You must know, then, that it was Maximilian Holl who first, from the influence of his magnets on the body, imparted the practical idea of animal magnetism to Mesmer, who had already written his inaugural thesis, at Vienna, on “Planetary Influence,” and had laid down this unblushing aphorism: “There is one health, one disease, one remedy, and one physician, and that physician am I.” His immediate proselytes were Deslon at Paris, and Gmelin at Heilbronne, and Reicke at Stutgard, and Klugé at Berlin. Encouraged by the Swedenborgian tenets, this magic brought immense revenue into the purses of Mainanduc in England, and the rest of its revivers; so that one hundred guineas were given for a course of lectures and experiments, and fifteen guineas for a consultation and the imparting of its influence.
In after times Miss Prescott, among others, gained great fame in the art: but De Lauterbourg was one of its most popular professors. Three thousand patients, it is said, were often waiting for the magnetic influence about his house at Hammersmith.
In 1784 an ordonnance of the French king confirmed Mesmer in his working of these apparent miracles. By tractions on the body, either with the hand or by substances magnetized with his “imponderable fluid,” by champooing, and the accompaniment of sweet music, a state of enchantment of the senses was induced. Convulsions and mania were often excited in the “Hall of Crisis,” which was lined by soft cushions to protect the convulsionaries. These paroxysms and tempests of the brain Mesmer seemed to control, like a second Prospero, with his wand of enchantment, gliding, in robes of silk, among the multitude of devotees, whom novelty and voluptuousness had attracted to his shrine.
To study and report on these mysteries, commissioners were appointed by the “Faculty of Medicine,” by the “Academy of Sciences,” and by the “Royal Society of Medicine.” These savans referred all to the influence of imagination, or of emotion in sensitive systems; and that there must be this sensitive predisposition is often proved, for idiots, and those who have been blindfold, and unconscious children, remain uninfluenced, although it is declared by one that he magnetized an idiot baby!
I must observe, that before the commissions in Paris, especially that of which Franklin was a member, not the slightest influence was observed; and the experiments of Monsieur Berner, who was the chief manipulator, were a perfect failure, especially in regard to the clairvoyance.
Astrophel reminds me by his frown ——
Astr. That magnetic power is not granted to all; that all possess not the essential qualities of mind and body. It was affirmed that the operator must have his mind abstracted, and teeming with affection and benevolence towards his patients; must believe himself a very magnet, and feel a desire of benefiting mankind. Thus a sympathy, or incorporation of atmospheres, was induced, by which disease was influenced; and even in persons distant from each other, by an intensity of thought the patient tasted, smelt, or heard, the flavours, odours, or sounds which at that moment affected the senses of the operator. The magnetizer must thus be confident that, by his will, he can pass his whole nervous energy into his patient. It is essential, also, that the mind of the patient should have a corresponding willingness to be magnetized.
Ev. And this congenial platonism is sometimes so intense, that offers of magnetic marriage are made by the ecstatic ladies to their magnetizers, even though it may not be leap-year, on the plea that the loneliness of magnetic widowhood distressed them, and that the possession of a sleeping partner was better than sleeping alone.
Under this interesting disposition for magnetic union, the eyes of the maiden being fixed on the magnetizer intensely, his hands were passed before her body, his fingers thus forming natural conductors, by which the magnetic fluid was conveyed from the positive to the negative magnetic body. Then came the wonders of this influence. The patient was warmed by the benevolence of the magnetizer, who felt an aura or tingling in the part corresponding to any painful part of the patient’s body which was relieved or cured. Indeed, Bertrand assures us that many told him they saw a blue fluid streaming from his fingers when he magnetized them.
The secret of this is closely analogous to the effect of brooding over sorrow: the mind of the patient is concentrated on the spot to which the passes are directed; and, as we know that disease can be excited thus by imagination (especially in the hypochondriac), so it is a truth that this concentration may remove disease and pain, especially by the superaddition of faith.