MESMERISM. 691 



time before his death possessed the power of gradually reducing 

 the action of his heart till it became imperceptible and for half 



lectually and morally, for me to condescend to notice. Materialism is as great a 

 horror to him as phrenology ; and he fancies that mesmerism proves the existence 

 of a soul independent of body, and is doing wonders by weaning people " from 

 the deadly error of materialism and infidelity, and giving birth to a sound and re- 

 ligious faith." (Vol. ii. p. 176. ) He is thus ignorant that materialists may not only 

 believe in God, but in the divine authority of Scripture; and more honour Scripture 

 by looking implicitly in full faith to it alone, as God's authority, for their belief 

 in a future state, than those who endeavour to make its declarations more pro- 

 bable by fancying a soul immortal in its own nature and independent of matter, 

 when the Scripture tells us we shall rise as matter, with bodies, and go to 

 heaven with bodies, where Christ, God himself, sits bodily, as matter, flesh, 

 blood, and bones, in the words of the Church of England. (See my arguments 

 at pages 39. sqq., 360. sqq.) 



He supposes that, when Negretti had dressed a salad and then ate first cabbage 

 and then tart instead, without perceiving the trick, and did not know that he 

 was drinking water when he had called for wine, his " soul only was busy, 

 without any co-operation of the body." (Vol. i. p. 344. sq.) Negretti's im- 

 material soul was resident in his brain, however, at the time, because Ne- 

 gretti was eating and drinking and doing a great many things with his body set 

 in action by his brain, which was evidently hard at work. He conceives that 

 in sleep there is always dreaming, that the soul can never sleep, but is always 

 at work; and that, when we are conscious of dreaming, it is only that the 

 soul is struggling to manifest its independent activity without the co-operation 

 of the bodily organs. (Vol. ii. p. 121.) It is a pity that the soul does not suc- 

 ceed ; for, when acting only half followed by the brain, it works much worse 

 than when completely so, our dreams being generally absurdities. (See supra, 

 p. 626.) I wonder why we should not recollect what our soul does in sound 

 dreamless sleep without the co-operation of the brain : surely it must have 

 memory. I wonder why, if it works so well without the brain, nature entangles 

 it in a brain at all. 



In mesmeric sleep-waking he contends that all has proceeded without the 

 brain. The sleep- waker " remembers nothing, because the soul acts perfectly 

 without the body, and every thing has taken place out of the brain, since we 

 have seen that the fluid goes in search of objects." (Vol. ii. p. 159; vol. i. 

 p. 302.) In the subsequent fit, however, all is remembered, and yet the fluid 

 must be again gone out in search. It must, therefore, be at home and abroad 

 at the same time. So powerful does he believe the soul unencumbered by, 

 body to be in sleep-waking, that he actually declares not only that he is not 

 aware of a sleep-waker perishing in the dangers which he frequently encounters, 

 but that " so long as he is left undisturbed in his proceedings he acts fearlessly 

 and is safe, 4 ' " that he is protected from injury by other means and guarantees 

 of security than those by which his conduct is regulated in his ordinary waking 



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