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CONTEN TS
TH
EO
F
R
TH
R
E
SI D
—
LIT
AL
LI GH
RI
R ATU R
D
E
!
PHE
ME R I
NATUR
RI
RI
‘
AN zEST H E T I C EF F
TH
ER I
OF
M
T
CU R ATIV
NE
S
E E C O CE
E
E E ME SM SM
E
S O N ME S E C
N OM N
E MES SM
EC S
E
s
W
ME SME C
C CE
M SM
I
R IE
OF
PRA
TI
T
AN D
SE N SI T
R I GID ITY
EN E s
E
A
MESMERI SM
R ATI ONAL E OF
.
C HAPTER
OL D
AN D
W
NE
I
.
O RI ES
TH E
.
IT
is necessary at the outset that I should
explain why I am writing abou t mes merism
and not about hypnotism Names are after
all but tickets put by conventional agree
ment upon things or branche s of kn owledge
and if in the first instance a hundred years
ago when the matter began to attract notice
“
in E urope the word hypnotism had been
adopted to describe certain abnormal condi
tions of t he human body an d t he
faculties we need n ot at this stage of the
proceedings have quarreled with the ex
pression
But though it has become so
strangely p opular quite recently the term
“
hypnotism merely represents as regards
i t s actual o rigin a misconception of the facts
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2
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMER I SM
.
relati ng to the abnormal conditions just
mentioned coupled with ;a very unworthy
disposition t o slander the first important ex
ponen t of all this kn owledge in modern
times and to cover a cowardly re treat from
denials which had become no longer tenable
“
In so far as the term hypnotism is con
sci ou sl
preferred
by
some
modern
investi
y
gators that preference rests on the idea that
the earlier belief in the days when nothi ng
“
of the kind was spoken of except mesmer
”
ism has been shown b y later exper ience to
be scientifically erroneous The early belief
was that something in the nature of a subtle
fluid passed from the mesmeric operator to
the subj ect ; whereas some experimentalists
of the modern school have ascertained that
results alleged to have been obtained by
mesmerism can be brought about where no
operator takes part in the undertakin g
S ome people by si mply working for them
selves apparatus of a suitable sort by gaz
ing for example at the rapid flashes of a
revolving mirror or by merely concentrating
their attention on a spot of bright light will
be enabled to brin g on a cer t ain abnormal
or shall we say cataleptic condition of their
nerves which will in it s turn superinduce
,
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OL D A N D N E
W TH EORI ES
3
.
anaesthesia perhaps o r even some imperfect
psychic phenomena But the discovery of
these people does not in the smallest degree
disprove the other discovery of the earlier
mesmerists that a subtle fluid really does
pass when an operator properly qualified
himself is at work an d the fact that this is
so is proved by many more experimentali sts
than have endeavored to maintain the bare
hypnotic hypothesis Further than this
many mesmerists of the higher order enter
tain no doubt concerning the existence of
this fluid for the simple reason that they
can see it
S ight is a faculty which varies in its pen
e t r at i v e po w er in a greater degree even than
telescopes vary A tolerably simple e x pe r i
ment to test thi s may be devised on the fol
lowing plan : I f a spectrum from a ray of
sun l ight be thrown upon a screen every one
who is acquainted with the most elementary
facts of optics will be aware t hat b e ydn d t he
colored band of light which is visible there
are invisible rays the presence of which can
be proved by means of photographic paper
and the chem ical power of which indeed is
considerably greater than that of t he bright
r ays actually s e en
It is perhaps not so
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4
TH
E R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMERI SM
.
generally known however that the power
o f direct vision extends with some people
much further in the directi on of those so
called ul tra vi olet rays than is the case with
o thers
The maj ority of p e ople it is true
will come t o a tolerably close a
r eement as
g
to the distance along the colored band of
light on the screen which they can see and
if asked to mark the place at which the vio
let tinge absolutely ceases will mark places
that are not very widely apart but here and
there a small percentage of more peculiarly
endowed observers will be found to se e
greatly beyond the usual stopping place
Just in the same way other visible pheno
men a of nat ure besides rays of violet light
melt so to speak in others which are not
o rdinarily visible and the subtle fl uid which
emanates from a mesmeric operator is very
close to the border land of the phenomena
which every one can se e and therefore can
be discerned by I should think many more
people than wi ll be able to se e to any con
s i de r ab le distance into the ul tra violet spec
tru m A well known writer Baron v on
R eichenbach devoted himself especially t o
this branch of mesmeric inquiry He has
r ec o rded with patient care
for which a pig
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AN D N E
OL D
W TH EOR I ES
5
.
headed generation inhabiting the earth
about the middle o f this century gave him
no gratitude a long series of results obtained
“
with a great many sensitives whom he
employed all having to do with their power
of seeing visible emanations from human
fin gers as also fro m physical magnetic ap
paratus
’
Baron von R eichenbach s experiments
properly foll o wed up wo uld ha v e been found
to constitute a complete demonstration of
the theory of mesmerism advanced by M es
mer him self in the first instance and uure
harm ony
se r v e dly adopted as entirely in
with their own extensive observation and
practice by his immediate followers de Puy
’
s egur and Deleuze But before the Baron s
time the whole subject had been discredited
‘
by reason of the fierce i n ci e duli t y it e n cou n
t e r e d at the hands of the orthodox scientific
world at the beginning of the century In
the long history of human blunderin g t here
can hardly be any example more r e m ar ka
ble than that afforded by the rej ection of
mesmerism at thi s perio d The facts ill us
t r at i n g the reality of mesmer i sm issued in
torrents from every centre of mesmeric ac
t iv i t y but the passive opp o sitio n o f bigotry
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6
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMER I SM
.
was not to be o vercome
Hundreds o f
people practiced mesmerism employing it
solely as a curative agent ; its highest p sy
chic aspects being at that time little under
stood even by its war m e st p ar t i san s and
thousands of people benefited b y its applica
tion But all the recognized societies and
corporations of science were arrayed in arms
against it and professional persecution was
the lot of any medical man who identified
hi mself with the n e w discovery
This per
sc ontion in the end stamped it out almost
entirely S ome further details on this point
will fall most naturally into their place when
I come to speak of the early literature of
mesmerism but for the moment I pass on to
trace the genesis of the modern view of the
subj ect in connection with which we have to
congratulate ourselves on the broad fact
that one of the most important avenues of
knowledge open to students of the natural
history of humanity is n ow again available
for general use but in connection with
which except for that broad fact we have
as a generation little to be proud of
M odern writers on hypnotism are almost
all building their conclusions on a negation
of truth concerning the fo rces really at work
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8
'
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMERI SM
.
subj ect the flag o f error so to speak We
o ught not to make peace with it at all
The general use of the term dates back to
M r Braid of M anchester a surgeon who is
called by MM Binet and Fé r é f t he initiator
”
of the scientific study of animal magnetism
He was really a person who invented a
method of thinking whi ch enabled people
thus inclined t o handle and talk about some
of the phenomena of mesmerism without
setting themselves in opposition to medical
orthodoxy and without giving up the u n
grateful cry that M esmer was an impostor
For half a century the medical profession
had committed itself to the denial of patent
facts and the v ilificat i on of all who observed
and reported them Mr Braid by a bold
man oeuvre possessed himself of some at any
rate among the facts and by puttin g a
forged ticket upon them justified himself
b efore the world for continuing to vilify
their real discoverers for con t m m n g to
swim at ease with the stream of bigotry
an d s o afl or de d his confreres an opportunity
of escapi ng from the inconvenience of being
at war with notorious experience without i n
curring the hum i liation of confessing that
they had previously been in the wrong
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OL D A N D
NE
W TH EORI ES
9
.
’
Braid s theory of hypnotism was set forth
in the first instance in a little volume from
hi s pen , published in 1 84 3 under the title
Ne ur ypn ology ; or the R ationale of Ner
vous S leep considered in relation t o Animal
”
M agnetism
This was an expansion of an
address M r Braid delivered at a meeting of
the British Association held in Manche ster
in 1 84 2 The author avows that he was led
t o hi s conclusions by certain phenomena he
witnessed at a séance conducted by M L a
fontaine a mesmerist but he writes rather
irritably t o maintain the originality of his
views that seem at once to have been referred
on their first enunciation by his critics to
previous experimentalists especially M
Bertrand and t he Ab b e Far i a He is sp e
ci ally eager to make out that his processes are
quite difie r e n t from anyt hing previously
“
known He says I have now entirely se p
ar at e d hypnotism from animal magnetism
I conside r it to be merely asi rn p le fi spe e dy
an d certain mode o f throwin g the nervous
system into a new condition which may be
rendered eminently available in the cure of
certain disorders
He attended M L afon
’
taine s séance because he considered mes
“
meric phenomena a system of c ollusion
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10
OF MESMERI SM
TH E R A TI ON A L E
.
or delusion or of excited imagination sym
pathy or imitation
That night I saw
nothin g to di min ish but rather to confirm
”
my previous prejudices
However at the
next con v ersazione six night s afterwards
o n e fact the inability o f a patie nt to open
his eyelids arrested my attention I con
s i de r e d that to be a real phenome n on
He watched this case especially and felt
He at
assured he had discovered a cause
once se t to work with experiments of his
“
own to prove that the inability of the
patient to open his eyes was caused by para
lyz i n g the levator muscles of the eyelids
thr ough their con tinued action during the
”
protracted fixed stare
Operating with
i s own and constrai n ing them
s ubj ects of h
to fatigue the muscles in question by a pro
longed upward gaze he soon obtained the
complete hyp notic trance together wi th all
the n ow familiar symptoms rigidity of the
limbs at the command of the operator great
exaltation of the senses liabili ty to b all u ci
nation imposed by the operator and cura
tive effects in cases of ill ness where the hyp
n ot i c trance was i n duced with the curative
intention There is something fairly ludi
cr ou s and not a little contemptible in the
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AN D N E
OL D
W
TH
EOR I ES
11
.
way Mr Braid calmly passes on t o deal
with these phenomena as the results of hi s
method and hi s discovery when he sets out
with the assum ption that everything of the
sam e kind accomplished by his predecessors
was imposture and that he picked out from
mesmerism the one fact that was true
that
people could not open their eyes if the leva
tor muscles were paralyzed by previous star
ing On e can hardl y understand how vanity
could blind him to the glaring absur dity of
his own position If fatigue of the levator
muscles had anything to do with the matter
that cause would not extend to effects rang
ing beyond the eyelids Mr Braid dropped
upon the curious facts of phr e n o mesmerism
which show different propensities in a mes
m e r i z e d subj ect stimul ate d to unwonted ao
t i v i t y by t ouching the correspondin g organs
o f the brain Piety benevolen ce cupidity
can by his own showing be played upon in
“
this way with a subject who i s
no
”
t i z e d and yet he still keeps in the forefront
of his treatise on all experiments of this na
t ure his original silly guess that the state in
which they become possible is due to the
fatigue of certain muscles in the eyelids
M r Braid in reality must have been a
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1
2
TH E R A TI ON AL E
OF MESMER I SM
.
mesmerist of considerable force without
knowi ng enough of the subj ect he arrogantly
despised to understand the methods by
which his results were accomplished for he
ev i dently obtained an extraordinarily large
“
percentage of successes with the people he
experimented on But he has received so
much undue credit of late from modern
writers on the subject especially in this
country that it is worth whil e to show in
oppositio n t o the i ndignant claim for origi
nality he puts forward that there was no
thi ng o riginal even i n his misapprehensions
or least obj ectionable
On e of the best
’
modern books on the subj ect Dr M oll s
“
Hypnotism ! translated from the Ger
man! skims the history of mesmerism at
the outset and says : The whole doctrine
received a great impetus thr ough the Abbé
Faria
In 1 81 4 1 5 he showed by ex
r i m e n t s whose resul ts he published that
e
p
no unkn own force was necessary for the pro
duction of the phenomena ; the cause of the
sleep he said was in the person who was t o
”
be sent to sleep ; all was subj ective
This
is the main principle of hypnotism and of
suggestion of which Faria even then made
use in inducing sleep Two other investiga
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OL D
AN D
NE
W
TH
EOR I ES
.
13
tors in France must be mentioned Bertrand
and N oi z e t who paved the way for the doc
trine of suggestion in spite of much inclina
tion to animal magnetism
Thus Mr Braid is glorified in modern ar
t i cle s and books on hypnotism as the man
who extracted the real truth of the subject
from the con fu s1 on left by foolish e n t hu si
asts or impostors l n the beginning and put
us all on a scientific fo undation in spite of
the fact that his vie w is not only a gigantic
blunder absurdly at variance w ith the facts
even as reported by himself but even as a
bl under no better than a plagiary
’
The M anchester surgeon s reasoning would
have been blown to atoms by contemporary
critics if it had been oppose d to in stead of
chiming i n with conve n tional prejudice
But fashion soon becomes an ample cloak
for bad logic and on e after another,mod
ern writers if drawn to the subj ect of
meri cphenomena at all date t hei r chr o
n olo
from
the
year
1
of the B r aidi an era
gy
E ven the treatise on Hypnotism
by A l
bert Moll of Berlin though in some r e
s e ct s the best of the recent volum es of the
p
B r ai di an school i s infected with its funda
mental principle I hope to show shortly
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14
ME SMERI SM
TH E R A TI ON A L E OF
.
that the real literature of mesmerism lies in
the background behind the shower of occa
si on al essays bro u ght forth by the vogue of
’
Dr Charcot s experiments but it may be as
well in the fir st instance to complete the
’
account I have just given of Br aid s own
work ;by noticing some of those whi ch follow
in his footsteps
’
Dr M oll s book is not without merit as an
epitome of the subj ect from the limited mod
ern standpoint It contains a fairly reason
able an d impartial though hasty survey of
the rise and progress of mesmerismfrom the
time of M esmer onward to the present day
also an account of the di fie r e n t methods em
ployed by di fie r e n t schools of mesmerists in
inducing the various mesmeric phenomena
The wr iter chi efly errs in concen trating his
attention too much on recent results and in
deali ng with the phenomena of hypnotic sug
gestion as though they con stituted an e n
t i r e ly new depart ure in hum an knowledge
He justly rebukes some modern scientists
who treat hypnotic experiments with con
“
tempt but says so long as science does not
examin e everything practically and without
prejudice the great delusions of which ani
mal magnetism etc make use will continue
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16
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF ME SMER I SM
.
and Charles Fere the latter assistant phy
s i ci an at the Salp et r i er e in Paris have pub
li she d in L ondon a book in E nglish which is
”
“
Animal M agnetism perhaps si m
calle d
”
ply to avoid repeating the title Hypnotism
already so frequently used ; b u t it might just
as well have been called by the expression
It is introduced
so popul ar for the moment
to the reader as written in the environment
of the Salp ét r i e r e ; it is based on the notion
that there is but on e hypnotism and that
Charcot i s its prophet
The keynote of the volume as an inter
r e t at i on
of
the
phenomena
it
deals
with
p
may be found in the following sentence s
from the beginning of an early chapter
“
As far as its mode of production is con
cerned hypnotic sleep does not essenti all y
differ from nat ural sleep of which it is in
fact only a modification and all the causes
which produce fatig ue are capable of p r odu
cing hypnosis in those who are subj ect to it
S ensorial excitements produce hyp
nosis in two ways
when they are strong
and abrupt o r when they are faint and con
”
t i n u e d for a prolonged period
It is difi cult to criticise such a theory as
this in m o derate terms It is difficul t t o get
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OL D A N D
NE
W TH EORI ES
17
.
behind the mind of a man who can think
that a condition in which people can suffer
a leg to be cut off without knowing it i s
something akin to natural sle ep an d to be
properly described as only a modification of
“
it Certainly in on e sense death and his
brother sleep are akin but rather in poetic
fancy than in the pages of sober science If
on e thing is said to be a modification of an
other the meaning surely is that i t does not
differ greatly from it in essential character
In the mesmeric trance not only do we meet
with astoundin g effects of anaesthesia
when a pinch of the arm would be e n ou gh t o
”
wake an ybody from natural sleep
but
also an en tirely new condition of the intel
lectual faculties utterly cu t off by oblivion
before the su b ject comes out of the trance
from the waking con scl ou sn e ss Who has
known the natural sleep in which the sleeper
is able to converse freely on recon dite sub
j ects quite unfamiliar to him i n his wa ki n g
state ? and ye t it is a common experience of
mesmerism that this is possible in the mag
’
netic trance If MM Bin et and Fe r é had
“
said In the narrow an d limited phase of
mesmeric conditions with which we are
alo ne c oncerned there i s some analogy b e
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18
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF ME SMER I SM
.
tween what we call hypnosis an d ordinary
”
sleep the statement would hardl y be accu
rate ; but when put forward on the basis of a
general assumption that the so call ed hyp
nosis embraces all that is true and real in
mesmerism it is nothing less than absurd
In fact the whole theory of the Charcot
school depends upon a studious disregard of
all the facts of experience that do not square
with it For instance i n the book before us
“
we read of manoeuvres which formerly led
to t he belief that it is possible to magnetize
from a distance and then this belief is dis
posed of by the suppositio n that in such cases
the subj ect had been told to expect the cfl e ct
fr om a distance at a certain time and there
fore the results have on ly been due to su g
”
gestion in the wakin g state
In reality all
the records of mesmerism both early and
recent teem with illustrations of the way in
whi ch magnetic influence from a distan ce
has been successfully exerted upon persons
quite un prepared to expect it From de
’
P u ységur s time down to some of the recent
experiments of the S ociety for Psychical R e
search the fact has been substantiated over
and over again but it does not fit in with the
favorite Braid Charcot hypothesis so t an t
i
s
our le s f a i t s as usual
p p
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OL D
AN D
NE
W TH E OR I E S
19
.
The more attention we pay to modern
writers on hypn otism t he more those of us
who are al so famil iar with the earlier writers
w ill be struck by the fact that above all the ir
other characteristics the modern hyp n otists
from Braid downwards are n ot those who
have put the 1 n v e st i gat i on of mesmeric phe
nomen a on a scien tific basis They have
done just the reverse ; they have degraded
an in quiry which was open ed just a hun dred
years ago in a truly s cien tific Spirit in to an
attempt to bolster up an un i n tell igent p r e ju
dice For the truly scientific spirit leads
people to study all the facts of experience i n
the particular departmen t of n ature con
cerned and to refrain from premature the
n s from wh
or i z i n
in
directio
c
h
some
of
these
i
g
facts warn them off The re was no prema
ture theorizing in the case Of M esmer and his
followers when they adopted the hypothesis
of a mes m
eric or magn etic fluid A ll the
facts known to them up to that time squared
with that hypothesis and if their st ééz st or s
ha
d been loyal to truth an d had gone on test
ing the early hypothesis by later experience
they woul d have fOun d it supported by every
thin g that has been discovered since and in
no way refuted by the discovery that som e of
,
.
,
.
,
.
!
.
’
,
,
2
0
MESMER I SM
TH E R A TI ON A L E OF
.
the phenomena produced by the agency of
the magnetic fluid were also susceptible of
bein g induced more or less imperfectly
in other ways as well But latter day i n v e s
They
t i gat or s have not been loyal t a truth
have chosen for consideration only those
facts and experiences which suited them and
have calmly ign ored the rest Incidentally
it is true they have done a public service ;
they have se t afloat a general belief that
mesmerism after all is a reality and but for
them perhaps it would only at thi s day have
been a reality for isolated students of occult
science But the limitations to which their
theories and methods condemn their
ow n
thinking are deplorable and stand at this
moment t e r r l b ly in the way of any real p r o
gress in the cul tivation of the public mind
along the channels of research which m e s
merism correctly appreciated opens ou t
The principle of study which it is my
foremost desire to i m p r e ss on those who will
listen to me is this : L et all who wish to
read about mesmerism go back to the foun
tain head of the subject and explore the v ol
um i n ou s writings of the early French school
of which I propose to speak more fully in
the next few pages In that lite r ature the
-
"
.
.
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
'
,
-
,
.
OL D
NE
AN D
W TH E OR I E S
2
1
.
real foundations of ou r knowledge of mes
meri sm were laid There we shall find it is
true some traces of a most pardonable if
n ot praiseworthy excitement and enthusiasm
in reference to the wonderful b e n e fice n ce of
the new revelation which mesmeric discover
ies seemed to embody There we shall read
of some procedure i n which we shall fail to
’
discern the true working of M esmer s own
ideas ; but at the time a p r odigious excite
ment was operative with large num b ers of
people deeply stirred by wonder and admi
ration and many cures were worked through
the influence of an overwhelming faith in
association with an external ceremon ial that
probably had little if any objective effect
S imilar results have been Observed within
n d o n ly the other
r ecent years at L ourdes a
day at Treves in conn ect ion with the e x hi
”
“
b i t i on of the
Holy Coat
But persons
who justly conceive that touching a Holy
Coat of which even the holiness 1s apqcr y
phal woul d not do t he m any good ,make a
mistake unworthy of the superior sense they
take credit for if they fail to realize thatfu ll
b e li ef in a Holy Coat or a holy anything is a
real force within the organisms of the per
’
sons inspired by i t
M esmer s b agu e t s and
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
!
.
2
2
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MESME R I SM
.
’
de P uységur s magnetized trees may not have
”
“
worked in the same way as the passes
and magnetic currents with whi ch those
early experimentalists sought to coOr di n at e
them But t he y w or ke d an d therefore the
writers in question honestly r ecorded the
facts con cerning them not yet hav i n g
learned from M r Braid and the hypnotizers
that the way to put their inquiry on a sci e n
t ific b asis was to pick and choose among
the experiences they acqui red so as o n l y
to father those which were calcul ated to
please a self suffici e n t public opinion around
them
To put aside the writings and experiments
that relate to the present di storted revival of
mesmerism un der a misleading pseudonym
and to turn back to the pages of de P uysé
ur and Deleuze R icard
Gauthier
Teste
g
and du Potet is like passing from an evil
and stifling t o a p ure m o ral atmosphere
'
.
,
‘
,
.
,
-
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
4
2
TH E R A TI
ONA LE
OF
ME SMER I SM
.
time as we shall see later on the faculties
which constitute a person what we now call
a sensitive were supposed t o manifest them
selves during illness only and they were
ought for by inquirers among persons suf
fe r i n g from some form of sick ness
With
!
the painstaking care of a true man of sci
ence Baron von R eichenbach repeated his
experim ents with magnets with a great num
ber of subj ects taking care of course to test
the reality of their power to see what they
said they saw by making them fin d ou t his
magnets in dark rooms without havi ng been
told where they had been placed and in
other ways Then he found that the lumi
nous brushes or flames were to be seen
emanating from crystals as well as from mag
nets The experiments which brought ou t
these facts were elaborate and protracted
but soon acquired a new development al
most by accident
Baron von R eichenbach discovered that
luminous appearances similar to those
emanating from magnets and crystals pro
ce e de d from the human hand in a great
many cases and he dropped u pon this fact
quite by chance in the first instance without
having set out on this inquiry with any pre
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
.
,
.
,
,
,
,
TH E
’
ER I C
MESM
FOR C E
2
5
.
conceived theory He was experimenting
with on e of his sensitives with a magnet in
the dark and she was playing with the lu
minousflame which she could perceive com
ing out of the ends when he in the darkness
put his hand between her and the magnet
S he immediately began to play in the same
way with emanations from the hand and
spoke to the bystanders of five little flames
which leaped up and down in the air S he
did not see the hand itself and at first sup
posed the five little flames to be some in de
pendent phenomen on O ther persons pres
ent then raised their hands before her and
from vari ous fingers she saw a similar light
emitted more or less energetically This
sensitive M iss R eichel app ears to have
been the first in con nection with whom Baron
von R eichenbach broke down an erroneous
belief which had hitherto prevailed with all
the earlier mesmerists As we shall se e
when coming to review the early literature
li St s clOsOIy fol
almost all the e x pe r i m e n t a
lowing on M esmer became possessed of the
idea that t he clairvoyance they discovered in
their patients and which almost always had
’
reference to the patients illnesses was n e
ce ssar i ly extinguished on
the recovery of
.
,
,
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,
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,
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,
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,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
2
6
TH E
R A TI ON A LE
OF
ME SMER I SM
.
health ; and they thus drifted into a way of
supposing that the power was in some way
morbid in its character that it related
exclusively to pathological conditions and
ceased to be effective when these were
no longer present In referen ce to M iss
Reichel Baron von R eichenbach announces
as a wonderful fact that even after she got
well she continued to see the magnetic flames
the crystal light and the flames on the hand
when ever it was dark en ough O n inquiry
it appeared that she had possessed this fac
u lt y even from chil d
hood and had two si s
ters who like herself saw these luminous
appearances when other persons could see
nothing
Further experiments with other sensitives
soon enabled the Baron to generalize as a
prin ciple and to declare that fiery brushes
of light issue from the points of the fin gers
of healthy men in the same manner as from
the poles o f crystals R eaders who may
’
take up the Baron s book now especially
with the object of gettin g information about
the vital mesmeric fluid will be tantalized to
fin d how much more of his attention he de
voted to mechanical sources of the luminous
e fie ct than to those having direct reference
,
,
.
”
,
,
,
.
“
,
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
TH E
MESMER I C FOR C E
2
7
.
to mesmeric energy But the truth 1 s that
this characteristic of his research gives it
pecul iar importance at the present day to
students of mesmerism as a science because
it links the vital energy of the human frame
with other great forces in nature an d brings
ou r thi n king into line with those great phi
losophi cal specul ation s which always seek for
unity in nature A very disjointed and i l
logical conception of t he cosmos is that
which regards anything in man as altogether
peculiar to himself as a man ifestation of na
ture Just as his physique is related in v a
rio n s ways to the matter around us out of
which it is built up by the subtle chemistry
of living organ isms and just as philosophical
convictions must force us to the conclusion
that the highest spiritual element in the hu
man soul has in some way a common origin
with the Universal S pirit from whose energy
the whole o f what is called creation must
have proceeded , so also it is only reasonable
t o suppose that these 1 n t e r m e diat e forces with
Which We are n ow dealing the vital forces
which are something intermediate in their
character between matter an d spirit must
themselves be relate d to s ome c o rresponding
agen t o f wide diffusion through the universe
.
,
,
.
.
,
'
,
,
.
2
8
TH E R A TI
ONA LE OF MESME RI SM
.
M esmer guessed at this with the inspiration
of
genius and ridiculed as he was by the
learned foll y of his time the latest coOr di
nation of all our knowledge havin g reference
to occul t forces is steadily brin gin g u s back
to the position he took up J L et us profit
’
therefore by v on R eichen bach s researches
even where they do not directly refer t o man
i fe st at i on s of vital e n ergy proceeding from
living organisms E specially let us profit
by some very interestin g an d suggestive ex
r i m e n t s he tried with sunlight as a source
e
p
of energy discernible in the case of magnets
He wished to ascertain whether sunlight fall
ing on one end of a copper wire would su
e r i n du ce any conditions in the other end
p
when this shoul d be examined in a dark room
by one of his sensitives The copper wire
by itself presented no appearance that coul d
be remarked but when the other end was
put ou t into the sunshine a crystall ic lum i
n o si t
became
perceptible
in
a
weak
degree
y
as emanating from the other e n d in the dark
room The next experiment had to do wi th
a superior arrangemen t of thi s apparatus
The wire was attached at one end to a plate
of copper and this plate of copper was ex
osed
to
the
sunlight
nder
these
condi
U
p
,
,
.
,
,
.
.
.
,
.
.
,
.
TH E
MESMER I C FOR C E
2
9
.
tions a powerful manifestation of the ln
minous energy which Baron von R eichen
“
”
bach eventually call s the odic force was
manife sted The importance of this di scov
ery which von R eichenbach checks in a
great many ways and elaborates with a great
variety of substances besides copper r e
’
sides in the obvious reflection that the sun s
light i s the great source of vital energy
which evokes organic c o nditions of matter
from the I norganic world The whole veg
etable creation is the first storehouse of vital
energy whatever it may be and this it
’
clearly derives directly from the sun s rays
That the animal kingdom derives its vital
forces from the translation of vegetable or
n i sm s into those adapted to its own
re
a
g
’
i
r e m e n t s is equally obvious
s
and
the
sun
u
q
light must thus be regarded as i n directly the
source of animal life
H ow far it might
influence refresh or stimulate that life by
direct application is unknown to u s only
because modern science has been se d e nsely
incapable of pursuing lines of thought which
do not hinge directly on to any o f its own
material achievement s
’
Among Baron von R eichenbach s e xpe r i
ments one long series which I must not st op
,
,
.
,
—
.
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
30
TH E R A TI
ONA L E OF MESMERI SM
.
to recapitulate in detail has reference t o the
polar character of the odic force ; distinct
analogies between the polar character of
ordinary magnetism and that of the vital
energy being elaborately traced
’
V on R eichen bach s first v olume though
n glish translation i n 1 85 0
ublished
in
the
E
p
relates to a series of experiments which were
apparently con cluded about the year 1 84 8
Attacks of all kinds were of course leveled
again st him and hi s results treated as i n con
R ecogn izing himself that they
clu si v e
rested on a foundation which was narrow
considerin g the importance of t he principles
to be established being the result of e x p e r i
men ts with five different sensitives he se t
to work i n the two followin g years to expand
them enormously When his second volum e
was brought out he was enabled to supply a
list of sixty sensitive persons m e n an d wo
men mothers and maidens childr en and
aged persons high low rich and poor
with whom he had repeated the experiences
of his first investigation ; and n ow he had
come satisfactorily to the principle that ill
ness had nothing to do with the matter as
regards the power of perceiving the o di c
fluid Perfectly healthy and stro ng persons
,
.
,
,
.
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
3
2
TH E
RA TI ON AL E
OF
MESMER I SM
.
as some of those presented to u s by
the most modern writers to account for the
already enormous accum ul ation of mesmeric
experience
F or the moment of course the mesmeric
fluid theory is altogether out of fashi on and
the most recent inquirers who have se t to
work within the last few years to rediscover
the facts already included in books written
from fifty to eighty years ago have been con
sp i cu ou s illust ration s of on e
very common
human frailt y in reference t o all advances
of kn owledge When for the fir st time
their attention has been turned to a subject
n eglected up till then
they have acted as
though their own conversion to an appr e ci a
tion of the facts constit uted a sort of new
depart ure for those facts There i s some
thing positively ludicrous to readers familiar
with the earlier books in the great library of
mesmeric literature in the way the least i n
t e lli ge n t of modern stu dents invariably treat
the whole subject if they handl e it at all as
something which they for the first time at
last have ascertained to be really worth ih
quiry and in reference to which it is now
important that mankind should begin in
co mpany with them to observe facts and lay
i llogical
,
.
,
,
,
,
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,
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,
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,
,
TH E
’
E MER I C
M S
FOR C E
33
.
a foundation for reasoning We have been
confronted in the last fe w years with a del
uge of hypnotic literature but most of the
books written to ampli fy the hypnotic hypo
thesis coul d hardly on e would think have
been written if the authors had had the good
sense to acquaint themselves with all that
had been previously done in the line of their
investigations It seems as I have
o wn
said already rat her as though the obj ect of
the manoe uvre was to escape from an unten
able position than to exhibit any new truth
when the first exponents of the hyp notic
theory adopted the principle they represent
To identify those who were really the first
expon ents of this principle might be difficult
n ow
Bertrand at all events anticipated
Braid by half a lifetime though Braid was so
satisfied of hi s own originality that he ridi
cul es as we have seen with the utmost pos
sible indignation some contemporary critics
who endeavored to introduce him to his
predeces sors in error P e r e an t qui a me n os
.
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
.
,
,
,
,
-
zt
.
n os t r a
dime r i n t
Before leaving this branch of the subject
’
let me add that R eichenbach s experiments
as will have been seen lent a better ju st ifi
cation than is generally supposed t o exist
,
,
34
TH E
RA TI ONA LE OF MESMERI SM
.
for the habit into which early mesmeric
w riters fell of cal ling the mesmeric fluid
”
“
magnetism
This term has rather e x as
n
i
r at e d modern scientific th
kers
who
com
e
p
plain not without apparent reason that no
thing i n the behavior or phenomena of what
is call ed animal magnetism be a
s
any
more
r
relation to the force known as magnetism in
the laboratories than to gravitation or chem
ical affinity or any other force of nature we
like to name But first of all the whole lit
i s subj e ct is so saturated with
e r at ur e of th
“
the expression magnetism as applied to all
the phenomena with which mesmeris t s deal
that it woul d be hardl y possible at the pres
ent day to comb it free of that expressio n ;
and secondl y we have at all events no
better term that can b e employed t o take its
place Fur ther than t his so very close a
correspondence is observed by people who
can s e e beyond the o rdinary boun dary of
visual perception between the emanations
of physical magnets both of t he permanent
and electrically excited orders and o n the
other hand the emanations proceeding from
the fingers and head of a mesmerist
an d
obviously c oncerned in some way with the
so call ed magnetic trance of hi s subj ect
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
/
,
,
,
,
,
-
,
TH E
ME SMER
’
IC
FOR C E
35
.
that in the present state of ou r knowledge I
think it woul d be a great mistake to quarrel
“
too hastily with the term animal magnet
ism
Personally I believe that to be a
designation which much more accurately
defines the great majority of mesmeric phe
n om e n a than any other we could employ
It certainly covers a hundred such pheno
mena for every on e whi ch fits in with the
hypnotic hypothesis and is therefore the
b est abstract term to employ next after the
still more convenient because non connota
tive expression derived from the name o f
the unfortunate and much abused M esmer
,
.
.
,
,
-
,
.
C HAPTER
T H E R EAL
L I T ER A T U R E OF
MESMER himself
M esmer
III
.
MESMER I SM
.
,
Frederick Anthony
to Picard was born at
Weiler on the Rhin e in the year 1 7 34 He
studied medicine in his youth and settled as
a doctor in Vienna where he ultimately mar
ried advantageously In 1 7 66 he wrote a
“
dissertation on The Influences of the Plan
”
ets on the Human Body which drew upon
him much ridicule and professional opposi
tion The attempt t o account for this i n
fl u e n ce led him to make the experiments
whi ch introduced hi m to the facts with which
his name has been since indi ssolubly associ
ated At first he worked entirely with mag
nets obtained som e cures by this means and
“
w rote
A L etter to a F oreign Physician on
the M agnetic R emedy
But he w as much
persecuted for his audacity For the fur
ther development of his inquiries he estab
li she d a pri v ate hospital in his own house for
the relief of destitute invalids He soon
—
accor dm g
,
.
,
,
.
,
.
.
,
,
;
REA L LI TER A T URE OF MESMER I SM
.
37
came t o the conclusion that the magnetic
rods with which his first experiments were
made only served as conductors for a fluid
emanati ng from his own person To this he
at once gave the name Animal M agnetism
and theorized boldl y concerning its diffusion
through nature But he was accused of de
ce i v i n g his public and of having magnetic
rods concealed about hi s person an accu
sation which i s very amusing in view of the
fact that when he really used magnetic
rods he was ridicul ed for expecting to oh
tain curative results by such means His
reputation was assailed and his fortune i m
paired He sought some more favora b le
theatre for the development of his e xp e r i
men ts and moved from Vienna t o Paris in
Two years later he pdb li she d a short
1777
treatise enti tled M émoi re su r la decou
verte da M agn étisme Anima
The the
’
ory put forward rested on M esmer s convi o
“
tion that there exists a reciprocal influence
between t he he av e n ly b odi e s the e ar t hf an d
”
animated beings
The medium of this i n
“
fl u e n ce he conceived to be
a very subtle
fluid pervading the whole universe which
from its nature is capable of receiving prop
agat i n g and communicating every imp ul s e
,
.
,
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,
,
,
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.
,
.
“
,
.
‘
,
.
,
,
,
38
TH E R A TI
ONA LE OF MESMERI SM
.
of motion The recipr o cal action is subject
to certain mechanic al laws which have not
yet been di scovered
The animal b ody
experiences the alternative e ffects of this
agent which by insin uating itself into the
substance of the nerves afie ct s them imme
’
”
di at e ly
M esmer s suggestions to this e f
fe ct were treated by the men of science in
Paris at the time with contempt On e i n
deed of the members of the medical facult y
’
of Paris Dr D Eslon became a warm par
’
tisan of M esmer s views But instead of
i nqui ring into them the F acul t y suspended
’
Dr D Eslon for a year and ordered that
at the expiration of this time his name
shoul d be erased from the list of the society
unless he recanted his declaration of belief
The public meanwhile became interested to
as the fame
s ome extent in the n e w ideas
of various magnetic cures had be en spread
about Various persons testified to the fact
that M esmer had cured them but the pub
lic journal s ridiculed him and the medical
profession reviled him In 1 7 81 he pub
“
Précis Historique
li she d a work entitled
”
de s F aits relatif au M agnétisme Animal
The opposi t ion he encountered only st i m u
lated hi s own enthusiasm and led him t o
.
.
,
,
,
.
.
,
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,
.
,
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,
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,
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.
,
40
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMER I SM
.
claims advanced o n behalf of the the ory of
animal magnetism The report was un fa
after an inquiry which the r e p r e se n
v or ab le
t at i v e s of the n e w science d eclared to have
been improperly conducted ; though on e em
i n e n t physician ! de Ja ssieu! ref used to sub
scribe to the report of his coll eagues and
after a great deal of attention paid to t he
subject published an independent rep o rt
entirely favorable to M esmer
of his own
E ven the general body of the Commissioners
admitted the e ffects produced by the mag
’
netic treatment but repudiated M esmer s
theory of a fluid and preferred hyp otheses
concernin g sensitive excitement imagina
”
tion and imitation
M esmer eventually retired in disgust to
Swi tzerland an d died at an advanced age in
1 81 5 closin g his career as he had begun it
by practicin g magnetic cures gratuitously
for the ben efit of the poor Beyond a cer
tain fancy for surroun ding hi s mode of life
in Paris with a flavor of mystery and theat
r i cal e ffect it is di fficult to fi
n d any c i rcum
’
stances i n M esmer s lif e that afford the slight
est color for the offensive terms in whi ch he
has constantly been spoken of even by some
students and adherents of hi s great subject
.
,
,
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,
,
,
,
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.
,
,
.
REA L LI TE RA T URE
OF
MESMER I S M
41
.
’
During M esmer s life the phenomena of
animal magnetism to which attention was
chiefly called were those connected with the
cure of disease M any societies were formed
as branches of that first se t on foot and
while on the one hand the orthodox medical
scientists of the day continued to treat with
contempt the belief of those who declared
that such and such results were aecom
l
i
she d the volume of experience roll ed on
p
for all who paid attention to the work in
progress A very ludicrous aspect is thus
put for students of mesmeric literature o n
the ignorant conceit of the dominant maj or
ity who were all the while denying the pos
si b i li t
of that which was actually occurring
y
After the foolish bigotry of the doctors at
large had thus been at war With the plain
facts of the case for more t han forty years
medical mesmerism at last r eceived a gr u dg
ing recognition from orthodox science in
At this date a committee of the med
1 831
ical section of the French R oyal A cade my of
S ciences was appointed to e x am m e into the
alleged phenomena of animal magnetism
The report made by this committee after
long and careful investigations constitutes
a remarkable r e cor d of experiments on the
,
,
.
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
.
.
,
,
'
4
2
TH E R A TI
ON A L E OF ME SMER I SM
'
.
physic al phenomena of the mesmeric state ;
it also goes at length into cases in whi ch p a
t i e n t s under medical mesmeric treat ment
were clairvoyant in their t rances and accu
prophetic
concerning
the
subsequent
r at e l
y
course of their m al adie s The report
signed by nine members of the Academy is
apologetic in regard to its assurance that the
alleged phenomena were true ; but the mem
bers say in e fl e ct How can we help our
selves ? We have taken every possible pre
caution to guard ourselves from mistakes
and we can not resist complete conviction
An E nglish translation of this report by
M r J C Colquhoun was published in
,
,
.
,
,
,
.
,
.
.
1 833
.
,
.
From this date the reality
the phenom
ena of mesmerism as far as those are associ
ated with its aspects as a cur ative agent as
a method of producing an ae sthesia and as a
means of producing abnormal men tal states
in which a mesmerized subj ect may foresee
the future progress of his own disorder
must be regarded as finally established al
though scientific and educated men up to ou r
o w n day maintain an attitude of i n credul ity
which puts them for better
on the subject
instructed persons on the intellectual level
of
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REA L LI TERA T URE
MESMER I SM
OF
.
43
of the African savage who does not believe
in ice S ince 1 831 moreover the e xp e r i
ence which has accumulated on ou r hands
concerning the higher and more purely p sy
chic phenomena of the mesmeric state is
such that the same remark really applies
to every one ho wever cultivated alon g some
lines of mental activity , who remains in an
attitude of incredulity concerning the t yp i
cal phenomena of clairvoyance and mesmeric
thought transfer
As far back as 1 808 Dr P etetin published
“
in Paris a book call ed Ele ct r i ci t é Ani
”
male of which the well known later writer
the same subject Dr E sdaile says
on
’
“
Dr P ét é t i n s cases alone are su fficient to
establish the reality of natural clairvoyance
Plentiful testimony will be foim d in this book
concerning the powers of m e sm e r i c subj ects
of a certain kind to r e a
d the contents of
closed letters and books and to exercise
many other faculties of perception quite i n
dependently of the ordinary sense
’
Amon g the earlie st of M esmer s disciples
the Mar qu l s C hast e n e t de Puysegur has left
voluminous writings on the subject of his
own prolonged and varied practice as a cur
ative me smerist The edition of his works
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,
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,
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44
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMER I SM
.
before me is in four volumes the last dated
1 809 but this is a second edition and I
gather that the first must have appeared in
“
This is entitled Mémoires pour
1 8 07
’
’
servir a l hi st oi r e e t a l é t ab li sse m e n t du
M agnétisme Animal
The second volume
is a general continuation of t he first and the
“
third is more especiall y devoted to R e
cherches e xp er i e n ce s e t ob servations physi
’
’
olo i q u e s su r l homme dans l etat de som
g
dans le som n am b u
n am b u li sm e naturel e t
’
”
The
li sm e provoqué par l acte m agnétique
fourth volume published in 1 81 2is entitled
L es Fous les I nsensés les M aniaques e t les
Frénétiques n e seraient ils que des Som n am
”
bules désordonnés
The whole coll ection
of writi n gs embodies an immense accu m u
lation of experiences with persons clai r v oy
ant during ill ness in respect to their own
maladies NO recent writings on mesmerism
in its medical aspect have an equal value
with these for de Puys egur workin g with
straightforward and earnest faith in his own
power of all ev i ating suffering with the help
’
glorious discovery attained
of M esmer s
brill iant successes and above all for later
students of the subj ect has done un rivaled
service in investigating the prophetic and
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ERA T UR E OF MESMERI SM
REA L
LI T
.
45
clair voyant facul ties of mesmeric patients
not only in reference to their own but in re
’
Spect also of other persons ailments
On
this development of their powers he says :
“
Of all the facts of magnetism the most i n
explicable and above all the least con ce 1 v
able is without doubt that of the vision
possessed by patients in a perfect state of
somnambulism in reference to the sufie r i n gs
Of others and the knowledge which they
show of the remedies and measures n e ce s
sary for their cure
Anyho w although
there is n o known phenomena ! in other
branches of science! to which on e can com
pare the faculty the fact is nevertheless
real as certain as the other manifestations
”
of somnambulism already recognized
De P uys egur gives full detai ls of the cases
both of this and of t he s i m ple r kinds of
’
clairvoyance i n reference to the patients
own illnesses that he had the opportun i ty
of dealing with and they are both num erous
and remarkable It seems strange t hat ; he
ne ver apparently in vestigated the extent to
which the clairvoyant perceptions he evoked
could be directed to other subj ects besides
those having t o do with physical ill ness but
in the beginning mesmerism was introduced
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46
TH E R A TI
ONA LE OF MESMERI SM
.
to the world in reference alm o st exclusively
to its medical aspects and it was reserved
fo r later inquirers to bring its psychological
importance into v iew De P uys egur never
seems to have expected the clairvoyance of
his patients to be prolo nged beyond the
period of their recovery
J P F Deleuze was a volumino us and
one of the earliest writers on mesmerism
He published several books on the subject
amongst others a critical history of animal
magnetism He himself was a Frenchman
born in 1 7 5 3 He was attracted to the su b
of
mesmerism
by
reading
accounts
of
e ct
j
magnetic cures in 1 7 85 and subsequently
accomplished many Such cu res himself He
was a naturalist attached to the Jardin des
“
Plantes In his
Histoire Critiq ue du
”
M agnétisme Animal ! Paris
he very
effectually rebuts t he accusations of i m p os
ture brought against M esmer This ex
t r aor di n ar y man he says gift e d with an
energetic character was carried away by t he
wonderful successes he obtained into an ex
agge r at e d belief in the range of his di scov
ery but the attitude of incredulity on the
other hand in regard to his achievements
M Deleuze shows to be altogether unten
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48
OF MESMERI SM
TH E R A TI ON A L E
.
Practical Instructions on Animal M agnet
ism were published in 1 82
5 and have been
translated into E n glish The book is de
scribed by the translator as the result of a
consummate experience In 1 836 an earlier
’
“
adm irer of D e le uz e s work had wr itten : A
era has c o mmenced for magnetism
n ew
Authentic ally recognized by the R oyal Acad
emy of M edicine in 1 831 and regarded by
the commission as a very curious branch of
psychology and natural history it has taken
rank among positive truths The rising
generation will be prompt to cul tivate the
new field laid open to them What surer
guide can they take than the man who by
the superiority of his intelli gence the saga
city o f his co nclusions and the example of
hi s o wn li fe has so powerful ly contributed
to the triumph of thi s noble di scovery
Deleu e says that his object is to give
plain and simple instructions for people who
wish to pract ice magnetism
It i s not the
”
obj ect of this work he writes
to con
vince men who otherwi se well informed
”
still doubt the realit y of magnetism
He
employs the expression the magnetic fluid
he says because he believes in the existence
of such a fluid though its nature is un
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R EA L LI TE R A T UR E OF ME SMER I SM
49
.
known The direction s which he gives go
into great detail in regard to man ipulation
and passes and most later han dbooks of mes
merism seem to have derived their I n sp I r a
tion very largely from this code of rules :
The author also discusses the accessory
means by which magnetic action may be i n
creased namely mesmerized water woolen
and cotton cloths plates of glass etc The
purpose in view i s almost exclusively to i n
struct the reader in methods of mesmerism
to be employed for the cure of disease and
the book is entirely concerned with such di
rections or with criticisms on various mode s
of mesmerizing the risks to be avoided and
the methods that may be employed fo r de
’
v e lo i n
and
fortifying
one
s
self
in
mag
p g
netic power
A volum inous appendix
added to an A merican edi tion of the work
by the translator M r Har tsh orn g1 v e s an
immense quantity of testimony collected
by him concerning curious and remarkable
cases of mesmerism
J J A R icard a Far m professor,is a
thoroughl y satisfactory exponent of mes
m eric experience who published in 1 84 1 a
“
volume entitled Traité théorique e t pra
tique du Magnétisme Anima
He must
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50
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF ME SMER I SM
.
ave b e en hi mself a mesmerist of most n u
force and eviden tly combined with
characteristics which properly
would have made hi m hi mself a
of great value for he appears
been a spontaneou s somnambulist
on some occasion s of writing long
of verses in h
i s sleep in referen ce
of which he retain ed no
recollection whatever I n his wakin g state
Ho we ver this fact crops up merely in ci
dentally his book is devoted entirely t o the
record of his work which chiefly has t o do
with cur ative mesmerism directed by the
pathological clairvoyance of his patients for
with hi m it seemed as if almost every on e
who approached could be thr own into a mag
netic trance There is somethin g very puz
z li n
t
o modern practical students in the i m
g
mense a dvan tage apparently enjoyed by the
early mesmerists as compared with our
selves i n reference to the prevalen t condi
tion of people around them In the present
day we may be able to get resul ts whi ch
when obtained are full y as good in all r e
sp e ct s as those described by the early French
writers ; but the persons with whom such r e
su lt s are procurable s e em t o be dotted here
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REA L LI TER A T URE OF MESMER I SM
.
51
and there about the world by ones and t wos
whereas such mesmerists as M R icard seem
always to have been puzzled if they did not
succeed with the p r e m i e r D e n a Their rec
ords of distinct successes r un into percentages
like seventy fiv e or eighty of t he total num
ber of persons with whom they made e xpe r i
ments Ricard treats with sc orn the pre
tenses of some disputants to account for
mesmeric phenomena by imagin ation fas
ci n at i on and other vague hypotheses in con
fl i ct wi th the simple and to him undeniably
tru e theory of mesmeric fluid The falsity
of their judgment he thinks may easily be
demonstrated and he records a case in which
in order to prove the reality of his own p o
sitiou he magnetizes on e of his patients at a
distance and puts him to sleep without any
expectation on his part that the experiment
was going to be tried FOr psychological
’
students however R icard s book has claims
on their interest which far transcend its i m
portance as ,what it certainly is
advanced and intell igent t reatise on curative
mesmerism R icard appears to me t o have
been the first experimentalist or at all
events the first writer who gets entirely free
of the belief that clairvoyance is a merely
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2
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMERI SM
.
pathological condition and t o whom the daz
z li n gly interesting phenomenon of clai r v o
y
ance having to do with other states of na
ture presents itself in the l ight of its real
importance He gives a very full account
o f his first experience in thi s region of i n
qu iry with a girl named Adele L e fr e y who
exhibited a new kind of lucidity at the con
e lusion of some curative treatment received
’
at her mesmerist s hands It may be worth
while here to translate a short passage ill us
t r at i v e for all who have themselves been
privileged to work with sensitives qualified
to discern higher states of natur e of what
may be called the inevitable routine of im
pressions such people go thr ough in the first
’
instance M R icard s Adele said to him
words conveying exactly the same ideas
whi ch I have heard uttered by sensitives
under my own influence young gi rls to
whom the A B C of mesmerism as a branch
of knowledge was wholly unknown M
“
Ricard writes : S he was near the comple
tion of her cure when in the midst of some
n e w medical instructions which she was giv
ing she said to me in a singular tone Y ou
hear what he orders me ?
Who I asked
is ordering you anything ?
Why mon
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REA L LI TER A T URE
OF
MESMER I SM
53
.
sieur do you n ot hear him ?
N o I neither
’
’
hear nor se e any on e
Ah that is true
she replied you sleep while I am awake
What do you mean ? Y ou dream my de ar
child ; you pretend that I sleep when I have
my eyes open an d I can appreciate all that
passes before me while I know that I actu
ally hold you i n command by my magnetic
influence and that it only depends upon my
will to bring you back to the state you were
in recently Y ou believe yourself awake b e
cause you speak t o me and you have t o a
certain exten t y our free will although you
coul d not open your eyelids and might be
plunged in an instant in to the most profound
slumber Y ou do not reflect upon what you
’
are saying
Y ou do not understand me
’
monsieur but that is nothin g surprising
’
I am on the
Y ou are asleep I replied
con trary as completely awake as we shall all
be some day in the f uture I will explain m y
self more clearly all that you se e at present
is gross material ; you distinguish apparent
forms ; the real beauties escap e you? H Ow
could it be otherwise ? Your spirit is
cramped obscured by the exterior impres
sion s that your material senses give you
It can only reach out feebly while my cor
‘
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54
TH E R A TI ON A L E OF
MESMER I SM
.
sensations are actually annihilated
while my soul is almost disintegrated from
I see what is invisible
i t s ordinary fetters
to your eyes I hear what your ears cannot
hear I understand what for you is i n com
prehen sible For example you do not see
what emanates from yourself an d comes to
me when you magnetize me ; I on the con
t r ar y see it very clearly ; at each pass you
direct towards me I se e a little column of
fiery dust which comes from the end of your
fingers and seems to incorporate itself in me
Then when you isolate me I seem surrounded
by an atmosphere of this fiery dust which
is often the reason why obj ects of which I
seek to distinguish the forms take a ru ddy
tinge for me I hear when I desire it a
soun d that is made at a distance sounds
which may arise a hundred leagues from
here In a word I am not obliged to wait
till things come to me I can go to them
wherever they are and appreciate them more
correctly than an y on e coul d who is not in a
’
similar state to that in which I find myself
This is a perfectly sound and correct e x
position of the state in which the liberated
E go of the sensitive finds itself Phrases of
precisely similar imp o rt have as I say been
r e al
o
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56
TH E
R A TI ON AL E OF ME SMER I SM
.
study of human magnetism in 1 81 5 The
whole subj ect burst upon him as a revela
”
“
tion
E n sor t an t de ce p r e m i e r e n t r e t i e n
’’
”
he says j e t ai s m agn et i se u r
He at once
obtained the mesmeric trance with the two
persons on whom he fir st tried his hand He
became acquainted with Deleuze and de Puy
s egur He un dertook t he cu r e of some p a
t i e n t s dazzled with the results he entered
himself regularly for the study of medicine
As a mesmerist he rapidl y distanced his
teachers He boldly confronted the ridicule
and opposition of conventional science He
gave gratuitous courses of instruction in
mesmerism from the year 1 82
6 and at the
same period began to write on the subject
“
He published a Journal c all ed the P r op a
gatear du M agnétisme ; also in 1 838 in
L ondon a volume entitled An I n t r odu c
”
tion to the S tudy of Animal M agnetism
This is an admirable book It shows us the
author still una b le to believe that the tena
city of ignorant prejudice coul d hold ou t
against an overwhelming demonstration of
”
“
“
the truth
Hitherto he says there has
been a disinclination t o entertain this i n v e s
t i gat i on but I trust t he evidence now ad
du ce d will tend t o di spel the prejudice that
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REAL LI TERA T UR F OF MESME R I SM
.
57
can only have arisen from the science not
”
having been yet fairly represented
The
book opens with a good review of the history
Speaking of M esmer the
of the subject
“
B ar on says :
S urrounded as he was by e n
e m I e s both public and private his unassum
ing man ners his manifest sincerity his ear
nest yet silent enthusiasm and above all
his benevolent disposition conciliated for
him the esteem of perso n s of almost all ranks
and pretensions
L ater on the Baron goes
into a full and det ailed description of the
physical and psychical phenomena of m e s
merism as illustrated by his own experience
His records are of great instructive value
and would alone be sufficient to establish the
reality of clairvoyance as a fact in nature
even if they were not as they are merely
on e set of such e x e r i e n ce s am on
a
great
p
g
number
The onlyfault that can b e found with du
’
P ot e t s books is that their style is a little
inflated or bombastic In this respect he is
however t he product of French and not
E nglish literary traditions and throughout
he is immensely im
pressed with the prodi
gions spiritual importance of the discoveries
with which he is dealing As he himself
.
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58
TH E
R A TI ON A L E
OF
MES ME RI SM
.
says he felt a new philosophy formin g itself
in his mind around these germs ; it was neb
n l ou s and undefined
but stupendous He
was filled with ideas that he felt to be too
far advanced for his generation He only
ventu red i n 1 84 5 to give them some expres
’
sion in a work entitled E ssai su r l e n se ign e
”
men t philosophique du M agn étisme
But
though this volume is relatively timid and
reserved the author was qui ckly outgrowing
the limits of magnetic practice as familiar to
hi s predecessors
He was becoming some
thing more than a mesmerist an occultist
and eventually under somewhat too theat
r i cal or sensational a title
he prin t e d an
“
important quarto call ed L a Magie Dé
”
voilée which was never published in the
ordinary sense of the word but delivered
to a fe w persons un der definite pledges taken
from them in regard to the use they would
make of it The experiments described in
this book though startling and almost e u
t i r e ly of psychologic al interest do not really
“
outrun those related in the Animal M ag
in scientific value for the student
n e t i sm
The Baron seems to have
o f mesmerism
been himself almost alarme d by the power
he acqui red over all kin ds and conditions of
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REA L
ERA T UR F OF MESMER I SM
LI T
.
59
people by causing them to look at signs and
figures he drew with charcoal upon the floor
He got these signs from books on mediaeval
magic and was apparently inclin ed to at
tach too much objective importan ce to the
diagrams themselves thinking that other
people would be able to obtain hi s results by
following the same procedure and that pow
ers of a dangerous character might thus be
acquired through his teaching by persons
of evilly disposed nature if his instructions
were carelessly disseminated He did n ot
realize how far the magic lay in his own
magnetic force how little of it had to do
with the sign s
In 1 84 0 Baron du Potet published an
“
other volume call e d A Course of M agnet
”
ism i n S even L essons and in the course of
his addresses to hi s pupils in t hemselves a
numerous body to whom he de di cat e s this
volume he i n dulge s in s ome very scornful
”
language concern ing the obstinate i n cr e du
li t y exhi b ited by the scientific world at large
in regard to the accumulated facts of mes
meric experience
M Alexandre Bertrand seems to have
b een the first writer who quarreled with
the straightforward theory of the magnetic
.
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60
OF ME SMERI SM
T H E R A TI ON A L E
.
fluid adopted by M esmer de Puys egur and
Deleuze In 1 82
6 he published a treatise
“
entitled
Du M agnétisme Animal en
France in which he promulgated a theory
’
of his own on what he calls l E ze t asO the
condition of those whom the earlier writers
described as som n am b u le s This is n ot a
n d is chiefly
work of any value in itself a
remarkable as showing how very little orig
’
i n ali t y there was in M r Braid s later claim
to have put the whole subj ect on a new and
scientific footing M Bertran d in cidentally
admit s that his o wn s om n am b u le s bear testi
mony to the reality of the fluid M any of
these he says declare in fact that they see
the fluid by means of which I exert an effect
”
upon them coming ou t from my fingers
The patients with whom he worked woul d
also declare that they discerned a peculiar
taste in water that he had magn etized and
experienced pronounced effects from objects
he had magnetized such as a handkerchief
a glove or a piece of money F or all this
however he found a sufficient explanation
in the theory that they had been possessed
with such ideas before goin g to sleep ; and
for him magnetism is
ar e
u r e clt i m e r e
p
That which he conceives to be a reality i s
,
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REA L LI TER A T UR F OF ME SME R I SM
61
.
’
l e wt ase
a condition into which human
creatures are capable of falling altogether
distinct from any states that had been pre
”
The argument amounts
v i ou sly recognized
t o nothing in itself explains nothing and is
only carried on by disregarding the larger
part of the phenomena admitted as facts and
requiring to be brought w ithin the area of
any genuine mesmeric theory
M Aubin Gautier is one of the early
writers who must by no means be overlooked
He seems to have written to begin with in
“
Introduction au
1 84 0 a volume entitled
”
M agnétisme a volume written in a very
reverent spirit and on the basis of much
careful research in ancient history aimed at
showing the wide diffusion of magn etism in
one shape or another as a psychological
agent in E gypt Greece and R ome M
Gautier seems to have been amongst those
from the first who took t he subject seriously
and in t he spirit of an occult student
Whoever expects to find these pages amus
“
i n g he says in the b e gm n m g
deceives
himself strangely The study an d p ractic e
of magnetism dem and an unheard of pa
”
t i e n ce silence and self control
The book is more a review and a specul a
,
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6
2
TH E R A TI ON A L E OF
MESMER I SM
.
tion than a narrative It rests of course
in complete reliance on the mesmeric fluid
theory and only fails in bringing ou t reall y
scien tific conceptions because the writer was
not himself in possession of those side lights
on mesmerism which I propose to deal with
directly and without which the various phe
r di n at e d
n om e n a themselves can never be e OO
“
In 1 84 2
M Gautier published his His
”
toire du S omnambul isme again sweeping
the wide areas of ancient history for illus
This volum e i n
t r at i on s of his theme
cludin g many narratives of more modern
’
origi n gives a full account of M P ige ai r e s
experience with the Academie de M édecine
M P i ge ai r e was a country doctor
of Paris
who discovered fine clairvoyant faculties in
the youngest of his daughters Leonide aged
ten year s No experimentalists in those
days seemed to have realized the lengths a
clairvoyant faculty coul d reach to when prop
erly cul tivated so that the only experiments
tried wi th the girl had to do with r e cogn i z
i n g obj ects and reading from books when
blindfold Her powers in this direction
were brought to high perfection in a long
series of private and domestic séances
When at last M P ige air e decided to claim
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64
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMER I SM
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on her e v e li ds all the time In all its details
the story is instructive to any on e interested
in lookin g back on the thoroughly un scientific
attitude of min d taken up by the r e p r e se n
t at i v e s of physical scien c e in those days in
their dealings with mesmerism But I can
har dl y give space here to all the r am i fica
tions of the story M P ige ai r e tried to
make his surl y inquisitors un derstan d that
the whole psychic condition of hi s daughter
requ ired delicate an d gentle treatment that
their ow n proposals were calcul ated to thr ow
her i nto con vulsions rather than into the
clairvoyant state that the bandages he em
ployed usin g masses of cotto n wool to cover
the eyes completely were of such a kind
that any pretense of distrusting their efficacy
was ridicul ous b ut all to n o pur pose The
committee refused even to look at his band
ages an d after he left them in disgust sent
in a report the gen eral dr ift of which was
that the proposed experiments had been de
cli n e d except under conditions which the
committee did not conceive bore evidence
of b on a
d
es
fi
In their zeal t o discredit the subj ect the
committee even venture d upon some state
ments that were positively false wishing t o
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REA L
L I TE
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65
lead the reader into the belief that they had
in terviewed the proposed clairvoyante But
nowhere in 1 83 8 was any scientific body pre
pared to observe the conditions of fair play
or common honesty in dealing with the rep
r e se n t a
t i v e s of m e smerism
In tell in g the story however hastily on e
should not omit to mention on e concluding
in cident A group of those persons who had
witnessed the earlier s e ries of preliminary
’
séances with Leon ide took M P i ge ai r e s
part very warmly They raised a consider
able guarantee fund and publicly ofie r e d a
prize ten or twelve times greater than that
origi n ally offered by the Academy to any
member of that body who should be able to
read a single w ord of print when his eyes
had been b andaged on the plan adopted with
Mlle Leonide by her father; It is need
less to say nobody took up the challenge
and that t he whole incident thus constitutes
a very round and complete illustration of the
r oss dishonesty with which t he high author
g
ities in medicine in Paris conducted the
war against the new discovery
A year or two later in 1 84 5 M Gautier
“
published a t hi r d book call ed a Traité pra
”
tique du M agnétisme e t du Somnambulisme
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TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF ME SMERI SM
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This is a well arranged and well indexed
treatise on magnetism in all the branches
then studied and though very imperfectly
divining the real potentialities of psychic
mesmerism is even to this day a solid book
of careful record and earnest thinking i m
measur ably better worth attention than any
o f the recent volum es that play up to the
fashionable errors of the momen t
M L A C ahagn e t seems to have been
one of the very few French writers of this
period thoroughly ali ve to the psychic p os
s i b ili t i e s of clairvoyance
He undertook a
prolonged series of mesmeric séances with
clairvoyants whose attention he directed to
other planes of existence and these are r e
“
corded in a book en titled Arcanes de la
”
Vie Future Dévoilée
The value of the
statements made by his clairvoyants i n ref
e rence to the future life will of course be v a
r i ou sly estimated by di fie r e n t readers , but
from the point of v i ew of mesmeric science
the facts concerning the mental phenomena
exhibited by the subjects under treatment
are of the highest interest An E nglish
translation of this b o ok has b een published
in America
’ “
Dr Esdaile s M esmerism in India i s a
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REAL LI TER A T UR F OF MESMERI SM
67
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’
record of the author s extraordinary success
in the application of mesmerism to his su r
i
cal practice at the govern me n t hospit al in
g
Calcutta of which he was in charge The
book was published about 1 84 2 It includes
not only minute surgical reports of frightful
operations performed u pon the mesmerized
patients of the hospital without any suffer
ing or consciousness of what was taking
place on their part b u t also c o rroborative
testimony from a great many of the most
distinguished people resident at Calcutta at
the time who were called in by Dr E sdaile
to be present at these wonderful perform
auces
“
A later work by the same author Nat
ural and M esmeric Clairvoyance published
in 1 852includes besides a quantity of
fresh testimony connected with the medical
aspects of mesmerism an epitome of evi
”
dence extracted from the ! oist and from
other sources on the subj ect of clairvoyance
exhibited during the mesmeric state In
this book Dr E s daile also recounts the
progress of his own struggle at C aIéut t a: in
the effort to press the importance of mes
merism upon the attention of the other doc
tors of the place who woul d only plod along
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TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF ME SMER I SM
.
the beaten path This narrative is in some
’
respects the history of M esmer s own career
over again Instead of bein g tre ated by his
professional brethren as a benefactor of hu
manit y E sdaile was Oppo sed and vilified by
all the de v I ce s that prej udi ce and professional
j ealousy could suggest and while it was no
t or i ou s that he was daily performing pain less
operations on patients under mesmerism the
other doctors continued to torture their own
un fortunate victims rather than co n f ess that
they had been in error in resisting the u se
of the new curative agent
’
Dr Esdai le s remarkable works are not
the only records of capital operations per
formed without pain to the patient with the
help of mesmerism A paper read before
the R oyal M edical and Chirurgical S ociety
of L ondon in 1 84 2and published as an
independent pamphlet gives full details con
cerning a case in which Mr Ward a sur
’
geon at t ached to S t Bartholomew s Hospi
’
tal had about that time amputated a man s
leg above the knee while he the patient r e
m ained completely un conscious of the opera
tion in a mesmeric sleep put upon hi m by
the in fluence of M r Topham a barrister
in terested in the practice of mesmerism
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REA L LI TERA T URE
OF
MESMERI SM
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69
“
The pages of the ! oist to which I will
refer directly are laden with reports of
other similar cases
Dr S coresby the Arctic voyager and
well known writer on various bran ches of
maritime science was a careful experimen ter
in mesmerism and a work of his called
“
! oistic M agnetism records a great deal of
his work He had only a limited e xp e r i
ence of the higher phenomena b u t a very
e x t e n s1 v e familiarity with the physical phe
n om e n a of the
mesmeric state including
those on the border land between the lower
and higher having to do with the transfer
of sensation from the mesmerizer to the sub
j cet His book was published in 1 84 9 and
is interesting for students of the science for
its careful observation in regard t o the p o
lar i t y of di fferent parts of t he human body
in respect to the emanations o f its animal
magnetism
“
An interesting Report upon the Phe
n om e n a of Clairvoyance or L ucid Som n am
b uli sm f rom Personal O bservation
was
published in 1 84 3 by E dwi n L eeTF e llow
of the R oyal Medico Chirurgical S ociety
and of many other societies abroad of a sim
i lar character
The cases here described
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70
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MES MERI SM
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have reference altogether to clairvoyance on
the physical plane that is to say to the oh
servation by the clairvoyants concerned of
distant places and houses and also of oh
e ct s in their own immediate neighborhood
j
which they had no means of cognizing
through the usual senses M r L ee also
wrote about the same time a b ook on An i
”
mal M agnetism containing a com p r e he n
sive review of similar experiments by other
observers
Another work well worth notice is entitled
Facts in M esmerism w ith Reason s for a
Dispassionate Inquiry into it by the R ev
C haun cy Hare Townsend first published in
This opens with a dedication to Dr
1 839
Ell i ot son from whose experiments the au
thor says the greater part of the E nglish
world have derived their ideas of mesmer
ism He quotes Dr Wilson Of the M id
dl e se x Hospital who having been present at
a lect ure at Dresden when several fish in a
large t ub of water were stunned by an elec
tric shock tried the e ffect of mesmerizing
the water The fish revived The incident
suggested the proposal that great u se might
be made of mesmerized water in medicine
In a preface t o hi s second edition Mr T o wn
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2
OF ME SMER I SM
TH E R A TI ON A L E
.
the imagination theory as really too ah
surd to merit a serious refutation A thou
sand times I have seen mesmeric patients
placed un der circumstances where the action
”
imagination was plainly impossible
of
“
And later on he writes : An elastic ether
modified by the nerves and the conduction
of whi ch depends on their co n dition ; which
can be thr own into vibration mediately by
the mind of man and immediately by the
nervous system which manifests itself when
thrown ou t of equilibrium and produces
mental e ffects through unusual sti mul ation
of the brain and nerves
can not but be al
lowed to be a cause which answers to all the
conditions that we desire to unite and which
is sufficient to account for the phenomena
”
that we h ave been considering
“
The ! oist was a magazine published
I believe un der the editorship of Dr E lliot
“
son
to coll ect and diffuse information con
n e ct e d with two scie n ces
Cerebral Physi
”
ology and M esmerism
The science of
mesmerism says the inaugural article in
the first number brought ou t in April
i s a new physiological truth of incal
1 84 3
cul ab le value and importance ; and though
sneered at by the pseu do philosophers of the
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REA L LI TER A T UR F OF ME SMERI SM
73
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day there is not the less certainty that it
presents the only avenue through which is
discernible a ray of hope that the more i n t r i
cate phenomena of the nervous system of
will ever be revealed to man A l
life
ready i t has established its claim to be con
si de r e d a m ost potent remedy in the cure of
disease ; already enabled the knife of the
operator to traverse and divide the livin g
fibre unfelt by the patient If such are the
resul ts of its infancy what may not i t s ma
The thirteen volumes
t u r i t y bri n g forth ?
of this magazin e for it was continued up to
1 85 6 constitute a splendid reservoir of i n for
mation on all branches of mesmeric science
In the farewell address published with the
last issue of the R eview the con ductors say
their mission has been accomplished Their
object was neither gain nor worldly reputa
tion but the establish m ent of truth For
thirteen years they have a assed fresh facts
in cerebral physiology and mesmerism and
presented t hem in such numbers and with
such proofs that to question them would be
”
“
absurd
They speak of the glori ous do
ings of Dr E sdaile in In dia which the
“
! oist has chronicled and though mai n ly
dwelling on the achievements of medical
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74
OF ME SMER I SM
TH E R A TI ON A L F
.
mesmerism they point to the examples of
clairvoyance which abound in their volumes
and which render the phen omenon u n qu e s
t i on ab le though of course gross imposition
is practiced in regard to it by professional
clairvoyants and private persons influen ced
”
by vanity or wickedness
On ly less abundan t than t he proofs of the
reality of mesmeric phenomena with which
the pages of the ! oist teem are the illus
t r at i on s it gives of the senseless and bit
ter hostility which w as Opposed to it by the
maj ority of the medical men of its time and
Elli ot son in on e letter to the
of what Dr
R eview early in the proceedin gs calls the
”
“
anti mesmeric falsehoods of medical men
The favorite theory of the an ti mesmeric doc
tors in regard to celebrated surgical Opera
tions conducted painlessly under mesmerism
“
used to be that the sufferers had feign ed
insensibility That any on e could soberly
pretend to believe that patients undergoing
the frightful torture of fir st class surgical
Operations could subdue all out ward sign s of
suffering i n the interests of the new im p os
”
ture shows us the depth of folly to which
prejudice and bigotry may si n k the under
standings Of people still capable of exhibit
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REA L LI TER A T UR F
MESMER I SM
OF
75
.
ing a form of intelligence in connection with
their own commonplace pursuits
Dr Ell i ot son says of his medical confreres
at large that they were as brainlessly i n di f
fe r e n t to mesmeric phenomena as the cattle
grazing in the meadows are to the wonders
assing
by
them
on
of the steam carriages
p
the railroads
With sorrow we must recog
nize that this contemptuous lament is hardly
even as yet ou t of date
“
Isis R evelata an Inquiry into t he O ri
gin Progress and Present S tate Of Animal
”
M agnetism by J C Colquhoun 1 836 is
a very comprehensive review of the subject
up to the period at which the author wrote
I t s publication is j ustified in the i n t r odu c
tion on the ground that the report Of the
French Academy of S ciences of 1 831 had
completely superseded the earlier unfavor
able report of 1 7 84 It had been supposed
Mr C olquhOun points out that anim al mag
n e t i sm w as a system of quackery an d delu
“
sion
This Obj ection which might perhaps
have had some plausibility during the i n
fancy of the discovery has n ow b e come
utterly ludicrous and betrays either con
summate ignorance of the subj ect or gross
”
dishonesty
Mr Colquhoun takes a highly
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76
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMERI SM
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’
favorable view of M esmer s life and charac
ter and quotes a dignified letter in which he
refuses an offer of a pension of
fran cs a year made to him by the ! ing of
France through the Minister M aurepas on
the groun d that the O ffer relates to his peen
n terest alone
n i ar
i
and
does
not
recognize
y
the importance of his di scovs r y as its princi
pal motive The question ought M esmer
thin ks to have been approached in a totally
Opposite way This Colquhoun remarks
”
“
is not the language of avarice
“
The M odern Bethesda or the Gi ft of
Healin g restored is a narrative or rather
a compilation from letters newspapers and
testimonials Of all sorts relating to the al
most innumerable achievemen ts i n healin g
the sick performed both i n America and
E n gland by Dr J R N ewt on
This won
a worker of miracles by
de r ful mesmerist
wholesale was born in Rhode Island in
The earlier part of his life w as spent
1 81 0
in a prosperous mercantile career and hi s
peculiar gifts were n ot developed till 1 85 8
Then he began to travel about in the U nited
S tates visiting thousands Of patients and
“
performin g those marvelous and i n e xpli ca
ble cures which astonish the world and
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REA L LI TERA T UR E OF MESMER I SM
77
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threaten to revolutionize all former laws and
”
experience of medical science
He had dis
covered his own powers during a voyage in a
crowded passenger steamer where the yell ow
fever broke out among thirteen hu hdr e d pas
In O hio where he began public
se n ge r s
ministrations he treated about on e hundred
person s a day performing in the course Of
time man y thousands Of wonderful cures
My purpose in reviewing the books men
t i on e d above has not been to compile any
thing resemblin g a complete bibliography of
the subject but simply to show my readers
what a wide field the early literature of m e s
merism o ffers for their exploration B u t
even this rapid survey of its resources woul d
be incomplete without a reference to on e
which for many modern readers is the stand
’
ard work on the subj ect D r Gregory s
”
Animal M agnetism first published I b e
lieve in 1 85 1 an d again i n other e ditions at
later dates It is a very fine review of the
whole subject in all its branches and is a
good firs t b ook for any new student of m e s
merism to take up
The M esmerist
a weekly journal of
Vital M agnetism was published in L ondon
i n 1 84 3
It was begun in M ay of that
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TH E R A TI ON A L E
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year and continued till S eptember when its
publication ceased It abounds in interest
ing records of mesmeric experience in all
branches and in good articles vain ly combat
ing the crass indifference an d incredulity of
the public
In contrast to this mass of literat ure
which in reality re nders an y, dispute as to
the truth of mesmerism equivalent to a
dispute as to whether Columbus was right
in believing that a continent exists to the
west of the Atlantic O cean we may use
fully turn for a moment to the conventional
orthodox notices of the subj ect in those mir
r or s o f popular
I gnorance
c oncerning all
psychi c scien ce the encyclop aedias Of the
day
The Oxford E ncyclop aedia published in
1 82
8 describes animal magnetism as an
appellation given to a pretended science
which during the last century excited con si d
e r ab le attention in several parts of E urope
After giving a caricature account of Me s
’
mer s operations t he writer goes on to de
clare that in the end it became evident the
“
patien ts were impostors or in a most
wr etched state of debility both of mind and
”
b o dy
The article concludes by remarking
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80
TH F R A TI ON A L E OF
MESMER I SM
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really little more than an incomplete and
misleading theory concerning a subdivision
Of mesmeric phenomena u n sci e n t i fically se p
ar at e d for the purposes of a preconceived
hypothesis fro m others incompatible with
that hypothesis
The writer in the e n
’
cyclop aedia follows Braid s plan ho wever
and confines his attention t o incidents of
mesmeric experience which seem to lend
color to the hypnotic theory lightly remark
“
ing of the rest no scient ific observer has
ever con fir med the statements Of mesmerists
as to clairvoyance readi n g of sealed letters
in fluence on unconscious persons at a di s
tance or the like ; a statement which might
be parall eled if we were to say no sci e n
t i fic observer has e v er confirmed the state
ments of travelers and sailors conc e rn ing
the existence of an American continent
with trees popul ation lakes rivers and the
like
The eighth edition of the E ncyclop aedia
’
Britannica in a brief account of M esmer s
life represen ts hi m as a detected impostor
and without on e word to in dicate that there
is even any considerable body of op i nion op
posed to that v iew ignores the report of
1 83 1 and refers to the report of the com
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R EA L
LI TER A T UR E
ME SMER I SM 8 1
OF
.
“
in the following term s : The
proceedin gs of D e slon the pupil of M esmer
were scrutinized by a committee of inquiry
consisting of the physicians M aj aul t Salli n
’
d A r ce t and Guillotin and the acade m i
L e R oy Baill y de Bory
ci an s Franklin
and L avoisier The report drawn up by
Bailly thoroughly exposed the falsehood and
imposture of the mesmeric process
The disciples of animal m agn e t i sm at t e m pt e d
to check the advance of their enemies by
forming themselves i nto societies M esmer
more politic escaped amid the general con
fusion carrying with him a subscription Of
francs and at the same time the
secret for which that sum had been given to
”
him
A somewhat different t on e is taken up in
the recent ninth edition M esmer is n ow
spoken of ca utiou sly as a man who made
many converts who was stigmatized as a
charlatan but who was undoubte dl y a mys
tic and who was honest in the belief that
the phenomena produced were r e al f A timid
’
reference to R eichenbach s
in
odyllic force is then put forward
The
idea that some such force exists has been a
favorite speculation of scientific men having
of
m it t e e
1 7 84
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TH E R A TI
ON A L E
OF
MES MER I SM
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a bias towards myst cism an d it m akes i t s
appearan ce not un frequently
The next
f
reat
step
in
the
investi
ation
these
phe
o
g
g
”
nomena the Britannica then pro ceeds
was made by James Braid a surge on in
M anchester in 1 84 1
an d it goes
on
t o connect the whole remain der of a lon g
article with the weak an d in sufficient hy
t
h
si s of this very shall o w th
i
n ker
o
e
p
To comm ent adequ ately on the attitude of
mi n d of writers who rem aining thus e n
t i r e ly outside the area of knowledge co n cern
ing psychi c science in any of its branches
have nevertheless the audacit y to flirt their
incredul ity i n the faces Of wiser and better
in formed men would claim the use of
stronger language than I care to employ
N o on e it is true deserves blame for leaving
any subj ect that does not attract him alto
gether unstudied But in most cases people
who are con scious of limited in tellectual
resources en tertain a decent respect for
others bett er fu r n l she d A man may b e
nothing b u t a sportsman himself and yet
refrain from assertin g that chemi sts an d
electricians must be impostors And a
chemist may know n othing of Italian art
and yet may refrain from declaring that
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REAL LI TER A T UR F OF MESMER I SM
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Raphael never existed
83
But all through the
commonplace world whether in its upper or
lower strata people who are ignorant of
psychic science encourage one another in the
brainless an d absurd denial of facts exhi b
i t e d in the en cyclop aedias and in an even
more grotesque and impudent fashion by
the newspapers of the day whenever any of
its phenomena come up for treatmen t The
average country groc e r the average news
paper reporter the average student Of physi
cal science are all st eeped i n the same den se
incapacity to understand the propriety of
respecting the knowledge of others even if
they do not share it themselves whenever
they brush up against any statement relatin g
to the work of those who are engaged in any
bran ch of psychic inquiry From the occult
point of view indeed on e can un derstand
why this should be so The incredulity of
’
unspiritual man kind 1 s Nature s own proteo
tion against those unfit as yet to use her
higher gifts That is all in the legitimate
order of things ; b u t the more sp iritualized
minority need not play up on t he i r p ar t to
that incredulity It is their duty to war
against it and in the course of that strife
by slow degrees the in telligence of the com
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R A TI ON A L E
OF
MESMER I SM
.
herd will be leavened and their
minds growing withi n them in spite of their
own complacent unconsciousness of the pro
cess be qualified gradually for a more pro
r e ssi v e evo lution
g
m on place
,
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C HAPTER I V
SI D E-L I GH T S ON
AN Y
MESMER I C
.
P H EN
OMEN A
.
o ne who goes patiently through any
considerable body of early mesmeric litera
ture will be struck by the manner in which
each writer in t urn handles his subj ect as
something expected to rest upon the body of
observation whatever it may be that he has
been enabled to undertake and withou t
realizing the all important consideration
that when we come to deal wi th natural phe
n o m e n a having to do with the subtle forces
of vitality
and the even more s ubtle forces
which regul ate the phenomena Of conscious
ness in higher states of nature we can not
make sense Of an y observations without being
in a position to comprehend something of
the general natural design of which they
form a part T he stars were seen in the sky
long before astron omers were fortified with
the mathematical and other knowledge that
enabled them to de s1 gn a working hypothesis
of the universe sufficiently approximative to
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86
TH E R A T I
ON A L E
OF
ME SMERI SM
.
the truth to render intelligent obser v ation
possible ; but until that time people who
m erely looked at the heavenly bodies moving
about in the sky an d theorized on the basis
of such observations alone m ade a terrible
hash of their conjectures as to what was go
S imilar remarks may broadl y be
i n g on
made about every science i n turn E arly
chemistry was a mere blind groping in the
dark amon gst phenomen a which could u n
de r go no co Or di n at i on until some considerable
advance had been made in comprehending
the elementary structure of all bodies and
the leading principles Of chemical combina
tion Not of course until the molecular con
st i t u t i on of matter was realized did chemistry
begin to assume anyt hing like the dignity Of
a full y matured science Now the Observa
tion of the facts of mesmerism is exactly an
alogou s to the O bservation of stars carried
o n from t he point of V iew O f an astronomer
knowing nothing of gravitation or of the
relations between the pl anets and the sun
The mere facts are interesting as the
mere sight of the heavens must have been
impressive even to the most uninstructed star
gazer ; but the facts themselves however
carefully codified will never enable students
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88
ME SMER I SM
TH E R A TI ON A L E OF
.
ence to the body of spiritual teaching se t
fort h I n modern theosophical literature
M esmerism can be explained by what is
called the esoteric doctrine and certainly in
n Oother way but a belief in mesmerism or
at least in some few of the facts that mesmer
ism is concern ed wi th has been recently dif
fused to an enormous extent amongst m y
riads o f people who have never heard of the
esoteric doctrine These people cannot as
yet reali ze why it must remain impossible
for them to un derstand mesmerism without
going behind it in search of mysteries about
which they are wholly uninformed ; and yet
it is absolutely impossible by any simple
straightforward attack upon t he problems
that mesmerism presents to us to bring them
into harmony with the workings of natural
law or in other words to make sense of
them
R eflection on the character of the prob
lems to be dealt wit h ought however to
conv i nce even those who know nothin g of
occul tism as a scien ce that there must be
such a scien ce or the poten tialities of such a
science lurk ing somewhere in the back
ground S t rai ghtforward investigation of
mesmeric phenomena shows us at all events
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ME SMER I C
P H EN
OMEN A
89
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the magnetic fluid proceeding from the oper
ator and bringing about results how no
on e can guess
But though susceptible Of
being seen by some people t he magnetic
fluid itself is imperceptible to most eyes
among those that m ay look for it and clearly
belongs to a different order of natural phe
n om e n a from those that are entirely subj ect
t o sense perception
What ought to be the
effect of such an extremely impalpable agency
when it touches the organism against which
it is directed ? If i t i s capable of producin g
any cfie ct upon that organism at all it must
be through some attributes inherent therein
which are of its own nature The psychic
force in poin t of fact thrown out b y the
will or thought of the operator has got to
in fluen ce the will or thought of the subject
first and then t o get at the b Ody if that is
the object in view through the corresponding
’
principles of the sensitive s organization
E verything that has to do therefore with
the non physical planes of Nature comes
within the purview of those who would arm
themselves for the purpose of cOm pr e he n di n g
m esmerism in a se l e n t i fic spirit
This consideration is on e of the most i m
portant that can be presented to the general
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TH E R A TI
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reader in connection with the current revival
The idea is simple ; I have
o f mesmerism
M esmeric phenomena
e xpressed it al ready
are either wholly or partially psychic i n their
n ature
We cann ot un derstan d them un less
it is possible to investigate the real m of na
ture in which the laws governin g our psychic
consciousness are really ope rative An y
theorizing concerning external facts in mes
m erism which aims at accounting for these
by the materialistic scien ce of old fashioned
medical practice must necessarily be doomed
to failure But I must be pardoned for
dwelling a little more on the idea because
un til people recognize and act upon it there
can not be any s uch gen eral progress in con
with spirit ual knowledge and
n e ct i on
achievement as a truly intell igent appr e ci a
tion O f mesmerism might bring in I t s train
L ook at the way in whi ch even the sciences
of the physical plane rest n ow upon on e an
other as their higher mysteries are explored
Chemistry and electricit y at one time seemed
lin e s of inquiry stan di ng quite apart N ow
they are so in tim ately blended
o f course
th at electricity is as much a reagen t of chem
i st r y in its relations with that science as
hydrochl oric acid This i s the case even al
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9
2
TH E R A TI ON A L E OF
ME SMER I SM
.
of study can be taken up which will really
con duce to the comprehen sion even of so
midway a series of phenomena as those of
mesmerism When people say as above
”
“
N0 on e knows no on e ever can know
etc they are simply m aking a false state
ment which vast bodies of experience con
t r adi ct every day
In on e sense up till now most people
could afford to keep their eyes shut to the
superphysical realms of nature The work
Of their progress was strictly associated with
the exploration of physical nature That
has been the function of this expiring cen
tury in a pre eminent degree ; and the cen
tury could perform its work so to speak
without knowing anything about the spirit
ual planes but that will n o lon ger be the
case wi th the next century Here we are
already face to face with this complicated
question as to what mesmerism really is ; we
are confronted by a mass of i ll understood
phenomena But ill understood though they
may be they are n ow at all events so com
l
et el
recognized
that
future
gener
a
tions
p
y
will infallibly be concerned with them to
a con siderable degree ; investigating them
intelligently or clumsily pushing them to
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ME SMERI C
P H EN
OME N A
93
.
beneficial or mischievous developments ; but
every one will be hopelessly entangled with
them unless dealing with them as partly b e
longing to the spiritual planes The living
man wit h his interior consciousness of self
and individuality is on t w o planes of nature
at once as a ship is in t wo media at once
half in the water and half in the air To
manage your ship successfully you must take
cognizance Of the law s govern ing each of
those media To deal s uccessfully with
your human being you must understand his
physiology n o doubt but you must equall y
understand his psychology and something
of the collateral phenomena of nature in
those regions or planes thereof t o which the
phenomena of the psychic man belong
S o now though feelin g by reason of the
double ill umi nation which occult study has
provided for fairly qualified to explain
many of the phenomena of mesmeris m which
ha v e hitherto been left t he prey of mere n u
intelligent wonder I am at the same time
constrained to say that no on e can hope t o
make head or tail of any re ally t r u e a
fid sci
e n t i fic r at i on ale
of mesmerism unless he
will first take the trouble to c o mprehend oc
cult teaching up at all events to a certain
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94
TH E
R A TI ON A L E
ME SMER I SM
OF
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point We must realize something of what
occultists mean by the astral plane before
entering on the consideration of how the
consciousness of a mesmerized Obj ect behaves
when translated to that plane But on the
other hand this book cannot be a treatise
on occult science at large That should be
dealt w ith and investigated as an i n de p e n
dent study by any on e who aims at a really
thorough grasp of its principles What I
have to do therefore for the moment is to
m ake a statemen t concern in g the esoteric
teaching which gears in with the facts of
mesmeric science asking the reader to treat
this for the time being as simply a workin g
hypothesis If as a working hypothesis it
be found that all the facts of mesmerism are
thus provided with a rational setting that
perhaps may be regarded as a provisional
consideration in favor of the esoteric teach
ing and may perhaps impel students to I n
quire in to it a little f urther Bu t of course
I will not delay my readers on the threshold
Of the subject with which I am now specially
concerned in order to se t forth in the ex
planations it may here be necessary to give
anyt hi ng resembling a complete argument
on behalf of the occ ul t theories concerning
life and the higher aspects of nature
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96
NA L E OF MESMER I SM
TH E R A TI O
.
’
man s body is composed has somehow been
converted into organic matter before it ac
t u ally takes part in the complete structure of
hi s b ones an d flesh
This life principle
which di fie r e n t i at e s organic from inorganic
matter is the second principle of man and
may for the moment be called vital force
But thus far we are thinking merely of mate
rial atoms vitalized it is true but un der no
direction which impels them to assume the
form of a human body People content
with a merely conventional knowle dge of na
ture trouble themselves little as t o how or
why the atoms group themselves as they do
during the growth of a human being Oc
cul t science more penetrating in i t s vision
discerns an underlying patte rn so to speak
consisting of materials wholly unlike those
of the physical plane
and belonging indeed
to what by the conventionalities of occultism
is called the astral plane ; and thi s patt e rn
or gr ound plan of the human being i s recog
n i z e d as the third principle
and may be
call ed the astral body It is quite vi sible
when detached from the physical body to
those who are gifted in any high degree with
clairvoyant vision
The fourth an d fifth principles of man t o
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ME SMERI C
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OMEN A
97
.
gether constitute what may be held to corre
sp on d with the ordinary idea Of the soul but
occul tism thinks of the soul as complex in i t s
constitution As every on e can se e it has
affinities for earthl y and material sensations
pleasures and pursuits while at the same
time it is also gifted with sympathies in a far
loftier direction That these very different
aspects o f the soul are seated during the life
of the complete individual in different vehi
cles to u se an oriental metaphor I s on e
Of the fundamental conceptions of the se
p
t e n ar y division and the lower of these t wo
vehicles the fourth principle of man is most
“
conveniently described by the term animal
”
“
soul while the fifth is the truly human
soul itself more or less pervaded by the
”
“
sixth or spiritual soul which though ex
i st i n g undeniably in germ in every human
being is for a great m any of us un for t u
n at e l
a
potentiality
rather
than
an
om
cc
a
y
li
h
s
e
d
fact
The
seventh
principle
o
n
the
p
occult scale is that infinite sublime in
comprehensible universal S pirit in which all
the phenomena of nature are in some wholly
unfathomable way involved ; out of whose
infinite potentiality all man ifestation arises
in which whatever they may be there r e
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98
TH E R A TI
ONA LE OF MESMERI SM
.
side the attribut e s that h uman specul ation
vaguely groping after the unattainable as
signs t o divinity
F ine and elaborate as this di vision will
appear as contrasted with the more element
ary conception of the soul and the body it
is not by any means complicated enough to
account for all the phenomena which have to
do with either Of these principles taken by
itself I do not conceive for example that
the matter would be correctly put if I simply
“
said that which we may call the mesmeric
”
flui d i s the vital energy or second principle
on the classification just described But
certainly it has very close relations with that
force and on e of the correct interpretations
of mesmeric phenomena in the hum bler lev
e ls of these would recognize animal magnet
i sm as equal to the task of restoring lost vital
energy and thus accomplishi ng beneficial
effects on the human system where no sp e
cific illness has to be considered and where
nothing but a healthy stimul us is wanted to
re establish vigor
The close relations between animal mag
n e t i sm and v i tal energy may be Observed in
very interesting experiments which have
sometimes been carried out though rarely
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1 00
TH E
R A TI ON A L E OF MESMERI SM
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the point of view of the medium to which it
belongs if himself a fish and unqualified to
take note of natu ral phenomena above the
would n ot be
s urface of his own element
able to account always for its behavior
What for instance could explain to him the
reas o n why the keel might sometimes be
s the vessel lay
s le wed very much to one side a
over to the wind ? The Observer of the kind
I have imagined woul d be related to such
a phenomenon just as the mere physical sci
e n t i st amongst ourselves is related to phe
nomena which have to do with the human
consciousness
I rather cling to thi s ill ustration of the
vessel belongi ng to t wo media because it
w ill help to s how in referen ce to the prin ci
ples of man that although the higher and
the lower principles during life are closely
intermingled with each other the higher
nevertheless belong by their natu re to other
planes than that with which our eyes and
senses make us famil i ar Take for exam
’
ple the astral prin ciples of a man s body
and lower soul All the time that the body
i s in the physical plane ! if on e may u se that
expression! these astral principles are in the
astral plane of nature coextensive with the
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MESMERI C
P H
EN OMEN A
1 01
.
physical permeating it everywhere consti
tuting its second aspect and above all
things fill ed with the phenomena properly
appertaining to it just as the physical plane
is fill ed with the scenery and decorations of
nature with the animal and vegetable king
doms as well as with the humanity which
presides over all And thi s i s the second
great idea amongst those taught by occult
scienc e which I want my readers to keep
hold of at all events as a working hypot he
sis
namely that the planes of nature O f
which I speak as higher or superior t o those
which we se e around us are all abundantly
stocked with the beings things objects of
creation whatever we may call them which
properly belong to their nature while to a
consciousness which becomes translated to
any one of these planes such scenery or i n
habitants will be as fully perceptible as the
scenery an d inhabitants of the earth are per
ce p t i b le to waking vision
These planes of
nature do not divide themselves in precise
accordance with the septenary division of
human principles Of which I jus t SpOke but
for the purposes of what w e are now con si d
ering we must realize two great phases of
nature or planes ab ove that of the visible
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2
10
TH E R A TI
ONA LE OF MESMERI SM
.
earth the nearest to us being the astral the
next what I will here call the spiritual plane
It is towards this latter that the soul of a
human bein g shoul d ul timately aspire but
it is qui te certain that with every human
being who is first released from the imprison
men t Of the flesh whether by the solemn
pro cess of nature at death or by the inter
v e n t i on of mesmeric influences durin g life
it is quite certain I say that t he astral
plan e will be the fir st on whi ch that con
s ci ou sn e s s reopens after quitting the physi
cal The further progress upwards indeed
i s one clai ming so much from the soul that
aims at it that a great number of very good
mesmeric sensitives may not be enabled to
accomplish it The astral plane thus b e
comes much the most important for the pur
poses of studying commonplace m esmeric
phenom e na
When I come to deal with clairvoyance it
will be necessary to recur to this exposition
as bearing closely on the m agnetic t rance ;
but as regards the si m ple m qahe n om e n a Of
mesmerism in so far as it afie ct s the health
of the body generally it is only necessary to
realize the astral plane sufficiently to com
prehend that there we fin d the bridge of com
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C H A P TER V
C U R ATI
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VE MESMER I SM
.
tendency of t he hum an mind
leads a great many people to s uppose that
any given branch of knowledge has assumed
importance for the first time when it happens
first to have arrested their own attention
Few people wo ul d con fess this t o be the
truth as regards themselves in a naked way
but the whole body of modern literat ure put
forth under the hypnotic flag is a ludicrous
illustration that with society at large that
“
rul e operates The names with which sci
hypnotism are most definitely associ
e n t ific
ated in modern years are those of Dr Char
cot and Dr L i e b aul t But at the same time
it is a simple histori cal fact that far more
was done to establish the scientific truth of
curative mesmerism by Dr E sdaile and Dr
Elli ot son fifty years ago than either of the
modern physicians just named have had t im c
yet to accomplish
For inquirers who at this stage of the pro
A
C U R I OU S
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C U R A TI
VE
M M
ES
ER I S
M
1 05
.
wish to know what curative mes
’
merism really can accomplish Dr Esdaile s
“
books and the ! oist remain i m m e asu
the most fruitful literature to take up The
only aspect in which at the same time they
are at all defective is that which has t o do
with theory Falling int o a very natural
error most of the early experimentalists
who obtained striking and importan t results
came to the conclusion that these would be
capable of attainment by anybody else who
tried fo r them in t he same way and with any
subjects on whom they might operate They
knew they had failures in some cases but
they probably did not know the extent to
which they were abnormally gifted with the
peculiar reserves of nervous energy required
to throw off animal magnetism and on e of
them as we have seen especi ally Baron du
Potet is almost ludicrously frightened lest
the world at large shoul d immediately ru sh
forward to repeat his own experiments the
bearings of which in some cases he saw not
unreasonably to be fraught with peril He
failed to at t ach sufficient 1 m por t an ce t o the
Boeotian lethargy of his generation at large ;
and we have not yet by any means passed
b eyond that stage o f human enlightenment
ce e di n gs
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1 06
M M
TH E R A TI ON A L E OF
ES
M
ER I S
.
in which we may still rely with a good deal
o f confidence on the stupidity of our con tem
or ar i e s as a safeguard against their prema
p
t ur e invasion of occul t mysteries
But at all events to go b ack to E sdaile
an d Elli ot s on these t wo great experimental
i st s have left volumes of results which it i s
not my business here to reproduce but on
which I will v entur e to make s ome comments
in asmuch as they have made either little
e ffort o r obtained but little success in their
attempts to accoun t for their ow n achieve
ments It i s enough for the moment as r e
gards the facts to say that both E sdaile in
C al cutta and Ell i ot son in the North of L on
don cured serious diseases of almost every
s ort and kind by treatment which i nvol v ed
the use of animal magnetism and of no other
curative agent whatever A common an d
absurd all egation put forward by people who
preserve their opi nions concerning the cura
tive e fie ct s of magnetism by carefully pro
teeting their ignorance of all the facts from
the i nvasion of ext ernal kn owledge is to the
effect that m e sm e r l c influence is o n l y bene
fici al when beneficial at all in cases of ner
vous disorder They might as well say that
a locomotive engine c oul d o n ly pull a car
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TH E R A TI ON A L E or
MESMERI SM
.
requires a great deal of explanation b ut
may be dealt with more conveniently when
we come to consider the psychic rather than
the medical department of the subject El
li ot son it is true worked en tirely with E u
r o e an patients but n ever as far as records
p
show obtained such startli ng results as
those of Calcutt a if measured b y the propor
tion of sensitiveness discovered S pecific
resul ts in North L ondon were just as good
in s ome cases as specific results in India ;
but n o intelli gent mesmerist sett ing to work
in this country would expect for a moment
to be able to in fl uence as many per cent of
the people he might deal with as if he were
working in the midst of an oriental com m u
n it
N
ow thi s difficulty ab o ut the non se n
y
si t i v e n e ss to mesmeric treatment of a very
great num ber of people all over the world
and of an especially great num ber in the
highly civilized communities of modern E u
rope i s one which no enthusiast for mesmeric
progress shoul d blink in any way or attempt
to un derestimate But on the other hand
we must remember that the highly i n se n si
tive condition of E uropeans which may i n
t e r fe r e for the moment wi th the practical
value of magnetic cures is itself a mental
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C U B A TI
VE ME SMERI SM
1 09
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rather than a physical phenomenon It is
due to the prevalent attitude of mind which
highl y educated and highly civilized E uro
peans generally fall into and it would u n
derge a very great change if the scientific
nature of mesmeric facts became generally
un derstood and relieved by the sanction of
high intellectual authority from the torrent
of ribaldry with which the whole subject has
been so long inundated by ephemeral writers
playing up as usual to t he greatest i gn o
rance of the greatest number All that we
have really to keep in mind is that mesmeric
influence is not a curative agent which is
universally applicable ; it is a curative agent
which is probably more influential than any
other system medical science has discovered
and is certainly susceptible of enormous and
most advantageous extension :
But how does the system wo rk ? L et us
se e what have been t he concl u sions as r e
gards their own part in the cures they have
worked of the earliest exponents o f mesmer
ism who still remain the most remarkable of
its e x p e r l m e n t ali st s E sdaile seems never
t o have got much beyond the perception of
the fact that he coul d by making passes as
soci at e d with the exercise of his own will
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110
TH E R A TI ON AL E or
MESMER I SM
.
produce magnetic trances out of which
when it was his will that this result shoul d
ensue his patients woul d emerge either cured
I doubt if Dr El
or very greatly relieved
li ot son developed any theory going much
beyond this and indeed if any mesmeric
books old or new embody any theoretical
explanations of such phenomena that are
worth the serious attention of students I
kn ow of none such
Perhaps thi s assertion shoul d be qualified
by some reference to what is called hypnotic
suggestion as a curative method for here we
are certainly in close touch with a theory or
if not exactly with a theory as to the inner
working of the remedy with a theory whi ch
advances us one step in that direction The
exponents of hypnotic suggestion imagine
that they dispense i n the first instance alto
gether with any emanations ; that they bring
about a condition of partial or complete n u
consciousness by inducing their patients to
adopt some auto mesmeric process and that
while in this state they thr ow into their
min ds simply by spoken assur ance on the
subject the idea that when they recover
their normal state they will fin d themselves
bet ter I am very far from wishi ng to i m
,
,
,
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,
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,
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,
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-
,
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,
.
11
2
OF ME SMERI SM
TH E R A TI ON A L E
.
the actual obj ective existence as a fact in na
ture as un e q u i v ocal as the steam in a boiler
U n til people who
of the mesmeric fluid
are on the path of this inquiry convince
themselves of this they will be stumbling
about in the dark It is the first all impor
tant leadi ng elementary p r in ciple of the su b
and
any
on e who attempts to dispute it
t
e
c
j
takes up a position which is first of all ab
surd to those who as I said before are in
a position to se e the fluid in question as
certain l y though a much fin er phenomenon
is concern ed as an engineer can se e the
steam pouring ou t from his exhaust tubes
S econdl y the denial of the fluid theory is ir
’
rational i n face of R eichenbach s researches
an d can only be maintained by v irt ue of a
prelim inary declaration that these researches
are falsely re corded If it is argued that
R eichen bach is ye t almost alone as an ex
l
or e r in that partic ul ar range of phen om
p
ena the answer is that a positive fact if a
fact is still a fact in nature though it stan d
alone ; and nobody after its establishment is
entitled to constr uct a theory of nature with
which it is in compatible
Now this being assumed as the fu n dam e n
tal state of ou r kn owledge as to the way in
'
,
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—
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-
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,
.
C UB A TI
VE MESMERI SM
1 13
.
which magnetic cures work let us go a step
further in the direction of wha t I am quite
ready to treat for the present as a hyp ot he
sis I t is n ot unreasonable to assume that
the magn etic fluid which emanates from a
powerful mesmeric operator i s something
which in varying degrees is present in the
organism of all other human beings Nor is
it unreasonable to suppose that a something
which is clearly all ied in a very important
manner with the innermost vital functions of
the organism may b e in some way or other
unhealthy when those vital functions are
manifestly out of order N ow if that be
the case the object we have to acc omplish
in effecting a magnetic cure is to withdraw
the unhealthy fluid which has accumulated
in the organism of the sufferer in the first
instance an d replace it wit h tha
t of a more
healthy order from a vigorous and wholesome
constitution A n d clearly when we want to
replace on e thing by another it is possible to
do this in two ways ; one a rough way and
the other a neat and relatively scient ific
method We may simply force in t he new
influence trusting that it will by its own
abundance somehow expel and drive off that
of which we want t o get rid or we may by
,
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,
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,
114
TH E R A TI ON A L E or
ME SME R I SM
.
an arrangement of ou r energies far more eco
n om i cal as regards the e xpenditure of force
get rid fir st of the evil entity whatever it
is flui d substance or magnetism and then
replace it by as much as may be required
to fill the void of a more wholesome order
S o far it seems to me the most successful
among well known cur at l v e mesmerists have
blundered on the r o ugher of these two ex
i
nt s
d
e
e
Without
apparently
stopping
to
p
think the thing out and certainly without
co ming to the conclusion that the underlyin
g
cause o f illn ess must be an illn ess so to
’
speak in the sufl e r e r s own personal mag
n e t i sm they have simply drenched him with
the emanations of their own healthier organ
i sm and have obtained no doubt from this
somewhat extravagant process resul ts which
were often highl y satisfactory An i m m e a
surably more scientific way of goin g to work
however i s to withdraw first of all the um
healthy or to u se a c onvenient expression
the bad magnetism and then replace it by
an entirely separate operation H ow is this
to be done ? some one may ask; and the an
swer is b y a very much simpler method
than the apparent obscurity o f the subject
woul d seem t o fo reshado w
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1 16
TH E R A
TIONAL E OF ME SMER I SM
.
i
z in
h
a
s
p
g
your own will that woul d be em
ployed in the other case The fin gers of a
mesmerist pointed to the forehead of a p a
tient may be made to suck in or draw out
fr om the patient a current of magnetism just
as with t he ot he r intention the same condi
tion of things would be seen by a person
whose sight was properly developed to i n
v olve the emissi on o f a current F or all
such pu rposes indeed as the withdrawal of
bad magnetism s omething more than the
’
mere contigui ty of the operator s fingers 1 s
desirable The complete touch of the whole
hand is a mechanical arrangement lending
far more assistance to the will power than
any other arrangement ; and it will be seen
that in having arrived at this conclusion
along the path of purely scientific specul a
tion we have got back to the famous old b ib li
cal method
the laying on of hands The
hands laid on may be thought of in t he op
’
orator s mind with a view of intensifying
their influence to the utmost as sponges ap
plied to a wet surface with a view of sopping
up the moisture ; that is to say he will think
of them with reference to the bad magnetism
he wi shes them to withdraw in a way which
is precisely analogous t o the illustration just
given
.
,
'
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CU
RA TI VE ME SMERI S M
117
.
But what is he to do with the bad magnet
i sm when he has sopped it up in his han ds ?
A n d here at the very outset of the matter we
come to an extremely important consideration
which is constantly overlooked by the earlier
writers on mesmerism You must get rid
of the bad magneti sm l n some definitely fin al
and specific way if you want to accomplish
any permanent cure of the patient for one
very good reason ; because if you do n ot it
is more than likely that the evil of which you
hav e relieved him will lodge in your own
system and unless it happens that the store
of ma n etic energy in your ow n system is so
g
extraordinarily abundant that it drives out
the intruding evil you will set up in your
own physical conditions of health somethin
g
very like the disorder you have cured On
a small scale it is worth while t o acquire for
’
one s self a mild disorder to bring this truth
home to the mind I have repeatedly given
myself headaches by taking them away from
others leaving out by deliberate intention
or perhap s in some cases by car e le ssn e ss t he
precautions which I knew ought to b e taken
to guard against that result
H ow then to get rid of bad magnetism
from hands which are laden with it ; that 1 s
.
,
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'
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=
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118
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMER I SM
.
the problem with which we have n ow to deal
Agai n for all practical purposes the result
is obtained by a simple e fior t of will in that
direction associated with gestures which
stimulate the intention I f the hands are
withdrawn from the patient and the gesture
is made in a free direction of throwing ofi
whatever they may contain exactly as if they
were we t and the operator were trying to dr y
them by flourishing them about in the air
the desired end is reached under most of the
simple conditions which ordinary mesmerism
would be concerned with To make the
matter theoretically clearer however we
must dive a little m ore deeply into the mys
t e r i e s of the superphysical regions of nature
lying all around us O f these I shall have
to speak a good deal more when de aling with
the higher S piritual aspects of mesmerism
but up to the present time it has not been
necessary to touch that side of the subject
The ordinary curative influences can be
worked without reference to the highe r
planes of nature just because they are con
cerned with the phenomena of the lower
plane with mere physical illness
But
now in some degree the refinement with
which we are dealing does impinge on the
higher branch o f the subject
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2
1 0
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF ME SMER I S M
.
entirely as of c ourse he does The mere
gesture of throwing it off from himself with
the intention of getting rid of it will in all
n to what may be call ed
robabilit
throw
it
i
y
p
the sphere of attraction of those currents
forces or entities whatever w e like to call
them which will carry it away from all
further relations with ourselv es But of
course if the operator is gift ed with suffi
cient astral sight or clairvoyance hi mself as
to se e the process carried ou t he will be
very much more successful in get ting rid o f
the evil
And for those who realize the proce ss I
have just described a new interest may at
tach to many biblical phrases in whi ch it is
distinctly referred to for those who compre
hend the symbology and shown t o be pres
ent to the knowledge of those earli er occul t
i st s who practiced mesmerism many thou
sand years before M esmer For example
the very well known parable of the herd of
s w ine in regard to which so much egregi o us
nonsense has been written both by those who
endeavor to represent it as a literal hi st or
ic al transaction and by tho se who conceive
that the authenticity of the biblical narrative
is upset by dwell ing on the immoral absurd
.
,
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’
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2
ME SMER I S M
O UR A TI VE
1 1
.
ity of the story taken literally is significant
for those who understand the affinities b e
t ween certain orders of elemental currents
f as bad mag
and what we are here talking o
n e t i sm
The herd of swin e simply stand as
a symbol for these elemental currents or e u
tities and the meaning 1 s that when the
devil cast ou t of the man who was afflicted
in ou r more scientific phraseology
or
when the bad magnetism withdrawn from
him had to be disposed of by the supreme
operator concerned it was disposed of in the
proper way and not left to hang about the
1
aura of either himself or the bystanders
,
,
.
,
—
,
,
—
,
,
I t i s i m p oss i
bl
.
xplai
al t h y f m e s
m e i m w it h u t u i g
m
tu
w d v y f am i li a t
de t f ccu l t i m i t
a c
aps q ui
b ut p
”
i g a
i f x pla at i h
Th
a u a i s t he t m
e m pl y d t
d t t hat cl u d f ast al m at t t hat i s t o
f m at t e
x t pla
s ay
el
t he
f
at u
gi g t
a ov t h p y i cal pla w ic u u ds v e y hum a
i g a d b yala g e um
f ad q u at ly gi f t d p
y a fi d v l pm t f t at f ac u l t y
p l ca b
al ady f d t as e a li g m p e pl t
t he
m m e i c fl u id
a it w u l d
m t im
call d y
b
cc u lt is t t h m ag e t ic a u a Th c dit i o f t he
a u a ha al m t a u lim i t e d ig ificat i f r t ose w h
a
p p ly i t u ct d i t h i t p t at i f i t s ig
ut g i g i t
b u t w it
t
f i t a p c t w ich ha
s
u gh
di ct c c
t
u j ct
it is e
w it h m y p
t
say t
at t he a u a i n e v y case w u ld b i l t ly
affe ct e d y c o dit i n f di a e a d whi l e t he
t
a
1
r s
s o
n
o
b
b
,
e n
e
o
e
n
e
h
e
n
re
se e n
b
n er
n
o
,
s,
n
or ,
s
er
e
hh
s
r
e
o
e
r
o
e
o
e
e
es
e
s
re
re
o
ro
h
os
er
ns r
o
o n
h
b
on
n
n
h
n
e
n
s
o
e rn
n
o e o
er
h
o
s
s
er
s o
se
b
e
s
e
o
s
,
n
h
o
eo
se e
e
n
o
on
re
s
r e se n
r
n
e
on
n
e
e
“
r
n
o
on
re
n
h
e
en
.
ne
n
rro
so
r
re
e r,
ne
so
n
o s
er
r
e o
e
r
r
er o
o
n
e
es
o
h
er
o
b
b
e or
re
s
o
ne,
e rre
r
o
e re .
n
on
r
e
n
r
o
s
n
,
or
e
er
on
b
r
t he
n
h b h
o
eno e
o
o
re
es
e
e
so
n
s
r e
o
s n
o
b
n
t
e
b
o
o
s
v e
n s,
no
no
,
e
v o en
r e s or
1
2
2
MESMER I SM
TH E R A TI ON A L E OF
.
When such bad magnetism is left to hang
about t he aura of the operator it may as al
ready suggested develop i n himself the
very ailment from which he has cured his
subject if his own physical constitution
present any weakness in that direction O r
if this does not take place another very cu
h is ill ustrated
r i ou s result may foll ow whi c
by an occurren ce within my own knowledge
A lady troubled with very lon g seated and
severe rheumatism was cured by a mesmeric
operator i n Paris and went away well satis
fie d to another part of E urope
Four years
afterwards the old pain which had never
troubled her in the interval returned with
its old virulence and she hastily sent to i n
quire after the operator who had dealt with
her so successfully It turned ou t that he
had died at exactly the period when her com
plaint returned O ther similar cases are
spoken of i n some of the mesmeric bo oks
and the explanation simply i s that in such
cases the operator has never got rid of t he
,
,
‘
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,
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-
,
,
,
“
.
,
,
,
.
'
,
b
ap
w h had e e
ill f h al t hy c dit i
l f i t h p u ificat i
f t h au a i t is
w ul d m a i f t i t
e q u ally a c
v
p i ili t y t at i fl u c
la
f a
ly im m at i al c a ac t
ti
i t h fi t i t a c aff c t i g
p yi
t h au a m i g t a ft e w a d e xp e ss t he m se lv s i
cal c o di t i on s
t i on , i n
e r son
n
o
es
on
e
r
n
,
se
e r se
h
er
ve
o
.
n
h
oss
e
er
r
r
b
r
n
s
r
,
h
n
e
r
o
on
e
on
o
n
en
rs
ns
e
r
es
e
,
re
o
e
n
on s
e
n
h
n
s
2
1 4
TH E R A
TIONA LE OF ME SMERI SM
.
followers of the hypnotic school have entirely
overlooked in dwelling on the existence of
another danger to which they assign perhaps
exaggerated importan ce It is a common
place of modern writin g on the subject that
purely hypnotic treatment that is to say
the establishment of condit ions of what we
’
call the mesmeric order in a pat ient s system
by means of external mechanical applica
tions like revolvin g mirrors or what not is
free from the peril attached to the influence
which a mesmerist obtains o ver his subject
if similar conditions are established by
means of passes in the old way Now of
course it is perfectly true that to a certain
extent the mesmeric operator obtains i n fl u
ence over his subj ect and if the same oper
ator and the same sub j ect go on working to
gether for a long period of time an d trance
conditions are c o nstantly re established the
influence of the mesmerist b ecomes enor
mous That influence however does not
spring into sudden magnitude all at once on
a single occasion Here again qualifications
have to be introduced which I will discus s in
their proper place in regard to the sudden
results obtained with entire strangers by
professional mesmeric exhibitors ; but these
.
“
,
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,
OUR A
TI VE MESMERI SM
.
2
1 5
really fall into a different category from the
cases with which we are concerned for the
moment It is most emphatically true that
no m esmerist influencing a s ubj ect for a cura
tive purpose would suddenly acquire fatal
supremacy over the m or ale of that subj ect
but from the point of view which I fully rec
i
n flu
that
after
a
time
when
the
o n iz e
g
e n ce s had been frequently repeated such con
trol would be possible the reply is that
people who find the need of bein g mesmer
i z e d must be exceedingly careful int o whose
hands they trust themselves
I think if the idea of medical science of
the ordinary type were presented to the
world n ow for the first time timid people
“
would be inclined t o say H ow frightful the
notion of following the prescriptions of a
doctor If he were malevolently inclined he
might give us poison or drugs which would
”
be ot he r w 1 se deleterious I
Of course he
might In this life we are continually rely
ing with more or less confidence on ou r
fell ow bein gs
S ometimes that confidence
is misplaced and terrible examples of trust
betrayed in every walk of life encounter ou r
observation ; but as life is organized at pres
ent we can only meet that condition of thin gs
.
.
,
,
.
x
.
-
.
,
2
1 6
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF ME SMER I SM
.
by taking care as to whom we do trust
whether in afiai r s of every day life in busi
ness in afie ct i on in medical practice or
finally in mesmerism A s for the notion
that when a mesmerized s ubj ect may pass
under the curious invisible influence of the
operator he or she on that account loses the
normal facul ty of will and i s weakened or
degraded in character accordingly I venture
to declare that no shadow of justification for
that theory can be se t up by any legitimate
appeal to established facts in the psychic
constitution of man It is n ot even true
that sensitiveness to mesmeric influence is
necessarily associated although that s ome
times may be the case with want of individ
ual energy of character To that branch of
the subject however I must recur later and
therefore leave it alone for the present
But coming back n ow to the real danger
such as it is of hypnotic suggestion as dis
t i n gui she d from the other danger such as it
is of mesmeric treatment we must remember
that the hypnotic state may very roughly be
described as an abnormal physical condition
and the mesmeric state as an abnormal as
1
tral condition I n some way the nerves are
,
-
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
“
,
!
‘
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
.
1
i
Thi s t
wr t i n
e rm
g t o t hat
is
of
r e gi on
ve sal appli cat i i all ccul t
at ur e
e lat e d t o s u ch p he om
of
un i
r
n
on
r
n
o
n
C HAPTER
A N E STH ET I C
VI
.
EFF EC T S AN D
RICH
R I GI D ITY
.
as the old literature of mesmerism
i s in evidence concernin g t he an aestheti c
e fl e ct s of magnetism and though in the ex
e r im e n t s often pub li cly presented at the
p
present day nothing is more common than to
show how completely the mesmeric trance
may quench all sense of pain I do n ot think
that any treatise on the subject has hithert o
made an attempt t o account in anything
that can be called a scientific manner ,for
these remarkable phenomena L east of all
have the modern writers limiting them
selves willfully t o a contracted v 1 e w of the
whole subj ect been in a position t o in v e s
t i gat e the real causation of mesmeric an ses
t he si a
It woul d indeed be impossible to do
this with any prospect of success without
taking into account the deeper occul t science
of the whole subject and no o rdinary know
ledge acquired by the simple examination of
the human physique c o uld enable any mere
“
,
,
,
.
—
.
,
A M ES TH
ETI C
EF
FE C TS
2
1 9
.
physician to guess at the manner in which
magnetic force operates to suspend the normal
activity of the nervous system Any at
tempt indeed to 1 n v e st i gat e the more subtle
characteristic of the human organism with
ou t taking into account some of those higher
principles which are not within the cogui
z an ce of the or d
i nary senses and still less
open to investigation by the instrumen ts of
the dissecting room must necessarily prove
abortive The seat of consciousness i s n ot
in the physical matter of the body and thus
all questions having to do with the man ner
in which consciousness of pain can be sus
pended must concern themselves even if
they do not have to go higher with the as
tral principles of the subject
Now I have already pointed out that that
force itself which differentiates o rganic from
inorganic matter is already on e which app e r
tains to the a stral plane and I have also i n
di cat e d that the se pt e n ar y di v 1 s1 on of prin
ci p le s described in a preceding chapter must
be itself still further analyzed before we can
fully apprehend the workin g of con scfousn e s
even in its least elevated forms And thus
the force of which I have n ow to speak al
though n ot belonging to any higher stratum
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
,
,
.
,
v
,
,
—
i
.
,
1 30
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF ME SMER I SM
.
of the human constitution than the second
principle nevertheless is itself di stinct from
vital energy in its simplest aspect The
truth is that when we talk of the nerves as
the channels for con v e yi n g se n sat i on in the
one direction to the true Ego or in the other
for conveying the will force of t he E go to
the bodily organism we are talking to use
a rough but not inaccur ate analogy of the
steam pipes connectin g the boiler with the e n
gine whil e omitting all notice of the steam
That which really is the medium for t he con
v e yan ce of consciousness or w ill as the steam
i s the medium for the conveyance of force in
the case of the engi ne is what may be most
”
conveniently described as the nerve aura
And at this point I know that many read
ers will make a pause and ask by what
process of experi mentation I have arri v ed at
the knowledge I possess with regard t o this
nerve aura My reply is by the o nly
method of investigation which can possibly
be appli ed to such a problem No physic al
experiment can deal with the matter No
knowledge to be disinterred from medical
speculations con cerning the nerves and the
brain will help us on e step on the road to
wards the conclusions we seek The only
,
.
,
,
,
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,
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,
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,
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.
.
13
2
TH E R A
TIONA LE OF MESMERI SM
.
availing themsel v es of this fact t o
guide them in the treatment of their pa
t i e n t s did not for the most part possess the
advantage of any o ccul t knowledge to begin
with which could prompt them to direct
their inquiries along fruitful chann els such
as woul d lead them to gen eral izations con
cern ing the forces of the superior planes
R ealizing myself enough of the esoteric laws
at work to give greater point and significance
to my inqui ries I have been enabled by
working wi th sensitive gifts of an unusually
high o rder in the case of some clairvoyants
with wh om I have had to deal to get these
mysteries concerning the nerve aur a i n t e lli
gently explained and to make out the man
ner in which the vital magnetism of a mes
meric operator may affect the action of thi s
nerve aura in the m esmeric state
To realize what takes place let us in the
first instance imagine a condition of things
which is not exactly what takes place but
will pave the way for a c omprehension of
the actual course of events The nerve aura
belonging to any given subject is in a cer
tain sense a portion of his organism I t is
in direct relation with the vehicles of the
higher consciousness and though undoubt
st an
t ly
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EFF ECTS
’
A NAE TH E TI C
S
1 33
.
in the first instance leading alo ng the
nerves to the brain is merely at that point
articulated so t o speak with the vehicles of
higher consciousness with the soul let us
say for the convenience of the moment
N ow it is a fundamental fact concerning the
complex organism of which we are speaking
that the higher vehi cles whi ch in the normal
condition of things are in close and in ti
mate union so to s peak in admixture
wi t h the matter of the physical bo dy are
nevertheless separable therefrom in a way
that does not involve the final and complete
separation which takes place at death A d
v an ce d students of o ccultism do not require
any other argum ent to support the statement
I have just made beyond their own constant
experience of actually separating the con
But without ap
sci ou sn e s s fr o m the body
pealing to quite such lofty t estimony the
records of clairvoyance are fertile m exam
ples of cases in which people describ e them
selves as looking at themselves
contem
plating their own body as from an external
point of vi ew
Wit hou t the help of occul t science to in
t e r p r e t what is really taking place in this
case some writers are inclined to invent
e dly
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THE
1 34
R A TI ON A L E OF
ME SMER I SM
.
elaborate theories of complicated subj ective
phenomena to account for such transactions
In reality they are very simple and simply
what they seem Questioned on this sub
j ect any clairvoyant in a genuin e magnetic
trance woul d describe hi s consciousness as
seated in something at all events external
to his body N ot bein g on the lo okout for
such condi tions fe w of the e a
rlier mesmer
i st s if any thought of asking questions
pointing to s uch a condition of thin gs and
clairvoyants are very rarely spontaneous in
pouring out information ; they require to
be cross examined before exhibiting their
knowledge i n full perfect ion or rather b e
fore bringing their emancipated perceptions
to bear on the problems they have t odeal
with s o as to develop thi s knowledge if
required
However taking the fact to be as I say
and leaving persons inclined to dispute it to
search for the ev idence in its favor in books
dealing with occul t science generally let me
ask my readers n ow to consider what is the
situation of affairs as regards the conscious
ness that the sensitive ou t of the body r e
tains concern in g the body he has left behind
How to begin with has it come to pass that
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1 36
THE
OF ME SMERI SM
R A TI ON A L E
.
accoun ts for the well known i mmobility of a
mesmeric sensitive in a trance as regards any
spontaneous movement and also for the ri
i
of
the
l
i
mbs
when
they
are
i
d
se t in an y
t
g
y
particul ar direction by the mesmerist It is
his intention working thro ugh his own aura
now in timately blended wi th the nervous
system of his subject whi ch determin es what
state of the muscles shall be s uperinduced by
the machi nery which the nerve aura controls
’
He extends the sensitive s arm for example
desiri ng that it shall remain i mm ovable in
the position in which he places it By the
hypothesis no other desire can come into
play to interfere with that condition of
thi ngs and i mmovable therefore the arm
remains
N ow in order that what actually takes
place may be exactly appreciated I must ex
plain here that un der n o circumstances does
the magnetism of the mesmerist entir ely di s
place the nerve aura of the patient but it
penetrates and so to speak domin ates it
subduin g all i t s vibrations for the time
being replacing it as regards all the activ i ty
of its fun ctions and accomplishing in regard
to the phenomena with which we have been
dealing precisely what woul d be accompli shed
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S
A NAE TH E TI C
EF F ECTS
1 37
.
supposing the o riginal aura were entirely ex
’
n l y portion of the sensitive s
The
o
ll
ed
e
p
aur a which is not thus dominated is that
which has t o d o with the mechanical and i n
voluntary movemen t of the body the action
of the lun gs and the heart and so on and
here in t he first instan ce the activi ty of such
nerves can hardly be thought of as directly
related to the con sciousness of the soul It
is not necessary to go into a minute e x am i
nation of the way in which the involuntary
muscles are governed by nerves and a nerve
aura of an equally involuntary character but
it is obvious on the face of things that there
i s a difference between such nervous energy
and the nerve energy of the v oluntary mus
cles ; and this may sufficiently explain for our
present purpose the fact that whereas the
voluntary nervous system can be affected by
’
the mesmerist s aura in the way I have been
describing n ature happily guards the sensi
tive from the stoppage of the lower vital
machinery during such a c o ndition
It will be seen that the principle of this
explanation equally covers such case s as I
have hitherto been thinkin g of in which the
whole physical organism is drenched with
’
the operator s magnetism and the conscious
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1 38
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MES MER I S M
.
ness of the subject expell ed from it for the
time bei ng and also those other cases in
whi ch local an ae sthesia can be produced by
mesmeric treatment so that an arm for ex
ample may be made insensible to pain while
the sensitive is ful ly awake and able him
self to experimen t on hi s condition by stick
ing pins into the in sen sitive flesh In the
case where the O peration is car ried ou t in i t s
entirety the nerve aura of the brain itself is
dominated by that of the operator and none
of t he senses are in an y degree of activity
The true consciousness is the n out of the
body altogether sometimes to an extent
which makes it difficult for the subject to go
through the slight musc ul ar movement r e
quired for articul ate speech In such cases
it will be famili ar to every mesmerist who
has handl ed clairvoyant subj ects that the
thi ng to do is to demesmerize the lips
that
is to s ay by a conscious e fior t of will asso
ci at e d with the att ractive force of the fin gers
to draw out the alien magnetism fr Om that
’
portion of the subj ect s organism ; then the
original nerve aura is restored to potential
activ ity and the subj ect i s enabled to speak
while still remaining in the trance condition
In the cas e of the local effect the nerve aura
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C HAPTER VI I
'
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SEN SI T I
T H E N A TU R E O F
VEN ESS
.
M A N Y of the most familiar experi ments in
that ki nd of mesmerism which has latterly
been played with rather as an amusement
than seriously investigated have to do wi th
the transfer of sensation s or states of con
s ci ou sn e s s from the operator to the subj ect
under conditio n s that have nothi ng to do
with the five senses I do not propose to
burden these pages with elaborate records of
such experiments w ith the names dates and
places concern ed Books devoted to such
records teem wi th elaborate examples of the
phenomenon before us An y sense may be
the nucleus as it were around which these
transferred impressions can be gathered A
dul y qualified mesmerized subject may be at
on e end of a room
the operator may look at
the page of a book at the other end an d the
mesmerized subject will b e able to read the
’
words as they pass across the operator s v i s
ion I f he hears a faint s ound qui te incapa
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THE
NA
T UR E OF SEN SI TI VEN E SS
.
1 41
ble of making itself audible in the natural
way to the sensitive the sensitive in turn
will hear that sound If he receives a phy
si cal sensation li ke the prick of a needle
the sensitive in relation with him will start
and show by some appropriate movement
that the sensation was transferred to the cor
responding part of his or her body and in
exactly the same way phenomena of taste and
smell can be and have been scores of times
transferred from operator to subject When
we approach the consideration of these phe
n om e n a we fin d ourselves at o n ce in a regio n
of mesmeric practice altogether out of gear
with those sim ple transactions having to do
with curative processes with whi ch s ome
people erroneously imagine that mesmeric
science comes to an end
"
Of course such phenomena as I am n ow
approaching are only possible in reference
to p e r son s whose suscept ibility to mesmeric
influence is very acute and this may be the
appropriate moment to enter m ore at length
on the consideration of what really consti
t ut e s m esmeric sensitiveness
To an alyze
this with as much precision as that which
might be applied t o the treatment of a chem
ical comp ound wo uld not be p o ssible un less
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14
2THE
R A TI ON AL E
OF MESMERISM
.
we started with as full an appreciation of
all the elements which go to make up the
psychic nature of man as we possess in r e
gard to the physical attributes of the elemen
tary bodies Without claiming any greater
admission than is surely involved in the view
of humanity which most people e ntertain we
m ay recognize a hu man cr eature as at all
e v ents a composite entity to this extent that
he has a spiritual or psychic nature of some
sort in union durin g life with his body
Furthermore the fact that avenues of per
ce p t i on
having to do with the psychic na
ture exist independently of the five senses
may almost be proved as a broad proposition
by the experience of dreams even before we
approach those far more scientific proofs i n
volved in m e sm e r l c experiment If any on e
at the present day e n deavors to cling to the
hypothesis t hat only through the channel of
the five senses can states of consciousness be
conveyed to the real ego of a human being
all we need say here is that so narrow and
ignorant a v i ew of the subj ect un fit s an l n
u i r e r for dealing with the R ationale of M es
q
merism He must first take the moderate
pains by which he will be able to acquaint
himself with notorious facts
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144
TH E R A TI
ONA LE OF MESMERI SM
.
immediate consciousness of the sensation I
have seen a sensitive under my own treat
ment move one hand hastily over the other
as though brushing off an annoyance when
the back of my o wn correspondin g hand b e
hind my back has been pricked by a third
person Here we may conjecture that no
thing really transpires i n that particul ar
’
pot of the sensitive s person which seems to
feel the sensation but whatever may be the
state of consciousness of the ego due to a
prick in the back of the hand that state of
consciousness is superinduced so to speak
by a short cut in the case of the transferred
mesmeric sensation L odged in the in ner
most consciousn ess i t suggests the idea of
having been occasioned in the usual way
and hence the impression that it is a prick
in the back of the hand Does the idea
seem fantastic or unsupported by adequate
experience ? The truth is that a precisely
similar phenomenon has bee n utterly famil
iar from time immem orial and every doctor
at all events knows that people who have
lost an arm or a leg will testify to the
strange fact that they constantly seem to
feel pain in the missing hands or feet
They seem to feel that pain because in some
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THE N AT UR E OF SENSITI VENESS
.
1 45
the centre of consciousness has been
affected in the same way that it would have
been if the hands or feet had been present
and had suffered injury The subj ect as
sign s the sensation to its normal cause
Very well then we have in considering
what it is that constitutes sensitiveness to
the order of phenomena n ow under con si d
cration to do with the psychic element in
the human constitution and the question
turns entirely upon the extent to which that
psychic constitution is predominant or al
together absorbed i n and overwhelmed by
the physical nature
It will be understood that in the theory I
am going to define I am expressing conclu
sions derived from the study of many other
departments in human psychology besides
thos e directly concerned with the explan a
tions given To put forward these explana
tions on what would be r e cognized as a sci
e n t i fic method
I ought t o start from the
basis of positively known facts and build
ing up with the help of definite e x p e r i
ments fresh knowledge bit by b i t r ar ri v e at
the results o ffered f or acceptance Nor is
tha t scientific method to be found fault with
i n regard to the investigations of the deeper
way
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1 46
THE
RA
TIONALE
OF
ME SMERI SM
.
’
mysteries of man s cons t itution as a whole ;
but we can only derive a comprehension of
the tr ue theory of mesmeric resul ts by first
of all gettin g a conception of that con st i t u
tion as a whole an d then deriving from
such aggregate kn owledge whate ver specific
knowledge may be required to i ll uminate
the problem in hand And as this little
volume does not profess t o be a complete
compendium of human psychology in all its
bearings it woul d be impossible to foll ow
step by step the whole investigation which
leads to that which I hold to be the correct
view of the subj ect the theosophical view
namely of the psychic and spiritual at t r i
butes of humanity That which I propose
to offer in reference to the branch of the
subj ect now coming forward for treatment
the theory of mesmeric sensitiveness is
a clear statement of theor y deduced from
theosophic te aching at large and claiming
attention I thin k at this crisis by all st u
dents of mesmerism as at all events coherent
an d rational and subj ect in itself to e xp e r
i m e n t s directed to test its validity in refer
ence to its most important elements
S ensitiveness to begin with mus t not be
’
regarded as an absolute fact in any o ne s na
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THE
1 48
R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMER ISM
.
poses o f mesmeric sensitiveness is n ot to be
found m the person of the dull witted clod
hopper without a conscious thought directed
to any subj ect more elevated than bacon
and furrows It is quite possible that such
a clo dhopper however in capable of adding
two rows of figures together might be
highly sensitive to mesmeric influence and
it is equall y true that the person who woul d
represen t the very highest degree of mes
meric influence imaginable must almost n e
ce ss ar i ly be also highl y gifted in every i n tel
lectual aspect These statements fall into
a trul y scientific shape in the mind if we
think of the three typical human beings
thus imagined as ranged not al ong a straight
line but alon g a cyclic curve O ur clod
hOpp e r for the purposes of this broad illus
will represent the divine essence
t r at i on
let u s say coming into human form As it
accomplishes the cyclic process thus entered
upon it first of all evolves to the highest
possible degree the physical aspect in which
it is struggling to express itself and at on e
point in the curve accomplishes the maxi
mum degree of development possible as r e
gards the physical instrument with which it
is working The race ! here of course we
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THE NAT UR E
OF S EN S I TI VEN E S S
.
1 49
are speaking of the race as the continuous
unity and the single individuals as points in
its progress! havin g accomplished its maxi
m um physical intellectual development con
t i n u e s along the returning curve of the
cycle and without losing an atom or an at
tribute so to speak of the advantage gained
proceeds to r e ev olv e its so far hidden psychic
attributes which express themselves in phy
si cal intelligence at the nadir point of the
cycle and are af t er wards destined to respir
i t u ali z e themselves plus all the acq uisitions
due to the descent into matter The centre
of evolution which is being carried round
the cycle of course does not re turn to that
same point in the figure from which the cy
cle sprang but to the corresponding p oint
on a higher level The further examination
of that idea however would take us beyo n d
the subject n ow Specially before us I shall
have t o return to the cyclic idea directly
but having for the moment broadly defined
the origin subsidence an d r e development
of sensitiveness as a human attribute let me
show what the same methods of thought
bring ou t in regard to the complementary
characteristics of mesmeric force
I have called them complementary for con
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1 50
TH E R A
TIONALE OF MESMER I SM
’
v e n i e n ce sake
.
but let us not for a moment
imagine that on e human being i s exclusively
a sensitive another human being exclusively
a mesmerist The very maximum degree
of mesmeric force is on the contrary n e
ce ssar i ly associated with the maximum de
gree of sensitiveness because the maxi m um
degree of either can on l y be due to the pos
session by the person in question of supreme
knowledge con cerning both aspects of his
nature R emember sensitiveness does not
necessarily mean liability to have the will
enslaved by another That is on l y on e of
the aspects of sensitiveness of on e kind
We shall m ap all this ou t clearly in a little
while though at first the complications of
the problem cann ot but appear rather bewil
dering to those who are un familiar with this
system of thin kin g That which I mean in
speaking of sen sitiveness at this stage of the
explanation is the facul ty of cognizin g i m
pressions derived through the aura and the
corresponding senses belonging to that ele
ment of the hum an constitution which is
allied with its aura The cultivation of
these senses and faculties it will be seen on
’
a moment s reflection when all ied with a
clear comprehensio n of all they mean i s a
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15
2
TH E R A TI
ONA L E OF MESMER I SM
.
him fl i n gs a great handful of missiles at it
in the hope that on e or other may hit
The
mesmerist who is supremely sensitive works
as one seein g his mark in the li ght and
proj ects wit h accurate aim and correspond
i n gly small expe n diture of energy the single
missile required to touch it
Thi s reflection once comprehended will
enable any on e to se e how e xasperating it
is to those who comprehend mesmerism in its
Spiritual and psychic aspects to hear the sill y
babble of the world about the supposed
weak mindedness of all who come under
There is no more
m e sm e r l c influence
weak mindedn ess necessarily involved in b e
ing sensitive on the psychic plane than in
being sensitive to the delicacies of musical
expression S ome people who are otherwise
very brainl ess may be very highl y gi fted as
musicians but on that account we need not
assume brainlessness to be a necessary con
dition of a fine ear And this ill ustration
helps us to another which may be appropri
ately offered for the consideration of any
on e who boasts that his own strength of will
is such as to render him absolutely u n ap
r oachab le
by
esmeric
influence
This
m
p
boast would be precisely an alogous t o on e
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THE NAT UR E OF SEN SITIVENESS
1 53
.
a person quite unable to distinguish on e tune
from another might make if he thought fit
to plume himself proudly upon the fact that
no one not even Patti or Joachim could
produce sounds possessing the smallest as
ct of beauty to his senses
e
p
However it i s true that a considerable de
gree of mesmeric ene r gy may reside in many
human or gan l sms which have n ot yet
evolved the faculty the high exalted fac
of conscious sensitiveness L ike the
u lt y
other characteristic it must be imagined as
following the evolution of t he human race
round the inevitable cycle But there is an
important difference to be borne in mind
when we are considering these two aspects
of psychic perfection
the positive and the
negative or rather the active and the pas
sive S ensitiveness just because in the
first or lower limb of the cycle it is u n asso
ci at e d with intell ectual d evelopment
is a
purely passive faculty T he whole body of
faculties to which it belongs has not been
evolved to that point in which self con scious
ness becomes its leading attribute The
distinction here of course is that conscious
ness alone an attribute shared by humanity
with the lower animals does n ot bring with
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1 54
R ATIONA LE OF ME SMER I SM
TH E
.
it the tendency to reflect concerning its own
attributes It is only the intellectual man
who pondering on the problems of hi s own
being an d turning his observation in ward
renders hi mself the subject of hi s own r e
’
fl e ct i on s an d can b e called self conscious in
the significance with which I here employ
the phrase
"
Well then there cannot be mesmeric
force until the point of self consciousness is
reached in humanity and that point reach
ing i t s culmination i n the hi ghest degree of
mere intell ectual development the point of
such highest development may be con v e n
i e n t ly regarded as the startin g point from
which m esmeric power begins t o show real
energy Here again let me qual ify this
broad statement of the case to guard against
what seem contradictions in experience
M any of the most remarkable mesme rists
have not been men quite on the intellectual
level Of some amongst purely materialistic
giants in science or literature b ut that is
due to the fact that all growths in natu re
are gradual As the race approaches the
condition of its hig hest intell ectual m an ife s
t at i on the other fac ul ties belonging to that
condition rise into activi ty and in individual
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1 54
R ATIONA LE OF ME SMER I SM
TH E
.
it the tendency to reflect con cern ing i t s own
attributes It is only the intell ectual man
who pondering on the problems of his own
being and turning his observati on inward
renders hi mself the subject of his ow n r e
fl e ct i on s and can be call e d s e lf conscious in
the S ignificance with which I here employ
the phrase
Well then there cannot be mesmeric
force until the point of self consciousness is
reached in humanity and that point reach
ing i t s culmination i n the hi ghest degree of
mere intellectual deve lopment the point of
such highest development may be con v e n
i e n t ly regarded as the starti n g point from
which m esmeric power begins t o Show real
energy Here again let me qual ify this
broad s tatement of the case to guard against
what seem contradictions in experience
M any of the most remarkable mesme rists
have not been men quite on the intellectual
level of some amongst purely materialistic
giants in science or literature b ut that is
due to the fact that all growths in nature
are gradual As the race approaches the
condition of its highest intellectual m an i fe s
t at i on the other fac ulties belonging to that
condition rise into activi ty and in in di vidual
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THE NAT UR E OF SENSI TI VENESS
1 55
.
cases some of these by special effort di
r e ct e d to that end may be brought to per
fe ct i on in advance of others with which they
are properly speaking bracketed But I
do venture to assert with positive conviction
that the facts of nature must correspond to
the broad assertion that granting the same
conditions of full health vitality bodily
vigor and habits of life conducive to the de
v e lo m e n t of magnetic energy the man who
p
b esides these attributes possessed a highly
de v eloped intellect would be the more power
ful mesmerizer of the t wo
And now let us take ou r alr e adv evolved
mesmerist who as yet is nothing else that
is to say who as yet has not climbed the u p
ward limb of the evolutionary cycle and
who has n ot ye t developed the receptive
psychic faculties of his own nature and let
us consider how his energy operates on the
various classes of sensitiven e ss with which he
may have to do L et us b egin with the
sensitives of the lower order ; tho se in which
the psychic attributes have not yet been e u
t i r e ly dissolved in matter or so to sp eak
translated into their highest material e q u l v
ale n t and w ho are represented in m ost com
l
perfection
by
our
typical
clodhopper
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THE R ATIONA LE OF MESME RI SM
1 56
.
The free aura of the clo dhopper is the at t r i
’
bute on which I wish to focus the reader s
“
attention
In using this phrase
free
”
aura I venture to borrow an analogy from
“
chemistry where we might speak of free
acid left in a solution m excess of that r e
quired t o neutralize a basic salt The whole
aura to put the matter that way of the u n
developed man has n ot yet b e e n employed in
neutralizing matter It is hangin g about
and may be spoken of as free in the sense
O n that free aura
of being un combined
’
t he mesmerist s influence readily finds a
lodgment The idea conveyed from hi s own
mind t o that of the subj ect does not present
’
itself to the subj ect s mind as somethin g
coming from without He has not yet
learned to analyze his consciousness to the
degree of being able to draw such di st i n c
tions He S imply finds an impulse of some
kind arising in his own mind ; he does not
reason about it or question it in any way
he simply acts upon it as he woul d act upon
an y other impulses spontaneously arising
in his own min d unless restrain ed by some
countervailing consideration having to do
with penalties of an easily comprehended na
t ure which would equally serve to restrain
.
,
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1 58
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMER I SM
.
It i s the unintellectual psychic nature
which is obedient in such a case the psychic
nature which has n ot yet become self con
scious ; which is so much abstract psychic or
spiritual en ergy in proc e ss of translation
into a self conscious being but for the time
being unqualified to reason about the right
or wrong of its impul ses
Sl m l
because
it
p y
has not yet been converted into reasoning
,
-
-
,
,
And be it observed that in order to
maintain the set of con di t i on s we are n ow
contemplatin g it is n ot necessary that we
should keep ou r mind fixed upon the ex
treme example thereof
the case in which
the hum an subject is as nearly unintell igent
as we can imagine a hum an being to be
At a later stage of the process though at
one still on the earlier side of the meridian
cycle a great deal more of the
of ou r
psychic nat ure may be translated into in tel
lectual capacity and the person concerned
may be very far from bein g a fool or an i g
n or am u s and yet that which is still psychic
i n the nature may have undergone but a
comparatively small amount of evolution
L et us always bear in mind the character of
the cycle we are thinking of and the grad
,
,
,
,
.
,
,
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,
.
,
THE NAT UR E OF SENSI TI VEN ESS
1 59
.
ual nature of all the processes with which
it is concerned E ducation of that superior
element in the total consciousness which
for convenience of talkin g about it here let
us call the Higher S elf t he education of
the Higher S elf m ay begin it is true long
before the nadir point of physical evolution
is reached but on the other hand it may
or its evolution may only have just
not
begun It is the later period of the cyclic
process t o which the evolution of that
Higher S elf proper ly belon gs ; and thus
when a person still on the eastern side of
’
life s meridian
to u se a pretty figure em
ployed lately by Dr Huggi ns in application
to a cycle smaller than that wi t h which I am
now dealing but still analogous to it in
nature
a person I say still on the east
ern side of the meridian m ay have a very
great degree of intellectual development
and yet a H igher S elf barely capable of
reasoning about the impressions it may r e
ce i v e from external sources when deprived
of the support of that physical intellect on
which it has been leaning t o a very great
extent
If the b rain instrument becomes paralyzed
for the time being by an y o f the nervous i n fl u
.
,
,
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—
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,
—
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"
,
a
s
.
! f
r
r
m s
a
THE
1 60
R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMERI SM
.
that may be exerted upon it by either
m e sm e r l c or hypnotic processes the psychic
nature may be almost as stupidl y obedient
’
to the mesmerist s impul se as if there had
been no intell ect in association with it at
S o then in the case of a hypnotic sug
all
gestion intended to operate at a period sub
sequent t o the establishmen t of the impres
sion such a person will fin d the impul se to
do whatever he may have been directed to
do rising up in his mind like a spontaneous
desire and certainly if there i s no glaring
reason why he shoul d n ot do the thing he
will do it S upposing that there is a glar
ing reason in morals or obvious duty why
he should not obey the impul se a conflict
may arise in his nature one issue of which
quite possibly is a reversion to t he paralyzed
condition of t he in tell ect which was opera
tive during the or l gl n al mesmeric pro cess
and then the immoral influence is worked
O r there may
ou t without any i mpediment
be an interior conv ulsion in which t he intel
lect asserts itself as predominant over the
psychic impul se And again it may be
that the Higher S elf although very imper
fe ct ly developed has nevertheless reached a
certain stage of i t s growth in whi ch it is not
e n ce s
,
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16
2THE RA T O ALE OF MESM
I
ER I S M
N
.
like those he has got at in the ear
lier undertakin g All transferred impres
sound or touch will of course
s ions of taste
be as readily operative through the Higher
S elf of a human being in process of spiritual
exaltation as thr ough the Higher S elf how
ever little capable of self conscious thought
of
the un developed human being And
when the task to be undertaken in volves the
e mployment of anything rese m bli n g clair
voyance a branch of the subj ect which I
reserve for special treatment presently he
will find the superior sensitive far more
readil y available for that lofty employment
than the inferior though the inferior i s by
no means incapable of clairvoyance within
certain li mits
At the outset there is an immense pr act i
cal di fie r e n ce between the sensitive who is
such by reason of belonging to the upper
limb of the cycle and the other First of all
it is very un li kely that the superior sensitive
could be mesmerized by any ordinary mes
merist un l ess surrenderin g to that influence
by a deliberate act of submission in the first
instance By the hypothesis the m e sm e r i z
able portion of the natur e if I may u se
that clum sy expressio n i s self c o nscious in
r fici all
e
y
p
.
,
,
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-
,
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,
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.
.
-
THE NAT UR E OF SENSI TI VEN ESS
1 63
.
the case of the superior sensitive ; therefore
it cannot be caught in a helpless state like
the other If the superior sensitive were to
put the matter in words he might say to
the mesmerist : You may be able to hurt
me through faculties that you can hit at
but you cannot control me I can defen d
myself even though I may be bruised in the
”
e n counter
But supposin g the sensitive
has no motive for takin g up such an atti
tude but on the con trary is in sym pathy
with the mesmerist and quite willingly ao
ce p t s through his p sychi c natu re the g u id
ance of the mesmerist an external appear
ance of submissive obedience may arise just
as in the ordinary waking life one person
may do what he is told through love and
another through fear The nature of the
obedien ce is quite different though the ex
ternal aspect may be n e ar ly t he same
And here we come to the satisfactory as
pe ot of that phenomenon which looks so
alarming to the merely empiric students of
hypnotic suggestion Where the Higher
S elf which receives the mesmeric impression
is a self conscious and developed ént it y it
will only obey as lon g as the currents of
s ympathy between itself and the m e sm e r l st
.
,
“
,
.
.
,
,
,
,
,
.
,
z
.
l
z
,
THE
1 64
R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMER I SM
.
which o riginall y disposed it to submission
are main tain ed and those cu rrents will be
violently disturbed if not destroyed Shoul d
the mesmerist endeavor to impose an act on
the subj ect which is repugnant or revolting
to his own sense of right . I do not say
that even with a sensitive on the superior
limb of the cycle it would b e theoretically
in conceivable that a mesmerist might en force
obedience to an act to which the un fettered
instincts of the subj ect would be opposed
If a volun tary submission through currents
of sym pathy have been given 1 n the first i n
stance and if through a very long and pro
tracted mesmeric relationship the subject
has for years been in the habit of acqu i e s
cing in the i mpul ses of the mesmerist a
habit of that Sort might be very difficult to
break even if an extraordinary change took
place in the natur e and character of the mes
merist B u t this is on ly translating to the
higher plane ! which after all is a r e gl on m
which human relationships exist just as they
do on this plane of being! of embarrassments
which might equally ensue in the waking
stat e Take the case of a husband and
wife where the wife to make the ill ustra
’
tion parallel i s quite the husband s equal in
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1 66
ME SMER I S M
TH E R A TI ON A L E OF
.
might i mproperly control a sensitive of the
hi gher order In marriage as well as in
mesmerism there are many possibilities of
danger lurki n g and the destiny which b e
falls a woman who puts herself into the
hands of a thoroughly bad husband may be
deplorable to the last degre e ; but that is the
analogy which exactly meet s all talk about
mesmeric danger s Nothing coul d be more
idiotic than for a sensitive to subj ect hi mself
to the continued infl uence of a mesmerist in
whose character he had no adequate con fi
dence just as it woul d be equally idiotic for
a girl to rush in to matrimony with a man of
whom she knew nothi ng ; but the moral of
that reflection is that we shoul d be careful in
choosing our mesmeric and ou r matrimonial
partners and not that the institution in either
case is to be fin all y repudiated Indeed to
put a stop to marriage altogether because of
the examples which occasionall y exhibit its
dangers would be less in t e lle ct u ally ab sur d
t han to adopt the same course in regard to
m esmerism ; for after all mesmerism is a
very much more gradual process than the
other and there 1 s n o moment at which the
fatal ring is Slipped on to the finger of the
Higher S elf E ven experim ents must be
.
,
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,
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‘
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‘
.
THE
NA
TUR E OF SEN SI TI VEN E SS
.
1 67
cautiously conducted but you can be mes
m e r i z e d a little and still draw back in time
to avo id disaster S ocial scien ce has not
yet evolved a corresponding safeguard for
the marriage state
,
.
.
C HAPTER V III
C L AI R
V OY AN C E
.
.
WE now approach that department of our
sub j ect but for which it might almost be r e
garded as o ne belonging rather to medical
practice than to the psychological inquirer
Perhaps this i s the place where I may
most appropriately deal with the attempt
already made by some medical practitioners
just beginning to dabble l n experiment
with mesmerism to warn off all intruders
on that domain and reserve it exclusively for
themselves That notion i s one of the S illi
e st amon g many which arise from ignorance
of what mesmerism really is and the claim
of the doctors to have mesmerism reserved
by law for their own exclusive service is
doubly ridiculous because medical men as
a body in this country especiall y exhibited
a bigoted intolerance of the whole subject
that was simply disgraceful until the growth
of independent kn owledge forced them to
recognize s ome parts of the discovery as a
.
,
,
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,
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,
,
17 0
TH E R A TI ON A L E OF
ME SMER I SM
.
time Frightfu l as the operation was the
patien t suffered it quite unconsciously and
was entirely spared the torture to which he
woul d otherwise have been subj ected The
assembled body of physicians and surgeons
rose in revolt at thi s unhe ard of tran saction
when it was described in a paper brought
before them by M r Ward They passed
resolutions denying the pap er any place on
the records of the S ociety as something that
was mani festly incredible and absurd and
linked themselves to the idiotic hyp othesis
’
that if any truth resided in Mr Ward s
statement the patient had probably been
trained n ot to express outward sym ptoms of
pain They wound up by declaring that
even if such an absurdity could be realized
it woul d be flyi ng in the face of Nature ,
which had ordained pain as a necessary con
c omitant o f surgical operations !
Thi s is only a typi cal ill ustration o f the
spirit in which t he me di cal profession gen
erally welc omed the advent of the new di s
and the claim of that profession
cov e r y
now that the reality of the disc o very has b e
come too glaring for denial to take it out
of the hands of all such inquirers as those
who have brought it to i t s present degree of
.
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CLAIR v oY AN CE
17 1
.
perfection and reserve it for their own use
is t o begin with o ne of the m o st impudent
that coul d be advanced Doctor s might as
well have claimed at an earlier stage in the
advance of science that because electricity
was susceptible of some therapeutic applica
tions i t should be reserved by law for the
use of medical men no one being permitted
to carry on electrical experiments or to i n
v e st i gat e the nature of that force unless he
belonged to the faculty We may i magine
how far electrical science wo ul d have ad
v an ce d if that course had be en ad o pted and
i t s adoption now in reference to mesmerism
would interpose a barrier to the advancement
of hum an knowledge the monstrous charac
ter of which can only be appreciat ed by
t hose who know something of the higher p sy
chic or spiritual aspects of mesmerism
to
which the attention of t he reader will n ow
b e directed
In the current manuals of the day which
deal with hypnotism very little is said about
i t s psychic aspects
The new departure
has be en taken as far as possible w i th the
v iew of keeping it in harmony with the lim
i t e d series of facts br o ught to light by recent
medical experiments that have captivated
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17
2THE R
A TI
ONA LE OF MESMER I SM
.
popul ar 1 n t e r e st
But it m ust not be sup
posed that the real literature of mesmerism
which al together lies behind thi s modern se
ries of relatively narrow and departmental
treatises is deficient in the evidence r e qu l r e d
to establish the reality of clairvoyance both
as regards space and t i me as a fact in na
ture
Deleuze has dealt with t hi s b r an ch of the
subj ect in a special memoir of very remark
“
able interest entitled M émoire sur la Fac
”
published in 1 836 in
ul t e de Prévision
Paris Nothing in the more recent litera
t ure of the subject exhibits clearer common
sense as applied to the investigation of the
delicate phenomena with which he i s con
cerned He is not tainted with the foolish
ness which has so beset more recent writers
of disregarding all work in this departm ent
done in the past On the contrary he
points out n ow that sin ce the facul ties of
m an are the subj ect of the 1 n q u i r y befo re
him tho se facul ties whatever they are were
the same t wo thousand years ago as at the
present day The progress of physical
science has given the modern world an i m
mense advantage l n dealing with inquiries
of a purely physical character and such in
.
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'
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,
174
THE
RA
TION A LE OF MESMER I SM
.
same the o ries and amongst whom we find
many physicians should be in a conspiracy
”
to attest falsehoods
I select a fe w other passages from the
essay as it proceeds :
“
M ost metaphysicians reason as if there
existed nothing in the world but that of
which ou r five senses demo n strated the e x i s
t ence
They admit o n ly t wo orders of
things sensible objects and the consciousness
which receives the sensations They forget
that we perceive merely those obj ects which
afie ct ou r senses and that there may exist
an infinity of obj ects unknown to these an d
to which ou r organs are inaccessible The
faculty of comprehending the form of an ob
e ct at a distance wo ul d be inconceivable to
j
one born blind but for the testimony of ot h
If we had on e sense the more ou r con
e rs
sci ou sn e ss would be modified accordingly ;
let us then imitate the blin d ; let us
assure ourselves of the reality of phenomena
by the results observin g the som n am bule as
”
the blind observe u s
“
It is impossible sometim es pe ople say
to see the future for the future does not ex
The present only has real existence ;
i st
but if the past has an existence relatively
,
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CLAIR V 0 Y A N C E
175
.
to ourselves that is merely be cause I t has
left its traces It exists by its effects ; the
future exists by its germ The past has pr o
du ce d the present it w as its cause ; the fu
ture will be produced by the presen t it will
be its effect When we con sider the past
we beh old the cause in its effects ; when we
consider the future we see the effects in the
”
cause
When a brilliant light illuminates the
landscape we may admire its richness but
we do not se e the stars which decorate the
celestial vault The rays they send from
that incalculable distance reach ou r eyes in
the day as well as i n the night O ur inter
nal faculty even exists the whole time but
it is only in the sile n ce of other sensations
”
t hat our souls discern the innumerable rays
This essay was written with the intention
that it should form an intro duction to a
great coll ection of cases illustrative of clair
voyant prevision Deleuz e had been a pro
li fic writer before he penned the present
memoir on the general subj ect of mesmer
"
1 sm but he says that he S pecially reserved
this profoundly interesting department for
treatment by itself He was not left at his
work however long enough to complete this
,
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1
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176
OF MESMERI SM
TH E R A TI ON A L E
.
undertaking The memoir itself was the
last of his writin gs and it w as published
after his death by a friend who had e n de av
ored as far as he was able to realize the
original idea of supplying the accumulation
S ome of these ar e interestin g and
of cases
worth att ention but to translate them here
at full length would involve an expansion of
this little vol ume beyond t he limits I con
template I will be content with briefly
epito m izing on e ill ustration which Deleuze
him self arranged to give and of which he
seems himself to have obtained various
attestations
This is the famous ease of
’
C az ot t e s prophecy con cern in g the French
R evolution often vaguely referred t o but
perhaps unfamiliar in i t s detail s to many
of my readers
The prediction is recorded by L a Harpe
in his collected works published in 1 806
He de scribes himself as having been present
at the commencement of the year 1 7 88 at a
dinner part y given by on e of his Confreres
of the Academy to a distinguished com any
p
including people of the Court of legal an d
literary distinction and many Academicians
The conversation during the evening ran on
the lines of Voltairean infidelity and atheism
.
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THE
178
RA
TIONA LE
MESMERI SM
OF
.
which the happiness of that epoch will
oblige you to carry al ways about you
S ome sensation followed and C az ot t e was
rebuk ed for gi ving them a story less amus
“
”
ing than his Diable Amoureux
But what has all that in common with
philosophy and the R eign of R eason ?
It is precisely in the name of philosophy
and liberty and under the R eign of R eason
and its temples that these things will hap
”
pen
“
M a foi ! said C ham for t ; you will not
”
be one of the priests of those temples
“
But you M de C ham for t will be on e
an d you will open your ve i ns with twenty
t w o cuts with a razor,and nevertheless you
will not die until some months aft erwards
’
Y ou M Vicq d A z ir will not open your
veins ; you will have them opened si x times
in on e day during an access of gout and
you will die in the night You M de N i
colai you will die upon the scafl old Y ou
M Baill y wi ll die on the scafl old; you
M de M alesherbes on the se afl old
S o far the ladies had taken no part in this
prophecy and the Duchesse de Gramont
was laughingly congratul ating herself that
evidently she woul d b e protected by her se x
.
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‘
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.
C
L AI R V 0 Y A N C E
.
Your se x ladies will not secure you this
time You will be treated like the men
without any difference You madame la
duchesse you will be conducted to the scaf
fold you and many others with you in the
charr e t t e of the executioner the hands tied
”
behind the back
The conversation still maintained an air
and Madame de Gramont said
of ridicule
something ab o ut hoping she would at least
be allowed to se e a con fessor
”
“
No madame said C az ot t e you will
not have one neither you nor any one The
last victim who will have one through grace
will be
He hesitated a little while
Well who is the happy mortal wh o is
to receive this prerogative ?
“
It will be the ! ing of France
At this appalling blasphemy the party
’
seems to have broken up thi nking C az ot t e s
extravagance had been carried to dangerous
lengths
At first says D e leuze he regarded all this
as fiction by L a Harpe but he set himself
to work t o get information an d Chan ge d his
o pinion He obtained a letter from the
“
I have
C omtesse de Genli s who writes
heard him ! de L a Harpe! state this story a
‘
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1 80
THE
R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMERI SM
.
hundred times before the R evolution and al
ways m exactly the same way that I have
”
every where seen it prin ted
M Deleuze
then found out the son of M C az ot t e wh o
declared that his father had al ways been
fted
with
the
fac
ty
of
r e v 1 s1 on l n the
i
u
l
p
g
hi ghest degree and had given numerous
proofs of it Without being able to guar
antee the exact language used by L a Harpe
in hi s narrative the son had no doubt
whatever about its general tr uthfulness
’
A friend of M Vicq d A z ir in habiting
Rennes b ore te stimony that this celebrated
’
doctor had told the story of C az ot t e s pro
i
n hi s presence
several
times
before
h
e
c
p
y
the R evolution took pla ce F inally M
Deleuze appends a letter by the Baron de
“
L angon in which he says
I can assure
you on my honor that I have heard M adame
la Comtesse de Beauharnai s repeat that she
had been present on this historic occasion
S he always told her stor y in the same way
and her testi mony corrob o rat es that of L a
”
Harp e
A French writer whose testimony on all
subj ects connected with clairvoyance is ex
t r e m e ly impo rtant
M A Teste a doctor
of Paris
wrote in 1 84 3 an interesting vol
,
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2THE
18
OF MESMERI SM
R A TI ON A L E
.
they woul d not be able to ward it off but
that they need n ot be greatly concerned ; she
woul d certainly undergo a great deal of suf
fe r i n g and protracted il lness but would not
die and woul d ul timately completely r e
cover S till they resolved to do their very
ut most to resist the threatened danger ; and
both docto r and husband hovered roun d the
patient not ill enough to be in bed the
whole of that aftern o on
Well I find it embarrassing to tell the
story with the simple straightforwar d candor
of the French writer because E nglish ears
are so singul arly sensitive to details that
seem to infringe decorum ; but at the ap
pointed time the lady insisted ou a little
privacy during which a rat suddenly ran
across her frighten ing her in so unexpected
a way that She fell down and suffered exactly
the consequences which she had foretold
happily with the ulterior recovery This is
on l y on e of a cloud of cases with which M
Teste deals and I must leave those readers
who wish to get personal touch wi th the
mul tipli ed proofs he has accum ul ate d t o
search his writings for themselves
A little thought will Show that one essen
tial difie r e n ce between the phenomena of
,
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CLAIR v o Y AN CE
1 83
.
clairvoyance and tho se coming into n otice
under other departments of mesmerism has
to do with the essentially psychic character
of the clairvoyant achievement
E verything
belon ging to the region of so called hypnotic
suggestion however mysterious may theo
r e t i call
be
accounted
for
by
hypotheses
y
whi ch leave the sensitive a highly organized
being no doubt but n ot necessarily one in
which the psychic attributes must be con si d
ered as something independent of the bo di ly
organism And this r e fl e ct i on gives its real
importance to the inquiry in to the p ossi b i l
ities of clairvoyance It is easy t o miss the
real significance of a new discovery and to
attach importance to t he immediate p r act i
cal outcome thereof instead of to the light
thrown by the practical results on hidden
and previously obscure laws of nature It
is pre eminen tly easy to make this mistake
in dealing with the psychic characteristics
of those mesmeric sensitives in whom clair
voyance is exhibited We may take the
thing in itself a marvelous and enchanting
gift and say that for its own Sake it is worth
while to se e if we cannot cultivate to a
higher degree of perfection a p ower so filled
wi th attractive interest
Any one who by
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THE
1 84
OF MESMERI SM
R A TI ON AL E
.
passing into a magnetic t rance is thereby
e nabled to cognize events that are going on
at a distance is cle ar lv in possession of a
gift which cannot but be recognized as pre
ci ou s in itself
But when we begin to collate
the vari o us manifestations of t his power and
to reali ze that no theory of latent senses at
taining an unusual degree of delicacy and
perfection in the sensitive will account for
what takes place we begin t o perceive that
the study of this power in the rare cases
where it is exhibited may be a pathway
opening up before us possibilities of acqui r
ing real scientific kn owledge concerning
those spiritual or at all events su p e r physi
cal elements i n a hum an bein g which hi t h
erto left as the subject of vague religious
faith have never yet been regarded by the
world at large as liable to come within the
domain of exact knowledge
Before gow g further let me endeavor to
group the various kinds of power or facul t y
exhibited by those whom I comprehensively
describe as clairvoyants
First we have to
deal with that kin d of clairvo yance which
simply enables the sensitive to discern what
i s going on at some other place in the world
S ometimes the discernment extends for a
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1 86
THE
R A TI ON A L E
OF ME SMER I SM
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realms of nature thus brought within ou r
purview let us call this sort o f sight astral
clairvoyance
There is yet a fourth sort of clairvoyance
which from the point of view of people un
familiar w ith such phenomena as we are
dealing with could hardly be di stinguished
perhaps from the last but whi ch I feel m y
self bound to treat separately here becaus e
those who are students of anyt hi ng really de
serving to be called psychological science
“
will c o nceive astral clairvoyance as hav
ing a limited and specific m eaning As
s omething no less distinct really from astral
clairvoyance in the ascending scale of na
’
ture s refinements than that itself i s difl e r e n t
from the phenomena of the physical senses
we must recognize what I will vent ure to call
spiritual clairvoyance as a possibilit y of
this wonderful attribute but it will be more
convenient to put off further explanations on
this head till I reach the four th order in due
progress of time
Again I say I am not engaged in this vol
um e in recapitulating the enormously volu
minous evidence on whi ch our present know
ledge concerning all these subjects i n a great
measure rests ; but I wi ll venture a passing
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1 87
wo rd of warning to any one who may think
I am classifying fictions instead of facts
To stop here and challenge the fundamental
bases On which my present interpretations
rest will merely serve to rank incredulous
persons who do this with the bigoted doctors
who in the beginning scofl e d angrily at rec
ords having to do with the simpler aspects
of curative mesmerism of which n o person
acquainted with the experiences o f the pres
ent day woul d be inclined to dispute the
authenticity
In regard to all three varieties of clai r v oy
ance we shall arrive soonest at s omething r e
sem b ling an intelligent appreciation of their
r at i on ale by assuming at all events as a trial
hyp othesis that they all have t o do with that
psychic Side of the nature which in an alyz
ing the peculiarities of sensitiveness I have
already discu ssed pretty full y What are
we t o infer as probably taking place when
a sensitive sitting entranced in L ondon b e
in g
comes cognizant of some t r an sact i tifi ga
on in Paris ?
It must be on e of t wo things
E ither the transaction throws off emana
tions or vibrations of some kind or another
into some medium pervading all space just
as the lum inous bo dies throw off vibrations
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1 88
THE
RA TIONALE
OF ME SMER I SM
.
into the ether and Where these strike the
perceptions or finer senses of persons no
m atter at what distance t hey give rise to
correspon di ng impressions just as the rays
emanating from a star affect the vision of
those endowed with V I SI OI I no matter at
what st upendous distances An d there is no
e ssenti al and inherent absurdity in such a
hypothesis any more than in the actual facts
having to do with the transmission of light
It might be alleged that transactions going
on in the world are too numerous for each
o n e to convey its ow n di stinct impression
j ostled as it must be b y contact with incal
cul ab le millions of other such impressions
hastening in all directions across its path
Impossible as it may be for us to compre
hend the resources of nature by which such
entanglements are averted the vibrations of
the luminiferous ether Show without going
further that nature is not embarrassed in
dealing with such a problem Take the act
ual facts of the S implest ill ustration that can
be adopted ; a group of people in a room
From every point in the walls and ceiling of
the room as from every point on the sur
face of every particle of furniture it may
contain complete spheres of radiation are
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1 90
THE
RA
TIONALE OF ME SMER I SM
.
something material appertaining probably
to the psychic nature of the sensitive is pro
j e ct e d under the operation of a current of
thought or influence from the mesmerist or
from the sensitive assuming that to be
awakened in some way by suggesti on to him
from the place in which he i s seated to the
di stant scene he is required to observe
N ow that something which is projected may
be either some portion of the psychic aura
in whi ch for the time being the real ego or
spirit ual consciousness of the pe rson con
cerned may be seated just as it is seated in
the body during the activity of the body ; or
it is theoretically conceivable that the true
ego without quitting the physical organism
altoge ther may project in the direction to
be observed som e current of magnetic i n fl u
ence setting up a channel if that expres
sion will help to pass the idea from my mind
t o my reader through the all pervading
medium whatever i t is the lum iniferous
ether o r something finer still which is the
suitable medium in nature for the vibrations
which convey impressions to the psychic
organism
Th us we have thr ee hyp otheses either of
whi ch woul d fit in with the facts as far as it
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1 91
goes and I may say at once that I regard
all three hypotheses as dimly shadowing
forth before ou r minds real actualities in
nature although when the inquiries on
which it seems reason able to hope this gen
cration is n ow entering are pushed a good
deal further than they have generally gone
as yet we Shall be able to understand these
with very much greater precision than at
present But how does it come to pass that
some persons subj ect to mesmeric influence
are found to be clairvoyant and some inca
o
f
exhibiting
this
quality
even
in
the
b
l
a
e
p
least degree ? We need go n o further in
search o f an explanation than t o the theory
of sensitiveness I have already endeavored
to lay down The least dev eloped psychic
nature may be susceptible t o impressions
directly translated t o it self from the aura of
the me smerist with which it has become
blended but if it is not developed on its own
accoun t into anything resembling a psychic
consciousness it will not be able t ot i sm i t
self with an intelligent end in view at the
b idding of the mesmerist
In other wo rds
we shall never find our fine clairvoyants
among pe ople who are on what I have pre
v i ou sly described a
s the lower limb or east
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19
2THE
R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMERI SM
.
half of the evolutionary cycle It i s
only when a human b ein g is sufficiently ad
v an ce d in the scale of n at u r e xt o have passed
the point of full immersion in matter at
which hi s psychi c nat ure may have expressed
itself to the utmost of it s Capacity in the
fo rm of physical intellect that the second
pro cess begins ul timately evolving him as
he passes through the ordeal of material i n
carnation into that relatively superior con
di tion in which the psychi c nature may trul y
b e Spoken of as the higher self
I am slightly embarrassed at this stage of
my exposition by the i mpossibility of setting
fo rth any really scientific theory of mesmer
i sm i n its hi gher branches without drawi ng
largely at every tur n on the resources of oc
cult science i n its relation with the finer con
To go fully here into all
st i t u t i on o f man
the considerations which fortify the t he Or i e s
of occul t science in their t urn would be t o
convert this volume into a repetition of ot h
ers which have go ne before but just as I
leave the reader to fill up his mind if he
wi shes to do so with details of mesme ric ex
r i m e n t s from other books merely working
e
p
here with their significance and the oretical
val ue so I must refrain from any attempt
e rn
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1 94
THE
R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMER I SM
.
with which extend beyond the aura of t he
sensitive some degree of i ntelli gence in his
if I may u se that
own psychic envelope
expression
must be assumed By this
phrase I mean to suggest Jt he idea that
whereas in the undeveloped m an the psychic
nature is so to speak chaotic and unforme d
unorganized i n the most complete sense of
the term in the other case the man who
has passed the nadir point of material devel
Opm e n t begins then t o
row
a
psychic
organ
g
i sm whi ch may b e thought of for the p ur
poses of our present explanation as a finer
kind of body to which his consciousness may
be transferred under suitable conditions
and in which his mind can function as truly
as in the waking state it f unc
tions in his
physical body The theory will not be com
l
l
intel
li
gible
without
keeping
hold
of
e
t
e
p
y
the fundamental occult principle of r e i n car
nation because without un derstanding that
all this talk on whi ch I have ventured about
people being before or behi nd the nadir point
of material development woul d have v ery
li ttle meanin g But without at t empting a
co mplete exposit ion of the occult theory of
reincarnation with all the collateral con si d
e r at i on s which render i t one
of the m ost
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CLAI R V 0 Y A N C E
1 95
.
vital truths of nature for every one con
cerned with the study of esoteric teaching
it will be enough to make my present theo
ries intelligible if I say that accordi ng t o
the esoteric view every human being passes
through a protracted series of physical lives
with long intervening periods of Spiritual
experience and that these successively rep
resent the stages of growth in nature to
which each individual has attained and i n
volve a regular cosmic progress which may
be greatly hastened by abnormal efforts and
may be seriously impeded by m i sappli ca
tions of energy
H ow is the activity of the higher self of
which the clairvoyant sensitive under ordi
nary conditions of life may be perhaps
hardly conscious to be set up? To answer
this question I must at t ém pt a little more
fully to explain what students of occultism
mean by the higher self I have referred
already to reincarnation as the met hod by
m eans of which nature acc o mplishes the evo
Between
lu t i on of each individual monad
each of the physical births the true being or
ego in question remai ns 1 n the enjoyment of
that degree of spiritual evolution represented
by the sum total of all the effo rts made up
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1 96
THE
R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMERI SM
.
to that time in the successive lives through
which he has pas sed Cru"
de and popular
conceptions on the subj ect of Spiritual life
entertain the idea that directly death occurs
t he soul or spirit is s e t free Su ddenly Spring
ing into a condition of angelic exaltation m
which hi gher percept ions and higher know
ledge come into play O ccult science does
not recognize any proceeding so causeless in
its character That which is se t free at death
i s the real ego at i t s then stage of evolution
an d as I have already indicated with human
beings very little advanced along the cycle
of ev o lution the nature of the spiritual con
is extremely torpid and unde
s ci ou sn e ss
fined That i s merely another way of say
ing that even in the realms of its higher
activi ty nature produces her achievements
gradually The gradual growth of the real
spiritual e go o r higher self is the great pu r
pose i n vie w throughout the whole un der
taking of the successi v e lives
As already
explained after the neutral point of e v olu
tion the perfect infusion of spirit in mat
ter is passed the spiritual life begins to
assert itself with renewed energy
The
consciousness of the ego on spiritual planes
then becomes a self consciousness and i s
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1 98
TH E R A
TIONA LE OF MESMERI SM
.
mple an d the most important work on the
s ubj ect to which the reader can be referred
’
P hi losop hi e der M ystik
is da P r e l s
adm irably translated into E nglish by M r
C C M assey and called by him The
”
Philos ophy of Mysticism
Du P r e l Shows
that by a careful analysis of the experiences
and facts withi n ou r reach it is demon strable
”
“
that the waking brain does n ot contain
in the metaphysical sense the whole of the
conscio usness of the human being function
ing through that brain M ore than this
to
t he threshold of psychic consciousness
’
u se
du P r e l s expression
is constantly
s ubject to advance or recession
and the
process of pushin g back that threshold so
that as much as possible of the higher con
s ci ou sn e ss may be embraced wi thin the area
brain recollection constit utes
of physical
the process which might i n some of i t s bear
ings be described as the evolutio n of psychic
faculties
Now this explanation full y apprehended
will afford almost without further words a
clue to the comprehension of what reall y
takes place un der mesmeric influence in con
The
n e ct i on with the higher clairvoyance
s entranced by the magnetic
hysic
a
l
body
i
p
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CLAIR V 0 Y A N CE
1 99
.
influence and the Higher E go is set free
It follows the natural bent of its own affin
ities and in so being se t free passes at on ce
into t he spirit ual a spect of its consciousness
l
occultists
wi
l
understand
that
I
am
here
!
”
“
using the term spiritual as embracing the
astral plane! but in so far as this partial
freedom does not involve the complete sever
ance between the physical brai n and the finer
astral organism the latt er continues in di
rect relation with the physical body by mag
netic threads or ligatures on e is obliged to
u se materialistic phrases in endeavoring to
put such thoughts into words and thus is
accessible to st imuli which act in the first
instance only on the physical organism or
let us rather say on the astral aura of the
physical organism Free as it is t he higher
self is thus in con t in u éjd intellectual rela
tions with the mes m eris t whose magnetic i n
fl u e n ce has sufficed to entrance the body
and to set its ow n activities at large And
the plane of such activities which
now
reached i s entirely exempt from the r e
strictions that embarrass activity on the phy
Thought will or desire b e
s i cal plane
come the agents of something which we may
think of as movement about the world and
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2
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THE
R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMERI SM
.
the Higher E go can be translated to any
distant place or almost to any distant point
in space with as much facility as a thought
may be turned towards some di stant region
with which the thinker is familiar
J u st however as it is only to a place
with which he is familiar that any on e can
turn his thoughts with precision so as to r e
call images of what he has seen so it is only
to some place with which the Higher E go is
in some kind of magnetic relation that its
attention and perceptive powers can be
Thus w e find that while a clai r v oy
t urned
ant however gifted woul d be al most hope
lessly embarrassed if asked to di scover l n
some di stant part of the world a person
unknown to his waking self , and equally
unkn own to the mesmerist it would be
perfectly easy for such a higher self to dis
cover the person t o whom some specific
article handed to his body and thus brought
into magnetic relations with his own aura
o rigi nally belonged The clue to the accu
rate scienti fic comprehension of all the phe
n om e n a of mesmeric clairvoyance hav ing to
do with what is called r ap p or t is thus read
ily afl or de d If you have a lock of hair cut
’
from some person s head and put it in to
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2
00
THE
RA
TIONALE OF MESMERI SM
.
the Higher E go can be translated to any
distant place or almost to any distant point
in space with as much facility as a thought
may be turned towards some distant regi on
with which the thinker i s familiar
Just however as it i s only to a place
with which he is familiar that an y one can
turn his thoughts with precision so as to r e
call w age s of what he has seen so it is only
to some place with which the Higher E go is
in some kind of magnetic relation that its
and perceptive powers can be
attention
turned Thus we find that while a clai r v oy
ant however gifted would be almo st hope
lessly embarrassed if asked to discover l n
some distant part of the world a person
unknown to his waking self , and equally
unknown to the mesmerist it would be
perfectly easy for such a higher self to dis
cover the person to whom some specific
article handed to his body and thus brought
into magnetic relations with his own aura
o riginally belonged The clue to the accu
rate scientific comprehension of all the phe
n om e n a of mesmeric clairvoyance hav ing to
do with what is called r ap p or t is thus read
ily afl or de d If you have a look of hair cut
’
from some person s head and put it into
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2
01
the hands of t he sleeping clairvoyant the
magnetic vibrations connecting that with its
original owner serve as a thread to guide
the emancipated ego to the goal And the
truth is that what has now been said simple
as it is constitutes the whole explanation of
those phenomena b elonging to the order of
”
Y ou will never
clairvoyance in space
get such clairvoyance out of a person whose
spiri tual evolution i s inferior to the neutral
point and whose higher self has not been
evolved to any degree of self consciousness
S uch a person may as already explained be
highly susceptible of mesmeric influence
may respond with the most completely auto
matic docility to all the so call ed su gge s
tions of hypnotism may b e obedient to
quite a terri b le extent to the commands i m
posed upon him by a mesmerist but will
never be able to accomplish achievements
beyond the range of his own nature
I am not going to attempt an explanation
nom
which shall as completely cover the pha
enon of clairvoyan ce I n time
The mys
t e r i e s of prevision are extremely bewildering
and on them we can only throw such speen
lative light as may be afforded for example
by theories of metaphysics like those su g
,
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02THE R A TIONA LE OF MESMER SM
2
I
.
gested by Dr O liver L odge in his remark
a b le address at the C ar difl M eeting of the
British Association He says
“
A luminous and helpful idea 1 s that t i m e
is but a relative mode of regarding things
we progress through phenom ena at a certain
definite pace and this subj ective advance
we interpret in an objective manner as if
events necessarily happened in this order
and at this precise rate But that may be
on l y one mode of regarding them The
events may be in some sense in existence al
ways both past and future and it may be
we who are arriving at them not they which
The an alogy of a traveler
ar e happening
in a railway train is useful ; if he coul d
never leave the train nor alter its pace he
woul d probably consider the landscapes as
necessarily successive and be un able to con
We perceive
ce i v e their co existence
therefore a possible fourth dimensional as
about
time
the
inexorableness
of whose
e
c
t
p
flow may be a natural part of our present
limitations And if we o nce grasp the idea
that past and future may be actually exist
ing we can recognize that they may have a
controll ing influence on all present action
and the two together may constitute the
.
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04
2
OF MESMERI SM
TH E R A TI ON A L E
.
to suggest explanations even of the most ex
alted examples of clairvoyance in time ; but
t o make these theories intelligible would i n
volve a complete examination of the higher
mysteries associated with ! arma and the
agencies which control it an dwould lie b e
yond the province of the present treatise
L et us tur n n ow to that variety of clair
voyance which has to do with the observa
tion of natural phenomena lying wholly ou t
side the physical plane O n this branch of
ou r subject the older literature of mesmer
i sm is by no means so rich as in reference to
the inferior departments But the very i n
t e r e st in g autobiography of Andrew Jackson
Dav i s sometimes known as the P ou ghke e p
includes the narrative of hi s own
si e S eer
mesmeric treatment directed entirely to the
end that his higher self Should be liberated
for the observation of nature on the Spirit
ual planes and carried on I have little
doubt under the direction of agencies belon g
ing already to more highly evolved example s
of the hum an race than those around us in
ordin ary life Davis was a born psychic to
whom vi sions and astral experiences of all
sorts were continually occurring although
the external circumstances of his life would
'
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CLAIR v oY A N C E
2
05
.
seem at the first glance to have been terribly
unfavorable to the development of any higher
facul ties He was born that is to say of
parents in the very humblest rank of life ;
the father seems to have been a cobbler in
too small a way of busin ess to be even called
a shoemaker who worked hard for a miser
able living i n an Outlying vill age of the
S tate of N e w York Davis himself grew up
almost entirely without education scarcely
able to read and write and even when grown
up some of his Spiritual teachings or those
which came through his lips and which fil l
many volumes were written down for him
by frie nds At about the age of seventeen
Davis was first mesmerized by a man named
L ivingstone and at once began to manifest
all the usual symptoms ofplai r v oyan ce which
rapidly culminated IlI S piritual flights
through higher realms of nature in c o nnec
tion with which by degrees were developed
close relationship between the seer and b e
ings of some exalted order whom he e ncou n
t e r e d in the s pirit and from whom he r e
ce i v e d teaching on
spiritual subj ects the
accumulation and record of which became
the whole occupation of his life It is not
my business here to criticise these although
.
,
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/
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06
2
THE
R A TI
ON A LE OF ME SMER I SM
.
gladly bearing testimony in passing to the
fact that their tone and character is exalted
and enn obling although the y are less asso
ci at e d with precise interpretations of hidden
mysteries in n ature than some of those
which durin g the progress of recent theo
sophical developments have e nriched the
later literature of occ ul t research How
ever i n regard to the particul ar matter in
’
han d Davis s incidental explanation which
he for t i fie s with diagrams of the process
through which the spiritual clairvoyant
passes during hi s magnetic treatment under
the han ds of a qualified mesmerizer seems to
me the best exposition of that particular sub
When
first
e ct I have ever seen in p r m t
j
S itting down he represents the mesmerist and
sensitive as separately encircled by auras
whi ch do not blend with one another By
degrees these mutuall y expand and their
limits intersect A S the magnetic process
goes on and as the body of the sensitive b e
comes ent ranced under the influence of m e s
’
meric eman ations from the operator s hands
the two auras b ecome entirely blended a
’
con di tion of things ill ustrated in Davi s s
diagrams by a representation of the two per
sons seated opposite one another surrounded
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08
2
TH E R A
TIONA LE OF MESMERI SM
.
stood and the sub j ect guarded from the i n
discriminating disapproval of those who are
animated in speaking of it by exclusive ref
erence to its more ignoble and degrading
manifestations O f course let me acknow
ledge at the outset that anything like play
ing with forces of nature so far reachin g so
magnificent in some of their potentialities
and at the same time fraught wi th so much
danger in association wi th some of their
worst is to be condemned in the most u n
equivocal term s I do n ot necessarily mean
that trifling experiments even when they
are associated with some at mosphere of
amusement may not be harml ess enough
when colored with an intell igent cur l osi t y
concerning an un known subject but at
tempts at the practice of mesmerism may
very soon outrun the character of these ele
mentary di v e r s1 0 n s and then if people go on
with the matter at all they ought to go on
with it in at least as serious a frame of mind
as they woul d han dl e any other branch o f
natur al study Its continued u se for petty
and degrading purposes in which grotesque
e fl e ct s are sought for even in preference to
tho se which woul d ill uminate the inquiry
i s of c o urse to be condemned without r e
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09
CLAIR V 0 Y AN CE
.
serve Indeed if people only knew the real
S ignificance of some lofty Spiritual phrases
they are in the habit of employing in con
n e ct i on
with conventional religion they
would feel that very formidable terms of
censure are due to any act involving the de
gr adation of natural forces having to do with
the sp1 r 1 t u al life In their way and to the
limited extent that the thing is possible for
the modern ignoramus such acts constitute
“
what early theologians meant by the sin
”
against the Holy Ghost
But while at the
bottom of the scale it may be little less than
a deadly sm to employ mesmeric power with
evil en ds in view and while it is v e r y wr on g
t o employ it with ignoble and sordid ends in
v i ew it becomes something more than per
missible to employ 1 t in t he cur e of diseases
merely physical though such objects may be
and ultimately the pract ice of mesmerism
rises into the region of the loftiest and most
ennobling pursuit when the great force is
employed to se t free and st i m ulat e t o the
utmost the highest evolution of the highe st
consciousness i n man
First of all we have to study the pro cess
and that can only be done in association with
its pr actice 1 n order that the scl e n t ific think
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10
2
TH E R A
TIONA LE
OF
MESMER I SM
.
the present day may be rescued from
the slough of incredulity as regards all
psychic phenomen a in whi ch it is at pres
ent I will not say hopelesslyentangled but
at all events in which i t s further progress
meets with very great impe diment Then
as regards the further advance of practical
occult study in this generation mesmerism
as conducted by people who comprehend the
organization of that higher realm of exist
ence into which they woul d in t roduce the
S piritual c onsciousness of their sensitives is
certainly the most accessible avenue of
higher knowledge concerning the possibili
ties of a spiritual evolution and the ulterior
destinies of man which the opport unities of
ordinary life leave at ou r disposal An d no
thing i s more entirely free than the higher
m esmerism
however frequently repeated
wi th any given sensitive
from the mis
chi e v ou s conseq u ences having to do with
the enslavement of the wi ll and the de t e r i
oration of in dividual growth which results
are un doubte dl y associated with the ignoble
kind of mesmerism commonly known as hyp
n ot i sm
in the present day O f course to
fulfill the condi t ions that I am talking about
it i s necessary that a mesmerist should to
in g
of
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12
TH E
R A TIONA LE OF ME SMER I SM
.
into true relation s supposing these to be
possible in view of the whole karmic situa
tion with the loftiest spiritual teachers ao
ces sible to such a higher Self un less it is
from the beginning kept clear of all the e n
tangling de fil e m e n t s of lower experience in
that state of consciousness ext ernal to the
bo dy ; but I say with a fix ed conviction that
in this matter I am speakin g nothing but the
exact scientific truth that there are great
num bers of people about the world born with
psychic facul ties indicatin g by the very fact
that they exist considerable development in
other lives along the li nes of spiritual e v olu
tion who may be put in relations with oc
cul t in itiation of the loftiest sort under the
influence of mesmerism conducted wi th that
end in view by an operator who knows what
he is ab out ; and in such cases the glorious
resul t co ntemplated may be hastened to an
extent which by c o mparison with slower pro
cesses of treatment is quite overwhelm i ng t o
the imagination
O f course whereas these greatest results
can on l y be secured where both sensitive and
mesmerizer are so circum stanc e d as to have
potentialities of relationship with the world
of occult initiation
there are good possibili
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13
CLAIR V 0 Y AN CE
.
ties o n a lower level within the range of
people wh o cannot be called o ccultists and
even if these are associated with some theo
r e t i ca
l perils i t would be hardly more rea
sonable on that account to forbid their pur
suit altogether than to shut up S witzerland
because in their practical adoration of its
beauties s ome tourists will from time to
time in the future as in the past be lo st
down crevasses There is an extreme of
oo
dy
g
o
odyism
in
c
o
nnection
w
ith
the
g
’
study of nature s o cc ul t mysteries which op
crates t o retard progress in that department
of human energy as effectually as extreme
timidity would check it on the physical
plane A reasonable comprehensi o n of the
whole theory of mesmerism in its lower and
higher aspects such as to make it n o more
complete 21 is se t forth in this volume ought
to enable an y well disp o sed pers o n to explore
the delightf ul wonders of this great science
wi t hout fear either of incurring unknown
pains and penalties or of landi ng l n still
less comprehensible disasters the soul or
n i sm s of those with who m he may e x e r i
a
g
p
ment
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C HAPTER I !
MESMER I C
.
P R A C TI C E
purp o se I had in view in writing this
treatise has been much more that of opening
out an interpretation of mesmeric phenom
e n a than of guiding any new investigators
in the practice of the art whether with the
accomplishing mesmeric cures or
v iew of
with that of exploring the higher mysteries
of human n ature However just because
there has never hi therto been any clearly de
fined r at i on ale of mesmerism to guide the
practice of operators we fin d the practical
manuals for the most part discordant in
their directions and very often embodyin g
conceptions as to what ought to be done or
left un done that would be completely r e
versed by a correct appreciation of mes
meric theory It may be as well therefore
before bringing these remarks to a close
that I Should indicate with some precision
the methods by which mesmeric energy
ought to b e di rected and the leading errors
TH
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16
R A TI ON A LE OF MESMER I SM
TH E
.
into them Then again he started a system
of mesmerizing trees around which cords
were tied which persons desi rous of e x p e r i
the
influence
were
taught
to
hold
e n ci n
g
Here again we can hardly call such a pro
cess mesmerism in any true Sense although
just as at L ourdes and Treves resul ts of an
astonishing character connected with patho
logical con di tions will constantly be devel
oped amongst people associated with a widely
prevalent excitement
The direct personal metho d of mesmerism
’
employed at all events by M esmer s imme
diate successors was on the other hand un
necess arily and i n con v e m e n t ly energetic
It has been c opied ever S ince by a great n um
ber of o perators and their example has not
unnaturally been made use of by people
inclined to discredit mesmerism all round
by showi ng how obj ectionable and in some
cases almost in decorous its processes are
The plan used to be for the operat o r to sit ex
act ly in front of the subj ect each on sepa
rate chairs holding the knees of the subj ect
between his own arranging that the feet also
should be in contact and in thi s position
making downward passes after in the first
instance holdin g his hands on the shoulders
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MESMERI C
P
2
17
R A C TI C E
.
the sensitive and leaning forward so that
the magnetic influence of his breath might
be felt S uch an arran gement as this is
emin ently unsuited at all events to cases
in which t he operator is a man and the sub
e ct a woman an d large u se has been made
j
of its obvious inconvenience
in such cases
by writers opposed to the whole u n de r t ak
ing Where the patient and the O perator
are both of the same se x the objection per
haps cannot apply in the same way and I
do not deny that the attitude and manipula
tion in question would be of powerful e ffi
cacy ; but nothing could be worse for an
operator than to use on e method which he
considered the best and then in all cases
where his patients might be women to u se
another which he in his own secret con
s ci ou sn e s s believed less E
ffective It i s far
better to adopt on e system and stick to it
in all cases taking care to design its details
s o that it may never be unsuita b le
hi ch this
And a
s for the precise m e t ho d w
should b e I would not like to prescribe any
one as inevitably the right on e because
different mesmerists have w ith equal success
adopted very different systems and each
person in turn must adapt hi s own customs
of
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18
2
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMER I SM
.
t o his own inclinations and inner feeling as
to what is the best course to take so that no
one coul d dogmatically prescribe any co urse
as the only right on e But a very convenient
arrangement when the obj ect in view is to
induce a mesmeric trance is t o put the se n
si t i v e into a large and comfortab le arm chair
with good solid flat arms like those familiar
to all clubs and places where people study
comfort and then for the O perator to si t
sideways on the arm of the chair In thi s
way he practically fronts his patient wi thout
any embarrassing entanglement in regard to
the knees and the passes can be made with
perfect facility He is also a little above
the patient which is an advantage and
nearer to him without any leanin g forward
than woul d be the c a
se if he sat on an oppo
site chair Having taken up this position
he Shoul d first endeavor to bring his own
magn etic syste m into some r ap p or t with
that of his patient by holding the hands f or
a time or if he likes whi ch is perhaps the
best way holding the thum bs only so that
his own thumbs press against those of the
patient ball to ball The thum b seems t o
be a centre of nervous action in the hand
which renders this arrangement efficaci o us
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2
TH E
RA T ONALE
OF ME SMERI SM
I
.
mesmerist must keep that idea in view not
bothering himself for the moment as to
what may foll ow after but simply imagin
i n g in his own mind that from his hand a
rain of subtle sop or ific influence is descend
ing and drenching t he nervous organism of
the sensitive Perhaps it m a
enable
any
y
one who tries to realize this idea in his i m
agin at i on all the better if the study of these
pages may have induced him to comprehend
and believe what is the actual fact that
such an influence does descend under the
c onditions supposed Then after a minute
or two of such concentration the other hand
should be raised and the left moved slightly
to one side t o give it room ; both hands
should then be held on the forehead the
fingers resting on the top of the head and
the same thought be continued Af ter an
other minute or two the hands shoul d be
slowly parted downwards stroking the side
of the head until at the shoul ders they leav e
contact with the sensitive and are then car
ried down about as far as the waist or as
far as the position of the operator enables
him t o carry them without inco n venience
Then such passes are renewed not again
with any contact as regards the head but
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MES
M
ER I C P
2
2
1
RA C TI C E
.
from a p o sition in which the fingers point
downwards above the top of the head and
then are drawn within an inch or t wo of the
"
Sometimes
face and so do wn the body
eople
prefer
to
sweep
them
round
the
arms
p
’
them
together
at
the
sensitive
s
bringing
lap where the t wo hands may rest folded ;
but this appears to me a matter of taste
On e thing which is not a matter of taste but
a matter of great importance often over
looked is that the mesmerist should not in
lifting his hands upwards to renew the next
pass after the last has been concluded undo
its effect involuntarily He would undo its
effect i n a great measure if he simply sweep
his hand back along the path it has traced
In coming do wn what shoul d be d one is t o
close the hands completely at the conclusion
of each p ass Bring them back by an u p
ward circular outside course and on ly
Open them again when they are in a position
to begin the next pass If the mesmerist is
at all sensitive and if he darken s t he room
in which he is carrying on his work to a
degree which just enables him to se e the
features of his subject but would n ot enable
him to read print he will very likely se e
the mesmeric fluid passing or if he does not
,
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,
!
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”
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“
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”
2
2
2
TH E R A TI ON A L E
OF MESMER I SM
.
actually se e it passing he will see it steam
’
ing up all round the subject s head ; and
this by the by he will see all the more if
the pers o n I have called the subject happens
not to be a sensitive but simply a no n recep
tive subject The true sensitive so readily
absorbs t he magnetic fluid that but little of
it will be seen steaming up during the mag
process
A
quite
non
receptive
n e t iz in
g
person o n the other hand will take in
and from the first t he cloud of
n othin g
wasted influence will be perceptible
There is only on e more point in connectio n
with this general prescription on which I
care t o lay any emphasis It is quite true
as M esmer c o nceived in the beginning that
the breath is a powerful vehicle of magnetic
influence but in order to bring this fact
into play it is wholly unnecessary to lean
’
down and pu ff in your sensitive s face
E veryt hing really turns upon the regul ation
of your breath during the magnetizing pro
cess ; it is not necessary to puff at all in
any audible or obtrusive manner but the
’
operator s breathing should be synchronized
with the passes ; he should inhale his breath
during the upward movements of his hands
and during the down ward movement should
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4
2
2
TH E
R ATIONA LE OF MESMER I SM
.
time ; but this of cou rse must depend upon
the energy of the operator and the ardor of
his desire to succeed in an y particular case
S ome people would be hopelessly exhausted
before the half hour was over and others
would be able to c ontinue for much longer
The method I have describe d seems to me
the best and most convenient with the view
of inducing a psychic trance with what may
be called spiritual objects in view ; but I
have kn own mesmerists who resort entirely
to the magnetic emanations of the eye and
take no trouble to make passes at all simply
staring at their sensitive with in tense fix e d
ness of gaze This process to my mind
bears too close resemblance to the hypnotic
method to be altogether wholesome and
moreover requires that the sensitive should
keep his eyes open u ntil paralyzed or fasci
n at e d ; and this is a less easy and natural
method for him than the one that I have de
scribed i n which it is left to his own option
when he shall close his eyes and in which
he passes off to sleep without any j arring of
the nervous system I shall leave my read
e r s to seek for themselves
in books devoted
to the modern c orruptions of this subject
for an account of the methods employed t o
,
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MESMER I C
P R A C TI C E
2
2
5
.
pro duce the so called hypnotic sleep These
invol v e no conscious gift of magnetism by
any operator and simply provoke a diseased
condition of the nervous system which ren
ders the patient subject it 1 s true to sug
gestions that may afterwards be made by
the operator who is directing the u n de r t ak
ing but which also r enders that patient
equally liable to come un der the suggestive
influence of other persons good bad or i n
different and especially under suggestive i n
fl u e n ce s with which the mere physicist has no
familiarity but which nevertheless are facts
in nature and as grave in their importance
as himself But putting out of sight all the
mischievous devices of hypnotism the mes
meric method which I have been describing
does not by any means cover all the groun d
for if curative results ar e l n view it may be
that a very different manipul ation is required
and a very different direction may have to
be given to his thought by the operator
"
To pro duce a magnetic cure i ii a tho r
oughly healthy and natural manner the first
thing to be done ! as I have already said in
speaking of the theory of curative mesmer
ism! is to draw ou t the ev il nerve aura o r
m agn e t i sm o f the sufferer
This has by
-
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2
6
2
TH E R A TI ON AL E
OF MESMERI SM
.
the hypothesis been concentrated in some
portion of his organism and it is to that
por tion whatever it may b e that the m e s
’
No
m e r i st s attention must be directed
passes are called for here not in the b e
"
ginning at all events and mesmerism r e
“
”
solves itself into a laying on of hands to
adopt a biblical expression but receives its
scientific character when the mesmerist is
alive to the fact that in laying on hi s hands
he is using them as a sponge t o sop up or
attract and n ot as a j et of force through
which to exhale anything H i s proceedings
must now be much more deliberate than b e
fore The hands shoul d be kept on the seat
o f the ailment whatever it is for a minute
o r two then drawn off with a downward
movement and vigorously shaken as with the
idea that the bad magnetism is being thr own
off with the utmost possible energy and as
I have before described impell ed into those
elemental agencies in nature with whi ch i t
may be in affinity and whose duty it may
be as the matter presents itself t o the op
’
to carry it ofi Then the
e r at or s mind
laying ou is renewed and the whole busin ess
must go on for as long a time within limits
’
as the operat o r s s trength will enable him to
,
,
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2
8
2
TH E
RA TI ONA LE
OF
MESMERI SM
.
influence which will course along
’
the pati ent s nerves and refresh hi m as
champagne might refresh hi m in another
way though m uch less b e n e fiCi ally
O ne more consideration in reference to
this curat ive manipulation The effect of
hands laid on in the manner I hav e described
on the bare fl esh if that can be got at is
s imply tenfold more
powerful than that
which woul d be conveyed through clothing
O f course this hint must be made use of or
neglected according to circumstances If
clothing must be retained all one can say is
that in regard to intercepting m e sm e r l c l n
fl u e n ce the worst imaginable sort of cloth
ing is that made of silk
’
Certainly as Esdaile s experience has so
largely shown u s immense curative e fie ct s
are wrought by nature during the magnetic
sleep if that can be superinduced But it
cannot always be superinduced even in cases
where people might be highly subject to the
good influence of magnetic treat ment with
out losing consciousness ; and secondly even
if it can be induced its e fie ct will be enor
m ou sly stimulated if besides putting the
m
m
atient
to
sleep
the
u
l
a
t
i
on here r e
a
p
p
commended be adopted
ar at i n g
,
,
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,
“
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,
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‘
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,
INDE!
a
i m acc a C g M L A 66’
a m
h a ’ily di ca d d C alc a D E d i w k i
35 M m
di c v y
7
3
fav abl p
i
p ph cy c c i g
C
by ch R yal C m m i
ch R v l i 7
i
cc f l
2
M
m
by ch
C m
78
2 C ha c
Sci c
A cad m y
vi al gy 8 d C lai ya c f m ly pp d
a i g i di a
d p d m bid phy ical
m h d
p jci g
c di i 2
5 2
al im p
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9
ac
52
pa a
A
a d di c c m m i
c ci
f m
b dy
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w
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2
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A a
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9
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22
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i i g b dy d b ai 35
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5
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phy ical m a
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22
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1 7 7 17 8
I D o ay C
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T he y w ill
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all who a e st u d e t s of East e n t hou t t o all w ho are i t e r e st e d i n
i d e d t opic s , an d e s
t he va i e d p e n om e n a of s pi r i t u ali sm an d it s
p e ci ally t o t a t p or t i o of t he p u lic w ic i s a t t r ac t e d b y T e os op hy
”
i n t i s o c e a of o o s
A o o m ore or l e s s
s ay s Mr S i n n e t t
fr om act iv e W e st e r civili at i on
whic h i s c o s t a t ly w e lli g f or t
m ay s e e m a v e r y s m all m at t e r ; b u t t o t he highly c o se r va t iv e d v o
t e e s Of o cc u l t s ci e c e i n t he Ea s t a oo w ic
t
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se t s f
lan u age w ich all who r un m ay r e ad t he i t e t o s e c r e t i t e rp e t a
’
i t he t o e e c om m un i
t i on s of N a t u e s s p i r i t u al d e s i
t ha t ha e
cat e d o ly i n t he d e adli e s t s e c e cy t o s t u d e t s of l on
a s orp t i on in
t he p u r s u i t of s u c h t e ac i g c o st i t u t e s a vi olat i on of o ld o cc u l t
T o all i t e n t s
u s a e w ich is q u it e e w ilde i an d appallin g
an d p u r p ose s t ou h t he
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e e s e t f or t h i s
o n e w di s
cov e ry for t os e
y w om i t is ow e v e al e d i t i s a e w r e v e lat i on
for t he whole w o ld
Ea st e r an d W e s t e r n ali e
i i t s p r e se n t
e x plici t di s t i c t n e s s
Mr Si n n e t t has wr i t t e n sp e cial i t rod u ct i on s for t he Am e r ican
e di t i on of t he se w or s whic h hav e al r e ady r un t hr ou h s e v e r al e di
t i on s in En lan d
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W
T he O ccu lt
BY A
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Thi r d Am e r i can fr om t he F ou r t h E n glish E di t i on , w i t h t he A ut hor s
1 677 2
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O cc u l h il p hy a
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The T e os o
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p a da a d c ib i i f g a i
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T H E C O ST IT UT I O O F MA N
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W o i g ac f om Man t o U iv e rs e A alys s of
t o Be i
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Es ot e r ic Vi e w s of Ev ol u t i o
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U i fo m i t y of N a t u e
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