We propose to discuss a question as old as the world itself; which about a century ago was admitted into the sphere of scientific discussion; which, although constantly rejected and disclaimed by learned bodies, has always reappeared, and is still in process of evolution, notwithstanding the importance of the results already achieved. In retracing the history of animal magnetism we shall endeavour to explain the causes of these vicissitudes of fortune, and to indicate what instruction may be derived from them. As we proceed with our subject, the truth will become more evident that it was owing to a lack of method that animal magnetism was not admitted at an earlier date to take its place in science.
It concerns scholars to trace the course of animal magnetism through the ages, and to seek for its remote beginnings in the customs of ancient peoples. We refrain from such historic studies, for which we are incompetent, and propose merely to sum up the conclusions of science
with respect to animal magnetism, and consequently only to speak of its history so far as this history has left its traces on the present state of the question.* From this point of view, it is unnecessary to go back to an earlier period than that of Mesmer and of his immediate predecessors.
Mesmerism is connected with a tradition which had its origin towards the middle of the sixteenth century, a tradition which, as the name of animal magnetism implies, not invented by Mesmer, ascribed to man the power of exercising on his fellows an action analogous to that of the magnet. It seems to be established that a profound impression had been produced upon the human mind by the natural magnet and its physical properties, the existence of two poles, endowed with opposite properties, and a remote action without direct contact. Even in ancient times it had been observed, or assumed, that the magnet possessed a curative power, and it had been employed as a remedy. This belief still subsisted in the middle ages.+ In a work by Cardan, dated 1584, ++ there is an account of an experiment in anaesthesia, produced by the magnet. It was then customary to magnetize rings which were worn round the neck or on the arm, in order to cure nervous diseases. The idea gradually dawned that there are magnetic properties in the human body. The first trace of this belief appears in the works of Paracelsus. This remarkable thinker maintained that
the human body was endowed with a double magnetism; that one portion attracted to itself the planets, and was nourished by them, whence came wisdom, thought, and the senses; that the other portion attracted to itself the elements and disintegrated them, whence came flesh and blood; that the attractive and hidden virtue of man resembles that of amber and of the magnet; that by this virtue the magnetic virtue of healthy persons attracts the enfeebled magnetism of those who are sick.* After Paracelsus, many learned men of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries — Glocenius, Burgrave, Helinotius, Robert Fludd, Kircher, and Maxwell — believed that in the magnet they could recognize the properties of that universal principle by which minds addicted to generalisation thought that all natural phenomena might be explained. These men wrote voluminous books, filled with sterile discussions, with unproved assertions, and with contemptible arguments.
Mesmer drew largely from these sources; it cannot be disputed that he had read some of these many books, devoted by early authors to the study of magnetism, although such study was forbidden. Where he showed his originality was in taking hold of the so-called universal principle of the world, and in applying it to the sick by means of contact and of passes. His predecessors do not appear to have been addicted to such practices; they believed that in order to infuse the vital spirit, it was enough to make use of talismans and of magic boxes,
Anthony Mesmer was born in Germany, in 1734. He was received as doctor of medicine by the Faculty in
Vienna, and took for the subject of his thesis, The Influence of the Planets in the Cure of Diseases (1766). He undertook to prove that the sun, moon, and heavenly bodies act upon living beings by means of a subtle fluid, which he called animal magnetism, in order to point out the properties which it has in common with the magnet. After the publication of this whimsical and mystical work, Mesmer made acquaintance with the Jesuit Father Hell, professor of astronomy, who in 1774 settled in Vienna, and cured the sick by means of magnetic steel tractors. Mesmer discovered some analogy between Hell's experiments and his own astronomical theories, and tried what effect the magnet would produce in the treatment of diseases.
An account of his cures filled the Vienna newspapers. Several people of importance gave evidence that they had been cured, among whom was Osterwald, director of the Munich Academy of Science, who had been affected by paralysis; and Bauer, a professor of mathematics, who had suffered from an obstinate attack of ophthalmia. On the other hand, the learned bodies of his native country did not accept his experiments, and the letters which he wrote to most of the academies of Europe remained unanswered. He soon abandoned the use of the magnet and of Hell's instruments, and restricted himself to passes with the hand, declaring animal magnetism to be distinct from the magnet.
Obliged to quit Vienna, in consequence of some adventure not clearly explained, Mesmer came to Paris. He first established himself in a humble quarter of the town. Place Vendôme, and began to expound his theory of the magnetic fluid. In 1779 he published a paper
on the discovery of magnetism, in which he announced to the world that he had discovered a principle capable of curing all diseases. He summed up his theory in twenty-seven propositions, or rather assertions, most of which only reproduce the cloudy conceptions of magnetic medicine.
Propositions.
1. A responsive influence exists between the heavenly bodies, the earth, and animated bodies.
2. A fluid universally diffused, so continuous as not to admit of a vacuum, incomparably subtle, and naturally susceptible of receiving, propagating, and communicating all motor disturbances, is the means of this influence.
3. This reciprocal action is subject to mechanical laws, with which we are not as yet acquainted.
4. Alternative effects result from this action, which may be considered to be a flux and reflux.
5. This reflux is more or less general, more or less special, more or less compound, according to the nature of the causes which determine it.
6. It is by this action, the most universal which occurs in nature, that the exercise of active relations takes place between the heavenly bodies, the earth, and its constituent parts.
7. The properties of matter and of organic substance depend on this action.
8. The animal body experiences the alternative effects of this agent, and is directly affected by its insinuation into the substance of the nerves.
9. Properties are displayed, analogous to those of the magnet, particularly in the human body, in which diverse
and opposite poles are likewise to be distinguished, and these may be communicated, changed, destroyed, and reinforced. Even the phenomenon of declination may be observed.
10. This property of the human body which renders it susceptible of the influence of the heavenly bodies, and of the reciprocal action of those which environ it, manifests its analogy with the magnet, and this has decided me to adopt the term of animal magnetism.
11. The action and virtue of animal magnetism, thus characterized, may be communicated to other animate or inanimate bodies. Both these classes of bodies, however, vary in their susceptibility.
12. This action and virtue may be strengthened and diffused by such bodies.
13. Experiments show that there is a diffusion of matter, subtle enough to penetrate all bodies without any considerable loss of energy.
14. Its action takes place at a remote distance, with- out the aid of any intermediary substance.
15. It is, like light, increased and reflected by mirrors.
16. It is communicated, propagated, and increased by sound.
17. This magnetic virtue may be accumulated, concentrated, and transported.
18. I have said that animated bodies are not as equally susceptible; in a few instances they have such an opposite property that their presence is enough to destroy all the effects of magnetism upon other bodies.
19. This opposite virtue likewise penetrates all bodies: it also may be communicated, propagated.
accumulated, concentrated, and transported, reflected by mirrors, and propagated by sound. This does not merely constitute a negative, but a positive opposite virtue.
20. The magnet, whether natural or artificial, is like other bodies susceptible of animal magnetism, and even of the opposite virtue: in neither case does its action on fire and on the needle suffer any change, and this shows that the principle of animal magnetism essentially differs from that of mineral magnetism.
21. This system sheds new light upon the nature of fire and of light, as well as on the theory of attraction, of flux and reflux, of the magnet and of electricity.
22. It teaches us that the magnet and artificial electricity have, with respect to diseases, properties common to a host of other agents presented to us by nature, and that if the use of these has been attended by some useful results, they are due to animal magnetism.
23. These facts show, in accordance with the practical rules I am about to establish, that this principle will cure nervous diseases directly, and other diseases indirectly.
24. By its aid the physician is enlightened as to the use of medicine, and may render its action more perfect, and he can provoke and direct salutary crises, so as completely to control them.
25. In communicating my method, I shall, by a new theory of matter, demonstrate the universal utility of the principle I seek to establish.
26. Possessed of this knowledge, the physician may judge with certainty of the origin, nature, and progress of diseases, however complicated they may be; he may hinder their development and accomplish their cure without exposing the patient to dangerous and trouble-
some consequences, irrespective of age, temperament, and sex. Even women in a state of pregnancy, and during parturition, may reap the same advantage.
27. This doctrine will, finally, enable the physician to decide upon the health of every individual, and of the presence of the diseases to which he may be exposed. In this way the art of healing may be brought to absolute perfection.
Mesmer's doctrines obtained success. In the outset he was fortunate enough to convert one of the leading physicians of the faculty of medicine, Deslon, the Comte d'Artois's first physician. Pupils and patients flowed in. The moment appeared to be favourable ; men's minds had been stirred by recent discoveries, and were open to any science which afforded a new horizon. Franklin had invented the lightning conductor, and the Montgolfier brothers were inventing balloons. Some scientific discoveries excite popular superstition by rendering the marvellous probable.
All the world wished to be magnetized, and the crowd was so great that Mesmer employed a valet toucheur to magnetize in his place. This did not suffice; he invented the famous baquet, or trough, round which more than thirty persons could be magnetized simultaneously. A circular, oaken case, about a foot high, was placed in the middle of a large hall, hung with thick curtains, through which only a soft and subdued light was allowed to penetrate; this was the baquet. At the bottom of the case, on a layer of powdered glass and iron filings, there lay full bottles, symmetrically arranged, so that the necks of all converged towards the centre; other bottles were arranged in the opposite
direction, with their necks towards the circumference. All these objects were immersed in water, but this condition was not absolutely necessary, and the baquet might be dry. The lid was pierced with a certain number of holes, whence there issued jointed and movable iron branches, which were to be held by the patients. Absolute silence was maintained. The patients were ranged in several rows round the baquet, connected with each other by cords passed round their bodies, and by a second chain, formed by joining hands. As they waited a melodious air was heard, proceeding from a pianoforte, or harmonicon, placed in the adjoining room, and to this the human voice was sometimes added. Then, influenced by the magnetic effluvia issuing from the baquet, curious phenomena were produced. These are well described by an eye-witness named Bailly:
"Some patients remain calm, and experience nothing; others cough, spit, feel slight pain, a local or general heat, and fall into sweats; others are agitated and tormented by convulsions. These convulsions are remarkable for their number, duration, and force, and have been known to persist for more than three hours. They are characterized by involuntary, jerking movements in all the limbs, and in the whole body, by contraction of the throat, by twitchings in the hypochondriac and epigastric regions, by dimness and rolling of the eyes, by piercing cries, tears, hiccough, and immoderate laughter. They are preceded or followed by a state of languor or dreaminess, by a species of depression, and even by stupor.
"The slightest sudden noise causes the patient to start, and it has been observed that he is affected by a change of time or tune in the airs performed on the
pianoforte; that his agitation is increased by a more lively movement, and that his convulsions then become more violent. Patients are seen to be absorbed in the search for one another, rushing together, smiling, talking affectionately, and endeavouring to modify their crises. They are all so submissive to the magnetizer that even when they appear to be in a stupor, his voice, a glance, or sign will rouse them from it. It is impossible not to admit, from all these results, that some great force acts upon and masters the patients, and that this force appears to reside in the magnetizer. This convulsive state is termed the crisis. It has been observed that many women and few men are subject to such crises; that they are only established after the lapse of two or three hours, and that when one is established, others soon and successively begin.
"When the agitation exceeds certain limits, the patients are transported into a padded room; the women's corsets are unlaced, and they may then strike their heads against the padded walls without doing themselves any injury."
Mesmer, wearing a coat of lilac silk, walked up and down amid this palpitating crowd, together with Deslon and his associates, whom he chose for their youth and comeliness. Mesmer carried a long iron wand, with which he touched the bodies of the patients, and especially those parts which were diseased; often, laying aside the wand, he magnetized them with his eyes, fixing his gaze on theirs, or applying his hands to the hypochondriac region and to the lower part of the abdomen. This application was often continued for hours, and at other times the master made use of passes. He began by placing
himself en rapport with his subject. Seated opposite to him, foot against foot, knee against knee, he laid his fingers on the hypochondriac region, and moved them to and fro, lightly touching the ribs. Magnetization with strong currents was substituted for these manipulations when more energetic results were to be produced. "The master, erecting his fingers in a pyramid, passed his hands all over the patient's body, beginning with the head, and going down over the shoulders to the feet. He then returned again, to the head, both back and front, to the belly and the back; he renewed the process again and again, until the magnetized person was saturated with the healing fluid, and was transported with pain or pleasure, both sensations being equally salutary." * Young women were so much gratified by the crisis, that they begged to be thrown into it anew; they followed Mesmer through the hall, and confessed that it was impossible not to be warmly attached to the magnetizer's person.
It must have been curious to witness such scenes. So far as we are now able to judge, Mesmer excited in his patients nervous crises in which we may trace the principal signs of the severe hysteric attacks which may be observed daily.+ Silence, darkness, and the emotional expectation of some extraordinary phenomenon, when several persons are collected in one place, are conditions known to encourage convulsive crises in predisposed subjects. It must be remembered that women were in the majority, that the first crisis which occurred was
contagious, and we shall fully understand the hysterical character of these manifestations.
We must again draw attention to some of the characteristics of these convulsive crises. The movements of all the limbs and of the whole body, the contraction of the throat, the twitchings of the hypochondriac and of the epigastric regions, are manifest signs of hysteria, and may be referred to the nervous antecedents of the elegant and frivolous crowd which was the subject of Mesmer's experiments. There is, however, still considerable uncertainty as to the nature of many of the phenomena which took place round the baquet.
The desire to submit to Mesmer's treatment soon became more general. The house in Place Vend6me became too small, and Mesmer purchased the B[6tel Bullion, in which he established four haquets, one of them for the gratuitous use of the poor. Since the latter did not suffice, Mesmer undertook to magnetize a tree at the end of Rue Bondy, and thousands of sick people might be seen attaching themselves to it with cords, in hopes of a cure.
But this rage for Mesmer's treatment could not last long, and difficulties of all kinds assailed him. On his arrival in Paris, he had requested the Academy of Science, and subsequently the Royal Society of Medicine, to institute an inquiry into his experiments; they were unable to agree as to the conditions of this inquiry, and the meeting dissolved in anger. Deslon, a professor of the Faculty of Medicine, asked his colleagues to summon a general meeting to examine his observations and Mesmer's propositions. This meeting, incited by M. de Vauzesmes, was extremely hostile to him. He was
condemned without any examination of the facts, and, moreover, was threatened with the penalty of having his name removed from the list of licensed physicians unless he amended his ways. In consequence of this, Mesmer left France, although the government offered him a life-pension of 20,000 francs if he would remain.
Mesmer's absence was short. He was soon recalled by his disciples, who were aware of their master's avarice, and opened a subscription of 10,000 louis, in order to induce him to give a course of lectures in which he was to reveal his discoveries. This course was, however, the point of departure for dissensions between the master and his disciples. Since the latter had bought his secret, they thought themselves entitled to publish it in lectures to the public. Mesmer claimed the monopoly of his discovery. Moreover, in spite of his promises, he had never made a complete explanation, doubtless because he had nothing to tell. He had nothing definite to add to the twenty-seven propositions published in 1779. Several of Mesmer's disciples, who had paid a high price for his secret, accused him of having enunciated a theory which was merely a collection of obscure principles, and in fact they were justified in this assertion. One of Deslon's hearers said: "Those who know the secret are more doubtful than those who are ignorant of it." It was a period of disputes, dissensions, epigrams, invectives, vaudevilles, and songs.
Finally the government intervened, and in 1784 a commission was nominated to inquire into magnetism. This commission consisted of members taken from the Faculty of Medicine, and from the Academy of Sciences. Bailly, the celebrated astronomer, was chosen as its
reporter, and it included other illustrious men, such as Franklin and Lavoisier. Another commission, composed of members of the Royal Society of Medicine, was charged to make a distinct report on the same subject; Laurent de Jussieu was included in this second commission.
We find it interesting at the present day to read the reports of these commissions, since they contain a disquisition on an obscure matter, of which time has revealed part of the secret. The line of conduct pursued by the commissioners in their inquiry was irreproachable. The question concerned the existence of a magnetic fluid of the nature which Mesmer and Deslon claimed to have discovered. Deslon proposed to prove the existence of the fluid by the observation of the cures which he effected. But the commissioners rightly considered that this method was too doubtful; they decided to observe in the first instance "the instantaneous effects of the fluid on the animal body, while depriving these effects of all the illusions which might be allied with them, and ascertaining that they could be due to no other cause than animal magnetism."
The immediate effects of magnetism, as they occurred at this period, were crises, and these were the special object of research. Some really magnetic efiects might be combined with them, but Mesmer and his disciples only ascribed curative virtue to the manifestation of these convulsive movements. Deslon asserted that it was only by means of these crises, which were produced and directed by the will of the magnetizer, that he was able to assist or excite the efforts of nature, and thus effect a cure. We are now aware that these crises are real
phenomena, of which the cause is generally admitted to be hysterical neurosis. Moreover, a considerable number of facts demonstrate that, under the influence of such crises, certain forms of paralysis, which have persisted for months, and even for years, may suddenly disappear. There was, therefore, a certain truth in the curative virtue of these convulsive phenomena.
The commissioners placed themselves under treatment once a week, and experienced nothing, except from time to time, after the séance had been protracted for several hours, a slight nervous irritability or pain in the hollow of the abdomen, to which Deslon applied his hand. We can understand this negative experience since we are aware that such crises, as well as magnetism, can only be produced in a favourable soil. In the case of susceptible subjects, the commissioners observed an extreme difference between those who were treated in public and in private, and this can be still more readily explained by the well-known contagious effect of example in all hysterical manifestations. The commissioners were particularly struck with the fact that the crises did not occur unless the subjects were aware that they were being magnetized. For instance, in the experiments performed by Jumelin, they observed the following fact. A woman who appeared to be a very sensitive subject, was sensible of heat as soon as Jumelin's hand approached her body. Her eyes were bandaged, she was informed that she was being magnetized, and she experienced the same sensation, but when she was magnetized without being informed of it, she experienced nothing. Several other patients were likewise strongly affected when no operation was taking place, and experienced nothing when the operation was
going on. But the most curious experience of this kind was made in Deslon's presence, much to his confusion. According to the theory, when a tree was magnetized, every person who approached it was affected by its influence. The experiment was made at Passy when Franklin was present. Deslon magnetized one tree in an orchard, and a boy of twelve years old, very sensitive to magnetism, was brought towards it with his eyes bandaged. At the first, second, and third tree, he turned giddy; at the fourth, when he was still at a distance of twenty-four feet from the magnetized tree, the crisis occurred, his limbs became rigid, and it was necessary to carry him to an adjoining grass-plat before Deslon could recall him to consciousness. All that these experiments show is that the preconceived idea may produce the same magnetic effects as purely physical means. This truth is well known to the performers, of experiments. It is now an established fact that a subject may be thrown into a magnetic sleep, simply by assuring him that this will occur, and by the same process he may even be magnetized from a distance, if it is asserted that he will fall into somnambulism on a given day and hour, in any place which has been selected.
The commissioners, ignorant of all these phenomena, which are now thoroughly established, thought that all which they had observed might be explained by three chief causes — imitation, imagination, and contact. This is the conclusion of their report: —
"The commissioners have ascertained that the animal magnetic fluid is not perceptible by any of the senses; that it has no action, either on themselves or on the patients subjected to it. They are convinced that
pressure and contact effect changes which are rarely favourable to the animal system, and which injuriously affect the imagination. Finally, they have demonstrated by decisive experiments that imagination apart from magnetism, produces convulsions, and that magnetism without imagination produces nothing. They have come to the unanimous conclusion with respect to the existence and utility of magnetism, that there is nothing to prove the existence of the animal magnetic fluid; that this fluid, since it is non-existent, has no beneficial effect; that the violent effects observed in patients under public treatment are due to contact, to the excitement of the imagination, and to the mechanical imitation which involuntarily impels us to repeat that which strikes our senses. At the same time, they are compelled to add, since it is an important observation, that the contact and repeated excitement of the imagination which produce the crises may become hurtful; that the spectacle of these crises is likewise dangerous, on account of the imitative faculty which is a law of nature; and consequently that all treatment in public in which magnetism is employed must in the end be productive of evil results.
"(Signed) B. Franklin, Majault, Lb Roy, Sallin, Bailly, D'Arcet, De Boey, Guillotin, Lavoisier. Paris, August 11,1784."
The commissioners therefore merely regarded magnetism as an effect of the imagination. Deslon appears to have come to the same conclusion, since he says, not unreasonably, "If the medicine of the imagination is the most efficient, why should we not make use of it?" In
our day this would appear to be an insufficient explanation. We might as well say that hysteria is due to the imagination.
At the same time, the commissioners presented a secret report which expressed their final estimate of magnetism. It is the object of this curious document to point out the dangers of magnetism with respect to morality. We think it well to reproduce it in extenso.
"The commissioners entrusted by the king with the examination of animal magnetism have drawn up a report to be presented to his Majesty which ought perhaps to be published. It seemed prudent to suppress an observation not adapted for general publication, but they did not conceal it from the king's minister. This minister has charged them to draw up a note designed only for the eyes of the king.
"This important observation concerns morality. The commissioners have ascertained that the chief causes of the effects ascribed to animal magnetism are contact, imagination, and imitation. They have observed that the crisis occurs more frequently in women than in men. The first cause of this fact consists in the different organizations of the two sexes. Women have, as a rule, more mobile nerves; their imagination is more lively and more easily excited; it is readily impressed and aroused. This great mobility of the nerves, since it gives a more exquisite delicacy to the senses, renders them more susceptible to the impressions of touch. In touching any given part, it may be said that they are touched all over the body, and the mobility of their nerves also inclines them more readily to imitation. It has been observed that women are like musical strings
stretched in perfect unison; when one is moved, all the others are instantly affected. Thus the commissioners have repeatedly observed that when the crisis occurs in one woman, it occurs almost at once in others also.
"This organization explains why the crises in women are more frequent, more violent, and of longer duration than in men; it is nearly always due to their sensitive nerves. Some crises are due to a hidden, but natural cause, to an emotional cause to which women are more or less susceptible, and which, by a remote influence, accumulates these emotions and raises them to their highest pitch, thus producing a convulsive state which may be confounded with the ordinary crises. This is due to the empire which nature has caused one sex to exert over the other, so as to arouse feelings of attachment and emotion. Women are always magnetized by men; the established relations are doubtless those of a patient to the physician, but this physician is a man, and whatever the illness may be, it does not deprive us of our sex, it does not entirely withdraw us from the power of the other sex; illness may weaken impressions without destroying them. Moreover, most of the women who present themselves to be magnetized are not really ill; many come out of idleness, or for amusement; others, if not perfectly well, retain their freshness and their force, their senses are unimpaired and they have all the sensitiveness of youth; their charms are such as to affect the physician, and their health is such as to make them liable to be affected by him, so that the danger is reciprocal. The long-continued proximity, the necessary contact, the communication of individual heat, the interchange of looks, are ways and means by which it is well
known that nature ever effects the communication of the sensations and the affections.
"The magnetizer generally keeps the patient's knees enclosed within his own, and consequently the knees and all the lower parts of the body are in close contact. The hand is applied to the hypochondriac region, and sometimes to that of the ovarium, so that the touch is exerted at once on many parts, and these the most sensitive parts of the body.
"The experimenter, after applying his left hand in this manner, passes his right hand behind the woman's body, and they incline towards each other so as to favour this twofold contact. This causes the closest proximity; the two faces almost touch, the breath is intermingled, all physical impressions are felt in common, and the reciprocal attraction of the sexes must consequently be excited in all its force. It is not surprising that the senses are inflamed. The action of the imagination at the same time produces a certain disorder throughout the machine; it obscures the judgment, distracts the attention; the women in question are unable to take account of their sensations, and are not aware of their condition.
"The medical members of the commission were present to watch the treatment, and carefully observed what passed. When this kind of crisis is approaching, the countenance becomes gradually inflamed, the eye brightens, and this is the sign of natural desire. The woman droops her head, lifts her hand to her forehead and eyes in order to cover them; her habitual modesty is unconsciously aroused, and inspires the desire of concealment. The crisis continues, however, and the eye is obscured, an unequivocal sign of the complete disorder of the senses.
This disorder may be wholly unperceived by the woman who experiences it, but it cannot escape the observant eye of the physician. As soon as this sign has been displayed, the eyelids become moist, the respiration is short and interrupted, the chest heaves rapidly, convulsions set in, and either the limbs or the whole body is agitated by sudden movements. In lively and sensitive women this last stage, which terminates the sweetest emotion, is often a convulsion; to this condition there succeed languor, prostration, and a sort of slumber of the senses, which is a repose necessary after strong agitation.
"This convulsive state, however extraordinary it may appear to the observers, is shown to have nothing painful or contrary to nature in it, from the fact that, as soon as it is over, it leaves no unpleasant traces in its subjects. There is nothing disagreeable in the recollection, but, on the contrary, the subjects feel the better for it, and have no repugnance to enter anew into the same state. Since the emotions they experience are the germs of the affections and inclinations, we can understand why the magnetizer inspires such attachment, an attachment likely to be stronger and more marked in women than in men, so long as men are entrusted with the task of magnetism. Undoubtedly many women have not experienced these effects, and others have not understood the cause of the effects they experienced; the more modest they are, the less they would be likely to suspect it. But it is said that several have perceived the truth, and have withdrawn from the magnetic treatment, and those who have not perceived it ought to be deterred from its pursuit.
"The magnetic treatment must necessarily be dangerous to morality. While proposing to cure diseases which require prolonged treatment, pleasing and precious emotions are excited, emotions to which we look back with regret and seek to revive, since they possess a natural charm for us, and contribute to our physical happiness. But morally they must be condemned, and they are the more dangerous as it becomes more easy for them to become habitual. A condition into which a woman enters in public, amid other women who apparently have the same experience, does not seem to offer any danger; she continues in it, she returns to it, and discovers her peril when it is too late. Strong women flee from this danger when they find themselves exposed to it; the morals and health of the weak may be impaired.
"Of this danger M. Deslon is aware. On the 9th of last May, at a meeting held at M. Deslon's own house, the lieutenant of police asked him several questions on this point in the presence of the commissioners. M. Lenoir said to him, 'In my capacity as lieutenant-general of police, I wish to know whether, when a woman is magnetized and passing through the crisis, it would not be easy to outrage her.' M. Deslon replied in the affirmative, and it is only just to this physician to state that he has always maintained that he and his colleagues, pledged by their position to act with probity, were alone entitled and privileged to practise magnetism. It must be added that although his house contains a private room originally intended for these crises, he does not allow it to be used. The danger exists, however, notwithstanding this observance of decency, since the physician can, if he will, take advantage of his patient. Such occasions may occur
daily and at any moment; he is sometimes exposed to the danger for two or three hours at a time, and no one can rely on being always master of his will. Even if we ascribe to him superhuman virtue, since he is exposed to emotions which awaken such desires, the imperious law of nature will affect his patient, and he is responsible, not merely for his own wrong-doing, but for that he may have excited in another.
"There is another mode of producing convulsions, a mode of which the commissioners have obtained no direct and positive proof, but which they cannot but suspect; namely, a simulated crisis, which is a signal for, or produces many others, out of imitation. This expedient is, at any rate, needed to hasten or maintain the crises which are an advantage to magnetism, since without them it could not be carried on.
"There are no real cures, and the treatment is tedious and unprofitable. There are patients who have been under treatment for eighteen months or two years without deriving any benefit from it; at length their patience is exhausted, and they cease to come. The crises serve as a spectacle; they are an occupation and interest, and, moreover, they are to the unobservant the result of magnetism, a proof of the existence of that agent, although they are really due to the power of the imagination.
"When the commissioners began their report, they only stated the result of their examination of the magnetism practised by M. Deslon, to which the order of the king had restricted them, but as is evident that their experiments, observations, and opinions apply to magnetism in general. M. Mesmer will certainly declare that the commissioners have not examined his method,
proceedings, and the effects they have produced. The commissioners are undoubtedly too cautious to pronounce on that which they have not examined, and with which they are not acquainted, yet they must observe that M. Deslon's principles are those of the twenty-seven propositions printed by M. Mesmer in 1779.
"If M. Mesmer has enlarged his theory, it thereby becomes more absurd: the heavenly influences are only a chimaera, of which the fallacy has long been recognized. The whole theory may be condemned beforehand, since it is based upon magnetism; and it has no reality, since the animal magnetic fluid has no existence. Like magnetism, this brilliant theory exists only in the imagination. M. Deslon's mode of magnetizing is the same as that of M. Mesmer, of whom he is the disciple. When we place them together, we see that they have treated the same patients, and, consequently, have pursued the same process: the method now in use by M. Dsslon is that of M. Mesmer.
"The results also correspond; the crises are as violent and frequent, and the same symptoms are displayed under, the treatment of M. Deslon and of M. Mesmer. Although the latter may ascribe an obscure and inappreciable difference to his method, the principles, practice, and results are the same. Even if there were any real difference, no benefit from such treatment can be inferred, after the details given in our report and in this note, intended for the king.
"Public report declares that M. Mesmer's cures are not more numerous than those of M. Deslon. There is nothing to prevent the convulsions in this case also from becoming habitual, from producing an epidemic, and from being
transmitted to future generations: such practices and assemblies may also have an injurious effect upon morality.
"The commissioners' experiments, showing that all these results are due to contact, to imagination and imitation, while explaining the effects produced by M. Deslon, equally explain those of M. Mesmer. It may, therefore, reasonably be concluded that, whatever be the mystery of M. Mesmer's magnetism, it has no more real existence than that of M. Deslon, and that the proceedings of the one are not more useful nor less dangerous than those of the other.
"(Signed) Franklin, Boey, Lavoisier, Bailly,
Majault, Sallin, D'Arcet, Guillotin, Le Roy.
"Paris, August 11, 1784."
The Royal Society of Medicine presented their report five days later, and came to the same conclusions. But one member of the commission, Laurent de Jussieu, dissented from his colleagues, and, with scientific courage, published a separate report, containing his convictions on the subject.
De Jussieu had performed some experiments which could not, as he thought, be explained by the imagination. These facts demonstrated, in his opinion, that man produced a sensible action upon his fellow by friction, by contact, and, more rarely, by simple proximity. This action, ascribed to an universal fluid not yet demonstrated, was, he said, certainly due to animal heat, which he elsewhere terms animalized electric fluid. With respect to the theory of animal magnetism, he did not reject it as absolutely as Bailly, who said, "Everything is done by
the imagination; magnetism has nothing to do with it. He was content with saying, much more wisely, that the theory of magnetism could only be accepted when it was developed and supported by substantial proofs. In short, as Dechambre remarks, the idea pervades this report that Mesmer is on the track of a fruitful truth. This presentiment of the illustrious naturalist was soon to be confirmed; and, moreover, it is worthwhile to consider some of the assertions in de Jussieu's paper, since they contain an element of truth.
The efficacy of the action of contact and friction is proved by the existence in certain subjects of hypnogenic zones, of which the slightest stimulation produces somnambulism. M. Charcot has shown that the irritation of hysterogenic zones produces convulsions, and these zones are generally seated in the hypochondriac, or in the ovarian regions, on which Mesmer preferred to exercise his manipulations.
After Bailly's report, Mesmer left France, and returned to Germany. His part was played out, and we shall not recur to it. His friends have represented him as a man desirous of fame, but at the same time full of love for suffering humanity. Public opinion, more severe in its judgment, regards him as the type of the scientific charlatan.
Up to this time, animal magnetism had not been discovered; it probably had something to do with most of the mesmeric phenomena, with the baquet, etc.; but it was not recognized amid the nervous crises excited by Mesmer. It is to one of his disciples, to the Marquis Armand Jacques Marc Chastenet de Puységur, that the discovery must be ascribed of animal magnetism, or of artificial som-
nambulism, which ought, therefore, to bear the name of Puységurian somnambulism.* In May, 1784, M. de Puységur, living in retirement on his estate of Buzancy, near Soissons, employed his leisure in magnetizing peasants, after the manner of his master, and on one occasion he chanced to observe the production of an entirely new phenomenon.+ A young peasant named Victor, twenty-three years of age, who had been suffering for four days from inflammation of the lungs, was thrown by magnetism into a peaceful sleep, unaccompanied by convulsions or suffering. He spoke aloud, and was busied about his private affairs. It was easy to change the direction of his thoughts, to inspire him with cheerful sentiments, and he then became happy, and imagined that he was firing at a mark or dancing at a village fete. In his waking state he was simple and foolish, but during the crisis his intelligence was remarkable; there was no need of speaking to him, since he could understand and reply to the thoughts of those present. He himself indicated the treatment necessary in his illness, and he was soon cured.
This is a brief account of the peasant Victor's case. The news of his cure was rapidly spread abroad, and from all sides there was a concourse of sick people demanding relief The phenomenon was repeated, to de
Puységur's great joy, and he wrote: "My head is turned with joy, now that I see what good I am doing." Since he was unable to minister to the continually increasing number of patients, the marquis pursued Mesmer's plan of magnetizing an elm which grew on the village green at Buzancy. The patients were seated on stone benches round this tree, with cords connecting its branches with the affected parts of their bodies, and they formed a chain by linking their thumbs together. Meanwhile de Puységur chose from among his patients several subjects who, through contact with his hands or on the presentation of a metallic tractor, fell into the ordinary crisis, and this soon passed into a sleep in which all physical faculties appeared to be suspended, while the mental faculties were enlarged.
Cloquet, an eye-witness, * has given us some valuable information on the subject. He says that the patient's eyes were closed, and there was no sense of hearing, unless it was awakened by the master's voice. Care was taken not to touch the patient during his crisis, nor even the chair on which he was seated, as this would produce suffering and convulsions, which could only be subdued by the master. To rouse them from the trance, the master touched the patient's eyes, or said, "Go and embrace the tree." Then they arose, still asleep, went straight to the tree, and soon afterwards opened their eyes. As soon as they returned to a normal condition, the patients retained no recollection of what had occurred during the three or four hours' crisis.
But it was the cure of diseases at which de Puységur
aimed: therapeutics were his object, as it had been that of Mesmer. He observed, or thought that he observed, that during the crisis, the patients possessed a supernatural power which entitled them to be called physicians; it was, in fact, enough for them to touch through his clothes the sick person presented to them, in order to feel the part affected, and to indicate fitting remedies. Since they were solely occupied with this question, de Puységur and the other magnetizers who followed his example in Lyons, Bordeaux, Bayonne, Marseilles, etc., did not study the natural history of this artificial sleep. De Puységur, like Mesmer, was a healer. But in the case of de Puységur's treatment we agree with Dechambre that if his faith was robust, so likewise was his honesty. There was no public exhibition, nothing was done to strike the imagination; there was no selection of subjects from among silly or melancholic women. His patients of both sexes were of the peasant class, and were often suffering from severe and obstinate diseases. De Puységur's honesty and disinterestedness contrast well with Mesmer's avarice. As far as de Puységur's theoretic views are concerned, they are slight modifications of those of Mesmer. As little versed in physical science as his master, he always maintains the existence of an universal fluid, of which he recognizes the electric nature; this fluid saturates all bodies, and especially the human body, which has a perfect electric organization, and is an animated electric machine. Man can display this electric fluid at pleasure, and diffuse it externally by his movements, in order to produce somnambulism. It is curious that de Puységur should have strongly condemned the use of magnets in the treatment of disease, and of all electricity foreign
to our organism. This dogma has been falsified, and, as we are aware, electro-therapeutics has come into use.
In this way de Puységur modified the tradition he had received from Mesmer, and simple contact or spoken orders were substituted for the use of the baquet. There were no more violent crises, accompanied by cries, sobs, and the contortions of an attack of hysteria; instead of these, there was a calm, peaceful, healthy, and composed slumber. This was not a transformed phase of magnetism, but the actual discovery of this state, of which the honour is due to de Puységur.
It is easy to disentangle the portion of truth which exists in the descriptions of the magnetic sleep left by de Puységur, He has carefully observed the obedience of the magnetized subjects to the magnetizer's orders, who directs their thoughts and acts at his pleasure. We shall presently study this symptom under the name of suggestion. He has also observed the patient's unconsciousness, and that he retains no recollection of what has occurred during sleep. We shall see that this unconsciousness is a frequent and almost constant phenomenon during profound hypnotism. Finally, the descriptions show the singular affinity which seems to exist between the magnetizer and his subject; a phenomenon which is shown in some curious ways: the magnetizer alone must touch the sleeping subject, for fear of producing suffering and even convulsions. All this is accurate, established by science, and now admitted by every one. But it is not yet admitted that the subject is able to divine the thoughts of the magnetizer without any material communication, nor that the patient is acquainted with the nature of his disease, and can indicate effectual
remedies and foresee future events. De Puységur tried to give this faculty an air of probability by naming it presentation.
Mesmer's theory had been condemned by the judgment of scientific bodies, and this judgment was not reversed by de Puységur 's experiments, in which there was too much of the supernatural. Professional magnetizers adopted his experiments as the theme of their discourses. We can also understand the favour with which his assertion of the clairvoyance of somnambulists was received, since this was a new form of the gift of divination which had always obtained credence. Numerous magnetic societies were formed in different parts of France, especially, as Thouret states, in those towns which possessed no university, and which were therefore less under control. The Harmonic Society, however, founded at Strasburg, consisted of more than one hundred and fifty members.
We must mention in passing Pététin's experiments in catalepsy, since he had the good fortune to be the first, or one of the first, to observe the phenomena of the transposition of the senses. Pététin was a Lyons physician, President of the Medical Society in that city, and opposed to the new theories of magnetism. He observed and exhibited to his colleagues a cataleptic woman who saw, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted by means of the epigastric region and of the fingertips. This occurred in 1787. After Pététin's death a paper by him appeared, containing seven observations of the same kind. He ascribed these strange phenomena to the accumulation of the animal electric fluid in certain parts of the body. The magnetizers seized upon this fact,
and we shall see that for some time to come the question of the transposition of the senses was predominant.
Up to the year 1820, we find no work to quote, except that of the naturalist Deleuze, on the history of magnetism. His book is entitled Histoire critique du Magnetisme animal (1813); it is a crude work, which has been estimated much above its real value, and while it displays the honesty and sincerity of its author, it adds nothing to the sum of our knowledge on the subject.
Deleuze, like his predecessors, was chiefly concerned with the curative virtues of magnetism; and in order to prove their reality, he found no better expedient than to advise the incredulous to make use of it in various diseases. He said, moreover, that faith was essential to success, thus dispensing with any legitimate demonstration. Magnetism was held to be applicable to all diseases, and constituted, as in the days of de Puységur and of Mesmer, an universal panacea. At about the same period, in 1813, a thaumaturgist named Faria, who came from the Indies, gave public representations, for money, of the wonders which could be effected by means of magnetism. The process by which he induced sleep was curious. He seated the subject in an armchair, with closed eyes, and then cried out in a loud and imperious voice, "Go to sleep!" After a slight movement, the subject sometimes fell into a condition which Faria termed a lucid slumber. This charlatan had rightly observed that the cause of somnambulism rests in the subject himself. He truly said that sleep might be induced at the will of the subject, or when such will was absent, or even when it was exerted in the contrary sense.