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The examples above show conclusively that there is no truth in the theory. There
is no correspondence between the organs touched and the effects, except in a
few instances. This would always be the case unless something actually
occurred beside the passage of the "fluid" into the organ to be excited. I have
personally tried hundreds of experiments, all going to prove not only that there is
no such thing as exciting different locations of the head, but that there is no
"fluid" at all. I can perform, and have done it repeatedly, the same experiments
as have been done by Dr. Buchanan or LeRoy Sunderland without being near
my subject or by contact with any other part of the body than the head. The
fingers or toes of any subject are quite as susceptible of excitement from the
"fluid" and of producing all the remarkable phenomena and passions of the mind,
as the head.
Phrenologists have laid down only thirty-four different organs; but in the rapid
march of the science under the excitement of the "nervous fluid" or electricity, the
number of organs has suddenly increased to upwards of two hundred. What a
rapid stride in the progression of the science of Phrenology! And among these
new organs are Felony, Drunkenness, Idiocy, Insanity etc., etc. What doties must
have been such philosophers as Gale and Spurein ? who after devoting their
whole lives in careful observation could discover only thirty four organs in the
brain, when these lights of modern genius came puffing by on their fluid cover,
upsetting every thing which lay before them and only stopping to gather a new
recruit of "electricity" after having passed over two hundred newly discovered
organs in the space of six months.
The science of "Neurology," as defended by Dr. Buchanan in a course of lectures
delivered in the city of New York about two years since, has been most admirably
criticized by a correspondent of the "Magnet," a work edited by LeRoy
Sunderland, who was the great champion of Phreno Magnetism. We take
pleasure in giving the whole communication showing, as we think, some of the
absurdities there advanced. (From the Magnet No. 8. January 1841. Copy the
correspondence signed C.)
[Not copied]
The excitability of the human brain by "nervauric influence" will soon be, if it is not
already, an exploded idea. There cannot be anything in it. Not that I suppose the
experiments which Dr. Buchanan professed to perform were not performed. But
on the contrary, I have performed the same class of experiments and am
constantly repeating them upon different individuals with whom I meet daily. Nor
do I intend to charge any deception upon Dr. Buchanan, designedly practiced
upon the community. It is a matter of belief, no doubt, with him and so believing,
he could not perform his experiments without attributing them to the very cause
he has selected. But if he should believe it sympathy alone he might behold the
same results on abandoning all fluids, he could operate so as to produce the
same phenomena by the direct influence of his mind upon the mind of his patient.
They are a class of Mesmeric results performed without a fluid, neuauric,
muscular, magnetic, galvanic or electric. It was the impression, which his mind
made on the mind of his patient. In order to make an impression it will be
necessary for any one to have full confidence in the means he uses, or no
impression will follow.
Phreno-Magnetism is the same thing in principle as neurology and the remarks
we have made upon Neuaur are quite applicable to Phreno-Magnetism. There is
no question but certain feelings and conditions of mind corresponding to
Benevolence, Neuration, Selfesteem, Combativeness, etc. may be excited in the
mind, but that these organs as laid down by phrenologists are magnetized,
electrified, galvanized or neuaurised is idle to the wind. Experiments will always
fail if the operator does not understand the location of these organs, which is
conclusive proof against the theory of a fluid and the exciting of particular organs.
The subject too, might also, were he acquainted with Phrenology, do much to
answer the particular touches of the operator upon different parts of the head; but
when the operator and the subject are both unskilled in the science, the
experiment will always correspond with the condition of the mind of the operator.
Another fact, which I have observed among different operators, is that no two
locate these organs corresponding to what they wish to show, in the same place.
Some locate the organ of "ejection" near caution, others, near benevolence, and
others in different places-all going to show that "there is nothing in a location."
We venture the assertion, that whatever action is produced upon the brain at all,
during this excited state, results rather from the mind of the subject, whose
impressions are received from the mind of the operator.
The Rev. Mr. Dodds of Boston, Mass., we believe, deals more extensively in the
Magnetic Fluid than any other magnetizer. We have examined his work upon the
subject of Mesmerism and can but smile at proofs so conclusively drawn in
support of his theory. A careful reading of the whole work is a comfortable
electuring into a talkative sleep ending in ethereal and sublime explanations
above the capacity of ordinary men. We were some what at a loss to determine
whether the Rev. gentleman was most profuse in his language or his fluid! We do
not doubt his sincerity in support of his fluid, but must wonder at his credulity. It is
a strong proof of the wanderings of an excited mind connected with a strong
belief of the means by which wonderful results are produced.
If we were to take up all the points in his theory and discuss them, we fear our
pages would be too voluminous for ordinary purposes and that few would be
inclined to pursue the investigation. Dodds, like all others who believe in the fluid
theory, supposed that something must be the medium of communication
between mind and mind and between mind and matter separate from the bodily
senses, and he has at once brought in the aid of a subtle fluid which pervades all
nature.
To introduce the whole theory as it is contended for by most of those who have
gone before me, I make the following extract from a pamphlet published in the
city of Boston A.D. 1843 entitled "The History and Philosophy of Animal
Magnetism" and dedicated by the author to Robert H. Collyer M.C. etc.
(Copy chap. Fourth) [Not copied] And who, after such an array of distinguished
names would differ from their established theory! All these men were powerful
Magnetizers and many of them of the first order of talent but we fear a little
inclined to speculate upon a theory, rather than to elicit facts aside from theory.
We are satisfied that they all believed in the Fluid, but what its character is
remains to be settled among them; as it seems, no two agree to allow it the same
name or character. If this "elastic, invisible ether pervading all Nature" causes all
these phenomena, it is a God-like power, second only to its Author. That it should
operate so mysteriously, sometimes magnetizing individuals by contact and at
others, passes through the space of one hundred miles and surcharges the
patient and induces the mesmeric state-now made to reside in a letter, and again
concealing itself in a tumbler of water, passing to the trunk of a tree-and from all
these passing out upon a particular individual and inducing the magnetic sleep. If
I could possibly believe in the "Fluid Theory" it would be far more marvelous and
astonishing to trace out such laws as must govern this "invisible ether" than the
experiments which follow. Or perhaps it may be a principle without the pale of the
law, governing itself under the direction of the operator, in part, at some times
and at others, entirely at its own control.
Some of the theories of the old Philosophers who wrote upon the subject of the
Soul appear to us rather speculative. Fire and other imponderable agents so
called were made not the connecting link of Soul and body, but Soul itself.
Tracing the analogy of their ideas down to those of the Fluid System, we cannot
see why this Fluid might not be the Soul itself. It is the means, we are taught,
through which the mind acts and we are to suppose of course that it cannot act at
all, except through the fluid, when the bodily senses are closed. It may then be
either the soul itself or a necessary appendage, without which although Soul
might exist, it could not act or give any evidence of its existence.
The same Author, from whom we have quoted the "Fluid Theory," makes the
following remarks in defense of his Theory against the powers of Imagination.
"We disapprove this charge at once," (that it is all the work of Imagination) "by
the fact that a person, who has been magnetized several times, can be thrown
into the magnetic sleep by the magnetizer when he is at a distance of half a mile,
and at a moment when the person to be acted upon shall not even suspect it.
This has been done successfully by a person who did not even know where the
subject of his operations was at the time he made the attempt." Now upon the
principle of a Fluid to be "directed upon the brain of the subject" how is it possible
that direction can be given, when the operator is ignorant of the location of his
subject; and how is it possible that this fluid can be made to pass through so
great a distance? If the experiment above alluded to has been performed, could it
have been done by the "Fluid"? If, by a "Fluid" how could the operator so direct it
as to strike upon the brain of the subject, when he was ignorant of his situation.
How could he give effectual direction without knowing where to direct! And then
the "Fluid" is to pass through the space of half a mile before it can act upon the
subject. If such an experiment as the above can be performed (and we know
personally it can) with the fluid and not without it, we certainly must assign the
power of intelligence to the "Fluid" and it being commanded by the mind of the
operator, to go in search of his subject and induce sleep etc. obeys its master.
Such experiments as the above prove one of two things; namely, either, that
there is no Fluid by which a communication is effected between mesmerizer and
mesmerized, or that this Fluid is an intelligent being, capable of thought itself. We
contend that there is no Fluid in the case. If others believe there is, and that it is
capable of receiving intelligence and obeying commands, we are not accountable
for such belief; but we leave the community, who read and think the sole of
judging, which Theory, Fluid or no Fluid appears the most consistent.
I have performed a similar experiment upon my subject, Lucius, at a distance,
sometimes knowing where he was and sometimes not knowing. Yet I did not use
any fluid to my knowledge. We have, in another part of this work alluded to the
experiment of the magnetized trees-the experiments before the Committee at
Paris, France, in proof that no Fluid was in the tree and communicated to the
subject. I will again repeat the experiment in substance. The subject was
blindfold and led up to a magnetized tree and immediately fell into the magnetic
sleep. Being again blindfold, was without his knowledge, led up to a tree not
magnetized and also fell into the magnetic sleep, proving conclusively that there
was the same virtue in the magnetized and the natural tree.
There is another class of subjects introduced by magnetizers in proof of a
magnetic fluid. Some are in the habit of giving their subjects a magnet by which
they are thrown into the magnetic sleep. This experiment is explained by
attributing the power to the magnet of communicating the Fluid to the subject etc.
I have repeatedly magnetized subjects by any little metallic article presenting it to
them, after having imbued it with the "Fluid." I have also performed the same
experiment by passing to them a similar article not imbued with my Fluid and it
produced the same results. I took two combs belonging to two ladies present and
magnetized one of them, that is, went through all the ceremony of magnetizing it
and the other I only took and passed back to the lady without any operation upon
it, and both ladies were thrown into the magnetic sleep by these combs. The lady
who received the comb not magnetized was ignorant of that fact and on the
contrary believed it magnetized. Perkin's metallic points are celebrated among
mesmerizers and were considered sacred proofs of the fluid Theory. Yet after
they had their run, some cunning wag introduced wooden points so neatly
counterfeiting the metallic in their appearance that they would effect the same
results upon a patient as the genuine points. I recollect a young man who in
company with Dr. Cutter, the famed lecturer in this part of Maine, visited this
place and being an easy subject to mesmerize, as a matter of defense, against
the influence of powerful magnetizers, carried with him a magnet, believing it to
be a safe preventive against all magnetic power. When armed with his magnet,
no one could magnetize him, but without it, almost any one could induce sleep.
If, by some artful management we could have induced him to believe his magnet
absent, although it might have been concealed about him, we venture to say that
he would have been quite as easily operated upon, as if his magnet had really
been absent. The truth is that it was a matter of belief with the subject and he
governed himself accordingly. If I could induce him to believe that magnetism or
the magnet had nothing to do with mesmerism or the excited state of mind called
mesmeric, then the charm of the magnet would be broken. The Rev. Mr. Dodds
has become so confident of a fluid medium of mind and its similarity to electricity
that he has found it convenient and perhaps companionable to carry about with
him when upon his tours of lecturing, an Electric Machine and I believe he makes
it an associate or assistant in throwing subjects into the magnetic state. If this
Fluid be electricity, we do not see why Mr. Dodds could not with his machine
surcharge a whole audience with a few turns of the handle by placing them in
contact with its power.
We have witnessed the experiments of persons standing upon a glass stool and
receiving a surcharge of electricity so that sparks might be seen to emit from
various parts of their body, yet we saw no signs of magnetic sleep. Now if this
Fluid be electricity, it does appear to me that the Electric Machine would be the
very first power by which subjects could be magnetized.
While in the city of Boston about one year since, I met with a friend who began to
question me as to the tricks I am playing in Magnetism, and as we continued our
conversation some time, he suddenly turned his head and after a few moments
pause charged me with an attempt to magnetize him! I did not let him know, but it
was so; in truth however, I did not think of it until after he named it. I state this
experiment to show that I did not designedly use any fluid, indeed, could not
have given direction to any; but the result upon my friend was just the same, no
doubt, as though I had really sat down with the intention of performing an
operation. This was the belief which he exercised in his mind, that I was trying
my powers upon him and he became excited and partially yielded. I do not think I
exerted any power to control him, yet he felt a power which he believed
proceeded from me and it began to induce the mesmeric state into which he was
passing.
A friend of mine, a powerful magnetizer who called on me not long since,
operated upon a young lady in my family and threw her into the mesmeric sleep.
He was a firm believer in the Magnetic Fluid and every thing was done according
to the law supposed to govern it. I began to exercise the power of my mind over
the subject and she would readily obey me. Desiring her to come to me, she
immediately turned her head and was about to rise when her operator, observing
the movement, began to cut off the fluid with his hand so as to shut out the power
I was gaining over her. I ceased trying to impress her mind with the desire of
coming to me and she turned back. During the same sleep I exercised a control
over her which was observed by the operator, and when he discovered it, awoke
her, saying it was very dangerous mixing up the fluids of different magnetizers
upon the subject at the same time. I could not induce him to go on with his
experiments, and was obliged to do what I could to show that there was no
danger from mixing up fluids etc. or that all the danger arising in the case would
be from the fear and belief of the mesmerizer. I then performed a few
experiments and requested him to exercise all his fluid power to counteract them.
I am unable to say whether the fear of "disturbing the fluid" did not prevent him
from making an effort, for all my experiments succeeded.
Steel and various kinds of metal are supposed to have powerful influence over
subjects in the mesmeric sleep. Experiments have been introduced to prove the
supposition. Some operators cannot exercise their magnetic powers if they have
about them steel or silver. This is also a matter of belief. If an operator believes
he cannot make an impression upon his subject while this or that metallic
substance is about him, then as a matter of course, he will not; but remove what
he thinks is the difficulty and then mind acts in full faith and produces a full and
decided expression.
I recollect that when I first began to magnetize, I had all this horrid fear about the
influence of metal, steel, silver etc. upon the subjects and being a full believer
then in the Fluid Theory, supposed some strange connection in all metallic
substances with the magnetized subjects. Having on a certain occasion put my
subject into sleep after surcharging him with the fluid, a young lady present held
he scissors pointing directly towards the head of the subject. Upon my first
observing it, I was excited, fearing some bad result. The impression was
conveyed to the mind of the subject and all the consequences I feared would
result, followed. This to my mind, at that time, was conclusive proof of the power
of certain metallic substances, highly magnetic, upon a subject.
I have had very many excellent experiments in Phreno-Magnetism, exciting the
organs by pointing a steel rod pointed at one end to the supposed location,
believing the fluid passed out of myself through this rod into the organ. When I
held the sharp point of the rod towards the organ the subject would immediately
arouse and answer to the direction; but if I held the blunt end, it would not affect
him. This to me, as I was trying my experiments to prove whether there was any
fluid or not, was strong testimony in favor of the fluid system. I had supposed
there must be some agent to bring out such results and immediately embraced
the theory adopted by most magnetizers, for want of something better. Having
adopted, as a matter of belief, an agent by which I could bring about this excited
state of mind, I had assigned it certain laws such as I knew to govern electricity. I
had all the faith to produce a result when I directed the pointed end to the organ I
wished to excite; but when I reversed the point and presented the blunt end, I did
not suppose for an instant that the excitement would follow. So the results
corresponded with my own feelings. I have witnessed the same experiments
performed by other magnetizers and they always advance such facts as I have
named as conclusive proofs of a fluid Theory. Since I have abandoned the fluid
Theory, I find no difficulty in using either end of the steel rod or use no rod at all
and placing myself at a respectable distance from the subject, can produce the
same results as I did when the steel rod and fluid Theory were the only means of
my operation.
When in the city of Boston with my subject, one of the most powerful magnetizers
put my subject into the magnetic sleep and proceeded with his experiments in
phreno-magnetics to convince me that the organs were excited by a fluid. He
remained in contact with the subject and directed his fluid with the points of his
fingers. I was sitting in the room at some distance from the scene of operation
and exerted myself to counteract the impression given by the operator. The
operator's experiments all failed although he was in contact with the subject and
as he supposed was filling up his head with the electric or magnetic fluid.
I also entertained the same idea with other magnetizers about the condition of
the atmosphere as being favorable or unfavorable to successful experiments. I
could always, under this belief, succeed better in fine clear weather. Indeed, my
experiments seldom succeeded in a dull and cloudy atmosphere. I had been
giving some very interesting experiments during one evening and did not know
but the atmosphere was clear and bright as when I entered the hall. At the close
of the experiments I was astonished to learn that, for the last two hours, during
the time of my best experiments, the atmosphere had been cloudy and that rain
had been falling. This circumstance was one of the first which led to the rejection
of the Fluid Theory.
I believed in the power to mesmerize a tumbler of water which, upon being drunk,
would throw the patient into the magnetic sleep, and have often amused my
audience by this simple experiment. I supposed I did imbue the water with some
new virtue and this was also the belief of the subject, and the results followed as
I had anticipated. The experiment of the silk handkerchief has been one I have
performed repeatedly. I would magnetize the handkerchief and pass it to the
subject and it would induce the mesmeric sleep. I was so confident in the fluid
theory and that silk would affect its operation, that on one occasion when I had
put my subject to sleep and a lady was sitting nearby dressed in silk, his hands
and feet were extended towards her dress. These simple facts all went to confirm
me in the belief of the fluid theory. Yet I have been compelled to reject them all
and I find there is no difficulty in producing the same results with a tumbler of
clear water as when I have surcharged it with magnetic fluid, or with a silk
handkerchief in its natural state as when magnetized. And I can with all safety
allow ladies to sit near my subject, in silk apparel, without any fear of distracting
his slumber.
I have magnetized a cedar twig and given it to my subject and he would
immediately pass into the magnetic state. I have also given him other articles and
told him I had magnetized them, although I had not, yet he would pass into sleep
as before. We might multiply simple cases of this class to a very great number
but all of them would terminate as those I have mentioned. I have performed
them with the fluid and have done the same without it.
It has sometimes been supposed that subjects are not susceptible of influence
from the operator only in the sleeping state. This is not so. Dr. Buchanan,
although a devoted advocate of the fluid, has given many experiments, in proof
of a controlling power which the operator may have over the subject. It is, with
me, my daily practice to perform most of my experiments when the subject could
not know in his waking moments my wishes, while to all appearance he is not
influenced by any one. I have frequently extended my power to impress upon the
mind of some person in my presence a wish to do something, keeping distinctly
in my mind what I would have him do. And the subject would soon do the very
act which I had wished to bring about. I have frequently operated upon a subject
in his waking state producing certain feelings in him corresponding to my own;
have relieved pain in hundreds of instances to the benefit and happiness of
persons under my influence; have relieved headache, pain in any part of the
body. As I was writing a few sentences above, an individual called on me and
stated that his foot was very painful to him, and if I could ease the pain and
adding that he did not believe I could, that he would not deny the fact and should
be a believer in Mesmerism. I operated upon his foot and relieved the pain. He
acknowledged the fact and began, he said, to be a little more serious.


BOOKLET V
BU Booklets 1-7

Another individual present, who began to ridicule the fact and made some strong
remarks against any power I might exercise over him, desired me to make a
simple experiment upon his foot and leg. I immediately wrote upon a piece of
paper not letting any one know the writing and laid it down upon the table and
told him I had written upon that paper what kind of a sensation I would produce
upon his foot and leg. I commenced the operation and in about two minutes, he
said his foot and leg began to prickle and felt as though it was going to sleep. I
handed him the paper and he read just what he had felt. Some have replied to
similar experiments above, that they were the results of Imagination. We reply
that the subject did not know what kind of a sensation we should produce and
therefore could not imagine in the case. To him it was a reality, because he felt
the prickling sensation and did not imagine that I was going to produce it. I have
frequently taken persons and endeavored to produce a warm or cold sensation
upon their limbs without their knowledge and have succeeded in bringing about
my wishes.
A certain physician, who was a complete skeptic and perhaps more in a jocose
manner than otherwise, invited me to visit one of his patients. I complied, and
after looking at the patient and fixing her attention upon me, took the physician
out side and told him what sort of a sensation I would produce upon her. We
returned to her and I commenced impressing her mind with the same feeling I
had named to the physician. She immediately complained of being cold and
trembling, which was the very feeling I had been trying to produce. The physician
I presume will recollect the circumstance and vouch for the fact. We might fill up
our pages with hundreds of experiments, similar to those we have given, and all
performed in the same manner.
Perhaps my readers may at this point enquire in what manner all these simple
experiments are performed. It is simply this. I first get the attention of my subject,
endeavoring to exclude all other external influences and drawing their mind to
myself. I then work up the sensation I wish to produce upon my subject in my
own mind and it is immediately communicated to that of the subject and a
correspondent feeling will be the result. It is the simple process of mind acting
upon mind. It is necessary to draw the attention of the subject to myself in order
to receive the impression because no one could receive impressions from
external objects unless he should give his attention to them. The public speaker
makes it the first object to gain the attention of his audience and then proceeds to
reason out the whole subject, and they are also prepared to go on with the
speaker and receiving corresponding emotions with him. So in mesmerizing,
some powerful impression must be produced to draw the attention of the subject
and exclude other external influences and then the mind is prepared for further
action.
All these simple experiments can be more easily performed if the subject is told
what result you desire to effect; yet they can be performed, and I have repeatedly
given them, without any knowledge of my desire having been communicated to
the subject.
In the town of Skowhegan on the banks of the Kennebec, I met with a young man
deaf and dumb, but was a very sensitive subject and easily operated upon in his
waking moments. I requested him to sit down and place his hand upon the table
and count by raising his hand up and down. I then asked some one to direct me
to stop him when he had made a certain number of counts naming to me the
number. When he had made the particular counts I willed him to stop and he did
so. I then impressed his mind with the desire to walk back and forth upon the
floor, and he arose and commenced walking. A gentleman asked me to stop him
when he arrived at a certain point and I exercised my power upon his mind and
he stopped instantly at the very point. I then desired him to speak to me and he
made a noise. I made a stronger impression upon his mind to speak louder and
he made a stronger effort to talk, graduating his effort, and raising his voice or
noise with my thoughts impressing him to speak louder or softer. Some one then
asked him in writing if he heard me speak, and he answered "that his mind
heard." And so it is. The mind hears, sees, feels, and causes every action of the
body. And impressions are conveyed directly upon the mind when the attention is
given to the operator in such a manner as to shut out all other influences. And to
produce these impressions and sensations when the mind of the subject is thus
prepared, the operator must produce in himself the same sensation which he
would communicate to the subject. The experiments last mentioned upon the
deaf and dumb young man were performed without the subject knowing, by any
of his outward senses, what I could design. I was behind the subject and out of
his sight during the most of the experiments. I took every precaution in this case,
as I have done repeatedly, to place the experiments upon such a basis that no
one could attribute them to the imagination.
A young lady, who was passing some time at my house during the past season,
was sitting in the keeping room and I was in one of my chambers with my little
daughter. I requested my daughter to go down into the keeping room and tell the
young lady I wished her to give her attention to me for a few minutes, that I
wished to perform some experiments upon her. I also requested my daughter to
remain with her and see what they were. I then commenced the operation of my
mind to paralyze one of her limbs. In a few minutes, her foot moved out and
become entirely paralyzed. I then willed her to rise and walk and she immediately
obeyed, saying to my daughter, "Your father desires me to walk and it is
impossible for me to resist." I willed her to come to the chamber door, that I had
something to say to her. She then asked my daughter "if her father did not
speak." Upon her replying that he did not, she said "he did and wishes to tell me
something." She came to my door and asked me if I did not speak to her. I
replied that I did in my mind, but not with my voice. She could not believe that
she did not hear my voice. These experiments were done in the evening and my
wife being absent I told her that I should will her to ask my wife a question when
she returned, but would not tell her what it should be. Wishing to see how far I
could carry out this principle of operating upon her mind directly, I willed her to
ask my wife if she had turned the cat out doors. In two hours from that time my
wife came in and as she came up stairs, she enquired "if she had turned the cat
out doors."
Such experiments as I have named above and others of the same character, I
have performed upon subjects in their waking state. I find, however, but few
persons who are very susceptible of such impressions; yet I have given them
before so many persons that, they, by those who witnessed them, cannot be
disputed. During my public exhibitions, I have practiced my subject, after the
evening's exhibition is nearly closed, in similar experiments. I have left him and
passed into another room and requested some one to tell me which of his arms
to paralyze. Having directed me, he would return to my subject and request him
to give his attention to me, that I was about to perform an experiment upon one
of his limbs, arms or legs not allowing him to know which. Soon the arm, which I
was requested to affect, would become paralyzed. Such experiments I have
given to the public on many occasions. It is more difficult to influence the mind in
the waking state than when mesmerized. Yet these experiments were done when
he was awake.
My reader may enquire, whether such experiments are not all the influence of the
imagination. We reply, that they are not imaginary, but real. The impressions
received by the subject are real and not imaginary and the results are also real
and not imaginary. The arm or foot does become paralyzed, and there is no
imagination about it. If it were the result of an excited imagination the sequences
could not be real. In the case of my subject, how could he know which arm I
intended to operate upon? If he imagined, he could not produce the paralysis,
and therefore no one can attribute it to imagination.
We have given our views more at length upon what we consider the power of
imagination in another part of this work and shall not now go into a discussion of
the subject so particularly. The distinction, however, is very clear between real
and imaginary experiments or states of mind. If I act from an impression upon my
mind which I believe to be true, there is no imagination about the transaction. If I
create an impression in my own mind, which I know to be from a false cause or if
I receive an impression and know it to be the result of my imagination, it could
not further affect me. Suppose I imagined that my arm was paralyzed. Would that
state of the mind bring about the real condition which I imagined? And if to me
who imagined it, it should appear real, which circumstance would only be after
the continuance of the imagination, would this imaginary condition of mind
appear real to an individual who might be standing by? If it were the result of my
imagination, it would not appear real to a disinterested bystander. And if it should
appear and really be paralyzed, and hundreds of individuals should witness the
fact, I presume that these individuals would not be willing to ascribe it to the
powers of imagination. Indeed, a man might imagine a thousand things, none of
which would turn out to be true because there is no truth in imagination. Men
often act from false causes, not however false in appearance to them. The
impressions they receive, of course are real and we cannot ascribe results from
such real impressions as flowing from an excited imagination. These experiments
then, are real, flowing from real impressions which are produced by causes
which appear real and are so to the subject although the operator may have
produced the cause without a real existent object. It is then imaginary to the
operator but reality to the subject.

CLAIRVOYANCE

Clairvoyance is also an excited state of the mind, which enables the subject to
see objects with an independent power of sight, without the use of the bodily
eyes. It also implies the capacity to see every object to which the mind's attention
is called whether present or distant. We have alluded to this state or capacity of
mind in many of our experiments, but have not spoken of this power
disconnected with other experiments. We recur to the subject again, to assert our
belief in such a power founded on facts, which have come under our own
observation, and which we have been enabled to give to the public. Thought
reading itself is more astounding perhaps than seeing independent of the organ
of sight. Yet in the present state of the world, men who have witnessed these
phenomena, all agree, that subjects in the mesmeric state will read the thoughts
of those who are in communication with them. And by some it is asserted, that
this is all, which constitutes Clairvoyance. We however, rely upon facts which
have not been controverted and cannot be explained on other principles, than,
that the mind does possess the independent power of sight. We shall give a few
examples illustrating this part of our subject and then proceed to show why so
much reliance cannot be placed in the subject as is desirable while exercising
this faculty.
On a certain occasion, I took my subject to Brunswick, entered the College
Grounds, passed into the Anatomical Cabinet and requested him to pass round
the room and describe to me everything he saw, which arrested his attention. He
commenced on the left as you pass into the room, and described many things
which I knew to be there. But there was one curiosity, which he named, with the
rest of which I had no recollection and I was quite confident he had made a
mistake. I had occasion to visit Brunswick in a few days and to satisfy my
curiosity, called at the Anatomical Cabinet and found everything in precisely the
same order as he had described them. The curiosity, of which I knew nothing,
was there and he must have actually seen it or he could not have described it. It
was not embraced in my thoughts and the subject was perfectly ignorant of the
existence of an Anatomical Cabinet connected with Bowdoin College and had
never been within thirty miles of the town.
On another occasion a friend of mine was in communication with a subject who
had been excited or mesmerized and directed him to go to such a house, being
occupied by a friend of his and describe to him, every particular about its external
appearance. He did so and in this minute description was particular to speak of a
peculiarity about that portion which was not in view of the street. After the
experiment was over, my friend stated that he had given a correct description of
the house except the peculiarity of which we have spoken, and remarked that "he
was mistaken in that." About a month after this, I met this same friend and he
related to me, that my subject was correct in his description of the house even to
the peculiarity. He had visited the house and upon examination every thing was
found to agree with the minute description given by my subject.
During the winter of 1843 I visited Wiscasset with my subject and lectured before
an audience and gave experiments illustrating my theory of Mesmerism. After
putting my subject into the clairvoyant state a gentleman by the name of Clark,
was placed in communication with him. Mr. Clark directed him to find the Bark on
board of which was his son. He immediately saw the Bark, described the vessel
minutely, gave a general description of the Captain, Mate and his son-asked the
Capt. what time he would arrive in New York and received the answer, which he
communicated to Mr. Clark in the presence of the whole audience. I left
Wiscasset on the following day and visited Bath. In a few days I returned to
Wiscasset and gave further experiments. Mr. Clark was again placed in
communication with him and directed him to find the same vessel. He did so and
said she was hauling in to the wharf on dock in New York City at that moment
and that she arrived on such a day.
Upon making a calculation about the arrival of the mail it was found that the news
of her arrival would reach Wiscasset on the following day. When the mail came,
many persons, who had witnessed the experiment were at the post office,
anxiously waiting the news and to test the truth of Clairvoyance. The news was
received of the Bark's arrival corresponding with the information communicated
on the evening before by my subject. This circumstance was related in the
Newspaper printed at Wiscasset at the time. On another occasion I placed my
subject in communication with a gentleman who was an entire stranger to me
and he took him to a certain bridge. My subject saw the bridge and described it
very particularly. The gentleman gave up the subject and declared to the
audience that the description was incorrect and he could not do anything with my
subject at clairvoyance. On the following day, I met the same gentleman and he
assured me that my subject was correct, according to what he had learned since
last evening. That the bridge had been rebuilt since he had seen it and many
material alterations made, such as my subject described. We would remark here
that, many experiments of a similar character have been set down at the time as
a partial failure, but that it was ascertained afterwards that the communicants
were in the error and that the subject was correct.
My subject was placed in communication with a lady who directed him to her
father's house, which he described with particularity, even noticing the closets
and doors. And often giving a description of each member of the family, said
there was an old lady sitting in the corner, with a pair of spectacles over her eyes
and that she was knitting. The lady immediately wrote home and ascertained that
at the time named by my subject, there was such an individual present in the
room, answering to the description of my subject and that she was also knitting.
While in Bangor a lady was put in communication with my subject and requested
him to go with her. He complied and described a certain house and the flower-
garden about it-even the shape of the flower beds. While he was going on with
the description, he exclaimed at the top of his lungs, "Get out, get out." She
enquired what he saw, and he replied that there was a great dog digging up one
of the beds and destroying the flowers. Also asked the lady if she did not see
him-that he should think she might as the dog had made so large a hole. This
house and garden was situated in Gardiner. The lady immediately wrote to G.
and received an answer, that my subject was correct-that there was a dog which
did actually dig into one of the beds and destroy the flowers. Some time after this
I met one of the ladies of the house at Gardiner, who related to me the same
facts.
During a session of the District Court in this village in 1842 some curiosity was
exhibited among many distinguished gentlemen present to witness some of my
experiments. I called on Judge Allen and found Gov. Anderson, Judge Briggles,
the Rev. Mr. Hodgsdon and others present. Several experiments were
performed. The Rev. Mr. Hodgsdon being placed in communication with my
subject, took him to Dexter where his family were then residing. He described the
house and family and said there was a small child sick, lying in the cradle. That
Mrs. Hodgsdon said the child was getting better etc. Mr. Hodgsdon corrected
Lucius and told him that he was mistaken about the cradle, that there was no
cradle in the hours. Lucius replied that there was and that the child was lying in it;
and he would not yield to Mr. Hodgsdon's correction. The following day he
returned to his family and found that Lucius was correct-that a cradle had been
borrowed of one of his neighbors and that the child was lying in it-was getting
better etc.-just as had been related by my subject.
While in the city of Boston Dr. W ________ performed an experiment with my
subject-took him to his father's house and he described many things and said
they were roasting beef in the kitchen. This was in the evening and seemed
rather singular that "beef-roasting" should be going on at that time. The Dr.
visited his father's the following day, being Thanksgiving and learned that what
my subject had said, was true. A gentleman in this village, who was given a little
to skepticism towards Clairvoyance although he was confident of the power of
thought reading, requested me to call at his office with my subject at such an
hour. In the meantime he had been to his house and requested his wife to
arrange something in a certain room, different from what it was then and not let
him know what the change was to be. The gentleman returned to his office and
the room was put in order. My subject was taken to the room and described all
the particulars, which the gentleman found to be correct upon his return. I took
him to the room myself and he asked me if I heard, what the lady said? I
enquired what it was and he replied, "she says I wish he would come, if he is
coming. I wonder if he is here now." This was found to be the conversation of the
lady while in the room at the time my subject was there, directed to her mother
who was also present. A lady who had been frequently thrown into the Mesmeric
State by me, desired to be directed to Boston and ascertain when her son, who
was residing there would be home. I mesmerized her and directed her to Boston.
She visited her son and asked him when he would be in Belfast. He answered
her on such a day which proved to be correct. I also on another occasion took
her to Boston to see her son. She said he had left in the scho Comet. I then
directed her to find the Comet. She did and said it was just at that time coming
out of a certain harbor, giving the name, and that she would arrive in Belfast on
such a night, and that he would be home on the following morning after her
arrival. He came according to her prediction.
These experiments are introduced to prove true clairvoyance, that the subject
does actually see objects, which do not exist in the mind of the operator and of
which the operator could have no knowledge-that there is something in all these
facts seen independent of any other power than independent sight. Every
experiment develops something, which is found to be true, and cannot be
explained upon the principle of thought reading. We say then that the mind is
capable, of such excitement or of attaining to a state in which it may see without
bodily eyes and also be present with all things at the same instant. In other
words, that to the mind, independent of the body, there is no such impediment as
time, space, distance and materiality, but that it only requires direction-and all its
inherent faculties are in operation, giving its attention to the object to which it has
been directed. The eye, ear, nose, sense of touch or the tongue is nothing except
as they convey in our natural state certain sensations to the mind, from which a
peculiar state of emotions arise. The faculty of sight, hearing, taste, smell and
touch exists in the mind independent of the organs by which objects are
communicated to these faculties. And cut off these organs or appendages, and
then, mind acts direct or receives its impressions directly from external and
internal objects. If then, you institute a peculiar state of the mind, called
mesmeric and close up the bodily eyes, the faculty of the mind does not cease to
act. It is rather, in part, freeing the soul from its narrow confinement in the sphere
of acquiring knowledge through the limited means of the eye, and giving it a
range of sight limited only by the laws of mind and not the laws of matter. It
returns more like itself, when it shall have been entirely divested of man's
materiality and left free, not to roam throughout the ranges of thought, but to be
existent, with all its original faculties in full display, with all the creations of the
Great First Cause.
We have given experiments to show the position we have taken experiments
which we challenge the world to gainsay, and which we cannot explain by any
other principles than these we have laid down as governing the mind at all times
under similar circumstances. We say, conclusive proofs are given in these facts
of the mind's capacity to see through all space or to be present with all things in
the universe and behold them, independent of the bodily eye and independent of
the knowledge of the operator.
The question, then, arises: Will the subject at all times act and see independent
of the operator and state the true condition of the object to which their attention is
called? I answer, they will not, and that experiments of this character often fail.
But this does not arise from the inability of the subject to see and relate the facts;
but from the controlling influence of the operator over the mind of the subject,
which induces the subject to describe the thoughts and ideas of the individual in
communication with him rather than to look to the object or scene itself and
describe from actual view. It appears to be an easier task for a subject under the
control of an individual to read the thoughts of his controller, about certain things,
than to describe such things from actual sight.
I will relate an experiment here which I tried when I first began to magnetize. I
had been out during the evening, giving some private experiments and on
returning home lost my pocket handkerchief. I heard nothing from it for more than
a week. I then magnetized my subject and requested him to find it. He told me
where I could find it, described the individual who picked it up in the street and
told where it was found. The next morning I saw an individual, answering to the
description and enquired of him if he had found a handkerchief and he replied
that he had, told me when are where, which was precisely as my subject had told
me. Flushed with my success in this experiment, I adopted the rule that my
subject would, under all circumstances in the mesmeric state, find anything which
might be lost. My faith was unbounded with my new discovery and I began to
dream of hidden treasures and mountain views, and diamonds in the desert,
when lo! the very next experiment I made was a total failure! This drove me back
again into the real world and I was obliged to feel along slowly and cautiously to
discover the cause of my disaster. It was in part owing to the influence I
exercised over my subject, compelling him to read my thoughts rather than to
give me the real state of things; and partly, from the condition of the subject, not
having passed into the high clairvoyant state. We will give a few experiments in
thought reading and show when we are sometimes deceived, in our experiments.
I mesmerized my subject in private and resolved to try experiments in thought
reading and satisfy myself as to the power of a subject to describe the thoughts
of another. I commenced by bringing before my mind a house, which he
immediately saw and described according to my thought. I then would imagine a
cat and a dog, and my subject would answer instantly as the image was formed
in my mind. I then brought before me a whole caravan, of animals of various
classes and sizes, commencing with a platoon of elephants, then lions, tigers,
rhinoce, camels, monkeys, baboons, etc. My subject would without hesitation
describe them as they arose in thought in my mind. I would think of an army of
officers and soldiers passing in review and he would relate all my thoughts. I
would imagine a person coming, who was well known to my subject, and he
would call him by name. And a host of such experiments were performed, which
would fill a volume, all going to show with what accuracy and rapidity he would
read my thoughts. In my public exhibitions I have given experiments of the same
character. On one occasion, a lady requested me to place her in communication
with my subject. I gave her a seat on the stage and requested my subject to go to
Michigan, (where the lady said her husband was) and find the lady's husband. He
did so and gave a very minute description of the gentleman, stated how long he
had been there, named his occupation and that he had written a letter to his wife,
and told the contents of the letter. This was done in the presence of a large
audience, many of whom, were acquainted with the facts and did testify to the
truth of his disclosure. The lady, I will state, did not speak while my subject was
going on with his description and she and her husband were entire strangers to
me and my subject. During a session of the Supreme Court in Belfast, Judge
Tenney presiding, there was some little excitement upon the subject of
Mesmerism. Judge Tenney was anxious to witness a few experiments. I called at
his room one evening, I placed my subject, after I had mesmerized him, under
his control. The Judge wrote on a piece of paper, folded it up and held it in his
hand. He then requested my subject to go with him to a certain house and asked
him, whom he saw. He exclaimed it was a little deformed man and described
him, giving his height and appearance. The Judge then handed me the paper
and upon it was written, that he had a brother who was deformed etc, giving a
description very similar to that of my subject. R. B. Allyn, Esq., of this village, was
desirous of satisfying himself as to my subject's power of thought reading. He
named the experiment he was going to try to no one, but carefully wrote a
description of a large house he was going to imagine and filed the description in
his drawer, not allowing any one to know its contents. He described a sign over
the door with the word "abandoned" written upon it. He also located the house on
his own premises below the village upon which there is no building. After I had
placed him in communication with my subject, he put this question to him. "Will
you go with me," not stating where. He answered, "yes." "Now Lucius, can you
tell me what I am looking at." He replied "a large house." "Be particular and
describe the house and the grounds around it." Lucius immediately proceeded to
give a description of the house, observed the sign over the door and read off the
word "abandoned," described its location and the appearance of the lands about
it. Mr. Allyn, then took from his drawer the paper containing the description of the
house, corresponding precisely with that given by Lucius and even to the word
"abandoned" written upon the sign.
While in the city of Boston, some young gentlemen of my acquaintance called on
me and desired to see some private experiments. I complied and placed my
subject, after mesmerising him, in communication with several of them. One of
them, however, did not succeed well in what he designed to bring before my
subject. Indeed, a total failure attended every effort he made in this experiment. I
took the young gentleman one side, and requested him to relate to me what
experiment he wished Lucius to perform. He complied and said he was trying to
bring a gentleman by the name of Lowel of Ellsworth before his mind-that Lucius
might describe him. It so happened that I was acquainted with Lowel and my
subject had also seen him. I returned to my subject and imagined the gentleman
coming towards me in his peculiar manner of walking. Lucius, soon described
him and said it was Esq. Lowel of Ellsworth. This was true thought reading, only
describing my own ideas. Individuals have presented a box containing various
articles and requested my subject to describe them. This he would do with
accuracy-either from reading the thoughts of those who presented it, they
knowing what it contained or from actually seeing the articles themselves by an
independent power of sight.
So in almost all the experiments we have related in thought reading, the subject
may be said to either describe the thoughts of those around him or to actually
see and describe the persons and objects themselves. Where an explanation
may be given in thought reading or clairvoyance, it is difficult and perhaps
impossible to tell from which the subject acts. And perhaps he may be governed
in part by one power and in part by the other. We think this fact will explain much
of the difficulty, which attends experiments in true clairvoyance. Another cause of
failure and which is in close connection with this part of our subject, is that a
subject will often be influenced in his description and conduct by an association
of ideas, which leads him astray and to talk often upon some subject entirely
foreign to that which was first presented. I will give one example illustrating my
ideas upon this subject, and it will correspond precisely with what I have before
remarked in this work, when speaking upon the principles of association. Two
individuals, come into my room and see a large book upon my table. Both
observe it and thoughts arise or impressions are received which give rise to
trains of thought. But each has his peculiar train, different from the other,
although the same book gave rise to each train. One will be reminded of a similar
book, which he saw in a certain place at such a time and what transpired in
connection with it. The other would perhaps be reminded of something very
unlike the book itself-perhaps a person, a country, a city, an army or almost any
idea of thought different from the other. So that you enquire of each about what
train of thought arose upon seeing the book and they would name something
entirely different. The application of this principle to mesmerized subjects is this.
Subjects sometimes are in such a condition, that, upon receiving a first
impression their mind is immediately led off upon such objects or transactions as
are associated with this first impression; and if you request them to describe the
object which caused this first impression, the rapidity of thought is such, that they
would be quite as likely to describe some portion of the train of thought which
follows, as the object itself. On this principle, a subject might not describe either
the object itself, nor read the thoughts of those around him, but describe minutely
an idea of their own creation or association which follows in the train of thought
first set in motion by the object to which one had called the attention of the
subject. As though I beheld a book, and a train of thought commences which
leads me to think of some friend, almost at the same instant, which I beheld the
book. Someone, who had called my attention to the book, would ask me to
describe it, and if I should then proceed to describe my friend, about whom I was
thinking by the time the question should be put instead of the book, this would be
a parallel case to a mesmerized mind governed by the same principle. We have
heard of men, (indeed, witnessed ourselves, the act), who in their natural state,
reply to questions without giving the correct answer, but speak of something
brought to the mind, by the question, although one observing could not discover
any relation between the answer given and the question put.
On a certain occasion I magnetized my subject and directed him to go to such a
well and measure accurately the depth of the water. He did so and told to one
fourth of an inch the depth of the water. This was Independent Sight, because I
did not know anything in relation to the well. Now if I had known how deep the
water was and thought it, and the subject had described my thoughts and given
the true depth, this would be Thought Reading. If, however, I had taken him to
the well and he upon seeing the water or upon being reminded of it, should
associate with it the depth of another well he had actually measured in his
waking state and instead of giving the true depth, given that of the well, he
measured before he was mesmerized, this would be an answer on the principle
of association. This is another action of the mind under different circumstances.
We have, therefore, given examples, proving to a demonstration that there are
such states of mind as Clairvoyant, Thought Reading and that arising from
association. That the mind sometimes acts in one of these capacities and
sometimes in another and is also governed at other times by the principle of
association. Now the difficulty in a clairvoyant subject is this. The mesmerized
mind is liable to be under the partial control of all these conditions at the same
time and would describe an object, partly from actual independent sight, partly
from thought reading and partly from association; and the result always is a total
failure in all. We are not able, in this early stage of our science, to give definite
rules by which we can tell how far the subject may be led astray from
independent sight by these two other principles. Indeed we have no barometer
by which to ascertain how much weight our own thoughts, or the associations of
the subject, may have over the mesmerized mind. In the progress of future
advancement, this mystery may be solved; and subjects, under proper
regulations, may discover to the operator, the true action of his mind, whether it
be Seeing, Thought-reading, or Association. When mesmerism has attained this
height, in the march of its discoveries, a new and brighter era in the history of the
world will have dawned upon humanity-the ignorance of the past will be
entombed in the light of the future, and truth, disrobed of superstition will govern
paramount; the universe of immortal thought.
Our remarks have thus far been confined to what we are pleased to call the
development of the metaphysical mysteries of our subject (Mesmerism). We
have sought to select that system which appears to be most consistent with the
facts we have offered-that system only by which we can explain satisfactorily the
wonderful phenomena of mind. We have thought our course thus far justifiable
upon the ground, that a complete knowledge of the development of Mesmerism
is necessary to a good understanding of the practical part of our science. We
protest against a mere knowledge of results without cause. We should know
rather the cause and we may then produce or prevent results. Our course has
been to introduce such explanation as appears consistent with all the
experiments given and as far as we had the power, to enlighten the
understanding rather than to mystify what has already been too mysterious. How
far we have succeeded, an intelligent community will act as our tribunal and we
shall rest satisfied with their candid decision. We now come to the useful and
practical part of our subject. It is to this part of our work we would solicit the
attention of our reader. The study of the philosophy of science is entertaining and
instructive; but the utility of science, is after all the great point to be attained in its
advances. We shall proceed to show what connection mesmerism, as we
understand it has with the relief of suffering humanity and consequently its
necessary connection with medical science.
The world is full of theories and humbugs. No two men can agree precisely in
any science about which there is much controversy as to the laws by which it is
made up. The difficulties arising in medical science, are from the uncertainties of
its practice. It is not like many of the physical sciences, about which there may be
uniform and constant results. Even in this enlightened age, there seem to be no
settled rules of practice. Every physician of course defines his own position or
rather works out the position of his brother; and then declares his system entirely
opposite. The whole practice of the schools and the faculty seems to have been
a continual introduction of Theories contradicting each other-each order as they
rise and fall opposing all others. While diseases are the same now as in the days
of Hippocrates and Galen, the remedies have been as numerous as sands upon
the sea shore. Every physician has his own remedy for the old diseases. So far
back as history runs, we trace the rise, progress and fall of theory after theory.
The course of progress is often this manner. Upon the introduction of a new
theory and its full adoption into practice, all preceding theories retire to the
shades for a season; the novelty soon ceases to astonish and then all sects of
physicians are equally successful in some cases. Soon another star appears and
dazzles with his awful splendor all who have preceded him; but he too passes
the meridian of glory and goes to the shades of night. Then arises another more
brilliant than the last, and after the harvest moon of his glory, passes like his
predecessors into decay.


BOOKLET VI
BU Booklets 1-7

Thus it has been from the days of Esculapius to Harrison and Thompson, and
perhaps I should not slight Graham and Alcot, who, I must say, give a very
economical system of medical practice which would not be very likely to induce
the gout or dyspepsia. The different Theories of practice, however, no doubt
grew out of the uncertainty of medicine. And the uncertainty of medicine was the
necessary result of a want of a knowledge of those laws by which the animal
economy of man is sustained. It all proceeds from the mistaken notion that
medicine operates upon the organs which constitute the body without any
reference to the impressions which it conveys to the mind. Medicine, upon the
organs of the body, if it were to act upon them alone, would always produce the
same results upon the same organizations. It would be a matter of certainty with
the physician, that if Lobelia or Ipecac be taken into the stomach in measured
quantities, proportionate effects will follow. And so of all medicines. If, on a
certain occasion under certain symptoms, a certain medicine restored health,
why will it not do so in all cases, when the symptoms and disease are the same?
We have selected from Dr. Abercrombie such remarks as convey our ideas upon
the uncertainty of medicine as practiced by physicians.
Quote from Dr. Abercrombie Part IV page 293. (copy the whole chapter). [Not
copied].
We have, in this quotation, the whole truth so far as the uncertainty of medicines
is concerned. But even Dr. Abercrombie, we think, has not touched the real
cause of all this uncertainty except where he partly attributes it to the "mental
emotions." We hazard the assertion that all these difficulties arise from mental
emotions, that whatever results follow the application of medicine are produced
by the impressions which the taking and action which this medicine has, upon the
organs of the body. And the same medicines do not affect different individuals in
the same manner; because they, upon being taken, convey to these minds
different impressions, and the mind exercises a control over the body and
answers to the impressions by a result upon the functions of the body, either
good or bad. Every intelligent physician with whom I have conversed has always
acknowledged that mind has much to do with the taking of medicine, if good
results follow-that no physician could probably do his patient much good, unless
he should possess the confidence of such patient. Intelligent physicians,
although they have full faith in medical remedies and believe that these, with the
mental emotions the patient are the only restoratives of health, yet do not after all
consider that remedies possess such astonishing powers as is supposed by the
quacks. I believe that there is a virtue in medicine, which, when taken by the
patient, conveys impressions to the mind and that these impressions often result
in the entire restoration of health. The mind of man is generally taken up with
surrounding objects and seldom is attracted to contemplate the body to which it
is attached.
If however by any attraction it should be turned upon the body, a war seems to
arise between the body and mind, and the mind appears to be unwilling to abide
its confinement. Disease then begins to prey upon the body and continues to
increase until the soul departs and leaves matter to return to its original dust. We
think we have abundant proof of the power of the mind to control the health A the
body. Patients are advised to travel in pleasant countries and visit watering
places, to bathe in sea water and mineral water, to Spend the cold seasons in
milder climates, engage more in pleasantries of society or even do anything by
which the mind may be led )ff from its old habits of warring with the body. But
why should eve enumerate particular methods of restoring the health of a patient
without a dose of medicine? All these methods are medicines for the mind; they
leave lasting impressions and they restore the health. So s every remedy taken
into the stomach or externally applied to the body a medicine for the mind. And it
is only so far effectual to the and designed as it impresses the mind. We do not
then discard the use of medicines, but rather recommend them; but we protest
against such use, unless he who prescribes knows the laws by which his remedy
is governed.
The true design of all medicine is to lead the mind to certain results and then it,
the mind, will restore the body. No matter what this medicine is, if it accomplishes
all the physician designs, it will effect a cure if it produces a healthy state of mind.
Thus it is that very small doses, under the direction of the Homeopathic practice,
effect such astonishing cures. Thus it is that so many drops of pure water, taken
under the direction of a skillful physician, will restore health. Thus it is that a
change of scenery gives new and pleasant impressions to the mind of a patient
and results in a perfect restoration of the bodily health. We must here indulge in a
pleasant anecdote, related to me by a friend of mine, the truth of which I would
not dare question. He was in bad health of being troubled with the "cramp in his
stomach" and the remedy was always one or two of Brandwith's pills. On one
occasion he was taken very suddenly and after taking the pills as usual served
up in a tumbler of cold water, he drank and the next morning found himself
restored to perfect health, as usual in former attacks. He accidentally looked into
his tumbler and saw both of the pills, which he had supposed were drunk, in the
bottom of his tumbler. He found it must have been the cold water that cured him.
He was however so much pleased with the idea of his cure that the cramp never
returned. A young physician of my acquaintance, who was rising rapidly in his
profession, was called to attend a patient who had been for a long time under the
care of an old practitioner, but was fast failing. The old physician had given up all
hopes of his patient's recovery and finally told him, he could do him no good. At
this unfavorable moment, my young friend was called. He examined the patient,
ascertained what remedies had been administered etc. and found that they were
just such as he should apply in such a case. Somewhat puzzled for a moment
what to order, he became very grave and thoughtful. He found that the mind of
the patient was such as to reject the medicine and he determined to try the
venture of a new medicine. He then returned to his office, filled an ounce vial of
good pure water and again visited the patient, ordered ten drops to be
administered at a time and repeated once in two hours. This was effectual and
the patient was soon restored. Another physician, who is highly distinguished in
his profession, related the following story. Being called to visit a patient that had
been under the care of several physicians but was continually growing worse, he
ascertained that they had been treating the patient in just such a manner as he
should have done under the same circumstances. The patient, however, had no
confidence in their treatment and as a matter of course continued to grow worse.
He examined the patient and finally placing his hand upon his side remarked that
if he could produce a warm sensation there in five minutes, he could cure him. A
warm sensation was felt by the patient and the physician pronounced his case
not dangerous, remarking that he had medicines which would certainly cure him.
He then turned round and poured out the same kind of medicine as had been
given to the patient by the other physicians and it was taken in full confidence of
a restoration to health. The result was that the patient immediately recovered.
We might mention a hundred such instances and then call our own experience to
confirm the truth of them. But we have given these, proving that it is really the
mind upon which an impression is to be made and that after all, the medicine has
nothing to do in the matter only so far as it induces a state of feeling antecedent
to a restoration. While the physicians have always admitted that the mind of the
patient has much to do in the operation of medicine and the restoration of health,
yet nothing is ever mentioned of the fact that "mind acts upon mind," that the
mind of the physician has something to do in bringing about such results as
restore health. Here then, we trace a great portion of the difficulty in the
uncertainty of medicine. The physician has not been aware of this fact and
therefore proceeds upon wrong principles in administering his medicine. In this
respect the quack may effect more than the intelligent physician because he has
more confidence in the remedies he applies. He, however, believes the great
remedy is really in the medicine and has full confidence in administering it to the
patient, and impresses his mind with the restorative powers of his balsam.
Perhaps the quack might not understand the composition of his medicine, yet he
knows the results and is so firm in his belief that he would almost bring about the
result if the medicine had by mistake been omitted. The intelligent physician,
knowing the properties of his medicine and having seen much practice, does not
attribute an almighty charm to his antidote and therefore manifests less
confidence in his skill. His mind influences directly that of his patient and he too
will place but little confidence in the medicine. The result is that the patient
becomes worse. Now had the physician understood or rather had he brought into
his practice the great law that "mind acts upon mind," he might have remedied
the whole evil. He would then have commanded all the influence which his
powerful mind could exert over the mind of his patient and thus with the powerful
or gentle action of the medicine directed a healthful result. In some instances, a
powerful medicine taken under the impression of a good influence may do much
and indeed in some instances entirely restore the patient. But it acts far more
healthfully upon the patient when the mind is rightly directed.
This principle of making deep impressions upon patients by a medicinal or other
process seems to have been well understood by Hippocrates, the great father of
cures. When the plague broke out at Athens during the second year of the
Peloponesian war, it ravaged the whole army and bid defiance to the remedies of
the most skillful physicians in that ancient city. At this critical period, the great
Hippocrates entered the city and applied his remedies which soon began to
check its ravages. His name only could save his countrymen. He caused fires to
be lighted up in the streets and lanes of Athens to purify and clarify the
atmosphere, introduced the warm bath to expel the infection by the surface of the
skin, and to support their weakness, caused them to drink the rich wines of
Naxos. Thus employing external agents to impress deeply the mind with the idea
of an effectual remedy. We might enumerate other instances where the great
cause of success in a particular treatment of disease was similar in principle to
the above; but history is full of such examples and the daily observation of every
student of human nature confirms its records. Every action, which results to the
benefit or injury of the patient, is directed upon the mind which immediately
answers the impression upon the disease of the body. Matter, in itself, is capable
of no action, except by chemical process, unless connected with a mind or
spirituality. The health and vigor of the body depends solely upon the condition
and action of the mind because the immaterial part of man governs the material-
matter or body connected with mind is under the immediate control of this
spirituality. If, then the mind by external or internal influences has received
impressions to destroy the health and vigor of the body and those impressions
cannot be removed, then the body follows that state of mind and readily submits.
If the mind of a patient does not feel some confidence in the restorative powers
of a medicine taken, there is a probable chance that it will do the patient no good.
His mind counteracts the impression, usually conveyed to the minds of most
patients, by a strong impression that it could do no good.
There are other reasons why medicines prove so uncertain in the practice of
physicians. And perhaps the greatest evil of all we could enumerate is the course
which each physician has in his own judgment selected to pursue towards his
brother competitors. It is a fact worth mentioning to those who have not
witnessed it that no two physicians, who reside in our towns and villages where a
direct competition is kept up, can agree to the same treatment of the same
disease. If one is successful in his treatment, the other would not adopt the same
course but must have his peculiar method and denounce the other. It is this
constant warring with each other, this constant opposition, this unhallowed wish
to rise on the ruins of a brother, this ambitious longing to put down every man of
the same profession and assume the confidence, the practice and the
distinguished honor which a suffering community can bestow. I protest against
this vile slander of your neighbor's medicine or practice, not so much for the folly
exhibited in the individual physician as the enormous evil entailed upon the
suffering community. While physicians labor to destroy what confidence the
community have been disposed to place in them, how can they individually
expect to reap the advantage of a position which they have been constantly
laboring to destroy? It is an old saying that "two gamesters can never agree," but
we find this principle carried out to the very letter in medical practice. The
success of my neighbor is not to be endured, while I do not receive the direct
emolument. Let the world perish if I alone can't save it is the common expression
of every physician. I do not intend to embrace the whole class without some
reserve. There are some honorable exceptions, men in medical science whose
position is above the filth and slime of enmity; it is the proud position of a great
mind desirous of progress, availing himself with all the assistance which may flow
from the smaller sources that surround him. It is a remark in sacred history that
the foolish things of this world sometimes confound the wise; and the great mind
is ever watchful of the fulfillment of this declaration. It embraces whatever is
useful and true and rejects whatever is injurious and false.
We are of the opinion that this entire want of confidence in each other and the
medicines administered, manifest among common physicians, goes far to
counteract what practical service any remedy may usually, under a proper
condition of things, effect. It must be true that physicians are not aware of the
influence which mind exerts upon mind, results upon the body or they would
desist from such violence.
We return to an expression we have before uttered, that we have full confidence
in the power of certain medicines to produce healthful results, but further assert,
that the mind of the patient or physician may so control this power as to produce
disastrous results. We protest against this pretended ignorance of the physician
upon the causes of the uncertainty of medicine. He should, or ought to, know
what they result from or the great governing principle by which a failure follows.
We exclaim against the daring and lawless courage of a physician who marches
up, blindfold to the battle ground of disease struggling with nature, and often
failing in his efforts to effect a reconciliation, raises a war club and strikes at
random. If he luckily hits disease, the patient is restored and if not, the patient
dies.
Our remarks thus far go to show that the mind has much to do with the practice
of medicine and that results are from impressions conveyed to it by some
process. We now proceed to illustrate by experiments what mesmerism has to do
with diseases, and shall at the same time show the influence of mind acting upon
mind.
By the action of my mind upon my patient in his waking state, I can produce the
same results which flow from the taking of medicine. I can produce an emetic or
cathartic, a dizziness or pain in the head, relieve pain in any part of the system
and restore patients by acting directly upon their minds. If we succeed in giving
such experiments and confirm the above declaration, will any one doubt the fact
that it is the mind which is operated upon and conveys the result to the body? We
will not argue this point further, but proceed to give some further remarks and the
experiments.
We lay it down as a principle that all medical remedies affect the body only
through the mind.
The truth of this principle is tested in an experiment which I had upon a lady of
intelligence, who was placed under my care. Her health was generally bad and
caused a depression of spirits. I could magnetize her easily but preferred to
perform my experiments in her waking moments. If she complained of pain in the
head, I could relieve it. If her feet and hands were cold, I could induce a warm
sensation. If her head became hot and feverish, I could induce a cool state and
drive off the fever. Indeed almost any state I desired to produce, corresponding
with the effect of medicine taken into the stomach, would follow. This is not a
solitary case. I might enumerate hundreds of experiments equally wonderful and
interesting, all tending directly to show that mind governs the body and, to affect
the body, it must be done through the mind.
An individual who was an entire stranger to me called and said he was not a
believer in Mesmerism, but would become so if I could relieve the pain under
which he was then suffering from a contusion of the foot. I requested him to sit
down and I would try, that I would first induce a strange feeling upon his foot and
he might tell me the sensation which would follow. In about five minutes he
remarked that he felt a prickling sensation, as though his "foot was going to
sleep." This was what I designed to do. I then proceeded to relieve the pain and
he described a cool sensation at first, which was soon followed by entire relief.
He acknowledged the result and remarked "humbug or no humbug the pain is
gone."
While I was traveling with my subject in 1843, a gentleman, who had long been
troubled with lameness proceeding from rheumatic influence, hobbled up stairs
and entered my room. He requested me to operate upon him and do him all the
good I could. I made some enquiries into his case and proceeded to relieve the
pain and restore him to health. In less than one hour he was enabled to walk with
greater ease (his own declaration) than for the preceding two years. He left me in
good spirits and the following morning rode to a neighboring town and
unfortunately upset his sleigh. All the violence of the old rheumatic complaint
returned. Two days after I heard of his misfortune and called on him. His
physician was present and writing a prescription for medicines. I enquired of the
Doct. after his patient who gave me no favorable account. I directed him to apply
his mesmeric power and relieve the pain without prescription. He smiled and said
he had made the attempt, could throw him into a sleeping state but could not
relieve the pain. He gave me permission to try my power. I sat down by him and
soon relieved the pain and before we left he was enabled to walk about the room.
The physician tore up his prescription and remarked that he saw no occasion for
his services and we both left in company. A friend of mine took me to see an Irish
gentleman who was in the last stages of consumption. Upon entering his house
we could distinctly hear him breathe. My friend introduced me and related the
occasion of our call. The man with much difficulty replied that nothing could help
him etc. I commenced acting upon his mind. In a short time the difficulty of
breathing was removed, and the man raising himself up in bed exclaimed to my
friend, "Why sir, what does this mean? My Sir, I feel, I feel very much relieved!"
After spending an hour with him we left. I called again the next morning and
found him up and dressed and doing well. I left town that day and have not since
heard of him. Dr. H. took me to see one of his patients who was very low in the
last stages of consumption. We found her very weak and oppressed with a
difficulty of breathing. I commenced operating upon her and removed the
difficulty of breathing and induced a strong and healthful feeling. We left her very
comfortable and she declared she was much better. Whether she recovered from
her illness I have not heard. Another patient in the last stages of consumption,
who was entirely given over by all the physicians, sent for me a few days since. I
soon relieved much of his pain, enabled him to swallow with less difficulty and
entirely threw off his fever, which had returned regularly every day previous for
some time. He appears now much better than when I first saw him. But it is too
much to suppose that he can be restored from his very debilitated state to health.
I will now introduce another class of experiments. A gentleman residing out of
town was seized with an affection of the head, producing severe pain. This
continued for the space of two or three months but increasing in severity until he
entirely lost the power of seeing and was blind. He sent for me to visit him. I did
so and found him in the state I have described, suffering intensely from the pain
in his head and not able to see any object around him. I commenced exercising
my powers to throw him into the mesmeric state and was soon successful. I then
relieved the pain of his head and proceeded to enable him to see objects around
him. I placed my fingers in front of his eyes and he soon remarked that he saw
them and felt an influence proceeding from them which was cooling. I was trying
to 'allay the fever in that portion of the brain connected with his eyes, which was
probably the influence he felt. He could tell when I was ear to him or at a
distance. I then roused him from his sleeping condition and commenced
operating upon his eyes to induce the power of sight. He described the sensations
produced like flakes of clouds passing before his eyes, being sometimes so dark
that he could distinguish no light and then followed with light. I continued my
operations until he was enabled to see an object I held up before him, described
what it was and read the figures which were printed upon it. His health was so far
gone that it would have been almost a miracle to have restored him. I left him
however in this condition and soon after heard of his death.
A young man came to me not long since who was very pale and emaciated and
asked if I could help him. He was much troubled to breathe and felt a bad pain in
his side. I commenced experimenting upon him in his waking state and in a few
moments relieved his difficulty of breathing and took away the pain in his side.
He is now an active and healthy young man, enabled to attend to his business. I
called on a young man residing upon the Kennebec, whom I found in this
condition. He had not spoken or even whispered or walked for the previous eight
or nine months and could not get about only as he managed himself along in his
chair. I commenced operating 'upon him in his waking state and in the course of
one half hour I requested him to answer me. He immediately answered me and
easily talked. I then enabled him to walk across the floor and his neighbors came
in and he was able to converse with them and to walk while in their presence. I
left him in this condition and called the following day. He was walking his room
and when I spoke to him he answered me by a nod of his head. I told him I did
not understand him. He then answered me readily and was able to talk very well.
This was the condition in which I left him and have no doubt but that he would
have fully recovered had not other counteracting influences been brought to act
upon him.
These influences were produced upon him by his ignorant physician, who
probably feeling that some glory might be detracted 'from his great professional
distinction if the patient who had been so long under his immediate and mighty
curatives, should recover by so simple a process which his dull genius had not
discovered. Soon after I left, I was informed that this benevolent gentleman was
so kind as to inform him that I was an impostor and had only been playing upon
his imagination, that he would in a few days be worse etc. Thus by every act of
which this little man was capable of exercising, he produced an opposite
impression upon his mind, destroying all the good I had accomplished. So much
for the kindness, benevolence and philanthropy, or if you please, the ignorance
and bigotry of his physician. We have found but few such in the world and we
desire, so far as our friends and ourselves are concerned, that they may be less
frequent than angel's visits. Had he possessed the common feelings of humanity,
even though he could not, at that time place much confidence in so simple an
operation of a stranger, yet for his friend's sake would it not have been the part of
wisdom to have suspended the counteracting influences and rather assisted the
mind of his patient and friend to overcome the difficulty. We leave the matter to
the patient and his neighbors to say how much benefit such a physician is to
mankind.
I was not long since called upon to visit an old lady who was afflicted with the
"acute rheumatism," sometimes called. I found her in the most extreme pain. I
commenced operating upon her in the waking state and soon eased the acute
pains. Before I left her, she said she did not feel any pain in her limbs and she
could use them without difficulty. I saw her husband the following day and he
informed me that she slept well during the night and was fast recovering. I was
called upon to visit an old lady whom I found in ill health and very low and gloomy
in her feelings. She had given up all hope of recovering and even distributed her
goods and chattels among her kinsmen. I observed that her temperament was
such as to be easily wrought upon and told her I could restore her to perfect
health. I operated upon her mind in the waking state and relieved all her suffering
pains; but there was one difficulty, she remarked, about her, which, if it was not
removed, would be the death of her. It was this. She said her liver was
completely caked over and that