REPORT ON ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 139 



must first be disordered, to enable us to restore order 

 .... but the shock must be unique .... whereas in 

 the public treatment by magnetism .... the habit of 

 the crises cannot but be injurious. 



This thought related to the most delicate considera- 

 tions. It was developed in a report addressed to the 

 king personally. This report was to have remained 

 secret, but it was published some years since. It should 

 not be regretted ; the magnetic treatment, regarded in a 

 certain point of view, pleased sick people much ; they 

 are now aware of ah 1 its dangers. 



In conclusion, Bailly's report completely upsets an 

 accredited error. This was an important service, nor 

 was it the only one. In searching for the imaginary 

 cause of animal magnetism, they ascertained the real 

 power that man can exert over man, without the imme- 

 diate and demonstrable intervention of any physical 

 agent; they established that "the most simple actions 

 and signs sometimes produce most powerful effects ; that 

 man's action on the imagination may be reduced to an 

 art .... at least in regard to persons who have faith." 

 This work finally showed how our faculties should be 

 experimentally studied ; in what way psychology may 

 one day come to be placed among the exact sciences. 



I have always regretted that the commissioners did not 

 judge it expedient to add a historical chapter to their 

 excellent work. The immense erudition of Bailly would 

 have given it an inestimable value. I figure to myself, 

 also, that in seeing the Mesmeric practices that have now 

 been in use during upwards of two thousand years, the 

 public would have asked itself whether so long an inter- 

 val of time had ever been required to push a good and 

 useful thing forward into estimation. By circumscribing 



