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Surgeon General's Office
 
V
I 
 
SIX LECTURES
PHILOSOPHY OP MESMERISM,
DELIVERED IN THE
MARLBORO' CHAPEL,
JANUARY 23-28,1843.
       BY
JOHN BOVEE DODS,
     OF BOSTON.
REPORTED BY A HEARER.
         BOST ON':
WILLIAM A. HALL & CO., PRINTERS,
     NO. 1« WATER STREET.
          1843. 
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by Elijah Smith,
        in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
 Bf
I  tf+3 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
               LECTURE  I.


   Ladies and Gentlemen : It is with much pleasure
 that I present myself before you  ihis evening, to
 lecture upon the  science of Animal Magnetism.  I
 do this  by special  invitation  from  several  distin-
 guished members of both branches of our legislature,
 now in session in this city;  and this thronged con-
 gregation of more than two thousand hearers speak
 the interest which is awakened in the bosoms of our
 citizens in relation to this  subject.   This dense and
 anxious crowd too plainly manifest the  high expect-
 ations which are  entertained of the feeble abilities of
 the speaker  to do  it justice — expectations which
 I  am  fully sensible  I  shall be unable to answer.
 Leaning, however, upon the solitary  grandeur of
 truth, and believing that to be stirring eloquence and
 Hving power, I have, therefore, even as things now
 are, with all your roused expectations crowding upon
 me, but little to hazard, for I am fully sensible that I
 am standing before a learned and an intelligent con-
 gregation.   And when I inform you that I have never
 written any thing upon this  subject, and am, there-
 fore, obliged to speak from the fortuitous suggestions
 of the moment, I am conscious that you will do me
justice, by making every reasonable allowance. 
4
LECTURES ON
  It is not  my profession  to lecture  upon this sub-
ject.  I have other means for my  subsistence, and
for  that of those who depend  upon  me.  Circum-
stances have called me into  the field.  Many, very
many ignorant individuals, who know nothing of the
human system, nor of the common  principles of any
science, have gone into the field as lecturers on Ani-
mal Magnetism, and by making it a mere puppet-
show, have  brought it into degradation in the public
mind.   Such persons are doing the cause, which is
one of benevolence and mercy, an irreparable injury.
They had better qualify themselves for the work,  or
else retire from  the field.  In this  state of things, I
was urged, by  several scientific gentlemen, to step
forward in defence of the cause of righteousness and
truth,  and  to lend my  aid  in raising it from the
dust, in wiping off the sneers of men, and in placing
it on a  foundation where it should  command not
only the attention, but the respect and admiration
which are justly due to it from  men  of science and
talents.  In this city, I find but  one noble  spirit
laboring and toiling, who is well qualified for  the
work,  and who  is deserving a better  patronage than
he receives.*  As these are the circumstances under
which I have entered the  field, so, of course, I visit
those places only where I am invited to lecture upon
this science.
   I have had the  subject  of Mesmerism under con-
 sideration  for  about  seven  years, reading  all that
 came in my way for and  against  it.   Five of these
 years  I remained a stubborn, a most confirmed scep-
 tic, and refused even to  attend a  lecture, or to wit-
 ness an experiment, until I was persuaded by a par-
 ticular friend of mine to  accompany  him, and  see
 and hear for myself.  I am,  therefore, prepared to
 make all due allowance for  honest sceptics; and in
 their opposition to me during this course of lectures,
* Dr. Gilbert. 
                ANIMAL MAGNETISM.             5

I shall maintain  an entire empire over my feelings;
and  being fully sensible  of their condition,  I weU
know how to sympathize with them.   But there is
yet another class of sceptics, who have  witnessed
experiments which they cannot resist,  and still cry,
"humbug- and collusion!"  Of these, there are two
kinds.  First, those who never investigate any thing
for themselves, and who do not know the definitions
of the words, " humbug and  collusion;"  but who,
nevertheless, use them very freely, because they have
heard their minister, their  doctor, or, perchance, their
schoolmaster, use them.  They do it  by imitation,
on the  same principle  that the parrot imitates  the
sound of the human voice, and they do it just about
as understandingly.  Second, those who are talented,
and desire  to keep  on the  wings of the popular
breeze, and catch  the breath  of fame.  These may
be known by the ridicule,  wit, and sarcasm, they
employ,  through  the press  and  otherwise.   But,
"humbug; and collusion"  have become stereotyped
words, and their use costs but little labor; and they
answer most admirably  to supply the place of sound
argument and common  sense  in the most of  minds.
If my hearers will please turn their attention to all
the  talented writers, who  have,  in  various ages,
vehemently opposed those now well-established sci-
ences which in their infancy appeared incredible,
and who assailed them with  the bitterest invective
and sarcasm, they will learn that they were  men
who were always studying what was popular,  and
who had a large share of self-esteem, and of the love
of approbation.   This test will hold good from the
opposers of the earth's revolution on its axis,  discov-
ered by  Galileo; from the scoffers at  the science of
the circulation of the human blood, discovered by
Harvey,  step by step, down to the scoffers at Fulton's
application  of steam-power,—yes, even down to the
opposers of, and scoffers  at, the briUiant  science of
Phrenology, which is now spreading  with a power
              V 
6
LECTURES  ON
that can never be successfully resisted, a zeal that
cannot be  quenched, and a living energy that can
never die.   True, a  candid  man, as  well  as any
other, may doubt a new science ; yet, however strange
or incomprehensible  it may appear, he will  not de-
nounce till  he has given the subject a candid  investi-
gation.   I am speaking of those only who denounce
without investigation, and who can assign no  other
reason for so doing, but their own willing ignorance,
or because  the popular voice is against it.
   I  am, however, proud  in  the  reflection that the
science  of  Mesmerism is  embraced by men of the
first  talents and  science  in  both continents,  and
whose names will live in the republic of letters, and
shine with lustre, long  after those of  fawning  syco-
phants shall have been lost in unremembered nothing-
ness. It is embraced here among us  by a Pierpont,
a  Sunderland, a Gilbert, a Neal, and  a Wayland.
It is embraced by men who have forgotten  more
than those  who cry  " humbug' and collusion" ever
knew.
   I have been in the field as an occasional lecturer
ever since October, 1841, and have uniformly advo-
cated the same principles which I am now about to
advance and sustain  in the course of lectures  I am
pledged to deliver in  this city.  This fact, many now
present well know, who have  heard me in other sec-
tions, or who have seen the substance  of what I have
now to offer on Mesmerism reported by the editor of
the Yarmouthport Register, in March, 1842.   I shall
here contend for the  same  principles, and endeavor
to sustain them by fair experiments, in electricity,
galvanism,  and common magnetism.
   There  is one apology, however, to be offered in
favor of  honest sceptics.   It is this:  Those who
have lectured upon  Mesmerism have not pretended
to give any cause for the wonderful phenomena pro-
duced— have  held them in mystery, and perhaps
pronounced them inscrutable to the human intellect. 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
7
 Hence, it is not strange that thousands, under such
 an impression, should refuse to investigate a subject
 which its advocates held in mystery.  That there are
 mysteries in Mesmerism I readily  admit; but that
 there are more than in any other science, I deny.
 We may, for instance, tell the chemical properties  of
 earth, water and air, and the degree of warmth neces-
 sary to produce vegetation.  But still no  one can
 solve the mystery how an acorn becomes an oak,  or
 a seed becomes a plant.  There is no science in the
 universe,  but  what  has some  incomprehensibilities
 resting upon its face; but this  circumstance is con-
 sidered no  objection  to the truth of  any science.
 Hence, there is no reason why Mesmerism should be
 rejected on this ground.  Yet  thousands  do reject
 it, because they contend that it is incomprehensibly
 strange!  They know nothing but what is strange,
 and yet what  is strange they  cannot believe!  All
 the operations of nature going on around us are
 strange, and the only reason we have ceased to won-
 der is, because they are common.   All such  objec-
 tions are therefore futile.
   Before  I proceed any further, I would remark that
 I consider " Animal Magnetism " a very inappropriate
 name.  It should be  called Spiritualism, or Mental
 Electricity, because  it is the  direct impulse  of
 mind upon the minds and bodies of others.  As it is
 the science of mind and its powers, so it is the highest
 and most sublime  science  in  the whole  realms  of
 nature, and as  far transcends  aU others as godlike
 mind transcends matter.
   Having made these  introductory remarks, I now
 proceed more  directly  to the  consideration of the
subject before me.   In presenting before you " the
why and  the wherefore" of these interesting phe-
nomena, and, in order to make them  plain  to the
humblest  capacity, it will be necessary to  associate
the subject with other principles in philosophy which
are well understood by aU, and thus rise  from the 
8
LECTURES ON
consideration of the more gross and dense particles
of matter, step  by step, up to  those  which  are  the
most rarified and  subtil  of which we can form any
conception.  In doing this, I shaU not take into con-
sideration every possible grade or species of matter,
but those substances only which belong to the great
classifications of nature's empire, and which are the
most obvious to every observer.
  In the first place, then, I contend that there is  but
one common law pervades the whole universe of
God, which is  the law of equilibrium.  In perfect
accordance with this  law there is kept up a constant
action  and reaction throughout every department of
nature.   It is true there has been much written, and
still more  said, about the multiplicity and variety of
the laws of nature.   But  this is, at  least to  me,
wholly  unintelligible.  While, however, I contend
for but one common law, it is still conceded that  this
law is so varied as to be perfectly adapted to aU  the
variety of  substances in  being.  On this principle
the earth is certainly not eternal, for wTere it so, the
hills and  mountains  would long  ago have  been
washed to a level by  the storms of heaven, — yes, it
would have been  done  by the gentle descending
dews.   Indeed, I  hazard nothing  in  saying,  that
even the mountains of solid granite would have been
crumbled  into  atoms, ages ago, by  the very opera-
tion of the particles of air, — " the fingers of time," —
because  every thing in nature is tending to an equi-
librium.
   Having begun at the grossest particles  of matter,
let us now rise gradually in our contemplations,  step
by step, up to  those  that  are  the most rarified  and
subtil  of  which  we can  form  any  conception.
Water is a body lighter than earth.  Let a canal
be dug of one hundred feet in  depth, one hundred in
width, and a thousand feet in  length.  Let a  strong
lock be constructed  across  its centre, and one  half
filled with water.   Let the gate be  hoisted, and the 
                ANIMAL MAGNETISM.              9

water in the one division will fall, and in  the other
rise, until an equilibrium of height is attained.   Na-
ture having gained her end is then at rest.   And the
action of  this element wiU be great in proportion as
it was thrown out of balance.  The  rush will be at
first tremendous, but continue  gradually  to  lessen
until it finds its perfect slumber in equal height.
   The same is true in relation to our atmosphere, a
substance fighter  than water.  The air in this room
is  now rarified by heat, and is thus thrown out of
balance with the circumambient  air  which is more
cold and  dense.   Hence, through every key-hole and
crevice there is a rush of this element into the room,
which wiU continue until the equilibrium of density
is attained.  Then, and not before, nature, having
gained her end, wiU  be  at rest.   The air in one sec-
tion of the globe is more rarified  by heat than in
another;  and hence the gentle zephyrs of heaven are
continually fanning the human brow with a touch of
delight, and carrying health to human habitations.
If this element be thrown stiU further out of balance,
we witness the stirring gale; and if carried, in this
respect,  to its  extreme, we witness  the  sweeping
hurricane, or the roaring  tornado which prostrates
human habitations in its  mighty course,  and bows
the mountain forest to the earth.
   The same is true in relation to electricity, a sub-
stance more rarified and  light than air.  If two
clouds are equally charged with this subtil fluid, they
may pass and  repass each other, or mingle into one,
yet not a flash of lightning wiU be seen.   But if they
are unequaUy charged, or what is caUed in electrical
science,  "positively  and negatively charged," then
the heavens wfil stream with  forked lightning till
both  clouds are equally charged.   By long drought
and heat, electricity becomes very unequally diffused
throughout the atmosphere.  One portion  of air con-
tains  a  much greater  quantity  than  another, and
when thus thrown out  of balance  to  a certain ex- 
10
LECTURES ON
treme, nature can hold out no  longer.  A reaction
must take place.  Convolving clouds roll the heavens
in darkness — the  lightnings flash, the thunders roll,
and the war of  elements continues until the electric
fluid is equally  diffused throughout the atmosphere,
and  also equalized with the  earth.   Nature, having
thus gained her end in the equilibrium produced, is
at rest— all is calm.
   If we pass on from inert matter to animated nature,
we shall find that the same  law there also holds its
empire.  If, for instance, a healthy child, three or
four years  of age, be permitted to sleep every night
for a year  or two between two very old, decrepid
grandparents, it will pine away, and if not removed,
perchance it may die.   There is, perhaps, not one
under the sound of my voice, but what has  heard
the remark, that  " it is  very unhealthy for  young
children to sleep with very old, infirm people."   It is
even so, and parents should  beware.  The child is
full of animal life, and  its nervous system is charged
with the vital  fluid, secreted by the brain.   This
gives that suppleness to the limbs, and that buoyancy
to the heart which we  witness in the young.   The
grandparents lack the proper quantity of this nervo-
vital fluid, which  occasions that rigidity of the limbs
we witness in the aged.  The same common law of
equilibrium  that pervades the universe, is here also
in operation. The nervo-vital fluid passes from this
child to the  two aged persons in conjunction.   The
child loses, and they continue to revive, and as this
little one can never bring those infirm persons up to
an  equilibrium with itself, so it  must go down to
them.  Nature  wiU have her equilibrium, if  she has
it in death.
   Once more;  there is  in the  nervous system  no
blood.  By  the nervous  system, I mean the  brain
and  all its  ramifications.  The blood  belongs ex-
clusively to  the circulating system, which embraces
the veins and  arteries.  I grant that the blood-ves- 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
11
 sels pass round among the convolutions of the brain;
 but in the nerve  itself there is no blood,  and the
 whole mass  of  brain is but a congeries of nerves.
 These are charged with a nervo-vital fluid, which  is
 manufactured from electricity.   Hence,  the  circu-
 lating system containing the blood, and the nervous
 system containing the magnetic  fluid, are not to be
 blended, but distinctly  considered.  Now as a hu-
 man being may  lack the proper quantity of blood in
 his circulating system, so he may lack the proper
 quantum of the nervo-vital  fluid in his nervous sys-
 tem.  This is certainly rational.   And, moreover, it
 may  be easily known  when  such  is  the  case.
 When we  see persons, who, on  hearing  suddenly
 some good or bad news, are thrown  into great ex-
 citement, tremor, and agitation, we may be certain
 that  their nervous systems lack the due measure of
 the nervo-vital  fluid.    Now let  a person, whose
 brain is  fully charged, come in  contact with  one
 whose brain is greatly wanting in its due measure of
 this fluid, and let the person possessing the full brain
 gently and unchangeably hold his mind upon the
 other, and by the  action of  the will,  the fluid will
 pass from the fuU brain to the other, until the equi-
 librium between the fluids  in the two brains is at-
 tained.  The sudden change  in the receiving brain
 produces a  coolness and a singular  state of  insensi-
 bflity.  This is magnetism ;  and it is in perfect ac-
 cordance with aU the principles of  phflosophy in the
 known realms of  nature.  If any one denies  the
 operation of the law of equilibrium in this case, then
 he here  makes a  chasm, amidst  the  immensity of
 God's works, which he can  nowhere else discover.
 I  have clearly shown him that, from  the grossest
 matter in the universe, step by step, through every
 grade, up to electricity, the same law holds  its  em-
pire, and matter is  continually equalizing itself with
matter.
   On this principle, it will be readily perceived that, 
12
LECTURES ON
if  a person has a great deficiency of the  nervo-vital
fluid, he can be mesmerised the  first sitting,  and
probably in an hour's time, or  a much less period.
These we call easy subjects.  But  if the deficiency
be less,  it will take  a longer period in proportion,
and if the  brain  have nearly its proper quantity  of
fluid, then the effect produced,  at  the first sitting,
will be small, yet still it wiU be  visible.
   From the premises now laid down, and in accord-
ance with the law of equilibrium, it will probably be
said,  that  only  few  persons can  be  mesmerised.
This, however, is not  correct.   I contend that every
person in existence can be, and indeed ought  to be
thrown  into  the  mesmeric state.  This,  I  am well
aware, is contrary to the opinion of the advocates  of
this science.   The most liberal calculation, I have  as
yet heard, is that  about one in  nine of the human
family can  be mesmerised.   But every one can be,
and that, too, in perfect accordance with  the princi-
ples laid down.   Let two persons of equal brains,
both in size and fluid, sit  down.  Let one  of  these
individuals  remain perfectly  passive,  and  let the
other exercise his mental  and physical energies ac-
cording to  the true principles of mesmerising, and
he will displace  some of  the nervo-vital  fluid from
the passive brain  and deposite  his  own in its stead.
The next day let  them sit another hour,  and so on
day after day, until the acting brain shall have dis-
placed the  major part of  the nervo-vital  fluid from
the passive brain  and fiUed up  that space  with his
own  nervous force, and the person wnl yield to the
magnetic power, and sweetly slumber in  its inex-
pressible quietude. 
ANIMAL  magnetism.             13
LECTURE  II.
  Ladies and Gentlemen: On the last evening I
had the pleasure to deliver before  you my introduc-
tory lecture on the science of  Spiritualism, and to
explain " the  why and the  wherefore" of the effect
produced.  I clearly  showed  that Mesmerism was
in perfect  accordance with the  universal law  of
nature which I call the law of equilibrium, and as I,
in concluding my lecture, contended that every per-
son  in the world could be  mesmerised, some, as
I suspected would be the case, have  to-day argued
that, according  to the principle laid  down by the
speaker,  two brains  of equal power can no  more
mesmerise each other, than one of a less power can
mesmerise a  greater;  and hence, that the arguments
of the lecturer  are contradictory and  irreconcilable,
But this  objection is by no means valid.  It  is read-
ily conceded  that two brains equally full and healthy
cannot affect each other, admitting both persons to be
equal in  muscular energy, and to  make, at the same
time, the same mental and  physical effort.  But if
one  person sit  down and passively resign himself,
and  another even of less  power and  less nervo-vital
fluid exert aU his energies, then the law  of equilibri-
um requires that there shaH be an effect produced  in
the passive object equal  to all the power exerted by
the active agent.  Hence, a weaker person can mes-
merise one of superior power, and the same persons
may alternately  throw each other  into the mesmeric
state.  I have known the instance where  a  small
girl, and only nine years of age, mesmerised a young
man twenty  years  old and of uncommon strength.
              2 
14
lectures on
 Though it is a well-known law, that two bodies of
 water wiU seek  a level when  a  communication is
 made between them, yet it is equally true  that, by  a
 pump, water may be  thrown  from  a lower  to  a
 higher cistern ; and who will deny that it is in perfect
 accordance with  the law of equilibrium?   Surely no
 one.   It is by physical energy that the air is removed
 from the pump, and the circumambient air pressing
 upon the water in the cistern, causes it to rise till an
 equilibrium of height is attained — exactly equal to
 all the powers employed.   But so far as the mes-
 meric state is concerned, it will be remembered, that
 man, in acting on his  fellow-man, exerts not only a
physical, but a mental, and moral  power.   These
 must all be taken into consideration and duly weigh-
 ed, in order to form a  correct  idea of the  law of
 equilibrium in the  employment of  the  magnetic
 forces.  If this common law in nature extended no
 further than merely to bring substances that  are out
 of balance down  to a common  level, then all action
in the various elements would soon cease.
   It will be remembered that  no  one kindred element
ever  disturbs  itself, or  ever throws  itself  out of
balance.   It  requires another element to do this.
 The  water would always keep on a perfect level
with  itself, throughout  the  globe,  if  air  and heat
never disturbed it.  By heat it is rarified into  vapors,
carried over the globe in aerial conductors, condensed
by cold into drops, and rained upon  the mountains
and more elevated portions of the  globe,  and then
again  seeks  its level with the  parent ocean.   So
there  is a power that rarifies the air, and the denser
portions rush to its aid, and the winds  are  in  action
to keep up a perfect  balance  in its  own empire,
whfle  air,  abstractly, could never  disturb  itself.
 Hence it is even  the law of equilibrium by which
one portion  of water is thrown out of balance with
itself;  and the same is also  true in relation to the
atmosphere.  If heat, which is but the action of 
                ANIMAL MAGNETISM.             15

electricity,  rarifies the water so as  to  cause it in
subtilty to  approximate itself, then  surely it is  ac-
cording  to  the  law  of equilibrium  that water is
thrown out  of balance with  itself by  forcing it into
a partial equilibrium with some more rarified sub-
stance.   Carrying out this principle, and applying it
to Mesmerism, it will be readily understood not only
how two persons of equal  power  may  mesmerise
each other, but even how one of less physical power
may  mesmerise a greater,  and yet  the whole be
effected in perfect accordance with  the law of equi-
librium.
   Having made these remarks  which the  occasion
seems to demand, I wHl now  proceed to a  direct
consideration of the nervo-vital fluid  in the human
brain.
   It is admitted, that the air we breathe is composed
of  two substances,  namely, oxygen and nitrogen.
Their relative quantities are about one fifth  oxygen
and four fifths nitrogen.   But these are not all.  It
is evident,  that hydrogen and electricity  are also
component  parts  of air.    Oxygen  and  electrici-
ty are the  principles of flame  and  of  animal life,
while  nitrogen  extinguishes both.   There  is  not a
single square inch of air but  what contains  more or
less electricity.   The  air in its  compound  state is
drawn into the  lungs.  The oxygen  and electricity
are communicated to the blood which is charged
with iron, while the nitrogen is  disengaged and ex-
pired.   This iron, which  gives  color to the blood, is
instantly rendered magnetic  under the influence of
electricity, analogous to the  needles in the  galvanic
battery, which become magnets  merely by induction.
The blood itself is, at the same time, oxydized by
the oxygen of the air, and instantly  becomes  cherry
red.  This oxygen generates an acidity in the blood
in  some degree answering  to  the  solution of  the
sulphate of  copper in the  galvanic battery.   The
blood  thus  magnetically prepared  at the lungs  is 
16
LECTURES ON
 thrown upon the heart, and forced into the arteries.
 Hence, arterial  blood is red.  It is propelled to  the
 extremities,  driven into every possible ramification,
 and is collected and carried back in the veins to  the
 lungs, for a fresh  supply  of  the electro-magnetic
 power.  Hence, venous blood is dark, and is "unfit
 to be thrown upon the heart a second time till it has
 again come in contact with the oxygen and electrici-
 ty of the air.  The blood,  thus  charged, is propelled
 through its hving channels, and this friction causes
 the electro-magnetic power  to escape from the cir-
 culating  system into the nervous system  for w~hich
 it has a strong affinity, and being secreted  by the
 brain it  becomes  the  nervo-vital fluid, or animal
 galvanism.   It is important here to remark, that the
 blood, in its  friction through the arteries,  has  given
 off its  electro-magnetic power into the  nervous sys-
 tem.  The blood thus freed assumes a dark appear-
 ance in the  veins, and becomes entirely negative.
 The lungs, being  charged with  a fresh  supply  of
 electricity,  become positive.  Hence, the blood  is
 drawn from the veins to the lungs, on the  same prin-
 ciple that the negative and the positive in electricity
 rush together.
  From the above observations, it will be  perceived
 that every muscle of the human  body, every organ
 and gland is  polar, and by the negative and positive
 principles, as above noticed, animal life is  sustained
 and perpetuated through the action of the lungs and
blood.
  We thus perceive that the nervo-vital fluid is man-
ufactured out of electricity, taken into the lungs  at
every inspiration.   It completely charges the whole
brain, when that organ  is  in a healthy state.   The
nerves composing the  brain are of three  kinds,
namely : the nerves of sensation, the nerves of volun-
tary motion, and the nerves of  involuntary motion.
 I make these three divisions, so that I may be the
more readily understood when speaking of nervous 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
17
action.  I desire you to bear in mind that these three
classes of nerves are all charged with the nervo-vital
fluid, which  is exactly prepared to  come in contact
with mind.
   We put forth a will.  That  will  stirs the nervo-
vital fluid in the voluntary nerves.   This fluid causes
the voluntary nerves to vibrate.   The galvanic vibra-
tion of these  nerves  contracts the  muscles.  The
muscles contracting,  raise the arm, and that arm
raises foreign  matter.  So we  perceive  that  it is
through this concatenation, or  chain, that the mind
comes  in  contact  with the grossest matter in the
universe.
   It is evident that there is no direct contact between
mind and gross matter.   There is  no direct contact
between the length of a thought and the breadth of
that door.   Nor is there any more direct contact be-
tween my mind and hand, than there is between my
mind and the stage upon which I stand.  Thought
cannot touch  my hand;  yet  it  must be true  that
mind can come in contact with matter, otherwise, I
could not raise my hand at all by the energies of my
will.  Hence, it must be true, that  the highest and
most subtil of inert matter in the universe, being the
 next step to spirit, can come in contact with mind.
 And electricity, changed into nervo-vital fluid, (which
 is living  galvanism,) is  certainly  the highest and
 most ethereal  inert substance of which we can form
 any  conception.   Hence,  as  before  remarked,  it
 must be true, that we put forth a will—by the ener-
 gies of that will this  galvanic  substance or  nervous
 fluid  is  proudly stirred—that stirring  vibrates the
 nerves—this  vibration contracts the  muscles—the
 muscles  raise  the arm, and  that arm moves dead
 matter.
    Notwithstanding the plausibility of this argument,
 it wiU  yet be  said that, as physiologists contend that
 no one can explain through what medium the mind
 comes in contact with matter, nor even how a muscle
             '  2* 
18
LECTURES ON
is made to  contract, and raise the  arm, and as the
lecturer has undertaken  to  explain it, we have  a
right to demand positive proof.   This demand being
rational, I will  endeavor  to  meet it. I am, then, to
prove  that  the nervo-vital  fluid (which  is  perfect
galvanism) is indeed the agent by which we con-
tract the muscles and raise the arm.   That  being
done, my point is gained, and the medium through
which mind comes  in contact with  matter is  estab-
lished.
  I would first remark, that  it  is common  when
criminals are executed, that their bodies are delivered
over to medical men  for dissection.   Now take  a
human body, and let it be conveyed from the gal-
lows to the charnel-house, and laid upon the dissect-
ing-table.   Let a continuous  shock from a strong
galvanic battery be given, and the muscles of the
dead  man will contract,  and exhibit many frightful
contortions.   Many interesting experiments of this
character have been published.   The dead man has
been  known to spring upon  his knees,  jolt  them
upon  the floor, make  violent gesticulations with his
hands, move his head, roll his eyes, and chatter his
teeth.   The student, unused to such ghastly exhibi-
tions,  has left the room, or fainted away; and even
the experienced physician  has started  back with
horror  at the frightful  contortions which he himself
had made.   Now what  was it that contracted the
muscles of this dead man ?   There is but one  an-
swer to the question.   It was galvanism.   And what
is galvanism but electricity  in  a changed form; so
that, instead of giving the  system a sudden  shock
like electricity, it merely produces a singular vibrat-
ing sensation  upon the  nerves, which  causes  the
muscles to contract ?  It is nothing else.  Electricity,
galvanism, magnetism, or attraction and  repulsion,
are but different dispositions of the same common
fluid.   Now as galvanism contracts  the muscles of a
dead man, and is the  only power known, that when 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
19
artificiaUy applied can  contract the muscles of  the
living, so it must be the agent employed by the will
to contract the muscles, and enable us to perform
all the voluntary motions  of life.  Whatever may
be the opinions of others, I consider this  argument
irresistible, and shaH hold it as such, until it be fairly
refuted.
  It must  now appear  plain to every candid mind,
that  by the action of the will, and the exercise of all
the mental powers, the  nervo-vital fluid, this living
galvanism, is continually thrown off from the volun-
tary  nerves,  and through  the respiratory  organs is
again  supplied.  There is still,  however,  a greater
waste.   The involuntary nerves  throw off another
large portion  through the action of the  heart and
lungs, and the digestive  apparatus.   And the nerves
of sensation, also, do their  part in throwing off  this
fluid.  Let  me here particularize.   The  nerves of
sensation are those  by which feeling is conveyed to
the mind.   The  voluntary nerves are those through
which the mind gives motion to those parts of the
body that  are  under the control of the wiU.   The
involuntary nerves are those that give motion to such
parts of  our  system as  are not under the  control of
the will.  None but  the involuntary nerves pass to
the  heart,  stomach, and liver.   So the  heart will
throb, the stomach  digest its  food, and the liver se-
crete its  gall, when we are awake or asleep, whether
we will it or  not.  But to the  lungs go  both  the
voluntary and involuntary nerves.   The involuntary
ones are,  however,  the most  numerous, so  that
though a man  may hold  his breath and keep the
lungs  in suspension till he faints, yet the involun-
tary  nerves will  get  the mastery, and restore him.
Through these three sets of nerves the galvanic fluid
is continually wasting and passing from  the whole
system.
  That I am correct, as  to the nature of this nervous
fluid, is  certain.   Take an  animal,  and tie off the 
20
LECTURES ON
involuntary  nerves that lead to  the  stomach, and
digestion  will instantly cease.   Then pour a mode-
rate  current of galvanism from  the battery into the
stomach, and digestion will immediately commence.
Hence, I have  clearly proved  that  the  nervo-vital
fluid, secreted by the  brain, is of a galvanic nature,
and   is manufactured  from  electricity which  we
breathe into the  lungs  every inspiration we take.
And I have, moreover, proved that this electro-mag-
netic  power is the only  matter  that  can come  in
contact with mind, and is the only agent by which
the will contracts the muscles.   Hence, the conclu-
sion is absolutely unavoidable, that, by the  concen-
tration of the mind upon an individual, and by the
action of  the will, this fluid can be thrown upon an-
other person till his nervous system is  fully charged.
This  is Mesmerism.
   Having these important facts  before us, we per-
ceive that the  subject is one of momentous  interest.
The nervous system,  embracing the brain and all its
ramifications,  when once  diseased, seems  to  baffle
all medical aid and skill.   Hence, those upon whom
fits of derangement are  permanently  settled,  are
abandoned as hopeless ;  and of both of these states,
we are all more or less in danger.  Those persons,
particularly, who,  on  hearing the  least good or bad
news, are thrown into  tremor and agitation, are in
danger.   Their brains lack the proper  quantity of the
nervo-vital fluid.   It will be remembered  that in the
nerves of the brain there is no blood.  The blood is
exclusively confined to the veins and arteries, while
the nerves are charged with this  nervo-vital fluid, a
galvanic substance.   Now if  the veins and arteries
are  filled with blood, and if the nerves arc  fully
charged with the galvanic fluid ;  in one word, if the
circulating system and  the nervous  system are in
perfect balance, health  and firmness  are the result.
But if the circulating system lack its proper quantity
of blood, then languor and debility of body are the 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
21
result.  But if, on the other hand, the nervous system
lack its proper quantity of galvanic fluid, then ner-
vous excitability is the result, and  the person is in
danger of fits,  derangement, and all  the  nervous
diseases that attend the human race.  This is evident
from the foUowing facts:  Take  a person who has a
sufficiency of blood in the circulating system,  but
who, at the same time, has not  enough  of  the gal-
vanic fluid in his nervous system.   By some circum-
stance the blood is suddenly thrown to his head, and
the veins and arteries which pass round among  the
convolutions of  the brain are swelled with ihis pres-
sure.   The  nerves composing the brain not being
sufficiently filled and braced with the galvanic fluid,
spasmodically collapse, and a fit is the result.  How
often do persons, who suppose they are well, sudden-
ly drop down dead in the streets!  How often has a
father or  mother retired to rest, and apparently in
health, yet in the morning the children found one or
the other a corpse !  Here, through  eating too much,
or some other cause,  the blood was suddenly pro-
pelled to the brain, and the nerves, not being suffi-
ciently braced with the galvanic  fluid, collapsed, and
by apoplexy, instant death ensued.  Even the bosom
companion, slumbering upon the same pillow, never
felt a motion.
  Now if  these  persons had  been mesmerised, no
such calamity would  have ensued.   Their  nervous
system, by which I mean the whole brain and all its
ramifications, would have been  charged from a full
and  healthy brain, and having been thus charged,  it
would have stood the war of internal elements and
outrode the rushing storm.
  In the light our subject now stands, we perceive
how vastly important it is that every person while at
ease, or even in health,  should be operated upon
until the brain  is magnetically subdued.  As stated
in my first lecture, one person can be mesmerised in
an hour or less, another in two hours, and so on up 
22
LECTURES ON
to thirty hours.   Let a healthy friend of yours sit
down, one hour  each day, until he subdues  your
brain.   No person should mesmerise more than one
hour in twenty-four.  The exertion is so great, he
will injure himself if he do.  But here is the glory
of this science.   Though  you may labor an  hour
each day for twenty or thirty days in succession, yet
what you gain, you hold, until the  work is accom-
plished.   And not only so,  but after  the brain is
once magnetically subdued, you can then throw the
person into the state in five minutes.   Yes, a child
ten years old can  then  mesmerise a giant  father.
Your brain being magnetically subdued, it is worth
hundreds of dollars to you.    You are then ready
for the  day of distress.   Come what  may — tooth-
ache, headache, tic doloreux, neuralgia, or any pain
of which you can conceive;  let  some  one mes-
merise you and then wake  you up, and the pain is
gone.  The whole  process need not  occupy more
than ten minutes.  Should  you faU  and break your
arm, then let some person mesmerise the  arm only,
which  can  be done in one minute.   You are free
from pain, and though in your wakeful state, yet you
can look quietly on, and see the bones put to their
places.  Your arm can then be kept in the mesmeric
state,  and  thoroughly and rapidly healed without
having ever experienced  one single throb of pain.
Or by simply mesmerising your arm or leg, you can
sit in the wakeful state and  see them amputated, and
feel no pain.   But if you neglect to  have your brain
magnetically subdued, then when the day of distress
comes upon you,  as it might require several hours to
put you into  this state, it  will then be too late to
avail yourself of the blessings this science  is  calcu-
lated to bestow.
   It is not only a preventive of  fits,  insanity, and of
the most frightful nervous diseases, and a safeguard
against pain, but it will cure fits, if no  congestion of
the brain has taken place.  It never  fails to remove 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
23
the ague and fever, however long it may have been
upon the individual, and  will  prevent  any fevers
prevalent in northern  climates, if the individual be
mesmerised as soon as taken.
   Here, then, are  opening before us new fields of
action where those who have hearts  of benevolence
may freely roam at large, and find ample scope for
the full  gratification  of all their  sympalhetic  and
Christian feelings, and those who scoff and sneer at
this  science, do  scoff and sneer at human wo  and
human pain, and know not what they do. 
24
LECTURES ON
LECTURE  III.
  Ladies  and Gentlemen :  The two lectures  I
have had the pleasure to deliver, and  the successful
experiments I have, during the last  two evenings,
performed in your presence, have  awakened opposi-
tion, and the  excitement  has  truly become tremen-
dous.  Hundreds cannot  gain admittance  into  this
capacious  chapel, and  the breathless  anxiety  and
stillness of this crowded congregation, show the deep
and stirring interest which you feel in  the science of
Mesmerism, which  is the science of mind and its
godlike powers.   For many ages men  have turned
their attention to matter,  and  confined all their in-
vestigations to the realms of material philosophy.  It
is true, that here and there a noble spirit has turned
his attention to scan the nature  and  powers of the
human mind  itself.  But she seemed  to close  her
laboratory against their  entrance, and  forbid them to
lay their hands upon her sacred shrine.  In this con-
dition, there was no alternative but to judge of mind
itself from its vast and  complicated operations, both
mental and moral.  But that  the mind itself could
directly produce a physical result by its own living
energies, seems never  to  have entered  their hearts.
But  new fields of thought are opened to the human
soul, and the mysterious  and wonderful powers of
the  living  mind  are now seen  and  felt.    Circum-
stances require  me to say that I regard  not  the
opposition nor the  scepticism  of men.  I challenge
investigation both as to the experiments I perform,
or the arguments I offer.  I stand mailed with  im-
mutable truth;  and hence,  on  this  subject,  am 
animal  magnetism.
25
invulnerable to  every attack.  Truth is immutable,
cannot bend to  circumstances, and must stand inde-
pendent of  the belief or unbelief of men.  It must
soar on towering wing  far above the reach of scorn,
and sooner  or later triumph over aU  opposition.
   I now come to speak of mind and its powers.   I
have clearly  shown  that  the will  raises  the  arm
through the agency of electricity. Perhaps I  should
not call  it electricity,  but nervo-vital fluid or galvanic
fluid, manufactured from electricity taken in  at the
lungs.   The will is not an attribute  of the mind, but
the result of all the  attributes brought into council
and action.   It is executive of the mind.  The ques-
tion now comes up  in proper  order before us—Is
there any power  in  mind to produce a result by
simply willing it ?  I contend that there is, while the
opposers of Mesmerism  contend that  there  is not.
Mesmerism, then, must stand or faU on the existence
or non-existence of such a power.  And first, suffer
me to  appeal to  you  as  Christians.   If you deny
that mind,  or spirit, has any power  to  produce  a
physical result, then how does the Creator govern the
universe ?   How can his Spirit come in contact with
matter so as to produce any physical results ?  The
creation and government of the world are represented
in  scripture as  the result  of the  divine will.   " He
doeth according to his will in  the army  of heaven,
and among the inhabitants  of earth."   The creation
of the world and all its appendages is represented as
the effect of his wiU.  " He said let there be fight,
and there was light."   " He spake and it was done ;
he  commanded  and it stood fast."   If, then, the infi-
nite Spirit,  by holding  his  wiU  unchangeably upon
all the  multifarious  objects of  creation, moves  un-
numbered worlds, and governs the universe,  then
there is also  an energy  and power in the human
spirit proportionate to  its  greatness.  If  you grant
that the infinite  Spirit, by  putting  forth  an infinite
will, can produce infinite results, then surely a feeble 
26
LECTURES ON
finite spirit by putting  forth a feeble finite wiU can
produce a feeble finite result.   I only ask of you, as
Christian philosophers, the  admission that the same
cause shall produce the same effect.
   If, however, you deny the correctness of this con-
clusion, then I have only to say, that you furnish the
Atheist with a weapon  by which he is sure to defeat
you.   Argue as long as you  please, and even drive
the honest Atheist from every other  ground, he will
at last say—Well, admit there is  a God, yet he can
do nothing.   Your  Bible, says " God is  a spirit."
Hence, he has no hands, feet, nor physical body,  as
we have.  He  may, therefore, will and will to aU
eternity; yet he can do nothing, because spirit, by its
mere mental  action, cannot come in contact  with,
nor in the least affect matter.  We know this, says
the Atheist, from observation and experience.  " And
what can we reason but from what we know ? "   A
human being for  instance, may sit  down  and exer-
cise aU his mental energies.   He  may will and will
to endless age, yet he can do nothing — cannot pro-
duce  the least  physical result,  unless he uses his
hands   or  comes  in bodily contact. I  now  ask
those Christians, who deny that the mind  has  such
power  as  we  are contending for,  how  can  they
answer this argument  of the  Atheist?  I contend
that they are  not able to meet it.  There  is  no
human ingenuity  beneath  these  heavens that the
Christian opposers of the mesmeric power can sum-
mon to their aid adequate to the task.  Indeed,  it
implies a contradiction  in terms, and involves them
in the following compound dilemma.—If the infinite
Spirit, by the energies of his will, can produce infi-
nite results, then a finite spirit, by its will, can pro-
duce a  finite result.   But a finite spirit, by its wiU,
cannot produce any result, so an infinite spirit, by its
will, cannot produce  any result!   Of this  dilemma
they may take  either horn.   Now for the consist-
ency of these  sapient opposers.   They  admit that 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.             27
 the infinite Spirit, by his will, governs  the universe,
 and produces infinite  effects, and  yet deny that a
 finite spirit, by its will, can produce the least physical
 effect; which is most philosophicaUy absurd!  But if
 a finite  spirit, by its living energies, can produce a
 finite result, then there is a God and the heavens do
 rule.  I am willing to  meet any intelligent clergy-
 man in controversy who denies the truth of Mes-
 merism ; and before this enlightened congregation,
 who shall  be our  jurors, I  wiU either make  him
 acknowledge the mesmeric  power, or drive him to
 Atheism.   I wiU leave  him no other alternative.
   We  have thus far confined  our inquiries to the
 fact whether there was  any power at aU in mind to
 produce results  independent of  bodily contact.  I
 now take a still higher  stand, and deny, in total, that
 there is  any power or motion whatever, in the whole
 immeasurable universe, except in mind.   There can
 be no power without motion, nor can there be motion
 except it originate in mind.  I care not through how
 many concatenations of cause  and effect  you may
 trace motion, it is after  all but secondary,  and must
 be traced back to mind as its  starting point.   For
 instance ; suppose a ball should lie at rest upon this
 floor.  It would never stir unless motion were com-
 municated to it by some  extraneous  power.   If an-
 other ball entered that door and came in contact with
 the ball  at  rest, it would communicate  motion to it
 by impulse, losing just as much as it communicated.
 But here is no beginning of motion, and every one
 would look around for the cause.  If, while  gazing,
 you should see another  ball enter the door, struck by
 a  bat, you might not yet be  satisfied, whether that
 bat was held in a man's hand, or whether it was
 fastened in some machinery prepared, and  put in
 motion  by human ingenuity.   But  you see  a third
ball  enter  the door,  and not  only discover the bat
but the hand that grasps it.   You are now satisfied.
 You know that the  hand is connected with a body, 
28
LECTURES ON
and  that body with  a brain and mind.   Now in
these three instances  there is no  beginning of mo-
tion.  The man's hand, the bat and first bcdl are but
the three  instruments through which  motion  was
communicated  to  the ball  at rest, and the man's
mind was the sole mover.
   As the subject of Mesmerism is directly connect-
ed with the powers of mind,  and as this is the pivot
on which the  question between its  advocates and
opposers must  eventually turn, you will permit me
to take a wider range  in this  extensive field.   There
must be some  medium  through which the eternal
mind comes in contact with gross  matter, moves
unnumbered worlds  according to  nature's law, and
sustains  and  governs  the  unbounded  universe.
That medium must be the finest, the most rarified,
and  subtil of inert matter in  being.  It must be the
last link in the material chain of inert substances that
fastens on mind.  This is electricity.   Hence, it is
through electricity,  that the  Great Spirit comes in
contact with his universe.   This is evident, because
it is  electricity, as it  exists in the human  system,
through which  our spirits come in contact with mat-
ter.   We are but an epitome of God's universe, and
in us is contained every variety of matter  and sub-
stance in being.  " The proper study of mankind is
man;"  and in this study, the most unbounded fields
are opened to the range of human thought.
   It  may now be asked, if electricity is  that sub-
stance through  which the Creator  comes in  contact
with  matter, how then could  he act when that splen-
did substance had no  existence ? or, in  other words,
how could he create  " all things out of nothing ?"
I deny the assertion,  that  God created aU things out
of nothing,  and challenge the proof.   Space and
duration exist of necessity, and that space  was eter-
naUy filled  with primal matter, which  I contend is
electricity.   The scriptures  do  not inform  us  that
 God created aU things out  of nothing, and surely 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
29
philosophy cannot inform us how many nothings it
will take to make the  least conceivable something!
Though  it is the commonly received opinion that
aU things were created  out of nothing,  yet  in  aU
ages of the Christian church, there have been  some
eminent men of aU denominations, who have reject-
ed this idea, and  contended that all things were
created out of some substance.  I have not the time
to refer to those persons this evening, yet  permit me
to name one.   A more orthodox man  than John
MHton never lived, as aU know, who have ever read
that astonishing production of the human intellect, his
" Paradise Lost."   He was at war with the idea that
aU things were created out of nothing.   I wiU pre-
sent you with an extract from his Treatise on  Chris-
tian  Doctrine, volume  1, pages 236 and  237.   As I
quote  from memory, I may not be correct in every
word.
  He  says:  " It is  clear, then, that the world was
framed out of matter  of some kind or other.  For
since  action  and  passion  are  relative  terms, and
since,  consequently, no agent can  act externaUy, un-
less there be some  patient  such as matter, it appears
impossible that God could have created this world
out of nothing; not from any defect of power  on  his
part, but because it was necessary, that  something
should previously have existed capable of receiving
passively the exertion of the divine efficacy.   Since,
therefore, both  scripture  and reason concur in pro-
nouncing that  all these  things were made, not out
of nothing, but out of matter, it necessarily follows
that  matter must always have existed independent of
God, or have originated from God at some particu-
lar point of time."
  So you perceive, Milton contends  that both scrip-
ture  and reason teach that all  things were made out
of matter.   I am under no obligations to prove that
all things were not made out of nothing, for no man
is bound by the rules of logic to prove a negative.
         3* 
30
LECTURES  ON
But I wiU, for a moment, depart from this establish-
ed rule of schoolmen, and undertake to prove that
all things  were not made out of nothing.   To this
end, I wiU call into  my service the following argu-
ment.
  We raise an axe, and, at a single blow, cut in two
a piece of wood one inch in  diameter.  Now it is
certain that this wood was not severed instantly in
aU its parts.  If  it were, then  the lower  part would
have been cut at  the  same instant that the upper
part  was, which is  perfectly  absurd, and  therefore
impossible.    The axe certainly passed gradually
through that wood, and progressively separated one
grain after another.  This you all perceive.  By in-
stantly, we  are  to understand, that  no time  shaU
elapse between the accomplishment  of any two ob-
jects.  It may, however, be said, that there are bodies
that  move with greater velocity than this  axe.   I
wiU  then  take  another.   There  is nothing  with
which we are acquainted, that moves with greater
velocity than  light;  its motion being about twelve
miUion miles in  a  minute.  Hence, the passage of a
ray of light from the  sun to the earth, would be about
eight minutes.  It is, therefore, absurd to say that
a ray of light could be at the  sun and  at  the  earth
the same instant, as it  would  allow no time for  its
passage.  I will now  apply the above  argument to
the subject before us.
  If something were created out of nothing, it  could
not,  in the nature of things, have been done progres-
sively  or gradually, because the instant it became the
least possible remove from nothing it would be  some-
thing.  It must, in the very nature of things, remain
nothing till it becomes something, because there  is
no  possible process by which it can be gradually
brought forward into something, for  there is no ex-
isting medium between  something and   nothing.
Now if nothing were created into something, it must
have been done instantly; and if instantly, then  it 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.              31
must have been nothing and something at  the same
instant, which is the climax of absurdity.  It is just
as absurd as to contend that the  piece of wood be-
fore  mentioned was severed  at  the  bottom at the
same time that it  was at the  top,  or that a ray  of
light could be at the sun and  the earth at  the same
instant.   I shall hold this argument sound until some
one  is able to refute it.
   Hence, I  contend for the eternal existence of pri-
mal  matter,  which is electricity.  But even this pri-
mal  matter does not exist independent of Deity.  It
is the natural  atmosphere or substance emanating
from Him.   It is evident that every substance in be-
ing has its atmospheric emanation, by which it  may
be detected before we  arrive at the body.  I say at-
mospheric emanation, because I know of no  other
more  convenient  term, by which I can  express my
ideas.  For instance, the rose, and every  species of
the  flower  tribe, have  their emanations, which like
an atmosphere surround them, and by which we de-
tect  their existence before we come  in contact  with
them.  For the sake of perspicuity, suffer  me to call
it atmospheric  emanation, which in the  above cases
is detected by smell.  The  same is true  of every
species of trees and plants in being.  The same is
true of every species of earth, and rock, and mineral,
in existence.   Each substance has  an  atmospheric
emanation peculiar to itself, and by which it can  be
discovered by  man, or by some other living creature.
 The camel  on the  desert  will  detect water twenty
miles distant.  The same is true in relation to all the
races  and tribes of animated beings.  Each has  its
own  peculiar  atmospheric emanation, by which it
may be  detected by some other creature, by some
instinctive sense  of which we have little or no  con-
ception.  As then every substance in being has  its
own peculiar emanation, so  the  atmospheric emana-
tion of the self-existent Spirit, is electricity, which, 
2
LECTURES  ON
proceeding forth  from Him, does not therefore exist
independent of him.
   It wiU now be  said that, on this principle  of rea-
soning, the speaker will make it out that spirit itself
is matter.  If by spirit  you mean that which has
neither length, breadth, nor thickness, nor occupies
any space, then I have only to say that it is  a  mere
chimera of the human brain, a nonentity, a nothing!
Does Deity fill aU  space?   Then he is  of course a
substance, a real, living, acting and thinking being ;
otherwise, as  Christians, we use words without knowl-
edge, when we say that he fills  immensity with  his
presence.  But it may be said that mind is thought,
reason and understanding, and then be asked, wheth-
er thought, reason, understanding, cVc, occupy any
space ?  But  I deny that these are mind.   Thought,
reason  and  understanding are   not  mind, but  the
effects of mind.  Mind is something supremely high-
er than all  these.  I  yet  ask what is  that which
thinks, reasons and understands?  It is  the mind.
Then mind is something  distinct from those effects
by which it is made manifest.  What, then, it may be
asked,is mind ?   I answer, it is that substance which
has  innate or living motion; and the result of that
motion is thought, reason, understanding, and, there-
fore, power.   As electricity is the highest  and most
subtil of inert substances, as it fastens on mind, and
is, therefore, more easily moved  than any other inert
substance in  being, so mind is  the next step above
electricity, is  the  crowning  perfection of all  other
substances in immensity — is living motion; and the
result of that  motion  is thought and power.   It is
the living Spirit from whom emanates electricity, and
who, out  of  that electricity, has  created all  worlds.
Hence, the  Creator is a real  substance  or being,
possessing personal identity, and is infinite in  every
perfection of  his adorable character.
   Electricity, which is an atmospheric emanation
from God, and which  is moved  by his wiU, is that 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.             33
substance out of which all worlds and their splendid
appendages were made.   Hence, it will be perceived,
that electricity contains all the original properties of
all the various substances in being.  All the varieties
of the universe  around  us — all  the  beauties and
glories of creation  upon which  we  look with  so
many thrilling emotions  of  delight, were produced
from electricity, which is the inexhaustible fountain
of primal matter.   By the  living energies  of the
Divine Mind electricity was  condensed into globes;
not instantly, but gradually.   The heaviest particles
took  the  lowest point, or common centre of our
globe, and so on, step by step, lighter and lighter,
till we reach the surface which is a vegetable mould.
On this we find water, a  substance  still lighter than
earth; next air, which is lighter  than water, and so
on tiU we reach the sun, which is the highest point
in relation to our system, because it is the common
centre.    The  sun  is,  therefore, pure   electricity.
Hence,  the  twenty-nine  globes,  belonging to our
system, are electrically, geologically and magnetical-
ly made.   They are but twenty-nine magnets revolv-
ing around our sun as a common centre.
  The sun, being pure electricity or primal matter,
is but an emanation from the Deity.   It is, conse-
quently, in a positive state.   Hence,  electricity  is
continually passing  from the  sun, as a  common
centre, to  the twenty-nine surrounding worlds;  on the
same principle that it passes from a positive to a nega-
tive cloud.  Having done its duty in giving light, heat
and vegetation, as well as magnetic power to globes,
it is returned by reaction to  the sun, and  these two
motions  form  the  vortices that roll worlds around
him.  It is impossible that there can be any inherent
attraction and repulsion  in  matter.  Attraction and
repulsion  are but different dispositions  of  electricity.
The best magnets are now made from the galvanic
battery.   Hence, electricity, galvanism  and magnet-
ism  are but in substance one  and the same fluid,
and as this is primal  matter,  an  emanation from the 
34
LECTURES ON
Eternal  Mind, so  all the  powers  of attraction  and
repulsion  originate  in Deity.   His  will  comes in
contact with electricity, and through that subtil agent
he moves  the whole  immeasurable  universe in  ac-
cordance  with  nature's law.    All  worlds  are in
motion.   They roll rapid  as the  lightning's blaze,
and in the most apparent confusion;  yet all  is calm,
regular and harmonious.   God is, therefore, connect-
ed with  his universe,  and superintends all  its multi-
farious operations.   Though he is  thus  intimately
united  to  inert matter, yet  he is distinct from  the
whole.
                             " Thou apart,
        Above, beyond;  O tell me, mighty Mind,
        Where art thou ? Shall I dive into the deep ?
        Call to the sun ?  or ask the roaring winds
        For their Creator ? Shall I question loud
        The thunder, if in that the Almighty dwells ?
        Or holds he furious storms in straitened reins,
        And bids fierce whirlwinds wheel his rapid car ?
         The nameless  He!  whose nod is nature's birth;
        And nature's shield the shadow of his hand;
        Her dissolution his suspended smile!
        The great First Last!  pavilioned high he  sits
        In darkness, from excessive splendor borne,
        By gods unseen, unless through  lustre lost.
        His glory, to created glory, bright,
        As that to central horrors; he looks down
        On all that soars, and spans immensity."

  Worlds are not only electrically, geologically and
magnetically made,  but  they  are electrically  and
magnetically suspended and moved by the imme-
diate  energies  of the  Divine  Mind.   Here is an
image in  paper  costume.   I will attach  it  to  this
electrizing  machine  and  charge it.    See!  those
papers  are now all suspended, and  being  equally
charged, they repel each other.   I  will now  put  my
fingers near them.  See!  how they are attracted by
my hand.   They touch me, give off their  electricity,
become  equalized with  my  fingers, and  then  faU.
Here, then, is suspension, attraction, and  repulsion,
by  electricity.  It  may,  however, be said, that if 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
35
worlds are moved by  electricity,  that  they  must
necessarily move as quick as lightning.  This does
not follow.  Here  is an orrery, with which  the most
of you are acquainted.   I  attach it to the  electrical
machine, and charge.  You see it is moved by giv-
ing  off  electricity  at its points.  But  though elec-
trically moved, yet it does  not  move  as quick  as
lightning.   The  magnet I  hold  in  my hand  was
charged from the galvanic battery, and by one single
stroke of the battery from the prongs of this magnet
towards the  bow, I can destroy all  its magnetic
powers, and by reversing the  action, I can just  as
suddenly restore them.
   I  have  now clearly shown that  aU  motion and
power originate in mind, and as the  human spirit,
through an electro-magnetic medium, comes in con-
tact with matter, so the infinite Spirit does the same,
and  through this medium he governs the universe.
Hence, those who  deny the  mesmeric power, must,
to be  consistent with themselves, deny that  there is
any  medium through which mind can come in con-
tact with matter, or else deny that mind, abstractly
considered, has any power to produce results.   But
the denial of either of these is  a denial of an all-
powerful,  self-existent Spirit, the Creator and  Gov-
ernor of the universe.  But, on the other hand, how
sublime the idea, that God  is electrically and  mag-
netically connected with his universe; that, by the
energies of  his own will,  he has  condensed and
formed worlds  from electricity, which is  but the
atmospheric  emanation  of his own spirit, and that
by electricity  he sustains, rolls,  and governs  them
from age to age.   And how sublime  the idea, that
he has " poured spirit from  spirit's  awful fountain,
and  kindled  into existence  a world of rationals."
He has  poured himself through all his works, and
stamped upon them beauty, order, and harmony,
which are  but the  reflected impressions of  his own
SPLENDOR. 
36
LECTURES  ON
LECTURE  IV.
  Ladies and Gentlemen :  It is a source of grati-
fication to me that public attention, in Boston and
vicinity, is completely awakened  to the interests of
Spiritualism, and  that they are giving this subject
that  investigation  which  its importance  demands.
We live emphatically in an age of investigation and
improvement,  when light seems  to be pouring  in
oceans on our world;  and he who shuts  his eyes,
and then scoffs and sneers because others open theirs
and see, is not only recreant to duty, but does society
an irreparable  wrong.  But those  who remain  in
scepticism much longer on  the subject of Mesmer-
ism, will be suspected either of ignorance  or dishon-
esty.  I make this  remark, because there is no possi-
ble apology that any man of common sense should
remain in scepticism another day.   He can go home
and try it upon  his children or friends, and test  its
power, and know  its truth; and  this  every man is
bound to  do who  desires to mitigate human pain,
and assuage human woes.  The subject is  one of
paramount consideration, and is worthy of your best
affections, your most ardent zeal,  and  your warmest
hopes.
  In my last lecture, I took into consideration mind
and its powers, and the  medium through which it
comes in  contact  with  matter.  This medium is
electricity, and is that  eternal, primal  matter out of
which all other  substances were made.  It fills im-
mensity of space;  and worlds are successively and
continually formed by the condensation of electricity
under the living and  ever-acting energies of  the 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
37
Eternal Mind.   We are floating in an immensity of
space  that knows no  bounds, like the mote in the
sunbeam.  This is peopled with swarming worlds,
in number beyond an  angel's  computation ;  and the
residue, which has not yet become the abodes of life,
order,  and beauty, is  filled up with primal matter
still in its electrical state.  Hence, the work of crea-
tion has been going on  from  eternity, and will con-
tinue to progress so long as  the throne of the self-
existent Jehovah endures, without ever arriving at an
end in the sublime career of creation.   New brother
creations  are, therefore,  every moment rolling from
his omnific hand, and that  creating fiat will  never,
never cease.  All this  is effected by the energies of
mind.
   In my last lecture, I stated,  and, as  I thought, con-
clusively proved, that thought,  reason, understanding,
&c, were not mind, but merely the results of  mind,
and  gave what I considered conclusive evidence.
I, moreover, stated that  mind was  a  substance that
occupied  space, that it possessed living motion, and
that the result of that motion was thought, reason,
and power, and gave what I considered proof.   But
it seems that both of these positions have been dis-
puted, and hence I will once more touch these two
points.
   If thought, reason,  and understanding are  mind,
then our minds are annihilated every night in  sleep.
Because, if all the organs of  the brain are wrapped
in profound slumber,  then there  is  not a  single
thought stirring in the whole  intellectual  realm.  It
will not answer  to parry the force of  this argument,
by saying  that  the action of  blood upon the  brain
produces thought, and  that this action  is suspended
in slumber, because the blood flows  and acts upon
the brain  in  sleep, as well  as  when we are  awake;
and  hence we  should, on this principle,  think and
reason when  asleep, nearly as  well  as when awake.
This, however,  is not the case.  If, then, thought 
38
LECTURES  on
and reason are mind, I must insist that, in profound
slumber, the mind is  annihilated,  for  thought is
gone.  Hence it  is plain, that  thought, reason, and
understanding are not mind, but the  effects of mind.
  I wiU now take a different argument from the one
offered in my last lecture, to prove  that mind is a
substance that has innate motion, and  that this mo-
tion produces thought.   It is admitted  on aU hands,
that the mind resides in the brain, not  in  the blood-
vessels, but in  the nerves themselves.   Now, if the
nerves are very much expanded by heat, it is impos-
sible  to sleep.  By lying perfectly  still  upon our
beds, there  is a coolness  steals  over the brain.   The
nerves,  by coolness, are made to  contract.  They
continue gently to shrink until they press upon the
living substance that they contain, and stop its motion.
That moment all thought ceases.   Recollect,  mind
is that substance whose nature is motion,  and the
result of that motion  is thought.  By pressure, by
force, it is stopped, and thought is gone.   The mo-
ment our rest is complete, a nervous wa.rmth comes
over the brain.  The nerves expand, leave the  mind
disengaged, it resumes its motion, and  thought is the
result.  As cold shrinks, and heat expands the nerv-
ous  system, so that we  alternately sleep  and  wake
under this  double action, so the mind is a living,
self-moving,  and  indivisible   substance,  which  is
capable of being compressed  sufficient, at least, to
prevent its motion.
  Having  made  these  remarks,  wThich the circum-
stances of the occasion seemed to require at my
hands, I now invite your attention  to  what is called
by sceptics the incomprehensibility and marvellous-
ness of magnetic sleep; and who, on this  account,
openly avow the  impossibility and inconsistency of
any  one being  thrown into  such a  state; and who,
whenever they witness  experiments  to test  it,  freely
use  the stereotyped words, "humbug and collusion"
and  that, too,  with  great emphasis, without  being 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
39
able,  however, to detect  this great, this wonderful
imposition on public credulity!
  The greatest objection to the truth of the science
of Mesmerism arises from the circumstance, that the
subject can see in a manner  different from  the ordi-
nary mode of vision.   That  any person can see out
of the templar region, or out of the top, or back part
of the skuU,  and  through solid  walls, and in the
darkest night, they contend is too  preposterous to be
believed.   I  deeply regret to say  that medical  men
not only give countenance to such declarations made
by the common mass, but are engaged in making
the same  themselves.  But  I seriously appeal  to
them whether they have never seen any patients in a
certain state of the nervous system, induced by dis-
ease, where they could thus see, and when sensation
was so perfectly extinct that amputation might have
taken place without pain?  Have they never  seen
a case of catalepsy?  If not,  have they never  seen
in medical works well-authenticated  cases of this
disease reported?  Surely they wiU not deny these
things.  I further inquire; have they never seen a
case, nor read, nor heard one reported, where patients
in a  state of catalepsy have been entirely clairvoy-
ant?   where they  have  seen,  as  no person in the
ordinary way of vision can see?   I am  conscious
that they will not hazard their medical reputation by
giving these  interrogatories  an unqualified denial.
Of all persons  beneath these heavens, medical gen-
tlemen should  be the  last to sneer at the idea  of
clairvoyance,  or  even  total insensibHity of a person
in the magnetic state.
   Catalepsy is a sudden suppression of motion and
sensation; a kind of apolexy, in which the patient is
in a  fixed posture.  If the  case  be an aggravated
one, the patient is sometimes senseless  and even
speechless.  To bring this subject directly and plain-
ly before you, I will relate to you an incident which
was stated to me about six months ago  by Dr.  Pat- 
40                LECTURES ON
terson, an eminent physician of Lynchburg, Virginia.
A young lady was taken sick.  Her physician, who
lived some eight  or ten miles distant, was sent for.
Pie found  her in a  stale of catalepsy.   Though
there  was  no sensation in her body, yet she had
occasional fits of talking.  He prescribed, stated that
he should be there the next evening, and left.  The
evening came, and a most tremendous storm of rain,
with high  winds, set in.   The darkness was pro-
found.  As the family were  seated in  silence and
anxiety in  the same  room where  the  patient lay,
some one said, " Well, our doctor will not be here to-
night."   The sick lady answered; " Yes he will; he
is coming now; he is riding on horseback, and is aU
drenched with rain."   The family supposing this to
be a mere reverie  of the brain, a touch  of delirium,
made no reply.  Nearly an hour passed  on ;  and the
storm continuing with  unabating violence, one  of
the pensive group again broke  the  silence, and ex-
claimed with a feeling of regret, " Well, it is certain
our doctor will not be here this  dark stormy  night! "
The sufferer again  answered, " Yes he will; he is
most here now; there he is hitching his  horse ; he is
coming to  the door."  They heard  the  raps;  the
door was opened, and in  came the doctor.   I now
ask, how did this  lady in a state of catalepsy see the
physician several  miles  distant, through the walls of
her house and in so dark a night ?
   This report was given in a  medical  journal and
well authenticated.  And  moreover, there are  many
of a similar character; and  of these facts  medical
men are well  aware.  Now I appeal to them, who
are present on this occasion,  that, if it is possible to
throw the nervous system into a condition by disease,
so that the  patient can see in a manner entirely dis-
tinct from  the ordinary mode  of vision,  then, how
can they, without presumption, affirm that a person
cannot  be  thrown into  a  similar state by Mesmer-
ism?   It is proved by medical works  that such  a 
               ANIMAL MAGNETISM.             41

state of the brain is possible; and who will  take
upon himself to affirm, that it can be induced by no
other means than disease ?  As a state ef catalepsy
is thus frequently attended with  clairvoyance,  and
with total insensibility, so  that amputation could be
performed without pain, then why should we marvel
when we  see the same identical phenomena cluster-
ing around Mesmerism?   I have  only  to say that,
our surprise is wholly  gratuitous.
   I appeal  to  medical gentlemen  present.   Have
you never seen a case of  natural somnambulism?
There are hundreds  of them occur in this city;  and
in every town there are those who rise in their sleep,
perform labors, and  return to their beds without
knowing it.  In this state they have gone to the top of
house-frames, walked  on  the  ridgepoles, and safely
descended.   They have, in the darkest nights, walked
over dangerous  and rapid streams on a mere scant-
ling in safety, where a slight loss of balance would
have been death, and  where it would be impossible
for  them  to have  crossed in  their wakeful state.
Women  have  arisen, and in  this state have  done
the  nicest needle-work.  And how did these  see?
Surely not with the  natural  organ of vision.  A
young lady at  boarding-school,  learning  to paint
miniatures, and on  preparing  one for examination-
day, found that she  should be excelled  by the other
pupils.   It worried her much, and to  her surprise
she found in  the  morning,  that her   picture  had
greatly advanced under the delicate touch  of some
experienced hand.   She charged  the deed upon her
teacher, who disclaimed all knowledge  of  the  fact.
But on the next morning the picture  was nearly
finished,  but the transgressor  could not be found.
 The Preceptress being strongly suspected, secretly
sat up and watched.   In the dead of night, when ail
was still,  the young lady arose, and in  a dark room
arranged  her work, mixed her colors, and  began to
paint.  Her Preceptress lit a lamp, entered the room,
              4* 
42
LECTURES  ON
and  saw  that  lady  finish her  picture.   She then
awakened her.   How did she see how to mix  her
colors, and to give the nicest  touch with her pencil
where no human  eye in the wakeful state could
discern an object?  'Such facts  as these,  and even
more wonderful, are weU known to medical gentle-
men.  Now, if  persons can  by some  cause be
thrown into somnambulism upon their  beds,  then
reason teaches  that  they may be thrown into  the
same state, and even a  much deeper sleep by the
magnetic power.
  We will now take into consideration the philoso-
phy  of clairvoyance.  It  is evident that seeing, hear-
ing,  feeling, tasting and smelling, belong exclusively
to the mind.   And as we have clearly proved  that
electricity is  the only substance that can come in
contact with  mind, so it is through  the  agency of
this  fluid that sensations are transmitted to the mind.
Hence, it  is through the medium of electricity  that
we see, hear, feel, taste and smell.
   The power of sight being in the mind, it is evident
that  we never saw any thing out of  our eyes.   The
whole of this  congregation, with all their different
costumes,  their various  complexions and different
appearances, and all  their relative   distances  from
each other, are  struck upon the retina of the speaker's
eye, on about the  bigness of  a quarter of an  inch.
By the  agency of electricity it is conveyed through
the optic nerve to the mind where it is seen.   Hence,
we never saw a piece of matter but only its shadow,
the same  as when you look into a  mirror, it is not
yourself,  but your image that you see.   Electricity
is that substance that passes through  all  other  sub-
stances.   Air cannot pass through your cranium, nor
through these walls, nor metallic substances.  But as
all these have countless millions of pores, electricity
can pass through them.  Now if our  nervous system
could be  charged with the nervo-vital fluid, so as to
render the brain positive, and  thus bring it  into an 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
43
exact equilibrium or balance with external electricity,
then we should be clairvoyant.  Because the nervous
system being  duly charged, and even  surcharged,
the great quantity of this fluid passing in right lines
from the mind, as a  common centre, and in every
direction through the pores  of the  skull, renders  it
transparent.   Uniting with external electricity which
passes through these walls and all substances, which
are also transparent, the image of the whole universe,
as  it were, in  this transparent form, is thrown upon
the mind,  and is there  seen, and  seen,  too, inde-
pendent of the retina.  On this  principle, the whole
of those objects which are opaque to natural vision,
are rendered transparent to  the  clairvoyant, and he
sees through walls in succession, and takes cogni-
zance of their relative distances, on the same principle
that we in a wakeful state could look through said
waUs  if they  were thin, transparent glass.  On this
principle, if the  subject be  charged too much or too
little, he cannot  see clearly.   Or  if the  night  be  ^
rainy,  or even  damp, and unfavorable to electricity,
then experiments in clairvoyance  must fail, or be
very imperfect.   The subject must be magnetically
charged exactly to  that degree which will bring him
into magnetic  equilibrium with  external electricity.
Then,  if the night be favorable, the experiments will
most likely prove successful.
   That  the above principles  are  correct,  and that
taste, seeing, &c, are  electrically conveyed to the
mind,  try  the following  experiments.  Take a half
dollar, and a piece  of zinc of the same size.   Touch
them separately to the tongue, and you will not per-
ceive any taste.  But put the tongue  between them,
and, in this position, touch the edges of the two pieces
together over the end of the tongue, and you will
taste a pungent acid.  This  taste is produced  elec-
trically.  Zinc contains a greater portion of electricity
than the silver, and when they  come in contact  it
gives it off to  the  silver, and conveys the sensation 
44
LECTURES  ON
of taste through the glands to the mind.   In further
proof of this being  electricity, put the half dollar
against  the gums  under the  upper lip.   Open the
mouth  and lay the zinc upon  the  tongue.    By
moving the tongue up and down, you wiU touch the
pieces together, and every time they come in contact
you  wiU not only perceive the  same taste  before
described,  but  you  will see a  flash  of  lightning.
Now that this lightning is seen directly by the mind,
and independent of the natural organ of the eye, you
may enter  a dark  room, and in  the  darkest night;
close your  eyes and even  bandage them, and yet
when you touch those pieces, as described, you will
see the flash, even  when one from the heavens could
not  be  seen.   This  flash is conveyed through the
nervous  system directly to  the  mind, where  alone
exists the power of vision.   This is  not only  proof
that  taste and sight are electrically conveyed to the
mind, but also that electricity is that substance which
alone comes in contact with mind.
  It is  the same  in  relation to the other senses.
Even hearing is not produced by the concussion of
the  particles  of our air, but by  the vibration of the
particles of electricity conveyed  to the mind, and in
that  tremulous manner through the organ  of the ear
coming in direct contact with mind.  It is impossible,
in the nature of things, that so gross a substance as
air can pass the barriers of the ear and  enter the
brain to produce any sound.  But it may  be said,
that  though the particles of air do not enter the brain,
yet with a vibrating motion they strike the drum of
the ear  and convey sound to the mind.  This cannot
be, because there  is no air in the brain itself; and
hence, there is no internal aerial medium through
which sound could  be transmitted to the mind, even
if we admit that the concussion of  the  particles of
external air  conveyed  it to the  drum.   I  yet ask,
what is the internal  medium beyond, through  which
that sound is conveyed to the mind?  There is no air 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
45
there;  and if it be a vacuum, then no  sound what-
ever can be conveyed.   The  truth is, that the same
substance in tremulous motion, wfiich conveys sound
to the drum  of the ear, also passes through it into
the nervous  system,  and conveys  its oracle  to  the
very throne of the living mind.  This  is electricity,
which is the only correspondent or mediator between
mind and matter, laying its brilliant hand upon both
parties, and bringing them into communication.
   The sense of smell exists in the mind,  and from
surrounding substances  the sensation is electrically
conveyed to it.  But as  smell is so nearly related to
taste, the same argument may be applied to both.   I
wiU therefore proceed to notice the sense of feeling.
   It is generaUy said that the sense of feeling is in
the nerves.   But I contend that it belongs exclusively
to  the  mind, the nerves being  the  mere  medium
through which it is electricaUy conveyed to the mind.
Indeed, aU our sensations,  whether of seeing, hear-
ing, feeling,  tasting, or smelling, are conveyed  to
the mind,  through the nervous  system, from their
correspondent organs, which  are but the mere start-
ing points, or inlets of sensation.   And as the nervo-
vital fluid, which  is of an electric nature, is the only
substance that acts through the  nerves, so  electricity
is the agent which conveys aU our  sensations to  the
mind.   Though it is said  that  feeling is diffused
over the whole  system,  yet strictly speaking, this is
not true.   All feeling is  in  the mind.   It is evident
that the mind resides in the brain.  It is not diffused
over ihe whole  nervous system, for then we might
be as sensible that thought proceeded from the hand
or foot, as  from the head.   In this case, the loss of a
hand or foot would  be the loss  of some portion of
our minds.   The spinal  marrow is  but a continua-
tion of the brain.   Branches  shoot  out, and from
these,  other  branches in infinite variety, until they
are spread out over  the whole system ten  thousand
times finer than the  finest hair-sieve, — so  fine that 
46
LECTURES  ON
you cannot put down the point  of a cambric needle
without feeling it, and you  cannot  feel unless you
touch a nerve.  Hence, you perceive how very fine
the nervous system  must be!  Of  this system, the
brain is the fountain, and is the local habitation of
the mind.
  Now touch the finger to any object, and that touch
produces a corresponding action upon the brain, and
through the agency  of  the  electro-magnetic fluid,
that  sensation  is conveyed to the mind.  It  is the
mind that  feels it, and  by habit we  associate the
feeling with the end of the finger.  But amputate
the arm, and  then  touch the corresponding nerve at
the end of  the stump, and he will yet associate the
feeling with the end of  the finger.  But  the feeling
is not even in  the end of the stump.   It  is in the
mind which has its residence in the brain.
  I knew a blacksmith who  had his leg amputated
above the knee.  When healed, he put on a wooden
leg, and resumed his labors in the shop.  He could
feel his leg and toes as usual, and many times in a
day, he would, without reflection, put down his
hand to scratch his wooden  leg.  Being unlearned
and  superstitious, he supposed that his  leg was
buried in  an  uncomfortable position,  and therefore,
haunted its wooden substitute.  He dug it up, placed
under it a  soft cotton bed, and reburied it; but all to
no purpose.  He  made  the  circumstance  known to
his physician, who told him to find the corresponding
nerve on the stump, and he could cause the itching
sensation to cease.   He  did so, and the difficulties
were at once overcome.
   A gentleman called upon  me, in October, 1842,
at the house  of  the Hon.  T. J.  Greenwood, in
Marlboro'.   He stated, that he  injured his arm, the
cords contracted  and drew  up his fingers, so as
perfectly to clench the hand.  It was in great pain,
and  the arm was  amputated  just above the  elbow.
And though  three years had passed  away, he said 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
47
there was yet a constant pain as though  the fingers
were drawn up; and from that contraction the pain
seemed to proceed.  Now the whole of this difficulty
was felt in the brain.   If I may be allowed the ex-
pression, the brain has its  legs and arms, and toes
and fingers.  Or  allow me to  go entirely back.  It
is the mind which has its limbs and all its lineaments
of  form, and from which  all form, proportion and
beauty emanate.
  I observed a moment ago,  that the spinal cord
was but the brain continued.  Now let a knife  be
inserted between the joints of the  spine, and let this
cord be severed, and aU the parts of the body,  below
the incision, will be  paralized.  You  may now cut
or burn the legs, but all feeling is  gone;  neither can
they be moved by the will.   The  will cannot come
in  contact with flesh and blood, only through the
electro-magnetic fluid.  The mind is in the  brain,
and as the spinal marrow is severed, so the  lower
parts are  separated  from the  fountain  of feeling.
The communication of the electrical  influence  is
destroyed between the extremities  and the mind, and
hence, the extremities can convey sensations  to the
mind no  more.
   I might  continue  the argument to an indefinite
extent to prove that all our senses (seeing, hearing,
feeling, tasting and smelling) are in  the mind, and
that these  sensations, through their corresponding
organs,   are  electrically   conveyed  to   the  mind,
through the nervous system, but  I forbear, and pro-
ceed, as usual, to  the anticipated experiments  of  the
evening. 
48
LECTURES  ON
LECTURE  V.
  Ladies and Gentlemen :  We are again assem-
bled to take into consideration the subject of Mes-
merism.   Its growing interest in the public mind is
manifest, by the increasing throngs that  assemble in
this  chapel, to investigate its claims to  truth and
science, and the multitudes that are obliged to retire,
unable to gain admittance.   As several  notes, since
my entrance into this  house, have been  handed me,
I shall be obliged to omit introductory remarks, and
attend to two or three important requests.
  An inquiry is made as to  the number of degrees
or states into which a subject may be thrown.   In
reply to  this, I would say, that  there are but five
degrees which have, as yet, come under  my obser-
vation.   The first  degree is, when the hands  or
even the whole body of the subject can  be attracted
by the conjoint action of the mental and physical
energies  of the magnetizer.   The second degree is,
when the hands, or body  of the subject, can be  at-
tracted by the mental  energies alone, or by the phy-
sical energies independent of  any  mental  effort.
The third degree is, when  the  subject can neither
hear nor answer any person  but the  magnetizer and
those who are in  communication.   The fourth de-
gree is, when the  subject  can taste  what the mag-
netizer tastes, and  smell what he smells.   The  fifth
degree is clairvoyance.  I would not be  understood
that these five degrees always occur  in  the order I
have now stated them; but I mean that there  are
these five different degrees.  Some never seem to
go  further than the  third  degree, and  no surgical 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
49
operation should be performed, unless the subject be
put completely into this  third state, so that no voice
but the  magnetizer's can be heard.   It can  then be
performed without any pain.
  Another inquiry is made, whether any person can
put  himself  into  communication with the  subject
without the magnetizer's consent?  I answer,  yes.
Any person may put himself into communication by
ardently fixing his attention upon the  subject while
another is magnetizing him, especially if he sits near
him.  Or he  may do  it by touching,  or  too freely
handling him.   He may do it by violently throwing
his  hands towards him,  and within a foot of  his
body.   Or, lastly, he may take two or  three  electric
shocks from a charged Ley den jar, within eight or ten
feet of the subject, being careful to  fix his eyes firm-
ly upon him whfle taking the shock.   The  second
or third shock, the subject will start with him who
receives it — and when he starts he is in  communi-
cation.
  A third inquiry is made, whether any one but the
magnetizer can awaken the subject?    Certainly.
Any person who is put in communication with him
can take him out of the  state.  Or by a firm deter-
mination, he  can awaken himself.  In fact, he may
be put in bed, and in a few hours, say from eight to
fourteen, he will come out of it the  natural way.
  A. fourth, and last inquiry is made, if magnetism
be true, why  has not more of it been seen, at least
in some small degree, in different ages ?  I answer,
that its history dates back to a very early  age which
I cannot now pursue, but would  refer you to the
" Magnet," a work published  by the Rev. La Roy
Sunderland,  in  New York  city,  and which can be
had in monthly  numbers, at two  dollars per annum,
and may be  obtained in Court  street, in this city.
It is a work which is conducted  with  great  ability,
and should be in  possession of every family.   But
the  inquirer  asks, " why has not more of it  been 
50
LECTURES  ON
seen, at least in  some  small  degree,  in different
ages ? "  I answer, it has been seen and felt.   Have
you never read the bold, lofty, and  full-gushing elo-
quence of  Demosthenes,  whose thunders  roused
Greece into action, and moved her sons as the wind
in its rushing majesty moves the sublime magnifi-
cence  of ten thousand forests?   This was but the
magnetic  principle, the  lightning of the  mind,  by
which  they were electrified, and  made to  act as one
man against the  powers of Philip.  The same is
true of Cicero, who  shook  the Roman senate with
his voice,  and beneath the electric glance  of whose
awful eye, even Cataline quailed.  I am well aware
that you will call this sympathy.   But what is  sym-
pathy ?  It  is the  nervo-vital fluid  thrown  from a
full, energetic brain, upon  another of kindred feel-
ing.  That brain being roused effects another, and
that still another, till the whole assembly are brought
into magnetic sympathy with  the  speaker, and by
him are moved as the soul of one man.
   As a further answer to this question, I will notice
one fact more; and in  doing  this,  I shall remove
what has  long been considered  as  a stigma  on a
large and respectable  denomination.   I  mean the
Methodists.   Ever since  that class of Christians had
a religious existence in  the United States, persons
have fallen  down  into a species of trance.   Other
denominations call this  delusion, and many call it
deception, because such  things  never occur in  their
meetings.  But there is no deception in this—it is
really  the  magnetic  state—or  more properly the
spiritual state.  Every preacher cannot do it, and as
it  is done without contact, comparatively few  are
subjects of it.
   But take  a preacher of strong  muscular powers ;
one who  has large concentrativeness, and eye of
lightning, and a warm,  a  sincere and  ardent  soul.
He  enters a tent at  camp-meeting, where there  are
fifteen or twenty  persons.   He  kneels  down  and 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
51
 prays most fervently; he rises and sings most  de-
 votionally.   He  is  in close  contact with  his little
 group.   He  begins to  exhort most sincerely ; and
 soon the deep fountains of his soul are  broken  up.
 A female,  perchance, is  moved to tears.   His con-
 centration  being large, he keeps  his eye steadily  fix-
 ed upon her, and he wills and desires, that she shall
 feel as he feels, and be converted to God.   At length
 she falls into this singular state.   She has gone there
 in the preacher's feelings, and in his feelings she will
 come out of it.  Now, if he would follow my direc-
 tions, he could restore her  in two minutes.  I will
 pledge myself to arouse any one from this magnetic
 state in five minutes.  Dr. Cannon, of this city, took
 a lady out.  of this  state a few weeks ago, in Prov-
 incetown,  who was thrown  into  it in a  religious
 meeting, and who appeared nearly lifeless.   A report
 of this was published in the  " Christian Freeman."
 Now all these are  really magnetic effects that  we
 have seen,  and for many years  in  succession.   So
 the  inquiries are all answered,  and I  hope,  to  the
 satisfaction of the inquirers and the congregation.
   I  must now proceed to  notice the dangers and
 abuses of  Mesmerism.  It is often said  by its op-
 posers,  that  even if it be true, yet it is dangerous,
 because it can be abused, and therefore ought not to
 be  practised.  But  do you know of any blessing
 beneath these  heavens but what has been, and still
 continues to be abused ?  No, you do not.  Do you
 know of a more common blessing than  taste ?  yet
 to gratify their taste, miUions on  millions  have gone
 down to a drunkard's tomb!  Mothers have been
 more than  widowed, and children more  than  or-
 phanised.   They have been beaten and abused, and
 suffered cold,* and  hunger, and  nakedness.  Under
it, crimes have been  committed, and the state prisons
 filled with wretched  men.  Human beings have also
 by millions gone down to their graves through excess
in eating.   But is taste a curse because men  abuse 
52
LECTURES  ON
it?  and must  it, therefore, be  struck from the cata-
logue of Heaven's mercies ?   All answer, no.  Ac-
quisitiveness, benevolence,  and  combativeness can
be abused, and so  can all the organs of the human
brain.   But ought they not on  that  account  to be
indulged ?
  Once  more; there  is not a greater blessing than
the gospel of Christ.  It teaches us to love and for-
give our enemies ; to  resist not  evil, and to do unto
others as we would that they should do  unto us.   It
is calculated to moderate our  feelings in prosperity
— to comfort us in the day of adversity—and to sus-
tain us  under  all the  troubles and  disappointments
incident to mortal life.   When  our  parents, friends
and chffdren  are  on  their  dying  bed,  we can
shake the farewell hand of mortal  separation, with
the hope of meeting  them again in  future realms.
And not only so, but when we lie down upon the
bed of death, and the embers of life feebly glimmer
in the socket of existence, then the gospel of  Christ
points  us  to  brighter  scenes—scenes beyond  the
tomb.   Yet men have  abused that gospel, and one
denomination   has  risen  up  against another, and
doomed each  other to the stake.  Rivers of human
blood  have flowed in  the holy wars.   But  is  the
gospel  a curse, and should it be struck from exist-
ence  merely because men abuse  it?   No,  is  the
answer of every Christian heart.   Then the  objec-
tion fails.  One thing must settle this point.   There
is nothing that God has established as  a law  in our
nature, but what was designed  to be a blessing to
his  creatures.  The  magnetic  principle  is  not of
man, but one the  Creator has  established, and is,
therefore, a blessing.  And if it could not be abused,
it would differ from  aU other blessings he has be-
stowed on man.
   But it is said, that a man upon the high-way may
be thrown into the state and robbed.  But  I deny
that any person can be thrown into the state against 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM,
53
his will, if he wiU  at  the  same time use  physical
resistance.  And when in the magnetic state, he has
twice the strength to resist, and defend himself, that
he  has when out of it.  We generally know with
whom we have  to  deal, and surely  we would not
suffer an enemy, nor the unprincipled, to put us into
the mesmeric slumber.   But if you wish to be safe,
and are really fearful of consequences,  I will give
you a rule  of action.  It  is this:  never aUow  any
one to magnetize you unless it be in the presence of
a  third person.  Observe  this rule, and no danger
arising from this  source will ever cross your path.
   Having answered these  objections,  I will  now
show you where there are real dangers.  In the first
place,  though every person  can  be mesmerised, yet
there are but few who can be easily thrown  into this
state.   The greater proportion, by far, would require
several hours of hard labor.  Hence, when one is
found who is easy to mesmerise, curiosity is  awaken-
ed, and every one  wishes to make a trial of his
power and skiU.  One mesmerises this individual in
the morning, another in the evening, and a new set
of operators perform the same task on the next day,
and so on.  Now, in such cases, there is that mixing
and crossing of all these different fluids  in  the sub-
ject's  brain, which, if  persisted in  too  long,  will
prove  injurious,  even if all these  magnetizers are
healthy persons.   If you mesmerise  a person,  and
thoroughly  wake him,  yet  the whole of that fluid   p
does not  completely pass from his brain short of  a   >
week.   Select one healthy magnetizer, and continue
him.   If you change to  another, then wait a fortnight
before  you aUow him to operate.  Too much care in
this respect cannot be taken.  But I point out to you
a still more  serious danger.
  There are persons who undertake to mesmerise
others, who  have  some local disease, or are in feeble
health.  By so doing, they injure  themselves, and
also the subject.  Such persons have no nervo-vital
              5* 
54
LECTURES  on
fluid to spare, and what  little  they have  is in a dis-
eased state, and unfit to be thrown upon the nervous
system of another.  I care not what the disease may
be, by long persisting in mesmerising a person, that
disease wiU be, at length, communicated to the sub-
ject.   Great caution,  in  this respect, should be ob-
served by both parties, if they would  not impair their
health.   Weakness of lungs, and even consumption,
may be,  by thirty or forty magnetizings,  brought
upon an  individual, and send  him to his grave.  I
therefore seriously admonish you to beware of this
common danger.   Never allow any person of a poor
constitution to put you  into this state;  and I  also
warn those  who  are  diseased,  or  even in delicate
health, never to mesmerise others, for they will, by
so doing, inflict upon themselves a serious injury.
   But, on the other hand,  there is  no danger in a
healthy person magnetizing those who are diseased.
As the operator  imparts the nervo-vital fluid, and
does not receive any in  return, he  is in  no danger
of taking the disease of his  patient.   Caution is,
however, to be observed  in taking the patient out  of
this state.  He should not make the upward passes
in such a manner as to  throw the fluid  on himself.
If he do, he is in some danger of contracting the
disease.   An experienced  magnetizer will  under-
stand how to avail himself of this caution.
   Once more; there are persons who undertake  to
magnetize others who are entirely ignorant as to the
mode of operation, and frequently bring persons into
serious difficulty by  getting alarmed, or  otherwise
thrown out  of bias in their feelings.  Several cases
of this kind I have been called to attend to, in vari-
ous sections, and some  of  a very serious character.
No  persons should undertake  to mesmerise others
until they shall have learned  of some  experienced
magnetizer  how to perform it, and made themselves
acquainted with all the  difficulties  that  may cluster
around it. 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
55
  Having attended to these important points, I wiU
now turn your  attention to local magnetism.   By
local magnetism, I mean the magnetizing of some
part of the human body without charging the whole
brain.   Hence, the finger, the hand, the arm, the leg,
yes, even the eyelid, the  lip, or the tongue, may be
mesmerised while the person is in the wakeful state,
and so may be any of the phrenological  organs.  It
is true, that this cannot be so easily done on persons
who have never been mesmerised at all, as on those
who have been thrown  into the state.  If the brain
has been once magnetically  subdued, then there is
no  occasion, even if the amputation of a limb is to
be  performed, to  magnetize any other part than the
one to be subjected to the operation.  If a person be
very hard to mesmerise, then it will be proportionally
difficult  to  mesmerise  any  limb.   But it will be
borne  in mind, that however  long it may take in
successive sittings to magnetically  subdue the brain,
yet after that is once accomplished, then the person
can, in future, be whoUy mesmerised at any time in
five minutes, and locally so in a much less period.
Hence,  should an arm be broken  or mutilated, it
will only be  necessary to  put that limb  into the
magnetic state, and it can be set or amputated with-
out pain;  and thus, by occasionally renewing the
mesmeric action, it can be kept  in this  state  and
healed,  without  ever  experiencing any  suffering
whatever.
   I perceive that some  smile in view of these state-
ments.   They are truly so wonderful, that  increduli-
ty adjures us  to  reject  them.   But they are, never-
theless, Heaven's unchanging truths, which cannot
bend to circumstances, nor shape themselves to the
belief or scepticism of men.   They stand out in bold
relief, and bid defiance  to the sneers and  scorns of
mankind.  A surgical operation has just been per-
formed in Lowell on a lady while in the  mesmeric
state.   A tumor was extracted from the  shoulder, 
56
LECTURES  ON
where it was  necessary to cut to the depth of two
inches.   Dr. Shattuck was the magnetizer; and in
the presence of several medical men of  LoweU, one
of whom was the  operator, this tumor was removed
without the slightest sensation of pain.  This was
not done in a corner, but publicly, and  in the pres-
ence of several hundred spectators.  It is too late in
the day to cry " humbug and collusion," for the battle
is fought, and the victory is won, and the scale  has
turned in favor of truth, and  turned with  most pre-
ponderating weight, and  on the stereotyped  argu-
ment, " humbug  and collusion," is" written " tekel."
  Well-authenticated facts, and medical  reports of
operations in surgery and dentistry, performed under
the energies of Mesmerism, in  both continents, and
without  pain, are  continually reaching  us.  And
with this flood  of  light pouring upon the  world,
and when men of the first talents and science in the
republic of letters, and out of all the various profes-
sions  and denominations, are  among its  advocates,
scepticism  is not only waning, but justly losing  its
popularity.  Those men have seriously investigated
and weighed the matter, and they severaUy declare,
as did the Rev. Mr. Pierpont,  on the last evening,
before two  thousand hearers, in this house, " I have
no  belief nor  unbelief on this  subject.   I know, I
KNOW it to be so! "   And now I ask, what ought
the mere  opinion, or the expressed unbelief of even
an honest sceptic, to weigh against the absolute and
certain knowledge  of an equally honest, intelligent,
and scientific  man, whose  character is above suspi-
cion?   I leave the candid to judge, and have only to
say, that in the face of modesty, they have no right
to call this science "humbug and collusion"
  Others pretend that  the  science of Animal Mag-
netism was condemned by the French Committee in
Paris, among whom our illustrious Franklin  was
numbered.   And as it  received  its condemnation
under  the  scrutiny of such  minds, therefore they 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
57
conclude that it has no foundation in truth.   There
always have been, and still are, men who dare not
think  for themselves, but  wholly lean  upon the
opinions of others.  Their  father, their doctor, their
lawyer, and their minister, thought thus  and so, and
they think just so, too.  Their  fathers  put  down a
central stake, gave them their length of  line, and bid
them travel round in that circle of revolving thought
till the day of their death!   All beyond  that circle  is
darkness!   Their  field  of  thought is as  exactly
measured off to them, and just as legally bequeathed
1o them, as  their farms.   They received them both
by inheritance.  For  the  one  they never  labored,
and for  the  other they never  thought!  And they
never questioned the truth of the one, any more than
they did their title to the other!
   But surely the French Committee did not deny
the  truth of the experiments  produced,  nor  pro-
nounce them " humbug and collusion."  They  sim-
ply decided that  the evidence adduced  was not suf-
ficient to prove that the  magnetic state was caused
by a fluid proceeding from the magnetizer.  They
attributed the  singular effects they witnessed to the
power of the imagination.   But it will also be re-
membered, that this committee were not all  agreed,
and hence appeared the remonstrance of the minori-
ty, which it would be well for modern sceptics  to
read, side by side with the report.
   Many sceptics have been obliged, like the French
Committee, to  admit certain results as being truly
wonderful, and, like them, attribute it to the force of
the imagination.   But to believe that the imagination
can  bring  human beings into  a  state  where limbs
can  be amputated, tumors  cut out, teeth extracted,
and broken  bones set, and the whole healed without
experiencing one throb of pain, — to  believe, I  say,
that the  imagination can do all these  wonders, in
giving such boundless triumph over pain, requires a
far greater stretch of credulity than to believe  in the 
58
LECTURES ON
magnetic  power!  And surely  if the  imagination
possesses the wonderful charm to bring the nervous
system into  a condition where we can bid defiance
to pain, and  gain a complete victory over  the whole
frightful army of human woes, then surely the science
is equally important, possesses the same transcendent
claims upon our benevolence,  and the  man who
discovered that the imagination possessed this charm,
is worthy  of the united thanks  of all human-kind;
and being dead, his bones are worthy to repose with
the great men of the universe.   In this case, it will
only be necessary to change its name, and call it
The science of the wonderful power of  the
human imagination to charm all pain. 
animal  magnetism.             59
LECTURE  VI.
  Ladies and Gentlemen : In the first four lectures
I delivered of the present course, I brought forward
the philosophy of Mesmerism, and flatter myself that
I have not only succeeded in  establishing it as  a
science, but have shown it to be one of transcendent
interest to the human race.  Here love and benevo-
lence stretch out a healing hand over a world groan-
ing and travailing in pain.  Those groans, by that
silken hand, shaU be hushed, and those pains  be re-
moved.  There  is a  power basined up in the foun-
tains of the soul, that has long been dormant.  But
it is rousing up  and stirring itself for  some mighty
action, and is already  beginning to gush forth  in
healing streams on the world.   This science is in its
infancy, is imperfectly understood, but yet it breathes
the breath of mercy as a sovereign cure for all human
woes.
  In my last  lecture,  I answered  several notes  of
inquiry, pointed out the dangers of Magnetism, re-
futed several  common  objections in relation to its
abuses, noticed the utility of the science  in perform-
ing  painful surgical  operations, and took a friendly
glance at the conduct  of men  in  justifying  their
scepticism  by pleading the general  issue of  the
Report of the French Committee, and  concluded by
touching lightly  upon the power  of the human
imagination.
  I now stand before  you in the confident convic-
tion that much good will  result  from my labors  to
the cause  of benevolence and  mercy.  I am urged
to repeat my course of lectures next week, but it will 
60
LECTURES  ON
be out of  my power to comply with this request at
that time,  but  have consented to  do so,  week  after
next.   As this will be my  closing lecture for the
present, I  can  render you no greater service than to
show what connection this subject  has  with divine
revelation.  I am well aware that many will call me
an enthusiast, and sneer  at, and condemn me for
thinking independently.  But when the path of duty
is plain, and when I am once  satisfied of trulh, I then
go on, and reason,  fearless  of  all  consequences.
Under such circumstances, I have nothing to do with
the inquiry, what will men think of me ?   I care not
what they think, and much less do  I care what they
say.   I suffer no man to invade the sanctuary of my
civil  and  religious rights, and dictate to me how I
shall think, or what  I  shaU  believe, or what I shaU
proclaim.   I therefore hold no one responsible for
what I shall advance in this  lecture, nor do I know
as there is one, with whom  I am  connected,  who
will  endorse my ideas.
  I believe the doctrine of our Saviour to  be a per-
fect doctrine, and exactly  adapted  to the bodies as
well  as to  the souls of men.   I believe that he is our
example to follow, and as he went about doing good,
healing sickness  and relieving distress  of body as
well  as preaching the gospel to heal the moral mala-
dies  of the soul, so it is our duty to  do the same.  It
is, moreover, most evident that his doctrine, to the
full  extent he commanded his apostles to preach it,
was  to go down to all subsequent  ages, so long as
human beings  should have  a  habitation  on  earth.
And our  Saviour just as  much  commanded his
apostles to heal  the sick, as he  did to preach the
gospel.  Now I cannot believe that one  half of the
power and mercy  of his  doctrine should cease with
the ministry of his  apostles, and the other half con-
tinue.  I  cannot believe that its healing efficacy, so
far as the  body is concerned, should cease, and what
was  applicable to the soul should continue.  If this 
ANIMAL  magnetism.
61
be so, then what a favored generation of Christians
existed in that day, so far, at least, as healing the body
was concerned.  It was said, in the apostolic age,
" Is any man sick, let him  send for the elders of the
church, and let  them lay their hands upon him and
pray, and  the sick shall recover."  I believe this now,
and so far as we  have power and faith, it can  be
accomplished now as well as ever.
  There is a difference between a miracle and a gift
of healing.  If an arm be palsied, we know that the
difficulty exists in  the brain, and that nothing more
is necessary than to throw upon it  a sufficient quan-
tity of the nervous fluid to bring it  into healthy ac-
tion.  The moment  this is accomplished, the  diffi-
culty existing  in the  arm, which is but secondary,
will be relieved.  To restore this, would be a gift of
heating, but not a miracle.  What, then, would be a
miracle ?   Answer;  amputate  an  arm, and  then
cause a new  one  to grow out.   Though heating
diseases  is sometimes caUed a miracle, yet  when
speaking  of them  specificaUy, they  are not so de-
nominated.  Paul says, " God  hath set some in the
church; first, apostles ;  secondarily, prophets ; thirdly,
teachers ;  after that, miracles, then gifts of healings,
helps, governments," &c.   And there is not a scrap
of evidence that these things were ever to cease while
the generations of men endured.
  Now if our Saviour restored a palsied arm, then
there must something have passed  from him to the
person healed  in perfect accordance with the princi-
ples of animal life.   It must, therefore, in this case,
have been the nervous fluid, as this was the  only
substance that could have restored this arm.
  It is undeniably true, that there was always some-
thing passed from  our  Saviour, when he exercised
the gift of healing, to the  person whom he restored.
In evidence of  this, you wiU recoUect, that on one
occasion when he was caUed to visit a sick person, a
multitude foUowed after, and thronged him.  As he
             6 
62
LECTURES  ON
 passed by, a woman, who had been afflicted with an
 issue of  blood for twelve  years, touched the hem of
 his garment, and was made whole.  He turned him-
 self around, and said, Who touched me ?  His disci-
 ples exclaimed,  ;' Master, the multitude throng thee,
 and sayest thou, Who touched me?  But he per-
 ceived that virtue had gone out of him."   The word
 virtue, in this  instance, does  not mean  moral good-
 ness.  It means force, power, efficacy; the same as
 when we say a medicine has great virtue in it.
   Our Saviour so lived, and breathed, and moved in
 the divine Being, that he became one  in communi-
 cation with him ; so that when  the Father willed, he
 felt that  wiU — he  himself then willed, and it was
 accomplished.   So, if any one  bowed  in reconcilia-
 tion to God, he  became one with the  Saviour, so
 that the  Redeemer, also, felt that  one's  will.   Such
 was the case of this woman.   She wiUed in faith to
 be healed.   The  Saviour  felt that wiU—He wiUed
 and it was done.   Now every being has power in
 proportion to the energy  of his own will, but the
 energy of the will, depends upon the intrinsic great-
 ness of that being's mind.  And as a miracle is a
 thing performed by the energy of the  will, so that
 mind must be  great in power and goodness, that
 is capable of performing a miracle.  We sit down,
 and put forth the  energy of a thousand wills, and at
 last produce but  a small result.
  The apostolic power was  far greater, and in the
 same ratio, their  results were more splendid and glo-
 rious.  But stiU  they had not the  power of Christ.
 The leper said, " Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make
 me clean. Jesus stretched forth his hand, and touched
 him, and said,  I will, be thou clean, and his leprosy
was cleansed."   By a word, he put to right disabled
limbs, and drew back life  and warm gushing health
to their abode.   He put forth a greater energy — and
 said to the winds and waves, Peace! be still!  His
wiU fastened upon electricity in the heavens, equal- 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
63
 ized  that fluid, hushed  the  winds, and calmed the
 waves.  He opened the blind eye to the splendor of
 the noon-tide  blaze, and instantly penciled on  its
 retina, the universe.   He opened  the deaf ear, and
 poured into its once silent, but now vocal chambers,
 the harmony of rejoicing nature.  He spoke, and
 the dead stirred in their graves, and rose up  from
 their  icy beds before him, and walked.   That same
 dread voice shall speak with a living energy, that the
 very  heavens shall  hear, and  the dead shall rise to die
 no more, and turn their eyes from the dark, ruinable
 tomb on the opening scenes  of eternity!   Mind and
 will  in the Creator, still more  increased,  move un-
 numbered worlds.  That same will, now infinite and
 immutable, puts forth  creative energy.   He spake,
 and it was done; he commanded, and it stood  fast;
 laid the measures thereof, and stretched the line upon
 it when the morning stars sang together, and all the
 sons  of  God  shouted for joy.   Hence, every grade
 of mind, from the humblest up to apostolic great-
 ness ; up to angel  and archangel, cherubim and ser-
 aphim ; up  to  Jesus  Christ, till  it reach the infinite
 Jehovah,  has power proportionate  to its  greatness
 and goodness.   Hence, it will be readily understood,
 that  a miracle is nothing more than a result  pro-
 duced by  mind  itself,  independent of all physical
 energy, except that one  substance which is put into
 motion by the living mind.
   It may perhaps be said, that  the apostles were in-
 spired to heal, and  as we are not inspired, therefore,
 we do not possess the gift to heal.   On this principle
 I  might  reply, that the  apostles were  inspired to
 preach, and as  we are  not  inspired, therefore, we
 have  no  gift to preach!   I  grant  that the apostles
were  inspired to preach  and  to  heal, because it  was
not possible, that at the  starting point, they had  any
other  means for preparation.   But now men preach,
not by inspiration, but because they feel it to be their
duty.   So men must now heal because they feel it
to be  their duty. 
64
LECTURES  on
   It  is by no means to be  expected  that we can
 come up, at once, to apostolic power.   No; our
 faith  is too weak.  But let  us bring up our children
 in the faith as we ought, and they will learn to mes-
 merise as naturally as they learn  to walk.  Their
 concentrativeness will  become  largely developed.
 Their children will be born with  more  favorably
 developed heads, and become greater in goodness,
 until  at length the whole apostolic power will return
 to the earth in all its primitive splendor.  It is Spir-
 itualism, because it is the innate power of the living
 mind, executed through  the agency of  the will.   It
 is that power  which  created worlds, for  this was
 done  by the wiU  of God.  It is that power  by which
 worlds are governed, and creatures  ruled, for  this is
 also done by the  wiU of God.  It is that power by
 which we make impressions reciprocally upon each
 other, for this  is done by  the  will of man.   And
 lastly, it is " that power which shall awake  the  dead
 from  dreamless  slumber into thoughts of  heaven,"
 ■for this will be done by the will  of God, and there is
 no medium, only electricity, through  which he  can
 come in contact with his creatures.
   I wiU now bring forward a few cases from scrip-
 ture, to show that the living have been thrown into
 a singular slumber by the very presence of  immortal
 beings.  Indeed, there is scarcely an instance where
 angels have appeared to  men, but what it  has had
 this effect.   I will bring forward those  that first
 strike my  mind, regardless of their arrangement.
   It wiU be remembered, that when John  the Rev-
 elator was in the  isle of Patmos, he had this vision:
 " And being turned, I saw seven golden candle-
 sticks, and in the midst of the  seven candlesticks,
one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a gar-
 ment  down to the foot, and girt about the paps with
 a golden girdle.  His head  and  his hair were white
 like wool; as white as snow, and his eyes were as a
flame of fire ; and  his feet like unto fine brass as  if 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
65
they had been burned in  a furnace, and his voice as
the sound of many waters.  And he had in his right
hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the
sun shineth in his strength.   And when  I saw him
I fell down at his feet  as one  that is dead."   Here
then, is a singular slumber approximating death.
   Our Saviour, when he was transfigured on Mount
Taber, took  Peter, James  and John with him.  For
a  moment he  was  changed  into  his resurrection
splendor, and met Moses  and Elias in glory.  The
sacred historian in describing the scene, says, " And
his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment be-
came shining, exceeding  white as snow, white as
the light, so as no fuller  on earth  can  white  them,
and there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talk-
ing with him.   And Peter and them that were with
him were heavy with  sleep; and  Peter said, Lord,
it is good for us to be here.  Let us build here three
tabernacles; one for thee, one for  Moses, and one
for Elias, not knowing  what he said."   That is,
when  he came out of this  sleep he did not recol-
lect what he had said.  They were thrown into this
state by the very presence of these minds.
   Do you remember that after our Lord had  eaten
his valedictory supper with his disciples, he went in-
to the garden of Gethsemane, and commanded them
to watch.   He  went  a  few  steps from them and
prayed in agony, and sweat as it were drops of blood
faUing to the ground.  The guardian angel of Jesus
Christ appeared from heaven strengthening  him.
The apostles fell into  a  deep sleep.   Though this
was a scene of great interest  to them, yet it  seems
that the presence of this angel thus affected them.
   He  was nailed to the  cross between  two male-
factors to darken his glory and blot his  name.  The
Jews were his accusers, and the Romans his execu-
tioners.  Hence, the world was  combined against
him  while  his  own disciples forsook him in that 
66
LECTURES  ON
dark  hour of peril.   The  universe  thus  combined
against him, mocking and deriding him, and cover-
ing him with disgrace, even  nature herself  stepped
forward^as it Avere, and  with a mighty hand wiped
off that disgrace, and  sustained him  in his majesty.
The sun withdrew his light, rolled back his chariot,
midnight darkness spread her robe of sackcloth upon
his brilliant disc, and hung the world in  the dark
shroud  of mourning.   Earthquakes  awoke  from
their  tartarean  dens  and thundered.   The  earth
shook, the rocks rent, the graves opened, all nature
roused up and  there  brought to a centre all that is
grand, awful and sublime in her realms, as the mag-
nanimous sufferer expired!  He was conveyed to
his tomb, and Roman soldiers were  there stationed
to guard it.   Soldiers whose  business  it was to  die,
—who had been brought up  in tented fields of war,
and who had from childhood encountered hardships
and toils, fatigues and  dangers.   They were men,
who had often  bared  their bosoms to  the  shafts of
battle,Fand undismayed listened to its  stormy voice,
and who knew  not what  it was to quail beneath the
glance of a mortal eye.  Such men as these, were
stationed to guard that tomb, and hold the Prince of
Life in death.   But,

      " An angel's arm can't snatch him from the grave;
      Legions of angels can't confine him there,"

   On the morning of the third day, the  last grand
scene in  this interesting  drama was opened.   The
guardian angel  of Jesus Christ was  once more  dis-
patched  from the eternal  throne.   He  descended
from  heaven,  and  an earthquake shook  creation.
He approached the tomb of the  Holy Sleeper, and
stood before  it.  " He rolled back the stone from
the door of the sepulchre and  sat  upon  it.    His
countenance was like  the lightning, and his raiment 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
67
white as snow ; and for fear of him, the keepers did
shake, and become as dead men!"
   What, I  ask,  was  it that threw  them  into  this
slumber,  with feelings of a  cold shuddering  fear,
so nigh approaching the dead ?   I answer, it was the
will of  this angel, -whose countenance was  like the
lightning, that sunk them into a motionless sleep.  It
was his will  which  struck  the  vibrations  of terror
through the dark  chambers of their souls, and with-
ered them to the earth.
   I should like  to notice  the circumstance of  Paul
being caught up into the third heavens—whether out
of the  body or in the body, he  could not  teU—of
Peter falling into a trance when  he went upon the
house-top  to pray,  and  of Zacharias being struck
dumb in the temple, but time wiU not permit.
   I close, by returning  my sincere  thanks to the
Moderators,  for the good order they have preserved ;
to the various  Committees, for their patient examina-
tions and impartial  reports of the experiments per-
formed ; and to  the ladies and gentlemen, for  their
faithful attendance and respectful attention, and also
for the  good feelings they have uniformly manifested
towards the  lecturer during the entire course, which
is now brought to a termination.
                      NOTE.

  "We are created with a susceptibility of pain, and severe
pain.  This is a part of our nature, as truly as our susceptibility
of enjoyment.  God has implanted it, and has  thus opened in
the very centre of our being a fountain of suffering.  We carry
it within us, and  can no more escape it than we can our power
of thought. ' We are apt to throw our pains on outward things
as their causes.   It is the fire, the sea, the sword, or human en-
mity which gives us pain.  But there is no pain in the fire or
the sword, which passes thence into our souls.  The pain be- 
68                  LECTURES,  ETC.
gins and ends in the soul itself.  Outward things are only the
occasions.   Even the body has no pain in it, which it infuses into
the mind.  Of itself, it is incapable of suffering.   This hand may
be cracked, crushed in the rack of the inquisitor, and that burnt
in a slow fire ; but in these cases it is not the fibres,  the blood-
vessels, the bones of the  hand which endure pain.  These are
merely connected, by the will of the  Creator, with the springs of
pain in the soul.   Here, here is the  only origin and seat of suf-
fering.   If God so willed, the gashing of the flesh with a knife,
the piercing of the heart with a dagger, might be  the occasion
of exquisite  delight.  We know that, in the heat of battle,-a
wound is not felt, and that men, dying for their faith by instru-
ments of torture, have expired with triumph on their lips.  In
these cases, the spring of suffering  in  the mind is not touched
by the lacerations of the body, in consequence of the absorbing
action  of other principles of the soul.  All suffering is  to be
traced to the susceptibility, the capacity of pain, which belongs
to our nature, and which the Creator has implanted ineradicably
within us."
                                           Dr. Channing. 
%
LECTURES
PHILOSOPHY OF MSMERISM,
DELIVERED IN THE
MARLBORO'  CHAPEL,
JANUARY 23-28,1843.
BY JOHN BOVEE DODS,
OF BOSTON.
        BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY REDDING & CO,
     NO. 8 STATE STREET.
         1843.
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