924 The American Naturalist. [November, 
magnetism without imagination produces nothing. They have 
come to the unanimous conclusion with respect to the existence 
and utility of magnetism, that there is nothing to prove the 
existence of the animal magnetic fluid; that this fluid, since 
it is non-extistent, has no beneficial effect; that the violent 
effects observed in patients under public treatment are due to 
contact, to the excitement of the imagination, and to mechan- 
ical imitation which involuntarily impels us to repeat that 
which strikes our senses. At the same time, they are compelled 
add, since it is an important observation, that the contact and 
repeated excitement of the imagination which produce the 
crises may become hurtful; that the spectacle of these crises is 
likewise dangerous, on account of the imitation faculty which is 
a law of Nature; and consequently that all treatment in public 
in which magnetism is employed must in the end be produc- 
tive of evil results. 
(Signed) B. FRANKLIN, MAJAULT. 
Bairnry, LeRoy, D'Anckr. 
DrBory, GUILLOTIN. 
. LAVOISIER. 
Shortly after this report was presented, the Royal Society of | 
Medicine filed their report in which they came to the same . 
conclusions, one member, however, Laurent de Jussieu, dis- 
senting. De Jussieu filed a separate report in which he fore- 
shadowed several points now universally acknowledged to be 
established truths. He declared that the experiments de- 
monstrated the fact that man was capable of producing a 
sensible impression on his fellows through the agency of fric- 
tion or, contact. Charcot has shown that “ the efficacy of con- 
tact and friction is proved by the existence in certain subjects 
of hypnogenic zones, of which the slightest stimulation pro- 
duces somnambulism; that the irritation of hysteriogenic 
zones produces convulsions, and that these zones are generally 
seated in the hypochondriac, or in the ovarian regions, on 
which Mesmer preferred to exercise his manipulations.” M. de 
Puységur of Buzancy, near Soissons gave, in 1784, the first 
account of hypnotism produced by manipulation, and the 
sequent phenomena of healing by suggestion. He discovered 
