With Compliments of the Au 
DENTAL SPIRITUALISM. 
BY 
DR. LOUIS OTTOFY, CHICAGO, ILL 
[Reprinted from the Transactions of the Illinois State Dental Society for 1885.] DENTAL SPIRITUALISM. 
DR. LOUIS OTTOFY OF CHICAGO. 
The vastness of our theme hardly admits it to be as fully treated 
in a single paper as we should desire, because it forces the discussion 
of the undecided and indefinite questions of “vital force,” “magnet- 
ism,” “ mental force,” “ electricity,” “ nervous force,” the circulation 
of the blood, and other questions which at first seem remote to the 
subject. There might be some objection to the use of the term 
“spiritualism” in a strictly scientific essay; and to clear away any 
doubt as to its propriety, and at the same time explain its meaning, 
I quote from Prof. Elliott Coues: 
“No scientist who acknowledges the validity of the science of 
psychology, and no philosopher who recognizes the validity of ab- 
stract ideas, objects to the word ‘ mind.’ I must therefore be per- 
mitted to speak of spirit, or ‘ soul,’ if you please, as something which, 
like mind, is a legitimate subject of inquiry,—first, as to whether it 
exists or not; second, if it exists, whether it be of protoplasmic 
nature or not-; third, if it be not that product of the aggregation of 
matter, what sort of a product it may be ; for I consider this inquiry 
especially pertinent to any discussion of life. Our alternative, you 
know, is that all vital phenomena, all manifestations whatsoever of 
life, are to be counted among the accomplishments of protoplasm, 
or are to be otherwise accounted for. 
“ Much difference of opinion as to the reality of ‘soul ’ might be 
reconciled if disputants could catch each other’s meaning and agree 
upon a definition of the term. But this is very difficult, though we 
all know what is meant when a human soul is in mention. Many 
deny there to be any such thing; many waive the question, neither 
affirming nor denying; most ascribe a soul to man alone; some con- 
cede a soul to every atom of inorganic matter as well as organized 
bodies. My view defines soul as the quantity of spirit which any 
living being may or does possess at any time. But this requires a 
definition of ‘ spirit,’ from which all conceptions of matter are not 
absolutely excluded. Spirit is nothing if not immaterial. Force is 
likewise immaterial; but I think all persons recognize a distinction 2 
between spirit and any mechanical force, such as gravitation. My 
mind affords no definition of spirit, if I may not call it self-conscious 
force. Self-conscious force being illimitable in time and space, and 
its sum being, in a word, infinite, I am unable to draw any distinc- 
tion between spirit in its totality and that Universal Mind or Su- 
preme Intelligence which we mean when we speak or think of God.” 
The question of the existence of forces in the human body, whose 
exact mode of action is not fully understood, is an open and debatable 
one. No one present doubts the assertion that what are known as 
mental and vital force are not yet entirely understood by 
the physiologist, psychologist or philosopher; and yet that such 
forces do exist, and that they form an active part in our every-day 
life, is not questioned. Even the most pronounced skeptics of the 
present day admit that there is a something in the universe, call it 
by whatsoever name you choose, which is something more than 
human. 
Whether thought and its accompanying peculiar phenomena are 
simply molecular changes, and take place without the presence and 
influence of any force outside of the simple chemical combustion of 
cells, is not satisfactorily established. Indeed, that the circulation 
of the blood is by no means fully explained by physiologists, is 
equally true. Thus, it seems that some functions which take place 
within our body are not to be explained by either the advanced posi- 
tion of chemical or physiological science; but forces are at work 
which do not allow themselves to be analyzed the same as other 
actions with which we are familiar. In fact, this condition clearly 
tends to indicate the existence of some power within the body which 
is not a portion or parcel thereof. The law of the convertibility of 
force into matter, and vice versa, and the indestructibility of force 
and matter, being unquestioned, it is marvelous how any thinking 
person can entertain the belief that all the functions of the body 
cease with death, and all is ended. It is true that the chemical ele- 
ments return to their original condition ; but, as force cannot be de- 
stroyed, what becomes of the peculiar vital and mental phenomena? 
These conditions of facts are leading the most skeptical thinkers to 
the admission that there is something within the body—a spirit, a 
soul, a part of the macrocosm, if you please—which has not yet 
placed itself at the disposal of man’s investigative inquiry, and which 
by the inevitable laws of God remains sealed to mortal man. 
De Wette, the great learned rational “Universal Doubter” in 
Germany, admitted amid the “ sneers of the acutest school of ration- 
alism, of which he was the leader,” the existence of something beyond 
materialism. Evolutionists and skeptics have within recent years 
placed more flexibility on former expressions, and even agnostics 3 
are gradually falling from their creed. Science and knowledge yield 
reluctantly to the inevitable truth. 
An infinite existence certainly permeates all things which we 
denominate as living, and in the course of nature that existence is 
everlasting. There is no question that every living cell, from the 
simplest form of organization to the most complex, contains within 
it in a condensed spiritual form its full capabilities; its every possi- 
ble reproductive power is there outlined, and by its very essence it 
is capable of filling space in any scale from the micro- to the macro- 
cosmic. In this connection the well-known fact may be mentioned 
that breeders can reproduce a certain color or spot in an offspring, 
by exposing to the view of the parents during coition an animal of 
that color, or with that particular spot. How is that color trans- 
mitted ? The spermatozoid carries stamped within its microcosmic 
compass the full spiritual form not only of the future being but of 
all generations therefrom to issue. There is no doubt but that “life” 
can exist without being observable by our senses, as it would invari- 
ably have to be in a material form for that purpose. No material 
substance containing “ life,” however, can exist without a spiritual 
outline. That such a form, which may be designated ethereal or 
spiritual, does exist is borne out by numerous invincible facts,—es- 
pecially by the laws of physical reproduction and heredity. In 
cases where bodily injury is perpetrated nature reproduces or en- 
deavors to reproduce the parts in full conformity with the existing 
outline, excepting in cases where the injured parts are too com- 
plicated. -Illustrations in support of this fact are numerous,—espe- 
cially so among the lower forms of life, as, for instance, among the 
crustaceans. Thus, in the tadpole the tail or entire leg is repro- 
duced. Amputated human limbs or other complex parts are not 
reproduced because of their complexity; but the existence of their 
spiritual outline can hardly be questioned. It is well known that 
persons who have suffered amputation often complain of feeling pain 
in the toes or fingers of the amputated member, and also fancy that 
they are capable of moving them, but of course such action is purely 
imaginary on their part. It is not infrequent that pain is felt in 
the spaces (not the sockets) where teeth formerly were; artificial 
teeth are also said to “ ache.” The established laws of heredity 
furnish very satisfactory proofs of the existence of a spiritual out- 
line (in a condensed or compressed form) in the spermatozoid, or 
ovum, or both; and one of its convincing proofs is well illustrated 
in the cases of six-toed or six-fingered persons, where successive 
amputations—in successive generations—of the supernumerary or- 
gan have failed to eradicate it in the offspring. A few years ago I 
saw somewhere expounded the theory that, by extracting in every 4 
person all the second bicuspids, in course of time those teeth would 
not be reproduced, and that thus the overcrowding of the teeth 
might be averted; but the foregoing practical illustrations prove the 
fallacy of that idea. 
That the cells of the brain should within their physical selves 
contain the power by which its marvellous results are produced; 
that all forces originating from that central nervous organ should 
take place on the same principle as all other productions of force,— 
namely, by the combustion of cells only,—is certainly very much 
in question; and the fervency of such an advocacy is mainly due 
to a formerly very prevalent skeptical notion of materialization,— 
it having been considered unscientific to entertain any views unless 
they can be demonstrated to the senses by known arts. However, 
the fact that such a substance as hydrogen or oxygen exists is not 
questioned, although neither has ever been observed by any of the 
senses. We judge of their existence only by their actions on other 
substances which we know to exist; and so we judge of spiritual 
existence by its manifestations. That such a substance as a vacuum 
exists—or such a condition, if you please—is not doubted, and yet 
no sense has ever perceived it. The word “substance” is proper 
when speaking of a vacuum, as a space containing absolutely noth- 
ing is inconceivable in the universe. 
One other remarkable proof—which can only be referred to in 
this paper—of the existence of some unanalyzed power in the body 
is furnished by the wonderful process which has baffled physiologists 
from the time of Harvey to the present day,—the circulation of 
the blood. It is a remarkable fact that there is no physiological 
work extant which explains to the full satisfaction of the writer— 
skeptic or otherwise—that all the forces of the known body which 
are or could be utilized are sufficient to perform that process, if con- 
sidered from a physical, mechanical or chemical stand-point. The pro- 
pelling capacity of the left ventricle of the heart, the contractility 
of the coats of the arteries, the so-called suction force of the veins 
and the right ventricle, gravity, chemical affinity, capillary attrac- 
tion, muscular compression upon the conduits, the affinity of the 
blood for oxygen in the lungs, and of the tissues for the same in the 
body, the siphon principle, or the influence of nervous force, etc.,— 
these and all other conceivable forces which are known to assist, 
or which are supposed to assist, in performing it ai’e insufficient to 
complete it. Although some of them are very essential assistants, 
nevertheless the force of the “ vital principle ” is the primary power. 
All forces exist as such or as matter, in one form or another, and 
as the circulation of the blood is carried on (in addition to known 
physical, mechanical and chemical forces) by another and inex- 5 
plicable force, that force lives on forever. By the withdrawal of 
that one activity, life, the known forces which perform the func- 
tions of the body are altered. The force thus withdrawn, whether 
it be vital, mental, or spiritiial, exists in some form and somewhere; 
and, indeed, it is but natural that the problem of life should remain 
unsolved. Its solution is the end of life, in the capacity and form in 
which we understand life; or, in other words, to learn life, death 
must ensue. The familiar words “in the midst of life we are in 
death ” are equally true when transposed to “ in the midst of death 
we are in life.” 
Animal magnetism, personal attraction and repulsion are certainly 
forces or conditions which come more or less under the observation 
of the dentist. There are not many practitioners who have made 
an effort to investigate the subject but will readily admit that there is 
“ something in itand there is no reason why this power should not be 
cultivated and used by the dentist to the extent, at least, of producing 
partial anesthesia during short operations of a painful nature. There 
are unquestionably men who can control and direct such an amount 
of magnetism into the body of a patient as to insure insensibility to 
pain. This has really been done; and that this sustaining power is 
not due solely to a previous preparation of the mind to receive the 
impression that no pain would result (which might be the case, to 
some extent, if a person was told that he is about to be magnetized, 
and that in consequence thereof no pain would be felt during the 
operation) is based on the fact that the hands were simply laid upon 
the temples, the patient being informed, for the purpose of placing 
his head in the proper position and that he might become quieted. 
There are a large number of “nervous” persons who could be sup- 
plied by the majority of dentists, without very much loss to them- 
selves, with a large amount of spiritual sustenance, which would 
help them to bear pain with more ease. 
“In nervous persons the condition is a want of nerve-force, not a 
super-supply. Such persons when in the chair and being operated 
upon draw on the sympathetic operator for a re-supply of nerve-force 
to enable them to bear the operation. Some men whose own supply 
of nerve-force is too small even for their personal wants may, by 
greatly sympathizing, so impart of their nerve-force as to greatly 
benefit the patient, but always at their own expense; so that after 
a hard day’s operating for such a patient as is here described the 
operator will be in a very nervous condition,—that is, his nerve- 
force has been imparted till there is a decided want felt. Take a 
woman who is prostrated from uterine displacements, backache, 
feeble health; no courage to bear pain; in other words, who is as 
nervous as she can be. If you will dampen your hands just a little 6 
and put them on her face and forehead for a few moments, you will 
perceive the loss of an indefinable something, so that you will be con- 
strained to say, ‘ I perceive that virtue (or force) has gone out of 
me.’ I think direct contact is essential to this. In your operating 
for a robust, healthy person you will perceive the difference very 
sensibly. Strong, robust, unsympathetic dentists do not freely give 
off their nerve-force, and patients will soon distinguish the difference 
between such an operator and the one who in his make-up is more 
like themselves, with a ready sympathy, a free imparting of his 
nerve-force. They are very prone to patronize the latter rather 
than the former, so that, if you will notice, such operators have 
that class of patrons in a greater proportion than do the strong, 
robust dentists.” * 
There is no question in my mind but that nearly every patient is 
“influenced ” more or less by the operator, or vice versa; so, for in- 
stance, in the latter part of an exhausting day’s labor at the chair, 
a nervously powerful patient can supply sufficient spiritual power 
to the operator for his use to sustain himself without causing undue 
fatigue. Again, when both operator and patient are fully aware of 
a certain amount of pain which is to be inflicted to accomplish a 
certain operation, the patient, if spiritually so constituted, can “ give 
off” sufficient power to not only assist the operator, but sustain 
himself as well, without the fatigue to one and pain to the other 
which otherwise would be the case. Dentists, especially such as 
number among their patients a large number of the puny, mal- 
formed products of the higher class,—those whose systemic func- 
tions have been impaired by over-study, lack of exercise, or faulty 
exercise in excess,—and such as live in feverish, malarial, and other 
districts where malignant diseases are prevalent, should cultivate 
the power of magnetic or spiritual influence over their patients. 
To be able to “ give a piece of one’s mind ” is very near the truth, 
but is not grammatically correct; but to give one a piece of his spirit 
(which itself is an ethereal substance) is proper and capable of per- 
formance; and this is the secret of the success of a great many den- 
tists. We among ourselves understand that influence by another 
name; we call it sympathy. Sympathy is nothing if it is not some- 
thing which is capable of being imparted and made a part of the per- 
sonality of another, and if it is such it is a something which from its 
nature may properly be called soul-force or spirit. Nay, more, the 
expression, “ The heart goes out in sympathy,” is as true as it is 
beautiful, for it is known that very sympathetic persons feel that a 
something from their innermost selves draws towards the object of 
their sympathy. 
* J. F. Sanborn, M.D., D.D.S. 7 
This feeling of sympathy, then, is well woi'thy the cultivation of 
evei-y dentist who treasures the welfare of his patients, and it is but 
meet that we should be so humane as to take advantage of all forces, 
of all known appliances or effects, to alleviate as much as possible 
existing pain, and inflict the minimum. It would cause surprise, to 
listen to the experience of patients who have been under the cai'e 
of several operators (making due allowance for temporary causes of 
difference in susceptibility to pain), what a difference there is in a 
sympathetic treatment. 
There are some essentials in the exercise of this function of spir- 
itual sympathy which we should bear in mind when desiring to 
diminish the suffei*ing of a patient from existing pain, or from pain 
inflicted by us in order to make our manifestations effective. The 
mei-e cold-hearted expression, “ I am very sorry to hurt you so 
much,” while a bland, icy smile is playing over our features, does 
not help the patient very much to bear the pain. Our profes- 
sions, if it is necessary to make them by words, must be inspired by 
sincerity, truth and understanding; our actions must depict com- 
posure and steadiness. The patient should be able to read in our 
featux*es that we understand his case, and that our professions of 
sympathy are sincere. Let our wox*ds (when speaking of pain) be 
truthful in every particular; let us not suppress the fact that pain 
must be consequent upon our actions. There is no harm, howevei-, 
in measuring and stating the probable extent of pain. A steady, 
composed bearing should always exist, as thus the confidence of the 
patient soon wins the sympathy which the face expresses, or should 
express. 
There is unquestionably, however, a class of persons who are 
either spiritually indifferent or negative, and over whom, therefore, 
no influence can be exerted; and in consequence of this belief there 
is an hypothesis that persons are electrically charged either posi- 
tively or negatively, and that therefore affinity or repulsion exists 
among all persons. Just to what degree this is true we are unable 
to state; but all have observed the fact of the existence—to a certain 
degree—of such a condition. In cases of the kind where these pre- 
existing conditions are unfavorable the dentist should exert as much 
will-power as possible to overcome the existing antipathy, and this 
can be done in most cases with good success. Thex-e are persons, 
however, in whom the opposition to any influence is so mai’ked that 
both the patient and operator are unavoidably obliged to suffer pain 
or fatigue. These ai’e generally patients who soon seek another 
dentist. 
Mesmeric influence is another but similar exhibition of spiritual 
power, and consists of the ability of one person to transmit a portion 8 
of his spiritual substance—individuality if you please—to another 
in such a degree that pain may be produced or prevented at the 
option of the transmitter. Those who are fortunate in possessing 
this power undoubtedly exert a great deal of influence over their 
patients. Especially is this true in operations of a painful nature 
and short duration, where by bodily contact the operator imbues 
the body of the patient for a short time with his own spirituality 
to such a degree that the feeling of pain is diminished. The physical 
body in its normal condition, with the spiritual body also in its nor- 
mal condition, are so equalized that when both work in natural har- 
mony injury to any part of the sensibly known body is communi- 
cated by wires of transmission to the spiritual individual; that is, 
pain is a product capable of transmission the same as electricity, and 
when both bodies are normal the pain is felt, but if there is a super- 
supply of spiritual substance the pain is neutralized by that super- 
supply of vital force, and the result is that there is no pain. The 
law of the correlation of forces is therefore true, not only so far as 
it is applied to physical bodies, but as well to spiritual bodies. The 
extinguishing of the pain, then, is not annihilation, but only trans- 
mission into another form,—namely, into spiritual loss to the oper- 
ator ; which loss is by him, if healthy, not perceived as much as the 
pain would have been by the patient, because it is of a different 
nature, although the same in quantity. On the same principle, there 
is a difference between worry and thought; and as a proof that no 
force is lost, the illustration is familiar that a brick raised fifty feet 
retains just so much potential force as it required to raise it to that 
height. It can exert that force by falling. The movement of the 
hour and minute-hand and the friction of the wheels of the mechan- 
ism of a time-piece exactly equals the force exerted in winding the 
spring. Mesmerism has been known and applied extensively, es- 
pecially on the Continent, in minor surgical operations, including 
the extraction of teeth, in which latter operation it will be more 
extensively applied when mesmeric influence is more thoroughly 
and independently investigated and its true virtues made better 
known. 
Though not strictly within the province of this paper, perhaps it 
will not be entirely out of place to notice one other fact, namely, 
that, although the Scriptures contain fifty-three different verses 
bearing upon the teeth (a number of these are mere repetitions), 
nearly all of them use the teeth merely for purposes of illustration, 
the same as the eyes or hands. Job is credited with saying, “ I am 
escaped with the skin of my teeth.” This sentence, if the literal 
meaning of the original Hebrew is correctly translated, expresses 
a truth which only the present century demonstrated, Nasmyth 9 
having discovered the cuticula dentis, a thin epithelial membrane 
covering the enamel of the teeth, and which is a continuation of the 
gum and the lining of the socket of the tooth, and in every sense 
appropriately called a skin. There is no question of its retention upon 
the teeth for some time after eruption, and indeed it is possible that 
it may remain throughout life.* 
Discussion. 
Dr. Patrick. So long as we are beings possessed of limited facul- 
ties, and are compelled to pass our lives in a world of unlimited 
quantities; so long as we exist as small as we are, and the universe 
exists as large as it is; so long as man is not born into the whole 
universe, but only upon a small speck in it, far away from the be- 
ginning of things,—as long as he is thus situated, with an unfathom- 
able depth around him, opinions in regard to the soul, vital force, 
personal affinity, sympathy, antipathy, personal electrical influences, 
nervous influence, mesmerism (so called), motion, emotion, moving 
of the mind, agitation and perturbation can only express indefinite 
ideas of undefinable sensations. 
“ How different the emotions between departure and return.” 
All peoples in every known portion of the earth, from the unciv- 
ilized to the most civilized, who have ideas on any subject, have 
ideas on morals or rules of conduct, and we have but to pass from 
Paris to Constantinople, and the decencies and decorums of life are 
no longer the same; a man may be a criminal at one or two points 
on the globe and innocent over all the rest of the world. 
What is light? I know it is essential to vision, but too much 
light is darkness. What is the beautiful ? Ask a toad, and he will tell 
you without hesitation that it resides in his female, and yet none but 
a community of toads will agree with him. 
The subject of spiritual influence is one that has neither beginning 
nor end ; it is one that all who think they have a soul feel capable of 
discussing; all feel equally strong because all float in the same void. 
If we consult the works of Plato, who has embodied the sum of all 
[Opened by Dr. J. J. R. Patrick.] 
* The following are the verses of the Scriptures wherein reference is made to 
the teeth: Gen. xlix, 12; Exod. xxi, 24, 27; Lev. xxiv, 20; Num. xi, 33 ; Deut. 
xix, 21; xxxii, 24; I Sam. ii, 13; I Kings x, 22; II Chron. ix, 21; Job iv, 10; 
xiii, 14; xvi, 9; xix, 20; xxix, 17; xli, 14; Psalms iii, 7; xxxv, 16; xxxvii, 12; 
lvii, 4; lviii, 6; cxii, 10; cxxiv, 6; Prov. x, 26; xxv, 19; xxx, 14; Cant, iv, 2; 
vi, 6; Is. xli, 15; Jer. xxxi, 29, 30; Eze. xviii, 2; Lam. ii, 16; iii, 16; Dan. vii, 
5, 7, 19 ; Joel i, 6 ; Amos iv, 6 ; Micah iii, 5 ; Zech. ix, 7 ; Matt, v, 38; viii, 12 ! 
xiii, 42, 50; xxii, 13; xxiv, 51; xxv, 30; xxvii, 44; Mark ix, 18; Luke xiii, 28; 
Acts vii, 54; Rev. ix, 8. 10 
metaphysical philosophy in his writings, we will find the most ex- 
quisite ingenuity wasted with a prodigality that amounts to wan- 
tonness. No persons ever showed greater acuteness or strength of 
reasoning than the Platonic scholastics. But having quitted com- 
mon sense and attempted to mount into the regions of an intellectual 
world, they expended it all in abortive efforts, which may amuse the 
imagination, but can never satisfy the understanding. The Platonists 
were both the restorers and corrupters of the ancient theology; 
they restored it from the mass of poetical mythology under which 
it was buried, but refined it with abstract metaphysics, which soared 
as far above human reason as poetical mythology sank below it. 
The difference between philosophy and science, or metaphysics 
and positive philosophy, is a contrast of method. Philosophy pro- 
ceeds upon a system of credit, and if she never advanced beyond 
her tangible capital our wealth would not be so enormous as it is. 
While both the metaphysician and the man of science trade on a 
system of credit, they do so with profoundly different views of its 
use. The metaphysician is a merchant who speculates boldly, but 
without convertible capital which can enable him to meet his en- 
gagements. He gives bills, yet has no gold, no goods to answer for 
them. These bills are not representative of wealth, which exists in 
any warehouse, magnificent as his speculations seem. The first 
obstinate creditor who insists on payment makes him a bankrupt. 
The man of science is also a venturesome merchant, but one fully 
alive to the necessity of solid capital which can on emergency be 
produced to meet his bills of credit; he knows the risks he runs 
whenever that amount of capital is exceeded; he knows that it 
means bankruptcy to him if capital be not forthcoming. 
Now, all we ask of the man of science who proposes to utilize 
spiritual force (as a force different from any other force), is to first 
prove the presence of the spirit, before asking us to go further. We 
may admit that if present the spirit may be capable of producing 
phenomena, but we cannot permit the assumption of such a presence 
merely to explain such phenomena; for, if the fact to be explained 
is sufficient proof of the explanation, we might with equal justice 
assume that the phenomena were caused by an invisible dragon, who 
produced them by the vibration of his awful wings, in the same man- 
ner that many such phenomena are accounted for in China. 
We must never forget that beliefs in the human mind, whether 
they be pui’e or mixed with errors, can neither control nor even 
exercise any influence whatever upon what is really taking place in 
external nature. What is really going on in nature is to be ascer- 
tained, so far as it can be ascertained at all, not by projecting human 
beliefs into external existence, but by applying whatever little of 11 
dry light we can win from the slow but gradually encroaching 
progress of scientific discovery,—in other words, progressing from 
the known towards the unknown. 
A patient leaves one dentist because he is supposed to be rough, 
and goes to another, who, owing to the nature of the operation, gets 
the credit of being easier. Would the last operator be justified in 
claiming for himself more enlargement of soul, or more spiritual 
influence over his patient? Aside from the nature of the operation, 
the patient may be in better condition to undergo the fatigue at one 
time than at another, and thus the operator obtain credit that really 
belongs to the patient. 
Now, an individual under temptation resists it at onetime because 
he is strong, and succumbs at another because he is weak. Had he 
been the last time as he was at the first, he would not have suc- 
cumbed. There is a state favorable to virtue as to vice. How 
many errors would we save ourselves from, how many temptations 
to do wrong would we keep from springing up, could we but force 
the animal economy, which so often disturbs the moral order, to 
favor it! Climates, seasons, sounds, colors, light, darkness, the ele- 
ments, food, noise, silence, motion, rest, all act on our physical frame, 
and thereby on that something which we call mind. 
The myriads of constantly recui'ring effects produced by causes 
which appear to have no connection are phenomena, both of organic 
and inorganic nature, which have long attracted the attention of 
mankind, and few of them have been satisfactorily explained. 
The operation between distant bodies cannot be traced to any 
medium of communication, yet there is an attractive and a repulsive 
power in all substances, animate and inanimate, however near or 
however far, that cannot be defined. Every substance has inclina- 
tions or antipathies; is attracted with more or less strength by one 
body, indifferent towards a second, and constantly avoiding a third. 
Sympathies are of a physical or a moral nature. The first consists 
of a consent between the different parts of the oi’ganism, the latter 
of certain impressions, unaccountable, unconquerable, that harmo- 
nize in a multiplicity of phenomena various individuals, or that in- 
duce them, without their being able to assign any reason or motive 
to warrant the repugnance, to avoid each other, and not unfre- 
quently to entertain feelings of disgust or horror. Organism in- 
stinctively obeys the voice of nature. Moral sympathies are facul- 
ties that enable us to partake of the likes or dislikes of others ; 
although this sentiment is by no means reciprocal, for we often 
dislike those who fondly love us, for the reason that, while sym- 
pathies are instinctive, education and habit will destroy or sup- 
press the physical sympathies between individuals and communities. 12 
The study of sympathies must always take first rank with the phys- 
iologist ; and upon this alone can the physician base his investiga- 
tions of the various diseases which afflict mankind; for symptoms 
arise from sympathies. Without a knowledge of the one a clear in- 
sight of the other is impossible. 
Magnetism is supposed to be that reciprocal influence which exists 
between individuals, arising from a state of relative harmony, and 
brought into action by the will. It is also stated to exist in a pecul- 
iar fluid transmissible from one body to another under certain con- 
ditions of each individual. These conditions, however, are very uncer- 
tain, and until we know more of the certain conditions of magnetism, 
gravitation, and electricity we cannot reduce their action to rules of 
practice. The history of this doctrine is curious if not instructive. 
The ancients fully admitted the power of sympathy in the cure of 
diseases; but generally attributed its action to the interference of 
the Divinity, or the operation of sorcery and enchantment; and 
this belief is not to be wondered at when we reflect that the healing 
art was confined exclusively to the priesthood. 
A remarkable affinity can be traced between modern magnetism 
and its supposed phenomena and the relations of the Pythian and 
Sibylline oracles; the wonders of the caverns of Trophonius and 
Esculapius, and the miraculous dreams and visions in the temples 
of the gods. Amongst the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the Greeks 
and the Romans we constantly meet traces of this supposed power 
of manual apposition, friction, breathing, etc. But the finest speci- 
men of the sympathetic power of corporeal apposition was illus- 
trated when Elisha, in order to revive the widow’s dead child, 
stretched himself three times upon him, and invoked the Lord’s 
assistance by prayer. “ He lay upon it, put his mouth upon his 
mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands, and 
he stretched himself upon the child, and we are informed that the 
child opened its eyes.” Plutarch informs us that Pyrrhus cured 
persons with diseased spleens by passing his hand over the seat of 
the malady. Apollonius brought a young girl to life by touching her, 
and leaning over her as though he were whispering some magic 
words in her ear. How, as the progress of intellect dispelled the 
dark clouds that shrouded the middle ages in superstitious and 
credulous practices, philosophy endeavored to investigate the nature 
of this mysterious agency which priests had for so many centuries 
usurped as their special gift and property. Skeptic as to the agency 
of supernatural powers in the common occurrences of life, philoso- 
phers attributed these phenomena to some peculiar principle with 
which organized bodies were endowed. Hence arose the doctrine 
of animal magnetism, which is embodied in the language of Para- 13 
celsus, promulgated in the year 1493: “ All doubt destroys work, 
and leaves it imperfect in the wise designs of nature. It is from 
faith that imagination draws its strength. It is by faith that it 
becomes complete and realized. He who believeth in nature will 
obtain from nature to the extent of his faith.” 
Belief is a necessary factor, both on the part of the patient and the 
operator, in producing t he phenomena known as animal magnetism, 
as enunciated by Mesmer, and afterwards called mesmerism. Mes- 
meric influence! You might more properly leave out the word 
“ mesmeric,” and call it influence,—undefinable influence. The prefix 
“ mesmeric ” throws no light on the phenomena. The living influ- 
ence of Jones over Smith, or Smith over Jones, is a more satisfactory 
phenomenon to investigate. There are plenty of professional gentle- 
men who honestly believe that their power over their patients is 
absolute,—that their will is law; that they have only to direct the 
line of treatment, and whatever sacrifice may be required, their 
patients will instantly and willingly submit to. I confess that I have 
not yet arrived at the possession of this fascinating power, nor do I 
believe it would be desirable, if I did possess it, to exercise it. In 
a majority of cases that have come under my control I have found 
by experience that the more influence I have expended on my pa- 
tient during an operation the less influence I had in collecting my 
fees, and the mountain that I thought was looming turned out to be 
a miserable hut as soon as the fog was scattered. 
Dr. Spalding. I wish to compliment my young friend for the 
matter contained in his essay, and for the able manner in which it 
was delivered. I regret that Dr. Patrick is so much in error in his 
statement of physiological facts, and that he bases his theories on 
what he learned before the science attained its present status. There 
is a difference between soul and spirit. Man, we are all aware, has 
an external and an internal nature. Through the external he takes 
cognizance of external things, and through the internal of mental 
or spiritual things. Soul and spirit, often used synonymously, are 
very distinct properties. When we go into the spiritual world we 
shall have no less a spiritual body than we now have a physical 
body. Briefly, the soul is the spiritual body. I have not time to 
enlarge upon this topic, and will only say it dwells in us to-day, and 
the physical body is developed through its agency. Spirit is that 
vital energy which flows into the spiritual body from the source of 
all life. Soul is that organism which receives it. 
The male spermatozoa can be elaborated only from masculine 
blood. It contains the germ of the future being, both spiritual and 
material. The soul always comes from the male parent. The body 
is derived from the mother. The inmost qualities of animals as well H 
us men come from or through the male. If an animal were to im- 
pregnate a woman the offspring would not have a soul, for the reason 
T have just stated.