Observations on homoeopathy and animal magnetism ... a lecture ... / by James Lomax Bardsley.

Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on homoeopathy and animal magnetism ... a lecture ... / by James Lomax Bardsley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    associated with a sound and vigorous body,—behold the o-reatest of all agents in the treatment of diseases. Let me assure you, Gentlemen, that this is only an average specimen of what you will discover in works upon Animal Magnetism. Wonder of wonders consti- tutes the magnetic somnambulist!! In his, or her in- dividuality, are comprehended qualities infinitely more marvellous than any thing of which we read in ancient or in modern history,—in the records of fiction, or in those of reality,—in prose, or in rhyme. Extraordinary, indeed, were the events of old, rendering famous the oracles of Delphi and the Pythian Apollo. Exceeding every capacity of the human understanding are the in- credible naiTatives contained in the far renowned pages of the Arabian Nights. All, all, however, shrink into insignificance when contrasted with the astounding de- tails of the Animal Magnetisers. You may, now, naturally have some inclination to be infomied by what process the miracles of sonambu- lism are produced,—by what visible agency the trans- position of the senses is accomplished, and the mysterious gift of prophecy communicated. It would seem, then, that the art has varied at diffier- ent periods. Mesmer, the accredited discoverer of Animal Magnetism, adopted a practice at variance with that of his modern disciples. In the midst of a large room was placed a wooden vessel, known in the annals of Animal Magnetism by the term baquet; this vessel was supplied with a lid perforated with a number of holes, whence issued small bars of iron jointed and flexible. The patients were arranged about the said