THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ASPECT OF MESMERISM. 801 



details as to the method of magnetization. In Paris the belief in the 

 power of Mesraer to cure diseases soon waned ; but by this time he 

 had made a stir in the world, and had drawn attention to a number of 

 facts which were either only locally known, or largely disregarded. 

 Mesmer devoted himself chiefly to curing patients, and it must be 

 added, to receiving fees ; but about ten years after the time of his com- 

 ing to Paris it was found that a state resembling somnambulism, or 

 sleep-walking, could be produced in some persons by magnetizing 

 them. This gave a stimulus to the investigation of what I may call 

 the magical side of the phenomena. This magical side had always 

 been present, but in the height of Mesmer' s power had not been much 

 regarded. Of the magic of animal magnetism I will say one word 

 more presently. 



The term animal magnetism lingered long, but has now happily 

 fallen into disuse, either mesmerism or hypnotism being used in its 

 stead. " Hypnotism " we owe to Dr. Braid, of Manchester, who, from 

 1841 to the time of his death in 1860, subjected all the phenomena said 

 to be produced in the magnetic state to a searching investigation. 

 Braid is the founder of mesmerism in its scientific aspect. Hypnotism 

 and mesmerism, as commonly used now, are synonymous terms ; it 

 would be advantageous, I think, if we could make a distinction be- 

 tween them. We might, for example, use the term hypnotism to em- 

 brace all those phenomena which are proved, and the term mesmerism 

 to embrace all those phenomena which are not proved. Mesmerism 

 would then mean what I have called its magical side, and would em- 

 brace those phenomena which are sometimes called the higher phe- 

 nomena of mesmerism. These are of variotis kinds. It is said, for in- 

 stance, that one person can, at any time he wishes, mesmerize another 

 who is at a distance, and who is in perfect ignorance of the intentions 

 of the mesmerizer ; that a mesmerized person can perceive the thoughts 

 and sensations of the mesmerizer, without receiving any indications 

 from the known organs of sense ; that a clairvoyant can see with parts 

 of the body other than the eyes, for example, with the back of the head, 

 or with the pit of the stomach ; that a clairvoyant can describe places 

 and persons which he has never read of, or heard of, or seen. Those 

 observers who have done most to elucidate the subject, such as Braid, 

 have failed to observe any of these and other similar higher phenom- 

 ena. They are unproved. It would be convenient, I say, to include 

 such phenomena only, under the heading of mesmerism; but this I can 

 not yet venture to do. The facts I have to mention I shall call those 

 of hypnotism or mesmerism indifferently. The magical side of the 

 subject may, I think, at present be fairly left out of account. 



The primary point in mesmerism is the paralysis of the will ; the 

 nervous system is then out of the control of the subject, whether ani- 

 mal or man, and, by appropriate stimulation, any one or more of his 

 nerve-centers can be set in activity. I shall consider first the behavior 



VOL. XXV. — 51 



