CHAPTER XVII. 



THE OPPOSITION TO HYPNOTISM AND PSYCHICAL BESEAKCH. 



Speak gently of the new-born gift, restrain the scoff and sneer, 

 And think how much we may not learn is yet around us here ; 

 What paths there are where faith must lead, and knowledge cannot 



share, 



Though still we tread the devious way, and feel that truth is there. 



Anon. (1844). 



Sleep, sleep on ! forget thy pain ; 



My 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. 



Shelley. 



ALTHOUGH the subjects to be now discussed have made 

 some progress in the last quarter of the century, this 

 was preceded by a long period of ignorance, accom- 

 panied by the most violent opposition, extremely dis- 

 creditable to an age of such general research and free- 

 dom of inquiry in all other branches of human knowl- 

 edge. A brief outline of the nature of this opposition 

 will be interesting; and may serve as a warning to those 

 who still put faith in the denunciations of the public 

 press, or of those writers who pose as authorities without 

 having devoted any serious study to the subject. 



The phenomena of Animal Magnetism, often termed 

 Mesmerism, and now Hypnotism, were discovered by a 

 physician of Vienna named Mesmer about the year 1770. 



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