It is creditable to the Medical Gentlemen of Lynn, that they have, with few exceptions, applied themselves to the consideration of the subject, and I have no doubt, would be glad to find in Mesmerism, as in any thing else, an additional auxiliary in their endeavours to ease the couch of suffering, and to lessen the amount of human misery. The curative properties we may leave to the better information of the Faculty, while we employ our perceptive powers in endeavouring to ascertain the fact, or fallacy, of the presumed Science.
That the discovery may be abused is at once admitted, though by no means, to the extent of the fears of some individuals; but, we do well to inquire how the same idea applies to other matters. I incline to the belief that there are few powers in Nature not capable of being abused.
Who is not aware of the destructive properties of Fire, and how often it is employed, by the Incendiary, to the damage of the honest and unsuspecting? Who has not heard, day after day, of Juries sitting upon the bodies of unfortunate persons who have been destroyed by this powerful element of Nature? and yet, who ever heard of any sane person who would argue, that it had been better for Mankind had Fire not been known?
Who does not know the mighty power for ill, as well as for good, the Materia Medica confers upon the professional part of civilized Society? yet, who would argue, that it would be better for mankind to discontinue the use and practice of Medicine?
The exhibitions of Mesmerism have been compared to the feats of the Jugglers of India, and, we have been pressed with the assurance, that the Mesmeriser is quite outdone by the Juggler. It may be so, but I submit, that there is a clear line of distinction to be drawn between the two cases.
The Indian comes before you professing to deceive, he defies you indeed to discern the process of imposture, and sometimes the observer is so astonished that he falls back on the only idea that can serve him at the moment, (so completely are his senses paralyzed) that, there must be some superhuman agency employed; but, after all, it only professes to be the feat of a Conjuror, and he offers you no clue to the practice of the same delusion.
The Mesmeriser exhibits, before your eyes, phenomena very strange and startling, but he says “I am no Conjuror; I only profess to show you a latent power in Nature, as yet but imperfectly developed; I believe that its knowledge may be useful to Society; I profess to do nothing which you cannot do yourselves; test my experiments in every possible way, I will assist you to do so.”
Who, I ask, does not at once see, that in the one case, we are imposed upon by a clever Impostor, and cannot help ourselves; while in the other, we can test almost every experiment by trials of our own, and need draw no conclusion but from the result of our own individual and absolute experiment.
The only remaining argument advanced against inquiring into the assumed sciences, of which we are speaking, is this, that The establishment of the truth of Mesmerism, and specially of Phrenology, would be destructive to the Christian Religion, and would subvert the authority of the Scriptures upon which that Religion is based.
To my mind, this is, by far, the gravest argument with which we have to deal, and I should be sorry indeed to treat it in an improper or unbecoming manner; yet, I feel that I should be failing in the duty I have imposed upon myself, were I not to look the presumed difficulty fairly in the face; and at least endeavour to justify my own conduct in regard to it; and if possible, to remove the delusion which, I humbly suggest, hangs upon the mind of those who make this objection.