MESMERISM, ODYLISM, TABLE-TURNING, ETC. 161 



problems of meteorology are of baffling intricacy, how mnch more so 

 are those of history, with their elements of ignorance, of passion, and 

 caprice all controlling forces vastly greater than themselves! We 

 have recently seen a few votes among hundreds decide the adminis- 

 tration of the republic for years ; and, within a decade, have beheld a 

 single general's timidity or treachery betray a noble army into the 

 enemy's hands, involving wide-spread ruin and deep national disgrace. 

 And how often are our own individual lives utterly changed in pur- 

 pose by a mere word, a smile, or a tear ! 







I 



MESMEKISM, ODYLISM, TABLE-TUENING, AND 



Si^IKITUALISM. 



Br WILLIAM B. CAKl'ENTEE, C. B., M, D., LL. D., F. E. S. 



II. 



T was asserted, about thirty years ago, by Baron von Reichen- 

 bach, whose researches on the chemistry of the hydrocarbons con- 

 stitute the foundation of our present knowledge of f)araffin and its 

 allied products of the distillation of coal, that he had found certain 

 " sensitive " subjects so peculiarly affected by the neighborhood of 

 magnets or crystals as to justify the assumption of a special polar 

 force, which he termed Odyle, allied to, but not identical with, mag- 

 netism ; present in all material substances, though generally in a less 

 degree than in magnets and crystals; but called into energetic ac- 

 tivity by any kind of physical or chemical change, and therefore 

 especially abundant in the human body. Of the existence of this 

 odylic force, which he identified with the "animal magnetism" of 

 Mesmer, he found what he maintained to be adequate evidence in the 

 peculiar sensations and attractions experienced by his "sensitives" 

 when in the neighborhood either of magnets or crystals, or of human 

 beings specially charged with it. After a magnet had been repeat- 

 edly drawn along the arm of one of these subjects, she would feel a 

 pricking, streaming, or shooting sensation ; she would smell odors 

 proceeding from it ; or she would see a small volcano of flame issuing 

 from its poles when gazing at them, even in broad daylight. As in 

 the magnetic sleep light is often seen by the somnambule to issue 

 from the operator's fingers, so the odylic light was discerned in the 

 dark by Von Reichenbach's " sensitives," issuing not only from the 

 hands, but from the head, eyes, and mouth, of powerful generators of 

 this force. One individual in particular was so peculiarly sensitive, 

 that she saw (in the dark) sparks and flames issuing from ordinary 

 nails and hooks in a wall. It was further affirmed that certain of 



VOL. XI. 11 



