Those who practise it know nothing of its modus operandi, any more than the bird that sings on yonder willow knows of the science of music.
To the common suggestion, “It’s spirits,” I say, No, no!
If it were “spirits,” why does the spirit always seek a low organization through which to manifest itself? There are few exceptions to this rule.
It is unnatural, inconsistent with the divine attributes for the supernatural to mingle with the natural. The circulation of the blood was once attributed to the action of the sun—hence a man fell asleep at sunset—and to supernatural causes.
Science has done away with these absurd notions.
“It is a manifestation of divine power,” say others.
Well, for that matter, everything is; but directly it is not, for what answers the “spirit” suggestion answers this one also. Divine power cannot be limited.
For want of a better name, let us call this power “animal magnetism.”
The man who controls the mind of another, or another’s disease, through his mind, must possess the following requisites: First, health; second, will; third, faith that he can control the subject. No reasoning is necessary. The less causality he possesses, the better. The less reasoning faculties, the better he can perform.
Why?