Such were the circumstances that attended the introduction of animal magnetism, which to this day is defended and maintained by ardent proselytes. Sound philosophy can only attribute its wonderful phenomena, many of which cannot be denied, to the influence of the imagination, and the all-powerful deceptive agency of faith. It is an incontrovertible fact, that the nervous system may be so worked upon, thrown by various secret and physical means into such a morbid condition, that results bordering upon the miraculous in the eyes of the credulous may be easily obtained. Every circumstance that appears to differ from the usual course of nature is deemed miraculous by the ignorant; and the Greek proverb θαύματα μωροίς, plainly maintains that miracles are only for the simple. In fact, who are the persons who in our times cry out “miracle,” but weak and timid men, worn out by excesses or age, labouring under the influence of terror; silly old women, who have not the power of reasoning; or nervous and enthusiastic females, who seek for some saving clauses in a pact between vice and virtue, depravity and religion.
All the wonders of the creation are miraculous, if we are to consider those phenomena that are, and most probably will ever remain, beyond our humble and miserable comprehension to be such. The manifestations of the Creator’s will are daily exhibited in stupendous forms that strike the ignorant with awe, while they lead the man of science to bow in grateful veneration to that Almighty power that has harmonized the creation for our wellbeing, if we would only obey the sublime dictates of his laws, without attempting to scrutinize their spirit by quibbling with their letter.
There can be but little doubt that the wonders of magnetism may be referred to the imagination; yet some of the phenomena must excite our surprise, and may occasion some degree of hesitation in invariably attributing its results to fancy. The Academy of Medicine of Paris having appointed a commission of twelve members to examine and report upon it, their inferences were as follow:
1. The effects of magnetism were not evident in healthy persons, and in some invalids.
2. They were scarcely apparent in others.
3. They often appeared to be the result of ennui, monotony, and the influence of imagination.
4. Lastly, they are developed independently of these causes, very probably by the effects of magnetism alone.
The points of this report that I have printed in italics prove most clearly that the members of the commission, all of whom were decidedly adverse to the doctrine, were convinced, at least to a certain extent, by the experiments they had witnessed, of some singular powers residing in this mysterious science. Such must have been the case, since we find three members seceding from their associates, Laennec, Double, and Magendie, all well known as distinguished physiologists, somewhat inclined to pure materialism, and what may be termed matter-of-fact men, who would hesitate in yielding their belief to any assertion that the scalpel could not demonstrate. Notwithstanding the protest of these gentlemen, the following were the conclusions of the commission:
1. Contact of the thumbs and magnetic movements are the means of relative influence employed to transmit magnetic action.
2. Magnetism acts on persons of different age and sex.