1882.] 
Mesmerism. 
139 
alike to logic and common sense. It assumes that because 
certain phenomena are produced by certain means and under 
certain conditions, therefore it is a physical impossibility for 
the same phenomena to be produced by other means and 
under other conditions ! What if we were to argue that 
because complete insensibility may be occasioned by pressure 
on a certain portion of the brain, it must follow, as a neces- 
sary sequence, that it is impossible for chloroform to produce 
the same effedts, or, granting its ability to do so, its action 
must be to produce compression of that part ! Would it not 
be said of us that we were sadly deficient in regard to that 
very necessary article — nous ? 
Nothing is further from our intention than to deprecate 
the fa6t that the mesmeric trance may be produced by the 
above means. We simply wish it to be understood that, 
besides occurring naturally, the trance may be produced by 
other means, and that it is not improbable that both these 
means are adequate to the effedt. This is further borne out 
by the fadt that patients may be mesmerised when asleep, 
and consequently under conditions entirely different from 
those which are necessary for subduing the adtion of con- 
scious volition. This is no fidtion ; it is a fadt, and is 
attested to by men whose honour and integrity are above 
suspicion. 
When we consider the energetic nature of the opposition 
which has at all times been brought to bear against the 
theory of animal magnetism, we are inclined to think that 
there must be other reasons than these for denying the 
existence of this fluid. Are there, let us ask, any theoretical 
grounds for supposing that such a fluid can have no exist- 
ence ? Are there any reasons why, physiologically, it should 
be impossible for a fluid possessing these properties to be 
connedted with vital organisation ? Is there not diredt evi- 
dence to the contrary ? Are you not aware that in your 
own body, whenever a muscle contracts, whenever nerve 
energy is propagated, and in all probability whenever an idea 
is generated, eledtricity is evolved ? Take also the case of 
the eledtric ray, or torpedo, a fish possessing the remarkable 
power of discharging, when irritated, powerful eledtric 
shocks. Regarding the eledtricity produced by this animal, 
Prof. Alleyne Nicholson thus observes: “The identity of 
the force produced in this way with the eledtricity of the 
machine has been demonstrated by many careful experi- 
ments. . . . There is no doubt, however, that the force 
which is expended in the produdtion of the eledtricity is 
merely nerve force, for every equivalent of electricity which 
