history of animal magnetism in England, analogous to that which was formed by the appearance of the Histoire Critique, by Deleuze, in France. On my arrival in England, in 1837, I found that many persons who attended my demonstrations possessed a general knowledge of the principles of animal magnetism; but there being no permanent magnetic clinique in this city, the majority had never had an opportunity of personally observing the effects which are produced. This desideratum it was my intention to supply. At the North London hospital, in the presence of many scientific persons, professors of medicine, and students, I commenced my operations, and I feel myself fully warranted in stating that I succeeded in convincing many members of the profession of the reality of the magnetic influence.* Hence Dr. Elliotson, in one of his clinical lectures, delivered shortly afterwards, stated that he had already, in 1829, been convinced by Mr. Chenevix that there was something more than imagination in the effects produced; but that he had neither opportunity nor time to proceed with the investigation until my arrival in town. He then details the symp * An ably written pamphlet was published shortly after I had commenced my demonstrations, entitled "A Short Sketch of Animal Magnetism, intended to direct attention to the propriety of practically examining that question. By a Physician. Hatchard and Son, London." To the author of this brochure, and to some other gentlemen who are not personally known to me, I beg to return my acknowledgments for the unsolicited public testimony they have borne to the integrity with which my séances are conducted. The good opinion of conscientious men does more than compensate for the abuse and calumnies by which I have been assailed by certain critics, whose personal obscurity, doubtless, inspired them with the usual assassin-courage of anonymous slanderers. toms which were exhibited by several patients magnetised by me at the hospital, and concludes with this declaration :—" Now, so far as the facts had gone, that is, those that had come under his own notice, he believed in what he should call Mesmerism, he was never ashamed to declare what he believed; he had little respect for authorities; when he saw facts like those he had observed in the cases manipulated on by Baron Dupotet, he must believe them. The whole profession might laugh, but he must believe that there was a peculiar power which gave rise to the phenomena which he had observed, and that it was not sufficiently known or appreciated."* It is to me gratifying to add, that the magnetic mode of treatment has been, since this period, adopted in the wards of this hospital, and that several members of the profession have been induced to try it in private practice.+ Hence I am sanguine enough to believe that animal magnetism in England will, ere long, attain the same rank as a science which it already enjoys on the continent; and in the meantime, undisturbed by the ridicule of the ignorant or the abuse of the vulgar, I shall persevere in demonstrating its principles, fully assured that the innate force and power of truth will eventually triumph over the hostilities which may temporarily embarrass, but never permanently affect, its progres sion. * Report of Dr. Elliotson's Clinical Lecture, in the Lancet for Saturday, September 9, 1837. Vol. ii. p. 866, et seq. Vide Appendix I. II. III. + Vide Appendix IV. V. CHAPTER XII. EXPLICATION OF THE PHENOMENA OF ANIMAL MAGNETISM-TENDENCY OF THE DOCTRINE. THE phenomena of animal magnetism having been repeatedly demonstrated to the satisfaction even of the most incredulous, various speculative attempts have been made to explain them. The human mind is naturally disposed to theorise; restless of advancement, it is apt to supply the void of real knowledge by phantasies of its own creation. Hence, in the early ages of the world, eclipses, meteors, every unusual appearance in nature, was readily accounted for by supposing it a special revelation from heaven to warn kings and kingdoms of their approaching destiny. This intuitive desire of satisfying our conviction by prematurely explaining, in some way or other, every fact which falls under our observation, has given rise in science to a host of absurd theories, many of which have seriously impeded the progress of human knowledge. Upon this principle we have seen that the ancients, the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, ascribed all the phenomena of somnambulism to direct inspiration from the gods;—so also, in the middle ages, the learned and the unlearned regarded somnambulists so affected by the arts of sorcery and witchcraft, as demoniacally possessed; and, with nearly as much sagacity, the commissioners of the French academy, in 1784, ascribed all the phenomena to three omnipotent causes-imagination, imitation, and manual contact (attouchement.) In thus prematurely hazarding imperfect explications of the magnetical phenomena, it is not to be concealed that many of the inveterate antagonists of the doctrine imagine that they strip the facts themselves, which, be it observed, they are constrained by the force of evidence to admit, of their specific identity as magnetical results, and reduce them to the level of ordinary effects arising from causes altogether independent of the magnetic influence. They strain their ingenuity to devise a theory for the express purpose of annulling the importance of the very facts which they are bound to acknowledge;-a motive which is certainly unworthy of any person who professes to be the advocate of truth. Imagination has been one of the most favourite of these hypotheses. It has solved more mysteries than the sphynx herself. Let us, however, examine seriatim, these theories; we shall find not one of them is at all adequate to explain the magnetical phenomena. I. IMAGINATION.-Without entering into any lengthened discussion on the powers and effects of the imagination, I shall briefly refer to certain facts already detailed, which must completely subvert this theory: 1. It has been shewn that infants are very easily thrown into a magnetic state. 2. Persons, during their natural sleep, are very susceptible of the magnetic action; they soon, under its influence, become disturbed, and somnambulism and all the higher magnetical phenomena successively en sue. 3. It has been most distinctly proved that persons can be magnetised at a distance, through the intervention of screens, doors, and thick walls, when they are not aware even of the presence or intention of the magnetiser. 4. Animals, the organisation of whose nervous system is similar to ours, [the vertebrata] may also be magnetised.* From the Memoirs and Recollections of Count Ségur, the ambassador at the courts of Russia and Prussia, we learn that, about the year 1778, the doctrines of Mesmer excited a considerable sensation in Paris. "I was accompanied," observes the Count, "in this singular school by men whose names are not without some weight in the scale, since among them I am enabled to cite those of Count de Gébelin, Olavidès, d'Espréménel, de Jaucourt, de Chastellux, de Choiseul, Gouffier, de la Fayette, and a crowd of other persons distinguished in letters and the sciences, without mentioning medical men who were secretly concerned in the business, and who will no doubt give me credit for not writing them on my list as bashful Mesmerians, privately agreeing there was some truth in the discovery, but censuring it openly out of respect for the faculty." He then relates the following anecdote :"The queen, one day, entered on this subject with me, and seemed to take a pleasure in repeating all the severe and amusing jokes which were circulated in such abundance at our expense. It was in vain that I wished to discuss the matter; she would not hear me, and merely said,' How can you expect us to listen to your follies, when seven commissioners of the Academy of Sciences have declared that your magnetism is only the effect of a heated imagination?" Madam, replied I, rather hurt by the above remark, I respect this learned decree, but as veterinary surgeons have magnetised horses, and produced effects of which they attest the veracity, I could wish to be informed whether it was those horses that had too much imagination, or whether it was the learned doctors who were deficient in it. She laughed, and thus ended our conversation on animal magnetism."-Memoirs and Recollections of Count |