
strengthened continually by the affluence and impulses of the
celestial spirits; whence it may be properly called by the name of
constellated or celestial mummie." The sixth kind of mummy was made of
corpuscles, or spiritual effluences, radiated from the living body;
though we cannot get very clear ideas on this head, or respecting the
manner in which they were caught. -- "Medicina Diatastica; or,
Sympathetical Mummie, abstracted from the Works of Paracelsus, and
translated out of the Latin, by Fernando Parkhurst, Gent." London,
1653. pp. 2.7. Quoted by the "Foreign Quarterly Review," vol. xii. p.
415.] and mixed with rich earth. In this earth sow some seeds that
have a congruity or homogeneity with the disease: then let this earth,
well sifted and mixed with mummy, be laid in an earthen vessel; and
let the seeds committed to it be watered daily with a lotion in which
the diseased limb or body has been washed. Thus will the disease be
transplanted from the human body to the seeds which are in the earth.
Having done this, transplant the seeds from the earthen vessel to the
ground, and wait till they begin to sprout into herbs: as they
increase, the disease will diminish; and when they have arrived at
their full growth, it will disappear altogether."

Kircher the Jesuit, whose quarrel with the alchymists was the
means of exposing many of their impostures, was a firm believer in the
efficacy of the magnet. Having been applied to by a patient afflicted
with hernia, he directed the man to swallow a small magnet reduced to
powder, while he applied, at the same time, to the external swelling a
poultice, made of filings of iron. He expected that by this means the
magnet, when it got to the corresponding place inside, would draw in
the iron, and with it the tumour; which would thus, he said, be safely
and expeditiously reduced.

As this new doctrine of magnetism spread, it was found that wounds
inflicted with any metallic substance could be cured by the magnet. In
process of time the delusion so increased, that it was deemed
sufficient to magnetise a sword, to cure any hurt which that sword
might have inflicted! This was the origin of the celebrated
"weapon-salve," which excited so much attention about the middle of
the seventeenth century. The following was the recipe given by
Paracelsus for the cure of any wounds inflicted by a sharp weapon,
except such as had penetrated the heart, the brain, or the arteries.
"Take of moss growing on the head of a thief who has been hanged and
left in the air; of real mummy; of human blood, still warm -- of each,
one ounce; of human suet, two ounces; of linseed oil, turpentine, and
Armenian bole -- of each, two drachms. Mix all well in a mortar, and
keep the salve in an oblong, narrow urn." With this salve the weapon,
after being dipped in the blood from the wound, was to be carefully
anointed, and then laid by in a cool place. In the mean time, the
wound was to be duly washed with fair clean water, covered with a
clean, soft, linen rag, and opened once a day to cleanse off purulent
or other matter. Of the success of this treatment, says the writer of
the able article on Animal Magnetism, in the twelfth volume of the
"Foreign Quarterly Review," there cannot be the least doubt; "for
surgeons at this moment follow exactly the same method, except
anointing the weapon!

The weapon salve continued to be much spoken of on the Continent,
and many eager claimants appeared for the honour of the invention. Dr.
Fludd, or A Fluctibus, the Rosicrucian, who has been already mentioned
in a previous part of this volume, was very zealous in introducing it
into England. He tried it with great success in several cases; and no
wonder; for, while he kept up the spirits of his patients by boasting
of the great efficacy of the salve, he never neglected those common,
but much more important remedies, of washing, bandaging, &c. which the
experience of all ages had declared sufficient for the purpose. Fludd,
moreover, declared, that the magnet was a remedy for all diseases, if
properly applied; but that man having, like the earth, a north and a
south pole, magnetism could only take place when his body was in a
boreal position! In the midst of his popularity, an attack was made
upon him and his favourite remedy, the salve; which, however, did
little or nothing to diminish the belief in its efficacy. One "Parson
Foster" wrote a pamphlet, entitled "Hyplocrisma Spongus; or, a Spunge
to wipe away the Weapon-Salve ;" in which he declared, that it was as
bad as witchcraft to use or recommend such an unguent; that it was
invented by the devil, who, at the last day, would seize upon every
person who had given it the slightest encouragement. "In fact," said
Parson Foster, "the devil himself gave it to Paracelsus; Paracelsus to
the Emperor; the Emperor to the courtier; the courtier to Baptista
Porta; and Baptista Porta to Dr. Fludd, a doctor of physic, yet living
and practising in the famous city of London, who now stands tooth and
nail for it." Dr. Fludd, thus assailed, took up the pen in defence of
his unguent, in a reply called "The Squeezing of Parson Foster's
Spunge; wherein the Spunge-Bearer's immodest Carriage and Behaviour
towards his Brethren is detected; the bitter Flames of his slanderous
Reports are, by the sharp Vinegar of Truth, corrected and quite
extinguished; and, lastly, the virtuous Validity of his Spunge in
wiping away the Weapon-Salve, is crushed out and clean abolished."

Shortly after this dispute a more distinguished believer in the
weapon-salve made his appearance, in the person of Sir Kenelm Digby,
the son of Sir Everard Digby, who was executed for his participation
in the Gunpowder Plot. This gentleman, who, in other respects, was an
accomplished scholar and an able man, was imbued with all the
extravagant notions of the alchymists. He believed in the
philosopher's stone, and wished to engage Descartes to devote his
energies to the discovery of the elixir of life, or some other means
by which the existence of man might be prolonged to an indefinite
period. He gave his wife, the beautiful Venetia Anastasia Stanley, a
dish of capons, fed upon vipers, according to the plan supposed to
have been laid down by Arnold of Villeneuve, in the hope that she
might thereby preserve her loveliness for a century. If such a man
once took up the idea of the weapon-salve, it was to be expected that
he would make the most of it. In his hands, however, it was changed
from an unguent into a powder, and was called the powder of sympathy.
He pretended that he had acquired the knowledge of it from a Carmelite
friar, who had learned it in Persia or Armenia, from an oriental
philosopher of great renown. King James, the Prince of Wales, the Duke
of Buckingham, and many other noble personages, believed in its
efficacy. The following remarkable instance of his mode of cure was
read by Sir Kenelm to a society of learned men at Montpellier. Mr.
James Howell, the well-known author of the "Dendrologia," and of
various letters, coming by chance as two of his best friends were
fighting a duel, rushed between them, and endeavoured to part them. He
seized the sword of one of the combatants by the hilt, while, at the
same time, he grasped the other by the blade. Being transported with
fury one against the other, they struggled to rid themselves of the
hindrance caused by their friend; and in so doing, the one whose sword
was held by the blade by Mr. Howell, drew it away roughly, and nearly
cut his hand off, severing the nerves and muscles, and penetrating to
the bone. The other, almost at the same instant, disengaged his sword,
and aimed a blow at the head of his antagonist, which Mr. Howell
observing, raised his wounded hand with the rapidity of thought, to
prevent the blow. The sword fell on the back of his already wounded
hand, and cut it severely. "It seemed," said Sir Kenelm Digby, "as if
some unlucky star raged over them, that they should have both shed the
blood of that dear friend, for whose life they would have given their
own, if they had been in their proper mind at the time." Seeing Mr.
Howell's face all besmeared with blood from his wounded hand, they
both threw down their swords and embraced him, and bound up his hand
with a garter, to close the veins, which were cut, and bled profusely.
They then conveyed him home, and sent for a surgeon. King James, who
was much attached to Mr. Howell, afterwards sent his own surgeon to
attend him. We must continue the narrative in the words of Sir Kenelm
Digby:- "It was my chance," says he, "to be lodged hard by him: and,
four or five days after, as I was making myself ready, he came to my
house, and prayed me to view his wounds; 'for I understand,' said he,
'that you have extraordinary remedies on such occasions; and my
surgeons apprehend some fear, that it may grow to a gangrene, and so
the hand must be cut off.' In effect, his countenance discovered that
he was in much pain, which, he said, was insupportable, in regard of
the extreme inflammation. I told him I would willingly serve him; but
if, haply, he knew the manner how I could cure him, without touching
or seeing him, it might be that he would not expose himself to my
manner of curing; because he would think it, peradventure, either
ineffectual or superstitious. He replied, 'The many wonderful things
which people have related unto me of your way of medicinement, makes
me nothing doubt at all of its efficacy; and all that I have to say
unto you is comprehended in the Spanish proverb, Hagase el milagro y
hagalo Mahoma -- Let the miracle be done, though Mahomet do it.'

"I asked him then for anything that had the blood upon it: so he
presently sent for his garter, wherewith his hand was first bound;
and, as I called for a basin of water, as if I would wash my hands, I
took a handful of powder of vitriol, which I had in my study, and
presently dissolved it. As soon as the bloody garter was brought me, I
put it in the basin, observing, in the interim, what Mr. Howell did,
who stood talking with a gentleman in a corner of my chamber, not
regarding at all what I was doing. He started suddenly, as if he had
found some strange alteration in himself. I asked him what he ailed?
'I know not what ails me; but I find that I feel no more pain.
Methinks that a pleasing kind of freshness, as it were a wet cold
napkin, did spread over my hand, which hath taken away the
inflammation that tormented me before.' I replied, 'Since, then, you
feel already so much good of my medicament, I advise you to cast away
all your plasters; only keep the wound clean, and in a moderate
temper, betwixt heat and cold.' This was presently reported to the
Duke of Buckingham, and a little after, to the King, who were both
very curious to know the circumstances of the business; which was,
that after dinner, I took the garter out of the water, and put it to
dry before a great fire. It was scarce dry before Mr. Howell's servant
came running, and saying that his master felt as much burning as ever
he had done, if not more; for the heat was such as if his hand were
betwixt coals of fire. I answered, that although that had happened at
present, yet he should find ease in a short time; for I knew the
reason of this new accident, and would provide accordingly; for his
master should be free from that inflammation, it might be, before
he could possibly return to him: but, in case he found no ease, I
wished him to come presently back again; if not, he might forbear
coming. Thereupon he went; and, at the instant, I did put the garter
again into the water; thereupon he found his master without any pain
at all. To be brief, there was no sense of pain afterwards; but within
five or six days, the wounds were cicatrised and entirely healed."

Such is the marvellous story of Sir Kenelm Digby. Other
practitioners of that age were not behind him in absurdity. It was not
always necessary to use either the powder of sympathy, or the
weapon-salve, to effect a cure. It was sufficient to magnetise the
sword with the hand (the first faint dawn of the animal theory), to
relieve any pain the same weapon had caused. They pretended, that if
they stroked the sword upwards with their fingers, the wounded person
would feel immediate relief; but if they stroked it downwards, he
would feel intolerable pain.[Reginald Scott, quoted by Sir Walter
Scott, in the notes to the "Lay of the Last Minstrel," c. iii. v.
xxiii.]

Another very strange notion of the power and capabilities of
magnetism was entertained at the same time. It was believed that a
sympathetic alphabet could be made on the flesh, by means of which
persons could correspond with each other, and communicate all their
ideas with the rapidity of volition, although thousands of miles
apart. From the arms of two persons a piece of flesh was cut, and
mutually transplanted, while still warm and bleeding. The piece so
severed grew to the new arm on which it was placed; but still retained
so close a sympathy with its native limb, that its old possessor was
always sensible of any injury done to it. Upon these transplanted
pieces were tattooed the letters of the alphabet; so that, when a
communication was to be made, either of the persons, though the wide
Atlantic rolled between them, had only to prick his arm with a
magnetic needle, and straightway his friend received intimation that
the telegraph was at work. Whatever letter he pricked on his own arm
pained the same letter on the arm of his correspondent. ["Foreign
Quarterly Review," vol. xii. p. 417.] Who knows but this system, if it
had received proper encouragement, might not have rendered the
Post-Office unnecessary, and even obviated much of the necessity for
railroads? Let modern magnetisers try and bring it to perfection. It
is not more preposterous than many of their present notions; and, if
carried into effect, with the improvement of some stenographical
expedient for diminishing the number of punctures, would be much more
useful than their plan of causing persons to read with their great
toes, [Wirth's "Theorie des Somnambulismes," p. 79.] or seeing, with
their eyes shut, into other people's bodies, and counting the number
of arteries therein. ["Report of the Academic Royale de Medicine," --
case of Mademoiselle Celine Sauvage, p. 186.]

Contemporary with Sir Kenelm Digby, was the no less famous Mr.
Valentine Greatraks who, without mentioning magnetism, or laying claim
to any theory, practised upon himself and others a deception much more
akin to the animal magnetism of the present day, than the mineral
magnetism it was then so much the fashion to study. He was the son of
an Irish gentleman, of good education and property, in the county of
Cork. He fell, at an early age, into a sort of melancholy derangement.
After some time, he had an impulse, or strange persuasion in his mind,
which continued to present itself, whether he were sleeping or waking,
that God had given him the power of curing the king's evil. He
mentioned this persuasion to his wife, who very candidly told him that
he was a fool! He was not quite sure of this, notwithstanding the
high authority from which it came, and determined to make trial of the
power that was in him. A few days afterwards, he went to one William
Maher, of Saltersbridge, in the parish of Lismore, who was grievously
afflicted with the king's evil in his eyes, cheek, and throat. Upon
this man, who was of abundant faith, he laid his hands, stroked him,
and prayed fervently. He had the satisfaction to see him heal
considerably in the course of a few days; and, finally, with the aid
of other remedies, to be quite cured. This success encouraged him in
the belief that he had a divine mission. Day after day he had further
impulses from on high, that he was called upon to cure the ague also.
In the course of time he extended his powers to the curing of
epilepsy, ulcers, aches, and lameness. All the county of Cork was in a
commotion to see this extraordinary physician, who certainly operated
some very great benefit in cases where the disease was heightened by
hypochondria and depression of spirits. According to his own account,
[Greatraks' Account of himself, in a letter to the Honourable Robert
Boyle.] such great multitudes resorted to him from divers places, that
he had no time to follow his own business, or enjoy the company of his
family and friends. He was obliged to set aside three days in the
week, from six in the morning till six at night, during which time
only he laid hands upon all that came. Still the crowds which thronged
around him were so great, that the neighbouring towns were not able to
accommodate them. He thereupon left his house in the country, and went
to Youghal, where the resort of sick people, not only from all parts
of Ireland, but from England, continued so great, that the magistrates
were afraid they would infect the place by their diseases. Several of
these poor credulous people no sooner saw him than they fell into
fits, and he restored them by waving his hand in their faces, and
praying over them. Nay, he affirmed, that the touch of his glove had
driven pains away, and, on one occasion, cast out from a woman several
devils, or evil spirits, who tormented her day and night. "Every one
of these devils," says Greatraks, "was like to choke her, when it came
up into her throat." It is evident, from this, that the woman's
complaint was nothing but hysteria.

The clergy of the diocese of Lismore, who seem to have had much
clearer notions of Greatraks' pretensions than their parishioners, set
their faces against the new prophet and worker of miracles. He was
cited to appear in the Dean's Court, and prohibited from laying on his
hands for the future: but he cared nothing for the church. He imagined
that he derived his powers direct from Heaven, and continued to throw
people into fits, and bring them to their senses again, as usual,
almost exactly after the fashion of modern magnetisers. His reputation
became, at last, so great, that Lord Conway sent to him from London,
begging-that he would come over immediately, to cure a grievous
head-ache which his lady had suffered for several years, and which the
principal physicians of England had been unable to relieve.

Greatraks accepted the invitation, and tried his manipulations and
prayers upon Lady Conway. He failed, however, in affording any relief.
The poor lady's head-ache was excited by causes too serious to allow
her any help, even from faith and a lively imagination. He lived for
some months in Lord Conway's house, at Ragley, in Warwickshire,
operating cures similar to those he had performed in Ireland. He
afterwards removed to London, and took a house in Lincoln's Inn
Fields, which soon became the daily resort of all the nervous and
credulous women of the metropolis. A very amusing account of Greatraks
at this time (1665), is given in the second volume of the
"Miscellanies of St. Evremond," under the title of the Irish prophet.
It is the most graphic sketch ever made of this early magnetiser.
Whether his pretensions were more or less absurd than those of some of
his successors, who have lately made their appearance among us, would
be hard to say.

"When M. de Comminges," says St. Evremond, "was ambassador from
his most Christian Majesty to the King of Great Britain, there came to
London an Irish prophet, who passed himself off as a great worker of
miracles. Some persons of quality having begged M. de Comminges to
invite him to his house, that they might be witnesses of some of his
miracles, the ambassador promised to satisfy them, as much from his
own curiosity as from courtesy to his friends; and gave notice to
Greatraks that he would be glad to see him.

"A rumour of the prophet's coming soon spread all over the town,
and the hotel of M. de Comminges was crowded by sick persons, who came
full of confidence in their speedy cure. The Irishman made them wait a
considerable time for him, but came at last, in the midst of their
impatience, with a grave and simple countenance, that showed no signs
of his being a cheat. Monsieur de Comminges prepared to question him
strictly, hoping to discourse with him on the matters that he had read
of in Van Helmont and Bodinus; but he was not able to do so, much to
his regret, for the crowd became so great, and cripples and others
pressed around so impatiently to be the first cured, that the servants
were obliged to use threats, and even force, before they could
establish order among them, or place them in proper ranks.

"The prophet affirmed that all diseases were caused by evil
spirits. Every infirmity was with him a case of diabolical possession.
The first that was presented to him was a man suffering from gout and
rheumatism, and so severely that the physicians had been unable to
cure him. 'Ah,' said the miracle-worker, 'I have seen a good deal of
this sort of spirits when I was in Ireland. They are watery spirits,
who bring on cold shivering, and excite an overflow of aqueous humours
in our poor bodies.' Then addressing the man, he said, 'Evil spirit,
who hast quitted thy dwelling in the waters to come and afflict this
miserable body, I command thee to quit thy new abode, and to return to
thine ancient habitation!' This said, the sick man was ordered to
withdraw, and another was brought forward in his place. This new comer
said he was tormented by the melancholy vapours. In fact, he looked
like a hypochondriac; one of those persons diseased in imagination,
and who but too often become so in reality. 'Aerial spirit,' said
the Irishman, 'return, I command thee, into the air! -- exercise thy
natural vocation of raising tempests, and do not excite any more wind
in this sad unlucky body!' This man was immediately turned away to
make room for a third patient, who, in the Irishman's opinion, was
only tormented by a little bit of a sprite, who could not withstand
his command for an instant. He Pretended that he recognized this
sprite by some marks which were invisible to the company, to whom he
turned with a smile, and said, 'This sort of spirit does not often do
much harm, and is always very diverting.' To hear him talk, one would
have imagined that he knew all about spirits -- their names, their
rank, their numbers, their employment, and all the functions they were
destined to; and he boasted of being much better acquainted with the
intrigues of demons than he was with the affairs of men. You can
hardly imagine what a reputation he gained in a short time. Catholics
and Protestants visited him from every part, all believing that power
from Heaven was in his hands."

After relating a rather equivocal adventure of a husband and wife,
who implored Greatraks to cast out the devil of dissension which had
crept in between them, St. Evremond thus sums up the effect he
produced on the popular mind: -- "So great was the confidence in him,
that the blind fancied they saw the light which they did not see --
the deaf imagined that they heard -- the lame that they walked
straight, and the paralytic that they had recovered the use of their
limbs. An idea of health made the sick forget for a while their
maladies; and imagination, which was not less active in those merely
drawn by curiosity than in the sick, gave a false view to the one
class, from the desire of seeing, as it operated a false cure on the
other from the strong desire of being healed. Such was the power of
the Irishman over the mind, and such was the influence of the mind
upon the body. Nothing was spoken of in London but his prodigies; and
these prodigies were supported by such great authorities, that the
bewildered multitude believed them almost without examination, while
more enlightened people did not dare to reject them from their own
knowledge. The public opinion, timid and enslaved, respected this
imperious and, apparently, well-authenticated error. Those who saw
through the delusion kept their opinion to themselves, knowing how
useless it was to declare their disbelief to a people filled with
prejudice and admiration."

About the same time that Valentine Greatraks was thus magnetising
the people of London, an Italian enthusiast, named Francisco Bagnone,
was performing the same tricks in Italy, and with as great success. He
had only to touch weak women with his hands, or sometimes (for the
sake of working more effectively upon their fanaticism)with a relic,
to make them fall into fits and manifest all the symptoms of
magnetism.

Besides these, several learned men, in different parts of Europe,
directed their attention to the study of the magnet, believing it
might he rendered efficacious in many diseases. Van Helmont, in
particular, published a work on the effects of magnetism on the human
frame; and Balthazar Gracian, a Spaniard, rendered himself famous for
the boldness of his views on the subject. "The magnet," said the
latter, "attracts iron; iron is found everywhere; everything,
therefore, is under the influence of magnetism. It is only a
modification of the general principle, which establishes harmony or
foments divisions among men. It is the same agent which gives rise to
sympathy, antipathy, and the passions." ["Introduction to the Study of
Animal Magnetism," by Baron Dupotet de Sennevoy, p. 315.]

Baptista Porta, who, in the whimsical genealogy of the
weapon-salve, given by Parson Foster in his attack upon Dr. a
Fluctibus, is mentioned as one of its fathers, had also great faith in
the efficacy of the magnet, and operated upon the imagination of his
patients in a manner which was then considered so extraordinary that
he was accused of being a magician, and prohibited from practising by
the Court of Rome. Among others who distinguished themselves by their
faith in magnetism, Sebastian Wirdig and William Maxwell claim
especial notice. Wirdig was professor of medicine at the University of
Rostock in Mecklenburgh, and wrote a treatise called "The New Medicine
of the Spirits," which he presented to the Royal Society of London. An
edition of this work was printed in 1673, in which the author
maintained that a magnetic influence took place, not only between the
celestial and terrestrial bodies, but between all living things. The
whole world, he said, was under the influence of magnetism: life was
preserved by magnetism; death was the consequence of magnetism!

Maxwell, the other enthusiast, was an admiring disciple of
Paracelsus, and boasted that he had irradiated the obscurity in which
too many of the wonder-working recipes of that great philosopher were
enveloped. His works were printed at Frankfort, in 1679. It would
seem, from the following passage, that he was aware of the great
influence of imagination, as well in the production as in the cure of
diseases. "If you wish to work prodigies," says he, "abstract from the
materiality of beings -- increase the sum of spirituality in bodies --
rouse the spirit from its slumbers. Unless you do one or other of
these things -- unless you can bind the idea, you can never perform
anything good or great." Here, in fact, lies the whole secret of
magnetism, and all delusions of a similar kind: increase the
spirituality -- rouse the spirit from its slumbers, or in other words,
work upon the imagination -- induce belief and blind confidence, and
you may do anything. This passage, which is quoted with approbation by
M. Dupotet in a recent work ["Introduction to the Study of Animal
Magnetism," p. 318.] as strongly corroborative of the theory now
advanced by the animal-magnetists, is just the reverse. If they
believe they can work all their wonders by the means so dimly shadowed
forth by Maxwell, what becomes of the universal fluid pervading all
nature, and which they pretend to pour into weak and diseased bodies
from the tips of their fingers?

Early in the eighteenth century, the attention of Europe was
directed to a very remarkable instance of fanaticism, which has been
claimed by the animal magnetists, as a proof of their science. The
convulsionaries of St. Medard, as they were called, assembled in great
numbers round the tomb of their favourite saint, the Jansenist priest
Paris, and taught one another how to fall into convulsions. They
believed that St. Paris would cure all their infirmities; and the
number of hysterical women and weak-minded persons of all descriptions
that flocked to the tomb from far and near was so great, as daily to
block up all the avenues leading to the spot. Working themselves up to
a pitch of excitement, they went off one after the other into fits,
while some of them, still in apparent possession of all their
faculties, voluntarily exposed themselves to sufferings, which on
ordinary occasions would have been sufficient to deprive them of life.
The scenes that occurred were a scandal to civilization and to
religion -- a strange mixture of obscenity, absurdity, and
superstition. While some were praying on bended knees at the shrine of
St. Paris, others were shrieking and making the most hideous noises.
The women especially exerted themselves. On one side of the chapel
there might be seen a score of them, all in convulsions, while at
another as many more, excited to a sort of frenzy, yielded themselves
up to gross indecencies. Some of them took an insane delight in being
beaten and trampled upon. One in particular, according to Montegre,
whose account we quote [Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales -- Article
"Convulsionnaires," par Montegre.] was so enraptured with this ill
usage, that nothing but the hardest blows would satisfy her. While a
fellow of herculean strength was beating her with all his might with a
heavy bar of iron, she kept continually urging him to renewed
exertion. The harder he struck the better she liked it, exclaiming all
the while, "Well done, brother; well done; oh, how pleasant it is!
what good you are doing me! courage, my brother, courage; strike
harder; strike harder still!" Another of these fanatics had, if
possible, a still greater love for a beating. Carre de Montgeron, who
relates the circumstance, was unable to satisfy her with sixty blows
of a large sledge hammer. He afterwards used the same weapon, with the
same degree of strength, for the sake of experiment, and succeeded in
battering a hole in a stone wall at the twenty-fifth stroke. Another
woman, named Sonnet, laid herself down on a red-hot brazier without
flinching, and acquired for herself the nickname of the salamander;
while others, desirous of a more illustrious martyrdom, attempted to
crucify themselves. M. Deleuze, in his critical history of Animal
Magnetism, attempts to prove that this fanatical frenzy was produced
by magnetism, and that these mad enthusiasts magnetised each other
without being aware of it. As well might he insist that the fanaticism
which tempts the Hindoo bigot to keep his arms stretched in a
horizontal position till the sinews wither, or his fingers closed upon
his palms till the nails grow out of the backs of his hands, is also
an effect of magnetism!

For a period of sixty or seventy years, magnetism was almost
wholly confined to Germany. Men of sense and learning devoted their
attention to the properties of the loadstone; and one Father Hell, a
jesuit, and professor of astronomy at the University of Vienna,
rendered himself famous by his magnetic cures. About the year 1771 or
1772, he invented steel plates of a peculiar form, which he applied to
the naked body, as a cure for several diseases. In the year 1774, he
communicated his system to Anthony Mesmer. The latter improved upon
the ideas of Father Hell, constructed a new theory of his own, and
became the founder of ANIMAL MAGNETISM.

It has been the fashion among the enemies of the new delusion to
decry Mesmer as an unprincipled adventurer, while his disciples have
extolled him to the skies as a regenerator of the human race. In
nearly the same words, as the Rosicrucians applied to their founders,
he has been called the discoverer of the secret which brings man into
more intimate connexion with his Creator; the deliverer of the soul
from the debasing trammels of the flesh; the man who enables us to set
time at defiance, and conquer the obstructions of space. A careful
sifting of his pretensions -- and examination of the evidence brought
forward to sustain them, will soon show which opinion is the more
correct. That the writer of these pages considers him in the light of
a man, who deluding himself, was the means of deluding others, may be
inferred from his finding a place in these volumes, and figuring among
the Flamels, the Agrippas, the Borris, the Boehmens, and the
Cagliostros.

He was born in May 1734, at Mersburg, in Swabia, and studied
medicine at the University of Vienna. He took his degrees in 1766, and
chose the influence of the planets on the human body as the subject of
his inaugural dissertation. Having treated the matter quite in the
style of the old astrological physicians, he was exposed to some
ridicule both then and afterwards. Even at this early period some
faint ideas of his great theory were germinating in his mind. He
maintained in his dissertation, "that the sun, moon, and fixed stars
mutually affect each other in their orbits; that they cause and direct
in our earth a flux and reflux not only in the sea, but in the
atmosphere, and affect in a similar manner all organized bodies
through the medium of a subtile and mobile fluid, which pervades the
universe and associates all things together in mutual intercourse and
harmony." This influence, he said, was particularly exercised on the
nervous system, and produced two states which he called intension and
remission, which seemed to him to account for the different periodical
revolutions observable in several maladies. When in after-life he met
with Father Hell, he was confirmed by that person's observations in
the truth of many of his own ideas. Having caused Hell to make him
some magnetic plates, he determined to try experiments with them
himself for his further satisfaction.

He tried accordingly, and was astonished at his success. The faith
of their wearers operated wonders with the metallic plates. Mesmer
made due reports to Father Hell of all he had done, and the latter
published them as the results of his own happy invention, and speaking
of Mesmer as a physician whom he had employed to work under him.
Mesmer took offence at being thus treated, considering himself a far
greater personage than Father Hell. He claimed the invention as his
own, accused Hell of a breach of confidence, and stigmatized him as a
mean person, anxious to turn the discoveries of others to his own
account. Hell replied, and a very pretty quarrel was the result, which
afforded small talk for months to the literati of Vienna. Hell
ultimately gained the victory. Mesmer, nothing daunted, continued to
promulgate his views, till he stumbled at last upon the animal theory.

One of his patients was a young lady named Oesterline, who
suffered under a convulsive malady. Her attacks were periodical, and
attended by a rush of blood to the head, followed by delirium and
syncope. These symptoms he soon succeeded in reducing under his system
of planetary influence, and imagined he could foretell the periods of
accession and remission. Having thus accounted satisfactorily to
himself for the origin of the disease, the idea struck him that he
could operate a certain cure, if he could ascertain beyond doubt what
he had long believed, that there existed between the bodies which
compose our globe, an action equally reciprocal and similar to that of
the heavenly bodies, by means of which he could imitate artificially
the periodical revolutions of the flux and reflux beforementioned. He
soon convinced himself that this action did exist. When trying the
metallic plates of Father Hell, he thought their efficacy depended on
their form; but he found afterwards that he could produce the same
effects without using them at all, merely by passing his hands
downwards towards the feet of the patient -- even when at a
considerable distance.

This completed the theory of Mesmer. He wrote an account of his
discovery to all the learned societies of Europe, soliciting their
investigation. The Academy of Sciences at Berlin was the only one that
answered him, and their answer was anything but favourable to his
system or flattering to himself. Still he was not discouraged. He
maintained to all who would listen to him that the magnetic matter, or
fluid, pervaded all the universe -- that every human body contained
it, and could communicate the superabundance of it to another by an
exertion of the will. Writing to a friend from Vienna, he said, "I
have observed that the magnetic is almost the same thing as the
electric fluid, and that it may be propagated in the same manner, by
means of intermediate bodies. Steel is not the only substance adapted
to this purpose. I have rendered paper, bread, wool, silk, stones,
leather, glass, wood, men, and dogs -- in short, everything I touched,
magnetic to such a degree that these substances produced the same
effects as the loadstone on diseased persons. I have charged jars with
magnetic matter in the same way as is done with electricity."

Mesmer did not long find his residence at Vienna as agreeable as
he wished. His pretensions were looked upon with contempt or
indifference, and the case of Mademoiselle Oesterline brought him less
fame than notoriety. He determined to change his sphere of action, and
travelled into Swabia and Switzerland. In the latter country he met
with the celebrated Father Gassner, who, like Valentine Greatraks,
amused himself by casting out devils, and healing the sick by merely
laying hands upon them. At his approach puling girls fell into
convulsions, and the hypochondriac fancied themselves cured. His house
was daily besieged by the lame, the blind, and the hysteric. Mesmer at
once acknowledged the efficacy of his cures, and declared that they
were the obvious result of his own newly-discovered power of
magnetism. A few of the Father's patients were forthwith subjected to
the manipulations of Mesmer, and the same symptoms were induced. He
then tried his hand upon some paupers in the hospitals of Berne and
Zurich, and succeeded, according to his own account, but no other
person's, in curing an opththalmia and a gutta serena. With memorials
of these achievements he returned to Vienna, in the hope of silencing
his enemies, or at least forcing them to respect his newly-acquired
reputation, and to examine his system more attentively.

His second appearance in that capital was not more auspicious than
the first. He undertook to cure a Mademoiselle Paradis, who was quite
blind, and subject to convulsions. He magnetised her several times,
and then declared that she was cured; at least, if she was not, it was
her fault, and not his. An eminent oculist of that day, named Birth,
went to visit her, and declared that she was as blind as ever; while
her family said she was as much subject to convulsions as before.
Mesmer persisted that she was cured. Like the French philosopher, he
would not allow facts to interfere with his theory. [An enthusiastic
philosopher, of whose name we are not informed, had constructed a very
satisfactory theory on some subject or other, and was not a little
proud of it. "But the facts, my dear fellow," said his friend, "the
facts do not agree with your theory." -- "Don't they," replied the
philosopher, shrugging his shoulders, "then, taut pis pour les faits;"
-- so much the worse for the facts.] He declared that there was a
conspiracy against him; and that Mademoiselle Paradis, at the
instigation of her family, feigned blindness in order to injure his
reputation!

The consequences of this pretended cure taught Mesmer that Vienna
was not the sphere for him. Paris, the idle, the debauched, the
pleasure-hunting, the novelty-loving, was the scene for a philosopher
like him, and thither he repaired accordingly. He arrived at Paris in
1778, and began modestly, by making himself and his theory known to
the principal physicians. At first, his encouragement was but slight;
he found people more inclined to laugh at than to patronise him. But
he was a man who had great confidence in himself, and of a
perseverance which no difficulties could overcome. He hired a
sumptuous apartment, which he opened to all comers who chose to make
trial of the new power of nature. M. D'Eslon, a physician of great
reputation, became a convert; and from that time, Animal Magnetism,
or, as some called it, Mesmerism, became the fashion in Paris. The
women were quite enthusiastic about it, and their admiring tattle
wafted its fame through every grade of society. Mesmer was the rage;
and high and low, rich and poor, credulous and unbelieving, all
hastened to convince themselves of the power of this mighty magician,
who made such magnificent promises. Mesmer, who knew as well as any
man living the influence of the imagination, determined that, on that
score, nothing should be wanting to heighten the effect of the
magnetic charm. In all Paris, there was not a house so charmingly
furnished as Monsieur Mesmer's. Richly-stained glass shed a dim
religious light on his spacious saloons, which were almost covered
with mirrors. Orange blossoms scented all the air of his corridors;
incense of the most expensive kinds burned in antique vases on his
chimney-pieces; aeolian harps sighed melodious music from distant
chambers; while sometimes a sweet female voice, from above or below,
stole softly upon the mysterious silence that was kept in the house,
and insisted upon from all visitors. "Was ever anything so
delightful?" cried all the Mrs. Wittitterley's of Paris, as they
thronged to his house in search of pleasant excitement; "so
wonderful!" said the pseudo-philosophers, who would believe anything
if it were the fashion; "so amusing!" said the worn-out debauchees,
who had drained the cup of sensuality to its dregs, and who longed to
see lovely women in convulsions, with the hope that they might gain
some new emotions from the sight.

The following was the mode of operation: -- In the centre of the
saloon was placed an oval vessel, about four feet in its longest
diameter, and one foot deep. In this were laid a number of
wine-bottles, filled with magnetised water, well corked-up, and
disposed in radii, with their necks outwards. Water was then poured
into the vessel so as just to cover the bottles, and filings of iron
were thrown in occasionally to heighten the magnetic effect. The
vessel was then covered with an iron cover, pierced through with many
holes, and was called the baquet. From each hole issued a long
moveable rod of iron, which the patients were to apply to such parts
of their bodies as were afflicted. Around this baquet the patients
were directed to sit, holding each other by the hand, and pressing
their knees together as closely as possible to facilitate the passage
of the magnetic fluid from one to the other.

Then came in the assistant magnetisers, generally strong, handsome
young men, to pour into the patient from their finger-tips fresh
streams of the wondrous fluid. They embraced the patients between the
knees, rubbed them gently down the spine and the course of the nerves,
using gentle pressure upon the breasts of the ladies, and staring them
out of countenance to magnetise them by the eye! All this time the
most rigorous silence was maintained, with the exception of a few wild
notes on the harmonica or the piano-forte, or the melodious voice of a
hidden opera-singer swelling softly at long intervals. Gradually the
cheeks of the ladies began to glow, their imaginations to become
inflamed; and off they went, one after the other, in convulsive fits.
Some of them sobbed and tore their hair, others laughed till the tears
ran from their eyes, while others shrieked and screamed and yelled
till they became insensible altogether.

This was the crisis of the delirium. In the midst of it, the chief
actor made his appearance, waving his wand, like Prospero, to work new
wonders. Dressed in a long robe of lilac-coloured silk, richly
embroidered with gold flowers, bearing in his hand a white magnetic
rod; and, with a look of dignity which would have sat well on an
eastern caliph, he marched with solemn strides into the room. He awed
the still sensible by his eye, and the violence of their symptoms
diminished. He stroked the insensible with his hands upon the eyebrows
and down the spine; traced figures upon their breast and abdomen with
his long white wand, and they were restored to consciousness. They
became calm, acknowledged his power, and said they felt streams of
cold or burning vapour passing through their frames, according as he
waved his wand or his fingers before them.

"It is impossible," says M. Dupotet, "to conceive the sensation
which Mesmer's experiments created in Paris. No theological
controversy, in the earlier ages of the Catholic Church, was ever
conducted with greater bitterness." His adversaries denied the
discovery; some calling him a quack, others a fool, and others, again,
like the Abbe Fiard, a man who had sold himself to the devil! His
friends were as extravagant in their praise, as his foes were in their
censure. Paris was inundated with pamphlets upon the subject, as many
defending as attacking the doctrine. At court, the Queen expressed
herself in favour of it, and nothing else was to be heard of in
society.

By the advice of M. D'Eslon, Mesmer challenged an examination of
his doctrine by the Faculty of Medicine. He proposed to select
twenty-four patients, twelve of whom he would treat magnetically,
leaving the other twelve to be treated by the faculty according to the
old and approved methods. He also stipulated, that to prevent
disputes, the government should nominate certain persons who were not
physicians, to be present at the experiments; and that the object of
the inquiry should be, not how these effects were produced, but
whether they were really efficacious in the cure of any disease. The
faculty objected to limit the inquiry in this manner, and the
proposition fell to the ground.

Mesmer now wrote to Marie Antoinette, with the view of securing
her influence in obtaining for him the protection of government. He
wished to have a chateau and its lands given to him, with a handsome
yearly income, that he might be enabled to continue his experiments at
leisure, untroubled by the persecution of his enemies. He hinted the
duty of governments to support men of science, and expressed his fear,
that if he met no more encouragement, he should be compelled to carry
his great discovery to some other land more willing to appreciate him.
"In the eyes of your Majesty," said he, "four or five hundred thousand
francs, applied to a good purpose, are of no account. The welfare and
happiness of your people are everything. My discovery ought to be
received and rewarded with a munificence worthy of the monarch to whom
I shall attach myself." The government at last offered him a pension
of twenty thousand francs, and the cross of the order of St. Michael,
if he had made any discovery in medicine, and would communicate it to
physicians nominated by the King. The latter part of the proposition
was not agreeable to Mesmer. He feared the unfavourable report of the
King's physicians; and, breaking off the negotiation, spoke of his
disregard of money, and his wish to have his discovery at once
recognised by the government. He then retired to Spa, in a fit of
disgust, upon pretence of drinking the waters for the benefit of his
health.

After he had left Paris, the Faculty of Medicine called upon M.
D'Eslon, for the third and last time, to renounce the doctrine of
animal magnetism, or be expelled from their body. M. D'Eslon, so far
from doing this, declared that he had discovered new secrets, and
solicited further examination. A royal commission of the Faculty of
Medicine was, in consequence, appointed on the l2th of March 1784,
seconded by another commission of the Academie des Sciences, to
investigate the phenomena and report upon them. The first commission
was composed of the principal physicians of Paris; while, among the
eminent men comprised in the latter, were Benjamin Franklin,
Lavoisier, and Bailly, the historian of astronomy. Mesmer was formally
invited to appear before this body, but absented himself from day to
day, upon one pretence or another. M. D'Eslon was more honest, because
he thoroughly believed in the phenomena, which it is to be questioned
if Mesmer ever did, and regularly attended the sittings and performed
experiments.

Bailly has thus described the scenes of which he was a witness in
the course of this investigation. "The sick persons, arranged in great
numbers and in several rows around the baquet, receive the magnetism
by all these means: by the iron rods which convey it to them from the
baquet -- by the cords wound round their bodies -- by the connection
of the thumb, which conveys to them the magnetism of their neighbours
-- and by the sounds of a pianoforte, or of an agreeable voice,
diffusing the magnetism in the air. The patients were also directly
magnetised by means of the finger and wand of the magnetiser moved
slowly before their faces, above or behind their heads, and on the
diseased parts, always observing the direction of the holes. The
magnetiser acts by fixing his eyes on them. But above all, they are
magnetised by the application of his hands and the pressure of his
fingers on the hypochondres and on the regions of the abdomen; an
application often continued for a long time-sometimes for several
hours.

"Meanwhile the patients in their different conditions present a
very varied picture. Some are calm, tranquil, and experience no
effect. Others cough, spit, feel slight pains, local or general heat,
and have sweatings. Others again are agitated and tormented with
convulsions. These convulsions are remarkable in regard to the number
affected with them, to their duration and force. As soon as one begins
to be convulsed, several others are affected. The commissioners have
observed some of these convulsions last more than three hours. They
are accompanied with expectorations of a muddy viscous water, brought
away by violent efforts. Sometimes streaks of blood have been observed
in this fluid. These convulsions are characterized by the precipitous,
involuntary motion of all the limbs, and of the whole body: by the
construction of the throat -- by the leaping motions of the
hypochondria and the epigastrium -- by the dimness and wandering of
the eyes -- by piercing shrieks, tears, sobbing, and immoderate
laughter. They are preceded or followed by a state of languor or
reverie, a kind of depression, and sometimes drowsiness. The smallest
sudden noise occasions a shuddering; and it was remarked, that the
change of measure in the airs played on the piano-forte had a great
influence on the patients. A quicker motion, a livelier melody,
agitated them more, and renewed the vivacity of their convulsions.

"Nothing is more astonishing than the spectacle of these
convulsions. One who has not seen them can form no idea of them. The
spectator is as much astonished at the profound repose of one portion
of the patients as at the agitation of the rest - at the various
accidents which are repeated, and at the sympathies which are
exhibited. Some of the patients may be seen devoting their attention
exclusively to one another, rushing towards each other with open arms,
smiling, soothing, and manifesting every symptom of attachment and
affection. All are under the power of the magnetiser; it matters not
in what state of drowsiness they may be, the sound of his voice -- a
look, a motion of his hand -- brings them out of it. Among the
patients in convulsions there are always observed a great many women,
and very few men." [Rapport des Commissaires, redige par M. Bailly. --
Paris, 1784.]

These experiments lasted for about five months. They had hardly
commenced, before Mesmer, alarmed at the loss both of fame and profit,
determined to return to Paris. Some patients of rank and fortune,
enthusiastic believers in his doctrine, had followed him to Spa. One
of them named Bergasse, proposed to open a subscription for him, of
one hundred shares, at one hundred louis each, on condition that he
would disclose his secret to the subscribers, who were to be permitted
to make whatever use they pleased of it. Mesmer readily embraced the
proposal; and such was the infatuation, that the subscription was not
only filled in a few days, but exceeded by no less a sum than one
hundred and forty thousand francs.

With this fortune he returned to Paris, and recommenced his
experiments, while the royal commission continued theirs. His admiring
pupils, who had paid him so handsomely for his instructions, spread
the delusion over the country, and established in all the principal
towns of France, "Societies of Harmony," for trying experiments and
curing all diseases by means of magnetism. Some of these societies
were a scandal to morality, being joined by profligate men of depraved
appetites, who took a disgusting delight in witnessing young girls in
convulsions. Many of the pretended magnetisers were notorious
libertines, who took that opportunity of gratifying their passions. An
illegal increase of the number of French citizens was anything but a
rare consequence in Strasburg, Nantes, Bourdeaux, Lyons, and other
towns, where these societies were established.

At last the Commissioners published their report, which was drawn
up by the illustrious and unfortunate Bailly. For clearness of
reasoning and strict impartiality it has never been surpassed. After
detailing the various experiments made, and their results, they came
to the conclusion that the only proof advanced in support of Animal
Magnetism was the effects it produced on the human body -- that those
effects could be produced without passes or other magnetic
manipulations - that all these manipulations, and passes, and
ceremonies never produce any effect at all if employed without the
patient's knowledge; and that therefore imagination did, and animal
magnetism did not, account for the phenomena.

This report was the ruin of Mesmer's reputation in France. He
quitted Paris shortly after, with the three hundred and forty thousand
francs which had been subscribed by his admirers, and retired to his
own country, where he died in 1815, at the advanced age of eighty-one.
But the seeds he had sown fructified of themselves, nourished and
brought to maturity by the kindly warmth of popular credulity.
Imitators sprang up in France, Germany, and England, more extravagant
than their master, and claiming powers for the new science which its
founder had never dreamt of. Among others, Cagliostro made good use of
the delusion in extending his claims to be considered a master of the
occult sciences. But he made no discoveries worthy to be compared to
those of the Marquis de Puysegur and the Chevalier Barbarin, honest
men, who began by deceiving themselves before they deceived others.

The Marquis de Puysegur, the owner of a considerable estate at
Busancy, was one of those who had entered into the subscription for
Mesmer. After that individual had quitted France, he retired to
Busancy with his brother to try Animal Magnetism upon his tenants, and
cure the country people of all manner of diseases. He was a man of
great simplicity and much benevolence, and not only magnetised but fed
the sick that flocked around him. In all the neighbourhood, and indeed
within a circumference of twenty miles, he was looked upon as endowed
with a power almost Divine. His great discovery, as he called it, was
made by chance. One day he had magnetised his gardener; and observing
him to fall into a deep sleep, it occurred to him that he would
address a question to him, as he would have done to a natural
somnambulist. He did so, and the man replied with much clearness and
precision. M. de Puysegur was agreeably surprised: he continued his
experiments, and found that, in this state of magnetic somnambulism,
the soul of the sleeper was enlarged, and brought into more intimate
communion with all nature, and more especially with him, M. de
Puysegur. He found that all further manipulations were unnecessary;
that, without speaking or making any sign, he could convey his will to
the patient; that he could, in fact, converse with him, soul to soul,
without the employment of any physical operation whatever!

Simultaneously with this marvellous discovery he made another,
which reflects equal credit upon his understanding. Like Valentine
Greatraks, he found it hard work to magnetise all that came - that he
had not even time to take the repose and relaxation which were
necessary for his health. In this emergency he hit upon a clever
expedient. He had heard Mesmer say that he could magnetise bits of
wood -- why should he not be able to magnetise a whole tree? It was no
sooner thought than done. There was a large elm on the village green
at Busancy, under which the peasant girls used to dance on festive
occasions, and the old men to sit, drinking their vin du pays on the
fine summer evenings. M. de Puysegur proceeded to this tree and
magnetised it, by first touching it with his hands and then retiring a
few steps from it; all the while directing streams of the magnetic
fluid from the branches toward the trunk, and from the trunk toward
the root. This done, he caused circular seats to be erected round it,
and cords suspended from it in all directions. When the patients had
seated themselves, they twisted the cords round the diseased parts of
their bodies, and held one another firmly by their thumbs to form a
direct channel of communication for the passage of the fluid.

M. de Puysegur had now two hobbies - the man with the enlarged
soul, and the magnetic elm. The infatuation of himself and his
patients cannot be better expressed than in his own words. Writing to
his brother, on the 17th of May 1784, he says, "If you do not come, my
dear friend, you will not see my extraordinary man, for his health is
now almost quite restored. I continue to make use of the happy power
for which I am indebted to M. Mesmer. Every day I bless his name; for
I am very useful, and produce many salutary effects on all the sick
poor in the neighbourhood. They flock around my tree; there were more
than one hundred and thirty of them this morning. It is the best
baquet possible; not a leaf of it but communicates health! all feel,
more or less, the good effects of it. You will be delighted to see the
charming picture of humanity which this presents. I have only one
regret - it is, that I cannot touch all who come. But my magnetised
man -- my intelligence - sets me at ease. He teaches me what conduct I
should adopt. According to him, it is not at all necessary that I
should touch every one; a look, a gesture, even a wish, is sufficient.
And it is one of the most ignorant peasants of the country that
teaches me this! When he is in a crisis, I know of nothing more
profound, more prudent, more clearsighted (clairvoyant) than he is."

In another letter, describing his first experiment with the
magnetic tree, he says, "Yester evening I brought my first patient to
it. As soon as I had put the cord round him he gazed at the tree; and,
with an air of astonishment which I cannot describe, exclaimed, 'What
is it that I see there?' His head then sunk down, and he fell into a
perfect fit of somnambulism. At the end of an hour, I took him home to
his house again, when I restored him to his senses. Several men and
women came to tell him what he had been doing. He maintained it was
not true; that, weak as he was, and scarcely able to walk, it would
have been scarcely possible for him to have gone down stairs and
walked to the tree. To-day I have repeated the experiment on him, and
with the same success. I own to you that my head turns round with
pleasure to think of the good I do. Madame de Puysegur, the friends
she has with her, my servants, and, in fact, all who are near me, feel
an amazement, mingled with admiration, which cannot be described; but
they do not experience the half of my sensations. Without my tree,
which gives me rest, and which will give me still more, I should be in
a state of agitation, inconsistent, I believe, with my health. I exist
too much, if I may be allowed to use the expression."

In another letter, he descants still more poetically upon his
gardener with the enlarged soul. He says, "It is from this simple man,
this tall and stout rustic, twenty-three years of age, enfeebled by
disease, or rather by sorrow, and therefore the more predisposed to be
affected by any great natural agent, -- it is from this man, I repeat,
that I derive instruction and knowledge. When in the magnetic state,
he is no longer a peasant who can hardly utter a single sentence; he
is a being, to describe whom I cannot find a name. I need not speak; I
have only to think before him, when he instantly understands and
answers me. Should anybody come into the room, he sees him, if I
desire it (but not else), and addresses him, and says what I wish him
to say; not indeed exactly as I dictate to him, but as truth requires.
When he wants to add more than I deem it prudent strangers should
hear, I stop the flow of his ideas, and of his conversation in the
middle of a word, and give it quite a different turn!"

Among other persons attracted to Busancy by the report of these
extraordinary occurrences was M. Cloquet, the Receiver of Finance. His
appetite for the marvellous being somewhat insatiable, he readily
believed all that was told him by M. de Puysegur. He also has left a
record of what he saw, and what he credited, which throws a still
clearer light upon the progress of the delusion. ["Introduction to the
Study of Animal Magnetism," by Baron Dupotet, p. 73.] He says that the
patients he saw in the magnetic state had an appearance of deep sleep,
during which all the physical faculties were suspended, to the
advantage of the intellectual faculties. The eyes of the patients were
closed; the sense of hearing was abolished, and they awoke only at the
voice of their magnetiser. "If any one touched a patient during a
crisis, or even the chair on which he was seated," says M. Cloquet,
"it would cause him much pain and suffering, and throw him into
convulsions. During the crisis, they possess an extraordinary and
supernatural power, by which, on touching a patient presented to them,
they can feel what part of his body is diseased, even by merely
passing their hand over the clothes." Another singularity was, that
these sleepers who could thus discover diseases -- see into the
interior of other men's stomachs, and point out remedies, remembered
absolutely nothing after the magnetiser thought proper to disenchant
them. The time that elapsed between their entering the crisis and
their coming out of it was obliterated. Not only had the magnetiser
the power of making himself heard by the somnambulists, but he could
make them follow him by merely pointing his finger at them from a
distance, though they had their eyes the whole time completely closed.

Such was Animal Magnetism under the auspices of the Marquis de
Puysegur. While he was hibiting these fooleries around his elm-tree, a
magnetiser of another class appeared in Lyons, in the person of the
Chevalier de Barbarin. This person thought the effort of the will,
without any of the paraphernalia of wands or baquets, was sufficient
to throw patients into the magnetic sleep. He tried it and succeeded.
By sitting at the bedside of his patients, and praying that they might
be magnetised, they went off into a state very similar to that of the
persons who fell under the notice of M. de Puysegur. In the course of
time, a very considerable number of magnetisers, acknowledging
Barbarin for their model, and called after him Barbarinists, appeared
in different parts, and were believed to have effected some remarkable
cures. In Sweden and Germany, this sect of fanatics increased rapidly,
and were called spiritualists, to distinguish them from the followers
of M. de Puysegur, who were called experimentalists. They maintained
that all the effects of Animal Magnetism, which Mesmer believed to be
producible by a magnetic fluid dispersed through nature, were produced
by the mere effort of one human soul acting upon another; that when a
connexion had once been established between a magnetiser and his
patient, the former could communicate his influence to the latter from
any distance, even hundreds of miles, by the will! One of them thus
described the blessed state of a magnetic patient: -- "In such a man
animal instinct ascends to the highest degree admissible in this
world. The clairvoyant is then a pure animal, without any admixture of
matter. His observations are those of a spirit. He is similar to God.
His eye penetrates all the secrets of nature. When his attention is
fixed on any of the objects of this world -- on his disease, his
death, his well-beloved, his friends, his relations, his enemies, --
in spirit he sees them acting; he penetrates into the causes and the
consequences of their actions; he becomes a physician, a prophet, a
divine!" [See "Foreign Review, Continental Miscellany," vol. v. 113.]

Let us now see what progress these mysteries made in England. In
the year 1788, Dr. Mainauduc, who had been a pupil, first of Mesmer,
and afterwards of D'Eslon, arrived in Bristol, and gave public
lectures upon magnetism. His success was quite extraordinary. People
of rank and fortune hastened from London to Bristol to be magnetised,
or to place themselves under his tuition. Dr. George Winter, in his
History of Animal Magnetism, gives the following list of them: --
"They amounted to one hundred and twenty-seven, among whom there were
one duke, one duchess, one marchioness, two countesses, one earl, one
baron, three baronesses, one bishop, five right honourable gentlemen
and ladies, two baronets, seven members of parliament, one clergyman,
two physicians, seven surgeons, besides ninety-two gentlemen and
ladies of respectability." He afterwards established himself in
London, where he performed with equal success.

He began by publishing proposals to the ladies for the formation
of a Hygeian Society. In this paper he vaunted highly the curative
effects of Animal Magnetism, and took great credit to himself for
being the first person to introduce it into England, and thus
concluded:-- "As this method of cure is not confined to sex, or
college education, and the fair sex being in general the most
sympathising part of the creation, and most immediately concerned in
the health and care of its offspring, I think myself bound in
gratitude to you, ladies, for the partiality you have shown me in
midwifery, to contribute, as far as lies in my power, to render you
additionally useful and valuable to the community. With this view, I
propose forming my Hygeian Society, to be incorporated with that of
Paris. As soon as twenty ladies have given in their names, the day
shall be appointed for the first meeting at my house, when they are to
pay fifteen guineas, which will include the whole expense."

Hannah More, in a letter addressed to Horace Walpole, in September
1788, speaks of the "demoniacal mummeries" of Dr. Mainauduc, and says
he was in a fair way of gaining a hundred thousand pounds by them, as
Mesmer had done by his exhibitions in Paris.

So much curiosity was excited by the subject that, about the same
time, a man, named Holloway, gave a course of lectures on Animal
Magnetism in London, at the rate of five guineas for each pupil, and
realised a considerable fortune. Loutherbourg, the painter, and his
wife followed the same profitable trade; and such was the infatuation
of the people to be witnesses of their strange manipulations, that, at
times, upwards of three thousand persons crowded around their house at
Hammersmith, unable to gain admission. The tickets sold at prices
varying from one to three guineas. Loutherbourg performed his cures by
the touch, after the manner of Valentine Greatraks, and finally
pretended to a Divine mission. An account of his miracles, as they
were called, was published in 1789, entitled "A List of New Cures
performed by Mr. and Mrs. de Loutherbourg of Hammersmith Terrace,
without Medicine; by a Lover of the Lamb of God. Dedicated to his
Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury."

This "Lover of the Lamb of God" was a half-crazy old woman, named
Mary Pratt, who conceived for Mr. and Mrs. de Loutherbourg a
veneration which almost prompted her to worship them. She chose for
the motto of her pamphlet a verse in the thirteenth chapter of the
Acts of the Apostles: "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish!
for I will work a work in your days which ye shall not believe though
a man declare it unto you." Attempting to give a religious character
to the cures of the painter, she thought a woman was the proper person
to make them known, since the apostle had declared that a man should
not be able to conquer the incredulity of the people. She stated that,
from Christmas 1788 to July 1789, De Loutherbourg and his wife had
cured two thousand people, "having been made proper recipients to
receive Divine manuductions; which heavenly and Divine influx, coming
from the radix God, his Divine Majesty had most graciously bestowed
upon them to diffuse healing to all, be they deaf, dumb, blind, lame,
or halt."

In her dedication to the Archbishop of Canterbury, she implored
him to compose a new form of prayer to be used in all churches and
chapels, that nothing might impede this inestimable gift from having
its due course. She further entreated all the magistrates and men of
authority in the land to wait on Mr. and Mrs. de Loutherbourg, to
consult with them on the immediate erection of a large hospital, with
a pool of Bethesda attached to it. All the magnetisers were
scandalised at the preposterous jabber of this old woman, and De
Loutherbourg appears to have left London to avoid her; continuing,
however, in conjunction with his wife, the fantastic tricks which had
turned the brain of this poor fanatic, and deluded many others who
pretended to more sense than she had.

From this period until 1798, magnetism excited little or no
attention in England. An attempt to revive the doctrine was made in
that year, but it was in the shape of mineral rather than of animal
magnetism. One Benjamin Douglas Perkins, an American, practising as a
surgeon in Leicestersquare, invented and took out a patent for the
celebrated "Metallic Tractors." He pretended that these tractors,
which were two small pieces of metal strongly magnetised, something
resembling the steel plates which were first brought into notice by
Father Hell, would cure gout, rheumatism, palsy, and in fact, almost
every disease the human frame was subject to, if applied externally to
the afflicted part, and moved about gently, touching the surface only.
The most wonderful stories soon obtained general circulation, and the
press groaned with pamphlets, all vaunting the curative effects of the
tractors, which were sold at five guineas the pair. Perkins gained
money rapidly. Gouty subjects forgot their pains in the presence of
this new remedy; the rheumatism fled at its approach; and toothache,
which is often cured by the mere sight of a dentist, vanished before
Perkins and his marvellous steel plates. The benevolent Quakers, of
whose body he was a member, warmly patronised the invention. Desirous
that the poor, who could not afford to pay Mr. Perkins five guineas,
or even five shillings, for his tractors, should also share in the
benefits of that sublime discovery, they subscribed a large sum, and
built an hospital, called the "Perkinean Institution," in which all
comers might be magnetised free of cost. In the course of a few months
they were in very general use, and their lucky inventor in possession
of five thousand pounds.

Dr. Haygarth, an eminent physician at Bath, recollecting the
influence of imagination in the cure of disease, hit upon an expedient
to try the real value of the tractors. Perkins's cures were too well
established to be doubted; and Dr. Haygarth, without gainsaying them,
quietly, but in the face of numerous witnesses, exposed the delusion
under which people laboured with respect to the curative medium. He
suggested to Dr. Falconer that they should make wooden tractors, paint
them to resemble the steel ones, and see if the very same effects
would not be produced. Five patients were chosen from the hospital in
Bath, upon whom to operate. Four of them suffered severely from
chronic rheumatism in the ankle, knee, wrist, and hip; and the fifth
had been afflicted for several months with the gout. On the day
appointed for the experiments, Dr. Haygarth and his friends assembled
at the hospital, and with much solemnity brought forth the fictitious
tractors. Four out of the five patients said their pains were
immediately relieved; and three of them said they were not only
relieved, but very much benefited. One felt his knee warmer, and said
he could walk across the room. He tried and succeeded, although on the
previous day he had not been able to stir. The gouty man felt his
pains diminish rapidly, and was quite easy for nine hours, until he
went to bed, when the twitching began again. On the following day the
real tractors were applied to all the patients, when they described
their symptoms in nearly the same terms.

To make still more sure, the experiment was tried in the Bristol
Infirmary, a few weeks afterwards, on a man who had a rheumatic
affection in the shoulder, so severe as to incapacitate him from
lifting his hand from his knee. The fictitious tractors were brought
and applied to the afflicted part, one of the physicians, to add
solemnity to the scene, drawing a stop-watch from his pocket to
calculate the time exactly, while another, with a pen in his hand, sat
down to write the change of symptoms from minute to minute as they
occurred. In less than four minutes the man felt so much relieved,
that he lifted his hand several inches without any pain in the
shoulder!

An account of these matters was published by Dr. Haygarth, in a
small volume entitled, "Of the Imagination, as a Cause and Cure of
Disorders, exemplified by fictitious Tractors." The exposure was a
coup de grace to the system of Mr. Perkins. His friends and patrons,
still unwilling to confess that they had been deceived, tried the
tractors upon sheep, cows, and horses, alleging that the animals
received benefit from the metallic plates, but none at all from the
wooden ones. But they found nobody to believe them; the Perkinean
Institution fell into neglect; and Perkins made his exit from England,
carrying with him about ten thousand pounds, to soothe his declining
years in the good city of Pennsylvania.

Thus was magnetism laughed out of England for a time. In France,
the revolution left men no leisure for such puerilities. The "Societes
de l'Harmonie," of Strasburg, and other great towns, lingered for a
while, till sterner matters occupying men's attention, they were one
after the other abandoned, both by pupils and professors. The system
thus driven from the first two nations of Europe, took refuge among
the dreamy philosophers of Germany. There the wonders of the magnetic
sleep grew more and more wonderful every day; the patients acquired
the gift of prophecy - their vision extended over all the surface of
the globe -- they could hear and see with their toes and fingers, and
read unknown languages, and understand them too, by merely having the
book placed on their bellies. Ignorant clodpoles, when once entranced
by the grand Mesmeric fluid, could spout philosophy diviner than Plato
ever wrote, descant upon the mysteries of the mind with more eloquence
and truth than the profoundest metaphysicians the world ever saw, and
solve knotty points of divinity with as much ease as waking men could
undo their shoe-buckles!

During the first twelve years of the present century, little was
heard of Animal Magnetism in any country of Europe. Even the Germans
forgot their airy fancies; recalled to the knowledge of this every-day
world by the roar of Napoleon's cannon and the fall or the
establishment of kingdoms. During this period, a cloud of obscurity
hung over the science, which was not dispersed until M. Deleuze
published, in 1813, his "Histoire Critique du Magnetisme Animal." This
work gave a new impulse to the half-forgotten delusion; newspapers,
pamphlets, and books again waged war upon each other on the question
of its truth or falsehood; and many eminent men in the profession of
medicine recommenced inquiry, with an earnest design to discover the
truth.

The assertions made in the celebrated treatise of Deleuze are thus
summed up: [See the very calm, clear, and dispassionate article upon
the subject in the fifth volume (1830) of "The Foreign Review," page
96, et seq.] -- "There is a fluid continually escaping from the human
body," and "forming an atmosphere around us," which, as "it has no
determined current," produces no sensible effects on surrounding
individuals. It is, however, "capable of being directed by the will;"
and, when so directed, "is sent forth in currents," with a force
corresponding to the energy we possess. Its motion is "similar to that
of the rays from burning bodies;" "it possesses different qualities in
different individuals." It is capable of a high degree of
concentration, "and exists also in trees." The will of the magnetiser,
"guided by a motion of the hand, several times repeated in the same
direction," can fill a tree with this fluid. Most persons, when this
fluid is poured into them, from the body and by the will of the
magnetiser, "feel a sensation of heat or cold" when he passes his hand
before them, without even touching them. Some persons, when
sufficiently charged with this fluid, fall into a state of
somnambulism, or magnetic ecstasy; and, when in this state, "they see
the fluid encircling the magnetiser like a halo of light, and issuing
in luminous streams from his mouth and nostrils, his head, and hands;
possessing a very agreeable smell, and communicating a particular
taste to food and water."

One would think that these absurdities were quite enough to be
insisted upon by any physician who wished to be considered sane, but
they only form a small portion of the wondrous things related by M.
Deleuze. He further said, "When magnetism produces somnambulism, the
person who is in this state acquires a prodigious extension of all his
faculties. Several of his external organs, especially those of sight
and hearing, become inactive; but the sensations which depend upon
them take place internally. Seeing and hearing are carried on by the
magnetic fluid, which transmits the impressions immediately, and
without the intervention of any nerves or organs directly to the
brain. Thus the somnambulist, though his eyes and ears are closed, not
only sees and hears, but sees and hears much better than he does when
awake. In all things he feels the will of the magnetiser, although
that will be not expressed. He sees into the interior of his own body,
and the most secret organization of the bodies of all those who may be
put en rapport, or in magnetic connexion, with him. Most commonly, he
only sees those parts which are diseased and disordered, and
intuitively prescribes a remedy for them. He has prophetic visions and
sensations, which are generally true, but sometimes erroneous. He
expresses himself with astonishing eloquence and facility. He is not
free from vanity. He becomes a more perfect being of his own accord
for a certain time, if guided wisely by the magnetiser, but wanders if
he is ill-directed."

According to M. Deleuze, any person could become a magnetiser and
produce these effects, by conforming to the following conditions, and
acting upon the following rules:--

Forget for a while all your knowledge of physics and metaphysics.

Remove from your mind all objections that may occur.

Imagine that it is in your power to take the malady in hand, and
throw it on one side.

Never reason for six weeks after you have commenced the study.

Have an active desire to do good; a firm belief in the power of
magnetism, and an entire confidence in employing it. In short, repel
all doubts; desire success, and act with simplicity and attention.

That is to say, "be very credulous; be very persevering; reject
all past experience, and do not listen to reason," and you are a
magnetiser after M. Deleuze's own heart.

Having brought yourself into this edifying state of fanaticism,
"remove from the patient all persons who might be troublesome to you:
keep with you only the necessary witnesses -- a single person, if need
be; desire them not to occupy themselves in any way with the processes
you employ and the effects which result from them, but to join with
you in the desire of doing good to your patient. Arrange yourself so
as neither to be too hot nor too cold, and in such a manner that
nothing may obstruct the freedom of your motions; and take precautions
to prevent interruption during the sitting. Make your patient then sit
as commodiously as possible, and place yourself opposite to him, on a
seat a little more elevated, in such a manner that his knees may be
betwixt yours, and your feet at the side of his. First, request him to
resign himself; to think of nothing; not to perplex himself by
examining the effects which may be produced; to banish all fear; to
surrender himself to hope, and not to be disturbed or discouraged if
the action of magnetism should cause in him momentary pains. After
having collected yourself, take his thumbs between your fingers in
such a way that the internal part of your thumbs may be in contact
with the internal part of his, and then fix your eyes upon him! You
must remain from two to five minutes in this situation, or until you
feel an equal heat between your thumbs and his. This done, you will
withdraw your hands, removing them to the right and left; and at the
same time turning them till their internal surface be outwards, and
you will raise them to the height of the head. You will now place them
upon the two shoulders, and let them remain there about a minute;
afterwards drawing them gently along the arms to the extremities of
the fingers, touching very slightly as you go. You will renew this
pass five or six times, always turning your hands, and removing them a
little from the body before you lift them. You will then place them
above the head; and, after holding them there for an instant, lower
them, passing them before the face, at the distance of one or two
inches, down to the pit of the stomach. There you will stop them two
minutes also, putting your thumbs upon the pit of the stomach and the
rest of your fingers below the ribs. You will then descend slowly
along the body to the knees, or rather, if you can do so without
deranging yourself, to the extremity of the feet. You will repeat the
same processes several times during the remainder of the sitting. You
will also occasionally approach your patient, so as to place your
hands behind his shoulders, in order to descend slowly along the spine
of the back and the thighs, down to the knees or the feet. After the
first passes, you may dispense with putting your hands upon the head,
and may make the subsequent passes upon the arms, beginning at the
shoulders, and upon the body, beginning at the stomach."

Such was the process of magnetising recommended by Deleuze. That
delicate, fanciful, and nervous women, when subjected to it, should
have worked themselves into convulsions will be readily believed by
the sturdiest opponent of Animal Magnetism. To sit in a constrained
posture -- be stared out of countenance by a fellow who enclosed her
knees between his, while he made passes upon different parts of her
body, was quite enough to throw any weak woman into a fit, especially
if she were predisposed to hysteria, and believed in the efficacy of
the treatment. It is just as evident that those of stronger minds and
healthier bodies should be sent to sleep by the process. That these
effects have been produced by these means there are thousands of
instances to show. But are they testimony in favour of Animal
Magnetism? - do they prove the existence of the magnetic fluid? Every
unprejudiced person must answer in the negative. It needs neither
magnetism, nor ghost from the grave, to tell us that silence,
monotony, and long recumbency in one position must produce sleep, or
that excitement, imitation, and a strong imagination, acting upon a
weak body, will bring on convulsions. It will be seen hereafter that
magnetism produces no effects but these two; that the gift of prophecy
- supernatural eloquence - the transfer of the senses, and the power
of seeing through opaque substances, are pure fictions, that cannot be
substantiated by anything like proof.

M. Deleuze's book produced quite a sensation in France; the study
was resumed with redoubled vigour. In the following year, a journal
was established devoted exclusively to the science, under the title of
"Annales du Magnetisme Animal;" and shortly afterwards appeared the
"Bibliotheque du Magnetisme Animal," and many others. About the same
time, the Abbe Faria, "the man of wonders," began to magnetise; and
the belief being that he had more of the Mesmeric fluid about him, and
a stronger will, than most men, he was very successful in his
treatment. His experiments afford a convincing proof that imagination
can operate all, and the supposed fluid none, of the resuits so
confidently claimed as evidence of the new science. He placed his
patients in an arm-chair; told them to shut their eyes; and then, in a
loud commanding voice, pronounced the single word, "Sleep!" He used no
manipulations whatever -- had no baquet, or conductor of the fluid;
but he nevertheless succeeded in causing sleep in hundreds of
patients. He boasted of having in his time produced five thousand
somnambulists by this method. It was often necessary to repeat the
command three or four times; and if the patient still remained awake,
the Abbe got out of the difficulty by dismissing him from the chair,
and declaring that he was incapable of being acted on. And here it
should be remarked that the magnetisers do not lay claim to a
universal efficacy for their fluid; the strong and the healthy cannot
be magnetised; the incredulous cannot be magnetised; those who reason
upon it cannot be magnetised; those who firmly believe in it can be
magnetised; the weak in body can be magnetised, and the weak in mind
can be magnetised. And lest, from some cause or other, individuals of
the latter classes should resist the magnetic charm, the apostles of
the science declare that there are times when even they cannot be
acted upon; the presence of one scorner or unbeliever may weaken the
potency of the fluid and destroy its efficacy. In M. Deleuze's
instructions to a magnetiser, he expressly says, "Never magnetise
before inquisitive persons!" ["Histoire Critique du Magnetisme
Animal," p. 60.] Yet the followers of this delusion claim for it the
rank of a science!

The numerous writings that appeared between the years 1813 and
1825 show how much attention was excited in France. With every
succeeding year some new discovery was put forth, until at last the
magnetisers seemed to be very generally agreed that there were six
separate and distinct degrees of magnetisation. They have been classed
as follow:-

In the first stage, the skin of the patient becomes slightly
reddened; and there is a feeling of heat, comfort, and lightness all
over the body; but there is no visible action on the senses.

In the second stage, the eye is gradually abstracted from the
dominion of the will (or, in other words, the patient becomes sleepy).
The drooping eyelids cannot be raised; the senses of hearing,
smelling, feeling, and tasting are more than usually excited. In
addition, a variety of nervous sensations are felt, such as spasms of
the muscles and prickings of the skin, and involuntary twitchings in
various parts of the body.

In the third stage, which is that of magnetic sleep, all the
senses are closed to external impressions; and sometimes fainting, and
cataleptic or apoplectic attacks may occur.

In the fourth stage, the patient is asleep to all the world; but
he is awake within his own body, and consciousness returns. While in
this state, all his senses are transferred to the skin. He is in the
perfect crisis, or magnetic somnambulism; a being of soul and mind --
seeing without eyes -- hearing without ears, and deadened in body to
all sense of feeling.

In the fifth stage, which is that of lucid vision, the patient can
see his own internal organisation, or that of others placed in
magnetic communication with him. He becomes, at the same time,
possessed of the instinct of remedies. The magnetic fluid, in this
stage, unites him by powerful attraction to others, and establishes
between them an impenetration of thought and feeling so intense as to
blend their different natures into one.

In the sixth stage, which is at the same time the rarest and the
most perfect of all, the lucid vision is not obstructed by opaque
matter, or subject to any barriers interposed by time or space. The
magnetic fluid, which is universally spread in nature, unites the
individual with all nature, and gives him cognizance of coming events
by its universal lucidity.

So much was said and written between the years 1820 and 1825, and
so many converts were made, that the magnetisers became clamorous for
a new investigation. M. de Foissac, a young physician, wrote to the
Academie Royale du Medicine a letter, calling for inquiry, in which he
complained of the unfairness of the report of Messrs. Bailly and
Franklin in 1784, and stating that, since that time, the science had
wholly changed by the important discovery of magnetic somnambulism. He
informed the Academy that he had under his care a young woman, whose
powers of divination when in the somnambulic state were of the most
extraordinary character. He invited the members of that body to go
into any hospital, and choose persons afflicted with any diseases,
acute or chronic, simple or complex, and his somnambulist, on being
put en rapport, or in magnetic connexion, with them, would infallibly
point out their ailings and name the remedies. She, and other
somnambulists, he said, could, by merely laying the hand successively
on the head, the chest, and the abdomen of a stranger, immediately
discover his maladies, with, the pains and different alterations
thereby occasioned. They could indicate, besides, whether the cure
were possible, and, if so, whether it were easy or difficult, near or
remote, and what means should be employed to attain this result by the
surest and readiest way. In this examination they never departed from
the sound principles of medicine. "In fact," added M. de Foissac, "I
go further, and assert that their inspirations are allied to the
genius which animated Hippocrates!"

In the mean time experiments were carried on in various hospitals
of Paris. The epileptic patients at the Salpetriere were magnetised by
permission of M. Esquirol. At the Bicetre also the same resuits were
obtained. M. de Foissac busied himself with the invalids at the
Hospice de la Charite, and M. Dupotet was equally successful in
producing sleep or convulsions at Val de Grace. Many members of the
Chamber of Deputies became converts, and M. Chardel, the Comte de
Gestas, M. de Laseases, and others, opened their saloons to those who
were desirous of being instructed in animal magnetism. [Dupotet's
Introduction to the Study of Animal Magnetism, page 23.] Other
physicians united with M. de Foissac in calling for an inquiry; and
ultimately the Academy nominated a preliminary committee of five of
its members, namely, Messrs Adelon, Burdin, Marc, Pariset, and Husson,
to investigate the alleged facts, and to report whether the Academy,
without any compromise of its dignity, could appoint a new commission.

Before this committee, M. de Foissac produced his famous
somnambulist; but she failed in exhibiting any one of the phenomena
her physician had so confidently predicted: she was easily thrown into
the state of sleep, by long habit and the monotony of the passes and
manipulations of her magnetiser; but she could not tell the diseases
of persons put en rapport with her. The committee of five framed
excuses for this failure, by saying, that probably the magnetic fluid
was obstructed, because they were "inexperienced, distrustful, and
perhaps impatient." After this, what can be said for the judgment or
the impartiality of such a committee? They gave at last their opinion,
that it would be advisable to appoint a new commission. On the l3th of
December 1825, they presented themselves to the Academie to deliver
their report. A debate ensued, which occupied three days, and in which
all the most distinguished members took part. It was finally decided
by a majority of ten, that the commission should be appointed, and the
following physicians were chosen its members:-- They were eleven in
number, viz. Bourdois de la Motte, the President; Fouquier, Gueneau de
Mussy, Guersent, Husson, Itard, Marc, J. J. Leroux, Thillay, Double,
and Majendie.

These gentlemen began their labours by publishing an address to
all magnetisers, inviting them to come forward and exhibit in their
presence the wonders of animal magnetism. M. Dupotet says that very
few answered this amicable appeal, because they were afraid of being
ridiculed when the report should be published. Four magnetisers,
however, answered their appeal readily, and for five years were busily
engaged in bringing proofs of the new science before the commission.
These were M. de Foissac, M. Dupotet, M. Chapelain, and M. de Geslin.
It would be but an unprofitable, and by no means a pleasant task to
follow the commissioners in their erratic career, as they were led
hither and thither by the four lights of magnetism above mentioned;
the four "Wills-o'-the-Wisp" which dazzled the benighted and
bewildered doctors on that wide and shadowy region of metaphysical
inquiry -- the influence of mind over matter. It will be better to
state at once the conclusion they came to after so long and laborious
an investigation, and then examine whether they were warranted in it
by the evidence brought before them.

The report, which is exceedingly voluminous, is classed under
thirty different heads, and its general tenor is favourable to
magnetism. The reporters expressly state their belief in the existence
of the magnetic fluid, and sum up the result of their inquiries in the
four assertions which follow:--

1. Magnetism has no effect upon persons in a sound state of
health, nor upon some diseased persons.

2. In others its effects are slight.

3. These effects are sometimes produced by weariness or ennui, by
monotony, and by the imagination.

4. We have seen these effects developed independently of the last
causes, most probably as the effects of magnetism alone.

It will be seen that the first and second of these sentences
presuppose the existence of that magnetic power, which it is the
object of the inquiry to discover. The reporters begin, by saying,
that magnetism exists, when after detailing their proofs, they should
have ended by affirming it. For the sake of lucidity, a favourite
expression of their own, let us put the propositions into a new form
and new words, without altering the sense.

1. Certain effects, such as convulsions, somnambulism, &c. are
producible in the human frame, by the will of others, by the will of
the patient himself, or by both combined, or by some unknown means, we
wish to discover, perhaps by magnetism.

2. These effects are not producible upon all bodies. They cannot
be produced upon persons in a sound state of health, nor upon some
diseased persons; while in other eases, the effects are very slight.

3. These effects were produced in many cases that fell under our
notice, in which the persons operated on were in a weak state of
health, by weariness or ennui, by monotony, and by the power of
imagination.

4. But in many other eases these effects were produced, and were
clearly not the result of weariness or ennui, of monotony, or of the
power of the imagination. They were, therefore, produced by the
magnetic processes we employed: -- ergo -- Animal Magnetism exists.

Every one, whether a believer or disbeliever in the doctrine, must
see that the whole gist of the argument will be destroyed, if it be
proved that the effects which the reporters claimed as resulting from
a power independent of weariness, monotony, and the imagination, did,
in fact, result from them, and from nothing else. The following are
among the proofs brought forward to support the existence of the
magnetic fluid, as producing those phenomena:--

"A child, twenty-eight months old, was magnetised by M. Foissac,
at the house of M. Bourdois. The child, as well as its father, was
subject to attacks of epilepsy. Almost immediately after M. Foissac
had begun his manipulations and passes, the child rubbed its eyes,
bent its head to one side, supported it on one of the cushions of the
sofa where it was sitting, yawned, moved itself about, scratched its
head and its ears, appeared to strive against the approach of sleep,
and then rose, if we may be allowed the expression, grumbling. Being
taken away to satisfy a necessity of nature, it was again placed on
the sofa, and magnetised for a few moments. But as there appeared no
decided symptoms of somnolency this time, we terminated the
experiment."

And this in all seriousness and sobriety was called a proof of the
existence of the magnetic fluid! That these effects were not produced
by the imagination may be granted; but that they were not produced by
weariness and monotony is not so clear. A child is seated upon a sofa,
a solemn looking gentleman, surrounded by several others equally
grave, begins to play various strange antics before it, moving his
hands mysteriously, pointing at his head, all the while preserving a
most provoking silence. And what does the child? It rubs its eyes,
appears restless, yawns, scratches its head, grumbles, and makes an
excuse to get away. Magnetism, forsooth! 'Twas a decided case of
botheration!

The next proof (so called), though not so amusing, is equally
decisive of the mystification of the Commissioners. A deaf and dumb
lad, eighteen years of age, and subject to attacks of epilepsy, was
magnetised fifteen times by M. Foissac. The phenomena exhibited during
the treatment were a heaviness of the eyelids, a general numbness, a
desire to sleep, and sometimes vertigo:-- the epileptic attacks were
entirely suspended, and did not return till eight months afterwards.
Upon this case and the first mentioned, the Committee reasoned thus:--
"These cases appear to us altogether worthy of remark. The two
individuals who formed the subject of the experiment, were ignorant of
what was done to them. The one, indeed, was not in a state capable of
knowing it; and the other never had the slightest idea of magnetism.
Both, however, were insensible of its influence; and most certainly it
is impossible in either case to attribute this sensibility to the
imagination." The first case has been already disposed of. With regard
to the second, it is very possible to attribute all the results to
imagination. It cannot be contended, that because the lad was deaf and
dumb he had no understanding, that he could not see the strange
manipulations of the magnetiser, and that he was unaware that his cure
was the object of the experiments that were thus made upon him. Had he
no fancy merely because he was dumb? and could he, for the same
reason, avoid feeling a heaviness in his eyelids, a numbness, and a
sleepiness, when he was forced to sit for two or three hours while M.
Foissac pointed his fingers at him? As for the amelioration in his
health, no argument can be adduced to prove that he was devoid of
faith in the remedy; and that, having faith, he should not feel the
benefit of it as well as thousands of others who have been cured by
means wholly as imaginary.

The third case is brought forward with a still greater show of
authority. Having magnetised the child and the dumb youth with results
so extraordinary, M. Foissac next tried his hand upon a Commissioner.
M. Itard was subjected to a course of manipulations; the consequences
were a flow of saliva, a metallic savour in the mouth, and a severe
headach. These symptoms, say the reporters, cannot be accounted for by
the influence of imagination. M. Itard, it should be remarked, was a
confirmed valetudinarian; and a believer, before the investigation
commenced, in the truth of magnetism. He was a man, therefore, whose
testimony cannot be received with implicit credence upon this subject.
He may have repeated, and so may his brother Commissioners, that the
results above stated were not produced by the power of the
imagination. The patients of Perkins, of Valentine Greatraks, of Sir
Kenelm Digby, of Father Gassner, were all equally positive: but what
availed their assertions? Experience soon made it manifest, that no
other power than that of imagination worked the wonders in their case.
M. Itard's is not half so extraordinary; the only wonder is, that it
should ever have been insisted upon.

The Commissioners having, as they thought, established beyond
doubt the existence of the magnetic fluid, (and these are all their
proofs,) next proceeded to investigate the more marvellous phenomena
of the science; such as the transfer of the senses; the capability of
seeing into one's own or other people's insides, and of divining
remedies; and the power of prophecy. A few examples will suffice.

M. Petit was magnetised by M. Dupotet, who asserted that the
somnambulist would be able to choose, with his eyes shut, a mesmerised
coin out of twelve others. The experiment was tried, and the
somnambulist chose the wrong one. [Report of the Commissioners, p.
153.]

Baptiste Chamet was also magnetised by M. Dupotet, and fell into
the somnambulic state after eight minutes. As he appeared to be
suffering great pain, he was asked what ailed him, when he pointed to
his breast, and said he felt pain there. Being asked what part of his
body that was, he said his liver. [Ibid, p. 137.]

Mademoiselle Martineau was magnetised by M. Dupotet, and it was
expected that her case would prove not only the transfer of the
senses, but the power of divining remedies. Her eyes having been
bandaged, she was asked if she could not see all the persons present?
She replied, no; but she could hear them talking. No one was speaking
at the time. She said she would awake after five or ten minutes sleep.
She did not awake for sixteen or seventeen minutes. She announced that
on a certain day she would be able to tell exactly the nature of her
complaint, and prescribe the proper remedies. On the appointed day she
was asked the question, and could not answer. [Report of the
Commissioners, p. 139.]

Mademoiselle Couturier, a patient of M. de Geslin, was thrown into
the state of somnambulism, and M. de Geslin said she would execute his
mental orders. One of the Committee then wrote on a slip of paper the
words "Go and sit down on the stool in front of the piano." He handed
the paper to M. de Geslin, who having conceived the words mentally,
turned to his patient, and told her to do as he required of her. She
rose up, went to the clock, and said it was twenty minutes past nine.
She was tried nine times more, and made as many mistakes. [Idem, p.
139.]

Pierre Cazot was an epileptic patient, and was said to have the
power of prophecy. Being magnetised on the 22nd of April, he said that
in nine weeks he should have a fit, in three weeks afterwards go mad,
abuse his wife, murder some one, and finally recover in the month of
August. After which he should never have an attack again. [Idem, p.
180] In two days after uttering this prophecy, he was run over by a
cabriolet and killed. [Foreign Quarterly Review, vol. xii. p. 439] A
post mortem examination was made of his body, when it was ascertained
beyond doubt, that even had he not met with this accident, he could
never have recovered. [At the extremity of the plexus choroides was
found a substance, yellow within, and white without, containing small
hydatids. -- Report oltre Commissioners, p. 186.]

The inquest which had been the means of eliciting these, along
with many other facts, having sat for upwards of five years, the
magnetisers became anxious that the report should be received by the
solemn conclave of the Academie. At length a day (the 20th of June
1831) was fixed for the reading. All the doctors of Paris thronged
around the hall to learn the result; the street in front of the
building was crowded with medical students; the passages were
obstructed by philosophers. "So great was the sensation," says M.
Dupotet, "that it might have been supposed the fate of the nation
depended on the result." M. Husson, the reporter, appeared at the bar
and read the report, the substance of which we have just extracted. He
was heard at first with great attention, but as he proceeded signs of
impatience and dissent were manifested on all sides. The unreasonable
inferences of the Commissioners -- their false conclusions - their too
positive assertions, were received with repeated marks of
disapprobation. Some of the academicians started from their seats, and
apostrophising the Commissioners, accused them of partiality or
stolidity. The Commissioners replied; until, at last, the uproar
became so violent that an adjournment of the sitting was moved and
carried. On the following day the report was concluded. A stormy
discussion immediately ensued, which certainly reflected no credit
upon the opponents of Animal Magnetism. Both sides lost temper - the
anti-magnetists declaring that the whole was a fraud and a delusion;
the pro-magnetists reminding the Academy that it was too often the
fate of truth to be scorned and disregarded for a while, but that
eventually her cause would triumph. "We do not care for your
disbelief," cried one, "for in this very hall your predecessors denied
the circulation of the blood!" - "Yes," cried another, "and they
denied the falling of meteoric stones!" while a third exclaimed
"Grande est veritas et praevalebit!" Some degree of order being at
last restored, the question whether the report should be received and
published was decided in the negative. It was afterwards agreed that a
limited number of copies should be lithographed, for the private use
of such members as wished to make further examination.

As might have been expected, magnetism did not suffer from a
discussion which its opponents had conducted with so much
intemperance. The followers of magnetism were as loud as ever in
vaunting its efficacy as a cure, and its value, not only to the
science of medicine, but to philosophy in general. By force of
repeated outcries against the decision of the Academie, and assertions
that new facts were discovered day after day, its friends, six years
afterwards, prevailed upon that learned and influential body to
institute another inquiry. The Academie, in thus consenting to renew
the investigation after it had twice solemnly decided (once in
conjunction with, and once in opposition to a committee of its own
appointment) that Animal Magnetism was a fraud or a chimera, gave the
most striking proof of its own impartiality and sincere desire to
arrive at the truth.

The new Commission was composed of M. Roux, the President; and
Messieurs Bouillard, Cloquet, Emery, Pelletier, Caventon, Oudet,
Cornac, and Dubois d'Amiens. The chief magnetiser upon the occasion
was M. Berna, who had written to the Academie on the 12th of February
1837, offering to bring forward the most convincing proofs of the
truth of the new "science." The Commissioners met for the first time
on the 27th of February, and delivered their report, which was drawn
up by M. Dubois d'Amiens, on the 22nd of August following. After a
careful examination of all the evidence, they decided, as Messieurs
Bailly and Franklin had done in 1784, that the touchings, imagination,
and the force of imitation would account satisfactorily for all the
phenomena; that the supposed Mesmeric fluid would not; that M. Berna,
the magnetiser, laboured under a delusion; and that the facts brought under their notice were anything but conclusive in favour of the doctrine of Animal Magnetism, and could have no relation either with physiology or with therapeutics.

The following abridgment of the report will show that the
Commissioners did not thus decide without abundant reason. On the 3rd
of March they met at the house of M. Roux, the President, when M.
Berna introduced his patient, a young girl of seventeen, of a
constitution apparently nervous and delicate, but with an air
sufficiently cool and self-sufficient. M. Berna offered eight proofs
of Animal Magnetism, which he would elicit in her case, and which he
classed as follow:--

1. He would throw her into the state of somnambulism.

2. He would render her quite insensible to bodily pain.

3. He would restore her to sensibility by his mere will, without
any visible or audible manifestation of it.

4. His mental order should deprive her of motion.

5. He would cause her, by a mental order, to cease answering in
the midst of a conversation, and by a second mental order would make
her begin again.

6. He would repeat the same experiment, separated from his patient
by a door.

7. He would awake her.

8. He would throw her again into the somnambulic state, and by his
will successively cause her to lose and recover the sensibility of any
part of her body.

Before any attempt at magnetisation was made by M. Berna, the
Commissioners determined to ascertain how far, in her ordinary state,
she was sensible to pricking. Needles of a moderate size were stuck
into her hands and neck, to the depth of half a line, and she was
asked by Messieurs Roux and Caventon whether she felt any pain. She
replied that she felt nothing; neither did her countenance express any
pain. The Commissioners, somewhat surprised at this, repeated their
question, and inquired whether she was absolutely insensible. Being
thus pressed, she acknowledged that she felt a little pain.

These preliminaries having been completed, M. Berna made her sit
close by him. He looked steadfastly at her, but made no movements or
passes whatever. After the lapse of about two minutes she fell back
asleep, and M. Berna told the Commissioners that she was now in the
state of magnetic somnambulism. He then arose, and again looking
steadfastly at her from a short distance, declared, after another
minute, that she was struck with general insensibility.

To ascertain this, the girl's eyes having been previously
bandaged, Messieurs Bouillard, Emery, and Dubois pricked her one after
the other with needles. By word she complained of no pain; and her
features, where the bandage allowed them to be seen, appeared calm and
unmoved. But M. Dubois having stuck his needle rather deep under her
chin, she immediately made with much vivacity a movement of
deglutition.

This experiment having failed, M. Berna tried another, saying that
he would, by the sole and tacit intervention of his will, paralyze any
part of the girl's body the Commissioners might mention. To avoid the
possibility of collusion, M. Dubois drew up the following
conditions:-- " That M. Berna should maintain the most perfect
silence, and should receive from the hands of the Commissioners
papers, on which should be written the parts to be deprived of motion
and sensibility, and that M. Berna should let them know when he had
done it by closing one of his eyes, that they might verify it. The
parts to be deprived of sensibility were the chin, the right thumb,
the region of the left deltoid, and that of the right patella." M.
Berna would not accept these conditions, giving for his reason that
the parts pointed out by the Commissioners were too limited; that,
besides, all this was out of his programme, and he did not understand
why such precautions should be taken against him.

M. Berna had written in his programme that he would deprive the
whole body of sensibility, and then a part only. He would afterwards
deprive the two arms of motion -- then the two legs -- then a leg and
an arm - then the neck, and lastly the tongue. All the evidence he
wished the Commissioners to have was after a very unsatisfactory
fashion. He would tell the somnambulist to raise her arm, and if she
did not raise it, the limb was to be considered paralyzed. Besides
this, the Commissioners were to make haste with their observations. If
the first trials did not succeed, they were to be repeated till
paralysis was produced. "These," as the Commissioners very justly
remarked, "were not such conditions as men of science, who were to
give an account of their commission, could exactly comply with." After
some time spent in a friendly discussion of the point, M. Berna said
he could do no more at that meeting. Then placing himself opposite the
girl, he twice exclaimed, "Wake!" She awakened accordingly, and the
sitting terminated.

At the second meeting, M. Berna was requested to paralyze the
right arm only of the girl by the tacit intervention of his will, as
he had confidently assured the Commissioners he could. M. Berna, after
a few moments, made a sign with his eye that he had done so, when M.
Bouillard proceeded to verify the fact. Being requested to move her
left arm, she did so. Being then requested to move her right leg, she
said the whole of her right side was paralyzed -- she could neither
move arm nor leg. On this experiment the Commissioners remark: "M.
Berna's programme stated that he had the power of paralyzing either a
single limb or two limbs at once, we chose a single limb, and there
resulted, in spite of his will, a paralysis of two limbs." Some other
experiments, equally unsatisfactory, were tried with the same girl. M.
Berna was soon convinced that she had not studied her part well, or
was not clever enough to reflect any honour upon the science, and he
therefore dismissed her. Her place was filled by a woman, aged about
thirty, also of very delicate health; and the following conclusive
experiments were tried upon her:-

The patient was thrown into the somnambulic state, and her eyes
covered with a bandage. At the invitation of the magnetiser, M. Dubois
d'Amiens wrote several words upon a card, that the somnambule might
read them through her bandages, or through her occiput. M. Dubois
wrote the word Pantagruel, in perfectly distinct roman characters;
then placing himself behind the somnambule, he presented the card
close to her occiput. The magnetiser was seated in front of the woman
and of M. Dubois, and could not see the writing upon the card. Being
asked by her magnetiser what was behind her head, she answered, after
some hesitation, that she saw something white -- something resembling
a card -- a visiting-card. It should be remembered that M. Berna had
requested M. Dubois aloud to take a card and write upon it, and that
the patient must have heard it, as it was said in her presence. She
was next asked if she could distinguish what there was on this card.
She replied "Yes; there was writing on it." -- "Is it small or large,
this writing?" inquired the magnetiser. "Pretty large," replied she.
"What is written on it?" continued the magnetiser. "Wait a little-I
cannot see very plain. Ah! there is first an M. Yes, it is a word
beginning with an M." [The woman thought it was a visiting-card, and
guessed that doubtless it would begin with the words Monsieur or
Madame.] M. Cornac, unknown to the magnetiser, who alone put the
questions, passed a perfectly blank card to M. Dubois, who substituted
it quietly for the one on which he had written the word Pantagruel.
The somnambule still persisted that she saw a word beginning with an
M. At last, after some efforts, she added doubtingly that she thought
she could see two lines of writing. She was still thinking of the
visiting-card, with a name in one line and the address on the other.

Many other experiments of the same kind, and with a similar
result, were tried with blank cards; and it was then determined to try
her with playing-cards. M. Berna had a pack of them on his table, and
addressing M. Dubois aloud, he asked him to take one of them and place
it at the occiput of the somnambule. M. Dubois asked him aloud whether
he should take a court card. "As you please," replied the magnetiser.
As M. Dubois went towards the table, the idea struck him that he would
not take either a court or a common card, but a perfectly blank card
of the same size. Neither M. Berna nor the somnambule was aware of the
substitution. He then placed himself behind her as before, and held
the card to her occiput so that M. Berna could not see it. M. Berna
then began to magnetise her with all his force, that he might
sublimate her into the stage of extreme lucidity, and effectually
transfer the power of vision to her occiput. She was interrogated as
to what she could see. She hesitated; appeared to struggle with
herself, and at last said she saw a card. "But what do you see on the
card?" After a little hesitation, she said she could see black and
red (thinking of the court card).

The Commissioners allowed M. Berna to continue the examination in
his own way. After some fruitless efforts to get a more satisfactory
answer from the somnambule, he invited M. Dubois to pass his card
before her head, close against the bandage covering her eyes. This
having been done, the somnambule said she could see better. M. Berna
then began to put some leading questions, and she replied that she
could see a figure. Hereupon, there were renewed solicitations from M.
Berna. The somnambule, on her part, appeared to be making great
efforts to glean some information from her magnetiser, and at last
said that she could distinguish the Knave. But this was not all; it
remained for her to say which of the four knaves. In answer to further
inquiries, she said there was black by the side of it. Not being
contradicted at all, she imagined that she was in the right track; and
made, after much pressing, her final guess, that it was the Knave of
Clubs.

M. Berna, thinking the experiment finished, took the card from the
hands of M. Dubois, and in presence of all the Commissioners saw that
it was entirely blank. Blank was his own dismay.

As a last experiment, she was tried with a silver medal. It was
with very great difficulty that any answers could be elicited from
her. M. Cornac held the object firmly closed in his hand close before
the bandage over her eyes. She first said she saw something round; she
then said it was flesh-coloured -- then yellow -- then the colour of
gold. It was as thick as an onion: and, in answer to incessant
questions, she said it was yellow on one side, white on the other, and
had black above it. She was thinking, apparently, of a gold watch,
with its white dial and black figures for the hours. Solicited, for
the last time, to explain herself clearly -- to say, at least, the use
of the object and its name, she appeared to be anxious to collect all
her energies, and then uttered only the word "hour." Then, at last, as
if suddenly illumined, she cried out that "it was to tell the hour."

Thus ended the sitting. Some difficulties afterwards arose between
the Commissioners and M. Berna, who wished that a copy of the proces
verbal should be given him. The Commissioners would not agree; and M.
Berna, in his turn, refused to make any fresh experiments. It was
impossible that any investigation could have been conducted more
satisfactorily than this. The report of the Commissioners was quite
conclusive; and Animal Magnetism since that day lost much of its
repute in France. M. Dupotet, with a perseverance and ingenuity worthy
a better cause, has found a satisfactory excuse for the failure of M.
Berna. Having taken care in his work not to publish the particulars,
he merely mentions, in three lines, that M. Berna failed before a
committee of the Royal Academy of Medicine in an endeavour to produce
some of the higher magnetic phenomena. "There are a variety of
incidental circumstances," says that shining light of magnetism,
"which it is difficult even to enumerate. An over-anxiety to produce
the effects, or any incidental suggestions that may disturb the
attention of the magnetiser, will often be sufficient to mar the
successful issue of the experiment." ["Introduction to the Study of
Animal Magnetism," by Baron Dupotet de Sennevoy, London, 1838, p.
159.] Such are the miserable shifts to which error reduces its
votaries!

While Dupotet thus conveniently forbears to dwell upon the
unfavourable decision of the committee of 1837, let us hear how he
dilates upon the favourable report of the previous committee of 1835,
and how he praises the judgment and the impartiality of its members.
"The Academie Royale de Medicine," says he, "put upon record clear and
authenticated evidence in favour of Animal Magnetism. The Comissioners
detailed circumstantially the facts which they witnessed, and the
methods they adopted to detect every possible source of deception.
Many of the Commissioners, when they entered on the investigation,
were not only unfavourable to magnetism, but avowedly unbelievers; so
that their evidence in any court of justice would be esteemed the most
unexceptionable that could possibly be desired. They were inquiring
too, not into any speculative or occult theory, upon which there might
be a chance of their being led away by sophistical representations,
but they were inquiring into the existence of facts only -- plain
demonstrable facts, which were in their own nature palpable to every
observer." ["Introduction to the Study of Animal Magnetism," p. 27.]
M. Dupotet might not unreasonably be asked whether the very same
arguments ought not to be applied to the unfavourable report drawn up
by the able M. Dubois d'Amiens and his coadjutors in the last inquiry.
If the question were asked, we should, in all probability, meet some
such a reply as this: -- "True, they might; but then you must consider
the variety of incidental circumstances, too numerous to mention! M.
Berna may have been over anxious; in fact, the experiments must have
been spoiled by an incidental suggestion!"

A man with a faith so lively as M. Dupotet was just the person to
undertake the difficult mission of converting the English to a belief
in magnetism. Accordingly we find that, very shortly after the last
decision of the Academie, M. Dupotet turned his back upon his native
soil and arrived in England, loaded with the magnetic fluid, and ready
to re-enact all the fooleries of his great predecessors, Mesmer and
Puysegur. Since the days of Perkinism and metallic tractors, until
1833, magnetism had made no progress, and excited no attention in
England. Mr. Colquhoun, an advocate at the Scottish bar, published in
that year the, till then, inedited report of the French commission of
1831, together with a history of the science, under the title of "Isis
Revelata; or, an Inquiry into the Origin, Progress, and present State
of Animal Magnetism." Mr. Colquhoun was a devout believer, and his
work was full of enthusiasm. It succeeded in awakening some interest
upon a subject certainly very curious, but it made few or no converts.
An interesting article, exposing the delusion, appeared in the same
year in the "Foreign Quarterly Review;" and one or two medical works
noticed the subject afterwards, to scout it and turn it
into ridicule. The arrival of M. Dupotet, in 1837, worked quite a
revolution, and raised Animal Magnetism to a height of favour, as
great as it had ever attained even in France.

He began by addressing letters of invitation to the principal
philosophers and men of science, physicians, editors of newspapers,
and others, to witness the experiments, which were at first carried on
at his own residence, in Wigmore-street, Cavendish-square. Many of
them accepted the invitation; and, though not convinced, were
surprised and confounded at the singular influence which he exercised
over the imagination of his patients. Still, at first, his success was
not flattering. To quote his own words, in the dedication of his work
to Earl Stanhope, "he spent several months in fruitless attempts to
induce the wise men of the country to study the phenomena of
magnetism. His incessant appeals for an examination of these novel
facts remained unanswered, and the press began to declare against
him." With a saddened heart, he was about to renounce the design he
had formed of spreading magnetism in England, and carry to some more
credulous people the important doctrines of which he had made himself
the apostle. Earl Stanhope, however, encouraged him to remain; telling
him to hope for a favourable change in public opinion, and the
eventual triumph of that truth of which he was the defender. M.
Dupotet remained. He was not so cruel as to refuse the English people
a sight of his wonders. Although they might be ungrateful, his
kindness and patience should be long enduring.

In the course of time his perseverance met its reward. Ladies in
search of emotions -- the hysteric, the idle, the puling, and the
ultra-sentimental crowded to his saloons, as ladies similarly
predisposed had crowded to Mesmer's sixty years before. Peers, members
of the House of Commons, philosophers, men of letters, and physicians
came in great numbers -- some to believe, some to doubt, and a few to
scoff. M. Dupotet continued his experiments, and at last made several
important converts. Most important of all for a second Mesmer, he
found a second D'Eslon.

Dr. Elliotson, the most conspicuous among the converts of Dupotet,
was, like D'Eslon, a physician in extensive practice -- a thoroughly
honest man, but with a little too much enthusiasm. The parallel holds
good between them in every particular; for, as D'Eslon had done before
him, Dr. Elliotson soon threw his master into the shade, and attracted
all the notice of the public upon himself. He was at that time
professor of the principles and practice of medicine at the University
College, London, and physician to the hospital. In conjunction with M.
Dupotet, he commenced a course of experiments upon some of the
patients in that institution. The reports which were published from
time to time, partook so largely of the marvellous, and were
corroborated by the evidence of men whose learning, judgment, and
integrity it was impossible to call in question, that the public
opinion was staggered. Men were ashamed to believe, and yet afraid to
doubt; and the subject at last became so engrossing that a committee
of some of the most distinguished members of the medical profession
undertook to investigate the phenomena, and report upon them.

In the mean time, Dr. Elliotson and M. Dupotet continued the
public exhibition at the hospital; while the credulous gaped with
wonder, and only some few daring spirits had temerity enough to hint
about quackery and delusion on the part of the doctors, and imposture
on the part of the patients. The phenomena induced in two young women,
sisters, named Elizabeth and Jane Okey, were so extraordinary that
they became at last the chief, if not the only proofs of the science
in London. We have not been able to meet with any reports of these
experiments from the pen of an unbeliever, and are therefore compelled
to rely solely upon the reports published under the authority of the
magnetisers themselves, and given to the world in "The Lancet" and
other medical journals.

Elizabeth Okey was an intelligent girl, aged about seventeen, and
was admitted into the University College hospital, suffering under
attacks of epilepsy. She was magnetised repeatedly by M. Dupotet in
the autumn of 1837, and afterwards by Dr. Elliotson at the hospital,
during the spring and summer of 1838. By the usual process, she was
very easily thrown into a state of deep unconscious sleep, from which
she was aroused into somnambulism and delirium. In her waking state
she was a modest well-behaved girl, and spoke but little. In the
somnambulic state, she appeared quite another being; evinced
considerable powers of mimicry; sang comic songs; was obedient to
every motion of her magnetiser; and was believed to have the power of
prophesying the return of her illness -- the means of cure, and even
the death or recovery of other patients in the ward.

Mesmer had often pretended in his day that he could impart the
magnetic power to pieces of metal or wood, strings of silk or cord,
&c. The reader will remember his famous battery, and the no less
famous tree of M. de Puysegur. During the experiments upon Okey, it
was soon discovered that all the phenomena could be produced in her,
if she touched any object that had been previously mesmerised by the
will or the touch of her magnetiser. At a sitting, on the 5th of July
1838, it was mentioned that Okey, some short time previously, and
while in the state of magnetic lucidity, had prophesied that, if
mesmerised tea were placed in each of her hands, no power in nature
would be able to awake her until after the lapse of a quarter of an
hour. The experiment was tried accordingly. Tea which had been touched
by the magnetiser was placed in each hand, and she immediately fell
asleep. After ten minutes, the customary means to awaken her were
tried, but without effect. She was quite insensible to all external
impressions. In a quarter of an hour, they were tried with redoubled
energy, but still in vain. She was left alone for six minutes longer;
but she still slept, and it was found quite impossible to wake her. At
last some one present remarked that this wonderful sleep would, in all
probability, last till the tea was removed from her bands. The
suggestion was acted upon, the tea was taken away, and she awoke in a
few seconds. ["Lancet," vol. ii. 1837-8, p. 585.]

On the 12th of July, just a week afterwards, numerous experiments
as to the capability of different substances for conveying the
magnetic influence were tried upon her. A slip of crumpled paper,
magnetised by being held in the hand, produced no effect. A penknife
magnetised her immediately. A piece of oilskin had no influence. A
watch placed on her palm sent her to sleep immediately, if the metal
part were first placed in contact with her; the glass did not affect
her so quickly. As she was leaving the room, a sleeve-cuff made of
brown-holland, which had been accidentally magnetised by a spectator,
stopped her in mid career, and sent her fast to sleep. It was also
found that, on placing the point of her finger on a sovereign which
had been magnetised, she was immediately stupified. A pile of
sovereigns produced sleep; but if they were so placed that she could
touch the surface of each coin, the sleep became intense and
protracted.

Still more extraordinary circumstances were related of this
patient. In her state of magnetic sleep, she said that a tall black
man, or negro, attended her, and prompted the answers she was to give
to the various perplexing questions that were put to her. It was also
asserted that she could use the back of her hand as an organ of
vision. The first time this remarkable phenomenon was said to have
been exhibited was a few days prior to the 5th of July. On the latter
day, being in what was called a state of loquacious somnambulism, she
was asked by Dr. Elliotson's assistant whether she had an eye in her
hand. She replied that "it was a light there, and not an eye." "Have
you got a light anywhere else?" -- "No, none anywhere else." -- "Can
you see with the inside as well as the out?" -- "Yes; but very little
with the inside."

On the 9th of July bread with butter was given to her, and while
eating it she drank some magnetised water, and falling into a stupor
dropped her food from her hand and frowned. The eyes, partially
closed, had the abstracted aspect that always accompanies
stupefaction. The right-hand was open, the palm upwards; the left,
with its back presented anteriorly, was relaxed and curved. The bread
being lost, she moved her left-hand about convulsively until right
over the bread, when a clear view being obtained, the hand turned
suddenly round and clutched it eagerly. Her hand was afterwards
wrapped in a handkerchief; but then she could not see with it, and
laid it on her lap with an expression of despair.

These are a few only of the wonderful feats of Elizabeth Okey.
Jane was not quite so clever; but she nevertheless managed to bewilder
the learned men almost as much as her sister. A magnetised sovereign
having been placed on the floor, Jane, then in the state of delirium,
was directed to stoop and pick it up. She stooped, and having raised
it about three inches, was fixed in a sound sleep in that constrained
position. Dr. Elliotson pointed his finger at her, to discharge some
more of the mesmeric fluid into her, when her hand immediately relaxed
its grasp of the coin, and she re-awoke into the state of delirium,
exclaiming, "God bless my soul!"

It is now time to mention the famous gold-chain experiment which
was performed at the hospital upon Elizabeth Okey, in the presence of
Count Flahault, Dr. Lardner, Mr. Knatchbull the professor of Arabic in
the University of Oxford, and many other gentlemen. The object of the
experiment was to demonstrate that, when Okey held one end of a gold
chain, and Dr. Elliotson, or any other magnetiser, the other, the
magnetic fluid would travel through the chain, and, after the lapse of
a minute, stupify the patient. A long gold chain having been twice
placed around her neck, Dr. Elliotson at once threw her into a state
of stupor. It was then found that, if the intermediate part of the
chain were twisted around a piece of wood, or a roll of paper, the
passage of the fluid would be checked, and stupor would not so
speedily ensue. If the chain were removed, she might be easily thrown
into the state of delirium; when she would sing at the request of her
magnetiser; and, if the chain were then unrolled, her voice would be
arrested in the most gradual manner; its loudness first diminishing --
the tune then becoming confused, and finally lost altogether. The
operations of her intellect could be checked, while the organs of
sound would still continue to exert themselves. For instance, while
her thoughts were occupied on the poetry and air of Lord Byron's song,
"The Maid of Athens," the chain was unrolled; and when she had reached
the line, "My life, I love you!" the stupor had increased; a cold
statue-like aspect crept over the face -- the voice sank -- the limbs
became rigid -- the memory was gone -- the faculty of forecasting the
thoughts had departed, and but one portion of capacity remained --
that of repeating again and again, perhaps twenty times, the line and
music which had last issued from her lips, without pause, and in the
proper time, until the magnetiser stopped her voice altogether, by
further unrolling the chain and stupifying her. On another trial, she
was stopped in the comic song, "Sir Frog he would a wooing go," when
she came to the line,

"Whether his mother would let him or no;"

while her left hand outstretched, with the chain in it, was moving up
and down, and the right toe was tapping the time on the floor; and
with these words and actions she persevered for fifty repetitions,
until the winding of the chain re-opened her faculties, when she
finished the song. ["Lancet," vol. ii. 1837-8, p.617.]

The report from which we have extracted the above passage further
informed the public and the medical profession, and expected them to
believe, that, when this species of stupefaction was produced while
she was employed in any action, the action was repeated as long as the
mesmeric influence lasted. For instance, it was asserted that she was
once deprived of the motion of every part of her body, except the
right forefinger, with which she was rubbing her chin; and that, when
thrown into the trance, she continued rubbing her chin for several
minutes, until she was unmagnetised, when she ceased. A similar result
was obtained when she was smoothing down her hair; and at another time
when she was imitating the laughter of the spectators, excited beyond
control by her clever mimicry. At another time she was suddenly thrown
into the state of delirious stupor while pronouncing the word "you,"
of which she kept prolonging the sound for several minutes, with a
sort of vibrating noise, until she was awakened. At another time,
when a magnetised sovereign was given to her, wrapped up in paper, she
caught it in her hand, and turned it round flatwise between her
fingers, saying that it was wrapped up "very neatly indeed." The
mesmeric influence caught her in the remark, which she kept repeating
over and over again, all the while twirling the sovereign round and
round until the influence in the coin had evaporated.

We are also told of a remarkable instance of the force of the
magnetic power. While Elizabeth Okey was one day employed in writing,
a sovereign which had been imbued with the fluid was placed upon her
boot. In half a minute her leg was paralyzed -- rooted to the floor --
perfectly immovable at the joints, and visited, apparently, with pain
so intense that the girl writhed in agony. "The muscles of the leg
were found," says the report, "as rigid and stiff as if they had been
carved in wood. When the sovereign was removed, the pain left her in a
quarter of a minute. On a subsequent day, a mesmerised sovereign was
placed in her left hand as it hung at her side, with the palm turned
slightly outwards. The hand and arm were immediately paralyzed --
fixed with marble-like firmness." No general stupor having occurred,
she was requested to move her arm; but she could not lift it a
hair's-breadth from her side. On another occasion, when in a state of
delirium, in which she had remained three hours, she was asked to
describe her feelings when she handled any magnetised object and went
off into the stupor. She had never before, although several times
asked, given any information upon the subject. She now replied that,
at the moment of losing her senses through any manipulations, she
experienced a sensation of opening in the crown of her head; that she
never knew when it closed again; but that her eyes seemed to become
exceedingly large; -- three times as big as before. On recovering from
this state, she remembered nothing that had taken place in the
interval, whether that interval were hours or days; her only sensation
was that of awakening, and of something being lifted from her eyes.

The regular publication of these marvellous experiments,
authenticated as they were by many eminent names, naturally excited
the public attention in an extreme degree. Animal Magnetism became the
topic of discussion in every circle -- politics and literature were
for a time thrown into the shade, so strange were the facts, or so
wonderful was the delusion. The public journals contented themselves
in many instances with a mere relation of the results, without giving
any opinion as to the cause. One of them which gave a series of
reports upon the subject, thus described the girl, and avowed its
readiness to believe all that was related of her. [Morning Post, March
2, 1838.] "Her appearance as she sits, as pale and almost as still as
a corpse, is strangely awful. She whistles to oblige Dr. Elliotson: an
incredulous bystander presses his fingers upon her lips; she does not
appear conscious of the nature of the interruption; but when asked to
continue, replies in childish surprise, 'it can't.' This state of
magnetic semi-existence will continue we know not how long. She has
continued in it for twelve days at a time, and when awakened to real
life forgets all that has occurred in the magnetic one. Can this be
deception? We have conversed with the poor child her ordinary state as
she sat by the fire in her ward, suffering from the headach, which
persecutes her almost continually when not under the soothing fluence
of the magnetic operation, and we confess we never beheld anybody less
likely to prove an impostor. We have seen Professor Faraday exerting
his acute and sagacious powers for an hour together, in the endeavour
to detect some physical discrepancy in her performance, or elicit some
blush of mental confusion by his naive and startling remarks. But
there was nothing which could be detected, and the professor candidly
confessed that the matter was beyond his philosophy to unravel."

Notwithstanding this sincere, and on the point of integrity,
unimpeachable evidence in her favour; notwithstanding that she
appeared to have no motives for carrying on so extraordinary and
long-continued a deception, the girl was an impostor, and all these
wise, learned, and contemplative men her dupes. It was some time,
however, before this fact was clearly established, and the delusion
dissipated by the clear light of truth. In the mean time various other
experiments on the efficacy of the supposed magnetic power were tried
in various parts of England; but the country did not furnish another
epileptic girl so clever as Elizabeth Okey. An exhibition of the kind
was performed on a girl named Sarah Overton, at the workhouse of the
parish of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. The magnetiser on this occasion
was Mr. Bainbridge, the parish surgeon. It is but justice to him to
state, that he conducted the experiments with the utmost fairness, and
did not pretend to produce any of the wondrous and incredible
phenomena of other practitioners. This girl, whose age was about
twenty, had long been subject to epileptic fits, and appeared
remarkably simple and modest in her manners and appearance. She was
brought into the room and placed in a chair. About twenty gentlemen
were present. Mr. Bainbridge stationed himself behind, and pointed his
fingers at her brain, while his assistant in front made the magnetic
passes before her eyes, and over her body. It cannot be said that her
imagination was not at work; for she had been previously magnetised,
and was brought in with her eyes open, and in complete possession of
all her faculties. No means had been taken to prevent interruption
during the sitting; new visiters continually arrived, and the noise of
the opening and shutting of the door repeatedly called from Mr.
Bainbridge a request that all should be kept silent. The girl herself
constantly raised her head to see who was coming in; but still, in
direct contradiction to M. Dupotet, and, indeed, all the magnetisers,
who have repeated over and over again, that interruption destroys the
magnetic power, she fell into a deep sleep at the end of about twelve
minutes. In this state, which is that called "Mesmeric Coma," she was
quite insensible. Though pulled violently by the hair, and pricked on
the arm with a pin, she showed no signs of consciousness or feeling.
In a short time afterwards, she was awakened into the somnambulic or
delirious state, when she began to converse freely with the persons
around her, but more especially with her magnetiser. She would sing if
required, and even dance in obedience to his command, and pretended to
see him although her eyes were closely blindfolded with a
handkerchief. She seemed to have a constant tendency to fall back into
the state of coma, and had to be aroused with violence every two or
three minutes to prevent a relapse. A motion of the hand before her
face was sufficient to throw her, in the middle of a song, into this
insensible state; but it was observed particularly that she fell at
regular intervals, whether any magnetic passes were made at her or
not. It was hinted aloud to a person present that be should merely
bend his body before her, and she would become insensible, and fall to
the ground. The pass was made, and she fell accordingly into the arms
of a medical gentleman, who stood behind ready to receive her. The
girl having been again aroused into the state of delirium, another
person, still audibly, was requested to do the same. He did not; but
the girl fell as before. The experiments were sufficient to convince
the author that one human being could indubitably exercise a very
wonderful influence over another; but that imagination only, and not
the mesmeric fluid, was the great agent by which these phenomena could
be produced in persons of strong faith and weak bodies.

Some gentlemen present were desirous of trying whether any of the
higher mesmeric states, such as that of lucidity and clairvoyance
could be produced. Mr. Bainbridge was willing to allow the experiment
to be made, but previously expressed his own doubts upon the subject.
A watch was then put into her bosom, the dial plate and glass against
her skin, to ascertain whether she could see without the intervention
of the organs of sight. She was asked what hour it was; and was
promised a shilling if she would tell by the watch which had been
placed in her bosom. She held out her hand for the shilling, and
received it with great delight. She was then asked if she could see
the watch? She said "no -- not a watch; she could see something --
something that was very pretty indeed." "Come, come, Sally," said Mr.
Bainbridge, "you must not be so stupid; rouse up, girl, and tell us
what o'clock it is, and I'll give you another shilling!" The girl at
this time seemed to be relapsing into a deep sleep; but on being
shaken, aroused herself with a convulsive start. In reply to further
questions, she said, "she could see a clock, a very pretty clock,
indeed!" She was again asked, five or six times, what the hour was:
she at last replied that "it was ten minutes to two." The watch being
then taken out of her bosom, it was found to be on the stroke of two.
Every one present, including the magnetiser, confessed that there was
nothing wonderful in the conjecture she had hazarded. She knew
perfectly well what hour it was before she was brought into the ward,
as there was a large clock in the workhouse, and a bell which rang at
dinner time; she calculated mentally the interval that had since
elapsed, and guessed accordingly. The same watch was afterwards
advanced four or five hours, and put into her bosom without a word
being said in her hearing. On being again asked what o'clock it was by
that watch, and promised another shilling if she would tell, she still
replied that it was near two -- the actual time. Thus, as Mr.
Bainbridge had predicted, the experiment came to nothing. The whole
case of this girl offered a striking instance of the power of
imagination, but no proof whatever of the supposed existence of the
magnetic fluid.

The Medical Committee of the University College Hospital took
alarm at a very early period at the injury which might be done to that
Institution, by the exhibitions of Okey and her magnetisers. A meeting
was held in June 1838, at which Dr. Elliotson was not present, to take
into consideration the reports of the experiments that had been
published in the Medical Journals. Resolutions were then passed to the
effect, that Dr. Elliotson should be requested to refrain from further
public exhibitions of mesmerism; and, at the same time, stating the
wish of the Committee not to interfere with its private employment as
a remedial agent, if he thought it would be efficacious upon any of
the patients of the Institution. Dr. Elliotson replied, that no
consideration should prevent him from pursuing the investigation of
Animal Magnetism; but that he had no desire to make a public
exhibition of it. He had only given lectures and demonstrations when
numbers of scientific gentlemen were present; he still continued to
receive numerous letters from learned and eminent men, entreating
permission to witness the phenomena; but if the Committee willed it,
he should admit no person without their sanction. He shortly
afterwards sent a list of the names of individuals who were anxious to
witness the experiments. The Committee returned it to him unread, with
the reply that they could not sanction any exhibition that was so
entirely foreign to the objects of the Hospital. In answer to this,
Dr. Elliotson reiterated his full belief in the doctrines of Animal
Magnetism, and his conviction that his experiments would ultimately
throw a light upon the operations of nature, which would equal, if not
exceed, that elicited by the greatest discoveries of by-gone ages. The
correspondence dropped here; and the experiments continued as usual.

The scene, however, was drawing to a close. On the 25th of August,
a notice was published in the Lancet, to the effect, that some
experiments had been performed on the girls Elizabeth and Jane Okey,
at the house of Mr. Wakley, a report of which was only withheld in the
hope that the Committee of Members of the Medical Profession, then
sitting to investigate the phenomena of mesmerism, would publish their
report of what they had witnessed. It was further stated, that whether
that Committee did or did not publish their report, the result of the
experiments at Mr. Wakley's house should certainly be made known in
the next number of that journal. Accordingly, on the 1st of September
appeared a statement, which overthrew, in the most complete manner,
the delusion of mesmerism. Nothing could have been better conducted
than these experiments; nothing could be more decisive of the fact,
that all the phenomena were purely the results of the excited
imaginations of the girls, aided in no slight degree by their wilful
deception.

The first experiments were performed on the 16th of August, in the
presence of Mr. Wakley, M. Dupotet, Dr. Elliotson, Dr. Richardson, Mr.
Herring, Mr. Clarke, and Mr. G. Mills the writer of the published
reports of the experiments at the University College Hospital. Dr.
Elliotson had said, that nickel was capable of retaining and
transmitting the magnetic fluid in an extraordinary degree; but that
lead possessed no such virtues. The effects of the nickel, he was
confident, would be quite astounding; but that lead might always be
applied with impunity. A piece of nickel was produced by the Doctor,
about three quarters of an ounce in weight, together with a piece of
lead of the same shape and smoothness, but somewhat larger. Elizabeth
Okey was seated in a chair; and, by a few passes and manipulations,
was thrown into the state of "ecstatic delirium." A piece of thick
pasteboard was then placed in front of her face, and held in that
situation by two of the spectators, so that she could not see what was
passing either below or in front of her. Mr. Wakley having received
both the nickel and the lead, seated himself opposite the girl, and
applied the lead to each hand alternately, but in such a manner as to
lead her to believe that both metals had been used. No effect was
produced. The nickel magnetised by Dr. Elliotson was, after a pause,
applied in a similar manner. No results followed. After another pause,
the lead was several times applied, and then again the nickel. After
the last application of the nickel, the face of the patient became
violently flushed, the eyes were convulsed into a startling squint,
she fell back in the chair, her breathing was hurried, her limbs
rigid, and her back bent in the form of a bow. She remained in this
state for a quarter of an hour.

This experiment was not considered a satisfactory proof of the
magnetic powers of the nickel; and Dr. Elliotson suggested that, in
the second experiment, that metal should alone be tried. Mr. Wakley
was again the operator; but, before commencing, he stated privately to
Mr. Clarke, that instead of using nickel only, he would not employ the
nickel at all. Mr. Clarke, unseen by any person present, took the
piece of nickel; put it into his waistcoat pocket; and walked to the
window, where he remained during the whole of the experiment. Mr.
Wakley again sat down, employing both hands, but placing his fingers
in such a manner, that it was impossible for any person to see what
substance he held. Presently, on applying his left hand, the girl's
vision being still obstructed by the pasteboard, Mr. Herring, who was
standing near, said in a whisper, and with much sincerity, "Take care,
don't apply the nickel too strongly." Immediately the face of the girl
became violently red, her eyes were fixed in an intense squint, she
fell back convulsively in her chair, and all the previous symptoms
were produced more powerfully than before. Dr. Elliotson observed that
the effects were most extraordinary; that no other metal than nickel
could produce them, and that they presented a beautiful series of
phenomena. This paroxysm lasted half an hour. Mr. Wakley retired with
Dr. Elliotson and the other gentlemen into an adjoining room, and
convinced them that he had used no nickel at all, but a piece of lead
and a farthing.

This experiment was twice repeated with the same results. A third
trial was made with the nickel, but no effect was produced.

On the succeeding day the experiments were repeated upon both the
sisters, chiefly with mesmerised water and sovereigns. The
investigation occupied about five hours, and the following were the
results:--

1. Six wine glasses, filled with water unmesmerised, were placed
on a table, and Jane Okey being called in, was requested to drink from
each of them successively. She did so, and no effect was produced.

2. The same six glasses stood on the table, the water in the
fourth having been subjected for a long time to the supposed magnetic
influence. She was requested in like manner to drink of these. She did
so, and again no effect was produced, although, according to the
doctrine of the magnetisers, she ought to have been immediately fixed
on drinking of the fourth.

3. In this experiment the position of the glasses was changed.
There was no result.

4. Was a repetition of the foregoing. No result.

5. The water in all the glasses was subjected to the supposed
magnetic influence from the fingers of Dr. Elliotson, until, in his
opinion, it was strongly magnetised. Still no result.

6. The glasses were filled up with fresh water unmesmerised. No
result.

7. The water was strongly magnetised in each glass, and the girl
emptied them all. No result.

It would be needless to go through the whole series of
experiments. The results may be briefly stated. Sovereigns
unmesmerised threw the girls into convulsions, or fixed them.
Mesmerised sovereigns sometimes did and sometimes did not produce
these symptoms. Elizabeth Okey became repeatedly fixed when drinking
unmagnetised water; while that which had been subjected to the powers
of a supposed magnetic battery, produced no results. Altogether
twenty-nine experiments were tried, which convinced every one present,
except Dr. Elliotson, that Animal Magnetism was a delusion, that the
girls were of very exciteable imaginations, and arrant impostors.

Their motives for carrying on so extraordinary a deception have
often been asked. The question is easily answered. Poor girls, unknown
and unnoticed, or, if noticed, perhaps despised, they found themselves
all at once the observed of all observers, by the really remarkable
symptoms of their disease, which it required no aid from magnetism to
produce. Flattered by the oft-repeated experiments and constant
attentions of doctors and learned men, who had begun by deluding
themselves, they imagined themselves persons of vast importance, and
encouraged by degrees the whims of their physicians, as the means of
prolonging the consideration they so unexpectedly enjoyed. Constant
practice made them at last all but perfect in the parts they were
performing; and they failed at last, not from a want of ingenuity, or
of a most wonderful power over their own minds, and by their minds
upon their bodies, but from the physical impossibility of seeing
through a thick pasteboard, or into the closed hands of Mr. Wakley.
The exposure that was made was complete and decisive. From that day
forth, magnetism in England has hid its diminished head, and affronted
no longer the common sense of the age. M. Dupotet is no more heard of,
the girls Okey afford no more either wonder or amusement by their
clever acting, and reason has resumed her sway in the public mind.

A few more circumstances remain to be stated. Elizabeth Okey left
the hospital; but was re-admitted some weeks afterwards, labouring
under ischuria, a fresh complaint, unconnected with her former malady.
As experiments in magnetism were still tried upon her privately,
notwithstanding the recent exposure and the all but universal derision
of the public, the House Committee of the hospital, early in December,
met to consider the expediency of expelling the girl. Dr. Elliotson,
on that occasion, expressed his opinion that it was necessary to
retain her in the hospital, as she was too ill to be discharged. It
was then elicited from the nurse, who was examined by the Committee,
that Okey, when in the state of "magnetic delirium," was in the habit
of prophesying the death or recovery of the patients in the ward;
that, with the consent of Dr. Elliotson, she had been led in the
twilight into the men's ward, and had prophesied in a similar manner;
her predictions being taken down in writing, and given in a sealed
paper to the apothecary, to be opened after a certain time, that it
might be seen whether they were verified. Dr. Elliotson did not deny
the fact. The nurse also stated more particularly the manner in which
the prophecies were delivered. She said that, on approaching the bed
of a certain patient, Okey gave a convulsive shudder, exclaiming that
"Great Jacky was sitting on the bedclothes!" On being asked to explain
herself, she said that Great Jacky was the angel of death. At the
bedside of another patient she shuddered slightly, and said "Little
Jacky was there!" Dr. Elliotson did not altogether discredit the
predictions; but imagined they might ultimately be verified by the
death or recovery of the patient. Upon the minds of the patients
themselves, enfeebled as they were by disease and suffering, the worst
effects were produced. One man's death was accelerated by the
despondency it occasioned, and the recovery of others was seriously
impeded.

When these facts became known, the Council of the College
requested the Medical Committee to discharge Okey and prevent any
further exhibitions of Animal Magnetism in the wards. The latter part
of this request having been communicated to Dr. Elliotson, he
immediately sent in his resignation. A successor was afterwards
appointed in the person of Dr. Copland. At his inaugural lecture the
students of the college manifested a riotous disposition, called
repeatedly for their old instructor, and refused to allow the lecture
to proceed; but it appears the disturbance was caused by their respect
and affection for Dr. Elliotson individually, and not from any
participation in his ideas about magnetism.

Extravagant as the vagaries of the English professors of magnetism
may appear, they are actual common sense in comparison with the
aberrations of the Germans. The latter have revived all the exploded
doctrines of the Rosicrucians; and in an age which is called
enlightened, have disinterred from the rubbish of antiquity, the
wildest superstitions of their predecessors, and built upon them
theories more wild and startling than anything before attempted or
witnessed among mankind. Paracelsus and Bohmen, Borri and Meyer, with
their strange heterogeneous mixture of alchymy and religion, but paved
the way for the stranger, and even more extravagant mixture of
magnetism and religion, as now practised in Germany. Magnetism, it is
believed, is the key of all knowledge, and opens the door to those
forbidden regions where all the wonders of God's works are made clear
to the mind of man. The magnetic patient is possessed of all gifts --
can converse with myriads of spirits, and even with God himself -- be
transported with greater rapidity than the lightning's flash to the
moon or the stars, and see their inhabitants, and hold converse with
them on the wonders and beauties of their separate spheres, and the
power and goodness of the God who made them. Time and space are to
them as if annihilated -- nothing is hidden from them -- past,
present, or future. They divine the laws by which the universe is
upheld, and snatch the secrets of the Creator from the darkness in
which, to all other men, it is enveloped. For the last twenty or
thirty years these daring and blasphemous notions have flourished in
rank luxuriance; and men of station in society, learning, and apparent
good sense in all the usual affairs of life, have publicly given in
their adhesion, and encouraged the doctrine by their example, or
spread it abroad by their precepts. That the above summary of their
tenets may not he deemed an exaggeration we enter into particulars,
and refer the incredulous that human folly in the present age could
ever be pushed so far, to chapter and verse for every allegation.

In a work published in Germany in 1817, by J. A. L. Richter,
entitled "Considerations on Animal Magnetism," the author states that
in magnetism is to be found the solution of the enigmas of human
existence, and particularly the enigmas of Christianity, on the mystic
and obscure parts of which it throws a light which permits us to gaze
clearly on the secrets of the mystery. Wolfart's "Annals of Animal
Magnetism" abound with similar passages; and Kluge's celebrated work
is written in the same spirit. "Such is the wonderful sympathy," says
the latter, "between the magnetiser and the somnambulist that he has
known the latter to vomit and be purged in consequence of medicine
which the former had taken. Whenever he put pepper on his tongue, or
drank wine, the patient could taste these things distinctly on her
palate." But Kerner's history of the case of Madame Hauffe, the famous
magnetic woman, "Seer" or "Prophetess of Prevorst," Will give a more
complete and melancholy proof of the sad wanderings of these German
"men of science," than any random selections we might make from their
voluminous works. This work was published in two volumes, and the
authenticity of its details supported by Gorres, Eschenmeyer, and
other men of character and reputation in Germany: it is said to have
had an immense sale. She resided in the house of Kerner, at Weinsberg;
and being weak and sickly, was very easily thrown into a state of
somnambulism. "She belonged," says Kerner, "to a world of spirits; she
was half spirit herself; she belonged to the region beyond death, in
which she already half existed. * * * Her body clothed her spirit like
a thin veil. * * * She was small and slightly made, had an Oriental
expression of countenance, and the piercing eyes of a prophet, the
gleams of which were increased in their power and beauty by her long
dark eyebrows and eyelashes. She was a flower of light, living upon
sunbeams. * * * Her spirit often seemed to be separated from her
frame. The spirits of all things, of which mankind in general have no
perception, were perceptible to and operated upon her, more
particularly the spirits of metals, herbs, men, and animals. All
imponderable matters, even the rays of light, had an effect upon her
when she was magnetised." The smell of flint was very agreeable to
her. Salt laid on her hand caused a flow of saliva: rock crystal laid
on the pit of her stomach produced rigidity of the whole body. Red
grapes produced certain effects, if placed in her hands; white grapes
produced different effects. The bone of an elk would throw her into an
epileptic fit. The tooth of a mammoth produced a feeling of
sluggishness. A spider's web rolled into a ball produced a prickly
feeling in the hands, and a restlessness in the whole body. Glow-worms
threw her into the magnetic sleep. Music somnambulised her. When she
wanted to be cheerful, she requested Kerner to magnetise the water she
drank, by playing the Jew's-harp. She used to say in her sleep,
"Magnetise the water by seven vibrations of the harp." If she drank
water magnetised in this manner, she was constrained involuntarily to
pour forth her soul in song. The eyes of many men threw her into the
state of somnambulism. She said that in those eyes there was a
spiritual spark, which was the mirror of the soul. If a magnetised rod
were laid on her right eye, every object on which she gazed appeared
magnified.

It was by this means that she was enabled to see the inhabitants of
the moon. She said, that on the left side of the moon, the inhabitants
were great builders, and much happier than those on the right side. "I
often see," said she to her magnetiser, "many spirits with whom I do
not come into contact. Others come to me, and I speak to them; and
they often spend months in my company. I hear and see other things at
the same time; but I cannot turn my eyes from the spirits; they are in
magnetic rapport with me. They look like clouds, thin, but not
transparent; though, at first, they seem so. Still, I never saw one
which cast a shadow. Their form is similar to that which they
possessed when alive; but colourless, or grey. They wear clothing; and
it appears as if made of clouds, also colourless and misty grey. The
brighter and better spirits wear long garments, which hang in graceful
folds, with belts around their waists. The expression of their
features is sad and solemn. Their eyes are bright, like fire; but none
of them that I ever saw had hair upon their heads. They make noises
when they wish to excite the attention of those who have not the gift
of seeing them. These noises consist of sounds in the air, sometimes
sudden and sharp, and causing a shock. Sometimes the sounds are
plaintive and musical; at other times they resemble the rustling of
silk, the falling of sand, or the rolling of a ball. The better
spirits are brighter than the bad ones, and their voice is not so
strong. Many, particularly the dark, sad spirits, when I uttered words
of religious consolation, sucked them in, as it were; and I saw them
become brighter and quite glorious in consequence: but I became
weaker. Most of the spirits who come to me are of the lowest regions
of the spiritual world, which are situated just above our atmosphere.
They were, in their life, grovelling and low-minded people, or such as
did not die in the faith of Jesus; or else such as, in expiring,
clung to some earthly thought or affection, which now presses upon
them, and prevents them from soaring up to heaven. I once asked a
spirit whether children grew after death? 'Yes,' replied the spirit,'
the soul gradually expands, until it becomes as large as it would have
been on earth. I cannot effect the salvation of these spirits; I am
only their mediator. I pray ardently with them, and so lead them by
degrees to the great Saviour of the world. It costs an infinity of
trouble before such a soul turns again to the Lord.'"

It would, however, serve no good purpose to extend to greater
length the reveries of this mad woman, or to set down one after the
other the names of the magnetisers who encouraged her in her delusions
-- being themselves deluded. To wade through these volumes of German
mysticism is a task both painful and disgusting -- and happily not
necessary. Enough has been stated to show how gross is the
superstition even of the learned; and that errors, like comets, run in
one eternal cycle -- at their apogee in one age, at their perigee in
the next, but returning in one phase or another for men to wonder at.

In England the delusion of magnetism may for the present be
considered as fairly exploded. Taking its history from the
commencement, and tracing it to our own day, it can hardly be said,
delusion though it was, that it has been wholly without its uses. To
quote the words of Bailly, in 1784, "Magnetism has not been altogether
unavailing to the philosophy which condemns it: it is an additional
fact to record among the errors of the human mind, and a great
experiment on the strength of the imagination." Over that vast inquiry
of the influence of mind over matter, -- an inquiry which the embodied
intellect of mankind will never be able to fathom completely, -- it
will, at least, have thrown a feeble and imperfect light. It will have
afforded an additional proof of the strength of the unconquerable
will, and the weakness of matter as compared with it; another
illustration of the words of the inspired Psalmist, that "we are
fearfully and wonderfully made." If it serve no other purpose than
this, its history will prove useful. Truth ere now has been elicited
by means of error; and Animal Magnetism, like other errors, may yet
contribute its quota towards the instruction and improvement of
mankind.

THE END.

Project Gutenberg's Etext of Extraordinary Popular Delusions V3

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