justice, would make but little impression on the haughty and positive
mind of Buffon. That great naturalist wished to have the Abbé Maury
nominated; his associate Bailly thought he ought to vote for Sedaine.
Let us place ourselves in the ordinary course of things, and it will
appear difficult to see in this discordancy a sufficient cause for a
rupture between two superior men. _The Unforeseen Wager_ and _The
Unconscious Philosopher_, considerably balanced the, then very light,
weight of Maury. The comic poet had already reached his sixty-sixth
year; the Abbé was young. The high character, the irreproachable conduct
of Sedaine, might, without disparagement, be put in comparison with what
the public knew of the character of the official and the private life of
the future cardinal. Whence then had the illustrious naturalist derived
such a great affection for Maury, such violent antipathies against
Sedaine? It may be surmised that they arose from aristocratic prejudices
of rank. Nor is it impossible but that M. le Comte de Buffon
instinctively foresaw, with some repugnance, his approaching
confraternity with a man formerly a lapidary; but was not Maury the son
of a shoemaker? This very small incident of our literary history seemed
doomed to remain in obscurity; chance has, I believe, given me the key
to it.
You remember, Gentlemen, that aphorism continually quoted by Buffon, and
of which he seemed very proud,--
"Style makes the man."
I have discovered that Sedaine made a counterpart of it. The author of
_Richard Coeur de Lion_ and of _The Deserter_ said,--
"Style is nothing, or next to it!"
Place this heresy, in imagination, under the eyes of the immortal
writer, whose days and nights were passed in polishing his style, and if
you then ask me why he detested Sedaine, I shall have a right to answer:
You do not know the human heart.
Bailly firmly resisted the imperious solicitations of his former patron,
and refused even to absent himself from the Academy on the day of the
nomination. He did not hesitate to sacrifice the attractions and
advantages of an illustrious friendship to the performance of a duty; he
answered to him who wanted to be master, "I will be free." Honour be to
him!
The example of Bailly warns timid men never to listen to mere
entreaties, whatever may be their source; not to yield but to good
arguments. Those who have thought so little of their own tranquillity as
to do any more in academical elections than to give a silent and secret
vote, will see on their part, in the noble and painful resistance of an
honest man, how culpable they become in trying to substitute authority
for persuasion, in wishing to subject conscience to gratitude.
On the occurrence of a similar discord, the astronomer Lemonnier, of the
Academy of Sciences, said one day to Lalande, his fellow-academician and
former pupil, "I enjoin you not to put your foot again within my door
during the semi-revolution of the lunar orbital nodes." Calculation
shows this to be nine years. Lalande submitted to the punishment with a
truly astronomical punctuality; but the public, despite the scientific
form of the sentence, thought it excessively severe. What then will be
said of that which was pronounced by Buffon?--"We will never see each
other more, Sir!" These words will appear at once both harsh and solemn,
for they were occasioned by a difference of opinion on the comparative
merits of Sedaine and the Abbé Maury. Our friend resigned himself to
this separation, nor ever allowed his just resentment to be perceived. I
may even remark, that after this brutal disruption he showed himself
more attentive than ever to seize opportunities of paying a legitimate
homage to the talents and eloquence of the French Pliny.
REPORT ON ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
We are now going to see the astronomer, the savant, the man of letters,
struggling against passions of every kind, excited by the famous
question of animal magnetism.
At the beginning of the year 1778, a German doctor established himself
at Paris. This physician could not fail of succeeding in what was then
styled high society. He was a stranger. His government had expelled him;
acts of the greatest effrontery and unexampled charlatanism were imputed
to him.
His success, however, exceeded all expectations. The Gluckists and the
Piccinists themselves forgot their differences, to occupy themselves
exclusively with the new comer.
Mesmer, since we must call him by his name, pretended to have discovered
an agent till then totally unknown both in the arts and in physics; an
universally distributed fluid, and serving thus as a means of
communication and of influence among the celestial globes;--a fluid
capable of flux and reflux, which introduced itself more or less
abundantly into the substance of the nerves, and acted on them in a
useful manner,--thence the name of animal magnetism given to this fluid.
Mesmer said: "Animal magnetism may be accumulated, concentrated,
transported, without the aid of any intermediate body. It is reflected
like light; musical sounds propagate and augment it."
Properties so distinct, so precise, seemed as if they must be capable of
experimental verification. It was requisite, then, to be prepared for
some instance of want of success, and Mesmer took good care not to
neglect it. The following was his declaration: "Although the fluid be
universal, all animated bodies do not equally assimilate it into
themselves; there are some even, though very few in number, that by
their very presence destroy the effects of this fluid in the surrounding
bodies."
So soon as this was admitted, as soon it was allowed to explain
instances of non-success by the presence of neutralizing bodies, Mesmer
no longer ran any risk of being embarrassed. Nothing prevented his
announcing, in full security, "that animal magnetism could immediately
cure diseases of the nerves, and mediately other diseases; that it
afforded to doctors the means of judging with certainty of the origin,
the nature, and the progress of the most complicated maladies; that
nature, in short, offered in magnetism a universal means of curing and
preserving mankind."
Before quitting Vienna, Mesmer had communicated his systematic notions
to the principal learned societies of Europe. The Academy of Sciences at
Paris, and the Royal Society of London, did not think proper to answer.
The Academy of Berlin examined the work, and wrote to Mesmer that he was
in error.
Some time after his arrival in Paris, Mesmer tried again to get into
communication with the Academy of Sciences. This society even acceded to
a rendezvous. But, instead of the empty words that were offered them,
the academicians required experiments. Mesmer stated--I quote his
words--that _it was child's play_; and the conference had no other
result.
The Royal Society of Medicine, being called upon to judge of the
pretended cures performed by the Austrian doctor, thought that their
agents could not give a well-founded opinion "without having first duly
examined the patients to ascertain their state." Mesmer rejected this
natural and reasonable proposal. He wished that the agents should be
content with the word of honour and attestations of the patients. In
this respect, also, the severe letters of the worthy Vicq-d'Azyr put an
end to communications which must have ended unsatisfactorily.
The faculty of medicine showed, we think, less wisdom. It refused to
examine any thing; it even proceeded in legal form against one of its
regent doctors who had associated himself, they said, with the
charlatanism of Mesmer.
These barren debates evidently proved that Mesmer himself was not
thoroughly sure of his theory, nor of the efficacy of the means of cure
that he employed. Still the public showed itself blind. The infatuation
became extreme. French society appeared at one moment divided into
magnetizers and magnetized. From one end of the kingdom to the other
agents of Mesmer were seen, who, with receipt in hand, put the weak in
intellect under contribution.
The magnetizers had had the address to intimate that the mesmeric crises
manifested themselves only in persons endowed with a certain
sensitiveness. From that moment, in order not to be ranged among the
insensible, both men and women, when near the _rod_, assumed the
appearance of epileptics.
Was not Father Hervier really in one of those paroxysms of the disease
when he wrote, "If Mesmer had lived contemporary with Descartes and
Newton, he would have saved them much labour: those great men suspected
the existence of the universal fluid; Mesmer has discovered the laws of
its action"?
Count de Gébelin showed himself stranger still. The new doctrine would
naturally seduce him by its connection with some of the mysterious
practices of ancient times; but the author of _The Primitive World_ did
not content himself with writing in favour of Mesmerism with the
enthusiasm of an apostle. Frightful pain, violent griefs, rendered life
insupportable to him; Gébelin saw death approaching with satisfaction,
so from that moment he begged earnestly that he might not be carried to
Mesmer's, where assuredly "he could not die." We must just mention,
however, that his request was not attended to; he was carried to
Mesmer's, and died while he was being magnetized.
Painting, sculpture, and engraving were constantly repeating the
features of this Thaumaturgus. Poets wrote verses to be inscribed on the
pedestals of the busts, or below the portraits. Those by Palisot deserve
to be quoted, as one of the most curious examples of poetic licences:--
"Behold that man--the glory of his age!
Whose art can all Pandora's ills assuage.
In skill and tact no rival pow'r is known--
E'en Greece, in him, would Esculapius own."[7]
Enthusiasm having thus gone to the last limits in verse, enthusiasm had
but one way left to become remarkable in prose: that is, violence. Is it
not thus that we must characterize the words of Bergasse?--"The
adversaries of animal magnetism are men who must one day be doomed to
the execration of all time, and to the punishment of the avenging
contempt of posterity."
It is rare for violent words not to be followed by violent acts. Here
every thing proceeded according to the natural course of human events.
We know, indeed, that some furious admirers of Mesmer attempted to
suffocate Berthollet in the corner of one of the rooms of the Palais
Royal, for having honestly said that the scenes he had witnessed did not
appear to him demonstrative. We have this anecdote from Berthollet
himself.
The pretensions of the German doctor increased with the number of his
adherents. To induce him to permit only three learned men to attend his
meetings, M. de Maurepas offered him, in the name of the king, 20,000
francs a year for life, and 10,000 annually for house-rent. Yet Mesmer
did not accept this offer, but demanded, as a national recompense, one
of the most beautiful châteaux in the environs of Paris, together with
all its territorial dependencies.
Irritated at finding his claims repulsed, Mesmer quitted France,
angrily vowing her to the deluge of maladies from which it would have
been in his power to save her. In a letter written to Marie Antoinette,
the Thaumaturgus declared that he had refused the government offers
through austerity.
Through austerity!!! Are we then to believe that, as it was then
pretended, Mesmer was entirely ignorant of the French language; that in
this respect his meditations had been exclusively centered on the
celebrated verse--
"Fools are here below for our amusement?"[8]
However this may be, the austerity of Mesmer did not prevent his being
most violently angry when he learnt at Spa that Deslon continued the
magnetical treatments at Paris. He returned in all haste. His partisans
received him with enthusiasm, and set on foot a subscription of 100
louis per head, which produced immediately near 400,000 francs,
(16,000_l._) We now feel some surprise to see, among the names of the
subscribers, those of Messrs. de Lafayette, de Ségur, d'Eprémesnil.
Mesmer quitted France a second time about the end of 1781, in quest of a
more enlightened government, who could appreciate superior minds. He
left behind him a great number of tenacious and ardent adepts, whose
importunate conduct at last determined the government to submit the
pretended magnetic discoveries to be examined by four Doctors of the
Faculty of Paris. These distinguished physicians solicited to have added
to them some members of the Academy of Sciences. M. de Breteuil then
recommended Messrs. Le Roy, Bory, Lavoisier, Franklin, and Bailly, to
form part of the mixed commission. Bailly was finally named reporter.
The work of our brother-academician appeared in August, 1784. Never was
a complex question reduced to its characteristic traits with more
penetration and tact; never did more moderation preside at an
examination, though personal passions seemed to render it impossible;
never was a scientific subject treated in a more dignified and lucid
style.
Nothing equals the credulity of men in whatever touches their health.
This aphorism is an eternal truth. It explains how a portion of the
public has returned to mesmeric practices; how I shall still perform an
interesting task by giving a detailed analysis of the magnificent
labours published by our fellow-academician sixty years ago. This
analysis will show, besides, how daring those men were, who recently, in
the bosom of another academy, constituted themselves passionate
defenders of some old women's tales, which one would have supposed had
been permanently buried in oblivion.
The commissioners go in the first place to the treatment by M. Deslon,
examine the famous rod, describe it carefully, relate the means adopted
to excite and direct magnetism. Bailly then draws out a varied and truly
extraordinary table of the state of the sick people. His attention is
principally attracted by the convulsions that they designated by the
name of _crisis_. He remarked that in the number of persons in the
crisis state, there were always a great many women, and very few men; he
does not imagine any deceit, however; holds the phenomena as
established, and passes on to search out their causes.
According to Mesmer and his partisans, the cause of the crisis and of
the less characteristic effects, resided in a particular fluid. It was
to search out proofs of the existence of this fluid, that the
commissioners had first to devote their efforts. Indeed, Bailly said,
"Animal magnetism may exist without being useful, but it cannot be
useful if it does not exist."
The animal magnetic fluid is not luminous and visible, like electricity;
it does not produce marked and manifest effects on inert matter, as the
fluid of the ordinary magnet does; finally, it has no taste. Some
magnetizers asserted that it had a smell; but repeated experiments
proved that they were in error. The existence, then, of the pretended
fluid, could be established only by its effects on animated beings.
Curative effects would have thrown the commission into an inextricable
dædalus, because nature alone, without any treatment, cures many
maladies. In this system of observations, they could not have hoped to
learn the exact part performed by magnetism, until after a great number
of cures, and after trials oftentimes repeated.
The commissioners, therefore, had to limit themselves to instantaneous
effects of the fluid on the animal organism.
They then submitted themselves to the experiments, but using an
important precaution. "There is no individual," says Bailly, "in the
best state of health, who, if he closely attended to himself, would not
feel within him an infinity of movements and variations, either of
exceedingly slight pain, or of heat, in the various parts of his
body.... These variations, which are continually taking place, are
independent of magnetism.... The first care required of the
commissioners was, not to be too attentive to what was passing within
them. If magnetism is a real and powerful cause, we have no need to
think about it to make it act and manifest itself; it must, so to say,
force the attention, and make itself perceived by even a purposely
distracted mind."
The commissioners, magnetized by Deslon, felt no effect. After the
healthy people, some ailing ones followed, taken of all ages, and from
various classes of society. Among these sick people, who amounted to
fourteen, five felt some effects. On the remaining nine, magnetism had
no effect whatever.
Notwithstanding the pompous announcements, magnetism already could no
longer be considered as a certain indicator of diseases.
Here the reporter made a capital remark: magnetism appeared to have no
effect on incredulous persons who had submitted to the trials, nor on
children. Was it not allowable to think, that the effects obtained in
the others proceeded from a previous persuasion as to the efficacy of
the means, and that they might be attributed to the influence of
imagination? Thence arose another system of experiments. It was
desirable to confirm or to destroy this suspicion; "it became therefore
requisite to ascertain to what degree imagination influences our
sensations, and to establish whether it could have been in part or
entirely the cause of the effects attributed to magnetism."
There could be nothing neater or more demonstrative than this portion of
the work of the commissioners. They go first to Dr. Jumelin, who, let it
be observed, obtains the same effects, the same crises as Deslon and
Mesmer, by magnetizing according to an entirely different method, and
not restricting himself to any distinction of poles; they select persons
who seem to feel the magnetic action most forcibly, and put their
imagination at fault by now and then bandaging their eyes.
What happens then?
When the patients see, the seat of the sensations is exactly the part
that is magnetized; when their eyes are bandaged, they locate these same
sensations by chance, sometimes in parts very far away from those to
which the magnetizer is directing his attention. The patient, whose eyes
are covered, often feels marked effects at a time when they are not
magnetizing him, and remains, on the contrary, quite passive while they
are magnetizing him, without his being aware of it.
Persons of all classes offer similar anomalies. An instructed physician,
subjected to these experiments, "feels effects whilst nothing is being
done, and often does not feel effects while he is being acted upon. On
one occasion, thinking that they had been magnetizing him for ten
minutes, this same doctor fancied that he felt a heat in his lumbi,
which he compared to that of a stove."
Sensations thus felt, when no magnetizing was exerted, must evidently
have been the effect of imagination.
The commissioners were too strict logicians to confine themselves with
these experiments. They had established that imagination, in some
individuals, can occasion pain, and heat--even a considerable degree of
heat--in all parts of the body; but practical female Mesmerizers did
more; they agitated certain people to that pitch, that they fell into
convulsions. Could the effect of imagination go so far?
Some new experiments entirely did away with these doubts.
A young man was taken to Franklin's garden at Passy, and when it was
announced to him that Deslon, who had taken him there, had magnetized a
tree, this young man ran about the garden, and fell down in convulsions,
but it was not under the magnetized tree: the crisis seized him while
he was embracing another tree, very far from the former.
Deslon selected, in the treatment of poor people, two women who had
rendered themselves remarkable by their sensitiveness around the famous
rod, and took them to Passy. These women fell into convulsions whenever
they thought themselves mesmerized, although they were not. At
Lavoisier's, the celebrated experiment of the cup gave analogous
results. Some plain water engendered convulsions occasionally, when
magnetized water did not.
We must really renounce the use of our reason, not to perceive a proof
in this collection of experiments, so well arranged that imagination
alone can produce all the phenomena observed around the mesmeric rod,
and that mesmeric proceedings, cleared from the delusions of
imagination, are absolutely without effect. The commissioners, however,
recommence the examination on these last grounds, multiply the trials,
adopt all possible precautions, and give to their conclusions the
evidence of mathematical demonstrations. They establish, finally and
experimentally, that the action of the imagination can both occasion the
crises to cease, and can engender their occurrence.
Foreseeing that people with an inert or idle mind would be astonished at
the important part assigned to the imagination by the commissioners'
experiments in the production of mesmeric phenomena, Bailly instanced:
sudden affection disturbing the digestive organs; grief giving the
jaundice; the fear of fire restoring the use of their legs to paralytic
patients; earnest attention stopping the hiccough; fright blanching
people's hair in an instant, &c.
The touching or stroking practised in mesmeric treatments, as
auxiliaries of magnetism, properly so called, required no direct
experiments, since the principal agent,--since magnetism itself, had
disappeared. Bailly, therefore, confined himself, in this respect, to
anatomical and physiological considerations, remarkable for their
clearness and precision. We read, also, with a lively interest, in his
report, some ingenious reflections on the effects of imitation in those
assemblages of magnetized people. Bailly compares them to those of
theatrical representations. He says: "Observe how much stronger the
impressions are when there are a great many spectators, and especially
in places where there is the liberty of applauding. This sign of
particular emotions produces a general emotion, participated in by
everybody according to their respective susceptibility. This is also
observed in armies on the day of battle, when the enthusiasm of courage,
as well as panic-terrors, propagate themselves with so much rapidity.
The sound of the drum and of military music, the noise of the cannon, of
the musquetry, the cries, the disorder, stagger the organs, impart the
same movement to men's minds, and raise their imaginations to a similar
degree. In this unity of intoxication, an impression once manifested
becomes universal; it encourages men to charge, or determines men to
fly." Some very curious examples of imitation close this portion of
Bailly's report.
The commissioners finally examined whether these convulsions, occasioned
by the imagination or by magnetism, could be useful in curing or easing
the suffering persons. The reporter said: "Undoubtedly, the imagination
of sick people often influences the cure of their maladies very much....
There are cases in which every thing must first be disordered, to
enable us to restore order ... but the shock must be unique ... whereas
in the public treatment by magnetism ... the habit of the crises cannot
but be injurious."
This thought related to the most delicate considerations. It was
developed in a report addressed to the king personally. This report was
to have remained secret, but it was published some years since. It
should not be regretted; the magnetic treatment, regarded in a certain
point of view, pleased sick people much; they are now aware of all its
dangers.
In conclusion, Bailly's report completely upsets an accredited error.
This was an important service, nor was it the only one. In searching for
the imaginary cause of animal magnetism, they ascertained the real power
that man can exert over man, without the immediate and demonstrable
intervention of any physical agent; they established that "the most
simple actions and signs sometimes produce most powerful effects; that
man's action on the imagination may be reduced to an art ... at least in
regard to persons who have faith." This work finally showed how our
faculties should be experimentally studied; in what way psychology may
one day come to be placed among the exact sciences.