120 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



advanced states of automatism ; seveuth, absolute forgetful - 

 iiess of all that has occurred during the sleep ; eightli, 

 patient entertains any hallucination suggested to him by the 

 operator. All this may be, and. doubtless is, perfectly true ; 

 but these external appearances throw no light upon — in no- 

 wise account for — the singular mental and bodily condition 

 into which the patient is thrown. Let us glance briefly at the 

 history of the phenomena. 



There can be little doubt but tliat the very singular con- 

 dition into which the animal body can be brought by what is 

 now known as the hypnotic sleep, or trance, was familiar to 

 many nations, and was practised for the purposes of deception 

 or otherwise, long before Mesmer's time. But Mesmer was, I 

 believe, the first to hiduce that condition in public, and to 

 employ it as a curative agent. His theory in explanation of 

 the phenomena was a remarkable one. He professed to believe 

 that the heavenly bodies diffuse through the universe a subtle 

 fluid which acts upon and influences the nervous system of all 

 animals. By that influence he could, he averred, effect a 

 painless cure of all diseases by the simple process of making a 

 few passes. His modus operandi was to receive his patients in 

 a richly-furnished room, pervaded by perfumes, and echoing 

 soft music. He suffered them to remain there undisturbed for 

 some little time : their senses became lulled, all nervous agita- 

 tion subsided, and then Mesmer himself appeared, waving a 

 magic wand. Probably he performed a kind of incantation 

 scene on these occasions, which may fitly be descril)ed in the 

 words of Shelley's " Magnetic Lady to her Patient " — 



" Sleep, sleep on ! forget thy pain. 



]\Iy hand is on thy brow, 

 My spirit on thy brain, 

 My pity on thy heart, poor friend ; 



And from my fingers flow 

 The powers of life, and, like a sign, 



Seal thee from thine hour of woe. 

 * * * * * 



The spell is done. How feel you now ? 



Better ?" " Quite well," replied 

 The sleeper. 



That was the process and the result, for under this treat- 

 ment many of his patients fell into the mesmeric state, and 

 were cured, or professed to be so, of their maladies. Other 

 operators induced the same phenomena by using magnets, and 

 Mesmer, not being able to obtain the influence of the heavenly 

 bodies at command, resorted to the use of magnets himself. 

 He was very successful, but his success was not due to the 

 heavenly influence, nor the magnets, nor the operator himself, 

 but to the soothing surroundings which lulled his patients to 

 sleep. His practice became so large, and his fame so great, 



