io6 AN INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



the charlatan. Certain so-called sensitives claim that 

 they can feel the presence of a magnet; yet it has 

 been found by experiment that human beings feel 

 nothing when their heads are brought into the field 

 of magnetic attraction excited by the most powerful 

 magnets. It is possible that there' are persons ex- 

 ceptionally constituted who are possessed of a special 

 sensitiveness to magnetic conditions ; but if so, none 

 of these have yet succeeded in placing their faculty 

 under the criticism of competent observers in circum- 

 stances that would preclude all possibility of deceit. 

 The only excuse that I know of for retaining the term 

 " animal magnetism/' founded originally on a false 

 theory, is the surmise of a sort of dim analogy between 

 tlie sympathies of human beings, often most strongly 

 manifested between opposite temperaments, and the 

 attraction which exists between the opposite poles of 

 magnets. It would be premature, though perhaps 

 possible, to suggest that any of the restrictions or 

 modifications of form or function in animal cells pre- 

 sent anything resembling polarity. 



Note. — The student interested in animal electrioitj- should 

 consult Waller's " Introduction to Human Phj-siology " 

 (Longmans, 1893). A reliable account of "Animal Mag- 

 netism " may be found in the article under this lieading, by 

 Prof. McKendrick, in the Encyclopcedia Brilannica. 



