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ARMY MEDICAL LIBRARY
FOUNDED 1636
WASHINGTON, D.C. 
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            V,   '
                A

LETTER TO COL. WM. L. STONE,
            OF NEW YORK,
        ON THE FACTS RELATED IN HIS
    LETTER TO DR. BRIGHAM,
AND A PLAIN
REFUTATION OF DORANT'S EXPOSITION

               OF

  ANIMAL MAGNETISM, &c.

        BY CHARLES POYEN.
REMARKS ON THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CLAIMS OF

     ANIMAL MAGNETISM SHOULD BE MET AND

              DISCUSSED.

   BY A MEMBER OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BENCH.
s\.-'y  j  h
s\ J
        BOSTON:
WEEKS, JORDAN AND COMPANY,
        121 Washington Street.
    NEW YORK; —C. SHEPARD.
           1837.
fO 
3'F
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1837,
           By Weeks, Jordan  & Co.
In the Clerk's Office of tie District of Massachusetts.
Tuttle, Dennett & Chisholm.....Printers.....17  School Street. 
ADVERTISEMENT.
  The reader will probably notice that  the philo-
sophical views expressed in my letter to Col. Stone,
about the mode  of mental  communication between
the magnetiser and  the magnetised person, some-
what resemble what Mr Durant, the late glorious
exploder of animal magnetism, calls "his theory."
I must confess that  such a resemblance exists;  Mr
Durant will not fail, therefore, to  charge me with
plagiarism;  he  will probably think that  I have
robbed him of the "beautiful product of his genius."
But I would affirm here, that if any one has robbed
the " theory" at all, Mr Durant is the only robber.
What he boldly pretends to be his invention,  has
been  for years  professed  and published in every
possible shape by the German and  French writers
on animal magnetism.  I have myself adopted  the
main parts of this theory ever since I have paid a
serious attention to the matter; I have invariably
devoted two hours and more to explaining it to my
classes, wherever I had  an opportunity of giving
my whole  course of lectures.  I  have  no  doubt,
therefore,  that Mr Durant  has either read or heard
387668 
4
about it j  but as he seems to regard every one be-
sides himself as a fool, he does not hesitate in pre-
senting his doctrine as a " creation of his own,
persuaded as  he is that nobody will detect the fraud.
We intend, in some of the following pages, to offer a
long extract from Dr Rostan's Memoir concerning this
theory.  Those who have read Mr Durant will see,
on perusing that extract, what an  enormous differ-
ence there is between a truly scientific man and
an ignorant scribbler,  who boldly assumes the privi-
lege of treating on  matters  so  far  above  and be-
yond his capacity.
  I will add a word more.   My letter to Col. Stone
was  prepared, and I  had already lectured most
of its  contents  before  my  class  in Salem, even
before  I had  heard of Mr Durant's book.   Those
who  have  attended those lectures, may testify  to
the truth of what I now advance.
                                        C. P.
V 
LETTER  TO  COL.  STONE.
                              SALEM, MASS. OCT. 9, 1837.

To Col. W. L. Stone, of New York.
   Sir.—You are aware that the undersigned  has  been enga-
ged, for some time past,  in lecturing upon the " science of
Animal Magnetism, in reference  to which you  have lately
published an interesting narrative of facts.  I trust,  there-
fore, that you will not  be surprised at  the liberty I  take of
thus addressing you on the same subject.  In my well known
capacity as a professor of  Animal Magnetism, I owe it to the
cause of truth and of general  information tc communicate to
the reading community, the remarks which the  facts contain-
ed in your above mentioned publication have suggested to me.
I am, moreover, strongly  induced to do it from the circum-
stance  that you have  particularly  alluded to me, and  I  must
confess, in no flattering terms, by any means;  some of your
allusions deserve a frank answer from my part.   Do not be-
lieve, however, that I shall indulge in any harsh impulse, and
make this letter a personal concern ! I hope, on the contrary
that you will find  me cool  and  respectful throughout my com-
munication with you.
  Feeling, as I do, a  lively interest in  the progress of mag-
netism in this country, looking with  an  anxious, but impartial
eye upon every thing that  is written upon it, I have read with
much satisfaction  your letter to Dr Brigham ; I believe it has
contributed more  than any thing hitherto done, to prepare the
mind of a great many to a candid investigation of the matter ;
and on that account, it will mark  in  the history of  the deve- 
6
lopment of the " science"  in  this  country !   But, sir, like
every thing else that emanates from  man's hands, it presents,
to my mind, some defects which I beg leave to signalize here,
for enabling people to have a more  clear and correct under-
standing of the matter upon which you write.
   Your pamphlet is entitled, " A Letter on Animal Magnet-
ism ;" and yet it appeared to me, on perusing it, that your plan
was not to ascertain the reality of the peculiar agent or  prin-
ciple called Animal Magnetism.   The  experiments made  by
you  on Miss Brackett,  seem not to have been intended to
throw any light upon the interesting question, viz. " whether one
human being can exercise an influence over  another, by  the
sole force of his will.''''  Such a power undoubtedly exists,
and it properly  constitutes what has been termed animal  mag-
netism.   In the opinion  of  all  truly philosophic men, it has
always been, and is still considered, the most profound and im-
portant point of the whole subject.   It appears,  sir, that you
were not aware of this fact, and I regret very much that in
your interview with Dr Capron's  patient, you  did not direct
your attention  towards  eliciting  some phenomena with the
view of demonstrating the reality of the power in question.
Such results, published  by you, would have proved not only
gratifying to the marvellousness  of your readers, but alse use-
ful to the science  of the psychological constitution of  man.
And I know, that  Miss B.  affords  ample  means  for estab-
lishing the point alluded to, or at least substantiating what has
already been observed and written upon it.  I have myself,
seen her twice  under the influence  of Dr Capron  and Mr
Ame. J. Potter, of Providence ; I have found  that she was
exceedingly sensible to the  action of the will, and still more
so to  the approach of the magnetiser's  fingers  towards her
hands and head, even at the  distance  of several inches.   The
power of the will,  is in my opinion the best ascertained  of all
the magnetic phenomena !   Out of twenty  somnambulists,
eighteen at least, are submitted to it in a very remarkable de-
gree. 
7
  The extraordinary  phenomena produced by that influence
evidently  demonstrate the existence in  man, of a principle
hitherto unknown, and of  a force which had not yet been no-
ticed and  exercised ;  through them, animal magnetism is rais-
ed to the  rank of positive science, as well as physiology, pa-
thology and mental philosophy.   I am aware that you deny
this point  ; it is surely because  you have not yet witnessed
and carefully studied the effects produced by the will, or the
cerebral force  of man !                              *
  Your sole object seems to  have been to  satisfy yourself
about the  faculty of Clairvoyance, or the  power of seeing, the
eyes remaining perfectly closed,  even bandaged.   The expe-
riments tried by you, for that purpose,  were ingenious  and
well conducted, considering that you had no experience at all
in the  matter  you were  investigating ; every candid reader
will acknowledge that the  results obtained by you are exceed-
*ngly interesting ; but again, sir,  they prove nothing so far as
the magnetic influence is  concerned.  The  class of pheno-
mena described in your  pamphlet were already known to
every well read man,  as a  characteristic feature of the ecsta-
tic state, of natural  somnambulism and certain cases of cata-
lepsy and hysteria.
   The "  possessed nuns" (so called) of the convent of Lou-
dun, in 1642, the French  prophets or trembleurs des Ceren-
nes, the Convulsionnaires  de St. J\Iedard, and other ecstatic
persons ;  the cataleptic patients of Drs Petetin, of Lyons, of
Barbier of Cantal, and a crowd of other  individuals affected
with similar nervous  disorders (see Rapports et discussions,
de l'Academie  de Medecine sur le Magnetisme,  publies avec
des notes  explicatives, par  M. P. Foissac, &c;  also, Traite
du Somnambulisme, par  Alex.  Bertrand) had offered innu-
merable instances of the faculty of seeing even through what we
call " opaque bodies," and their eyes remaining shut.   The
same power has been, on  several occasions, observed in  this
country, particularly  in the  well known cases of  the Spring-
field and Hartford somnambulist, in  the  cataleptic woman of 
8
Uxbridge, Mass., who has been  sometime under the care of
Dr Robbins, and was carefully examined by Dr  Jem. Par-
sons  of   Providence,  and other  distinguished individuals  !
There is now in  the town of Chesterfield, N. H., a natural
somnambulist, whose clairvoyance is  truly astonishing so far
as I can judge from what I have been told by some very re-
spectable  eye witnesses.
   The faculty of seeing at a great distance and through unu-
sual ways, is likewise a well established fact in some  parts
of Scotland, under the name of " second sight."   A remark-
able instance of the kind was personally observed in London,
and related  to me by Dr S. G.  Howe, director  of the In-
stitution  for the  Blind, whom  no one  acquainted with him,
will suspect of credulity.
   I do not pretend, I  beg  you to understand, that  magnetic
or artificial somnambulists do not possess the faculty of clair-
voyance ; far from it; I am fully convinced that some of them
have it in a very extraordinary degree, although it is liable to
be  impaired, and  even  entirely lost, under  certain  circum-
stances, which I  need not to  mention  here.   I have seen a
number of that species of somnambulists who could see ob-
jects and read several lines through the top of their head,
their forehead, or  the pit of their stomach ;  there could be
no  collusion or deception in the case,  as the eyes were either
kept shut by the  fingers of another person, or very carefully
bandaged.   I have no doubt, therefore, that some of those
who are thrown into the state  of  somnambulism by a magne-
tic  operation possess the faculty of clairvoyance ;  I mean to
say only that this faculty, however remarkable it may be, does
not prove that one human being can  exercise a  mental in-
fluence over another through a peculiar means of communica-
tion, a fluid, if you please to call  it so, moved and directed
by the will.  The faculty of clairvoyance is a natural gift ;  it
is spontaneous and springs from certain  peculiarities of organ-
ization belonging  exclusively to  the  magnetised   person ;  it
cannot be  given  or communicated by  the magnetiser, how- 
9
ever great the energy and activity  of his will may  be, to a
somnambulist who does not possess it naturally.   Some au-
thors pretend that this faculty  derives from a great accumula-
tion of the vital fluid in  the  optic  nerve, which gives an ex-
traordinary delicacy and energy to the whole organ  of sight;
others think that it is  exercised through the medium of a pe-
culiar fluid, more subtle, nice, and powerful than  common
light, spread throughout the universe and penetrating all bodies
of nature, however opaque they may appear to be to our or-
dinary means of vision.  It is not my  object to discuss here
the value  of these opinions.  I  will say only that compara-
tively a few somnambulists  have  the gift  of clairvoyance,
and that a magnetiser cannot impart it to those who have been
denied it  by nature.
   I now proceed  to a few remarks on  the  character of the
facts related  in your letter  to Dr  Brigham.  I have already
said that every candid reader  can but find them exceedingly
interesting ; yet,  I did not intend to say that they prove in a
conclusive manner the reality  of  the faculty  of clairvoyance,
"  so far as the power of seeing at a great distance, is concern-
ed;" it  is on the  contrary, my opinion, that Miss Brackett's
answers to your questions, although surprisingly correct,  did
not demonstrate in the least, that she actually " saw the vari-
ous particulars described by you, in a place situated two hun-
dred miles from her !"  How can you account for the cor-
rectness of her answers? will you say.—Do you suppose that
I  meant to deceive ?  not  at all.—Do  you suppose there was
connivance between us ? neither ! I  am  going  presently to
tell you how I  explain all this.   It is  a fact well established
by the  daily observation  of all magnetisers, both of Europe
and America, that from the moment a person is put  into som-
nambulism, he becomes capable  of appreciating  correctly and
seizing  the  thoughts, the will, and feelings, not only  of his
magnetiser, but also  of those who are put in close communi-
cation  with him.   This surprising and very interesting mode
of knowledge  is  doubtless   imparted  to the  somnambulist 
10
through an emanation of some kind, (call it,  if you please,
the spirit,  the magnetic or vital fluid) which springs from the
brain of the two parties and thus forms about them a peculiar
atmosphere, the fluctuations or movements of which vary ac-
cording to the direction given by  the  organ from which the
fluid originates.   The brain of the magnetiser or of the per-
son placed in communication, is the active  instrument or ap-
paratus, every operation of which necessarily impresses a new
movement and direction to the fluid, which movement is more
or less clearly felt by the corresponding analogous organ, viz.
the brain  of the somnambulist, and thus creates  herein the
same modifications as those which  exist  in  the organ of the
other party.    Such  modifications constitute what we  call
thought, reasoning, &c. &c.
   These views, sir, do not belong  to me exclusively ; I have
no claim on their discovery or invention ; I adopt them be-
cause they appear rational and bear some analogy with certain
laws already known  of the electric and galvanic phenomena.
I adopt them besides, because they have been sanctioned and
openly professed by  men of great intellect and high scientific
attainments,  as  the  German  physiologists,  Autenrieth  and
Reil, the  celebrated  de Humbolt, and most of the eminent
writers on animal magnetism.   I will  quote here a few lines
from  a distinguished  author  whose name  can  but have a
great weight in the  mind  of every  well informed man.
After  describing the  manner  in which the nervous atmos-
phere is formed, Dr Rostan  (see his  Essay on Animal Mag-
netism, in the eighth  volume of the Dictionnaire  de Mede-
cine,)  continues  thus,  " The active  nervous  atmosphere  of
the magnetiser mingles with the  passive nervous atmosphere
of the magnetised person ; this one is, thereby, influenced in
such  a manner  that his  power of attention  is momentarily
abolished ; and both,  the impressions which  he receives in-
wardly and those that are transmitted  to him by  the magneti-
ser, resort to his brain through another channel."
   " The nervous agent possesses, like caloric,  the faculty of
penetrating through solid bodies ; a faculty which is, doubtless, 
11
limited ;  but can  satisfactorily explain how somnambulists,
may be influenced through partitions, walls, doors, &c. also
it accounts for their perceptions of the  savorous and odorous
qualities, through  certain  bodies, which in the natural state
cannot be penetrated by  those particles.   The innumerable
facts which prove  in an indisputable manner that the magnetic
action can  be exercised through solid bodies, and that the
presence of those  bodies does not prevent clairvoyance, com-
pel us to admit that the nervous or magnetical agent must pass
through them.   This is no more  astonishing than light pass-
ing  through  diaphane or transparent  substances, electricity
passing through the conductive bodies and caloric penetrat-
ing all sorts of bodies.   The  mingling of the two nervous at-
mospheres affords a very clear explanation of the communi-
cation of the  wish and  will, even of  the thoughts  of the
magnetiser  to  the magnetised person.  The wish and will,
being  " actions of the brain, this organ transmits them to the
circumference of the body through the channel of the nerves,
and when the two nervous atmospheres happen to meet each
other, they are  so much identified as to form but one ;  both
individuals become one only ; they feel and think together ;
but one of them (the somnambulist) is constantly under the
dependence of the other, while in the magnetic state."
   In the natural state we are not capable of feeling the  fluid
above mentioned  and experiencing its various movements, so
as  to become conscious of it; it is surely because in the na-
tural state the vital  energy is thrown  too much  outwardly ;
the life of  relation is then  predominant and constantly keeps
our power of attention and feeling upon  external objects !
 But through the profound change determined in the functions
of the  nervous system,  during  the  state  of somnambulism,
 catalepsy, or ecstacy, we are  enabled to hold, with a being or-
ganized  as we are,  a  communication  more or less perfect,
according, of course, to the respective inward organic dispo-
sitions and  capacity of the two parties.  Indeed somnambul-
ism and ecstacy are particularly characterized by a suspension 
12
for the time being, of the life of relation, whereas an inward
sense,  deriving from a great concentration of the vital energy,
seems  to be developed.
  It is not, Sir, the object of this letter to expose the philosophy
of animal magnetism ; I content myself with setting down in
 eneral terms, only such principles as are needed for a cor-
rect  apprehension of  my critical  remarks.   Whether  my
theory be rational  or not,  people will judge ! for myself, I
care  but little about it !   I wish only to establish facts,  and to
give  them their proper value.   Now,  I hold it to be a well-
authenticated fact, that the will and  thought can be communi-
cated without the aid of  language or sign, whatever the medi-
um of that communication may be ; out of fifty somnambulists,
you will find  upwards of forty who  will present this order
of phenomena to a  certain degree !  I have seen, produced
and read innumerable instances of  it  ; therefore,  I believe it
as much as my own existence ; I believe it,  also, because I
can  account for  it  through  philosophical principles, as  I
have above  briefly  stated.   On the  contrary, the faculty of
seeing  things that  are  transpiring  at a great distance, "in
cities, for instance, where the  somnambulist never was in his
life,  the situation and peculiar distribution of which he does
not know and perhaps never  read  about," is wholly incom-
prehensible, and is not, indeed, substantiated by good author-
ity ; I have never observed nor  ever read  any instance of it
in the scientific authors who have written upon animal magne-
tism and somnambulism.   1  eas y conceive  and am  willing
to admit,  that certain  somnambulists and  ecstatic persons
have been able to see  objects at a distance,  but it was "in
places ichere they had  been, and the exact  situation  of which
they previously knew ;"  they had, thus, the means of  direct-
ing their faculty of  vision through the country, and take cog-
nizance of things and persons more or less accurately, accord-
ing to the  extent  of this power in  them.   But it is totally
inconceivable, that they  can see equally well in places, about
which  they have  no  previous correct  impression in  their 
13
mind !   Suppose yourself a  somnambulist, gifted with a high
degree of clairvoyance.  How could you distinguish one par-
ticular  house or street out of the immense variety of streets
and houses  which form  the  cities of Paris, London, New
York,  &c,  if you have  never been in those places, or  ac-
quired by reading a perfect idea of them ?
   I am perfectly aware that numerous facts, exactly similar
to those related in your pamphlet, have been observed by
other gentlemen in the city of Providence and other places ;
but for all  of  them I can account  in the  same way ; viz.
through the faculty that  somnambulists possess of compre-
hending the thoughts and feelings of  those who are  put in
close communication with them ; — in other words, of expe-
riencing in their brain the  modifications existing in the same
organ  of the other party.   This  being the most rational  and
scientific mode for explaining the above-mentioned pretended
phenomena of clairvoyance, I adopt it  sooner than to believe
that they can see in  the  wonderful  and wholly inexplicable
manner of which we have been speaking.
   I will presently quote a few instances of the communication
 of thought and of the influence of the will, which  a.e very
 well calculated to illustrate  the  correctness of my views, —
 and are not less wonderful and conclusive than those describ-
 ed in your narrative.
   " The phenomena of the communication  of thought and of
 the influence of the will  were the first that were observed by
 the Marquis of  Puysegur, when he  discovered the state of
 somnambulism.   In the very interesting letter written by him
 to some friends  of  his, immediately after witnessing those
 singular effects in the first somnambulist he had, he says, ' I
 obliged him (Victor) to move  a great deal on his chair, as
 though he was  dancing by a tune, which by singing mentally
 only,  I caused him to repeat aloud.'' "
    Fournier,  in  his  Essai  on the probabilities of Magnetic
 Somnambulism, dwells  principally on this  phenomenon, as
 being the most common  and important.  He says, page 48, 
14
that  "he  saw a somnambulist,'whom he willed to get up
and take a hat laying on the table  in the entry, and to put  it
on the head of a certain person of the company."   I did not
speak a word, says  he, but only made a sign which traced
out the line which  I wish  the  somnambulist to follow.   I
must  observe that he had  a bandage  over  his  eyes all the
time ; he rose from his chair, followed the direction indicated
with my finger, approached the  table and took the hat which
was laying on it, among many other objects, and  .... put
it on the head of the very person I meant.
   I might quote a large number  of such facts  from foreign
authors on magnetism, of undoubted veracity and merit; but
I prefer to refer to some of the same description, which have
occurred in this country, as being probably more interesting
and trustworthy to the American reader.
   At one of my exhibitions in Pawtucket, some nine months
ago, a medical gentlemen from  Providence handed to  me a
bit of paper, upon which this sentence was written : " Ask
mentally  to the somnambulist how far  it is from Pawtucket
to Providence."  I put the question to her, without either a
sign made or  a word spoken : after some effort of attention,
she answered distinctly, "four miles  from one bridge to the
other," which is the correct distance.
   At  another exhibition in Boston, I  was requested  by an
eminent gentlemen  then  present, to  " will the somnambulist
to rise from the sofa upon  which  she  was sitting, and to go
and take another seat;" I stood about  twelve feet from her,
and mentally put her the command.  She shook her head neg-
atively, as though she was refusing to do something.  I then
asked her why she  did shake her head so :  u You want me
to move from my seat; I don't want  to."   In reference to
this fact,  Mr William Jenks of Boston, who had witnessed it
says in an article inserted by him in the Recorder of Feb. 17
1837, "Farther and more strange to our experience, while
the eyes of the somnambule continue closely shut (the experi-
ments have been tried too with bandaged eyes,) and while no 
15
' gesture or  sound  is used,' I saw the  ' magnetiser'' ask the
' magnetised' a question, (suggested on the spot, and secretly
by a bystander,) and heard the ' magnetisee"1 answer audibly
and correctly."
   A scientific gentleman, who attended the experiments per-
formed in Pawtucket by the  Rev. Mr Daniel Greene, told
me that at his written request, Mr Greene willed  " that a piece
of apple, which he held in his hand, would become a chestnut
burr for the somnambulist." He, in consequence, handed it to
her, and immediately she begun to scratch her hand and com-
plain that it was full of prickles.  " What is the cause of it ?"
 "Why, you give  me  a chestnut  burr."  Mr Greene, it is
 well known, has made himself celebrated in Rhode Island for
 the wonderful  power that he  exercises  by his will only upon
 his patients.
   Mr George Wellmarth of Taunton, related to  me the fol-
 lowing admirable instance of communication of thought that
 occurred under his own operation.  He was requested by a
 witness to "will  his  somnambulist  to quote Byron's  well
 known song, the ' Isles of Greece.'  "  Mr Wellmarth men-
 tally pronounced the first verse, and Mr Andros,* the som-
 nambulist,  starting from the last  words repeated by the mag-
 netiser, recited the whole song.   Mr Wellmarth " willed him
 again to recite another passage ;  he said that he did not know
 it by  heart, but that he knew where  it was  in the book, and
 would show it  to  him.  Indeed, the softinambulist got up,
 walked towards the library, with his  eyes perfectly shut, took
 the volume, and after looking over it awhile, pointed out the
 precise verses that had been indicated to him."
    Innumerable instances of the  same kind  might be offered.
 I will mention a few more ;  the two following took place last
 night, in presence of forty of the most respectable citizens of
 the city of Salem, Mass.  A young lady of the place was put
  into^the magnetic sleep  by" a member of my class, Dr Fisk, a
  surgeon dentist.   " A tumbler  of water was presented to the

      * An intelligent and amiable student in medicine, at Taunton, Mass. 
16
 operator, with the ' written request that  he would turn the
 liquid into brandy for the somnambulist.'  The tumbler was,
 in consequence, handed to  her ; she drank some of it ;  and
 being asked  what it  was,  she exclaimed  apparently  in dis-
 pleasure, ' it is rum.''  A moment afterwards, the magnetiser
 was again requested to  spill a little of the  water  upon  her
 hand, willing it to be  'hot rum.'  So he  did,  and immedi-
 ately the somnambulist began to move her hands and wipe
 them against her gown.   Being asked what was the matter,
 she  said that some  hot  rum  had been  dropped on her
 hands."
   A person under my care,  being in the  magnetic sleep, a
 medical  gentlemen passed me  ten or twelve grains of  aloes,
 contained in a paper,  and requested  me by writing to " will
 it to be sugar for the  somnambulist."   Aloes is known to be
 an exceedingly bitter  drastic.  The  somnambulist tasted it,
 and exclaimed, " it is beautiful."  I asked her what it was.
 "Confectionary sugar,"  said she,  and then   swallowed a
 tongue full of it, with apparently much  pleasure.   But soon
 the medicine acted on her  stomach, and  she became quite
 sick.
  On another evening, her eyes being blindfolded, a bunch of
 white grapes was  held over  her forehead by a  gentleman of
 the company.   I  asked her what it was.   " It is a bunch of
 white fruit," said she.  "Well, what is the name of it ?"
 "I do not know ; I cannot  remember it."  Then I looked
at her, and mentally articulated the word " grape," willing her
to repeat it.  Instantly she  shook her head, signifying  that
she understood  me, and repeated aloud, " it is a bunch of
grapes."
  The faculty of understanding the thoughts and will of those
who came in communication with them, was likewise remark-
ably developed in the ecstatic somnambulists, 1st. the " pos-
sessed nuns" of Loudun, the French Prophets or Shakers of
the  Cevennes,  the Convulsionnaires  de St. Medard, &c.
This phenomenon was so common  and striking, that  it was 
17
considered as the first proof of  the reality of  the possession,
in case of the ecstatic nuns of Loudun.   " They couldreveal
the most secret thoughts."   These are the very words used in
the Juridic informations  concerning that  celebrated affair.
Even some of the possessed persons had the  extraordinary
gift of understanding all languages.   Although ignorant,  they
could answer correctly questions, in  Latin, Greek, German,
&c. even  in the  dialect of some tribe,  which one of the  visi-
ters had learned during a residence  in  America.   This last
fact proves  indisputably, that  during the very peculiar  state
of the nervous system, caused  by religious exaltation, or the
magnetic operation, the human brain acquires the power of com-
prehending the thought and the will,  in whatever  language
it is expressed.   I had a somnambulist under my care in this
country, who could obey my volitions, even when I mentally
expressed them  in  French ; although  she  did not know a
word  of that language.  Indeed, the  act of thinking and  will-
ing is performed   every where  in the  same manner by the
brain, however different the languages  of men are ; it is the
thought and the will that the somnambulist seizes, and not the
words mentally pronounced.
   Now, Sir, from the foregoing facts,  and a  thousand others
of the same nature, which it would  be  too  long to quote, I
will propose to  you  this question.   If such a " perfect  sym-
pathy" can  be established between  the brain of a somnam-
bulist and that  of another  individual,  so as  to  enable the
former to receive in his own mind the  impressions and ideas
which are formed in the mind of the latter, — is it not more
rational to think that Miss Brackett  saw through your mental
influence, the pictures that adorn your  parlor, rather than to
admit that she went in spirit to  New  York, and  saw them
there with her immaterial eye ?
   That which confirms my opinion on this point is, that Miss
Brackett can be very easily influenced  by the mind of those
                 3 
18
 who are put in direct  communication  with  her.   Besides
 various proofs of the power of his "will over this somnam-
 bulist," afforded to me by Dr Capron, I will quote  a striking
 instance which came under my personal observation.   This
 fact shows that Miss Brackett is capable of apprehending the
 thought, not only of her magnetiser, but also of any one else
 put in communication with her.   One afternoon, while Miss
 Brackett was under the  magnetic  influence, Mr A.  Potter of
 Providence, and myself stepped into the room and sat at some
 distance from the  somnambulist ; I must  state that she did
 not expect our arrival, and that Mr Potter had never seen her
 before.  After some moments had elapsed, Mr Potter asked
 Dr Capron whether he had ever tried any experiments on his
 patient  by  his will alone.   The  Doctor  said  he  had not,
 and did not know whether such experiments would succeed in
 her case.  Mr Potter then begged to be put in communica-
 tion  with the somnambulist,  to  which  Dr Capron readily
 assented.  Mr Potter seated himself near Miss  Brackett,
 and, without  uttering a word, presented  to her a small slice
 of an apple.   She took it with both hands, as though it was
 something heavy, and, on tasting it, said  that it  was a  slice
 of melon.    Mr  Potter  had  willed it to  be  so.  He took
 back the same piece of apple  from Miss  Brackett's hands,
 and, without speaking a word, by a mere action of his mind,
 turned it for the somnambulist into  four or five different arti-
 cles in the space of two minutes.   There could be no decep-
 tion in the case, as  Mr  Potter had  never before seen Miss
 Brackett, and as experiments of this kind had never  yet been
 tried on  this somnambulist.  How did Miss  Brackett  know
 the taste that Mr Potter meant to  give to the slice of apple ?
 She must necessarily have been  actually influenced by the
 action of his brain ; she must have  apprehended his thoughts.
.Such is, indeed, the clearness of a somnambulist's  mind on
 some occasions,  that he will seize with a wonderful accuracy
 the  most complicated image or impression existing in the 
19
mind of the person in communication.*   The well authenti-
cated facts I have quoted in the preceding pages, demonstrate
forcibly this point.
   Now, was it more difficult for Miss Brackett to  see  your
pictures through the influence of your mind,  than to appre-
hend so correctly, and at the very first attempt, Mr Potter's
will ?   Are not both instances alike ?  Are  they  not equally
surprising ?  You must remember, indeed, that  those pictures
were engraved on your  brain, and that in  directing the  som-
nambulist to look at them and take them  down, the  one after
the other, they presented themselves  still more  vividly and
distinctly to your mind.   As you already felt   some interest
in  Miss Brackett, you " wished very much that she could see
them :"  therefore,  their impression was  carried forth into
your nervous  atmosphere, mingled  with  the somnambulist's
, atmosphere, and thus transmitted to her brain or thinking and
 imagining'organ.
    You will probably observe, that  Miss Brackett mentioned
several particulars which had no trace at all  in  your mind,
 and which,  on  inquiry,  you found  to be correct.  For in-
 stance, in  walking  through the  " College  Green,"  she re-
 marked that  " there was one of the trees which was decaying,
 and should be cut  down and taken away."   She also said,
 that "there was nobody living now in  the  first  wing of the
 college, that the house  was empty," &c.   I can assure you,
 Sir, that these  particulars  were mere  suggestions of Miss
 Brackett's imagination,  and  do not prove  that  she actually
 "saw" the objects mentioned by  her.   I have carefully ob-
 served a large number of somnambulists ; I have read  also a

   *A  writer in  the Baltimore Commercial  Transcript, Oct.  14, 1837, says:
  ' That in many cases of somnambulism (he had seen twenty, at different periods,)
 the very ideas, no matter  how erroneous, of the magnetisers, were imbibed and
 expressed by the subjects, leaving no doubt of the influence possessed by  the ope-
 rator, who certainly transmitted his very thoughts, —how?  I cannot say, but I
 know the  fact.   One I have  seen daily for several years in that state, hardly
 under the influence of the magnetiser, but still wandering to subjects that had
 been for years his study,  and repeating verbatim his theories." 
20
great deal about  the peculiarities of  mind during that state.
From my reading and personal observations,  I have acquired
the conviction that  even the most  lucid  somnambulists, are
often dupes of  their ownr'invagination, exactly as we are, all
of us, of bur dreams during  the,., natural sleep.   For this we
can easily account,  when we- know  that somnambulists expe-
rience the  same effects, both mental and physical, from a
falsehood as from a reality.   They are liable to be so com-
pletely  deluded,  thas  it is  sometimes very difficult for  the
magnetiser to make them become conscious  of their errors.
Being  thus mentally, constitute)!,' their  faculties of attention
are entirely absorbed by the  object  which  occupies them,
whether true or  not.'   They feel,  speak, and  act, and take
as animated a part in a visionary scene as though it was real.
But that which characterizes the dreams or  visions  of som-
nambulists,  is the perfect consistency existing between the
various  parts of them.  It  is surprising to  see how minute
they are, how careful to place each particular  in  its proper
place.
   This  being the case, you understand that we should be very
attentive to distinguish, in the  description and narration of a
somnambulist, what is  the  mere product of imagination, and
what is  an actual fact of clairvoyance, in regard either to ex-
ternal things upon which their attention is directed,  or to in-
ternal impressions resulting  from  modifications  of their own
system !  I now return to Miss B.'s  case.   Imagining or
dreaming from  the impulse  she  had  received from  your
mind, that she was really walking through an  avenue  of trees,
she  noticed,  as a person  would  do in the natural state,
that  one of those trees was decaying and should  be taken
away !    A somnambulist feels indeed,  that  among  a  great
many trees forming  an  avenue, it would be extraordinary that
one of them at  least should not be  older than the  other, and
even injured in  some of its parts ; he  knows that our  large
cities are full of mischievous fellows, always  ready to mar,
tear and destroy every thing they meet in the streets or on 
21
public places.   All these circumstances presented themselves
at once  to Miss Brackett's mind, connected with the idea of
the green.   It is not surprising therefore, that she made a re-
mark which coincided with what was  " a fact."  But al-
though correct, it is not  sufficient to convince  me that she
saw the trees, as her remark might have been only a " happy
guess."   The same may be  said of what she told concern-
ing the  absence of the president of the  college ;  you had al-
ready observed to her that it was vacation time, and she con-
sequently drew the inference that the president and his family
were gone to the country, on a visit to their  friends, &c.
Every body knows, indeed, that  it is customary for the offi-
cers of our public institutions to employ the vacation time in
travelling and restoring their health, &c.
   Somnambulists are  generally  so ingenious, consistent and
particular  in their descriptions,  that I would have been sur-
prised if Miss Brackett had omitted to make the above men-
tioned remarks.  As  to the pictures described  by her, she
 could   not  possibly  have  guessed  at them,  as they  were
most of them, of a very rare and  peculiar character.   Some
unreasonable skeptics pretend that you were  fool enough to
whisper about  the  room, and even  tell aloud to Dr Capron,
what those pictures were!—others suppose that the gentleman
 who called at your house, with a  letter of  introduction from
 Providence, had been sent to spy your  movements, and in-
 vestigate the contents of your house, &c.   Such conjectures
 are but contemptible, and I pity the poor brains and narrow
 hearts from which  they  emanated.   I  do believe  that Miss
 Brackett became aware of the existence and  nature of those
 pictures by her admirable somnambulic faculties ! she "saw"
 them through  your own mind ; although she very honestly
 pretended to see  them in  New York.  I will terminate these
 remarks  by repeating that I have,  as yet, neither seen nor
 read a  single fact,  (not even in the  notes inserted at the end
 of the  two first  parts of Mr Hartshorn's translation of De-
 leuze)  which is capable, after a  mature examination, of con- 
22
 vincing me that a somnambulist can transport herself in spirit,
 where she never was in her life, and see what  is transpiring
 in places about which she had no previous correct idea, I do
 not, however, reject the  thing as utterly impossible !  For,
 do I  know all  that  is possible ?  I merely say, that such a
 thing is wholly inexplicable  and cannot be  referred to any
 philosophical principle whatever, like all the other magnetic
phenomena.  I  will, therefore,  deny this  miraculous  clair-
 voyance, until I have abundant  and conclusive  proofs of its
 reality !
   You  will ask perhaps, whether I believe in  clairvoyance  at
 all ?  Yes, I believe that  some  somnambulists  can see in a
 very remarkable manner, their eyes being, perfectly  shut and
independently from  a mental action  of the  magnetiser !  I
believe, that in  a high state of  lucidity, they can  see what
is transpiring in the adjoining rooms, or even in a neighboring
town, where they had previously lived or resided some time-
I had, in my practice, numerous and indisputable  proofs  of
this power ; I have  read  also many striking  instances of it
from very scientific sources.  These phenomena moreover,
can be accounted for, either through an  unusual increase  of
energy and  delicacy  of the organ of vision, or by admitting
the existence of a peculiar fluid penetrating all bodies of na-
ture, and affecting in an equal  manner the various parts of the
brain and the nerves which emanate from it.   If such a fluid
exists, it appears that the human system is not always equally
susceptible of perceiving it, for the faculty of clairvoyance is
often diminished and sometimes entirely lost.
  Such are, Sir, my views on the facts  related in your letter
to  Dr Brigham.  I do not pretend that they are absolutely cor-
rect ; I am satisfied  about  them ; but others  may  find them
erroneous, and many will probably  reject them  !  They will
think it just as wonderful  that a  somnambulist  could  read a
person's mind, as to see certain objects at a distance of two
hundred miles !   But let  them  compare the  facts related  in
your work,  and those I  have mentioned  in the preceding 
23
pages; they will surely find a striking analogy between them,
and  see  that  they  can  be  explained  in the  same way, viz.
through the philosophical principles I have presented.
  After  all, although your  experiments with Miss Brackett
were not especially intended and calculated to ascertain wheth-
er the agent called  "Animal Magnetism"  exists  or not, yet
they come, for  me, to  the  same  final  result; they demon-
strate, in my opinion, that one  human  being can exercise an
influence over another,  by the sole force of his mind, and that
the  thoughts  and impressions  of one  human brain  can be
transmitted to another without the aid of language and signs.
  I  trust, Sir, that you will not mistake the intention  of the
foregoing remarks.   My object has not been to criticise only,
but to call your attention  to  an order of phenomena, viz.
" the influence of the will and the communication of thought,"
which are  better calculated than any  other, to prove  the re-
ality of the animal magnetic principle or agent.   I hope that
you will pursue your investigation of the subject and conduct
it in a proper manner, that you  may be able, at a  future pe-
riod, to  crown  the work you  have so well commenced, by
communicating to the world the results  of your  further ob-
servations.   In waiting for that moment, I now most heartily
congratulate you for what you have so  far done to forward the
cause of truth.  The courage and independence of mind with
which you have proclaimed your opinion  in regard to a mat-
ter,  as yet, so little understood, so generally denied and ridi-
culed, are truly praiseworthy.   You  have proved that you
comprehend, and do not fear to practise the duties which your
profession of editor devolves upon you, viz.  to be an impar-
tial  observer of the manifestations of the time, and  to enlight-
en the public mind  about them.   Animal  magnetism will un-
doubtedly prevail,  notwithstanding the  furious and blind op-
position which is now made against it.   Then your exertions
in the defence and propagation of truth shall be duly appre-
ciated, whereas your sneerers will be  in their turn sneered at
and  despised for their conceited ignorance and ungenerosity. 
24
   But,  Sir, while you seem to  have been so earnest to do
justice to animal magnetism before the public, you have been,
I must confess, singularly hasty in  forming an  opinion, and
very careless  in  the manner in which  you have  expressed
yourself about the character and conduct of the man who has
been for nearly two years, struggling to  introduce the  subject
in this country.   I read in your letter to Dr Brigham such a
sentence as the  following ; "  I pray you not  to  write me
down as a believer in the charlatannerie  of Mesmer  and  Des-
lon, or as a disciple of Mr Poyen, or as an encourager of the
other strolling dealers  in  somnambulism, who  traverse the
country, exhibiting their ' sleeping beauties'' as lovers, not
of science,  but of gain."
   Thus, I am, in your opinion, a charlatan, a  dealer in  som-
nambulism,  whose sole object is gain, &c.
   Now, I ask you from what source did you derive your  in-
formation concerning me.  Did you believe yourself sufficient-
ly authorized  from mere appearances and the vulgar  attacks
of some of  your brother editors, to pronounce so decisive
and severe  a judgment upon  a man with whom you  had  no
previous personal acquaintance, and whose acts never afforded
an evident ground for reproach  ?  Did  you not  feel, in writ-
ing down this  judgment, as though  you were doing wrong to
a fellow creature, and forfeiting to the fairness, soberness and
charity which are becoming  of  a christian mind,  of a philoso-
phic and earnest  searcher  after truth ?  And,  besides that,
how could  you  have allowed yourself,  in a publication of a
serious  character, to indulge in such a  sneering and  trifling
way of  writing,  as is manifested  in   the word  " sleeping
beauties and others."   I have never exhibited  any " sleep-
ing beauty ;" and Miss Gleason, to  whom you have probably
alluded, never had any  pretension to be  any thing of the kind;
on the  contrary,  she  already bears  on her face and whole
system the marks of the power  of  those unmerciful destroy-
ers of beauty ; age and sickness.
   It seems to me, Sir, that before venturing to pronounce an 
25
unfavorable judgment upon a man's intentions and conduct, it
would be but just and prudent to look previously for proper
information.  It  would have  been easy for  you  to  obtain
some concerning  me, during your visit in Providence.   I am
pretty well known there.  Rev Dr Wayland, Prof. Chace and
Caswell; Rev Messrs E.  B.  Hall and Farley ;  Dr Crocker,
have conversed with me ; most of them have attended  my
lectures.  They  have  thus  been able  to form  an opinion of
my character and education.    They  might have informed
you whether I am, or not, moved  by purely selfish motives,
whether  I  have  or not  manifested any love  for  science
and philanthropy.   I have now in my portfolio a letter  of in-
troduction from Dr F. Wayland, to Rev Dr Day and Prof.
 Silliman of Yale College, that would do  honor to any man.
 Drs Brownell and Capron might also have furnished you with
the means of forming a correct and impartial opinion.   I  had
 considerable intercourse with them ; they had the opportunity
 of observing the tendency of my mind, and my way of treating
 and propagating animal magnetism.   I  might, in a  word,  if I
 deemed it worth while, refer  you to a great number of other
 individuals  belonging  to the most  respectable and literary
 classes in New England.   But it  is,  sir, a  painful  thing to
 any writer of common sense  and delicacy, to  be  compelled
 to speak of himself, in the view of vindicating his character,
 and it is with the utmost reluctance that  I  have undertaken
 here,  to justify myself  from  the  offensive  allusions con-
 tained  in  your  letter to  DrB.   I would not have  done it,
 had I  not considered it a duty  to remove, as much as I  can,
 the prejudices and wrong impressions  entertained  of me, for
 the sake of the  advancement of the important subject which
 it has been my lot to lecture upon in this  country, and to
 which my name  is particularly  attached.  It  is in that view
 that I take the  liberty of presenting to you the written opin-
 ion of a few distinguished gentlemen concerning  my charac-
 ter and conduct.  These gentlemen have seen me often, and
 are well qualified, from the acquaintance they had  with me, to
               4 
26
judge of my course and intentions.  A letter of introduction
given tome by Saml. H. Jenks, Esq. of Nantucket, to Thom-
as G. Woodward, Esq., editor of the  Connecticut Herald,
commences thus : " Give me leave to introduce to your friend-
ly acquaintance Dr Ch. Poyen, for whom I entertain the pro-
foundest esteem and  respect ;  esteem for his  philanthropic
virtues ; respect for his learning and devotion to science.  *

A more intimate acquaintance with Dr Poyen will strength-
en your attachment to him.   He has been abused by many of
our  * *  * * brethren, who  call themselves editors."
   From the above mentioned letter of President F. Wayland
to President Day and Prof.  Silliman, I extract  the following
lines:
   " Dr  Poyen has resided some time among us in Provi-
dence, and I have every reason to believe him an intelligent,
amiable and philanthropic gentleman. As such I beg the favor
of introducing him to your  acquaintance."
   In an article  on animal magnetism, inserted in the Boston
Recorder of February 17,  1837, by one of the most intelli-
gent and learned ^gentlemen  of the city, you will find  these
words:
   " How disgusting is the tone some journals assume towards
Dr Poyen, and how vulgar their abuse !  Since I have known
him, he  has sustained a high intellectual and moral character ;
and the object of these few remarks is to induce those of like
character to unite with him in classifying these phenomena,
fixing their relations to the great  body of science, and fol-
lowing out and  popularizing their medical and psychological
uses."
   The following paragraphs  are extracted  from an article in
the Providence  Journal, July  20th,  1837, by Thomas C.
Hartshorn, Esq. translator of the Deleuze  :
   "  Had Mr Poyen come among us in his true appellation,
as a marquis of the old regime,  and not in poverty, he would
have found a  thousand ready to fall down and worship his 
27
title, and to attribute to himself all the distinguishing traits of
nobility, where he finds one now who is willing to be pleased
with the truly gentlemanly feeling which is inherent in him,
and with the  learning  which he is  not ostentatious in dis-
playing.
   " Mr Poyen demeaned himself in society in a modest and
unassuming manner.   There  was no  arrogant pretension to
superior  skill  or power.   On  the  contrary, he expressly
stated in his lectures,  that others who were there present,
might possess  it in a much higher degree.  He seemed anx-
ious to impress a conviction on the  minds of his auditors of
the great advantages of it as a curative process.   He stood
by the bed  of the sick, and  instructed several gentlemen of
the faculty  and others, in this and the neighboring towns, in
the mode of procedure, and they were more  successful than
himself in producing the desired results.   He  received no re-
compense from those persons whom he instructed, except what
they may have paid for tickets of admission  to his lectures.
And, finally, as a triumphant vindication of his  character from
the charge  of  imposition, the  magnetic practice in this city
has been attended with such decisive proofs of its therapeutic
virtues, that no man of character here will venture to gainsay
the assertion, under the authority of his own name.
   " Mr Poyen's exertion in the cause, and  the fact of his
being a pioneer of it in New England, demand a public state-
ment of these truths, so honorable to him."
   Such is the opinion of those who have conversed with me,
and observed my course and character.
   You have not treated Mesner and  Deslon with  any  more
justice and propriety  than  you have  done me.   Instead of
referring to the opinion of the prejudiced, superficial and  time-
serving editors of periodicals and to the authors  of cyclopedias,
about those distinguished men, I would beg you either to
read their  works, if you can procure  them,  or to see  what
the virtuous, judicious and learned Deleuze says concerning
them in his  " Histoire Critique du Magnetisme animal," Vol.
I. ch.  1, and  Vol.  II. ch. 1  and  2. 
28
  If you desire more information concerning me, I would beg
leave to refer you to a work just published, entitled " Animal
Magnetism in New England," in  which I give a  faithful ac-
count of the  manner  in  which I became interested in  the
"science," and of the course I have pursued  to  establish it
in this country.
  I will now finish this letter  by a few remarks on the  re-
proach which you  have addressed me, of being "  a lover not
of science,  but  of  gain."   I assure you, sir, that  if I am at
all moved by the  " love of gain," I am far  from possessing
the art of gaining.  You would,  yourself, acknowledge this
to be the  fact, should you have a chance of investigating
the contents of my purse.   I will even dare to  affirm, that
very few, nor perhaps  yourself, would  have persevered as I
have done,  in the troublesome  and difficult  task of lecturing
upon animal magnetism in this country for so little pecuniary
compensation.
  But, when a man is  accomplishing a useful object, when he
is qualified  to carry it about faithfully and honorably, is it  not
equally unjust and  unphilosophical to charge him  with being
moved by motives of gain ?  Who will  ever engage seriously
and perseveringly  in any work of  some importance, without
a strong hope  that  he  shall be  rewarded for  it ? and  what
can this  reward be, but money,  that  is to say,  the means
of  supporting  himself and  enjoying  the  comfort  of  life ?
In  the present age,  and  in this  country especially,  we
find very  few  worshippers of pure  glory.   No one,  in
our  days,   is  wild enough  to seek  fame  and glory  at
the risk  of wearing rags,  living upon  air, and dying in  an
attic.  The present generation are all  thirsting for the wa-
ters of the golden Pactole ; money is  the  vital  element of
society ; it  is  the vast and vivifying source  from  which the
heart draws  sensibility ;  the brain, intellect and power of
combination ;—it is the mighty lever  by which the hand of
industry erects  splendid  buildings,  digs up  canals,  con-
structs railroads, builds steamboats and  packets ;  finally, ac-
complishes all that is necessary for the material welfare of so- 
29
ciety.   God has  wisely endowed] man with acquisitiveness :
this faculty, when  properly balanced  by a due proportion of
benevolence and conscientiousness, is capable of yielding as use-
ful  and glorious  results as  any other passion  of  human  na-
ture !   The  extraordinary prosperity of the  United States,
and their high station among civilized nations, illustrate strik-
ingly this truth.
  It is  time, therefore, that we  should cease  to reproach a
fellow creature with the use of a faculty inherent to  the hu-
man organization,  and so necessary to bring about the designs
of the Divine providence in her temporal  government of so-
ciety.  The love of gain, the  " sacra fames auri," is general;
it inspires  the preacher of the gospel, the healer of human
infirmities, the ruler  of the people,  as well as the  humblest
mechanic and farmer. The " priest must live upon the altar,"
is a proverb which is applicable to men of all  professions  in-
discriminately.
   If you reproach me, Sir, with being a " dealer in somnam-
bulism," the same reproach might be addressed to you.  In-
deed, I have heard many a one insinuate  that  your pamphlet
was a mere money concern !   People observe that you might
just as  well have published your observations  in two or three
numbers  of the Journal  edited  by you, rather than to make
a pamphlet for sale.   Myself, I pay no attention to such sup-
positions ; I am  pleased to think that you have been moved
by the  pure  love  of  truth.   But, supposing that you had any
pecuniary  object in view, I would still thank God for having
organized  you in such  a manner as to  compel you  to come
forth publicly and fearlessly,  in  support of a  noble  and im-
portant truth, for  the sake of satisfying your " acquisitive-
ness."
   As far as  a man seeks gain  without departing from  what  is
right and honorable,  he cannot be blamed  ; but, from  the mo-
ment he  sacrifices truth,  conscience,  and his  duties  towards
his fellow  creatures,  to a base appetite for money and the sel-
fish gratification  of  his exuberant vanity,  he  renders himself 
30
contemptible and can no longer be considered as a safe mem-
ber of society.  This last trait, Sir, establishes a broad differ-
ence in the mind  of the well thinking part of the community,
between the talented writer of the " letter to Dr Brigham,"
and the impudent, self-conceited and vulgar scribbler who has
just enlightened the public with an '' Exposition or a new the-
ory of Animal Magnetism."
              I am, Sir, respectfully,  yours,
                                       CH. POYEN. 
                      REMARKS

                           ON

     THE  CAUSES  OF   FAILURE

                          IN THE

           ANIMAL MAGNETIC  EXPERIMENTS;

                       INTENDED  AS A

REFUTATION OF C. F. DURANT'S EXPOSITION
                 OF ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
   I  would consider it a wicked waste of time and labor  to
 enter into a minute critical examination of this libellous pam-
 phlet.  I am satisfied that it  carries its full refutation with  it-
 self ; I would, indeed, challenge any person of education,  of
 common delicacy and power of discrimination, to read it with-
 out experiencing throughout its perusal,  a  perfect  disgust for
 the coarseness of the style, the vulgarity of thought and man-
 ner exhibited in it.   I shall not, then, for  the present trouble
 my mind  about it.
   The object of the  following remarks is particularly to re-
 solve some difficulties which seem, at the  present moment,  to
 bear hard on the public  mind, and which are  calculated, I
 must confess, to retard  the  advances of magnetism in this
 country, should they  not be promptly removed.   If, more-
 over, the  explanations that I propose to  give, are deemed sa-
 tisfactory, Mr Durant's assertions and the pretended experi-
 ments related in his book shall  have no more weight in the
 eye of the reading part  of the community than the gas  with
 which he was  wont to swell his balloons.
   Let us come to the point.   People say, " If animal mag-
netism is a matter of facts the reality of which can be ascer- 
32
tained by actual observation, why do we hear so  many con-
tradictory reports from those who have witnessed the experi-
ments ? why is there such a difference of opinion concerning
the alleged facts ?"
   These are the questions which the present state of things
requires of me to answer in a peremptory manner.
   I must, in the first place call the attention of the philosophi-
cal reader  to a very  important point, viz.   the  respective
grounds  upon which  those who  have  reported in favor  or
against animal magnetism, have based their judgment.
   In  looking over the history  of this  " science" in Europe
and America, we are struck with  the fact that all those who
have written " ex professo" in support of Animal JSfagnetism,
were, or still are magnetisers.   They have themselves re-
peatedly  and  carefully  performed the  operations  on  a great
variety of individuals;—and what is  remarkable, none of those
who have thus given a fair practical trial to  the subject have
remained unconvinced, although they  were formerly decided
skeptics;  none have pretended that the claims  of the science
were  not founded on reality.   This is the history  of all the
magnetisers of Europe and America.  Now, from the rank
occupied by those individuals in society, from  their education
and well  known  character, we cannot suppose  either that they
have deceived the people, or that they  have  suffered  them-
selves to be imposed upon.  Therefore, the  facts  by which
they were convinced must have  been of a positive charac-
ter, that is to say, evident enough to satisfy skeptical and en-
lightened minds.
   When, on the other hand, we inquire of the motives upon
which the opponents of animal  magnetism have  based their
opinion, we find that none of them say  that they have  them-
selves magnetised,  and acquired from  personal  experience,
the conviction of the falsity of the  doctrine.   They all reject
the claims of it,  either  on the ground that it is contrary to the
laws of nature, &c. or because a few experiments  they have
seen  tried  on persons magnetised by others  in their presence 
33
have failed !   Such is the position of the enemies of animal
magnetism.
   The  preceding remarks partly  explain, in my  opinion,
why contradictory reports have  always  been in  circulation
concerning the magnetic phenomena, and why there is  such
a difference of opinion  respecting their reality.   Those who
have witnessed or themselves  produced conclusive effects,
are thus led to espouse  the cause of the science ;  those on
the contrary, who have seen failures only, deny its reality
and, without looking farther into it, remain satisfied from those
failures that what they have heard about it cannot be true.
   From what has just  been said, a plain  inference follows.
In order to become convinced of the truth of magnetism, it
is not sufficient to see  and  " scrutinize"  a few  experiments
made by other people ; it is necessary to perform the opera-
tion oneself a number of times  and  on a variety  of  subjects.
No one has a right to deny the  reality of the phenomena and
reject the statements made by other respectable persons until
he has  given this patient and unprejudiced  trial to the matter.
Indeed, I would candidly ask whether it is  philosophical  to
base  one's judgment upon one or a few failures ?  It is ad-
mitted  that negative facts cannot overthrow positive  ones.  If
on witnessing  some  magnetic performances, we meet  with
failures only, are we  sufficiently authorized to conclude that
the experiments have never been successful ? for, how could
so many intelligent persons who advocate  animal magnetism,
have been satisfied of its reality and value,  if they had not ob-
tained  conclusive results ?
   Here,  another question of importance presents itself.—
 Why do the magnetic  experiments succeed so well at times
 and  fail completely  at other times ?   The reason is simple
 enough ;  because these  experiments are   performed under
 different  circumstances,  some  of  which  are highly  favor-
 able,  and  others  contrary  to their success.    Thus far,
 there is nothing  surprising.   The chemist, the natural philo-
 sopher, the physician, &c. know that the experiments attempt-
                  5 
34
ed by them often fail, and  that they  fail  either because the
materials used were not in good  order and of  a proper  qual-
ity, or because certain circumstances which  the operator had
not foreseen and  provided against, have  unfortunately taken
place.   Such failures  are easily  accounted for by the profes-
sor of the science or the physician, and people make no  diffi-
culty in accepting his apology ; they say,  " the experiments
have not succeeded today, for such or such reasons; but they
will probably  succeed better tomorrow, &c.  All is for the
best !"   People  do not retire discontented ; they do not ex-
claim,  imposition! deception! nothing  in it!  &c; because
they are  perfectly aware  that the chemist, or the  professor
of  electricity  cannot  concert a plan with  their apparatus :
they are  aware  that  brute bodies cannot  connive  with any
living being to deceive mankind.  But, with  respect to the
magnetic experiments, it is altogether different.   If they suc-
ceed, the skeptic  says, it  was a plan skilfully concerted, or
if they fail, he retires indignant, considering the whole as a
wicked imposition, &c.  Why so ?  I regret to say, it is be-
cause people are aware that the animal magnetic experiments
are performed on, and by, a human  individual, viz., by, and
on beings that are capable of conniving together to deceive their
fellow creatures.   On  witnessing these experiments the pub-
lic  do not  reflect,  and they appear not willing  to grant, that
their success  depends also  on " the proper state and quality
of the materials used,  and  on  certain other important  circum-
stances without the presence of which the required and usual
 effects  cannot take place.
   The materials, as we figuratively  call  them, are  the  brain
and nervous system of the magnetiser, and the brain and ner-
 vous system of the person magnetised.   These are the two
 pieces  or elements, as Georget calls them, of the magnetic
 apparatus.  One  of these two  elements is active, the other is
 passive ;  the  influence emanates from the former,  and is re-
 ceived and felt by the latter.   But  in order  that the desired
 effects should be properly manifested, it  is necessary, indis- 
35
pensable, that a perfect equilibrium should exist between both
elements.   The  operator's brain and  nervous  system must
exercise its action in a regular, even,  and  constantly strong
manner; at the same time, the brain of the person operated up-
on must find  itself  in a state of perfect calmness and tranquil
sensibility, in order either to feel the intended effects of the
action directed upon it, or  to exhibit  the  phenomena which
may belong to the exercise  of its own activity and power, in-
dependently  from the magnetiser's influence.   Every thing
therefore, that will  disturb  the  normal order of either or of
both elements of the magnetic apparatus, will destroy the re-
quired equilibrium,  and the  experiments must fail.
   There is one point, in  all this, which I desire  the reader
to  bear  clearly  and  constancy  in  his   mind;  it  is  that
the human brain and nervous  system  are not  brute, inani-
mate  objects ; they  are  not, for instance, like  the electric
machine, the galvanic battery, &c.  They are the most com-
plex, nice,  organized and living instruments.  They are there-
fore, submitted to the action and  reaction  of infinitely more
numerous causes than any other object in creation.   They are
(and  we should expect it to be so,)  infinitely more suscepti-
ble of changes and modifications than  any  scientific machine
or apparatus  that can be devised and made by  man's hands.
We know  besides, that the complication, delicacy and modi-
fiability of organized bodies vary  according to  the degree
which they occupy in the scale of life.  A plant is more com-
plex  and modifiable than a crystal ;  an animal of a  lower or-
der is more  complex and modifiable than a plant, &c.   Now,
how much more  complicated, delicate and changeable, is the
organization  of man than that of all other living  beings.   Be-
sides all the physical  causes  that  are  acting  continually on
him, as well as on  other animals, man is submitted to another
continual  source of  actions,  reactions and  modifications,
which  is  within himself.    I  mean his own exquisite  sen-
sibility and  his  passions.  Now, let us reflect  that the brain
and  the nervous system are the seat of sensibility and of  pas- 
36
sions; let us reflect also, that it is from the same organ that the
magnetic influence emanates, and that they are the  instruments
principally used for magnetising.  How then,  can we be sur-
prised at the variety  of results obtained, and  even at the
numerous failures that are met with in the practice of animal
magnetism?  If the chemical, electric, galvanic, &c. experi-
ments fail often, although the laws  of electricity and  chemis-
try are comparatively simple and few, it  is but natural  that
animal magnetism, the laws of which are  not yet well appre-
ciated, and which is subjected to a great many  causes of vari-
ation, should present still more numerous failures.
   The circumstances either favorable or contrary to  the suc-
cess of the experiments in animal magnetism must be, of course
different from those attending  the  experiments made on  and
with inorganized bodies.   They are  peculiar  to the nature
and capacity of the  agents  employed, viz. the human brain
and nervous system.   Those circumstances are numerous, so
delicate and profoundly hidden that  it requires a long expe-
rience, and the attentive reading of  the best authors, united to
an acute power of observation, comparison and  discrimination,
to know  them  all  and  appreciate them  properly.   This
constitutes, therefore, a branch  of knowledge that compara-
tively very few magnetisers possess when they commence
practising, especially in this country, where there is an almost
absolute deficiency of books and written instructions on the
subject.   Being thus involved  in complete darkness about the
causes that are calculated to favor or disturb the magnetic ac-
tion, they can but meet with failures whenever they venture
to expose their somnambulist and themselves to circumstances
different from those under  the influence of which they have
performed successful experiments.   The magnetic power
being natural to man, and the means of using  it exceedingly
plain, it becomes thus very easy to almost  any one, to pro-
duce the phenomena which  are known  to  take  place  under
such operation.   But in this case power is not science.   The
person who just begins to  magnetise may  be  able to obtain 
37
wonderful effects, and yet be utterly incapable  of understand-
ing both what he  is doing, and the causes which have made
his experiments succeed.   He does not perhaps suspect that
those experiments are  liable to fail, and  even  sees not why
they should fail, as he does not yet appreciate the nature of
the agents  used in the operation, and has not learned  through
experience and study that those  agents are susceptible  of a
great many modifications.   Thence  the numerous  failures
which have given rise in Europe, as well as in this country,
to the contradictory reports which people have heard, and to
the difference of  opinion which is  existing  about the reality
of the magnetic  phenomena.
   In order to convey a  clearer  idea  of what I mean, I will
present a few cases of the failures  to which I am alluding, as
they generally occur to those who commence the practice of
magnetism.  Let us take for example, one of the magnetis-
ers mentioned in Mr Durant's book.   I will  show how this
beginner will, from mere ignorance,  create  failures on his
way, and thus expose himself and his somnambulist to be con-
sidered as   impostors by some uncharitable and equally ig-
norant skeptics.
   Mr C.  hears  of the wonderful effects of  what is called
animal magnetism  and  he wishes to obtain them himself ; he,
in consequence, magnetises a person well known to  him, iw
whom he has confidence, say his friend, his sister, even per-
haps his own wife.  The  success is   complete ; at  the first
attempt, he throws the subject into the magnetic state ; he is
already in amazement at  his power; he repeats  the operation
and succeeds in  producing  the first phenomena of somnam-
bulism; his admiration and enthusaisrn  are still  greater.   He
decides to  invite a couple of friends, well known both to him-
self and to the subject of his experiments.   Mr C. in pres-
ence of these friends  feels  the  same   confidence as  he  had
when alone ; he is at his own house, pursues his own course,
and acts from the impulse  of his own  mind,—the  experi-
ments succeed again to the satisfaction  of all present, for,  so
far, the circumstances are favorable to  the operation. 
38
   But Mr C. already wishes to convince  more  people, say
 two or three influential persons; he  invites them to see an
 exhibition.   They come with high  expectations, but unfor-
 tunately the experiment fails; Mr C.  cannot even put his pa-
 tient to sleep ;  how, and why ? he  cannot tell, for  he does
 not know that he was too anxious to succeed, and that his very
 solicitudes have disturbed his nervous system and prevented
 both in himself and  in  his  patient  the  degree of confidence
 and regularity of action necessary to produce the required
 effect.   Among those invited, one  or more were,  perhaps,
 entire strangers  to his subject, and Mr C. does not yet know
 that the presence  of strangers agitates  a somnambulist and
 that  such agitation is contrary to the  success of the operation.
 The persons  who had  been called  to  witness wonders, retire
 disappointed,  and say that  poor  Mr C. was  deluded, &c.
 After they are gone, Mr C.  makes a  new attempt and  suc-
 ceeds very well; and  it cannot be otherwise,  for the causes
 of disturbance exist no longer.
  After magnetising his  patient ten or twelve times,  always
 successfully,  and in presence of several friends, Mr C. again
 invites some strangers.   This time he succeeds in producing
 sleep.   He then pronounces the subject  to be in a profound
 sleep from which nothing, not even the discharge of a park of ar-
 tillery, could  arouse her. Indeed, the bystanders make noise,
 shake, pinch  and prick  the  sleeper,  without producing any
 apparent effect.   Mr  C. also pretends that she hears nobody
 but him, for,  in  the preceding sittings he has observed that she
never answered  any one  else.  He then  tries, from his own
impulse and according  to his  own fancy, a few experiments to
test the power of the will.   They are perfectly  successful.
Another experiment,   more  complicated,  of which he  never
 thought before, is suggested to him on a piece of paper ; he
hesitates, doubts, feels  anxious for the result; he  tries, how-
 ever, and of course, fails ; and it could not have been other-
wise, for this experiment did not spring spontaneously from
his mind, and he did  not try it  with sufficient confidence in 
39
himself, therefore the action of his brain could  not be clear
and regular enough.   Two or three similar suggested experi-
ments are tried again, with no more success, for the magne-
tiser having failed  once, is  afraid of failing again, and such
fear will prevent him from succeeding.   Do not we often see
a stout, robust man, knocked down by a man of  feebler mus-
cles  ?  Why ? because  he is a  coward.   On witnessing such
failures, what  will the persons invited think and say ?   Some
will think  that there was  a concerted plan, others will say
that  Mr C. is  a visionary man.
   Again,  another experiment is performed on the day follow-
ing,  in presence of several individuals, among whom is found
a thorough and ungenerous skeptic, who has conceived some
idea that  the  somnambulist is  practising deception, and has
resolved to detect the trick.   This skeptic will manage an ex-
periment  like  this : he  writes on  a piece of paper,  " Will this
pencil case to be a  melon," and passes it to the magnetiser; at
the same  time standing  near the somnambulist, he will say
aloud or simply whisper, but so as to be heard, " Mind  what I
wrote on  the paper, will this  pencil case to become red hot
iron?"  and even before the somnambulist has felt  any action
 at all from the magnetiser's will, (for it generally takes long-
 er to feel the will, than to  hear,) she  exclaims, " Oh ! oh !
you burn me, &c." Indeed it unfortunately  happens that this
subject is one of those whose  sense of hearing,  although deaf
to any other kind of noise,  is  open  to the  human voice,  no
matter whose voice it is.   She therefore caught the skeptic's
 words, and taking them in earnest, acted in consequence.  Mr
C. is stupefied, he begins himself to  think that  the patient is
not  asleep, and is feigning,  &c.  Indeed, as he had observed
 that she never noticed the questions of any body besides him-
 self, he candidly supposed that she could not hear, for he does
 not  yet know by experience or reading, that there are  certain
 somnambulists who, although they hear what people say,  yet
 imagine honestly and strongly, that they  ought not to  answer
 any°body but the magnetiser, because  they  have heard while
awake and  before  they  were magnetised, that somnambulists 
40
generally speak with their magnetiser only, and with no other
person, unless they  are willed  to.  Now, if Mr C. had ex-
perience enough, and had read the best  authors, he  would
know that certain impressions, those particularly referring to
magnetism, that are made on a somnambulist's mind, and while
in the wakeful state, act most powerfully on their imagination,
when in the magnetic sleep.   But  let  Mr  C.  recollect all the
successful experiments he has privately tried on his subject,
without a word spoken or a signal made, when there could be
no possibility for deception, and he will be convinced that his
somnambulist is in earnest, and that it is not probable that she
would attempt to feign such  a state ; Mr C.  then  will infer
that a person in the magnetic sleep is  not  always deaf; that it
is, inconsequence, necessary to be very careful not to speak
aloud about what is  going  on ; that  every experiment with
such somnambulist  should be performed without a word of
any  sort uttered in their presence.   Mr C. will learn also
that it is very important  to ascertain by proper experiments,
whether a somnambulist hears others or not,  in order that he
should not positively assert before strangers that she does not
hear at all, &c.
  Again, having been told that after a person had  been suc-
cessfully magnetised a number  of times, the manipulations
usually employed in the  beginning to produce the magnetic
sleep, became  useless ;  that a steady look, with a firm will,
were sufficient to cause the  same  state  to  take place,  Mr C.
tries that new method and with the greatest success ;—he re-
peats the experiment again and again, and always  successful-
ly,  even in the presence of  other people ; indeed, his subject
has been so often magnetised  by  him, and is  so completely
under his control, that she cannot help going into somnambu-
lism when  he wills her to.  Now, among the persons present,
there is a shrewd skeptic who doubts the sincerity of the som-
nambulist.   He takes Mr C. into the entry and requests him,
in a whisper, to sit  and look steadily at the patient's face with-
out willing any thing at all.  Agreeably  to the suggestion, Mr 
                           41

C. takes his position and looks  at the subject;  soon she ap-
pears drowsy, and within three minutes she is, to all appear-
ance, fast asleep.  They try her in the usual ways and she re-
sists all the  trials with an inconceivable courage and without
flinching once.   Indeed,  she is really in the  somnambulic
state.   Mr C. is surprised; he cannot account for it ;  what!
is she feigning again ?   Mr C. knows indeed, that he has not
willed her to sleep ; but he is not yet aware of the wonderful
power of imagination on those persons who have been repeat-
edly subjected to the action of animal magnetism.  If he had
experience enough, or if he had read the  best authors on this
subject, he would know that this  singular, unaccountable and
powerful agent which is commonly called  imagination, is ca-
pable of producing the  same  effects as  the real magnetic in-
fluence exercised by  another  person.   He would know, in-
deed, that what we call imagination, is the magnetic force or
power of  the spirit of each individual, acting independently
from the xcill; he would know  that the  magnetic  operation
has a great tendency to increase the natural activity and ener-
gy of the imagination in those upon whom it is  practised, to
such an extent that  the least impression, on  those  persons'
minds is sufficient to cause the state of somnambulism to take
place.   When Mr  C. is informed of  all this, he will beware
of acting on  his subject's imagination, in order to  obtain results
of a positive character,  and not to expose himself to be treat-
ed as a fool, and  his innocent  somnambulist to be considered
as  an  impostor   by ignorant and skeptical  witnesses.   If
any one inquires whether all the phenomena attributed to ani-
mal magnetism are not  the products  of  imagination, as the
above mentioned fact authorizes  us  to suppose, I would an-
swer that I  have directed  my attention particularly towards
resolving this difficulty,  and that I have acquired  the strongest
possible evidence that there is a power  besides imagination,
deriving from the exercise  of the will of one individual over
another, and which is capable of producing both the magnetic
sleep and all the phenomena of somnambulism.   This is my
                 6 
42
experience, and  it is corroborated by that of thousands of
other magnetisers, (see the Report of the Royal Academy of
Medicine of Paris,  1831 ;  also  the Experiments performed
by Dr Dupotet, at the Hotel Dieu, in 1820, &c.)   Of  the
existence of this  power, Mr C. can  satisfy himself at any
time, by magnetising his  subject through a partition wall, and
when she is not at all aware of what is going on.  Most of the
magnetisers of this country have already made such  experi-
ments with the most perfect success, and they have been con-
vinced by them, of the reality of animal magnetism.   But it
appears that they have not yet observed that imagination can
produce the same effects ;  let them satisfy  themselves  about
this power, and they will surely come to the same conclusion
as I have, that what we call imagination, is the genuine  mag-
netic  force, or  the power of  each human individual, acting
independently from  the  will.  The state  of somnambulism
elicited under the influence of mere imagination is not gener-
ally so regular and profound as that which is produced by the
will of the magnetiser,  but it is real notwithstanding ; any one
can convince himself of  it by trying the usual  experiments,
such as  willing various  things without either a sign or a  word
spoken, &c.   The somnambulist will  show that  she is evi-
dently affected  by such mental  action.  But I repeat,  mag-
netisers should beware not to act  on their subject's imagina-
tion before strangers  who are ignorant of the matter, because
the sleep produced in that way is  liable to be imperfect, and
it may happen that all the subsequent experiments will be very
unsatisfactory.
  I now leave Mr C, and will finish these explanations by
extracting a few more instances of failure from  the practice
of Mr A., another beginner,  an equally ignorant and shallow
observer. Mr A. has made a great  number of experiments on
his somnambulist, in whose honesty he has the greatest con-
fidence, as she is  the most intimate friend of his bosom,  his
own wife.   He has so  far obtained wonderful results, and has
been fortunate enough to  satisfy a good number of his friends. 
43
As magnetism is a subject of general curiosty  and interest,
and as his own business is for the present rather poor, Mr A.
takes a notion to  make a fortune by exhibiting the magnetic
phenomena, for money.   He knows very well that he is  ut-
terly ignorant of  the science, that  he can neither account for
the extraordinary  effects  produced, nor explain one  of the
failures that may  take place,  &c.  But the thirst for gold per-
verts his judgment and silences the  cry of his  conscience.
Having succeeded well at home, he flatters himself  that he
will succeed equally well in a strange city, and before a large
promiscuous assembly.  He does not see why he should not,
for he  has not yet reflected on the nature  of animal  magne-
tism, and is not, moreover, capable of understanding the pro-
perties and structure of the agents used in the operation.  He
starts then, for the city of New York, anticipating the most
brilliant results.   Among  his visitors  in New York, is a sel-
fish, double-tongued, vain fellow, who, at first, conceives the
idea of associating with Mr A.  to make fortune in common,
but on perceiving the ignorance and simplicity of Mr A. this
shrewd fellow despairs to make  any  thing  of pecuniary con-
sequence with him ; feeling  also that  in  the present state of
universal and warm  excitement existing  on the  matter, it
might prove  more profitable to oppose,  and if  possible,  ex.
plode the science than to advocate it, he boldly takes it into his
conceited brain that the whole is an imposition, and forms a
mighty plan  to expose it  before the  world.  But  he avoids
telling  any  thing of his intentions  to Mr A.   On the con-
trary, he carefully keeps him in the belief that he is still his
riend, and is seriously thinking  of helping him along.   This
 nalicious fellow  pretends that  he  has invented a profound
ind scientific theory  that will account for all the phenomena
jf magnetism, and will infallibly secure to Mr A. a  prompt
md  immense success.  Among the  experiments  which he
suggests, there  is one, which  if  it succeeds, will establish
beyond all  dispute and cavil the  correctness  of his theory,
and thereby prove the reality of animal magnetism, and make 
44
Mr A.'s fortune as certain as though he had already got it  in
his purse. " This experiment," says he, " cannot but succeed,
it must succeed,  for it is founded on the well known analogous
laws of nature.   It consists in cutting off the  magnetic cur-
rent producing somnambulism, by interposing a sheet of tissue
paper between the magnetiser and the  person magnetised.
This tissue paper is pretended to be a newly discovered  and
very rare substance, which has  the  extraordinary property  of
neutralizing the effects of common mineral magnetism, and as,
in the views of the ingenious fellow, mineral and animal mag-
netism are  alike, the cerin (so called  tissue paper)  must  of
course neutralize also the effect of  animal magnetism.*
  Mr A. and his wife, poor simple  people, who suspect noth-
ing of the infernal  and absurd trick played  upon them, swal-
low the whole at once ;  their  imagination  is full of it ; they
become infatuated with the new theory, and they propose to try
the experiment immediately ; Mrs A. sits in her rocking chair,
persuaded that no effect is going to follow, and wishing strong-
ly that none should be produced.   The cerin or tissue paper
is placed before her face ; Mr A.,  sitting at some distance,
looks at  his  wife for a few moments and  tries  to  will her  to
go to sleep.   But how can he will  such a thing, when he  so
eagerly wishes that the contrary should take place ;—when he
is so profoundly impressed  with  the  idea that  his  will can
have no  effect in the present case ; when finally,  he fears  to
exercise his will, as he knows  that his sweet dreams of for-
tune would vanish away as a bubble of soap, should any effect
be produced.  Under such mental circumstances the experi-
ment proposed by the profound and acute minded fellow could
not  but succeed : indeed Mrs A.  could not be put to sleep.
Now reader, is it'not evident to you that the inventor of the ad-
mirable theory above alluded to, has shown in  the said expe-
riment his asinine ignorance, as well as a ridiculous vanity and
a base malice, instead  of  acting like a man of common sense
* This experiment is taken from Mr Durant's book. 
45
and feeling.   Indeed, could this fellow will himself to sleep,
when at the  same time  he strongly desires that  sleep would
not touch his  lids, for fear that  a  robber would  introduce
himself into his room and steal away  his money?  Could he
will himself to walk, when at the same time he wishes to stay
still, and is fearful that if he  gets up  he shall break his leg at
the first step ?  Why then, did  he so improperly act on Mrs
A.'s imagination  ?  why did he place Mrs A.'s brain between
two  opposite forces ? This theorician, who claims for so much
science,  shows yet  that  he is not even aware of  the  simplest
law of nature, viz. when two equal forces are acting in a direct-
ly opposite sense to  each other, no motion is produced.  This
law is applicable to moral  as well as physical forces.
   Again, the same  fellow  impresses on the mind of poor Mr
A. and Mrs A., that owing to his  theory, which is calculated
(we must remember)  to yield a large fortune to them, there is
and  can be no such thing as clairvoyance or power of seeing,
the eyes being closed.   Of course, Mrs A.'s imagination be-
ing perplexed on this point, she cannot see when she is asleep !
She fails or gives wrong  answers  to almost every question
which is asked her.  And the reason is plain  enough.   It is
because she imagines she cannot  see !  Every sensible  man
will  easily conceive this.  There are other reasons why Mrs
A. and other somnambulists  have failed in the  experiments
made by the judicious theorician of  whom we are speaking,
to test the power  of clairvoyance.  In the first place, this fac-
ulty  is known to be the  most changeable  and uncertain of  all
the faculties of somnambulism.   The least mental or physical
derangement will  disturb it.   It is, therefore, very rare that
it will  fairly manifest  itself  when  there  are strangers in the
room, which is a circumstance always disagreeable to a female
somnambulist, particularly when she  is away from home, in a
large city like New York.   In the next place, this mode of
vision  is very painful ; the exercise of it  is extremely fati-
guing, and soon overcomes  the  somnambulist's brain.  It is 
46
 the observation of all magnetisers  of Europe and America,
 that a  lucid  somnambulist cannot exercise his  clairvoyance
 on  more  than  three  or four objects at each  experiment.
 Therefore magnetisers should  be careful not to ask of their
 subjects more than they can do.   Somnambulists are gener-
 ally vain.   They prefer, when urged with questions, to guess
 rather than to say they cannot see !  These are the facts ; they
 may appear ridiculous and improbable  to those who have no
 experience in animal  magnetism,  but  they are true, and we
 must take  them such as they are.
   There is another  and most powerful  cause of disturbance
 for somnambulists, which we  must mention here, although it
 is deemed supremely absurd and ridiculous  by the opposers
 of magnetism.  It is  the wrong mental  action exercised by
 certain skeptics,  present at the  experiments.   I divide the
 skeptics into  two classes.   Some disbelieve  the  magnetic
 phenomena,  merely because they are new to them,  because
 they are wonderful,  apparently miraculous, &c, but they are
 honest, candid, open to conviction  ; and they readily surren-
 der themselves to evidence, when it is  presented to them.
 The other  class is composed of persons  naturally stubborn,
 conceited and envious, who decide a priori that magnetism
 is a deception, reject with the  utmost contempt the testimo-
 nies of the  most respectable witnesses, and affirm that the ex-
 periments,  the most satisfactory to other intelligent people,
 were the result of a  concerted plan.  These prejudiced and
 unjust men attend experiments for the sole purpose of detecting
 the trick, and are unwilling to give to the  science the only sure
 and fair trial, by which they could arrive at the truth, viz : to
magnetise for themselves.   It  is particularly recommended
 by all the most learned  and  judicious  writers,  as Georget,
 Rostan, Deleuze, De Puysegur,  &c. to  avoid  having  such
 characters  present at   the magnetic  experiments.   These
eminent intellects say that they  have invariably observed that
their somnambulists  always  had  to complain very much of
those skeptics, and that their faculties  were  completely de- 
47
ranged by their presence.  This I know will appear ridicu-
lous to the vulgar ;  but to those who reflect,  it is rational and
perfectly philosophical, in admitting  that every human being
carries with himself a nervous, magnetic  or vital atmosphere,
the movements and fluctuations of which are in direct concor-
dance with the action exercised by the brain and  the  nervous
system.*  This atmosphere, indeed, is formedjby certain eman-
ations emitted by the  nervo-cerebral organs.   Now,  we  are
aware that the modifications of  these organs derive from the
peculiar nature and tendencies  of the  mind  and passions of
each individual.   Thence a plain inference follows,  that the
vital or magnetic atmosphere of such a living aggregate of mal-
ice, self-conceit and impudence, as the above-mentioned cele-
brated discoverer of the new theory, (so far as I can judge from
his deeds,) cannot be favorable to the  magnetic  experiments.
Let us reflect, indeed, that owing to the great change deter-
mined in  the perceptive  and sensorial  faculties of the human
organization, during the state of somnambulism,  the  nervous
system of the person who finds himself  in  that state, is ren-
dered capable of feeling and appreciating,  even  at a distance,
and through very peculiar  ways, the mental  action of those
who approach him.   It is  true that somnambulists feel their
magnetiser more than any other ; but however close their com-
munication with him may be,  they are still more or less sen-
sible  to the influence of  those who stand about them.   Expe-
rience has also proved that they feel  more persons of strong
power of determination and of great nervous  activity, than
those of feeble will.   It appears to  me that the property that
 the nervous system has, during somnambulism, of  being so
much influenced by the  vital emanations emitted around them,
is analogous to  the property of electrometers  to  mark the
quantity and nature of electricity contained in the atmosphere,
or emitted by certain  electrified bodies;  it is likewise analo-
gous  in some respects  to the  capacity of a barometer  for
marking  the variations of the  weather.   That such a faculty
belongs  to the nervous system of man, when  placed under
* See my preceding Letter to Col. Stone, pp. 9, 10, 
48
peculiar circumstances, is not at all unlikely and  surprising,
when we know that brute bodies, as the above-mentioned
instruments, possess a similar one.
   I have endeavored, in the foregoing pages, to demonstrate
that the  difference of opinion which exists in regard to the real-
ity of the magnetic phenomena originates from this main cause,
viz :  some basing their judgment on  positive facts, obtained
through experiments performed  either by themselves or their
friends, are thus led to advocate magnetism ; whereas its op-
posers judge only from a few failures, which they consider at
once  as evident proofs  of  deception  or of the falsity of the
doctrine, without inquiring into  the reason of those failures,
or taking the trouble of magnetising  for themselves.  I have
further  endeavored to show,  1st. that the magnetic experi-
ments are liable to  fail  when  they are made under circum-
stances contrary to the free and proper operation of the agents
used ; 2d.  that most  magnetisers,  being as yet  ignorant of
the true nature of these various  circumstances,  and of the
peculiar  structure  and properties of these agents, are thus
often led to experiment at random  and  contrarily to all the
laics existing,  but  so far, hidden to  them.   I have also ob-
served that it would be  extremely unphilosophical to expect
as constant and uniform results  from  experiments  on animal
magnetism, as from experiments  made on brute  bodies and
with  inorganized  apparatus.   Indeed, the  agent used  in the
animal  magnetic  experiments   is  no other than   the  spirit
or vital principle of man, and the apparatus employed  is the
human nervous system and brain.   Therefore, the favorable
or unfavorable circumstances attending  on experiments of this
kind must be of a. peculiar description, viz : appropriate to the
well known properties and dispositions  of  the human system.
We know, for instance, that if mankind are every where alike
in the essential and general features of their organization, they
vastly differ in the details, both moral and physical.  What a
variety in their bodily forms, color, and external appearance !
What a difference in their intellectual  capacities and passions ! 
49
In fact, variety and  multiplicity of manifestations, seem to
be the attributes of human nature, more, at  least, than of any
other species of organized beings.   This is a primary fact ;
we cannot account for it ;  but  it is, and we must take it for
granted.
   It would be, therefore, irrational to expect that every som-
nambulist should present the same phenomena to our obser-
vation.   Indeed, their faculties  and dispositions vary a great
deal,  and  it is,  I repeat, natural that it should be so.   Some
of them can see while asleep, and their eyes  being shut ; —
others cannot, even with the best of their efforts and wishes.
Some hear every person in the room, and can answer their
questions; others hear, but cannot answer;  others,'finally,
hear nothing and nobody except their magnetiser, &c.  Now,
we easily understand how important it is  that  magnetisers
should know all these particulars, in order to save both disap-
pointment to their visiters, and injurious reports against the
innocent subjects of their experiments.
   It  will be said, perhaps, that if the dispositions of som-
nambulists are so various, it becomes very  difficult to ascer-
tain what  is real or not.   Very true ; but a plain consequence
follows, it is that both the  witnesses and operators  should be
perfectly  informed of the  nature of what  they are doing  or
seeing, and of all those causes of mistake.   Then they would
conduct themselves in a proper way, to have positive results ;
they would not, like  Mr  Durant, take so much trouble  to
find out an imaginary deception, by suggesting certain tests,
which, however ingenious, are not at all calculated to prove any
thing  against the subject of inquiry.  I  affirm  that such posi-
tive results can be  easily obtained by following the proper
course.   (I would beg leave to refer  the  reader to the nu-
merous facts  contained in  my work lately published, entitled
" Animal  Magnetism  in New England," &c.)
   If I am permitted to express  my opinion, I would now ven-
ture to say, that to those who have  attentively read the pre-
ceding considerations, there cannot be  two ways of judging
                      7 
50
Mr Durant's  Exposition of Animal  Magnetism.   It is evi-
dent enough that this scientific theorician has exposed nothing
but his utter ignorance of the matter upon which he treats.
Every one of the pretended experiments which he has made
on Mrs Andros and others, for the purpose of showing the
imposition, can be referred to the cases of failure I have  men-
tioned and explained through the same  way as I have those
failures.  These experiments, even supposing them to be true,
show only an appearance of deception to superficial observers.
But they do not weigh a straw against the  numerous positive
facts, by which so  many distinguished individuals have  been
convinced.   Those individuals,  it is  true, did not resort to
the many vulgar and  mean tricks used by Mr Durant ; not
because they had not wit enough to imagine them, but merely
because they saw at once that  they could  yield but  negative
results, and  were  altogether insufficient  to  bring forth evi-
dence enough to  satisfy them.   If Mr Durant  believes
that the plan applied by him to  detect the deception was some-
thing new, he is greatly mistaken.   I assure  him, that how-
ever shrewd he is  (and I readily confess  that he is remarka-
bly so,) there  is  many a Yankee  fully  equal to him in this
point.  All the tricks played by him have been a  hundred
times applied to my somnambulist, but always  unsuccessfully,
because she cannot, like Mrs Andros and others, hear what
is said in the room.  I  have myself often  resorted to the
very same means, not merely to expose an imposition, but to
ascertain  the  peculiar dispositions and  faculties  of  my new
subjects.   Mr S. H. Jenks of Nantucket, will remember how
severe were the tests, and  how shrewdly concerted was the
plan adopted  by us to detect a person I  had magnetised at
his house,  and whom we suspected of deception.  Yet the
result of  these experiments, although still  stronger than that
obtained by Mr Durant against  Mrs Andros, was not  suffi-
cient  to  convince us that the girl was not  asleep ;  for she
presented other phenomena, which could  not possibly have
been  feigned  by a  human creature in the natural state. 
51
  Now, reader, allow me to tell you frankly what I think of
Mr D. 's work.  It is throughout the most inconceivable exhibi-
tion of self-conceit, impudence and vulgarity that could perhaps
be presented to the world in the shape of a book.  Read it, if
you please, and if you do not  come  to the same conclusion,
you must be  .... at least,  uncommonly forbearing.  I do
not propose  to enter  into any particular examination of its
contents ; I will only say that the manner in which the author
treats Dr F.  Wayland, president of Brown University, Miss
Brackett, the Rev. Daniel Greene, and others, is extremely
contemptible, and deserves punishment.   You will now ask
what was Mr Durant's object  ?   See the clap-trap engraved
on the cover of the book,  and you  will  easily guess at it ;
the honest author thought it his duty to magnetise the public's
eyes in order to catch their pennies.  His object was to make
money at any rate ;  and  I  am  sorry to say that he will ac-
complish it, for his favorite composition addresses too directly
the mischievous and vulgar tendencies  of  men, not to excite
the curiosity of  all, and  be  greedily swallowed by many of
his kindred  minds.
   But I must warn those who  desire and are candidly seeking
the truth, that they ought not  kindly to rely on what Mr  Du-
rant says ;  for  myself, I  cannot credit any part of  his narra-
tive ; he has, to my knowledge,  committed  too  gross mis-
representations of  the truth  to  be believed  in  any thing.
Ab uno, noscite omnia, might be properly said of  the whole
book ; the two following specimens of the author's antipathy
to truth, will clearly exemplify what  I mean.  Speaking of
the Report made in June, 1831, by a Committee of  the Royal
Academy of Medicine of Paris, he says :
   " The commission spent five  years with the most scrutinizing
experiments,  and finally, in  1831, reported  unfavorable to  the
science, but acknowledged in the report, having seen many ex-
traordinarv  and unaccountable facts, which was  sufficient to
show their prejudice  and total incapability of judging in a science
in which the  fundamental principles were  above their compre-
hension. 
                            52

  " The respectability of the society which appointed the corn-
mission had some influence  in  retarding the rapid advances
which the science was making."

  It is evident to my mind,  that in the  preceding remarks
the  honest author has most  daringly attempted  to impose
upon the public.   For the report to which he alludes, is al-
together favorable to the claims, even the most extraordinary,
of magnetism, and is justly considered as  having  formed a
new era in the history of the  science.  Those who have read
it, know this to be the fact.   Among other conclusions drawn
from all the experiments related in the report, and which are
presented  at  the  end of the volume, I will extract the fol-
lowing :

  " A certain number of the observed phenomena appeared to us
as having been produced by magnetism alone, and could not be
produced without it.  These are physiological and therapeutical
phenomena well established."
  " Considered as an agent of physiological phenomena, or as a
therapeutical means, magnetism should  be  ranked within the
frame of medical knowledge, and consequently physicians alone
ought to have  the privilege of using it, as it is already practised
in the northern countries of Europe."
  "  The  committee have  collected facts  important  enough to
allow it to believe that the Academy should encourage and favor
researches on magnetism, as being a very curious branch of psy-
chology and natural history."

  Now,  can we suppose that Mr Durant had not read the
said report ? To me, this supposition is inadmissible.  But
if he had  not, how could he so boldly and pertinently speak
about it ?
  Here is another specimen of his love of  truth and fairness.
The following letter was  written by Dr L. L. Miller, one of
the  most  eminent physicians of Providence, whom he  men-
tions in his book as having been present at  some experiments
tried by Mr Potter, on a respectable infirm young lady :

               For  the Journal of Commerce.
  Messrs Hale and Hallock, — Sirs, I have noticed in  your daily
of the  20th inst.  an  extract from Mr Durant's book on  Animal
Magnetism, respecting the case of  Miss  Ebon, (should be Miss 
53
Aborn.)  My name being mentioned in connexion with the case,
I cannot assent to  the  whole matter contained in the  extract,
therefore, I wish you to  do me the kindness to insert the follow-
ing in your paper.  Miss Aborn has been a patient of mine for
two years or more.  Her disease is lateral distortion of the spine,
under which her sufferings have been very severe, causing sleep-
less nights, loss of appetite, strength, &c.   A long and strict per-
severance in medical treatment failing to relieve her, as a dernier
resort, I suggested the trial of animal magnetism, with the single
view of procuring rest.   Her answer was—" I will assent to any
thing you think proper."  I called upon Mr Potter to make trial
of animal  magnetism.   His first attempt was  successful in  about
thirty minutes.   On visiting her next morning at  8 o'clock, I
found her sitting in the  room,  and  she  exclaimed with an ex-
pression of the most perfect sincerity — "I  have  not  had  so
comfortable sleep  for two years, and feel as much refreshed as I
ever did from  my natural sleep."   I advised  her to  try the ex-
periment again.   She  was magnetised every night for  some
weeks, and with but two or three slight exceptions, rested per-
fectly well and continues to, up to this time, without  the aid of
any medicine whatever.
   Her general health soon began  to improve, and she now en-
joys all the comforts of quiet sleep, good appetite, &c.
   I cannot imagine how Mr Durant arrived  at  the conclusion
that Miss Aborn  is  a " self-deceived somnambulist," and  much
more am I surprised that he should give so vulgar a  description
of  the  progress of  magnetising, together  with his vile in-
sinuations.  It is true, the magnetiser is seated in front of his
patient, and that in  the  process of manipulating, the  hands are
passed over the limbs.   But I assure you, there are  no  circum-
stances attending it, that  would excite such  thoughts in an hon-
est heart.
   The imbecile  language she  is made to use in his extract, I
have never heard from her, and am assured  by Mr  Potter, she
never used it in his presence.  I have no recollection of any other
experiments than the  one willing the pencil  a watermelon, and
willing her  to  awake  in  a  given time,  which  I am  very
happy to say are true.   However,  this  does  not interest  me so
much as the manner in which the  young  lady is  treated in
the extract by Mr  Durant.   Miss Aborn is well known to a
large circle of friends  of the first respectability.  Her charac-
ter here, does not need  a moment's comment.  She is a young
lady of good  powers of mind, and a heart  as honest and pure
as the one is vile which attempts  to traduce  it.
                                    LEWIS L. MILLER.
Providence, Oct.  27, 1837. 
54
   The description given by Mr D. of the experiments per-
formed on Miss Aborn, is  such as to make even  a soldier
blush.  Any person of common  sense  and delicacy cannot
help being indignant at the gross outrage against decency, truth
and christian charity contained in these libellous pages.
   The reader will,  perhaps, find me rather severe in my re-
marks.   This may be ; but I beg  his pardon, I cannot be
otherwise.  I am a man, I feel  like a man, and express my
feelings as they are.   If I  thought that Mr Durant  were ca-
pable of  appreciating mildness, I would  have been  mild to-
wards him.   If I thought that he would  have considered si-
lence  as a proof of perfect contempt  rather than of fear, I
would not even have said a word about him.   But I am fully
convinced that.such  a vain  and prejudiced character  always
sees things through a distorted medium, and cannot but mis-
take the true sentiments of others  either  for  homage  or an
expression of  dread of his  superior skill.  I would add, more-
over, that my  feelings towards Mr D. are not those of anger
and revenge ; he has surely spoken of me  in very harsh terms,
but I  pay no attention to it ; I feel particularly indignant for
the impertinent and unjust  manner in which he has ungrate-
fully presented before the public,  so  many respectable per-
sons from whom he  had received  only  polite attentions  at
Providence.   The interest that I feel in those estimable per-
sons,  as well as the love of truth have prompted me to write
these  pages  ; God knows that I have been moved by no other
motive whatever.
   In justice to Mrs Andros, the somnambulist,  who has been
so unfeelingly imposed upon by Mr Durant, I will say a word
more  ; I have seen her twice in  the magnetic sleep,  and she
gave me as well as to others who were present, indisputable
proofs that she was in magnetic  somnambulism.  She had been
magnetised nearly three  months, by Mr Ame.  C. Potter, an
intelligent and  amiable gentleman of Providence, before she
ever was magnetised  by her own husband.  She  never had 
55
any idea of going to New York, to appear before the public
as a somnambulist until very lately, when she was strongly ad-
vised  to do it by several influential gentlemen from that city.
Mr Andros, induced by the hope of making his fortune, de-
termined to follow the plan  suggested to him, and  in  conse-
quence went  to New York with his  wife.  But I  must say,
that a few days before her departure, this lady told  me that
she was very reluctant to leave her home for such a purpose,
and that she was doing it to  comply with her husband's wish-
es.  I must also declare  that I strongly disapproved of Mr
A.'s resolution, although I had myself no idea and never had
an inclination to go  and lecture in New York.   I  objected
to Mr A.'s plan, on the ground that he was incapable of pro-
perly  managing a somnambulist, was  totally  ignorant of the
science,  could  not give  a  single  explanation  about the
effects produced, and was not  at all qualified to face  on
any occasion with a scientific  man.   I observed to  him that
I knew from experience  that in thus  displacing  his   som-
nambulist,  he  would expose  her to frequent  failures,  and
very  probably  throw himself  and  his   innocent  wife into
very serious troubles ;  I finally assured  him,  that, should he
persist in his plan, I would publicly protest against his doings in
New  York ;  it being my duty  to do so, as  I felt  responsi-
ble for the success  of animal  magnetism in this country and
bound to  secure  all possible means to favor its  free and
regular development.   Mr A. did not take any notice of my
admonitions ; he went  to New York, and exhibited his som-
nambulist, although every circumstance was unfavorable  to his
experiments.   I did not protest  in the  newspapers, both out
of kindness towards Mr A.,  and for fear that he and others
would have charged  me  with  jealousy ; I  thought  it  better
to keep silent.  Mr A.  acted then on his own responsibility.
Whether his wife ever  contrived to practise  deception or
not, I leave it to  others to judge.  But if  she  had, would it
be just and philosophical to draw the inference that  all som- 
56
nambulists do  the  same ?  Can people, besides, decide  any
thing concerning  animal  magnetism,  from  the  conduct  and
language of Mr Andros, ignorant as he is of the  matter  ?*
                                                           C.  P.

  * I refer the reader to the appendix of the last  edition of Col. W. L. Stone's
letter to Dr Brigham, where several wonderful and well authenticated proofs of
lucidity were afforded to him by this very Mrs A.  whom  Mr D. represents as an
infamous deceiver.
  N. B.  The reader will probably have noticed several grammatical inaccura-
cies and idiomatical phrases in the two preceding Essays.  In preparing them
for the press, I was obliged to rely solely upon my own imperfect acquaintance
with the language.  Those of my friends to whom I wished to submit the MS,
before publication, were so much engaged at the time that 1 hardly thought it
proper to withdraw their attention from their own affairs.  I must therefore ask
the indulgence of the reader for this first edition.   The next one (should there
be demand for another) wilLundergo a careful revision. 
                     REMARKS

            ON  THE  MANNER  IN  WHICH

                             THE

CLAIMS  OF  ANIMAL  MAGNETISM

              SHOULD BE MET ANP DISCUSSED.
  [A long and very valuable dissertation under the above title, appeared some
months ago in the Bristol County Democrat, published at Taunton, Mass.  We
at first intended to extract the whole of it, but are obliged, in order not to exceed
too much the proposed limits of this pamphlet, to leave out several parts of it.
These omissions, however, do not substantially alter the sense and connection of
the arguments.]

   Animal Magnetism, seems, at  this  time, and  in this vicinity,
to excite some public attention and  interest.  The number and
character of the believers in the reality of this mysterious power,
are such as to entitle the  subject  to  a candid consideration and
impartial examination.   The question whether its claims, as pre-
sented by its advocates,  are founded in truth, is  one of consider-
able importance, and the evidence which  its advocates offer in
the affirmative should be  subjected to a rigid, but unprejudiced
investigation.  It is not my intention, at  present, if ever, to dis-
cuss that evidence, or to attempt  to establish or  controvert those
claims;  but simply to make some remarks and suggestions as to
the manner in which those claims should be  met and discussed.
This seems to me to be  a  necessary preliminary to the actual
discussion; because, so far as I have noticed any published re-
marks on the subject, in this  vicinity,  the writers appear  to me
to have approached it in a manner and spirit little  calculated to
lead to correct results.                          j  •   ,  ■
   It may be proper, in the first place, to state as distinctly as may
be, what is to be understood  by  the  term " animal magnetism."
The definition of the term and the description of the phenomena
produced, as given by Mr Poyen, are as  follows : 
58
  " It is a  peculiar state  of the  nervous system, during which
some unusual physiological phenomena, not yet well appreciated,
present  themselves — a state which is ordinarily produced in one
individual by the will of another, performing certain manual evo-
lutions for the purpose of causing it to take place."
  " The phenomena produced under the influence of the will andi
gestures, vary according both to the  disposition of the person to
receive  the magnetical action, and  the power of the  magne-
tiser to  exercise that action.  Thus some individuals, especially
those who  are  strong and enjoy perfect health,  feel nothing,
some others feel some heaviness of the  eyelids, cephalgia, nau-
sea,  much calm or  great  agitation.   Finally, some are plunged
into  a peculiar  sleep, called magnetical sleep, and reach, after a
few sittings, that very singular state  known  under the name of
somnambulism.  The  magnetical sleep  is characterized by a
complete suspension of the external senses.   Somnambulism is
the faculty of speaking during the sleep ; of recognizing external
objects through unusual ways, and finally, of hearing  nobody but
the magnetiser or the other person brought  into  relation to the
magnetised."

   Here, then, we have a definition of the alleged power or agen-
cy in question, and a statement of the phenomena said to be pro-
duced by it.  The questions to be settled  are, whether any such
state of the nervous system can be produced in the manner stated,
and  if so, whether any such phenomena as  are  described, are
consequent on  such a  state ? Now it is obvious that these are
simply questions of fact, and to be  decided, like all other ques-
tions of fact,  by the evidence.   And in an inquiry of this kind,
what is the nature of the  evidence which we are to expect, and
which ought to be required 1
   My first principle, in answer to the interrogation is,  negatively,
that the facts are not to be  proved  or disproved by  a course of
mere abstract reasoning.   No fact in physical science ever was,
or ever  can  be, proved or  disproved conclusively by reasoning
a priori.  Facts are to be established, in the  first place,  by their
appropriate evidence — the evidence  of experiment, observation
and  testimony — and  from the facts thus established, we may,
by reasoning, draw inferences  and  deduce conclusions as to the
causes and consequences  of these facts.   Facts are  the data —
the basis — and the result of reasoning.  You  may, by reason-
ing  from previously established analogous facts, show,  more or
less satisfactorily, the probability or  improbability of  another al-
leged fact; but such  reasoning must always and  necessarily be
inconclusive, and subject  to  be controlled by evidence having a
direct bearing on the  question.  Who,  for example,  would ever
think of proving by abstract reasoning the fact of the falling of 
59
meteoric stones from the atmosphere, or from regions beyond it ?
or the fact that a certain metal  took  fire and burnt up on being
immersed in pure, cold water ?  Before any  such facts  were
known to have occurred,  one  might, by reasoning analogically
from the known  properties and qualities of stones and the atmos-
phere, in the one case, and of metals and cold water in the other,
have  shown, very clearly, the improbability, and might claim  to
have proved demonstratively the impossibility that either of these
phenomena  could  take place consistently with the established
laws of nature.  And yet the facts, in both cases, are proved, by
incontestible evidence, and are now admitted by all who have ex-
amined that evidence.   Reason is to be employed in deciding
upon the nature, the credibility, the weight and the effect of the
evidence adduced  in  support of any alleged fact.  But  when
reason is satisfied that the evidence is appropriate, its credibility
unquestionable and effect conclusive, reason has nothing further
to do but to yield its assent to the truths thus established, how-
ever strange and mysterious they may appear.

   The intrinsic  improbability of miracles  is, to say the least,
as great as that of animal magnetism, and if similar evidence, or
evidence equally cogent, can  be offered  in support of animal
magnetism, which its advocates do not  set  up as a miracle, but
merely as a recently discovered operation of the ordinary laws  of
nature,  consistency requires  assent  to  that  also.   I do not say
that such evidence has been or can be adduced.  I am not now
examining the question of the reality of animal magnetism, but
endeavoring to settle the principles upon which the  examination
should be conducted, and the nature of the evidence whichshould
be required.
    ^       #       #       #       #       *       *
   My second negative proposition is, that the truth of the al-
leged facts and phenomena  of animal magnetism is  not to be
proved or disproved by ' Revelation.'   In this enlightened age
and country, I should not have deemed it necessary to announce
this principle, if I had not heard it  asserted that  some persons
refuse to believe in animal magnetism  because they consider  it
contrary to scripture.
   *          #         *          *         *          *
   The  truths of  nature  may contradict  the  letter, but  never
the spirit, of the scriptures.   They may, in some instances, con-
tradict our previous private, interpretation of the scriptures, but
no scripture is  of  private interpretation.  There may be appar-
ent bui there cannot  be real  contradictions or inconsistencies.
The scriptures speak of the rising and  going down of the sun.
Astronomy teaches that the sun  actually neither rises nor goes 
60
down, but is stationary.  This astronomical truth was once sup-
posed to contradict the scripture truth, and was  accordingly de-
nounced as heresy;  but that notion has long since been explod-
ed.  More recently  the truths  of the  science  of geology were
supposed to be inconsistent with the truth of the Mosaic account
of the creation, and infidels rejoiced and some believers trem-
bled in  view  of the consequences  of this discovery; but farther
researches and discoveries  have shown that the revelations of
geology are not only reconcilable with,  but furnish corroborative
proofs of the truth of the scriptural  account, in  its fair interpre-
tation, of  the formation of the earth  and its inhabitants.  Very
recently, we  learn, his holiness the pope has issued his bull con-
demning the  supposed truths of phrenology as  heresies; but I
presume the  advocates of that science, in  this country at least,
will not be driven, by its terrors, to the  abandonment of their in-
vestigations and pursuits.  Neither do  I  believe that the inves-
tigations of the enquirers into the claims of animal magnetism
will be  abandoned on account of the tremulous apprehensions of
those who have so  little confidence  in  the foundations of their
own faith  in Christianity as  to be alarmed  lest they should  be
overturned by the puny discoveries which may be made in natu-
ral science.    There is nothing to be feared  from an indulgence
of the sober  spirit of inquiry into any  subject.   Christianity is
founded on '  the rock of ages' and all the discoveries which man
can make in  the laws, operations  and phenomena of nature will
only contribute to  the  proof of its  strength and immutability.
   AA,          oa.         •&£»           -itr          -U»          J£
   •Tf          "Tf*         *A"           TV"          'A*          TT
   My  third  negative proposition  is, that the questions  relating
to  the  reality of animal magnetism are not to be settled by
the mere authority of names,  and  opinions of  men however
learned, intelligent, and respectable.  Facts  are to be establish-
ed by evidence, and opinions are to be founded on facts.   If the
opinions of others are not based on  facts, they are baseless and
utterly  without weight, by whomsoever entertained.  If they are
based on facts, let  them communicate  the  facts to us, that we
may form our own opinions.   ' Have any  of the rulers and of
the pharisees believed ?' is  a question which, in  substance and
spirit, though in various forms, has been repeated times innumer-
able, during,  at least, the last eighteen centuries.   But after all,
mere opinion as to matters of fact is, in general, utterly worth-
less as  evidence of truth.
   =*          #          #          #          #         #
 The question as to the reality of animal magnetism is not one of
science and skill, but of the existence of certain  alleged facts and
phenomena;  and upon this question the mere opinions of others,
however exalted,—whether  popes or cardinals, clergy or laity,
physicians or patients, cashiers  or designers, merchants  or law- 
61
yers, mechanics or farmers,—can have no legitimate  authority,
and are of no use but to save the careless  and indolent the trou-
ble of examining the evidence and forming opinions for them-
selves, by furnishing them ready made to their hands.
  Here it may not be improper to suggest, more distinctly, the
difference between the expressions  of a mere opinion and the tes-
timony of a witness as to facts.  The distinction would seem to
be sufficiently obvious, but still, I apprehend, it is sometimes con-
founded.  When a credible witness declares that a certain  fact
about which he could not be mistaken, took place within his per-
sonal observation, that is  appropriate and competent  evidence,
and may be considered as  full proof of its actual  occurrence,
though it may  be  in itself  strange and  improbable; but if he
merely expresses an  opinion that a certain fact took place,  about
which he knows no more than I do ;  or  if he goes further  and
expresses an opinion  as to the unknown cause of that supposed
fact, this is evidence only of the state of his mind—of his opin-
ion—and is not evidence of the correctness of that opinion.  If
the fact which  he  believes took place appears to me to be more
probable than  the  contrary, and if the cause which  he assigns
appears to me to be  adequate, I may adopt  his  opinions on the
subject, but if not  I am bound to reject them.  In other words, I
ought not to adopt them without  knowing and examining the
facts, the grounds, the evidence on which they are founded.
   #       #       #         #        #        =&       #
   In  discussing the  question of the authority of  names  and
opinions in relation to the alleged  phenomena of animal magnet-
ism, it seems to be necessary to advert to the report of the  com-
missioners, of whom Dr Franklin  was  one, appointed by the
king of France in 1784 to investigate the subject  as it was  then
presented by Mesmer.  That report it is well known  was against
the claims and pretensions of Mesmer.   So  far as the question
submitted to them could be decided by their authority, it was de-
cided bv that  report.  The public, with some  few  exceptions,
seemed* to be satisfied, and have  ever  since, until recently, im-
plicitly acquiesced in that decision, as  a final settlement  of the
matter. I now propose to offer some remarks to show that the
report of those commissioners  is not conclusive  on the principal
question now in debate,  and that  it rather encourages than  pre-
 cludes, further examination.
   In  the  first place  M de Jussieu,  one  of the commissioners,
 whose skill and  judgment as a man of science  and an accurate
 observer of the phenomena of nature are well  established and
 extensively known,  after  carefully witnessing  the  experiments
 with the others,  and experimenting also by himself, published
 another report, in which he had the independence and boldness
 to express a contrary opinion, and to acknowledge the magnetic
 influence and effects. 
62
   In the second place, the experiments witnessed by the com-
missioners differed  materially, if not  essentially,—both in  the
mode of proceeding and in the phenomena produced,—from those
of the present day.   The difference is so broad and striking that
it may suggest a reasonable doubt whether both are produced on
the same principles or by  the  same  agency.  At any rate they
differ so widely that if the former experiments  and phenomena
utterly failed to prove the reality of  animal magnetism, it does
not follow that the latter must also necessarily fail.  In the form-
er experiments there were oak boxes, iron rods, vocal and instru-
mental music, and a great parade  and extensive apparatus of
complicated machinery.   Now there is no parade, no machinery.
The operations of the magnetiser are few and simple, and little
calculated to impose even on  the feeble minded and credulous,
or to produce " excited sensibility."  In the former experiments,
some of the effects were  convulsions, expectorations of viscous
and sometimes of bloody  matter;  involuntary and precipitated
motion of the limbs  and body, quick internal muscular move-
ments ;  cries, tears and immoderate  laughter.  Now  all is said
to be in  general comparatively  quiet; the  patient  generally re-
mains at rest, sometimes falling into  an easy slumber,  and occa-
sionally, but more rarely, into  somnambulism.  Thus the facts
and phenomena but very slightly, if at  all, resemble each other,
though   the name has  been retained.  The apparent  change of
aspect, if not of essential character, invites further investigation.
   In  the third  place  the pretensions  and theory of Mesmer,
which those commissioners  were appointed  to examine, had a
tendency to lead their attention from the precise question now in
debate and to direct it to another and  entirely distinct one.  Mes-
mer pretended  (and probably believed) that  he had discovered
" a fluid universally diffused, and filling all space,  being a me-
dium of  reciprocal influence between the celestial bodies and the
earth, and living beings ;—it insinuated itself into the  substancq
of the nerves, upon which therefore it had a direct operation ; it
was capable of being communicated from one  body  to  other
bodies, both animate and  inanimate, and that  at a considerable
distance, without the assistance of any intermediate substance;—
and it exhibited, in the human body, some properties analogous
to those  of the loadstone."  In short he said, " Nature offers, in
magnetism, the  universal means of curing and preserving the
lives of men."
  This   was Mesmer's theory ;  and the attention  of  the com-
missioners was  directed to the facts principally in their  relation
to this theory.  The question was whether this theory  was prov-
ed by the facts, and it is obvious, so far  as  I can judge by their
report, that they examined the  facts  and phenomena, almost  ex-
clusively, in relation to this question.  Now the'facts and phe- 
63
nomena certainly did not prove Mesmer's theory, and the com-
missioners therefore, very properly, reported against it.  Finding
that this theory was not established  by the  phenomena, the com-
missioners undertook to theorize  for  themselves, and  attempted
to account for the phenomena by imputing them to  the agency
of imagination,  imitation, and contagion or excited  sensibility.
Whether this theory is more satisfactory than Mesmer's, it is un-
necessary to our present purpose to decide.  The present advo-
cates of a power or agency to which—perhaps  improperly, or at
least unfortunately—they also give the name of animal magnet-
ism, do not adopt the theory or the pretensions of Mesmer.  If
therefore his theory and pretensions are utterly demolished,  the
question now in debate is not thereby affected in the slightest de-
gree.  The present advocates of what they called animal mag-
netism only insist on this single  proposition,  viz : that certain
specified facts and phenomena may be produced by means of cer-
tain specified mental and manual operations ; but they do not re-
quire that these facts and phenomena should  be accounted for in
any particular manner, or on any particular  theory.   Each one
may account for them as he  best can, or leave  their cause in its
original mystery and obscurity.   Their wish  is to establish and
multiply facts and  not to theorize.   The question whether  the
proposition above announced is true or false, is that to  which they
wish to direct attention ; and that question is not only not decid-
 ed, but not even touched,  by the report  of the commisioners of
 1784.
   I regret that I have not been  able to find  a copy at length, of
 that report.  I have relied on the accounts of it which are given
 by Dr Willich,  lately published in a newspaper in this town ; in
 the  Encyclopedia Americana, article  ' Magnetism ;' and in Ree's
 Cyclopedia, article  ' Imagination.'  These articles were evident-
 ly Written by unbelievers in animal magnetism, in any  sense of
 those terms ; and of course would not  make  any misstatement
 favorable to its reality.   From those  accounts it appears that the
 commissioners gave a statement, in their report, of the facts  and
 phenomena upon which their opinion was founded.   It seems to
 me  that those facts and phenomena are  of a character so extra-
 ordinary and remarkable as to  invite further  scrutiny.   I have
 already alluded to some of them, and shall  not repeat them.
 " Nothing" say the commissioners, " can be more surprising, or
 more inconceivable by those who have not witnessed  it, than the
 spectacle of these convulsions;  all seem to be  under the power
 of the magnetiser ; a sign from him, his voice, his  look, imme-
 diately rouses them from a state of even apparent  stupor.   In
 truth "  they add,  " it was impossible not to  recognise, in these
 constant effects, a great power or agency which held  the patients
 under its dominion, and of which the magnetiser appeared to be
 the sole depositary.'1 
64
   This is the literal  language of the commissioners, in a re-
port which is generally supposed to have annihilated forever the
pretensions of animal magnetism.   They witnessed certain ex-
periments.   They acknowledge that certain surprising, and be-
fore inconceivable phenomena  were produced ;  that these phe-
nomena were the " constant effects'' of the operations performed
to produce them; and that these  things prove  the actual exist-
ence and influence of  a " great power," which was wielded and
directed at the will of the magnetiser !  Now  it  seems to me that
these statements and acknowledgments of the commissioners go
very far toward establishing, if they do not completely establish,
so far as  the authority of the commissioners can establish, all that
is essential in the reality of animal magnetism, in the present use
and acceptation of those terms; and they leave in dispute only
Mesmer's theory, the  name, and  some  unessential phenomena
which  were then unknown. ; But I care not  for the name or for
Mesmer's theory, or any other theory, even that of the commis-
sioners.  The theories may be true  or  false  without in the least
affecting the reality of the facts and phenomena.   The name may
be inappropriate.   It may lead the mind astray as to the  proper
subject of inquiry in relation to the agency  in question, by con-
necting it with Mesmer's theory of an all pervading  magnetic
fluid.  I think it has had some  such  unfavorable influence.
Some name expressive  of  the phenomena   produced  or  of the
manner of producing them, without  apparently assuming any
theory as to their causation, would unquestionably be better.  The
agency may have no  such resemblance, affinity or analogy to
animal magnetism as  is  suggested  by its name.  Abandon the
old name, then, if you please, and give it one more appropriate.
Call it Animal Influence.  Ca.ll it  any one or  all of the  names
given to it by the commissioners—" imagination"—" imitation"
— " contagion," — if  you think them more expressive  and less
liable to mislead.   I admit  all the facts  stated by the  comrhis-
sioners.  I have  no  controversy with  them even  about their
opinions  as to  the cause and  origin  of the phenomena, or the
name selected by them to designate the power by which  they were
produced.  They may be right in their views of all these things,
and yet the question now in debate remains wholly unaffected by
their decision.  Adopt their opinions, theory  and nomenclature, if
you choose.  Then proceed in your experiments to ascertain, by
a careful induction of  particulars, the extent, limits  and uses of
the newly discovered functions of those  long known and admit-
ted powers and faculties of  man.  Even in  this view much re-
mains to be done, and the subject is worthy of  farther  investiga-
tion.   It may lead  to  important  discoveries  in  intellectual
philosophy, physiology and therapeutics.  It  certainly invites and
may reward your labors of research. 
65
   I hope I have now succeeded in my attempt to shew that the
 question as to the claims of animal magnetism, as they are pre-
 sented at the present day, is not so completely settled and put at
 rest, either by the facts  or  opinions  stated in the report of the
 t rench commissioners of 1784, as to preclude or even discourage
 further examination.
     *       *      *       #       *       #       #
   I proceed to state, as a fourth negative proposition,  that the
 question of the reality of animal magnetism is not to be settled
 by ridicule, sarcasm and wit.   These  are very proper  in their
 place.    They serve for an amusing  exercise and recreation,
 which may, on this  and most other occasions, be indulged with-
 out harm.  I can enjoy the keenness of ridicule when aimed at
 the follies, and foibles, and absurd opinions (as the belief in ani-
 mal magnetism is by  some supposed  to  be,) of men,  without
 wounding their feelings.  I can  smile  at  the  corruscations and
 brilliancy of wit, when it flashes and sparkles without scorching;
 and I can excuse even the shafts of sarcasm, when hurled against
 the arrogance of self-conceit, without lacerating the sensibility of
 the modest and unassuming.   But ridicule  is not the  test  of
 truth.   The fear of it may cause the faint-hearted to shrink from
 the avowal of those opinions against which  it is directed, and
 from an examination of the  evidence in their  support.  But its
 wavering, flickering light is  not the lamp of  evidence.  It can
 never become a sure " lamp to the feet and light to the path" of
 the lovers of science.  It will never be a " pillar of cloud by day
 and of fire by night" to guide the wanderers in their journeyings
 through the wilderness of doubt and ignorance, to the promised
 land of certainty and truth.   The bare suggestion  of this propo-
 sition is, I trust, sufficient to teach the  necessity of  care  to dis-
 tinguish between ridicule and evidence, sarcasm and  truth, wit
 and wisdom.
   My fifth and last negative  proposition is, that this question is
 not to be settled by general and sweeping objections,  however
 oracular in their enunciations,  sometimes advanced with little
 thought and received with less consideration.   Such objections
 I have often heard of, and I  now propose to examine a few of the
 most prominent.   If I mistake not, I can, with little labor, either
 demonstrate their fallacy, or  show that they are too loose and in-
 definite to  be distinctly met, and  therefore  unavailing.   The ob-
jections are announced in conversation, and it may not be possi-
 ble to state them in the  precise words of the objectors, but I shall
 endeavor,  as   far  as  may  be, to retain  their full force and
 spirit.
   The first objection I shall notice under this head, is announced
 in terms like  the following.   " I cannot believe in animal mag-
netism,  because all theory is opposed to it."  Now if the objec-
tor instead of using this general form of objection, would conde-
                     9 
66
scend to enumerate and specify some theories which he supposes
are opposed to it, he might, perhaps, discover the fallacy of his
own objection.   At any rate, I should  be better able to under-
stand and appreciate its force.  What  theories  are against it?
There is a theory of the  tides, a theory of gravitation, and one
Symmes once formed and  announced  a  very curious theory of
the earth.  Are all these or any other conceivable theories, (ex-
cept the objector's own theory  on the  very subject in question)
opposed to animal magnetism ? Have  they any bearing upon it
or relation to it ? If so, I will thank the objector to point out the
bearing to it.
   But what if all  theory  is opposed  to it ?  What is theory ?
Johnson tells us it is " speculation ; not practice ; scheme;  plan
or system yet subsisting only in the mind."   Theory, then, how-
ever plausible, is not fact or evidence of fact.   Facts may sustain
theory, but theory never can prove  or  disprove facts.

   Another of these  sweeping objections  is substantially this:
" I cannot believe in animal magnetism because it is contrary to
the laws of nature, — a miracle."  This  general  objection, like
the former, cannot  be directly  met and answered, but by a gen-
eral denial.  The  advocates of animal magnetism  say that its
phenomena are not produced by a violation, but  by the operation
of the laws of nature.   The objectors affirm the contrary.   Here
is general assertion against general assertion — opinion against
opinion, and they leave the question  in dispute precisely where
they found it — a question of fact to be proved or disproved by
its appropriate evidence.  If the objector will point out some par-
ticular,  established, admitted, universal law of nature, and show
distinctly how that law is  violated by the  alleged phenomena of
animal magnetism, the objection must  prevail, but I have never
known this attempted.
     ^       ^        *?P       •?£       Tr       w        "W
   Another objection — or  rather  declaration — which has  been
made by some persons possessing  corporeal vigor and mental ac-
tivity, is of this kind :  " I will not believe until some person  shall
cause me to fall  asleep by  the magnetic  influence."  Whether
this specific piece of  evidence ought to be more  satisfactory than
any other, I shall not stop to inquire.   The  objection  savors
strongly of the spirit  of the  unbelieving Thomas.  He refused to
believe the concurrent, positive testimony of the other disciples,
and even went so far  as to prescribe the precise nature and de-
gree of evidence to which alone he would yield  his assent — the
evidence of two, at least,  of his  own  senses.  In that case the
required evidence  was graciously furnished ; but accompanied
at the same time, with  a  gentle  reproof for the slowness of his
belief.  " Thomas, because thou  hast seen me,  thou hast believ- 
67
ed; blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed."
The fact, in that case, certainly required as strong proof as that
of animal magnetism ; and the implied reproof of the unbelief of
Thomas shows the unreasonableness of rejecting the concurrent
testimony of numerous credible witnesses to a fact, even of an
extraordinary character, about which they could not be mistaken ;
and of rejecting all evidence except that of our own senses and
personal experience.  Some persons, I am told, have even gone
farther than this, and declared that they would not believe  in
animal magnetism on any evidence whatever.   This is a species
of monomania which, quoad hoc, deprives the objectors of  the
characters and attributes of reasonable beings, and to them,  there-
fore, I can make no reply.
  Another objection—not so much to  the truth of animal magne-
tism, as to an examination of its evidence even — is that, " if true,
it is wrong and wicked, and ought not to be meddled with."
This, I  suppose,  is merely a  remnant  of the  old superstitious
feeling against magic, and sorcery, and  the  black art, and " sol-
emn compaction or  conversing  with the devil by  way of witch-
craft, conjuration and the like."  It is a feeling unworthy of  the
present enlightened age, and I presume very limited in its influ-
ence.  We need not fear that  we shall ever discover any truth
which God intended to conceal from us.   Our powers of investi-
gating and comprehending truth were given us with the intent
that they should be successfully exercised.   Truth — all truth —
is essentially good.  It is good in itself and good for man, though
he  may pervert it to evil by his own wickedness.   If the power
ascribed to animal magnetism is a reality, it  is already discov-
ered,  and the knowledge of it cannot be annihilated.   If the good
reject it and refuse to employ and direct it to benevolent objects,
the wicked may cultivate and  pursue  it in order to pervert it to
their  own unholy purposes.   I have little  faith in the declaration
of some of its enthusiastic advocates, that  it can be successfully
exercised  only when undertaken from good motives and  for be-
nevolent ends.   All truth and all human power, so far as I know,
may be abused as well as used, and  I have yet seen no evidence
to satisfy  me that animal magnetism, if a reality, is an exception
to the general rule.  If, then, there is such a power  and agency
as that which  is ascribed to animal  magnetism,  it is, I humbly
insist, not only the right, but the duty of the virtuous to investi-
gate it thoroughly, that they may not only use it  themselves for
purposes of benevolence, but may discover and apply the means
of counteracting  the arts and machinations of the  depraved to
pervert it to the accomplishment of their own guilty designs.  If
there is evidence sufficient to raise  even a slight presumption of
its reality, we should seek the light of further evidence on the
subject, and follow wherever that light may lead us, without fear 
68
or faltering.  I am not so enthusiastic as to expect that any dis-
coveries which may be made in relation  to this power, if it is a
reality, will effect any great revolution  in  human affairs.  I do
not believe that it will furnish a panacea for the cure of all mala-
dies ; a rail road conveyance to the acquisition of all knowledge;
or a remedy for all the nameless " ills that flesh is heir to."   I ask
only a sober examination of its  evidence, its capacities and  its
uses.
   I have never,  amongst all the  objections, heard any one  of the
objectors say, "  I have faithfully and  repeatedly tried the experi-
ment on others,  and submitted to its trial on myself; I have also
witnessed repeated trials  of it upon  and  by others of different
ages, sexes and temperaments; and all without  success, and
without perceptible effect."   Such an objection, if made, would
be entitled to grave consideration, but until made, I am not called
upon to meet and  examine it.
   I now proceed to consider the last oracular objection to  which
I shall refer under this head.   It is  this.   " I cannot," say the
objectors, " believe the reality of animal magnetism, because its
pretensions are  an assumption of the  essential attributes of Jeho-
vah, — Omnipotence,  Ubiquity, and Omniscience."   Let me
again ask the objector to be more specific.  Which of the essen-
tial facts and phenomena of animal magnetism assumes these, or
either of these attributes of the  Deity ?   Who claims  to possess
them ?  Does he usurp the attribute of omnipotence, who express-
ly disclaims the power to operate, with equal efficacy, on all, and
even to produce any perceptible effect on some ?  Does he usurp
the attribute  of ubiquity,  who  exercises the power to discern
some external objects by unknown means and to  a limited extent,
though the precise limits may be undefined  and may vary with
varying circumstances ?   Does  he  claim the  attribute of omni-
science, who distinctly admits his utter ignorance of the  nature,
essence  and  efficiency of means in  the production  of their
effects ?
   Man, with all his ignorance, and  dependence,^ and  weak-
ness, and frailty, and folly, and  sin, can do some few things by
the aid of his acknowledged, though  limited and derived powers.
He can  fell forests,  erect  palaces, build cities, level  mountains,
mould the refractory rocks into  forms of gracefulness and beau-
 ty, guide, direct and disarm in  some measure the lightning, and
subject the elements of nature to his will.  He can subdue  the
beasts of the field, the fowls of  the air, and the leviathans of the
 ocean, and compel them to  minister to his necessities and plea-
sures.  He has power, too, over his fellow men.   There  is pow-
er in the eye of man when it beams with benevolence or burns
with indignation—a power acknowledged  and felt wherever it  is
seen, and which has caused even the tiger to  quail and shrink 
69
from its steady and determined gaze.   There  is a  mysterious
and fascinating, but mighty power in  the  eye  of female beauty
—a power which has  charmed the ferocity of the savage, sub-
dued the strength of the  valiant, softened  the  audacity  of the
bold and unrelenting, melted  the heart of the  cruel, and com-
pelled the proud despot to kneel before it and sue for  favor. The
conqueror has power to  levy and  command armies, ravage na-
tions, subject them to the sway of  his sceptre, and bind them in
fetters of iron and bands of brass.  Even  in our  own  boasted
land of  freedom and equal rights, man exercises the power to
hold millions of his fellow men in  abject slavery, to subject their
bodies, and, if it be his  pleasure, to crush them beneath his heel.
All these things man has the acknowledged power  to perform
and actually does perform, but  if he claims a power to cause  a
fellow man, less vigorous than  himself, to  fall asleep, he arro-
gates to himself the attribute of omnipotence!!
   He can  harness  the winds and the vapors  to his ships  and
his cars, compel them to  do his bidding, and cause them to trans-
port his person and his  wealth  "  to  the uttermost parts  of the
earth and of the sea."  He can rise from the dust, poise himself
in mid air,  ride on  the wings of the  wind, and behold the earth
and its inhabitants rolling beneath him. With his " visual orbs"
he can penetrate the realms of  space, number the stars that ap-
pear in the firmament,  and call them  by their  names.  He can
watch the planets in their courses, weigh their masses, measure
their distances, and foretell their places  amidst  the heavenly
constellations at all future periods of time.  He can  gaze  on the
galaxy, wander  through the  wilderness  of   suns  that  glitter
through the abysses of space,  pass from Sirius to Orion; from
the Pleiades to regions  beyond the uttermost  visible star,  and
there wonder and adore  in the midst of the magnificence of this
immeasurable temple of the Most High.   All  these things man
has the acknowledged  power  to perform and  actually does per-
form, but if he pretends  to discern by unknown means, a few ex-
ternal objects on earth, which are  beyond  his own or others' or-
dinary ken, he usurps  the attribute of ubiquity  ! !
   From the silence  and  secrecy of his  closet, he can utter
without even an audible whisper,  his behests of business,  his ar-
dors of affection and  his agonies of  unrequited love ;  and the
strength of the horse,  the power of steam, the skill of men and
the energies of governmental agency  are  forthwith  wielded  to
speed his  utterings to their  destined  object,  however remote.
From the deep recesses  of his own mind,  he can send forth his
invisible thoughts,  embodied  in visible forms— his thoughts that
breathe in  words that burn—the glowing emanations  of wisdom
and virtue—to enlighten, and instruct,  and cheer the millions  of
the civilized world.  He can transmit  those thoughts,—invisible, 
70
intangible, inaudible as  they are—to  the unborn millions of all
future  nations, and  ages, and kindred, and tongues.   On the
wings of imagination he can fly back to the source of the stream
of time—to  the  period  when light first dawned  on the infant
creation—and listen to the  song  of the morning stars  and the
shout of  the sons of God. He can, by the same power,  summon
around him  the departed spirits of the sages  and patriarchs and
prophets  of  the  ' olden  time ;' behold  their venerable forms and
catch the accents of holiness and inspiration  flowing warm from
their lips.  He can hear the indignant denunciations of Isaiah,
the tender and pathetic  wailings  of Jeremiah, and the  melting
harmonies  of the harp of  David.  He  can  pass on to  the final
consummation of all things, join  in the  hosannas  of saints and
angels in the realms of bliss, and bathe  and revel in the efful-
gence of uncreated glory.   All these things he can do by the aid
of his acknowledged powers,—weak,  frail, dependent,  sinful as
he is—but if he claims the  power of communicating a single
volition  from his own mind to that  of his brother in his imme-
diate presence, he is guilty of robbing  the Almighty of  his attri-
butes and usurping omniscience !!  I have now done with objec-
tions.
   #          #         #          #         #          *
   In removing these  objections I have been  led into such a
series of remarks, and have made so many suggestions relating
to the principal objects I had in view, that little remains  to be
done.  I shall therefore only announce as  distinctly  as may  be,
a few affirmative propositions applicable to this inquiry, and then
relieve my readers from their wearisome task.
   The  first proposition as  to  the manner  in which the claims
of animal magnetism are to be met  and discussed, is, that it
should be done with unprejudiced, impartial  and candid minds,
and with a sincere  love of  truth. Prejudice is always a great
and sometimes an invincible obstacle to the acquisition of correct
knowledge on any subject.   The mind which is prepossessed by
it, views facts and evidence  through  a  distorting medium, and
weighs them in an uneven  balance.   The  very first requisite,
therefore, to successful  investigation  is  impartiality, and a sin-
cere disposition to view every fact in its simplicity, and  to give to
every kind and degree  of evidence its due  weight  and impor-
tance.  But this state of mind is  not all that is necessary.  There
must be,
   Secondly.  An active desire to ascertain where to learn facts,
to seek evidence, and to follow wherever, and  to whatever con-
clusion that evidence may lead.  A mere passive state  of mind,
however impartial and  candid  it may be,  is not enough.  The
maxim,  that ' truth is great and will  prevail,' is correct only in
a restricted sense.   It is often unable to prevail  over  obstinate
prejudice, and it possesses  no inherent  energy and activity by 
71
which it can force its way into the passive and indolent mind.
It must  be loved and sought and wooed in order to be won.
  Thirdly.  The lovers of truth in this matter should make  the
investigation of it a  common cause.   They should therefore be
solicitous  to receive  and communicate, fully and  freely, all  the
light and evidence which  they respectively possess.   The insu-
lated experiments of a few individuals, pursuing their investiga-
tions in secrecy and  silence, may do something ; but if they hide
their light under a bushel, and refuse to communicate or receive
aid, their success will be comparatively small and  their progress
slow.
  Fourthly.   The great' object, in the present state  of the in-
quiry, should be to ascertain and establish facts, in  all their na-
kedness and simplicity.  All theories, all  preconceived opinions,
all speculations about causes, should, as far  as possible5 be dis-
carded.   Let facts, numerous facts,—facts in all their multiplied
forms and varieties, be first settled, and then let those who will,
form theories and  systems  to account for them.  These may be
useful for some purposes, but at present we are not prepared for
them.   All science consists exclusively in  a knowledge of facts.
We even learn the laws of nature, about which we hear so much,
only from the facts of nature.  Those laws are not, in general,
revealed to us by instinct, intuition or inspiration, but  by  a slow
and careful induction of numerous  particular  facts.  Let facts
then, at least for the present, be the exclusive objects of attention
and research.
  These are the principal rules which I have  wished to enforce
as to the manner and spirit in  which the claims of animal mag-
netism  should be met and examined.   They are equally applica-
ble to investigations  on all other questions of natural science, and
I should not have thought it necessary to allude to such obvious
principles, had I not some  reason to fear that they  had been over-
looked  in their application to this particular subject.
   I now proceed to make a  few remarks as  to the  nature and
sources of the evidence to be required to  establish the reality of
animal magnetism.   From the preceding observations it may be
perceived that facts are the only sure basis  of knowledge, and
should  therefore be  the  primary objects of attention.  The  in-
quiry is, then, what is the nature, or what  are the  sources of
evidence in support of the facts and phenomena of the magnetic
influence ?  The answer is plain and simple.   They are and can
be only the three  following.
  First.   Our oion personal  experience.  If  we have person-
ally felt and exercised the magnetic power, by being effectually
magnetised ourselves or by having magnetised others, under  cir-
cumstances which preclude  all suspicion  of deception or delu-
sion  we then  have  evidence,  irresistible and  conclusive  to  our
own'minds, of the reality of its agency.   Any  two  persons can 
72
 try this experiment.   If successful, it will satisfactorily establish
 the affirmative of the question in debate.  If unsuccessful, it will
 not conclusively prove the negative, because one or both of them
 may  be destitute of the susceptibility  or power of the magnetic
 influence.  There is another source of evidence.
    Secondly.   Personal  observation  of  experiments upon and
 by others.   The effect of this kind of evidence will be propor-
 tioned  to the number and .character of the parties and the nature
 and variety  of  the  experiments.   They may be  equivocal, or
 they may be such as  to preclude all  doubt.  But our  personal
 experience and  our opportunities of personal observation must be
 limited, and consequently our knowledge of facts, derived from
 these sources  may be less  extensive than  might  be wished.
 There  is, then,  one other source  of evidence to supply this de-
 ficiency.  It is,
    Thirdly.   The testimony of others  as to  their  experience
 and  observation.   This  presents  an  extensive field  of inquiry
 and if faithfully cultivated,  it may yield much fruit.  It is a very
 important source of evidence, and means should be adopted to
 enable us to reap all its benefits.   This may be by conversation,
 by epistolary correspondence, or by a  publication, for general in-
 formation, of all well authenticated facts and phenomena which
 may be discovered.  The testimony  of witnesses thus obtained,
 as to facts, may  be as satisfactory as  the evidence of our  own
 senses and observation, and therefore  should  not  be rejected  or
 disregarded, but diligently collected and faithfully applied.
    #         #         #          #         #          #
    I would,  in conclusion, recommend to those who  are inter-
 ested in this question, and who believe that the affirmative  of it
 may  possibly be true, to form themselves into a class or classes
 of convenient numbers, for  the purpose of making experiments
 and keeping a record of all the facts and phenomena which may
 occur.   The record should  contain a  statement of every experi-
 ment which should be made, whether successful or unsuccessful;
 of the  ages, health and  temperament  of the parties, and of the
 simple facts, and phenomena, if any, that should occur.   The
 record  of these  experiments and phenomena, should, from  time
 to time, be revised, arranged under appropriate heads, and a com-
 plete synopsis of them prepared, for easy reference.  The report
 of the  late commissioners of the Royal Society of Medicine in
 Paris on this subject, may be recommended as  a model of the
 form in which such experiments should be tried and their results
 stated.  A correspondence  with other classes or individuals en-
 gaged  in similar experiments might also be carried on with great
 mutual advantage.   An authentic repository of  facts may  thus
 be formed, which will do more towards settling the  question in
1 debate than  can be  done by all the logomachy of a  thousand
 talkers, whether objectors or advocates, in a whole century.
                                             ENQUIRER. 
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