MEDICINE 187 



tained in the Mumia, and by imparting the Mumia we 

 impart life. The visible body seems to see and to talk, 

 and yet we do not see the powers that see and talk 

 through it. Likewise the action of the Mumia upou 

 the visible body cannot be perceived by the senses — 

 only its effects can be seen. A visible form without 

 vitality has no other power but its own weight ; but if 

 it contains the Mumia, it may perform a great deal. 

 The Mumia is the arcanum, the ' flower of man,' and 

 the true elixir of life. The Mumia acts from one living 

 being directly upon another, or it may be connected with 

 some material and visible vehicle, and be employed in 

 that shape " ^ (Be Origine Morbor. Invisibilium), 



Sympathetic Cures 



" Man possesses a magnetic power by which he can 

 attract certain effluvia of a good or evil quality in the 

 same manner as a magnet will attract particles of iron. 

 A magnet may be prepared from iron that will attract 

 iron, and a magnet may be prepared out of some vital 

 substance that will attract vitality. Such a magnet is 

 called the ' magnes microcosmi' and it is prepared out of 

 substances that have remained for a time in the human 

 body, and are penetrated by its vitality. Such substances 

 are the hair, the excrements, urine, blood, &c. If it is 

 desirable to use the excrements, they are to be dried in 

 a shadowy, dry, and moderately warm place until they 

 have lost their humidity and odour. By this process all 

 the Mumia has gone out of them, and they are, so to say, 

 hungry to attract vitality again. If such a magnet is 

 applied to a part of the patient's body, it attracts and 

 absorbs vitality from that part in the same manner as a 

 sponge absorbs water, and it will thereby allay the in- 



* Paracelsus, not Mesmer, ia the original discoverer of so-called Mes- 

 merism. 



