or. Gee Loam T ~~. 
“i 
128 . BAILLY. 
communication and of influence among the celestial 
globes ;—a fluid capable of flux and reflux, which intro- 
duced itself more or less abundantly into the substance 
of the nerves, and acted on them in a useful manner,— 
thence the name of animal magnetism given to this 
fluid. 
Mesmer said: “ Animal magnetism may be accumu-. 
lated, concentrated, transported, without the aid of any 
intermediate body. It is reflected like light; musical 
sounds propagate and augment it.” 
Properties so distinct, so precise, seemed as if they 
must be capable of experimental verification. It was 
requisite, then, to be prepared for some instance of want 
of success, and Mesmer took good care not to neglect it. 
The following was his declaration: “ Although the fluid 
be universal, all animated bodies do not equally assimi- 
late it into themselves ; there are some even, though very 
few in number, that by their very presence destroy the 
effects of this fluid in the surrounding bodies.” 
So soon as this was admitted, as soon it was allowed 
to explain instances of non-success by the presence of 
neutralizing bodies, Mesmer no longer ran any risk of 
being embarrassed. Nothing prevented his announcing, 
in full security, “that animal magnetism could immedi- 
ately cure diseases of the nerves, and mediately other 
diseases ; that it afforded to doctors the means of judging 
with certainty of the origin, the nature, and the progress 
of the most complicated maladies; that nature, in short, 
offered in magnetism a universal means of curing and 
preserving mankind.” 
Before quitting Vienna, Mesmer had communicated 
his systematic notions to the principal learned societies 
of Europe. ‘The Academy of Sciences at Paris, and the 
