716 Hypnotism in Animals. [September, 



represented at the close of last century by the witchcraft of New 

 England, and still later within the memory of men now living, 

 by the " convulsive" and "laughing" mania among the Metho- 

 dists—notably in the State of Kentucky, where it is said that 

 on one occasion as many as 5000 persons in camp meeting were 

 under the " influence " at one time. The victims fell in convul- 

 sions and soon passed into a state of ecstatic trance, and were 

 laid out on the grass in rows to recover themselves. 



ditions as forms of disease, under the names of hysteria, cata- 

 lepsy, ecstacy and lethargy. No more marvelous stories can be 

 found in the whole range of fiction than are presented as sober 

 matters of fact in the standard works on nervous diseases— such 

 as of Charcot, Weir Mitchell and Hammond. 



In this place are to be classed the modern miracles of the 

 Church. The history of " Our Lady of Lourdes " finds an exact 

 parallel in many of the cases that have been lately so thoroughly 

 studied at the Hospice Salpetriere in France, by Chalcot. 



All of these phenomena may be grouped into a single allied 

 genus, of which the various forms of manifestation may be con- 

 sidered species. Mesmerism is one of the species, clairvoyance 

 and modern spiritualism may be mentioned as others. No sys- 

 tematic or scientific attempt was made to study into the nature of 

 these phenomena until the time of Mesmer, from whom this term 

 is derived. 



Mesmer was a German physician who went to Paris in 1778 to 

 practice his new discovery of" animal magnetism " in the cure of 

 disease. In six years he amassed a large fortune, and during 

 that time kept Paris in a fever of excitement with his doings. 



In 1784 a royal commission was appointed, of which Benjamin 

 Franklin was one, to investigate his methods. Their report was 

 unfavorable to the claims of animal magnetism, and Mesmer s 

 popularity soon declined. 



Mesmer's exploits in Paris are designated by Mills as the first 

 epoch in " mesmerism." 



The second epoch is that of Braid, an English physician, 184*- 

 Braid disclaimed anything like animal magnetism in his opera- 

 tions, and explained them by referring to physiological and psy- 

 chological influences in the subject. 



He gave the name of hypnotism to the phenomena produced, 



