684 THE PHENOMENA, &C. 



thus be able to understand the phenomenon of rotatory movement ascribed 

 to the planetary system. 



The earth, as well as all the other celestial bodies, are continually revolv- 

 ing in the midst of this fluid, and this perpetual rotation produces an effect 

 analogous to electric motion As no angle (pointe) ever disturbs this con- 

 tinual motion, the consequence is that the universe is absolutely charged and 

 saturated with the fluid. Ccetera desunt. 



(Signed) LE MARQUIS DE PUYSEGUR. 



II. 



Busancy. 



I HASTEN to communicate to you the result of a number of experiments 

 I have recently been performing at this place. I am so agitated with plea- 

 sure, so filled with enthusiasm, that I feel I require some tranquillity of 

 body and mind, and this will be promoted in communicating my thoughts to 

 one who can understand me. I hope that by my exertions, and by those of 

 others who occupy themselves in the study of animal magnetism, we shall 

 at length succeed in tranquillizing the feelings of every individual, and de- 

 stroying the scepticism that still exists upon this subject. 



After residing ten days at this place, having laid aside all mental occupa- 

 tions, and only amusing myself with horticultural pursuits, I paid a visit to 

 my bailiff. His daughter was suffering extreme pain from the tooth-ache ; 

 I asked her in a jocose manner whether she would like to be cured. You 

 may easily suppose that she answered in the affirmative. I immediately 

 magnetized her, and in less than ten minutes she was perfectly free from pain, 

 and has not since had any attack. 



My gamekeeper's wife was, on the following day, relieved from a similar 

 pain, and by the same means, in as short a space of time. 



This success emboldened me to proceed with my experiments, and I called 

 upon a peasant, a man about twenty-three years of age, who had been con- 

 fined to his bed for four days, in consequence of an attack of pleurisy, ac- 

 companied with spitting of blood ; this was last Tuesday, the fourth of this 

 month, at eight o'clock in the evening : his fever had in some degree sub- 

 sided. I desired him to get out of bed, and I magnetized him. My surprise 

 was extreme on beholding this man fall gently asleep in my arms within 

 about a quarter of an hour, without any convulsive movement. I continued 

 the crisis, which produced vertigo ; he began to talk, and spoke about his 

 affairs. When I perceived that his ideas appeared to affect him in a dis- 

 agreeable way, I endeavoured to divert them to a more pleasing subject, and 

 to produce the effect no great efforts were required on my part ; he then 

 began to evince great delight, fancying that he was shooting for a prize, danc- 

 ing at a ball, &c. &c. At the expiration of two days he was completely 

 restored to health. 



The cure I had effected in this case induced other peasants to call at the 

 chateau to consult me about their complaints. In order to relieve these poor 

 people in a simultaneous manner, and to save great exertions on my part, 

 I came to the resolution of magnetizing a tree, according to the plan laid 

 down by Mr. Mesmer; and after attaching a rope to it, I tried its effects 

 upon my patients, and last night I made the experiment for the first time. 

 I sent for the first patient, and as soon as the rope had been put round him, 

 he looked up at the tree, and exclaimed, with an air of astonishment, which 

 I cannot describe, " What do I see yonder!" He then bent his head and 

 entered into a state of perfect somnambulism. At the expiration of an hour I 

 conducted him to his house, when I restored him the use of his senses. Several 

 persons told him what had happened, but he maintained that they were im- 

 posing upon him, that in the weak state to which he had been reduced, 



