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AN 
 
 ESSAY OF INSTRUCTION, 
 
 Off 
 
 ANIMAL MAGNETISM; 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 
 OF THE 
 
 MARaUIS DE PUYSEGUR, 
 
 '; 
 TOGETHER 
 
 WITH VARIOUS EXTRACTS UPON THE SUBJECT, 
 
 AND NOTES, 
 JOHN KING, M. D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OP ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 
 
 NEW- YORK: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY J. C, KELLEY, 
 No. 70 BOWERY. 
 
 
*$#>> 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 Southern District of New -York, ss : 
 
 BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the ninth daj of 
 September, Anno Domini, 1837, John King of the said District hath de- 
 posited at this Office, the title of a Hook, the title of which it 5 in the words 
 following, to wit 'An Essay of Instruction, on Animal Magnetism: Trans- 
 lated from the French of the Marquis de Puysegur, together with various 
 extracts upon the subject and Notes. I>y John King, M. D, Professor of 
 Animal Magnetism", the right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in conformi- 
 ty with an act of Congress, entitled "an Act to amend the several Acta 
 respecting copy rights. ' F. J. BKTTS, 
 
 Clerk of the Southern District of New-York^ 
 
 JJZ<?4 
 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 
 
 Animal Magnetism is a subject which has 
 given rise to many controversies in the literary 
 and philosophical world ; and its followers have 
 been more or less the subjects of ridicule, in- 
 sult, and persecution, ever since the days of 
 Mesmer. 
 
 That thp ancients were acquainted with Mag- 
 netism, is beyond a doubt ; yet it was so veiled 
 in mystery, and kept among the priests, who, 
 in general were the physicians, that with their 
 gradual extinction, this subject also gradually 
 became less known. Cures were performed 
 by the priests in various ways, by merely touch- 
 ing, and sometimes prescribing while asleep — 
 no doubt in a state of somnambulism. And 
 the prescriptions given in these dreams were 
 recorded in the temples, from which Hermes, 
 Galen, Hippocrates, and others, received great 
 advantages. The sibyls, were but females in a 
 true state of somnambulism, and we find that 
 when they delivered oracles, verbally, that they 
 experienced convulsions, &c, similar to many 
 somnambulists of the present day. The Druids 
 had also their sibyls, who were those females 
 disposed to fall into fits of ecstacy. Many cases 
 might here be given to prove the truth of what 
 we have said, but the limits of this work, will 
 not permit. 
 
A Gorman physician, named Mesmer, in 
 about the year 1778, recognized in man the 
 power of acting on the organs of his fellow crea- 
 tures, by means, which depend on the will of 
 the person who employs them. Since which, 
 many talented persons have used it with suc- 
 cess, among who may be mentioned Dr. D. 
 Eslon, Professor de Jussieu, the Marquis de 
 Puysegur, &c. the last mentioned of whom, had 
 the good fortune to discover the state of [Mag- 
 netic Somnambulism. Societies ot magnetisers, 
 have been formed in France, Germany, West 
 Indies, Russia; and in Prussia, and Bavaria 
 the governments have judged proper, to reserve 
 the practice of magnetism to physicians only. 
 
 To satisfactorily explain magnetism, has thus 
 far been impossible, though when it shall be 
 done, I believe it will be found to be produced 
 by galvanism. That it is not philosophically ex- 
 plained, will be no hindrance to men of intelli- 
 gence, in testing its reality, and no person will, 
 or rather ought to ridicule any subject, until 
 he has experimented upon it himself. One 
 who laughs at it, because others do, or because 
 he does not understand it himself, is only a vain 
 blockhead. 
 
 Myself was a skeptic, until I had proved it by 
 a number of satisfactory experiments. In sev- 
 eral of my first trials, I failed in producing any 
 effects, but by perseverance, and a determina- 
 tion to discover its existence, I was soon repaid 
 for all my lost labor. 
 
 That a somnambulist, can prescribe for his 
 
own disease, and also that of any who may be 
 presented to him, is an undoubted fact ; but be- 
 yond this no reliance can be placed on his as- 
 sertion, although many have spoken correctly : 
 however, it is no rule for magnetisers to believe 
 in, and they should be careful lest they get de- 
 ceived. 
 
 The following is an article, translated from La 
 Revue Francaise, and published in the N. Y. 
 Courier and Enquirer, which is calculated to 
 put all doubt upon the subject, at rest. 
 
 A REVIEW OF 
 " The Report and Discussions of the Royal 
 Academy of Medicine" (of Paris) "upon 
 Animal Magnetism" — 1 vol. 8co. 
 Animal Magnetism ? — Does it exist? — and is 
 it clearly proven, that by means of certain ges- 
 tures fgest/sj there can be established between 
 certain persons, relations of such a description 
 that one of them, can at his pleasure cause the 
 other to fall into a profound sleep, and render 
 him insensible to all external impressions ? Is 
 it possible, in fine, that in certain cases, a person 
 thus put to sleep, may speak and act as if he 
 were awake? That his senses, or at least, his 
 means of communication uith exterior objects 
 acquire such a degree of perfection and subtil- 
 ity, that he can see with his eyes shut, or even 
 with the aid of his stomach (epigastre) some- 
 times by an internal faculty, the smallest de- 
 tails of his internal organization or that of the 
 individual with whom this relation has been 
 produced ? 
 
6 
 
 If these questions were put to us a priori, ab- 
 stracted entirely from any connection with 
 facts or experiments, we should not hesitate to 
 resolve them with a prompt negative. We 
 might even perhaps find them ridiculous and 
 burlesque, and we are not sure but we might 
 indulge in some pleasant raillery at the expense 
 of those who were such charlatans or simple- 
 tons as to put them — or credulous and silly 
 enough to give them a moments' serious exam- 
 ination. 
 
 Thus have, up to the present period, a good- 
 ly number of critics uniformly done, and we 
 have a recollection of many articles, sparkling 
 with the keenest and finest raillery, which were 
 inspired by this same unlucky " Animal Mag- 
 netism" and produced by the Editor of one of 
 our most celebrated Journals. What a God- 
 send, in fact, for the pages of a Journal was the 
 description of the proceedings of the magnetis- 
 ers and the magnetised, although in themselves 
 — not very extraordinary ! What an inexhaust- 
 ible source of pleasantry were the miraculous 
 results proclaimed by the true believers ! With- 
 out reckoning the gratification one naturally de- 
 rives from giving ones-self the air of an esprit 
 fort and an intellect, super or to the delusions 
 which deceive and delight the vulgar. 
 
 Unluckily this scepticism — amiable and in 
 good taste as it is — will not assist us any longer. 
 The authority of facts presses upon us with an 
 irresistible weight; observations, experiments, 
 — recant and undeniable — made in presence of 
 
men, much rather disposed by their habits and 
 position, to doubt and deny, than to believe with 
 too robust a faith, — demonstrate that beyond 
 question, there resides in the very bosom of hu- 
 manity, a force or a faculty, unknown, or illy 
 observed during a long period, which by some 
 sympathetic operation, quite indefinable but 
 real, conducts certain persons by the action or 
 at the toil I of certain others lo a state of sleep, 
 a crisis, more or less efficacious, for the relief 
 of maladies : These experiments prove more- 
 over, that this state of sleep is susceptible in 
 some instances, of conferring on the subject of 
 it, a certain organic perfection of vision, (clair- 
 voyance) altogether beyond the ordinary laws 
 of nature; and leave the faculty of acting and 
 speaking, as if in a waking state, or even with 
 more clearness and precision than in that state 
 itself. 
 
 While these results were supported only by 
 obscure experiments, often emanating from in- 
 terested charlatanism, it was permitted to us to 
 receive them with some distrust ; but, at this 
 day, when one of our societies of Savans, has 
 bestowed its attention upon Animal Magnetism ; 
 at this day, when many of its most curious ef- 
 fects have been verified by a commission which 
 offers all the guaranties of science and pru- 
 dence; the duty of every sensible man is to ex- 
 amine without partiality as without prejudice, 
 which is precisely what we are now about to 
 undertake. 
 
 The first striking and conclusive experiments 
 
8 
 
 made upon Animal Magnetism, are to be cre- 
 dited to the German — Mesmek: This physi- 
 cian,— of a lively imagination and ol a disposi- 
 tion, rather friendly to the marvellous, suspect- 
 ed, while yet young, some of the effects of this 
 secret force, the existence of which, it would 
 seem, we are at this day, no longer allowed to 
 question. Bat, Mesmer, in the place of com- 
 mencing with observations of facts, — aspired 
 at once to penetrate the cause, and he publish- 
 ed, on this occasion, a discourse entitled: rt De 
 Planetarum influxii" in which he attributes 
 a certain influence over animated bodies, to 
 certain currents, emanating from the celestial 
 bodies, and particularly an influence over the 
 nervous system by the medium of an universal 
 current or fluid. Some years after, and by 
 consequence of this pre-conceived theory, Mes- 
 mer, persuaded that the action of this " univer- 
 sal fluid" as he termed it, ought to resemble 
 or to be connected with that of terrestial Mag- 
 netism, or of the load-stone, boldly undertook 
 to cure a convulsive disease by the application 
 of magnetic rods. 
 
 He was not long in discovering, however, 
 that the phenomena produced by his operations, 
 were to be attributed to some other cause than 
 the magnet, and this cause he pronounced to be 
 the influtnce of the will upon the nervous sys- 
 tem. After numerous disappointments at Vi- 
 enna, Mesmer came to Paris : warmly receiv- 
 ed by some distinguished physicians — warmly 
 censured by others, he very soon succeeded in 
 
9 
 
 exciting a party in the highest society, then so 
 excitable; in this society — where existed I 
 know not what thirst and necessity for the mar- 
 vellous and for powerful emotions, which pre- 
 pared it admirably for the almost supernatural 
 attractions of the doctor's new science. One 
 operation, made on a large scale, procured for 
 him, a sum by subscription, little short of 340, 
 000 francs; a vogue, thus established, soon 
 called the attention of the Faculty of Medi- 
 cine; commissioners were named to examine 
 this new Magnetism, in all its relations. Of the 
 three commissioners, two pronounced sentence 
 against Magnetism ; the third, the celebrated 
 Jussieu, who alone had attentively pursued the 
 experiments, made a separate report, in which 
 he recognizes some facts, which demonstrates 
 the existence of an external agent, independent 
 of the imagination. 
 
 In spite of this condemnation, however, by 
 tw r o votes against one, Magnetism — as formerly 
 quinquina and inoculation did also—continued 
 to spread in reputation and gain credit. The 
 political events, which soon succeeded, and 
 which decimated or dispersed the classes of so- 
 ciety in which M'esmcr had found encourage- 
 ment and disciples, arrested for several years 
 the career of the new discovery : but the Mag- 
 netic Science still preserved seme adepts, in the 
 first rank of whom figured Mesmer himself, 
 (who died only 1815,) the virtuous Puysegur 
 and the respectable and learned M. Deleuze. 
 
 In the course of the ten or fifteen years which 
 
10 
 
 preceded the death of 3fcsmer, the leisure of a 
 long peace and the communications among the 
 Savans of different countries, facilitated Mag- 
 netic observations, and hastened the propagation 
 of this science, or rather faculty, still very ill 
 understood. A great number of young persons 
 brought up with the positive ideas and the ec- 
 lectick spirit and doctrines of that era, discarded 
 from their operations in Magnetism, all that 
 marvellous and half-cabalistic apparatus, with 
 which, perhaps by design, Mesmer had sur- 
 rounded it. The experiments were made in 
 private, and in the hospitals; it was evident, at 
 length, that the time had arrived " to appeal 
 from the Faculty prejudging, to the Faculty 
 better informed," — and to take off the moral in- 
 terdict which had been placed upon Magnetism, 
 by the authority of the two members of the 
 commission of 1786. A young Physician, M. 
 Foissac, had the merit of taking the initiative in 
 this measure : in a letter addressed on the 11th 
 October, 1825, to the Royal Academy of Me- 
 dicine, he requested that it would name com- 
 missioners to examine anew this question ot 
 Animal Magnetism. In spite of a strong oppo- 
 sition, a commission was named for the purpose 
 of examining the question whether it comported 
 with the dignity of the Academy to direct its 
 inquiries to Animal Magnetism. Some months 
 afterwards, the report of this commission was 
 presented by Doctor Husson, who, a quarter 
 of a century before, had contributed so much 
 by his enlightened and persevering efforts, to 
 
11 
 
 popularize the practice of vaccination^-a sub* 
 ject also in the first instance of the most obsti- 
 nate prejudices. 
 
 This report, in which the history of Animal 
 Magnetism is traced with equal fidelity and 
 talent, announced two facts of high importance, 
 and well capable of inducing the Royal Acade- 
 my of Medicine, to relax somewhat of the lofty 
 disdain with which so many people receive 
 matters which they do not understand. Those 
 facts are: 1st, the *" establishment at Berlin, 
 by the authority of the Government, and under 
 the patronage of the celebrated Hufeland, of 
 an extensive clinical practice, in which the 
 patients were treated successfully, with Magne- 
 tism." 2ndly, the admission of Magnetism 
 among the number of subjects proposed at 
 Stockholm to the candidates for the degree 
 of Doctor of Medicine. The report concluded 
 with the nomination of a special Commission 
 to devote itself to the study and examination of 
 Animal Magnetism. 
 
 We shall not enter into the details of the 
 animated, and even stormy discussion, to which 
 this report gave rise in the Royal Academy of 
 Medicine. Some men of the most indisputable 
 science, of the best disposition — prepossessed 
 to excess, in favor of the respect due to existing 
 Medical Doctrines, proved furious adversaries 
 of the proposed innovation : Others, whose 
 names are not less justly celebrated, happily 
 comprehended that before condemning, it was 
 necessary to examine, and if among the oppo- 
 
12 
 
 nents, we find the names of M. Desgeueites; 
 Double, and Laennec, the contrary opinion 
 may with just pride, point to those of Messrs. 
 Virey, Orjila, Marc and Magendie, among 
 its partisans. The result of this discussion, 
 which occupied three sittings, was the appoint- 
 ment of a special commission, composed of 
 Messrs. Leroux, B mrdois, Double, Magendie, 
 Guessent, Uusson, Thillage, Marc, Itard, 
 Fouquicr, and Guenau de Mussy. 
 
 For nearly six ye irs, this commission de- 
 voted itself assiduously to the observation of 
 the magnetic phenomena which have been 
 submitted to it by Doctor Foissac, and different 
 other persons. 
 
 The report upon these experiments, has final- 
 ly been presented by Mr. Husson, at the sittings 
 of the 21st and 28th of June: it was signed 
 only by 9 of the members of the Commission, 
 Messrs. Double and Magendie not having 
 assisted at the experiments. Our space will 
 not permit us to insert here the text of even 
 their conclusions. The result of them in 
 substance is, that " Magnetism is transmitted 
 by certain movements, called passes, — some- 
 times by the mere wile of the magnetiser, by 
 fixing his eyes on the party — and even without 
 the consciousness or suspicion of those who are 
 magnetised : that Magnetism produces evi- 
 dently slight convulsive movements, resembling 
 electric shocks, a lethargy more or less profound 
 — sighing — somnolency — and in a small num- 
 ber of cases, what the magnetisers call som- 
 
13 
 
 nambulism — a state which gives rise to the 
 development of some new faculties, known by 
 the name of clairvoyance, intuition, prevision 
 interieure — or which produces great changes 
 in the physiological condition, as insensibility, 
 or a great and sudden increase of strength : 
 — that somnambulists are often insensible to 
 the most violent external noises, and the most 
 energetic odours ; so that they can without be- 
 ing incommoded, respire muriatic acid, or am- 
 monia : that for the most part, the insensibili- 
 ty of somnambulists is complete, and that they 
 have been seen to undergo the most painful 
 surgical operations icithout either the face, the 
 pulse, or the respiration denoting the slightest 
 motion : that somnambulists, have, with their 
 eyes closed, distinguished objects placed before 
 them, such as playing cards, and written char- 
 acters ; that some others have foreseen and an- 
 nounced with the most remarkable exactitude, 
 and many months in advance, the day, the hour, 
 the minute of certain crises of their disorder : 
 that a somnambulist has been able to indicate 
 the symptoms of the disorders of persons with 
 whom they have been placed in magnetic con- 
 tact or relation." These conclusions are ter- 
 minated by these two extremely remarkable 
 paragraphs : 
 
 " Considered as an agent of physiological 
 phenomena, or as a therapeutic resource, mag- 
 netism ought to receive a place in the store ot 
 medical knowledge, and consequently, physi- 
 cians ought alone to superintend the employ 
 z 
 
14 
 
 ment of it, as a medical agent, as is the prac- 
 tice in the north of Europe." 
 
 " The commission has not succeeded in veri- 
 fying, because it had not the opportunity to do 
 so ; the existence of some other faculties which 
 the magnetisers had announced to have estab- 
 lished in somnambulists ; but it has collected 
 and communicates facts, as it believes, of suffi- 
 cient importance to induce the academy to en- 
 courage researches into magnetism, as an ex- 
 tremely curious branch both of pschychology 
 and of Natural History." 
 
 This report, which rests on the most rigor- 
 ous experiments, was not of a nature to be de- 
 feated ; the academy limited itself to having it 
 autographed ; and it has remained deposited 
 in its archives. It is thence that Doctor Fois- 
 sac has drawn it for the purpose of publishing. 
 We do not hesitate to declare, that by this pub- 
 lication, he has rendered a veritable service to 
 those who desire to decide only from a know- 
 ledge of causes, in adopting or rejecting a par- 
 ticular belief: a series of experiments made in 
 the presence of such enlightened observers, and 
 for the most part, of those in avowed disbelief 
 of the phenomena which they were to exam- 
 ine, is surely doing enough to satisfy the most 
 incredulous minds. 
 
 From among the numerous facts established 
 by this report, we are now about to cite some 
 which will give an idea of what is most aston- 
 ishing and incomprehensible in the phenome- 
 na, hitherto so badly understood of Anmial 
 
15 
 
 Magnetism ; but, before all, we believe we shall 
 do what will be acceptable to our readers, if we 
 place before them in the very words employed 
 by the Commission, the process employed in 
 producing magnetic sleep. 
 
 " The person who is to be magnetised, is 
 seated upon a convenient sofa, or on a chair ; 
 the magnetiser, seated a little higher, in front 
 and at a foot's distance — appears to recollect 
 himself for some moments, during which he 
 takes the fingers of the individual magnetised, 
 and remains in that position until he perceives 
 that precisely the same degree of warmth is es- 
 tablished between the fingers of the individual 
 and his own. He then withdraws his hands, 
 turning them outwardly, and places them upon 
 the shoulders about one minute, then carries 
 them gently, with a sort of slight friction, down 
 the arms to the extremity of the fingers : these 
 movements which the magnetisers call passes, 
 are gone through with for five or six times ; af- 
 ter which the operator places his hand above 
 the head, holds them there an instant, then low- 
 ers them, passing them before the countenance, 
 at the distance of one or two inches, to the re- 
 gion of the epigastrium, (stomach,) where he 
 pauses again, sometimes resting his fingers on 
 that region — sometimes not ; and then descends 
 gently, the length of the body to the feet. — 
 These passes are repeated during the greater 
 part of the sitting, and when he is on the point 
 of terminating it, he prolongs them to the ex- 
 tremity of the feet and hands, shaking his 
 
16 
 
 fingers at each time ; finally, he makes transient 
 passes before the countenance and the feet, at 
 the distance of 3 or 4 inches, presenting the 
 two hands close to each other, and snatching 
 them quickly away again." 
 
 Assuredly, if it were necessary to decide by 
 appearances, nothing would have more of a ri- 
 diculous jugglery, than these gestures,— so sin- 
 gular that we might well believe they were in- 
 vented rather for the purpose of imposing on 
 the imagination of women and children, than to 
 produce results worthy of the attention of seri- 
 ous men. Let us, however, look at the effects. 
 From among a vast number of instances, we 
 select the most prominent. 
 
 " Mons. Petit, residing at Athis, was put 
 into a state of magnetic sleep ; the members of 
 the commission declare that his eyes were com- 
 pletely closed ; that the eye lashes were even 
 closed. In this condition, the somnambulist 
 read with facility, different printed papers and 
 manuscripts which were presented to him ; he 
 played at cards with the greatest dexterity and 
 without even committing a mistake ; when his 
 eyes were bandaged with the greatest care, he 
 showed himself conscious of the action of a 
 magnetic current directed successively to dif- 
 ferent parts of his body. 
 
 " Paul Villagram, laboring under paralysis 
 and attended at the Hospital of Charity, by Dr. 
 Fouquier, one of the members of the Commis- 
 sion, was put to sleep in the presence of the 
 Commission ; he predicted the day and hour at 
 
17 
 
 which his paralysis should cease. The Com- 
 mission was exact at the place of rendezvous. 
 Paul betook himself upon his crutches to the 
 Hall of meeting, and was magnetised. When 
 he awoke he demanded his crutches : " But 
 you have no need of them," some one answer- 
 ed him — * you have informed us you can dis- 
 pense with them : rise up and walk !" On the 
 instant the sick man stood up and returned, 
 without his crutches, to his companions in the 
 common hall, who were of course, overwhelm- 
 ed with amazement ! ! ! 
 
 But independently of these facts already so 
 notorious, and which it seems to us impossible 
 to explain if we do not admit the existence of 
 magnetism, there is one still more important 
 and direct, if we may so express it, in which 
 all imposition and all trick are manifestly im- 
 possible. The fact is attested by M. Jules Clo- 
 quet, one of our most able and skilful physi- 
 cians. 
 
 " A lady was attacked by an ulcerated can- 
 cer ; an operation, always one of the most deli- 
 cate and dangerous in surgery, had become in- 
 dispensable; the patient could not hear it spo- 
 ken of without manifesting the most lively a- 
 larms, and the most insurmountable repug- 
 nance; a magnetic doctor was employed to 
 throw her into a state of somnambulism, when 
 she immediately recognized the necessity of the 
 operation, and even solicited it with eagerness; 
 upon the day fixed for the operation, M. C/o- 
 
 quet found the patient dressed and seated upon 
 
 2# 
 
18 
 
 an easy chair, in the state of a person who had 
 gently fallen into a natural sleep; she spoke 
 with great calmness of the operation which 
 she was about to undergo, and had prepared 
 every thing that was necessary. M. Cloquet 
 approached with his two assistants — during ten 
 or twelve minutes, he was employed in making 
 incisions, dissecting the tissues, and finally ex- 
 tirpating the tumour; during all this time, the 
 patient continued to converse tranquilly with 
 the operator, without giving the slightest symp- 
 tom of sensibility to pain : not a movement was 
 manifested in the limbs or the features, not a 
 change in the respiration, or the voice, or the 
 pulse ! The patient remaining for forty-eight 
 hours longer, in this profound magnetic sleep ; 
 she only awaked after the first dressings had 
 been taken off. They then informed her she 
 had been operated upon, and the consequence 
 was an agitation so lively, that the magnetiser 
 was obliged to put her to sleep again immedi- 
 ately ! ! ! 
 
 Once more then, none of these facts can be 
 denied; perhaps there may be found persons 
 who will undertake to explain them, as our first 
 military surgeon has, and who has not seen any 
 better mode than that of calling his patient, the 
 * Commere" of the magnetiser. But for all 
 those who will not believe, that the desire of 
 giving credit to an imposture, in the success of 
 which, they who furnish the evidence are not 
 at all interested, can go so far as to render pain 
 unfelt, and flesh insensible, it will remain proved 
 
19 
 
 to a demonstration that in certain cases at least, 
 magnetic sleep operates a complete annihilation 
 of sensibility — and then what a benefit — were 
 it the only one that could result from Magne- 
 tism — what consolation for humanity — what 
 security for science in thus being able to ope- 
 rate upon living subjects with as much calmness 
 and sang f void as if dissecting a dead one ! 
 
 The publication of the work of M. Foissac, 
 it seems to us, should produce this result, to wit 
 — that all sensible men will, at length compre- 
 hend, that at this day, Jlnimal Magnetism is 
 placed in the class of incontestible facts ; that 
 the reign of doubt ought to cease and that of 
 observation to commence. In awaiting the 
 period, if it can arrive, when facts, systemati- 
 cally arranged, shall be able to conduct us to 
 the discovery of the law from which they ema- 
 nate, — if any by way of controverting these 
 facts, shall object that they cannot comprehend 
 them — let them recollect that human reason for 
 ages refused to be convinced of the motion of 
 the earth — of the circulation of the blood — and 
 of the utility of vaccination: — let them tell us, 
 in fine, these men who rely so confidently on a 
 test liable to so many errors, — let them declare 
 if they do now comprehend the mystery of the 
 germination of a single grain of wheat — or the 
 production of the least insect that crawls upon 
 the earth. 
 
20 
 
 J. KING S THEORY OF ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 
 
 1. The brain is a galvanic battery, constant- 
 ly supplied with the galvanic fluid, from the 
 surrounding atmosphere ; and the nerves are 
 the conductors to and from this battery. 
 
 2. No motion can be produced in man, ex- 
 cept by the action of this battery, either volun- 
 tary, or involuntary, on the part of the indivi- 
 dual ; the action of striking, walking, &c, is a 
 shock, or succession of shocks from this batte- 
 ry, voluntary ; the winking of the eye lids, 
 the collapsion and expansion of the lungs, &c, 
 are also shocks from the same, involuntary. 
 
 3. A person possessing a great portion of 
 this fluid, and a strong battery, can force a cer- 
 tain quantity of it into a person possessing it in 
 a less degree, and with a weak battery. 
 
 4. A person in health, enjoys the quantity of 
 this fluid, together with its action, in a state of 
 harmony and regularity, necessary to preserve 
 health. 
 
 5. A person diseased, does not enjoy the 
 quantity of this fluid, nor its action in that re- 
 gular and harmonious state, requisite for the 
 preservation of health. 
 
 6. An individual in good health, by employ- 
 ing his will firmly and steadily on a person dis- 
 eased, (willing, and being determined that such 
 person shall be relieved from the disease by a 
 magnetic sleep, or series of them,) calls into 
 action his galvanic battery ; its whole force is 
 directed to the sick person, and he becomes 
 
21 
 
 charged with the fluid; this fluid produces 
 sleep, and in accordance with the laws of po- 
 larity in galvanism, and motion, (positive and 
 negative attracting,) he becomes obedient to 
 the will of his magnetiser. 
 
 7. While magnetising, the magnetiser loses 
 a portion of his fluid, which is forced upon the 
 magnetised ; but being in health, he receives a 
 constant re-supply from the atmosphere. 
 
 8. It is necessary for the magnetiser to be- 
 lieve, and have the faith, that the person mag- 
 netised will sleep, and be cured, otherwise no 
 good effect can be produced ; as a single doubt, 
 destroys in a greater, or less degree, the force 
 and regularity of action of the galvanic battery ; 
 in the same manner, as if the copper plates in a 
 battery were continually removed and replaced, 
 or, the galvanic action continually interrupted ; 
 thus producing no positive, or permanent effect. 
 
 9. The reason why a person in the magnetic 
 state, can speak so truly, is as follows ; the more 
 perfect a man's brain is formed, the nearer to 
 perfection is that man. Hence, a person whose 
 phrenological organs are correct, having suffi- 
 cient of each, in neither excessive, nor faulty 
 proportions, is more talented naturally, than 
 persons not so well formed. Then, as a person 
 in the magnetic state, is nearer to perfection, 
 than when awake; (the sensation in this sleep, 
 being one, of which the others in a natural state, 
 are mere modifications ; if in the natural state, 
 his brain is well developed, the nearer to per- 
 fection will he arrive in the magnetic sleep. 
 
22 
 
 This accounts why some somnambulists can 
 predict more truly on particular subjects, than 
 others; owing to their particular phrenological 
 developments, which are in a more perfect 
 condition during somnambulism. 
 
 Summary of Objections to Animal Magnetism. 
 
 In an editorial article bearing the elegant and 
 grammatical title of " An old Humbug neic- 
 vamped," the Journal of Commerce, on Satur- 
 day last, speaks very superciliously of the great 
 excitement which has been created in several of 
 the Eastern States, by the phenomena of Animal 
 Magnetism. The testimony to the truth of this 
 recovered science, which has been so frankly 
 borne by the respected editor of the Nantucket 
 Inquirer, seems to have caused much commotion 
 in the sensitive viscera of the pious Journal, 
 and it applies its hand to the tender part, as 
 though it feared a similar attack of rationality. 
 Indeed, it expresses its apprehension that the 
 intellectual malady will spread all over the 
 Union, like the Cholera ; and as nervous people 
 are peculiarly susceptible subjects of Animal 
 Magnetism, we should not be at all surprised 
 to hear that the editor of the Journal had be- 
 come a decided case. He naturally wishes to 
 avert the visitation, which he seems conscious, 
 would be peculiarly severe ; and for this pur- 
 pose, fills eight columns of his first page with 
 the most approved remedy he could find in the 
 books. He says, he trusts that the public will 
 not be deterred by the bulk of the dose from 
 swallowing the whole, as it is admirably 
 
23 
 
 calculated to do good, and " they who read it 
 carefully will be likely to lose all power ever to 
 exercise such faith as will admit them to the 
 mysteries of the science." 
 
 This paralyzing antidote to faith, is an arti- 
 cle which appeared in 1833, in the London 
 Foreign Quarterly Review, and is well known 
 to the students of Animal Magnetism, as a 
 professed summary of all the objections to that 
 revived branch of physiology, that men of 
 science and prejudice have urged. The Journal 
 admits, that •' it gives the length and breadth of 
 the philosophy and history of Animal Magne- 
 tism ;" and it may therefore be fairly deemed 
 one of the most formidable engines that the 
 assailants of that science have constructed. It 
 is nothing less than a review of a report made 
 by a Committee of the French Royal Acade- 
 my of Medicine, who were employed from the 
 year 1826 to 1831, in testing the phenomena 
 and pretensions of the science. To the evi- 
 dence and opinions presented in this report, the 
 review has added whatever facts, and falsehoods, 
 perversions and prejudices, colourings and con- 
 clusions, he could collect from his own resources, 
 which furnish some of these supplies not scanti- 
 ly. The article is by far too long for our co- 
 lumns, or we would transfer it to them with 
 pleasure ; but we pledge ourselves to give as 
 impartial and comprehensive an abstract as our 
 limits will admit, and to reply to it with perfect 
 fairness and candour. We invite a perusal of 
 it, as it appears in the Journal, that all who 
 
24 
 
 feel an interest in the controversy may see 
 whether we redeem our pledge. 
 
 After a trifling introduction, the reviewer 
 says, u our article shall divide itself into three 
 heads, I. A historical sketch of Animal Mag- 
 netism. II. An examination of its proofs. III. 
 An inquiry into its practical utility." This 
 therefore, is the spontaneous Cerberus which 
 we undertake to decapitate. And its first head 
 is by no means invulnerable. It says "1. Ani- 
 mal Magnetism, so called, because it is npt 
 Magnetism, and has never been known to affect 
 any animal but man." We have only to re- 
 mark, that the satire of this burlesque sequitur 
 is obtained at the expense of truth. Did the 
 learned reviewer or his indorser, the editor of 
 the Journal never Magnetise a Cat? If not, 
 let them make the simple experiment of smooth- 
 ing down the fur of a full grown cat, until they 
 see it rise in rough tufts after the vertebra, like 
 the surcharged feather of an electrometer. 
 This is Animal Magnetism; and if a cat thus 
 filled with an excess of the magnetic fluid (spirit) 
 from the operation, be taken into a perfectly* 
 dark apartment, its fur, on his repeating the 
 friction of the hand, will emit galvanic sparks, 
 both visibly and audibly. The distressed ani- 
 mal will become convulsed in all its muscles, 
 and if not speedily released, will feel little deli- 
 cacy in giving either of those gentlemen a 
 dental demonstration of the folly of their tran- 
 scendental scepticism. 
 
25 
 
 But every animal exhibits proofs of magnetic 
 influence. Van Amburg tames and controls 
 his lions, leopards, and tigers by it, although 
 he may be unconscious of the fact. Almost 
 his first act of discipline, upon a tiger, fierce 
 from the forest, is to stroke its skin, manipulate 
 its ears, ribs, vertebra, and other parts which 
 he has found by experience to be favorable to 
 nervous communication, and which are known 
 to physiologists to be anatomically so. The ani- 
 mal thus becomes so completely subdued to his 
 will, that he can handle it as familiarly and confi- 
 dently as we can the domesticated creatures 
 that repose upon our carpets. He may even 
 chastise and irritate his ferocious pupils, and 
 they have no power to injure him, whilst he re- 
 tains confidence in his own to subdue them ; 
 whereas, a person who had not acquired that 
 control, or who might irresolutely assume it, 
 would be torn in pieces, The power of snakes 
 and of some other creatures, to secure their 
 prey by animal fascination, which is but ano- 
 ther term for Magnetism, is as well established 
 as any fact in natural history ; and the power 
 of the human eye upon inferior animals, as also 
 upon inferior men, is daily exemplified. And 
 yet the superficial reviewer, so congenially ad- 
 mired by the Journal of Commerce, com- 
 mences his formal refutation of Animal Magne- 
 tism, by asserting that it has never been known 
 to affect any but the human species ! In the 
 experiment which we have suggested he would 
 find a categorical answer. 
 3 
 
26 
 
 This philosopher then goes on to say — -"The 
 disciples of any new and doubtful hypothesis 
 are generally anxious to find as many traces as 
 possible of it in universal belief/' Certainly 
 they are, and very naturally too; for such 
 traces if not confirmations, are welcomed as 
 agreeable associations, even at the sacrifice of 
 the pride which accompanies original discovery; 
 and u accordingly," says the reviewer — 
 
 " The magnetistshave not been idle, but col- 
 lecting all those incidents, formerly accounted 
 for by sympathy, imagination, imitation, or 
 credulity, they triumphantly bring them forward 
 as undoubted evidences of the " influence" which 
 they advocate, and commence their work with.— 
 u In all times ;md in all ages has popular belief 
 admitted the existence of an universal principle, 
 pervading all matter, and binding together all 
 bodies. Plato speaks of the anima mundi, &c." 
 
 Very well ; is it violently unphilosophical to 
 contend that sympathy, imagination, imitation 
 and credulity, are but effects of other causes ? 
 Are they original and unproduced principles, 
 or are they effects, producing other effects ? Is 
 it not the peculiar province of sound philosophy 
 to trace the occult causes of manifest effects ? 
 and is not this the distinguishing feature be- 
 tween philosophy and vulgar knowledge — be- 
 tween science and superficiality ? Imagina- 
 tion, for instance, is a certain active and prolific 
 exercise of the brain ; Phrenology assumes to 
 have discovered the organs of the brain upon 
 which it depends, because it is observed that 
 
27 
 
 those men who have the fullest development of 
 the organs which are termed those of ideality, 
 are most remarkable for power of imagination. 
 But whether this discovery be genuine or not, 
 it is admitted in every system of physiology, 
 that all the operations of the brain, be what 
 they may, depend upon its nerves ; and that the 
 nerves depend upon something else, for their 
 functions and actions. — This something, ha* 
 been termed a " nervous fluid," " animal spirit," 
 the " vital principle," and by others, " Animal 
 Magnetism," And what if it be said that this 
 is but one of the many phenomena of '* an uni- 
 versal principle pervading all matter," which 
 Plato termed the anima rmindi ? — There is 
 nothing self contradictory or absurd in this an- 
 cient theory, and, like all others, it is true or 
 false, according to the facts by which it can be 
 sustained or overthrown. If we assert that 
 magnetism is the cause of universal motion ; 
 and that the centripetal and centrifugal forces 
 of Newton, are but the negative and positive, 
 or attracting and repelling forces of magnetism, 
 we assert nothing that is obviously false, and 
 we appeal to the phenomena of astronomy for 
 evidence. If we contend that these forces pro- 
 duce and operate throughout nature, causing 
 all the forms and functions of vegetables and 
 animals; — that they cause the upper part of a 
 leaf to repel, and the under part to attract ; — - 
 that they cause light to be in the positive state 
 of magnetism and darkness to be in the nega- 
 tive; — that they cause the two organs of ideality 
 
28 
 
 in the human brain to be the two poles of a 
 galvanic battery, one attracting and the other 
 repelling ideas, and creating partialities and 
 antipathies, according to certain natural affini- 
 ties which it is the province of philosophy 
 to analyse and classify ; that the two hands of 
 the animal magnetiser are the conducting wires 
 of a battery, conveying an additional quantity 
 of magnetism into the nervous system of the 
 patient, overpowering him with sleep, and en- 
 dowing his brain with unwonted and extraor- 
 dinary powers of action which it cculd not oth- 
 erwise possess. If we assert these and a thou- 
 sand other things which are unknown and un- 
 taught in the philosophy of the schools, we still 
 appeal to a scrutiny of facts as the grand test 
 by which every theory should stand or fall. It 
 is no argument against this theory to say that 
 it is cccult and iittle known; for the calculation 
 of comets and eclipses is occult philosophy to the 
 multitude, even to this day: and before almanacs 
 and school books were disseminated, such predic- 
 tions were deemed supernatural. The time may 
 come, and we believe is not remote, when ani- 
 mal magnetism will occupy an elevated and re- 
 spected station among the established sciences. 
 But we have been carried away (by magne- 
 tism, we suppose) from cur reviewers of bjau- 
 tiful history. He modestly declines adventur- 
 ing into the dim porticoes and archives of an- 
 cient learning, upon this subject, and is shy 
 even of poor Plato. He might have been beset 
 by sundry ghostly convictions,, had his learning 
 enabled him, and his candour induced him to 
 
29 
 
 commence his researches in the temples of Iris, 
 Osiris, and Sera pis. He would have found that 
 magnetic somnambulism was the source not 
 only of oracles, but of the art of medicine, in 
 those ages. He would have discovered the 
 meaning of those hands laid upon human figures, 
 among the hieroglyphics. The inscriptions on 
 the temple of Diana at Ephesus, might have led 
 him to suspect that the son of Lucius was cur- 
 ed oi his hopeless pleurisy, and the soldier Va- 
 lerius of his blindness, by the seemingly mirac- 
 ulous virtues of Animal Magnetism. It is 
 possible he might have perceived that the wri- 
 tings of Hyppocrates were gathered from simi- 
 lar inscriptions, and that Hermes of Cappodoce 
 had copied his recipes from the temple of Mem- 
 phis. In the discourses of Aristides, in honor 
 of Esculapius and Asclepiades, he might have 
 found a detail of cures to which the writer tes- 
 tifies from personal experience, and which in 
 every respect coincide with those of modern 
 magnetism. In Valerianus, he might have 
 learned that the very index (ffT 5 ') now used in 
 printing, once expressed the finger of the mag- 
 netiser, and might have guessed that the scrip- 
 ture phrases, "the finger of the Lord hath 
 touched him," and " hath laid his hand upon 
 him," which are so commonly used in reference 
 to bodily afflictions, contains some meaning, not 
 entirely mystical. In Monfaucons Antiquities, 
 he might have beheld an Egyptian priest heal- 
 ing the sick by animal magnetism, or the " lay- 
 ing on of hands ;" and that magnificent collec- 
 3 # 
 
30 
 
 tion contains three other pictures representing 
 that mode of cure in its different stages, as now 
 practised. In the first to which we have allu- 
 ded, the magnetiser has one hand on the breast, 
 and the other hand on the head of his patient ; 
 in the second, one on the head and the other on 
 the feet ; in the third, his hands are on both 
 sides; in the fourth, on the thighs. In the first 
 the patient lies at full length ; m the second he 
 has moved ; in the third, he sits up ; in the 
 fourth he rises to walk. The comparatively 
 modern Cicero (Cic de Divin. lib. 2, No. 13^,) 
 might have led him to perceive that the som- 
 nambulism of Alexander, and the healing of 
 Ptolomeus, are not more remarkable, if received 
 as literally true, than the incontestible and un- 
 deniable effects of magnetism as now revived ; 
 whilst an attentive perusal of Plutarch, and of 
 other writers on the oracles, might have led 
 him to suspect thai the stupendous temples 
 which the most enlightened nations erected to 
 their honor, were founded upon facts as well es- 
 tablished as the miracles upon which we build 
 the temples of our faith. 
 
 Our reviewer's respect for antiquity does not 
 allow him to enquire into the mysteries even of 
 the Druids. He perhaps considers the divina- 
 tions, predictions, and cures of their priestesses, 
 as recorded by Tacitus, Vospicious, and others, 
 as exploded fragments, of a once popular super- 
 stition, or peradventure as results of supernatu- 
 ral agency, instead of natural operations of a 
 somnambulists brain, and in nowise more inex- 
 
31 
 
 plicable than the familiar phenomena of the 
 mariner's compass. No ; he opens his redoubt- 
 able history with the seventeenth century, and 
 scarcely there ; for beginning as he does with 
 Kircher, whose cures were performed by the 
 pulverized mineral magnet, he can scarcely 
 be said to have approached the vestibule of his 
 subject. He takes occasion to bestow a grin 
 or two upon the rubishy recipes of Kenelm 
 Digby, Paracelsus, and somebody who called 
 himself Dr. Itobertus a Fluctibus, (Dr. Bobby 
 Fludd!) and upon the #i weapon salve" of Par- 
 son Foster ; and he does this, he says, because 
 the wonders of these folks' remedies, prepared 
 the public mind for the " marvellous cures per- 
 formed by the stroaking of the hands of Mr. 
 Valentine Greatrake's." The history of this 
 old man's apparent but probably not permanent 
 cures of scrofula and other diseases, is pretty 
 generally known even at the present day ; and 
 it is adduced by the unwary reviewer as an 
 evidence that as the effects of Greatrake's lay- 
 ing on of hands, were precisely similar to those 
 of modern Animal magnetism, the latter have 
 no higher pretensions than his. To this con- 
 clusion we cheerfully assent ; for our opponent 
 cannot and does not deny the reality of the one 
 any more than the other ; and gives no reason, 
 either philosophical or historical, why both may 
 not have been performed by the same natural 
 agency ! In our opinion, he has unwittingly 
 brought evidence in behalf of a cause which he 
 was aiming to subvert. That Greatrake's sin- 
 
32 
 
 gular and notorious influence upon king's-evil, 
 pals}', chronic headache, epilepsy, and other 
 convulsive affections, was real and not fabulous; 
 that epileptic patients fell down when he ap- 
 proached them, like the demoniacs mentioned 
 in the New Testament; and that he considered 
 them demoniacs, and " hunted the foul spirit up 
 and down women's throats," with exemplary 
 perseverance, until they were dispossessed, is 
 matter of history. He was cited, for these ex- 
 ploits, before the Dean's Court at Lismore, and 
 prohibited from " laying on his hands" any 
 more, lest the miracles of scripture should be 
 disparaged ! He, however, continued his ope- 
 rations, and became as famous in England as 
 in Ireland. 
 
 Now it is saying nothing against these histo- 
 rical events to say, as the reviewer does, that 
 Greatrakes was an hypocondriacal Irishman, 
 who gave himself up to gloomy meditations, vi- 
 sions and dreams; it is nothing to say that he 
 was a superstitious old fool, for believing that 
 epileptic fits were foul fiends, whom he chased 
 through the labyrinths of the alimentary canal, 
 and finally dismissed, without the means of ob- 
 taining another night's lodging. He was not a 
 whit the worse animal magnetiser for all this, 
 but probably a much more powerful one. His 
 visions and credulity w r ere the effects of an unu- 
 sual quantity of the magnetic fluid (spirit) in 
 his own nervous system, and he naturally pos- 
 sessed greater resources for communicating it 
 to others, that any man of a less excited mind. 
 
33 
 
 His system was distinguished by a highly mag- 
 netic idiosyncracy, and hence the peculiar ef- 
 fect of his manipulations. 
 
 Having done with Valentine Greatrakes, the 
 reviewer next alights upon the " Convulsiona- 
 ries de St Medard" of the eighteenth century, 
 a set of sympathetically magnetised enthusiasts 
 whom our readers may remember as having 
 " cut up no small shines" before the tomb of 
 some favorite saint, in Paris. They were in 
 reality, but little more extravagant than people 
 similarly afFected at our country camp meetings 
 and revivals; and we are not sure that the fa- 
 mous religious magnetist, Jedediah JBurchard, 
 did not magnetise his audience lately, in Chat- 
 ham street Chapel, even more violently. The 
 reviewer, however, heightens the actual occur- 
 rences to a monstrous extent, by introducing 
 several broad fabrications which were jocosely 
 made at the time. Animal magnetism, in a 
 certain stage of its influence, does render its 
 subjects so perfectly insensible to pain that the 
 most severe surgical operations have been per- 
 formed upon patients without exciting the least 
 consciousness. Indeed, surgeons have not un- 
 frequently thrown their patients into a mag- 
 netic sleep for this uselul purpose. But our 
 honest reviewer says that one of these " convul- 
 sionnaries" received sixty blows from a heavy 
 iron bar, laid on with the full strength of a Her- 
 culean fellow ; and although it afterwards re- 
 quired but twenty five such blows to knock a 
 hole through a stone wall, this delicate som- 
 
34 
 
 nambulist was so delighted with sixty, that she 
 exclaimed u Ah ! que cela est bon ! ah ! que cela 
 me fait du bien ! Courage ! mon frere ; redou- 
 blez encore des forces si vous plait!" The re- 
 viewer also states that one of the magnetised 
 ladies became a perfect Salamander, and recei- 
 ved great refreshment from reposing on a red 
 hot brazier! And it is with stories like these 
 that he attempts to discredit the actual phenom- 
 ena of animal magnetism ! But if these things 
 did occur, he would require that science, and a 
 great deal more, to account for them; and if 
 they did not, why does he adduce them against 
 
 Having thus substituted broad grins for phi- 
 losophical investigation, the self-complacent re- 
 viewer is quite satisfied to leave the contagious 
 mania of the ,; Convulsionnaries de St. Medar," 
 without any scientific explanation, and suppo- 
 ses he has arrived at a profound depth of saga- 
 city when he concludes that the phenomena re- 
 sulted from an excited imagination. They did 
 so ; but what subtle influence acted upon the 
 nerves to produce that excitement ? 
 
 Mesmer, the German physician, who first re- 
 vived Animal Magnetism on the European con- 
 tinent, is the next object of our reviewer's ridi- 
 cule and misrepresentation. Mesmer appears 
 to have studied the occult sciences, more parti- 
 cularly the science of Astrology, to which the 
 most learned and acute minds of the dark ages 
 had been devoted, for the purpose of rescuing 
 whatever gems of truth he might find among 
 
35 
 
 the rude ore of absurd and mystical speculation 
 in which they were imbedded. He rationally 
 inferred that the human mind cannot be long 
 and intensely directed to the physical sciences 
 without discovering some truths of intrinsic and 
 precious value. The Alchymists may not have 
 discovered the art of transmuting other metals 
 into gold, to any useful extent ; nor did the old 
 man's sons find the treasure which he said was 
 contained in their patrimonial field ; but they 
 assidiously dug and delved it until it produced 
 golden harvests of grain, and the researches of 
 the Alchymists fallowed the rich field of mod- 
 ern chymistry. From their works, Mesmer 
 brought much sound science, encumbered with 
 many great errors, and his dissertation on the 
 " Influence of the Planets on the Human Bo- 
 dy," is a grotesque admixture of both. He 
 maintains that, as the sun and moon, by direct 
 action on our globe, cause the flux and reflux of 
 the sea, so do the other bodies of the solar sys- 
 tem, acting in connexion with them, influence 
 the nervous mechanism of animal bodies, "pro- 
 ducing in them two different states which he 
 termed intension and remission, and which seem- 
 ed to account for the different periodical revo- 
 lutions observable in several maladies in dif- 
 ferent ages, sexes, &c. The property of the 
 animal body which rendered it susceptible of 
 this influence, he termed Animal Magnetism." 
 This quotation is given in the wcrds of the hos- 
 tile reviewer, and we see nothing unphilosophi- 
 cal in the theory it describes, except that Mes- 
 
36 
 
 mer goes directly to the planets for this influ- 
 ence, instead of first seeking it in the magne- 
 tism which notoriously surrounds the globe. — 
 The planets, no doubt, modify the magnetism 
 of our atmosphere, in various ways ; and there 
 is no transcendentalism, but perfectly mathe- 
 matical deduction in saying, that every body in 
 the universe exerts some influence upon the 
 whole creation. Mr. Babbage, in the Ninth 
 Bridgewater Treatise, just published, has a very 
 eloquent and luminous passage upon this sub- 
 ject which we are sorry we cannot now extract 
 entire. He says, " The principle of the equali- 
 ty of action and re-action, when traced through 
 all its consequences, opens views which appear 
 to many persons most unexpected. Aerial pul- 
 ses, (magnetic currents) unseen by the keenest 
 eye, unheard by the acutest ear, altogether 
 unperceived by the human senses, are yet de- 
 monstrated to exist by human reason ; and in 
 some few and limited instances, by calling to our 
 aid the most refined and comprehensive instru- 
 ment of human thought, their courses are tra- 
 ced and their intensities measured. If man en- 
 joyed a larger command over mathematical 
 analysis, his knowledge of these motions would 
 bo more extensive ; but a being possessed of the 
 unbounded knowledge of that science, would 
 trace even the minutest consequences of a pri- 
 mary influence ; and supposing the interference 
 of no new causes, the circumstances of the fu- 
 ture history of the earth's atmosphere (and of 
 the earth itself, and of its inhabitants) would be 
 
37 
 
 distinctly seen, and might be absolutely predict- 
 ed for any, even the remotest point of time." 
 Again he says, " The solid substance of the 
 globe itself, whether we regard the minutest 
 movement of the soft clay which receives its 
 impression from the foot of animals, or the con- 
 cussion produced by mountains rent by earth- 
 quakes, equally retains and communicates, 
 through a.l its countless atoms, their appor- 
 tioned shares of the motions so impressed." 
 This may be too abstractly mathematical for 
 general perception, and so are the problems of 
 Differential Calculus and the Summation of 
 Infinite series, but they are not the less true to 
 those who understand them. 
 
 Ordinary magnetic influences, however, are 
 much more simple, more readily demonstrated 
 by familiar facts, and the science of them is 
 more immediately applicable to useful purposes, 
 than those of them wl\ich demand elaborate 
 calculations. In the Mariner's Compass, we 
 behold a small strip of steel obeying an invisible 
 influence whose concentrated force is many 
 thousand miles distant. By the common electri- 
 fying machine, we obtain from the atmosphere 
 an electro-magnetic force, adequate to, kill an 
 ox ; and this force more efficiently elicited, and 
 properly modified, would propel the most ponde- 
 rous fabrics of naval and civil architecture, 
 and even rend asunder the solid mountains. 
 From two or three pieces of copper and zinc, 
 we obtain a similar force, communicating to 
 iron the very negative and positive forces which 
 4 
 
38 
 
 distinguish the north and south hemispheres of 
 the earth, and moving machinery. If we apply 
 the magnetic needle to the perpendicular rail of 
 any iron palisade, we shall find upper and under 
 ends in opposite states of magnetism, corres- 
 ponding to that of the hemisphere in which it 
 stands, and caused by the currents of the all- 
 pervading influence. If we apply the same 
 needle, in a certain manner, to the tegumentary 
 and mucus surfaces of the human body, we shall 
 also find them in opposite states of magnetism, 
 varying in health and disease by laws as regu- 
 lar as those which keep the planets in their 
 courses. If we dissect and display the nerves, 
 veins and arteries of the human frame, and 
 compare them with the fibres, tubes and branch- 
 es of vegetable forms, we shall find them cre- 
 ated by the same invisible power ; and if we 
 divide a scrofulous tubercle in a certain stage 
 ol advancement, and examine its circular divi- 
 sions, we shall find them produced by the same 
 forces which formed the rings of the planet 
 Saturn, and, moreover, every tubercle will be 
 found to have two poles, like the earth on which 
 we live. In short, every thing attests the uni- 
 versality of magnetism, mineral, animal and 
 vegetable. The laws of magnetism were the 
 parents of Geometry, and constituted the 
 foundation of all ancient science, which was 
 so profound as compared to ours of the present 
 day, that a single phonetic character, in some 
 of the ancient inscriptions, conveys more dis- 
 tinct and compendious knowledge than a mo- 
 
39 
 
 dern volume. The study of the laws of that 
 universal principle, is destined again to elevate 
 the human mind. 
 
 Why Animal Magnetism should be selected 
 as an especial object of ridicule and opprobri- 
 um, we certainly cannot discover from any 
 argument or illustration in the review before us. 
 The writer's attempts upon the philosophy of 
 Mesmer, crude and imperfect as it is, only 
 exhibit his own ignorance of the causes of the 
 most common phenomena. A well informed 
 and candid writer, even if an opponent, would 
 have seen something worthy of investigation in 
 the " intensions and remissions" which Mesmer 
 speaks of in the nervous system, for they are 
 observed by every physician, although not de- 
 scribed in the same terms. And did the learned 
 reviewer never hear of medical electricity, nor 
 of the class of diseases to which it is applied, 
 in every medical college in the civilized world ? 
 Mesmer's magnetised bars, and Animal Magne- 
 tism, were predicated, and in reality acted 
 upon precisely the same principles. The cures 
 which the reviewer himself enumerates as hav- 
 ing been effected by them, whether permanent 
 or not, demonstrate the influence which he 
 labors to disprove, and the utmost point that is 
 attained either by this writer or by the French 
 Committee who bestowed the keenest scrutiny 
 upon the cases during a period of five years, 
 was that the imagination was the most general 
 medium of that influence. 
 
 The failures of Mesmer, and other magneti- 
 
40 
 
 sers, in many instances, to produce the predict- 
 ed effects of their experiments, are pointed out 
 by our reviewer with as high an air of triumph 
 as he could have exhibited had they never suc- 
 ceeded at all. The frank admissions of ail 
 magnetisers that their operations are not atten- 
 ded with invariable success ; that, in such expe- 
 riments upon the nerves, much must depend 
 upon the physical and mental disposition of the 
 operator as well as of the patient; and, indeed, 
 that success, at all times, depends upon the 
 strong and unembarrassed volition of the ope- 
 rator, as the exciting cause of that animo-mag- 
 netic influence which he conveys, are all discar- 
 ded and strided over with supreme contempt by 
 this opponent, or rather, still more unfairly, em- 
 ployed as weapons of assault. And we can 
 tell the Journal of Commerce, which has en- 
 dorsed them, that some of the reviewer's argu- 
 ments against Animal Magnetism, tell with 
 equal force and fairness against something which 
 he probably holds more sacred — against Chris- 
 tianity itself! He sneeringly adduces the im- 
 portance of faith in the power of the magneti 
 ser, to the efficacy of his influence upon his pa- 
 tients, more particularly in curing their diseases. 
 He unhappily forgot that faith was almost in- 
 variably required by the Founder of Christiani- 
 ty, not merely as a facility, but as an essential 
 qualification, in many of the patients upon whom 
 he wrought cures which we are taught to 
 believe were miraculous and accomplished only 
 by divine power. "If thou hast faith thou canst 
 
41 
 
 be made whole." — " Dost thou believe I can do 
 this thing ? — " Go thy way, thy faith hath made 
 thee whole. 4 ' " As many as believed were made 
 whole," are declarations of Christ to his pa- 
 tients, which we frequently find in the Scripture 
 history of his benevolent mission. Nor is it 
 quite harmless to Christianity to sneer, as the 
 Journal's reviewer does, at the admission of 
 Mesmer and other magnetisers, that the pres- 
 ence of scoffing sceptics is unfavorable to a 
 certain class of their experiments ; for it is re- 
 corded of Christ himself, in more than one in- 
 stance, that "He did not many mighty works 
 there, because of their unbelief." The Journal 
 of Commerce should have reflected a little be- 
 fore it disseminated sarcastic objections of this 
 kind, against animal magnetism. 
 
 Equally injudicious is the reviewer's mention 
 of the external influences which Mesmer called 
 to his aid : — 
 
 " The house which Mesmer inhabited was 
 delightfully situated; his rooms spacious and 
 sumptuously furnished ; stained glass and color- 
 ed blinds shed a dim, religious light ; mirrors 
 gleamed at intervals along the walls; a myste- 
 rious silence was preserved, delicate perfumes 
 floated in the air, and occasionally the melodi- 
 ous sounds of the harmonica or the voice came 
 to lend their aid to his magnetic powers. His 
 salons became the daily resort of all that was 
 brilliant and spirituel in the Parisian fashiona- 
 ble world." 
 4* 
 
42 
 
 So are our churches, every sabbath day; 
 and the spiritual magnetisers who attract these 
 congregations, by no means disdain the aid of 
 melodious sounds, nor of stained glass and co- 
 lored blinds ; and if mirrors are not added, it is 
 because they think that their hearers should not 
 exercise the vanity of looking at any body but 
 they. Had Mesmer occupied a rostrum, where 
 he could have inflamed the feelings of his au- 
 dience by fabulous hopes and fabulous terrors ; 
 where he could have resorted to every kind of 
 elaborate argument and vivid illustration; where 
 he could have poured forth a stream of honied 
 eloquence or terrific expostulation, secure from 
 contradiction and reply, and where he could 
 have every thing his own way, he would have 
 done no more for animal magnetism than our 
 most approved and popular ministers are extoll- 
 ed for doing in behalf of the religion of the heart. 
 We presume it will not be denied by any cool 
 minded person, that the rich description of sul- 
 phuric scenery, and of the gamboling tortures 
 of those who sport beneath cataracts of fire, in 
 which many preachers indulge to captivate the 
 tender imaginations of their hearers, are drawn 
 more copiously from their own, than from the 
 comparatively limited sources of sacred writ. 
 And it may be doubted whether their perspec- 
 tive views of heavenly bliss, of angelic pic-nics; 
 tableaux, concerts and promenades, and of the 
 geology and vegetation of the celestial land- 
 scapes in which they are held, at not more 
 poetic than scriptural ; more like the visions of 
 
43 
 
 a magnetic somnambulist, than the scrupulous 
 statements of men who wish their hearers to be 
 influenced only by the word of God. Indeed, 
 one of the best theological writers and eminent 
 preachers of the age, has frankly recorded it as 
 his opinion and advice, that ministers should 
 indulge in tasteful poetic descriptions of the 
 heavenly state, as a means of cherishing devo- 
 tion, and weaning the affections from things of 
 earth. Why then should Mesmer be decried, 
 for aiding his scientific experiments upon the 
 nervous system, with the external appliances of 
 sumptuous apartments, and fascinating music? 
 That these were not absolutely necessary to the 
 success of them, is evident from the fact that he 
 often benevolently performed them in the abodes 
 of wretchedness and the hospitals of disease ; 
 nor is the brilliant chandelier and the pealing 
 organ necessary to the offices of religion in the 
 chamber of the sick and the rural camp meeting; 
 but to the luxurious and fashionable audiences 
 which Mesmer drew to his saloons, and which 
 crowd our " respectable churches," they are 
 neither inappropriate nor objectionable. But 
 a part of our reviewer's wrath is expended on 
 the audiences themselves — 
 
 " They approach with imaginations heated 
 by curiosity and desire ; they believed because 
 they were ignorant, and this belief was all that 
 was required for the action of the magnetic 
 charm. The women always the most ardent 
 in enthusiasm, first experienced yawnings, 
 stretchings, then slight nervous spasms, and 
 
44 
 
 finally, a crisis of excitation, according as the 
 assistant magnetisers multiplied and prolonged 
 the soft passes or attouchcmens by which the 
 magnetic influence was supposed to be commu- 
 nicated. The emotions once begun, were soon 
 transmitted to the rest, as we know one hysteri- 
 cal female, if affected, will induce an attack in 
 all others similarly predisposed in the same 
 apartments." 
 
 Now this description is equally applicable to 
 the scenes that are quite commonly exhibited in 
 our religious revivals, and no wonder, for the 
 effects proceed directly from the same cause. 
 That cause is the universal omnipresent, mag- 
 netic spirit — improperly termed fluid — excited 
 and accumulated in the nerves of the brain, 
 through the medium of some or other of the 
 external senses, and affecting both the nervous 
 and the muscular system. We have ourselves 
 seen " assistant magnetisers," in these excited 
 religious assemblies, some laboring to aggravate 
 and others to assuage the strong emotions of 
 their distressed patients, and have beheld all 
 the ordinary phenomena of this branch of Ani- 
 mal Magnetism, as regularly and fully develo- 
 ped as Mesmer himself could have desired. In 
 these assemblies, as in his, the energetic volition 
 and confident perseverance of the chief ope- 
 rators, are the prevaling agencies in the effects 
 displayed. Failh, all-conquering, ardently- 
 sought faith, is even more strenuously insisted 
 upon by the religio than by the animo-magne- 
 tizers, and the former are even more candid 
 
45 
 
 than the latter, in attributing all failures to its 
 absence or insufficiency. 
 
 Our reviewer dismisses Mesmer, by saying 
 that he was annihilated by the Report of the 
 Committee of the French Royal Academy of 
 Medicine, who, as we have before stated, were 
 engaged during a period of no less than five 
 years, in observing his practice for the purpose 
 of exploding it. Mesmer left France, it is true, 
 shortly after the publication of that Report, but 
 not inconsequence of it, for Animal Magnetism 
 spread much more rapidly afterwards, than be- 
 fore, and in the improved and much more in- 
 structive form in which it was continued by M. 
 de Puysegur, it became still more worthy of 
 scientific consideration. — Besides, Mesmer was 
 presented with a sum amounting to nearly ^500, 
 000, raised by subscription among his pupils 
 and friends, and this, with the fees, acquired in 
 his practice, enabled him to return to his native 
 land, to spend his days in retirement from the 
 exercise of his profession. But what was there 
 in the Report, so very very terrific as to drive 
 him away? We have it not at hard, but if we 
 are to believe our reviewer's own account of it, 
 it was most lame and impotent indeed, — He 
 says, " It shows that there is no proof of the 
 existence of an universal or magnetic power, 
 except from its effects on human bodies." — Well 
 it was for its effects on human bodies, that 
 Mesmer and his disciples chiefly contended, and 
 it was these which they most generally exempli- 
 fied, although its effects on cats and other ani- 
 
46 
 
 mals arc too notorious and familiar to all, to re- 
 quire corroboration. '• That those effects can 
 be produced without passes or magnetic ma- 
 nipulations." — 
 
 Certainly, the Committee made no new dis- 
 covery in this, it was well known to all the stu- 
 dents of the science before : a friend of our's 
 now in this city can throw epileptic persons 
 into convulsions, by merely standing near them, 
 and exciting the magnetic force in his nerves, 
 by a strong exercise of his will ; and this is no 
 more remarkable than that a man should throw 
 the same force into his flexor and extensor 
 muscles, when he wills to strike a blow. " That 
 those manipulations alone, are insufficient to 
 produce the effects, if employed without the 
 patient's knowledge." Now we can scarcely 
 conceive how manipulations can be employed 
 without the patient's knowledge, unless he pre- 
 viously sleep ; but if the Committee means by 
 this that it is necessary in all cases that he 
 should be informed of the effects that are to be 
 produced him, we can contradict the assertion 
 from our own knowledge and observation. In 
 fact it is not requisite that he shall have heard 
 a syllable about them before hand ; let him sit 
 still, whilst the magnetiser holds his thumbs, or 
 moves his fingers upon his head, and he will, if 
 at all of a nervous habit, soon experience effects 
 of which he had previously never formed an 
 idea. The last and grand deduction of the 
 Committee from these several propositions, is 
 " that, therefore, imagination will, and Animal 
 
47 
 
 Magnetism will not, account for the results 
 produced." Now if these profound savans had 
 only ventured one step farther, which they should 
 have taken in the first instance, and thus saved 
 themselves five years labor, they would have 
 discovered that which causes the imagination, 
 if imagination it be, to produce the results 
 which they are unable to deny. They would 
 have found that it was the magnetism which 
 exists in the human body, as in all other animal 
 and vegetable bodies, excited by the will, and 
 communicated by the nerves, to those of the 
 recipient party. What these effects usually 
 are, and the modes of producing them, we shall 
 state hereafter. 
 
 MAGNETIC VISION. 
 
 It is a saying not less true than antithetical, 
 that it is better to remove prejudice than to 
 build a pyramid. Prejudice is almost invariably 
 an obstacle to the progress of truth, and there 
 is no truth, however sublime and important, 
 which it may not for a while successfully op- 
 pose. In fraternal alliance with ignorance and 
 superstition, it consigned Gallileo to the dun- 
 geon and the rack, for proclaiming that the 
 earth and planets moved round the sun, which 
 is a doctrine now irrefutably demonstrated, and 
 universally established. All history is instruct- 
 ive testimony to its influence in retarding the 
 advancement of every thing great and good, 
 and to the present hour it is in active resistance 
 to some of the grandest and most momentous 
 discoveries in physical, moral, and intellectual 
 
48 
 
 science. Among those which it has most ef- 
 fectually opposed for this last half century, is 
 that of Animal Magnetism, which is one of the 
 most beautiful and important of them all. 
 Without being in itself much more mysterious 
 or wonderful than many of those with which 
 we suppose ourselves familiar, and which we 
 receive with the most flattering self compla- 
 cency, Animal Magnetism has been derided by 
 men of sound knowledge upon other subjects, 
 for the simple reason that they were unac- 
 quainted with its principles and laws. Both it, 
 and all its present phenomena, aye, and many 
 others not yet revived in these modern times, 
 were well known to the most ancient nations, 
 and are incorporated in the scriptures of our 
 faith ; yet the obstinate prejudice of ignorance 
 has rejected them, as Pope Urban and his 
 Council did the philosophy of Copernicus and 
 Gallileo, although it was many thousand years 
 older than Pythagoras. 
 
 We are gratified to perceive that the editor 
 of the Commercial Advertiser, has been added 
 to the number of influential men who have 
 been induced to put the pretensions of Animal 
 Magnetism to the test, and to honestly and 
 candidly publish the result. That result has 
 been what it would invariably be, after a full 
 and fair investigation, a perfect conviction of 
 the truth of this astonishing department of 
 magnetical science. We extract the following 
 from the Commercial Advertiser of last evening, 
 
49 
 
 and regret that we can, at present, only add a 
 few brief remarks : — 
 
 Animal Magnetism. — We have had our time 
 and times of laughing at Animal Magnetism. 
 We shall laugh at it no more. There is some- 
 thing awfully mysterious in the principle, be- 
 yond the power of man to fathom or explain. 
 Being in Providence on Saturday, Sunday and 
 Monday, the 26th, 27th, and 28th of August, 
 an opportunity was afforded us of seeing and 
 taking part in a series of experiments, with a 
 young blind lady, while under the magnetic 
 influence, the results of which were not only 
 marvellous in our eyes, but absolutely astound- 
 ing. The exhibition was not public, and the 
 parties were people of the first respectability, 
 professional and otherwise. Having heard much 
 upon the subject, and disbelieved all, the ex* 
 periments were made before a private circle of 
 ladies and gentlemen, at our own urgent so- 
 licitation. 
 
 We have written a narrative of the circum- 
 stances, comprising some'fifty or sixty pages of 
 foolscap ; and we venture to say, that nothing 
 hitherto published upon that subject, is so won- 
 derful by far, as the facts of which we were wit- 
 ness — all of which we saw and part of which 
 we were. We shall publish our narrative, on 
 taking it to Providence for examination, pro- 
 vided we can obtain permission of the parties — - 
 who have hitherto avoided publications, or pub- 
 lic exhibitions. 
 5 
 
50 
 
 One surprising incident we will mention. On 
 Sunday while we were in Providence, a small 
 package was received from Mr. Stephen Covill, 
 of Troy, containing, as he wrote to his friend, 
 a note which he wished Miss B to read, while 
 under the magnetic influence, without breaking 
 the seal, if she could. Mr. C. had been induced 
 to try this experiment, in consequence of hav- 
 ing heard of extraordinary performances of the 
 kind — which, of course, he doubted. The 
 package or letter, was evidently composed of 
 several envelopes. The outer one was compo- 
 sed of thick blue paper. On Sunday evening, 
 Miss B. who, it must be borne in mind, when 
 awake, is blind, was put into a magnetic slum- 
 ber, and the letter given to her with instructions 
 to read it. She said she would take it to bed 
 with her, and read it before morning. On 
 Monday morning, she gave the reading as fol- 
 lows ; — 
 
 " No other than the eye of Omnipotence 
 
 can read this, in this envelopement. — 1837." 
 
 We made a memorandum ol this reading, 
 and examined the package, containing, as she 
 said, the sentence. SShe said then, on Monday 
 morning, that there were one or two words be- 
 tween the word " envelopement" and the date, 
 as we understood her, which she could not make 
 out. We examined the seal with the closest 
 scrutiny. The seal of Mr. Covill was unbrok- 
 en, and to turn the letter or to read it without 
 opening, with human eyes, was impossible. 
 
51 
 
 After our return to the city, viz : on Wednes- 
 day last, we addressed a letter to Mr. Covill, 
 to ascertain whether the reading of the blind 
 somnambulist was correct. The following is 
 his reply : — 
 
 " Troy, Sept 1, 1837. 
 Dear Sir — Your's of yesterday 1 received by 
 this morning's mail, and as to your inquiry rela- 
 tive to the package submitted to Miss B. while 
 under the magnetic influence, the package came 
 to hand yesterday. The sentence had been 
 written by a friend, and sealed by him at my 
 request, and in such a manner as was supposed 
 could not have been read by any human device, 
 without breaking the seal. We think the 
 seals have not been broken until returned. 
 The sentence as read by Miss B. is: — " No 
 other than the eye of Omnipotence can read 
 this, in this cnvclopement — And as written in 
 the original, on a card, and anot her card placed 
 on the face of the writing, and enclosed in a 
 thick blue paper envelope, was : — " JYo other 
 than the eye of Omnipotence can read this, in 
 this envelope." — Troy, N. York, August, 1837. 
 
 Respectfully, yours, &,c. 
 
 STEPHEN COVILL. 
 
 P. S. — We have just received a note from 
 Providence, with permission to publish our own 
 narrative. But as it is very long, and equally 
 complex and wonderful, we shall first take it to 
 Providence, for the examination of those who 
 
52 
 
 were present on the occasion. We also left a 
 note for the blind lady to read, sealed with 
 seven seals. We have received it this morning, 
 the seals unbroken, with the answer written on 
 the outside. This answer is correct, as far as 
 it goes. We were in great haste at the time of 
 preparing the note, and having the odd title of 
 a queer old book in our pocket, printed in a 
 smali italic letter, we wrote a part of the note 
 with a pencil, and stuck it on two and a half 
 lines ot the small itaHc printing, with a wafer. 
 Tho note, written and printed, as we left it, 
 was in these words : — 
 
 " The following is the title, equally quaint 
 and amusing, of a book which was published 
 in England, in the time of Oliver Cromwell : — 
 " Egg s °f Charity, layed by the chickens of 
 the ( ovenmt, and boiled by the waters of 
 Divine love. Take ye and eat" 
 
 The following is the answer, sent by Miss 
 B. through an intimate friend: — 
 
 " The following is a title, equally amazing 
 (or amusing) and quaint, of a book published in 
 England in the time of Oliver Cromwell : — 
 
 " Eggs of Charity" — 
 
 Miss B. does not know whether the word is 
 amazing or amusing. Something is written 
 after the 4 eggs of charity,' which she cannot 
 make out." 
 
 Thus much for the present. We make no 
 comments. What we know to be true, we fear 
 not to declare. Facts sustained by the evi- 
 dence cf our own senses, we trust we shall ev- 
 
53 
 
 er have the boldness to publish. In regard to 
 our narration, it is alike wonderful and inexpli- 
 cable. As Paulding's black witch in Konings- 
 marke, says — "I've seen ichat I've seen — / 
 know tvhat 1 know? 
 
 The phenomena here recorded are not, per- 
 haps, so inexplicable as the editor of the Com- 
 mercial Advertiser may imagine. The magne- 
 tic spirit, which is commonly and improperly 
 termed a fluid, exists in every portion of mat- 
 ter, whether mineral, vegetable, or animal, and 
 is probably as infinite as the universe. Innu- 
 merable experiments have demonstrated that 
 there is no modification of matter so dense that 
 it cannot penetrate it with the speed of thought. 
 Place a compass needle upon a marble chim- 
 ney-piece, and magnet underneath, it will be 
 found that the magnetic influence has passed 
 through the stone in an instant, and affects the 
 needle. If any other substance be brought to 
 intervene, the effect will be the same. Now a 
 magnetic somnambulist can see through almost 
 all opaque substances, because this subtle prin- 
 ciple or spirit, is the medium of its cerebral vi- 
 sion, as light is the vision of the waking eye. 
 The nerves of the brain, in both cases, are the 
 powers of vision, although the media are different. 
 
 When awake, we can see through any sub- 
 stance, however hard, that admits the passage 
 of the rays of light; and when in a state of 
 magnetic somnolency, we can see through eve- 
 ry substance that admits the passage of the 
 5* 
 
54 
 
 magnetic rays. There are certain exceptions 
 to this rule already ascertained, which seem to 
 have occurred in the above case, and further ex- 
 periments may enable us to collect and classify 
 many more. The magnetic medium, which we 
 call and consider pure spirit, invariably ope- 
 rates upon matter with two distinct forces, the 
 negative and the positive, which mutually at- 
 tract and repel, and are mutually attracted and 
 repelled by every material substance with which 
 they come in contact. Thus the end of apiece 
 of iron in what is termed a negative state of 
 magnetism, repels another in the same state, 
 and attracts one in a positive state, for it is an 
 established law of the science that the negative 
 repels the negative and attracts the positive, 
 and that the positive repels the positive and at- 
 tracts the negative. 
 
 We believe that both of these forces must ex- 
 ist in a pretty equal degree in every substance 
 through which they pass, to afford even a mag- 
 netised somnambulist a perfectly distinct and 
 transparent vision. If the substance be of 
 such a nature as to favor the passage of one of 
 these forces more than another, it would proba- 
 bly be proportionably unfavorable to vision. 
 We should suppose, from its well known electri- 
 cal agency, that sealing wax would be a sub- 
 stance, and we attribute the defective vision of 
 Miss B., to that cause alone. V\ e should suppose 
 that she could read a piece of writing soldered 
 up in lead, with greater facility than through a 
 complete coat of sealing wax, and that she 
 
55 
 
 could read it through a case of iron with great- 
 er ease than through either. We have much to 
 say both of the facts and the philosophy of 
 magnetism hereafter ; and are in possession of 
 truths in every branch of that science, that will 
 be of the utmost interest and value to the pub- 
 lic, and which we have, for a long time past, 
 been preparing for publication. 
 
 The above able remarks, are from the pen of 
 the editor of the N. Y. Era, who was present 
 during tho author's process of magnetising an 
 individual, and can give testimony of its singu- 
 lar effects. 
 
AN 
 
 ESSAY OF INSTRUCTION, 
 TEACHING THE METHOD OF 
 
 MAGNETIZING, 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, 
 
 OF 
 
 M. DE PUYSEGUR, 
 
 BY 
 
 J. KING, M. D. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 On the mechanism of Animal Magnetism. 
 
 Question. What do you understand by 
 Magnetism ? 
 
 Ansicer. The touching a patient at the 
 diseased, or most sensible parts of his body, in 
 order to produce in such parts, a sensation of 
 heat. 
 
 Q. Do you believe that this heat, can pene- 
 trate into the body of a patient ? 
 
 A. Yes, and the production of it, ought to 
 be our aim ; if this heat were only superficial, 
 it would produce but little effect. 
 
 Q. I low do you consider this heat ? 
 
58 
 
 A. As the effect of the acceleration of a 
 tonic movement, existing in the body of a 
 patient. 
 
 Q. Animal Magnetism, is, then, the art of 
 accelerating the tonic movement in the bodies 
 of our own species ? 
 
 A. It is not an art, it is a faculty. (1) 
 
 Q. Have all men this faculty ? 
 
 A. They all possess more or less of it, ac- 
 cording to the degree of energy of their strength 
 and health. 
 
 Q. All men, then, are able to Magnetize ? 
 
 A. Without doubt, when they have the 
 will. (2) 
 
 Q. Why do you add, "when they have 
 the will?" 
 
 A. Because, men cannot resolve to do any 
 act whatever, except, when they have the will 
 to do it. 
 
 Q. Is Magnetizing, then, an action ? 
 
 A. It is is an act as physical, as striking, 
 caressing, pounding any article in a mortar, 
 working at a difficult trade, or composing works, 
 requiring industry, fortitude, energy, and appli- 
 cation ; as all acts, whatever may be their mo- 
 tives, inspire in us, the will to produce them. 
 
 Q. If all men have the faculty of Magne- 
 tizing, how does it happen, that it has not been 
 sooner discovered ? 
 
 A. Every thing certifies, that formerly, men 
 were fully in possession of their magnetic power. 
 The fables, mysteries, and ceremonies of the an- 
 cients, show traces of it; but probably, the forms, 
 
59 
 
 the exterior proceedings for Magnetizing, sup- 
 pressed very soon the spirit which had instituted 
 them. The use of this faculty once gone, ig- 
 norance and superstition have constantly perse- 
 cuted those, who at different period, imve 
 announced its recovery. 
 
 Q Once persuaded that we have the mag- 
 netic power, the question is then, that we must 
 have, and exercise the will, in order to produce 
 any effects ? 
 
 A. Yes, in order to produce any effects, 
 nothing else is required; but, to produce useful 
 effects, and never injurious, it is necessary to 
 act in a constant and regular manner. 
 
 Q. \\ hat do you mean, by acting in a con- 
 stant and regular manner ? 
 
 A A comparison will explain it. It is by 
 the action of the air on the wings of a mill, 
 that its mechanism is moved ; as this action 
 lessens, or ceases, the stone of the mill slackens 
 its motion, or stops on the instant; as the wind 
 changes, or becomes too violent, the mechanism 
 of the mill is immediately disturbed. Our 
 magnetic action, is the wind which gives, or 
 rather, accelerates the tonic movement in a 
 patient ; our will, is that, which gives to our 
 action, its necessary and proper direction. (3) 
 
 Q Can we produce injury, by magnetizing? 
 
 A. Undoubtedly. If we touch a p itient, 
 without attention or intention, we produce 
 neit er benefit, nor injury ; but. if after having 
 pro; u ed an effect upon him, we follow the first 
 given impression, by another to the contrary, 
 
60 
 
 we necessarily, occasion trouble and disorder. 
 If, by indifference, or fear, we do not remedy 
 this disorder, the most grievous results will fol- 
 low. There is but one method of always mag- 
 netizing for useful purposes ; it is, to will con- 
 stantly, and strongly, the good, and the ad- 
 vantage of a patient, and never to change, or 
 vary the direction of the will. 
 
 Q. But with a firm and constant will, to 
 procure the most possible good to a patient, will 
 we not sometimes, produce too much action 
 in him ? 
 
 A. Never. 
 
 Q. What, never? Yet the best medicines 
 often injure, when they are administered with- 
 out circumspection and discernment. 
 
 A. We ought never to compare the effect 
 of medicines, to that of the magnetic action, as, 
 the former acts immediately upon the organs, 
 while the latter acts, always, immediately on 
 the vital principle, to which it communicates 
 the impression of a motion which is analogous 
 to it, and which adds to the efforts that are un- 
 ceasingly made to preserve the equilibrium, 
 or health. 
 
 Q A lthough all men have more or less of the 
 magnetic power, do you not believe, however, 
 that physicians may use it, in all cases, with 
 more discernment than others? 
 
 A That would be true, if animal magnet- 
 ism was a science, or an art ; but, as it is only 
 a faculty, all men, without distinction, can 
 equally use it to produce good. 
 
60 
 
 Q. But are there not cases, where it is ne- 
 cessary to increase, or diminish the action of 
 the vital principle in a patient. 
 
 Jt . Yes, certainly, 
 
 Q. In such cases, would it not be better to 
 employ a physician, that he might judge of the 
 progress, and whether it is necessary to increase 
 or diminish the action of the vital principle in 
 a patient ? 
 
 A. The science of observing the state of 
 the vital principle in patients, joined to the 
 knowledge of proper medicines, in order to pro- 
 cure the tone of movement necessary, is in re- 
 ality, the art of ordinary physic ; for this rea- 
 son, physicians cure many diseases; but the 
 most learned, and experienced among them, 
 agree, that nature knows more than they. — 
 Now, animal magnetism, being the agent ot 
 nature, it is very natural that it always acts 
 more knowingly than they. 
 
 Q. Then is it not necessary to know the 
 kind, or cause of diseases, in order to cure them 
 by animal magnetism. 
 
 A. By no means ; the magnetic action di- 
 rected and sustained by a firm will, or deter- 
 mination to relieve the sufferings of a patient, 
 will always give to his vital principle, that ac- 
 tion which will be the most favorable for his 
 disease, 
 
 Q. You do not speak about the universal 
 fluid ? 
 
 A. It is useless. 
 6 
 
61 
 
 Q. Do you believe that there is an univer- 
 sal fluid ? 
 
 A. I have never said that there was, or was 
 not, an universal fluid ; I know not, moreover, 
 whether there are magnetic fluids, electric, gal- 
 vanic, &c. (4.) One thing of which I am very 
 certain, is, that in order to magnetise well, it is 
 absolutely useless to know whether or not there 
 does exist a single one of these fluids. 
 
 Q. How do you admit the effect of the ac- 
 tion of one body on another, without an inter- 
 termedial, which communicates and transmits 
 to it, its impulse ? 
 
 A. Animal magnetism, is not the action of 
 one body on another, but the action of thought 
 on the vital principle of the body. (5.) 
 
 Q. It is exactly that, which makes it less 
 comprehensive still. 
 
 A. I agree to that; besides, we need not 
 seek an explanation; it is> because, it is; 
 thought moves the matter. (6) It is this truth, 
 that Virgil has so well expressed, by this fine 
 verse of Eneid : 
 
 " Mens agitat molem et magno se corpore miscet." 
 
 Q. If thought moves matter, it is then of a 
 superior nature to matter ? 
 
 A. I will not reply to this question, as it will 
 merely give you my particular opinion ; every 
 one ought to be free, to conclude, according to 
 the measure and perception of his intelligence. 
 
 To end this first part of instruction for be- 
 ginners, it will be sufficient to repeat that which 
 
62 
 
 concerns the mode of expressing the reason of 
 the principle of all our wills and actions ; every 
 man, who, with a wise mind, and compassionate 
 heart, will believe in his magnetic power, and 
 wishes to exercise it, will procure the sweetest 
 enjoy ments that he will possibly be able to relish, 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 M. de Pay segues opinion on the cause of 
 the magnetic action of man. 
 
 The observation that I have made, that a ball 
 rolls only when a hand, or agent, determines to 
 it this movement, has brought me to the con- 
 clusion, that since the earth and all the planets 
 roll in space, it must be, likewise, that some 
 agent has communicated to them the impulse 
 which determines their revolutions. 
 
 But a rolling ball stops at the moment, when 
 the action of the impelling force which it has 
 received, ceases; then, as the planets do not 
 stop, it is proof to my mind, that the impulse of 
 the principal agent of their movement, does not 
 discontinue. 
 
 I see, at the most, a tonic or internal move- 
 ment, as much in the whole mass of the earth, 
 as in the different parts which compose it; 
 winds, storms, tides, intemperatures, subterra- 
 nean fires, meteors, <Slc, on one part ; crystalli- 
 zation of minerals, vegetation of planets, gene- 
 ration of beings, &c, on the other, are to me 
 sufficient proof; finally, every thing announces 
 to me, amotion impressed upon matter, and the 
 continuance of the principle action of this motion. 
 
63 
 
 But, instead of admitting an agent, the au- 
 thor of the motion in matter, is it not matter 
 itself, which is the cause and principle of all its 
 effects? No, that is impossible; my intelli- 
 gence, my senses tell me, that nothing can move 
 of itself. From the time then, that matter is 
 in motion, it is necessary to submit to the action 
 of a principle, superior to it, and this principle, 
 superior to matter is God, whom I cannot com- 
 prehend, it is true, being only one of the pro- 
 ducts of his almighty power, but of whose exis- 
 tence, I am certain. 
 
 Behold then, two realities for me : 1st, God; 
 2nd, his action. God, principle and cause; 
 the existence of the universe, his action. 
 
 Let us see, at this placq, what passes when I 
 magnetise ; the compassion which a patient in- 
 spires in me, creates the desire, or the thought 
 of being useful to him, and the moment that I 
 determine to attempt to relieve him, his vital 
 principle receives the impression of the action 
 of my will. 
 
 Here are two realities : 1st, The principle 
 of my will; 2nd, its action; the principle of 
 my will, otherwise, called my soul, cause of 
 my action ; the effect felt by the patient, is the 
 result of this action. 
 
 The effect of the action of God, is motion in 
 matter, unlimited. 
 
 The effect ol the action of my soul, is motion 
 in matter, limited. 
 
 From the similitude in the effects, I conclude 
 that there is a similarity in the causes. 
 
64 
 
 Then, God and my soul are of the same 
 nature. 
 
 Now, God is superior to matter, in conse- 
 quence of immateriality ; then, my soul is also 
 immaterial. 
 
 God, first cause, whose immaterial sense, is 
 not enclosed in the limits of form, space, and 
 time, having created, and formed all, may also 
 destroy, or preserve all. 
 
 My soul, second cause, of which the imma- 
 terial nature is enclosed in the limits of form, 
 space, and time, can neither create nor form 
 any thing, and can only preserve, and restore. 
 
 I stop at this last observation of a metaphysi- 
 cal theory, which not only agrees with those I 
 have heretofore given of the action and physi- 
 cal effects of Animal Magnetism, but which is, 
 moreover, truly the proof and complement of it, 
 
 I leave it to minds more enlightened than 
 mine, to deduct the certainty of the existence of 
 God, and of our soul, the rules of our moral 
 duties, political and religious ; my aim is only 
 to prove the reality of Animal Magnetism, and 
 I will not depart from the bounds which I have 
 prescribed. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Of the proceedings necessary to Magnetise. 
 
 Question. What is the method to be pursu- 
 ed, in order to magnetise ? 
 
 Answer. I told you, in the first part of this 
 instruction, that, in order to magnetise, it is by 
 no means, necessary to know whether or not 
 6* 
 
there exists a magnetic fluid ; I repeat again, 
 it is perfectly useless ; nevertheless, the better 
 to fix the attention in magnetising, we may 
 admit the hypothesis. 
 
 Q. Why do you say, admit the hypothesis ? 
 
 A. Because, I am not certain of the exist- 
 ence of a magnetic fluid ; it is therefore, for 
 me, only a hypothesis, and not a reality. 
 
 Q. The general opinion is, that there exists 
 a magnetic fluid, 
 
 A. You may believe it also, if you please, 
 there is no inconvenience from it. This convic- 
 tion will likewise serve much, to fix your at- 
 tention the better, when you magnetise. 
 
 Q. How so ? 
 
 A. Consider yourself a loadstone, of which 
 your arms, and hands especially, are the two 
 poles; touch then, a patient, by placing one 
 hand on the back, and the other in opposition 
 on the stomach ; figure to yourself, then, that 
 a magnetic fluid tends to circulate from one 
 hand to the other, in crossing the body of the 
 patient. 
 
 Q. May we not vary this position ? 
 
 A. Yes, we may place one hand on the 
 head, without deranging the other hand and 
 continue to pay the same attention aud havd 
 the same will of doing good. The circulation 
 of one hand to the other will continue ; the head 
 and the lower portion of the stomach, being the 
 parts of the body where the most nerves are 
 placed, consequently, these are the two places, 
 where it is necessary to carry the most action.(7) 
 
 
66 
 
 Q. Is it necessary to rub these parts 
 strongly i 
 
 A. That is not necessary ; it is sufficient to 
 touch them with attention, endeavoring at the 
 same time, to observe a sensation of heat, in 
 the hollow of the hand, which is always the 
 proof, that an effect is produced. 
 
 Q. What is the most desirable effect to ob- 
 tain, in magnetising ?. 
 
 A. All the effects are equally salutary, one 
 of the most satisfactory, is somnambulism ; but 
 it is not the most frequent, and patients can be 
 equally cured, without entering into this state. 
 
 Q. Ought we always to have the will of 
 producing somnambulism ? 
 
 A. No, for the desire of producing any 
 effect whatever, is almost always a reason for 
 not producing it, A magnetiser ought blindly 
 to place his confidence in nature, that she may 
 rule and direct the effects of his magnetic 
 action. 
 
 Q. What are the indications, by which we 
 may discover that a patient is susceptible of en- 
 tering into the state of somnambulism ? 
 
 A. When in magnetising a patient, we per- 
 ceive that he experiences a numbness, or light 
 spasms, accompanied with nervous fits or starts; 
 if then, we see him shut his eyes, it is necessary 
 to touch him lightly with the thumbs on the eye- 
 brows, to prevent winking. Sometimes, it is not 
 even necessary to touch the eyes, as the action 
 penetrates with as much activity, at a little 
 distance. 
 
67 
 
 Q. What, is there nothing else to do, to put 
 a patient in the state of somnambulism ? 
 
 A. No. In touching a patient in the man- 
 ner I have indicated, with much attention, and 
 with a Arm will to do good, you will often ob- 
 tain this satisfactory result. 
 
 Q. How may I be able to ascertain that a 
 patient is in the magnetic state ? 
 
 A. When you see him sensible, at a distance* 
 to your emanations, whether in presenting the 
 thumb before the pit of the stomach, or in car- 
 rying it before the nose. 
 
 Q. Are there no stronger indications 'i 
 
 A. A patient in the magnetic crisis, ought 
 only to reply to his magnetiser, and ought to 
 suffer no other person to touch him ; the ap- 
 proach of dogs, and all animated beings, ought 
 to be to him insupportable ; and when by chance 
 he has been touched, the magnetiser alone will 
 be able to calm the pain which it has occasion- 
 ed. (8.) 
 
 Q. Has the magnetiser an absolute empire 
 over his patient, in a magnetic crisis ? 
 
 A. This empire is absolute in all which con- 
 cerns the well being and health of the patient ; 
 he may also be able to obtain from him, things 
 indifferent in themselves, as to make him walk, 
 drink, eat, write, &c, even all that we could 
 obtain by complaisance from a person in the 
 natural state; but if we wish to exact things 
 which will displease him, then we counteract 
 much, and he will not obey. (9.) 
 
68 
 
 Q. If we are obstinate in wishing him to do 
 those things which do not agree with him, what 
 is the result ? 
 
 A. After much suffering, the patient sud- 
 denly leaves the magnetic state, and the evil 
 which it will cause to him, will be very trou- 
 blesome for his magnotiser to repair. 
 
 Q. The magnetic state, otherwise called 
 somnambulism, is a state, then, which demands 
 the greatest discretion ? 
 
 A. It is necessary to consider man in the 
 magnetic state, as a being the most interesting, 
 who exists by affinity to his magnetiser; it is 
 the confidence he places in you, that has allow- 
 ed you to be the master ; it is only for his good 
 that you will be able to enjoy your power ; de- 
 ceit in this state* to wish to abuse his confidence, 
 is an act of dishonesty ; thus, by acting in a 
 sense opposed to his welfare, we produce con- 
 sequently, a contrary effect to that first given 
 him. 
 
 Q. Are there different degrees of som- 
 nambulism ? 
 
 A. Yes; sometimes, we procure from a 
 patient, only a simple sigh; in another, the 
 effect of magnetism is to cause him to shut his 
 eyes, without the power of opening them him- 
 self; then he understands every thing, but is not 
 completely in the magnetic state. This state 
 of half crisis is very common. (i0.) 
 
 Q. Are these two effects as salutary, as 
 complete somnambulism ? 
 
69 
 
 A. They are not as satisfactory, for the 
 magnetiser, as he can learn nothing from his 
 patient; but they are also very salutary. 
 
 Q. Are there any precautions to take, to- 
 wards a patient who enters into the state of 
 magnetic somnambulism ? 
 
 A. As soon as you perceive that a patient 
 shuts his eyes, and has manifested the sensibility 
 to the magnetic emanations, it is not necessary 
 at first to overwhelm him with questions, still 
 less to wish to make him act, in any manner. 
 The state in which he finds himself, is new for 
 him, and it is necessary, so to speak, to let him 
 be aware of it. The question ought to be* 
 Hoic do you find yourself? then, do you feel 
 that I have done ym any good ? Then express 
 the pleasure you feel in procuring it for him, 
 and gradually come to the details of his disease, 
 and the object of your first questions ought not 
 to extend beyond his health. 
 
 Q. Why so. 
 
 A. It is your aim, in magnetising, to cure; 
 all the faculties of the patient, turn towards the 
 object which has interested you in magnetising 
 him. (11.) His health alone, then, occupies his 
 faculties; and being possessed of more or less 
 sensibility, he is more or less clearsighted on 
 his present state, as on his future cure. (12.) 
 
 Q. What conduct is necessary to observe 
 towards a magnetic somnambulist ? 
 
 A. To do every thing with safety, and not 
 to contradict him ; also, to consult him on the 
 hours when he wishes to be magnetized, the 
 
70 
 
 time he wishes to remain in the crisis, what 
 medicines he will need, and to follow his indi- 
 cations, exactly, without missing even one 
 minute. 
 
 Q. Ma,y not a person in a magnetic state, 
 prescribe medicines, contrary to his health ? 
 
 Jl. That can never be. Although the pre- 
 scription of a somnambulist, may be different 
 from the ideas that we may have received in 
 medicine, yet, his sensations are surer than all 
 the given results of observation ; Nature ex- 
 presses herself, if we may thus speak, by his 
 mouth ; it is a clear instinct, which dictates to 
 him, his demands, and not to obey them to the 
 letter, will be to miss the end proposed, namely, 
 to cure him. 
 
 Q. How do we get a person out of the mag- 
 netic state ? 
 
 A. When you magnetised him, your aim 
 was to put him to sleep, and you have succeeded, 
 solely, by the act of your will; it is also, by 
 another act of the will, that you awaken him.(13) 
 
 Q. What, is it only necessary, that he opens 
 his eyes to perform his awakening ? 
 
 A. It is the principal operation; but, the 
 better to fix your ideas upon the object which 
 occupies your mind, you may lightly touch the 
 eyes, willing at the same time, that he opens 
 them and awakes, and this effect never fails 
 to follow. 
 
 Q. Are there any other signs to observe in 
 the conduct of magnetism ? 
 
71 
 
 A. It may sometimes happen that a patient 
 has tremblings, or light convulsive motions, the 
 first time that he is magnetised ; in this case, it 
 is necessary for the magnetiser to cease his first 
 action, and occupy himself in calming the suf- 
 ferings of the patient. (14.) 
 
 Q. What means must be employed for that? 
 
 A. At first, will that his evils are quieted, 
 and that he suffers no more; (15) then, direct 
 all your attention, your touches to the suffering 
 parts; spread, as it were, the fluid throughout 
 the whole extent of his body, and do not aban- 
 don him, until he is in a calm and tranquil state, 
 
 Q- Can we always control these convul- 
 sions or sufferings of a patient ? 
 
 A. Yes, when they are caused by our mag- 
 netism, for you may recollect we have said, 
 that Animal Magnetism taking always the 
 character of the will of the magnetiser, ought 
 to ca!m the accidental evils, proceeding from 
 the first impression that we have given. 
 
 Q. And the habitual sufferings of a patient, 
 are they also capable of being removed by the 
 influence of magnetism ? 
 
 A. No, because, sometimes the disease has 
 made so great progress, and has taken such 
 deep root, that the influence of magnetism, can- 
 not destroy the symptoms, but by dint of time 
 and care. 
 
 Q. If, after having made all efforts to arrest 
 the convulsions which magnetism produces, we 
 do not put an end to them, what must we do ? 
 
72 
 
 Jl. We must not become alarmed, but be- 
 lieve that the nature of the disease demands 
 such a crisis, in order that the patient may be 
 entirely cured ; but this tranquillity ought to 
 be entire, only when we feel innocent with re- 
 gard to the conduct we have pursued towards 
 the patient. (16.) In general, the case where 
 a patient preserves his grievous impressions, not- 
 withstanding his magnetiser, is very rare ; it 
 has only happened but once to myself; and 
 when several times in succession a magnetiser 
 is not able to arrest the convulsions which have 
 shown themselves, we would always be in doubt 
 with regard to his good disposition. 
 
 Q Have you any thing further to teach 
 me concerning the practice of Animal Magne- 
 tism ? 
 
 A. No ; it is sufficient for you to remember, 
 the grand base on which is founded the doc- 
 trine of animal magnetism, as I have conceiv- 
 ed it, and as I have taught you. Remember, 
 that man always acts for his best interest ; and 
 rarely for good, if he does not find a great inte- 
 rest in it ; and this is only a spiritual principle, 
 emanating immediately from the creator of the 
 universe, that he may feel the necessity of satis- 
 fying the continual cravings of his soul, which 
 delights only in good, order, and truth, 
 
 (End of Puysegur's Essay.) 
 
73 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS AUTHORS. 
 
 Question. What qualifications are necessa- 
 ry to magnetise well ? 
 
 Answer. First, belief is necessary, because it 
 is foolish to try to do what we deem an impos- 
 sibility. By granting a little confidence to your 
 predecessors, keeping away doubt, as much as 
 possible, wishing for success, and acting with 
 attention and simplicity of heart, belief may be 
 obtained. (17.) 
 
 Second. — Will, or a determination to pro- 
 duce the desired effect. It must be strong and 
 permanent, and is the most difficult to acquire, 
 and the most fatiguing to exercise. (18.) 
 
 Third — Benevolence, or a firm determination 
 to do good. If you magnetise with an evil in- 
 tention, your fluid producing that impression on 
 your patient, would be immediately repulsed, 
 and all confidence in you lost. [19.] 
 
 Fourth. Good health, if not an indispensa- 
 ble, is a most favorable qualification. 
 
 Q. What is the best time of life to become 
 a good magrietiser ? 
 
 A. At that period when our frame has ac- 
 quired its full growth, and the mind the full ex- 
 tent of its powers. 
 
 Q. Can females magnetise ? 
 
 A. Yes, they prove to be excellent magneti- 
 sers, as they generally possess more love, bene- 
 volence, &,c, than males. 
 
 Q. What terms are generally made use of 
 in magnetising ? 
 
74 
 
 A. When magnetising for the first time, it 
 is to place yourself in relation. Each motion 
 of the hand, is a pass. To magnetise from 
 head to foot, is, by streams or currents. To 
 magnetise at a distance, is when your hands 
 cease to touch the person. 
 
 Q. Explain the operation of magnetising ? 
 
 A. Suppose that you wish to magnetise a 
 patient ; sit opposite to him, take hold of his 
 thumbs, and look steadily at him, with a perma- 
 nent attention and intention, or will to produce 
 the desired effect. After four or five minutes, 
 when his thumbs have acquired the same tem- 
 perature with yours, place your hands on his 
 shoulders, let them remain there two or three 
 minutes, then draw them very slowly along the 
 arms, and take hold again of the thumbs ; do 
 this three or four times in succession; then, 
 place your hands on his stomach, in such a 
 manner, that your thumbs may be in the centre, 
 and your fingers on the sides ; when you feel a 
 communication of heat, slowly draw your hand 
 down to his feet ; then place them over his head, 
 and slowly draw th^m again down to the feet, 
 and continue in the same manner, taking care 
 in raising your hands to his head, to turn them 
 outwards, and extend them both sides. The 
 precaution never to magnetise upwards, and to 
 separate your hands when you raise them, is re- 
 commended as essential. (20.) Touch slightly 
 and slowly, keeping your hands a few inches 
 from the face, and scarcely even touching the 
 clothes ; use no muscular effort ; let your mo- 
 
75 
 
 tions be easy and supple ; your hand must not 
 be stiff; let your fingers be a little bent, and 
 occasionally united, for it is from the end of the 
 fingers that the fluid flows or radiates ; do not 
 be impatient of producing effects; give yourself 
 up entirely to feelings of sympathy, and to the 
 wish to relieve your patient. If he feels pain in 
 particular parts, hold your hand some time on 
 that part ; continue your operation, for about 
 half an hour* As it is necessary that your at- 
 tention should be permanent, a longer time 
 would be fatiguing. In finishing the operation, 
 make several long passes, and one across the 
 eyes, to disseminate equally the fluid. 
 
 The relation once well established, contact 
 is not necessary ; the action at a distance is 
 often more beneficial and salutary, than that 
 produced by immediate contact. (21.) 
 
 Q. What is the most favorable situation, in 
 which to place a patient to be magnetised ? 
 
 A. The situation indicated is the most fa- 
 vorable, so much so, that the look of the magne- 
 tiser produces a great effect ; but this situation 
 is not always possible ; a patient may be con- 
 fined to his bed : — then you place your hands 
 on his head, his shoulder, his stomach, down to 
 his feet. There are many other means ; they 
 are taught by experience ; sometimes guessed 
 by the magnetiser, or indicated by the patient 
 himself. 
 
 Jn swellings of glands, you may put a clean 
 handkerchief on them, place your mouth upon 
 it, and send your breath through ; it produces 
 
76 
 
 a great heat, at first mechanical, then magnetic, 
 which is very active. In sick headaches, or 
 when the blood determines to the head, passes 
 made over the legs are good to relieve it. If 
 the pain is the result of a blow, keep your hand 
 on the part affected for some time before draw- 
 ing down. It may happen a pain felt in the 
 shoulder is drawn to the elbow, then to the 
 hands, and finally thrown out at the fingers, 
 with some very observable perspiration. 
 
 Q. Can we always upon the first trial, 
 place a patient in a magnetic sleep ? 
 
 A. No, sometimes we have to continue to 
 magnetise for several days, even to fourteen and 
 twenty days, before sleep will be produced. 
 
 Q. When it is necessary to magnetise for 
 several days, what rule must we observe ? 
 
 A. We must magnetise^ every day at pre- 
 cisely the same hour. Periodical regularity 
 seems to increase the effects. 
 
 Q. Is it dangerous to interrupt the treat- 
 ment, when magnetism has produced an effect ? 
 A. Yes, it would be better never to begin it, 
 than to discontinue. It must be continued to 
 the end. 
 
 Q. Can we always depend upon the an- 
 swers given by a somnambulist ? 
 
 A. Only as regards their health, and that 
 of others, and treatment, to be pursued, beyond 
 this, we cannot depend upon them. Although 
 they have very often given correct answers yet 
 it does not follow as a general rule, that they 
 answer any question, correctly. Some magne- 
 7* 
 
77 
 
 tisers are often deceived by not being aware of 
 this circumstance, 
 
 Q. How do you place a person in relation 
 with your patient? 
 
 A. Let another person speak, or will, with- 
 out speaking to the patient, and if he is in a 
 complete magnetic state, he will not notice it ; 
 but if the magnetiser places him in relation 
 with the patient, by merely, touching him with 
 the end of his finger, the magnetised person 
 obeys readily ; and as soon as the magnetiser 
 withdraws his hand or finger, the somnambu- 
 list immediately ceases doing whatever may 
 have been required. 
 
 One thing infinitely satisfactory in the em- 
 ployment of Animal Magnetism, is to be able, 
 with the aid of a somnambulist, to have an IN- 
 DICATOR, not only of the seat of his disease, 
 but also of the diseases of the various individu- 
 als who may be presented to him. (22.) — (Put/.) 
 
 " Magnetised water is one of the great means 
 of magnetic medicine. A patient in crisis is 
 the only person who can perceive the difference 
 from ordinary water. 1 have no more idea of 
 this fact, than of others I have cited, as it de- 
 pends upon a sensation that I have never felt ; 
 but the reiterated experience that I have had 
 among many patients, leave no doubt of its re- 
 ality. It is not even necessary, that the water 
 to be magnetised, be in a glass vessel." — (23.) 
 
 " All my patients in crisis agree in advising 
 this water in abundance to dropsical persons, 
 
73 
 
 confident that it is more salutary to them, than 
 my exterior touching." (Puysegur.) 
 
 " In order to magnetise a decanter or a tum- 
 bler full of water, hold it on the palm of the 
 left hand, and place the right hand above with 
 the fingers closed; open and shut them by 
 turns ; move them over the surface, at a short 
 distance, to charge the water with the fluid, in 
 the same manner as philosophers would charge 
 with electricity, a Leyden bottle. This water 
 sometimes produces surprising effects. Some- 
 times purgative, sometimes astringent ; it will 
 now cool the stomach ; it will then warm 
 it." (24.) — (Du Commun.) 
 
 " I believe that the magnetic action ought to 
 be salutary to all men, in different degrees, and 
 that it can never be hurtful. Whoever is in a 
 state of perfect health, ought not to be suscep- 
 tible to the magnetic influence. There are 
 diseases, which, although very serious and dan- 
 gerous, may repel, or refuse to receive the mag- 
 netic action for a certain time ; this often dis- 
 courages the magnetiser and patient. I also 
 believe that such diseases which resist the ac- 
 tion of one magnetiser, will yield more readily 
 to the empire ot another. I have had patients 
 on whom I have never been able to produce the 
 least effect, notwithstanding the great desire 
 which they had of experiencing it, I attribute 
 the cause to the little analogy existing between 
 them and myself. Experience teaches me, that 
 one man will cure certain diseases better than 
 others ; it may be owing to temperament, cha- 
 racter, climate, country, &c." — {Puysegur.) 
 
79 
 
 44 Faith is necessary to the person magnetis- 
 ing, it is not to the person magnetised ; true it 
 is, that an absolute incredulity would trouble, 
 and an invincible repugnance counteract the ef- 
 fects ; but a sick person naturally wishes to be 
 relieved, if he has not an implicit faith in the 
 efficacy of the agent, he wishes it to be true ; 
 this disposition is sufficient to receive the bene- 
 ficial inflence." — (Du Commun.) 
 
 44 The hand of the magnetiser, at two inches 
 distance, gives generally a sensation of heat, 
 scarcely ever of cold. Frequently it excites a 
 drowsiness, or heaviness of the head, which is 
 not unpleasant. On the stomach it often pro- 
 duces the effect of a weight ; pulsation becomes 
 more lively and regular ; perspiration is fre- 
 quently very sensible, particularly in the hands 
 and feet ; the patient gets into a state of ease, 
 and ceases to perceive the duration ot time ; he 
 may fall into a slight slumber, which the least 
 noise may destroy. Sometimes the eyelids are 
 contracted, he cannot raise them, although per- 
 fectly awake." — (Du Commun. J 
 
 * The only sensation that I experience m 
 magnetising, is relative to the effect that I pro- 
 duce on my patient ; if he is susceptible to the 
 magnetic emanations, I feel a heat, more or less 
 light in my hands, and an attraction more or 
 less great, to continue to magnetise. 9 ' [8.] 
 
 ( Puysegur.) 
 
 * 4 The experience that I have acquired con- 
 firms me in "the idea, that the head, and the 
 plexus solaire, (plexus of nerves in the stomach) 
 
80 
 
 are the parts of the human body, which receive 
 most effectually, the magnetic emanations. — 
 The eyes above all, appear to me more suscep- 
 tible than any other organ. It is by a light 
 friction on the eyes' that I finish the magnetic 
 charge, from whence results somnambulism; 
 and it is also by a very light friction on the same 
 organs, that I perform the discharge, from 
 whence follows, awakening, and the natural 
 state. 
 
 The immediate touch without pressure, is 
 that which I prefer ; it often seems to me, that 
 the magnetic action is augmented, by a light 
 friction." — ( Puysegur. ) 
 
 " When magnetism produces somnambulism 
 the being who enters in this state acquires pro- 
 digious faculties of perception ; his exterior sen- 
 ses, particularly sight and hearing, are suspen- 
 ded, and the sensations are transferred inward- 
 ly ; it seems that a new sense, which supplies 
 all the others in him, is developed. The som- 
 nambulist has his eyes shut, and sees not with 
 his eyes ; he hears not with his ears, and he sees 
 and hears better than in his natural state. He 
 sees and hears but those with whom he is put 
 in relation. 1 I e sees but the object on which 
 he brings his attention. He is obedient to the 
 will of his magnetiser, in all that is not in oppo- 
 sition to his ideas of justice and truth. He of- 
 ten feels the influence of the operator's will, 
 without the use of words. He perceives the 
 magnetic fluid. 
 
81 
 
 He sees, or rather he feels the interior of his 
 body and that of others ; but he observes com- 
 monly, only the parts which are not in a natu- 
 ral state, and the harmony of which is dis- 
 turbed. He finds in his memory the recollec- 
 tion of things he had forgotten when awake. 
 Time and space are no obstacles to him. He 
 knows the past, foresees the future, and sees ob- 
 jects out of the reach of the sense of sight. — 
 However, these faculties are limited in their 
 extent. 
 
 The means a magnetiser has to excite in his 
 somnambulist lively sensations, to calm his suf- 
 ferings, to change the order of his ideas, to di- 
 rect his attention upon such, or such an object, 
 to put him in relation with other persons, and 
 to destroy that relation, finally, the power of the 
 magnetiser upon the magnetised, appears ma- 
 gical to those who see it for the first time." 
 ( Du Commun.) 
 
 The following are the best series of questions 
 to be asked of a somnambulist. Do you sleep ? 
 Ho long do you wish to sleep ? When, and at 
 what hour shall I put you again in this state? 
 How long will the crisis last ? Do you see 
 your disease ? Do you see the cause of it 1 
 Do you see the remedy ? Have I done you any 
 good? Will animal, magnetism cure you? — 
 When will you be cured ? W ill you suffer much 
 pain or convulsions in your next crisis ? What 
 course must be pursued to preserve your health, 
 after your cure is effected ? 
 
NOTES. 
 
 1. Galvanism apart from animate beings, is a science ; with them, it is a 
 faculty or power as natural as eating, sleeping, awaking, &c. 
 
 2. This employment of the will, puts the galvanic battery in motion and 
 action, and produces those strange effects. 
 
 3. Thus explaining why a person should believe and have faith, when 
 magnetising ; as by the contrary, lie interrupts, and destroys ;he force, and 
 regularity of action of his galvanic battery. 
 
 4. Magnetism, galvanism, and electricity are caused by repulsion 
 and attraction; either of them produce heat and light, and they are the same 
 fluids modified by oiher mutter. 
 
 5 Or rather, the ac ion of my healthy and regular battery, on the de- 
 ranged, and unhealthy battery of the patient 
 
 6. The theory of galvanism, enables us to answer such questions. It is 
 the effect of a strong and regular galvanic battery, constantly in action, 
 upon a weak and i< regular one. 
 
 7. Why is it so 1 Because these nerves convey the fluid more rapidly to 
 the brain, or bafery. 
 
 8. This obedience is in accordance with the laws of galvanism, and 
 motion ; positive repels positive, and attracts negative, and vice versa : the 
 north pole of a magnet repels the north pole of another, and attracts the 
 south, &c In magnetism, the magnetiser possesses more »»f the positive 
 fluid, or negative, than his patient, consequently, there is a continual attrac- 
 tion between them. And when another person, not placed in relation, ap- 
 proaches it has a tendency to destroy that equilibrium of positive and nega- 
 tive fluids, necessary to produce this attraction. ** ♦ 
 
 9. When we magnetise a person it is for his good ; hence, as soon a3 
 we change this good intention for a contrary one, we produce a contrary 
 effect, and the chain which held him, becomes broken. The galvanic fluid 
 formed with a good intent, is repulsive to that formed with a bad one, hence 
 it may be taken from the patient so suddenly, as to injure him seriously. 
 
 10. This depends on the health strength, and firmness of the magnetiser, 
 or on the degree of debility to which his patient is reduced. 
 
 11. In obedience to the laws of galvanism. 
 
 12. This depends more particularly on his natural phrenological de- 
 velopments. 
 
 13. Having charged him with the fluid in a positive state to produce 
 sleep, we now reverse it, and by a negative charge, his awakening is effect- 
 ed. Because, to constitute attraction between each, there should be positive 
 and negative forces yet the positive being the force, or fluid in action, the 
 conuary effect is produced. 
 
 14. These convulsions, are shocks from the battery, it being employed 
 so strongly upon the patient, as to produce, as it passes along his conductors 
 or nerves, li<?ht shocks. 
 
 15 By this, the force of the action is modified, and consequently the 
 shocks cease* 
 
16, That is, we have been steadily, firmly, and perseveringlv in action, 
 not wavering, doubting, or thinking oi anv oilier than the patient's good 
 
 17. This has been explained There must be bit one determined will, 
 not broken in upon^-by disbeliefs, doubts. &c, to produce a positive effect 
 from the galvanic battery Lisbeiief, disorders, destroys the harmony of 
 action in the battery, by dividing the will and no effect is produced, 
 
 18 This trill, calls the battery into action. 
 
 19. As the attraction between your patient and self, is produced by two 
 forces, yourself, the positive, the patient, negative; then he b^ing naturally 
 in the negative, ihe employment of a negative force, pruduces repulsion. 
 
 20. Some magnetise merely by holding the thumbs and looking stead- 
 fastly in the patients eyes, and some by forming circles on ihe stomach. 
 
 21. This may be with those who cannot receive the immediate shocks, 
 without experiencing slight convulsions. 
 
 22. As before said, lhis is owing to the state of perfection in which the 
 phrenological organs of the patient are formed: the nearer to perfection the 
 more truly can he speak. A man possessing in the natural state perfect 
 organs, will have the power of seeing and knowing the past, present and 
 future. 
 
 23. Thus showing ihe possibility of impregnating other substances, with 
 the galvanic fluid from our own bodies. 
 
 24 Actiug upon galvanic principles it produces the necessary effect on 
 those parts where the fluid is in either too great, too small, or disordered 
 quantities. 
 
 Dr. J. King, respectfully informs the public, that he Magnetises for the 
 cure of the following diseases, at No 13 Chrystie street: Asthma, Chronic 
 affections of the Lungs, Livers and Kidneys, Convulsions, Cramps, Deaf- 
 ness, Diseased Eyes, Dropsy, Epi epsy. Fever and Ague, Female complaints, 
 General Debility, Headache. Hypocondria, Hysterics, Jaundice, Pal-y, 
 Palpitation of Heart, Rheumatism, St. Vitus Dance, and all other chronic 
 diseases, accompanied with nervous debility. 
 
 THE END. 
 
W132 
 

 
 
 
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