MESMERISM, OBYLISM, TABLE-TURNING, ETC. 163 



out any indication being given to the " sensitive " of this change of 

 its conditions. And tlie same remark ai:)plies to the more recent 

 statement of Lord Lindsay, as to Mr. Home's recognition of the posi- 

 tion of a permanent magnet in a totally-darkened room ; the value of 

 this solitary fact, for which there are plenty of ways of accounting, 

 never having been tested by the use of an electro-magnet, whose 

 active or passive condition should be entirely unknown, not only to 

 Mr. Home but to every person present. 



That " sensitives " like Von Reichenbach's, in so far as they are 

 not intentional deceivers (which many hysterical subjects are consti- 

 tutionally prone to be), can feel, see, or smell, anything that they were 

 led to believe that they would feel, see, or smell, was soon proved by 

 the experimental inquiries of Mr. Braid, many of which I myself wit- 

 nessed. He found that not only in hysterical girls, but in many men 

 and women " of a highly-concentrative and imaginative turn of mind," 

 though otherwise in ordinary health, it was sufficient to fix the atten- 

 tion on any particular form of e-xpectancy such as pricking, stream- 

 ing, heat, cold, or other feelings, in any part of the body over which 

 a magnet was being drawn ; luminous emanations from the poles of a 

 magnet in the dark, in some cases even in full daylight ; or the attrac- 

 tion of a magnet or crystal held Avithin reach of the hand for that 

 expectancy to be fully realized. And, conversely, the same sensations 

 were equally produced when the subjects of them were led to believe 

 that the same agency was being employed, although nothing what- 

 ever was really done ; the same flames being seen when the magnet 

 was concealed by shutting it in a box, or even when it was carried 

 out of the room, Avithout the knowledge of the subject; and the 

 attraction of the magnet for the hand being entirely governed by the 

 idea previously suggested, positive or negative results being thus 

 obtained with either pole, as Mr. Braid might direct. "I know," be 

 says of one of his subjects, " that this lady was incapable of trying to 

 deceive myself or others present ; but she was self-deceived and spell- 

 bound by the predominance of a preconceived idea, and was not less 

 surprised at the varying powers of the instrument than were others 

 who witnessed the results." ' 



One of Mr. Braid's best " subjects " was a gentleman residing in 

 Manchester, well known for his high intellectual culture, great general 

 ability, and strict probity. He had such a remarkable power of vol- 

 untary abstraction as to be able at any time to induce in himself a 

 state akin to profoimd reverie (corresponding to what has been since 

 most inappropriately called the "biological"), in which he became so 

 completely "possessed" by any idea strongly enforced upon him, 

 that his whole state of feeling and action was dominated by it. Thus 

 it was sufficient for him to place his hand upon the table and fix his 

 attention upon it for half a minute, to be entirely unable to withdraw 

 1 "The Power of the Mind over the Body," 1846, p. 20. 



