674 MESMERISM. 



Gall was at considerable pains to examine into the facts 

 of mesmerism. It was then in high favour with many, and 

 adopted by many physiologists in their writings, so that he felt 

 " the subject as delicate as it formerly was to proceed against 

 sorcerers." m To avoid the charge of misrepresentation,, he 

 quotes the words of Kessler, who maintains that the epigastrium 

 of the magnetised can perform the functions of all the five senses, 

 and more acutely too than the special organs under ordinary 

 circumstances ; the fingers read the smallest print ; the contact of 

 the magnetiser's thumb render the ears unnecessary for hearing, 

 " the most common fact in the world, and the simplest experiment;" 

 and complete vision take place with the eyes shut, so that all ob- 

 stacles are avoided as dexterously in strange as in familiar places, 

 " I will not bring a multitude of proofs, and the authentic testi- 

 mony of many credible persons, ' says Kessler, " but will mention 

 only what I have seen again and again, and of the truth of which 

 any one may satisfy himself favourably by his own experience." 

 Gall then, at great length, quotes Walther, the professor at Land- 

 shut, for a description of the stages of mesmerism, in the highest of 

 which (clairvoyance) " time and space no longer present obstacles 

 to the penetration of the magnetised," " who sees as distinctly 

 into the interior of the magnetiser's body as into his own," the 

 reason of which is, that " all the nervous system is an identity 

 and a totality a pure transparence without cloud, an infinite 

 expansion without bounds or obstacles, such is universal 

 sense ;" and, as " in the waking state the soul is more closely 

 and intimately united with the body," and " natural sleep is a 

 more intimate communication of our soul with the universal soul of 

 the world ; so in magnetic sleep our soul is united in the most 

 intimate manner with the soul of the world and with the body, 

 and with the latter not by means of the nervous system only, but 

 immediately in all its parts and members, so that life is no longer 

 a particularity, but original life." " If any one," says Gall, 

 " is convinced of all these marvellous fancies, and especially if 

 he comprehends them, he is justified in asserting that such a doc- 

 trine exercises the most important influence upon the whole science 

 of nature." Reil, so strangely brought forward as the rival of Gall, 



m 1. c. 4to. vol. i. p. 135. sqq. 



n Priifung des Gallschen Systems. Jena, 1805. 



Phys. t. ii. p. 244. 



