VITAL MAGNETISM Its Power Over Disease. A STATEMENT OF THE FACTS DEVELOPED BY MEN WHO HAVE EMPLOYED THIS AGENT UNDER VARIOUS NAMES, AS ANIMAL MAGNETISM, MESMERISM, HYPNOTISM, ETC., FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES DOWN TO THE PRESENT. BY FREDERICK T. PARSON, {Magnetic Physiciati). " The essential point, where any question arises respecting facts that are extraordinary and difficult to conceive, is not to demonstrate how they exist, but to prove that they do exist." Nicole. NEW YORK: ADAMS, VICTOR & CO., PUBLIC 9S WILLIAM STREET. 1877. ■9^ 'I- \ -b Copyright by ADAMS, VICTOR & CO 1877. 10- 22.fl3 / 5^9 PUBLISHERS' NOTICE. In presenting this volume to the public, the publishers be- speak for it the candid attention of the medical profession and of the press. It will .be found, we think, to present the subject of VITAL MAGNETISM in a manner befitting its importance to the human race as an agent of beneficence, while it must serve greatly to disabuse the minds of intelligent persons of impres- sions and prejudices fostered by the use — or rather abuse — of this mysterious power by charlatans. The author's aim being to reach the discriminating reader, he has confined himself to facts whose authenticity is unques- tioned, and to the experience of men of eminence in the medi- cal and scientific world, whose words and work are conclusive as to the power, range and efficiency of VITAL MAGNET- ISM, both as a curative agent and as a subject meriting the most careful further observation to obtain a more determinate knowledge of its true nature and source. Of the array of facts and observations here embodied by Dr. Parson, those relating to the case of Miss Harriet Martineau will command particular attention. This eminent woman had what may be termed a marvelous exfierie?ice, which she narrated with a minuteness that offered invaluable data to the physician and investigator, but her editors and biographers have sup- pressed her own record of this wonderful recovery from an incurable disorder. Dr. Parson very properly reproduces the most essential portions of her singularly interesting narrative. As stated in the announcement : " The volume is stuffed with facts, giving to theory and speculation upon the nature of the principle and its phenomena but one chapter — the object being to present the subject of Vital Magnetism in its practical, effi- cient and determinant aspect." 98 William Street, New York, October 20th, 1877. P DEDICATION. To my friend Dr. C. E. S., I respectfully dedicate the results of reading and observation embodied in these papers. When you were the honored President of the State Medical Convention, and presented facts in your possession concerning the treatment of disease by Vital Magnetism, there was deep interest mani- fested in the subject ; but the total absence of in- formation concerning it, on the part of those who attempted to discuss it, you pointed out to me, and thus prompted me to supply the lack, from abundant materials which I had accumulated. Hoping, my dear friend, that what is here pre- sented may stimulate inquiry and open the treasures of this great storehouse of blessing, I am as ever, Yours sincerely, F. T. PARSON. " There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreampt of in OUR philosophy." " Whoso recognizes the unfathomable, all-pervading domain of mystery, which is everywhere under our feet and among our hands ; to whom the universe is an oracle and a temple, as well as kitchen and cattle stall — he shall be called a mystic, and delirious. To him, thou, with sniffing charity, wilt pro- trusively proffer thy hand-lamp, and shriek, as one injured, when he kicks his foot through it. " Wert thou not born ? Wilt thou not die ? Explain me all this — or do one of two things : retire into private places with thy foolish cackle ; or, what were better, give it up ; or weep not that the reign of wonder is done, and God's world all disembellished and prosaic, but that thou thyself art hitherto a sand-blind pedant." Carlyle. CON TE NTS. PAGE Dedication • • . 5 Preface 9 Magnetism as a Therapeutical Agent II Status of the Practice in Great Britain — Views of Emi- nent Men 15 Status of the Practice on the Continent — History of Its Development 27 The Evidence of Reason and Common Sense ... 35 The Received Hypothesis — Dr. Ashburner's Theory of Polarities — Barth's Views : Mesmerism not Miracle 43 The Principal Therapeutical Effects — Evidence of Emi- nent Practitioners . 57 Anaesthetic Effects of Vital Magnetism . • . 76 On Qualifications of Magnetic Physicians . . . 80 Typical Cases : The Case of Harriet Martineau .... 85 The Extraordinary Case of Anne Vials . . 95 A Double Phenomenon ..... 101 Case of Uterine Disease with General Nervous Derangement 103 Case of Nervous Suffering Leaving the Patient Dumb 106 Cure of Deafness of Long Standing . . . 108 Case of Spasmodic Asthma .... 109 Case of Neuralgia or Painful Nervous Affection of the Heart of Many Years' Standing . no vi Contents. PAGE Case of Severe Nervous Disease . . .112 Epilepsy 114 Epileptic Hysteria, with Lockjaw and Contrac- tion of One Leg 116 Case of St. Vitus' Dance 118 Dr. Braid's Experience . ' . . . . 120 Painless Amputation of the Thigh, &c. . . 124 English Practitioners and Advocates . . . 131 Prejudice, Ignorance and Charlatanry no Longer Permissible 139 Theorizing , . . . • 143 The Testimony of Test 148 My Own Position 174 Sympathetic Influence ....... 176 Dr. Newnham's Exposition of Principles and Plea for Investigation and Adoption by the Profession . 183 The Lessons of History — Shall we be Stupidly Timid or Bravely Wise ? — A Warning to Obstructionists . 198 Appendix. — Dr. Elliotson's Adjuration to the Profession, and Dr. Esdaile's Remarkable Protest to the Ame- rican Congress — Magnetism the First " Anaes- thetic" 217 Literature of Vital Magnetism .... 225 Index to Cases in the "Zoist" 231 PREFACE. The object of this work is to furnish, in a condensed form, the actual experience of experts, in the treatment of disease by Vital Magnetism, whose statements will not be disputed. Purely mental phenomena in connection with this force are purposely omitted, as they lead to bewildering- speculations, such as have swelled other works to great size, but leading only to confusion, disgust, or to the neglect of this important branch of science by medical men. A class of enthusiasts calling themselves healing mediums have met with more or less success in the use of this agency, and have sought to wrest it into the support of a mis-named spiritual philosophy. They have often succeeded only in arraying the intelligent against a force which has been known from the earliest ages, and which has a wide and benign application to the ills of man. It is monstrous injustice to permit these pretenders to usurp control of such an agency, and to frighten off men whose talents and acquirements fit them to investigate its facts and to arrange them into scientific order. For there is no doubt that healing effects are produced here as elsewhere, by the ?nost careful attention to conditions, laws and prin- ciples ; and such as fail to recognize these, can expect no more success in the use of Vital Magnetism, than those who neglect the laws that govern other imponderable forces can look for valuable results in their use. It is as much under the limitation of Natural Law as any other force, though its range is extensive. x Preface. It is exceedingly desirable that there should be a full anr 1 impartial investigation of the merits and nature of this power- ful agency, which has been hitherto discussed chiefly by men who exalted some phenomenal feature into undue prominence. Dr. Braid, of Manchester, England, a celebrated surgeon, a painstaking investigator of magnetic phenomena, and a suc- cessful practitioner of the magnetic art, conceived that he had discovered fundamental elements, when he had merely found a new method of producing the primary magnetic condition. He baptized his supposed original discovery with the name of " Hypnotism," and Dr. Brown Sequard refers approvingly to this term, and vainly strives to point out a distinction, that does not exist, between this and Vital Magnetism. While speaking thus, I recommend to all inquirers in this department the very able work of Dr. Braid, entitled Neuryft- nology. My purpose will be gained if I draw attention to this important subject from a natural and practical standpoint ; while the authors whom I mention will satisfy all those who have speculative tendencies, and wish to push their inquiries into the deeper mysteries of the subject. Many of the laws of this ancient and fascinating science of Vital Magnetism are well understood. In order that this knowledge may be more generally diffused, and that men of learning may have in their hands facts to stimulate them to arrive at profounder principles lying at its base, this treatise is given to the public. After seventy-five years of opposition to the results of _ experiments and observation, these facts were found to be stubborn and unanswerable ; and the last twenty-five years have witnessed their complete victory over prejudice and mere argument ; so that, to-day, the first scien- tists and physiologists write and speak of them, not only with respect, but also with warmest praise. VITAL MAGNETISM. i. MAGNETISM AS A THERAPEUTICAL AGENT. The various names under which Magnetism has been known or employed during a century are mainly these : Mesmerism, Animal Magnetism, Induced Somnambulism, Psychic Force, Nervous Force, Mesmeric Sleep-waking, Electro-Biology, Perkinism, Electrical Psychology, Pathetism, Nervo-vital Force, Psycopathy, Braidism and Hyp- notism. Other terms have been applied as some new phenomenal feature came to the surface ; but the force remained fixed and unchanged in all this fluctuation of terminology, because it is one of God's immutable agencies. But, in the bitter struggle over names, and methods, and their rela- tive value, the facts of healing have continued uniform, and humanity has gratefully acknowl- ? < edged their benefit. Dr. John Elliottsen, in the Zoist, an English quar- terly journal, published from 1843 to 1856, uses this language: Vital Magnetism " Mesmerism has always been true. Dimly known for thousands of years, in barbarous and semi-barbarous countries, known as to some of its high results to many of the great nations of anti- quity, though the knowledge was confined to the chosen few, it is only beginning to be seen in its various aspects and ramifications, and to assume the character of a science — a science of the deepest interest and importance — inasmuch as the pheno- mena of life transcend those of all inanimate mat- ter, and the faculties of the brain — the mind — are the highest objects in the universe that man can study; and inasmuch as its power over the faculties of the body at large, and especially over the whole brain and nervous system, is immense, and there- fore capable of application to prevent and remove suffering, and to cure disease far beyond the means hitherto possessed by the art of medicine." If we trace magnetism along the ages its foot- prints are discernible in ancient literature, on the sculptured monuments of Egypt, in the traditions of Chaldea, India, Persia, Greece, Judea and Rome, upon the early records of Christianity, during the Middle Ages, and upon the clearer pages of modern history. In barbarous and half-civilized communi- ties, men characterized its cures as sacred mysteries, as secret remedies, as something magical and occult. The unbroken stream of results in healing has flowed down, in obedience to the law that is equally perfect with the laws of light and heat, of gravitation and electricity. The facts are uniform and indisputable. Magnetism as a Therapeutical Agent. 1 3 The experience of antiquity has been amply supplemented by the record of the last century, showing an unbroken advance, slow but sure. The efforts of the schoolmen in the past to estab- lish medical systems upon series of facts, involved as bitter a warfare upon each other as they have ever expended upon the practice of magnetism. At first they denied the facts, and when these could no longer be disputed, they denounced the practice as "magical," and as leagued with the black art J But, as the medical schools themselves solidified into form, and intelligence spread, the fear of " magic " died out ; the cures by magnetism increased and were acknowledged, until, later on, Royal Commis- sions were appointed to investigate. These learned bodies at first found it difficult to be honest and unprejudiced, and reported adversely upon side issues, but finally with favor, in spite of the ravings of members grounded in old beliefs. Attacks have now ceased, and to-day the first living physiologists commend the practice in high- est terms. The main objection now urged, is the difficulty of finding properly qualified men to pur- sue the practice, as no amount of technical know- ledge will make a successful magnetic practitioner in the absence of natural endowment. Time will remedy all this, and a sufficient force of operators will be forthcoming to cope intelligently with a vast number of so-called " incurable forms of dis- ease," especially of a nervous character, to which magnetism is wonderfully adapted. 14 Vital Magjtetism. It is not claimed for this practice that it is a uni- versal remedy: no one but a charlatan would put forth such a claim; but, that it possesses great re- medial powers, when properly applied, and when the conditions necessary to success are fully met, is unquestionable; and a great number of maladies that cannot be relieved by medication will find their solution here. But the difficulty is, as a well-known modern writer has said, in speaking of magnetic practice, that — " There is certainly something very revolting to the pride of the present generation, to admit that magnetism, the simple medicine of nature, can do what science and art cannot effect; to give up many favorite theories and plans of treatment — to lay aside the haughtiness of established doctrines — and to yield them before the simplicity of a cura- tive action, which many have the power to impart, though each has not the skill to direct; — and to re- vive the practice of thousands of by-gone years — years which are only dimly seen through the long vista of pity for the ignorance and barbarism with which they are marked ; — and then to allow the practical value of these long-forgotten processes as superior to the present results of science, by adopt- ing them. These are difficulties that require no small degree of moral courage to surmount." This sentiment was uttered thirty years ago. The world moves; the battle has been fought, the victory won. The period from 1840 to 1852 marked Status of the Practice in Great Britain. 1 5 the grand struggle, and the support of such names as lend their splendor to truth, especially among medical men, effectively annihilated opposition; no public attack has since been made; pride of opinion has succumbed; the practice in Europe has become well settled ; it is rapidly gaining respect here, where it is largely and successfully pursued as a specialty. II. STATUS OF THE PRACTICE IN GREAT BRITAIN VIEWS OF EMINENT MEN. It must be said that, in this country, we are at least twenty-five years behind Europe in the appli- cation of Vital Magnetism in the treatment of dis- ease. India established a Magnetic Hospital at Bengal, under the superintendence of Dr. Esdaile, in 1840, which was sustained by the subscriptions of the first British residents of that Presidency, in which hundreds of the most difficult and dangerous surgical operations were performed without pain under the anaesthetic effects of magnetism. Two hundred and sixty cases were there reported, many 1 6 Vital Magnetism. of which were amputations of a dangerous and painful character.* A Magnetic Hospital was established in London in the year 1846, and for eleven years the most astonishing results were obtained from this prac- tice exclusively, and were duly reported through the columns of The Zoist, the journal devoted to that interest, and already alluded to as being edited by Dr. Baird. The first officers of this institution were — The Right Hon. the Earl of Ducie, President. Vice-Presidents: Baron De Goldsmid, the Earl of Carlisle, R. Monckton Milnes, M. P., J. H. Lang- ston, M. P., and Rev. G. Sandby, Jr. Treasurer: Mr. Briggs. Co?nmittee : Dr. Ashburner, Dr. Elliottsen, Dr. Chandler, Dr. Flintoff, Dr. Clark, Dr. J. Hands, Dr. D. Hands, Dr. F. G. Johnston, Dr. Symes, Rev. Dr. Dixon, Major Buckley, Captain John James, Mr. Blythe, Mr. Fradelle, Mr. Kingdom, and Mr. Top- ham. Its operations for these eleven years were sus- tained entirely by popular subscriptions, and among its patrons were many of the highest dignitaries of Church and State. The Earl of Ducie was a nobleman of high posi- tion, at the time being Lord-in-Waiting to Her Ma- * It will well repay perusal if my readers can obtain a copy of Dr. Esdaile's Mesmerism in India, published by H. Bailliere, London, or a copy of the reprint issued in this country, I be- lieve at Hartford. Status of the Practice in Great Britain. 1 7 jesty, and a member of Dr. Cumming's Scotch Church. Five years later, after a prosperous career of the institution, I find The Most Rev. the Archbishop of Dublin President, with the Earl of Stanhope and the Earl of Dunraven added to the Board of Direc- tors. For the grand results obtained I must refer to their published annual reports, which would, if re- produced, challenge universal attention and respect. It will be seen from this that men of the first reputation in the realm stood sponsors for the prac- tical character of this noble science. At the fifth annual meeting, they say, in re- viewing the stormy time through which they had passed : "The world is becoming every day better in- formed as to the reality, the curative and assuag- ing power, and the innocence of Mesmerism; and the English medical profession is now emancipat- ing itself from the unfortunate feelings which over- powered it for the time twelve years ago." A similar institution was established at Exeter, and in one of their reports Dr. J. B. Parker, resi- dent surgeon, says : " I have performed over two hundred surgical operations without the patient's feeling the pain whilst under the influence of Mes- merism, including twenty most painful operations on the eye, tying the radial artery, more than one hundred bleedings, cutting off a very painful wart, and the extraction of upwards of forty teeth." The 1 8 Vital Magnetism. name and residence of each of these patients is given in full, with particulars of each case. In 1850, another institution of a similar character was opened at Bristol under the name of " The Bristol Mesmeric Institute," and under similar auspices. Dr. Stevens, in the second annual report to the Society, from which I can only make a very brief extract, says : "When it is considered that almost all the cases received have been of the most extreme character — some of years standing — and that many of them have been rejected as hopeless under ordinary treatment, the actual amount of benefit conferred ought to be the only just criterion. Amongst these cases are comprised several of the most severe forms of epilepsy, of paralysis, of hysteria, of ex- treme nervous debility with depression ; cases of tic-douloureux, with rheumatism, in all its varied shapes; spinal disease, with scrofulous affections of the hip and knee joint. " There have also been several cases of nervous dyspepsia, sleeplessness, nervous headaches, acute inflammation of local parts, such as the eye, ear and throat, which have been subdued by mesmeric influence. Several minor painless operations have been performed, such as the extraction of teeth, and the application of caustic to various parts of the body." Dr. Lane, in seconding the adoption of the re- port, said : " It was not a little consolatory to find that Mes- Status of the Practice in Great Britain. 19 merism was wending its way to the shores of the Bosphorus, and returning to the country of the Ptolemies, in which its great discovery was first developed — Egypt — 2,500 years ago. The paint- ings in the tomb or pyramid of Sesostris speak in higher or lower strains of its adoption and practice in the curative art, by the ancient Egyptians. Mes- mer only revived it. " The Egyptians had an overwhelming example, in the case of Miss Martineau, the celebrated and useful writer, whose sedentary habits produced such derangement of the system as no medicine could reach; her physician left her, intimating that nothing remained but to smooth the descent to death. Here, then, were genius, and taste, and talent consigned to the tomb, when Mesmerism came, and with a bland and reassuring smile ten- dered its aid. In a month, her nightly doses of narcotics were rendered nugatory ; excruciating pains subsided ; the animal functions gradually re- turned to their wonted vigor ; and, in about a twelvemonths after, she was discovered writing a letter on the Great Pyramid, having ascended to its summit without anything more than the ordinary fatigue of climbing to so vast a height, over steps at least two feet and a-half high ! What a mighty triumph for Mesmerism ! " But, still greater remained; to get down is infi- nitely more difficult than getting up — a task fraught with pain and much danger. Men glide from step to step by the seat, but women prone on the chest; 2o Vital Magnetism. and then they have to jump from six to eight inches to reach the step below, and woe to the she or he who shall lose their equilibrium ; bang, bang, you go from step to step, till you reach the bottom a shapeless and crushed mass ; and all this was ac- complished by Miss Martineau by Mesmerism ! "* Dr. Barnes, surgeon of Bath, who was present at the meeting, said he had " been in the medical profession twenty-six years, and for a long time had had strong doubts of the truth of Mesmerism. His first impression was received from a visit to a woman in a state of madness, whom two powerful men were unable to hold. He advanced to her, fixed his eye upon her, took her hand, and she at once fell down under his influence. "Afterwards he was sent for to a man whom he found with one side completely paralyzed, his arm and leg being perfectly lifeless. He made some passes over his person, the capillary vessels began at once to fill, the warmth returned, and he was soon restored, and a few days ago carried two hun- dred weight for a mile and upwards. Four days ago he (Dr. Barnes) was called to see a child who had been in fits for a fortnight, and under the care of the hospital surgeons. She was insensible, kept incessantly rolling about her head in a shocking way, and had not spoken for many days. The mo- ment that he touched the top of her head the roll- * See Section IX., " Typical Cases," for the interesting details of this memorable case, as given in Miss Martineau's own ver- ,. Status of the Practice in Great Britain. 21 ing motion was stayed; she soon became perfectly- still, and smiled at him, and directly afterwards she spoke. He left her greatly recovered, and the next morning her mother told him that in an hour after his leaving her she asked to be dressed, and was as perfectly well as ever she was in her life. This might seem to be a miracle, but it was the result of a principle which could be explained upon scientific grounds. He had produced similar effects in fever, and in lumbago and sciatica." Another Mesmeric Institute was established in Dublin, in the year 1852, under the patronage of His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin, of which Falconer Mills was president. The following pros- pectus clearly sets forth its objects and the prin- ciples adopted for its guidance. It is typical of all the institutions named in this connection in utterly repudiating the superstitious assumptions of super- naturalism, and placing the practice upon a purely scientific basis : "The Committee of the Dublin Mesmeric Asso- ciation, in appealing to their fellow-citizens in behalf of a Mesmeric Hospital, feel themselves called on to explain the character and objects of the Association, and to remove some misconcep- tions which prevail, or might be likely to arise, on the subject. They wish it to be distinctly under- stood, that their object is not to maintain or to de- vise any scientific theory, but simply to extend the knowledge of certain important facts, and to faci- litate the beneficial application of that knowledge, 22 Vital Magnetism. in the relief of suffering, and the cure of disease. With this view, they propose, not to occupy them- selves with a variety of experiments for the gratifi- cation of mere speculative curiosity, but to seek exclusively for practically useful results. "Without intending to disparage scientific in- vestigation, or to pronounce for, or against, any particular theory, they propose to confine their attention to what is practical and practically useful. "But, they would, at the same time, remind those who are eager after philosophical speculations, that in all departments of knowledge the ascertainment of facts has always come first in order, and that correct theories, to account for existing phenomena, have always (when such have been attained) ap- peared long after, and have been based upon those facts. The reversed procedure — that of seeking in the first instance for a theory, and disregarding, or misrepresenting all facts, that cannot be satis- factorily explained on such theory — this is pre- cisely that 'Anticipation of Nature' which Bacon protested against as the bane of true philos- ophy, and which it was the great object of his life to supersede, by the 'Interrogation of Nature.' " The Committee beg also to be understood, most clearly and candidly, that they do not seek to produce Mesmerism before the public as an agent capable of curing all diseases, or by any means wish it to usurp the place of the medical man; but simply put it forward as an individual remedy, capable of Status of the Practice in Great Britain. 23 controlling and exercising a powerful and beneficial influence over a vast number of ailments; and more especially those called nervous and chronic affec- tions, which medical men have at all times acknow- ledged as little benefitted by the mere administration of drugs. "The Committee feel it of vital importance to their own character, to the people, and to the cause of Mesmerism itself, to disclaim any connection or co-operation with those who receive or practice Mesmerism, as derived from supernatural agency, or miracle-working power, independent of the laws of creation; but, on the contrary, would more humbly and gratefully acknowledge it as an additional means granted by the Almighty to man, to make him more dependent on Him, and more useful to his fellow-man ; and believe its phenomena to be solely the result of the vital force, conveyed by the operator to the more delicate and susceptible ner- vous organization of the person mesmerized ; just as light, or heat, or sound, &c, variously affect the animal or organic tissues they come in contact with. " Lastly, the Committee would suggest to the public, and in particular to the medical men of this city, that, when the existence of a real and im- portant agent has been established by facts which it is vain to attempt denying, and when great and increasing public attention has been drawn to these facts, it is most important to the well-being of society that such an agent should not be left in the 24 Vital Magjzetism. hands of the ignorant and thoughtless, or of designing or ill-disposed persons; but that means should be taken for affording all candid persons an opportunity of fair investigation ; so that truth may be distin- guished from falsehood, and a beneficial from a noxious or dangerous application of the powers which Providence has placed within our reach. " By Order. "J. MacDonnell, "Hon. Secretary" The grand results obtained in this hospital would be exceedingly interesting as related in their pub- lished reports, but space will not allow even a synopsis of them here. The same is true of the reports published at the various annual meetings of each of the other institutions named. They teem with interesting and startling records of cases ; the meetings themselves were always of marked interest, and in numbers full to overflow- ing, hundreds at times being unable to gain admit- tance. Statements enough, I trust, are here submitted to show the strong position this science has assumed in the British Islands ; and in these entire reports we find neither rhapsody, cant, nor overstatement, but a judicial calmness, weighing carefully the aggregation of facts by men thoroughly competent to pass a solid judgment upon them. Dr. Elliottson, in presenting the sixth annual report at a meeting presided over by the Earl of Dunraven, said: Status vf the Practice in Great Britain. 25 " It may cure as well as any other remedy, and, what is very important, without pain or discomfort; it may cure when every other remedy fails; it may, without pain or discomfort, lessen disease which it does not cure; and it may prevent and lessen suffer- ing when it does not lessen disease. ''When we possess established means of curing or alleviating disease or lessening distress, and above all, in cases over which they exert their bene- ficial operation without suffering or mischief, and in cases in which they cure better than Mesmerism, they ought to be employed as the profession at large employs them, and as we, who are medical men do, in common with our brethren, employ them in our private practice; though we give not a particle of any drug in the Infirmary, for patients enter on the understanding that they are to be treated with Mesmerism only, and we take no cases in which medicines are likely to be required ; our object is to supply to the poor that which is denied them in other hospitals and dispensaries, and, if we em- ployed anything but Mesmerism, our cures would be ascribed by the profession to the medicines and not in any degree to the Mesmerism. " In ordinary practice, if at the same time Mes- merism also is employed, all established means will tell the more; they will require to be used with less force, the cure will be speedier and pleasanter, and the recovery both from the disease and from the debility left by it, and very many ordinary measures, be much accelerated. 26 Vital Magnetism. " The advantage of Mesmerism during convales- cence from any disease and after any treatment, is also very great. It often serves all the purpose of change of air and scene, and is a blessed substitute to those whose means are too limited for that advantage. Wonderful as the fact may appear, persons very susceptible of mesmeric influence, if from confinement or other debilitating causes they become languid, pale and uncomfortable, lose their appetite, and are altogether in a state for which a change of air and relaxation from labor are an almost certain remedy, find mesmerization a far more potent means." Is any better authority needed than this great physiologist, and one of the first physicians in the city of London? See how carefully he guards all the interests of the profession he adorned, while stating such sub- stantial facts as came under his observation during the many years he occupied in the investigation of Mesmerism. Equally significant is the statement of that emi- nent representative of the Homoeopathic School, Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson, of London, in which he declares: "We have no certain knowledge of the limit of Mesmerism as a curative agent, nor of the conditions which should exclude cases from this treatment." This is certainly a very near approach to Dr. Mesmer's universal, remedy. And a long stride is assuredly made in the recog- nized standing of magnetic practice, when that Status of tlie Practice on the Continent. 27 greatest of living phyisologists, Dr. Wm. B. Carpen- ter, of England, can say, without provoking com- ment or contradiction, that this force, when applied with skill " will take rank as one of the most potent methods of treatment which the physician has at his com- mand"* IIL STATUS OF THE PRACTICE ON THE CONTINENT HISTORY OF ITS DEVELOPMENT. In France the practice has been recognized by the great majority of its physicians, and, previous to the discovery of ether and chloroform, was ex- * It is greatly to be regretted, however, that this valuable testimony of Dr. Carpenter's should be to some extent neutral- ized by his recent attempt in a popular magazine to excite ridi- cule over the mistakes of Dr. Mesmer, passing by the immense good he accomplished in the very line commended above, during his long and useful life. What writer or discoverer in any department of science is exempt from 4he follies of immature judgment ? Is it fair, then, to represent Mesmer as holding to opinions and prac- tices which he revised and abandoned long years before his death ? Why draw imaginery lines, too, in regard to Mesmerism, and Hypnotism, where they do not exist, if the desire is sincere to see this practice extended? 28 Vital Magnetism. tensively employed as -an anesthetic in capital cases of surgery in Paris hospitals. As early as 1834 an organized Magnetic Hospital was opened by the Marquis de Guibert, a French nobleman,upon his estate at Fontchateau in the Com- mune of Tarascon, and during the six years which this benevolent gentleman gave to the work, 3,315 cases were treated for severe forms of disease which had mainly been pronounced incurable. Dr. Char- pignon, member of the Medical Faculty of Paris, in his work entitled " Phisiologie Medicine et Mataphysique du Magnetisme," in speaking of the results obtained by the Marquis in this hospital, says: "Out of 3,315 patients admitted, 1,948 were dis- charged cured, and 375 were partially relieved, and 504 were impassive. Of those admitted 2,121 were females, and 1,194 were males; amongst other cases treated 14 were for contracted limbs, of which seven were perfectly cured, and others relieved" — (p. 274 of the above named work). I pass by the thousands of cases treated by Dr. Mesmer, and by his coadjutor, Dr. D'Eslon, as they are matters of permanent history, and challenged at the time the attention of all Christendom, pro- voking the appointment of Royal and Scientific commissions for the investigation of tfieir merits, and an offer of a large sum by the French Govern- ment to Mesmer to disclose the secret of his won- derful power over disease, of which he claimed to be the sole discoverer. Status of the Practice on the Continent. 29 The world has been largely benefitted by Dr. Mesmer's researches in magnetism; and humanity will remain his debtor therefor to the end of time, and can well afford to forgive the folly of such ex- clusive claims as he set up respecting the discovery itself. The science also was rescued by his efforts from the domain of the so-called supernatural, and placed upon something like a scientific basis. Like all students and experimenters treading in new and unknown paths, Mesmer made mistakes; he sur- rounded the practice with a vast paraphernalia which did not belong to it, and made claims which could not be adequately supported; but these were of minor importance and were abandoned by this grand student when he became convinced of their inutility; (and that is the strongest expression which can be fairly used in regard to them). The magnetized rods and the baquet were abandoned and the more natural methods of his coadjutor, Dr. D'Eslon, took their place. These changes, however, did not affect the main question of cure ; suffering humanity was relieved of pain and distress, while the savans quarreled over methods. The opposition to magnetism at this era, while bitter in many quarters, only passed through the same stages which it assumed toward Harvey on Circulation, Jenner on Vaccination, and the dis- covery and use of Peruvian Bark ; and like those discoveries, magnetism just as completely gained its victory ; until to-day the apparently arrogant 30 Vital Magnetism. claim of Mesmer, that " There is but one health, one disease, and one remedy" has far more of truth than fiction in it. Colquhoun, in referring to the antiquity of vital magnetism, says : "In 1666, or more than a century prior to Mes- mer, Valentine Greatrakes, an Irish gentleman, appeared in England, who posessed a power and wielded an influence quite equal to Mesmer. In the published accounts, Dr. George Rust, Lord Bishop of Derry, Ireland, says of the cures per- formed by him: 'I was three weeks together with him at my Lord Conway's, and saw him, I think, lay his hands upon a thousand persons ; and really there is something in it more than ordinary ; but I am convinced it is not miraculous. I have seen pains strangely fly before his hands, till he hath chased them out of the body — dimness of the eye cleared, and deafness cured by his touch ; twenty persons, at several times, in fits of the falling sick- ness, were in two or three minutes brought to them- selves, so as to tell where the pain was ; and then he hath pursued it, till he hath drawn it out of the extreme part ; running sores of the king's evil dried up, and kernels brought to a suppuration by his hand ; grievous sores of many months date healed in a few days. Obstructions and stoppages re- moved, cancerous knots in the breast dissolved, &c.' 'But yet,' continues the Bishop, 'I have many reasons to persuade me that nothing of all this is miraculous ;' and he then proceeds to state his Status of the Practice on the Continent. 3 1 reasons. Joseph Glanville, the author, also pub- lished an endorsement of Greatrakes, and gave many interesting facts in detail of his cures, and also quoted several ' sagacious and wary persons of the Royal Society, and other learned and judi- cious men whom we may suppose as unlikely to be deceived by a contrived imposture as any others whatsoever.' " It provokes a smile at this late day to see this balancing of probabilities of miraculous cure ; but these footprints in the past are interesting and con- vincing, nevertheless. In one of the volumes of the German Archives of Animal Magnetism (Archiv fur Thierischen Magni- tismus), an account is given of John Joseph Gass- ner, born in 1727, at Bratz, in Suabia, who created a great sensation by his magnetic cures, especially of spasmodic and epileptical complaints. In the same work (Vol. I., No. 3) is published an account of a Magnetic Physician by the name of Richter, in 181 7, whose cures were considered very wonderful, and were effected by magnetic manipulation. He was visited, it is said, by multitudes, "from minis- ters of state and noblemen down to the lowest beg- gars, and he cured them all, indiscriminately and gratuitously." The Government had his conduct investigated, and granted him protection. In 1492, Petrus Pomponatius, Professor of Philo- sophy at Padua, assumes it as a fact generally acknowledged, that there are men endowed with the faculty of curing certain diseases by means of 32 Vital Magnetism. an effluence or emanation which they direct towards the patient. He says " when those who are endowed with this faculty, operate by employing the force of the imagination and the will, this force affects their blood and their spirits, which produce the intended effects, by means of an evaporation thrown outwards," and that it is by no means inconceivable that health may be communicated to a sick person by this force of the imagination, and the will so directed. He compares this susceptibility of health to the opposite susceptibility of the infection of disease. These views and practices, be it remembered, were put forth nearly 400 years ago, — the practice to-day remains identical, — the theories are not much improved. Van Helmont has occupied so prominent a place in historical records, that a brief reference to him will be acceptable. John Baptist Van Helmont was an eminent physician, who lived between 1577 and 1644. He discovered the laudanum of Paracel- sus, the spirit of hartshorn, and the volatile salts ; and to him we owe the first knowledge of the elastic aeriform fluids, to which he gave the name of gas, which they still retain. Van Helmont wrote a remarkable treatise on the "Magnetic Cure of Wounds" in answer to two authors, who have written upon the same subject : Goclenius, a physical philosopher in high repute, and Father Robert, a Jesuit. Status of the Practice on the Continent. 33 The first had maintained the reality of the cures effected by magnetic means, ascribing them to natural causes. The latter admits the cures, but ascribes them to the influence of the devil. Van Helmont wrote in order to put the practice upon a natural and scientific basis, deeming the defence of Goclenius feeble, and to prove, in opposition to Father Robert, that, there was nothing diabolical in magnetic treatment. Magnetism, he says, is a uni- versal agent ; there is nothing new in it but the name, and it is a paradox only to those who are disposed to ridicule everything, and who ascribe to the influence of Satan all those phenomena which they cannot explain. " Magnetism is that occult in- fluence which bodies exert over each other at a distance, whether by attraction or impulsion." The medium he designates " Magnale Magnum," and describes it as pervading all nature. Our modern theorists have not advanced much beyond this writer of 300 years ago. One of the grand practical uses this great and good man made of the magnetic cure, was its successful application to the sick with the plague which raged in Brussels. "Perceiving," he says, "that most of the physicians deserted the sick, I devoted myself to their service, and God preserved me from the contagion. All, when they saw me, seemed to be refreshed with hope and joy." This is part of the record of three hundred years 34 Vital Magnetism. Perhaps I have given references enough to estab- lish the high antiquity of magnetic practice ; but if the reader would pursue this branch of the subject further, he will find himself abundantly gratified by a perusal of Colquhoun's Isis Revelata, published in Edinburgh in 1844, in which will be found an almost connected history, running back to the first century, — to which interesting work I am indebted for many references. That work, however, is some- what controversial in character, and answers objec-* tions as to the reality of magnetic phenomena. That necessity having passed away, the book has gone out of print ; but it is one of the very best on the subject in our language. It will be seen that this practice ante-dates that of medicine by many centuries, and has received the endorsement of eminent physicians in other ages, for it in no wise antagonizes, but harmojiizes with the intelligent practice of medicine, and reaches a great variety of diseases for which no other successful treatment is found. IV. THE EVIDENCE OF REASON AND COMMON SENSE. One of the objects in presenting the facts set forth in this treatise is to call the attention of phy- sicians in this country more definitely to a subject which has, within the past few years, occupied the attention of some of the Medical Conventions of several of our States, only to exhibit the almost to- tal lack of information at the command of the pro- fession, while strong curiosity has always been man- ifested by the profession in regard to these pro- cesses of nature whenever the matter has been brought forward. The practical results to be at- tained by magnetic treatment in epilepsy, hysteria, paralysis, fever and ague, and the whole range of neural disorders and functional derangement, are scarcely dreamed of by the ordinary practitioner. This ignorance does not arise from a low stand- ard of learning generally; but physicians in this country have considered magnetic phenomena a curious mental condition without practical utility in general therapeutics, and have been content to hold f vague and imperfect opinions. It is only when brought face to face with the researches of investi- gators abroad who have had the field almost to themselves, that they can understand the interest 2,6 Vital Magnetism. which men like Dr.Wm. B. Carpenter and Dr. Brown Sequard express in their public utterances upon this subject. Physicians excuse themselves under the plea, as was said to me recently by a medical man, that "a man cannot be expected to know everything;" which is true enough, but, while the widest and deepest knowledge and most careful training would not be wasted, and would be as useful in this practice, as in surgery, a superficial acquaint- ance even with its facts and observation of its results will lead a practitioner possessing moderate ability in this direction, to relieve special patients from many a fearful experience which medication might be powerless to reach. Outside aid might then be called in to complete the cure in a case that proved too exhausting for the general practitioner to pursue. All this would be in the same line as the employment of experts in surgery where the skill of the attending physician is often unequal to the safe performance of some delicate operation, and properly gives way to more skillful hands. One reason for the lack of progress in the field of magnetic therapeutics in this country, lies in the fact that the art has often been degraded into a mere spectacle by itinerant lecturers, who seized upon the novel mental phenomena, so easily excited in a certain percentage of natural sensitives, and presented the buffoonery elicited from these ' hypno- tized ' automatons as proper illustrations of the The Evidence of Reason and Common Sense. 3 7 real power of animal magnetism. The natural re- sult was to discourage and prevent investigation into its real merits. But, as we have recorded, this has not been the fate of this noble science abroad, at least not to the same extent. It had to struggle for a time, as we have seen, against hate, opposition, calumny and misrepresentation ; even the first report of the French Academy in 1784 was against it; still it advanced steadily, until the second investigation ordered by the French Royal Academy of Medi- cine, in 1825, when opposition was to a great ex- tent silenced. To this important commission let us now more fully advert. It was composed of the following eminent physicians : MM. Bourdois, Double, Fou- quier, Itard, Gueneau, de Mussy, Guersent, Leroux, Majendie, Marc, Thillaye and M. Husson. Six patient years of investigation were expended upon this subject, and a wide range of experiments insti- tuted, many of which were perhaps of little practi- cal value, covering clairvoyance, intuition, and interior prevision, culminating in a report, too long to be embodied here, of these interesting phe- nomena, but incorporating this practical conclusion, that, u Considered as a physiological phenomenon, or as a therapeutic agent, magnetism should be assigned a place in the list of medical knowledge." <> The report throughout is a candid, able, and clear statement of fact, and, after detailing some cases of cure, closes as follows: — "We do not ask of you a 38 Vital Magnetism. blind assent to all which we have reported. We can conceive that a great number of these facts are so extraordinary, that you cannot yield to us your belief; — perhaps indeed we ourselves should have dared to refuse you our assent, if, having changed places, you should have announced to us this day, from this chair, these very facts which we had never seen, never observed, never studied, never pursued. "We ask only that you would judge us as we would judge you ; — that is to say — that you would feel thoroughly convinced that neither the love of the marvelous, nor the desire of celebrity, nor any personal interest, has influenced our labors. We have been animated by higher and worthier mo- tives ; by the love of science and by the desire to justify the hopes which the Academy had formed of our zeal and our devotedness." This report was signed unanimously, and re- deemed the Academy from the poltroonery which the report of 1784 carried upon its face. During the last century the best writers upon the subject have come from the ranks of the medi- cal profession, embracing men of high standing ; clergymen of repute, and thorough scientists have also contributed to its literature ; and yet how lit- tle is known in these United States of the capabili- ties of this grand force ! W T here are our writers ? Scarcely one worthy of the name has appeared : while hundreds of volumes of valuable works upon this subject have been poured forth in France, Ger- many and England. The Evidence of Reason and Common Sense. 39 In 1854-5 more books were published in France on the subject of vital magnetism than upon any- other topic ; many of which, it is true, were of a highly speculative character, undertaking to ex- plain the inexplicable, but many were of rare value. It will not be my purpose to attempt to explain the origin or causation of this force ; the difficulty of such a task is too apparent, and is well set forth in the language of Dr. Roget's Bridgewater Treatise, when he says : " In the investigation of the powers which are concerned in the phenomena of living beings, we meet with difficulties incomparably greater than those that attend the discovery of the physical forces by which the parts of inanimate nature are actuated. "The elements of the inorganic world are few and simple ; the combinations they present are, in most cases, easily unravelled ; and the powers which actuate their motions, or affect their union and their changes, are reducible to a small number of general laws, of which the results may, for the most part, be anticipated and exactly determined by calcula- tion. What law, for instance, can be more simple than that of gravitation, to which all material bodies, whatever be their size, figure, or other properties, and whatever be their relative positions, are equally subjected ; and of which the observa- tions of modern astronomers have rendered it pro- bable that the influence extends to the remotest regions of space ? The most undeviating regularity is exhibited in the motions of those stupendous 40 Vital Magnetism. planetary masses, which continually roll onwards in the orbits prescribed by this all-prevading force. Even the slightest perturbations occasioned by their mutual influence, are but the direct results of the same general law, and are necessarily restrained within certain limits, which they never can exceed, and by which the permanence of the system is effectually secured. All the terrestrial changes dependent on these motions partake of the same constancy. The same periodic order governs the succession of day and night, the rise and fall of the tides, and the return of the seasons ; which order, as far as we can perceive, is incapable of being dis- turbed by any existing cause. " Equally definite are the operations of the forces of cohesion, of elasticity, or of whatever other mechanical powers of attraction or repulsion there may be, which actuate at insensible distances the particles of matter." After observing that all these phenomena, to- gether with those of chemistry, light, heat, electri- city and magnetism, have been, in like manner, reduced to laws of sufficient simplicity to admit of the application of mathematical reasoning, and that to whatever department of physical science our researches have extended, we everywhere meet with the same regularity in the phenomena, the same simplicity of the laws, and the same uniform- ity of results, the author continues : " Far different is the aspect of living nature. The spectacle here offered to our view is every where The Evidejice of Reason and Common Sense. 41 characterized by boundless variety, by inscrutable complexity, by perpetual mutation. Our attention is solicited to a vast multiplicity of objects, curious and intricate in their mechanism, exhibiting pecu- liar movements, actuated with new and unknown powers, and gifted with high and refined endow- ments. In place of the simple combinations of elements and the simple properties of mineral bodies, all organic structures, even the most minute, present exceedingly complicated arrangements, and a prolonged succession of phenomena, so varied and so anomalous, as to be utterly irreducible to the known laws which govern inanimate matter. " If we are to reason at all, we can reason only upon the principle that for every effect there must be a corresponding cause ; or in other words, that there is an established and invariable order of sequence among the changes which take place in the universe. But though it be granted that all the phenomena we behold are the effects of certain causes, it might still be alleged, as a bar to all further reasoning, that these causes are not only utterly unknown to us, but that their discovery is wholly beyond the reach of our faculties. " The argument is specious only because it is true in one particular sense, and that a very limited one. Those who urge it do not seem to be aware that its general application, in that very sense, would shake the foundation of every kind of knowl- edge, even that which we regard as built upon the most solid basis. 42 Vital Magnetism. " Of causation, it is agreed that we know nothing : all that we do know is that one event succeeds an- other with undeviating constancy." This philosophy covers the demand for an expla- nation of the laws governing the phenomena of magnetism. There would be no more justice, however, in re- jecting the established effects of this force, than those of either of the forces here alluded to ; and realizing the utter futility of attempting to answer unreasonable demands, I pass by the sea of specu- lation launched upon by various writers, and con- fine myself to arraying some of the prominent facts in support of its claims bearing upon the welfare of the human race, and turn over to the common sense of the reader all objections in this direction, including the weaker ones, of diabolic agency, miraculous power, spirit mediumship, or any super- natural agency. Let us accept the fact that the Almighty Father has placed at our disposal a sanative force that will assuage pain and cure disease by a natural process that is a/ways safe, never injurious, and adapted to rescue many a weary and hopeless sufferer from the region of despair. THE RECEIVED HYPOTHESIS DR. ASHBURNER S THEORY OF POLARITIES BARTH's VIEWS : MESMERISM NOT MIRACLE. As a practical investigator and practitioner I may- be expected to have balanced the theories of others, and arrived at some philosophical conclusion bear- ing upon cause and effect. In order to state this clearly, I quote a brief extract from Dr. John Ashburner's "Animal Mag- netism," as setting forth in the most condensed form, what I deem to be a reasonable hypothesis, and which my own experience and observation go far to supplement and confirm. And yet, simple as this theory appears to read, it is by no means certain that all its points can be absolutely proved ; still, the facts and the theory are quite as susceptible of demonstration and proof, as those pertaining to Light, Heat, and Electricity, and in the absence of a^rthing more definite they may be accepted. If the arguments by which he arrives at his conclusions are not conclusive, they certainly are convincing. He says : " Man is a magnet. He has, like all other mag- nets, poles and equators. But, being a magnetic 44 Vital Magnetism. machine of very complex structure, his magnetic apparatus is divided into many parts. The brain is the chief magnet, and the trunk and extremities are separate magnets, having intimate relations with the chief source of magnetism. We infer from these facts, what is the truth, that the normal currents take a normal course from the brain to the caudal extremities. Mr. Faraday and Signor Matteucci have already established, this fact in the gymnotus and in the torpedo. " Polarity belongs to magnets ; every part of the living body is a magnet, and every magnet is capa- ble of being submitted to a reversal of polarity. " Those who are conversant with the common in- strument called the galvanic battery, may easily convince themselves of the fact of the reversals of polarity, by uniting the extremities of the positive and negative wires from the two poles of a battery properly charged with the fluid, calculated to set in motion the electric current. At the moment of contact the fluid in the cells effervesces. The polar- ities of the current have been reversed. This fact of the reversal of polarity, applied in the case of the living body, explains the phenomenon of pain. " While the animated being proceeds in a direct train, his sensibilities are not the sources of con- scious feeling. They are to all intents quiescent. The polarities of the magnet are undisturbed. In all directions the ultimate organic molecules, constituting the organism, are undisturbed. This is sleep. The moment the relations of these mole- The Received Hypothesis. 45 cules to each other are altered, the individual be- comes conscious of the change by an altered state of sensation. This is not necessarily a pain, or a person could never become awake from a condition of sleep without suffering pain. The conditions of sleep and wakefulness are striking examples of al- tered opposite polarities. The whole body being a congeries of magnetic molecules, must necessarily be subject to the laws regulating polarities. Any change in the relations of the poles of living animal molecules, must be productive of a change in the sensibilities of the part. Whether the change be the cause of pleasure or of pain, must depend upon the faculties of the individual. " Endowed with a nervous system, the animal is susceptible of sensations, without which, the idea of pleasure or pain becomes absurd. The inference, then, remains that pain is an extreme disturbance of the polarities of a part " (pp. 88, 97).* "*To illustrate the application of this principle I will give a typical case from the same author : " I lately had a case of a young lady aged thir- teen years, who had suffered for years from a suc- *Should any of my readers desire to investigate exhaust- ively the theory of magnetic polarities, they will find a thor- ough analysis of this physical phenomenon in. Baron Von Reichenbach's work, " Researches on Mag?ietism" translated from the German and edited by Dr. Wm. Gregory, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh, and one of the best writers on magnetic science. This work of Von Reichenbach's contains about five hundred octavo pages, and is the result of many years of careful experiment upon the human body, min- erals, crystals, &c, demonstrating the presence and range of magnetic and odyllic force over a very wide field in nature. 46 Vital Magnetism. cession of strumous affections, of which the neck and left side of her face exhibited evidence. Mar- asmus with epigastric pain, aggravated by pressure upon the part ; rheumatic pains, first in one ankle then in the other, aggravated by the same descrip- tion of pains in both wrists, and in several spots in the course of the spine, threatened to wear out the poor sufferer with want of sleep ; hectic fever with rapid pulse, distressing thirst and perpetual desire for relief, kept the attendant on the alert six or seven times in the night. The remedies usual in such cases had all been had recourse to in vain. Months rolled on and the disease marched without a prospect of alleviation. Additional advice was obtained, but no bright hopes could be indulged in. " If the arthritic symptoms were those of strumous inflammation, why did not a serious disorganization take place ? There was abundance of pain in fibrous tissues, with slight increase of heat, and so much tenderness that the joints could not be handled. Month after month, pain, the extreme reversal of polarity, gave the local symptoms of premonition — the premonitory advanced guard of the enemy — inflammation ; the rest of the troop of symptoms had not yet joined their comrades, pain and slightly increased heat. " That pain is dependent on a reversal of polarity, that the pain in analogous conditions of gout and scrofula is subdued by measures which restore the healthy polarities of organs, is obvious, from the fact that it is necessary only to mesmerize the The Received Hypothesis. 47 pained parts for a sufficient time downwards, in order to overcome the suffering. u The process of cure consists in establishing the healthy direct current in place of the inverse, or lethal, current. " The young lady alluded to was submitted to downward passes for an hour at a time twice a day during three months, and she was cured ; restored by God's blessing of Mesmerism to such health as to be able to enjoy life with all the exhilarating influ- ences and impulses of youth. She was a pattern of good health and spirits.* In spite of the irritability of the doctor (for which he doubtless had good reasons) he makes a noble and convincing claim for the healing effects of Vital Magnetism, of which he was a worthy champion. In the preface of his extensive work he says: " We propose to show that Animal Magnetism is a force which can alleviate the most agonizing suffering ; which can cure painful cancers and other malig- nant diseases; which, without endangering life, can render the patient insensible to pain under the sur- geon's knife, and in the throes of a painful labor; which can raise up from the deep insensibility of the last stage of typhus fever a dying patient; and which can do far more than all this, viz: cure by its vital and healing efficacy the frightful suffering * That Dr. John Ashburner is competent authority none will question, and his work on magnetism is as comprehensive as any, especially in its application to disease. It is published by H. Bailliere, 219 Regent Street, London, and was issued in 1867. 48 Vital Magnetism. arising from an attack of gout in the peritoneal membrane of the abdomen, for which, I was told that fourteen of the most eminent physicians and surgeons had failed to suggest any means of relief. May we not assert, then, that through the agency of this force, God has enabled man to wield a power al- most divine!" The author makes good these pledges. Many years of patient study and experiment were expended upon his investigations by the eminent scientist and scholar, Von Reichenbach, who was most thoroughly furnished, in every way, for such a work. I am aware that some men have flippantly declared that in all this painstaking research this grand man is self-deceived and deceiving : but, few of his critics have yet attained the high position occupied by Von Reichenbach, in Chemistry, Geology, Mineral- ogy and the domain of Physics: nor can they displace him from public estimation by their shallow doubting: his " Researches " — already adverted to — will live long after the memory of these jealous parasites shall have perished. So thoroughly has he done his work that he is a bold man who will lightly undertake to traverse the same path. Mr. G. Barth, an eminent magnetic practitioner in London, also a vigorous writer on magnetic science, advances these views, in his very interesting and suggestive little volume, "Mesmerism not Miracle," as the result of his own study and wide experience. " Before we endeavor," he says, " to show how the The Received Hypothesis. 49 mesmeric agent cures disease, we may perhaps be allowed to speculate on what constitutes health and what disease, and what the mesmeric influence is. "A man is in full health when every organ in his body is capable of duly performing its assigned use ; doing neither too much work nor too little work : but just fairly and equally sharing its own task in the general labor required from the commonwealth of organs, and doing this also at the proper moment, working when its proper turn comes ; each organ being sound and perfect in its structure and every vessel, fibre, tissue and atom, perfectly and pro- perly constituted. Disease is just the reverse of this picture : we have organs either imperfect in structure and unable to perform their functions in consequence of such imperfection, or we have them, although not structurally altered, incapable or refusing to do their fair share of the general labor, or doing too much, and doing it at wrong times, and thus disturbing the general harmony of the commonweal. Structural disease, unless con- genital or from some accident, rarely exists except- ing as the consequence of a previous functional derangement. A question may arise here — What causes functional derangement? " Functional derangement is a disturbance of the power, force, or agency which acts upon organs ■ and makes them work. To understand the subject I clearly we must endeavor to view the active agency or moving power as an entity, separate and distinct from the passive recipient or organism to be acted 50 Vital Mag7tetism. on. We shall not obtain much help by studying the subject in the method which authority ordains in medical schools. Mesmerism, or some analogous science, must be admitted and used as instruments of investigation before either physiologists or pa- thologists will be able to obtain a masterly view of a human being as a whole, or comprehend fully the laws on which depend his health and disease. Supposing that an anatomist-physiologist, a mi- croscopist-physiologist, and a chemist-physiologist were determined by the aid of their general and particular knowledge to analyze a man thoroughly and make plain the whole matter. They catch a live man, weighing 150 pounds we may say, and as a preliminary step in their investigation they give him a dose of prussic acid, or take some other means of suspending the action of his heart; the anato- mist then does his work, and shows bones, blood vessels, nerves, membranes, muscles, tendons, car- tilages, fat, and a membrane investing the whole, namely, skin. He shows heart, lungs, stomach, liver, and various and numerous other organs in the body, the use or functions of each, and the healthy character of its structure he determines as a physiologist and pathologist. He shows a brain, spinal chord and system of nerves branching off in every direction, going from the brain as an imaginary centre to every one of these organs, to the extremities, and the whole skin as a circumfer- ence. The microscopist shows that these nerves, even the most minute, are tubes, and a rational in- The Received Hypothesis. 5 1 ference follows that being tubes they were intended to contain and convey; his instrument discovers the mechanical structure of the blood and other fluids in the system and the radical molecules, or germs from which all organs and tissues are developed. The chemist takes up the analysis where these leave it and reduces the whole to separate portions or component elementary principles, called hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, and small parts of sundry other elementary principles which need not be here specified, but which altogether weigh 150 pounds; — the exact weight of each, the proportions in which one com- bines with another, and the character of every re- sultant combination are next duly eliminated, arranged, and tabulated. "Weary and tedious — mentally exhausting and sensationally disgusting — has the task of these deep searching physiologists been; the reward of their labors remains to them; they have analyzed a man ! — they now know all about him ! — and their knowledge will be set forth for the good of the human race, for this, when combined with the learned contributions of fellow-laborers, morbid anatomists, pathologists, therapeutists, nosolo- gists, pharmaceutists, and sundry other ists, must furnish such a battery of medical science to bear upon the subjects of human health and disease — of the composition of a man and his re-com- position — of the wearing out and the renewal of his tissues and organs — of the nature of healthy struc- 52 Vital Magnetism. ture and of unhealthy structure — that disease will no longer have a chance of establishing itself in the system. If it attempts to invade, instantly the physician's battery is set into action and the disease annihilated. Is this the fact ? have the researches of our physiologists enabled medical sciolists to es- tablish a perfect system of healing by which they can comprehend and absolutely master disease? Ex- perience cries, No ! — we are very little in advance of the physicians of two thousand years ago in this respect. Is our supposed scientific investigation then useless? Not so !— it may be worth the labor spent, it is well as far as it goes, but it is not all, it is not enough; our physiologists have been ana- lyzing a dead body — not a living man! " The nerves which the microscope show as tubes meant to contain and convey something, certainly lost the fluid which must have circulated through their ramifications when the anatomist stopped the action of the heart; for he saw it not when he di- vided a nerve — the microscope could not detect it ; there was no trace of it discovered by the chemist ; there was no evidence of its presence; it had there- fore already escaped if it ever were there. Although the physiologist has not seen this power or fluid, he rationally infers its existence as derived from the brain, and he also knows that its operative energy or force is antecedent and necessary to the functional activity of an organ, for if the nerves which convey it from the living brain are divided that organ no longer performs its function. The Received Hypothesis. 53 "It signifies not by what name we call this force ; we are not sure that it is either electricity or mag- netism — but nervous force or nervous fluid, the common names by which it is designated, are not misnomers, and we may, therefore, retain them when alluding to it. " As the integrity of structure depends on function and the integrity of function depends on the nervous fluid, we may readily believe that the power which can control this nervous fluid in an individual is a power competent to regulate his disturbed func- tional action and also to modify structural derange- ment to a greater or lesser extent. "It therefore follows that this power, properly directed, is an agent by which diseases may be cured. " To operate on the nervous force of another by our own nervous force is to exercise the mesmeric art. "The nervous force appertains to a living man ; it is not to be found existing in a dead body ; if a philosopher would understand either its origin, nature or laws, he must study it where it is, instead of seeking to observe it where it is not. " This study leads us directly away from an inves- tigation of the gross ponderable material elements of the body, although organized, to a consideration of the imponderable forces which organized it, and which, operating upon or through the nervous fluid, maintain and conserve it as an individual organic existence. "This study is the science of mesmerism." 54 Vital Magnetism. And then, after speculating on received theories, he adds : "Having as briefly as possible endeavored to show how mesmerism cures disease, we may inquire if our readers can see anything approaching to miracle in a mesmeric cure ? Instead of being supernatural, cures by mesmerism are particularly and peculiarly natural, certainly as much or more so than cures effected by the dynamic power which is found existing in medicinal drugs. " There is a natural law existing that all dissimilar electrical states tend to become similar states, if the atoms of matter which are in opposite conditions be sufficiently approximated. The plus or positive state, and the minus or negative state mutually attract until plus and minus cease to exist and equilibrium is established. We know not why this is — we only know that it is. The analogy will apply to two human organisms, one of whom is in a state of health, the other suffering from disease ; if they are brought into certain relations to each other, the one who is healthy or in the positive state will transmit his state to the one who is nega- tive or unhealthy until equilibrium is established. " There is a natural law relating to the magnetic forces of steel magnets. If we take a weak or ex- hausted magnet and make passes over it in one direction with a strong magnet, either by drawing it in contact, or at a short distance, the strong magnet imparts some of its force to the weak one, and thereby renovates or strengthens it until equili- The Received Hypothesis. 55 brium is established, or the weak magnet has re- ceived as strong a charge as its material ferrugi- nous atoms are capable of retaining. Again, the analogy will obtain as relates to certain mesmeric operations — the healthy man is the strong magnet, the sick man the weak one ; passes in one direction cause special effects — passes reversed or made in the opposite direction dissipate these effects. Man has also his polar relations — one hand and half being positive, the other hand and half being nega- tive ; corresponding to the north and south poles of a horse-shoe magnet. " We see a similar law relating to the imponder- able fluid or force called heat. We do not know what heat is ; we do not know that it is until we have some experience of its effects ; but we do know that if two bodies possessing different in- crements of heat approach each other, the one which is plus gives off its heat to that which is minus, until equilibrium is obtained. Here again the analogy of the healthy man and sick man, and the return to equilibrium or mesmeric cure may be urged. " We do not know what electricity is ; we do not know what magnetism is ; we do not know what heat is ; we do not know what the vital influence of a living body is. We judge alone of the existence of these influences, fluids, or forces by their effects ; truly ! under certain circumstances they become visible — and how visible ? — as luminous emanations, aurae, flames or light. The luminosity of electricity, 56 Vital Magnetism. heat, and magnetism are not disputed by philoso- phers ; the luminous appearance of the life-power or influence is as easily shown if we use the neces- sary instruments. " The law of the tendency to states of equilibrium being established as a natural law affecting the three first-named agencies, why should the corresponding law of. a tendency to equilibrium under the neces- sary conditions in respect to the fourth or vital-force agency be considered unnatural? " We may assume that there is some kind of im- ponderable fluid generated in every living system, resembling the electric or magnetic fluids, causing heat — being perceptible as light, conductible by the nerves, and existing, associated with every living atom of the living body ; the material atoms only having life and maintaining their organic state during this association." These observations are based largely on Reichen- bach's discoveries; and where the results of his researches are not admitted they may appear to have little force, but to the practical magnetist the conclusions are sound and the premises valid. They are submitted here as a fair sample of the direction inquiry had taken at that period in the minds of writers who philosophized on physical and mental phenomena in magnetic science. If these suggestions do not settle the questions presented, they at least leave them in no worse plight than the pretentious writers of to-day leave the various obscure phenomena of which they treat in their The Principal Therapeutical Effects. 5 7 mental physiologies, and which generally obtain popular credence. They suffer nothing by compar- ison. VI. THE PRINCIPAL THERAPEUTICAL EFFECTS — EVIDENCE OF EMINENT PRACTITIONERS. Colquhoun describes the leading therapeutical effects as follows; First: A general excitement and strengthening of the vital functions, without any considerable stimulus, in the nervous, muscular, vascular, and digestive systems. Persons who could not be strengthened by corroborant medicines of any kind, have been re- stored to health, from a state of great debility, in a short time, by means of the magnetic treatment. The application of this remedy quickens the pulse, produces an increased degree of warmth, greater sensitive power, and mental cheerfulness. The appetite and the digestion are increased; the bowels, which had previously been kept open by artificial means, now become regular; and the patient acquires a relish for such kinds of food as are good for him, and an aversion for such as are 58 Vital Magnetis77i. injurious. Animal magnetism also promotes all the other secretions. In those constitutional com- plaints which are peculiar to the female sex, it is the most certain, the most powerful, and most efficacious remedy hitherto discovered. The treatment seems to operate principally upon the great concatenation of sympathetic nerves (the plexus Solaris) and by means of their various ramifications, to communicate its influence to the rest of the system. Second: It affords a gentle stimulus, pervading generally the whole surface of the body, by which all disturbed harmony and diseased local action are removed, and the equilibrium again restored. In this way animal magnetism soothes the most violent action of the nervous system, the tumult of the muscles, and the over-exertion of the vital func- tions in the whole economy. Third: It draws off the increased vital action from the diseased parts, and conducts it to others. By this means a two-fold advantage is gained: in the first place, the excited action, or irritation, is carried away from the internal and more noble organs to those whose violent action is attended with less injury to the system; and in the second place, the salutary vital action is strengthened and increased in particular debilitated organs. The consequences of the magnetic treatment, therefore, are soothing and strengthening. In most instances, the agitation produced by the diseased organization is gradually allayed, until, The Principal Therapeutical Effects. 59 at length, a perfect recovery is effected; because animal magnetism occasions a diminution and total removal of the existing cause of the morbid action of the nervous system. Dr. Ashburner says: "Perhaps none of the dis- eases that have not wholly disorganized or destroyed important structures is able to resist the influence of repetitions of the powerfully toning force of mesmerism. " It appears to re-establish the original order of Nature: and obliges parts which have not been too much altered in structure, to resume their healthy forms and relations. It normalises abnormalized organs. It replaces disease by health. This lan- guage is very deliberately, very earnestly used, from a thorough conviction of its truth, and is not the least too strong, considering the facts on which I rely." Chauncy Hare Townshend says of this force : " To serve either as a calmant or stimulant, accord- ing to the exigencies of the complaint which it is called in to combat, followed as it is in neither mode of its influence by heaviness or exhaustion, would alone give it the highest rank as a remedy, if we regard it as a remedy merely. In this point of view, how valuable appear its offices, how unmatched by those of any substance in the Mate- ria Medica! Again: — the direct correspondence of mesmerism with the nervous system, gives it a marked superiority over all sudh grosser agents as must reach that delicate framework of life by a cir- 60 Vital Magnetism. cuitous route. Of all remedies, this alone pours its benefits direct upon the very springs of sensation; and thus, in cases of deafness and blindness, which depend on nervous weakness (and I believe there are more such affections referable to this cause than is generally suspected), we possess a subtle means of acting efficiently upon that fountain-head of the calamity, to which neither drug nor couching- needle can find its way." Dr. Esdaile, already quoted, in his work entitled " Mesmerism in India," after detailing hundreds of remarkable cases in his practice, in hospital, sums up his conclusions of the general effects, as follows : "I conclude that mesmerism is a natural power of the human body. " That it affects directly the nervous and muscu- lar systems. " That in the mesmeric trance the most severe and protracted surgical operations can be performed, without the patients being sensible of pain. " That spasms and nervous pains often disappear before the mesmeric trance. " That it gives us a complete command of the muscular system, and is therefore of great service in restoring contracted limbs. " That its administration often acts as a useful stimulant in functional debility of the nerves. " That as sleep, in the absense of all pain, is the best condition of the system for subduing inflam- mation, the trance will probably be found to be a powerful remedy in local inflammations." The Principal Therapeutical Effects. 6 1 Dr. Esdaile's experiments were directed mainly to painless surgery, although he reports the relief and cure of a large number of nervous diseases and inflammatory conditions. No physiologist living stands higher than Dr. Wm. B. Carpenter, of England, whose writings upon physiology and kindred science command universal respect, and are adopted as the text-books in the first medical schools in the world. Dr. Car- penter's attention seems to have been directed more specifically to Mr. Braid's so-called Hypnotic Methods, and in his recent work entitled " Prin- ciples of Mental Physiology " {Reprint by D. Apple- ton 6° Co., N. Y., 1875), page 609, says : " There is nothing in the least degree incredible, therefore, in the phenomena which Mr. Braid re- corded, many of which the writer himself witnessed. " The pulsations of the heart and the respiratory movements may be accelerated or retarded; and various secretions may be altered both in quantity, and quality, of which the following is a striking ex- ample. "a — A lady, who was leaving off nursing from defect of milk, the baby being thirteen months old, was hypnotized by Mr. Braid, and whilst she was in this state he made passes over her right breast to call her attention to it. " In a few moments her gestures showed that the baby was sucking, and in two minutes the breast was distended with milk, at which, when subsequently awakened, she expressed the greatest surprise. 62 Vital Magnetism. "The flow of milk from that side continued most abundant: and, in order to restore symmetry to her figure, Mr. Braid subsequently produced the same change in the other; after which she had a copious supply of milk for nine months. "The removal of morbid deposits under the same influence, seems quite as well attested, and the Physiologist who holds with the illustrious Mueller, that ' an idea that a structural defect will certainly be removed by a certain act, increases the organic action in the part,' will see no inherent impossibility in the following statement: " b — A female relative of Mr. Braid was the sub- ject of a severe rheumatic fever, during the course of which the left eye became seriously implicated, so that when the inflammatory action had passed away, there was an opacity over more than one half the cornea, which not only prevented distinct vision, but occasioned an annoying disfigurement. " Having placed herself under Mr. Braid's hypno- tic treatment for the relief of violent pain in her arm and shoulder, she found, to the surprise alike of herself and Mr. B., that her sight began to improve very perceptibly. " The operation was therefore continued daily, and in a short time the cornea became so transpar- ent that close inspection was required to discover any remains of the opacity." (Neurhyfinology,p. 175.) And he further declares: " The writer has known other cases, in which secretions that had been morbidly suspended, have The Principal Therapeutical Effects. 63 been re-induced by this process; and is satisfied that, if applied with skill and discrimination, it would take rank as one of the most potent methods of treatment which the physician has at his command. Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, England, and one of the first Homoeopathic Physicians of London, says in his brilliant and advanced work, " The Human Body and its Connection with Man," pp. 368-369: " Mesmerism emphatically gives new or other life to those who need it; and it does this by the mere form and attitude which the agent and patient as- sume relatively to each other. " The human world is full of powers in a state of balance and indifference. Change the posture of anything therein and the whole has to readjust itself to a new balance; a rush of forces takes place and currents pass to and fro until the equilibrium is re- covered. The moral and the physical are both under this statical law. " We have no certain knowledge of the limits of Mesmerism as a curative agent, nor of the conditions which should exclude cases from this treatment. In functional disorders of the nervous system it is especially indicated, and as a number of diseases, even seemingly organic, spring from this root, it appears that it has a large field of application here. Hysteria, Epilepsy, Catalespy, and those other mala- dies in which the visceral motions predominate over the rhythmical or rational motions of the lungs, come very markedly under its benefits. But it is 64 Vital Magnetism. not in our power to lay down any rule for the dis- tribution to it of cases generally; and therefore we wait upon experiment, which shows that the utilities to be derived from its employment are very exten- sive. " We had almost forgotten to place to the credit of Mesmerism its introduction of a painless surgery, which is among the most brilliant discoveries of the age. The doctors were totally incredulous of this matter, until Ether and Chloroform came and did the same thing in a grosser shape. " If there were shame in the world, they must have felt it, when they found how easy their impossibili- ties of a fortnight before had become. They doubted the testimony of honest men, where Mesmerism was concerned; they accepted the same facts when Chlo- roform produced them." Not to cumulate authority and evidence, but rather to show the remarkably wide range of appli- cation, the celebrated Dr. John Elliottson gives this summary of cases of magnetic cure coming under his observation for a period of ten years: 1843. — Five cases of insanity. Eight cases of St. Vitus's dance. Six cases of palsy of sensation or motion. Seven cures of epileptic and other fits. Rapid cure of delirium from grief. Functional affection of the heart of seven years standing. Six cures of rheumatism. The Principal Therapeutical Effects. 65 A few of these cases occurred in University- College Hospital. 1844. — A remarkable cure of hiccough, A cure of epilepsy of fifteen years standing. A cure of obstinate spinal irritation. Cure of a diseased knee in a child. Rheumatism, eighteen cases cured. Diseased kidney. Asthma. Neuralgia, four cases. Enlarged glands, two cases. Inflamed knee joint. Contraction of an arm. Headache, two cases of long standing. Melancholy, two cases. Deafness. Withered arm after rheumatism. Inflammation of the eye, two cases. Quinsy. Loss of voice. Chlorosis. Injured knee and arm, and sprained wrist. 1845. — Ophthalmia, four cases. Inflammation of the lungs, and delirium; pro- nounced hopeless. Rheumatism. 'Neuralgia, seven cases. Uterine disease. Hysterical epilepsy, five cases. St. Vitus's dance, two cases. 66 Vital Magnetism. Nervous debility. Insanity. Brain fag. Deafness. Inflammatory loss of voice. Erysipelas, two cases. Contracted finger. Diseased elbow. Contracted foot. Asthma, two cases. Amaurosis. Opacity of the cornea. Stomach affection, with great emaciation. Painless amputations, five cases. Painless removal of tumors, three cases. Painless removal of breast. Painless removal of polypus from the nose. Painless extension of a contracted cicatrix or scar Several extractions of teeth without pain. 1846. — Epilepsy, nine cases. Neuralgia, ten cases. Rheumatism, thirteen cases. Headache, six cases. Loss of voice, four cases. Fatuity and insanity. Melancholia. St. Vitus's dance. Deafness, three cases. Disease of spinal marrow. Toothache, three cases. The Principal Therapeutical Effects. 67 Palsy of half the body„ Convulsions. Brain irritability, severe. Dumbness of many years standing. Spasms. Diseased breast, pronounced cancer and con- demned to operation. Diseased lung, pronounced hopeless consumption by Dr. Todd. Dropsy. Inflammation of the eyes, four cases. Disease of bladder. Sprain. Indigestion, two cases. Amputations, six painless cases. Removal of tumors, twenty-one painless cases, weighing from 30 to 112 lbs. Cutting out a nail. Application of strong acid to a sore. Application of red hot iron to a sore. Application of caustic to eye, many cases. Removal, painlessly, of enlarged testis. Removal of breast, two cases. Tapping, two cases. Operations for fistula, &c, eleven cases. Injecting hydrocele, five cases. Operation for cataract. Extending a contracted knee. Extractions of teeth, numerous. Dividing the tendon of the heel. 68 Vital Magnetism. 1847. — Rheumatism, three cases. Headache. Hypochondriasis. Rigidity of muscles. Indigestion. Irritation of the bladder. Twisting of the head, two cases. Affection of the heart. Short-sightedness. Ophthalmia, three cases. Loss of voice. Deafness, five cases. Injury of the knee. Abscess. After pains. Hiccough, 12 years' standing. Strangury. White swelling. St. Vitus's dance. Injury of the spine. Pain of chest and spitting of blood. Asthma. Palsy. Painless operations were — Removal of a breast. Removal of eight tumors, one 40 lbs. and another 100 lbs. in weight. Opening of a whitlow. Cutting down upon and tying an artery. Extractions of teeth, numerous. The Prificipal Therapeutical Effects. 69 1848. — Neuralgia, eleven cases. Rheumatism, sixteen cases. Epilepsy, three cases. St. Vitus's dance. Loss of voice, two cases. Painful affection of the heart. Involuntary movements of an arm. Cataleptic insanity. Palsy, five cases. Contraction of a finger. Hysteria. Chronic inflammation of an elbow. Inflammatory swelling of the face. Inflammation of the brain. Inflammation of the throat. Acute gout. Headache, two cases. Ulcers. . Lumbar abscess. Diseased knee. Enlargement of glands, three cases. Painless operations through the year were : Removal of tumors, some of very great weight and size, thirty-four cases. Amputation of a great toe. For hydrocele Lithotomy. Extraction of teeth, numerous. Removal of scirrhus, two cases. Caustic to sore. Unconscious parturition, two cases. 70 Vital Magnetism. 1849. — Neuralgia cured, seven cases. Rheumatism, thirty-six cases. Palsy, five cases. Epilepsy, two cases. Insanity, five cases. Deafness, two cases ; greatly improved five. Dumbness from palsy. Blindness of 26 years' duration, from opacity of the cornea ; also another of similar character of one year's standing. Spinal affection of long standing. Dropsy, two cases. Palpitation. Scrofulous ulcerations, much improved, four cases. Nervous debility, three cases. Vomiting, of two months' duration. 1850. — Cured — Rheumatism, nineteen cases. Hysteria, three cases. Epilepsy, two cases. Wry neck. Gout. Long standing vomiting. Chronic headache, three cases. Spinal irritation. Neuralgia, ten cases. Palpitation. Spinal and general debility, two cases. Nervousness. Violent fits, two cases. The Principal Therapeutical Effects. 7 1 Deafness, three cases. Insanity, three cases. Delirium tremens. St. Vitus's dance, three cases. Loss of voice, five cases. Inflammatory headache. Diseased finger. Spitting of blood. Polypus of the uterus. Ulcer of uterus, two cases. Sprain. Ulcerated glands. Dropsy, two cases. Chronic inflammation of lungs, two cases, Ulcer in the neck. Chlorosis, two obstinate cases. Heart disease. Inflammation of the eyes, five cases. Erysipelas, two cases. Inflammation of the knee-joint. Inflammation of the bladder. Delirium of fever. Abscess of ear, of long standing. Constipation, three cases. 185 1. — The cures were — Ulcers of the leg with varicose veins, two cases. Chronic inflammation of the eye, with ulcers of the cornea, two cases. Injured leg. Injured hip. 72 Vital Magnetism. Lockjaw. Chlorosis. Chlorosis and neuralgia. Deafness, two cases; one of seven years' duration. Loss of voice. Neuralgia, thirteen cases. Wry neck. Asthma. St. Vitus's dance. Convulsive and rigid fits. Rheumatism, fifteen cases. Epilepsy. Spinal irritation, three cases. Inflammation of the face. Palsy of the legs. Gout. Dyspepsia. Palsy, four cases. Polypus of uterus. Inflammation or neuralgia of uterus. Insanity, two cases. Hysteria, with convulsions and delirium. 1852. — Severe cutaneous disease. Insanity. Despondency. Sleeplessness and dimness of sight. Palsy, two cases. Stiff knee. Uterine disease. Spinal curvature and hysteria. The Principal Therapeutical Effects, 73 Inflammation of the face. Rickets. Erysipelas. Epilepsy. Gout. Weakness of knees. Weakness of ankles. Spasmodic cough. Vomiting blood. St. Vitus's dance. Neuralgia, nine cases. Headache, five cases. Loss of voice. Palpitation. Rheumatism, six cases. Stiff knee. Trembling and nervousness. Blindness of seventeen years. Lockjaw. Inflammation of the eyes. Removal of after pains. The full particulars in each case of this great array of solid facts are carefully spread upon the record by Dr. Elliotson, and, coming from so emi- nent a source, require no endorsement from any man, and leave no chance for cavil at the immense 'power exerted by this great natural agent, for the cases themselves were generally of the most despe- rate and intractable character. But I must be permitted to add, that many of 74 Vital Magnetism. these statements have been abundantly verified in my own experience during the past twenty-five years. Some things stated may seem paradoxical; it may be incomprehensible how a power, exerted in the same way and apparently to the same extent, shall at once be a " calmant and a stimu- lant," and that the circulation by the same means may be increased or depressed ; but it is nevertheless strictly true. I have often reduced a pulsation from 145 to 100 in half an hour, and found it remain at about this point up to convalescence. I have raised a depressed circula- tion from an equally low point to its normal state quite as quickly, and this is the uniform testimony of all good operators. These effects are often absolutely under the will of the operator up to the point where a natural equilibrium is reached, and as they follow so directly and rapidly on the initiation of the treatment, nothing is left to guess- work : the results are seen at once, and, conse- quently, carry their own conviction. In the line I have marked out for myself I omit specific cases in my own practice, but they have often been as startling as any I have seen recorded, especially in spasmodic action. I will, however, say this, in regard to my own experience : There is one complaint prevalent in many sections of this country known as Chills and Fever, for which this treatment seems almost specific. I have cured many cases of long standing by a single treatment, often taking a case in the The Principal Therapeutical Effects. 75 midst of a violent rigor, and stopping the spasm in ten minutes — the cures remaining permanent. Little or nothing is published on this form of dis- ease in foreign works on magnetism, and I call attention to it that others may make a similar test. The first case of the kind I treated was my own brother, who had been suffering two months, with no progress towards recovery. He had been sub- jected to the usual heroic doses of quinine, arsenic, &c, without success. On the approach of a chill I one day magnetized him, and in ten minutes he was relieved ; sleep supervened, which lasted thirty minutes longer, at the end of which he awoke, well, and has never had a symptom of its return, after a lapse of twenty-six years. He was, at the time, a lad of eleven years of age. I could follow this up with many other remark- able cases, but this must suffice. I have only pre- sented it here because of the personal knowledge of the permanency of the effects of a single treatment given a quarter of a century ago. Sir J. D. Brandis, physician to the King of Sweden, cautious and conservative, could say that " mag- netism will often be found efficacious in cases of defective sight and hearing, as also in cachexios of the vegetative organism — such as scrofula, rachitis, &c. — and more especially in those of the sensorial and intellectual systems." This eminent plvysician mentions the case of an elderly man who suffered from obstinate gout, with stiffness and calculous concretions in the joints, who was cured by the 76 Vital Magnetism. application of magnetism alone ; and also that of a young man affected with a severe paralysis of the leg and foot, with loss of flesh, and cold in the dis- eased limb, who was completely cured in the same way. (See Brandis ; ueber psychische Heilmittel tend Magnetism us, 1802,) VII. ANESTHETIC EFFECTS OF VITAL MAGNETISM. This branch of the subject has always been re- ceived either with deadly opposition or open- mouthed wonder, and, since the application of ether, nitrous oxide and chloroform, it has been largely superseded by those agents ; their discovery, thirty years ago, alone prevented the general adoption, so far as applicable, of Animal Magnetism in painless surgery. Its introduction was greeted with bitter opposition by some of the great lights of the period, who solemnly contended that pain was a wise pro- vision of nature, and should not be interfered with. Dr. James Esdaile, surgeon in the hospitals of Bengal and Calcutta, in India, was most enterpris- ing and successful in the application of magnetism in painless surgery. He published the results of Anaesthetic Effects of Vital Magnetism. 7 7 his experiments in England in 1843, in a work entitled Mesmerism in India, in which he gives the particulars of two hundred and twenty-six cases, the majority of which were of a difficult nature. Amongst them were recorded amputations of breast and of arms ; removals of fifteen tumors, weighing from eight to eighty pounds each ; operations for stone ; straightening contracted limbs, &c, &c. These cases were perfectly authenticated by the best British residents of India, including the Gover- nor-General, although the high character of Dr. Esdaile was itself a sufficient guarantee of the truthfulness of his statements. The publication of these facts produced an immense sensation through- out England, France and Germany, and they were speedily duplicated in various places on the conti- nent of Europe. A detail of the experiments would fill a large volume. In Dr. Brown Sequard's lectures upon " Nervous Force," delivered in Boston in 1874, he speaks of this form of anaesthesia as follows : " As regards the power of producing anaesthesia, it seems to me unfortunate that the discovery of ether was made just when it was. It was, as you well know, in 1846 or 1847 that the use of ether as an anaesthetic was begun. It started from this city (Boston). At that time in England, Dr. Forbes was trying to show from facts observed in England, and especially in India, from the practice of Dr. Esdaile, that something which was called Mesmerism, but which, after all, was nothing but a peculiar state of 78 Vital Magnetism. somnambulism induced in patients, gave to them the idea that they were deprived of feeling ; so that they were in reality under the influence of their imagination, and operations were performed that were quite painless. I say that it was a pity that ether was introduced just then, as it prevented the progress of our knowledge as to this method of producing anaesthesia. My friend Dr. Broca took it up in 1857-8 and pushed it very far ; and for a time it was the fashion in Paris to have amputa- tions performed after having been anaesthetized by the influence of Braidism or Hypnotism. A great many operations were performed in that way that were quite painless. But it was a process that was long and tedious, and surgeons were in a hurry and gave it up. " I regret it very much, as there has never been a case of death from that method of producing anaesthesia, while you well know that a great many cases of death have been produced by other methods. " Not only anaesthesia may be produced, but the secretions may be very powerfully affected by the influence of the mind over the body. " Every one knows, also, that the secretions of bile, the secretions of tears, and the secretion of saliva, are very much under the influence of the nervous system. The purging of the bowels, which depends on a secretion there, or a secretion in the liver, is also much dependent on the influence of the imagination." (N. Y. Tribune Extra, April 9, 1874,/. 34.) Anaesthetic Effects of Vital Magnetism. 79 In reply to the very natural inquiry why this safe method has not been adhered to, the remark of Dr. Sequard affords the only solution I know of, viz.: " // was a process that was long and tedious •, and the surgeons were in a hurry and gave it up.' 1 It would seem, however, that most people who desire to avoid the risk of death would try to ob- tain this desirable result, so concisely summed up by Dr. Sequard: " There has never bee?i a case of death fro?n that method of producing a?icesthesia, while you well know that a great many cases of death have been produced by other methods." For general practice I admit that the excuse of the surgeons " being in a hurry " has force, but we can imagine many cases where anxious friends would be in a position to make the surgeons wait until this method had been tried, before incurring any risk that could otherwise be avoided. VIII. ON QUALIFICATIONS OF MAGNETIC PHYSICIANS. If nervous force, or vital magnetism, could be bottled up and purchased of the apothecaries, it would at once revolutionize the practice of med- icine; but in a practice that needs a grand natural adaptation, moral and physical qualities of the highest order, and a benevolence untiring under labors the most exhausting, we can see difficulties mountain high to embarrass physicians and sur- geons described by Dr. Sequard as being "in a hurry." In no one thing do writers upon magnetism agree more perfectly than in requiring the very highest personal and moral qualifications. Without enumerating authors in exte?iso, I will group a few of these requirements as set forth by others. "Benevolence of disposition; a strong, steady will to direct; power of abstraction and concentra- tion; confidence in himself without vanity; estab- lished moral character; well regulated life; delicacy of manner; patience and good temper." In connection with these qualities, must be, first and controlling, an inborn natural magnetic force, able to expend itself without material exhaustion; On Qualifications of Magnetic Physicians. 8 1 and thoroughly successful magnetic practitioners are found perhaps in the ratio of only one in a thousand persons. It may be objected to this practice that its de- mands are singular and impracticable; but a little reflection will show that they are paralleled in other departments of the healing art. Doctor Henry A. Hartt lectured in Association Hall, New York, re- cently, in favor of the establishment of a " Hospital for the treatment of Chronic Diseases." After a searching analysis of past and present methods of treating disease, he made the following declaration in regard to the qualifications of practitioners for the sphere of labor which he was advocating: "The treatment of chronic diseases requires a peculiar mental and moral constitution, and it would be just as impossible to find in every physician a man adapted to this particular field, as it would be to find in every clergyman a brilliant orator, in every lawyer an able jurist, in every scientist a pro- found logician, or in every student of literature a magnificent poet. The grand qualifications for this sphere of labor are grit, patience, energy, and the irre- sistible magnetism of an unconquerable faith." Words fitly spoken; true of every man who really succeeds as a physician; and without these endow- ments no amount of technical knowledge will bring brilliant success. But, crucial as this test might appear as applied to the flippant " younger members of the Association " who received Dr. Hartt's suggestions with "marked Vital Magnetism. dissatisfaction," the silvered heads of experience, embracing so many of the wisest men in the pro- fession, thoroughly endorsed his views. No better statement of the qualifications of a successful mag- netic physician could have been made than that so tersely summed up in "grit, patience, energy, and the irresistible magnetism of a7i unconquerable faith /' for these elements cover that " mental and moral con- stitution " so eminently required in a good mag- netic practitioner; and they are just as rare in the field of magnetic practice as in the medical world. These qualities are more imperatively de- manded in magnetic practice, because, while most forms of acute attacks flee readily before the mag- netic touch, it is generally in chronic forms of disease, when medication has done its best, or its worst, when hope has well nigh taken its eternal flight, and the vital spark is almost extinguished, that magnetism is sought as a last resort, and a miracle expected. In such cases faith has again to be rekindled, hope inspired, and again and again, untiringly, a new nervous life is required to be poured upon the patient, until he has reached his own normal nervous equilibrium. To calmly, patiently and faithfully respond to a demand like this, so exhaustive in its character, re- quires, in the operator, heroic qualities of benevo- lence, demanded of no other practice, for he is parting with a vitality all his own, which no medi- umistic theory, or ghostly supernatural interven- tion will make good. Nature's divine law of com- On Qualifications of Magnetic Physicians. 8$ pensation can alone do this. Every one who has trodden the path will testify to this truth, and the experienced alone are competent to speak thereon. The mere mechanical attitude of the magnetic physician will never achieve noble results; while it may produce a certain class of phenomena upon a small percentage of natural sensitives. For the over- throw of obstinate forms of disease there is needed a vitalizing energy, that no rubbing process, mas- sage, trifisis, frictions or mechanical movement cure can impart; and valuable as are these processes for nerve exercise, they must not be confounded with vital magnetism, as is often done. I have known intelligent physicians to recom- mend a " rubbing doctor " for cases where rest was required, and not motion; the consequence was a restless, sleepless, nervous condition, instead of the soothing influence which magnetism would produce. They charged the failure of the effort to magnetism, which, in their ignorance, they sup- posed they were prescribing. Only when magnetism is as well understood here as it is in Europe, and when it has been as carefully studied in its effects, will errors be avoided both in the professional and non-professional mind. In France it is well established as a practice. In Prussia it is used extensively by the authority of government. In Sweden degrees are granted by the University of Stockholm to those who stand an examination upon its laws and effects. In Rus- sia, a commission of medical men, under direction 84 Vital Magnetism. of the Emperor, inquired into it thirty years ago, and at that time reported it a " very important agent," and the first physician of the Emperor, with other eminent Russian physicians of St. Peters- burgh, commended in highest terms its utility; and at Moscow a systematic course of treatment, under the best auspices, has been employed for years. In Denmark it is practiced by physicians under a royal ordinance, and by a decree of the College of Health. It has made the same advances in Holland; and has numbered a host of eminent English physicians amongst its friends for the last thirty years. A recently returned lady missionary from Bur- mah, who comes home after an absence of ten years, informs me that it is extensively and intelli- gently practiced amongst the Burmans ; that she herself had received the best effects from the treat- ment in a nervous prostration induced by the enervating climate, when every other means had failed. The natives denominate it " The medicine over all medicines." IX. TYPICAL CASES — THE CASE OF HARRIET MARTINEAU. It was a fashion for a time to speak of magnetic cures as some form of delusion, and in the midst of the war upon the science and its facts, thirty years ago, Miss Harriet Martineau, the celebrated English authoress, was restored to health by magnetic treat- ment after an exhaus^ag illness of five years' dura- tion. ^ The following account by this gifted lady was published in a series of letters, in 1845, and gives a clear and lucid statement of an experience very touching and convincing, and marked with the same vigor that accompanied everything that emanated from her pen. She says: "During these five years, I never felt wholly at ease for a single hour. "I seldom had severe pain; but never comfort. A besetting sickness, almost disabling me from tak- ing food for two years, brought me very low, and, together with other evils, it confined me to a con- dition of almost entire stillness — to a life passed be- tween my bed and my sofa. " It was not until after many attempts at gentle exercise that my friends agreed with me that the cost was too great for any advantage gained; and 86 Vital Magnetism. at length it was clear that even going down one flight of stairs was imprudent. " From that time I lay still; and by means of this undisturbed quiet, and such an increase of opiates as kept down my most urgent discomforts, I passed the last two years with less suffering than the three preceding. " There was, however, no favorable change in the disease. Everything was done for me that- the best medical skill and science could suggest, and the most indefatigable humanity and family affection devise; but nothing could avail beyond mere alleviation. My dependence on opiates was des- perate. My kind and vigil anWnedical friend, — the most sanguine man I know, and the most bent upon keeping his patients hopeful, — avowed to me last Christmas, and twice afterwards, that he found him- self compelled to give up all hope of affecting the disease, — of doing more than keeping me up, in collateral respects, to the highest practicable point. This was no surprise to me; for when any specific medicine is taken for above two years without affecting the disease, there is no more ground for hope in reason than in feeling. " In June last, I suffered more than usual, and new measures of alleviation were resorted to. As to all essential points of the disease, I was never lower than immediately before I made the trial of mesmerism. " If, at any time during my illness, I had been asked with serious purpose, whether I believed Typical Cases. 87 there was no resource for me, I should have replied that mesmerism might perhaps give me partial relief. I thought it right, and still think it was right, to wear out all other means first. It was not, however, for the reason that the testimony might be thus rendered wholly unquestionable — though I now feel that my years of suffering were but a light loss for such a result; — it was for a more personal reason that I waited. " Surrounded as I was by relations and friends, who, knowing nothing of mesmerism, regarded it as a delusion or an imposture, — tenderly guarded and cared for as I was by those who so thought, and who went even further than myself in deference to the ordinary medical science and practice, it was morally impossible for me to entertain the idea of trying mesmerism while any hope was cherished from other means." After having decided to make a trial of vital magnetism, and the lapse of some time, she pro- ceeds : "At the end of four months I was, so far as my own feelings could be any warrant, quite well. My mesmerist and I are not so precipitate as to con- clude my disease yet extirpated, and my health restored beyond all danger of a relapse; because time can only prove such facts. We have not yet discontinued the mesmeric treatment, and I have not yet re-entered upon the hurry and bustle of the world. The case is thus not complete enough for a professional statement. Vital Magnetism "But, as I am aware of no ailment, and am re- stored to the full enjoyment of active days, and nights of rest, to the full use of my powers of body and mind; and, as many invalids, still lan- guishing in such illness as I have recovered from, are looking to me for guidance in the pursuit of health by this means, I think it right not to delay giving a precise statement of my own mesmeric experience, and my observations of some different manifestations in the instance of another patient in the same house. " A further reason against delay is, that it would be a pity to omit the record of some of the fresh feelings and immature ideas which attend an early experience of mesmeric influence, and which it may be an aid and comfort to novices to recognize from my record. " And again, as there is no saying, in regard to a subject so obscure, what is trivial and what is not, the fullest detail is likely to be the wisest, and the earlier the narrative the fuller; while better know- ledge will teach us hereafter what are the non-essen- tials that may be dismissed. " Nothing is to me more unquestionable and more striking about this influence than the absence of all reaction. Its highest exhilaration is followed, not by depression or exhaustion, but by a further renova- tion. From the first hour to the present, I have never fallen back a single step. Every point gained has been steadily held. " Improved composure of nerve and spirits has Typical Cases. 89 followed upon every mesmeric exhilaration. I have been spared all the weakness of convalescence, and carried through all the usually formidable enter- prises of return from deep disease to health, with a steadiness and tranquility astonishing to all wit- nesses. " At this time, before venturing to speak of my health as established, I believe myself more firm in nerve, more calm and steady in mind and spirits than at any time in my life before. " So much consideration of the natural and com- mon fear of the mesmeric influence as pernicious excitement, as a kind of intoxication. " On four days, scattered throughout six weeks, our seance was prevented by visitors or other ac- cidents. On these four days the old distress and pain recurred: but never on the days when I was mesmerized. " From the middle of August (after I had discon- tinued all medicines but opiates) the departure of the worst pains and oppressions of my disease made me suspect that the complaint itself, the in- curable, hopeless disease of so many years, was reached: and now I first began to glance towards the thought of a recovery. " In two or three weeks more it became certain that I was not deceived; and the radical amend- ment has since gone on without intermission." At this time a change was made in the mag- netizer for one of higher power, and she con- tinues : 90 Vital Magnetism. " The visual appearances were much the same as before, but the experience of recovery was more rapid. I can describe it only by saying, that I felt as if my life was fed day by day. The vital force infused or induced was as clear and certain as the strength given by food to those who are faint from hunger. " I am careful to avoid theorizing at present on a subject which has not yet furnished me with a suf- ficiency of facts; but it can hardly be called theoriz- ing to say (while silent as to the nature of the agency) that the principle of life itself — that prin- ciple which is antagonistic to disease — appears to be fortified by the mesmeric influence; and thus far we may account for mesmerism being no specific, but successful through the widest range of diseases that are not hereditary, and have not caused dis^ organization. " No mistake about mesmerism is more prevalent than the supposition that it can avail only in ner- vous diseases. " The numerous cases recorded of cure of rheuma- tism, dropsy, cancer and the whole class of tumors — cases as distinct and almost as numerous as those of cure of paralysis, epilepsy and other diseases of the brain and nerves — must make an inquirer cau- tious of limiting his anticipations and experiments by any theory of exclusive action on the nervous system. Whether mesmerism, and, indeed, any in- fluence whatever, acts exclusively through the ner- vous system is another question." Typical Cases. 91 Her abandonment of opiates is then described in the final happy termination of her case : "The same fortifying influence carried me through the greatest effort of all — the final sever- ance from opiates. "What that struggle is, can be conceived only by those who have experienced, or watched it with solicitude in a case of desperate dependence on them for years. No previous reduction can bridge over the chasm which separates an opiated from the natural state. " I see in my own experience a consoling promise for the diseased, and also for the intemperate, who may desire to regain a natural condition, but might fail through bodily suffering. When the mesmeric condition can be induced, the transition may be made comparatively easy. It appears, how- ever, that opiates are a great hindrance to the pro- duction of the sleep; but even so, the mesmeric in- fluence is an inestimable help, as I can testify." Miss Martineau sums up the account of her own case in the following manner: " Before leaving the narrative of my own case for that of another, widely different, I put in a claim for my experiment being considered rational. It surely was so, not only on account of my previous knowledge of facts, and of my hoplessness from any other resource, but on grounds which other sufferers may share with me: — on the ground that though the science of medicine may be exhausted in any par- ticular case, it does not follow that curative means 92 Vital Magnetism. are exhausted: — on the ground of the ignorance of all men of the nature and extent of the reparative power which lies under our hand, and which is vaguely indicated under the term "Nature": — on the ground of the ignorance of all men, regarding the very structure, and, much more, the functions of the nervous system: — and on the broad and ultimate ground of our total ignorance of the principle of life — of what it is and where it resides, and whe- ther it can be reached, and in any way beneficially affected by a voluntary application of human energy. "It seemed to me rational to seek a way of re- freshment first, and then to health, amidst this wilderness of ignorance, rather than to lie perishing in their depths. " The event seems to prove it so. The story ap- pears to me to speak for itself. If it does not assert itself to all, — if any should, as- is common in cases of restoration by Mesmerism, try to account for the result by any means but those which are obvious, supposing a host of moral impossibilities rather than admit a plain new fact, I have no con- cern with such objectors or objections. " In a case of blindness cured, once upon a time, and cavilled at and denied, from hostility to the means, an answer was given which we are wont to consider sufficiently satisfactory, ' One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.' Those who could dispute the fact after this must be left to their doubts. Typical Cases. 93 " They could, it is true, cast out their restored brother; but they could not impair his joy in his new blessing, nor despoil him of his far higher priv- ileges of belief in and allegiance to his benefactor. " Thus, whenever, under the Providence which leads on our race to knowledge and power, any new blessing of healing arises, it is little to one who enjoys it what disputes are caused among observers. " To him the privilege is clear and substantial. Physically, having been diseased, he is now well. Intellectually, having been blind, he now sees. For the wisest this is enough. And for those of a somewhat lower order, who have a restless craving for human sympathy in their recovered relish of life, there is almost a certainty, that somewhere near them there exist hearts susceptible of simple faith in the unexplored powers of nature, and minds capable of an ingenuous recognition of plain fact, though they be new, and must wait for a the- oretical solution." These are not the words of a deluded, weak- minded enthusiast; they are the strong clear words of one of the most gifted of England's daughters, ringing out at a time when envy, jealousy, and dis- trust, assailed the possibility of magnetic cure; and so valuable was this testimony in the stormy days of this science that the heroic sentiment of Miss Martineau seems vindicated when she asserts that her " years of suffering were but a light cost " that her testimony " might thus be rendered wholly unquestionable." In passing judgment on her 94 Vital Magnetism. statement we may well recall the high mental cul- ture of the witness as displayed in her productions, whose power and versatility establishes the value of her personal testimony in favor of Magnetism, while her refusal to accept a pension from the British Government, when twice tendered, in ac- knowledgment of her services as a writer on ques- tions of political economy, because it would con- flict with the spirit of her own teaching, guaran- tees an independence and honesty of expression beyond cavil. This esteemed woman's life had its burden lifted, and was prolonged thirty years by the application of vital magnetism, and the world has been made so much richer by the contributions of the brain of one of its best and sweetest workers. The full particulars of the uterine disease under which Miss Martineau suffered, will be found de- tailed by Doctors Naido of Venice, and Greenhow, and Sir C. M. Clarke, of England, in vol. 3, pp. 89, 90, 91 — 2, of the Zoist. The grossest misrepresentations were made, both as to the cure itself and Miss M.'s views upon the subject : and to correct these she wrote as follows : Ambleside, Dec. 11, 1845. Sir : I am greatly obliged by you letting me know, through Mrs. , the notions that are abroad on the subject of my health and my present views of mesmerism. Nothing can be more absurdly false than they are. I am. in robust health, and have not had one day's illness since I avowed my cure by mesmerism. My long daily walks and the literary labor I un- dergo without fatigue, have satisfied all who know me that I Typical Cases. 95 am perfectly well. I myself am fully aware that I am well for the first time in my life, and that I owe my health wholly and solely to mesmerism. My gratitude to those who guided me to this remedy, and who administered it is, I need not say, as strong as in the early days of my recovered case. That my convictions remain what they were a year ago, is known to all my personal acquaintances, because they are aware that if I had changed my opinions, I should have made a recantation as free and full as my avowal. I trust, too, that they know that a fact in natural philosophy, once ascertained by experiment, can never again be disbelieved. But, as there are many persons who know neither of these things, and who yet may have power to discourage inquiries into mesmerism, an inquiry which I think it my duty to pro- mote by any means in my power, I have no objection to authorize your making any use you think proper of this letter. I remain, sir, sincerely yours, HARRIET MARTINEAU. Capt. James. The grand tributes of admiration bestowed by so many able writers upon the genius of this distin- guished woman since her decease, bring all her graces and powers to mind, and remind us that the memory of the just is precious. THE EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF ANNE VIALS. Rev. Geo. Sandby, in his valuable work " Mesmer- ism and Its Opponents," published in London, gives a circumstantial account of a most extraor- dinary case as follows ; "Anne Vials is the daughter of Samuel Vials, of the Albany Parish in St. Alban's, who formerly drove g6 Vital Magnetism. the mail cart from thence to Watford. For a short time this poor girl gained her livelihood by work- ing in a silk factory. From the scrofulous charac- ter of her constitution, she was not always equal to full employment ; but in 1837, when she was only sixteen years of age, she was compelled to give up work altogether. For her mother fell sick with a long and pining illness, under which, after much suffering, she finally sank ; and during which she was confined to her bed, and required the constant presence of a nurse. " Poor Anne, therefore, left her calling at the fac- tory, took her place at her mother's couch, and was her unwearied attendant night and day. So feeble, indeed, was the patient, that she could scarcely be quitted for a moment ; and for a long year, there- fore, did this anxious and affectionate child sit by her parent's bed the whole night through. When death at length released the sufferer a fatal discov- ery was made. The mother's disease had taken strong hold of the daughter, for the overwrought exertions of a twelvemonth had now too clearly brought out the hereditary taint. " Anne Vials, in fact, required a nurse herself ; for not only was the general state of her health broken down, but the left arm, which for three or four years had been giving her much pain and un- easiness, became now so diseased as to totally de- prive her of its use. She was placed under the care of several medical men in succession ; the best at- tendance in St. Alban's was provided for her ; but Typical Cases. 97 the arm every day grew more and more painful. Through the kindness of some charitable friends she was now admitted into different hospitals, one after the other. She was first removed to Hewel Hempstead Infirmary, thence to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, where she remained nine months ; thence to St. Thomas's, in the Borough, and thence to Hewel Hempstead again, *in none of which did she obtain any effectual benefit. The state of her health at length became so serious that to save her life some decisive measures were necessary, and she was taken up to London again, to Guy's Hospital, where her arm was amputated by Mr. Morgan the 22d of March, 1841* "At the end of three months, when the wound was healed, she returned to St. Alban's. After she had been at home some little time, a violent convul- sive action commenced in the stump. This move- ment grew rapidly worse and worse. In fact, the stump moved up and down, day and night, unceas- ingly, — and much quicker, to use her own expres- sion, than she herself could move the other arm. " Her sufferings became intense, and her general health was affected in proportion. She was now moved backwards and forwards, as before, to the different hospitals, but without any relief. At the infirmary in Hewel Hempstead, they actually strapped the arm down, with the hope of lessening the movement ; but the confinement, if possible, made it worse, and they were compelled to unloose it. 98 Vital Magnetism. " She was at length carried to St. George's Hos- pital ; here she remained three months : her health gradually getting worse, and the epileptic fits, from which she had been suffering for a . twelve-month, increasing in violence and duration ; when, with the only hope of saving her life a proposition was mooted of taking the stump out of the socket. My readers may judge by this simple fact, of the des- perate state to which this poor girl had now arrived ; for with her shattered health, it could hardly be expected that she should survive, even for a short time, so serious an operation. Fortunately for poor Anne, she had several benevojent friends, who, knowing all the circumstances of her history, had watched the fearful progress of her sufferings from the first ; and by subscriptions and various little Christian kindnesses had done much towards lessen- ing her load of sorrow ; Mr. Basil Montague, in particular, that excellent man, whose long and use- ful life has been devoted to the benefit of his fellow creatures, took the warmest interest in her fate ; she often went to his house, and there she received from Mrs. Montague that sympathy and considera- tion which woman alone is able to bestow. "One day the thought struck both these kind friends, that if anything could be of service to Anne in this extremity of misery, it was Mesmer- ism. " It was the faintest hope, for they had but slight knowledge or belief of its power : — still they men- tioned the case to their friend, Mr. Atkinson, and Typical Cases. 99 suggested to him the idea of making a trial of what could be done. "In spite of the feeling against Mesmerism, to- wards him, and the almost hopeless state of the pa- tient, he at once on his own responsibility under- took the case; and seeing that it would require, for months, the most unremitting attention, he pro? cured a nurse from St. George's Hospital, and had the poor girl removed to his own house. " It was in May, 1842, about fourteen months after the amputation, that Anne Vials quitted the hos- pital to make trial of Mesmerism; and this is the description of Mr. Atkinson at the time he found her : She had sometimes three or four fits in a day, of a most violent nature, which continued for more than an hour; the stump moved up and down with- out cessation, not a merely nervous twitching, but violently up and down; she suffered continuous excruciating pain in the head and back, and at the top of the stump too the pain was most excrucia- ting; she had a pain too in all her limbs and joints, particularly in the elbow of the remaining arm, just as she had before amputation in the other. " Masses of sores were constantly breaking out in different parts of the body; palpitations at the heart, pains in the chest, suspension of the func- tions of nature, and a spitting of large quantities of blood accompanied by solid matter, were some of the other symptoms. " In short, a more terrible complication of evils have seldom been united in one sufferer. ioo Vital Magnetism " I shall leave it to Mr. Atkinson to give at some future period to the public the interesting details of his success. " Let it be sufficient to state that the process was most painfully laborious, occupying a large portion of his time, and that she remained in his house more than twelve months. " At the first few sittings the epileptic fits were brought on, as if by the Mesmeric effect; but this prevented their recurrence in her ordinary state. At the fourth seance, the deep sleep or trance was superinduced, when the action of the stump suddenly stopped, and from that time it never moved in that way again; the fits, too, ceased; the pains in the back of her head were almost immediately relieved; and a gradual improvement in her general health set in. "Upon the wonderful results of Mesmeric treat- ment in this case I shall make little comment; my readers can think for themselves; they will see here a poor girl, carried to and fro from hospital to hospital, enduring the most exquisite torture, and her life placed in such a state of jeopardy that the only hope of preserving it was recourse to a second and horrible operation. The arm was to be taken out of the socket ! An effectual mode, in truth, for a prevention of its movement ! " But from this operation was she spared by the action of Mesmerism; by its continued and regular application was a relapse prevented and an im- provement in her health obtained. Typical Cases. 101 " Who does not see the goodness of Providence in vouchsafing such an agent ? Who can deny- that Mesmerism was to her the precious gift of God? " The facts of her case, — of her sufferings, of the amputation, of the movement of the stump, and of the other attendant evils, are known to num- bers, — to medical men in St. Alban's, — and to the surgeons and nurses in the hospitals; and it is also known, that all the remedies suggested for her benefit were fruitless; the best surgical advice was of no avail; but the fifth day, after the application of Mesmerism, the stump ceased to move, and the other fearful symptoms began to disappear." Mr. Sandby gives a very interesting account of curious and beautiful mental phenomena which attended this case in its progress towards a cure, but I have confined myself to the physical effects, as they alone come within the scope of my present purpose. A DOUBLE PHENOMENON. A very notable case is referred to by Rev. C. H. Townshend, in his " Facts in Mesmerism." He says : " Chardel, a French physician, and writer on magnetism, gives an interesting account of two sisters whom he mesmerized as a physician, with the hope of checking a tendency to consumption, 102 Vital Magnetism. which they had both evinced. One evening, being in sleep-walking, they, as if prompted by natural in- stinct, entreated their mesmerizer to leave them in that state, only so far de-mesmerizing them as to cpen their eyes, and to be committed to their own self-guidance. Day after day they renewed their petition, — for day after day they felt health return- ing under the magnetic influence. In other re- spects they pursued their usual habits, and their mesmeric existence had its alternate periods of sleep and of waking, as regular as those of the natural life. " At the end of three months, their case appear- ing to be complete, M. Chardel conducted the sis- ters, accompanied by their mother, to a beautiful spot in the country, where he restored them to a knowledge of themselves. He describes, in lively terms, their surprise and joy at returning con- sciousness. " It was winter when they entered the mes- meric state — it was now spring. The ground was then covered with snow, but now with flowers. They were then looking forward to an early grave; but now the feeling of renewed health tinged everything with hope and life. Almost doubting if they did not dream, they threw themselves into their mother's arms, gathered flowers, and smelt them, and endeavored, by the exercise of their senses, to convince themselves that it was all a blessed reality. Not a circumstance of the past three months survived in their memory." Typical Cases. 103 Here we have a case of physical and psycholog- ical phenomena united, which must be my apology, if any is needed, for introducing it. CASE OF UTERINE DISEASE WITH GENERAL NERVOUS DERANGEMENT. Doctor Henry Storer, of Queen Adelaide's Hos- pital, London, reports an interesting case in his work, " Mesmerism in Disease," that was treated by Mr. Vernon, of the " Institute of Mesmerism," Lon- don. The patient writes : " Sir : At Mr. Vernon's request I send you some account of the good resulting from the application of mesmerism in my own case, after an illness of five years. I have suffered from an internal com- plaint of a very painful and aggravated nature, partly originating from an adverse circumstance at the birth of an only child. " I experienced little or no relief from surgical aid during the period I have mentioned. A detailed account of the many years during which my health has slowly but surely declined, would be unneces- sary. I will but briefly explain my state when forced to apply to mesmerism for relief, as my last resort. I unfortunately met with a severe accident in the beginning of last March, in consequence of which my complaint was so much aggravated, that in the course of a few weeks I was entirely confined to the sofa. 104 Vital Magnetism. "I was attended by Mr. R. Taylor, surgeon, of Brighton, and Dr. G. Hall, of 14 Old Stein. Mr. Taylor's reputation is too high in Brighton for me to doubt that his treatment of me was otherwise than judicious. I believe that all was done for me that surgical skill could do, notwithstanding which, each week, almost each day, saw me worse, until I was unable to walk, or even move, without the greatest pain. From June last until the end of November I was leeched every fourth day, yet I ex- perienced little or no relief from this, or any other treatment ; my sufferings were incessant and ago- nizing. " I was only enabled to bear them by frequent and large doses of morphine and other sedatives, which, together with the pain, produced an equally distressing effect on the mind. My mother was fre- quently told by Mr. Taylor that he knew not what to do for me ; that I must trust to time and to the ad- vantages which I received from my age (25). " This declaration was repeated only two days before I was mesmerized, when I was confined to my bed, and felt my strength failing rapidly, so that I could not endure much longer. " I freely confess that had I not been so hopeless of relief, I would not have applied to mesmerism, from the fact of the prejudice attending it. I will only premise that I believed in the power, but I did not believe the possibility of its efficacy in my case. "On the evening of the 4th of December, 1844, Mr. Vernon mesmerized me. When he arrived I Typical Cases. 105 was in extreme pain, and in a state of excessive irritability and restlessness, so that I did not believe it possible for me to lie still to allow Mr. V. to make the attempt ; notwithstanding which, after what appeared to me to be a very short time, I felt that the pains moderated, and a sensation of ease and freedom from restlessness steal over me, which no opiates could ever induce. I soon lost all conscious- ness, and on awaking was almost free from pain. " That night I was far calmer than I had been for many months, although the pains returned. " Mr. Vernon continued to mesmerize me twice a day, with one or two exceptions. At the end of a week I found myself enjoying several hours of quiet and refreshing sleep at nights. After a fort- night's mesmerizing, I discontinued the opiates which I had regularly taken for many months, and was able to walk about the room without much in- convenience ; and at the end of three weeks I found sleep, appetite, and strength of body and mind re- stored to a degree which astonished no one more than myself. " My mother, by whose advice and persuasion I was induced to try mesmerism, removed with me to London in order to perfect my cure, which ob- ject has been most happily and decidedly accom- plished, for I am enabled to employ and exert my- self as well as I did six years ago, and can take out-door exercise without fatigue and inconven- ience. As a proof of which, I walked three miles on Friday last with perfect comfort to myself. io6 Vital Magnetism. u Should you, or any other medical man, wish for any more detailed account of my illness and cure, I must refer you to Mr. Vernon, who, I am sure, will be happy to reply to any inquiries. " Anything in my power to further so good and powerful a cause as mesmerism, will be gladly com- plied with." Doctor Storer, of Bath, is sufficient authority for the introduction of the above statement. CASE OF NERVOUS SUFFERING LEAVING THE PATIENT DUMB. The following case from the Zoist, is interesting, having occurred in Devonshire, and been recorded in the North Devon Journal : " Many of our readers will be gratified to know that thanks were publicly returned in the Parish Church of Ilfracombe, on Sunday last, for the sig- nal mercy of God toward the girl, Catharine Brown, in her restoration of speech by mesmerism, through the instrumentality of Mr. Davey. "The girl is in her fifteenth year; her name, Catharine Brown ; she is the daughter of a mechan- ic living at Compass Hill, Ilfracombe. " Her mother states that she was taken alarm- ingly ill in the month of October, 1S41 ; her com- plaint lying in her head, side and stomach. " At this time she presented a most deplorable picture of human wretchedness and suffering, and Typical Cases. 107 her screams, which were terrific, could be heard a long distance. " She could not be left for a moment, as, during the absence of the attendants, she would beat her head against a wall most unmercifully, so as to leave wounds and bruises. She was likewise often convulsed, and, during the paroxysms, it was as much as two could do to hold her. " Many medical men of the town visited her, and gave her medicine ; in fact, she was an object of general charity, and, I believe, there was not even an occasional medical visitor in the town who did not prescribe for her. "After a lengthened period of suffering, the vio- lence of her complaint greatly subsided, but left her dumb ! From that period up to the time of be- ing first mesmerized, she had never spoken a single syllable. " After being mesmerized three times, and as soon as consciousness was suspended, she began to speak. At first her speech was slow, dwelling upon the first letter of the word, as in stammering, after a while she could distinctly pronounce her name, * Catharine Brown.' Those who were present will not soon forget the countenance of the patient upon being de-mesmerized. Rising from her chair, she ran towards a little girl in the room, crying out in / joyous accents, ' Oh, Mary Ann, I can speak now!' " A fear was entertained that the faculty of speech would again be lost when the patient was de-mes- merized ; but the fear was groundless, and was 108 Vital Magnetism. wholly dissipated, on hearing her thus address her little friend. "The delight of the mother may be more easily imagined than described, when she found her daugh- ter able to speak, after being dumb for the space of two years and a half." CURE OF DEAFNESS OF LONG STANDING. Dr. Storer reports a case that was treated by Mr. Saunders, and came under his observation, as fol- lows : " Mary Ann Parsons, age 24, residing at Combe Down, near Bath, has been afflicted from her early youth with deafness. Her mother, hav- ing been relieved of rheumatism by mesmerism, brought her daughter for the purpose of being mes- merized for deafness. " In the mesmeric trance she prescribed ' breath- ing in each ear.' Within the last month we have mesmerized her fifteen or sixteen times, and her deafness is entirely removed. " She at last became so susceptible, that two or three passes sufficed to send her off into the deep- est coma. " Before mesmerism she could not hear the tick- ing of a watch when close to her ears ; now she can hear a loud ticking clock at the distance of a second room, and continues to this period quite well. Typical Cases, 109 CASE OF SPASMODIC ASTHMA. Dr. Storer records another case treated under his supervision by Mr. Kiste. The patient was Elizabeth Spardens, the wife of the footman of the Rev. Mr. Holdsworth, who writes as follows : " According to your wish, I send you a copy of the notes taken at the time when you favored us with your company, and mesmerized the wife of my footman — an operation which has so far been of most essential service to her. " The asthma, under which she has so long suf- fered, was of a most distressing character ; so much so, that her neighbor, who inhabits a part of the house, was afraid to remain with her alone in the house unless her husband or some friend of hers was there also, so frightful was her appearance when under the attack. You know already that for six weeks after she was put under mesmeric in- fluence she had no attack ; then a slight one, brought on, she says, by her own imprudence, and from that time, now six weeks more, she has had no re- turn of her complaint ; her general health is im- proved, and she is gaining more solid flesh. I hope that in time the beneficial effects of mesmerism will be better understood and better appreciated, Nothing can be more unphiloscphical than the man- ner in which the faculty and others treat this sub- ject, as well as the prejudices that have been evinced, instead of the patient investigation which such a subject requires. no Vital Magnetism " If doubt leads us to neglect investigation, and prejudice prevents inquiry, how is knowledge in any science or subject to be acquired ? "Brixham Vicarage, Feb. 5, 1841." Dr. Storer says the case had been under the care of several medical men in the locality, who pronounced her case incurable, and of the worst possible character. The daily details of the treatment are too long for insertion ; a year has now elapsed, and she has enjoyed uniformly good health. Seeing me lately, she said in her simplicity, that frequently when sit- ting by herself she would " look back to former years, and fancy she could not be the same person." CASE OF NEURALGIA OR PAINFUL NERVOUS AFFEC- TION OF THE HEART OF MANY YEARS STANDING. Dr. Storer reports another very interesting case, Mr. Kiste again being the operator, and the Hon. Mrs. Hare the subject. For eighteen years she has suffered from neu- ralgia of the heart, and was successively under the care of Dr. Warren, Sir C. Bell, Mr. Abernethy, Dr. Maton, and Dr. Elliottson, but the various rem- edies which were suggested did not in the least relieve her. At this period she was taking forty grains of opium a day. Her sufferings continued unallevia- Typical Cases. in ted till the end of last year, (1844,) when she was fortunately introduced to Mr. Kiste. On the 16th of Sept. last, the lady writes, after describing her doubts as to the probable effect : " In a few minutes I felt a most unusual tran- quility of mind ; the objects in the room seemed to lose their outline, and the last things I remem- ber to have seen were my mesmerizer's eyes. " I was afterwards told that in eight minutes I sank down in the arm-chair, and that Mr. K. pro- nounced me to be in what is called mesmeric som- nambulism, a peculiar state of the nervous system. " After nearly two hours' sleep Mr. K. awoke me, and I felt tranquil, but very sleepy. " That night, for the first time, after having had paroxysms every night for three weeks previously, I was not only free from an attack, but I slept soundly, till late in the morning, when I awoke quite refreshed. "Since that day — Sept. 17 — I have been entirely free from these attacks, with the exception of sev- eral times I felt the symptoms when I had taken cold, or when Mr. K. was not with us ; but it has not come to anything more than a little faintness. U I know nothing of my former agonies, except by mc?nory. " My general constitution has changed. I am much thinner ; and in the course of three months I have twice had occasion to have my dresses much diminished, and I am now able to walk five or six miles without the least fatigue. Having ii2 Vital Magnetism. been for nearly two months free from my usual sufferings, Mr. Kiste proposed to me to diminish my doses. Although I thought this an impossibil- ity, I made the trial, when I found I did not, as formerly, feel the loss. " I continued by degrees to lessen the quantity, and from having at that time been in the habit of taking from sixty-six to eighty-six grains of opium daily, I have now reduced it to less than thirty, and am going on to diminish the quantity. " I was a dreadful sufferer for many years; I now am free from that suffering, and in the enjoyment of health and comfort. Whereas I was ill, I am now well ! In thus coming forward, I am fully aware that I expose myself to the ridicule of small minds and the observations of the malevolent ; to both I am perfectly indifferent." CASE OF SEVERE NERVOUS DISEASE. Dr. Storer reports the case of a lady named Larke, the daughter of a medical gentleman resid- ing and practising at Norwich ; her case was de- scribed as deplorable in the extreme by her mother, who said that every other mode of treatment had been faithfully tried without success. Her father was an utter disbeliever in magnetism, and the lady and family knew nothing more in re- gard to it than the common reports, and had little Typical Cases. 113 expectation of benefit from its employment ; they consented to the treatment as they would to any other harmless agency when the suffering was so intense, and the resources of medical art afforded no relief. Mr. Childs says : " I was informed that the young lady had for above two years been en- tirely out of health, suffering acute and capricious pains in the head, teeth and face, after the slightest exposure to cold, and pains at the pit of the stomach after every meal ; that about six months previously she had had an attack of brain fever ; that from defective capillary circulation she was always shiv- ering from cold, and her countenance had assumed a perfectly exsanguineous aspect ; that she suffered so much from depression of spirit as to render life a burden ; and that for the last fourteen weeks she had been attacked every night by a pain extending over the right side of the head down to the shoulder, lasting for about five hours, and so acute as to almost deprive her of reason. Relief had been sought from change of air, diet, occupation and topical applications, and from alteratives ; yet up to the day in which I saw her, the disease had steadily persisted, and increased in violence. At the first treatment by magnetism, the physical effect was most decided, and almost in- stantaneous. After the first sleep, the lady experi- enced a sense of warmth which she had not felt for months, — the first night, the agonizing pain, which had never once intermitted for fourteen weeks, wholly ceased, or was superseded by only a slight 1 14 Vital Magnetism. uneasiness, continuing but five minutes, instead of five hours. After two days this disappeared — and to the present time no sign of it has ever returned. The general improvement of her health is mani- fested by every indication of bodily health and vigor; at the end of six weeks the dull heavy languor of long disease had given place to the natural buoyancy of youth, — a colorless, lack-lustre complexion was re- placed by the genuine hue of health, — the hair, which had nearly all fallen off, not only grew rapid- ly in length, but sprang up thickly over the whole head, — the appetite became perfectly good, and the digestion complete. In fact the case presented a complete transforma- tion from disease to health, and the whole character and appearance were so entirely changed, as to be scarcely recognized by her friends." Her father, Dr. Larke, writes as follows . " I am now most happy to state that her recovery is complete, that she enjoys perfect health and equanimity of spirit, and is everything I could wish her to be. This blessing I attribute to you, and I think I should be wanting in every proper feeling if I hesitated to give my testimony to the case. "Brooke, Norfolk, March 13, 1845."' EPILEPSY. Dr. Storer reports the two following cases in pp. 59, 60, Mesmerism in Disease : Typical Cases. 115 "Was called to see Wm. Hodges, aged 19, a tailor of 10 South Moulton street. Three months previously he fell upon his left side on the ice, and, though his head was not struck, it was so shaken that he does not know how he got home. After reaching home he had repeated fits, decidedly epi- leptic, so that many men could scarcely restrain him ; and in four hours he was bled, relieving the fits for a day or two. " But afterwards the least noise startled him, and caused a fit, even the sudden cough of a child. They were very frequent, and each left him weak for an hour. I found that there had been one fit on the 2d, the 8th, and the 14th, and two on the 15th. Mr. Wood mesmerized for me, treatment an hour daily, except on Sundays. " He had no fit for a fortnight after commence- ment of the treatment. He was then frightened by a person behind him saying he would be run over ; « felt ill — felt the fits on him,' but had no fit till evening, when, going up stairs in the dark, a cat jumped out and he was instantly seized with a par- oxysm. It was very severe, stronger and longer than usual, and he tried to bite in it, felt ill and stupid all night, and did not sleep. "He had no fit again till the second Sunday after this, and had another on the following Sunday. As they probably occurred from the omission of Mesmerism on Sundays, he was afterwards mes- merized every day till the middle of August, and he has never had a return to this hour, though very n6 Vital Magnetism. often frightened enough to occasion them if there was any predisposition left. " He got married in August, 1842, and I saw him in good health to-day (Dec. 24th)." EPILEPTIC HYSTERIA, WITH LOCK-JAW AND CONTRAC- TION OF ONE LEG. " Maria Pearsey, twenty-five years old, a stout and strong-looking person, was admitted under my care into University College Hospital, June 25th, on account of very frequent and violent fits, of an epileptic and hysterical character. " They occurred daily, and often many times in the day ; seized her suddenly, and produced per- fect insensibility and very violent convulsions, so that many could scarcely restrain her. " Her right leg was firmly bent up nearly to the body, and no force could bring it down. " Her jaw was firmly locked ; and we observed that four of her front teeth had been drawn, and, as we learnt, for the purpose of passing food into her mouth to prevent starvation. " This lamentable disease had commenced nine years before, when she was sixteen years of age ; up to which time she had enjoyed perfect health. She was then frightened by a young gentleman in the house where she was a servant, jumping sud- denly up before her, covered with a sheet, while she was opening the cellar door. She fell insensi- Typical Cases. 117 ble, and remained so for three days ; and from that time had very violent fits, at first purely hysterical, but at length more of an epileptic character. " Not only had private practitioners failed to be of any service to her, but she had been in vain four months in St. George's Hospital, four mouths in Guy's Hospital, four months in St. Thomas' Hospi- tal, and ten months in Westminster Hospital, where Mr. Guthrie gave her a very large quantity of mer- cury and salivated her severely, and where Mr. White was anxious to cut off her bent up leg. " I determined to trust the treatment entirely to Mesmerism ; she was treated half an hour daily. " In less than a fortnight her jaw began to open ; it opened now daily, and on July 12, rather more than a fortnight, it opened widely. " I have had two similar cases of lock-jaw of some continuance in young women, since I culti- vated Mesmerism ; and in both I succeeded per- fectly. Had Mesmerism been used by those who treated her previously, the poor girl might have still been in possession of her upper and lower front teeth. Not only, however, had the jaw opened widely enough on the 25th for her to eat her dinner like the other patients, but her leg had relaxed so much that the toes touched the ground. Still she had no power to move it, and it was in some degree contracted. "July 28th. Her leg came quite down in the night. The fits lessened gradually, and she went out well in October j and never had a return of her complaint. n8 Vital Magnetism, " No other sensible effect was produced than drowsiness, and sometimes a little sleep. " If the passes were made quickly, she was dis- tressed and a fit brought on. " Being very nervous, and having suffered much, she was agitated and rendered hysterical and con- vulsed by any roughness of behavior, to which I regret she was often exposed. " As the leg came down, splints and rollers were applied, to secure the ground gained ; and, in one of the other cases of lock-jaw to which I have al- luded, I put a cork between the teeth as the jaw opened more and more, for the same purpose." CASE OF ST. VITUS DANCE. Dr. Elliottson reports, through the columns of the Zoist for July, 1843, the case of Master Linnell of Northampton, nine years of age, which had baffled a great number of medical men, when at length application was made to Dr. Elliottson. " On January 4th he was brought in a coach to me, and obliged to be carried into the house. Sup- ported by his mother he walked with great diffi- culty from my dining room into my library. " His debility was such that he could not stand a moment unsupported; his head hung on one side; his tongue out of his mouth, which constantly slobbered; his look was quite fatuitous: he could Typical Cases. 119 not articulate, making only inarticulate noises, and these with extreme difficulty ; even ' Yes ' or ' No,' were said in the strangest manner, so as to hardly be understood. " He often fell into a passion at not being able to articulate; he ground his teeth, sighed greatly, continually blew bubbles of saliva from his mouth, and moved his tongue. " The movements of the disease had lessened, so as not to be in proportion to his extreme muscular debility. He could use neither hand for any pur- pose, and scarcely ever raised the right. He was low-spirited and fretful, and often cried almost without a cause. " His tongue was clean and moist, his appetite good, and his bowels in the most healthy condition; his pulse 74. " He cried sadly at being brought to me, think- ing I should give him loads of physic to swallow, and blister him, as others had done. I mesmerized him for half an hour by vertical passes before the face. " He sat well supported in an easy chair, his head on his breast, but he sat so quietly in comparison with his usual state that his mother noticed it. " He was treated in the same way daily until the 15th of February, when he was mesmerized for the last time." Says the doctor in conclusion : " Nothing could be more decisive of the power of Mesmerism than this case. The disease was 120 Vital Magnetis7n. getting worse and worse at the time I began. An effect was visible in a few days ; the benefit stead- ily increased, and from being a slobbering, idiot- looking child, his head hanging on one side, unable to speak, or stand unsupported, in three weeks he could stand easily, and walk five miles. " Not a particle of medicine was given after the first day. The true gratitude of the boy and his mother was delightful." DR. BRAID S EXPERIENCE. Mr. Braid, a celebrated surgeon of Manchester, England, to whom Dr. Carpenter refers in so com- plimentary a manner in his physiological works (who is also mentioned by Dr. Brown-Sequard in his lectures upon nervous force), devised a new method of exciting the primary magnetic condi- tion, or the state of expectant attention. Mr. Braid styled his method " Hypnotism ;" and this appella- tion seems to suit some writers better than Magne- tism or Mesmerism. Mr. Braid gives a history of a large number of cases treated by him, covering the senses of hearing sight and smell. Diseased conditions cured of tic-doloreux, spinal complaints, paralysis, rheumatism, both acute and chronic, ner- vous headache, epilepsy, &c. We will quote a case or two under Mr. Braid's practice : Typical Cases. 121 " Master J. B., thirteen years of age, was sud- denly attacked with chilliness and pain all over his body, on the evening of the 30th of March last. " I was called to attend him the following day, when I considered he had got a febrile attack from cold, and prescribed accordingly. " Next day, however, it had assumed a very dif- ferent aspect. I now found I had got a severe case of opisthotonos to deal with. " The head and pelvis were rigidly drawn back, the body forming an arch, and the greatest force could not succeed in straightening it, or bring the head forward. " While the spasm never relaxed entirely, it fre- quently became much aggravated, when the head was so much drawn back as to seriously impede respiration. The legs were also sometimes fixed spasmodically. The effect of the spasm in obstruct- ing respiration and hurrying the circulation was great, and seemed to place the patient in great jeo- pardy. The pulse was never less than 150, but dur- ing the paroxysm was considerably increased. " It was evident I had got a most formidable case to contend with, and that no time ought to be lost. I therefore determined to try the power of Hypnot- ism, well knowing how generally such cases end fatally under ordinary treatment. " He was quite sensible, and the only difficulty in getting him to comply with my instructions arose from the recurrence of the severe spasmodic attacks. 122 Vital Magnetism. " In a very few minutes, however, I succeeded in reducing the spasm so that his head could be car^ ried forward to the perpendicular, his breathing was relieved, his pulse considerably diminished, and I left him in a state of comparative comfort. In about two and a half hours after I visited him again, accompanied by my friend Dr. Cochrane. " The spasms had recurred, but by no means with the same violence. Dr. Cochrane had no difficulty in recognizing the disease ; but he did not believe any means could save such a case. He had never seen a patient hypnotized until that after- noon, and watched my experiment with much in- terest and attention. He seemed much and agree- ably surprised by the extraordinary influence which an agency apparently so simple exerted over such a case. The pupil of the eye was speedily dilated, as if under the influence of belladonna ; the muscu- lar spasm relaxed, and in a few minutes he was calmly asleep." In conclusion Mr. Braid says : " I feel quite confident that without the aid of Hypnot- ism this patient would have died." Another case of spasmodic affection — that of Miss Collins, of Newark. Her father writes : " My daughter, sixteen years of age, had been afflicted for six months with a rigid contraction of the muscles of the left side of the neck to so great a degree that it would have been impossible to in- sert an ordinary card between the ear and shoul- ders, so close was their contact ; and consequently she was rapidly being malformed. She had had the Typical Cases. 123 best advice to be procured in the country, and I had taken her to London with a written statement of the treatment previously employed, and had the opinion of Sir Benjamin Brodie, who approved of what had been done, but gave no hope of speedy relief. " Hearing of Mr. Braid, surgeon of St. Peter's Square, Manchester, and with a letter written to that gentleman by Mr. Mayo, of London, I went with her, by the advice of Dr. Chawner, who, in- deed, accompanied us, and placed her under the care of Mr. Braid on Thursday evening, the 24th of March. In less than a minute after that gentleman began to fix her attention, she was in a mesmeric (neurohypnotic) slumber, and in another minute was partially cataleptic. Mr. Braid then, without awaking her, and consequently without giving her any pain, placed her head upright, which I firmly believe could not, by any possibility, have been done five minutes before, without disruption of the mus- cles, or the infliction of some serious injury ; and, I am thankful to say, it not only continues straight, but she has perfect control over the muscles of the neck. A nervous motion of the head, to which she had been subject after her return from Manchester, has entirely ceased and she is at present in excel- lent health. "At Dr. Chawner's suggestion, she was fre- quently watched while asleep, but not the slightest relaxation was observed in the contracted muscles." (Signed) James Collins. 124 Vital Magnetism. Mr. Braid adds : " After the lapse of a year, Mr. Collins was so kind as to write and inform me that his daughter continued in perfect health, with complete control of the muscles of the neck," PAINLESS AMPUTATION OF THE THIGH, &C. The Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London present an " account of a case of success- ful amputation of the thigh, during the magnetic state, without the knowledge of the patient, in the District Hospital of Wellow, Nottingham- shire/' The operator was W. Topham, of the Middle Temple : W. Squire, Ward Surgeon of Wellow Hall. The patient was a laborer, six feet high, and for- ty-two years of age, named James Wombell. Full details were published at the time (November 22, 1842). Dr. Storer reports the case of Mary Ann Lakin, of Leicester. She had been suffering from exten- sive disease of the knee-joint, which became so alarming as to render amputation necessary, even to prolong her existence. The operation was performed by Mr. Tosswell, surgeon : the magnetizer was Mr. J. Collins. She remained during the operation almost mo- tionless, so that there was no occasion to support her on the table, as is usual on these occasions. Typical Cases. 125 " On being put to bed after the operation, she was de-magnetized, and asked what she had felt. She said she had been dreaming that a person had tied something tightly round her sound leg, and that she felt angry, and gave him a kick, to make him desist. Her features did not change from the calmness first noted, and the witness, a surgeon, declares his belief that the girl, through magnetism, avoided the horrors of the operation." It would be impossible to give a synopsis in this brief work of the hundreds of cases of painless sur- gery recorded by even one practitioner, Dr Es- daile, in India, whose interesting work on Mesmer- ism has already been alluded to. One or two will exhibit sufficiently the complete character of the anaesthetic effects. " June 3d. — Teencowrie Paulit, a peasant, aged forty, was admitted to the hospital. Two years ago, he began to suffer from a tumor in the antrum maxillarej the tumor had pushed up the orbit of the eye, filled up the nose, passed into the throat, and caused an enlargement of the neck. " I was very desirous to reduce him to a state of insensibility before operating upon him, and for the last fortnight my assistants have all perseveringly tried it, but without inducing sleep even. Indeed, from the tumor obstructing his throat, he has hard- ly slept for five months. Having ascertained that he was easier when sitting, I took him in hand my- self, to-day, and entranced him in a chair. In half an hour the man was catalepsed, and in a quarter 126 Vital Magnetism. more I performed one of the most severe and pro- tracted operations in surgery ; the man was totally unconscious. " I put a long knife in at the corner of the mouth, and brought the point out over the cheek bone di- viding the parts between ; from this I pushed it through the skin at the inner corner of the eye, and dissected the cheek back to the nose. " The pressure of the tumor had caused the ab- sorption of the anterior wall of the antrum, and on pressing my fingers between it and to the bones, it burst, and a shocking gush of blood and brain- like matter followed. " The tumor extended as far as my fingers could reach under the orbit and cheek-bone, and passed into the gullet — having destroyed the bones and partition of the nose. No one touched the man, and I turned his head into any position I desired, without resistance, and there it remained till I wished to mbve it again ; when the blood accumu- lated, I bent his head forward, and it ran from his mouth as from a spout. The man never moved nor showed signs of life, except an occasional indis- tinct moan ; but when I threw back his head, and passed my fingers into his throat to detach the mass in that direction, the stream of blood was directed into his windpipe, and some instinctive effort was necessary for existence ; he therefore coughed, and leaned forward to get rid of the blood ; and I had supposed he then awoke. "The operation was by this time finished, and he Typical Cases. 127 was laid on the floor to have his face sewed up, and while this was doing, he for the first time opened his eyes. " June 4th. — The man declares, by the most em- phatic pantomime, that he felt no pain while in the chair, and that when he awoke, I was engaged in sewing up his face, on the floor ; so that the cough- ing and forward movement to get rid of the blood, were involuntary, instinctive efforts to prevent suf- focation. "June 6th. — The dressings were undone to-day, and the whole extent of the wounds in the face has united completely by the first intention. He is out of all danger, and can speak plainly ; he declares most positively that he knew nothing that had been done to him till he awoke on the floor, and found me sewing up his cheek." Here is a statement from himself, translated from Bengalee : " For two years I have suffered under this dis- ease, and scarcely slept for five months. "On the 19th of May, I came to the Imambarah Hospital, and three or four persons tried to make me sleep, but all in vain. On the 3d of June, Dr. Esdaile having kindly undertaken my case, with a great deal of labor, made me sleep, and took something out of my cheek, which at that time I did not perceive. "After the operation I did not sleep for two nights, but after the third day I have slept as usual. " Teencowrie Paulit, of Madra." 128 Vital Magnetism. If patients are fortunate enough to sleep some time after the operation, they not only feel no pain on waking, but none subsequently even. Dr. Esdaile records the removal of a large num- ber of tumors in addition to the above, of which one more specimen will perhaps suffice. "Oct. 25th, Gooroochuan Shah, a shop-keeper, aged 40. He has a ' monster tumor ' which pre- vents him from moving; its great weight, and his having used it for a writing desk for many years, has pressed it into its present shape. His pulse is weak, and his feet cedematous, which will make it very hazardous to attempt its removal; but with such an appendage life is literally a burden. He became insensible on the fourth day of mesmerzing, and was drawn with the mattress to the end of the bed (my usual mode of proceeding); two men then held up the tumor in a sheet, pulling it forward at the same time, and, in the presence of Mr. Bennett, I removed it by a circular incision, expedition being his only safety. The rush of venous blood was great, but fortunately soon arrested; and after tying the last vessel, the mattress w*as again pulled back upon the bed with him upon it, and at this moment he awoke. " The loss of blood had been so great that he immediately fell into a fainting state, and it took a good while to revive him. On recovering he said that he awoke while the mattress was being pulled back, and that nothing had disturbed him. The tumor weighed eighty pounds, and is probably the Typical Cases. 129 largest ever removed from the human body. I think it extremely likely that if the circulation had been hurried by pain and struggling, or if the shock to the system had been increased by bodily and mental anguish, the man would have bled to death, or never have rallied from the effects of the operation. " But, the sudden loss of blood was all he had to contend against; and though in so weak a condition, he has surmounted this, and gone on very well. " Dec. 1st. — Has been allowed to go home at his own request ; the wound is filling up slowly, for want of integument." No single man has done so much, practically, in Magnetic-Surgery as Dr. Esdaile, and as his prac- tice is so often quoted by contemporary and later writers, we would again urge our readers to ex- amine his very valuable work. His chief practice was surgery ; but he also gives many other cures by magnetic treatment, among which are enumerated Nervous Headache, Tic-douloureux, Spasmodic Colic, Acute Inflammation of the Eye, Chronic ditto, Convulsions, Rheumatism, Lumbago, Scia- tica, Pain in the Crural Nerve, Palsy of Limbs, dit- to of half of the body, and many other forms of disease cured by this agency. He says, further, as a result of his experience : "In chronic inflammation it is a useful discu- tient, gently stimulating the nerves and capillary vessels of the part to more healthy action ; and for this purpose local magnetism is only required. 130 Vital Magnetism. 11 The chronic exhibition of magnetism as a gen- eral tonic in diseases of debility promises to be of great service, especially in functional derange- ment of the nervous system, and I am hopeful that we have at last got a direct nervous remedy, hitherto a ' desideratum,' in medicine. " In palsy from weakness of the nerves, it prom- ises to assist us greatly, and Dr. Elliottson has re- corded many cures of cases he could not have man- aged before. All who venture to confess the truth to themselves know how miserably impotent for the cure of palsy and nervous diseases generally are the medical means hitherto employed. If we succeed, we often cannot tell why, and the connec- tion of cause and effect is very uncertain. " But in the chronic treatment of palsy, by mag- netism alone, the patient often feels and shows early and continued improvement under the action of this natural remedy ; and we cannot refuse to be- lieve that it is the exciting cause ; we must believe that it is, or own that it is a spontaneous cure of a commonly incurable disease ! But both the practitioner and patient must remember, that Mes- merism is no exception to the general rule, that a chronic disease requires a chronic cure. Much patience and labor will be required in the mes- meric treatment of paralytic affections." So wrote this honest, frank, outspoken physi- cian. His powerful statement of thoroughly at- tested facts thrilled all Europe, and this painless surgery which he practiced and endorsed would to- Typical Cases. 131 day be the reliance of the profession, were it not for the almost contemporaneous introduction of ether and chloroform, which surgeons find more convenient to administer, preferring the modicum of risk which attaches to it, to the delays which mag- netism would involve. But, assuming that convenience justifies this position, there are, after all, some lives that hang upon threads so slender, that it is positively impos- sible to administer either of the above-named drugs, where magnetism might be used with perfect con- fidence, and an operation otherwise impossible could be safely attempted. False professional pride, recklessness, ignorance or stupidity will alone prevent the frequent use of an agent so effectual, and proved and admitted so safe, as vital magne- tism. ENGLISH PRACTITIONERS AND ADVOCATES. As early as 1848 Mr. Sandby, in his interesting work upon the subject, says : "There is hardly a county in England where it is not now practiced. From York to the Isle of Wight — from Dover to Plymouth, there can be produced a chain of evi-* dence and a list of cures. * * * " Mr. Atkinson has been eminently successful in his treatment of numerous diseases, some of which generally defy all human skill, among which were three cases of that fearful malady, tic-douloureux; 132 Vital Magnetism. one of which was of ten years' standing, and the other two of several years' duration. He has also cured many cases of fits, of hysteria and want of sleep, and of those determined nervous and sick head- aches, which seldom yield to remedial action ; he has been equally successful in various acute nerv- ous pains, and contractions of limbs, asthma, fever, long standing cough, affections of the heart and spine, injured sight, deafness, melancholia, rheuma- tism, tooth-ache, indigestion, and functional ob- structions." Mr. Atkinson was one of the best early practitioners. Mr. Chenevix, a well-known name in the literary world, and a man of scientific training, was also a very successful operator, and at the time of his sud- den death by acute disease, had in preparation a work demonstrating his own experience upon some 442 patients. He says: "There was hardly one instance where disease existed, that relief was not procured." " He reports the cure of a case of epilepsy and spasmodic pain of six years' standing in twenty- one treatments. He succeeded in three other cases of a similar character completely, and procured immense relief in eight others. He also cured seven cases of worms, and was of great service to several inmates of the Wakefield Lunatic Asylum." Colonel Sir Thomas Wiltshire, commanding at Chatham, was also an eminent practitioner. Earl Stanhope was also a practitioner, and a gen- tleman of great Christian kindness and philan- Typical Cases, 133 thropy. He notes many cases of cure in his own experience. Capt. Valiant, of Chatham, was a very powerful and successful operator, as was also Mr. Baldock, who found it very successful in palpitations of the heart and severe headaches; and amongst other cures he reports that of Robert Flood, of Caister in Lincolnshire, who suffered for several years from disease in one of his kidneys. He had been under the care of several eminent physicians, and. was finally admitted to the hospital in London; his pains were so acute that he could not leave his bed until the day was far advanced, and even then he was compelled to recline several times before retiring for the night. Mr. Baldock restored him to health, by magnetic treatment, in three months. Mr. Majendie, of Hedingham Castle, Essex, was equally prominent and successful. Mr. Topham of the Temple was also a very prom- inent operator, and was the magnetizer in the case of Wombell, whose thigh was painlessly amputa- ted; and he was very successful in the treatment of Epileptic fits. Mr. Thompson, of Fairfield House, near York, was a famous operator, and gives a great many astonishing cures. He mentions a child nine years of age, who had a diseased knee of a scrofulous character, from which he suffered " intense agony, was unable to rest day or night, with loss of appetite, great in- 134 Vital Magnetism. flammation extending above the knee, the knee enor- mously enlarged, with extensive suppuration on the inside of the knee, a high state of fever at the time, with a hectic flush upon his cheeks, with quickness of breathing, and a short cough." By local mag- netizing the symptoms were ameliorated in half an hour, the child became still and calm, and smilingly described a "heat coming out of Mr. Thompson's fingers," which had taken the pain away. The child rapidly improved, absorption of the matter took place, and in a month's time he was able to use the limb; sleep was not induced in this case. In another case treated by Mr. Thompson, a gen- tleman had been suffering for nine consecutive days from severe rheumatic fever, with acute pain in the shoulders, arms, hands, loins, legs and knees; ex- cessive fever, profuse night-sweats, caused by the agony of pain. The following is the patient's description of the magnetic treatment: "In less than twenty minutes you had nearly charmed away all the pain and restored warmth and feeling to my feet. You then put me to sleep; the delightful sensation of that sleep, after such extreme pain, I can scarcely describe. When you awakened me, I felt like another person. The fever was reduced, and the pain was gone. In four days I was down stairs. Every time you mesmer- ized me I felt as it were a new life (pp. 151 Sand- by 's Mes.)." Captain Anderson, of the Royal Marines, a resi- Typical Cases. 135 dent of Chelmsford, another powerful magnetizer, reported many cases: — One of Mrs. Raymond, residing at Chelmsford, who had suffered for nine years from spinal com- plaint, being confined to her sofa, and unable to be moved day and night ; she had also lost the use of her voice. Her sufferings were dreadful. Blisters, caustic plasters, leeches, setons, and me- dication endless had been tried with no substantial benefit. At first this afflicted lady laughed at the idea of being relieved by such apparently inadequate means ; but having finally consented to give it a trial at the hands of Captain Anderson, she states her experience in these words : " I am now able to walk out daily, alone and un- assisted. I am regaining my speech, and I am free from pain, sleep soundly, and take no medicine, and am now seldom mesmerized." (For full par- ticulars of this case, see the Zoist, vol. 2, p. 82.) Dr. Engledeu, of Southsea, practiced it exten- sively in his profession, and has been a very warm advocate of its merits. Mr. Weeks, & surgeon at Sandwich, devoted a large portion of his time to the judicious applica- tion of magnetism, and says, after two years' prac- tice, that "its use has been demonstrated after the usual modes of treatment, and in some instances abundance of quackery to boot, had utterly failed, and rendered the case more inveterate and distress- ing." Among the cases he mentions, are some of 136 Vital Magnetism, dyspepsia, habitual constipation, paralysis, slug- gish condition of the hepatic system, hypochon- driasis, muscular contractions, stubborn and other- wise hopeless cases of rheumatism, local pains, and severe forms of neuralgia, cases of general languor and debility, without manifest cause ; as also of deafness, and painless surgery, besides several af- fections of an anomalous character. ' Mr. Weeks has ranked high, with an immense practice. Mr. Prideaux, of Southampton, is an- other great practical magnetist, and reports several cases of St. Vitus' dance, treated in his practice by this agency. He is a medical man, and bears high testimony in its favor. Mr. Janson, of Pennsylvania Park, President of the Exeter Literary Society, a gentleman of high literary attainments, bears valuable testimony, and has met with marked success in the treatment of tic-douloureux. Mr. Holm, of Highgate, a gentleman of philan- thropic character, says that he has found it a very efficacious remedy in epilepsy, rheumatism, brain fever, head-aches, and many neuralgic disorders. Mr. Charles Childs, of Bungay, surgeon, says : '■ I have practiced Mesmerism about four years ; in this period I have proved its unquestionably beneficial results in several of the most afflictive maladies." Sev- eral of his cases are published, including many in painless surgery. (See Zoist, p. 36, vol. 3.) A large number of cases are also credited in the same journal to Mr. Chandler, surgeon, of Rotherhithe, amongst Typical Cases. 137 which is a rapid and perfect cure of a case of in- sanity, when all other remedies had failed. Mr. Purland, of Mortimer street, Cavendish Square, has practiced the art with great success and reports a large variety of cases in his practice, amongst which are asthma, hysteria, lameness, deafness, &c. Mr. Boyton, Surgeon of Wattington, in Oxford- shire, is a gentleman of skill and reputation in the profession; after describing many cures, he says : "// strengthens the nervous system, improves the di- gestion, and tranquilizes the mind." Dr. Wilson, of the Middlesex Hospital, well known through his publications on the subject, reports a case of insanity cured by Magnetism. Dr. Ashburner, of Grosvenor street, London, late physician to the Middlesex Hospital, Dr. Sto- rer, of Bristol, Dr. Simpson of York, Dr. Arnott of Edinburgh, Mr. Johnston, surgeon, 22 Saville Rowe, Sweden, have published remarkable cases. Mr. Newnham, surgeon, of Farnham, the author of "Human Magnetism," was requested to write a paper against the practice of Magnetism, and was furnished with materials for the purpose; but in- vestigation soon convinced him of the value of the power, and he became one of its stanchest advo- cates. Mr. Sandby refers to Symes of Grosvenor street, London; J. Hands, Duke street; Decimus Hands, Thayer street; Morgan, Bedford Row; Flinthoff, Great Tichfield street; Clarke, Kingsland Road; 138 Vital Magnetism. Case, of Fareham; Adams, of Lymington; Choter, of Norwich; Weddell of Scarborough; Nixon, of Wigton; J. B. Parker, of Exeter; Sargeant, of Rei- gate, Surrey; Luxmore, of Alphington, Exeter; Hollings, of Leicester; Vivian, of Woodfield, Tor- quay; Briggs, of Nottingham Place ; Mulholland, of Walsall, who reduced a wen of eleven years standing, the size of a goose egg, so completely, that it requires astute observation to detect it, Stenson, of Northampton; Summers, of Chatham, who acted successfully upon a case of obstinate hernia, by Magnetism; Brindley, of Stourbridge; Tubbs, of Upwell Isle, in Cambridgeshire, with a very large practice and a long list of remarkable cures; Dr. Owens, of Stourbridge; with a host of non-professional advocates. "Here then," says Mr. Sandby, " is a train of witnesses consisting of men of ability, and honor- able standing, from whose reports the facts of magnetism might be confidently predicated, and this list might be swelled to any extent. "What an amount have we here of happiness conferred ! What a mass of pain, of sickness, of sorrow, lightened or removed ! Here at length are a few pleasing pages in the long sad chapter of human life ! Here, at last, is a delightful study for the philanthropist and the Christian." To a far greater extent than in Great Britain has its application been made on the continent ; and Dr. Georget, the celebrated French physiologist, justly remarks of the character of its advocates : Typical Cases. 139 "It is a very astonishing thing that animal magne- tism is not even known by name among the ignor- ant classes ; it is among the enlightened ranks that it finds support, learned men, naturalists, physicians, and philosophers." PREJUDICE, IGNORANCE AND CHARLATANRY NO LON- GER PERMISSIBLE. The mass of evidence by which this practice stands fortified to day, has not been accumulated, however, without hard blows being exchanged be- tween its advocates and opponents ; the battle waged furiously for more than thirteen years, but there could be but one issue between fact and ignor- ant opposition; and simple prejudice ultimately was compelled to give way before the crushing array of .indisputable evidence in favor of magnetic treatment. In a vast variety of diseased condi- tions, especially in the field of nervous disorders its results were most astonishing. Many men were hunted as wild beasts for acting up to their convictions ; notably, Dr. Elliottson, who, in consequence of the narrow-minded policy pursued by other members of the faculty, was in- duced to withdraw his name from the Professor- ship of the University of London, because of their opposition to the practice in that institution. The patients themselves were willing recipients, and the most signal benefits were being daily experi- 140 Vital Magnetism. enced, and the Academies of Paris and Berlin had not thought the question beneath their notice. This outrage, however, was not accomplished without the strenuous opposition of four members of the council, comprising the names of Lord Brougham, Sir L. Goldsmith, Mr. Tooke, and Mr. Bishop, who placed too high a value upon the stand- ing and character of Dr. Elliottson to let this un- generous action pass without a protest. The ex- perience of Dr. Elliotson was duplicated in many- other directions ; but these frantic efforts in oppo- sition carried their own defeat, in the final contest. Hospitals and infirmaries had to be established in the earlier days of investigation for this special prac- tice until the wider diffusion of information caused its merits to be admitted, and the general practice won its way in public estimation to such a degree, that this necessity passed away. The best physiologists of Europe have long since acknowledged the claims of this branch of thera- peutics, and to-day can calmly state its merits with- out the risk of personal slanderous attacks, which is of itself a great gain upon the past, and has made its extensive application abroad an easy mat- ter, so that its standing is well assured. But how stands the practice in our own country? While Europe has been ablaze with investigation, we have done little ; we have thus escaped much of the bit- terness of discussion, and may reap all the advan- tages of the practice as the result of other men's labors, still, we have lacked the stimulus of this Typical Cases. 141 public agitation, and exhibit a supineness and want of enterprise truly amazing, in view of the transcendent importance of a subject so vital to the welfare of humanity. It is true that it has been utilized quite exten- sively in this country ; but amongst medical men there has been an almost total lack of information upon the subject, to characterize it by no stronger term, that is very extraordinary. There are, doubtless, reasons for this, so far as individual action is concerned. In the first place, our medical universities have almost totally ignored the subject, mainly, it is believed, because of the supposed difficulty of carrying it into general practice. This has prevented inquiry for its litera- ture, which, while so abundant abroad, is scarcely to be procured here. France and Germany alone have put forth over fourteen hundred publications on the subject ; but it is almost impossible to find a single volume upon any bookseller's shelves in our land treating of vital magnetism. Physicians do not hesitate to express their igno- rance in regard to it, while they may have a gen- eral impression of its benefits. But, perhaps the most potent cause of this la«ek of information here has arisen from the prejudice awakened by the lecturers who, many years since, presented upon public platforms, in various forms of buffoonery, the psychological phenomena so readily induced in a certain class of magnetic se?isi- tives. These merely farcical exhibitions have been 142 Vital Magnetism. proclaimed as the usual effects of magnetism, and have been so accepted by the public ; and the pub- lic being so misinstructed, have scarcely dreamed of the serious side of the question, nor of the vast interests which were involved in it. While such entertainments may not have pro- duced physical injury to any one, they have done immense mischief by bringing into ridicule what should have been guarded most carefully from re- proach. The same adverse influences existed, and were felt in England, but their effects were largely neutralized by the able advocates of the higher and grander aspects of this noble science. Says Harriet Martineau, in one of her letters : c * I believe there is no doubt that the greatest of all injuries done to Mesmerism is by its itinerant ad- vocates. " This appears to be admitted by everybody but the itinerants themselves ; and none lament the practice so deeply as the higher order of Mesmer- ists." It is true the blame of this desecration rests with the learned men, who ought to have shown them- selves wise in relation to a matter so serious, and to have taken the investigation into their own hands. It is they who are answerable for having turned over the subject to the fanatical and the vulgar. It is they who have cast this jewel of knowledge and power into the lap of the ignorant ; and no one can wonder that it is bartered for money and notoriety." Theorizing. 143 Every able writer of those times struck heavy blows at the men and their practices, who simply made a show of the mental phenomena, and were in- competent even to state the higher uses of this force, and thus to a great extent the mischief was pre- vented in England which lamentably followed in this country, for lack of strong friends to intelli- gently stand for the truth. We are gradually emerging, however, into a bet- ter light, and the confident utterances of our best physiologists are awakening a spirit of inquiry among physicians in medical conventions, and in the public mind, which promises valuable results in the immediate future. XII. THEORIZING. As I said, my object is not to set up a theory in regard to the origin or causation of magnetic phenomena, a rock upon which most writers have split. The world has been deluged with theories ; and if my readers would pursue a phantom I will place 144 Vital Magnetism. them in possession of sources of information ; but this is not the role which I have prescribed for my- self. Vital Magnetism is a science based eminently on facts, not on opinions ; and these are as uniform and as well authenticated as facts in physiology, or the phenomena of Electricity, Light, Heat, or Mineral and Terrestrial Magnetism. On these facts it rests its claims for consideration, adoption, and general utilization. As Miss Martineau has well said, in pleading for its consideration, when inconsiderate friends de- manded a theory from her : " ' Tell me what Mesmerism is, first, and then I will attend to it,' has been said to me, and has been said to many others, who, declaring Mesmerism to be true, have no theory as to its nature — no con- jecture as to the scope of its operations. " Some ask this in ignorance, others as an eva- sion. Wise inquirers will not ask it at all till a vast preparatory work has been achieved, which it is both unphilosophical and immoral to neglect. There are hospitals among us, where it may be as- certained whether insensibility to pain can be pro- duced. " There are sufferers in every one's neighborhood whose capability of recovery by Mesmerism may be tested. "Let experience, carefully obtained, be wisely collected and philosophically communicated. " If found untrue, Mesmerism may then be ' ex- Theorizing. 145 ploded,' which it can never be by mere ignorant scorn and levity. " If true, the world will be so much the better. When we consider that no physician in Europe above forty years of age, when Harvey lived, be- lieved in the circulation of the blood, we shall not look for any philosophical inquiry into Mesmerism from established members of the profession, whose business it is to attend to it ; but happily, the young never fail. There always is a new genera- tion rising up to emancipate the world from the prejudices of the last (while . originating new ones), and there are always a few disinterested, in- trepid, contemplative spirits, cultivating the calm wisdom and bringing up the established convic- tions of the olden time, as material for the enthusi- asm of the new, who may be relied on for main- taining the truth till they joyfully find that it has become too expansive for their keeping. The truth in question is safe, whether it be called Mesmer- ism, or by another and better name. " Everybody interested in a great discovery is under a strong temptation to theorize too soon; and those who oppose, or do not understand Mesmer- ism, are forever trying to get us to theorize prema- turely. From the first day that my experiment was divulged, to the present, the attempt has been re- newed till the application to me to announce a theory has become so ludicrously common, that I am in no danger of falling into the trap. I have had not only to refuse to propose even a hypothe- 146 Vital Magnetism. sis, but to guard my language so carefully, as that by no pretense of an inference could any be as- cribed to me. " I could wish that all who, like myself, knew personally but a few facts (however clear), were as careful about this as the occasion requires. Their notions of a transmission of a fluid, electric or other — of a conditional excitement in human beings, of a power of control or stimulus of their own vital functions — of the mesmeric power residing in the will of the mesmerist, or in the imagination or will of the patient; of some sympathetic function, ex- press but obscure, and assigned to some unexplored region of the brain — these notions and many more, may each suit the phenomena which have come un- der the notice of the expounders; but no one of them will hold good with all the facts that are es- tablished. " The phenomena are so various, that it seems to me most improbable that we can yet be near the true theory, to say nothing of what is very ob- vious — that the suppositions offered are little but words." These remarks of Miss Martineau apply with equal force to-day, for we are no nearer the solu- tion of the problem of causation in regard to this human force than we are of the many other great natural forces by which we are surrounded, and which men have almost ceased to speculate about. For the same reasons I have entirely ignored in this volume the so-called "higher class" of mental Theorizing. 147 or psychological phenomena induced often-times in magnetic sensitives ; these matters are very in- teresting, but I have failed to see the practical re- lation between somnambulism, clairvoyance, intro- vision, pre-vision, ecstasy, phreno-Mesmerism, mind reading, &c, and the use of magnetism as a healing remedy. It is evident that the discussion of these uncertain and variable phenomena by most of the writers on vital magnetism, has bewildered, con- fused and oftentimes disgusted seekers after the true practical points involved in the application of magnetism in the treatment of disease. Even phy- sicians have been led off from the real practical is- sue by these exciting and bewildering questions, and in giving the results of their investigations, they have mixed up moral, spiritual and religious speculations with their statements of facts in re- lation to the cure of disease, to such an extent that their value has been diminished, and often de- stroyed. The mental phenomena of magnetism should, in my judgment, receive separate investigation and statement, and the facts relating thereto should be arranged by themselves. My objects are : First, to call the attention of physicians to this agency for the treatment of many otherwise incu- rable forms of disease, and to stimulate investiga- tion, and, Second, to show anxious sufferers that there is the possibility of a happy release both from drugs and pain. XIII. THE TESTIMONY OF TEST. There still remains much of misapprehension in the average mind, in regard to the supposed scope and power of magnetism ; some affect disbelief, while others admit the facts, but timidly appre- hend dangers, moral, spiritual and physical, which, do not exist, or at least not to the extent that weak and superstitious persons suppose. There being no public attacks in our day against the practice and use of vital magnetism as a cura- tive power, we do not hear, except in a casual way, of these foolish fears and apprehensions ; but they do exist ; and to meet these objections, the argu- ments being precisely the same as those used thirty or forty years ago, let us see how Miss Martineau met the objections, for her opinions and experiences were based upon personal knowledge, and never lose their freshness or application. She says : " I have less sympathy with those who throw down their facts before the world, and then despise all those who will not be in haste to take them up than with some I know of, who would seriously rather suffer to any extent, than have re- course to relief, which they believed unauthorized ; The Testimony of Test. 149 who would rather that a mystery remained sacred than have it divulged for their own benefit ; who tell me to my face that they would rather see me sent back to my couch of pain than witness any tampering with the hidden things of Providence. " There is a sublime rectitude of sentiment here, which commands and wins one's reverence and sympathy ; and if the facts of the history and con- dition of Mesmerism could bear out the sentiment, no one would more cordially respond to it than I — no one would have been more scrupulous about procuring recovery by such means — no one would have recoiled with more fear and disgust from the work of making known what I have experienced and learned. " But I am persuaded that a knowledge of exist- ing facts clears up the duty of the case, so as to prove that the sentiment must, while preserving all its veneration and tenderness, take a new direc- tion, for the honor of God and the safety of man. " As for the frequent objection brought against inquiry into Mesmerism, that there should be no countenance of an influence which gives human beings such power over one another, I really think a moment's reflection, and a very slight knowledge of Mesmerism, would supply both the answers which the objection requires. The power is abroad, and ought to be guided and controlled. " Next, this is but one addition to the powers we have over one another already ; and a far more slow and difficult one than are many which are 150 Vital safely enough possessed. Every apothecary's shop is full of deadly drugs ; every workshop is full of deadly weapons ; wherever we go, there are plenty of people who could knock us down, rob and mur- der us ; wherever we live, there are plenty of peo- ple who could defame and ruin us. "Why do they not? Because moral considera- tions deter them. " Then bring the same moral considerations to bear on the subject of Mesmerism. " It is a mistake to suppose that Mesmerism can be used at will to strike down victims, helpless and unconscious, as laudanum does, except in cases of excessive susceptibility from disease ; cases which are of course under proper ward. The concurrence of two parties is needful in the first place, which is not the case in the administration of narcotics ; and then the practice is very uncertain in its results in most single occasions ; and again, in the major- ity of instances, it appears that the intellectual and moral powers are more, and not less, vigorous than in the ordinary state. "As far as I have any means of judging, the highest faculties are seen in their utmost perfection during the mesmeric sleep; the innocent are strong- er in their rectitude than ever, rebuking levity, reproving falsehood and flattery, and indignantly refusing to tell secrets, or to say or do anything they ought not. The volitions of the mesmerist may actuate the movements of the patient's limbs, and suggest the material of his ideas, but they The Testimony of Test. 151 seem unable to touch his morale. In this state the morale appears supreme, as it is rarely found in the ordinary condition. " And now one word of respectful and sympathiz- ing accost to those reverent and humble spirits who painfully question men's right to exercise faculties whose scope is a new region of insight and fore- sight. They ask whether to use these faculties be not to encroach on holy ground, to trespass on the precincts of the future and higher life. May I in- quire of these, in reply, what they conceive to be the divinely appointed boundary of our knowledge and our powers ? Can they establish, or indicate, any other boundary than the limit of the knowl- edge and powers themselves? Has not the attempt to do so failed from age to age ? " Is it not the most remarkable feature of the progress of Time that, in handing over the future unto the past, he transmutes its material, inces- santly and without pause, converting what truth was mysterious, fearful, impious to glance at, into that which is safe, beautiful and beneficent to con- template and use; a clearly consecrated gift from the Father of all to the children who seek the light of his countenance? " Where is his pleasure to be ascertained but in the ascertainment of what he gives and permits, in the proof and verification of what powers he has bestowed on us, and what knowledge he has placed within our reach ? While regarding with shame all pride of intellect, and with fear the presump- 152 Vital Magnetism. tion of ignorance, I deeply feel that the truest hu- mility is evinced by those who most simply accept and use the talents placed in their hands; and that the most childlike dependence upon the Creator appear in those who most fearlessly apply the knowledge he discloses to the furtherance of that great consecrated object, the welfare of the family of man." These moderate, tolerant and intelligent views which I have quoted from this gifted .woman's writings, were published thirty years ago in the Athc7ieum, and are presented with a peculiar charm and forcible directness. Thirty years of experience confirmed the truth of these utterances, and failed to develop the dan- gers which superstitious objectors anticipated and predicted. Among the most graceful writers on the subject is the Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, England, a very scholarly gentle- man, who published in 1844 his work entitled Facts in Mesmerism^ heretofore quoted from. Mr. Towns- hend's researches were mainly in the realm of men- tal phenomena, and upon this branch of the subject he will be found as clear and interesting as any other writer. Among other gentlemen of scientific attainments who certified to Mr. Townshend's facts and power, was Professor Agassiz, who was himself magnetized by Mr. Townshend. But, while this able writer and investigator de- The Testimony of Test. 153 votes his main efforts to developing psychological phenomena, he saw its practical effects, especially on the continent, and fully and freely endorsed its strongest claims in this direction. He presents a beautiful view of its higher moral aspects worth quoting. His argument will be found in the " notice " to the second edition of his " Facts." " The metaphysical deductions which may be drawn from mesmeric phenomena, have always ap- peared to me, in themselves, to constitute a suffi- cient and a noble answer to the inquiry: In what can Mesmerism contribute to the welfare or knowl- edge of man ? " The light which this agency throws upon the mysteries of our nature, upon some of the pro- foundest truths of religion ; the indications which it alone presents of a possible separation between soul and body, and of the predominating powers of the former — must ever vindicate the sincere in- quirer into its laws from the charge of trifling with an idle subject; granting even that he should con- fine himself to half his theme, and decline touching upon the relief, which, in a medical point of view, Mesmerism is capable of affording to the evils of suffering humanity. "But it is the peculiar happiness of Mesmerism not to be forced to rely upon any one solitary and partial claim to notice and consideration. " Its roots are cast deeply and extensively into the general ground of humanity. 154 Vital Magnetism. " Where the metaphysician leaves it, the man of science may take it up; and when Science has gathered in its store of valuable facts, illustrative of all her noblest theories, it can still afford an ample harvest to him who would practically ame- liorate the condition of his fellow-beings. " If it fail to win the heart of the materialist from his barren creed by its revelations of Mind, as the only real source of motion — as all, indeed, that can be named — Power; — if vainly it preach to the scep- tical or the careless, of Truth, Righteousness, and Judgment to come — it ought, at least, to recom- mend itself to every friend of man by the palpable benefits it is calculated to bestow in cases of dis- ease, which are either unaffected by, or opposed to, the action of other remedies. " That this pretension, as we will modestly call it, on the part of Mesmerism, to rank at least as a means of cure, should not universally prevail to win for it a patient and unbiased ttial and exami- nation, is indeed a proof of the force of prejudice to turn us even from our habitual ways of proceed- ing. I can well understand that Mesmerism, reasoning of things beyond the tomb, should meet with contumely or neglect ; for we seem, indeed, to be so constituted that the present and the physical lord it over the future and the intangible ; so that a power, professing to heal diseases, will interest men generally more than the most striking revela- tions regarding their moral destiny ; and it may be reasonably doubted whether our Redeemer's Ser- The Testimony of Test. 155 mon on the Mount made anything like the impres- sion which the healing of the leper, at its foot, pro- duced upon the assembled multitudes. But, that Mesmerism, proclaiming — "I can cure!" — should be coldly or partially received, does, I own, move me to wonder. " Ordinarily, all that holds out even a hope of re- lief to any ailment whatever, whether real or fan- cied, is welcomed with a blind rage and stupid credulity. Every new name of every old quack remedy is certain to evoke a crowd of self-devoted persons, who are most ready to try on their own poor bodies the efficacy of the nostrum. In the very teeth of verdicts that denounce the drug as murderous, the fond disciples of a favorite pill will yet continue to obey the voice of the inventor, that says : ' The more you take the better ' (id est : ' for my own pocket ' ) and will greedily swallow the favorite boluses by fifties, and by hundreds. " In the case of Mesmerism alone, the most startling benefits, the most alluring promises, on the one side — persecution even, and the anathemas of the diplomatized on the other — have failed to stimulate the public mind into anything like desire or enthusiasm. Perhaps even so, it is well. All slowly acquired possessions are the surest, and that i which owes nothing to the breath of popular ap- plause, may consider itself independent of popular fickleness. The part that now remains to the friends of Mesmerism is, by truth and sobriety, to win their way into the territory of public belief, 156 Vital Magnetism. where every step is grudgingly accorded, and gradually to persuade men to their own benefit by setting before them unceasing examples of the curative powers of the distrusted agency. It is in this sphere of its operation especially, that my experience has become enlarged ; and as I have elsewhere sufficiently insisted on the metaphysical importance of Mesmerism, I would here confine myself to stating a few facts relative to its remedial energy, which have either fallen under my own ob- servation or have reached me through unsuspected sources. I have watched the effects of mesmeric treatment upon a suffering friend, who was dying of that most fearful disorder — Lumbar Abscess. " Unfortunately, through various hindrances, Mesmerism was not resorted to till late in the pro- gress of the disease, so that, of course, that it should effect a cure was out of the question. It should ever be held in remembrance that Mesmer- ism does not profess to work miracles. "It cannot restore a decayed bone to its integ- rity, or re-create a missing part ; but it can benefit, even where it cannot save. " And how much is it to say of a power — that it is remedial even where not curative, and that in cases where it fails to re-kindle life, it can smooth the passage to the grave, and mitigate the horrors of physical pain ! This I have gratefully witnessed in the case of my suffering friend. He was at the time of the worst part of his illness, residing near Inspruck, and was fortunate enough to command the The Testimony of Test. 157 mesmeric services of Dr. Ennemoser, the author of several high and useful works on Mesmerism; a man whose experience in this science is fully equaled (as it ought to be in medical men) by his knowledge of therapeutics in general. " I have no hesitation in saying, that, under God, the life of my friend, R. T., was prolonged, at least, two months by the action of Mesmerism. The im- provement in all his symptoms, from the date of the first experiment, was too marked to be mistaken, or to be considered as the result of other causes. " At the time the mesmerising was undertaken, the patient was in a state of continuous fever, to- tally without appetite, and suffering almost con- stant pain from thirteen wounds, which were partly the result of his disorder, partly of abrasion from his being nearly always in a reclining position, either in bed or on a sofa. " His thirst was great, his tongue white and dry, and his pulse hurried. Rarely could he obtain an hour's continuous sleep at night. After the first mesmerizing he slept better than he had done for weeks, and in three or four days the continous fever was exchanged for a hectic attack, which came on periodically, about six o'clock in the even- ing, but rarely lasted more than two hours. The furred tongue became pure as an infant's, the ap- petite excellent, and so continued until within three days of the closing struggle. "The pulse, also, sank into a calm state; which was only disturbed by the recurrence of the even- 158 Vital Magnetism. ing hectic. In all points, the improvement was so remarkable that every one about the patient thought that, had Mesmerism been earlier resorted to, the patient's life must have been preserved. But the abcess had already too deeply affected the bones of the back and hip, and had extended too near the femoral artery, to be checked by human means; or even by those almost superhuman aids which Mesmerism may be said to afford. " Dr. Ennemoser attended his patient always at one certain hour (two o'clock) every day. " During the manipulations, the sufferer invaria- bly slept, but not always with the same degree of intensity. Even in the slightest stages of Mesmeric slumber, it was remarkable that R. T. could bear to have his right leg and thigh moved out of their customary position, and even somewhat roughly handled; whereas, at other times, an accidental touch upon those parts would cause him to shriek with agony. At all times, and in any moment, the Mesmeric passes either soothed or arrested the pa- tient's sufferings, and having once been Mesmerized by Dr. Ennemoser, .he was susceptible to the Mes- meric action of those with whom he lived in daily relationship. His brother, especially, who had come from England to attend his death-bed, could exert this influence over him, and had the ability to quiet his paroxysms of pain, or to make him sleep, at moments when under ordinary circumstances, any approach of slumber would have been impos- sible. The Testimony of Test. 159 "What a valuable power was this! As any at- tempt at opiates increased the fever, and brought on slight delirium, let any one imagine what un- told treasures resided in the simple motions of the hand, which calmed the thrill of agony, and gave repose to the throbbing, yet exhausted nature! " They who have heard, as I have heard, the dreadful shrieks, the sounds, more resembling the bellowing of a wild animal than the intonation of a human voice, which are wrung from the poor suf- ferer (and that sufferer a much- loved friend), under that most horrible, most appaling malady — the Lum- bar Abscess — they, and they alone can appreciate the almost overpowering thankfulness which swells the heart in return for a gift that, in a few moments, causes the shrill cry to sink into a tremulous murmur, that murmur again to become an almost inarticulate sob, and that sob to die, at length, away into the blessed stillness of a deep restoring slumber ! " Oh we may reason and reason about the truth of Mesmerism — the more or the less of faith we bestow upon its wondrous, yet shifting phenomena — but in such a case as this we feel, and in child- like spirit, acquiesce in the benefit, which we are unable to analyze. " The heart is wise," as Southey has beautifully said ; and here, at least, is demon- stration in its glow of gratitude — that this power is of God ! " These tranquilizing effects of mesmeric in- fluence were manifested even unto the end of my dear friend's life. 160 Vital Magnetism. "Yet he owed a deeper debt than this to Mes- merism ! It had reclaimed him from the hardest infidelity ! Of a singular organization, R. T. — the most amiable of human beings — approached the nearest to an atheist of any one I ever met with. He seemed to want the very faculty which says at once — a God must be ! But in his last illness then it was that a new principle supplied the defect of the original nature, more strikingly than if that nature had from the beginning appeared full of holy veneration. Who that then saw him leaning over his bible, as he sate for an hour or two in the evening, propped up by pillows on every side, calm even under the attack of periodical fever ; triumph- ing over mortal infirmity and pain ; rejoicing while we inwardly mourned ; and whispering patience and comfort to all around him ; who that beheld this strength made perfect in weakness, but must have said : " The hand of heaven is here !" " And this faith — this wondrous patience — this 1 holy comfort springing out of tears,' were (as he himself told me), attributable, under Divine Pro- vidence, to Mesmerism. " From having seen mesmeric phenomena, to which he could not refuse his assent, he was led, step by step, to recognize the mighty truth of spirit predominant over matter — consequently of a ruling spirit creating and sustaining all things. He who sees and ministers to the spiritual wants of all His reasoning creatures, had adapted this remedy The Testimony of Test. 161 to the peculiar and fearful disease of the intellect under which R. T. had labored. " And, touchingly, he said to me, 'I rejoice that Mesmerism should be the last remedy tried on me ; that it should prove successful in calming my pains, because it was the first thing that, through God's blessing, relieved me from the worse evil of an unbelieving heart.' " And so, praying and praising God, and grateful for 'Mesmerism, the gift of God,' his spirit was loosed from its earthly bonds at the very moment when, after a severe paroxysm of pain, his brother was mesmerizing him, as he thought, into the calmest slumber. In connection with the relief which Mesmerism afforded to the last hours of my suffering friend, was another remarkable instance of the beneficial effects of the agency in question. " The surgeon who attended R. T. in a purely surgical capacity, was an intelligent man, possessed not only of much skill in his immediate profession, but of considerable medical knowledge. Having frequently witnessed the power of the mesmeric passes to calm R. T., even under the severest par- oxysms of pain, Herr Lorenz requested me to give him some instructions in the mesmeric art, which he purposed occasionally to employ, should a case, to which the agency might seem applicable, occur in his practice amongst the neighboring poor, many of whom he attended gratuitously. One day he came to me filled with pleasure and excitement, and related that he had had extraordinary success 1 62 Vital Magnetism. with Mesmerism, in a case which, for some days, had baffled his medical efforts, and had given him considerable uneasiness. The patient was a young man — a poor laborer's son, who was suffering under the worst form of typhus fever, and had been for a long period without sleep, talking incessantly, in a state of constant delirium. "After about half an hour's mesmerization, the young man ceased talking, and soon after, fell into a calm and critical slumber. This circumstance so astonished the youth's grandfather, who was at the time in the patient's room (the common room in- deed of all the family) that he retreated behind the stove to mutter Ave Marias and Paternosters, in order to exorcise the Evil One, who alone, as the old man thought (herein reasoning no worse than many a pious Protestant) could have possibly produced such a rapid change for the better. For- tunately his holy adjurations were insufficient to chase the kindly spirit that was calming and healing his poor grandson; and the young man awoke from the long and refreshing slumber which Mesmerism had induced, to an amended state, and to the pos- session of his senses. " Under continued mesmeric treatment, the pa- tient recovered his strength and health, as Herr Lorenz informed me, more rapidly than is usual with persons who have been similarly affected. " A brother of the young man, and the grandfa- ther, now fell ill of the typhus, the infection of which, being in the same chamber with the invalid, The Testimony of Test. 163 they could not escape. In these latter cases, Herr Lorenz assured me, the disorder was robbed of its horrors by a timely resort to Mesmerism, the em- ployment of which was no longer suspiciously viewed by the old man. In fact, by a common re- action of feeling, he had for some time transferred the miracles of Mesmerism from the enemy of mankind's account to the credit of the Blessed Virgin. " That the grandfather, who was eighty-three years of age, should have recovered speedily from this malignant fever, with scarcely any other remedy than Mesmerism (for in all the cases, but little med- icine was given) is another proof of the curative powers of this influence. The instances of the utility of Mesmerism that have been detailed to me by foreign mesmerizers, some of whom are med- ical men — others not — are far too numerous to form part of a work ; they would if duly set down con- stitute a work of themselves. I shall, therefore, only avail myself of the testimony touching the benefits of Mesmerism of one or two persons, on whose accuracy, from the coincidence of personal observation, I can place the firmest reliance. " Dr. Ennemoser has assured me that he has suc- cessfully employed Mesmerism — either alone or conjointly with other remedies — in almost every ailment to which the human constitution is liable ; but more especially where it was chiefly desirable to excite a healthy action in the nerves and brain. He considered this as the one appointed remedy for 164 Vital Magnetism. epilepsy, and declared that he had cured by it 'sev- eral cases of madness. " Dr. Wilde, of Berne, informed me, that by mesmerizing a lady, suffering under periodical attacks of St. Vitus' dance, at the time when the affection used to come on, he succeeded in putting off the attack every day to a later hour, until its recurrence was altogether prevented. He also re- lated to me a most interesting case of another lady, in the last extremity, under an attack of the Iliac Passion, whom he supported in his arms, every moment expecting her dissolution, when the happy thought came, like an inspiration, to his mind — try Mesmerism ! He did so, and the relief was immediate. The spasmodic action subsided, and the patient's life was preserved. " During a residence at Dresden, I had the pleas- ure of hearing many authentic particulars of mes- meric cures from Count Szapary, a nobleman, of one of the oldest families in Hungary, who has de- voted his fortune, time and talents to the exercise of Mesmerism, for the relief of disorders alone. I have seldom witnessed a more touching festival than was a public breakfast given to this gentle- man by the friends of those persons whom he had either benefited or cured by Mesmeric means. " Many of the patients, now restored to health, were present at the table, and many of their rela- tives rose, one by one, to return thanks to the noble mesmerizer for the good which, under Divine Provi- dence, he had done to those who were dear to them. The Testimony of Test. 165 "One aged man spoke a few grateful words, but his voice faltered, and, tears choking his utterance, he was forced to sit down in a silence which was more eloquent than speech. It was for the preser- vation of his only daughter, snatched by Mesmer- ism from the very brink of the grave, that he de- sired to express his gratitude ! " A young lady, who sat next me at breakfast, a charming person, well known in the higher circles of Dresden, gave me a most interesting account of her own restoration to the blessings of health by the Mesmeric aid of Count Szapary. For two years, she told me, she had been unable to rise from her bed, or scarcely to move her limbs from nervous paralysis. 'At present,' she said, 'I can walk, ride, dance as much as I will ; and many persons here, who know my former state, will scarcely be- lieve in my identity with the poor bed-ridden crea- ture that excited everybody's pity. " ' Some who meet me out walking, stare at me, and start as if they had seen a ghost. Not, indeed, that I look much like one at the present time ;' — a remark in which I fully coincided. " Indeed, the peculiarly blooming appearance of this young lady so much belied all past suffering, that, till I entered into conversation with her, I never dreamed that she could have been a mesmeric patient. The efficient cause of her cure, this lady de- clared to me, was a mesmeric sleep, which lasted a fortnight, of the events of which, she positively assured me, she had no manner of recollection. 1 66 Vital Magnetism. " Yet, from the testimony of her parents, and of those who were about her, during the period of the slumber, she could not doubt that she had in this time spoken, taken nourishment, and beheld objects, although her eyes were closed. Such lengthened mesmeric trances as this were fre- quently, as I heard from Count Szapary himself, and from others of his patients, produced by him in certain cases, and were a powerful means of restoration to health. Not, as the Count assured me, that he labored at producing any such effect. On the contrary, he believed (and Dr. Chapelaine, in Paris, told me the same thing), that the mes- meric sleep was by no means an indispensable con- dition of mesmeric benefit. " Many of his patients, he said, having got well under daily mesmerizing, without having expe- rienced any drowsiness, or extraordinary symp- tom whatever. His great desire was to leave Na- ture free, to select such means of renovation as should be most suited to her exigencies — to follow where she guided, not himself to lead the way, and to concentrate his thoughts as much as possible, upon the single, simple idea of doing good to the patient. " But where the trance occurred, as it did mostly in exhausted, yet irritable temperaments, the Count considered that this was the one thing wanting to restore the equilibrium of the constitution, and to enable Nature to recover her tone by a prolonged repose. The Testimony of Test. 167 " That Count Szapary should, as it were, involun- tarily cause this effect, so rare to be used by other mesmerizers, is a proof of that which I have always believed, namely, that to each person belongs a mesmeric action, as peculiar and as individual as his own character. Count Szapary certainly pos- sesses great mesmeric energy, being able to mes- merize many persons in the course of the day, without fatigue to himself. " In England, not less than on the continent, opportunities have been afforded me of gathering evidence respecting the good that Mesmerism has effected. " I have accompanied Dr. Elliottson in his visits to such patients as he was treating by Mesmerism, and have listened to many an artless expression of gratitude, poured out to him by persons of various classes, for the important benefit they had derived from this calumniated remedy. " One of the most eloquent of these was a re- spectable woman, with whom I found myself acci- dentally in the same room at Dr. Elliottson's while waiting one day until he had leisure to see me. This person assured me, that for years she had suf- fered a martyrdom from tic-douloureux, to such an extent, that when Dr. Elliottson first began to mes- merize her, she could not hold any cold substance, even an open book (unless it were previously warmed at a fire) near her face, without a parox- ysm of pain, which would send her darting invol- untarily from one end of the room to the other. 1 68 Vital Magnetism. Of course, the contact of the open air would have been unbearable torture to her. "And now," she said, " I walk every day, in all kinds of weather, to Dr. Elliottson's house, without inconvenience; and instead of having to suffer many attacks of agony in an hour, I often pass a whole day without pain.' " There was something in my accidental meeting with this woman — in her earnest and natural story — in the utter absence of pretension to display, which impressed me strongly. "And this is only one case of many such. I am indebted to Mr. Wood, who has studied under Dr. Elliottson, and who also admits Mesmerism into his medical practice, for having witnessed one of the most triumphant proofs of the power of this influence that can be conceived. " It was the case of a little boy, only three years of age, who was born an idiot, and who had dis- tressed all those about him by incessant shrieking, especially during the night; in consequence of which his mother declared she could scarcely ob- tain any sleep or repose. The mother, a respectable person of the middling class, brought in the child, which appeared not larger than an infant of fifteen months old; but no infant of that age, to whom the gift of reason was vouchsafed, ever presented that fearful absence of expression, which, in the dropping of the lip, and unmeaning eye, character- ized this unhappy sufferer. At the time when Mr. Wood began the mesmerizing, the child was keep- ing up a sort of low moaning and occasionally cry- The Testimony of Test. 169 ing aloud in a strange and disagreeable tone of voice. It was also moving restlessly about in the moth- er's arms. " After about five minutes' mesmerization the change in the child's demeanor was most striking. There was no longer any moaning or restlessness; and the eyes had gained a human look, that grew upon them till they began to close in slumber, which at the end of little more than ten minutes, was complete, and of the deepest kind. At this time the countenance had lost everything that was unpleasant. " It had even the remarking and attentive expres- sion which so strongly distinguishes the mesmeric from common sleep, so that, in gazing upon it, one could now say,' There is mind here!' About the eyelids, especially, was that singular look, so pecu- liar to mesmeric sleep-waking, as if the eye were looking through them to something beyond. " I was allowed to test the depth of the child's slumber by rather rough methods, such as shaking it, shouting out loudly close to its ears, &c, but nothing disturbed its repose in the slightest degree. The arm was taken up, and suddenly, left to itself, fell like lead, and more lifelessly than in ordinary sleep, upon whatever arrested its descent. ! " The mother now placed the child upon the bed, and assured me that it would sleep there quietly for hours, and awake in a far more tranquil state than that in which I had first seen it. The improve- 170 Vital Magnetism. ment in the child's condition, since the time when the mesmerization was undertaken, she told me, consisted in the following particulars: The rest at night was now good, and, for the blessing, she said she could not be too grateful. " They alone could appreciate it, who had known, like her, what it was to sit up, night after night, with a child in that fearful state of idiotism. " By day, the paroxysms of crying, and of con- vulsive motion had become less frequent, and of a milder character; and, whereas formerly the child took no notice of anything whatever, it now began occasionally (and more especially when awakening from mesmeric slumber), to show symptoms of be- ing interested in various objects. But, above all, there was an evident dawn of speech, and the words 'papa' and 'mama' were, however imper- fectly, uttered ; but, before Mesmerism was tried, nothing approaching to articulate sound had ever passed the child's lips. "I do not instance this as an evidence of the power of Mesmerism to restore confirmed idiocy to reason — in other words, to work a miracle. "The child was relieved, not cured, and is, I be- lieve, an idiot still — though of a milder kind than formerly. "Afflicted as he was with a radical disease of the brain, a perfect restoration of the mental functions was not to be looked for ; but greater progress toward reason had perhaps been made could Mr. Wood have concentrated his time and mesmeric The Testimony of Test. 171 power upon this one patient ; but he was called out of town to attend upon an urgent case, which occu- pied him for some weeks, just at the time when he was daily producing more remarkable effects upon the little idiot boy. " This statement will probably nullify all that I have said regarding this extraordinary case, be- cause, with most persons, not to cure is equivalent to doing nothing at all. But I must say a few words on this point. " Is mitigation of suffering nothing in this suffer- ing world ? Who are the persons who choose to deny the advantage of a remedy because it is not entirely curative ? Certainly not those who are tortured by disease, nor their friends who wit- nessed that torture. It is the partisans of a sys- tem — the prejudiced — whose prejudices no attack of serious pain, neither of illness, has shaken ; who, being in possession of health themselves, can very calmly imagine that a pang more or less is of but very trifling consequence ; and that, more espe- cially, any one pang rendered less by Mesmerism, must be treason to all that is regular and respecta- ble in this world of words and forms. To me the case of the idiot child, however stopping short of perfect relief, is deeply interesting in sundry points of view. To produce any mitigation of symptoms, any glimmering of reason — in a case of born idiotism — is more extraordinary than to effect a cure of delirium, or mania, springing from acci- dental causes. This partial triumph over organic 172 Vital Magnetism. defect shows Mesmerism capable of producing, to the verge of the possible, and of educing from cer- tain elements all the favorable results of which those elements are susceptible. The fact of Mes- merism having been able to compose, and so quickly bring into slumber, a child of three years old — that child, moreover, an idiot, suffering under high irritation — is sufficient of itself to refute the opinion of those who would refer Mesmeric efforts to the delusions of the imagination." The thoroughly practical character of Mr. Towns- hend's facts and deductions, justifies the extended quotation I have made from his interesting work. The statements are the more valuable as coming from a thoroughly disinterested observer, and noticed by him as mere incidents, rather than as primary facts related to the field which he had prescribed for himself in his investigations in Psy- chology. They also have value by giving a practical an- swer to some of the weak objections of weak minds, who in this day, as in the day for which he wrote, are carried off their feet by the extraordi- nary character of some of the cures effected by this agency, and tremble lest they have stumbled upon something which shall undermine their Christian faith, or touch upon some forbidden ground which has heretofore been looked upon as miraculous and supernatural. In the earlier history of the science some weak- headed clergymen felt called upon to denounce the The Testimony of Test. 173 practice as an emanation of evil, just as they preached sermons against vaccination upon its first introduction. All these objections have died out, and it would be a waste of time and patience to travel over the ground now, as these cavils have long since been fully answered by deeds of good, instead of the evil effects which were predicted by such opponents. If, however, the reader would like to follow a polemical discussion he will find an exhaustive one in the Rev. Mr. Sandby's work, entitled "Mesmerisrn and its Opponents," or in a work by Mr. George Barth of London, styled " Mesmerism Not Miracle." These works are de- voted to this class of objections, and fully answer every imaginary cavil of this character. One such testimony as Mr. Townshend adduces, where his friend's infidelity was made to give way, and his mental darkness to flee with his racking pain, while he exclaims: " Mesmerism, through God's blessing, relieved me from the worse evil of an unbelieving heart," is a better answer than any amount of dry speculation, or angry denunciation, and vindicates that wise saying that " a house di- vided against itself cannot stand." The curative power of this agency stands where it belongs, within the circle of natural law, and is in no way in competition with the grand displays of Omnipotent power made by our Divine Master when He was on the earth. XIV. MY OWN POSITION. I have now reached the limit prescribed to my- self for the presentation of facts and statements relating to magnetic cure. The great difficulty has been to select from the huge mass those items that would command most general attention from the American public, and convey an adequate idea of the magnitude of the investigations prosecuted in Europe. It is to be hoped that the wave of inquiry shall yet sweep with irresistible force across this land, bringing into activity powers for good that now lie dormant and unused. Only those medical men who have had access to foreign authors, so difficult to obtain in this country, have any technical knowledge ; and the number who have had personal experience in the practice is still less. This is evidenced by the crude attempts to dis- cuss the subject in medical conventions, where the vast majority must sit dumb, and frequently those who present its claims seem ignorant of the fact that the same things have been matters of common intelli- gence abroad for more than a quarter of a century. I trust such sources of information will be opened by the perusal of these pages as will lead earnest My Own Position. 175 minds to seek closer contact with the thought and experience of the authorities to whom I point, who have already done so much in the field that many imagine to be so new. I claim no originality of discovery. I have proved by experiment and practice much that is set forth by the authorities presented to the reader on this branch of the subject ; and while I have not been indifferent to the fascinations of the so- called higher mental phenomena often met with in magnetic practice, I have studiously avoided intro- ducing this element into what I design to be strictly a review of the subject in its relations to the heal- ing art, believing that anything beycnd this, at present, will be but confusing and out of place, and of no practical value. For the same reason I have omitted the discus- sion of processes, upon which so much has been said by others. No mere form of inducing the magnetic condition has pre-eminent advantages over all others, and there is no solid basis, in my judgment, for any such distinction; what is claimed for one condition is often misapplied in others, and each process doubtless has its advantages under given circumstances. What may appear simple enough in itself is not a proper thing for indis- criminate use by the thoughtless and ignorant, who can alone do mischief with a power that should be sacredly guarded. There are plenty of avenues open for the acquisition of knowledge in this direction to those who are entitled to be in- 176 Vital Magnetism. formed in regard to it, and I do not propose to be one of the many who have encouraged indiscrim- inate, useless, and foolish, if not dangerous, experi- ment. To the elucidation of this folly a few para- graphs upon sympathetic influence may be de- voted by way of caution to the ill-informed. XV. SYMPATHETIC INFLUENCE. This is a subject that concerns practitioners more than patients, and while there are widely varying susceptibilities and idiosyncracies among patients, the same is true of the practitioners, and though many of them may escape sympathetic effects from contact with numerous diseased con- ditions, others experience more or less discom- fort, and are perhaps exposed to some personal risk. The writer himself has often experienced tem- porary effects lasting for an hour or two, but never leaving any permanent traces behind. It is doubtless true, also, that active and success- ful practitioners are most liable to a disturbance Sympathetic Influence, 177 of this kind, but if they have a strong will, and powers of concentration, it can be readily over- come. The absence of these qualities probably accounts for so many men failing, after a brief practice, in this profession. These effects and the natural ability to overcome them, must be settled by the experience of each practitioner for himself ; no rule can be laid down of general application. Many practitioners have lived to a good old age whose labors were tre- mendous ; as, witness Doctor Mesmer, who lived to be over 80 years of age, his own last illness being delightfully soothed and ameliorated by vital mag- netism. In this line Dr. Reynoldson, of Bootle, near Liverpool, reports, November 8th, 1847. on P a g e 325 of 5 Vol. Zoist : "Having for several years devoted myself entirely to the cure of disease by mesmeric action alone, I have been daily, and often hourly,, conscious of sympathetic pain when mes- merising a patient ; and I notice this pain occur the same minute that the correspondent pain leaves the sufferer, the pain generally passing away in a few moments or minutes, but occasionally continuing with much severity for some hours, and once it continued about the diaphragm for eight days, and was then relieved by magnetism." Again he says : " In my practice here, upon two occasions, I have been banished from my patient in fever by the advice. of physicians." 178 Vital Magnetism. " The one patient turned dark in typhus fever and recovered; the other soon recovered. But my nights were sleepless for hours during the progress of each case, and I can testify from most painful experience that intense suffering may be inflicted upon the mesmerist, who, after establishing a strong sympathy with his patient, is not allowed to con- tinue to manipulate during the severe stages of the disease." Dr. Elliottson observes : " The fact of the transit or metastasis of disease from one individual to another, whether of the same or of a different species, is unknown to the medical world. But this pathological occurrence is proved by Mesmerism as clearly as the physio- logical fact of cerebral sympathy of sensation and thought between two individuals. I am not aware that any account of it exists in medical works, but probably very many instances are recorded in mes- meric writings, since it is commonly spoken of amongst mesmerists." The following case in point is also furnished by Dr. Elliottson, supplemented by a letter addressed by the patient himself to the editor of the Zoist, and found upon page 236 of the fifth volume of that journal: " A young tradesman in my neighborhood, whom I had never seen, came to consult me oh the 25th of August, 1.846; he had dark hair, and was pale and slim, but possessed of remarkably firm muscles, and was so swift that he had beaten the most noted Sympathetic Influence. 179 runners. He informed me that he had been ill more or less for some years; that the slightest cir- cumstance had cast him down or irritated him, ac cording to its nature; that he felt sometimes as if he should go out of his mind, and sometimes as if he were about to die; that he slept well, but was tired before going to sleep, and awoke in the morn- ing tired, though he had no muscular weakness; he frequently experienced a heaviness of the eyes; sometimes numbness and tingling all over him; sometimes violent itching of his arms; his hands were cold and shriveled; the bowels were often torpid, and at those times he was always worse; that the liver secreted too sparingly, and that he was better in the country. His mother was ner- vous. " I prescribed in the best way I could for him. In about ten days he called upon me one evening, with his symptoms very intense, and suffering a headache so severe as almost to drive him mad. This lasted till next morning; and when he called again in two days, he was in the first state as when I first saw him. On the evening of this day I left London for Switzerland, and did not see him again till the beginning of November. " After being under my treatment for two months^ he was no better. I had not mentioned Mesmerism to him, although I believed from the first it would be the best thing for his case, because I have been compelled for a long while never to name this sub- ject before inquiries are made to me. I found a 180 Vital Magnetism. large number of medical men, physicians, and gen- eral practitioners equally, who were perfectly ig- norant of it, who had done their patients no good, and had no hope of doing them good, stare at me with a far more sagacious look than I could give, and assure me they considered it nonsense, and would not consent to its use; and I found large numbers of patients refuse to hear of it, because they knew it was nonsense, dangerous, or Satanic. I give my opinion honestly when it is asked, but I will never run the risk of finding persons unreason- able or ridiculous, and of being thwarted in an attempt to do my duty by them. " This patient and his wife had heard of Mes- merism, and now, as he was no better, inquired what I thought of it in his case. I immediately informed them that it ought to be tried, and was very likely to be of essential service." Dr. Elliottson instructed the wife of this patient so that she could continue the magnetic treatment in his absence. It resulted in the man's complete recovery, but also in the transference of the disease to the wife, who was the operator. Their mutual experience was communicated to the Zoist, as fol- lows : To the Editor ot the Zoist : 77 Wells street, Oxford street, Sept. 3, 1847. Sir: I feel it to be a duty I owe to suffering humanity to make known my experiences of the powerful agent to whose salutary influence I am indebted for the healthy mind and body at the present moment engaged in writing this narrative Sympathetic Ififluence. 181 of my relief from mental and bodily torture. Yes ! against the senseless raillery of its opponents, I will record my grateful testimony to its virtues. And at this moment — with a mind undisturbed by phantasies, and a body in which the stream of life is flowing redolent with health — I might be pardoned, were the pleasures of my present existence contrasted with the bit- terness of the past, to hurry me into the language of enthu- siasm. Such, however, is far from my intention ; I wish to give a plain statement of my sufferings and cure, in the hope that some poor sufferer may be led to disregard the nonsensi- cal opposition of bigoted ignorance, and use the means which by the blessing of God proved so healing to me. I was twenty-seven years of age, the son of affectionate parents, the husband of a devoted wife, the father of healthy children, and in a position of life insuring most of life's com- forts. And yet, with all these means of happiness, I was a wretch, to whom the years of life were years of misery — imaginary if you will — yet misery ; my smile was an effort to prove my- self not divested of the sympathies of humanity ; the dread of suicide followed me as my shadow, while from my temples scarcely ever fled the dull, dull pain, which sometimes in- creased to positive agony. To my morbid fancy, no security could preserve my children from untimely deaths, no precau- tion ward off evils whose dark shadows blackened my soul. These symptoms softened at times, yet ever preying on my peace of mind, were my companions for years. My temples are indented with leech bites, my arms scarred with issues, my body was poisoned with medicine. I never recollect feeling myself what I could emphatically term in health, until the last few months, in which I have taken greater liberties with myself than I ever did in my life before. It was after one of my most violent paroxysms, I had the happiness to consult Dr. Elliottson, the indomitable champion of mesmeric truth. The man who, for a great principle in nature, of which he was convinced, defied the sneers of ignor- 1 82 Vital Magnetism. ance, the malice of envy, and the filth of misrepresentation ; and who, after suffering, as he must have done, a martyrdom of anxiety, has lived, thank God, to see it fully borne out by the experience of thousands, and — the only reward he sought — seen its solitary influence exhibited in the alleviation and eradication of human suffering. Excuse this digression ; it is the outpouring of a grateful heart, warmed by the recollection of its benefactor. By the advice of Dr. Elliottson I was induced to try mesmerism, and my wife having been shown the way to exert its influence upon me, commenced operations. At length, about a month after the first essay, I sank into a mesmeric sleep. Its influence from that time was complete ; a few moments only served to send me into a slumber, from which I awoke a healthier man. My cure was rapid and complete ; physic was thrown to the dogs ; and any recurrence of my former symp- toms vanished at the wave of her hand. Then it was that a most singular phenomenon was shown. I looked upon my wife and beheld in her an image of my former self. The ills which before I had to mourn over in myself, I saw in her. The same dejection, the same feeling of weariness, the same pains. The high-spirited, light-hearted woman turned into the desponding invalid. I had bequeathed to the mother of my children the malady which had made my life a misery. But who under such circumstances could give way to despair ? Mesmerism had expunged the word from my vocabulary. We waited upon Dr. Elliottson, who kindly mesmerized my wife daily ; and in less than a fortnight I had the happiness of seeing her the same happy creature as heretofore. I have had but one return of my old enemy, was mesmer- ized, and awoke well. Such, sir, are the particulars of my case. To any one seek- ing relief from pain, I shall be happy at any time to render any information in my power ; and the happiness I experience Dr. Newnham s Exposition of Principles. 183 .n my recovery will be enhanced, if I can be assured of one )oor sufferer following my example, with, I feel confident, the ame happy results. I am sir, your obedient servant, William Snewing. These instances will suffice to give fair warning to inexperienced persons of the risk and discomfort they may incur by tampering with a force they do not know how to control. XVI. DR. NEWNHAM'S EXPOSITION OF PRINCIPLES AND PLEA FOR INVESTIGATION AND ADOPTION BY THE PROFESSION. The practice itself need not and ought not to come into competition with medical practice of any school, nor to exclude medical science in any form, but should be accepted as one of the physician's most powerful aids, for its advocates and expound- ers have been found in every school of medicine, and among their most eminent representatives. While it will be seen that its range is exceedingly wide, its proper field of application is doubtless 184 Vital Magnetism. more specifically within the line of nervous dis- eases where medication has failed to afford relief. I plead for unbiased investigation, and to this end let that eminent English surgeon and writer, Newnham, speak to his brethren : "It is important," he says, "that magnetism should be investigated as other sciences ; that ac- knowledging the existence of the agent, the modes of its action should be ascertained, and that the inquiry should be conducted by men whose scien- tific habits will enable them to collect, to weigh, to discuss, to estimate, to discriminate testimony, and to adopt or reject it, according to its intrinsic merits. It is, however, to be remembered that even here is a concealed evil which must be guarded against. " While scientific men are generally considered to be free from vulgar prejudice, it is a fact that they are liable, in no small degree, to a class of prejudices peculiarly their own, and marked, where they do exist, by an intensity and pertinacity which are wanting in feebler and inferior minds. Preju- dice in the vulgar and uneducated, or partially educated, commonly assumes the form of all-de- vouring and immeasurable belief, and a yielding up of themselves to the influence of feeling. With the learned, on the contrary, the very antipodes to the former class, prejudice assumes the shape of skepticism, a doubt as to everything which is not proven to demonstration, or which appeals in any way directly or indirectly to the voice of feeling or Dr. Newnham 's Exposition of Prificiples. 185 passion, or to the influence of imagination ; it is reason alone which is to be attended to, and an amount of proof is asked for which is incompatible with the imperfect state of our knowledge and faculties, of our acquired stores of wisdom, and of our powers for further acquisitions. "It is one of the prejudices of great minds (for great minds are quite compatible with many little- nesses) to dislike novelty because it is new, and that, perhaps, precisely in the same proportion as this characteristic is attractive to little minds ; and therefore, since the phenomena of produced a?id lucid somnambulism are rare, they have been invested with more than usual doubt. Hence the very great importance, in order to arrive at clear results, to distinguish between the two from the beginning, and not to confound Magnetism, whose existence is shown by incontestable proofs, with Somnambu- lism, whose features are of a more questionable and protean character, and is a state oftentimes indepen- dent of, but occasionally developed by, magnetism. " The truth is, that in tracing the history of the relation of facts to their causes, and between them- selves, observers have often been mistaken, in their degree and mode of relation, either from their being mere theorizers, and from their determination to theorize, before they inquired, or that they had not the required amount of knowledge, to enable them to judge accurately or that they were carried away by their feelings. In order to avoid all these errors, it is necessary first to aim after impartiality, — to 1 86 Vital Magnetism. scrutinize the narrative of facts, to test what is doubtful, to separate the true from the false, and to endeavor to arrange the residual product under some known physiological laws, always taking care not to confound the cause and the effect as one, and thus to argue in a very limited, but never- ending circle of truism. The facts should be com- pared with other facts, judged of, and reasoned upon; but the reasonings must not precede the careful record and observation of facts. It may be asked, perhaps, what is a fact? This question will be answered by the ignorant, as everything which their credulity can believe ; and by the learned, it will be defined to be anything within the limit of their previous knowledge. " Both answers are fatal to improvement, yet there is more hope that the ignorance of the vulgar may be cleared away, than that the intolerance of the learned should be overcome; the former may per- chance be accessible in instruction, but the learned invest themselves with the supercilious panoply of their own pride, and despise and condemn every- thing beyond the reach of their ordinary views. " It is, however, the part of puling credulity alone to believe everything which may seem to be, even un- der such favorable circumstances; and it is the part of half-informed scepticism to deny apparent facts, when we are so ignorant of the resources of nature, and when she has so many ways, to us perfectly un- known, in which may be concealed the truth, for which we are professing to inquire. Dr. Newnhani s Exposition of Principles. 187 "To escape from this ignorance on the one hand, and presumption on the other, it is right to with- hold our opinion till we have dispassionately in- quired into the facts and circumstances, as well as into the reasonings upon them, of those who have preceded us; and until we have done so, — though we may prudently array ourselves in scientific doubt, — we shall, if guided by the same principle, take care to avoid that amount of incredulity, which though it be productive of less injury to science than its antagonist principle of a too easy belief .in the marvelous, is still so serious an error as to demand our utmost care to escape from its entang- ling meshes. The result of the judicious balancing of these principles will be the development and establishment of general laws, which can only be drawn from the observatio 1 and accumulation of facts, sufficiently numerous, and adequately ob- served. " But it will be said by an objector, that to believe in an extraordinary fact at once is only the part of weakness and enthusiasm ; that in proportion as a fact is extraordinary, so will be the probability of er- ror or falsehood on the part of the witness; that a greater amount of testimony is required to sub- stantiate a suspension of Nature's laws, or any ex- traordinary development of her previously un- known resources: moreover, the very things which add to the strength of belief in unenlightened minds, are precisely those which detract from it in the minds of the well informed. The one being greedy 1 88 Vital Magnetism. after the marvelous; the other always suspicious of its reality; and that, therefore, it is impossible to sacrifice our common sense, and the general re- port of ages, at the gratuitous bidding of a few magnetizers. " We rejoice to reply to an objection thus candidly stated. We admit that the exhibition of too easy credence is the mark of an enthusiastic and a feeble mind, — but we fearlessly assert that obstinate be- lief without examination is the evidence of an unsound mind. We have before shown that such is the character of the witnesses as to the facts, and such their agreeing testimony, as to render error to the last degree improbable, and falsehood impossi- ble. We have shown that an over-abundant array of testimony in favor of the facts of magnetism can be found, — even if these facts were miracu- lous, and involved a suspension of the laws of nature; but we have still further shown, and shall hereafter more distinctly prove, that they do not involve such deviation or suspension ; but that on the contrary the facts are deeply laid in the hidden things of nature; that they are recorded as natural and spontaneous products and newly exist in the shape of magnetic facts only as the development at will of their hidden resources, with the laws of which we are still ignorant. Moreover, we contend that the facts are not miraculous, though at present they may be inexplicable, and finally, we do not ask of any one the sacrifice of common sense, but only the adaptation of that common sense, without Dr. Newnham' s Exposition of Principles. 1 89 prejudice or prevention to the sober investigation. of the facts. In the practical inquiry into these facts, it is not sufficient to employ the magnetic processes ; for as the results may be nothing, or use- ful, or hurtful, according to the individuals operated upon, or according to those conducting these pro- cesses, and according to other circumstances and things, which cannot always be foreseen, because our acquaintance with the physiology of the ner- vous system is yet in its infancy, it is quite clear that the inquiry should be directed exclusively to legitimate objects on the one hand, and to those experimenters on the other who have the judgment to discriminate; and the probity which will enable them to be firm in principle. " Such sincere investigators will always be re- warded for patient attention ; but the curious spectator will never be convinced by the exhibition of phenomena, which contradict his preconceived opinions ; and even the philosopher " convinced agaist his will," remains "of the same opinion still." There is no good without its corresponding evil, and the characteristic of the age in which we have rejoiced, and do rejoice, viz.: that of seeking after facts, has also tended to limit our researches after knowledge, and an enlarged acquaintance with the boundaries of scientific truth. For these facts, as they are called, are really the effects of some one or more concurring cause j and the minds of men which have discovered phenomena, the cause and nature of which extended beyond the boundary 190 Vital Magnetism. of their former notions, have been too frequently sat- isfied with throwing them aside as unworthy of further investigation, or as having already reached the utmost bounds of knowledge. And yet, how- ever much this might be allowed of phenomena with which we presume to be sufficiently acquainted, it is to the last degree unphilosophical and intoler- ant with regard to those of which we are confess- edly more or less ignorant. "As yet, with respect to magnetism, there is much to learn; and it presents so many apparent anoma- lies, whose causation seems to be entirely beyond the reach of any of the known laws of nature, that they who have studied it most assiduously are still not safe from the apprehension of mistake. " Nor is this wonderful; nor does it derogate one atom from the character of the pursuit, or of those who investigate. " Medical men, of all others, should be the last to avail themselves of this undefined and uncertain state of things; for let them fall back upon their own peculiar science, and let them say if they can explain all the facts which present themselves to their notice. " In truth, we must be thoroughly acquainted with all the mysteries of creation, before we can dare to pronounce on the possibility of one fact, and the impossibility of another; we cannot even generally trace the causation between an organ and its func- tion, although we may presume to be tolerably well acquainted with both; and even if we were Dr. Newnhanis Exposition of Principles. 191 able to do so, with regard to one organ and func- tion, we should have no means of judging how far under other circumstances these may have some direct or relative influence upon some other organ or function in its sound or morbid condition. How then shall they unblushingly ask for a greater amount of certainty in the sequences, and of per- fection in our acquaintance with the comparatively unexplored phenomena of magnetism? " No wonder, therefore, that the converts to magnetism are among those who have witnessed its power, while its most virulent opponents have been those who have never seen its effects, who have obstinately refused to investigate them. "One thing is certain, that when different persons, at different times, and in distant places, have arrived at the same results — and these results are supported by natural analogies, that there must be some truth in these novel doctrines — some things positive and intangible, notwithstanding the mass of error with which they may have been associated, may be so considerable as to render it difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood, especially if the investigation be abandoned by the wise and pru- dent and well informed, and be left to the ignor- ant, the prejudiced and the unthinking. " Thus in the days which are passed, and especial- ly during the middle ages, miracles (so called) were of frequent occurrence, which might easily be accounted for on natural principles. Now, we no longer speak of miracles ; but if anything 192 Vital Magnetism. extraordinary occurs, we seek to examine first the truth of the facts stated, and then proceed to ex- plain, if we can, the peculiarity of the attendant circumstances. " Notwithstanding the progress of medicine, and its dependent sciences of late years, none can deny how utterly powerless are our remedies against a multitude of disorders, especially against those which affect nervous structure and function ; and for this best possible reason, that our acquaintance with both is so limited, so undefined, and so un- certain, that we are unable to form anything like rational indications, for the relief of their dis- ordered conditions. The knowledge of a disease is more than half its cure ; but if we have almost no knowledge, it is certain that our power of ad- ministering relief will be very limited. " Yet the highest object of medicine is to cure; and if, under such circumstances of acknowledged failure, any new remedy can be proposed, we should not disavow its assumed curative agency, and its consequent assistance in prosecuting this object, till we have proved its faithlessness, merely because we are unacquainted with its modus operandi upon that very structure and function with whose primal condition we are ignorant. Nor is there any reason why we should refuse to investigate, be- cause among the facts alleged by magnetizers there are those which exceed the possibility of be- lief, among many others which are undoubted and undeniable ; that error may be mixed with truth is Dr. Newnhanis Exposition of Principles. 193 a grand motive for inquiry, but no palliation of unbelief. "Magnetism rests on a great number of real facts ; but its adversaries have generally avoided the real question, and have preferred wasting their strength upon speculations as to the nature, rather than as to the phenomena and effects of magnetic processes. " When, however, men of learning, of character, of honor, of high probity and professional stand- ing, men who have no interest to deceive, and everything to lose by dishonesty — when men of such character attest the same facts from one end of Europe to the other, when they describe cor- responding circumstances, and detail similar phe- nomena, how is it possible to throw the blight of willful doubt upon their assertions? How is it that medical men generally do so tacitly asperse their own fraternity, as they necessarily must do by refusing to inquire ? " True it is that a great surgeon once said, in dis- paragement of medical authority, 'Medical Facts! Medical Lies!!' But John Hunter was not a man well calculated to form a just estimate of profes- sional testimony; the doctrines he propounded were not at first sight admitted, and his unhappy, irascible temperament was easily ruffled and irri- tated by opposition ; and it was in one of these moments that he uttered the bitter and unjust sar- casm above detailed. But were it as true as it is unquestionably an exaggeration, it would not give 194 Vital Magnetism. to the medical men of the present day a locus pent- tentia for their treatment of the question of mag- netism, since this also rests its truth on the testi- mony of the simple-hearted, unlearned, unpreju- diced, and unsophisticated observer, as well as on the finer-drawn observations and reasonings of professional and other teamed persons. "It is, then, the paramount duty of the medical inquirer to allow nothing to escape his notice which may add to the perfection of his art, extend his means of relief, or contribute to the solace of suf- fering humanity. " Upon this general principle we take our stand: we assert that, by many credible witnesses, mag- netism is announced as such a means, capable of pro- ducing (under some circumstances) the most bene- ficial results; and granting for one moment, for the sake of argument, that all these witnesses may have been deceived, and that the whole miscalled science is a delusion, yet even this supposition does not warrant our indifference or rejection, because it may be only that the facts have not been observed with sufficient accuracy; and the fact assumed, that many witnesses have been deceived, affords the strongest evidence that the circumstances observed have, at least, so much the semblance of truth as accurately to represent its features to many in- quirers; and if so, what is it which gives that resem- blance! Is it not most probable that the system thus observed does possess some, though possibly exaggerated, truth ? In such a position, to search Dr. Newnham's Exposition of Principles. 195 after and to ascertain this modicum of truth, is the part of wisdom and honesty of purpose. " The forgetfulness of this great principle has led some medical men to avow their disbelief of mag- netism, although they had not studied its phenom- ena ; and their being highly esteemed as men of science has not preserved them from falling into vulgar error, and, curiously enough, has reduced them to present in their own perso7is some of the higher phenomena of magnetism while in the very act of denouncing them, for they have fallen into a state of waking slumber, and have become blind and deaf, and inaccessible to the general subjects involved in the inquiry. " This apathy, this cataleptic state of the intellect, has been most extraordinary, especially when con- trasted with the ordinary proceedings of medical men. Under common circumstances, they do not hesitate to employ the most heroic experimental treatment, and to administer poison in any shape, but they dare not conscientiously place their hands upon their patient, with the intention of curing his maladies, and with a fervent and sincere desire to do so; and yet according to the father of medicine, Hippocrates, ' Nothing should be omitted in an art which interests the whole world, which may be bene- ficial to suffering humanity, and which does not risk human life or comfort.' " So fair, so strong, so urgent an appeal as is this, for investigation into the facts of a sgience of which Dr. Newnham became one of the best investigators, 196 Vital Magnetism. should come with special force to the medical pro- fession, of which he himself was an honored mem- ber. When he commenced his investigations he was strongly prejudiced against its alleged phe- nomena, and a disbeliever in its curative power; and for this reason he was urged to write against it, material being furnished him for the purpose by others ; but, being an honest and fearless man, he commenced de novo, and the result was a treatise in its favor, instead of against it. His work entitled "Human Magnetism" is a splendid instance of the triumph of truth over error. Whatever may be the effect of such pleas on the average professional mind in stimulating to an ex- amination of the merits of magnetism as a curative agent, it cannot be denied that it stands supported by an imposing array of facts that are indisputa- ble, and numbers among its advocates men who stand as high as any in the ranks of science. Fortunately those to whom the practical question must come, are, in the main, free from the ob- stacles which stand in the way of many medical men, whose professional pride and self-interest may cause them to shake their heads wisely, and doubt- ingly deprecate the trial of anything with which their experience has not made them familiar, but which the fair, unanimous, and convincing tes- timony of thousands has shown to be safe and harmless, when properly administered, and against which no evil consequences have yet been proved, al Dr. NewnhanCs Exposition of Principles. 197 though predicted so often and so persistently dur- ing forty years of agitation and investigation. To the invalid stricken with nervous disorders involving brain and spine, causing long and weary days of hopeless suffering, these pages will come, I trust, like a new revelation, to inspire hope in the hopeless and bring courage to the despairing. To you I would say, magnetism will not perform impossibilities, but it will cure in many cases that are pronounced "incurable," and will give relief "in nearly all. To those who are sufferers from para- lysis, epilepsy, sciatica, spinal disease, rheu- matism, tic-douloureux, lumbago, neuralgia in its various excruciating forms, sleeplessness, hysteria, malarial troubles, and functional disorders that may have defied all other means of cure — to you it is mainly important to say that thousands have found relief from such distress in nature's own rem- edy. This fact alone is important, and you can safely leave the professions to wrangle over their theoreti- cal 'vagaries, whether advocates or opponents. The evidence in favor of the practice is but glanced at here. In the thirteen volumes of the Zoist, so often referred to, over seven hundred cases of a desperate character are given in detail, in all of which either an absolute cure or permanent re- lief was obtained; if we add to this the vast mass of private practice in England alone, which never came to the public eye, we cannot but feel it to be a strange thing, that at this late day there should 198 Vital Magnetism. appear to be a necessity for pressing the claims of vital magnetism upon public and professional atten- tion. If by this resicme of views and collocation of facts, experience and observations, I shall contribute to a more intelligent comprehension of the utility of this wonderful agent, I shall be content, trusting that abler pens will continue to diffuse right and worthy views of the question, and thus neutralize the mis- chief which the weak and foolish pretensions of some modern magnetists have wrought in assum- ing for themselves supernatural personal endowment, disgusting intelligent investigators and thus pre- venting them from pursuing the matter in a ra- tional mannner. XVII. THE LESSONS OF HISTORY — SHALL WE BE STUPIDLY TIMID OR BRAVELY WISE ? — A WARNING TO OB- STRUCTIONISTS. In the future of magnetism there will doubtless be drawbacks, as there have been in the past. The first physiologists of the day are speaking in terms of commendation of it as a means of cure; The Lessons of History, 199 but the rank and file of medical practitioners must necessarily feel bewildered for a time. But, I would say to such as are in doubt, what- ever may be your lack of information on this sub- ject, do not range yourselves with those who decry it unheard, or because of its novelty. There are but few advances in science or medi- cine that are not opposed and scouted by men of small minds, who are fearful that if the groove or rut in which they have been running is disturbed there will never again be found a place for their feet. Mr. Lang, of Glasgow, in 1843, set some of these facts in a strong light in his reports upon its his- tory in Scotland, and vividly describes the oppos- ing influences : " Plagiarist ! liar ! impostor ! heretic ! were among the expressions of malignant hatred lav- ished upon Galileo in 1609, as we learn from the record of the life of that eminent philosopher. "The professor of philosophy of Padua refused to look through Galileo's telescope to see whether the satellites of Jupiter really existed, and he dem- onstrated to his own satisfaction that the facts could not be facts. In writing to Kepler regarding this, Galileo says : ' Oh, my dear Kepler, how I wish that we could have one hearty laugh together. Here, at Padua, is the principal professor of phil- osophy, whom I have repeatedly and urgently re- quested to look at the moon and planets through my glass, which he pertinaciously refuses to do. 200 Vital Magnetism. Why are you not here? What shouts of laughter we should have at this glorious folly ! and to hear the philosopher of Pisa laboring before the Grand Duke with logical arguments, as if with magical in- cantations to draw the new planets out of the sky.' " The immediate reward which Harvey received, upon promulgating the doctrine of the circulation of the blood, was general ridicule and abuse, and a great diminution of his practice ; and we are told by Hume that no physician in Europe, who at the time had reached forty years of age, ever, to the end of his life, adopted the doctrine of the cir- culation of the blood. Sydenham, another eminent physician, whose improvements form an era in the history of medi- cine, was by many of his contemporaries called a quack and a murderer. The author of "Fallacies of the Faculty" writes as follows : "When a limb is amputated, the surgeons, to prevent their patients from bleeding to death, as you all know, tie the arteries. In the time of Francis the First they followed another fashion ; then, and formerly, they were in the habit of stanching the blood by the application of boiling pitch to the surface of the stump. Ambrose Pa%£, principal surgeon to that king, introduced the liga- ture as a substitute ; he first tied the arteries. Mark the reward of Ambrose Pate : he was hooted and howled down by the faculty of physic, who ridiculed the idea of hanging human life upon a The Lessons of History. 201 thread, when boiling pitch had stood the test of centuries. In vain he pleaded the agony of the old application ; in vain he showed the success of the ligature. Corporations, colleges, or coteries of whatsoever kind, seldom forgive merit in an adver- sary ; they continued to persecute him with the most remorseless rancor ; luckily he had a spirit to despise and a master to protect him against all the efforts of their malice. "What physician now-a-days would dispute -the value of antimony as a medicine ? Yet when first introduced its employment was voted a crime. But was there no reason ? Yes, it was introduced by Paracelsus — Paracelsus, the arch-enemy of the established practice ! At the instigation of the college, the French Parliament accordingly passed an act making it penal to prescribe it. " To the Jesuits of Peru, Protestant England owes the invaluable bark ; how did Protestant England first receive this gift of the Jesuits ? Being a " Popish remedy " they at once rejected the drug as the invention of the father of all Papists — the Devil ! " In 1693 Dr. Groenvelt discovered the curative power of cantharides, in dropsy ; what an excellent thing for Dr. Groenvelt ! Excellent, indeed ! for no sooner did his cures begin to make a noise than he was at once committed to Newgate prison, by warrant of the President of the College of Physi- cians for prescribing cantharides internally ! Blush, most sapient College of Physicians! — your 202 Vital Magnetism. actual President, Sir Henry Halford, is an humble imitator of the ruined Groenvelt." " Lady Mary Wortley Montague, while abroad with her husband in Turkey, had become acquainted with the practice of inoculation for small-pox, and on returning to England, in 17 18, she attempted to introduce it into the country. " With indomitable courage she tried the experi- ment upon her own children, and was in conse- quence represented as an unnatural mother, who cared nothing for her offspring. Lord Wharncliffe, in his life of Lady Mary, tells us that " the faculty all rose in arms, to a man, foretelling failure, and the most disastrous consequences ; the clergy descanted from their pulpits on the impiety of thus seeking to take events out of the hands of Provi- dence, and the common people were taught to hoot at her. " We now read in grave medical biographies that the discovery was instantly hailed, and the method adopted by the principal members of that profession. Very likely they left this recorded ; for whenever an invention or a project (and the same may be said of persons) has made its way so well, by itself, as to establish a certain reputation, most people are sure to find out that they always patron- ized it from the beginning, and a happy gift of forgetfulness enables many to believe their own assertion. "But what said Lady Mary of the actual fact and actual time ? Why, that the four great physi- The Lessons of History. 203 cians deputed by Government to watch the pro- gress of her daughter's innoculation betrayed not only such incredulity as to its success, but such an unwillingness to have it succeed, such an evident spirit of rancor and malignity, that she never cared to leave the child alone with them, lest it should, in some secret way, suffer from their interference." At a later period, when Jenner was endeavoring to introduce the process of vaccination, he was assailed with the utmost ridicule by the members of the learned profession of medicine. Certain members of the clerical body discovered vaccination to be "Antichrist," and the pulpit was the vehicle for fulminations against it, in the same manner as at a previous period against the innocu- lation of small-pox. Dr. Chalmers, in speaking of the first reception of the Newtonian philosophy, says : "Authority scowled upon it, and taste was disgusted by it, and fashion was ashamed of it." For more than thirty years after the publication of Newton's discov- eries, says Professor Playfair, the Cartesian sys- tem kept its ground, and actually the Newtonian philosophy first entered the University of Cam- bridge under the protection of the Cartesian, by a stratagem of Dr. Samuel Clark, who quietly ex- plained the views of Newton, without any appear- ance of argument or controversy, in the form of notes to a new translation which he published of the French Cartesian work, long established as the text-book by the tutors of the University. 204 Vital Magnetism. With about the same amiable weakness, medi- cal men of standing will admit the facts of mag- netism under the names of Hypnotism, Braidism, &c, while perfectly oblivious of their existence under the names of Animal Magnetism, Mesmer- ism, &c, as of old. I sympathize with the wish to free the science from ill-assorted names; but the attempt to ignore the existence of all that has been said and done under these well-recognized appel- lations is quite as weak as the dodging of the Cam- bridge professors on the Newtonian philosophy. When the proposal was made for the introduc- tion of gas light, Sir Walter Scott ridiculed the idea, and in a letter to a friend, sneered at the folly of those who were actually talking of sending light through the streets in pipes. Sir Walter, however, had too much good sense to deny the existence of the light when it was actually produced; and be- sides becoming the chairman of a gas company in Edinburgh, he took advantage of its illuminating power at his residence at Abbotsford. " Wallaston, the well known scientist, is said to have declared of a similar proposal that they ' might as well attempt to light London with a slice from the moon.' " Dr. Elliottson states, in his Hiwian Physiology, that when Laennec first published his great work he (Dr. E.) procured a stethoscope and investigated his statements. " For a length of time," he goes on to say, "I found some at the St. Thomas's Hos- pital treat percussion and auscultation with ridi- The Les so?is of History, 205 cule, some with absolute indignation, and others, for years, treated it with silent contempt, who all, I am happy to say, now practice both. I was, there- fore, in the habit of studying them in the wards alone, and at hours when I expected to be unob- served. When at length I advocated and taught them in the school, one of my colleagues, I heard, pronounced it nonsense, or worse, in his lecture; and at the College of Physicians I heard a senior fellow, in a Croonian lecture, denounce the folly of carrying a piece of wood (some called the stetho- scope inutile lignum) into the sick room, and making observations, to the destruction of all philosophical and dignified views, such as became men whose minds have been enlarged by the education which Oxford and Cambridge afford. " When another fellow of the College was asked his opinion of auscultation in the wards of his hospital, he at once, as I am informed by the gen- tleman who asked the question, condemned it as nonsense, and when told that ' Elliottson assured his friends that he had a high opinion of it, and made his diagnosis of affections of the chest with * infinitely more accuracy, by its means,' he replied: 'Oh! its just the thing for Elliottson to rave about ! ' " Yet, good sense and truth have prevailed. This physician is now addressed as one who had the candor to examine auscultation at an early period, when others despised it, and who materially aided to spread its adoption." 206 Vital Magnetism. The same eminent authority states that,, for years after he published his work on prussic acid, in 1820, very few persons would employ it; and he was not only ill spoken of for recommending what was useless, but, till very lately, condemned for using dangerous poisons! In 1824, the formula for prussic acid was with- drawn from the new edition of the Pharmacopoeia, then in course of preparation; "yet," adds Dr. Elliottson, "it is now employed universally and daily by good practitioners of all ranks." We have thus the melancholy fact demonstrated, that many of the greatest discoveries ever made were received at the outset with ridicule and con- tempt. Mesmerism endured precisely the same ungenerous treatment when put forward by Dr. Elliottson, to which allusion has already been made. " It appears," says Mr. Colquhoun, " that there are some persons, even of note, members of learned incorporations, fellows of royal, and other privi- leged societies, professors in ancient universities, &c, to whom, at a certain period of life, the pros- pect of an accession of real knowledge, instead of being agreeable and satisfactory, is, on the contrary, rather unpleasant, painful, and humiliating. " Every man who then ventures to present them with novel facts or ideas, or in any way attempts to rectify or extend their notions of things, is regard- ed by them as an invader, — a robber, — an enemy to what they have been accustomed to conceive to The Lessons of History. 207 be their vested rights in literature and science. Goethe, the celebrated German poet, is reputed to have said, upon some particular occasion, that when, from time to time, a man arises who is for- tunate enough to discover one of the grand secrets of nature, ten others immediately start up, who in- dustriously and strenuously endeavor to conceal it again from view. " It is so — was — and probably ever shall be. The conflict between light and darkness appears to be interminable. " The race of the obscurantist in politics, in science, and in literature, promises to survive to the end of time. To use the language of a favorite old au- thor, they are exceedingly angry with every one that hath outgrown his cherrystones and rattles, speak evil at a venture of things they know not, and, like mastiffs, are fiercer for being kept in the dark." Lang observes: — "The doctors refused to look through Galileo's telescope ; and because certain things were written in their books, they declined to examine the great book of nature for themselves. The old practitioners are resolutely opposed to inno- vation, and the more youthful, afraid of the frowns of their seniors, follow servilely in their footsteps. It was said that Dr. Elliottson for a time lost a large part of his practice, in consequence of his adoption and advocacy of magnetism, but this was only temporary, and it returned to him again with largely increased volume. 208 Vital Magnetism. An able literary and political journal of the day, the Examiner, in noticing these attacks on Dr. El- liottson, says: — " If, as we apprehend to be the case, the existence of certain phenomena, undoubt- edly of great interest and probably of great im- portance in a physiological view, is pretty gener- ally admitted to be the result of recent experiments, it is high time to cease calling names, and begin rational discussion. The treatment to which Dr. Elliottson has been exposed from the time these questions were started, the members of a liberal calling should surely have reserved for the interested quack, or the vain pretender. There has been as little of either in the career of this distinguished physician, as in that of the foremost member of the profession he had so long assisted and adorned. Policy and worldly considerations apart — no man had better claims to be respectfully listened to. His admitted learning, his foregone recognized discoveries in medicine, his unimpeached veracity and high character, as they qualified him for that course which only the few are at any time fit to take, should have saved him from those vulgar im- putations which the many are at all times prone to indulge. " It is surely time that the word of an intelligent physician or surgeon — of a man whom the world would believe, without hesitation, on any ordinary topic — should at once be received when he unfolds truths of grave import to society. It is surely time to abandon implicit confidence in certain The Lessons of History. 209 dogmas to be found in books, and to walk abroad and behold ' the visible and living world.'" " There are few things," says Bailey, " more dis- gusting to an enlightened mind than to see a num- ber of men, a mob, whether learned or illiterate, who have never scrutinized the foundation of their opinions, assailing with contumely an individual who, after the labor of research and reflection, has adopted different sentiments from theirs, and pluming themselves on the notion of superior ' knowledge,' because their understandings have been tenacious of prejudice." And Jobald, a French writer, remarks: "Galileo, Newton, Salo- mon de Caus, Volta, Fulton, Winser, Arkwright, Gall, and all who have presented themselves, with a truth in their hand, at the door of this great Bedlam called the world, have been received with stones and hisses." Another author has said: "Whilst the unlearned were all busied in getting down to the bottom of the well where Truth keeps her little court, were the learned, in their way, as busy in pumping her up through the conduits of dialectic induction; they concerned themselves not with Facts — they Reasoned." The practical lesson to be learned from all this is to avoid the pitfalls which intolerant opinion has so often in the past digged for its own destruc- tion, and learn to be careful of dogmatic assertion upon new discoveries that we have not personally investigated. 210 Vital Magnetism. "Nothing," says Sir Humphrey Davy, "has so much checked the progress of philosophy as the confidence of teachers in delivering dogmas as truths which it would be presumptuous to question. It was this spirit which, for more than ten centu- ries, made the crude physics of Aristotle the natural philosophy of the whole of Europe. It was this spirit which produced the imprisonment of the elder Bacon and the recantation of Galileo. It is this spirit, notwithstanding the example of the sec- ond Bacon, assisted by his reproof, his genius and his influence, which has, even in later times, attached men to imaginary systems — to mere abstracted combinations of words — rather than to the living and visible world, and which has often induced them to delight more in brilliant dreams than in beauti- ful and grand realities. ," Fourcroy, the celebrated chemist, thus describes the difficulties which environed magnetism in his day: "The cold inactivity of some; the affected in- difference of others; the contempt expressed by one person; the irritated self-love, and the languid attachment of another for the doctrine of his an- cestors; the dread of novelty, and the prejudices of every kind; all the mean passions which, gliding into society and playing their parts in civil life, are also to be met with in the sciences; the sarcasms and epigrams with which they arm conversation — all these retard for a short time, perhaps for some years, the progress of new ideas; but truth ulti- mately overcomes every obstacle. Neither the The Lessons of History. 211 clamors of envy, nor the resistance of prejudice nor the opposition of ignorance, can terrify it. It is the rock against which the impotent waves of human passion are broken. "When the vivid light of truth strikes those minds that are properly adapted to feel its influ- ence, it soon inspires them with a sufficient degree of force to make them proclaim it with confidence, and to establish its rights on a solid foundation." I would not argue that all these bitter words hold good in regard to the reception of magnetism in this day ; still, they are true -as against many who close their eyes with prejudiced blindness even now, else the words of Dr. Wm. B. Carpenter would not have been penned in 1875, when he said, in referring to mesmeric phenomena : " Some there are who persist in the determination to disbelieve in the genuineness of all the asserted facts, desig- nating them as ' all humbug,' and maintaining that none but fools or knaves could uphold such non- sense. " Such persons, however, must now find them- selves in the unenviable predicament of being obliged to place some of their best friends in one or other of these two categories ; since it is impos- sible to go into any kind of society, literary or sci- entific, professional or lay, gentle or simple, with- out finding a large proportion of intelligent and truthful persons, such as would be regarded as trustworthy on all other subjects, who affirm that they have been themselves the actors in some one or 212 Vital Magnetism another of the performances in question, and that, however strange the phenomena may seem, they are nevertheless genuine." " The members of the medical profession, accustomed to the vagaries of hysteria, and recognizing the hysterical constitu- tion of a large proportion of the subjects of mes- meric and spiritualistic agency, have too generally satisfied themselves with the phrase 'all hysteri- cal,' a reply which affords no real information to those inquirers who think that their doctors ought to help them to a solution of such difficulties, and which has now been fully proved to be incorrect by the fact that steady, sensible, middle-aged men, having all their wits about them, are sometimes found to be as good subjects of certain of these operations as the susceptible young females who are deservedly regarded with so much suspicion." (Carpenter's Mental Physiology, p. 612.) So it is quite evident that so eminent an author- ity of the present day as Dr. Carpenter feels called upon to give some of his professional brethren a cutting reproof for their stubborn unbelief and supercilious attitude. The advance of the science and practice of mag- netism has been delayed and obstructed by two classes of the community, one of which will steadily shut its eyes to all effects, no matter how well the facts may be authenticated, unless you are ready to furnish a full explanation of cause simultaneously with the effect. We have already seen how unreason- able and foolish such hard-headed, conservative The Lessons of History. 213 wiseacres can become upon .the presentation of anything new, that is opposed to their former and preconceived ideas, no matter what may be its promise of progress and utility. It is quite human and natural to demand such explanations, and it would be very gratifying if we could make them ; but, so far as I can see, little progress has been made in that direction, and I believe that more real progress would be made by relegating such questions for the present to the domain occupied by other incomprehensible natural forces which, like magnetism, are only known through their effects. Instead of multiplying doubtful hypotheses, which cannot satisfy this morbid curiosity, I would multiply instances of cure. Relief of human woe is a nobler work and a better answer to all cavil- ling. The high tribute which Dr. Carpenter pays to the value of Hypnotic treatment in disease, in his valuable work on Mental Physiology, corrobo- rated by the cases which he gives in illustration, is worth more than all the chapters he devotes to the probable ways by which nature works, although so entertainingly written; for, while he will not succeed in convincing men of the truth of specula- tions, opposed as they are in many cases by their own personal experience, his statements of cure will not be doubted — certainly not by any who know the complete trustworthiness of the author. Another class of obstructionists in magnetic science is made up of that credulous, superstitious 214 Vital Magnetism. element of humanity, who, while believing the evi- dence of their senses, are disposed to jump to the conclusion that such wondrous effects must be of a miraculous or supernatural character. They ignore all natural law, and if they are the recipients of the power in any remarkable degree, they claim for themselves some supernatural or per- sonal endowment. This class disgust with their pretensions many an honest seeker who might otherwise be quite willing to accept natural effects, although admitted to be extraordinary, and beyond explanation. We have only to use this beneficent force of nature as we would any other of her grand provisions for man's welfare, content with the blessings it be- stows, and grateful for a power to relieve human pain and suffering so wisely provided by Him who never errs in establishing natural law, although He may not vouchsafe to us its full explanation. In conclusion, let me quote the words of Baron Von Reichenbach, who, in philosophizing upon the outlook of the branch of this subject embraced in odic force, says : "He who has not grudged the la- bor of making himself acquainted with these re- sults, will share my conviction that every physiol- ogist and every physician must not only notice, but become thoroughly master of them (magnetic truths) if he is not contented to remain in ignorance of a whole series of important truths. "The physiologist will discover in sensitives a group of vital functions which have been hitherto The Lessons of History. 215 overlooked, and the physician will find in od a power without which he will not only not be able to give any assistance in numerous cases, but even to understand the symptoms he beholds, much less to have any mastery over them. I do not mean that every physician should be a magnetizer; far from it : but a physician who understands nothing about the terrestrial magnetism of position, lunar and solar od, the odic poles of man, the odic in- fluence of baths, the partial pass or odic obstruc- tions, or the mighty influence of od on spasms, — nay, who does not know in what direction to stand when he feels a patient's pulse, must certainly play a miserable part by the bedside of a sensitive. The present and future revelation of the laws of od, must cause almost a revolution in whole sections of therapeutics." APPENDIX. DR. ELLIOTSON S ADJURATION TO THE PROFESSION, AND DR. ESDAILE'S REMARKABLE PROTEST TO THE AMERICAN CONGRESS MAGNETISM THE FIRST " ANAESTHETIC." Much has already been presented to establish the claims and prove the merits of vital magnetism in an exceedingly wide range of diseases; the diffi- culty has been to reduce the number of typical cases within the limits of a work like this. Pass- ing by the vast array of authenticated facts to be found in the magnetic literature of continental Europe, the earnest student is asked to look at the record of a single English work to which reference has already frequently been made, viz.: The Zoist, in the thirteen volumes of which will be found over four thousand pages of facts and statements, prop- erly authenticated, contributed mainly by distin- guished members of the medical profession of England. To facilitate the investigation, an index is appended, indicating the form of disease and the number of the volume in which it may be found. These cases are detailed with great professional 2i 8 Vital Magnetism. minuteness, and have mainly been reviewed by that eminent physiologist, Dr. John Elliottson, who, at the conclusion of his Harveian oration, delivered to the College of Physicians in London, June 27th, 1846, appealed to his compeers, in the portion of the address devoted to Vital Magnetism, in these terms: " It is the imperative, the solemn duty of the profession anxiously and dispassionately to deter- mine these points by experiment, each man for himself. I have done so for ten years, and fear- lessly declare that the phenomena, the prevention of pain under surgical operations, the production of repose and comfort in diseases, and the cure of many, even after the failure of all ordinary means, are true. " In the name, therefore, of the love of truth, in the name of the dignity of our profession, in the name of the good of all mankind, I implore you carefully to investigate this important subject." In the same spirit I respectfully call attention to the annexed index; also to this "protest " addressed to the American Congress by Dr. Esdaile, the true discoverer of painless surgery: Protest and Petition of James Esdaile, M. D., Surgeon H. E. I. C. S., to the Members of the American Congress : Respectfully showeth, — that the writer, a British subject, and a surgeon in the East India Company service, has read with great astonishment the following statement in a Report of the Select Committee appointed by the United States Appendix. 219 Government, to decide who discovered the anaesthetic virtues of ether, so that Congress might bestow upon him the reward of $100,000. The Report says : " At various periods, and in various ages, hope has been excited in the human breast that this great agent (the means of produc- ing insensibility to pain) had been found; but all proved delusive, and hope as often died away, until the discovery now under consideration burst upon the world from our own country and in our own day. " Then, and not till then, was the time-cherished hope realized, that the knife would lose its sting, and that blood might follow its edge without pain." In defense of truth and justice, I must take the liberty to inform Congress, that this statement is not only incorrect, but is perfectly untrue, and that your Committee have been grievously misled by culpably ignorant or corrupt witnesses, — corrupt to the extent of suppressing important evidence op- posed to what is stated in the Report. In support of this assertion, I have to respectfully represent to Congress, that in April, 1845, having succeeded on the first trial in performing a painless operation upon a person in the mesmeric trance, I prosecuted the subject still further, and with such success that in eight months I had performed seventy-three pain- less operations, many of them of the gravest de- scription, an account of which was published by Messrs. Longman & Co., London, in 1846. This work is called" Mesmerism in India," and was im- 22G Vital Magnetism, mediately reprinted in America. In July, 1846, I reported to the Government of India that I had performed upwards of one hundred painless ope- rations, and offered to satisfy any number of per- sons, in whom the Government had confidence, of the truth of my statements, The Government hereupon appointed a commit- tee to report upon mesmeric operations to be per- formed by me in their presence. Six severe ope- rations were performed by me in the presence of the Committee during a fortnight that they sat, and the Committee arrived at the following general result on the question of pain during the mesme- ric surgical operations witnessed by them ; "That, in three severe cases, there is no proof whatever that any pain was suffered, and that in the three other cases the manifestations of pain during the operation are opposed by the positive statement of the patient that no pain was expe- rienced/* The Government, in remarking upon the Report of the Committee to the Chairman, said : "So far has the possibility of rendering the most serious surgical operations painless to the subject of them been, in his Honor's opinion, established by the late experiments^ performed under the eye of a committee appointed for the purpose, as to render it incumbent upon the Government to af- ford to the meritorious and zealous officer, by whom the subject was first brought to its notice, Appendix, 221 such assistance as may facilitate his investigations and enable him to prosecute his interesting experi- ments, under the most favorable and promising circumstances. With this view, his Honor has determined, with the sanction of the Supreme Government, to place Dr. Esdaile for one year in charge of a small experimental hospital in some favorable situation in Calcutta, in order that he may, as recommended by the Committee, extend his investigations to the applicability of this al- leged agency to all descriptions of cases, medical as well as surgical, and all classes of patients, European as well as native." During the year of experiment, forty capital mesmeric operations were performed in the Mes- meric Hospital, and at the end of the year my suc- cess was acknowledged in a minute of the Gov- ernor-General in Council, and I was rewarded in being made a presidency surgeon of Calcutta, that the natives might continue to enjoy the benefits of Mesmerism. So that painless surgery, by means of Mesmerism, had been reduced by me to a regular, every-day system, in Bengal, long before ether had been heard of . Of which fact Congress may still further satisfy themselves by referring to Dr. Huffnagle, Consul for the United States at Calcutta, who, in October, 1846, assisted at the removal of a scrotal tumor weighing 103 lbs., of which the patient was quite unconscious, and ultimately perfectly recovered. 222 Vital Magnetism. The simple and notorious fact is, that painless surgery by means of Mesmerism, years before ether was heard of, was as common in my hos- pitals as it has since become in Europe under the influence of chloroform, and nearly three hundred capital mesmeric operations had been performed by me before leaving India, two years ago. This being the actual state of the case regarding the history of painless surgery, the American Con- gress will perceive that I am fully justified in as- serting that their committee have been misled by ignorant or corrupt witnesses ; and that however deserving of reward the discoverer of ether may be, he was only copying by a drug what had al- ready been done by myself and others, by a much safer and pleasanter natural power mercifully im- planted in the human constitution. Congress will, I doubt not, be indignant at the daring and unprincipled suppression of evidence that I have exposed to them, and will be at a loss to imagine the motives for such an offense. As politicians, the members of Congress must be aware of the perverting, distorting, unfair repre- sentations of party spirit, by which history itself has become "a lie," according to a celebrated Eng- lish statesman. Unfortunately this vice is not confined to politics, but exists in all professions, and in an intensely dis- ' graceful degree, I lament to say, in that of medicine. Mesmerism, from its truth, has been excommuni- cated by the doctors without knowledge or exam- Appendix. 223 ination, and all the medical journals having rashly and ignorantly pronounced against it, afterward conspired together in defense of their wrong-doing, and trusted to extinguish the obnoxious doctrine by keeping the medical profession and the public in total ignorance of the matter. They have hith- erto succeeded so well in this that it is possible the medical witnesses examined by your committee may only have been laboring under the most gross ignorance in giving their evidence ; but the Ameri- can Congress will not lower itself so much in the eyes of the civilized world as to adopt the verdict of an ignorant and incompetent jury. If, on the other hand, it shall appear that im- portant evidence has been deliberately suppressed by the witnesses, then the world will expect that Congress, in its wisdom and justice, will repudiate the report of its committee, and severely punish those who would have misled it. It is with no intention of competing for the dol- lars in question that I have taken the liberty to ad- dress you (although the man who proved that painless surgery could be practiced on a whole people, might look for some reward), as these seem irrevocably destined to " one of three citizens of the United States " who had the sense to seek for some drug by which to imitate what I had already done by Mesmerism. But, in the new judicial inquiry recommended by the Committee, to determine which of my three imitators is to be the lucky winner of the dollars, 224 Vital Magnetisi7i. I respectfully petition Congress to be permitted to adduce proof in support of what I have now ad- vanced, by which an honorable opportunity will be afforded for correcting the errors in the Commit- tee's Report, and Congress will be saved the shame of sanctioning by its highauthority another of the lies of history. I have the honor to be, Your most obedient servant, JAMES ESDAILE, M. D Fairmount, Perth, Scotland, 8th August, 1853. Says Dr. John Elliottson, in reviewing Dr. Es- daile's practice, in I853: " These operations consisted of some of the most appalling in the annals of surgery, and we speak practically when we say, that we do not believe a similar result will be obtained, as regards the ab- sence of fatal cases, by the inhalation of ether or chloroform. The one is a health-restoring power — the other is a drug; one enables the nervous sys- tem to sustain great shocks without leaving any injurious consequences. The other produces a state of profound stupor, requiring great care during its exhibition, and even, with the greatest care, frequently fatal." "The rapid production of mesmeric anaesthesia is the great desideratum of the day " LITERATURE OF VITAL MAGNETISM Animal Magnetism. By Alphonse Teste, M. D. D. Spell- man, M. D., A. M., Translator. Fellow of the Dublin College of Physicians. London, 1845. Animal Magnetism. By John Ashburner, M. B. Member of the Royal Irish Academy. London, 1867. Mesmerism in India and its Practical Application in Surgery and Medicine. By James Esdaile, M. D. Presidency Surgeon, Bengal, India. 1843. Reprint by Silas Andrews & Son, Hart- ford, 1850. Human Magnetism. By W. Newnham, M. R. S. L. The Utility of its Application for the Relief of Human Suffering. London, 1845. Hypnotism (Neurhypnology), or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep ; with numerous cases of its successful application in the relief and cure of diseases. By James Braid, M. D^ Surgeon and M. R.C. S. E., C. M. W. S., &c. London, 1848. Facts in Mesmerism. By Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend, A. M. Late of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. London, 1844. Researches on Magnetism, Electricity, Heat, Light, Crystal- lization and Chemical Attraction in their relations to Vital Force. By Karl, Baron Von Reichenbach, Ph. Dr, Translated by Wm. Gregory, M. D., F. R. S. E. Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh. London, 1850. Isis Revelata: An Inquiry into the Origin, Progress and Present State of Animal Magnetism. By J. C. Colquhoun. Advocate. Edinburgh. 1844. 226 Vital Magnetism: Report of the Experiments on Animal Magnetism made by a Committee of the Medical Section of the French Royal Academy of Sciences. Read at the meetings of the 21st and 28th of June, 1 831. Translated by J. C. Colquhoun. Edin- burgh, 1833. Mesmerism and its Opponents. By Rev. J. Sandby, M. A. London, 1848. History, Phenomena and Practice of Mesmerism ; with re- ports of Cases Developed in Scotland. By William Lang. 1843. Curative Powers of Mesmerism ; with one hundred and fifty eases covering various forms of disease. By Thomas Capern. London, 1851. Mesmerism Not Miracle. By a Mesmeric Practitioner. Showing that Mesmeric Cures are not Supernatural. By Geo. Barth. London, 1853. Letters on Mesmerism. By Harriet Martineau. London, 1845. Somnolism and Psycheism, Phenomena of Nervation as Re- vealed by Vital Magnetism or Mesmerism, considered Physio- logically and Philosophically ; Avith Mesmeric Experience. By Joseph W. Haddock, M. D. London, 1S51. Seven Lectures on Somnambulism. Translated from the German of Dr. Arnold Wienholt. By J. C. Colquhoun. Edin- burgh, 1845. Animal Magnetism Delineated by its Professors : a Review of its History in Germany, France, and England. Report' from British and Foreign M. R., 1S39. Annales du Magnetisme. 8 volumes. Paris, 18 14-16. Bibliotheque du Magnetisme Animal. 8 volumes, lb. 1817-19. Healing by the Hand and Will. By Sir Charles Isham. London, 1862. Elemens du Magnetisme Animal. M. De Lausanne. Paris, 1818. Its Litej'ature. 227 Puissance de L'Electricite Animal, ou Magnetisme Vital. Dr. J. Pigeaire. Paris, 1839. Lectures on Zoistic Magnetism. By W. Luresby, D. D., F. R. S. London, 1849. Mesmerism in Disease. Plain Facts and Cases. By Dr. H. Storer. London, 1845. Magnetisme et Magnetotherapie et sur Le Gyro Magnetisme. By Le Compte de Szapary. Paris, 1854. Manual Practique de Magnetisme Animal et son Application au Traitement des Maladies. Animal Magnetism : History of the Principles ; with Cures and Cases. By Dr. G. Winter, 1801. Vital Magnetism. By Rev. T. Pyne. London, 1844. Report of Cases treated in the Mesmeric Hospital, from June to December, 1847. With the Reports of the official Vis- itors. Printed by order of Government. December, 1848. Philosophy of Animated Nature ; or the Laws and Action of the Nervous System. By G. Calvert Holland, M. D. ; Physi- cian Extraordinary to the Sheffield General Infirmary. London, 1848. The Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental Pathol- ogy. Edited by Forbes Winslow, M.D., England, 1849. Illustrations and Enquiries relating to Mesmerism. By the Rev. S. R. Maitland, D. D., F. R. S., F. S, A. London, 1849. The Hand Book of Mesmerism. For the Guidance and In- struction of All Persons who desire to practice Mesmerism for the cure of Diseases. To which is annexed the Rules and Regulations of the Mesmeric Infirmary, No. 9 Bedford St.;? j Bedford Square, London ; with a list of the Subscribers to it. ' 1850. Practical Instruction in Animal Magnetism. By J. P. F. Deleuze. Translated by T. C. Hartshorn. With Notes, and a Life, by Dr. Foissac. London, 1850. 228 Vital Magnetism The Principle of Health Transferable. (Two Editions.) London, 1850. Mesmerism : Its Processes, Uses and Advantages Explained ; with Directions for its Application in the Sick Cham- ber. By S. D. Saunders, late Hon. Secretary to the Bristol Mesmeric Institute. London, 1850. The Mighty Curative Powers of Mesmerism ; with a great mass of cures. By Thomas Capern, Secretary to the London Mesmeric Infirmary. London, 1851. Letters to a Candid Enquirer on Animal Magnetism. By William Gregory, M. D., F. R. S. E., Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh. London, 185 1. Lectures on Mesmerism. Delivered at the Rotunda, Dublin. By J. W. Jackson. 1851. " We have heard much of contagion, and the word is one of terror ; but it would seem that nature has been more just than we deemed, for the principle of health is as transferable as that of sickness, and a vigorous operator is a fountain of sanative influence whence the decrepit and ailing may derive a fresh supply of vital force." Recueil d'Operations Chirurgicales Practiquees sur les sujets Magnetises. Par A. Loysel, Docteur en Medicine, a Cherbourg. Cherbourg, 1852. The Magnetoscope. A Philosophical Essay on the Mag- netoid characteristics of Elementary Principles, and their rela- tions to the Organization of Man. By T. Leger, Doctor of the Medical Faculty of Paris ; late Professor of Anatomy at the Practical School ; Fellow of the Society of Sciences and Arts of the Department of the Marne ; late Professor of the Medical College of Mexico, etc., etc. London, 1852. Buckland's Hand Book of Mesmerism. (Three editions.) London, 1852. Mesmerism Solved, Divested of Mystery, and shown to be sim- ply an overlooked Branch of Medical Science, to be received Its Literature, 229 and practiced as an auxiliary by the Medical Professors and Heads of Families, for curative purposes. By Dr. Jones, London, 1853. Hypnotic Therapeutics ; illustrated by Cases. By James Braid, M.R.C.S., Edin., M.U.S., etc. Reprint from the Month- ly Journal of Medical Science, 1853. Mesmerism, and the Diseases to which it is most applicable. By Falconer Mills. Dublin, 1854. Medicina Mentis. By Hugh Hastings, M.D. Cheltenham, England, 1854. The Illustrated Practical Mesmerist, curative and scientific. By William Davey. Edinburgh, 1854. Bulletin de l'Athenee Magnetique de Lyon. Journal des Sciences Psycho-Physiques. Lyons, 1S54. Errors Dispelled ; or, Mesmerism without Sleep, and Mes- merism with Medicine. By S. D. Saunders, Medical Mesmer- ist. Clifton, England, 1855. Heilkraft des tJi^rischen Magnetismus nach eigenerv Beobacht- ungen. By Dr. Weinholt, of Bremen. 3 vols. 8vo : 1802-1805. Le Magnetisme Animal, considere comme moy en Thera- peutique ; son application auTraitment de deux cas remarqua- bles de Neuropathic Par Charles de Resimont, Docteur en Medicine de la Faculte de la Paris, 1843. Journal du Magnetisme. Par une Societe de Magnetiseurs et des Medecins sous la direction de M. Le Baron Du Potet. 1845. The Curative Power of Vital Magnetism verified by Actual Application to numerous cases of disease. By Dr. Jones, London, 1845. The Harveian Oration delivered before the Royal College of Physicians, London. By Dr. John Eliottson, Cantab. F.R.S., 1846. 230 Vital Magnetism. Should not investigation take a practical turn in this country when we look abroad, see how many able minds have grappled successfully with the problems of this branch of vital science, and de- monstrated its possibilities ? These are but a tithe of the whole, but sufficient, I hope, to stimulate and instruct the student in this branch of physics. INDEX TO CASES IN THE "ZOIST." Abscess ..... Volume 13 Abscess, Lumbar . .... 6, 9 Acid, nitric, painless application of . . 7 After pains . . . . . 5, 11, 13 Ancles, weakness of ..... 10 Ancles, sprained 11, 13 Arm, stiff ....... 6 Asthma 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 15 Bladder 4, 5, 8 Blindness . . . . 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Bone cured 12 Brain, overworked ...... 3 Brain, inflammatory excitement of . .6, 7, Breasts, inflamed . . . . 11, 12 Bronchitis ....... 3 Burns . . . . . . 10, 12 Catalepsy 13 Caustic, painless application of ... 4 Chest 5, 12 Chilblains 11 Chlorosis 8 Cholera ...... 9 232 Index to Cases in the u Zoist." Coma cured . . . . 11 Constipation . . . 1 Consumption . . . 2 > " ;, 8, 12 Contractions . . 3,6 Convulsions . . . 4, 11. 12 Cough . . 6, 10 Cutaneous diseases . . 10, 11, 12 Deafness . . • 2, 4. . 5> 8, 11, 12, 13 D. B. B. Morrison, also reporting 21] [ cases of deafne&s cured by him 12 Debility . 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13 Delirium . . 2, 12 Delirum tremens . . . . 8, II, 13 Diarrhoea , . II, 13 Dropsy . . 7,8, IO, 12 Dyspepsia . . . 5, 12, 13 Ear abscess of . . . . . 8 Earache . . . . 11 Elephantiasis . . . 11 Epilepsy 1, 2, 3, 4, 5> 6 , 7, 8, 9, 10, II, 13 Erysipelas 7,8, IO, 12 Eyes, agony of . . . 7 Eyelids, spasm of . . . 10 Emaciation. . . . . . . 8 Face, swelled . , . . , . 6 Female ailments . • . . . 4 Fever 7, 13 Fingers . . 9» 12, 13 Foot 12 Fractures . • • . • 9, 11 Ganglion . . . 12 Index to Cases in the " Zoist." 2 33 Gout . Gout, rheumatic Glands, enlarged Grief, effects of, cured Gums Hand . Headache . Heart, affection of Hiccough Hip . Hoemorrhage Hydrophobia . Hypochondriasis Hysteria . Inflammation Insanity Joints, enlarged Jumping, fit Kidney . Knee, diseased Leg, diseased Leprosy Liver, diseased Lockjaw . Lung, diseased Lung, bleeding from Muscular pains, cured . Neck, twisted Neck, rigid . Nervousness, cured Neuralgia 5, 6, 3, 9, 10, 12 ir 6 1 7, 11 ii, 13 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 , 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,12, 13 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 12 2,5 . 9 . . . 7,8 3, 6, 9 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, ii, 13 1, 3, 5, 6 , 8 , 9, i°, 11 3, 4, 10, 11, 12 4, 5, 6 > 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 10 6 . 9 2, 5, 6 , 8, i°, 11, 12 8, 12 12 12,8 . 6, 7, 10, 12, 13 • 4, 7, 11, 13 8 . 1 • • • 5,8 5, I 2 , 13 2, 3, 7,8, 10, 12, 13 1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6 , 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 234 Index to Cases in the " Zoist" Operations, painless surgical, i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Opthalmia, cured . . 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 Ovarian, disease 12, 13 Pain, relieved . . . 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13 Palpitation, cured . . . . 2, 7, 8, 10 Parturition, painless . . 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 Paralysis, cured. . 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 [Delueze also reports over 60 cases of cure in France.] Pericarditis • . . . . . . 9 Polypus 8, 9 Prolapsus, reduced 4 Prostate Gland 7 Quinsy 2, 7 Rheumatism, cured, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Ringworm 12 St. Vitus's dance, cured . . 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10 Scrofula ........ 3 Short sightedness . ... 5 Sleeplessness 6 Speech, recovered . . 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 Spinal affection, cured . . 2,4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12 Stomach, pain of 5, 8 Tabes, mesenterica 13 Tetanus 5, 6 Throat disease 6, 12 Toothache 7, 10, 11, 12 Trance . .... 5, 9, 13 Index to Cases in the " Zoist." 235 Ulcers . . . . . . 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13 Unconscious action of brain ... 6 Uterine disease 3, 8, 11 Vomiting 7, 8, 12 A NOBLE WOMAN'S BOOK! One of the most Charming and Popular of all the NOVELS of the year must be named — A Reed Shaken with the Wind: A. Loye Story. By MISS EMILY FAITHFULL. I Volume, \2mo. Extra Cloth. Price, $1.50. Of which the eminent author writes: "This story is a simple analysis of one of our most dangerous phases of female character — a phase, alas ! but too common in fashionable city life on both sides oi the Atlantic." It is the story of a sad flirt, "a reed shaken with the wind," and of the consequences that fickleness and self-deception are sure to entail. Written in exquisite narrative style, it gives us glimpses of "good society," which show how familiar is the author with her theme, and how careful has been her study of human nature. Neither titles nor "position" have any glamour for her calm, clear and penetrating vision. The dramatic action drifting episodically to Rome, she there lets the story run into a very lyric of love, and with it descriptives of Roman art, ruins and people, which read like pages from the matchless " Corinne." Altogether, it is a volume well calculated to excite a deep interest, and eminently designed to do a great deal of good by the lesson which springs naturally from the charming narrative. Sold by all Book Dealers, or sent, J>jst-J>aid, to any address, on receipt 0/ price, by ADAMS, VICTOR & CO., Publishers, 98 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK. TEBBE M OST DESIRABL E BOOKS! I. The Abominations of Modern Society. BY REV. T. DE WITT TALMAGE. A most startling and effective presentation of the vices and follies of the great city. " It is a buoy," says the author, " swung over the rocks, and a beacon to warn the unwary." It has already had an immense sale, and is now a standard in the Trade. II. Get Thee Behind Me, Satan ! BY OLIVE LOGAN. A Home Born Book op Home: Truths — giving chapters on Girlhood, Bellehood, Wifehood, Motherhood, the Woman Single and the Woman Wedded, the Relations of Wife, Husband and Parent, and discussing, in an eminently suggestive manner, some of the social problems which are vexing homes, society and persons alike. The book has made a decided sensation, and is enjoying a very great currency. III. Livingstone, and His African Explora- tions. By B. O. BEETON, F. R. G. &, $ RONALD SMITH, of Bombay. With a full account of his recent wonderful discoveries; sketches of all the Livingstone Search Expeditions ; chapters on the Slave Trade, &c, &c. With Portrait and new Map of the Great Water Shed Region of Equatorial Africa, &c, &c. Each of the above is in a beautiful 12mo. volume, bound in Extra Cloth ; Price, 81.50. Sold by all book dealers, or sent, post paid, on receipt of price, by ADAMS, VICTOR & CO., PUBLISHERS, 03 William Street, New York. '#