The mesmeric mania of 1851, with a physiological explanation of the phenomena produced : a lecture / by John Hughes Bennett, M.D.

  • Bennett, John Hughes, 1812-1875.
Date:
1851
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The mesmeric mania of 1851, with a physiological explanation of the phenomena produced : a lecture / by John Hughes Bennett, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    that the power of producing profound sleep, and acting on the nervous func- tions, may be manifested in so many individuals as one in twenty of the whole population, it must be evident that in a class of persons particularly predis- posed, the number capable of being affected would be much greater. This subject, however, is yet in its infancy, and has'to be separated from the charla- tanism in which it has hitherto been involved. The labours of Dr Eisdale in India, and of Mr Braid of Manchester, exhibit a worthy commencement in the rational treatment of disorders by the means now alluded to ; and there can be Uttle doubt that in no long time its influence, when further studied, Avill be acknowledged. But how fai- this influence is dependent on the confidence of the patient, or the belief in some mysterious agency, which is presumed to produce the effect, further observation alone can determine. On the other hand, the indiscriminate performance of experiments on nervous individuals may be injurious. The great object of all who seek proper self- education is to control the emotions and passions, and regulate the imagination by the severer faculties of judgment, compaiison, and attention. Hitherto medical men, so far from exciting, have done all in their power to pre- vent, such phenomena as have been described; but now it has been clearly shown that they may be produced in numbers of people by the ignorant and mercenary, there is too much reason to fear that nervous disorders will mcrease amon'^ us. It is well known that cases are on record of individuals who, com- mencfng by the imitation of hysterical or epileptic convulsions, have at length found themselves really labouring under those diseases; nor is it unreasonable to suppose, that the mental faculties will be greatly injured in pei-sons, who frequently surrender up their own wills, and act in accordance with the extra- vagant ideas suggested to them. After all, the pleasure of excitement princi- pally consists in feeling that it can be regulated, and is under command. lhe| moment it ceases to be so, a sense of the imperfection becomes most agomsmrf to the mind, and gives rise to that despondency so common among the insan^ Unwilling, however, to exaggerate, I forbear entering upon a topic, the prac| tical bearings of which must be obvious to you. _ Fortunately, if treated early, the disease admits of easy cure. Once bamsl from the mind of the affected persons the idea that they are under the control of some external influence,-let them refuse to gaze at any fixed object for an^ unusual time,-let them, in short, resist the preliminary mental exhaustion, and the cure is accomplished. Several gentlemen, highly educated medical students, who were exceedingly sensitive, and very injuriously affected by the numerous experiments performed on them, have now recovered from the mes- meric mania. Conscious that the phenomena are mental, and only connected with their own minds, they can always, by summoning up a counteractmg idea, set all operators and so-called magnetists at defiance. They return, indeed, the power of putting themselves into a nervous condition, in which their minds'are temporarily influenced by suggestive ideas, in the same manner as they may indulge in reverie; but the delusion of being governed by a magnetic, or other external influence, has disappeared.