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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    baquet, and each had his own particular bar, which, by means of its joints could be applied directly to the diseased part. The patients were united by means of a cord placed around their bodies, constituting thereby a magnetic chain, the influence of which was sometimes increased by a junction of hands. A piano-forte was placed in a corner of the room, upon which different musical airs were performed, and, in some instances, vocal accompaniments still further heightened the efifect. Mesmer's agents in the performance, had each one, in his hand, a small iron rod, ten or twelve inches in length, which was regarded as the conductor of the magnetic fluid; and its point was considered to have the property of concentrating the same, and of render- ing the emanations more powerful. Sound was also a magnetic conductor, and in order to communicate the fluid to the piano, it was only neces- sary to bring one of the rods of iron into contact with it. The interior of the baquet constituted a sort of magnetic reservoir, though it included nothing of an electrical character. The influence was communicated to the patients in various ways, by means of the bars issuing from the wooden vessel, by' the cord which tied them together, by the union of hands, and by the charms of music. Some were magnetised by the finger and iron rod of the Mesmerian agents, some by a fixed look, others by various manipulations made upon the abdo- minal region, and by a number of other practices too tedious to enumerate. Many inanimate objects, such as trees, glass, earthen- ware, &c., were capable of receiving magnetic qualities.