diff options
Diffstat (limited to '78413-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 78413-0.txt | 2692 |
1 files changed, 2692 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/78413-0.txt b/78413-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6598590 --- /dev/null +++ b/78413-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2692 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78413 *** + + + + +REPORT + +OF + +DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, + +AND OTHER + +COMMISSIONERS, + +CHARGED BY THE + +KING OF FRANCE, + +WITH THE EXAMINATION OF THE + +ANIMAL MAGNETISM, + +AS NOW PRACTISED AT PARIS. + +TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. + +WITH AN + +HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. + + +LONDON: + +PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, (NO. 72) ST. PAUL’S CHURCH-YARD. 1785. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +The subject of the following pamphlet has excited the extremest +attention in France, has for years filled their Journals and Mercures, +and has employed some of their best pens and their brightest wits. +By some it has been applauded as the greatest of philosophical +discoveries, and by others decried as the juggle of an unprincipled +impostor. The English nation has too much curiosity for every thing +that occupies the neighbour kingdom, from whom we have long since been +used to receive the laws of politeness and etiquette, and who have +lately seemed to take the lead of us in philosophical discovery, for +the present translation not to prove an acceptable present to a large +and respectable class of our countrymen. It has been thought proper, +in order that the most uninformed reader may find in this little +compilation, every species of information upon the subject, to prefix +to it a brief account of the progress of this system. + +M. Mesmer, the inventor of the animal magnetism, is a German physician. +The first thing by which he distinguished himself, appears to have +been the publication of a Dissertation upon the Influence of the Stars +on the Human Body, printed at Vienna 1766, and publicly defended by +him as a thesis in that university. In 1774 father Hehl, a German +philosopher, strongly recommended the use of the loadstone in the art +of medicine. M. Mesmer became very early a convert to the principles of +this writer, and actually carried them into practice with distinguished +success. In the midst however of his attention to the utility of the +loadstone, he was led to the adoption of a new set of principles, +which he conceived to be much more general in their application and +importance. In conformity to these principles he laid aside the use +of the loadstone, and proceeded with his cures in the method which he +afterwards published to the world. This apostacy involved him in a +quarrel with father Hehl and the celebrated Ingenhouz, by whom he had +formerly been patronized; and as their credit in Vienna was extremely +high, and their exertions against him indefatigable, his system almost +immediately sunk into general disrepute. To parry their opposition he +appealed in 1776 to the academy of sciences at Berlin. Here however +his principles were rejected as “destitute of foundation and unworthy +the smallest attention.” Undismayed by these important miscarriages, +he made a progress through several towns of Germany, still practising +the methods of the animal magnetism, and from time to time publishing +an account of the cures he effected, which did not fail to be followed +by a detection from his enemies. In the mean time, resolved, as it +should seem, if possible not to deprive his country of the benefits of +so valuable a discovery, he returned a second time to Vienna, and made +another essay with no greater success than the former. + +Decided in his conduit by these uninterrupted defeats, he left Germany +and arrived at Paris in the beginning of the year 1778. Here one of +the first connexions he formed was with M. A. J. S. D., author of the +Dictionnaire des Merveilles de la Nature, from which work many of the +following particulars are extracted. It is observed by this Writer, +that “in spite of the apparent cautiousness and reserve of M. Mesmer, +and even in spite of the little success of his first experiments, +he could not refuse him credit for sincerity in his conduct, and +solidity in his reasonings; and he was convinced, that the failure +did not originate in the fault of his agent, but the indisposition of +the subjects upon which it was employed.” In April 1778, M. Mesmer +retired to Creteil with the patients he had collected, and in a few +months almost all of them returned to Paris perfectly restored. One of +them in particular was a paralytic, deprived of the use of her limbs, +and who now walked with all the ease and firmness in the world. In +November M. A. J. S. D. introduced M. Mesmer to the house of a family +of distinction, and who were actuated with the extremest curiosity +respecting all discoveries which had the benefit of humanity for their +object. Here he made an experiment so remarkable that it is necessary +to extract it somewhat at length. + +“There being a pretty numerous company in the saloon, M. Mesmer touched +successively several persons, some of whom had nerves extremely +irritable, without producing any effect sufficiently considerable to +deserve to be ascribed to the animal magnetism. The operation was +repeated; the success was the same. + +“The governor of the children of the family, a man of a very robust +and muscular constitution, little inclined to credulity, and fortified +in his scepticism by what he had just seen, had complained for some +time of a pain in his shoulders. As he was beyond dispute the least +susceptible person in the company, he proposed himself by way of +gasconade for the subject of a last experiment. + +“M. Mesmer refused to touch this gentleman, but consented to direct +upon him the magnetism from a small distance. In compliance with the +doctor’s inclinations, the governor turned his back, and M. Mesmer, +seven or eight feet from his subject, presented his finger. This +continued for two minutes, the governor replying to the repeated +questions of the doctor with much humour and irony, M. Mesmer then +nodded his head significantly to the company, and in the mean time +guided his finger upwards, downwards, and a little circularly. The +patient said that he felt a kind of shuddering in the superior part of +the back; he however ascribed it to the action of the fire near which +he stood, and accordingly removed to another part of the room. The +experiment was resumed, the sensation augmented, and the patient said +he could compare it to nothing better, than a stream of boiling water, +circulating in the veins of his back and shoulders. The impression +became so strong that he refused to submit to the experiment any +longer. He was persuaded however; the master of the house held one of +his arms, and myself the other. In the process of the experiment the +heat became so insupportable, that he violently broke away from our +grasp. It was succeeded by a profuse perspiration in the part affected. + +“M. Mesmer then placed the forefinger of each hand upon the chest +of the patient. The same sensation, but less violent, was produced +in this part; it ascended gradually to the face, and was succeeded +by a perspiration of the forehead. The patient then presented his +forefingers and thumbs, the rest of his hand being clenched; M. Mesmer +did the same very near to the patient, but without touching him. He +complained successively of a shuddering, itching and stiffness in the +palms of his hands; these were again succeeded by a local perspiration.” + +To this remarkable experiment we will beg leave to add the following +from the Journal de Paris, No. 44, 1784. + +“M. Mesmer being one day with messieurs Camp---- and d’E---- near the +great canal at Meudon, proposed to them to go alternately to the other +side of the canal, while he remained where he was. He then directed +them to thrust their cane into the water, in the mean time doing the +same himself. At this distance M. Camp---- was seized with a fit of +the asthma, and M. d’E---- with a pain in the liver to which he was +subject. Many persons have been unable to submit to this experiment +without fainting away.” + +“One evening M. Mesmer walked with six persons in the gardens of the +prince de Soubise. He performed the magnetical operation upon a tree, +and a little time after three ladies of the company fainted away. The +duchess de C----, the only remaining lady, supported herself upon the +tree, without being able to quit it. The count de Mons----, unable to +stand, was obliged to throw himself upon a bench. The effects upon M. +Ang----, a gentleman of a very muscular frame, were more terrible. M. +Mesmer’s servant, who was summoned to remove the bodies, and who was +inured to these scenes, found himself unable to move. The whole company +were obliged to remain in this situation for a considerable time.” +These instances are cited by M. Thouret, Recherches & Doutes, p. 65. + +M. Mesmer was from the first desirous of submitting his system to +the examination of the faculty of medicine; but he would not submit +to a regular and authentic committee appointed for that purpose, +apprehensive as he said of the baleful effects of the spirit of +society. This exception occasioned a misunderstanding between him and +the faculty, and the examination was never made. + +In France the success of M. Mesmer was the reverse of what it had +been in Germany. His patients increased rapidly. His cures were +numerous and of the most astonishing nature. He was obliged to form +a number of pupils under his inspection to administer his process. +In 1779 he published a Memoir respecting the Discovery of the Animal +Magnetism, and promised a complete system upon the subject, which +should make as great a revolution in philosophy, as it had already +done in medicine. Struck with the clearness and accuracy of his +reasonings, the magnificence of his pretensions, and the extraordinary +and unquestionable cures he performed, some of the greatest physicians +and most enlightened philosophers of France became his converts. +Among these M. Court de Gebelin particularly distinguished himself, a +writer, who had attained the highest reputation by his researches into +antiquity, and who was, if possible, still more distinguished for the +elegance of his taste, the beauty of his conceptions and the richness +of his fancy. The house of M. Mesmer at Creteil was crowded with +patients. A numerous company was daily assembled at his house at Paris, +where the operation was publicly performed; and M. Deslon, one of his +pupils, is said to have cleared £100,000. He was patronised by people +of the first rank, and, as M. Thouret observes, the animal magnetism +became a mode, an affair of bon ton, an interest, extremely precious +and warmly espoused by the fashionable world. + +In the mean time the new system was by no means destitute of enemies. +Some of the first pens in France were drawn to oppose it, and among +others that of M. Thouret, regent-physician of the faculty. The faculty +indeed had all along beheld its progress with the extremest jealousy. +At length it was thought to deserve the attention of government, +and a committee, partly physicians, and partly members of the royal +academy of sciences, with doctor Benjamin Franklin at their head, were +appointed to examine it. M. Mesmer refused to have any communication +with these gentlemen; but M. Deslon, the most considerable of his +pupils, consented to disclose to them his principles, and assist them +in their enquiries. Their Report forms the principal piece in the +ensuing pamphlet. M. Mesmer however has appealed from their decision to +the parliament of Paris. + +In the mean time it can no longer be concealed that the system of +the animal magnetism is to be regarded as an imposture, and it may +therefore be asked, why it should be thought necessary to give to the +public a translation of papers, which may be thought interesting only +to persons who have been witnesses of the imposture. To this enquiry +several good answers may be given. + +One at which we have already hinted is the universal attention it +has excited at Paris, where it seems to have divided the public +speculations with the celebrated and incomparable discovery of the +aerostatic globe. There are surely few people of a literary turn among +us, who will confess themselves void of curiosity respecting what +engages all the faculties of our neighbours, or who will not confess +that their literary pursuits are commonly at least as interesting and +instructive a subject of enquiry, as their politics. + +Secondly, the Report of the commissioners and the enquiries respecting +the animal magnetism in general may be considered as relating not +merely to a temporary and unfounded hypothesis, but to the general and +most important question respecting the influence of the imagination +upon the animal frame, a question peculiarly interesting to the +metaphysician, and of the last consequence in medicine. Upon this +subject the Report seems to throw new light, and to have a tendency to +add precision and accuracy to our notions in regard to it. + +But the argument upon which we would place the principal stress is the +essential importance of this fact in the history of the human mind. +Perhaps the history of the errors of mankind, all things considered, is +more valuable and interesting than that of their discoveries. Truth is +uniform and narrow; it constantly exists, and does not seem to require +so much an active energy, as a passive aptitude of soul in order to +encounter it. But error is endlessly diversified; it has no reality, +but is the pure and simple creation of the mind that invents it. In +this field the soul has room enough to expand herself, to display +all her boundless faculties, and all her beautiful and interesting +extravagancies and absurdities. It is observed of civil history, that +it is properly the record of human calamities; the same thing may be +observed of ecclesiastical history, it is the record of our errors. +For this reason a well written ecclesiastical history, a species of +composition that we suspect does not yet exist, would perhaps be the +most instructive study in the world. + +But there is an additional reason, which gives the error of the +animal magnetism a particular claim to our attention. The same error +was started, if M. Thouret be in the right, two centuries ago. It is +therefore worth our curiosity to enquire, what different instruments +were necessary to deceive mankind in an ignorant and an enlightened +age, in the commencement of the seventeenth and the close of the +eighteenth century; in a word to run a parallel between the borrowed +system of Mesmer, and the original one of Paracelsus, Maxwel and sir +Kenelm Digby. And as every publication ought to be as complete as +possible within itself, we have destined to assist the reader in this +enquiry, the ensuing paper of the society of medicine respecting M. +Thouret’s performance. + + P. S. The following extract of a letter from the best authority from + Paris, has been received while these papers are in the press. It + relates to the particulars of a fact alluded to at the bottom of page + xiv. + + “Mesmer has complained to the parliament of the report of the + royal commissioners, and requested that they would appoint a + new commission, to examine--not his theory and practice, but--a + _plan_, which shall exhibit the only possible means of infallibly + demonstrating the existence and utility of his discovery. The + petition was printed: many thought the parliament would do nothing in + it. But they have laid hold of it to clinch Mesmer, and oblige him to + expose all directly; so that it must soon be seen whether there is + any difference between his method and Deslon’s.--I give you their + + “Arret, of the 6 Sept. 1784. + + “The parliament ordains that Mesmer _shall be obliged_ to expose, + before four doctors of the faculty of medicine, two surgeons and + two masters in pharmacy, the doctrine, which he professes to have + discovered, and the methods which he pretends must be adopted for the + application of his principles: they likewise ordain that a report of + his communications shall then be delivered to the attorney general, + to be laid before parliament for their sentence.” + + + + +REPORT + + Of a Committee of the Royal Society of Medicine, appointed to + examine a Work, entitled, ENQUIRIES AND DOUBTS RESPECTING THE ANIMAL + MAGNETISM, BY M. THOURET, _Regent Physician of the Faculty of + Paris, and Member of the Society_. To which are subjoined, by the + Translator, Notes, chiefly extracted from M. Thouret’s Performance. + + +The underwritten were charged by the royal society of medicine, with +the examination of a work of M. Thouret, member of the society, +entitled, Enquiries and Doubts respecting the Animal Magnetism. + +In the attentive perusal of this work, it is obvious to remark, that +it has two very distinct objects; one of them, which is in a manner +historical, is to explain the coincidences of the animal magnetism, +as it was known to the ancients, with that which is admitted by the +moderns: the other contains critical reflections and doubts in regard +to the evidences upon which the doctrine is founded, the uncertainty +of which M. Thouret undertakes to display. We will endeavour to lay +before the society an idea of his performance. + +The animal magnetism held a principal rank among the systems, which +were embraced in that period of literary history, when suppositions +were admitted to hold the place of facts; and this hypothesis vanished, +together with many others, when experimental philosophy began to +dissipate the impostures of the imagination, and to afford an accurate +measure of the value of arts and sciences. + +The object of this system was a fluid extremely subtle, upon which were +bestowed the magnificent titles of soul of the world, spirit of the +universe, and universal magnetic fluid; and which was pretended to be +diffused through the whole space occupied by the material creation, to +animate the system of nature, to penetrate all substances, and to be +the vehicle to animated bodies in general, and their several regions in +particular, of certain forces of attraction and repulsion, by means of +which they explained the phenomena of nature. + +Nor were they contented to admit, or rather to imagine, the fluid we +have described; they flattered themselves that they were able, in +certain methods, to render themselves masters of this fluid, and to +direct its operations. Even this did not terminate their chimerical +pretensions: they affirmed that this fluid, in which they admitted a +species of flux and reflux, exerted an important degree of action upon +the nerves, and had a grand analogy with the vital principle; that its +effects, under the guidance of skill and illumination, extended to very +great distances, without the intervention of any foreign substances; +that it was possible to impregnate with it, either certain powders, in +the manner of sir Kenelm Digby, who asserted that he had done this, or +fluids, or different parts of the bodies of animals; that this agent +was like light reflected by mirrors, and that sound and music augmented +its intensity. + +The partisans of the animal magnetism, who wrote in the seventeenth +century, did not yet confine their hopes within these limits: the art +of directing the fluid, which they had brought down from heaven, and +which, according to them, acted in so distinguished a manner upon +the human body, might be expected to have a considerable share in +the medical science, or rather to supersede that science, as it had +hitherto existed; they did not fail to assert, that in causing it to +circulate in a proper manner, the restoration of diseased organs was +infallible, as well the preservation of the health of those who were +yet unattacked with any disease[1]. + +Such was the origin of an external and universal medicine, of a species +entirely new, and which boasted of having the advantage of curing +diseases, without obliging any drugs to be swallowed by the diseased. +Soon after poles were discovered in the human body, that is, points, +towards which it appeared that the action of this imaginary fluid +ought to be directed, cures and evacuations were operated without the +assistance of pharmacy, sensations of various kinds were excited in the +patients; and notwithstanding the distinguished effects ascribed to +this agent, it was asserted, that persons the most feeble and delicate +might submit to its process without danger. The process had yet another +use, that of discovering the seat of the distemper; a thing frequently +so difficult to be ascertained, but which was pointed out by the fluid +by a sort of instinctive intelligence, and with absolute demonstration. +It perfected the concoction of the humours; nervous distempers +in particular, rarely resisted its influence; it was favourable +to transpiration. In fine, and this last remark is of particular +importance, it had a powerful action upon the moral principles of our +frame. A propensity, that could scarcely be resisted, was the basis of +the attachment and gratitude, which were vowed by the patients to those +who had employed upon them this method of cure. Several, and in this +number was Maxwel, even gave us to understand, that it was possible, in +certain circumstances of human life, to make an improper use of this +vehicle of influence[2]. + +This picture of the animal magnetism, as it was invented and applauded +by the ancients, is faithfully extracted from the performance of +M. Thouret. The principal authors, to which he has recourse in the +progress of his enquiry, are Paracelsus, Van Helmont, Goclenius, +Burgravius, Libavius, Wirdig, Maxwel, Santanelli, Tentzel, Kircher +and Borel[3]. The entire passages are extracted, and M. Thouret has +displayed in this performance, as he had already done in so many +others, an erudition, the most various, the most precise, and the most +extensive. + +It is easy to see, how analogous is the system we have described +to that of M. Mesmer. To demonstrate this analogy, M. Thouret has +considered separately each of the propositions published and avowed +by the latter. They amount to twenty-seven, and the result of this +examination is, that they are all positively announced in some of the +authors whose names have been recited. + +Every part of Mesmer’s system, even down to the experiments of the ring +and the sword, have been found by M. Thouret in the works of these +writers[4]. It is therefore certain, that the assertions of M. Mesmer, +which are represented by him as principles of his own, do not belong to +him; and that this theory, in the room of being an attractive novelty, +is an ancient system, abandoned by the learned near a century ago. + +In ascending indeed to the original systems which were formed upon +the subject, we are unable to discover any thing but suppositions +destitute of proof, and for that reason devoted to oblivion. The parts +of this hypothesis were not connected together by any other tie, than +that of the imagination. The steps that were proposed in order to its +establishment, were the very same that had been employed in favour of +the art of cure, now by enchantments, and now by exorcisms. It has been +always by sensations that they have pretended to prove the existence +of these different agents; and if this kind of proof were sufficient, +there is not one of them which would not have been demonstrated. Sound +philosophy has therefore refused credit, as well to this species +of proof, as to the magnetism, such as it was proposed by Maxwel, +Goclenius and Santanelli, and such as we have described it in the +opening of this report. + +Has the animal magnetism of M. Mesmer any better claim to our +confidence? M. Thouret, without replying to this question in a positive +manner, has permitted to himself, in the second part of his work, +certain reflections respecting it, which he has proposed simply as +doubts, and which relate entirely to what M. Mesmer has published, or +authentically advanced. It may be objected to him, says M. Thouret, + +1. That the touch frequently employed in his method for a considerable +time, and on regions extremely sensible, such as those of the stomach, +is of itself capable of producing effects, by communicating a vivid +impulse to the nerves of the plexuses which are there situated, and +which have an intimate connection with the whole nervous system; that +authentic records present us with a great number of facts of this +kind, and that in consequence, the sensations, which originate in the +application of the touch, do not prove the existence of a separate +fluid or agent. + +2. That the heat produced by the hand, and the motion communicated to +the air, may occasion very strong impressions upon a person extremely +sensible, and whose fibres are in a state of convulsion, without these +impressions being calculated to prove a new agent. + +3. That in subduing the imagination by solemn preparations, by +extraordinary proceedings, by the confidence and enthusiasm inspired +by magnificent promises, it is possible to exalt the tone of sensible +and nervous fibres, and afterwards to direct, by the application of +the hands, their impulse towards certain organs, and to excite in them +evacuations or excretions, without there resulting any addition to the +sciences, either of philosophy or medicine. + +4. That the partisans of the animal magnetism do not produce what +they call crises, that is, a state of convulsions, but in subjects +extremely irritable, extremely nervous, and above all, in women, whose +sensibility has been already excited by the means we have described. + +5. That among these disposing causes, particular stress is to be laid +upon the presence of a person already in a state of convulsion, or +ready to fall into that state; that just as an organ attacked with +spasmodic affections, easily propagates these affections to the other +organs, in like manner are they transmitted from one man to another; +that we have therefore no reason to be surprised, if in the halls, +where the pretended magnetical operations are performed, spasms, and +even convulsions are diffused with extreme alacrity; and that history +furnishes a great number of facts, of convulsions propagated through +whole villages or towns, in a manner still more astonishing than that +of which the animal magnetism presents us with an example. + +6. That history has also transmitted to us a great number of cures +operated by fear, by joy, or the commotion of any violent passion; +which proves beyond controversy, the power of nervous influences over +diseases. + +7. That in different ages, two famous empirics, Valentine Greatrakes +of the kingdom of Ireland, and Gassner of Ratisbon, produced upon +different persons effects which appeared surprising, and have had +their admirers; that they employed only the instrumentality of the +touch, either upon the nape of the neck, or the limb affected; and that +it has been universally acknowledged, that they acted only upon the +imagination[5]. + +8. That in many instances, the partisans of the magnetism seem to +bestow a greater attention to excite surprise in the spectators, than +salutary effects in their patients; the spasms and convulsions which +they produce being the source of undoubted evil, were it only by the +habitude of that state which they are calculated to induce, while the +advantages of this method are not equally demonstrated. + +9. That certain local diseases not being of the number of those upon +which the animal magnetism acts, and certain persons, by the confession +of M. Mesmer, not being susceptible of its action, it may be suspected, +that the partisans of this system have contrived for themselves this +resource, in order to account for their failure of success in certain +cases. + +10. That to pretend to the discovery of a means which shall extend +to every kind of disease, that is, to an universal medicine, is an +illusion which cannot be excused in an enlightened age. + +11. That the known effects of sensibility are sufficient to explain, +without any new agent, the phenomena which M. Mesmer produces by a +method which he has not yet imparted to the public. + +12. That M. Mesmer, in supposing a particular agent, has adopted a rout +contrary to the interests of his discovery, in following the example of +those who have exerted their efforts to give credit to a system, worthy +upon every account of the oblivion into which it has fallen. + +The society may judge of the performance from this extract: it is +proper here to call to mind, that the royal society, acquainted with +the zeal of M. Thouret, and his indefatigable enquiries into every +thing that concerned the magnetism, charged him in their session of +the twelfth of March 1784, with the collection from the authors, as +well ancient as modern, of all that had been written respecting the +animal magnetism. This collection, which is sufficiently complete to +satisfy every reasonable desire, and of which M. Thouret communicated +the plan to the society, composes the first part of his work, and is to +be considered as his report to the society upon that subject. We are of +opinion, that the society is extremely indebted to him in that respect. +The second part contains judicious reflections and sagacious doubts. +We think both of them worthy of being printed with the approbation and +privilege of the society. + +The society, charged by the king with the examination of all new +inventions and secret methods of healing diseases, has not beheld +without inquietude, the species of vogue acquired by the animal +magnetism; whose procedures, whatever be their merit, have been and +are administered to the diseased, and paid for by the public, without +having previously, in obedience to the express provisions of the laws +of the kingdom, undergone the examination of the physical profession; +an abuse, against which the society, as in duty bound, has exclaimed +ever since its introduction. They have a right to take much pride +to themselves, that one of their members is publishing so learned +enquiries upon a subject, which has not been hitherto treated but in +anonymous compositions, which are, for the greater part, destined more +for the amusement than the instruction of their readers. The work of +M. Thouret, full of depth and sagacity, will enlighten those who are +impartial in their enquiries, and will greatly tend to the solution +of a question, upon which the public interest requires that sentence +should be pronounced as soon as possible. + + Louvre, July the 9th, 1784. + + (Signed) GEOFFROY, + DESPERRIERES, + JEANROI, + DEFOURCROY, + CHAMBON, + VICQ D’AZYR. + + + + +REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS, &c. + + +The king named, on the twelfth of March 1784, four physicians of the +faculty of Paris, messieurs Borie, Sallin, d’Arcet, Guillotin, to +enter into the examination, and to lay before him an account of the +animal magnetism practised by M. Deslon: and upon the petition of these +physicians, his majesty joined with them, for the purpose of this +inquisition, five members of the royal academy of sciences, messieurs +Franklin, le Roy, Bailly, de Borie, Lavoisier. M. Borie having died in +the commencement of the business, his majesty appointed M. Majault, +doctor of the faculty, to replace him. + +M. Mesmer has described the agent he professes to have discovered, +and to which he has given the appellation of animal magnetism, in the +following manner. “It is a fluid universally diffused; the vehicle +of a mutual influence between the celestial bodies, the earth and +the bodies of animated beings; it is so continued as to admit of no +vacuum; its subtlety does not admit of illustration; it is capable +of receiving, propagating and communicating all the impressions that +are incident to motion; it is susceptible of flux and reflux. The +animal body is subject to the effects of this agent; and these effects +are immediately produced by the agent insinuating itself into the +substance of the nerves. We particularly discover in the human body +qualities analogous to those of the loadstone; we distinguish in it +poles different and opposite. The action and the virtue of the animal +magnetism are capable of being communicated from one body to another, +animated or inanimate; they exert themselves to considerable distances, +and without the least assistance from any intermediate bodies: this +action is increased and reflected by mirrors; it is communicated, +propagated and augmented by sound; and the virtue itself is capable of +being accumulated, concentrated and transferred. Though the fluid be +universal all animal bodies are not equally susceptible of it; there +even are some, though very few, of so opposite a nature, as by their +mere presence to supersede its effects upon any other contiguous bodies. + +“The animal magnetism is capable of curing immediately diseases of +the nerves, and mediately other distempers; it improves the action +of medicines; it forwards and directs the salutary crises so as to +subject them totally to the government of the judgment; by means of +it the physician becomes acquainted with the state of health of each +individual, and decides with certainty upon the causes, the nature and +the progress of the most complicated distempers; it prevents their +increase, and effects their extirpation, without at any time exposing +the patient, whatever be his age, sex or constitution, to alarming +incidents, or unpleasing consequences[6].” “In the influence of the +magnetism, nature holds out to us a sovereign instrument for securing +the health and lengthening the existence of mankind[7].” + +Such is the agent, with the examination of which the commissioners +have been charged, and whose properties are avowed by M. Deslon, who +admits all the principles of M. Mesmer. This theory forms the basis of +a memoir, which was read at the house of M. Deslon, on the ninth day +of May, in the presence of M. the lieutenant general of the police, +and the commissioners. It is asserted in this memoir, that there is +but one nature, one distemper and one remedy; and this remedy is the +animal magnetism. This physician, at the same time that he acquainted +the commissioners with the doctrine and process of the magnetism, +instructed them in its practice by discovering to them the poles, and +shewing them the manner of touching the diseased, and directing in +regard to them the magnetic fluid. + +M. Deslon undertook to the commissioners, in the first place, to evince +the existence of the animal magnetism; secondly, to communicate to them +his knowledge respecting this discovery; and thirdly, to prove the +utility of this discovery and of the animal magnetism in the cure of +diseases. + +After having thus made themselves acquainted with the theory and +practice of the animal magnetism, it was necessary to observe its +effects. For this purpose the commissioners adjourned themselves, and +each of them repeatedly witnessed the public method of M. Deslon. +They saw in the centre of a large apartment a circular box, made of +oak, and about a foot or a foot and an half deep, which is called the +bucket;[8] the lid of this box is pierced with a number of holes, in +which are inserted branches of iron, elbowed and moveable. The patients +are arranged in ranks about this bucket, and each has his branch of +iron, which by means of the elbow may be applied immediately to the +part affected; a cord passed round their bodies connects them one with +the other: sometimes a second means of communication is introduced, by +the insertion of the thumb of each patient between the forefinger and +thumb of the patient next him; the thumb thus inserted is pressed by +the person holding it; the impression received by the left hand of the +patient, communicates through his right, and thus passes through the +whole circle. + +A piano forté is placed in one corner of the apartment, and different +airs are played with various degrees of rapidity; vocal music is +sometimes added to the instrumental. + +The persons who superintend the process, have each of them an iron rod +in his hand, from ten to twelve inches in length. + +M. Deslon made to the commissioners the following declarations. 1st. +That this rod is a conductor of the magnetism, has the power of +concentring it at its point, and of rendering its emanations more +considerable. 2dly. That sound, conformably to the theory of M. Mesmer, +is also a conductor of the magnetism, and that to communicate the fluid +to the piano forté, nothing more is necessary than to approach to it +the iron rod; that the person who plays upon the instrument furnishes +also a portion of the fluid, and that the magnetism is transmitted by +the sounds to the surrounding patients. 3dly. That the cord which is +passed round the bodies of the patients is destined, as well as the +union of their fingers, to augment the effects by communication. 4thly. +That the interior part of the bucket is so constructed as to concentre +the magnetism, and is a grand reservoir, from which the fluid is +diffused through the branches of iron that are inserted in its lid. + +The commissioners in the progress of their examination discovered, by +means of an electrometer and a needle of iron not touched with the +loadstone, that the bucket contained no substance either electric +or magnetical; and from the detail that M. Deslon has made to them +respecting the interior construction of the bucket, they cannot infer +any physical agent, capable of contributing to the imputed effects of +the magnetism. + +The patients then, arranged in considerable number and in successive +ranks round the bucket, derive the magnetic virtue at once from all +these conveyances: from the branches of iron, which transmit to them +that of the bucket; from the cord which is passed round their bodies, +and the union of their fingers, which communicate to them that of their +neighbours; and from the sound of the piano forté, or of a musical +voice, which diffuses it through the air. The patients are beside +magnetised directly, by means of a finger or a bar of iron, guided +before the face, above or behind the head, and over the surface of the +parts affected, the distinction of the poles still observed; they are +also acted upon by a look, and by having their attention excited. But +especially they are magnetised by the application of the hands, and by +the pressure of the fingers upon the hypochonders and the regions of +the lower belly; an application frequently continued for a long time, +sometimes for several hours. + +In this situation the patients offer a spectacle extremely varied in +proportion to their different habits of body. Some of them are calm, +tranquil and unconscious to any sensation; others cough, spit, are +affected with a slight degree of pain, a partial or an universal +burning, and perspirations; a third class are agitated and tormented +with convulsions. These convulsions are rendered extraordinary by +their frequency, their violence and their duration. As soon as one +person is convulsed, others presently are affected by that symptom. +The commissioners saw accesses of this kind, which lasted upwards of +three hours; they were accompanied with expectorations of a thick and +viscous water, brought away by the violence of the efforts. Sometimes +these expectorations were accompanied with small quantities of blood; +and there is among others a lad, a patient, who has frequently brought +up blood in considerable abundance. These convulsions are characterised +by precipitate and involuntary motions of all the limbs or of the whole +body, by a contraction of the throat, by sudden affections of the +hypochonders and the epigastrium, by a distraction and wildness in the +eyes, by shrieks, tears, hiccuppings, and immoderate laughter. They +are either preceded or followed by a state of languor and reverie, by +a species of dejection and even drowsiness. The least unforeseen noise +occasions starting; and it has been observed, that the changing of +the key and the time, in the airs played upon the piano forté, had an +effect upon the patients; so that a quicker motion agitates them more, +and renews the vivacity of their convulsions. + +There is an apartment lined with quilting, which was originally +destined for the patients in whom the magnetism produced convulsions, +and is denominated the apartment of crises; but M. Deslon has not +judged proper to make any use of it; and all the patients, whatever be +the accidents of their situation, are placed together in the apartment +of public proceeding. + +Nothing can be more astonishing than the sight of these convulsions; +he that has not had it, can have no idea of it: and in beholding it, +a man is not less struck with the profound repose of one class of +patients, than with the violence which agitates another; he observes +with admiration the various accidents that are repeated, and the +sympathies that are developed. He sees some patients seek each other +with eagerness; and in approaching smile, converse with all the +demonstrations of attachment, and soothe their mutual crises. They +are entirely under the government of the person who distributes the +magnetic virtue: in vain they may appear to be in a state of the +extremest drowsiness, his voice, a look, a sign from him rouses +them. It is impossible not to recognise in these regular effects an +extraordinary influence, acting upon the patients, making itself master +of them, and of which he who superintends the process, appears to be +the depository. + +These convulsive affections are improperly stiled crises in the theory +of the animal magnetism: according to this doctrine indeed they are +regarded as a salutary crisis, of the same kind as those which nature +produces, or which a skilful physician has the art to excite to +facilitate the cure of diseases. The commissioners will adopt this +expression in the following report; and, wherever they employ the word +crisis, they will always understand the convulsive, drowsy or lethargic +affections, produced by the means of the animal magnetism. + +The commissioners observed, that in the number of patients in the state +of crisis, there were always many women and few men: that it was one +or two hours before these crises took place; and that, when one had +taken place, all the others commenced successively, and without any +considerable interval. But after having made these general remarks, +the commissioners were speedily of opinion, that the public process +could not be made the scene of their experiments. The multiplicity +of the effects is one obstacle; too many things are seen at once +for any one of them to be seen well. Beside, the patients of rank, +who repair hither upon account of their health, might be displeased +with the enquiries of the commissioners; the very act of watching +them might appear a nuisance; and the recollection of this might be +burdensome, and impede the commissioners in their turn. They therefore +resolved, that as their frequent attendance at the public process was +unnecessary, it would be sufficient for a few of them to go from time +to time, to confirm the former general observations, to make new ones +in case an opportunity should occur for that purpose, and to report +them to the commission assembled. + +After having observed these effects at the public process, it behoved +them, in the next place, to endeavour to discover their causes, and +enquire into the proofs of the existence and utility of the magnetism. +The question of its existence is first in order; that of its utility it +were idle to examine, till the other shall have been fully resolved. +The animal magnetism may indeed exist without being useful, but it +cannot be useful if it do not exist. + +Of consequence the first object of attention with the commissioners, +and the direct tendency of their first experiments, ought to be +the ascertaining this existence. Again, this was itself an object +of considerable comprehension, and had need of being simplified. +The animal magnetism embraces the whole compass of nature; it is +the vehicle, we are told, of the influence exerted upon us by the +celestial bodies; the commissioners were of opinion, that they ought, +in the first place, to leave this more extensive influence out of the +question, and to consider only that part of the fluid which is diffused +over the earth, without troubling themselves with whence it comes; in a +word, to evince the action it exercises upon us, around us, and within +the sphere of our inspection, before they undertook to examine its +relation to the universe. + +The most certain method of determining the existence of the animal +magnetic fluid, would have been, to have rendered its presence capable +of being perceived by the senses; but much time was not necessary +to convince the commissioners that this fluid is too subtle to be +subjected to their observation. It is not, like the electrical fluid, +luminous and visible; its action is not, like the attraction of the +loadstone, the object of our sight; it has neither taste nor smell; +its process is silent, and it surrounds you or penetrates your frame, +without your being informed of its presence by the sense of touch. If +therefore it exist in us and around us, it is after a manner perfectly +insensible. There are persons among those who profess the magnetism, +who pretend that it may sometimes be seen passing from the extremity +of the fingers, which serve it for conductors, or who believe that +they feel its passage when you guide your finger before their face, or +along their hand. In the first of these cases, the emanation perceived +is merely that of transpiration, which becomes completely visible when +viewed through a solar microscope; in the second, the impression of +cold or freshness which is felt, an impression by so much the more +perceptible the warmer one is, results from the motion of the air which +follows the finger, and the degree of whose temperature is always below +that of animal heat. When, on the other hand, the finger is approached +to the surface of the face, which is colder than the finger, and it is +held at rest, the consequence is a sensation of heat, which is no other +than the communication of the animal heat. + +It is also pretended that this fluid has a smell, and that it is +perceived when either the finger or an iron conductor is brought into +contiguity with the nostrils; it is even said, that the sensation is +different, according as the finger or the rod of iron is directed +parallel with, or opposite to the poles. M. Deslon made the experiment +upon several of the commissioners; the commissioners themselves have +repeated it upon different subjects; not one has experienced this +difference of sensation: and if, by giving a close attention, any +scent has been perceived, it has been that of the iron, when the rod +has been presented rubbed and heated; or that of the emanation of the +transpiration, when the finger has been presented, a scent frequently +combined with that of the iron with which the finger itself has been +impressed. These effects have been erroneously attributed to the +magnetism, but they may be traced in reality to natural and definite +causes. + +Indeed M. Deslon has never insisted upon these transient impressions, +he did not think they were to be offered in evidence; on the contrary +he expressly assured the commissioners, that he could not demonstrate +to them the existence of the magnetism, otherwise than by the action +of this fluid, producing certain changes in animated bodies. This +existence is so much the more difficult to be demonstrated by effects, +which shall be incontrovertible, and whose causes shall be unequivocal; +by authentic facts, in cases where moral circumstances cannot exert +their influence: in a word, by proofs calculated to convince and compel +the understanding, the only ones which can yield any solid satisfaction +to persons really proficient in the study of nature. + +The action of the magnetism upon animated bodies may be observed in two +different ways; either as it consists in that action continued for a +long time, and in its salutary effects in the treatment of diseases, or +in its momentary effects upon the animal œconomy and the perceptible +changes there produced. M. Deslon insisted that the former of these +methods should be employed principally, and nearly exclusively; the +commissioners have been of a different opinion, and their reasons are +as follow. + +The majority of diseases have their seat in the interior part of our +frame. The collective experience of a great number of centuries has +made us acquainted with the symptoms, which indicate and discriminate +them; the same experience has taught the method in which they are to +be treated. What is the object of the efforts of the physician in this +method? It is not to oppose and to subdue nature, it is to assist her +in her operations. Nature, says the father of the medical science, +cures the diseased; but sometimes she encounters obstacles, which +constrain her in her course, and uselessly consume her strength. The +physician is the minister of nature; an attentive observer, he studies +the method in which she proceeds. If that method be firm, strong, +regular and well directed, the physician looks on in silence, and +bewares of disturbing it by remedies which would at least be useless; +if the method be embarrassed, he facilitates it; if it be too slow or +too rapid, he accelerates or retards it. Sometimes, to accomplish his +object, he confines himself to the regulation of the diet: sometimes +he employs medicines. The action of a medicine, introduced into the +human body, is a new force, combined with the principal force by which +our life is maintained: if the remedy follow the same route, which +this force has already opened for the expulsion of diseases, it is +useful, it is salutary; if it tend to open different routes, and to +turn aside this interior action, it is pernicious. In the mean time it +must be confessed that this salutary or pernicious influence, real as +it is, may frequently escape common observation. The natural history +of man presents us in this respect with very singular phenomena. It +may be there seen that regimens the most opposite, have not prevented +the attainment of an advanced old age. We may there see men, attacked +according to all appearance with the same disease, recovering in the +pursuit of opposite regimens, and in the use of remedies totally +different from each other; nature is in these instances sufficiently +powerful to maintain the vital principle in spite of the improper +regimen, and to triumph at once over the distemper and the remedy. If +it have this power of resisting the action of medicine, by a still +stronger reason it must have the power of operating without medicine. +The experience of the efficacy of remedies is always therefore attended +with some uncertainty; in the case of the magnetism the uncertainty has +this addition, the uncertainty of its existence. How then can we decide +upon the action of an agent, whose existence is contested, from the +treatment of diseases; when the effect of medicines is doubtful, whose +existence is not at all problematical? + +The cure which is principally cited in favour of the magnetism is +that of M. le baron de ----; all classes are acquainted with its +history. We shall not here enter into a discussion of the facts; we +shall not enquire whether the remedies precedingly employed might have +contributed to this cure. On the one hand the very critical situation +of the patient is admitted, and on the other the inefficacy of all the +ordinary means of medical science; the magnetism has been employed +and M. le baron de ---- has completely recovered. But might not a +natural crisis have singly operated this recovery? A woman of low +rank and extremely poor, who lived at the Gros-caillou, was attacked +in 1779 with a malignant fever in all its symptoms; she resolutely +refused every assistance, she only desired that a vessel which she +had near her should be kept constantly replenished with water: she +remained quiet upon the straw which served her for a bed, drinking +water continually and doing nothing more. The disease developed itself, +passed successively through its different stages, and terminated in a +complete cure[9]. Mademoiselle G----, who lived at the lesser royal +mews, had two indurations formed in her right breast, which gave her +great pain; a surgeon recommended to her the use of the Eau du Peintre +as an excellent dissolvent; at the same time informing her, that if +this remedy did not succeed in a month, it would be necessary to +extirpate them by incision. The young lady, terrified at this sentence, +consulted M. Sallin, who gave it as his opinion that the indurations +were susceptible of resolution; M. Bonvart, who was also consulted, +confirmed the opinion of M. Sallin. Before entering upon any course of +remedy, they prescribed dissipation; fifteen days after she was seized +at the opera with a violent cough, and so profuse an expectoration, +that she was obliged to be carried home; she spit in the space of four +hours about three pints of a viscid lymph; one hour after this M. +Sallin examined the breast, he discovered no trace of induration. M. +Bouvart, called in the next day, proved on his part the happy effect of +this natural crisis. If mademoiselle G---- had taken Eau du Peintre, +the honour of her cure would have been attributed to this medicine. + +The uninterrupted observation of ages proves, and the professors of +physic acknowledge, that nature alone and without our interference, +cures a great number of persons. If the magnetism were absolutely +inactive, the patients, who undergo this method of cure, might be +considered as abandoned to nature. It would be absurd to chuse a method +of deciding upon the existence of this agent, which, by attributing to +it all the cures performed by nature, would tend to prove that it had +an action useful and curative, when in reality it might have no action +at all. + +Upon this head the commissioners are of the opinion of M. Mesmer. +He rejected the cure of diseases, when this method of proving the +magnetism was proposed to him by a member of the academy of sciences: +“It is a mistake,” replied he, “to imagine that this kind of proof is +unanswerable; it cannot be demonstrated that either the physician or +the medicine causes the recovery of the patient[10].” + +The treatment of diseases can therefore furnish nothing but a result, +always uncertain, often deceitful; nor can this uncertainty be +dissipated, and all the causes of illusion compensated, but by an +infinity of cures, perhaps by the experience of successive centuries. +The object and importance of the commission demand means of a speedier +description. It was the duty of the commissioners to confine themselves +to arguments purely physical, that is, to the momentaneous effects of +the fluid upon the animal frame, excluding from these effects all the +illusions which might mix with them, and assuring themselves that they +could proceed from no other cause than the animal magnetism. + +They proposed to make experiments upon single subjects, who might +be willing to submit to the various experiments which they should +invent; and who, some of them by their simplicity, and others by their +intelligence, should be capable of giving an exact and faithful +account of their sensations. These experiments we shall not confine +ourselves to relate in the order of time, but shall follow the order of +the facts they were intended to elucidate. + +The commissioners in the first place resolved to make their first +experiments upon themselves, and personally to experience the action +of the magnetism. They were extremely curious to become acquainted +by their own sensations with the effects ascribed to this agent. +They therefore submitted themselves to these effects, and in such a +disposition, that they would not have been sorry to have undergone some +accidents and a partial derangement of health, which being evidently +produced by the operation of the magnetism, should have enabled them +to decide this important question upon the spot, and with their own +testimony. But in submitting themselves to the magnetism in this +manner, the commissioners have employed one necessary precaution. There +is not an individual, in a state of the fullest health, who, if he paid +a close attention to the point, would not be sensible to an infinity of +interior motions and variations, either of a pain infinitely slight, or +of heat in different parts of his body; these variations which exist at +all times are independent of the magnetism. To turn and fix in this +manner ones attention upon oneself, is not perhaps itself entirely +without its effects. There is so intimate a connection, whatever be the +vehicle of that connection, between the volitions of the soul and the +motions of the body, that it is not easy to prescribe limits to the +influence of attention, which appears to be nothing more than a train +of volitions, directed, constantly and without interruption, to the +same object. When we recollect that the arm is moved by the will as it +pleases, how can we be certain, that the attention being fixed upon +some interior part of our frame, may not excite some slight emotion in +it, direct the heat towards it, and so modify its actual situation as +to produce in it new sensations? The first thing therefore, to which +the commissioners were bound to attend, was not to observe too minutely +what passed within them. If the magnetism were a real and operative +cause, there was no need that it should be made an object of thought, +in order to its action and manifesting itself: it ought, so to express +ourselves, to compel and arrest the attention, and to render itself +perceptible to a mind that should even be distracted from it by design. + +But in determining to make experiments upon themselves, the +commissioners unanimously resolved to make those experiments private, +without admitting any stranger, except M. Deslon, by whom the +operation was to be performed, or such persons as they should chuse; in +like manner they engaged not to submit to the magnetism at the public +process, in order that they might discuss freely their observations, +and be in all events the sole, or at least the first judges of the +symptoms observed. + +In pursuance of these determinations, a particular apartment and a +separate bucket were destined for their use in the house of M. Deslon, +and the commissioners repaired thither once in the course of every +week. The operation was continued in each experiment for two hours and +a half, the branch of iron being in contact with the left hypochonder, +surrounded with a cord of communication, and forming from time to time +the chain of fingers and thumbs. They were magnetised either by M. +Deslon, or, in his absence, by one of his pupils; some of them for a +longer time and more frequently than others, and those with whom this +was the case were the commissioners who appeared from constitution and +habit the most susceptible. The operation was performed sometimes with +the finger and the rod of iron presented and guided along the different +parts of the body, sometimes by the application of the hands and the +pressure of the fingers, either upon the hypochonders, or upon the pit +of the stomach. + +Not one of the commissioners felt any sensation, or at least none +which ought to be ascribed to the action of the magnetism. Some of +the commissioners are of a robust constitution; others have more +delicate habits, and are subject to interruptions of their health: +one of these last, was sensible of a slight pain at the pit of the +stomach, in consequence of a considerable pressure that was employed +upon that part. This pain continued all that and the next day, and +was accompanied with a sensation of fatigue and dejection. Another +felt, in the afternoon of one of the days in which the experiments +were performed, a slight irritation of the nerves, to which he is +very subject. A third, endowed with a still greater sensibility, and +especially with an extreme restlessness of the nerves, was subject to +a higher degree of pain and a more perceptible irritation; but these +lesser accidents are the result of perpetual and ordinary variations +in the state of their health, and are of consequence foreign to the +operation they had undergone, or proceed only from the pressure +employed upon the region of the stomach. The commissioners do not speak +of these slight details, but from a scrupulous fidelity; they relate +them, because they have imposed it as a law upon themselves constantly +and in every particular to lay the truth. + +The commissioners could not avoid being struck with the difference of +the private experiment made upon themselves from the public process. +All was calm and silence in the one, all restlessness and agitation +in the other; there multiplied symptoms, violent crises, the ordinary +state both of body and mind interrupted and overthrown, and nature +wrought up to the highest pitch; here the body free from pain, and +the mind from anxiety, nature preserving her ordinary course and her +equilibrium, in a word the absolute privation of every kind of effect: +the stupendous influence, which creates such an astonishment in the +public process, appears no longer; the magnetism stripped of its energy +seems perfectly supine and inactive. + +The commissioners, having at first submitted to the experiment only +once a week, were desirous to ascertain whether a continuity of +experiment would produce any effect; they submitted to it three days +successively, but their insensibility was the same, and the magnetism +appeared with respect to them perfectly impotent. This experiment, made +at once upon eight different subjects, several of whom were subject to +habitual derangements of health, authorises the conclusion that the +magnetism has little or no action in a state of health, or even in a +state of lesser infirmity. We then resolved to make experiments upon +persons really diseased, and we chose them out of the lower class. + +Seven of these were assembled at Passy, at the house of Dr. Franklin; +the operation was performed upon them by M. Deslon in the presence of +all the commissioners. + +The widow Saint-Amand, asthmatic, having the belly, legs and thighs +swelled; and dame Anseaume, who had a swelling upon her thigh, felt +no sensation; the little Claude Renard, a child of six years of age, +scrophulous, almost consumptive, having the knees swelled, the legs +bent inward, and the articulation nearly deprived of motion, a very +interesting child, and possessing a greater degree of understanding +than is usual at his age, was likewise conscious to no sensation; any +more than Geneviève Leroux, nine years of age, subject to convulsions, +and to a disorder greatly resembling that which is called St. Vitus’s +Dance. François Grenet experienced some effects; he had a distemper +in his eyes, particularly in the right, in which he had scarcely +any sight, and in which there was a considerable tumour. When the +operation was directed towards the left eye, by approaching and moving +backward and forward the thumb very near and for a considerable time, +he was sensible of a pain in the ball of the eye, and the eye watered. +When the operation was directed to the right eye, which was the most +disordered, he felt no sensation in it; he felt the same pain in the +left eye, and nothing in any other part of the body. + +Dame Charpentier, who had been thrown down against a log of wood by a +cow two years before, had experienced the most unfortunate consequences +from this accident; she lost her sight, recovered it afterwards in +part, but remained in a state of habitual infirmities; she declared +that she had two ruptures, and the belly of so great sensibility, that +she could not bear the pressure of the strings of her petticoats: this +sensibility belongs to the case of nervous irritation; the slightest +pressure upon the region of the belly is capable of determining this +irritation, and producing, through the correspondence of the nerves, +effects in every part of the body. + +The operation was performed upon this woman as upon the rest by +the application and the pressure of the fingers; the pressure was +extremely painful to her: afterwards, in directing the finger towards +the rupture, she complained of a pain in her head; the finger being +placed before her face, she said she could not draw her breath. Upon +the repeated motion of the finger upwards and downwards, she had +sudden starts of the head and shoulders, like those which are commonly +occasioned by surprise mixed with terror, for instance that of a +person who has some drops of cold water suddenly thrown in his face. +She appeared to have the same startings when her eyes were closed. +The fingers being held under her nose, while her eyes were shut, she +complained of a sensation of faintness so long as they were continued +there. The seventh subject, Joseph Ennuyé, experienced sensations of a +similar nature, but much less considerable. + +Of these seven patients four felt no sensation at all; three +experienced some effects from the operation. These effects deserved to +engage the attention of the commissioners, and demanded an accurate +examination. + +The commissioners, to obtain further light, and to define their +ideas upon this part of the subject, resolved to make the experiment +upon patients, placed in other circumstances, and selected from the +polite world; such as could not be suspected of sinister views, and +whose understanding made them capable of enquiring into and giving +a faithful account of their sensations. Mesdames de B---- and de +V----, messieurs M---- and R---- were admitted to the private bucket +together with the commissioners; they were intreated to remark their +sensations, without fixing upon them too regular an attention. M. +M---- and madame de V---- were the only persons who experienced any +sensation. M. M---- had an indolent tumour over the whole articulation +of the knee, and a constant pain in the patella. He declared, during +the operation, that he felt nothing in any part of his body, except +in the moment that the finger was guided before the diseased knee; +he then thought that he felt a slight degree of heat in the place, +in which he has habitually the sensation of pain. Madame de V----, +attacked with a nervous disorder, was several times upon the point of +falling asleep during the operation. The experiment having continued +for an hour and nineteen minutes without interruption, and for the +greater part by the application of the hands, she was sensible to +nothing but a sensation of irritation and dejection. These two subjects +underwent the experiment only once. M. R----, whose distemper was +the remainder of an obstruction in the liver, the consequence of a +very violent disorder of that kind ill cured, underwent the operation +three times and felt nothing. Madame de B----, severely attacked with +obstructions, underwent the experiment constantly at the same time +with the commissioners, and felt nothing; it is necessary to observe, +that she submitted to the magnetism with an extreme tranquility, which +originated in the highest degree of incredulity. + +Experiments were made at other times upon different subjects, but +without the assistance of the bucket. One of the commissioners, in a +violent head-ach, had the operation performed upon him by M. Deslon +for half an hour; one of the symptoms of his disorder was an extreme +cold in his feet. M. Deslon brought his foot near that of the patient, +the foot was never the warmer, and the head-ach lasted its ordinary +term. The patient, having placed himself near a fire, obtained from it +the salutary effects which heat has constantly procured him, without +experiencing, either during that day or the night following, any effect +from the magnetism. + +Dr. Franklin, though the weakness of his health hindered him from +coming to Paris, and assisting at the experiments which were there +made, was magnetised by M. Deslon at his own house at Passy. The +assembly was numerous; every person who was present underwent the +operation. Some sick persons, who had come with M. Deslon, were subject +to the effects of the magnetism in the same manner as at the public +process; but madame de B----, Dr. Franklin, his two relations, his +secretary, and an American officer, felt no sensation, though one of +Dr. Franklin’s relations was convalescent, and the American officer had +at that time a regular fever. + +The experiments we have related, furnish a number of facts, calculated +to illustrate, and fit to be compared with each other, and from which +the commissioners were at liberty to deduce certain inferences. Of +fourteen sick persons five only appeared to feel any effect from the +operation, nine felt no effect at all. The commissioner, who had +the head-ach and coldness in the feet, derived no benefit from the +magnetism, nor did his feet recover their natural heat. This agent +has not therefore the property which has been attributed to it of +communicating heat to the feet. The magnetism has also been said +to have the property of discovering the species, and particularly +the seat of diseases, by the pain, which the action of this fluid +infallibly occasions in that part. Such an advantage would be of +great consequence; the fluid which was the instrument of it would +be a valuable means in the hands of the physician, often deceived +by equivocal symptoms: but François Grenet felt no sensation, no +pain, but in the eye least affected. If the redness and tumour of +the other eye had not furnished external symptoms, in judging from +the effect of the magnetism we should have been led to conclude that +it was undistempered. M. R---- and madame de B----, both attacked +with obstructions, and madame de B---- with great severity, as they +were conscious to no sensation, would have received no intelligence, +either respecting the species, or the seat of their disease. And yet +obstructions are among the disorders, which are said to be particularly +subject to the action of the magnetism; since according to the new +theory the free and rapid circulation of this fluid through the nerves, +is a means of opening the channels and destroying the obstacles, that +is, the obstructions, which it encounters in its passage. It is at +the same time said that the magnetism is the touchstone of health: +if therefore M. R---- and madame de B---- had not experienced the +derangements and the sufferings inseparable from obstructions, they +would have had a right to believe that they enjoyed the best health +in the world. The same thing may be said of the American officer: the +magnetism therefore announced as the discoverer of diseases completely +failed of its effect. + +The heat that M. M---- felt in the patella, is an effect too slight +and fugitive to authorise any conclusions. It may be suspected +that it proceeded from the cause already descanted on, a too great +attention to observe what passes within us: the same attention would +discover similar sensations at any other time, when the magnetism +was not employed. The drowsiness experienced by madame de V---- must +undoubtedly be ascribed to the regularity and fatigue of preserving the +same situation; if she was sensible to any vaporous emotion, it must be +remembered that it is a known property of nervous affections, to have +much dependency upon the attention that is paid them; to renew them it +is only necessary to hear them spoken of, or to think of them. It is +easy to judge what ought to be expected from a woman, whose nerves are +extremely irritable, and who, being magnetised for an hour and nineteen +minutes, had during that time no other subject of reflection than +that of the disorders which are habitual to her. She might have had a +nervous crisis more considerable than that we have described, without +our having a right to be surprised at it. + +There remains then only the effects produced upon dame Charpentier, +François Grenet and Joseph Ennuyé, which can be supposed to derive +from the operation of the magnetism. In comparing these three +particular facts to the rest, the commissioners were astonished +that three subjects of the lower class should be the only ones who +felt any thing from the operation, while those of a more elevated +rank, of more enlightened understandings, and better qualified to +describe their sensations, have felt nothing. Without doubt François +Grenet experienced a pain and a watering in the eye when the thumb +was approached very near to it; dame Charpentier complained, that in +touching her stomach the pressure corresponded to her rupture; and the +pressure might have been in part the cause of what she felt; but the +commissioners suspected that these sensations were augmented by moral +causes. + +Let us represent to ourselves the situation of a person of the lower +class, and of consequence ignorant, attacked with a distemper and +desirous of a cure, introduced with some degree of ceremony to a large +company, partly composed of physicians, where an operation is performed +upon him totally new, and from which he persuades himself before hand +that he is about to experience prodigious effects. Let us add to this +that he is paid for his compliance, that he thinks he shall contribute +more to our satisfaction by professing to experience sensations of +some kind; and we shall have definite causes to which to attribute +these effects; we shall at least have just reason to doubt whether +their true cause be the magnetism. + +Beside this it may be enquired, why the magnetism produced these +effects upon persons, who knew what was done to them, and might imagine +they had an interest in saying what they said, while it took no sort of +hold upon the little Claude Renard, upon an organisation endowed with +all the delicacy of infancy, so irritable, so susceptible? The sound +understanding and ingenuous temper of this child evince the veracity of +his relation. Why too has this agent produced no effect upon Geneviève +Leroux, who was in a perpetual state of convulsion? Her nerves were +certainly sufficiently irritable, how comes it that the magnetism +did not display its power, either in augmenting, or diminishing her +convulsions? Her indifference and impassibility induced the belief, +that the reason of her having felt nothing, was the idiotism which did +not permit her to judge that she ought to have felt any thing. + +From these facts the commissioners are at liberty to observe, that the +magnetism has seemed to have no existence for those subjects, who have +submitted to it with any degree of incredulity; that the commissioners, +even those who have their nerves most irritable, having expressly +turned their attention to other objects, and having armed themselves +with that philosophic doubt which ought always to accompany enquiry, +have felt none of those sensations, which were experienced by the +three patients of the lower class; and they have a right to suspect +that these sensations, supposing their reality, were the fruits of +anticipated persuasion, and might be operated by the mere force of +imagination. Of this suspicion another class of experiments has been +the result. Their subsequent researches were directed towards a new +object; it was necessary to destroy or confirm the suspicion they had +formed, to determine to what degree the power of the imagination can +influence our sensations, and to demonstrate whether it can be the +cause, in whole or in part, of the effects attributed to the magnetism. + +At this time the commissioners heard of the experiments, which were +made at the house of M. the dean of the faculty by M. Jumelin, +doctor of physic; they were desirous of seeing these experiments, +and they met M. Jumelin in a body at the house of M. Majault, one +of the commissioners. M. Jumelin declared to them that he was a +disciple neither of M. Mesmer, nor of M. Deslon; he had learned +nothing respecting the animal magnetism from them, but had formed +his principles and digested his process from what he had heard upon +the subject in conversation. His principles consist in regarding the +animal magnetic fluid, as a fluid which circulates in the human body, +and which flows from it, but which is essentially the same with the +principle of animal heat; like all other fluids he conceived that +it tended to an equilibrium, and that it therefore passes from the +body in which the greatest quantity of it resides, into that which +has the least. His method does not differ from that of messieurs +Mesmer and Deslon less than his principles; like them he performs the +operation with the finger and the rod of iron as conductors, and by the +application of the hands, but without any distinction of poles. + +Eight men and two women submitted to the operation in the first +experiment, and felt nothing; at length a woman, who waits in the hall +of M. Alphonse le Roy, doctor of physic, having been magnetised in the +forehead, but without touching her, said that she felt the sensation of +heat. M. Jumelin guiding his hand, and presenting the five extremities +of his fingers over the whole of her face, she said that she felt as +it were a flame, that passed from place to place; magnetised in the +stomach she said that she felt heat; magnetised upon the back she made +the same declaration: she also said that she felt hot in every part of +her body, and that her head ached. + +The commissioners, observing that, of eleven persons that underwent the +experiment, one only had been sensible to the magnetism of M. Jumelin, +were of opinion that this person had experienced certain sensations, +only because she had probably an imagination more easily excited than +the rest: the opportunity was favourable for clearing up the point. The +sensibility of this woman being perfectly established, the business +was only to protect her from the illusions of the imagination, or +at least to leave her imagination without any thing to direct its +operations. The commissioners proposed to blindfold her, in order to +observe what her sensations would be, when she could no longer know any +thing respecting the conduct of the experiment. She was accordingly +blindfolded and magnetised; the phenomena no longer answered to +the places towards which the magnetism was directed. Magnetised +successively upon the stomach and in the back, she felt only a heat in +her head, a pain in both eyes and in the left ear. + +The bandage was removed from her eyes, and M. Jumelin having applied +his hands upon the hypochonders, she said that she felt heat; after a +few minutes she said that she was ready to faint, and she fainted in +effect. When she was tolerably recovered, the experiment was resumed, +she was blindfolded, M. Jumelin was removed, silence recommended, and +the woman was induced to believe that the operation was performing. The +effects were the same, though no operation, either near or distant was +performed; she felt the same heat, the same pain in her eyes and in her +ears; besides which she felt a heat in her back and loins. + +After a quarter of an hour, a sign was made to M. Jumelin to magnetise +her in the stomach, she felt no sensation; in the back, it was the same +thing. The sensations diminished instead of augmenting. The pains in +her head continued, the heat in her back and loins ceased. + +We see in this instance certain effects produced, and these similar to +those which were experienced by the three subjects, respecting whom the +experiment has already been detailed. But the former and the latter +were obtained in different methods; it follows that this difference is +of no consequence. The process of messieurs Mesmer and Deslon, and an +opposite process have produced the same phenomena. The distinction of +poles is therefore chimerical. + +It may be observed that while the woman was permitted to see the +operation, she placed her sensations precisely in the part towards +which it was directed; that on the other hand when she did not see +the operation, she placed them at hazard, and in parts very distant +from those which were the object of the magnetism. It was natural to +conclude that these sensations, real or pretended, were determined +by the imagination. Of this we were convinced when we saw that being +entirely at rest, the preceding sensations having ceased, and the +bandage being fixed over her eyes, this woman experienced all the same +effects, though no operation was performed; but the demonstration +was complete, when after a remission of a quarter of an hour, her +imagination being undoubtedly cooled and worn down, the effects, in the +room of augmenting, diminished at the moment in which the operation was +actually renewed. + +If she was seized with a faintness, women are sometimes liable to this +accident from their garments being tight or otherwise burdensome. The +application of the hands upon the hypochonders was capable of producing +the same effect upon a woman extremely susceptible; but there is no +need of having recourse to this cause to explain the appearance. The +weather was extremely hot, the woman had unquestionably felt some +emotion in the beginning of the experiment, she had made an effort upon +herself to submit to a new and unknown operation, and it is by no means +extraordinary that an effort, continued for a longer time than the +constitution will bear, should occasion a propensity to faint. + +This swoon had therefore a natural known cause, but the sensations, +which she experienced when no operation was performed upon her, could +be only the result of imagination. In similar experiments, which M. +Jumelin made in the same place the next day, the commissioners being +present, upon a man who was blindfolded, and upon a woman who was not +blindfolded, the result was precisely the same; it was evident their +answers were determined by the questions that were put to them, that +is, the question pointed out where the sensation was expected to be; in +the room of directing the magnetism upon them, all that was done was +the exalting and directing their imagination. A child of five years of +age being afterwards magnetised, felt nothing but the heat which he had +just before contracted at play. + +These experiments appeared sufficiently important to the commissioners, +for them to desire a repetition of them, in order to obtain further +light into the subject, and M. Jumelin had the complaisance to comply +with their request. It would be to no purpose to object, that the +method of M. Jumelin was a bad one; for at the present moment it was +not proposed to bring the magnetism, but the imagination to the proof. + +The commissioners agreed to blindfold subjects who had already +undergone the magnetical operation, for the most part not to magnetise +them at all, but to put to them interrogations, so framed as to point +out to them their answers. This mode of proceeding was not calculated +to deceive them, it only misled their imagination. In reality, when +no operation was performed upon them, their sole answer ought to +have been, that they felt no sensation; and when the operation was +performed, the impression they felt, not the manner in which they were +interrogated, ought to have dictated their replies. + +The commissioners adjourned themselves to the house of M. Jumelin; they +began with an experiment upon his servant. They fixed a bandage over +his eyes, prepared for the purpose, and which they employed in all the +succeeding experiments. The bandage was made of two calottes of elastic +gum, whose concavity was filled with edredon; the whole inclosed and +sown up in two pieces of stuff of a circular form. These pieces of +stuff were then fastened to each other, and to two strings which were +tied in a knot at the back part of the head. Placed over the eyes, +they left in their interval room for the nose, and the entire liberty +of respiration, without the person blindfolded being permitted to +receive even the smallest particle of light, either through, or above, +or below the bandage. These precautions having been contrived, with an +equal view to the convenience of the subject, and the certainty of the +result, the servant of M. Jumelin was persuaded that the operation was +performing upon him. Upon this he felt an almost universal sensation of +heat, and certain emotions in the region of the belly, together with +an extreme heaviness; by degrees he grew drowsy and appeared upon the +point of falling asleep. This experiment proves what we have already +said, that the symptom of drowsiness is the effect of situation and +weariness, not of the magnetism. + +The same person being afterwards magnetised with his eyes uncovered, +and a rod of iron being presented to his forehead, he experienced +sensations of pricking: the bandage being then replaced and the +circumstance repeated, he was conscious to no sensation. The rod +of iron was then removed, and the patient being interrogated if he +felt nothing in his forehead, he declared that he felt something move +backward and forward from one side of it to the other. + +M. B----, a man of learning, and particularly acquainted with the +science of medicine, was then blindfolded, and presented us with the +same spectacle, feeling certain sensations when he was not acted +upon, and often feeling nothing when the operation was performed. +These sensations went to such a length, that, previously to the being +magnetised in any manner, but believing that the operation had been +performing for ten minutes, he felt a heat in his loins which he +compared to that of a stove. It is evident that M. B---- had a very +strong sensation, since, in order to convey an idea of it, he thought +it necessary to have recourse to such a comparison; this sensation +however he owed solely to imagination, which was the only agent +concerned in the affair. + +The commissioners, particularly those of the faculty of medicine, +made an infinite number of experiments upon different subjects, whom +they either magnetised themselves, or persuaded that they underwent +the operation. They performed the operation indifferently, either +opposite to, or in the direction of the poles or at right angles with +them, and in each case obtained the same effects; experiencing in all +these experiments no other difference, than that of an imagination +more or less susceptible[11]. They were therefore convinced that +the imagination alone is capable of producing various sensations, +and causing the patient to experience both pain and heat, and even a +very considerable degree of heat, in all parts of the body, and they +concluded that it of course entered for a considerable share into the +effects attributed to the animal magnetism. It must at the same time be +admitted, that the process of the magnetism produces in the animated +body changes more distinguished, and derangements more considerable, +than those we have just reported. None of those subjects, whom we +have hitherto described as the imaginary objects of the magnetical +operation, were so far impressed as to produce convulsions; it was +therefore a new subject for the experiments of the commissioners, +to enquire, whether by the mere energies of the imagination it were +possible to produce crises, similar to those which we have stated in +the public process. + +Many experiments were thought of for the decision of this question. +When a tree has been touched according to the principles and method of +the magnetism, every person who stops under it, ought to experience +in a greater or less degree the effects of this agent; there have +even been some in this situation who have swooned, or experienced +convulsions. We communicated our ideas upon this subject to M. Deslon, +who replied, that the experiment ought to succeed, provided the +subject were extremely susceptible; and it was agreed that it should +be made at Passy in the presence of Dr. Franklin. The necessity that +the subject should be susceptible, led the commissioners to conceive, +that to render the experiment decisive and unanswerable, it was +necessary that it should be made upon a person of M. Deslon’s choice, +and of whose susceptibility to the operations of the magnetism he was +already convinced. M. Deslon therefore brought with him a boy of about +twelve years of age; an apricot tree was fixed upon in the orchard of +Dr. Franklin’s garden, considerably distant from any other tree, and +calculated for the preservation of the magnetical power which might +be impressed upon it. M. Deslon was led thither alone to perform the +operation, the boy in the mean time remaining in the house, and another +person along with him. We could have wished that M. Deslon had not +been present at the subsequent part of the experiment, but he declared +that he could not answer for its success, if he did not direct his +cane and his countenance towards the tree, in order to augment the +action of the magnetism. It was therefore resolved, that M. Deslon +should be placed at the greatest possible distance, and that some of +the commissioners should stand between him and the boy, in order to +ascertain the impracticability of any signals being made by M. Deslon, +or any intelligence being maintained between them. These precautions +in an experiment the essence of which must be authenticity, are +indispensible, without giving the person with respect to whom they are +employed a right to think himself offended. + +The boy was then brought into the orchard his eyes covered with the +bandage, presented successively to four trees upon which the operation +had not been performed, and caused to embrace each of them for the +space of two minutes, the mode of communication which had been +prescribed by M. Deslon himself. + +M. Deslon, present, and at a considerable distance, directed his cane +towards the tree which had been the object of his operations. + +At the first tree the boy being interrogated at the end of a minute, +declared that he perspired in large drops; he coughed, spit, and +complained of a slight pain in his head; the distance of the tree which +had been magnetised was about twenty seven feet. + +At the second tree he felt the sensations of stupefaction and pain in +his head; the distance was thirty six feet. + +At the third tree the stupefaction and head-ach increased considerably; +he said that he believed he was approaching to the tree which had been +magnetised; the distance was then about thirty eight feet. + +In fine at the fourth tree which had not been rendered the object of +the operation, and at the distance of about twenty four feet from the +tree which had, the boy fell into a crisis; he fainted away, his limbs +stiffened, and he was carried to a neighbouring grass-plot, where M. +Deslon hastened to his assistance and recovered him. + +The result of this experiment is entirely contrary to the theory of +the animal magnetism. M. Deslon accounted for it by observing, that +all the trees by their very nature, participated of the magnetism, +and that their magnetism was beside reinforced by his presence. But +in that case a person sensible to the power of the magnetism, could +not hazard a walk in a garden without the risk of convulsions; an +assertion confuted by the experience of every day. The presence of M. +Deslon had no greater influence here, than in the coach, in which the +boy came along with him, was placed opposite to him, and felt nothing. +If he had experienced no sensation even under the tree which was +magnetised, it might have been said that at least upon that day he +had not been sufficiently susceptible: but the boy fell into a crisis +under a tree which was not magnetised; the crisis was therefore the +effect of no physical or exterior cause, but is to be ascribed solely +to the influence of imagination. The experiment is therefore entirely +conclusive: the boy knew that he was about to be led to a tree upon +which the magnetical operation had been performed, his imagination was +struck, it was exalted by the successive steps of the experiment, and +at the fourth tree it was raised to the height necessary to produce the +crisis. + +Other experiments were made calculated to support this, and the result +was the same. One day when the commissioners were all together at Passy +at the house of Dr. Franklin, and M. Deslon with them, they previously +intreated the latter to bring some of his patients with him, selecting +those of the lower class, who were most susceptible to the magnetism. +M. Deslon brought two women; and while he was employed in performing +the operation upon Dr. Franklin and several persons in another +apartment, the two women were separated, and placed in different rooms. + +One of them, dame P----, had films over her eyes; but as she could +always see a little, the bandage already described was employed. She +was persuaded that M. Deslon had been brought into the room to perform +the magnetical operation; silence was recommended; three commissioners +were present, one to interrogate, another to make minutes of the +transaction, and the third to personate M. Deslon. The conversation was +pretended to be addressed to M. Deslon; he was desired to begin the +operation; the three commissioners in the mean time remained perfectly +quiet and solely occupied in observing her symptoms. At the end of +three minutes the patient began to feel a nervous shuddering; she +had then successively a pain in the back of her head, in her arms, a +creeping in her hands, that was her expression, she grew stiff, struck +her hands violently together, rose from her seat, stamped with her +feet: the crisis had all the regular symptoms. Two other commissioners, +who were in the adjoining room with the door shut, heard the stamping +of the feet and the clapping of the hands, and without seeing any thing +were witnesses to this noisy experiment. + +The two commissioners we have mentioned were with the other patient, +mademoiselle B----, who was subject to nervous distempers. No bandage +was employed upon her, but her eyes were at liberty; she was seated +with her face towards a door which was shut, and persuaded that M. +Deslon was on the other side, employed in performing upon her the +magnetical operation. This had scarcely taken place a minute, before +she began to feel the symptom of shuddering; in another minute she had +a chattering of the teeth and an universal heat; in fine in the third +minute she fell into a regular crisis. Her respiration was quick, she +stretched out both her arms behind her back, twisting them extremely, +and bending her body forward: her whole body trembled; the chattering +of her teeth became so loud that it might be heard in the open air; she +bit her hand, and that with so much force, that the marks of the teeth +remained perfectly visible. + +It is proper to observe that neither of these subjects were touched +in any manner; their pulse was not even felt, that it might not be +possible to say that the magnetic fluid was communicated; the crises +however were complete. The commissioners, who had been desirous to know +the effect of the influence of the imagination, and to appreciate the +share it might have in the magnetical crises, had now obtained all that +they desired. It is impossible to see this influence displayed in a +clearer or more incontrovertible manner than in these two experiments. +If the subjects have declared that their crises were stronger in the +public treatment, it must be ascribed to the power of communication +possessed by the numerous emotions, and that in general every +individual symptom has been increased by the contemplation of similar +symptoms. + +We had occasion to try a second experiment upon dame P----, and to +experience how much she was under the dominion of her imagination. The +experiment of the magnetic bason was proposed: this experiment consists +in discovering among a number of basons one that has been magnetised. +They are successively presented to a patient susceptible to the +magnetism; he ought to fall into a crisis, or at least to experience +sensible effects, when the magnetic bason is presented to him, he ought +to be perfectly indifferent to all the rest. All that was necessary +according to the recommendation of M. Deslon, was to present them to +him in the direction of the poles, in order that he who presents the +bason may not himself magnetise the patient, and that there may be no +other effect than that of the magnetism of the bason itself. + +Dame P---- was sent for to the arsenal to the house of M. Lavoisier, +where M. Deslon was; she began with falling into a crisis in the +anti-chamber, before she had seen either the commissioners or M. +Deslon, and merely from the knowledge she had that she was about to +see him; a distinguished effect of the influence of imagination. + +When she had been tolerably recovered, she was led into the room +destined for the experiment. Several china basons were presented to +her which had not been magnetised; at the second bason she began to +feel the usual symptoms, and at the fourth fell into a complete crisis. +It may be objected that her actual state was a state of crisis, that +it had begun in the anti-chamber, and was renewed by its own single +energy; but a circumstance which is decisive, is that having asked for +something to drink, the bason which had been magnetised by M. Deslon +himself was presented to her; she drank with perfect calmness and said +that she felt herself much better. The bason and the magnetism had +therefore failed of their effect, since the crisis was tranquilized in +the room of being augmented. + +Some time after, while M. Majault examined the films she had over +her eyes, the magnetic bason was presented to the back of her head, +and continued there for twelve minutes; she was unconscious of the +operation and felt no effect from it; she had even at no time been more +tranquil, because her imagination was diverted, and fixed upon the +examination that was making into the disorder of her eyes. + +The commissioners were informed that while this woman had been left +alone in the anti-chamber, different persons unacquainted with the +animal magnetism had approached her, and the convulsive emotions had +recommenced. She was desired to observe that the magnetical operation +was not performed upon her; but her imagination was struck to such a +degree that she replied: If you did nothing to me, I should not be in +the condition in which I am. She knew that she had been sent for in +order to be made the subject of the experiments; and the approach of +any person towards her, or the slighted noise attracted her attention, +excited the idea of the magnetism and renewed her convulsions. + +The imagination, in order to its acting with considerable strength, +has often need that you should touch several cords at a time. It has +a correspondence with each of the senses; and its reaction may be +expected to be in proportion, both to the number of senses applied +to, and of sensations received: the commissioners were led to this +observation by the following experiment. M. Jumelin had spoken to them +of a young lady, twenty years of age, whom he had deprived of the +faculty of speech by the influence of the magnetism; the commissioners +repeated the experiment at his house, the young lady consented to +submit to it, and to suffer herself to be blindfolded. + +The first object of the experiment was to endeavour to obtain the same +effect without performing the operation; but, though in this situation +she felt or believed she felt the effects of the magnetism, we were not +able to strike her imagination, with the force that was necessary for +the success of the experiment. The operation was then really performed, +the bandage not being removed; and the success was the same. The +bandage was then taken away; her imagination was now attacked at once +through the different channels of sight and hearing, and the effects +were more considerable; but though she complained of a heaviness in +her head, an obstruction in the superior part of the nostrils, and a +number of the symptoms which she had felt under the operation of M. +Jumelin, she did not lose the faculty of speech. She observed herself, +that the hand by which she was magnetised in the forehead, ought to +descend to the level of the nose, recollecting that that was its +situation at the time in which she had felt the loss of her voice. What +she demanded was accordingly performed, and in three quarters of a +minute she was dumb; nothing was now to be heard from her but low and +inarticulate sounds, though the exertion of the muscles of the throat +for the formation of sound, and that of the tongue and the lips in +order to articulation were visible. This state lasted only a minute: +it is obvious to observe that, finding herself precisely in the same +circumstances, the seduction of the understanding and the effect of +that seduction upon the organs of speech were the same. But it was not +enough that she should be expressly informed that she was magnetised, +it was also necessary that the sense of seeing should yield her a +testimony, stronger, and capable of greater effects; it was necessary +that a gesture with which she was already acquainted should re-excite +her former ideas. It should seem that this experiment is admirably +calculated to display the manner in which the imagination acts, the +degrees by which it is exalted, and the different exterior succours it +requires in order to its displaying itself in its greatest energy. + +The power, which the sense of sight exercises over the imagination, +explains the effects attributed by the doctrine of the magnetism to the +eyes. The eyes possess in an eminent degree the power of magnetising; +signs and gestures, as the commissioners were informed, have commonly +no effect, except upon a subject who has been previously mastered by +the employment of the eyes. The reason of this is very simple; it is +the eyes that convey the most energetic expressions of passion, it +is in them that is developed all that the human character has of the +commanding or the attractive. It is natural therefore that the eyes +should be the source of a very high degree of power; but this power +consists merely in the aptitude they possess of moving the imagination, +and that in a degree more or less strong in proportion to the activity +of the imagination. It is for this reason, that the whole process +of the magnetism commences from the eyes of the operator; and their +influence is so powerful and leaves traces so strong and lively, that +a woman, newly arrived at the house of M. Deslon, having encountered a +look of one of his pupils, who had performed the operation upon her, +just as she was recovering from a crisis, had her eyes set in her +head for three quarters of an hour. For a long time she was haunted +with the remembrance of this look; she always saw before her this +very eye fixed to regard her; and she bore it uninterruptedly in her +imagination sleeping as well as waking for three days. We see from this +instance what an imagination is capable of doing, that can preserve +one impression for so long a time, that is, can renew, of itself, +and by its single power, the same sensation regularly and without +interruption, for three days. + +The experiments, which we have already reported, are uniform in their +nature, and contribute alike to the same decision; they authorise us +to conclude that the imagination is the true cause of the effects +attributed to the magnetism. But the partisans of this new agent will +perhaps reply, that the identity of effects does not always prove an +identity of causes. They will grant that the imagination is capable +of exciting these impressions without the magnetism: but they will +maintain that the magnetism is also capable of exciting them without +the imagination. The commissioners might easily destroy this assertion +by applying the principles of all reasoning, and the laws of natural +philosophy: of which the first, is to admit no new causes without an +absolute necessity. When the effects observed are capable of having +been produced by a known cause, and a cause whose existence other +phenomena have already established, found philosophy teaches that the +effects ought to be ascribed to that cause; and when on the other hand +we are acquainted with the discovery of a cause hitherto unknown, +found philosophy requires that its exigence be made out by effects, +which do not belong to a known cause, and which cannot be explained but +by the new cause. It therefore properly belongs to the partisans of the +magnetism, to bring forward other proofs, and to discover effects which +shall be entirely stripped of the illusions of the imagination. But as +facts are more demonstrative than reasonings, and as their evidence +is more universally striking, the commissioners have been desirous of +establishing by experiment, what the magnetism could do in cases where +the imagination had no concern. + +For this experiment they made choice of two rooms, contiguous to each +other, and united by a door of communication. The door was taken away, +and a frame of wood substituted in its place, with transverse bars, +and covered with a double texture of paper. In one of these rooms was +a commissioner, who undertook to make minutes of the transaction, and +a lady, who was given out to be just arrived from the country, and to +have a suit of linen, which she wanted to have made up. Mademoiselle +B----, a sempstress by profession, who had been already employed in +the experiments at Passy, and whose sensibility to the magnetism was +well known, was sent for. Every thing was arranged against her arrival +in such a manner, that there was but one seat upon which she could +place herself, and that seat stood within the frame of the door of +communication. + +The commissioners were in the other apartment, and one of them, a +physician, who had upon former occasions performed the magnetical +operation with success, had undertaken to magnetise mademoiselle +B---- through the paper partition. It is a principle in the theory +of the magnetism that this agent passes through doors, walls, &c. A +partition of paper could therefore be no obstacle; beside M. Deslon had +positively declared that the magnetism passes through paper. + +Mademoiselle B---- was accordingly magnetised during half an hour, at +the distance of a foot and an half, and in a direction opposite to that +of the poles, in conformity to the rules taught by M. Deslon, and which +the commissioners had seen practised at his house. During the operation +she conversed with much gaiety, and, in answer to an enquiry concerning +her health, she readily replied, that she was perfectly well: at Passy +she had fallen into a crisis in the course of three minutes; in the +present instance she underwent the operation of the magnetism without +any effect for thirty minutes. The only reason of this difference +must be that here she was ignorant of the operation, and that at Passy +she thought it had been performed. The inevitable conclusion is, that +the imagination singly produces all the effects attributed to the +magnetism, and that, where the imagination ceases to be called forth, +it has no longer the smallest efficacy. + +Only one objection can be suggested to this experiment; it is that +mademoiselle B---- might not be prepared to receive the magnetic +fluid, and might be less susceptible to its operation than usual. The +commissioners foresaw this objection, and for that reason made the +following experiment. As soon as they had ceased to magnetise the +patient through the paper partition, the same commissioner passed into +the other apartment; he found no difficulty in engaging mademoiselle +B---- to submit to the magnetical operation. It was accordingly +repeated in precisely the same manner as in the former instance, at the +distance of a foot and an half, and by the intervention of gestures +only, together with the employment of the right finger and the rod +of iron. If he had applied the hands, and touched the hypochonders, +it might have been objected that any difference of effect, was to be +ascribed to the application having been more immediate in the latter +instance. But the only difference between the two experiments was, that +in the former mademoiselle B---- was magnetised in a direction opposite +to that of the poles, and conformable to the rules of the magnetical +theory; and in the second she was magnetised in the direction of the +poles, or in the transverse line. On this account according to the +principles of the magnetism no effect ought to have been produced. + +In three minutes however she felt a sensation of dejection and +suffocation; to these succeeded an interrupted hiccup, a chattering +of the teeth, a contraction of the throat, and an extreme pain in her +head; she was restless in her chair; she complained of a pain in the +loins; now and then she struck her foot with extreme quickness on the +floor; afterwards she stretched her arms behind her, twisting them +extremely as at Passy; in a word the convulsive crisis was complete and +accompanied with all the regular symptoms. All these accidents appeared +in consequence of a process of twelve minutes, though the same process +employed for thirty minutes a little before had been ineffectual. The +only ground of difference that remains, is the play that was afforded +in the latter instance to the imagination; to this therefore the +difference of the effects is to be ascribed. + +If the crisis originated in the influence of the imagination, it was +the imagination also that put a stop to it. The commissioner who +magnetised her, observed that it was time to have done; at the same +time presenting to her his two forefingers in the form of a cross; +and it is proper to observe that in so doing he magnetised her in the +direction of the poles, in the same manner as he had done through +the whole experiment; no actual alteration had therefore been made, +and the process being continued, the impressions ought also to have +continued. But the declared intention of the operator was sufficient +to dissipate the crisis; her heat and the pain in her head were +immediately alleviated. The disorder of her frame was in this manner +followed from place to place, announcing at the same time that it was +going to disappear. In this manner in obedience to the voice to which +the imagination was subjected, the contraction of the throat ceased, +then the accidents of the breast, lastly those of the stomach and the +arms. The whole required only three minutes; after which mademoiselle +B---- declared that she no longer felt any sensation, but was perfectly +restored to her habitual state. + +These last experiments, as well as several of those that were made at +the house of M. Jumelin, have the double advantage of demonstrating +at once the efficacy of the imagination, and the impotence of the +magnetism, in regard of the symptoms which were operated. + +If the symptoms are more considerable and the crises more violent at +the public process, it is because various causes are combined with the +imagination, to operate, to multiply and to enlarge its effects. They +begin with subduing the minds of the patients by the employment of the +eyes; this is followed by the touch, the application of the hands; it +is proper to develop in this place the physical effects of this method +of procedure. + +The symptoms are more or less considerable: the less are hiccuppings, +qualms of the stomach and purgings; the greater are the convulsions to +which they have given the denomination of crises. The parts upon which +the touch is employed, are the hypochonders, the pit of the stomach, +and sometimes the ovaria, when the patient is a woman. The hands and +the fingers are pressed with a greater or less stress upon these +different regions. + +The colon, one of the larger intestines, runs through both the regions +of the hypochonders, and the region of the epigastrium which separates +them. It is placed immediately under the integuments. It is therefore +upon this intestine that the pressure falls, an intestine full of +sensibility and irritability. A repeated voluntary effort, without +assistance from any other cause, excites the muscular action of this +intestine, and sometimes procures evacuations. Nature, as it were +by instinct, indicates this manœuvre to persons hypochondriacally +affected. The process of the magnetism is nothing more than this very +manœuvre; and the evacuations it is calculated to produce are further +facilitated in the magnetical process, by the frequent and almost +habitual use of a real laxative, the cream of tartar in their drink. + +But while the motion which is produced, excites principally the +irritability of the colon, this intestine offers other phenomena. It +swells in a greater or less degree, and sometimes distends itself to +a considerable volume. At such times it communicates to the diaphragm +such an irritation, that this organ becomes more or less convulsed. +It is this convulsion to which they have given the appellation of +crisis in the animal magnetism. One of the commissioners had occasion +to see a woman, subject to a kind of spasmodic vomitings, with which +she was seized several times in the course of every day. Her efforts +produced nothing but a turbid and viscous water, similar to that +which is brought up by the patients in the crisis of the magnetical +operation. The convulsion had its seat in the diaphragm, and the +region of the colon was so sensible, that the slightest touch upon +that part, a strong commotion of the air, the surprise caused by +a sudden noise sufficed to excite the convulsion. This woman had +therefore regular crises without the assistance of the magnetism, by +the single irritability of the colon and diaphragm; and the women who +are magnetised, obtain their crises from the same cause and through the +same irritability. + +The application of the hands upon the stomach has physical effects not +less remarkable. The application is made directly upon that organ. +Sometimes a strong continuous compression is operated, sometimes a +number of slight and successive compressions, sometimes a discomposure +of the stomach by a rotatory motion of the rod of iron in contact +with the part, or by the successive and rapid passage of the thumbs +over it one after the other. These methods convey almost immediately +to the stomach an irritation, more or less strong and durable, in +proportion as the subject is more or less susceptible. The part is +also previously disposed for the reception of this irritation by +being first compressed. This compression prepares it to act upon the +diaphragm and to communicate to it the impressions it receives. It is +irritated, the diaphragm is also irritated, and from thence result, in +the same manner as by the action of the colon, the nervous accidents +which had been already stated. In women who are peculiarly susceptible, +the mere compression of the two hypochonders, without their being acted +upon in any other manner, occasions a contraction of the stomach and +fits of swooning. This happened in the case of the woman magnetised by +M. Jumelin, and it often happens from no other cause than an improper +degree of tightness in their dress. These cases are not followed by the +crisis, because the stomach is compressed, without being irritated, and +the diaphragm remains in its natural state. The same methods employed +upon the ovaria in the female sex, beside their particular effects, +produce with great force the above accidents. The empire and extensive +influence of the uterus over the animal œconomy is well known. + +The intimate connection of the colon, the stomach and the uterus with +the diaphragm is one of the causes of the effects ascribed to the +magnetism. The regions of the lower belly, which are the subject of +these operations, answer to the different plexuses which constitute a +regular nervous centre in this part, by means of which, leaving every +particular system out of the question, there most certainly exists a +sympathy, communication or correspondence between all the parts of the +body, such an action and reaction, that the sensations excited in this +centre affect the other parts of the body, and reciprocally a sensation +experienced in any part affects and calls into play the nervous centre, +which often transmits the impression back again to all the parts of the +body. + +The truth thus stated not only explains the effects of the magnetic +touch, but also the physical effects of the imagination. It has been +constantly remarked, that the affections of the soul make their first +corporeal impression upon the nervous centre, which commonly leads +their subject to describe himself as having a weight upon his stomach, +or a sensation of suffocation. The diaphragm enters into this business, +from whence originate the sighs, the tears and the expressions of +mirth. The viscera of the lower belly then experience a reaction; and +it is by this automatous process that we are enabled to account for the +physical disorders produced by the imagination. Surprise occasions the +colic, terror causes a diarrhœa, melancholy is the origin of icterical +distempers. The history of medicine presents to us an infinity of +examples of the power of imagination and the mental affections. The +terror occasioned by a fire, a violent degree of desire, a strong and +undoubting hope, a fit of choler have restored the use of his limbs +to one who has been crippled with the gout or to a paralytic person; +a strong and unlooked for degree of joy has dissipated a quartan +ague of two months standing; close attention is a remedy for the +hiccup; and persons, who by some accident have been deprived of the +faculty of speech, have recovered it in consequence of some of the +vehement emotions of the soul. This last assertion is supported by the +testimony of history, and the commissioners have themselves witnessed +a suspension of this faculty, occasioned singly by the imagination. +The action and reaction of the physical upon the moral system, and of +the moral upon the physical, have been acknowledged ever since the +phenomena of the medical science have been remarked, that is, ever +since the origin of the science. + +Tears, laughter, coughs, hiccups, and in general all the effects which +are observed in what have been stiled crises in the animal magnetism, +do therefore originate either in the interruption of the functions +of the diaphragm by a physical vehicle, such as the touch and the +pressure, or from the power with which the imagination is endowed of +acting upon this organ and interrupting its functions. + +If it be objected that the touch is not always necessary to these +effects, it may be replied, that the imagination may be sufficiently +fertile in resources to produce them all by its sole instrumentality; +especially the imagination exerted in a public process, called into +play at once by the methods in which it is itself addressed, and by the +effects observed in those who surround it. It has been already seen +what were its effects in the experiments made by the commissioners +upon isolated subjects; it may easily be conceived in what degree +those effects must be multiplied in the case of a number of patients +collected together in a public process. These patients are assembled in +a narrow space, if the space be compared with the number of patients; +the air of the apartment is heated, although care be employed to renew +it; and it is always more or less impregnated with mephitic gas, which +has the property of acting immediately upon the head and the nervous +system. When the introduction of music is added, it affords another +means of acting upon and exciting the nerves. + +In the public process several women are magnetised at the same time, +and they experience at first no effects but such as are similar to +those, obtained by the commissioners in various experiments. It is even +acknowledged that for the most part the crises do not commence in less +than the space of two hours. By little and little the impressions are +communicated from one to another, and reinforced, in the same manner as +the impressions which are made by theatrical representation, where the +impressions are greater in proportion to the number of the spectators, +and the liberty they enjoy of expressing their sensations. The +applause, by which the emotions of individuals are announced, occasions +a general emotion, which every one partakes in the degree in which he +is susceptible. The same observation has been made in armies upon a day +of battle, where the enthusiasm of courage, as well as the impressions +of terror, are propagated with so amazing rapidity. The drum, the sound +of the military musical instruments, the noise of the cannon, the +musquetry, the shouts of the army, and the general disorder impress the +organs, have a uniform effect upon the understanding, and exalt the +imagination in the same degree. In this equilibrium of inebriation, +the external manifestation of a single sensation immediately becomes +universal; it hurries the soldiery to the charge, or it determines them +to fly. The same cause is deeply concerned in rebellions; the multitude +are governed by the imagination; the individuals in a numerous assembly +are more subjected to their senses, and less capable of submitting to +the dictates of reason; and where fanaticism is the presiding quality, +its fruit is the tremblers of the Cevennes[12]. It has been usual to +forbid numerous assemblies in seditious towns, as a means of stopping +a contagion so easily communicated. Every where example acts upon +the moral part of our frame, mechanical imitation upon the physical +part: the minds of individuals are calmed by dispersing them; the same +method puts a stop to their spasmodic affections, always contagious in +their nature: we have had a recent example of this in the young ladies +of Saint Roch, who were in this manner cured of the convulsions with +which they were affected when together[13]. + +The magnetism then, or rather the operations of the imagination, +are equally discoverable at the theatre, in the camp, and in all +numerous assemblies, as at the bucket, acting indeed by different +means, but producing similar effects. The bucket is surrounded with +a crowd of patients; the sensations are continually communicated and +recommunicated; it ought to be expected that the nerves should be at +length worn out with this exercise, they are accordingly irritated, +and the woman of most sensibility in the company gives the signal. +Immediately the cords, every where stretched to the same degree and +in perfect unison, respond to each other; the crises are multiplied; +they mutually reinforce each other, and are rendered violent. In the +mean time the men, who are witnesses of these emotions, partake of them +in proportion to their nervous sensibility; and those with whom this +sensibility is greatest and most easily excited become themselves the +subjects of a crisis. + +This propensity to irritation, partly natural and partly acquired, +becomes in each sex habitual. The sensations having been felt once or +oftener, nothing is now necessary, but to recal the memory of them, and +to exalt the imagination to the same degree, in order to operate the +same effects. This will never be difficult when the subject is placed +in the same circumstances. The public process is no longer necessary, +you have only to touch the hypochonders and to conduct the finger and +the rod of iron before the countenance; the signs are well known. +Even these are not necessary, it is sufficient that the patients be +blindfolded, made to believe that these signs are repeated upon them, +and that they are magnetised; the ideas are reexcited, the sensations +are reproduced, the imagination, employing its accustomed instruments +and resuming its former routes, gives birth to the same phenomena. +These cases happen exactly to the patients of M. Deslon, who fall +into a crisis without the bucket, and without being excited with the +spectacle of the public process. + +Compression, imagination, imitation are therefore the true causes of +the effects attributed to this new agent, known by the appellation +of animal magnetism, this fluid, which is said to circulate through +the human body, and to be communicated from individual to individual. +Such is the result of the experiments of the commissioners, and +the observations they made upon the means employed and the effects +produced. This agent, this fluid has no existence. Chimerical however +as it is, the idea is by no means novel. Some authors, particularly +physicians of the last age, have expressly treated of it in various +performances. The curious and interesting enquiries of M. Thouret have +convinced the public, that the theory, the operations and the effects +of the animal magnetism, proposed in the last age, were nearly the same +with those revived in the present. The magnetism then is no more than +an old falshood. The theory indeed is now presented, as was necessary +in a more enlightened age, with a greater degree of pomp; but it is +not less erroneous. Human nature is formed to seize, to quit and to +resume the mistake which is flattering to its wishes. There are errors +which will be eternally dear to the sublunary state. How often has the +pretended science of astrology vanished and reappeared! The magnetism +is calculated to lead us back to it. Its professors have been desirous +of connecting it with the celestial influences, that it might have +the stronger seduction, and attract mankind by the two hopes that +are nearest their heart, that of looking into futurity, and that of +prolonging their existence. + +There is room to believe that the imagination is the principal of the +three causes which we have assigned to the magnetism. It appears by +the experiments we have related that it suffices alone to produce the +crises. The pressure and the touch seem to serve it as preparatives; +it is by the touch that the nerves begin to be excited, imitation +communicates and extends the impressions. But the imagination is that +active and terrible power, by which are operated the astonishing +effects, that have excited so much attention to the public process. The +effects strike all the world, the cause is enveloped in the shades +of obscurity. When we consider that these effects seduced in former +ages men, venerable for their merit, their illumination and even their +genius, Paracelsus, Van Helmont and Kircher, we cease to be astonished, +that persons of the present day, learned and well informed, that even +a great number of physicians have been the dupes of this system. Had +the commissioners been admitted only to the public process, where there +is neither time nor opportunity of making decisive experiments, they +might themselves have been led into error. It was necessary to have +liberty to insulate the effects, in order to distinguish the causes; it +was necessary to see as they have done the imagination act, if we may +be allowed the expression, partially, and produce its effects one by +one and in detail, to have an idea to what the accumulation of those +effects might amount; to conceive the extent of its power, and to +account for all its prodigies. Such an examination demanded a sacrifice +of time, and a number of systematical researches, which we have not +always the leisure to undertake for our private instruction or private +curiosity, nor even the power properly to pursue without being like the +commissioners charged with the mandates of the sovereign, and honoured +with the confidence of the public. + +M. Deslon is not much averse to the admission of these principles. +He declared in our session held at the house of Dr. Franklin the +19th of June, that he thought he might lay it down as a fact, that +the imagination had the greatest share in the effects of the animal +magnetism; he said that this new agent might be no other than the +imagination itself, whose power is as extensive as it is little known: +he affirmed that he always acknowledged the concern of this faculty in +the treatment of his patients, and he affirmed with equal confidence +that many persons have been either entirely cured or infinitely +amended in the state of their health under his direction. He remarked +to the commissioners that the imagination thus directed to the relief +of suffering humanity, would be a most valuable means in the hands +of the medical profession[14]; and persuaded of the reality of the +power of the imagination, he invited the commissioners to embrace the +opportunity which his practice afforded to study its procedure and +its effects. If therefore M. Deslon be still attached to his first +idea, that these effects are to be ascribed to the agency of a fluid, +which is communicated from individual to individual by the touch or +under the guidance of a conductor, he cannot however avoid conceding +to the commissioners that only one cause is requisite to one effect, +and that since the imagination is a sufficient cause, the supposition +of the magnetic fluid is useless. It cannot be denied that we are +surrounded with a fluid which peculiarly belongs to us; the insensible +perspiration forms around us an atmosphere of insensible vapours: but +this fluid has no agency but such as is common to other atmospheres; +cannot be communicated by the touch but in infinitely small quantities; +is not capable of being directed either by conductors, or by the eyes, +or by the will; is neither propagated by sound, nor reflected by +mirrors; and is in no case susceptible of the effects ascribed to it. + +It remains for us to enquire, whether the crises or convulsions, +excited by the methods of the pretended magnetism in the assemblies +round the bucket, be capable of any utility, or be calculated to +cure or relieve the patients. The imagination of sick persons has +unquestionably a very frequent and considerable share in the cure of +their diseases. With the effect of it we are unacquainted otherwise +than by general experience; but, though it has not been traced in +positive experiments, it should seem not to admit of a reasonable +doubt. It is a known adage, that in physic as well as religion, men +are saved by faith; this faith is the produce of the imagination: in +these cases the imagination acts by gentle means; it is by diffusing +tranquility over the senses, by restoring the harmony of the functions, +by recalling into play every principle of the frame under the genial +influence of hope. Hope is an essential constituent of human life; the +man that yields us one contributes to restore to us the other. But when +the imagination produces convulsions, the means it employs are violent; +and such means are almost always destructive. There are indeed a few +rare cases in which they may be useful; there are desperate diseases, +in which it is necessary to overturn every thing for the introduction +of an order totally new. These critical shocks are to be employed in +the medical art in the same manner as poisons. It is requisite that +necessity should demand, and œconomy employ them. The need of them +is momentary; the shock ought to be single. Very far from repeating +it, the intelligent physician exerts himself to invent the means of +repairing the indispensible evil which has thus been produced; but +in the public process of the magnetism the crises are repeated every +day, they are long and violent. Now since the state introduced by +these crises is pernicious, the habit cannot be other than fatal. How +indeed can it be conceived, that a woman, attacked for instance with +a pulmonary distemper, can undergo with impunity a crisis, some of +whose symptoms are a convulsive cough and compulsory expectorations; or +can safely fatigue, perhaps shatter the lungs by violent and repeated +efforts, when so great pains are necessary to convey to the wounded +frame the sanative and the balsamic? How can we imagine that a man, +be his disorder what it will, can need in order to his recovery the +intervention of crises, in which the sight appears to be lost, the +members stiffen, he strikes his breast with precipitate and involuntary +motions; crises in a word, that are terminated by an abundant spitting +of viscous humours and even blood? The blood thus discharged is neither +vitiated nor corrupted, it flows from vessels from which it is torn by +the violence of effort and contrary to the intention of nature; these +effects are therefore to be regarded as a real not a salutary evil, an +evil additional to the distemper be it what it will. + +Nor is this the only danger with which they are attended. Man is +incessantly enslaved by custom; nature is modified by habit only in +a progressive manner, yet she is often so completely modified, as to +suffer an entire metamorphosis, and to be scarcely capable of being +known for the same. Who will assure us that this state of crises, at +first voluntarily induced, shall not become habitual? And should the +habit thus contracted frequently reproduce the same symptoms, in spite +of the will, and almost without the assistance of the imagination, how +dreadful the fate of an individual, subjected to so violent effects, +tormented, as well morally as physically, with their unfortunate +impression, whose days should be divided between apprehension and +agony, and whose life should be an uninterrupted state of suffering! +Nervous distempers of this description, even when natural, are the +opprobrium of the medical science; how little ought it to be the +object of art to produce them! The art, which thus interferes with all +the functions of the animal œconomy, urges nature out of her proper +course, and multiplies the victims of irregularity, is to be regarded +as pernicious. Its effects are the more to be apprehended, since +it not only aggravates the disorder of the nerves by renewing their +symptoms, and causing them to degenerate into habit; but if a distemper +of this kind be contagious, as it may be suspected to be, the method of +provoking nervous convulsions and of exciting them in public assemblies +is a means to diffuse them in great towns, and even to afflict with +them generations to come, since the diseases and the habits of parents +are transmitted to their posterity. + +The commissioners having convinced themselves, that the animal magnetic +fluid is capable of being perceived by none of our senses, and had no +action either upon themselves or upon the subjects of their several +experiments; being assured, that the touches and compressions employed +in its application rarely occasioned favourable changes in the animal +œconomy, and that the impressions thus made are always hurtful to the +imagination; in fine having demonstrated by decisive experiments, +that the imagination without the magnetism produces convulsions, and +that the magnetism without the imagination produces nothing; they +have concluded with an unanimous voice respecting the existence and +the utility of the magnetism, that the existence of the fluid is +absolutely destitute of proof, that the fluid having no existence +can consequently have no use, that the violent symptoms observed in +the public process are to be ascribed to the compression, to the +imagination called into action, and to that propensity to mechanical +imitation, which leads us in spite of ourselves to the repetition of +what strikes our senses. And at the same time they think themselves +obliged to add as an important observation, that the compressions and +the repeated action of the imagination employed in producing the crises +may be hurtful, that the sight of these crises is not less dangerous on +account of that imitation which nature seems to have imposed upon us as +a law, and that of consequence every public process, in which the means +of the animal magnetism shall be employed, cannot fail in the end of +producing the most pernicious effects[15]. + + Paris, the 11th day of August, 1784. + + (Signed) B. FRANKLIN, + MAJAULT, + LE ROY, + SALLIN, + BAILLY, + D’ARCET, + DE BORY, + GUILLOTIN, + LAVOISIER. + + +FINIS. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[1] “It must be confessed however, that the manner of directing the +pretended magnetism, is different in these systems. The ancients, as +well as M. Mesmer, regarded this fluid as universally diffused, as +pervading the bodies of animals, and as capable of being rendered the +vehicle of the most salutary influences. But, in order to call it into +action, they did not, like M. Mesmer, desire to touch, or so much as +to approach the patient. Their method consisted in a different order +of proceeding. To give a suitable direction to the universal spirit, +they were obliged to employ real parts, either extracted or evacuated, +of the individual upon whom they proposed to direct the magnetism. The +different humours of the human body, whether natural, as the blood, +the urine, the excrements, or contrary to nature, as the pus bred in +wounds; in fine, the solid parts of the frame, as the flesh, the nails, +the hair, in a state of separation from the body, afforded, according +to the ancient doctrine, the suitable and necessary means of employing +the magnetism. These different parts, so long as they remained in a +state of integrity, were supposed to be united in the link of a common +vital principle with the individual who had furnished them. The union +was operated by the intervention of the universal spirit, and in +acting upon them, the physician was said to act also upon the person +to whom they had belonged; an action, which, as it was independent of +contact, and was not superseded by distance, was regarded as magnetic.” +_Thouret._ + +[2] “Far be it from me,” says Maxwel, “to lead you to improper +actions. If from the perusal of my works, you become acquainted +with the means of such actions, you will do me the justice not to +divulge them.--I have seen,” adds he, “the most incredible effects, +and the greatest advantages from a right use of this method. I have +also seen infinite evils occasioned by the abuse of it.--Indeed, it +is scarcely prudent to treat of these subjects, on account of the +dangers that may result from it. If we were to express ourselves in a +manner universally intelligible, fathers could never be sure of their +daughters, nor husbands of their wives; women would be deprived of +their self-government in spite of the most judicious and obstinate +resistance.” _Maxwel, de medicina magnetica, apud Thouret._ + +[3] Paracelsus Arecolus Philippus Theophrastus Bombastus de Hohenheim +is to be regarded as the inventor of the magnetical system. He was born +at a village near Zurich in Switzerland in 1493, and died in 1541. His +profession was that of a physician, and he obtained great reputation +by the use of mercury and opium, medicines that were unknown, or not +employed by the physicians of those times. But beside this, he was a +proficient in alchymy, astrology, and magic. He was acquainted with the +philosopher’s stone, and the universal medicine. And he invented an +elixir, in the use of which a man could not fail to live to the age of +a thousand years. + +Van Helmont was the immediate successor of Paracelsus in the pursuit +of the magnetical science, and wrote an express treatise De Magnetica +Vulnerum Curatione. + +All the other persons enumerated, lived in the seventeenth century. + +“To Maxwel, we are particularly indebted for the most complete and +copious treatise upon the subject, in which he has endeavoured to +support its declining credit by calling in the assistance of that +theory of the universal spirit, which he derived from the earliest +philosophers of antiquity, and in which we are presented with the exact +counterpart of the system of M. Mesmer. + +“Another inhabitant of this island, the learned and illustrious sir +Kenelm Digby, is well known for his invention of the sympathetic +powder; which it was only necessary to apply to the linnen which had +imbibed the blood or pus of a wound, or to the arm or sword of him who +inflicted it, provided they were still stained with the blood of the +wounded person. It was necessary however, that the wound should be kept +perfectly clean, and protected from the air. + +“There was a sympathetic sweating powder, invented so lately as the +year 1745. The means of applying it was, by mixing it with the urine of +the person diseased, and keeping it boiling over a fire, as long as you +wished the perspiration to continue. During the operation, the patient +was to keep his bed, to be covered up warm, and to drink several large +basons of tea. This medicine was never known to fail of its effect.” +_Thouret._ + +[4] The experiments of the ring and sword, are to be found in Kircher’s +Magnes, sive de arte magnetica. They are both well known. “That of +the sword consists in the balancing it upon the point of one of the +fingers, the consequence of which will be a very rapid rotatory motion, +_provided the person be properly magnetised_. That of the ring is +performed by a person initiated in the animal magnetism, holding it +suspended by a thread in the inside of a wine glass, when it will +invariably strike the hour of the day.” _Thouret._ + +[5] “Valentine Greatrakes, esq; was a native of Afane, in the kingdom +of Ireland. We are told, that one day he was conscious to a wonderful +internal revolution, and at the same time heard a voice like that +of a genius, which cried incessantly for a long time: “I endow you +with the faculty of curing diseases.” Importuned by this salutation, +from which he could in no way distract his attention, he determined +to make an experiment of the truth of the intelligence. The voice +had first announced to him the gift of curing the king’s evil. He +made an experiment upon this distemper, and succeeded. He afterwards +touched persons attacked with an epidemical fever, that raged in his +neighbourhood; the voice had announced to him the gift of curing this +disease. In fine, he was enabled to cure every species of disease; and +he succeeded in all cases, except where, as he observed, the malady +was too deeply rooted, or the patient laboured under a particular +indisposition to this method of cure. The exterior of this man was +extremely simple. His cures were accompanied with no degree of pomp and +ceremony, unless we should call such, his ascribing his success to God, +publicly expressing his gratitude, and inviting the patient to join +with him in the act of thanksgiving. But he made a very extensive use +of the operation of touch. The distemper fled before him, and he was +able, we are told, to dislodge it from its seat, and remove it to parts +the least useful. If its progress appeared to be suspended in any part, +he redoubled his frictions upon that part, to remove the obstacle. In +this operation nature, excited by the stroking, seemed frequently to +operate crises, and it produced stools, vomitings and perspirations.” +_Thouret._ + +“Greatrakes cured not only internal diseases, but also external ones, +such as wounds and ulcers. The second Villiers, duke of Buckingham, was +one of his patients. His attestations were signed by Boyle, Wilkins, +Whichcot, Cudworth and Patrick. He was born in 1628, received the gift +of healing 1662, and removed to London 1666.” _Des Maizeaux, Vie de St. +Evremond_. + +“The cures of Gassner are of a much later date, and are not above ten +or twelve years old. This German, having in his youth been afflicted +with an ill state of health, which resisted the efforts of all the +physicians, suspected that his distemper might have a supernatural +cause, and derive from the influence of the devil. His conjecture was +verified by his success in expelling the devil, having adjured him +in the name of Jesus Christ. From that moment he enjoyed the most +perfect health for sixteen years. Encouraged by this event, he laid +aside the study of medicine, to which his distemper had prompted him, +and procured all the authors who had treated of exorcism. He began +with healing his parishioners in an obscure town upon the borders +of Switzerland and the Tirol, and his reputation increased so much, +that, in the two last years of his residence there, he had between +four and five hundred patients who applied to him. He then made a +progress through several of the Swiss cantons, and settled at Ratisbon +in 1774. He distinguished diseases into two classes, the natural and +the demoniac, the last of which were much the most numerous. Over the +former he pretended to no power. His cures were performed with much +pomp and solemnity; and it was observed, that he constantly rubbed his +hands upon his girdle and handkerchief previously to his touching the +patient. He performed his cures in the name of Christ, and by the faith +of the diseased in his holy name; if their faith failed, the cure did +not take place. He gave the sick, when he dismissed them, balm and oil, +which he considered as spiritual medicaments, together with certain +waters and powders, and a little ring, inscribed with the name of +Jesus, to prevent a relapse.” _Thouret._ + +Thouret considers the system of Gassner as having had an influence on +that of M. Mesmer. Astrology and possessions were extremely current +in Germany; and as Gassner had taken possession of, and ruined the +latter pretension, Mesmer had recourse to the former. It should however +be remembered, that Mesmer had written and published his thesis upon +astrology before the pretensions of Gassner were heard of. + +These instances are produced by Thouret, as distinguished proofs of +the efficacy both of the touch and the imagination. In proof of the +contagion of convulsive affections, he cites the convulsions of Saint +Medard, and the possessions of Loudun. “The former of these took place +in 1732, and made their appearance as soon as any of the religious +were approached to the tomb of their patron saint. They were exposed +in the most triumphant manner, and covered with ridicule by Hecquet, +in his Natural History of Convulsions. The pretended possessions of +Loudun (1740) originated in an infamous scheme of avarice and revenge +against the unfortunate Urbain Grandier, rector of Loudun, who became +the victim of the machinations of his enemies. The physicians of +Montpelier, charged with the examination of the affair, discovered the +whole secret of the possessions to consist in factitious and pretended +convulsions.” _Thouret._ + +[6] Memoir by M. Mesmer, upon the Discovery of the Animal Magnetism, +1779, pages 74 and following. + +[7] Ibid. Advertisement, page vi. + +[8] _Baquet._ The diameter of this box is usually large enough to admit +of fifty persons standing round its circumference. _Translator._ + +[9] The observation of this fact was laid in detail before the faculty +of medicine at Paris, in an assembly de prima mensis, by M. Bourdois de +la Mothe, physician of the charity of Saint-Sulpice, who visited the +sick person regularly every day. + +[10] M. Mesmer, Historical Abridgement, pages 35, 37. + +[11] M. Sigault, doctor of the faculty of Paris, well known for his +invention of the operation of the symphysis of the ossa pubis, made a +number of experiments, tending to prove that the magnetism is merely an +imaginary power. The following is the detail which he made in a letter, +dated July the 30th, 1784, and addressed to one of the commissioners. + +“Having given the persons who inhabited a large house in the Marais, to +understand that I was a pupil of M. Mesmer, I produced various effects +upon the woman of the house. The magisterial tone and the serious +air I affected, together with certain gestures, made a very great +impression upon her, which she at first was desirous to conceal from +me; but having guided my hand upon the region of the heart, I felt that +it palpitated. The state of oppression in which she appeared likewise +indicated a contraction of the chest. Other symptoms were connected +with these; her face became convulsed, her eyes wandered, she at length +fell into a swoon, then threw up her dinner, had several stools, and +was reduced to a state of weakness and sinking, perfectly incredible. +I repeated the same trick upon several persons, and succeeded more or +less, according to their different degrees of sensibility and credulity. + +“A celebrated artist, master of design to the children of one of +our princes, complained for several days of an extreme head-ach; he +acquainted me with it upon the Pont-royal; having persuaded him that I +was initiated in the mysteries of M. Mesmer, I expelled his head-ach +almost instantaneously by the means of a few gestures, to his great +astonishment. + +“I produced the same effects upon the apprentice of a hatter in the +same distemper. The lad felt nothing in consequence of my first +gestures; I then laid my hand upon his false ribs, bidding him at the +same time look in my face. He immediately felt a contraction of the +chest, palpitations of the heart, yawnings, and an extreme dejection. +He doubted no longer of the power I possessed over him. I then guided +my finger over the part affected, and asked him what he felt. He +replied that his pain dislodged itself and descended. I assured him +that I would guide it towards his arm, and make it come out at his +thumb, at the same time squeezing it with considerable force. He took +me at my word, and was perfectly well for two hours. At that period he +stopped me in the street to tell me that his pain was returned. This +effect seems to be the same with that produced by certain dentists upon +the mental faculties of those, who go to them to have a tooth drawn. + +“Further lastly, being in the parlour of a convent, rue du Colombier, +fauxbourg Saint Germains, a young lady said to me: I understand, +sir, that you are a pupil of M. Mesmer. I am so, replied I; and I +can perform the magnetical operation upon you, notwithstanding the +intervention of the grate. At the same time I presented my finger; she +was terrified, trembled extremely, and besought me for God’s sake to +proceed no farther. Her emotion was such, that, if I had persevered in +my experiment, she would infallibly have fallen into convulsions.” + +M. Sigault relates that he had himself felt the power of imagination. +One day, the operator having undertaken to perform upon him the +magnetical operation to convince him of its reality, at the moment he +had determined to touch him, he felt a contraction of the chest, and a +palpitation of the heart. But having immediately composed himself, the +gestures and the process of the magnetism were employed in vain, and +made no impression upon him. + +[12] Marshal Villars, who was employed in appeasing the troubles of the +Cevennes, says: “I saw things in this kind, which I should not have +believed, if they had not passed before my eyes; I saw a considerable +town, of which the whole female part without exception appeared to +be possessed by the devil. They trembled and prophesied publicly in +the streets. One had the rashness to tremble and prophesy for an +hour together in my presence. But of all these absurdities the most +surprising was that, which was related to me by the bishop of Alais, +and which I wrote to M. de Chamillard in the following terms. + +“‘A M. de Mandagors, lord of the manor of that name, mayor of Alais, +possessing the first appointments in the town and county, and having +even been for some time subdelegate to M. de Bàville, was the subject +of this relation. He was sixty years of age, temperate in his manners, +possessed of a fine understanding, and had written and published many +performances. Some of them I have read, and, before I knew what I have +just learned respecting him, I considered them as distinguished by a +very vigorous imagination. + +“‘A prophetess, aged twenty seven or twenty eight years, was taken up +about eighteen months ago and carried before the bishop of Alais. He +interrogated her before several ecclesiastics. The creature, after +having heard what he said, replied with a modest air, exhorted him no +longer to torment the true children of God, and then addressed him for +an entire hour in an uncouth language of which he could not understand +a word: just as we have formerly seen the duke de la Ferté, when he +had drank a few glasses, talk English before the inhabitants of that +country. I have heard them say, I understand very well that he speaks +English, but I cannot comprehend a word that he says. It would have +been somewhat difficult that they should have done so, for he never +knew a word of English in his life. This girl talked Greek and Hebrew +in the style of the duke de la Ferté. + +“‘You will take it for granted that M. d’Alais sent the girl to prison. +After several months, the girl appearing to be entirely ridded of her +absurdities by the attention and advice of the sieur de Mandagors, who +frequently visited her in her confinement, she was set at liberty, and +the consequence of that liberty, and of the liberties that the sieur +Mandagors had taken with her, was an immediate pregnancy. + +“‘But the fact which I was about to relate is the resignation made by +the sieur Mandagors of all his employments in favour of his son, at +the same time saying to several individuals, and among others to the +bishop, that it was by express commission from God that he had had +carnal knowledge of the prophetess, and that the child which should +be born would be the true saviour of the world. The consequence of +all this in any other country than France, would have been merely the +sending M. the mayor and his fair patroness to bedlam. The bishop +suggested to me to have him arrested. I proposed previously to confer +with M. de Bàville, intendant of the province, ordering in the mean +time that he and the prophetess should be closely watched, so that +they might not be able to escape. My opinion was, that, in the midst +of a country of madmen, what relates to a madman of such importance +ought to make as little noise as possible; and that it was therefore +necessary to endeavour to get him out of the country by gentle means, +and then to take him into custody. Your lordship will easily conceive +that to declare publicly for a prophet a mayor of Alais, the lord +of an extensive manor, an ancient subdelegate of the intendant, an +author, and a man hitherto esteemed for his penetration and sagacity, +in the midst of a country accustomed to venerate and respect him, was a +measure better calculated to revolt the minds of the inhabitants than +to correct them. It would the rather have had this tendency, that, +except the folly of believing that God had commanded him to have carnal +knowledge of this young woman, his conversation is as full of reason +and good sense, as was that of Don Quixote upon all other subjects but +that of knight-errantry. M. de Bàville was of my opinion. The children +of M. Mandagors conducted him without noise to one of his châteaux, +where he was confined, and the prophetess taken from him and sent +to prison.’” Vie du Maréchal Duc de Villars, tome I., pages 325 and +following. + +[13] On the day of the ceremony of the first communion, celebrated +in the parish church of Saint Roch a few years ago (1780), after the +evening service they made according to custom the procession through +the streets. Scarcely were the children returned to the church, +and had resumed their seats, before a young girl fell ill and had +convulsions. This affection propagated itself with so much rapidity, +that in the space of half an hour fifty or sixty girls from twelve +to nineteen years of age were seized with the same convulsions; that +is, with a contraction of the throat, an inflation of the stomach, +suffocation, hiccups and spasms more or less considerable. These +accidents reappeared in some instances in the course of the week; but +the following Sunday, being assembled with the dames of Sainte Anne, +whose business it is to teach the young ladies, twelve of them were +seized with the same convulsions, and more would have followed, if +they had not had the precaution to send away each child upon the spot +to her relations. The whole were obliged to be divided into several +schools. By thus separating the children, and not keeping them together +but in small numbers, three weeks sufficed to dissipate entirely this +epidemical convulsive affection. See for other instances of the same +kind the Natural History of Convulsions by M. Hecquet. + +[14] M. Deslon had already said in 1780. “Granting for a moment that M. +Mesmer possesses no other secret than that of employing the imagination +in the extensive production of the most salutary effects, will it not +still be true, that his invention is an extremely valuable one? For in +reality, if the physic of the imagination be more salutary than the +other kinds of medicine, what good reason can be alledged, why the +physic of the imagination should not be brought into general use?” +Observations on the Animal Magnetism, pages 46 and 47. + +[15] If it be objected to the commissioners that this decision +concludes respecting the magnetism in general, instead of relating +singly to the magnetism practised by M. Deslon, the commissioners +reply that the intention of the king was to have their opinion upon +the animal magnetism, and that in consequence they have not exceeded +the bounds of their commission. Again they reply that M. Deslon has +appeared to them acquainted with what are called the principles of the +magnetism, and that he certainly possesses the means of producing the +effects and exciting the crises which are ascribed to it. + +The principles of M. Deslon are the very same with those included +in the twenty seven propositions disseminated from the press by M. +Mesmer in 1779. If M. Mesmer now announces a more extensive theory, +it was not necessary for the commissioners to be acquainted with the +theory to decide upon the existence and utility of the magnetism, it +was sufficient to estimate the effects. It is by the effects that +the existence of a cause is established, it is by the effects also +that its utility must be demonstrated. The phenomena are learned from +observation long before we can arrive at the theory which connects and +explains them. The theory of the loadstone does not yet exist, and its +phenomena are ascertained by the experience of successive ages. The +theory of M. Mesmer is in this case indifferent and superfluous; the +methods employed, the effects produced, this is what it was necessary +to examine. Now it is easy to prove that the essential practice of the +magnetism is known to M. Deslon. + +M. Deslon was for many years the pupil of M. Mesmer. Constantly during +that time he saw the process of the animal magnetism, and the means +employed in exciting and directing it. M. Deslon himself administered +the magnetism in the presence of M. Mesmer; separated from him he +operated the same effects. Being afterwards reconciled they united +their patients; the one and the other without distinction undertook the +management of them, and of consequence the methods were the same. The +method which is followed at this day by M. Deslon can be no other than +the method of M. Mesmer. + +The effects are not less correspondent. There are crises equally +frequent, and accompanied by similar symptoms, at the house of M. +Deslon and at the house of M. Mesmer; the effects do not therefore +belong to the method of an individual, but to the practice of the +magnetism in general. The experiments of the commissioners demonstrate +that the effects obtained by M. Deslon are due to compression, to +imagination and to imitation. These are therefore the causes of the +magnetism in general. The observations of the commissioners have +convinced them that these convulsive crises and these violent means +cannot be useful in medicine any otherwise than as poisons, and they +have judged independent of all theory that wherever it shall be the +object to excite convulsions they may become habitual and pernicious, +they may be epidemically diffused, and even extend to future +generations. + +The commissioners were of consequence obliged to conclude that not only +the measures in a particular mode of proceeding, but the measures of +the magnetism in general, might in the end produce the most pernicious +effects. + + + + +Transcriber’s Note + + +Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. + +Small caps have been converted to ALL CAPS. + +Erroneously placed or missing punctuation has been silently corrected. + +Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end of the book. + +The following typographical errors have been changed: + + p. 16: “administred” changed to “administered” (have been and are + administered to the diseased) + + p. 30: “seness” changed to “senses” (capable of being perceived by + the senses) + + p. 33: “difrent” changed to “different” (may be observed in two + different ways) + + p. 39: “account account” changed to “account” (giving an exact and + faithful account of their sensations) + + p. 84: “hiccuphings” changed to “hiccuppings” (hiccuppings, qualms of + the stomach and purgings) + + Footnote 12: “chàteaux” changed to “châteaux” (conducted him without + noise to one of his châteaux) + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78413 *** |