Spiritualism and allied causes and conditions of nervous derangement / by William A. Hammond.

  • Hammond, William A. (William Alexander), 1828-1900.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Spiritualism and allied causes and conditions of nervous derangement / by William A. Hammond. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    Sometimes they feel sensations of drawing, pricking, or creep- ing ; some complain of sudden attacks of headache. Not only women, but men in the very prime of life, are found distinctly susceptible to this influence ; in children it is sometimes very active. # Reichenbach supposed that these and other phenomena were due to a hitherto undescribed force which he denominated od, the odicforce, or odylj, and which was present in the body. When evolved in large quantity, the subjects were said to be sensitive, and could then not only experience the sensations mentioned, but could also see the luminous flames which were asserted to be given off from the poles of a magnet. At first his experiments were conducted with confessedly sickly persons; but he subsequently ascertained that individuals in perfect health were capable of experiencing the same sensations. What the bar- on's perfect health was, will be apparent from the following remarks which conclude his detailed description of thirty-five persons who were thus doubly gifted : None of these perfectly healthy persons knew anything about their most remarkable and interesting peculiarities ; and they were not a little astonished at the discovery, under my guidance, of powers of which they had never before dreamed. The manner in which I come upon the trace of them, which I at once take up and follow, is now simply this : I -inquire among my acquaintance whether they know any one who is fre- quently troubled with periodical headaches, especially megrim, who complains of temporary oppression of the stomach, or who often sleeps badly without apparent cause, talks in the sleep, * Physico-Physiological Researches on the Dynamics of Magnetism, etc. p. 3. English translation, by Dr. John Ashburner. London, 1851.