Mesmerism.

Date:
[1840]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Mesmerism. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    in nature, as by its means one individual might obtain such immense and improper influence over his fellow-creatures. It will be our endeavour to treat of this subject in such a manner as to show that its professors cannot possibly have been deceived ; that a great power certainly does exist of which, until lately, little has been generally known ; that it has been applied to good and beneficial purposes, and that it is calculated to produce effects for the promotion of which it is not likely that a devil, or any other spirit of evil, would lend his accommo dating aid, nor indeed were we ever credibly informed that that mys terious individual is in the habit of working good that evil may come. In speaking of this power we shall use the term Mesmerism in prefer ence to Animal Magnetism, because it has not been proved to have any connexion with Animal Magnetism, as was supposed by Mesmer, and therefore that name might lead people astray ; indeed it is better to dis tinguish any discovery rather by the name of the discoverer, or some noted teacher, than by a name derived from any supposed properties of the thing discovered ; for these properties may in progress of time be found not to belong to it, and in the meanwhile a name has been acquired conveying a certain meaning, and it is difficult to divest the mind of the error. Oxy gen, formerly called dephlogisticated air, is a case in point. Now Mes merism merely reminds us of Mesmer, one of the earliest promulgators and first teachers of the science, as Galvanism brings the distinguished Galvani to our recollection, or the Voltaic Pile its inventor Volta. What then constitutes Mesmerism, or what is this power with which those who believe in Mesmerism profess to be acquainted? We are told that in human beings there exists a power, which, under certain circum stances, evidently affects the nervous system, not only of other human beings, but also of animals ; that all are more or less susceptible of the effects produced by its agency, and that we all possess it to a greater or a less extent, though the stronger the individual is in health of body and energy of mind the greater will be his Mesmeric power ; that those who are afflicted with any of that numerous class of diseases denominated ner vous are more easily brought under its influence than healthy and robust persons ; and that women are, cceteris paribus , more easily affected by it than men. We are further told that the effects are not always at first produced, nor does it therefore follow that the operator is not possessed of the power, or that the patient is not susceptible of its influence, for in many cases it has been necessary to operate several times with the greatest patience and perseverance before any symptom could be produced, when, afterwards, every succeeding application has brought out more and more, the evidences of its action on the system of the patient. Nor is this a case by any means unfrequentjy met with in the practice of medicine ; how often does the physician find himself compelled to repeat dose after dose of mer cury before he can offeain the desired effect, and yet, after a time, how small an addition will cause even alarming symptoms, whilst in other pa- tm* the smallest dose will produce all those distressing symptoms at the l i^pfcing use of Mesmerism, the modes of operating are various ; thus, in some instances, it is sufficient merely to point with the fingers at the patient at a little distance from him ; in others it may be required to draw the hand, with the fingers extended, down from the brow of the patient over the face and stomach, without touching him, however ; whilst again, in some cases where the individual is not very susceptible, the operator should place one hand upon the patient’s head, and the other on his stomach, then concentrating his whole attention and energies upon the