MESMER, as we have seen, maintained the thesis in his inaugural address in 1766 that the sun, moon, and fixed stars mutually affect each other and cause a tide in the atmosphere, similar to that which they cause in the ocean; that they affect in similar manner all organized bodies, through the medium of a subtle fluid which he believed to pervade the universe and to associate all things together in mutual harmony. This fluid, which, in his conception, bears a striking resemblance to the ether of modern theorists, he believed to be in constant circulation, producing rhythmic tides which serve to keep the universe in health. This magnetic flux and reflux, he considered, is also to be found in man in a state of health. But, if checked in any way, obstructions and disease result.
"There is," Mesmer asserted, "only one disease and only one cure." It is, he said,
the throwing of the system out of equilibrium that constitutes disease, and cure can only be obtained by bringing the system back into equilibrium. He was not averse to the use of drugs, but he taught that drugs only do good by arousing the curative power of Nature. In his own practice he used drugs very sparingly.
Mesmer was not satisfied with the views the Medical Faculty of his day took with regard to the causes of disease. The doctors only took cognisance of physical causes. This, in his opinion, was not going deep enough. In his own words:—
"To these physical causes must be added moral causes: pride, envy, avarice, ambition, all the vile passions of the human mind, are so many causes of visible maladies. How can the effects of these continually acting causes be radically cured? Moreover, Animal Magnetism cannot cure the loss of an income of a hundred thousand francs, nor relieve one of a brutal and jealous husband, nor of a faithless and nagging wife, nor of an unnatural father or mother, nor of ungrateful children, nor of unfortunate propensities, nor of disagreeable vocations."
Instinct Mesmer considered to be of far greater importance than reason. "Man," he
wrote in his Aphorisms, "who alone uses what he calls his reason, is like a person who uses glasses in order to look at the thing he wishes to see; this gives him the habit of never looking at things with his own eyes, and never seeing things as other people do." He taught that, whereas instinct puts us into rapport with the whole of Nature, reason, as often as not, is a misleading guide, founding its conclusions on fallacies and prejudices which it helps to perpetuate. Instinct he regarded as the "internal sense" which serves to keep us in touch with the whole physical creation.
Something has already been said about the "crisis" which Mesmer regarded as of vital importance in the cure of disease. He believed that by discovering how to bring on and regulate "crises" he had found a method of arousing that curative power which is inherent in man's physical organism. The term "crisis," as used by Mesmer, indicates a change in the
magnetic condition of the patient which reacts beneficially on the disease. Magnetism, by breaking down the obstruction, brought on a "crisis" which violently agitated the patient's organs and forces and temporarily increased their action.
There is no doubt that Mesmer had dis-
covered a very effective method of inducing the crisis, and with highly beneficial results. By what means did he effect this? Tardy de Montravel, one of his most successful disciples, attributed to Mesmer a power of self-induction whereby he could increase in himself the intensity of the magnetic fluid and transmit it to his patients.