1 882.] 
Mesmerism . 
135 
bolts of inveCtive against the invader of his little realm of 
comfortable prejudices. Are we so very wise that we can 
afford to jeer at anything which is contrary to what we call 
the fixed laws of Nature ? What, we would ask, are the 
fixed laws of Nature? Are they not simply the general- 
isations of human experience ? And is it possible that 
Experience shall instruct us no more ? Where are now the 
persecutors of Galileo, Bacon, and Vesalius ? Is Newton 
still accused of dethroning the Deity ? Or is Harvey’s dis- 
covery of the circulation of the blood still stigmatised as 
having no foundation in faCt, and of being the outcome of a 
diseased imagination ? Calumny is silent, dead, and buried 
in the obscurity of the tomb, and in its place has arisen a 
feeling of gratitude towards those men who suffered so much 
for the cause of truth. “ Nor,” says Smiles, “ is the unjust 
intolerance displayed towards men in the past without its 
lesson for the present. It teaches us to be forbearant to- 
wards those who differ from us, provided they observe 
patiently, think honestly, and utter their convictions freely 
and truthfully.” 
Let us, then, in dealing with any theories that may be 
opposed to our convictions, and which are subjected to our 
criticism, lay aside our opinionativeness, and, with a mind 
free from petty prejudices, set ourselves to examination and 
inquiry. 
The mysterious and extraordinary nature of the subject 
we are about to discuss, together with the faCt that many 
of its most wonderful phenomena have been associated in 
the public mind with the tricks of charlatans and impostors, 
render it a matter of peculiar difficulty for us to treat of it 
in a scientific and methodical manner. In pursuance of this 
objedt we shall at once plunge in medias res, without entering 
into a detailed history of the science, improperly so called. 
Before, however, proceeding to ascertain, if possible, the 
established relations between the effect and its cause, we 
would say that the art which is now most generally compre- 
hended under the name of Mesmerism is undoubtedly of very 
ancient origin, dating probably many centuries before the 
birth of Christ. Not that it then existed as a distinct agent, 
but, floating under various garbs along with the germs of 
Astronomy and Chemistry, it entered largely into the arts 
of Astrology and Magic. 
It is not our intention, nor indeed will space permit us, 
to enumerate in detail the phenomena which characterise 
the effects of Mesmerism on the human system. Suffice it 
to say that by the application of artificial means, the 
rationale of which will shortly be discussed, it is possible to 
