Chapter I: Part 1

REPORT

OF

DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,

AND OTHER

COMMISSIONERS,

CHARGED BY THE

KING OF FRANCE,

WITH THE EXAMINATION OF THE

ANIMAL MAGNETISM,

AS NOW PRACTISED AT PARIS.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.

WITH AN

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, (NO. 72) ST. PAUL’S CHURCH-YARD. 1785.

INTRODUCTION.

The subject of the following pamphlet has excited the extremest attention in France, has for years filled their Journals and Mercures, and has employed some of their best pens and their brightest wits. By some it has been applauded as the greatest of philosophical discoveries, and by others decried as the juggle of an unprincipled impostor. The English nation has too much curiosity for every thing that occupies the neighbour kingdom, from whom we have long since been used to receive the laws of politeness and etiquette, and who have lately seemed to take the lead of us in philosophical discovery, for the present translation not to prove an acceptable present to a large and respectable class of our countrymen. It has been thought proper, in order that the most uninformed reader may find in this little compilation, every species of information upon the subject, to prefix to it a brief account of the progress of this system.

M. Mesmer, the inventor of the animal magnetism, is a German physician. The first thing by which he distinguished himself, appears to have been the publication of a Dissertation upon the Influence of the Stars on the Human Body, printed at Vienna 1766, and publicly defended by him as a thesis in that university. In 1774 father Hehl, a German philosopher, strongly recommended the use of the loadstone in the art of medicine. M. Mesmer became very early a convert to the principles of this writer, and actually carried them into practice with distinguished success. In the midst however of his attention to the utility of the loadstone, he was led to the adoption of a new set of principles, which he conceived to be much more general in their application and importance. In conformity to these principles he laid aside the use of the loadstone, and proceeded with his cures in the method which he afterwards published to the world. This apostacy involved him in a quarrel with father Hehl and the celebrated Ingenhouz, by whom he had formerly been patronized; and as their credit in Vienna was extremely high, and their exertions against him indefatigable, his system almost immediately sunk into general disrepute. To parry their opposition he appealed in 1776 to the academy of sciences at Berlin. Here however his principles were rejected as “destitute of foundation and unworthy the smallest attention.” Undismayed by these important miscarriages, he made a progress through several towns of Germany, still practising the methods of the animal magnetism, and from time to time publishing an account of the cures he effected, which did not fail to be followed by a detection from his enemies. In the mean time, resolved, as it should seem, if possible not to deprive his country of the benefits of so valuable a discovery, he returned a second time to Vienna, and made another essay with no greater success than the former.

Decided in his conduit by these uninterrupted defeats, he left Germany and arrived at Paris in the beginning of the year 1778. Here one of the first connexions he formed was with M. A. J. S. D., author of the Dictionnaire des Merveilles de la Nature, from which work many of the following particulars are extracted. It is observed by this Writer, that “in spite of the apparent cautiousness and reserve of M. Mesmer, and even in spite of the little success of his first experiments, he could not refuse him credit for sincerity in his conduct, and solidity in his reasonings; and he was convinced, that the failure did not originate in the fault of his agent, but the indisposition of the subjects upon which it was employed.” In April 1778, M. Mesmer retired to Creteil with the patients he had collected, and in a few months almost all of them returned to Paris perfectly restored. One of them in particular was a paralytic, deprived of the use of her limbs, and who now walked with all the ease and firmness in the world. In November M. A. J. S. D. introduced M. Mesmer to the house of a family of distinction, and who were actuated with the extremest curiosity respecting all discoveries which had the benefit of humanity for their object. Here he made an experiment so remarkable that it is necessary to extract it somewhat at length.

“There being a pretty numerous company in the saloon, M. Mesmer touched successively several persons, some of whom had nerves extremely irritable, without producing any effect sufficiently considerable to deserve to be ascribed to the animal magnetism. The operation was repeated; the success was the same.

“The governor of the children of the family, a man of a very robust and muscular constitution, little inclined to credulity, and fortified in his scepticism by what he had just seen, had complained for some time of a pain in his shoulders. As he was beyond dispute the least susceptible person in the company, he proposed himself by way of gasconade for the subject of a last experiment.

“M. Mesmer refused to touch this gentleman, but consented to direct upon him the magnetism from a small distance. In compliance with the doctor’s inclinations, the governor turned his back, and M. Mesmer, seven or eight feet from his subject, presented his finger. This continued for two minutes, the governor replying to the repeated questions of the doctor with much humour and irony, M. Mesmer then nodded his head significantly to the company, and in the mean time guided his finger upwards, downwards, and a little circularly. The patient said that he felt a kind of shuddering in the superior part of the back; he however ascribed it to the action of the fire near which he stood, and accordingly removed to another part of the room. The experiment was resumed, the sensation augmented, and the patient said he could compare it to nothing better, than a stream of boiling water, circulating in the veins of his back and shoulders. The impression became so strong that he refused to submit to the experiment any longer. He was persuaded however; the master of the house held one of his arms, and myself the other. In the process of the experiment the heat became so insupportable, that he violently broke away from our grasp. It was succeeded by a profuse perspiration in the part affected.

“M. Mesmer then placed the forefinger of each hand upon the chest of the patient. The same sensation, but less violent, was produced in this part; it ascended gradually to the face, and was succeeded by a perspiration of the forehead. The patient then presented his forefingers and thumbs, the rest of his hand being clenched; M. Mesmer did the same very near to the patient, but without touching him. He complained successively of a shuddering, itching and stiffness in the palms of his hands; these were again succeeded by a local perspiration.”

To this remarkable experiment we will beg leave to add the following from the Journal de Paris, No. 44, 1784.

“M. Mesmer being one day with messieurs Camp---- and d’E---- near the great canal at Meudon, proposed to them to go alternately to the other side of the canal, while he remained where he was. He then directed them to thrust their cane into the water, in the mean time doing the same himself. At this distance M. Camp---- was seized with a fit of the asthma, and M. d’E---- with a pain in the liver to which he was subject. Many persons have been unable to submit to this experiment without fainting away.”

“One evening M. Mesmer walked with six persons in the gardens of the prince de Soubise. He performed the magnetical operation upon a tree, and a little time after three ladies of the company fainted away. The duchess de C----, the only remaining lady, supported herself upon the tree, without being able to quit it. The count de Mons----, unable to stand, was obliged to throw himself upon a bench. The effects upon M. Ang----, a gentleman of a very muscular frame, were more terrible. M. Mesmer’s servant, who was summoned to remove the bodies, and who was inured to these scenes, found himself unable to move. The whole company were obliged to remain in this situation for a considerable time.” These instances are cited by M. Thouret, Recherches & Doutes, p. 65.

M. Mesmer was from the first desirous of submitting his system to the examination of the faculty of medicine; but he would not submit to a regular and authentic committee appointed for that purpose, apprehensive as he said of the baleful effects of the spirit of society. This exception occasioned a misunderstanding between him and the faculty, and the examination was never made.

In France the success of M. Mesmer was the reverse of what it had been in Germany. His patients increased rapidly. His cures were numerous and of the most astonishing nature. He was obliged to form a number of pupils under his inspection to administer his process. In 1779 he published a Memoir respecting the Discovery of the Animal Magnetism, and promised a complete system upon the subject, which should make as great a revolution in philosophy, as it had already done in medicine. Struck with the clearness and accuracy of his reasonings, the magnificence of his pretensions, and the extraordinary and unquestionable cures he performed, some of the greatest physicians and most enlightened philosophers of France became his converts. Among these M. Court de Gebelin particularly distinguished himself, a writer, who had attained the highest reputation by his researches into antiquity, and who was, if possible, still more distinguished for the elegance of his taste, the beauty of his conceptions and the richness of his fancy. The house of M. Mesmer at Creteil was crowded with patients. A numerous company was daily assembled at his house at Paris, where the operation was publicly performed; and M. Deslon, one of his pupils, is said to have cleared £100,000. He was patronised by people of the first rank, and, as M. Thouret observes, the animal magnetism became a mode, an affair of bon ton, an interest, extremely precious and warmly espoused by the fashionable world.

In the mean time the new system was by no means destitute of enemies. Some of the first pens in France were drawn to oppose it, and among others that of M. Thouret, regent-physician of the faculty. The faculty indeed had all along beheld its progress with the extremest jealousy. At length it was thought to deserve the attention of government, and a committee, partly physicians, and partly members of the royal academy of sciences, with doctor Benjamin Franklin at their head, were appointed to examine it. M. Mesmer refused to have any communication with these gentlemen; but M. Deslon, the most considerable of his pupils, consented to disclose to them his principles, and assist them in their enquiries. Their Report forms the principal piece in the ensuing pamphlet. M. Mesmer however has appealed from their decision to the parliament of Paris.

In the mean time it can no longer be concealed that the system of the animal magnetism is to be regarded as an imposture, and it may therefore be asked, why it should be thought necessary to give to the public a translation of papers, which may be thought interesting only to persons who have been witnesses of the imposture. To this enquiry several good answers may be given.

One at which we have already hinted is the universal attention it has excited at Paris, where it seems to have divided the public speculations with the celebrated and incomparable discovery of the aerostatic globe. There are surely few people of a literary turn among us, who will confess themselves void of curiosity respecting what engages all the faculties of our neighbours, or who will not confess that their literary pursuits are commonly at least as interesting and instructive a subject of enquiry, as their politics.

Secondly, the Report of the commissioners and the enquiries respecting the animal magnetism in general may be considered as relating not merely to a temporary and unfounded hypothesis, but to the general and most important question respecting the influence of the imagination upon the animal frame, a question peculiarly interesting to the metaphysician, and of the last consequence in medicine. Upon this subject the Report seems to throw new light, and to have a tendency to add precision and accuracy to our notions in regard to it.

But the argument upon which we would place the principal stress is the essential importance of this fact in the history of the human mind. Perhaps the history of the errors of mankind, all things considered, is more valuable and interesting than that of their discoveries. Truth is uniform and narrow; it constantly exists, and does not seem to require so much an active energy, as a passive aptitude of soul in order to encounter it. But error is endlessly diversified; it has no reality, but is the pure and simple creation of the mind that invents it. In this field the soul has room enough to expand herself, to display all her boundless faculties, and all her beautiful and interesting extravagancies and absurdities. It is observed of civil history, that it is properly the record of human calamities; the same thing may be observed of ecclesiastical history, it is the record of our errors. For this reason a well written ecclesiastical history, a species of composition that we suspect does not yet exist, would perhaps be the most instructive study in the world.

But there is an additional reason, which gives the error of the animal magnetism a particular claim to our attention. The same error was started, if M. Thouret be in the right, two centuries ago. It is therefore worth our curiosity to enquire, what different instruments were necessary to deceive mankind in an ignorant and an enlightened age, in the commencement of the seventeenth and the close of the eighteenth century; in a word to run a parallel between the borrowed system of Mesmer, and the original one of Paracelsus, Maxwel and sir Kenelm Digby. And as every publication ought to be as complete as possible within itself, we have destined to assist the reader in this enquiry, the ensuing paper of the society of medicine respecting M. Thouret’s performance.

P. S. The following extract of a letter from the best authority from
Paris, has been received while these papers are in the press. It
relates to the particulars of a fact alluded to at the bottom of page
xiv.

“Mesmer has complained to the parliament of the report of the
royal commissioners, and requested that they would appoint a
new commission, to examine--not his theory and practice, but--a
_plan_, which shall exhibit the only possible means of infallibly
demonstrating the existence and utility of his discovery. The
petition was printed: many thought the parliament would do nothing in
it. But they have laid hold of it to clinch Mesmer, and oblige him to
expose all directly; so that it must soon be seen whether there is
any difference between his method and Deslon’s.--I give you their

“Arret, of the 6 Sept. 1784.

“The parliament ordains that Mesmer _shall be obliged_ to expose,
before four doctors of the faculty of medicine, two surgeons and
two masters in pharmacy, the doctrine, which he professes to have
discovered, and the methods which he pretends must be adopted for the
application of his principles: they likewise ordain that a report of
his communications shall then be delivered to the attorney general,
to be laid before parliament for their sentence.”

REPORT

Of a Committee of the Royal Society of Medicine, appointed to
examine a Work, entitled, ENQUIRIES AND DOUBTS RESPECTING THE ANIMAL
MAGNETISM, BY M. THOURET, _Regent Physician of the Faculty of
Paris, and Member of the Society_. To which are subjoined, by the
Translator, Notes, chiefly extracted from M. Thouret’s Performance.

The underwritten were charged by the royal society of medicine, with the examination of a work of M. Thouret, member of the society, entitled, Enquiries and Doubts respecting the Animal Magnetism.

In the attentive perusal of this work, it is obvious to remark, that it has two very distinct objects; one of them, which is in a manner historical, is to explain the coincidences of the animal magnetism, as it was known to the ancients, with that which is admitted by the moderns: the other contains critical reflections and doubts in regard to the evidences upon which the doctrine is founded, the uncertainty of which M. Thouret undertakes to display. We will endeavour to lay before the society an idea of his performance.

The animal magnetism held a principal rank among the systems, which were embraced in that period of literary history, when suppositions were admitted to hold the place of facts; and this hypothesis vanished, together with many others, when experimental philosophy began to dissipate the impostures of the imagination, and to afford an accurate measure of the value of arts and sciences.

The object of this system was a fluid extremely subtle, upon which were bestowed the magnificent titles of soul of the world, spirit of the universe, and universal magnetic fluid; and which was pretended to be diffused through the whole space occupied by the material creation, to animate the system of nature, to penetrate all substances, and to be the vehicle to animated bodies in general, and their several regions in particular, of certain forces of attraction and repulsion, by means of which they explained the phenomena of nature.

Nor were they contented to admit, or rather to imagine, the fluid we have described; they flattered themselves that they were able, in certain methods, to render themselves masters of this fluid, and to direct its operations. Even this did not terminate their chimerical pretensions: they affirmed that this fluid, in which they admitted a species of flux and reflux, exerted an important degree of action upon the nerves, and had a grand analogy with the vital principle; that its effects, under the guidance of skill and illumination, extended to very great distances, without the intervention of any foreign substances; that it was possible to impregnate with it, either certain powders, in the manner of sir Kenelm Digby, who asserted that he had done this, or fluids, or different parts of the bodies of animals; that this agent was like light reflected by mirrors, and that sound and music augmented its intensity.

The partisans of the animal magnetism, who wrote in the seventeenth century, did not yet confine their hopes within these limits: the art of directing the fluid, which they had brought down from heaven, and which, according to them, acted in so distinguished a manner upon the human body, might be expected to have a considerable share in the medical science, or rather to supersede that science, as it had hitherto existed; they did not fail to assert, that in causing it to circulate in a proper manner, the restoration of diseased organs was infallible, as well the preservation of the health of those who were yet unattacked with any disease[1].

Such was the origin of an external and universal medicine, of a species entirely new, and which boasted of having the advantage of curing diseases, without obliging any drugs to be swallowed by the diseased. Soon after poles were discovered in the human body, that is, points, towards which it appeared that the action of this imaginary fluid ought to be directed, cures and evacuations were operated without the assistance of pharmacy, sensations of various kinds were excited in the patients; and notwithstanding the distinguished effects ascribed to this agent, it was asserted, that persons the most feeble and delicate might submit to its process without danger. The process had yet another use, that of discovering the seat of the distemper; a thing frequently so difficult to be ascertained, but which was pointed out by the fluid by a sort of instinctive intelligence, and with absolute demonstration. It perfected the concoction of the humours; nervous distempers in particular, rarely resisted its influence; it was favourable to transpiration. In fine, and this last remark is of particular importance, it had a powerful action upon the moral principles of our frame. A propensity, that could scarcely be resisted, was the basis of the attachment and gratitude, which were vowed by the patients to those who had employed upon them this method of cure. Several, and in this number was Maxwel, even gave us to understand, that it was possible, in certain circumstances of human life, to make an improper use of this vehicle of influence[2].

This picture of the animal magnetism, as it was invented and applauded by the ancients, is faithfully extracted from the performance of M. Thouret. The principal authors, to which he has recourse in the progress of his enquiry, are Paracelsus, Van Helmont, Goclenius, Burgravius, Libavius, Wirdig, Maxwel, Santanelli, Tentzel, Kircher and Borel[3]. The entire passages are extracted, and M. Thouret has displayed in this performance, as he had already done in so many others, an erudition, the most various, the most precise, and the most extensive.

It is easy to see, how analogous is the system we have described to that of M. Mesmer. To demonstrate this analogy, M. Thouret has considered separately each of the propositions published and avowed by the latter. They amount to twenty-seven, and the result of this examination is, that they are all positively announced in some of the authors whose names have been recited.

Every part of Mesmer’s system, even down to the experiments of the ring and the sword, have been found by M. Thouret in the works of these writers[4]. It is therefore certain, that the assertions of M. Mesmer, which are represented by him as principles of his own, do not belong to him; and that this theory, in the room of being an attractive novelty, is an ancient system, abandoned by the learned near a century ago.

In ascending indeed to the original systems which were formed upon the subject, we are unable to discover any thing but suppositions destitute of proof, and for that reason devoted to oblivion. The parts of this hypothesis were not connected together by any other tie, than that of the imagination. The steps that were proposed in order to its establishment, were the very same that had been employed in favour of the art of cure, now by enchantments, and now by exorcisms. It has been always by sensations that they have pretended to prove the existence of these different agents; and if this kind of proof were sufficient, there is not one of them which would not have been demonstrated. Sound philosophy has therefore refused credit, as well to this species of proof, as to the magnetism, such as it was proposed by Maxwel, Goclenius and Santanelli, and such as we have described it in the opening of this report.

Has the animal magnetism of M. Mesmer any better claim to our confidence? M. Thouret, without replying to this question in a positive manner, has permitted to himself, in the second part of his work, certain reflections respecting it, which he has proposed simply as doubts, and which relate entirely to what M. Mesmer has published, or authentically advanced. It may be objected to him, says M. Thouret,

1. That the touch frequently employed in his method for a considerable time, and on regions extremely sensible, such as those of the stomach, is of itself capable of producing effects, by communicating a vivid impulse to the nerves of the plexuses which are there situated, and which have an intimate connection with the whole nervous system; that authentic records present us with a great number of facts of this kind, and that in consequence, the sensations, which originate in the application of the touch, do not prove the existence of a separate fluid or agent.

2. That the heat produced by the hand, and the motion communicated to the air, may occasion very strong impressions upon a person extremely sensible, and whose fibres are in a state of convulsion, without these impressions being calculated to prove a new agent.

3. That in subduing the imagination by solemn preparations, by extraordinary proceedings, by the confidence and enthusiasm inspired by magnificent promises, it is possible to exalt the tone of sensible and nervous fibres, and afterwards to direct, by the application of the hands, their impulse towards certain organs, and to excite in them evacuations or excretions, without there resulting any addition to the sciences, either of philosophy or medicine.

4. That the partisans of the animal magnetism do not produce what they call crises, that is, a state of convulsions, but in subjects extremely irritable, extremely nervous, and above all, in women, whose sensibility has been already excited by the means we have described.

5. That among these disposing causes, particular stress is to be laid upon the presence of a person already in a state of convulsion, or ready to fall into that state; that just as an organ attacked with spasmodic affections, easily propagates these affections to the other organs, in like manner are they transmitted from one man to another; that we have therefore no reason to be surprised, if in the halls, where the pretended magnetical operations are performed, spasms, and even convulsions are diffused with extreme alacrity; and that history furnishes a great number of facts, of convulsions propagated through whole villages or towns, in a manner still more astonishing than that of which the animal magnetism presents us with an example.

6. That history has also transmitted to us a great number of cures operated by fear, by joy, or the commotion of any violent passion; which proves beyond controversy, the power of nervous influences over diseases.

7. That in different ages, two famous empirics, Valentine Greatrakes of the kingdom of Ireland, and Gassner of Ratisbon, produced upon different persons effects which appeared surprising, and have had their admirers; that they employed only the instrumentality of the touch, either upon the nape of the neck, or the limb affected; and that it has been universally acknowledged, that they acted only upon the imagination[5].

8. That in many instances, the partisans of the magnetism seem to bestow a greater attention to excite surprise in the spectators, than salutary effects in their patients; the spasms and convulsions which they produce being the source of undoubted evil, were it only by the habitude of that state which they are calculated to induce, while the advantages of this method are not equally demonstrated.

9. That certain local diseases not being of the number of those upon which the animal magnetism acts, and certain persons, by the confession of M. Mesmer, not being susceptible of its action, it may be suspected, that the partisans of this system have contrived for themselves this resource, in order to account for their failure of success in certain cases.

10. That to pretend to the discovery of a means which shall extend to every kind of disease, that is, to an universal medicine, is an illusion which cannot be excused in an enlightened age.

11. That the known effects of sensibility are sufficient to explain, without any new agent, the phenomena which M. Mesmer produces by a method which he has not yet imparted to the public.

12. That M. Mesmer, in supposing a particular agent, has adopted a rout contrary to the interests of his discovery, in following the example of those who have exerted their efforts to give credit to a system, worthy upon every account of the oblivion into which it has fallen.

The society may judge of the performance from this extract: it is proper here to call to mind, that the royal society, acquainted with the zeal of M. Thouret, and his indefatigable enquiries into every thing that concerned the magnetism, charged him in their session of the twelfth of March 1784, with the collection from the authors, as well ancient as modern, of all that had been written respecting the animal magnetism. This collection, which is sufficiently complete to satisfy every reasonable desire, and of which M. Thouret communicated the plan to the society, composes the first part of his work, and is to be considered as his report to the society upon that subject. We are of opinion, that the society is extremely indebted to him in that respect. The second part contains judicious reflections and sagacious doubts. We think both of them worthy of being printed with the approbation and privilege of the society.

The society, charged by the king with the examination of all new inventions and secret methods of healing diseases, has not beheld without inquietude, the species of vogue acquired by the animal magnetism; whose procedures, whatever be their merit, have been and are administered to the diseased, and paid for by the public, without having previously, in obedience to the express provisions of the laws of the kingdom, undergone the examination of the physical profession; an abuse, against which the society, as in duty bound, has exclaimed ever since its introduction. They have a right to take much pride to themselves, that one of their members is publishing so learned enquiries upon a subject, which has not been hitherto treated but in anonymous compositions, which are, for the greater part, destined more for the amusement than the instruction of their readers. The work of M. Thouret, full of depth and sagacity, will enlighten those who are impartial in their enquiries, and will greatly tend to the solution of a question, upon which the public interest requires that sentence should be pronounced as soon as possible.

Louvre, July the 9th, 1784.

(Signed) GEOFFROY,
DESPERRIERES,
JEANROI,
DEFOURCROY,
CHAMBON,
VICQ D’AZYR.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS, &c.

The king named, on the twelfth of March 1784, four physicians of the faculty of Paris, messieurs Borie, Sallin, d’Arcet, Guillotin, to enter into the examination, and to lay before him an account of the animal magnetism practised by M. Deslon: and upon the petition of these physicians, his majesty joined with them, for the purpose of this inquisition, five members of the royal academy of sciences, messieurs Franklin, le Roy, Bailly, de Borie, Lavoisier. M. Borie having died in the commencement of the business, his majesty appointed M. Majault, doctor of the faculty, to replace him.

M. Mesmer has described the agent he professes to have discovered, and to which he has given the appellation of animal magnetism, in the following manner. “It is a fluid universally diffused; the vehicle of a mutual influence between the celestial bodies, the earth and the bodies of animated beings; it is so continued as to admit of no vacuum; its subtlety does not admit of illustration; it is capable of receiving, propagating and communicating all the impressions that are incident to motion; it is susceptible of flux and reflux. The animal body is subject to the effects of this agent; and these effects are immediately produced by the agent insinuating itself into the substance of the nerves. We particularly discover in the human body qualities analogous to those of the loadstone; we distinguish in it poles different and opposite. The action and the virtue of the animal magnetism are capable of being communicated from one body to another, animated or inanimate; they exert themselves to considerable distances, and without the least assistance from any intermediate bodies: this action is increased and reflected by mirrors; it is communicated, propagated and augmented by sound; and the virtue itself is capable of being accumulated, concentrated and transferred. Though the fluid be universal all animal bodies are not equally susceptible of it; there even are some, though very few, of so opposite a nature, as by their mere presence to supersede its effects upon any other contiguous bodies.

“The animal magnetism is capable of curing immediately diseases of the nerves, and mediately other distempers; it improves the action of medicines; it forwards and directs the salutary crises so as to subject them totally to the government of the judgment; by means of it the physician becomes acquainted with the state of health of each individual, and decides with certainty upon the causes, the nature and the progress of the most complicated distempers; it prevents their increase, and effects their extirpation, without at any time exposing the patient, whatever be his age, sex or constitution, to alarming incidents, or unpleasing consequences[6].” “In the influence of the magnetism, nature holds out to us a sovereign instrument for securing the health and lengthening the existence of mankind[7].”

Such is the agent, with the examination of which the commissioners have been charged, and whose properties are avowed by M. Deslon, who admits all the principles of M. Mesmer. This theory forms the basis of a memoir, which was read at the house of M. Deslon, on the ninth day of May, in the presence of M. the lieutenant general of the police, and the commissioners. It is asserted in this memoir, that there is but one nature, one distemper and one remedy; and this remedy is the animal magnetism. This physician, at the same time that he acquainted the commissioners with the doctrine and process of the magnetism, instructed them in its practice by discovering to them the poles, and shewing them the manner of touching the diseased, and directing in regard to them the magnetic fluid.

M. Deslon undertook to the commissioners, in the first place, to evince the existence of the animal magnetism; secondly, to communicate to them his knowledge respecting this discovery; and thirdly, to prove the utility of this discovery and of the animal magnetism in the cure of diseases.

After having thus made themselves acquainted with the theory and practice of the animal magnetism, it was necessary to observe its effects. For this purpose the commissioners adjourned themselves, and each of them repeatedly witnessed the public method of M. Deslon. They saw in the centre of a large apartment a circular box, made of oak, and about a foot or a foot and an half deep, which is called the bucket;[8] the lid of this box is pierced with a number of holes, in which are inserted branches of iron, elbowed and moveable. The patients are arranged in ranks about this bucket, and each has his branch of iron, which by means of the elbow may be applied immediately to the part affected; a cord passed round their bodies connects them one with the other: sometimes a second means of communication is introduced, by the insertion of the thumb of each patient between the forefinger and thumb of the patient next him; the thumb thus inserted is pressed by the person holding it; the impression received by the left hand of the patient, communicates through his right, and thus passes through the whole circle.

A piano forté is placed in one corner of the apartment, and different airs are played with various degrees of rapidity; vocal music is sometimes added to the instrumental.

The persons who superintend the process, have each of them an iron rod in his hand, from ten to twelve inches in length.

M. Deslon made to the commissioners the following declarations. 1st. That this rod is a conductor of the magnetism, has the power of concentring it at its point, and of rendering its emanations more considerable. 2dly. That sound, conformably to the theory of M. Mesmer, is also a conductor of the magnetism, and that to communicate the fluid to the piano forté, nothing more is necessary than to approach to it the iron rod; that the person who plays upon the instrument furnishes also a portion of the fluid, and that the magnetism is transmitted by the sounds to the surrounding patients. 3dly. That the cord which is passed round the bodies of the patients is destined, as well as the union of their fingers, to augment the effects by communication. 4thly. That the interior part of the bucket is so constructed as to concentre the magnetism, and is a grand reservoir, from which the fluid is diffused through the branches of iron that are inserted in its lid.

The commissioners in the progress of their examination discovered, by means of an electrometer and a needle of iron not touched with the loadstone, that the bucket contained no substance either electric or magnetical; and from the detail that M. Deslon has made to them respecting the interior construction of the bucket, they cannot infer any physical agent, capable of contributing to the imputed effects of the magnetism.

The patients then, arranged in considerable number and in successive ranks round the bucket, derive the magnetic virtue at once from all these conveyances: from the branches of iron, which transmit to them that of the bucket; from the cord which is passed round their bodies, and the union of their fingers, which communicate to them that of their neighbours; and from the sound of the piano forté, or of a musical voice, which diffuses it through the air. The patients are beside magnetised directly, by means of a finger or a bar of iron, guided before the face, above or behind the head, and over the surface of the parts affected, the distinction of the poles still observed; they are also acted upon by a look, and by having their attention excited. But especially they are magnetised by the application of the hands, and by the pressure of the fingers upon the hypochonders and the regions of the lower belly; an application frequently continued for a long time, sometimes for several hours.

In this situation the patients offer a spectacle extremely varied in proportion to their different habits of body. Some of them are calm, tranquil and unconscious to any sensation; others cough, spit, are affected with a slight degree of pain, a partial or an universal burning, and perspirations; a third class are agitated and tormented with convulsions. These convulsions are rendered extraordinary by their frequency, their violence and their duration. As soon as one person is convulsed, others presently are affected by that symptom. The commissioners saw accesses of this kind, which lasted upwards of three hours; they were accompanied with expectorations of a thick and viscous water, brought away by the violence of the efforts. Sometimes these expectorations were accompanied with small quantities of blood; and there is among others a lad, a patient, who has frequently brought up blood in considerable abundance. These convulsions are characterised by precipitate and involuntary motions of all the limbs or of the whole body, by a contraction of the throat, by sudden affections of the hypochonders and the epigastrium, by a distraction and wildness in the eyes, by shrieks, tears, hiccuppings, and immoderate laughter. They are either preceded or followed by a state of languor and reverie, by a species of dejection and even drowsiness. The least unforeseen noise occasions starting; and it has been observed, that the changing of the key and the time, in the airs played upon the piano forté, had an effect upon the patients; so that a quicker motion agitates them more, and renews the vivacity of their convulsions.

There is an apartment lined with quilting, which was originally destined for the patients in whom the magnetism produced convulsions, and is denominated the apartment of crises; but M. Deslon has not judged proper to make any use of it; and all the patients, whatever be the accidents of their situation, are placed together in the apartment of public proceeding.

Nothing can be more astonishing than the sight of these convulsions; he that has not had it, can have no idea of it: and in beholding it, a man is not less struck with the profound repose of one class of patients, than with the violence which agitates another; he observes with admiration the various accidents that are repeated, and the sympathies that are developed. He sees some patients seek each other with eagerness; and in approaching smile, converse with all the demonstrations of attachment, and soothe their mutual crises. They are entirely under the government of the person who distributes the magnetic virtue: in vain they may appear to be in a state of the extremest drowsiness, his voice, a look, a sign from him rouses them. It is impossible not to recognise in these regular effects an extraordinary influence, acting upon the patients, making itself master of them, and of which he who superintends the process, appears to be the depository.

These convulsive affections are improperly stiled crises in the theory of the animal magnetism: according to this doctrine indeed they are regarded as a salutary crisis, of the same kind as those which nature produces, or which a skilful physician has the art to excite to facilitate the cure of diseases. The commissioners will adopt this expression in the following report; and, wherever they employ the word crisis, they will always understand the convulsive, drowsy or lethargic affections, produced by the means of the animal magnetism.

The commissioners observed, that in the number of patients in the state of crisis, there were always many women and few men: that it was one or two hours before these crises took place; and that, when one had taken place, all the others commenced successively, and without any considerable interval. But after having made these general remarks, the commissioners were speedily of opinion, that the public process could not be made the scene of their experiments. The multiplicity of the effects is one obstacle; too many things are seen at once for any one of them to be seen well. Beside, the patients of rank, who repair hither upon account of their health, might be displeased with the enquiries of the commissioners; the very act of watching them might appear a nuisance; and the recollection of this might be burdensome, and impede the commissioners in their turn. They therefore resolved, that as their frequent attendance at the public process was unnecessary, it would be sufficient for a few of them to go from time to time, to confirm the former general observations, to make new ones in case an opportunity should occur for that purpose, and to report them to the commission assembled.

After having observed these effects at the public process, it behoved them, in the next place, to endeavour to discover their causes, and enquire into the proofs of the existence and utility of the magnetism. The question of its existence is first in order; that of its utility it were idle to examine, till the other shall have been fully resolved. The animal magnetism may indeed exist without being useful, but it cannot be useful if it do not exist.

Of consequence the first object of attention with the commissioners, and the direct tendency of their first experiments, ought to be the ascertaining this existence. Again, this was itself an object of considerable comprehension, and had need of being simplified. The animal magnetism embraces the whole compass of nature; it is the vehicle, we are told, of the influence exerted upon us by the celestial bodies; the commissioners were of opinion, that they ought, in the first place, to leave this more extensive influence out of the question, and to consider only that part of the fluid which is diffused over the earth, without troubling themselves with whence it comes; in a word, to evince the action it exercises upon us, around us, and within the sphere of our inspection, before they undertook to examine its relation to the universe.

The most certain method of determining the existence of the animal magnetic fluid, would have been, to have rendered its presence capable of being perceived by the senses; but much time was not necessary to convince the commissioners that this fluid is too subtle to be subjected to their observation. It is not, like the electrical fluid, luminous and visible; its action is not, like the attraction of the loadstone, the object of our sight; it has neither taste nor smell; its process is silent, and it surrounds you or penetrates your frame, without your being informed of its presence by the sense of touch. If therefore it exist in us and around us, it is after a manner perfectly insensible. There are persons among those who profess the magnetism, who pretend that it may sometimes be seen passing from the extremity of the fingers, which serve it for conductors, or who believe that they feel its passage when you guide your finger before their face, or along their hand. In the first of these cases, the emanation perceived is merely that of transpiration, which becomes completely visible when viewed through a solar microscope; in the second, the impression of cold or freshness which is felt, an impression by so much the more perceptible the warmer one is, results from the motion of the air which follows the finger, and the degree of whose temperature is always below that of animal heat. When, on the other hand, the finger is approached to the surface of the face, which is colder than the finger, and it is held at rest, the consequence is a sensation of heat, which is no other than the communication of the animal heat.

It is also pretended that this fluid has a smell, and that it is perceived when either the finger or an iron conductor is brought into contiguity with the nostrils; it is even said, that the sensation is different, according as the finger or the rod of iron is directed parallel with, or opposite to the poles. M. Deslon made the experiment upon several of the commissioners; the commissioners themselves have repeated it upon different subjects; not one has experienced this difference of sensation: and if, by giving a close attention, any scent has been perceived, it has been that of the iron, when the rod has been presented rubbed and heated; or that of the emanation of the transpiration, when the finger has been presented, a scent frequently combined with that of the iron with which the finger itself has been impressed. These effects have been erroneously attributed to the magnetism, but they may be traced in reality to natural and definite causes.

Indeed M. Deslon has never insisted upon these transient impressions, he did not think they were to be offered in evidence; on the contrary he expressly assured the commissioners, that he could not demonstrate to them the existence of the magnetism, otherwise than by the action of this fluid, producing certain changes in animated bodies. This existence is so much the more difficult to be demonstrated by effects, which shall be incontrovertible, and whose causes shall be unequivocal; by authentic facts, in cases where moral circumstances cannot exert their influence: in a word, by proofs calculated to convince and compel the understanding, the only ones which can yield any solid satisfaction to persons really proficient in the study of nature.

The action of the magnetism upon animated bodies may be observed in two different ways; either as it consists in that action continued for a long time, and in its salutary effects in the treatment of diseases, or in its momentary effects upon the animal œconomy and the perceptible changes there produced. M. Deslon insisted that the former of these methods should be employed principally, and nearly exclusively; the commissioners have been of a different opinion, and their reasons are as follow.

The majority of diseases have their seat in the interior part of our frame. The collective experience of a great number of centuries has made us acquainted with the symptoms, which indicate and discriminate them; the same experience has taught the method in which they are to be treated. What is the object of the efforts of the physician in this method? It is not to oppose and to subdue nature, it is to assist her in her operations. Nature, says the father of the medical science, cures the diseased; but sometimes she encounters obstacles, which constrain her in her course, and uselessly consume her strength. The physician is the minister of nature; an attentive observer, he studies the method in which she proceeds. If that method be firm, strong, regular and well directed, the physician looks on in silence, and bewares of disturbing it by remedies which would at least be useless; if the method be embarrassed, he facilitates it; if it be too slow or too rapid, he accelerates or retards it. Sometimes, to accomplish his object, he confines himself to the regulation of the diet: sometimes he employs medicines. The action of a medicine, introduced into the human body, is a new force, combined with the principal force by which our life is maintained: if the remedy follow the same route, which this force has already opened for the expulsion of diseases, it is useful, it is salutary; if it tend to open different routes, and to turn aside this interior action, it is pernicious. In the mean time it must be confessed that this salutary or pernicious influence, real as it is, may frequently escape common observation. The natural history of man presents us in this respect with very singular phenomena. It may be there seen that regimens the most opposite, have not prevented the attainment of an advanced old age. We may there see men, attacked according to all appearance with the same disease, recovering in the pursuit of opposite regimens, and in the use of remedies totally different from each other; nature is in these instances sufficiently powerful to maintain the vital principle in spite of the improper regimen, and to triumph at once over the distemper and the remedy. If it have this power of resisting the action of medicine, by a still stronger reason it must have the power of operating without medicine. The experience of the efficacy of remedies is always therefore attended with some uncertainty; in the case of the magnetism the uncertainty has this addition, the uncertainty of its existence. How then can we decide upon the action of an agent, whose existence is contested, from the treatment of diseases; when the effect of medicines is doubtful, whose existence is not at all problematical?

The cure which is principally cited in favour of the magnetism is that of M. le baron de ----; all classes are acquainted with its history. We shall not here enter into a discussion of the facts; we shall not enquire whether the remedies precedingly employed might have contributed to this cure. On the one hand the very critical situation of the patient is admitted, and on the other the inefficacy of all the ordinary means of medical science; the magnetism has been employed and M. le baron de ---- has completely recovered. But might not a natural crisis have singly operated this recovery? A woman of low rank and extremely poor, who lived at the Gros-caillou, was attacked in 1779 with a malignant fever in all its symptoms; she resolutely refused every assistance, she only desired that a vessel which she had near her should be kept constantly replenished with water: she remained quiet upon the straw which served her for a bed, drinking water continually and doing nothing more. The disease developed itself, passed successively through its different stages, and terminated in a complete cure[9]. Mademoiselle G----, who lived at the lesser royal mews, had two indurations formed in her right breast, which gave her great pain; a surgeon recommended to her the use of the Eau du Peintre as an excellent dissolvent; at the same time informing her, that if this remedy did not succeed in a month, it would be necessary to extirpate them by incision. The young lady, terrified at this sentence, consulted M. Sallin, who gave it as his opinion that the indurations were susceptible of resolution; M. Bonvart, who was also consulted, confirmed the opinion of M. Sallin. Before entering upon any course of remedy, they prescribed dissipation; fifteen days after she was seized at the opera with a violent cough, and so profuse an expectoration, that she was obliged to be carried home; she spit in the space of four hours about three pints of a viscid lymph; one hour after this M. Sallin examined the breast, he discovered no trace of induration. M. Bouvart, called in the next day, proved on his part the happy effect of this natural crisis. If mademoiselle G---- had taken Eau du Peintre, the honour of her cure would have been attributed to this medicine.

The uninterrupted observation of ages proves, and the professors of physic acknowledge, that nature alone and without our interference, cures a great number of persons. If the magnetism were absolutely inactive, the patients, who undergo this method of cure, might be considered as abandoned to nature. It would be absurd to chuse a method of deciding upon the existence of this agent, which, by attributing to it all the cures performed by nature, would tend to prove that it had an action useful and curative, when in reality it might have no action at all.