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