None deny that rigidity of the limbs can be effected mesmerically;
but all mistake who impute the phenomenon to muscular ability,
irritability, or energy. All flesh is _inert_; all muscular fibrine is
flexible, bends from its own weight when held horizontally, and over
it the will has neither power nor influence. Then, how is a muscle or
nerve to stiffen itself, and where is the mechanical arrangement within
for such purpose? The power is derived from without, and consists in
medium of space. The de-electrising passes make entrance-room for
influent medium of space, which is the cause of the limbs becoming
rigid. As in Bramah's pump, water serves the purpose of an iron piston,
so, within the nerves and muscles, medium of space in excess and under
the general pressure, is an equally rigid piston, and the cause of all
muscular strength and of rigidity. The depolarizing passes bring back
electric matter, which displaces all excess of medium of space, and
with it the physical cause of rigidity.