CHAPTER III.

MESMERISM.-CLAIRVOYANCE.

IN the year 1825, the interest which this extraordinary agent had formerly excited was fast declining. There seemed, indeed, reason to believe that it would, like a fire deprived of fuel, go out of itself. The work of Deleuze, to which we have already alluded, failed to revive the sympathies of the public in favour of Magnetism, when a M. Foissac, once more introduced it to the notice of the Académie Royale de Médecine. He observed that the theory which had been published by Mesmer and D'Eslon had been long abandoned, that new results had been obtained, and new principles elicited since the report drawn up by Bailly had appeared, and that consequently, if the opinion of the Academy were to be regarded at all, it must again state that opinion under the altered circumstances of the case. The proposal to re-examine and re-report upon Animal Magnetism was not immediately entertained; however, after long and somewhat violent discussions, a committee was formed to consider the claims of the Magnetisers. Foissac wished to experiment on a certain somnambulist in the presence of the whole Academy, but this, for obvious reasons, was declined. On the 11th of October, in the year above-mentioned, it was agreed that MM. Bourdois de la Motte, Fouquier, Guenau de Mussy. Guersent, Itard, Leroux, Maie, Tillaye,

Laennec, D'Ouble, Majendie, and Husson, should form a Committee of Examination. Of these Leroux and Fouquier were professors in the medical faculty; Husson, Guersent, and De Mussy, principal physicians at the Hôtel Dieu; Marc, chief physician to Charles X., and Itard, the director of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. These gentlemen instituted a course of experiments which they continued for nearly six years, and at length, in the year 1831, nine of the Committee signed a report, which, though anything but decisive either way, was yet far more favorable to Animal Magnetism than that of 1784. It must, however, be admitted that the three members, whose opinion would be most esteemed throughout Europe, refused to sign the Report. These were Laennec, D'Ouble, and Majendie. We now proceed to note, first, the general facts which the Report admitted, and next, the particular conclusions to which its framers came.

They allowed,

1. That the effects of Magnetism were null in all healthy persons, and in some invalids.

2. That they are but little apparent in others. 3. That they are often produced by ennui, monotony, and the power of the imagination.

4. That they are sometimes developed independently of these causes, and very probably by the effect of Magnetism alone.

Such were the general facts admitted by the Report, and this only after six years of patient investigation. A collection of cases was immediately published by M. Foissac, but as the first three heads were evidently foreign to the purpose, we shall merely notice

a few of those to which he draws our attention under the fourth head,—that is, those in which the power of Magnetism is admitted to be very probable.

Among these, the results were, in many cases, precisely the same as formerly under the treatment of M. d'Eslon; that is, the patient was affected in the same way without being magnetised, if he or she supposed Magnetic influence to be in operation. On the other hand, Magnetic treatment produced in many instances no crises, unless the patient were at the same time aware of its employment. The parties magnetised were almost always females, often subject to hysteric affections, highly excitable, and of a decidedly nervous temperament. The power of imagination may, therefore, in such cases be fairly deemed equal to produce the results witnessed; but the great question was, not whether the power of imagination could produce violent, and sometimes salutary effects on the human constitution, but whether the tacit will of one person could be made to act upon another; whether what was called

clairvoyance" could be produced in any case at all, and if so, how far magnetic influence was concerned in producing it. If these questions could be answered in the affirmative, it was highly probable that the connection between mind and matter would not remain much longer so inscrutable a mystery; the effects attributed in old times to Magic would appear no longer marvellous; and a step would have been taken in philosophy, mental as well as physical, so gigantic, that all the discoveries of the past would be absolutely as nothing in comparison of it. To these points, therefore, the existence of clairvoyance, and

the operation of the tacit will, the attention of the Commissioners was chiefly directed. A Madame C., who lived in the same house with the Magnetiser, was one of the persons, by experimenting upon whom this last point was to be proved. Somnambulism was produced in the usual way, and some of the Commissioners gave directions in writing to the Magnetiser indicating what actions they wished to see the patient perform; these were to be signified mentally to her, and without speech or gesture. One of these directions was,-go and sit on the stool before the piano,-instead of which, she rose and went to look at the clock. On being told that this was not what she was required to do, she went into another room, and on being again informed of her mistake, she came back and placed herself on her former seat. In short, every experiment with regard to the operation of the tacit will failed in this instance, and when a proof of clairvoyance was attempted by exhibiting to the somnambulist the back of a watch, she mistook the hour. Some other experiments were attended with similar results, and, when repeated with different patients, were equally unsuccessful. These disappointments induced the Commissioners to believe that some collusion must exist between the Magnetisers and those patients on whom their patients produced results so wonderful; they were even about to report accordingly, and terminate their investigations, when M. Dupotet came forward with an offer to satisfy all their doubt. The proof he proposed was his power to produce convulsive motions in any part of the body by merely pointing towards the part- and this even when out of the patient's sight. These

experiments failed; -convulsions were excited in parts to which M. Dupotet had not pointed, while those to which his finger was directed remained tranquil.

Similar experiments were subsequently made with the patients of a M. Berna and with precisely the same effect; but one symptom upon which this lastnamed Magnetiser laid great stress was his power to produce insensibility to pain or tickling by the mere action of his will: he, however, required that the pain inflicted should not exceed certain bounds which he rigorously fixed, and when by accident a needle was introduced a little further into the chin of his patient than he had stipulated, she gave evident token of sensation. It would seem, too, that the nervous system in this girl must have been naturally in a very inert state, inasmuch as previously to the operation of magnetism she was pricked to the same extent as M. Berna permitted under magnetic sleep, and even then declared that she did not feel it. This statement, however, she was subsequently induced to retract.

It was under the management of M. Berna that experiments were made upon patients in a state of clairvoyance. A woman of about thirty years of age was found by the Commissioners in the company of M. Berna; in their presence he bandaged her eyes, and then, after a few minutes, declared that she was in a state of somnambulism, and could answer any question proposed to her; these questions were to be of two kinds; first, such as were known to M. Berna, and secondly, such as were not known to him. Her answers were such as might be ex