Report of the experiments on animal magnetism, made by a committee of the Medical Section of the French Royal Academy of Sciences : read at the meeting of the 21st and 28th of June, 1831 / translated and now for the first time published; with an historical and explanatory introduction, and an appendix by J.C. Colquhoun.

  • Académie nationale de médecine (France)
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the experiments on animal magnetism, made by a committee of the Medical Section of the French Royal Academy of Sciences : read at the meeting of the 21st and 28th of June, 1831 / translated and now for the first time published; with an historical and explanatory introduction, and an appendix by J.C. Colquhoun. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    33/276 (page 15)
    which can be considered so much in the light of an immediate and faithful interpreter of the internal thoughts, feelings, and emotions, as theeye. It is, as it were, at once the telescope and the mirror of the soul. Love, hate, fear, jealousy, courage, innocence, and guilt, are revealed by that powerful and delicate organ ; every species of passion, in short, is imme- diately pourtrayed in it; and there is probably no feature in the human countenance from which we are so much disposed to draw our inferences, and to form our opinions, respecting individual characters. * Nec enim,” says Wierius, “ ullum reperias in humani cor- poris fabrica organum, quod tanta spirituum copia scateat, et ex quo eorum fulgor usque adeo emicet, ut de oculi pupilla certum est.” * The force and fascination of the eye, indeed, have long been proverbial, and the common belief of the people has ascribed to them many of those pheno- mena which are included under the description of magic and witchcraft. The baneful effects of the evil eye are recorded in the vulgar traditions of all ages and nations. Hence, probably, the derivation of the Latin word znvidia ; and Virgil clearly alludes to the common superstition in his 30th Eclogue, v. 118: Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos. According to the accounts of recent travellers, the Indians are to this day convinced, that many diseases are generated merely by an evil look. In Captain Lyon’s Travels in Northern Africa, it is observed, * De prestigiis demonum, lib. ii. e. 49.