Polytechnic Association. 627 



to England, associating himself with M. d'Eslon, who was also a 

 believer. 



Mesmer always kept aloof from scientific investigation. lie kept 

 away from the French Academy. But M. d'Eslon pursued a differ- 

 ent course. When Mr. Crookes says that scientific men have neg- 

 lected this matter, it shows he is not aware of what has been done. 

 The Academy of Sciences appointed a committee of five to investigate 

 the matter, the committee embracing Lavoisier, Franklin, and Bailly. 

 They first undertook to ascertain whether such a force existed. They 

 examined the apparatus, and discovered nothing. Then they placed 

 patients around it, and they found that when they were connected 

 with it, without being magnetized, they felt it ; but if they were mag- 

 netized, without knowing it, they felt nothing. They came to the 

 conclusion, therefore, that the whole paraphernalia was only a means 

 of acting upon the imagination of the patients. 



The first practical experience I had with mesmerism was in Hol- 

 land, about 1S33, nearly forty years ago. Persons w r ere put into the 

 so-called clairvoyant state by hand-motions. I was much inclined to 

 believe in it, and was very anxious to come to a knowledge of the 

 truth. I would now like to believe that it is true ; but I cannot. I 

 found, after several sessions, that it depended altogether upon imagina- 

 tion. It was generally hysteric females who were most easily influ- 

 enced. At one time I was inclined to believe it, and even supposed 

 that I felt the influence myself; but I came to the conclusion that 

 imagination, in the first place, and then exaggeration, sufficiently 

 explained the most wonderful accounts. I found nothing indicating 

 :i supernatural or a new force. 



In this country, the phenomenon assumed a new phase, which 

 was called the " spiritual knockings." So many deceptions have been 

 practiced in this as to throw strong doubts upon the whole, even 

 among believers. But in the present state of the controversy, spirit- 

 ualism is excluded ; for those who agree with Mr. Crookes unite in 

 saying that spiritualism is a delusion. But they say that there is a 

 force residing in the human body, besides the muscular force, which 

 manifests itself in these phenomena ; and they say it is very probable 

 that there is such a force, because we know that persons under excite- 

 ment perform acts for which their ordinary strength is insufficient. 



We perceive at once the great difference between Mesmerism and 

 Psychic force. Mesmerism acted only upon human bodies, or objects 

 which could be acted upon by the imagination. But Home causes 

 inanimate objects to move. 



