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MESMERISM
ITS
OPPONENTS.
GEORGE
SANDBY,
M.A.
VICAR
OP
rMXTON,
SUPFOLK.
**
AU
things
are
marked
and
stamped
with
this
triple
haracter;
of
the
power
qf
God,
the
difference
o/wa/wre,
and
the
use
qfman
Bacon,
Advancement
of
Learnings
book
ii.
Gratia
docet
de omni
re,
et
in
orani
scientta
utilitatis
fructum,
atque-
Dei
landem
et
konorem
quserere.
Thomas A
Kempis,
De Imitatione
Christi,
lib. iii.
54..
^ttaviti
Haitian,
CONSIDERABLY
ENLARGED,
WITH
AN
INTRODUCTORY
CHAPTER.
LONDON:
LONGMAN,
BKOWN, GREEN,
AND
LONGMANS,
FATEBNOSTSB-BOW.
1848.
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L
:
S
R
S
N
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To
CAPTAIN
JOHN
JAMES,
ETC.
ETC. ETC.
I
CANNOT
dedicate
this
little
Work
more
appro-riately
than
to
you,
through
whom I
became first
acquainted
with the
great
truths of which it
treats,
and
to
whose
kindness and cordial
sym-athy
I
am
so
deeply
indebted.
Believe
me
to
remain.
My
dear
rriencl,
Yours
most
sincerely,
GEORGE
SANDBY,
Jun.
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PREFACE
TO
THE
SECOND
EDITION.
In
presenting
fresh
edition of
my
little work
to
the
Public,
perhaps
I shall be
pardoned
if
I
submit
a
few
pre-iminary
observations
as
to
its
nature
and
origin
for
the
earnest
part
that I take in the
promotion
of the somewhat
unpopular
subject
of which it
treats
has
probably
excited
surprise.
With
many,
I
appear
to
be
stepping
aside from
my
own vocation,
in
a cause
where far
abler
men
have
failed before
me,
with little other
prospect
than
that of
losing
the
good
opinion
of the
judicious,
nd of
incurring
an
unnecessary
amount
of
ill-will
and
misrepresentation.
With
others,
the
move
is.
regarded
as
one,
that
profes-ionally
pursues
a
wrong,
or
at
least,
n
unusual direction
;
and
the
conventionalist
and
the
fastidious
give
me,
there-ore,
their cold
contempt.
For all
this,
and
more
I
am
.prepared.
My object
s
to
do
good,
great
and essential
good
to
the
many
and
to
the miserable
;
and
a
littleodium
and
ridicule
can
be
easily
overborne.
And
yet
(as
is
the
case
most
commonly
in the
world)
my
motives
have
been
rather
of
a
mixed
nature
;
and
neither is
the
matter
of the
volume
so
very
unprofessional.
To
treat
of the real
bearing
of
Mesmerism
on
religion
nd
on
religious
inds
;
to
disabuse the
pious
but
prejudiced
Christian
of his
scruples
as
to
its
use
*
;
and to
justify
y
friends
and
*
A letter
from
Mr.
Symes,
surgeon,
of Grosvenor
Street,published
in
the 18th
No.
of
the
Zoist,
shows
a
melancholy
instance
of conscientious
delusion,
arising
from
ignorance.^p.
171.
A
3
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VI PREFACE TO
THE
myself
or
our own
practice
this
was
my
original
esign
other branches
of
the
subject
presented
hemselves
inci-entally
by
the
way
;
experience
nd
opportunity
nabled
me
to
give
information
where
much
was
wanted;
one
thing
led
to
another,
till,
t
last,
little
tract,
that
was
commenced with the sole
purpose
of
dealing
ith
a
mis-pplied
doctrine of
Scripture,
welled
into
the
present
heterogeneous
able of
contents
;
and
the
whole
aspect
or
the
questionpassed
nder review.
Providential circumstances
had
led
me
to an
acquaint*,
ance
with
Mesmerism,
for which I
have
still
the
greatest
reason
to
bless God.
Superstition,
owever,
has
its
slaves
in
every
spot;
and
I
was
soon
pelted
with
pamphlets
through
the
post,
and made the
mark
for
grave
and
evil-
natured
censure.
Satan and
his
emissaries
were
said
to
have
crept
into
my
house
unawares
;
and
the
anathema
of Mr. M'Neile
were
called
arguments
in
proof.
Some
slight
otice
seemed
desirable
;
and
I therefore
purposed
to
examine
the
melancholybigotry
hat
prompted
these
reproaches,
nd show how the
very
same
ignorance
ad
equally
assailed,ven
in
recent
times,
remedies
and dis-overie
the
innocency
f
which
could
now
be
no
longer
Called
in
question.
t
was
explained
o
the
well-meaning
opponent,
that
phenomena,
which shocked
his
faith and
distracted his
devotions,
ere
the
harmless
result of
a
simple
process
in
nature,
and
were
merely
remarkable
because
they
were new.
I
was
immediately
et
by
the
very
opposite
rgument.
If,
it
was
replied,
Mesmerism
be
neither
preternatural
nor
Satanic,
your
faith
as a
Christian
is
not
the
less
placed
in
jeopardy
for
wonders
and
cures
similar
in
degree
to
those
which
your
own
science
boasts
of,
are
recorded
in
the Old
and
New
Testaments,
nd
form,
in
fact,
the
basis
on
which
allbeliefin
them
is
grounded
:
if
the
one
be
onlyof
nature,
so
also
must
be the
other.
'
These
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SECOND
EDITION.
Vli
views
are
more
prevalent
han
it
may
be
at
first
suspected,
and
their
birthplace
ill
be
found
in
Germany,
Eichter
*,
rector
of the
principal
ucal
school
at
Dessau,
when
pub-ishing
some
years
back
Considerations
on
Animal
Mag-etism,
stated
that
magnetism
solves
those
enigmas
which
appertain
especially
o
Christianity;
nd
added,
that
all
the
miracles
of the New
Testament
were
performed
by
this
extraordinary
gency.
The
rector
declared
further,
hat St.
Paul,
Luther,
and
the Saviour
were
all
magnetists.
ichorn
and
Professor
Paulus,
with their
rationalistic
interpretations,
ay
be
considered
as
the
originators
f
a
doctrine,
hich the
deisticalmesmerists
of
Germany
caught
hold
of
and
improved,
It is
character-stic
of
this
theory,
ays
a
writer
of
a
congenialhough
different
school
(that
of
Strauss)
nd whose Lectures in
London obtained
recently
ome
notoriety,
to
regard
Christ
as
a
wise
man,
healing
isease
by
felicitous
accident,
by
medical
skill,
r
by
the
natural
action
of his faith
;
and in
every
narrative of miracle
to cast
about
for
some
supposable
erm
of
fact,
out
of
which
the mistake
or
exaggerationight
have
innocently
rown.
Speaking
of
Eichorn,
the
same
lecturer
observes,
While
men
were
ignorant
oj
nature
and her
laws,
they
made
every
thing
supernatural
nd divine.
Useful inventions
were
deemed
special
orkings
of the
mind
of God. Eichorn considers
that there
was
no
fraud
in the
matter
of
miracles,
nly
the
colouring
hich fact
receives from the
opinions
f
the
narrator,
nd that
the
miracles
were
natural
occurrences,
misunderstood
and
misreported. f
r.
Justice
Coleridge,
in
his
Kecollections of
his
great
kinsman,
says,
Returning
to
the
Germans,
he
(Coleridge)
aid the
state
of
their
*
Not
the
famous
Jean
Paul,
nor
any
relation.
He
was
a
man
of
pro-ound
erudition,
and
a
great
mathematician
and
critic,
nd
was
well known
in
Germany.
He
died about three
years
back.
[
arwood's
Anti-supernatuialism,
.
2.
\
Ibid.
p.
7,
8.
A
4
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Vm
PREFACE
TO
THE
religion,
hen
he
was
in
Grermany,
as
really
shocking.
He found
professors
n the
universities
lecturing
against
material
points
n
the
Gospel.
He
instanced
Paulus,
whose
lectures
he
attended
:
the
object
as
to resolvethe
miracles,
into
natural
operations. *
erman
rationalism,
as
may-e
seen,
therefore,
as
the
school which
first
applied
he
wonders
of
Mesmerism
in
support
of
a
deistical
heory,?
It
was
easy
for
the
rationalist
to
say,
that
the
miracles
of
our
Divine Master
were
natural occurrences,
ut
it
Was
not
so
easy
to
find
a
key
by
which
their
hypothesis
could
be
explained
and
magnetism
seemed
to
ofier
a
ready:
solution
for
the
difficulty.
he
suggestion
as
adoptedi
in all
haste
by
the
warm
German
mind,
which
so
loves
the marvellous
;
the idea
spread
quickly
into
France,
and
took
deep
root
in its infidel
soil,
s
is
seen
by
many
of
their
publications
n
the
subjectf;
nd
soon
crossed
over
into this
country
with
other continental
importations.
s
a
knowledge
of
Mesmerism
gainedground
in
England,
o
did this
persuasion
advance
also,
and,
forming
in
the
Mesmeric
world
a
distinct
school,
ave
serious
uneasiness
to
many
pious
friends
of
the
cause.
Of
this
it is
as
idle
to
pretend
n
ignorance,
s
it
would
be
to
be blind
to
the
approach
f
an
enemy,
and
then
hope
that that
enemy
had
no
existence.
Neither
would
it
be
reasonable
to
blame
Mesmerism
for
the
tenet,
and
exclaim
against
its
practice
as
the
source
of such
unhallowed
opinions.
Which
of
God's
gifts
ave
not
been turned
against
he
Giver
?
It
*
Coleridge's
able
Talk,
vol.
ii.
p.
346.
f
See
particularly
he
writings
f MM.
Mialle,
and
Foissac
and
Theodore
Bouys.
^
Mr.
Cummlng,
the
eloquent
inister
of
the
Scottish
Church
in
Loudon
says
beautifully
n
a
charming
little
tract,
called
Infant
Salvation
A
repugnance
to
a
truth
may
invent
innumerable
objections.
.
.
Evil
men
can
turn
any mercy
into
means
of
evil.
...
To
object
to
a
doctrine
because
it
may
be
abused,
or
to
rejectitibecause
it
may
be
perverted,
s
just
to
imitate
the
man
who
would
cut
down
a beautiful
fruit-tree,
ecause
caterpillars
find
food from
its
leaves,
nd
spiders
eave
their
webs
amid
its
branches
p.
34.
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SKCOND
EDITION.
IX
was
far
better
to
meet
the evil
at
once,
to
point
out
the
broad line of
separation
hat
runs
between the
two
princi-les,
and
to
show with
what
unexamining
haste
the
theory
had
been
adopted.
And
this I
determined,
with
God's
help,
to
attempt,
and
to
clear
away
the cloud
of
mysticism
hat
hung
over
the
subject.
Thus there
were
two
most
adverse
antagonists
o
deal
with,
those
who
elevated
a
newly-found
physical
nfluence into
the
magic
of Satan
;
and those who
strove to
retranslatethe
super-atural
back
into the
natural.
*
I
combated both
in
succession;
and
have
some reason
to
hope
that
my
labours
have
not
been
altogether
ruitless,
f
Again
was
I
met
from
a
fresh
quarter
with
a
not
unfre-
quent
objection,
an
objection,
lso,
more
plausible
han
real. Mesmerism
was
immoral;
why,
then,
incur
an
odium from the
advocacy
f
a
system
that
was
liable
to
grave
abuses,
and whence
painful
results had
:
actually
arisen?
Here,
also,
it
was
requisite
o
show
that the
alleged
vils
were
not
essential
to
the
practice
that
if
they
existed,
they
did
not
counterbalance
the
far
greater
advantages;
hat
they
need
not
exist
at
all,
f the
conditions
and
rules
which the
leading
Mesmerists
had
established
were
carefully
bserved
;
and
if
not observed,
that
the
opportunities
or
wrong-doing
ere
scarcely
reater
than
those
which
accompanied
everal
parts
of
medical
treat-ent.
The
use
of
opiates
ad
its
evils
;
to
this
might
now
be
added
the
intoxicating
ffects from
the inhalation
*
Expression
in
Harwood's
Anti-supernaturalism.
ee also
on
this
subi
ject
a recent
and
popular
French
work,
Salverte's
Philosophy
of
Apparent
Miracles,
r
Les
Sciences
Oceultes,
f
The late
Charlotte
Elizabeth,
he
editress of
the
Christian
Lady's
Magazine,
J
in
her
Ijetter
o
Miss
Martineau
on
Mesmerism,
also
places
some
magnetic
wonders
on
a
level
with
the
miracles,
though
on
different
principles
o
those
mentioned above. She
considers
them
as
diabolical
**
imitations,
devised
by
Satan
to
throw
soul-destroying
oubts
on
the
miracles
of
the
Saviour.
p.
13. Hence
the
increased
necessity
or dis-inguishi
between
them.
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X
PKEEACB
TO
THl
of
ether,
n
wMch,
morally,
have
never
yet
heard
even
the
hint of
an
objection,
hough
every
one
may
see
to
what
vile
purposes
it
might
be rendered subservient.
But
so
it
is in this
world;
give
an
adversary
n
evil
name,
and
there
is
no
crime
of
which he
will
not
be
deemed
capable.
Opium
and
ether
may,
according
o
the
proverb,
alk
within the
stable-door,
nd
place
their hands
on
the
neck
of
the
animal,
and
no
harm is
feared
or
suspected
while
poor
Mesmerism
cannot
even
cast
a
glance
within
the
precincts,
ut
an
outcry
is
straightway
aised
by
these
drug-admiringurists,
s
to
all
our
morals
being
im-erille
by
a
strange
and
anomalous
remedy
Thus
far,
then,
the
argument
of
my
little
work
might
be
regarded
s
steictly
efensive.
I
had
to
show,
in self-
justification
lone,
that
a
discovery,
rom
which
I
had
largely
profited,
as
neither
satanic,
nor
immoral,
nor
subversive of
Gospel
evidence,
or one
which
a
Christian,
need fear
to
encourage
;
and
here
the
demonstration
might
have
stopped
but,
having
once
adventured
into the
field,
I felt
that
it
was
idle
to
withdraw
tillthe best
results
of
my
own
practice
nd
observation
were
offered
to
the
service
of
the sick
room. This,
of
course,
was
to
pass
the
professional
arrier,
and
to
expose
myself
to
the
usual
charge
of
ignorance
nd
interference. But it
was a
good
cause
and
a
righteous,
was
able
show
to
the
medical
sceptic,
rom
my
own
experience
nly,
that
most
of
the
reasons
on
which he
grounded
his
disbelief
were
based
on
mistaken
and
hastilydopted
views,
in
direct contradiction
to
the
actual
workings
of
nature,
I
was
anxious,
also,
to
encourage
the relativesof
many
a
sufferer
in
their
employ-ent
of
a
healing
and
merciful
art,
by
the
relation
of
what I had
myself
seen,
and
done,
and
studied. For
oftentimes,ndeed,
has
some
sad invalid
been
presented
o
my
notice,
the
racking
gony
of his
pains,
the
wasted
helplessness
f
his
form,
the
despairing
isery
of
his
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SECOND
EDITION.
xi
^ySj
or
the
fever of
his
brain
have,
as
the
case
may
have
been,
given
fearful
indications
of
the
past
and
of
the
future;
hope
and
reliefhad
in
vain
been
sought
through
the
ordinary
ppliances
Soft,
gentlest,
riendlyleep
Sweet
holiday
Of
all
earth's
good
the
help,
Or
origin *
had for
hours
and
nights
een absent
from
the
chamber
But
at
length
the
soothing
and
of
the
Mesmerist
is
sum-oned;
his
gentle,patient,
persevering
reatment
is
adopted
and
pursued
;
and
then,
after
a
time,
what
a
change
what
a
healthful
happy
transformation
comes
over
the whole
system
of
one
so
lately
nd
so
fearfully
afflicted
A
new
life
Flows
through
his
renovated
frame
;
His
limbs,
that
late
were
sore
and
stiff,
Feel
all
the
freshness
of
repose
;
His
dizzy
brain
is
calm'd
;
The
heavy
aching
of
his
lids
is
gone
;
For
Laila,
from the
bowers
of
paradise,
Has
borne
the
healing
fruit
f
That,
too,
which
was
the
most
wanted,
the
most
courted,
the
most
ardentlyrayed
for,
and the
most
diffi-ult
to
obtain,
is
now
the
first
to
reappear,
and
the
easiest
to
be
secured.
Great
nature's
second
course,
balm
of
hurt
minds,
chief nourisher
in
life's
feast,
ollows
readily
and
peacefully
rom the
composing
hand.
The
magnetist
returns,
and
in
a
little
moment
Day
is
over,
night
is
here
;
Closed
are
the
eye
and
ear
In
sleep,
n
sleep
Fain
is
silent
:
toil
reposes
:
*
* *
*
Neither
moan
nor
weep
:
Dreams
and
all
the
race
of
Fear
Fade
away
and
disappear
In
the
deepestdeep
l |
*
Barry
Cornwall,Fragments,
239.
f
Thalaba,
book ii.
p.
9,
J
Barry
Cornwall,
Fragments,
39.
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XU
PREFACE
TO
THE
Thishave
I
seen
over
and
over
again,
and with
all
the
attendant
blessings
f
oonvalespence
and
therefore
is
it,
that I
am
so
earnestly,
nd,
perchance,
o
unwisely
en-husiastic
in
pressing
he
merits
of
this
marvellous
power
upon
the notice
of
a
numerous
and
benevolent
profession.
The
present
edition
(which
I have
endeavoured
to
make
a
littleHandbook
of
Mesmerism,
from
its
replies
o
our
very
opposite
opponents,
nd
from its
information
tinder various heads
for different
inquirers,)
ontains a
large
mount
of
new
matter.
An
introductory
hapter
n
the
opposition
f scientific
and
medical
men
to
the claims
of Mesmerism
is first
given,
with tables
of
surgicalperations
hat have
been
performedduring
mesmeric
insensibility.
heir
number
will be
found
to
be
greater
than is
generallyupposed.
Several
recent
paniphlets,
hat have
reasserted
the
charge
of
irreligion
nd satanie
agency,
are
examined
;
and
some
curious
quotations
rom
sermons
and
tracts,
in
which the
very
same
accusations
against
noculation
were
published
bout
a
century
back,
are
laid before
the
reader
for
his instruction
and
amusement.
The
conduct
of the
Church
of Rome in
regard
to
Mes-erism
is
given
in the first
chapter.
The
statement
is
both
interesting
nd
important.
In
the seventh
chapter,
large
variety
f fresh
instances
of natural
ecstatics and
sleepwalkers
ill be found. The
close
relation,
r
rather
identity,
f
the
singular
henomena
that
they
have
manifested
with
phenomena
that
have since
been
developed
n
mesmeric
patients,
rove
the truthfulness
and
genuine
character
of the latter.
It
will
be
seen,
moreover,
that
the former
are
not isolated
cases
(as
it
isasserted
in the
British
and
Foreign
Medical
Review
for
April,
1845),
but
extremely
umerous;
for
many
more
than
I
have
given
could
be
added.
The
argument,
then.
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SECOND EDITION. XIU
that
they
furnish
is
a
useful
one,
and is
pressed
n
the
reader's
attention.
Facts of
this
description,
hieli
arise
in
the
order
of
nature,
and
agree
in
the
main,
and
vary
only
with
the
accidents of
climate,creed,
and
constitution,
show
the
conformity
f
Mesmerism
with
general
xpe-ience.
They
strengthen
he
reasoning
hat
Mr. Towns-
hend
brings
orward
in his third
book,
to
prove
that
the
magnetic
ondition
is
not
an
insulated
phenomenon,'nor
n
interruption
o
the
universal
order,
but
a
link in
the
eternal chain of
things. p.184.)
And
the
more
that
the
student
of
nature
shall
examine
the
history
of
the
cataleptic
nd
ecstatic
state,
as
recorded
by
different
religious
riters,
owards the
confirmation
of their
respec-ive
faiths,
the
more
will
he
perceive good
ground
for
understanding
hat Mesmerism
is
nothing
else
than
a
simplereproductiony
artificial
eans
of real
phenomena
and
facts
that
are as
old
as
the
creation.
An additional
chapter
will
be
also
given,
embracing
practical
nformation for
the
use
of
the
learner.
Instruc-ions
in
the
art
of
mesmerising
id
not
fair
within
the
original
urposes
with which
this
work
was
commenced,
and the
subject
as
omitted
in
the
first
edition.
But
I
have
been
so
frequentlyppealed
o
by
letter
for
guidance
in
the
management
of
a
patient
and
parties,iving
t
a
distance,
and
deprived
of
the
opportunity
f
personal
observation,
(the
best
school after
all,)
ave
so
often
expressed
he
opinion
hat
information
on
that head
was a
desideratum
in
the
book,
that
I have
endeavoured
to
supply
the omission.
My
own
experience,
hich
is
now
neither
slight
or
superficial,
ill
form
the
basis
of
the
instruction.
But
copious
information
from
Deleuze,
EUiotson,
Gauthier,
Townshend,
Teste,
and
other
writers
and
authorities
on
the
subject
ill
be
introduced.
If the
student
wishes
to
pursue
the
subject
ore
in
detail,
he Instruction
Pratique
of
the
excellentand sober-
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2ilV
PREFACE
TO
THE
SECUHU
JiuixiujN.
minded
Deleuze
is
the
first
book
that
I
should
recommend.
There
is
an
English
translation,
of the merits of which
I
know
nothing.
Gauthier's
Traite
Pratique
abounds
with
information
and
knowledge
of
the
subject,
but
it
has
the
besetting
sin
of
many
French
treatises,
being
too
voluminous
and
prolix.
Mr.
Bailli^re
of
Regent
Street has
published
a
transla-ion
of.
Teste's
Practical
Manual
;
in
fact,
every
book
On
Mesmerism will
be
found
in
his excellent
shop.
Last of
all,
Dr. EUiotson's Letters in
the
Zoist,
con-aining
the narrative of
his
principal
cases,
should
form
an
indispensable portion
of the medical
inquirer's
reading.
In those valuable
papers,
nothing
is taken for
granted,
and neither
theories
nor
fancies
appear,
but
facts,
care-ully
observed
and
well-recorded facts
alone,
proceed
from
the
pen
of
one
who is the
most
cautious
of
men
in
first
entertaining
an
opinion,
but
the
most
conscientious
and
courageous
in
maintaining
it,
when
once
he is
certified
of its
reality.
For,
''
The Truth
is feeilocjs never to the
True,
Nor Knowledge
to the
Wise
:
but
to
the
fool,
And
to
the
false,
error
and
truth
alike.
*
So
says
Mr.
Bailey,
in his
strange
but
strikingly
ower-ul
poem
of Festus
;
with whose
appropriate
words
I
now
commend the
following
pages
to
the consideration of
the
reader.
*
Festus,
p.
41.
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PREFACE
TO
THE FIRST EDITION.
The
following
pages
have
grown
out
of
a
little
pampUetj
that
was
published
last
summer,
called
Mesmerism,
the
Gift of God.
The favourable
reception
of
that letter
by
the
public,
and
the
demand
for
a
second
impression,
ave
induced
the
Author,
at
the
suggestion
of several
friends,
to enter
more
fully
into
the
subject,
and
to meet
the various
and
contra-ictory
objections
that
are
popularly
advanced.
This
work,
therefore,
professes,
ot
only
to
treat
of
the
religiousscruples
that
have
been
raised
in
the minds of
some
Christians,
but
to
discuss
with the
philosopher
the
previous
question
as
to
the
truth
of
Mesmerism,
for
a
due
inquiry
into
which,
circumstances
have
greatly
favoured
the
writer.
The
First
Chapter
is
little
more
than
a
reprint
of
the
original
pamphlet,
in
answer
to
the
charge
of
Satanic
agency.
The Second
Chapter
enters
more
at
large
into the
same
topic
;
and
showing
the
tendency
of the
human mind
to
see
the
mysterious
in the
inexplicable,
roves,
by
example,
the
periodical
e-appearance
of
this
absurd
accusation.
The Author
also examines
the
unfortunate
mistake,
which
too
many
of his
own profession
re
disposed
o
commit,
be
their
religious
reed
what
it
may,
of
thinking
that
they
do
God
service
by
depreciating
is
gifts
because
the
parties
that
employ
them
hold
opposite
tenets
to
their
own.
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XVI PREFACE
TO
THJi
This
feeling
sshown
to
arise,
ometimes from
a
zeal
with-ut
knowledge,
and often
from
that
love
of
spiritua
power,
which
has
disfigured
he
brightest
ages
in
the
history
f the
Church.
The
Third and
Fourth
Chapters
contain
an
analysis
f
the
common
objections
gainst
the
truth
of
Mesmerism.
Some
remarkable
cases
are
adduced
from
the writer's
own
experience.
n
accumulation
of
other factsis
given
from
the
testimony
of
parties
hose
standing
n
society
s
a
pledge
or
the
correctness
ofwhat
they
state.
The
curative
power
of
Mesmerism
in disease is
proved
by
induction
and
observation.
And
the
medical
profession
s
invited
to
a
reconsideration
of tlieirunfavourable verdict.
The
rifth
Chapter
discusses
a common
opinion
s
to
the
dangers
f
Mesmerism
;
and its
fallacy
sin
great
measure
exposed.
At
the
request
of
a
friend,
he Sixth
Chapter
has
exa-
tained,
at
some
length,
he
bearing
of
the
wonders
of
Mesmerism
on
the miracles
of the New Testament.
It
is
notorious,
that
a
feeling
s
gainingground
that
these
several
facts
exhibit
an
equality
f
power
;
and
that
the
divine
'nature
of the
one
is
impaired
by
the
extraordinary
character
of
the
other.
The
consideration
of this
part
of
the
subject
necessarily
ed
to
a
detailed
analysis
f
the
Scriptural
vents :
of
course
the
unbeliever
in
the
pheno-ena
will
deem
such
an
inquiry
preposterous
and
laugh-ble
;
the
Christian,
owever,
who
knows that
Mesmerism
is
an
existing
act
in
nature,
will
not
regard
the
examina -
tion
as
superfluous
and
even
to
the
philosopher
uch
an
investigation
ught
to
be
interesting.
The
concluding
hapter
compares
the
phenomena
of
natural
somnambulism
and
of
Mesmerism
with
certain
modern
miracles
among
the
Wesleyans
and
the
B-oman
Catholics.
The
latter
-facts
are
stripped
f
the
marvellous
by
a
narrative
of what
occurred
in
the house
of
a friend.
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.CONTENTS.
Preface
to
the
Secokd
Edition
]
-
.
-
.
Page
v
Preface
to
the
First Edition
-----
xv
Introductory
Chapter
on
Hostility
of
Scientific
and Medical
Men
to
Mes-erism
-....---1
CHAPTER
I.
Progress
of Mesmerism.
Opposition
^ij
1V^B. mprisn1
Charge
of
Satanic
'
Agency.
Sermon
preached
at
Liverpool.
Rev.
Hugh
M'Neile.
Mesmerism
and
Electricity.
Mesmerism
not
supernatural.
Why
General Laws
of Mesmerism
not
stated.
-
Why
Mesmeric
Phenomena
not
uniform
in
all
Patients.
Sermon
unworthy
of
Mr. M'Neile's Re-utation.
Mesmerism and
the Court
of
Rome.
Mesmerism
and
Charlotte
Elizabeth.
Mesmerism tested
by
the
word of God.
Dialogue
between
a
Mesmerist and
a
Christian,
Mr.
Bickersteth
and
Mr. Close
on
Mesmerism
-
-
.
-
,
-60
CHAPTER IL
Mesmeric
Agent
invisible.
GravitatiflP.
Anecdote
from West
Indies.
New
System
of
Remedies marvellous.
Power
of
Clergy,
and
Spiritual
Tyranny
Witchcraft.
Bark
introduced
by
Jesuits.
Inocujatiou..
Vaccination.
Sin of
arraigning
God's Bounties.
What
Scripture
Doctrine
of Evil
Spirits.
Chaygp
hrni,ightagninst^lVTp^prispr^.
Lines
On
hearing
Mesmerism called
Impious
- -
-
94
CHAPTER in.
XTptlpl'*''^' '''
Mpsmg *' ^
Author's
own
Experience.
Remarkable
Cases.
MesmerLsers in
England.
Cures
and
Operations
in
England.
Progress
in,
Scotland
In
Germany-^
In France
Ir _UnitgaLStates.
'Mesmerism
proved
to
he
a
powerful
RpmpHy
in Pain anH DUoagg
119
CHAPTER IV.
Arguments against
Truth
of Mesmerism.
Monotony.
I^^SUUi''
Imitation.
Faith.
Imagination.
Mesmerise
me,
and I will
believe
you.
First French
Report,
Second
French
Report
of
Medical
Men
alone,
Mr.
Wakley.
London
University.
Roval
Medical and
Chirurgical
Society.
British
Association
and
Mr. Braid.
British
Associations
and
Phrenology.
British
Association
and
Ether
and
Mesmerism.
Great
Names
among
Believers
in
Mesmerism
-167
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XX
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
Dangers
of
Mesmerism,
physical
and moral.
Danger
of
Mesmerising
he
Healthy
for Amusement
Calmness,
?
Qnalifinatinn
for
aJVlesmeriser.
.^
Danger
from
Imperfect
Waking.
Cross-
Mesmerism.
Objections
on
the
Ground
of
Morality
answered.
Rules
fijy
esmerising.
At-
tachment
to^^aaeriser.
What it is.
Horror
of
Mesmerism.
Ujtlieulties
f
Mesmerism.
Hint for
Younger
Members
of
the
Faculty
.......
Page
215
CHAPTER VI.
Opposition
o
Mesmerism from its
presumed
Miraculous
Aspect.
Secret
Apprehension
of
the
Christian.
German
Rationalism.
New
School
of
Infidelity
n
the
Doctrine of Nature.
Salverte's
Occult Sciences.
American
Revelations. Charlotte
Elizabeth
and Mr.
Close
on
Miracles
and
Mesmerism.
Dr.
Arnold's
Opinion.
The
Mesmeric
Cures and
the
Miracles of
the
New Testament
compared.
Touch of
the
Mesmeriser.
Why
did
Miracles,
f
Mesmeric,
cease
?
Argument
from
Archbishop
of Dublin.
Mesmeric Predictions.
Clairvoyance
ot
Miraculous
....--.
234
CHAPTER VII.
Explanation
of Marvels and fancied Miracles.
Ecstatic Dreamers and
Revelations.
The
Maid
of
Kent,
the
Prophetess
of
the
Catholics.
Margaret
Michelson,
the
Prophetess
of
the
Covenanters.
The
Shep-erdess
of
Cret.
The
Bohemian
Prophetess.
Sister
Germaine
of
Brazil.
Martha
Brossier,
he
Witch
of
Paris.
The
entranced
Female,
or
Wesleyan
Prophetess.
John
Evans
and
the
Demon
of
Plymouth
Dock.
Lord
Shrewsbury'sTyrolese
Ecstatics.
Revelations of
the
Seeress
of
Prevorst.
Remarkable Sermons of Rachel
Baker,
Divine
Revelations
of
Nature,
by
an
American
Clairvoyant.
The
Mesmeric
Prophetess.
The
SleepingHaymaker.
.^
The
Sleeping
Sol-ier.
Mesmeric
Action
contagious.
MaxurelLand-Bacon.
oiuMsgnetic
Sympathy
and
Virtue
. .
.
. .
-
267
CHAPTER VIII.
General Rules for
Mesmerising.
Domestic
Mesmerism.
Sleep
not
necessary
DifFerenee-oLJEftects.Can
any
one
Mesmerise
?
Modes
of
Mesmerising.
Patient
not
to
be
awakened.
LengthenedSleep
not
dangerous.
Methods
of
Demesmerising.
Exertion
of
the
Will.
Warmth.
Benefit
from
Experiments.
Good
Sleep
at
Night.
Absence of
Mesmeriser
and
Contact of
Third
Party.
Class
of
Diseases
affected
by
Mesmerism.
Epilepsy Organic
Disease.
Paralysis
Different
Stages
of
Mesmeric
Condition.
Freedom of
Manner.
|
Clairvoyance.
Conclusion
-
-
- -
.319
APPENDIX.
No.
I. Instances
of
Clairvoyance
nconnected
with
Mesmerism
-
347
No. II.
Ecstasy
and
Sleep-waking,
nd
Insensibility
o
Pain,
independenf
of
Mesmerism
---...
35
'
No. III.
Lightness
f
Bodyi
c.
-
.
.
.
.
354
No. IV.
Speakingstrange
Languages,
c.
-
.
.
. sgg
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MESMERISM
AKD
ITS
OPPONENTS.
INTEODUCTORY
CHAPTER,
It
was
one
of
Fontenelle's
sayings,
that
if
he held
every
truth in
his
hand,
he
would take
good
care
and
not
open
it
;
a
prudential
maxim,
indicative
of that
calculating
reserve
with
which
cotemporaries
taxed
him
;
and
though
its
adoption
in
practice
may,
doubtless,
have
contributed
to
his
own
ease
and
interests,
uch
a
feeling,
if
generally
cted
on,
would be fatal
to
the
well-being
of
human
kind.*
With
so
cautious
a
spirit
as
the
academician
afflicted,
such
a
coward
was
he
in
his
own
esteem,
that it
was
observed
respecting
him,
that
he
always
.found
a
pretext
for
strangling
iscussion
;
a
strange
character this for
a
philosopher
yet
Fontenelle
was
wise
in his
generation.
This
indifference for
onward
investigations,
his
con-entment
with
admitted
truisms,
were
favourable
to
his
health
and
popularity.
Voltaire
called him
a
universal
genius
;
and
his life
was
prolonged
to
the
exact
term
of
a
centuiy.f
* **
Le
caractSre
de
Fontenelle
est
* * *
une reserve
calculee.
* * *
H
disait
souvent
que
s'iltenait
toutes
les
verites dans
sa
main,
il
se
garderait
bien de
I'ouvrir. .
Biographie
Universelle,
it.
Fontenelle.
f
La
Motte,
dans
une
lettre
a
la
Duchesse
du
Maine,
I'accusait,
n
plaisantant,
'user
de
pretextes
pour
Itrangler
ea
diaeussions. Fontenelle
was
born
in
1657,
and
died
\T5T.-~Ibid.
B
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2
MESMERISM
AND ITS OPPONBJNTIS.
But
timidity
ike
this
is
a
sorry
counsellor;
and
a
favourite
as
our
author still
is
for
the charm and
variety
f
his
writings,
his
dread of
encounteringpposition,
his
slavish
suppression
f
inquiry,
essens,
n
large
easure,
our
respect
for
his
memory
;
and it
suffers,
n the estimation
of all
generous
minds,
what
Southey
calls
an
abatement
in
heraldry. *
Now
in
this
reluctance for the liberation of
truth,
which
Fontenelle
expressed
in the
above
often
quoted
sentiment,
there
is
a
something
which
may
remind
the
reader
of
the
medical
profession
n
regard
o
their
present
atj;itude
n
the
study
of
Mesmerism.
They
too
seem
/followers
in
the
same
cautious,
unrisking,ninvestigatin
school
;
they
too
seem
wanting
in
their
usual
independence
and frank-hearted
sincerity
they
too
seem
unwilling;,
like
the
philosophic
entenarian,
to
unclasp
their
hands,
and
give
truth
its
freest
circulation
:
and
yet,
while
they
resemble
him in these
several
points,
here
is
a
distinction
between
them,
which is
somewhat
in
favour
of the
aca-emical
secretary.
When Fontenelle
said,
that
though
his hand
were
full
of
truths,
he
would
not
open
it
for
any
consideration,
is
motives
were
rather selfish
than
unphilosophical.
e
had,
in
fact,
o
turn
for
being
a
martyr
in
a
good
cause
;
he
had
no
wish
to
be the victim
of
any
fashionable
outcry,
or
held
forth
as
the
referee
for
every
doctrine
under
discussion.
If
a
truth could
only
be
maintained
under
his
championship,
he
truth
must
go
to
the wall.
If
the
public
ould
only
be
benefited
at
his
inconvenience,
he
public
must
forego
he
advantage.
Not
that
he
objected
to
the
knowledge
of
truth for
himself
and
his
own
private
investigations;
t
was
its
escape
into
the
world that
he
dreaded;
he
might
study
it,
and
examine it
in
his
closet
*
See
Southey's
etter
to
William
Smith,
where he
speaks
of
the
present
Loid
Jeffrey
nd
the
Edinburgh
Eeyiew,
,
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INTRODUCTORY
CHAPTER.
3
at
home;
only
let
him
be
spared
the
dangers
of
a
dis-overe
and
the
responsibility
f
letting
oo
much
light
upon
mankind.
Now
in all this
reserve
and
holding
back from free
investigation,
here
is
much,
as we
before
said,
that
re-embles
our
medical
friends
on
the
Mesmeric
question;
they
are,
indeed,
ll
this,
nd
something
ore.
Fonte-
nelle
would
not
open
his
hands
to
communicate
know-edge;
but
they
will
not
open
theirs
to
receive
it;
Fontenelle
would
not
risk his
ease
for
the
instruction
of
society,
ut
they
wiU
not
pass
from
professional
outine
even
for
their
own.
Fontenelle
was
selfish,
imid,
and
shrinking
rom
consequences
;
but
they
are
rather
il-^
liberal,
nphilosophic,
nd
retrogressive.
ruth,
even
for
its
own
sake,
or
for
its
benefit
on
others,
eems
to have
neither charm
nor
recommendation
with
them.
They
close
their
eyes,
they
stop
their
ears,
they
harden
their'
hearts,
they
desire
not to
be informed
or
set
right
n
this'
subject,
e
the
advantages
r
the
gratification
hat
they
may
*
It
may
not
be
without its
use
to
ask,
what
can
be
the
unexpressed
otives
on
the
part
of
medical
m^n for this
Strange
disinclination
for the
study
of
Mesmerism?
for
that
some
secret
reasons are
at
the
bottom of
their
conduct,
is
a
point
that
no
longer
admits
of
a
doubt
Whilst
almost
every
other educated
person
is
beginning
o
allow,
that
there
is
much
more
of
probability
nd
reality
in
the
representations
f
the
Inesmerists,
han
originall
'
*
Every
experienced
esmerist could
bring
forward
some
story
or
other,-
similar
to
the
following
tatement
mentioned
by
Mr.
Spencer
Hall
:
It is
worth
recording,
s a
feature of
the
age,
that
a
physician
of
fashionable
practice
n
the
town
(Halifax),
n
being
invited
to
assist
in
an
investigation,
protested
against
it
altogether
n
the
most
contemptuous
terms, on
the
ground
that the
fallacy
f mesmerism
was
too
apparent
to
permit
him
to
entertain
the
thought
that
it
needed
inquiry
t
all
;
in
short,
that
any
such
inquiry
ould be
disgraceful
o
the
profesaion.
ee
Mr.
S.,
Hall's
very
inte-esting
Mesmeric
Experiences,
.
35.
E
2
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MESMERISM
AND ITS
OPPONENTS.
men
were
prepared
to
expect,
the
profession
till
withholds
its
adhesion.
They
may,
perhaps,
ot
be
so
loud
and
offensive
in
their
vituperations
nd
ridicule
as
they
were
a
few years back
;
they
may
have altered their
tack,
and
become
more
silent
and
self-distrusting
still,
s
a
body,
they
openly
proclaim
n
unyielding
cepticism
they
dislike,
f
they
do
not
actuallyeject,
nquiry
and
seldom
voluntarily
r
with
a
good
grace,
either start
or
pursue
the
subject
n
conversation.*
In
stating
his,
t is
of
course
remembered
with
pleasure,
hat
very many
have
co-operated
n
our
investigations
ith
a
most
candid and
honourable
spirit
that
the number
of those
that
have
openly
joined
our
ranks is
increasing
very
day,
and
already
orms
a
highly
respectable
inority
and
that the
younger
men,
and
more
especially
he
students
in
the
hospitals,
re
not
undesirous of
acknowledging
he claims
of
the science
to
its
place
among
their
physiological
e-earches
;
still
it
must
with
regret
be
confessed
that
the
largemajority
f
experiencedractitioners,
.
e.
those
who
have
secured
an
advanced
standing
n
their
pro-ession,
do hold
aloof from all
serious
investigations
pon
the
question,
nd if
they
do
not
give
utterance to
their
feelings
y
an
open
expression
of
contempt,
are
at
least
mysteriously
umb
or
politely
vasive
on
the
.topic
and
it
is,
therefore,
y
wish,
in
a
temperate
and
-friendlypirit,
o
consider
closely,
hat
can
he the
.:vunexpressed
easons
for
so
lingular
violation of their
-general
sages.
Of
course,
they
would
themselves
say,
that the
Tcason
was
a
simple
one,
that the
facts
alleged
were
so
monstrous
in
themselves,
and
so
opposed
to
the
laws
of
nature,
that
no
inquiry
as
needed
;
for that
their
mere
statement
carriedwith
them
to
the
medical mind
*
In
saying
this,
I
am
not
so
much
giving
tterance
to
my
own
cxpfi-
rierice,
s
recording
he
observations
of
almost
all
mcsmerisers with
whom
I
have
spoken
on
the
pojnt
in
question.
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6 MESMERISM AND
ITS OPPONENTS.
of serious
earnestness
is
supposed
to be
lurking
at
the
bottom.
They
little
dream,
that their cautious
retreat
from
a
participation
n
the
practice
s
rather
attributed
to
a
ZaeV oyawi
pprehension
f
a
future loss of
income,
than
to
a
philosophic
onviction of scientific
superiority.
rue
it
is,
that
the
love
of
money
is
the
root
of aU evil
:
and
that
medical
men,
like other
mortals,
re
not
to
be
regarded
as
independent
of
its influence
;
but
the
tenor
of their
general
onduct
makes
a
charge
of this
nature
ridiculous
and
unmerited.
My
own
experienceand
I have
had
but
too
many
painfulopportimities
f
forming
an
opinion)^
TTOuld
lead
to
the
conclusion,
that
no one
profession
s
so
little
under the bias
of
mercenary
motives.- No
men
give
so
much of
a
gratuitous
nbought
assistance,
r
sacrifice
so
tauch time and
labour without
a
prospect
of
remuneration)
as
do
they.
And
to
suppose
that
a
liberal and
educated
profession
ike
this
would
oppose
themselves
to
the
progress
of
a
great
scientific
discovery
rom
an
ungenerous appre-ension
of its
proving
detrimental
to
their
interest,
s
monstrous
in
the extreme.*
They
themselves
must
feel,
that
a mere
defence from such
an
imputation
s
almost
as
insulting
s
it is
unnecessary.
But
it
is
necessary,
more
necessary
than
theyimagine.
If I
have heard
the
opinion
nce,
I
have
heard it hundreds of
times,
and
not
uttered
casually
r
in
badinage,
ut
gravely
aintained
and
insisted
upon,
as a
matter
of
certainty.
t
is,
in
fact,
the
all
but
universal inference ;
and
it would
really
eem
de-irabl
that the
parties
hus
misunderstood
should be made
aware
of the
construction to which their
reserved
dealing
*
Dr. Elliotson
has
well
observed,
Some
have
been
hostile
from
fancy
that
their
pockets
would suffer
:
but
many
with
abundant
means,
and
more
practice
han
they
could
get
through,
nay,
some
retired
from
practice,
ave
manifested
the
same
spirit.
Zoist,
No.
xv.
p.
.S77.
Dr.
E.
agrees,
there-ore,
with
me
in
tracing
the
hostility
o
a
different
cause
than
the
question
of income.
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7
has thus
rendered
them
liable.
But,
in
truth,
the
opinion
is
itself
also
founded
on
a
mistake.
Mesmerism
must
partake
much
more
of the
miraculous
character*,
efore
the
sanguinenticipations
f
some
ardent
partisans
an
thus
be
realised.
Its
effects
are
indeed
great
and
various,
and
often
most
unexpected,riumphing
ver
many
of
the
evils
of life in
a
way
delightful
or
the
Christian
to
witness,
but
yet
must
they
be
regarded
rather
as
auxiliary
o
the
practitioner,
han
superseding
is
attendance,
ather
as
adding
a
fresh item
to
the
former
resources
of his
art,
than
dispensing
ith
his
kind
and
ne-essary
care.
That
Mesmerism
is
now
exercised
by
non-rofessional
parties,
s
indeed
a fact,
but
one
rather
re-ulting
from
its
present
unfixed
position,
han
desirable
in
itself,
r
likely
o
continue.
It is
because
they
who
ought
to
be its
champions
and directors stand
coldly
aloof,
nd
reject
llaid
through
its
influence.
But
let
its
claims,s
those of
an
important
branch
of
therapeutic
ractice,
e
once
fuUy
recognised
and
that
such
a
day
is
steadily
p-roachin
very
many
indications
give
certain
proof)j
nd
a
different
state
of
things
would
then
ensue.
No
longer
would
a
few
incurable
cases,
where
the
despairinghy-ician
had
taken
his
leave,
be
transferred,
ometimes
at
almost
the
agonies
f
death,
to
a
mesmerising
cquaintance
to
try
if he
could
procure
relief;
but
the disease
would, be
grappled
ith
at
the
earlier
stages
of
its
development
ith
a more
certain
assurance
of
success.
No
longer
would
\
the
hesitating
atient,hrough
the fear
of
offending
he /
medical
friend,
surreptitiously
dmit
into
the
sick
room
some
/
amateur
magnetist,
ith
a
distressing
esponsibility
or
all
(^
parties
but
the treatment
would
be
adopted,
penly
and
more
agreeably,
y
the
express
direction
of
professional
advice.
As
it
is.
Mesmerism
is
generally
mployed
as
the
*
See
the
chapter
on
a
Comparison
between
Mesmeric Cures and
the
Miracles
of
the
New
Testament.
B
4
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mesmerism:
and
its opponents.
last
resource,
when
every
other
remedy
has
been
tried and
failed
;
it is
employed
too,
with
an
unpleasant
eeling
f
risk
and
uncertainty,
f
without
the
sanction
of
a re-ular
practitioner.
nd
thisis
a
jiosition
ost
painful
o
the sick
person,
and
one
from
which he
would
gladly
escape.
They
know
but little of the real
invalid,
who
imagine
that
he
ever
desires
to
rid himself
of
the
visits,
r
shake oifthe
authority,
f
the medical
man.
The
sons
of
Esculapius
re,
in
essentials,
s
supreme
in the sick cham-er,
as
the
Belgianpriest
n his
confessional,
r
the Wes-
leyan
minister
in
a
Welsh conventicle. It is
only
when
repeated
ailureshave
followed the
prescription,
hat their
power
ceases,
or
the charm isbroken. It
is
only
when the
more
orthodox
systems
have
lost
their
effect,
hat the
aid
of
the
heterodox
mesmerist is
called
in.
But
let
the
faculty
hemselves
once
include
magnetic
reatment
within
the
legitimate
eans
of
relief,
nd in
no
very
serious
case
would
it
be
resorted
to
without their
approval.
Of
course
medical
men,
with
large
r
increasingractice,
ould
not
themselves
enjoy
sufficient
leisure
to
mesmerise
extensively;
they
could
but
give
directionsfor
its
use,
and
supervise
ts
application
still,
he
treatment
Itself
would In the
main
be
subject
o
their
pleasure,
hilst,
most
probably,
ere
and
there,^
ome
of
the
younger
members,
with
peculiar
physical
nd
moral
qualifications,
ould devote
themselves
almost
exclusively
o
the
practice
but
to
suppose
that,
when
once
established.
esmerism
would
be
widely
em-loyed
without
the
sanction
of
the
practitioner,
r
that it
would
banish the
physician
rom
the
sick
house.
Is
an
erroneous
view
arising
rom
an
ignorance
f human
nature,
Jt
is
repeated,
hat the
patients
hemselves
would
neither
wish
nor
agree
to
it
;
nor
in
very
serious
diseases
would
the
magnetiser
imself
be
covetous
of
such
anxious
respon-ibility.
The
druggist,
ndeed,
might
suffer
from the
change
and
a
large
amount
of his
poisonous
oses
might
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CHAPTEE.
9
remain
unshaken
on
his
shelves
;
but
the
power,
the
influ-r
ence,
and,
to
come
to
the
point,
he
income,
of the
real
physiologist
nd
physician
ould
be
extended and
im-roved
;
Mesmerism would
take its
natural
place
amidst
the
other
appliances
of the
healing
art
;
and the
lecturerand
ii-responsible
anipulator
ould
in
great
mea-ure
disappear.*
But,
whilst it
were
almost
an
impertinence
o
vindicate
the character
of
professional
en
from
the
above
illiberal
imputation,
t
cannot
be
said that
a
dread of the
subject
has
not
in
some
measure
guided
their
conduct.
They
have
had
their fears of
Mesmerism,
though
in
a
different
sense
to
that
intended
by
the
public.
For the science
is
un-opular.
Perhaps
itwould
be
more
accurate to
say
that
it
was
unpopular,
ince
a more
favourable
estimation of its
value
has
for
some
littletime
been
gaining
ground.
Still,
it
were
idle
to
deny
that Mesmerism
has
laboured
under
many
an
unfortunate
and
odious
appellation.
he
notion
of
its
unreality
nd
falsehood,
the
accusation of
impos-ure,
the
potent
cry
of
Satanic
agency,
o
captivatin
with
weak
and
excitable
women,
ignorant
s
they
are
that
the
very
same
clamour
has
been
raised
on
points
herein
such
an
opinion
would
be
now
scouted,
an
erroneous
idea
of the
impropriety
f the
practice,
and,
more
than
all,
the
novelty
of the
thing,
and the
unpleasantness
attendant
on
unestablished
theories
:
all
these
causes
con-ributed
to
render
the
science
unpopular,
nd
to
attach
an
*
Most
mesmerisers
with
whom
I
am
acquainted
ather
seek
the
coun-enance
of medical
men,
than
set
themselves
up
as
their
rivals.
One of
the
most
laborious
and
benevolent
mesmerists
has
often
said,
that
he
only
practises
he
art
because
the
regular
practitioner
efuses to
employ
it. The
language
f
Gauthier
is
the
most
usual
:
Je
pose
toujours
comme
uri
fait
acquis
qu'il
e
doit
point
y
avoir de
traitemeut,
s'il
n'est
ordonne
ou
eonseille
par
un
medecin,
dont
le
magnetiseur
est
le
prepos^,
Trait
J^atique,
. 29. See also the
language
of
Mesmer,
quoted
by Gauthier,
p.
697.,
stating
hat the
physician
is
alone
capable
of
putting
his
system
into
practice.
See also
Gauthier's
own
language
to
the
medical
world,
p.
698.
See also some
excellent
remarks
of
Dr.
EUiotson,
in
Zoist,
vol. iv.
p.
377.
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MESMEEISM
AND ITS
OPPONENTS.
undesirable
reputation
o
its
premature
advocacy.
The
day
is
not
so
distant,
hen it
would have
been
as
much
a
mark
of
ill-breeding
o
name
the
name
of
Mesmerism
to
ears
polite
and
scientific,
s
to start
the
topic
of
parlia-entary
reform
at
the
table
of
a
boroughmonger,
r
to
insist
on
the
justice
f
an
increased
grant
to
Maynooth
to
an
Irish
Orangeman.
Animal
magnetism
was,
in
shorty
tabooed
in
fashionable circles.
And
this is
what medical
men
both
feltand
knew.
They
felt
thait,
rue
or
false,
t
was
an
unwelcome
topic
and
that
to
inquire
into it
would
be
as
unwise,
as
to
practise
t would be unsafe.
Added
to
which,
there
was
the dread of ridicule from
professional
rethren,
the
apprehension
f
being
singled
out,
sneered
down,
and
pointed
at,
if
they
meddledj
how-ver
disereetly,
ith the
unclean
thing.
Thus,
many
causes
concurred
to
render Mesmerism
distasteful
to
the
practitioner
a
beacon
to
avoid,
-not
a
light
o
lead
men
on;
and
not
many,
therefore,
entured
on
the
study.
That
fine
and
manlyphilosophy
hich shrinks
not
from
following
ut
a
fact,
let it
carry
you
where it
may
;
that
love
of
truth
at
all
price
that
high
conscientiousnessof
principle,
hich would
be
ashamed
to
disown
the
convic'
tions
of
the
understanding,
e
the
consequences
howevel?
inconvenient;
ll
these
qualifications
elong,
apparently,
but
to
few.
;
.
To
show the
world
what
longexperience
ains,
Requires
not
courage,
tho' it
calls
for
pains
But
at
life's
outset to
inform
mankind,
Is
a.
bold
effortf
a
valiant
mind. *
These,then,
are
the
reasons,
which
sufficiently
xplain
the
shyness
f medical
men
for
embarking
in the
practice
the
shyness,
e
mean,
of those who
had
not
yet
established
a
firm
footing
n
their
vocation,
and
whose
risks
would
be
so
far
greater
than
any
advantage
cquired;
and
he
must
Crabbe's
Borough,
Letter
VII.
7/25/2019 Mesmerism and Its Opponents v2
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INTEODUCTOKY CHAPTER.
U
frst
be
well
assured of his
own
moral
courage
and inde-endence
who
would
pronounce
a
sweeping
condemnation
on
such
prudentialegard
o
worldly
prospects.
All
this
applies,
owever,
exclusively
o
the
rising
and
younger
members
of
the
profession.
he
question
yet
remains,
what isit
that has hindered the
leaders of the
body,
those
whose
names are
too
firmly
ixed
to
be
damaged
by
an
unpopularnovelty,
-what is
it
that has hindered
them
irom
giving
n
honest,
earnest,
impartial
nvestigation
o
a
subject,
ith such
large
claims
to
inquiry,
s
the science
of
mesmerism
?
My
own
impression
s,
that
their resistance
has
arisen,
partly
rom
their
being
committed
to
a
positive
nd
adverse
opinion,
nd
partly
from tha,t
pride
of intellectwhich
belongs
o
remarkably
o
scientific
men,
indisposing
hem
as
itdoes
to
receive
any
statements
as
true
which
are
in
contradiction
of their
own
pre-arranged
nd
pre-conceive
notions.
That
they
have
committed
themselves
is certain.
In
an
evil
and
hasty
hour
they
decided
with
senatorial
authority,
that
the mesmerical
representations
ere
an
absurdity,
and
in
the
nature
of
things
could
not
be
true.
To
pass
over
the declarations
of
Continental
physicians,
nd the
old
story
of
the
French
academies,
it is
sufficient
to
say
that
the
leaders
in
Englishpractice
t
once
pronounced,
ex
cathedra,
against
he
science.
Without
study,
without
inquiry,
ithout
making
a
natural
comparison
etween
the
snagnetic
ppearances
and
certain
analogous
acts
which
had
presented
themselves
spontaneously
n
several
sickly
persons,
and,
being
recorded
by
men
of
their
own
pro-ession
might
have
thrown
some
light
n
the
question
with
only
here
and there
a