Text: Unknown (rejected), The Philosophy of Animal Magnetism, Philadephia: Merrihew & Gunn, 1837

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INTRODUCTION.

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ANIMAL MAGNETISM, owing to recent developments of extraordinary facts, the attestation of which are too well sustained to be refuted, begins powerfully to engage the attention of all classes of society in our country. These facts, spread before the community, without the least pretence on the part of our fellow citizens to understand any thing of the cause, have startled and surprised them. They have burst suddenly upon them, like a flood of light pouring its beams into a dungeon, almost before they were prepared to suspect their existence; for, unless to the learned, even its name was hardly known until recently to ordinary readers, and its meaning still fewer pretended to understand. At the apparitional presence of a power so stupendous, our alarm has prevented that calm investigation demanded by phenomena so remote from the ordinary course of events. The effects of these developments were all that the most philosophic pretended to know; the rationale of the science has been arcana into which no one attempted to dive. From their astounding nature they so greatly taxed our credulity, aroused our astonishment, and exhibited those who would allow their convic-tions to guide their judgments respecting it, as targets for the satire and shafts of the malevolent, that no one would allow [page 6:] himself to begin, if he had even sufficient perception to discover the true starting point. One party has denounced this phenomenon as a humbug, the other proclaimed it as a miracle; and though both were equally remote from the truth, neither of them possessed, and few of them sought either data or facts, upon which, without divesting themselves of their preconceived notions, to erect a superstructure of argumentation that would in any degree appear satisfactory to a thinking mind; while they tended to distract the public, and divert their attention from the great and important question to be considered. In most sciences, but especially in physiology, man loves to build a theory of his own, and when he has completed it, he thinks himself in duty bound to close the door against all further investigation! Now the theories contained in the following pages, are not the crude and undigested imaginings or hasty conclusions of a visionary. They have been formed by the most profound philosophers and physiologists in Europe; men, however, whose works have not had a place amongst us, and some of which perhaps never may. They are not mere logical deductions made to prove theories; they are arguments deduced from “facts and experience in explanation of this spiritual principle.”

The time has arrived in this country when animal magnetism must be investigated as far as its facts and philosophy are concerned. Effects so surprising must have a cause; and a cause so occult, yet producing effects so tremendous, must exercise the rational mind; more especially since it is affirmed that on this subject, mind itself constitutes so important a part of the machinery. Nothing but a satisfactory development of this cause will arrest the [page 7:] ardent pursuit of philosophical investigation. When causes shall have been explored and stated, the philosophic mind will next investigate, and see how far they are deserving our assent. When reason is left to combat reason, the result will be moral light. But in a conflict in which prejudice and bigotry — a determined unbelief, in despite of the most demonstrable facts and abundant data — is opposed to an enlightened and liberal philosophy, the light will be let into the public mind by jets, but its full glory will be long delayed by the murky haze and refraction which hang dense and high over the horizon to obscure it.

The detached and fragmental elements of its philosophy, so far as they have been given, have been entirely unsatisfactory. Our philosophers have been too much engaged in the wonders elicited by the effects, to reason á posteriori about them. It has long been agitated in Europe, but until very recently it has vainly tried to gain a respectable footing amongst us. Now, when a few scientific and intelligent gentlemen have adopted the belief, and presented new demonstrations in proof of its identity and reputed effects, in every step, more than confirming all that has been reported of it from abroad, we allow ourselves to be — I almost said — frightened like children, and to become bewildered, not knowing how to direct our credence, or upon which side to place our faith. The PHILOSOPHY OF ANIMAL MAGNETISM, contained in the following pages, will settle this important point. and remove the difficulties of distracted minds. It will henceforward be regarded neither as a trick nor a miracle, but will expose the pious charlatanry and jugglery of pseudo-saints, [page 8:] explain innumerable phenomena in which circumstances, until now inexplicable, have transpired, and present the cause — the philosophy — the only rationale of far famed Mesmerism in its true characteristics before the world. It will afford, as it is here presented, just enough to enable men to think and leave them at it. It will also point out the path by which to attain a correct understanding of it without the necessity of any other gnide, because it will shed LIGHT upon the mind which the powers of scepticism can never extinguish — it will paralize scepticism itself, as we have found that its greatest opposers come from that quarter.

This work was not originally prepared for publication. The author having been favored by his friends with the perusal of a few works on animal magnetism was deeply interested and forcibly struck with the contents. During their perusal, which was necessarily rendered hasty, he made notes of such passages as he considered of most importance. His leisure, and the time allowed him for perusal, would not permit him to note down either the page or the author in detail. Hence, in giving the language of some authorities in which his recollection did not aid him, lie was forced occasionally to use words not his own as if they were. But these notes, made for private use, formed subjects of much reflection; these were also committed to paper. They were accidentally seen by others, than whom few in our country were more competent to form a just estimate of their value — and having been seen, he was compelled to print, that others might see and read also! It was insisted on that these remarks, then in a crude form, were the desiderata upon animal magnetism so anxiously [page 9:] sought by the public. — They contain ample subjects of reflection for the wise and the foolish — the learned and the illiterate — the infidel and the Christian. They form a TEXT BOOK on animal magnetism, which contains all that is necessary to fully indoctrinate the reader into the mysteries of the science, and enable the philosopher to trace the cause from the effects, affording at the same time, as before observed, the only true reasons for that which has heretofore been viewed by common consent as having too intimate a connexion with the invisible world to touch without trembling! Finally, it places before the reader the system of MANIPULATION and MAGNETIC PASSES, as used in France and Germany, to produce that profound somnolency, the effects of which, without these expositions to prepare the mind, are so astounding, as to place the most credulous under a severe trial in yielding the assent of the mind to their most obvious facts; so that it is hoped, no one will hereafter say with Col. STONE, in his recent pamphlet, “I am not a positive believer in the system, because I know not what to believe,” the subject being clearly before them.

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ANIMAL MAGNETISM.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM, which has been thorougly [[thoroughly]] investigated and discussed on the Continent of Europe for more than half a century, where it has gained many of the most profound men of the present age in the ranks of literature and science to sustain it, on account of the striking facts that attend its demonstrations,, now begins to awaken the attention of the literati in England as well as in this country. In the two latter countries, it has been the custom with scientific men to class animal magnetism with astrology, witchcraft, and other like exploded objects of ridicule. In the United States, especially, it would have been somewhat hazardous for any man of literary pretensions to couple it with his name, except in the way of sneer and invective — a method which has been resorted to by sciolists in all ages to cry down what they either have not perceptions to understand, or what their moral principles or their interests may be opposed to. There is a class of men calling themselves scientific, who reject and oppose with determined hostility, all facts. Their heads are as impenetrable to conviction as an old anvil. They will not [page 12:] stop to inquire — to investigate — not even to hear. They ridicule and scoff as if all philosophy consisted in condemning unheard; and they consequently sneer down, secundum artem, not only what they are not acquainted with, but also all that they have a disinclination with which to become acquainted, This obstinate and irrational, if not perverse spirit, is the fruitful source of all the ridiculous nostrums and quackeries with which our country is cursed. They act as if there were no further mysteries in store for man in the walks of science, learning, or discovery. They are ready, notwithstanding, to believe the visionary theories of GALL, SPURZHEIM, and others, which, with some probable truths, are a Babel of nonsense, upon which no two philosophers are in all points agreed. Such are some of the inconsistencies of our modern philosophers.

The celebrated FREDERICK ANTHONY MESMER, a German physician, was the first who brought animal magnetism into public notice, and reduced its principles into a science. On first promulgating his doctrines, he was assailed with as bitter a malignity and persecution as if he had been the setter forth of a new religion. He was slandered, circumvented, and villified — driven from city to city, and at length forced for bread to leave the German dominions. He ultimately made his way to Paris, in France, and kept on his principles, fearlessly challenging investigation, and boldly throwing defiance at his enemies. He [page 13:] performed many striking cures in the face and midst of his persecutors; compelling his enemies, in the language of the Jewish Sanhedrim on a certain occasion, to admit, that a notable cure had been done which could not be denied. MESMER, soon, however, attracted the attention of distinguished men, and these, on investigating and witnessing the facts of the science, became converts to, and spiritedly sustained his doctrines. Animal magnetism, until now, seems to have been chiefly understood in its results and effects, and many things connected with it have been entirely above our philosophy. In consequence of this, it came in conflict with the pride of learning, because it did not open a sufficiently wide field for speculation. The literati could not revel in conjecture, and perhaps one of the reasons why it has not been acceptable to many is, that it has to do with a science which PROVES THE EXISTENCE OF A SOUL IN MAN; being the connecting link between physiology and psycology, the former confining its labors to the physical machine, and the latter considering man as a compound of body and spirit. Investigations, however, prove animal magnetism to have a more especial connexion with psycology, than with any other doctrine or science..

Soon after MESMER established himself in the French capital, and promulgated his new doctrines, the French Academicians appointed a committee to examine, and report on the facts and circumstances [page 14:] connected with this science. This was about the year 1784. The Report was made public in due time; but the investigations were extremely partial, because the committee was prejudiced against it. Many important admissions were, however, made in its favor. After the lapse of a quarter of a century, when MESMER had gained to his doctrine many of the greatest men of France, and when public opinion began to set in his favor, a new committee was appointed by the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, again to inquire into, and report upon this subject. The reporter was, as the other, strongly prejudiced against MESMER and his doctrine; but being a man of honor and of science, and his literary reputation being at stake, he determined to act impartially. In consequence, this report was nearly the reverse of the previous one. The reporter entered fully into the subject, and from this time animal magnetism was placed before the French nation as a science possessing great interest, and fully deserving the credence and investigation of the learned public. This gave the study of Mesmerism a new impulse, and the current of public opinion began rapidly to set in his favor. It was from this period considered by the literati as a necessary adjunct to physiology. It presented new ideas to the mind of the student, and threw light upon many physiological subjects before involved in darkness. It also formed a new crisis in psycological investigations, presenting startling views to the philosophical inquirer; but while the vindictive opposition of [page 15:] the hierarchy was stifled by the above report, the doctrine, on the other side, afforded demonstration not to be resisted, that man contained a SOUL, and therefore the infidel notion was refuted, that death was an eternal sleep! It presented the best support of revelation on the one side, and prostrated the Dagon of pretended miracles on the other, by accounting, in a natural way, for many of the extraordinary events which emanated from the monkeries, of the marvellous intervention of invoked saints, in the cure of maladies and in the exorcism of evil spirits, all of which were dissipated, like smoke, on the announcement of these doctrines.

The works that issued from the press immediately after the above report in favor of Animal Magnetism, were numerous, and from the ablest pens in the nation. If it had not been that ignorant persons constituted themselves the judges of subjects, of which they had no knowledge, thereby assuming the quack while they denounced quackery, and were thus able, before the unthinking, to produce some influence to agitate public opinion, Mesmerism would ere this not only have been well understood, but also embraced by the whole of the civilized World. It is a science of FACTS and EXPERIMENTS. The RATIONALE of its phenomena, like all sciences in their infancy, may sometimes be questioned, because the assigned arguments are new, and often startling; but they are founded upon data as easily sustained as are any sciences [page 16:] which claim our attention. Its developments unfold many of the mysteries that surround the Pythonic and Sybilino Oracles of the heathen temple; many of the degrading superstitions that were monopolised by a theurgical priesthood, and palmed upon the ignorant as the attestations of heaven in favor of their impious pretensions. This science will now he viewed in a newer and better light than heretofore, when it is understood, that in all periods of time, in all nations, countries and neighborhoods, men have been found possessing the power, by a TOUCH, to work a certain species of cures upon the human system! This is known to every man of intelligence in the country. The touch-and-heal doctors are now, as they ever have been, the wonder of the illiterate, and the stumbling-block of the learned:* [page 17:]

Now, is it any wonder that such a system should remain a secret to the crafty theologasters of the [page 18:] church; or that they should not collect, wherever found, those whom nature vested with such extraordinary powers, and use them for the benefit of mother church? It will now be easily seen in what way the world has been gulled by miracle-mongers, and what are the occult principle and practice through which most of the veritable saints in the calendar have been manufactured. In fact, says an able writer, “animal magnetism is a natural cause which explains all the effects, formerly attributed to magic and witchcraft; as electricity explains the thunder; as astronomy explains the appearance of the comets; as a knowledge of the different laws of nature explains all the phenomena which, in times of ignorance, were ascribed to supernatural agents.

Animal magnetism may not inaptly be called the PHILOSOPHY OF SUPERSTITION. When the Romish clergy account for the operations of this fluid as performed by a Priest, or saint of their church, they ascribe them to God; when by a Protestant, or a member of any other persuasion, they pronounce them to be the work of the devil! There is but little doubt that many a poor wretch has been put to cruel torments, in the dark ages, for having, by the order of nature, been unwittingly possessed of this extraordinary power in excess. That thousands are able to put forth this magnetic fluid in the cure of diseases, or otherwise, who are entirely ignorant of the cause, appears to be the fact. They only understand the [page 19:] virtues they possess in their effects. They do not know that the influence they exert is magnetic, or that it is under the control of their will, in certain circumstances. The case seems to be thus; they possess an unusual abundance of the magnetic fluid; or else, owing to their peculiar constitutional temperament they distribute it more readily than others. The natural magnetic conductors of their system seem to be differently constituted from those of others; or, which is perhaps more probable, they have the faculty of CONFINING THEIR WILL TO THE OBJECT OF THEIR ATTENTION WITHOUT DISTRACTION, and at the same time making it act with great power. This latter opinion is rather confirmed by the fact, that men who are called touch-doctors, it is said, are usually distinguished for their steady seriousness and piety, and are seldom characterised for quickness of perception, or intelligence. It is true, that men can train the mind by close attention to points of study, whether mental or moral; but I speak of those who are not artificially disciplined. Those who spontaneously eliminate the magnetic fluid are usually reputed men of STRONG FAITH! They believe themselves to be such, and they usually inspire a corresponding feeling for the time. But such men, as before remarked, know little of their own powers, or they would soon be able to produce surprising effects in the curative art; and it will, before long, be demonstrated, that without the influence of the magnetic [page 20:] power in connexion with medicine, in the ordinary process of healing, the person who contends with disease, will more frequently destroy nature, than he will disease when he attacks it.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM, as before said, is the connecting link between physiology and psycology. It is the phenomenon of the material, as well as of the spiritual, man; because it demonstrates the intimate connexion that subsists between them.

Mesmerism and electricity are subject to the same code of criticism, and, in many things, to the same laws. Sir HUMPHREY DAVY says: “Facts are independent of fashion, taste, and caprice, and are subject to no code of criticism. They are more useful, perhaps, when they contradict, than when they support received opinion and doctrines; for our theories are only the imperfect approximations to the real knowledge of things.” The science we are now about to introduce, is one of those that must FORCE CONVICTION. It enters into concernments, and developes truths to which man has a natural repugnance; because it brings him into an acquaintance with HIS OWN SPIRITUAL NATURE; a study, from the contemplation of which we start and fly as anxiously as if we dreaded to know a future fate in the realization of which we could only anticipate terror and despair! Now, in a detail of facts, and when it is avowed that it is with facts only we have to do, where is there a just reason for incredulity in advance of knowledge, [page 21:] or a bitter opposition where nothing that can harm us is presented to our consideration? The facts and theory “of this most extraordinary science, place the whole man before the student in a new light. This, no science ever did before. As soon as the student leaves the study of man, as a physical being, he passes him over into the hands of the Doctors of Divinity, leaving to them any thing that belongs to our MORAL* nature. Yet every respectable physician in our country knows, that in the cure of diseases, [page 22:] the action of the mind has, perhaps, more than half to do with the removal of the complaint.

The chief reason why animal magnetism is a subject of doubt and ridicule, especially in this country, where it has only recently attracted public attention, is, because the rationale of the science has not been placed along side the facts, before the public. My first object shall be to discuss the acknowledged principles and physiological theories upon which the doctrines of animal magnetism are founded. Let these be carefully weighed and considered; for without this, the science cannot be well understood; but with these introductory remarks, all will be clear and easy of solution. In my observations, generally, I shall make free with several authorities which it is not in my power to quote, even when I use language not my own, owing to the manner in which they were collected. I refer to COLQUHOUN’Ss work in English, and ANDRAL, VIREY, and others in French, together with the French Reports upon Magnitisme Animale, of which I have already taken notice, and to which I shall hereafter refer.

M. VIREY, in his Forces Medicatrices, (p. 8,) says, “Man is a compound of three kinds of principles. 1. Of an immaterial, intellectual soul; 2. Of a sensitive faculty, or life; and 3. of natural elements. In order to act upon the body, the soul makes use of a vital principle, or of a nervous fluid, which is capable of impressing motion and sensation upon our [page 23:] organs, — Though this principle is MORE SUBTILE THAN LIGHT, it appears to be a material substance, capable of accumulating, and even of passing from one body to another.”

The same author again observes, “Our soul perceives without reasoning, and by a secret action of its faculties, produces harmonious relations with other souls; such, for instance, as sounds have amongst each other. We do not acquire this instinct by science, although it may be rendered more perfect by study.” (p. 172.) “The sensitive element is not of the same nature with thought; IT IS SECRETED IN THE BRAIN; it descends into the nerves;* it exhausts itself and is renewed. An animal is a fountain of life. It, loses some part of it every day, and it extracts a fresh portion from the surrounding bodies. We never live more energetically than when effusing the vital fluid outward.” (p. 317.) The presence, the touch, or the words, of a very eminent man, have a very singular influence on inferior minds, and are capable of curing bodily diseases.” (p. 352.)

From what has been said, it will appear, that animal magnetism has for its principle a moral [page 24:] action. It is the WILL, which DARTS FORTH THE FLUID, said above to be secreted in the brain. The will gives it motion; it controls its action; it regulates its momentum; it is the moving power in man, as it was the WILL of the Almighty by which the Universe was created. Man did not give himself this power. He derived it from that Being whose WILL alone has independent power, and from whom alone volition is derived. He that sitteth above gave man the power to will, and the power over the will to exert such transcendent faculties! But no one can have complete command over his volitions without that confidence which is necessary to augment its energies. When, therefore, we speak of exciting the will, or of eliminating a fluid and transferring it to another, let it not be said that we do this independently of ourselves, any more than we perform other acts dependent on our moral or physical nature. It would appear strange, if, in the creation of man, the creative power should not imbue him with a principle of his own nature, by which, of all others, he is more eminently distinguished in our perceptions of his active powers: it would be passing strange, if man should have been created without faculties which would at least shadow forth that WILL which is the basis of all his moral attributes! We have the power to will — and if this faculty was properly improved, instructed, managed, and regulated, the human condition would soon undergo a change that would spread happiness and peace [page 25:] through the earth, and before long the millenial light will dawn upon our moral world. I am not quite sure that the doctrine we now advocate is not one of the precursors — shall I say pioneers? — to introduce us to, and render us familiar with the glory that is to be revealed in that day.*

From all this it is plain that to effect great things, it is necessary to divest the persons upon whom you operate, as much as possible of their materiality; or in other words, add spirit to matter. It is the will existing in man, which is the moving principle of all his actions. Volition does not belong to mere materiality. It belongs to all spiritual beings, and is the more active and powerful in them, in proportion as they are disengaged from matter. The energy with which it operates, without the assistance of organs, is the essential characteristic of pure spirits. Volition, then, belongs to matter, mind, and spirit; and as it is the [page 26:] most active faculty of all those with which man has been endowed, so is it fraught with happiness or misery according as it is well, or ill directed.

The will is a power that sits enthroned above our physical natures. It has full command over them when invested and in full possession of its natural energies and attributes. But the will is as often impotent as is the physical system, because it is not instructed in the exercise of its functions. When it is, the human machine approximates most to perfection.

But the human brain is the organ upon which the will acts. This organ seems to he a composition that, like the Galvanic fluid, sends forth, at the command of the will, an electrico-magnetic fluid, to traverse the nerves — themselves empty tubes — in order to give vitality and action to the muscular system. The galvanic experiments made on dead men, seem to affect muscular action in this way. That there is a striking analogy between galvanic electricity and nervous influence, is certain. That the one seems to act as a substitute for the other, and partially does so, has been demonstrated. That the magnet is affected by the nervous fluid, is certain, the existence of its polarity being demonstrated, by the connexion of the magnetic needle, with the nervous influence, according as it was brought into contact with the opposite fluids. It is admitted by all writers on the human system, that the blood contains a considerable quantity of [page 27:] iron. If, then, it contains iron, why should not that iron be capable of feeling the magnetic influence — of being even polarized.* By repeated psycometrical experiments, the existing affinity between the nervous fluid of the human body, and the electric and magnetic fluids, has been pretty well ascertained. In fact, common sense points out even to the casual observer, that a healthy subject can as well be affected by another healthy subject, as a healthy person is by another in a state of disease; or in other words, that there should be a contagion of health, as well as of disease. This fact was known in ancient times. It was the method adopted by the servants, of the Israelitish [page 28:] king, in order to transfuse youthful vigor into his exhausted system; and whoever consults Friar BACON’S “secret plaister for the cure of old age,” may be amused, if not instructed. He says: “It heals because it is whole; when it is sick, it makes a man sick; when it is distempered, it breeds distempers and changes the body to its own disposition, because of the similitude it has with the body “ — for as “the infirmity of man passes into man, so does health because of likeness.”

The brain, or cerebrum, is the chief organ upon which the will operates, and as it is indispensable that we frequently refer to this substance, it may be necessary to say a word or two on its nature and use. The brain is a soft viscus, contained within the cranium; it is divided into six lobes, each of which is surrounded by membranes called the dura, and pia-mater, also with another covering similar to a spider’s web and, on that account, called the arachnoid membrane. This membrane is situated between the dura and pia-mater, and has no blood vessels or nerves, and surrounds the several medullary substances composing the brain, and medulla spinalis. The cerebrum has three ventricles, and several protuberances, from which originate blood vessels, and nerves. They give off nine pair of nerves to different sections of the head, as to the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, &c. The cerebrum is connected with the medulla oblongata by the crura cerebri and crura cerebelli, two medullary [page 29:] columns; and this again with the medulla spinalis, or spinal marrow. From the spinal marrow proceed thirty pair of nerves, eight cervical, twelve dorsal, five lumbar, and five sacral. My object in this brief description is to give the unlearned reader some idea of the number, distinction, and origin, of the several classes of nerves. The nine pair that proceed from the brain are called the cerebral; the thirty from the spinal marrow, we shall call the spinal, or ganglionic nerves, because they commence on each side of the spine in large tubercles, or knots, from which the word ganglion has been derived. These nerves possess different qualities and characteristics. Those proceeding from the cerebrum and medulla oblongata are different in their structure from the spinal nerves, the former being harder, whiter, and more oxydized, while the ganglionic nerves are softer, more like jelly, and of a grayish color. The former of these seems to have been appropriated to animal life, the latter to the vegetative; the one as the seat of the intellect, the other as that of the affections.* Though we have reason to believe that the brain is the seat or centre of the operations of the intellect, we have [page 30:] equally good reason to hold that the ganglionic system — the nerves and plexus of the chest and abdomen — is the primary seat of the passions and affections of the mind. In fact, love, hate, jealousy, joy, sorrow, surprise, terror, &c., alter the functions, and even the structure of the organs, and any effect produced by these passions and emotions upon the brain appears to be secondary, or sympathetic. The nerves are hollow tubes, and their intention is to convey the nervous fluid from the seat of sensation to the muscular system, to restore it when exhausted. The nerves always arise from a medullary substance, which, whether in the head, neck, or spine, we shall call the brain, for it deserves this appellation, acting, as it does, in that capacity, and giving out the nervous energy according as the brain and nerves are suited to the intellect or the affections.

The nervous fluid, as above observed, is secreted in the brain, and descends into the nerves at the command of the will. The construction of the brain is such as that it can give forth this fluid, and transmit it to the nervous system as it is required; and it exhales from the nerves when in excess, after the muscles have been vivified by transfusion;* the cerebrine [page 31:] medulla, or viscus, is capable of secreting this principle, in the same manner as electric matter is discharged from the Galvanic battery. Neither the fluid itself, nor the brain which secretes it, has any taste or smell, or color, both the cerebrum and nerves being white. ITS MOTION IS LIKE LIGHTNING, for by the direction of the will it passes with the quickness of thought through every part of the human system! As the nerves are the organs of sense and motion, and always arise from a medullary, or brain-like viscus, I shall in these papers regard the several medullary organs, whether in the head, or spine, as Galvanic apparatus subject to the will, and when in a healthy condition, always ready to obey its mandates. The sentient extremities of these nerves are like wires from either pole of the battery, proceeding from [page 32:] and branching out into every part; but as each of those projecting on any one side, has a corresponding one on the other, always making a pair of the same class which perform the same duties, so they proceed in pairs, and bend their course to corresponding muscles, on either side of the system. But the nerves have different functions to perform. It would seem that those of the cerebral nerves receive the impulse of the will, upon their sentient extremities; it is probable that at the moment of perception an impingement on the extremity of the nerves by the viscus takes place. The common opinion is, that sensation precedes volition; but I hold the reverse, because I give volition entirely up to the action of the thinking part, or soul; and place the whole machine under its command. It is asserted upon very respectable authority, that the electric matter is different from the nervous fluid: That this fluid is not magnetic; neither oxygen, nor hydrogen, nor azot, but an element sui generis, which exists and is produced in the nerves only, and can be known only by its effects. It is supposed by some to be an intermediate substance between the body and the soul, and different from the vital principle.

This nervous, or, as I shall call it, vital fluid, is LIGHT. It is the same active, imponderable fluid that is transfused into all nature. But this light in passing through any medium whatever is in some degree changed in its properties, and made to partake of the nature of that through which it is diffused. The light of [page 33:] the sun, for instance, is motion, and proceeds, but is not discharged from the sun. On striking the earth, it passes through its pores, enters the solids, the fluids and minerals, and passes into the centre, from which, having become polarized and magnetized, it escapes at the poles in exhalations, and probably returns to the source from whence it came, thus supplying the exhaustless formation of light with its own beams! So when this light vivifies the human subject, it becomes modified in the medullary organs, and is concentrated there for performing the necessary functions of life; just as the solar beams are taken up in vegetation, to give life to the vegetable world, and may be liberated again in the process of combustion; for all the beams of the sun received by the earth, are not needed in vegetable organization, an abundance being supplied, and from that abundance all parts of nature taking a portion for their own use.

From what I have said on the abstract condition of man, it may be inferred that he is capable of being analyzed so that his constituent elements may be ascertained. The chemical agent by which this can alone be effected is animal magnetism. The process by which an analysis is effected will soon be understood.

It is agreed on all hands, that Animal Magnetism, when applied to the human subject, operates chiefly upon the nerves situated in the abdominal region; that is, upon the plexus solaris, or great sympathetic nerves, which appear to be the centre of the [page 34:] ganglionic system of nervous influence, opposed, as is well known, to that of the brain. So important in the human economy, has the region of this great ganglion been considered, that some of the elder philosophers conceived it to he the scat of the sentient soul. In diseased states of the organ, this ganglion appears in very peculiar relations towards the cerebral system, and it has sometimes, perhaps not unreasonably, been denominated the cerebrum abdominale.

Now, it is a singular fact, that in many cases of catalepsy and somnambulism, the usual organs of the senses have been found to be entirely dormant, and the seat of general sensibility transferred from the brain, to the region of this ganglion, or cerebrum abdominale. Does not this circumstance suggest some distinction hitherto not sufficiently investigated, between the intellect and the sensibility — between the cerebral and the ganglionic systems of the nervous energy?

The ganglionic system does not spring, as was formerly believed from the fifth and sixth cerebral pairs; but only communicates with them as with many others and all the nerves of the spinal cord. It constitutes itself a separate and independent whole. A series of ganglions lying on both sides of the spinal cord, linked together by means of connecting branches, formed into a circle at a point between the cerebral and spinal action, constitutes the boundary of both systems. Within this boundary the spinal, or, as I prefer terming [page 35:] it, the ganglionic system expands and communicates outward with the brain, by means of connecting branches. The ganglionic system, contained within the elliptical boundary, consists of a contexture of apparently irregular plexus of nerves, sometimes more loose, but where the principal vessels lie, more closely pressed together, and occasionally provided with nervous knots. In this laharinthinc contexture, one particular group preponderates in respect to mass, separation, and influence, which, in consequence of its form, has been denominated the plexus solaris.

Now, having described these two nervous systems, it is proper to explain in what manner they are affected by the magnetic action. It appears. by repeated experiments, that when the activity of the cerebral system is diminished, that of the ganglionic system is increased. At such times the SKIN IS THE SEAT OF SENSATION! To prove this it is only necessary to let the point of the finger, or of a metallic rod, be passed over the skin of a sleeping person frequently, within an inch of the skin, or so, without producing a current of air, and the sleeper will become disturbed, rub the part affected, and if the experiment is continued probably awake.

But when this subject is treated physiologically, there seems to be this difference between natural and magnetic sleep, that in a state of nature the cerebral organs are in activity; but when under magnetic influence these are suspended, and the ganglionic [page 36:] system is exalted, or in activity; that is, the principal effect of the magnetic treatment upon the brain appears to consist in the temporary suspension of the sensibility, and activity of the cerebral organs; but the ganglionic system is rendered proportionally active as the other is depressed! Whether this indicates polarization in the human system or not, let others judge. It seems, at least, to have some analogy to it.

The proofs of animal magnetism seem also to be proofs of the Aurora Borealis. They are, as has been before hinted, exhalations of light from their respective bodies, the former from man, the latter from the earth. Light, in passing through man, or through the earth, becomes magnetized, by partaking of the nature of the respective bodies through which it passes. At the moment of receiving magnetic influence it becomes polarized. The nervous circulation is solar light, digested or modified in the brain, and thence distributed through the system, as electricity is circulated from an electrical battery, or galvanic apparatus. It is projected from the head, and exhales at the extremities, whence it forms an atmosphere, or sphere of active motion similar to the magnetic action.

Now, the vital power transferred from one individual to another, does not, as some suppose, reside in the nerves, but in the brain. It is from this point that the transferred power emanates, runs through the [page 37:] nerves, and gives vital energy to all parts of the muscular system.

Those who have written upon animal magnetism, and they are both very numerous and respectable, concur in saying, that every healthy individual has the power of communicating the vital fluid. The more healthy and sound the constitution, the more capable he is of communicating it. The opposite of these conditions produces the contrary effects. This fluid is produced by a very simple process, and even without their aid by the sole act of the will. But the act of the will is not necessary to receive it. It is transmitted the more easily in proportion as the will of the operator is real, strong, and determined. It will perhaps be with difficulty believed, that the communication of the fluid is more or less complete, according to the degree in which the will of the operator is more or less developed; but daily experience has enabled us to perceive, that, in order to produce the desired effects, an adept has been obliged to learn to exert his will, as a child is obliged to learn to walk! Whoever examines a French work entitled, “Memoires sur le fluide vital,” will find many curious and interesting remarks upon the subject, deeply worthy his attention. Indeed, why the reasons of most of these phenomena are unnoticed is, men are not apt to examine very carefully those correspondencies in the human body upon which depends a great part of the play of the animal machine. [page 38:]

I have said above, that in the natural and magnetic somnambulism the operations appear to depend, or to exhibit their effects upon the organs which I have described, but that in the somnolescent state the cerebral organs are rendered dormant, and the sensibility is frequently transferred to the epigastrium, that is, the pit of the stomach. REIHL assumed two poles of nervous sensibility in the human organism — the one the pneumatic pole, being seated in the brain; the other the somatic pole, in the ganglionic system. If REIHL had been acquainted with animal magnetism, he would have better known how to have accounted for the peculiar principle which led him to make this distinction — it would at once have directed him to the true cause. If we admit, however, the connexion, or perhaps the antagonism already pointed out between the intellect and the sensibility — between the cerebral and the nervous or ganglionic systems; and could we conceive it possible, either by means of the manipulations, &c. employed in the magnetic treatment, or by any other accidental, or undiscoverable means, to withdraw a considerable portion of the nervous or vital fluid from the cerebral regions and concentrate it at the epigastrium in the plexus solaris, or distribute it throughout the ganglionic system, we should thus be enabled to account, in some degree, for the many extraordinary phenomena of animal magnetism, occasioned, it would appear, by the suspension [page 39:] or activity in the cerebral organs, and the exalted sensibility of the abdominal ganglions.

There is little doubt that the ganglions I have described, with their appendages, was designed by PARACELSUS and VON HELMONT, in what they have said respecting the existence and functions of the archæus, which they describe as a sort of demon, presiding over the stomach, acting constantly by means of the vital spirits, performing the most important offices in the animal economy, producing all the organic changes which take place in the corporeal frame, curing diseases, &c. VON HELMONT even held, that, by virtue of the archæus, man was approximated to the realm of spirits; meaning, I presume, that in cases of catalepsy and somnambulism, the excited sensibility of the archæus (or plexus solaris,) predominates over the cerebral energy, supplies its functions with increased activity, and in the absence of the ordinary organic influence, seems to transport us to another world.

It is a remarkable and well demonstrated fact, that the combination of fluids of one individual with those of another, has the effect of producing sleep.* [page 40:] This combination causes the brain to pass into a sort of ercthismus, which gradually increased by the continuation of magnetic action, determines, in the brain of the magnetized person, a considerable disengagement of fluid. It is this excess of fluid, whose subtility, traversing the sides of the cranium, irradiates the surrounding objects, and occasions the wonderful phenomena of lucidity! In such cases, the brain is enabled to dispense with the instruments of the senses, and the individual can see without eyes, and hear without ears! In the ordinary state, the organs of the senses are a kind of conductors through which we receive the impressions of external objects; but in somnambulism, the fluid comes immediately into contact with these objects, so that the natural conductors of sensation become useless.

We have seen that in somnambulism the sensibility of the animal life is entirely abolished. This phenomenon, in our opinion, is susceptible of rigorous explanation. We feel nothing, because the brain, completely absorbed by the activity of this new order of perceptions, entirely abandoned to this ecstatic life, no longer perceives any other impressions. We may form some idea of this incapability of perceiving in [page 41:] the brain, from what daily takes place when a strong sensation annihilates within us a weaker one, and probably where the perceptions are slow, there is a degree of disease in the nervous system, or in the viscus which supplies it with the nervous fluid, the latter being deficient in the necessary energy to secrete the fluid which sets the machine in notion, and invigorates it. It is elsewhere said, that when effusing this fluid outward, we feel more energy both of mind and body than at other times. If excitement is kept up it will give a greater activity to the series of sensations upon which we act — but if the mind is too much excited without the refreshing influence of pleasure, it will sink into exhaustion, or become deranged. In this way, when strong unpleasant mental excitement supervenes, and continues without necessary relaxation, monomania usually follows. If the mind is balanced by a variety of pleasing emotions, or enlightened by study, monomania seldom occurs, because the mind has occupation on so many points that it is not exhausted on any. It is thus that an individual profoundly pre-occupied with some great idea, or struck with the sight of a very interesting object, sees and hears nothing of what is going on around him. It is thus, too, that in a contest, embittered by wrath, or vengeance, the two adversaries scarcely feel the blows which they mutually inflict upon one another.

Every man, in a healthy state, as I have said, has [page 42:] the faculty of causing the magnetic fluid to radiate from his brain by the sole act of his will. This fluid, however, is not generated in the brain in the same manner as in the Gymnotus Electricus, for the Gymnotus has no conductors to diffuse the fluid through its own system, and therefore must give it out; but the human machine has, and hence it retains what is necessary for its own use, and gives out at will, but in slight and imperceptible degrees, what can be spared. Just as the will is disciplined and taught, it has the power to give or withhold this vital fluid. Hence, the individual who is well instructed has more command over his own energies than the man whose education is neglected; but the man who possesses natural powers of a high order has this fluid more in obedience to his will than any other, because with him it is an instinctive principle of his nature.

It should be borne in mind that the vital fluid and the magnetic fluid, are not exactly the same in form and degree. The latter is a modified form of the former, as the Aurora Borealis is of the beams of light which are received by the earth. These having passed through the minerals, &c., contained in it, and thereby become polarized, pass off at the magnetic, or around the polar regions, in exhalations, and probably return to the source from whence they issued. The vital fluid, for instance, passes from the brain with a velocity almost beyond thought. Dr. ROGET, in his Bridgewater Treatises, (vol. ii. p. 367,) says: [page 43:] “The velocity with which the nerves, subservient to sensation, transmit the impressions they receive at one extremity, along their whole course, exceeds all measurement, and can be compared only to electricity passing along the conducting wire.” Now, such is not the manner in which the magnetic influence is given out, though the rapidity of its motion through the organized system is quite equal to that stated by Dr. ROGET. Outwardly, it diffuses itself from the nervous system by almost insensible transmission, but in greater quantities at the extremities than at any other part of the human system. Let, for instance, as elsewhere observed, a healthy person pass his hand in the most delicate manner over the face of another person asleep, — he need not touch the cuticle, nor even raise a wind, so slow and gentle may be the movement of the extremity of the fingers, in approximation with the sleeper, and immediately he becomes uneasy — he starts — he applies his hand to the face, and rubs it; and, if the movement be continued, he usually starts from his slumber and awakes. The fluid sent forth by the will is given out in greater abundance as the will has power over its own volitions, when the fluid is in a neutral or natural state. Now, suppose this fluid to be directed by the magnetizer towards the brain of another individual, the consequence will be this: if the fluid of the magnetized person is equally natural, no effect will be produced, because two neutral fluids do not act upon each other; and this is [page 44:] what generally takes place when we attempt to magnetize a person in health. But if the fluids are isolated, as is usually the case in sick persons, each of these two fluids will tend to decompose the neutral fluids of the magnetizer, and to combine with its opposite.

After a magnetic sleep the somnambulist recollects nothing of what passes while in that state, because every thing had taken place without the action of the brain, since we have seen that the fluid goes out in search of other objects. If time and space will allow, I may give other and strong reasons for this singular phenomenon — at present it would be premature.

The reason why a magnetizer does not always act effectively, is because his will at the given moment, may be incapable of directing the fluid; because his mind is distracted or indisposed, and his fluid no longer possesses the requisite conditions; because he acts upon a healthy person, and their mutual fluids are incapable of acting upon each other; because he operates upon a sick person, whose fluid, at the moment, is in a natural state; finally, because some third party exerts a contradictory action with or without intention. The magnetized person should have confidence in magnetism, because it is necessary that the brain should be in certain moral conditions in order to produce certain moral effects.

Writers upon animal magnetism inform us of this peculiar influence, or vital fluid, that independently of its sanative efficacy, the usual effects of the magnetic [page 45:] processes are the production of sleep and. somnambulism, the latter being obviously a more profound lethargic state of the former. The phenomena invariably observed in somnambulism, when the crisis is perfect, are insensibility of the corporeal organs, exaltation of the intellectual faculties, a transferrence of the sensitive powers to other than the usual parts of the nervous system, intuition, prevision, (prescience) prediction, and the total oblivion, when restored to the natural state, of all that occurred during the continuance of the affection.*

The Bibliotheque du Magnetisme Animale, a distinguished French periodical, says in substance, that it has often had occasion to remark, that persons affected with mania, or laboring under some mental irregularity, which caused them to be taxed with [page 46:] slight insanity are, in the somnolescent state, generally more clear-sighted (clairvoyant), than others, and that at such times, they exhibit no indication of the defects of the mind with which they are charged! Another writer remarks the same thing in cases where the intellectual faculties were absent, or were manifestly infirm. These phenomena are sufficiently explained by the observations of old and experienced physicians, They know that partial insanity, different kinds of mania, symptoms of an habitual aberration of mind, must have most frequently their principal seat in some deeply affected viscus of the epigastrium; and in that case the irregularity of the cerebral functions is only sympathetic. Now, somnambulism has the effect of insulating the latter, of rendering them, for the time, independent of their usual relations, of withdrawing the brain from its morbid affections; and it is by such means that this organ instantaneously acquires this freedom — this facility, this great latitude of operating, which it enjoys in this state.

Those who are either altogether, or but slightly acquainted with this science, suppose that it chiefly consists in an artificial sleep, by means of some jugglery, performed on the subject, by a person who possesses powers in some degree like the Gymnotus Electricus, or touch-doctors already noticed! The manipulations by which the magnetic sleep is produced is the cause — the sleep, and the extraordinary effects [page 47:] resulting from it, is the part of this interesting subject which deserves the attention of the philosopher. In sleep, our external senses are in a dormant state. But the cuticular organ, the principal seat of the physical sensibility, is considered more open to external impressions and influences, when asleep than when awake. This organ, — the skin, — in sleep, is the door by which we may communicate directly with the inter al sense of man, excite his faculties, and even direct his moral sense to the object we propose. Is it not very common to make sleeping persons speak; to make them sometimes hold long conversations, and even tell their secrets? Now, the ear being asleep, how .can they hear by that organ? They cannot — they hear you by the only organ then active — then, indeed, more than at any other time sensitive. The vibrations of sound, as well as rays of light, are perceived through the skin. Through this medium alone, and by this does he see, and distinguish objects.

ROULLIER, a French writer of celebrity, observes, that in magnetism, the physical processes elicit a fluid, which reasoning and analogy would compel us, as it were, to admit, even if all somnambulists had not besides invariably attested its existence. The somnambulists invariably see this fluid WHITE AS LIGHT, and SPRINKLED WITH BRILLIANT SPARKS, when the magnetizer operates, with more or less energy, with the points of his fingers; and among these somnambulists, [page 48:] there have been children, persons without any knowledge of physics, and even some who, in their natural state, had no confidence in magnetism. PUYSEGUR says, “the electric machine, set in motion by the handle, which causes the glass plate to revolve between two cushions, is the image of the magnetizer. Let this motion stop, then all communications cease — all the sparks disappear — in short, all kinds of electrical manifestations are at an end. In the same manner, the manifestations of animal magnetism cease from the moment that our will, the HANDLE OF OUR THOUGHTS, no longer acts magnetically in the intention of producing them.”

When the inward man, the soul, forsakes the inward sphere; or when the senses operate, and merely continues the vital functions, the body falls into an entranced state, or a profound sleep, during which time the soul acts more freely and powerfully, all its faculties being elevated. The more, therefore, the soul is divested of the body, the more extensive, free, and powerful, is its inward sphere of operation. It has, therefore, no need whatever of the body, in order to live and exist; the latter is rather an hindrance to it.

The soul in a state of magnetism, has no perception whatever of the visible world; but if it be brought into reciprocal connexion with some one who is in his natural state, and acts through the medium of [page 49:] his corporal senses, it becomes conscious of the visible world through him, and in him is sensible of it.

SPACE is merely the operation of the material organs of sense; out of them it has no existence; therefore as soon as the soul forsakes the latter, all proximity and distance cease. Hence, if it stand in reciprocal connexion with a person who is many thousand miles distant from it, it can impart knowledge by an internal communication, and receive it from such an one, and all this as rapidly as thoughts follow each other. In such cases, the soul, when separated from the body, IS WHEREVER IT THINKS TO BE; for as space is only its mode of thinking, but does not exist except in its ideas, it is always at the place which it represents itself to itself, if it may be there.

In the early part of this work I made an allusion to reports made by commissioners appointed by the French Academy, on Animal Magnetism. I shall now refer to the latter of those reports, and make extracts from it in the words of the commissioners:

“In all the experiments which we made,” says the Report, “we invariably observed that, in the development of phenomena so delicate, the attention of the magnetizer and the magnetized ought not to be distracted by any thing foreign. Besides, we did not wish to incur the reproach of having injured distracting causes; and we always took care that the expression of our countenances should neither operate as a constraint upon the magnetized, nor occasion doubt [page 50:] in the mind of the person magnetized. Our position, we are anxious to repeat it, was constantly that of inquisitive and impartial observers.

“The person to be magnetized was placed in a sitting posture, either in a convenient elbow chair, or on a couch — sometimes in a common chair.” [Other writers say the patient should be placed in a semi-recumbent posture, so that the operator can reach from his head to his toes. It is not necessary that the patient be undressed, only so as that no silk covering should intervene.]

“The magnetizer, seated on a chair a little more elevated, opposite, and at the distance of about one foot from the patient, seemed to collect himself for some moments, during which he took the thumbs of the patient between his two fingers, so that the interior parts of the thumbs were in contact with each other. He fixed his eyes upon the patient, and remained in this position until he felt that an equal degree of heat was established between the thumbs of the magnetizer and magnetized. He then withdrew his hands, turning them outward, placing them on the shoulder, where he allowed them to remain about a minute, and conducted them slowly, by a sort of very slight friction, along the arms to the extremities of the fingers. This operation he performed five or six times, which the magnetizers call a pass. He then placed his hands above the head, held them there a moment, drew them downwards in front of the face, [page 51:] at the distance of one or two inches, to the epigastrium, (pit of the stomach,) resting his fingers upon this part of the body; and he descended slowly along the body to the feet. These passes were repeated during the greater part of the sitting; and when he wished to terminate it, he prolonged them beyond the extremities of the hands and feet, shaking his fingers each time. Finally, he made transverse passes before the face and breast, at the distance of from three to four inches, presenting his two hands approximating to each other, and separating them abruptly.

At other times he approximated the fingers of each hand, and presenting them at the distance of three or four inches from the head to the stomach, leaving them in this position during one or two minutes; then withdrawing them and approximating them alternately with more or less rapidity, he imitated the very natural movement which is performed when we wish to shake off a liquid which has moistened the extremity of our fingers. These different modes of operation have been adopted in all our experiments, without any preference of the one to the other. Frequently we employed only one, sometimes two, and in the choice we made, we were never guided by the idea that one method would produce an effect more readily and more conspicuously than the other.”

To this account of the method of producing magnetic somnambulism, the commissioners add, in conclusion, [page 52:] (for the report is too long for our purpose) the following brief summary of reflections.

1. “The contact of the thumbs, or of the hands; frictions, or certain gestures which are made at a small distance from the body, and are called passes, are the means employed to place ourselves in magnetic connexion, or in other words, to transmit the magnetic influence to the patient.

2. “The means which are external and visible are not always necessary, since, on many occasions, the will, the fixed look, have been found sufficient to produce the magnetic phenomena, even without the knowledge of the patient.

3. “Magnetism takes effect upon persons of different sexes and ages.

4. “The time required for transmitting the magnetic influence with effect, has varied from one minute to half an hour.

5. “In general, magnetism does not act upon persons in a sound state of health.

6. “Neither does it upon all sick persons.

7. “A certain number of the effects observed appeared to us to depend upon magnetism alone, and were never produced without its application. These are well established physiological and therapeutic phenomena.

8. “The real effects produced by magnetism are very various. It agitates some, and soothes others. Most commonly it occasions a momentary acceleration [page 53:] of respiration and of the circulation, fugitive fibrillary convulsive motions, resembling shocks, a numbness in a greater or less degree, heaviness, somnolency, and, in a small number of cases, that which magnetizers call somnambulism.”

M. DELUSE, in explaining this magnetism as a natural cause which explains much of what was heretofore considered supernatural, says: “the opinion that an emanation from one person directed by his will may act upon another person, as an emanation from the brain acts upon the fingers — does not conduct us to the belief of the action of devils; on the contrary, it annihilates this superstition, by teaching us to see in ourselves the cause of many effects, which were formerly ascribed to strange and chimerical powers.”

The doctrines of animalmagnetism are eminently calculated to promote the true interests of spiritual religion, by associating with it a spiritual philosophy. Indeed this doctrine demonstrates beyond all power of confutation, that man contains within him another being — a Soul.

When the thinking principle is separated from the society and contagion of the body, it remembers the past, perceives the present, and foresees the future. The body of a magnetized sleeper lies like one dead; but the mind lives, and is vigorous. How much more so will it be after death, when it shall have altogether separated from the body? [page 54:]

A materialist will venture to assert that, the brain thinks, and feels, and wills, as clearly as the liver secretes bile. It would he much easier to prove that mind — soul, spirit, the immortal principle — produces, forms, creates, the brain.

Many are sceptical on the subject of the psycological part of this most interesting science, who admit a part of the facts — for instance, those which relate to the magnetic somnambulism, and the physiological facts connected with them. They cannot understand, and will not believe, any of the facts connected with prevision, and the locomotive powers of mind and soul during the sonmolescent state. They cannot realize the fact, before alluded to, that during its disengagement from the body, the soul has no perception whatever of the visible and tangible world. They are unable to perceive that time is, in reality, a mere mode of thinking, and not of existing, and that the departed or temporarily separated soul, may be susceptible of future things. Why may not the mind, or sentient soul, for instance, extend itself with the velocity of thought, when thus divested of organized corporeity, just as easy as we are enabled to extend our knowledge with the aid of a few lenses directed to the heavens?

It is freely admitted, that we can read the mighty volume of the visible heavens with accuracy, and even distinguish not only stars before unseen, but also their periodical movements — we can travel with [page 55:] them through space in the immense velocity of their flight, and tell with mathematical precision not only the distance but the exact geometrical form of the course over which they travel. We have no reason to infer that because our perceptions are circumscribed while in the body, they are equally so when disengaged from it. Indeed the faculty of perception enables us to see and know only a few of the little matters and things belonging to the globe we dwell on; but does the soul belong to the elements of nature? Is not its sphere to extend itself beyond the shell and husk of animal organization, and roam with a vast power of locomotion over the structure of nature’s handy-work at the operation of the will? “The body,” says an able writer, “is not the open bower or tent of the soul — but it is its castle, from which all other minds may be excluded.” But when it vacates its abode, for an excursion over the realms of nature, must we infer that its evolutions are as sluggish as if it were encased in that castle, and chained down by the entities of animal organization? Such are not our perceptions of its condition. We must entertain other notions of its communications, habits, capacities, powers, locomotions, and ethereal qualities and enjoyments. Whatever be the construction of that soul, whether corporeal, or ethereal, is not our concern in the present argument; but it is whether it exists at all, and if so, what effects magnetism produces in the act of its disengagement from the body, or whether under [page 56:] the influence of this phenomenon, the soul can communicate, without the agency of the body, with those who are in reciprocal connexion with the body of the magnetized. This should be the most important question of all.

M. VIREY, in his work before alluded to, (p. 346,) says: “without doubt, we owe to a certain ability of mind those predictions which result from experience and prudence; but nature replaces this advantage in animals, and in the most simple of mankind, by very delicate instincts. Our souls have naturally a tact which gives them a presentiment of seasons, and sometimes of events. The more the mind is occupied with science the less is it moved by internal impressions. Ignorance, too, by leaving the soul in its natural condition, is more susceptible of instinctive impressions, than the logical and limited march of the reasoning powers.”

The same writer further remarks, that when a sensible organization observes itself internally, the instinct speaks; it inspires and instructs the individual on the subjects of his peculiar complaints, or diseases, and frequently in a more luminous manner than the most skilful physician is capable of doing. “This internal voice,” says M. VIREY, “is independent of the intellect; the most simple persons, idiots, individuals half asleep, are even more capable of hearing it, because they are less distracted by internal sensations.” — “There is,” continues he, “in man a soul, a peculiar [page 57:] force which animates him; this force has particular faculties independent of the organization of the body. It is by means of this invisible agent that we acquire all our knowledge — it alone constitutes our true being.” (p. 4, 5.)

“Our soul,” says the writer last quoted, “is susceptible of three principal states; 1. That of ordinary life, which employs the soul as well as the body; 2. That of dreaming, or delirium, which chiefly occupies the sensitive faculties of the body; 3. The state of ecstatic meditation, in which the soul acts almost alone. The soul, in the ecstatic state, can contemplate events from a higher point of view, and its dreams have something of a prophetic character; for being prodigiously from the body by meditation, it seems to have diffused itself throughout universal nature, where it can remark many effects in their source. The man who is in the habit of directing his native energies, acquires thereby a marked superiority over other men. Our soul has spontaneous motions; it acts alone, without the concurrence of the body; it admits the vital spirits to where they are required to go; it organizes the foetus; in diseases, it constitutes the natura medicatrix, which, taking care to direct the humors in a salutary manner, points out to the physician what he ought to do. It is not an acquired science, but an innate faculty; for, instructed by the Author of all being Himself, the soul has no need of acquired knowledge, this being only relative to external [page 58:] objects. When the equilibrium of health has been disturbed, the motion of the soul mechanically aspires to restore it. Every disease frequently discovers its remedy, if we will only listen to its determinations. Medicine is in ourselves; we do not create, we develop° it, when, consulting in silence the impulse of nature, we favor its direction. Nature may produce in every being the desire of an unknown object, and cause an individual to divine the remedy, of which, perhaps, all the science of the physician would never have dreamed.

“Amongst doubtful events, when we cannot form a conjecture as to what may be the issue, if we take them so much to heart as to become heated, the soul is enlightened, and sometimes penetrates into the future. A prophet does not (always) know the cause of his prophecyings; he feels himself moved by a power which exceeds his natural energies. He does not divine all things, but only that which comes into his thoughts. This species of divination arises and is lost naturally, and is with difficulty retained. When the mind manifests it, all the senses are in a state of temporary suspension, and nothing external distracts them. They must hold converse alone with the Being with whom they are at the time in communication.”

These arguments lead us to a knowledge of the fact, that by magnetism, nervous disorders, long continued efforts of the soul, or by other means, a person [page 59:] who has a natural predisposition for .it, may, in the present life, detach his soul in a greater or less degree from its corporeal organization.

With the doctrines of animal magnetism are intimately connected the subject of sleep and dreams, omens, presentiments and sympathetic forebodings, second sight, &c. There are various well attested phenomena which prove the reality of these occurrences, and justify the assertion of the poet, that

The same may be said of omens and presentiments. It is difficult to reject the whole of the evidence upon this subject, and absolutely to deny that, upon some occasions, and under certain circumstances,

Animal magnetism affords us the means of giving a natural explanation of these phenomena, and the whole subject deserves to be philosophically investigated, with a view to dispel superstition on the one hand, and scepticism on the other.

Indeed, few observant persons are to be found, who have not become acquainted with well authenticated facts in relation to sympathetic forebodings and presentiments. The instances are both numerous and well attested. They are phenomena which the most incredulous cannot deny, while they attempt to [page 60:] account for them on principles which reject any intervention of our spiritual nature. Profane, no less than sacred history, abounds with these species of incidents; and they all go to prove that there is an existence distinct from that of the present mode of life, to which we shall emerge when the scenes of mortality shall close upon us.

Professor ANDRAL, in his Lectures, delivered in the University of Paris, published in 1832, speaks of a case of somnambulism, of which the proofs are most authentic, from which the following is a brief abstract. The author, (M. FELAZZI,) then an interne, (an internal resident,) at the Hotel Dieu, and totally sceptical regarding the powers ascribed to the mysterious essence — this asserted magnetic fluid, — formed, for amusement, the plan, with a brother interne, equally incredulous, of submitting this friend to the manoeuvres of the magnetizers, in the manner M. Ros-TAN describes. The passes were continued for about twenty minutes without any remarkable effect, but at the expiration of that time, the young man began to yawn, his eyelids grew heavy, and closed involuntarily; he attempted to shake off the torpor in vain; his respiration next became accelerated, his head fell on his shoulder, and he uttered a sardonic laugh of indescribable expression. “We thought,” says the narrator, “that he was amusing himself at our expense; but in a little time, what was my horror when I saw his fingers turn blue, his head fall powerless forward — [page 61:] when I heard his respiration rattling like a dying man’s, and felt his skin as cold as death itself! I cannot find words to describe my sufferings. I knew not what to do. Meanwhile all these horrid phenomena increased in intensity. I tremble at the recollection of what I saw. There lay my friend, my victim, devoid of the aspect of life, in a state of complete and terrible. collapse! With his hands clasped in mine, in a state of agony no tongue can tell of, I laid him on a bed, and waited the result in a frenzy of mind I can never forget. In a quarter of an hour he recovered, exclaiming that in the ecstacy he had experienced extreme delight, and begged me to recommence my passes. I did so, with less apprehension, and again the somnolency proceeded. The collapse, however, was less profound and terriffic than the former, and in some minutes he suddenly awoke with the exclamation, what happiness is this!’ “

The cases that might be cited of prevision, and the sympathetic influence alluded to, having been produced in an extraordinary degree during magnetic sleep, are so numerous and well authenticated in France and Germany, that it would require several volumes to detail them. All the theories laid down in this work, have been deduced from those oft repeated, and well attested facts. I will give one other fact as related by M. CHARDEL, illustrative of the peculiar sympathy often existing between persons, and also of the statements alluded to in these pages [page 62:] respecting the transferrence of the sensation, and the power of seeing things as present that are at a distance, or as it is called, clairvoyance.

CHARDEL had two sisters as his patients, who were both magnetic somnambulists, and in the most intimate affinity, (rapport,) with each other. M. CHARDEL proposed to bleed the elder of these two in the foot. In the mean time, the younger sister, after being magnetized, felt somewhat indisposed, and went to bed in another room. The father and mother remaining to assist the operator. At the first attempt to insert the lancet, a piercing cry was heard to proceed from the bed-room of the younger sister, who, on entering it, was found to be in a swoon, in the position in which she had gone to sleep. M. CHARDEL recovered her, and inquired the cause of her fainting. She then related the details of all his movements in the projected operation. She said that she had constantly followed him with her eyes, and that, at the moment he was going to insert the lancet, an emotion which she could not control, had entirely deprived her of sense. In case of ordinary life, this would have been impossible, considering the distance and the intervening walls.

In general almost all somnambulists possess, during their critical sleep, the faculty of recognising their own complaints as well as those of others; of determining their nature, their duration and their accidents; of declaring whether they are curable or not — of predicting [page 63:] of what nature the crisis shall be, the manner in which they shall take place, the precise moment of their appearance; of pointing out how they shall best be promoted, seconded, sustained; finally of prescribing all the means proper to he employed in order to effect a cure.

In the Dictionaire des sciences medicales, on the article Instinct, we are told that it is wrong to deny that man is endowed with instinct, like the other animals; and that this faculty, unexercised in our ordinary states, is developed in certain circumstances, and gives us more information than that which we can acquire by the senses and experience. Nature acting, then, alone, and without being opposed, or deranged by the intellectual faculties, or the will, manifests those astonishing acts of salutary conservation, or direction for the cure of diseases. Indeed, in a state of somnambulism, the person thus affected usually feels, in a more lively manner, and will see all the internal economy of his structure, and thus seeing, will naturally desire those remedies most appropriate to his ailment. Sometimes the sympathetic influence or connexion between two individuals is such, that the one feels all the complaints of the other.

It appears that the fluid which passes from one individual to another, as elsewhere observed, is the same which exists in all nature. If there exists (as NEWTON and EULER imagined,) in the interval of the [page 64:] stars an exceedingly rare and subtile fluid which has been called ether, it must possess the most penetrating qualities, and be capable of producing the most wonderful effects. But this ethereal substance, being able to insinuate itself into the most compact matter, must produce in it different effects according to the nature of the bodies, the modifications of which it is susceptible.

The nervous fluid does not originate in the nerves and proceed to the brain, as some suppose. It always commences at a medullary viscus, and proceeds from thence through the nerves to the muscular system. Hence its elimination by the pores of the extremities. But were it to commence in the nerves, we should infer that its escape would he by the medulla, with which the nerves were in contact. Hence also the effects resulting from manipulations and passes, in drawing the magnetic action from its source, and seating it in a region different from its natural home. Sensation follows the transitions of the magnetic influence. It ceases in the part from whence the other is entirely abstracted. When this influence is transferred from the usual seat of sensation to the epigastrium, it may be compared to a coated jar. charged with the electric fluid from the battery of an electrical apparatus. The latter discharges its contents suddenly, or slowly, as conductors to some body in a negative state are applied — or otherwise. So with the human machine. It is at the command of the [page 65:] magnetizer. The magnetic and nervous influence, however, only differ in quality as it may be modified by transmission through a variety of mediums, every different combination presenting it under new modifications.

But when in a state of somnolency the magnetic influence is transferred to the region of the ganglions, the reverse takes place of what is natural. In our ordinary condition we effuse it outwardly — now we infuse it inwardly, receiving from external bodies what they can communicate. The somnambulist depends upon the magnetizer for the power to change the ordinary functions of sensation from their usual current, and the magnetized holds communication only with him, and those whom he wills to place in that singular relation. When the magnetic fluid, by the passes of the magnetizer, is drawn from the ordinary seat of sensation, and is concentrated in the regions of the ganglions, the powers of vision are transferred with it — for, in the presence of this fluid in the intellectual region consists not only sensation but also perception. If, then, perception depends on its presence wherever located, is it any matter of surprise that it should follow it to whatever region it may for the time be located in? Lucidity or clairvoyance, as the French call it, is not, however, the mere perception of things as present, wherever the somnambulist happens to be, but depends on those magnetic changes which separate the thinking principle, or soul, from [page 66:] its seat of action, and enables it to transfer itself at the will of the person to wherever that person wills it to go. In this locomotion, it is not able to will for itself; if it were, its subsequent connexion with materiality might in some cases be doubtful.

One of the chief difficulties with those not acquainted with this subject is owing to the anomalies in the magnetic effusion and reception. In this, as in other physiological phenomena, there are idiosyncracies which bid defiance to all rule. Indeed there are, it must be admitted, some things for which it is difficult to account, and which are not as yet sufficiently considered — that is, if they are not above our philosophy, it has not reached and reduced them to known principles.

My limits will not allow me to multiply cases of somnambulism. Indeed, at the present crisis, this is not so much needed as the rationale of results so astonishing. Much of the incredulity existing on the subject depends on the nature of the facts, lying so closely as they do upon the precincts of what is generally regarded as marvellous, and not affording sufficient explanation on natural principles. The public are staggered in their belief, for the want of reasons, yet the reasons are abundant and natural. It is hoped our arguments will give a new direction to the powers of thought; and, while it prevents the imagination from running wild in idle hypothesis, enable it to trace, á posteriori, this most deeply interesting and [page 67:] important subject to its source — rescue it from the charlatanry of men, who, before they investigate, form pre-conceived opinions to which every thing must bend — men who, before they enter the thresh-hold of the investigation, announce that when they have heard a report of a case, for which they are waiting, they are prepared to issue a work on the subject,* though that case may be as remote from a correct elucidation of the science as it is possible for the mind to conceive! When gentlemen will not stop to deliberate, read, reflect, examine and compare, what wonder the public would remain in confusion and doubt, “not knowing,” as Col. STONE very prudently tells us was his case, “how to believe?” Those who claim the appellation of philosophers are usually slow to recede from long cherished and sustained opinions. Facts afford no data for their philosophizings, nor will they believe them. They draw inferences from the abortions of every fanatic who only keeps in his eye the throne of Plutus. They forget that before they attempt to enlighten others, it is indispensable that they know something of the subject upon which they write. I have heard of no case happening in New York, and few in Rhode Island, which a philosophic mind would accept as correct data upon which to erect a superstructure of argumentation. If this subject be in any degree worthy of our attention, it is not that [page 68:] which every one can explain by a random illustration. It requires common sense, a thing which, if we judge from the remarks alluded to in the note, is not common to every philosopher. Even the commissioners of the French king admitted that the effects were very different in different individuals; for, say they — “ it agitates some, and soothes others.” In fact, the effects are scarcely in any two instances in all things alike, because whatever distracts the mind destroys them; and Mr. DURANT must acknowledge that, if we are to judge from his own gossip, and peculiar interference, (which Mr. ANDROS must have soon observed,) they were more for the sake of forming materials for his book, than for giving a chance to his friend by favoring his speculations in his lectures.

The revelation of God, who is a pure spiritual essence, is founded upon spiritual existence. It was not given with an ultimate reference to physical man, only so far as is connected with the spiritual being, and for the conservation of both. It is through the light of this revelation we are enabled to understand ourselves, to know of what we are constituted, how nearly we are related to, and how far we resemble, our original. That God, in our creation, should stamp upon us some part of his likeness, is not only what might be expected, but also what the historian of the creation has explicitly affirmed. We are, in these Scriptures, represented as having in us THREE PRINCIPLES; for in one place it is said,” He breathed [page 69:] in us the breath of lives,” or, as the original imports, a plurality of beings; and, in another place, the Apostle prays for the sanctification of our whole spirit, soul, and body. These three principles could not but he holy when created, for God made and pronounced them good. They could not but be unholy, when the Apostle prayed that they might be purified, and consecrated to God. They must, therefore, have fallen; and, if fallen, must need restoration.

Now the whole of man is the spirit, soul, and body: or, 1. The [[Greek text]], (pneuma,) or spiritual and immortal principle; that which controls and superintends the whole animal and functional economy. 2. The [[Greek text]] (psyche,) or soul, which is the seat of the passions and affections, and possesses the understanding and emotions by which the physical part is agitated, as love, joy, grief, anger, hate, &c.; and 3. The [[Greek text]], (soma,) or body, which is the house, or temple, of the other named occupants. Of these three parts, the body, only, is subject to dissolution. The others, being spiritual, could not die as the body dies. If they die, being spirits, they die spiritually. That they can live apart from the body, is affirmed by St. Paul, who, having been out of the body, could tell us of that which he saw. He says, there is not only a “spiritual body,” but also that when this house, spoken of above for the soul and spirit to dwell in, is dissolved, we have a spiritual house in the heavens [page 70:] to dwell in.” There is here a strong expression, and full to our point, namely, that we have a three-fold nature, and that when the body loses its inhabitants, the spirit has a house still in the soul, a never-dying habitation, a corporeal, active body, the springs and machinery of which, like the original man when first created, will never wear out. It is a body possessing sensation, volition, and locomotion, but without any alliance with materiality, and capable of pleasures and enjoyments in an infinitely more refined sense, than in organized materiality. Hence it is a house in the heavens, for without these sensations there would be no heaven. “Body,” says the author of the “Physical Theory of a Future Life,” “is the necessary means of bringing mind into relationship with space and extension, and so of giving it place.” In another place he says, “God is not here or there, any more than he exists now or then.” The mind, or soul, then, is the intermediate link between spirit and matter. It is the part of the man that thinks — that puts the physical machine into motion — that constitutes the likeness of God.

Now, to prevent ourselves from wandering in hypothesis and doubt, we have called the Scriptures to our aid. They have thrown light upon our path, and in the science we have been considering, have enabled us to understand some things which, without a reference to those oracles of truth,. must have left us groping in darkness and doubt. The demonstrations [page 71:] afforded by animal magnetism show, in confirmation of the Scriptures, that man has within him a spiritual nature, which can live without the body during a period of suspended intercourse in time — or during the eternal Now of a future existence.

In speaking of a spiritual existence, the present life and visible world are introduced in contrast with that which is invisible and unseen — for I take it for granted that there is somewhere an unseen world with unseen inhabitants, having an existence and locality as certain as the globe we inhabit. That this unseen world, which we call heaven, may be located in the sun, or stars, is an hypothesis maintained by some, and has many strong philosophical arguments to sustain it. Others, from the frequent intercourse between the inhabitants of those happy regions and our own, have assigned it a place in the mid-heavens not distant from our planet. In our opinion, its locality is less a question than its existence, since, as I have elsewhere said, distance is only ideal to un-embodied spirits. The idea that thought, more rapid in its flight than even light itself, when properly understood, dissipates at once the conception that either a near or remote locality has any thing to do in regard to presence in the divine economy. “Am I a God near at hand, and not afar off?” was a question put by God, through the prophet, to those who had too limited conceptions of his omnipresence. If, then, un-embodied spirits have such stupendous powers of locomotion, when [page 72:] dis-embodied by the magnetic operations; if they be subject to the laws of communication with organized corporeal matter in this life, and be left under such direction in that state, is there not here a good reason why this doctrine may have been ordained by Providence to work certain important ends for the benefit of the human family, and also why it was not fully developed to mankind in its whole arrangements, until mankind became so enlightened and prepared to use it as intended by divine goodness? It seems now to be under certain laws and restrictions beyond which it has no power, and therefore cannot develope more of the spiritual economy, than finite intellects are capable of controlling. Indeed, the finite mind is too apt to measure the vastness and variety of the spiritual domain by the scanty perceptions it is able to form in the darkness that surrounds it; for, though it may take excursions of fancy over the boundless expanse of the mighty universe, it professes no furnishment to explore, and is therefore unable to delineate any of the magnificent scenery, because it holds no communication with the Being who is the Ruler of those splendid domains; and consequently, having neither guide nor chart, it is in doubt and confusion from the distance and indistinctness of the view. But the somnambulist is always in communication with the person who placed him in that ecstatic state, and in the dominions allotted to the magnetizer only can the magnetized have power to roam at will! This [page 73:] doctrine beautifully adumbrates the scenes where the disembodied are only in communication with God; where the will is controlled, and the locomotive powers are extended according to the laws of that realm where pure ethereal spirits are the only inhabitants, and where each are in ecstatic communication with the other, and all with the Supreme.

From what has been said, the reader will easily perceive, that my aim is to establish the doctrine of clairvoyance, as one of the most important as well merciful discoveries with which God has permitted us to become acquainted. Many of the recent facts developed in Rhode Island and New York, connected with what have been published by the French philosophers, and others in various places of Austria, Prussia, Russia and Switzerland, &c., concur in proving, that all persons are not capable of lucidity in the same degree, and that the same person is not always able in the same degree to exhibit the same powers. Animal magnetism has been so well demonstrated, that we might as well question the problems of EUCLID, because we never have demonstrated them ourselves, or seen them done by others. To doubt on that subject, would be less likely to expose us to ridicule than to make us ridiculous, except where a knowledge of the science had not been made known. But the philosophy of the facts is what all inquire after, and chiefly what we aim to furnish.

The demonstrations of animal magnetism are practical [page 74:] faith; that is, the operator must be able to confine his thoughts to one point, and fix them there. No man can exercise what is called faith, who is not able to do this, it being an essential prerequisite. To doubt, then, is to lose faith, for it is to distract. When the mind wanders from the point upon which it is fixed, it can no longer exercise this conservative principle. Thus it was when Christ walked on the water. Peter in the confidence of his Lord, walked also, because his mind was powerfully directed towards the protecting power of Him who bid him “come.” But Peter, without keeping his eye steadily on his master, and his mind upon his omnipotent power, began to look around on the waste of waters. He saw the billows heave and roll under him, and his fixedness of mind was withdrawn to nature from its author, and he began to sink! Now, without the fixedness of mind spoken of, no magnetizer can produce the necessary. somnolency. Our minds must be drawn to a focal point. The will must be under the complete control of the thinking principle, this being the intermediate link between body and soul.

Faith, then, is a single eye; and when our eye is single, our body is light — that is, our perceptions will be clearer, and we the better enabled to understand and accomplish our pursuits. It was this that stimulated and gave success to the heroes of ancient and modern times. The eye was single after one object, and all the faculties of the mind were exerted in its [page 75:] execution. The habit, therefore, of bringing the will into subjection to the mind, and of having that mind regulated so as to operate without distraction, is the way to acquire faith. An evil, is an erring eye, and being unsteady, it will not fix upon one point, and is, therefore, dark.

When the exiled apostle was invited by a voice to ascend into heaven, to hear and see things which must be hereafter, it is very evident his body was left behind, being forbidden, because “flesh and blood.” Thus separated, he was in the ecstatic state, and held communication with Him who threw him into the ecstacy — namely his God. Thus he could range over the kingdom of light at will, because he was in connexion with its sovereign. He saw and heard things which he was forbidden to write, as St. Paul, in the same region, heard things unlawful to utter. That the same means were used to transport these favored apostles into the regions of the happy as is used amongst us in producing somnolency, is strongly probable — but the chief difference is, they were in communication with a Being whose divine purposes they had to fulfil, and therefore they were instructed in mysteries published for our benefit, and no longer necessary to repeat; while the magnetic somnambulist can roam only in the region appropriated, for the time, to the individual with whom he is in communication, and can see nothing which does not belong to the material [page 76:] world to which he is yet linked by his connexion with materiality.

The preceding pages had nearly all passed through the press before the . recent works of Col. STONE, C. F. DURANT, and the Reports of the French Commissioners, published by Mr. PERKINS of this city, made their appearance; of these, our limits will now admit of no more than a passing notice. Col. STONE has given us an interesting account of facts as they occurred. He makes no pretensions to understand them. Had he made such an attempt, we might have doubted whether he did not make the facts to suit his theory, as we presume Mr. DURANT did, — that is, if such a man as Col. STONE could be doubted at all. What the Colonel relates is in perfect accordance with the published reports of the French philosophers — not the Commissioners — in their detail of clairvoyance and prevision, as they call it. The reason is this, the actors were honest, were not frivolous triflers, were men who examined to understand, and inquired to make known the result of their inquiries, and honest convictions. I recommend, therefore, Colonel STONE’S pamphlet as a work of surpassing interest, — as affording almost the only instance of clairvoyance that I have read of as having happened in America. The report made by the Colonel is, that a Miss Bracket, in a state of somnambulic lucidity, took an imaginary journey to New York, in his company, and that she there, among other circumstances of [page 77:] slight importance, which, as far as he knew or believed, were generally correct, informed him of matters which were only known to himself, and which no one could describe without having seen them! Of these, I will only allude to one fact. When the Colonel had escorted Miss Bracket into his own house, he showed her a variety of articles, and among others, some pictures. She would only converse about these with him, hut, asa rule, would never describe any thing, presuming he knew as well as she. It is a rule with somnambulists, that if you request them in their ecstacy to remember anything, and tell them about it afterwards when awake, of that subject only can they recollect and speak. The Colonel requested her to give him an account of a certain picture when she returned and awoke. On her return, the Doctor (CAPRON,) willed her from Col. STONE, and by a few flourishes of his hand, awoke her. The Doctor then inquired about the pictures that had attracted her attention at the Bowling Green, opposite the lions. She blushed, and begged to be excused from answering. She had been requested to remember them. They were not proper subjects for, ladies’ conversation. He then asked her to tell him what was the picture in the basement room of the Colonel’s house which pleased her so much. She laughed outright, and replied, “It was a funny looking fellow pulling a cat’s ear.” This was the fact, the painting was there; no one of the party knew of its existence but the Colonel, and the question of clairvoyance, [page 78:] in this and twenty or thirty cases, equally striking, was fully established. The whole of the colonel’s pamphlet deserves perusal.

I said that all persons do not equally become somnambulists, because all persons are not constituted alike. Hence the wise conclusion of a learned Doctor, who inquired about a few cases, not one of which gave even a good mock imitation of somnolency, and no indication of clairvoyance whatever, that he might be duly “prepared to issue his publication” on animal magnetism; — or rather, as I should understand his meaning, he was prejudiced against animal magnetism — did not believe it — and, pleased with a few ridiculous, counterfeit imitations of it, took them for his data, and with the gravity of — a philosopher of the ivy bush, “prepared to issue his publication,” in order to enlighten the medical faculty!!

To say that the theory of Mr. DURANT was the essence of nonsense would be too much of a compliment. Whether he is serious, or in jest; whether he writes that we may have a book of instruction, or a specimen of bathos; whether he aims to renew the Epicurean notions, which regarded the soul as composed of atoms and primitive corpuscles, “trilobites,” as he calls them, “motes in sunbeams,” or what else, I avow myself utterly unable to comprehend. He gives us a rant about “clearing obstructions from the pathway of time,” — his looking “back on the chaotic mass,” in order, it is presumed, that he may sit “behind the [page 79:] dim nebula,” and view the operations of nature as it “occupies the more conspicuous station assigned to it in cosmogony;” — that is, to see “all matter quick and bursting into birth,” in the modus operandi of creation, and amuse himself as “Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaves his vastness,” while the infinitessimal variety of “molecules,” and “globules,” and “gasses,” &c.,all “congregating” and “uniting,” forming “poles,” and “fluids,” and “vapours,” and “masses,” to produce “CERIN,” that, “HIS theory” might be complete!! And what is “cerin?” He calls it an “animal fat,” through which magnetism cannot pass! This is what he calls, some one or two hundred times, “my theory;” and it would require more than ordinary brains to say whether Mr. D. did not write his book in such a style as to gull the simple and quiz the savans, or to make it suit those who could not see his burlesque, and adapt it to the notions of those who could. Though he has said some things very well, and has displayed reading and research, yet his egotism and twaddle, above alluded to — his gossipping and detailing what he hears and sees in the company into which he is accidentally thrown; — his practisings, as we should suppose it to be, from his own statements, upon Mr. and Mrs. ANDROS, and other things therein stated, are, we should say, not quite compatible with our notions of propriety. It is not the wish of every one who is an inquirer into such subjects that his name and accidental remarks [page 80:] should swell a book for the emolument of others. Few have such aspirations after fame; and to be dragged thus, nolens volens, into unsought notoriety, makes one feel as if they were not quite in gentlemanly hands. Mr. DURANT understands animal magnetism as a law of nature, but he seems not to know that it is solar light, modified in the medullary viscus, as natural magnetism becomes such when the beams of light are modified in its transmission through earth and minerals. The most he knows is, that there is such a thing as animal magnetism, and that it possesses singular powers of somnolency in the animal machine. Like a full blooded philosopher of the modern school, he ridicules all else, by throwing into burlesque any attempt to investigate the arcana by which this occult science is surrounded. He accounts for the want of magnetic power by fatty brains, through which the fluid cannot penetrate! By analogy of reasoning, a cracked brain is a dry one, and would let the fluid through in one unbroken stream!,but those who have fat brains are fat witted; the steam, or gas, having been injected, cannot escape, and, of course, is disposed to become flighty and ascend!

His ideas of the magnetic cords, to do away the doctrine of clairvoyance, is about as preposterous nonsense as can well be imagined. That the magnetizer must will the idea into the brain of the magnetized before their perceptions can embrace it, is contrary to all the principles, the experience, and the facts of [page 81:] an authenticated kind that have come to our knowledge. It would be a waste of time to pursue it.

In the subject of clairvoyance lies the great difficulty to the general spread of this doctrine. Of this I have already spoken in such manner as to make it plain to the weakest mind. If this doctrine did not so immediately run into psycology, the stumbling block would, perhaps, be of less magnitude. But, as I have said elsewhere, we go armed at all points against every subject that leads to a more intimate acquaintance with soul and spirit, and yet I have never found that such familiarity and acquaintanceship has lessened the author’s esteem for these components of his own elements of moral and physical structure. Indeed, to a contemplation of these constituents of being, has been owing most of the happiness which it has been his destiny to enjoy through life, and as he nears the goal, he seems to realize an increase of pleasure by a more general intercourse, because he recognises a close affinity of circumstance in the ultimate destiny of all the parties to the alliance. Clairvoyance has been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the most astute, philosophers of Europe. One commissioner of those alluded to, who took five years to report, maintained the doctrine, though they proved that in some cases it failed. For more than this I do not contend, because it is well known that of this peculiar attribute all are incapable of presenting the necessary proofs — and most of the objectors [page 82:] to it, make their opposition upon the ground that they witness failures; and that, therefore, the principle is false! There are abundance of such logicians, but the wonder is, that men, who call themselves philosophers, have such a penchant for the ridiculous, without knowing why.

The reports of the commissioners of the French king are in themselves entirely insufficient to afford a proper knowledge of animal magnetism. Indeed, it is evident, from the statements of these savans, that they did not believe in it, and therefore were too prejudiced to present their master with an impartial examination. This committee, regarding as many have done since, this innovation in the healing art, as likely to abstract from the number of their patients, took the alarm, and reported that they had “not beheld without inquietude” the “proceedures” which “have been and are administered to the diseased, and paid for by the public, without having” undergone, in obedience to the laws, “the examination of the medical profession.” With such ideas in view, are gentlemen capable of investigating a subject, while they imagine their interests are so essentially cormpromitted? There is something in such grave commissions, and such reports, that “looks like” a “get up to put down!” They are almost always, in their conclusions, of the same complexion with the body who instituted the commission. Their feelings are usually prompted by the same motives, and their [page 83:] aims, with occasional exceptions, are to look out for their own corps and defend its interests. A letter from such a commission is before me. It also originated in Paris, but on a different subject. It was directed to the Minister of Instruction, and concluded thus: — “We beg of you, monsieur le ministre, to deny us that means of enlightening ourselves, in order to prevent its spreading, or at least to retard its propagation during OUR LIFETIME, so that we may quietly enjoy our places,” &c. One would suppose that this was irony, were it not known to he otherwise. It is a fair specimen of all such reports; and yet the reporters, in all cases, proved themselves more shrewd, intelligent, scientific, and liberal, than the translator and editor of their reports in our own city, who could always account for phenomena, of which he knew nothing, “upon the principle of collusion,” and thus, by cutting the Gordian knot, save his brains the labor of thought, in the investigation.

Some of these reporters labored to prove that the imagination is the chief agent in producing the magnetic crisis. Having directed their attention that way, their imaginations could receive no other impression, and all further philosophic investigations were foreclosed, by the idea, that to this peculiar sensation all that related to crises under the magnetic treatment, was to he ascribed. This afforded a text, and the sermon was suited to it. The creed having [page 84:] been formed, the next point was to suit the doctrines to it, and maintain their thesis against all opposers.

Learning, supposed to be the grave of prejudice, has too often been its foster-mother, to convey to it nutriment. I do not mean that profound learning which has common sense for its basis, but that affected bantling of pride and selfishness, which, the moment its votaries are invested with authority to form an opinion as a guide for others, turns instinctively to the interests of its class, and begs that it may “be denied the means of enlightenment, lest others whose genius have stricken out a new path should compel them “to the painful labor” of studying, so as to keep pace with the march of improvement, or lose both their emoluments and their importance in the ranks of society. Few of them have the candour of a certain professor in one of the Prussian universities, who, on examining a pupil, asked him whether he could explain the phenomena of the Aurora Borealis. After a pause, the student said he had known the cause, but at present it had escaped from his memory; then, said the professor, I wish you would try to recollect and explain it to me, for I really do not myself understand it.

Animal magnetism is a powerful support of true religion, and the more it is known, so much the more will Christianity be unshackled of its embarrassments, and appear divested of its dross.

[[Footnotes]]

[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 17, running to the bottom of page 18:]

* A few years ago one of these rustic doctors was called for by a very respectable regular physician in this vicinity to try his powers upon a case of severe cephalæa. The patient was in great distress, and my friend had the touch-doctor, who had considerable celebrity in the neighborhood, brought in, that he might be personally observant of what took place. The touch-doctor was reluctant to try his powers in the presence of the physician, and the latter was an utter disbeliever of the tales reported of this, as he supposed, impostor. After a few minutes conversation, he found the touch-doctor a very ignorant, unpretending, but pious man. He insisted on his trying the effect of his touch upon the patient; the other at length consented; and after a few remarks in which he requested the patient not to look to hint, but to God, for a cure, he applied the ends of his fingers to [page 18:] the patient’s head, and asked her whether she felt any relief! The answer was, that the head-ache was gone! “I know that,” he replied, “for I feel it here, (pointing to the side of his head,) as severely as you felt it before 1 placed my hand upon the part of your head affected!” My friend was astonished. He asked whether such was the usual result I His answer was in the affirmative, but it was also remarked that its continuance was always of short duration. This fact is authentic.

We have amongst us individuals possessing extraordinary magnetic powers, and who are capable of creating surprise from the singular effects of magnetism evolved from their fingers; but, who are themselves incredulous as to animal magnetism! Their incredulity, however, does not arise from the want of evidence, for of this they have abundance, but from the current of fashionable opposition. Indeed, some there are, who possess an extensive education, and claiming to possess high intellectual powers, who disclaim all science, and avoid all investigations which bring them into contact with any species of psycological study. To name the word soul, in seriousness, would alarm them. They will become acquainted with, nothing which claims any connexion with the world of spirits.

A lady, well known to us, and who stands among the most respectable in our society, possesses the magnetic power in a very high degree. We have known her on many occasions, in trials for amusement, to require a person to press his open hand upon a table — its palm downward; she would then tell him, that she would, by a few passes, compel the hand to rise from the table and follow her’s and no muscular effort or determination on his part could prevent such a result Her passes were made with the fingers over the back of the hand — the movement in one direction, and peculiar.

[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 21:]

* It is a singular fact, that the philosophers of France have recently become more free to express themselves, in writing, not only of animal magnetism, but also of almost every subject they touch, which bears upon morals, but more especially upon the Christian religion, than most of the would be philosophers of our own protestant country. I do not now speak of the clergy, hut of laymen. The recent literature of that country abounds with frequent allusions to religious subjects. LAMARTINE’S Travels in Palestine are of this class. He approaches the subject of Christianity, and speaks out his mind like a man of sense as well as piety, and that, too, in a manner that should put some of our divines to the blush. His work is a good specimen of the spirit, if not of the style, in which a Christian traveller and philosopher should write. There is more poetry in his prose than is often found in such works. When any of our modern — I might say church-going philosophers, approach a subject requiring psycological inquiries, they become fidgety, curl up their lips, and sneer as if it was a concernment which no one but a clergyman had a right to meddle with. Can any thing indicate more truly the narrow mind, and the bigoted spirit?

[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 23:]

* BECLARD, a French anatomist and physiologist, cut a large nerve adjoining a muscle. Paralysis followed. When he brought the ends of the cut nerves to approach within three lines of each other, the contracted nerve seemed to protend with a motion as if attracted towards each other by some imponderable influence which traversed the interval of separation.

[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 25:]

* It is the only discovery, apart from revelation, which exhibits man to himself in his three-fold character of body, soul, and spirit. To those who have even more than “Moses and the Prophets,” — who have the Everlasting Gospel of the Son of God preached to them, but who will not believe, it mercifully comes in the form of demonstration, to prove the reality of spiritual existence, through a medium which, to such men, is less objectionable. God has opened the stores of wisdom and knowledge, that the minds of men, who are indifferent, might be aroused — that men might see themselves, and, through that medium, apprehend their Author. In the progress of this work the three fold character of man will be more fully explained.

[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 27:]

* Some weeks after this work was prepared for the Press, I saw the following article in one of our city papers. The same doctrine may be also found in COLQUHOUN’S work on animal magnetism.

“A curious fact, connected with the science of magnetism, has recently been noticed by Mr. PARTINGTON, a lecturer at the Russian Institute, London; which seems to prove that the human body possesses polarity. The following is his account: Whilst making the necessary arrangements for this evening’s lecture, I witnessed a very singular fact. A lady, who is now in the lecture room, having brought her hand nearly in contact with the magnetized needle, it was observed that the bar was attracted. Although somewhat surprised at the singularity of the circumstance, I yet ascribed it either to the attraction of gravitation, or else to a disturbance of the electrical equilibrium, and accordingly repeated the experiment. The result was, that an attractive or repulsive force was observed alternately, upon presenting the thumb or finger of the same hand.’”

[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 29, running to the bottom of page 30:]

* The Christian Scriptures every where confirm this doe. trine. They represent the heart as the seat of one class of affections, and the bowels of another. That they are both the seat of the same affections appears conclusive, but the one in a more intense degree than the other, in some of them. Compassion, sympathy, and pity, it would seem, belong more to [page 30:] the bowels than to the heart, but to the latter in some degree. See Mat. xv. 19; 1 John iii. 19; Col. iii. 12; Isa. lxiii. 15, &c.

[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 30, running to the bottom of page 31:]

* It will hardly be supposed that the quantity transmitted is always in exact proportion to that which is required, any [page 31:] more than that the quantity of rays of light are in proportion to the demands of vegetable life. This roman would suppose who pretends to an acquaintance with natural philosophy, it being a general law that the principle is abundantly diffused, but that nature appropriates of that abundance a supply for the functional operations of progressive organization. The fact is, when the will is impotent the supply for the nerves is deficient, but at other times, under excitement, it is in excess. In the latter state a preternatural strength, is for a time, diffused through the system, as we witness in cases of madness, epilepsy, or under the excitements of fever, or anger. Will it, then, be supposed, that a supply in exact measure will be given to meet contingencies which it is not the design of the creative power should ever happen?

[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 39, running to the bottom of page 40:]

* Every child, of a kind and docile spirit, knows the effect produced on his mind during his mother’s manipulations in dressing its head. The author well remembers, when a small boy, that while his mother, or nurse, used to comb his head, he was accustomed to fall into a sleep, and while in that state his pleasure was so excessive, that he still solicits it from his companion, [page 40:] though his locks are silvered with age, for the delicious enjoyment he feels in the manipulation. This was an imperfect somnolency, which, had the parties understood, might have resulted in the usual effects, by continuing it in the usual way.

[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 46:]

* The intellectual faculties are not located in the brain, except when the brain is in its natural state. It follows this fluid, and is rendered more active by it. What we call prevision is not an attribute of man in any state; but it sometimes receives this name, from the ability of the active powers in the somnolescent state to be present at all places upon the surface of this globe, when it wills to be there present. It therefore knows and declares what is relative prevision, because it may require months for others to know it in the ordinary course of events. The future is known only to God, and he to whom he is pleased to reveal such knowledge. But he may grant such knowledge, in part, to individuals in communication with Him for especial purposes, or to any individual in whom His designs are not fulfilled; for we are immortal till our time is come.