364 Olservations on the Letter of Mr. Friedlander 



practice of magnetism has been forbidden to all persons who have 

 not attained a knowledge of the elements of medicine, and who 

 have not received a certificate, jjroying tlicin duh c|',ialilii'<i, from 

 the committee appointed to examine the capahilitv ot the phy- 

 sicians. By this means there is now notliina; to f^ar from a 

 power which, in the hands of the ignorant, of enthu'iiasis, and 

 quack;!, might have been subversive even of social order. On the 

 other hand, tiie goveriiment has raised magnetism to the rank 

 of those sciences which are to form a part of the public instruc- 

 tion : — it has named Mr. Woh'art, Professor in ordinarv of the 

 Faculty, and Director of a Magnetic Seminary which it has 

 added to the numerous useful public establishments existing at 

 Berlin. Magnetism is thus placed within the observation of such 

 of the faculty as can appretiate its advantages and its inconve- 

 niences, and separate that which may be illusory or exaggerated 

 from that which is incontestably true. 



The practice of magnetism is more or less known in the rest 

 of Germanv. I have travelled over a part of it, and have found 

 that it is generally pursued with toIer.iWe impartiality and ;'eal. 

 At Vienna it had been prohibited by government ; it was em- 

 ployed notv.-ithstanding, and that even publicly. At the time of 

 tiie Congress, several magnetic experiments were made in pre- 

 schcjC of the august strangers there assembled, v,liich succeeded 

 to their entire satisfaction. In fine, last summer the prohibition 

 was entirely taken off by a government order, and the practice 

 of magnetism was confided to medical gentlemen particularly 

 approved. On this subject, Mr. F. seems ignorant of this decree, 

 for he says nothing of it in his letter. He is dou'Dtless not aware 

 that the King of Sweden has just sent an eminent physician 

 to Berlin to be instructed bv Mr. Wolfart ; and that the Em- 

 peror of Russia has sent thither Mr. Stoffregen, first physician 

 to the Emp'css. Other foreign physicians have visited Berlin of 

 their own accord, with the same views. This is sufficient proof 

 that in the Northern countries magnetism is not regarded as a 

 chimera. 



In fact, it is time to leave off disputing the reality of a thing 

 ■which has for the last thirty years occupied the attention of the 

 public. Nothing is more easy in medicine, than to reason, as 

 Mr. Pinel frequently says : but at the same time nothing is more 

 useless: indeed, nothing tends so much to prevent real observa- 

 tion and accurate experiment. This has unfortunately been the 

 lot of magnetism. Each man arrogates to himself the right of 

 reasoning and deciding ; they exhaust the arguments a priori, 

 drawn from the elements of phvsiologv : but no one examines 

 into facts; no one gives himself the trouble of making accurate 



and 



