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                        "i
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K 
 
T HE
PHILOSOPHY
    ANIMAL   MAGNETISM:


TOGETHF.lt WITH THE SYSTEM OF MANIPULATING ADOPTKD TO PltO-
          IICCE KCSTACT  AND  SOMNAMBULISM--THK
                EFFECTS AND THF. ItATIONALF..
A GENTLEMAN OF PHILADELPHIA.
 Nskj cgji km vq-js mouii, t*AA* xjyx. kai ruqhct..
                                        Epicharmus.
  The most honorable, as well as the most useful occupation of man, is
to contribute to the extension of his ideas.
                                        ^lllison's Europe.
                    "Sit
                  Philadelphia:
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY MERRIHEW & GUNN,
                No. 7 CARTER'S ALLEY,
1837. 
o
ml
   Entered according to the Act  of Congress, in the year 1837, by
Mehrihew & Gunn, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
   CLERGY, PHYSICIANS, PHILOSOPHERS, LITERATI,





            LAWYERS AND MERCHANTS,





MANUFACTURERS, MECHANICS, FARMERS  AND  CUT-





                 ZENS GENERALLY;





        BUT MORE ESPECIALLY THE LADIES





                     OF THE





            UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,





                    THIS WORK




                       ON




  ANIMAL MAGNETISM, OR ECSTATIC SOMNOLENCY,




                       IS




            RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,




                       BY




                                THE AUTHOR. 
 
INTRODUCTION.
  Animal Magnetism, owing to recent developments of
extraordinary facts, the attestation of which are too well
sustained to be refuted, begins powerfully to engage the
attention of  all classes of society in our country.  These
facts, spread before the community, without the least pre-
tence on the part of our fellow citizens to understand any
thing of the cause, have startled  and 'surprised  them.
They have  burst  suddenly  upon them, like a flood of
light pouring its  beams into a dungeon, almost before they
were  prepared to suspect their existence;  for, unless to
the learned, even its name  was  hardly known  until  re-
cently to  ordinary readers,  and  its meaning still fewer
pretended to understand.   At the apparitional presence of
a power so stupendous, our alarm has prevented that calm
investigation demanded by phenomena so remote from the
ordinary course  of  events.  The effects of these develop-
ments were all  that the most philosophic  pretended to
know; the rationale of the science has been arcana into
which no one attempted to dive. From their astounding na-
ture they so greatly taxed our credulity, aroused our aston-
ishment, and exhibited those who would allow their convic-
tions to guide their judgments respecting it, as targets for the
satire and shafts of the malevolent, that no one would allow
                           1* 
6
INTRODUCTION.
himself to begin, if he had even sufficient perception to
discover the true starting point.   One party has denounc-
ed this phenomenon as a humbug, the other proclaimed
it as a miracle; and though both were equally remote from
the truth, neither of them possessed,  and  few of  them
sought either data or facts, upon which, without divesting
themselves of their preconceived notions, to erect a super-
structure of argumentation that would in any degree appear
satisfactory to  a thinking mind; while they tended to dis-
tract the  public, and divert their attention from the great
and important question to be considered.   In most sciences,
but especially  in physiology, man loves to build a theory
of his own, and when he has completed it, he thinks him-
self in  duty bound to close the door against all further in-
vestigation !   Now the theories contained in  the following
pages,  are  not the crude and undigested imaginings or
hasty conclusions of a visionary. They have been formed
by the most profound philosophers and physiologists in
Europe ; men, however, whose works have  not  had  a
place amongst us, and some of which perhaps never may.
They are not mere logical deductions made to prove theo-
ries; they are arguments deduced from " facts and  expe-
rience  in explanation of this spiritual principle."
   The time has arrived in this country when animal mag-
netism must be investigated as far as its facts and philoso-
phy are concerned.  Effects  so  surprising  must have  a
cause;  and  a cause so occult, yet producing effects so
tremendous, must exercise the rational mind ;  more espe-
cially since it  is affirmed that on  this subject, mind itself
constitutes so  important a part of the machinery.  Nothing
but a satisfactory development of this cause will arrest the 
INTRODUCTION.
7
ardent pursuit of  philosophical investigation.    When
causes shall have been explored and stated, the philosophic
mind will next investigate,  and see how far  they  are
deserving  our assent.  When reason is left to combat
reason, the result will be moral light. But in a conflict in
which prejudice and  bigotry—a  determined unbelief, in
despite of the most demonstrable facts and abundant data—
is opposed to an  enlightened  and liberal philosophy, the
light will be let into  the public mind by jets, but its full
glory will be long delayed by the  murky  haze and re-
fraction which hang dense and high over the horizon to
obscure it.
   The detached and fragmental elements of its philosophy,
so far as they have  been given, have  been entirely un-
satisfactory.  Our philosophers  have been too  much en-
gaged in the wonders elicited  by  the effects,  to reason
a posteriori about them.  It has  long been agitated in
Europe, but until very recently it has vainly tried to gain
a respectable  footing amongst  us.  Now,  when a few
scientific and intelligent  gentlemen have adopted the be-
lief,  and presented new  demonstrations  in  proof of its
identity and reputed effects, in every step, more than con-
firming all  that has been reported of it from abroad, we
 allow ourselves  to  be—I almost  said—frightened  like
 children, and to become bewildered, not knowing how to
 direct  our credence, or  upon  which  side to  place our
 faith.  The philosophy  of animal magnetism, contained
 in the following pages, will  settle  this important point,
 and remove the  difficulties of distracted minds.  It will
 henceforward be regarded neither as a trick nor a miracle,
 but will expose the pious charlatanry and jugglery ofpseudo- 
8
INTRODUCTION.
saints, explain innumerable phenomena in which circum-
stances, until now  inexplicable, have transpired, and  pre-
sent the cause—the philosophy—the only rationale of far
famed Mesmerism in its true characteristics  before the
world.  It will afford, as it is here presented, just enough
to enable men to think  and leave them at it.   It will also
point out the path by which to  attain  a correct under-
standing of it without the  necessity of  any other guide,
because it will shed light upon the  mind  which the
powers of scepticism can never extinguish—it will  para-
lize  scepticism itself, as we have  found that  its greatest
opposers come from that quarter.
  This work was not originally prepared for  publication.
The author having been favored by his  friends with the
perusal of a few works on animal magnetism  was deeply
interested and forcibly struck with the contents.  During
their perusal, which was necessarily rendered hasty, he
made notes  of  such passages  as  he  considered of  most
importance.  His leisure, and the time allowed him  for
perusal, would not permit him to note down either the page
or the author in detail.   Hence, in giving the language of
some authorities in which his recollection did not aid him,
he was forced occasionally to use  words not his own as if
they were.  But these notes, made for private use, formed
subjects of much reflection ; these were also committed to
paper.  They were accidentally seen by others, than whom
few in our country were more competent to form a just
estimate  of their value—and  having been seen, he  was
compelled to print, that others might see and read also ! It
was insisted on that these  remarks, then in a crude form,
were the desiderata upon animal magnetism so anxiously 
INTRODUCTION.
9
sought by the  public.—They contain ample subjects of
reflection for the wise and  the  foolish—the learned  and
the illiterate—the infidel and the Christian. They form a
Text Book on animal magnetism, which contains all that
is  necessary to fully indoctrinate the  reader  into the
mysteries of the science, and enable  the philosopher to
trace  the cause from the effects, affording at the same
time, as  before observed, the only true reasons  for  that
which has heretofore been viewed by  common consent as
having too intimate a connexion with the invisible  world
to  touch  without trembling!  Finally, it places before the
reader the system  of manipulation and magnetic passes,
as  used in France and Germany, to produce that profound
somnolency, the effects of which, without these expositions
to  prepare the  mind, are so astounding, as to place the
most credulous  under a severe trial in yielding the assent
of the mind  to their most  obvious  facts;  so that  it is
hoped, no one  will hereafter say with Col. Stone, in his
recent pamphlet, "I am not a positive  believer in the
system, because I know not what to believe," the subject
being clearly  before them. 
 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
   Animal  Magnetism, which has been thorougly
investigated and discussed on the Continent of Europe
for more than half a century, where it has gained many
of the most profound  men of the present age in the
ranks of literature and science to sustain it, on ac-
count of the striking facts that attend its demonstra-
tions^ now  begins  to  awaken the attention  of the
literati in England as well as in this country.  In the
two latter countries, it  has been the custom with sci-
entific men to class animal magnetism with astrology,
witchcraft, and other like exploded objects of ridicule.
In the United States, especially, it would have  been
somewhat hazardous for any man of literary preten-
sions  to couple it with  his name, except  in  the  way
of sneer and invective—a method which has been re-
sorted to by sciolists in  all ages to cry down what
they  either have not  perceptions to  understand, or
what  their moral principles  or their interests  may
be opposed to.  There is a class of men calling them-
selves scientific, who reject and oppose with deter-
mined hostility, all facts.  Their heads are  as impe-
netrable to conviction  as an old anvil.   They will not 
12
THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF
stop to inquire—to investigate—not even  to  hear.
They ridicule and scoff as if all philosophy consisted
in condemning unheard;  and they consequently sneer
down, secundum artem, not only what they are not     /
acquainted with, but also all that they  have a disin-
clination with  which  to  become acquainted.  This
obstinate and irrational, if not perverse spirit, is the
fruitful  source of all  the ridiculous  nostrums and
quackeries with which  our country is cursed.  They
act as if there were  no further mysteries in store for
man in the walks of science, learning, or  discovery.
They are  ready, notwithstanding, to believe the  vi-
sionary  theories of  Gall, Spurzheim, and others,
which, with some probable truths/are a Babel of non-
sense, upon  which  no two philosophers  are in  all
points agreed.  Such are some of the inconsistencies
of our modern philosophers.
   The celebrated Frederick  Anthony Mesmer, a
German physician, was the first who brought animal
magnetism into public  notice, and reduced its princi-
ples into a science.   On  first promulgating his doc-
trines, he was assailed with as bitter  a  malignity and
persecution as if he  had been the setter forth of a new
religion.  He was slandered, circumvented, and villi*
lied—driven from city to city, and  at  length  forced
for bread to leave the German  dominions.    He ulti-
mately made his way to Paris, in France, and kept
on his principles, fearlessly challenging investigation,
and  boldly throwing  defiance at his  enemies.   He 
animal magnetism.
13
 performed many striking cures in the face and midst
 of his  persecutors; compelling his  enemies,  in the
 language of the Jewish Sanhedrim on a certain occa-
 sion, to admit, that a notable cure had been done
 which could not be denied.   Mesmer,  soon, how-
 ever, attracted  the attention  of  distinguished men,
 and these, on investigating and witnessing the facts of
 the science, became converts to, and  spiritedly sus-
 tained his doctrines.  Animal magnetism, until now,
 seems to have been chiefly understood in its  results
 and effects, and many things  connected with  it have
 been entirely above our philosophy. In consequence of
 this, it came in  conflict with the pride of learning, be-
 cause it did not open a sufficiently wide field for spe-
 culation.   The literati could not revel in  conjecture,
 and perhaps one of the reasons why  it has not been
 acceptable to many is, that it has to do with a science
 which proves  the existence of a soul in man;
 being the connecting link between physiology and
psycology, the former confining its labors to the phy-
 sical machine, and the latter considering man as a com-
 pound of body  and spirit.   Investigations, however,
 prove  animal   magnetism to  have a  more  especial
 connexion with psycology, than with  any other doc-
 trine or science..
   Soon after  Mesmer  established  himself in  the
French capital,  and promulgated his  new  doctrines,
the French Academicians appointed a  committee to
examine, and report on  the facts  and circumstances
                         2 
14             the  philosophy of
connected with this science.   This was about the year
1784.  The Report was made public in due time; but
the investigations were extremely partial, because the
committee was prejudiced against it.  Many important
admissions were, however, made in its favor.   After
the lapse of a quarter of a century, when Mesmer had
gained to his doctrine many of the  greatest men of
France, and  when public opinion began to  set in his
favor, a new committee was appointed by the Academy
of Sciences, at Paris, again to inquire into, and report
upon this  subject.   The  reporter  was, as the other,
strongly prejudiced against Mesmer and his doctrine;
but being a man of honor and of science,and his literary
reputation being at stake, he  determined to act impar-
tially.  In consequence, this report was nearly the re-
verse of the  previous one.   The reporter entered fully
into the subject, and from this time animal magnetism
was placed before the French nation as a science pos-
sessing great interest, and fully deserving  the credence
and investigation of the learned public. This gave the
study of Mesmerism a new impulse, and the current of
public opinion began rapidly to set in his  favor.  It
was from this period considered by the literati as a
necessary adjunct  to physiology.  It presented new
ideas to the  mind of the student, and threw light upon
many physiological subjects before involved in  dark-
ness.  It also formed a new crisis in psycological in-
vestigations, presenting startling views to the philoso-
phical inquirer; but while the vindictive  opposition of 
animal magnetism.
15
the hierarchy was stifled by the above report, the doc-
trine, on the other side, afforded  demonstration not
to be resisted, that man  contained a soul, and there-
fore the infidel notion was refuted, that death was an
eternal sleep!  It presented the best support of reve-
lation on the one  side, and prostrated the Dagon of
pretended miracles on the other, by accounting, in a
natural ivay, for  many of the extraordinary events
which emanated from the monkeries, of the marvellous
intervention of invoked saints, in the cure of maladies
and in the exorcism of evil spirits, all of which  were
dissipated, like smoke, on the announcement of  these
doctrines.
   The works that issued from the press immediately
after the above report in favor of Animal Magnetism,
were numerous,  and from the  ablest  pens in the
nation.   If it had not been that ignorant persons con-
stituted themselves the judges of subjects, of which
they had no  knowledge, thereby assuming  the quack
while they denounced quackery, and were  thus able,
before the unthinking,  to produce some influence to
agitate public opinion, Mesmerism would ere  this not
only have  been well understood, but also embraced
by the whole of  the civilized  world.  It is a science
of facts and experiments.   The rationale  of  its
phenomena,  like  all sciences in their infancy, may
sometimes be questioned, because the assigned argu-
ments are new, and often startling; but they are found-
ed upon data as  easily sustained  as  are any  sciences 
16
THE philosophy of
 which claim our attention.   Its developments unfold
 many of the  mysteries that surround the Pythonic
 and Sybiline Oracles of the heathen temple; many of
 the degrading superstitions that were monopolised by
 a theurgical priesthood, and palmed upon the ignorant
 as the attestations of heaven in  favor of their impious
 pretensions.   This science will now be viewed in a
 newer and  better light than heretofore, when it is un-
 derstood, that  in all periods of time, in all nations,
 countries and  neighborhoods, men have been found
possessing the power, by a touch, to work a certain
 species of cures upon the human system!   This is
 known to  every man of intelligence in the country.
 The  touch-and-heal doctors are  now,  as  they ever
 have been,  the wonder of the illiterate, and the stum-
 bling-block of the learned.*

  * A few years  ago one of these rustic doctors was called for
 by a very respectable regular physician in this vicinity to try
 his powers upon  a case of severe cephalma.  The  patient was
 in great  distress, and my friend had the touch-doctor, who had
 considerable celebrity in the neighborhood, brought in, that he
 might be personally observant of what took place.   The touch-
 doctor was reluctant to try his powers  in the presence of the
 physician, and the  latter was an utter disbeliever of the tales
reported of this, as he supposed, impostor.  After a few minutes
conversation,  he found the /oucA-doctor a very ignorant, unpre-
tending, but pious man.  He insisted on his trying the effect of his
touch upon the patient; the other at length consented ; and after
 a few remarks in  which he requested the patient not to look to
 him, but to God, for a cure, he applied the ends of his fingers to 
ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.
17
   Now, is it any wonder that  such  a  system should
remain a  secret  to  the  crafty theologasters  of  the

the patient's head, and asked her whether she felt any relief?
The answer  was, that the head-ache was gone!   " I know
that," he replied,  "for I feel it here, (pointing to  the side of his
head,) as severely as you felt it before I placed  my hand upon
the part of your  head affected!"  My friend was astonished.
He asked whether  such was the usual result 1  His answer
was in the affirmative, but it was also remarked that its continu-
ance was always of short duration.   This fact is  authentic.
   We  have amongst  us individuals  possessing extraordinary
magnetic powers,  and  who are capable of creating surprise from
the singular effects of magnetism evolved from their fingers; but,
who are themselves incredulous as to animal magnetism !  Their
incredulity, however, does not arise from the want of evidence, for
of this they have abundance, but  from the current of fashion-
able opposition.   Indeed,  some  there  are,  who  possess an
extensive education, and claiming  to  possess high intellectual
powers, who disclaim  all science, and  avoid all investigations
which bring them into contact with any species of psycological
study.  To name  the  word soul, in  seriousness, would alarm
them.   They will  become  acquainted with, nothing  which
claims any connexion  with the world of spirits.
   A lady, well known to us, and who stands among the most re-
spectable in our society, possesses the magnetic power  in a very
high degree.   We have known her on many occasions, in trials
for amusement, to require a person to press his open hand upon
a table—its palm  downward ;  she  would then tell him, that she
would, by a few passes, compel the hand to rise from the table
and follow  her's,-  and no muscular  effort  or determination on
his part could prevent such a result!  Her passes were made
with the  fingers over  the back of the hand—the movement in
one direction, and peculiar. 
18
THE  philosophy  of
church; or  that they should  not  collect, wherever
found, those whom  nature vested with  such  extraor-
dinary powers, and  use them for the benefit of mother
church?  It will now be easily seen in  what way the
world has been gulled by miracle-mongers, and what
are the occult principle and  practice through which
most of the veritable saints in the calendar have been
manufactured.   In fact, says an able writer, " animal
magnetism  is  a natural  cause  which  explains all the
effects, formerly attributed  to  magic and  witchcraft;
as electricity explains the thunder; as astronomy ex-
plains the appearance of the comets;  as a  knowledge
of the different laws of nature explains all  the pheno-
mena which, in times of ignorance, were  ascribed to
supernatural agents.
   Animal magnetism may not inaptly be called the
philosophy of superstition.  When the  Romish
clergy account for the operations of this fluid as per-
formed by a Priest, or saint of their church, they as-
cribe them to God; when by a Protestant, or a member
of any other persuasion, they pronounce them to be
the work of the devil!  There is but little doubt that
many a poor wretch has been put to cruel torments,
in the dark  ages, for  having, by the order of nature,
been  unwittingly  possessed  of  this  extraordinary
power in excess.   That thousands are able  to put
forth this magnetic fluid in the cure of diseases, or
otherwise, who are entirely ignorant of  the  cause,
appears to  be  the  fact.   They only understand the 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
10
virtues  they possess  in  their effects.   They do  not
know that the influence  they  exert is magnetic, or
that it  is under the control  of  their will, in certain
circumstances.   The case seems to be thus; they pos-
sess an  unusual  abundance of the  magnetic fluid; or
else,owing to their peculiar constitutional temperament
they distribute it more readily than others.  The na-
tural  magnetic  conductors of their  system seem to
be  differently constituted from  those  of others;  or,
which is perhaps more probable, they have the facul-
ty  Of CONFINING THEIR WILL TO  THE  OBJECT  OF
THEIR ATTENTION  WITHOUT DISTRACTION, and at the
same time  making it act with great  power.   This
latter opinion  is rather  confirmed  by the fact, that
men who are called touch-doctors, it is said, are usual-
ly  distinguished  for  their  steady  seriousness  and
piety, and are seldom characterised for quickness of
perception,  or  intelligence.   It  is  true, that men
can train  the mind  by close attention to points  of
study, whether  mental or moral; but I speak of those
 who  are not artificially disciplined.  Those who spon-
taneously eliminate the magnetic fluid are usually re-
 puted men of strong faith!  They  believe them-
 selves to be such,and they usually inspire a correspond-
 ing feeling for the  time.  But such men, as before re-
 marked,  know  little of their  own powers, or they
 would soon be  able to  produce surprising effects in
 the curative art; and it will, before long, be demon-
 strated, that without the influence of the magnetic 
20
THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF
power in  connexion with  medicine, in the  ordinary
process of healing, the person who contends  with dis-
ease,  will more frequently  destroy nature, than he
will disease when he attacks it.
  Animal Magnetism, as before said, is  the con-
necting link between physiology and psycology.  It
is the phenomenon of  the  material, as well  as of the
spiritual, man; because it  demonstrates the intimate
connexion that subsists between them.
  Mesmerism and electricity are subject to  the same
code of criticism, and, in  many things, to the same
laws.    Sir  Humphrey  Davy says:  " Facts  are
independent of fashion, taste,  and caprice, and  are
subject to  no code of  criticism.   They are more
useful, perhaps,  when they contradict, than  when
they support received opinion  and doctrines;  for our
theories are only the imperfect approximations to the
real knowledge of things."  The science we are now
about to introduce, is one  of those that must force
conviction.   It enters into concernments, and de-
velopes truths to which man has a natural repugnance;
because it brings him  into an  acquaintance  with his
own spiritual  nature ; a study, from the contem-
plation of which we start  and  fly as anxiously as if
we dreaded to know a  future  fate in the realization
of which we could  only anticipate terror and despair!
Now, in a detail of facts, and when it is avowed that
it is with facts only we have to do, where is there  a
just reason for incredulity in advance of knowledge, 
animal magnetism.
21
or a bitter opposition where nothing that can  harm
us is presented to our consideration ?  The facts and
theory *of this most extraordinary science, place the
whole man before the student  in a new light.   This,
no science ever did  before.   As soon as  the  student
leaves  the  study  of man,  as  a physical being, he
passes  him  over into  the hands of the  Doctors of
Divinity, leaving  to them any thing that belongs to
our moral* nature.   Yet every respectable physician
in our country knows, that  in the  cure  of  diseases,

  * It is a singular fact, that the philosophers of France have
recently become more  free  to express themselves, in writing,
not only of animal magnetism, but also of almost every subject
they touch, which bears upon morals, but more especially upon
the Christian religion, than most of the would be philosophers of
our own protestant country.  I do not now speak of the clergy,
but  of laymen.   The recent literature of that country abounds
with  frequent allusions  to  religious subjects.  Lamartine's
Travels in Palestine are of this class.  He  approaches the sub-
ject of Christianity, and speaks out his mind like a man of sense
as well as piety, and that, too, in a manner that should put some
of our divines to the blush.  His work is a good specimen of
the spirit, if not of the style, in which a Christian traveller and
philosopher should write.   There is more poetry in  his  prose
than is often found in such works.  When any of our modern—
I might  say  church-going  philosophers, approach  a subject
requiring psycological inquiries,  they become fidgety, curl up
their lips, and sneer as if it was  a concernment which no one
but a clergyman had a right to meddle with.  Can  any thing
indicate more truly the narrow mind,  and the bigoted spirit'! 
22             the philosophy of
the action of the  mind has, perhaps, more  than half
to do with the removal of the complaint.
   The chief  reason why animal magnetism is a sub-
ject of doubt and ridicule,  especially in this country,
where it has only recently attracted public  attention,
is, because the rationale of the science has not been
placed along side the facts, before the public.   My
first  object  shall  be to discuss the  acknowledged
principles and physiological theories upon which the
doctrines of animal magnetism are founded.  Let these
be carefully  weighed  and considered ;  for without
this, the science cannot be well understood; but with
these introductory remarks, all will be clear and easy
of solution. In my observations, generally, I shall make
free with several  authorities which  it is not  in my
power to quote, even  when  I  use language not my
own, owing to the manner in which  they  were  col-
lected.  I refer to Colquhoun's work in English, and
Andral, Virey, and others in French, together with
the French  Reports upon Mognitisme Animale, of
which  I have already taken notice, and to which I
shall hereafter refer.
   M. Virey,  in  his  Forces Medicatrices,  (p.  8,)
says, "Man is a compound of three  kinds of  princi-
ples.  1. Of an immaterial,  intellectual  soul;  2. Of
a sensitive faculty, or life;  and 3. of natural elements.
 In order to act upon the body, the soul makes use of
 a  vital principle, or  of a nervous fluid, which is
 capable  of impressing  motion and sensation upon our 
animal  magnetism.
23
 organs.—Though this  principle  is  more  subtile
 than light, it appears to be a material substance,
 capable of accumulating, and  even of passing from
 one body to another."
   The same author again observes,  " Our soul  per-
 ceives without reasoning, and by a  secret action of
 its faculties, produces harmonious relations with other
 souls; such, for instance, as sounds have amongst each
 other.  We do  not acquire this  instinct by science,
 although it may be rendered more perfect by study."
 (p. 172.)   " The sensitive element is not of  the same
 nature with thought; it is secreted in the brain ;
 it descends into  the nerves;* it exhausts itself and
 is renewed.  An  animal is  a fountain  of  life.   It
 loses some part of it every day, and it extracts a fresh
 portion from the surrounding bodies.   We never live
 more energetically than  when effusing the vital
fluid outward."  (p. 317.)   The presence, the touch,
 or the words, of  a very eminent man, have a very
 singular influence on inferior minds, and are capable
 of curing bodily diseases."  (p. 352.)
   From what  has been  said,  it will appear,  that
 animal magnetism  has  for  its  principle  a moral

   * Beclard, a French anatomist and physiologist, cut a large
 nerve adjoining a muscle. Paralysis followed. When he brought
 the ends of the cut nerves to approach within three lines of
 each  other,  the  contracted nerve  seemed to protend with a
 motion as if attracted towards each other by some imponderable
 influence which traversed the interval of separation. 
24
THE  philosophy  of
 action.   It  is the will, which darts forth the
 fluid, said above  to be secreted in the brain.  The
 will gives it motion; it controls its action; it regulates
 its  momentum;  it is the moving power in man, as it
 was the will of the Almighty by which the Universe
 was created.  Man did not give himself this  power.
 He derived it from that Being whose will alone has
 independent  power, and from whom alone  volition
 is derived.   He that sitteth above  gave man  the
power to will, and the power over the will  to exert
 such transcendent  faculties!   But no  one can have
 complete command over  his volitions without that
 confidence which is necessary to augment its energies.
 When, therefore, v/e speak of exciting the will, or
 of eliminating a fluid  and  transferring it to another,
 let  it not be said  that we do this independently of
 ourselves, any  more than we  perform  other acts
 dependent on our moral or physical nature.  It would
 appear strange, if, in the creation of man, the creative
 power should not imbue him with a principle of his own
 nature, by which, of all others, he is more eminently
 distinguished in our perceptions of his active powers:
 it would be passing strange, if man should  have been
 created without faculties which would at least shadow
 forth that will which is  the basis of  all  his moral
 attributes!  We have the power  to will—and if this
 faculty was properly improved, instructed, managed,
 and regulated, the human  condition would soon  un-
 dergo a change that would spread  happiness and peace 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
25
through the earth, and before long the millenial light
will dawn  upon  our moral  world.   I am  not quite
sure that the doctrine  we  now advocate  is not one
of  the precursors—shall I  say pioneers?—to intro-
duce us to, and render us familiar with the glory that
is to be revealed in  that day.*
   From all this it is plain that  to effect great  things,
it is necessary to divest the persons upon whom you
operate, as much as possible of their materiality;  or
in other words, add spirit to matter.   It  is the will
existing in man, which is the moving principle of all his
actions.  Volition does not belong to mere materiality.
It belongs to all spiritual  beings,  and is  the  more
active and  powerful in them, in proportion as they
are disengaged from matter.  The energy with which
it operates, without the assistance  of organs, is  the
essential characteristic of pure spirits.  Volition, then,
belongs to matter,  mind, and spirit; and  as it is the

  * It  is  the only discovery,  apart from revelation,  which
exhibits man to himself in his three-fold character of body, soul,
and spirit.  To those who have  even more than " Moses and
the Prophets,"—who have the Everlasting Gospel  of the Son
of God  preached to them, but who will not  believe, it mercifully
comes in the form of demonstration, to prove the reality of spi-
ritual existence, through a medium which, to  such men, is less
objectionable.  God has opened the stores  of wisdom  and
knowledge, that the minds of men, who are indifferent, might
be aroused—that  men might see themselves, and, through that
medium, apprehend their Author.  In the progress of this work
the three-fold character of man will be more fully explained.
                         3 
26             the  philosophy  of
most active  faculty of all those with which.man has
been endowed, so is it  fraught  with happiness or
misery according as it is well, or ill directed.
  The will is a power that sits enthroned above our
physical  natures.  It has  full command over  them
when invested and in full  possession of its natural
energies  and attributes.   But the  will is  as  often
impotent as is the physical system, because it  is not
instructed in the exercise of  its functions.   When it
is, the human machine approximates most to perfec-
tion.
  But the human brain is the organ upon which the
will acts.   This organ seems  to be a composition that,
like the Galvanic fluid, sends forth, at the command of
the will, an electrico-magnetic fluid, to traverse the
nerves—themselves  empty tubes—in order to give
vitality and action  to the muscular system.   The
galvanic  experiments made  on  dead men, seem to
affect muscular action in this way.   That  there is a
striking  analogy between  galvanic  electricity and
nervous influence, is certain.  That the one  seems
to act as a substitute for the other, and  partially does
so, has been demonstrated.  That the magnet is affected
by the  nervous fluid, is certain, the existence of  its
polarity being demonstrated, by the connexion  of the
 magnetic needle, with the nervous influence, according
 as it  was brought into contact with the opposite fluids.
 It is  admitted by all writers  on  the  human system,
 that  the  blood contains a  considerable quantity of 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
27
 iron.   If, then, it contains iron, why should  not that
 iron  be  capable of feeling  the magnetic influence—
 of being even polarized.*  By repeated psycometrical
 experiments, the existing affinity between the nervous
 fluid of the human body, and the electric and magnetic
 fluids, has been pretty well ascertained.  In fact, com-
 mon sense points out even to the casual observer, that
 a healthy subject can as well  be affected by another
 healthy  subject, as a healthy person is by another
 in  a state of  disease;  or in other words, that  there
 should be a contagion of health, as well as of disease.
 This fact was  known in ancient times.   It  was  the
 method  adopted  by  the servants of the Israelitish

  * Some weeks after this work was prepared for the Press, I
 saw the following article in  one of our city papers.  The same
 doctrine may be also found  in Colquhoun's work  on  animal
 magnetism.
  " A curious fact, connected with the science of magnetism,
 has recently been noticed  by Mr.  Partington, a lecturer at the
 Russian Institute, London; which seems to  prove that the
 human body possesses polarity.   The following is his account:
 ' Whilst making the necessary arrangements for this evening's
 lecture, I witnessed a very singular fact.   A lady, who is now
 in the lecture room, having brought her hand nearly in contact
 with the  magnetized needle, it was observed that the bar was
 attracted.  Although somewhat surprised at the singularity of
 the circumstance, I yet ascribed it either to the attraction of
gravitation, or else to a disturbance of the electrical equilibrium,
 and accordingly repeated the experiment.   The result was,
 that an attractive  or repulsive force was observed alterna'ely,
 upon presenting the thumb or finger of the same hand.' " 
28             THE PHILOSOPHY OF
king, in  order  to transfuse  youthful  vigor  into  his
exhausted  system;  and  whoever consults  Friar
Bacon's  "secret plaister for the cure of old age,"
may be  amused,  if  not instructed.   He says:  "It
heals because it is whole; when it is sick, it makes a
man sick; when it  is distempered, it breeds distem-
pers  and changes the body to its own  disposition,
because of the similitude it has with the  body"—for
as " the infirmity of man passes into man, so does
health because  of likeness."
   The brain, or cerebrum,  is the chief  organ upon
which the  will operates, and as it  is indispensable
that we  frequently refer to  this substance, it may be
necessary to say a word or two on its nature and use.
The brain is  a  soft viscus, contained within the cra-
nium; it is  divided into six lobes, each  of which is
surrounded by membranes called the dura, and pia-ma-
ter, also with another covering similar to a spider's web
and, on that account, called  the arachnoid membrane.
This membrane  is  situated between the  dura  and
pia-mater, and  has no  blood  vessels or nerves, and
surrounds the several medullary substances composing
the brain, and  medulla spinalis.  The cerebrum has
three  ventricles,  and  several protuberances, from
which originate  blood vessels, and nerves.   They
give off  nine pair of nerves to  different sections of
the head, as to  the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, fyc.  The
cerebrum is connected with the medulla oblongata by
the crura cerebri and crura cerebelli, two medullary 
                ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.             29
 columns; and this again  with the medulla spinalis, or
 spinal  marrow.    From  the spinal marrow proceed
 thirty pair of nerves, eight cervical, twelve dorsal,
 five lumbar, and jive sacral.   My object in this
 brief description is to give the unlearned reader some
 idea of the number, distinction, and origin, of the
 several classes  of nerves.   The nine pair that pro-
 ceed from the brain are called the cerebral;  the thir-
 ty from the spinal marrow, we shall call the spinal, or
ganglionic nerves, because they commence on each
 side of the spine in large tubercles, or knots, from
 which the  word ganglion has been derived.   These
 nerves possess different qualities and characteristics.
 Those proceeding from the cerebrum and medulla ob-
 longata are different in their structure from the spinal
 nerves, the former being harder, whiter, and  more
oxydized, while the ganglionic nerves are softer, more
like jelly, and of a  grayish  color.   The former of
these seems to have been appropriated to animal life,
the latter to the vegetative; the one as the seat of the
intellect, the other as that of the affections*  Though
we have reason to believe that the brain is the seat or
centre  of the operations of  the intellect,  we  have

  * The Christian Scriptures every  where  confirm  this doc-
trine.  They represent the  heart as the seat of one class of af-
fections, and the bowels of another.  That they are both the
seat of the same affections appears conclusive, but the one in a
more intense degree  than the other, in some of them.   Com-
passion,  sympathy, and  pity, it would seem, belong more to
                          3* 
30
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
equally good reason  to  hold that the ganglionic sys-
tem—the nerves and plexus  of the  chest and abdo-
men—is the primary seat of the passions and affec-
tions of the mind.  In fact, love, hate, jealousy, joy,
sorrow,  surprise,  terror, &c, alter the  functions, and
even the structure of the  organs, and any effect pro-
duced  by these passions and emotions upon the brain
appears to be secondary, or sympathetic.  The nerves
are hollow tubes, and their intention  is to convey the
nervous fluid from the seat of sensation to the muscu-
lar system, to restore it when exhausted.  The nerves
always arise from  a medullary substance, which, whe-
ther in the head, neck, or spine, we shall call the brain,
for it  deserves this  appellation, acting, as it  does, in
that  capacity, and  giving  out the nervous energy ac-
cording  as the brain and  nerves are  suited to the in-
tellect or the affections.
   The nervous fluid, as above observed, is  secreted
in the brain, and descends  into the  nerves at the
command of the will.  The construction of the brain
is such as that it can give forth this  fluid, and  trans-
mit it to the nervous system as it is required;  and it
exhales from the nerves when in  excess,  after the
muscles have been vivified by transfusion;*  the cere-

th e bowels than to the heart, but to the latter in some degree. See
 Mat. xv. 19 ;  1 John iii. 19 ;  Col. iii. 12; Isa. lxiii.  15, &c.
   * It  will  hardly be  supposed that the  quantity transmitted
 is always in exact  proportion to that which is required, any 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
31
brine medulla, or viscus, is  capable of secreting this
principle,  in the  same manner as electric matter  is
discharged from the  Galvanic  battery.   Neither the
fluid  itself, nor the  brain which secretes it, has any
taste  or smell, or color, both the cerebrum and nerves
being white.   Its motion  is  like  lightning,  for
by the direction of  the will it passes with the quick-
ness of thought through every part of the human sys-
tem !   As the nerves are  the organs of sense and mo-
tion,  and always arise from a medullary,  or brain-like
viscus, I shall in  these papers regard the several me-
dullary organs, whether in the head, or spine, as Gal-
vanic apparatus subject  to  the will, and when in a
healthy  condition, always ready to obey its mandates.
The  sentient extremities of  these  nerves  are like
wires from either pole of the battery, proceeding from

more than that the quantity of rays of light are in proportion to
the demands of vegetable life.  This no man would suppose who
pretends to an acquaintance with natural philosophy, it being a
general Jaw that the principle is abundantly diffused, but that
nature appropriates of that abundance a supply for the functional
operations of progressive  organization.  The  fact is, when
the will is impotent the supply for the nerves  is deficient, but
at other times, under excitement, it is  in excess. In the latter
state a preternatural strength, is for a time, diffused through the
system, as we witness  in cases of madness, epilepsy, or under
the excitements of fever, or anger.   Will it, then, be supposed,
that a supply in exact measure will be given to meet contingen-
cies which  it is not the design of the  creative power  should
ever happen 1 
32             THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF
and branching out into every part; but as each of those
projecting on any one side, has  a  corresponding one
on the other, always  making a pair of the same class
which perform  the same  duties, so they proceed  in
pairs, and bend their course to corresponding muscles,
on either side of  the  system.   But the nerves have
different  functions to perform.  It would seem that
those of  the cerebral nerves receive  the impulse of
the will, upon their sentient extremities; it is probable
that at the moment  of perception an impingement
on the extremity of the nerves by the viscus takes
place.  The common opinion is, that sensation pre-
cedes volition; but I hold the reverse, because I give
volition entirely up to the action of the thinking part,
or soul; and place the whole machine  under its com-
mand.  It is asserted upon very respectable authority,
that  the electric matter is different from the nervous
fluid:  That this fluid is not magnetic; neither oxy-
gen,  nor hydrogen, nor  azot, but an element sui
generis,  which exists and is produced in the nerves
only, and can be known only by its effects.  It is sup-
posed by some to be an intermediate substance be-
tween the body and the soul, and  different  from the
vital principle.
   This nervous, or, as I shall call it,  vital fluid, is
light.   It is the same active, imponderable fluid that
is transfused into all  nature.  But this light in pass-
ing through any medium whatever is in some degree
changed in its properties, and made to partake of the
nature of that through which it is diffused.  The light of 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
33
the sun, for instance, is motion.and proceeds, but is not
discharged from the  sun.  On striking the earth, it
passes  through its pores, enters the solids,  the fluids
and minerals, and  passes into the  centre, from which,
having become polarized  and magnetized,  it escapes
at the  poles  in  exhalations, and  probably returns
to the  source from whence it came, thus  supplying
the exhaustless formation of light with its own beams!
So when this light vivifies the human subject, it be-
comes modified  in the medullary  organs,  and is
concentrated there for performing the necessary func-
tions of life; just  as the solar beams are taken up in
vegetation, to give life to the vegetable world, and
may be liberated again in the process of combustion;
for all  the beams of the sun received by the earth, are
not needed in vegetable  organization, an abundance
being supplied, and from that abundance all parts of
nature taking a portion for their own use.
   From what I have said on  the abstract condition of
man, it may be inferred that he  is  capable of being
analyzed so that his constituent elements may be as-
certained. The chemical agent by  which this can alone
be effected is animal magnetism.  The  process by
which an  analysis is effected  will  soon be understood.
   It is agreed on  all hands, that Animal  Magnetism,
when  applied to the human  subject, operates  chiefly
upon  the nerves  situated  in the abdominal region;
that is, upon the plexus Solaris,  or great sympa-
thetic  nerves, which  appear  to be the centre  of the 
34             THE  philosophy  of
ganglionic system of nervous influence, opposed, as is
well known,  to that  of the brain.   So important in
the human economy, has the region of this great gan-
glion been considered, that some of the elder philoso-
phers conceived it to be the seat of  the sentient soul.
In diseased states of  the organ, this  ganglion appears
in very peculiar relations towards the cerebral system,
and it has sometimes, perhaps not  unreasonably, been
denominated the cerebrum abdominale.
  Now, it is a singular fact, that in many cases of cata-
lepsy and somnambulism, the usual organs of the senses
have been  found to be entirely  dormant, and the
seat of general  sensibility  transferred from the
brain,  to the region of this ganglion, or cerebrum
abdominale.    Does not this circumstance suggest
some distinction hitherto not sufficiently investigated,
between the  intellect and the sensibility—between
the cerebral and the ganglionic systems of the nervous
energy ?
  The ganglionic system does not spring, as was for-
merly believed from the fifth  and sixth cerebral pairs;
but only communicates with them  as with  many others
and all the nerves of the spinal cord.  It constitutes
itself a separate and  independent whole.  A series of
ganglions lying on both sides of the spinal cord, link-
ed together by means of connecting branches, formed
into a circle at a point between the cerebral and spinal
action,  constitutes  the boundary of both  systems.
Within this boundary the spinal, or, as I  prefer term- 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
35
ing it, the ganglionic system  expands and communi-
cates outward with the brain, by means of connecting
branches.   The ganglionic system, contained within
the elliptical boundary, consists of  a  contexture of
apparently irregular plexus of  nerves,  sometimes
more loose, but where the principal vessels lie, more
closely  pressed together, and occasionally provided
with nervous knots.   In this labarinthine contexture,
one particular group preponderates in respect to mass,
separation, and influence, which,  in consequence of
its form, has been denominated the plexus Solaris.
  Now, having described these two nervous systems,
it is proper to explain in what manner they are affect-
ed  by the  magnetic  action.  It appears, by repeated
experiments, that when  the  activity of  the cerebral
system is diminished, that of the ganglionic system is
increased.  At  such  times the skin  is the seat of
sensation !  To  prove this it is only necessary to let
the point of the finger, or of a metallic rod, be passed
over the skin of  a sleeping person frequently, within
an inch  of  the skin, or so, without producing a cur-
rent of  air, and  the sleeper will  become disturbed,
rub the  part affected, and if the experiment is  con-
tinued probably awake.
  But  when this subject is  treated  physiologically,
there seems to be this difference between natural and
magnetic sleep, that in a state of nature the cerebral
organs are in activity; but  when under magnetic
influence these are suspended, and  the ganglionic 
 36             THE philosophy of
 system is exalted, or in activity; that is, the principal
 effect of  the  magnetic  treatment  upon the brain  ap-
 pears to consist in  the  temporary suspension  of  the
 sensibility, and activity of the cerebral organs; but the
 ganglionic  system is rendered proportionally active
 as the other is depressed!   Whether this indicates
polarization in the human system  or not, let others
judge.  It seems, at least, to have some analogy to it.
  The proofs of animal magnetism seem also to be proofs
 of the Aurora Borealis.   They are, as has been before
 hinted, exhalations of light  from their respective
 bodies,  the former  from man, the latter from  the
 earth.  Light, in  passing through man, or through
 the earth, becomes magnetized, by partaking  of  the
 nature of the respective bodies through which it passes.
 At the moment of receiving magnetic influence it
 becomes polarized.  The nervous circulation is  so-
 lar light,  digested  or  modified in the brain,  and
 thence distributed through the system, as electricity
 is circulated from an electrical battery, or galvanic ap-
 paratus.  It is projected from the head, and exhales
 at the extremities, whence  it forms an atmosphere,
 or sphere of active motion similar to the magnetic ac-
 tion.
   Now,  the vital power  transferred from one indi-
 vidual to another, does not, as some suppose, reside in
 the nerves, but in  the brain.   It is from this point
 that the transferred power emanates, runs through  the 
animal magnetism.
37
nerves, and gives vital energy to all parts of the mus-
cular system.
  Those who  have written upon animal magnetism,
and they are  both very numerous and respectable,
concur in saying, that every healthy individual has
the power of communicating the vital fluid.  The
more healthy and sound the constitution, the more ca-
pable  he is  of communicating  it.  The opposite of
these  conditions produces the contrary effects.  This
fluid is  produced by a very simple process, and even
without  their aid by the sole act of the will.  But
the act of the will is not necessary to receive it.  It
is transmitted  the more easily  in proportion as the
will of the operator is real, strong, and determined.
It will perhaps be with difficulty believed,  that the
communication of the fluid is more or  less complete,
according to the degree in which the will of the ope-
rator is more or less developed; but daily experience
has enabled  us to perceive, that, in order to produce
the desired effects, an adept has been obliged to learn
to exert his will, as a  child is obliged to  learn to
walk!   Whoever  examines a French  work  entitled,
(iMemoires sur lefluide vital," will find many curious
and  interesting  remarks  upon the  subject, deeply
worthy  his  attention.   Indeed, why the  reasons of
most of these  phenomena are unnoticed is, men are
not apt to examine very  carefully those  correspon-
dencies in the human body upon which depends a great
part of the play of the animal machine.
                          4 
38
THE  philosophy  of
  I have said above, that in the natural and magnetic
somnambulism the operations appear to depend, or to
exhibit their effects upon the organs which I have de-
scribed, but that in the somnolescent state the  cerebral
organs are rendered  dormant, and the sensibility is
frequently transferred  to  the  epigastrium,  that  is,
the pit of the stomach.  Reihl assumed two poles of
nervous sensibility in the  human organism—-the one
the pneumatic pole,  being seated in  the brain;  the
other the somatic pole, in  the ganglionic system.  If
Reihl had been acquainted  with animal magnetism,
he would have better known how to have accounted for
the peculiar principle which led him  to  make this
distinction—it would at  once  have directed him to
the true cause.  If we admit, however, the connexion,
or perhaps the antagonism  already pointed out be-
tween the intellect and the  sensibility—between the
cerebral and the nervous or  ganglionic systems; and
could we  conceive it possible, either by means of the
manipulations, &c. employed  in  the magnetic treat-
ment,  or  by any other accidental, or  undiscoverable
means,  to withdraw  a considerable  portion of the
nervous or vital fluid from  the  cerebral regions and
concentrate it at the epigastrium in the plexus Solaris,
or distribute it throughout the ganglionic  system, we
should thus be enabled to account, in some degree,
for the  many extraordinary  phenomena of animal
magnetism, occasioned, it  would  appear, by the  sus- 
               ANIMAL  MAGNETISM.             39
pension or activity  in the  cerebral organs, and the
exalted sensibility of the abdominal ganglions.
  There is little doubt that the ganglions I have de-
scribed, with their  appendages, was designed  by
Paracelsus and Von Helmont, in what they have
said respecting  the existence and functions of the
archaeus,  which  they describe  as  a  sort of demon,
presiding  over  the stomach,  acting  constantly  by
means of the vital spirits, performing the most impor-
tant offices in the animal economy, producing all the
organic changes which  take  place in  the  corporeal
frame, curing diseases, &c.   Von Helmont even held,
that, by virtue-of the archaeus, man was approximated
to the realm of spirits; meaning, I presume, that  in
cases  of catalepsy and somnambulism, the excited sen-
sibility of the archaeus (or plexus Solaris,) predomi-
nates over the cerebral energy, supplies its functions
with increased activity, and in the absence of the or-
dinary organic influence, seems to transport us to an-
other world.
   It is a remarkable and well demonstrated fact, that
the combination  of fluids of one individual with
those of another, has the effect of producing sleep*

  * Every child, of a kind and docile spirit, knows the effect pro-
duced on his mind  during his mother's manipulations in dress-
ing its head.   The author well  remembers, when a small boy,
that while his  mother, or nurse,  used to comb his head, he was
accustomed to fall into a sleep, and while in that state his plea-
sure was so excessive, that he  still solicits it from his com- 
40
the philosophy of
This combination causes the brain to pass into a sort
of ercthismus, which gradually increased by the con-
tinuation of magnetic action, determines, in the brain
of the magnetized person, a considerable disengage-
ment  of fluid.  It is  this excess of fluid, whose sub-
tility, traversing the sides of the cranium, irradiates
the surrounding objects, and occasions the wonderful
phenomena of lucidity!  In such cases, the brain is
enabled to  dispense with the instruments of the senses,
and the individual can see  without  eyes, and hear
without ears!  In the  ordinary state, the organs of
the senses are a kind of conductors through which we
receive the impressions of external  objects; but  in
somnambulism, the fluid comes immediately into con-
tact with these objects, so that the natural conduc-
tors of sensation become useless.
  We have seen that in somnambulism the sensibility
of the animal life is entirely abolished.  This phe-
nomenon, in our opinion, is susceptible of rigorous
explanation.   We feel  nothing, because the  brain,
completely absorbed by the activity of this new order
of perceptions, entirely abandoned to  this ecstatic life,
no longer perceives any other impressions.  We may
form  some idea  of this incapability of  perceiving in

panion, though his locks are silvered with age, for the delicious
enjoyment he feels in the manipulation.  This was an imperfect
somnolency, which, had the parties  understood, might  have
resulted in the usual effects, by continuing  it in the usual
way. 
ANIMAL magnetism.
41
the brain, from what daily takes place when a strong
sensation annihilates within us a weaker one, and pro-
bably where  the  perceptions are slow, there is a de-
gree of disease in the nervous system, or in the viscus
which supplies  it  with the nervous fluid,  the  lat-
ter being deficient in the necessary energy to secrete
the fluid  which sets the machine in motion, and in-
vigorates it.   It is elsewhere said, that when effusing
this fluid outward, we feel more energy both of mind
and body than at other times.   If excitement is kept
up it will give a greater activity to the  series of sen-
sations upon  which we  act—but if the  mind  is too
much excited without the refreshing influence of plea-
sure, it will sink into exhaustion, or become deranged.
In  this way, when strong unpleasant mental excite-
ment supervenes, and continues without necessary re-
laxation, monomania usually follows.  If the mind is
balanced  by  a variety  of pleasing emotions, or en-
lightened by study,  monomania seldom occurs, be-
cause the mind has occupation on so many points that
it is not exhausted  on any.   It is thus that an indi-
vidual profoundly pre-occupied with some great idea, or
struck with the sight of a very interesting object, sees
and hears  nothing  of what is  going on  around him.
It is thus, too, that in a contest, embittered by wrath,
or vengeance, the  two adversaries scarcely feel the
blows which they mutually inflict upon one another.
   Every man,  in a healthy state, as I  have  said, has
                        4* 
42
the  philosophy  of
 the faculty of causing  the magnetic fluid to radiate
from his brain by the sole act of his will.  This
 fluid, however, is not generated in  the brain in the
 same manner as in the Gymnotus Electricus, for the
 Gymnotus has no conductors to diffuse the fluid through
 its own system, and  therefore must give it out; but
 the human machine has, and hence it retains what is
 necessary for its  own  use, and gives out at will, but
 in slight and  imperceptible  degrees,  what can  be
 spared.  Just as the  will is disciplined  and taught, it
 has  the  power to give  or  withhold  this vital fluid.
 Hence, the individual  who is well instructed has more
 command over his own energies than the man whose
 education  is neglected;  but the  man who possesses
 natural powers of a high order has this fluid more in
 obedience  to his will than any other, because  with
 him it is an instinctive principle of his nature.
   It should be borne in mind that the vital fluid and
 the magnetic fluid, are  not exactly the same in form
 and degree.   The latter is a modified form of the
 former, as the Aurora Borealis is of the  beams of light
 which are  received by the earth.  These having pass-
 ed through  the  minerals, &c,  contained  in  it,  and
 thereby become polarized, pass off at the magnetic, or
 around the polar regions, in  exhalations, and pro-
 bably return to the source from whence they issued.
 The vital  fluid,  for instance, passes from the brain
 with a velocity almost beyond thought.   Dr. Roget,
 in his Bridgewater  Treatises, (vol.  ii. p. 367,)  says: 
               ANIMAL magnetism.             43
"The velocity with which the nerves, subservient to
sensation, transmit the impressions they receive at one
extremity, along their whole course, exceeds all mea-
surement,  and  can be compared  only to electricity
passing along the conducting wire."  Now, such is
not the manner in which the magnetic influence is
given out, though the rapidity of its motion through
the organized system  is quite equal to that stated by
Dr. Roget.  Outwardly, it diffuses  itself from the
nervous system by almost insensible transmission, but
in greater  quantities  at the  extremities than at any
other part  of the human system.  Let, for instance, as
elsewhere observed, a healthy person pass his hand in
the most  delicate manner over the face of another
person asleep,—he need not touch the cuticle, nor
even raise a wind, so slow  and  gentle may be the
movement of the extremity of the fingers, in approxi-
mation with the sleeper, and immediately he becomes
uneasy—he starts—he applies his  hand to  the  face,
and rubs it;  and, if the movement be continued, he
usually  starts from his slumber  and  awakes.   The
fluid sent forth by the will  is given  out in greater
abundance as the will has power over its own volitions,
when the fluid is in a neutral or natural state.  Now,
suppose  this fluid to be directed by the magnelizer to-
wards the brain of another individual, the consequence
will be this : if the fluid of the magnetized person  is
equally natural, no effect will be produced, because two
neutral fluids do not act upon each other; and this  is 
44
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
what generally takes place when we attempt to mag-
netize a person in health. But if the fluids are isolated,
as is usually the case in sick persons, each of  these
two fluids will tend to decompose the neutral fluids of
the magnetizer, and to combine with its opposite.
   After a magnetic sleep the somnambulist recollects
nothing of what passes while in that state,  because every
thing had taken place  without the action  of the brain,
since we have seen that the fluid goes out in search of
other objects.   If time and  space  will allow, I may
give other and strong reasons for this singular pheno-
menon—at present it would be premature.
   The reason why a magnetizer does not always  act
effectively, is because his will at  the given moment,
may be incapable of directing  the  fluid; because  his
mind is  distracted or  indisposed, and  his fluid  no
longer possesses the requisite conditions;  because  he
acts upon a healthy person, and their mutual fluids
are incapable of acting upon each other; because  he
operates upon a sick person, whose fluid, at the mo-
ment, is in a natural state; finally, because some third
party exerts a contradictory action with or without  in-
tention.   The magnetized person should  have confi-
dence in magnetism, because it is necessary that  the
brain should be in certain moral  conditions in order
to produce certain moral effects.
   Writers upon animal magnetism inform us  of this
peculiar  influence, or vital  fluid, that  independently
of its sanative efficacy, the usual effects of the magnetic 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
45
processes are the production of sleep and. somnambu-
lism, the latter being obviously a more  profound  le-
thargic state of the former.  The phenomena invariably
observed in  somnambulism, when the crisis is perfect,
are insensibility of the  corporeal organs, exaltation
of the intellectual faculties, a transferrence of the
sensitive powers to  other than  the usual  parts of
the  nervous  system,  intuition,  prevision,  (pre-
science)  prediction, and the  total  oblivion,  when
restored to the natural state, of all that occurred during
the continuance of the affection.*
  The  Bihliotheque du  Magnetisme Animate, a
distinguished  French  periodical,  says in substance,
that it  has often had occasion to remark, that persons
affected with mania, or laboring under some mental
irregularity,  which  caused  them to  be taxed  with

  * The  intellectual faculties are not located in the brain, except
when the brain is in its natural state.  It follows this fluid, and
is rendered more active by it.  What we call prevision is  not
an attribute of man in any state; but it sometimes receives this
name, from the ability of the active powers in the somnolescent
state to be present at all places upon the surface of this globe,when
it wills to be there present.  It therefore knows  and declares
what is relative prevision, because it  may require months  for
others to know it in the ordinary course of events.  The future
is known only to God, and he to whom he  is pleased to reveal
such knowledge.  But he may grant such  knowledge, in part,
to individuals in communication with Him for especial purposes,
or to any individual in whom His designs are not  fulfilled ;  for
we are immortal till our time is come. 
46
THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF
slight insanity are, in the somnolescent state, generally
more  clear-sighted  {clairvoyant),  than others, and
that at such times, they exhibit no  indication of the
defects  of  the mind with  which they  are  charged!
Another writer remarks the same thing in cases where
the intellectual faculties were absent, or were  mani-
festly  infirm.   These  phenomena are  sufficiently
explained by the observations of old and experienced
physicians.   They  know  that partial  insanity, dif-
ferent kinds  of  mania,  symptoms  of an  habitual
aberration of mind, must have most frequently their
principal seat in  some  deeply affected  viscus of the
epigastrium;  and in that case the irregularity of the
cerebral functions  is  only sympathetic.    Now,
somnambulism has the effect of insulating the latter,
of rendering them, for the time, independent of their
usual relations,  of withdrawing the brain  from  its
morbid affections;  and it is  by such means  that this
organ instantaneously  acquires  this  freedom—this
facility, this  great  latitude  of  operating,  which it
enjoys in this state.
   Those who are  either altogether, or but slightly
acquainted with this science, suppose that it chiefly
consists in an  artificial  sleep,  by means   of  some
jugglery, performed on the subject, by a person who
possesses powers in some degree like the Gymnotus
Electricus, or touch-doctors already noticed!   The
manipulations by which the magnetic sleep is produced
is the cause—the sleep, and  the extraordinary effects 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
47
resulting from it, is the part of this interesting subject
which deserves the attention of  the philosopher.   In
sleep, our external senses are in a dormant state. But
the cuticular organ, the principal seat of the physical
sensibility, is  considered more  open to external im-
pressions  and  influences,  when asleep  than  when
awake.   This organ,—the skin,—in sleep, is the door
by which  we  may  communicate directly  with the
internal sense of  man, excite his faculties, and even
direct  his  moral sense to the object we propose.  Is
it not very common  to make sleeping persons speak;
to  make  them sometimes hold long  conversations,
and even  tell their  secrets ?  Now,  the ear being
asleep,  how  can  they hear by that organ ?  They
cannot—they hear  you  by  the  only  organ then
active—-then, indeed, more than at any other time
sensitive.  The vibrations of sound, as well as rays
of light, are perceived through the skin.   Through
this medium  alone, and by this does he see,  and dis-
tinguish objects.
   Roullier, a French writer of celebrity, observes,
that in magnetism, the physical processes elicit a fluid,
which reasoning and analogy would compel us, as it
were,  to  admit, even if all  somnambulists had  not
besides invariably attested its  existence.  The som-
nambulists invariably see this fluid white as light,
and sprinkled with brilliant sparks, when  the
magnetizer operates, with  more or less energy, with
the points of his fingers; and among these  somnam- 
4S             THE PHILOSOPHY OF
bulists, there have  been children,  persons  without
any  knowledge of physics, and  even some who, in
their natural state, had no confidence in magnetism.
Puysegur says, " the electric machine, set in motion
by the handle, which causes the glass plate to revolve
between two cushions, is the image of the magnetizer.
Let this motion stop, then all communications cease—
all the sparks disappear—in short, all kinds  of elec-
trical manifestations are at an  end.    In the  same
manner, the manifestations of animal magnetism cease
from the moment that our will, the  handle of our
thoughts, no longer acts magnetically in the intention
of producing  them."
   When the inward man, the soul, forsakes the inward
sphere; or when the senses operate, and merely con-
tinues the vital  functions, the  body  falls into an
entranced state, or a profound  sleep,  during which
time  the soul acts more  freely  and powerfully, all
its faculties  being elevated.   The more, therefore,
the soul  is  divested  of the body, the more extensive,
free, and powerful, is its inward sphere of operation.
It has, therefore, no need  whatever of the  body, in
order to live and exist; the latter is rather an hin-
drance to it.
   The s°ul m a state °f magnetism, has  no perception
whatever of  the visible world; but if it be brought
into reciprocal connexion with some one who is in
his natural  state, and acts through the  medium of 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
49
his corporal senses, it becomes conscious of the visi-
ble world through him, and in him is sensible of it.
  Space is merely the operation of the material organs
of sense; out of them  it  has  no existence; therefore
as soon as the soul forsakes the latter, all proximity
and distance cease.   Hence, if it stand in reciprocal
connexion with a person who  is many thousand miles
distant from it, it can impart  knowledge by  an in-
ternal  communication, and receive it from such  an
one, and all this  as rapidly as thoughts follow each
other.   In such cases, the soul, when separated from
the body, is wherever it  thinks to be;  for  as
space is only its mode of thinking, but does not exist
except in its ideas, it is always at the place which it
represents itself to itself, if it may be there.
   In the early part of this work I made an allusion to
reports  made by commissioners appointed  by  the
French  Academy, on Animal Magnetism.  I  shall
now refer to the latter of those reports, and make ex-
tracts  from it in the words of the commissioners:
   " In all the experiments which we made," says the
Report,  "we invariably observed that, in the develop-
ment  of phenomena so  delicate, the attention of the
magnetizer and the  magnetized ought not to be dis-
tracted by any  thing  foreign.   Besides, we  did not
wish  to  incur the  reproach of  having injured dis-
tracting causes; and we  always took care that the ex-
pression of our countenances should neither operate
as a constraint upon the magnetized, nor occasion doubt
                         5 
50             the philosophy  of
in the mind of the person magnetized.   Our position,
we are  anxious to repeat it, was constantly that of
inquisitive  and impartial observers.
  " The person to be magnetized was placed in a sit-
ting posture, either in a convenient elbow chair, or
on a couch—sometimes in a common chair."   [Other
writers say the patient should be placed in a  semi-re-
cumbent posture, so that the operator can reach from
his head to his toes.  It is not necessary that the pa-
tient be  undressed, only so  as that  no silk  covering
should intervene.]
  " The  magnetizer, seated on a chair a little more
elevated, opposite, and at the distance  of about  one
foot from the patient, seemed  to collect  himself for
some moments, during which he took the thumbs of
the patient between his  two fingers, so that the in-
terior parts of the thumbs were in contact with each
other.  He fixed his eyes upon the patient, and re-
mained in this position until he  felt  that an  equal de-
gree of  heat was established between the thumbs of
the magnetizer and magnetized.  He then withdrew
his hands, turning them outward,  placing  them on
the shoulder, where he allowed them to remain about
a  minute,  and  conducted them slowly, by a sort of
very slight friction, along the arms to the extremities
of the fingers.  This operation he performed five or
six times,  which the magnetizers call a pass.  He
then placed his hands above the head, held them there
a moment,  drew them downwards in front of the face, 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
51
at the distance of one or two inches, to the epigas-
trium, (pit of the stomach,) resting his fingers upon
this part of the body; and he  descended slowly along
the body  to  the  feet.  These passes  were repeated
during the greater part of  the sitting; and when he
wished to terminate it, he prolonged them beyond the
extremities of the hands and feet, shaking his fingers
each time.  Finally, he made transverse passes before
the face and  breast, at the distance of from  three to
four  inches, presenting his  two hands  approximating
to each  other, and separating them abruptly.
   At other times he approximated the fingers of each
hand, and presenting them at  the distance of three or
four  inches  from the head to the stomach, leaving
them in this position during one or two minutes; then
withdrawing them and approximating them alternate-
ly with more or less rapidity, he imitated the very
natural movement which is  performed when we wish
to shake  off a liquid which has moistened the ex-
tremity of our  fingers.  These  different modes of
operation  have been adopted  in all our experiments,
without any preference of the one to the other.  Fre-
quently we employed only one, sometimes two,  and
in the choice we made, we were never guided by the
idea  that one method  would  produce an  effect more
readily and more conspicuously than the other,"
   To this account of  the method of producing mag-
netic somnambulism, the commissioners add, in con- 
52
the  philosophy  of
elusion, (for the  report  is too long for our purpose)
the following brief summary of reflections.
   1. "The  contact of the thumbs, or of the hands;
frictions, or certain gestures which are made at a small
distance from the body, and are called passes, are the
means employed to place ourselves in magnetic con-
nexion, or in  other words, to transmit the  magnetic
influence to the patient.
   2. " The means which are external and visible are
not always necessary, since, on many occasions, the
will,  the fixed  look, have  been found sufficient to
produce the magnetic phenomena,  even without the
knowledge of the patient.
   3. " Magnetism takes effect upon persons of differ-
ent sexes and ages.
   4. " The time required for transmitting  the mag-
netic influence with effect, has varied from one minute
to half an hour.
   5. " In general, magnetism does not act  upon per-
sons in a sound state of health.
   6. " Neither does it upon all sick persons.
   7.  " A certain number of the effects observed ap-
peared  to  us  to depend  upon  magnetism alone, and
were never produced without its application.  These
are well  established physiological  and therapeutic
phenomena.
   8.  " The real  effects produced  by magnetism are
very various.  It agitates some, and soothes others.
 Most commonly it occasions a momentary acceleration 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.             53
of respiration and of the circulation, fugitive fibrillary
convulsive motions, resembling shocks, a  numbness
in a greater or less  degree, heaviness, somnolency,
and, in  a small number of cases, that which magnet-
izers call somnambulism."
  M. Deluse, in  explaining  this magnetism  as a
natural cause which explains much of what was here-
tofore  considered  supernatural,  says: "the  opinion
that an emanation from one person directed  by his
will may act upon another  person, as  an  emanation
from the brain  acts upon the fingers—does not  con-
duct us to the belief of the action of devils;  on the
contrary, it annihilates this  superstition, by teaching
us to see in ourselves the cause  of many effects, which
were formerly ascribed to strange and  chimerical
powers."
  The doctrines of animal magnetism are  eminently
calculated to promote the true interests of spiritual
religion, by associating with it  a spiritual philosophy.
Indeed this doctrine demonstrates beyond  all power
of confutation,  that man contains within  him another
being—a Soul.
  When the thinking principle is separated from the
society and contagion of the body, it remembers the
past, perceives the present, and  foresees the future.
The body of a  magnetized sleeper lies like one dead;
but  the mind  lives, and is vigorous.   How much
more so will it  be after death, when  it  shall  have
altogether separated from the body?
                         5* 
54
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
  A materialist will venture to assert that the  brain
thinks, and feels, and wills, as clearly as the liver
secretes bile.  It would be much easier to prove that
mind—soul, spirit, the immortal principle—produces,
forms, creates, the brain.
  Many are sceptical  on the subject of the psycolo-
gical part of this most interesting science, who admit
a part of the facts—for instance, those which relate to
the magnetic  somnambulism, and  the physiological
facts connected with them.  They cannot understand,
and will not believe, any of the facts connected with
prevision, and the locomotive powers of mind  and
soul during the somnolescent state.  They cannot
realize the  fact, before alluded  to, that  during its
disengagement from the body, the soul  has no per-
ception whatever  of the visible and tangible world.
They are unable to perceive that time is, in reality, a
mere  mode of  thinking, and not  of existing, and
that the  departed or temporarily separated soul, may
be  susceptible of  future things.   Why may not the
mind, or sentient soul, for instance, extend itself with
the velocity of thought, when thus divested of organ-
ized  corporeity, just  as  easy as  we are enabled to
extend our  knowledge with  the  aid of a few lenses
directed to the heavens?
   It is freely  admitted, that we can  read  the.mighty
volume  of  the  visible  heavens with accuracy, and
even  distinguish  not  only stars  before  unseen, but
also their periodical movements—we can travel with 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
55
them through space in the immense velocity of their
flight, and tell with mathematical precision not only
the distance  but the  exact geometrical form  of the
course over which they travel.  We have no  reason
to infer that because our perceptions are circumscribed
while in the body, they are equally so when disengaged
from it.  Indeed the faculty of perception enables  us
to see and  know only a few of the little matters and
things belonging to the globe we dwell on;  but does
the soul  belong to the elements of nature ?   Is not
its sphere to extend itself beyond the shell and husk
of animal organization, and roam with a vast  power
of locomotion over the structure of nature's handy-
work at the operation of the will?   " The body,"
says an able  writer, " is not the  open  bower or tent
of the soul—but it is its castle, from which all other
minds may be excluded."  But when it vacates  its
abode, for an excursion over the realms of  nature,
must we infer  that its evolutions are as sluggish as if
 it were encased in that castle, and chained down  by
the entities of animal organization?  Such  are not our
perceptions  of  its condition.   We  must  entertain
other notions of its communications, habits, capacities,
powers, locomotions, and ethereal qualities and enjoy-
ments.   Whatever be the  construction of that soul,
whether corporeal, or  ethereal, is not our  concern  in
the present argument; but it is whether it exists at all,
and if so, what effects magnetism produces in the act
of its disengagement from the body, or whether under 
56
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
the influence of this phenomenon, the soul can  com-
municate, without the agency of the body, with those
who are in  reciprocal connexion with the body of the
magnetized.   This  should  be the most  important
question of all.
  M. Virey, in his work before alluded  to, (p. 346,)
says: "without doubt, we owe to a certain  ability of
mind those predictions which result from experience
and prudence ;  but nature replaces this advantage in
animals, and in the most simple of mankind, by very
delicate instincts.   Our souls have naturally a tact
which gives them   a presentiment  of seasons,  and
sometimes of events.  The more the mind is occupied
with science the less is it moved  by internal impres-
sions.   Ignorance,   too,  by leaving the soul in  its
natural condition, is  more  susceptible  of instinctive
impressions, than the logical and limited march of the
reasoning powers."
  The same writer further remarks, that when a  sen-
sible organization observes itself internally, the instinct
speaks; it inspires and instructs the individual on the
subjects of  his peculiar  complaints, or diseases,  and
frequently  in a more luminous manner than the most
skilful physician is capable of doing.  " This internal
voice," says M. Virey, " is independent of the intel-
lect; the most simple persons, idiots, individuals  half
asleep, are  even more capable of hearing  it, because
they are less distracted by internal  sensations."—
"There is," continues he, "in man a soul, a  peculiar 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
57
force which animates him; this force  has  particular
faculties independent of the organization of the body.
It is by means of this invisible agent that we acquire
all  our knowledge—it alone  constitutes  our  true
being." (p. 4, 5.)
  "Our soul," says the writer last quoted, "is sus-
ceptible of three principal states;  1. That of ordinary
life, which employs  the soul  as well as  the body;
2. That of dreaming, or delirium, which chiefly oc-
cupies the sensitive  faculties  of the  body; 3.  The
state of ecstatic meditation, in which the soul acts
almost alone.   The soul, in the ecstatic state, can  con-
template events from a higher  point of view, and its
dreams have  something of a prophetic character;  for
being prodigiously from the body by meditation, it
seems to have  diffused itself  throughout universal
nature, where it  can remark many effects in their
source.  The man who is in the habit of directing his
native energies, acquires thereby a marked superiority
over other men.   Our soul has spontaneous motions;
it acts alone, without the concurrence of the body; it
admits the vital spirits to where they  are required to
go;  it organizes the foetus; in  diseases,  it constitutes
the natura medicatrix, which, taking care to direct
the  humors  in a salutary  manner,  points out to the
physician what he ought to do.  It is not an acquired
science, but an innate faculty; for, instructed by the
Author of all being Himself, the soul  has  no need of
acquired knowledge,  this being only relative to exter- 
58             THE PHILOSOPHY OF
nal objects.  When the  equilibrium  of  health has
been disturbed, the motion of the soul mechanically
aspires to restore it.  Every disease  frequently dis-
covers its remedy, if we will only listen to its deter-
minations.  Medicine  is  in ourselves; we  do not
create, we develope it, when, consulting in  silence the
impulse of nature,  we favor its direction.   Nature
may produce in every being the desire of an unknown
object, and cause an individual to divine the remedy,
of which, perhaps, all  the science  of  the physician
would  never have dreamed.
  "Amongst doubtful events, when we cannot form a
conjecture as to what  may be the  issue, if we take
them so much to heart as to become heated, the soul
is enlightened, and  sometimes penetrates into the fu-
ture.   A prophet does not (always) know the cause
of his  prophecyings; he feels himself moved  by a
power  which exceeds his natural energies.   He does
not divine all things, but only that which comes into
his thoughts.  This species of divination arises and is
lost naturally, and is with difficulty retained.  When
the mind manifests it, all the senses are in a state of
temporary suspension, and nothing  external  distracts
them.   They must  hold converse alone with the
Being  with whom they are at the time in commu-
nication."
  These arguments lead us to a  knowledge  of the
fact, that by magnetism, nervous  disorders, long con-
tinued efforts of the soul, or by other means, a person 
               ANIMAL MAGNETISM.             59
who has a natural predispositionfor.it, may, in  the
present life, detach his soul in a greater or less degree
from its corporeal organization.
  With the doctrines of animal magnetism are inti-
mately  connected the subject  of  sleep and  dreams,
omens,  presentiments and sympathetic forebodings,
second sight,  &c.  There are  various well  attested
phenomena which prove the  reality of these occur-
rences, and justify the assertion of the poet, that

        "Dreams full oft are found of real events
         The forms and shadows."

  The same may be said of omens and presentiments.
It is difficult to reject the whole of the evidence upon
this subject, and absolutely to deny that, upon some
occasions, and under certain circumstances,
        " Coming events cast their shadows before."

  Animal magnetism affords us the means of giving a
natural  explanation  of  these  phenomena, and  the
whole subject deserves to be philosophically investi-
gated, with a view to dispel superstition  on  the  one
hand, and scepticism on the other.
  Indeed, few observant persons are to be found, who
have not become acquainted with  well authenticated
facts  in relation to sympathetic  forebodings  and
presentiments.   The  instances  are  both numerous
and well attested.  They are phenomena  which the
most incredulous cannot deny, while they attempt to 
60             THE PHILOSOPHY OF
account for them on principles which  reject any in-
tervention of our spiritual nature.   Profane, no less
than sacred history, abounds  with these species of
incidents; and they all go to prove that there  is an
existence distinct from that of the present  mode of
life, to  which we shall  emerge when the scenes of
mortality shall close upon us.
  Professor Andral, in his Lectures,  delivered in
the University of Paris, published in 1832, speaks of
a case of somnambulism, of which the proofs are most
authentic, from which the following is a brief abstract.
The author, (M. Felazzi,)  then an interne, (an in-
ternal resident,) at  the Hotel Dieu, and totally scepti-
cal regarding the powers ascribed  to the mysterious
essence—this  asserted  magnetic fluid,—formed, for
amusement, the plan, with a brother*interne, equally
incredulous, of  submitting  this friend  to  the ma-
noeuvres of the magnetizers, in the manner  M. Ros-
tAn describes.   The passes  were continued  for  about
twenty minutes without any remarkable effect, but at
the expiration of that time, the  young man began to
yawn, his  eyelids grew heavy, and closed  involun-
tarily; he attempted to  shake  off the torpor in  vain;
his respiration next became  accelerated, his  head  fell
on his shoulder, and he uttered a sardonic laugh  of in-
describable  expression.   "We  thought,"  says  the
narrator, "that he was amusing himself at our expense;
but in  a little time, what was my horror when  I saw
his fingers turn blue, his head fall powerless forward— 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
61
when I heard  his  respiration rattling like a dying
man's, and felt his skin as cold as death itself!  I can-
not find words  to  describe my sufferings.   I knew
not what to do.   Meanwhile all these horrid pheno-
mena increased in intensity.   I tremble  at the recol-
lection of what I saw.  There lay my friend, my vic-
tim, devoid of the aspect of life, in a state of complete
and terrible collapse!  With his hands clasped in mine,
in a state  of agony no tongue can tell of, I laid him
on a bed, and waited the result in a frenzy of mind I
can never forget.  In a quarter of an hour he recover-
ed, exclaiming that in the ecstacy he had experienced
extreme delight, and begged  me to recommence my
passes.  I did  so, with less apprehension, and again
the somnolency  proceeded.   The collapse, however,
was less profound and terriffic than the  former, and
in  some  minutes he  suddenly  awoke with the ex-
clamation, ' what happiness is this!' "
   The cases that might be^cited of prevision, and the
sympathetic influence alluded to,  having been pro-
duced  in an extraordinary degree during  magnetic
sleep, are so numerous  and well authenticated in
France and  Germany, that it would  require several
volumes to detail them.   All  the theories laid down
in  this work,  have been  deduced  from those  oft
repeated, and well attested  facts.  I  will  give one
other fact as related  by M. Chardel, illustrative of
the peculiar sympathy often existing between persons,
and also of the  statements alluded  to in these pages
                          6 
62             THE PHILOSOPHY OF
respecting the transference of the sensation, and the
power of seeing things as present that are at a distance,
or as it is called, clairvoyance.
  M. Chardel had two sisters as his patients, who
were both  magnetic somnambulists, and in the most
intimate affinity, {rapport,)  with each  other.   M.
Chardel proposed to  bleed the  elder of these two
in the foot.  In  the  mean time, the younger sister,
after being magnetized, felt somewhat indisposed, and
went to bed in another room.   The father and mother
remaining to assist the operator.   At the  first attempt
to insert the lancet, a piercing cry was heard to pro-
ceed from the bed-room of the younger  sister, who,
on entering it, was found to be  in  a swoon, in  the
position in which she had gone to sleep. M. Chardel
recovered her, and inquired the cause' of her fainting.
She then related the details of all his movements in
the projected operation.   She said that she  had con-
stantly followed him with her eyes, and  that, at the
moment he was going to insert the lanoet, an emotion
which  she  could not  control, had entirely  deprived
her of sense.  In  case  of ordinary  life, this would
have been  impossible, considering the distance  and
the intervening walls.
  In general almost all somnambulists possess, during
their critical sleep, the  faculty of recognising their
own  complaints as well as those  of others;  of deter-
mining their nature, their duration and their accidents;
of declaring whether they are curable or not—of pre- 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
63
dieting of what nature the crisis shall be, the manner
in which they shall  take place, the precise moment
of their  appearance; of pointing out how they shall
best be promoted, seconded, sustained; finally of pre-
scribing all the means proper to be employed in order
to effect  a cure.                                 «
   In the Dictionaire des sciences  medicates, on the
article Instinct, we are told that it is wrong to deny
that man is endowed with instinct,  like the other ani-
mals; and that this faculty, unexercised  in our ordi-
nary states, is developed in certain circumstances,
and gives us more information than that which we
can acquire by the senses  and experience.  Nature
acting, then, alone, and without  being opposed, or
deranged by the intellectual faculties, or the will,
manifests  those astonishing  acts of salutary con-
servation, or direction for the cure of diseases.   In-
deed, in a  state of somnambulism, the person thus
affected  usually feels, in a more lively manner, and
will see all the int-ernal economy of his structure,
and thus seeing, will naturally  desire those reme-
dies most appropriate to his ailment.  Sometimes the
sympathetic influence or connexion between two in-
dividuals is such,  that  the  one feels all the com-
plaints of the other.
   It appears that the fluid  which passes from one in-
dividual to another, as elsewhere observed, is the same
which  exists in all nature.  If there exists  (as
Newton and Euler imagined,) in the interval of the 
64
TliE  PHILOSOPHY OF
stars an exceedingly rare and subtile fluid which has
been  called ether, it must possess the  most penetra-
ting qualities, and  be  capable of producing the most
wonderful effects.  But this ethereal substance, being
able to insinuate itself into the most compact matter,
must produce in it different effects according to the
nature of the bodies, the modifications of which it is
susceptible.
  The nervous fluid does  not originate in the nerves
and proceed to  the brain, as some suppose.  It always
commences at a medullary viscus, and  proceeds from
thence  through the  nerves to the muscular  system.
Hence its elimination by the pores of the extremities.
But were  it to commence in the nerves, we should
infer that  its escape would be  by the medulla,  with
which the nerves  were in contact.  Hence  also the
effects resulting from manipulations and passes, in
drawing  the magnetic action from its source, and
seating it in a region different from  its natural
home.  Sensation  follows the transitions of the mag-
netic  influence. It ceases in  the  part from whence
the other is entirely abstracted.   When this influence
is transferred from the usual seat of sensation to the
epigastrium,  it may be  compared  to a  coated jar,
charged with the electric fluid from the battery of  an
electrical apparatus.  The latter discharges its contents
suddenly, or slowly, as conductors to some  body in
a negative state are applied—or  otherwise.   So  with
the human machine.   It  is at  the  command of the 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
65
magnetizer.    The magnetic  and nervous influence,
however, only differ in quality as it may be modified
by transmission through a variety of mediums, every
different combination presenting it under new modifi-
cations.
  But when  in a state of somnolency the magnetic
influence is transferred to the region of the ganglions,
the reverse  takes place of what is natural.   In our
ordinary condition we effuse  it outwardly—now we
infuse  it inwardly, receiving from external  bodies
what  they can communicate.  The somnambulist de-
pends upon the magnetizer for  the power to change
the ordinary  functions of sensation from their  usual
current, and  the  magnetized  holds  communication
only with him, and those whom he wills to  place in
that singular  relation.  When the magnetic  fluid, by
the passes of  the magnetizer, is  drawn from  the ordi-
nary seat of sensation, and is  concentrated in  the re-
gions of the ganglions, the powers of vision are trans-
ferred with it—for, in the presence of this fluid in the
intellectual region consists not only sensation but also
perception.   If, then, perception depends on its pre-
sence wherever located, is it any matter of surprise that
it should follow it to whatever region  it  may for the
time be located in?   Lucidity or clairvoyance, as
the French call it, is not, however, the mere percep-
tion of things as present, wherever the somnambulist
happens to be, but depends on those magnetic changes
which separate the thinking principle, or soul, from
                        6* 
66
THE  PHILOSOPHY OF
its seat of action, and enables it  to transfer  itself at
the will of the person to wherever that person  wills
it to go.   In this locomotion, it is not able to will
for itself; if it were, its subsequent connexion  with
materiality might in some cases be doubtful.
  One of the chief difficulties with those not acquaint-
ed with this subject is owing to the anomalies in the
magnetic effusion and reception.   In this, as  in  other
physiological  phenomena, there  are  idiosyncracies
which bid defiance  to all rule.   Indeed there are,  it
must be admitted, some things for which it is difficult
to account, and which are not as  yet sufficiently con-
sidered—that is, if they are not above our philosophy,
it has not reached and reduced them to known  prin-
ciples.
  My limits will not allow me  to multiply  cases of
somnambulism.   Indeed, at  the  present crisis, this is
not so much needed as  the rationale of results  so as-
tonishing.   Much  of the incredulity existing on the
subject depends on the nature of the  facts, lying so
closely as they do upon the precincts of what is  gene-
rally regarded as marvellous, and not affording suffi-
cient explanation on natural principles.  The public
are staggered in their belief, for  the want of reasons,
yet the reasons are abundant and natural.   It is hoped
our arguments will give a new direction to the powers
of thought;  and,  while it  prevents the imagination
from running  wild in idle  hypothesis, enable it  to
trace, a' posteriori, this most  deeply  interesting and 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
67
important  subject to its source—rescue it from  the
charlatanry of men, who, before  they investigate,
form pre-conceived opinions  to which  every thing
must bend—men who, before they enter the thresh-
hold of the investigation,  announce that when they
have heard a report of a case, for which they are wait
ing, they are prepared  to  issue a work on the sub-
ject* though that case  may be as remote from a cor-
rect elucidation of the science as it is possible for the
mind to conceive!   When gentlemen will not stop to
deliberate, read, reflect, examine and compare, what
wonder the  public  would  remain in  confusion  and
doubt, "not knowing" as Col. Stone very prudently
tells us was his case, " how to believe?"  Those who
claim the appellation of philosophers are usually slow
to recede from long cherished and sustained opinions.
Facts afford no data for their philosophizings, nor  will
they believe them.   They draw inferences from the
abortions of  every fanatic  who only keeps in his  eye
the  throne of  Plutus.  They  forget that before they
attempt to enlighten others, it is indispensable  that
they know something of the subject upon which they
write.  I have heard of no case happening in New
York, and few in Rhode Island, which a philosophic
mind would accept as correct data upon which to erect
a superstructure of argumentation.  If this subject be
in any  degree  worthy of our  attention, it is not  that

  * Vide Dr. Reese's letter to  C. F. Durant, for an example
in point. 
6S
THE  philosophy of
 which every one can explain by a random illustration.
 It requires common sense, a thing which, if we judge
 from the remarks alluded  to in the note, is not com-
 mon to every philosopher.  Even the commissioners
 of the  French king admitted that the effects were very
 different in different individuals;  for, say  they—"it
 agitates some, and soothes others." In fact,  the effects
 are scarcely in any two instances in all things alike,
 because whatever distracts the mind destroys them;
 and  Mr. Durant must acknowledge that, if we are to
judge from his own gossip, and peculiar interference,
 (which Mr. Andros must have soon observed,) they
 were more for the  sake of forming materials for  his
 book, than for giving a chance to  his friend by favor-
 ing his speculations in his lectures.
  The revelation of God, who is  a pure spiritual  es-
 sence, is founded upon spiritual existence.   It was  not
 given with an  ultimate reference to physical man, only
 so far as h« is connected with the spiritual being, and
 for the conservation of both.   It is through the light
 of this  revelation we are  enabled  to  understand our-
selves, to know of what we are constituted, how
 nearly  we are related  to, and  how far  we  resemble,
our  original.  That God, in our creation, should
stamp upon us some part of his likeness, is  not only
what might  be expected, but  also what the historian
of the  creation  has explicitly affirmed.  We  are, in
these Scriptures, represented  as having in us three
principles; for  in  one place  it is said,"He breathed 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
69
in us the breath of lives," or, as the original imports,
a plurality  of beings; and, in another place, the
Apostle  prays for the  sanctification  of our whole
spirit, soul, and body.  These three principles could
not but  be holy when  created, for God made and
pronounced them good.   They could  not but be
unholy, when the Apostle prayed that they might be
purified, and consecrated to God.  They must, there-
fore, have  fallen; and, if fallen, must need restora-
tion.
   Now the whole of man is the spirit, soul, and body:
or, 1. The mmy.*., (pneuma,) or spiritual and im-
mortal principle; that which controls and superintends
the whole  animal and functional economy.  2.  The
|y^«,  (psyche,)  or  soul, which is  the  seat of the
passions and affections, and possesses the understanding
and emotions by which the  physical part is agitated,
as  love, joy,  grief, anger, hate, &c; and 3.  The «•*>,«*,
 (soma,) or body, which is  the  house, or temple, of
the other named occupants.   Of these three parts, the
 body, only,  is  subject  to  dissolution.   The others,
 being spiritual, could not die  as the body dies  If
 they  die,  being spirits, they die spiritually.   That
 they  can live apart from the body, is affirmed by St.
 Paul,  who, having been out of the body, could tell us
 of that which he saw.   He says, there is not only a
 " spiritual  body," but also that  when  this house,
 spoken of above for the soul and spirit to dwell  in, is
 dissolved, we have a spiritual  house in the heavens 
70
THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF
to dwell in."  There is here a strong expression, and
full to our  point, namely, that we have a three-fold
nature, and that when the body loses its  inhabitants,
the spirit has a house still in the soul, a never-dying
habitation, a corporeal,  active body, the springs and
machinery of which, like the original man when first
created, will never wear out.  It is a body possessing
sensation, volition, and locomotion, but without any
alliance with  materiality, and  capable of pleasures
and enjoyments  in  an  infinitely more  refined sense,
than in organized materiality.  Hence it is  a  house
in the heavens, for without these sensations  there
would be no heaven. "Body,"  says the author of the
" Physical Theory of a Future  Life," " is the neces-
sary means of bringing mind into  relationship with
space and extension, and  so  of  giving it place"  In
another place he says, " God is  not here or there, any
more than  he exists now or then"  The mind, or
soul, then,  is the intermediate link between spirit and
matter.  It is the part of the man that thinks—that
puts the physical machine into  motion—that consti-
tutes the likeness of God.
  Now, to  prevent  ourselves from wandering in hy-
pothesis and doubt, we have called the Scriptures to
our aid.  They have thrown light upon our path, and
in the science we have been considering, have enabled
us to understand some  things  which, without  a re-
ference to  those oracles  of  truth,, must have left us
groping in  darkness and doubt.   The demonstrations 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
71
afforded by animal magnetism show, in confirmation
of the Scriptures, that man has within him a spiritual
nature,  which can live  without the body during a
period of suspended intercourse in time—or during
the eternal now of a future existence.
   In speaking of a spiritual existence, the present life
and visible world are introduced in contrast with that
which is invisible and unseen—for I take it for grant-
ed that there is somewhere an unseen world with un-
seen inhabitants, having an existence and locality as
certain  as the globe we inhabit.   That this  unseen
world, which we call heaven, may  be  located in the
sun, or  stars, is an hypothesis maintained by some, and
has many strong philosophical arguments to sustain it.
Others, from the frequent intercourse between the
inhabitants of those happy regions and our own, have
assigned it a place  in  the mid-heavens  not  distant
from our planet.   In our  opinion,  its locality is less a
question than its existence, since, as I have elsewhere
said, distance is  only ideal to  wn-embodied  spirits.
The idea that thought, more rapid in  its flight than
even light itself, when properly  understood, dissipates
at once the conception  that either a  near or  remote
locality has any thing to do in regard  to presence in
the divine economy.   " Am I a God near at hand,
and not afar  off?" was  a question put by God, through
the prophet, to those  who had too limited conceptions
of  his  omnipresence.  If, then, wrc-embodied spirits
have such stupendous  powers  of  locomotion, when 
72
THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF
dis-emhodied by the magnetic operations; if they  be
subject to the laws of communication with organized
corporeal matter in this life, and be left under such
direction in that state, is there not here a good reason
why this doctrine may have been ordained by Provi-
dence to work certain important ends for  the  benefit
of the human family, and also  why it was  not  fully
developed to  mankind  in  its whole arrangements,
until mankind became so enlightened and  prepared to
use it as intended by divine goodness?  It  seems
now to be under certain laws and restrictions beyond
which it has no power, and therefore cannot develope
more of the spiritual  economy, than finite  intellects
are capable of controlling.   Indeed, the finite mind is
too apt to measure the vastness  and variety  of  the
spiritual domain by the scanty perceptions  it  is able
to form in the darkness that surrounds it; for, though
it may take excursions of fancy over the  boundless
expanse of the mighty universe, it professes  no fur-
nishment to explore, and is therefore unable to deli-
neate any of the magnificent scenery, because  it holds
no communication with the Being who is the  Ruler
of those splendid domains; and consequently, having
neither guide nor chart, it is in doubt and  confusion
from the distance and indistinctness of the view.  But
the somnambulist is always in communication with
the person who placed him in that ecstatic  state,  and
in the dominions allotted to the magnetizer only  can
the magnetized have power to roam at  will!  This 
               ANIMAL MAGNETISM.             73
 doctrine beautifully adumbrates the scenes where the
 disembodied are  only in  communication with  God;
 where the will is controlled, and the locomotive pow-
 ers are extended according to the laws of that realm
 where pure ethereal spirits  are the only  inhabitants,
 and where each are  in ecstatic communication with
 the other, and all with the Supreme.
   From what has been said,  the  reader will easily
 perceive, that my aim is  to establish the doctrine of
 clairvoyance, as  one of the most important as well
 merciful  discoveries with  which  God  has  permit-
ted us to become  acquainted.   Many of  the  re-
 cent facts developed in Rhode Island and New York,
 connected with what have been  published  by the
 French philosophers, and  others in various places of
 Austria, Prussia, Russia and Switzerland, &c, concur
 in proving, that all persons are not capable of lucidity
 in  the same degree,  and that  the  same person  is not
 always able in  the same  degree to exhibit the same
 powers.   Animal magnetism has been so well demon-
 strated, that we might as well question  the problems
 of Euclid, because we never have demonstrated them
 ourselves, or seen them done by others.  To  doubt
 on that subject, would  be less likely to  expose us to
 ridicule than to make us  ridiculous, except where a
 knowledge of the science had not  been made known.
 But the philosophy  of the facts is what all  inquire
 after, and chiefly what we aim to furnish.
   The demonstrations of animal magnetism are prac-
                         7 
 74            THE PHILOSOPHY OF
 tical faith; that is, the operator must be able to confine
 his thoughts to one point, and fix them there.  No man
 can  exercise what is called faith, who is not able to
 do this, it being an essential prerequisite.  To doubt,
 then, is to lose faith, for it is to distract.  When the
 mind wanders from the point upon which it is fixed,
 it can no longer exercise  this conservative principle.
 Thus it was when Christ walked on the water.  Peter
 in the confidence of his  Lord, walked  also, because
 his mind was powerfully directed towards the protect-
 ing power of Him who bid him " come."  But Peter,
 without keeping  his eye steadily on his master, and
 his mind upon his omnipotent power, began to look
 around on the waste of waters.   He saw the  billows
 heave and roll under him, and  his fixedness of mind
 was withdrawn to nature  from its  author, and  he
 began to sink!  Now, without the fixedness of mind
 spoken of, no magnetizer can  produce the necessary
 somnolency.   Our minds must be drawn to a focal
point.   The will must be under the  complete control
 of the thinking principle, this being the intermediate
link  between body and soul.
   Faith, then, is a single eye;  and when our  eye is
single, our body is light—that is, our perceptions will
be clearer, and we the better enabled to understand
and accomplish our pursuits.  It was this that stimu-
lated and gave success to the heroes of ancient and
modern  times.  The eye was single after one object,
and all the faculties of the mind were exerted in  its 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
75
 execution.  The habit, therefore, of bringing the will
 into subjection to the mind, and of having that mind
 regulated so as to operate without distraction, is  the
 way to acquire faith.  An evil, is an erring eye,  and
 being unsteady, it will not fix upon one point, and is,
 therefore, dark.
   When the exiled apostle was invited by a voice to
 ascend into heaven, to hear and see things which must
 be hereafter, it  is very evident his body was left be-
 hind, being forbidden, because  "flesh and  blood."
 Thus separated, he was in the ecstatic state, and held
 communication with Him who threw him into the ec-
 stacy—namely his God.   Thus he  could  range over
 the kingdom of light at will, because he was in con-
 nexion with its sovereign.  He saw and heard things
 which he was forbidden to write, as  St. Paul, in  the
 same region, heard things unlawful to utter.  That
 the same means were used to transport, these favored
 apostles  into  the  regions  of the happy  as  is used
 amongst us in  producing somnolency, is strongly pro-
 bable—but the chief difference is, they were in com-
 munication with a Being whose divine purposes
 they had to fulfil, and therefore they were instructed in
mysteries published for our benefit, and no longer  ne-
 cessary to repeat; while the   magnetic somnambulist
 can roam only in the region appropriated, for the time,
 to the individual with whom he is in communication,
 and can see nothing which  does not belong to  the ma- 
76             THE PHILOSOPHY OF
terial world  to which  he is yet linked by his con-
nexion with materiality.

  The preceding pages had  nearly all passed through
the press  before the-recent works of Col.  Stone,
C. F. Durant, and the Reports of the French Com-
missioners, published  by Mr. Perkins of this city,
made their appearance; of these, our  limits will now
admit of no more than a passing notice.  Col. Stone
has given  us an  interesting account of facts  as they
occurred.   He makes  no pretensions to  understand
them.   Had he made such an attempt, we might have
doubted whether he did not make  the facts to suit his
theory, as we presume Mr. Durant did,—that is, if
such a man  as Col. Stone could  be doubted at all.
What the Colonel relates is  in perfect accordance with
the published reports of the French philosophers—
not the Commissioners—in their  detail  of clairvoy-
ance  and prevision, as they  call  it.   The reason is
this, the actors  were  honest, were not  frivolous tri-
flers,  were  men who examined to understand, and
inquired to make known the result of their inquiries,
and honest  convictions.   I  recommend, therefore,
Colonel Stone's pamphlet as a  work of surpassing
interest,—as affording  almost  the  only instance of
clairvoyance that I have read of as having happened in
America.  The  report made  by the Colonel  is, that a
 Miss Bracket, in a state of somnambulic lucidity, took
 an imaginary journey to New York, in his company,
 and  that  she there, among other circumstances of 
                ANIMAL MAGNETISM.             77
 slight importance, which, as far as he knew or believed,
 were generally correct, informed him of matters which
 were only known to himself, and which no one could
 describe without having seen them!  Of these, I will
 only allude to one fact. When the Colonel had escorted
 Miss Bracket into  his own house, he showed her a
 variety of articles, and among others, some pictures.
 She would only converse about these with him, but, asa
 rule, would never describe any thing, presuming he
 knew as well as she.   It is a rule with somnambulists,
 that if you request them in their ecstacy to remember
 anything, and tell them about it afterwards when awake,
 of that subject only can they recollect and speak.  The
 Colonel  requested her to  give him an account  of a
 certain  picture when  she  returned and awoke.  On
 her  return, the Doctor (Capron,)  willed her from
 Col. Stone, and by a few flourishes of his hand, awoke
 her.  The Doctor then inquired about the  pictures
 that had attracted her attention at the Bowlinsr. Green,
 opposite the  lions.  She blushed, and  begged to be
 excused from answering.  She had been requested to
 remember them.   They were not proper subjects for  ,
 ladies' conversation.   He then asked her  to tell  him
 what was the picture in the basement room of the
 Colonel's house which pleased  her so much.   She
 laughed outright, and replied, " It was a funny look-
ing fellow pulling a cat's ear."   This was the fact, the
painting was there; no one of the party knew of its
existence but the  Colonel, and  the question of clair-
                        7* 
78
THE  PHILOSOPHY OF
voyance, in this and twenty or  thirty cases, equally
striking, was fully  established.   The whole of the
colonel's pamphlet deserves perusal.
  I said that all persons do not equally become  som-
nambulists, because all persons  are not constituted
alike.   Hence the wise conclusion of a learned Doc-
tor, who inquired about a few cases, not one of which
gave even a good mock imitation of somnolency, and
no indication of clairvoyance whatever, that he might
be duly " prepared to issue his publication" on ani-
mal  magnetism;—or rather,  as I should understand
his meaning, he  was prejudiced against animal mag-
netism—did not believe it—and, pleased with a few
ridiculous, counterfeit imitations of it, took them  for
his data, and with the  gravity  of—a philosopher  of
the ivy bush, " prepared to issue his publication," in
order to enlighten the  medical faculty!!
   To say that the  theory of Mr. Durant was  the
essence of nonsense would be too much of  a compli-
ment.   Whether he is serious, or in jest; whether he
writes that we may have  a book of instruction, or a
specimen of bathos; whether he aims to renew  the
Epicurean notions, which regarded the soul as composed
of atoms and primitive corpuscles, " trilobites," as
 he calls them, " motes in sunbeams," or what else, I
avow myself utterly unable to comprehend.  He gives
us a rant about" clearing obstructions from the pathway
of time,"—his looking " back on the chaotic  mass,"
 in order, it is presumed, that he may sit "behind  the 
               ANIMAL MAGNETISM.            79
dim nebula," and view the operations of nature  as it
" occupies the more conspicuous station assigned to it
in cosmogony;"—that is, to see "all matter quick
and  bursting  into birth," in the modus  operandi
of creation, and amuse himself  as " Behemoth, big-
gest born of earth, upheaves  his vastness," while the
infinitessimal variety of " molecules," and " globules,"
and "gasses," &c.,all "congregating" and "uniting,"
forming " poles," and "fluids," and "vapours," and
" masses,"  to produce " cerin," that,  " His theory"
might be complete!!  And  what is  "cerin?"  He
calls it an " animal fat,"  through which magnetism
cannot pass!  This is what he calls, some one or two
hundred times, " my theory;" and it would require
more than  ordinary brains to say  whether Mr. D. did
not write his book in such a style as to gull the sim-
ple and quiz the savans, or to make it suit those who
could not see his burlesque, and adapt it to the notions
of those who could.   Though he  has said some things
very  well, and  has displayed reading and research,
yet his egotism and twaddle, above  alluded to—his
gossipping and detailing  what he hears and sees in
the company into which he  is accidentally thrown;—
his practisings, as we should suppose it to be, from his
own  statements, upon Mr.  and  Mrs. Andros, and
other things therein stated, are,  we should say, not
quite compatible with our notions of propriety.   It is
not the wish of every one  who  is an inquirer into
such  subjects that his name and accidental remarks 
80
THE  PHILOSOPHY OF
should swell  a book for the emolument of others.
Few  have  such aspirations after fame;  and to be
dragged thus, nolens volens, into unsought notoriety,
makes one feel as if they were  not quite in gentle-
manly hands.  Mr. Durant understands animal mag-
netism as a law of nature, but he seems not  to know
that it is solar light, modified in the medullary viscus,
as natural magnetism becomes such when the beams
of light are modified in its transmission through earth
and minerals.  The most he knows is, that there is
such a thing as animal magnetism, and that it possesses
singular powers of somnolency in the animal machine.
Like a full blooded philosopher of the modern school,
he ridicules  all else, by throwing  into  burlesque
any attempt to investigate the arcana by which this
occult science is surrounded.   He accounts for  the
want  of magnetic power by fatty brains, through
which  the  fluid cannot  penetrate!   By  analogy  of
reasoning, a cracked brain is a  dry one, and would
let the fluid through in one unbroken stream! .but
those who have fat brains are fat wit ted; the steam,
or gas,  having been injected, cannot escape, and, of
course, is disposed to become flighty  and ascend!
  His  ideas of the magnetic cords, to  do away  the
doctrine of clairvoyance, is about as  preposterous
nonsense as can well be imagined. That the magnetizer
must will  the idea  into the brain  of  the magnetized
before their perceptions can embrace it, is  contrary
to all  the principles, the  experience, and the  facts of 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
81
an authenticated kind that have come to ourknowledge.
It would be a waste of time to pursue it.
   In the subject of clairvoyance lies the great diffi-
culty to the general spread of this doctrine.   Of this
I have already spoken in such manner as to  make it
plain to the weakest mind.   If this doctrine did not
so immediately run into psycology,  the stumbling
block would, perhaps, be of  less magnitude.   But, as
I  have said elsewhere, we go  armed at all points
against every subject that leads to  a more  intimate
acquaintance with soul and spirit, and yet I  have
never found that such familiarity and acquaintanceship
has lessened the author's esteem for these components
of his own elements of moral and physical structure.
Indeed, to a contemplation  of these constituents of
being, has been owing most of  the happiness which
it has been his  destiny to enjoy through  life, and as
he nears the goal, he seems to  realize an increase of
pleasure by a  more general intercourse, because he
recognises a close affinity  of  circumstance  in the
ultimate  destiny of all  the parties to  the  alliance.
 Clairvoyance has been demonstrated  to the satisfac-
tion of the most astute, philosophers of Europe.  One
commissioner of those alluded to, who look jive years
to  report,  maintained the doctrine, though  they
proved that in  some cases it failed.  For more than
this I  do not contend, because  it is well  known that
of this peculiar attribute all  are  incapable of  present-
ing the necessary proofs—and  most of the objectors 
82             THE  PHILOSOPHY OF
to it, make their opposition upon the ground that they
witness failures;  and that, therefore, the  principle
is false !   There are abundance of such logicians, but
:he  wonder is, that men, who call themselves  philo-
sophers, have such a penchant for  the ridiculous,
without knowing why.
  The reports of the commissioners  of the French
king are in themselves entirely insufficient to afford a
proper knowledge  of animal magnetism.   Indeed, it
is evident, from the statements of these savans, that
:hey did  not believe in  it,  and therefore  were too
prejudiced to  present their master with  an  impar-
tial   examination.   This  committee,  regarding as
many have done since, this innovation in the healing
art, as likely to abstract from the number of their pa-
tients, took  the alarm, and reported  that  they  had
" not beheld without inquietude" the " proceedures"
which "have been and are administered to the diseased,
and paid for by the  public, without  having" under-
gone, in obedience  to the laws, " the  examination of
the  medical profession."   With such  ideas in view,
are gentlemen capable of investigating a subject, while
they imagine their interests are so essentially com-
promitted?  There is something in such  grave com-
missions, and^ such reports, that " looks like" a "get
up to put down!"   They are almost always, in their
conclusions, of the same  complexion with  the body
who instituted  the commission.  Their feelings are
usually  prompted  by the same motives, and their 
ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
83
aims, with  occasional  exceptions, are (o look  out
for their own corps  and defend  its interests.   A
letter  from  such a commission  is  before  me.  It
also originated  in Paris, but on a different  sub-
ject.  It was directed  to the Minister of Instruc-
tion, and concluded thus:—"We beg of you, mon-
sieur le ministre, to deny us that means of enlighten-
ing ourselves, in  order to prevent its spreading, or
at least to retard its propagation during our life-
time, so that we may quietly enjoy our places," &c.
One would suppose that this was  irony, were it not
known to be otherwise.  It is a fair  specimen of all
such reports; and yet the reporters, in all  cases, prov-
ed themselves more shrewd, intelligent, scientific, and
liberal, than  the  translator and editor of their  re-
ports in our  own city, who could always account for
phenomena, of which  he knew nothing,  "upon the
principle of collusion," and thus, by  cutting the Gor-
dian knot, save his brains the labor of thought, in the
investigation.
   Some of these reporters labored to prove  that the
imagination is  the  chief  agent in producing  the
magnetic crisis.  Having directed their attention that
way, their imaginations  could  receive  no other im-
pression, and all further philosophic investigations
were foreclosed  by the idea, that to  this  peculiar
sensation all that related to  crises under the magnetic
treatment, was to be ascribed.  This afforded a text,
and the sermon was suited to it.   The  creed having 
84   THE  PHILOSOPHY OF  ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
been formed, the next point was to suit the doctrines
to it, and maintain their thesis against all opposers.
  Learning, supposed to  be the grave of prejudice,
has too often been its foster-mother, to convey to it
nutriment.  I do not  mean that profound  learning
which  has common sense for its basis, but that affected
bantling of pride  and selfishness, which, the  moment
its  votaries  are  invested with authority to  form  an
opinion as a guide  for others, turns instinctively to
the interests of its class, and begs that it may " be
denied the  means  of  enlightenment, lest others
whose  genius have stricken out a new path should
compel them "to  the painful labor" of studying, so
as to keep pace with the march of improvement, or
lose both their emoluments  and their  importance in
the ranks of society.  Few of them have the candour
of a certain  professor in one of the Prussian univer-
sities,  who, on examining a pupil, asked him whether
he  could explain  the  phenomena of the Aurora
Borealis.  After a pause, the student said he had known
the cause, but at present it had escaped from his me-
mory; then, said  the professor, I wish you would try
to recollect and explain it to me, for I really do not
myself understand it.
  Animal magnetism is a powerful support of true re-
ligion, and the more it is known, so much the more
will Christianity be unshackled of its embarrassments,
and appear divested of its dross. 
 
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