“Thus smiling, as some fly had tickled slumber,
Not as Death’s dart, being laugh’d at.”
CYMBELINE.
“By some illusion see thou bring her here,
I’ll charm his eyes against she doth appear.”
“Such tricks hath strong imagination.”
MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.
IDA. You are very formidable creatures, Evelyn, if you can touch and
wound the heart of a sensitive girl so easily; we must be wary, dear
Castaly. It must be a desperate case that justifies so desperate a
remedy; yet, with all this danger, the magi of our day will, as I have
heard, induce by their art this very state of trance.
ASTR. Magnetic sleep. If the phenomena of this animal magnetism be not a
_mystery_, it is at least a curiosity. And yet Evelyn will tell us that
they, too, obey the _common_ laws of our nature. I believe, however,
there are stories of most strange and _novel_ interest, beyond the scope
even of _his_ philosophy.
EV. The hand of a magnetiser _seems_, I confess, to effect a wonder; but
your challenge will be fatal to you, Astrophel. In this same question of
animal magnetism we may discover _the spring of all your mysteries_. The
close analogies between the _natural_ and _imparted_ phenomena of trance
and magnetic sleep and somnambulism, and somnambulic blindness, and
magnetic ecstacy; even the frauds of lucid vision and clairvoyance, and
the vaunted gift of prophetic divination, with the explanation of some,
and the refutation of others, will dispel the most subtle arguments in
proof of divine influence; seeing that the process is conducted by men
of mortal mould, who claim no merit even for the possession of occult
learning.
CAST. Mercy, dearest Evelyn, mercy. No more philosophy to-night. The
smile of yon planet Venus, that was twinkling from out its cerulean
blue, is veiled in a cloud; for our cold discourse is treason to its
influence. Be ready with your stories, Astrophel.
EV. The history of Mesmerism is a romance in itself, dear Castaly. If I
invade not the province of Astrophel, I will, as some apology for my
dull prosing, sketch its progress by way of episode.
You must know, then, that it was Maximilian Holl who first, from the
influence of his magnets on the body, imparted the practical idea of
animal _magnetism_ to Mesmer, who had already written his inaugural
thesis, at Vienna, on “Planetary Influence,” and had laid down this
unblushing aphorism: “There is one health, one disease, one remedy, and
one physician, and that physician am I.” His immediate proselytes were
Deslon at Paris, and Gmelin at Heilbronne, and Reicke at Stutgard, and
Klugé at Berlin. Encouraged by the Swedenborgian tenets, this magic
brought immense revenue into the purses of Mainanduc in England, and the
rest of its revivers; so that one hundred guineas were given for a
course of lectures and experiments, and fifteen guineas for a
consultation and the imparting of its influence.
In after times Miss Prescott, among others, gained great fame in the
art: but De Lauterbourg was one of its most popular professors. Three
thousand patients, it is said, were often waiting for the magnetic
influence about his house at Hammersmith.
In 1784 an ordonnance of the French king confirmed Mesmer in his working
of these apparent miracles. By tractions on the body, either with the
hand or by substances magnetized with his “imponderable fluid,” by
_champooing_, and the accompaniment of sweet music, a state of
enchantment of the senses was induced. Convulsions and mania were often
excited in the “Hall of Crisis,” which was lined by soft cushions to
protect the convulsionaries. These paroxysms and tempests of the brain
Mesmer seemed to control, like a second Prospero, with his wand of
enchantment, gliding, in robes of silk, among the multitude of devotees,
whom novelty and voluptuousness had attracted to his shrine.
To study and report on these mysteries, commissioners were appointed by
the “Faculty of Medicine,” by the “Academy of Sciences,” and by the
“Royal Society of Medicine.” These _savans_ referred all to the
influence of imagination, or of emotion in sensitive systems; and that
there must be this sensitive predisposition is often proved, for idiots,
and those who have been blindfold, and unconscious children, _remain
uninfluenced_, although it is declared by one that he magnetized an
_idiot baby_!
I must observe, that before the commissions in Paris, especially that of
which Franklin was a member, not the slightest influence was observed;
and the experiments of Monsieur Berner, who was the chief manipulator,
were a perfect failure, especially in regard to the _clairvoyance_.