Such was the process of magnetising recommended by Deleuze. That

delicate, fanciful, and nervous women, when subjected to it, should

have worked themselves into convulsions will be readily believed by

the sturdiest opponent of Animal Magnetism. To sit in a constrained

posture--be stared out of countenance by a fellow who enclosed her knees

between his, while he made passes upon different parts of her body, was

quite enough to throw any weak woman into a fit, especially if she were

predisposed to hysteria, and believed in the efficacy of the treatment.

It is just as evident that those of stronger minds and healthier bodies

should be sent to sleep by the process. That these effects have been

produced by these means there are thousands of instances to show. But

are they testimony in favour of Animal Magnetism?--do they prove the

existence of the magnetic fluid? Every unprejudiced person must answer

in the negative. It needs neither magnetism, nor ghost from the grave,

to tell us that silence, monotony, and long recumbency in one position

must produce sleep, or that excitement, imitation, and a strong

imagination, acting upon a weak body, will bring on convulsions. It will

be seen hereafter that magnetism produces no effects but these two;

that the gift of prophecy--supernatural eloquence--the transfer of the

senses, and the power of seeing through opaque substances, are pure

fictions, that cannot be substantiated by anything like proof.

M. Deleuze's book produced quite a sensation in France; the study was

resumed with redoubled vigour. In the following year, a journal was

established devoted exclusively to the science, under the title of

"Annales du Magnetisme Animal;" and shortly afterwards appeared the

"Bibliotheque du Magnetisme Animal," and many others. About the same

time, the Abbe Faria, "the man of wonders," began to magnetise; and the

belief being that he had more of the Mesmeric fluid about him, and a

stronger will, than most men, he was very successful in his treatment.

His experiments afford a convincing proof that imagination can operate

all, and the supposed fluid none, of the resuits so confidently claimed

as evidence of the new science. He placed his patients in an arm-chair;

told them to shut their eyes; and then, in a loud commanding voice,

pronounced the single word, "Sleep!" He used no manipulations

whatever--had no baquet, or conductor of the fluid; but he nevertheless

succeeded in causing sleep in hundreds of patients. He boasted of having

in his time produced five thousand somnambulists by this method. It was

often necessary to repeat the command three or four times; and if the

patient still remained awake, the Abbe got out of the difficulty by

dismissing him from the chair, and declaring that he was incapable of

being acted on. And here it should be remarked that the magnetisers do

not lay claim to a universal efficacy for their fluid; the strong and

the healthy cannot be magnetised; the incredulous cannot be magnetised;

those who reason upon it cannot be magnetised; those who firmly believe

in it can be magnetised; the weak in body can be magnetised, and the

weak in mind can be magnetised. And lest, from some cause or other,

individuals of the latter classes should resist the magnetic charm,

the apostles of the science declare that there are times when even they

cannot be acted upon; the presence of one scorner or unbeliever

may weaken the potency of the fluid and destroy its efficacy. In M.

Deleuze's instructions to a magnetiser, he expressly says, "Never

magnetise before inquisitive persons!" ["Histoire Critique du Magnetisme

Animal," p. 60.] Yet the followers of this delusion claim for it the

rank of a science!

The numerous writings that appeared between the years 1813 and 1825 show

how much attention was excited in France. With every succeeding year

some new discovery was put forth, until at last the magnetisers seemed

to be very generally agreed that there were six separate and distinct

degrees of magnetisation. They have been classed as follow:--

In the first stage, the skin of the patient becomes slightly reddened;

and there is a feeling of heat, comfort, and lightness all over the

body; but there is no visible action on the senses.

In the second stage, the eye is gradually abstracted from the dominion

of the will (or, in other words, the patient becomes sleepy). The

drooping eyelids cannot be raised; the senses of hearing, smelling,

feeling, and tasting are more than usually excited. In addition, a

variety of nervous sensations are felt, such as spasms of the muscles

and prickings of the skin, and involuntary twitchings in various parts

of the body.

In the third stage, which is that of magnetic sleep, all the senses are

closed to external impressions; and sometimes fainting, and cataleptic

or apoplectic attacks may occur.

In the fourth stage, the patient is asleep to all the world; but he

is awake within his own body, and consciousness returns. While in this

state, all his senses are transferred to the skin. He is in the perfect

crisis, or magnetic somnambulism; a being of soul and mind--seeing

without eyes--hearing without ears, and deadened in body to all sense of

feeling.

In the fifth stage, which is that of lucid vision, the patient can see

his own internal organisation, or that of others placed in magnetic

communication with him. He becomes, at the same time, possessed of the

instinct of remedies. The magnetic fluid, in this stage, unites him

by powerful attraction to others, and establishes between them an

impenetration of thought and feeling so intense as to blend their

different natures into one.

In the sixth stage, which is at the same time the rarest and the most

perfect of all, the lucid vision is not obstructed by opaque matter, or

subject to any barriers interposed by time or space. The magnetic fluid,

which is universally spread in nature, unites the individual with all

nature, and gives him cognizance of coming events by its universal

lucidity.

So much was said and written between the years 1820 and 1825, and so

many converts were made, that the magnetisers became clamorous for a new

investigation. M. de Foissac, a young physician, wrote to the Academie

Royale du Medicine a letter, calling for inquiry, in which he complained

of the unfairness of the report of Messrs. Bailly and Franklin in 1784,

and stating that, since that time, the science had wholly changed by the

important discovery of magnetic somnambulism. He informed the Academy

that he had under his care a young woman, whose powers of divination

when in the somnambulic state were of the most extraordinary character.

He invited the members of that body to go into any hospital, and

choose persons afflicted with any diseases, acute or chronic, simple or

complex, and his somnambulist, on being put en rapport, or in magnetic

connexion, with them, would infallibly point out their ailings and name

the remedies. She, and other somnambulists, he said, could, by merely

laying the hand successively on the head, the chest, and the abdomen

of a stranger, immediately discover his maladies, with, the pains and

different alterations thereby occasioned. They could indicate, besides,

whether the cure were possible, and, if so, whether it were easy or

difficult, near or remote, and what means should be employed to attain

this result by the surest and readiest way. In this examination they

never departed from the sound principles of medicine. "In fact," added

M. de Foissac, "I go further, and assert that their inspirations are

allied to the genius which animated Hippocrates!"

In the mean time experiments were carried on in various hospitals of

Paris. The epileptic patients at the Salpetriere were magnetised by

permission of M. Esquirol. At the Bicetre also the same resuits were

obtained. M. de Foissac busied himself with the invalids at the Hospice

de la Charite, and M. Dupotet was equally successful in producing sleep

or convulsions at Val de Grace. Many members of the Chamber of Deputies

became converts, and M. Chardel, the Comte de Gestas, M. de Laseases,

and others, opened their saloons to those who were desirous of being

instructed in animal magnetism. [Dupotet's Introduction to the Study of

Animal Magnetism, page 23.] Other physicians united with M. de Foissac

in calling for an inquiry; and ultimately the Academy nominated a

preliminary committee of five of its members, namely, Messrs Adelon,

Burdin, Marc, Pariset, and Husson, to investigate the alleged facts, and

to report whether the Academy, without any compromise of its dignity,

could appoint a new commission.

Before this committee, M. de Foissac produced his famous somnambulist;

but she failed in exhibiting any one of the phenomena her physician had

so confidently predicted: she was easily thrown into the state of sleep,

by long habit and the monotony of the passes and manipulations of

her magnetiser; but she could not tell the diseases of persons put en

rapport with her. The committee of five framed excuses for this failure,

by saying, that probably the magnetic fluid was obstructed, because they

were "inexperienced, distrustful, and perhaps impatient." After

this, what can be said for the judgment or the impartiality of such a

committee? They gave at last their opinion, that it would be advisable

to appoint a new commission. On the 13th of December 1825, they

presented themselves to the Academie to deliver their report. A

debate ensued, which occupied three days, and in which all the most

distinguished members took part. It was finally decided by a majority

of ten, that the commission should be appointed, and the following

physicians were chosen its members:--They were eleven in number,

viz. Bourdois de la Motte, the President; Fouquier, Gueneau de Mussy,

Guersent, Husson, Itard, Marc, J. J. Leroux, Thillay, Double, and

Majendie.

These gentlemen began their labours by publishing an address to all

magnetisers, inviting them to come forward and exhibit in their presence

the wonders of animal magnetism. M. Dupotet says that very few answered

this amicable appeal, because they were afraid of being ridiculed when

the report should be published. Four magnetisers, however, answered

their appeal readily, and for five years were busily engaged in bringing

proofs of the new science before the commission. These were M. de

Foissac, M. Dupotet, M. Chapelain, and M. de Geslin. It would be but

an unprofitable, and by no means a pleasant task to follow the

commissioners in their erratic career, as they were led hither and

thither by the four lights of magnetism above mentioned; the four

"Wills-o'-the-Wisp" which dazzled the benighted and bewildered doctors

on that wide and shadowy region of metaphysical inquiry--the influence

of mind over matter. It will be better to state at once the conclusion

they came to after so long and laborious an investigation, and then

examine whether they were warranted in it by the evidence brought before

them.

The report, which is exceedingly voluminous, is classed under thirty

different heads, and its general tenor is favourable to magnetism. The

reporters expressly state their belief in the existence of the magnetic

fluid, and sum up the result of their inquiries in the four assertions

which follow:--

1. Magnetism has no effect upon persons in a sound state of health, nor

upon some diseased persons.

2. In others its effects are slight.

3. These effects are sometimes produced by weariness or ennui, by

monotony, and by the imagination.

4. We have seen these effects developed independently of the last

causes, most probably as the effects of magnetism alone.

It will be seen that the first and second of these sentences presuppose

the existence of that magnetic power, which it is the object of the

inquiry to discover. The reporters begin, by saying, that magnetism

exists, when after detailing their proofs, they should have ended by

affirming it. For the sake of lucidity, a favourite expression of their

own, let us put the propositions into a new form and new words, without

altering the sense.

1. Certain effects, such as convulsions, somnambulism, &c. are

producible in the human frame, by the will of others, by the will of the

patient himself, or by both combined, or by some unknown means, we wish

to discover, perhaps by magnetism.

2. These effects are not producible upon all bodies. They cannot be

produced upon persons in a sound state of health, nor upon some diseased

persons; while in other eases, the effects are very slight.

3. These effects were produced in many cases that fell under our notice,

in which the persons operated on were in a weak state of health, by

weariness or ennui, by monotony, and by the power of imagination.

4. But in many other eases these effects were produced, and were clearly

not the result of weariness or ennui, of monotony, or of the power

of the imagination. They were, therefore, produced by the magnetic

processes we employed:--ergo--Animal Magnetism exists.

Every one, whether a believer or disbeliever in the doctrine, must see

that the whole gist of the argument will be destroyed, if it be proved

that the effects which the reporters claimed as resulting from a power

independent of weariness, monotony, and the imagination, did, in fact,

result from them, and from nothing else. The following are among the

proofs brought forward to support the existence of the magnetic fluid,

as producing those phenomena:--

"A child, twenty-eight months old, was magnetised by M. Foissac, at the

house of M. Bourdois. The child, as well as its father, was subject to

attacks of epilepsy. Almost immediately after M. Foissac had begun his

manipulations and passes, the child rubbed its eyes, bent its head to

one side, supported it on one of the cushions of the sofa where it was

sitting, yawned, moved itself about, scratched its head and its ears,

appeared to strive against the approach of sleep, and then rose, if we

may be allowed the expression, grumbling. Being taken away to satisfy a

necessity of nature, it was again placed on the sofa, and magnetised for

a few moments. But as there appeared no decided symptoms of somnolency

this time, we terminated the experiment."

And this in all seriousness and sobriety was called a proof of the

existence of the magnetic fluid! That these effects were not produced

by the imagination may be granted; but that they were not produced by

weariness and monotony is not so clear. A child is seated upon a sofa,

a solemn looking gentleman, surrounded by several others equally grave,

begins to play various strange antics before it, moving his hands

mysteriously, pointing at his head, all the while preserving a most

provoking silence. And what does the child? It rubs its eyes, appears

restless, yawns, scratches its head, grumbles, and makes an excuse to

get away. Magnetism, forsooth! 'Twas a decided case of botheration!

The next proof (so called), though not so amusing, is equally decisive

of the mystification of the Commissioners. A deaf and dumb lad, eighteen

years of age, and subject to attacks of epilepsy, was magnetised fifteen

times by M. Foissac. The phenomena exhibited during the treatment were

a heaviness of the eyelids, a general numbness, a desire to sleep, and

sometimes vertigo:--the epileptic attacks were entirely suspended, and

did not return till eight months afterwards. Upon this case and the

first mentioned, the Committee reasoned thus:--"These cases appear to us

altogether worthy of remark. The two individuals who formed the subject

of the experiment, were ignorant of what was done to them. The one,

indeed, was not in a state capable of knowing it; and the other never

had the slightest idea of magnetism. Both, however, were insensible of

its influence; and most certainly it is impossible in either case to

attribute this sensibility to the imagination." The first case has been

already disposed of. With regard to the second, it is very possible to

attribute all the results to imagination. It cannot be contended, that

because the lad was deaf and dumb he had no understanding, that he could

not see the strange manipulations of the magnetiser, and that he was

unaware that his cure was the object of the experiments that were thus

made upon him. Had he no fancy merely because he was dumb? and could

he, for the same reason, avoid feeling a heaviness in his eyelids, a

numbness, and a sleepiness, when he was forced to sit for two or

three hours while M. Foissac pointed his fingers at him? As for the

amelioration in his health, no argument can be adduced to prove that he

was devoid of faith in the remedy; and that, having faith, he should

not feel the benefit of it as well as thousands of others who have been

cured by means wholly as imaginary.

The third case is brought forward with a still greater show of

authority. Having magnetised the child and the dumb youth with results

so extraordinary, M. Foissac next tried his hand upon a Commissioner. M.

Itard was subjected to a course of manipulations; the consequences were

a flow of saliva, a metallic savour in the mouth, and a severe headach.

These symptoms, say the reporters, cannot be accounted for by the

influence of imagination. M. Itard, it should be remarked, was a

confirmed valetudinarian; and a believer, before the investigation

commenced, in the truth of magnetism. He was a man, therefore, whose

testimony cannot be received with implicit credence upon this subject.

He may have repeated, and so may his brother Commissioners, that the

results above stated were not produced by the power of the imagination.

The patients of Perkins, of Valentine Greatraks, of Sir Kenelm Digby,

of Father Gassner, were all equally positive: but what availed their

assertions? Experience soon made it manifest, that no other power than

that of imagination worked the wonders in their case. M. Itard's is not

half so extraordinary; the only wonder is, that it should ever have been

insisted upon.

The Commissioners having, as they thought, established beyond doubt the

existence of the magnetic fluid, (and these are all their proofs,) next

proceeded to investigate the more marvellous phenomena of the science;

such as the transfer of the senses; the capability of seeing into one's

own or other people's insides, and of divining remedies; and the power

of prophecy. A few examples will suffice.

M. Petit was magnetised by M. Dupotet, who asserted that the

somnambulist would be able to choose, with his eyes shut, a mesmerised

coin out of twelve others. The experiment was tried, and the

somnambulist chose the wrong one. [Report of the Commissioners, p. 153.]

Baptiste Chamet was also magnetised by M. Dupotet, and fell into the

somnambulic state after eight minutes. As he appeared to be suffering

great pain, he was asked what ailed him, when he pointed to his breast,

and said he felt pain there. Being asked what part of his body that was,

he said his liver. [Ibid, p. 137.]

Mademoiselle Martineau was magnetised by M. Dupotet, and it was expected

that her case would prove not only the transfer of the senses, but the

power of divining remedies. Her eyes having been bandaged, she was asked

if she could not see all the persons present? She replied, no; but she

could hear them talking. No one was speaking at the time. She said

she would awake after five or ten minutes sleep. She did not awake for

sixteen or seventeen minutes. She announced that on a certain day she

would be able to tell exactly the nature of her complaint, and prescribe

the proper remedies. On the appointed day she was asked the question,

and could not answer. [Report of the Commissioners, p. 139.]

Mademoiselle Couturier, a patient of M. de Geslin, was thrown into

the state of somnambulism, and M. de Geslin said she would execute his

mental orders. One of the Committee then wrote on a slip of paper the

words "Go and sit down on the stool in front of the piano." He handed

the paper to M. de Geslin, who having conceived the words mentally,

turned to his patient, and told her to do as he required of her. She

rose up, went to the clock, and said it was twenty minutes past nine.

She was tried nine times more, and made as many mistakes. [Idem, p.

139.]

Pierre Cazot was an epileptic patient, and was said to have the power

of prophecy. Being magnetised on the 22nd of April, he said that in nine

weeks he should have a fit, in three weeks afterwards go mad, abuse his

wife, murder some one, and finally recover in the month of August. After

which he should never have an attack again. [Idem, p. 180] In two days

after uttering this prophecy, he was run over by a cabriolet and killed.

[Foreign Quarterly Review, vol. xii. p. 439] A post mortem examination

was made of his body, when it was ascertained beyond doubt, that even

had he not met with this accident, he could never have recovered. [At

the extremity of the plexus choroides was found a substance, yellow

within, and white without, containing small hydatids.--Report oltre

Commissioners, p. 186.]

The inquest which had been the means of eliciting these, along with

many other facts, having sat for upwards of five years, the magnetisers

became anxious that the report should be received by the solemn conclave

of the Academie. At length a day (the 20th of June 1831) was fixed for

the reading. All the doctors of Paris thronged around the hall to learn

the result; the street in front of the building was crowded with medical

students; the passages were obstructed by philosophers. "So great was

the sensation," says M. Dupotet, "that it might have been supposed the

fate of the nation depended on the result." M. Husson, the reporter,

appeared at the bar and read the report, the substance of which we have

just extracted. He was heard at first with great attention, but as he

proceeded signs of impatience and dissent were manifested on all

sides. The unreasonable inferences of the Commissioners--their false

conclusions--their too positive assertions, were received with repeated

marks of disapprobation. Some of the academicians started from their

seats, and apostrophising the Commissioners, accused them of partiality

or stolidity. The Commissioners replied; until, at last, the uproar

became so violent that an adjournment of the sitting was moved and

carried. On the following day the report was concluded. A stormy

discussion immediately ensued, which certainly reflected no credit

upon the opponents of Animal Magnetism. Both sides lost temper--the

anti-magnetists declaring that the whole was a fraud and a delusion; the

pro-magnetists reminding the Academy that it was too often the fate of

truth to be scorned and disregarded for a while, but that eventually

her cause would triumph. "We do not care for your disbelief," cried one,

"for in this very hall your predecessors denied the circulation of the

blood!"--"Yes," cried another, "and they denied the falling of meteoric

stones!" while a third exclaimed "Grande est veritas et praevalebit!"

Some degree of order being at last restored, the question whether the

report should be received and published was decided in the negative.

It was afterwards agreed that a limited number of copies should be

lithographed, for the private use of such members as wished to make

further examination.

As might have been expected, magnetism did not suffer from a discussion

which its opponents had conducted with so much intemperance. The

followers of magnetism were as loud as ever in vaunting its efficacy

as a cure, and its value, not only to the science of medicine, but

to philosophy in general. By force of repeated outcries against the

decision of the Academie, and assertions that new facts were discovered

day after day, its friends, six years afterwards, prevailed upon that

learned and influential body to institute another inquiry. The Academie,

in thus consenting to renew the investigation after it had twice

solemnly decided (once in conjunction with, and once in opposition to a

committee of its own appointment) that Animal Magnetism was a fraud or

a chimera, gave the most striking proof of its own impartiality and

sincere desire to arrive at the truth.

The new Commission was composed of M. Roux, the President; and Messieurs

Bouillard, Cloquet, Emery, Pelletier, Caventon, Oudet, Cornac, and

Dubois d'Amiens. The chief magnetiser upon the occasion was M. Berna,

who had written to the Academie on the 12th of February 1837, offering

to bring forward the most convincing proofs of the truth of the new

"science." The Commissioners met for the first time on the 27th of

February, and delivered their report, which was drawn up by M. Dubois

d'Amiens, on the 22nd of August following. After a careful examination

of all the evidence, they decided, as Messieurs Bailly and Franklin

had done in 1784, that the touchings, imagination, and the force of

imitation would account satisfactorily for all the phenomena; that

the supposed Mesmeric fluid would not; that M. Berna, the magnetiser,

laboured under a delusion; and that the facts brought under their

notice were anything but conclusive in favour of the doctrine of Animal

Magnetism, and could have no relation either with physiology or with

therapeutics.

The following abridgment of the report will show that the Commissioners

did not thus decide without abundant reason. On the 3rd of March they

met at the house of M. Roux, the President, when M. Berna introduced his

patient, a young girl of seventeen, of a constitution apparently nervous

and delicate, but with an air sufficiently cool and self-sufficient. M.

Berna offered eight proofs of Animal Magnetism, which he would elicit in

her case, and which he classed as follow:--

1. He would throw her into the state of somnambulism.

2. He would render her quite insensible to bodily pain.

3. He would restore her to sensibility by his mere will, without any

visible or audible manifestation of it.

4. His mental order should deprive her of motion.

5. He would cause her, by a mental order, to cease answering in the

midst of a conversation, and by a second mental order would make her

begin again.

6. He would repeat the same experiment, separated from his patient by a

door.

7. He would awake her.

8. He would throw her again into the somnambulic state, and by his will

successively cause her to lose and recover the sensibility of any part

of her body.

Before any attempt at magnetisation was made by M. Berna, the

Commissioners determined to ascertain how far, in her ordinary state,

she was sensible to pricking. Needles of a moderate size were stuck into

her hands and neck, to the depth of half a line, and she was asked by

Messieurs Roux and Caventon whether she felt any pain. She replied that

she felt nothing; neither did her countenance express any pain. The

Commissioners, somewhat surprised at this, repeated their question, and

inquired whether she was absolutely insensible. Being thus pressed, she

acknowledged that she felt a little pain.

These preliminaries having been completed, M. Berna made her sit close

by him. He looked steadfastly at her, but made no movements or passes

whatever. After the lapse of about two minutes she fell back asleep,

and M. Berna told the Commissioners that she was now in the state of

magnetic somnambulism. He then arose, and again looking steadfastly at

her from a short distance, declared, after another minute, that she was

struck with general insensibility.

To ascertain this, the girl's eyes having been previously bandaged,

Messieurs Bouillard, Emery, and Dubois pricked her one after the other

with needles. By word she complained of no pain; and her features, where

the bandage allowed them to be seen, appeared calm and unmoved. But

M. Dubois having stuck his needle rather deep under her chin, she

immediately made with much vivacity a movement of deglutition.

This experiment having failed, M. Berna tried another, saying that he

would, by the sole and tacit intervention of his will, paralyze any

part of the girl's body the Commissioners might mention. To avoid the

possibility of collusion, M. Dubois drew up the following conditions:--

"That M. Berna should maintain the most perfect silence, and should

receive from the hands of the Commissioners papers, on which should be

written the parts to be deprived of motion and sensibility, and that

M. Berna should let them know when he had done it by closing one of his

eyes, that they might verify it. The parts to be deprived of sensibility

were the chin, the right thumb, the region of the left deltoid, and

that of the right patella." M. Berna would not accept these conditions,

giving for his reason that the parts pointed out by the Commissioners

were too limited; that, besides, all this was out of his programme, and

he did not understand why such precautions should be taken against him.

M. Berna had written in his programme that he would deprive the whole

body of sensibility, and then a part only. He would afterwards deprive

the two arms of motion--then the two legs--then a leg and an arm--then

the neck, and lastly the tongue. All the evidence he wished the

Commissioners to have was after a very unsatisfactory fashion. He would

tell the somnambulist to raise her arm, and if she did not raise it,

the limb was to be considered paralyzed. Besides this, the Commissioners

were to make haste with their observations. If the first trials did not

succeed, they were to be repeated till paralysis was produced. "These,"

as the Commissioners very justly remarked, "were not such conditions as

men of science, who were to give an account of their commission, could

exactly comply with." After some time spent in a friendly discussion

of the point, M. Berna said he could do no more at that meeting. Then

placing himself opposite the girl, he twice exclaimed, "Wake!" She

awakened accordingly, and the sitting terminated.

At the second meeting, M. Berna was requested to paralyze the right

arm only of the girl by the tacit intervention of his will, as he had

confidently assured the Commissioners he could. M. Berna, after a few

moments, made a sign with his eye that he had done so, when M. Bouillard

proceeded to verify the fact. Being requested to move her left arm, she

did so. Being then requested to move her right leg, she said the whole

of her right side was paralyzed--she could neither move arm nor leg. On

this experiment the Commissioners remark: "M. Berna's programme stated

that he had the power of paralyzing either a single limb or two limbs at

once, we chose a single limb, and there resulted, in spite of his

will, a paralysis of two limbs." Some other experiments, equally

unsatisfactory, were tried with the same girl. M. Berna was soon

convinced that she had not studied her part well, or was not clever

enough to reflect any honour upon the science, and he therefore

dismissed her. Her place was filled by a woman, aged about thirty, also

of very delicate health; and the following conclusive experiments were

tried upon her:--

The patient was thrown into the somnambulic state, and her eyes covered

with a bandage. At the invitation of the magnetiser, M. Dubois d'Amiens

wrote several words upon a card, that the somnambule might read them

through her bandages, or through her occiput. M. Dubois wrote the word

Pantagruel, in perfectly distinct roman characters; then placing himself

behind the somnambule, he presented the card close to her occiput. The

magnetiser was seated in front of the woman and of M. Dubois, and could

not see the writing upon the card. Being asked by her magnetiser what

was behind her head, she answered, after some hesitation, that she saw

something white--something resembling a card--a visiting-card. It should

be remembered that M. Berna had requested M. Dubois aloud to take a card

and write upon it, and that the patient must have heard it, as it was

said in her presence. She was next asked if she could distinguish what

there was on this card. She replied "Yes; there was writing on it."--"Is

it small or large, this writing?" inquired the magnetiser. "Pretty

large," replied she. "What is written on it?" continued the magnetiser.

"Wait a little-I cannot see very plain. Ah! there is first an M. Yes, it

is a word beginning with an M." [The woman thought it was a

visiting-card, and guessed that doubtless it would begin with the words

Monsieur or Madame.] M. Cornac, unknown to the magnetiser, who alone put

the questions, passed a perfectly blank card to M. Dubois, who

substituted it quietly for the one on which he had written the word

Pantagruel. The somnambule still persisted that she saw a word beginning

with an M. At last, after some efforts, she added doubtingly that she

thought she could see two lines of writing. She was still thinking of

the visiting-card, with a name in one line and the address on the other.

Many other experiments of the same kind, and with a similar result,

were tried with blank cards; and it was then determined to try her with

playing-cards. M. Berna had a pack of them on his table, and addressing

M. Dubois aloud, he asked him to take one of them and place it at the

occiput of the somnambule. M. Dubois asked him aloud whether he should

take a court card. "As you please," replied the magnetiser. As M. Dubois

went towards the table, the idea struck him that he would not take

either a court or a common card, but a perfectly blank card of the same

size. Neither M. Berna nor the somnambule was aware of the substitution.

He then placed himself behind her as before, and held the card to

her occiput so that M. Berna could not see it. M. Berna then began to

magnetise her with all his force, that he might sublimate her into the

stage of extreme lucidity, and effectually transfer the power of vision

to her occiput. She was interrogated as to what she could see. She

hesitated; appeared to struggle with herself, and at last said she saw a

card. "But what do you see on the card?" After a little hesitation, she

said she could see black and red (thinking of the court card).

The Commissioners allowed M. Berna to continue the examination in his

own way. After some fruitless efforts to get a more satisfactory answer

from the somnambule, he invited M. Dubois to pass his card before her

head, close against the bandage covering her eyes. This having been

done, the somnambule said she could see better. M. Berna then began to

put some leading questions, and she replied that she could see a

figure. Hereupon, there were renewed solicitations from M. Berna. The

somnambule, on her part, appeared to be making great efforts to glean

some information from her magnetiser, and at last said that she could

distinguish the Knave. But this was not all; it remained for her to say

which of the four knaves. In answer to further inquiries, she said there

was black by the side of it. Not being contradicted at all, she imagined

that she was in the right track; and made, after much pressing, her

final guess, that it was the Knave of Clubs.

M. Berna, thinking the experiment finished, took the card from the hands

of M. Dubois, and in presence of all the Commissioners saw that it was

entirely blank. Blank was his own dismay.

As a last experiment, she was tried with a silver medal. It was with

very great difficulty that any answers could be elicited from her.

M. Cornac held the object firmly closed in his hand close before the

bandage over her eyes. She first said she saw something round; she then

said it was flesh-coloured--then yellow--then the colour of gold. It was

as thick as an onion: and, in answer to incessant questions, she said it

was yellow on one side, white on the other, and had black above it. She

was thinking, apparently, of a gold watch, with its white dial and black

figures for the hours. Solicited, for the last time, to explain herself

clearly--to say, at least, the use of the object and its name, she

appeared to be anxious to collect all her energies, and then uttered

only the word "hour." Then, at last, as if suddenly illumined, she cried

out that "it was to tell the hour."

Thus ended the sitting. Some difficulties afterwards arose between the

Commissioners and M. Berna, who wished that a copy of the proces verbal

should be given him. The Commissioners would not agree; and M. Berna, in

his turn, refused to make any fresh experiments. It was impossible that

any investigation could have been conducted more satisfactorily than

this. The report of the Commissioners was quite conclusive; and Animal

Magnetism since that day lost much of its repute in France. M. Dupotet,

with a perseverance and ingenuity worthy a better cause, has found a

satisfactory excuse for the failure of M. Berna. Having taken care in

his work not to publish the particulars, he merely mentions, in three

lines, that M. Berna failed before a committee of the Royal Academy

of Medicine in an endeavour to produce some of the higher magnetic

phenomena. "There are a variety of incidental circumstances," says that

shining light of magnetism, "which it is difficult even to enumerate. An

over-anxiety to produce the effects, or any incidental suggestions that

may disturb the attention of the magnetiser, will often be sufficient to

mar the successful issue of the experiment." ["Introduction to the Study

of Animal Magnetism," by Baron Dupotet de Sennevoy, London, 1838, p.

159.] Such are the miserable shifts to which error reduces its votaries!

While Dupotet thus conveniently forbears to dwell upon the unfavourable

decision of the committee of 1837, let us hear how he dilates upon the

favourable report of the previous committee of 1835, and how he praises

the judgment and the impartiality of its members. "The Academie Royale

de Medicine," says he, "put upon record clear and authenticated

evidence in favour of Animal Magnetism. The Commissioners detailed

circumstantially the facts which they witnessed, and the methods they

adopted to detect every possible source of deception. Many of the

Commissioners, when they entered on the investigation, were not only

unfavourable to magnetism, but avowedly unbelievers; so that

their evidence in any court of justice would be esteemed the most

unexceptionable that could possibly be desired. They were inquiring too,

not into any speculative or occult theory, upon which there might be a

chance of their being led away by sophistical representations, but they

were inquiring into the existence of facts only--plain demonstrable

facts, which were in their own nature palpable to every observer."

["Introduction to the Study of Animal Magnetism," p. 27.] M. Dupotet

might not unreasonably be asked whether the very same arguments ought

not to be applied to the unfavourable report drawn up by the able M.

Dubois d'Amiens and his coadjutors in the last inquiry. If the question

were asked, we should, in all probability, meet some such a reply as

this:--"True, they might; but then you must consider the variety of

incidental circumstances, too numerous to mention! M. Berna may have

been over anxious; in fact, the experiments must have been spoiled by an

incidental suggestion!"

A man with a faith so lively as M. Dupotet was just the person to

undertake the difficult mission of converting the English to a belief

in magnetism. Accordingly we find that, very shortly after the last

decision of the Academie, M. Dupotet turned his back upon his native

soil and arrived in England, loaded with the magnetic fluid, and ready

to re-enact all the fooleries of his great predecessors, Mesmer and

Puysegur. Since the days of Perkinism and metallic tractors, until 1833,

magnetism had made no progress, and excited no attention in England. Mr.

Colquhoun, an advocate at the Scottish bar, published in that year the,

till then, inedited report of the French commission of 1831, together

with a history of the science, under the title of "Isis Revelata; or,

an Inquiry into the Origin, Progress, and present State of Animal

Magnetism." Mr. Colquhoun was a devout believer, and his work was full

of enthusiasm. It succeeded in awakening some interest upon a subject

certainly very curious, but it made few or no converts. An interesting

article, exposing the delusion, appeared in the same year in the

"Foreign Quarterly Review;" and one or two medical works noticed the

subject afterwards, to scout it and turn it into ridicule. The arrival

of M. Dupotet, in 1837, worked quite a revolution, and raised Animal

Magnetism to a height of favour, as great as it had ever attained even

in France.

He began by addressing letters of invitation to the principal

philosophers and men of science, physicians, editors of newspapers, and

others, to witness the experiments, which were at first carried on at

his own residence, in Wigmore-street, Cavendish-square. Many of them

accepted the invitation; and, though not convinced, were surprised

and confounded at the singular influence which he exercised over the

imagination of his patients. Still, at first, his success was not

flattering. To quote his own words, in the dedication of his work to

Earl Stanhope, "he spent several months in fruitless attempts to induce

the wise men of the country to study the phenomena of magnetism. His

incessant appeals for an examination of these novel facts remained

unanswered, and the press began to declare against him." With a saddened

heart, he was about to renounce the design he had formed of spreading

magnetism in England, and carry to some more credulous people the

important doctrines of which he had made himself the apostle. Earl

Stanhope, however, encouraged him to remain; telling him to hope for a

favourable change in public opinion, and the eventual triumph of that

truth of which he was the defender. M. Dupotet remained. He was not so

cruel as to refuse the English people a sight of his wonders. Although

they might be ungrateful, his kindness and patience should be long

enduring.

In the course of time his perseverance met its reward. Ladies in

search of emotions--the hysteric, the idle, the puling, and the

ultra-sentimental crowded to his saloons, as ladies similarly

predisposed had crowded to Mesmer's sixty years before. Peers, members

of the House of Commons, philosophers, men of letters, and physicians

came in great numbers--some to believe, some to doubt, and a few to

scoff. M. Dupotet continued his experiments, and at last made several

important converts. Most important of all for a second Mesmer, he found

a second D'Eslon.

Dr. Elliotson, the most conspicuous among the converts of Dupotet, was,

like D'Eslon, a physician in extensive practice--a thoroughly honest

man, but with a little too much enthusiasm. The parallel holds good

between them in every particular; for, as D'Eslon had done before him,

Dr. Elliotson soon threw his master into the shade, and attracted all

the notice of the public upon himself. He was at that time professor

of the principles and practice of medicine at the University College,

London, and physician to the hospital. In conjunction with M. Dupotet,

he commenced a course of experiments upon some of the patients in that

institution. The reports which were published from time to time, partook

so largely of the marvellous, and were corroborated by the evidence of

men whose learning, judgment, and integrity it was impossible to call

in question, that the public opinion was staggered. Men were ashamed

to believe, and yet afraid to doubt; and the subject at last became so

engrossing that a committee of some of the most distinguished members

of the medical profession undertook to investigate the phenomena, and

report upon them.

In the mean time, Dr. Elliotson and M. Dupotet continued the public

exhibition at the hospital; while the credulous gaped with wonder, and

only some few daring spirits had temerity enough to hint about quackery

and delusion on the part of the doctors, and imposture on the part of

the patients. The phenomena induced in two young women, sisters, named

Elizabeth and Jane Okey, were so extraordinary that they became at last

the chief, if not the only proofs of the science in London. We have not

been able to meet with any reports of these experiments from the pen

of an unbeliever, and are therefore compelled to rely solely upon the

reports published under the authority of the magnetisers themselves, and

given to the world in "The Lancet" and other medical journals.

Elizabeth Okey was an intelligent girl, aged about seventeen, and was

admitted into the University College hospital, suffering under attacks

of epilepsy. She was magnetised repeatedly by M. Dupotet in the autumn

of 1837, and afterwards by Dr. Elliotson at the hospital, during the

spring and summer of 1838. By the usual process, she was very easily

thrown into a state of deep unconscious sleep, from which she was

aroused into somnambulism and delirium. In her waking state she was

a modest well-behaved girl, and spoke but little. In the somnambulic

state, she appeared quite another being; evinced considerable powers

of mimicry; sang comic songs; was obedient to every motion of her

magnetiser; and was believed to have the power of prophesying the return

of her illness--the means of cure, and even the death or recovery of

other patients in the ward.

Mesmer had often pretended in his day that he could impart the magnetic

power to pieces of metal or wood, strings of silk or cord, &c. The

reader will remember his famous battery, and the no less famous tree of

M. de Puysegur. During the experiments upon Okey, it was soon discovered

that all the phenomena could be produced in her, if she touched any

object that had been previously mesmerised by the will or the touch of

her magnetiser. At a sitting, on the 5th of July 1838, it was mentioned

that Okey, some short time previously, and while in the state of

magnetic lucidity, had prophesied that, if mesmerised tea were placed in

each of her hands, no power in nature would be able to awake her until

after the lapse of a quarter of an hour. The experiment was tried

accordingly. Tea which had been touched by the magnetiser was placed

in each hand, and she immediately fell asleep. After ten minutes, the

customary means to awaken her were tried, but without effect. She was

quite insensible to all external impressions. In a quarter of an hour,

they were tried with redoubled energy, but still in vain. She was left

alone for six minutes longer; but she still slept, and it was found

quite impossible to wake her. At last some one present remarked that

this wonderful sleep would, in all probability, last till the tea was

removed from her bands. The suggestion was acted upon, the tea was taken

away, and she awoke in a few seconds. ["Lancet," vol. ii. 1837-8, p.

585.]

On the 12th of July, just a week afterwards, numerous experiments as

to the capability of different substances for conveying the magnetic

influence were tried upon her. A slip of crumpled paper, magnetised by

being held in the hand, produced no effect. A penknife magnetised her

immediately. A piece of oilskin had no influence. A watch placed on her

palm sent her to sleep immediately, if the metal part were first placed

in contact with her; the glass did not affect her so quickly. As she was

leaving the room, a sleeve-cuff made of brown-holland, which had been

accidentally magnetised by a spectator, stopped her in mid career, and

sent her fast to sleep. It was also found that, on placing the point of

her finger on a sovereign which had been magnetised, she was immediately

stupified. A pile of sovereigns produced sleep; but if they were so

placed that she could touch the surface of each coin, the sleep became

intense and protracted.

Still more extraordinary circumstances were related of this patient. In

her state of magnetic sleep, she said that a tall black man, or negro,

attended her, and prompted the answers she was to give to the various

perplexing questions that were put to her. It was also asserted that

she could use the back of her hand as an organ of vision. The first time

this remarkable phenomenon was said to have been exhibited was a few

days prior to the 5th of July. On the latter day, being in what

was called a state of loquacious somnambulism, she was asked by Dr.

Elliotson's assistant whether she had an eye in her hand. She replied

that "it was a light there, and not an eye." "Have you got a light

anywhere else?"--"No, none anywhere else."--"Can you see with the inside

as well as the out?"--"Yes; but very little with the inside."

On the 9th of July bread with butter was given to her, and while eating

it she drank some magnetised water, and falling into a stupor dropped

her food from her hand and frowned. The eyes, partially closed, had the

abstracted aspect that always accompanies stupefaction. The right-hand

was open, the palm upwards; the left, with its back presented

anteriorly, was relaxed and curved. The bread being lost, she moved her

left-hand about convulsively until right over the bread, when a clear

view being obtained, the hand turned suddenly round and clutched it

eagerly. Her hand was afterwards wrapped in a handkerchief; but then

she could not see with it, and laid it on her lap with an expression of

despair.

These are a few only of the wonderful feats of Elizabeth Okey. Jane

was not quite so clever; but she nevertheless managed to bewilder the

learned men almost as much as her sister. A magnetised sovereign having

been placed on the floor, Jane, then in the state of delirium, was

directed to stoop and pick it up. She stooped, and having raised it

about three inches, was fixed in a sound sleep in that constrained

position. Dr. Elliotson pointed his finger at her, to discharge some

more of the mesmeric fluid into her, when her hand immediately relaxed

its grasp of the coin, and she re-awoke into the state of delirium,

exclaiming, "God bless my soul!"

It is now time to mention the famous gold-chain experiment which was

performed at the hospital upon Elizabeth Okey, in the presence of Count

Flahault, Dr. Lardner, Mr. Knatchbull the professor of Arabic in the

University of Oxford, and many other gentlemen. The object of the

experiment was to demonstrate that, when Okey held one end of a gold

chain, and Dr. Elliotson, or any other magnetiser, the other, the

magnetic fluid would travel through the chain, and, after the lapse of a

minute, stupify the patient. A long gold chain having been twice placed

around her neck, Dr. Elliotson at once threw her into a state of stupor.

It was then found that, if the intermediate part of the chain were

twisted around a piece of wood, or a roll of paper, the passage of the

fluid would be checked, and stupor would not so speedily ensue. If

the chain were removed, she might be easily thrown into the state of

delirium; when she would sing at the request of her magnetiser; and, if

the chain were then unrolled, her voice would be arrested in the most

gradual manner; its loudness first diminishing--the tune then becoming

confused, and finally lost altogether. The operations of her intellect

could be checked, while the organs of sound would still continue to

exert themselves. For instance, while her thoughts were occupied on the

poetry and air of Lord Byron's song, "The Maid of Athens," the chain was

unrolled; and when she had reached the line, "My life, I love you!" the

stupor had increased; a cold statue-like aspect crept over the face--the

voice sank--the limbs became rigid--the memory was gone--the faculty of

forecasting the thoughts had departed, and but one portion of capacity

remained--that of repeating again and again, perhaps twenty times, the

line and music which had last issued from her lips, without pause, and

in the proper time, until the magnetiser stopped her voice altogether,

by further unrolling the chain and stupifying her. On another trial, she

was stopped in the comic song, "Sir Frog he would a wooing go," when she

came to the line,

"Whether his mother would let him or no;"

while her left hand outstretched, with the chain in it, was moving up

and down, and the right toe was tapping the time on the floor; and with

these words and actions she persevered for fifty repetitions, until

the winding of the chain re-opened her faculties, when she finished the

song. ["Lancet," vol. ii. 1837-8, p.617.]

The report from which we have extracted the above passage further

informed the public and the medical profession, and expected them to

believe, that, when this species of stupefaction was produced while

she was employed in any action, the action was repeated as long as the

mesmeric influence lasted. For instance, it was asserted that she was

once deprived of the motion of every part of her body, except the right

forefinger, with which she was rubbing her chin; and that, when thrown

into the trance, she continued rubbing her chin for several minutes,

until she was unmagnetised, when she ceased. A similar result was

obtained when she was smoothing down her hair; and at another time when

she was imitating the laughter of the spectators, excited beyond control

by her clever mimicry. At another time she was suddenly thrown into the

state of delirious stupor while pronouncing the word "you," of which she

kept prolonging the sound for several minutes, with a sort of vibrating

noise, until she was awakened. At another time, when a magnetised

sovereign was given to her, wrapped up in paper, she caught it in her

hand, and turned it round flatwise between her fingers, saying that it

was wrapped up "very neatly indeed." The mesmeric influence caught her

in the remark, which she kept repeating over and over again, all the

while twirling the sovereign round and round until the influence in the

coin had evaporated.

We are also told of a remarkable instance of the force of the magnetic

power. While Elizabeth Okey was one day employed in writing, a sovereign

which had been imbued with the fluid was placed upon her boot. In half

a minute her leg was paralyzed--rooted to the floor--perfectly immovable

at the joints, and visited, apparently, with pain so intense that the

girl writhed in agony. "The muscles of the leg were found," says the

report, "as rigid and stiff as if they had been carved in wood. When the

sovereign was removed, the pain left her in a quarter of a minute. On a

subsequent day, a mesmerised sovereign was placed in her left hand as it

hung at her side, with the palm turned slightly outwards. The hand and

arm were immediately paralyzed--fixed with marble-like firmness." No

general stupor having occurred, she was requested to move her arm;

but she could not lift it a hair's-breadth from her side. On another

occasion, when in a state of delirium, in which she had remained three

hours, she was asked to describe her feelings when she handled any

magnetised object and went off into the stupor. She had never before,

although several times asked, given any information upon the subject.

She now replied that, at the moment of losing her senses through any

manipulations, she experienced a sensation of opening in the crown of

her head; that she never knew when it closed again; but that her eyes

seemed to become exceedingly large;--three times as big as before. On

recovering from this state, she remembered nothing that had taken place

in the interval, whether that interval were hours or days; her only

sensation was that of awakening, and of something being lifted from her

eyes.

The regular publication of these marvellous experiments, authenticated

as they were by many eminent names, naturally excited the public

attention in an extreme degree. Animal Magnetism became the topic of

discussion in every circle--politics and literature were for a time

thrown into the shade, so strange were the facts, or so wonderful was

the delusion. The public journals contented themselves in many instances

with a mere relation of the results, without giving any opinion as to

the cause. One of them which gave a series of reports upon the subject,

thus described the girl, and avowed its readiness to believe all that

was related of her. [Morning Post, March 2, 1838.] "Her appearance as

she sits, as pale and almost as still as a corpse, is strangely awful.

She whistles to oblige Dr. Elliotson: an incredulous bystander presses

his fingers upon her lips; she does not appear conscious of the nature

of the interruption; but when asked to continue, replies in childish

surprise, 'it can't.' This state of magnetic semi-existence will

continue we know not how long. She has continued in it for twelve days

at a time, and when awakened to real life forgets all that has occurred

in the magnetic one. Can this be deception? We have conversed with

the poor child her ordinary state as she sat by the fire in her ward,

suffering from the headach, which persecutes her almost continually when

not under the soothing fluence of the magnetic operation, and we confess

we never beheld anybody less likely to prove an impostor. We have seen

Professor Faraday exerting his acute and sagacious powers for an hour

together, in the endeavour to detect some physical discrepancy in her

performance, or elicit some blush of mental confusion by his naive and

startling remarks. But there was nothing which could be detected,

and the professor candidly confessed that the matter was beyond his

philosophy to unravel."

Notwithstanding this sincere, and on the point of integrity,

unimpeachable evidence in her favour; notwithstanding that she appeared

to have no motives for carrying on so extraordinary and long-continued

a deception, the girl was an impostor, and all these wise, learned, and

contemplative men her dupes. It was some time, however, before this fact

was clearly established, and the delusion dissipated by the clear light

of truth. In the mean time various other experiments on the efficacy of

the supposed magnetic power were tried in various parts of England;

but the country did not furnish another epileptic girl so clever as

Elizabeth Okey. An exhibition of the kind was performed on a girl

named Sarah Overton, at the workhouse of the parish of St.

Martin's-in-the-Fields. The magnetiser on this occasion was Mr.

Bainbridge, the parish surgeon. It is but justice to him to state,

that he conducted the experiments with the utmost fairness, and did not

pretend to produce any of the wondrous and incredible phenomena of other

practitioners. This girl, whose age was about twenty, had long been

subject to epileptic fits, and appeared remarkably simple and modest in

her manners and appearance. She was brought into the room and placed in

a chair. About twenty gentlemen were present. Mr. Bainbridge stationed

himself behind, and pointed his fingers at her brain, while his

assistant in front made the magnetic passes before her eyes, and over

her body. It cannot be said that her imagination was not at work; for

she had been previously magnetised, and was brought in with her eyes

open, and in complete possession of all her faculties. No means had

been taken to prevent interruption during the sitting; new visiters

continually arrived, and the noise of the opening and shutting of the

door repeatedly called from Mr. Bainbridge a request that all should be

kept silent. The girl herself constantly raised her head to see who

was coming in; but still, in direct contradiction to M. Dupotet, and,

indeed, all the magnetisers, who have repeated over and over again, that

interruption destroys the magnetic power, she fell into a deep sleep

at the end of about twelve minutes. In this state, which is that called

"Mesmeric Coma," she was quite insensible. Though pulled violently by

the hair, and pricked on the arm with a pin, she showed no signs of

consciousness or feeling. In a short time afterwards, she was awakened

into the somnambulic or delirious state, when she began to converse

freely with the persons around her, but more especially with her

magnetiser. She would sing if required, and even dance in obedience to

his command, and pretended to see him although her eyes were closely

blindfolded with a handkerchief. She seemed to have a constant tendency

to fall back into the state of coma, and had to be aroused with violence

every two or three minutes to prevent a relapse. A motion of the hand

before her face was sufficient to throw her, in the middle of a song,

into this insensible state; but it was observed particularly that she

fell at regular intervals, whether any magnetic passes were made at her

or not. It was hinted aloud to a person present that he should merely

bend his body before her, and she would become insensible, and fall to

the ground. The pass was made, and she fell accordingly into the arms

of a medical gentleman, who stood behind ready to receive her. The girl

having been again aroused into the state of delirium, another person,

still audibly, was requested to do the same. He did not; but the girl

fell as before. The experiments were sufficient to convince the author

that one human being could indubitably exercise a very wonderful

influence over another; but that imagination only, and not the mesmeric

fluid, was the great agent by which these phenomena could be produced in

persons of strong faith and weak bodies.

Some gentlemen present were desirous of trying whether any of the higher

mesmeric states, such as that of lucidity and clairvoyance could be

produced. Mr. Bainbridge was willing to allow the experiment to be made,

but previously expressed his own doubts upon the subject. A watch was

then put into her bosom, the dial plate and glass against her skin, to

ascertain whether she could see without the intervention of the organs

of sight. She was asked what hour it was; and was promised a shilling if

she would tell by the watch which had been placed in her bosom. She held

out her hand for the shilling, and received it with great delight. She

was then asked if she could see the watch? She said "no--not a watch;

she could see something--something that was very pretty indeed." "Come,

come, Sally," said Mr. Bainbridge, "you must not be so stupid; rouse

up, girl, and tell us what o'clock it is, and I'll give you another

shilling!" The girl at this time seemed to be relapsing into a deep

sleep; but on being shaken, aroused herself with a convulsive start.

In reply to further questions, she said, "she could see a clock, a very

pretty clock, indeed!" She was again asked, five or six times, what

the hour was: she at last replied that "it was ten minutes to two."

The watch being then taken out of her bosom, it was found to be on the

stroke of two. Every one present, including the magnetiser, confessed

that there was nothing wonderful in the conjecture she had hazarded.

She knew perfectly well what hour it was before she was brought into the

ward, as there was a large clock in the workhouse, and a bell which

rang at dinner time; she calculated mentally the interval that had since

elapsed, and guessed accordingly. The same watch was afterwards advanced

four or five hours, and put into her bosom without a word being said in

her hearing. On being again asked what o'clock it was by that watch, and

promised another shilling if she would tell, she still replied that it

was near two--the actual time. Thus, as Mr. Bainbridge had predicted,

the experiment came to nothing. The whole case of this girl offered a

striking instance of the power of imagination, but no proof whatever of

the supposed existence of the magnetic fluid.

The Medical Committee of the University College Hospital took alarm at a

very early period at the injury which might be done to that Institution,

by the exhibitions of Okey and her magnetisers. A meeting was held

in June 1838, at which Dr. Elliotson was not present, to take into

consideration the reports of the experiments that had been published in

the Medical Journals. Resolutions were then passed to the effect,

that Dr. Elliotson should be requested to refrain from further public

exhibitions of mesmerism; and, at the same time, stating the wish of

the Committee not to interfere with its private employment as a remedial

agent, if he thought it would be efficacious upon any of the patients

of the Institution. Dr. Elliotson replied, that no consideration should

prevent him from pursuing the investigation of Animal Magnetism; but

that he had no desire to make a public exhibition of it. He had only

given lectures and demonstrations when numbers of scientific gentlemen

were present; he still continued to receive numerous letters from

learned and eminent men, entreating permission to witness the phenomena;

but if the Committee willed it, he should admit no person without their

sanction. He shortly afterwards sent a list of the names of individuals

who were anxious to witness the experiments. The Committee returned

it to him unread, with the reply that they could not sanction any

exhibition that was so entirely foreign to the objects of the Hospital.

In answer to this, Dr. Elliotson reiterated his full belief in the

doctrines of Animal Magnetism, and his conviction that his experiments

would ultimately throw a light upon the operations of nature, which

would equal, if not exceed, that elicited by the greatest discoveries

of by-gone ages. The correspondence dropped here; and the experiments

continued as usual.

The scene, however, was drawing to a close. On the 25th of August, a

notice was published in the Lancet, to the effect, that some experiments

had been performed on the girls Elizabeth and Jane Okey, at the house

of Mr. Wakley, a report of which was only withheld in the hope that

the Committee of Members of the Medical Profession, then sitting to

investigate the phenomena of mesmerism, would publish their report

of what they had witnessed. It was further stated, that whether that

Committee did or did not publish their report, the result of the

experiments at Mr. Wakley's house should certainly be made known in

the next number of that journal. Accordingly, on the 1st of September

appeared a statement, which overthrew, in the most complete manner, the

delusion of mesmerism. Nothing could have been better conducted than

these experiments; nothing could be more decisive of the fact, that all

the phenomena were purely the results of the excited imaginations of the

girls, aided in no slight degree by their wilful deception.

The first experiments were performed on the 16th of August, in the

presence of Mr. Wakley, M. Dupotet, Dr. Elliotson, Dr. Richardson,

Mr. Herring, Mr. Clarke, and Mr. G. Mills the writer of the published

reports of the experiments at the University College Hospital.

Dr. Elliotson had said, that nickel was capable of retaining and

transmitting the magnetic fluid in an extraordinary degree; but that

lead possessed no such virtues. The effects of the nickel, he was

confident, would be quite astounding; but that lead might always be

applied with impunity. A piece of nickel was produced by the Doctor,

about three quarters of an ounce in weight, together with a piece of

lead of the same shape and smoothness, but somewhat larger. Elizabeth

Okey was seated in a chair; and, by a few passes and manipulations,

was thrown into the state of "ecstatic delirium." A piece of thick

pasteboard was then placed in front of her face, and held in that

situation by two of the spectators, so that she could not see what was

passing either below or in front of her. Mr. Wakley having received both

the nickel and the lead, seated himself opposite the girl, and applied

the lead to each hand alternately, but in such a manner as to lead her

to believe that both metals had been used. No effect was produced. The

nickel magnetised by Dr. Elliotson was, after a pause, applied in a

similar manner. No results followed. After another pause, the lead

was several times applied, and then again the nickel. After the last

application of the nickel, the face of the patient became violently

flushed, the eyes were convulsed into a startling squint, she fell back

in the chair, her breathing was hurried, her limbs rigid, and her back

bent in the form of a bow. She remained in this state for a quarter of

an hour.

This experiment was not considered a satisfactory proof of the magnetic

powers of the nickel; and Dr. Elliotson suggested that, in the second

experiment, that metal should alone be tried. Mr. Wakley was again the

operator; but, before commencing, he stated privately to Mr. Clarke,

that instead of using nickel only, he would not employ the nickel at

all. Mr. Clarke, unseen by any person present, took the piece of nickel;

put it into his waistcoat pocket; and walked to the window, where he

remained during the whole of the experiment. Mr. Wakley again sat down,

employing both hands, but placing his fingers in such a manner, that it

was impossible for any person to see what substance he held. Presently,

on applying his left hand, the girl's vision being still obstructed by

the pasteboard, Mr. Herring, who was standing near, said in a whisper,

and with much sincerity, "Take care, don't apply the nickel too

strongly." Immediately the face of the girl became violently red, her

eyes were fixed in an intense squint, she fell back convulsively in her

chair, and all the previous symptoms were produced more powerfully than

before. Dr. Elliotson observed that the effects were most extraordinary;

that no other metal than nickel could produce them, and that they

presented a beautiful series of phenomena. This paroxysm lasted half an

hour. Mr. Wakley retired with Dr. Elliotson and the other gentlemen into

an adjoining room, and convinced them that he had used no nickel at all,

but a piece of lead and a farthing.

This experiment was twice repeated with the same results. A third trial

was made with the nickel, but no effect was produced.

On the succeeding day the experiments were repeated upon both the

sisters, chiefly with mesmerised water and sovereigns. The investigation

occupied about five hours, and the following were the results:--

1. Six wine glasses, filled with water unmesmerised, were placed on a

table, and Jane Okey being called in, was requested to drink from each

of them successively. She did so, and no effect was produced.

2. The same six glasses stood on the table, the water in the fourth

having been subjected for a long time to the supposed magnetic

influence. She was requested in like manner to drink of these. She

did so, and again no effect was produced, although, according to the

doctrine of the magnetisers, she ought to have been immediately fixed on

drinking of the fourth.

3. In this experiment the position of the glasses was changed. There was

no result.

4. Was a repetition of the foregoing. No result.

5. The water in all the glasses was subjected to the supposed magnetic

influence from the fingers of Dr. Elliotson, until, in his opinion, it

was strongly magnetised. Still no result.

6. The glasses were filled up with fresh water unmesmerised. No result.

7. The water was strongly magnetised in each glass, and the girl emptied

them all. No result.

It would be needless to go through the whole series of experiments. The

results may be briefly stated. Sovereigns unmesmerised threw the girls

into convulsions, or fixed them. Mesmerised sovereigns sometimes did

and sometimes did not produce these symptoms. Elizabeth Okey became

repeatedly fixed when drinking unmagnetised water; while that which had

been subjected to the powers of a supposed magnetic battery, produced no

results. Altogether twenty-nine experiments were tried, which convinced

every one present, except Dr. Elliotson, that Animal Magnetism was

a delusion, that the girls were of very exciteable imaginations, and

arrant impostors.

Their motives for carrying on so extraordinary a deception have often

been asked. The question is easily answered. Poor girls, unknown and

unnoticed, or, if noticed, perhaps despised, they found themselves all

at once the observed of all observers, by the really remarkable symptoms

of their disease, which it required no aid from magnetism to produce.

Flattered by the oft-repeated experiments and constant attentions of

doctors and learned men, who had begun by deluding themselves, they

imagined themselves persons of vast importance, and encouraged by

degrees the whims of their physicians, as the means of prolonging the

consideration they so unexpectedly enjoyed. Constant practice made them

at last all but perfect in the parts they were performing; and they

failed at last, not from a want of ingenuity, or of a most wonderful

power over their own minds, and by their minds upon their bodies, but

from the physical impossibility of seeing through a thick pasteboard,

or into the closed hands of Mr. Wakley. The exposure that was made was

complete and decisive. From that day forth, magnetism in England has

hid its diminished head, and affronted no longer the common sense of

the age. M. Dupotet is no more heard of, the girls Okey afford no

more either wonder or amusement by their clever acting, and reason has

resumed her sway in the public mind.

A few more circumstances remain to be stated. Elizabeth Okey left the

hospital; but was re-admitted some weeks afterwards, labouring under

ischuria, a fresh complaint, unconnected with her former malady.

As experiments in magnetism were still tried upon her privately,

notwithstanding the recent exposure and the all but universal derision

of the public, the House Committee of the hospital, early in December,

met to consider the expediency of expelling the girl. Dr. Elliotson, on

that occasion, expressed his opinion that it was necessary to retain

her in the hospital, as she was too ill to be discharged. It was then

elicited from the nurse, who was examined by the Committee, that

Okey, when in the state of "magnetic delirium," was in the habit of

prophesying the death or recovery of the patients in the ward; that,

with the consent of Dr. Elliotson, she had been led in the twilight into

the men's ward, and had prophesied in a similar manner; her predictions

being taken down in writing, and given in a sealed paper to the

apothecary, to be opened after a certain time, that it might be seen

whether they were verified. Dr. Elliotson did not deny the fact. The

nurse also stated more particularly the manner in which the prophecies

were delivered. She said that, on approaching the bed of a certain

patient, Okey gave a convulsive shudder, exclaiming that "Great Jacky

was sitting on the bedclothes!" On being asked to explain herself, she

said that Great Jacky was the angel of death. At the bedside of another

patient she shuddered slightly, and said "Little Jacky was there!" Dr.

Elliotson did not altogether discredit the predictions; but imagined

they might ultimately be verified by the death or recovery of the

patient. Upon the minds of the patients themselves, enfeebled as they

were by disease and suffering, the worst effects were produced. One

man's death was accelerated by the despondency it occasioned, and the

recovery of others was seriously impeded.

When these facts became known, the Council of the College requested the

Medical Committee to discharge Okey and prevent any further exhibitions

of Animal Magnetism in the wards. The latter part of this request

having been communicated to Dr. Elliotson, he immediately sent in his

resignation. A successor was afterwards appointed in the person of Dr.

Copland. At his inaugural lecture the students of the college manifested

a riotous disposition, called repeatedly for their old instructor, and

refused to allow the lecture to proceed; but it appears the

disturbance was caused by their respect and affection for Dr. Elliotson

individually, and not from any participation in his ideas about

magnetism.

Extravagant as the vagaries of the English professors of magnetism may

appear, they are actual common sense in comparison with the aberrations

of the Germans. The latter have revived all the exploded doctrines

of the Rosicrucians; and in an age which is called enlightened, have

disinterred from the rubbish of antiquity, the wildest superstitions of

their predecessors, and built upon them theories more wild and startling

than anything before attempted or witnessed among mankind. Paracelsus

and Bohmen, Borri and Meyer, with their strange heterogeneous mixture of

alchymy and religion, but paved the way for the stranger, and even

more extravagant mixture of magnetism and religion, as now practised

in Germany. Magnetism, it is believed, is the key of all knowledge, and

opens the door to those forbidden regions where all the wonders of

God's works are made clear to the mind of man. The magnetic patient is

possessed of all gifts--can converse with myriads of spirits, and

even with God himself--be transported with greater rapidity than the

lightning's flash to the moon or the stars, and see their inhabitants,

and hold converse with them on the wonders and beauties of their

separate spheres, and the power and goodness of the God who made them.

Time and space are to them as if annihilated--nothing is hidden from

them--past, present, or future. They divine the laws by which the

universe is upheld, and snatch the secrets of the Creator from the

darkness in which, to all other men, it is enveloped. For the last

twenty or thirty years these daring and blasphemous notions have

flourished in rank luxuriance; and men of station in society, learning,

and apparent good sense in all the usual affairs of life, have publicly

given in their adhesion, and encouraged the doctrine by their example,

or spread it abroad by their precepts. That the above summary of their

tenets may not be deemed an exaggeration we enter into particulars, and

refer the incredulous that human folly in the present age could ever be

pushed so far, to chapter and verse for every allegation.

In a work published in Germany in 1817, by J. A. L. Richter, entitled

"Considerations on Animal Magnetism," the author states that in

magnetism is to be found the solution of the enigmas of human existence,

and particularly the enigmas of Christianity, on the mystic and obscure

parts of which it throws a light which permits us to gaze clearly on the

secrets of the mystery. Wolfart's "Annals of Animal Magnetism" abound

with similar passages; and Kluge's celebrated work is written in the

same spirit. "Such is the wonderful sympathy," says the latter, "between

the magnetiser and the somnambulist that he has known the latter to

vomit and be purged in consequence of medicine which the former had

taken. Whenever he put pepper on his tongue, or drank wine, the patient

could taste these things distinctly on her palate." But Kerner's history

of the case of Madame Hauffe, the famous magnetic woman, "Seer" or

"Prophetess of Prevorst," Will give a more complete and melancholy proof

of the sad wanderings of these German "men of science," than any random

selections we might make from their voluminous works. This work was

published in two volumes, and the authenticity of its details supported

by Gorres, Eschenmeyer, and other men of character and reputation in

Germany: it is said to have had an immense sale. She resided in the

house of Kerner, at Weinsberg; and being weak and sickly, was very

easily thrown into a state of somnambulism. "She belonged," says Kerner,

"to a world of spirits; she was half spirit herself; she belonged to the

region beyond death, in which she already half existed. * * * Her body

clothed her spirit like a thin veil. * * * She was small and slightly

made, had an Oriental expression of countenance, and the piercing eyes

of a prophet, the gleams of which were increased in their power and

beauty by her long dark eyebrows and eyelashes. She was a flower

of light, living upon sunbeams. * * * Her spirit often seemed to be

separated from her frame. The spirits of all things, of which mankind in

general have no perception, were perceptible to and operated upon her,

more particularly the spirits of metals, herbs, men, and animals. All

imponderable matters, even the rays of light, had an effect upon her

when she was magnetised." The smell of flint was very agreeable to her.

Salt laid on her hand caused a flow of saliva: rock crystal laid on

the pit of her stomach produced rigidity of the whole body. Red grapes

produced certain effects, if placed in her hands; white grapes produced

different effects. The bone of an elk would throw her into an epileptic

fit. The tooth of a mammoth produced a feeling of sluggishness. A

spider's web rolled into a ball produced a prickly feeling in the hands,

and a restlessness in the whole body. Glow-worms threw her into the

magnetic sleep. Music somnambulised her. When she wanted to be cheerful,

she requested Kerner to magnetise the water she drank, by playing the

Jew's-harp. She used to say in her sleep, "Magnetise the water by seven

vibrations of the harp." If she drank water magnetised in this manner,

she was constrained involuntarily to pour forth her soul in song. The

eyes of many men threw her into the state of somnambulism. She said that

in those eyes there was a spiritual spark, which was the mirror of the

soul. If a magnetised rod were laid on her right eye, every object on

which she gazed appeared magnified.

It was by this means that she was enabled to see the inhabitants of the

moon. She said, that on the left side of the moon, the inhabitants were

great builders, and much happier than those on the right side. "I often

see," said she to her magnetiser, "many spirits with whom I do not come

into contact. Others come to me, and I speak to them; and they often

spend months in my company. I hear and see other things at the same

time; but I cannot turn my eyes from the spirits; they are in magnetic

rapport with me. They look like clouds, thin, but not transparent;

though, at first, they seem so. Still, I never saw one which cast a

shadow. Their form is similar to that which they possessed when alive;

but colourless, or grey. They wear clothing; and it appears as if made

of clouds, also colourless and misty grey. The brighter and better

spirits wear long garments, which hang in graceful folds, with belts

around their waists. The expression of their features is sad and solemn.

Their eyes are bright, like fire; but none of them that I ever saw had

hair upon their heads. They make noises when they wish to excite the

attention of those who have not the gift of seeing them. These noises

consist of sounds in the air, sometimes sudden and sharp, and causing

a shock. Sometimes the sounds are plaintive and musical; at other times

they resemble the rustling of silk, the falling of sand, or the rolling

of a ball. The better spirits are brighter than the bad ones, and their

voice is not so strong. Many, particularly the dark, sad spirits, when I

uttered words of religious consolation, sucked them in, as it were;

and I saw them become brighter and quite glorious in consequence: but

I became weaker. Most of the spirits who come to me are of the lowest

regions of the spiritual world, which are situated just above our

atmosphere. They were, in their life, grovelling and low-minded people,

or such as did not die in the faith of Jesus; or else such as, in

expiring, clung to some earthly thought or affection, which now presses

upon them, and prevents them from soaring up to heaven. I once asked a

spirit whether children grew after death? 'Yes,' replied the spirit,'

the soul gradually expands, until it becomes as large as it would have

been on earth. I cannot effect the salvation of these spirits; I am only

their mediator. I pray ardently with them, and so lead them by degrees

to the great Saviour of the world. It costs an infinity of trouble

before such a soul turns again to the Lord.'"

It would, however, serve no good purpose to extend to greater length the

reveries of this mad woman, or to set down one after the other the names

of the magnetisers who encouraged her in her delusions--being themselves

deluded. To wade through these volumes of German mysticism is a task

both painful and disgusting--and happily not necessary. Enough has been

stated to show how gross is the superstition even of the learned; and

that errors, like comets, run in one eternal cycle--at their apogee in

one age, at their perigee in the next, but returning in one phase or

another for men to wonder at.

In England the delusion of magnetism may for the present be considered

as fairly exploded. Taking its history from the commencement, and

tracing it to our own day, it can hardly be said, delusion though it

was, that it has been wholly without its uses. To quote the words of

Bailly, in 1784, "Magnetism has not been altogether unavailing to the

philosophy which condemns it: it is an additional fact to record among

the errors of the human mind, and a great experiment on the strength of

the imagination." Over that vast inquiry of the influence of mind over

matter,--an inquiry which the embodied intellect of mankind will never

be able to fathom completely,--it will, at least, have thrown a feeble

and imperfect light. It will have afforded an additional proof of

the strength of the unconquerable will, and the weakness of matter as

compared with it; another illustration of the words of the inspired

Psalmist, that "we are fearfully and wonderfully made." If it serve no

other purpose than this, its history will prove useful. Truth ere now

has been elicited by means of error; and Animal Magnetism, like other

errors, may yet contribute its quota towards the instruction and

improvement of mankind.

THE END.