[Illustration: ILLUSTRATING MAGNETIC INFLUENCES.
ANIMAL MAGNETISM IS SUPPOSED TO RADIATE FROM AND ENCIRCLE EVERY HUMAN
BEING.]
1. MAGNETISM EXISTING BETWEEN THE BODIES OF MANKIND.--It is rational to
believe that there is a magnetism existing between the bodies of mankind,
which may have either a beneficial or a damaging effect upon our health,
according to the conditions which are produced, or the nature of the
individuals who are brought in contact with each other. As an illustration
of this point we might consider that, all nature is governed by the laws of
attraction and repulsion, or in other words, by positive and negative
forces. These subtle forces or laws in nature which we call attraction or
{471} repulsion, are governed by the affinity--or sameness--or the lack of
affinity--or sameness--which exists between what may be termed the
combination of atoms or molecules which goes to make up organic structure.
2. LAW OF ATTRACTION.--Where this affinity--or sameness--exists between the
different things, there is what we term the law of attraction, or what may
be termed the disposition to unite together. Where there is no affinity
existing between the nature of the different particles of matter, there is
what may be termed the law of repulsion, which has a tendency to destroy
the harmony which would otherwise take place.
3. MAGNETISM OF THE MIND.--Now, what is true of the magnet and steel, is
also true--from the sameness of their nature--of two bodies. And what is
true of the body in this sense, is also true of the sameness or magnetism
of the mind. Hence, _by the laying on of hands_, or by the association of
the minds of individuals, we reach the same result as when a combination is
produced in any department of nature. Where this sameness of affinity
exists, there will be a blending of forces, which has a tendency to build
up vitality.
4. A PROOF.--As a proof of this position, how often have you found the
society of strangers to be so repulsive to your feelings, that you have no
disposition to associate. Others seem to bring with them a soothing
influence that draws you closer to them. All these involuntary likes and
dislikes are but the results of the _animal magnetism_ that we are
constantly throwing off from our bodies,--although seemingly imperceptible
to our internal senses.--The dog can scent his master, and determine the
course which he pursues, no doubt from similar influences.
5. HOME HARMONY.--Many of the infirmities that afflict humanity are largely
due to a want of an understanding of its principles, and the right
applications of the same. I believe that if this law of magnetism was more
fully understood and acted upon, there would be a far greater harmony in
the domestic circle; the health of parents and children might often be
preserved where now sickness and discord so frequently prevail.
6. THE LAW OF MAGNETISM.--When two bodies are brought into contact with
each other, the weak must naturally draw from the strong until both have
become equal. And as long as this equality exists there will be perfect
harmony between individuals, because of the reciprocation which exists in
their nature. {472}
7. SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.--But if one should gain the advantage of the
other in magnetic attraction, the chances are that through the law of
development, or what has been termed the "Survival of the Fittest"--the
stronger will rob the weaker until one becomes robust and healthy, while
the other grows weaker and weaker day by day. This frequently occurs with
children sleeping together, also between husband and wife.
8. SLEEPING WITH INVALIDS.--Healthy, hearty, vigorous persons sleeping with
a diseased person is always at a disadvantage. The consumptive patient will
draw from the strong, until the consumptive person becomes the strong
patient and the strong person will become the consumptive. There are many
cases on record to prove this statement. A well person should never sleep
with an invalid if he desires to keep his health unimpaired, for the weak
will take from the strong, until the strong becomes the weak and the weak
the strong. Many a husband has died from a lingering disease which saved
his wife from an early grave. He took the disease from his wife because he
was the stronger, and she became better and he perished.
9. HUSBAND AND WIFE.--It is not always wise that husband and wife should
sleep together, nor that children--whose temperament does not
harmonize--should be compelled to sleep in the same bed. By the same law it
is wrong for the young to sleep with old persons. Some have slept in the
same bed with persons, when in the morning they have gotten up seemingly
more tired than when they went to bed. At other times with different
persons, they have lain awake two-thirds of the night in pleasant
conversation and have gotten up in the morning without scarcely realizing
that they had been to sleep at all, yet have felt perfectly rested and
refreshed.
10. MAGNETIC HEALING, OR WHAT HAS BEEN KNOWN AS THE LAYING ON OF HANDS.--A
nervous prostration is a negative condition beneath the natural, by the
laying on of hands a person in a good, healthy condition is capable of
communicating to the necessity of the weak. For the negative condition of
the patient will as naturally draw from the strong, as the loadstone draws
from the magnet, until both become equally charged. And as fevers are a
positive condition of the system "beyond the natural," the normal condition
of the healer will, by the laying on of the hands, absorb these positive
atoms, until the fever of the patient becomes reduced or cured. As a proof
of this the magnetic healer often finds himself or herself prostrated after
treating the weak; and excited or feverish after treating a feverish
patient.
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{473}
How to Read Character.